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bow-piece 12, which collar rests on the upper edge of the guide-plate when parts of the device are in normal positions, so that the bow-piece and post will be correspondingly elevated when the guide-plate 15 is slid upwardly.
A corner is rounded on the guide-plate where the forward edge of the depression c intersects the cross-slot d, which will facilitate the entrance of the pin e within the depression c after is has made a revolution, so that by a proper application of power to the pin e the bow-piece 12 and hat A may be lifted from the head of the wearer, receive a complete rotation, and drop by gravity into normal position on the head of the wearer.
The guide-plate 15 is furnished not only to control the rotation of the post 14 and bow-piece 12, but is also designed to afford means for supporting said post upright and permit it to receive a considerable elevation, which may be necessary in order to adapt the device to lift a hat clear of the head if seated low down on the forehead of the wearer.
To adapt the guide-plate 15 to receive an upward sliding movement there is a stud f projected from it at a suitable point above the slot b and near the rear edge of the guide-plate, so as to be in the path of a lifting-arm, which will be hereinafter described.
The preferred means for communicating an upward sliding and rotary swinging movement to the bow-piece 12 consists essentially of a coiled spring 16 that is affixed at one end h to the winding-arbor 17, that is journaled in the sides of the case 10, the other end of said spring being shackled, as at i, to the inner surface and rear side of the case, as clearly shown in Figs. 6 and 7. On the arbor 17, at one side of the spring 16, a spur gear-wheel 18 is mounted and secured, and between the spur-wheel and side of the case 10 the ratchet-wheel 19 is also affixed on the arbor, a pawl 20 being pivoted on the wheel 18, so that it too may engage with the teeth of the ratchet-wheel, said engagement being enforced by a spring 21 in the usual manner. The spur-wheel 18 meshes with a toothed pinion 22, which is supported to rotate on the side of the case 10 by a short journal-shaft 23, that projects through the wall of the case it is journaled in, and on the outer end of said shaft a gear-wheel 24 is secured.
A gear-wheel 25 is supported to rotate on the outer side of the case 10, in mesh with the wheel 24 and above it, by a journal-stud 26, and on the wheel 25 a lifting-arm 27 is secured at one end so as to radially project from the gear-wheel, having sufficient length to impinge the pin e when the wheel it is projected from receives rotary motion in direction of an arrow in Figs. 2 and 3. A shorter arm 28 is also extended from the gear-wheel 25 nearly in the same vertical plane with the arm 27 and nearly at right angles thereto, the short arm 28 being designed to impinge the pin f on its lower side and slide the guide-plate 15 upward a proper degree before the arm 27 has contact with the pin e.
On the rear side of the channel in the front portion of the case 10 a weak finger-spring q is secured, which extends down to pass its bent lower end or toe q through the casewall and also through a slot in the lower end of the guide-plate 15, the said end of the spring being adapted to afford support to the lower end of the post 14 when the guide-plate is elevated by the arm 28. On the front wall of the case 10 an arm 29 projects forwardly, affording support at its outer end to another arm, 29 a, that is pivoted thereto intermediate of its ends. The lower end of the arm 29 a is attached to a gravity-block 30, proportioned in weight to afford effective service, and on the upper extremity of the arm 29 a pusher-rod 31 is pivoted by its forward end.
A rock-arm 32 is pivoted intermediately of its ends, as at p, on the side of the case, and also at its upper end o on the rear end of the pusher-rod 21, said rock-arm hanging pendent, so that its lower portion may vibrate near a check-block m, that is pivoted on the side wall of the case 10, and serves to prevent the free rocking movement of the arm mentioned. The check-block m is preferably a wedge-shaped piece which is slotted to receive a pivot-screw m', whereon the block is suspended from the wall of the case, and it will be seen that the slot of the block is near one side edge of the same, so that if said edge is nearest the lower end of the arm 32 the latter will be free to rock; but should the block m be reversed in position, as shown in Fig. 1, the arm will be impinged by the edge of the block that is farthest from the pivot, and thus be prevented from free swinging movement in a forward direction.
For the correct operation of the mechanism there is a pin 33 projected outwardly from the lower end of the rock-arm 32, which pin will have contact with the free end of the lifting-arm 27 when the arm 29 a is swung outward, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 2, and thus arrest rotary movement of the gear-wheel 25; and when the gravity-block is free to assume a normal position and dispose the arm it is attached to in a vertical plane the pin 33 will be released from the end of the arm 27. Above the pivot p a stud 34 is extended outwardly from the arms 32, which stud will receive the end of the arm 27 when said arm and the arm 29 are in normal position, and thus will prevent a movement of the gearing until the block 30 is outwardly swung.
There is a turn-button or other equivalent means provided at 17 a on the outer end of the arbor 17 for rotation of the latter, and when turned in direction of the arrow 2 in Figs. 3 and 7 will wrap the spring 16 to provide power for driving the attached gearing. If the hat A with the entire device within it is adjusted on the head of the wearer of the same so as to cause the depending spring fingers 11 to clasp the person's head, as indicated in Fig. 1, and dispose the case 10 in a vertical plane extending from front to rear of the hat, and the spring 10 has previously been wound, the device will be ready for service providing the check-block m is adjusted to permit the vibration of the rock-arm 32.
Should the wearer of the hat having the novel mechanism within it and engaging his head, as before explained, desire to salute another party, it will only be necessary for him to bow his head to cause the weight-block 30 to swing forwardly. The swinging of the block 30, as stated, will, by the consequent vibration rearwardly of the upper end of the arm 29 a, push the rod 31 backward and release the stud 34 on the rock-arm 32 from an engagement with the lifting-arm 27, so that the latter will, by stress of the spring 13, be forcibly rocked down into contact with the pin 33, as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 2, the arm 28 having been correspondingly moved toward the lift-pin f, as also shown by dotted lines in the same figure. When the person making a salutation with the improvement applied to his hat resumes an erect posture after bowing, the weight 30 will swing back into a normal position, which will draw the upper end of the rock-arm 32 forwardly and move its lower end rearwardly far enough to release the arm 27 from the pin 33. The gear-wheel 25 will now be moved by the spring 16, so as to impinge the short arm 28 on the lower side of the stud f, which will cause the guide-plate 15 to slide upward, carrying the post 14 with it. Just before the arm 28 passes the stud f the detent-spring q will press its curved toe q' through the slot in the front plate of the case 10 and project said toe below the rounded lower end of the post 14. The lifting-arm 27 is now brought into contact with the pin e, and the pressure of the said arm on the pin e causes the post 14 to move upwardly in the depression c of the guide-plate 15 until it enters the slot d. The lift-pin e will now be swung through the rear portion of the cross-slot d by the arm 27, and by the impetus given to the pin and post 14 by said arm the post, bow-piece, and hat A will receive a rotary movement sufficient to bring the pin e into the depression c, when the gravity of the parts will cause the hat to drop into its normal position on the wearer's head.
Should it be desired to effect a more restricted upward sliding movement of the bow-piece 12 and the attached hat, the guide-plate 15 can be held from sliding, or be formed integral with the front side wall of the case 10 a, as shown in Figs. 7 and 8, there being a vertical depression c and cross-slot d produced in the upward projection 15 a of said side wall, and an indented upright channel also formed therein, extending inwardly from the outer face of the side it is formed in, so that the post 14 may be located in the channel and its lift-pin e move in the depression c, as before explained, other parts of the device being similar to those already described.
The operation of the modified form of the mechanism is the same as when a slidable guide-plate is used, only the upward movement of the lift-pin e and post 14 is less in extent than when said movable plate is provided. In reference to this modified form it will be seen that the guide-plate 15 being dispensed with the bar 14 will reach its highest position by a single operation of the arm 27, and that since the plate 15 is not used the arm 28 will be useless and may also be omitted from this form of the apparatus.
There may be a sign or placard placed on the hat having the improvements within it, and the saluting device be used to attract attention of the public on a crowded thoroughfare to the advertisement on the hat, the novelty of its apparent self-movement calling attention to the hat and its placard.
Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent --
1. An automatic device for effecting salutations, comprising power-moved mechanism adapted for removable attachment on the head of a person, and a device in the headgear of said person, actuated by the mechanism when the person bows, and operating to lift, turn and then lower the head-gear, as specified.
2. An automatic device for effecting salutations, comprising a support, means for holding said support on the head of a person, spring-actuated gearing on the support, an attachment in the head-gear of said person adapted to rotate on the support, and means, substantially as described, for transmitting motion from the gearing to the head-gear attachment, whereby said head-gear is lifted, turned and lowered when the wearer bows, as specified.
3. In a device for effecting automatic salutations, the combination with a case, of spring-actuated rotary gearing in and on said case, a clamping device on the case, adapted to engage the head of a person, a lifting-arm, a gear-wheel outside of the case and on which the arm is carried, an attachment in the person's head-gear, the same being rotatably mounted on the case and clamped to the sweatband of the head-gear, a vertically-slidable post, a laterally-projecting pin adapted to be engaged by the lifting-arm when said arm is swung around by the gearing, and means for normally restraining the gearing and adapted to release it upon the bowing of the head, as specified.
4. The combination of a clamp adapted to engage a person's head, a motor carried by said clamp and capable of operation to raise a hat from the head, and a trip normally restraining the motor and capable of operation to release the same, substantially as described.
5. The combination of actuated gearing, two arms moving with said gearing, a vertically-movable guide-plate, a bar carried by and independently movable in said guide-plate, the guide-plate and bar being respectively adapted to be engaged by the arms, and means for controlling the arms, substantially as described.
6. The combination of a motor, a guide-plate having a vertically-elongated depression, the upper edge of which is inclined, a bar movable longitudinally in the depression and having a pin adapted to receive the operative force of the motor, and means for controlling the motor, substantially as described.
7. The combination of a motor, a guide-plate having a semicircular inclined part at its upper portion, a bar movable on the guide-plate and having a pin adapted to receive the operative force of the motor, and means for controlling the motor, substantially as described.
8. The combination with a frame, of a motor capable of operation to raise a hat, and a balanced trip normally restraining said motor, the trip being released when disturbed in its equilibrium by the rocking of the frame, substantially as described.
9. The combination with a frame, of a motor, a longitudinally-movable bar, an arm actuated by the motor and capable of rasing the bar, and a balanced trip normally restraining the arm, the trip being released when disturbed in its equilibrium by the rocking of the frame, substantially as described.
10. The combination with a frame, of actuated gearing, an arm moving with said gearing, a longitudinally-movable bar capable of being lifted by the arm, means for restraining the operation of the arm, and a balanced weight the same being connected to actuate said means and being capable of rocking to release the arm by and upon the rocking of said frame, substantially as described.
JAMES C. BOYLE
Witnesses:
J. L. DRUMHELLER,
HARRY J. GIBBONWhile many a Spanish-speaker has gushed over his girlfriend, or novia, in Guatemala men strut down the street with their traida in hand. This archaic Spanish word for girlfriend never went out of style in Guatemala. “¿Y la traida? ¿No la trajiste? Translation: “And your girlfriend? Didn’t you bring her?” The masculine version is traido for boyfriend. Another local word for girlfriend is güiza, sometimes spelled wisa.
14. hacerse un queso
Making cheese isn’t easy. And making yourself into a cheese can be far more difficult! So if someone says, “Me hice un queso,” it means he went out of his way to please. One writer complained that the service at one hotel was so bad he had to get up and pick up the plates himself. He relates: “Cuando el [jefe de los meseros] cayó en la cuenta de su descuido, se hizo un queso para sacar el clavo.” Translation: “When the head waiter realized the lack of attention, he bent over backwards to make things right.”
15. culebra
In the Garden of Eden, it was the snake that approached Eve, pretending to be her friend—albeit with ulterior motives. In the same way today every school and every company has its brown-nosers and bootlickers. So if a Guatemalan calls someone a culebra, check the color of his nose! He is probably just buttering someone up to get his way. “Manuel, ¡no seas culebra!” Translation: “Manuel, don’t be such a brown-noser!” Another similar term is arrastrado.
16. ¡Me agarraste de tu puerquito!
Pity the poor pig! He is fattened, slaughtered, and taken to market, where every part of his body will be quartered and sold! So if someone says that you are taking him as his little piggie, back off! It means that the person feels you are taking advantage of him. “Cuando le pedí a Antonio que me hiciera un favor más, enojado me dijo: ‘¡Qué! ¿ya me agarraste de tu puerquito?’” Translation: “When I asked Antonio to do me one more favor, he responded angrily: ‘What! Am I your slave now?’” Another similar—but far less common—expression in the Eastern part of the country is “Me agarraste de tu arce.”Man, we’re a long way from 2004 if John Kerry is urging shock and awe against a Middle Eastern dictator over WMD and most Republicans are pounding the table against a reckless intervention.
Cycle of life, my friends.
Flash-forward to this past Wednesday. At a principals meeting in the White House situation room, Secretary of State John Kerry began arguing, vociferously, for immediate U.S. airstrikes against airfields under the control of Bashar al-Assad’s Syrian regime — specifically, those fields it has used to launch chemical weapons raids against rebel forces. It was at this point that the current chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the usually mild-mannered Army General Martin Dempsey, spoke up, loudly. According to several sources, Dempsey threw a series of brushback pitches at Kerry, demanding to know just exactly what the post-strike plan would be and pointing out that the State Department didn’t fully grasp the complexity of such an operation. Dempsey informed Kerry that the Air Force could not simply drop a few bombs, or fire a few missiles, at targets inside Syria: To be safe, the U.S. would have to neutralize Syria’s integrated air-defense system, an operation that would require 700 or more sorties. At a time when the U.S. military is exhausted, and when sequestration is ripping into the Pentagon budget, Dempsey is said to have argued that a demand by the State Department for precipitous military action in a murky civil war wasn’t welcome.
I’m intrigued by the fact that Kerry’s focused on Assad’s chemical weapons when they have little to do with O’s strategic reasons for getting involved there. The White House is stressing WMD lately because it’s a rallying point for public opinion; the reason for intervention isn’t because Obama’s worried about Assad gassing people on a mass scale, it’s because he’s afraid that Assad’s going to roll over the rebels and humiliate the U.S. in light of its “Assad must go” ultimatum if something isn’t done quickly to prop up the opposition. The U.S. will have to try to grab the regime’s sarin arsenal at some point if the rebels turn the tide and Assad gets desperate, but at the moment he has no real incentive to use unconventional weapons when the conventional ones are working just fine — unless the whole point is to defy and humiliate the United States for deciding to intervene. That’s one of the great potential backfires lurking here, that Assad and his pals in Tehran might decide to punish the U.S. for deciding to arm the rebels by really flouting the “red line” with more gas attacks. Although if they’re going to do that, you would think that those weapons will already have been dispersed and/or that more are on their way into the country from Iran. Frankly, I’m not sure why Kerry thinks that bombing airfields would cripple Assad’s ability to use WMD. Part of the sarin stockpile is in shells designed to be used by ground troops. Maybe he’s thinking that they should aim to cripple the largest delivery systems, like airborne bombs and SCUD warheads. They can’t stop Assad from using WMD but they can force him into smaller-scale delivery systems to minimize casualties.
Via the Standard, here’s O making the case against deeper intervention last night on Charlie Rose’s show. His bottom line: Unless you’re in the Situation Room, you can’t know how dangerous and complicated a Kerry-style plan of attack would be. I think he’s right about that, but seeing him use secrecy as a defense here so soon after he’s used secrecy as a reason not to explain the scope of NSA data-mining proves again that, when it comes to counterterrorism and foreign policy, the big public debate he’s always claiming to want always boils down to “trust me.” What if you don’t trust him?Home automation is emerging as one of the primary drivers in the rising popularity of the IoT (Internet of Things) concept. Popular home automation / smart home technologies include programmable thermostats (such as Nest and Honeywell Lyric) and remote controlled lights (such as the Philips Hue). IP cameras have been around as a security solution for quite some time, but they have not traditionally been included in the IoT discussions. As the smart home concept gains popularity, these three product categories are set to experience rapid growth.
Netgear is building upon their VueZone purchase by introducing the next generation wire-free cameras under the Arlo brand name. Simplicity and ease of use are primary drivers for the adoption of the VueZone family of cameras. Important updates (compared to the previous generation VueZone cameras) include high definition (720p) video clips and better configurability (such as schedules for turning off the camera completely).
Unlike the traditional IP cameras which stream video continuously, we are now seeing a sub-category where video is recorded and sent out only when there is movement. The Arlo IP cameras belong to this category. Since the units are battery powered, it does make sense to ensure that they don't run out of juice in a short time. The new design is also weather-proof, making it suitable for outdoor use. There are two models being introduced, one with IR LEDs for night vision, and the other suitable for day use or in illuminated locations.
As part of the smart home push, Netgear is introducing a hub to which up to four Arlo IP cameras can connect. Rules can be created for management of smart devices. Currently, the VueZone cameras (like Dropcam) allow for remote viewing, but recording to the cloud requires monthly plans. The new Arlo IP cameras will follow the same route. Fortunately, Netgear does realize that users would like to record to a local NAS. Since they also have the ReadyNAS product line, the Arlo team is definitely thinking about ensuring some sort of interoperability. However, cloud-free operation is not going to be a feature when the units ship to retail in January. Pricing for an Arlo-based security system (two IP cameras and a hub) is expected to be around $350. A standalone Arlo camera will retail for $170. However, it will not function without the hub.
In order to target the overall smart home ecosystem, Netgear is also announcing that they have joined the AllSeen Alliance and established a partnership with LIFX (a vendor of connected light bulbs).ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A Pakistani court on Tuesday ordered criminal charges to be filed against a former C.I.A. station chief and a former C.I.A. lawyer over a 2009 drone strike that killed two people.
Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui of the Islamabad High Court issued his decision during a hearing for a contempt of court petition. The petition was about a 2014 case that sought to have criminal charges filed against the former C.I.A. station chief in Islamabad, Jonathan Bank, and a former C.I.A. lawyer, John A. Rizzo, for their roles in directing drone attacks in the country’s northwestern tribal regions.
A resident of the North Waziristan tribal region, Kareem Khan, who claims that his brother and a son died in a drone strike in 2009 in North Waziristan, had threatened to sue the Central Intelligence Agency over the deaths.
Mr. Bank left the country in 2010 after his cover was blown.
Police officials in Islamabad have been reluctant to file criminal charges against the Americans, fearful that it would further harm the already troubled relationship with the United States. A civil judge in 2013 dismissed Mr. Khan’s application to charge C.I.A. officials, saying that the court lacked jurisdiction in the matter.Surely in Australia, where beer drinking is part of our DNA, we could do it? There must be hundreds of beers out there. It's a matter of national pride! Someone's got to do it... Scott Ellis (left) with ''El Presidente'' Shane Maguire on their year-long quest. Credit:Tamara Dean Fair enough, I say. And so with very little thought beyond, ''Beer! Good!'', six months ago beer lover Shane Maguire and I set out on our ''Yeer In Beer''. We set out some basic rules - no ginger beer, no home brews and the different beer must be drunk on the day, no building up a bank in a bender. We also discovered we would need 366 beers for the year - it's a leap year after all - but hey, in for a penny! On day one we open a Facebook page for anyone who wants to watch, and open the first bottles.
I drink a Coopers Pale Ale, Shane has a Little Creatures Bright Ale, and the list starts. Ellis and Maguire's beer bottle collection is growing. Credit:Tamara Dean For a while it's as easy as we imagine. At first glance, Australian pubs and bottle shops are filled with different brews. A quick call to a helpful executive at Lion Nathan provides us with a list of more than 500 mainstream and craft beers that should, theoretically, be available. No problem! Go to the pub, drink a New, write it on the list. Head to the bottle shop, lash out on a Grolsch, add it to the list and so on. Less than two months later, I realise I have drunk everything in every pub and bottle shop within five kilometres of my house. Despite the alleged hundreds of beers out there, fewer than 40 can be found without making a major effort. And let's face it, ''major effort'' and ''beer drinkers'' don't really mix.
The hotel closest to where I'm writing this boasts ''19 beers on tap''. But three are ciders and most of what's left are easily available (Carlton, VB etc). The only ''exotic'' listed is the not-so-rare Sapporo. To find a new beer every day fast becomes a real challenge. A friend invites me for a beer, I ask what sort. My parents fly in, I ask them to bring Southwark, West End and Dr. Tim's (the elusive Coopers only available in Adelaide) in their hand luggage. Booking a trip to the US involves checking which airline has a beer not on my list to avoid the complications of crossing a dateline in midair (it's Virgin). They rotate through a range of craft beers that get me out of trouble. The drinks list is the first thing we read in any restaurant. The importer addresses on the back of beer labels? Know them all. Which breweries offer which beers exclusively to which bars? We're on it. After 182 beers - one for every day of the year so far and with surprisingly little overlap in our two lists - Shane's now sourcing Scottish beers even the Scots haven't heard of (Brewdog's Punk IPA?) from obscure shopfronts on the north shore. I find Green Star Lager, a vegan-friendly blonde beer. A colleague donates a bottle of the Oakham Ales' Jeffrey Hudson Bitter he brought from England; another raided his German dad's stash of Hacker-Pschorr Munchner Kellerbier to bring me a sample; Shane's wife brought back seven local brews from Canada.
The downside is every person you meet is sure they've got the beer you've never tried (usually wrong) or suggests something that only comes by case (or a 15-hour drive). We try to describe each beer without resorting to the meaningless phrases wine and beer aficionados often use. ''Promising yet diminishing lacing'', ''fills the nose with over-hopping'' and ''stifling on the top palate'' are fine but we prefer speaking English. Shane (now known as El Presidente to the 100 Yeer in Beer Facebook members) and I start with ''tastes good'' or ''rubbish!'' as our two main descriptors and haven't really strayed too far. Sierra Nevada's insanely bitter Torpedo IPA is ''like chewing two Panadols while drinking'', El Presidente said on day 35. Carlsberg Elephant Lager has an aftertaste ''like sniffing Tarzan's Grip glue'', I wrote on day 146 and stand by it. If something smells like wet leather or the head foams like cheap shaving cream, we're writing it. And this is how we have realised why so few beers make up the bulk of what Australians drink. It's not that we're parochial or simple folk, it's just that Australians have a bulls--t detector when it comes to most things, beer included. Compared with some of the overpriced, overhyped imports out there, a schooner of Coopers Sparkling Ale (for example) is in every way superior to some cloudy dross with a picture of a grimacing German on the label.
Mountain Goat's Crossbreed - a brilliant project between a Melbourne brewery and Danish brewer Mikkeller - is as good as anything in the world. So, too, is the limited-edition Little Creatures' Quiet American from Perth and its regular Pale Ale. These are three examples of why our beers win so many prizes overseas, as opposed to myriad imports nobody in their home countries has heard of. Which brings us to day 182, six months down. I've got a case of assorted brews still in the fridge - at least half from various Australian breweries - and about a dozen friends and family keeping an eye out for anything new. I also have new respect for the beers I once threw down with no thought past, ''Is there another?'' Shane and I are planning a road trip to a Newcastle bottle shop that boasts 1000 beers - which in reality means there should be about a couple of dozen we haven't tried. Will we make it through the ''Yeer''? Who knows? At the halfway point, in all honesty, we're starting to worry, but there are still a few importers left to try, bier cafes to plunder and favours to call in. We're a long way from last drinks.
We're 100 strong, drinking separately but together every day (and responsibly - it's one beer a day!) and slowly forming the biggest beer bash any of us has ever attended. The enthusiasm of those who found us online has been staggering. Michael Taylor - the Italy-based Yeer in Beer member who came aboard after spotting the beers in his Facebook feed - made a trip to Germany to source some samples from the world's oldest continuously operating brewery (that would be at the Weihenstephan Abbey) and has been heading north to stock his fridge ever since. Other world travellers have sent back reviews from Asia, the US - including Hawaii - and Europe. We argue, we agree and we keep opening bottles. ''Yeer in Beer is the most successful idea I have ever had in my life,'' an emotional El Presidente was moved to comment when I recently posted a picture of the 35 new beers I'd sourced after a particularly fruitful shopping expedition, and Michael had just driven back north to source more than 20 none of us had ever heard of.
''This is like looking at a newborn child and saying, 'I did that,''' he says. And that's not just the beer talking. Loading * They did fail, but others, we've since learned, have made it (they're our inspiration) and one ambitious drinker is going for 1000 beers in one year... and he's confident he'll do it! To follow Yeer in Beer (or join in), search ''Yeer in Beer'' on Facebook.The European Union’s flagship cap-and-trade carbon credit trading system is plagued by massive fraud and is effectively under the control of organized crime, according to a December 9 statement issued by European police. Europol, an EU-wide criminal intelligence agency similar to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, says bogus trading at the EU’s Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) has exceeded €5 billion (U.S.$7 billion) over the past 18 months alone. Europol says that in some EU countries, up to 90 percent of the entire market volume is fraudulent.
News of the scale of the fraud, which comes just weeks after hundreds of hacked emails suggest that scientists have manipulated and exaggerated global warming data, will cast further doubt over the effectiveness of carbon trading as a way to curb emissions. It may also provide fresh ammunition to critics of the Obama administration’s plans to implement a cap-and-trade system in the United States that is largely based on the European model.
Europol says the fraud was first suspected in late 2008, when the volume of trades in European Unit Allowances (EUA), the carbon credits that companies in EU countries buy to offset their greenhouse gas output, mysteriously spiked.
In the European Union, caps are placed on the total amount of carbon dioxide that may be emitted. Companies that pollute more than their allotted share, such as steel plants, power plants, cement-makers, and other big industries, are required to buy carbon credits from those companies that do not exceed their allotted share, in order to keep the total output below the prescribed cap.
In the latest scam (which is a mutation of the EU’s notorious value-added tax carousel fraud), criminals open a carbon trading account on one of six recognized European carbon markets, in the name of a newly registered company. They then buy tax-free carbon credits in another country, transfer those credits into their account, and then sell them to a carbon broker in yet another country. The fraudsters collect VAT (which varies from between 15 to 25 percent depending on the EU country) on each transaction, but never pay the VAT monies to any European tax agency. The company and its owners vanish before tax authorities realize they are owed large amounts of VAT.
The carousel tax fraud repeats itself over and over, as the criminals set up new companies, using different front men, to collect more and more VAT. Organized crime rings are thought to have dozens or even hundreds of companies whose real owners are difficult if not impossible to trace.
VAT fraud is endemic in the EU, which has 27 different national tax systems and no effective cross-border coordinating mechanism. Criminals are able to defraud the European VAT system largely because goods (especially carbon credits, which are invisible and highly tradable) moved from one EU country to another do not attract VAT at the point of entry. Once the goods are sold to a wholesaler or retailer, VAT is charged. The fraudsters then purloin the tax revenues rather than passing them on to national tax authorities.Jessica Clarke, 64, was savagely mauled April 16, 2013 by two loose pit bulls believed to have been protecting a nearby construction site.
DETROIT — The savage attack on 64-year-old Jessie Clarke outside her Detroit home on Charles last week is an extreme example of a problem that city animal control workers say is rampant.
They're the equivalent of "junkyard dogs," animals not owned as pets so much as canine security guards.
And they are becoming increasingly popular and dangerous in Detroit, a city that recorded 43,818 property crimes and thefts in 2011.
Animal Control workers intervene with these unpredictable canines as often as twice per day, says Detroit Animal Control Director Harry Ward.
Of the nearly 900 dog bites on average each year in Detroit — 932 in 2012 — as many as 5 percent, near 50, can be attributed to unattended guard dogs left at building sites, foreclosed and vacant homes.
It's a quick and often cheaper security system than traditional alarms.
Clarke, who suffered extensive injuries to her head, scalp and arms, although in stable condition, was still unconscious late last week after enduring a nearly 10-minute-long mauling by two loose pit bulls believed to have come from the former Cleveland Intermediate School across the street.
The dogs were protecting the job site from vandals and thieves, said her sons, Anthony Clarke, 41 and Dwayne Clarke, 31.
"She's a strong woman," said Anthony Clarke. "We appreciate any prayers.
"She has some surgeries to go through."
Dwayne Clarke called Jessica Clarke, "Detroit's mother," a woman who cooked for those in need and took care, not only of her three children, but their friends as well.
Bystanders used a heavy vehicle security device — similar to the Club — and pipe to try and beat the dogs off the woman. The attack ended when off-duty Detroit Police Officer Tyrone Gray, a 15-year veteran, opened fire on the animals. One survived and fled back into the school where contractors were renovating the property.
The other died at the scene.
The injured pit bull was recovered from the school with a third dog not involved in the attack, said Ward. A contractor at the scene admitted that one of the employees at the job site would drop dogs off overnight to protect materials but those animals were not involved in the attack on Clarke.
There are two dogs in custody of the Detroit Animal Control, but Ward wouldn't say if the owner or owners had been identified.
He said any animal involved in a biting incident is quarantined for 10 days to see if it exhibits signs of rabies. If the animal is already dead, or there's an need to expedite, the animal is euthanized and it's head sent to Lansing for "stem-testing."
Most people concentrate on the up to 20,000 strays that wander the streets of Detroit, but Ward says unattended guard dogs are a larger problem than most people realize.
Encountering the guard dogs can unravel quickly into a "very scary situation," he said.
"I don’t know any company that does that," said James B. Jenkins, the owner of Jenkins Construction, a large contractor that works throughout Detroit and beyond. "If they do that, that's once in a while; but we do it right."
Jenkins said paying human security guards is a "cost of doing business" that is accepted by most contractors.
The average cost per guard is $14 to $15 per hour, according to Jenkins, and multiple may be required at a job site depending on the size.
Jenkins points out that using dogs as security may be cheaper up front, but questions whether that will ultimately be the case in Jessica Clarke's situation where lawsuits could put the contractor or property owner out of business.
For several days after the attack, the former Detroit Public Schools building, usually busy with |
later did the dean apologize — inadequately — for these false accusations.
The course was reinstated a week later, but the damage was done: the university had signaled that any attempt to critically study Palestine would be met with lengthy ordeals, baseless accusations, and public attacks.
At the City University of New York, the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) has spearheaded campaigns to get the group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) banned from all twenty-three campuses due to alleged antisemitic activities. An independent, six-month long investigation, however, found that the claims either could not be substantiated or could not be attributed to the student group, that the group’s activities were protected political speech, and that the “tendency to blame SJP for any act of anti-Semitism... is a mistake.”
Nevertheless, the damage, again, had been done. New York legislators responded to the ZOA’s alarmist accusations by threatening to cut CUNY’s funding because of its “failure” to address the alleged antisemitism. Students at several campuses have spent years beating back successive attacks. And, like many other universities that are pressured to condemn, censor, and punish Palestine activists, CUNY too often obliged the demands, subjecting pro-Palestine students to extra scrutiny, requiring additional security at their events, erecting procedural barriers, and charging them with disciplinary violations.
The situation is already terrible, but Trump will operate on an entirely new platform built on his open contempt for people of color, women, and ethnic and religious minorities. Those who supported him will be emboldened to intensify their anti-Palestinian campaigns.
David Horowitz, who has plastered campuses across the country with posters accusing students and faculty who support Palestinian rights of “Jew Hatred” and being “allied with terrorists,” has vigorously defended Bannon, claiming he couldn’t possibly be antisemitic because he supports Israel. Horowitz’s argument ignores that white nationalists’ support for Israel is rooted in their admiration for the country’s ethno- and religious nationalism, which they’d like to recreate in the United States for white Christians, putting American Jews at the receiving end of their supremacist ideology.
In the new climate, there is no question that Horowitz, together with far-right groups like ZOA, will be emboldened. With friends like Bannon, they can continue their crusade against Palestine activists in the most regressive ways. Already, they blame these groups for antisemitic behavior perpetrated by Trump’s base.
Indeed, the recently proposed Anti-Semitism Awareness Act, which flew through the Senate without debate and before the bill’s text was even made public, illustrates how Israel advocacy groups are exploiting the alarming rise in antisemitic incidents to justify reigning in criticism of Israel. The bill, which stalled in the House after the ACLU, Palestine Legal, and other groups raised strong constitutional objections, attempted to impose a discredited definition of antisemitism — that would classify virtually any criticism of Israel as antisemitic — on the Department of Education (DOE).
It aimed to force the DOE to investigate more complaints from Israel advocacy groups about student activism for Palestinian rights. The DOE has dismissed such complaints over the last decade, noting that the activists’ speech is protected by the First Amendment, and that college is supposed to be a place where students encounter “robust and discordant expressions” of different viewpoints. While the bill failed to pass this session, it will surely be back with the new Congress next year.
It is frightening to think that the DOE, DOJ, and, by extension, other law enforcement agencies, will use information provided by the likes of Horowitz and Canary Mission, not to mention the dozens of Israel advocacy groups that traffic in false accusations against activists, to drive investigations of Palestine activists.edit on 6/12/2014 by Blaine91555 because: (no reason given)
a reply to: olaru12 I think that has far more to do with the advent of the Internet. What we see here is not representative of thein my opinion.I base it on what I see around me, not on a few radical posters on the Internet or ATS.When I was young, people were open about their bigotry and not afraid to express it in the open. Where I grew up, everyone was strongly pro-union, mostly Democrats and many of them were in your face bigots and racists. A lot has changed since then.I remember watching the riots on the news at night and listening to the rants going on around me. I was lucky to have color blind parents who encouraged me to stay away from those bad apples and who talked to me about what I was seeing. There simply is no comparison between then and now on this issue.I remember hearing one of my uncles giving my father a lot of grief over his support of JFK over Humphrey. To say JFK was not loved by many Democrats then is an understatement. A sort of national brawl was going on due to JFK being Catholic and for civil rights legislation. The southern style Dem's were still the most powerful force in their Party then and even though we lived in the West, it was similar.It's far better now. My first marriage was a mixed marriage and at the time it could be very uncomfortable walking down the street together. Now I would not feel in the least uncomfortable doing that. To say it's not way better is to ignore true history.A major case testing the reach of state regulatory power has just moved one step closer to review by the U.S. Supreme Court. On Wednesday, the Louisiana State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors asked the Supreme Court to reinstate its requirement that only licensed funeral directors be permitted to sell coffins within the state, thereby preventing the monks of St. Joseph Abbey from engaging in the unlicensed sale of hand-made wooden caskets.
In March, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit invalidated that licensing requirement, holding that the state lacked any rational basis for its law and had offered only “nonsensical explanations” in the law’s defense. “That Louisiana does not even require a casket for burial, does not impose requirements for their construction or design, does not require a casket to be sealed before burial, and does not require funeral directors to have any special expertise in caskets,” the 5th Circuit declared, “leads us to conclude that no rational relationship exists between public health and safety and limiting intrastate sales of caskets to funeral establishments.” Indeed, the state has admitted that the licensing requirement served as a form of economic protectionism for its funeral industry.
In its appeal to the Supreme Court this week, the State Board basically argues that none of these facts matter, because the federal judiciary has no choice but to defer to state officials and uphold the contested regulation. “The purpose of rational-basis review is to insulate State legislation on economic and social issues from judicial review,” the State Board declares.
The Institute for Justice, the public interest law firm representing the monks of St. Joseph Abbey in their challenge to the licensing requirement, is due to file a response to the Louisiana State Board next month. In a statement issued this week, the firm left little doubt that both the monks and their lawyers are ready to continue the fight. “Americans didn’t create a nation of free people so that state governments can use their power to make private financial interests rich at the expense of liberty and the public,” declared Institute for Justice attorney Jeff Rowes. “If the Supreme Court takes this case, we will win.”Spirits maker Beam faced an onslaught of outrage from drinkers after it announced it was going to water down its iconic Maker’s Mark bourbon to stretch volume, lowering its alcohol content from 45% to 42%. Such was the outcry, Beam quickly reversed course and promised to keep the alcohol levels as they were. Anheuser-Busch InBev (NYSE: BUD) was sued last year for actually watering down its Budweiser brand, with a former employee-turned-lawyer alleging it routinely used control technology to reduce the alcohol content in its beer by 0.1% and deceive consumers.
While the judge in the Anheuser-Busch case just dismissed the suit last week, finding that regulators allow for a 0.3% tolerance in the labeling of alcoholic beverages — and as Budweiser never went over that limit, it didn’t matter if the deviation was purposeful or inadvertent — the issue is part of a larger one that plagues the brew industry.
Beer sales fell in 2013, with total U.S. beer volume sold falling to 2.8 billion 2.25-gallon cases from 2.84 billion cases sold the year before, a 1.4% drop. After a meager 1% increase in sales in 2012, the first increase in years, the industry is once again turning south. Craft beer, on the other hand, saw volumes rise 18% last year to 15.6 million barrels, while the retail dollar value of craft beers surged 20% year over year to more than $14 billion. Craft beer now represents 7.8% of the total U.S. beer market, its highest level ever.
Similarly, hard cider — although still small in comparison to the overall beer market, representing just 1% of sales — saw its market nearly double last year and Nielsen data says volumes were up 102% in 2013 and have grown another 90% so far this year as Boston Beer’s (NYSE: SAM) Angry Orchard brand came to dominate the niche.
And though it’s even tinier than cider, with just 823 cases produced last year, the emerging mead market saw sales more than double to $221 million, a 130% jump, making it the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. alcohol market.
In contrast, even though Anheuser-Busch had revenues of $10.61 billion, that beat analyst estimates, depletions in North America (or sales made by distributors to retailers and are considered a proxy for consumer demand) fell 2.6% in the quartersales made by distributors to retailers and are considered a proxy for consumer demand.
When it comes to our alcohol, we want to get what we pay for, not some watered down ripple passed off as the real thing. The rise of the craft brew industry was largely in response to drinker’s desire for taste and innovation in the beer from the otherwise bland flavor of those beverages produced by mass brewers.
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That’s spilled over these days into niche adult beverage markets, including spirits, where we see a preference for premium and superpremium varieties; the growth of hard ciders and teas; and even the emergence of mead as a growth opportunity.
What it all points to is flavor, something sorely lacking in mass-produced brews, and just because Anheuser-Busch can skim the alcohol content of its beer to stretch profits doesn’t mean it should. It does itself no favors by watering down its commitment to its loyal drinkers.The Georgetown University Master's in Cybersecurity Risk Management prepares you to navigate todays complex cyber threats. Take classes online, on campus, or through a combination of both -- so you dont have to interrupt your career. Learn more.
Puppy Linux is a distro I keep coming back to. No matter how entrenched I become with any flavor of Ubuntu -- sans the Unity desktop -- or Linux Mint's Cinnamon and KDE desktops, nothing can beat the speed, convenience and reliability of Puppy Linux on a stick.
Boot it directly from a hard drive or from an external drive; either method is fast and convenient with no dual boot menus required. Puppy barks impressively. The credit for that is its design to run in RAM rather than pull its code from slower physical or optical drives.
Head developer Barry Kauler released version 5.4.3, aka Precise Puppy, in Oct. 2012. This latest release makes Puppy Linux better than ever. It is a fully functional Linux OS that puts its power and effectiveness in performance, rather than gobbling up resources with excessive eye candy.
That does not mean Puppy Linux gives you a boring, adolescent desktop. To the contrary, Precise Puppy is a mature hound dog that puts you in full control of your computing environment with a pleasant graphical user interface based on the JWM (Joe's Window Manager) desktop manager. This is a lightweight stacking window manager for the X Window System. Do not snicker at its name, either. This distro can easily become your computing best friend.
Besides its speed and performance, the chief advantage to using Puppy Linux is its portability. You store the entire OS with your personalized settings and files on a USB or CD drive. This brings your own desktop to any computer you encounter. When you exit Puppy Linux, the OS and all of your files go back into your pocket.
Old Friend
The last time I reviewed a new release of Puppy Linux was in 2008. I continued to use a few upgraded Puppy versions since then. Puppy Linux remained fun to use and was always my fallback distro when I wanted a change of pace.
Puppy Linux has enough similarity to other popular lightweight desktops environments like Xfce and LXDE (Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment), so it is easy to use. When I first stumbled on Puppy Linux about six years ago, I only needed a short learning curve to be able to do serious work. Precise Puppy sports a few modernizations with its setup and configuration tools. This makes using it even easier.
The look and feel of Precise Puppy is mostly the same as earlier versions. The enhancements are found inside. The biggest improvement in the latest version is the expansion of its software repository. This version, as the more recent ones, is based on Ubuntu, so the naming scheme is obvious.
Other improvements are evident in the more refined menus and user interface. Booting times are noticeably faster as well. Precise Puppy, like earlier versions, gives you the option with the first use to place some of the environment libraries on the hard drive to speed up repeated booting on the same computer. Even with a boot completely from the USB or CD drive, Puppy 5.4.3 is much peppier in getting to the desktop.
Precise Packages
The default distro package manager uses a unique.pet (Puppy's Extra Treats) file structure for software archives. Users have to follow a format conversion process to transform other file systems to the.pet format. That process is not always successful.
However, an active community of volunteers and users posts package conversions in the Puppy community forums. A search or friendly request usually turns up an available.pet package for download.
Precise Puppy's expanded compatibility with Ubuntu files makes installing Ubuntu 12.04.deb packages directly from the Puppy Package Manager much more convenient. In Puppy's last version this was a clunky process that seemed to rely on chance for successful installations. I had much more satisfying results installing.deb packages in Precise Puppy.
Access to.deb files from the Ubuntu repository is nice but not critical. The Puppy.pet repository has an ample inventory of popular Linux packages. That is one reason that Puppy Linux is an ideal alternative distro. I am able to run the.pet versions of every software package that I use in both Ubuntu and Linux Mint, which is another Ubuntu derivative. These include LibreOffice, GIMP, Geany Text Editor, and Leafpad, as well as the Firefox and Google Chrome web browsers.
Dog Catcher's Choice
Download Puppy Linux here. Pick the Puppy version that matches your needs; you have several choices. Puppy Linux comes in three basic breeds. Whichever version you download, the loading process is a bit different than other Linux distros. Choose from Precise Puppy, Slacko Puppy based on the Slackware distro, and Wary Puppy for much older computers.
Try Precise Puppy first or get older versions available from the developer's web site to run on legacy equipment. I have not met an older computer yet that did not run a recent version without resorting to Wary Puppy. Wary Puppy is built with a less recent Linux kernel and X.org version to handle older computers.
Puppy Linux does not have a live session CD environment. You run it in RAM and store your files in its self-contained storage file. Puppy Linux running in RAM does not make any changes to the hard drive partitions or other files. Plus, you can do a full disk installation, or choose the option for a frugal installation that is similar to a dual boot. This lets you create a segment on an existing hard drive partition to save the Puppy user file and quick startup libraries.
Regardless of how you handle the installation options, you must first burn the downloaded ISO file to either a USB or CD drive to make it bootable. Regardless of your startup method, you can mount or unmount external storage devices and the hard drive to access data, music and video files created elsewhere.
Look and Feel
The Puppy Linux desktop is a friendly environment. It resembles the Microsoft Windows XP appearance but has the basic functionality of Xfce or LXDE. You can right-click anywhere on the desktop to get a full menu display right there.
For example, you can also click on the Menu button at the extreme left of the traditional Windows-like task bar across the bottom of the screen. This task bar, however, is not a true Linux Panel like that in GNOME 2. It holds the configurable workplace switcher app to the right of the menu button. It holds the minimized windows in the center portion. The traditional notification icons are near the right edge of the task bar.
A configurable quick launch dock hides at the top edge of the screen until you touch the mouse pointer in the top center space. You can have the desktop your way with launch icons on it or not. The default configuration displays some 20 standard icons on the desktop. A new desktop icon management app makes adding or removing desktop icons much easier than the more manual approach earlier versions of Puppy required.
Good With a Little Bad
One prominent criticism of Puppy Linux is its lack of a password for user login. By default, anyone who has access to the bootable medium loads the OS as root. You can, however, apply firewall and encryption options.
Puppy Linux saves your personal files within the encrypted OS environment. This file, somewhat like a virtual machine or sandbox environment, is called the pup_save.3fs file. It contains all RAM content -- system changes and file data -- and is periodically saved during use and at shutdown. Beyond that measure, you can elect to encrypt it with password access.
Since Puppy Linux is designed as a single-user OS, you can easily create a bootable disk for anyone you want, devoid of all personal data and information. You can secure the USB or CD bootable disk with its Puppy system and your data files in your pocket or locked safe if security is a pressing concern in your personal work space. Another option is to store your personal data on a separate USB drive or access via a cloud storage service. I use both of those approaches.
Puppy Linux does not require routine patching and updating. To upgrade to a new version, all that is needed is a fresh ISO file. All of the saved files and settings automatically integrate from the Puppy_save file on the storage medium.
Bottom Line
The success of the Puppy Linux distro is its lightweight design that delivers a powerhouse performance. The combination makes Puppy Linux an ideal OS for netbooks and older computers with limited storage and memory. Run it on a hardware-enhanced modern machine and expect to experience whiplash.
Puppy Linux has the ability to boot from a flash card or any USB memory device, CDROM, Zip disk or LS/120/240 Superdisk, floppy disks or internal hard drive. It can even use a multi-session formatted CD-RW/DVD-RW to save everything back to the CD/DVD with no hard drive required at all.
The Precise Puppy version is fast and convenient as well as easy to use. It offers a great way to learn about the Linux OS for novice users. It has all the power and functionality of any feature-laden sluggish OS that installs to a hard drive.
Want to Suggest a Linux Application for Review?
Is there a Linux software application you'd like to suggest for review? Something you love or would like to get to know?
Please send your ideas to me at jack.germain@newsroom.ectnews.com, and I'll consider them for a future Linux Picks and Pans column.
And use the Talkback feature below to add your comments!World of Barcraft
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Entering a pub on match day can be a daunting task when you're immediately confronted with a small horde of people yelling at a screen just above your head. However, the experience takes a turn for the surreal when you turn to see that this particular small horde isn't watching a football or rugby game, but the MLG Providence Tournament - a series of professional Starcraft 2 matches.On 19 November, we went along to the Assembly House in North London's Kentish Town to join the London Barcraft team. This group of volunteers work to bring Starcraft fans across the UK together to see their favoured eSport broadcast on a 91in screen in the same baying, whooping and cheering environment you would expect when watching conventional sports.London Barcraft started out with around ten people huddled around a small screen, but with each successive event the movement has doubled in size. The culmination of this is the most recent gathering at the Assembly House, where 200 people came to watch the game and discuss the new splinter groups forming in Swansea and Manchester.' said organiser Adam Varney, who think eSports are about to hit the mainstream. '' He added that the team is planning many more events in the future, and that it's currently taking over the whole bar and setting up an extra screen for next week's Dreamhack tournament.Barcraft has gained a lot of interest from sponsors such as Alienware, and has even had support from Blizzard's community representatives, who promoted the event through their official channels. Adam attributes most of his success to Team Dignitas however; a professional Starcraft 2 team that supplied goodies for giveaways and much-needed contacts. Throughout the evening the organisers raffled-off signed pictures of professional players and team shirts from Team Dignitas.After a few minor technical issues early on in the evening, the audience very quickly got into the matches. Talking to the crowd, it was clear that they all had different levels of knowledge about the eSports scene and the game in general, from dedicated followers to those who were seeing professional matches for the first time. Barry Coco, for example, had never touched a PC before being introduced to Starcraft 2 by a friend, and was hooked by the level of strategy and skill required.' he said. 'Ollie Adams, another spectator, was particularly keen to get as many of his friends playing Starcraft 2 as possible when it was released. '' he said, pointing out how events such as Barcraft really help to highlight the social side of gaming.Walking around the other half of the bar that wasn't occupied by those cheering at the zerglings, it was clear that there was a sense of confusion, but no hostility of any kind. Alan Matthews, someone who doesn't play computer games at all, said: '' said another patron, Debbie Knight.As for the experience itself, although London Barcraft says it wants to promote more of a convention atmosphere rather than that of a sports event, the atmosphere felt similar to any sport event at the pub. The crowd was definitely involved in the action, and seeing the high-level play was exciting if you knew what was going on.However, we aren't convinced that you can tell what's going on if you don't know anything about the game, and the format of the tournament occasionally made it difficult to get truly invested. When a match can last anywhere between five minutes and an hour, the flow can get disrupted easily, especially as not all the matches are consistently engaging. Then again, you can say that about most sports.What Barcraft does, though, is prove that it's fun to be a part of eSports, and they're also easy to pick up, which is essential for an event such as this. A lot of the more dedicated fans have favourite players, but even those new to the game can root for their favourite race. The crowd really gets behind certain players too, and the roars as banelings barrelled into clusters of marines, or as players executed mind blowing rapid micromanagement, were as deafening as they were surreal.Although the general consensus in the room was that eSports are a long way off from going fully mainstream, they might be closer than you would think - Barcraft itself certainly isn't going to disappear any time soon by the looks of it.' said volunteer organiser Javier Lee when we asked him why he helped out, gesturing to the baying crowds. 'Peace talks follow a war. Why not hold those talks first and skip the war?
Donald Trump, who boasts of his art of the deal, said on May 1 he would be honored to meet with North Korea’s leader.
Now he accuses the North of "very, very dangerous behavior," contemplating "pretty severe things" as the military provides "options." And the top U.S. general in South Korea, Vincent Brooks, warns he can commence war at any time.
What changed? Moon Jae-in won election as South Korean president in May, upon promising better relations with Pyongyang. On July 4 the North announced its launch of a long-range missile. Is our military more worried about the North attacking America or about peace displacing us from Korea?
Military’s "options" probably don’t include a peaceful solution. But it’s the only sure way to avoid disaster. The 1950–53 Korean war killed millions – without nuclear weapons.
If Trump still believes in his deal-making skills, let him go to Pyongyang, a la Nixon to Beijing.
He’ll be welcomed.
The Tokyo-based paper Chosun Sinbo, known as a Pyongyang mouthpiece, says "avoiding armed conflict and seeking ways to find a clue to settle it via diplomatic negotiations have become a pressing issue that the international community can no longer turn away from."
Talks with North Korea could achieve compromise, as in past years. Both sides might halt displays of force: Northern missile tests and US-South Korean military exercises. North Korea might possibly suspend its weapons development, as we end sanctions and deliver food.
Don’t expect Northern dictator Kim Jong-un to destroy nukes overnight. He needs them, not to attack, which means suicide, but to avoid the fate of Saddam Hussein and Muammar Qadaffi. Kim distrusts a nation that overthrew governments in Chile, Guatemala, Iran, Iraq, Libya, and Panama and seeks Syrian regime change.
Besides, what moral authority remains after A-bombing civilians and making thousands of huger bombs? Trump reaffirmed Obama’s plan for a trillion-dollar program to "modernize" our nuclear weapons and their delivery system (violating the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty) and – like North Korea – boycotted the UN proceedings for a nuclear-abolition treaty.
Heed the proverb, "You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar." Instead of threatening Kim, try respecting him. He’s a killer, but so is Donald J. Trump, who as candidate repeatedly promised peace yet as president delivers intensified war. Stop treating South Korea as our puppet and let South talk to North.
Trump’s icy attitude toward China melted after his meeting with President Xi Jinping. A Trump-Kim meeting would let the Korean people breathe easier.
Threatening war
General Brooks is prepared to launch a war at any time, by his (July 4) statement. Only "self-restraint" keeps us from attacking, a choice we can change at any time.
Combat is the military’s stock in trade, but a general’s function is not to drum up trade, e.g. to encourage war by provoking an adversary with threats. Our armed forces are supposed to be under civilian control. Does Brooks speak for Trump? Has Trump left him free to talk and – worse – to act?
Whether or not to commit aggression may depend on a leader’s whims in a lawless dictatorship, not in a supposed nation of laws, under a constitution.
Describing our supreme law, Hamilton wrote that the president as commander-in-chief is merely "first General and Admiral" (The Federalist, 69, 1788). But "it is the peculiar and exclusive province of Congress, when the nation is at peace, to change that state into a state of war" ("Lucius Crassus" 1, 1801).
By threatening war, Brooks exceeded his authority and violated the United Nations Charter. As a treaty, it is federal law. It was signed in San Francisco in 1945 mainly to end "the scourge of war."
From Article 2: "All Members shall settle their international disputes by peaceful means…. All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state…."
Note that the threat of war violates the Charter, let alone the starting of a war.
Another law that may surprise Brooks – and President Trump, whose main job is to see that the laws be faithfully executed – is the Pact of Paris, better known as the Kellogg-Briand Pact. Parties pledged to renounce war as an instrument of national policy and settle disputes or conflicts by peaceful means only.
Signed in 1928 by representatives of 15 nations, attracting at least 48 more later, it remains in effect. Frank Kellogg, secretary of state under President Coolidge, and French Foreign Minister Aristide Briand sponsored it. The Senate approved it in 1929, during Hoover’s administration. Its violation became grounds to prosecute Nazi and Japanese leaders for the crime of aggression
Bloody years
The Korean war lasted three years, 1950-1953, ending in stalemate and armistice under President Eisenhower.
A North Korean death toll of 1.77 million, 1.55 of them civilians – a fifth of the North’s population – is attributed to U.S. military sources. Most deaths resulted from US carpet bombings. The South Korean military estimated 991,000 civilians dead, wounded, or missing in the South. Hundreds of thousands of Chinese "volunteers" also succumbed.
American deaths totaled over 54,000 (original toll), or some 37,000 (revised Pentagon toll decades later), according to older and newer almanacs.
Congress did not authorize war. Interpreting a North-South incursion (one of many) as "Communist aggression," President Harry S. Truman – whose claim to infamy then lay in his nuclear annihilation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 – acted on his own in dispatching armed forces. Then he got the UN Security Council to rubber-stamp his "police action" in the absence of the Soviet delegation (protesting that Red China was not seated).
Few in Congress, notably Senator Robert A. Taft (R-Ohio), dared to challenge the usurping of congressional war power. Some even praised Truman’s "courage" – as though he volunteered to grab a rifle and risk his own life.
Had Congress impeached and removed Truman, bringing forces home, not only would countless lives have been saved, but also his high crime of illegal war-making would not have been imitated by subsequent presidents.
They included Johnson and Nixon in Indochina; Reagan in Latin America and the Middle East; Bush Sr. in Panama and Iraq; Clinton in Iraq, Yugoslavia, and five other countries; Bush Jr. in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan; and Obama – the first 100% wartime president – in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, Yemen, Iraq, and Syria. Trump emulates and escalates the lawless carnage in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen, risking conflict with Russia in Syria.
Good option
Few know what those wars have been all about or can cite any worthwhile results from the blood
and suffering. Nevertheless, too many Americans – leaders included – entertain these
perverted notions:
1. Our "national interest" justifies the loss of lives.
2. It’s up to the commander-in-chief to start wars.
3. Foreign countries are primarily our battlegrounds, rather than people’s homelands.
The [online] Atlantic, July 5, expressed another disputable idea: Because an armistice, not a treaty, ended the conflict, Korea "is still technically in a state of war." No, Congress never declared a state of war with Koreans. Anyway, an armistice can end a war. America formerly celebrated Armistice Day every November 11, marking the end of The Great War.
However, in warning of "the potential for catastrophic consequences" of another Korean war, the writer, Krishnadev Calamur, gets no argument here.
In The Atlantic magazine, July/August 2017, Mark Bowden tells "How to Deal With North Korea." Opening alarmingly with an imaginary missile blasting Los Angeles, he sees "no good options," some worse than others. They comprise (1) "Prevention," a massive attack, which would succeed but trigger mass killing; (2) "Turning the screws," a series of lesser attacks, which could provoke an all-out response; (3) "Decapitation," murdering Kim, very difficult; (4) "Acceptance," letting him develop nuclear-armed ICBMs while continuing containment efforts, including sabotage and draconian economic pressure.
Bowden chooses option 4. All four involve lawlessness.
He neglects a fifth one, a good option. It’s the only lawful one and harms nobody. Article 33 of the UN Charter lights the way: The parties to any dangerous international dispute "shall, first of all, seek a solution by negotiation, enquiry, mediation, conciliation, arbitration, judicial settlement, resort to regional agencies or arrangements, or other peaceful means of their own choice."
That option is peace.
Paul W. Lovinger is a San Francisco writer, reporter, and editor and the founder and (pro bono) secretary of the War and Law League.
Read more by Paul W. LovingerIn part 1, we looked at the popular Christian notion that biblical slavery was a benign form of servitude, quite unlike American slavery. In fact, it turns out that they were almost identical.
Now, let’s look at a companion article by the same author, “Why Would God Have Permitted Any Form of Servitude or Slavery?” Christian Jim Wallace focuses on the New Testament this time to try to salvage God’s reputation.
What’s the big deal?
Let me again start with a positive observation. Wallace didn’t appeal to a popular but flabby apologetic, that the difficulties in our lives here on earth will count for nothing in the grand scheme of things. In other words, finite difficulties ÷ an infinite afterlife in heaven = nothing to complain about. Paul said, “Our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”
So you lived in barbaric conditions as a slave? Big deal. A trillion years from now as you’re helping yourself to hors d’oeuvres at heaven’s all-you-can-eat buffet, that life will be an insignificant memory.
As our own appetizer, let’s dismantle this argument. Compare it with an analogous situation: you and I are arguing, and I get so frustrated that I punch you in the face. After a moment to collect myself, I realize that I’ve made a mistake, so I offer you a million dollars in compensation. You accept and promise not to press criminal charges.
Yes, you’ve received lavish compensation, but of course the injury was still wrong. Compensation acknowledges the injury; it doesn’t erase its existence.
The same is true for the fate God gives you. Trying to dilute the Problem of Evil (why would an all-good God permit the evil that we see all around us?) with the infinite time of heaven doesn’t get God out of his moral jam.
Spiritual sandpaper
Wallace begins by arguing that hardship can improve us, using the analogy of sandpaper shaping wood. This doesn’t explain why some of us get growth hardships while others get devastating hardships such as abusive relationships or devastating disease or injury. Hardship can improve, but it can also tear down.
And, of course, this simply presupposes God and selects the facts to support that position rather than looking at the facts to see if they support the claim of God’s existence.
Slavery, according to Wallace, is spiritual sandpaper.
We mustn’t confuse God’s use of an institution to accomplish something good, with God’s approval of an institution as something inherently good. Even though slavery is not part of God’s heavenly plan … He does use human evil here on earth to accomplish his goals for all of us.
So God used slavery without approving of it? Let’s test that with another institution. The book of Proverbs admonishes merchants to use fair weights and measures—four separate times, in fact. For example, “The Lord detests differing weights, and dishonest scales do not please him” (Prov. 20:23). Does this mean that God uses the wicked institution of commerce without approving it? There’s no evidence to imagine this. A smart guy like God who spoke the very universe into existence, who drowned the world for its wickedness, and who demanded the death penalty for breaking his commandments wouldn’t feel shy about making his feelings known about human institutions. His regulation of commerce makes clear that he approves of it when correctly done, and his many rules about slavery—nicely documented in Wallace’s previous post—make clear that he approves of that, too.
I’m sure Wallace disapproves of slavery, and so do I, but there’s no justification for reading our own morality into the Bible. Let it speak for itself.
Societal vs. individual focus
Wallace tries another gambit. He argues that God’s focus is at the individual level, not the societal level. Sure, slavery was bad, but so what? Society’s problems aren’t on God’s radar.
God can (and has) used what is clearly evil at a societal level to accomplish something beneficial at an individual level.
And what’s “clearly evil”? We moderns agree that slavery is evil, but you’re reading your own morality into the Bible if you see that there.
Overturning slavery in the time of Jesus?
Wallace quotes Paul’s letter to Philemon, asking him to treat his returning slave with kindness. Wallace concludes,
The Bible does reflect God’s desire to seek the end of slavery, but it does so one heart at a time.
Huh? Of course it doesn’t! If God desired the end of slavery, he could just end slavery. Failing that, he could make clear in the Bible that he disapproves and that we should stop it. Failing that, his earthly representation as Jesus could make clear that he disapproves. Failing that, one of the epistle writers could make clear that he disapproves so the Bible could say at least something against slavery.
Fail. Don’t say that God doesn’t like slavery when there is no evidence for this. Don’t imagine your own morality coming from God.
Wallace anticipates this:
The Roman Empire had 60 million slaves living amongst its citizenry. To call for an end of slavery in this culture and context would have resulted in mass murder and civil war.
God is magic, remember? If God wanted a different world—one with a |
2nd Amendment. Last year I dipped my toe in the water and experienced shooting for the first time. I enjoyed a trip to the Hillsdale College shooting range during Parents Weekend and it turns out I'm not a bad shot. Friends never understood why I didn’t own a gun and some urged me to purchase one for my protection. But still I hesitated because of my discomfort at having one in my home.
The other thing holding me back was my belief that if you’re going to own a gun, you must be willing to shoot to kill. If confronted with an armed intruder or assailant, shooting to maim or firing a warning shot may not be an option, so a gun owner must wrestle with the moral implications of shooting someone to death. I searched my heart and realized that in the heat of the moment of an attack, I wasn’t sure what I would do with a gun in my hand. I knew that could be more dangerous than being unarmed; it wasn’t worth the risk.
But all that changed early Friday morning. Along with 80,000 others around the world, I found myself glued to the live-action police drama being played out online. I first noticed the tweets with the hashtag #BostonPoliceScanner late Thursday evening and was soon engrossed in the manhunt, listening to the officers on the ground in Watertown and Cambridge and simultaneously following the tweets from the worldwide audience. Throughout the night, a community of sorts formed as I began to recognize Twitter handles and together we “watched” law enforcement officers create a perimeter and lay down a grid so they could search the neighborhoods of Watertown. We listened as they responded to calls from residents who “heard something” in their sheds or thought they saw a “guy with a backpack” walking down the street. This was repeated dozens of times throughout the night. When police broadcast their location, many listeners typed the address into Google Street View and so could see the streets and even houses they were responding to.
It was both surreal and very real at the same time. It was a strange combination of social media and reality show with the knowledge that life and death were on the line.
At one point, someone tweeted this:
I’m halfway across the country but if someone knocked on my door right now I’d pee my pants.
A moment of levity during a very serious, very scary night.
It was the moment I evolved on guns — the moment my support for the 2nd Amendment went from abstract to concrete.
Boston-area residents were told to “shelter-in-place.”
We're asking people to shelter in place. In other words, to stay indoors with their doors locked and not to open their door for anyone other than a properly identified law enforcement officer," said Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick in a press conference in Watertown. "Please understand we have an armed and dangerous person(s) still at large and police actively pursuing every lead in this active emergency event. Please be patient and use common sense until this person(s) are apprehended.
I realized at that moment that the police cannot protect me from the Dzhokhar Tsarnaevs of the world.
The best they can do is tell me to lock myself in my home while they search for the bad guy. Though the residents of Watertown (and the surrounding greater-Boston area) were held in a state of near-martial law, the best most of them could do was huddle in their homes, hoping the police would take their 3 a.m. call and come running to rescue them before the terrorist killed them.
Chris Wallace interviewed Dianne Feinstein on Fox News Sunday about the Boston lockdown and asked her if the million people locked in their homes in Boston might have felt safer with guns.
"Some may have [wanted guns], yes," Feinstein said. "But if where you're going is 'do they need an assault weapon?' I don't think so."
Wallace pressed Feinstien on whether citizens should be able to decide the best way to protect themselves in their homes:
"How about a machine gun then?" Feinstein asked. "We did away with machine guns because of how they're used. I think we should do away with assault weapons because of how they're used...you can use a 12-gauge shotgun and have a good defensive effect and there's the element of surprise." "Now you've got police all over the place in Watertown, so I don't really think this is applicable. I think there are people who want to make this argument," she added.
As I listened to the police scanner during the Boston manhunt, I wasn't thinking about "police all over the place" in the "personal security guard" sense that Feinstein seemed to be implying.
Instead, I imagined a mother huddled in the nursery with her baby. Her husband is out of town and she is also listening to the police scanner, praying the terrorist doesn't burst through her back door.
I imagined an 85-year-old World War II veteran living alone. He fought the Nazis on foot across Europe and his government just instructed him to "shelter-in-place." He turns out the lights in his home and hunches over his radio waiting for updates though the long night.
I wondered if they could protect themselves if the worst happened.
In the middle of that night listening to the Boston police scanner, I evolved.
I realized right then that if I were holed up in my house while a cold-blooded terrorist roamed my neighborhood, I wouldn’t want to be a sitting duck with only a deadbolt lock between me and an armed intruder. There are not enough police and they cannot come to my rescue quickly enough. They carry guns to protect themselves, not me. I knew at that instant if Dzhokhar Tsarnaev showed up at my door while I was “sheltered-in-place” and aimed a gun at my head and only one of us would live, I could pull the trigger.
I’m shopping for guns this week. I’ve been told a 12-gauge shotgun is a good choice for home protection, but I’m open to suggestions.This week Sir David takes another look at the eurozone and dissects the need for a larger rescue fund.
How could one country, Finland, propose to cut its budget by nearly €3bn when other countries were struggling with debts?
Jyrki Katainen, the prime minister of Finland, a country that still holds a AAA rating, tells Sir David how the government is going about it.
"We had to take care of our confidence toward our economy so that's why we had to turn our debt development downward, at the same time we're putting more pressure on growth. We're saying that we have chosen the line of 'growsterity' – austerity measures and growth.
"We needed to go further because our population is ageing very rapidly and that's why we had to take care of our public debt. By adjusting the budget now we can stabilise the debt level to 45 per cent, which is rather good."
Doug Wead, the strategic advisor to Republican candidate Ron Paul, reveals to Sir David his thoughts on the latest twists and turns in the battle for the US presidential nomination.
Also on the show is Phil Zimbardo, the acclaimed psychologist, who discusses the March 11 killings by Robert Bales, a US soldier, of 17 civilians in Afghanistan. Zimbardo talks about it within the context of his study: The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil.
Acid attack survivor stories
Noel Gallagher, the rock 'n roll legend and former musician of the British band Oasis, joins Sir David to discuss his new solo album.
Saving Face, a documentary film which won an Oscar at this year's Academy Award, is about acid attacks in Pakistan and the stories of survivors. Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, the two filmmakers, share with Sir David the reasons why they decided to make the film.
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy: "I knew about acid attacks occurring, you would often see them on the news but I was not aware of the scale…I wasn't aware of what actually happens to women when acid is thrown on their faces and that's why I was intrigued."
Daniel Junge: "It's utterly horrific and it's also very sensational so our remit as filmmakers was to not just dwell on the horror but to try to find the dignity of the survivors, and also to highlight the work of folks like Dr [Mohammad] Jawad who are alleviating this problem, so our job as a filmmaker was to try and find some redemption in this horrific story."
Source: Al JazeeraThe Canadian Museum for Human Rights is looking at whether Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi should be removed from its exhibitions amid widespread allegations of human rights violations against Rohingya Muslims in the predominantly Buddhist nation she leads.
Suu Kyi is featured on the fourth floor of the Winnipeg museum in its Turning Points for Humanity exhibition, alongside Nelson Mandela and the Dalai Lama, as well as on a timeline of human rights moments in history on the museum's second floor.
Raees Ahmed, a Rohingya-Canadian and human rights activist, said that's shameful.
"There is this big, beautiful wall of timeline and people from across the history of the world," Ahmed said. "Out of all these heroes you have Aung San Suu Kyi. It is almost as if [it's] dishonouring these heroes."
More than 600,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar's Rakhine state into Bangladesh since the summer, fleeing military operations the United Nations has described as ethnic cleansing.
Villages have been burned, and Human Rights Watch has accused Myanmar's military of committing widespread rape against Rohingya women and girls.
This week, Amnesty International described the Rohingya Muslims' ordeal in Myanmar as "dehumanizing apartheid."
Aung San Suu Ky is featured on the fourth floor of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in its Turning Points for Humanity exhibition, alongside Nelson Mandela and Malala Yousafzai. (Courtesy the Canadian Museum for Human Rights)
Suu Kyi responded to the international outcry by calling the accusations "fake information" and saying the world is facing instability that leads to new threats, including illegal migration and terrorism.
She was once recognized for her human rights work but is now facing calls for the revocation of her Nobel Peace Prize, and her honorary Canadian citizenship.
"You cannot put [her] in a museum where people will walk past and read it — and children will go and read it, and they will learn that and they will take that as, 'These are the heroes … these are the people I look up to.' No. Unacceptable," Ahmed said.
Spokeswoman Rhea Yates said the museum wants to use the exhibition as a teaching opportunity.
"Our exhibit is about honorary Canadian citizens [and] the government of Canada has given that honour to six people, so she is there as one of the people who has been given that honour," said Yates.
"We recognize that it appears incongruous to a visitor now."
She said the museum has engaged people on the issue on Facebook, and they have staff positioned in the gallery to speak to anyone they notice "stopping or slowing down in front of her picture" about the current situation in Myanmar.
Rohingya refugees reach for food at Kutupalong refugee camp in Ukhiya near the Bangladesh-Myanmar border, on Aug. 30. (AFP/Getty Images)
"This controversy is an opportunity to have a dialogue with our visitors about how to deal with this incongruity," said Yates.
"We have not talked about removing the exhibit but what we've talked about is, 'How do we make the situation in Myanmar more front and centre?'"
On Thursday, museum officials said they were in the process of looking at whether changes should be made but, so far, there were no plans to remove Suu Kyi from its exhibitions.
Mohammed Tayeb, a member of Winnipeg's small Rohingya community, said having Suu Kyi honoured in the museum is absolutely wrong.
"In my opinion, she's a politician," he said. "From the beginning she was silent about the Rohingya… She should be removed from the museum."
Yates acknowledged the Rohingya people themselves may be deserving of a place in the museum.
"We don't have an exhibit plan, but the story about the Rohingya fits with many of the other kinds of stories that we currently tell in our… gallery focused on atrocities," she said.
"Certainly what the Rohingya have experienced is an atrocity."Rickie Weeks is not pleased with his reduced role. Credit: Reuters
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Brewers veteran second baseman Rickie Weeks is not happy about the dramatic reduction in playing time he is experiencing.
Trying to remain a team player, Weeks is not interested in popping off about it, however.
"It is what it is, I guess," Weeks said Wednesday. "I don't want it like this. I'm just going to hush my mouth about it."
Accustomed to playing regularly when healthy since coming up to the big leagues during the 2005 season, Weeks is being used in a platoon with Scooter Gennett at second base by manager Ron Roenicke. Because Weeks is the right-handed part of that platoon and only starts against lefties, his playing time has been dramatically reduced.
In the Brewers' first 15 games, Weeks made four starts. He has 21 at-bats compared to 36 for Gennett. To this point, Weeks has not adjusted to getting irregular at-bats, hitting.143 with no runs batted in. He has one extra-base hit, a double, and is 0 for 6 as a pinch hitter, including a strikeout with the bases loaded and one down Wednesday against St. Louis.
"It has been (difficult)," said Weeks. "But I don't want to say too much about it. I feel good right now (at the plate). It's just that at-bats are kind of far between. You've got to stay aggressive but sometimes it's hard to stay aggressive with one at-bat."
Weeks put himself in jeopardy by falling off badly at the plate the last two seasons. Then, when Weeks was lost for the rest of the 2013 season in early August with a hamstring tear, Gennett took over at second base and performed well, batting.324 and handling defensive duties with aplomb.
Any thought the Brewers might have of getting rid of Weeks was tossed aside because of an $11 million salary this season that other clubs would not want to pick up. He made some adjustments at the plate in the spring and swung the bat much better but that has not carried over to part-time play during the season.
Roenicke admitted it has been difficult to get Weeks going at the plate with so few opportunities. Accordingly, there's no way to know if the platoon is going to work at this stage.
"I see him (in batting practice) and he still looks good," said Roenicke. "But somewhere along the line you need to have that feeling and get some hits and feel confident, and then hopefully that carries you for a long spell.
"There are a lot of platoon systems that work really well. The guy who is the right-handed hitter, he's the one who's got the games where you might not play for two weeks."
So, how is Roenicke going to get Weeks going at the plate, particularly if he's only going to start against lefties?
"It may be difficult," said Roenicke. "We're trying to win as many games as we can, and I have to figure out who are the best guys to put out there that day. It's difficult on some of them.
"It's no different than a guy who is playing ever single day (in the minors). He comes to the big leagues and now he's a bench player. It's the same thing."
Asked if he has talked to the quiet Weeks about the situation, Roenicke said, "We talk about what I have planned, what I'm thinking. But I don't go past that too much."
Braun needs day off: The ongoing issue with Ryan Braun's ailing right thumb is going to lead to periodic off-days and Wednesday was one of them. Braun did not have very good swings Tuesday, was 1 for 8 in the series and 5 for 20 on the homestand with no RBI.
"We try to do what we can to get him better for the next day," said Roenicke.
Roenicke said he processes both what he sees and what Braun communicates to him about his thumb when deciding when a day off is appropriate. Braun has sat out twice due to the thumb, including a game in Boston.
Gorzelanny not close: Left-hander Tom Gorzelanny, who opened the season on the disabled list after undergoing off-season shoulder surgery, likely won't be back for several weeks. He recently had a promising bullpen session in Phoenix but must progress to throwing to hitters before going out on a minor-league rehab assignment.
Reliever Brandon Kintzler, on the other hand, is expected to be ready to pitch when eligible to come off the DL on April 24 (an off-day). Sidelined with a slight rotator cuff strain, Kintzler played catch for the first time before the game and said it went well.
"There was a little rust from not throwing for so long," said Kintzler. "Other than that, it felt good."Earlier today, @level30yinzer tweeted the following…
Aight, help me out: I need ideas for alternate goals in combat besides “kill da monsters.” #dnd thoughts?
…I was just thinking of this not too long ago when I dropped in on what would be Episode 12 of the DM Round Table podcast. Tracy (@sarahdarkmagic) had mentioned one (killing the Leader to stop minions from attacking) and at the time I started thinking more about this.
I think skill challenges in a combat encounter are one of the first places to start. Here are some quick ideas based on encounters I have run…
1) Arresting the Sheriff:
For the first example, I will illustrate an event from my first 4e campaign. The players had discovered a number of things a particular sheriff was doing illegally. He was a very corrupt individual, but had been able to keep these things discreet for some time. Eventually, the Sheriff was hunting them down, and had even made an attempt on their lives by way of some of his fellow shady soldiers. Everything came to a head in town when the players were approached by the Sheriff and a number of his soldiers (some of them good, some not so much). Were the players to be captured, they were sure they would be killed in prison by the Sheriff, so they knew they had a fight on their hands… unless they could convince some of the more legit soldiers they had evidence of his corruption. The skill challenge was on, and it was a lot of fun – players shouting at the Sheriff evidence they had, all the while the soldiers looked at each other, unsure of who they should be arresting. They made their case well enough that the Sheriff commanded his men (who would listen) to attack. There was a fight, but now the players had some numbers on their side (the good soldiers). Had they done better in the challenge, it was possible that the soldiers backing the Sheriff might have turned on him to protect themselves.
Goal: Convince the Sheriffs men to arrest the Sheriff without getting arrested yourself
2) Crossing the Gap:
Sometimes, combatants can be used simply as a distraction (albeit one that hurts) to some other task. I recall my players trying to cross a large chasm underground in carts suspended from cables. Just within range, various archers were firing on them. It was a challenge to get across the chasm, and while the incoming archer damage was not too heavy, it could kill them if they decided to fully stop and try an engage the enemy – especially when the melee characters were essentially useless.
Goal: Cross the chasm while sustaining as little damage as possible
3) Split the Party! (Kind of)
: Another encounter I ran had two paths through a dungeon separated by a deep chasm some 10 squares wide. Along each of these paths at various points there were doors (on both sides) that had to be opened simultaneously. The party needed to have someone on each side, so this offered the first challenge – how do we split the party effectively. The great thing was while they were split, they could still see each other, so they knew the ranged classes could help either side. The second challenge was having to decide (at each set of doors) who would attempt to open the door (various skills used in mini skill challenges) and who would defend that person.
Goal: Open doors separated by a distance, simultaneously
4) Playing Defense:
I ran a one-off at one point where the PC’s needed to break through a massive door, but did not have the power themselves to do it (it was really big). However, there were two mech-style suits there, used by Dwarves who would climb inside and use the enhanced strength of them to lift massive stones. So, the players needed to navigate the suits while trying to use them to break down this stone door. The other PC’s had to defend the two players in the suits. The key to the encounter was that their enemy very much feared what was on the other side of the door, so they fought to stop the PC’s, but the more of the door that was destroyed, the more the PC’s saw some of their enemies flee in terror.
Goal: Break down the door to send the enemies fleeing.
5) Playing Defense (Reversed):
Another way to approach this is the reverse method. I ran an encounter where an airship the players were on (held aloft via a number of magical sheathed tubes) was attacked by Kenku. Some of the Kenku went right for the tubes, looking to uncover them and thus cause the power to increase at such a rate it would send the sheep veering off course, or plummeting down. The others defended those troublemakers.
Goal: Simply keep the ship in the air long enough to escape the city/enemies.
6) Behind Enemy Lines
In another encounter my players were in an old, dilapidated fort occupied by thugs and thieves who were under the control of a very charismatic leader (one they befriended eventually). At this point though they were not yet trusted in this place and were not allowed beyond the first floor, but they wanted to get to the top floor some 4 floors above. Some NPC’s provided enough distraction for them to slip away. These NPC’s also handed them some bottles of alcohol saying only “you will need these”. Their ascent to the top floor involved almost no combat (and when it did they had to be fast and as quiet about it as possible) and it involved almost no killing (there was one death they could not avoid it seemed). The rest of it was careful role-playing, and handing out of alcohol to those who they thought they could bribe into letting them pass, etc.
Goal: Get to the top floor quietly, with the least amount of combat possible
More Ideas…
Destroy/Stop the “Device”
This is a pretty common theme – during a fight, you must destroy a device (often times this theme plays out as stopping the bad guy from casting a ritual, etc). What you could do, however, is tie a “device” to the power of the enemies, or even let it be the one thing that allows them to fight at all. For example, you might have a complex magical device that powers a number of constructs. There could be so many enemies that in fact if they do not stop the device, the fight they face is more than likely too overwhelming – BUT – if they DO stop the device, their enemies fall to the ground helpless.
Capture
This is pretty straight forward. Of course, you can choose not to (on a killing blow) kill an enemy, and instead incapacitate them. The way we generally do this is that when you drop an enemy, you need to follow that up (before the end of your turn) with a “I just want to knock them out” etc. If the next player has gone before you realize you forgot to say it, well, the enemy is dead. This is not my rule, but essentially it is how my players have played it. Another way you could do this is to tell your players they need to call (ahead of time) when they are “pulling a punch”. Perhaps when they do that, their attack damage is reduced by 1 or two points per level (for example) but only then will an enemy be incapacitated if they are dropped from said hit, etc.
Kill the Leader
As Tracy had mentioned, this is a good one. Especially when dealing with enemies who are not that intelligent, they may quickly give in when their true muscle is put down.
Convince the Leader
It might be that the leader of the enemies is known to be a reasonable person – enough so that during combat, a player might dedicate some of their actions to try and convince the leader to stand down.
Take the Throne
Simply getting to a specific location in an encounter might end a fight. For example, imagine a throne room full of goblins. The fight ensues, but at some point a PC (making a proper nature check perhaps) determines that these Goblins revere the throne as having power of it’s own. So much power in fact that it would allow only their true leader to sit in it… so any player sitting in the chair could end the fight immediately with the goblins dropping to their knees, bowing. This might seem like giving the PC’s a lot of power, but at any point you want to pull that back, the true leader could arrive and command them into action, snapping them out of their stupidity.
Surrender!
You might have a situation where the PC’s are outnumbered by an intelligent enemy. They fight this enemy, but it is obvious they are fighting a loosing battle. It might be at this point that a PC (making a proper check of course) remembers that these people firmly believe that an enemy that surrenders in the face of certain death, should be respected and given a chance to speak their case (to parley in other words). In fact, the PC’s might know this ahead of time, and choose to march right into the center of a large group or army even, and surrender, demanding to speak to the ultimate authority.
Final Thoughts
It’s an unpopular comparison, but think about various video game examples. Many of them have different puzzles, or non combat challenges that can be implemented into a combat encounter, or can have combat elements applied to them. Don’t be afraid to consider ideas from other sources such as this when looking for ideas.
Anyway, these were just a few ideas I had at the moment, but there really are a ton of ways to approach alternate “win” scenarios in a combat encounter.Congratulations! If you’re reading this, then there’s a good chance you’re in the fantasy football playoff semifinals. No matter how much luck you think is involved, it takes immeasurable skill and advanced probability-based decision making to help you get here. This week’s goal is focused on one thing: going to the ‘ship. With that in mind, let’s examine the Week 15 landscape with a microscope on key players.
Find me on Twitter @eweiner_bball if you’d like any lineup questions answered personally.
Starts Record: 115/174 (66.09%)
Sits Record: 113/155 (72.9%)
Sleeper Record: 39/68 (57.4%)
*Note: These statistics do not include injured players or players who are essentially a wash and did not really help you or hurt you if you started them.
**Assume.5 PPR scoring for any reference to a player’s season-long ranking or in-week ranking
Quarterback
Start: Jimmy Garoppolo vs. Tennessee
For once, it looks like the Patriots made a mistake in trading away one of their homegrown talents. Garoppolo already looks like a top-half quarterback despite throwing to a mediocre receiving group behind a bad offensive line. With back to back games over 290 passing yards, Jimmy G has displayed a safe floor despite playing both games on the road. Now he gets to travel home in an above-average matchup and his floor/ceiling combination is aided by the Niners bottom-tier defense. It might not feel comfortable in the fantasy semifinals, but I’m treating Garoppolo as a legit top-14 option with the season on the line.
Start: Blake Bortles vs. Houston
It feels even tougher to stomach starting Blake Bortles when you’re in win-now mode, but he’s been quietly balling of late. The per-game QB6 over the last four weeks, Bortles has juiced his floor by averaging five carries per game since the team’s bye. With rookies Leonard Fournette and Dede Westbrook now in tow, Bortles has playmakers with the ability to raise his weekly ceiling. Houston is giving up the third-most points to quarterbacks, but crucially has also allowed the seventh-most rushing yards and (tied for) the third-most rushing touchdowns to the position. Houston ranks 6th in run defense DVOA but 18th against the pass, providing a pass-funnel situation Bortles should be able to exploit.
Other Recommended Starts:
–Cam Newton vs. Green Bay: Green Bay has allowed the sixth-worst YPA to quarterbacks this year (7.3) and just allowed DeShone Kizer‘s first career three-touchdown game. Cam is running so much these days and proved last week his legs are matchup-proof to a certain extent. He’s a top-6 play this week and should be a popular DFS option with Aaron Rodgers on the other side of the ball.
Sit: Alex Smith vs. Los Angeles Chargers
Smith was a penalty and a dropped touchdown away from having a much better game last week, but regardless he’s become more of a floor option with only two top-12 performances since Week 7. Los Angeles allows a paltry 5.9 YPA (tied for second in the league) and has permitted the third-fewest points to opposing quarterbacks. Smith only managed 155 passing yards when these teams met in Week 3 and the Chargers defense has improved considerably since then. He’s a 2QB-league-only option this week.
Sit: Andy Dalton @ Minnesota
Prior to last week’s dud, Dalton had quietly been playing well of late. He had strung together four consecutive multi-touchdown games, but last week served as a healthy reminder that Dalton still has a low floor playing in a mediocre offense with a terrible offensive line. At this point I’m still open to streaming Dalton at home against Detroit in Week 16, but Minnesota has been a bottom-five matchup for quarterbacks all year and Dalton is likely to face pressure throughout the game. He’s a tough sell even in 2QB leagues.
Sleepers/Streamers:
–Joe Flacco @ Cleveland: Quietly the QB14 and QB8 over the last two weeks, Flacco and Baltimore have indeed started to “open up the offense” just like Flacco pined for several weeks ago. One of Flacco’s four multi-touchdown games came against this same Browns defense in Week 2 and the offense should continue to move the ball well with Alex Collins churning. Brett Hundley threw for 265 yards and three touchdowns in the same spot last week and Flacco is better than Hundley. He’s a fine 2QB-league start this week.
Wide Receiver
Start: Marquise Goodwin vs. Tennessee
Goodwin has officially graduated from streamer to upside WR3 as Jimmy Garoppolo‘s clearcut favorite target. Per FantasyLabs, in Jimmy G’s first start he led the team with a 21.6% target market share, and then did the same last week with an impressive 37.5% share. Labeled as only a deep threat earlier in his career, Goodwin is flashing on tape as someone who can win intermediate routes and is dangerous after the catch. Tennessee ranks 27th in pass defense DVOA and has allowed the 11th-most points to the position. Hat tip to Twitter user @JohnnyVolk for this, but Goodwin impressively has more receiving yards than Dez Bryant, Mike Evans, Alshon Jeffery and Demaryius Thomas this season. Goodwin is firmly on the WR2 radar this week, pairing a newfound floor with big play upside.
Start: Devin Funchess vs. Green Bay
Funchess delivered in a tough matchup with Xavier Rhodes last week, posting a 3/59/1 line on seven targets. Now he gets a much easier matchup against the Packers joke of a secondary which will be without its two top corners. Green Bay has allowed the fifth-most yards and third-most touchdowns to opposing receivers, offering Funchess multiple avenues to points. Funchess has seen at least six targets in every game since Week 1 and has delivered double-digit fantasy points in five straight weeks. This game has one of the higher implied point totals on the week (47) with Aaron Rodgers back on the other side of the ball.
Other Recommended Starts:
–Michael Crabtree vs. Dallas: Going back to the well here even with the Raiders offense looking somewhat broken. Crabtree saw a season-high 13 targets last week and with Amari Cooper (ankle) on the wrong side of questionable, he should be in line for similar volume again. No team has allowed more touchdowns to receivers than the Cowboys.
–Josh Gordon vs. Baltimore: Gordon delivered last week and could’ve had a much bigger week if not for a DPI that went uncalled on a potential 50-yard touchdown. Kizer has shown the willingness to feed him targets down the field and Baltimore is no longer a shy-away matchup without top corner Jimmy Smith.
–Dede Westbrook vs. Houston: Westbrook is averaging 8.25 targets per game through his first four career starts, while his yardage totals have trended 35>41>78>81. Houston, meanwhile, has given up the seventh-most points to wide receivers. Westbrook’s big play ability gives him week-winning appeal.
Sit: T.Y. Hilton vs. Denver
Outside of a dud against Tennesee and a touchdown in Jacksonville, it’s been relatively easy for us to identify Hilton’s spiked weeks, of which there’ve only been three. This does not project to be his fourth against a Denver defense that, per Rotoworld’s Rich Hribar, is allowing the fewest receptions per game to receivers. Hilton has only ranked in the top-2o on three separate occasions this year and has too low of a floor to be comfortable using in the playoffs in this tough matchup.
Sit: Mike Evans vs. Atlanta
Ok, so I get it if you don’t have the luxury of sitting someone with a ceiling like Mike Evans. But where has that ceiling gone? Merely the WR26 on the year, Evans hasn’t once surpassed 19 points so far this season (.5 PPR). Perhaps more concerning, Evans has seen season-low target totals of six and five over the last two weeks. Per Adam Levitan, Detroit used top corner Darius Slay to shadow DeSean Jackson instead of Evans, implying the team wasn’t threatened by the stud receiver. Considering Evans’ meager 2/25 line, it seems the Lions were right. Perhaps Evans has an undisclosed injury that’s limiting his explosiveness, but something just doesn’t seem right here. Oh, and Atlanta has a true top corner in Desmond Trufant and has allowed the seventh-fewest points to receivers this year. Now, we know Evans is still capable of blowing up, so don’t go sitting him for someone like Zay Jones or Tyler Lockett. But if you have someone in the WR2/3 range who offers a safe floor (like Goodwin, for example), it’s not crazy to play them over Evans.
Other Recommended Sits:
–Josh Doctson vs. Arizona: Hello, Patrick Peterson.
Sleepers/Streamers:
–Mike Wallace @ Cleveland: The WR28 over the last four weeks, Wallace has strung together a nice floor/ceiling combo with at least 50 yards and/or a touchdown in four of his last five. With Flacco playing better, Wallace should have a shot at corralling a few deep passes or two. He’s a boom/bust WR3 for this week.
–Randall Cobb @ Carolina: This is admittedly a shot in the dark considering all the uncertainty in Green Bay, but it’s more than possible Cobb was dropped in your league. If you’re desperate, Carolina has allowed the 7th-most receiving touchdowns on the year.
Running Back
Start: Alex Collins @ Cleveland
Simply too hot to bench right now, Collins is deserving of legitimate RB1 discussion. The per-game RB4 over the past four weeks, Collins runs with a ferocity and never-give-up attitude that is giving defenses fits. Having rushed for a touchdown and/or at least 60 yards in five of his last six, Collins has a rock-solid floor to pair with a ceiling that typically appears in positive game scripts. As seven-point favorites and going against the league’s most turnover-prone quarterback, Collins should have plenty of carries to work with. After losing DE Emmanuel Ogbah (foot), Cleveland’s once-staunch run defense has begun to slip in recent weeks. Fire up Collins and don’t look back.
Start: Alfred Morris @ Oakland
Rod Smith understandably got all the glory last week, but it was Morris who won the touch battle 22-11 and notably set a season-high with three catches. The Raiders have allowed the 13th-most fantasy points to running backs and just revived Kareem Hunt‘s stagnant season. Unless you have elite options, it’s pretty tough to pass on 20+ running back touches behind a good offensive line. Dallas enters this game as three-point road favorites and this game has a solid 46 point total. Morris is a high-floor RB2 option before Zeke returns in Week 16.
Other Recommended Starts:
–Carlos Hyde vs. Tennessee: Despite holding running backs to the sixth-fewest fantasy points on the year, Tennessee ranks a middling 15th in run defense DVOA and has now allowed the most receiving yards to opposing running backs. If Jimmy G continues to move the ball well at home, which I’m expecting, Hyde should have a few opportunities to punch one in. San Francisco leads the league in pace and is actually favored by two. He’s on the upper end of the RB2 spectrum this week.
Sit: Lamar Miller @ Jacksonville
Miller was in a gorgeous matchup last week and had been the king of consistency all year long, so of course he flopped with his worst game of the season. Houston simply struggles to run block and Miller no longer creates many yards on his own, a terrible combo for rushing efficiency. Now he faces a Jacksonville defense that has tightened the running game screws since adding difference-making NT Marcel Dareus at the trade deadline. Houston enters this game as 10.5-point road underdogs which projects terrible game script for someone like Miller who lives off pure volume. He’s more of a flex option than a surefire RB2 this week.
Sit: Doug Martin vs. Atlanta
Martin was given the start last week because head coach Dirk Koetter doesn’t believe in players losing their starting spots to injuries |
investment.
It also qualifies the region for coordinated support for the region's long-term economic development strategies from 11 federal agencies that are partners in the initiative.
Key projects for an infusion of investment include:
■ A Century City Advanced Manufacturing Training Center in the 30th Street Industrial Corridor.
■ An Energy Innovation Center in the former Eaton Corp. Technology Center, now known as Century City Tower. The innovation center, which has already landed its first tenant, aims to attract business-academia research collaborations as well as entrepreneurs seeking to launch start-up companies serving the energy and power sector.
"Hopefully this will lead to grants that flow that enable investments that develop innovation, and opportunity and new jobs for Milwaukee," said Alan Perlstein, executive director of the Mid-West Energy Research Consortium and a co-author of the grant application.
The goal of the federal program is to spur communities to work in a coordinated fashion on long-term economic development strategies to attract and expand private investment in the manufacturing sector and increase exports.
Reception
At a City Hall news conference, Mayor Tom Barrett praised an "amazing team effort" that collaborated on the application. He called the designation recognition from the White House and other federal agencies that "Milwaukee plays a critical role in the future of manufacturing in this country."
"It's about jobs, it's about creating new opportunities for workers in our region," Barrett said.
The Century City training center would be in the central part of the city, an area suffering from high unemployment. Barrett said Century City should help people living nearby who need jobs, and will ultimately benefit the entire region.
Linda Stewart, chief operating officer of the Milwaukee Area Workforce Investment Board, said as more job opportunities in the fields of water, energy and food manufacturing become available, there will be a need for more job training.
"This gives us an unprecedented opportunity to access resources from multiple federal agencies, to increase our regional collaboration, which is already strong, and to make sure that for the long term, we can produce more jobs and help our city become economically even stronger," she said.
The application required regional partners, including businesses such as Johnson Controls, DRS Technologies and LEM US, as well as M-WERC, the Water Council and Food and Beverage Milwaukee, the M7 and the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. to provide data underscoring the region's strengths and growth opportunities in the area of advanced manufacturing.
"It showed we are the strongest in electrical machines, energy power and control, along with water and food and beverage," said Perlstein. "And that these will be the growth engines for Milwaukee and the region."
Those are the clusters M7 has been working to grow, and O'Brien said that the selection announced Wednesday marked "a validation that those are the right strategies and that somebody else sees...we're moving along the path."
Other initiatives that the Milwaukee region suggested it would pursue include a business accelerator for Food and Beverage Milwaukee, as well as an effort to boost exports by small and midsize manufacturers and attract more foreign direct investment. Other goals include reduction of highway and airport congestion and expansion of the port's export capacity.
In a statement, Gov. Scott Walker praised the M7 and region for its work to win the designation.
"This is a testament to the comprehensive work Milwaukee 7 is doing to develop our workforce, grow our economy, and create jobs," he said. "This designation will help boost economic development in the Transform Milwaukee area, and all of southeastern Wisconsin, which will have a positive impact on our great state."
Federal guidance
Besides preference in applying for federal money, the designation means Milwaukee will get "coordinated support from the federal agencies in the grant application process," O'Brien said. "My reading of that is we'll get a better, closer sense of direction from when grants are announced to help guide us through the process."
Being selected among 70 competing regions is a victory, but more important is the advantage of having experts within the federal bureaucracy coach Milwaukee as it maneuvers through the often-complicated grant-application process, said Dean Amhaus, president and CEO of The Water Council, which aims to position Milwaukee as a center of water engineering and research.
Among U.S. metro areas with a minimum of 500,000 nonfarm jobs, metro Milwaukee consistently shows up with the second highest share of its workforce in manufacturing, behind San Jose, Calif. Wisconsin, meanwhile, vies with Indiana in leading the nation in the share of its workforce in manufacturing.
The designation will be in effect for two years, and the region will be eligible to reapply after that, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.Former Fredericton police officer Cherie Campbell is appealing the December decision of a Court of Queen's Bench justice to uphold her firing.
Campbell was fired on Jan. 6, 2016, after an arbitrator in a New Brunswick Police Commission disciplinary hearing ruled she was guilty of discreditable conduct for attempting to steal $20 worth of makeup from Marden's Surplus and Salvage in Houlton, Maine, in 2014, and attempting to gain favour from investigating police officers in Maine by telling them she too was a police officer.
Campbell sought a judicial review of the arbitrator's ruling, but Justice Paulette Garnett ruled in December that the arbitrator's findings were reasonable and upheld Campbell's firing from the force.
Now Campbell is appealing Garnett's ruling to the province's highest court, the New Brunswick Court of Appeal.
According to the notice of appeal, Campbell's lawyers will argue Garnett erred in finding the firing was a reasonable penalty.
Lawyers T.J. Burke and Michael Lacy are asking that the finding of discreditable conduct be overturned, that Campbell be acquitted and reinstated as a member of the Fredericton Police Force.
Burke said neither he nor his client would comment.
The office of Fredericton police Chief Leanne Fitch, who initiated the police commission disciplinary process, also declined to comment.
Another Fredericton police officer, Const. Jeffrey Smiley, was ordered reinstated with retroactive pay for almost a year on Dec. 13 after a judicial review ruled police commission arbitrator Cedric Haines hadn't given sufficient reasons for Smiley's firing.Activision is reportedly spending $500 million on Destiny — and the giant publisher could be making a profit on it by the end of the year.
The sci-fi online shooter could be the biggest video game of the year when it launches in September, based on an analysis of cumulative video game preoders by Cowen Research analyst Doug Creutz. Destiny online shooter game could sell 10 million to 15 million copies, or roughly $600 million to $900 million at retail, which would give it a chance to be the top-selling game of the year.
The analysis is based on Cowen’s Ordometer, which tracks U.S. video game orders before launch and then correlates the result to sales after launch. The analysis is backed by six years of Amazon bestseller data and NPD’s reported physical sales of games. Cowen measures the data every week from the Electronic Entertainment Expo to the end of the year for both Xbox and PlayStation consoles. The results paint an estimate of preorders and are a bit surprising given our own lackluster impressions of Destiny’s recent alpha test.
Creutz said in his report that Destiny has the highest Ordometer score of any game tracked over the past four years, and it could even outsell Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, which Activision plans to launch in November. Call of Duty is tracking in-line with Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, which had a slow preorder start in 2012 but went on to be the highest-selling game in the series’ history. So the “overall trajectory of Advanced Warfare remains up for debate,” Creutz wrote. The fate of Advanced Warfare will be determined in the next few weeks of preorders.
Meanwhile, Creutz said the analysis showed that Electronic Arts’ Battlefield Hardline is unlikely to sell well. That means Creutz favors Activision as a stock over EA at the moment. He said the Ordometer score for EA’s cops-and-robbers version of its shooter franchise is just a fraction of where Battlefield 3 and Battlefield 4 were in 2011 and 2013, respectively. It is roughly in line with Medal of Honor: Warfighter, a disappointing title from 2012.
Meanwhile, the score for EA’s Dragon Age: Inquisition looks more promising. At the same time, he said preorders are that game are “well but not wildly well.” He estimates the game could sell 3 million to 4 million copies worldwide.
The next-generation console version of Grand Theft Auto V, coming this fall from Take-Two Interactive’s Rockstar Games, should boost the demand for the first-person shooter category. GTA V has become one of the best-selling games of all time, with more than 33 million copies sold on last-generation consoles. GTA V could also offset expected “soft sales” for Take-Two’s Evolve and Borderlands: The Presequel. Creutz thinks those will fall victim to this year’s “shooter glut.”
Cowen believes that GTA V preorders have slowed after E3, with next-generation sales of single-digit millions versus the 8 million to 10 million that seemed possible just after E3. Lastly, Creutz said Ubisoft is in a strong position with Assassin’s Creed: Unity pacing ahead of franchise pre-orders for the last three years, and Far Cry 4 also seeing strong advance interest. However, he said Ubisoft’s The Crew appears likely to be “dead on arrival.”WOKV was the first to tell you that Jacksonville’s red light cameras weren’t seeing the promised results when it comes to your safety.
Our initial investigation uncovered that many of the intersections monitored by red light cameras were actually seeing a rise in crashes after the cameras were installed. Specifically, the number of rear end crashes is up nearly across-the-board. You can find a full breakdown of those numbers attached to the left.
Following my investigation and detailed records request, Jacksonville Sheriff John Rutherford called together all local media stations to address the performance of cameras, and admitted to the mixed bag of results so far. He says that’s not, however, entirely unexpected.
Rear end collision rise
Records we obtained show that among the crashes taking place at intersections monitored by red light cameras, there has been a nearly across-the-board increase in rear end crashes. Among that, some of the increases are substantial, like a 43 crash/105% increase at Baymeadows and Southside and 30 crash/103% increase at Atlantic and Monument. The statistics compare the same amount of time before and after camera installation.
Rutherford says the increase isn’t entirely unexpected.
“That’s kind of been the history of video red light enforcement all over the country,” he says.
He says with time he thinks more drivers will adapt and rear end crashes will fall.
“People got used to running the red light, and now when somebody in front of them stops, they’re surprised,” he says.
I pointed out, however, that some of the cameras which have been in place the longest are the ones seeing the most substantial increases, but the Sheriff attributes that to the higher volume of traffic at the intersections to begin with. When I further asked whether red light cameras can, in fact, be effective at those intersections, he still said yes.
The high point
The one thing Rutherford is hanging on to right now is that, among the crashes occurring, many intersections have seen a fall in side impact- which are typically the more dangerous form of crash.
In fact, I asked Rutherford what he would have to see to begin questioning whether the red light camera program isn’t working.
“If side impacts went up, I would agree at some point we need to look at whether it’s worth the investment of even two officers,” he says.
The records obtained by WOKV show that while most of the intersections have seen a drop in side impact, some have seen a rise including a 10 crash/43% increase at Beach and Southside and 7 crash/78% increase at Beach and I-295. I asked the Sheriff what could be done to stop that rise, and he said he didn’t believe there was anything to do specifically with this program
“There is no silver bullet to traffic crashes,” Rutherford says.
He says the number of people running red lights is down and that is a clear indication that intersections are safer. Rutherford didn’t refute, however, when I said seeing the mixed showed not everywhere was safer. There was also no information immediately available on whether the number of crash fatalities has changed since cameras were installed.
Counting on you
Rutherford says, from JSO’s perspective, there are efforts to improve driver education that can be done. He says in light of the numbers shown in WOKV’s investigation, they are trying to step up some education efforts. In fact, over the last two weeks that I’ve been requesting information relating to this investigation, JSO has launched a weekly “Red Light Runner” awareness video where they post a violation on their YouTube page.
“That’s the message [to drivers], stop at the intersection,” he says.
When Rutherford said that was their main push right now, I asked why he expected drivers to obey that message more consistently now when they haven’t for the past year and a half since the first cameras went up. He says he hopes drivers are starting to let fewer distractions interfere while behind the wheel, and that will help.
He also hopes to see drivers be cautious not just when approaching intersections, but when sitting at a red light as well. He’s calling on you to be sure the intersection is clear even after you have a green light to ensure you won’t be faced with a red light runner. The Sheriff’s Office is hoping to see crash avoidance technology installed at several intersections, but has no timeline for when that will be completed.
There was little much else offered when I continued to press for any specific changes that could come in order to make the cameras safer. There are currently three more cameras slated to be installed in Jacksonville. Rutherford instead said they are consistently coming up with ideas that could increase awareness.
Cost to you
Without many clear changes being offered, I asked Rutherford whether this was, in fact, the best investment for your safety.
Jacksonville tax payers didn’t foot the bill for installing the cameras, and according to Rutherford the contract with the third party vendor is designed so that if there is no revenue coming from the cameras, Jacksonville is not on the hook. The Sheriff’s Office does, however, have three officers who review all of the footage of violations to make sure a red light was actually run.
Paying for the salaries, benefits, etc for those officers comes out of the JSO budget- money that could alternatively be committed to officers on the street.
“If we save one or two lives, that’s worth the cost of a couple of light duty officers,” he says.
Moving forward
For now, and until side impact numbers show any significant change, Rutherford says he still fully supports the red light camera program. Following our investigation, he says there will be more education efforts to encourage drivers to obey the law, but he would not support efforts to stop installing cameras or shut down the ones that are on.
We’ve requested more information about the length of the current contract with the red light camera provider to see how long Jacksonville has already committed to this program. We’ll update you as that information becomes available.
We also want to know what you think about the program and the Sheriff’s response. Send an “Open Mic” through our new app available for free download on iPhone and Android devices. You can also weigh in on our Facebook. You can also contact me directly at stephanie.brown@coxinc.com.Andy Fancher, 18, interviews WWII U.S. Navy veteran Bob Gagnon, 92, on July 13, 2017, in Mansfield, Texas. Fancher has filmed countless hours of interviews with war veterans, including more than 30 WWII veterans.
MANSFIELD, Texas (Tribune News Service) — Andy Fancher walked through the front door of yet another stranger’s home last week, eager to meet the 52nd subject for his documentary series.
The 18-year-old wore braces and slicked back hair. He arrived from his home in Duncanville, Texas, carrying a bag of equipment, including two LED bulbs, tripods and a $1,200 camera.
“There he is,” Fancher said, his voice loud and welcoming as he met Norman Gagnon at the door. “Is this the man of the hour?”
Gagnon goes by Bob. He’s a 92-year-old World War II veteran from Massachusetts who served in the Navy from 1942 to 1946. Three months ago, he moved from California to his grandson’s home in Mansfield after the recent deaths of his wife, daughter, son and nephew.
When it comes to war, Gagnon talks about his experiences only when asked.
That’s why Fancher is here. In his free time, the home-schooled high school senior records testimonies of veterans, mostly from WWII, then edits the videos and puts them on his YouTube channel, Andy Fancher Presents.
“I’m preserving their stories,” Fancher says. “In 10 years, we may not have these guys to tell their stories anymore.”
Gagnon sat quietly while Fancher organized the set. He was impressed with all the professional equipment and excited to share his experiences overseas. More important, he was surprised that a complete stranger — a teenager — was interested in recording his story.
Soon, the interview would begin, and Fancher would learn about Gagnon’s upbringing before the war. He’d learn what kamikazes sound like as they fall from the sky, and that Gagnon once saw a torpedo surging through the water.
But before all of that, as Fancher tinkered with the lighting and tested the microphones, Gagnon started the interview with a question of his own.
“What prompted you to do this?”
A sparked interest
It all started with the great-grandfather Fancher never met.
Fancher was 9 and looking through family photos when he stumbled on a black-and-white picture of a man in military uniform. Fancher had never seen it before. On the back of the photo it said, “Italy 1945.” This was Fancher’s great-grandfather Gene T. Fancher, who served in the Army during World War II.
Gene died in 1970. Very few people in Fancher’s family knew much about his time overseas. Fancher had questions: What was life like before the war? Did he ever see combat? Was he scared?
But there were no answers.
“If someone had interviewed my great-grandfather, that would’ve been very significant for me to have today, to hear his firsthand account of the war,” Fancher said.
That sparked an interest in the 9-year-old to learn as much as he could about WWII. He watched films, read books and collected memorabilia.
But at 16, Fancher realized that the very people who lived during this historical period were dying. So he bought an expensive camera and created a YouTube channel. He would seek veterans and record their stories before it was too late.
A year and a half later, Fancher has now interviewed 52 veterans, both during the school year and summer break. He spends his free time editing the interviews, which last an average of two hours, then mixes in music and WWII footage. The final copy is a YouTube video cut to roughly five minutes. He also writes a short Facebook post on his page about each veteran.
The hardest part of this process is finding veterans. Fancher has driven as far as College Station to record a testimony and relies on word of mouth and referrals to conduct more interviews in the Dallas area.
His most popular video, featuring John Ferris, has roughly 1,000 views. Fancher’s friends never watch the series. Neither does a large portion of his family. He’d love it if more people were interested, but that’s not what’s most important right now.
Five veterans Fancher has interviewed have died since he started the project. Ferris passed away 12 days after filming.
“Capturing these stories now is very important,” he said.
Fancher calls all his veterans on Christmas. He grew so close to Carl Matthews, a WWII Marine who enlisted at age 16, that they continued spending time together until his death in January. Some veterans are so grateful to be interviewed that they give him their personal mementos from war.
One vet gave Fancher his WWII Navy uniform, equipped with navy blue pants and a shirt with a white-striped collar. Another gifted his green Vietnam flak jacket and machete. It’s the same jacket he wore when a land mine killed his best friend and shot a piece of shrapnel through the right vest.
“These veterans really appreciate what I do,” Fancher said. “I guess a bonding occurs between me and this stranger. So much so, that they want me to leave with something.”
‘Running out of time’
The lights were on and the camera was rolling.
Fancher sat with one leg crossed, jotting notes on a pad as he listened to Gagnon’s story.
He laughed with Gagnon when the veteran explained that his parents wouldn’t let him join the Marines. He leaned in when Gagnon said he experienced night terrors years after the war. His eyes widened when Gagnon described just how close he was to the kamikaze pilots.
“When the kamikazes started their drop, there would be this screaming engine, but you never knew which ship it was aiming at,” Gagnon said. “So you crossed your fingers and said, ‘Please don’t hit us.’”
Gagnon’s grandson and great-granddaughter watched the interview from a side table in the kitchen. They were thrilled that Fancher was there. They’d never recorded Gagnon’s experiences and will now have his story preserved for future generations.
The interview lasted 40 minutes. Fancher’s final question was the same one he asks every veteran.
“Is there anything you want to be remembered for?”
Gagnon paused.
“I’m getting remembered every time somebody says, ‘Thanks for what you did.’”
Fancher stood and shook Gagnon’s hand. He thanked him, and asked if he could have a photo — something he always does at the end. Some of these photos are printed and framed in Fancher’s bedroom.
It will take about a month to edit the video, but when it’s done, Fancher hopes people will watch Gagnon’s story. He hopes they’ll learn what someone did to protect the freedom of this country. That it encourages people to ask their grandparents or great-grandparents questions about WWII.
And that it spreads the message of his project.
“We’re running out of time,” Fancher said. “I’ve only interviewed 52 veterans.”
©2017 The Dallas Morning News
Visit The Dallas Morning News at www.dallasnews.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.An adult card game which lets players pretend to be cannabis-dealing kingpins is being sold at Toyworld Nelson.
In Grass, players use cards to mimic dealing cannabis, stealing from one another and protecting their "stash" to amass drug money. Individual cards include "Steal your neighbour's pot", "Catch a buzz" and "Lust conquers all".
"Like the real thing, it's easy to learn," say the tongue-in-cheek instructions. "We suggest that you begin gradually with Grass, till you get used to it."
At Toyworld, it hangs in the puzzles section next to decks of playing cards and games like Uno.
Grass is out of the reach of most little hands, but would stand out to any older children who could identify the distinctive cannabis leaf emblazoned on the packaging.
A saleswoman, who did not wish to be identified, said the game was never sold to customers under 18, although the store did not ask for identification.
Toyworld Nelson also sells other card and board games targeted at adults, and maintains a voluntary R13 rating on popular Magic: The Gathering cards.
"They don't rate [Grass], but it's never children who buy it. It's always adults," the saleswoman said.
"We don't promote selling [cannabis] or smoking it or anything. It's just a game."
She said the game had first been stocked by a previous store owner, and had been sold in Toyworld for at least nine years.
Customers regularly requested it and four units had been sold so far this year. There had been only three complaints overall.
Toyworld national buyer Repeka Haurua said the Nelson store was independently owned, so owner Lindsay Hicks could stock any product he wanted. Hicks was not willing to comment.
In response to a description of the product, Haurua said Grass was not a product Toyworld would support or encourage. She confirmed that the game was not stocked nationwide.
"It's not something I would ever promote and it's not something I would buy," she said.
"[Consuming cannabis] is a behaviour that we don't condone."
She said it was "terrible" that Nelson customers requested Grass, but commented that supplier Ventura Games was having no problem finding retailers to stock the game.
Sergeant Mal Drummond said the game sounded "unusual", but there was nothing illegal about it.
He was surprised that Grass was sold at Toyworld Nelson.
"If it's just promoting drug dealing, I can't see how it can be a positive game, but to 99 per cent of people who would use it, it's just a game."Besiege is a game about building medieval siege weapons then destroying things with them. Even at this early alpha stage it’s a madly addictive physics sandbox with a powerful editor. The community has been coming up with some incredible, mind-blowing stuff, and I’ve had as much fun watching videos and gifs of their creations as I have playing the game myself. Here are some of my favourites.
P.S. I’m pretty sure these are all attributed to the right people, but if I’ve credited your creation to someone who just reposted it, let me know and I’ll fix it.
Rapid-fire catapult by SD78
Balls of Steel by MoonHeadJohn
Deathcopter by AetasAaM
The Yang Stand by Connor Brummett
Quadro Bomber by Hymer
Dogebot 9000 by Piginabag
Ultimate War Machine by Ravenielago Z
The Airbase by AnduinX BYM
Mech Truck Thing by Muki123
Sea Turtle by Ray YuMany many years ago in the late 80’s, when I lived in Atlanta, I entered an amateur recipe contest, US Open Cook-Off.
I submitted several recipes, but it was my Apple Cinnamon Sticky Buns that won me the entry into the bread division competition. On the day of the competition, my parents drove up from my home town of Augusta, for support.
When the judges approached my table, I tried to read their faces for a clues, but nothing, and then the waiting for the announcement of the winners. We waited and waited and waited, finally I decided to go grab a bit to eat with my parents, there was no way I would win. I left something inside, went back to get it and, what do ya know, my name was being called for third place winner, WOW, so this is my award-winning Sticky Bun recipe.
Over the years I’ve only made this bread once or twice since then. When my daughter found out about this, she insisted I make it again, so here it is my Award Winning Apple Cinnamon Sticky Buns.
This will turn into yummy goodness. See that empty spot, someone couldn’t wait for the invert.
A lot has changed over the years, one of them being my eating habits, so I made a few changes to the original recipe. I omitted the eggs, Earth Balance replaced butter, coconut sugar for white sugar and I added whole wheat pasty flour for softness. Still an amazingly delicious bread.
That’s some sticky goodness! Get your napkins ready.
Sweet juicy apple tossed in cinnamon, brown sugar, rolled up in soft tender bread. It’s like eating a cinnamon apple pie.
Apple Cinnamon Sticky Buns Author: Celeste @TheWholeServing
Prep Time: Prep Time: 2 hours 30 mins
Cook Time: Cook Time: 30 mins
Total Time: Total Time: 3 hours
Yield: Yield: 15 Print Recipe Pin Recipe Ingredients DOUGH
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 cup almond milk
3 tablespoons, Earth Balance Vegan butter, or real butter
2 cups bread flour
1 cup whole wheat pasty flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon coconut sugar, or regular sugar
GLAZE TOPPING
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 stick Earth Balance Vegan butter(1/2 cup)
1 cup pecans
FILLING
3 tablespoons room temperature Earth Balance Vegan butter
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 medium apples, thinly sliced or shredded
3 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 cup pecans, optional Instructions Pour almond milk into large measuring cup, add earth balance and heat in microwave for about 45 seconds or until everything is warn and melted. Mixture should be warn, not hot, if too hot it will kill the yeast. Sprinkle on yeast set aside and allow to proof at least 10 minutes. In a large mixing bowl whisk together flour, salt and sugar. Create a well in the middle of flour and pour in yeast mixture. Mix flour and milk together, when dough comes together, transfer to lightly floured surface and knead for 2 to 3 minutes. Sprinkling on flour as needed to keep dough from sticking to surface or your fingers, you should have a soft springy ball. Place ball into a greased bowl, cover with towel or plastic wrap and allow to rise for one hour in warm place. While dough is rising mix together 3/4 cup of brown sugar and 1 stick of room temperature Earth Balance Vegan butter and spread on bottom of 9×13 pan, set aside. Peel apples and slice into thin strips or shred in food processor, mix together in medium bowl with 2 teaspoons of cinnamon, cover and set aside. When dough is ready roll it out on a lightly floured parchment paper into a large rectangle about 1/4 inch thick. Spread on 2 tablespoons Earth Balance Vegan butter, top with brown sugar and apples and pecans. Carefully roll from the longest end using parchment paper to help keep roll tight. With seam side down, carefully cut into 2 inch slices and place in pan. Melt remaining Earth Balance and brush on rolls. Cover and allow to rise again for about 1 hour, during last 15 minutes of rising, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until top is golden brown. Allow to cool slightly, invert, serve and enjoy!
Shared with Great Idea Thursday’s Link Party, What’s On The List, Joyful Healthy Eats-Show Stopper Saturday, Little Miss Celebration, House of Yumm-Saturday Night Fever, New Mrs Adventures-Tasty Tuesday, Lou Lou Girls-Fabulous Party, Pint Sized Baker, Inside Bru Crew Life
House on the WayA replacement for the Saddledome could be built on a 7.2-acre parcel of land just north of its current location, according to a report coming before city council Monday.
Compiled by the deputy city manager's office, the report says a two-block site bounded by 12th Avenue, Fifth Street, 14th Avenue and Olympic Way S.E. is large enough to house a new event centre, which would include an NHL arena and other yet-to-be determined ancillary services.
The area is within the Stampede Master Plan and is currently used for parking and roadway.
"The proposed event centre development area is owned by the Stampede," reads the report. "Since the existing Saddledome is owned by the city and is situated within Stampede Park, the Stampede has indicated potential support for a land exchange. The specific terms and conditions of a land exchange are subject to further discussions."
Along with being within an "entertainment zone" identified in the Stampede Master Plan, the site will be close to a planned station for the proposed Green Line LRT.
A rendering of CalgaryNext, a sportsplex that was proposed for the West Village. (Calgary Flames)
For months, there have been hints about the so-called "Plan B." The proposal is to build a replacement for the Saddledome in Victoria Park, instead of the proposed CalgaryNext project in the West Village.
In the report to city council to be discussed Monday, the plan is now called the "Victoria Park Option."
Coun. Gian-Carlo Carra said he's looking forward to the report because Calgary needs a new events centre.
"I'm confident we're going build something. I'm confident it's going to be amazing and we're in negotiations right now to hammer out the deals," he told CBC News.
Carra said he thinks the Flames could build and run an events centre on their own, as he has not seen any research to show that public investment in such a project makes financial sense.
Coun. Jim Stevenson said as more arena details emerge, he's confident Calgarians will be consulted.
"That will all come as we unfold this," he said.
Last month, Mayor Nenshi created headlines when he said the Flames' proposal for CalgaryNext was dead.
Some councillors said they want to see more detail on the Victoria Park option before deciding what happens next.Image caption The bomb attacks targeted a tent where a funeral ceremony was being held
At least 60 people have been killed at a funeral in the mainly Shia Muslim Sadr City district of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.
A tent where mourners were gathered was hit by two explosions, one of them a suicide car bomb.
A third explosion followed as police, ambulances and firefighters gathered at the scene, according to one report.
Officials reported that women and children were among the dead and that more than 120 people had been injured.
No group has claimed responsibility for the bombing, which happened early on Saturday evening.
The explosions reportedly set the tents and nearby cars on fire, with eyewitnesses describing the scene as an "inferno".
"I saw several charred bodies on the ground and tents on fire and also burning cars. Wounded people were screaming in pain,'' says one of the mourners, Sheikh Sattar al-Fartousi.
Medics in nearby hospitals confirmed the scale of the casualties.
Also on Saturday, eight people were killed in a separate bomb attack in a street in the nearby neighbourhood of Ur.
And at least five police officers were killed in an assault on a police station in Baiji, north of Baghdad.
Surge in violence
Sectarian violence has surged across Iraq in recent months, reaching its highest level since 2008.
The violence was triggered in April by an army raid on a Sunni Muslim anti-government protest camp near Hawija, also north of Baghdad.
The country has also seen a spill-over of violence from the conflict in Syria, which has taken on increasingly sectarian overtones.
In recent weeks, Iraqi security forces have reportedly arrested hundreds of alleged al-Qaeda members in and around Baghdad as part of a campaign which the Shia-led government is calling "Revenge for the martyrs".
But the operations, which have taken place mostly in Sunni districts, have angered the Sunni community and failed to halt the violence.
More than 5,000 people have died so far this year in Iraq, 800 of them in August alone, according to the United Nations.President Barack Obama said this week “no serious person” would believe the presidential election could be rigged. The President, at a joint press conference with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, went on to attack GOP nominee Donald Trump by saying, “I’ve never seen in my lifetime or in modern political history any presidential candidate trying to discredit the elections and the election process before votes have even taken place.” In 2008, however, then candidate Obama was singing a very different tune.
Speaking at a campaign stop at Kent State University in Ohio, Senator Obama said elections in the past had been rigged when he was asked by a supporter, “I would just like to know what you can say to reassure us that this election will not be rigged or stolen?”
As the crowd cheered, Obama answered, “Well, I tell you what it helps in Ohio, that we got Democrats in charge of the machines.” The crowd cheered again.
WATCH:
Democrats, including Secretary of State John Kerry, also believe Republicans “rigged” the 2004 election in Ohio.
“But look, I come from Chicago,” Obama continued, “so I want to be honest, it’s not as if it’s just Republicans who have monkeyed around with elections in the past. Sometimes, Democrats have, too.”
At the 2008 rally, Senator Obama went on to say, “Whenever people are in power, they have this tendency to try to, you know, tilt things in their direction.”
Obama continued, “That’s why we’ve got to have, I believe, a voting rights division in the Justice Department that is nonpartisan, and that is serious about investigating cases of vote fraud. Is serious about making sure that people aren’t being discouraged to vote. That’s why the voting rights legislation that was passed a couple of years ago to help county clerks make sure that the machines were in place that were needed, are important. That’s why we need paper trails on these new electronic machines so that you actually have something that you can hang on to after you’ve punched that letter – make sure it hasn’t been hacked into. Those are all part of the process of making sure that our democracy works for everybody.”We are in preparation mode for what may well be the most challenging thing we, as parents, have had to deal with. Flying long haul. For 12 hours. With a toddler.
The last time we flew with the boy it was a short hop down to Koh Lanta to attend the wedding of our friends. The flight was an hour long and he spent the entire time walking up and down the aisle patting strangers on the knee and trying to steal their bread rolls.
The people on the flight were very good natured in accepting our son’s bread-based crime spree, ruffling his golden hair and offering him snacks as he passed. Of course, he loved the attention and food and after the first few offerings came to expect his tithe from all he saw. As such, he would haughtily wonder over to someone, smack their knee with the back of his hand and hold out his hand.
Startled, the person would (because they were all Thai and Thais love kids) give him a smile and then tickle his palm or give him a low five. The boy would briefly smile to humour them before returning his expression to a level and expectant one; hand still outstretched, waiting for a treat.
I don’t know if you’ve ever felt the piercing, level gaze of a toddler but I can assure you it is massively disconcerting.
At this point I would grab him by the shoulders and forcibly walk him further down the plane, smiling and bowing my head in apology “ka todd” I would say in my terrible Thai accent. “Mai pen rai” |
tips to ensure that everyone, including our feathered family members, are safe and comfortable at home during this cold snap.
Female Budgies Prefer Puzzle-Solving Males & Other Bird-Centric News Stories In this bird-centric news roundup, see the tricky way researchers got female budgies to ditch their preferred mates to those trained to solve puzzles, as well as learn as well as who packs a more powerful bite—T-Rex or finch? Also see how the engineering marvels of a birds’ feathers might one day inspire better adhesives and aerospace materials, and meet Alex the honking cockatiel, the viral sensation that saw his fame inexplicably explode across the internet.
New Research: Secret to Parrot Intelligence? It’s In Their Genes Check out what scientists are learning about parrot genes, as well as research on laughter being contagious among parrots, how parrots’ feathers evolved to be to so shiny and how some birds of prey are battling drones in their airspace in this look at this birds in the news compilation.
A Fun Look at “Spooktacular Parrots” This Halloween It’s that spooky time of the year! Some parrot species seem to especially mesh with a Halloween theme. Here is a lighthearted look at parrot species that bring “trick or treat” up a notch.
Foraging For Food Satisfies Parrots’ Appetites & Minds Giving your feathered friend food is essential, but the way that you provide it matters, too! Will parrots work for their food? You would be surprised!
Birds’ Amazing Physical Powers If you’re a bird lover, you’ll especially find these bird-focused articles worth a read, as they showcase more bird superpowers!
Did Avocado Fumes Cause Bird’s Death? As a healthy food for people, avocado is more popular than ever, and along with that comes an abundance of avocado recipes. Unfortunately, a recent bird death brings up the question, “Could fumes from frying an avocado be dangerous to pet birds?”
Healthy Habits We Can Learn From Our Birds Looking for some healthy habits to try in the year ahead? Good news! Chances are you have your very own health coach living with you right now — look no further than your feathered friend!
Newsworthy Bird Stories Do a Google news search with the key words “parrot” or “bird.” You might be treated to some fascinating and downright entertaining bird stories — perfect topics to read aloud to your pet bird!
Back-to-School Shopping For Your Pet Bird End of summer means school is back in session; a time when stores are full of school essentials. See how some basic school supplies can help up your game when it comes to caring for your pet bird.
Four Things You Should Never Do In Front Of Your Pet Bird Four things you should never do in front of your bird (and one thing you should do!) to promote the health and happiness of your feathered pal.
Fictitious Birds Should Eat Healthy Too The Minecraft video game had a parrot problem — the parrot characters were fed chocolate chip cookies! See which movie parrots were also fed no-no foods.
Birds That Deceive To Get Ahead The first day of April is notable mostly because that is the day of the year where pranks and deception rule the day. With that theme in mind, there are plenty of instances in nature where animals have evolved to be deceptive as a survival tactic. Here’s a look at bird species that use trickery to get ahead.
Birds for St. Patrick’s Day In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, which falls on March 17 each year, here’s a look at one popular bird in Ireland – the Northern lapwing ‑ as well as some parrots whose plumage will make us all green with envy.
More Birds With Dr. Seuss-Like Looks For the most part, Dr. Seuss’s birds look familiar, but their feathers and shapes are best described as otherworldly. We’ve previously shared some real-life birds that look like they belong in a Dr. Seuss book, here are some more fantastical Dr. Seuss-like birds to check out.
Vampire Finches & Ghost Birds October is the spooky time of the year, so it is befitting to learn about two peculiar topics related to the world of birds: vampire finches and ghost birds. Yes, there is a finch that drinks blood, but humans need not run. And what is a ghost bird … curious?
Finches Talk To Their Eggs & Other Fascinating Bird News Check out these intriguing bird-centric stories, which range from parrots playing video games to zebra finches telling their eggs when to hatch to how the males of a bird species called the southern pied babble favor their own biological male chicks over their “stepchicks.”
A Safe & Sane Fourth of July For Your Bird If your bird startles at the sound of a slammed door, car alarm or other loud, unexpected noise, the Fourth of July might not be the easiest holiday for your feathered friend to handle. Here are some preemptive steps to take to help your bird remain stress-free around Independence Day.
Pet Parrots & Ground Foraging Parrots in the wild spend good part of the day on foot looking for items to munch. And so it stands to reason that the parrots in our homes might also enjoy walking on their own two feet to see what they can find. Here are some tips for creating a bottom play and foraging area for your pet bird.
Transform Your Bird’s Cage From Drab to Fab Dog and cat owners have to deal with shed fur. For pet-bird owners, it’s the challenge of cage fallout — namely food, toys and shed feathers.SALZBURG, Austria — This city is well known as the birthplace of Mozart, the backdrop for the Sound of Music and simply for being a beautiful place. But thanks to worldwide interest in caffeinated energy drinks and Dietrich Mateschitz's desire to share his love of aircraft and race cars, one of this city's newest places to visit is known as Hangar 7. Located at the Salzburg Airport, Hangar 7 could be called the Red Bull toy box. It is where Mateschitz, who co-founded Red Bull in 1987, stores all his coolest toys. It is a massive glass-enclosed hangar complete with a changing collection of airplanes belonging to the Flying Bulls. It's also got an assortment of Formula 1 cars sponsored by Red Bull, along with a handful of racing motorcycles as well. We recently paid a visit to Hangar 7 and got a chance to walk across the apron and peek inside Hangar 8, where a fleet of more than 20 Red Bull aircraft is stored and maintained. Hangar 8's appearance is stunning, and a team of more than 60 people maintains, manages and flies the fleet. Everything is flown regularly. Most perform throughout Europe during the airshow season, and a few are used primarily for business. All summer long a busy flying schedule keeps four full-time pilots and a handful of part-time pilots in the air most of the time. Whether flying a graceful aerobatic routine in the F4U Corsair, flying to a nearby lake in the Cessna Caravan (on amphibious floats) or transporting VIPs to an F1 race in the vintage DC-6, these guys enjoy some of the best aviation jobs in the world. Photo: Red Bull
Chance Vought F4U-4 Corsair The aircraft inside Hangar 7 include several World War II planes alongside modern Formula 1 cars. This Chance Vought F4U-4 Corsair once belonged to Flying Bulls chief pilot Sigi Angerer, who flew it in airshows around Europe. One day he took Mateschitz for a ride — you can see the small passenger window behind the cockpit. Mateschitz was hooked and the Flying Bulls team was born. The Corsair is Raimund Riedmann's favorite airplane to fly at the airshows. The Flying Bulls' chief fixed-wing pilot says the former U.S. Navy Fighter is graceful in the air and with 2,400 horsepower on tap, there is plenty of power to put a smile on your face. In front of the Corsair sits the STR3 Formula 1 car raced by Sebastian Vettel when the current world champion drove for Scuderia Toro Rosso in 2008. Photo: Jason Paur/Wired.com
Dornier Alpha Jets At the center of Hangar 7's ceiling hangs an unusual meeting room. Building codes require two exits for every room, so in addition to the winding walkway, there is a box with a ladder on the near side for a quick exit. Below are two of the four Dornier Alpha Jets flown by Red Bull pilots. The jets are former military trainers and were bought from the German Air Force. Fully aerobatic and with two seats, they're often used to give the ultimate VIP ride. They sit in front of the Cessna Caravan used for visiting many of the lakes in the region. Photo: Jason Paur/Wired.com
Lockheed P-38L Red Bull's Lockheed P-38L is an airplane familiar to many air-racing fans in the United States. For many years this was the airplane raced by Lefty Gardner as "White Lightnin'" at the annual Reno Air Races in Nevada. After an engine problem prompted an unscheduled landing in a farmer's field in 2001, the airplane made its way to Austria. It was restored as it flew as an air racer with sleek cowlings, albeit with polish in place of the white paint job and now flies just about every week all summer long. Photo: Jason Paur/Wired.com
Piper Super Cub Of all the planes in Hangar 7, this is the only one that does not belong to the Flying Bulls. Mateschitz owns this Piper Super Cub. It occupies a special place in the collection, because it is the aircraft in which Mateschitz learned to fly. He still flies it today. Many winters the Super Cub, like most Austrians, dons skis for flying in the snow. Photo: Jason Paur/Wired.com
Scuderia Toro Rosso F1 Car Not all the flying happens in the air. This Scuderia Toro Rosso F1 car shows some complex aerodynamic engineering that would make many aircraft engineers wince in the wind tunnel. Photo: Jason Paur/Wired.com
North American B-25J Mitchell This North American B-25J Mitchell has been polished to a high shine and features a small leather couch where the nose guns once were. Surrounded by plexiglas, the nose now offers a fantastic place to watch the world go by. The plane sits next to the RB5 race car Vettel drove to second place in the F1 drivers' championship in 2009. Photo: Jason Paur/Wired.com
Pilatus PC-6 Porter Hangar 8 is a busy, busy place. A large team of mechanics is always working on several aircraft. One day they might be replacing the engine on the Pilatus PC-6 Porter used to carry the Red Bull skydivers (pictured above). The next day they might be changing the oil in the P-38. Photo: Jason Paur/Wired.com
Extra 300 In addition to the fleet of Flying Bulls aircraft, the crew also works on some aircraft flown in the Red Bull Air Race series. Here is the two-seat Extra 300 used for demonstration flights, stripped of its bodywork for off-season maintenance. The Edge 540 of 2008 Red Bull Air Race champion Hannes Arch is also tucked away in a corner of Hangar 8. Photo: Jason Paur/Wired.com
Douglas DC-6 The Flying Bulls' Douglas DC-6 originally was delivered to former Yugoslavian president Josip Broz Tito. After a long life spent flying around the globe, the airplane was restored to like-new condition and includes an interior to rival those of any business jet. The vintage four-prop plane is flown weekly during the summer, and often shuttles VIPs to F1 races throughout Europe. It often garners far more attention upon arrival than the jets, says chief fixed-wing pilot Raimund Riedmann. "When we are going to Formula 1 events" Riedmann says, "there are all those BBJs [Boeing Business Jets] and Gulfstreams coming in, and we are coming in with this." A definite lesson on how to arrive in style. Riedmann says this is his other favorite to fly in addition to the Corsair. The teamwork required with a pilot, co-pilot and flight engineer is like stepping back in time, "it's fun working as a team." Photo: Jason Paur/Wired.com
Bell TAH-1F Cobra Chief rotary-wing pilot Siegried Schwarz spent more than 20 years flying as a mountain rescue pilot in Austria. Today he flies in airshows for the Flying Bulls. Mateschitz once asked Schwarz what kind of helicopter he wished was in the hangar. Schwarz responded that it would be great to fly a Bell Cobra in front of the crowds. It wasn't long before Mateschitz added this Bell TAH-1F Cobra to the stable. In addition to the Cobra, Schwarz often flies the aerobatic Bo105 helicopter at airshows. As one of the few aerobatic helicopter pilots in the world, Schwarz occasionally gives a lesson or two to some other Red Bull employees, including world rally champion Sebastien Loeb. Photo: Jason Paur/Wired.com
Bede BD-5 The latest addition to the Flying Bulls, and the smallest. The tiny jet-powered Bede BD-5 arrived just before Christmas. Sitting with its wings removed, the airplane is currently undergoing a complete overhaul before being prepared for this summer's flying season. Pilot Raimund Riedmann recently returned from Arizona, where he was getting checked out in the single-seater. He says the plane's diminutive size makes it a hoot to fly, and it feels much faster than it actually is. "Coming in with 250 knots, it's so small it looks like flying near Mach 1 or something," he says. Photo: Jason Paur/Wired.com× Proper Pairs
A fragment consisting of two mates is called a proper pair if both mates map to the reference genome in a manner consistent with expectations. In particular, if the DNA library consists of fragments ~500 base pairs in length, and 100 base pair reads are sequenced from either end, the expectation would be that the two reads map to the reference genome separated by ~300 base pairs. If the sequenced sample contains large structural variants, e.g. a large insertion, reads mapping with a large separation would be a signal for this variant, and the reads would not be proper pairs. Based on the sequencing technology, there is also an expectation on the orientation of each read in the fragment.
When calculating the proper pair rate, pairs where both mates are unmapped are not included in the analysis. As a consequence, the rate of proper pairs is expected to be well over 90%; even if the mapping rate itself is low as a result of bacterial contamination, for example.The pair discussed bilateral relations and the situation in the Korean Peninsula during a telephone call, the Kremlin said in a statement this evening. The White House added that both “discussed working together to resolve the very dangerous situation in North Korea”. Trump also reportedly thanked his Russian counterpart “for acknowledging America’s strong economic performance in his annual press conference,” Both leaders agreed to continue contacts, the Kremlin added but did not provide further details.
The pair last spoke by phone last month following a Brief meeting in Vietnam. Donald Trump’s administration has been plagued by ongoing investigations into ties he had with Russia during his campaign that ultimately saw him defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton. During his annual end-of-year press conference in Moscow, Mr President Putin claimed that he could see “a number of fairly serious achievements over the short period” Trump has been in office. He added that the Republican firebrand's moves indicated “investor confidence in the American economy, which means that they trust what President Trump is doing in this area."
GETTY Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin have discussed North Korea over the phone
When turning to the matter of North Korea, Putin rebuked the moves of the Trump administration in the region. He declared: "I don't want to offend anybody but far as North Korea is concerned, we believe that what is happening now is counterproductive.” Despite the military perseverance shown by North Korea, the Russian leader claimed that he does not accept Kim Jong-un’s communist regime as a nuclear state.
'Donald Trump' and 'Kim Jong-un' face-off amid North Korea nuclear threat Sun, November 19, 2017 About 700 demonstrators protested in Berlin, Germany against the current escalation of threat of nuclear attack between the United States of America and North Korea Play slideshow Getty Images 1 of 10 An activist pretends to punch another wearing a mask of U.S. President Donald Trump next to a model of a nuclear rocket
GETTY The pair discussed bilateral relations and the situation in the Korean Peninsula
GETTY The Russian leader claimed that he does not accept Kim Jong-un’s communist regime as a nuclear stateGoogle was at MWC 2017 earlier in the week and made an announcement that was among the unexpected, that all Android devices actively running some version of Nougat or Marshmallow would receive the Google Assistant, the tech giant’s new voice technology based on machine learning and AI. The conference continued, and more and more devices were shown off that managed to include the Google Assistant, showcasing its rare to be found abilities and capabilities. Today, Google has begun its roll out that will eventually bring the Google Assistant to approximately one in three Android smartphones on the market.
Google announced earlier in the week that at some point soon, it would detail when smartphones and tablets running Android Nougat and Marshmallow would receive access to the Google Assistant. The tech giant has now come on record to let us know that it has begun this roll out.
Google first uploaded a video to its YouTube service detailing the release of the update. Currently, the Google Assistant is only available in a select few languages, English being one of them. That’s part of the reason why Google announced that it will be making the assistant available first in the U.S. with users having chosen English as their primary language for communication. English speakers in Australia will be next, followed by Canada, the UK and German speakers in Germany. More countries will gain access to the Google Assistant as additional language support it added, which is said to happen over the “coming year.”
The update that will include the Google Assistant is to be administered through Google Play Services, making it far easier to roll out than a usual system update. Drop a comment below or contact us via email letting us know if have the update and if so, on which Android device running Android 6.0+ you’re using.
Watch Google’s YouTube video below.
For more on Android updates, follow our Droid Updates Weekly Series, where we detail all the updates that were administered and to which Android devices on a weekly basis. [Click here]
We’ll keep you updated on everything important right as it happens! For up to the minute updates, follow us across social media. Keep it tuned to Droid Turf for extensive coverage of the Android Ecosystem.
Related stories to the one you’re viewing can be seen below this post along with tags that act as shortcuts to related material. If you like what you see, help Droid Turf expand by letting others know using the incorporating social buttons.Katz, who owns the NHL's Edmonton Oilers, is in escrow on a beachfront Malibu home for around $120 million.
Malibu is on the cusp of becoming home to the largest residential real estate deal in Los Angeles' history.
Canadian investor and Edmonton Oilers owner Daryl Katz — who is also an investor in Joel Silver’s production company — is in escrow on a deal to purchase a Malibu beach house for around $120 million, according to a source with knowledge of the deal. The seller is real estate agent Kurt Rappaport, who is a co-founder of the Westside Estate Agency.
The off-market deal easily topples the previous record that was held by the $100 million sale of the Playboy Mansion last year. The $120 million figure includes the sale of the three-year-old Scott Mitchell-designed home believed to be around $85 million, plus an additional $35 million for the contents of the home located at 25040 Pacific Coast Highway.
News of the sale was first reported by TMZ. Calls to Rappaport seeking comment were not returned.
Rappaport had previously been renting out the house for $750,000 per month. The seven-bedroom, 10-bathroom home sits on a six-acre lot and has a screening room, a gym and an oceanfront swimming pool.
In 2015, the 55-year-old billionaire Katz, who is CEO of the Katz Group of Companies, made an undisclosed investment in Silver's company.According to epigenetics -- the study of inheritable changes in gene expression not directly coded in our DNA -- our life experiences may be passed on to our children and our children's children. Studies on survivors of traumatic events have suggested that exposure to stress may indeed have lasting effects on subsequent generations. But how exactly are these genetic "memories" passed on?
A new Tel Aviv University study pinpoints the precise mechanism that turns the inheritance of environmental influences "on" and "off." The research, published last week in Cell and led by Dr. Oded Rechavi and his group from TAU's Faculty of Life Sciences and Sagol School of Neuroscience, reveals the rules that dictate which epigenetic responses will be inherited, and for how long.
"Until now, it has been assumed that a passive dilution or decay governs the inheritance of epigenetic responses," Dr. Rechavi said. "But we showed that there is an active process that regulates epigenetic inheritance down through generations."
Passing stress from one generation to the next
Researchers have been preoccupied with how the effects of stress, trauma, and other environmental exposures are passed from one generation to the next for years. Small RNA molecules -- short sequences of RNA that regulate the expression of genes -- are among the key factors involved in mediating this kind of inheritance. Dr. Rechavi and his team had previously identified a "small RNA inheritance" mechanism through which RNA molecules produced a response to the needs of specific cells and how they were regulated between generations.
"We previously showed that worms inherited small RNAs following the starvation and viral infections of their parents. These small RNAs helped prepare their offspring for similar hardships," Dr. Rechavi said. "We also identified a mechanism that amplified heritable small RNAs across generations, so the response was not diluted. We found that enzymes called RdRPs are required for re-creating new small RNAs to keep the response going in subsequent generations."
Most inheritable epigenetic responses in C.elegans worms were found to persist for only a few generations. This created the assumption that epigenetic effects simply "petered out" over time, through a process of dilution or decay.
"But this assumption ignored the possibility that this process doesn't simply die out but is regulated instead," said Dr. Rechavi, who in this study treated C.elegans worms with small RNAs that target the GFP (green fluorescent protein), a reporter gene commonly used in experiments. "By following heritable small RNAs that regulated GFP -- that'silenced' its expression -- we revealed an active, tuneable inheritance mechanism that can be turned 'on' or 'off.'"
The scientists discovered that specific genes, which they named "MOTEK" (Modified Transgenerational Epigenetic Kinetics), were involved in turning on and off epigenetic transmissions.
"We discovered how to manipulate the transgenerational duration of epigenetic inheritance in worms by switching 'on' and 'off' the small RNAs that worms use to regulate genes," said Dr. Rechavi. "These switches are controlled by a feedback interaction between gene-regulating small RNAs, which are inheritable, and the MOTEK genes that are required to produce and transmit these small RNAs across generations.
"The feedback determines whether epigenetic memory will continue to the progeny or not, and how long each epigenetic response will last."
A comprehensive theory of heredity?
Although their research was conducted on worms, the team believes that understanding the principles that control the inheritance of epigenetic information is crucial for constructing a comprehensive theory of heredity for all organisms, humans included.
"We are now planning to study the MOTEK genes to know exactly how these genes affect the duration of epigenetic effects," said Leah Houri-Zeevi, a PhD student in Dr. Rechavi's lab and first author of the paper. "Moreover, we are planning to examine whether similar mechanisms exist in humans."Sexual Victimization in Prisons and Jails Reported by Inmates, 2011–12: National Inmate Survey, 2011–12 by Allen J. Beck and others Bureau of Justice Statistics, 107 pp., available at www.bjs.gov Sexual Victimization in Juvenile Facilities Reported by Youth, 2012: National Survey of Youth in Custody, 2012 by Allen J. Beck and others Bureau of Justice Statistics, 64 pp., available at www.bjs.gov
As recently as five years ago, American corrections officials almost uniformly denied that rape in prison was a widespread problem. When we at Just Detention International—an organization aimed at preventing the sexual abuse of inmates—recounted stories of people we knew who had been raped in prison, we were told either that these men and women were exceptional cases, or simply that they were liars. But all this has changed.
What we have now that we didn’t then is good data. The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), an agency within the Justice Department, has conducted a series of studies of the problem based on anonymous surveys that, between them, have reached hundreds of thousands of inmates. Those who agreed to take the surveys, without being informed in advance of the subject, spent an average of thirty-five minutes responding to questions on a computer touchscreen, with synchronized audio instructions given through headsets. The officials in charge either positioned themselves so they couldn’t see the computer screens or left the room.
The consistency of the findings from these surveys is overwhelming. The same factors that put inmates at risk of sexual abuse show up again and again, as do the same patterns of abuse involving race and gender, inmates and guards. Prison officials used to say that inmates were fabricating their claims in order to cause trouble. But then why, for example, do whites keep reporting higher levels of inmate-on-inmate sexual abuse than blacks? Is there some cultural difference causing white inmates to invent more experiences of abuse (or else causing blacks to hide what they are suffering)? If so, then why do blacks keep reporting having been sexually abused by their guards at higher rates than whites?1 The more closely one looks at these studies, the more persuasive their findings become. Very few corrections professionals now publicly dispute them.
The BJS has just released a third edition of its National Inmate Survey (NIS), which covers prisons and jails, and a second edition of its National Survey of Youth in Custody (NSYC). These studies confirm some of the most important findings from earlier surveys—among others, the still poorly understood fact that an extraordinary number of female inmates and guards commit sexual violence. They also reveal new aspects of a variety of problems, including (1) the appalling (though, from state to state, dramatically uneven) prevalence of sexual misconduct by staff members in juvenile detention facilities; (2) the enormous and disproportionate number of mentally ill inmates who are abused sexually; and (3) the frequent occurrence of sexual assault in military detention facilities.
According to the latest surveys, in 2011 and 2012, 3.2 percent of all people in jail, 4.0 percent of state and federal prisoners, and 9.5 percent of those held in juvenile detention reported having…More college students are receiving more financial aid, including loans and grants, and most of the increase is coming from federal sources, new data show.
Average tuition and fees at four-year public colleges have increased more than 250% over the past 30 years. (Photo11: Jacquelyn Martin, AP) Story Highlights More than seven in 10 college students got some form of aid in 2011-12 academic year
Federal aid a big player, providing grants, loans, work-study funds
Obama set to announce new plan to tackle rising costs
More college students are receiving loans, grants and other financial aid than at any time since the debut of the GI bill after World War II, new data show.
Seventy-one percent of all undergraduate students received some type of financial aid in the 2011-12 academic year, up from 66% four years earlier (2007-08), data released Tuesday by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) show. The average amount was $10,800, up from $9,000 four years earlier.
Most of the increase in student aid is coming from federal sources. Last year, 57% of undergraduates received some form of federal aid, including grants, loans and work-study funds, up from 47% four years earlier. Over the same period, the percentage of undergraduates receiving state aid or help from their college remained relatively flat, at 15% and 21%, respectively.
"States definitely weren't able to provide as much as they have in the past," said Jack Buckley, commissioner of NCES.
The data are being released as President Obama prepares this week to discuss how to make college more affordable for middle-class families. While federal aid is important, the Obama administration also has been pressing colleges to rein in costs.
Noting that average tuition and fees at four-year public colleges have increased more than 250% over the past 30 years, Obama said Tuesday he has "made it a personal mission to make higher education more affordable" and intends to propose changes that "won't all be popular with everyone."
Paul Lingenfelter, president of the non-profit State Higher Education Executive Officers, says state support for student aid has increased, from $6.8 billion in 2007 to $8.3 billion last year, but so have student enrollments and college tuition. He says it would be wrong to interpret the new data as evidence that states are "pulling back" from student aid.
Neal McCluskey, associate director of the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, says several factors affect college prices but says the newly released data support his argument that colleges largely raise their prices because financial aid, especially federal, lets them.
"Basically, the aid ensures that students can pay almost anything they are charged," he says.
Other findings from the 2011-12 academic year:
59% of undergraduates received grants averaging $6,200, up from 51% four years earlier when the average was $4,800.
42% of undergraduates took out loans, borrowing an average of $7,100, up from 39% who borrowed $7,000 on average.
Seventy percent of graduate students received aid, averaging $22,000, including loans.
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/13DtubUMy package arrived this morning! woohoo! After opening the carboard shipping box and wrapping paper, I discovered a key, a handsome (and very heavy) wooden lockbox with a? mark on it, a candy bar, and a card (pictured).
The card reads:
What is mystery?
Possibility? Adventure? Escape?
Whatever mystery is, they are what make life intriguing.
The more revealed, the less you wonder.
The less you wonder, the more boredom sets in.
The mystery box is a gift.
A gift to remind you to keep mystery alive in your life.
Even though it may feel like torture at first,
There are times when mystery is more important than knowledge.
Every day, every moment is a choice
So I give you a crossroad.
The choice to open this box, or not is entirely yours.
wow. whack right?? So I guess I'll just have to wonder whats inside forever!!
OR NOT.
Because I am not capable of operating that way. So I thought about it, and the first thought that came to mind was that maybe my santa was a psycho and a bomb would go off if I opened the box. Actually, that wasn't my first thought, it was my friend's who was with me, but after he said that, I became slightly concerned. So I googled the sender's name, and he seemed to be a pretty respectable person who probably wouldn't try to kill people.
So my next thought was, well, it's probably an empty box and that is the point. The mystery is the exciting part. And then I immediately decided that if it is empty, I can use it for stuff, since the box is good looking anyway, and a great gift on its own. So I decided to open it. My friend left the room to make sure nothing exploded, and I turned my face as I slowly turned the key. I gently lifted the lid to peek inside and noticed something wrapped in celophane. Phew, no bomb, and it wasn't empty!!!
So what was inside? It is a book. But not just any book. This book is called S., written by Doug Dorst and was an idea conceived by J.J. Abrams (who is amazing). It is a story within a story... the book itself appears to be an old library book called "Ship of Theseus" and within the book are notes throughout the margins all the way through, and lots of supplemetary loose material within the pages, like newspaper clippings, and all kinds of stuff. It all looks so old and legit. As I mentioned on my preference profile, I have gone 100% digital when it comes to media like books, movies etc. but this is a completely new and unique experience and I can't wait to start reading! I am an avid genealogist, and based on the types of materials within the book, I'd say that this might be akin to the type of stories we piece together as genealogists.
SO AMAZING SANTA. I LOVE YOU. I can't even describe how perfect this gift is for me on multiple levels.
oh yeah, the candy bar was delicious, too.On Thursday, in his speech to Congress, Pope Francis praised Dorothy Day -- along with Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., and Thomas Merton -- as one of four "representatives of the American people" whom he admired.
Pope Francis was probably the first pope to mention Day's name in public. It is unlikely that anyone else who addressed Congress in the past had uttered her name.
No doubt most members of Congress -- and most Americans watching the speech on television or listening on the radio -- had never heard of her. Many of them would have had to Google her on their I-phones and tablets. Some of them -- like House Speaker John Boehner, the arch-conservative who invited Pope Francis to speak to Congress -- might not have been pleased with what they discovered.
Day (1897-1980) founded the Catholic Worker movement on the principles of militant pacifism, radical economic redistribution, and direct service to the poor. She influenced generations of activists through the movement's newspaper, the Catholic Worker, and through Catholic Worker hospitality houses located in urban slums around the country, which provide food and shelter to the destitute.
In a 1971 interview, Day described her philosophy:
If your brother is hungry, you feed him. You don't meet him at the door and say, 'Go be thou filled,' or 'Wait for a few weeks, and you'll get a welfare check.' You sit him down and feed him. And so that's how the soup kitchen started.
But Day and her comrades thought that direct service was inadequate. They wanted to change the economic system, not just provide charity to its victims. She became an organizer and an activist, a regular presence at demonstrations and rallies, and a advocate of civil disobedience, attested by her own lengthy arrest record.
Day was a constant critic and a thorn in the side of the Catholic Church. The church's hierarchy marginalized her for her radicalism.
"Don't call me a saint," Day once said, "I don't want to be dismissed so easily." But for many years, some of Day's admirers have nevertheless urged the church to canonize her for her lifetime of social and spiritual activism. That campaign got a boost three years ago when the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, at the suggestion of conservative New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan, voted unanimously to endorse her canonization, even though she had an abortion as a young woman. On Thursday, Pope Francis seemed to be taking up the cause.
"In these times when social concerns are so important, I cannot fail to mention the Servant of God Dorothy Day, who founded the Catholic Worker Movement," the Pope Francis said on Thursday. "Her social activism, her passion for justice and for the cause of the oppressed, were inspired by the Gospel, her faith, and the example of the saints."
Was this Papal shout-out Francis way of encouraging Day's elevation to sainthood?
Although Day and Pope Francis share many views in common, few people who knew her in her youth could have predicted that she might one day be a candidate for canonization.
She was raised in a bookish family, nominally Episcopalian but not religious. The Days moved around the country as her father, a sports reporter, pursued jobs. When she was a teenager, the family lived in Chicago. Upton Sinclair's novel The Jungle -- about the miserable conditions in the city's slums and meatpacking plants -- inspired her to take long walks in Chicago's poor neighborhoods. Her brother, Donald, who wrote for a progressive newspaper, the Day Book, encouraged her to learn about radical politics. She read about socialist union organizer Eugene Debs, the Industrial Workers of the World (the Wobblies), and the Haymarket anarchists. She was drawn to the ideas of anarchist Peter Kropotkin.
In 1916 Day dropped out of the University of Illinois after two years and moved to New York City, where she got involved in bohemian and radical circles. The chain-smoking Day looked for a job as a journalist, but none of the major newspapers would hire a woman reporter. Undeterred, she convinced the editor of the Call, a socialist paper, to pay her $5 a week. Day covered strikes and peace meetings and even interviewed Leon Trotsky, the Russian revolutionary. (He was so critical of American Socialists that Day's editor gutted the piece.) Day later wrote for other Socialist publications, including the Masses and the Liberator.
In November 1917 Day was one of forty women arrested and then briefly jailed during a rally in front of the White House to protest the brutal treatment of imprisoned suffragist Alice Stokes Paul. After they arrived in prison, Day and other women launched a hunger strike and were eventually freed by presidential order. It was the first of her many arrests.
As a young woman, Day rejected the sexual mores of her time. She became pregnant and had an abortion, a decision she deeply regretted |
winter given the lack of intense cold.
Through June, the USA was sweating through its warmest year on record, according to the National Climatic Data Center.
Insects such as grasshoppers and crickets can be a nuisance to homeowners, but they are "very devastating" in the agricultural world, Horton says.
As harvesting season nears, the ongoing hot, dry weather could have grasshoppers and similar insects feeding in greater-than-normal numbers on alfalfa, tobacco and some vegetable crops, says Lee Townsend, an entomologist at the University of Kentucky.
"Grasshoppers should be abundant, because the bacteria and fungi that normally provide natural control are not very effective under hot, dry conditions," Townsend says.
Grasshoppers are already plentiful in New Jersey because of the hot weather, says entomologist George Hamilton of Rutgers University.
And the most annoying summer pest of all, mosquitoes, are enjoying the warmth, despite the record drought.
"Mosquitoes can breed in as little as a quarter- to half-inch of water," Henriksen says.
Texas and Florida are two spots where mosquitoes are particularly bad, Horton says, because those two states have been both unusually warm and rather wet this year.
Forty-seven human West Nile virus infections, which mosquitoes spread, have been reported this year to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. One man in Texas died from the virus.
Drought can drive insects into homes: Ants, for instance, Henriksen says, will come into homes to find water.
"If they're not finding it outside, they'll come inside," she says.
If the warmth stays into the fall, insects will continue to do well until the frost comes, Denlinger predicts.
And beyond that, "if we have another mild winter, we'll continue to see more pests out there," Horton says.Not even five years ago, I went through a compulsive addiction to taking up less space. I wanted to inhabit less of the world, to see my bones show through the skin and be pared down to my skeletal size, maybe less. My eating disorder had so much less to do with eating than with a desire to be less. It wasn’t about vanity, even. On some level I knew I looked terrible all angled, washed out, and cold. Anorexia is supposed to be such a common disease, yet, deep in the throes, I never found a book that understood me and my disease, that didn’t paint me as a cheerleader or the desperate Queen Bee of high school. Nobody saw me as more than a cliché.
Enter Sarah Gerard’s parse new novel, Binary Star. The tale of addiction as told through two lovers, an unnamed girl struggling with an eating disorder and her boyfriend, an alcoholic, the story traces our inner desire for perfection and the methods we use to numb ourselves upon realizing we may never make it. Binary Star is the first thing I’ve ever read that understands eating disorders, I imagine less than coincidentally because Gerard herself has found herself in the depths of the disease. For the first time in my life, I saw on paper a character who wanted to inhabit less physical space, to have her clothes orbit around her frame, in the same terms I thought were entirely unique to my own disordered line of logic. I read the whole book in a couple hours, unable to steady myself until I knew how it would end.
I was able to ask Gerard even more about the story, hear her insights on writing realistically about disordered eating, learn about her research into the astronomical themes in the book, and more:
Kati Heng: Reading Binary Star, I immediately assumed you must have gone through some form of eating disorder, like it would be impossible to write so vividly about one without going through it on your own. Then, I wondered if that was an insult—to just assume that you couldn’t imagine it and write so well without having one? Maybe it’s just that I haven’t read any other work about eating disorders this true. What do you think?
Sarah Gerard: I think in order to write about anything well, you have to understand a character’s struggle as your own. On the other hand, people have written stories about pirates who have never been pirates. I think in any story, a writer has to relate to the human experience regardless of what that is in the story. There’s the present conflict and then there’s the deeper yearning that the character experiences, which actually is the motor of the story. So, on one hand, no, I don’t think it’s unfair or insulting to assume that as a writer I’ve had an eating disorder if only because I’m writing with some kind of realism; but on the other hand, I don’t know that it really adds anything to an author’s credibility to know whether or not he or she has experienced that particular conflict.
KH: Maybe it’s just so amazing to me because I’ve never read anything else about eating disorders that felt so realistic. Do you know anyone else who has written well about disordered eating?
SG: If you’re asking for recommendations, I don’t know if I feel comfortable giving any. While I was writing the book, I was looking to write about this struggle with a new approach, some way I’d never seen it approached before. I don’t know if I succeeded, but I didn’t want to tell the story in a traditional way. I wanted to try to be very authentic to myself.
KH: One thing I love about the character is how smart she is. Usually, we see characters with eating disorders as consumed by their own vanity, but she has other interests, like astronomy. Why don’t we see more characters with eating disorders as being dimensional people?
SG: An eating disorder is never really about vanity. If it were, it would just be a diet. And it’s not – it’s an addiction. I don’t want to say this is always the cause, but I think people who struggle with addiction are oftentimes very intelligent people. In my immediate family, I see all these addictions, yet I think I come from a family of very smart people. A lot of eating disorders, especially anorexia, are found a lot among college students, among people who come from rather affluent backgrounds and are educated. That’s not always the case, but it happens more often in that population. I think there may be shallowness in it and certainly it has a focus in things that would appear to be not important, like appearances, but it’s never only about that. If it were, you would just change your hair style.
KH: Was it hard for you to relive that time in your life while writing?
SG: I relive it all the time. It changes all the time, though, because I’m not active in my disease anymore, so I’m not feeding it in the same way, but I see it cropping up in my life in different ways. From one day to the next I have a different idea about what it was or what it is. I mean, are you asking was it hard or was it scary?
KH: Both I guess?
SG: I can’t say that it was scary, but it’s always hard. Writing is always hard. Especially if you’re doing a kind of writing that’s very personal. It’s really emotionally difficult, but I wasn’t really afraid that something would happen to me that I wasn’t expecting. I don’t think that it’s more powerful than I am. I wasn’t scared, but it was certainly difficult.
KH: For a while, I personally used veganism as a hiding place for my eating disorder. I read that after your own recovery, you stopped being vegan and vegetarian so that you wouldn’t have restrictions on your diet, but you’ve since began being vegan again. How do you control having restrictions on your diet without going over the edge?
SG: I don’t consider veganism a restrictive diet, because I eat a lot. You can be a vegan and still eat a lot, more than enough. And I actually feel better about what I’m eating knowing that what I’m eating is good for me and good for the planet. Being vegan is a lot about getting all the right nutrients and eating when I’m hungry and stopping when I’m not hungry anymore and drinking a lot of water. But mostly, I don’t think about my veganism as something that is a tool for hurting myself. I think of it as the opposite of that, as a tool for nourishing myself and nourishing the planet.
KH: Were there any books that you used for research for Binary Star?
SG: Yeah. I mean, every book that I’ve ever read has somehow aided my own writing. I don’t know that I used any particular book for research, necessarily. I tend to read books around the topic I’m writing in order to help shape my own ideas. In terms of doing the research for the writing on astronomy, I used university websites and Wikipedia and scientific journals and things like that. I mostly used places that tried to pare it down so that I could get the concept across in a way that is widely relatable, and if the concept was too vast, it didn’t belong in the book. I wanted more entry, [through] foundational concepts.
KH: How long have you put those two topics, eating disorders and astronomy, together? Was there a moment when they clicked together, or did you always know you wanted those two themes in the book?
SG: I didn’t make a lot of decisions beforehand; they just kind of appeared together in the first lines of the book and I kept going with them. It was almost lucky the way that they fit together continuously. While I was researching the astronomy, I just noticed the language would also be appropriate for talking about the body. I didn’t have to force them together. I didn’t go searching around for a metaphor; it was always there.
KH: Finally, how do you keep your books at home? Do you organize by category or alphabetize? Do you keep them on bookshelves?
SG: I have two large bookcases that I use for fiction and general-interest nonfiction. I have a separate, smaller bookshelf that I use for children’s books, poetry and philosophy, and then I have a couple of bookshelves above my bed where my husband and I keep books that are particularly special to both of us. He has a lot of film books and photography books on that shelf and I have Kate Chopin’s The Awakening and Lydia Davis’ The End of the Story. I have The Secret Garden on there as well. On my husband’s desk, he has books he uses for his research, and on my desk I have books that I’m using for my research. And then we have a step by the front door where we have books that we’re giving away for donations, when we get around to it. And then there are books by the chair, in between our couch and our bed. There are books that have just arrived in the house, that I’ve just brought home. They’re all over the place.
KH: You keep the philosophy with the children’s books? Is there a reason behind that?
SG: Yeah. I’m not sure that I can really articulate it. I think poetry and philosophy go naturally together, and I think poetry and children’s books go naturally together. And by children’s books, I mean picture books. Young adult books don’t really go there. There’s some sort of mathematical equation that will explain this, but I don’t know what it is.
Kati Heng is a Chicago-based writer and glitter obsessive. You can find her on Twitter here, read her book reviews here or check out her anti-street harassment tumblr here.
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Like this: Like Loading...Credit: Microsoft
Microsoft on Monday highlighted how it plans to combine it Azure cloud service and Windows 10 to be more of an Internet of things player.
The company at its Convergence conference in Atlanta launched the Azure IoT Suite, a cloud service to enable billing, monitoring and analytics for Internet of things deployments. The IoT suite will be available in preview later this year.
The Power of IoT and Big Data We delve into where IoT will have the biggest impact and what it means for the future of big data analytics. Read More
More: Microsoft CEO Nadella: Windows 10 is an IoT play too | Microsoft's Windows 10 for IoT: What to expect | Microsoft acquires Revolution Analytics | Microsoft acquires legal-focused machine-learning vendor Equivio
According to Microsoft, the Azure IoT Suite will offer tools to cover various use cases such as predictive maintenance and asset management. Azure Stream Analytics will be available next month as part of the suite.
The game plan for Microsoft is to use Azure as a linchpin for corporate IoT deployments. Rockwell Automation was highlighted as a customer aiming to pull together various Azure services to manage IoT deployments.
Microsoft also said that it will offer versions of Windows 10 for IoT deployments. The idea is that Windows 10 will be able to use one platform to reach everything from robots to IoT gateways and sensors. CEO Satya Nadella has told corporate customers that Windows 10 will be an IoT platform too.
Put Azure and Windows 10 together and it's clear that Microsoft wants to be the glue for IoT deployments. If successful, Microsoft will be able to move from desktop dependent deployments for Windows, gloss over a mobile device strategy that hasn't panned out and hop to IoT, a market that will show exponential growth for years to come.
In April, Microsoft previewed an Azure service designed to manage and capture machine data.Bolt Takes Us A Step Closer to Anonymous Micropayments
(Article co-authored by Thien-Nam Dinh)
Scaling is unquestionably the biggest problem faced by cryptocurrencies today. While new interest and FOMO brings more and more money into the cryptocurrency market, it has come at a cost.
Bitcoin fees are becoming out of control. Transaction wait times are increasing. And with CryptoKitties taking off, even Ethereum has started to experience some transaction backlog.
In a previous article, I discussed a 2nd layer scaling solution called Lightning Network. If you haven’t learned about the scaling problem or Lightning Network, I suggest you read that first and then come back here.
As amazing as the Lightning Network is, it’s important to realize that it’s more than just a single protocol; it’s an entirely new concept for how to think of payments. In this article, we take a closer look at Bolt, one of the first in the next generation of advanced micropayment channel technologies.
The Power of Bidirectional Payment Channels
Lightning Network and Bolt both enable fast and cheap transactions by using bidirectional payment channels.
A payment channel is simply a connection between two parties that can be used for unlimited trustless transactions, with only the first and last of those transactions being posted on the blockchain. Bidirectional channels are those in which money can be sent from either party in the channel to the other, rather than just one way.
This concept becomes even more powerful in the context of multi-party payment channels. For example, suppose that Alice has a payment channel open with Bob and that Bob additionally has a payment channel open with Carol. With multi-party payment channels, Alice doesn’t need to open a channel with Carol to send her some money. Instead, she can send the amount to Bob, who then immediately sends the same amount to Carol.
The result, in theory, is a universal peer-to-peer payment network of nodes in which anybody connected to the network can seamlessly route money to anybody else, in a cheap, instantaneous and scalable manner.
Of course, since we are still in the world of cryptocurrencies, all of this is done trustlessly.
Problems with the Lightning Network
As cool as it may sound in theory, it is not yet clear whether Lightning Network will prove to be quite as ideal in practice.
The chief concern is that a real-world implementation of the Lightning Network may not be as fully decentralized. Instead, much like the modern internet, there might be only a few large hubs that serve as intermediaries for the vast majority of transactions.
In this type of hub-and-spoke model, an intermediary would have to know all the information about transactions that they are involved in. When Alice sends money to Carol through Bob, Bob knows both the amount that was sent as well as the identities (wallet addresses) of all parties.
What happens if Bob has the power to control not only who gets to connect to the Lightning Network, but also who gets to make a payment and when? What happens if Bob is forced to turn over these records to the FBI? (Or worse, the IRS?).
What you end up with is a network that is now prone to censorship and privacy invasion.
Of course, this isn’t the end of the world. Lightning Network will still be incredibly useful and, from a security standpoint, it is still leaps and bounds ahead of the current financial system. But, as it turns out, we can do much, much better.
What is Bolt?
Bolt is a new model that uses the latest in cryptography to accomplish the same goals as the Lightning Network, but in a way that is completely anonymous. Channel intermediaries don’t know the sender, recipient or amount of a transaction and yet, they can still verify beyond any doubt that the micropayment transaction is 100% valid.
In other words, you, as an end-user, would be totally anonymous with respect to all of the other individuals connecting to the same intermediary. In a perfectly decentralized payment, this is perhaps not as important. But the larger and more centralized the intermediary hubs are, the more useful and important your privacy becomes.
How Does Bolt Work?
Much of the security comes from the same game-theoretic incentives that the Lightning Network uses. However, Bolt makes use of two additional advanced cryptographic techniques to ensure privacy:
Zero-Knowledge Proofs: Enables a party to mathematically prove statements about encrypted data without revealing anything about the underlying information.
Blind Signatures: Enables a party to cryptographically sign encrypted data without needing to see the underlying data.
Imagine that instead of sending transparently signed transactions through the network that anybody can read, a Bolt user would instead send zero-knowledge proofs about their identity and current balance without revealing either piece of information.
In return, the intermediaries can sign (and therefore approve) these payments using blind signatures without being able to read the transaction. As long as the intermediary has verified the cryptography correctly, it can be sure that the user will only ever close out the channel with the correct balance.
The precise details of the scheme are somewhat more complicated. Luckily, the original white paper, designed the same Johns Hopkins researchers behind the Zcash protocol, has been rigorously peer-reviewed.
Bolt in the Real World
The technology outlined in the Bolt paper could be implemented by any cryptocurrency that satisfies a few basic requirements.
Bitcoin would only be able to support Bolt in its full capacity with some small changes. However, we all know how difficult it is to achieve consensus with Bitcoin’s governance model and passionate community, so this is probably still a long way off for the crypto giant.
The same is true for the big privacy-focused cryptocurrencies – Monero, Zcash, and Dash. Using anonymous payment channels would be particularly nice for these cryptos because the opening and closing transactions that go on the blockchain could also be anonymous. In other words, the money would be untraceable even before it enters into the micropayment channel. Given the interest in privacy in these communities, we would expect that they would be more eager to reach consensus on any necessary changes.
And then there’s Ethereum. Due to its vastly superior flexibility, implementing Bolt wouldn’t require any protocol changes whatsoever. Adding this to the scaling arsenal, along with the new privacy-centric features offered by the latest hard fork, Ethereum looks like a strong bet to scale more effectively and securely than any of its peers.
Last Thoughts
Throughout the toxic political and tribal conflicts that have plagued the cryptocurrency scaling debate, it is easy to forget that this so-called crypto-revolution begins and ends with technological innovation.
Bolt is one big step closer to realizing the original dream of a trustless, scalable, and censorship-resistant global currency. In an industry still young enough for silver bullets, Bolt might just be the next big solution.Since shortly before the late deadline to register to vote in the April 19th presidential primary in New York, state Board of Elections spokesman Tom Connolly said his office has been fielding nearly 100 calls a day from voters who are "pissed off" about their registration status, for one reason or another. On social media, there are dozens of reports from voters who say they checked their registration online recently and found that their party affiliation had been switched, which is disqualifying because New York's primaries are closed, or that that their registration couldn't be found altogether.
We could not verify the details of the majority of those accounts, but the discoveries alarmed many would-be voters, most of them seemingly Bernie Sanders supporters. Sanders fans are already on tenterhooks over long lines at the polls in Arizona, which the Justice Department is now investigating, and polling place electioneering by former president Bill Clinton in Illinois and Massachusetts, which local election officials declared proper, among other factors that they argue have skewed the primary process for Hillary Clinton.
Apparently my voter registration (less than a year old) has been purged. Way to go #NewYork — Dan Haefeli (@danhaefeli) April 4, 2016
At the New York Board of Elections, Connolly said that his office looks into all complaints, and though the volume has been higher this year than his office has ever seen, "I've yet to come upon any example of any kind of mal-intent or inappropriate change of a voter's record."
Rather, he said, the increased call volume can be explained by heightened interest in this year's primary and New York's newfound relevance to the nomination. As for the complaints themselves, the circumstances vary, but he said there's a rational explanation for each instance of seeming irregularity. For one, he explained that the complaints are largely coming from Democrats—"a lot" of them Sanders supporters. (There have also, he noted, been some Donald Trump supporters who are angry that they missed the deadline to change their party to Republican.) Because many voters only turn out for presidential elections, and Democrats didn't have a primary in 2012, it has been eight years since many people thought about their registration, he said.
In the interim, he said it's possible that people moved, or filled out forms at the DMV or elsewhere changing their party, and forgot to square away their new address or newfound interest in politics before New York's October 2015 deadline for changing parties, the earliest in the country.
"A lot can happen in eight years as far as moving around, not being aware, and filling out forms," Connolly said. "They just have this in their head that they should be a certain way, and when they find out that they're not, and it's too late to change it, they're usually pretty upset. I understand that, but there's nothing I can do about changing the laws."
There are also clerical errors. For example, my wife has been a registered Democrat at our current address in Brooklyn since October 2012, yet when she checked her registration status online earlier this month, the BOE search tool indicated that her name could not be found. It took a good 15 minutes on the phone with Connolly to figure out what had happened. It turns out that the state has my wife on file as an inactive voter at an old address from 2007, and that her current registration entry not only misspells her last name, leaving off a letter, but it gets her birth year wrong (that might explain all those cemetery plot and AARP solicitations we've been getting—Kings County thought that she was 90!).
In the process of tracking this down, Connolly shared some other alarming details of how the Board of Elections stores data, namely that only the individual county offices have complete records on voters, whereas the state only has the most recent iteration of one's voter registration. This means that to get to the bottom of why something weird is happening with an entry, only the county can pull the file to see all the address changes, voter history records, DMV forms, and so forth. What's more, there is no standard for how the data is kept at the county level, so it varies wildly from one district to the next, and in New York City, falls to the various arms of the city Board of Elections, a dysfunctional, patronage-infused agency that recently refused to apologize for sending misleading mailers about the primary date to 60,000 voters.
When at first Connolly couldn't find my wife's records, he speculated that the update to the state database might have "got stuck somewhere along the way" from the county's computers. When asked what he meant by "got stuck," he explained, "Any time [county officials] change a voter record, it's supposed to send updates to our system. There are times where that’s not the case."
For an example of how sloppy information storage puts voter registration information at risk, consider that in December a computer security researcher found an easily accessible database containing 191 million voters' records. The entries included name, address, date of birth, gender, ethnicity, date of voter registration, phone number, party affiliation, email address, voter ID, whether one is a permanent absentee voter, and whether or not one is on the Do Not Call list. The database was reportedly associated with the campaign-serving company NationBuilder, which packages the voter data states are required to give to candidates. The company said the breached database wasn't one it directly managed, and the security hole was eventually closed after being publicized, but the database's owner never came forward.
Who accessed the data, and what if anything has been done with it, is also unknown, but the possibilities are sinister.
In another instance of New York state confusion, Bernie Sanders supporter Jonathan Carrillo, a Long Island resident who makes a living DJing under the name Jase, registered as a Democrat the week of the deadline and, last Friday, checked his registration online and found himself listed as a Republican. This would make him ineligible to vote in the upcoming Democratic primary. Having followed the news and online chatter about irregularities in other states' primaries, it occurred to Carrillo to record part of his call to the Nassau County Board of Elections.
In subsequent conversations, election workers pulled his file and found that a 2013 DMV form shows he chose Republican when getting a license, something he seriously doubts.
"I think it’s very unlikely that back in 2013 I randomly decided to join the Republican Party against my interest and while opposing their views," he said. "I would never do this intentionally."
Carrillo's voter history shows that he has never voted, which he says proves that he never meant to join the Grand Old Party. So what does he do now? It turns out that on primary day, county Election Boards have judges on hand to hear explanations like Carrillo's about voter registration mishaps and, if they find cases compelling, issue court orders directing poll workers to allow those people to vote. The alternative for Carrillo would be filing a provisional ballot, in which he would explain his circumstances for Elections Board workers to consider after all the votes are cast, and then count or not count it.
Connolly said that he couldn't speak to the specific circumstances of Carrillo's case, but given the basic outlines, if Carrillo filed a provisional ballot, "quite honestly, the board would probably not count it," because election commissioners would look at the available data, and that data would show he registered as a Republican.
The bottom line for voters with questionable registrations, Connolly said, is, "If they really think they are entitled to vote, they should exercise that right, whether it be by affidavit ballot or by talking to a judge and getting a court order."
Carrillo said he plans to go the judge route on primary day, but he remains mistrustful of the state's democratic mechanisms.
"I think it’s very difficult to vote," he said. "It’s jumping through hula hoops and whatnot in order to just cast a vote. I feel like it’s done intentionally. There’s easily corrected mistakes but it’s hard to [correct them]."
The DNC says it is looking into any and all reports of election problems, but wouldn't say whether it has seen anything unusual in New York so far.
“The DNC takes any and all reports of voting irregularities seriously," spokeswoman Deshundra Jefferson said in a statement. "Our Voter Expansion Department has strict orders to help all voters - not simply Clinton voters or Sanders voters or Democratic voters."
The New York primary is on April 19th, with 95 delegates up for grabs on the Republican side, and 291 on the Democratic side. Several of 44 Democratic super-delegates, party operatives not beholden to the will of primary voters, told the Daily News they plan to support Hillary Clinton even if she loses.
Trump has 758 of the 1,237 delegates he would need for the Republican nomination, assuming party insiders don't refuse at the convention. Ted Cruz has 499. Clinton has won 1,298 delegates to Sanders's 1,089, according to FiveThirtyEight, which is not counting super-delegates because they're allowed to change their minds up till convention time.
To check your registration status, click here.
If you think something is wrong with your registration, Connolly says to call your county Board of Elections before trying the state's one. If the issue is not resolved by primary day, you have the option of pleading your case before a judge at your local county Board of Elections office, or filing a provisional ballot and hoping it doesn't get thrown out. If you're upset about New York's election laws, Connolly says you ought to contact your local legislators.
For more information on how to vote using an absentee ballot, click here (the deadline to request one is April 12th).Photo via Flickr user tanjila ahmed
A British Columbia grandmother has been sentenced to six and a half years for smuggling ecstasy into the US, the Vancouver Sun reports.
Tina Howe, 58, plead guilty in September for conspiracy to import and distribute the drug. The charges stem from a 2007 incident where she was caught smuggling 155,168 pills of ecstasy concealed in a hidden compartment in the roof of her van.
Howe is now set to serve her 80-month term in a US prison.
Howe and her codefendant, Maria Cooke, were busted after the smuggling compartment in the van broke, spilling the pills all over I-5, a highway near Blaine, BC. The incident resulted in a plume of pink and blue dust from cars running over, certainly something a director of Breaking Bad wished they thought of.
Upon arrest Howe claimed the reason for the smuggling was that her son was indebted to BC drug traffickers and that his life was threatened. "He wanted to get out of dealing and turn his life around, which led to people wanting him dead," said Howe's daughter-in-law in a 2015 letter of support filed in court. "Yes, this is a crime, but it was also an act of trying to save her son's life."
Howe did not name any specific trafficking organization but confessed to two previous smuggling trips she had taken on its behalf.
Howe initially cooperated with law enforcement but dropped off the map shortly after being released on bail and disappeared for nearly ten years.
"Her absence resulted in significant cost to the court system, to law enforcement agents in both the United States and Canada," said Assistant US Attorney Siddharth Velamoor in a court memo. "Ms. Howe now claims that she purportedly attempted to turn herself in to law enforcement at various times after she first absconded, there is absolutely no evidence that she actually did so."
Follow Lisa Power on Twitter.If you're a JRPG fan living Stateside, you have reason to celebrate this morning: Persona 5 has a North American release date. The next entry in Atlus' series of cult favorite role-playing games — you spend your days trying to survive high school and your nights saving the world with your friends — is being released in the Americas on February 14th, 2017 on both PS3 and PS4. It's the first main entry in the series since Persona 4, which was originally released for the PS2 in 2008 and 2009 before being rereleased for the PS Vita in 2012 and 2013.
That means there's a five month gap between the game's Japanese release date (September 15th, 2016) and its availability around the world. Why the delay? "The biggest factor in the 2017 release date is attention to detail," wrote Atlus PR manager John Hardin on the PlayStation blog. "We're making sure every bit is in place. Persona has exponentially grown as a franchise, and considering this is our first numbered sequel since 2008, Atlus is taking its time to ensure this is the best possible experience."
Fans have spent a long time waiting already
Fans have already spent a long time waiting for Persona 5, a game that's been sitting on the horizon for almost three years. The game was initially revealed in November 2013, and a North American release was originally announced (without a specified date) in February 2014. Atlus announced that the game would be delayed into 2016 last September, and its Japanese release date wasn't revealed until last month. And while they may need a few months to polish the game for North American audiences, this final delay has the added bonus of pushing Persona 5 into a less competitive time period for JRPGs. With releases like Final Fantasy XV and the new Pokemon games penciled in, this fall is going to be one of the most crowded seasons in recent memory. Here's the Persona 5 PS4 box art:MSNBC host Mika Brzezinski made her first on-air comments about President Donald Trump’s Twitter rant against her, saying Trumps remarks are “really sad for our country.”
“I think it’s been fascinating, and frightening, and really sad for our country,” she said Friday on her show “Morning Joe.”
Brzezinski and her co-host and fiancé, Joe Scarborough, also responded to Trump in an op-ed published by The Washington Post Friday, in which they argued the president is “not well.”
“America’s leaders and allies are asking themselves yet again whether this man is fit to be president. We have our doubts, but we are both certain that the man is not mentally equipped to continue watching our show, ‘Morning Joe,’” they wrote, arguing Trump has an “unhealthy obsession” with the show and suggesting he stick with watching “Fox & Friends,” the morning show on rival network Fox News.
As “Morning Joe” was wrapping up its Thursday show, Trump tweeted about “Crazy Mika” and “Psycho Joe” and made comments about Brzezinski’s appearance.
I heard poorly rated @Morning_Joe speaks badly of me (don't watch anymore). Then how come low I.Q. Crazy Mika, along with Psycho Joe, came.. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 29, 2017
...to Mar-a-Lago 3 nights in a row around New Year's Eve, and insisted on joining me. She was bleeding badly from a face-lift. I said no! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 29, 2017
Brzezinski initially responded to the tweets with a photo of a Cheerios box, a nod to jokes about the small size of Trump’s hands.
Trump regularly slammed the media as “fake news” during his presidential campaign, but had a friendlier relationship with the “Morning Joe” hosts throughout his candidacy, often dialing in to the show for early morning interviews.
“You guys have been supporters, and I really appreciate it,” Trump said to Scarborough and Brzezinski in February 2016. “And not necessarily supporters, but at least believers.”
But as Election Day neared, the candidate’s relationship with the hosts soured, with Trump at one point calling them “two clowns.”
Trump has a history of publicly humiliating women and making sexist remarks. In October 2016, The Washington Post published a recording of Trump bragging about inappropriately grabbing women and trying to have sex with a married woman.
The White House defended Trump’s latest remarks, with spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders saying the president “fights fire with fire” and arguing people shouldn’t be surprised by his tweets.
On the show Friday, Brzezinski insisted she is “fine,” saying, “My family brought me up really tough.”
“This is absolutely nothing... for me personally,” she said.
Trump reacted to “Morning Joe” again on Friday in a tweet:
Watched low rated @Morning_Joe for first time in long time. FAKE NEWS. He called me to stop a National Enquirer article. I said no! Bad show — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 30, 2017Intel has completed work on a 64-bit version of Android OS for x86 smartphones, and the software will be ready to load on handsets with its upcoming Atom 64-bit chip code-named Merrifield.
Intel has been making code contributions to the 64-bit version of Android 4.4 code-named KitKat. Intel has completed the kernel work, which will ensure the OS is compatible with smartphones, said an Intel spokeswoman at the International CES expo in Las Vegas.
But 64-bit Android could reach tablets first. Intel said 64-bit Android tablets powered by its Atom processor code-named Bay Trail will become available in the first half of this year. The tablets are expected to sell for as low as $150.
The code completion paves the way for device makers to load 64-bit Android and their own user interfaces on devices. A full 64-bit Android is not yet available on smartphones or tablets.
Intel also hopes developers will start writing 64-bit applications for Android smartphones running on Atom chips, the spokeswoman said.
Intel is expected to shed further light on 64-bit Android and the Merrifield chip, which is targeted at high-end smartphones, at the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona next month. Intel did not talk about smartphones at CES, instead focusing on tablets, hybrids and wearable electronics.
The race to 64-bit on smartphones gained steam when Apple introduced the A7 chip in the iPhone 5S in September last year. Mobile devices can have more memory with 64-bit chips, which could indirectly speed up applications. While 64-bit chips are in most PCs today, their utility in smartphones has been debated due to limited storage and processing power available in handsets. Beyond the iPhone 5S, most of the chips that go into smartphones are 32-bit.
Intel is still trying to find its bearings in the smartphone market, which is dominated by ARM. Intel has adopted Android as the OS of choice for smartphones running on its chips, and getting to 64-bit could give the chipmaker a head start over rivals. Chip makers like Qualcomm, STMicroelectronics and others have announced ARM-based 64-bit chips, and Samsung is not far behind.
Merrifield will be made using the 22-nanometer manufacturing process. Intel in November updated its roadmap to include new smartphone chips that will start shipping in the second half of this year.
At CES Intel also said that Bay Trail tablets with a 64-bit version of Windows 8.1 will become available in |
robbery seems like a waste of time when your split of the take is only $500. Attacking an armoured truck together is risky, but the low payout and the inability to share the cash you get trivialises that danger. In-game currency is a great way to pat the player on the back and give difficult missions an extra sense of achievement to them. With no way to gain money in the game, is it any surprise people are resorting to exploits and grinding?Worse than the poor payouts however, is just how inaccessible the missions are. Instead of something sensible like choosing from a list or going somewhere on the map, you have to call one of your contacts, who pulls a random job out of a hat. If you get a job you don't want, tough. You can ask them again, and they'll eventually pick another random job, but only after the game calls you an idiot a few times. This is especially annoying when you have five or six people in a closed crew or friend session, and you want to find a cooperative activity that you can all do. Even more annoying still, I'm getting jobs that take a maximum of only two people. Who wants to volunteer to sit around in freemode whilst everyone else does the mission?Here's the thing: these missions are fun. I really like some of them. However, unlike every other activity in the game, I have to pick from a grab bag and hope I get what I want. I want to play The Los Santos Connection and Base Invaders again. I'm in the mood for a specific mission, so what do I do? It's extremely frustrating working with this convoluted system when all I want to do is hop straight into some action with my friends, and I can't.There are ways around this that don't involve a single blanket pay cut for everyone. Here's a few ideas: instead of calling and getting texted a job, you open up a menu for that character, then pick the job you want to do. To prevent grinding, install a time limit that prevents players from hosting that job repeatedly. Let's just say one hour. If I host Flood in the LS River, I won't be able to host that mission again until that time limit runs out. However, one of my three other friends in the game can host it. Of course, to prevent us from going in a circle, you cut the payout for any player who's played that mission within the time limit. So if my friend hosted Flood on the LS river immediately after I did, we'd both get less money that we did before. If a new guy joined in, he could host as well, but he'd get the normal payout, whereas I would still get the reduced one. As I said, this would only last an hour or so. Hell, even an entire day would be better than what Rockstar has done, which is reduce the payoutHowever, a 50% cut isn't going to cut it. This needs to vary from mission to mission. If I get less than $10,000 for raiding and robbing a military base, why bother? If I stickup some drug dealers for less than a couple grand, what's the point? That won't buy me much of anything, and robbing a liquor store would be more efficient. Because everything in the game is so expensive, this massive pay cut undercuts the missions by taking away the reward. Honestly, our time is better spent in survival and races, until they make those even harder, to prevent the player from actually moving up in the game.Balancing and maintaining a massive online experience such as this is difficult. There's going to be holes in the design, and I accept that. To say that Grand Theft Auto Online got off to a rocky start would be a bit of an understatement. Though the game as a whole has been a fantastic blast thus far, and it definitely shows a lot of promise, I'm continuously frustrated by flat-out terrible game design, especially when it comes to cooperative missions. I know a lot of this has been done in the name of balancing, but all it seems to have done so far is undermine the player's efforts. Of course, heists could give us quite a large payout, but I can't shake the feeling this is being done to encourage the purchase of GTA$, before it even releases. Sadly, it's hard, if not impossible, to have a balanced economy in a game such as this when you introduce microtransactions.Rockstar, your mission system is broken. Please fix it. Don't make them feel like a waste of time, and don't make it a hassle just to find something fun for four or five of my friends to do. Just let me jump in and enjoy your game. A lot of these missions are really cool, it's just a real shame I can't play them.Originally published 7 February, 2017, given that as another Australian summer approaches we are about to hit peak climate alarmist silly season, it is time for an encore.
It’s been a rough ten years as a so-called “climate denier”. Every year the climate data would show a complete refusal to follow the accepted and official line, and every year the faith of the climate change faithful only seemed to get stronger and stronger. And their abuse of heretics like myself only got stronger and stronger. I have lost friendships over my stance on this issue. I have been attacked publicly by those around me on numerous occasions. And I have endured the casual mockery at social gatherings where the accepted response has been to pat me on the head in a condescending manner – here he is; our own climate denier. Isn’t he precious?
I have watched landscapes I love destroyed by the looming figures of gigantic wind farms that stand in mute mockery of my continued resistance to this enormous scam. I have observed with silent loathing the hypocrites who swan around in their enormous SUVs while proudly parading their dubious green credentials, even as ordinary families struggle with the reality of paying their ever-increasing power bills. Only a few months ago, a piece I wrote on the climate change scam elicited concerned emails and calls from people I know who cautioned me with the treacherous path I was taking.
But money talks and bullshit walks, and the money is beginning to drop out of this con to end all cons.
The usual platitudes are being spoken, but actions speak louder than words. Courtesy of Maggies Farm, here are a couple of articles that caught my attention. The first is from the Manhattan Contrarian who observes that climate alarmism doesn’t seem to be working any more. Governments are beginning to invest mightily in coal-fired power stations, of all things. Who would have ever believed it? Meanwhile the dismal climate science is rocked by yet another scandal as employees and insiders, who previously refused to speak out for fear of the consequences, are now beginning to find their voices once again. They know which way the wind is blowing and the wind has begun to shift.
But here’s the thing. Once this all unravels, and it will unravel very quickly as soon as the money stops flowing, those of us on the side that is ludicrously described as being “deniers” are not going to forget. We are not going to let you bastards off the hook. We remember what has been said and written about us. We don’t even need to remember – the internet is forever. You’re not going to shrug off this one as just another Y2K. And you’re certainly not going to quietly move on to your next charade of choice that you’ll ram down our throats and wallets with your usual religious fervour.
Because the climate scam was too big. You pushed all of your chips into the centre of the table and said, “all in,” with a smug stare at us sitting on the other side of the felt. And you busted out. Not only have you busted out, but you don’t have any more chips to play. We’re not going to let you have any. From now on, every time you come up with some pathetic attempt to control populations through a fear-based con we will remind everyone of climate change. Every time governments attempt to hijack science to support a political agenda, we will bring up that old climate change bugbear. You are going to be shoved into the corner as the crazy bearded freak standing on the side of the road with his sign proclaiming the end of the world is nigh. We aren’t going to listen to you any more. You have proven yourselves too stupid or untrustworthy to participate in public discourse.
And that goes for those in my social circle as well. You know who you are. You’re the ones that have been parroting the climate change line like blind simpletons for the past ten years. A decade of listening to you idiots chant on and on about “the science!” when you wouldn’t know science if it slapped you across the face with a Bunsen burner. A decade of watching you drive around with a “no more oil” sticker on your car bumper. I mean, how much more clueless do you have to be?
A decade of you retarded monkeys claiming that plant food is a pollutant. Years of you driving electric cars that only exist due to the biggest taxpayer subsidy in history, while you are seemingly oblivious to the fact that they need to be plugged into an electric power grid. Decades of you opposing nuclear power, which if any of your bogus claims were true would be the immediate answer if mankind truly were in some kind of climate peril. Decades of you pontificating at how the sea levels are going to rise while you buy palatial beach-front homes, and you then have the gall to sue local councils for sea erosion after you participated in demonstrations to stop them building a sea wall.
Years of you advocating for corn to be turned into bio fuel while there are still people in the world with not enough food to eat. Morons who buy solar panels with taxpayer subsidies and then put them on the side of the roof facing the street which signals your virtuousness but fails to get any sunlight. Years of you actually believing that there is such a thing called renewable energy, and every time some country manages to get some above-average power from them due to a fortuitous combination of weather events, you scream it from the top of your lungs that this is incontrovertible proof that the entire world will soon be run on wave farms. Eleven years of you quoting total shit from An Inconvenient Truth.
Years of governments investing huge amounts of taxpayer money in renewable scams so that they were forced to parrot the official line, otherwise their foolish investments would be at risk. Boy, that chicken is coming home to roost. Years of listening to cretins living on tiny island nations, who have completely mismanaged their delicate ecosystems but now want to blame it all on rich countries and guilt trip us into bailing them out. Years and years of a concerted attempt by the UN and other globalist organizations to subvert and destroy capitalism by using the climate scam as a proxy, while listening to people in your social circles whose entire lives and standard of living depend entirely on the capitalist model, go along with the scam like lemmings following each other off a cliff.
And you lot had the nerve to label the very few of us who stood up to this rubbish and tried to protect the very system which you so mindlessly enjoy as being climate deniers?
You can all go fuck yourselves. We will not forget. We will remind you for the rest of our lives. We will write the histories. You will never again be able to publicly hide from your cowardice, your avarice, your gullibility, your ignorance, and your sheer stupidity. But at least you’ll still have that free market capitalist model to enjoy which you so badly wanted to throw in the recycling bin.
You’re welcome.
This article was originally published at https://pushingrubberdownhill.com/, where Adam Piggott publishes regularly and brilliantly. You can purchase Adam’s books here.It’s almost football season and that means more unofficial NFL team color G-Shock watches. In summer 2014 the Big Case Crazy Color series was inspired (unofficially) by NFL football teams, and that football-themed trend is set to continue with more Crazy Color watches for August 2015. Here are the new models coming soon as well as the previous colors from last year. Bookmark this post and check back later to see when the new watches become available.
Green Bay Packers: GA400CS-9A
The green and yellow GA400CS-9A is the perfect watch for cheeseheads as it matches the Green Bay Packers uniform and has one of the boldest G-Shock cases.
Denver Broncos: GA400CS-7A
The blue, orange, and white colors of the GA400CS-7A are a perfect match for the Denver Broncos.
Minnesota Vikings: GD120CS-6
The purple, yellow, and white of the GD120CS-6 is a solid match for the Minnesota Vikings and possibly one for the Baltimore Ravens too. It even has a purple reverse display. The Ravens seem to use more of a gold trim but the yellow might work. This watch has white bands and a yellow band keeper as seen in this video. These colors also match LSU and the Los Angeles Lakers purple and gold team colors.
New Orleans Saints: GD120CS-1
There’s no mistaking the black and gold theme of the GD120CS-1 as a match for the New Orleans Saints. It also has the most mainstream appeal of all the new Crazy Color models with its relatively normal color scheme.
Previously released models:
Here are the previous Crazy Color releases from summer 2014. It may be wise not to hesitate on buying these as they will become increasingly hard to find.
Dallas Cowboys, Detroit Lions, Seattle Seahawks: G8900CS-8
The blue and silver G8900CS-8 makes a solid match for the several teams like the Seattle Seahawks, Dallas Cowboys, and Detroit Lions.
Buffalo Bills, New England Patriots, New York Giants: GDX6900CS-7
The patriotic red, white, and blue design of the GDX6900CS-7 is a perfect match for the Buffalo Bills, New England Patriots, and New York Giants. Also see the recently released maritime tricolor series with four watches available in red-white-and-blue.
Pittsburgh Steelers: GA100CS-7A
The black and yellow design of the GA100CS-7A matches the always tough-looking Pittsburgh Steelers uniform. It even has red and blue text to match the Steelmark colors on the helmet.
San Francisco 49ers: GA110CS-4A
The GA110CS-4A matches the iconic red and gold colors of the San Francisco 49ers and is also known as the “Iron Man” G-Shock.
New York Jets: G8900CS-3
The green and white G8900CS-3 matches the New York Jets and also the Boston Celtics.
Washington Redskins: GA100CS-9A
The red and yellow GA100CS-9A matches the Washington Redskins and also the USC Trojans.
St. Louis Rams: GA400-9B
The blue and yellow GA400-9B is not part of the Crazy Color series but it makes a fine team watch for the St. Louis Rams, Michigan, or the Golden State Warriors.It’s the most predictable trick in the big book of property development. A developer signs an agreement with a local council promising to provide a barely acceptable level of barely affordable housing, then slashes these commitments at the first, second and third signs of trouble. It’s happened all over the country, from Hastings to Cumbria. But it happens most often in London, and most recently of all at Battersea power station, the Thames landmark and long-time London ruin which I wrote about in my 2016 book, Up In Smoke: The Failed Dreams of Battersea Power Station. For decades, the power station was one of London’s most popular buildings but now it represents some of the most depressing aspects of the capital’s attempts at regeneration. Almost in shame, the building itself has started to disappear from view behind a curtain of ugly gold-and-glass apartments aimed squarely at the international rich. The Battersea power station development is costing around £9bn. There will be around 4,200 flats, an office for Apple and a new Tube station. But only 386 of the new flats will be considered affordable.
What makes the Battersea power station development worse is the developer’s argument for why there are so few affordable homes, which runs something like this. The bottom is falling out of the luxury homes market because too many are being built, which means developers can no longer afford to build the sort of homes that people actually want. It’s yet another sign of the failure of the housing market to provide what is most needed. But it also highlights the delusion of politicians who still seem to believe that property developers are going to provide the answers to one of the most pressing problems in politics.
A Malaysian consortium acquired the power station in 2012 and initially promised to build 517 affordable units, which then rose to 636. This was pretty meagre, but with four developers having already failed to develop the site, it was enough to satisfy Wandsworth council. By the time I wrote Up In Smoke, this had been reduced back to 565 units – around 15 per cent of the total number of new flats. Now the developers want to build only 386 affordable homes – around 9 per cent of the final residential offering, which includes expensive flats bought by the likes of Sting and Bear Grylls.
The developers say this is because of escalating costs and the technical challenges of restoring the power station – but it’s also the case that the entire Nine Elms area between Battersea and Vauxhall is experiencing a glut of similar property, which is driving down prices. They want to focus instead on paying for the new Northern Line extension that joins the power station to Kennington. The slashing of affordable housing can be done without need for a new planning application or public consultation by using a “deed of variation”. It also means Mayor Sadiq Khan can’t do much more than write to Wandsworth urging the council to reject the new scheme. There’s little chance of that. Conservative Wandsworth has been committed to a developer-led solution to the power station for three decades and in that time has perfected the art of rolling over, despite several excruciating, and occasionally hilarious, disappointments.
The Battersea power station situation also highlights the sophistry developers will use to excuse any decision. When I interviewed Rob Tincknell, the developer’s chief executive, in 2014, he boasted it was the developer’s commitment to paying for the Northern Line extension (NLE) that was allowing the already limited amount of affordable housing to be built in the first place. Without the NLE, he insisted, they would never be able to build this number of affordable units. “The important point to note is that the NLE project allows the development density in the district of Nine Elms to nearly double,” he said. “Therefore, without the NLE the density at Battersea would be about half and even if there was a higher level of affordable, say 30 per cent, it would be a percentage of a lower figure and therefore the city wouldn’t get any more affordable than they do now.”
Now the argument is reversed. Because the developer has to pay for the transport infrastructure, they can’t afford to build as much affordable housing. Smart hey?
It’s not entirely hopeless. Wandsworth may yet reject the plan, while the developers say they hope to restore the missing 250 units at the end of the build.
But I wouldn’t hold your breath.
This is a version of a blog post which originally appeared here.PlayStation 4 players have been patiently waiting on these new sexy colors to land for their Dualshock 4 controllers, and they’re finally on the way.
Amazon have revealed the release dates for the upcoming Dualshock 4 colors Glacier, Urban Camouflage, and Wave Blue. The first to be released is the Wave Blue Dualshock 4 which will release this month on August the 19th. The second to be released is the Urban Camouflage Dualshock 4, and that will be released later this month on August the 30th. The last to be released is the Glacier Dualshock 4 and that will be released in sync with the white Destiny PlayStation 4 bundle on September 9th. All three of these designs look awesome, and I’d love to add them all to my collection.
My favorite is the Glacier design, what’s yours? Check out the other two designs below and let us know in the comments and keep it locked here at Junkie Monkeys for more news regarding the PlayStation 4 and its’ accessories.Get the biggest football 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
Jermain Defoe is at the centre of a boardroom split at QPR over Harry Redknapp’s bid to sign him in January.
Redknapp has confirmed he is keen to revive his summer move for the 32-year-old FC Toronto marksman to help shoulder the goalscoring burden.
Senior figures in the boardroom, however, are firmly against it and want chairman Tony Fernandes to veto the move.
Redknapp, who worked with Defoe at Spurs and Portsmouth, admitted the final decision rests with Fernandes. He said: “Jermain is a player we are interested in.
“I still think he’ll score goals if he gets the chances. But it comes down to what the deal is and that’s where the chairman will decide if it’s a deal worth doing.”
Defoe is keen to come back to the Premier League and has insisted he is still hungry to score enough goals to shoot him back into the England picture.
It is understood, however, that those opposing the move fear Defoe’s age counts against him and that Fernandes, a big fan, would be carried away by the England striker’s past achievements.
It is similar to the concerns expressed ahead of Redknapp’s move for defender Rio Ferdinand in August. At the time, club sources felt the 35-year-old would not represent value for money despite his willingness to take a substantial pay cut.
(Image: Rex)
Rangers are now actively seeking new centre-backs ahead of the January transfer window and are prepared to offload Ferdinand who admits he may hang up his boots at the end of the season anyway.
Redknapp added: “We tried to sign Jermain in the summer but it couldn’t be done so we will have to wait and see on that one.”
Asked about the terms of a potential deal, Redknapp said: “I wouldn’t know. Only the chairman will deal with that, I wouldn’t be involved in that side. I wouldn’t know if anywhere where we are with him.”
On top of Defoe’s wages, QPR would have to pay a transfer fee to FC Toronto, who paid Spurs around £6million for the striker when the deal was originally agreed around a year ago.
Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment Limited, owners of FC Toronto, are insistent that they will not allow Defoe to leave without being compensated.
President Tim Leiweke said: “We own his contract. We’re not going to give him away. And so we’re in a good spot. “The one thing I can promise our fans — one way or another, this will end well for TFC. I guarantee it.”A candidate for West Virginia state senate was brutally attacked over the weekend when a man wielding brass knuckles blind-sided him at a cookout, police say.
Retired Major Richard Ojeda, an Iraq and Afghanistan veteran who's challenging the incumbent Democrat, was attending the political function in the town of Logan when a man reportedly asked him for a bumper sticker.
When Ojeda knelt to attach the sticker to the man's car, police say the suspect struck the candidate as many as nine times with brass knuckles, knocking him out.
According to West Virginia State Troopers, the suspect--who's been identified as 41-year-old Jonathan Porter--then climbed into his truck and tried to run over Ojeda.
Bystanders reportedly used their own vehicles to block the suspect from hitting the candidate.
Read: Teen Watched As Her Mother Was Fatally Shot by Estranged Husband Outside School: Friend
Ojeda, 45, was rushed to a trauma unit. He suffered multiple facial fractures and a severe concussion and will require surgery sometime this week, reports WOWK.
While witnesses reportedly told police that Porter used brass knuckles, no evidence of the weapons were found at the scene and Porter denied using them, State Trooper Zachary Holden told NBC News.
Holden said Porter turned himself in after hiding out in the woods for six hours.
Porter is being held on suspicion of malicious assault, malicious attempted assault and felony destruction of property. He is scheduled for arraignment Monday.
Though he's far from recovered, Ojeda has already vowed to continue his fight to represent the people of WV District 7.
Police cited no motive for the attack, but Ojeda appears to believe it was politically driven.
"Sorry for the pic but make no mistake....I am now even more dedicated to the cause," Ojeda wrote in a Facebook post along with a photo of his battered face.
Read: Military Father Surprises His Deaf Daughter By Entering The Room During Their Skype Session
"This doesn't scare me and I don't quit! This was premeditated and there was a reason the guy did this. Regardless....if anyone thinks that this will get me to march in line you obviously don't know me very well."
Ojeda is due to go up against incumbent Senator Art Kirkendoll in Tuesday's primary. Kirkendoll condemned the attack in a Facebook post on Sunday.
"I was informed that my opponent was physically assaulted and injured at a political function today. I do not now, nor have I ever, condoned violence.
"It has no place in our political campaigns or in our communities. My and my family's thoughts and prayers are with my opponent and his family and we wish him a speedy recovery."
Watch: Man's Obituary Asks People Not to Vote For Hillary Clinton
Related Articles:The criticism came after Turkey's parliament amended regulations allowing the government to block websites without a court order and mandate Internet service providers to store data up to two years. President Abdullah Gul still must sign the new law, which allows the blocking of websites believed to violate privacy or contain content considered insulting.
"The law needs to be revised in line with European standards," said Peter Stano, a spokesman for EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele. "The Turkish public deserves more information and more transparency, not more restrictions."
The legislation also forces providers to retain user data for two years and present it to authorities without notifying the user in question. The new measures build upon existing Internet restrictions introduced in 2007 that, according to a Google transparency report published in December, make Turkey equal to China as the world's biggest web censor.
The 2007 law has allowed for temporary blocking of websites including WordPress, Dailymotion and Vimeo. YouTube was also blocked for two years until 2010.
Tensions with EU
Fuele and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton plan to meet Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and EU Affairs Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu Monday in Brussels. Turkey has sought EU membership for 26 years. In November, the EU revived negotiations after three years of stalemate, owing mostly to Franco-German opposition and tensions with Cyprus.
Stano offered the help of the bloc's executive commission "to ensure that any changes to this legislation will fully respect European standards."
On Twitter Thursday, European Parliament President Martin Schulz called the legislation a step back in an "already suffocating environment for media freedom."
During talks this week in Berlin, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had urged German Chancellor Angela Merkel to lend more support to Turkey's bid to join the EU. Merkel said the accession talks should continue without any time limits.
Questions of corruption
The amendments arose in December, after a corruption inquiry implicated businessmen linked to Erdogan - the prime minister since 2003 - who has called the investigation a conspiracy. Since then, Cabinet ministers have resigned, protesters have demanded that Erdogan step down, and hundreds of police officers have found themselves sacked or reassigned.
In mid-2013, Erdogan, of the Justice and Development Party, faced accusations of authoritarianism after crackdowns on protesters opposed to government plans for commercial redevelopment of Istanbul's Gezi Park. At the height of those tensions, demonstrators took to social media as the main means of communication to vent their frustration and organize their protests.
Opposition politicians and critics have branded this latest legislation censorship. They claim it is a fresh assault from Erdogan's government on freedom of expression, press freedoms and access to information, particularly in light of the recent demonstrations.
"When you came to power you talked of enhancing democracy in Turkey," opposition lawmaker Hasan Oren said Wednesday, addressing the prime minister and his ruling coalition. "Now you are trying to implement fascism."
mkg/dr (Reuters, AFP, dpa, AP)No one has produced a jot of evidence that Keating fails this test. Yet the Herald implied he should register because he'd said Australia's foreign policy should be more independent of the US.
Simply expressing this view, which many Australians hold, does not make Keating a Chinese agent of influence. His views are merely an extension of his forward-looking policy while prime minister that Australia should seek its security "in and with" Asia.
A healthy public debate means all Australians, including Keating, should be free to advocate a wide range of policies without slurs about their loyalty.
The usual national security definition of an agent of influence is someone who knowingly co-operates with a foreign intelligence service to try to influence public policy in their home country.
David Rowe
The new requirement for Australians to register as an agent of influence is not meant to imply any wrongdoing, but the legislation casts a wide net. It covers anyone acting on behalf of foreign governments, foreign businesses and foreign political organisations to influence the Australian political system and public debates, whether covertly or overtly.
Current laws 'adequate'
Brett Walker, a senior counsel and former independent monitor of Australia's national security legislation, recently wrote in the Lowy Institute's Interpreter that we "already have adequate counter-espionage laws".
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He says foreign influence is often benign, including support for increased trade, travel, and cultural understanding. "Our politics would be devalued by the implication that good ideas come only from Australia."
Walker says it would be simpler and more effective to require anyone in an Australian government or parliament to disclose any knowledge they have of approaches made on behalf of foreign powers and businesses.
Another concerning feature of the new law is it makes it an espionage offence to receive "information" without clearly defining what this means, for example, in the references to information on "relations with other countries".
Despite the 1781 paragraphs in the convoluted explanatory memorandum, this is only one aspect needing clarification.
Yet penalties in the bill can include life imprisonment for espionage and treason. Jail for foreign interference offences is up to 20 years.
With rare exceptions, it should be a fundamental democratic right for people to try to influence opinions about all sorts of topics, including public policy. Increased contact with other countries should be encouraged, not condemned.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported on Thursday that its sources suggested Paul Keating would have to register as an "agent of foreign influence" under the new legislation Daniel Munoz
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However, some commentators strongly criticise Australian universities for jointly conducting standard scientific research with Chinese universities, in case it has a tenuous military connection.
Others brand journalists who've visited China as agents of influence.
The same could be said of numerous academics, journalists and politicians who go on US-government funded trips.
Should Australians working in US government or corporate-funded think-tanks register as agents of influence, if they push an American line in the Australian media? Of course not, provided the funding is revealed.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, with Attorney-General George Brandis, has stressed China is not the sole target of the new legislation. Alex Ellinghausen
When announcing the new legislation, Turnbull stressed China was not the sole target. He said, "interference is unacceptable from any country whether considered friend or foe". The US and Russia have intervened in numerous elections.
Former US assistant secretary of state Victoria Nuland, for example, told Congress in 2016 the US spent $100 million on promoting opposition to Vladimir Putin in Russia's 2012 presidential election.
If the new legislation curbs similar behaviour by any country, that's commendable. But the potential constraints on freedom of expression in the present bill are unacceptable.Don't mention the mockingbird! The reclusive novelist who wrote the classic novel that mesmerised 40 million readers
In the 50 years since Harper Lee published her classic novel that mesmerised 40million readers, she has barely written another word – and turned into an almost total recluse.
So when her friends agreed to give our reporter an introduction, it was on one strict condition...Don’t mention the Mockingbird
Despite the thick, black sunglasses, there is something familiar about the frail 84-year-old woman as she is helped falteringly towards the lake shore.
A delighted smile flickers across her face as ducks and Canada geese flock round to feed on the scraps of bread brought from the care home where she lives in a modest apartment.
Unhappy: The reclusive Harper Lee with child actress Mary Badham, who played Scout in the film of Mockingbird
Dressed in a clean but faded T-shirt and loosely fitting gingham slacks, she attracts barely a glance from passers-by.
Yet hers is the face which has stared from the cover of a book that has hypnotised more than 40 million readers around the world, one that has frequently been rated as one of the ten most important books published in the past century.
She is Harper Lee, whose only book, To Kill A Mockingbird, won the Pulitzer Prize, is translated into nearly 50 languages and was turned into the Oscar-winning 1962 film starring Gregory Peck. It also made Harper into a multi-millionairess.
To kill a mockingbird has been rated as one of the ten most important books published in the past century
Nervously, I approach the novelist, carrying the best box of chocolates I could find in the small Alabama town of Monroeville, a Hershey’s selection costing a few dollars. I start to apologise that I hadn’t brought more but a beaming Nelle – as her friends and family call her – extends her hand.
‘Thank you so much,’ she told me. ‘You are most kind. We’re just going to feed the ducks but call me the next time you are here. We have a lot of history here. You will enjoy it.’
It was the most fleeting of conversations, but that is hardly surprising. Harper has said precious little in public since the publication of Mockingbird 50 years ago next month. She has written nothing else since, save a few short stories in the early Sixties.
Yet on the July 11 anniversary, thousands of Mockingbird Groupies, as her fans are called, will converge on Monroeville for a three-day festival in celebration of her work.
No one expects Harper to give a welcoming address. Indeed, she has spent the past five decades living in almost total seclusion.
Even when she travelled to the White House to receive an award from President George W. Bush three years ago, she did so under the strict condition that she would answer no questions and make no acceptance speech.
Nobody knows what she does with her wealth. Her friends say material goods are unimportant to her and that if she gives to charity, she does so anonymously.
Secretive: Harper Lee in Monroeville, where she refuses to discuss her famous novel
For much of the past 50 years, she has shunned the formality and racism of her native Alabama to make her home in a tiny flat on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.
Only now, towards the end of her days, has Harper returned to live in a sheltered housing complex in her childhood home town of Monroeville.
I went to Alabama in an attempt to answer the great mystery of why she – like that other American literary legend J. D. Salinger, who died in January – should have spent almost half a century in silence.
Why did Harper Lee, like J.D.Salinger choose to spend almost half a century in silence?
Her friends agree to introduce me to her on one condition: that I make no mention of ‘The Book’, as people here refer to it.
Based on a few gnomic utterances over the years, many literary commentators have attributed Harper’s solitary life and subsequent failure to publish another book to her alarm at the tidal wave of praise for her Mockingbird, in which the racial bigotry of the South is witnessed through the eyes of a little girl, Scout.
Others have suggested that perhaps she only had one great book in her, and that she knew that every subsequent attempt would be regarded as a disappointment.
But according to confidants, many of whom have known her since childhood, what Harper has really found a burden is her enduring sadness about the book’s underlying themes.
They say that while To Kill A Mockingbird is ostensibly a courtroom thriller – in which Scout’s compassionate and principled lawyer father Atticus Finch defends a black man falsely accused of raping a white woman – Harper drew on deeply painful family secrets to create her protagonists.
Oscar-winning: Gregory Peck as Atticus with co-star Brock Peters in the film of 'To kill a mockingbird'
Furthermore, her liberal views on race were extremely unpopular in her native Deep South. Indeed many in her own family were unhappy with the tone of her book.
‘I’m not a psychologist, but there’s a lot of Nelle in that book,’ said 87-year-old George Thomas Jones, a retired businessman who has known Harper and her family since she was a girl.
‘People say the publicity the book got turned her into a recluse but publicity didn’t ruin her life: I don’t think Nelle’s ever been a real happy person.’
Mr Jones said that Harper’s father Amasa Coleman Lee, a former newspaper editor, lawyer and state senator who was clearly the model for Atticus Finch, was ‘a real genteel man, who listened more than he talked... but he sure didn’t show much affection.
'I used to caddy for him on the local golf course. He was so formal that he would wear a heavy three-piece suit, shirt, tie and stout shoes to play golf, even in the heat of the summer.’
In an episode that foreshadows the compassionate and fiercely moral hero Atticus, played by Gregory Peck in the movie, Harper’s father had defended two black men charged with murder in a celebrated case in 1919.
After they were convicted and hanged, he never practised again. But unlike the fictional Finch, Mr Lee was a staunch segregationist who supported the harsh ‘Jim Crow’ laws of the American South.
Harper Lee's book has sold more than 40 million copies worldwide
In the novel, Scout lives in fear of a ‘malevolent phantom’, a psychologically disturbed neighbour called Boo Radley, who ultimately saves her life.
While it is clear that the character is in part based on a |
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IOTW Report
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kathy blog
FAQster
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Looking at the Left
Brain Terminal
ZombietimeThis is a page from one of Stanley Kubrick’s notebooks, on which he jotted down more than a dozen different titles for the movie that came to be called Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. Among the rejected titles were:
Dr. Doomsday or: How to Start World War III Without Even Trying
Dr. Strangelove’s Secret Uses of Uranus
My Bomb, Your Bomb
Strangelove: Nuclear Wiseman
The Bomb and Dr. Strangelove or: How to be Afraid 24hrs a Day
The Passion of Dr. Strangelove
Fun titles, but they remind me of a chess quote I tweeted the other day: “When you see a good move look out for a better.” Glad Kubrick stuck with it.
The alternate titles made me curious to look at the script, which I’d never seen before. Even glancing at the first few pages are illuminating. I knew the main characters names were full of suggestive puns — General Buck Turgidson, President Merkin Muffley, General Jack D. Ripper — but that’s nothing compared to some of the names in the script, many of which do not appear in the film:
General “Buck” Schmuck
Admiral Percy Buldike
Ambassador de Sade (“Alexei de Sadeski” in the film)
Von Klutz
Frankenstein
Cadaverly
Didley
Crudley
Waffel
Funkel
Major Nonce
Lieutenant Quentin Quiffer
Lieutenant “Binky” Ballmuff
And under “General Notes”, Kubrick lays out how he wants the film to look and feel:
1. The story will be played for realistic comedy - which means the essentially truthful moods and attitudes will be portrayed accurately, with an occasional bizarre or super-realistic crescendo. The acting will never be so-called “comedy” acting. 2. The sets and technical details will be done realistically and carefully. We will strive for the maximum atmosphere and sense of visual reality from the sets and locations. 3. The Flying sequences will especially be presented in as vivid a manner as possible. Exciting backgrounds and special effects will be obtained.
Nailed it. (via @monstro)Fab Four Fan Fotos Pictures of the Beatles taken by the fans themselves. These pictures have never before been seen or published. Jim Ciminera Back in the late 60's, early 70's I was hitch hiking around the United States and Canada, and ended up at one point in Toronto. These were the hippy days and we went to the heart of the artist district to look for someone to put us up for the night. Two girls befriended us and took us home to their apartment. That night one of the girls went a little nuts. When she heard that I was a Lennon freak like her, she insisted that my initials meant I was Jesus Christ (?) and that I was sent to her for some reason. I just wanted to get the hell out of there! :-) As I was leaving she handed me these small instamatic photographs of the Beatles that she said her friend had personally taken when the Beatles visited Toronto or Montreal, I can't remember which. I told her I couldn't take such an important gift, but she insisted. She said at that time that she did not know if the negatives survived and I would doubt that they do to this day. -Jim Cim
Jay Boivin This picture was taken in February, 1967 after a Chuck Berry concert at the Seville Theater in London. At the time Brian Epstein used the Seville as a venue to promote his musical acts. On my way out, behind the theatre I saw John and Ringo rushing into a Mini Cooper. I said hello, they acknowledged, and then Brian walked up to the car to bid them good evening. That's when I took the picture, and you can see Brian's reflection in the car window. -Jay Note: Previously the woman in the picture had been identified as Ringo's first wife Maureen. By comparing this photo with other photos of Beatles wives, we now know that is Cynthia Lennon in the car with John and Ringo.
Richard Cook These photos were taken at the Las Vegas show of McCartney's New World Tour in 1993. The album Paul Is Live was recorded during this tour. Hamish Stuart, Robbie McIntosh, Wix Wickens, and Linda can all be seen with Paul in the first pic, group.jpg. The drummer, Blair Cunningham, can be seen behind Paul in the second to last pic, piano.jpg. These pictures were taken from 11th row center using a Nikon camera and a 70-120mm zoom lens. For more info on these files, contact Richard Cook at richcook@bellsouth.net.
Mark Jones My name is Mark Jones and I live in Northampton, UK. I had the chance to meet Paul twice in 1990. The first time I met Paul was on October 15, on a march to try and save Rye Hospital which was going to be closed. A friend of mine heard that Paul was going so we went just on the off chance of meeting him. He was polite but not into signing autographs or talking about any thing other than the hospital on the march, which is understandable, though I did shake his hand. We got about 54 pictures altogether. After the march he gave a speech from the top of an open top bus then started to leave. It was at this point that he did sign a few autographs and I got a 'Flowers In The Dirt' CD signed. The second time I got to meet Paul was at a TV Show recording in Wembley, London in December. I spoke to Paul half way through the recording when they had a break and as he was leaving some of us managed to get a few pictures of him. They were taken through glass though. -Mark
The photos on this page are the property of the owners. These files may be downloaded and shared with other Beatles fans for personal use only, and may not be commercially distributed. This page was last updated January 20, 2002.(In this Jan. 29 story, corrects quote of tweet by Canadian legislator Greg Fergus to ‘demonizing’ instead of ‘sermonizing’)
By Kevin Dougherty
QUEBEC CITY (Reuters) - Six people were killed and eight wounded when gunmen opened fire at a Quebec City mosque during Sunday night prayers, in what Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called a “terrorist attack on Muslims”.
Police said two suspects had been arrested, but gave no details about them or what prompted the attack.
Initially, the mosque president said five people were killed and a witness said up to three gunmen had fired on about 40 people inside the Quebec City Islamic Cultural Centre. Police said only two people were involved in the attack.
“Six people are confirmed dead - they range in age from 35 to about 70,” Quebec provincial police spokeswoman Christine Coulombe told reporters, adding eight people were wounded and 39 were unharmed.
The mosque’s president, Mohamed Yangui, who was not inside when the shooting occurred, said he got frantic calls from people at evening prayers.
“Why is this happening here? This is barbaric,” he said.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a statement: “We condemn this terrorist attack on Muslims in a center of worship and refuge”.
“Muslim-Canadians are an important part of our national fabric, and these senseless acts have no place in our communities, cities and country.”
The shooting came on the weekend that Trudeau said Canada would welcome refugees, after U.S. President Donald Trump suspended the U.S. refugee program and temporarily barred citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States on national security grounds.
A Canadian federal Liberal legislator, Greg Fergus, tweeted: “This is an act of terrorism — the result of years of demonizing Muslims. Words matter and hateful speeches have consequences!”
The premier of Quebec province, Philippe Couillard, said security would be increased at mosques in Quebec City and Montreal.
“We are with you. You are home,” Couillard said, directing his comments at the province’s Muslim community. “You are welcome in your home. We are all Quebecers. We must continue together to build an open welcoming and peaceful society”.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said police were providing additional protection for mosques in that city following the Quebec shooting. “All New Yorkers should be vigilant. If you see something, say something,” he tweeted.
‘NOT SAFE HERE’
French President Francois Hollande condemned the attack.
“The terrorists wanted to attack the spirit of peace and tolerance of the citizens of Quebec,” Hollande said in a statement on Monday. “France stands shoulder to shoulder with the victims and their families”.
People bring flowers at the scene of a fatal shooting at the Quebec Islamic Cultural Centre in Quebec City. REUTERS/Mathieu Belanger
Like France, Quebec has struggled at times to reconcile its secular identity with a rising Muslim population, many of them from North Africa.
In June last year, a pig’s head was left on the doorstep of the cultural center.
“We are not safe here,” said Mohammed Oudghiri, who normally attends prayers at the mosque in the middle-class, residential area, but did not on Sunday.
Oudghiri said he had lived in Quebec for 42 years but was now “very worried” and thinking of moving back to Morocco.
Mass shootings are rare in Canada, which has stricter gun laws than the United States, and news of the shooting sent a shockwave through mosques and community centers throughout the mostly French-language province.
“It’s a sad day for all Quebecers and Canadians to see a terrorist attack happen in peaceful Quebec City,” said Mohamed Yacoub, co-chairman of an Islamic community center in a Montreal suburb.
“I hope it’s an isolated incident.”
Incidents of Islamophobia have increased in Quebec in recent years. The face-covering, or niqab, became a big issue in the 2015 Canadian federal election, especially in Quebec, where the majority of the population supported a ban on it at citizenship ceremonies.
In 2013, police investigated after a mosque in the Saguenay region of the province was splattered with what was believed to be pig blood. In the neighboring province of Ontario, a mosque was set on fire in 2015, a day after an attack by gunmen and suicide bombers in Paris.
Zebida Bendjeddou, who left the Quebec City mosque earlier on Sunday evening, said the center had received threats.
Slideshow (10 Images)
“In June, they’d put a pig’s head in front of the mosque. But we thought: ‘Oh, they’re isolated events.’ We didn’t take it seriously. But tonight, those isolated events, they take on a different scope,” she said.
Bendjeddou said she had not confirmed the names of those killed, but added: “They’re people we know, for sure. People we knew since they were little kids.”By Sarah Dutton, Jennifer De Pinto, Anthony Salvanto and Fred Backus
Most Americans don't think the U.S. is obliged to intervene in the recent annexation by Russia of the Ukrainian territory of Crimea. A majority of 61 percent of Americans do not think the U.S. has a responsibility to do something about the situation between Russia and Ukraine, nearly twice as many as the 32 percent who think it does. There is widespread bipartisan agreement on this.
Public opinion about U.S. responsibility in Ukraine is similar to views about U.S. responsibility in other international conflicts. Majorities of Americans did not think the U.S. had a responsibility to intervene in Syria (68 percent), in the fighting and ethnic cleansing in Bosnia (65 percent) or in the mass killings in Rwanda (51 percent). In contrast, 54 percent of Americans believed the U.S. did have a responsibility to intervene in Kosovo, a situation where the U.S. began a bombing campaign against Serbian forces in cooperation with NATO.
More specifically, 65 percent of Americans do not think the U.S. should provide military aid and equipment to Ukraine in response to Russia's actions, while only 26 percent think the U.S. should. Majorities of Republicans (59 percent), Democrats (67 percent), and independents (69 percent) are opposed to providing military aid and equipment to Ukraine.
Air Travel Safety
As the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 continues, most Americans rate the overall safety record of commercial airline travel positively. Seventy-three percent describe it as excellent or good, while only a quarter (24 percent) rate it as fair or poor.
Even though majorities of both men and women have positive views of air travel safety, 45 percent of men rate it as excellent, compared to just 24 percent of women.
Americans rate the safety record of air travel more positively today than they did after domestic incidents such as the crash of American Airlines flight 587 (56 percent), which occurred in November 2001, just months after the 9/11 attacks, and the 1996 crash of TWA 800 (66 percent).
CBS News last asked about the safety record of commercial air travel in January 2002, just weeks after the thwarted attempt by "the shoe-bomber" to detonate a bomb aboard an American Airlines flight. Back then, 61 percent of Americans said the safety record of air travel was excellent or good; that percentage is 73 percent today.
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This poll was conducted by telephone March 20-23, 2014 among a total of 1,097 adults nationwide. Data collection was conducted on behalf of CBS News by Social Science Research Solutions of Media, Pa. Phone numbers were dialed from samples of both standard land-line and cell phones. The error due to sampling for results based on the entire sample could be plus or minus three percentage points.We analyzed data from 19 published studies, comprising 6261 subjects. The incidence of CDI in the probiotic cohort, 1.6% (54 of 3277), was lower than of controls, 3.9% (115 of 2984) (P <.001). The pooled relative risk of CDI in probiotic users was 0.42 (95% confidence interval, 0.30−0.57; I2 = 0.0%). Meta-regression analysis demonstrated that probiotics were significantly more effective if given closer to the first antibiotic dose, with a decrement in efficacy for every day of delay in starting probiotics (P =.04); probiotics given within 2 days of antibiotic initiation produced a greater reduction of risk for CDI (relative risk, 0.32; 95% confidence interval, 0.22−0.48; I2 = 0%) than later administration (relative risk, 0.70; 95% confidence interval, 0.40−1.23; I2 = 0%) (P =.02). There was no increased risk for adverse events among patients given probiotics. The overall quality of the evidence was high.Homestuck fans! The following tutorial is re-posted (with permission) from Mage W’s blog. It’s all about how to make a hidden headback troll horn attachment. This is a follow-up to her horn molding tutorial, which is also very good. You can find all her awesome and helpful stuff over at http://magebird.tumblr.com. Ok Magebird, take it away!
“For my horns, I used InstaMorph Moldable Plastic. The best way to put a screw into the base of these types of horns is to push it in while the plastic is still soft and let the horn harden around them. If this isn’t an option, you can simply drill directly into the horn (use a screw that says it will drill its own pilot hole or use a narrow drill bit before using the screw). If you’re using InstaMorph, the heat of the drilling may cause some melting, so be sure to let it harden again completely before you proceed from this step. Some plastic may squish out of the hole you drill and around the head of the screw, but as long as it isn’t sealed over completely, this isn’t a big problem. You can smooth it down or cut it off later, if you prefer.
Once you have the holes in your horns all set, you’re going to want to remove the screws and put them through your headband instead. Make sure you find the right placement for your head! This might take a little bit of fiddling and adjustment, so I strongly recommend not painting your horns until you’re sure you won’t need to make any adjustments to them in terms of curve, thickness, etc. (Please note: if you toss them back in the hot water while they have the screw in them, the screw will be hot, and will not cool as quickly as the plastic! Please be careful about potential burns.)
Once your screws are through the headband at the angles you want, secure the bases with a little hot glue or another smear of the plastic. This will ensure they don’t move around while you’re screwing the horn on later.
Next, you’re going to want to put the headband either on your own head or on a wig head. Because styrofoam heads don’t have exactly the same proportions as a real one, I recommend getting a buddy to help you out and using your own head for the process. This will also make sure everything is in the right spot.
Next is the kind of tricky part. carefully lower your wig over the top of the headband, and push the screws through the cap of the wig and up through the hair. Depending on how your wig is made, they may just slide through between the wefts, or you make need to poke a small hole. Don’t just shove them through, as this may cause damage or tearing to your wig! This is a part where it’s useful to have a buddy who can assist with positioning and snipping. Make sure to part the hair away from the screw as much as you can so it doesn’t get too caught under the base of the horn.
Once the screws are through your wig, take your horns and start to screw them on. Your screws should be secure, and it shouldn’t take long to get the horns seated properly.
Once the horns are screwed all the way down, arrange the hair around the base, then step back and give yourself a little round of applause. You’ve attached a horn! Finally, repeat the process with the other horn, and you’re all set.
As you can see, my horns here look a little wonky because the wig head is a lot smaller thank my head, and I’m not using my actual Kanaya wig for this tutorial, but you get the idea. This is a great way to attach horns of any size and to hide headbands of pretty much any style or color.”VANCOUVER (Reuters) - Canadian radio station have been warned to censor the 1985 Dire Straits hit “Money for Nothing,” after a complaint that the lyrics of the Grammy Award-winning song were derogatory to gay men.
Former "Dire Straits" lead singer Mark Knopfler performs during a concert in Bombay March 5, 2005. REUTERS/Punit Paranjpe
A St. John’s, Newfoundland, station should have edited the song to remove the word “faggot” because it violates Canada’s human rights standards, according to ruling this week by the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council.
A unnamed listener to OZ FM in the Atlantic Coast province complained to the industry watchdog last year after hearing the song, which features Dire Straits frontman Mark Knopfler and fellow rock star Sting.
The council said it realized Dire Straits uses the word sarcastically, and its use might have been acceptable in 1985 when the best-selling “Brothers in Arms” album was released, but said it was now inappropriate.
“The decision doesn’t really relate to the Dire Straits song at the end of the day, the decision relates to the word in question,” Ron Cohen, the council’s chairman, told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.
OZ FM argued unsuccessfully that the song has been played countless times since it was released more than 25 years ago, has won various industry awards, including a Grammy in 1986, and remains popular with listeners around the world.
The ruling comes in the wake of an uproar sparked by a U.S. scholar who decided to publish an edition of Mark Twain’s novel “Huckleberry Finn” that would remove the word “nigger” to make it less offensive to some readers.
Although the Dire Straits ruling only sanctions the St John’s station, it means other Canadian radio stations could get in trouble it they air the song without censoring it.
The Broadcast Standards Council is a non-governmental industry group that administers ethical standards established by its members, Canada’s private broadcasters
Dire Straits dissolved as a band in the 1990s after a string of hit albums.Wild markets are here to stay argues Andrew Lo, an economist and finance professor at M.I.T.'s Sloan School of Management.
(MONEY Magazine) -- You know that investing can be tough. Andrew Lo says it's even tougher than you think.
Lo, an economist and finance professor at M.I.T.'s Sloan School of Management, challenges a core idea of financial theory: that markets are "efficient," meaning there's no point in trying to time your moves in and out of stocks, since everything you could know about them is already baked into the price.
Plenty of smart people think that Lo knows what he's talking about. In addition to teaching, he has advised the government on ways to limit the damage from future financial crises. He also runs a money-management firm that seeks to put his ideas to work.
Lo argues that the buy-and-hold method of investing (long considered gospel by index fund managers and this magazine) doesn't effectively limit the risks of today's markets. He explained his theories to contributor Charles P. Wallace; the conversation has been edited.
You reject the theory of efficient markets in favor of what you call adaptive markets. Meaning?
I don't entirely reject the idea of efficient markets. It needs updating. The adaptive markets hypothesis says that all economic institutions, like our own species, develop and change over time, depending on the population of investors that are engaged with them.
So what does that mean for investors?
In a normal market, you get the independent valuations of millions of buyers and sellers trying to evaluate a given security.
During periods of extreme fear or greed, you don't have the proper balance between those two to generate market efficiency and you get extremes in behavior.
When there's a strong trend upward, for example, the kind of skepticism that produces reasonable and accurate valuations of securities is not at work, and a bubble develops. It's very exciting when you're in the midst of it, but at some point the valuations aren't justifiable.
It seems as if big market shifts are becoming more common.
Yes. If you rank the top 50 one-day moves in the S&P 500, a fair number of those happened within the last five or 10 years. That tells you that we're in a different, riskier market now.
What's going on?
A combination of a lot of smart guys and technology. People have the ability to enact a trade instantaneously. And they have a lot of complex new tools, such as hedge funds and derivatives, at their disposal.
Technological innovations often have unintended consequences. My analogy is someone clearing some brush using a handsaw. You can clear a lot more brush using a chainsaw, but you might lose a finger, or suffer other attendant consequences. We now have everybody with chainsaws going after all sorts of opportunities, and that's really where the potential for crises can emerge.
Until we've learned how to develop better technologies, I think we're going to keep seeing more crises. There's a good chance we'll see a pretty important shock wave coming out of Europe if they don't get their act together with regard to European sovereign debt.
But doesn't a simple buy-and-hold strategy address a lot of these issues of risk?
Buy-and-hold doesn't work anymore. The volatility is too significant. Almost any asset can suddenly become much more risky. Buying into a mutual fund and holding it for 10 years is no longer going to deliver the same kind of expected return that we saw over the course of the last seven decades, simply because of the nature of financial markets and how complex it's gotten.
Okay, but even during the so-called lost decade (2000 to 2010) someone who regularly put money into a 60% stock/40% bond portfolio would have had about a 4% return. Why isn't that good enough?
Think about how that person earned 4%. He lost 30%, saw a big bounce-back, and so on, and the compound rate of return over the period was 4%. But |
usra terrorists, the White Helmets and the Aleppo Media Center.
Thus, Western governments and mass media are relying entirely on a source of information out of east Aleppo that is not only integrated with terror groups; it is funded by Western governments.
French news outlets in particular, like state-owned France 24, routinely broadcast video footage from east Aleppo that is supplied from the Nusra-linked White Helmets and Aleppo Media Center, which, as noted, is financed by the French foreign ministry. Talk about self-serving.
Why the French have come to play an important role in the Western information war is no doubt because they have the logistical connections to the terror media operations. Several other radio stations have been set up in northern Syria by the French foreign ministry since the beginning of the foreign-instigated covert war for regime change in 2011. And, of course, French colonial and linguistic legacy in Syria also gives it a certain advantage over the Americans and British in facilitating the propaganda war.
The impact of this French-sponsored misinformation is impressive. This week Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton accused Russia of “aggression” in a nationwide TV debate, while a former British cabinet minister compared Russia with “Nazi Germany”. These claims are given full vent in the Western media without question. Even though they are based on information coming from terrorist sources in Aleppo. And not only that but the terrorist sources are set up and funded by the French, American and British governments.
This connection is fully consistent with how these NATO governments have funded, armed and trained terrorist death squads to fight in Syria for their strategic objective of regime change against an ally of Russia and Iran.
REAL Syria Civil Defence in Damascus. In 2014 this fire truck was hit by a US-coalition terrorist launched guided missile that murdered three crew members on their way to rescue civilians from a recent terrorist mortar attack that had demolished homes south of Homs. (Photo: Vanessa Beeley)
The US, Britain and France, along with regional partner regimes, unleashed a war on the Syrian nation that has caused millions of dead, maimed, orphaned and homeless.
A war involving the most barbaric crimes committed against innocents by Western-backed death squads.
A war that has repeated the same Western crimes committed in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and many other countries down through the decades, including this author’s home country, Ireland.
The people who should be hauled to the International Criminal Court to face war crime charges are the very Western political leaders who have the audacity to smear Russia.
***
LINKS & MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE WHITE HELMETS:
White Helmets: ‘A Pseudo NGO’
CrossTalk: ‘White Helmets, Really?’ with Vanessa Beeley, Eva Bartlett & Patrick Henningsen
Report by Patrick Henningsen
AN INTRODUCTION: Smart Power & The Human Rights Industrial Complex
Open Letter by Vanessa Beeley
White Helmets Campaign for War NOT Peace – Retract RLA & Nobel Peace Prize Nominations
Original investigative report:
The REAL Syria Civil Defence Exposes Fake White Helmets as Terrorist-Linked Imposters
Staged Rescue Videos
(VIDEO) White Helmets: Miraculous ‘Rag Doll Rescue’
Mainstream Media: Fake News
CNN’s Claim That ‘White Helmets Center in Damascus’ Was Hit by a Barrel Bomb
White Helmets and Mayday Rescue:
The Syrian Civil Defence: Wikipedia
21st Century Wire compilation of key information on the White Helmets:
Who are the Syria White Helmets?
21st Century Wire article on the White Helmets:
Syria’s White Helmets: War by Way of Deception ~ the “Moderate” Executioners
Cory Morningstar report:
Investigation into the funding sources of the White Helmets, Avaaz, Purpose, The Syria Campaign
Report by Scott Ritter:
The ‘White Helmets’ and the Inherent Contradiction of America’s Syria Policy
Open letter to Canada’s NDP Leader on Nobel Prize:
Letter to NDP from Prof. John Ryan protesting White Helmet nomination for RLA and Nobel Peace Prize
White Helmets: Bogus Claims:
‘We Saved 60,000’ – Bogus Claim by Syria’s White Helmets Raises Even More Questions
READ MORE WHITE HELMET NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire White Helmet Files
SUPPORT OUR WORK BY SUBSCRIBING & BECOMING A MEMBER @21WIRE.TVGENEVA (Reuters) - World Trade Organisation judges said on Monday the United States broke its rules in imposing hefty duties on Chinese steel products, solar panels and a range of other goods that Washington argues enjoyed government subsidies.
An employee dries newly made solar panels at a factory of a photovoltaic company in Jiaxing, Zhejiang province June 5, 2013. REUTERS/William Hong
In a similar case involving U.S. methods in deciding when foreign imports are unfairly priced, another WTO panel ruled in support of some claims by India against tariffs on steel exports from three of its major firms.
Trade diplomats said the two cases, both under scrutiny for nearly two years by the separate panels, reflected a widespread concern in the 160-member WTO over what many see as illegal U.S. protection of its own producers.
In the $7.2 billion Chinese case, the panel found that Washington had overstepped the mark in justifying the so-called countervailing duties it imposed as a response to alleged subsidies to exporting firms by China’s government.
Under the 1964 Marrakesh accords, which also set up the WTO, these duties can only be levied when there is clear evidence that state-owned or partially state-owned enterprises passing on the subsidies are “public bodies.”
The panel found that Washington had produced insufficient evidence for this, and was also at fault in its calculations of the value of the subsidies to Chinese firms producing items like kitchen shelving, grass cutters and even citric acid.
And it told the United States it should adapt its measures to bring them into line with the WTO’s agreement on subsidies and countervailing measures, dubbed the SCM in trade jargon.
SOME COMFORT
The ruling, which gave the United States some comfort in rejecting some aspects of the Chinese complaint, was welcomed in a statement from China’s Ministry of Commerce distributed by Beijing’s trade mission in Geneva.
“China urges the United States to respect the WTO rulings and correct its wrongdoings of abusively using trade remedy measures, and to ensure an environment of fair competition for Chinese enterprises,” the statement said.
The United States said it was weighing its options. U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman said the decision to reject many of China’s challenges was a victory for American businesses and workers. “With respect to the other findings in the panel report, the Administration is carefully evaluating its options, and will take all appropriate steps to ensure that U.S. remedies against unfair subsidies remain strong and effective.” Many other members of the organisation, including the European Union and Japan, declared themselves interested parties in the disputes, although they did not say if their sympathies lay with the United States or its challengers.
The ruling in the Indian case - which involves steelmakers like Tata[TATAI.UL], Jindal and Essar[ESRG.UL] who are supplied by the state-run iron-ore mining firm, NMDC - was not so clear-cut.
It said the United States had “acted inconsistently” in terms of some provisions of the SCM agreement and had unfairly reduced Indian trade revenue. Washington should bring its measures into line with the pact, the panel said.
But it rejected many of the technical aspects of the Indian case.
Froman hailed the panel ruling while recognising it as a “mixed result.”
“The panel’s findings rejecting most of India’s numerous challenges to our laws and determinations is a significant victory for the United States and for the (U.S.) workers and businesses making these steep products,” he said.When Google unveiled its latest mobile operating system to the world last week, the company asked a reserved but extremely confident man named Hugo Barra to grab the microphone, and celebrate Android 4.1 as the best mobile operating system the world has seen. It couldn't have been easy to sing the praises of an OS code-named "Jelly Bean" with a completely straight face, but Barra, Android's director of product management, was cool and composed as he shared Android's latest killer features.
There was the new graphically enhanced search tool, Google Now. There was the new voice-based search assistant – Google's answer to Apple's Siri. And there was also a new piece of hardware – the Nexus 7 – which would show off Android's full potential. Barra anchored all these announcements, reporting the Google I/O news that the world was most interested in hearing.
And now he speaks directly with Wired about Google's mobile future. We sat down with Barra last week at Google I/O to pick his brain about the Nexus 7, and all the other key Android announcements. Here is the edited conversation.
Wired: Jelly Bean really has two major new features – Google Now and voice search. Walk us through the thinking behind these additions.
Hugo Barra: The concept of a card with some information in it [Google Now] isn't actually new. For a long time, we've had the notion of "One Boxes." Whenever Google presents information to you on top of search results – it's sort of formatted in a particular way, and physically separate from the search results – we've called that a "One Box" for awhile. So we've taken that concept of a card with information in it just a few steps further by formatting it in a way that's more appropriate for mobile devices and giving it a significant amount of visual polish. It's not a new concept. It's just an advancement of an existing concept when it comes to search.
>"It’s very deliberately not making jokes with you. Google is a neutral party — it’s not your friend, secretary or sister." \- Hugo Barra
__Wired:__ Is Google Now just making things looking prettier, or is this actually a use case-driven enhancement? Can you quantify whether this makes information easier or more accessible to the user?
Barra: It certainly is. If you've asked a question for which a specific answer or a small set of specific answers exist, you're likely wanting to see that specific answer, right? So rather than trusting that the user will sift through the web in a highly precisely ranked form, we take it one step further, and serve that answer up on an information card.
The second thing you talked about – giving Google a voice – is very use case-driven. If you're in a situation where you're asking a question with your voice, there's a significant chance you're in a somewhat constrained environment. You're on the go, you're rushing. You might be in the car. You're carrying something else with your hands. You can't really pause to look at your screen or type.
So speaking it back to you seems pretty natural, right? That's how humans communicate. But we also wanted to do that only when we had a text-to-speech engine that was extremely high quality. And what you hear today, if you ask Google a question on Jelly Bean, is quite spectacular. There isn't a text-to-speech engine, as we call them, that has accuracy as high as that.
We didn't talk about this in the keynote, but we have built a text-to-speech engine that's networked-based, meaning it uses a very large amount of data to compose a spoken answer. You know, purely from a synthesis perspective – forget about answering questions – it takes a very large amount of data to generate a synthesized audio of someone speaking. But we also have a matching engine that sits on the device. It's the exact same voice but with a very different computational technique. You'll always hear the same voice whether it's speaking back to you in a connected use-case, in which it comes from the server, or a disconnected offline use-case, in which it would just be synthesized on the device.
Wired: What makes a good voice? Did you model it after someone?
Barra: I actually come from speech recognition, and I worked in speech in general for a very long time. So don't let me talk about this all day. But it's a very, very intricate process. And it starts with finding a voice talent.
Wired: A real person?
Barra: Finding a person who has a voice that just nails it. And in this day and age, it's actually a very different voice talent than the voice talents that power most of the voice technology that exists today. A lot of today's voice technology comes from the companies you'd expect – Nuance and Microsoft and others. That technology is built for a telephony world, for a customer service environment where you need this posh, powerful voice – a branding approach to things.
We set out to create the very first conversational voice, and I think we nailed that. I think we have the very first high-quality, natural-sounding, conversational, synthesized voice in the entire world.
Between a bunch of designers, engineers and speech scientists, we sat down and tried to describe the personality of the person, the personality of the voice that we were trying to create. We wrote down "friendly" [as a product goal] and there were literally 15 different ways to describe what friendly means. So that was the brief that we gave to a casting agency, and they came back with 10 candidates. We recorded those 10 candidates, and we did a bunch of blind tests with all sorts of different people, and we voted it down to two people. And then we recorded more of those people, and we did some tests and we decided "OK, we're going to go with this one person."
I don't actually know her name. In fact, no one knows her name.
Wired: It's a secret?
Barra: It's supposed to be. It's not something that you publicize because it needs to be the voice of Google. And then you create the voice, you collect a lot of data. What we did is an industry first.
Wired: While it does sound more human-like, it doesn't have a lot of personality in the sense that it doesn't say funny things back to you. It doesn't deliver jokes.
Barra: So nothing to do with the voice itself, but what it says and how it says it?
Wired: Exactly. Is that something you guys were looking to add in the future, or is that something you wanted to leave out?
Barra: It's very deliberately not making jokes with you. Google is a neutral party – it's not your friend, secretary or sister. It's not your mom. It's not your girlfriend or boyfriend. It is an information retrieval entity. You ask, we respond. And it's very important that this entity be impartial, and adding jokes and other mannerisms to the voice would take away from that.
It's something that we've talked about, and it's pretty clear. There hasn't been a single person in the company who thinks we should have gone the other direction.
Wired: Samsung already has S Voice and LG is working on its Quick Voice feature. So is Google introducing its own voice feature because it doesn't want 15 different variations of the same sort of function on Android devices?
Barra: It is not. It's simply an evolution of the Google search experience. All of the assets that we use – both the online and offline speech engine, as well as the speech synthesizer – those are all assets that our hardware partners can use to compose whatever experience they want. Our goal was simply to build the next-generation Google search experience. Voice in and voice out, and then a brand new feature called Google Now.
Wired: Is there a name for the voice that we hear in Jelly Bean?
Barra: Google Voice Search. It's always been called Voice Search. It continues to be called voice search.
Wired: What does Jelly Bean say about Google's view on the direction of mobile operating systems and devices, and the industry as a whole?
Barra: Some of the things that we did in Jelly Bean are representative of where we think the industry should go. I'll just mention two.
One is the home screen experience. We did this with Android with the first generation of widgets – this notion of having an application space of your own where stuff appears and actions can be invoked, without having to dive into an application. People want that, people need that.
The second thing is task switching. There are all these awesome, specialized applications that exist today. I think there's a specialization trend, by the way, in mobile. You use a lot more applications a lot more often, often for very simple tasks, so put those in the notification shade. Something as simple as calling back should not be three clicks away. It should be one click away. Bringing the application action value to the surface, when it’s needed, where it’s needed. We think we’re doing a lot of things that set direction for the industry.
Wired: Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich, at this point, is on only about 7 percent of Android devices. The fact that Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean are so similar, is that going to make it easier for hardware partners to port their software over? Or will we see the same lag in adopting the latest software that we saw with Ice Cream Sandwich?
Barra: We don't know. These are business decisions that our partners make, but we certainly are making it easier.
First, you are right that they are similar and that does, yes, make it easier. If you take a look at the difference between the two platforms, you'll see that there is a smaller difference between Jelly Bean and Ice Cream Sandwich than there was between Ice Cream Sandwich and Gingerbread.
But we are launching the Platform Development Kit, the PDK, for our hardware partners. It's starting in beta. It's really going to be full-on in the next release, but it's already there. We want partners to innovate in parallel so that by the time we're ready, they're ready. I think that will shorten the cycle and that's really the objective of the PDK.
Wired: The Nexus 7 tablet its the first Jelly Bean tablet and it looks really different than any Honeycomb or Ice Cream Sandwich tablets that are out there. The operating system stays in a portrait orientation. You even have an app tray very similar to what we see on our phones. Is this a signal to your hardware partners that says, "This is the style in which you should make tablets?"
Barra: It is a signal to the industry. We've done a tremendous amount of user research to understand what people want. But first, a few things.
We do think that this form factor is one that the industry hasn’t embraced as much as it should. This fills a very important gap. It’s a device that you can carry in a small purse or back pocket. Just walk around Moscone, and that’s what you're going to see. It's the device that's totally cool to have with you in the subway or the bus, and then when you get up, you don't have to put it away.
There's a huge market gap that we're filling with the Nexus 7, and we're doing it really well because it's a really powerful computer. It's the most powerful 7-inch tablet the world has seen by leaps and bounds. In that sense, we're setting a direction for the industry, or suggesting a direction for the industry.
As far as the user interface is concerned, we think that Jelly Bean is a much more modern UI for a tablet of this size. When it comes to the 10-inch size, that's really going to depend on the product partners.
Wired: Are we going to see a Nexus 10?
Barra: This is where we're starting. We'll take it one step at a time. This is where we're starting and we'll see what partners do in the 10-inch form factor.
Wired: What did the relationship with Asus look like? Did you just get a bunch of guys from Asus to come down to Mountain View, and worked together everyday? Or did Google design something, and say, "Hey, build this for us?"
Barra: I think it was about four months, and we did have them over and we also went over there ourselves. It was a lot of hard work at high intensity because of the short period of time. We really wanted to get something out here, but it was actually great to have a particular place in time where it was "If we don't make it by then, it'll no longer be available to us." We wanted to launch something here at I/O and it was a lot of work.
Wired: Four months is a very short period of time. Did Google see the MeMO 370T at CES and turn that into a Nexus tablet? Or we're you all looking for the right hardware partner, and just hadn’t found it until fourth months ago?
Barra: We didn't think that someone had nailed the digital content device. I'm talking about a device that allows you to do movies, books, magazines and so on, but also gaming. Super high-performance gaming, with a gyroscope, a pretty powerful GPU and so on. We didn't think anyone had nailed that in this form factor. We thought there was an opportunity, a gap in the world. So we spent a little bit of time talking to people until we found the right partner and when we did, it was full speed ahead.
Wired: Does Google need to convince consumers that the Nexus 7 is an entertainment device worth picking up? The price is right, the hardware and specs are right, and the content is there, but consumers haven't traditionally seen Google as a place to buy digital media.
Barra: We've just built a new brand that didn't exist a few months ago.
Wired: Google Play?
Barra: Yes, Google Play. We all know that new brands don't make themselves. They require education and marketing. Android Market wasn't an obvious destination for you to go buy a book. It really wasn't. And therefore, yeah, we do have to make it known to people that’s a destination that will have the stuff that they want.
Google Play is Nexus 7 and Nexus 7 is Google Play. So which one is it that you are selling? Is it Google Play or the Nexus 7? Well, it's really both. So hopefully that'll work. And you know, page 5 of the Wall Street Journal, we had a full page ad [on Thursday]. We're really serious about this.Most solar-energy systems installed around New Jersey in the future likely will be grid-supply projects, rather than the mostly residential and small-business projects of the recent past.
That trend reflects a dramatic shift in the nature of New Jersey’s solar sector, which as recently as early last year usually involved projects behind the meter, producing power for homes and small businesses, with owners getting credit for electricity they do not use.
The change in direction comes at a time of turmoil in the solar sector. The prices owners of smaller systems earn for the electricity their arrays produce have fallen dramatically, making it less profitable for solar-energy developers to invest in such projects.
Financial investment in larger grid-supply projects can yield better returns, in part because of economies of scale.
At the end of 2012, nearly 80 percent of all solar-energy systems installed in New Jersey involved so-called behind-the-meter projects, according to data compiled by the state Office of Clean Energy. Grid-supply projects, which supply electricity from large solar arrays directly to the power grid, accounted for only 20 percent.
But new solar projects in the pipeline identified by a consultant to the Board of Public Utilities suggested that trend could reverse. Behind-the-meter systems now account for only about 32 percent of the projects in the pipeline, while direct grid-supply projects make up 68 percent of the new systems.
Even that projection may be off the mark. Scott Hunter, renewable energy administrator for the Office of Clean Energy, noted that the grid-supply projects do not include those already in the queue at the PJM Interconnection, the regional operator of the electric power grid.
Charles Garrison, a consultant from Honeywell, one of the administrators of the clean-energy program, agreed.
“There is still a substantial pipeline,’’ Garrison said at a meeting in BPU’s offices in Trenton.
The concern is that big, new solar projects will come on line, further exacerbating an oversupply of SRECs (solar renewable energy certificates, which determine the price owners of systems earn for the power they produce), which have depressed the prices owners of the systems earn for the power they produce. The state has tried to deal with that issue by ramping up how much solar electricity power suppliers must buy in the next few years, a strategy yet to prove successful.
The trend poses some challenges for state regulators.
Many conservation groups strongly oppose converting existing agricultural land into large-scale solar farms. Many developers have invested large amounts of money in trying to secure approval for their projects – many of them on farmland -- from the PJM Interconnection, operator of the regional power grid.
This is at odds with the Christie administration’s energy master plan], which aims to discourage large grid-supply projects on farmland.
The issue may come to a head at the end of April when the BPU is expected to decide how many of more than 50 grid-supply projects, many on farmland, may move ahead by earning lucrative credits for the electricity their systems produce.
The energy master plan recommends those larger-scale projects be built on brownfields—contaminated sites which have laid fallow for years—or old garbage dumps, most of which have yet to been properly closed. A bill passed last summer directed the BPU to come up with financial incentives to encourage such projects, but the agency is far from reaching a consensus on the issue, as a meeting held yesterday in Trenton demonstrated.
Without new financial incentives, some solar-energy developers argue the energy plan’s target -- 80 megawatts of new solar capacity on landfills and brownfields -- will never be met.
Others noted that larger-scale projects tend to produce electricity at lower costs, an important factor for consumers.
The increased cost of aggressive renewable-energy goals has become a divisive issue in Trenton, with many business interests questioning an approach they say is driving up energy costs in a state already saddled with some of the highest electric bills in the nation.
“We are not doing smaller projects as much because prices for SRECs have fallen and there are no more rebates,’’ said Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club.
The state originally tried to jump-start the solar sector by offering lucrative rebates to homeowners and businesses to install solar arrays, but the program was so successful that the state decided several years ago to switch to a market-based system involving SRECs, a strategy believed to be less costly to utility customers.
“It’s not necessarily a bad thing,’’ Tittel said. “It was expected to happen when the state phased out rebates.’’July 11th, 2015 at 2:49 am
It’s almost here! Card Hunter will release on Steam this Monday the 13th of July at 9am PDT.
The futuristic new expansion Expedition to the Sky Citadel will be available on release in the Steam client and in the browser game. Co-op mode will be available for both campaign and multiplayer, there will be new leagues, new multiplayer boards and a new edition of Mauve Manticore. Stay tuned for even more special release celebration announcements!
The server will go down in preparation for the release at these times:
Mon 13 July, 12am GMT
Sun 12 July, 5pm PDT
Sun 12 July, 8pm EDT
Mon 13 July, 10am AEST
The Steam client will be available and the server will go back online at these times:
Mon 13 July, 4pm GMT
Mon 13 July, 9am PDT
Mon 13 July, 12pm EDT
Tue 14 July, 2am AEST
Cardotron 2000 awaits your presence!After news that the Village of Pemberton would not support the renewal of Ironman Canada, Ironman issued a press release today stating that the iconic Canadian full distance event — and the accompanying 70.3 race — has a new contract that will carry it through to 2020:
“As we celebrate the 35th edition of Ironman in Canada, we are thrilled to continue this defining and incredibly scenic race in the series of global events,” said Shane Facteau, Chief Operating Officer for Ironman. “We have had a great partnership with the community of Whistler since 2013 and look to further that as we promote the whole region with these events. Our athletes truly enjoy accomplishing their dreams in British Columbia and can expect world class experiences with this amazing destination for years to come.”
In 2012, Whistler won the right to host Subaru Ironman Canada for five years (2013–2017) and added Subaru Ironman 70.3 Canada in 2016. This year, both events will take place on Sunday, July 30.
“We are proud to welcome dedicated Ironman athletes, along with their coaches, families and support teams for both training and competition,” said Nancy Wilhelm-Morden, Mayor of Whistler. “Hosting the Subaru Ironman Canada events in Whistler has generated approximately $42 million in economic activity over the past four years. Looking ahead, even though Whistler’s economy is currently thriving, the Subaru Ironman events help us to ensure our economic resiliency in the future. The Subaru Ironman Canada events also fit with our sport culture and build on our reputation as a world class destination for events.”
Approximately 2,900 athletes from 33 countries are registered for the 2017 events and approximately 10,000 spectators are expected to attend the races. A dedicated team of over 2,000 volunteers helps to make the event successful. The Ironman Foundation has provided over $200,000 to in charitable giveback to charities and not-for-profit organizations in Squamish, Whistler, and Pemberton.
“On behalf of Tourism Whistler, we welcome the Subaru Ironman Canada event back to the region,” said Karen Goodwin, Tourism Whistler’s Vice President of Destination & Market Development. “We look forward to working together with Tourism Whistler members, the RMOW, Ironman and the communities of Whistler and Pemberton to ensure the continued success of Subaru Ironman Canada,” she said. “As we move forward over the next three years, collaboration will be especially important to ensure the Subaru Ironman Canada event continues to improve and flourish.”
The logistics for hosting one of the world’s great events are complicated and Ironman, the RMOW, and Tourism Whistler are working with event stakeholders to address concerns and improve the event each year. As such, the route for the cycling component during 2018-2020 is still under discussion.
Support for hosting the events for an additional three years was provided by several Whistler stakeholders including Tourism Whistler, the Whistler Chamber of Commerce, Hotel Association of Whistler and Restaurant Association of Whistler, Whistler Blackcomb, and Whistler Sport Legacies. In addition, a business engagement meeting and community information session were held this spring.
This year’s Subaru Ironman Canada triathlon takes place on July 30, 2017. The race consists of a 2.4-mile swim in Alta Lake, a 112-mile bicycle ride on the Sea-to-Sky Highway to the Callaghan Valley and Pemberton, and a full marathon through a two-loop run course that follows the meandering Valley Trail past Lost Lake and Green Lake in Whistler. The race ends with an electric finish line in Whistler’s Olympic Plaza.Benjamin Shingler, The Canadian Press
MONTREAL -- A First Nations leader has a message for anyone talking up the issue of Quebec independence during the province's election campaign: don't forget about us.
Ghislain Picard, chief of the Assembly of First Nations of Quebec and Labrador, says First Nations have the right to determine their own future and aren't bound to the result of another referendum vote.
It's useless to consider Quebec sovereignty while there's still uncertainty about the place of aboriginal peoples, Picard said.
"We have the right to self-determination and this right is not negotiable," Picard said in a statement.
If the Parti Quebecois succeeds in getting a majority in the April 7 vote and works toward calling another referendum, Picard says First Nations will take steps to protect the interests of their members.
"Let us be even more clear: Quebec can decide what it wants in terms of its culture, its identity and its development, but it cannot claim sovereignty over a territory which is still, fundamentally, First Nation."
Similar concerns were raised in the lead up to the last referendum in 1995.
In that year, Quebec's Cree and Inuit both held referendums of their own and voted overwhelmingly against Quebec becoming independent.
Sovereignty became a major focus of the current campaign after media baron Pierre Karl Peladeau joined the Parti Quebecois last Sunday, when he raised his fist and declared he wanted to help make Quebec a country.
But PQ Leader Pauline Marois has moved away from the issue in recent days.
A new poll released Saturday suggests Peladeau's entry into the campaign, and the heightened focus on sovereignty, has favoured the Liberals more than the PQ.
On Saturday, Marois focused on the PQ's plan to address homelessness, while continuing to attack Liberal Leader Philippe Couillard for his approach to getting Quebec's distinctiveness recognized by the rest of Canada.
She even suggested Couillard call a referendum of his own on his constitutional plans.
For his part, Couillard appeared to back away from an earlier statement that as premier he would push federal, provincial and territorial officials to take Quebec's unique status into account in any constitutional talks.
Couillard said Saturday his priority in any relations with the rest of Canada would be the economy.
Saturday's Leger Marketing poll for Montreal's Le Devoir newspaper found the PQ and Liberals tied with 37 per cent of the vote, with Francois Legault's Coalition dropping to 14 per cent.
The poll suggests the PQ retains a lead over the Liberals amongst key francophone voters.
The poll also said 59 per cent of respondents would vote no in a referendum and 69 per cent want less talk of it during the campaign.
The online survey of 1,205 people between March and 13 has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.8 per cent, 19 times out of 20.
With files from Julien Arsenault in Sept-Iles and Martin Ouellet in BouchervilleStephen King fans know — there are other worlds than these.
In Entertainment Weekly’s new Comic-Con cover, we’re venturing into the heart of the mythic structure that binds this multiverse together — delivering an exclusive look at the long-awaited film adaptation of King’s The Dark Tower.
We spent a week on the set in Cape Town, South Africa, watching as this genre mash-up of sci-fi, fantasy, horror, Westerns, and old-fashioned mythology came together. Now, we’re opening the door to this other realm for fans to step through.
The saga spans eight novels (so far), assorted short stories and comic books, and has played out over three and a half decades. The new movie picks elements from throughout these writings to assemble a new take on the story of Roland the Gunslinger (Idris Elba) and his pursuit of the sorcerer known as the Man in Black (Matthew McConaughey), who intends to collapse the tower and rule the ruins and chaos alongside a sinister force known as the Crimson King.
For those new to the epic tale, this issue will serve as a trusty primer to guide you through the devastated territory of Mid-World, a place that has “moved on,” where the apocalypse has already struck in its march toward our own.
King’s readers have invested years of their lives following the quest of Roland and his “ka-tet” (or fate-forged family), so while anticipation is high for the Feb. 17 film, anxiety among fans is also intense. There’s pressure to get this story right, even as the filmmakers say they had to change key elements to make the premise work as a film. This issue will provide the first details about how they deconstructed the Tower in the hope of building a whole other cinematic universe from its pieces.
Here’s what you’ll find inside:
Exclusive photos, showing the vast plains of Mid-World, the shadowy Dixie Pig hideaway of the demons who infest our world, and the visions of a boy named Jake Chambers (Tom Taylor) who is either the key to saving the mythic Tower or the instrument of its destruction.
Revelations from director Nikolaj Arcel (the Oscar-nominated A Royal Affair, and one of King’s lifelong Constant Readers) about where the story picks up, which elements from the novels are being explored — and which are being left out.
Elba on the redemption story of Roland, who has “forgotten the face of his father” (or lost his way) in his relentless pursuit of the Man in Black. The actor also comments for the first time about race-swapping the Gunslinger, who until now has always been depicted as white.
McConaughey on the loneliness of evil, the reasons his villain “reveres” the hero chasing him, and why The Man in Black has taken a real shine to present-day New York City.
Finally, as an extra treat, King himself weighs in on the film, explains what he asked to change in the script, and provides new insight into how the Tower saga connects to some of his other books, like The Shining, The Stand, and one long-ago short story.
For King fans, we also have another sneak peak at a separate new film adaptation: a shadowy look at the new version of Pennywise the Clown from next year’s It.
Over the next week, we’ll also be releasing exclusive bonus stories about The Dark Tower on EW.com. So keep a beady, glaring eye out for those.
In addition to The Dark Tower, the Comic-Con issue features a deep dive into the films and TV shows headlining next week’s San Diego’s Comic-Con, including Wonder Woman, the upcoming sequel to Blade Runner, Kong: Skull Island, and much, much more. Pick up the issue here or on newsstands Friday.
Coming up later Thurdsay on EW.com, with new images from the film:
– Roland the Gunslinger’s aim is true: An exclusive Q&A with Idris Elba.
– The Man in Black speaks: Matthew McConaughey carries the flag for chaos and destruction.
– What’s changing from Stephen King’s books, and what’s staying the same.
Check out the cover below.Officials confirmed the move toward surveillance flights over ISIS targets in Syria, leaving somewhat open the question of when the US is going to start launching airstrikes against targets inside Syria, expanding the Iraq War across the border.
Yet it’s not really a question of if, but when, as the surveillance flights are clearly the first step toward such attacks. The primary question is how to start launching such attacks without Syrian coordination, since officials want to avoid the appearance |
. These modes have been a saving grace for shooters who prefer a quick-fire shooting style, or for photo geeks who just want to relax every now and then. For new photographers who simply want to learn the art of composition without worrying about exposure, electronic cameras are the way, the truth, and the life.
But as always, it isn’t that simple. Even though mechanical cameras lack speedy automation, shooters can still shoot just as quickly provided they know a thing or two about the science of exposure and the mechanics of their camera.
Our recent experience with the all-mechanical Olympus OM-1 proves this point perfectly. Because both the shutter speed and aperture are located around the lens mount, we just need to pick which ring to “prioritize.” Then we can twist the other ring until our light meter needle goes to the center and we’re ready to shoot in what is essentially aperture or shutter priority. In practice this is surprisingly quick, with the added benefit that shooters are paying attention to their settings and learning the basics of exposure along the way. And even though the OM-1 is something of a special case given its positioning of the shutter speed selector along the lens barrel, this style of shooting can be achieved with any mechanical camera with a built in meter.
Mechanical cameras become even faster when we consider that we don’t have to fiddle with annoying locks and inconveniently placed exposure compensation dials. With a mechanical camera you simply use both the shutter speed and aperture dials to over or underexpose to your heart’s content. Easy peasy.
In practical use, electronic cameras are easier to use overall, but mechanical cameras aren’t slouches either. In fact, shooters may learn a thing or two by learning to shoot mechanical.
The Look and Feel Debate
Okay, we realize that this is the most subjective aspect of the argument, but the look and feel of a camera are super important to most photographers. And mechanical and electronic cameras both have very distinct features that could make or break their relationship with any photographer.
Mechanical cameras mostly hail from the decades before 1970, and so they carry the hallmarks of design schools from 1910-1969. Zeiss and Leicas of a certain vintage belong to the Bauhaus school of design, while the older TLRs have a distinctly Art Deco feel to them. While this is cool as all hell to some, others will cry “hipster!” at the sight of a mechanical camera. Whether or not that matters is up to the shooter, but we like to think the joys of shooting a mechanical camera outweigh whatever labels might come with.
On the other hand, electronic cameras feature any and all design elements from the 1970s onwards. Some say this is a blessing; others, a curse. Cameras such as the Canon A-1 and Nikon F3 are widely agreed to be among the most gorgeous camera designs ever, but cameras like the Minolta Maxxum 7000 date themselves quite conspicuously to the late 80s, an aesthetic that some like, and many vehemently despise. Also worth mentioning are many of the plastic autofocus SLRs from the 90s which, if we’re honest, are about as visually inspiring as a Toyota Corolla.
As for the touchy bits, mechanical cameras have a certain feel to them that can’t be found in more modern electronic offerings. The all-metal innards of mechanical cameras give them a reassuring density and an air of high quality that’s hard to match in an electronic camera. These machines never let you forget that they’re timeless inventions of steel, brass, and aluminum- not even for a second.
And then we have the electronic machines, which can feel flimsy and plasticky. This is all the more obvious in consumer-level electronic SLRs, which in some cases can feel downright light and puny. That’s not to say all electronic cameras feel like pieces of junk; the Olympus OM-2 and Minolta XE-7 come to mind when thinking of electronic cameras with a simply luxurious feel. Ergonomically these two are about as perfect as they come, and one could argue that they feel even better to operate than anything the mechanical world has to offer. So again, much of the “feel” debate comes down to a case-by-case basis.
The Solution
So after all this blathering, which one’s better? The answer is… it depends!
Okay that’s a cop-out, but it’s true nonetheless. Every shooter has different needs, and different cameras fill those different needs. If you’re a shooter who values speed, accuracy, and a more modern look, electronic cameras are your best bet. If you’re a shooter who wants a camera that’ll last multiple lifetimes, has a classic design, and offers that old familiar sound of gears and levers, then a mechanical camera is your best bet. But it’s worth remembering that there are many cameras that exist in the glorious space between both worlds, where the blending of modern amenities and timeless craftsmanship balance equally to create a simply perfect machine.
Which one do you think is better? Or is this argument pointless and absurd? Let us know in the comments.
Ready to buy a camera? Check out our inventory at F Stop Cameras, or browse film cameras on eBay and AmazonFrench Horn Rebellion are known for their upbeat music and unsurprisingly, the French horn! The brotherly duo are on the brink of launching a new LP and a new single in the coming weeks, so keep an eye out for their next releases.
Oh and did we forget to mention that they love their French horn?
Interview
FS: Hey everyone! We have quite the treat for you today. Brooklyn’s very own French Horn Rebellion, is here to have a chat with us.
So you’ve been recently touring the US and by the looks of it you’ve been having a blast! How has it been so far for you?
FHR: Yes, we’ve been doing a lot of great shows over the past few months. Early this year, we were on tour with Mystery Skulls, and now this summer we went on tour with Digitalism. To top it off, there’s been a busy DJ schedule playing a lot of fun parties around the country. It’s been great.
FS: Speaking of tours themselves, has anything interesting happened while on the road?
FHR: Well, anytime there is a live show or a DJ sort of atmosphere, there are interesting things bound to happen. It’s where people party and get low to the beats and it doesn’t stop there.
Usually after shows there is more partying that goes on. I rarely stay out past 2, but I’ve been witness to a lot of wild stuff. Being a French horn player, I have to keep things civilized (wink).
FS: Let’s get down to the knitty gritty now. Your last track Day By Day was a song that we loved to listen to on repeat all the time. What’s the story behind that creation?
FHR: When you’re in a band with your brother, there are a lot of highs and lows. This song is about sticking it through and just getting it done one step at a time, day by day, night by night. The message is simple yet powerful.
As far as its creation, the beat originated from a MGMT remix we were commissioned to do, but which the band decided they didn’t like, so we turned the beat into an original. We knew this jam was special and invited one of our best buds, Doc of Pink Flamingo Rhythm Revue to come by and he put these great vocals down. I’m glad MGMT turned it down!
FS: Woah you got very lucky there then! Its been a while since we’ve heard some material from MGMT actually…
Anyways, Pink Flamingos have gone on to create a song of their own. Did you help contribute to the track in any form?
FHR: Yes, French Horn Rebellion is part of a community of musicians in Brooklyn that has a studio in Williamsburg called YouTooCanWoo. We brought Doc (of Pink Flamingos) into the fold and so this track was mixed and produced at the studio. Ensemble Records is our little label to release this stuff.
FS: Good stuff! What’s on the horizon for you then?
FHR: We have a brand new full-length coming this fall, and the second track (after Day by Day) is due out in a few weeks. Keep an eye out for it! 🙂
FS: We’ve seen pictures of you and your horn literally everywhere! What’s your story behind your ‘bromance’ with the instrument?
FHR: Well, I’ve been playing horn since I was about seven years old, it’s a very big part of who I am. When I take a picture of the horn, I kind of think of it as almost a picture of myself. Since I travel so much with the band, I want to keep a photo history of where we’ve been, so instead of taking selfies, I’ve just been taking photos of my horn.
Also, it’s just kind of funny to see a French horn in places it’s not supposed to be!
FS: Absolutely adorable. Would your rather be by a beach, or in the middle of a densely packed city when playing out?
FHR: Definitely would rather do a show in a densely packed city, although beach parties are fun!
FS: Lastly, can you tell us 3 songs that have caught your attention recently?
FHR: Anderson.Paak – Your Prime
Violet Sands – Modern Ruins (Jamz Remix)
Case/Lang/Veirs – Delirium
FS: We definitely like that Anderson.Paak track for sure! Thank you French Horn Rebellion for chatting with us today. You can check out their social medias below:
French Horn Rebellion
Facebook
SoundcloudCover image by Oliver Barton
An interesting and very exciting idea from East Yorkshire here, as Hull City Council lay out their plans to become a ‘skateboard friendly destination’ – which can be no bad thing! Check out the press release below and get to Rockcity Skatepark at 2pm on Tuesday 29th November for more details, and check out an early Rockcity jam below…
Hull is setting its sights on becoming a skateboarding friendly city and Hull City Council will officially launch the project next week.
It is hoped that following the significant investment by the Council recently into the 10 new skateboarding facilities in the city’s parks, a wider skateboarding legacy can be created and raise the profile of the city as a major national centre for skateboarding. Rockcity, which has built a reputation as a centre of excellence for skateboarding culture in Hull, is supporting the Council in working towards this.
The skateboarding friendly city plan supports the delivery of Hull’s new 10 year Cultural Strategy (2016 -26), which has as a priority the building of arts and cultural audiences particularly with young people and highlighting the increase in participation through linking sport with arts and culture.
Additionally, the sport is projected to grow dramatically, receiving a major boost in interest and participation as skateboarding becomes a recognised Olympic sport in Tokyo 2020.
Councillor Terry Geraghty, Portfolio Holder of Culture and Leisure, said: “It’s important that we create a wider legacy following UK City of Culture and sports are a big part of the wider cultural offering. As a city we support the mainstream sports well, but we also need to ensure we support the more diverse sports such as skateboarding.
“With the support from Rockcity, we will work towards our aspirations of becoming a major skateboarding destination in 2017, along with supporting the delivery of a pop-up skateboarding event in 2017.”
Councillor Daren Hale, Deputy Leader and St. Andrew’s ward councillor, said: “Rockcity, which is in my ward, is a hugely popular and experienced all-weather centre and their expertise with our skateboarding friendly city bid is hugely welcome.
“With the support or Rockcity we will work with partners across all sectors to enhance the profile of skateboarding at a national and international level. We will also develop, amongst other things, a Code of Conduct that promotes Best Practice for skateboarders.”
Although Hull already has more skate parks than any other city in the UK, further opportunities will be sought to expand and develop the skate park offer for new and existing facilities.
Rockcity’s Mark English said: “We are very excited to be involved in this. It is a great opportunity for our city and for skateboarders in the UK.”A worker services an airBaltic plane in Riga, Latvia, May 13, 2010. REUTERS/Ints Kalnins A flight departing from Oslo, Norway, was delayed almost five hours after nearly all crew members failed a Breathalyzer test and were removed from the plane on Saturday.
109 passengers were aboard the airBaltic plane headed to Chania in Greece, reported AFP.
The crew members who exited the Greece-bound plane were the captain, first officer, and two flight attendants.
They were directed to a police car, and another airBaltic crew was assigned to replace those who were believed to be intoxicated.
"Results of the Breathalyzer tests confirmed that four of the five crew members... were above the legal alcohol limit of 0.2 promille," Romerike police prosecutor Edith Ek Sorensen told AFP.
Passengers, however, were reportedly told that the pilot was "unwell," said the Dagbladet report. According to the Public Broadcasting of Latvia outlet LSM.tv, police arrived after receiving an anonymous tip from someone who implied the crew's "raucous" behavior was worth investigating.
An airBaltic spokesman, Janis Vanags, told LSM that the airline maintained a "zero tolerance" policy with regard to alcohol.
"Zero tolerance means no alcohol," Vanags said. "It's very straightforward — safety is our number one priority."
If the crew members are found to be in violation, they could face sentences of up to two years in prison, said AFP.
Soon after the incident, airBaltic issued this statement:How to Tie a Knot in a Bubble Ring
Nobody has been able to make knotted vortex loops. Until now. A new fluid dynamics video explains how it’s done
The Physics arXiv Blog Blocked Unblock Follow Following Oct 22, 2013
You’re probably familiar with filamentary vortex loops, otherwise known as smoke rings and created by sending a puff of smoke into clean air through a narrow opening. Volcanoes, artillery and anyone with a bong can produce them with ease. Even dolphins, beluga and whales blow the underwater equivalent—bubble rings.
These vortices have a peculiar property: in a perfect fluid, they are indivisible—perfectly stable. Back in 1867, the physicist William Thomson, later Lord Kelvin, observed that this property ensures that if a smoke ring became knotted like a trefoil or if two rings became linked, they could never be unknotted. “It being impossible for the matter in any line of vortex motion to go through the line of any other matter in such motion or any other part of its own line,” he explained.
Since then, fluid dynamicists have spent a good deal of time and effort studying the properties of knotted vortex loops, at least as far as theory allows. Experiments to test their ideas have been impossible. The sad fact of the matter is that nobody has been able to make knotted vortex rings partly because the same property that prevents unknotting also prevents two rings combining.
(If you have any doubt, try spending a lazy afternoon blowing smoke rings and attempting to link them together.)
All that changed earlier this year when Dustin Kleckner and pals at the University of Chicago revealed that they had created knotted vortex loops made of bubbles in water. That was the first time anybody had made a knotted vortex loop in the lab.
Now they have produced a video that explains their work as an entry for this year’s Gallery of Fluid Motion at the annual meeting of the American Physical Society’s Division of Fluid Dynamics. You can download the video here (high-res mp4 122.8MB or low-res mp4 9.5 MB)
Their technique is inspired. They start with a 3D printed model of the vortex loop they want to create. So for a trefoil knot, they print out a trefoil.
The experiment starts with the trefoil immersed in water mounted on a stand that accelerates the model rapidly downwards. The sudden movement generates a vortex at the edge of the model. And since the edge follows a trefoil, the vortex is trefoil-shaped too.
What’s more, the sudden movement shakes loose tiny bobbles on the surface of the model and these become trapped at the centre of the vortex, allowing the researchers to study it. And by sweeping the action with a laser and recording the scattered light, they are able to create a 3D model of exactly how the vortex behaves. Their models are almost as impressive to watch as the vortices themselves.
What’s clear from these models is that the behaviour of knots in real fluids is significantly different from those in an ideal fluid. The vortices are all unstable and various kinds of reconnection events cause a single knotted vortex to divide into two loops, a phenomenon that would surely shock Lord Kelvin.
These results raise a number of interesting questions, say Kleckner and co. For instance, are all knotted vortex loops unstable? And since similar reconnection events occur in magnetic field lines and in superfluids, do the same physics apply in each?
Questions that Kleckner and co will no doubt be hoping to answer in future.
Ref: arxiv.org/abs/1310.3321: The Life of a Vortex KnotAwesome Monitor, Awesome price!
Let me start by saying the only way I knew this monitor was manufacture refurbished was due to the packaging. The box is basic and so is the plastic covering it. The foam secures it and the cables it comes with were wrapped hastily. With the being said, this monitor was PRISTINE! There were no scratches or nicks anywhere. The sticky plastic is even still on the base and back of the monitor. Turning the monitor on there were no dead pixels and not light bleed whatsoever. On to the picture. The picture is superb. Coming from my 1080 Samsung s24d390 there was a big difference. Obviously, with the pixel density images look superb, but also with color reproduction which have believe is a couple of level better. Out of the four monitors I own this has by far the best color reproduction with the Samsung being the second best. This price for a 1440 is an absolute steal. Bezels are relatively thin and the menu is pretty decent as well. I havent had any disturbing glare even with this monitor facing 2 windows. Although any screen still looks better without competing light against it. Another thing, this monitor is BRIGHT! It came at I believe 80% brightness, and I now have it a constant 28%. This is the perfect spot for me. Going any lower I feel the color is affected and any higher I feel like my room is daytime well into the night. The only con is the base. The screen wobbles only when I touch it. For example when I go to press a button underneath the screen I have to hold the top of the monitor otherwise the button wont be able to depress. This is just a small con as I only mess with the settings once a week but you do have to turn the monitor on everyday. A plus for me is that it doesn't wobble when I knock my desk. All in all other than my gpu, this has been the single best purchase I have ever made for my set up. The screen has performed well for me in the month or so that I have had it and I have enjoyed all this time. Quick note, the bottom trim is a metallic silver and the base has thick silver lining. I think it looks nice, and looks perfect with my particular gaming set up.
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Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: refurbished | Sold by: acerA vegan who has attacked livestock farming as ‘dirty and cruel’ has been appointed to connect with Britain’s farmers as spokesman for the environment, food and rural affairs.
Bristol East MP Kerry McCarthy says farming causes ‘immense suffering to animals’, and has condemned the ‘burden’ placed on the NHS by those who eat meat and dairy products.
Her views will no doubt please vegetarian boss Jeremy Corbyn, but will infuriate farmers – who last night called her appointment a ‘retrograde step’.
The 50-year-old, who has been a vegan for more than 20 years, refuses to wear leather or wool and is the vice president of the League Against Cruel Sports.
Controversial: Vegan Kerry McCarthy, pictured with Paul McCartney's ex-wife Heather Mills calling for a ban on keeping pigs in tight pens, has been handed the environment, food and rural affairs brief by Jeremy Corbyn
Firebrand: The Bristol MP, left at a Pussy Riot gig, has campaigned against all ‘shooting sports’ and opposed the badger cull – which was demanded by many farmers to stop the spread of bovine TB, right last year
She has campaigned against all ‘shooting sports’ and opposed the badger cull – which was demanded by many farmers to stop the spread of bovine TB.
This is a retrograde step Mike King, Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers
‘The meat, dairy and egg industries cause immense suffering to more than a billion animals every year in the UK alone,’ she has said.
She has also accused farmers of causing world hunger by using crops to feed livestock rather than people.
Last night Mike King, vice chairman of the Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers, said: ‘We feel this is a retrograde step. Her ideals are based on emotion rather than scientific fact.
Team: The new shadow minister pictured with George Galloway and other PETA campaigners against Fortnum & Mason stocking foie gras
‘It ignores mixed farming’s contribution to producing a healthy, balanced, nutritious diet. It also ignores the huge contribution of family farming towards a sustainable rural economy.’
Vegan: Bristol East MP Kerry McCarthy says farming causes ‘immense suffering to animals’
On the effects of ‘top killers’ meat and dairy products, Miss McCarthy previously said: ‘Loaded with artery-clogging cholesterol and saturated fat, these products have been linked to cancer, heart attacks, strokes, diabetes and obesity.
‘These top killers burden the NHS and necessitate that billions of pounds be spent searching for cures and medications to relieve disease symptoms.’
The National Farmers’ Union yesterday gave her a lukewarm welcome. President Meurig Raymond said: ‘We look forward to working with Kerry McCarthy MP in her new role as shadow Defra Secretary.’
But he added: ‘The food and farming industry employs more than 3.8million people and agriculture contributed nearly £10billion to the economy between 2008 and 2014.
‘These are just two statistics which highlight the importance of backing British farming. We would like to invite Ms McCarthy to pledge her support to the NFU’s Back British Farming campaign.’
Ukip’s agriculture spokesman Stuart Agnew said: ‘Only Jeremy Corbyn could select a vegan to represent the Labour Party on agricultural matters.
'Kerry McCarthy will have little in common with either the producers or consumers of food.’
Reaction: The National Farmers’ Union - whose president Meurig Raymond is pictured - gave Miss McCarthy a lukewarm welcome
Grazing: She has accused farmers of causing world hunger by using crops to feed livestock rather than peopleCall of Duty: Advanced Warfare's Exo Zombies mode will bring more Hollywood actors to the first-person shooter when it launches next month, publisher Activision announced today.
A teaser trailer released today offers some glimpses of the creatures players will be fighting. This time around, they're not regular zombies — they're Exo Zombies. The cooperative Exo Zombies mode will feature John Malkovich (Con Air), Bill Paxton (Edge of Tomorrow), Rose McGowan (Planet Terror) and John Bernthal (Fury). It's unclear if the actors will lend their voices to Advanced Warfare, or if their likenesses and performance capture will also appear in the game, like Kevin Spacey's starring role in the campaign as Jonathan Irons. (The trailer features narration from Malkovich.)
The first chapter of Exo Zombies comes with the Havoc add-on for Advanced Warfare. Havoc is set to arrive in January on Xbox platforms, and later on PlayStation and Windows PC. For more on Advanced Warfare's DLC, check out the trailer for the game's season pass below. You can also read our full review of Advanced Warfare.What will a Trump Administration mean for vaping?
We don’t really know what Trump thinks about vaping, it wasn’t a major Presidential campaign issue. But we do know that he hates Government regulation: during the campaign he said that around 70% of Federal regulations could go under his Presidency. We also know that Tump allies in Congress like Duncan Hunter – the second Congressman to endorse Trump for President back in February – are big supporters of the vaping community.
So we don’t know whether getting the deeming regulation off the books is on the Trump list of priorities. If it is, we don’t know how high up it is on that list. But the political mood music seems to be on the side of getting rid of the rule altogether, or at the very least neutering it to an extent. The question is, how would that get done in the labyrinthine world of DC politics?
As we’ll explain, getting a date change through an omnibus spending bill is still the most likely solution for now, and the one that vapers should watch most keenly. There may be more radical options, but these are less likely to occur in practice, at least at this stage.
The Congressional Review Act
One option for a new administration wanting to undo regulations laid by the administration before it is the Congressional Review Act (CRA), which allows majorities in both houses of Congress to use expedited procedures to disapprove recent regulations.
Under the CRA, Congress has 60 working days after a final rule is issued to review it and send a “joint resolution of disapproval” to the president. For the rule to be taken off the books, the President has to sign this disapproval – hence why the CRA is only really useful for regulations that were executed during the final stages of a dying Presidency: Presidents are highly unlikely to disapprove of Regulations they recently made.
In fact, in the 20 years since the CRA was enacted, only a single regulation has been overturned using its powers, and that was a rule made by a lame duck Clinton and disapproved by a newly elected Bush.
Due to Congressional recesses, holidays and weekends, 60 working Congressional days usually translates into six months or so in real time. And for rules issued with less than 60 working days left in the current Congress, the 60-day review clock will start over in the next Congress.
This means that when the new Congress takes office, it will have 60 working days to review regulations from the final 60 days of the last Congress. According to a review from the Congressional research service, only regulations made before 16 May will be subject to a possible CRA vote.
Unfortunately, this last fact is not good for vaping. The Deeming rule was published in the Federal Register on 10 May – just six days before the deadline – so it can’t be struck down using the Congressional Review Act once the new administration and Congress take office. (This must have occurred to FDA when deciding on the date to publish the rule in the Federal register).
So unless some brilliant legal minds manage to justify extending the period during which a motion of disapproval can be filed, this pathway is unlikely to succeed with the Deeming rule.
Changing the date
A less ambitious option would be ensuring that something like the Cole-Bishop amendment is introduced and passed into the next major funding bill, which is likely to happen in around March or April. It was initially hoped that this language could find its way into an appropriations bill passed in December but, given the unexpected election result, Congress instead passed a continuing resolution, which will keep the government funded until the Spring when a Republican controlled Congress is likely to pass a full appropriations bill.
If Cole-Bishop, or similar language, were to be included in the Spring bill, this would move the so-called “predicate date” for products deemed to be tobacco products under the rule. In practice, this would mean products that were marketed on 8 August 2016 would not need to apply to the FDA for a Premarket Tobacco Authorisation (PMTA), which is considered the part of the rule that would shut most companies down.
Applying for a PMTA would cost millions of dollars per product, immediately shutting down 99% of the industry. Even those who filed a PMTA would be unlikely to succeed for flavoured products given that the same FDA that wanted to ban flavours back in May will be reviewing them. FDA also indicated that open systems would not be able to obtain a PMTA.
While many elements of the rule would still stand, such as mandatory health warnings, ingredient listing and HPHC reporting: getting rid of PMTA requirements for those products on the market before 8/8/16 would save the industry, although it would stifle innovation particularly on the side of devices, and hand a huge advantage to incumbent players at the expense of potential new innovators. If the CRA act won’t work, passing Cole Bishop must be seen as the critical first step.
A “Vapor Products” bill
The kind of legislative action that vapers would prefer and the kind that would do the most good would be a standalone bill regulating vapor products for what they are, not as tobacco products. However, it is seen as extremely unlikely to ever happen, a pipe dream.
Unfortunately, unless the bill in question in one that Congress has to pass (like a funding bill to which a policy rider like Cole-Bishop is attached), or one that has bipartisan support, it is unlikely to make it through the Senate even if it were to pass through the House. Daily Kos explains:
One of the basic rules of the Senate allows for unlimited discussion and debate. As long as someone wants to talk, discussion on a bill must continue. No vote can be held on a bill until all discussion/debate is closed. If even one person wants to keep talking, debate on a bill continues.
The only way to make that person stop talking is when 60 Senators vote to end debate. This is called a cloture vote (cloture is from a word meaning to close off or bring to an end).
Practically, what this means is that in a Senate where one party cannot carry 60 votes, the minority can (and frequently does) simply state that it will refuse to vote for cloture, thus making it impossible for a bill to pass. The Republicans have a majority of two in the Senate, a far cry from what they would need to push their agenda through.
So, Democrats in the Senate could simply refuse to vote for cloture, killing any liberalisation of vaping products stone dead. However, they can’t do that with an appropriations bill: if they do, the government will cease to function as it is starved of funding.
In conclusion, it’s clear that the two most superficially attractive options seem to be the most distant. With time ticking away until August 8 2018, when the industry would effectively cease to exist, it’s important that efforts are made to get at least the interim relief of a date change as soon as possible next year.Paul Khlebnikov, an American journalist and editor of Forbes Russia, was killed with a machine gun outside his office in Moscow in 2004. A fluent Russian speaker, Khlebnikov, aged 41 at the time of his death, was known for his investigations into corruption and the murky world of Russian business and politics in the 1990s, and his exposes of the business empire of Kremlin kingmaker Boris Berezovsky. A group of three men from the North Caucasus republic of Chechnya were acquitted of his murder in a trial in 2006. The case has never been solved.
Anna Politkovskaya, a journalist and fierce critic of the Kremlin, was shot in the entrance to her apartment building in Moscow in 2006 aged 48. She was known for her reporting on human rights abuses in Russia's troubled North Caucasus. Supporters have always maintained the murder was political. Five men were found guilty of carrying out the hit in May last year, but the person who ordered the contract-style killing has never been identified.
Alexander Litvinenko, 2006
Alexander Litvinenko, 44, a former KGB officer, died after being poisoned with radioactive polonium-210. Two former Russian security services men allegedly added the isotope to his tea when they met him in the restaurant of a London hotel. Litvinenko was an associate of the self-exiled oligarch Boris Berezovsky. He had accused Vladimir Putin of being corrupt and a paedophile, according to evidence given by his widow at a public inquiry into his death.
Natalya Estemirova, 2009
Abducted in the Chechen capital of Grozny in July 2009, Natalya Estemirova, a 50-year-old human rights campaigner and activist, was later found dumped by the side of the road with bullet wounds to her head. The case intensified scrutiny of local leader Ramzan Kadyrov, who was accused of creating a climate of fear and violence. Estemirova's killers have never been brought to justice.
Anastasiya Baburova and Stanislav Markelov, 2009
Anastasiya Baburova, a trainee journalist, and Stanislav Markelov, a human rights lawyer, were shot in broad daylight as they strolled away from a press conference less than a mile from the Kremlin. The main target was assumed to be Markelov, 34 at the time, and a lawyer who had represented left-wing activists, journalists and victims of a 2002 Moscow theatre siege when Russian special forces killed over 100 hostages during a rescue operation. Baburova, aged 25 when she died, worked for opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta. In 2011 a Moscow court convicted and imprisoned two neo-Nazis, Nikita Tikhonov and Yevgeniya Khasis, of the double murder.
Boris Berezovsky, 2013
It is not clear whether Boris Berezovsky was murdered but a coroner recorded an open verdict after he was found dead at the age of 67 with a ligature around his neck in the bathroom of the mansion where he lived in Surrey. The businessman fled to Britain from Russia in 2000 after falling out with Vladimir Putin, and used London as a base for criticising his former protégé. It is thought most likely that he took his own life because of financial troubles. However, the coroner said the burden of proof was not sufficient to conclude that this was certainly the case, raising speculation that Berezovsky was assassinated.England must have its own parliament if Scotland gets greater tax raising powers after a No vote, a senior Conservative politician will argue tomorrow.
Scottish MPs would be barred from the Westminster chamber on certain days of the week, under the proposals by John Redwood.
Mr Redwood, who once challenged Sir John Major for the Tory leadership, says the move could resolve both the so-called West Lothian Question and what he described as the "lopsided" nature of devolution.
His comments come just days after Boris Johnson, the London mayor tipped as a future Conservative leader, said the extra tax raising powers had been pledged for "no reason".
Mr Johnson also suggested that Scots would reject independence next month, after what he said was First Minister Alex Salmond's "thrashing" in last week's TV debate with Alistair Darling. On the eve of that showdown David Cameron, Nick Clegg and Ed Miliband released a joint statement reiterating their pledge that Scotland would get more tax powers in the event of a No vote.
James Dornan, the SNP MSP, seized on Mr Johnson's remarks, saying they showed that Westminster wanted to "hammer Scots".
Mr Redwood will argue that the need for an English parliament is made more urgent by the pledge on taxes.
He will say that English voters will not stand for Scottish MPs voting on English taxes that would not affect Scotland.
Mr Redwood, who will set out his proposals in a speech tomorrow night, said that he planned to "make the case for England".
"If we are revisiting Scotland's settlement, we need to consider England's at the same time," he warned.
"Many English people will not accept Scottish members of the Westminster Parliament voting through taxes on England that they do not have the power to impose on Scotland," he added.
The 'West Lothian Question' was coined by the former Labour MP for the area Tam Dalyell before devolution. Famously, Mr Dalyell asked how it could be right that he would be able to vote on education policies that would affect Blackburn, Lancashire but not Blackburn, West Lothian.
Last year Labour warned against any plans to introduce "English votes for English laws", suggesting that reforms could leave Scottish politicians "second-class MPs".
Research by Tom Greatrex, the Labour MP for Rutherglen & Hamilton West, based on figures from the House of Commons Library, also highlighted the difficulty in identifying legislation which is exclusively English.
"English only" votes would have affected fewer than a handful of bills in the last decade, his research found.Pope Francis has been a surprise to many in the world in his aggressive push to re-orient the politics of the Vatican in a more progressive direction.
This has provoked an unusual backlash from conservatives in America, who have taken issue with the Pope's various stands, and are now in attack mode aginst teh head of the Catholic Church. Here are 5 ways the Pope is driving them crazy:
Advertisement:
1. Embracing Climate Science:This fall, Pope Francis will speak before a session of Congress. He is largely expected to talk about one of the key issues that he has raised and Congress has virtually ignored: climate change. “This is science, not theology,” complained Rep. Steve King (R-IA). “I'm not a Catholic, but I've got a lot of friends who are, who are wondering: Why all of a sudden is he involved in this?” whined Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), a climate denier.
2. Denouncing Greed And Inequality: Pope Francis's warnings about turbo capitalism have right-wing writers tearing their hair out. This week New York Times columnist David Brooks complained that “within a regulated market, greed can lead to entrepreneurship and economic innovation.” Brooks concludes that “Francis doesn't seem to have practical strategies for a fallen world.” In other words, if only the Pope was more pro-greed – a strange message for a faith built on selfless prophet.
3. Recognizing The Palestinians: Francis made an emotional visit to the Holy Land which included praying at a separation fence Israel had erected on Palestinian land. Under his leadership the Vatican has played a pro-active rolein recognizing Palestinian sovereignty, and of course all of this has made the right very angry. Former GOP congressman Allen West even called the Vatican anti-Semitic for the move.
4. Challenging Traditional Views On Marriage, Divorce, And Homosexuality: Francis has pushed the Church on |
don’t believe in God, but they’re still considered religions and are qualified for the benefit.
Copyright © 2019 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.Iran has evacuated its diplomats from the Yemeni capital of Sana’a and sent them to Oman, Russian news agency Sputnik reported.
The news agency cited a senior source in the Iranian foreign ministry saying that Tehran has evacuated its diplomats because of the increased security risks in Sana’a.
The source, who declined to be named, said the Iranian embassy in Muscat, as the closest Iranian diplomatic centre to Yemen will be responsible for the tasks related to the Iranian embassy in Sana’a.
Houthi militants maintained a heavy presence across Sana’a yesterday for the second day after the death of deposed Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Yemen FM: ‘Iranian regime has pushed too far through its proxy, the Houthis’
According to residents, citizens have decided to leave Sana’a heading to villages, amid continued concern about the possibility of other armed confrontations.
The Yemeni capital has witnessed fierce battles between Houthi militants and Saleh forces in the past few days under a heavy Saudi bombing campaign.3,718 of 5,375 Sponsor Message Sponsor Message
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Aldo is exceptional.
Despite its lack of a ready-made superstar, a la LeBron James, the recently completed 2013 NBA Draft was plenty entertaining.No obvious No. 1 talent made the evening unpredictable throughout, as a number of teams raised eyebrows with their selections. Couple that with some interesting trade activity, and there was plenty of fodder to keep the Twittersphere buzzing all night long. Even without all that, the NBA’s annual talent harvest has a unique charm: the eclectic collection of suits, the posses, the elated moms and girlfriends, the multi-step handshakes and the eternal smugness of longtime commissioner David Stern all add to the event’s appeal. Completed in a matter of hours rather than days, it also caters to the ADD crowd, unlike its more hyped NFL counterpart.Most of all, there is a feeling of immediacy when a draftee’s name is called and he walks to the podium to shake hands with Stern. These guys could probably step out of their high-priced duds and contribute to their new teams right now, or so each respective fan base hopes.Sadly, mixed martial arts has no such night, largely because it would be impractical. Fighters choose camps, not the other way around, and there is no set timeframe for when an athlete is ready to compete in the big leagues. Some guys need only a handful of lower-level fights before moving up the ladder, while others could toil for a decade before their names are called.Current Ultimate Fighting Championship stars Urijah Faber and Phil Davis are expected to unveil an MMA Draft Combine at this weekend’s Fan Expo to help better showcase up-and-coming amateur fighters; it is a prudent idea. Imagine a night where the entire MMA talent pool would be available for selection by the sport’s most renowned camps.Now also imagine that the order of selection was determined randomly by the same Ping-Pong ball system utilized by the NBA. If Cesar Gracie had the first pick, would he draft a semi-retired Nick Diaz? Would Nova Uniao feel obligated to take a Brazilian if Jon Jones were on the table? Would Anthony Pettis, now a part owner at Roufusport, pull the trigger and draft himself over Benson Henderson? Would Team Alpha Male draft anyone over 6-feet tall? The intrigue is seemingly infinite.However, for the purposes of this, the first-ever completely unofficial MMA Draft Lottery, it will be assumed that 13 anonymous camps will be making the selections, simply because it is too difficult to read minds. Besides, even hypothetically, all of the sport’s most respected trainers and coaches would never say that they would select anyone but their own guys; loyalty abounds in MMA.Following the fine tradition of the NBA Lottery, here is one take on how the first 13 picks of such a draft might go down. Take note: this is no mere regurgitation of a pound-for-pound rankings list. Other factors, such as age, marketability and entertainment value, will also be considered. Also, this order could look a lot different in one week’s time:This was quite possibly the easiest selection of the entire process. While not the most beloved champion of all-time, “Bones” has already bested a laundry list of former champions -- Mauricio Rua Rashad Evans and Vitor Belfort -- and he is just a few weeks shy of his 26th birthday. In addition to a diverse skill set and a penchant for finishing, the New York native already has his own Nike line. Plus, no MMA draft commentary team could resist raving about Jones’ length and upside.While he currently lacks the drawing power World Wrestling Entertainment convert Brock Lesnar once had, nothing captures the imagination of the fight fan quite like the heavyweight division, and Velasquez is the best big man going. His work ethic and bottomless gas tank suggest longevity, and his Mexican roots give him the potential to lure a massive fan base from boxing to MMA.Do not look so surprised. The Olympic judoka has armbarred her way to prominence in a relatively short period of time, but her crossover of appeal is very real. In addition to dominating the competition in the cage, Rousey is already a media darling, and she nearly single-handedly convinced UFC President Dana White to bring a talented stable of women to the Octagon. It is also significant that in an early commercial for the soon-to-be unveiled Fox Sports 1, Rousey is the first mixed martial artist to appear.GSP’s presence on a pay-per-view card virtually guarantees a healthy buy rate, despite constant grumbling about his inability to finish fights. “Rush” has not lost a bout since 2007, and he remains a solid ambassador for the sport. After recent outings, it seems that St. Pierre is not enjoying himself as much as he once did. That, along with advancing age and a recent knee injury, drops him out of the top 3.Aldo has all the tools to carry the torch as Brazil’s greatest champion once the aforementioned Silva retires, as he has rarely been threatened during his reign as World Extreme Cagefighting and UFC 145-pound king. Lately, however, Aldo has competed far too infrequently due to injury. Signing him to a contract that includes a no-motorcycle clause is a must.The first non-champion to go off the board, dos Santos remains the clear No. 2 heavyweight in the world. A trilogy with Velasquez awaits this fall, and until the division develops more high-caliber contenders, a best-of-five series with the champion seems feasible. Dos Santos is a solid pick based on his knockout power and good-guy image.Based on pure ability and career achievement, “The Spider” deserves to be the No. 1 pick. However, it seems inevitable that age will eventually catch up with the middleweight champion. Even if it does not, the Brazilian remains interested in a boxing match against Roy Jones Jr., something that could turn his attention away from MMA-related pursuits.The last man to defeat Henderson also gets taken before the UFC’s lightweight ruler. Pettis’ “Showtime Kick” at WEC 53 showcased his creativity, and it is his willingness to take chances that makes him a highlight waiting to happen -- something that is not consistently said about Henderson. Pettis’ potential also extends to two divisions: before a knee injury, he was scheduled to face Jose Aldo for the featherweight crown at UFC 163.Henderson might lead the world in controversial decisions, but the man continues to win consistently in what many consider to be the sport’s deepest division. His blend of size, strength and athleticism makes him a relatively safe pick, and it seems unlikely that he will ever be overwhelmed in a fight. Henderson’s ever-present toothpick is a quirky and identifiable prop.He may be a speculative add, but Weidman becomes a bargain here if he is able to unseat Silva at UFC 162. An NCAA All-American wrestler with potent grappling skills and developing striking, Weidman would remain a person of interest even in defeat. Weidman is not easily recognized by the casual fan, but he is potentially one of MMA’s next big stars.With many of his recent fights having taken place on free TV, “Mighty Mouse” should be a well-known commodity by now. Fans have been slow to warm to the 125-pound division, which explains Johnson’s slide out of the top 10. Consecutive wins over Joseph Benavidez and John Dodson seem to indicate that Johnson has staying power as flyweight champ.A surprise winner of Strikeforce ’s heavyweight grand prix, Cormier has the potential to make waves in the UFC’s big-man division. However, Cormier will not fight training partner Velasquez as long as he remains champion. A 205-pound matchup with Jones is a tasty alternative, and many believe Cormier has the tools necessary to give “Bones” fits.Belfort edges Johny Hendricks and Renan Barao for the lottery’s final spot on the strength of back-to-back jaw-dropping knockouts against Michael Bisping and Luke Rockhold. Despite being a lightning rod for controversy due to his use of testosterone replacement therapy, Belfort is a must-see attraction and could very well be next in line to face the Silva-Weidman winner.To allow for giving away iPhone 4 bumpers, Apple will set aside $175 million of iPhone 4 revenue in the September quarter, according to Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer.
The issue with the antenna in the iPhone 4 has lately been causing Apple a fair few problems, but now the company have announced a temporary way to fix this; by giving away free Bumpers.
During the Q&A following Apple's third quarter financial results, Oppenheimer explained that the company will be deferring revenue for those iPhone 4s that haven't been sold with Bumpers until the end of the September quarter. This is so that the company has a pool of cash to allow them to provide the free Bumpers.
"There are two impacts of this. First is that we will need to defer revenue for the iPhone 4s that we sell where we've not delivered the bumpers and where we have not heard from the customers wanting to place an order," Oppenheimer explained.
Oppenheimer expects the accrual, the amount set-aside on the balance sheet to meet the liability, to be $175 million.
"I expect the accrual we'll need to make (a revenue accrual with no cost) will be about $175 million in September quarter and will be recorded as revenue in the December quarter," Oppenheimer told analysts.
"We will expense the cost of Bumpers when we ship them to customers and our most important objective is to take care of every customer," he added.
While giving away free bumpers to the tune of $175 million (£114 million) is a significant cost, it's far cheaper than if Apple had called a product recall. That would have cost them $1.5 billion, according to Techdigest.
Apple is taking the iPhone 4 bumper off the market, so that it can amass stock to send to iPhone 4 customers.
People are said to be concerned that they will not be receiving an Apple-made Bumper, but a cheaper, third party case. Apple CEO Steve Jobs told the audience of invited journalists at the press conference to discuss the iPhone 4 issues: "We can't make enough bumpers. So what we're going to do, is source some other cases and give users a choice of cases. And they'll be able to pick one."
Apple's free Bumper deal will only be available until September 30, suggesting Apple may be working on a more permanent solution for phones sold after that date. After the press conference where Apple announced the free Bumper fix, Consumer Reports said: "We look forward to a long term fix from Apple. As things currently stand, the iPhone 4 is still not one of our recommended models."
This story, "Apple's iPhone 4 Bumper Giveaway May Cost $175 Million" was originally published by Macworld U.K..Armed assailants who earlier this week broke into the suburban Paris residence of a Jewish couple and raped the woman while her boyfriend was kept at bay were undoubtedly motivated by anti-Semitism, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve stated Wednesday.
The “anti-Semitic connection seems proven,” Cazeneuve said, adding that an initial investigation indicated that the assailants chose their targets “based on the idea that being Jewish means having money.”
Two of the suspected assailants were found in possession of some of the couple’s jewelry and arrested shortly after the attack, which occurred Monday in the suburb of Creteil.
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A third suspect was apprehended by police on Wednesday. One of the assailants reportedly lives a block away from the couple, who made no secret of their Jewishness.
The three suspects in the case, who are known to police, appeared in court on Wednesday and bond was set, Le Monde reported.
The three men were said to have carried handguns and a short-barreled rifle when they forced their way into the apartment owned by the young man’s parents, the paper reported.
The suspects then separated the 19-year-old Jewish woman and her 21-year-old Jewish partner. One suspect raped the woman while another guarded her partner and a third withdrew money from a cash machine. The assailants spent approximately one hour inside the house, police said, ransacking it.
Before the rape, the men demanded that the couple hand over their credit cards and codes, the couple told police. The assailants told the couple they shouldn’t try to pretend they didn’t have money because they knew they were Jewish, the victims said.
Earlier Wednesday, Severine Benayoun, a lawyer for the victims’ family, told French media that one of the suspected assailants borrowed sugar from the couple days before the attack, Le Monde also reported.
The prosecution linked the attack to one on a 70-year-old Jewish man who was badly beaten at his Creteil home on November 10 by three men who had referred to his being Jewish during the attack.
AFP contributed to this report.They swagger, they fight, they laugh in the face of danger. Science-fiction books have given us some of the greatest swashbuckling heroes, cutting a swathe through space and countless alternate timelines. Here are some of our favorite book heroes.
When we asked our friends to name their favorite swashbuckling heroes from SF books, first we had to figure out what exactly we meant by "swashbuckling." Here's what we came up with: A swashbuckling hero doesn't necessarily need to pack a sword — although it certainly doesn't hurt. A certain dapperness comes with the territory, or at the very least a unique sense of style. Words starting with "D" came up a lot, including dashing, debonair, defiant, dapper and daring.
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What we found was that fantasy is full of swashbucklers — it's one of the hallmarks of the genre — but there are some amazing swashbucklers in science fiction too. (And we threw it open to include "urban fantasy," or anything which takes place in something akin to the modern world or the future.)
Here are our favorite swashbuckling heroes from science fiction books:
John Carter Of Mars (A Princess Of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs)
He's got the sword and the steely gaze, not to mention the old-school charm, and he's also got the mad adventures — the seemingly immortal Virginian gets zapped to Mars upon his "death" and wins the hand of the princess, Deja Thoris. He leads a company of Tharks to defeat the city-state of Zodanga, and then sacrifices his own life to save the atmosphere on Mars. (But then just winds up on Earth again.)
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Here are some great Princess Of Mars covers and images, including some great art by Frank Frazetta:
Jack Half-A-Prayer (Perdido Street Station and Iron Council by China Mieville):
Even amongst all the other memorable and weird characters from Mieville's Bas-Lag universe, Jack Half-A-Prayer stands out, with his weird sense of style. One of the Remade, he's got a giant praying mantis arm, but instead of becoming downtrodden and full of self-loathing, he becomes a freedom fighter and a legend, until it finally catches up with him. Here's a great illustration of him that artist Nicholas William Kole created. (More of Kole's great art here.)
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"Slippery" Jim DiGriz (The Stainless Steel Rat by Harry Harrison):
The first person that came to mind when we thought of this category — a grifter and adventurer who's always twenty jumps ahead of everybody else. Even though the love of a good woman softens him slightly, he never stops being a scoundrel. Still, if he ever runs for president on your planet, you'd be crazy not to vote for him.
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Frank Rozvar (The Skies Discrowned/Forsake The Sky by Tim Powers):
As Earth's empire crumbles in the distant future, Frank Rozvar sees his father murdered, and is forced to flee to Munson Underground, the city under the planet's surface. He plots revenge — and it's a good thing he's an expert fencer as well as a stylish bastard. Although, as my friend Bill notes, Powers' early heroes tend to be more "grim and gritty" than "dashing and dapper."
The Librarians (The Greatwinter Trilogy by Sean McMullen):
Many buckles are swashed by these dragon librarians in a post-apocalyptic 40th century setting. They're forever fighting ritual duels, including battles (with very strict rules) in airships. These books are packed with derring-do and Errrol Flynn-esque feats of bravery and cunning.
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Duncan Idaho (Dune by Frank Herbert):
This swordmaster in the service of House Atreides is a ladies man and an expert student of the Swordmasters Of Ginaz. The Harkonnens kill his parents and raise him to be hunted for sport — but he gets away. One of Duke Leto's right-hand men, he trains Paul in the arts of war. And when he gives his life to defend Paul and Jessica, he takes down no less than 17 Sardaukar soldiers.
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Cugel The Clever (The Dying Earth books by Jack Vance):
A thief and scoundrel, Cugel displays tons of rambunctiousness and skullduggery. But he's also a dab hand with a sword, and he's very dapper with his triple-tiered hat, adorned with a "foppish bedazzlement." His roguish ways and indefatigible charm have won him his own Facebook group.
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Speaker-To-Animals (Ringworld by Larry Niven):
One of the coolest of Niven's Kzinti, Speaker-To-Animals is slightly less likely to kill you on sight than other members of his race, but he's still a superb fighter and a total badass. He's too honorable to kill Louis Gridley Wu for meat, even when he's starving. Typical line: "I have a variable sword. I urge calm." Bad. Ass. (Art by A.C. Farley.)
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Anthony Villiers (Star Well by Alexei Panshin):
A former viscount, Villiers gets fobbed off by his family and travels around the universe in the company of a giant toad named Torve, having crazy adventures. He's always getting himself caught up in duels and assassination plots, as he moves through the highest levels of galactic society without ever quite having enough money on hand. He's foppish, following the motto "Live as you dress" and doing both of those things well.
Drake Maijstral (Crown Jewels, House of Shards, &Rock of Ages by Walter Jon Williams):
Maijstral is an Allowed Burglar in a distant future when the human race has been conquered by aliens called the Khosali, who have subjected us to their regime of High Custom. Under this complicated set of rules, you can steal — as long as you hang on to the merchandise for 24 hours without getting caught. (One of the Khosali emperors was a kleptomaniac who wanted to legalize theft, hence the odd compromise.) Since all of Maijstral's exploits are recorded and broadcast, he becomes a huge celebrity with a great sense of verve and style.
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Hiro Protagonist (Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson):
Protagonist's business card says it all: "Last of the freelance hackers and Greatest swordfighter in the world." He learns of the existence of a new drug called Snow Crash, that's both a computer virus and a reality-altering substance. He's the undisputed champion of in-Metaverse sword-fighting, because he helped write the code which makes swordfighting possible.
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E.C. Gordon, aka Scar, aka Oscar (Glory Road by Robert Heinlein):
This war veteran answers an ad that asks, "Are You A Coward," placed by a beautiful woman. Then he goes on a quest and crosses swords with the Never-Born aka the Eater Of Souls, the guardian of the Egg of the Phoenix in Mile High Tower. (For some reason, the Eater Of Souls appears as a 17th century swordsman.)
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Beka Rosslin-Metadi (The Price Of The Stars by Debra Doyle and James D. McDonald):
Okay, just look at the jacket, and the red eyepatch. And she's an amazing space pilot, freebooter and spacer by trade — who's turned her back on her famous military family. Until her mom is assassinated, and her father gives her the best spaceship around, the Warhammer, to look for the assassins. She leaves "a trail of kidnappings and corpses across four star systems," and blows the roof off the strongest private fortress in the galaxy. Rock on.
Pham Nuwen (A Fire Upon The Deep by Vernor Vinge):
Pham grows up in a post-apocalyptic Canberra that's similar to the Middle Ages, complete with swords, daggers and poison. Then the Qeng Ho arrive and he leaves with them. He becomes a legendary commander and Programmer-At-Arms. At one point, Pham Nuwen is held prisoner by some idiots, and he realizes that the computers on the ship had used smart dust long ago — which means he can hack into the computers by blinking, without anyone noticing.
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Ed Chianese (Light by M. John Harrison)
Thrill-seeker, adventurer and virtual-reality addict, Ed Chianese "owes money to everyone in the universe." Writes Harrison, "From an early age, Ed Chianese had been some kind of drifter and sensationist. He couldn't remember what planet he came from. 'Maybe it was even this one!' He laughed." With his peroxide hair and cheap tattoos, he's dapper after a fashion.
Giraut Leones (A Million Open Doors by John Barnes):
Giraut lives in Nou Occitan, which is sort of like medieval Europe, with the dueling, the chivraly and the artistic dabbling. But then he goes to live in another one of the thousand human cultures in the far future — the sterile Caledony, which is like a McCarthy-ite, Christian repressive world. So he becomes the rebellious, sword-fighting hero of this crazy world.
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Jay Kalam and his cohorts (Legion Of Space Series by Jack Williamson):
Kalam is commander of the Legion, and just in case you miss the Three Musketeers-i-ness of his group of stalwart fighters against the renegade Purple and the evil Medusae, one of his friends is named Samdu (an anagram of "Dumas.")
Owen Deathstalker (Deathstalker by Simon Green):
Heir to a warrior name, Owen Deathstalker lives a quiet life as a historian, until the Empress names him an outlaw, and he's forced to flee, and help organize the rebellion against the Empress Lionstone.
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Additional reporting by Mary Ratliff. Thanks to Bill Brickman, Jed Hartman, Chris Hsiang, Andrew Liptak, Dennis Woo, Wayne Nix, Angela Cooper, Zack Stentz, Tim Jones, Jonathan Korman, Tom Marcinko, Espana Sheriff, Richard Kadrey, Chris Hall, Allan Ebalo, David J. Schwartz, @RainOnRoof, Jenn Reese, John Klima, another Tim Jones, Cheryl Morgan and anyone else I missed for the suggestions!Windows 10: Driving Enterprise Upgrades, PC Sales
The next two years will bring accelerated adoption of Windows 10 and new devices within the enterprise, which could help the overall PC market, according to new analysis from Gartner.
Windows 10, New Devices, Exec Shakeup: Microsoft's 2015 (Click image for larger view and slideshow.)
The next couple of years will bring accelerated adoption of Windows 10 within the enterprise, IT research firm Gartner recently reported. At least 50% of businesses will have started deploying the new OS by early 2017 with anticipated completion in 2019.
This shift toward Windows 10 means a good deal of changes for IT departments, as businesses demand a faster adoption. Plus, the new OS means that new types of hardware will enter the corporate network.
"Companies are very aggressive in their approach in moving to Windows 10," said Steve Kleynhans, vice president of Gartner's mobile and client computing group, in an interview with InformationWeek. "More than half will have started production rollouts by the end of 2016, significantly faster than they've ever done before."
The growth may spark some much-needed activity in the sluggish PC market. Businesses in the initial stages of Windows 10 rollout will generally want to deploy the OS on new equipment.
[Microsoft's Cortana is now ready for iOS and Android smartphones.]
Kleynhans explained there is a "pent-up demand" for new devices among businesses. Many organizations have wanted to adopt machines that have been released over the last few years, particularly hybrid convertibles, but have refrained from purchasing them.
Why? Those new devices brought Windows 8, which enterprises were "unprepared and unwilling to integrate," he continued. Now certain business systems and processes depend on getting new machines, and these will be the first systems we see rolling out on Windows 10.
While hybrid devices may be on some organizations' shopping lists, it will be a while before we see the widespread rollout of hybrid computers within the enterprise.
"It's not going to be the big fleet purchase that [businesses] buy for everybody," Kleynhans predicted. Most hybrids are on the high end of manufacturers' product portfolios, he said, and only well-financed organizations would opt for widespread deployment in the near term.
The majority of businesses are likely to begin hybrid distribution among "real road warriors" who have greater need for highly portable PCs. This will change as PC makers begin extending the hybrid design into more aspects of their product lines.
As the prices of hybrids decline, businesses will be able to invest in more of them. This is unlikely to happen in 2016, said Kleynhans, but it's a possibility for 2017.
The heightened demand for new PCs isn't the only factor contributing to rapid Windows 10 adoption. Business are also motivated to avoid past mistakes by preparing for the end-of-life deadline for Windows 7 in January 2020.
Most companies have realized they moved too slowly when it came time to upgrade from Windows XP, and the lag resulted in an expensive migration. Now that Windows 7 has a definite end date, they want to start Windows 10 deployment early and upgrade in a more measured and controlled way.
Organizations also want to begin Windows 10 deployment so they can continue with projects that were started and stalled on Windows 8. The earlier they roll out the OS to small groups, they sooner they can "break the logjam" and continue with upgrades after resolving initial problems with the first group of Windows 10 users.
In his conversations with different companies, Kleynhans discovered many decided to deploy Windows 10 because a CIO, or other high-ranking employee, had installed the OS on their own and discovered how it worked. For many, this sparked a "we should get going faster" mentality.
As they deploy the new OS, companies' biggest challenge will be the accelerated pace of change. Windows 10 will cause them to develop new processes and rethink how they service and patch systems.
The benefit to Windows 10 is you don't have to worry about big upgrades once the system is downloaded, said Kleynhans, but companies will have to face several smaller updates along the way.
"Companies haven't had to do that before for PCs," he continued, noting the upgrade will cause some significant adjustment.
**Elite 100 2016: DEADLINE EXTENDED TO JAN. 18, 2016** There's still time to be a part of the prestigious InformationWeek Elite 100! Submit your company's application by Jan. 18, 2016. You'll find instructions and a submission form here: InformationWeek's Elite 100 2016.
Kelly Sheridan is the Staff Editor at Dark Reading, where she focuses on cybersecurity news and analysis. She is a business technology journalist who previously reported for InformationWeek, where she covered Microsoft, and Insurance & Technology, where she covered financial... View Full Bio
We welcome your comments on this topic on our social media channels, or [contact us directly] with questions about the site.WinRAR is an archiving utility that completely supports RAR and ZIP archives and is able to unpack CAB, ARJ, LZH, TAR, GZ, ACE, UUE, BZ2, JAR, ISO, 7Z, Z archives. It consistently makes smaller archives than the competition, saving disk space and transmission costs. WinRAR offers you the benefit of industry strength archive encryption using AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) with a key of 128 bits. It supports files and archives up to 8,589 billion gigabytes in size. It also offers the ability to create self extracting and multi volume archives. With recovery record and recovery volumes, you can reconstruct even physically damaged archives.
What's new in this version:
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Default theme images are scaled up with better quality in high DPI display mode.
Environment variables, such as %temp%, can be used in "Files to add" field of archiving dialog.
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Download: WinRAR 5.10 Beta 1 32-bit | WinRAR 5.10 Beta 1 64-bit | ~1.8 MB (Shareware)
View: WinRAR Website | Release NotesThe dust has settled on another Bilderberg summit. George Osborne is safely back in Westminster, his mind a whirl from three solid days of seminars and discussions about European strategy, globalisation and Greece.
The attention-dodging three-day meeting was held in a luxury Tyrolean hotel, tucked up an alp in Austria. There were no singing nuns being chased around by evil Nazis to be seen; instead, it was the master race of big finance – dressed in a camouflage baseball caps and beige slacks – aka the Talent, the rain-makers, the big-hitters and "the smartest guys (and a gal) in the room".
It was the usual heady mix of politicians and venture capitalists, senior policymakers and some extremely powerful investment bankers. Each year, the heads of some gigantic asset management companies find the time for Bilderberg, including this year the CEO of the world's 6th largest: JPMorgan Asset Management.
JPMorgan was also represented at the Austrian summit by four members of its International Council, including Henry Kissinger and Turkish billionaire Mustafa Koç. HSBC had three people at the summit, including group chairman Douglas Flint. Goldman Sachs flew in four.
Here's Goldman Sachs board member James A Johnson at Innsbruck airport:
And here's his colleague, the chair of Goldman Sachs' board of international advisers, Robert Zoellick (he's on the right; on the left is James Mattis, a board member of one of the world's largest arms manufacturers, General Dynamics):
Besides Goldman Sachs, HSBC and JPMorgan, financial giants Santander, Lazard and Deutsche Bank all sent their chairman to the meeting. In other words, a decent chunk of the world's high-finance and banking elite cleared their desks and made their way halfway up a mountain for Bilderberg. And the question you have to ask is: why?
Bilderberg group Established in 1954 An annual meeting of leading political and business figures from across the globe. Each summit is top secret, with no access granted to journalists and the general public. High profile attendees this year included chancellor George Osborne, Google CEO Eric Schmidt and former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.
It is pretty well answered by the single, overarching "global business principle" of JPMorgan Asset Management: "Throughout our long and distinguished history, we have been steadfastly committed to putting our clients' interests first."
The company's one job is to maximise profits for their clients. And this isn't a job they take lightly. It's their entire raison d'être, as they say in the Tyrol.
JPMorgan Asset Management is "a steady source of profit for the parent company". That's according to a profile in American Banker, which in 2013 described Mary Erdoes, its CEO, as "the most powerful woman in finance". This is someone famous for working "exceptionally long hours", according to Forbes magazine. Erdoes told Forbes: "There is no substitute for really superhard work, first in, last out."
And that's what Bilderberg is for these people: work. Erdoes will have been first into Bilderberg on Thursday, and last out on Sunday. This is no Tyrolean hiking holiday for the hard-working bankers at Bilderberg; this is big business.
In other words, that perpetually asked question "what is Bilderberg?" has a very simple answer: it's something the co-chairman of KKR and the vice chairman of BlackRock think is worth attending.
BlackRock is the world's biggest asset management company, with $4.8tn (£3tn, €4.3tn) of assets. KKR is the second biggest private equity company in the world. Don't tell me KKR boss Henry Kravis has flown to Austria for the food. I'm not even sure he eats food. I think he just licks the magnetic strip of his credit card three times a day.
These people make their money by staying ahead of the trends, so, being present at a private policy summit in which three European prime ministers, two finance ministers and the president of Austria are discussing "European Strategy" is an enormous boon. This is how these banks and hedge funds make money for their clients (and themselves): by strategising.
There are people at the conference who literally deal in business intelligence. Like Sir John Sawers, the former boss of MI6, who now runs Macro Advisory Partners. The suave Sawers, a man who never undoes one button when he can unbutton two, took one of MAP's global advisers, William J Burns, to Austria.
Clients of MAP are promised "a competitive advantage in a complex world". It's a very simple formula: using information to maximise financial gain. As MAP puts it: "Leveraging our insights into the strategies of investors, policy makers and political actors, we identify key future macro investment themes." Whatever else it is, Bilderberg is clearly something worth leveraging.
Back in 2012, the chairman of JPMorgan's International Council described Bilderberg as "a really useful group", after years of denying he'd ever attended. That chairman is, of course, Tony Blair. (If you want a laugh, watch Blair's attempt to answer Luke Rudowski's question about there being a "conflict of interest?")
George Osborne needs to be asked why is he was going to, in his official capacity as chancellor, a private summit so hungrily attended by the world's greediest and smartest venture capitalists and investment bankers?
It's not like he just dropped into a business lunch for an hour. This is one of the biggest events in his political calendar. And its the event he speaks the least about.
It's fair to ask whether the British taxpayer is getting value for money in sending him there. Or are we just feeding Osborne to the lions of high finance? Are we spending money to increase the coffers of Goldman Sachs? It certainly looks that way.
Some people defend the way Bilderberg works by saying: "It's good that these people can get together and talk for three days in private." They have to remember a) who lots of these people are, and b) what they would define as "good". Unless you have your global assets managed by KKR or JPMorgan, it's likely that your understanding of "good" might not entirely overlap with theirs.
Charlie Skelton is a writer on Have I Got News For You and @deyook on Twitter.Source: Dilbert
The latest entry in my series of posts on autonomous weapon systems (AWSs) suggested that it would be exceedingly difficult to ensure that AWSs complied with the laws of war. A key reason for this difficulty |
his country is welcoming migrants from its poor and conflict-stricken European neighbours, but will resist the European Union’s efforts to impose a compulsory quota of migrants from North Africa and the Middle East. “Poland is open for migration. And last year, for instance, we issued 1,267,000 visas for Ukrainians. Half of these visas were work permits,” Waszczykowski told Russian media in a bruising interview reproduced by the Daily Express. “We are also open for migration not only from Ukraine but also from Belarus and other countries, [but] we do not want to participate in the mandatory process of relocation of migrants coming from the Middle East and Africa. “We do not want to implement the decision of the European Union taken in September of 2015.” Waszczykowski’s words echo those of the President of the Czech Republic — which is also resisting the EU’s attempts to impose migrant quotas — in February 2017. Miloš Zeman said he had “nothing against immigrants who come here to work and who have similar language and similar culture like ours”, citing the Ukrainian community and even the Vietnamese community as having the right attitude towards their host nation. “[But] I do not want immigrants who come from other cultures who come for social benefits, not because of work,” he continued, adding: “Muslims should remain in the countries where they live [and] they should work in them, and they should not go to Europe, where they do not want to work.” Hungarian premier Viktor Orbán — the de facto leader of the group of Central European states resisting what the EU’s attempts to execute the Soros Plan to distribute migrants throughout the continent — has gone even further, wryly suggesting that he will open his country’s doors to “true refugees” fleeing multicultural Western Europe……
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Southern Methodist University bans 9/11 memorial because of new “triggering” policyThe St. Patrick’s Day parade will again follow a snow-shortened route through South Boston when marchers step off on Sunday.
City and parade officials announced on Thursday that they would be shortening the route due to public safety concerns about snow on the ground and in the forecast for Saturday night.
The parade will still kick off from Broadway Station at 1 p.m. and follow West and East Broadway, but it will now end at Farragut Road instead of turning around and heading toward Old Colony Avenue.
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“We’re going to do our best to clear Broadway from Broadway Station up to Farragut Road,” Boston Police Commissioner William Evans said after the meeting at the Mass Bay Credit Union in South Boston Thursday afternoon. “We’ve come to the joint decision that the best way to put on a safe parade, a great family parade, is to run it straight down Broadway.”
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The city is bracing for hundreds of thousands of spectators to watch the parade, officials said. Hundreds of marchers, bands and floats will participate.
The parade is being held just one day before spring officially begins on March 20, but wintry weather is predicted for the weekend.
Boston has a 50 percent chance of snow falling on Saturday night and Sunday, and temperatures will only reach the low to mid 30s, according to the National Weather Service in Taunton.
But it’s too soon to say how much snow could fall in Boston, meterologist Matthew Belk said.
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“There’s a possibility the storm could completely miss us.” Belk said on Thursday night. “And there’s a possibility it could move closer and drop seven inches of snow over the Cape.”
Snow was the main reason the city first shortened the route in 2015, after a record snowfall in Boston. The city tried to use the same route last year, but parade organizers said the change would violate their First Amendment rights, and a US District Court judge agreed.
“Last year, we were kind of forced into it, we thought,” said Tim Duross, the parade organizer for the Allied War Veterans Council of South Boston. “But this year, we were asked and we all sat down and came to the agreement.”
Duross said the change was necessary because of the large vehicles and equipment used in the parade.
“We have heavy equipment that the Army sends over, we’ve got big tanks, and Clydesdale horses,” he said. “I can only imagine one of these big vehicles going down Telegraph [Hill] with an inch or two of snow on the ground.”
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The Public Works Department has assured Duross that any snow that could fall Saturday night would be safely cleared for the parade, “even if they’re the first unit in our parade.”
Michael Brohel, the deputy commissioner of the city’s public works department, said 30 trailer loads of snow have been removed from Broadway, and the street is cleared from curb to curb.
“We’re going to look at sidewalks and see what we could in the next 48 hours,” he said.
Evans said he met earlier this week with liquor stores and bars, and the police would work to enforce laws regarding public and underage drinking. He said the department issued over 500 citations last year.
Liquor stores will close at 4 p.m. and bars at 7 p.m.
“South Boston is a great place to live, we have a great community, and we want it to be a fun family day,” Evans said. “If you’re coming into our community, please just respect it.”
Dylan McGuinness can be reached at dylan.mcguinness@globe.comThe notes were part of Aldrin's own manual used while Armstrong piloted the Lunar Module Eagle towards the Moon in 1969.
Also included in the sale is a second-by-second account by Aldrin of the fraught final minutes as the Module approached the surface of the moon.
It reveals that the first words spoken on the surface were "Contact Light", spoken by Aldrin to confirm touch down.
The primary guidance and navigation papers also have computer procedures on how to perform the lunar lift-off to enable the pair to leave the Moon.
The papers would also have shown the astronauts how to lift off from the Moon if an emergency arose.
Aldrin is selling the sheets after a change in the law last year paved the way for Apollo astronauts to retain legal ownership of items they kept from their missions. It is thought they will raise around £60,000.
A letter by Aldrin which accompanies the sheets tells just how dramatic the famous Moon landing was.
In the letter Aldrin describes the moment an alarm sounded when the astronauts were close to landing on the moon.
The craft's computer was loaded with so many tasks the alarm kept sounding - meaning the men were behind in the jobs they needed to do before they could safely land.
Aldrin's letter states: "The lunar landing was an experience I will always remember...some eight minutes into our descent engine burn, we started our most challenging part of the landing - the approach phase sequence.
"We were behind on flight tasks due to the distractions caused by the alarms. Neil was monitoring our instruments and the visual view out his window.
"Neil's flying tasks suddenly became more complicated because the computer was sending us into a large crater containing and surrounded by boulders.
"At about 500 feet above the lunar surface, Neil Armstrong entered the commands to manually fly Eagle to the lunar surface with computer support.
"He slowed the descent rate to just a few feet per second and studied the surrounding terrain.
"Neil asked me about our fuel status and I indicated we had eight per cent remaining.
"I was then able to glance outside and began to understand why the landing sequence was taking longer than planned - the craters, rocks and boulders seemed to be everywhere.
"Mission Control radioed we had '60 seconds' of fuel remaining. Then '30 seconds' rang in our headsets.
"Neil was almost to the surface when a haze of dust was kicked up by engine exhaust. He could not see the surface and had to locate something just above the dust cloud.
"Finally Neil was able to see a rock that appeared fixed in the stream of dust. This gave him a surface reference.
"Just as Neil placed Eagle gently on the lunar surface, I spoke the first words from the Moon: 'CONTACT LIGHT!' This was the indicator light on our control panel that told us that Eagle had touched the lunar surface.
"We only had about 20 seconds of fuel remaining onboard."
Matthew Haley, specialist in space history at auctioneers Bonhams, said: "Apollo 11 is pretty much the high point of the American space programme and the highlight of space exploration full stop as it was the first manned lunar landing.
"These documents have been to the Moon and back are the equivalent of Christoper Columbus's logbook.
"They might appeal to an institution but this market is very much dominated by private collectors.
"The cards are pretty technical so having the letter from Buzz Aldrin with them is the icing on the cake as it helps explain just how relevant the cards were.
"The key points are the printed text about the powered ascent, when they come back from the surface of the Moon after becoming the first people to step on it.
"They would have been getting instructions from Mission Control throughout, hence the annotations."
The sheets will be sold by Bonhams auctioneers in New York on March 25.2014 I had been reading all of the various literature about standing desks. It all seemed too good, why weren't these more popular? Oh, right. That price tag. At the time, the sit-to-stand variants that I had found were > $1,000 CDN, which is well above anything I'd be willing to pay for a desk. (Which is funny, since all told this desk probably did cost me ~$300) So it came down to either buying an existing standing-only desk, non of which I really liked, or designing something of my own to fit exactly in the space I had.
It Started On Paper I started with some dimensions, and some calculations of viewing distances from monitors, that ended up being wrong. (I've long since lost the drawings) I knew I wanted a corner desk, and to be (at the time) roughly 30" from my monitors. I had 52" from my wall to where the door opened, and in the spirit of symmetry I decided to have both wings of the corner desk extend out to that distance. Then, I was measuring from the floor to a more-or-less ideal height; I went with 40.5" tall, and had a tray that I could adjust height-wise to meet exactly.
So, It Went A Little Something Like This. The selection of wood I started with: Second batch of wood:
Not Too Bad (2015) Later on, we had to shuffle rooms, so I was shunned to the living room. What a damn mess, hah
Changes (early 2017) So I mean, it looked rather nice, and it worked well for the time being. I eventually removed the floating shelf, as I was using either a wobble board of a standing mat after the first while, and the height of the desk proper was fine; as well my research led me to understand that I could/should be somewhat closer. Removing the board ended up putting me in an ideal location, ~22" from my monitors, with them centered around in sweet, sweet stereo. Our Bluray situation was a bit out of hand, so I took it on a whim to build a simple stand, and really enjoyed the end result. The stain was just the right color for the living room. And that really sparked my want to finish the desk. That, and I had finally sourced a dirt-cheap third monitor, which looked pretty sharp with the rest.
I Started To Finish What I Started First bit was a cheap monitor riser Then I started to grab the wood for the drawers, built them out Which meant my huge mess of crap could go away neat and tidy, heh With all the room, I had every intention of just enjoying the desk for a while, and not doing a thing to it.
Then I Got Bored And stained it all. Hey, my girlfriend went to Vegas, I WAS BORED AT HOME It was all apart, so I took the chance to do the long-overdue cable management on the monitors.Porn has long been a driving force in tech and internet innovation, but the industry now finds itself in unprecedented danger thanks to piracy and free "tube" sites. These are some of the pioneers who are trying to fight back.
It’s a cloudless, mid-January day in Los Angeles, and I’m in a cramped, dimly lit hotel conference room off the Sunset Strip getting scolded by the star of Gang Bang Darlings 8.
“I hope you all feel really guilty,” Vicky Vette tells me and the 30 or so porn professionals gathered here for a piracy panel at the XBiz360 Adult Digital Media Conference. Vette is dressed in a tight but tasteful pink tank top with distressed flared jeans and peep-toe flats. Just moments earlier a man dressed in a flame-kissed bowling shirt à la Guy Fieri asked the crowd to raise our hands if we’ve ever streamed porn for free online. All hands, most of them white and male, went up. Now, after Vette's admonishment, he asks how many of us have shelled out for a $30 monthly subscription site. I see one, maybe two, sheepish hands from men slinking in their seats. Even at porn industry conventions, nobody seems to be paying for porn.
XBiz360
The discussion is about how porn’s top directors and producers are coping with the scourge of piracy brought about by tube sites — the free, user-uploaded streaming porn video sites made in the image of YouTube — and tempers are rising. Midway through, an audience member wearing a golf shirt tucked into khakis adorned with a cell phone holster asks if the industry folk feel like they’re losing out to the glut of free porn on the internet, and a panelist cuts him off quickly: “No doubt. Anyone who says otherwise is lying to you.” One of the industry men on the panel tries to interject to extol the virtues of now-ancient-sounding DVDs, likening them to comic books as collectibles for the porn crowd. But as anyone who’s ever typed a risqué term into Google in the past 10 years knows, the kids aren’t buying and collecting dirty DVDs. Colin Rowntree, one of online porn’s cadre of founding fathers, sporting a salt-and-pepper beard, friendly, sunken eyes, and a Tommy Bahama print shirt, rattles off bleak stats from memory. “Since 1998, there’s been an average of 70% drop in revenue on standard pay sites,” he tells the room. “You simply need to diversify. If you work 10 times harder than you did in the ’90s, then you can get close to getting back to the old revenues but not quite.” The room nods solemnly in agreement.
“Well, what the hell are you going to jerk off to when we stop producing?”
To an outsider, this is a brutally honest portrait of an industry in crisis. How can the porn business, which has squeezed performers and studios so far to the financial margins that it has become openly hostile to new entrants, innovate and survive? As an art form? I summon the courage to ask the panelists this very question. But before they can respond, a performer in the front row turns to administer my second scolding of the afternoon. “Well, what the hell are you going to jerk off to when we stop producing?” According to some estimates, 36% of all internet downloads are of pornographic material. And while there’s no way to truly confirm these ever-changing figures, some observers have suggested that roughly 12% of the internet contains at least some pornographic content. In 2012, YouPorn told Extreme Tech that the site pulls in 100 million page views per day; at peak that’s 4,000 page views a second. And in PornHub’s 2014 year in review, the sites boasted 18.35 billion total visits and 78.9 billion total videos viewed. That’s 11 videos viewed for every person alive. A casual observer would probably assume that the internet has been great for porn; in one sense, it has been. Never before have so many people had immediate access to this much adult content. But inside the industry, porn’s relationship to the internet is fraught. The adult industry is credited — quietly — with frequently building and shaping new technologies, and technology has long been credited with creating the porn juggernaut. A 1986 Merrill Lynch study, dredged up by adult industry scholar Jonathan Coopersmith, shows that “X-rated tapes constituted over half of all sales of pre-recorded tapes in the late 1970s.” It took until the mid-1980s for the rest of the market to catch up; in the meantime, Deep Throat racked up nearly $100 million, most of which came from sales of tapes.
Major architectural foundations of the internet also owe a debt to porn, which helped to pioneer e-commerce and credit card billing through adult pay sites in the 1990s. Coopersmith cites “cybersex promoters” in the ’80s and ’90s with leading the development and distribution of CD-ROMs, noting that Penthouse’s Virtual Photo Shoot software “won praise for being one of the most interactive games then manufactured.” You can also thank porn for the popularization of webcams, which began their boom as early as 1995 in adult online forums. But if porn helped to conceive and nurture the modern internet, the internet has turned its back on porn. Major internet companies like Instagram and Tumblr have hidden adult content from internal search, and Google has removed porn while de-prioritizing adult sites in its search algorithms. Facebook, arguably the internet’s most important destination, has banned adult content outright since its inception, and mainstream billing sites and financial services firms have shut their doors to adult companies, citing them as “high risk” clients. If online porn was built by technically proficient, big-dreaming smut innovators, it's now under siege by, essentially, technically proficient, deep-pocketed, shell corporation–constructing scoundrels. Consumed and overwhelmed by the fruits of its own technological innovations, the adult world must once again return to its entrepreneurial, iconoclastic roots if it wants to reclaim its industry. If anybody has any clue what we're going to jerk off to in the future, it's probably these guys.
Brad DeCecco / Redux for BuzzFeed News
It’s a cold February night and I’m driving along the pitch-dark, blind-curved back roads of southern New Hampshire as Colin Rowntree tells me how he inadvertently went from being a classically trained orchestral conductor to a BDSM website proprietor. Rowntree's tastefully furnished New Hampshire McMansion serves as a set and editing studio for Wasteland.com — it has that classic unlived-in model-home feel, but with fewer canyon views, more Keurig instant coffee machines, and a friendly old golden retriever who looks like he’d unwittingly lope into the shot during a particularly vigorous spanking scene. Colin, 56, and his wife Angie, 54, are both in the Adult Video News Hall of Fame, but after 10 minutes talking to them, a stranger might guess that they own a burgeoning Adirondack chair business or run an artisanal scented-candle operation. Instead, this founding father of online porn has a plan to take back at least some power from the tubes.
“It’s the culmination of our entire careers in this industry.”
Boodigo.com is their ethical porn search engine, a chance for them to regain some control of the adult internet. “It’s the culmination of our entire careers in this industry,” Colin says with a smile. He spent the last year building it with a couple of ex-Google engineers, and its premise is simple: a safe, secure search engine for adult content that doesn’t track users or mine any user data, algorithmically de-prioritizes free tube content, and actively weeds out deeply offensive and illegal content like child porn. Boodigo is a direct response to Google’s tightening restrictions against adult content. In March 2014, Google eliminated adult advertising in its search products and largely cut access to the helpful Google employees who specialized in takedown requests from the adult industry. It’s also an attempt to curry favor with the growing legion of average porn consumers who are weary of having their most private browsing behaviors tracked. “Google is very, very good at what it does but it's not what you want if you're looking for something sensitive. Porn, fireworks, firearms. You want something naughty? Come to us and we won’t track your shit," Colin says. Colin explains how online porn has changed since he and Angie posted a few images of women in leather fetish gear on the web as part of a promotion for a hodgepodge direct-mail catalog site in 1994, accidentally launching one of the internet’s first adult pay sites. Since then, Colin and Angie (who runs the porn for women site sssh.com), have experimented with all styles of content and technologies to keep their niche sites afloat. There’s “This Old Dungeon,” which teaches people how to build bondage furniture, and BDSMPad, a tablet porn app, which launched the same day as the iPad with the tagline “We flagellate, you masturbate.” But for all the innovations, gimmicks, and decades of experience, the Rowntrees have watched the tubes destroy porn’s middle class and technological edge. Colin and Angie have managed to make a sturdy living thanks to the niche nature of their sites, but the glut of free tube porn has squeezed margins. "I've seen members inside Wasteland download 20 years of movies in their trial period, and I know for a fact those all go on the tubes," Angie says. As suspicious as the bulk downloads look, there's little the Rowntrees — or other adult producers — can do to prove it. "We've tried to search user names inside Wasteland to see if they're also there on PornHub, but they must have different names." Essentially, the Rowntrees' proposition is that concerned internet users will eschew the convenience — and zero-dollar price point — of the tube sites in favor of privacy and peace of mind. So far it’s working, albeit slowly. Colin says Boodigo had 2.5 million unique daily visitors and 7 million queries at launch in September 2014. As of mid-August, the site was pulling in over a million more unique visitors per day, with 39% of visitors returning to the site. This past August, the site received 3.5 million uniques daily. “As long as the porn’s still there, they keep coming back because nobody is watching them,” Colin says. If it continues to take off, Boodigo could cut off some of the tube sites' revenue by stanching the flow of traffic to pages that make money from traditional banner advertising. Given the dominance of the tubes, it’s more of a first strike than it is a finishing blow, but it’s one that could extend a lifeline to porn’s more niche subscription sites. Only a week after launching Boodigo’s equivalent of Google's AdWords module in January, Rowntree says he received his first five-figure ad buy, and since then Boodigo's advertiser base has consistently grown to now over 400 advertisers. The organic search results have surpassed over 10 million adult sites. As porn producers look to reallocate some of their Google ad funds, Rowntree sees an enormous opportunity. As we pull into the three-door garage he recently used to film a food-fight orgy scene for Wasteland, Colin says, “I think I might be able to retire off this one someday."
Streaming video, which was first introduced to the web in 1994 by the Dutch porn company Red Light District, enabled MindGeek — formerly Manwin and before that Mansef — to build the first tube sites, allowing users to upload scores of pirated porn videos. The company's origins, much like its legality, are murky. Some link the beginnings of the MindGeek dynasty to early 2007, when Matt Keezer, one of the founders of the major online porn studio Brazzers, bought the PornHub domain for less than $3,000. It quickly grew thanks to revenue from banner ads, launching new brands like Mofos.com and acquiring tube sites like ExtremeTube and Tube8. The company consolidated under the name Mansef, but after a Secret Service raid and asset seizure of nearly $9 million, the founders, suddenly paranoid, sold the business off to Fabian Thylmann, a German programming prodigy, for a reported $140 million.
Under Thylmann's management, ad revenues soared, and the company — renamed Manwin — nearly doubled to 500 employees by 2011. A New York magazine article suggests that Manwin's pretax earnings nearly doubled between December 2009 and December 2010. While Thylmann made overtures to clean up tube piracy — Mansef, under the Brazzers owners, had been accused of allowing its users to upload troves of illegal clips to the porn sites — adult producers found it nearly impossible to stop their content from spreading illegally onto the tube sites. All the while, Manwin aggregators made fortunes from simple display advertising, which, in turn, allowed the company to buy up bigger tubes like YouPorn in 2011, and major mainstream adult production studios like Babes.com, Digital Playground, Reality Kings, and Twistys. In 2012, Thylmann was extradited to Germany for tax evasion; Manwin has changed hands once again and is now operated as MindGeek. According to some reports, MindGeek owns eight of the top ten tubes sites, creating, essentially, a monopoly. As such, the company has the financial resources and the reach to force studios, producers, and performers to cooperate in any number of partnership deals. In many cases, they join up and give MindGeek tube sites HD preview content for less-than-optimal affiliate traffic kickback deals rather than compete with the monster sites. MindGeek declined to address the company's checkered past, noting, “The current management cannot comment on alleged operations that took place years ago under previous leadership and owners.” Even when worked up, most porn folks will admit the number of pirated clips on MindGeek-owned tube sites has decreased since the company bought many of the major adult studios. But the scourge is far from eliminated. In fact, there’s so much illegal material online that it’s created a cottage industry of copyright takedown entrepreneurs. Nate Glass, owner of Takedown Piracy, removes thousands of illegal clips a week in his quest to right the piracy wrongs wrought by the tubes. His company just built a digital fingerprinting tool that identifies and flags stolen clips for copyright infringement takedown notices. He has eight studio clients on board and is confident that if all studios cooperated, he could drastically decrease the amount of pirated porn. “We took down 12,000 videos almost immediately for those eight clients who signed up,” Glass tells me, noting that the program has also identified 200,000 illegal videos as well as their copyright holders.
“When you sit down to rub one out, you're not engaging in critical economic thought.”
Glass worries that the viewer has no idea that their favorite, secretly bookmarked, banner ad–laden free porn repositories are contributing to the shrinking of the adult industry. In this way, the internet has ushered in a lost generation for porn: millions of young users who don’t just think paying for porn is for suckers, but don’t realize that porn isn’t free by default. Recently Glass, along with adult performer Jessica Drake, went on a U.S. college tour to talk to students about stealing porn. It was dismal. “Many don't even know that the porn they're watching on PornHub is there without permission,” he told me. “When you sit down to rub one out, you're not engaging in critical economic thought.” Glass says he sees fans tweet to adult performers with messages saying, "I love this scene of yours on PornHub," only to have the performer tweet back that the clip is up illegally. “It doesn't even enter their minds. It's a different generational mind-set.”
Even some of porn’s established names sound weary describing the grind. “People think I make hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, which I don't,” Stoya, the raven-haired 10-year industry veteran best known for her near-ubiquitous internet presence, tells me over coffee on a snowy February afternoon near NYU. Stoya blogs frequently about the adult industry — on her own site and for The Verge, Refinery29, Vice, and occasionally for the New York Times — and is as exhausted with the state of the industry as she is eloquent about its shortcomings. Like their production counterparts, performers often need to diversify by performing in cam shows, auctioning clothing like their bras and panties, making molds of their orifices and appendages for licensed sex toys, and interacting with fans through paid texts, snaps, and even online video games. Performers are increasingly required to book scenes without royalties and are subsequently required to promote them relentlessly on social media. “I’m just tired,” Stoya says. And yet she sees a business opportunity amid the chaos.
Courtesy Stoya Stoya.
“When you hit these kinds of walls, some people go one way and stagnate, and with others it forces you to innovate,” she says, thumbing through an incoming text on her iPhone. “One day Kayden [performer Kayden Kross and Stoya’s business partner] and I said, ‘We don't want to work for anyone else anymore.’ See, we’re are spoiled because we've been contract performers for so long and so we started envisioning it, thinking, OK, DVD won’t work and we know that membership sites don’t work.” And so, last winter, she launched TrenchcoatX, a site that eschews the classic subscription model for one where viewers can preview and then pay for porn on a scene-by-scene basis. “Pay-per-scene exists with something like [the massive amateur porn site] Clips4Sale but it feels like Costco almost. We wanted this to feel like a brick-and-mortar store,” Stoya says. With its tagline “Curated Smut,” the site seems to focus on highly original, artistically imagined, and expertly produced videos. Though TrenchcoatX isn’t the first to pilot a pay-per-scene model, the site’s videos and series aim to shoot provocative scenes and recurring series that, aside from the thrusting and exposed skin, look different from most of the porn on the internet. One of Stoya’s series, Around the World in 80 Ways, is governed by two rules: “Scenes have to be shot outside the San Fernando Valley, and they have to be fun for someone involved.” Another series is simply titled Fluid and celebrates all the elements that the particular term offers. For the longtime performer, TrenchcoatX is also about fighting stagnation, not just with regard to her own work, but as it relates to the innovation of the medium. “Ten to twenty years ago you'd literally put a naked person on a DVD or on the internet and money just fell from the sky, to hear the old guard tell it,” she says as we finish our coffees. “And so today you look at performers and there seems to be a bit still of confusion. It’s this idea that, ‘Hey, wait, my job is a job now!'”
Emily Berl for Buzzfeed News Veronica Vain
Perhaps one of the most compelling ideas of how to revitalize porn comes from Veronica Vain over an 11:30 a.m. burrito bowl in a cramped Upper East Side Chipotle. When Vain and I first met, she was not yet 100 days into her career as an adult performer but was nonetheless convinced she could bring product placement and native ads to porn.
According to Vain — a 23-year old Wall Street intern turned porn star whose conversation mixes market inefficiencies with anecdotes about on- and off-set cunnilingus — the tubes have already won. When Vain released her first video in February, a free 13-minute clip was released on PornHub. The full clip was available on behind a paywall at EvilAngel.com, the video’s distributor. That morning, the PornHub clip had over 2 million views. The Evil Angel clip had only 4,000 views. “So the market spoke. They wanted free porn,” she said bluntly and with hints of fatigue, as if she were trying to explain a chapter in a macroeconomics textbook to a dense college freshman. Product placement works for movies and TV and music — so why not porn? Wares peripheral to the adult industry are ripe for product placement inside adult videos; sex toys, lubes, and condoms could be fit seamlessly into the preamble of an adult video. Add in some some breathy moaning about the branding particulars and sensible price points in between crescendoing oohs and aahs and you may just have yourself an alternative revenue stream.
“The younger generation has less qualms with porn, and most companies that aren't Folgers Coffee want porn watchers to buy their shit.”
But Vain’s dream lies in mainstream companies that already cultivate an edgier image (think Axe body spray and Monster energy drinks, or anything Ed Hardy) that could be marketed to the legions of frequent porn watchers. “The younger generation has less qualms with porn, and most companies that aren't Folgers Coffee want porn watchers to buy their shit. They want them as the recurring revenue stream,” Vain explained. “Mommy and Daddy are dying soon.” Vain describes her ideal future scenario. “Monster can go to MindGeek and say, ‘I want you to make me a big Monster scene with flashy cars and there’s a hot chick drinking Monster and wants to fuck all the guys.’ That would sell Monster,” she says, sitting back in her chair with a satisfied smile. “Maybe not that day, but there's going to be a conversion between the guy who sees the Monster porn and then goes to the gas station and is choosing between Monster and Red Bull. He just had a nice little experience with Monster.” Vain says she has the data to back her claims. Her first film, Screwing Wall Street, is a long product placement for an adult dating site called Arrangement Finders. In the scene, Vain pitches Arrangement Finders’ IPO as an investment opportunity to a powerful Wall Street executive. The pitch, a three-minute sexually tense ad for the site, goes over well, culminating in a celebratory boardroom sex romp. In this scenario, according to Vain, everybody wins, especially the advertisers. According to Vain, Arrangement Finders boasted a 426% increase in user sign-ups in the two days after Vain’s video hit PornHub. Like Kross and Stoya, Vain is also trying to get in on the streaming game. Unabashed about milking every last bit of her Wall Street association, she says she's close to securing significant financing to launch her own "Hulu for porn" operation that she’s named Bangbox. She argues that piracy alone isn’t what's killing the industry. “It's just easier getting content for free than buying it,” she says. “Even if you’re game to buy porn, it’s easier to get more of [a performer's] content in one place on a tube than it is with a subscription.” And so Bangbox looks to take the best of both worlds and package it into a friendly streaming platform. To hear her describe it, Bangbox will be searchable, customizable, and, like Netflix, learn your preferences from what you watch. It’ll host a slew of free three- to five-minute clips, with easy, one-click options to buy the full scene on a pay-as-you-go model. Unlike the tubes, where free scenes are typically longer but have no real way of directly converting to a sale of content, Vain hopes to make it easy to purchase a scene here and there on a whim. “Nobody has captured the impulse buying that you see with in-app purchases on phones,” she says. “The way I see it, each guy has three to five girls he likes, and if he could have something to surface that, preview it, and casually watch their stuff in one place, he'd be happy to buy it.” Vain says she’s given away 40% of Bangbox to a technology company and that they’ve built a sophisticated back end to the site. Vain adds that she’s waiting to close a round of angel funding by the end of September, which she plans to use solely for marketing and attracting talent with a possible beta launch later in the fall. “I’m really just ripping off the Hulu site,” she says matter-of-factly. "It’s not revolutionary, but then again, I’m confident that people just don’t consume enough content to justify paying 30 bucks a month for access to 7,000 videos. There’s a better way and I want to build it.” Vain’s not alone in her pursuits. This summer, PornHub, a MindGeek company, rolled out its own subscription-based all-you-can-watch HD access package for $10 a month — something the company is trying to sell as “the Netflix of porn” (in reality, it’s just a marketing spin repackaging of MindGeek’s myriad subscription content with no advertisements). But even she seems aware that there are limits to who will pay; for example, she doesn’t plan to pander to those who’re looking to hide their porn subscriptions from significant others. “I want people who’re comfortable with paying for porn,” she says. Vain’s entrepreneurial streak could very well out-earn her once-potential Wall Street career, but still, even though the ideas from the likes of Vain and the Rowntrees are practical, even technologically savvy, they feel like protective jabs intended to merely extend porn’s dreary fight into another round. So, where’s the knockout blow?
Beth Kleinpeter for BuzzFeed News MakeLoveNotPorn community manager and curator Sarah Beall and Cindy Gallop.
Cindy Gallop has a lot of lines. Here’s one of them: “I’m in the Steve Jobs reality-distortion business.” Her line, like many things Gallop says, is both immediately catchy and mildly perplexing; at first it makes decent sense but upon further inspection seems like it could be nonsense. Or maybe it’s the other way around? The same can be said of Gallop’s current fixation (and the reason for my visit to her eccentric, all-black, modeled-after-a-Shanghai-nightclub apartment): She wants to move porn out from the shadows as a vice industry, alter the way we talk about, think about, and share stories about our most private intimate relationships and, while she’s |
in his lifetime as a scholar of language and literature, holding some of the most prestigious professorships at the University of Oxford, and producing major scholarship in his field.
J R R Tolkien also wrote a great deal of poetry and prose connected to his fantasy world Middle-earth that was not published during his lifetime. Christopher Tolkien has edited scores of his father’s manuscripts including The Silmarillion, a collection of Tolkien works that tell the story of the First Age of Middle-earth, and written a 12-volume series of books called The History of Middle-earth, describing the evolution of a unique imagined world. The latest example of his editorial work is Beren and Lúthien, a Middle-earth romance between a man and an elf, announced earlier this month and set to be published by HarperCollins in May 2017.
Christopher Tolkien’s editorial work on his father’s manuscripts is underpinned by his academic career at the University of Oxford. He studied English at Trinity College and earned a B. Litt in Old Norse Literature. He went on to become a Fellow and Tutor in English Language at New College and a University Lecturer in Early English Language and Literature, and served in these roles from 1964 to 1975.
Richard Ovenden, Bodley’s Librarian, said: "Christopher Tolkien’s contribution as a scholar and editor has been immense. Without his dedication and commitment, his father’s works would not have reached such a broad public audience and without his erudition and scholarship J R R Tolkien’s work would not have been presented so fully and with such authority."
Christopher Tolkien said: "Although I have never looked for anything remotely of such a kind, I find it especially welcome to receive the Bodley Medal in that it affirms the unique significance of my father's creation and accords a worthy place in the Republic of Letters to Tolkien scholarship. It gives me particular pleasure that the award comes from and is conceived by the Bodleian, where a great part of my father's manuscripts lie and where I have happy memories of the great library itself."
The Bodleian Libraries house the largest collection of original Tolkien manuscripts and drawings in the world. The Tolkien Archive has been kept at the Bodleian since 1979. The latest addition to the archive is a rare map of Middle-earth annotated by the athor, which was acquired in May 2016. The Bodleian is currently developing a major Tolkien exhibition, which will open at the Weston Library in 2018.
Past winners of the medal include classicist Professor Mary Beard, physicist Professor Stephen Hawking, theatre and film director Sir Nicholas Hytner, novelist Hilary Mantel, writer and actor Alan Bennett and inventor of the World Wide Web Sir Tim Berners-Lee.Mustang News Staff Report
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Cal Poly announced the possibility of switching the university to a “year-around” schedule, as well as a number of other details for Cal Poly’s future in a press release today.
The announcement came as a part of the ongoing master plan update, which began last fall. The master plan lays out how Cal Poly will use its land in the future, as well as what buildings and facilities it will have. On April 23, the university released parts of its plan in a campuswide email.
Here’s a look at the conceptual maps Cal Poly released.
Cal Poly Master Plan by Mustang News
The “year-around” schedule was raised as one of two options to respond to the university’s continued growth.
“The year-around option allows Cal Poly to graduate more students, while minimizing the number of students on campus at any given time. It is also more efficient, because facilities are being used throughout the year, versus sitting idle or at reduced capacity over the summer,” the press release said.
The second option is to maintain the growth the university has had over the past 15 years.
The release also stated that developing more university housing for students is a goal. The university would like to house all freshmen and sophomore students on campus, and 30 percent of juniors and seniors.
New housing would increase the percentage of students living in university housing from 38 percent to 65 percent, the release stated.
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Cal Poly is considering using the north end of campus for most of the new development, the press release said. This would keep it away from existing city neighborhoods.
“One concept is the creation of a creek-side village near Brizzolara Creek on the north side of campus, which would serve as a hub of student life and campus activity,” the release stated.
The university released a selection of maps with the press release, showing concepts for Cal Poly’s future.
The press release said that the maps and information released are merely conceptual ideas.
“They do not represent specific proposals. The university will continue to engage the community and solicit input regarding the various concepts, including during two public open houses to be held in May,” the press release said.
The university will be holding two open forums to solicit feedback about the potential plans: May 7 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Robert E. Kennedy Library Atrium, and May 9 from 10 a.m. to noon at the San Luis Obispo City Library (955 Palm St.).Veterans stand on the field during the national anthem before Iowa's game against Ohio State at Kinnick Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 4, 2017. The Hawkeyes defeated the Buckeyes 55 to 24. (Nick Rohlman/The Daily Iowan)
Veterans stand on the field during the national anthem before Iowa's game against Ohio State at Kinnick Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 4, 2017. The Hawkeyes defeated the Buckeyes 55 to 24. (Nick Rohlman/The Daily Iowan)
Veterans stand on the field during the national anthem before Iowa's game against Ohio State at Kinnick Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 4, 2017. The Hawkeyes defeated the Buckeyes 55 to 24. (Nick Rohlman/The Daily Iowan)
On this Veterans Day, let’s come together to put to bed one of the last horrible myths still lingering in this country that “there are no atheists in foxholes.”
The notion that “there are no atheists in foxholes” not only unfairly dismisses the sacrifices made by brave atheists and nonbelievers who have proudly answered our country’s call, it also suggests that their sacrifices are somehow less than that of others.
As you attend Veterans Day events this year, it may be difficult to spot who the atheist veterans are. Most of them don’t wear atheist necklaces or other jewelry the way some religious Americans do. And because of societal pressures as well as those in the military itself, they’re most likely not going to come out and admit their atheism to you, to the public, and in many cases, not even to their military unit.
Rest assured however, that atheist veterans are out there — as are a growing number of active-duty atheist soldiers — and as our country becomes less religious and more secular, future generations of our veterans will be predominantly nonreligious, if not specifically atheist.
And that’s OK.
Atheist veterans are not seeking any special kind of treatment or recognition for this, just your respect in what you do and don’t say, both at Veterans Day events as well as in day-to-day discussions about the military. To those either organizing or helping out with Veterans Day events this year, please consider the following to demonstrate to the atheist veteran that their sacrifice is worth recognizing just as much as any other veteran’s:
• Make the event as inclusive as possible by telling local religious leaders that they can take part in the event as a member of the audience but not as a speaker. As an atheist, I know firsthand how uncomfortable it can feel attending an event that feels more like a church service or revival than an event focused on celebrating others. Religion deserves no special place at events designed to recognize the service of veterans who defended a country with a secular government and secular military, regardless if this has been the recent tradition.
• If religious leaders are to be invited to the event, please show atheist veterans your concern for their worldviews by inviting an atheist speaker or humanist celebrant. For what it’s worth, I would be more than happy to deliver remarks on behalf of the atheist community.
• Try your best to refrain from an abundance of religious readings and songs, or try to include a wider collection of material so that it’s not heavily influenced by one specific religion or
worldview. I would also suggest that event organizers keep prayers for the next church service. While some local religious leaders may decide to do it anyway, at least it’s not being done by event organizers, which reinforces the myth that all veterans are religious.
• Keep the kneeling soldier at the Christian cross at home. Atheist and non-Christian veterans deserve to know that their sacrifices are worth recognizing as well. This statue, while well intentioned, makes the statement that only the sacrifices of Christian soldiers are valued at the event.
• Keep in mind that statements like “God bless our veterans,” “God bless the USA/Iowa,” or “for God and country” are divisive and immediately marginalize atheist veterans. Atheist veterans fought for your freedom of religion, but not so they can be thanked for their service by being asked to take part in your religious ritual. This is a celebration of their service, not church.
As our country becomes less religious and more secular, organizers of Veterans Day events are going to have to be cognizant of the ever-changing demographics of the military and the veterans it produces. Because of this attention to inclusiveness, future Veterans Day celebrations will become even more welcoming, as soldiers with varied religious upbringings and worldviews will feel valued and welcomed.
Especially all the atheists in foxholes.
Justin Scott
Director, Eastern Iowa Atheists
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Woodland ValleyDecember 6th, 1950
Dear Hitch,
In spite of your wide and generous disregard of my communications on the subject of the script of Strangers on a Train and your failure to make any comment on it, and in spite of not having heard a word from you since I began the writing of the actual screenplay—for all of which I might say I bear no malice, since this sort of procedure seems to be part of the standard Hollywood depravity—in spite of this and in spite of this extremely cumbersome sentence, I feel that I should, just for the record, pass you a few comments on what is termed the final script. I could understand your finding fault with my script in this or that way, thinking that such and such a scene was too long or such and such a mechanism was too awkward. I could understand you changing your mind about the things you specifically wanted, because some of such changes might have been imposed on you from without. What I cannot understand is your permitting a script which after all had some life and vitality to be reduced to such a flabby mass of clichés, a group of faceless characters, and the kind of dialogue every screen writer is taught not to write—the kind that says everything twice and leaves nothing to be implied by the actor or the camera. Of course you must have had your reasons but, to use a phrase once coined by Max Beerbohm, it would take a "far less brilliant mind than mine" to guess what they were.
Regardless of whether or not my name appears on the screen among the credits, I'm not afraid that anybody will think I wrote this stuff. They'll know damn well I didn't. I shouldn't have minded in the least if you had produced a better script—believe me. I shouldn't. But if you wanted something written in skim milk, why on earth did you bother to come to me in the first place? What a waste of money! What a waste of time! It's no answer to say that I was well paid. Nobody can be adequately paid for wasting his time.
(Signed, 'Raymond Chandler')
Back in 1950, Alfred Hitchcock hired Oscar-nominated screenwriter Raymond Chandler to pen the script for his next project, Strangers on a Train — a thriller based on Patricia Highsmith's novel of the same name. Almost immediately their ideas clashed, and before long their working relationship deteriorated beyond repair, apparently culminating with Chandler remarking loudly one day, within earshot of the director, "Look at the fat bastard trying to get out of his car!"Soon Chandler was let go; his drafts largely discarded. He wrote the following angry letter to Hitchcock some time later, after reading the final script.The Hug Dog is a breed developed by crossing the Siberian Husky with the Pug. As interesting it may sound to cross the two different breeds in terms of their contrasting size and characteristics, their crosses too are no less wonderful. This breed can either inherit the long and fine coat of the Pug, or the thick, long coat of the Siberian Husky.
Those that have taken the side of the pug can be smaller in contrast to those that have taken the husky’s side. Their appearance is also not predictable. They have a squashed face, but either a curly or a straight tail, a flat/hanging or pointy ears, and a dark mask. The Husky Pug mix has been used for guarding, searching and rescue purposes.
Hug Dog Pictures
Quick Information Also known as Pug Siberian Husky Mix Coat Long, short, straight, smooth Colors Black, gray, red, silver, and white Type Companion dog, Watchdog, Working dog Group (of Breed) Crossbreed Life Span/Expectancy 12 to 15 years Height (size) Medium; Depends upon size Weight 30-60 pounds (full grown) Personality Traits Loving, intelligent, alert, loyal, friendly, energetic Good with Children Yes Good with Pets Yes Barking Moderate Shedding Average to heavy Hypoallergenic No Competitive Registration/ Qualification Information DRA
Video: Pug Siberian Husky Mix
Temperament and Behavior
The Hug dogs are known for their cheerfulness, intelligence, and loyalty. Inheriting the pug-like friendliness, these dogs are highly affectionate to their family members.They also display friendliness towards kids as well as other pets.
Many Hugs can be lazy couch potatoes, sitting in its bed, dozing or sleeping. Some hug dogs might also not feel very comfortable living in small living spaces, a trait inherited from their Husky parents, especially if it is on the bigger side.
They may even display single-mindedness or willful behavior. Being an extremely alert breed, they make good watch dogs.
Care
Because of their high level of energy, these dogs need a significant amount of daily exercise. This is also because they belong to the working dog category, and tendency towards physical exertion is in their genes. Take your dog out for a leashed walk every day for at least an hour or so. Setting out for a long jogging with your dog would also be a good idea. Let your dog play independently, if you have an enclosed yard. The best would be your own participation in some interactive or retrieving game.
Brush it at least twice a week if it has the pug’s coat, but a little more care for the longer version – probably three to four times a week. They are dogs brimming with energy, playing around all day, and it’s your duty to maintain cleanliness and the sheen of your dog’s coat.
Generally healthy. No serious health problems have been reported.
Training
You need to make your Hug puppy learn to be obedient from the prime of its life. Leash the dog and make it sit next to you while waving your palm flat very close to its muzzle, and say ‘Stay’. Next, come in front of your pet and stand for a few seconds, and then get back to your seat. Don’t forget rewarding it with treats for not breaking your command.
To get rid of your dog’s lazy behavior, try tempting him with exciting goodies (like their favorite toys or a special treat) along with fun games like hide-and-seek or anything else that holds it back from dozing in a corner of the room.
You should keep socializing your Hug dog throughout its life, for which, you must make plans to help it continue meeting new people and new dogs. Ask your friends and neighbors, especially those who own dogs, to visit your house from time to time with their pets.
Diet/Feeding
Highly nutritious dog foods are recommended for this energetic breed. But the diet schedules must be set keeping in mind our dog’s size.By Doug Powers • March 27, 2013 11:57 AM
**Written by Doug Powers
Joe Biden once laughingly (does Joe say anything that isn’t?) referred to former Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood as the “conductor of the train to the future.”
According to the CNN story below, the “train to the future” is a boondoggle — a slow boondoggle — so slow that it just got passed by a Greyhound bus.
Here’s a quote from CNN reporter Drew Griffin:
“This was sold as ‘high speed rail.’ People thought they were getting high speed rail. The bullet trains… that’s what they’re selling, that’s what they’re showing to us. But if you look at what was happening in Washington State, you know, right now, after $800 million, it’s still cheaper and, many times, faster, to take the Greyhound bus from Seattle to Portland. So what was that investment all about? It wasn’t about high speed rail. It was just about fixing up Amtrak, fixing up the low speed rail, and really making freight trains move a little better — but not high speed rail.”
He left out one thing it’s about: Lining pockets. Follow the money.
Video on the Sham-O-Tron via Ed Morrissey at Hot Air. Watch Ray LaHood’s epic high speed rail sales pitch turn into a pause so pregnant it should have been given prenatal vitamins after being asked when we’re actually going to see true “high speed rail”:
Cooper had better be careful with these stories exposing the administration’s pet boondoggles — he might ruin his chance at getting hired by NBC.
Update: Thomas emails and points out that if you pause the above video at the 1:19 mark, behind LaHood appears an interesting acronym.
**Written by Doug Powers
Twitter @ThePowersThatBeCheck out some of Blazers guard C.J. McCollum's best moments from the 2016 NBA season, a big reason why Portland gave him a four-year contract extension worth $106 million. (1:29)
The Portland Trail Blazers didn't want to pay Evan Turner and Allen Crabbe a combined $35 million per season on mega-deals that will be hard to trade -- a problem for a suddenly capped-out team that can only jolt the roster by swapping players.
They wanted Hassan Whiteside, a sneering rim-runner just a year older than Damian Lillard with the potential to plug every hole in a squishy defense that ranked 21st in points allowed per possession last season.
When Whiteside spurned them, the Blazers faced a choice: hoard cap room, pursue a lesser center (Bismack Biyombo, Ian Mahinmi), or go whole hog in a fit of irrational exuberance with a team that barely cracked.500. The first path risked spoiling the good vibes of their plucky 44-win season. To maintain even $15 million in room for July 2017, not nearly enough for one max player, the Blazers would have had to choose between Turner and Crabbe; let both Meyers Leonard and Moe Harkless walk; delay C.J. McCollum's extension, cracking the door to funky three-year offer sheets from rivals; and fill the roster in the meantime with one-year contracts.
All that for cap room in an isolated market in which undrafted Wes Matthews remains the most significant outside free-agent acquisition of the past decade. "Good players on favorable contracts are more valuable to us than cap room," Blazers GM Neil Olshey told ESPN.com. "Especially in an era where all 30 teams have cap room -- or the ability to get it." The Blazers don't have as much time to wait as you might think; Lillard and McCollum are 26 and 24, squarely in their primes. "With our interest in extending C.J., we weren't going to be a cap room team next year, anyway," Olshey said.
Crabbe and Turner are not on favorable contracts. Turner's deal could end up a disaster, and doing nothing is always a better choice than disaster. The Blazers will barely duck the luxury tax this season, and if they keep this roster together long-term -- which is unlikely -- they would blow past it by nearly $20 million in 2018 and 2019. (A potential amnesty clause in the next collective bargaining deal looms as a wild-card, though the two sides haven't discussed it yet).
They have the payroll of a championship contender, and fair or not, that creates expectations Portland is already tuning out. "We are probably not going to make the quantum leap the salaries might indicate," said Portland head coach Terry Stotts, owner of a much-deserved big-money extension. "As a coach, you take the money out of it. We just want to grow."
Young teams grow with watering, and the Blazers, expert nurturers, aimed their win-now splurge mostly at young-ish wing players well-suited to a league trending smaller and faster; there is no Tyson Chandler mid-30s appendage here. Portland will start Al-Farouq Aminu at power forward, carrying over a late-season adjustment that jump-started them, and play Aminu there almost exclusively, Stotts said. (Uh oh, Noah Vonleh.)
The offense will be fine. The Blazers mostly cycled back the same roster, and they are betting the defense stiffens as the players spend more time in Stotts' conservative scheme. "The kind of continuity we have can be hard to find today," Stotts said.
Lillard has instilled a culture of work and selflessness that will trump any temptation to laze in new wealth.
"When Dame talks," Meyers Leonard said, "people listen."
When one recent draft pick entered the league carrying a whiff of entitlement, sources say, the coaching staff pointed at Lillard: He's way better than you, and he's working harder.
"The money won't be a factor," McCollum said. "Everyone is still hungry. Guys are already talking about their next contracts. We aren't going to lose the chip on our shoulder."
It's fair to wonder what exactly these Blazers are, and whether all that spending made them any better. They won 44 games and snagged the No. 5 seed last season when every mid-tier Western Conference team crapped out. They eked past the Los Angeles Clippers in the first round after L.A. lost their two best players for the series in Game 4.
You could argue all of Turner, Crabbe, Leonard and Harkless are replaceable, with huge holes in their games. Portland absolutely could have found, say, 80 percent of Turner and Crabbe's production on the cheap. The wing position is so thin league wide, the market for merely decent guys like Turner, Crabbe, Harrison Barnes and Kent Bazemore exploded out of proportion with the rising salary cap.
A lot of teams have fled those deals, and kicked the can. The Atlanta Hawks spent most of the past three seasons rustling through the scrap heap, hoping to develop cheapo benchwarmers into rotation guys. On the pricier side, a bunch of teams this summer inked veterans such as Jeff Green, Dwyane Wade, Gerald Henderson, Joe Johnson, Wayne Ellington and Arron Afflalo to one- or two-year deals that do no lasting damage to their cap sheets.
In theory, both those routes are "smarter" than overpaying Turner and Crabbe. Teams that are one star away from the contender's circle need to turn every roster spot into an asset that could somehow net that star -- either via trade or free agency.
Trawling for the next Robert Covington, DeMarre Carroll or Bazemore on a multi-year deal brings the hope of both keeping cap room and conjuring a trade chip from nothing. Portland's starting lineup with Harkless outscored opponents by 14 points per 100 possessions; why not just keep him, sign a Joe Johnson/Gerald Henderson type to a one-year deal, sift for some bargains that will probably bust, win about the same number of games and stay lean?
But all those possibilities -- a free agent star choosing Portland, a minimum-salaried wing blossoming into a killer trade asset -- are extreme long shots. Portland might be trapping themselves into long-term pretty good-ness, but that was the likely result of almost any series of moves. One alternate path -- keeping Nicolas Batum and using a decent chunk of cap space last month -- expired when the Blazers traded Batum to Charlotte.
Pivoting from Whiteside to a Hawks-level offer for Dwight Howard would have been interesting; there's some chance Howard rediscovers his All-Star form, and a connected chance that a rejuvenated Howard catapults Portland into a 55-win team. But Howard is 30, and the Blazers -- like most teams -- wanted no part of a long-term commitment to him.
There's nothing wrong with being pretty good, especially for a younger team. "Every organization's goal is to win a championship," Olshey said, "but when did making the Sweet 16 or Elite 8 -- to use college parlance -- become not good enough while a team is building toward it?" With Kevin Durant at Golden State, the West is like a middle-aged man: fatter in the middle, and thinning up top. The San Antonio Spurs will take a step back this season, and their long-term roster around Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge is a mystery. Every important Clipper aside from DeAndre Jordan will hit free agency in 11 months.
If Portland improves and catches some breaks at the right time, they could make the conference finals in two or three years.
And look again at all those alternatives on the wing. The guys on one-year deals (or two-year deals with player options) -- Wade, Green, Henderson -- have zero trade value precisely because their deals expire so soon. No one wants Dion Waiters. Johnson and Jared Dudley are mostly power forwards at this point, and much older than Portland's core players. Luol Deng represents a better win-now option than Turner, but he's 31 with a ton of mileage.
Henderson was a non-threat from deep before Stotts let him fire, and he's not a dynamic drive-and-dish guy. The search for all-around wings in the NBA is desperate. The shooters can't defend or make plays; the playmakers and defenders can't shoot. Some of the proven free-agent 3-point shooters, such as Eric Gordon and Courtney Lee, don't have the size to check small forwards -- a requirement in Portland, since McCollum has the shooting guard spot on lock.
Even the administrators at Mike Budenholzer's School For Anonymous Wings tired of tutoring projects and finally bit the bullet on a $70 million deal to keep Bazemore.
It's disturbingly easy to talk yourself into big deals for Turner and Crabbe. Turner can make plays, Crabbe shot 39 percent from deep (on mostly open looks, mind you), and both are big enough to check either wing position on most nights. Polish the rough spots, and each could turn into at least the facsimile of a do-it-all wing player every team needs.
"The way the game is being played, plus the dearth of available wings, made us willing to pay a premium for two impact players that fit our model," Olshey said.
Those rough edges are rough, though. Turner made 20 3-pointers last season, embarrassing for a wing, and teams will ignore him to strangle Portland's spacing when he doesn't have the ball.
The Blazers will give Turner the green light, and they're confident he'll hit enough catch-and-shoot looks in Stotts' free-flowing system. "People make such a big deal out of his 3-point shooting," Stotts said. "He'll shoot it better for us."
Portland coveted Turner for his ball-handling; they worried they didn't have enough guys who could dribble and pass last season when either Lillard or McCollum rested -- a minutes hole that shrinks in the post-season. If one got hurt in the playoffs, they were toast. The offense felt aimless; Mason Plumlee became their de facto point guard when defenses trapped Portland's stars on the pick-and-roll. Aminu and Harkless either burped open 3s, or drove without a plan straight toward defenders awaiting them in the paint.
Those same defenders will be lagging off Turner, too, but he's a deft drive-and-kick passer with an array of herky-jerky finishes in his bag.
But Turner needs the ball to play up to this contract, and if he has it, Lillard and McCollum -- much better players -- do not. Both are good enough shooters to be dangerous scurrying around picks off the ball while Turner acts as Portland's Andre Iguodala. A few minutes after Portland had agreed to terms with Turner, Stotts sent both McCollum and Lillard a 30-minute montage of Turner highlights; McCollum watched on a beach in the Dominican Republic and envisioned ways they could fit.
"People questioned whether Dame and I were too similar, and we thrived," McCollum said. "It's going to be the same with Evan. We're both comfortable off the ball."
The Blazers will explore Turner's post-up game, just as they did with Matthews, and script sequences in which he catches a pass just as a screener arrives -- a quick-attack antidote to his occasional over-dribbling.
Still, the Blazers should maximize the time Turner plays with only one of their star guards, and that means either bringing him off the bench or yanking someone early in both the first and third quarters. Stotts refuted reports that the team has already decided Turner will start. "I won't even say for sure what our starting lineup will be in training camp," he said. "That's what training camp is for."
Portland should at least consider starting Crabbe at small forward. Even with Aminu sliding down a position, the Blazers still don't have a ton of shooting without either Crabbe or Leonard on the floor. The Crabbe-y version of the starters blitzed opponents by seven points per 100 possessions last season, and Crabbe is smart about skulking into open spaces when his man turns to watch the Lillard-and-McCollum show.
He's still finding his way as a penetrator. He has the assist rate of a plodding center, and he settles for too many pull-ups after blowing by defenders who chase him off the arc.
But he's unselfish, with good vision. Trade some long 2-pointers for plays like this, and the Blazers will really have something.
Crabbe is also tall enough to launch 3s over little guys, a boon for Portland when opponents slot a wing onto Lillard -- and stash their point guards on Crabbe.
He should develop into a solid defender. Crabbe slithers around screens, reads the game well, and works hard. Coaches for the Warriors and Clippers were impressed by Crabbe's postseason work guarding Klay Thompson and Jamal Crawford.
But he's a poor rebounder, without elite length or athleticism to compensate for a size disadvantage against bulkier small forwards. Turner is a stronger rebounder, but faces the same size issues. Don't be shocked if the Blazers kick around starting Harkless to stabilize the defense, even if bringing two $17 million guys off the bench is NBA sacrilege.
For all the "who will have the ball?" shrieking, defense will determine Portland's future. When Portland amped it up on that end, they played well -- especially during the scorching 18-4 winter run that saved their season. They were 32-40 combined before and after that stretch, including the playoffs, and mostly struggled on defense.
The Blazers are right to bank on organic improvement. Typical sins of youth dot their worst possessions, and the Blazers will iron some of that out as they grow together. Look at all the self-sabotage they fit into 10 seconds: a botched switch on a simple hand-off; Lillard slamming into a pick; Harkless up top lunging for a no-chance-in-hell steal; and both Plumlee and Aminu shrugging off rim protection duties:
Lillard and Harkless lose a lot of bad bets.
"There's a fine line," Stotts said last season. "We want them to stunt and be tight in the lane. We don't want gambling, going for steals, losing your man."
Small blips of inattention cascade to become emergencies. Only two teams fouled more often than Portland, and only three had a worse free throw differential. "Part of it is inexperience," Stotts said. "Experienced teams know how to defend without fouling."
Portland will bend the math with a drop-back system designed to barricade the rim, hug the 3-point arc and force teams into midrange jumpers. Even last season, they allowed the sort of shot distribution that would arouse Tom Thibodeau. Cut the errors, and perhaps the Blazers could sniff a ranking of 10th or 12th in points allowed per possession. A healthy Festus Ezeli would help, but no one knows if such a thing exists.
A healthy system can't eliminate structural weaknesses. Lillard is a minus defender, and he and McCollum will always be undersized as a duo. You can hide one, but not both. Golden State went nowhere until they busted up Stephen Curry and Monta Ellis.
McCollum is a more well-rounded player than prime Ellis. But unless someone on this capped-out roster pops big-time, trading him might represent Portland's only path to acquiring another stud who might balance their team. None of their other big contracts, save Lillard's, are liquid yet, and they don't have extra picks to rival Boston, Philly or even Phoenix.
That's an issue for the future. The Blazers want to see where this team stacks up in the rejiggered West. It's natural to expect incremental improvement, but that isn't guaranteed. Portland could have a fine season, win 45-plus games, and bow out in the first round. That's fine. The Blazers are good, and they'll stay good with an uncertain path to the next tier up. Overspending this summer cluttered that path with obstacles, but it's hard to find a realistic alternative that would have cleared it up.Earlier this week, Yahoo announced that it had acquired Aviate, a startup providing contextually relevant information on Android homescreens, but it didn’t say anything about the acquisition price. Now a source with knowledge of the deal tells me that the acquisition was for $80 million.
My source didn’t know any of the details beyond the amount — the mix of cash and stock or how much of the total is tied to an earn out, for example. Regardless, that’s an impressive price for a young startup that raised a $1.8 million Series A (from Highland Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, and others) less than a year ago. (It was also incubated at StartX.)
When I reached out for this story, spokespeople from both Yahoo and Aviate declined to comment on the terms of the deal.
Yahoo has been on a pretty visible acquisition streak since Marissa Mayer took over as CEO. Last month, for example, it acquired content delivery network provider PeerCDN. During her keynote at the Consumer Electronics Show, Mayer said that Aviate’s technology will allow Yahoo to deliver content in “smarter and more personalized” ways on Android phones.
Update 1: Another writer heard from a source who said the number was actually $20 million, not $80 million — which seems more realistic given the amount that Aviate has raised. However, when I contacted my source (again, it’s someone who’s in a position to know the price), they confirmed that the number was $80 million. We’re trying to figure out where these different amounts are coming from. It’s possible that different parties are choosing to interpret the deal in different ways (again, depending on how stock options, earn out, etc. are counted), but honestly I’m not sure.
Update 2: I’ve confirmed with a second source that the acquisition price was $80 million.
Update 3: And we’ve heard a third source that the price was $80 million. They also confirmed an earlier rumor that Aviate had been talking to Dropbox as well, which may go some way toward explaining the price.Since our country was founded, private property has served as a cornerstone of our freedoms. The constitutional right to private property is based on the principle that government should not unreasonably interfere with the use of one’s property.
In the Declaration of Colonial Rights, the First Continental Congress explicitly stated that, “[Americans] are entitled to life, liberty, and property, and they have never ceded to any sovereign power … a right to dispose of either without their consent.”
This served as the foundation for the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which states, “No person shall be deprived of … property, without due process of law.” This provision, known as the Tak |
saying it was a buddy film featuring "real toys." Joss Whedon agreed, saying, "It would have been a really bad musical, because it's a buddy movie. It's about people who won't admit what they want, much less sing about it.... Buddy movies are about sublimating, punching an arm, 'I hate you.' It's not about open emotion."[37] However, Disney favored the musical format, claiming "Musicals are our orientation. Characters breaking into song is a great shorthand. It takes some of the onus off what they're asking for."[37] Disney and Pixar reached a compromise: the characters in Toy Story would not break into song, but the film would use non-diegetic songs over the action, as in The Graduate, to convey and amplify the emotions that Buzz and Woody were feeling. Disney and Lasseter tapped Randy Newman to compose the film. The edited Toy Story was due to Newman and Gary Rydstrom in late September 1995 for their final work on the score and sound design, respectively.
Lasseter said, "His songs are touching, witty, and satirical, and he would deliver the emotional underpinning for every scene."[37] Newman wrote three original songs for the film; developing the film's signature song "You've Got a Friend in Me" in one day.[37] The soundtrack for Toy Story was produced by Walt Disney Records and was released on November 22, 1995, the week of the film's release.
Editing and pre-release [ edit ]
It was difficult for crew members to perceive the film's quality during much of the production process when the finished footage was in scattered pieces and lacked elements like music and sound design. Some animators felt the film would be a significant disappointment commercially, but felt animators and animation fans would find it interesting. According to Lee Unkrich, one of the original editors of Toy Story, a scene was cut out of the original final edit. The scene features Sid, after Pizza Planet, torturing Buzz and Woody violently. Unkrich decided to cut right into the scene where Sid is interrogating the toys because the creators of the movie thought the audience would be loving Buzz and Woody at that point.[65] Another scene, where Woody was trying to get Buzz's attention when he was stuck in the box crate, was shortened because the creators felt it would lose the energy of the movie.[65] Peter Schneider had grown optimistic about the film as it neared completion, and announced a United States release date of November, coinciding with Thanksgiving weekend and the start of the winter holiday season.
Sources indicate that executive producer Steve Jobs lacked confidence in the film during its production, and he had been talking to various companies, ranging from Hallmark to Microsoft, about selling Pixar. However, as the film progressed, Jobs became ever more excited about it, feeling that he might be on the verge of transforming the movie industry. As scenes from the movie were finished, he watched them repeatedly and had friends come by his home to share his new passion. Jobs decided that the release of Toy Story that November would be the occasion to take Pixar public. A test audience near Anaheim in late July 1995 indicated the need for last-minute tweaks, which added further pressure to the already frenetic final weeks. Response cards from the audience were encouraging, but were not top of the scale, adding further question as to how audiences would respond. The film ended with a shot of Andy's house and the sound of a new puppy. Michael Eisner, who attended the screening, told Lasseter afterward that the film needed to end with a shot of Woody and Buzz together, reacting to the news of the puppy.
Release [ edit ]
There were two premieres of Toy Story in November 1995. Disney organized one at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles, and built a fun house, Totally Toy Story, next door featuring the characters.[67] Jobs did not attend and instead rented the Regency, a similar theater in San Francisco, and held his own premiere the next night. Instead of Tom Hanks and Tim Allen, the guests were Silicon Valley celebrities, such as Larry Ellison and Andy Grove. The dueling premieres highlighted a festering issue between the companies: whether Toy Story was a Disney or a Pixar film. "The audience appeared to be captivated by the film," wrote David Price in his 2008 book The Pixar Touch. "Adult-voiced sobs could be heard during the quiet moments after Buzz Lightyear fell and lay broken on the stairway landing." Toy Story opened on 2,281 screens in the United States on November 22, 1995 (before later expanding to 2,574 screens). It was paired alongside a reissue of a Roger Rabbit short called Rollercoaster Rabbit, while select prints contained The Adventures of André and Wally B..
The film was also shown at the Berlin International Film Festival out of competition from February 15 to 26, 1996.[70][71] Elsewhere, the film opened in March 1996.
Marketing [ edit ]
Marketing for the film included $20 million spent by Disney for advertising as well as advertisers such as Burger King, PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, and Payless ShoeSource paying $125 million in tied promotions for the film.[72] Marketing consultant Al Ries reflected on the promotion: "This will be a killer deal. How can a kid, sitting through a one-and-a-half-hour movie with an army of recognizable toy characters, not want to own one?"[73] Despite this, Disney Consumer Products was slow to see the potential of Toy Story early on. When the Thanksgiving release date was announced in January 1995, many toy companies were accustomed to having eighteen months to two years of runway time and passed on the project. In February 1995, Disney took the idea to Toy Fair, a toy industry trade show in New York. There, a Toronto-based company with a factory based in China, Thinkway Toys, became interested. Although Thinkway was a small player in the industry, mainly producing toy banks in the form of film characters, it was able to scoop up the worldwide master license for Toy Story toys simply because no one else wanted it. Walt Disney Home Video put a trailer for the film on seven million copies of the VHS re-release of Cinderella; the Disney Channel ran a television special on the making of Toy Story; Walt Disney World in Florida held a daily Toy Story parade at Disney-MGM Studios.
It was screenwriter Joss Whedon's idea to incorporate Barbie as a character who would rescue Woody and Buzz in the film's final act.[75] The idea was dropped after Mattel objected and refused to license the toy. Producer Ralph Guggenheim claimed that Mattel did not allow the use of the toy as "They [Mattel] philosophically felt girls who play with Barbie dolls are projecting their personalities onto the doll. If you give the doll a voice and animate it, you're creating a persona for it that might not be every little girl's dream and desire."[37] Hasbro likewise refused to license G.I. Joe (mainly because Sid was going to blow one up, prompting the filmmakers to instead use a fictional toy, Combat Carl), but they did license Mr. Potato Head.[37] The only toy in the movie that was not in production was Slinky Dog, which was discontinued since the 1970s. When designs for Slinky were sent to Betty James (Richard James's wife) she said that Pixar had improved the toy and that it was "cuter" than the original.[76]
On October 2, 2009, the film was re-released in Disney Digital 3-D.[77] The film was also released with Toy Story 2 as a double feature for a two-week run[78] which was extended due to its success. In addition, the film's second sequel, Toy Story 3, was also released in the 3-D format.[77] Lasseter commented on the new 3-D re-release:
The Toy Story films and characters will always hold a very special place in our hearts and we're so excited to be bringing this landmark film back for audiences to enjoy in a whole new way thanks to the latest in 3-D technology. With Toy Story 3 shaping up to be another great adventure for Buzz, Woody and the gang from Andy's room, we thought it would be great to let audiences experience the first two films all over again and in a brand new way.[80]
Translating the film into 3-D involved revisiting the original computer data and virtually placing a second camera into each scene, creating left eye and right eye views needed to achieve the perception of depth.[81] Unique to computer animation, Lasseter referred to this process as "digital archaeology."[81] The process took four months, as well as an additional six months for the two films to add the 3-D. The lead stereographer Bob Whitehill oversaw this process and sought to achieve an effect that affected the emotional storytelling of the film:
When I would look at the films as a whole, I would search for story reasons to use 3-D in different ways. In Toy Story, for instance, when the toys were alone in their world, I wanted it to feel consistent to a safer world. And when they went out to the human world, that's when I really blew out the 3-D to make it feel dangerous and deep and overwhelming.[81]
Unlike other countries, the United Kingdom received the films in 3-D as separate releases. Toy Story was released on October 2, 2009. Toy Story 2 was instead released January 22, 2010.[82] The re-release performed well at the box office, opening with $12,500,000 in its opening weekend, placing at the third position after Zombieland and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.[83] The double feature grossed $30.7 million in its five-week release.[83]
Home media [ edit ]
Toy Story was released by Walt Disney Home Video on VHS and LaserDisc on October 29, 1996, with no bonus material. In the first week of this release, VHS rentals totaled $5.1 million, debuting Toy Story as the week's No. 1 video.[84] Over 21.5 million VHS copies were sold the first year.[85] A deluxe edition widescreen LaserDisc 4-disc box set was released on December 18, 1996. On January 11, 2000, the film was re-released on VHS, but this time as the first video to be part of the Walt Disney Gold Classic Collection with the bonus short film Tin Toy. This release sold two million copies.[85]
The film was released for the first time on DVD on October 17, 2000, in a two-pack with its first sequel Toy Story 2. The same day, a 3-disc "Ultimate Toy Box" set was released, featuring Toy Story, Toy Story 2, and a third disc of bonus materials with Toy Story in a 35 mm Widescreen print and Toy Story 2 only being in FullScreen.[85] The twin-pack release was later released individually on March 20, 2001 with the film available in both Widescreen and FullScreen. The DVD-pack, U.T.B. set and the original DVD use the 35 mm print of the film to create the copies, rather than using the original files to encode the movie directly to video. The DVD two-pack, the Ultimate Toy Box set, the Gold Classic Collection VHS and DVD, and the original DVD were all put in the Disney Vault on May 1, 2003. On September 6, 2005, a 2-disc "10th Anniversary Edition" was released featuring much of the bonus material from the "Ultimate Toy Box", including a retrospective special with John Lasseter, a home theater mix, as well as a new digital Widescreen picture with the 35 mm Fullscreen version being retained.[86] This DVD went back in the Disney Vault on January 31, 2009 along with Toy Story 2. The 10th Anniversary release was the last version of Toy Story to be released before taken out of the Disney Vault lineup along with Toy Story 2. Also on September 6, 2005, a UMD of Toy Story featuring some deleted scenes, a filmmakers' reflect and a new "Legacy of Toy Story" was released for the Sony PlayStation Portable.
The film was available for the first time on Blu-ray in a Special Edition Combo Pack that included two discs, the Blu-ray, and the DVD versions of the film. This combo-edition was released by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on March 23, 2010, along with its sequel.[87] There was a DVD-only re-release on May 11, 2010.[88] Another "Ultimate Toy Box", packaging the Combo Pack with those of both sequels, became available on November 2, 2010. On November 1, 2011, the first three Toy Story films were re-released all together, each as a DVD/Blu-ray/Blu-ray 3D/Digital Copy combo pack (four discs each for the first two films, and five for the third film). They were also released on Blu-ray 3D in a complete trilogy box set.
Reception [ edit ]
Critical response [ edit ]
Yes, we worry about what the critics say. Yes, we worry about what the opening box office is going to be. Yes, we worry about what the final box office is going to be. But really, the whole point why we do what we do is to entertain our audiences. The greatest joy I get as a filmmaker is to slip into an audience for one of our movies anonymously, and watch people watch our film. Because people are 100 percent honest when they're watching a movie. And to see the joy on people's faces, to see people really get into our films...to me is the greatest reward I could possibly get. —John Lasseter, reflecting on the impact of the film
Toy Story received critical acclaim. On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 100% based on 81 reviews with an average rating of 9/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Entertaining as it is innovative, Toy Story reinvigorated animation while heralding the arrival of Pixar as a family-friendly force to be reckoned with."[90] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 95 out of 100, based on 26 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[91] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.[92]
Leonard Klady of Variety commended the animation's "... razzle-dazzle technique and unusual look" and that "the camera loops and zooms in a dizzying fashion that fairly takes one's breath away."[93] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times compared the film's innovative animation to Disney's Who Framed Roger Rabbit, saying that "both movies take apart the universe of cinematic visuals and put it back together again, allowing us to see in a new way."[94] Due to the film's creative animation, Richard Corliss of TIME claimed that it was "... the year's most inventive comedy."[95]
The voice cast was also praised by various critics. Susan Wloszczyna of USA Today approved of the selection of Hanks and Allen for the lead roles.[96] Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times stated that "Starting with Tom Hanks, who brings an invaluable heft and believability to Woody, Toy Story is one of the best voiced animated features in memory, with all the actors... making their presences strongly felt."[97] Several critics also recognized the film's ability to appeal to various age groups, specifically children and adults.[94][98] Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly wrote "It has the purity, the ecstatic freedom of imagination, that's the hallmark of the greatest children's films. It also has the kind of spring-loaded allusive prankishness that, at times, will tickle adults even more than it does kids."[99]
In 1995, Toy Story was ranked eighth in TIME's list of the "Best 10 films of 1995".[100] In 2011, TIME named it one of the "25 All-TIME Best Animated Films".[101] It also ranks at number 99 in Empire magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Films of All Time" and as the "highest-ranked animated movie".[102]
In 2003, the Online Film Critics Society ranked the film as the greatest animated film of all time.[103] In 2007, the Visual Effects Society named the film 22nd in its list of the "Top 50 Most Influential Visual Effects Films of All Time".[104] The film is ranked 99th on the AFI's list of the "100 greatest American Films of All-Time".[105][106][107] It was one of the only two animated films on that list, the other being Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). It was also the sixth best in the animation genre on AFI's 10 Top 10.
Director Terry Gilliam would praise the film as "a work of genius. It got people to understand what toys are about. They're true to their own character. And that's just brilliant. It's got a shot that's always stuck with me, when Buzz Lightyear discovers he's a toy. He's sitting on this landing at the top of the staircase and the camera pulls back and he's this tiny little figure. He was this guy with a massive ego two seconds before... and it's stunning. I'd put that as one of my top ten films, period."[108]
Box office performance [ edit ]
Before the film's release, executive producer and Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs stated "If Toy Story is a modest hit—say $75 million at the box office, we'll [Pixar and Disney] both break even. If it gets $100 million, we'll both make money. But if it's a real blockbuster and earns $200 million or so at the box office, we'll make good money, and Disney will make a lot of money." Upon its release on November 22, 1995, Toy Story managed to gross more than $350 million worldwide.[63] Disney chairman Michael Eisner stated "I don't think either side thought Toy Story would turn out as well as it has. The technology is brilliant, the casting is inspired, and I think the story will touch a nerve. Believe me, when we first agreed to work together, we never thought their first movie would be our 1995 holiday feature, or that they could go public on the strength of it."[63] The film's first five days of domestic release (on Thanksgiving weekend) earned it $39,071,176.[109] The film placed first in the weekend's box office with $29.1 million[3] and maintained the number-one position at the domestic box office for the next two weekends. Toy Story became the highest-grossing domestic film of 1995, beating Batman Forever, Apollo 13 (also starring Tom Hanks), Pocahontas, Casper, Waterworld, and GoldenEye.[110] At the time of its release, it was the third-highest-grossing animated film of all time, after The Lion King (1994) and Aladdin (1992).[23] When not considering inflation, Toy Story is number 96 on the list of the highest-grossing domestic films of all time.[111] The film had gross receipts of $191.8 million in the U.S. and Canada and $181.8 million in international markets for a total of $373.6 million worldwide.[3] At the time of its release, the film ranked as the 17th-highest-grossing film (unadjusted) domestically and the 21st-highest-grossing film worldwide.
Accolades [ edit ]
Lasseter with the Special Achievement Oscar
The film won and was nominated for various other awards including a Kids' Choice Award, MTV Movie Award, and a British Academy Film Award, among others. John Lasseter received an Academy Special Achievement Award in 1996 "for the development and inspired application of techniques that have made possible the first feature-length computer-animated film."[112][113] Additionally, the film was nominated for three Academy Awards, two to Randy Newman for Best Music—Original Song, for "You've Got a Friend in Me", and Best Music—Original Musical or Comedy Score.[114] It was also nominated for Best Original Screenplay for the work by Joel Cohen, Pete Docter, John Lasseter, Joe Ranft, Alec Sokolow, Andrew Stanton and Joss Whedon, making Toy Story the first animated film to be nominated for an Academy Award writing category.[114]
Toy Story won eight Annie Awards, including "Best Animated Feature". Animator Pete Docter, director John Lasseter, musician Randy Newman, producers Bonnie Arnold and Ralph Guggenheim, production designer Ralph Eggleston, and writers Joel Cohen, Alec Sokolow, Andrew Stanton, and Joss Whedon all won awards for "Best Individual Achievement" in their respective fields for their work on the film. The film also won "Best Individual Achievement" in technical achievement.[115]
Toy Story was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards, one for Best Motion Picture—Comedy or Musical, and one for Best Original Song—Motion Picture for Newman's "You've Got a Friend in Me".[116] At both the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards and the Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards, the film won "Best Animated Film".[117][118] Toy Story is also among the top ten in the BFI list of the 50 films you should see by the age of 14,[119][120] and the highest-placed (at No. 99) animated film in Empire magazine's list of "500 Greatest Movie of All Time".[121] In 2005, Toy Story, along with Toy Story 2 was voted the 4th greatest cartoon in Channel 4's 100 Greatest Cartoons poll, behind The Simpsons, Tom and Jerry and South Park.[122]
Impact and legacy [ edit ]
Toy Story had a large impact on the film industry with its innovative computer animation. After the film's debut, various industries were interested in the technology used for the film. Graphics chip makers desired to compute imagery similar to the film's animation for personal computers; game developers wanted to learn how to replicate the animation for video games; and robotics researchers were interested in building artificial intelligence into their machines that compared to the film's lifelike characters.[123] Various authors have also compared the film to an interpretation of Don Quixote as well as humanism.[124][125] In addition, Toy Story left an impact with its catchphrase "To Infinity and Beyond", sequels, and software, among others. In 2005 (10 years after its theatrical release), the film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the United States Library of Congress, one of only six films to be selected in its first year of eligibility.[126]
"To Infinity and Beyond" [ edit ]
Buzz Lightyear's classic line "To Infinity and Beyond" has seen usage not only on themed merchandise, but among philosophers and mathematical theorists as well.[127][128][129] In 2008, during STS-124 astronauts took an action figure of Buzz Lightyear into space on the Discovery Space Shuttle as part of an educational experience for students while stressing the catchphrase. The action figure was used for experiments in zero-g.[130] It was reported in 2008 that a father and son had continually repeated the phrase to help them keep track of each other while treading water for 15 hours in the Atlantic Ocean.[131] The phrase occurs in the lyrics of Beyoncé's 2008 song "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", during the bridge.[132]
Expanded franchise [ edit ]
Toy Story has spawned three sequels: Toy Story 2 (1999), Toy Story 3 (2010), and Toy Story 4, to be released in 2019. Initially, the first sequel to Toy Story was going to be a direct-to-video release, with development beginning in 1996.[133] However, after the cast from Toy Story returned and the story was considered to be better than that of a direct-to-video release, it was announced in 1998 that the sequel would see a theatrical release.[134]
Toy Story's first sequel Toy Story 2 was released in theatres November 24, 1999 and saw the return of the majority of the voice cast from Toy Story, and the film focuses on Buzz leading Andy's toys on a mission to rescue Woody after he is stolen by a greedy toy collector. The film was equally well received by critics, many of whom thought it was even better than the first installment, earning a rare 100% approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes, based on 163 reviews.[135] At Metacritic, the film earned a favorable rating of 88/100 based on 34 reviews.[136] The film's widest release was 3,257 theaters and it grossed $497 million worldwide, becoming the second-most successful animated film after The Lion King at the time of its release.[137][138]
The second sequel Toy Story 3 was released in theatres June 18, 2010 and centers on Andy's mom accidentally donating the toys to a day-care center when Andy, now a teenager, is preparing to go to college. Once there, they must hurry home before Andy leaves.[140] Again, the majority of the cast from the prior two films returned, with Slinky Dog voiced by Blake Clark due to Jim Varney's death in 2000. It was the first film in the franchise to be released in 3-D for its first run, though the first two films, which were originally released in 2-D, were re-released in 3-D in 2009 as a double feature. Like its predecessors, Toy Story 3 received enormous critical acclaim, earning a 98% approval rating from Rotten Tomatoes.[141] It also grossed more than $1 billion worldwide, making it the highest-grossing animated film until the release of 2013's Frozen.[142][143]
A third sequel, Toy Story 4, will be released on June 21, 2019.[8][9] It was originally set to be directed by John Lasseter, but he stepped down and was replaced by Josh Cooley.[144] This film will focus on the toys going to find Bo Peep, who was given away before the third film.[145] Most of the cast of the previous films will again reprise their character roles.
In November 1996, the Disney on Ice: Toy Story ice show opened which featured the cast's voices as well as Randy Newman's music.[146] In April 2008, the Disney Wonder cruise ship launched Toy Story: The Musical shows on its cruises.[147]
Toy Story also led to a spin-off direct-to-video animated film, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins, as well as the animated television series Buzz Lightyear of Star Command.[148] The film and series followed Buzz Lightyear and his friends at Star Command as they uphold justice across the galaxy. Although the film was criticized for not using the same animation as in Toy Story and Toy Story 2, it sold three million VHS and DVDs in its first week of release.[149][150] The television series brought further commercial and critical acclaim, winning a Daytime Emmy in 2001 for Outstanding Sound Editing. The series ran for a total of 65 episodes.[citation needed]
Following the release of Toy Story 3, a series of Toy Story short films have been shown in theaters in front of other Disney features: Hawaiian Vacation (shown before Cars 2), centering on Barbie and Ken on vacation in Bonnie's room, Small Fry (shown before The Muppets), centering on Buzz being left in a fast-food restaurant, and Partysaurus Rex (shown before the 3D re-release of Finding Nemo), centering on Rex partying with bath toys.[citation needed]
In January 2013, a fan-made live-action version of the film was posted on YouTube that received more than 16 million views before being taken down by Disney for copyright of the audio.[151][152][153] In February 2016, the video returned to YouTube.[154]
In October 2013, ABC aired Toy Story of Terror!, promoting it as Pixar's first television special.[155] In the special, Mr. Potato Head disappears and the other toys have to find him.[citation needed]
On December 2, 2014, ABC aired Toy Story That Time Forgot. In the story, the toys are trapped in room with a group of humanoid dinosaur warrior toys called Battlesaurs who do not know that they are toys and must escape.[156]
Software and merchandise [ edit ]
Disney's Animated Storybook: Toy Story and Disney's Activity Center: Toy Story were released for Windows and Mac OS.[157] Disney's Animated Storybook: Toy Story was the best selling software title of 1996, selling over 500,000 copies.[158] Two console video games were released for the film: the Toy Story video game, for the Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Game Boy, and PC as well as Toy Story Racer, for the PlayStation (which contains elements from Toy Story 2).[159] Pixar created original animations for all of the games, including fully animated sequences for the PC titles.[citation needed]
Toy Story had a large promotion before its release, leading to numerous tie-ins with the film including images on food packaging.[73] A variety of merchandise was released during the film's theatrical run and its initial VHS release including toys, clothing, and shoes, among other things.[160] When an action figure for Buzz Lightyear and Sheriff Woody was created it was initially ignored by retailers. However, after over 250,000 figures were sold for each character before the film's release, demand continued to expand, eventually reaching over 25 million units sold by 2007.
Theme park attractions [ edit ]
Toy Story and its sequels have inspired multiple attractions at the theme parks of Walt Disney World and Disneyland:
Other influences [ edit ]
Toy Story's cast of characters forms the basis for the naming of the releases of the Debian computer operating system, from Debian 1.1 Buzz, the first release with a codename, in 1996 to Debian 11 Bullseye, the most-recently announced future release.[169][170]
In 2013, Pixar designed a "Gromit Lightyear" sculpture based on the Aardman Animations character Gromit for Gromit Unleashed which sold for £65,000.[171]
See also [ edit ]
Notes [ edit ]
References [ edit ]The chief operating officer of EA, Peter Moore, has explained why his company prefers developing titles for smart devices instead of Nintendo 3DS and PlayStation Vita. The company, which stopped producing titles for the two dedicated gaming handhelds, thinks that opting for smartphones and tablets would provide more favorable results in the long run.
“We were supportive of both of those platforms,” Moore said. “But then you’ve got finite resources and you’ve got teams that say, ‘We really think that two or three years from now, these are the platforms that people are going to be consuming games on.’ And you look at the quality of what you can do on phones and tablets… Sometimes strategy is not about what you do but what you don’t do, and you have to make some hard calls when you’ve got only so many people. To my point, we’ve got to be planning for FY 17 and 18. Do you think the Vita and 3DS are going to be around in some shape or fashion by then on a scale level?”For those who haven’t noticed yet, the market for mobile games in the West has started to mature.
Mobile game revenue of six public listed companies combined (DeNA*, EA, Glu, Gree*, King, and Zynga) grew a paltry 1 percent from a year ago during the second quarter of 2015, compared to 25 percent during the second quarter of 2014 and 367 percent during the second quarter of 2013.
Image Credit: Company reports
Not only has revenue growth slowed down, but the cost of doing business has also risen substantially over the last few years. During this same period, cost of distribution has increased drastically — ad revenue/mobile daily active users (DAU, a reliable indicator of distribution cost) for Glu and Zynga was up 28 percent from a year ago and 36 percent from a year ago, respectively, during the second quarter of 2015.
Image Credit: Company reports
Similarly, product development budgets are moving up, driven by rising labor costs (competition for talent) and increasing production values. Product development costs for three companies** (Glu, King, and Zynga) combined were 15 percent of revenue during the second quarter of 2015, up from 11 percent of revenue during the second quarter of 2014.
The story of slowing growth and rising costs for mobile game companies shouldn’t be a surprise, as we have seen this story play out several times in the past. Recall the gold rushes for PC, console, and Facebook games, in the ’80s, ’90s, and 2000s, respectively, that attracted hordes of developers. Subsequently, slowing growth and rising costs led to consolidation with a number of “also-ran” companies that got acquired or, worse, went belly up (e.g., Midway Games, THQ, Realtime Worlds). The result was a handful of “at-scale” companies dominating each of the platforms, such as Blizzard on PC, Activision and EA on consoles, and Zynga on Facebook.
The difference this time around is that the time to maturity was shorter for mobile games industry than that for previous platforms. Given the leverage in the model, a few of “at-scale” businesses — such as Supercell, King, and Machine Zone — have already established dominance and are vastly profitable (King’s EBTDA margin at ~40 percent, Supercell likely even higher given its small cost-base); and a number of “also-ran” businesses are still chasing to get to scale that would lead to desired profitability. While some “also-ran” businesses will eventually find their way in the “at-scale” club, most are likely to consolidate or wither away, similar to what happened during maturity phase of other platforms.
In order to join the “at-scale” club, a number of “also-ran” companies have recently shifted their strategy — away from launching a large number of titles to focusing on a fewer number of titles, doubling down on quality and production values. They’re supporting their product with a stronger go-to-market strategy. As a result, some recent games have shown improved performance, though none have succeeded at dethroning the dominant at-scale games.
Image Credit: Rovio Entertainment
The next big “at-scale” businesses for mobile games will be built green field, rather than in markets and genres dominated by existing leaders, in my opinion. A strong “match-3” or a tower defense game could become a good lifestyle business, but is not likely become an at-scale product given dominant leadership in these genres and given incumbents’ ability to invest opportunistically in sales and marketing to thwart potential competition. The green-field opportunities could be either new genres (e.g. shooting, sports – two vastly popular genres of games that have been under-indexed on mobile) or new geographies.
Innovating a successful game mechanic for under-indexed genres could be lucrative. But it’s also tedious, time consuming and expensive. A case in point, the success of Top Eleven likely stemmed from players’ love for soccer and a game mechanic (team management) that worked well for mobile vs. many unsuccessful attempts to bring the simulation sports experience on mobile that players found too cumbersome on a small screen. Similarly, despite a number of attempts (Call of Duty, Uberstrike, Contract Killer), the shooting category has not yet taken off on mobile, likely due to want of a game mechanic that is more suitable for small touchscreens.
I believe that the lower hanging fruit are the new, unexplored territories. Since the early 2000s, we have witnessed the development of a PC game industry in China, new game platforms in Japan and Korea, and, most recently, explosive rise of mobile games in China. While Western game companies didn’t participate in this value creation (except for Blizzard and Riot Games), they may soon be able to more than recuperate the missed opportunities.
Image Credit: Atul Bagga
A new emerging opportunity has the potential to dwarf some of the more recent markets we have seen.
To be continued. …
Western/overseas revenue only
** I excluded other companies where majority revenue was international (DeNA, Gree) or console games (EA).
Atul Bagga was most recently the CFO for Zynga Asia. Prior to Zynga, Atul was an equity research analyst covering digital media and Internet with Lazard Capital and ThinkEquity. He’ll be moderating a session at our GamesBeat 2015 conference on October 12 and October 13 in San Francisco Twitter: atulbagga; Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bagga.Just three games are left in the NFL season, and two of those games will be broadcast on CBS. The CBS Sports app has just received an update that will allow users to stream the remaining CBS games. Those two games include the 17th match-up of Tom Brady and Peyton Manning in the AFC Championship Game on Sunday (1/24), and the Super Bowl on February 7th.
There’s good news and bad news to go along with this announcement. The bad news is you can only stream the games on Android tablets, not phones. Verizon has an exclusive deal with the NFL for streaming games on phones. The good news is you can cast the stream to a Chromecast, so if you have an Android tablet laying around you can watch the games on the big screen.
So, who do you like to win these games? Are you a Brady fan or Manning fan? Who do you want to see in the Super Bowl?Between winning Big 12 Coach of the Year & Steve Patterson announcing his support for the embattled coach, Rick Barnes has engineered an impressive turnaround for the program & done what nearly everyone in Texas not named Candy Barnes thought was impossible: he survived this season as the head coach for the Texas Longhorns. This news filtered across the Longhorn fanbase and is being received by the UT faithful with varying levels of ambivalence. While most are happy the program is heading in the right direction and nearly everyone is happy that last season seems more like an aberration than a trend, the arguments about Rick Barnes are heating up again. It's March, and the only thing more dependable than Austinites bitching about SXSW is The Rick Barnes Argument. Most people's opinion |
English among Singaporeans. That camp found even more grounds for justification when 19 Singlish terms were included in the Oxford English Dictionary last year.
But the uproar that erupted over one such accepted phrase, "Chinese helicopter" - a derogatory term for Chinese-educated Singaporeans who are mocked for their less fluent command of English - threw up niggling questions. What does it mean when people like my so-called "Chinese helicopter" parents are unable to code-switch from Mandarin into English? Are some codes considered superior to others? What makes us code-switch, and why?
It seems to me that rudimentary, face-value assessments of social class and education often dictate our use of different language codes. At work, I sometimes feel guilty for using these metrics to assess my newsmakers when I decide on the language that will put them the most at ease. Does the atas-looking office lady look like she can best articulate her opinions on the latest policy change in English? Would spewing a jumble of Mandarin and Singlish make the beer-guzzling uncle at the hawker centre warm to me and give some soundbite-worthy quotes?
It was only when I watched Singapore film-maker Eva Tang's acclaimed xinyao documentary, The Songs We Sang, that I began to pinpoint the source of my overwhelming sense of self-consciousness when it came to code-switching.
One scene particularly hit home: vocal coach and Nanyang University graduate Ken Chang recounting the trauma of being dismissed as uneducated because of his stuttering English.
There have been many occasions when I have seen how my "Chinese helicopter" parents' lack of proficiency in English held them back from integrating into the workforce. I sometimes grew impatient with them in the years of my angry adolescence, faulting them for tripping over English words and struggling to understand the universe that I lived in.
Code-switching may come easily to me, but was that born out of a desire to relate better to others - or to mask the sense of insecurity that I felt at my parents' inability to do so?
Perhaps it was my own biases that affected the way I saw them. As Singapore's language policies evolved from the post-Independence days, with English now deemed the "working language" most essential for productivity and economic purposes, I, like many other Singaporeans, seem to have elevated its status, while relegating our mother tongue.
The Chinese-educated from generations before, however, have meanwhile grappled with finding a place within this milieu - as Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong himself noted in a Facebook post about the xinyao documentary in April last year. He wrote: "Xinyao's history is tied up with the changes in our society and education system, and the difficult time which that generation of Chinese-speaking Singaporeans had... adjusting to the new economy using English as the working language."
After emerging from the cinema, I texted my parents: "You should watch the film, it was very moving." What I failed to say, however, was: I'm sorry to have privileged one language over another in the past.
In an increasingly cosmopolitan world, code-switching serves to establish immediate rapport with different groups of people.
But in a post-SG50 age, it also fosters a sense of authenticity that is difficult to reproduce in translation. Be it English, Singlish, Malay or Mandarin - we have so much to lose if we were to impose a hierarchy on the different language varieties we use. It took a long time for me to learn that lesson.
•#opinionoftheday is a new column for younger writers in the newsroom to write about issues that matter to them and their peers.Throughout human history, fashion has served as a signifier of class and status as well as an economic and political driver. The craze for silk in ancient Rome helped spawn the Silk Road, a fashion for feathered hats contributed to the first National Wildlife Refuges. Fashion has even been wrapped up in pandemics and infectious diseases.
Stories like these—as well as a healthy dose of the glitz and glamour—makes up the new Google virtual experience project “We Wear Culture: The Stories Behind What We Wear.”
The massive site is a collaboration between the tech giant and more than 180 partner companies and institutions in 42 countries including the Costume Institute at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Kyoto Costume Institute and Victoria and Albert Museum. Digital exhibits include images of 30,000 artifacts, including 700 ultra high-resolution gigapixel images, over 450 curated exhibits, four VR experiences as well as six Google expeditions.
“We invite everyone to browse the exhibition on their phones or laptops and learn about the stories behind what you wear,” Amit Sood, director of Google Arts and Culture tells The Press Trust of India. “You might be surprised to find out that your Saree, jeans or the black dress in your wardrobe have a centuries-old story. What you wear is true culture and more often than not a piece of art.”
It’s hard to grasp the mass of information on the site. There are extensive profiles of designers like Coco Chanel and haute couture master Cristóbal Balenciaga as well as style icons like Anna Wintour, Marilyn Monroe and Frida Kahlo. There are discussions of Truman Capote’s legendary black-and-white dance in the Plaza's Grand Ballroom and 18th-century European dresses. There are articles on the making of Romanian body coats and artisan Korean vests. There’s a huge section on the intersection of fashion and the arts, like costuming the Bolshoi Theater and Bollywood Fashion. And that’s just a taste of the collection.
Vikram Alexei Kansara at Business of Fashion explains that the project is an offshoot of Google’s “20 percent time” initiative, in which it allows employees to spend 20 percent of their time working on a personal project. Back on 2010, an engineer named Amit Sood came up with the idea of using his free time to start digitizing the world’s cultural artifacts and museums. That morphed into the non-profit Paris-based Google Cultural Institute, which is working on digitizing items from 1,300 institutions. The Institute decided to tackle fashion as its next topic after noticing the volume of searches relating to the industry on Google.
“We wanted to show that fashion is much deeper than just what you wear; that there’s a story behind it, there’s people behind it, there’s influences that come from art, that come from music, that come from culture more broadly; and, in turn, what we wear influences culture,” project leader Kate Lauterbach tells Kansara. “We really wanted to put fashion on a par with art and artists.”
Though Google is massive, it didn’t put the materials together on its own. Instead, it has digitized the work already done by the institutions. For instance, the Victoria & Albert Museum has one of the greatest fashion collections in the world spanning five centuries, a press release notes. The museum not only created eight online exhibitions specifically for the project, it also allowed Google to take gigapixel images of some of its most-prized possessions including an 18th-century Dragon Robe worn by a Qing Dynasty Emperor and a 1937 Elsa Schiaparelli evening coat.
Fair warning: for the fashion-minded and history buffs "We Wear Culture" is a true rabbit hole. Make sure you have a free hour (or day) available before visiting.Eminem's new film, Bodied, recently played at the 2017 Toronto Film Festival, and with the purchase of distribution rights for the movie being imminent, talks of a soundtrack that will include Shady and Dr. Dre are starting to circulate.
The film, which is directed by Joseph Khan, and stars battle rap mainstays like Loaded Lux, Dizaster, Dumbfoundead and Hollow Da Don, and actors such as Anthony Michael Hall, Debra Wilson, Charlamagne Tha God, Alter Perez, Rory Uphold, Jackie Long, Callum Worthy and Shoniqua Shanda, is billed as a battle rap comedy. With the movie being so heavily musically motivated, it's only right that the soundtrack be proper.
According to the The Hollywood Reporter, who recently spoke with Khan, "By the time it’s bought and ready for distribution (ICM is selling worldwide rights), Eminem will contribute a number of songs to the soundtrack. [Em and longtime manager Paul Rosenburg] have enlisted Dr. Dre for a couple of songs."
This news comes of the heels of reports that Eminem and Dr. Dre will reunite on Slim's upcoming album, which was revealed by The Defiant Ones director, Allan Hughes. “Dre still records,” Hughes said in an interview. “People don’t know this: Dre records every day. Literally, he’s in there recording songs every day. He’s like Picasso in that way. He’s always painting. Right now he’s producing, in the 11th hour, a track for Eminem’s latest album. So Dre’s still real active in music, you know? But I hear what you’re saying. It’s the truth.”
Check out the trailer for Bodied below.A new malware detection tool designed to improve medical device security is currently in beta testing at two major U.S. hospitals.
A team of researchers at the University of Michigan in 2013 designed a malware detection tool, dubbed WattsUpDoc, to enhance embedded system security in hospitals. The team of researchers eventually went on to form Virta Labs, a startup based in Ann Arbor, Mich., to market their product. Benjamin Ranford and Denis Foo Kune, CTO and CEO of Virta Labs, respectively, presented the finished product at the 2015 RSA conference. Their goal was to create a product that would work on legacy systems and medical devices in hospitals and improve the embedded system security.
Hospital computers and medical equipment are unique environments in that they are more or less disconnected from networks, according to Virta Labs. They often run old versions of operating systems, since updating the devices is a hassle and could introduce more threats. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration only recently advised hospitals to be vigilant in reporting cybersecurity issues and improve medical device security.
"Right now there's no antivirus product you can buy for an internet of things (IOT) device or an embedded system," Kevin Fu, chief scientist and co-founder at Virta Labs, said. "It just doesn't exist. And yet malware is still getting in."
WattsUpDoc is a hardware tool that acts as bridge from the embedded system to the power outlet. By measuring the power consumption, WattsUpDoc is able to detect tiny changes in flow that could mean a device is running malware. Its detection rates are similar to those of conventional malware-detection systems on PCs. And WattsUpDoc is not connected to a network, so it is not open to infection. It also does not require updates.
"You can think of it like how people recognize when they get a common cold: Are you running more slowly? Do you feel groggy? It's not like a dialog box pops up, 'Warning you're infected,'" Fu explained. "It's a little more subjective like, 'You seem to have symptoms of malware. Let's check again in an hour. Yeah it appears to be getting worse; you should go see a doctor.'"
You can think of it like how people recognize when they get a common cold: Are you running more slowly? Do you feel groggy? It's not like a dialog box pops up, 'Warning you're infected.' Kevin FuChief scientist and co-founder, Virta Labs
These alienated devices, such as medication measurement tools, are rarely infected on purpose. Malware, carried through the sneakernet, infects embedded systems with no gain to the malware designer. But such an infection can interfere with the performance and calibration of a device, and render it useless.
"The goal here is to protect devices that are collateral damage and are getting infected with generic malware," Shane S. Clark, PhD student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and one of the collaborators on the project, said at the 2013 USENIX conference. "And in that case, I don't think it's worth the malware developer's time to circumvent this specific technique."
Fu said that malware that specifically targets medical equipment may not be a problem yet, but hospitals and medical device manufacturers should still prepare for the threat.
The federal government also agrees. "All medical devices carry a certain amount of risk," according to a statement by the FDA, which points out that the benefits of such devices usually outweigh the risks. "While the increased use of wireless technology and software in medical devices also increases the risks of potential cybersecurity threats, these same features also improve health care and increase health care providers' ability to treat patients."
According to Fu, the most common infection vector is the "good old USB drive." Hospitals have reported cases where contractors who are maintaining or updating medical device software are the ones inadvertently infecting the systems they are there to protect.
"The most prevalent kind of malware getting into hospitals is a piece of malware that has no idea it's even in a hospital," said Fu. "That's really what WattsUpDoc was designed to detect -- the common case."
The main risks of infection are damage to the integrity of the device and unavailability of the device. If the integrity of the device is lost, a clinician can no longer trust the readings coming out of it. Availability refers to cases when malware infecting a device causes the device to stop operating. Either case renders the machine useless. These are the risks and consequences that Fu's team intended on mitigating with their project.
The long term downside to this is that old software allows for more malware. Fu said that technology in modern hospitals still runs OSes as old as Windows 95.
"In fact you'll find some malware that's really rare except in hospitals, because the medical equipment runs on such ancient operating systems," Fu explained.
The FDA issued warnings to manufacturers imploring them to keep software up to date, but these for the most part have been ignored. Manufacturers are only now beginning to understand the importance of updates.
"We can try to delude ourselves into thinking that a device on a network is not connected," Fu said. "In reality it gets connected anyway -- it's just connected through sneakernet."Metadata. It's an obscure data science term that was unknown to most people until 2013, when they learned that the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) is harvesting vast amounts of it from telephone calls. Government officials have downplayed the sensitivity of such data, but a crowdsourced study of phone metadata now finds that highly revealing information can be gleaned from a simple list of who called whom.
NSA's intrusion into citizen's private lives may have roiled academics, but it has remained unclear what the spy agency was learning from phone metadata. A White House spokesperson reassured the public in 2013 that the metadata harvesting "does not allow the government to listen in on anyone’s telephone calls," leaving privacy intact. Ever since then, a trio of computer scientists from Stanford University in Palo Alto, California—Jonathan Mayer, Patrick Mutchler, and John Mitchell—has been harvesting phone metadata themselves to see what can be revealed.
Unlike NSA, the researchers collected their data with consent from people who downloaded an app called MetaPhone. Once installed on a smart phone, it collects the phone numbers and timing of every call and text message made and received. More than 800 people downloaded the app and consented. If their privacy really is protected, then the records of their 1.2 million text messages and 250,000 calls should reveal little.
In fact, the metadata revealed quite a lot. By using public information and cheap commercial databases to map phone numbers to businesses, organizations, and social media profiles, metadata revealed the location and identity of most of the people, the team reports today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Even deeply private details such as chronic health problems, religious affiliations, and drug use emerged by simply linking people to various clinics, stores, and organizations through their call records.
The sensitivity of phone metadata is "common knowledge in the security and privacy communities," Mutchler says. The goal of the study was to "put hard data behind these hunches." The more important revelation, he says, is the shape of a graph that charts phone call networks. In an attempt to limit the scope of phone metadata surveillance, NSA is purportedly following a "two-hop" rule: For any given person of interest, metadata can only be harvested from people called by that person, and then also people called by them. But the study found that a large proportion of their subjects were connected to each other not through personal relationships but through customer service lines, telemarketers, and two-factor authentication services such as those used by Google. Even with a two-hop limitation, an NSA analyst could in principle "hop" to an additional 25,000 people from any one individual.
"The existing literature on telephone graph structure hadn't really mentioned these hubs," Mutchler says. "Their presence makes some of the legal limitations on the NSA's access to metadata totally ineffective," assuming the goal of the two-hop limit is to reduce unnecessary intrusion into people's private lives.
"The study has important implications for surveillance law and policy," says Arvind Narayanan, a computer scientist and data privacy expert at Princeton University. "Our intuition for terms such as 'two hops,’ [and how it limits the number of people connected to you], proves wildly inaccurate when applied to modern telephone networks." And he notes that NSA has vastly more data and resources than academic researchers. "With access to millions of records and sophisticated machine learning techniques, it is likely that one can obtain a far more complete picture of individuals' sensitive personal details, behavior, and more."By Zuhairah Scott Washington
Two years ago, I left a successful career as the youngest regional vice president at a private equity firm with $20B in AUM, to pursue my dream of becoming an entrepreneur.
At the time, I didn’t have a “killer idea” so I joined a startup as a way to cut my teeth in the industry. In the ensuing months, I met with everyone and read everything that I could get my hands on about how to be successful as a startup tech entrepreneur. During this process I came across a blog post by Paul Graham, prominent investor and co-founder of Y Combinator, which gave advice to “would be” entrepreneurs like myself.
The ingredients for success? 1) A great idea, 2) great people, and 3) a product that customers actually want.
When I got to the bottom of the post I found the following footnote that read:
[2] One advantage startups have over established companies is that there are no discrimination laws about starting businesses. For example, I would be reluctant to start a startup with a woman who had small children, or was likely to have them soon. [emphasis added] But you're not allowed to ask prospective employees if they plan to have kids soon…Whereas when you're starting a company, you can discriminate on any basis you want about who you start it with.
While its common knowledge among career savvy women that we often have to prove that we are “in it to win it,” so to speak, I was surprised to see this advice given so matter-of-factly without noting any further mitigating factors a “reluctant” founder might consider when contemplating starting a company with a woman who was, or desired to become, a mother.
Especially since Graham himself did successfully start a startup (Y Combinator) with a woman who was of child bearing age and who subsequently became a mother, albeit a few years later.
More recently, this issue resurfaced in a blog post by Paige Craig, an investor in ProFounder, a crowd funding company started by serial entrepreneur Jessica Jackley, who humorously announced her coming out of “stealth mode” with her pregnancy via Twitter. Before committing his capital to ProFounder, Craig quite candidly admitted that he almost didn’t invest because he has “doubts” when he thinks of women “getting married, having kids and being distracted from work.”
I applaud Craig for his candor and for starting the conversation, however, underlying the “marriage/pregnancy hurdle” lies the crippling assumption that a) women should by default be more responsible than men for child rearing; and b) women are more likely than their male counterparts to be “distracted” by parenthood and as a result abandon or “fail” their companies.
While this may be true for some women, this has not been the experience of numerous women CEO’s who jumped at the opportunity to share their stories in response to the post. Nor is this concern substantiated by the research which shows that successful “men and women entrepreneurs founded their first companies when they had similar numbers of children living at home: one.”
In fact, research suggests that twice as many men as women entrepreneurs feel financial pressure to keep a steady job. However, we never hear about married men not getting funding because they are more likely to buckle under societal pressure to resume their “traditional” role as breadwinners once becoming fathers.
So what should investors screen for when backing entrepreneurs? Paul Graham notes determination as the most important characteristic to look for in startup founders. Personally, I come from a long lineage of determined women who have consistently challenged what others deemed possible.
My mother didn’t have the luxury of deciding whether or not she would work once she had kids. As a single mother of two, she worked full-time and attended night school to get her MBA. I inherited her steely determination to succeed and I highly doubt that that part of my DNA will miraculously change once I become a mother.
Consequently, I have always desired to be more, and to achieve more, than what was “expected” of me. My mom likes to tell the story about the time that I, at a very young age, proclaimed that I was going to go to an Ivy League school and become wealthy one day – this was a lofty goal for a gregarious, working class, little black girl born in Newark, NJ, without access to elite private schools or mentors.
To further my ambition, my mother “hacked” the system by using her co-workers’ address in a more affluent neighborhood to ensure that I received the best public education possible. Several years later I graduated with not one, but two Ivy League degrees and was well on my way to creating significant wealth for my family and myself.
My current aspirations? To become a successful entrepreneur, wife and mother. Do I think it will be easy? No. Do I know that it is possible? Absolutely! That’s because I know something about women many men don’t – that we are much, much stronger and resilient than you (or sometimes even we) think.
Zuhairah Scott Washington is an entrepreneur and seasoned business professional with over a decade of digital media, finance and product/business development experience in global markets including Abu Dhabi, London, Los Angeles, New York and Washington, D.C., with Fortune 500 companies, VC-backed startups and government and non-profit organizations. She is the Founder & CEO of Kahnoodle, a startup focused on helping busy couples build better relationships, and a Principal at Be Media, LLC, both of which allow her to pursue her passion for leveraging technology to build innovative and useful products that improve well-being. She graduated magna cum laude from UCLA and has a JD/MBA from Harvard.BRIAN GIONTA TO PRACTICE WITH AMERKS
Rochester Americans General Manager Randy Sexton announced today that Brian Gionta has been invited to practice with the team for an extended period of time in preparation for international play. Gionta is scheduled to join the Amerks on the ice beginning Tuesday, Oct. 10 for the team’s 10:30 a.m. practice at The Blue Cross Arena.
“We were recently approached by Brian and his agent about him practicing regularly with Rochester as he prepares for international competition,” said Sexton. While Brian’s role with the team will be limited to practicing only, we feel this can be a real win-win situation for both he and the Amerks organization.”
The 38-year-old Rochester native has appeared in 1,006 National Hockey League games with the Buffalo Sabres, Montreal Canadiens and New Jersey Devils over a 16-year professional career in which he has recorded 588 points (289+299) and 375 penalty minutes. Gionta has also compiled 68 points (32+36) over 112 career playoff appearances and was a member of the 2003 Stanley Cup-winning Devils.
Gionta has served as team captain in each of his last seven seasons, including the previous three in Buffalo. He totaled 103 points (40+63) in 230 career games with the Sabres from 2014-17, appearing in his 1,000th NHL game during the 2016-17 campaign.One of the reasons people haven’t got much money anymore is probably due to the fact that the insurance mafia takes more and more of it all the time.
Using the government as its muscle.
First car, now “health.”
Soon, no doubt, mandatory life insurance will be required as well.
Insurance has become a de facto second income tax. Except instead of paying the government mafia, we’re forced by the government to pay the insurance mafia.
In economics, this is called rent seeking.
So-called “private” (and inevitably, for-profit) businesses make money the new-fashioned way, by seeing to it that laws are passed requiring the populace to purchase its products or services. So much easier (and so much more profitable) than the old-fashioned way of having to persuade people to freely purchase what you have to offer.
Imagine the Hamburger Lobby ( a consortium of McDonalds, Wendys and Burger King) got Congress to pass a law requiring the purchase of at least one hamburger a week from the “provider” of your choice. Would you expect the price of a hamburger to go up – or down? Probably the only reason there isn’t a mandate to buy hamburgers (yet) is because the Hamburger Lobby hasn’t figured out a way to frame such extortion in terms of a “public good.”
Give them time.
Meanwhile, insurance costs continue to skyrocket – precisely because we’re not permitted to say no.
How much is the average person paying out to be “covered”? (Which, by the way, is not the same thing as actually getting anything, in the event you file a claim.)
At-gunpoint car insurance costs in the neighborhood of $1,300-$1,500 a year for most people (see here) or about $120 a month.
How about health insurance? It’s currently about $250-$350 month for a very basic (and basically worthless) Obamacare policy for a single (healthy) young adult (see here). This works out to about $3,000-$4,200 annually. You will be (forced) to pay much more if you are older – or have a family. Just as you will be forced to pay more for car “coverage” if the mafia’s enforcers select you for a roadside “tune-up” (i.e., give you a ticket for the manufactured, victim-free offense of driving faster than they like), the fact that you’ve never filed a claim – or had one filed against you – being immaterial.
But, let’s call it $600 a month – a very conservative figure – to be “covered” for car and health insurance.
Grab your pay stub. Have a look at federal and state tax withholding. Odds are you are paying less to the federal and state mafia (er, government) than you are to the insurance mafia.
If not, you will be.
Obamacare costs are skyrocketing, in some cases by 30-40 percent. So is car insurance – in part because the government keeps mandating expensive new “safety” features that cost a small fortune to fix when the car is in an accident.
This is what happens when there’s no saying no.
Street muggers aren’t going to leave you a $20 in your wallet. They’re going to take everything. Why? Because they have the power to do so.
So does the insurance mafia. Expect the same, accordingly.
Car insurance is arguably even worse than health insurance. Among other things, you’re forced to buy multiple policies if you have more than one vehicle – even though it’s not physically possible to drive more than one of them at a time. And you’re usually required to maintain “coverage” even if the car never moves. Which is like being forced to buy health “coverage” for a mannequin, when there is no possibility of it even catching the sniffles.
The fact is that as much as we’re bled white by the tag team of fiat currency and government filching through whatever’s left in our pockets, it’s the growing burden of insurance-at-gunpoint that’s eventually going to leave us all living in a van down by the river.
To really get a handle on just how much they mulct from us, look at the numbers from a different angle.
What if you simply put the money you were forced to pay the insurance mafia into an interest-bearing account (or better yet, a mutual fund) with the principle and interest accrued remaining your property unless you actually caused damage to someone else’s person or property – in which case, the funds would be used to compensate the person for his loss?
Take the low figure of $1,300 annually. Over just ten years’ time, you’d have a principle of $13,000. But the miracle of compounding interest would increase that sum considerably. Invested conservatively, as in a mutual fund, that $13,000 would probably be $20,000 after ten years’ time. And after another ten years, that $20,000 might be $35,000.
This is not chump change. But what about “what if”?
How many of you have ever caused $35,000 (or even $10,000) in damages to anyone? It is much more likely that you won’t have an accident … which of course is why insurance is profitable.
It would still be so if the operation were run on a free market rather than a gangster basis.
Just less so.
Insurance issuers (as opposed to a mafia) would need to earn your business. By offering you a policy that seemed like a good buy. The ability to say no would impose the same positive pressure on insurers that the same market forces impose on McDonalds and Wendys.
They have to convince you to buy their burgers – because they can’t force you to buy them.
Nevertheless, they still manage to make billions of dollars – without resorting to mafiosi tactics.
And without bankrupting us.
Why can’t insurance work the same way?
Probably, because that would work for us.
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Counterparty is just Bitcoin 2.0 marketing hype.Counterpartys internal currency, XCP, is just another alt-coin.Counterparty is just another project where the developers want to get rich quick. They will just run away with the money.Counterparty development is dead and nothing works yet.Counterwallet stores your passphrase and private keys on their servers!If Bitcoin can be used in Counterparty, then XCP doesnt have value.I want to create a poll on the Blockchain, but Counterparty doesnt have a voting feature.You cant store XCP or assets in cold storage. There is no 2FA!Counterparty is polluting the Bitcoin blockchain with useless data and weighing down the network. This is a free ride on top of Satoshis hard work!Counterparty is missing multi-sig support.Broadcast feed betting is centralized.
Considering that Bitcoin is in spaghetti C++ code, and Counterparty is in Python... It would be quite a hassle, and there is no reason to do it. The Bitcoin devs need to focus on making it work reliably, and adding more features like this would make it unnecessarily complicated to manage for them. It's very unlikely, and even if they tried, Counterparty will have more features to catch up with by then...
Hi guys, we're beginning to translate Counterwallet to other languages.We have translators for French, German, and Chinese (Taiwan)Looking for translators for other languages, including mainland Chinese, Russian, Japanese, etc.The translation project page is at: https://www.transifex.com/projects/p/counterwallet if interested in doing (and maintaining!) a translation, please email ouziel@counterparty.co and he can add you.
I don't understand, they already managed to distribute Swarm to SWARMPRE holders before, whats holding them now?lol and xnova just ignores your post and moves on..
Just FYI. The swarm guys are blaming counterparty bugs for not distributing their remaining swarm tokens: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=664071.msg8676754#msg8676754 And at the bottom of the page here : http://swarm.lefora.com/topic/4/Swarm-Vote-Two-ISSUE-BURN-HOLD?page=6 They don't reference a specific bug, but instead just post a link to ALL the known bugs in the counterparty software and say "this is the problem" Anyone care to comment?
I believe it is a problem with Counterwallet, not Counterparty.It should be resolved within 24h. Don't worry guys. Fractastical (Joel) of SWARM is reliable and knows what he's doing. He reported the bug to Counterwallet devs when he noticed it, and they are cooperating on fixing it. He took the time to write it out comprehensively and screenshot everything that was wrong. Nobody is throwing anyone under the bus, and there is nothing'mysterious' going on. With software that is constantly being developed, sometimes bugs appear. Just give it a day or so.
Just FYI. The swarm guys are blaming counterparty bugs for not distributing their remaining swarm tokens: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=664071.msg8676754#msg8676754 And at the bottom of the page here : http://swarm.lefora.com/topic/4/Swarm-Vote-Two-ISSUE-BURN-HOLD?page=6 They don't reference a specific bug, but instead just post a link to ALL the known bugs in the counterparty software and say "this is the problem" Anyone care to comment?
No ones post was "ignored". If you look at the commit logs for those issues, you'll notice both Ouziel and I have been working through fixes, which are now live.Unfortunately my time is limited to where I can't respond to every single post. Ouziel is becoming the Counterwallet/Counterblockd team lead, and we've hired two additional developers.
I don't understand, they already managed to distribute Swarm to SWARMPRE holders before, whats holding them now?lol and xnova just ignores your post and moves on..
Just FYI. The swarm guys are blaming counterparty bugs for not distributing their remaining swarm tokens: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=664071.msg8676754#msg8676754 And at the bottom of the page here : http://swarm.lefora.com/topic/4/Swarm-Vote-Two-ISSUE-BURN-HOLD?page=6 They don't reference a specific bug, but instead just post a link to ALL the known bugs in the counterparty software and say "this is the problem" Anyone care to comment?
Where does the money come from? Is Counterparty VC funded?I mean it looks like you hire a lot of people, that's really good but it seems unlikely that you are funding all of that from your own pocket or mere donation.
Unfortunately my time is limited to where I can't respond to every single post. Ouziel is becoming the Counterwallet/Counterblockd team lead, and we've hired two additional developers.
Where does the money come from? Is Counterparty VC funded?I mean it looks like you hire a lot of people, that's really good but it seems unlikely that you are funding all of that from your own pocket or mere donation.
Unfortunately my time is limited to where I can't respond to every single post. Ouziel is becoming the Counterwallet/Counterblockd team lead, and we've hired two additional developers.
It was rapidly resolved. I don't think this is a big deal. These things come up in the course of many projects and people just need to be patient since software is complex and technical issues can take a bit of time to resolve sometimes.
It should be resolved within 24h. Don't worry guys. Fractastical (Joel) of SWARM is reliable and knows what he's doing. He reported the bug to Counterwallet devs when he noticed it, and they are cooperating on fixing it. He took the time to write it out comprehensively and screenshot everything that was wrong. Nobody is throwing anyone under the bus, and there is nothing'mysterious' going on. With software that is constantly being developed, sometimes bugs appear. Just give it a day or so.WATERTOWN, Wis. – Canadian Pacific Railway says a broken rail caused an oil train derailment in southeastern Wisconsin last weekend.
The railroad said Wednesday the defect was not visible to the naked eye.
More than a dozen cars of a CP train loaded with crude oil jumped the tracks in Watertown on Sunday afternoon, puncturing one car that spilled hundreds of gallons of its load and caused the evacuation of a neighbourhood.
READ MORE: Crews work to clear up after 2 derailments, oil and chemical spills in Wisconsin
The railroad says it uses rail flaw detector cars that use ultrasonic technology to detect defects the eye cannot see. The technology last passed over the site in late September, and nothing was found.
The derailment happened a day after a BNSF Railway freight train derailed Saturday near Alma in western Wisconsin, spilling ethanol into the Mississippi River.
WATCH: Crews continue cleanup of CP oil spill in WisconsinArrest marks first time International Criminal Court has ever detained someone for wrecking cultural heritage
AMSTERDAM, Sept 26 (Reuters) - An Islamist rebel suspected of attacking mosques and monuments in the ancient Malian city of Timbuktu has been handed over to the International Criminal Court, the first ever detained for wrecking cultural heritage.
The court said early on Saturday that the man was handed over by Niger overnight and was now in its seaside detention centre in The Hague, seat of the tribunal.
The court has been examining events in Mali since 2012, when Islamist Tuareg rebels seized large parts of the country's north and imposed strict Muslim religious law and began desecrating ancient shrines, mosques |
me on…Winter with the temperature at around 5 to 15 degrees below freezing is good weather for slaughter. Great to be naked and tied in weather like that and to be driven to the slaughter. Where you then stun me and I collapse. You then hang me up, jerking, and cut my carotid artery. Warm blood flows. Everything goes routinely. I don’t have any chance to escape my slaughter at the last moment. It’s a real turn-on, the feeling of being at your mercy being in your possession. Having to give up my flesh.”
Meiwes: “It’ll be awesome, anyway. Your tasty body on show like that. Spicing it…Tying you up will be no problem, I’ve got rope and some cuffs for your hands and feet. I’ll really enjoy the bit with the needles. I’ll see if I can get hold of some really long ones. I can’t wait for you to be here”.
In court, Brandes' consent to being killed was accepted by the jury and Meiwes was given an eight and a half year prison sentence for manslaughter. These (and other) cases raise some interesting and controversial ethical questions. These were discussed at length in Dr. Downing’s excellent and thought provoking phenomenological paper on autassassinophilia. She clearly makes the point that being killed for sexual pleasure “problematizes commonplace assumptions about the legitimacy to consent.” When it comes to sexual behaviour, I would describe my views as liberal and in line with the liberal sex tenets outlined by Robert Solomon that (i) the essential aim of sex is enjoyment, (ii) sex is an essentially private activity, and (ii) any sexual activity is as valid as any other. However, like Downing, I think the idea of consensual lust murder appears to exceed “acceptable” limits of sexual behaviour. However, that doesn’t mean I believe totally in the commandment “thou shalt not kill.” I am pro-euthanasia and have much sympathy with those who have carried out so-called ‘mercy killings’ when a person is in intolerable pain and is unable to end their own life (and a loved one is asked by the suffering person to kill them as humanely as possible).
Downing makes reference to the work of Alan Soble who has written widely of the of sex. Soble’s 1996 book Sexual Investigations makes the following observation:
“If persons of sound mind and adequate foreknowledge consent to engage in sex together, and do only the acts that both agree to, and do not wrongfully affect third parties, how could their acts be morally wrong? [However], one person’s harming another—and perhaps a person’s allowing himself to be harmed—is wrong even when both parties enter into the act voluntarily.”
Downing considers the last sentence here as “moral absolutism” overriding the liberal standpoint. In fact she says that: “this interventionist and infantilizing approach assumes a class of person (professionals, and theorists) who just know better than the people who consent to certain types of activity.” Given that some sections (like myself) are socially tolerant of euthanasia, it’s more a case of having “a problem with the idea of validating the right to consent to a sexually pleasurable death.” I have to be honest and say that although I am a sexual liberal, I find it hard to accept consensual sex killing and think it is morally wrong.
References and further reading
Beier, K. (2008). Comment on Pfafflin’s (2008) “Good enough to eat”. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 38, 164-165.
Downing, L. (2004). On the limits of sexual : The phenomenology of autassassinophilia. Sexuality and Culture, 8, 3–17.
Love, B. (1992). Encyclopedia of Unusual Sex Practices. Fort Lee, NJ: Barricade Books
Money, J. (1986). Lovemaps: Clinical concepts of sexual/erotic and pathology, paraphilia, and transposition in,, and maturity. New York: Irvington.
Pfafflin, F. (2008). Good enough to eat. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 37, 286-293.
Pfafflin, F. (2009). Reply to Beier (2009). Archives of Sexual Behavior, 38, 166-167.
Soble, A. (1996). Sexual Investigations. New York: New York University Press.
Solomon, R. (1997). Sexual paradigms. In A. Soble (Ed.), The Philosophy of Sex: Contemporary Readings (Third Edition, pp.21-29). Oxford: Rowman and Little.Your cell phone calls are not private. The reality is that your cell phone calls, your personal conversations and even your location can be tracked constantly by your cell phone company, by the government and even by enterprising stalkers who are able to get spy software on to your phone.
For any of you who doubt this, please start by watching the incredibly shocking news report below…..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCyKcoDaofg
Have we got your attention now?
The truth is that cell phone conversations never have been and never will be private.
Not only does the cell phone company have access to your phone whenever they want, but the government has access to all of our calls in order to protect us against terrorism.
If you doubt this, just see what happens if you make a joking remark about airport security over a cell phone while you are headed to board a plane. You will likely be picked up within minutes.
But as you saw in the video above, an even scarier scenario is that stalkers or criminals could have complete access to your calls if they can get spy software on to your phone. And with more phones than ever connecting to the Internet, that little hurdle is now easier to overcome than ever.
Not only can stalkers and criminals listen to your calls, but they can also listen to your personal conversations even when your phone is turned off.
They can even listen to you at home in your private moments.
And thanks to GPS tracking, they can follow your location 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Isn’t technology wonderful?Changes to Maintenance
At the moment, maintenance for ships is based on minerals. When in orbit of maintenance facilities the maintenance clock doesn't move and the annual cost is is equal to 5% of all mineral used to build the ship. So if ship required 200 Duranium, 100 Neutronium, 100 Uridium and 200 Gallicite to build, the annual maintenance cost is 10 Duranium, 5 Neutronium, 5 Uridium and 10 Gallicite. While a ship is being overhauled, the annual cost is equal 20% of build cost, so in this case 40 Duranium, 20 Neutronium, 20 Uridium and 40 Gallicite.
This can require micromanagement to ensure all the correct minerals are in the same place as the ships. It can also be annoying when maintenance fails due to the lack of a single mineral.
Therefore I am revising maintenance for 7.2. Ships in orbit of maintenance facilities or undergoing overhauls will now consume maintenance supply points from the colony (the same type as used on ships for repairs & fixing breakdowns). As maintenance modules are non-military in v7.2 this allows tankers to deliver both fuel and maintenance supplies.
The number of maintenance supplies required will be equal to 25% of the build cost for ships in orbit and 100% for ships undergoing overhaul. This is not as severe as it sounds because 1 MSP requires 0.25 tons of minerals and costs 0.25 wealth, so the actual costs for maintenance are 6.25% and 25% of ship cost respectively (a slight increase on current). There are no longer any direct wealth costs for maintenance as this is covered by the cost of building the maintenance supply points.
If a colony has maintenance facilities but no maintenance supplies, ships in orbit will draw maintenance supplies from any designated supply ship in the same location. Supply ships can be flagged using the existing 'Supply Ship' flag in the Class window. If no supply ships are available, ships will draw on their own maintenance supplies.
These mechanics not only make maintenance cleaner, it will also make is easier for the next stage, which is implementing deep space maintenance facilities.
To reflect their extended use, I am changing the mineral requirements for building supply points to be more varied, as below:
Maintenance Supply Point
Duranium 0.05
Neutronium 0.025
Tritanium 0.025
Boronide 0.025
Mercassium 0.025
Uridium 0.025
Corundium 0.025
Gallicite 0.05
Total 0.25March 20, 2013
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- University of Michigan football senior/junior linebacker Jake Ryan Westlake, Ohio/St. Ignatius) is out indefinitely with a torn anterior cruciate ligament suffered in Tuesday's practice, the team announced today (Wednesday, March 20).
"You always hate when anyone gets injured and unfortunately we've dealt with our share of injuries in the last 12 months," said Michigan coach Brady Hoke. "We will support Jake to make sure he has everything he needs to get through this.I know he will attack his rehabilitation just like he does everything else and will be back when he's ready."
Ryan led the Wolverines in 2012 with 88 tackles, 56 solo, 16 stops for loss, 4.5 sacks and four forced fumbles.
He earned All-Big Ten second team honors by the media and was the Roger Zatkoff Award recipient as U-M's top linebacker. Dating back to 2011, Ryan had tallied a tackle-for-loss in 17 of his last 19 games.
Contact: Justin Dickens (734) 763-4423London: A new report by the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) has commended the Jyotigram Yojana launched by the Gujarat government in 2003, that provides 24-hour power supply to villages in the state.
The report, titled 'Feeding a Thirsty World: Challenges and Opportunities for a Water and Food Secure Future', has been published as the institute's input for the ongoing 2012 World Water Week in Stockholm from August 26 to 31.
The report mentions achievements of the Jyotigram Yojana launched by the Narendra Modi government in September 2003 while warning about water scarcity and its impact on food production and for the estimated global population of 9 billion by 2050.
By then, the report says, there will not be enough water to produce enough food. The report says, "In trying to solve water problems, we often look for 'optimal' solutions emanating from our disciplinary or sectoral perspectives. However, holding out for the best often means we miss other opportunities for positive change as the case of Gujarat, India shows".
Recalling the power-deficit situation before the Jyotigram Yojana was launched, the report notes the situation has now changed across rural Gujarat.
The report says that the Yojana's 'alternative approach' "diverges from the textbook optimum and embraces the electricity subsidies as a strategy".
"Under the programme, rural Gujarat has been completely rewired. Villages are given 24-hour, three-phase power supply for domestic uses, in schools, hospitals, and village industries, all at metered rates", the report says.
It adds, "The Jyotigram scheme has now radically improved the quality of village life, spurred non-farm economic enterprises, and halved the power subsidy in agriculture. The solution may not be perfect, but it has proved to be implementable and it has brought substantial improvement in and outside the water sector".
Rather than viewing subsidies as a default component, the Jyotigram Scheme focuses on providing rationally managed subsidies where needed, and pricing where possible, the report says, and notes that farmers operating tube-wells continue to receive free electricity, but for 8 hours, rather than 24 hours and, "importantly for the satisfaction of farmers, on a pre-announced schedule designed to meet their peak demands".
"The separation of agricultural energy from other uses and the promise of quality supply were sufficient to gain political and social backing for implementation", the report says.
PTI
Firstpost is now on WhatsApp. For the latest analysis, commentary and news updates, sign up for our WhatsApp services. Just go to Firstpost.com/Whatsapp and hit the Subscribe button.With the Pretty Reckless gearing up to release their new album, 'Going to Hell' on March 18 via Razor & Tie Records, lead singer Taylor Momsen and guitarist Ben Phillips stopped by the Loudwire studio to perform a stirring rendition of the disc's infectious title track.
It looks like 2014 will be a breakout year for the Pretty Reckless, as both the song 'Going to Hell' and the new single 'Heaven Knows' have connected with rock fans in a big way. In addition to the album release, the band is set to headline the SnoCore Festival tour kicking off Jan. 29 in Lincoln, Neb.
In the video above, Momsen and Phillips offer up a stripped-down version of 'Going to Hell,' with Momsen's sultry voice taking center stage and highlighting the ominous vibe of the song.
To pre-order a copy of the album 'Going to Hell,' visit the band's official merch store.After nearly 5 long years, Philadelphia-based progressive sci-fi metallers Vektor are back with their third studio album entitled, "Terminal Redux". Both embracing and expanding upon the intricate layers of the preceding albums, "Black Future" and "Outer Isolation", the band deliver the album that we all knew they were capable of. "Terminal Redux" is their first concept album, telling the story of a test subject and his rise to power within the all-controlling Cygnus Regime. His ultimate goal is to restore balance within the galaxy by controlling the ebb and flow of life and death. After regaining his position as a top-ranking General, he incites a coup within Cygnus and takes command of their forces. However, as time passes, it becomes clear to him that power is just an illusion.
Their first ever European tour at the end of 2015 allowed Vektor to premier several tracks from the album, and they continue to showcase the new material on their current North American tour with Voivod. For those of you unable to make any dates on the tour, "Ultimate Artificer" is available to stream on this very page. Vocalist/guitarist David DiSanto explains in his own words:
"We wanted to come out of the gates full force and showcase a song that represented the album accurately. 'Terminal Redux' covers a lot of ground, so it wasn't an easy decision. In my opinion, this song is right in the middle of the pendulum swing between the ultra-heavy thrash and the more proggy/experimental elements of the album. It's only the tip of the iceberg! Since this is a concept album, each song is a different chapter in the story. As the fifth track, 'Ultimate Artificer' introduces a pivotal point within the story without giving away the beginning or the end."
Never one to take a metal-by-numbers approach to song-writing, Vektor have embraced some unusual audio elements, including the vocal assistance of a group of Philadelphia soul singers, adding further texture to the sound without compromising on the riff-heavy fury. Recorded in part at the band's home studio, along with Panther Pro-Audio in Philadelphia, "Terminal Redux" is a fine demonstration of technical precision, a 73+ minute masterclass in complexity, and affirmation that there is still plenty of innovation and intelligence in modern day metal.
The colour vinyl is EXCLUSIVE to the Earache Webstore, with the Pteropticon Purple vinyl containing a bonus 'Mission' woven patch, unavailable separately or with any other colour. 100 copies of the purple vinyl also contain a hand-signed photocard (SOLD OUT), with 400 remaining copies coming with the bonus patch.
Track listing:
Side A
1. Charging the Void
2. Cygnus Terminal
Side B
3. LCD (Liquid Crystal Disease)
4. Mountains Above The Sun
5. Ultimate Artificer
Side C
6. Pteropticon
7. Psychotropia
8. Pillars of Sand
Side D
9. Collapse
10. Recharging the VoidWeddings have been moved and family visits delayed.
The Trump administration's travel ban, while a shadow of its original self, has dealt a harsh blow to the Iranian-American community, where family ties run strong and friends and loved ones regularly shuttle between Los Angeles and Tehran.
But it isn't the only immigration hurdle facing the community. Iranians allowed to seek visas to visit family in the United States may still have a hard time getting them with a screening process that can take months or longer, immigration lawyers said.
In the meantime, families are being kept apart. Iranian-American homemaker Mina Thrani, 38, had hoped to invite her aunt to visit her in Irvine over the Christmas holiday but can't because of the ban.
Xena Amirani, an 18-year-old college student from Los Angeles, said her family has been grieving since her grandmother died after being struck by a car while crossing the street. They traveled to Iran to bury her. Now, her uncle and his wife want to travel together to visit the family in California to help console them, but the travel ban is in the way.
"It is pointless," Amirani said.
The scaled-back version of President Donald Trump's policy that took effect this week places new limits on visa policies for citizens of six Muslim-majority countries, including Iran. The temporary ban requires people who want new visas to prove a close family relationship in the U.S. or an existing relationship with an entity like a school or business.
The U.S. has nearly 370,000 Iranian immigrants, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates, far more than the other countries targeted by the order — Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya and Yemen.
Despite a lengthy history of friction between Tehran and Washington, personal ties between residents of the two countries have held strong.
"Everyone is being hit by this because everyone has a relative in Iran, and there is quite a lot of travel in between," said Trita Parsi, president of the National Iranian American Council.
But travel isn't always easy, and the challenge predates the Trump administration. Because there is no U.S. embassy in Iran, Iranians must go to other countries for visa interviews, requiring time and money.
And it can take longer to get visas approved for Iranians than for citizens of many other countries, immigration attorneys said, while U.S. officials conduct screenings.
"Even under Obama, it was very hard to get these visas and get the background checks cleared. But now, it is official policy," said Ally Bolour, an immigration attorney in Los Angeles.
The Department of Homeland Security said this week that the Supreme Court's decision to allow a partial reinstatement of the ban will help protect the U.S.
But that rings hollow to some Iranian-Americans who note that many in their community came to the U.S. seeking freedom following Iran's Islamic revolution of the 1970s and that the hijackers who carried out the 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States were from other countries not limited by the ban.
Trump's initial travel ban in January was broader, affecting current and new visas, which sparked chaos at airports around the world.
Mina Jafari, a 28-year-old graphic designer in Washington, said that during that time, her fiancée's Iranian mother was in the process of obtaining a visa to travel to the couple's wedding, but it was revoked because of the ban.
That prompted Jafari to move the wedding to Iran so her soon-to-be mother-in-law could attend. The only problem is her elder sister can't go with her due to concerns about her political activism.
"I have family who is banned from Iran, family banned here," Jafari said. "It is a really crazy situation."To the Office, With Love What do we give up when we all become freedom-seeking, self-determining, autonomous entrepreneurs? A lot, actually.
Illustration by Mark Weaver
One October day, I sat in on a seminar at the Freelancers Union called “Building a Foundation for Your Freelance Life.” The woman who led it, Michelle Ward, wore bright-red pants and a headband sprouting an enormous plastic flower. Ward is a career coach and the founder of When I Grow Up, which in 2013 made Forbes’s “Top 100” career websites.
“Raise your hand if you consider yourself a creative freelancer,” she said at the start of her presentation. A number of hands went up. “Great! And what about a techie freelancer?” Also a number of hands. “Great. And what about a healing freelancer?” Nothing. “No one? Hm. Anyone I missed?”
A woman tentatively raised her hand.
“May I put you on the spot?”
She hesitated. “A capacity-building freelancer?”
“A capacity-building freelancer,” said Ward. “Intriguing! I love it. We’ll have to circle back around to that later.”
The way Ward describes her mission is to “transition workers from their soul-sucking jobs into work that feels like play.” During her presentation, she told the group the story of how she herself made the switch to self-employment “without the fear of losing my apartment, living on the street, becoming a bag lady.” (In a nub: She got her life-coach credentials while working at her desk job, set aside a big bonus, and generated a “killer” web presence.)
I’d expected the crowd at this event to be young and female, but I was wrong on both counts. The men outnumbered the women. The median age, if I had to guess, was 40. They were architects, graphic designers, advertisers, videographers, tech types. As the seminar came to a close, it was clear Ward had energized many of them. But it was also clear that a number had not jumped willingly to a freelance life. Even those who did had misgivings. Joe Babiec, a spiffy 46-year-old who had worked at some of the most prestigious consulting firms around (Booz Allen Hamilton, Monitor Group), confessed afterward that he was anxious about hanging out his own shingle. Yes, he was excited. “But I’m concerned,” he said, “about how to be successful without all the resources I’m used to—colleagues, knowledge networks. The traditional benefits of an office, basically. Not the coffee machine and four walls, but what’s inside the four walls.”
Say what you want about the future of work, but this much is clear: The traditional compact between employers and employees is slowly fading away, and with it, a way of thinking, a way of living, a way of relating to others and regarding oneself that generally comes with a reasonably predictable professional life. In October 2010, Intuit, the Silicon Valley–based software company, estimated that more than 40 percent of the American workforce would be made up of “contingent workers” by 2020, a statistic that has since been repeated with almost religious regularity. It’s only conjecture, of course, and skeptics point to the fact that the official self-employment rate in the United States is still hovering at just a shade over 10 percent. But there are plenty of serious people who believe Intuit’s estimate is perfectly plausible. “Forty percent doesn’t sound too high to me if you include all contract workers, part-time workers, freelancers, and individual suppliers,” Robert Reich, the Berkeley economist and former Labor secretary, told me. “At the rate we’re going now, it could be higher than 40 percent by 2020. A majority of workers will be on their own by 2030.” Indeed, back in 2006, the Government Accountability Office estimated that 31 percent of the American workforce were already in this position, more or less using Reich’s same criteria.
In certain segments of the population, self-employment is markedly expanding—like baby-boomers between the ages of 55 and 64, who, according to a report from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, make up 23.4 percent of new entrepreneurs. Bully for them, you might say. But it’s not clear how many of these 55-to-64-year-olds willingly made this choice. Kathleen Christensen, who directs the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation’s Working Longer program, suspects many aren’t starting their own businesses because they’ve been seized with a vision or a solution to a problem, as the mythologized version of the entrepreneur supposedly is. “From the research I’ve conducted,” she says, “they often lack other options.” Many are conscripts in self-employment rather than volunteers. There’s now even a term for such workers: “necessity entrepreneurs” (rather than “opportunity entrepreneurs”). Though not a whole lot of work has been done examining the difference between these two groups, what little there is suggests that necessity entrepreneurs aren’t always as successful—or as happy.
Yet it’s possible that more of us may be necessity entrepreneurs in the future. In his very fine Cubed: A Secret History of the Workplace, Nikil Saval introduces the uninitiated to the term economics writers use when describing modern white-collar workers: “Precariats” (a mash-up of “precarious office proletariat”). One day, it’s possible that many of us will think of work “not as a stable engagement, but a series of engagements,” as urban theorist Richard Florida puts it, and the concept of a “career” will become quaint, as will the idea of “work” as a place. In fact, among a younger generation of workers, this shift has already begun. According to Dan Schawbel, the founder of the Boston-based consulting firm Millennial Branding, today’s 20-somethings think of entrepreneurship as a mind-set, rather than as the explicit act of starting a company; on university campuses, there’s been a huge increase in students majoring or minoring in entrepreneurship. Richard Greenwald, a labor scholar at Brooklyn College, says he’s struck by how many of his students chafe at the notion of traditional organization jobs, “referring to the TV show The Office to describe what office life looks like.”
This transformation will have consequences far beyond a lack of psychological stability and job security for workers. It will change the very nature of work. What are we losing in a future that looks this way?
Courtesy of the Early Office Museum Archives
Let me just get this out of the way, in case my bias isn’t already clear: I am a creature of the office, happy to be an employee, comfortable with the idea of slow, plodding, incremental gain. I like showing up. Thus far, it has seemed like the easiest way to guarantee myself a night’s sleep, to the extent that I can ever get one, and also to pay for stuff, like my mortgage and health insurance. (My dad, who has shown up at the same law firm for the past 42 years, shares this bias, so much so that he’s unwilling to retire.) It also fills me with suspicion that some of the most enthusiastic believers in this freelance vision of the future are making an awful lot of money telling us how to prepare for it. (If you think about it, being a futurist is a pretty stable engagement—speculation about how 2020 is going to look can’t really be outsourced.) It further irks me that a number of these futurists have tenured positions at first-class universities, universities being one of the last known places where true sinecures exist. (Though now, naturally, at the expense of a growing underclass of adjunct professors making $3,000 per three-credit course, whose careers, mortgages, and health-care arrangements are anything but stable.)
But I recognize that my preference for the grayish creature comforts of the office honeycomb is not the majority point of view. Most Americans—indeed, a plurality of people in many industrialized nations—claim to find the idea of self-employment far more appealing. In 1989, the International Social Survey Programme asked random participants from 11 countries whether they’d prefer being an employee or working for themselves. An overwhelming 63 percent of Americans chose self-employment, as did 48 percent of Britons and 49 percent of Germans.
The actual rates of self-employment in those countries, however, were nowhere near that high. Which raises an obvious question: If so many people want to work for themselves, why don’t they? The economists David Blanchflower and Andrew Oswald set out to find the answer in their 1998 paper, “What Makes an Entrepreneur?,” which has since become a minor classic in the field. Their main discovery was not at all what I would have expected. I thought they’d find that the unifying theme among entrepreneurs was an outsize willingness to take risks. No. It was very different, almost the contrary, and much more concrete: “The probability of self-employment depends positively upon whether the individual ever received an inheritance or gift.”
In other words, those who already have some form of security are the people most apt to work for themselves—and by a wide margin, the authors added, even when factoring in “personal, family, and geographic characteristics.” This would likely explain why one of the largest dives in self-employment in the U.S. happened in 2007, just after the cratering of the housing market. “Home ownership made it possible to be self-employed,” explains Blanchflower, a professor of economics at Dartmouth. “They had something to borrow off of. You can’t do this now.”
The futurists, then, may be declaring that an increasingly unstable job market will drive more and more of us to go into business for ourselves. But it is under precisely the opposite conditions that most human beings are inclined to do so. “Some people are lucky enough that when life presents them with a blank canvas, they start filling it in,” says Laurence Stybel, an organizational psychologist and consultant whose firm does work for Boston Scientific and Harvard. “But for a lot of us,” he adds, “when life presents us with a blank canvas? We just freak out.”
For decades now, the office has suffered a lousy reputation. It’s a cubicled Hades of demoralized proletarians; it’s a glassed-in pasture of innocent cows that at any moment could get carted off to the abattoir. We saw this dim view played out over and over again in the pop culture of the last half of the 20th century, whether in The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit or “Dilbert” cartoons or Office Space, the cult film from 1999 that culminated in Ron Livingston taking a baseball bat to a fax machine. (And in this century, of course, we have Dwight Schrute’s stapler entombed in a Jell-O mold.) Saval chronicles these visions and dozens more in Cubed, ultimately implying there’s an irresolvable tension between white-collar workers and management: You may love your work, but the company you work for will never love you back; your office may be designed for maximal autonomy and self-determination, but you are not, in the end, autonomous and self-determining. Offices are factories in drag, their indifference to your life reflected in their most basic unit of design, the cube. Even if management is experimenting with the latest design fads (volleyball pits between desks! Workbenches! No assigned workstations at all!), its efforts will inevitably regress back to the cube. No matter how much lipstick you put on it, the cubicle, with its burlapped walls and push-pinned art, will inevitably be the office pig.
Why, then, do people build attachments to those cubes—or “freak out,” as Stybel puts it, if they have nowhere to go? What hidden comforts, apart from economic stability, does the company office provide? Well, there’s kinship, for starters. Offices are fundamentally social places, and in an age of dwindling social capital, in which Americans are less and less apt to visit with neighbors, join civic organizations, or have their friends over to dinner, having a community of professional peers is no small thing. According to a study commissioned by a Brooklyn-based organization called Lifeboat, 36 percent of adults have met at least one of their closest friends at work (and that’s on average: The number rises with successive generations, topping out at 50 percent for baby-boomers).
It’s also through your office that you stand a reasonably good chance of finding the person you’re going to marry. (Couples you may have heard of who first met at the office: Bill and Melinda Gates, Barack and Michelle Obama.) Last year, a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that 21.66 percent of the couples who met offline and married between 2005 and 2012 met through work; a Harris poll conducted that same year on behalf of CareerBuilder found that 38 percent of its sample hadn’t just dated someone “through work,” but someone at the same company, and that nearly one-third of these relationships led to marriage. (Fun fact: At Southwest Airlines, about 2,000 of its 35,000 workers were married to one another in 2004.)
It’s not just our personal lives that the office improves. Our co-workers also make us better at our jobs. There’s lots of research out there that gets at this, both directly and indirectly, but some of the most compelling, for my money, has been done by Boris Groysberg, a professor of business administration at Harvard Business School and the author of Chasing Stars: The Myth of Talent and the Portability of Performance. He’s analyzed top performers in a variety of professions (security analysts, general managers, even football players), on the theory that they, more than anyone else, are the new economy’s “free agents,” people so highly skilled that it shouldn’t matter where they work. Yet what Groysberg has consistently found is that whenever his research subjects changed jobs, they underperformed. “Those free agents,” he says, “are not free agents. They depend on the organizations that make them stars. It often takes them five years to recover.” And what, within those organizations, did they depend on? “In most cases,” he says, “their colleagues.”
Colleagues know your strengths and weaknesses. They know where the bodies are buried in your particular organization and its secret folkways, or what organizational psychologists call “informal information systems” (all that good stuff that’s not in official memos); over time, they’ll share that information with you, and it’ll make you work more shrewdly and efficiently. The mere fact that they’re there at all—in one place, at one time—probably makes a difference: Who on earth does their best work in a vacuum?
“The first thing that’d be lost if offices went away, I think, is creativity,” says Adam Grant, the 33-year-old management wunderkind at Wharton and author of the recent Give and Take. “So much of organizational creativity is about the random walk down the hallway of an office. There are so many examples of successful people who never would have crossed paths if they hadn’t been in the same office together.” The makers of the Post-it note being the most famous example. (Spencer Silver, who invented the “low tack” adhesive, had no clue what to do with it; his colleague Art Fry realized it could be used to hold down the bookmarks that kept falling out of his hymnal at church.) “I think the odds of Spencer Silver having met the just-right guy outside his own office,” says Grant, “would have been much lower.” Indeed, the need for these kinds of connections may explain the rise in the number of co-working spaces, which, according to Saval, has been doubling steadily since 2005 in the U.S. (The Wall Street Journal just reported that WeWork, a provider of such spaces, has a valuation of $5 billion.)
Even if co-workers aren’t supporting or inspiring or engaging you—even if they’re outright antagonizing you, in fact—they often serve a hidden function: They make you strive, make you expect more from yourself, make you realize more is possible professionally. Twenty-seven percent of millennials say that workplace friendships make them more competitive, according to a LinkedIn survey released this past summer. And the transformative effects of co-workers are nothing compared to those of mentors, who by definition expect the most from you and make it their business to show you the ropes. “Most successful people will tell you they’ve been mentored,” says Stybel, the Boston-based consultant and organizational psychologist, “and that mentor is often found at work. One of the things I tell young professionals as they’re starting out is to manage themselves well enough to be worthy of being mentored, and that can only be done through physical proximity.”
Wait, I ask him. Doesn’t that mean telling millennials to go work in an office? The very thing so many of them purportedly disdain?
“Yeah,” he says. “And sometimes even in a large company.”
Colleagues are a tangible benefit provided by organizations. But perhaps the most profound benefit is intangible: They help forge identity. At first blush, this notion may sound laughable, or at least paradoxical, given the office’s reputation as a wasteland of depersonalization. But Sue Ashford, a management professor at the University of Michigan who’s written thoughtfully about nonstandard work, notes that offices provide a “holding environment”—a psychoanalytic term coined by Donald Winnicott—to contain our existential anxiety.
“What we found among nonstandard workers,” Ashford tells me, “wasn’t just economic stress. It was identity stress. Like, Who am I? Do I have any value? What was missing was a sense of place.” Think of all the signals you get just on your way into work. “When I come into my office every day, I have someone who waves to me from the reception desk,” says Ashford. “I have my name on the door. I’m on the org chart, I have a set of colleagues. There’s all these things that communicate to me, subliminally, that I matter.” But for nonstandard workers, she says, “all those reminders of who you are go away. You’re no longer a ‘Googler’ or an ‘IBM-er.’ Those signals are absent.”
“One of the great organizational scientists, Robert Kahn, asked: ‘Where does the organization go when people go home at night?’ ” says Adam Grant, Ashford’s sometime collaborator. “That was one of the aha moments I had. The physical presence of an office suggests something real. It’s not just that they bring people together. It’s that they’re a stable representation of the organization—the mission and values it represents and the community |
s, slaves made up a third of the population of the Sine-Saloum, according to estimates by Klein. He noted that after abolition in 1905, many slaves left, moving to other regions, joining the French military or trying to return to their native lands, some as far away as modern-day Mali, Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone. Going home was the riskiest endeavour. ‘The exodus involved a long walk home. Slaves often owned nothing but what they could carry with them and in most cases that was very little,’ wrote Klein in his seminal work Slavery and Colonial Rule in French West Africa (1998). And even if they were brave enough to do that, there were still a lot of unknowns. ‘They had no idea what they would find when they got home.’ Many communities had simply ceased to exist.
But many more former slaves remained in the places where they had been enslaved. ‘Some people stayed and those are the people who are still submissive,’ said Marie Rodet, a lecturer in African history at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, who has been studying slave migration in Mali and Senegal. ‘If you stayed, you accepted your lot.’ That doesn’t necessarily mean that former slaves were still expected to work for free, but their relationships with former masters were still of social, if not economic, dependence.
a cow herder traded one of his prized cows for a young boy in that village. The boy took on the cow’s name
‘This history is very micro,’ said Rodet of this tumultuous period after the 1905 abolition. ‘Each slave family had their own history and own renegotiations, and there were many patterns of emancipation.’ If you left your village and went to another village or a city, you could remake your identity, to some extent. You wouldn’t have the day-to-day preoccupations with roles and hierarchy. Rodet said many families did not transmit their history to their children, preferring instead to forget.
But even if they forgot, many of the people around them did not.
Omar Ba is a folk historian from Sine-Saloum, but he cannot say when many of his stories, maybe even most of them, happened. Was it 50 years ago? A hundred years? Five hundred? His history of slavery is full of tales that have been passed down from his elders. He told me of a village that held slave markets, even after the French controlled the region, which might place the story in the second half of the 19th century. Omar Ba said that during this period, slave markets were illegal so villagers kept their trees overgrown to hide their business. Omar Ba, who is almost 60 years old, said that his grandfather had a neighbour, a cow herder, who traded one of his prized cows for a young boy in that village. The boy took on the cow’s name.
But the story that stays with me is the one Omar Ba swears he saw with his own eyes. There was a man of slave descent, who left the village where his former masters lived and started another. In his new village, he became prosperous and wealthy; he had several wives and lots of children. When one of the man’s sons wanted to marry the daughter of a noble, her family would not accept him because, despite his wealth, he was of slave origin. The man decided he would go to his former master to buy his freedom. Slavery no longer existed, so he was free by any measure, but, to break the link, he would pay the former master for his freedom.
The man put on his best boubou robe and rode out on a beautiful horse. He assembled the whole family of the former master and said: ‘Your grandfather bought my grandfather and, today, I want to reimburse you.’ He said he was ready to give them seven cows for his freedom. The family went to see a village elder for advice. The elder said they could take his payment, with one proviso. The former slave would ‘always be a slave, because that is the way it is’.
In February 2015, Senegal’s former president Abdoulaye Wade caused a major stir when, during a press conference, he called his successor Macky Sall a descendant of slaves. He also said that Sall came from a family of cannibals, but it was the ‘descendant of slaves’ comment that drew the most ire in the press. It was an allegation that Sall had responded to before, during the lead up to the 2012 presidential elections. It was such an insult that Sall’s team had a griot (a traditional West African storyteller) articulate Sall’s lineage to prove that he came from an honorable, non-slave family from the warrior category of Halpulaar society.
Politics will be politics, of course, and the slave accusation could be the Senegalese equivalent of those who won’t believe that President Barack Obama was born in the US. But the fact that they gain traction reflects something deeper. After all, isn’t the tacit implication that people of slave descent should not hold power? What would happen if a politician said: ‘Yes, my ancestors were slaves. So what?’
The search for a past is a key preoccupation for many with slave origins, both in the US and in Africa. As one man told me, a slave here might have been a noble somewhere else.
‘When you don’t have a history, you are cut off from a part of yourself,’ said Amadou Moussa Ba, a middle-aged government bureaucrat who also happens to come from a family with slave origins. He said in his culture, the Halpulaar, there are griots that sing the praises of noble families. ‘But no one sings about us. It’s like we came from nothing.’
So he searched for his history. He went to faraway villages looking for the rupture in his family’s timeline, the moment where history skipped a beat. He said he found the traces of two brothers from a village in Mali who were captured and sold to Senegal. He keeps his genealogy written out longhand in a notebook – names, clans, families.
‘I have written my history. I did it all to restore my family’s dignity,’ said Ba.
Ba belongs to a federation made up of several associations that organise people of slave origin in the Halpulaar communities across Northern Senegal. Often, they call their associations Endam Bilaali, which means the ‘descendants of Bilal’. Bilal Ibn Rabah was a companion of the prophet Muhammad and was born a slave. When he first embraced Islam, Bilal’s master persecuted him in increasingly ostentatious ways in order to break his faith, but Bilal remained faithful. When Muhammad heard of Bilal’s suffering, he sent his father-in-law Abu Bakr to buy Bilal and, then, to free him from slavery. Bilal later became the first muezzin.
‘People say that we should just be nothing, just slaves and that we should just stay in the service of others’
Endam Bilaali are doing rhetorical genealogy, and repositioning themselves inside the culture. ‘By creating a line of descent with Bilal, they are creating a kind of legitimacy,’ said Mamoudou Sy, a history lecturer at Cheikh Anta Diop University. Sy said he started by focusing on the history of kings and nobles from the Halpulaar community in Northern Senegal until he realised that they were slaveholders. He couldn’t tell the whole history if he didn’t tell that part, too.
Endam Bilaali advocates for access to land, education and jobs, but also for more political power. It is a shift that many have referred to as a ‘revolution’.
‘People say that we should just be nothing, just slaves and that we should just stay in the service of others – to stay behind and run,’ said Racky Baba Ndiaye, president of the women’s chapter of the Peeral Fadjiri federation that regroups all the Endam Bilaali associations. ‘But we have said no.’
In some of the region’s villages, where the descendants of slaves are more numerous, they have leveraged their demographic weight to take key political offices. That’s true in Ndiaye’s village of Mboumba, for example, where she said the mayor is of slave origin. She should know; she is related to him. But other people in the village have been reluctant to work with him. ‘There are even some people that were ready to leave the village because he is the mayor,’ said Ndiaye.
In Diomandou, a fishing village that backs up to the Senegal River, I found another model for revolution. On a cool winter afternoon, I met members of the village Endam Bilaali association underneath a neem tree. The particularity of this village and their association becomes clear as soon as they start introducing themselves; there are descendants of slaves and descendants of nobles co‑operating in the same group. ‘We are all united,’ said Hamady Wade, the village chief, a noble and a member of the association. Another slave descendant, Thierno Demba Sakho, is vice imam of the village. ‘People often say people like me should not be an imam,’ he said. ‘But I was named despite my social status.’ It is only through this kind of co‑operation, said Sakho, that they can confront the real problems in their community: drought that comes too often, a river with dwindling fish, and too few jobs to keep the younger generation from leaving.
I found the stories of the Endam Bilaali groups seductive. Of course, our histories and trajectories are not the same. But it seemed, somehow, familiar – a hand held across the aisle of time from one descendant of slaves to another. Here were people saying you could call them descendants of slaves, but they still deserved their rights as citizens and a piece of the pie. Here were people looking for and sometimes finding their pasts. Here were people rising up, not in spite of their history, but because of it.
Still, I asked Sakho why some people remained reticent to claim their heritage as descendants of slaves, and even saw it as an insult. ‘Maybe they do not understand their history,’ he said. ‘If they had understood it, they would not consider it an insult. They would be proud to be descendants of slaves.’ They would be proud to be like Bilal, to have struggled and had challenges and come through the other side.Romney in 2013. (Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images)
This post is originally from April 8. We are re-upping it in light of Tuesday's New York primary.
The New York primary came late enough in the 2012 election cycle that there wasn't really much mystery to it. That's not uncommon; New York is often toward the late-middle of the pack. So Mitt Romney carried the state easily, by nearly 50 points. And he won New York City, too, capturing 68.6 percent of the vote.
New York City, as you may know, is broken into five boroughs. Manhattan is the one you think of, with Times Square and Central Park and so on. To the north is The Bronx, named after the Dutch family that once farmed it (the Broncks). To the east, at the western end of Long Island, are Queens and Brooklyn. If Brooklyn were its own city, which it was until the late 19th century, it would be the fourth-largest city in the country. The fifth borough is Staten Island, geographically and culturally closer to New Jersey than the rest of the boroughs, and the only one that's consistently Republican.
Between the five, more than 8 million people live in the city.
Which is why, despite the fact that the city is unabashedly left-leaning, you might be surprised to learn how many votes were cast in that 2012 Republican primary. Go ahead. Think of a number.
Ready?
25,475.
No, that's not missing any digits.
Zero-point-three percent of the city of New York -- 3 out of every 1,000 people -- weighed in on the Republican primary in 2012, and 0.2 percent voted for Mitt Romney.
The borough that had the most Republican voting was Queens. There, 7,217 people cast a ballot. That was the most.
That's so few people that there are a number of Census blocks -- the smallest unit of measurement the Census Bureau identifies -- that by themselves have more people.
Wall Street. Roosevelt Island (where Hillary Clinton's formal campaign launch was held). Rikers Island, home to the main city jail. A housing complex in The Bronx. All of those small areas are home (willingly or not) to more people than voted in Queens.
And that was the most people. In Manhattan, about 6,500 people voted. All the places above and a housing complex in Jamaica, Queens, have more people than that.
All the Census blocks that had more people than Queens voters have more than Manhattan's, too (obviously). Meaning that the number of people living in the small area around Wall Street is greater than the number of people in the borough from Battery Park (at the bottom of Manhattan) to Inwood (at the top) who voted in the Republican primary.
We can go on down the line. Fewer people voted in Brooklyn...
...and fewer still in very-Republican but not-densely populated Staten Island.
The fewest number of Republicans turned out to vote in The Bronx, the fourth-biggest borough. How few people voted in the Republican primary in the Bronx in 2012?
So few that each of the Census blocks on the map below by itself is home to more people than cast such a ballot.
New York's a Democratic town. (In 2008, more than 950,000 people voted -- and Hillary Clinton carried the state easily.) But it's safe to assume that with so much at stake this year, turnout will be a little heavier.It was a simple act of defiance that helped change the racist face of America. And 54 years after nine young black men were sentenced to hard labour in a chain gang for ordering lunch at a “whites only” counter, the survivors have finally been exonerated.
The “jail, no bail” strategy of the Friendship Nine, as they became known, galvanized the fight against racial segregation across the American South at the height of the civil rights struggle.
With crowds outside, a packed courtroom in Rock Hill, South Carolina, cheered and jumped to its feet as Judge John Hayes – the nephew of the judge who imposed the sentence in 1961 – “vacated” the criminal records of the men.
The overturning of the convictions is another reminder of America’s painful racial legacy at a time when the film Selma has put that history back in the spotlight. Nominated for the best picture Oscar for its portrayal of the civil rights era, the film stars the British actor David Oyelowo as Martin Luther King.
Those deep fault lines have been exposed again in recent months with protests at the decisions not to prosecute white police officers for the killings of black men in Missouri and New York.
The sit-in campaign in the South had begun at a Woolworth’s segregated counter in North Carolina in 1960. But the Friendship Nine were the first to choose to go to jail rather than have $100 fines paid by civil rights organizers.
It was a personal sacrifice that helped resurrect the movement as other protesters followed the tactic, filling jail cells and seizing media attention as scattered protests went national. Seven of the Friendship Nine, named after the local college they attended, were in court to hear the decision after the prosecutor’s office asked for the judge to throw out the verdicts. One has since died and one was too ill to travel.
“For the generations that are here now and for the future, it shows that the country was wrong,” said one of the men, Willie McCleod, 72.
Clarence Graham, also 72, recalled being dragged away by police, aware that some people who went to jail were not seen again. “We didn’t know what to expect. It was not a very good time.”
Rock Hill was a bastion of segregation when the group walked into McCrory’s variety store and tried to order lunch at a counter where African-Americans were forbidden to sit. They were sentenced to 30 days’ hard labour for trespass and breach of the peace.
Those convictions are among several half-century-old verdicts that have been reviewed across the South in recent years as courts acknowledge racial injustices in the criminal justice system. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 that ended legal segregation meant that the Friendship Nine’s acts were no longer a crime. But their criminal records lived on and they never wanted to pursue pardons, as that would have implied they wanted forgiveness.
But they agreed to have the convictions thrown out now as the state also offered a “heartfelt apology” for their treatment. Kevin Brackett, the prosecutor, said: “What these gentlemen did was take a courageous stand against an obnoxious and vile policy. It’s important that we publicly and legally recognis\ze the wrongfulness of those convictions.”
The men hope their commitment to non-violence can still serve as an example. “Maybe it might change some of their minds about some of their actions,” said Mr. Graham.Support for this video player will be discontinued soon.
The FIM has updated the provisional entry list for the MotoGP™ premier class ahead of the 2014 season.
With the publication of this latest provisional entry list, the last remaining unknowns from the previous version have now been cleared up.
Iodaracing Project has recruited Britain’s Leon Camier as team-mate to Danilo Petrucci, both riding ART machinery. Camier, 27 years of age, enters from the Eni FIM Superbike World Championship and becomes the fifth British representative on this year’s MotoGP™ starting grid.
The participation of Australian Broc Parkes with PBM has also been confirmed, riding an Open tier PBM bike with an Aprilia engine.
The latest provisional 2014 MotoGP™ entry list is as follows:
4 ANDREA DOVIZIOSO - ITALY - DUCATI TEAM - DUCATI *
5 COLIN EDWARDS - USA - NGM MOBILE FORWARD RACING - FTR YAMAHA
6 STEFAN BRADL - GERMANY - LCR HONDA MotoGP - HONDA *
7 HIROSHI AOYAMA - JAPAN - POWER ELECTRONICS ASPAR - HONDA
8 HÉCTOR BARBERÁ - SPAIN - AVINTIA BLUSENS - FTR
9 DANILO PETRUCCI - ITALY - IODARACING PROJECT – ART
12 LEON CAMIER – GREAT BRITAIN – IODARACING PROJECT - ART
17 KAREL ABRAHAM – CZECH REPUBLIC - CARDION AB MOTORACING - HONDA
19 ÁLVARO BAUTISTA – SPAIN - GO&FUN HONDA GRESINI - HONDA *
23 BROC PARKES – AUSTRALIA – PAUL BIRD MOTORSPORT - PBM
26 DANI PEDROSA - SPAIN - REPSOL HONDA TEAM - HONDA *
29 ANDREA IANNONE - ITALY - PRAMAC RACING - DUCATI *
35 CAL CRUTCHLOW – GREAT BRITAIN - DUCATI TEAM - DUCATI *
38 BRADLEY SMITH – GREAT BRITAIN - MONSTER YAMAHA TECH 3 - YAMAHA *
41 ALEIX ESPARGARO - SPAIN - NGM MOBILE FORWARD RACING – FTR YAMAHA
44 POL ESPARGARO - SPAIN - MONSTER YAMAHA TECH 3 - YAMAHA *
45 SCOTT REDDING – GREAT BRITAIN - GO&FUN HONDA GRESINI - HONDA
46 VALENTINO ROSSI - ITALY - YAMAHA FACTORY RACING - YAMAHA *
63 MIKE DI MEGLIO – FRANCE - AVINTIA BLUSENS - FTR
68 YONNY HERNANDEZ - COLOMBIA - PRAMAC RACING - DUCATI
69 NICKY HAYDEN - USA - POWER ELECTRONICS ASPAR - HONDA
70 MICHAEL LAVERTY – GREAT BRITAIN - PAUL BIRD MOTORSPORT - PBM
93 MARC MÁRQUEZ - SPAIN - REPSOL HONDA TEAM - HONDA *
99 JORGE LORENZO - SPAIN - YAMAHA FACTORY RACING - YAMAHA *
* = Factory Option
TOTAL: 24 entries
- Provisional 2014 Moto2™ entry list
- Provisional 2014 Moto3™ entry listWe heard a lot about autonomous transportation and “mobility” as abstract concepts in 2017. But we also drove cars. Good ones. Actually, some blew our freaking minds. Driving’s not dead yet, and we’re happy to share the cars that proved that to us this year.
Unlike some publications, we do not trip over ourselves to give awards to our advertisers. We work for you, the readers. So what we do instead is just tell you about all our favorite things we drove in 2017.
And of all the amazing supercars, off-roaders, new metal and classics everyone on Jalopnik’s staff drove this year, these were the favorites.
Acura NSX
I’ll be real and say I thought 2017 was largely a disappointing year for new cars. (I mean, everything else too, but we’ll stick to cars here.) A lot of good stuff got killed off. Everything in the pipeline seems to be an autonomous minivan. The auto industry now cares more about figuring out how it will compete with doomed, profit-averse startups than actually building cars people will want to buy.
But the Acura NSX makes me optimistic about the future. Finally here after so many delays, it perfectly mixes a racing-grade traditional engine with the limitless torque of our looming electric tomorrow. It also happens to to be, probably, the best handling car I have ever driven.
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Yes, it’s different than the first NSX, but it accomplishes the same task: it’s a livable, everyday exotic that pushes the boundaries of current technology. Not everyone is going to get it, but the NSX is the real deal. And more than that, it actually makes me hopeful for what’s next.
–Patrick George
Ford Mustang Shelby GT350R
For these lists, I usually like to pick one new car and one old car. I drove fewer old cars in 2017 than I would have liked, so I’ll give my second award to a new car that’s perfectly old-school instead.
Listen: the Shelby GT350R is fantastic. I’ve never been a huge Mustang guy, but this is easily in my top-1o-best-ever list. It is a symphony of noise and joy. The 5.2-liter, 529 HP flat plane crank V8 is a love letter to the entire concept of internal combustion.
I took this around Detroit while helping with an episode of Car vs. America and drank in that sweet V8 sound with the windows down, The Black Keys on full blast, tire smoke in my rearview mirror and crisp manual gear shifts assuring me I had made excellent decisions in life just to get a little seat time in it. It’s wonderfully balanced and totally overkill at the same time. Most cars can do one, but not both.
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You may never get to buy a GT350R. That’s fine. But you really ought to try and drive one before you die.
–Patrick George
Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio
Enthusiasts and self-hating mechanics have waited a long time for Alfa Romeo to come back to our shores. And as a driver’s car, the 503 HP twin-turbo Giulia Quadrifoglio is simply outstanding. It looks good, it sounds amazing, it delivers exhilarating power, and it does something that the BMW M3 and a slew of German competitors haven’t done very well in a generation—it manages to be fun. As I said in my review, when this thing is on, it’s on.
Okay, so it drives great. But what about the notorious quality issues that have plagued nearly every Giulia tested by journalists, issues that customers have faced too?
Well, come back tomorrow.
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–Patrick George
Suzuki Jimny
When I went to Iceland this spring, I was hoping to drive something I couldn’t get in the states. The beaten-to-all-hell, five-year-old bare bones Suzuki Jimny I pulled out of a rental lot certainly fit the bill.
I almost put it under the worst cars I drove this year, since it was all rattles and road noise with a suspension that left me sore after an hour of driving. It also rolled backwards while trying to climb what seemed to be a reasonable hill in first gear.
But the more I thought about it, the less able I was to say bad things about the mean micro-SUV. It’s truly unique. We have so few vehicles like this on the American market; something cheap and cute and (mostly) capable. Something with a manual gear box, even if it wasn’t mated to an impressive engine. Sure, it didn’t do great on that hill climb (I decided that hilltop view probable wasn’t worth it) but just look at the daily abuse I put the little guy through:
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This was the entrance to our Airbnb. And that was just one tourist’s four-day jaunt. This Jimny had clearly been through the wars. It was covered in dings, scrapes, cracks and road burn. And yet, it kept on ticking. It carried my boyfriend and I halfway across a rugged and beautiful country with only the slight hiccups mentioned above.
Little Jimny, you may not be powerful, comfy or classy, but you are definitely one of my favorites.
–Erin Marquis
Volkswagen Golf R APR Stage 3+
The Golf R gets called out for being a little bland, but frankly, that’s kind of key to its appeal. As far as sleepers go, it’s probably got one of the strongest style-to-substance ratios on the road. Put another way: it looks as anonymous as your aunt’s commuter car and it’s a fast freaking riot to drive.
Let a well-established VW tuner build a crate motor for it, pipe that through an exhaust that hits every shift with a bass drop, you do a little damage to the car’s daily drivability. But you’ve also got yourself one of the most explosively hard-launching cars you could imagine. And unless you cover it in stickers, it still looks like any other modestly priced grocery getter.
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-Andrew P. Collins
Dodge SRT Challenger Demon
By the time we finally got to meet the Dodge Demon, we were all so drunk on hype that I’m a little surprised Fiat Chrysler’s PR reps let us behind the wheel.
But not only did we get to drive it; we had the chance to unleash its full 840-horsepower fury with high-octane race gas, the TransBrake activated and a wide-open drag strip.
I think it’s great, cool and hilarious that a mainstream car company like Dodge went ahead and built a street legal production car that can run nine-second quarter miles. But the amount of thrust this thing blasted through my body in a full-power launch is something I’ll never forget. It literally brought tears to my eyes.
–Andrew P. Collins
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Jaguar F-Type SVR
This car is known for its noise and instant-classic exterior design, but I’m happy to report that driving the F-Type SVR is even more fun than listening to it or seeing it swoop by.
What impressed me most about the meanest version of Jaguar’s prettiest car wasn’t how fast it was (very) or how nicely balanced it seemed (think sword-on-two-fingers). The F-Type SVR had the unique ability to make me feel like a hero, and that the car’s immense supply of power was mine to wield in totality. At the same time, the car commanded respect and always seemed to have just a little more energy than I was willing to tap.
–Andrew P. Collins
Mercedes GLS63
This AMG V8-powered seven-passenger SUV on tires as tall as conestoga wagon wheels does not speak to a typical driving enthusiast’s idea of what makes a “good car.” But unlike the high-horsepower version of the G-Class, the GLS does not exist purely to prove Germans have a sense of humor, either.
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The cockpit of this vehicle was so nicely nestled between aggressive and comfortable, while feeling really futuristic without trying too hard, that I have to call it out as one of the nicest offices I rolled around in this year.
The car’s legendary exhaust snorts didn’t hurt in winning me over, either.
–Andrew P. Collins
McLaren 720S
Of course it’s fast. But even though it looks a little tame now next to its new stablemate the Senna, the 720S blew me away with design details. The see-through roof and Transformer-looking doors! The complex webwork around the headlight! The all-business multi-mode dashboard! And talk about modes... the variable traction control we’ve been colloquially calling “drift mode” is nothing short of extraordinary engineering.
I was really impressed with how quick and composed the 720S was on Italian country roads too, but a couple laps around a race track just straight-up knocked the wind out of me.
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–Andrew P. Collins
Chevy Bolt
I had to think long and hard about whether I really liked the Chevy Bolt for what it is, or if I just felt obligated to embrace it for its perceived significance in our industry and era.
But thinking about its low-key look, complaint ride, and most importantly, how nicely the vehicle’s one-pedal driving made me San Francisco’s heavy traffic seem relaxing, I think, yeah, this really was one of my favorite cars to drive.
–Andrew P. Collins
Jeep Wrangler JL
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There were so many ways Jeep could have screwed up the most important vehicle in its lineup. But instead of watering down the Wrangler JL, the brand took the outgoing Wrangler JK’s annoying little issues and fixed pretty much every single one of them.
The result is a more refined, less-flawed Jeep. Yes, the ride and wind noise are still very Jeep-esque, but so is the off-road capability. And my god is it a beast.
–David Tracy
Mazda6 2.2 Skyactiv-D 150 Wagon
It wasn’t exactly fast, it didn’t handle like a supercar, and its interior wasn’t particularly glamorous, but the all-wheel drive, diesel, manual Mazda6 wagon that I drove through Romania was about as Swiss Army Knife-ish as any vehicle I’ve ever driven.
It could slither up windy roads without wallowing like a drunkard, it could cruise on highways and get decent fuel economy, it could go on dirt roads without fear of getting stuck, and it could swallow a crap-ton of junk in the back.
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With the manual transmission and the torquey diesel engine, it was actually reasonably fun to drive, which isn’t something you can say about many vehicles offering that much room while at the same time yielding that much fuel economy. Driving the Mazda6 reinforced my longing for more diesel manual wagons in America.
–David Tracy
Mercedes-AMG GT C Roadster
When I first looked at the Monroney sticker on this car, I freaked out. $175,000 for what!? There was no way it could be $75,000 better than a Jaguar F-Type R Coupe and $25,000 better than a Maserati GranTurismo MC. No way.
But, buddy, you better believe it is. This is one of those rare times when I think the price of the machine is totally justified. The AMG GT C sets a new standard in what’s to come in terms of performance luxury. The suspension makes the whole car feel like it was whittled out of a single block of space metal. You always know what’s going on under the wheels. Magic.
And it is incoherently fast. The engine is so powerful and shoots the car forward so rapidly that you feel like you’re barely hanging onto a small fighter jet. The dual-clutch transmission shifts are lightning-quick and the steering is sharp, precise and hydraulic. Overwhelmingly capable, I think was my overall impression of the car when I finally had to give the keys back.
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As you would expect, the interior is finished in quality materials, too. Little rattles and squeaks inside cars bug the hell out of me, but I can imagine the inside of the GT C staying buttoned down and tight for a very, very long time.
–Kristen Lee
Lexus LC500
It was rare, in 2017, for any of us to get our hands on something with a naturally aspirated engine. And a naturally aspirated V8, no less. Thankfully, Lexus is still putting wondrous 5.0-liter V8s in its cars. How much longer this will last is anyone’s guess, so we’d better enjoy it while we can.
It’s true that the Lexus gets bogged down by menial things (it has too many gears, it doesn’t have quite enough power), but it is so beautifully machined and comfortable that you hardly notice these factors after a while. I could drive across the country this car. Easily. And what’s more, I’d actually want to.
We’ve read the comments on Lexus’ current corporate front, and whether you find it hideous or gorgeous, you also cannot deny that it is striking. And when you’re behind the wheel of a smooth, sleek and striking machine such as this, you do feel special.
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The uninhibited V8 snaps and growls richly and the leathers inside are appropriately buttery. In short, it’s a lovely place to sit.
–Kristen Lee
Project Baja Class 11 Desert Racing Beetle
As someone who has been obsessed with Volkswagen Beetles his entire toilet-trained life (and perhaps a little before; it was a long process) actually getting to drive a real, well-sorted Class 11 car was sort of like meeting a hero. Only this hero didn’t let me down by saying something terrible or groping anyone. It just made me very, very happy.
Class 11 Beetles are the purest athletes of the Beetledom. They’re not wildly modified from a stock Beetle, so it’s different than seeing some radically modded VW-based dragster or sandrail—it’s basically that same little car you’ve been puttering around in for decades, just doing extraordinary things.
This Class 11, built by the remarkable Project Baja team, is so well-thought out, engineered, and maintained that it might just be one of the best Beetles, mechanically, I’ve ever been in. To say those guys know what they’re doing is like calling The Room “not a great movie”—it’s not nearly enough.
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This Class 11, which I’ve found is named Tope, just finished the Baja 1000 race about a month ago. That’s amazing, and I’m honored I got a chance to bounce around in this crazy little beast.
–Jason Torchinsky
SEAT 1200 Sport ‘Bocanegra’
SEATs are all but unknown in America, and that’s sort of a shame. Even though it’s mostly been a maker of license-built cars (Fiat, first, now it’s part of the Volkswagen Group) when it has branched out on its own, the results have been interesting. That’s especially true of the first car it designed and built independently, this SEAT 1200 Sport, known by the nickname bocanegra, or ‘black mouth.’
The body was supposed to be for a rear-engined NSU, but SEAT adapted the design to this front-engine/front drive, Fiat-based drivetrain. Normally, I’d mourn such a conversion, but the resulting car is just so damn appealing and fun to drive I can’t be mad.
I only got to drive the Bocanegra a bit around SEAT’s factory grounds in Barcelona, but I loved every minute of it. The car is light and nimble, basic and honest. It has a certain light, crisp feeling that’s largely lost on modern cars.
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I love the look, I love the way it feels to drive, and I think this is a severely under-appreciated classic. This would make a fantastic daily driver: practical, economical, and fun.
Too bad the number of them in America is somewhere in the low zeroes. Still, somebody should import one of these and see that I’m, unusually, right.
–Jason Torchinsky
Mazda MX-5 Grand Touring RF
Oh, come on. You knew this car was going to make it on here in some way or another, because you can’t deny the power of the Mazda Miata.
The Miata’s now in its fourth generation, and it sure is lovely. I got a Grand Touring RF version this year, which meant it was the top trim and it had the fancy robo-roof that went down with the push of a buttom.
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It was an absolute blast of a car to drive. The shifting felt clean and robotic, as did the clutch, and people stared at the car when it went by in a way that I’ve never experienced in a Miata before. (My mother has a Miata obsession, so I’ve had many, many hours in elder Miatas.)
For any other car, I’d get my wrist slapped for simply saying it “handles like [insert car] should handle.” But this Miata handles like a Miata should, and when we’re talking about Miatas, that means something. It’s light. The weight feels so evenly dispersed and the steering is touchy, tight and immediate. It turns just like the happy-looking third-generation Miata before it did, but the new car looks like it wants to bite your arm of instead of giving you a hug.
But never mind my words. This car was so great that my Miata-obsessed mom is now looking for one, even though she’s only had her third-gen for a few years. And she helped pay for two daughters’ weddings this year.
Unfortunately, that wedding help means I’m having a rough time convincing her to give me a discount to buy hers.
–Alanis King
Formula E Race Car
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Few cars I’ve driven have left me giggling as much as the Formula E car, which I got to test out after the Mexico City ePrix. It simply has the most essential elements of fun right there: low weight, lots of torque.
It’s not overly reliant on sticky tires or aerodynamics to |
It also has the potential to massively chill free speech by gulling ISPs and websites into either pulling down totally legal material when faced with any sort of complaint, but also proactively policing free expression. Individuals, too, will also feel the chill as they wonder exactly what sort of material may land them in court.
As Lee Rowland of the ACLU told one of my colleagues at Reason TV earlier this year, “Criminal law is such a blunt instrument that we have real doubts that it’s possible to draft these laws in a way that won’t end up criminalizing pure speech.”
It’s only been little more than a year that revelations from Edward Snowden detailed just how much of all of our on- and off-line communications are being monitored by any number of government agencies and programs. While the Internet has exponentially increased the possibilities of human rudeness, crudeness and rotten behavior, it has also similarly exploded our ability to communicate openly and to speak truth to power—even as that power is trying harder than ever to keep track of every random thought we have.
The celebrities affected by this latest online scandal will survive with their careers intact. They have every right to be aggrieved and to pursue legal claims that exist against hacking and invasion of privacy. But all of us deserve a free and open Internet, too. Anything we do to tamp down the free flow of information on the Internet will ultimately come at a price that is steeper than advertised.
Nick Gillespie is the editor in chief of Reason.com and Reason.tv and the co-author with Matt Welch of The Declaration of Independents: How Libertarian Politics Can Fix What’s Wrong with America.
Contact us at editors@time.com.Tweet Posted on January 13, 2012
Oprah: No Huge Endorsement Event For Obama This Time
Oprah Winfrey tells CNN she still supports President Obama, however she will not do a large endorsement event like she did during the 2008 campaign cycle.
"I don't need to endorse him because I am a 100% supporter him of and I've already endorsed him. And I've already, you know -- everybody always asks me 'Are you going to do what you did in 2008?' What I did in 2008, I did because people really didn't know -- my friends didn't even know who he was at the time," Oprah Winfrey told CNN.
"They were like 'Who's this guy? You think that guy's going to be president?' I go 'Yeah, I really do,'"
"So, I was happy to step up and do what I felt was a public service because I so believed in him and I still do," she said.
"Oh, absolutely not," Oprah said when asked if not endorsing Obama in public is a sign of disappointment.
"No, I don't think it's necessary because my endorsement is that I am a 100% supporter of him. And if he or his office called me tomorrow and said that they needed me I would do whatever I thought would be of service," she said.We haven't seen the end of Arrested Development, if series creator Mitch Hurwitz and Netflix have their way. If they can get the whole cast together again, said Hurwitz, he's ready to make an Arrested Development movie and / or a fifth season of the cult classic television series.
His remarks came during a Q&A at Just for Laughs comedy conference in Montreal earlier this week, and intriguingly, it was Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos himself who posed the question. "Are we going to do more?" asked Sarandos, according to The Daily Dot. "Definitely," replied Hurwitz.
Re: a plot for the Arrested Development movie: "We have the movie, basically. We have the next step," says Hurwitz. #comedyPro — Craig Silverman (@CraigSilverman) July 25, 2013
Then, Hurwitz laid out a number of possibilities. Perhaps a movie first, and then another season. Perhaps just another season. Or perhaps, a special three-part episode before continuing the series. "Are you game for that?" Hurwitz asked the Netflix exec. "Absolutely," replied Sarandos. "In any form."
"Definitely" and "absolutely" sound like promising answers from the parties responsible
In February, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said that making new episodes of Arrested Development after season four wasn't in the cards. He called Arrested Development a "fantastic one-off" made possible under "non-repeatable circumstances," and later admitted that the new season didn't really add many new Netflix subscribers.
It seems like Netflix has changed its tune about Arrested Development, though. Earlier this month, Bloomberg reported that the streaming video company was in talks to produce another season. It also probably can't hurt that the series was just nominated for three Emmy awards."...For long-time DOTA players wondering what Valve has to offer them with DOTA 2, as stated in the lead, this is DOTA."
DOTA 2's heroes look fantastic... hey isn't that Gabe?
When Valve first announced DOTA 2 in October 2010, the studio promised the game would be "instantly familiar" to anyone who plays the original Warcraft III Defense of the Ancients mod. After going hands-on with the DOTA 2 beta, I can confirm that the new game is not just familiar, it is the original DOTA through and through. Less a true sequel and more DOTA HD, DOTA 2 is Valve's effort to make the action-RTS more accessible (and more pretty) without neglecting the game's hardcore community. And it appears the studio is going to pull off that difficult balancing act with the flair of a Flying Wallenda – if the game's rabid community allows it.Navigate DOTA 2's main menu, and you'll immediately see how Valve plans to bring DOTA to a wider audience. The main page features a section to Watch live DOTA 2 matches and, more importantly, another to Learn about the deep, multi-faceted, highly competitive game.The Watch feature is live, and anyone can choose from a list of matches to drop into as a spectator. DOTA can be an exciting eSport to watch, and Valve will undoubtedly hook a ton of newcomers that witness a well-played match and want to dive in to select a hero of their own – in particular because of the options Watch offers. You can free roam with the camera, set it to follow a particular hero, or allow the system to automatically direct you to where the action is. Clever.The Learn feature is not active for the beta, but when it's launched, Valve promises a full tutorial will introduce new players to DOTA's many elements, and a coaching system will connect veteran volunteers with n00bs, easing their entry into game. Or at least that's the idea. (More on this in a bit.)For long-time DOTA players wondering what Valve has to offer them with DOTA 2, as stated in the lead,DOTA Allstars' roster of 100-plus heroes are all making the trip (though not all will be available to play at launch), their skills, upgrade paths, and items are relatively unchanged, and they'll do battle on a near identical map. Valve delayed the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive beta because CS veterans testing the game complained it didn'tlike Counter-Strike. The studio will have no such trouble with DOTA 2.Whatnew is the look and sound of the game. Courtesy of Valve's Source engine and the studio's talented art department, all those heroes you know and love – and the map they fight on -- get a substantial visual upgrade over the now weathered Warcraft III engine. Your shiny new hero will also have plenty to say. A stunning amount of voice work gives each of the game's heroes a one-liner for just about every gameplay scenario imaginable. I couldn't help but grin when the Drow Ranger promised to notch an arrow and deliver cold death to my enemies.After the major visual upgrade and the sound, the most noticeable change is in the DOTA 2 shop, the place you'll return to throughout the game to spend your hard-earned coin. A Suggested Items tab helps you easily find and buy the most common Starting, Early Game, Core, and Luxury items, and a new Quick Buy system allows you to place items you plan on purchasing in the future – namely upgrades – in a separate box. Return to a shop with enough gold, and boom, the Quick Buy item is instantly in your inventory. When you're in a rush to upgrade and get back to your lane, Quick Buy is invaluable, and it will help you make sure you don't hang your lane partner out to dry.A Stash system has also been implemented, allowing you to pre-purchase items and keep them in your Stash until you're ready to place them in your inventory – a wise strategy if you prefer spending your gold and not handing a chunk of it over to the enemy when you die.On the surface, it appears Valve has successfully managed to make DOTA more accessible while bringing it up to current-gen standards – all without doing anything to push away the game's core community. No easy feat. But I couldn't help but wonder if the learning, training, and observing will be enough for newcomers to feel at home in DOTA 2.DOTA's community is notorious for shunning n00bs, and in my limited time with the beta, I witnessed one self-confessed newcomer get lambasted like Private Pyle being dressed down by Gny. Sgt. Hartman in Full Metal Jacket. It was brutal. I wouldn't be surprised if that particular player opted to never play DOTA 2 again, and I wouldn't blame him. And did I mention this was during theValve appears to have done all the heavy lifting with DOTA 2, creating the framework for a fun, challenging action-RTS/MOBA game that could hook a horde of newcomers (as well as those who discovered the genre with titles like League of Legends and Heroes of Newerth). The question now is, will the existing DOTA community allow that to happen?The more things change... It is sad to hear that some players take it upon themselves to be idiots even during the beta. But I also don't think Valve will unleash DOTA 2 into the wild without a solid plan to make sure newcomers are welcome. Do you think DOTA 2 can be accessible and hardcore?Based on the conversations after the performances, it sounded like audience members had their beliefs rattled in a similar way. What were some themes that emerged from their responses?
We heard a lot of “now I understand how this happened”—meaning how Trump won the election. People got upset. There was a guy two rows in front of me who was literally holding his head in his hands, and the person with him was rubbing his back. The simplicity of Trump’s message became easier for people to hear when it was coming from a woman—that was a theme. One person said, “I’m just so struck by how precise Trump’s technique is.” Another—a musical theater composer, actually—said that Trump created “hummable lyrics,” while Clinton talked a lot, and everything she was was true and factual, but there was no “hook” to it. Another theme was about not liking either candidate—you know, “I wouldn’t vote for either one.” Someone said that Jonathan Gordon [the male Hillary Clinton] was “really punchable” because of all the smiling. And a lot of people were just very surprised by the way it upended their expectations about what they thought they would feel or experience. There was someone who described Brenda King [the female Donald Trump] as his Jewish aunt who would take care of him, even though he might not like his aunt. Someone else described her as the middle school principal who you don’t like, but you know is doing good things for you.
What did you find most surprising?
I was particularly struck by the post-performance discussions about effeminacy. People felt that the male version of Clinton was feminine, and that that was bad. As a gay man who worked really hard, especially when I was younger, to erase femininity from my body—for better or worse—I found myself feeling really upset hearing those things. Daryl [the actor playing Jonathan Gordon, the male Clinton] and I have talked about this multiple times since the performances. Never once in rehearsal did we say, “play this more feminine.” So I think it was mostly the smiling piece—so many women have told me that they’re taught to smile through things that are uncomfortable. It’s been really powerful to hear women talk about that, and a learning experience for me. I was surprised by how critical I was seeing [Clinton] on a man’s body, and also by the fact that I didn’t find Trump’s behavior on a woman to be off-putting. I remember turning to Maria at one point in the rehearsals and saying, "I kind of want to have a beer with her!" The majority of my extended family voted for Trump. In some ways, I developed empathy for people who voted for him by doing this project, which is not what I was expecting. I expected it to make me more angry at them, but it gave me an understanding of what they might have heard or experienced when he spoke.
What’s next for this project?
The plan is to go into a studio and film these debate excerpts, shot for shot, as they were televised on TV. My colleague Andrew Freiband from the Rhode Island School of Design is especially interested in non-verbal cues—all the unconscious information that gets thrown at us based on physicality, tone of voice, and gestures, but also camera angles, shot length, and the size of the lens. He’s hoping that out of the film version we can create an interface online where a person will be able to click on both the original debate and our version of it, with an annotated description running underneath. That way we can start to get at how all of these nonverbal elements, which are undetectable in real time, contribute to the message that we receive when we watch these things. This has really emerged for us as a tool that could be quite powerful, and I would love for people beyond the liberal, academic audience to get to experience it too.Planetary scientists have found an asteroid spinning too fast for its own good. The object, known as 1950 DA, whips around every 2.1 hours, which means that rocks on its surface should fly off into space. So apart from gravity, some other sticky force—identified in a new study—must help to hold the asteroid together.
Astronomers have known that the vast majority of asteroids do not revolve faster than once every 2.2 hours. Beyond this limit, outward centrifugal forces exceed the gravitational pull the asteroid exerts on surface rocks, and the asteroid falls apart. But there are dozens of asteroids that spin faster than this theoretical cutoff. One idea is that these outliers are solid, metallic bodies with a tensile strength that would allow spins of any speed. But scientists tend to favor a “rubble pile” model—clumps of gravel and grit held together loosely—and these porous objects would not be able to resist a spinning self-destruction.
To figure out why that doesn’t happen, Ben Rozitis, a planetary scientist at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and colleagues took a closer look at 1950 DA, a near-Earth asteroid 1.3 kilometers across that orbits the sun every 2.2 years. The asteroid achieved notoriety in 2002, when astronomers announced that it had a one in 300 chance of hitting Earth in the year 2880, though that probability has since diminished to one in 19,800. The team knew the shape and size of the asteroid from abundant astronomical observations. Calculating its mass and density was more challenging.
Sunlight falls on parts of the asteroid and is retained as heat that provides a tiny propulsive force. This retained heat—and the resulting force—can be modeled by observing the asteroid in the infrared. By comparing these forces to small drifts in the asteroid’s measured orbit, Rozitis and his colleagues were able to calculate its mass, which was 2.1 trillion kilograms.
With the mass in hand, the researchers could then calculate gravity’s strength over the entire asteroid. They found that on about half of the asteroid’s surface—mostly near the equator where things spin the fastest—rocks should be flying off. Indeed, observations suggest that the asteroid’s surface is relatively smooth, and Rozitis and his colleagues calculate that any rocks larger than 6 centimeters across would have been lost already.
What’s keeping the remaining small rocks and dust on the surface? The researchers suggest van der Waals forces, weak forces caused by the attraction of polar molecules, which have slightly different charges on different sides of the molecule. For example, water molecules exhibit surface tension because of van der Waals forces, because the negative charge of one water molecule’s oxygen atom is attracted to nearby water molecules’ hydrogen atoms, which have a positive charge at their surfaces. Similar attractions could be occurring between molecules on the surfaces of different pieces of dust and rock. Rozitis says that the forces would be comparable to those that caused lunar dust to stick to astronauts’ space suits.
The paper, published online today in Nature, is a nice demonstration for a particular asteroid of a phenomenon that has been suspected for a long time, says Keith Holsapple, a planetary scientist at the University of Washington, Seattle, who was not involved with the work. “They look at it and say there must be some cohesion.” He’s not sure if van der Waals forces are sufficient to keep the asteroid together, however. Most laboratory estimates of these forces have been made with uniformly sized spherical particles, and he would like to see a variety of shapes and sizes tested in order to better approximate the textures of an asteroid.
Regardless, Holsapple says, it’s clear that small, fast-spinning asteroids like 1950 DA are fragile—and that they could easily be surrounded by a halo of rocks and particles that have been flung off. With NASA’s human exploration program targeting asteroids—and with some companies planning to mine asteroids in the distant future—asteroids like 1950 DA might best be left off the shortlist of targets, he says.This is a cliché by now, but the public schools where I live are producing test-takers: pretty good ones, as far as the numbers show. At parent night at the beginning of the school year, we were introduced to a curricular program explicitly built around “assessments”—the new euphemism, I gather; maybe it intimidates less. A new study now purports to show that testing doesn’t enhance cognition. I’m not sure it was supposed to, but in any event, the critique is that teaching to the test fails to improve learning outcomes. I’m inclined—warning: this is anecdotal—to believe it does improve them, but toward the bottom, where massive investments are being made. What we may be losing in the bargain is what these tests don’t capture: excellence at the top. Welcome to Tocqueville’s democratic equality.
The Obama Administration’s Race to the Top initiative encourages all this; we can thank No Child Left Behind for it too. Enormous resources are being invested to lift those at the bottom who are unprepared to learn, have difficulty taking tests and so forth. This is unsurprising: What gets measured gets done, and what gets rewarded gets done faster. It is difficult to believe the effect is not positive: that learning to do better on math tests, for example, does not at some level teach some students to do better at math.
The problem is that there’s only so well bright kids can do on these exams, and the incentive to invest in them beyond that point vanishes. Since they max out at the 99th percentile, they are, as it were, fully capitalized businesses with limited growth potential. Raising an intelligent student’s score marginally yields far fewer rewards than improving a less capable student’s score substantially. The result—there are, for example, myriad programs for struggling students but none for gifted ones at my local schools, and parents around the country have been driven to the manifest absurdity of demanding IEPs under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to obtain services for uniquely bright children—is less a race to the top than from the bottom.
Tocqueville nailed this as so many other things, noting democracy’s propensity to lift the lowest while flattening the elite:
[I]f you meet less brilliance [in a democracy] than within an aristocracy, you will find less misery; pleasures will be less extreme and well-being more general; knowledge not as great and ignorance more rare; sentiments less energetic and habits more mild; there you will notice more vices and fewer crimes.
The United States has been able to avoid Tocqueville’s tradeoff between the greatness of knowledge and the rarity of ignorance through—still generalizing here—ample resources and a rejection of envy. The first is at risk from the steady conquest of discretionary spending by entitlement spending. It means we cannot invest everything we want at the bottom and still spend all we wish at the top; decisions have to be made and balances struck that no one wants to face but that grownups cannot avoid. As to the second—the rejection of envy—its survival amid conditions of scarcity is less clear. In either case, virtues—thrift, hard choices and goodwill—are called for. Perhaps a standardized test for character would help.Shutterstock
Canadian telecom company Bell has been fined a hefty $1.25 million CAD (~$970K USD) by Canada’s Competition Bureau for posting fake application reviews on the App Store and Google Play Store. Apparently, a handful of Bell employees were encouraged to post positive reviews and ratings of the MyBell Mobile and Virgin My Account apps in Apple’s App Store and the Google Play Store, without mentioning that they worked for Bell. The ratings have since been removed by the Canadian company, but Canada’s Competition Bureau decided that the damage was already done.
But how did Bell get caught? The company’s rogue behavior was first discovered by Scott Stratten, who was already well aware of the applications’ poor ratings in the app stores. Then out of the blue, the apps began rising in the ranks thanks to the 5-star reviews, and Stratten got curious. After doing some digging on LinkedIn, he discovered that the majority of the reviews were made by Marketing Managers, IT Executives and Project Managers from Bell.
In a statement, Paolo Pasquini, director of communications and social media for Bell, told The Globe and Mail:
The postings were the result of an overzealous effort on the part of our service team to highlight the app. It’s certainly not Bell’s practice to encourage employees to rate our products, and we’re sending a clear message out to the team to that effect.
Aside from the fine, Bell has agreed to “enhance and maintain it’s corporate compliance program,” with a specific focus on prohibiting the rating of its own applications. Bell will also host and sponsor a workshop to promote and discuss “Canadians’ trust in the digital economy,” which will include talks on the integrity of online reviews.Photo via Pixabay
Under the broad anti-terror legislation tabled Friday, Canada's spy agency, the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS), will be given broad new powers to investigate and "disrupt" terrorist plots. Canada's police services will be able to go after online terrorist propaganda.
When the bill was tabled on Friday afternoon, the Prime Minister vowed to prevent attacks like the ones that hit Ottawa and Quebec in October.
The powers included in Bill C-51 come with little new oversight or transparency. The core of the provisions will allow CSIS to disrupt attacks the organization believes may occur in Canada or abroad.
The government calls them "disruption warrants," and they will let Canada's spies do just about anything. According to the legislation those warrants authorize the spies to "enter any place or open or obtain access to any thing," to copy or obtain any document, "to install, maintain or remove any thing," and, most importantly, "to do any other thing that is reasonably necessary to take those measures."
To use the new measures, once passed by Parliament, the spies will need to apply to a judge to authorize operations to stop a terrorist attack. The legislation doesn't offer many caveats on that power, instead enabling the spies to take whatever measures they feel are necessary, in Canada or abroad. So long as a judge agrees, it's all fair game—even if it's illegal.
The word install appears to be an indication that CSIS should have powers to install malware and keyloggers, which the government has already moved toward legalizing.
On top of that, the bill offers no new oversight for CSIS. Currently, it is policed by the Security Intelligence Review Committee (SIRC), which has been lambasted for being woefully inadequate and staffed by political appointees.
The opposition NDP have already raised concerns about these new powers and the corresponding lack of oversight.
"This is obviously a serious addition to the powers that CSIS would have, and it requires some serious questions," said NDP foreign affairs critic Paul Dewar.
The proposed "disruption warrants" are good for up to 120 days, and can be renewed twice. The legislation is explicit that authorities can ignore the laws of Canada and any foreign state while operating under such a warrant.
Also included in the bill are new powers for the government to put Canadians on the no-fly list and keep them there, and to share information about possible security risks with airline carriers and other departments.
The proposed law allows people placed on the no-fly list to appeal the decision. But the bill also gives the minister new powers to ensure that it's harder for people to get off the list—including, as C-51 lays out, the power to introduce evidence "even if it is inadmissible in a court of law." That could include evidence obtained illegally.
What may prove the most controversial part of the bill is the provision allowing police to order what the government deems terrorist propaganda taken off the internet, and allowing the authors of websites calling for terrorist attacks to be arrested and hit with significant jail time.
Police will be able to issue takedown notices, subject to the approval of a judge, to force website hosts based in Canada to destroy comments, blogs, or webpages that are found to promote or glorify terrorist organizations or attacks. People who have posted such material will be allowed to appear in court and defend their postings, although they will open themselves up to self-incrimination if they do so. If they don't appear in court, the judge can decide to order the information to be deleted anyway.
Promoting terrorist attacks on a website could also net you up to five years in prison. The bill says that if someone intentionally advocates or promotes terrorism, "knowing or reckless as to whether it would result in terrorism," it is a crime.
The legislation also allows both Public Works and Citizenship and Immigration Canada to share information proactively, without being asked, to national security agencies, if they believe there is a terror threat.
Immigration handles Canadians' passport information, while Public Works maintains the Controlled Goods Program. The utility of information they might share was laid out in briefing documents provided to reporters: "During a routine inspection, officials discovered that 10,000 large-caliber NATO ammunition rounds were unaccounted for. What's more, a foreign delegation recently visited the facility. Following this visit concerns were raised about potential links to a terrorist organization."
In that hypothetical scenario, the document says, Public Works could contact public safety agencies independently.
Concerns will obviously be raised that, without any legal protections or oversight, letting bureaucrats share individuals' personal information on a whim infringes on privacy. This government has already made it possible for tax agents to share Canadians' personal information if they believe a crime has been committed. These measures essentially encourage bureaucrats to surveil Canadians, even if it's well outside their mandate.
The legislation also seeks to lower the threshold allowing police to investigate and arrest suspected terrorist planners and hold them without charge while they investigate the possible threat.
Police will only need to prove to a judge that an attack "may be carried out," as opposed to establishing that the attack will be carried out, as is currently necessary.
Under the same changes, police can detain individuals for up to seven days without charge. They will also be able to apply for a 'terrorism peace bond' which will allow them to surveil, track, and limit the travel of individuals for up to five years. Police will be able to forbid that person from having a passport, and can even limit their travel to a specific geographic area.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced the new legislation in Ontario, alongside Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney and Justice Minister Peter MacKay.
He brushed aside criticisms that the bill adds no new oversight while vastly expanding CSIS' powers. He even went so far as to chastise opposition parties for suggesting that security and civil liberties are mutually exclusive.
"[Canadians'] freedom and their security, more often than not, go hand in hand," Harper told a crowd of supporters, continuing that "it was a jihadi terrorist that took away our freedoms," not police officers.
Follow Justin Ling on Twitter.The Doctor’s backyard is the whole of time and space. All of the universe and beyond to explore and make his mark. The Doctor Who production team’s backyard, however, is sunny, sunny Cardiff. With limited budgets and time, it’s understandable that the team use – and reuse – the resources on their doorstep.
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If you’ve paid enough attention over the years you might just have noticed that some locations and sets have starred as different places in different episodes – but just how many times have they visited that quarry, that castle, that park?
Did you spot these?
1. Llansannor Court – Cowbridge, Wales
This is Llansannor Court, Wales. Or to you and me, the home of Lady Eddison in 2008’s The Unicorn and the Wasp. Or the home of Me in 2015’s The Woman Who Lived. Or Torchwood House, ‘Scottish’ residence of Queen Victoria and home of the werewolf in 2006’s Tooth and Claw. Yep, this house has been used quite a bit. Unsurprising really, it’s a beautiful estate.
2. Coedarhydyglyn House – Cardiff, Wales
In 2012’s The Angels Take Manhattan Amy, River and the Doctor go to Grayle’s House to try to find Rory. Six years earlier in 2006, they would have found the Cybermen – it was also Pete and Jackie Tyler’s lovely home in episodes Rise of the Cybermen/Age of Steel and Doomsday. It also posed as Amy and Rory’s anniversary present from the Doctor – the Savoy hotel in series seven’s The Power of Three. Recognise that stairwell?
3. Eddie’s Diner – Cardiff Bay, Cardiff
This 1950’s style diner has been used twice in two massive story lines. 2011’s The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon and 2015’s Hell Bent. At the end of that series nine finale, Clara went through the toilet door and into her very own console room, meaning that the diner is in fact a kind of disguise for the TARDIS. Which would make sense, as 2011’s opener saw the Eleventh Doctor emerge from the same door with his TARDIS visible in the background. The diner itself is in Cardiff and is now a tourist spot for fans.
4. The Wales Millennium Centre – Cardiff
If you need a futuristic hospital, this art centre-cum-theatre is clearly the way to go, with the building having been used for both the “Cat Hospital” as seen in 2006 episode New Earth and the “time-streamed” hospital from 2011 episode The Girl Who Waited. It’s also played the building where the Master makes his first address as UK Prime Minister in 2007’s The Sound of Drums, so it’s good at public-sector work in general.
The building’s exterior has also popped up a few times in episodes like Last of the Time Lords and Boom Town, as well as in Cardiff-set spin-off Torchwood.
5. Dyffren Gardens – Vale of Glamorgan, Wales
Speaking of The Girl Who Waited, that episode also features one of Doctor Who’s most significant reused locations – this garden on the Dyffren Estate, which appears as part of Amy’s hospital in that episode only to reappear as Missy’s “Heaven” virtual reality in 2014 episode Deep Breath (above), with actress Michelle Gomez hinting that could be no coincidence…
But that’s not the only time we’ve seen this garden – it previously turned up in The Sarah Jane Adventures in 2009 episode The Eternity Trap (above) and in Torchwood for 2007’s Something Borrowed (below). Clearly, if new spin-off Class doesn’t film there too it will never be a true part of the Whoniverse.
6.The Dyffren Estate (again) – Vale of Glamorgan, Wales
God, they love the Dyffren. Outside of the oft-used garden (above), the Edwardian house and grounds have represented the French palace gardens of King Louis XV in The Girl in the Fireplace (2006), Churchill’s office in The Wedding of River Song (2011) and CAL’s database in Forest of the Dead (2008).
7. Clearwell caves – Gloucestershire, England
The second series of New Who spent a lot of time at these Gloucestershire caves, with the formation doubling for both the Sycorax spaceship in David Tennant’s debut episode The Christmas Invasion and the titular Satan Pit from 2006 two-parter The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit.
8. Fforest Fawr – Powys, Wales
This Welsh woodland appeared most notably as the home of Robin Hood and his merry men in 2014’s Robot of Sherwood, though it’s also turned up in 2013 episode The Bells of St John, 2014’s In the Forest of the Night and recent two-parter The Girl Who Died/The Woman Who Lived.
9. Castell Coch – Tongwynlais, Wales
This red-themed courtyard and keep stood in for the German UNIT base Martha visits in 2008 finale Journey’s End, the Calvierri castle in 2010’s Vampires of Venice and the home of the new Cybermen in 2013’s Nightmare in Silver. Still versatile in its old age, eh?
10. Southerndown Beach – Mid Glamorgan, Wales
A generic beach can be handy for Doctor Who, with this particular location standing in for two alien planets (unnamed in 2006’s Army of Ghosts and as Alfava Metraxis in 2010’s The Time of Angels), a parallel universe (in the Tenth Doctor and Rose’s tearjerking farewell in 2006 finale Doomsday and 2008’s Journey’s End) and the power converters for a spaceship (in 2012’s Dinosaurs on a Spaceship). And the cliff was also the site of a monastery in 2012’s The Bells of St John.
11. Cosmeston Medieval Village
This handy pre-built medieval village has appeared in both Robot of Sherwood (2014) and The Girl Who died (2015), where it was home to Maisie Williams’s young Viking Ashildr and was attacked by a fake Odin and his Mire army.
12. The National Museum of Wales – Cardiff, Wales
This is definitely one of Doctor Who’s most popular locations, over the years having stood in for Van Staten’s alien exhibition hall in 2005’s Dalek, the site of Professor Lazarus’s demonstration in 2007’s The Lazarus Experiment, the gallery that was robbed in 2009’s Planet of the Dead, the Musée Dorsay in 2010’s Vincent and the Doctor (below, with the exterior doors filmed at the Millennium Centre) and the museum seen in series five finale The Big Bang.
More recently, the location has appeared as different museums in 2013 anniversary special The Day of the Doctor and 2014 episode In the Forest of the Night (both below).
13. Neath Abbey – Neath, Wales
It’s played two different versions of the Tower of London (the UNIT lab in 2012’s The Power of Three and the spaceship version in 2010’s The Beast Below), a monster-infested crypt in Vincent and the Doctor and a chapel in 2011’s The Rebel Flesh/The Almost People – not bad for a little abbey from Swansea, eh?
14. Cardiff Castle – Cardiff, Wales
Cardiff Castle played a huge part as the primary location in instant-classic 2015 episode Heaven Sent, but by that point it was already a Whoniverse veteran.
Used for 2013’s The Name of the Doctor, 2012’s The Snowmen, 2011’s The Rebel Flesh/The Almost People as well as several Sarah Jane Adventures and Torchwood episodes, it’s basically location royalty.
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Also notable is the fact that, like Neath Abbey (above), the castle has been used as a Tower of London stand-in – though in this case the location was used for Steven Moffat’s OTHER Cardiff-filmed series, Sherlock. Versatile place, Cardiff.Almost every distillery tour follows the same format. First, you’re led by a display of raw materials. Then, the guide takes you around the fermentation tanks and by the still. But the magical part is what comes next. Once the whiskey is collected from the still, it’s put into barrels and stored in cool, shadowy warehouses called rickhouses. The air here smells of the vanilla and oak and grain from the spirit that’s evaporated. And since most rickhouses aren’t even wired for electricity, you almost feel like you’ve stepped back in time. Whatever comes from here will taste like pure wonder.
In reality, the spell was cast long before you stepped foot into these whiskey-scented buildings. Labels, websites, and other bits of marketing work together to paint pictures about things like generations of distillers, specific grain blends, or the surface details of aging. And within those first steps of any tour, a guide spins a narrative made of half myth and half fact, incorporating widely accepted statistics like the percentage of each barrel that evaporates each year. Despite the lack of published evidence to back such information up, these whiskey standards are often repeated as fact, especially by PR reps, bartenders, and enthusiastic consumers.
The truth is, most of the research being done on whiskey, especially about how and why it ages, will never be available to the public. With revenue from whiskey sales topping $2.7 billion in 2014 in the US and projected to keep rising, producers’ hesitance to share is somewhat understandable. In many cases, the data collected could give any company a competitive advantage.
As this high-stakes competition is increasingly met by consumers demanding more product and information, a kind of arms race has developed. On the one side, producers and scientists alike are racing to discover what affects the aging process and precisely how it works. On the other, an ever-growing number of entrepreneurs is inventing new ways to try to sidestep the years previously required to produce what we would all recognize as whiskey.
Fortunately or not, both the old guard and new experimenters working the quick- |
sources — would have been met. But let’s not play dice with the biosphere and humanity’s future on this planet, and bet everything on such wishful thinking. It would be a risky gamble indeed.My mother has never had much interest in science fiction and fantasy stories. I definitely inherited my love for all things strange or magical from my dad, but long ago Mom introduced me to something I never thought could be found in her collection. The Planet of the Apes series. The idea of people costumed as humanoid apes capturing and studying the remaining humans in the area wasn’t very appealing to me, and to be honest after watching the film my opinion wasn’t altered.
Andy Serkis: Motion Capture Brilliance
In 2001 Tim Burton attempted a reboot of the concept starring Mark Wahlberg and, of course, Helena Bonham Carter. Long story short, it was ill received.
In 2011 The Rise of The Planet of The Apes premiered, and in it Andy Serkis captures the essence of a chimpanzee whose intelligence has allowed him to evolve into the character we are introduced to in the 1968 film. Through performance capture, we see the animated Ceasar’s eyes and fur, but are actually viewing Serkis’ performance in each scene.
Andy Serkis is no stranger to motion capture and animated acting, as he has portrayed many characters in which his face is hidden. Andy’s voice is connected to a few truly iconic characters.
Smeagol/Gollum
Serkis stated that he is reminded of his work as Smeagol and Gollum on a daily basis. That being said, his role in the world of Middle Earth is what put him on the map as a motion capture performer. His famous hiss can be heard across countless lands. Precious, isn’t it?
The Witch King
Although Brent McIntyre donned the suit in Fellowship of the Ring, Andy Serkis actually voiced The Witch King.
Cleanie
In 2003, Lord of the Rings parodies came at you from every angle. In the Simpson’s episode titled Dude, Where’s My Ranch?, the family encounters an animal-like elderly man with a familiar voice and stature. Serkis himself lends his voice to this Gollum-like being.
King Kong
In Peter Jackson’s adaptation of this epic story, Andy Serkis is seen on screen as Lumpy. But his larger contribution to the film comes in the form of the great black ape himself, Kong. Another fantastic motion capture performance. The duet scenes between Kong and Ann Darrow are elegant and delicate. I know in my case, many tears have been shed in those quiet moments. Simply beautiful.
Captain Haddock
Steven Spielberg was introduced to the Tintin books while working on Raiders of the Lost Ark, and delved deep into the cherished stories immediately. Knowing that he wanted to bring Tintin to life the best way he could, Spielberg contacted Peter Jackson and Weta Digital. Thus the casting of Andy Serkis as Captain Haddock, and yet another performance capture project.
Along with his many acting feats, Serkis has shown his chops behind the camera as well. He worked as the second unit director for the entire Hobbit trilogy, of which the final chapter will be released in December 2014.
Although Andy has been nominated and awarded honors for his work in motion capture technology, he has yet to be nominated for an Oscar. The Academy has actually never nominated someone in an acting category for their motion capture performance. Many have noted that Andy Serkis’ performance in The Rise of the Planet of the Apes deserved far more recognition than he received, and I completely agree. It may not have been my favorite film of the year, but it was a breakthrough in the world of detection film-making.
With that being said, I am very interested in seeing Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. After our single word from Caesar in Rise, the thundering “No!”, could we hear more from the creatures this go around? If so, will there be more of a possibility for Serkis to be nominated for his mo-cap performance?
Only time will tell, but I believe that it is finally time to pay credit where credit is due.A team of researchers at the Manchester Metropolitan University led by Associate Dean for Research and Professor of Electrochemical and Nanotechnology Craig Banks received a £500,000 grant the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council to create 3D printed structures and objects with graphene inks.
Banks announced, “Energy storage systems (ESS) are critical to address climate change and, as clean energy is generated through a variety of ways, an efficient way to store this energy is required.”
According to Banks, batteries 3D printed with graphene inks can expand the storage of charge in the batteries and super capacitors. This advantage will be crucial to factories or manufacturers that are in need of sustainable and long lasting batteries.
“This project will be utilizing the reported benefits of graphene – it is more conductive than metal – and applying these into ESS. We’re trying to achieve a conductive ink that blends the fantastic properties of graphene with the ease of use of 3D printing to be manipulated into a structure that’s beneficial for batteries and super capacitors,” explained Banks in his research.
The project which will run approximately for three and a half years will focus on using pure graphene to build high quality and long lasting batteries. According to Banks, most organizations and individuals that have attempted to use graphene in 3DPrinting electrical components have utilized a mixture of graphene or ‘semi-graphene’, which often lead to low-performance and ineffective.
“We need to figure out a way to cure it directly, possibly by shining a UV light on to it, as anything above a micron level takes a long time. Ideally, we could have the brilliant scenario where you just plug in and go – printing whatever structure you want out of graphene from a machine on your desk,” stated Banks.The Question: How does an electric eel generate electricity?
Submitted by: Leland P., Vermont, USA
The Short Answer: The cells of all living things generate electrical charges. In an electric eel (Electrophorus electricus), thousands of modified muscle cells in the thick tail are lined up like batteries in a flashlight. Though each cell generates only about 0.15 volts, in a large electric eel, six thousand cells may be stacked to make one giant battery that can generate as much as 600 volts for a short pulse. A standard car battery generates 12 volts, so an electric eel has 50 times the shocking power of a car battery (though with less amperage).
Despite their name, electric eels aren’t actually eels (Anguilliformes). Native to South America, the eel-like fish are actually knifefish, in the Gymnotiformes order. Like many other members of this order, electric eels use electricity for sensing prey by creating weak electric fields and then sensing distortions in that field. It seems probable that the electric eel’s more powerful shocking ability evolved from organs originally related to electrical sensing. Compared to other fish, in the electric eel, organs like the heart and liver are located very close to its head. Even its intestine is shortened and looped, keeping it close to the front of the body. This allows the remainder of the electric eel’s body to be given over to swimming muscles and electrocytes, the “battery cells.” Electric eels can reach 6 feet (2 meters) in length and weigh nearly 45 pounds (20 kg). The shock from an electric eel can be very painful because the voltage is high, although it isn’t likely to seriously harm an animal as large as a person. The jolt from an electric eel can incapacitate the fish and crustaceans that are the electric eel’s prey, however. The eel, which generally lives in dark, murky water, then uses its electrical senses to find the stunned prey and swallow it before it recovers.
More About Batteries and Electric Eels: One key to understanding how electric eels can generate such high voltages is to know what it means to put batteries “in series” versus “in parallel.” A battery works by creating a difference in electrical charge. The positive (+) end of the battery is at a higher electrical potential than the negative (-) end. If the two ends are connected, through the wires of an electrical device like a light bulb, for example, particles will flow so as to equalize the charges. The stored energy that moves those electrons in the wire filament of the bulb is what we call voltage.
As an analogy, think of water flowing down a mountain stream. The height of the mountain is the voltage. Water will flow from the top of a mile-high mountain with much greater energy than it will from the top of ten foot bump. If you step in the stream from the ten foot bump, you’ll feel a gentle massaging flow. Step in the stream with the same amount of water from the top of the mountain and you might get knocked over. And you can imagine that if you stack two mountains on top of each other, water will flow from the top with even greater energy. That’s the way it is with batteries. Stack two batteries in “series” so that the negative end of one battery connects with the positive end of the next, and the voltage adds up. Two 1.5 volt batteries stacked in series inside a flashlight combine to produce 3.0 volts worth of electrical energy.
But what does connecting batteries “in parallel” mean? Imagine if instead of connecting the batteries end to end, you line them up side by side and attach wires to connect the positive end of one battery to the positive end of the other. Then connect the negative end of the two batteries. Now connect the combined batteries to the light bulb. While this doesn’t give you the same energy that stacking the batteries end to end gives, it gives you the ability to move more electrical particles. Using the mountain stream analogy again, putting batteries in parallel is like standing two mountains side by side, each with a similar stream coming down. The water comes off the two side by side mountains with the same energy as from a single mountain, but now there’s twice as much of it.
Of course, it’s possible to do both. Stack two mountains on top of each other and then stand another two-mountain stack next to that one. And by connecting batteries end to end into stacks and then connecting several stacks together, it’s possible to increase both the driving energy (voltage), and the capacity to produce electricity.
Now, back to electric eels. The electrocytes of electric eels are arranged in stacks, each stack insulated from the next. Every stack of thousands of electrocytes acts as a separate “battery” that can generate voltages as high as 600 V. The separate stacks of cells then combine to give the electric eel the ability to generate a sizable pulse of electricity. Pure water is a poor conductor of electricity, but the waters where electric eels live have enough salt and other minerals to make them conductors. When an electric eel shocks the water, current flows out of the front part of its body, through the water, and back to the fish’s tail. Any other organisms in the vicinity will feel the stunning effect of this powerful current as it goes through them.
How electrocyte cells produce electricity: As I mentioned above, every cell generates tiny electrical charges. This is done primarily by moving various positive ions (charged atoms or molecules) of metals such as sodium, potassium, and calcium out of the cell, which makes the outside of the cell positive compared to the inside of the cell. These ions might move back into the cell to equalize the charge difference, but cells use chemical energy to continually “pump” the ions out of the cell. This is all part of normal cell chemistry. This “resting voltage” is typically about 0.085 volts. In most cells, this charge isn’t much use as a battery, however, because it’s uniformly spread around the outside of the cell. The outside of the cell is positively charged and the inside is negatively charged. This arrangement makes impossible to stack them up to generate a high voltage. The electric eel’s electrocyte cells are different, however. They aren’t symmetrical. They have a relatively smooth side that is connected to nerve fibers, and a relatively convoluted side that is not. And all the electrocytes in a stack are oriented in the same direction, with the smooth side towards the tail and the convoluted side towards the head.
When the nerve fibers send a signal to an electrocyte, special pores on the smooth side of the cell open, allowing positive ions to rush into the cell. This temporarily creates an additional charge across the cell membrane on that side of the cell of about 0.065 volts. Now, instead of having a negative inside and a positive outside, the cell temporarily has a 0.085 volt difference across the convoluted side, and a similarly oriented charge of about 0.065 volts on the smooth side. These charges are essentially stacked in series, so that the end result is a brief charge across the entire cell of about 0.15 volts (0.085 +0.065).
But here’s the problem. This directed orientation of the charges doesn’t last long. In short order, the pores on the smooth side close, and the cell reverts back to its resting state. So if a normal nerve signal went out from the brain to each electrocyte, the signal would reach the first cells in the stack before it reached the cells at the end of the stack. By the time the cells at the end fired, the ones at the beginning would have already shut off again. Somehow, the electric eel has to synchronize the firing of thousands of electrocytes in a stack so they all turn on at the same time and add together to create the big voltage needed to shock the fish’s prey. Exactly how this works is not yet known, but it appears that at least three factors are involved:
Nerve fibers closer to the head are smaller than those near the tail. Nerves closer to the head also tend to take a more winding path than nerves near the tail. Slower chemical signals are used in nerve fibers closer to the head.
All of these factors tend to slow nerve signals near the head and speed the ones near the tail. This equalizes the arrival of the signal, and allows all the electrocytes in a stack to fire at the same time.
Why Don’t Electric Eels Shock Themselves? A very common question asked by people who learn about the amazing powers of electric eels is “Why don’t electric eels shock themselves?” After all, they’re in the same water as their prey – and the current is being generated right inside them. Part of the answer to that question is that they probably do, in fact, shock themselves. Electric eels in the process of shocking have been observed to curl up and thrash a bit, just as if they were being shocked. But clearly, this shock, something they would experience repeatedly, doesn’t incapacitate them. One possibility is that the eels have evolved to be resistant to the pain and damage caused by shocking. They feel the shock, but it doesn’t bother them as much as it might bother other animals. It could also be that the eel is insulated from its own shocks. Of course, it can’t be completely insulated. If it is going to shock the water and its prey, it has to be electrically open to current going out and coming back. Remember, however, that all the eel’s vital organs are located very close to its head. It’s possible that the eel is electrically constructed so that it’s head and internal organs are mostly insulated and the current flows out from and back into the rest of the body. This combined with a tolerance to the effect of shocks might provide the answer.
Thanks for assistance to:
Dr. Leo G. Nico at the Southeast Ecological Science Center of the US Geological Survey in Gainesville, FL http://fl.biology.usgs.gov/All_Staff/nico.html
Dr. Bernd Kramer at the University of Regensburg, Germany. http://www.biologie.uni-regensburg.de/Zoologie/Kramer/index_en.html
Dr. Peter Moller, at Hunter College, New York. Author of Electric Fishes: History And Behavior, Chapman & Hall (Jul 1995). http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/psychology/faculty/the-faculty-folder/moller
How Do Electric Eels Generate Electricity? Retrieved from Cite this article as: Pelletier, TC. (November 15, 2010).Retrieved from http://askanaturalist.com/how-do-electric-eels-generate-electricity/ on February 27, 2019.Even though we've been swept into the pulse-pounding vortex of the presidential campaign, every once in a while something happens in the news which snaps us back into the dark reality that an incompetent shit-kicking hoople still occupies the White House.
This past Tuesday, for example, while the stock market buckled under the weight of a subprime-fueled recession; while oil prices drove the rate of inflation to its largest increase in 26 years; and while Citigroup panhandled for bailout cash from various and infamous foreign governments including Saudi Arabia, President Bush was busy participating in something called a "sword dance" at the Al Murabba Palace in Riyadh.
In terms of America's reputation and economy: one of the worst days imaginable.
President Bush, who has resolved to both reduce our addiction to oil and to spread democracy to the Middle East, had to skulk around with the Saudi royals -- like freakin' Gollum with an ill-favored look -- begging for more precious evildoer oil.
Rewind to three long years ago this month. The theme of the president's second inaugural address (pardon me as I involuntarily convulse at the bilious recollection of George W. Bush delivering a second inaugural) was "Celebrating Freedom" and he discussed his mission of bringing democracy and liberty to oppressed people around the world:
We will persistently clarify the choice before every ruler and every nation: The moral choice between oppression, which is always wrong, and freedom, which is eternally right. America will not pretend that jailed dissidents prefer their chains, or that women welcome humiliation and servitude, or that any human being aspires to live at the mercy of bullies. We will encourage reform in other governments by making clear that success in our relations will require the decent treatment of their own people. America's belief in human dignity will guide our policies, yet rights must be more than the grudging concessions of dictators; they are secured by free dissent and the participation of the governed. In the long run, there is no justice without freedom, and there can be no human rights without human liberty.
Freedom. Rights. Liberty. Justice. Human dignity guiding our policies. Awesome! I've heard worse from this fear mongering imperial authoritarian.
Yet in an effort to inject more foreign oil into the tract-marked veins of the desperate American economy, the President of the United States played with swords inside the garish walls of that Saudi palace.
There's a rule -- something about running with scissors -- which ought to have applied here. But the implicit hazard of an accident-prone Ruprecht waving a sharpened blade in the vicinity of living humans fails to underscore the true danger and indignity of the event -- the real-world horror of our constitutional defender and chief diplomat dancing and smirking while brandishing those Saudi weapons.
While the sword President Bush had slung over his shoulder like a clump of Crawford scrub wasn't specifically an executioner's sword -- in the same way a looped and knotted length of rope isn't specifically a hangman's noose or a Teflon-coated hollow-point bullet isn't specifically a cop-killer -- the resemblance was striking enough to send a message that the United States -- the "shining city on the hill" or whatever the hell Saint Reagan called it -- is willing to toss aside its commitment to human rights, justice and democracy in order to sniff the taints of our true global masters: the House of Saud which, last year, conducted at least 136 public beheadings in these so-called Chop Squares. It's also worth noting that during the same year in which President Bush delivered his second inaugural, the Saudis publicly beheaded 191 people.
CBS News: A condemned convict is brought into the courtyard, hands tied, and forced to bow before an executioner, who swings a huge sword amid cries from onlookers of "Allahu Akbar!" Arabic for "God is great."
The Saudis decapitate criminals, apostates, foreigners, homosexuals, Christians, women and even witches. Many of those who are beheaded are found guilty without due process using shoddy evidence at best and, subsequently, too many decapitations are carried out on innocent people. In defiance of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Saudis continue to sentence children to death. Late term abortions, if you will.
On the upside, the "convicted" criminal is injected with a cocktail of drugs in order to prevent the decapitated body from scurrying around -- spraying blood all over the audience. So at least the decapitations are... audience-friendly?
Here's a Saudi executioner from the city of Mecca named Abdallah Bin Sa'id Al-Bishi describing his profession (don't worry, it's just an interview):
And there was the president at the Al Murabba Palace in Riyadh holding a sword not unlike the ones used by executioners like Abdallah Bin Sa'id Al-Bishi to decapitate children. There was the president, celebrating with Saudi authoritarians who preside over the world's 159th least democratic nation. To that point, only eight nations are less democratic than Saudi Arabia and those nations include Burma and North Korea.
So much for the moral choice between oppression and liberty, Mr. President. So much for our successful relations requiring the decent treatment of a nation's people. So much for human dignity guiding our policies.
Meanwhile, we're in the business of invading and occupying nations like Iraq even though the House of Saud helped to finance the 9/11 attacks. We're in the business of selling our national sovereignty to the Saudis at discount prices -- prices which were driven down by corporate malfeasance -- malfeasance which was encouraged by Bush Republican deregulation. We're in the business of merrily pumping Saudi oil into our cars while refusing to seriously conserve and, with our ridiculous hillbilly-defiance, we fool ourselves into believing that driving these vehicles is somehow "patriotic" while we accuse men like Al Gore of being unhinged.
Worst of all, the United States has been reduced to begging for relief like junkies -- hat in shaking hand. Forget the relevance of the swords as they relate to human rights and the awful truth still remains: despite the president's inaugural remarks and despite our national pride, we continue to grovel at the feet of the world's 159th least democratic nation in order to keep our economy and our way of life from collapsing. The least our president can do is to show some dignity by not glad-handing this oppressive regime -- while gripping their oppressive weapon of choice.Overnight saw a significant ramp higher in crude prices as, presumably, the Paris attacks sparked further Mid-East tension fears and increased the war premium (as Japanese economic growth raises more demand conccerns). But that has all gone now as WTI Crude nears a $39 handle once again...
And, for the first time since February 2009, OPEC Oil Basket price has traded with a $39 handle.
As Bloomberg notes, the daily OPEC Basket Price fell to $39.21 a barrel on Nov. 13, according to an e-mail on Monday from the organization’s secretariat in Vienna. The basket, an average of export grades from each of the group’s 12 members, typically trades below international oil futures as some OPEC nations pump denser or higher-sulfur crude that’s less profitable to refine.
Charts: bloombergOn September 27th, the Chinese smartphone brand Xiaomi has launched the Mi 5s and Mi 5s Plus smartphones as the successors to Mi 5 that was first showcased at MWC 2016. A few weeks back, they also launched the Mi Note 2 with dual curved glass and also the Mi MIX concept smartphone. Apart from the high-end specifications, Xiaomi has one more new feature in common with all these devices. These devices will feature NFC and fingerprint sensor for making secure authorization of mobile payments using Mi Pay. It can even be used as physical bus and metro cards replacement. While this same feature is announced with Mi 5, all these features are never made available for the consumers.
At the Mi 5s and Mi 5s Plus launch event, Xiaomi announced the fully featured NFC options to be available for both the devices. The device listing on the company’s official website mentioned that all these features will be available with the stable MIUI 8 update that is said to be released by the end of October. Now, even after two weeks after the mentioned time, the company hasn’t released the update. From translating the device listing page on the Xiaomi’s Chinese website, now it is expected to get the MIUI update by the end of this year featuring full-fledged NFC options. We guess the company might have updated the listing without leaving any note.
The Mi 5s Plus will be supporting three modes of NFC including card mode, point to point (P2P) mode, and card reader. To make use of all NFC-based payments, the swiping machines need to support NFC. For bus and metro cards, most of the cities are using the latest technology that supports NFC by default. The Mi 5s Plus with 4GB and 6GB RAM options went on sale starting from September 29th in China. Now a Chinese Mi 5s Plus user named Zhang has sued the company for false information. He brought the all new Mi 5s Plus smartphone from Mi Store on October 15th only after reading that the complete NFC features supporting bank, bus, and metro cards will be available by the end of October.
He waited till November 1st for MIUI 8 update, and later he asked the company for refund and compensation for false advertising. As the refund was unsuccessful, the user has filled a case in one of the district courts of Beijing. Interestingly, the court accepted the case yesterday in accordance with the Consumer Protection Act. The case is under further investigation, and we can only know get the complete information after the judgment. This is not happening for the first time for Xiaomi. In 2014, the company was accused of showing the wrong number of devices sold during the flash sales in Taiwan. Though the company had apologized, it faced a fine of NT$ 6,00,000 (approx $18,800 / Rs. 12,74,000).
Later in 2015, Xiaomi has violated the strict advertising laws of China where the usage of superlatives are banned including the ‘best’ which is used by the company. Coming to the latest case, we can only share more information once there is any update from the company or after the final judgment is announced. Stay tuned on Phone Radar for more update!- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Manhattan Crisis is the alleged name of the title.
- Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and Michelangelo are the four playable characters, each with their own varied move set and weapon of choice (sword, bo staff, sai, and nunchucku…respectively).
- Flashbacks are played as Master Splinter/Hamato Yoshi.
- Shurikens, smoke bombs, grappling hooks, and climbing foot spikes.
- Gameplay and story/stage progression similar to Batman: Arkham City.
- Classic characters such as Bebop and Rocksteady (warthog and rhinoceros), Dr. Baxter Stockman, Shredder (Oroku Saki), and Krang act as bosses and in the case of the humans-turned-mutants, you fight them in both forms throughout the story.
- The Turtle Van and Turtle Blimp will be present and with them and other gadgets, the Wii U build is expected to have touch screen controls for specific actions.
- Multiplayer is unknown.
- Graphics engine used is that of Arkham City.
- The game is expected to be more dark than slapstick, but the turtles themselves and their interactions with the Foot Clan, bosses, and story characters like April O’Neil and Casey Jones will still have comedy attached.
- Purportedly being in development for Wii U, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3.
- Careful selection of voice actors to bring the universe to life as well as Rocksteady did with their two Batman games.
- Manhattan Crisis shares a similar name to the 1991/1992 NES title, “The Manhattan Project”, but is very much its own title.
With Batman: Arkham City's wildly successfully run the obvious question is what is what will Rocksteady develop next. With Rocksteady riding Batman's coat tails all the way to video game supremacy a number of fans were asking for a Superman game. According to PGN Rocksteady is indeed developing another game, but not with The Man of Steel rather with The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The game is tentatively titled, and is expected to have more of a dark tone than a comedic one.Once again this is only a rumor and has not been confirmed by anyone at Rocksteady. Another rumor that is floating around is that Rocksteady is also only interested in developing another DC character. Check out PGN's list of why this rumor could be real or why it could be fake by clicking HEREA system crash blacking out broadband service for all 11.4 million of Time Warner Cable’s customers for three hours early Wednesday morning raises questions about the stability of U.S. Internet infrastructure and the potential impact of Time Warner’s proposed mega-merger with Comcast, experts say.
A human error that cascaded throughout Time Warner’s Internet routers appears to have triggered the outage. The company said in a statement that during overnight network maintenance, “an erroneous configuration was propagated throughout our national backbone.”
“It looks like someone put the wrong configuration into one or more devices that propagated throughout their network,” says David Erickson, a cofounder of Forward Networks, a startup that develops advanced networking software. “This type of error is preventable, and detectable with the right software.”
A spokesman for Time Warner Cable, Scott Pryzwansky, would not discuss the details of the incident or why it wasn’t prevented, but he said the company is working to make sure it never happens again.
The lack of disclosure about accidental outages is itself a serious issue, says Jonathan Zittrain, professor of Internet law at Harvard Law School and the John F. Kennedy School of Government. “We ought to have standards for release of data by broadband providers to allow apples-to-apples comparisons and tracking of outages over time so the public, and policymakers, can gauge trends in connectivity,” he says.
Companies are required only to disclose details about forthcoming planned outages, not to share information after accidental ones. And Time Warner Cable is already in trouble for failing to do that. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission said Monday that the company had admitted to not submitting network outage reports on time and would pay a $1.1 million fine.
Wednesday’s outage also highlights a lack of alternatives to U.S. customers if one provider flames out. Some 28 percent of U.S. customers have only one choice of broadband provider and 37 percent have two, according to the FCC.
When just one or two companies own all the information networks in a region, the impact of any outage is increased, says James Cowie, chief scientist at Dyn, a company that provides Internet traffic management and performance assurance. “Right now, last-mile monopolies and duopolies are a significant source of risk in the American Internet, and it’s not yet clear how to build around that,” he says.
Time Warner Cable is the second-largest cable company in the nation and is seeking federal approval for a proposed $45 billion merger with the number one provider, Comcast. This week’s outage is sure to figure in regulators’ analysis of what impact the merger could have on consumers, says Susan Crawford, professor at the Benjamin Cardozo School of Law and co-director of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University (see “Here’s Why the Proposed Comcast/Time Warner Cable Merger Is Bad”).
She says the incident lends weight to arguments that cities and other public agencies should be encouraged to build their own networks and dilute the influence of corporations over the nation’s information infrastructure. “Time Warner’s crash is another argument for why we should be doing everything we can to help municipalities build alterative fiber networks,” she says.
The Time Warner Cable outage is believed to have been one of the largest ever to occur in the United States, though exact data are not available. But it wasn’t the only wide-scale failure in the past week. Last Saturday the small cable provider Charter Communications, which serves far fewer customers, also suffered a nationwide outage.
Harvard’s Zittrain says that the Time Warner and Charter outages also highlight the need for emergency networks that can fill in when communications are disrupted. Such capacity is currently lacking, he says. For example, wireless networks were overloaded after the Boston Marathon bombings (see “Former FCC Chairman: Let’s Build an Emergency Ad Hoc Network in Boston”).On Friday, the Federal Bureau of Investigation announced that it had arrested three white men, Curtis Allen, Gavin Wright and Patrick Stein, who as part of a militia group called the Crusaders planned to bomb a housing complex and mosque in Garden City, Kansas. Allen, Wright and Stein had stockpiled 2,000 pounds of ammunition and numerous homemade bombs to conduct the attack.
Their intended victims were Somali immigrants. In information gathered by the FBI, Stein, the apparent ringleader, told his followers, “If you're a Muslim I'm going to enjoy shooting you in the head.” Stein also instructed his confederates, “if you start using your bow on them cockroaches, make sure you dip them in pig's blood before you shoot them.”
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The destruction and murder would have been total. Allen, Wright and Stein planned to spare no one from their hateful wrath; babies and children would be killed along with adults. Stein told his fellow militia members, “When we go on operations there's no leaving anyone behind, even if it's a 1-year-old. I'm serious. I guarantee if I go on a mission those little fuckers are going bye-bye."
Their ultimate goal was to “send a wake-up call” to (white) Americans about the “threat” posed by Muslims. Stein said "the only fucking way this country's ever going to get turned around is it will be a bloodbath and it will be a nasty, messy motherfucker."
In this political moment, the Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s tendrils are everywhere: Stein is an avid supporter of Trump and was organizing a “security detail” to protect his hero and champion when he visited Pennsylvania and Ohio in late October.
The bomb plot by Allen, Wright and Stein is part of a larger pattern. As reported by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, 79 mosques were attacked last year. The Southern Poverty Law Center has documented how the number of hate crimes against Muslims has increased this year.
The murderous actions planned by Allen, Wright, and Stein are the very definition of terrorism: politically motivated violence against a vulnerable civilian population.
The headlines from major American news outlets, however, described Allen, Wright and Stein as “militia members” instead of “terrorists."
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White privilege takes many forms in America. Terrorists are nebulous brown “Arabs” and “Muslims." White privilege deems that such a label not be applied by the mainstream news media and in the popular discourse to white Christians such as Allen, Wright and Stein.
On these matters, white privilege also imperils public safety. Since 2002 more Americans have been killed by white Christian right-wing terrorists than by Muslims or Arabs. As reported by Duke University’s Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security in 2015, “Law enforcement agencies in the United States consider anti-government violent extremists, not radicalized Muslims, to be the most severe threat of political violence that they face.” In its announcement about the arrest of Allen, Wright and Stein, the FBI also referred to the Crusaders as "domestic terrorists."
But the right-wing media and the Republican Party has chosen to actively suppress that information — as was the case with West Point’s Combatting Terrorism Center’s findings about the threat posed by right-wing anti-government groups, which were met with protests, derision and threats to cut research funding. In all, the image of the Muslim-Arab bogeyman with a suicide vest hiding under the beds of white middle America does more political work for conservatives than a mature discussion of the significant dangers posed by white right-wing radicals and terrorists in the “sovereign citizens” and militia movements.
White privilege also deems that certain questions will not be asked about the Crusaders and its nefarious plans to kill Somali immigrants in Garden City, Kansas.
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What are people like Allen, Wright and Stein learning in their churches and other places of worship? Are the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security monitoring those sites?
Who radicalized Allen, Wright and Stein?
What role does Fox News, the Republican Party and the right-wing media play in teaching white Christians like Allen, Wright and Stein to hate Muslims?
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Where were Allen, Wright and Stein’s family members and neighbors? Are they aiding and abetting them? Why didn’t they call the police earlier?
Given that 2016 Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is openly hostile toward Muslims, should he be held responsible for encouraging violence and terrorism against that community?
It is no coincidence that the Crusaders' terrorist attack was planned for Nov. 9 — the day after the election. The political movement of fascist Donald Trump has normalized political violence in contemporary American politics. Allen, Wright and Stein’s plan to kill Somali immigrants in Garden City is a reflection of that reality.
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At his rallies, Trump extols the virtues of such behavior. Like a political thug in a banana republic, Trump threatens to put Hillary Clinton, his Democratic rival, in prison if he wins the presidency. Moreover, Trump’s supporters have even been recorded threatening Clinton’s life. Trump’s foot soldiers have attacked Black Lives Matter and other protesters and sucker punched an elderly woman in the face at a rally in North Carolina. Armed Trump minions have also pointed guns at protesters.
It is becoming increasingly clear that the question is not “will there be blood on Election Day and thereafter?” but rather how much blood will be spilled by Trump and the basket of human deplorables — a rabble that includes terrorists — over which he wields control like a political Rasputin.The life of a community manager is challenging and rewarding. Building systematic ways to engage a community and understanding why they value being part of the group they've chosen is what I find most challenging. Celebrating the successes of the community is what I’ve found most rewarding.
Since the very beginning, I knew that we wanted to build a community around the philosophy of the open source way at Opensource.com. |
5:39 p.m. update: A severe thunderstorm warning has been issued again for our Beltway storm, which is now pushing across the eastern and southeastern Beltway. The warning includes parts of Northeast and Southeast as well as central Prince George’s County, and is in effect until 6:00 p.m. Look for this storm to be packing wind gusts in excess of 60 mph.
Kettering, Woodmore, Westphalia are next, along with the Six Flags area. This storm will probably reach Bowie in the next 15 minutes or so.
5:30 p.m. update: The view from Freedom Plaza as the storm arrived.
5:26 p.m. update: The strong thunderstorm has reached the District with gusty winds, heavy downpours and thunder and lightning. While the leading edge is blowing through quickly, there’s quite a bit of rain trailing this storm. You might need to wait 30 or 45 minutes before it all clears out, though the heavier downpours should be over before that.
5:20 p.m. update: The storm that’s moving through the Beltway no longer has a severe thunderstorm warning, but it will still be packing strong winds along the leading edge, along with very dark skies and heavy downpours. See below for photos from social media of this storm as it’s pushing east.
The District is next — time to get indoors!
5:12 p.m. update: Our severe-warned storm (below) is now crossing over the southwest Beltway and moving into eastern Fairfax County. Will be in Arlington and Alexandria within minutes. All flights inbound to Reagan National are being held at their origin until 5:45 p.m. as this storm moves through the D.C. metro.
5:00 p.m. update: This severe thunderstorm (below) is pushing east very quickly, rolling through Fairfax County now. Western suburbs inside the Beltway are next — Annandale, Arlington, Alexandria — you should expect this storm, which is packing wind gusts around 60 mph, in the next 15 minutes or so.
Skies are getting dark at DCA!
4:45 p.m. update: A severe thunderstorm warning has been issued for the areas outline in yellow below for a particularly quick-moving storm with wind gusts over 60 mph. This storm is trucking east just south of I-66 at around 40 mph, and will probably reach the Beltway between 5 and 5:20 p.m.
4:15 p.m. update: The tornado watch now includes the entire D.C. and Baltimore metro areas except for Calvert and St. Mary’s counties to the southeast, and is in effect until 8 p.m.
The Storm Prediction Center notes that we are not in a particularly large risk of tornadoes, but “a couple” are possible, and thus the watch. The more likely threats this evening are strong winds with gusts up to 70 mph, and isolated large hail around an inch or 1.5 inches in diameter.
Area in tornado watch through 8 p.m. (National Weather Service)
2:45 p.m. update: A tornado watch has been issued for counties west of the immediate D.C. metro area until 8 p.m., which includes Loudoun and Fauquier counties and locations to the northwest, west and southwest. The National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center says “a couple” tornadoes are possible in the large watch area, which extends from central Virginia through central Pennsylvania (to the NY state line). It says the best chance of any tornado activity is in central and eastern Pennsylvania.
Area under tornado watch (NWS)
As far as tornado watches go, this is at the low end of the spectrum in terms of severity with just a 30 percent chance of 2 or more tornadoes in the watch area and just a 20 percent chance of a large tornado, rated EF2 or higher on the 0-5 EF tornado intensity scale.
Remember a tornado watch means atmospheric conditions support the possibility of tornado formation and to stay alert, but does not guarantee tornadoes will form. A tornado warning, on the other hand, means a tornado has been detected by radar or observed and you should take cover immediately.
Original post, from 1:30 p.m.
Building heat and humidity and an approaching front present the opportunity for thunderstorms to break out this afternoon and, especially, this evening. A storm or two could reach severe intensity with damaging winds and/or hail.
Basic information:
Storm timing and coverage: 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. for scattered to widespread storms (60 percent chance of measurable rain at a given location); 2-8 p.m. for more isolated storms (30 percent chance of measurable rain)
Storm progression: West to east
Most likely storm hazards: Brief downpours, lightning, gusty winds
Possible storm hazards: Damaging winds, small hail, isolated weak-brief tornado (best chance north of District, 5 percent chance within 25 miles of a given location)
Unlikely storm hazards: Long-lived and/or large tornadoes, large hail, flash flooding
General forecast confidence: Medium (biggest uncertainties are 1) the coverage of storms this afternoon, and 2) how well storms late this evening hold together)
Model forecasts
The HRRR model tries to develop a line of storms this afternoon, but we don’t see a lot of support for that. We think any storms that develop before 8 p.m. or so will be hit or miss (isolated).
The majority of the models (the HRRR included) show a line or broken line of storms pushing through the region between about 8 p.m. and 1 a.m. They suggest it may be fairly intense on approach from the west and northwest, but weaken as the storms near Washington and to the south and east. See the NAM model radar forecast below, which is more or less representative of the suite of available models:
NAM model simulation of storms after 10 p.m. tonight (WeatherBell.com)
Technical discussion
There will be a disconnect between arrival of the forcing (i.e. the cold front or shortwave) and the best instability. The front is presently over the Great Lakes, along with the shortwave. The National Weather Service analysis pushes the front through our region at 8 a.m. tomorrow (Tuesday).
With increasingly southerly winds, both the dew point and temperature will rise through the day. This will build instability, which is forecast by the SREFs (model ensemble forecast) to reach between 1500-2000 J/kg. This is modest, and does not raise the specter of widespread severe thunderstorms.
Wind shear (the increase in wind speed with height) is also forecast by the SREFs, and other models, to remain below about 30 knots. During the afternoon, the shear is expected to be stronger across PA and NY, and any increase would not impact our region until overnight, as the shortwave approaches.
The high resolution forecast models (NAM 12 km, NAM 4 km, HRRR) portray a line of convection moving through our region after 8 p.m. (see example above), with the most favored window between 8 p.m. and midnight. These storms will most likely have formed over the mountains during the late afternoon and evening, well ahead of the cold front. However, instability will be decreasing as these storms push through, with the probability of severe storms diminishing.
The NWS Storm Prediction Center (SPC) indicates the northern and western half of the area is under a slight risk of severe thunderstorms and the southern and eastern half of the area under a (lesser) marginal risk of severe storms.
Thunderstorm risk outlook from NWS Storm Prediction Center
In terms of probabilities, SPC assigns a 5 percent chance of a tornado and a 15 percent chance of damaging winds in the slight risk zone mainly north and west of the District.
In summary: Showers and thunderstorms are expected to hold off until late today, with greatest impact during the evening, perhaps persisting for several hours into the overnight. A line of activity with a few embedded strong storms, and perhaps a few widely scattered severe cells, seems most likely during the evening. The system should be progressive enough such that flash flooding is not a concern. Strong wind gusts, small hail and frequent lightning are the most likely issues.Image copyright Peter Schouten Image caption Microleo attenboroughi was small enough to fit inside a handbag, according to Australian scientists
A miniature marsupial lion, extinct for at least 18 million years, has been named after Sir David Attenborough after its fossilised remains were found in a remote part of Australia.
Teeth and bone fragments from the kitten-sized predator, named Microleo attenboroughi, were found in limestone deposits at the Riversleigh World Heritage Fossil site in north-western Queensland.
The researchers named the new species after the British broadcasting legend because of his work promoting the famous fossil site, which provides a record of nearly 25 million years of Australia's natural history.
When Microleo was still prowling around, in the early Miocene era (roughly 19 million years ago), the arid, outback ecosystem was a lush rainforest.
"It likely ran through the treetops, gobbling up birds, frogs, lizards and insects," says Dr Anna Gillespie, a palaeontologist at the University of New South Wales (UNSW).
Dr Gillespie, who has been working at Riversleigh and preparing fossils for 20 years, helped recover fragments of the animal's skull and several teeth.
Image copyright UNSW Image caption The relatively tiny tooth row of Microleo attenboroughi (top), compared with the tooth row of its Pleistocene relative, the lion-sized Thylacoleo carnifex
It's far from a complete skeleton, but it's an important part of the puzzle."Crucially, we have got the third premolar, which is an elongated tooth that looks like a blade," she told the BBC.
The razor-sharp tooth, used to tear up prey, is a common feature found in all known members of the family.
"It immediately tells us it's a marsupial lion," she says.
Pocket-sized predator
But the tooth is by far the smallest of its kind ever recovered.
It's about one-tenth the size of the 3cm-long "bolt-crunching" teeth belonging to the largest and last surviving marsupial lion, Thylacoleo carnifex, which went extinct about 100,000 years ago.
Thylacoleo weighed about 130kg (286lbs) and was Australia's largest carnivorous mammal. It was a fearsome predator about the size of an African lion, with the bite strength to match, and hunted megafauna such as giant kangaroo and diprotodon.
In sharp contrast, Dr Gillespie and her team estimate that their "little guy" weighed only 600g, and was about the size of a kitten.
"We weren't expecting to find a marsupial lion of this small size," she says. "It might have been a bit too big to fit in your pocket, but it would have fit quite comfortably in a handbag. It would have been very cute."
Image copyright UNSW Image caption The Neville's Garden site is renowned for the rich diversity of fossils that have been discovered there over many years
The team has ruled out the possibility that the fossils belonged to a juvenile, or a malformed member of a related species. This is due to their distinctive shape, the fact that all the molars have erupted and the presence of "very clear wear patterns".
"This animal has been running around hunting things for quite a while. So it's definitely an adult," says Dr Gillespie.
The team from UNSW has described the new species in the journal Palaeontologia Electronica.
Unmatched diversity
With this find, the researchers have determined that at least three different marsupial lions were co-existing in the ancient Riversleigh rainforest.
"This level of diversity is unmatched for the family at any other time in their evolutionary history," the researchers note.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Sir David Attenborough has long promoted Australia's Riversleigh World Heritage Fossil site
One marsupial lion (Priscileo) weighed about 1.8kg, and was about the size of a cat. Another yet-to-be described species (Wakaleo) weighed around 30kg, about the size of a small Labrador dog, says Dr Gillespie.
She says it indicates that they may have been co-operating, dividing up the food resources to reduce competition between themselves.
The fossil was found in a location at Riversleigh known as Neville's Garden, which has become renowned for its rich diversity of animals.
Image copyright UNSW Image caption Microleo was tiny compared to other members of the marsupial lion family, which included the enormous and fierce Thylacoleo
It's yielded bandicoots, possums, kangaroos, toothed platypuses, small koalas, thousands of bats, fish, turtles, lizards, pythons and a range of rainforest birds.
"My colleagues have been working at Riversleigh for 40 years," says Dr Gillespie.
"In that time we have processed tonnes of limestone, and got thousands and thousands of fossils back, but this is the only specimen from this animal.
"So it's rather enigmatic in this way," she says. "It might have been a rare species in that ecosystem, but we still have to hunt for more."
'Freakishly productive'
Stephen Wroe, an associate professor of zoology and palaeontology at the University of New England in NSW, who was not involved in the study, says the discovery raises new questions about the origin of the marsupial lion family.
"Until quite recently there were only a few marsupial lion species known. Over the last decade or two evidence from Riversleigh has seen this jump to 11 subspecies," he says.
"This most recent find doesn't just increase the known diversity in terms of species numbers - it greatly expands the diversity of known morphologies."
Mr Wroe says the team has done a good job estimating the body size: "No matter how you wash it, this little guy was tiny relative to other members of the family."
He says its diminutive size may explain why only a single specimen has been found.
"In general Australia's fossil record is very poor over this time period," he says. "Riversleigh is a freakishly productive area in this respect."David Cameron agreed to a meeting with one of Rupert Murdoch's senior executives that was arranged by the lobbyist now at the centre of the Jeremy Hunt scandal, The Independent on Sunday has learnt.
Frédéric Michel, whose numerous emails to Mr Hunt's special adviser have put pressure on the Culture Secretary to resign, set up the secret talks between Mr Cameron and Jose Maria Aznar, the former prime minister of Spain and a member of Mr Murdoch's News Corporation board.
The involvement of Mr Michel, the head of public affairs for News Corp, in such a top-level meeting severely undermines his portrayal by Mr Hunt and the Prime Minister as simply a lobbyist and "Walter Mitty" fantasist.
We’ll tell you what’s true. You can form your own view. From 15p €0.18 $0.18 $0.27 a day, more exclusives, analysis and extras.
The previously undisclosed meeting in November 2009 also shows how Mr Cameron was being assiduously courted by News Corp executives beyond the Murdoch family, as the company was gearing up for its bid to take over BSkyB.
George Osborne and William Hague were also present at the talks, The IoS understands.
The Prime Minister is under increasing pressure over the Leveson inquiry ahead of the appearances this week of the former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks and Mr Cameron's ex-communications chief, Andy Coulson.
At the same time, Mr Cameron is struggling to contain open revolt among Conservative MPs over the direction of his party, including pressure from some figures to sideline George Osborne as election strategist, following Boris Johnson's securing of a second term as London Mayor. Mr Johnson's double victory exposes Mr Cameron's weakness as a leader who never crossed the finishing line, say some MPs.
After weeks of post-Budget turmoil culminating in the Tories' and Liberal Democrats' dismal performance in the local elections, Mr Cameron will try to restart his premiership this week with a businesslike Queen's Speech and a renewed statement with Nick Clegg of the aims and priorities of the coalition. Mr Cameron is also finalising plans for a major cabinet reshuffle to refresh his top team.
But the relaunch will be overshadowed by the appearances of Mr Coulson and Mrs Brooks, two of the people connected to News International who became closest to Mr Cameron and have the capacity to cause maximum damage to the PM under questioning from Lord Justice Leveson and Robert Jay, QC for the inquiry.
The meeting between Mr Cameron and Mr Aznar was in early November 2009, just weeks after The Sun ended its support for Labour and backed the Conservative Party. At the time, News Corp was preparing to announce its bid to take over BSkyB. It is not known whether the future of the digital broadcaster was discussed at the meeting, but it is likely that the commercial interests of News Corp arose. The Conservatives never announced that the meeting had taken place. A Spanish news agency later reported details of the talks, but this was not picked up in the British press. Mr Cameron had also recently met James Murdoch at the George Club in London to discuss The Sun's support for the Tories.
The secret meeting shows the extent to which Mr Cameron was engaging with News Corp executives, as well as the media tycoon himself, his son, James, and Mrs Brooks.
The meeting brought together Mr Aznar, a centre-right elder statesman in Europe inside the Murdoch circle, with a British prime minister-in-waiting who had just won the seal of approval from the media tycoon. At the time, Mr Cameron was struggling to convince his centre-right counterparts in Europe, including Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy, that he had made the right decision in leaving the mainstream European People's Party and creating a new grouping which involved hard-right parties from Poland and the Czech Republic. The Tory leader would have been eager to impress Mr Aznar.
The Government has made strenuous efforts to distance Mr Hunt and Mr Cameron from Mr Michel after emails revealed at the inquiry showed how he and Adam Smith, the Culture Secretary's special adviser, were in close contact while the minister had responsibility for the BSkyB takeover decision.
During questions to Mr Hunt in the Commons last month, a Tory MP described Mr Michel as a "Walter Mitty" figure, a comment which the Culture Secretary failed to dismiss, even though he had met the lobbyist on several occasions.
No 10 has also distanced Mr Cameron from Mr Michel. Mr Smith was forced to resign over the Michel emails, but Mr Hunt has clung on to his job.
In a sign of the panic over the Leveson hearings this week, Mr Cameron and Mr Osborne sent a government lawyer to appeal last Friday for the pair and other senior ministers to have advance sight of Mr Coulson's and Mrs Brooks's written submissions. Mr Cameron, Mr Osborne and six other senior cabinet ministers will have privileged advance access to inquiry documents.
Downing Street refused to respond to specific questions about what was discussed at the Aznar meeting, such as whether they talked about News Corp's commercial interests, including the company's plans for BSkyB, and whether Mr Cameron spoke to Mr Michel at the summit.
A No 10 spokesman said: "All contact with News International and News Corp has been declared in the correct way. The Prime Minister has had no inappropriate discussions about the BSkyB bid, either as Prime Minister or before. He deliberately excluded himself from the process."
News Corp declined to comment.
Mr Aznar, who was prime minister of Spain from 1996 to 2004, was appointed as a non-executive director of the News Corp board in 2006.
As well as in the UK and the US, News Corp has made inroads into Spanish media, including the launch of Fox España in 2002.
Mr Aznar accompanied Mr Murdoch when he flew into London last June ahead of Mr Hunt's decision on whether to grant approval for the BSkyB takeover – which was pulled weeks later when it emerged that the News of the World had hacked Milly Dowler's phone.
Gaga gig tickets for PM's top team
Two members of David Cameron's inner circle enjoyed News International's hospitality at a Lady Gaga concert just days before the Prime Minister discussed the BSkyB bid with James Murdoch.
No 10's chief of staff, Ed Llewellyn, and his deputy, Kate Fall, were in the NI box at the 02 Arena on 17 December 2010.
Four days later, the Business Secretary, Vince Cable, was removed from deciding whether to grant approval for Rupert Murdoch's bid to take over BSkyB after telling undercover reporters how he wanted to "declare war" on Mr Murdoch.
Two days after this, on 23 December, Mr Cameron went to a Christmas party hosted by NI's then chief executive, Rebekah Brooks, where he discussed the BSkyB bid with James Murdoch.
Ms Fall and Mr Llewellyn have declared on the Downing Street website that they received concert tickets from NI, within the rules. It has not been revealed until now that they saw Lady Gaga, right, who was performing the London leg of her Monster Ball tour. The pair were among the 20,000 fans watching Lady Gaga perform hit songs "Just Dance", "Paparazzi" and "Bad Romance", after declaring: "Tonight we're gonna be super freaks!"
Jane Merrick and Charles Engwell
This article originally wrongly attributed a reference to Mr Michel as a 'Walter Mitty character' to Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude, which has since been removed.
We’ll tell you what’s true. You can form your own view.
At The Independent, no one tells us what to write. That’s why, in an era of political lies and Brexit bias, more readers are turning to an independent source. Subscribe from just 15p a day for extra exclusives, events and ebooks – all with no ads.
Subscribe now.ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—Kurdistan Region President Masoud Barzani vowed to go ahead with the referendum for Kurdish independence, saying that the Islamic State (ISIS) and its successors won’t stop the process.
“Independence and referendum had reached an advanced stage,” said Barzani on Tuesday, speaking to a group of Peshmerga fighters who recently returned from Kobane. “They [ISIS] wanted to hit that process, but of course, even if one hundred or a thousand ISIS came, that process will still continue,”
“It is impossible to back down from it,” he added.
Barzani said that the radical group had been manipulated into attacking the Kurdistan Region in the summer.
“There were two reasons that ISIS attacked Kurdistan; first they were pushed to do so and now we are searching to know who pushed them to attack the Kurdistan Region,” he said.
According to Barzani, the second reason was the ‘blind support of the Sunnis to the ISIS,’ hoping to take back the territories under article 140.
The president praised the role of the Peshmerga forces and their sacrifice in Kobane.
“You are the pride of the Kurdish people,” he said. “You recorded a glory for yourself, your families and your country,”
Barzani told a group of 150 Peshmergas who returned to the Kurdistan Region last week after two months of fighting ISIS militants alongside the Peoples Protection Units (YPG).
“The honor of assisting our sisters and brothers in another part of Kurdistan was yours and that is a great honor,” he said.
Barzani said the Islamist militants did not expect the Peshmerga and the people of Kurdistan to stand up to them.
He said, “Helping the defenders of Kobane is a patriotic duty,”The new IMAX laser projection technology has finally arrived in the US, a few months after it was first installed in a Toronto theatre back in December. Its debut movie? Furious 7, of course. If you want to see super-sharp car chases and every detail of the The Rock's muscles, though, you'll have to make your way to the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles. It's the only cinema in the US where you can experience the technology, at least until IMAX installs it in other locations. Similar to budding IMAX competitor Dolby Cinema, this new laser projection system promises sharper, brighter images with more contrast. You'll notice it most when you look at Michelle Rodriguez's dark hair and eyes, black cars and tires, according to The Associated Press.PVS-Studio 6.00 is now released! This is one of major updates for us. Hopefully, this information will be beneficial for our current and new users of the analyzer.
Static analysis for C#
We have added C# analysis support. We have already implemented more than 40 diagnostics for the C# module of the analyzer and this number will continue growing. Although the C# language is much more accurate than C++, we have noticed that some errors are not related to the programming language.
For example, it is so-called "Last line effect". We saw that very often an error gets to the last line of the code block that was written with Copy-Paste method. Unfortunately, it is impossible to protect yourself against such errors no matter how comfortable and well-thought out the language is. There are many more examples of such errors that are common for both C# and C++ languages.
How did we come up with the idea to make a C# analyzer? Currently (December, 2015) we have 235 diagnostics for C++. It turned out that only a part of them are related to coding in C++, the others are typical for C# as well. We have done the analysis of these diagnostics and chose those ones that could be relevant for C#. Besides that we researched the market of other C# analyzers and programming tools for working with the code. We saw that there is some room for our analyzer.
In order not to reinvent the wheel, we have taken Roslyn platform as the basis for our analyzer.
Support for Visual Studio 2005 and 2008 ended
For those who are already using PVS-Studio, the important news is that we are no longer supporting Visual Studio 2005 and Visual Studio 2008 starting from the 6.00 version of the analyzer. Thus PVS-Studio now supports all versions of Visual Studio from 2010 until 2015 (for the current moment – December, 2015). It is a compulsory measure for us. The more versions of Visual Studio we support, the harder it is to maintain them.
Firstly, according to the information we have very few users of PVS-Studio work with VS2005 or VS2008.
Secondly, we run tests for each version of Visual Studio we support. Consequently, the more versions need to be supported, the more tests will be located on the server.
Thirdly, it's not that easy to install and use the whole product line of Visual Studio 2005-2015 due to the conflicts of the versions.
That's why with the release of our 6.00 version we ceased supporting old versions of Visual Studio.
To make the transition process smoother, we will still provide the old 5.XX version of PVS-Studio during some period of time for those who continue working with VS2005 and 2008.
Further steps
We plan to continue developing this analyzer for our "traditional" languages - C and C++.
Besides that we will also work on the development of C# analyzer. In our "ToDo" list there are many more new diagnostics waiting to be implemented.
So now it's the right time to download the analyzer and run it on your code - whether it be written in C, C++ or C#.The Pakistani media are regarded as among the most vibrant in Asia but they are targeted by extremist groups, Islamist organizations and the feared intelligence agencies, all of which are on RSF’s list of predators of press freedom. The various warring parties are always ready to denounce acts of “sacrilege” by the media. The central and regional governments and members of political and religious organizations are also quick to harass, threaten, or physically attack journalists regarded as insufficiently sympathetic to their views. Deadly attacks against journalists continue to take place every year, even if the number has tended to fall in the past five years. In October 2017, armed groups in the southwestern province of Baluchistan issued an ultimatum to journalists, threatening them with violence if they continued to refuse to cover the actions and statements of these groups—coverage that the journalists have not been providing under orders from the security forces. A month later, reporters were again caught in the crossfire when they tried to cover protests by religious activists that brought Islamabad to a standstill. The natural consequence has been an increase in newsroom self-censorship.The Culture, the post-scarcity, hedonistic, Machiavellian, libertarian, ass-kicking science fiction society created by Iain M Banks, is 25 years old. Over eight novels and one short story collection, Banks has created one of the most enduring and endearing visions of the future, and the publication of the ninth Culture novel, The Hydrogen Sonata, confirms his pre-eminence in the field. That said, the success of the Culture novels is rather surprising. Conventionally, a novel is driven by threat, and the Culture – infinitely capable, technologically miraculous, polymorphously perverse – seems capable of fending off each and every threat that comes its way. Consider Phlebas, the first in the series, established the moral paradox that fuels the whole series. How far will an ultra-liberal society go to defend its liberties? While most of the Culture happily switches genders and ingests safe drugs, the Minds – artificial intelligences that run the show – secretly ensure this utopia through the pleasingly euphemistic "Special Circumstances" division. In part, they genuinely believe in their mission. In part, it just staves off the boredom of being the galaxy's apex predator.
Looking back over all the books, it becomes clear that the dual threat to the Culture is not just anomie, but religion. Consider Phlebas was set during the Culture-Idiran war, where the Idirans refused to renounce their religion and set themselves on a self-destruct course against the Culture. In Excession, the Minds confronted a perfect black sphere that was older than the universe and refused to conform to their ideas of reality; a god to the godless. Look to Windward developed ideas that had been in the books from the start: some societies eventually "Sublime" and leave this metaphorically sublunary sphere; this particular novel involved a society which had partially Sublimed, caught between the ineffable and the actual. Matter was set on an artificial planet, shaped like a series of concentric spheres, at the centre of which was a "god". Surface Detail extended the notion of immortality through back-ups of the self: some societies, to the Culture's pursed annoyance, were condemning people to virtual hells.
In the new book, the Gzilt civilisation is preparing to Sublime. They were almost a founding member of the Culture, but declined to join at the eleventh hour; in part, their decision was founded on the fact that of all species in the universe, theirs was the only one whose religious texts had been proven to be completely and utterly true. As other races come to bid farewell to the Gzilt, one delegate, bearing a message, is obliterated. That's enough for the Minds to take an interest in what the unfortunate individual was going to reveal.
Tracking down why a society about to leave this reality would commit a murder leads the Minds to a Gzilt woman called Vyr Cossont, who is spending the remaining days of her society playing the musical piece which gives the book its title (one character caustically says that the piece should ideally be played in a vacuum so that no one can hear it; another calls it "as a challenge without peer. As music, without merit"). She is exceptional only in that she once met the oldest living member of the Culture, a man who has been hiding from their benevolent overlords for so long that he is almost a myth. He might remember what the Gzilt are so keen to cover up, and given that he has written his memories on every part of his anatomy, they need to find not just him but every part of him.
The sheer ebullience of imagination counteracts the Culture's inherent lassitude, and here Banks suggests, more than in the other books, that there is something wanting about the Culture. Why don't they Sublime, for example? The fact that the Minds in this book – always wittily named and more interesting than the humanoids – fancy themselves as a modern-day equivalent of the "Interesting Times Gang" that dealt with the Excession reinforces the sense that utopia can be very boring. The Culture's obsession with the Sublime is done particularly well; the Mind which, uniquely, Sublimed and then came back is a melancholic still point in the hectic action. I hope the next book deals with the "smatter" Banks introduced in Surface Detail: ''self-replicating entities [that] ran out of control somewhere and started trying to turn the totality of the galaxy's matter into nothing but copies of themselves". It is the dark mirror of the Culture's aggressive moral superiority. The Culture is trapped between two unilateral conformities; transcendence and materialism.
Banks can riff like no other science-fiction writer. The description of the party the Gzilt are having as a prelude to Subliming is gloriously baroque and silly; the anxieties of the officials display a keen satire and a keener anger. The protagonists of the Culture novels have almost always been those on the fringe of the Culture itself, and there is a moral empathy with the refuseniks and the renegades that subtly undermines the Culture's disavowed aggrandising ambitions. If there is an arc for the whole series, it is that trouble in paradise comes from paradise, not from a snake conveniently dropped in to cause trouble.
For all that the books are epic in scope and derangingly replete in detail, The Hydrogen Sonata reiterates a key theme: that personal fulfilment, in whatever form that takes, is rare and to be treasured. Vyr Cossont's commitment to playing an almost unplayable piece of music is contrasted with the Mind who can do it immediately, flawlessly and without effort. Banks is always on the side of those trying rather than those succeeding, and that, ironically, is his great success.
• Stuart Kelly's The Book of Lost Books is published by Polygon.One of the finest actors in Hindi cinema, the late Om Puri’s work spans over 250 films in a 30-year long career. He was held in high regard not just for his remarkable body of work in India but internationally. I just finished reading his (highly controversial) biography Unlikely Hero, penned by wife and journalist Nandita Puri. The iconic actor, who’s an institution in himself, shared some very valuable advice in the final chapter. A treasure trove for aspiring actors! I’ve put it down here, as is:
1. Observation
This is perhaps one of the most important tools for an actor. Not only does an actor need to observe and notice his surroundings, he has to take a deep interest in what her observes. As a child, I would often go to the marketplace or the railway station and observe people and their movements and mannerisms.
By observation, I imply feelings and imaginations as well. Even reading newspapers or hearing the radio, sharpens those senses. For instance, soon after the Latur earthquake the story of a little boy moved me deeply. He had lost his entire family in the calamity but refuse to cry for many days till one day he saw his domestic cow. He hugged it and howled. I tried to imagine his emotions and I could feel the tragedy as mine.
2. Intellect and Instinct
Though they are very different, these two primary abilities go hand-in-hand. To be a good actor you need to be well read and well-informed, while acting spontaneously.
3. Involvement and Detachment
It is of utmost importance to be totally involved as an actor, yet there has to be a kind of detachment. A good actor is one who will be objective about his character without losing his passion. Only passion make you an indulgent performer. For example, while Waheeda Rehman excelled in drama, Meena Kumari excelled in melodrama.
Take a situation in a scene when you get a phone call informing you of your brother’s death. Think what the character would really do. If he is a nervy, he may rush out in panic or start howling, if not, he may simply put his wallet and keys in his pocket, lock the door and head out, while intensifying the emotion through the face, not through exaggerated bodily gestures.
4. Subtext
An actor enacts according to his script, but how well he enacts will be based on his reading of the text alone. There is a subtext to everything, the ‘between the lines,’ which is instrumental in moulding an actor’s sensibilities for a well-rounded performance.
While preparing for a role you have to find out more about the character. For example, there is a scene in the text where a young man walks to the bus stop to meet his girlfriend, wearing jeans and a kurta. Now, your work on the subtext begins.
Why is the man walking; does he not have enough money to take an auto or taxi; then maybe he is either unemployed or he lives in a small PG dig or with his family in cramped quarters; wearing the jeans with kurta may also signify his ideological or all political leanings – he may be a Marxist or an activist; not being too well-off, he probably would have had a modest breakfast or maybe just a cup of tea etc.
All these thoughts will help prepare and enrich your performance. You can ofcourse, also ask the writer what he had in mind about this character.
5. Inspiration
Be only inspired by great performances of performers. Do not imitate them. Inspiration is more of an ideal, a standard to look up to, not an example of how to act.
6. Representation
As as an actor most of the time we are representing a character instead of being one. Like in Charlie Wilson’s War, I was merely representing Zia-ul-Haq, and not being Zia. As an actor, sometimes you merely look at a character and replay it.
7. Being a character
However, the ultimate bliss of acting is being the character. When you totally identify with the character and believe in it then you becomes the character. Some examples of the films in which I became the character of Aakrosh, Ardh Satya, Susman and City of Joy. But despite all efforts, at times you are not able to ‘be’ a character throughout |
the favor of the de-facto autonomous Kurdish cantons of northern Syria that have moved in recent months to create their own federal system.
Unlike current Syrian regime laws that stifle the expression of Kurdish expression, the new constitution aims to enshrine the rights of local regions to use “the language of the majority of the population” in addition to the country’s official language of Arabic.
Sectarian and ethnic minorities are also guaranteed legislative representation, according to Al-Akhbar.
The newspaper also claimed that the Russian draft drops the “socialistic and nationalistic” phraseology enshrined in the current constitution, which was approved in a controversial February 2012 referendum held during the early months of the Syrian uprising.
The first article of Moscow’s proposed constitution labels the country as the “Republic of Syria” instead of its current designation as the “Syrian Arab Republic,” while also dropping the present constitution’s oath to “work to achieve social justice and the unity of the Arab nation.”
Instead, the draft calls for a “free economy” and “patriotism,” according to the lengthy article published by the Lebanese newspaper.
Washington and Moscow have labored to kick-start a transition process in war-torn Syria that would follow the approval of a new constitution, which US Secretary of State John Kerry in March voiced hope would be ready by August.
Indirect peace talks between the opposition and regime have fallen apart since, while the Cessation of Hostilities that began in late February look set to completely fall apart as fighting continues to rage across the country.Congratulations to GameKing for winning the second GwentSlam tournament! After finishing in second place twice in a row, during GwenTogether and the previous GwentSlam, he lifted his curse and takes home the trophy as well as 10 Crown Points and $5675 USD in prize money!
Check out the full bracket below as well as the decklists the top 4 players used in the event. Keep in mind that these are tournament decklists where players have the ability to ban one of their opponent's factions.
Results
Metranos ⋆ 3 Tailbot 1 SuperJJ ⋆ 3 Andywand 2 FreddyBabes 3 Adzikov 2 GameKing 3 RandyofCintra 2 Metranos ⋆ 3 SuperJJ ⋆ 2 FreddyBabes 1 GameKing 3 Metranos ⋆ 1 GameKing 3 GameKing
⋆ = These players were invited to the tournament directly and are not eligible for Crown Points
DecklistsThe Toronto skyline was born at the outset of the 1930s. Up until then, the view of the city from a ship entering the harbour was one of church steeples and a handful of buildings that rose over 10 storeys. At the time, Toronto didn't boast a single true skyscraper.
In 1929, the Royal York Hotel made its mark at 28 storeys, briefly bearing the crown of the tallest building in the British Empire before the headquarters of the Canadian Bank of Commerce took the mantle at 34-storeys just a year later. It would hold onto that designation all the way until 1962.
We now refer to this building as Commerce Court North, the oldest part of a complex of office towers that also includes I.M. Pei's understated but lovely Commerce Court West at 57 storeys. The prominent spot on the skyline that our first true skyscraper once enjoyed has been mostly lost to modern structures, but few would argue against the idea that it remains one of our most beautiful buildings.
You might point out that the now lost Temple Building deserves the title of first Toronto skyscraper, but at 12 storeys, it was only remarkable for its height for the first decade after it was built back in 1896. By the time the late '20s had rolled around, building heights had soared in other cities, and the Toronto skyline lacked any true showpieces.
Commerce Court North was designed by Pearson and Darling Architects of Toronto, though American firm York and Sawyer consulted on the engineering of the building. Constructed out of limestone, the tower is a wonderful representation of Art Deco architecture right down to its positively dreamy gold-plated ceiling (still a huge draw for local Instagrammers).
Few photos of the 1930s in Toronto are more iconic than those of the R100 Airship cruising by Commerce Court. One wishes that the resolution of these were higher so that you could peer in and see the sculpted faces that circle the observation deck near the top of the building.
They're a startling bit of old school architecture, but hard to get a good look at because access has been bared to this area. That's not to say, however, that some explorers haven't managed to get up there. The resulting photos mark what a shame it is that the observation deck isn't open to the public.
Commerce Court North turned 85 years old this year, and boy does it ever still look good.
ADDITIONAL PHOTOS
Photos via the Toronto Archives, Commerce Court, James Anok, tomms.oh, WTF: “sexy” ‘Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ poster misses the fucking point entirely
You know, there’s a reason why the original, untranslated title of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is The Men Who Hate Women. And Lisbeth Salander, the dragon-tattooed woman — not girl; she’s a goddammned adult, for Christ’s sake — herself has good reason to understand intimately men who hate women. And her attire — the spiky hair, the piercings, the dark eye makeup, everything she wears — is designed to say Stay the fuck away. Salander is not a woman who is courting the male gaze. She is attempting to deflect it. She is like a porcupine warning all off.
The Swedish poster for Man som hatar kvinnor (The men who hate women) gets it right:
Salander is daring the viewer, with her gaze, to just fucking try something. Also: She’s fully clothed.
And now take a look at the poster for the Hollywood version, coming this Christmas (via CinemaBlend.com):
What. The. Fuck. Rooney Mara’s Salander is practically fucking naked. Her gaze is a submissive come-on, not a challenging keep-away. Daniel Craig’s arm is around her in a way that cannot even be said to be condescending and protective: it looks like she is his captive. And why the hell is he fully dressed? There’s more no reason for her to be naked than him… yet she is presented as a sexual object — which is entirely contrary to the spirit and the theme of the character and the story — while he is not. It would make just as much sense for him to be naked on the poster as it does for her to be.
I’ll tell you fucking what: This looks like an illustration of men who hate women… even though the character Craig plays, Mikael Blomkvist, is supposed to be one of the good guys.
Is David Fincher’s movie going to miss the point, too?
Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in /home/flick/public_html/wptest/wp-content/themes/FlickFilosopher/loop-single.php on line 106Dwayne Bowe has seven healthy scratches and three receptions this season. The Browns gave him $9 million guaranteed over a two-year contract. It’s unclear how he became such a non-factor so quickly.
The 31-year-old receiver talked to Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com, calling his performance “the ultimate challenge.” Bowe missed time when he got hurt in training camp, but he’s been healthy during the season. He believes he can still play:
“Of course I can still play,’’ said Bowe. “I show it every day in practice. I feel like if they put me in there and threw the ball to me, I would’ve made big plays.’’
Here’s another excerpt:
Bowe, who caught 60 passes for 754 yards last season in Kansas City, isn’t really sure what happened to him here. “Honestly I have no clue,’’ he said.
Is it Bowe, or the Browns? Receiver Brian Hartline is done for the season after breaking his collarbone Sunday, and it’s not like the team has any wideouts who demand targets. What did Bowe do to deserve less playing time than guys like Marlon Moore and former QB Terrelle Pryor? Of all the Browns’ subplots, this is the most mysterious.
Advertisement
[Cleveland.com]
Photo: AP
H/t to PI Was There Too #48
On the second of three very special Star Wars trilogy episodes of I Was There Too, Matt is joined by Clive Revill who voices The Emperor in the pre-special edition 1980 film The Empire Strikes Back. Clive tells us about how director Irvin Kershner reached out to him for the role, finding the voice for The Emperor, and his thoughts on the final physical representation. Then, expert witnesses Pete the Retailer and Alex Robinson of the Star Wars Minute podcast join Matt to figure out who and actually what played the body of The Emperor during a new segment called Was I There Too? Plus, another classic Star Wars Superego sketch!
This episode is brought to you by Stamps.com.
THE ORIGINAL FOOTAGE:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKtciRCVpFE
EXHIBIT 1:
https://www.amazon.com/Making-Star-Wars-Empire-Strikes/dp/0345509617
EXHIBIT 2:
http://x3rxe5.tumblr.com/post/148866162957/all-hail-the-chimperor-prior-to-beginning-return
EXHIBIT 3:
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/marjorie-eaton-the-original-emperor.50033425/
EXHIBIT 4:
See the pics posted on this page.Anti-abortion campaigners can be callous, but Savita Halappanavar is not the kind of woman they find easy to dismiss. She wanted to have children, and part of the anti-abortion pretence is that mothers are the only women who count, and restricting terminations is good for mothers. In contrast to this fiction, NHS Choices explains how treatment of miscarriage may involve inducing early labour or evacuating the womb contents – in other words, performing an abortion – to prevent infections like that which killed Halappanavar.
Not that you'd have any idea of best practice from reading Youth Defence's response. The organisation (which professes to be "protecting mothers and babies by keeping abortion out of Ireland") issued a self-contradictory statement claiming Halappanavar's death wasn't due to Ireland's abortion ban, and anyway, the procedure doctors refused to perform wouldn't have been an abortion, but instead classed with "interventions to deal with the cause of the illness … not considered a therapeutic termination of pregnancy".
Live Action News brought out a grasping reiteration of its favourite refrain, "abortion never saves a woman's life. It just kills a baby." Writer Josh Craddock determined that Halappanavar's death could be blamed on the belated delivery of antibiotics, rather than the lengthy exposure to infection caused by leaving her to miscarry over many days. And you can trust him, he's a doctor. Sorry, not a doctor: a PPE student who had read some newspaper reports on the case.
Craddock also decided that it wasn't Ireland's law at fault, but "pro-choice advocates" for "obfuscating between interventions that risk the life of the unborn child and direct abortion". Perhaps he was getting "pro-choice advocates" confused with the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, which opposes abortion in all circumstances – including, according to its statement, circumstances in which a woman's life is imperilled by continuing the pregnancy. *
"Rather than removing the protection of the womb from unborn children, the ethical response to emergency situations in pregnancy is medical treatment of the mother for the conditions causing the emergency," says SPUC. There's no acknowledgment that the "protection" referred to is for a woman who may die in the process, possibly because SPUC considers the worthlessness of women to be so self-evident it is unworthy of explanation.
Even more compassionate anti-abortion voices reveal their commitment to a brutal hierarchy of life. While there are many principled pro-choice Catholics, the Catholic Herald follows an anti-abortion editorial line. Its commentary on Halappanavar bemoans "a heretical misreading of Catholic moral law" in her reported treatment – termination should have been permitted once "[i]t was clear that [Halappanavar's] death would in any case lead to the death of the child". But note that Halappanavar's life is subordinate to that of the foetus – according to this formulation, her death would apparently be acceptable if the foetus could survive at her expense. Some people have a funny way of being "pro-life".
Then there's Judith Woods in the Telegraph. "What a shameful time to be Irish, Catholic and anti-abortion," she writes affectingly. "As I'm all three, I hang my head in mortification." She goes on to explain why she hopes Halappanavar's case won't lead to liberalisation in Ireland: "Once you have seen four cells under a microscope in an IVF laboratory and by some miracle witnessed them become an embryo, then a foetus, a baby, a little girl, it is utterly impossible not to believe that life begins at the moment sperm and egg fuse."
If Woods understands IVF, presumably she knows that several embryos are created for each attempted pregnancy: treating each one as if it were the moral equivalent of a child would mean implanting them all, and exposing the woman to the dangers of multiple pregnancy – and the embryos to a competitive uterine environment that would mean none of them survive. Even the self-professedly pro-life tend to recognise in practice that women must control their fertility, or be dragged under by the consequences. Savita was a living woman, full of light and love, and in her last duress doctors denied her that control. The poverty of anti-abortion rationalisations tells us exactly how little value such logic really places on women's lives.Ewing Kauffman Steps Up To the Plate
A model baseball franchise, the Royals developed talented young players into major league stars. Their brand of baseball made Kansas City perennial playoff contenders, winning two American League pennants and the World Series in 1985. Moreover, the team boosted civic pride and generated several billion dollars of economic activity for the city.
During his time as owner, Kauffman's entrepreneurial spirit and competitive nature fueled the team. He brought innovative ideas to the game. He created the Royal Lancers, a team of boosters, who each sold at least 75 season tickets the first year. He looked at unique statistics to measure a player's contribution. He established the Royals Baseball Academy where elite athletes would hone baseball skills. Kansas City native and Royals Hall of Fame second baseman Frank White, is the Academy's most famous graduate.
Kauffman never demanded taxpayer subsidies in return for keeping this tremendous economic asset in Kansas City. Quite the contrary. He spent much of his personal fortune to improve the quality of his baseball team and give fans a spectacular stadium and championship caliber organization.
Ewing Kauffman made history by arranging to bequeath his baseball team to charity. The groundbreaking and complex succession plan withstood a two-year review by the Internal Revenue Service before it was approved.
Kauffman was ahead of his time when he began issuing warnings in the early 1990s about the lack of competitive balance in baseball.
“All small markets will get hit hard if we don't get some form of revenue sharing or a salary cap. If we don't, some teams are going to go under,” he said.
Kauffman worried that, after his death, the Royals would not be able to stay competitive and remain in Kansas City. He came up with the succession plan and donated nearly $100 million to keep the Royals afloat after his death.
Kauffman donated the Kansas City Royals to the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation, with two provisos. The foundation had to sell the team to someone who would keep it in Kansas City, and the proceeds from the sale had to go to local charities.
Kauffman Stadium
At a time when other cities were building cookie-cutter, multipurpose sports facilities Ewing Kauffman went against the trend to build Royals Stadium, a spectacular home for the team that was decades ahead of its time. Fans in one of the sport's smallest markets responded by filling the stadium, topping the magic two-million attendance mark a total of ten times and seven seasons in a row.
Opened as Royals Stadium on April 10, 1973 as part of the Harry Truman Sports Complex in Kansas City, the stadium is recognized throughout baseball as one of the game's most beautiful ballparks. Designed by Kivett & Myers, a pioneering sports stadium architectural firm in Kansas City, the Royals' home incorporated the best of Dodger Stadium and Angel Stadium, with 40,793 seats, all facing second base and arranged in three tiers. The stadium's prominent features include water fountains beyond the outfield fence and a 10-story high scoreboard shaped like the Royals crest, topped by a gold crown. The 322-foot wide water spectacular is the largest privately funded fountain in the world. The stadium featured an artificial surface, and Royals management begins to build a team around speed and pitching. In 1995 a grass field replaced the artificial turf surface.
Ewing Kauffman made his last public appearance at the stadium on May 23, 1993, when he was inducted into the Royals Hall of Fame. The facility was officially renamed in honor of Ewing M. Kauffman in a ceremony at the stadium on July 2, 1993.
In 2007 the Royals announced that Kauffman Stadium would be extensively renovated by for the 2009 season. This included a high definition scoreboard, fountain view terraces, widened concourses on all three levels and an outfield concourse that allows fans to walk 360 degrees around the stadium.
Kauffman Stadium TriviaSwedish company Alien Moto has revealed the future of motorcycle protection, with a race suit that uses no animal products and is completely vegan.
TOP STORIES
The Alien Moto A51-RR Evolution is a one-piece race suit constructed from high tech materials bonded together to create what the company calls Alien Skin Technology. The company claim the suit is easier to move in, offers better protection and is lighter than a traditional leather suit, as well as being completely waterproof and washable. CE Level 2 protection is used both inside and outside the suit.
The production of the suit has a much smaller impact on the environment than traditional leather suits, with Alien Moto opting, where possible, to buy materials only from companies who actively work with environmentally friendly production.
A minimum of 5% of the sales of the suit will go to seriously injured motorcycle riders and animal welfare. Pricing has yet to be confirmed and the suit will be officialy launched during EICMA in November.
Veganism is growing rapidly across the globe, with The Vegan Society estimating there to be at least 500,000 vegans in the UK in 2016 - three and a half times as many as estimated in 2006.
Looking for the perfect two-wheeled companion? Visit MCN Bikes For Sale website or use MCN's Bikes For Sale App.Take a Shortcut to Happiness
Everyone wants to be happy (image from Pixabay)
Time
Materials
Method
Laugh
Eat happy foods
Make a happy list
Help someone
Help someone to make both of you happier (image from Pixabay)
Hug someone (or a pet)
Hugs make anyone feel happier (image from Pixabay)
Do something a little crazy
Do something a little crazy to feel happier (image from Pixabay)
Make others happy
Long term happiness
Categories
I believe that true happiness comes from long-term lifestyle changes, however it is said that on any journey it is good to have a glimpse of the destination. Here are some shortcuts to happiness that you can try today.: From a few minutes to a few hours.YouYour smileMaybe laughter isn't the best medicine but when you laugh it has a number of positive physical and emotion benefits. In fact even if you force yourself to artificially laugh then you obtain most of those benefits.Certain foods are known to make you happy. A couple of them include chocolate, rose tea and, if you didn't realise, peas. They all have a chemical effect on you that makes you feel happy. So your mother was right, you have to eat your peas, but she was wrong about chocolate, you should eat that too.Another type of food to target are ones that are high in omega-3 fatty acids. These help your brain function better and lift your mood. Foods that are high in omega-3 are seafood, hazelnuts and chia sees.This is a method used by psychologists. Whether you are clinically depressed or just feeling a little down, write down a list of 10 things which make you happy but you haven't done in a while. Do at least one item on the list and you are guaranteed to feel happier.Read more about happy lists here.It turns out, when we help someone, we feel happier. Go out and help people. Help your elderly neighbour with their groceries, volunteer or just be helpful to your colleagues.Some times happiness takes one minute and it makes both yourself and someone else happy. So help someone today.Actually it is touching that helps. Hugging, touching or massages are all good. Touch releases oxytocin, which not only makes you happier but is good for your health.Maybe you have to stand on the street corner with a free hugs sign or just go for massage. You can also have a pet. Dog and cat cafes are popular in many countries for this reason.By crazy, I mean something that most of the people around you might say "Why would you do that?" These are things that require more effort than most people would normally put into something.Some recent examples from one life include moonlight hiking and getting up to watch the sunrise. While they don't sound that crazy, they are magical experiences that require some effort. Also whenever you tell a grumpy person that you have done something like that, they give you that crazy look. But they are the unhappy ones.One way to make yourself happy is to make other people happy. Last Christmas I organised a hike and barbecue for a hiking club. We hiked up to a place with a barbecue area wearing Santa and Elf hats, green and red clothes and tinsel. This covers the "do something crazy".But what I also did was carry a Santa sack full of Christmas candies and gave them out to people we met on the trail. Maybe they thought we were crazy but they went away with smiles on their faces. We were pretty happy as well.These short-cuts can be done at any time in your life. A happy life of course requires a little more effort however, doesn't mean you can't just practice happiness in little ways today.Twenty-seven years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, 25 years after the adoption of the Schengen Convention and 26 years after the publication of Kenichi Ohmae's The Borderless World, borders are back.
And this is true not only in Europe, where an acute crisis in Syria may be thought responsible for this development, but also in the United States, where the soaring political success of Donald Trump began with his promise to build a wall to stop migration into the United States.
Why did so many think that borders are going away? And why should we be surprised that they have never left? The answer has to do with how we thought about and in part misunderstood the consequences of globalization. This freighted word has given birth to two opposing ideas.
A World More Connected or Divided?
The first idea is that technology renders distance irrelevant. Many people, both ardent advocates for globalism and their worried adversaries, believe that revolutions in communications and the increasingly costless acquisition and dissemination of information have tended to reduce the transaction costs of interaction and thus effectively shrink or even collapse distance.
There is some dispute as to whether this development was a positive or negative factor in international affairs. Some commentators thought that by obliterating old boundaries through transnational flows of capital, goods, people and information, globalization would also merge the national and the international, increasing the vulnerability of every state. As one former British chief of the defense staff wrote, "The world today is not a safer place [because] the distinction between home and abroad is strategically obsolete."
But other commentators saw in, for example, the Arab Spring revolts in 2010 new possibilities for emancipation. As one New York Times columnist wrote, "On one side are government thugs firing bullets. On the other side are young protesters firing 'tweets.'" Some concluded that the suspicions and distaste that national groups often expressed toward each other would vanish once we no longer lived in a world of isolated, local nations, separated by high tariff walls, poor communications networks and cultural hostility born of ignorance.
An opposing camp, however, saw globalization in a very different light. They quoted George Orwell, who mocked "the automatic way in which people go on repeating certain phrases... two great favorites are 'the abolition of distance' and the 'disappearance of frontiers'" at a time when states re-erected frontiers, dominated radio to broadcast propaganda and controlled travel and migration as never before. For this group, the world is not nearly as connected as we would be led to believe. Most types of economic activity that could be conducted either within or across borders are actually quite concentrated within borders. While it may be true that "investment knows no boundaries," more than 90 percent of investment in the world is domestic. Indeed, the amount of internationalization associated with cross-border migration, telephone calls, education and research, patent creation and trade as a fraction of GDP all stand at about 10 percent.If we lived in an alternate universe in which rappers were cows, what would some of their hit songs be?
Reddit user cowponder posed this udderly ridicowlous question to the Ask Reddit community, and redditors nearly broke down the barn door to answer.
The comments quickly filled up with fictional rap albums by artists like “Moo-Tang Clan” and “2% Pac.” While there were many hilarious answers (check out the full thread to read them all), we here at Upvoted wanted to bring a few of the best suggestions to life, by giving them real album covers.
Without further a-moo, here are the top five cow-themed hip-hop albums, with original illustrations by Upvoted’s artist-in-residence, Li-Anne Dias.
1. Bovine Paradise by Moolio
Li-Anne Dias/Upvoted
Reddit user CranialLacerations shared this ’90s throwback—which we’ve all herd before—featuring well-coiffed cow rapper Moolio (and an unforgettable video cameo from Moochelle Pfeiffer).
2. Baby Got Yak by Sir Ox-a-Lot
Li-Anne Dias/Upvoted
Oh—my—sod—Bessie, look at that… tail? User SchrodingersCatPics created this rump-shaking tune that’ll make you want to steer yourself to the nearest dance floor and raise the hoof.
3. Straight Outta Cowmpton by Udders With Attitude
Li-Anne Dias/Upvoted
Users letmebeyoursalad and SchrodingersCatPics cowllaborated to produce this classic album (which was recently turned into a moovie), featuring Farmer Dre, Grazey Graze, and Ice Hooves—before Ice left the group due to an irresolvable beef.
4. Good Cow, M.A.A.D. Pasture by Kowndrick Lamar
Li-Anne Dias/Upvoted
Pass out (milk), wake up (milk), faded (milk), faded (milk)… Reddit user LazyNotTalented composed this modern moosterpiece, and other redditors were more than happy to fill in the lyrics.
5. Cowlifornia Gurls by Cowty Perry (feat. Snoop Cow)
Li-Anne Dias/Upvoted
Reddit user Georgehef is responsible for this pop-rap anthem from Top 40 goddess Cowty Perry and legendairy hip-hop artist (and well-known grass connoisseur) Snoop Cow. You don’t even have to change the lyrics. (In fact, the first two lines are much more believable coming from a cow: “I know a place / Where the grass is really greener…”)
And be honest: Who wouldn’t want to see that moosic video?“ Quiet Masters -The History and Relevance of the Black Magical Artist” is a documentary that connects the past, present and future of the Black Magicians. S.A.M. Past National President Kenrick ICE McDonald has been quietly working on this project for the past year. This documentary series entitled “Quiet Masters” spotlights a variety of talented individuals. The first part of the Quiet Masters series will cover “The History and Relevance of the Black Magical Artist.” The two hour documentary is in post production, take a glance at this footage to see some of the participants in this project.
Quiet Masters is a thirteen part documentary series that will cover various topics. The first installment of this series will be Quiet Masters – “The History and Relevance of the Black Magical Artist”. The segment will highlight and introduce to the world, historically black magicians from the early 1800’s and 1900’s.
This documentary will also introduce to the world, current and future artist who have and are making their mark on history. Kenrick Ice McDonald has traveled through-out the United States and parts of the world, collecting interviews and footage for this ground breaking series. Some of the historical magical artist scheduled to appear in this documentary include: Richard Potter – son of a slave and her master, born in 1783; Henry Box Brown – slave turned magician; Ellen E. Armstrong – called the “Mistress of Modern Magic”, born in 1914; Fetaque Sanders and Frank Brent. Also included are current magical artists Phelston Jones, Eric Anderson, Meeka Diane, Ice McDonald, Eric Jones, Victor and Diamond, Rory Rennick, Benjamin Barnes and many others. Stay tuned for this history making documentary – Quiet Masters “The History and Relevance of the Black Magical Artist”. Written and Directed by Kenrick Ice McDonald.The channel Film4 has announced a season of twenty-two Studio Ghibli and Ghibli-related films, showing from March 28 to April 12. The films will be shown in the morning or late afternoon (dubs) or in the early hours (subs).
The screenings include every Studio Ghibli film from Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind to The Wind Rises (pictured), plus the pre-Ghibli films The Little Norse Prince and Castle of Cagliostro. Spirited Away and The Wind Rises are each shown twice in the current schedule.
The listings below are subject to change. (NB: From the ordering of the listings, it appears that the dates for the early-morning screenings in the listing are technically one day early. E.g. It appears that the screening of The Little Norse Prince listed as 2.05 a.m. on April 1 refers to a screening that is technically in the early hours of April 2.)
Saturday March 28: Spirited Away, directed by Hayao Miyazaki, dubbed (1 p.m.)
Sunday March 29: Arrietty, directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi, dubbed (1 p.m.)
Monday March 30: Nausicaa Of The Valley Of The Wind, directed by Hayao Miyazaki, dubbed (11 a.m.)
Tuesday March 31: Howl's Moving Castle, directed by Hayao Miyazaki, dubbed (11 a.m.)
Wednesday April 1: Whisper Of The Heart, directed by Yoshifumi Kondo, dubbed (11.a.m.)
Wednesday April 1: The Little Norse Prince, directed by Isao Takahata, subbed (2.05 a.m)
Thursday April 2: The Cat Returns, directed by Hiroyuki Morita, dubbed (11 a.m.)
Thursday April 2: Ocean Waves, directed by Tomomi Mochizuki, subbed (2.30 a.m.)
Friday April 3: Kiki's Delivery Service, directed by Hayao Miyazaki, dubbed (11 a.m.)
Friday April 3: Spirited Away, directed by Hayao Miyazaki, subbed (1.20 a.m.)
Saturday April 4: My Neighbour Totoro, directed by Hayao Miyazaki, dubbed (1 p.m.)
Sunday April 5: Ponyo, directed by Hayao Miyazaki, dubbed (1 p.m.)
Monday April 6: The Wind Rises, directed by Hayao Miyazaki, dubbed (11 a.m.)
Monday April 6: From Up on Poppy Hill, directed by Goro Miyazaki, subtitled (2.05 a.m.)
Tuesday April 7: Princess Mononoke, directed by Hayao Miyazaki, dubbed (11 a.m.)
Wednesday April 8: Porco Rosso, directed by Hayao Miyazaki, dubbed (11 a.m.)
Wednesday April 8: Only Yesterday, directed by Isao Takahata, subbed (1.20 a.m.)
Thursday April 9: The Castle of Cagliostro, directed by Hayao Miyazaki, dubbed (11 a.m.)
Thursday April 9: My Neighbors The Yamadas, directed by Isao Takahata, subbed (1.45 a.m.)
Friday April 10: Pom Poko, directed by Isao Takahata, dubbed (11 a.m.)
Friday April 10: Grave Of The Fireflies, directed by Isao Takahata, subbed (1.35 a.m.)
Saturday April 11: Tales From Earthsea, directed by Goro Miyazaki, dubbed (1 p.m.)
Sunday April 12: Laputa Castle In The Sky, directed by Hayao Miyazaki, dubbed (1 p.m.)
Sunday April 12: The Wind Rises, directed by Hayao Miyazaki, subbed (1.25 a.m)
Via Anime UK NewsIn a move that surprised virtually everyone, the annual Independence Day parade in Mandan was canceled Friday morning. So what happened? We had the exclusive opportunity to speak with Marlo Anderson, parade co-chair, one of the decision makers behind the process.
Marlo Anderson
Perhaps one of the biggest questions on people's minds - why was the parade canceled this year instead of postponed like last year? Anderson and others evaluated the radar and saw breaks in weather, but not long enough to accommodate the size of the parade. "We did consider postponing, but in looking at the radar, we didn't see a 3-hour window in the weather where we could fit the parade in," Anderson explains. "We realistically need 3 hours to get the parade in and the worst case scenario would be to have a thunderstorm move in right in the middle of the parade, putting people in danger."
The decision to cancel the historic parade was not one that was taken lightly. In addition to Anderson and the other parade co-chair Dennis Friesz, emergency management officials, Mandan's Fire Chief and the Weather Service were all involved in making the decision. At around 9:30am, Anderson was contacted by Morton County Emergency Management and notified of reports of rain and pea-sized hail to the west of Mandan, with a potential for lightning. Follow-up phone calls indicated a serious potential for lightning, which included 15 strikes every 5 minutes. It was after looking at the lightning strike map and assessing the potential for danger, the group made the decision to call off the parade. "It wasn't a decision we took lightly," Anderson says. "There were so many people in the area, we felt it was prudent to give people time to get out of the area.
Anderson addressed the possibility of the weather clearing up once the call was made to cancel the parade, but noted the safety of parade-goers was paramount. The committee had to make a decision based on the information that was available to them at that time, which was an outlook of severe weather with more to come throughout the day.
The committee will evaluate the financial ramifications for all involved due to the cancelation of the parade. There are no plans at this time to reschedule the 2014 Mandan Independence Day parade.
Anderson could understand the disappointment and even anger of some because of the parade's cancelation, but stressed the decision was ultimately for the safety of the community. "We are concerned about safety and will always err on the side of being cautious because of the large gathering of people in our community."A suspect in the murder of Yiftach Grady, an 18-year-old soldier from Givatayim, has turned himself in to the Kfar Saba police Tuesday. Extensive searches for the 23-year-old suspect, a resident of Ra'anana, were carried out following the murder Monday night.
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Earlier Tuesday, Petah Tikva Magistrate's Court extended the remand of two of the suspects involved in Grady's murder outside a Ra'anana club.
One of the suspects, 25-year-old Shay Kalderon, is also suspected of arson and of belonging to a criminal organization. The police requested a 10-day remand of Kalderon, along with additional suspect 27-year-old Meny Dabush, but only a six-day remand was granted. Later today, more suspects will be brought to a remand extension hearing regarding their arrest.
Related stories:
The police attribute the murder to the entire gang, claiming that they stabbed Grady with a sharp object taken from the club's kitchen. During the hearing it was brought to the court's attention that one of the suspects was also carrying a pair of brass knuckles.
Police Representative Sergeant Ronen Golan claimed that Kalderon was arrested for assisting the suspected stabber to murder Grady and claimed he was also the one to initiate the fight.
This is not the first time Kalderon has had run-ins with the law; in 2012, he was sentenced for nine months in prison for causing his girlfriend's death in a car crash. According to the police, Kalderon is allegedly involved with a crime organization and is also a suspect in an arson case from a few months ago.
After the hearing, Kalderon's lawyer Chen Meiri said that her client "has nothing to do with the murder and I believe he will be released later on."
The other suspect, Meny Dabush, who also has a history with law enforcement, arrived at the court and claimed he wasn't involved in the fight at all: "It's all bull****, I haven't done anything, fights were taking place all over the club."
Dabush entered the courtroom with his arm in a cast, claiming he had broken it, and maintained he was innocent. "I haven't done anything wrong, there was a huge fight at the club and I didn't try to separate between the sides. I am sorry for the loss of the deceased's family, |
his 500th homer. Maybe his 600th. His 700th? Hard to say, but he’s off to one of the best starts in history. If you’re going to give that up, you’d better have one helluva bag of magic prospect beans to show your fans. Look at what the White Sox did with Chris Sale. They turned their superstar into something that made their fan base excited about their future.
The Marlins are currently talking with the Giants about a deal for Stanton. The Giants have four prospects named Todd, and they’re all 43 years old and working in IT. The only reason to deal with them is if they’re offering to take the bulk of the salary back. Consider what would happen if the Marlins said this:
Hello. We would like to put Giancarlo Stanton on the market, and we are willing to pay $100 million of his contract down. $150 million if you completely empty your farm system.
Chaos. There would be Black Friday fights at the Winter Meetings, with owners using their fingernails and teeth to get the $200 4K TV. Would the Braves part with Ronald Acuña? Maybe not, but the other teams in the hunt might think they’re lying, which would force them to pile more prospects on top of the pile, like a High Heat Baseball trade.
Instead, they’re dealing with the Giants. It’s the surest sign that all they want is Stanton and his contract off the team so they can start over. Phew. That was a close one, having a generational talent almost be the face of the franchise. Some real Matrix stuff dodging that.
It’s not fair to assume every ownership group needs to follow what Guggenheim Partners did with the Dodgers, but look at what happened there. They came in and planted a flag. On the flag, there were words. Those words read, “We understand your previous owner was a dingus. We’re here to fix all that.” Attendance went up. The fans came back, even before they started winning their division every year. The new owners wanted to make a statement, and, man, did they ever.
The Marlins are the Marlins are the Marlins, apparently. In retrospect, my editor should have selected all of the words after this and hit the delete key.
There isn’t a city in baseball — maybe baseball history — that’s punched its fans in the nose quite like Miami. The intentions are strong. The results are always, always, always disastrous.
I thought the Marlins’ new owners would be different. And it’s still early. Don’t forget that Warriors fans, ground into the mud for decades, booed their new owners at first, too. Nothing was going to change for them. The team was always going to be rotten. And then... whoa, sorry about all that booing.
It could be like that for the Marlins. But the start is sure auspicious. There’s discord. There’s rancor. And there’s another trade where the only goal is to save the Marlins’ owners money. It could work out in the end. Forgive me, however, if this all feels erratically familiar.Trademark Registration in Indonesia Review by Michal Wasserbauer on Company Registration in Indonesia, Market Research in Indonesia, Work Permit in Indonesia, Product Registration in Indonesia, Local Partner Selection in Indonesia, Trade Mission in Indonesia, Company Formation in Indonesia, Company Establishment in Indonesia, Company Set Up in Indonesia, Payroll Outsourcing in Indonesia, Tax Reporting in Indonesia, Medical Product Registration in Indonesia, Medical Device Registration in Indonesia, Cosmetic Registration in Indonesia, Food Supplement Registration in Indonesia. Rated
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Review byon
In Indonesia, trademarks are regulated by the Trademark Act No 15 of 2001 under the Directorate General of Intellectual Property Rights.
According to the Act, the mark (trademark and service mark) is a sign in the form of words, numbers, letters, figures, colors, composition, symbols or a combination of all those used to distinguish the goods or services of one person or legal entity from those of others.
Along with the significant increase in global business competition, most business people are also aware of the increasing importance of trademark protection as a great company asset to business viability. For countries that are already members of Madrid Agreement and Protocol, trademark registration will be conducted through a single application to the national or regional intellectual property office. Countries that are not yet members of the Madrid system will register trademarks based on trademark laws.
#1 Significance of registering a trademark
The trademark is a valuable asset for any company because the trademark is considered intellectual property (IP). In Indonesia, it’s advisable to register your trademark before conducting business due to a high rate of IP piracy.
You may derive some advantages from registering your trademark, such as:
Constitutional priority right as first to file. The person or legal entity who is the first to file the trademark generally has priority to use the registered trademark
Exclusive protection of the product (goods and services) from infringement claims by others in commerce activities
Legal reinforcement of the position of trademark owners in court if there is litigation
As a value added of goods or services in quality and reputation to the public
#2 Trademark Registration in Practice
Registering a trademark may be time consuming and costly. In Indonesia, if all goes well, foreign businesses need approximately 12-24 months to complete the registration process. There is no guarantee the application will be approved and no refund of fees is made if the application is denied. Here are some procedures involved in trademark registration in Indonesia:
Find an Intellectual Property Right Consultant (proxy). According to the Indonesian Trademark Act, foreign applicants are required to process trademark registration through the local IP consultant with a signed Power of Attorney and Declaration of Entitlement.
Ensure that the proposed trademark complies with the rules. Some conditions can lead to application denial such as: similarity of essential features with a registered product, a well-known product or with a known geographic indication; is in contradiction of moral, religious or public order; and has become public property.
Do some initial research to ensure that your proposed trademark hasn’t been registered by another person or legal entity. Checking online is the easiest first step, by searching the database of Indonesian trademark information from DGIPR which is integrated with the WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) or looking in the ASEAN TMview. Based on the latest data updated in 2014, Indonesia had about 364,363 registered marks, excluding those in pending status, so it’s important ensure that the proposed trademark is not in line for approval.
Complete requirements properly and thoroughly, don’t leave anything incomplete. The general procedures of trademark registration consist of formal examination, substantive review and an announcement.
Formal Examination The DGIPR examiner checks whether the application is in accordance with the requirements and this may take 30 days. It includes items such as whether information about the applicant is complete and written in the Indonesian language, details of mark and its specification, and if the filing feewas submitted.
Substantive Review This stage decides whether the application is approved or denied. The substantive review process of the trademark features may take up to 90 days.
Announcement After being approved, the trademark will be announced in the Trademark Official Journals for 3 months and is opens to objection or opposition. If there is no significant objection within 3 months, the certificate of trademark will be issued and is valid for 10 years. It is also renewable.
#3 Usage of the ® Registered Trademark and ™ Trademark
Registering your trademark doesn’t guarantee it is completely safe. Hence, using ® or ™ in your trademark to affirm to the public that you trademark is registered is another good way to avoid any infringements on your trademark. You are not obliged or required to obtain permission to use this symbol. The ® symbol is used after the DGIPR issues the trademark certificate and the ™ is for an approved trademark that has not formally been registered yet.
In Indonesia, trademark registration applies nationally and in case a trademark isn’t used for 3-5 years from the registration date, the certificate will be revoked. This means that the holder will lose his or her rights for the trademark.
Currently, the Indonesian government is in process of revising the Indonesian Trademark Act, which will be superseded by the Madrid Protocol by the end of 2015. Under the Madrid Protocol, foreign applicants can register their trademark in one application, one language, with one single office, one set of fees and one currency. With this registration process, Indonesia will still have the right to decide whether to protect the proposed trademark or not.
Nevertheless, foreign businesses who register their trademark through the international route still need legal assistance for a comprehensive understanding of the legalities of running a business in Indonesia. This can prevents any future disputes or infringement.
As one of leading market entry and business consulting firms in Indonesia, Cekindo has extensive experience in assisting foreign companies and entities in trademark registration in Indonesia.In Memphis, Jerry Lawler was the king. There was no prince, no duke, not even an especially popular nobleman or count. Lawler was Memphis wrestling. And in Memphis, wrestling mattered.
Saturday morning wrestling on WMC-TV captured the city's imagination like nothing else. Filmed live in the studio on Union Avenue, the show routinely outpaced any other programming in the city. Not any other wrestling programming, mind you. Any programming.
Lawler ruled Memphis with an iron fist and a sly smile. No one was even close. So while wrestling promoters occasionally battled opposition groups in the 1980's, outlaws with nothing to lose, the Memphis territory seemed safe. Promoter Jerry Jarrett made sure Lawler was happy, eventually making him a part owner. Lawler was staying put. And without Lawler, why bother?
No one was crazy enough to challenge the King. No one, that is, except the Poffos. Operating out of Kentucky, wrestling veteran Angelo Poffo and his two sons Randy Savage and Lanny Poffo waged a guerrilla war against Jarrett's Memphis-based promotion for years.
Poffo had been a regional star in the 1950s and '60s, a traveling talent managed by a tuxedo-clad manager named Bronco Lubich. Although he's remembered today primarily as Savage's father, Angelo was once the United States Champion, way back when that title still meant something.
A notorious fitness fanatic, Poffo claimed he set the world record for sit ups, completing 6000 in a row and then an additional 33 for good measure.
"One for each year of Jesus Christ's life," he explained in an interview.
Like many wrestling stars, Angelo wanted to make a place for his sons in the business. When a young Randy, fresh off a stint in minor league baseball, failed to capture Jarrett and Lawler's attention in Memphis, Poffo created a place for his sons to be the top stars.
He founded International Championship Wrestling in 1978, competing not just with Jarrett, but with the Knoxville-based Fuller family and even Verne Gagne's American Wrestling Association. Even with his sons on top and a talented cast of free thinking rebels like Bob Roop and Ronnie Garvin, the ICW failed to make up much ground against the entrenched powers in the area.
Soon the promotion was resorting to desperate measures to grab fans' attentions, spending as much time trash-talking their rivals as they did building their own talent up. Jerry Lawler recalled their brutal taunts in his autobiography It's Good to Be the King... Sometimes:
They'd go on their show and challenge all the guys on our show. They wouldn't talk about their own matches; Savage would just rip into me. "I went to Jerry Lawler's house in Memphis and I threw a rock through the window and he was too scared to come out." Stuff like that.
Promoter Jerry Jarrett was happy to just ignore the jibes. After all, Poffo and his crew were just cementing in fan's minds that Lawler and company were the only wrestlers in the area worth talking about. Savage was one of the best wrestling talents in the country, but without an established fanbase or a large television outlet, he was playing in front of just a few hundred fans. It was like watching the Beatles in their primes perform in a dive bar.
“Randy, his dad, Angelo, and brother, Lanny, made the mistake of making promos for our talent," longtime Memphis announcer Lance Russell said. "We were sitting in the dressing room, and I believe it was Bill Dundee who said, ‘Can you explain to me why Randy, and particularly, Angelo, who knows the business well, would spend all their interview time knocking us and challenging us. Why are they plugging us instead of their own matches?’ I said, ‘Well, Billy, I don’t know that. I can’t answer that because I don’t know how stupid people think.’"
Soon, however, things escalated. Savage actually was filming interviews outside of Lawler's house and violence was in the air. Jarrett's Memphis crew began traveling to and from the arena with guns in their cars, prepared for trouble if it came knocking. One night in Lexington, Ky., according to wrestling historian Dave Meltzer, the situation very nearly boiled over (subscription only):
The Jarrett crew went to Lexington for their regular show. As they pulled up, Savage, in front of fans, saw Hart and started talking about how tonight, he’s taking out Lawler, and apparently he really meant it. Hart told him that Lawler broke his leg and wasn’t going to be there. Savage paused, collected his thoughts, and told Hart, “Okay, tonight, I’m taking out Dundee.” Not just Savage, but the entire ICW roster bought tickets and came into the building, apparently waiting to cause a scene in the main event that involved Dundee. However, in the semifinal, a fan attacked Hart and a riot started, not involving the ICW crew, and the police had to come to quell things down. The show continued, but with officers everywhere, the ICW guys never made a move.
Roop, the former Olympic wrestler, was the most fearsome of the ICW wrestlers. But Savage was, perhaps, the most feared. He lived in his character, slightly crazed, with wild eyes blazing. Wrestlers, despite being accustomed to gimmickry, seemed to instinctually believe Savage was just as crazy as he seemed. Maybe because he was method acting to the point reality and fiction became one and the same.
"He was still developing the Macho Man character," wrestler Dutch Mantell told Scott Bowden. "But every time you saw Randy—I don’t care it was 6 o’clock in the morning—he was Macho Man. You saw him at midnight—he’s still Macho Man. He was always in full-blown, wide-open Macho Man mode."
At around 200 pounds, up about 30 pounds from his wrestling debut, Savage wasn't one of the biggest men in the sport. He was, however, willing. And willingness goes a long way when a situation moves beyond words and into the realm of the physical.
Savage seemed intent on creating a confrontation and in the fall of 1982 things finally exploded, either in the parking lot of a gym or outside a diner, the location depending on who is telling the story. Savage and his crew had finally caught up with the enemy, in this case the No. 2 babyface in Memphis, Bill Dundee, a 5'6" spitfire with an Australian accent and huge talent in the ring.
Wrestling history is a funny thing. They say wrestling has no history, only legend. And the Randy Savage legend includes a fight with Dundee that left the smaller man laying:
Supposedly, the two exchanged words outside a diner with Dundee retreating to his car to grab a gun. Savage wrestled the gun away from Dundee and pistol-whipped him, breaking his jaw and putting the Superstar out of action for nearly six weeks. (Ironically, Dundee used to wear trunks with the words “Macho Man” on the backside in 1977...clearly false advertising.) More important, it gave the Jarrett group an embarrassing black eye as the Macho Man bragged loud and often about the incident on ICW TV.
While Dundee doesn't dispute the incident happened, he spins a different version of the same yarn, one, not surprisingly, where he ends up triumphing against the odds.
"It was Randy, Angelo, Thunderbolt Patterson and Pez Whatley. Thunderbolt came up talking to me and Randy came around the corner and sucker punched me. We never really went off our feet, we just punched at each other standing up," Dundee said in a 2011 interview. "So I got to thinking, if I get to the back of this Cadillac, I can restore order. I got to the back of the Cadillac and I restored order. Because there was a thing in there with an S and a W on it. That stands for Smith and Wesson and the fight was over. Randy run away saying 'He's got a gun, he's got a gun.'...That was the end of the fight. There was no beatdown."
He continues the tale in his autobiography written with Memphis wrestling historian Mark James If You Don't Want The Answer, Don't Ask The Question:
I got sucker punched. There was a bunch of them, one of me, I grabbed my gun and that ended the fight. I have read that I had a broken jaw, that I was pistolwhipped, I read a bunch of stuff. What I told you is the truth, as sure as my name is Bill Dundee.
They drove off and went to the police station to file charges of assault with a deadly weapon against me. Jarrett got a lawyer for me and I filed charges against them. We had to go to court and instead of exposing the business, both sides decided to go broadway and drop all charges. However, I told Savage on the way out of court that I had taken his best shot and he hadn’t yet had mine. They went on their TV saying that Savage had fought me in a parking lot and broke my jaw. Normally, we ignored them. However, I did go on TV and show my eye off. I said I had been attacked by four monsters.
It's hard to know, when stories diverge like this, exactly where the truth is to be found. According to historian James, Dundee missed several weeks worth of matches following the incident and suffered an injury to his orbital socket as well as a blackened eye. When he returned to television, he did indeed blame the incident on a fight—although not mentioning Savage by name.
"The last five weeks since the Superstar ain't been here, I have heard all kinds of stories what happened to me. Now I'm here in living color to tell you what happened folks...this is a true story. Somebody said I fell off my horse. Somebody said I wrecked my motorcycle. Somebody said I got drunk and fell down. Well brother, I'm here to tell you what happened.
"Five weeks ago I was working out in Nashville, Tennessee. Now I walked out of the gymnasium and there was four of the biggest gorillas you ever seen in your life man. They were nine feet tall. So one of them wanders up to me and says 'Hey are you Bill Dundee?' And I says 'Yeah, I'm the Superstar daddy. What you want?' He said 'What do I want?' Whack (here Dundee pantomimes throwing a punch)."
What may have sounded like nonsense to many in the audience was actually a clever way to share the truth about what happened. Were the "four gorillas" supposed to represent the opposition wrestlers who confronted him in the parking lot? I think so.
For Savage and his family, victory was short-lived and awfully hollow. Business continued to struggle and eventually they had to make amends with the wrestling establishment. Savage, after all his talk, came to Memphis for what Meltzer described as a successful feud with Lawler:
They actually tested the match out in Lexington, putting it on cold with no angle and no television, and it drew more than 8,000 fans at Rupp Arena, ending without a decision in a long match described as tremendous. It was, up to that point in time, the largest crowd and gate ever for wrestling in that city. With the trust issue seemingly put to bed, Savage and Angelo Poffo showed up on Memphis television, acting like they were barging in on a live television show. Savage demanded Lawler. Eddie Marlin, who played the role of promoter, tried to reason with Savage about leaving during the live show. Eventually Lawler said he was tired with all the talk for all those years and wanted the match. The match took place on December 5, 1983, at the Mid South Coliseum, with Lawler retaining his Southern title and winning via DQ, before 8,012 fans, about double what they had been doing. It wasn’t a sellout, but it was the fourth largest crowd of the year for the promotion that ran every Monday night, trailing two appearances by Andy Kaufman in handicap matches against Lawler, and a Lawler challenge of Nick Bockwinkel for the AWA title.
Savage and Dundee never came face-to-face in the ring, but Bill did have to suffer through several shows with Savage wrestling Lawler on top before leaving the area. During most of Savage's short run in Memphis, Dundee was revitalizing business for Bill Watts in the Mid-South territory. By the time "the Superstar" returned to his stomping grounds in Tennessee, Savage had made his way to the big time, becoming one of wrestling's biggest stars for Vince McMahon.
Bad blood lingered, at least for Dundee, who was the victim, in legend if not in life. But on hearing about the passing of his old rival in 2011, Dundee refused to hold a grudge.
"Randy and I had our ups and downs. We weren't the greatest of friends...but what we did for a living kind of made us brothers....God bless you."ANALYSIS: How dare these BBC liberals patronise us
The sacking of Carol Thatcher is a gargantuan over-reaction by the BBC. It is the worst sort of gesture politics, reflecting not the gravity of the offence but the hysterical self-righteousness of a bunch of white, guilt-tripping BBC executives.
Far from helping the cause of equality, which the BBC loudly declares to be its aim, this move could worsen race relations by treating black people as nothing more than a group of helpless victims who need the constant protection of hyper-sensitive, politically correct censors.
As a black writer and broadcaster, I find the BBC’s stance patronising and divisive.
Carol Thatcher with Jo Brand on The One Show on BBC1 on Thursday night
I don’t want some well-heeled, ivory tower managers presuming that they have the right to speak on my behalf, quivering with synthetic outrage as they try to articulate my supposed sense of grievance about a comment over some drinks at TV Centre.
Don’t get me wrong. What Carol Thatcher is reported to have said was undoubtedly out of order. For anyone to use the term ‘golliwog’ nowadays is unacceptable and it is even worse coming from the mouth of a well-known BBC presenter.
I have no idea if she is a closet racist but her alleged language was, at the very least,
foolish, naive and entirely inappropriate for multi-racial Britain in the 21st century.
The fact that some of her supporters, particularly in upper class and Conservative circles, have tried to defend her by claiming that ‘golliwog’ is really a term of affection only shows how out of touch they really are.
These are people who appear to have absolutely no connection with the lives of ordinary black Britons. An occasional hurried word with a traffic warden or cleaner
does not count as a relationship.
Jay Hunt said Carol Thatcher had to go because she 'caused real offence'
But the BBC’s liberal elitists are as bad as the outdated reactionaries they affect to despise. They are so eager to parade their credentials as the champions of oppressed ethnic minorities that they have lost all sense of proportion.
There is nothing genuine about their display of indignation. The sacking of Carol Thatcher has been all about ideological point-scoring. The BBC’s top bureaucrats, led by zealous controller of BBC1 Jay Hunt, deliberately manufactured a crisis so they could pose as heroic warriors against racial prejudice.
There was never any need for this public spat. The BBC could have merely reprimanded Carol Thatcher and given her a warning to be more restrained.
But no, that would never have been enough for the high priests of our modern Inquisition. Carol Thatcher had to be publicly humiliated and punished for her grievous sinning against their creed.
What is so sickening about this affair is the epic hypocrisy of the BBC.
Jay Hunt said Carol Thatcher had to go because she ‘had caused real offence’. Why is that logic not applied to Jonathan Ross, who seems to have dedicated much of his recent broadcasting career to the art of causing real offence to millions of licence-fee payers with his continual stream of smut?
We have also been told that the comedienne Jo Brand, who was present when Carol Thatcher made her comment, was ‘deeply shocked’, as if she were some cloistered
Victorian maiden aunt rather than one of the most foul-mouthed, irreverent performers on the comedy circuit.
Again we see the racial double standards that I find so divisive. Somehow, a flippant anachronism is treated as the epitome of evil and has the normally robust Jo Brand reaching for the smelling salts, while anything else, from filth to pornographic abuse, is regarded as perfectly acceptable.
Deeply offensive comments by Ross earn him an annual salary of £6million from the BBC, largely because his critics are seen as stuffy middle-class traditionalists who don’t understand the nature of ‘edgy’ comedy.
Yet a different set of criteria apply to Carol Thatcher, as if the supposed offence felt by black people deserves to be treated more seriously than that felt by Middle England.
Jonathan Ross was not sacked for his filthy comments, merely suspended
The hypocrisy is all the more glaring because Ross’s notoriously filthy diatribes were broadcast to the public, whereas Carol Thatcher’s comment was made in private.
We are really descending into the land of the Orwellian ‘thought police’ if every word we utter has to be subjected to the approval of the white liberal elite, the self-appointed guardians of public morality.
For all the BBC’s posturing, this kind of heavy censorship will do nothing for race relations. The destruction of free speech will only create a climate of fear in which suspicion and distrust flourish.
It is telling that every so-called progressive revolution, like the French overthrow of the aristocracy in the 1790s, has always led to brutal oppression because of the elite’s determination to impose a type of rigidly orthodox thinking on the citizenry.
In its own insidious way, the advance of political correctness is doing the same in today’s Britain. In place of linguistic sanitation, I would far rather live in a society where openness and debate are allowed.
The instinct for suppression is never healthy in a democracy and does nothing to help the cause of equality. Indeed, the squeals of faux concern are an insult to black people, as if we are so enfeebled, so infantilised that we can be broken by one ill-judged remark.
Blacks have had to put up with genuine racial injustice for centuries, but no one was ever lynched by words alone.
It is actions that cause real suffering, not linguistic misdemeanours, no matter how unpalatable they might seem.
In some respects the BBC, so full of noisy solicitude for the feelings of ethnic groups, is acting like a plantation owner, guarding the blacks with an aggressive, proprietorial air.
We deserve better than to have this infantilism forced upon us. We have endured far worse than anything Carol Thatcher said, and we know bullying by our self-appointed allies is never the road to freedom.An umbrella organization of labor and progressive groups is ramping up on-the-ground operations in an attempt to propel Hillary Clinton and like-minded Democratic candidates to victory this fall. And they’re getting a multi-million-dollar cash infusion from one of the party’s biggest donors.
For Our Future PAC, a 501c4 and super PAC organization, is aiming to knock on 5.3 million doors between now and Election Day in a variety of battleground states, representatives of the group told The Huffington Post. The group, which has already reached 2 million households, is the creation of leading labor groups and billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer, who announced on Tuesday that his group NextGen Climate was donating an additional $15 million to the cause on top of the $5 million it has already given. For Our Future PAC’s total budget is now $55 million after starting with a $50 million objective.
The investment in Get Out The Vote operations represents a huge bet that a conventional campaign playbook still matters in this highly unconventional election. With Donald Trump banking on free media and his powers of persuasion to win the presidency, progressives are turning to old-fashioned door-knocking.
“Real change happens through real people and you have to get people where they actually are which requires conversations on the issues they care about,” said Amanda Brown, campaign director for For Our Future PAC. “When there are billions of dollars poured into TV and radio ads, those just don’t hit home in the same way. I think, also, given the nature of the candidates we are choosing between this cycle, what you see on the air is heavy on persuasion, convincing people they have to vote. The work we are doing is to try and empower individuals and make them understand that their power is voting.”
At its inception, For Our Future caused discord within labor ranks, as several building trade unions scoffed at the alliance with a donor known for his environmental-based opposition to major energy projects like the Keystone Pipeline. But a close election has a way of quieting discord. And the group appears to be gearing up in the closing weeks of the campaign.
As part of its ramped up ground game, For Our Future has expanded its operations to Missouri and North Carolina in addition to work being done in Nevada, Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida (all, tellingly, with Senate races this cycle). Its staff currently numbers more than 700, with the vast majority in those swing states.
Though Trump has largely passed on building a robust campaign apparatus, an investment in on-the-ground organizing for Democrats does not come without challenges. The party faces significant hurdles with white working-class voters drawn to Trump’s message, millennials turned off by Clinton, and some of the coalition that helped elect Barack Obama twice proving difficult to re-mobilize. To combat that, For Our Future has brought together different entities with ties to unique constituencies.
The group, for instance, is working with the NAACP as well as Color of Change to engage black voters and bolster community-based activism. It is working with VoteVets, a progressive veterans organization, to do more door-to-door campaigning in addition to its traditional focus on paid media. And, according to notes provided to The Huffington Post, it is assisting several state-specific organizations to micro-target groups of voters. That list includes Make it Works Nevada, Ohio Environmental Council, Equality PA, and Wisconsin Jobs Now.For other people with the same name, see Anthony Wong
Anthony Wong Chau-sang (born Anthony William Perry; 2 September 1961), known professionally as Anthony Wong, is a Hongkonger actor[1][2][3][4] who is perhaps best known in the West for his roles in the 1992 action film Hard Boiled, the 2002 critically acclaimed Infernal Affairs and as General Yang in the 2008 Hollywood film The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.
Life [ edit ]
Early life [ edit ]
Anthony Perry was born on 2 September 1961 to a Hong Kong ethnic Chinese mother Wong Juen Yee,[5] her name adopted as part of his current name, Anthony Wong and English-born Frederick William Perry (1914-1988), who served with the RAF during World War II and later as colonial officer. Frederick Perry walked out on the family when Anthony was four,[6] so he lived with his mother "in the staircase of a pre-war building in Wan Chai" until he was sent to live with various relatives for two years while his mother "held down three jobs".[5]
In his acting career, Wong's established a reputation for openly critiquing the Hong Kong film industry and its practices, actors' performances and pop culture in interviews and his personal microblog. In some of those critiques, he's revealed his experiences of being bullied and discriminated against—for being a "mixed race foreigner" and "during the 1960s, English-Chinese mixed race people like me were regarded as bastards" and for being born outside Hong Kong—while growing up in Hong Kong and during the early years of his acting career.[7][8]
During his late teens, Wong moved to Britain to attend a college of further education.[8] He returned to Hong Kong to attend a training course in hairdressing until he quit to join ATV's training programme when he was 21.[7]
Career [ edit ]
After completing ATV's training programme, he continued his training at The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.[8] He had stated in an interview that his mixed ethnicity initially caused him to be typecast as a villain, due to institutionalised racism in the Hong Kong film industry during this period.[9] He, however, won a Hong Kong Film Award for his performance as a real-life serial killer, who made meat buns from his victims' flesh, in The Untold Story in 1993.
In the following years, Wong appeared in a wide range of genre films including Rock n' Roll Cop, Hard Boiled, The Heroic Trio, Infernal Affairs, The Mission and The Medallion. He had also several appearances in the popular Young and Dangerous film series as Tai Fei; a rival Triad gangster to Ekin Cheng's character Chan Ho-nam, an ambitious Triad gangster, whom Tai Fei eventually befriends.
Wong had also appeared in a number of international English-language films including The Painted Veil and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.
In 1995, Wong made his directorial debut with The New Tenant.
In 2014, Wong made his culinary debut in Dinner Confidential, where he would prepare one dish out of a table d'hote candle-lit dinner menu for guests.
In 2015, Wong became the first Hong Kong actor to have won the best lead actor role award in TV and movies when he won 2015 TVB Anniversary Awards for Best Actor and Best Drama for Lord of Shanghai, marking his triumphant return to TVB. He also became the first Hong Kong actor to have won Best Actor awards in films, stage theatre and TV. He also became the first Hong Kong actor to ever win TVB's Best Actor award on his first nomination.
Personal life [ edit ]
Wong is married to Jane Ng Wai Zing in 1996 and has two sons, Wong Yat Yat (born 1996) and Ulysses Wong (born 1998).[10] Wong is taking care of his mother who now has dementia,[11] while his sons now live outside of Hong Kong.
In a 2005 interview with Star eCentral, Wong stated that amongst his prolific output during the 1980s and the 1990s, a considerable number of films he appeared in were poor and exploitative.[12] He, however, has no regrets because he needed the money to support his wife, their sons and his mother.[12]
In March 2018, Wong reunited with his half-brothers, twins John William and David Frederick Perry, after a BBC story[13] on Wong's search for his family was published.[14] His father died in 1988 in Australia, where he and his first family settled after they left Hong Kong.[5]
In June 2018, it was revealed that he had an illegitimate son named William (born 1998), with a woman known only as "Joyce" who was the niece of veteran actor and producer John Shum.[15]
Awards [ edit ]
Filmography [ edit ]
Television [ edit ]
The Justice of Life 他來自江湖 文忠信 )
) When Things Get Tough 午夜太陽 (1990), Tsing Kwan ( 程軍 )
午夜太陽 (1990), Tsing Kwan ( ) Lord of Shanghai 梟雄 (2015), Kiu Ngo-tin ( 喬傲天 )
梟雄 (2015), Kiu Ngo-tin ( ) Strangers (2018), David Chen
(2018), David Chen Stained 心冤 (2018; aired in early 2019), Wayne Lau ( 劉偉義 )
Production [ edit ]
[16] [17]At the Lexington Comic and Toy Convention, The Crow creator James O'Barr revealed that Boardwalk Empire actor Jack Huston has indeed landed the lead role in Relativity Studios' remake of The Crow.
O'Barr told Dread Central that Huston has "definitely been cast." O'Barr had been excited for Luke Evans to the play the part but he left the project and then O'Barr championed Sam Witwer and even though Huston got the part instead, that hasn't dampened his mood. He said he was "really happy with that choice."
Corin Hardy ("The Hallow") will direct the remake/reboot of Alex Proyas' 1994 film. The original starred the late Brandon Lee as the revenge-obsessed Eric Draven, who was killed on the set of the film because of a prop gun accident.
Share your thoughts in the comment section below.Lori Henley
I recently returned from a European cycling trip organized by members of the Kanata-Nepean Bicycle Club. Sixteen of us pedalled more than 1,300 kilometres during 13 days from Bordeaux to Barcelona, climbing countless mountains along a route through the Pyrenees.
I have wonderful memories of the cycling challenges, the scenery, the food, the camaraderie, and dipping our wheels in the Atlantic and Mediterranean, but my best memory is of Arthur.
It was on our last day in the Pyrenees, when we all passed a lonely little dog lying in the middle of a quiet road as we climbed the Col de Palomère on a hot day.
We were well past any nearby town and it seemed odd to see him there, especially so when he didn’t move as we inched past. Then along came Tom Seniuk, our trip planner, on his bike. He stopped and offered the little guy some water, which was of little interest to him. Tom’s wife, Caroline Delisle, our support van driver, pulled up a few minutes later. There was no hesitation when |
s. Though they made up just 7.2 per cent of people living in the city, the Jewish community was the second largest minority group at the time.
The Swastika Clubs, of which there were several, were careful not to specifically declare a distaste for any particular group, referring only to "the recent influx of obnoxious visitors," though witnesses to the groups and their actions knew the score.
"While the name 'Jew' is nowhere specifically mentioned in announcements or literature, prominent Toronto Jews have no hesitation declaring their belief that anti-Semitic action is the chief object of the Swastika Clubs," wrote the Telegram on 1 August, 1933.
By the time of the 1933 march, the six groups in old Ward 8 boasted a total of 400 members, according to newspaper reports that likened the various chapters to the Hitler Brown Shirts, the Nazi paramilitary wing that provided protection and intimidation on behalf of the larger political party.
Meyer Steinglass, the editor of the Jewish Standard, labeled the clubs "not merely threats to Jewish rights but to the democratic rights of all Canadians."
The store owner who was found selling nazi souvenirs was keen not to be identified when first approached by the Toronto Star. "One of the [Swastika Club] boys in here is selling them. He just works here, that's all," he claimed when quizzed about the 20-cent nickel pins.
"It is not a gang of hoodlums or an anti-Jewish organization. [The swastika] is merely a good luck emblem to give our organization good luck in gaining its objective" to keep the Beaches "clean and nice," he continued. The "Heil Hitler" signs were added afterwards by a third party as a joke, he insisted.
His protest isn't as ridiculous as it sounds. The swastika is an ancient symbol that dates back more than 5,000 years in the Mediterranean and Indian subcontinent. The word is derived from sanskrit and means "lucky" or "auspicious" and it was widely used in that way until the early part of the 20th century.
The hockey teams Windsor Swastikas, Fernie Swastikas (pictured above,) and town of Swastika, Ontario, located about 130 kms southwest of Timmins, are evidence of the original usage. The design was co-opted and rotated 45 degrees as a symbol of the Third Reich in Germany around 1920.
Civic officials for their part went some way to removing the nazi symbols and slogans from Toronto's public property. Rocks close to the beach and several park benches had to be taken away or repainted after the appearance of some hastily daubed symbol. On weekends, swastikas could be seen on sun clothes and swimsuits.
"The feeling is growing really tense," a Kew Beach goer prophetically observed. "So far there have been no violent clashes, but some day there is going to be one, and then I predict a real fight. Even the sea cadets are wearing the swastika sign on the back of their wind-breakers."
Following front-page coverage in several of Toronto's newspapers, the clubs quickly went underground. Seemingly all public signs vanished when it was reported a march in support of the Jewish community would visit the Boardwalk.
Sensing a confrontation, young "Beachites" at a Balmy Beach clubhouse dance gathered lacrosse sticks and broom handles as the 500-strong group approached. Police at the Main Street station turned out in force as the rally paced around the outside of the party. Girls leaned out clubhouse windows and over the fence, watching tension build.
Another group, the "up-town gang," led by Al Kaufman, the "self-styled King of the Hoboes," arrived to add muscle to the nazi opposition. Kaufman walked ahead of his group with a large dog on a leash, the Star reported. When he passed the Balmy Beach club house his group were able to walk among the remaining dancers, the nazi devotees having moved elsewhere.
Kaufman and his gang would later case the neighbourhood for signs or posters but couldn't find any. As a precaution, the dance organizer decided to call it quits for the night before any trouble could start.
Mayor William James Stewart said the city would investigate claims of uncleanliness, a common gripe cited by the Swastika Clubs, but emphatically labeled the hate groups, however thinly veiled, "un-British and un-Canadian."
Tensions appeared to simmer down over the following days. The Balmy Beach Swastika Club claimed to have disbanded and editorials appeared in the Toronto papers denouncing the racist activity.
A few days later, the small confectionary shop at 2209 Queen East that sold the controversial pins became the focus of attention after it was reported to be the Swastika Club headquarters. Incensed, Bert Ganter, the owner, telephoned for police protection and, perhaps foolishly, declared that the club hadn't in fact disbanded.
"We are more determined than ever to keep the east end beaches free of obnoxious visitors," he spat. As he spoke, youths attracted by the police entered the back room and flashed "jocular" nazi salutes to each-other, the Star reported.
That weekend, a sunny day at the beach turned dark when fights broke out between Jewish and swastika-clad bathers. Shirts were ripped and signs destroyed in a series of scuffles before police stepped in.
The Balmy Beach Swastika Club officially changed its name to the Beaches Protective Association but the tone of anti-semitism persisted. Worried, Toronto Star took the remarkable step of cabling Adolf Hitler in Germany to ask whether the Third Reich was behind the activity in Toronto's east end. The response came from Ernst Hanfstaengl, an aide and spokesman for the chancellor:
"Absurd to say Canadian anti-Jewish outbreaks in any way connected with the Nazi movement here," he wrote. "The Nazi movement is purely German and is unconnected with any other country."
It would be wrong to assume the sentiments were confined solely to the east end of the city. During a baseball match at Willowvale Park, now Christie Pits, between Harbord Playground, a Jewish team, and St. Peter's was disrupted when shouts of "Hail Hitler" rang from the bleachers. When the game almost ended in a fist fight, a large swastika was painted on the roof of the club house.
Two days later, the tinder box spectacularly ignited.
During a repeat match between the two baseball teams, a group of spectators raised a white flag bearing a nazi slogan and the game quickly descended into a brutal fistfight. Hearing about the brawl, gangs sympathetic to both sides flocked to the area wielding pipes, clubs, and other makeshift weapons.
"Heads were opened, eyes blackened, and bodies thumped and battered as literally dozens of persons, young and old, many of them non-combatant spectators, were injured more or less seriously by a variety of ugly weapons in the hands of wild-eyed and irresponsible young hoodlums, both Jewish and Gentile," the Toronto Star reported.
"From 7:30 o'clock to until nearly 2 a.m. the region in and around Willowvale Park surged with scenes of the wildest excitement... squadrons of police, late to arrive on the scene, were hard pressed to handle the situation, which threatened to get completely beyond their control.
"Even when, resorting to the use of billies, horseback advances, and clouds of motorcycle exhaust smoke, they had succeeded in partially scattering the mob, the trouble-makers, and their curious throngs of spectators refused to disperse."
For six hours hundreds of people fought and attacked each other in a roiling mass of bodies that moved south down Montrose Avenue to an area north of College Street. When the dust settled just two people had been arrested but scores were in hospital with head injuries, facial lacerations, cuts, and bruises.
The only person charged with a crime, Jack Roxborough, had to pay $50 for carrying an offensive weapon. A charge for carrying a knife against one Russel Harris, 23, was laid but later dropped.
Angered at the clumsy police response to what had been clearly an escalating period of tensions, Mayor Stewart warned that anyone displaying a swastika in Toronto would be subject to immediate prosecution, even Boy Scouts who were using the sign in its original, peaceful form on one of their patches weren't exempt.
Local leaders called for police chief Dennis Draper to resign when Elmore Philpott, a politician and journalist, revealed just six officers were on hand at Willowvale that night while two hundred were occupied with dispersing a peaceful meeting at Trinity Bellwoods Park. He stayed, however.
Later in August 1933, a handful of Jewish people were accepted as prospective members of the Beaches Protective Association during a meeting held at Kew Beach public school.
In a return to their stated aim of beautification, the members decided the Beaches required more police and that men should not be allowed to roll their bathing suits down to the waist in public.
Mr. Ganter, the candy store owner who sold the inflammatory paraphernalia, admitted that several financial backers of the Protective Association had withdrawn over the negative press. Undeterred, he announced plans to start a new faction that would continue the Swastika Club's original aims.
Though the movement would continue, tensions never erupted as spectacularly as they did at Christie Pits that August night, though swastikas still occasionally appear on the Boardwalk today.
Chris Bateman is a staff writer at blogTO. Follow him on Twitter at @chrisbateman.
Images: Toronto Star, Wikimedia Commons, City of Toronto ArchivesSCP-2607
Item #: SCP-2607
Object Class: Euclid
Special Containment Procedures: The Foundation has made large anonymous donations to sexually transmitted disease awareness and prevention programs in a number of countries with documented SCP-2607 outbreaks; the patents to the antiviral drugs acyclovir and valacyclovir have been purchased by Foundation front companies, and these drugs have been substantially reduced in price to aid in SCP-2607 containment efforts. Efforts have been made in several countries to ban or regulate the practice of "phone sex", especially in a high-volume commercialized form; these efforts have largely been unsuccessful, and in some cases merely caused these "phone sex" telephone lines to move their operations to jurisdictions which are more difficult for the Foundation to monitor.
Individuals identified as carriers of any strain of SCP-2607 are to be detained and questioned about their sexual history to identify other possible carriers, then treated with a targeted antiviral drug developed as part of the SCP-2607 containment initiative. Medical records of herpes simplex cases are to be regularly cross-referenced with employees and habitual users of "phone sex" telephone lines, and with users of sexual role-playing websites; any pattern indicative of a possible SCP-2607 outbreak is to be investigated as soon as possible.
Samples of SCP-2607-1 and -2 are stored in Bio Site-66's cryogenic storage facility; research proposals involving exposure of D-Class personnel to SCP-2607 must be approved by Site-66's Ethics Committee liaison, and all experimental subjects must be treated with the targeted SCP-2607 antiviral at the conclusion of the experiment.
Description: SCP-2607 is the collective designation for two strains of the herpes simplex virus with similar anomalous means of transmission, designated SCP-2607-1 and -2. Both strains of SCP-2607 cause similar symptoms to HSV-2, the herpes simplex strain which causes most cases of genital herpes; blisters appear on the genitalia within approximately 7 days of initial exposure, and heal over the next several weeks. SCP-2607 strains can be transmitted via sexual activity, as with non-anomalous varieties of herpes simplex, but each can also be transmitted by certain non-physical sexual activities.
SCP-2607-1's primary anomalous mode of transmission is through "phone sex"—sexual role-playing or descriptions of hypothetical sexual activity transmitted via telephone. For SCP-2607-1 to be transmitted, the infected and uninfected participants must describe a scenario in which, were the sexual activity occurring physically, it would be possible to transmit herpes simplex; descriptions of proper condom use reduce transmission rate by approximately 30%. Research has shown that SCP-2607-1 can also be transmitted via in-person sexual role-playing (i.e. "phone sex" without the telephone); in-person sexual role-playing reduces the transmission rate by approximately 50%. SCP-2607-1 cannot be transmitted through recorded speech or through text-based erotic role-playing; the infected and uninfected participants must share a direct audio connection.
SCP-2607-2's primary anomalous mode of transmission is through online erotic role-playing. Similarly to SCP-2607-1, both the infected and uninfected participants must describe a scenario which could lead to transmission of non-anomalous herpes simplex. Unlike SCP-2607-1, the responses need not be immediate; successful transmission has been observed with a lag between successive messages of as long as three weeks. SCP-2607-2 can also be transmitted via SMS-based erotic role-playing ("sexting") and via telephone, although the rate of transmission is reduced by approximately 75%. Erotic role-playing not mediated by some electronic medium (in-person, or via written or printed descriptions) cannot transmit SCP-2607-2.
SCP-2607-1 was first identified by the Foundation in 1983, when a number of individuals reporting herpes simplex infections without prior sexual activity were found to have called the same "phone sex" line; records from the "phone sex" line indicated that each of these individuals had engaged in sexual role-playing with the same operator, Ms. █████ Pickering, then a student at the University of ████ ███. Ms. Pickering was detained and interviewed; she claims to have only had a single sexual partner, a fellow student named "Simeon Plesko" whom she met at a party. Ms. Pickering only engaged in sexual intercourse with this individual once, and said that he "left [her] flat before [she] woke up and never called [her] back." University of ████ ███ records contain no mention of a student by this name; Simeon Plesko has been classified as Person of Interest 2607-Α.
SCP-2607-2 was identified in 2005, when almost every active member of "Islands of Desire," a server of the MMORPG Neverwinter Nights devoted to erotic role-playing, sought treatment for herpes simplex. Approximately one week before the first users reported herpes simplex infections, the server had hosted a nautical group sex-themed event called "Orgies of the Sword Coast," coinciding with the release of the Neverwinter Nights expansion pack "Pirates of the Sword Coast;" an individual with the username "Sim_Plex" had been very active during this event. Attempts to trace this user via IP or payment information proved fruitless; investigation is still ongoing.In 2008, UNDRCRWN made a few shirts featuring Barack Obama beating John McCain in sports, like boxing and basketball. It looks like Arenas (who collaborated on a shoe with UNDRCRWN) was able to put in a special request to tease Nick Young. Here's what UNDRCRWN founder Dustin Canalin had to say when he was asked to make the shirt:
We don't do too many custom tees but when Gilbert Arenas calls and want you to be part of one of his off court pranks, we listen. Nick Young, a favorite target for Gil, must of opened his mouth one too many times. We sent a few dozen tees down to DC during the heat of the presidential race. The entire team had them on.
It looks like everything was done in good fun, as you can actually see Nick Young wearing the shirt in the infamous commercial he made with JaVale McGee and Andray Blatche:
Still, it makes you wonder if there's a shirt floating around (or lying in a shoe somewhere) that involves Andray Blatche.Zoroastrian religion is a monotheistic faith and Zoroastrians believe in one God – Ahura Mazda, the Wise Lord. He is also referred to as Dadar-e-gehan Daman or creator of the Universe. He is omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient; the fount of all things good and beautiful, all things wise and wonderful; He is just and good, pure, uncorrupted and incorruptible. He creates in abundance and gives in abundance for his creations to enjoy. He is the opposer and protector against all things bad and evil.
Zarathushtra tells us Dadar Ahura Mazda created the universe and maintains it with cosmic laws. Ahura Mazda also created the Twin Spirits – Spenta Mainyu and the Angre Mainyu (Ahriman: the middle Persian equivalent of Angra Mainyu). Spenta Mainyu is the embodiment of everything that Ahura Mazda stands for and is the antithesis of everything that Angre Mainyu stands for – everything evil, dark, deceitful, maleficent and malevolent. Spenta Mainyu maintains the infinite realms of Ahura Mazda, the terrestrial shores like water, earth, air, plant life and even the unborn children. Angra Mainyu dwells in darkness, disease, death, is deceitful and destructive.
However, this does not indicate that Zoroaster preached a Dualistic Philosophy. Far from it. Dualism would indicate that the forces of evil are as powerful as Ahura Mazda. No! Ahriman is neither co-equal of Ahura Mazda nor has co-eternal powers. Zarathushtra was very clear about the limitation of all evil. A true Zoroastrian life is spent in the struggle of Asa, (goodness and truth), against the forces of Druj (evil). In Ahunavaiti Gatha, Yasna 30.3 we read, “And now when these two spirits together came, they in the beginning created Life and Not-Life” (translation of Dr. Irach J S Taraporewala). The same line is again interpreted very lucidly by Rohinton F Nariman as “Those who are of greater understanding choose to be upright; not so those who are of lesser understanding.” And this is the very foundation of the mighty edifice of Zoroastrianism! In Yasna XIV, Zarathushtra declares, “I will speak of the Twin Spirits at the very beginning of life, of whom the holier spake thus to the wicked one: Never shall our minds harmonize, nor our doctrines; neither our aspirations, nor yet our beliefs: neither our words nor yet our actions; neither hearts nor yet our souls.”
Zoroastrianism is about the mental conflict between the truth and the forces of evil i.e. Ahriman. Even so, Zoroastrianism is by no means, dualistic. Zarathushtra taught of Twin Spirits but His teachings are non-dualistic. This idea might have crept into Zoroastrian Philosophy at later times. Dig a little deeper and we figure that Ahriman, unknowingly, works for Pak Dadar Ahura Mazda – he is a small part of the grand plan by Ahura Mazda! Ahriman represents the second phase of His eternal activity. The first being the creation and its maintenance, the second being the destruction, or rather the dissolution. One can see that the universe, as we know today, has gone through tremendous changes; it has progressed from the moment it ‘Big-banged’ from singularity and evolved to its present form which required renovation and renewal… this would not have taken place without the forces of destruction.
It is very clear that Ahura Mazda and Ahriman are not in any way equal, but, they are in everything, opposites. Destruction is also a part of God’s plan. This is logical. The progress of the universe consists in renovation and renewal, which is impossible without the destruction of what has ceased to help in the forward march of creation. It is true that good comes out of even the evil. Ahura Mazda stands alone – unequalled, unparalleled, supreme.
Nirang-I Ardibehesht Yasht, beautifully brings out the contrast between Dadar Ahura Mazda and Ahriman. It tells us that Ahura Mazda is the creator and the keeper of the world, He is omnipotent and omniscient, nourisher of all and is the overseer and the doer of the good deeds. Ahriman is nothing whatsoever – the ‘not-life’. Hormazd is the creator, Ahriman the destroyer. The creator is Holy whereas Ahriman is wicked. May Ahriman perish, be vanquished, defeated and overcome. Hormazd is exalted, powerful and good. In the introductory passage of Khorshed Nyaish too, we read of the awe-inspiring attributes of Ahura Mazda. Presumptuous as Ahriman may be, his kingdom of evil will eventually be destroyed. Asho Zarathushtra declares in Gatha 30.10, “Then indeed the support of the Falsehood shall come down, and broken shall be its power” This tells us that all evil shall ultimately perish, thus indicating that neither is Ahriman a co-equal nor is he co-eternal of Ahura Mazda.
And this is why we pray every morning, upon getting out of the bed and saying our prayers in praise of the Almighty Ahura Mazda – “Shekaste, Shekaste Shaitan!” or Let the evil one be defeated, broken and overcome!
Ameen!PayPal today announced partnerships with three leading Bitcoin payment processors: BitPay, Coinbase and GoCoin. The eBay-owned company wants to help digital goods merchants accept Bitcoin payments, although it is starting with those located in the US and Canada first (“We are considering expanding to other markets,” a PayPal spokesperson told TNW. “Stay tuned.”)
PayPal says it chose to integrate the third-party functionality directly in the PayPal Payments Hub because the aformentioned trio already offers its customers protections when dealing with the virtual currency. The company envisions anything that can be obtained digitally, such as video games and music, being sold in Bitcoin.
This is important to emphasize, because PayPal isn’t adding Bitcoin as a currency to its own digital wallet. It also won’t be processing Bitcoing payments on its secure payments platform: everything is being handled by one of the three third-parties.
Merchants who pre-sell products, meaning asking for money up-front for a product or service that will be delivered in the future, will also not be supported. This is, according to PayPal, to safeguard customers from businesses that can’t give refunds if they fold before the product is shipped and after buyer protection expires.
In other words, the company is starting to accept Bitcoin, but very slowly and very cautiously. PayPal Senior Director of Corporate Strategy Scott Ellison explains:
PayPal has always embraced innovation, but always in ways that make payments safer and more reliable for our customers. Our approach to Bitcoin is no different. That’s why we’re proceeding gradually, supporting Bitcoin in some ways today and holding off on other ways until we see how things develop. PayPal also needs to follow the laws and regulations in every market we operate. For this reason, virtual currency exchangers and administrators interested in working with PayPal in the future must secure the appropriate licenses and put anti-money laundering procedures in place.
In short, PayPal is asking others to dip their toes into Bitcoin. The company knows swimming can be great, but it just isn’t sure yet if it wants to get wet.
That being said, PayPal has tested the water in other ways already. Earlier this month, its online and mobile payments platform Braintree announced Bitcoin integration for developers via Coinbase. It also accepts payments from merchants selling Bitcoin mining equipment.
While actions speak louder than words, PayPal still made a point to shower praise on Bitcoin, saying there is “good reason” it has seen so much hype this year, and that while crypto-currencies are not completely new, it is the only one that has “achieved significant scale.”
See also – PayPal president is fascinated by Bitcoin, says company is ‘thinking about’ including the virtual currency
Image credit: Eric Piermont/Getty Images
Read next: Google expands local inventory ads beyond the US and into the UK, France and 3 more marketsEMS's parent company is preparing for bankruptcy filings. EMS photo.
According to Bloomberg, Eastern Mountain Sports' parent company, Vestis Retail Group, is preparing for bankruptcy filings, and could file as soon as next week. Vestis also owns the Sports Chalet and Bob's Stores chains. The news no doubt casts speculation that EMS will have to follow their parent organization into Chapter 11.
The Meriden, Connecticut-based EMS, founded in 1967 by two climbers in Massachusetts, operates over 65 retail locations as well as multiple outdoor skill schools, including a bustling center for backcountry travel & avalanche safety courses in New Hampshire's White Mountains. The company was acquired by Versis in 2012, who itself is owned by a private equity outfit.
This comes just a month after Sports Authority filed for bankruptcy itself, and, in the prior year, Quiksilver and American Apparel – highlighting the difficult landscape the sporting goods industry is facing in the era of Amazon, international competition, and stagnating incomes among many income brackets in the rich world.Dear President Obama,
First, I would like to start this off by saying thanks. Thanks for helping my sick and elderly with ObamaCare because no matter what people say, there are people more alive today because of you. Thanks for giving my gay brothers and sisters a voice, one they thought would never happen when it came to their union known as marriage. Thank you for giving little brown, black, yellow boys a role model with hopes that one day they can be President to. And finally, thank you for the large amounts of Clemencies that have occurred under your presidency but it is also here I feel my negatives about your presidency.
With each announcement of the Clemencies, I would scourge the internet for the list and zealously go line by line to see that most of the clemencies have been for crack and such, which I totally understand since there has been a history of unjust sentencing in our system due racial and socio-economic inequalities but the thing that I ponder the most is I really hope you plan on doing a blanket clemency for all marijuana cases. I say this because now 8 states have legalized marijuana for recreational use, 28 for medical use, our nation’s capital has legalized it for recreational use, and there are still 4 living Federal marijuana patients.
I believe the legacy you will leave will be great, but I also believe a lot will be reversed in a Trump Presidency, but there is still one thing you can do that will have a great social impact and that’s free those imprison for marijuana. Even though you said legalization is not a panacea, I believe you’re wrong when it comes to social justice. Freeing those in prison for pot, those that have already served decades, destined to die in prison, will make a difference from the ground up. Once this happens the tides will turn for the everyday American citizen, no longer would a youth’s future be destroyed by a conviction, no longer would people have to fear the police out of fear for smelling like pot.
As your administration hands things over I believe you can help not set back America 40 years as Trump believes things should be left to the State and I believe that’s just a political speak for cop-out to not believing that everybody should have a right to decide their medicine or recreational outlet.
I urge and plead Mr. Obama that you free our people, your people, American citizens that have lost their lives and livelihoods to a senseless drug war that has protected no one but has been geared toward certain groups as revealed by John Ehrlichman in Harper’s April 2016 edition.
One of the greatest atrocities that will plaque America is the unjust and failed war on drugs, where people are growing old and have lost time with loved ones over something that is legal to smoke for fun in 8 states and our nation’s capital and that can be used medicinally in 28 while at the same time there are 4 living Federal medical patients only because the other 4 have passed away.
Thanks Obama for all the other stuff but I would be really thankful if I never had to worry about me or my children serving time for a plant that has been a part of my culture and is in fact part of my faith.
Sincerely,
Miguel a.k.a Miggy420
U.S Navy Veteran and Concerned CitizenAugust 30, 2011 Irene: Worst Effects on Northeast in 50 Years Possible
By By Alex Sosnowski, expert senior meteorologist. August 30, 2011, 6:44:47 AM EDT
"There could be millions in the dark for hours and hundreds of thousands without power for days starting at the height of Irene, and in her wake."
There is potential for the worst tropical cyclone impacts in 50 years along the northern part of the Atlantic Seaboard as Irene plows northward. It will matter little as to the intensity of Irene upon moving up the coast and making landfall.
Coastal flooding, torrential rainfall and even tropical storm force winds will cause serious damage. The impacts on lives, property, commerce and travel will be serious.
While Irene will not be as strong and is not forecast to track as far west, nor as fast, as Hazel did in 1954, it will ride up along the mid-Atlantic coast in such a way as to inflict major damage in many coastal and some inland communities. In today's dollars, Hazel was a multi-billion-dollar storm and reached Category 4 at peak intensity.
Irene will track farther east than Hazel, and farther west than Bob (1991). Meteorologist Heather Buchman compares Irene to storms in the past.
While Irene is expected to weaken Saturday into Sunday after encountering cooler waters in northern latitudes, that will not happen fast enough to prevent serious problems from wind, rain and ocean water.
If you live near the projected path of Irene, you are at risk for power outages, flooding problems and property damage with this storm.
AccuTeam Irene is reporting live from Atlantic Beach, N.C.
Power Outages
Downed trees alone have potential to block many streets and secondary roads from eastern North Carolina northward to southeastern Quebec, running along the very heavily populated I-95 Northeast U.S. corridor.
With saturated soil, water-logged, heavy trees will topple and break, as will tree limbs.
When trees come down, they take power lines with them. There could be millions in the dark for hours and hundreds of thousands without power for days starting at the height of Irene, and in her wake.
Some people could be without tap water as a result of the power being out.
Flooding Rainfall
Irene will bring serious flooding from heavy rain in the coastal mid-Atlantic and portions of New England. It is not a question, not a risk; it is a certainty.
Many areas in the Northeast have been hit with record or near-record rainfall for the month of August, and a few are flirting with their wettest month ever. Rain from thunderstorms in advance of Irene will make matters worse.
This could be the scene in parts of the I-95 Northeast in the wake of Irene's rainfall. Photo by photos.com.
The saturated state of the ground will mean that water has nowhere to go but into yards, streets, streams and rivers.
The worst conditions will be in the stretch from the Delmarva northward through New Jersey, western New England and the Hudson Valley of New York. In part of this area, a foot of rain could fall over a 24- to 48-hour period.
Coastal Flooding, Beach Erosion
Serious coastal flooding and beach erosion are expected from North Carolina northward to Maine.
In a specific sense, the exact degree of above-normal tides is tricky and highly variable due to the highly varied shapes of the coast, barrier islands and back bays.
In a general sense, tides will average 2 to 4 feet above normal, but locally higher surge is likely with wave action on top of the mean level of the sea and open bays.
If you get coastal flooding during a strong nor'easter, you will likely get flooding with Irene. Some barrier islands may be cut off for a time.
Some beaches and boardwalks in the mid-Atlantic and southern New England could sustain damage so severe that they are un-repairable for the duration of the 2011 summer season.
High Winds
Many people along the Atlantic Seaboard probably have not experienced such a strong storm as we expect with Hurricane Irene. People in the path of Irene should stay indoors during the height of this storm.
Some of the youngest of the crowd were not around for Floyd (1999), Fran (1996), Gloria (1985) and others. Then there are the storms of the more distant generations of the 1960s and 1950s, which include Donna (1960), Diane (1955) and Hazel (1954).
While conditions are likely to be much less severe than this even in most coastal areas, falling trees could crash into homes, block intersections and cut power. Photo by photos.com.
In addition to the potential for a great number of downed trees and power lines, Irene can cause other property issues ranging from damaged roofs and siding to busted windows. These items, and others knocked loose, will become airborne projectiles.
High winds will affect air travel and high-profile vehicles in the path of Irene.
There are many bridges that reach sky-high in the major port cities. The higher up you are, the stronger the winds will be. Travel over these bridges for a time at the height of Irene could be halted.
We can only hope that people heed warnings and get out of harm's way in advance of Irene.
Keep checking in at AccuWeather.com as there may be further adjustments to Irene's path in the north, as the two-way impact between the hurricane and other weather systems becomes clearer.
Expert analysis on Hurricane Irene and what's in store for the mid-Atlantic and Northeast.
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Manchester United star Ashley Young has come to the aid of a poorly fan to make one of his final wishes a reality.
The kindhearted Manchester United winger has offered the use of his executive box to lifelong supporter John Booth, who has six months to live.
Father-of-five John, who is originally from Wythenshawe but lives in West Drayton, was given the devastating news of his prognosis four weeks ago.
He immediately came up with a bucket list of things to do with the help of his son Rob.
Top of his list was one more trip to Old Trafford.
Rob, 36, explained: "He's had stomach cancer for three years but he was given the all clear before last Christmas and we took him to the Newcastle match on Boxing Day.
"He collapsed two minutes before kick-off and ended up in Manchester Royal Infirmary.
"He was re-diagnosed and they told him he had six months left.
"He's an optimistic bloke and came up with a bucket list which included one last trip to Old Trafford for a game."
Too frail to sit in the stands because of the chemotherapy he is receiving, Rob knew the only way to make his dad's dream come true would be to get his hands on an executive box.
He enlisted the help of United fans who spread the word on Twitter.
The crusade caught the eye of Young, 28, who immediately got in touch through Twitter to see if he could help.
A couple of phone calls later and John, Rob and the rest of the family will take pride of place in the midfielder's box for the clash with Swansea City on January 11.
"I'm ecstatic," said John, a former Crossacres Primary and Poundswick Grammar pupil.
"My first match was in 1968 and I used to get the number 70 and stand on the Stretford End.
"I didn't think I'd be back - it restores your faith in humanity."
Brave John, who stayed in the south after joining the RAF and meeting wife Gloria, added: "I'm counting my blessings because I've got the opportunity to make things as painless as I can for my relatives and to do things like this is fantastic."
Manchester Evening News live breaking news service
Read the Manchester Evening News on your phone - download the Apple MEN App here and the Android MEN App here - and get the paper as an e-edition every morning by subscribing hereIf you’re looking for some small tattoo designs or small tattoo ideas then have a look at tattoo insiders own free designs, we’ve created 80 free small tattoo designs in high resolution. 40 small tattoo ideas for women and another 40 small tattoo ideas for men, although these designs aren’t restricted to any gender they are either best suited or most popular for men or women.
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Want more designs? click below for our previous tattoo designs or check back for more small tattoo ideas being added.Paul Crowther adds this to his already impressive list of books treating the history of aesthetic inquiry. As much as anyone working in the aesthetic arena, he has managed to build a resume that has especially treated virtually all of the major figures in aesthetics from the 20th and 21st centuries, including proponents from both the continental and analytic traditions. This, his most recent book, attempts to assess both traditions as a whole by focusing on very specific figures -- Wollheim, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, Lacan, and Dufrenne -- and to then make a marriage of what he deems to be the strength of each tradition. From the continental side of the equation, Crowther applauds the phenomenological and post-phenomenological emphasis on the ontological import of the aesthetic object. From the analytic side of the equation, he wishes to draw from what he sees as the analytic talent for the construction of arguments. Each tradition, according to him, suffers from a weakness in the strength of the other tradition. The synthetic unity of the strength of each tradition is to give rise to Crowther's "post-analytic vision" provided in the title.
Crowther begins his study through an analysis of Wollheim's more subjectivist aesthetics, and as the first and only representative figure of the analytic treatment of aesthetics. One might argue with his choice of Wollheim, but this choice has to be justified |
be that posting images would almost certainly get you to the news feed. Now, it seems that plain-old Status Updates are Facebook’s new post de jour.
Methodology
I run a Facebook Page with about 90,000 fans [CBC Fan Club] and tried four different types of posts, each spaced 30 minutes apart:
A plain Status Update
A Status Update with an external link in the comments
A Link post
An Image post
Results After About 10 Hours
Status Message — no link anywhere [view]
27,648 viewed
Status Message — with link in comments [view]
24,240 viewed
Link Post [view]
15,232 viewed
Photo (highly sharable) [view]
12.944 viewed
Conclusion
Although this test was done on a large fan sample, this was a single test. Still, I think it’s clear that returning to posting plain Status Updates might be very advantageous for social media community managers looking to increase reach.Competing developers iPhone DevTeam and Geohot have announced preliminary successes in jailbreaking iPhone OS 4.0 and the iPad, respectively.
The iPhone DevTeam cracked the developer preview of iPhone OS 4.0 less than a week after its announcement at Apple’s April 8 event in Cupertino, CA. Like all jailbreaks before it, the DevTeam will eventually release an automated utility like PwnageTool for users looking to break free of Apple’s walled garden and tap into Cydia, the unofficial app store, as well as the many new and unique features made possible by an open iPhone.
On the subject of the iPad, meanwhile, George “Geohot” Hotz of PlayStation 3 fame has long been competing with the iPhone DevTeam for primacy in the field of jailbreaking. Adding a feather to his cap, Hotz and his Blackra1n tool won the race to bust the iPad open and load Cydia (above right).
Neither the iPhone DevTeam nor Geohot have announced public availability of their tools, and the public release of iPhone OS 4.0 is not expected until mid-June.Ferrari topped the timesheets in a blisteringly-hot first practice session at the Bahrain Grand Prix, with Kimi Raikkonen leading Sebastian Vettel by 0.202s while Mercedes focused on longer, slower runs.
Bahrain Grand Prix - FP1 Time (Laps) 1. RAI Ferrari 1:37.827 (13) 2. VET Ferrari 1:38.029 (12) 3. BOT Williams 1:39.390 (23) 4. SAI Toro Rosso 1:38.477 (14) 5. RIC Red Bull 1:38.455 (17) 6. VES Toro Rosso 1:38.504 (22) 7. ALO McLaren 1:38.598 (18) 8. NAS Sauber 1:38.628 (17) 9. KVY Red Bull 1:38.661 (17) 10. MAS Williams 1:38.790 (21) 11. PER Force India 1:38.793 (15) 12. MAL Lotus 1:38.842 (23) 13. HUL Force India 1:39.187 (20) 14. PAL Lotus 1:39.283 (31) 15. ROS Mercedes 1:39.293 (23) 16. HAM Mercedes 1:39.532 (22) 17. ERI Sauber 1:39.534 (21) 18. STE Manor 1:42.973 (12) 19. MER Manor 1:43.265 (15) 20. BUT McLaren No time (2)
The session, which took part in 35C heat, is not representative of either qualifying or the race, which are both run in cooler conditions after sunset. As a result run plans seemed to vary up and down the pit lane and quick laps came at seemingly random intervals throughout the session.
For a while Fernando Alonso led the way in the McLaren before being usurped by Valtteri Bottas and then the two Ferraris in the final ten minutes. Mercedes, meanwhile, pounded round with heavy fuel and completed 45 laps between the two cars.
Ferrari did not have it all its own way as Vettel appeared to be down on power on one of his early runs and returned to the pits for the best part of an hour before re-emerging and setting his quick lap. It's unlikely it held back his preparations too much as he only completed one lap less than team-mate Raikkonen and set a quick time regardless.
Jenson Button experienced a far more serious problem when his McLaren cut out with an electrical issues and spun on his first flying lap of the circuit. The rear-end stepped out and the MP4-30 was left stranded in the middle of the corner without power. He missed out on the rest of the session and will be hoping the problem can be diagnosed and fixed before FP2 in the evening, which is the only practice session run in conditions comparable with qualifying and the race. Alonso managed 18 laps in the sister McLaren, but was clearly struggling under braking for Turn 1 as he set the seventh fastest time.
Even though the times are unlikely to representative of qualifying, the top 11 were separated by less than a second, which bodes well for a competitive weekend in the midfield. The Manors took up residence in their usual section of the timesheets with Will Stevens 5.1s off the pace and Roberto Merhi 6.4 shy of the Ferraris.This is what Rainbow Six Siege developers will be working on in the next few weeks.
Earlier this month, Rainbow Six Siege developer Ubisoft Montreal made a surprise announcement that it’s delaying the game’s next scheduled DLC to kick start something called Operation Health.
Operation Health is an attempt to improve the game by streamlining matchmaking, fix lingering bugs, and generally make for a better experience all around. Now, the developer has revealed in a blog post exactly what it hopes to fix in the game’s upcoming patches 2.2.1, and 2.2.2.
Work on Operation Health is also underway, and the in-game background will be changed to reflect that today following server maintenance. Ranks will also be reset after this maintenance. It lasts for an hour, and will kick off at 9am EDT (6am PT, 2pm BST) on PS4, 10am EDT (7am PT, 3pm BST) on Xbox One, and 11am EDT (8am PT, 4pm BST) on PC.
Here’s what you can expect from Operation Health:
One-step matchmaking
-We are focusing on the testing and implementation of One Step Matchmaking. We are currently testing this on the TTS.
Map fixes
-Our level design team will be taking a pass on all maps to correct various bugs/glitches.
Game crashes
-Our technical team will be reviewing the layers of code that are leading to game crashes. This will provide you with a more stable playing experience.
Hit boxes
-Currently being tested on the Technical Test Server, the hit box refactor is continuing to under-go further testing prior to being deployed to the live build of the game.
Spawn killing
-We have seen the community’s frustrations regarding spawn killing, and our level design teams will be taking steps to mitigate the locations where this is still possible. To be clear, spawn killing is when a Defender is able to kill you within seconds of spawning. Running towards the objective and dying for not using cover is not considered spawn killing.
Join in progress
-We do not intend for players to be placed into Ranked matches that are already in progress. We are also going to be working on the various bugs encountered by people when they join a match in progress in Casual.
Defuser issues (audio, planting, destroying)
-Interaction with the Defuser is not always fluid and intuitive, and sometimes does not work as intended. We will be doing a pass on the Defuser as a whole to address these issues. The various Defuser issues will be worked on throughout the entirety of Operation Health.
Glaz
Glaz will be receiving some attention.
Every one of these points will be fully detailed buy the developers in the coming weeks. The plan is to have all included items in the game by patch 2.2.2.He’s quiet and, of course, wants to be a doctor,” read the reviewer’s note on one application. Another said that an applicant’s “scores and application seem so typical of other Asian applications I’ve read: extraordinarily gifted in math with the opposite extreme in English.” Admissions staff typically ranked Asian-Americans lower than whites in “personal qualities” and repeatedly described them as “being quiet/shy, science/math oriented, and hard workers.”
These comments appear in a federal civil rights complaint charging Harvard University with discrimination against Asian-American applicants. The complaint documents a pattern of bias, at Harvard and other Ivy League colleges, that, in its methods and its impact, closely parallels the imposition of de facto Jewish quotas at these schools in the 1920s. By spotlighting how racial preferences for other minorities have ironically contributed to this reprise of Harvard’s bigoted past, with Asians playing the role of modern-day Jews, the plaintiffs hope to prompt the Supreme Court to overturn Bakke v. Regents of the University of California, its 1978 decision allowing the use of such preferences in college admissions. For, as the complaint starkly illustrates, whatever merit affirmative action may once have had, it is a policy relic of an essentially biracial society of the 1970s that has become ludicrous in the multiracial America of 2016.
The Harvard case and a companion case against the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill were brought by Students for Fair Admissions (SFA), an advocacy group representing Asian-American and other students rejected by top colleges that employ racial preferences. SFA is an offshoot of the Project on Fair Representation, which has brought high-profile challenges to race-conscious policies in education, voting, and other areas. Among its successes is the 2013 Supreme Court decision in Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, which, while reaffirming the holdings in Bakke and in Grutter v. Bollinger that campus “diversity” is a “compelling interest” that can justify the use of racial preferences, significantly strengthened the “strict scrutiny” test to which such preferences are subject: not only must a college show that the consideration of race is “narrowly tailored” to achieve the diversity goal, the Court held, but this showing must now also include proof that “no workable race-neutral alternatives” exist for doing so.
The Harvard lawsuit, with an eye on eventual Supreme Court review, urges the justices to go a step further and overturn Bakke. Laying out a damning indictment that, in using race-based preferences rather than race-neutral alternatives to increase African-American and Latino enrollment, Harvard and the other Ivies have established quotas limiting Asian enrollment, the complaint asserts: “Given what is occurring at Harvard and at other schools, the proper response is the outright prohibition of racial preferences in university admissions—period.” The complaint stresses a particular irony in the use of racial preferences at Harvard. The Bakke decision had held up the Harvard admissions program, touted in Harvard’s amicus brief in the case, as a model of individualized assessment in which race was just one of many nonacademic and subjective “plus” factors, and no quotas were imposed. In fact, the SFA complaint documents, the “holistic” Harvard Plan was conceived in anti-Semitism—and now cloaks similar anti-Asian prejudice.
The anti-Semitic history is eye-popping. Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz calls the Harvard Plan “one of the most shameful episodes in the history of American higher education in general, and of Harvard College in particular.” The SFA complaint draws on Dershowitz’s research and that of sociologist Jerome Karabel, whose 2005 book The Chosen: The Hidden History of Admission and Exclusion at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton chronicles this story. Prior to the early 1920s, admission to Harvard and other Ivy League schools was based almost entirely on grades and an entrance examination. Essays and personal interviews were not required, and extracurricular interests and other subjective indicators of “character” or “leadership” received little consideration. The admissions criteria were objective; but until about the turn of the century, they were not particularly demanding, in keeping with the Ivy League reputation as a place for the social rather than the intellectual elite. Beginning in the 1890s, however, Harvard began making its requirements more academically rigorous, culminating in the adoption of a “New Plan” in 1911, designed to favor good students from public schools over poor students from prep schools.
This shift to a more academic emphasis coincided with the arrival in America of large numbers of Jewish immigrants whose culture shared this emphasis. Harvard was already 7 percent Jewish by 1900. The Jewish proportion of the student body increased to 10 percent in 1909 and then, after adoption of the New Plan in 1911, to 15 percent in 1914 and 20 percent in 1918. By 1922, Jews accounted for 21.5 percent of the Harvard student body.
This trend did not sit well with many Harvard alumni and staff. As early as 1907, the dean of financial aid expressed his preference for “sons of families that have been American for generations” rather than the “increasing class [of] foreigners, and especially the Russian Jews.” Some 20 years later, as Jewish enrollment reached its peak, a member of the class of 1901 sent a letter to President A. Lawrence Lowell after attending the Harvard-Yale game. “To find that one’s University had become so Hebrewized was a fearful shock,” he wrote. “There were Jews to the right of me, Jews to the left of me.” Bemoaning that Jews were “undoubtedly of high mental order” and that raising academic standards would only increase their number, the anguished alum beseeched President Lowell: “Are the Overseers so lacking in genius that they can’t devise a way to bring Harvard back to the position it always held as a ‘white man’s’ college?”
These concerns found a sympathetic ear in Lowell, who responded that he “had foreseen the peril of having too large of a number of an alien race and had tried to prevent it.” Indeed he had, and he ultimately succeeded. Lowell first warned of the “Jewish problem” in a 1920 letter expressing fear that the rising tide of Jews would “ruin the college” and suggesting a 15 percent cap on their enrollment. He formally proposed such a cap to the faculty in 1922, along with other policies to limit “Hebrew” admissions by placing greater emphasis on “character” rather than exam scores. A faculty-created special committee rejected an explicit Jewish quota in 1923, but as a compromise, it adopted a new geographic-diversity plan to admit applicants from the South and the West in the top seventh of their high school class—an obvious attempt to dilute the Jewish share of the campus population by increasing enrollment of students from areas with few Jews. The committee also endorsed Lowell’s proposal to emphasize subjective measures of “aptitude and character,” such as recommendation letters and interviews, rather than objective academic achievement, though the faculty didn’t implement this latter change.
The geographic-diversity compromise failed: the Jewish share of the student population continued to rise, to 25 percent in 1924 and 27.6 percent in 1925. At that point, Lowell, rather than renewing the battle for an express Jewish quota, again proposed the imposition of a de facto one by the institution of highly discretionary and subjective admissions criteria: “To prevent a dangerous increase in the proportion of Jews,” he wrote to the admissions committee, “I know at present only one way which is at the same time straightforward and effective, and that is a selection by a personal estimate of character on the part of the Admissions authorities.” Lowell was candid that “a very large proportion of the less desirable, upon this basis, are... the Jews.” A new special committee report endorsed the proposal in 1926 and rejected a counterproposal to base admission purely on objective academic standards, stating that “the standards ought never to be too high for serious and ambitious students of average intelligence.” This time, the faculty not only adopted the new holistic admissions plan but also made the process even more subjective, directing the admissions committee to interview personally as many applicants as possible to evaluate “character and fitness.”
The impact was dramatic. The percentage of Jews in Harvard’s freshman class plummeted from its 1925 high of over 27 percent to just 15 percent in 1926, and remained virtually unchanged at about that level until the 1940s. Harvard reinforced the de facto quota during this time by further strengthening the holistic emphasis on “leadership” and “character” in admissions, for the first time requiring candidates to submit personal essays and detailed descriptions of their extracurricular activities. Jewish numbers at Harvard did not begin to rebound until after World War II; but even as late as 1952, an admissions committee report expressed concern that the impression that Harvard was “dominated by Jews” might cause a loss of “students from upper-income, business backgrounds.” Other Ivy League schools imposed similar Jewish quotas via the use of subjective admissions criteria during the same period.
Admissions records at Harvard and other elite colleges over the past quarter-century reveal an uncannily similar treatment of Asian-Americans. Asians, of course, have often been termed the “New Jews” in reference to their focus on academic achievement. But as Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Golden observed in a chapter with that title in his 2006 book The Price of Admission: How America’s Ruling Class Buys Its Way into Elite Colleges—and Who Gets Left Outside the Gates, this status has also meant “inheriting the mantle of the most disenfranchised group in college admissions. The nonacademic admissions criteria established to exclude Jews, from alumni child status to leadership qualities, are now used to deny Asians.” Golden’s evidence is largely anecdotal, but two recent studies establish a devastating statistical case. In No Longer Separate, Not Yet Equal: Race and Class in Elite College Admission and Campus Life, published in 2009, Princeton professor Thomas Espenshade and coauthor Alexandra Radford demonstrate that, controlling for other variables, Asian students applying to highly selective private colleges face odds against their admission three times as high as whites, six times as high as Hispanics, and sixteen times as high as blacks. To put it another way: Asians need SAT scores 140 points higher than whites, 270 points higher than Hispanics, and an incredible 450 points higher than blacks (out of 1,600 points) to get into these schools. An Asian applicant with an SAT score of 1,500, that is, has the same chance of being accepted as a white student with a 1,360, a Latino with a 1,230, or an African-American with a 1,050. Among candidates in the highest (1,400–1,600) SAT range, 77 percent of blacks, 48 percent of Hispanics, 40 percent of whites, and only 30 percent of Asians are admitted.
In an exhaustive 2012 article, “The Myth of American Meritocracy,” Ron Unz looked at ethnic acceptance rates at elite schools since 1980 and found “a highly intriguing pattern” at Harvard and at the other Ivies. Asian enrollment at Harvard increased from about 4 percent to 10 percent during the early and mid-1980s. Asian enrollment then spiked after the Department of Education Office of Civil Rights (OCR) began an investigation in 1988 into an earlier complaint that Harvard was discriminating against Asians, peaking at 20.6 percent in 1993. The OCR closed the investigation in 1990. Beginning in 1994, the first year in which all students were admitted after the close of the investigation, “The Asian numbers went into reverse, generally stagnating or declining during the two decades which followed.... Even more surprising has been the sheer constancy of these percentages, with almost every year from 1995–2011 showing an Asian enrollment within a single point of the 16.5 percent average.”
Unz notes that “this exactly replicates the historical pattern... in which Jewish enrollment rose very rapidly, leading to imposition of an informal quota system, after which the number of Jews fell substantially, and thereafter remained roughly constant for decades.” (See chart, below, which compares Harvard’s Jewish enrollment for the period from 1908 to 1942 with its Asian enrollment for the corresponding period from 1976 to 2010.)
These figures actually understate the decline in Asian representation at Harvard, as they don’t take into account that it has occurred while Asians have been the fastest-growing racial group in the United States, with their numbers more than doubling over the last 20 years. The Asian share of the college-age (18–21) cohort quadrupled, from 1.3 percent to 5.1 percent between 1976 and 2011. Factoring this in, Unz calculates that “the percentage of college-age Asian-Americans attending Harvard... has... dropped by over 50 percent” since peaking in 1993, “a decline somewhat larger than the fall in Jewish enrollment which followed the imposition of secret quotas in 1925.”
Strikingly similar patterns can be seen at other Ivy League colleges. As at Harvard, Asian enrollment rates briefly shot up at Yale, Columbia, and Cornell during and just after the 1988–90 OCR Harvard investigation, peaked in the early to mid-1990s, and then declined significantly. As Unz documents, Asian enrollments at all Ivy League colleges during this period “rapidly converged to the same [Harvard] level of approximately 16 percent, and remained roughly static thereafter”—so static that “the yearly fluctuations in Asian enrollments are often smaller than were the changes in Jewish numbers during the ‘quota era.’ ” Indeed, as the SFA plaintiffs put it, Harvard and “all other Ivy League schools... inexplicably enroll Asian Americans in remarkably similar numbers year after year after year.” These figures have remained constant in the 14 percent to 19 percent range, even though, according to one study of “three of the most selective Ivy League colleges” cited in the lawsuit, Asian-Americans constitute 27 percent of the applicants to these schools—and 45 percent of the applicants with the top SAT scores.
Among elite colleges, one school stands out conspicuously in its Asian enrollment trends: the California Institute of Technology. Caltech is the only top school that rejects the use of racial preferences as well as “legacy” admissions for the children of alumni, instead selecting students based almost entirely on academic merit. Asian enrollment at Caltech has kept pace with the growth of the Asian college cohort and now stands at over 40 percent of the student body. Asians similarly account for about 40 percent of the population at the five most selective campuses in the University of California system—Berkeley, UCLA, San Diego, Davis, and Irvine—where the passage of Proposition 209 in 1996 barred racial preferences. These figures further support the inference of discrimination by Harvard and the other Ivies.
Anecdotal evidence also proves consistent with this conclusion, suggesting an anti-Asian bias that endures among otherwise devoutly antiracist university officials, for whom Asians embody “uncool,” déclassé traits that offend their liberal worldview. Stories like those of a rejected Harvard applicant profiled in the SFA lawsuit—a child of Chinese immigrants; high school valedictorian; perfect ACT score; captain of the varsity tennis team; even an NPR volunteer!—are legion. Golden chronicled many of these stories in The Price of Admission: Henry Park’s immigrant parents scrimped to send him to prep school at Groton, where he graduated 14th in his class, with a 1,560 SAT score, ran cross-country, and coauthored a published paper in an academic journal—but Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Brown, Stanford, and MIT rejected him. Jamie Lee had perfect SAT scores, a 162 IQ, and composed musical pieces, but he was turned down by Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, and MIT, and wait-listed at Columbia and Dartmouth.
Even more telling are the attitudes of admissions officials who defend these decisions. When Golden confronted him about Henry Park’s rejection, MIT’s dean of admissions engaged in the kind of racial stereotyping that, as Golden notes, would be unimaginable in the case of a black applicant. “It’s possible that Henry Park looked like a thousand other Korean kids with the exact same profile,” the dean said, “that he just wasn’t... interesting enough to surface to the top” but was “yet another textureless math grind.” A former Vanderbilt administrator told Golden that Asians are good students but don’t provide a stimulating intellectual environment. The notes from the Harvard admissions staff quoted at the beginning of this article, describing Asians as hardworking but lacking in “personal qualities,” which came to light in the 1988 OCR investigation, reflect the same underlying prejudice. In a recent investigation of a discrimination complaint against Princeton, OCR found such notations as “defies the stereotypes, thinks and feels deeply” in Asian application files. (OCR, whose determinations are not binding in court, nonetheless rejected the complaint, ignoring the statistical evidence and essentially determining that there was no discrimination because, as John Rosenberg put it for the Minding the Campus blog, “a few Asians were admitted with lower academic credentials than some rejected non-Asians.”)
“Asians are typecast in college admissions offices as quasi-robots programmed by their parents to ace math and science tests,” Golden observes. A Yale student commenting on the Princeton OCR complaint put it more bluntly: “[T]here can be good reasons for the disproportionately low acceptance rates for many Asians.... Top-tier schools... look not only for good grades but for an interesting student who will bring something of value to the community.” A Boston Globe columnist noted that the comment “sounds a lot like what admissions officers say, but there’s a whiff of something else, too.”
The something else smells a lot like the attitude toward Jews 90 years ago. Now, as then, an upstart, achievement-oriented minority group has proved too successful under objective academic standards. And so, as Jews were in the 1920s, Asians today are deemed deficient in the highly subjective and discretionary “personal estimate of character” favored long ago by Harvard president Lowell. But while anti-Semitic elites of the 1920s were forthrightly reactionary, their grandchildren’s anti-Asian bigotry is concealed under a veneer of modern progressivism. This is not merely because it rechristens Lowell’s arbitrary criteria with the New Agey term “holistic” but more fundamentally because it is based on a stereotypical view of Asians as out of sync with liberal culture. The image of Asian students as one-dimensional test-taking robots, short on creative thinking, all too often resonates with modern liberal educators, with their disdain for testing and “rote” learning, which they see as inimical to a “frolic in the fields” concept of creativity. As former neoconservative-turned-leftist culture warrior Diane Ravitch articulated this philosophy: “I don’t care if my two grandsons... have higher or lower scores than children their age in... Japan [or] Korea.... [I] care that [they] are... curious about the world; are loved; learn to love learning; [and] are kind to their friends and to animals;... Let’s all read Walden, read poetry, listen to good music, visit a museum, look at the stars.”
The bias against a group seen as having a learning approach that rebukes this romantic idyll is reflected in the concern of liberal college administrators that their institutions not become majority Asian. As Golden told the New York Times, “The schools semiconsciously say to themselves, ‘We can’t have all Asians.’ ” It may be more than semiconscious. A former admissions officer at Wesleyan, Brown, and Columbia warns ominously in the same Times article that “if affirmative action is overthrown... our elite campuses will look like U.C.L.A. and Berkeley.” Golden recounts the experience of Princeton professor Uwe Reinhardt in raising the discrimination issue with university officials: “They would say... ‘You wouldn’t want half the campus to be Chinese.’ ” Reinhardt had a good answer: “Well, why not?” As the director of Asian-American studies at Northwestern put it, “In the 1920s, people asked: will Harvard still be Harvard with so many Jews? Today we ask: will Harvard still be Harvard with so many Asians? Yale’s student population is 58 percent white and 18 percent Asian. Would it be such a calamity if those numbers were reversed?” It’s ironic that the same progressives who exult at the prospect of the United States becoming a majority-minority country fret at the far less disruptive prospect of Harvard or Yale becoming majority Asian.
Liberal discomfort with Asians can shade into outright hostility. Browbeating affirmative-action opponent Abigail Thernstrom in the wake of the passage of Prop. 209, Crossfire cohost Bob Beckel asked angrily, “Would you like to see... UCLA Law School 80 percent Asian?.... Will that make you happy?” The hostility is exacerbated by the unavoidable reality that affirmative action puts Asians in competition with African-Americans and Hispanics. Another study by Espenshade found that racial preferences for blacks and Latinos at elite colleges come almost entirely at the expense of Asian-Americans rather than whites. He and a colleague determined that if affirmative action were eliminated, “[n]early four out of every five places... not taken by African-American and Hispanic students would be filled by Asians.”
Racial-preference supporters argue that Asian students are harmed just as much by admissions preferences for legacies and athletes, which disproportionately benefit whites. Indeed, OCR dismissed the 1988 Harvard complaint based on a finding that any discrimination against Asians was explained by such preferences. The current Harvard lawsuit also attacks legacy preferences but for a different reason, arguing that their elimination would be a “race-neutral alternative” that would allow Harvard to admit more blacks and Latinos without resorting to race-based selection. I think that the plaintiffs are right, as a matter of fairness, to oppose legacy preferences (even though my daughter and I are both Harvard graduates, so our family may have benefited from them). However, Espenshade’s data show that their abolition would do little to benefit blacks, Latinos—or Asians.
Thus, this case necessarily brings into stark relief the ironic impact of race-based admissions preferences in today’s multiracial society. Whatever the justification for racial favoritism in the essentially biracial era of 1978, when Bakke was decided, the burden now falls largely on another historically marginalized racial minority—a group that is heavily foreign-born and that, while generally prosperous, still has large pockets of immigrant poverty. (See “The Plot Against Merit,” Summer 2014.) Affirmative action, the flagship policy of multiculturalists, has foundered on multiculturalism itself—and it’s time to pull the plug on it. The Harvard lawsuit provides the courts with a good opportunity to do so.
Top Photo: Students have filed a federal civil rights complaint against Harvard University for anti-Asian bias. (JOSEPH SOHM/CORBIS)In his original whitepaper about P2P payment technology, Satoshi Nakamoto proposed a method to exchange money between two individuals without requiring a trusted third party. This was the founding definition of Bitcoin, a cryptocurrency which gradually gained fame and adoption for lifting unnecessary commissions off of payment transactions.
The purpose of a newly launched Bitcoin exchange BitSquare somewhat reminds the community of the same core philosophies of Bitcoin, which propagate the idea of decentralized financial transactions between individuals. In times when most of the centralized Bitcoin exchanges are being allegedly involved in faking trade volumes, leaking personal data, and even thefts, BitSquare tries to fill a deep void in the currency exchange market.
“We have developed a solution which is based on pure P2P infrastructure,” claims their website.
“While the transfer of national currency requires the involvement of traditional payment channels like banks or payment processors, we are not dependent on any particular one. Their role is limited to what it should be: They transfer national currency. No power of censoring, confiscating, monitoring or controlling your financial interaction.”
While a majority of Bitcoin followers have supported the idea, some have even raised genuine questions against BitSquare’s feasibility. The major question is regarding the implementation of speculative day trading on a decentralized platform.
One of the exchange’s developers, Richard Myers, acknowledged this issue and promised to minimize its impact in countries with faster payment structures. Meanwhile, he also described how such concerns are very few if compared to the benefits users will receive from BitSquare. These benefits include everything from instant accessibility to utmost privacy.
Fundraiser to Support BitSquare Project
BitSquare recently launched a fundraising campaign on the Lighthouse Crowdfunding App with an aim to raise 120 BTC. Until this date, they have managed to obtain around 42% of the target amount. They could indeed use your help in meeting their project goals on time.
Before deciding to donate, you should always read BitSquare’s white paper to learn more about their project. It’s right here.
Images from Bitsquare.But it was what happened late in the afternoon that underlined the grave risk to the government of losing ground in what is Syria's largest city and its economic capital.
First came an unmistakeable sound that has so far been absent in this conflict - the roar of fighter jets.
What appeared to be Russian-made MiG planes arced through the sky. We watched as they dropped in, bombing and strafing rebel positions.
I've been taking a look at the various video of fixed winged aircraft spotted above Aleppo following this report by Ian Pannell of the BBCA number of videos supposedly from Aleppo showing aircraft flying through the sky, for example this one from Bambuser and this one from Youtube, and are generally pretty unclear, so making out the shape of the aircraft is difficult. However, one video has been posted that has a great shot of the aircraftI've blown up this screengrab to get a clear idea of the silhouette of the aircraftLet's compare that to some of the aircraft listed as being used by the Syrian Air Force, first the various MiGsThe above two aircraft are a MiG-21 and MiG-29, both of which clear have wings that look nothing like the aircraft in the videos. Then we have MiG-23 and Su-24, with variable geometry wingsTo me it looks like the wings are too thin, and set too far back, plus it appears in the video there's something on the end of the wings, and what I believe we are seeing in the video is an Aero L-39 Albatros Here's a clearer top down view which we can compare to the still from the videoWhen are the neocons and the hawks going to stop getting us into more trouble, MSNBC’s Chris Matthews asked Ron Paul during an appearance on Hardball. “Well I wish they’d look at reason and look at what is happening,” replied Paul, but “I think it’s unfortunately going to stop when we go broke and there’s nothing left and then the people will find out that it is a total failure.”
The other consequence of the constant wars the US is engaged in, added Paul, is that eventually the wars get turned inward against the American people. And that’s why we have this attack on civil liberties.
“But I concentrate on foreign policy in my new book, he adds, because “these wars are needless, they are immoral, they are unconstitutional, and they hurt us.”
Paul and Matthews discuss the “Giuliani Moment” in Ron Paul’s 2008 run. Paul points out that while many said his campaign was finished because of his discussion of blowback in the debate, in fact from that moment his candidacy actually took off and it was Giuliani who was all but finished.
Chris Matthews finishes the interview telling his audience that if they like the way this man is thinking, his new book is titled Swords into Plowshares.
Watch the whole interview here:
Reprinted with permission from the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity.Skinwalker Powers and Abilities Can morph into a canine at any time. Superior sense of smell. Vulnerabilities Silver Appearance Human or canine Episode(s) 6.08 All Dogs Go to Heaven
Skinwalker Numerous cultures all over the world believe in some version of a Skinwalker, which is closely related to beliefs about werewolves and other were-creatures. The best documented Skinwalker beliefs are those of the Navajo yenaldooshi. The yenaldooshi are evil human beings who have gained supernatural power by murdering a close relative. The creature travels by night, spreading misery and desecrating holy things. He or she is usually naked, except for a coyote skin. The yenaldooshi is also said to have the power to assume the form of a coyote or other animal. The yenaldooshi's power comes from its use of corpse powder, which is made from human cadavers. Touching the corpse powder curses a person with sickness or death. This is an inversion pollen usage, which Navajos sprinkle to produce blessings. In Norse folklore, a Skinwalker is a person who can travel in the shape of an animal or take on certain characteristics of an animal. The most well-known example is a warrior who takes on the strength and stamina of a bear, called bear shirt or berserker. – Pad of Definitions (1.02 Wendigo), Official Website
History
Skinwalkers are humans that can make a complete transformation into a canine. The particular breed of canine seems to vary depending on the person.[1] They are similar to werewolves in that they can be killed with silver, they infect others with a bite, and they like to eat the hearts of their victims; however, their mutations are complete and are not limited by the phases of the moon.[1][2] Like vampires and, more notably, canines, they seem to have a pack mentality.[3][1] When they are killed in canine form, they revert back to their human form.[1]
The Alpha Skinwalker was the very first skinwalker and, although not seen, he directs the actions of numerous packs of skinwalkers. Their main objective seems to be infiltrating families disguised as pets and then biting them at a signal in order to create more skinwalkers.
Skinwalkers are the suspected culprits in 1.02 Wendigo and 1.06 Skin, but turn out to be a wendigo and a shapeshifter, respectively, to the point that Dean admitted that he was 'rusty on the lore' when they found themselves facing an actual skinwalker in 6.08 All Dogs Go to Heaven..
Powers and Abilities
Can transform into their canine alter ego at any time. [1]
Have a superior sense of smell, even in human form. [1]
Can infect others with a bite so that they become skin |
Amazon’s product pages to determine how they are able to present so much content on a single product page while maintaining a reasonable amount of order and scannability. The largest takeaways from that analysis were:
Each section looks different from the others (customer reviews are rows with stars, related products are image-heavy panels that flow to the right, etc) Section titles are big, simple text that visually break up the page, and are easy to read
Top: empty cases filled with marketing copy; Bottom: clarity
We had gotten a bit trigger-happy with our iconography. Each section had an icon next to the title, and the intention was that the icons would be easily identifiable. They would also indicate where new sections began, and make browsing the profile easier.
In reality the icons just added visual complexity without improving readability or breaking up sections. In fact, the icons made differentiating between titles and content even harder. Deciphering the icons required extra cognitive work. We removed icons from section titles and page navigation, and updated the titles to better explain the content within.
Sell value, not features
Left: old titles/icons/colors; Right: new titles
Our section titles were too literal, and just conveyed the information we provide, not why that information is useful, or how to use it. “Phones and Emails” became “Contact Info,” illustrating to the user that this information has value because it provides a way to get in touch with the person in question. We’ve added value for users without drastically changing the product.
Similarly, the title “Photos & Social Profiles” was basically satisfying marketing/SEO needs without considering users. Nobody thinks or speaks like that, so why should we? Google may find the word “Photos” on our site, and that may affect our ranking in some minuscule way, but we should focus on providing the best product we can with the understanding that user actions speak louder than optimistic copy. If we can reduce our bounce rate, and if people find what they want, they’ll probably stick around a little longer and improve our Google rank. Anyway, the section essentially shows links to social profiles, so we explain that directly. No need for extra words cluttering an already text-heavy UI.
Be deliberate about color
Users don’t understand your color scheme. At best they understand that colors indicate relationships, and at worst they are confused about the patterns they suspect but can’t discern.Huma Abedin, vice-chair of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, has rarely been seen since Clinton lost the election to Donald Trump in November. But she was spotted Friday arriving at the Capitol for Trump's Inauguration.
Getty
Dressed in head-to-toe black, Abedin arrived shortly after the Clintons.
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Abedin, who stayed in the background for most of the campaign, was front and center in its final days, when FBI director James Comey announced an investigation into emails found during an unrelated investigation of Abedin’s estranged husband, Anthony Weiner, who has been accused of sending illicit texts to a 15-year-old girl. Comey later said the inquiry did not change the FBI's previous conclusion that no charges should be brought against Clinton for her handling of classified information. Still, Clinton reportedly later pointed to the Comey letter as a reason for her loss.
No word yet on what's next for Abedin, who has been working with the Clintons since she was a 19-year-old intern.Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The BBC's Paul Wood reports on the growing humanitarian crisis in CAR
Central African Republic (CAR) interim leader Michel Djotodia is expected to face pressure to step down at a regional summit under way in Chad.
His failure to quell violence between Christian and Muslim militias has prompted speculation that he may quit.
However, some CAR officials say his resignation is not on the agenda at the summit in neighbouring Chad.
Seleka rebels staged a coup last March, installing Mr Djotodia as the country's first Muslim leader.
At the scene Men armed with knives and clubs were striding down the dirt road, purposefully. They were Christians and they had discovered that one of our drivers was a Muslim. They stole the four-wheel drive vehicle he had and started to take him away. They were vigilantes known as the anti-balaka, or "anti-machete". One of them told me his whole village had been burned to the ground by Muslim Seleka gunmen. He wanted revenge. Fears of sectarian genocide in CAR
The then-President Francois Bozize, from CAR's majority Christian population, was forced into exile and the country has since descended into chaos.
The UN has warned of an impending humanitarian disaster.
'Make way'
Ahmat Allami, Secretary-General of the 10-nation Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), said that members of the Central African Republic's National Transitional Council (CNT) had been flown in at short notice to the Chadian capital N'Djamena to decide the leadership of their nation.
"No-one can speak on behalf of the Central Africans. That's why we have asked the CNT and representatives of political parties to come to N'Djamena to decide on the future of the transitional institutions," Mr Allami was quoted by Reuters as saying.
Mr Allami said earlier that "regime change" was not the goal of the meeting.
A source close to Mr Djotodia quoted by the Reuters said that CAR leaders had run out of patience with him.
"It's finished for him now," said the source.
Image caption In one month, this camp for displaced people has grown from a few thousand to perhaps 100,000
Image caption There is huge pressure on space and resources for the thousands fleeing the conflict
However, his spokesman told the BBC he would not be stepping down.
Who is Michel Djotodia? Image copyright AFP Becomes first Muslim leader of an overwhelmingly Christian country after seizing power from Francois Bozize in March 2013
Has led several rebel groups
Served as both defence minister and diplomat under previous peace deals
Said to have used diplomatic posting in Sudan's Darfur region to forge alliance with Janjaweed militia and fighters from Chad, who played a key role in his seizure of power
Has officially disbanded his Seleka rebel group but they continue to kill and loot Profile: Michel Djotodia
The BBC's Paul Wood in Bangui says that if he does resign, the effects would be unpredictable - it could take the steam out of the conflict, or trigger a power struggle engulfing the country in its worst violence yet.
'Paralysed'
French officials said the summit would discuss various options for continuing the transition, including allowing the president of a National Transitional Council to take over or mandating Prime Minister Nicolas Tiangaye to run the country until elections.
Although Mr Djotodia has officially disbanded the Seleka rebels, he has proved unable to keep them in check.
Their brutal actions have prompted Christians to form vigilante groups, sparking a deadly cycle of revenge attacks.
The AU has some 4,000 peacekeepers in the country and France has deployed 1,600 troops to try to end the violence.
More than 1,000 people have died in the past month alone and the number displaced has more than doubled, to nearly a million.
On Wednesday, the UN warned that measles had broken out at the airport in the capital, Bangui, where about 100,000 people are seeking refuge from clashes.
The UN says about half the population of Bangui - more than 500,000 people - have been driven from their homes and 2.2 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance.Why should the European Union be worried about independence for Iraq’s Kurdish region? Speak to Kurds, and many say it should not be.
Ebubekir Isik, who researches the Kurdish issue, has been living in Brussels with his Turkish wife for around five years.
He is originally from Istanbul, but his family is from southeastern Turkey.
“We may see in the coming four to five years, an independent Kurdish state which is comparatively more democratic, more secular, a reliable alliance for the US and for Europe in the region,” Isik told Euronews.
There is a sense of great expectation in the Kurdish region ahead of Monday, when the independence referendum is due to be held.
But Western powers fear it could break up Iraq and stir broader regional ethnic and sectarian conflict.
The EU has said the referendum is “counterproductive and must be avoided.”
Kurds are the biggest allies of the West in the fight against ISIL though, both in Iraq and in Syria, where they are on the frontline.
They are feeling emboldened and entitled to independence.
“They consider the coalition led by the United States, and which includes almost the whole of Europe, has a debt with them,” commented Marc Pierini, from Carnegie Europe.
“I don’t believe that this translates into explicit support for independence, but rather diplomatic support for finding a solution.”
Ebubekir highlights that Iraq’s Kurdish region is also very rich in natural resources, something which has been a major source of instability for years.
“We have huge tremendous oil sources in the region, where Kurds are living,” said Isik.
“The city of Kirkuk is one of the best examples of it, and that’s one of the reasons why the Iraqi central government and in fact the KRG (Kurdish Regional Government) could not really reach an agreement over the disputed territories, which is one of the key challenges to any kind of dialogue between Erbil and Baghdad.”
The Kurds have long accused Baghdad of withholding budget payments for the region, while Baghdad has opposed oil deals made without its consent.You can view the Shakespeare quartos on this site separately or you can compare any two copies. If you choose to see one copy at a time, you will get two pages on the screen as you would if you had the book open in front of you. To read the text you may have to enlarge the image by clicking on it or using the enlarge icon. There are 3 drop down lists for you to select the copy you want to view. Drop down list 1 gives you the plays in alphabetical order of title. Not all of Shakespeare’s plays are included, because not all were published in quarto. Drop down list 2 gives you publication dates for quartos of the play selected. Drop down list 3 allows you to select a specific copy of the quarto edition selected. For a few plays, there is only one copy. Go will take you to the first page of the play. Most of the quarto editions have no act or scene divisions. If you want to view a particular part of the play, leaf through until you find the section you want. There are links to the beginning of acts from the play summaries under Shakespeare in Quarto. Most of these link to the earliest quarto of each play. There is also a comparison table for all 107 quarto copies available on this website. This is in alphabetical order of title, but it can be sorted by edition date, provenance, or shelfmark. Click on the play title to view a specific copy. You can also compare the text of any two of the 107 copies. To do this, select a copy from the ‘View one copy’ drop down lists on the left hand search form above. Then select another copy from the ‘Compare with another text’ drop down lists on the right hand search form above. Even different copies of the same edition may not be exactly the same, because of the way the quartos were printed. If you choose to compare two copies, you will see one page from each side by side. Go will take you to first page of each play. If you want to compare the same part of the text in two copies, you will have to leaf through both until you find the text you want.Data from more than 180 research papers suggests fish oils could minimise the effects that junk food can have on the brain, a review by researchers at the University of Liverpool has shown.
The team at the University’s Institute of Ageing and Chronic Disease reviewed research from around the world to see whether there was sufficient data available to suggest that omega-3s had a role to play in aiding weight loss.
Stimulating the brain
Research over the past 10 years has indicated that high-fat diets could disrupt neurogenesis, a process that generates new nerve cells, but diets rich in omega-3s could prevent these negative effects by stimulating the area of the brain that control feeding, learning and memory.
Data from 185 research papers revealed, however, that fish oils do not have a direct impact on this process in these areas of the brain, but are likely to play a significant role in stalling refined sugars and saturated fats’ ability to inhibit the brain’s control on the body’s intake of food.
Dr Lucy Pickavance, from the University’s Institute of Ageing and Chronic Disease, explains: “Body weight is influenced by many factors, and some of the most important of these are the nutrients we consume. Excessive intake of certain macronutrients, the refined sugars and saturated fats found in junk food, can lead to weight gain, disrupt metabolism and even affect mental processing.
”We wanted to investigate the literature on this topic to determine whether there is evidence to suggest that omega-3s might aid weight loss by stimulating particular brain processes”
“These changes can be seen in the brain’s structure, including its ability to generate new nerve cells, potentially linking obesity to neurodegenerative diseases. Research, however, has suggested that omega-3 fish oils can reverse or even prevent these effects. We wanted to investigate the literature on this topic to determine whether there is evidence to suggest that omega-3s might aid weight loss by stimulating particular brain processes.”
Research papers showed that on high-fat diets hormones that are secreted from body tissues into the circulation after eating, and which normally protect neurons and stimulate their growth, are prevented from passing into the brain by increased circulation of inflammatory molecules and a type of fat called triglycerides.
Molecules that stimulate nerve growth are also reduced, but it appears, in studies with animal models, that omega-3s restore normal function by interfering with the production of these inflammatory molecules, suppressing triglycerides, and returning these nerve growth factors to normal.
Positive step
Dr Pickavance added: “Fish oils don’t appear to have a direct impact on weight loss, but they may take the brakes off the detrimental effects of some of the processes triggered in the brain by high-fat diets. They seem to mimic the effects of calorie restrictive diets and including more oily fish or fish oil supplements in our diets could certainly be a positive step forward for those wanting to improve their general health.”
The research is published in the British Journal of Nutrition. Dr Pickavance will also be discussing the effects of high-fat diets on meal patterns and the impacts of high-saturated fats on muscle composition at the 20th European Congress on Obesity at the Liverpool Arena and Convention Centre later this month.
Dr Pickavance will exhibit her work on obesity at Liverpool World Museum for members of the public on the 8 June, as part of the University’s Institute of Ageing and Chronic Disease ‘Meet the Scientist’ event.
The journal article can be accessed here.We built a small sandbox level to test out our physics and some basic ideas for enemies. Video posted below!
Caffeineforge: An amazing article was written about the project! Includes a small interview.
RockPaperShotgun: We got a mention in their weekly Kickstarter column!
We are jumping into the exciting world of video game development with both feet and a unique situation. We've built ourselves a business training site that pays the bills, but leaves us with free time. We're going to use that free time to do something far more worthwhile: Making video games!
This project is not going to fund those games, but to fund the documentation of our journey into game development. Drawing inspiration from the Dan Plan, we are going to devote 10,000 hours (supposedly the amount of time necessary to master any complex skill) to video game development and see how we do. If the project is successfully funded, we'll be able to devote some of our time weekly to updating our site with detailed blogs, and looking for your input. For 10,000 hours, you'll get to see what actually goes on in the day-to-day life of indie developers, and we'll get to devote time in our week to actively involving you in our process. At the end of it all, we want to compile our blogs into a book to publish.
10,000 hours comes out to about five years, and a lot can change in that time. Maybe we'll grow, and add new employees to our roster. Maybe we'll expand into a different form of gaming, who knows? It's an exciting time in game design as we see the continued shift from physical to digital distribution becoming the norm, and we think it will be valuable to have a record of this time! All we know is that we want to share whatever happens to us with you.
We want to make backing us worthwhile. For every $10 you back us for, you get 1,000 hours of everything we create.
You'll get:
Access to our alphas and betas (early versions of the games)
Screenshots
Wallpapers
Blog entries
A single-run art print of something we made from the last 1000 hours.
Best of all: You'll get, for free, any finished game we create in those thousand hours.
On the PC, on your tablet or phone, we'll get you a free copy.
Back us for $20, and you'll get 2,000 hours of finished games, alphas, betas, screenshots, wallpapers, blog entries, and a total of two art prints! Back us for 40 dollars, and you get 4,000 hours worth of content, and four art prints!
Back us for $100, and you'll get the full 10,000 hours project's output, and ten art prints. Plus, you'll have our eternal gratitude. So much gratitude, that we'll put you in one of our games, immortalized forever! Maybe as a character, maybe as an item, we'll work with you on the details.
We've brainstormed some options for even higher amounts, too! Let us know if you have any questions.
So far, we're a team of two.
Our founder is John-Michael Davis, a computer science devotee with a BA in information systems and an MBA with an emphasis in project management. He's spent the last year teaching himself to code, and has been focusing on AI development. His background is in business consulting, but he's been an avid gamer his entire life.
Our media guy is Steven Robinson, a BS and a BFA graduate in digital art. He spent his teen years messing around with little game projects, and he has a passion for pixel art. For his BFA thesis, he even put a very recognizable piece of game art in a gallery!
Together, the both of us have a pretty huge breadth of gaming interest. For now though, we're keeping it simple with the Impact engine. Impact uses HTML5, so we'll be able to put any games we create with it on tablets and PCs and Macs and Linux and everything. Eventually, we're excited to move on to an engine with a lot more complexity!
Our first game is called Deceit.
* Please note: The following is a very basic sandbox level, and is in no way a reflection of what the final game will be like.
** Amazing is an entirely relative and probably profoundly untrue adjective in the case of the 'features' below
It tells the story of a detective in a 1920s-inspired steampunk universe, whose partner is killed. His investigation into the murder plunges him into the depths of his city, and he discovers that things aren't nearly as simple as he once thought they were. To keep things simple at first, Deceit is going to be a platformer, with Metroidvania elements. We're using the game as a training tool for ourselves and we want to tell the story in a trilogy, which will let us ramp up the graphics and the complexity in each game.
We'll be posting more images and videos about Deceit here and on tiger-sheep.com as we make them, so be sure to check back!
After Deceit, we're excited to work on some other projects that we have in mind! But we'll save talking about those until later...
"And a spider!"We found evidence for three different patterns of algae that occur in the hair of five sloth species: 1) The green alga in the fur of the brown-throated sloth, Bradypus variegatus, and the pygmy three-toed sloth, B. pygmaeus, is a unique species and no other green algal species were found in their fur. Microscopy of the alga on the hair revealed characteristic features to the description of Trichophilus (Weber-van Bosse 1887), which has indeed been described from the hair of Bradypus. 2) The maned three-toed sloth Bradypus torquatus was shown in our study to host a variety of algae belonging to genera known to be terrestrial, e.g. Trentepholia and Myrmecia. 3) The Hoffmann's two-toed sloth Choloepus hoffmanni and the pale-throated sloth Bradypus tridactylus, showed both patterns; they hosted terrestrial green algae from their surroundings, as well as the unique genus Trichophilus.
The green alga Trichophilus that was found in B. variegatus, B. pygmaeus and B. tridactylus was separated in the phylogenetic trees from the Trichophilus occurring in C. hoffmanni. The Bradypus-clade was supported by high bootstrap values and as Bradypus variegatus and Choloepus hoffmanni inhabit the same geographic area and habitat [13], the separation of Trichophilus inhabiting Bradypus suggests co-evolution between Trichophilus and Bradypus species. This is further supported by the cell sizes of Trichophilus in Bradypus and Trichophilus in Choloepus being different.
Trichophilus welckeri [8] has been described from sloth hair and generally has been thought to be the only green alga infesting sloth hair [6, 9–11]. However, in former phylogenetic studies [10, 11]T. welckeri (strain SAG 84.81) was shown to group with Prasiolopsis ramosa, which is contrary to our study. We suspect earlier studies to be erroneous species identification, made because of its habitat and the morphological investigation of the strain supports this. The strain SAG 84.81 resembles Prasiolopsis by forming irregular cushion-like tufts of pseudoparanchymatous filaments and cells with single, stellate, pyrenoid-containing chloroplast typical of the Prasiolales [10] rather than numerous small, discoid chloroplasts without pyrenoids described for Trichophilus [12]. Therefore our understanding is that Trichophilus welckeri has been found previously in nature [6, 8, 9, 14] but has not yet been isolated into pure culture and sequenced before. It is likely not to occur in any other environment besides sloth hair given that tropical terrestrial green algal species like T. welckeri have not been found before. Its restricted occurrence may be explained by it being host-specific and possibly thermophilic.
Among all 71 sloth individuals studied, 73% hosted algae in their fur. It was either observed by the greenish color of the fur or seen under the microscope in closer observation. Seven of the 19 individuals in which we found no evidence of algae were babies still at the age of clinging to their mothers suggesting that at least Trichophilus is gained in childhood, most likely from the mother. This observation is supported by an earlier study noting that sloths gain the algae and other parasites by the time they are a few weeks old [5]. Besides Trichophilus, other green algae found in sloth hair were terrestrial Trentepohlia, Prinzina, Myrmecia and Trebouxia -species as well as Chlorella-like algae. Among these, only Trentepohlia has been reported previously from sloth hair [6]. It is possible that sloths gain these algae from the environment and host them in their fur. However, they may also represent sloth-inhabiting specialists at a finer evolutionary level, e.g. species level, than Trichophilus does. That there were 25 hair samples containing visible green algae but for which we were unable to get PCR-product, suggest that there were either too few algae in the sample or there were PCR inhibitors present in the DNA extracts. This problem could be overcome by culturing the microbial community from fresh hair samples. The diversity of other eukaryotic organisms in the hair was high, as expected, based on previous studies, which have observed a wide range of animals, e.g. moths, beetles, cockroaches, and roundworms [5]. However, a surprising number and diversity of ciliates and fungi were also found in the hair of all sloth species, excluding C. didactylus, for which only two sequences were analyzed. All geographical areas studied, except Costa Rica, had similar levels of eukaryote diversity. The similar diversity is likely to be explained by the similar habitat of sloths, regardless of the geographical area they inhabit. However, regardless of the similar diversity, the species composition of eukaryotic organisms varied as was seen in the PCO and CAP-analyses (Fig. 3). The eukaryotes in B. variegatus, B. torquatus and C. hoffmanni were different (Fig. 3). Partly this separation can be explained by the differing green algae inhabiting the hair as was seen in the phylogenetic tree in which Trichophilus in Bradypus was separated from Trichophilus in Choloepus (Fig. 4). Similarly, ciliates were different on the three compared species. This can be due to differing hair structure and possibly chemistry as well as differing ecology of the species. It may also reflect the divergence of the two sloth genera about 20 million years ago [15], which may have led to the separation of the cohabiting eukaryotes as well.
The species composition of Naos Island C. hoffmanni was clearly different from other Choloepus samples from Panama. This may be due to the environment where the sloths are living and the fact that samples were collected on dry season. Naos Island is a small and dry island on the Pacific coast of Panama, receiving on average 1800 mm rainfall per year [16]. Barro Colorado Island and Isla Colón, are located closer to the Atlantic coast of Panama, and therefore are moister, receiving rainfall of 2600-3300 mm per year [16].
The difference in the species composition in Barro Colorado Island Choloepus and Bradypus was striking (Fig. 3a) as the samples were collected from the same area, although the majority of Bradypus sequences were obtained from sloths on dry season. In contrary, Choloepus and Bradypus samples from Isla Colón were collected from the same area both on wet season being close to each other in the PCO-analyses (Fig. 3a). This suggests that the alteration of dry and wet season may have an effect on the eukaryotic species composition in the hair of sloths.
Despite the differing species compositions on sloth hair, the results (Fig. 2a) show that besides primary producers (27% algae), there are also heterotrophic organisms (52% ciliates, apicomplexans and dinoflagellates) as well as decomposers (8% fungi) in the fur, suggesting that sloth fur supports a versatile small-scale ecosystem. This was not seen in the environmental samples (Fig. 2b) in which 87% of the organisms are primary producers (algae or plants) or decomposers (fungi).Usually celebrities have a day or so between events, but this time Scarlett Johansson was a bit busier with two events in two days. And this meant two stunning outfits which were both superb.
Scarlett to be as elegant as ever but also very sexy. This meant choosing the exact type of outfit and shoes down to the last detail.
The end results are quite impressive. And that’s keeping in mind both outfits were for quite different settings.
First, Scarlett was at the Rough Night premiere in New York. There she wowed in a stunning long silver sequin dress.
The dress featured a wrap around top part and then a long, straight fit down to the floor. The dress also had a back split, revealing Scarlett’s stunning silver high heels.
She opted for an elegant hairstyle on her short hair. A dash of accenting makeup to further make her eyes even more stunning completed this look for Scarlett.
The next day she was on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Here Scarlett decided for a more casual, but still elegant and attractive look.
She rocked a fitted, long summer dress with an elegant shape and style. It had a few lace panels here and there, too.
Scarlett teamed this outfit with a pair of ankle-strapped sling back high heels. They though had quite high heels and a small platform at the toes, making them sky high.
Scarlett opted for less makeup and a more loose hairstyle. Still, she looked great.It takes a great writer to describe a complex world created with technology beyond our time, even if just, and phrases that haven’t entered our dialogue quite yet and allow readers to feel as if they’re a part of it and not alienated. At first Joseph MacKinnon’s novel Cypulchre is a bit intense. There’s a lot of science jargon and the story is told mostly through dialogue which takes some getting used to, but you r’e quickly engrossed in the dark plot.
Dr. Paul Sheffield is a neuroscientist who works against his own demons to excel in his field and creates the CLOUD. It’s a virtual reality-type state wherein a person can upload their consciousness and enjoy, and then enter their physical body once more. Paul is banished from his work and refuses to live on the grid, or rather in the CLOUD, where he believes he can be tracked. In a world riddled with technology, Paul is trying to stay hidden, until he realizes the CLOUD threatens the life of those synced to it, including his family. It’s a thrill ride featuring a dream cast of characters, which could be more fleshed out, and MacKinnon writes in a manner that freaks you out and confuses you in the best way possible.
As my introduction to cyberpunk, I could not be more pleased. The book offers a helpful glossary to keep your focus in this dystopian future and there’s just enough action to keep you guessing. Each chapter acted as a new discovery, and offered an insightful look into what a future where tech heads run rampant could look like. I would have liked to see more of the world of the CLOUD, because it sounded wonderful and terrifying, but if MacKinnon were to describe it in a way where the reader was a witness it would have been magical.
This twisted cyberpunk thriller is MacKinnon’s second novel, succeeding the controversial Faultline 49 which he published under the name David Danson. It’s published by Guy Faux Books and it available right here on Amazon, and other online book dealers.
If you enjoyed Carly’s article, you can find the rest of her work right HERE on Sci-Fi Bloggers. You can also follow her on Twitter @MrsCarlyRodgers.
Possibly Related Posts:× West End police shooting deemed justifiable
HENRICO COUNTY, Va. (WTVR) – Henrico Police did not use excessive force when an officer shot and injured an unarmed man in Henrico’s West End, according to Henrico County Commonwealth’s attorney Shannon Taylor. On Tuesday, Taylor released her report on the April 26 shooting.
The report outlined the moments leading up to the shooting of 20-year-old Roger Allen Skeens outside the Three Chopt West Apartment complex near Freeman High School. [CLICK HERE: Read the Henrico Police shooting report]
The report indicated a woman called 911 to report Skeens was yelling and destroying property outside the apartment complex.
When officers arrived, they ordered Skeens to “get down,” the report said. Skeens replied officers would have to shoot him.
Skeens also told officers he was going to count to 10 and then “come after” them, officers and witnesses said. One of the officers shot Skeens when he began to approach the police car. An officer identified in the report as “Officer Letteer” said he shot Skeens in the chest because feared he would take the other officer’s gun if he got too close. An officer identified in the report as “Officer Stephens” told Taylor he was afraid as Skeens approached.
Skeens survived the shooting.
In her report, Taylor said she took into account several factors before she deemed the shooting was not an act of “excessive” force. She said Skeens’ threats and the fact he was just 10 feet from the officers and continued to approach despite commands to stop were factors in her decision.
CBS 6’s legal analyst Todd Stone came to the studio to talk about the process behind the decision.
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RELATED:After flirting with the idea for more than a year, Advanced Micro Devices has finally provided concrete details for bringing Android to its chips as the company looks to support more operating systems beyond Windows.
AMD will support Android on its 64-bit ARM-based chips starting next year, the company said in a press conference this week where it announced Project SkyBridge, a series of products that will provide the plumbing for its ARM and x86 cores to be interchanged or combined on a single motherboard.
AMD is bringing Android only to ARM architecture, not x86, which is used in Windows and Linux PCs. AMD in the past has maintained that Android would work best with ARM processors, which are used in most tablets and smartphones. Intel has already built a flavor of Android for its x86 chips.
Meet Project SkyBridge
The new ARM and x86 chips made as part of Project SkyBridge could appear in ultra-thin client devices—which may include tablets—and also embedded devices, said Lisa Su, general manager of AMD’s global business units, during the media event.
AMD is not targeting smartphones, because it wants to focus on products that can deliver a strong computing and graphics experience, Su said.
With Project SkyBridge, device makers will be able to design Android products that will harness the joint computing power of ARM Cortex-A57 64-bit chips and AMD’s Graphics Core Next (GCN) GPUs. The AMD-led HSA (Heterogeneous System Architecture) Foundation is developing programming tools and standards so all the processing units can operate in tandem to speed up a system, but AMD’s ARM processors are not yet compliant with HSA’s standards.
“This will also be the first Android platform that we have at AMD with our heterogeneous systems architecture,” Su said.
A chart showed Project SkyBridge supporting Android, Windows and Linux, and AMD is making a series of new x86 and Android-compatible, ARM-based chips that are pin compatible. The chips will be made using the 20-nanometer manufacturing process, and are on track for delivery to device makers next year, Su said.
Expanding AMD's options
Android may not be a priority for AMD, but it has to add support for the OS if it wants to compete in the tablet and thin-and-light market, analysts said.
“[Android] would go into tablets, and to the extent that ARM makes headway, into clamshells,” said Nathan Brookwood, principal analyst at Insight 64.
Unlike Intel, which relies on x86, AMD is trying to keep a flexible chip strategy and wants to offer x86 and ARM chips to customers, Brookwood said. AMD licensed ARM in 2012, and has announced a lineup of low-power and server cores based on the architecture.
“They are focusing their low-power x86 on Windows, and to get to tablets on ARM, they will do Android,” Brookwood said.
AMD could also tune Android for embedded devices used in cars, the military and other areas, said Jim McGregor, principal analyst at Tirias Research.
“A good example would be infotainment where you may want to use a third-party app,” McGregor said.
Android could open up a new market for AMD’s tablet chips, which currently support only Windows. AMD’s previous Z-01, Z-60 and Temash tablet chips were used in a handful of Windows 8 tablets, none of which sold well. Last week AMD launched its latest Mullins chip for tablets, which supports only the Windows OS. However, users can add a virtual layer of Android through the Bluestacks emulator.
No broken Windows
But support for Android doesn’t mean AMD will abandon Windows.
“Windows has a well-established franchise and is primarily an x86 play,” Brookwood said. “AMD is one of two companies that can play with x86. That would be silly for them not to exploit it to their fullest capability.”
Support for Android will also help AMD achieve its long-term goal of putting its chips in non-PC products, McGregor said. AMD is trying to diversity its operations by designing custom chips for non-PC products like game consoles and servers, and support for a variety of operating systems is important.
It may be technically possible to build a dual-boot Windows and Android PC through a Project SkyBridge motherboard with an x86 and an ARM core. But analysts said that dual-boot systems would require many changes in the BIOS, and users may not be attracted to the Windows and Android disconnect with the files residing in two different file systems.
“Dual-boot systems... don’t make sense” for Project SkyBridge, Brookwood said.In the Name of Allaah, the Most Gracious, the Ever Merciful…
While it is authentically established that our Messenger (may Allaah raise his rank and grant him peace) did wear ‘imaamahs (turbans), there are a number of fabricated and extremely weak hadeeth narrations that many Sufis, Shia, and other fanatical turban enthusiasts pass on without verification, seeking to make the issue of wearing a turban an essential part of the Islaamic dress code, more than a historical tradition of dress shared by the Muslims and non-Muslims of many Arab regions.
The following is a brief list of some of the fabricated and unauthentic narrations that many turban enthusiasts often try to pass off as authentic hadeeth:
1 – Turbans are the Mark of the Angels?
عليكم بالعمائم فإنها سيما الملائكة، وأرخوها خلف ظهوركم
“Upon you is (to wear) ‘imaamahs (turbans), as they are the mark of the Angels. Fix them so their tails are down your backs.”
Munkar (un |
updated micro-purchase levels.[17] Federal agencies are authorized to purchase services from FPI, but not required to do so.
Under current law, all physically able inmates who are not a security risk or have a health exception are required to work, either for UNICOR or at some other prison job.[10][18] Inmates earn from US$0.23 per hour up to a maximum of US$1.15 per hour, and all inmates with court-ordered financial obligations must use at least 50% of this UNICOR income to satisfy those debts.[10]
FPI has manufactured a diverse set of products, and provided a range of services offerings, in accordance with its statutory mandate, for the Federal government for over 80 years. One report[19] detailed a FPI operation at a California prison in which inmates de-manufactured computer cathode-type monitors. Industry standard practice for this mandates a mechanical crushing machine to minimize danger from flying glass, with an isolated air system to avoid releasing lead, barium, phosphor compounds to the workplace atmosphere. At the FPI facility prisoners demanufactured CRTs with hammers. FPI initiated corrective action to address this finding, and claims to currently meet or exceed industry standards in its recycling operations.[20]
Helmets produced by FPI at one factory were at the center of a US Department of Justice lawsuit and $3 million settlement paid by ArmorSource, the prime contractor. The U.S. Attorney's Offices declined to criminally prosecute or file any civil action against FPI staff.[21] The helmets were produced for ArmorSource between 2008 and 2009 and failed to meet standards.[22] The DOJ investigation did not develop any information to indicate military personnel sustained injury or death as a result of the defective ACH helmets. Immediately after FPI leadership became aware of the manufacturing concerns surrounding the ACH helmets, FPI began taking corrective action. FPI recalled its only shipment of Lightweight Helmets for re-inspection, and ensured no Lightweight Helmets manufactured at the factory were sent to the military.[21] The recall of both helmets cost FPI $19 million. With Defense Contract Management Agency audit staff, FPI identified opportunities to improve its Quality Management System in areas including improved management staff oversight, proper control of quality procedures, training, and implementation of corrective action. FPI implemented new procedures to address these areas.[23]
See also [ edit ]Monday, December 1, 2014 at 8:56AM
This is a guest post by Jose Romaniello, Head of Engineering, at Auth0. There is a new version of this post! Check out Auth0 Architecture - Running In Multiple Cloud Providers And Regions (2018).
Auth0 provides authentication, authorization and single sign on services for apps of any type: mobile, web, native; on any stack.
Authentication is critical for the vast majority of apps. We designed Auth0 from the beginning with multipe levels of redundancy. One of this levels is hosting. Auth0 can run anywhere: our cloud, your cloud, or even your own servers. And when we run Auth0 we run it on multiple-cloud providers and in multiple regions simultaneously.
This article is a brief introduction of the infrastructure behind app.auth0.com and the strategies we use to keep it up and running with high availability.
Core Service Architecture
The core service is relatively simple:
Front-end servers : these consist of several x-large VMs, running Ubuntu on Microsoft Azure.
Store : mongodb, running on dedicated memory optimized X-large VMs.
Intra-node service routing: nginx
All components of Auth0 (e.g. Dashboard, transaction server, docs) run on all nodes. All identical.
Multi-cloud / High Availability Multi cloud architecture
Last week, Azure suffered a global outage that lasted for hours. During that time our HA plan activated and we switched over to AWS
The services runs primarily on Microsoft Azure (IaaS). Secondary nodes on stand-by always ready on AWS.
We use Route53 with a failover routing policy. TTL at 60 secs. The Route53 health check detects using a probe against primary DC, if it fails (3 times, 10 seconds interval) it changes the DNS entry to point to secondary DC. So max downtime in case of primary failure is ~2 minutes.
We use puppet to deploy on every "push to master". Using puppet allows us to be cloud independent on the configuration/deployment process. Puppet Master runs on our build server (TeamCity currently).
MongoDB is replicated often to secondary DC and secondary DC is configured as read-only.
While running on the secondary DC, only runtime logins are allowed and the dashboard is set to "read-only mode".
We replicate all the configuration needed for a login to succeed (application info, secrets, connections, users, etc). We don’t replicate transactional data (tokens, logs).
In case of failover, there might might some logging records that are lost. We are planning to improve that by having a real-time replica across Azure and AWS.
We use our own version of chaos monkey to test the resiliency of our infrastructure https://github.com/auth0/chaos-mona
Automated Testing
We have 1000+ unit and integration tests.
We use saucelabs to run cross-browser (desktop/mobile) integration tests for Lock, our JavaScript login widget.
We use phantomjs/casper for integration tests. We test, for instance, that a full flow login with Google and other providers works fine.
All these run before every push to production.
CDN
Our use case is simple, we need to serve our JS library and its configuration (which providers are enabled, etc.). Assets and configuration data is uploaded to S3. It has to support TLS on our own custom domain (https://cdn.auth0.com). We ended up building our own CDN.
We tried 3 reputable CDN providers, but run into a whole variety of issues: The first one we tried when we didn't have our own domain for cdn. At some point we decided we needed our own domain over SSL/TLS. This cdn was too expensive if you want SSL and customer domain at that point (600/mo). We also had issues configuring it to work with gzip and S3. Since S3 cannot serve both version (zipped and not) of the same file and this CDN doesn't have content negotiation, some browsers (cough IE) don't play well with this. So we moved to another CDN which was much cheaper.
The second CDN, we had a handful of issues and we couldn't understand the root cause of them. Their support was on chat and it took time to get answers. Sometimes it seemed to be S3 issues, sometimes they had issues on routing, etc.
We decided to spend more money and we moved to a third CDN. Given that this CDN is being used by high load services like GitHub we thought it was going to be fine. However, our requirements were different from GitHub. If the CDN doesn't work for GitHub, you won't see an image on the README.md. In our case, our customers depends on the CDN to serve the Login Widget, which means that if it doesn't work, then their customers can't login.
We ended up building our own CDN using nginx, varnish and S3. It's hosted on every region on AWS and so far it has been working great (no downtime). We use Route53 latency based routing.
Sandbox (Used to run untrusted code)
One of the features we provide is the ability to run custom code as part of the login transaction. Customers can write these rules and we have a public repository for commonly used rules.
The sandbox is built on CoreOS, Docker and etcd.
There is a pool of Docker instances that gets assigned to a tenant on-demand.
Each tenant gets its own docker instance and there is a recycling policy based on idle time.
There is a controller doing the recycling policy and a proxy that routes the request to the right container.
More information about the sandbox is in this JSConf presentation Nov 2014: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=I4VkZ5H9PE8#t=7015 and slides: http://tjanczuk.github.io/about/sandbox.html
Monitoring
Initially we used pingdom (we still use it), but we decided to develop our own health check system that can run arbitrary health checks based on node.js scripts. These run from all AWS regions.
It uses the same sandbox we developed for our service. We call the sandbox via an http API and send the node.js script to run as an HTTP POST.
We monitor all the components and we also do synthetic transactions against the service (e.g. a login transaction).
If a health check fails we get notified through Slack. We have two Slack channels #p1 and #p2. If the failure happens 1 time, it gets posted to #p2. If it happens 2 times in a row it gets posted to #p1 and all members of devops get an SMS (via Twilio).
For detailed performance counters and response times we use statsd and we send all the metrics to Librato. This is an example of a chart you can create.
We also setup alerts based on derivative metrics (i.e. how much something grows or shrinks in a time period). For instance, we have one based on logins: if Derivate(logins) > X => Send an alert to Slack.
Finally, we have alerts coming from NewRelic for infrastructure components.
For logging we use ElasticSearch, Logstash and Kibana. We are storing logs from nginx and mongodb at this point. We are also parsing mongo logs using logstash in order to identify slow queries (anything with a high number of collscans).
Website
All related web properties: the auth0.com site, our blog, etc. run completely separate from the app and runtime, on their own Ubuntu + Docker VMs.
Future
This is where we are going:A U.S. District Judge ruled in favor of the NCAA and four major professional sports leagues Friday and issued a permanent injunction to prevent New Jersey casinos and racetracks from offering sports betting.
Judge Michael Shipp wrote that New Jersey's latest efforts -- the 2014 Sports Wagering Law -- violates the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992.
Shipp heard oral arguments from both sides Thursday in Trenton, New Jersey, before releasing his decision just hours before a temporary restraining order that stopped the state's thoroughbred track Monmouth Park from opening its sports book was set to expire.
An adviser for Darby Development LLC, operators of Monmouth Park Racetrack (above), said Friday that U.S. District Judge Michael Shipp's ruling was not terribly surprising. AP Photo/Bill Denver
It's the latest of many setbacks for New Jersey in its two-year legal battle with the NCAA, NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB. The state believes sports betting can help revive its struggling casino and horse racing industries. The sports leagues have argued that it will damage fans' perception of the integrity of their games, although NBA commissioner Adam Silver recently said expanded legalized sports betting in the United States is inevitable.
New Jersey will file an appeal within days, State Senator Raymond Lesniak told ESPN.
"We continue to believe that New Jersey has the right to allow sports betting in the state and we will keep up the fight in court," State Senate President Steve Sweeney said in a statement. "We are going to continuing pursuing every legal option available. The economic impact that sports wagering can have on New Jersey is far too important to simply shrug our shoulders and move on."
The state believes it has a much better chance in the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled against New Jersey by a 2-1 majority decision in September 2013. During that appeal, as New Jersey attorneys argued that the federal prohibition on sports betting unconstitutionally commandeered states, Third Circuit Court judges said states are free to repeal sports betting laws and decide "the contours of the prohibition."
New Jersey used that language to create the 2014 Sports Wagering Law, which Gov. Chris Christie signed in early October. The Sports Wagering Law partially repeals the state's prohibition on sports betting, but restricts the activity to casinos and racetracks, where private entities would oversee it. The law also adds an age requirement and prohibits bets on any games involving New Jersey universities or collegiate games played in the state.
The sports leagues pointed to those stipulations and argued that New Jersey's law is a de facto authorization and still violates PASPA, which prohibits state-sponsored sports betting in all but four states: Nevada, Delaware, Montana and Oregon.
"Obviously we're disappointed, but not terribly surprised," said Dennis Drazin, adviser to Darby Development LLC, operators of Monmouth Park Racetrack. "After analyzing the rationale expressed by the Court in granting a temporary restraining order last month, today's action was rather expected. We will once again return to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals and ask that they order strict adherence to their 2013 decision, which established the roadmap for New Jersey to begin offering sports wagering.
"For now, it's status quo. Nevertheless, we remain confident that the Third Circuit will render a favorable result for Monmouth Park."
Daniel Wallach, a gaming and sports law attorney with Becker & Poliakoff, attended Thursday's oral arguments and came away believing that the case's outcome will be determined by what the Third Circuit meant by saying the state can decide the exact contours of the prohibition.
"The answer to that question will decide whether New Jersey wins or loses," Wallach said. "New Jersey has a much better chance in the Third Circuit, but the leagues remain the favorites."
When asked by Shipp what the Third Circuit meant by allowing the state to define contours during Thursday's hearing, Jeffery Mishkin, an attorney for the sports leagues, said the state could determine the penalties related to sports betting.
Shipp agreed with Miskin and ruled that PASPA allows states only to completely repeal sports betting prohibitions in order not to violate the 22-year-old federal statute. While the judicial battle continues, Silver is looking to start the discussion about a change to the sports betting laws in the U.S.
In an op-ed in the New York Times last week, Silver called for Congress to create a federal framework that would allow states to legalize, regulate and monitor sports betting.
"But I believe that sports betting should be brought out of the underground and into the sunlight where it can be appropriately monitored and regulated," Silver wrote.
The sports leagues also are embracing daily fantasy sports, with the Denver Broncos, Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors the latest teams to partner with daily fantasy operators.Litecoin has released its 2017 roadmap as investors delight in sustained price growth and low volatility.
Published on Litecoin Core, plans from various developers behind the altcoin range from major releases such as Litecoin 0.13.3 to user-focused improvements such as the relaunch of its Android app.
Litecoin creator Charlie Lee announced the roadmap Wednesday, prior to Litecoin being buoyed by a series of encouraging announcements from the community.
We just published the Litecoin Roadmap for 2017: https://t.co/m4PVzx3RrC
To the moon!!! ┗(°0°)┛ — Charlie Lee (@SatoshiLite) May 17, 2017
The asset’s earlier implementation of SegWit, as well as preparation of Lightning Network and other so-called Layer 2 technology, is already paying dividends.
“Better than Bitcoin”
Bitcoin core developer Eric Lombrozo repeated excitement surrounding the activation after the roadmap unveiling, noting “next generation tech” can already see the light of day on Litecoin.
Meanwhile, content management platform Yours confirmed Thursday that it would launch on Litecoin and not Bitcoin “due to the fee situation.”
We have big news. Due to the fee situation on bitcoin, we will be launching on litecoin instead of bitcoin. https://t.co/QNvK1QAjbR — Yours (@YoursOrg) May 18, 2017
“Litecoin is one hundred times better for our application today than Bitcoin,” the project’s CEO Ryan X. Charles explained in a blog post about the change of course.
Taking Litecoin forward meanwhile are developers Shaolinfry and thrasher, the first having become a household name in cryptocurrency circles from their work on user-activated soft fork (UASF) scaling solutions.The mystery of the missing whiskey has all the elements of a page-turner: a beautiful estate, a century in time, a thirsty thief and a bit of DNA on the lip of a bottle.
The story began to unfold in 2012, when Patricia Hill of New York bought a turn-of-the-century mansion in Scottdale built by J.P. Brennan, a coal and coke industrialist. During an $800,000 renovation to convert it into South Broadway Manor Bed and Breakfast, Hill discovered hidden in the walls and stairwell nine cases of Old Farm Pure Rye Whiskey bottled in 1912 at the West Overton Distilling Co. in nearby West Overton.
“My guess is that Mr. Brennan ordered 10 cases … pre-Prohibition,” Hill said. “I was told by his family that family members used to greet him at the door each day with a shot of whiskey.”
The live-in caretaker, 62-year-old John W. Saunders of Irwin, helped Hill move and dust off the whiskey several times.
One day, Hill found there was little left to dust.
Now Saunders is charged by Scottdale police with receiving stolen property and theft for allegedly drinking 52 bottles of Old Farm whiskey appraised at $102,400 by Bonhams, the renowned New York auction house.
“This whole experience has shocked me,” Hill said. “I was shocked when I found them, shocked to find Mr. Saunders drank them, and shocked when I received the appraisal. I had just planned to preserve them.”
Hill told police Chief Barry Pritts that she stored the whiskey in a living room in the nine original cases, each containing 12 bottles. After Saunders moved out, Hill discovered last March that the bottles in four cases were empty.
“The corks were removed or a hole punched through the bottom half to get the whiskey out. The labels were pulled off many … bottles and are now in the bottom of the cases,” Pritts said in court documents.
“Patricia Hill knows that the bottles were full and undamaged about one year ago. She suspects John Saunders drank the whiskey,” he wrote.
When police questioned Saunders, he denied drinking the whiskey, Pritts said. “Saunders said the whiskey probably evaporated and, being that it was old, was probably no good.”
Pritts said Saunders agreed to provide a DNA sample but never showed up to have a cheek swabbed. Late last year, police got a search warrant and, finally, a DNA sample.
“The DNA profile obtained from John William Saunders matched the DNA profile obtained from the mouth of three of the (empty) whiskey bottles,” Pritts said.
Joseph Hyman of Bonhams, a specialist for “whisky” and rare spirits, said he appraised four sealed bottles that Hill provided, not the damaged ones.
“Those bottles were distilled in 1912 and bottled in 1917 — that’s pre-Prohibition. The fact that those bottles survived, hidden in a wall of that estate and discovered during renovation, gives it some historic value,” Hyman said.
“Just the fact that … the distillery was owned by industrialists Henry Frick and Andrew Mellon … also gives it some historical value,” he said.
For collectors, Hyman said, the history and quality of the packaging, bottles and labeling “is the allure.” The whiskey may be drinkable, “but that is not the allure.”
“If the condition is pristine, a bottle of that era can command $1,000 and the whiskey is still drinkable,” he said. “But once that seal is broken and the bottle is opened … the value is pretty much nil.”
Hyman said he gave an appraisal for the four sealed bottles, and police multiplied that by the total number to reach the $102,400 figure.
Bob DeCroo of the Pittsburgh Antique Bottle Club, who has appeared on “Pittsburgh’s Hidden Treasures,” said sealed bottles have some value — “maybe $100 or $200 per bottle.”
“But you can quote me that I think that appraisal is exorbitant,” he said. “No reasonable collector really cares about the whiskey, but it’s the condition of the bottle, labels. It certainly would be valuable, but not to that degree.
“It would be drinkable, but if that seal is broken, you could even run into botulism,” DeCroo said.
Saunders is scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing on Wednesday before District Judge Chuck Moore.
Paul Peirce is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 724-850-2860 or ppeirce@tribweb.com.
Paul Peirce is a Tribune-Review staff reporter. You can contact Paul at 724-850-2860, ppeirce@tribweb.com or via Twitter.Staff writer, with CNA
Two Mormon missionaries found dead on Saturday in their apartment in New Taipei City’s Sanchong District (三重) were killed by carbon monoxide poisoning, New Taipei City police said yesterday.
The deceased men were a 24-year-old Taiwanese and a US citizen, 19, police said.
The Associated Press reported earlier in the day that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), also known as the Mormon church and based in Utah, said the two missionaries were Connor Benjamin Thredgold, 19, of Utah and Xiong Yu-peng (熊宇鵬), 24, of Greater Kaohsiung.
Police said that they found the bodies after other Mormon missionaries reported the pair missing.
Prosecutors found a faulty indoor gas water heater, which they determined to be the cause of the fatal carbon monoxide leak.
There were no suspicious circumstances and the case has been closed, police said.
The New Taipei City Fire Department reminded the public that carbon monoxide poisoning does not just happen in winter when people close their windows against the cold.
In the summer, carbon monoxide poisoning can be a hazard, as people tend to keep doors and windows closed to maintain the coolness produced by air conditioners, the department said.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it would help handle Thredgold’s death, if it is asked to do so.
The report also said that the Salt Lake Tribune newspaper in Utah reported that Xiong had taken a position as a missionary in March last year.An Evanston Boy Scout is being lauded for his letter to the organization's national leaders after being in the audience and hearing President Donald Trump's speech at the July 24 Boy Scouts National Jamboree.
Jasper Davidoff, 17, who will start his senior year at Evanston Township High School in August, said he was in the "third or fourth row" for the speech before a crowd estimated at over 40,000 in Glen Jean, West Virginia.
"The president made the conscious decision to incorporate deeply divisive political speech into an event that warrants nothing of the sort. What's more, I am concerned that, in an address to an organization whose vision statement calls for the production of good citizens through the Scout Oath and Law, the president's words exemplified a destructive form of public discourse unsupported by either the Scout Oath or Law," Davidoff wrote in his letter.
He addressed it to Charles Dahlquist, Randall Stephenson, and Michael Surbaugh, the Boy Scouts of America's National Key 3 Leadership, and copied it in a public post on his own Facebook page.
The jamboree was held at Summit Bechtel National Scout Reserve.
Trump's talk included references to his days in New York's society scene and criticized the Affordable Care Act, among other controversial political and cultural commentary.
Trump called the 7-year-old federal health care plan "this horrible thing known as Obamacare that's really hurting us" during his remarks before the quadrennial gathering of youth and young adult boys and their leaders.
President Trump gave a speech before about 30,000 Boy Scouts and their troop leaders in West Virginia on July 24. President Trump gave a speech before about 30,000 Boy Scouts and their troop leaders in West Virginia on July 24. SEE MORE VIDEOS
Those and other comments came after the president seemed to signal at the start of his address that he would not indulge politics in his speech – something presidents before him also avoided doing.
"I said, 'who the hell wants to speak about politics when I'm in front of the Boy Scouts?' Right?" Trump said only a few minutes into the 38-minute speech.
But it was all too much for Davidson, who said while he anticipated "a certain amount of 'Trumpiness,'" he also expected "a certain amount of respectfulness" in front of thousands of kids.
"I felt uncomfortable that such divisive words were getting such support," Davidoff said, adding that during the speech he was looking around, seeing if other Scouts had the same reaction he did.
Some Scouts were appalled, he said, but others seemed supportive of Trump's positions.
He noted that there were several times in the president's speech that the crowd responded with chants of "USA! USA! USA!"
"I thought [that] was bizarre," Davidoff said, especially for a group that considers itself apolitical.
So the teen, who hopes to earn the organization's highest honor of Eagle Scout this summer, decided to send a letter to the leaders of Boy Scouts of America, the national organization and sponsor of the jamboree, voicing his concerns.
"I believe that... (Trump's) rhetoric told the young people looking to become better citizens that Scouting is a space for divisiveness and disrespect. I believe that many of the young people in attendance will interpret from [the] presentation that they should use Scouting to aggressively attack those they disagree with. Frankly, I believe that the Boy Scouts of America should see the fact that they sanctioned this speech as a disgrace," Davidoff continued.
As of Friday evening, the post had more than 1,500 "Likes" on the social media website and had been shared more than 700 times.
Evanston Mayor Steve Hagerty shared the letter on his own Facebook page and wrote that he is "proud" of Davidoff, "who I've known since he was just a little kid running around the neighborhood."
Peter Mueller, scout master for Evanston Boy Scout Troop 3, to which Davidoff belongs, said he was not at this year's jamboree but called Davidoff's decision to write the letter "tremendous."
"This is both appropriate and, for him, required," Mueller said. "He couldn't do nothing."
Mueller said he appreciated Trump making time to visit the jamboree, but he questioned the president's decision to include politics and other controversial stances in his speech to the Scouts.
"Is this the right place and time for this?" Mueller questioned.
A day after the speech, the Boy Scouts of America posted a "perspective on presidential visits to the national jamboree" message on its website.
"The Boy Scouts of America is wholly non-partisan and does not promote any one political position, candidate or philosophy. The invitation for the sitting U.S. President to visit the National Jamboree is a long-standing tradition dating back to President Franklin Roosevelt in 1937," BSA official wrote, stating that the presidential invitation is not an endorsement of political party, politician or policy.
"Rather, the speaking invitation is based on our 'Duty to Country' from the Scout Oath and out of respect for the Office of the President of the United States," according to the website.
Davidoff's mom, Jacki, said she was "inspired" by her son and his decision.
"Jasper spoke out on his principles," Jacki Davidoff said, adding that she and her husband encourage leadership and responsibility in their children.
"He was willing to take the risk and say it's not OK," she said.
Davidoff said he has not received a response from Boy Scout leadership, but does not plan to leave a group he loves over what he considered an inappropriate speech.
"When we work to change the Boy Scouts we want to improve it, not ignore it, not walk away from it," Davidoff said. "There are people in the Boy Scouts of America who share my perspective and have not given up."
gbookwalter@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @GenevieveBookAre you currently single and feeling a bit bummed about Valentine’s Day this weekend? If so, the Atlanta Cycling Festival has developed an algorithm to help you find that special someone. The Algorithm of Bike Love™ ® (Patent Pending) Survey, created by the ACF Bike Dating Team, takes into account your physical, emotional and food preferences and then quantifies them into measurable data points. These data points are then mapped to other “potential love-mates” and, thus, a match is made.
This Sunday, from 2:00pm to 5:00pm, the Atlanta Cycling Festival is hosting, “Bicycle Speed Dating – Valentine’s Day Do-Over.” After registering for the event, you must take the survey in order to be matched with 5 potential Bike Love Partners. Participants will meet on Sunday at Piedmont Park (at the intersection of 14th Street and Piedmont Road). You and your perfect partner will then ride a small loop around Piedmont Park, returning to the start. If your cycling partner isn’t as perfect as you would like, you repeat the ride 4 more times with 4 different partners. All participants will receive a New Belgium Brewing glass, one free beer, liquid courage drink specials, and the chance to find your true love… on a bike. If you’re single and ready to mingle, register for the event today and get down to Piedmont Park this Sunday. Worst case you can get in shape and drown your lonely sorrows with beer.
The Atlanta Cycling Festival is a week long festival all around bicycling from Saturday, June 13th – Saturday, June 20th, 2015. It features Atlanta bicycle rides, bicycle classes and, of course, bicycle parties.
The Atlanta Cycling Festival’s inaugural year was 2014. In 2014, they:Shakespeare's Tongue, Heard at the Globe
The Globe Theatre in London will soon become the first professional theater company in centuries to stage an entire run of a Shakespeare play in the original pronunciation. The actors in Troilus and Cressida will recite their lines with accents that are believed to be close to what would have been heard in Shakespeare's day. Robert Siegel talks with actor Peter Forbes, who is playing the role of Pandarus in the production.
ROBERT SIEGEL, host:
To bay or not to bay sounds like a choice for a moonstruck wolf. Instead we learn that's how Hamlet would have begun his soliloquy in OP, the original pronunciation. Of course, to an actor in the original production of "Hamlet" it was just English as it sounded 400 years ago. And we really don't know for sure what his accent sounded like. But London's Globe Theatre is now rehearsing Shakespeare's "Troilus and Cressida" in OP. By assuming that rhyming couplets that don't anymore must have rhymed in Shakespeare's day, the linguist David Crystal has reconstructed the accent of the Elizabethan stage and taught it to the actors. For example, Peter Forbes, who will play Pandarus in the production, which opens in late August and who demonstrated some original pronunciation today.
Mr. PETER FORBES (Actor): The prologue from "Troilus and Cressida," as the play starts, in normal English would go something like this: `In Troy there lies the scene. From isles of Greece, the princes orgulous, their high bloods chaffed have to the Port of Athens sent their ships fraught with the ministers and instruments of cruel war.'
And in OP, it goes, `In Troy, there lies the sand. From isles of Greece (pronounced Grace), the princes orgulous, their high bloods chaffed have to the Port of Athens sent their ships fraught with the ministers and instruments of cruel war (pronounced wahr).' So it's a much earthier, meatier kind of sound.
SIEGEL: Now you run the risk in doing this of--instead of playing to a house that's catching 85 percent to 90 percent of what they're hearing in typical Shakespearean English...
Mr. FORBES: Yeah.
SIEGEL:...catching only 60 or 70 percent of what they--if it's too exotic.
Mr. FORBES: That is true, but there are all sorts of things that become much clearer. Certain words that in modern English sort of half rhyme or don't rhyme will suddenly start to rhyme in the original pronunciation, and hopefully the audience will enjoy that. Certainly last year they tried this with a couple of performances of "Romeo and Juliet," and Professor David Crystal, who's our expert in all this, talked to some of the audience, including some inner-city schoolkids, and said, you know, `What do think of it?' And they said, `Oh, it's wicked. It's fantastic. It's great.' And he said, `Why?' And they said, `Because they're talking like us.' And, in fact, they weren't talking like them, but at least--what they meant was they weren't talking posh.
SIEGEL: Well, I'd like to read from a list of some words that Professor David Crystal has taught all of you how to pronounce.
Mr. FORBES: Yes.
SIEGEL: And I'm going to--I'll read the words that we would naturally say them and...
Mr. FORBES: Yeah.
SIEGEL:...tell us how we would have heard them in Shakespeare's day.
Mr. FORBES: OK, I'll do my best.
SIEGEL: For example, another.
Mr. FORBES: Another (pronounced a-NOH-thur).
SIEGEL: Another (pronounced a-NOH-thur).
Mr. FORBES: Another (pronounced a-NOH-thur).
SIEGEL: Fellow.
Mr. FORBES: Fella.
SIEGEL: Fella, which we still would hear nowadays.
Mr. FORBES: Yeah, in normal colloquial speech we would--we probably wouldn't pronounce the fellow. We'd just say fella.
SIEGEL: Flower.
Mr. FORBES: Flower (pronounced floor).
SIEGEL: Flower (pronounced floor)?
Mr. FORBES: Flower (pronounced floor).
SIEGEL: And haste, as in haste makes waste.
Mr. FORBES: Haste makes waste (pronounced hast macks wast).
SIEGEL: Haste makes waste (pronounced hast macks wast)?
Mr. FORBES: Yeah, so haste (pronounced hast) rhymes with tossed, and there's also another one which is the word `feast' that comes up a lot in Shakespeare. Feast becomes fest, and so it rhymes with guest. So you'd be a guest at a fest.
SIEGEL: And it's fest or famine.
Mr. FORBES: Fest or famine, yes.
SIEGEL: Well, why don't share with us another line from "Troilus and Cressida" before you go. Tell us something--give us a speech here that you've been working on and that...
Mr. FORBES: OK. In the first scene of the play, the character that I play, Pandarus, is trying to bring Troilus and Cressida together. He says, `Well, she looked yesternight fairer than e'er I saw her look or any woman else. And her hair were not somewhat darker than heavens well, go to, there were no more comparison between the woman. But for my part she is my kinswoman. I would not, as they term it, praise her, but I would somebody had heard her talk yesterday as I did'--and so he goes on.
SIEGEL: I thought you were going to break into `argh, me maties' there for a moment and talk like a pirate for a second there.
Mr. FORBES: Well, I'm sure, you know, that that sort of stereotypical pirate speak comes really from this sort of time as well, you know, when the privateers were sailing the high seas. And, of course, when the Pilgrim fathers came to America they would have spoken this kind of English.
SIEGEL: Well, Peter Forbes, thank you very much for talking with us.
Mr. FORBES: Thank you very much, indeed, Robert.
SIEGEL: And especially for talking with us in Elizabethan English, which is a rare moment on the program.
Mr. FORBES: Well, thank you very much. It's been a pleasure to talk to you.
SIEGEL: Peter Forbes will appear in "Troilus and Cressida" at the Globe Theatre in London in August. The play will be presented in OP, the original pronunciation.
You're listening to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News.
Copyright © 2005 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) claims he still wouldn't be calling for impeachment even if a Democrat were in President Trump's shoes, but former GOP congressman Bob Inglis isn't buying it. In a tweet Friday morning, Inglis chided Ryan, writing, "You know this isn't true."
.@SpeakerRyan you know this isn't true. You know that you would be inquiring into impeachment if this were a D. https://t.co/mBFn4aCGi4 — Bob Inglis (@bobinglis) June 9, 2017
When CNN's Jake Tapper retweeted Inglis' post insisting that Ryan "would be inquiring into impeachment" if a Democrat's conversations with a fired FBI director were the topic of a congressional hearing, Tapper noted that Inglis was once a Republican congressman. Inglis responded, reminding Tapper what else he once was: a member of the Judiciary Committee that voted to impeach former President Bill Clinton.
Inglis argued that Trump's case was worse than Clinton's:
Yes, I was on Judiciary Cmte that impeached Clinton/sent him for trial in the Senate for matters less serious than the ones before us now — Bob Inglis (@bobinglis |
last week; Carroll called for a shot at the end zone and came up short. “We learned about what happens when a coach gets hormonal and tries to freaking jam it down their throat for the touchdown,” he said on Monday before retreating to his bedroom with a quart of strawberry ice cream to watch Katherine Heigl films. Jerry Jones preached calm after Sunday night’s 34-7 loss to the Eagles. “There’s no alarm,” he said. “I want to be clear here. There’s absolutely no alarm.” That sounds a little bit like what the old farmer says in movies before putting down the lame horse. Pick: Cowboys.
Browns (3-4) at Texans (5-3)
Sunday, 1 p.m.
Line: Texans by 11.
The Texans are the latest team to be accused of dirty tactics in the League of Self-Actualized Athletes, formerly the N.F.L. Defensive linemen on the Titans and the Jaguars accused the Texans of executing illegal cut blocks, a technique Houston Coach Gary Kubiak has tacitly condoned since his days as an assistant with the 49ers and the Broncos. Jaguars defensive end Jeremy Mincey accused a Texans lineman of stepping on his head, and there is photo evidence that tackle Duane Brown threw a punch against the Jaguars. Worst of all, Terrance Knighton accused the Texans of being arrogant. The Texans join the Lions as the team most likely to send opponents running to the guidance counselor with hurt feelings, and while no one wants to see a defender’s knees taken out or heads smashed, it is getting easier to pine for the days when linemen took care of their business on the field instead of running to the public for peer mediation. Pick: Texans.
Falcons (4-3) at Colts (0-8)
Sunday, 1 p.m.
Line: Falcons by 7.
Injury report for the Falcons: the rookie wide receiver Julio Jones returned to practice this week after missing two games with a hamstring injury. All-purpose back Jason Snelling will slide to fullback to replace Ovie Mughelli, who had season-ending medial collateral ligament surgery during the bye week. Injury report for the Colts: oh, what’s the use? Pick: Falcons.
Dolphins (0-7) at Chiefs (4-3)
Sunday, 1 p.m.
Line: Chiefs by 4.
Dolphins Coach Tony Sparano endured an 0-5 start as an assistant on Marty Schottenheimer’s Redskins staff in 2001. That team rebounded using the one-game-at-a-time philosophy. “We won one, then we won two, and then we won eight,” Sparano said this week. “So I just think we just got to win one. And not worry about eight right now.” It should be noted that no team has ever rebounded using the “win eight games at once” philosophy. It should also be noted that Sparano, Schottenheimer and the entire staff were fired at the end of the 2001 season. Pick: Chiefs.
49ers (6-1) at Redskins (3-4)
Sunday, 1 p.m.
Line: 49ers by 3.5.
The injured Redskin Chris Cooley has noticed a flaw in the logic of disgruntled Washington fans: they criticize the owner Daniel Snyder for being impatient and firing coaches, then call for the dismissal of Mike Shanahan (and his son/offensive coordinator Kyle) just because the Redskins are 9-14 under the current regime and clearly headed in the wrong direction. “So you criticize Dan Snyder for trading coaches and players every year and trying to do things every year, and then you call and say this is what we’ve got to do? I hate it,” Cooley said in a radio interview. Cooley the logician may not realize that when a product is terrible, it is no use blaming the customers. The former Redskins cornerback Carlos Rogers, who is enjoying the best season of his career with the 49ers, told the same radio show that he wanted to leave Washington two years ago and that football “wasn’t fun” under Shanahan or the previous coach, Jim Zorn. Don’t be too critical, Rogers; Cooley is listening. Pick: Niners.
Broncos (2-5) at Raiders (4-3)
Sunday, 4:05 p.m.
Line: Raiders by 8.
Some analysts billed last week’s Lions-Broncos game as a battle of good versus evil. They obviously did not take a long look at the schedule: the Raiders are the N.F.L.’s default evil team until proven otherwise. Then again, judging by their current official representatives, neither good nor evil is what it used to be. The Broncos and the Raiders have lost their most recent games by a combined score of 73-10 and have spent recent weeks desperately trying to prop up their quarterbacks, Carson Palmer because he spent the first month of the season in a mountaintop monastery trying to empty his consciousness of Bengals thoughts, Tim Tebow because cultural icon status is of little use when you cannot read a defense or throw straight. Good versus evil, then, is clearly pushing things. Formerly menacing versus likeably inept is more like it. Pick: Raiders.
Bengals (5-2) at Titans (4-3)
Sunday, 4:05 p.m.
Line: Titans by 3.
Chris Johnson has spent the first two months of the season running right into his blockers’ backs, missing holes and losing yardage while trying to bounce every run to the outside. Lockout and holdout rust are the obvious causes, but you do not get anywhere as a football analyst these days by citing obvious causes, so grand conspiracy theories are sprouting: Johnson lacks “rhythm” with his linemen, coaches are using him wrong and so on. In fact, that is not Chris Johnson at all, but the Earl of Oxford, and 300 years from now a team of heroic liberal arts professors will see right through the facade. Pick: Bengals.
Rams (1-6) at Cardinals (1-6)
Sunday, 4:15 p.m.
Line: Cardinals by 3.5.
At about 3 p.m. Eastern time last Sunday, the Rams led the Saints, 17-0, the Cardinals led the Ravens, 24-6, chickens began laying square eggs and portraits began dropping from the walls of creepy old mansions. The Cardinals coughed up their brief lead, partly rebalancing the cosmic scale. Rams quarterback Sam Bradford (high ankle sprain) is out of his protective boot and working out, though A.J. Feeley may get one more start on Sunday. Kevin Kolb, meanwhile, is in a protective boot, so John Skelton may start for the Cardinals. The quarterback changes further fueled speculation that Feeley and Kolb are the same person and therefore cannot occupy the same field at the same time. Pick: Rams.
Bears (4-3) at Eagles (3-4)
Monday, 8:30 p.m.
Line: Eagles by 8.
Matt Forte is hardly chopped liver. But sometimes he feels like it. “The running back position is the most physically demanding on the field,” Forte told The Chicago Sun-Times this week. “So to continue to give me the touches I’ve had since my rookie year but not award me a long-term contract sends the message that you’re O.K. grinding me into a pulp.” That’s right, Forte, who ranks seventh in the league in carries right now, is complaining about a Mike Martz workload. If he saw a Vikings gameplan, he would probably faint. The Bears may scale Forte’s workload back this week. Martz never needs an excuse to pass more, the Eagles have patched their run defense somewhat, and this game promises to be a shootout, anyway. Once his touches are reduced, Forte is free to claim that the Bears are trying to drive his market value down. Pick: Bears.
Times are Eastern. Picks do not reflect the betting line.A deer hunter from Cape Cod has been arrested after allegedly mistaking a jogger for a deer and shooting him Monday evening.
The Cape Cod Times reports that the 39-year-old runner sustained buckshot wounds on his neck and shoulder. Police found him after receiving reports of a man staggering out of the woods on the Barnstable watershed property. The man is now in stable condition. His dog, who accompanied him on the jog, is unharmed.
The hunter, 47-year-old Sean Houle, was held overnight on $5,000 bail. He has been charged with unlawful possession of a firearm and careless or negligent use of a weapon.
A small number of hunters have injured and even killed joggers after mistaking them for deer. In one of the earliest reported incidents, in 1992, a Connecticut hunter shot and killed a man running along a dirt road near a reservoir where hunting was allowed. These accidents can result in manslaughter charges.Deborah Cohen, investigations editor 1BMJ, London WC1H 9JR, UK dcohen{at}bmj.com
Sports drinks are increasingly regarded as an essential adjunct for anyone doing exercise, but the evidence for this view is lacking. Deborah Cohen investigates the links between the sports drinks industry and academia that have helped market the science of hydration
Prehydrate; drink ahead of thirst; train your gut to tolerate more fluid; your brain doesn’t know you’re thirsty—the public and athletes alike are bombarded with messages about what they should drink, and when, during exercise. But these drinking dogmas are relatively new. In the 1970s, marathon runners were discouraged from drinking fluids for fear that it would slow them down, says Professor Tim Noakes, Discovery health chair of exercise and sports science at Cape Town University. At the first New York marathon in 1970, there was little discussion about the role of hydration—it was thought to have little scientific value.
So how did the importance of hydration gain traction? An investigation by the BMJ has found that companies have sponsored scientists, who have gone on to develop a whole area of science dedicated to hydration. These same scientists advise influential sports medicine organisations, which have developed guidelines that have filtered down to everyday health advice. These guidelines have influenced the European Food Safety Authority, the EU agency that provides independent advice on the evidence underpinning health claims relating to food and drink. And they have spread fear about the dangers of dehydration.
Much of the focus on hydration can be traced back to the boom in road running, which began with the New York marathon. Manufacturers of sports shoes and the drink and nutritional supplement industries spotted a growing market.
One drink in particular was quick to capitalise on the burgeoning market. Robert Cade, a renal physician from the University of Florida, had produced a sports drink in the 1960s that contained water, sodium, sugar, and monopotassium phosphate with a dash of lemon flavouring.1 2
Gatorade—named after the American Football team, the Gators, that it was developed to help—could prevent and cure dehydration, heat stroke, and muscle cramps, and improve performance, it was claimed.2
The first experimental batch of the sports drink cost $43 (£28; €35) to produce but has spawned an industry with sales of around £260m a year in the UK alone—and consumption is increasing steadily.
“The buzz around sports and energy drinks is here to stay. This has remained the fastest growing sector in the UK soft drinks market in recent years,” an industry report suggests.3 In the US the market is even bigger. In 2009, forecasters, Mintel, valued it at $1.6bn, and the market is projected to reach $2bn by 2016.4
The rapid rise in consumption is hardly surprising—sports drinks have the might of multinationals behind them. PepsiCo bought Gatorade in 2001 and both Coca-Cola and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) have their own sports drinks—Powerade and Lucozade respectively. The companies are a partner and service provider, respectively, to the London 2012 Olympics.
The key behind the meteoric rise in consumption of sports drinks lies in the coupling of science with creative marketing. What started life as a mixture of simple kitchen food stuffs has become an “essential piece of sporting equipment.”5
According to Noakes, the sports drink industry needed to inculcate the idea that fluid intake was as critical for athletic performance as proper training. “It became common for athletes to state that the reason why they ran poorly during a race was not because they had trained either too little or too much, but because they had dehydrated. This was a measure of the success of the industry in conditioning athletes to believe that what they drank during exercise was as important a determinant of their performance as their training,” he says.
Tim Noakes talks about the myths perpetuated around hydration for sports people.
Indeed, after the “invincible” Australian cricket team lost the 2005 Ashes test series to rivals England, a research fellow at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) started to monitor players’ levels of dehydration.6
The previous year (2004), the institute had entered a partnership with Gatorade. The AIS’s first Gatorade fellow, Kelly Drew, conducted a study on hydration among the cricketers, taking urine samples and testing their sweat.
“We do know that 50% of them turned up today dehydrated, which is not a good sign,” she told the Australian press.6
The AIS is just one organisation backed by Gatorade—other powerful sports medicine organisations also receive funding from drinks companies. The US National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA), a representative body of sports health professionals with over 35 000 members, works closely with Gatorade.
The company has taken out advertisements in NATA’s newssheet that look like academic papers. These “research adverts” are just one example of how companies promote the idea that the benefits of their drinks are based on decades of thorough scientific research.
Selling science Gatorade documents from 2010 show that sales staff are encouraged to watch an internal video called “Selling the Science” and told to “make sure consumers understand the science behind Gatorade.” Promotion also hinges on the notion that sports drinks are among the “best researched food products on the planet,” Bob Murray, a former director of the Gatorade Sports Science Institute wrote in 2001.7 And they’re not the only ones—when GSK reshuffled its entire communications department earlier this year, it said a key part of its strategy would be promoting the science behind its products. “The science that goes into our brands is a competitive advantage. Lucozade, for example, is subject to more than 100 clinical trials,” a spokesperson said.8 9 The company has suggested that the “market is all about credibility.”10 In recognition of this, GSK set up the Lucozade Sports Science Academy (LSSA) in 2003, comprising a sports nutrition website, links with leading universities, and a high-tech gym at the company’s headquarters.10 Marketers intended that bottles of the drink would be stamped with the LSSA insignia to reaffirm the scientific credibility when sports nutrition toolkits were handed out to gym instructors to educate them in the use of Lucozade Sport products. 10 Indeed, just as drug companies have appointed key opinion leaders to influence doctors’ prescribing patterns, sports drink and supplement companies seek to work with gyms and instructors. Virgin Active has a partnership with Powerade, for example,11 and the GSK owned supplement brand, Maximuscle, has a partnership with LA Fitness.12 Like GSK, Gatorade has pushed heavily on the science. In 1985, Gatorade, then owned by Quaker Oats, set up its Gatorade Sports Science Institute (GSSI) in Barrington, Illinois, to conduct and publish research and to educate sports health professionals and athletes on sports nutrition and exercise science. Just as drug companies held sponsored symposiums in exotic locations, Quaker Oats held invitation only annual conferences in locations around the world. Attendees included advisers to the world’s most influential sports authorities. Indeed, the editors of a sports medicine book on performance were among them. Ron Maughan, Louise Burke, and Edward Coyle, coeditors of Food, Nutrition and Sports Performance II: The International Olympic Committee Consensus on Sports Nutrition, published in 2004, all have financial links (personal or institutional) to Gatorade and their book was supported by Coca-Cola, the makers of Powerade.
Taking on thirst Perhaps one of GSSI’s greatest successes was to undermine the idea that the body has a perfectly good homeostatic mechanism for detecting and responding to dehydration—thirst. “The human thirst mechanism is an inaccurate short-term indicator of fluid needs... Unfortunately, there is no clear physiological signal that dehydration is occurring,” Bob Murray from the Gatorade Sports Science Institute declared in 2008.13 Others have followed suit. Powerade say: “Without realising, you may not be drinking enough to restore your fluid balance after working out.”14 And the International Olympic Committee’s nutrition advice for athletes —published in 2003 and updated in 2008 in conjunction with Powerade—doesn’t mention thirst once, even though it includes detailed advice on fluid intake. “Dehydration impairs performance in most events, and athletes should be well hydrated before exercise,” it says in its booklet, Athletes Medical Information.15 Athletes are bombarded with different advice and given complex algorithms to calculate their individual hydration needs. They are told, for example, to rehydrate with a pint for every pound in body weight lost—a drop of 2% is considered a cause for concern. They are also told how to calculate their sweat rate and to check the colour of their urine (box).15 16 “P” charts and urine tests The science of dehydration has led to another widely held belief that is not based on robust evidence—that the colour of urine is a good guide to hydration levels. Like athletes, British soldiers are told to check their urine. The Ministry of Defence signed a £1.5m three year deal with GSK in 2005 to supply soldiers with Lucozade. “It is only recently that we have started to examine the science behind what our soldiers drink,” the defence secretary, John Reid, said at the time. The drink’s packaging includes a “P chart,” a colour code allowing soldiers to check their hydration levels by studying the colour of their urine.17 The Mayo Clinic’s online guidance to patients also suggests urine is a good guide of hydration. “Unfortunately, thirst isn’t always a reliable gauge of the body’s need for water, especially in children and older adults. A better indicator is the color of your urine: Clear or light-colored urine means you’re well hydrated, whereas a dark yellow or amber color usually signals dehydration,” it says.18 However, a review of the evidence Oxford University’s Centre of Evidence Based Medicine linked to this investigation has assessed the predictive value of urine colour as a diagnostic test. “There is a lack evidence for the widely recommended practice of assessing hydration status by looking at the colour of urine,” it suggests.19 “The limited evidence shows that only first morning urine colour can be reliably used to assess dehydration and rehydration,” it adds. JAVIER LARREA/ GETTY This advice has filtered down to healthcare organisations giving advice to patients playing sport. Diabetes UK, for example, advises people: “Drink small amounts frequently, even if you are not thirsty— approximately 150 ml of fluid every 15 minutes—because dehydration dramatically affects performance.”20 Studies suggest that thirst is a more reliable trigger. A meta-analysis of data from cyclists in time trials concluded that relying on thirst to gauge the need for fluid replacement was the best strategy.21 “The problem was industry wanted to sell more products so it had to say that thirst was not adequate,” Noakes says. And he should know—Noakes developed a sports drink with South African company, Leppin, in the early 1980s. Tim Noakes talks about what stimulates thirst, and how isotonic drinks won't quench it more effectively than water.
Link ups with industry
Academics were in the vanguard of the drive against thirst and the promotion of the dangers of dehydration. In 1993, a group of experts led by Ron Maughan, professor of sport and exercise nutrition at Loughborough University and a member of GSSI’s sports medicine review board since 1990, produced a consensus statement at a meeting funded by Isostar, a sports drink then owned by drug company, Novartis. “There is a need to make athletes more aware of the dangers of dehydration and of the importance of adequate fluid intake. Water is not the best fluid for rehydration, either during or after exercise,” they wrote in an article published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.22 In America, the sports drinks industry also made a push into the area of clinical science. In 1992, the American College of Sports Medicine—the “premier organization in sports medicine and exercise science” with over 45 000 members—accepted a $250,000 donation from Gatorade. Four years later, in 1996, the American College of Sports Medicine produced guidelines that adopted a “zero % dehydration” doctrine, advising athletes to “drink as much as tolerable.”23 This guidance grew out of a roundtable meeting in 1993 “supported” by Gatorade.24 Half the guideline’s authors either worked with the US military—the world’s biggest customer of Gatorade—or had a financial relationship with the Gatorade institute. Over time, these authors would strengthen their relationship with the college, with Lawrence Armstrong and Michael Sawka—who both work for the United States Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine—becoming senior editors of the college’s journal in the past 10 years. The college’s president during the 2000s, W Larry Kenny, even wrote that the college cautioned against physically active people “letting their thirst guide them.”25 The 1996 guidance stood until 2007, when in updated guidance the college acknowledged that people should drink according to the dictates of thirst. However, it still promoted the idea that people should lose no more than 2% of body weight during exercise, and this remains the position in the published literature—although how people are meant to know how much weight they are losing while exercising isn’t made clear.26 Three of the six authors of the updated guidance declared major financial conflicts of interest. Randy Eichner and Nina Stachenfeld had financial ties to Gatorade, and Ronald Maughan had received funding from Coca-Cola and GSK, as well as being on the GSSI review board. Louise Burke had no personal financial ties, although her institution, the AIS, received funding from Gatorade. The other two authors, Michael Sawka (chair of the committee) and Scott Montain, worked for the US military and had attended the exclusive Quaker Oats meetings in the 1990s. Even two of the five reviewers—Michael Bergeron and Mark Hargreaves—declared financial links to Gatorade. There is nothing wrong with working with industry. Indeed, a UK parliamentary select committee heard in 2006 that “sports science tends to be a Cinderella subject, which does not have the drivers. A lot of the money does come from the drinks industry and so on but it cannot be entirely independent.” Links with industry are also seen as a badge of honour. However, Paul Laursen, adjunct professor at the Sports Performance Research Institute in New Zealand, thinks that people with conflicts of interest shouldn’t be writing guidance. “Those people would say that ‘we’ve done all the research, so we know the subject’. You need people who are more objective than that—who can put the studies into context and account for important limitations to the research,” he says. The BMJ asked the college why it chose people with such conflicts of interest to produce its guidance. A spokesperson said: “ACSM follows best practices regarding corporate relationships, disclosures, and conflicts of interest,” adding that the college has “demanding requirements in the areas of disclosure and avoidance of conflict of interest.” The college also maintains that the “chairs of both the 1996 and 2007 Position Stands on fluid replacement were US federal government employees with no professional affiliations with the sports beverage industry.” Despite all the guidance about the dangers of dehydration during exercise, Arthur Siegel, associate professor of medicine at Harvard University and adviser to the Boston marathon, says that there is no evidence that anyone doing a marathon has ever died from it. “Dehydration has gotten all the press and attention partly because of sports medicine associations who have endorsed the dangers of dehydration, but in fact dehydration is not life threatening,” Siegel says. Fluid is freely available throughout the races should a runner need to drink—they are not stranded in the desert with no access to fluids, he says. “It [dehydration] is a normal biological response to exercise. You lose water; you get thirsty; you drink. End of story,” Noakes adds. He is, however, considered maverick in his views.
Hyponatraemia Against this background of what Noakes says is disease mongering, a genuine illness associated with sport has become a real concern—that of exercise associated hyponatraemia. There have been 16 recorded deaths and 1600 people taken critically ill during competitive marathon running due to a drop in their serum sodium (see linked commentary).27 The cause of this is keenly debated—in particular whether it is the volume or type of fluid consumption that is most to blame. The largest prospective study, conducted in a diverse group of marathon runners (funded by the National Institutes of Health and published in the New England Journal of Medicine), found no association with the composition of fluids consumed and concluded that it is the volume of fluid that is the main factor leading to hyponatraemia.28 According to lead author Christopher Almond, assistant professor of paediatrics at Boston Children’s Hospital: “The available evidence indicates that the most effective way to prevent hyponatremia during marathon running is to avoid a positive fluid balance.”28 A literature review in a nephrology journal also backed this up saying there is no evidence that “consumption of sports drinks (electrolyte-containing hypotonic fluids) can prevent the development of exercise associated hyponatraemia.”29 Hydration grabs the headlines, but hyponatremia is more dangerous for marathon runners. Arthur Seigel explains the physiology and Jonathan Williams explains treatment during a marathon. However, companies are keen to imply that it is water that is the problem. Coca-Cola, for example, acknowledges that hyponatraemia is a cause for concern “for anyone doing endurance sports,” but says that this is due to the failure to “replace the sodium lost through sweat or drinking a very large volume of very low-sodium beverages such as water.” The Powerade webpage describing hyponatraemia does not mention that it can also happen if sports drinks are consumed.30 The company has subsequently said it has updated the advice on its website “to ensure that it is clear that athletes should not over consume any liquids.” Again, the message that sports drinks confer protection has filtered down. “To prevent hyponatremia and electrolyte imbalances, athletes should replace lost body fluid with drinks that contain electrolytes, such as sports drinks,” MedicineNet website says.31
Outreach to schools The industry push has not stopped with adults participating in sports. GSK has developed an educational outreach programme called Scientists in Sport (www.scientistsinsport.com) as part of its involvement in the Olympic antidoping operations. The programme includes materials for “GSK Ambassadors to take into schools, and free classroom resources.” One lesson looks at osmosis and water: “During intense exercise, heavy sweating removes water and salts from the body. If large quantities of water alone are consumed, this will dilute the normal concentrations of sugars and ions in the blood and tissues. Water will enter, by osmosis, and stop the muscles, nerves and the brain from working properly. In extreme cases, water intoxication can occur and may lead to death,” it says. Students are then asked which drinks are closest to being isotonic and whether sports drinks justify their prices. GSK maintains that the programme does not specifically mention its sports drink. However, it admits that the introduction to the osmosis lesson—as quoted above—could be “made more relevant to the subject.” “We are therefore going to update this section,” a spokesperson told the BMJ. But efforts to encourage children to drink sports drinks do not end there. This year, Gatorade and the National Athletic Trainers’ Association united to declare 11 July the first annual National Recovery Day for high school athletes. This was “to focus the attention of athletes on the importance of proper athletic recovery.” Children were told to “drink 16-24 ounces of fluid with sodium for each pound of body weight lost during exercise following a workout or game.”32 Many schools in the UK now encourage children to stop every 15-20 minutes during exercise to drink. Football teams also instruct children to bring a bottle—no football field is seen without a colourful array of sports drinks. This practice may be one that originated with Gatorade. In 2000, a former professor of paediatrics at McMaster University in Canada, Oded Bar-Or, who was also a member of the GSSI medicine review board, promoted the need for children to stop during sporting activities in order to drink. “One should make certain that children arrive fully hydrated for a practice session or for competition and enforce drink pauses every 15-20 min during prolonged activities, even when the child does not feel thirsty. If necessary, rules of the sport should be modified to facilitate periodic drinking,” he wrote in 2000.33 That same year he was the main consultant to the American Academy of Pediatrics guidance on heat illness and exercise.34 “Children frequently do not feel the need to drink enough to replenish fluid loss during prolonged exercise. This may lead to severe dehydration,” it said, adding: “A major consequence of dehydration is an excessive increase in core body temperature.” Updated advice in 2011 had Michael Bergeron—who has financial ties to Gatorade— as the main consultant and one of the lead authors. “Appropriate fluid should be readily accessible and consumed at regular intervals before, during, and after all sports participation,” it added giving specific details about sweat replacement and amounts to drink. All references to this were to studies either funded by Gatorade or included authors with financial ties.35The Institute of Medicine, however, says: “Thirst and consumption of beverages at meals are adequate to maintain hydration.”36 A spokesperson for Gatorade also confirmed that there were no systematic reviews on hydration in children. Instead, it pointed to three position papers that consider the relation between exertional heat related illness and hydration. These were from the American College of Sports Medicine and the National Athletics Trainers’ Association and cite “carbohydrate-electrolyte solutions as one of many potential preventative steps.” In the UK, Maughan took a similar view. He wrote in 2001: “Children are particularly likely to forget to drink unless reminded to do so,” adding that “mild levels of dehydration and hyperthermia will reduce exercise capacity.”7 This advice was soon adopted by groups lobbying for increased attention to hydration in schools. In the UK, an expert group on hydration was launched in June 2005, supported by the British Soft Drinks Association, with the “goal of improving the nation’s hydration.” Maughan was a key adviser.37 “If children have no understanding of why they need to drink frequently, and little or no encouragement is given, their health, wellbeing and performance may be at risk,” the group’s report concludes. It also laments the “demonisation of vending machines” in schools.37
War on water The promotion of hydration has created a battle ground for the fight between bottled water companies and the sports drinks industry. While they both agree about the need to drink plenty of fluids,38 there is disagreement on what that fluid should be. The Natural Hydration Council—which represents the bottled water industry—warns that one in four adults drink sports drinks at their desk, thereby consuming unnecessary calories.39 It urges that people should be encouraged to drink water rather than sugary drinks.39 Sports drinks companies, however, promote the notion that their products are a superior source of hydration. In its guidelines to casual runners taking part in the Lucozade sponsored national UK event Parkrun—Lucozade say that “water alone isn’t enough to maintain hydration.”40 Powerade’s website also suggests “Water is not enough.” “Water doesn’t have the performance benefits of a sports drink,” it says—but it does not go on to quantify what those benefits are.41 However, this is permitted. Earlier this year, the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) rejected a complaint against Powerade for television advertisements featuring Olympic heptathlon medal hopeful, Jessica Ennis, that said, “Powerade ION4 hydrates better than water.” A national press advert running around the same featured Ennis saying: “So it hydrates me better than water.”42
How good is the evidence? Companies claim that the sodium in sports drinks stimulates thirst, resulting in the consumption of a higher volume of fluid and better retention compared with drinking water. Their claims also hinge on the physiological observation that the carbohydrate content of sports drinks aids water absorption from the small intestine. Consumers are told that another key benefit is the taste, as this encourages higher fluid intake. The ASA’s judgment in favour of Powerade was revealing. Despite over 38 years of research, there was no published meta-analysis of studies in this area to help uphold the complaint.42 But the reason for this lack of evidence is clear, says Noakes. “A commercial company would never do research that it was not certain of the answer before it did the study,” he says. Yet Coca-Cola, GSK, and PepsiCo maintain that the scientific evidence supports their case—and they’re not the only ones. In 2006, the European Union adopted new regulation that aimed “to ensure that consumers are not misled by unsubstantiated, exaggerated or untruthful claims about foodstuffs.” The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) was charged with assessing the evidence supporting health claims. Two related to sports drinks have been upheld: that they hydrate better than water and that they help maintain performance in athletes doing endurance exercise. This judgment did not apply to the ordinary person going to the gym or children playing football for an hour a week, Albert Flynn, chair of EFSA’s dietetic products, nutrition, and allergies panel, told the BBC. Because EFSA has reviewed the literature, companies say the evidence supporting the performance benefits of sports drinks is “very strong.” But an analysis of the studies submitted to EFSA accompanying the investigation does not uphold this view. It also finds a troubling circularity in the industry influenced evidence base—and this does not just apply to the funding of the studies. EFSA also says it relied on the American College of Sports Medicine’s 2007 review on hydration.43 The BMJ asked the college about its methodology. While not providing substantive comment on the methods used in the past, it said it “now uses an independent expert consultant in meta-analysis process.” When the Institute of Medicine analysed the same dataset in 2004 they concluded that “many of the questions raised about the requirements for and recommended intakes of these electrolytes and of water cannot be fully answered because of inadequacies in the present database”.44 In their determination to show that a solution of salt and sugar can produce a beneficial effect, companies have funded hundreds of studies over the past 40 years. The BMJ asked several companies for lists of these studies (see box for overview of research). GSK was the only one willing to provide such a list, comprising references to the “100 clinical trials” that suggest its sports drinks have important benefits. Gatorade did not respond, and Coca-Cola sent a detailed response explaining how their drink works.45 An accompanying analysis of the studies found that the quality of the evidence was so poor that it was impossible to draw firm conclusions about the effects of the sports drink (box).9 Assessment of evidence behind sports products A team at the Centre of Evidence Based Medicine at Oxford University assessed the evidence behind 431 performance enhancing claims in adverts for 104 different sports products including sports drinks, protein shakes and trainers. If the evidence wasn’t clear from the adverts, they contacted the companies for more information. Some, like Puma, did not provide any evidence, while others like GlaxoSmithKline— makers of Lucozade Sport—provided hundreds of studies. Yet only three (2.7%) of the studies the team was able to assess were judged to be of high quality and at low risk of bias. They say this absence of high quality evidence is “worrying” and call for better research in this area to help inform decisions. What the research found As part of the BMJ’s analysis of the evidence underpinning sports performance products, it asked manufacturers to supply details of the studies. Only one manufacturer, GlaxoSmithKline provided a comprehensive bibliography of the trials used to underpin its product claims for Lucozade—a carbohydrate containing sports drink.45 Other manufacturers of leading sports drinks did not and in the absence of systematic reviews we surmise that the methodological issues raised apply to all other sports drinks. Carl Heneghan, Rafael Perera, David Nunan, Kamal Mahtani, and Peter Gill set out to appraise the evidence and found a series of problems with the studies (see online for full article).9 Small sample sizes limit the applicability of results—Only one of the 106 studies —in 257 marathon runners—exceeded the acceptable target for a small study of 100 participants per group. The next largest had 52 participants and the median sample size was nine. Thus the results cannot be generalised beyond people with the study group characteristics
Poor quality surrogate outcomes undermine the validity—Many studies used time to exhaustion or other outcomes that are not directly relevant to performance in real life events
Poorly designed research offers little to instil confidence in product claims—Most studies (76%) were low in quality because of a lack of allocation concealment and blinding, and often the findings contrasted with each other. The studies often had substantial problems because of use of different protocols, temperatures, work intensities, and outcomes
Data dredging leads to spurious statistical results—Studies often failed to define outcome measures before the study, leaving open the possibility of numerous analyses and increasing the risk of finding a positive result by chance.
Biological outcomes do not necessarily correlate with improved performance—Reductions in use of muscle glycogen, for example, did not correlate with improved athletic performance. Physiological outcomes such as maximal oxygen consumption have also been shown to be poor predictors of performance, even among elite athletes
Inappropriate use of relative measures inflates the outcome and can easily mislead—One study inflated the relative effect of carbohydrate drinks from 3% to 33% by excluding from the analysis the 75 minutes of exercise both groups undertook before an exhaustion test
Studies that lack blinding are likely to be false—Studies that used plain water as the control found positive effects whereas those that used taste |
."
Despite hitting the post twice, Palace struggled to get a foothold in the game at White Hart Lane, and Pardew insists if his side are looking to finish mid-table the expectation should be higher.
Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino said his side put in their best performance since the start of the season Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino said his side put in their best performance since the start of the season
"We came to Spurs, a difficult place, they play well and we still should have got something.
"If we're going to become a mid-table team, that isn't acceptable to me and it isn't acceptable to my players.
"The margins were not in our favour for the whole of the game. We should have done a lot better today."The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the Indian state of Maharashtra has de-recognised madrasas which only educate students on Islam without offering other subjects such as maths and science, local media reported.
Eknath Khadse, the state's minorities affairs minister, said on Thursday that madrasas focusing only on studying Islam will now be regarded as "non-schools".
"Madrasas are giving students education on religion and not giving them formal education. Our Constitution says every child has the right to take formal education, which madrasas do not provide," the minister said.
"If a Hindu or Christian child wants to study in a madrasa, they will not be allowed to study there. Thus, madrasa is not a school but a source of religious education. Thus we have asked them to teach students other subjects as well. Otherwise these madrasas will be considered as non-schools," Khadse said.
The move has drawn outrage from Muslims and opposition parties in the state.
"It is ill-designed and ill-timed, I don't know why they are doing it," Kamal Farooqui of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, said.
Farooqui said that madrasas were part of formal education structures and that students were able to gain admission into universities.
Maulana Mahmood Madani, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind general secretary, described the move as "unacceptable".
Abhay Mishra, a PhD candidate in history at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, said the BJP was justifying the move on the pretext that Muslims were not getting jobs because they were not accessing modern education.
"This is misplaced. There are millions of Indian students who go to modern schools but remain jobless... it is a continuation of an attempt to demonise Indian Muslims and their educational and religious institutions," Mishra said.
"The constitution the BJP pretends to swear by gives right to minorities to run their own institutions. It is a fundamental right."
Spokesperson for the Congress party, Sanjay Nirupam, said that no child should be discriminated along religious lines and the party would be raising the issue in the State Assembly.
But the minister said the move was to improve access to education.
"Our only aim behind doing this is to ensure that every child of the minority community gets a chance to learn and come into the mainstream, get good paying jobs and have a prosperous future," Khadse said.
But commentators like Mishra say that if government was concerned with improving education levels among Muslims they would have built more schools and facilities in Muslim areas.
"Madrasas are doing constructive work. They are providing education to millions of illiterate, poor muslims which the government has failed to do. If the government was serious about this issue, why didn't it open modern schools in Muslim areas," Mishra said.
BJP's move comes weeks after the Maharahstra government announced that madrasas had to teach English, maths, science and social science to be eligible for grants from the state.
Out of a total 1,890 registered madrasas in the state, 550 have agreed to teach four subjects to students, Khadse said.
"We are even ready to pay madrasas for giving students formal education and are ready to provide them teaching staff as well," he added.Trillelectro Music Festival's 2012 poster (l.) and a nearly identical poster used to promote the Third Rail Music Festival last weekend in River North (r.). View Full Caption Facebook
RIVER NORTH — A new electronic dance music festival in River North not only had trouble attracting crowds last weekend, but a promotional poster for the Third Rail Music Festival has striking similarities to a poster used to promote a similar event in Washington D.C. two years ago.
The Third Rail poster that circulated online contains a central image that appears to be identical to one advertising the Trillectro Music Festival in Washington, D.C. in 2012.
Lizzie Schiffman discusses the controversy on DNAinfo Radio:
Marcel Marshall, co-founder of Trillectro, said that after news of the poor attendance at the Chicago festival spread online, he was inundated with messages alerting him that the original artwork from his poster appeared to be circulating but with information advertising the Chicago fest superimposed over the image.
Third Rail Music Festival View Full Caption
"We do know that no one on our side gave them any permission to use it," Marshall said. "Not the designers, certainly not our festival and our business partners."
Alex Blackshire, event coordinator at MO events, which produced Third Rail Music Festival, declined to comment on the similarities between the posters, but denied any wrongdoing on the festival's behalf.
"I'm not touching this," he said when reached Wednesday.
Graphic artist Cita Sadeli created the original poster, which Marshall says his production team commissioned from Protein Media.
Sadeli declined to comment, citing a pressing deadline for another project.
Her signature, originally under the cartoon dog's left hand, is not found on the Third Rail Music Festival poster.
"It's really weird, because the fairground is this venue that's very unique," Marshall said of where his inaugural fest was held. "It's contained by these shipping containers, so that was part of the aesthetic that we wanted to show in the flyer, because that's what the venue looks like."
Marshall's poster shows the stadium where the Washington Nationals play, which was in the background of the venue. The Third Rail poster has labeled the building in the background the ''Tribune'' — which was in the background of the Chicago fest.
"Not only did they steal it, but they hacked it," Marshall charged. "I don't necessarily want to say that they butchered it, but they hacked this thing, and it's just a bad representation, because people are seeing her artwork, and there's pieces of it that she wouldn't ever have put there."
Marshall said he doesn't know if his festival will pursue legal action over the alleged infringement.
"The first step is to sort of reach out to them and get their side of the story," he said. "But I don't want to take that off the table."
Marshall declined to say what they paid for the original artwork, but said "the prices aren't cheap when you're working with an agency, let's just say that. It's definitely an expense that you have, and when you plan a festival, you need to account for that cost."
Although his festival owns the rights to the artwork, Marshall said he's "more sad for the designer than anything."
Marshall says he understands the challenges of getting a first-time festival off the ground.
"You're put in a tough spot when you have a first-year event because you need material to promote it, so I understand what they were trying to do," Marshall added. "We're on our third year now. Our first year of promotion, we didn't have a crowd shot, so we didn't use any. You just have to be creative and use what materials you have. It's not ethical to use somebody else's work."
In its second year, Trillectro Music Festival drew between 7,000 and 8,000 people.
Blackshire said earlier this week that despite only attracting about 500 people — a fraction of the expected turnout — he plans to resurrect the event next year.
"I'm happy as a first-year festival," he said. "We did not lose anything. It was a good first festival. We profited, but not too much over" what we spent.
For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here:Posted October 6, 2017 at 1:50 am
It hasn't come up a lot, BUT...
- First unintentional hint (wasn't intended to imply this trait yet)
- "Set phasers to sanitize"
- Washing hands after touching Elliot's hands
- Sanitize after shaking hands with Tensaided
- General hesitance regarding physical contact
I've winced that first panel wince in response to many a thing in my day, let me tell you.
Susan and I share a few traits, and this is one of them, up to and including the last panel. I tend to check chairs before I sit in them, and when I go to pick up an order at a pizza place, it takes a significant wait to get me to actually sit down while waiting.
And, though I will sometimes lean against walls, I usually don't, and there have been times when I've done so only to realize what I was doing and be bothered by it. I'm perfectly aware it doesn't make sense. I've got some survival instinct miswired somewhere.
Panel seven is also inspired by me, in which it's like "for all intents and purposes, yes", but also "it's not exactly that. and the distinction matters to me, gosh darn it".
Of course, this comic isn't just "Dan shares his anxieties for show and tell". We're comparing and contrasting Susan and Diane, and Diane does not share this trait.
Even though that's the plan, however, I didn't originally plan to address this aspect of Susan just now. I drew the previous comic, thought Diane would naturally lean against the wall at the end of it, and had my own little reaction to it. With Susan and I sharing that trait, I saw it as a sign to address the matter.
- EGS:NPA dentist from the Showa University Dentistry School demonstrates a treament on a dedntal patient robot, named Hanako Showa, at the dental clinic of the university in Tokyo on March 25, 2010. Japan's robot maker Tmsuk and the Showa University unveiled the dental patient robot, which reacts against treatment during the clinical training, such as cough, tongue movement and pain reaction like a real human patient. AFP PHOTO / Yoshikazu TSUNO (Photo credit should read YOSHIKAZU TSUNO/AFP/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Officials have announced the arrest of a man they say provided dental services out of a converted bathroom in his home.
Authorities said they arrested William Escobar, 40, Wednesday after a month long investigation conducted by the Moorpark Police Investigations Unit and the California Dental Board.
Escobar lived in the 600 block of Spring Road in Moorpark.
A former “patient” reported Escobar in November after saying he cleaned his teeth, injected him with an anesthetic and evaluated him about a tooth extraction.
When the patient told Escobar he couldn’t pay for the extraction, the procedure was not performed. The patient told officials he suffered swelling and pain at the injection site. According to the complainant, Escobar also called and threatened him about owed money.
After serving a search warrant at Escobar’s apartment, detectives reportedly found an elaborate and illegal dental operation set up in Escobar’s bathroom complete with dental chair, tools, anesthetic drugs, false teeth and items to perform orthodonture.
Officials said Escobar has numerous customers, including teenagers who were receiving orthodonture care.
Escobar was arrested on several charges including felony practice of dentistry without a license, misdemeanor furnishing of dangerous drugs, and possession of needles.
The Moorpark Police Station is asking for any of Escobar’s clients to come forward and contact them.When I took the train from Copenhagen to Malmö before Christmas, police dutifully entered the regional Öresund train on the first stop in Sweden, Hyllie station. Despite the regular controls, the passport checks were swift and casual and the police were friendly and not the least threatening. Since 4 January, regional trains travelling directly between Denmark and Sweden have been disrupted and replaced with local trains, forcing passengers not merely to switch trains at the border but also to go through ID checks that extend the travelling time up to an hour. The current situation with the border checks still feels surreal, but I believe that most citizens on either side do not consider it a permanent solution.
Nobody wants to be the first one to put an end to the openness we take so much pride in. But the already strained housing problem and other economic issues in the country are visibly affecting the public. As much as we would like to be proud of being an open and welcoming society to the rest of the world, internally we are struggling with the results of this openness.
There is a housing shortage in Sweden in general, which has caused house prices to rise significantly in the past five years. Debts are high on an individual level in the country, forcing people to rethink their financial situation. Sweden is just as much affected by the global financial crisis as anyone else. The new Swedish government is aiming to achieve the lowest unemployment rate in Europe by 2020, an initiative which has most likely been abandoned now, with new challenges being prioritised. This raises concerns that unemployment, especially among the young and immigrant populations, will not improve.https://www.znak.com/2016-09-22/vladislav_inozemcev_sostoyanie_bolota_nadolgo_adekvatnye_gotovyatsya_k_emigracii
2016.09.22 https://www.znak.com/2016-09-22/vladislav_inozemcev_sostoyanie_bolota_nadolgo_adekvatnye_gotovyatsya_k_emigracii2016.09.22
Подробно «Конец нынешней власти придет, только когда расстреляют первых десять демонстрантов» Владислав Иноземцев: состояние болота – надолго, адекватные готовятся к эмиграции
www.thanhniennews.com
«Партия президента» одержала триумфальную победу на парламентских выборах, невзирая на явное ухудшение экономики и обеднение подавляющего большинства россиян. Оппозиция потерпела такое же внушительное фиаско. Надолго ли этот успех Владимира Путина? Какие риски угрожают ему? Об этом мы расспросили Владислава Иноземцева, известнейшего экономиста, публициста, директора Центра исследований постиндустриального общества, участника Российского совета по международным делам, Совета по внешней и обороной политике.
«Клинтон не будет развязывать войну»
- Владислав Леонидович, впереди у Владимира Владимировича, пожалуй, куда более важные выборы, чем только что состоявшиеся в России, – выборы американского президента. Допустим, им становится Хиллари Клинтон. По вашим представлениям, чего стоит ожидать в российско-американских отношениях в этом случае – «перезагрузки» или «перегрузки»?
- Клинтон, в отличие от Трампа, не испытывает к Путину теплых чувств, ей, человеку, уже пожившему в Белом доме восемь лет в качестве первой леди, бывшему госсекретарю, понятен беспрецедентный вес США на мировой арене, и Россия не является для нее равным партнером. Для нее Россия одна из многих стран, причем далеко не самая нормальная. От Клинтон, безусловно, не стоит ожидать никаких расшаркиваний, и для Кремля она, конечно, заведомо хуже. Но только и всего, катастрофы-то не случится, просто некоторые выходки Москвы не будут сходить ей с рук, не более.
Клинтон критически настроена к России, но она вполне разумный, адекватный человек и не будет развязывать войну, поставлять Киеву летальное оружие, как описывают многие наши политологи. Степень конфликтности Клинтон будет зависеть от того, как поведет себя Москва. Конкретно в Сирии такое количество участников конфликта, что, по-моему, там вообще невозможно достичь какого-либо соглашения и перемирия. И приход Клинтон ничего не решит, это не будет ни «новым началом», ни «полным концом».
Владислав Иноземцев: «Какие мотивы для реформ? Никаких» deduhova.ru
Что касается Украины, то на Западе интерес к ней во многом уже прошел. Тем более Украина сама находится в десятке крупнейших экспортеров оружия. Не думаю, что Киеву его очень не хватает. Вместе с тем я знаю немало людей в Киеве, которые спасаются от мобилизации и призыва, и совсем не убежден, что, даже если украинская армия получит с десяток американских танков (не будут же США предлагать Украине авианосцы и бомбардировщики), она тут же пойдет на штурм Донецка. Тем более что на стороне ДНР воюют, мягко говоря, далеко не только ополченцы, причем не вилами и не лопатами.
- Хорошо, но в Америке возобновляется сланцевый бум, наши конкуренты – США, Саудовская Аравия, Иран, Катар – наступают на традиционные для России европейские рынки. Владислав Леонидович, какие ресурсы выживания остаются у «путиномики»? На сколько их хватит, чтобы ничего принципиально не менять?
- Цены на мировом нефтяном рынке стабилизировались. Сланцевая добыча в Америке рентабельна примерно на сегодняшних ценовых уровнях, но она не остановится и при снижении цен. В свое время, когда нефть стоила 100 долларов за баррель, сланцевые компании заняли и вложили в добычу много денег, и даже если нефть будет стоить 40 долларов, они не смогут прекратить ее добывать, потому что надо выплачивать кредиты. Поэтому и банки не хотят остановки таких компаний, лучше смягчить условия по кредитам, чтобы им хоть что-то платили, в противном случае банкам достанется просто-напросто неработающий актив. Другое дело, что при 40 долларах производство лишь не свернется, а при 50 можно вводить новые скважины. Так что несколько лет цены будут колебаться вокруг нынешних уровней: то уходить чуть ниже 40 долларов, то подниматься к 55.
Добывающие страны, конечно, хотят более дорогой нефти. Но для этого надо резко сократить производство, а ни в чьи планы это не входит. Сокращение производства может произойти, к примеру, по причине банкротства и дальнейшей гражданской войны в Венесуэле. Другие ожидают: здорово, если бы американцы снова ударили по Ираку. Но ни того, ни другого, скорее всего, не произойдет. Делегации добывающих стран будут встречаться, обниматься, хлопать друг другу по плечу и обещать сократить добычу, но по возвращении домой продолжат качать нефть. А что им остается?
За два последних месяца количество буровых установок в Америке удвоилось, о намерении наращивать экспорт нефти заявляют Иран, Ливия и Нигерия prokazan.ru
В отдельно взятой России при таких ценах останавливается добыча на шельфе, бессмысленно идти в Восточную Сибирь, через 5-7 лет начнется реальное истощение месторождений. Но дело в том, что наши политики в принципе не смотрят так далеко. Сейчас им нужно пройти 2018 год (когда состоятся выборы президента РФ – прим. ред.), а до этого времени я особых рисков не вижу.
«Их подход: придет время – тогда и посмотрим, чего суетиться-то»
- Не смотреть далеко – это личное качество наших руководителей, или мир стал настолько изменчивым, что нет смысла планировать на много лет вперед?
- Полагаю, это их собственный подход к жизни. Эти люди формировались в 90-е годы, когда было тяжело строить какие-то долгосрочные планы. Именно тогда сложилась привычка к короткому видению. Понимаете, дело даже не в том, что они не строят далеких планов, у них есть стратегии до 2030 года, проекты строительства скоростных магистралей чуть не до Пекина. Дело в том, что они не смотрят на будущие вызовы. Провести Олимпиаду в Сочи или футбольный чемпионат, построить скоростную железнодорожную магистраль до Казани – все эти решения принимались 6-10 лет назад, причем без учета грядущих рисков, тяп-ляп, если говорить по-простому. Их подход: придет время – тогда и посмотрим, чего суетиться-то. Они не столько не умеют, сколько не видят смысла планировать надолго. Если тебе, как Китаю, надо прокормить полтора миллиарда человек, и ты понимаешь, что нет иного выхода, как становиться крупной промышленной державой, то будешь строить пятилетние планы, зазывать инвесторов и ползать перед ними на животе. А если у тебя нефть течет, то каков мотив?
- Но Герман Греф предупредил, что углеводородной эре осталось лет десять.
- Во-первых, совсем необязательно слушать Грефа. Люди не глупее Германа Оскаровича, к примеру, Гарри Кимович Каспаров, когда-то предсказывали, что режим не доживет и до 2010 года. Николай Петров из Центра Карнеги еще в 2012 году писал на страницах одного венского журнала, что режиму Путина настанет конец до 2014 года. Если сложить в кучу все эти выдающиеся высказывания и положить на стол Путину, только подашь ему лишний повод удостовериться, что он все делает верно.
Во-вторых, в этой системе, кроме Германа Грефа, есть еще немало умных людей, но каждый из них думает: мне что, больше всех надо? Если на самом верху, в узком кругу, считают, что главное продержаться «от заката до рассвета», мне-то зачем выпендриваться, что я – умнее своего начальника? Если первое лицо в монархии всем довольно, зачем высказываться, что мы идем на дно? Будешь выпендриваться – получишь реальное ухудшение карьерных возможностей и положения. Мотив отсутствует – вот что самое главное.
Герман Оскарович, Гарри Кимович и иже с ними правы в одном: если ничего не делать, то с каждым годом возрастает вероятность того, что через какой-то непродолжительный по историческим меркам период Россия превратится в абсолютного экономического «динозавра» и рухнет под собственной тяжестью. В отличие от того же Китая, мы действительно ничего не делаем. У нас с 2001 года в 6 раз увеличился объем средств на дорожное строительство, а ввод дорог уменьшился вдвое. Когда-то дороги окончательно разрушатся, и от Новосибирска до Барнаула можно будет проехать разве что на вездеходе. Но кого волнует, что будет через десятки лет? Да никого. Даже записных либералов, которые обещают: вот уж мы придем на выборы! А приходят, как всегда. Какие мотивы для реформ? Никаких.
В июне Минпромторг признал: проект по продвижению российской продукции на Aliexpress провалился. За рубежом объяснили: дорого и неоригинально РИА Новости/Александр Кожохин
- Поэтому от заезженного словосочетания «инновационная политика» уже, честно говоря, мутит: одни слова. Знаете ли вы какие-то примеры успеха российской продукции за рубежом?
- Пока никаких примеров не вижу. Есть отдельные компании, которые выпускают инновационную продукцию, сотрудничают с крупными международными фирмами, поставляя им узлы, компоненты. Есть коллективы программистов, которые напрямую работают с западными партнерами. Но в чем отличие России от Китая? В том, что на половине товаров, которые продаются в США и Европе, вы увидите надпись «Made in China». А вот надписи «Made in Russia» не увидите ни на одном товаре, разве что в магазинах типа «Буратино», куда заходят, чтобы купить нашу гречневую крупу и грузинское вино. Потому что на пути создания и продвижения наших товаров такое количество препон, что их в принципе нельзя преодолеть. Можно создать портал, компьютерную программу, игру, приложение для смартфона, но при этом вы будете встроены в крупные производственные цепочки и цепочки сбыта, и ни у кого не будет понимания, что эти продукты «Made in Russia».
Но это не было и не является головной болью нашего руководства. Даже когда во времена модернизации говорили о том, что нам нужно развивать новые отрасли, все сводилось к энергетике, космонавтике и фармацевтике для самих себя. Где здесь связь с продвижением российских товаров на внешние рынки? Никакой.
«Все чудесно, забудьте о каких бы то ни было переменах»
- Вы говорите: нет мотива для перемен. Но даже в Минфине признают: Резервный фонд сегодняшними темпами иссякнет в следующем году, а Фонд национального благосостояния до конца 2019 года усохнет на 40%, а то и больше. То есть мы останемся, извиняюсь, с голой задницей. Разве это не мотив?
- В этом году из Резервного фонда уже потрачено около 2 триллионов рублей. Это означает, что бюджет дефицитен где-то на 2,8% ВВП, по всем мировым меркам это небольшой дефицит, с таким дефицитом Россия нормально смотрелась бы даже в зоне евро. И в арсенале есть еще несколько элементарных приемов. Первый – увеличить внешние заимствования, а занимать по 10-12 миллиардов долларов в год у арабских стран или Китая не так уж невозможно.
Второй ресурс повышения бюджетных доходов – понижение курса рубля. Когда в 2011 году в Белоруссии, после довольно противоречивого переизбрания Лукашенко, случилась девальвация «зайчика» примерно на 60%, на следующий год инфляция подскочила до 87%. А у нас при такой же девальвации инфляция составила 7%. Это значит, что курс рубля вполне можно довести до 100 за доллар, а это совершенно бездефицитный бюджет без всяких резервных фондов, потому что вы получаете гораздо больше рублей от валютной выручки и экспортных пошлин. К тому же девальвация лучше, чем повышение налогов, потому что она создает дополнительные возможности для национальных производителей, повышает прибыль экспортеров и, следовательно, их инвестиционные возможности, растут зарплаты. Если инфляция будет держаться на уровне 10%, ничего катастрофичного не произойдет.
По социологическим замерам, половина россиян убеждена, что государство обязано экономить не на социалке, а на зарплатах чиновников и менеджеров госкомпаний. Но о подобных планах правительства ничего не известно Даниил Силантьев
И третий способ – приватизация, например, мелких участков земли, которых в России полно. Заимствования, девальвация рубля процентов на 20 в год и небольшая приватизация – этого вполне достаточно, чтобы резервные фонды протянули до 2020 года.
- Нарышкин на днях выступил за отказ от плоской шкалы подоходного налога. Значит, ресурс повышения налогов, скорее всего, тоже задействуют?
- Большие шансы, что они поднимут НДС и страховые платежи, Минфин уже выступил с такой инициативой. Но если изменят и НДФЛ, то при нашем социальном неравенстве ничего не стрясется. Если для тех, кто зарабатывает от 100 тысяч рублей, довести ставку НДФЛ, к примеру, до 21%, они не станут фанатичными противниками режима. А если при этом освободить от подоходного налога зарплаты, скажем, до 15 тысяч рублей, то наиболее бедные слои населения получат ежемесячную прибавку по тысяче-полторы, еще и спасибо скажут. Все это можно подать в симпатичной «упаковке»: в 2001 году мы ввели плоскую шкалу, чтобы вывести экономику из «тени», добились больших успехов, и теперь наш приоритет не легализация доходов, а социальная справедливость, поэтому и вводим прогрессивное налогообложение. Но ведь не до 76%, как в Америке при Картере, и слава богу.
- Вы предлагаете «небольшую приватизацию», а заявлена-то большая. Можно ли быть уверенным, что приватизация Алросы, Башнефти, Роснефти, Совкомфлота, ВТБ пройдет в интересах бюджета и населения, а не в интересах узкой группы лиц, определенных кланов, как у нас регулярно бывало?
- Приватизации как таковой нет, за исключением небольшого пакета «Алросы». Объявленная приватизация – это попытка «отбрехаться», сделать вид, что проблемы как-то решаются. В принципе, приватизация – хорошая мера для пополнения бюджета, открытая, прозрачная. Но приходит понимание, на мой взгляд, правильное, что сейчас продавать куски госсобственности не надо: продавать за бесценок неправильно, желающих купить по хорошей цене сейчас найти невозможно. Покупатель рассчитывает либо участвовать в управлении компании, либо с выгодой перепродать эти акции в будущем, но ни того ни другого инвесторы не ожидают, соответственно, проблему бюджетного дефицита приватизация не решит. Думаю, что нынешняя «волна приватизации» – проходной момент: начали игру – не получилось, ну и ладно.
Чтобы сводить концы с концами, проще заморозить пенсии или уменьшить военные расходы, или обесценить рубль.
Возможно, 2024 год мы встретим с президентом Путиным, премьером Медведевым, спикером Госдумы и «преемником» Володиным РИА Новости/Алексей Никольский
Знаете, я бы вообще рекомендовал не обращать внимания на разговоры о приватизации или на дискуссию Кудрина и Глазьева. Все эти вещи придуманы исключительно для того, чтобы народу, экспертной среде было о чем поговорить. За этим не стоит никакого фундаментального содержания. Экономика не станет менее огосударствленной, никакие рецепты, ни Кудрина, ни Глазьева, приняты не будут, а Медведев останется премьером, потому что в общем и целом все чудесно, забудьте о каких бы то ни было переменах.
- На сколько?
- Полагаю, что в 2024 году Путин оставит пост президента: он с уважением относится к законодательным формальностям. И думаю, что вряд ли вернется: к этому времени уже всем станет очевидной тупиковость путинской модели экономики, возникнет запрос на обновление, на новую лидерскую фигуру. Не исключаю, что таковой станет Вячеслав Володин. Он, как недавно выразился Владимир Владимирович, «молодой, но зрелый», имеет огромный опыт организации выборов и реально руководит «Единой Россией», его хорошо знает региональная номенклатура. Володин – опытный администратор, при этом не силовик, интеллигентен, общителен, какое-то время занимался предпринимательством и найдет общий язык с бизнесменами. И самое главное: он абсолютно лоялен Путину. Вот, в 2024 году о перспективах перемен и поговорим.
«Их дети найдут себе более достойное занятие в менее проблемных странах»
- Когда-нибудь положение все равно изменится, та же приватизация станет выгодной. А может, так, через приватизацию, формируется российская наследственная аристократия? Или все же «после нас хоть потоп»?
- В бизнесе – да, формируется. Конечно, определенные капиталы выведены за рубеж, там куплены активы на случай разных непредвиденных ситуаций наподобие той, что сложилась сто лет назад, или более локальных. Но в общем и целом бизнес можно считать растущей аристократией, потому что он дорожит своею собственностью, собирается развивать ее и если не жить в России, то кормиться отсюда.
С чиновниками сложнее. Западный вариант – когда бизнес отдельно, чиновники отдельно, гражданское общество, пресса и правоохранительные органы стоят на страже законности, все вместе обеспечивает высокую степень эффективности и экономического развития. Второй вариант – когда арабские шейхи фактически владеют своей страной как собственностью и поэтому развивают ее, чтобы передать детям еще большее состояние. У нас самый безумный и тупиковый вариант: когда неформально ты живешь как шейх, расписав нажитые богатства по родственникам, но формально выглядишь министром, который, как в Дании, получает 15 тысяч евро в месяц и поощряется только служебной машиной, не больше. Поскольку обогащение происходит за счет бюджета, это вызывает огромные издержки. И большое напряжение в виде «войны компроматов» и так далее. Поэтому максимальный объем средств выводится за рубеж. Было бы правильным позволить чиновникам |
death, with police pleading for witnesses to come forward, the Herald Sun reports.
Homicide detectives are leading the investigation, which is officially classified as suspicious.
The boy had been screaming because his father had gone to the library without him, says one of the family's housemates, Sim Kaur.
"He stopped shouting and I thought, what happened?'' Ms Kaur, 24, told reporters at the home in David St, Lalor.
She said his father had left for the library with another housemate. The family would regularly go to the library - a quick one-minute walk - so they first thought the little boy had tried to follow the father, she said.
The boy's mother, Harpreet Kaur Channa, who is studying in Melbourne after arriving in Australia six weeks ago, had been in the shower when the boy vanished.
When the family realised the boy wasn't at the library, a cousin alerted police to his disappearance around 1.10pm (AEDT) yesterday.
Victoria Police Detective Inspector Steve Clark said the body had no obvious signs of injuries and an autopsy had not revealed how he died.
"There has been an autopsy conducted and as I say a range of forensic testing needs to be carried out," he said.
Det-Insp Clark refused to say whether any suspects had been identified, however he revealed Gurshan and his mother were not alone at the time of the disappearance.
"There were a couple of people at home at the time," he said.
Det Insp Clark said police had "spoken to a range of witnesses overnight."
As police work to find the boy's killer, the Indian Consul-General and members of the local Indian community have gathered to offer support to the family of the murdered toddler.
The boy's parents are now staying with a cousin in nearby Thomastown.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, Deputy Commissioner Sir Ken Jones and Premier John Brumby have all urged the public not to speculate on the case.
"I think it's very important that no one jumps to conclusions,'' Mr Brumby said.
Sir Ken said the investigation could be damaged by such public speculation.
"It's very important that those who may or may not become suspects - that we're able to interview them without them having read speculative theories,'' he said.Are you looking for a unique polymer clay jewelry idea using Mod Podge Dimensional Magic? These pendants are perfect for gifts!
My name is Johnnie and I blog over at Saved By Love Creations. I'm excited to share some polymer clay jewelry with you today!
Today, I will be showing you how to make a polymer clay pendant using an image transfer (yes, the Target Missoni line has everything to do with the inspiration behind this project).
If you have never touched polymer clay, it is ok. You can do this. Polymer clay jewelry is super easy, fast, and cheap, so let's go!
Polymer Clay Jewelry
Supplies:
Polymer clay in a light enough color to make your transfer visible. White clay shows the image the most true to color, but you can get interesting effects by using lightly colored clays as well. Here, and in general I use FIMO Soft. It is easiest to work with, in my opinion.
Pasta machine, or acrylic roller or drinking glass to roll clay into uniform sheet
Small tile to bake clay
Mod Podge Dimensional Magic
Mister bottle with water
Pendant bezel for the square pendant, Pendant bail for the round pendant
Cookie cutter in desired pendant shape
Craft knife or clay blade
Armor-All
Bake-able clay adhesive
Chevron images here courtesy of Etsy shop Annie Howes. For this technique, the images must be printed using a laser jet.
Instructions
1. Condition clay: Polymer clay is composed of a bunch of particles that need to be “conditioned” before using, which is a fancy way of saying squished and rolled until they are mixed together evenly.
I roll the clay around in my hands, pulling twisting and mashing it together until it is soft enough to flatten using my clay dedicated pasta machine.
This is handy because it has 9 different numbered thicknesses, and for serious clay-ers, sometimes exact thickness is important.
For this project, just warm the clay up by kneading it in your hands for a couple of minutes, and roll into a thin sheet using an acrylic roller or drinking glass.
2. Working on a ceramic tile (these are great for clay because you can work right on them and they are safe to bake your clay on, so you don't have to handle the raw piece anymore than necessary), lay your conditioned clay sheet flat and place your image face down on the clay.
Here I am using patty paper underneath the clay, which is also bakeable. I do this when I am baking several pieces on a big cookie sheet so I can just move the patty paper instead of touching the raw clay with my fingers.
Fingerprints have ruined one too many finished works, which is also the reason for the rubber gloves.
3. Burnish (rub) the image down on the clay to get rid of any air bubbles between the image and the clay. Spray a few squirts of water on the back of the image...
4. Lightly run finger across wet image to remove paper backing. You may want to re-wet the paper to get it to roll off. Water will not remove the ink, but too much pressure may ruin the image transfer.
5. For the bezel setting pendant, spray the bezel with Armor All (or similar). This is a release agent, preventing the clay from sticking to the bezel. Line the bezel up with the image and place it face down, pressing the back to create a impression in the clay.
6. Carefully lift the bezel, and cut along the square impression using a craft knife or clay blade.
7. Next, you can bake the square as-is (275° for 20 min), remove from oven, let cool for 5 min, then glue it into the bezel using E-6000 or you favorite strong hold craft glue.
I chose instead to bake the clay in the pendant bezel. It is metal, and withstands the low temp required to bake the clay no problem. This way I know for sure it fits perfectly.
I use a dab of bakeable polymer clay adhesive to adhere the clay to the metal bezel. If you don't have this, and you still want to bake the clay in the bezel, you can do that.
Just pop the piece out of the bezel after it is baked and put a dab of E-6000 or super glue on the bezel before replacing the clay piece. Your first piece of polymer clay jewelry is almost done!
8. For the round pendant with no bezel, I folded the clay sheet in half to double its thickness, then cut out my image with a circle cookie cutter (don't forget to spray the cutter with armor all so it won't stick to the clay).
Bake the clay per package instructions. You will have to glue a pendant bail to the finished piece to attach it to a necklace, or you could poke a hole through the pendant for wiring, like I show here.
9. After baking the round piece, I sanded the edges with 2000-grit wet to dry sandpaper to smooth it out, then inked around the chevron image with color box chalk ink to get the blue color you see in the finished pendant. I love chalk inks with polymer clay! They are so vibrant, and blend-able.
10. FINISHING your polymer clay jewelry: You can touch up any areas the image transfer didn't take using a permanent marker before sealing with Mod Podge.
I use a baby wipe to get rid of any stray paper backing, then cover with Mod Podge Dimensional Magic. Several thin coats are best, drying an hour or so in between. Add to your favorite chain and that is it. Here is another bezel setting piece I made using the printable provided...
This polymer clay jewelry is a great project to keep in mind for handmade holiday gifting. You can use family photos, pets, custom text, anything you can print on a laser jet.
Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoy. Stop on over and check out my other polymer clay and craft tutorials!A tiny disturbance in space became an enormous scientific discovery when LIGO amazingly managed to register it early on the morning of September 14, 2015. This was the first ever observation of a “gravitational wave” – a minute ripple in the structure of spacetime itself – predicted by Albert Einstein a century ago. The signal came from two black holes merging more than a billion light years away, and reached our planet on that very morning.
The detection ushered in a whole new era of astronomy. Two more detections followed (and a third likely one), all from mergers of pairs of black holes. Already, these measurements are starting to help scientists unravel some of the universe’s best-kept secrets. Our new study, published in Nature, shows just how close we are to working out how pairs of black holes form.
The black holes studied by LIGO – each weighing in at between 10 and 30 times the mass of the sun – collide while moving at half the speed of light, twisting space and time as they do so. The merger of two black holes releases more energy in a fraction of a second than all of the stars in the visible universe combined.
However, by the time the spacetime distortions, travelling at the speed of light for more than a billion years, get to the Earth, the ripples are very weak indeed – stretching and squeezing space by less than one part in 1021. That means they make the mirrors in the LIGO detector move by less than a thousandth of the size of an atomic nucleus. No wonder gravitational waves have been so hard to detect.
The incomplete science of black holes
Black holes are infinitely dense remnants of massive stars. Studying them provides astrophysicists with a glimpse into the lives of these stars. And one of the key questions puzzling us since the first gravitational wave detection is: how did these heavy black hole pairs get close enough to merge?
Unravelling the history of how merging black holes formed is important – it can help us to understand the mysterious ageing of massive stars and interactions in dense stellar environments.
There are two broad classes of scenarios that have been proposed so far. The first view holds that two massive stars were born as a pair. They may have interacted by raising tides on each other’s surface, in the way that the moon raises ocean tides on the Earth. Or they may have exchanged gas, with one star blowing off material into space and the other capturing some of it.
Eventually, each star collapsed into a black hole. If the black holes were close enough, then the gradual loss of energy from their orbits in the form of gravitational waves would cause the two black holes to spiral in and eventually merge. This scenario is known as isolated binary evolution.
The other option is that the two black holes formed independently, but did so in an environment where there were many stars closely packed together. In this scenario, known as dynamical formation, a sequence of gravitational interactions with other stars could bring the two black holes to orbit each other.
NASA/wikipedia
We do not yet know which scenario is correct, but nature has provided an exciting hint. Black holes rotate around their own axes. We know from a few observations of stars orbiting black holes in our own galaxy and its immediate neighbours that sometimes black holes appear to be rapidly spinning. We think that if the black holes seen by LIGO were formed from stars already orbiting each other, these spins should be aligned with the orbit. But if the black holes formed by the gravitational influence of several other stars, the spins would be randomly oriented relative to the orbit – meaning they formed independently in a dense environment.
In a new paper, our team of scientists from the University of Birmingham in the UK and the Universities of Maryland and Chicago in the US, analysed the alignment of the spins and orbits of the merging black hole pairs detected by LIGO. It turns out that the phase of the gravitational waves measured is influenced by the spin of the black holes. A certain component of this spin – known as effective spin – is therefore imprinted in the data.
If this effective spin is large and positive, the black holes are rapidly spinning and rotating in the same direction as the orbit. If it’s large and negative, the black holes are rapidly counter-rotating with respect to the orbit. If it is near zero, then either the black holes’ spins are significantly misaligned with the orbit, or both black holes are spinning slowly.
The LIGO observations of merging black holes so far have found that the effective spin is consistent with zero for all but one observation. Therefore, we concluded that if the black holes are rapidly spinning, the data point to a lack of alignment – and that the black holes were not born from pairs of stars. It does indeed seem likely that the black holes could be rapidly spinning – observations in our galaxy after all suggest this is the case.
We suggest that with as few as ten additional detections, it may be possible to know for sure the origin of black hole pairs. However, it is possible that the merging black holes had a different evolutionary history to the black holes we’ve observed in our own galaxy, and are rotating slowly. If they are, many more observations would be required. Either way, the research goes to show just how important the discovery of gravitational waves really is – opening an entirely new window on the universe.Women in Video Games
My upcoming game, code named “null sector”, features women’s issues in a historical context. Time has shown women as a group capable of anything anyone else can do, but the struggle to get there makes great drama.
A recent article on Jezebel shows the kinds of roadblocks women routinely ran into. Things aren’t perfect now, but there’s definitely been progress.
In “history was hella sexist, year 1962,” NASA’s Director of Public Information responded to a woman inquiring about becoming an astronaut that they had “no existing program concerning woman astronauts nor do we contemplate any such plan.” Ouch.
The real kicker here is that just one year later, Russia sent a female Cosmonaut into orbit. America squandered the opportunity to have a very significant first, in an era when the US and USSR were competing for firsts. That we look at documents like this and marvel at how backward its stance is gives one some comfort in the present, and hope for the future.
Perhaps slightly more on-topic for a game dev blog, Kotaku ran an article recently that addresses the same issue: historical discrimination against women, at the personal and institutional levels. This is a great article about a game from 2000 that I remember but never got around to playing, No One Lives Forever.
In a world where people still doubt that a woman can be a great video-game protagonist, here’s a game that pulled it off 13 years ago. And while on its surface, No One Lives Forever may be about Cold War spy games and larger-than-life James Bond gunplay, underneath its action-packed exterior is a story about workplace sexism and the women’s liberation movement of the 1960s. No, really!
Author Kirk Hamilton spends a lot of time analyzing the character interactions with protagonist bad-ass super-spy Cate Archer. Basically, every man in the game spends the whole time questioning her competence, performance, and even integrity despite the fact that she is single-handedly pulling off ludicrous missions against scores of gun-wielding commies and international criminal cronies. And yet, Cate takes it all in stride, infinitely cool in the face of opposition to her very existence, and quietly kicks Evil in the teeth. Really makes me want to look into acquiring a copy of this game!
These are the kinds of struggles and triumphs I want to address with my game. For me, making games is about telling stories and artistic expression, in addition to geeking-out on the engineering of an elegant system. I have two female English majors consulting on the story, to help polish the dramatic impact, the contextual veracity, and the believability of the female characters. If we succeed in expressing compelling stories of heroic women struggling to be accepted by the very people they fight along-side, then I will consider the game a success, whatever the sales figures be. (But you should still buy it though.)Former Miss Venezuela, model and rising telenovela actress Mónica Spear is dead after an attempted robbery late Monday night according to police, Globovision reports.
The 29-year-old star was traveling with her husband and daughter on the Puerto Cabello-Valencia highway in Venezuela when her car crashed.
Police reports confirmed that Spear and her husband Thomas Henry Berry, 49, were shot and killed by unknown assailants while the couple’s 5-year-old daughter was injured by a bullet in her leg.
The family was on vacation for the holidays and was traveling in a grey 2002 Corolla Toyota toward the city of Valencia at the time of the attack. Mónica was currently living in Miami and was expected to return to the United States this week.
In an interview with HuffPost Voces, the star confessed she left her native Venezuela due to the insecurity.There are two reasons for this. First, mass rape is very effective militarily. From the viewpoint of a militia, getting into a firefight is risky, so it’s preferable to terrorize civilians sympathetic to a rival group and drive them away, depriving the rivals of support.
Second, mass rape attracts less international scrutiny than piles of bodies do, because the issue is indelicate and the victims are usually too ashamed to speak up.
In Sudan, the government has turned all of Darfur into a rape camp. The first person to alert me to this was a woman named Zahra Abdelkarim, who had been kidnapped, gang-raped, mutilated — slashed with a sword on her leg — and then left naked and bleeding to wander back to her Zaghawa tribe. In effect, she had become a message to her people: Flee, or else.
Photo
Since then, this practice of “marking” the Darfur rape victims has become widespread: typically, the women are scarred or branded, or occasionally have their ears cut off. This is often done by police officers or soldiers, in uniform, as part of a coordinated government policy.
When the governments of South Africa, China, Libya and Indonesia support Sudan’s positions in Darfur, do they really mean to adopt a pro-rape foreign policy?
The rape capital of the world is eastern Congo, where in some areas three-quarters of women have been raped. Sometimes the rapes are conducted with pointed sticks that leave the victims incontinent from internal injuries, and a former U.N. force commander there, Patrick Cammaert, says it is “more dangerous to be a woman than to be a soldier.”
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The international community’s response so far? Approximately: “Not our problem.”
Yet such rapes also complicate post-conflict recovery, with sexual violence lingering even after peace has been restored. In Liberia, the civil war is over but rape is still epidemic — and half of all reported rapes involve girls younger than 14.
Painfully slowly, the United Nations and its member states seem to be recognizing the fact that systematic mass rape is at least as much an international outrage as, say, pirated DVDs. Yet China and Russia are resisting any new reporting mechanism for sexual violence, seeing such rapes as tragic but simply a criminal matter.
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On the contrary, systematic rape has properly been found by international tribunals to constitute a crime against humanity, and it thrives in part because the world shrugs. The U.N. could do far more to provide health services to victims of mass rape and to insist that peacekeepers at least try to stop it.
In Congo, the doctors at Heal Africa Hospital and Panzi Hospital (healafrica.org and panzihospitalbukavu.org) repair the internal injuries of rape victims with skill and humanity. But my most indelible memory from my most recent visit, last year, came as I was interviewing a young woman who had been gang-raped.
I had taken her aside to protect her privacy, but a large group of women suddenly approached. I tried to shoo them away, and then the women explained that they had all been gang-raped and had decided that despite the stigma and risk of reprisal, they would all tell their stories.
So let’s hope that this week the world’s leaders and diplomats stop offering excuses for paralysis and begin emulating the courageous outspokenness of those Congolese women.RENTS are lagging far behind Melbourne’s soaring house prices, giving tenants a chance to live in million-dollar suburbs for a fraction of the price to buy.
The cost of renting is barely changing in some of Melbourne’s ritziest neighbourhoods, while house prices have jumped dramatically in a year.
Across Australian capital cities, rents have slumped to their slowest rate in 20 years, rising just 1.1 per cent in 12 months, according to CoreLogic RP Data.
While Melbourne rents are ahead of the national trend with 2.3 per cent growth, this is below the city’s long-term average.
media_camera This home at 26 Canterbury Rd, Middle Park, is listed for rent at $645 per week.
CoreLogic RP Data senior research analyst Cameron Kusher said Melbourne’s building boom was increasing the pool of rental stock as investors swooped on new apartments.
But sluggish rental growth has not been limited to properties in inner-city apartment towers.
Some of Melbourne’s pricey neighbourhoods — such as Middle Park, Hawthorn East, Eaglemont and Elwood — have also seen flat or falling rents in the past year.
Mr Kusher said renting gave people the option to live in nicer areas but came with more uncertainty.
“With interest rates extremely low, it’s looking relatively more attainable to enter into home ownership,” he said.
But Kim Easterbrook, managing director of Elite Property Advisory, said low interest rates were a double-edged sword for people hoping to enter the property market.
Lower rates made servicing a mortgage more affordable, but helped drive prices higher.
Ms Easterbrook said potential homebuyers were renting for longer, making big compromises on quality and location to buy, or giving up entirely.
“We’re also finding that people are renting where they want to live, but buying investment properties,” she said. “A lot of renters feel quite negative about paying someone else’s mortgage while trying to save for their own deposit.”
Demographer Glenn Capuano, of.id Consulting, said when house prices diverged dramatically from rents, it could be a warning sign of an overheated property market.
nicole.engwirda@news.com.auPARIS (Reuters) - France’s armed forces chief resigned on Wednesday in a dispute with Emmanuel Macron over defense budget cuts, an early test of the newly elected president’s mettle and the tough presidential style he is cultivating.
In a statement, 60 year-old Pierre de Villiers said he had tried to keep the armed forces fit for an ever more difficult task within the financial constraints imposed on it, but was no longer able to sustain that.
“In the current circumstances I see myself as no longer able to guarantee the robust defense force I believe is necessary to guarantee the protection of France and the French people, today and tomorrow, and to sustain the aims of our country,” he said.
The 39-year-old Macron moved quickly to replace de Villiers, appointing General Francois Lecointre, 55, to fill the role.
As well as being an early test for Macron, the departure of France’s most senior soldier highlights the stresses of a major military power as it battles Islamist insurgencies in Africa, partners allies in Middle East conflicts, and patrols its own streets after a series of home-grown jihadist attacks.
De Villiers’ resignation followed a fierce row last week between the two men just as France prepared for the military pomp of a July 14 Bastille Day parade where Macron’s U.S. counterpart Donald Trump was the guest of honor.
At a closed-door hearing of parliamentarians, de Villiers had used strong language to protest a 850 million euro ($980 million) defense budget cut - part of Macron’s efforts to rein in state spending and get the public deficit under the EU target of 3 percent of national output.
According to sources at the hearing, he also gave a stark warning about their impact; “There is no fat in our army. We are attacking the muscle here - and this as the security situation worsens,” he told the lawmakers.
Macron quickly fired back with a rebuke, saying: “I have made commitments. I am your boss.”
A presidential source reaffirmed Macron’s position on Wednesday. “We cannot have public disagreement. That’s how our institutions have to work,” the source said.
“These savings will in no way jeopardize France’s operational capacity. France’s security is assured.”
And the government’s spokesman later sought to play down the scale of the 850 million euro defense budget cut, saying the budget would rise once again next year by 1.5 billion euros to 34.2 billion.
French Army General Francois Lecointre (L) and French army general Bruno Le Ray, military governor of Paris, attend the traditional Bastille Day military parade on the Champs-Elysees in Paris, France, July 14, 2017. Picture taken July 14, 2017. REUTERS/Charles Platiau
He reaffirmed Macron’s commitment to set it at 2 percent of GDP by 2025 up from around 1.6 percent currently.
TOUGH STYLE
The stand-off fits with a tough style cultivated by the youthful new head of state and commander-in-chief of the armed forces whose powers under the French constitution go further than those of any other western democratic leader.
He sees himself as riding above the day-to-day fray while, at the same time, tightly controlling ministers’ public utterances and insisting on total loyalty from them and other government officials.
By cutting de Villiers down to size, Macron swung a punch too at a wing of the ultra-conservative Catholic aristocracy - a grouping that backed Francois Fillon, one of his main rivals for the presidency.
De Villiers, whose brother Philippe heads an ultraconservative political group called Movement for France (MPF), became Fillon’s military adviser in 2008 while the conservative politician was prime minister under President Nicolas Sarkozy’s presidency, and became head of the army two years later.
Lecointre, de Villiers’ replacement, is a veteran of the marine infantry. He served in Rwanda in 1994 and as part of the United Nations force in Bosnia in 1995. In 2013, he commanded a European military training mission in Mali.
Slideshow (4 Images)
Some see a high-handed, imperious style emerging in Macron’s manner.
“It’s clear today that the executive cannot bear a situation where its top public servants have a view of things that is different from the political view put together by the Elysee,” General Vincent Desportes, former head of France’s top main military school, told Reuters.
“It’s not Erdoganism, but it’s not far off,” he added in a reference to the Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, who faces accusations from opposition leaders of being a dictator in the aftermath of last year’s failed military coup.Well, this looks pretty fantastic. We the Pharaohs chronicles former USMNT manager Bob Bradley’s time in Egypt as he attempts to lead its national side to its first World Cup in more than 20 years. Bradley’s tenure as Pharaohs manager has happened to coincide with with one of the most tumultuous times in modern Egyptian history.
The film, which is still shooting (Egypt have six more matches to play in their World Cup qualification campaign), is being directed by documentary filmmaker Jeffery Plunkett. As you can see from the teaser above, it captures Egypt at a time of upheaval, with soccer fans taking in the effort to overthrow former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, the tragic riot at an Egyptian league soccer match earlier this year, and Bradley’s role with the national team through it all.
We the Pharaohs will continue shooting through Egypt’s qualifying campaign. Keep tabs on the movie at WethePharaohs.com.Governor Hogan’s plan to build 110 miles of toll lanes on Maryland highways is a disaster for the great majority of Marylanders, and most of all for the state’s middle-class drivers. The plan’s enormous cost will require sky-high tolls. Only the wealthiest drivers will be willing to pay, revenue will fall far short of what is needed to pay back investors and lenders, and taxpayers in all income brackets will get stuck with the bills.
Toll lanes that run alongside free lanes are popularly known as “Lexus lanes,” and deservedly so. Simple arithmetic says that if there are four free lanes and two toll lanes (what Hogan proposes for the Capital Beltway), more than two-thirds of the traffic must be on the free lanes — otherwise the toll lanes would be more congested than the free lanes, and there would be no reason to pay the toll.
When the free lanes back up, the only reason not to pay the toll is to save money. How badly you need to save money depends, obviously, on how much of it you have, so upper-income drivers predominate on Lexus lanes. Research confirms this common-sense conclusion.
How much will the governor’s plan cost? It’s impossible to say, since we have few specifics, but the $9 billion estimate is surely far too low. Transportation Secretary Pete Rahn told the Washington Post last year that just one piece of it, I-270 north of Shady Grove and the American Legion Bridge, would cost over $8 billion. The total price tag could easily reach $30 billion or $40 billion, and it might go even higher.
Maryland’s only existing Lexus lanes are the 8-mile-long I-95 express toll lanes north of Baltimore, which opened in 2014. The price tag for this project soared from $645 million in 2004 to $1.49 billion in 2009. The O’Malley administration trimmed the cost back to $1.1 billion by eliminating ramps onto the Baltimore Beltway, making the project significantly less useful. Toll collections in 2015-16 were $11.4 million. That’s barely 1 percent of the price of construction, a fraction of just the interest on $1.1 billion, and nowhere near enough to cover operating costs and pay back principal.
The Maryland Transportation Authority’s John O’Neill described the building of the I-95 Lexus lanes as “a challenge to coordinate work hours, lane closure schedules, mobilization and moving equipment while keeping the most congested section of I-95 open to traffic.” This challenge will be more severe — and the costs much higher — where the Beltway and I-270 run through thickly settled inner suburbs.
Some years ago, the State Highway Administration took a hard look at Beltway Lexus lanes — and SHA blinked. In 1996, it launched the Capital Beltway Study by scanning a wide variety of road and transit options. The transit part of this study gave birth to today’s Purple Line; the highway part continued separately.
Soon the agency decided that there was no way to squeeze in four more lanes at ground level; they would have to be elevated above the existing roadway. But in 2004 SHA rejected this option too, declaring that “Construction costs are prohibitively high. Interchange ramps connecting to the elevated structure may be over 80 feet high.”
The only part of the Hogan plan that has a real cost estimate is the section of I-270 between Shady Grove and Frederick. In 2009, SHA calculated the cost of four new Lexus lanes there at $3.9 billion, or $4.4 billion in 2017 dollars.
Using this number, we can get an idea of how high the tolls would have to go to avoid taxpayer subsidies. On Lexus lanes nearly all toll revenue comes in rush hour, because drivers aren’t willing to pay very much when the free lanes are moving just as fast as the toll lanes. A pair of express lanes can carry 5 million trips a year if they fill up for 2½ hours a day in each direction. Now, the payments on a 30-year $4.4 billion loan at 2½ percent interest are $209 million a year. Dividing $209 million by 5 million, we see that the one-way toll from Frederick to Shady Grove would need to be $41 to pay off the construction costs alone.
A look at the finances of Virginia’s Lexus lanes backs up this calculation. While rising tolls on the Beltway toll lanes already vex drivers, their owners are losing money — even though taxpayer subsidies covered nearly 30 percent of the construction cost. According to Transurban’s financial report for the year that ended in June, revenue of $98 million was less than just the $40 million of expenses and $63 million of accrued interest. Tolls will have to soar before the Australian company can recover its investment and make the profit it expects.
The number of Maryland drivers who can afford $40 tolls — let alone the higher tolls that elevated Beltway lanes would require — is far too few to fill up 110 miles of pay lanes. So costs will have to be cut. First to go, as we saw on I-95, will be on-ramps, making the new lanes unusable by local commuters regardless of their wealth. Eventually the entire financial structure will collapse. In all likelihood this will happen long before the whole 110 miles are built out, but taxpayers will be stuck with debt for the highways that do get widened. Chevy and Corolla owners who foot the bills will sit in traffic jams and watch the wealthy whiz by on the Lexus lanes they’re paying for.
All three of the governor’s Lexus lane highways run parallel to existing or planned rail transit lines. The Maryland Transit Opportunities Coalition has developed a plan for all-day train service in these same corridors, plus other parts of the state that the governor’s plan ignores, a total of nine counties where four-fifths of the state’s population lives. The Purple Line has now started construction; the estimated cost of Baltimore’s Red Line, light rail down the MD 5/US 301 corridor to Charles County and Southern Maryland, and significant upgrades of all three MARC lines totals $8 billion.
This statewide rail network would create far more middle-class jobs than wider highways — witness Marriott’s move from an I-270 office park into downtown Bethesda and Amazon’s search for a new urban headquarters. It would meet the transportation needs of our citizens at a fraction of the price of Lexus lanes for the few, strengthen the foundation for our future economy, and ignite economic investment and jobs growth that will go a long way toward paying for a better connected Maryland.Once again, an American election was unnecessarily thwarted by long lines and not enough ballots. To say there's no excuse for such nonsense, especially in a nation that prides itself on its representative democracy and, yes, its exceptionalism, is understating the problem. This time around, it happened during the Arizona primary where countless voters were forced to stand in lines for hours, while others were told they weren't registered in the first place.
In Maricopa County alone, election officials infuriatingly reduced the number of polling places by 70 percent. Such a drastic reduction meant there was only one polling place per 21,000 residents of the highly populated Phoenix metroplex. Officials including County Recorder Helen Purcell (a Republican) said the cutbacks were due to budgetary concerns. Uh-huh. Of course, I doubt members of either party who were forced to wait in five-hour lines would've minded the additional expense to facilitate our most basic right as Americans. Elsewhere, independent voters who switched their registration to the Democratic Party were allegedly told they hadn't registered at all, forcing them to sit out the closed primary.
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It's yet another example of why the federal government should take over the election process. Local and state officials are clearly in too far over their heads to handle a task of this magnitude, as evidenced by the reality that every time we hold an election in this country, one numbskull or another flummoxes the whole thing -- intentionally or not.
"Intentionally" is an appropriate word here since many of the electoral shenanigans at the state level are, indeed, intentional.
Voter ID laws and punitive voter purges have been the centerpieces of a Republican strategy to rig modern elections. Republicans in nearly half of all states have managed to pass laws that make it more difficult for lower-income Democratic voters to cast ballots, forcing former Attorney General Eric Holder to compare such measures to the poll taxes used in the Jim Crow-era South in order to suppress the Black vote.. This is absolutely by design, even if some Republicans are caught in the meat grinder, too. The lower the turnout, the better Republicans fare in elections, so while voter ID laws tend to disenfranchise Democrats, the intention is more specifically to elect Republicans.
Thirty-three states boast one form of voter ID or another. Texas has perhaps the most ridiculous such law. If you don't have one of the required forms of identification in the Lone Star State, you'll have to apply for an Election Identification Certificate (EIC). But in order to get an EIC, you have to present your proof of citizenship and a second form of identification. Yes, that's right, you'll need to get an ID in order to get an ID -- one of many reasons why this law is so completely absurd. And all of this on top of the normal voter registration process (which only requires a Social Security Number). If you don't have a mandatory ID issued by the TxDPS (Texas Department of Public Safety), it might be because 70 counties don't have a TxDPS office.
The GOP excuse for these laws? It's voter fraud, they say. But how often do voters attempt to scam the system? Among all federal elections between 2002 and 2005, the rate of voter fraud was 0.00000013 percent. This according to a five-year probe by George W. Bush's Justice Department. Put another way, around 26 people out of 197 million were convicted of attempting to vote illegally during all of those elections. And yet the Republicans continue to screech about voter fraud anyway. (They're willing to believe that voter fraud exists, even though it doesn't, and yet the climate crisis, with its 97 percent scientific consensus, is clearly fiction.)
Elsewhere, in Ohio, the Republican Secretary of State uncovered a possible 20 cases of voter fraud during the 2012 election out of 5.6 million votes cast. That's 0.00035 percent of the vote. In Iowa, the Republican Secretary of State found a possible eight cases out of 1.5 million votes cast |
=∞ = Σ a * r n where a =0.9 and r =0.1 n =0 = a / (1- r ) = 0.9 / (1-0.1) = 0.9 / 0.9 = 1
This uses the formula S = a / (1- r ) for the sum of a geometric series with initial term a and ratio r, proof of which is left to the reader.
The real proof
Most of the reason why people don't understand why point nine recurring is equal to one is because they don't fully understand what a decimal representation actually means. Take a look at the definition of 0.9999... and things become abundantly clear:
0.9999... = 0.9 + 0.09 + 0.009 + 0.0009 +... = 9·0.1 + 9·0.01 + 9·0.001 + 9·0.0001 +... = 9·10-1 + 9·10-2 + 9·10-3 + 9·10-4 +... n =∞ = Σ 9·10- n n =1 n = N := lim Σ 9·10- n N →∞ n =1 = lim ( 9·10-1 + 9·10-2 +... + 9·10- N ) N →∞ = lim ( 9·0.1 + 9·0.01 +... + 9·0.000...0001 ) N →∞ \________/ N digits = lim ( 0.9 + 0.09 +... + 0.000...0009 ) N →∞ \________/ N digits = lim ( 0.999...999 ) N →∞ \_______/ N nines = lim ( 1 - 0.000...0001 ) N →∞ \________/ N digits = lim ( 1 - 10- N ) N →∞ = lim 1 - lim 10- N N →∞ N →∞ = 1 - 0 = 1
A lengthy, rigorous proof by contradiction
If your lines of reasoning are correct, but the conclusion you arrive at is definitely wrong, there must be something wrong with your assumptions.
Clearly
0.9999... ≤ 1.
Assume
0.9999... ≠ 1 (*).
Then
0.9999... < 1,
so there must be some positive number P such that
0.9999... + P = 1.
But, for ANY positive P,
0.9999... + P > 1,
which is a contradiction, and definitely wrong. Therefore we are forced to conclude that the assumption (*) was incorrect, that is:
0.9999... = 1
By popular demand
1/3 = 0.3333... 1 = 3/3 = 3 * 1/3 = 3 * 0.3333... = 0.9999...
Proof that 1/3 = 0.3333... is left to the reader.
You might find this convincing
Use long division to find 9 / 9, but, instead of 90/9 = 10, put 81 remainder 9 each time, and see what happens.
0.9999... ----------- 9 | 9.0000... 8.1 --- 90 81 -- 90 81 -- 9...
Limit argument
A sequence can only have one limit.
Observe that the limit of the sequence
0.9 0.99 0.999 0.9999 0.99999...
is
0.9999...
That is, the sequence gets closer and closer to 0.9999..., in fact, infinitely close.
But the sequence also gets closer and closer to 1.0000..., in fact, infinitely close. So 1.0000... is a limit of this sequence too.
But a sequence can only have one limit, so 0.9999... and 1.0000... must be the same.
Lastly, consider this
There are NO proofs that 0.9999... and 1 are different numbers.
Anywhere.
Common counter-arguments and my responses
"0.9999... and 1 are obviously different numbers."
In mathematics, "obvious" means "a proof immediately springs to mind". If you don't have a proof in mind, then unfortunately no mathematical statement you make carries any weight.
"1 and 0.9999... are written differently, therefore they are different numbers."
There are many ways of writing any number. You could write 1/1, or 3-2, or 1.0, or 1.00, or 1.0000... or any number of other expressions, and all of them ultimately have the same meaning, "one".
"0.9999... is a concept, not a number."
All numbers are concepts.
"0.9999... can't exist in reality, but 1 can, therefore they are different."
Just because a number can't "exist in reality" doesn't mean it can't exist in mathematics. Because 1 = 0.9999..., that means that 0.9999... "exists in reality" to exactly the same extent that 1 does.
"There is a rounding error. 0.9999... and 1 are approximately equal."
Rounding errors only occur when we truncate a decimal expansion after a finite number of digits. All of the proofs above use the "..." notation at every step, which means that we always take into account all of the infinitely many decimal digits. There is no rounding, which means there is no error.
"0.9999... gets closer and closer to 1, but never reaches it."
0.9999... is a single number. It doesn't move, so it can't get closer and closer to anything. It is where it is.
"0.9999... is a decimal representation of infinity, not a number."
0.9999... is definitely less than 2, so it can't be infinitely large.
"Humans can't comprehend infinity, and not being able to comprehend infinity means you can't do mathematics with it."
Humans can comprehend infinity. Mathematicians do it all the time. Infinity obeys rules. If something obeys rules in a consistent fashion, then you can do mathematics with it. Ordinal arithmetic is a good example. In case the connection isn't clear, what is true of infinite values is equally true of infinite decimal expansions. There are rules and procedures and they work and give meaningful results. See "The Real Proof" above for a relatively tame glimpse of this, which is actually a vast region of mathematics known as "analysis", naturally based on rock-solid fundamental axioms.
"Infinity is not well-defined."
Yes it is.
"My mate/my dad/my mathematics teacher/Professor Stephen Hawking told me that 0.9999... and 1 were different numbers."
They were wrong.
"But they proved it, too."
The proof was fallacious. Send it to me and I'll show you why.
"I still don't believe it and I'm entitled to my own opinion."
In regular science, we have theories. A theory is proposed in order to explain observations, and can be overturned in light of new, inexplicable observations. Multiple theories and opinions may compete with one another. There are fashions. There is room for debate.
In mathematics, we have theorems instead of theories. A theorem is the result of a mathematical proof. A theorem is a fact. A theorem cannot be overturned and is not a matter of opinion. Once proven, a theorem stands for eternity. Mathematics is not ideological.
Thanks to the many proofs above, "point nine recurring equals one" is just such a theorem. So, your opinion is wrong. And sorry, but no: you're not entitled to be wrong in mathematics. That's not how it works.Montreal’s Sud-Ouest borough is trying hot pink public shaming to deter residents who dump garbage on the street or fail to pick up after their dogs. And it’s calling on citizens to join in.
The borough will post large pink arrows mounted on posts pointing at garbage bags found on the street on non-pickup days, with the message “Your garbage bothers me” (“Tes vidanges me dérangent”) and noting that fines range from $75 to $2,500 for repeat offenders. Stickers with the same message will be affixed to bags, the borough announced Thursday. Hundreds of the stickers will be made available for citizens to slap on offending trash bags as well.
Next to dog droppings, signs reading “Shit! Pick it up” (“Merde! Ramasse-toi!”) will be placed on small posts.
Garbage dumped on the street and failure to pick up after one’s dogs, particularly in parks where children play or on sidewalks, are the top cleanliness complaints of citizens in the densely packed borough with a population of 72,000. Previous communications efforts have been too “apple-pie nice” said councillor Craig Sauvé, appealing mainly to the type of people who already follow the rules. The borough wanted a more aggressive tone to get the attention of guilty parties.
“There are some that need a little kick in the butt, to get the message: ‘Hey, wake up. You live in the neighbourhood, too.’ ” Sauvé said. Other offenders, such as new arrivals to the neighbourhood like students or immigrants may not know the regulations. For the beginning, the borough will do blitzes in different neighbourhoods, leaving the signs out next to illegally dumped garbage for the day, taking pictures to post online and advising local residents of garbage pickup times. Residents are invited to submit pictures, too, and repost the borough’s photos to spread the message online.
Citizens can call 311 to complain about repeat offenders. Inspectors are sent out to open the garbage bags, which turns up the guilty party 50 per cent of the time, Sauvé said. But it’s time consuming and costly and the borough’s five inspectors are generally involved in issues more pressing than trash or dog poop, such as surveying buildings to make sure they won’t collapse.
The borough has doubled the amount of public garbage cans and started emptying them daily to do its part. Composed of the districts of St-Henri, Little Burgundy, Griffintown, Cote St. Paul, Ville Émard and Point St. Charles, it has a population similar to that of Drummondville.
The fact the signs are in bright pink make the message more cheeky than aggressive, Sauvé said, toning down the attitude of vigilante justice that could be connected to citizens posting stickers on bags. Toronto had a similar campaign in which the word “Pig” made from candy wrappers was planted alongside trash. The borough wanted to be a little gentler.
“We think our message has punch, but it’s cute – it’s pink,” Sauvé said. “It’s not like ‘Hey. Idiot.’ It’s a ‘Hey. Hello.’ …
“It’s a long-term campaign. We are trying to change the culture.”
rbruemmer@montrealgazette.com
twitter.com/renebruemmerToday's post goes out by special request of @Los. He asks:
Quote Hi Bryan, Would you consider posting your thoughts on climate change and the future of skiing? I've invested so much in this sport/lifestyle, in so many ways, and it's the primary thing that I do with my kids. I think of it as giving a them a gift that will last a lifetime... except that it won't because there won't be any snow in 30 years. It's incredibly depressing. I'd be very interested to know what your thoughts on all of this. Is there any reason NOT to be as pessimistic as I am in your view?
That is a depressing thought! The good news is that your children will not be facing a world without snow, thought they almost certainly will live a much warmer world than you did. We live in warmer world than our grandparents did. Remember the prolonged cold of the winter of 2014-15? That used to be a typical winter a century ago. Though with increasing greenhouse gas emissions it's likely the changes over the next century with be even starker than that.
It's important to remember that global climate change is indeed global, but not uniform. Climate changes are greater toward the poles, a process known as polar amplification. During warm periods, the temperature gradient between the poles and equator is reduced. You can see this in temperature trends to date.
Although the warming is clearly amplified over the Arctic, it's not as clear what the winter temperature trend has been in New England over the more recent past.
Note the very strong warming over the Arctic, but a noticeable cooling over Eurasia and central North America. There has been essentially no trend over New England. So what is going on? That's a controversial question. It seems to be clearly linked to systematically weaker Arctic polar vortex. As the Arctic warms, the vortex breaks down and cold air is no longer "locked" in the Arctic. It is free to spill down to mid-latitudes resulting in the more frequent cold air outbreaks over the continents. It may seem counter-intuitive, but a warming global climate may actually not (yet) be negatively effecting our winter winter here in New England.
But why is this happening now? My favorite explanation is that it's all about the dramatic loss of Arctic sea ice, but the physical link between the loss of sea ice and weakening of the vortex remains to be clearly established. There are a number of contributing factors to the decline of sea ice, especially melting from below due to warm water transport into the Arctic Ocean. The science isn't quite there yet, and there is no guarantee that this recent trend continues.
Feeling better yet? Unfortunately the mid-winter trends don't apply to the fall and spring shoulder season. There is very strong evidence that the duration of winter is shortening on both ends, even though the core of winter isn't changing much. Until about 15 years ago, this trend was largely being offset by an increase is snowmaking coverage resulting in ever longer ski seasons, but that is no longer the case. While snow guns are becoming much more efficient to operate, they haven't changed the basic underlying thermodynamics. Ski season is starting later and ending earlier., and this trend is expected to continue. The figure below shows the expected number of days with snowcover under two different emission scenarios according to a climate model. The model predicts the snow season to shorten by at least two weeks on each end.
I hope this gives you a better idea of how climate change is likely to impact skiing in New England. Low-elevation ski areas, especially in southern New England are likely to suffer the most. The impacts will be most dramatic on their ability to open early season as warming temperatures make snowmaking temperature less certain in advance of the Christmas season. On the plus side, skiing at Jay Peak and Wildcat is likely to become significant more tolerable. Don't think the industry is in denial. Why do you think Les Otten has such a keen eye on the Balsams?Lorena Ramirez, of Arlington, joins with others at a rally for immigration reform on the Mall.
Oct. 8, 2013 Lorena Ramirez, of Arlington, joins with others at a rally for immigration reform on the Mall. Matt McClain/The Washington Post
People from across the region and the country descend on the Mall for the Camino Americano: March for Immigrant Dignity and Respect, calling on Congress to pass an immigration reform bill.
People from across the region and the country descend on the Mall for the Camino Americano: March for Immigrant Dignity and Respect, to call on Congress to pass an immigration reform bill.
People from across the region and the country descend on the Mall for the Camino Americano: March for Immigrant Dignity and Respect, to call on Congress to pass an immigration reform bill.
Protesters converged on the Mall on Tuesday afternoon to call on Congress to pass a comprehensive overhaul of the nation’s immigration and border control laws by year’s end.
At least 100 people were arrested, including several members of Congress, after demonstrators sat down in the street in front of the Capitol. Protesters had vowed to engage in civil disobedience, and their fellow marchers cheered as each person was led away in handcuffs by Capitol Police.
Among those arrested were several lawmakers, including Reps. Luis V. Gutierrez (D-Ill.), Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.), John Lewis (D-Ga.) and Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.). Gustavo Torres, head of Casa de Maryland, immigration lawyers, priests and labor activists also were taken into custody. The protesters were charged with “crowding, obstructing and incommoding,” a spokesman for the Capitol Police said.
An immigration bill is stuck in the House, and its prospects have dwindled as lawmakers are preoccupied with the government shutdown and budget talks. The rally’s organizers hoped to ramp up pressure to bring the measure to a vote.
Organizers predicted that tens of thousands of people would attend the “Camino Americano: March for Immigrant Dignity and Respect” rally, featuring performances by popular Latino musicians and speeches by members of Congress as well as civil rights, religious and community leaders. But the crowd was considerably smaller, and grew even smaller after a popular singing group finished its performance.
Your tweets from the rally Tweets from the rally to support immigration reform on the National Mall. Next Prev
Many who came waved handheld American flags, an image that also adorned placards identifying unions beside slogans such as “The time is now” and “Justice and dignity.” The deep thrum of a drum punctuated the speeches, and many in the crowd chanted, “Si, se puede!” — or “Yes, we can!”
“I believe immigrant rights are human rights,” said civil rights icon Julian Bond, among the first to speak. “Immigration reform must come. It will come.”
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) emphasized that “the full diversity” of Democrats in the House supports the immigration measure she introduced last week, and she presented leaders of the African American, Asian and Latino caucuses.
“The blood of immigrants flows through all our veins,” she said.
Proclaiming an overhaul of immigration policy good for the economy, she predicted it would help reduce the deficit in decades to come.
Immigration advocates have declared October a month of escalating pressure for a comprehensive immigration bill. They say they fear that momentum has stalled since June when the Senate approved a sweeping, bipartisan plan that features a 13-year path to citizenship for most of the nation’s 11 million undocumented immigrants.
The Republican-controlled House has not voted on that bill, and GOP leaders have said they are pursuing a series of smaller-scale bills focused primarily on increased border security and workplace visas.
Proponents of the bill are concerned that the government shutdown and bitter fight between Congress and the White House over the budget and debt ceiling will leave little time for lawmakers to focus on immigration, though some Republicans have vowed to take up the issue later this month.
“It’s going to be extremely tough to get comprehensive immigration reform, but it’s not impossible,” said Terry O’Sullivan, general president of the Laborers’ International Union of North America, which counts many immigrant workers among its members, mostly in construction and in lead and asbestos abatement.
Many in the crowd listened intently to Los Tigres Del Norte, a norteño band from San Jose, Calif., that has built a wide following with emotional ballads about life, love and survival. Some of the band’s most popular songs are about illegal immigration.
Mario Lopez, 53, sang along to a ballad about divided loyalties to the Mexican and American flags. Lopez drove to the rally from Ocean City, where he and his wife both work in beach restaurants.
“I left my first family behind, I came and worked for 13 years, and my three older children are all studying with money I sent back,” Lopez said. “I love Mexico, but it is so dangerous now, there is so much killing and the pay is so low.”
His wife, Idena, 48, who like Lopez has no legal documents, cried as she recounted how she could not return to Mexico to see her parents before they died.
“I just want to tell the government to stop dividing families who work hard and give up so much,” she said.
The Rev. Carmelo Santos, a lecturer at Georgetown University who is pastor of a church in Springfield, said he witnessed the impact of immigration reform after President Obama signed an executive order barring deportation of residents brought to the United States as children.
“It was almost like [they were] saying, ‘I exist now, I am a person,’ ” said Santos, who said most of his congregation came to the United States from El Salvador, Honduras and Bolivia.
Some rally-goers said they are optimistic that the growing number and political clout of immigrants may revive chances for legislative proposals that have stalled.
“My hope comes from unity,” said Diana Salazar, 49, an activist from Charleston, S.C., who arrived on a train with six other people to attend the rally. “The census numbers woke up a lot of people in many states and small towns. There are too many of us now. They can’t just put us on a bus and send us all back.”
One of the rally’s goals was to highlight the record number of deportations by the Obama administration, which have been estimated at more than 1,000 per day. Obama has called immigration reform his top domestic priority in his second term, but he disappointed activists last month when he said he would not use executive authority to expand a deportation deferment program for young people, who are known as “Dreamers.”
Religious leaders played a prominent role in Tuesday’s rally. Several dozen who attended have worked for years on revising immigration legislation.
“I think there is a sense of urgency. If we don’t pass something now, we won’t get a vote until after the next election,” said the Rev. Gay Jennings, president of the House of Deputies of the Episcopal Church and the mother of an adopted son from Colombia.
Dozens of clergy members and faith advocates went to the Capitol, where they said they planned to give lawmakers Bibles and Torahs with sections about the migrant underlined.
The Rev. Peter Morales, president of the Unitarian Universalist Association, told the conference about meeting families who were separated at the border. “Our laws are more than broken, they’re evil.”
Michelle Boorstein, David Nakamura and Leah Binkovitz contributed to this report.The Canadian Association for Equality (CAFE) and Canadian Equal Parenting Council (CEPC) are asking you to help get Bill C-560 passed in the Canadian parliament. The bill would amend the federal Divorce Act to include a rebbutable presumption of equal parenting.
Equal parenting (EP) is a collection of “best practices” in family law and procedures to ensure that both parents keep equal rights, responsibilities and time with their children, unless parents freely decide otherwise, or unless a parent has been proven unfit to an evidence-based standard. In effect, EP removes judicial discretion to award sole custody without due process and unless a clear standard has been met.
Read BILL C-560
In response to the Canadian Bar Association’s comments in opposition to Bill C-560, Lawyers for Shared Parenting, Leading Women for Shared Parenting and the Canadian Equal Parenting Council have prepared the following thorough and well researched document:
Myths Versus Facts Regarding Bill C560
Infographics for Bill C560: Download the jpg on this page or the linked PDF
What can you do to help?
The second hour of second reading debate is scheduled for May 5. After that, the bill will be voted on. If it passes, it will be sent to the Justice Committee for study and possible amendment. I would urge all those supporting these Family Law Reforms to our Divorce Act to contact your MP and request a face to face, 15 minute meeting to discuss his or her support for Bill C-560. The timing is urgent – the debate will be held in the House of Commons on May 5th.
Here is a link to find your MP:
http://www.parl.gc.ca/Parlinfo/Compilations/HouseofCommons/MemberByPostalCode.aspx?Menu=HOC
Here is a link to an automated system to send emails to all MPs in Ottawa:
http://ccwbusinessservices.com/Home/AdvocacyCanadaCampaignDetails/16
Handwritten letters are even better. Do what you can and get friends and family to write also. No postage is required to mail to your MP.
Below is a suggested letter. Please feel free to adapt, use or write your own. Please be polite.
To: Name of MP, MP for (riding) Parliament of Canada Ottawa K1A 1A6 Dear MP _________: As a constituent in your riding, I am asking you to consider supporting a private member’s bill currently introduced in the House of Commons. The Bill is C-560, “Equal parenting” which aims to reform the federal Divorce Act. This bill is long overdue, as the changes so that both parents would remain in their children’s lives after divorce or separation were called for by Parliament in 1998 with the “For the Sake of the Child” report. Keeping both parents as a presumption reduces conflict and cost to families. It is better for the children. It is the right thing to do. Personally, if those changes had been made, our family would have many thousands of dollars in additional assets to be spent on the children, rather than on legal conflicts which are unaffordable and do not solve problems in the real world. I urge you to consult with both sides on this bill and ensure that the viewpoint of parents and children are heard as well. Unfortunately, in the past, those who made decisions on this issue have only listened to the interests of a legal profession monopoly which has made so much money from the current system. The current system does not work for me, for my family, and for other parents and children. Equal parenting reforms seek to ensure that the system treats parents and their children with equality and respect. Equal parenting presumptions are working in other states and countries of the world. I urge you to contact the Canadian Equal Parenting Council for further information on what works where and why Canada should make these changes. Please recommend that your colleagues also support Bill C-560. Thank you for listening and I wish you and your family the best. Your Name/signature
A note from Maurice Vellacott, the MP sponsoring Bill C560, Rebuttable presumption of equal parenting
Greetings Colleague,
I have attached a copy of an article from this month’s Family Court Review (FCR), which is a special issue on shared parenting. The article is by the most highly regarded psychologist in the field of child custody, Sanford Braver. It speaks to the perils of the discretionary best interests standard, which is also discussed at length in The Equal Parent Presumption by Professor Edward Kruk of British Columbia.
By the way, there are two articles in this FCR issue by Jennifer McIntosh, who was the primary opponent to shared care of infants and very young children. She has basically retracted her previous opposition on infant overnight access for non-custodial parents. In this issue she acknowledges that, ”cautions against any overnight care during the first three years have not been supported.” I have also attached a recent article from Australia about the McIntosh “fiasco.”
For the sake of the children,
Maurice Vellacott, D.Min., MP
The Costs and Pitfalls of Individualizing Decisions and Incentivizing Conflict: A Comment on AFCC’s think Tank Report on Shared Parenting, by Sanford L. Braver
Empty days, lonely nights: A belief that children under three should not stay overnight with their separated or divorced father has underpinned our family law system for years. Has it all been a mistake? Bettina Arndt reportsMore and more Americans, and particularly young people, don't tune into radio stations at all anymore. But is that the end for radio, the medium that’s survived existential threats from TV (and MTV), CD players and iPods?
If it is, it appears to be a slow and painful goodbye, as advertising dollars gradually evaporate and audiences dwindle.
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The biggest indicator that terrestrial radio (the traditional broadcast) is once again at death’s door is CBS Corp.’s bid to spin off its 88-year-old radio business — once home to Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite — in order to focus on its more profitable television and cable broadcasting segments. If CBS can’t find any buyers for its 117 stations in 29 U.S. markets, it will offer shares of CBS Radio via an initial public offering. So far, no buyers have stepped forward publicly, so the most likely scenario is an IPO that will have absolutely none of the fanfare that Facebook’s did.
While CBS Radio is profitable — thanks to the presence of its stations in major U.S. cities — advertising revenue for terrestrial radio as a whole has been on a downward march for years. CBS Radio reported a 5 percent decline in net income last year, to $1.23 billion, according to its IPO prospectus filed in July. Across the radio industry, ad dollars are projected to fall 2 percent this year, to $14.2 billion, according to New York-based media industry analysts Magna Global.
Meanwhile, digital advertising revenue is rising. PricewaterhouseCoopers has estimated that from 2014 to 2019 over-the-air radio advertising would grow just 0.5 percent a year compared with 8.6 percent for online radio broadcasters. These numbers don’t bode well for a lot of radio stations, especially smaller for-profit outlets with few resources.
Gordon Borrell, founder and CEO of Virginia-based media industry consultant Borrell Associates, has projected that about half of all AM and FM radio stations will be gone by the middle of the next decade, leaving only those that can learn to embrace the digital revolution and have the money to invest in it.
“Science fiction is a great predictor of the future and you don’t see people on ‘Star Trek’ listening to the radio,” Borrell told Salon. “If you look into the future, you’ll see radio companies morph into something else out of necessity, like blacksmiths 100 years ago who morphed from people who shoe horses to people who served modern transportation needs by putting up gas pumps and learning how to change tires.”
Consider, for a moment, cars' dashboards: Whereas years ago they were anchored by a radio — and later a radio and cassette deck, and then a radio and a CD player — dashboards on newer cars allow drivers to sync their smartphones, burying the radio screen behind a layer of apps.
Advertisement:
Scott Burnell, head of business development and partner management at Ford, said this means radio stations no longer have their signature advantage inside cars. And since many people consume radio (and the advertisements they play) during their drive-time commutes, this is a big problem.
“They think it’s a privilege,” Scott Burnell, head of business development and partner management at Ford, said of radio broadcasters in an interview with Radio Ink earlier this month. “They feel because they’ve always been there that it’s always going to be there.”
For traditional radio stations, this message is becoming increasingly clear: If you can’t beat the rise of digital media, join it. So stations have been making their own downloadable apps, offering streaming content and, most important, becoming more like digital marketing companies than radio stations, said Mark Fratrik, chief economist at BIA/Kelsey, a Virginia-based advertising consulting firm.
“We tell radio stations, as well as local TV stations and newspapers, that you’re no longer just a local station, you’re a local media company reaching an audience in many different ways, and then selling that reach to national and local advertisers trying to get to that audience,” Fratrik said.
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Some of the more successful radio companies have evolved. For example, in 2010 Connecticut-based Townsquare Media, the country’s third-largest AM-FM radio-station operator, hired the head of AOL Media to spearhead its digital marketing business. This strategy helped Townsquare increase sales from $269 million in 2013 to $441 million last year, according to its latest annual report.
There will be radio stations that survive the coming culling of the fold — the ones that adapt.
“It’s challenging,” said Fratrik. “Will be easy going forward? Of course not. Some radio stations will survive and adapt and others won’t.”Yesterday we reported that a grand jury was deciding whether or not NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo should face criminal charges in the chokehold death of Staten Island resident Eric Garner.
Garner’s death was caught on video by at least two witnesses.
The medical examiner ruled the man’s death a homicide.
Yet, a grand jury decided that Pantaleo shouldn’t face charges.
Unbelieveable.
From The New York Times:
A Staten Island grand jury has voted not to bring criminal charges against the white New York City police officer at the center of the Eric Garner case, a person briefed on the matter said Wednesday. The decision was reached on Wednesday after months of testimony including from the officer, Daniel Pantaleo, who used a chokehold to restrain Mr. Garner, an unarmed black man who died after a confrontation. The grand jury, empanelled by District Attorney Daniel M. Donovan Jr. in September, has weighed evidence – including a video recorded by bystanders of Mr. Garner’s violent arrest – and heard testimony from the officers involved. Grand juries determine whether enough evidence exists for a case to go forward to a criminal trial, either before a jury or a judge. By law, they operate in secret and hear only evidence presented by prosecutors, who also instruct the grand jurors on the law. Defense lawyers are barred from speaking. For a decision, 12 jurors who have heard all the evidence must agree. An indictment was considered only against Officer Pantaleo, who testified last, on Nov. 21, his lawyer, Stuart London, said. The other officers received immunity, he said.
Garner’s family has filed notice it plans to sue the city for $75 million on grounds including wrongful death, pre-death pain and suffering, and civil rights violations.
In July, US Attorney General Eric Holder said the Justice Department was monitoring the case. A group including Garner’s mom, widow and Sharpton met in August with Brooklyn US Attorney Loretta Lynch, who has been nominated to replace Holder, according to the New York Post.
Pantaleo is still facing POSSIBLE punishment from the police department, including termination.
Yeah, right.
Resources:
Police State – Ten Secrets The Police Don’t Want You To Know! “How To Survive Police Encounters!”
Police State USA: How Orwell’s Nightmare is Becoming our Reality
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Lily Dane is a staff writer for The Daily Sheeple. Her goal is to help people to “Wake the Flock Up!”What MP3, Napster and portable audio players were for the music industry, EPUB and e-book readers are for the book publishing world. Netzpolitik.org interviewed three operators of semi-legal websites for DRM-free e-books. They all agree that the book publishers fail to understand and adopt to the digital world. Differences arise because one of the sites is now charging money from its users – an absurd idea for the other two.
(This is en English translation of the original German posting.)
Two weeks ago, we reported about a legal complaint against the newspaper publishing houses of Tagesspiegel and Zeit Online. Their crime: In an interview with the operator of the website TorBoox they mentioned the full domain name: boox.to. In contrast to the mindset of buchreport.de, we have not become aware of the site through the interview, but because of the ridiculous legal complaint.
Meanwhile, the author Selim Özdoğan announced in an interview, that he is publishing his new short story collection „Freikarte fürs Kopfkino“ („free ticket for mental cinema“) exclusively on TorBoox.
Once we were already dealing with the topic, we conducted our own interview with the book-pirates from TorBoox. We also interviewed the operators of two other e-book-sites which operate as Tor Hidden Services: The Imperial Library of Trantor and Jotunbane’s Reading Club.
All three websites offer e-books in EPUB format. While TorBoox counts almost 40.000 books, the Imperial Library of Trantor has about 11.000 and the Reading Club around 450. The people behind both TorBoox and „the Club“ buy e-books and put them on their site – Jotunbane pays painstaking attention to quality in the process. In the Imperial Library, users can upload books themselves and share them with others.
All three operators criticize how book publishers are handling the digital world. Spiegelbest from TorBoox is „missing an attractive digital offer“ – which could only be a flat rate. Las Zenow from the Imperial Library and Jotunbane criticize that book publishers insist on old ideas of copyright and are ignoring digital realities. Both compare the behavior of the book publishers with that of the music industry in the times of Napster – and fiercely criticize Digital Rights Management (DRM).
They are all aware that they are breaking laws with their services. While Jotunbane mainly wants to produce perfect digital books and share them with others, Las Zenow offers the public the option to share digital books widely. Both do what they do because they believe in the free exchange of knowledge – and their services will always remain free of charge, although they offer the option to donate. TorBoox on the other hand is currently turning to a payment-based model. Starting next week, users will have to pay 10 Euros for three months, so that they can download 150 books per day. They justify this with increased costs for servers, traffic and books. Las Zenow and Jotunbane reject a payment model with unauthorized copies and call it both „unethical“ and „morally wrong“.
Here are the three full interviews: (direct links: TorBoox, Imperial Library of Trantor, Jotunbane’s Reading Club)
To be blunt: We are book pirates. All our books are freed from DRM and fast4free. We are user-friendly, ad-free, but at best semi-legal.
netzpolitik.org: How many books are available on TorBoox? In which file formats?
Spiegelbest: We are offering almost 40,000 books. All books are in EPUB format – without exception. This includes many books we bought in recent years. So we are quite up-to-date. I guess, we hardly missed a popular title in the last years.
netzpolitik.org: Do I understand correctly that you cannot |
service will begin a month earlier than planned, May 8.
The $99 flight includes a seat, up to an 11-pound carry-on and even the taxes—makes you wonder where the money goes on some of those Delta flights. Like many airlines, extra legroom, extra luggage and pre-selecting seats will cost extra.
Be warned, the airline lacks any in-flight entertainment, so you’ll have to keep yourself busy. Also, there are no free meals—which may be a good thing—but you can easily purchase some duty-free munchies in the air.
Possibly the best part of the deal is the transfer option offered by WOW air. With hubs in London, Paris, Barcelona, Amsterdam and Rome, transfer flights throughout Europe are aplenty. For example, say you want to vacation in Paris. Snag the $99 flight to Reykjavik, and then transfer to another WOW air flight to Paris from Reykjavik for an additional $80, making that a smooth $180 from the U.S. to Paris.
After opening in Washington, Boston seems to be the next spot. Let’s hope these deals can continue and maybe start some price wars to European destinations.
Tommy Burson writes for Paste Magazine, jokes and probably quotes too much Elton John.SAN JOSE (CBS SF) – Power was fully restored at Mineta San Jose International Airport and all lanes of I-880 have reopened after a Friday morning filled with outages and downed power lines plagued the South Bay.
The outage affected the entire airport for almost two hours, according to airport officials.
Airport spokeswoman Rosemary Barnes said the power went out at 9:55 a.m. with the backup generators coming online.
She said flight and passenger operations were continuing, but there may be some flight delays. Passengers have been asked to check flight status with their airlines before heading to the airport.
Barnes said wind gusts of up to 45 mph have been measured at the airport.
Toppled trees taking down multiple power lines in the area were the cause of the issues at both the airport and on 880.
Southbound lanes on Interstate Highway 880 reopened to traffic at around 12:15 p.m. after downed power lines on the highway had blocked all lanes in both directions near Bascom Avenue in San Jose.
According to CHP in San Jose, PG&E crews were able to remove the power lines, allowing southbound traffic is open. Northbound traffic was merging into the far left lane south of First Street as crews continued working to remove the fallen tree in the two right lanes.
The right and center lanes of northbound I-880 finally reopened at about 2:48, according to CHP.
So this literally just happened. Not even any cops on site yet pic.twitter.com/iOiGrRzUvh — ❄️Toby BirdWolfCat❄️ (@303SnowWolf) February 17, 2017
As of 10:45 a.m., northbound Interstate 880 was backed up into Highway 17 near Campbell, while southbound 880 was backed up past the Highway 101 interchange.
Officials initially said the freeway was not expected to reopen until 5 p.m., but it appeared that northbound traffic would likely reopen early once the tree was removed.
Winds also toppled an old oak tree on north 17th Street in San Jose, sending it through the roof where people were asleep inside.
“All of a sudden I heard a crash, came outside and found the tree sitting on the house,” said tenant Mark Rodriguez.
San Jose fire fighters say it made for a dangerous situation on the streets.
“There’s lots of places where we have trees and poles and wires down,” said San Jose Fire Capt. Mitch Matlow. “There’s lots of places where the power is out. If you approach an intersection where the power is out, treat it like a four-way stop.”
Heavy winds and falling tree limbs has downed numerous power poles in Santa Clara, Santa Cruz and Monterey counties Friday morning, leaving tens of thousands of PG&E customers without power, according to PG&E officials.
Two transmission poles on the Central Coast were brought down and a PG&E substation in Salinas, where 25,971 people are currently experiencing an outage, was also affected.
Winds as fast as 69 mph were reported at the Salinas airport starting at 5:30 a.m., PG&E spokeswoman Mayra Tostado said. Some 10,276 Monterey residents are still without power this afternoon.
PG&E crews from other services areas are responding to the South Bay and Central Coast to help restore power, but in many cases downed vegetation is making it difficult for crews to access sites and complete repairs.
In Santa Cruz, 5,361 customers are still experiencing an outage.
Officials expect more outages to crop up throughout the day as heavy winds continue to blow in the area, Tostado said.
Residents who come across downed lines or power poles should stay away and call 911 immediately.
“We are facing very dangerous situations,” Tostado said.
Tens of thousands of Santa Clara County residents are experiencing outages as of 12:30 p.m., including 18,742 in San Jose, 6,635 in Gilroy and 3,621 in Morgan Hill.
TM and © Copyright 2017 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2017 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Bay City News Service contributed to this report.Just how do you know if what people claim in their CV is true? For a time, google seemed to deliver an endless source of data on other people. You could search for people online and see where they had worked. Then social media made it even easier to track people – or so it seemed.
In the last few years prospective employees have been warned that when they attend interviews, the company looking to hire will include a trawl of their social media to see if what they say is true or to ascertain the calibre of the person.
Of course there have already been cases where legal claims have been made against individuals abusing social media, but even harmless activities may be seen as detrimental to prospective employment. Applying to a company where the CEO is teetotal? Then perhaps don’t post those post party pictures on FB. Looking to work in a company that works in pet supplies? Perhaps posting pictures of you supporting the local hunt might not be so clever. The list is endless.
However, while verifying your character online is one thing, verifying your career details is another. Most CVs have referees which a thorough employer will use, but what if the person has set out to deliberately inflate their CV. Is it possible to check that online?
The majority of employers would head over to Linkedin – and indeed most management on ICOs link directly to their Linkedin page. Linkedin in an established platform but there is a flaw. Only the individual can insert their CV details. No one else can comment on them. The nearest there exists for validation of the CV details is in the recommendation section – but these could be from friends or even fake accounts should a person wish to deceive.
So how can an employer quickly check out the veracity of a CV, or indeed how can a candidate stand out with their skill sets?
Indorse, a decentralised professional social media network, think they have the answer. And so do 1800 token account holders that helped raise $9 million over their ICO in September. This sum will keep them going for the next two years says co-founder David Moskowitz. ‘We learnt a lot from our ICO – basically to keep any future ones shorter and have more focus on the secondary market.’
His co-founder and CTO, Guarang Torvekar adds that they would have liked to have more celebrity endorsement. Ánd better known advisers.’
Which brings us to one of the principles of Indorse – peer to peer validation. Peer to peer validation on Indorse is random and anonymous.
‘There have been a few ICO scandals recently over CVs from the fraudulent state where advisers were not part of the team to the lesser crime of inflating their CVs quite dramatically. Even today what we read on Linkedin we tend to believe – despite the fact that it is published by the individual,’ says Mosowitz.
‘You cannot game the system on Indorse,’ adds Torvekar. ‘You can’t ask your spouse or colleague to endorse you. All the validation is random and is only allocated once a consensus is reached to the order of 70%.’
The individual adds their skill sets with attached proof. So, if someone claimed to have Java programing skills, they could attach their certification. Then anonymous, random peers can validate – or not – that section.
Timelines are important too according to Torvekar. ‘Someone working for 20 years should have a much greater wealth of experience than someone working for less than 5 years, and that is reflected too in how the Indorse CV is created.’
People deemed to have authentic and experienced CV will receive an Indorse Score. This is delivered in the form of a non-transferable, non-tradable token. This is to reflect their reputation. Other members of the Indorse community can earn tokens as rewards for participating on the site. These are tradable and transferable and mimic the popular Steemit model. In time the co-founders hope the IND tokens will be used to purchase or sell additional services on the site.
The use of blockchain is core to the project according to Torvekar. He was instrumental in setting up the Singapore Ethereum meetup two years ago (where he met Moskowitz) which now regularly attracts a couple of hundred to each gathering. They launched Indorse at one such meetup.
‘Blockchain underpins our decentralised model in four ways,’ explains Torvekar. ‘’The first is the management of the data – there is no single point that is vulnerable. Secondly, Indorse is completely autonomous – no one is in control.
‘We use Byzantine Fault Tolerance to produce consensus and finally it is transparent – no more inflated at best or totally dishonest CVs on our platform.’
Already 1800 people have signed up for the beta MVP version and both co-founders hope to hit 3000 before the end of the year.
With two years’ worth of salaries in their pocket what next for the founders? ‘Company pages.’ says Moskowitz. ‘We want to extend the same transparency to corporates.’ Now, that will be interesting.Looking for news you can trust?
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Physicists are notorious for believing that other scientists are mathematically incompetent. And University of California-Berkeley physicist Richard Muller is notorious for believing that conventional wisdom is often wrong. For example, the conventional wisdom about climate change. Muller has criticized Al Gore in the past as an “exaggerator,” has spoken warmly of climate skeptic Anthony Watts, and has said that Steve McIntyre’s famous takedown of the “hockey stick” climate graph made him “uncomfortable” with the paper the hockey stick was originally based on.
So in 2010 he started up the Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature project (BEST) to show the world how to do climate analysis right. Who better, after all? “Muller’s views on climate have made him a darling of skeptics,” said Scientific American, “and newly elected Republicans in the House of Representatives, who invited him to testify to the Committee on Science, Space and Technology about his preliminary results.” The Koch Foundation, founded by the billionaire oil brothers who have been major funders of the climate-denial machine, gave BEST a $150,000 grant.
But Muller’s congressional testimony last March didn’t go according to plan. He told them a preliminary analysis suggested that the three main climate models in use today—each of which uses a different estimating technique, and each of which has potential flaws—are all pretty accurate: Global temperatures have gone up considerably over the past century, and the increase has accelerated over the past few decades. Yesterday, BEST confirmed these results and others in its first set of published papers about land temperatures. (Ocean studies will come later.) Using a novel statistical methodology that incorporates more data than other climate models and requires less human judgment about how to handle it (summarized by the Economist here), the BEST team drew several conclusions:
The earth is indeed getting warmer. Global average land temperatures have risen 0.91 degrees Celsius over the past 50 years. This is “on the high end of the existing range of reconstructions.”
The rate of increase on land is accelerating. Warming for the entire 20th century clocks in at 0.73 degrees C per century. But over the most recent 40 years, the globe has warmed at a rate of 2.76 degrees C per century.
at a rate of 2.76 degrees C per century. Warming has not abated since 1998. The rise in average temperature over the period 1998-2010 is 2.84 degrees C per century.
The BEST data significantly reduces the uncertainty of the temperature reconstructions. Their estimate of the temperature increase over the past 50 years has an uncertainty of only 0.04 degrees C, compared to a reported uncertainty of 0.13 degrees C in the most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report.
Although many of the temperature measuring stations around the world have large individual uncertainties, taken as a whole the data is quite reliable. The difference in reported averages between stations ranked “okay” and stations ranked “poor” is very small.
The urban heat island effect—i.e., the theory that rising temperatures around cities might be corrupting the global data—is very small.
In the press release announcing the results, Muller said, “Our biggest surprise was that the new results agreed so closely with the warming values published previously by other teams in the US and the UK.” In other words, climate scientists know what they’re doing after all.
The BEST report is purely an estimate of planetary warming, and it makes no estimate of how much this warming is due to human activity. So in one sense, its impact is limited since the smarter skeptics have already abandoned the idea that warming is a hoax and now focus their fire solely on the contention that it’s man-made. (And the even smarter ones have given up on that, too, and now merely argue that it’s economically pointless to try to stop it.) Still, the fact that climate scientists turned out to be careful and thorough in their basic estimates of temperature rise surely enhances their credibility in general. Climategate was always a ridiculous sideshow, and this is just one more nail in its coffin. Climate scientists got the basic data right, and they’ve almost certainly gotten the human causes right too.
UPDATE: I didn’t include the chart comparing BEST’s results to those of the big three existing models, so here it is. As you can see, BEST’s reconstruction is a bit lower than HadCRU’s during the 19th century, where the measurement uncertainty is highest; tracks all three models very closely during the entire 20th century; and is somewhat higher than both the GISS and HadCRU models over the past decade.
Front page image: ClimateSafety/FlickrHow To Become The Go-To Freelance Musician
As a professional musician, you want to be the first person that people call when they need (fill in the blank). With that in mind, you’ve probably been told that you need to do everything. If you can play rock, punk, jazz, soul, fusion, classical, latin, and Riverdance, then you will get called for all of that.
FALSE
I’m here to tell you that that thinking is exactly backwards. If you want to be a successful musician, you actually need to focus on doing less. (Besides, the golden age of Riverdance is long gone.)
The Renaissance Man Myth
For a long time, our society has praised “Renaissance” people, those that can do seemlingly everything, and do it incredibly well. In reality the only thing that the Renaissance man truly excels at is mediocrity. While there are people that can do everything, they don’t do it all very well.
Just because you can’t do everything doesn’t mean you shouldn’t still do multiple things.
Do Multiple Things
We’ve talked about this concept before: in order to increase your chances of success as a musician, you need to do multiple things. Maybe you play live gigs, but you also teach. Or you do lots of studio work, and also have great chart making abilities.
Whatever your skills are, you need a combination in order to survive. Inconsistency is built into being a professional musician. Sometimes you have a packed month full of work (December), other times you’re barely scraping by (January). In order to make your income as even as possible, you need to do multiple things.
Don’t Do Everything
Do multiple things, yes, but don’t fall into the trap of thinking that you can do everything. There just aren’t enough hours in the day. No one can do everything with complete mastery. No one.
The Downside of Doing Everything
I once received a business card from a musician that listed his name, number, email and the following description of what he does:
“Guitar, bass, vocals, drums, keys, producing, songwriting, lessons, violin, arranging, film scores… yeah, I do it all!”
What do you think I did with that card? If you guessed, “ever called him” you’re wrong. If you guessed, “framed it and put it on my wall” you are correct!
The downside of the “doing everything” approach is that there’s nothing unique about you. There’s no defining thing that you’re truly great at. If you try to do everything you’ll get called for nothing.
Who Would You Call?
Let’s say you need a service. You need… a drummer to play on your acoustic singer-songwriter album. You think through drummers that you know and here are your options:
A drummer who boasts that he can play “any style, any tempo, any time signature, Bro.” He has youtube videos of him playing complicated latin-infused-neo-speed-trip-hobbit-core. It has over 100,000 views. A drummer who plays lots of acoustic gigs, has recorded with multiple singer-songwriter artists that you know, and has a unique custom dual-cajon setup with a tambourine kick pedal.
Who are you going to call?
What About All Those Untapped Gigs?!
This may fly in the face of what you’ve been taught. “You need to be able to do everything! Play any style authentically! Be able to perfectly execute every style of music!”
Yes, you should absolutely study as many genres of music as you can (even Riverdance, if you’re into that). Yes, you should practice this stuff. Yes, you need to do multiple things. But you don’t need to (and shouldn’t) try to do everything.
For example, I am never going to get called for a true, honest-to-God Latin gig. Ever. I never have and I never will. You know why? Because I’m just not very good at it. Sure, I’ve played latin stuff many times, but the small subtleties that really make the style authentic and feel good just aren’t there for me. That’s not a bad thing though. I’m still playing gigs, just not those gigs.
Play To Your Strengths
Alright, it’s time to do some soul searching. I want you to write down the 2 or 3 main categories of pro musician work that you want to pursue. No more than that. Do you want to play and teach? Studio recording and composing? Audio Engineering and copy work? Pick your big categories and write them down.
Now, within those categories, I want you to write 3 or 4 (no more) sub-categories. Within “live gigs” maybe you’ll put “Singer-Songwriter, Soul/R&B, Worship.” Maybe under copy work you’ll write, “Basic rhythm charts and lead sheets,” as opposed to “full orchestral movie scores”. You get the idea, right?
Now, you have a maximum of 3 categories, and potentially 12 sub-categories. These are the things you need to focus on. Nothing else. Get really good at doing just those things. Like, exceptional. World-class. You want to be the guy that when someone says, “Who should I call to play guitar on my daughter’s bubble gum pop record?” They immediately think of you.
Niche please!
This idea of niche-ing down may seem counterintutive. “You want me to say no to gigs? What are you, crazy?!” I know the idea of saying no to a gig is scary and might seem foolish. But if you focus on honing your skills to just a few, you will become the guy to call for that skill. This is something Peter Dyer talked about in his recent podcast interview. I’ve always known him as the “Crazy synth guy” who has a room full of 18 vintage synths. The niche skill has gotten him tons of work and he’s toured all over the world with artists like Mariah Carey and Aloe Blacc because of it.
For me, one of my niche skills is upright bass. Electric bass players are a dime a dozen (guitar players right now are thinking, “yeah, I could do that, easy”) but someone who can play the upright bass really well is much less common. I’ve gotten lots of work because of this skill, not only from classical and jazz gigs, but acoustic singer-songwriters who want a unique sound. I’ve become one of the first names that some people mention when they say, “I need an upright bass player…”
If you want to become the go-to freelance musician, develop your 2–3 niche skills and sub-skills. Become so good that hiring you a is a no-brainer.
Warning:
You should have your niche skills, but you don’t want to niche down too far. Becoming the “Late–13th century north-eastern Irish bagpipe player in the greater Tuscon area” will ensure that you get the call, but that call will come in, maaaaayybe once, ever.
Wrap Up
You can’t do everything. So stop trying. But you need more than one thing to make it as a professional musician. Decide what those 2–3 big things are, and get incredible at them. Become the guy to call for that thing. And who knows, Riverdance could make a comeback, right?
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0 SharesFor example, the food stamp program was introduced gradually in the United States from 1961 to 1975. Hilary Hoynes of the University of California, Berkeley, Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach of Northwestern University and Douglas Almond of Columbia University have found that low-income children who benefited from the program were healthier and more likely to be working decades later than otherwise similar children in counties where the program arrived later. There is similar evidence of long-term economic benefits from high-quality childhood education.
What is behind the surge of research in this vein? “It is a combination of data and time,” Ms. Hoynes said. “What we’ve seen so far is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what is possible.”
The advent of more advanced computer processing power has enabled social scientists to mine administrative data — actual records on individuals — instead of relying on often spotty, inconsistent surveys.
But also important is that a variety of social welfare programs introduced and expanded since the 1960s have now been around long enough, often with periodic changes to their structure, to allow for an analysis of their long-term effects.
Some studies are truly long-term. Anna Aizer of Brown University and three colleagues studied what happened to boys whose families were beneficiaries of the “Mothers’ Pension” program, which from 1911 to 1935 paid cash benefits to poor families in which the breadwinner had died or become disabled. Compared with children in similar circumstances who did not benefit from the program, their incomes were 14 percent higher during their prime working years of 20 to 45. (They also lived longer, got more education and, among those who served in the military in World War II, were taller.)
None of this means that all social welfare programs result in more people working. Receiving unemployment insurance, for example, appears to make people slower to find new work, and the Congressional Budget Office projects that the Affordable Care Act will lead to fewer adults working because they can more easily obtain health care without having an employer.
It also isn’t an assertion that these programs pay for themselves by generating more economic growth. Something like food stamps or the E.I.T.C. can have pro-growth effects while still being costly to the government.FRANKFORT, Ky. -- The Kentucky county clerk jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples will run for re-election in 2018, facing voters for the first time since her protest against gay marriage launched a national uproar from rural Appalachia.
An attorney for Kim Davis confirmed she will seek a second term. Filing for Kentucky's 2018 election cycle opens Wednesday.
"She loves her job and she loves the people," said Mat Staver, founder of the Florida-based law firm Liberty Counsel that has represented Davis. "I'm sure (the election) will probably have more attention because of who she is, but you know she doesn't have any major concerns about it."
A spokeswoman for Liberty Counsel said Davis was unavailable for comment because of a medical procedure.
Kentucky clerk sparks debate over religious freedom vs. obeying the law
Davis stopped issuing marriage licenses in 2015 after a U.S. Supreme Court decision that effectively legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. Five couples sued her, and a judge ordered her to issue the licenses. Davis refused and spent five days in jail.
When she was released, she altered the marriage license form so it would not include her name. The state's Democratic governor at the time agreed to recognize the licenses. The state legislature then changed the law so clerks did not have to sign their name on the licenses.
In July, a federal judge said state taxpayers had to pay the more than $220,000 in legal fees for the couples that sued Davis. The state has appealed the ruling, but it might not be resolved before the 2018 election.
"It's hard for her to make the argument that the $220,000 she has cost taxpayers is a good value for Rowan County residents," said Chris Hartman, director of the Kentucky Fairness Campaign.
But Staver said the money would not be an issue for Davis, noting it would not come out of the county's budget.
Davis was elected as a Democrat, but switched parties to become a Republican shortly after the controversy erupted. Rowan County is a Democratic stronghold. While its voters overwhelmingly elected Donald Trump for president, nearly all of the local elected officials are Democrats.
Kentucky clerk Kim Davis on being a role model
Lincoln Caudill, vice chairman for the Rowan County Democratic Party, said no one has announced they will challenge Davis yet. Caudill plans to run for judge-executive, the county's top elected position.
"I know (Davis has) created a controversy in the county and the farthest I can stay from giving an opinion on it, that's what I plan to do," he said.
Davis also made headlines when she met with Pope Francis in 2015 and when she was given tickets to President Obama's final State of the Union (SOTU) in 2016 -- an invite-only event for members of Congress.
Rep. Jim Jordan told CBS News at the time, "Kim Davis used our ticket. Our staff heard from the Family Research Council that Ms. Davis and her family hoped to attend the State of the Union address and so we offered a ticket."
Every lawmaker gets one guest ticket to SOTU speeches, though congressional leaders get extras.CHINA is erupting with demands for war as its government vowed to use "all necessary measures" to win its row with America.
GETTY FUMING: Chinese authorities have pledged to defend the territory claimed
An international tribunal yesterday ruled China has no right to more than a million square miles of territory it claims in the South China Sea. Now Beijing, which has built artificial islands in the disputed area to defend its claim, has pledged to protect its claim by whatever means necessary. Citizens of the communist state are even calling for war, taking to the national intranet and demanding action against America, which is perceived to be responsible.
GETTY MENACING: A Chinese naval base constructed on the Fiery Cross Reef
“We hope other countries will not let it become the origin of a war” Chinese Vice Foreign Minister It's a view the authorities share, having repeatedly blamed the US for its territorial dispute with Vietnam, The Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan. The ruling Communist Party of China pledged today on the front of its official People's Daily newspaper to defy the findings of the tribunal. "China will take all necessary measures to protect its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests," the article said. State-owned media also dismissed the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague, which handed down the ruling, a "puppet".
NATO training exercises NATO troops took part in the Swift Response-16 exercise, which is one of the premier military crisis response training for multi-national airborne forces in the world. 1 / 12 AFP/Getty Images Polish troops land with parachutes at the military compound near Torun, central Poland as part of the NATO Anaconda-16 military exercise
Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin said Beijing could establish an air protection zone over the territory. "If our security is being threatened, of course we have the right to demarcate a zone," he said. "This would depend on our overall assessment," "We hope other countries will not take this opportunity to threaten China, but work with us to protect the peace and stability of the sea, and not let it become the origin of a war." In the wake of the dispute, an article called "War in the South China Sea starts tonight" received more than 100,000 views, before being deleted by the authorities.
Referencing the dotted line that marks out China's claim on the map, a meme went viral on social media saying "China: We can’t lose even one dot." Another delete posts on Weibo, China's answer to Facebook, predicted war and added: "I was so damn excited last night that I couldn’t sleep!” One more, found by Foreign Policy magazine, said: "[This] is an insult to China. Why would we wait for the result for this kind of crap? "With such a large military, why don’t we just go fight to get back [what is ours]?"
GETTY TERRITORY ROW: Filipino protesters call for China to get out of its watersBecause both have been held out of Major League Spring Training games, their DL stints can be backdated and they won't have to remain on the shelf for the normal 15-day minimum.
ANAHEIM -- Dodgers catcher Yasmani Grandal (right forearm strain) and second baseman Howie Kendrick (strained left calf muscle) will open the season on the disabled list. But manager Dave Roberts said Saturday before the club's final exhibition game against the Angels that the club expects both to return in time for the April 12 home opener against the D-backs.
ANAHEIM -- Dodgers catcher Yasmani Grandal (right forearm strain) and second baseman Howie Kendrick (strained left calf muscle) will open the season on the disabled list. But manager Dave Roberts said Saturday before the club's final exhibition game against the Angels that the club expects both to return in time for the April 12 home opener against the D-backs.
Because both have been held out of Major League Spring Training games, their DL stints can be backdated and they won't have to remain on the shelf for the normal 15-day minimum.
View Full Game Coverage
"Yasmani played again today in Arizona [in a Minor League game]," Roberts said prior the the Dodgers' 8-1 loss at Angel Stadium. "He had two or three at-bats and felt good. But right now, we're looking at having him for the home opener. It's a long season, and it just seems to make the most sense."
Roberts said the same goes for Kendrick, who took batting practice Saturday. The manager added the club is setting up live batting practice for him on Sunday, the club's final off-day ahead of Monday's 4:05 p.m. PT season opener in San Diego..
"He's jogging, moving around," Roberts said. "I'm hopeful he'll be ready for the home opener."
After Saturday night's exhibition finale, the Dodgers sent left-hander Luis Avilan to Triple-A Oklahoma City. That meant infielder Charlie Culberson, a non-roster invitee who led the Dodgers with 14 spring RBIs, made the 25-man roster and right-hander Louis Coleman secured the final bullpen slot.
Roberts said Coleman (1.64 ERA in 11 spring games) "has thrown the ball really well. For us, it's just good for Luis Avilan to go down and feel good about getting guys out. We plan on him putting up some innings for us this year."Learning from China's One Child Policy
TACOMA “That’s interesting,” I thought to myself as I walked past a sales clerk in the grocery store who looked pregnant, “I thought she already had a baby.” Without realizing it at first, the idea that you have only one child, had sunk into me, never mind the fact I was now 5,000+ miles from China.
I came home that day to read an article in The Economist about China’s “disastrous one-child policy.”When I first went to China in 2008 I assumed that the Chinese Communist Party had erased every tradition and superstition that had existed prior to 1949. I also was under the assumption that everyone in China had one child. On both counts, its not that simple.
China is a country of fifty-six nationalities, with roughly 92% (don’t quote me) being Han. For the fifty-five minority nationalities, parents are allowed to have two children. If someone close in age to me says he or she has a sibling, the first thing that comes to mind, is that he or she is likely part of a minority group. When young students, quite often, say that they have a brother or sister, I assume its a matter of money. Physical abuse, although reportedly less frequent than in the 1980’s can occur, just as loss of a government position for having second child. Yet, today quite often, the penalty for an additional child is financial, and one can buy one’s way to another child. In Beijing one is fined 3-10 times the average per capita income, in 2010 a fine of roughly $36,000. Having twins through the use of fertility drugs is another means, as is parenting a child with a foreigner.
As The Economist highlights, clearly there is chafing at the enforcement of China's one-child policy, but there is also flexibility or maybe its better to say inconsistency, as this map from The Economist shows.
I occasionally have conversations with Chinese friends where I am told that likely China’s population is closer to 1.4 or 1.5 billion, not 1.3 billion, it depends on how many hide in the back yard when the census takers come around.
There is a sense that the policy has largely served its purpose, officials claimed to have limited China’s population by over four hundred million births, roughly the population of Japan and Brazil together. Speaking with Mara Hvistendahl in Shanghai summer 2009 while she did research for her new book Unnatural Selection, I learned that there is beginning to be some mission creep. Those responsible for overseeing the one-child policy are seeing that increasingly as the Chinese population slows, a new purpose for their office will be to address the gender imbalance. Yet in recent months President Hu Jintao has stated the policy needs to continue.
The Economist highlights the gender imbalance, in some parts of China 130 males for every 100 females. In China, like India, it is illegal to learn the sex of a fetus, to prevent the abortion of females. The preference for boy goes back more than the thirty years of this policy and is not limited to China. As Hvistendahl points out, there are roughly 163 million females “missing” in Asia, the issue is not solely a result of the one-child policy in China. The Economist also points out that in future decades, China is not only going to be missing females, but also males to support older generations and to keep the economy going. Deng Xiaoping, ushered in the economic reforms of Reform and Opening at the same time the one-child policy was enacted. He came to power with a paraplegic son, the injuries a result of the excesses of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). There is part of me, that perhaps foolishly thinks that in a decade of re-thinking excesses of previous decades, when the state began to seriously address environmental problems; that the one-child policy was a new attempt to more pragmatically address environmental issues. That the scientists studying their population graphs recognized that China has roughly 20% of the world’s population and only 5% of the world’s natural resources.
Calls for limiting population to solve environmental problems, makes me somewhat uneasy, just as labeling the one-child policy a human rights abomination. If you were to ask someone in China today how many children they would like to have, I imagine the answer would be 1 or 2, if any. For the shrinking majority that still lives in the countryside, the answer may be more. If you were to ask someone why China has the one-child policy, or why it requires that women are at least 20 and men 22 to marry, the first answer would likely be "人太多”, ren tai duo, too many people. I’m not sure there would be a discussion of China’s limited natural resources or the reply that one should of one’s own accord limit children because of a scarcity of natural resources. When asked if they thought their lives had an impact on climate change, my respondents often replied that they are only one person. Yet there are a multitude of non-governmental organizations, governments and activists in China trying to change environmental policies and practices because each one person is part of a 1.3 billion person population.
Aside from the lost jobs and forced abortions, what I take from the one-child policy is that in a country where policies are often made based on scientific data not poll numbers, there was an honest attempt to address perceived social and perhaps ecological issues. As individuals see themselves as one person, not one of 1.3 billion or 300 million as social and ecological issues loom, the one-child policy can offer lessons, and must not simply be dismissed.President Trump spent the last four days serial-tweeting about the NFL’s national-anthem protests — and then claimed to reporters Tuesday that he was not obsessing over the issue.
“I wasn’t preoccupied with the NFL,” insisted Trump, who has tweeted more about that topic than any other since Saturday.
During a Rose Garden press conference with Spain’s prime minister, Trump was asked |
d., the top Democrat on the committee.
He read a letter from Pagliano’s legal counsel reiterating that Pagliano plans to continue to assert his Fifth Amendment rights not to answer questions. Further, the letter said the subpoena serves no valid legislative purpose and is for a political agenda, according to Cummings.
The move comes after Pagliano earlier ignored a subpoena to appear before the same committee on Sept. 13. Other tech experts who helped maintain the system did attend the hearing but asserted their Fifth Amendment right not to testify.
At the time, Chaffetz vowed the committee would pursue a “full range of options” to address Pagliano’s “failure” to attend.
Pagliano is considered a vital witness in the Clinton email case. He spoke previously to the FBI under immunity, telling the bureau there were no successful security breaches of the server.
On Thursday, Chaffetz noted that Pagliano was brought in in 2009 to help set up Clinton’s server at her New York home. Further, he said the State Department has only been able to find a handful of his emails.
“We have questions about this,” he said.
Pagliano also refused to answer questions last year before a House panel investigating the deadly 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya. His lawyers said at the time that Pagliano did not want to relinquish his rights under the U.S. Constitution's Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination.
Pagliano’s lawyer earlier said the committee’s request was an “abuse of process.”
Chaffetz, though, rejected the argument that Pagliano does not need to appear before his committee because he already took the Fifth before the Benghazi committee. Chaffetz noted he has questions that fall outside the purview of the Benghazi panel.
“Mr. Pagliano’s testimony could provide important information” informing possible reforms to ensure “this disaster never happens again,” Chaffetz said.
Even if the House votes to hold Pagliano in contempt, it would be up to the Justice Department to decide whether to pursue charges – meaning the contempt bid could start and end at the House.
Fox News’ Chad Pergram and The Associated Press contributed to this report.Released in 1985, the Jack Sholder-directed A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge took the franchise down a very interesting path in only its second installment, focused on Freddy Krueger’s attempt to possess and overtake the body of a young man.
That man was played by actor Mark Patton, whose story will soon be told.
While Freddy’s Revenge, dubbed “the gayest horror movie ever made,” cemented Freddy as a pop-culture icon, Patton was never heard from again. After 30 years of living in near obscurity, Patton is back to talk about how his American dream became a nightmare during the homophobic AIDS crisis in Hollywood and why he had to give it all up…
“A documentary film focusing on the gay experience in Hollywood horror, Scream, Queen! My Nightmare On Elm Street explores how that experience has changed in the three decades since Mark Patton’s controversial portrayal of Jesse Walsh, the object of Freddy Krueger’s latent desire in Nightmare on Elm Street 2. Scream, Queen! examines the infamous homoerotic subtext and the special place the film holds in the Nightmare franchise as well as the gay film canon. Partly in thanks to evolving social mores, Nightmare on Elm Street 2 – which was considered controversial at the time of its release – is now being looked back upon with a new appreciation and fondness by horror aficionados and fans of the series.When discussing a wildly successful person, I’m sure you’ve heard this:
“He was at the right place and the right time. Sure it was a good idea but it was mostly luck.”
Some negative nabob throws a wet blanket on the idea that ordinary people can accomplish extraordinary things. However, there is an element of truth to this statement. Success does have a large component of luck but there is more to the story.
Was Bill Gates in the right place at the right time with the right idea? Yes. Was that luck? Yes.
Were the Beatles in the right place at the right time with the right music? Yes, and that was luck too.
There are countless stories like these. But there is a missing act to this narrative; all the practice, studying, effort, and failure that led up to that lucky moment.
Writers all start with shitty first drafts, then they rewrite and revise and edit, then they submit it to other writers for criticism, then they rewrite and revise again. After all that work, their first works will face repeated rejection (even the greats like Stephen King). The ‘lucky’ ones will work and fail until they ‘just get lucky.”
“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take” – Wayne Gretzky
If you step onto a golf course having never swung and club, what are the odds of hitting a hole in one – worse than 50,000,000 to 1. How about if you played 36 holes a day, had professional training, and you had achieved a low handicap? Now your odds are 5,000 to 1. Does it still take luck? Yes it does, but your hard work and training has improved you odds by 1,000,000x!
“The harder I work, the luckier I get” – Samuel Goldwyn
But there is more to it than just hard work, it takes accepting failure as the natural path toward your goal.
Accept this: Without failure – you stagnate – improvement ends. Since perfection is unachievable, improvement is all you can work toward.
If you’re feeling unlucky today, pick your head up, puff your chest out little, and take another shot.
Luck doesn’t find you, you have to seek it out.Wonder Lake, Jan 19 (THAINDIAN NEWS) A couple in Chicago was saved when their cat ‘Baby’ alerted about a fire in the house. Josh Ornberg and Letitia Kovalovsky said that their cat, “Baby,” woke them early Monday morning as they slept on a couch in the living room. According to Ornberg there was a fire in the bedroom and the smoke from that fire was beginning to fill up in the house.
Baby is normally a very docile cat who is mostly hiding under the bed, but when she sensed the danger posed by the fire, then she started jumping and prancing around wildly. This alerted her owners, who realized that something was amiss. Letitia Kovalovsky is 7 months pregnant with twins, and she really owes her life to her cat.
Ornberg tried his best to put out the fire with the help of the home extinguisher, but when he wasn’t successful then he called 911. Then the whole family including their pets – cat Baby and their dog got out of the house safely. But the sad part is that the cat disappeared after some time. The owners are distraught at her disappearance and hope that she is found soon.Millions of people in India are nowadays getting bombarded with SPAM messages from their banks and telecom companies, telling them that it is now mandatory to link Aadhaar number with the bank accounts and the phone numbers. The messages say that if the number is not linked it will lead to bank account freeze, and in case of mobile phones numbers deactivation of the phone connection. These messages have created panic among number of people. In the case of the bank accounts, the linking of Aadhaar, according to many banks, has to happen before July 31. These are all lies at worst and misleading at best, so rest easy. You don't have to link Aadhaar with bank account, phone numbers before July 31. It's not mandatory. Your phone company or the bank is lying.
Now, before we explain what is going on here, and how the phone companies or banks are misleading you, a few words about the messages. There are several variations of these messages. for example, this is what Airtel is sending its subscribers:
"As per Govt's directive, it is mandatory to link Aadhaar to your Airtel mobile. Visit the nearest Airtel Store now. For store details, click www.airtel.in/store".
Although this one is more innocuous, there are some messages that hope to blackmail or threaten people into linking the Aadhaar number to their bank accounts and phone numbers. Here is an example of one such message:
Courtesy: @sounava on Twitter Courtesy: @sounava on Twitter
This is not just one. There are messages that tell consumers that their bank accounts will be frozen in case the Aadhaar is not linked to it, or that their phone numbers will cease working in case it doesn't have Aadhaar information attached to it.
Lies and attempts to mislead
So now that we know what sort of the messages people are getting, here is some truth about these. In most cases, these messages are misleading and are aimed at blackmailing or scaring people into linking Aadhaar with phone numbers and bank accounts. If you don't mind linking your Aadhaar with everything, go ahead and do it. That is not a problem. But if you care about your privacy, or concern about data security, you can safely ignore these messages for now.
The operative word here is for now. What does that mean is that linking Aadhaar number with bank accounts before July 31 is not mandatory. And similarly, linking Aadhaar number and phone numbers is not urgent.
To understand what is going on here, you need to know two things:
1- There is a directive from Department of Telecom issued to all telecom companies in India that all phone numbers in the country are needed to be re-verified using Aadhaar number. But the deadline for this exercise is February 2018. Before that phone companies can't deactivate your number if you don't link your Aadhaar with the phone number. Between July 2017 and February 2018, a lot may change when it comes to Aadhaar. But irrespective of whether government directive will continue to stand or not, you have plenty of time to link Aadhaar with your phone number. So for now, just relax.
2- Similarly, there is another government directive asking banks to link all accounts with Aadhaar numbers. But the deadline for banks to do so is December 31 and July 31. Again plenty of time for you to decide whether you want to link the bank account with Aadhaar or not.
Also Read: Aadhaar may soon become mandatory to board plane for domestic flights
To summarise, there are two government directives that seek to link phone numbers and bank account numbers with Aadhaar number. So banks and phone companies are right about the linking Aadhaar part. But they are misleading consumers on deadline part. Until December 31, no bank can suspend a bank account just because it wasn't linked to Aadhaar number. If a bank tries to scare or blackmail you in doing so, you ask them on what basis they are forcing you to link the accounts with Aadhaar.
Similarly, until February 2018, no telecom company can deactivate your phone numbers just because you haven't linked with Aadhaar. May be one day you will have to link everything to Aadhaar, but that day is still out there in future. For now, if you want, you can safely ignore the scary messages from your bank and phone companies.〉 The Oldboy director is attached to direct a new feature version of the lauded sci-fi novel.
Park Chan-wook is known for directing visually stunning, yet brutal films that explore dark subject matter, which makes him the perfect choice to steer the feature adaptation of Japanese science fiction writer Project Itoh‘s novel, GENOCIDAL ORGAN.
Set in a time when Sarajevo was obliterated by a homemade nuclear device, the story reflects a world inundated with genocide. An American man by the name of John Paul seems to be responsible for all of this and intelligence agent Clavis Shepherd treks across the wasteland of the world to find him and the eponymous “genocidal organ.”
The novel was published in 2007 and was translated into English in 2012. It garnered critical praise and was named “Best SF of 2007” in a poll by SF Magazine.
This won’t be the first attempt to adapt Itoh’s book into a film. Manglobe was developing an anime version of Genocidal Organ written and directed by Shuko Murase which was slated for a November 13, 2015 release date. After Manglobe went bankrupt, however, the project was shelved indefinitely. The newly-created Geno Studio picked up the project and continued production with Murase. It’s expected to be completed by the end of 2016.
The details for Chan-wook’s adaptation have been kept under wraps, but Sean Daniel and his production company, The Sean Daniel Company are set to produce.
Daniel is the executive producer of Richard Linklater’s Everybody Wants Some and is the producer of the upcoming Ben-Hur remake. He is also signed on to produce the highly-anticipated The Mummy reboot, which will star Tom Cruise in the first of Universal’s plan to create an expansive monster-movie universe.
Chan-wook is best known for his Vengeance Trilogy which includes Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy, and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance. He also gave us a different take on the vampire genre with Thirst in 2009. In 2013, he directed his first English-speaking feature, Stoker, starring Nicole Kidman, Mia Wasikowska, and Matthew Goode. The thriller was written by Prison Break‘s Wentworth Miller and landed on the Black List and the Hit List as one of the best unproduced screenplays in Hollywood in 2010. Chan-wook is currently directing a Korean version of Sarah Waters’s novel, Fingersmith and is attached to direct the forthcoming western, The Brigands of Rattleborge.
Chan-wook is repped by WME.
—TO SEE ALL THE PROJECT DETAILS CLICK HERE—
Dino-Ray Ramos | Staff WriterModels have lately been trending hurricane Irma to hit southern Florida, with a turn to the north, driving it through the center of the state as a Cat4 or Cat5 Hurricane. Hurricane expert, Dr. Ryan Maue notes:
“GFS 00z track shifted considerably to west. Regardless of intensity issues, still a plausible track & worst case scenario”
Indeed, it is a worst case scenario for Florida. Let us hope the model is wrong.
He adds:
Similar track from ECMWF 00z (w/input of aircraft recon data) as GFS. South Florida should closely monitor progress of Hurricane # Irma
And he adds most recently this morning:
Latest ensembles from U.S. GEFS model system continue trend west w/many solutions over south Florida & in eastern Gulf of Mexico.
Some other model output has much greater uncertainty. Dr. Roy Spencer notes on his Facebook page:
Latest GFS pushes Irma even farther west before turning north. It crosses Cuba, then goes north through the Keys and then roughly up the middle of Florida:
However, while shorter GFS model runs makes it look like Irma is headed right for south Florida, this longer forecast has it landing in Virginia, which would require a strong northward curve later this week–which GFS and NHC both discuss as likely. But EVERYONE in eastern Caribbean and entire US east coast south of, say, Massachusetts should be watching and preparing.
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RedditDeputy of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party, Essam al-Erian, denied that presidential candidate Mohamed Mursi had started negotiations to elect a prime minister
“The situation is very critical, we are still waiting for the result announcement. If we find an independent patriotic figure who is capable of managing the country at this time, we will attempt to have them form a government.” Arian said, as reported by London’s Asharq Awasat.
Erian said that Mursi’s campaign was furiously attacked for revealing results, “imagine what could happen at naming a prime minister”.
He added that Mursi has met or is meeting "partners in the opposition of the coup against the people’s will". He indicated that the coalition that the Freedom and Justice Party is attempting to form, with Mursi’s leadership, is open for the rest of national forces.
Erian warned of what he described as “overwhelming rage” in case the election vote was manipulated or the election was conducted over again, expressing faith in the validity of the results announced by the Brotherhood.
Erian said that everybody is anticipating two commitments from the ruling military council; to return to their rightful place by the end of the month and to hand over power to the elected civil president without restricting his presidential authorities.
The Presidential Elections Committee will announce the result of the run-off of Egypt’s presidential election today. The Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohamed Mursi and toppled President Hosni Mubarak’s last premier Ahmed Shafiq competed in the run-off of the historic election.This story is part of a special National Geographic News series on global water issues.
In arid lands, the ability to create freshwater out of thin air would be priceless.
Now a Swiss company, Meteo Systems, is poised to earn a pretty penny in Abu Dhabi with a controversial weather modification system said to be responsible for dozens of rain showers in the desert last summer.
The claim is difficult to verify but certainly has raised a storm of skepticism among many leading weather modification experts.
“As far as I’m concerned I don’t believe these claims,” said Roelof Bruintjes, who heads the National Center for Atmospheric Research’s international weather modification programs. “There’s no scientific basis for this; the physics doesn’t support it.”
While typical weather modification efforts—which began in the mid-20th century and continue in nations from the United States to China—make use of natural clouds and attempt to “seed” them to produce precipitation, Meteo Systems purports to create the clouds themselves.
Their system uses arrays of 33-foot (10-meter) electric towers that produce negatively charged ions, according to the company. These ions bind with tiny solid and liquid particles, supercharging the particles’ ability to form clouds and precipitation.
Joseph Golden, a weather modification expert who once chaired the now-defunct Atmospheric Modification Program at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), also has serious doubts that the technique could work.
“This method is inherently incapable of producing clouds out of thin air,” Golden said.
A Long History of Ionization
The Technical University of Munich’s Peter Wilderer, winner of the 2003 Stockholm Water Prize, said people have been attempting ionization techniques for decades.
"The ionization technology was first mentioned in 1890 by [Nikola] Tesla. In 1946 General Electric executed some field trials under the leadership of [Bernard] Vonnegut [brother of novelist Kurt Vonnegut]. Later the technology was used for military purposes in the former Soviet Union."
Wilder added that reviews of radar images suggested to him that ionization could possibly have some effect, under proper meteorological conditions. Despite press reports to the contrary, he has never personally witnessed any rainfall events produced by Meteo Systems.
Show Me the Data
NOAA’s Golden is interested in hearing much more from the scientists trying to make it rain in the desert.
“I put out a challenge to any of those that are involved in this project and making these claims. Show me the data,” he said.
There may be little chance of such transparency in the near-term, however, as Meteo Systems is closely guarding the secrets of the potentially valuable technology the company has dubbed “WEATHERTEC.”
Meteo Systems did not respond to calls and emails from National Geographic News.
The directors of the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, who have been erroneously linked to the project via media reports, released a statement expressing “distress” that the scientific organization had been associated in any way with the work of Meteo Systems. They added that rainstorms were part of unusual weather patterns in the Middle East last summer.
“Our institute has no connection whatsoever to this work, nor have we been privy to the underlying evidence that the company is using to support its claims,” the statement said.
“We also note that many people have a financial stake in seeing these claims being credibly reported by the media, and that to the extent rain showers in the region were unusual this summer, they accompanied rather unusual weather patterns over the broader region, which certainly had nothing to do with the very localized experiments in Abu Dhabi. One only needs to be reminded of the terrible flooding over neighboring Pakistan.”
Playing God
NCAR’s Bruintjes noted that the UN-based World Meteorological Organization’s expert team on weather modification research met in Abu Dhabi in March 2010, and issued a report on the state of the science that cautioned against just this type of technology.
“The energy involved in weather systems is so large that it is impossible to create cloud systems that rain,” the WMO report read. “Weather modification technologies that claim to achieve such large-scale or dramatic effects do not have sound scientific basis (e.g. hail cannons, ionization methods) and should be treated with suspicion.”
Golden said people who are simply desperate to fool Mother Nature often pay for modification techniques that are unproven at best, including the hail cannons mentioned in the WMO report. “Farmers invest thousands of dollars in those cannons to suppress hail even though the scientific evidence is that they don’t work,” he said.A Syrian man reacts as rescuers look for victims under the rubble of a collapsed building following a reported air strike in Aleppo on July 19, 2016 (AFP Photo/Thaer Mohammed)
Beirut (AFP) - Shells fired by Syrian rebel groups killed at least 28 civilians in southwestern districts of the battleground city of Aleppo over the last 24 hours, a monitor said late Monday.
Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said those killed "included six children and eight women" in two government-controlled neighbourhoods of divided Aleppo.
He said dozens of people were also wounded.
The city's southern edges have been ravaged by intense fighting in recent days as rebels seek to ease a government siege and cut off the regime's own access route into the rest of the northern province.
Syrian state news agency SANA said that since Sunday, 20 civilians were killed and dozens wounded in shelling, rocket fire and sniper attacks on government-held neighbourhoods.
It said nine people -- among them three children -- were killed on Monday and 11 people died in the attacks on Sunday.
Once Syria's economic powerhouse, Aleppo city has been roughly divided between government control in the west and rebel control in the east since mid-2012.
In recent weeks, government forces have encircled the east, raising fears of a humanitarian crisis for the estimated 250,000 people now under siege there.
Last week, Moscow announced the opening of "humanitarian corridors" from the east into government territory for civilians and surrendering rebels.
More than 280,000 people have been killed since Syria's conflict erupted in March 2011 with anti-government protests that morphed into a brutal civil war.This article is over 8 years old
Christine Hemming charged with burgling the home of her Lib Dem husband's lover
An MP's wife appeared before magistrates today charged with burgling the house of her husband's lover and stealing a tabby kitten worth £20.
Christine Margaret Hemming, wife of the Liberal Democrat MP for Birmingham Yardley, John Hemming, was not required to enter a plea during a brief appearance at the city's magistrates court.
Beauty the cat. Photograph: johnhemming. blogspot.com/PA
Hemming, of Moseley, Birmingham, is alleged to have burgled the home of Emily Cox on the night of 29 September. The MP fathered a child with Cox, a researcher, in 2005.
Magistrates granted Hemming, 52, conditional bail until a committal hearing for crown court trial on 16 December.
The MP, elected in 2005, was unavailable for comment.
The fate of the cat was not made clear in court, but a picture of the animal, apparently called Beauty, was posted on the MP's blog under the heading "kitten missing" at 8.07am today. The photograph was accompanied by a message which read: "If anyone has seen this kitten please contact me at the House of Commons. There is a reward for its return."The Louisiana State Exhibit Museum in Shreveport houses hundreds of artifacts from Caddoan culture. (Photo: Lex Talamo)
When children see the Willow Chute Village diorama at the Bossier Parish Historical Center they're surprised, curious and excited.
Marisa Richardson, curator of Collections and Exhibits, said many children have no idea the Caddo Indians were the first inhabitants of the Red River area. She added many adults don't realize Caddo Parish is named for the Caddo Indians.
"It's very important to know the people who were here first," Richardson said. "Learning about other cultures expands your world view."
Caddo influence can be traced back to the 10th Century, according to archaeologist Jeff Girard. Caddo artifacts turned up in Bossier's Willow Chute Bayou area as well the Shreveport area during the late 17th and early 18th Centuries. Two additional sites where artifacts were found — the McLelland and Joe Clark sites in southern Bossier Parish — have since been destroyed during lock and dam construction to prevent flooding by Red River.
"Most of the human occupation of northwest Louisiana was Caddo culture," Girard said. "Preserving the Caddo heritage is very important. It's part of all of our cultural pasts."
The term "Caddo" is a contraction of Kadohadacho, which means "real chiefs" and refers to any one of 25 different tribal groups in Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma. With 18 tribes represented, Louisiana is home to more American Indian tribes than any other Southern state.
Four tribes — the Chitimacha Tribe, Coushatta Tribe, Jena Band of Choctaw Indians and Tunica-Biloxi Indian Tribe — are federally recognized, while 10 other tribes are recognized by the state and four other tribes exist without official status. Individuals need to prove 1/16th ancestry in order to enroll as a current member of a tribe.
The Caddo culture can still be seen throughout Louisiana, and tribes have kept their language, culture and traditions alive.
The Louisiana State Exhibit Museum in Shreveport has a standing memorandum with the Caddo, who have given the museum permission to act as a repository for the tribe's its artifacts.
"We have been custodians for a number of decades," said Nita Cole, the museum's curator.
Nita Cole, curator at the Louisiana State Exhibit Museum in Shreveport, said the museum has a standing agreement with Caddo tribes to act as custodians of artifacts (Photo: Lex Talamo)
The museum, which opened in 1939 and developed through the leadership of pediatrician Clarence H. Webb and architect Edward Neild, is the only organization in Caddo Parish that works actively to preserve and display pre-historic Caddo culture. A walk-through of the West Wing gallery presents visitors with artifacts such as plummets, jasper owl figurines, a wall-to-wall diorama and a 30-foot-long dugout canoe. Exhibit signs also educate about the Caddo culture.
CLOSE Virtual Tour, Louisiana State Exhibit Museum West Wing Lex Talamo
Who were the pre-historic Caddo?
The pre-historic Caddo were farmers as well as a hunter-gatherer society who believed humans and animals had a powerful relationship and that certain humans could communicate with the animals and even shape-shift into animal form. As part of that relationship, the Caddo also believed animals would willingly sacrifice themselves during hunts for the good of the tribe. In return, the Caddo gave thanks to every animal spirit and used all parts of the animal following the hunt. In addition, the Caddo had knowledge of more than 200 root plants to add to their diet.
Master traders, the Caddo used sign language to communicate with other tribes. One of the most rare artifacts they created were owl figurines carved from red jasper. Only 30 such figurines have been found so far in the United States.
Men held most positions of power in Caddo society. A head priest, called a xinesi, facilitated ceremonies and mediated between the tribe and the deities. A group of headmen named the Caddi were responsible for making important political decisions for the tribe. The tammas were the village elders, and the amayxoya were the warriors of the tribe.
A xinesi was a religious leader in pre-historic Caddo tribes. (Louisiana State Exhibit Museum) (Photo: Lex Talamo)
Hair was given special attention among the Caddo. Men wore a small tuft of hair on the crowns of their heads or a strip of short hair from the forehead to the base of the neck. Women parted and fastened their hair behind their heads.
The Caddo highly revered their dead and believed their ancestors would become angry ghosts if disturbed. Attempting to contact the dead was thought to be highly dangerous. The ceremonial rituals for putting a tribal member to rest could last up to six days and included leaving food, water, weapons and sacred objects at the grave site.
The Caddo partook in a number of ceremonies. For a particular purification ceremony, they made a tea from youpon holly or the paste of ground frijolillo seeds. Those who drank this "Black Drink" would vomit soon after, an act of cleansing. The tea was often served in a whelk shell, carved with animal motifs.
A whelk shell carved with motifs from the Louisiana State Exhibit Museum. Caddo served a cleansing tea in these shells during purification ceremonies. (Photo: Lex Talamo)
The Caddo's Continued Influence
Girard said the Caddo didn't leave much of a written record; what is known about the pre-historic tribes comes from studying the artifacts they left behind. Girard said it's important to treat artifacts with respect when they are found, as they are the best gateway into an understanding of the past.
"It's a fragile thing," Girard said of preserving ancient cultures. "And once it's gone, it's gone. We need to take more of an active interest in the Caddo culture."
With more than 5,000 current tribal members, the Caddo Nation is still very much alive today. Here are five ways to gain a glimpse into the Caddo's continued influence.
1. Visit the mounds
Louisiana has the oldest earthen mounds in North America, with more than 700 recorded mound sites. Mounds were used for religious functions as well as the burial of the tribe's elite members. The mounds at Marksville, Poverty Point and Watson Brake are recognized internationally as historic sites, and the Ancient Mounds Heritage Area and Trails Initiative created a map with a self-guided tour of privately owned mound sites the public can view from the highways.
2. Visit a museum
Check out the Louisiana State Exhibit Museum's West Wing gallery in Shreveport or the Caddo artifacts on display at the Bossier Parish Historical Center in Bossier. For road-trippers, head to the Adai Indian Nation Cultural Center to view historic dwellings and learn more about the Adai Caddo.
3. Attend a powwow
Several tribes hold annual pow wows, social gatherings where people gather to celebrate tribal heritage through food, song and dance. Unlike some other American Indian ceremonies, pow wows are open to the public and even have inter-tribal dances where all are welcome to join in and dance. Visitors will also be able to experience American Indian cuisine, including famous Indian tacos and fry bread.
The Choctaw-Apache tribe is holding a Veterans pow wow Nov. 6.
4. Hike around Walter B. Jacobs Memorial Nature Park
The Nature park's "Caddo Trail" commemorates the Caddo, and the Twin Eagle American Indian Inter-Tribal Association dedicated the "Miracle Trail" in November 1994. A placard at the start of the trail tells the story of the White Buffalo Calf Woman. While a legend from the Sioux culture in the West, the story shows how American Indian presence crosses state lines.
5. Learn some words from the Caddo language
The native language of tribes is critical to their survival. The Kiwat Hasinay Foundation in Oklahoma is dedicated to teaching and preserving the Caddo language. Additionally, Online resources can be a fun way to learn some American Indian vocabulary. Here are some useful words and phrases from the Caddo, courtesy of the Hello! Oklahoma Project:
Useful phrases in the Caddoan language (Photo: Hello Oklahoma! website)
The Tunica-Biloxi, Chitimacha, Coushatta, and Jena Choctaw tribes also have reservation land. Reservations are considered sovereign nations, managed by the tribes and the US Bureau of Indian Affairs. While tribal culture and language is powerfully present on reservations and a testament to the resilience of American Indian people, reservations in the United States often suffer from crippling poverty and unemployment rates and provide stark contrast to living conditions experienced by most in mainstream society.
If you are aware of a current issue in Indian Country you would like to see covered, please contact Lex Talamo at Alexa.Talamo@shreveporttimes.com or @LexTalamo.
IF YOU GO:
Poverty Point World Heritage Site: 6859 LA-577, Pioneer (318) 926-5492
Louisiana State Exhibit Museum: 3015 Greenwood Rd, Shreveport (318) 632-2020
Bossier Parish Historical Center: 2206 Beckett St, Bossier (318-746-1693)
Adai Indian Nation Cultural Center: 4460 Hwy 485, Robeline (318-472-1007)
Choctaw-Apache Tribe Veteran's Pow Wow: 217 Gene Knight Rd, Noble (318- 617-0322)
Walter B. Jacobs Memorial Nature Park: 8012 Par Rd 4, Shreveport (318) 929-2806
Read or Share this story: https://www.shreveporttimes.com/story/life/2015/10/28/remembering-impact-and-influence-caddo/74580324/reprinted from Breaking the Glasses Feminists will tell you that “Patriarchy” is the reason fathers are discriminated against in criminal court, via the presumption that women are better caregivers. That assertion is on a list that is being circulated and repeated by grassroots feminists in “debate,” without ever questioning its validity. A little research into the history of changes in custody standards debunks the claim.
The legal presumption that women are naturally better caregivers, used as a determining factor in the decision of child custody, is rooted in 19th century feminist activism. At that time, divorce was much more rare, and subject to strict rules. There was no no-fault divorce, and the reasons accepted for requesting one were limited to circumstances like adultery and neglect. If there were children from a marriage, they were considered to be in their father’s custody, not the custody of the couple. Whether the couple separated or divorced, they remained in their father’s custody.
This was the situation faced by Caroline Norton after separating from her husband, George Norton. The end of her marriage to her husband was not brought on by circumstances that were approved reasons for divorce. Because of this, when Norton separated from her husband, he had complete control of her ability to see their children. Norton looked for legal means to counter her husband’s alienation of her from her children, and found none. With no legal recourse, she began fighting to change the law.
When Caroline Norton wrote the bill which would become The Custody of Infants Act of 1839, followed by her “plain” letter to the Lord Chancellor regarding the bill, she probably had no idea that her writing would end up as the inspiration for a court doctrine which would cause for fathers in multiple nations to suffer exactly the indignities she was trying to eliminate in her own life and the lives of other women, but that is what occurred. The Custody of Infants Act was the start of what is now referred to as the Tender Years Doctrine, the basis upon which it became traditional to place custody of children in divorcing families with the mother. The argument that mothers are better caregivers is put forth in Mrs. Norton’s “plain” letter, in which she stated that fathers have to hire nursemaids to replace their wives’ involvement in the lives of children during their “tender years,” and therefore it is natural that the child should be placed in the custody of the mother. Over the years, this doctrine, originally intended to prevent divorce from keeping women from their children, has been pushed and twisted into an every-case imperative, making maternal custody the default in divorce cases.
Objections to the bill included the prediction that with the ability to gain custody of their children, women would be more likely to divorce their husbands, and dire warnings of maternal kidnapping to keep children from their fathers.
The result of her effort was the passage of the Custody of Enfants act of 1839, the basis for the Tender Years doctrine, which was used for much of the 20th century as the standard on which custody decisions were based. The tender years doctrine has since been abandoned for the nicer-sounding “best interests of the child” standard, but the determination of the child’s best interests includes presuming true the beliefs laid out in the tender years doctrine, namely, that young children are best off with their mothers.
In 1910, the Uniform Desertion and Non-Support Act was proposed by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, and passed with modifications by 24 states. It was intended to address abandonment of the family by the husband and father, who at that time was generally their sole means of support. The unmodified version stated:
This was due to the far lower earning capacity of women at that time, as women considered less productive employees and were paid lower wages. The child support system, in other words, is a factor of traditional gender stereotypes.
Child support law has evolved over time since then, with broader and often senseless application, greater strictness, and greater government involvement in enforcement. One of the issues which men’s rights activists have with existing child support law is that changes in it have not kept up with changes in women’s circumstances. The conditions which child support law was written to address are no longer a factor; women can work, and earn a living the same as a man. Not having a man in the house doesn’t automatically need to translate into poverty.
Feminists argue the implication of custody and child support statistics are debatable, claiming that fathers who file for custody get it most of the time. That claim is their basis for the assumption that fathers don’t get custody of their children because they don’t want it.
However, for a father to file for and be granted custody, |
migrants “despise our country and laugh at our justice.”
Mideast Christians also bring trustworthy language and cultural skills. They understand the Middle Eastern—including Islamic—mindset and can help the U.S. to understand it. Moreover, unlike Muslims, Christians have no “conflicting loyalty” issues: Islamic law forbids Muslims from befriending or aiding “infidels” against fellow Muslims (click here to see some of the treachery this leads to in the U.S. and here to see the treachery Christians have suffered from their longtime Muslim neighbors and “friends”). No such threat exists among Mideast Christians. They too render unto God what is God’s and unto Caesar what is Caesar’s.
Finally, it goes without saying that Mideast Christians have no loyalty to the Islamic ideologies that made their lives a living hell—the Islamic ideologies that are also responsible for jihadi terror in America. Thus a win-win: the U.S. and Mideast Christians complement each other, if only in that they share the same foe.
All the above reasons—from those that offer humanitarian relief to the true victims of persecution and genocide, to those that offer harmony and even benefits to the United States—are unassailable in their logic.
President Trump understands this—even if most liberals and lying media don’t.Bob Peeters was sacked as Charlton boss earlier this month after one league win in 12 games
Sacking season is upon us and that means rumours of unrest, low morale and reports of bosses being one game away from losing their jobs are everywhere.
Every time a team is going through a rough spell and a manager is under pressure, I hear one thing more than anything else.
"The manager has lost the dressing room."
But what does this mean? And does it actually happen?
I can categorically say that I have never known, or heard, about a situation where a squad of players would deliberately not try their best to win games for a manager.
Having never played in the Premier League, I can not say what it is like in changing rooms at that level, but mentalities may differ slightly at that level.
I have never experienced players getting together and saying they need to get a manager out, just because they would have a better chance of success under a new one.
This would never happen.
How would a player know who the new manager would be? How would they know whether a new manager would want them to be part of his plans?
Longest-serving managers in England Arsene Wenger (Arsenal), 19 seasons Paul Tisdale (Exeter City), nine seasons Karl Robinson (MK Dons), five seasons Darren Ferguson (Peterborough United), four seasons Dean Smith (Walsall), four seasons Jim Bentley (Morecambe), four seasons
They wouldn't know what type of football a new manager would want to play, or even whether he would want them to train different hours or different days. Why try so hard to get rid of the old boss when you have no idea what's around the corner?
The job of a manager in any business is to get his or her team believing in the path they are trying to lead their team down and how they are going to get there.
Players generally do not make conscious decisions to sabotage their gaffer, but that doesn't mean they are not affected by what is going on at a club.
When the team is winning, the message from the manager becomes stronger - it is more tangible and carries more and more weight.
When a team starts to lose, no matter how much the manager and the team believes in what they are trying to do, this message can become slightly diluted.
Should a group of paid professional people need a figurehead to motivate them? Can they not motivate themselves?
They are fair questions.
Gary Waddock was the last Wycombe manager to lose his job, in 2012
But the margins between winning and losing in professional sport are often so small that the tiniest of things can make a big difference.
A firm belief in what your manager is telling you and an ability to be able to carry out those instructions are vital.
Contrary to popular belief, a lot of footballers are intelligent people who care deeply about their job.
We are proud people who are being judged constantly on each and every performance.
We can motivate ourselves but we are creatures of habit and routine, and a good team always has a strong, confident leader.
The last time I lost a manager at Wycombe was when Gary Waddock left in September 2012.
We had just been relegated from League One and the season had not started too great for us in League Two when expectations were high.
I was actually out of the team injured when the gaffer left, but I remember feeling absolutely awful that such a good man, a good footballing man, should be losing his job off the back of the results that we were getting.
When a side is performing badly, it is rarely down to just the manager, and that's something people would do well to remember when they are wondering who to blame.Mark Lewis, 58, has been left in charge of the town hall in San Fulgencio after the mayor, deputy mayor and four senior councillors were all taken into police custody following allegations of real estate corruption.
Mr Lewis, who lives in Spain with his wife and daughter, was given the title by default on Wednesday on the grounds that he is one of only two councillors from the ruling coalition not to be arrested.
"Mr Lewis has taken charge of the council on the grounds that he is the fourth deputy mayor. Everyone above him in the pecking order has been arrested," the source added.
"Everything is in a state of chaos since these arrests and we are left with someone who speaks only a few words of Spanish," said a source at the town hall.
Mr Lewis refused to comment on his new position except to say: "It's only temporary I hope. I'm sure this will all be sorted out very quickly and everything will return to normal."
The town hall was thrown into disarray when deputy mayor Manuel Barrera Garcia, 61, was detained by the National Police on October 20 after a video showed him allegedly accepting a 5000 Euro bribe from a property developer.
Socialist mayor Trinidad Martinez, and councillors Juan Antonio Gamuz, Juan Antonio Gonzalez Palenca, Mariano Marti and Fina Reme were arrested on Wednesday lunchtime as the corruption probe widened.
Police raided the town hall and seized documents, in a move that mirrors the investigation into the Marbella scandal of March 2006 when the entire planning committee were arrested.
Mr Barrera was allegedly caught on camera saying: "It's better if you give me big bills, they take up less space".
He denies any wrongdoing and claims he was set up by political rivals.
"I am completely innocent. The video was manipulated to make it look like I accepted a bribe," he said after being released on bail.
The Spanish government have vowed to clamp down on corruption by town officials and rid the nation of its reputation for underhand dealings.
Earlier in the week two other mayors from the Valencia region, Socialist Jose Joaquin Moya from Bigastro and Juan Jose Rubio, an independent from Zarra, were arrested on real estate corruption charges.
Local police chief Bernardo Cortijo and the town hall's lawyer Juan Antonio Ramos Calabria have also been detained.
Until his promotion to the top position Mr Lewis, who is thought to have lived in Spain for more than 20 years, held the title of Councillor for Animals, a role which included organising searches for lost pets and monitoring the local animal rescue centre.
He was elected along with another British councillor, Mick Blake, in May 2007 after campaigning on an anti-corruption ticket with the independent AIM party in a bid to improve the representation of the large expatriate community of San Fulgencio.
The town, 25 miles from Alicante in south-eastern Spain, has a population of 11,000, some 80 percent of which are foreigners. The vast majority of those are British who live in a part of town dubbed the "English ghetto" by locals who complain that little effort is made by many of the expatriates to adopt the local culture and learn Spanish.
English style pubs in the area serve British beer and all day breakfasts.South Korea's prime minister has announced his resignation over the widespread criticism over the government's response to the April 16 ferry disaster.
Prime Minister Chung Hong-won announced his resignation early on Sunday at an emergency news conference in Seoul, the capital.
"I offer my apology for having been unable to prevent this accident from happening and unable to properly respond to it afterwards," he said. "I believed I, as the prime minister, certainly had to take responsibility and resign."
Chung's resignation was approved by President Park Geun-hye although her spokesman later said that he would remain in his post until the rescue operation was completed, the Reuters news agency reported.
The Sewol ferry sank on a routine trip south from the port of Incheon to the traditional holiday island of Jeju.
The Sewol ferry sank in waters off Jindo Island in the southwestern province of South Jeolla on 16 April [EPA]
The government, along with almost all of its branches, has come under fierce criticism over the disaster, and the handing of the rescue operation.
Chung said that he wanted to resign earlier, but had given the situation "first priority," adding that he did not want to be "any burden to the administration".
More than 300 people, most of them students and teachers from one high school on a field trip, have died or are missing and presumed dead.
The children were told to stay put in their cabins, where they waited for further orders. The confirmed death toll on Sunday was 187.
All 15 surviving crew members responsible for sailing the vessel are now in custody and face charges ranging from criminal negligence to abandoning passengers.
Tempers have frayed over the slow pace of the recovery and frequent changes in information provided by the government.
President Park Geun-hye, who has the most power in government, was booed by some of the relatives of the missing when she visited a gym where families of the missing were staying.Oklahoma congressional race takes bizarre twist as challenger accuses incumbent of being a robot double of the real Congressman
Challenger Timothy Ray Murray believes incumbent Rep. Frank Lucas was actually killed years ago and replaced by robot duplicate
Despite claims, Timothy Ray Murray only garnered 5 per cent of the vote
Lucas has yet to deny robot nature
It's important for a voters to be informed, especially if one of their candidates suspects his opponent has been replaced by a 'robot look-alike.'
The race for Oklahoma's Third Congressional District took a bizarre twist when Timothy Ray Murray claimed incumbent Rep. Frank Lucas was replaced by a robotic body double three years ago.
On his Web site, Murray alleges the switch took place after Lucas was killed by the World Court.
Smear campaign: Challenger Timothy Ray Murray claimed incumbent Rep. Frank Lucas was replaced by a robotic body double three years ago
'Rep. Frank Lucas, and a few other Oklahoma and other States’ Congressional Members were depicted as being executed by The World Court on or about Jan. 11, 2011 in Southern Ukraine. On television they were depicted as being executed by the hanging about the neck until death on a white stage and in front of witnesses,' Murray writes.
'Other now current Members of Congress have shared those facts on television also,' he continues in the weird missive. 'We know that it is possible to use look alike artificial or man-made replacements, however Rep. Lucas was not eligible to serve as a Congressional Member after that time.'
Just so you know that this isn't the first time a politician has been replaced by an automaton, Murray adds a brief history of schemes from the Defense Department.
'This is a situation similar to the Senators' from Kentucky situation in the 2012 election,' he wrote. 'I am contesting that this matter has happen since his election was blocked, because of the U.S. Defense Department's use of Mr. Murray's DNA.'
Answer us: Despite winning the election in a landslide, Lucas has yet to address the robot rumors
Not to worry. Murray himself is 100 per cent human. as Business Insider reports.
'I, Timothy Ray Murray, am a human, born in Oklahoma,' he pledges.
'I will never use a look alike to replace my (The Office's) message to your or to anyone else, as both the other Republican Challengers have.'
Unfortunately for Murray, the robot warning didn't help with voters.
He gained only 5 per cent of the vote while alleged robot Frank Lucas garnered a landslide 83 per cent.NaN:aN Slater winning Volcom Pro, Fiji 2013. Picture: ASP
KELLY Slater took out the Volcom Pro in 10ft barrels at Cloudbreak, Fiji, today, in one of the most devastating performances of his 20 years on tour.
With a few minutes left in the final, he had his opponent, Australian two-time world champion Mick Fanning, on the ropes, needing not one but two excellent rides to regain the lead.
Fanning picked up a couple of waves that might have affected the result of earlier heats, but his body language said it all: he was out of the race, and he knew it.
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Even more remarkable was that Fanning logged the first excellent ride of the final, a 9.2. But Slater fought back with a 9.8 and a perfect 10, making his lead unassailable.
Slater’s body language was a stark contrast. He was not only dominant, but was also having the time of his life. He stood up tall in a monster barrel and threw his arms wide in what Fanning later called the “Jesus pose”, as if to say, “How sick is this!”
That same wave almost ripped his head off seconds later when the lip came down on him. To most surfers it would have been a session-ending (or even life-ending) wipeout, but Slater shrugged it off and was straight back out there.
There were six perfect 10s scored during the event. Four of them were Slater’s.
“Oh man, what a day,” he said after winning the final, having surfed three heats in a day. “That was insane.”
The two finalists are now leading the ratings for the world title, with Slater slightly edging ahead of Fanning.
Defending world champion Joel Parkinson looked the form surfer of the event early on, but was narrowly eliminated by Fanning, his close friend and rival, in the quarter-finals.
The next event, in Bali this month, marks the halfway point of the title race.The prime minister has reportedly sounded out senior colleagues on holding a plebiscite after the next election
A plebiscite on same-sex marriage could delay change for two years, advocates fear, following reports Tony Abbott was canvassing the idea with colleagues.
Channel 7 reported on Monday night the prime minister had sounded out some of his senior colleagues on holding a plebiscite after the next election, following Labor’s decision to keep a conscience vote for two terms, before moving to make support for same-sex marriage a binding policy..
Critics say Labor’s decision has taken the urgency out of the debate and potentially deferred a planned Coalition party room discussion on granting a conscience vote.
A cross party bill, backed by Liberal MP Warren Entsch, had been slated to be introduced to parliament on 11 August, paving the way for the Coalition party room to debate whether it would allow a conscience vote.
Labor conference backs binding vote on same-sex marriage after two terms Read more
The opposition leader, Bill Shorten, has criticised talk of a plebiscite as a distraction and avoidance tactic.
“I believe our parliament is up for making marriage equality a reality right now,” Shorten said. “The only thing standing in the way is Tony Abbott and his determination that Liberal MPs must fall in behind his anti-marriage equality views.”
Shorten believes the issue should be resolved in parliament, through the granting of a conscience vote.
“Every day that Tony Abbott denies his MPs a free vote, he is denying millions of Australians a fundamental right [to marriage].”
Guardian Australia has contacted the prime minister’s office to verify reports he is considering a plebiscite. Liberal MPs were coy on whether they had been approached in relation to a plebiscite.
The attorney general, George Brandis, on Tuesday refused to answer reporters’ questions on the issue, saying only: “The prime minister and I speak about a range of issues all the time”.
The parliamentary secretary to the prime minister, Alan Tudge, told Sky News he had not discussed a plebiscite with Abbott, but denied the measure was intended to stall progress on same-sex marriage.
“It’s not a delaying tactic,” Tudge said. “At the moment we have a party position and that is the position that the Liberal party has had since its formation, that marriage is a union between a man and a woman.”
The national director of Australian Marriage Equality, Rodney Croome, has warned holding a plebiscite could delay same-sex marriage until 2017.
“A plebiscite outcome would not be binding, so even when Australia voted for marriage equality the issue would still return to parliament and face the same set of opponents it does now,” he said. “We are also concerned about the poor rules governing plebiscites, including the fact the government can set the question without parliament’s approval, as well as how potentially divisive and polarising a plebiscite campaign could be.”
He wants the matter dealt with sooner in parliament.
“A plebiscite would be seen as the prime minister spending millions to deny parliament the right to vote because he knows marriage equality could pass if there is a Coalition free vote,” Croome said.
Abbott has previously said same-sex marriage should be dealt with in parliament, rather than through a referendum such as the one held in Ireland in May.
Ireland becomes first country to legalise gay marriage by popular vote Read more
“Plainly, this is a matter that could quite properly come before the commonwealth parliament if members of parliament wanted it to be raised,” he told reporters in May.
The leader of the House, Christopher Pyne, refused to confirm the party room would go ahead with discussion on granting a conscience vote.
“Whether it is a conscience vote if there is a vote on the bill in the spring session or any session is a matter that we need to discuss,” he told ABC Radio on Tuesday morning.
Pyne, who has not declared which way he would vote if a conscience vote was granted, urged caution in rushing the discussion.
“I think it would be a shame if it was raised in such a way as to kill off a discussion on marriage equality, so therefore I think we need to be careful about how this matter is handled,” he said.
“I haven’t yet seen a cross party bill. I’ve seen reporting of a cross party bill. And I think the best way to deal with this, the most appropriate way to deal with it is to ensure that the debate is respectful, that all sides get an opportunity to put their view,” Pyne said.
Tudge also backed the party room as the place for discussion of the matter.
“There certainly are many people in the party who want a conscience vote, but ultimately it is up to the party room to make that determination – whether we have a party vote or a conscience vote,” he said.
But he would not put a timeframe on the discussion.
“That will be discussed at some stage in our party room and a decision will be made in relation to do that.”
Acting Greens leader Larissa Waters said the party was not opposed to holding a plebiscite, but it was unnecessary.
“We just don’t think we need one. If Tony Abbott were to give his party room members a free vote, then we could pass any number of the bills that are before the parliament this year,” she told reporters in Canberra. “Let’s just hurry up and get a vote on one of these bills.”Alberta NDP members are openly discussing splitting from the federal party after delegates agreed to support "Toronto political dilettantes" and their "garbage" Leap Manifesto at the party's national convention in Edmonton.
"I'm spitting angry," says Alberta labour leader Gil McGowan. "These downtown Toronto political dilettantes come to Alberta and track their garbage across our front lawn."
The manifesto, which advocates a swift end to the use of fossil fuels, including a moratorium on new infrastructure projects such as pipelines, was spearheaded by documentary filmmaker Avi Lewis and his wife, anti-capitalism activist and author Naomi Klein.
McGowan said some Alberta NDP delegates were so upset over the document, they began to talk about separating from their federal counterparts.
"Members started coming to me to say, 'We have to write a resolution to our provincial convention to split from the federal party.'
"Those discussions are going on right now," said McGowan.
Labour leader Gil McGowan says the Leap Manifesto will haunt the Alberta NDP. (CBC) While Alberta Premier Rachel Notley and her cabinet ministers spoke out against the manifesto during the weekend, a motion adopting the principles of the document passed narrowly Sunday — opening the door to further debate.
"We had nothing to do with this nonsense," McGowan told CBC's Edmonton AM radio show on Monday.
McGowan, a party delegate and former federal NDP candidate, called support for the manifesto an "incredibly poor strategic decision" and "bad political optics."
The people who wrote this very naive document have just handed a big stick to the Wildrose and the PCs. -Gil McGowan, Alberta labour leader
"They didn't give any thought to the political problems they're creating for NDP in Alberta," he said. "They didn't give any credit for the work the Alberta government has been doing on climate change … the best climate change policies in the country, bar none."
The motion puts the Alberta New Democrats in an awkward position, he said.
"The people who wrote this very naive document have just handed a big stick to the Wildrose and the PCs," McGowan said.
In fact, Wildrose Leader Brian Jean wasted no time in calling the document "a radical anti-Alberta resolution," while Alberta PC Leader Ric McIver linked the Notley government to "radical socialist ideology."
The manifesto will be discussed in every NDP riding and brought back to the national party convention in two years, a year before the Alberta provincial election.
"It breaks my heart," McGowan said. "We finally elect a progressive government in Alberta and these people are not giving them room to govern."
But it was on a personal level he felt most betrayed, he said.
As a labour leader, the manifesto's disregard for working people annoyed McGowan the most.
"It makes them feel good to say that we have to deal with climate change and shut down the fossil fuel industry, but they ignore what they say has real implications for real people."Michael Tait has been at the forefront of Christian music for over 25 years. Whether it’s been with the Newsboys or dc Talk, Tait has brought an undeniable energy to CCM music. We recently spoke about the influence of his parents, his time in both bands, and his reaction to the controversial comments of former Newsboy George Perdikis.
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Gabe: First off, congratulations on God’s Not Dead going gold. Is that the first gold record you’ve had with the Newsboys?
Michael: Yes, with Newsboys, it is our first together. In today’s market, it has become increasingly difficult to sell a half-million records or more because of the advances in digital downloads and streaming, so anytime you are blessed to reach that plateau, it is especially exciting! To have a gold record truly says a lot about the affect and the intensity that God’s Not Dead has had on the public and on our industry.
Gabe: So would you say you’ve settled in with the Newsboys? I know it’s been about 5 or 6 years since you’ve joined.
Michael: Yeah… 6 years is about 600 shows… Actually even more like 700 or 800 shows. We are definitely settled in. I like to think of us as a band of brothers.
Gabe: Would you say there are things you appreciate more now with the Newsboys than you did with dc Talk?
Michael: Well, while my time with Toby and Kevin was very special in my life, being blessed to be the only lead singer brings another level of enjoyment and purpose. I definitely feel more of a responsibility, but it’s also more rewarding because I get to help cast vision and provide leadership, in partnership with our management team, all trying to follow God’s guidance! It’s a huge honor because I’ve gotten to do this twice. How lucky could a guy be? First DC Talk and now the Newsboys. Both have had pretty amazing success, and with the Newsboys, as I so often say, we’re just getting started. So I’m pretty stoked that I’m still getting to do this at this point in my life. I’m honored and blessed.
Gabe: One of the biggest stories of the last month has been Newsboys founder George Perdikis coming out and saying he’s now an atheist. What’s been the band’s reaction to that?
Michael: Well, it’s interesting you mention this. It’s my understanding that George was part of the original band that first came to America, and performed a handful of shows here, but honestly, it was so long ago, that none of us today (and my brothers have all been together for nearly 20 years now) actually ever played with him. I think maybe Duncan has met him before, but personally, I never have.
Gabe: You’ve always been really adamant about how special your parents are to you. You grew up in a 2 parent home, which can be rare in and of itself. Obviously they influenced you. How did they influence you growing up especially hearing about how they went through the civil rights movement?
Michael: Mom and dad were great, Godly people. They weren’t perfect. We’re all flawed. But they were forgiven and now they’re both in heaven. But having Mom and Dad in my life… Parents that were together was a big deal for an inner city black kid. Let alone, parents that were together that were believers. That’s a miracle. My dad grew up in the south. Mom kind of did too I guess but Dad was from Mobile, Alabama. His grandfather…my great-grandfather was killed by the KKK. Crazy stuff happened. My dad had to make a decision when he became an adult: “I can teach my kids to love or hate.” And thank God he chose love because love conquers all. Love casts out all fear. And because of their great example, including 55 faithful years of marriage, that foundation is still something I will stand upon as I go forward.
Gabe: So when you hear a name like Martin Luther King or a name like Rosa Parks, what comes to mind?
Michael: Struggle. Determination. Oppression. Victory. Freedom. Consistency… All these things. Leaders, a lot of times, won’t make any hard decisions… But when a breakthrough happens and everyone gets on board, it’s always: “Look at what we did, look at what we did.” But, I coined this phrase: “When leaders win, everybody wins. When leaders lose, they lose alone.” But it’s worth the fight. And those are two great examples of humans that withstood amazing oppression on every level and succeeded. And now we all benefit from it.
Gabe: Growing up listening to CCM music, Michael Tait was the only African American lead singer that I knew of. Sure, you’ve had guys like Andre Crouch, Kirk Franklin, and even now with Lecrae…But those guys really aren’t CCM…
Michael: Yeah, yeah, I hear what you are saying. They’re not really CCM pop, but they are all definitely important to CCM music, that is Contemporary Christian Music.
Gabe: Yeah! You’ve been pretty much the only guy. Do you ever feel the weight of that? Do you feel the importance of that?
Michael: You know, I’ve wondered about that question my whole life. And it’s a great question, Gabe. Actually, the band teases me about it sometimes. They say, “Tait, you’re the black Bono or the black Mick Jagger..” And I don’t do the All-American, stereotypical, African-American moves as far as dancing goes. I kind of do my own thing and have my own style.. I’ve always said I have twisted roots because my mother was part Native American and African American and then my dad was African American. So I definitely have a platform that I’m well aware of…Even as an African American singing to people of all races. I think that’s what’s great about being in a band like the Newsboys. We’re like living integration just like dc Talk was. But people see us get together on stage, white and black. It does feel special. I don’t mean this in a conceited way but I kinda like being that guy. I would love for more African Americans to come along and desire to do CCM on a pop level. But for the most part, you’re right. That day remains to be seen.
Gabe: How important have songs like Walls, Colored People, and What Have We Become meant to you in your career?
Michael: Oh man, it’s exactly how I feel inside about how I want people to see the world and how they see each other. To see each other more than just at an epidermis level, and more based on the heart. To give people a shot not based on their skin color but just because the fact that their human. God made everybody equal. Colors don’t hate, people do. So it has been big for me to sing these songs all on the same stage with my Caucasian brothers. Having one voice of freedom, love, acceptance, and forgiveness…That’s powerful.
Gabe: Now, we mentioned Colored People. That’s on the Jesus Freak record. That record turns 20 years old this year…Albums have come and gone but you still get asked about that record in almost every interview that you do. Why is it still so relevant today?
Michael: You know, we were blessed Gabe. It’s one of those records that every artist wants to make, and if you didn’t you wished to make it. But we were definitely blessed. You could probably answer that question better than I could about it’s impact on people’s lives. It crazy…Two generations have now enjoyed Jesus Freak and Colored People and In the Light.. Strong strong strong songs from the past that have stood the test of time. That’s very rare.
Gabe: So you guys are planning on doing something special for the 20th anniversary right?
Michael: Who knows…I’m sure all of your media buddies would love that, right? (laughs) I can’t promise anything right now.
Gabe: I don’t know if you knew this but Jesus Freak was the most requested song on Air 1 last year…
Michael: Wow! Newsboys are keeping it alive too.
Gabe: For sure, God’s Not Dead was up there too.
Michael: Wow…
Gabe: You definitely have had some staying power! Thanks for your time Mike.
Michael: Take care, Gabe.
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Make sure you follow the Newsboys and Michael Tait on Twitter: @Newsboys and @MichaelTait7. And visit Newsboys.com to find out when the band is coming to a town near you!
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We are Progressive Youth Organization, Saint Louis, founded in January, 2016, and the only revolutionary mass organization in Saint Louis. We are dedicated to organizing and uniting the broad masses of revolutionary minded, working class and student youth in our city. See our Facebook page and our blog here.
Our city faces several unique challenges. Downtown, we see our street family and working class people of color driven to the brink of starvation by the police, who frequently hound and harass them, seize their personal property and dispose of it without compensation, and arrest them for no reason. This is with the express intent and purpose of driving them off the streets to make the city "safe" and "clean" for tourists and people who come from the county to gentrify the area. The police continue to kill us, mercilessly. People in North Saint Louis live in tumble down two and four family flats and pay expensive rents for low quality housing, and several dozen people have been forced to move because of the building of a new GIS facility. After the election of Donald Trump, and the emboldening of the most reactionary segments of the United States population, our work is more important than ever!
We, as a revolutionary mass organization, are entirely self and community funded. We do not accept money from Non-Governmental Organizations or from imperialist institutions that would then seek to direct our work or stifle our struggle. We are accountable to none but the masses of our communities. Your contribution to our work will help with production of propaganda materials, which are essential to publicize the struggles of the masses of our city, attending and linking up with revolutionaries across the country, and the provision of material support to struggling workers in our city.
Red salute!One fish species is able to adjust the gender ratio of its population, through changes at the molecular level, in response to changing environmental conditions, shows a KAUST research team1.
"Several species of fish, and in particular coral reef fish, are able to swap their sex during their lifespan," explained Timothy Ravasifrom KAUST's Environmental Epigenetic Program. "This is known as sequential hermaphroditism."
Such characteristics can render fish communities more resilient to disruptions that might otherwise prove catastrophic to their reproductive capabilities. For example, clownfish "families" normally consist of one mature male and female plus numerous juveniles. If the female disappears, the remaining male alters hormone levels to transform into a female, restoring the previous gender balance.
The precise biology of this is unclear, and Ravasi and his KAUST colleagues set out to identify changes in gene expression within the brain and gonads that drive this process of sequential hermaphroditism. They compared gene activity profiles from fully developed males and females as well as males at multiple stages of the process.
After two weeks of being separated from a female, the researchers detected clear changes in gene expression within the brains of males that apparently herald the onset of gender transition, and complementary changes in gonadal gene expression became apparent a few weeks later.
The researchers were subsequently able to map the genetic machinery driving this process.
"We identified a large number of candidate molecular pathways that are potentially able to fine-tune and therefore control the gender ratio in a population of fish," notes Ravasi.
One key candidate is a gene encoding an enzyme called aromatase, which is known to be involved in the production of estrogen. Aromatase was highly expressed in both the brain and gonads of the fish adapting to gender ratio alterations. Ravasi and the research team also found many other genes that are likely to interact with aromatase in managing the degeneration of the testes and the development of the ovaries.
With these foundational insights into this complex biological process, Ravasi now hopes to explore how this adaptive process is influenced by environmental factors and specifically climate change.
"We are not sure whether the ocean's warming and acidification can influence the tightly controlled regulation of gender ratio changes," he said. "We are systematically exposing the fish to end-of-century predicted ocean conditions and trying to understand whether climate change alters these molecular pathways."
###The deaf puppy or dog needs to be looking at you directly at you FIRST before you can actually give the dog a sign command. Your first training should be mini sessions of working on getting the deaf dog to look at you. I sign and touch my nose with Nitro to give him the cue for “watch me” sign. When he makes eye contact with me, I give him an open flash of my hand (to visually mark the correct behavior instead of the sound of a clicker like the do in Positive Reinforcement Clicker Training to mark the right behavior) and then I give him a treat. Repeat, repeat, repeat.
To start on different sign cues, give the specific sign cue you want the dog to perform, lure the dog into place with a high value treat, (I use Light Bologna and cut it into very small squares) give a open flash of your hand when the dog does what you want (or a thumbs up sign), then treat. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Be sure to check out some of the great training videos by other deaf dog owners under our Training Video section to see how the positive reinforcement training works with deaf dogs.
Also if you start training your deaf dog to do new tricks and you want to learn new signs. I use a couple of different American Sign Language web-sites like signsavvy.com or aslpro.com and then just type in the word in the search box. Once you type in the word and press enter there will be a 5 second video with someone signing the word so you can see how to sign the word. I use the ASL signs but sometimes I only have one hand free so my deaf dogs know the one handed version of an ASL sign which we like to call Deaf Dogs Sign Language or DDSL. If you decide to come up with your own signs for your deaf dog that would be considered DDSL.
I watched this video over and over and over again the night before I picked up my deaf puppy Nitro from the shelter. Alisha did a great job on this video and according to my deaf dogs Nitro, Bud and myself, Alisha totally ROCKS! ~ Christina Lee – Deaf Dogs RockHistory Edit
Health studies on exposure to uranium Edit
Concerned over the adverse health consequences which Europeans experienced from uranium mines, William Bale and John Harley conducted an independent study. Their work led the US government to start the United States Public Health Study (USPHS) on uranium mine workers. Bale and Harley's studies focused on identifying the level of radon in mines and assessing any correlation with disease, specifically lung cancer. Radon, they found, can attach to mine dust, which would be inhaled and subsequently concentrated in the lung tissue. Because of this action, workers breathed radon gas at concentrations up to 100 times higher than the amount of radon gas indicated.[10] The USPHS was subsequently launched in 1951, with two goals: to identify uranium mine environment exposures, and to conduct a medical evaluation of the miners.[10] Ethical concerns Edit The USPHS study raised ethical concerns. The Navajo workers were rarely notified of the possible dangers which the USPHS was studying.[9] As late as 1960, the USPHS medical consent form failed to inform miners about the possible health risks of working in the mine.[10] The Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments, created in 1994 to explore the treatment of the workers, said: "'Had they been better informed, they could have sought help in publicizing the fact that working conditions in the mines were extremely hazardous, which might have resulted in some mines being ventilated earlier than they were."[10] The USPHS failed to abide by a centerpiece of |
tough to reconcile with U.S. eagerness to “help” Brazil pump oil off its coasts and ship it here. U.S. companies, enticed by government loan guarantees, are already lined up to sell Brazil drilling equipment and services. Forget the implications for U.S. dependency on foreign sources. What does this posture say about American regard for the natural environment outside U.S. territory?A Dutch television show titled Raped or Not, which has met with public outrage, is likely to release in the Netherlands on November 7, according to reports. Produced by Dutch broadcaster BNNVARA, the show features a panel of 14 youngsters look at some real-life rape cases and deliberate upon whether they should have qualified as sexual assault. The cases and the consecutive trials are re-enacted on the show and the final ruling is then discussed by the panel.
Raped or Not comes at a time when there has been a global debate on sexual harassment after multiple accusations of sexual misconduct against Hollywood personalities like producer Harvey Weinstein, director James Toback and actors Kevin Spacey, Dustin Hoffman, and Brett Ratner as well as the #MeToo social media campaign where women across the world shared their experiences of sexual harassment.
Producer Bernard Van Den Bosch said that Raped or Not is a look at the “grey area” in cases in which there is a difference of opinion about whether consent was violated in a sexual encounter. He said that the recent allegations of sexual assault against prominent Hollywood personalities are “nuanced”.
Citing the recent rape allegations by Dutch TV Producer Jelle Brandt Corstius against producer Gijs van Dam, who in turn claimed the sex was consensual, Van Den Bosch said, “Those are personal dramas. One says rape, the other sees it as an innocent sexual encounter. Our show is about that grey area.”
Producer Bernard van den Bosch told The Sun that “in-your-face title” of the show had triggered backlash from Dutch audiences. “First everyone raised their eyebrows, now everybody says: ‘What a timing”, he said.In the Armenian town of Artashat, a grid of Soviet concrete and corrugated tin roofs an hour from the capital city of Yerevan, few buildings stand out like the meeting hall of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). Unlike the crumbling towers that surround it, this building sports an impeccably white façade. On one Sunday in May, more than a hundred Armenians — most in their 40s and 50s — are sharing what Mormons call spiritual “testimony,” their words translated via earpiece to attending American missionaries.
Here in the Caucasus region, ethnicity and faith are often treated as one. Christians in Armenia and Georgia — which in the fourth century became the first two countries worldwide to adopt Christianity as their state religion — almost uniformly belong to the Armenian Apostolic and Georgian Orthodox Churches, respectively (93 percent in Armenia, 83 percent in Georgia).
But a near-century of Soviet-imposed secularism dramatically weakened the standing of state churches. Now, many ethnic Armenians and Georgians are gravitating toward American evangelical sects with an emphasis on attracting converts and a strong missionary presence in the region, such as LDS and Jehovah’s Witnesses. In Armenia, the number of Jehovah’s Witnesses here hovers around 11,000; LDS claims more than 3,000 members (also known as Mormons). These may be small numbers, but they are significant in this country of 3 million, where practitioners of other faiths tend to be members of minority ethno-religious groups, such as Jews or Muslim Kurds.
Both Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons identify as Christians, although their non-Trinitarian doctrine — both deny that Jesus Christ shares a single fundamental divine essence with God the Father and the Holy Spirit — has often brought them into conflict with mainline Christian tradition.
“Ask any Armenian on the street and they’ll say, ‘Yes, I believe in God. I believe in Jesus,’ ” says Varuzhan Pogosyan, president of the LDS Mission in Armenia. “But they don’t always practice.”
Pogosyan’s journey started shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union. Then an expatriate in Russia, he attended a local Armenian church, both for spiritual reasons and for the opportunity to socialize with other ethnic Armenians. But an encounter with a Mormon missionary made him realize he could do more than just attend services. “I could participate,” he says. “I could be involved in the life of the church.” In the absence of formal clergy, the LDS church offers ordinary members a greater role in church affairs, Pogosyan explains.
It is this sense of involvement that inspired his colleague, Margarit Ayvazyan, to convert. Like Pogosyan, Ayvazyan grew up nonreligious during Soviet rule, adopting atheism as a philosophically inclined teenager. Yet her encounters with LDS missionaries in the early 90's left her with a sense of spiritual fulfillment she had not found in her parents’ Armenian Apostolic services. In a traditional Armenian service, she says, “You just stand there and the priests pray.” Many Armenians cannot even understand the classical Armenian used in services. In LDS, where congregants are encouraged to share their experiences and participate in Bible-study classes, she has a role to play. Even those church members who do not become missionaries are encouraged to circulate information among family and friends, recruit curious “investigators” to visit services and keep track of lapsed members. Pogosyan says most converts here grew up like Ayvazyan: secular under the Soviet regime, but now seeking something more.So My Cat From Hell’s new season starts soon (if you haven’t seen it, it’s on Animal Planet, you need to watch). I love this show. I love quirky Jackson Galaxy, his penchant for for the rockabilly-ish and how he fixes even the worst of kitties, and makes the humans do actual work to ensure the kitty is living his or her best life. And chides them when they don’t put in the effort.
But essentially, I realize, I watch this show for the same reason I watch Jersey Shore: I feel better about my cats (and myself, when I watch Jerz). Jersey Shore is a bunch of pompous drunk morons who do really stupid things and say really stupid crap and get into the most ridiculous of fights. They make me feel better about ANY shenanagans I have caused by a night of too much Jager. Because as low as my lowest low is, I have never been that low. Nor have my lows occurred on such a consistent basis.
While Taco is quite possibly the biggest pain in the ass the cat world has ever seen, he’s relatively harmless. I would really like to fix the whole “pee on the couch” thing but for the most part, his antics are merely annoying and sometimes border on endearing. (UPDATE: The boyfriend read this blog and voiced his displeasure with my lack of concern about the couch peeing. As if I like it! Honey. I’m just saying it could be worse. At least it’s a medical problem.) Despite being loud and overly curious, he’s lovey, he’s cute, and he never tries to scratch my eyeballs out. Moosh is a oddball, with his random licking of things and proneness to perching, but overall he’s a very well-behaved cat.
These kitties on My Cat From Hell, they are crazy. The one that freaked me out most was the cat that launched himself chest high at his person. Moosh will launch himself on my shoulders, but not to go claw-crazy at my face. Most of the time the owners are well-meaning people, they just don’t understand cat like Jackson Galaxy.
So my confidence is boosted two-fold. One, my cats, albeit a little wacko, are not nearly as bad as these cats, which gives me a source of motherly pride, as well as a little bit of arrogance. Two, half the stuff Jackson teaches these people is stuff I already do innately. This makes me feel like I am MEANT to be a crazy cat lady. I KNOW cats. No special training needed. I don’t really know what this says about me, other than that I am a very empathetic person and I find cats more pleasant than humans. But I like to think this makes me special.
Just like I like to think that as long as I never show my “kooka” in a drunken haze on national television, that I am doing way better at life than a lot of people are. Although I rarely get embarrassed, because when you are as clumsy as me, you learn to be amused at your own antics. Otherwise I’d spend most of my life red-faced.
AdvertisementsThe tricky job of making Trojan’s condoms continually thinner and more pleasurable–while also ensuring their safety– is done by a mild-mannered Brit. How does condom developer and chief
principle scientist Mike Harrison do it?
Harrison arrived at Trojan in 1992 after a five-year stint working at an R&D lab for a Cambridge-based company that manufactures latex gloves and condoms. Since joining Trojan, Harrison has worked on product development, improving the company’s new technology, interactions with the FDA, condom standards, and writing patents. On a daily basis, Harrison says he “searches for innovative new technologies we can put in the Trojan line. We’re looking for sex to be better with Trojan products than without it.”
Condoms have progressed significantly since Harrison first came to Trojan. The company already used latex and natural lamb skin condoms when Harrison joined, but three major innovations have popped up since then. One of the biggest, Harrison says, was the development of a polyurethane condom that is latex allergen-free. That condom–the Supra–was launched in 1999. “It was a game-changer for Trojan in terms of technology,” Harrison explains. “It required new manufacturing abilities, new testing, and new lubricant systems.”
Trojan has also made progress in the area of thin condoms. The recently released ultra-thin BareSkin condom is 40% thinner than a standard Trojan condom. It’s the thinnest latex condom ever produced by the company.
Harrison’s favorite recent innovation is the Trojan Ecstasy, a baggy condom designed for freedom of movement. “The guy moves inside the condom instead of the condom and the guy moving together. It creates a whole new sensation,” he says.
While Harrison can’t reveal exactly what Trojan is working on now, he tells us that the company is constantly looking at new materials. After a condom has been tested for safety (including tests for volume, thickness, and tensile strength) it goes to a “bedroom panel” of 20 to 30 couples who often work with the company. It’s a rigorous gig–couples agree to have sex a certain number of times a month and give a fast turnaround on product evaluation. There is, apparently, a lot of paperwork involved.When Fox News Declared War On A Military Family June 4, 2014 12:14 PM EDT ››› Blog ›››››› ERIC BOEHLERT
When an emotional Jani and Robert Bergdahl strode into the White House Rose Garden on Saturday to the share the emotional announcement by President Obama that their son, Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl would be returning home after being held captive for five years by the Taliban, it's unlikely they could have foreseen that their family would soon be under attack by the right-wing media, or that Robert Bergdahl would be depicted on Fox News as a possible terrorist sympathizer; mocked on national television as he awaited a reunion with his ailing son. They couldn't have foreseen it because I don't think it's ever happened before. I don't think we've ever seen a dedicated media campaign to not only undermine a returning prisoner of war, but to also cast doubt onto the soldier's family; to portray them as un-American even as they prepare for their reunion. Instead, Fox News has helped transform the prisoner swap involving Taliban detainees into "an increasingly vicious partisan issue," as Buzzfeed described the Republican decision to go into relentless attack mode, complete with enlisted publicists and strategists, to subvert the return of an American POW. It's symptomatic of a conservative media mini-mob that now obsessively politicizing everything, and does it all with the knob turned up to 11. So in the name of partisan warfare there can be no trace of empathy or understanding for a family that spent nearly 2,000 days wondering if their soldier son would ever come home. Wondering if he was being tortured or treated humanely by the Taliban as he passed years away in solitary confinement. There can be no waiting to get the facts; to actually hear from Bowe Bergdahl himself and let him explain the 2009 actions that led to his capture. For the attacks against Obama to stick, Bergdahl and his family became the target of a character assassination crusade. Note this fact: A lot of the current Bergdahl-related theatrics being played out in the right-wing media appear to have been in the works for quite a while. For years, in fact. In 2012, Michael Hastings reported in Rolling Stone that when talk first surfaced of a possible prisoner swap between the U.S. and the Taliban, Republicans immediately began playing election year politics [emphasis added]: According to White House sources, Marc Grossman, who replaced Richard Holbrooke as special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, was given a direct warning by the president's opponents in Congress about trading Bowe for five Taliban prisoners during an election year. "They keep telling me it's going to be Obama's Willie Horton moment," Grossman warned the White House. The threat was as ugly as it was clear: The president's political enemies were prepared to use the release of violent prisoners to paint Obama as a Dukakis-like appeaser, just as Republicans did to the former Massachusetts governor during the 1988 campaign. Fast-forward two years and that's exactly what's unfolding. The only twist is that as part of the political retribution, a military family is being smeared, too.
Yes, the unique circumstances of Bergdahl's capture (was he a deserter?) and his release are legitimate areas for debate. Once he's back on U.S. soil, the military will be able to fully review how he came into enemy hands and determine whether further punishment is in order. And Robert Bergdahl's unorthodox and aggressively activist campaign to secure his son's release has certainly been newsworthy.
But with Fox News and the helm of the restless, turbo-fueled outrage machine, thoughtful debate isn't allowed. Instead, this was a typical headline from one right-wing site this week: "Bergdahl: From POW to POS?", while The Drudge Report condemned the soldier as a "rat." As blogger Charles Johnson noted, by Tuesday, conservatives at Hot Air and Breitbart had posted no less than 42 Bergdahl items/rants between them.
Despite the coordinated media hysteria, many experts in the field downplay the announced wartime exchange as being historic, unusual, or even controversial. "This is a legitimate prisoner swap," Peter Mansoor, a retired Army colonel and professor of military history at Ohio State University told USA Today.
And John B. Bellinger III, who served as the top lawyer at the National Security Council and then the State Department under President George W. Bush, noted the Taliban prisoners released from Guantanamo were already heading for freedom soon:
In my view, the U.S. would not be able to hold them forever. Indeed, it is likely that the U.S. would be required, as a matter of international law, to release them shortly after the end of 2014, when U.S. combat operations cease in Afghanistan.
In other words, the White House was able to secure the release of an American citizen in exchange for five Taliban detainees who were likely to be set free next year anyway. And by the way, when negotiations to free Bergdahl first began, the Taliban insisted the U.S. release 15 prisoners and provide a cash payment. In the end, they received five men and no money in exchange for Bergdahl.
On Fox, the debate over whether Bergdahl deserted his post had long ago been settled, so they quickly moved onto the next phase of the campaign, which was suggesting, without any proof, that the U.S. soldier was actually a Taliban sympathizer who might have fought against American forces.
"Can you imagine if it turns out that he was actually collaborating," Brian Kilmeade wondered out loud on Fox.
Imagine, indeed.
That mindset begins to explain why Kilmeade talked about Bowe Bergdahl's father this way:
I mean, he says he was growing his beard because his son was -- because his son was in captivity. Your son's out now. If you really don't, no longer want to look like a member of the Taliban, you don't have to look like a member of the Taliban. Are you out of razors?
The phrase 'dripping with contempt' barely covers the tasteless attack Kilmeade launched against a father who'd just spent every day of the previous five years trying to secure his son's release. For Fox talkers, that human element is irrelevant.
Meanwhile, Fox contributor Laura Ingraham stressed "More revelations coming out about the left-wing father of Sergeant Bergdahl I mean, left wing doesn't even begin to describe him." So being "left wing" means you should be mocked while you await your son's return from a Taliban prison?
For Fox contributor Allen West, Robert Bergdahl's use of Arabic in remarks from the Rose Garden were evidence he had "sanctified" the White House "and claimed it for Islam."
More from Fox on Robert Bergdahl:
*Is he an "Islamic sympathizer?"
*"He grew it out of sympathy wit the Taliban"
*If he wasn't so light-skinned, he actually looks like a terrorist."
*"He looks like Muslim"
All of these attacks were launched in the name of scoring partisan points against Obama for okaying the prisoner swap. Can you imagine though, if months from now word leaked out that Obama had a deal on the table to get the only American prisoner home from the Afghanistan War and the president refused to secure the man's freedom? If Obama supposedly "disdains" the troops by winning Bergdahl's release (so says Fox's Ralph Peters), what would feral Fox pundits have said if Obama left an American to die in solitary confinement knowing the soldier's health was deteriorating?
Recall that Republican Senators John McCain and Kelly Ayotte were in favor of bringing Bergdahl home -- until President Obama achieved it. In December, Allen West sneered that the Obama wasn't working hard enough to recover Bergdahl because there were "no camera highlights in it for him"; now that Obama has done so, West says he should be impeached.
So for the Obama obsessed, the Bergdahl's story's a win-win: They attack Obama for securing the soldier's release and they would have mercilessly condemned Obama for failing to secure the soldier's release. For the critics, it's a game.
For a military family from tiny Hailey Idaho, it's much more.The ACT government will spend $2 million in next month's budget encouraging kids to walk or ride to school.
The Active Streets for Schools and Ride or Walk to School programs will be expanded, while a dedicated Schools Transport Co-ordinator will be introduced and an Active Travel Officer will be included in the new Transport Canberra agency.
Amaroo primary year 4 students Parris Bangweni and Zayne Tennent at the school for an announcement of funding to expand active travel options for ACT students. Credit:Rohan Thomson
"We need to make riding and walking to school the norm in Canberra again," Transport and Municipal Services Minister Meegan Fitzharris said.
The government will invest $1 million in the Active Streets for Schools program to make it easier and safer for children to ride or walk to school. Funding will go towards upgrades for footpaths, and bike paths and signage to make school routes clear.The Wild Cards universe has been thrilling readers for over 25 years. David D. Levine’s “Discards” introduces Tiago Gonçalves, a teenager who scrapes collecting recyclables from the landfills of Rio de Janeiro. But after the Wild Card virus infects him, he learns to build something more.
In a dark, stinking room on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, its discolored cinder-block walls scarred with generations of graffiti, Tiago Gonçalves lay sweating and thrashing, delirious with fever.
For a bed, Tiago had the box spring from a child’s crib, stained and torn, over which was thrown a threadbare sheet that had perhaps once been pink. A battered plastic milk crate nearby held one pair of jelly shoes, three shirts too big for his skinny frame, two pair of shorts, some underwear, a plastic mug and spoon, a toothbrush, and half a cake of soap. That was all. But his most treasured possessions sat proudly atop the crate: an oil lamp assembled from discarded cans and bottles, using braided electrical insulation as a wick; a Swiss Army knife, its long-vanished plastic side panels replaced with scraps of teak painstakingly shaped to fit the hand and polished to silky smoothness; and a bouquet of flowers he had made by twisting together bits of colorful plastic bags.
All of these things Tiago had rescued from the landfill. But there was no one to rescue Tiago. He had lain here for... he didn’t know how long, days maybe, without anyone to care for him. The other three catadores—“collectors” of recycled materials— who shared this twenty-reais-a-week room had lives and problems of their own. At least João had shared some of his water and fried manioc cakes.
Tiago shivered in his sweat-soaked sheet, which clung to him like it was his own skin. He ached all over; he could barely raise his head. He wondered if he might be dying.
He knew death. He had seen death far too often in his fifteen years. Every time there was a war between the gangs of drug traficantes that ruled the favelas, bodies turned up in the dump. Sometimes they were headless and handless, oozing black blood from the severed stumps. Once Tiago had unearthed a tiny newborn baby, the umbilical cord still attached, from a bag of rotten food scraps. Rats had eaten its ears. At seven he had seen his father gunned down by the police while stepping from his own shower, during a drug raid based on mistaken information.
His mother, too, was dead, or at least that was what he assumed. Two years ago she had gone off to look for work and never come back. Most likely she had been unlucky enough to catch a stray bullet from some traficantes’ battle, never identified, and buried anonymously in a public cemetery. But deep inside he harbored the fear that she had tired of him, of the strain of caring for a hungry, curious boy as an unemployed single mother, and had run away, back to the countryside from which she had come before he’d been born.
He should never have been born. Just by existing, Tiago made things worse.
João poked his head around the tattered bath curtain that separated Tiago’s space from the rest of the room. It must be the end of his work shift; time passed strangely in this delirious room without windows. “Oi, Tiago! Just checking to... Nossa Senhora!” Even in the near darkness, Tiago could see the shock in João’s eyes, sudden wide white circles in his dark face.
“Wha...?” Tiago struggled to sit up. “What’s wrong?”
“Have you seen your face?”
“No...”
João vanished, the curtain falling back, leaving Tiago blinking in dazed concern, heart pounding with fever and dread. João returned a moment later with the mirror from the men’s washroom, a shining triangular scrap with a deadly point. Without a word he held it up so Tiago could see himself.
At first he thought that what he was seeing was just an effect of the fractured mirror. Then, as he continued to stare and the mirror shifted slightly in João’s hands, he realized it was reality.
His face, formerly an ordinary but unlovely dark brown, had changed. It was now a dramatic hard-edged jigsaw of black, brown, and pink. One eye was still brown; the other, the one whose surrounding skin was lighter, was now hazel. His nose was divided down the middle—the left side had dark skin and a broad African nostril, the right was tawny, a slim Tupi Indian beak. Neither side matched the nose he remembered.
With wonder he touched his cheek. It was his own skin, not a mask—he could feel his fingertips lightly brushing his face—and its texture varied slightly, the pale skin smoother and the darker skin having a more waxy feel. The line between the two was distinct, but didn’t feel like a seam or a scar. He rubbed at it, first in concern and then in panic, but though both sides reddened and warmed, the color did not come off.
His hands were the same patchwork of colors.
Suddenly alarmed, he sat up and pulled his shirt open. Triangles and rectangles of a half dozen different shades ran all the way down his chest and stomach and into his pants. Legs and arms too. His own hands on the parti-colored skin felt like ice.
He realized he was making noises—ah, ah, ah—frightened, animal sounds. He clamped his mouth and eyes shut, hugged himself with his arms, and rocked, trying to calm himself.
“You got the virus, man,” came João’s voice through the keening in Tiago’s head. “The wild card.” He sounded half-terrified and half-awed.
“No!” Tiago moaned into his knees. But he knew it was true. What else could cause such a change to happen overnight?
The curtain rattled and Tiago opened his eyes. It was Eduardo, the oldest of the four and the one who collected the rent. “Que diabo!”
“He got the wild card,” João said, helpfully.
Eduardo clapped one hand over his nose and mouth and backed slowly away. “You can’t stay here,” he said, muffled. “You take your things and go, right now.”
“But it’s almost dark!” João protested.
Eduardo glared at João. “You wanna end up like him? Or worse, like some kind of fungus glob?” He shook his head, turned back to Tiago. “No. You go, now. Take your germy stuff, too. We’ll have to burn your mattress.”
João looked back and forth from Eduardo to Tiago. Tiago—still trembling, chilled, disoriented—just sat and stared back at him. Then Flavio, the fourth boy sharing the room, came in.
Flavio took one look at Tiago, shrieked, and fled.
“That’s it!” said Eduardo. He yanked down the curtain and threw it out the door. “Cai fora!” Beat it!
Tiago looked to João, but the younger boy just shook his head slightly, blinking in stunned incomprehension. He would find no support there.
Shuddering, barely able to stand, Tiago dragged himself out of bed. The Swiss Army knife he put in his zippered shorts pocket, along with his few bills and coins; the lamp and flowers would have to remain. The remaining contents of the milk crate he dumped onto the sheet, gathered up into a bundle, and slung over his shoulder.
He couldn’t even manage a good-bye. He just glared at the two other boys as he dragged himself out the door.
As he trudged down the street—really just a dirt track between houses assembled from cinder block, scrap lumber, and discarded doors, illuminated only by the flickering light of methane fires from the dump—he considered that he didn’t have enough money for even a shared room, and no one he knew had any extra space, even for one skinny little boy. Too late, he realized that he should have asked Eduardo for his share of the weekly rent back. But then again, Eduardo had probably already paid it to the landlord, or would claim to have done so.
The catadores worked around the clock. If he hurried, he might make the late shift, where he could pick up a few reais—if anyone would work with him. He turned his feet toward the Catadores’ Association yard, where the pickers received the fluorescent vests that showed their authorization to work and caught a truck to the landfill.
But when he arrived, he found the yard empty, with stacks of sorted plastics, papers, and metals sitting silently beneath the buzzing floodlights. The last truck had already departed. Only old Vitor, guardian of the cash box, remained, sitting on an upturned plastic bucket and smoking.
As he approached, Vitor looked up lazily, then jerked to his feet. “Porra!” he swore, the bucket rattling away behind him.
“It’s just me, Vitor. Tiago. The one who always brings the nice clean PET bottles.” But his hopes were already fading.
“Curinga!” the old man replied, crossing himself and backing away.
Tiago’s lip curled and he prepared to spit back a matching insult at the weak, shabby old man. But then he realized that Vitor’s slur, curinga, was just the literal truth.
Tiago had become a curinga—a joker. A twisted, pathetic victim of the wild card virus.
He didn’t belong here, not anymore. Not even the catadores, the lowest of the low, would associate with him. He was diseased, abased, offensive. There was only one place for him to go.
“I just need some money, man,” he said. He realized that tears were leaking slowly down his cheeks. He ignored them. “I need to get to Bairro dos Curingas.” Everyone knew Rio’s Jokertown—the neighborhood where the virus’s most unsightly sufferers gathered. There, at least, he would fit in. But Rio was a long way from the landfill, and he would need bus fare. “Can you give me an advance on tomorrow?”
Advances were strictly against the rules, and they both knew that Tiago would not be working tomorrow. Nonetheless, Vitor went into his little shack and returned with a small wad of money, which he flung at Tiago. The bills landed on the ground halfway between them.
Tiago sighed and took a step forward, reaching for the money. But before he could touch the bills, they fluttered up, seemingly of their own accord, to his outstretched fingers... and stuck there.
He blinked, shooting Vitor a glance that said Did you see that? But the old man just stood there trembling, clearly just wishing the scary curinga would go away.
“Thanks, man,” Tiago said. He pulled the bills off his fingers—they came away easily—and stuffed them into his pocket without looking.
As he trudged away toward the bus, Tiago wondered what the hell had just happened. Probably it was just a breeze that had moved the bills, and as for the sticking to his fingers... Well, what was there here at the dump that wasn’t sticky? Anyway, he was still feverish. Maybe he’d imagined the whole thing.
The few other people at the bus stop kept their distance, muttering and casting glances, and the driver eyed him warily. But he accepted Tiago’s fare—it was almost all of what he’d gotten from Vitor—and Tiago found a seat way at the back of the nearly empty bus.
Hours passed in diesel-scented, lurching motion. People got on, people got off; no one sat near Tiago. From the occasional muttered “Curinga!” he knew that it wasn’t just the stink of the landfill on him.
The last time he had traveled this route had been a couple of months after his mother had disappeared. He’d spent the first month in a series of wretched little homes, handed from one to the next; there was no government assistance for abandoned children, he had no relatives that he knew of, and none of his mother’s friends had the space or the money to house a hungry teenaged boy for more than a few days. But then the boyfriend of a woman who’d taken him in had tried to take Tiago’s clothes off. He’d kicked the man in the nuts and fled with only the clothes on his back.
After that he had lived on the street, becoming increasingly hungry and filthy, until one of the other street kids had let him in on a scheme: she had heard that the landfill at Jardim Gramacho was a place where you could make money by picking through the garbage for recyclable metals and plastics. It was smelly, difficult work, she said, but an honest living, and she knew someone who would give them a ride...
Weak, skinny, and ignorant, he’d barely survived his first few weeks as a catador. But eventually he had learned the ropes: where to go for a vest and a ride, how to be the first to a fresh load without getting run over, how to identify the plastics that paid the most per kilo, which of the buyers would cheat you. Eventually he had gotten good at it, even begun to take pride in his work—taking people’s discards and helping to recycle them into something useful. He’d stayed alive, if not prosperous, for two years; he’d even made a few friends.
Now all that was gone—taken by the virus.
He leaned his head against the chill darkness of the bus window and wept.
“Bairro dos Curingas!” called the driver. Tiago roused himself, shook his head to clear it, collected his bundle of belongings, and stumbled out the back door just before the bus roared off.
He stood, blinking and shivering, on the black-and-white pavement. He was sick and weak and hungry, and with three changes of bus he had barely slept; it must be past midnight. But now he stood at the gate of Rio’s Jokertown.
It was not what he had expected.
Curingas there were, to be sure. A man with writhing snakes for hair stood on a corner handing out leaflets. A grossly fat woman, wider than she was tall and with warty red skin, sat at the entrance of a club, calling out to passersby in multiple languages. Two scantily clad women, both with attractive bodies but hideous faces, danced on a balcony illuminated by spotlights.
But it was not what Tiago would consider a bairro—a neighborhood—at all. It was a commercial district, bright with neon and brash with music and chatter even at this late hour. People thronged the sidewalks, most of them normal looking and almost all of them white or light skinned. Tiago supposed that many of them were turistas rather than cariocas—Rio natives.
A man bumped into Tiago from behind, making him drop his bundle. As Tiago bent to pick it up, the man slurred a drunken apology and stooped to assist him.
The man stank of alcohol, with shabby clothes and gray hair. His eyes were red and bleary... and extended on stalks from his face.
Tiago swallowed, but he would need to learn to accept curingas if he was to be accepted himself. “Hey,” he said. “I’m new here. I’m looking for something to eat, and a place to stay.”
“Plenty to eat here,” said the eye-stalk man, waving down the street. Doorway after doorway gleamed brightly, and enticing smells mingled in the air.
But every one of those brightly illuminated doorways had a sentinel. Some of them were guarded by large, no-nonsense men in tuxedoes; others had only a friendly-looking attractive woman in evening dress, but Tiago suspected that those women had burly men backing them up. And although a few of them had mild deformities, none were frightening or disgusting.
The whole place stank of money. And Tiago... simply stank. “I don’t have a lot of cash,” he told the eye-stalk man. The few remaining reais in his pocket probably wouldn’t buy a packet of peanuts at a fancy restaurant like these.
The man’s eyes wavered and literally crossed, making Tiago slightly queasy. “Santa Teresa’s gone to hell anyway,” he muttered. “Just a tourist trap, anymore. The real curingas have gotten pushed out to the favelas.” To some people, favela meant neighborhood or community; others sneered it to mean slum. The difference depended on where you stood: on the morros, or hills, with the poor, or on the asfalto, or pavement, with the rich.
The black-and-white pavement of this place was hard beneath Tiago’s jelly shoes.
One of the burly tuxedo-clad men—his skin was black as night and white ram’s horns curled from his forehead—was keeping a wary eye on Tiago. Tiago knew that look; he’d seen it plenty of times while he was living on the street, before he’d gone to the landfill. It was a look that said I know you’re just waiting for an opportunity to zip in here and take some of those hot empadas off the bar, but I’ve got my eye on you.
Above the neighborhood gateway, a huge neon sign of a burly man in priest’s garb, with tentacles where his mouth should be, waved a welcome to the crowd below. The shadows shifted in the moving light from his waving arm, but the neon curinga’s welcome was not for Tiago.
“Where do the real curingas live?” he asked the eye-stalk man.
“Up there,” he replied, gesturing vaguely toward the hills.
Tiago shouldered his bundle and began to walk.
He walked for hours, asking directions of passersby as he went. Most gave him a cold glance, or even less acknowledgment than that, and breezed past without stopping. Some spat at or threatened him. One or two threw coins, and though he had not asked for money he was not too proud to scramble after them. And a few, a very few, tried to help. The consensus was that the curingas were mostly to be found in Complexo do Alemão, a large complex of favelas in the hills of the city’s North Zone—three hours’ walk or more away. Even if he had had enough money for the bus, none were running at that hour. Finally, too tired to go any farther, he hid himself beneath a heap of trash bags, arms and legs wrapped around his small bundle of possessions, and slept.
He woke at dawn to the sniffing noses of rats, and breakfasted on stale pão de que |
that currently offers an e-bike — albeit in Europe. The rest, such as the Audi e-bike, either never progressed beyond being a prototype phenom or simply flopped, as was the case with the Mercedes branded e-bike that was somehow released in the early 2000’s.
As for why Audi has yet to follow through on what many felt was a promising performance concept, company spokesman Bradley Stertz cited at least two obstacles: the range limitations of Lithium-ion battery packs and the necessity of having the right partnerships in place to deliver a production version that met the company’s standards for quality.
“For the record, the chances of furthering the e-bike concept into something for consumers aren’t dead, but it’s also not something we are preparing for at this time,” Stertz says, “There are also other more important priorities on the table for which we have limited resources to allocate.”
To that end, Hicks says he can think of at least a few more specific, yet undisclosed reasons that have deterred car companies from getting into the e-bike business. For one, there’s the added cost of servicing, along with product liability insurance in case of injury caused by defects. And unless the bike comes with an advanced technology that’s proprietary and difficult to manufacture, competitors could simply copy and incorporate it into their design.
“There’s so many things that can go wrong with electric bikes,” Hicks says. “If you’re going to build something that’s high quality and affordable, which is what Americans want, you have to be confident that you can sell a ton of them just to make a decent profit.”
While Ford’s foray into the e-bike space is still more or less “exploratory,” Coughlin made a point to emphasize that the bikes have been tested internally by employees. And should a product end up being released, they’re certainly willing to service and stand behind it.
Another possibility he mentioned was licensing the technology to manufacturers that specialize in e-bikes. “We’re happy to talk to anyone who may be interested in working with us to at least bring some of the technology to consumers,” Coughlin says.
Hicks, however, isn’t holding his breath. At trade shows, he’s seen novelty concepts come and go with such frequency that even ones going through the motions of prototype testing isn’t much of indicator as to whether an idea comes to fruition.
“These projects help them improve their image as being more eco-conscious, but beyond that i just don’t think they’re serious about producing an actual product,” he adds.
Still, he has written off the possibility entirely. If anything, he’s particularly intrigued by the more basic Mode:Me model, which so happens to be compact, portable and has a battery and mid drive system built discreetly into the frame.
“They don’t need to make the most awesome electric bike out there,” Hicks says. “Just offering something that isn’t costly and can be a useful upgrade for car buyers would likely ensure you’ll see a lot of them around.”Chang Eng were conjoined twins born in Siam (now Thailand) to a Chinese family. It is because of their fame that the phrase ‘Siamese twins’ has sometimes been used to describe conjoined twins.
When the boys were 17, they joined the Scottish merchant Robert Hunter, who managed a tour in which they displayed themselves, and were examined by doctors across the United States and Europe. In 1832 they realised that their new manager, Captain Coffin, was taking most of their profits, and made a separate arrangement with the circus owner Phineas T Barnum, with whom they toured until 1839.
In that same year they became American citizens and settled in North Carolina. They took the name Bunker, and in 1843 married two sisters, Adelaide and Sarah Ann Yates. During their marriages, Eng had 11 children and Chang 10. They ran two households, and became wealthy plantation owners, known for their brutality towards their enslaved workers.
After the Civil War, in which sons of both Chang and Eng served in the Confederate army, the Bunkers lost much of their fortune. They returned to displaying themselves in order to support their families. In 1870 Chang became paralysed from a stroke, which required Eng to support him physically. In January 1874 Chang Bunker died after a severe case of bronchitis, possibly from a cerebral clot. Eng died shortly thereafter. Many of their numerous descendants continue to live in the region.United States Supreme Court case
Graham v. Connor, 490 U.S. 386 (1989), was a United States Supreme Court case where the Court determined that an objective reasonableness standard should apply to a civilian's claim that law enforcement officials used excessive force in the course of making an arrest, investigatory stop, or other "seizure" of his person.
Background [ edit ]
Graham, the petitioner, had Type 1 diabetes. He was traveling with a friend, Berry, to a convenience store to get orange juice to counteract his insulin reaction. Graham entered the store but left after seeing that many people were waiting in line. Connor, a nearby police officer, observed Graham's behavior and became suspicious. Graham returned to his friend's car, and they drove off, but Connor immediately pulled them over for an investigative stop to determine what they were doing at the store. Berry informed Officer Connor that Graham was having a "sugar reaction." Connor ordered Graham and Berry to remain stopped while he investigated what, if anything, went on at the store. Connor returned to his patrol car and called for backup. Graham got out of Berry's car and ran around it twice and then sat on the curb and passed out. When backup officers arrived, one of the officers rolled Graham over on the sidewalk and applied handcuffs tightly behind Graham's back. Berry plead with the officers to get Graham some sugar. Another officer said, "I've seen a lot of people with sugar diabetes that never acted like this. Ain't nothing wrong with the motherfucker but drunk. Lock the son-of-a-bitch up." Several officers then lifted the still-unconscious body of Graham and put him face down on the hood of Berry's car. As Graham regained consciousness, he asked the officers to check his back pocket for a diabetic decal. Rather than check Graham's pocket, one of the officers shouted at Graham to "shut up" and shoved Graham's face down against the hood of the car. Then four officers picked up Graham and threw him headfirst into the back of a police car. A friend arrived on the scene with some orange juice, which the officers prohibited Graham from drinking. Once Officer Connor confirmed that Graham had done nothing wrong at the convenience store, the officers drove him home and released him.
During the police encounter, Graham suffered a broken foot, cuts on his wrists, a bruised forehead, and an injured shoulder. He filed a federal lawsuit against Officer Connor and other officers alleging that the officers' use of force during the investigative stop was excessive and violated Graham's civil rights.[1]
Decision [ edit ]
The Supreme Court held that determining the "reasonableness" of a seizure "requires a careful balancing of the nature and quality of the intrusion on the individual's Fourth Amendment interests against the countervailing governmental interests at stake." It acknowledged, "Our Fourth Amendment jurisprudence has long recognized that the right to make an arrest or investigatory stop necessarily carries with it the right to use some degree of physical coercion or threat thereof to effect it." However, it then noted, "Because the test of reasonableness under the Fourth Amendment is not capable of precise definition or mechanical application," the test's "proper application requires careful attention to the facts and circumstances of each particular case."
The Court rejected the notion that the judiciary could use the Due Process Clause, instead of the Fourth Amendment, in analyzing an excessive force claim: "Because the Fourth Amendment provides an explicit textual source of constitutional protection against this sort of physically intrusive governmental conduct, that Amendment, not the more generalized notion of'substantive due process,' must be the guide for analyzing these claims."
The Court then explained that, "As in other Fourth Amendment contexts... the "reasonableness" inquiry in an excessive force case is an objective one: the question is whether the officers' actions are 'objectively reasonable' in light of the facts and circumstances confronting them, without regard to their underlying intent or motivation." The Court also cautioned, "The "reasonableness" of a particular use of force must be judged from the perspective of a reasonable officer on the scene, rather than with the 20/20 vision of hindsight."
The Court then outlined a non-exhaustive list of factors for determining when an officer's use of force is objectively unreasonable: "the severity of the crime at issue," "whether the suspect poses an immediate threat to the safety of the officers or others," and "whether he is actively resisting arrest or attempting to evade arrest by flight."
Having established the proper framework for excessive force claims, the Court explained that the Court of Appeals had applied a test that focused on an officer's subjective motivations, rather than whether he had used an objectively unreasonable amount of force. The Court then reversed the Court of Appeals' judgment and remanded the case for reconsideration that used the proper Fourth Amendment standard.
Aftermath [ edit ]
Since Graham, the lower federal courts have occasionally supplemented its three factors with such matters as whether a warrant was issued, the plaintiff resisted or was armed, more than one arrestee or officer was involved, other dangerous or exigent circumstances existed at the time of the arrest as well as the nature of the arrest charges and the availability of alternative methods of capturing or subduing a suspect.[2]
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]More than 1,000 senior citizens and their supporters marched from Chicago's Federal Plaza to the intersection of Jackson and Clark Street Monday morning to protest proposed cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and Housing and Urban Development (HUD). At the intersection, more than 40 protesters, 15 of them seniors affiliated with the Jane Addams Senior Caucus, stood or sat in the street, arms linked, blocking traffic.
Amid chants demanding that the cuts be forestalled -- with suggestions for alternatives, including tax hikes -- 43 demonstrators were escorted from the intersection (see video, above) by police and issued citations for pedestrian failure to "exercise due care," or for blocking traffic. Those cited included four protesters using assisted mobility devices and at least one centenarian.
Judy Moses said she was glad to receive the citation--her second in her quest to maintain funding for programs that benefit seniors, following an arrest for blocking traffic in December at a similar protest.
"When I was younger, I never did protests," she said. "I was a silent majority. Now, I'm ready to make noise."
Before the traffic-stopping demonstration, an estimated 1,500 people turned out for a rally at Federal Plaza, where community members and activists spelled out the damage that individuals, and the greater Chicago community, stand to bear if funding is cut from welfare programs that benefit seniors. After decades of payments into social security with the expectation of returns, Chicago's senior citizens expressed shock that the federal support they rely on could be reduced.
"We paid into these programs," Patricia Kerz, pictured below, said. "We don't want them tinkering with our investments."
A woman named Florence spoke on behalf of the Service Employees International Union about her struggles raising a son with cerebral palsy, and her dependence on Medicare and Medicaid for his care, and even his mobility. "If his chair breaks, without Medicare and Medicaid, I can’t afford to fix it," she said.
"I've contributed to society, I've done everything I was supposed to do," she said. "I guess my problem is that I'm not rich. I'm just an ordinary citizen, one of millions, saying to Congress: 'Don't cut Medicare and Medicaid,' and'make the rich pay their fair share.'"
Sen. Dick Durbin expressed his support for the cause to the crowd, and promised he was about to get on a plane back to Washington where he would advocate for seniors, when he was stopped by Rev. Patrick Daymond, a member of Southsiders Organized for Unity and Liberation (SOUL). Daymond called on Durbin, and other politicians present, including Representatives Jan Schakowsky, Mike Quigley and Danny Davis, to sign a pledge recognizing that the revenue crisis shouldn't "be charged on the backs of old, disabled people."
Each representatives' "yes" was met with cheers from the crowd, and state representatives and aldermen also agreed to be advocates. Rep. Quigley spoke, highlighting areas of overspending in the military, and Rep. Schakowsky, who briefly led the march that followed, thanked the occupiers and called their concerns "a moral issue, not political or economic."
Daymond pointed out the notable absence of Sen. Mark Kirk, and read the statement to an empty suit propped up on a hanger with a portrait of Kirk's face (photo below). Kirk reportedly did not respond to an invitation to the protest.
Rachelle Ankney, a professor at North Park University, brought students to the rally to represent Northside P.O.W.E.R. (People Organized to Work, Educate and Restore), as allies in the seniors' cause.
"We’re so outraged that we keep giving tax breaks to big organizations, and the people who can least afford to pay taxes are paying the brunt of that," she said. "We can't stand by and watch that injustice--that's why we're here."
Participants in the demonstration said they were "proud of the police" for their handling of the demonstration. Individuals occupying the intersection were escorted to a cordoned-off street corner without being handcuffed, and were issued citations, despite many expecting to spend "one or two days in jail," protester and Senior Caucus board member Gene Horcher said.
"[The police were] perfect gentlemen," Horcher said, posing happily with his citation after his third demonstration advocating for social programs to retain funding. "They realize we're fighting for the same thing."The two-week voting window for the 2016 Emmys began on Monday, and I want to make it a little easier for the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences to honor the year's best programming. So listen up, voters: Just copy and paste this ballot, and wham-o! You're well on your way to a fine slate.
Actually, it's not that simple. I had to snub so many worthy candidates -- TV is great! Life would be easier if Outstanding Comedy Series would permit dozens of nominees. If nothing else, it would be nice to see "Modern Family" and "Downton Abbey" not rubber-stamped in umpteen categories this year. I'll try to help you diversify, wise voters.
Use the comments to let us know who you'd like to see make the short list when nominations are announced on July 14. Until then, the race is on.
HBO
Outstanding Comedy Series
"Black-ish"
"Getting On"
"Girls"
"Master of None"
"Silicon Valley"
"Transparent"
"Veep"
By now, calling the Emmys' comedy races "loaded" is dull. After five consecutive wins, "Modern Family" finally succumbed last year to "Veep," a show that has only grown richer despite original showrunner Armando Iannucci's departure. And while it would be lovely to see "Please Like Me," "The Carmichael Show," "Casual," "You're the Worst," "The Grinder," "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend," "Fresh Off the Boat" or "Broad City" crack the list, it's the remarkable rebound of "Girls" and the tender swan song of "Getting On" that deserve unlikely recognition.
Lifetime
Outstanding Drama Series
"Game of Thrones"
"Horace and Pete"
"The Knick"
"The Leftovers"
"Mr. Robot"
"Orange Is the New Black"
"UnREAL"
Don't ignore the soapy facade of "UnREAL" -- it was the year's most provocative drama and just so happened to be delicious and addictive at the same time. It's likely that "Game of Thrones" will stage a repeat win, but if anything knocks staler entries like "House of Cards" and "Homeland" from the ballot, it should be Louis C.K.'s delicate "Horace and Pete" and the poetic second season of "The Leftovers."
ABC
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series
Rachel Bloom, "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend"
Ellie Kemper, "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt"
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, "Veep"
Laurie Metcalf, "Getting On"
Tracee Ellis Ross, "Black-ish"
Michaela Watkins, "Casual"
Julia Louis-Dreyfus has been indomitable across all four seasons of "Veep," and there's no such thing as JLD fatigue. Every contender submits a standout episode for voters to screen, and, if Louis-Dreyfus selects the one about her mother's death, she'll be especially hard to beat. But no one in this category's history has won five times, and this is the Emmys' chance to recognize Tracee Ellis Ross as the "Black-ish" MVP. There's no parent on TV like Rainbow Johnson, who has both a vulnerability and a laid-back self-assurance that Ross always mines for comedy.
HBO
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series
Anthony Anderson, "Black-ish"
Aziz Ansari, "Master of None"
Chris Geere, "You're the Worst"
Rob Lowe, "The Grinder"
Thomas Middleditch, "Silicon Valley"
Jeffrey Tambor, "Transparent"
As long as "Transparent" is on the air streaming, Jeffrey Tambor makes a strong contender. Even though the Amazon series' second season emphasized the Pfefferman kids' messy maturations, Tambor shined as Maura battled outrage at a "womyn" festival and struggled to grasp her relationship with her ex-wife. Alas, since the day "Silicon Valley" premiered, I have stumped for Thomas Middleditch, who imbues his tech-whiz wunderkind with such skittish giddiness. It is a delight to watch Middleditch perform every week. Give him this award.
HBO
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series
Caitriona Balfe, "Outlander"
Carrie Coon, "The Leftovers"
Taraji P. Henson, "Empire"
Julianna Marguiles, "The Good Wife"
Keri Russell, "The Americans"
Shiri Appleby, "UnREAL"
"How to Get Away with Murder" and "Empire" are barely getting away with how exhausting they've become, but another Viola-Davis-Taraji-P.-Henson battle royale could ensue. This category is stacked with the typical players, including favorites like Claire Danes ("Homeland") and Robin Wright ("House of Cards"). Let's make things interesting. Whether it's the pulp of Priyanka Chopra on "Quantico" or the fragility of Krysten Ritter on "Jessica Jones," there are more than enough left-field candidates. Give "The Leftovers" and "UnREAL" a try, voters, and you may discover that Carrie Coon and Shiri Appleby are every bit as good without any razzmatazz.
USA
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
Louis C.K., "Horace and Pete"
Bobby Cannavale, "Vinyl"
Rami Malek, "Mr. Robot"
Bob Odenkirk, "Better Call Saul"
Clive Owen, "The Knick"
Aden Young, "Rectify"
This category isn't as electrifying now that the Hamm-Cranston era is behind us. With fewer mainstays on deck, this is one of the year's most open-ended races. That should work out in favor of recent Golden Globe nominees Bob Odenkirk and Rami Malek, who give two of the buzziest performances on TV.
Amazon
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series
Loretta Devine, "The Carmichael Show"
Jane Krakowski, "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt"
Amy Landecker, "Transparent"
Judith Light, "Transparent"
Melanie Lynskey, "Togetherness"
Niecy Nash, "Getting On"
"Transparent" is the story of a transgender woman exploring her gender, sexuality and age. But as the second season's focus shifted to Maura's family, Judith Light shined, capturing the confusion and loneliness of a lost love. Let's also ensure Niecy Nash makes another appearance in this category, whether it's for her quiet work on "Getting On" or her quizzical bombast on "Scream Queens." Allison Janney is masterful on "Mom," but she has enough hardware on her mantlepiece.
Netflix
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
Tituss Burgess, "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt"
Adam Driver, "Girls"
Tony Hale, "Veep"
T.J. Miller, "Silicon Valley"
Sam Richardson, "Veep"
Zach Woods, "Silicon Valley"
The gentlemen of "Veep" and "Silicon Valley" could rightfully occupy this entire category with one preeminent exception: Tituss Burgess, who makes the broadest comedy on "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" look refined and effortless.
CBS
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
Christine Baranski, "The Good Wife"
Regina King, "The Leftovers"
Artemis Pebdani, "Scandal"
Sophie Turner, "Game of Thrones"
Alison Wright, "The Americans"
Constance Zimmer, "UnREAL"
After two wins, Uzo Aduba must know she is the "Orange Is the New Black" priestess -- yet Season 3 belonged to Adrienne C. Moore, who walked Black Cindy through a poignant religious conversion. Too bad Netflix didn't submit her for consideration. After six losses, it's time for Christine Baranski to finally receive recognition for "The Good Wife." Her final scenes in the series -- the silent grief during Peter's trial and her fateful confrontation with Alicia -- are worth their own trophies.
Cinemax
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
Alan Alda, "Horace and Pete"
Jonathan Banks, "Better Call Saul"
Christopher Eccleston, "The Leftovers"
Andre Holland, "The Knick"
Ben Mendelsohn, "Bloodline"
Christian Slater, "Mr. Robot"
"Game of Thrones" hasn't given Peter Dinklage much to do this season beyond gape at dragons, so let's give his spot away. Blasphemy, I know, but he's already had his turn at the podium. Might I suggest Andre Holland? His work as a turn-of-the-century surgeon facing racism on "The Knick" is the perfect counterpoint to the brittle, ego-driven maniacs who surround his character. Or Alan Alda, who gave a career-defining performance at age 80 on "Horace and Pete."
ABC
Outstanding Limited Series
"American Crime"
"Fargo"
"London Spy"
"The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story"
"Roots"
"Show Me a Hero"
As TV formats evolve, the real excitement has shifted to limited series, where some of the most limitless content is emerging. To wit, this could be the first year the tired "American Horror Story" is omitted. Also facing a potential ouster: "Time Traveling Bong," "Flesh and Bone," "The Night Manager," "The Girlfriend Experience," "War and Peace" and, thankfully, "True Detective." If all goes well, "The People v. O.J. Simpson" will sweep.
FX
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie
Kirsten Dunst, "Fargo"
Felicity Huffman, "American Crime"
Audra McDonald, "Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill"
Sarah Paulson, "The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story"
Lili Taylor, "American Crime"
Kerry Washington, "Confirmation"
Lady Gaga won a Golden Globe for her performance on "American Horror Story: Hotel," but that felt like a nod to her celebrity status more than anything else. She's fine on the show, but her breathy turn as a vampire countess didn't have the depth of these other ladies. It's a toss-up as to whether Kirsten Dunst or Sarah Paulson should take home the trophy. Both submitted career-best work.
FX
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie
Bryan Cranston, "All the Way"
Idris Elba, "Luther"
Oscar Isaac, "Show Me a Hero"
Courtney B. Vance, "People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story"
Ben Whishaw, "London Spy"
Patrick Wilson, "Fargo"
All of the internet's boyfriends are competing for slots in this race. Matt Bomer (“American Horror Story: Hotel"), Aaron Tveit (“Grease: Live”), Tom Hiddleston (“The Night Manager”) and Ian McKellen (“The Dresser”) are also eligible.
History Channel
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie
Olivia Colman, "The Night Manager"
Catherine Keener, "Show Me a Hero"
Regina King, "American Crime"
Cristin Milioti, "Fargo"
Anika Noni Rose, "Roots"
Jean Smart, "Fargo"
It's hard to cast off Emayatzy Corinealdi and the rest of the sprawling "Roots" ensemble, but the women of "Fargo" (which includes Rachel Keller) captured the devilish backwoods of Midwest suburbia, while Regina King deserves both the nominations she is eligible for this year.
FX
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie
Sterling K. Brown, "The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story"
Connor Jessup, "American Crime"
Alfred Molina, "Show Me a Hero"
Denis O'Hare, "American Horror Story: Hotel"
Jesse Plemons, "Fargo"
Bokeem Woodbine, "Fargo"
Unlike some critics, I appreciated John Travolta's mannered performance in "The People v. O.J. Simpson." If nothing else, it was an interesting role for him. But it's Sterling K. Brown who best captured the trial's heartbreaking politics, while Bokeem Woodbine and Jesse Plemons both played against type on "Fargo" and Denis O'Hare gave "American Horror Story: Hotel" some semblance of an emotional core.
HBO
A few other nominations that would be great:
Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series: Richard Shepard, "Girls" (Episode: "The Panic in Central Park")
Outstanding Variety Talk Series: "Full Frontal with Samantha Bee"
Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series: Josh Thomas, "Please Like Me" (Episode: "Coq Au Vin")
Outstanding Main Title Design: "The Leftovers"The Gran Habano S.T.K. Barracuda will be adding a retailer-exclusive size later this year – a 5 5/8 x 46 Corona Gorda made for Tim Podwika’s PodmanCigars.com.
Podwika said that he was sitting with George Rico of Gran Habano at the company’s recently-opened factory on Calle Ocho in Miami and he brought up the idea of doing a Corona Gorda size in the Barracuda blend. After tweaking the blend to fit the size, “We think we got it right and are set to roll with it,” Podwika said.
The cigars should be ready to release in September, with 200 boxes of 10 being produced. They will retail for $80 per box.
Read a review of the Gran Habano S.T.K. Barracuda Robusto here, which was announced in March 2012 and released on April 7, 2012 at Tamura’s Fine Wine & Liquor in Hawaii before being made available to other stores.Ubisoft Montreal’s Creative Director Jonathon Morin revealed that Watch Dogs would not run at 60 frames per second on the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 next-generation consoles, but instead will only be running at 30 frames per second.
“Right now the frame-rate we’re focusing on [is] a steady 30[fps],” Morin said. “There’s always a balance, especially for open-world, between the simulation and the rest.” “I think for where we are, the most important thing is the steadiness and [ensuring] that it’s always capped the same so when you play it, it feels right,” he added.
Although the frame-rate has been confirmed, there is still speculations on whether the native resolution would be 720p or full HD 1080p. Compared to the Wii U, the scaling is not that different, having games for Wii U play at 720p @ 30 FPS. At least the Wii U has its fair share of 1080p @ 60 FPS games on the market or soon to arrive, while everything announced to be released for the Xbox One and PS4, which is not from an indie company is stuck at 720p with 30 FPS.
We hope that the performance cap is due to the developers exercising cautions when dealing with this type of new hardware for the next gen consoles, otherwise the Xbox One and PS4 will be a disappointment to most gamers when having to play their favorite AAA titles on a 720p @ 30 FPS resolution giving the fact that 4K gaming is on the horizon.
Watch Dogs launches for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii U, and PC on November 19th. The Xbox One and PS4 versions will be released as launch titles for those platforms and Ubisoft is expected to sell 6.2 million units.
Thank you NextPowerUp for providing us with this information.
Images and video courtesy of NextPowerUp.David White has written a book about his ordeal
Former Manchester City and England player David White has become the fourth footballer to speak publicly about being sexually abused as a child by a coach.
White follows ex-Crewe players Andy Woodward and Steve Walters, and former Tottenham forward Paul Stewart.
The 49-year-old claims former Crewe coach Barry Bennell, a convicted paedophile, abused him.
Cheshire Police said 11 people had come forward since Woodward went public.
The Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) expects that number to rise.
The four players to speak publicly have each waived their right to anonymity as sex abuse victims.
In a statement, White said he was sexually abused by Bennell in the late 1970s and early 1980s, while playing for Whitehill FC junior team in Manchester.
He said: "For a number of reasons, and for nearly two decades, I kept my ordeal secret from my family and friends.
"While I believe throughout my football career I have come to terms with what had happened, I now realise the effects of Bennell's actions were much more far-reaching than I knew then.
"Last year I made the decision to gather my thoughts, reflect on my experience, and tell my life story in my own words. I did not set out to write a story about the abuse, but knew I would have to include it.
"In doing so I have come to terms with the fact that Bennell's actions influenced almost every event and relationship in my life."
Media playback is not supported on this device Andy Woodward speaks about being sexually abused by his coach
Woodward, 43, and Walters, 44, have also spoken about being abused by Bennell, who was jailed for nine years in 1998 for sexual offences against children.
Bennell, who worked as a football scout and coach at Crewe Alexandra in the 1980s and 90s, admitted 23 specimen charges of sexual offences against six boys, aged nine to 15.
Stewart, 52, a former England international who started his career at Blackpool and also played for Manchester City and Liverpool, told the Mirror an unnamed coach abused him daily for four years up to the age of 15.
White, who is releasing a book about his abuse, said he was targeted at the age of 11 by a coach he "hero-worshipped".
After making more than 340 appearances for Manchester City, he went on to play for Leeds United and Sheffield United, and won a single cap for England.
He added: "The process of writing the book became sometimes painful, always cathartic and incredibly liberating.
"I would like to say that I do not feel brave. This is just my story and I am now happy to tell it because despite the profound effects of 1979-80 I feel like one of the lucky ones.
"Circumstances took me away from the abuse before it escalated. I salute Andy Woodward, Steve Walters, and Paul Stewart for so bravely revealing their personal tragedies.
"The physical abuse they and others suffered was certainly more extreme and prolonged than my ordeal, and I cannot be sure that I would have their courage."
Who is Barry Bennell?
Former football scout and coach Barry Bennell was jailed for nine years in 1998
Bennell was a youth coach at Crewe Alexandra in the 1980s and 1990s and also had a close association with Stoke City and Manchester City
He has been jailed three times for child sex abuse - including once in America
Florida police said he had an "insatiable appetite" for young boys
for young boys His crimes were, at one point, the subject of a Channel 4 Dispatches programme.
Jailed again in 2015 for two years - with a minimum term of 12 months - for a historic sexual offence committed against a 12-year-old boy on a football pitch in Macclesfield
Described himself as a "monster" in 2015 while giving evidence in court
A warning for football - players' union
PFA chief Gordon Taylor said: "Because of Andy Woodward's bravery, many other ex-players and apprentices are now contacting us - it is double figures now - and that is a timely warning for everybody in football about our duty of care to these youngsters.
"It is up to all of us now to grasp the nettle and we make sure we learn from this."
Woodward will meet senior Football Association officials on Thursday, BBC sports news correspondent Richard Conway reports.
Det Insp Sarah Hall, from Cheshire Police's public protection unit, said: "We have now been made aware of a number of people who have come forward wishing to speak to the police.
"At this stage we are in the process of making contact with them, and to date no arrests have been made and no-one else is under investigation."
Media playback is not supported on this device Crewe chairman 'distressed' by abuse claims
Crewe chairman John Bowler told BBC sports editor Dan Roan he was "infuriated and very disappointed" about Bennell's crimes.
Bowler, who was chairman at the time of Bennell's offences, was asked whether more could have been done. He replied: "When we've done our inquiries and looked at the detail of the various accusations, then I'll be in a position to answer that kind of question."
Woodward told BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme on Tuesday he believed his experience was "the tip of the iceberg".
A spokesman for the NSPCC praised the former Sheffield United and Bury defender for coming forward, adding there was "more to be done in the world of sport" to keep children safe.
Sue Ravenlaw, head of equality and safeguarding at the Football Association, has also praised Woodward for his "immense courage" in going public.
Stewart (left), Walters (middle) and Woodward (right) have gone public with their ordeals
What have the former footballers said?
Paul Stewart: "One day, travelling in the car, he started to touch me. It frightened me to death, I did not know what to do. I tried to tell my parents not to let him in but I was only 11.
"From then, it progressed to sexually abusing me, he said he would kill my mother, my father, my two brothers if I breathed a word about it. And at 11 years old, you believe that.
"The mental scars led me into other problems with drink and drugs. I know now it was a grooming process. The level of abuse got worse and worse.
"I was always under threat, if I was not playing well, he would threaten me with violence as well as sexual abuse. He was a monster."
Steve Walters: "I just had to pretend it never happened and block it out. I knew it could never come out and I was absolutely petrified because I thought that if it did ever come out that would be it for my career - finished.
"All these years, I've had this secret inside me. It's been unbearable but, just from reading the article from Andy, it already feels like a massive burden off my shoulders.
"I have to do this, and I just hope it will help bring more people forward, too."
Andy Woodward said: "It was that control, that all I wanted to do was be a footballer.
"With regards to the sport - there was nothing, it was brushed under the carpet. It's in the mentality of football that nothing comes out."Paul Krugman responds to my op-ed earlier this week in the New York Times on Greece and the eurozone with agreement and disagreement. He agrees that "Argentina is the right parallel" for the Greek situation, and that "the programme for Greece is not working; it's not even close to working." But he disagrees on exiting the euro, for two reasons: first, Argentina "still had peso notes in circulation, so the mechanics of exit from the peg were much easier than exiting the euro would be"; and second, "Greece, as a relatively poor country with a history of shaky governance, has a lot to gain from being a citizen in good standing of the European project."
These are good points, and I think reasonable people can disagree on whether Greece should consider leaving the euro; there are a number of risks and uncertainties with that path as well as the current path.
Before addressing these points, I should clarify that, despite the headline assigned to my original article reading "Why Greece should reject the euro", I did not argue that Greece should simply exit from the euro. My argument was that this has to be on the table, and that if the European authorities continue to offer Greece only punishment, rather than help, then the Greek government – as well as others – should be prepared to leave.
Krugman's first point about the difference between Greece and Argentina, in terms of Greece having already given up its currency, is very true. This does complicate matters. Greece would have to reintroduce its currency, something that Argentina did not have to do. However, Argentina did suffer a serious financial collapse, even with its own currency. In the fall of 2002, with the recovery already underway, the IMF projected just 1% growth for 200 |
– the language of flowers – was not one of his more knowledgeable plant subjects, he did know that dahlias represented 'good taste'. The irony of the flowers' meaning struck him as lucky, even if he was intentionally interpreting the meaning of 'taste' to be 'delicious' instead of'refined perception'. A dark laugh resonated from him as the Venus Fly Trap closed and he sank into the earth.
-l-l-l-
Zetsu had found his target. He was a short boy, not yet into his teenage years, with messy blond hair held back by a pair of big green goggles. His choice in clothing was terrible – an orange jumpsuit with a thick white collar, clashing terribly with his bright hair – and even Zetsu, who stood out like a sore thumb in his own right, couldn't believe that the boy had lived for so long wearing something that just screamed 'Kill me!' But if the outfit insisted, Zetsu would be happy to oblige.
It wasn't that the blond was his first choice; children were often unfulfilling as far as meals went. But Konoha was a crowded place, and after discreetly watching passersby from the safety of an oak tree for almost 15 minutes, Zetsu had given up on trying to pick a meal off the street. He had then moved on to the outskirts of the mighty village, scouting out the training fields in the vain hope of finding someone. Previous visits had taught him that Leaf shinobi normally visited the fields in teams – Genin with a Jōnin instructor, for instance – or pairs – Chūnin or Jōnin – so the odds of finding a victim alone had been relatively small.
But lo and behold, Zetsu had been presented with this boy, kicking and punching a post with all his might (which was arguably not much). While the child didn't appear to pose much in the way of a decent meal, people-watching had increased the plant-man's desire for food to a point where being picky was no longer an option. Besides, he could always try again after this appetizer.
It was a bit of an anomaly, Zetsu considered as he merged into the ground, that this boy was by himself. Most Konoha shinobi believed in camaraderie and the Will of Fire, a faith Zetsu personally found to be misguided. The former Kusa-nin upheld the principle that the only person one could rely on was one's self. To find a boy – clearly on the path to become a ninja, if not one already (though foregoing the wearing of the traditional forehead protector if he was one) – who seemed to embrace Zetsu's philosophy and not the popular one of the village intrigued the plant-man.
That the boy was going to be his meal was surely a pitiable coincidence.
Feeding time!
-l-l-l-
Uzumaki Naruto punched the training post in front of him, venting his anger through his fists. Today had been one of those days where nothing had seemed to go his way. First, Sakura had turned him down again when he had asked her for a date, and had then proceeded to ignore his existence for the remainder of the day. Then the class had had taijutsu practice, where Sasuke had thoroughly outclassed him and made him look bad in front of everyone (which, of course, included Sakura). After that, Iruka had yelled at him for a solid five minutes for falling asleep during class, giving him an hour's detention (amidst the tittering of his classmates) for his inattention.
But what could he do? Sakura liked Sasuke (though he couldn't really understand why), and Naruto hated people like the stuck-up Uchiha, so he wasn't going to try to change himself to be more like him, even if it was to get the girl. He had been alone for all his life, with no family or clan to teach him any special ninja techniques or styles, so finding a way to improve his skills to beat anyone else in his class was rather difficult. And it wasn't his fault that history was boring!
All-in-all, Naruto found it almost impossible for the day to get any worse. He placed his hands on his knees and scowled at the ground, mad at the unfairness of the world.
It was the only thing that saved him from certain death.
Naruto stumbled backwards and tripped over his own feet as a pair of enormous green jaws burst forth from the earth and snapped shut where he had just been standing. There had been no real warning to the attack except that the ground had bulged slightly, outlining a jagged, teeth-like pattern on whatever was surfacing. That and years of avoiding being captured by the people he pulled pranks on had taught the blond to act first, ask questions later, and one panicked decision later, he was sitting on his rear, still alive.
The green thing in front of him growled. It opened to reveal a man's face – if it could be called that – with yellow eyes and green hair, his skin an even split of black and white. "You moved," whined the human...creature...thing. The thing's voice was sort of immature and decidedly masculine, if a tad younger-sounding than Naruto would have expected. "How did he see us?"
"Wh-what are you?" stammered Naruto, pointing a shaky finger straight at the man. The man's reference to himself as more than one person went unnoticed.
"Who," corrected a different voice, this one dark, throaty, and tainted with malice. Naruto looked around, half-expecting to see something else emerging from the ground prepared to eat him. Spying nothing, he returned his gaze to the man in front of him in time to see the white side's eye blink in mild confusion. "We are Zetsu," spoke the first voice, seemingly offended, "and we are a 'who', not a 'what'." The man's mouth moved when this voice spoke, so Naruto assumed he was actually speaking, though it didn't explain where the other voice came…from…
"We?" Naruto managed weakly. "There's more than one of you?" Then, "What?"
"We are a person, and therefore a 'who'," snarled the darker voice. Watching the so-called person, Naruto noticed that unlike when the lighter voice spoke, the white side's mouth didn't move for this other voice.
It was just a guess, but... "A-are you the black side?"
"...Can we eat him now? He's irritating me. I don't want to," replied the white side, and Naruto heaved a sigh of relief; at least that part of this man liked him. Wait...eat me? "Not yet anyway."
Or not... Naruto retracted mentally, unsure of what to do. The black half growled something inaudible, luring the other side into an argument. Naruto rose slowly, deciding to make his escape while his predator was occupied with...himself. He turned around and began to sneak away…
Only to bump into something solid. "Where do you think you're going?" No longer submerged in the ground – and more importantly, somehow right in front of him – stood the figure. Piercing yellow eyes stared down at Naruto from between the massive jaws of what, upon closer inspection, appeared to be some sort of plant. The plant encased the man from his waist to at least two feet above his head; from the waist down he was dressed in blue pants with bandages wrapped around his ankles, and ninja sandals adorned his feet, both of which were, strangely enough, white.
Despite the fact that he was surely about to die, Naruto's mouth decided to move faster than his body (and brain). "How did you get here so fast?" He almost slapped himself for his own stupidity as the question left his lips; those would be his last words?
But nothing happened. He opened one eye – when did I even close them? – to see the plant-man staring down at him with what he guessed was something akin to curiosity. "Tell me, child, why are you out here by yourself?"
Naruto scowled, closing the eye again to try and rid himself of the reminder that he was perpetually alone, and crossed his arms. "I've always been by myself, as long as I can remember. Everyone in the village hates me. But one day I'll be Hokage, and then they'll all have to respect me!" Instead of the ridicule that usually greeted this proclamation, dead silence rang in the training area. The blond opened his eyes to find that the strange person was no longer there.
He debated with himself on whether or not to report the man's presence to anyone, but then decided against it. Even if someone did believe him (which was unlikely), he had no real evidence that anyone else had even been in the area, let alone an idea of where he had gone. The whole incident felt so surreal that Naruto wondered if the plant-man hadn't just been a figment of his imagination.
…Maybe I'll just go home now.
-l-l-l-
"We should have eaten the child. There is no guarantee he won't say anything to the higher-ups of Konoha. You worry too much. And even if he does say anything, what's it matter? No one in the village can catch us." His black side laughed. "True, the Konoha-nin are fools."
Zetsu ate the second of two deer he had killed, mulling over his recent discovery of the blond boy. Humans tasted much better than venison, but the deer meat would sate his appetite at least temporarily; there was much for him to think about. It was previously unheard of for him to leave a target alive, simply because there had never been a reason to. Black Zetsu didn't understand why the child had been left alive – a scary thought, considering that he was the more intellectual half – but then again, White Zetsu couldn't exactly explain away the reason either, and he had been the one to make the decision.
It had been a flight of fancy to leave the boy alive. There was nothing to be accomplished by not eating him; in fact, it was more dangerous to not kill him. But something in the way the blond had stood his ground against Zetsu, and in the momentary glimpse at his life, struck a chord within the plant-man.
Forced isolation. It wasn't quite the same philosophy Zetsu himself lived by – even if it was his lifestyle – but it was merely a stone's throw away from his personal motto. However, it was how Zetsu had started out, having no alternative but to go into solitude to live his life. There were differences, of course, in that the former Grass shinobi had entered isolation to begin his life anew, while the blond child was essentially trapped in his current, confined role, but those were arbitrary distinctions.
The child had potential. His intelligence left something to be desired – though it hadn't taken him overly long to figure out Zetsu was two personalities in one – but then again, White Zetsu's childishness had been insufferable at first, too, so that could be overlooked. More interesting was that the boy's youth and seeming pariah status meant he could easily be molded to the viewpoint of whoever gave him attention first.
That was an intriguing prospect.
Zetsu avoided all allegiance to either village or person, mostly because it contradicted with what he believed in. The mere idea that he was almost considering teaching the blond to embrace his ideals was akin to blasphemy. There was nothing to be gained by undergoing such a venture.
So why did he still feel a strange lure to do something?
"There are only two options," growled Black Zetsu. "Either we leave and find a good meal to forget everything, or…or…" echoed White Zetsu.
The thought was left unfinished. Talking out loud was Zetsu's way of reasoning through things both halves were conflicted on; it wasn't a particularly often occurrence (anymore), but the method was still helpful when it did happen. Still, some things were better left unsaid.
We go back.
-l-l-l-
Using the Kagerō, Zetsu spent the next three days merged with all sorts of flora, watching the blond child he had tried eating go through the rigors of everyday life. Granted, his life was unbelievably mundane, but Zetsu found it interesting that what the boy had told him actually appeared to be quite true. He would wake up and go to the Academy from morning until the middle of the afternoon, where he would then head out to the training field Zetsu had met him in (if he didn't have to serve detention). After that, he would sit down to dinner at a place called Ichiraku Ramen, where he would down several bowls of the noodles and broth.
As boring as his routine was, the child was a prime candidate for Zetsu's philosophy. For the most part, the rest of his class either jeered at his mistakes or ignored him to the best of their abilities; whispers followed him as he walked through the streets, snide remarks and cruel barbs tailed him like his own shadow. He was already ostracized from society. With a push in the right direction, he could very easily be manipulated into Zetsu's way of thinking.
The only issue the plant-man could find with this peculiar development was that interacting with the boy would mean contradicting the same philosophy he was trying to teach. Having never come across such a situation before, Zetsu was a bit confused on how to proceed. On the one hand, it would be interesting to pass on his way of thinking to a fresh ninja who could be sculpted as he saw fit; on the other hand, doing so went against everything he knew.
Unless…
Zetsu believed that the only person one could rely on was one's self. Technically, he wasn't putting his faith in the child, merely tutoring him in his own worldviews and ninja know-how. As long as the former Kusa-nin remained reliant upon his own abilities, he wasn't breaching his beliefs. Satisfied with using that logic, the next step would be to see if the boy was actually willing to be taught by him.
Which was why, as the sun set on the third day of Zetsu's observation, he moved from a tree to the ground, surfacing 20 feet away from where the blond boy – Naruto, he had learned was the child's name – was hitting the same training post. His appearance startled Naruto from his training, and Zetsu watched him hesitate in his motions, preparing, he guessed, to flee at the slightest sign of movement.
The nukenin remained half-merged with the ground, keeping only his torso and above visible to the blond. "You didn't run," noted Zetsu. There was a long pause before the boy shook his head. "Brave little fool, aren't you?"
When Zetsu didn't say anything else, Naruto took a tentative step backwards. "Y-you're not gonna eat me…are you?" Both sides of the plant-man responded in the negative, the duality of the voices putting the blond even more on edge. His eyes darted around, still looking for a chance to escape; almost being eaten apparently made the prey highly wary of the predator, Zetsu mused idly. "S-so why are you here?"
Zetsu grinned; with his altered appearance and blunted teeth, the gesture came off as eerie and grotesque. The fact that the child was nervous around him boded well for the respect he could garner through fear. "We came to make you an offer. Would you be interested in learning from us?"
That stopped Naruto in his tracks. His nerves calmed down a tad with the knowledge that he (apparently) wasn't about to become this man's meal, but his mind began spinning at the offer. "You wanna train me?" The yellow eye on the plant-man's white side blinked. Naruto paused before giving a response, considering the idea.
This man was clearly a skilled ninja, capable of escaping the watchful eye of Konoha's own shinobi and possessing talents Naruto had never seen before. He was offering to essentially become Naruto's private tutor, something the blond was sorely lacking and desperately desirous to have. But things generally didn't come without a price… "What do you get outta this? And why me?"
"When you're sad and alone, all you can count on is yourself." Naruto cocked his head curiously, clearly not understanding. Zetsu sighed. "You've been alone for a long time," empathized the white half. "Such a lifestyle should have taught you that relying on other people is a foolish endeavor."
Naruto nodded, either missing or ignoring the fact that he was going to be reliant upon this strange man. "So what are you gonna teach me? Oh, oh! What about the way you pop up in places, can you teach me that?"
Zetsu blinked in surprise. It was astonishing how quickly the boy had gone from being hesitant about his presence to being excited about the prospect of learning from him. Perhaps he, too, had some sort of psychological disorder? That was something to look into. "No," replied the former Kusa-nin. Kagerō wasn't a technique that could be performed by any random ninja, and like the rest of Zetsu's oft-used jutsu arsenal, was unique to his body structure.
The blond looked momentarily stumped, but brightened again instantly. "Taijutsu? Ooo, how 'bout some cool ninjutsu?"
The plant-man stared at him. "No." When he had worked for Kusagakure, both of those areas were necessary aspects of Zetsu's skill set. He had possessed moderate talent in both hand-to-hand combat and Doton ninjutsu – nothing overly spectacular, but certainly enough to get by. After he had come into ownership of his current body, any prowess in those fields had been ignored (though not forgotten) in lieu of his more useful abilities. "You will still have to attend the Academy to obtain those skills. Or learn them from your Jōnin-sensei. Or learn them by your own hand. Do not put your faith in others to assist you." The hypocrisy in his statements, again, seemed to roll off the blond like water off a duck.
Naruto frowned at him. "Well then, what can you teach me?"
"Botany."
"Botany?" Naruto echoed incredulously.
"The study of plants," stated Zetsu's darker side. The boy began to protest, but a growl from the same, eviler half stopped him. "With time you will learn that nature can either be a worthwhile friend or the harshest of foes. It really will be useful for you to know."
Naruto shrugged, unwilling to look a gift horse in the mouth. "If you say so."
-l-l-l-
Three weeks later found Naruto tromping off to the training grounds in preparation for his daily lesson with Zetsu, whose name he had been reminded of two days into their training. The man was interesting, that Naruto could willingly admit. Through his time spent with the former Kusa-nin, Naruto had already picked out some of Zetsu's more peculiar traits.
For one thing, he was still adjusting to Zetsu's duality (he was hesitant to call it a second personality because Zetsu often seemed to be two people in one, but that might've been his imagination). Black Zetsu and White Zetsu – as Naruto had taken to mentally referring to each of the man's halves – each possessed his own opinions and personality, though they both seemed to agree on certain subject matters. He had also noticed a pattern in the man's speech, where when both halves were in agreement, Zetsu would refer to himself as 'we' or 'us'; when one side was expressing his own opinion, he would refer to himself as a singular entity. Naruto found the disparity in what Zetsu agreed with himself on to be somewhat amusing, if simultaneously head-pounding.
White Zetsu, who seemed to be the more laidback, curious, and – dare he say it – playful side, had a tendency to find Naruto's confusion and frustration to be humorous more than anything else. The plant-man's dark half was serious, straightforward, and highly intelligent, possessing a sinister nature which reminded Naruto somewhat of the treatment of the villagers. The main difference, though, was that Black Zetsu never seemed intentionally cruel with his barbs, merely matter-of-fact (or at least matter-of-fact in alignment with his own beliefs).
But Naruto found that he couldn't complain too much about Zetsu's quirks. True to his word, the man was teaching him all about Konoha's flora, from medicinal properties of herbs to poisonous qualities of plants. The information was vast, and it shocked Naruto at how little he knew about his surroundings, even if he found his mind wandering at certain points during Zetsu's lessons. Such inattention often resulted in Black Zetsu snapping at him for his inability to memorize important facts, not to mention repeated lectures to make sure Naruto had the information drilled home, but Naruto bore through both because he had someone who was willing to pay him attention.
Every day he would meet Zetsu at the training grounds, where the man would lead him into a different part of Konoha's surrounding foliage, point out different plants, and lecture him on their properties. Zetsu always remained half-merged with some form of vegetation during their sessions, only gesturing towards whatever he was talking to and physically interacting with Naruto as little as possible. In fact, now that he thought about it, the only time Zetsu had ever touched Naruto was on the first day of their lessons…and even then, it had only been the briefest of contact from the white side.
Zetsu's form emerged from the ground as Naruto entered the training area. "Stand over there," he ordered, pointing at a location opposite the training posts.
Naruto shrugged in confusion but did as he was told. Due in part to being taught by the man, Naruto had quickly gotten over his terror of Zetsu induced by almost becoming his meal at their first meeting; he had little to fear now except Black Zetsu's somewhat short temper. Even though some of the information Zetsu taught seemed unnecessary, he had yet to steer the blond in the wrong direction or sabotage his learning.
On a short stump in the area Zetsu had indicated was placed a cloth bundle held together by a cord. Naruto undid the tie to reveal a pile of kunai and senbon. Picking up one of the thin needles, he ran his fingers along its length, purposely pricking his pointer on the tip to test its sharpness. He looked up in time to see an exact replica of his likeness step away from Zetsu and disappear in the direction of the town. The senbon fell from his slack hand and hit the pile of weaponry with a small clang. "What was that?"
"Narikawari no Jutsu," growled Black Zetsu. "Substitute Technique," offered the lighter side. "It's why the village isn't suspicious of your whereabouts, Naruto-kun."
"I thought that was the Kawarimi."
"That is the Substitution Technique. More correctly known as the Body Replacement Technique."
"Oh. …Well, can I learn what you did?"
"No."
Naruto scowled at the pile of weaponry in front of him. While he appreciated the fact that Zetsu was taking the time to actually teach him something, it was rather frustrating to not learn anything…substantial, as far as new jutsu went. Especially since Zetsu had some pretty cool techniques. "Why not?!" he demanded.
"Because you don't look like this!" snarled the other male. Naruto recoiled a bit at his tone; despite Black Zetsu's shorter fuse than his more polite half, he had never reacted with such vehemence at the blond before. "Our jutsu are unique to us, Naruto-kun," placated White Zetsu, "which is why you can't learn any of them."
Naruto nodded slowly, taking up his previous position with the mindset to try to not irritate Zetsu again that day. He waited for his teacher(s) to say something, but they seemed to be having a silent argument. Black Zetsu – with no facial features to speak of – was a blank slate as far as reading his mood. After a minute, White Zetsu spoke up. "You're set to graduate tomorrow, right, Naruto-kun?" The blond's head bobbed once again, the thought of not passing not even crossing his mind. "Well, once that happens you'll spend a lot of time out on missions and with your team, meaning our time together will be more limited. We want to be sure that you are prepared to use some of the tools we have taught you."
The blond picked up a kunai, admiring the difference in the quality from what he owned. He didn't know where Zetsu got the throwing knives or needles, but they were certainly nice looking. "But Zetsu, you've been teaching me all about plants. What's that gotta do with kunai and senbon?"
"Poison," growled Black Zetsu, "or do you not remember learning that? In liquid form, poison can be more easily transmitted into the bloodstream through a medium," explained White Zetsu, "hence the senbon and kunai."
Naruto's brows furrowed skeptically. "Is poison really that good though? I mean, from what you've said, it takes a lot of work for something kinda…unimpressive."
"You have clearly never heard of either Chiyo or Sasori of Sunagakure."
"Nope."
"Both were experts in poison, and Chiyo created several brews during the Second Shinobi World War which could only be countered by Tsunade of the Sannin. You've heard of her, I presume."
"…Er…"
"Your lack of knowledge pertaining to your own village is simply astounding. The point is that it really is an effective method of fighting, if used properly. Proper ninja learn how to assassinate from the shadows, something poison does quite readily. Experts in poison dip their weapons in their mixtures to intoxicate their opponents. I personally preferred senbon when using man-made weapons because of how much easier to maneuver they are."
Naruto looked troubled and confused. "But I haven't even tried making any poisons yet. How do I know if I'm actually gonna be good at using them?"
"Then perhaps you should practice," snarled his tutor, "or else what was the purpose in teaching you? It's something you should work on in your free time," agreed the lighter side, "but for now, perhaps we should work on your precision and accuracy." He moved slightly to reveal a target attached to one of the training posts. "Have at it."
The next hour was spent with Naruto throwing a mixture of kunai and senbon – requiring some experimentation, since senbon weren't reviewed as thoroughly in the Academy – at the target. None of them hit the bull's-eye, though several were scattered about the outer rings. Naruto grew increasingly frustrated throughout the session as his ineptness with the ninja tools become more and more apparent.
"You seem to have little talent for projectile weapons," noted Black Zetsu idly, grabbing several kunai and senbon littering the ground behind the target.
"Shut up!" snapped Naruto, temper fraying. "Like you can do any better!" Zetsu immediately vanished into the ground, and Naruto mentally panicked, thinking that he had driven off his tutor with his words. Again, his mouth had chosen to retort before he could really think about what he was saying.
The plant-man reappeared next to him, causing Naruto to sigh in relief. Zetsu's arm flashed forward in a swift movement that Naruto couldn't catch. His other arm – the black side's – came up and pointed towards the target; Naruto's head swiveled to it.
Stuck in the bull's-eye, just slightly off-center, was a single senbon. White Zetsu flashed Naruto a triumphant grin as the darker half stated, "You were saying?"
The blond's mouth opened and closed like a fish's out of water before he hung his head in shame. "Sorry, Zetsu," he mumbled, picking up a senbon and twiddling it between his fingers.
"It's okay Naruto-kun," soothed White Zetsu, "just try to focus. The motion is in the wrist more than the arm; try not to hold it so rigidly. Now concentrate, and throw when you feel ready." Naruto waited, squinting hard at the target in an attempt to visualize the path the needle would take. His arm moved, not nearly as fast at his tutor's, and his wrist flicked out, releasing the thin weapon. Beside him, Zetsu nodded. "Very well done, Naruto-kun." The senbon, while not buried in the center of the target, was in the second smallest ring, close to the ring surrounding the bull's-eye. Naruto felt a swell of pride at this accomplishment – in the Academy, whenever he had tried to prove his superiority over Sasuke in weapons' practice, he had always ended up failing miserably. It was nice to see that he was making some progress. "Keep at it, you still need the practice."
…Well, at least he had impressed White Zetsu.
Another hour and a half passed before Naruto decided to call it quits. He could hit the target 7 times out of 10 with senbon (which he had decided to focus on when they felt less bulky in his hands than kunai), though his accuracy for piercing the center still left something to be desired. At the end of the session, Naruto helped Zetsu gather all the weaponry, dumped it upon the cloth bundle, and waited for the plant-man to tie it together. When that was done, Zetsu turned to him and handed him the full package. "These are yours now, Naruto-kun," stated White Zetsu. "You should practice your aim whenever you have the opportunity."
Naruto could only stare at the gift in mute shock. Barring the meals Iruka or the Hokage sometimes offered to pay for at Ichiraku Ramen, nobody had ever given him anything before. It was simply unheard of. Overcome by emotion, he moved to show Zetsu his gratitude…
"Touch me and die."
…Or he would just settle for being appreciative. "Thank you, Zetsu." He bowed slightly, the first sign of respect he'd ever shown anyone, and then practically skipped away. The former Kusa-nin watched him go impassively before disappearing into the ground.
-l-l-l-
Naruto trudged through the forest surrounding the training area he frequented with Zetsu, mind in a tizzy. High above, the moon reflected off the metallic surface of the blond's new hitae-ate (it was technically Iruka's current one bequeathed to him, but technicalities…), which was gripped with white-knuckled intensity in his right hand.
After failing the Academy Graduation Exam for his third time earlier that day – or was it yesterday? It definitely seemed like it was past midnight by now – Naruto had been approached by his other teacher, Mizuki, and was told about an alternate method to become a Genin. He had (rather foolishly, in hindsight) accepted the white-haired man's talk at face value, and had proceeded to steal the (apparently sacred) Scroll of Seals.
During the ensuing fight between Mizuki and Iruka, Naruto had learned two very significant things. One was a technique from the scroll, Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, which allowed him to produce massive quantities of Shadow Clones for combat. Considering how terrible he was at the standard Bunshin no Jutsu, the Shadow Clone Technique was simply a godsend.
Then he had learned the reason for his being ostracized from the village – the Yondaime Hokage, his hero, had sealed the Kyūbi no Yōko, the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, into him. And while Iruka insisted that he wasn't a demon – amidst Mizuki's loud proclamations that he was one – and had even dubbed him an official graduate following the recovery of the Scroll of Seals, Naruto was still confused. After helping get his teacher to the hospital, he had immediately run off, ripping off the forehead protector in the process.
Too many thoughts were rushing through his mind, conflictions of different ideals running rampant and crowding his ability to think. He blamed Zetsu for exposing him to such a way of thinking; without the plant-man, Naruto probably would've been perfectly content with just accepting Iruka's explanation and leaving everything else alone.
So he was seeking out Zetsu's counsel to try and straighten things out.
Naruto was now deep within the forest where he assumed Zetsu was currently living. "Zetsu?" he called out hesitantly. Something slithered around his feet, and before he could do anything, something long and thin was wrapped around his body, binding his arms to his sides. His yelp of surprise was cut short as the thing promptly gagged him.
The wide, unblinking yellow eye of Black Zetsu peered out from a nearby tree. Strangely enough, to Naruto at least, his white side was…blank. No eye, no nose, no mouth. He had little time to wonder about that when his tutor spoke. "Greetings, child. Here I thought our meetings during the day were enough for you." Naruto struggled to respond, but the gag prevented him from saying anything coherent. "I suppose I should allow you to speak," Black Zetsu mused.
Mouth free, Naruto immediately spat out the taste of whatever had gagged him and asked, "What was that? And will you let me go?!"
"A vine," replied the plant-man as if it were obvious. Inwardly, he smirked. It was quite amusing to watch Naruto struggle against his bonds. He had sensed the boy coming, of course, but his sadism dictated that he get some mileage out of terrifying him for a bit while he had the opportunity. "And not just yet. Perhaps you would like to explain why you have sought me out."
Naruto slumped suddenly, all the fight leaving his system. "I didn't pass the Graduation Exam this morning," he began sullenly, "but one of the teachers said that I could pass if I learned a jutsu from this scroll the Old Man had. So I stole the scroll and learned Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, but then Iruka-sensei found me and he figured out that Mizuki had tricked me." Distracted by his retelling of his adventure, Naruto didn't register the loosening of the vine that was holding him hostage. "Then Mizuki told me that the Yondaime Hokage couldn't kill the Kyūbi, so instead he sealed it inside of me. Iruka-sensei says I'm not a demon, but…I don't know who to believe. Everyone treats me like I'm a really filthy piece of garbage…" He shot a somewhat pleading glance at Zetsu's shadowy figure, silently asking for guidance.
There were obvious details missing in Naruto's rather fragmented retelling of the story, but Black Zetsu was intelligent enough to fill in the holes. The 'Old Man' was the Hokage, this Mizuki individual was the teacher who had tricked Naruto originally, and there had been some sort of history lesson that ended with Naruto discovering he was the jailor to the Kyūbi. That was an interesting tidbit of information, but he could focus on that at some later period in time. Right now, he had a point to prove.
If Black Zetsu possessed a mouth, he would've been grinning maliciously at how well things had played into his hand.
"Have you learned a lesson from this incident?"
Naruto jerked suddenly, startled by the question. "What?"
"By unquestioningly obeying someone you saw as a superior, you not only committed a felony against Konohagakure, but you have proven yourself vulnerable to blindly accepting the opinions of others. If you had not listened to the hearsay of this Mizuki, you would not be in the midst of this personal conundrum.
"Summarily, you have received conflicting views about yourself from two people you formerly saw as some sort of role models. Now, one of them has betrayed you, but even the opinion of the other is not enough to convince you that the first one lied. So you come to me for advice. My question is: have you learned something from what has happened?"
Naruto stared at his tutor, digesting the lecture. Zetsu was intent on forcing Naruto to think for himself, something that the blond was ill-inclined to do, even though it would surely turn out to be a powerful asset someday. Intelligence was not one of his key strengths, but with enough time, he could reason through a situation. Zetsu's favorite saying popped into his head with all the suddenness of a lightning bolt. "You want me to rely on my own abilities," he responded slowly, almost unsure of his answer.
"…There is hope for you yet. Yes, you need to learn that trusting in other people has a tendency to backfire. Look at where it got you with this Mizuki person. There is nothing to be gained by heeding the advice of others, especially since the majority of them are fools."
The blond peered at him intently, mind working with this resurfaced train of thought. "…Why should I trust what you say then?"
Zetsu's dark laughter echoed in the forest. "Quite clever," he admitted. "You shouldn't." Naruto's surprise must have been clearly displayed on his face, for the nukenin continued, "Your own opinions are the only ones which should influence you. That is the lesson I have been attempting to teach you. My main purpose has been to guide you to that conclusion. Now, do you believe that you're a demon?"
"No," he replied after a moment of thought, "I guess not." He paused. "Are…are you gonna leave? You know, now that I understand what you've been trying to teach me…?"
"No," Black Zetsu informed him curtly. "You are still young and naïve, and as such are prone to the fallacies of your age. I have invested time and effort into your tutelage thus far, and I will not abandon my project midway, especially after this breakthrough." If Naruto took offense at being deemed a project – or any of the other descriptors Black Zetsu had dubbed him – he didn't show it |
3), Gracie Moon (5/2)Haynes, McCain, Kinney (5/3), Henry Murphy & the son's & brother's band (5/3), The Iguanas (5/1), Indigo Girls (5/1), Isaac Curry (5/1), Jagged Edge (5/2), Jimmie Dale Gilmore (5/2), Jolene (5/1), Josh Joplin Band (5/2), Juggling Sons (5/1), June Victory & The Bayou Renegades (5/2), Jupiter Coyote (5/2), Keb’ Mo’ (5/3), Kenny Wayne Shepherd (5/2), King Slender (5/1), Kingsized (5/3), Koko Taylor (5/2), Kool & The Gang featuring JT Taylor(5/2), La Bottine Souriante (5/2), Letters To Cleo (5/3), Little Jack Melody & His Young Turks (5/2), Loud American Tourists (5/2), Lysette (5/1), Marvelous 3 (5/2), Mavis Staples (5/3), Memory Dean (5/1), Michelle Penn (5/2), The Mike Karp Band (5/3), Montel Jordan (5/2), Morphine (5/1), Neilson Hubbard (5/1), Overlook (5/2), Pain (5/3), Paula Cole (5/1), Paydirt (5/2), The Penetrators (5/1), The Pleasantdales (5/2), Reggae Cowboys (5/1), The Road Hawgs (5/2), Rick Hubbard & His All Kid Kazoo Band (5/2 & 5/3), Robert Cray Band (5/1), Robustos (5/1), Sam Salter (5/2), Larry Johnson & Adam (5/3), Semisonic (5/2), The Silent Kids (5/2), Sister Hazel (5/2), Sixteen Horsepower (5/1), Sixty Cycle Hum (5/2), Skwzbxx (5/3), Son Volt (5/1), Speech (5/2), Tinsley Ellis (5/3), Tito Puente (5/3), Tonic (5/3), Troutfishing In America (5/3), Tuscadero (5/3), Ugly Americans (5/2), Urban Grind (5/2), Velmer Watkins & the Angelic Choir (5/3), Violent Femmes (5/3), Vonda Shepard (5/1), Wild West Picture Show (5/3), Wil’'s Drama (5/2) [9]
1999 Lineup [ edit ]
Friday 30 April 1999 – Sunday 2 May 1999 - $30.00 Three day weekend ticket
60 Cycle Hum (5/1), 98 Degrees (5/2), Aaron Hall (5/1), Amanda Jones (4/30), Angie Aparo (5/1), B*witched (5/2), Bare Jr. (5/2), Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals (5/1), Berlin (5/2), Big Atomic (5/1), Big Bad Voodoo Daddy (5/2), Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys (5/2), The Black Crowes (4/30), BlackPerl (5/1), Blacklight Posterboys (5/2), Bloque (5/1), Blueground Undergrass (5/2), Bobby Blue Bland (4/30), Boozoo Chavis (5/1), Branford Marsalis (5/1),Brave Combo (5/1), Buck Cherry (5/2), Burlap To Cashmere (5/1), Chris Duarte Group (5/1), Count Basie Orchestra (5/2), Cubanismo (5/2), Dance Contest/Deney Terrio (5/1), Deney Terrio (5/1), Deney Terrio & Motion (5/1), Destiny's Child (5/1), Digital Underground (4/30), Double Drive (5/2), Dovetail Joint (5/1), Dr. John (5/2), The Duke Robillard Band (5/1), El Caminos (5/2), Everclear (5/1), Fairfield Four (5/2), Fiji Mariners & Col. Bruce Hampton (5/2), File’ (5/1), Film (4/30), Francine Reed (5/2), The Funky Meters (4/30), Galactic (5/2), Gary Steer (5/1), George Thorogood & the Destroyers (5/1), Gibb Droll (5/2), Goodie Mob (5/1), The Gufs (5/2), Hole (5/2), Iggy Pop (5/1), Isaac Hayes (5/2), Jessica Simpson (5/2), Jonathan Richman (4/30), Joshua Redman Band (4/30), Leftover Salmon (5/1), Lizardmen (5/2), Mandorico (4/30), Marvelous 3 (5/1), Mojo Nixon (5/1), Musique (5/1), New Immortals (5/1), Norman Blake (5/2), Otis Day & The Knights (5/2), Outkast (4/30), PJ Olsson (5/1), Peter Frampton (5/1), The Pleasantdales (5/1), Poor Little Fools (4/30), The Prodigals (5/1), Push Monkey (4/30), Randall Bramlett (4/30), Reel Big Fish (5/2), Reel Tight (5/1), The Rent Boys (4/30), Rick Springfield (5/1), Robin Trower (5/1), Ruthie & the Wranglers (5/2), Salt-n-Pepa (4/30), Shock Lobo (5/1), Soul Miner's Daughter (5/1), Soup (5/1), Sponge (4/30), Stereo Popsicle (4/30), Steve Riley & The Mamou Playboys (4/30), The Tendor Idols (5/1), Toots & The Maytals (4/30), Train (5/1), The Trammps featuring Earl Young (5/1), Trinket (4/30), Truckadelic (5/1), Ultraphonic (5/1), Urban Grind (5/1), Vedado (5/2), Velmer Watkins & The Angelic Choir (5/2), Vinyl (5/2), Virgo's Merlot (4/30), War (5/1), Widespread Panic (5/2), Wilco (5/1), Willie Nelson (4/30), Xavier Cugat Orchestra (4/30)[10]
2000 Lineup [ edit ]
Friday 5 May 2000 – Sunday 7 May 2000 - $30.00 for a three (3) day weekend pass
3 Doors Down (5/5), 6 Piece (5/6), Adom (5/7), Albita (5/7), The Allman Brothers Band (5/7), Angie Aparo (5/6), Another Man Down (5/7), Baby DC (5/6), Bayou Dimayo (5/7), Bela Fleck & the Flecktones (5/6), Belmont Playboys (5/6), Ben Torres (5/6), Bend (5/5), Beth Hart (5/7), Beth Wood (5/7), Big People (5/6), Billionaire (5/7), Bio Ritmo (5/7), Bjorn Again (5/6), BR5-49 (5/7), Brand New Immortals (5/6), Captains of Industry (5/7) Celia Cruz (5/7), Charlie The Magician (5/7), Chocolate Kiss (5/7), Collective Soul (5/6), Comedy Response Unit (5/6), Controlled Airspace (5/7), Cracker (5/5), Creed (5/7), Darling Machine (5/5), Dave Dault (5/7), Dave Sloan (5/5), Deacon Brody (5/7), Donell Jones (5/6), Dropsonic (5/6), The El Caminos (5/7), Fabulous Thunderbirds (5/6), Fernando Sanchez & Kim Richards (5/7), Film (5/6), Foreigner (5/5), Francine Reed (5/7), Franklin & The Magic Fiddle (5/6&7)Fred Astaire Dance Studios (5/6&7), Geno Delafose & French Rockin Boogie (5/6), Georgia Mass Choir (5/7), Georgia Satellites (5/5), Giwayen Mata (5/5), Gretchen Gigly (5/6), Guster (5/6), Heirs of Promise (5/7), Injected (5/6), Italian Bistro Act (5/6), Jagged Edge (5/5), Janah (5/6), Jazz Mandolin Project (5/5), The Jeff Healey Band (5/7), Jimmy Cliff (5/5), Joe Satriani (5/6), Joe Walsh (5/6), Johnny Hyde (5/6), Jungle Brothers (5/6), Kathleen Turner Overdrive (5/5), Kenny Wayne Shepherd (5/7), King Sunny Ade (5/5), Kingdom Kids (5/7), Kitty Snyder (5/6), Koko Taylor and Her Blues Machine (5/6), La Bottine Souriante (5/6), Left Front Tire (5/7), Lil’ Malcolm & the House Rockers (5/6), Liquid Soul (5/6), Lisa Lisa (5/6), Little Jon & the Eastside Boyz (5/6), Lotustarr (5/6), Macha (5/6), Mary Delaney (5/5), Meshell Ndegéocello (5/5), Metrolanta Steel Pan Band (5/5), Metroscene (5/6), Modern Hero (5/7), moe. (5/6), The Music Class (5/6&7), Myssouri (5/6), NAS (5/6), Natalie MacMaster (5/5), Nickelback (5/6), Oasis (5/5), Oleander (5/6), Our Lady Peace (5/6), Owsley (5/5), Paul Rodgers (5/7) PDQ (5/6), Peter Searcy (5/7), Pimpadelic (5/6), Radford (5/5), Ratdog (5/5), Reggae Cowboys (5/5), Ricardo Lemvo & Makina Loca (5/7), The Road Kings (5/6), Robert Bradley's Blackwater Surprise (5/5), Sergent Garcia (5/7), Sevendust (5/7), Sick Speed (5/6), Slam 2000 Team (5/7), Slim Fatz & Barefoot Dave (5/7), Som Brasileiro (5/7), Southern Belles (5/6), Southern Culture on the Skids (5/6), Speech (5/5), Splender (5/6), Steep (5/6), Stir (5/7), Strangefolk (5/6), String Cheese Incident (5/6), Stroke 9 (5/7), he Supremes feat. Mary Wilson (5/7), Susan Tedeschi (5/7), Taj Mahal (5/7), Theresa Morton (5/7), Tinsley Ellis (5/7), The Tom Collins (5/5), Travis (5/5), Tyrese (5/5), Ultrababyfat (5/7), US Crush (5/6), Velmer Watkins and The Angelics (5/7), Vocal Tonic (5/6)[11]
2001 Lineup [ edit ]
Friday 4 May 2001 – Sunday 6 May 2001
John Mayer, Train, Bob Dylan,Ludacris, The Offspring, Erykah Badu, Foreigner, Ben Harper, Al Green, Kansas, Kool & The Gang, Cheap Trick, Talib Kweli, Blue Öyster Cult, Live, Five For Fighting, The Black Crowes, O.A.R., The Cult, Patti Smith, Musiq Soulchild, Run DMC, The Wallflowers, Fuel, The Sugarhill Gang, Steve Earle, En Vogue, Less Than Jake, Lucinda Williams, Arrested Development, Our Lady Peace, Indigo Girls, Bilal, Loverboy, Night Ranger, Rehab, American Hi-Fi, Cracker, Gov't Mule, Little Feat, Eric Johnson, Galactic, Carl Thomas, Days of the New, Booker T. Jones, The Derek Trucks Band, Tantric, North Mississippi Allstars, The Smithereens, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Evan And Jaron, The Connells, Jerry Cantrell, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Oleander, Jackyl, Delbert McClinton, The Gabe Dixon Band, Drivin' n' Cryin', Dexter Freebish, Marcia Ball, BeauSoleil, Sonia Dada, Shemekia Copeland, David Lindley, Marvelous 3, Injected, Josh Joplin Group, Johannes Linstead, Minus, Left Front Tire, Dan Hicks & The Hot Licks, Aerial, Soup, Francine Reed, The Senators, Blueground Undergrass, Jennifer Nettles Band, Treephort, L'il Brian And The Zydeco Travelers, The Forty Fives, Georgia Sea Island Singers, Greg Hester, Col Bruce Hampton And The Code Talkers, Young Antiques, Miller's Tale, Victoria Williams & Mark Olson, Original P, Nillah, X-impossibles, Kenny Howes & the Yeah, The Moto-litas, Craig Ellis, Shola Lewis, Andy Browne[12]
2002 Lineup [ edit ]
Friday 3 May 2002 — Sunday 5 May 2002
Earth, Wind & Fire, 30 Seconds to Mars, Acres, Adema, Alastor, Albita, Angie Aparo, Asphalt Blaster, Avant, Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, Better Than Ezra, Big People, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Bo Diddley, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Bonnie Raitt, Brizz, Bruce Daigrepont, Bubba Sparxxx, Bush, Butch Walker, CeeLo Green, Charivari, Cindy Wilson, City High, Cornbread, Counting Crows, Course Of Nature, Darius Rucker, David Dunning, David Lee Roth, Disco Biscuits, Don McLean, Doria Roberts, Dropsonic, Earshot, Edwin McCain, Familiar 48, Flickerstick, Francine Reed, Garbage, Geno Delafose and French Rockin Boogie, The Georgia Satellites, Giwayen Mata, Greta Lee, Headstrong, Hoobastank, Hot August Knights, Incubus, Injected, Israel Vibration, Jack Johnson, Jad, Jaheim, Ja Rule, Jethro Tull, Jim Crow, Jimmy Bosch, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Joe Bonamassa, Journey, June Carter Cash, Karl Denson's Tiny Universe, Kid Rock, Lake Trout, L.O.A., Mark Farner, Metroscene, Michelle Malone, Mike Mills, Mother's Finest, Mystikal, Nathan & The Zydeco Cha, No Doubt, O.A.R., Ohio Players, Oliver Mtukudzi, Perpetual Groove, Pete Yorn, ph balance, Producers, Puddle of Mudd, Rana, Remy Zero, Res, Rick James, Robert Randolph & The Family Band, Rosie Ledet, Royal 7, Rubyhorse, Savoy Brown, Sean Costello, Sense Field, Sharissa, Skid Row, Slim Fatz, slowEarth, Stone Temple Pilots, Supermatic, The John Butler Trio, The Rantings of EVA, The Wood, Yard, The Zydeco Boneshakers, Tinsley Ellis, Tony Rich, TrancesArc, Uncrowned, War, Zydefunk[13]
2003 Lineup [ edit ]
Friday, May 2, 2003: Bob Dylan, Cracker, LL Cool J, Live, Sheryl Crow, Steve Winwood, The Les Claypool Frog Brigade, and Unwritten Law.
Saturday, May 3, 2003: Aimee Mann, Buddy Guy, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Dave Mason, Evanescence, Godsmack, Joe Cocker, King's X, Marc Broussard, Matt Nathanson, Medeski Martin & Wood, Mrnorth, Revis, Saliva, Sixpence None the Richer, Spookie Daly Pride, The Isley Brothers, The Mavericks, The Time, Tonic, Trapt, and doubleDrive.
Sunday, May 4, 2003: Aimee Mann, Antibalas, Ashanti, Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals, Caitlin Cary, Cowboy Mouth, Def Leppard, Drive-By Truckers, Eve, Everclear, Gipsy Kings, Gomez, Gov’t Mule, Jack Johnson, Ratdog, Seether, Susan Tedeschi, Tonic, and Zwan.[14]
2004 Lineup [ edit ]
Friday, April 30, 2004: Hoobastank, Ludacris, REO Speedwagon, and Tantric.
Saturday, May 1, 2004: Big Boi, Chris Robinson & The New Earth Mud, Doors of the 21st Century, Drive-By Truckers, Foo Fighters, The Offspring, The Strokes, and Wyclef Jean.
Sunday, May 2, 2004: CeeLo Green, Courtney Love, Fuel, Jason Mraz, Jessica Simpson, Journey, Twista, and Ween.[15]
2005 Lineup [ edit ]
Friday, June 10, 2005: Bill Gentry, Ciara, Counting Crows, Interpol, Lou Reed, Michael Tolcher, Red Letter Agent, and 4th and Dock, The White Stripes.
Saturday, June 11, 2005: Bloc Party, Good Friday Experiment, John Fogerty, Keane, Louis XIV, Pixies, She Wants Revenge, The Features, The Killers, and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.
Sunday, June 12, 2005: DEVO, Public Enemy, Def Leppard, Jo Dee Messina, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Kid Rock, Montgomery Gentry, and The Lemonheads.[16]
2011 Lineup [ edit ]
Saturday, 24 September 2011: Band of Skulls, Cage the Elephant, Coldplay, Manchester Orchestra, The Black Keys, The Constellations, The Joy Formidable, The Postelles, Walk the Moon, and Young the Giant.[17]
2012 Lineup [ edit ]
Friday, 21 September 2012: Foo Fighters, The Avett Brothers, T.I., Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, and Van Hunt.
Saturday, 22 September 2012: Pearl Jam, Girl Talk, Florence & The Machine, Neon Trees, Ludacris, Adam Ant, Garbage, LP, Civil Twilight, and O'Brother.[18]
2013 Lineup [ edit ]
Dates: September 20, 2013 – September 21, 2013
(Artists listed from earliest to latest set times.)
Electric Ballroom Stage
Friday: Drivin N Cryin, Phoenix, Journey
Saturday: The Neighbourhood, Weezer, Arctic Monkeys, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Red Hot Chili Peppers
Great Southeast Music Hall Stage
Friday: 2 Chainz, Jane's Addiction
Saturday: Reignwolf, The Black Lips, Imagine Dragons, Queens of the Stone Age
Roxy Stage
Friday: North Mississippi Allstars, The Mowgli's, Cake
Saturday: Mona, Capital Cities, ZZ Ward, Tegan and Sara, Kendrick Lamar[19]
2014 Lineup [ edit ]
Dates: September 19, 2014 – September 20, 2014
(Artists listed from earliest to latest set times.)
Electric Ballroom Stage
Friday: Mayer Hawthorne, Run DMC, John Mayer
Saturday: Magic Man, Vic Mensa, B.o.B, Lana Del Rey, Eminem
Honda Stage
Friday: Banks (singer), Lorde
Saturday: The Strypes, Twenty One Pilots, Fitz and The Tantrums, Bastille (band)
Roxy Stage
Friday: Ron Pope, Bear Hands, Iggy Azalea, Jack White
Saturday: Sleeper Agent (band), AER, Third Eye Blind, NEEDTOBREATHE, Gregg Allman, Zac Brown Band[20]
2015 Lineup [ edit ]
Dates: September 18, 2015 – September 19, 2015
(Artists listed from earliest to latest set times.)
Electric Ballroom Stage
Friday: Kodaline, Hozier, Drake (rapper)
Saturday: Colony House, Andrew McMahon And The Wilderness, Hall & Oates, Run The Jewels, Sam Smith
Honda Stage
Friday: August Alsina, Alice in Chains
Saturday: X Ambassadors, The Airborne Toxic Event, Icona Pop, Lenny Kravitz
Belk Stage
Friday: Vinyl Theatre, Tove Lo, Jenny Lewis, Elton John
Saturday: New Politics, Elle King, Billy Idol, Panic! at the Disco, Van Halen
Cotton Club Stage
Friday: Jamie N Commons, Elliot Moss, Metric
Saturday: Alessia Cara, Rozzi Crane, Catfish and the Bottlemen, Vance Joy[21]
2016 Lineup [ edit ]
Dates: September 17, 2016 – September 18, 2016
(Artists listed from earliest to latest set times.)
Electric Ballroom Stage
Saturday: Zella Day, DNCE, Leon Bridges, G-Eazy, Twenty One Pilots
Sunday: Joseph (band), St. Lucia (musician), James Bay (singer), The Lumineers, The Killers
Honda Stage
Saturday: Balkan Beat Box, NF, Logic, Big Boi, ColleGrove
Sunday: Peter Bjorn and John, Corinne Bailey Rae, Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats (album), Alabama Shakes
Roxy Stage
Saturday: City and Colour/Dallas Green, Chvrches, Band of Horses, Beck
Sunday: Daya (singer), Melanie Martinez (singer), Grouplove, Kesha, deadmau5
Cotton Club Stage
Saturday: Johnnyswim, The Coathangers, Lucius (band), Mayer Hawthorne
Sunday: The Shadowboxers, Pete Yorn, Raury, DJ Mustard[22]
2017 Lineup [ edit ]
Dates: September 16, 2017 – September 17, 2017
(Artists listed from earliest to latest set times.)
Salesforce Stage
Saturday: Dua Lipa, Vintage Trouble, Tove Lo, Big Sean, Bruno Mars
Sunday: Circa Waves, Coin, Collective Soul, HAIM, Mumford & Sons
Honda Stage
Saturday: Bibi Bourelly, Oh Wonder, The Strumbellas, Wiz Khalifa
Sunday: Hiss Golden Messenger, Judah & the Lion, Two Door Cinema Club, Bastille (band)
Roxy Stage
Saturday: Daye Jack, PVRIS, Milky Chance, Weezer, Blink-182
Sunday: Midnight Larks, Missio (duo), Zara Larsson, Young The Giant, Future
Cotton Club Stage
Saturday: Sunflower Bean, AJR, Broods, The Naked and Famous
Sunday: Trippie Redd, Joywave, Lizzo, Russ[23]
One 2-Day Regular General Admission Ticket cost $178.72, including $33.72 of service charges.[24]
2018 Lineup [ edit ]
Dates: September 15, 2018 – September 16, 2018
(Artists listed from earliest to latest set times.)
Salesforce Stage
Saturday:The Aces, Twin Shadow, Rainbow Kitten Surprise, Thirty Seconds To Mars, Post Malone
Sunday:Sir, Two Feet, Janelle Monáe, Gucci Mane, Kendrick Lamar
Great Southeast Music Hall Stage
Saturday:Arthur Buck, Billie Eilish, Kacey Musgraves Portugal. The Man
Sunday:Black Pistol Fire, Arizona, Bazzi, Khalid
Roxy Stage
Saturday:Mattiel, Lovelytheband, Børns, The Revivalists, Fall Out Boy
Sunday:Berklee College of Music, K.Flay, Butch Walker, Foster The People, Imagine Dragons
Cotton Club Stage
Saturday:Yuno, Saint Jhn, Chromeo, Awolnation
Sunday:Robert Delong, Maggie Rogers, First Aid Kit, Sylvan Esso[25]
One 2-Day Regular General Admission Ticket cost $191.08 or $183.90, including $46.08 or $38.90 of service charges, respectively. The more expensive option includes a 3D Collectible Credential.[26]3D printed robot propulsion platform
At the start of this month, the IEEE electronics blog ran a fascinating story on a unique robot drive system that a grad student had invented (or re-invented).
The singularity drive system consists of a rubber hemisphere spinning vertically, like a top, that can be tilted front-to-back and left-to-right. This changes the point of contact with the ground, allowing the robot to drive in any direction or speed, forwards or backwards, without the need for any additional steering or transmission system.
Three weeks later, having been inspired by the IEEE article, another student demo’s his version of the singularity drive, this time on a 3D printed platform.
On his website he says he’d like to share his CAD files but hasn’t decided how best to do this. If you want to have a tinker with his design be sure to drop him a line and encourage him to share the files on Ponoko!Next summer…Earth will be the greatest hunt of all.
The most ambitious crossover event of 2014 begins in ARMOR HUNTERS #1 (of 4) – the FIRST ISSUE of an all-new, four-issue mini-series by New York Times best-selling writer Robert Venditti (X-O Manowar, Green Lantern) and superstar artist Doug Braithwaite (Unity, Justice)!
When Aric of Dacia returned to Earth with the stolen X-O Manowar armor of an alien race, he thought he finally found a weapon to guard the peace and kingdom he’d struggled so long to secure. But now, a relentless and surgical strike team from the farthest reaches of space – sworn to exterminate the armor and all like it – have found their final target. The ARMOR HUNTERS are coming. They will hunt. They will trap. They will kill. And they will rid the universe of the X-O Manowar’s incalculable destructive power…even if it means taking the Earth with it.
“2014 will be a year of all-new jumping-on points for Valiant, and ARMOR HUNTERS #1 is the perfect place to start. Robert Venditti and Doug Braithwaite are two of the finest storytellers in the medium. They’ve shaped the Valiant Universe, and we couldn’t be happier to have them architecting ARMOR HUNTERS,” said Valiant Executive Editor Warren Simons.
“X-O Manowar is about to find himself at the center of a firestorm embroiling all of Valiant’s most powerful heroes. Believe us when we say that, in an era of events, the scale, scope and intensity of ARMOR HUNTERS will be the biggest and most daring undertaking we’ve ever attempted,” said Valiant CEO & Chief Creative Officer Dinesh Shamdasani.
ARMOR HUNTERS #1 (of 4) kicks off Valiant’s landmark 2014 crossover event in June. Then, ARMOR HUNTERS continues with two brand new story arcs beginning in UNITY #8 by New York Times best-selling writer Matt Kindt (Mind MGMT, Justice League of America) and rising star Diego Bernard (Eternal Warrior); and X-O MANOWAR #26 by Venditti and Eisner Award-winning artist Cary Nord (Conan). And look for even more Valiant heroes to join the fight against Valiant’s first full-scale alien incursion as the summer continues. Further details will follow in 2014.
Next summer, bend the knee…or take the head when Valiant unleashes an all-new starting point for the year’s most acclaimed comic book universe, beginning in ARMOR HUNTERS #1 (of 4) by superstar creators Robert Venditti and Doug Braithwaite!
Plus: don’t miss the VALIANT: ARMOR HUNTERS FCBD 2014 SPECIAL – featuring an all-star look inside the definitive Valiant Universe event of the summer and beyond with previews, interviews, and more from Robert Venditti, Doug Braithwaite, Matt Kindt, Clayton Crain, Peter Milligan, Bryan Hitch, Clayton Henry and many more! Find out everything you need to know about Valiant in 2014 on Free Comic Book Day – May 3rd, 2014 – right here with the VALIANT: ARMOR HUNTERS 2014 FCBD SPECIAL!
For more information on ARMOR HUNTERS, visit Valiant on Facebook, on Twitter, and at ValiantUniverse.com. For Valiant merchandise and more, visit Valiant.CinderBlock.com.
For more information on Free Comic Book Day, visit FreeComicBookDay.com.
ARMOR HUNTERS #1 (OF 4)
Written by ROBERT VENDITTI
Art by DOUG BRAITHWAITE
COMING IN JUNE!
UNITY #8 (ARMOR HUNTERS)
Written by MATT KINDT
Art by DIEGO BERNARD
COMING IN JUNE!
X-O MANOWAR #26 (ARMOR HUNTERS)
Written by ROBERT VENDITTI
Art by CARY NORD
COMING IN JUNE!
VALIANT: ARMOR HUNTERS FCBD 2014 SPECIAL
Written by ROBERT VENDITTI, MATT KINDT, JOSHUA DYSART, FRED VAN LENTE, and PETER MILLIGAN
Art by DOUG BRAITHWAITE, BRYAN HITCH, CLAYTON CRAIN, CAFU, CLAYTON HENRY, DIEGO BERNARD, and MORE
Cover by J.G. JONES
T+/32 pgs.
IN STORES 5/3/14Tom Hardy’s James Keziah Delaney will return to your TV screens. BBC One and FX have ordered a second season of period drama “Taboo,” Variety has learned. Like the first season, Season 2 of “Taboo” will consist of eight episodes.
“Tom and Steve and the show’s brilliant producers are promising something daring, different but equally unmissable and I’m delighted that the BBC is partnering with FX once again to roll ‘Taboo’ out to audiences across the world,” said BBC Drama controller Piers Wenger.
“We are grateful and excited to continue our relationship with the BBC and FX in contributing towards British drama,” Hardy said. “Fantastic news.”
The first season, which just wrapped on FX, followed Delaney (Hardy), a man who has been to the ends of the earth and comes back irrevocably changed. Believed to be long dead, he returns home to 1814 London from Africa to inherit what is left of his father’s shipping empire and rebuild a life for himself. But his father’s legacy is a poisoned chalice, and with enemies lurking in every dark corner, James must navigate increasingly complex territories to avoid his own death sentence. Encircled by conspiracy, murder and betrayal, a dark family mystery unfolds in a combustible tale of love and treachery.
Hardy originally conceived of the series with his father Chips, bringing in Steven Knight to write. The first season was a modest performer in the U.S., drawing an average audience of 1.24 million and a 0.4 rating in the 18-49 demographic, and generally doubling that in Nielsen’s Live+3 numbers. In the U.K., the BBC says each episode was watched by 5.8 million people within seven days, and 7 million beyond seven days, and that the premiere drew the third-highest audience of any series on BBC iPlayer.
“Taboo” is produced by Ridley Scott’s Scott Free London and Tom Hardy’s Hardy Son & Baker for BBC One and FX with Sonar Entertainment distributing worldwide outside the U.K. Executive Producers are Ridley Scott and Kate Crowe for Scott Free, Tom Hardy and Dean Baker for Hardy Son & Baker, and Steven Knight.The Kansas City Chiefs have hired Brian Daboll as their offensive coordinator, a league source told NFL Network's Michael Lombardi on Friday night.
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NFL Network insider Jason La Canfora reported Friday afternoon that the Chiefs were talking to Daboll, who has a relationship with Kansas City general manager Scott Pioli from their time in New England, where the coach was on the staff from 2000 to 2006.
Daboll later spent two seasons as the New York Jets' quarterbacks coach before taking over as offensive coordinator in Cleveland from 2009 to 2010. The Browns were last in the NFL in total offense during his first season and 29th in Year 2, after which he departed for Miami.
Daboll will take over for Bill Muir, who announced his retirement Wednesday.
La Canfora reported that Jim Zorn and former Oakland Raiders coordinator Al Saunders also were candidates for the job.
La Canfora cited a league source in reporting Saturday that Zorn will remain the Chiefs' quarterbacks coach. However, Zorn could end up being approached about the offensive coordinator vacancy in Pittsburgh, depending on how Steelers coach Mike Tomlin aligns his staff. Zorn would only leave for that job, not another quarterbacks coach position.
The Dolphins were 22nd in total offense this season, though there was marked improvement over the second half of the season. Miami also piled up 31 points in a victory over the Chiefs.
Daboll would be taking over a potentially potent offense in Kansas City.
All-Pro running back Jamaal Charles is expected to participate in offseason workouts after missing all but the first two weeks of the season with a knee injury. Tight end Tony Moeaki will also be back after sustaining a similar knee injury during a preseason game.
Quarterback Matt Cassel will also be back after hurting his hand during Week 10.
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It's now time for what everyone is waiting for... Super Bowl XLVI picks. Our analysts, along with various current and former players, share their predictions for Sunday. More...
The Chiefs still managed to play themselves into a position to defend their AFC West title despite struggling on offense. But their playoff hopes were dashed when they managed only 13 points in an overtime loss to Oakland in the penultimate game of the season.
There are still questions surrounding the offense. Top wide receiver Dwayne Bowe is a free agent, though the Chiefs are considering whether to use the franchise tag on him.
Pioli also has promised that there will be competition for Cassel at quarterback. Kyle Orton became a free agent after finishing out the season for Kansas City, which means fifth-round draft pick Ricky Stanzi is the only other quarterback currently under contract.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.(Last Updated On: November 9, 2017)
Swedish Ambassador to Kabul, Tobias Thyberg says his country’s aid to Afghanistan which is about one billion in 2017 will continue throughout 2024 at current levels.
The Swedish Committee for Afghanistan (SCA) on Thursday announced launching its new strategic plan for the years of 2018 – 2021 to work against poverty, violence and discrimination in Afghanistan. “I believe, this predictability in this long-term element is a testament to the Sweden’s commitment to the principle of predictability,” Mr. Thyberg said.
He said international community will support development priorities set by the government of Afghanistan.
“The second principle which is absolutely the key to the national peace and development framework from 2017 to 2021 is also clearly visible in the Swedish strategy for the development and cooperation with Afghanistan which is based on five principles.”
According to Swedish envoy, these five principles are empowerment, education, employment, enterprise and economic integration which are fully in line with the priorities identified by the Afghan government.
The Acting Minister of Economy, Mustafa Mansoor, however, said that 34 percent of the aid has been spent in Kabul while some provinces not even received five percent of the services.
“There should be a balance in spending and focus should be on poor and rural areas as well,” he said.
A member of SCA, meanwhile, stressed on balance approach in their spending and focus more on poor people, mostly to those who live in the rural and insecure areas as well as “in the areas that receive the highest number of returnees and IDPs.”Justin Trudeau heads into the winter break, like Marley’s ghost, dragging behind him the chains he’s forged in office.
For the first time in his “Sunny Ways” mandate, Trudeau’s approval ratings have slipped below 50%, according to a new poll from Angus Reid Institute.
And a growing number of Canadians – after just two years – say it’s time for change in Ottawa.
Our PM’s declining popularity is without doubt a reflection of a series of blunders, scandals and bad decisions.
The ongoing demonization and attack on small business, by his government and Finance Minister Bill Morneau as tax cheats who use accounting “schemes” to avoid paying their fair share of income tax.
Meanwhile, Trudeau and his finance minister both employed tax loopholes to protect their own considerable fortunes and Morneau has been embroiled in an ongoing ethics investigation and conflict allegations.
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save percentage. More importantly, he made every stop he should have made, and several that went above and beyond. At this point, his teammates believe he can take them all the way. And they should.
• The Kings have to be licking their chops at the thought of facing Johnny Oduya in the conference final. The veteran played the third period like he had $50 riding on the Wings, coughing up the puck multiple times in his own zone and looking wildly uncomfortable any time he was under pressure. If he was sagging under the weight of this series, just wait until he faces Los Angeles and their heavy forecheck. Look for him to be a prime target of the Kings' big bangers.
• Henrik Zetterberg scored Detroit's only goal of the night, a nifty mid-air conversion off a Nyquist cross-crease pass that Crawford had no chance on, but it was too little, too late from the captain. He wasn't good enough tonight or in the series. Neither were Pavel Datsyuk and Johan Franzen. The Wings needed their star players to step up and only Howard responded, stopping 33 of 35 Chicago shots as he took another tough-luck loss. The Big Three? Each could manage only a single goal over seven games.
Maybe if they'd stepped up tonight it wouldn't have mattered that the Wings were too sloppy in their own zone, struggled in transition and, for some reason, refused to drive the net as relentlessly as they had in previous games against the Hawks. But they didn't. They kept looking for pretty when the answer was ugly, and it cost them.
This is a team in transition, and it's still a few pieces away from returning to the ranks of serious contenders. I've said it before, I'll say it again: if the Hawks don't re-sign unrestricted free agent Bryan Bickell this summer, Detroit better be first in line with a contract offer in hand on July 5. He's exactly the sort of presence they were missing in this series.On the grapevine: Bollywood’s spiciest gossip
Top actress and superstar at loggerheads A superstar and a top actress are at loggerheads with each other due to their major movies clashing on the same date. According to a little birdie, when it became clear that both movies had been scheduled to open the same weekend, the actress reportedly called up the superstar, whom she has worked closely with from the beginning of her career, and requested him to consider shifting his film's release date. Apparently, she requested him to shift his release date considering that it was her biggest release to which the superstar replied that he would be happy to do so if she made the request on a public platform. Read on to find out as to which actress is sending her messages to filmmakers...Image caption Dozens of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay have been on hunger strike
Prisoners and guards have clashed at Guantanamo Bay as authorities moved inmates, many of whom are on hunger strike, out of communal cellblocks.
The move came after detainees covered surveillance cameras and windows, a US Army spokesman said.
He said some prisoners used "improvised weapons" and in response "four less-than-lethal rounds" were fired.
The Pentagon says 43 prisoners are on hunger strike, but lawyers for the detainees say the number is higher.
Almost a dozen are being force-fed, according to military officials.
There were no "serious injuries to guards or detainees" in Saturday's clashes, according to Capt Robert Durand of the US military's Southern Command.
"I know for sure that one detainee was hit but the injuries were minor, just some bruises," another spokesman, Col Greg Julian, told the Associated Press.
Lawyers for some of the detainees condemned the camp authorities' actions.
Carlos Warner, who represents several detainees, told AP that "the military is escalating the conflict".
Detainees' frustration
Hunger strikes have happened frequently at the US military prison, but this protest, which began in February, is reportedly one of the longest and most widespread.
However, Guantanamo officials deny claims that the strike began after copies of the Koran were mishandled during searches of prisoners' cells.
Human rights groups and lawyers representing the prisoners say it reflects growing frustration at the US military's failure to decide the detainees' future.
Nearly 100 of the detainees have been reportedly cleared for release but remain at the facility because of Congressional restrictions and also concerns of possible mistreatment if they are sent back to their home countries.
The military detention centre opened in 2002 to hold suspects captured in counter-terrorism operations after the 11 September 2001 attacks in the US.In the context of the federal budget, the National Endowment for the Arts is a drop in the bucket, amounting to about 0.004 percent of total spending. At the same time, the program is completely unnecessary, so preserving it while claiming to make "hard choices" and "difficult decisions" signals a lack of seriousness. It should come as no surprise, then, that President Obama's plan to "re-establish fiscal responsibility" includes an $8 million increase in the NEA's budget.
"The administration request of $154 million for the National Endowment for the Arts is a greatly needed increase of $8 million from the $146 million that Congress appropriated last year," says Robert L. Lynch, CEO of Americans for the Arts. "Since 2010 the NEA has been cut $22 million to $146 million, which threatens its ability to make critical grants throughout the county." He adds that "the higher appropriation enhances the ability of the NEA to fund projects in every congressional district," which presumably will improve its chances of getting more funding in the future.
Mitt Romney, Obama's likely opponent in November, is a not much better on this fiscally trivial but symbolically significant issue. Romney calls for "deep reductions" in the NEA's budget yet still cannot bring himself to abolish it, thereby implicitly putting it in the category of "absolutely essential" federal programs, which he says are the only kind he would preserve.BHOPAL: The Madhya Pradesh government has warned of an FIR against a whole village of Guna district to save a five-year-old girl from being married off to a 12-year-old boy, following the diktat of the panchayat.The panchayat gave this verdict as a punishment to the girl's father, Jagdish, who had killed a calf three years ago.The incident was reported from Tarapur village under Aron Thehsil, located 70 km from the district headquarters. This village is dominated by Banjara community.Villagers believed that by killing the calf Jagdish incited the wrath of their deity on the entire village. Unless the deity is pacified, no marriage would take place in the area. To "calm" the deity, the village panchayat suggested an age-old tradition be followed - that was to ask Jagdish to marry off his daughter notwithstanding her age.Jagdish agreed and found the groom from his community from the state’s Vidisha district. The groom’s family agreed, too. The matter surfaced after the girl’s mother raised her voice against the diktat and reported the matter to the local administration a week ago.Four people, including the girl’s father, and the "young groom" have been bonded with Rs 20,000 each under Section 107/16 CrPc 1973 — an offence that invites police action in anticipation of possible "breach of peace" against a person.“We have sent different teams to the village to investigate the matter after it was reported in the local media. Once it was conformed that they were pressuring the father to marry off his five-year-old girl to a 12-year-old boy, we initiated action under Section 107/16,” said Niaz Khan, Guna’s additional district magistrate (ADM)."We have said that the whole village will face the music if they try further to get the girl married," he added.The village panchayat had been bothering her father for the last one month. First, they asked villagers to boycott Jagdish and his family. When some of the elderly people intervened, the panchayat asked Jagdish to arrange for a feast inviting all the villagers. The ordeal wasn’t over yet. They persuaded Jagdish to take a holy dip in the Ganga river.Meanwhile, some villagers pointed out that there was no wedding ceremony happening in the village since the calf died despite the fact that there were several marriageable youths in the locality.It was then that the panchayat ordered Jagdish to marry off his five-year-old daughter to pave the way for other girls and boys in the village, said the officer. The panchayat has reportedly asked the family to pay Rs 1 lakh as dowry to the boy’s family.The US Mint announced this morning that they will phase out the production of new pennies beginning in late 2019, and mint the last batch of pennies on April 1, 2020.
The final batch of pennies will be released in a set of proofs which will be auctioned off to coin collectors with the proceeds going toward our national debt.
The last run will be limited to 50,000 proof sets, and opening bidding is expected to start at $179.99, which is affordable, considering you will own a piece of US numismatic history.
High Cost of Making New Pennies to Blame
The announcement follows years of speculation regarding when the US would stop minting pennies, as it actually costs more than 1 cent to produce a penny.
On average, pennies cost 1.4 cents to make, making penny production a losing proposition, especially when the US Mint produces billions of pennies annually.
Add the fact that “a penny just doesn’t buy what it used to,” and it’s clear the US Government is making the right decision by eliminating the penny.
What will happen to all the pennies?
Pennies will remain legal tender, but you will be hard pressed to find stores willing to accept them after April, 2020, because the US Mint will impose additional handling fees for purchasing rolls of pennies and they will institute a penny buy back incentive.
Starting in late 2019, the US Government will begin “Pennies for Freedom,” a penny reclamation campaign designed to collect the estimated 23 trillion unused pennies sitting in people’s homes and coin jars.
The pennies will then be melted and the copper will be used for green energy projects throughout the US. This is part of the Trump Adminstration’s plans for reducing US dependence on foreign energy.
How Will Stores Handle Transactions Without Pennies?
We are moving toward a cashless society and most transactions are handled electronically with credit cards and ATM cards, or with a check. So eliminating the penny won’t actually affect most people.
For people who insist on paying cash, the US Mint recommends that stores round up or down to the nearest nickel.
Note: As a side effect, expect state and local sales taxes to increase to round up to the nearest nickel as well to make accounting easier for stores and cashiers.
Eliminating the Penny Benefits Everyone!
No more pennies means we all win! It is estimated the average person loses $38.92 in pennies throughout their lifetime. Change will be easier to count and manage, and purses will be lighter. No more looking under car seats, under couch cushions, sifting through the coin jar, etc. I’m looking forward to it already!
Penny Fun Facts:
$$$ And if you haven’t figured it out by now – Happy April Fools Day! 🙂
Disclaimer: No pennies were harmed in the writing of this blog article. All facts, figures, and other information were made up on the spot or carefully edited for effect, except for the Penny Fun Facts, which lead to legitimate sources of information.
penny photo credit: Nbauer.Religious conversion would not be part of a proposed club at a Tucson elementary school called After School Satan, according to the person who would lead the club.
The Satanic Temple requested Monday to charter the club at Roskruge Bilingual School, according to Stu de Haan, spokesman for the Tucson chapter of The Satanic Temple. The school, near downtown Tucson, includes kindergarten through eighth grades.
“First thing I think of is evil,” said Conrad Duarte, after ABC15 described the club to him. Duarte has a daughter who will be a seventh-grader at Roskruge when school begins this week.
De Haan noted that chapters of The Satanic Temple are working to start the clubs at schools around the country, but only at schools that have a chapter of The Good News Club, a Christian-based group.
"We're not here to get special privileges, we're here to get equal privileges,” de Haan said in an interview Monday night.
A local contact for Child Evangelism Fellowship, the organization that runs The Good News Club, declined an interview request Monday night.
The Satanic Temple tried and failed earlier this year to gain permission to lead invocations at Phoenix and Scottsdale City Council meetings. De Haan said that as a Satanist, he does not believe in a literal Satan. Instead, his religion is based on resisting tyranny and questioning authority.
The club, he said, would not seek to convert children and would be age appropriate. Meetings would include lessons on science, morals and empathy.
“In our religion, science and reason are the most valued, rather than superstition and supernatural,” de Haan said.
In a statement, a Tucson Unified School District spokesperson said the group’s application does not meet district requirements because a faculty member is not a sponsor of After School Satan.First-ever Study Shows E-cigarettes Cause Damage to Gum Tissue
Irfan Rahman, Ph.D., Environmental Medicine
A University of Rochester Medical Center study suggests that electronic cigarettes are as equally damaging to gums and teeth as conventional cigarettes.
The study, published in Oncotarget, was led by Irfan Rahman, Ph.D. professor of Environmental Medicine at the UR School of Medicine and Dentistry, and is the first scientific study to address e-cigarettes and their detrimental effect on oral health on cellular and molecular levels. Electronic cigarettes continue to grow in popularity among younger adults and current and former smokers because they are often perceived as a healthier alternative to conventional cigarettes. Previously, scientists thought that the chemicals found in cigarette smoke were the culprits behind adverse health effects, but a growing body of scientific data, including this study, suggests otherwise.
“We showed that when the vapors from an e-cigarette are burned, it causes cells to release inflammatory proteins, which in turn aggravate stress within cells, resulting in damage that could lead to various oral diseases,” explained Rahman, who last year published a study about the damaging effects of e-cigarette vapors and flavorings on lung cells and an earlier study on the pollution effects. “How much and how often someone is smoking e-cigarettes will determine the extent of damage to the gums and oral cavity.”
Fawad Javed, Eastman Institute for Oral Health
The study, which exposed 3-D human, non-smoker gum tissue to the vapors of e-cigarettes, also found that the flavoring chemicals play a role in damaging cells in the mouth.
“We learned that the flavorings–some more than others--made the damage to the cells even worse,” added Fawad Javed, a post-doctoral student at Eastman Institute for Oral Health, part of the UR Medical Center, who contributed to the study. “It’s important to remember that e-cigarettes contain nicotine, which is known to contribute to gum disease.”
Most e-cigarettes contain a battery, a heating device, and a cartridge to hold liquid, which typically contains nicotine, flavorings, and other chemicals. The battery-powered device heats the liquid in the cartridge into an aerosol that the user inhales.
“More research, including long term and comparative studies, are needed to better understand the health effects of e-cigarettes,” added Rahman, who would like to see manufacturers disclose all the materials and chemicals used, so consumers can become more educated about potential dangers.
This study was funded by the National Institutes of Health. Study collaborators include first author Isaac K. Sundar, UR Department of Environmental Medicine, Fawad Javed, Department of General Dentistry, Eastman Institute for Oral Health at UR, Georgios E. Romanos, Department of Periodontology, School of Dental Medicine, Stony Brook University and Irfan Rahman, Department of Environmental Medicine at UR.
###
The University of Rochester Medical Center is home to approximately 3,000 individuals who conduct research on everything from cancer and heart disease to Parkinson’s, pandemic influenza and autism. Spread across many centers, institutes and labs, our scientists have developed therapies that have improved human health locally, in the region and across the globe. To learn more, visit www.urmc.rochester.edu/research.PRINCETON, NJ -- Americans' preferences for deficit reduction clearly favor spending cuts to tax increases, but most Americans favor a mix of the two approaches. Twenty percent favor an approach that relies only on spending cuts and 4% favor an approach that uses tax increases alone.
These results are based on a July 7-10 Gallup poll, conducted as government leaders from both parties continued negotiating an agreement to raise the federal debt limit. Both Republicans and Democrats appear willing to raise the debt limit, provided the government outlines plans to significantly reduce federal deficits in the future. The parties generally agree on making deep spending cuts, but do not agree on whether tax increases should be included to help reach their target goals for deficit reduction. Many Republicans in Congress oppose any such tax increases; thus, the legislation may not pass if tax hikes are included.
Americans do not necessarily share this view, with 20% saying deficit reduction should come only through spending cuts. That percentage is a little higher, 26%, among those who identify as Republicans. Republicans do, however, tilt heavily in favor of reducing the deficit primarily if not exclusively with spending cuts (67%) as opposed to tax increases (3%). Fifty-one percent of independents share that preference. Democrats are most inclined to want equal amounts of spending cuts and tax increases (42%), though more favor a tilt toward spending cuts (33%) than tax increases (20%).
The question does not make clear what types of tax increases Americans might be willing to accept, or whether those saying deficit reduction should come "mostly" from spending cuts would prefer that the proportion of spending cuts be closer to 51% or 99%. The public has been willing to endorse higher taxes on wealthy Americans in recent months, in terms of allowing Bush-era income tax cuts to expire and as a means of keeping Social Security solvent.
Spending a Key Worry for Americans on Debt Limit Increase
Gallup finds about 6 in 10 Americans paying close attention to the debate about raising the debt limit. When the same poll asked for their general position on raising the limit, without providing reasons for doing so or not doing so, Americans were more likely to oppose an increase than favor one. The 42% who are opposed to doing so generally find fault with the government's spending patterns when asked in an open-ended format to explain their views.
The most common reasons given for opposing an increased debt limit are that the U.S. already has too much debt and cannot afford more, that the government needs to control its spending, and that it needs to do a better job of budgeting and living within its means. Another common response is that raising the debt limit does not implicitly address the government's debt problem, and that government would likely just keep raising the limit in the future.
The smaller proportion of Americans who favor an increase to the debt limit, 22%, are most likely to believe the United States has little choice in the matter -- in other words, the action may be undesirable but is necessary. Most commonly, proponents say they favor increasing the limit to avoid an economic catastrophe, which some experts including Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner predict will occur if the government is no longer able to borrow money. The other most common reasons for favoring a higher debt limit are that the U.S. cannot default on its debt, that the country simply has "no choice" in the matter, and to avoid a disruption of government services and benefits.
Responses on both sides to a large degree reflect the arguments political leaders are making. Two of the most common, and arguably the dominant themes of the open-ended responses, are concerns about the effect that not raising the debt limit will have on the economy versus concerns that raising it will not sufficiently address government spending. In the same poll, Gallup asked Americans which of these two risks concerned them more, and the public expressed greater concern about raising the debt ceiling without a plan for major cuts in future government spending (51%) than about the potential harm to the economy if the debt ceiling is not raised (32%).
Read the verbatim responses.
Implications
Government spending seems to be the primary worry for Americans when their opinions are probed about raising the debt limit. Government leaders appear to be listening, as party leaders are proposing major cuts in future government spending as a way to persuade members of Congress to vote for an increase in the nation's debt limit. In terms of deficit reduction, Americans seem to generally back an approach that relies more on spending cuts than tax increases. A key question to be answered in the days ahead is whether an agreement to raise the debt ceiling will include any tax increases. This is something many Republican members of Congress oppose, but most Americans do not seem to share this view.What approaches need to be taken to assess the scope, actions, and meaning of GamerGate? A number of questions arise when considering GamerGate in light of its persistence and complexity. Is GamerGate, as Ryan Broderick argues, the last gasp of the “manosphere” and its “angry nerds using mobs of sockpuppets to help them fight their anonymous culture wars,” even as he asserts the worst is yet to come? Or is GamerGate better understood, and analysed, as a recruiting ground for a sophisticated, technologically proficient, and reactionary right-wing movement that has in its sights the hard-fought gains of feminism and civil rights? Or is GamerGate, as more moderate proponents argue, nothing but a “consumer revolt” against “mainstream gaming magazines” that have “established themselves as a clerisy,” and thus a rejection of being “automatically maligned by self-appointed consensus makers,” forced into a “a false binary of gamers + and drooling troglodytes,” as Hezekiah Salmon observed in the comments to the first part of this roundtable?
Undoubtedly any comprehensive analysis of GamerGate will have to acknowledge that all of these approaches touch upon what is at stake; that the combination of divergent and contradictory positions reveals a multiplicity of interests and forces at work in which any critical viewpoint is necessarily one of parallax. Of course, GamerGate has its own messaging; but this public communication must be critically evaluated against the telling evidence of its internal discourse and the actions and campaigns carried out under its banner.
It is worth recalling that GamerGate’s stated mission concerns “ethics in games journalism” — in particular, its adherents proclaim that they wish to unmask undisclosed, if not “conspiratorial” connections between games reviewers, journalists, and the games industry that undermine the “objectivity” of games reviewing. Yet, this peculiarly moral mission—peculiar because entertainment criticism is the providence of inherently subjective opinion, and not the critical assessment of fact-seeking in current events reportage—was invented well after the fact of GamerGate’s actual beginnings. GamerGate began, and continues, as a backlash against a variety of subject-positions, critiques, and insights that have been traditionally underrepresented in the homogeneous sphere of masculinist gamer culture.
What would happen if GamerGate took upon itself to actually address its stated concerns? GamerGate appears to have arisen from the ashes of 4chan’s trickster culture — its merry band of trolls and misfits out for lulz. Lulz can more or less be defined as laughter at someone else’s expense, but also as a worldview that takes nothing as sacred, in what its own practitioners describe as “a state of voluntary, gleeful sociopathy over the world’s current apocalyptic state [that is] superior to being emo” (the Encylopedia Dramatica, in Coleman 2014: 30). Like many lulz campaigns, GamerGate wages “so-called ‘ruin life’ campaigns” that, as Gabrielle Coleman writes, “spread humiliating stories (regardless of truthfulness) about a chosen target, and leak vital information like addresses and Social Security numbers [doxing]” (21). “The effect” of this trolling, writes Coleman, “is akin to being cursed, branded, and stigmatized all at once. The psychological effects can be terrifyingly long lasting” (21). If GamerGate’s mission is to address unethical industry behaviour, then it begs the question why it would do so using not only unethical but criminal tactics.
As Katherine Cross notes in the roundtable below, GamerGate appears to have broken some sort of cardinal sin of lulz culture: it takes itself seriously. GamerGate really does believe, at some level — and that may just be the level of those not in on the lulz — that it is unmasking a vast conspiracy of “Social Justice Warriors” that manipulate mainstream and gamer media, the games industry, and academic organisations such as DiGRA for their own self-interest. GamerGate doesn’t disclaim itself as but “for the lulz”: its adherents parrot that they act in the name of “ethics in games journalism.” Yet if this is the case, then GamerGate’s definition of “ethics” appears to be strangely at odds, if not politically antithetical, to the well-known movement of “ethical” and “political” action that has emerged from the lulz of trickster-trolls: Anonymous. Other than trolling tactics, GamerGate appears to have little in common with anti-establishment projects such as Project Chanology — the 2008 Anonymous attack on the Church of Scientology — just as it seems entirely at odds with Anonymous’ threats to reveal the identities of male rapists or its mapping of missing and murdered Aboriginal women across North America.
At the very least, GamerGate reveals the contradictions of lulz and gamer culture; at the most it suggests a schism between the goals of Anonymous and those of GamerGate. As Jennifer Allaway suggests, further sociological research on GamerGate participants might provide insight into how participants construe their beliefs as well as possible overlaps between various constituencies, though as Michael Lutz, Jenni Goodchild, and Katherine Cross point out, the mechanisms of desire, illusion, contradiction, and ideology at work in GamerGate call for a critical, if not psychoanalytic approach to the construction of GamerGate’s beliefs.
Dissecting GamerGate’s Cognitive Dissonance
It is the task of analyzing GamerGate’s cognitive dissonance that propels the roundtable below. Our analysis is entirely cognisant of the internet context in which GamerGate deploys cognitive dissonance as a strategy. In discussing GamerGate, the conversants remain aware that, though driven by necessity to generalize, GamerGate remains a diverse set of opinions, participants, and views—many of whom might not even be aware of the way that various “operations” are being organised to say one thing, do another. To get a handle on “GamerGate” as an operation that utilises militarised language and disinformation tactics, it is worthwhile considering the #Gamergate [Central Operations Archive] document. GamerGate’s “campaigns” are produced through online strategies that are similar to hacktivism, and its culture of enjoyment produces a reward system for active participation that is not unlike gaming itself except that its targets are very real people, suffering from very real forms of harassment and violence. Like the question of ethical distanciation in drone warfare, or of military discipline in general that intentionally erases empathy for the other and systematically destroys the will to question, installing in its place an uncritical obedience to orders and authoritative power, one is led to ask whether its participants are fully cognisant of the effects of their actions.
GamerGate remains an assemblage of ambivalent participants that, although organised into campaigns, has no clear leader. Yet as Allaway points out, no leader is necessary for the designation of GamerGate as a “hate group.” This designation also serves to distinguish GamerGate from two other vectors of leaderless and online (dis)organised activism: #Occupy and hacktivism. Their differences are significant.
Occupy, though organising and communicating using various digital means, encamped itself in public spaces, forming contact relationships between diverse peoples in the flesh, and though without a single agenda, collaborated around issues of anti-poverty, anti-austerity, and anti-inequality that arose in response to the ongoing crisis of capitalism (and more broadly, climate change as driving economic collapse) (see, for example, Brown and Susen 2014; Kilibarda 2012). Various forms of hacktivism, dating back to the hacker ethos of the 1970s that championed open software and systems, have released mission statements that champion clear political causes, such as the hacktivist campaigns of The Yes Men, RTMark, and Electronic Disturbance Theater (the latter who first publicly deployed the Zapatista Tactical Floodnet as a means of “Electronic Civil Disobedience”). Hacktivists generally seek to publicize and undermine various corporate agendas and governments that have sought to suppress or control peoples online and off. And though they may use trickster means to achieve awareness (such as with many Yes Men campaigns where its members pretend to be members of the World Trade Organisation, for example), their political intent is always publicized.
In contrast to these campaigns, GamerGate’s stated mission cannot be said to reside in the same realm of political transparency. It would be a mistake to conclude that, in the final analysis, GamerGate is but a consumer revolt masquerading as a culture war; rather, as a rallying point for antifeminism and antisemitism, misogyny and transphobia, right-wing rage and white supremacy, a more troubling thesis must be posed: that GamerGate organises itself as a culture war while depicting, and disguising, itself as a consumer revolt.
Roundtable – Part II
Participants: tobias c. van Veen, Jennifer Allaway, Katherine Cross, Jenni Goodchild and Michael Lutz (see below for author bios).
Jennifer Allaway (JA): Most hate groups that exist in reality — like not solely in internet space — start with a defined leader and have one mentality, and once that leader is gone, the hate fades away. Because of the leaderless movement on the internet though, we have members of the Men’s Rights Association (MRA) who are saying “these GamerGate guys are kind of cool, I’m going to bring my hate-group tactics from the MRA into GamerGate.” People who are literal neo-Nazis who are doing the same thing as the MRA. So we have this strange intersectional hate going on within GamerGate. To extrapolate from games for a moment, the idea that these people are agreeing on something, and possibly going to work together on something is terrifying on many levels. We have actual hate groups, listed with GamerGate on the Southern Poverty Law Centre website, joining with GamerGate too.
Jenni Goodchild (JG): I’ve been trying to collate stuff from various angles. There’s a number of people out there undertaking independent research on GamerGate. The way that GamerGate is co-opting World War II propaganda could be a study. There’s threads on Stormfront discussing [and approving] of GamerGate. The anti-Semitism that we’re seeing now in the hashtag has been underlying for months. People are saying it’s only now these groups are coming in [to the Twitter hashtag], but it’s been on 8Chan. It started at /pol. King of Pol has denied the Holocaust; PressFartToContinue, a primary information source for GamerGate, is a known stalker. Such tactics have been there from the start; it’s just that they’re only explicit now. For example, I’ve seen attempts by GamerGate to argue that Nazism wasn’t about anti-Semitism. So you can be a Nazi without being an anti-Semite, and that’s what being a NatSoc is.
Michael Lutz (ML): This logic is part of GamerGate: “Because Nazism was such a diverse movement, you’d be misrepresenting it to focus on the anti-Semitism!”
JG: Other members of GamerGate have argued that, under the definitions of the United Nations, feminism is attempting to commit cultural genocide, because apparently it is trying to get rid of white-male Christendom. Even if this were true, cultural genocide is what Christianity spread via. I guess GamerGate is being honest now — it’s about feminism.
Katherine Cross (KC): GamerGate has successfully radicalized a disaffected group of mostly—not exclusively, but mostly—young white men who feel put-upon by structural changes in society, but for whom videogames are one of the most important and personal manifestations of that. And so it follows a very familiar pattern that we see in reactionary movements of late capitalism where that latent sense of resentment—of birthrights not being fulfilled, privilege no longer counting for as much as it used to, at least in the eye of the privilege beholder—is being exploited now as a source of movement energy. That’s a big part of what has been happening in GamerGate from the start, and why it was so easy to get this particular group of energetic people opposed to so-called “Social Justice Warriors.” I would say there’s a very strong isomorphism between the idea of “they’re going to take our videogames away” and “they’re going to take our country away.” This rhetoric that is being deployed on the political right, especially in the UK and the US, that reactionary movements depend on this idea. Jenni wrote a great article about patriotism and this particular notion of the abstraction of home being a place that is being invaded by the outsider. And I think that plays a significant role in what has happened with GamerGate and why all of these reactionary elements have been flocking to it.
ML: I’ve been looking at GamerGate through a history of conspiracy theories. Conspiracy theories tend to come up along political lines, focusing on invasions of a homeland by the other, but also paranoid fantasies about mind and information control. GamerGate has all the structural elements of a conspiracy theory group, but its conspiracies, or rather its discontent, arises out of the market. It is becoming more openly politicized, but it emerged as a free-floating thing, which is one reason why you have the MRA and Stormfront rushing in—because GamerGate is up-for-grabs.
JG: As David Auerbach of Slate has written, “America is GamerGate.” Auerbach is trying to say that GamerGate is symptomatic of America, but what this says to me is that this is how GamerGate is viewing itself, as a bastion of sociocultural identity and patriotism. For example, RogueStar is a veteran. If you question RogueStar, people say “but he’s a veteran!”—which is weird for me, being in the UK.
JA: I think what is missing in the dialogue for me is ultimately how the industry created GamerGate. When you have this culture in the gaming industry centered around making games for men and promoting masculinity and virility for thirty-plus years, that is only now being challenged strongly by groups marginalized from this culture, this is what allows a radical niche to react so violently [to perceived threats]. What could be a profound area of study would be addressing how the industry could take some ownership for the “angry child” it has created and that has been causing so much pain for its employees.
KC: There’s one big area I want to move into and that’s gamification. Tobias talked about how #GamerGate is really a “game” for a lot of people and that is really true. The guiding mythology of GamerGate, for some, is this idea that, because they have been trained through videogaming to overcome obstacles, they are now the ideal revolutionary class for combating the malevolent influences of feminism. And there is this Skinnerian effect that has happened within GamerGate and its various precincts, where people are treating it like a game. When you treat social interaction in this way that exists liminally between reality and unreality, as if it’s “just a game,” people are more likely to behave aggressively or engage in harassment, because their empathy and morality are short circuited by treating the interaction as a ludic challenge to overcome. You don’t empathise with NPCs. GamerGate itself, in conjunction with this “ethic” of gameification, is part of what leads to them being “morally unmusical,” where they adhere to very simplistic, binary rules as to what they think is moral, such as: if it’s not illegal it’s acceptable; or you should only avoid doing bad things because it’s bad PR. This is not a robust, supple, agile morality. But that comes from the gameification sense of win conditions: do X to win, don’t do Y or you’ll lose. And that’s a huge part of the problem.
Finally, I wanted to say that trans people have already been enduring this. We’ve been at the heart of GamerGate’s maelstrom for some time. GG is responding to the threat posed by trans women, game developers, and writers; the whole Twine phenomenon is, after all, deeply associated with trans women’s contributions to modern game design. I think that intersectional analysis of the movement has to be front and centre; GamerGate profits mightily from imagining that all of its opponents are white, cisgender people. But I and a lot of other women of colour, and a lot of trans people, certainly have been viciously attacked by GamerGate and villianized. I think that attention to that is necessary, as is the role of this kind of identity politics in GamerGate itself, where it certainly is extant—e.g., what is drawing in a minority of women [to identify with GamerGate]?
JG: Videogames do have a black-and-white sense of morality and GamerGate is a perfect example of why: it’s obvious that [the industry] has targeted that market, and that market clearly subscribes to [such a binary] view. Gamers have been trained in various ways: that no matter how many times you die, you hit the Replay button; GamerGate is very much basing how it acts on videogame principles. It’s fascinating how GamerGate denies the influence of videogames [on their actions], yet also talks about how they’ve learnt their methods from games.
I also don’t feel like academia (or journalism) understands 4chan and 8chan. At all. With the Jennifer Lawrence leak, there was a lot of talk about “the 4chan hacker,” which is so inaccurate and nonrepresentative about what happened. If you want to have a critical analysis of GamerGate, you can’t ignore the multiple boards, and strains of thought, of 4chan and 8chan. 8chan is not a monolithic block. There’s also not enough research on how 4chan and 8chan make it so easy to recruit [members to their campaigns]. I also disagree with reports that say that GamerGate is “just teenagers.”
JA: The sociological |
, attention will turn to the challenger matches, which will unfortunately feature a teamkill between Ret and TLO. However, the odds are good for four Liquid players in Premier, and everyone will be practicing hard to make that happen. Before the action begins again next week, we sat down with the squad to hear their reflections on the grueling qualifier process, the changes to WCS this year, and their current form.The first qualifiers were troublesome but after some practice it was easier!I guess I felt a bit relieved. I haven’t been practicing a lot lately so I wasn’t sure how I’d perform, however I felt I played pretty well in both the 1st and 2nd qualifier. I really like these types of long grinds where you’re just playing opponent after opponent. After I qualified I was almost annoyed that I couldn’t participate in the next ones.It felt good. I was a bit disappointed that I qualified through 4th qualifier, but I was on a big monthly break right before the qualifiers and I had just couple of days to be in shape for them, so this makes it up for that.It feels like qualifying is just a small step. There was a huge sigh of relief when I made it in, but, without making premier league, what is it really worth? So I think I'll wait to see if I make it into PL before I get overly excited.I never struggled as much to qualify for WCS before but because of that making it through at the very end felt better than any time before. This was maybe the most stressful week of my life, I was so afraid I'm not going to make it. Making the cut so closely almost gave me a heart attack.We'll see obviously it wasn't as high as it should be so I'll have a lot of work ahead of me now to get fit for challenger and premier league. But you know I feel quite good now, motivated to get in shape again not discouraged by the bad play this week.I feel rather high, but not on the highest level yet, I am still coming back from the break, but my form is rising rather quickly. It was a long time without tournaments so I can't base my skill on anything just now, we will see after season one.That’s a very hard question. Since I’ve been low on practice my speed and awareness might have lowered a little, however I still have a very good idea of how to play the games from a strategic standpoint. I think I’ll simply say that I still rate myself as the best European terran, but we’ll see whether that’s true or not.My average skill and performance is one of the best in Europe. Other players are very confident against me, though. I'm excited to see what they will be able to pull off against me and how my overall approach will fare in the EU system.I'm pretty sure I can beat anyone on a good day. But there's a lot of strong players who probably feel exactly the same. It's really hard to say but I think there's only about 3 or 4 players that I would feel are favored against me. I know that probably doesn't coincide with public opinion but I know I've been playing rather well in recent times in my practice games. So long as I can bring the same form and confidence to challenger and possibly PL, I should be able to do well. It was hard to do it in the qualifiers.. they are so stressful.I don't care about the region lock to be honest, I am sad that the ladder is Koreanless now and is a worse practice environment. The good thing is that the actual qualifiers aren't terrifying but, I like tough competition nonetheless.Definitely the Korean players leaving makes practice and competition a bit less interesting. But I think it's easier to place higher and make prize money from WCS now. The global premier league seems really cool. I'm confident in the EU region putting up a great fight against the other regions there.Well it obviously got a lot easier. I’ve always been good at playing vs other foreigners. Snute told me a few weeks ago that my winrate vs foreigners was the best for any foreigner in 2014. I believe I was at 83% winrate in series. Seeing those numbers I’m feeling pretty confident going into WCS 2015. It's funny, I heard a lot of foreign pros say they're feeling more motivated to play because of the region lock though, so in a way the average level might get tougher.I think the qualifiers have been an amazing experience. Both to play in and also to watch. So many really good players that the public almost never saw anything of were able to battle their way through the qualifiers. You have up and comers, old school pros like myself, and then top favorites like Snute, and it was a totally even playing field with lots of exciting and close series. Really loving the new format.This semi-pro level of competition is the really cornerstone of any healthy competitive scene and it's a damn shame that we've been totally deprived of it for the past 2 years thanks to WCS and the heavy influx of Koreans. I'm really glad it's back and I hope to see more chances for Europeans to compete, because the quality of games and the amount of competitors deserves a platform in my opinion. As the qualifiers have showed there certainly is interest for all these players as well.I don't really think about it to be honest. I just play, I don't care if it's vs Koreans or Foreigners. I don't have any influence over who I play anyway.The fact that we all made it through is great start, I think we have the most strongest and most well rounded team outside of Korea. We'll help each other go as far as we can. I predict at least 1 Liquid player in the Ro4!Snute and Bunny have potential to go very far in the tournament, I think Ro8 is not unexpected from them, but we will see if they will have enough passion and patience to raise their skill that high. Other than that I see at least 3 Liquid players in the Premier league.Ret in particular has improved a lot by practicing hard. I think the team has improved overall so we should be able to do better than last year.I think it’ll be a good year, everyone has potential to do really well. I know Ret has been playing a lot now, so seeing him compete is going to be interesting. I’m hoping Snute will pull out some big wins in WCS, as long as he doesn’t get kicked out by some terran cheeser! MaNa will do well if he can just avoid “imba swarm host and terran”. I was really happy that TLO managed to get through, after a whole week of grinding qualifiers he should be well practiced for challenger!They always do well, I don't think that will change.Getting to Premier and playing non-Europeans. It's fun to play against people from the other regions.I don't have anyone in specific to choose seriously. I will accept anybody to be my opponent and crush his season 1 WCS hopes.Happy.Haha, it's irrational cause he's objectively really good. But NaNiwa would be fun to play against.I’m generally most comfortable with facing the best players possible, that way I feel like winning is more exciting and losing more acceptable. As far as European players are concerned I guess the strongest would be my teammates and up & comers like Lilbow and MarineLorD. Also I guess I’ll throw NaNiwa in there, since I basically knocked him out of WCS into temporary retirement last time. I’d like to face him now that he actually has some dedication again.She said it takes around an hour and a half for one or two volunteers to clean the church of bat poo and urine on the morning of an event such as a wedding.
On one occasion the church warden collected 200g worth of bat poo from the pews and floor - a week's worth.
They have also had to cover up two 600-year-old wall murals because they were in danger of being damaged by the excrement.
The church is one of three hoping for a reprieve after they were chosen for the Bats and Churches Partnership pilot scheme designed to help them cope.
Another church chosen for the scheme, Holy Trinity in Tattershall, Lincolnshire, says it has over 700 bats roosting in the building.
Staff have been unable to restore the 500-year-old doors to the Grade 1-listed church because it would mean closing a gap used by the bats for access.
The European law which makes bats a protected species is a particular issue in England and Wales because of the way churches are designed, said David Mullinger, the church's deputy warden.
"The majority of European churches have much larger roof space, which means that bats can enter that area without going into the church.
"In English churches that isn't usually the case - there isn't a lot of space so they come into the main church,” he said.Share Tweet Email Guns built by DSA Inc and other manufacturers are displayed inside the DSA Inc. store / Getty Images
A national gun-carry reciprocity bill passed the House of Representatives on Wednesday.
The Concealed Carry National Reciprocity Act of 2017 made it through the house vote with 231 yes votes, 198 no votes, and 5 congressmen not voting. An overwhelming number of Republicans, 225, voted for the bill while 14 Republicans voted no and one did not vote. Most Democrats, 184, voted against the bill while six Democrats voted yes and three did not vote.
Rep. Richard Hudson (R., N.C.), who introduced the bill, called its passage an early Christmas present for gun rights advocates.
"For the millions of law-abiding citizens who lawfully carry concealed to protect themselves, for conservatives who want to strengthen our Second Amendment rights, and for the overwhelming majority of Americans who support concealed carry reciprocity, Christmas came early," Rep. Hudson said.
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Gun rights activists cheered the bill's passage while gun control proponents decried it.
The National Rifle Association, which has The National Rifle Association, which has declared national gun-carry reciprocity its top priority, said the vote represented a history victory for gun rights advocates.
"This vote marks a watershed moment for Second Amendment rights," said Chris Cox, executive director of the group's Institute for Legislative Action. "The Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act is the culmination of a 30-year movement recognizing the right of all law-abiding Americans to defend themselves, and their loved ones, including when they cross state lines."
Former congresswoman Gabby Giffords, on behalf of her self-named gun control group, called the move dangerous.
"Congress has failed the American people," she said. "After two of our nation's worst mass shootings, Congress took direct instruction from the gun lobby and passed a bill that will override existing state laws and allow dangerous, untrained people to carry guns in every state and every city."
The bill also The bill also included provisions addressing the records reporting failures in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) which were exposed by the shooting at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, that left 26 dead. The shooter in that case was able to pass a background check and purchase firearms because disqualifying criminal records from his time in the Air Force were not shared with the FBI.
The provisions aimed at coaxing better compliance with already established reporting requirements were supported by congressmen from both parties as well as prominent gun rights and gun control groups.
The bill now heads to the Senate where it faces a harder road to passage and could even be split back into two separate bills.Formula One’s new Liberty Media overlords are as tired of seeing only a handful of F1 teams ever win, as many of us are. Smaller teams can’t compete with the big-budget efforts at the front of the grid, so F1 may enact a budget cap, reports Racer. Teams expect to receive a budget cap proposal by the end of the year.
Rumors of a $150 million figure have been floating around as the limit for the past few months, Racer notes. That is below the budgets of dominant teams like Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari but above the Saubers and Force Indias on the grid. The cap itself would be regulated by the FIA.
The biggest point of such a cap would be to narrow the gap between F1's top teams and everybody else, which Force India deputy team principal Bob Fernley told Racer is quite substantial:
It probably won’t affect us at all – and probably won’t affect half the grid at all if the truth be known. But what it will do is bring us closer. Would Force India be willing to have a go with a $30 million budget difference to the big teams? And the answer’s yes, as opposed to the $230m difference that we’ve got today!
Haas team principal Guenther Steiner also came out in favor of it, as he believes that even the top three on the grid realize that spending is out of control, telling Racer:
The gap is just too big. If we were the only ones standing out who could not keep up then it would be OK, but there are seven teams who cannot keep up with it and three which are having their own fight. I think even the three that are having their own fight realize [change is needed].
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F1's current power unit regulations end in 2020, so that would be a convenient time to introduce a budget cap. Both Fernley and Steiner felt like easing everybody into it with a sliding scale might be more appropriate, just to wind the bigger programs down gently.
Either way, it’s obvious that no other series really wants to be in the predicament the World Endurance Championship’s top class is staring down at the moment, where exponential budget growth priced out all but one of their existing works competitors. F1 has already struggled with high costs driving out smaller teams in recent years with few others able to replace them on the grid.
Even possible future competitors have called out that F1's costs are insane right now. Volkswagen Group director Bernhard Gobmeier told Motorsport.com back in August:
Formula 1 is on a dangerous path. It is expensive. Most of the teams, apart from the big four, have financial problems. And tracks cannot pay what they are asking for.
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Gobmeier also called for cost controls to make F1 even feasible for new entrants to consider. VW brands have been rumored to be interested in F1 over the past few years and even connected to a possible purchase of Red Bull Racing before the Dieselgate scandal. If anyone would know first-hand what’s keeping new manufacturers and teams out, it’d be them.
While series with few restrictions tend to develop the coolest technology, that need to be the top level of motorsport still has to be balanced with the need to have exciting races that are worth watching. The haves and have-nots situation was one of the biggest things that we felt F1's new owners needed to fix, so it’s refreshing to see them start to have these hard conversations in their first year of ownership.Photo
Phys Ed Gretchen Reynolds on the science of fitness.
Some forms of exercise may be much more effective than others at bulking up the brain, according to a remarkable new study in rats. For the first time, scientists compared head-to-head the neurological impacts of different types of exercise: running, weight training and high-intensity interval training. The surprising results suggest that going hard may not be the best option for long-term brain health.
As I have often written, exercise changes the structure and function of the brain. Studies in animals and people have shown that physical activity generally increases brain volume and can reduce the number and size of age-related holes in the brain’s white and gray matter.
Exercise also, and perhaps most resonantly, augments adult neurogenesis, which is the creation of new brain cells in an already mature brain. In studies with animals, exercise, in the form of running wheels or treadmills, has been found to double or even triple the number of new neurons that appear afterward in the animals’ hippocampus, a key area of the brain for learning and memory, compared to the brains of animals that remain sedentary. Scientists believe that exercise has similar impacts on the human hippocampus.
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These past studies of exercise and neurogenesis understandably have focused on distance running. Lab rodents know how to run. But whether other forms of exercise likewise prompt increases in neurogenesis has been unknown and is an issue of increasing interest, given the growing popularity of workouts such as weight training and high-intensity intervals.
So for the new study, which was published this month in the Journal of Physiology, researchers at the University of Jyvaskyla in Finland and other institutions gathered a large group of adult male rats. The researchers injected the rats with a substance that marks new brain cells and then set groups of them to an array of different workouts, with one group remaining sedentary to serve as controls.
Some of the animals were given running wheels in their cages, allowing them to run at will. Most jogged moderately every day for several miles, although individual mileage varied.
Others began resistance training, which for rats involves climbing a wall with tiny weights attached to their tails.
Still others took up the rodent equivalent of high-intensity interval training. For this regimen, the animals were placed on little treadmills and required to sprint at a very rapid and strenuous pace for three minutes, followed by two minutes of slow skittering, with the entire sequence repeated twice more, for a total of 15 minutes of running.
These routines continued for seven weeks, after which the researchers microscopically examined brain tissue from the hippocampus of each animal.
They found very different levels of neurogenesis, depending on how each animal had exercised.
Those rats that had jogged on wheels showed robust levels of neurogenesis. Their hippocampal tissue teemed with new neurons, far more than in the brains of the sedentary animals. The greater the distance that a runner had covered during the experiment, the more new cells its brain now contained.
There were far fewer new neurons in the brains of the animals that had completed high-intensity interval training. They showed somewhat higher amounts than in the sedentary animals but far less than in the distance runners.
And the weight-training rats, although they were much stronger at the end of the experiment than they had been at the start, showed no discernible augmentation of neurogenesis. Their hippocampal tissue looked just like that of the animals that had not exercised at all.
Obviously, rats are not people. But the implications of these findings are provocative. They suggest, said Miriam Nokia, a research fellow at the University of Jyvaskyla who led the study, that “sustained aerobic exercise might be most beneficial for brain health also in humans.”
Just why distance running was so much more potent at promoting neurogenesis than the other workouts is not clear, although Dr. Nokia and her colleagues speculate that distance running stimulates the release of a particular substance in the brain known as brain-derived neurotrophic factor that is known to regulate neurogenesis. The more miles an animal runs, the more B.D.N.F. it produces.
Weight training, on the other hand, while extremely beneficial for muscular health, has previously been shown to have little effect on the body’s levels of B.D.N.F., Dr. Nokia said, which could explain why it did not contribute to increased neurogenesis in this study.
As for high-intensity interval training, its potential brain benefits may be undercut by its very intensity, Dr. Nokia said. It is, by intent, much more physiologically draining and stressful than moderate running, and “stress tends to decrease adult hippocampal neurogenesis,” she said.
These results do not mean, however, that only running and similar moderate endurance workouts strengthen the brain, Dr. Nokia said. Those activities do seem to prompt the most neurogenesis in the hippocampus. But weight training and high-intensity intervals probably lead to different types of changes elsewhere in the brain. They might, for instance, encourage the creation of additional blood vessels or new connections between brain cells or between different parts of the brain.
So if you currently weight train or exclusively work out with intense intervals, continue. But perhaps also thread in an occasional run or bike ride for the sake of your hippocampal health.
Related:
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Doug Band, a top Clinton aide, detailed the complex financial arrangement between his company, Teneo, and the foundation in a memo contained in hacked e-mails released Wednesday by WikiLeaks.
“Teneo partners have raised in excess of $8 million for the foundation, more than $5.25 million of which is in the bank,” the memo reads.
“Teneo partners also have generated over $3 million in paid speeches for President Clinton, $1.25 million of which has been paid to him thus far.”
The consulting company was formed by Band and former State Department envoy Declan Kelly. The memo about its activities shows the incestuous relationship between the foundation and the private business interests of the former president.
In one arrangement, Kelly introduced Bob McCann, the head of UBS Wealth Management, to Clinton at an event in 2009.
After the meeting, McCann donated hundreds of thousands to the foundation while inviting Clinton to give several paid speeches.
Another arrangement involved the Laureate Foundation, which donated more than $1 million to the Clinton Global Initiative.
Laureate was a “personal advisory services business,” the memo said, paying Clinton “$3.5 million annually to provide advice and serve as their honorary chairman.”
The cozy relationship with the Clintons put the Baltimore-based Laureate at high-profile events with international players who could help it expand its reach around the globe.
The Band memo also includes a section about “For-Profit Activity of President Clinton (i.e., Bill Clinton Inc.).”
Some of the speeches “secured” by Teneo include two $450,000 addresses delivered to UBS in 2011 and 2012, as well as a commitment for three additional paid speeches, if he chose to give them.
Another secured event was a $1 million fee for Clinton to speak at two one-hour sessions during an event in Hong Kong. The fee included $400,000 for a private plane.
“Since 2001, President Clinton’s business arrangements have yielded more than $30 million for him personally, with $66 million to be paid out over the next nine years should he choose to continue with the current engagements,” the memo reads.
The relationship between Band and the donors was criticized harshly by daughter Chelsea Clinton in another e-mail.
Chelsea specifically called out Band and Teneo for “hustling’” business opportunities out of the foundation.
“I continue to want — and to try — to disintermediate myself from this muddle, edify the corporate audit and existential process we are in — while also being a responsible board member, daughter and person,” Chelsea wrote in the 2011 e-mail.
The relationship between foundation donors and Hillary Clinton’s State Department was raised through e-mails obtained by Citizens United in which top Hillary aide Huma Abedin appeared to vet donors’ access to the Clintons based on their links to the CGI.
In a December 2012 e-mail in which a CGI official asks for Band and a few others to meet with Hillary during a trip to Ireland, Abedin writes to Band, “Are these legit cgi people?”Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg delivers the keynote address at Facebook’s F8 Developer Conference on April 18, 2017, at McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California. (Photo: Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)
In one of the nation’s most economically disparate enclaves, the tide of organized labor is rising. Last month, more than 500 Facebook cafeteria workers in Silicon Valley voted to unionize in a move for higher wages, fair hours and secure benefits. Days later, Tesla factory workers demonstrated similar intentions, sending a list of demands to the electric automaker’s board — a product of recent talks with one of labor’s most storied forces, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW).
Unionization is a momentous feat for any labor sector, and in Silicon Valley it’s downright Herculean. California’s hotbed of technological production is notorious for its antipathy to labor rights — a stance that dates back decades. Couched in an ethos of “utopian” futurism, many of the tech industry’s postwar progenitors positioned their enterprises as avant-garde rejections of the union-oriented labor models of the East Coast and Midwest. They claimed their vision of a post-union future, free of the costs and constraints of formal labor-rights structures, would afford them the ability to innovate at breakneck speed. In the early 1960s, Intel co-founder Robert Noyce famously declared, “remaining non-union is essential for survival for most of our companies. If we had the work rules that unionized companies have, we’d all go out of business.”
In unions’ stead, then, came a propagandistic message of unity between labor and management — a paradigm that would breed such perks as high salaries and stock options. Yet the gambit of supplanting steady, controlled hours and collective-bargaining rights with flush rewards hasn’t applied to all workers in Silicon Valley. While programmers and marketing associates receive robust pay, gourmet meals and on-site spas (and soon, company-provided housing) in exchange for the absolute devotion of marathon workdays, low-wage laborers know no such luxuries.
Contracted service workers living in precarity abound in Silicon Valley. Warehouse workers, janitors, security guards and shuttle bus drivers who serve the likes of Google, Apple and Intel aren’t employed by these big-name firms. Rather, they’re often recruited as independent contractors through third-party staffing agencies — a common and increasingly transparent stratagem for companies looking to slash labor costs and skirt the obligation to proffer worker benefits.
For Facebook’s cafeteria workers, who the tech giant hires through a food-service contractor called Flagship Facility Services, this climate has begot a chief grievance: insufficient pay. The Guardian has cited hourly rates of $17.85 and $19.85, which exceed Facebook’s required minimum of $15. When considered in a geographical vacuum, these workers’ wages may sound somewhat reasonable. However, amid the hyper-exorbitance of the home of Uber and eBay, such wages are paltry: Workers have found themselves unable to pay for their employer’s healthcare plan, or worse, consigned to living in garages. “Because of Facebook moving in, everything is so expensive. I have to get payday loans sometimes,” a cafeteria worker told The Guardian.
Tesla’s electric-plant workers grapple with a similar plight. Tesla pays them as employees, starting wages at the company’s Fremont facility at $18 an hour. This pay is “far below the national average for auto workers ($25.58) and even farther below the living wage in Alameda county ($28.10)…and paths to promotion are not clear — or nonexistent,” according to the UAW. In a February Medium post, factory employee Jose Moran noted that many workers log “well over 40 hours a week, including excessive mandatory overtime” to meet Tesla’s aggressive production goals; indeed, CEO Elon Musk conceded, albeit vaguely, that his employees had been “having a hard time, working long hours, and on hard jobs.”
The problems don’t stop there. Firmly entrenched in tech-industry culture, Tesla abides by the Silicon Valley axiom of prioritizing company growth — in tech argot, “scaling” — above virtually all else. Because its products are material rather than digital, this requires tremendous amounts of physical labor. Factory workers suffer the consequences: Laborers have reported a number of preventable conditions, ranging from exhaustion-induced fainting to herniated disks. Worse, many choose not to disclose injuries to Tesla, fearing that the company will place them in “light duty” jobs that may decimate their wages. (In one case, a worker who disclosed a back injury saw his hourly rate plummet from $22 to $10.)
In light of these oppressive conditions, Facebook and Tesla workers’ nascent blue-collar unions are direly needed. It’s heartening to consider that they don’t stand alone. In 2015, a number of contracted service workers won expanded protections: Apple’s security guards gained employee status, while the local Teamsters union successfully organized shuttle drivers for Facebook, Apple, Yahoo and eBay. Earlier this year, 3,000 private security guards on tech “campuses” won union representation. Meanwhile, Silicon Valley janitors have collectively underscored the need for blue-collar representation in the tech industry for decades, and Uber and Lyft drivers continue a harrowing, protracted battle to unionize.
The current momentum of the labor model Robert Noyce found so archaic and unproductive — not least the UAW’s foray into an industry that has long rebuked it — attests to the untenability of blue-collar working conditions in contemporary Silicon Valley. As technocapitalists automate more corners of the workforce and peddle the futurism of a digital world — marginalizing the cooks, servers, janitors, assembly-line workers, and drivers they rely on daily — the activism of union organizers grows ever more imperative.
While unionization is a hefty victory, the fight is far from over if Silicon Valley’s working class is to enjoy comfortable and fulfilling lives. Combating the hostility of moneyed technocrats to labor rights — which, as Uber and Lyft alone demonstrate, continues to loom large — will entail socioeconomic change on a much grander scale. The events of the last few months, we can hope, are only the beginning.
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The Mekong, which courses through the very heart of inland South-East Asia, is home to the world’s largest freshwater fisheries, about 800 different native species. Its rich biodiversity is second only to the Amazon’s. Through fishing, aquaculture and irrigation, it sustains 65m people.
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Since September 2010 there has been an ongoing consultation process among the four riparian countries party to the Mekong River Commission (MRC)—Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand—about whether the Xayaburi project should be approved or blocked. The dam would be the first of its kind. The government of Laos has repeatedly claimed it would heed the strong objections lodged by Cambodia and Vietnam, who fear that the dam’s side effects could decimate fisheries and reduce the flow of sediment needed by farmlands downriver.
There was a current of déjà vu swirling around Phnom Penh this month. On July 13th, at an annual summit for the foreign ministers of ASEAN, the envoy from Laos made a familiar declaration: that work on the Xayaburi dam has been suspended, pending further studies. Reuters, understandably, took this to be an official statement of fact from the Laotian government.
Only three days later Viraphonh Viravong, a deputy minister of energy, contradicted the foreign minister’s statement. A tour of the site, sponsored by the government of Laos, served to rubbish the foreign minister’s statement at ASEAN. As Mr Viraphonh made clear to a party of invited visitors, including MRC officials, diplomats and a few technical experts on fisheries, groundwork is going ahead after all, without any waiting for a further assessment of the project’s impact on the river.
In the MRC’s judgment, “the project is in an advanced preparation stage with…exploratory excavation in and around the river completed.” International Rivers, an NGO, made their own unofficial investigation of the site in June, observing that the river had already been dredged and widened. This despite the fact that in December 2011 the four member-states of the MRC had agreed on the need for further study of the dam’s prospective effects on the environment. The understanding was that no dam would be built until the study was completed.
Failure to halt the dam at Xayaburi would deal an enormous blow to the credibility of the MRC. Its authority depends on the possibility of enforcing co-operation between its members. Moreover the dam’s construction could trigger a major diplomatic rift between the four states themselves.
The initial stages of its construction are visibly under way. So has Laos decided to renege on its international commitments?
This is where things get murky. Mr Viraphonh claims that what observers witnessed was only “preparatory work”. He says the actual construction of the dam has not begun, nor has the river been blocked.
But fisheries experts say that long before the river is fully blocked, existing construction will disturb the riverbed enough to affect fish populations significantly. And even while the river flows, construction work will change the downstream flow of sediments.
The Laotian government has appointed two foreign consultants to help make its case. Pöyry Energy, based in Switzerland, and the French Compagnie Nationale du Rhône are trying to convince Cambodia, Vietnam and other sceptics that the Xayaburi dam will be benign.
Both firms argue that “fish passes” or weirs can be built to enable 85% of the river’s fish to get past the dam’s turbines. According to their plan, the fish could swim happily up or down the Mekong. But this claim has never been put into practice. Eric Baran of the World Fish Centre in Phnom Penh joined last week’s trip to the dam site. He observed that “there has never been a successful fish pass built for a dam the size of Xayaburi, anywhere in the tropics.”
Pöyry Energy’s previous report, a compliance review of the Xayaburi dam in 2011, was widely faulted. More recently, the firm’s parent company has been blacklisted by the World Bank for an unrelated charge of corruption and its CEO has resigned.
Laos might nonetheless esteem the views of its Western consultants. But it heard very different advice from America’s sectary of state, when she made her recent visit to the region. “I’ll be very honest with you. We made a lot of mistakes,” Hilary Clinton said in her opening remarks to the ASEAN summit. She was talking about dams built in the United States. “We’ve learned some hard lessons about what happens when you make certain infrastructure decisions and I think that we all can contribute to helping the nations of the Mekong region avoid the mistakes that we and others made.”
America has its own concerns too. It might worry that if the Xayaburi project goes ahead, China is set to build at least three more dams further down the Mekong, bringing its commercial interests ever deeper into the sub-region.
Cambodia’s minister for water resources, Lim Kean Hor, recently send a letter of protest to the Laotian government calling on them to “halt all preliminary construction and respect the Mekong spirit of friendship and international co-operation.”
The Mekong delta is Vietnam’s rice-bowl. The government has been arguing all along for a ten-year moratorium on dam construction on the river, basing its case on an assessment commissioned by the MRC and finished in 2010. Vietnamese scientists have warned that dams upstream would lead to devastating losses of fisheries and rice productivity and to the salinisation of cropland.
And finally NGOs representing people from the eight provinces in north-east Thailand are about to file legal action in the their country’s courts. They mean to force their national government to review the contract that the state electricity body signed, which obliges it to buy 95% of all the power from the Xayaburi dam.
Thailand’s government has already endorsed the position that Xayaburi dam should be put on hold pending further studies, though it has done so relatively quietly. If Vietnam’s and Cambodia’s conflict with Laos escalates, Thailand’s role will become critical.
The dam is financed by the four major Thai banks. The dam-builder is a Bangkok-based corporation, Ch. Karnchang. The north-eastern Thais’ campaign is aimed at persuading Thailand’s government to stop the project by blocking the banks’ loans. Such indirect tactics might be the only way left to save the MRC—and to preserve some semblance of international co-operation along the Mekong.
(Picture credit: Wikimedia Commons)This specification standardizes an API to allow merchants (i.e. web sites selling physical or digital goods) to utilize one or more payment methods with minimal integration. User agents (e.g., browsers) facilitate the payment flow between merchant and user.
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how such pressure will build up : out of 1.4 billion global water resource only 2.5 % of that accounts the fresh water and only 0.3 % of that quantity is available for human use. Rest of the fresh water is locked in polar region, glaciers and aquifers.
By 2050, Two thirds of the top global economies by GDP will be the developing economies. Nearly 70 percent people will be living in urban areas from about 49 percent now; urbanization demands more water but they will only have 10 percent of the fresh water.
Similarly Growing Industrializations in developed as well as emerging economies will claim more than 25 percent of the world’s fresh water supplies and the demand will go on increasing. As mentioned above agriculture and industrial farming consume more than 70 percent of the fresh water reserve and countries like India and China with world’s largest population and both in quest to become the world’s largest economy need more and more water beyond the capacity of their water resources to cater.
The governments in developing countries have failed to supply water as a public good but have encouraged the private sector to enter into a chain of water supply making it a most profitable tradable commodity. Therefore in days to come as per the World Bank water trade will become a potential trillion dollar industry making it a blue gold of the 21st century.
3. India and China Dealing with the Greatest Challenge of their Time
In the next two decades, India’s need for consumptive use of water will exceed more than 1.5 trillion cubic meters against its current availability of nearly 740 billion cubic meters. By 2050 per capita water demand there will grow 30 percent compared to the present.
India is the world’s largest producer and consumer of cereals and pulses. As milk is its main food supplements -it also has to raise the world’s largest cattle and buffalo population. Water is also an integral necessity of many of the cultural and traditional practices of Indian people. And the world’s fastest growing economies need water in abundance to run its industries.
But according to Margherita Stancat in Wall Street Journal (April 14,2011) in the past six decades per capita availability of water in India has fallen by 70 percent with a ratio of 1,544 cubic meters per year.
In an agricultural country like India only Irrigation consumes about 85% of the country’s water resources and it will have limited options to secure more water for food production – which India inevitably needs for its huge population that will soon become larger than China’s.
India has designed an ambitious project named -National River Linking Project (NRLP) aimed to provide an effective solution to water related problems from water scarcity to recurrent floods. The project plans to transfer surplus waters from its big rivers to water shortage areas of Southern and western India, making it one of the biggest inter- river basin water transfer projects in the world. But this has raised both hopes and fear among people in India and abroad.
Similarly China needs more than 2 billion cubic meters of water for the same period. China’s grain house – its Northern Chinese plain is producing half of the country’s wheat in its bid to attain self sufficiency. As Chaoqing Yu mentions in ‘Nature’ China since the 1950s, has constructed 86,000 reservoirs, drilled more than four million wells. According to Brahma Chellaney, no country in history has built more dams than China, and that numbers exceeds those built by the rest of the world combined – “on average, at least one large dam per day since 1949”.
Unsustainable use of underground water has irreparably damaged the ground water table in Northern China. Over exploitation, wasteful irrigation infrastructure, poorly managed water use and rapid industrialization and urbanization, have led to serious depletion of groundwater aquifers followed by loss of natural habitats, water pollution, continued drought and crop failures.
To ease with the great national challenge, the Chinese government in the beginning of this year announced to invest more than US $ 600 billion over the next ten years to address the continued water crisis of the country.
While India is making move with NRLP China is also making similar effort with a great South – North Water Transfer Project followed by building a mega-dam on the Brahmaputra River, a major river in Asia. China has announced its plans to build an US$ 1.2 billion worth integrated project on Brahmaputra River that in future might be developed into a major water diversion project extending to China’s Northern and North Western parts including the construction of the world’s largest hydroelectric plant with a planned capacity of 40,000 Megawatts. The 2,900 kilometer long mighty Brahmaputra River runs a long course in Tibet before it enters into Arunachal Pradesh in India breaking through the great Himalaya.
4. Water Tower of Tibet, Nepal, India and Mongolia
Tibet as usually referred as third pole and cold desert, is also claimed as the ‘water tower of the world’ supplying fresh water for a quarter of humanity. The plateau joining two great land mass of South Asia and Central Asia is the sources of some of the largest Asian rivers giving China the control over South and South East Asian river system.
In the words of Uttam Kumar Sinha – China sits on the ‘hydrological throne in Tibet’ and is the ‘undisputed monarch of the unsurpassable water resources’ reserved in 2500 km long Himalayan ranges with varied width of 150 to 400 km from South to North amidst its massive glaciers, lakes and gushing waterfalls.
Whatever the case, if China plans to go ahead with the greatest water diversion project in human history, it could bring devastating effect upon India and Bangladesh. This indubitably will have grave national security implications for India that ultimately may force two most powerful Asian countries into a brink of war.
Two smaller South Asian countries between Tibetan Autonomous Region of China and India, according to Brahma Chellaney “sit on vast hydropower reserve, which if tapped with adequate environment safeguards, could make them the hub of a long-term regional energy strategy promoting development and stability across much of the Indian subcontinent”.
On May 11, 2005, Stanley A. Weiss in his strong article published in – The New York Times had asked a pertinent question : ‘what do have the common- among Nepal’s brutal Maoist rebellion, India’s violence-wracked northeastern states, China’s global energy race with India, warming ties between Pakistan and India and Bangladesh’s increasing Islamic extremism? And the single word answer Weiss gave was the “Water”. Further he said ‘thousands of glacier-fed rivers of Nepal and Bhutan could serve as the centerpiece of a long-term regional energy strategy promoting stability and prosperity across South Asia’.
But South Asia has yet to learn the lesson. Nepal for example, has failed with its vast riches in hydro power potential in South Asia – a typical example of resource curse. It can generate huge wealth and prosperity with its water resources, but is bound to live as one of the poorest countries of the world.
Nepal – a country that could export electricity to its neighbors and earn tremendous wealth is surviving with failing economy entrapped with longest hours of electricity black out. A country that experts say — has potential to generate thousands mega watt of electricity, is no more able to produce 500 mega watt of it in dry season even after one hundred years long history of hydro electricity. Ironically, the country that never tires in presenting India as a villain in development of bigger hydro power projects, is importing electricity from India.
Nepal has always shown political immaturity, lack of confidence and diplomatic skill on developing a proper modality for the sharing of the water of its big rivers with its big neighbor. India on the other hand seems more assertive, demanding and willing to exploit the political fallacies of its smaller neighbor. And the crisis of confidence between Nepal and India has compelled both survive with continued water crisis for years.
And this cannot be sustained any longer. How long can people tolerate the unending poverty trap that could be effectively combated – had both countries developed a common modality to share waters running in Nepali rivers? Inability in developing such a common mechanism could add peoples’ anger to a simmering point that any day would easily be transformed into a fire storm affecting both – Nepal and India.
But the two largest population centers of the world and two powerful global economies are engaged in a tuft competition in Nepal to control its strategic river system and this has created problems for Nepal to develop its water resources. It has forced Nepal fall in unending political confusion, turmoil and instability without any light at the end of the tunnel.
Mongolia has demonstrated a fine example in balancing the investment interests of its both powerful neighbors- China and Russia. Instead, it has successfully invited third party investors in developing its natural resources. Mongolia is also making a good progress in managing big power rivalry in investing in its country and suffer a resource trap – a fate that many countries have failed to escape from. The remarkable success that Mongolia has achieved with fair amount of economic growth with its natural resources can be a good modality for country like Nepal to develop its hydro power potentials.Many media moguls are investigated for corruption charges. Photo: rfi.ro.
The detention this week of the owner of Romania’s main media company, Adevarul Holding, Cristian Burci, is only the latest case of a media tycoon being investigated for corruption in Romania – a move affecting not only their reputation but also their businesses.
Burci was arrested on Wednesday and the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism, DIICOT, is investigating him for tax evasion worth some 8 million euros.
After DIICOT prosecutors searched the editorial office of Adevarul, the newspaper was quick to remind readers that it was not being targeted in the investigation.
“The DIICOT investigation targets no trademark owned by Adevarul Holding Company, as it concerns former businesses of Cristian Burci in a completely different area, namely railway businesses, which Burci sold before purchasing Adevarul Holding in 2012,” a statement from the newspaper read.
However, this is not the case with the majority of targeted media owners. Most of them have been investigated or jailed for charges directly related to their media businesses.
“Many media owners have been arrested, creating an unprecedented situation for the media sector in Romania,” the media watchdog ActiveWatch said.
“Up to 70 per cent of those who own the big media groups are now either in jail or are being investigated for different criminal charges, such as tax evasion, money laundering, blackmail or other corruption charges,” it added.
Dan Diaconescu, TV host and owner of OTV, a channel known its sensationalist reporting, was jailed last year for seeking bribes from a mayor and a businessman in exchange for not broadcasting compromising material about them.
OTV had its license withdrawn on several occasions by the Romanian media authorities and finally closed after failing to pay fines issued by the audio-visual regulator.
Another media tycoon in prison is Dan Voiculescu, a businessman and politician jailed two years ago for involvement in the fraudulent sale of a state institution, money laundering and influence peddling.
He is also being investigated for complicity with blackmail in a case against the chiefs of the media company Antena Group, who allegedly threatened to go public with compromising material about cable provider RCS&RDS, with which Antena group was in dispute.
Antena Group is part of Intact Media Group, founded by Voiculescu, which media analysts have accused of taking a lead role in putting pressure on the justice system.
Two months ago, the tax authorities evicted Voiculescu’s TV stations from their headquarters following a court ruling to recover damages in a money-laundering case involving Voiculescu.
In response, Antena’s TV stations accused the government of planning to stop them from broadcasting and of attacking freedom of expression.
One of the most powerful media businessmen in Romania, Adrian Sarbu, head of Mediafax group, is also being investigated for tax evasion and money laundering.
Investigators say Mediafax Group set up a scheme to avoid paying taxes that included creating dummy companies in the names of people who lacked any financial means.
Mediafax filed for insolvency before Sarbu was investigated. Later, most of the editorial team left to create another media agency.
The long list of names of media moguls being investigated for different criminal charges suggest that the bulk of media institutions in the country are under the patronage of persons connected to crime.
“For years, there has been underground discussions about media corruption but evidence of corruption mechanisms rarely come out in public,” Razvan Martin, from media watchdog ActiveWatch, noted.
“However, these corruption cases have revealed that a part of the press is financed illicitly by barons, politicians, or businessmen, often using public funds.”
The Romanian Center for Independent Journalism says the media in the country can now be divided into three broad categories.
“There are media owned by people who have businesses in totally different areas, and with political connections, who sustain their media businesses by financial means from those other areas,” it explained.
“There are media that function as blackmail structures, and three are media that try to be decent but who find it impossible to survive without compromises,” the latest report of the Center said.
“In the first case, there is no interest in journalism itself, as the press becomes part of a mechanism of underground persuasion for obtaining business advantages,” analyst Alexandru Lazescu said.
“In the second category, the professionals involved in media blackmail are not necessarily interested in publishing the information; they call you and tell you that, if you don’t pay, the information will become public,” Lazescu addedThe title of Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi’s magisterial first novel, Kintu—first published in Kenya in 2014, then in the US this year by the Oakland-based press Transit Books—is a Luganda word. Luganda is a Bantu language spoken in Uganda; Bantu is a proto-language that just means people; there are languages derived from it all across the African continent. In Zambia, where I’m from, we spell this word chinthu. In both countries, it is pronounced chin-two and it means “thing.” In ancient Buganda mythology, however, Kintu is also the name of the first man, the equivalent to the Judeo-Christian Adam. The implications of this titular oxymoron—a word that means both “thing” and “man”—begin to unfold in the opening pages of Makumbi’s book.
There’s a knock at the door. A woman opens it to four local officials, who rouse her man, Kamu, from sleep and lead him outside for questioning. He assumes they’re there on behalf of a creditor but when they reach a marketplace, they bind his hands. Kamu protests: “Why are you tying me like a thief?” A mob swirls into being like a weather formation, the word thief flying “from here to there, first as a question then as a fact.” Kicks and blows begin to rain down on him, from both the elderly and the young. Arrivals to the scene ask, “‘Is it a thief?’ because Kamu had ceased to be human.” He tries to hold on to his humanity: “Kamu decided he was dreaming. He was Kamu Kintu, human. It was them, bantu. Humans. He would wake up any minute.” He does not.
The account of Kamu’s abrupt, arbitrary death on Monday, January 5, 2004, and the subsequent fate of his corpse in the bureaucratic torpor of Kampala’s morgue, recurs in short fragments at the start of each of the novel’s five sections, which tell the stories of other members of the scattered Kintu clan. First, we jump back three centuries to its first generation, headed by Kintu Kidda, a ppookino, or governor, of the Buddu province in the eighteenth-century Buganda Kingdom. In a moment of irritation, Kintu slaps his adopted son, a Rwandan, and the boy falls down dead. His men bury the body improperly: “the grave was narrow and shallow. They used a stick to measure Kalema’s length, but while the stick fit into the grave, Kalema did not. They crammed him in.” In their haste, the men do not even realize that they have buried the boy beside a burial shrub for dogs. The tragic repercussions of this desecration—“the curse was specific: mental illness, sudden death, and suicide”—ripple across the centuries through the lives of Kintu’s descendants.
Like Charles Dickens or Gabriel García Márquez, Makumbi ranges widely across time and social strata; her knowledge of Ugandan culture seems as precise as a historian’s. We meet Suubi Kintu, a young woman who grows up in a compound, perpetually on the brink of starvation, but is eventually integrated into a middle-class family. Kanani Kintu and his wife, Faisi, members of an evangelical group, the Awakened, bear a twin son and daughter with an uncomfortably close relationship. Isaac Newton Kintu, the product of rape and named for the last lesson his mother learned in school before she dropped out, gets trapped into marriage; when his wife dies, seemingly of AIDS, he anguishes over whether to learn his own HIV status. Miisi Kintu, a writer raised by colonial priests (the “white fathers”) and educated abroad, returns to a postcolonial Kampala still feeling the aftershocks of dictatorship and the bush war of the early Eighties, which killed some of his children. With its progression through generations and its cyclical returns to genetic inheritance—hay fever, twins, madness—Kintu’s structure feels epic.
Kintu continually diverts us from this straightforward path of a curse and its aftermath, however, as well as from our preconceptions about Africa. The polygamous eighteenth-century governor wants nothing more than to be with the woman he loves; the Awakened couple experience their enviably passionate sex life as a torment; the spiritual leader of a ritual cleansing is so “anglicized” that the assembled family members doubt his efficacy. Social class is defined neither by strict stratification nor by upward mobility, but by extreme volatility—economic fates rise and fall almost at random. Servant girls become educated women, sons of professors come to live in slums.
Makumbi’s depiction of local culture also bears little resemblance to standard notions of African “authenticity.” Her Uganda is an unabashed amalgam of Europe and Africa, in everything from cooking to spiritual possession to mental health to sexual mores. As Makumbi said in an interview:
We are both Europeanized and Ugandan. We speak both traditional languages and English. Someone goes to church, but then will go to the traditional healer. Someone is a scientist but will have an intense spiritual life. We have this saying in Uganda: “God help me, but I’m going to run as well.” We think two ways at once.
In the novel, Miisi conjures an image of African postcolonialism that captures this sensibility. He pictures the black torso of the continent but stripped of its limbs, which have been replaced with European ones. “We cannot go back to the operating table and ask for the African limbs,” he writes. “Africa must learn to walk on European legs and work with European arms. As time goes by, children will be born with evolved bodies.” Makumbi’s portmanteau for this Gothic image enacts the very grafting it describes: Africanstein.
Kintu cannot but be in some sense the story of a people, the Ganda, and a nation, Uganda. But its politics are personal. Idi Amin and the bush wars emerge in conversation, in acts of mourning. The ins and outs of the ancient Buganda Kingdom’s secessions and coups seem incidental to the personal tragedy of Kintu Kidda, his wives, and their children. Makumbi has said that she intentionally skipped the nation’s colonial history: “The almost complete lack of colonization was deliberate…. To me colonization was my grandfather’s quarrel.” So, without the usual lenses of class, culture, and colonialism—without “Queen and Country,” so to speak—how are we to read this “African” novel?
Africa contains more countries, languages, ethnic groups, and genetic variation than any other continent. We are united solely by our history of division. Yet African novelists are inevitably stuffed next to each other on panels and bookshelves. We are asked bafflingly broad questions about “African literature,” “African history,” and “African politics,” or lazy and predictable ones about poverty, disease, and war. It’s a gift, in some ways. Who wouldn’t want to be compared to greats like Chinua Achebe and Wole Soyinka, rather than the latest batch of contemporaries? Who wouldn’t want to feel relevant to real world issues? But it gets old. “Africa is not a country,” we’ve become accustomed to saying. Our fictions are neither about the continent as a whole, nor do they address only this limited set of Western stereotypes about it.
Oddly enough, despite all this generalizing and pigeonholing, African writers are rarely thought to speak to the universal—in the philosophical sense rather than the platitudinous one. But if, as Makumbi noted at an event in Brooklyn last June, the origin of the human species is probably East Africa, then why can’t Kampala be the center of a profoundly universal inquiry? As its two-faced title—man/thing—suggests, Kintu does in fact have a grand philosophical question in mind. The novel forces us to reckon over and again with what it means to be kintu, to be man, or human. This question plays out across certain boundaries: between men and women, between twins, between life and death, between “mankind” and “animalkind,” between good and evil, between human and supernatural worlds, between foreigners and family, and, of course, between humans and objects.
In the part of the novel set in the Buganda Kingdom, gender is the most significant boundary. Kintu Kidda struggles with the demands placed on him as “seed dispenser” to dozens of wives across his province: “He knew the snare of being a man. Society heaped such expectations on manhood that in a bid to live up to them some men snapped.” In a hilarious scene, elders gather to offer advice to a groom about how to be a man in bed: how to recognize “false noises,” how to interpret your wife’s restlessness, how many times a night you’re to satisfy her. This eighteenth-century section of the novel is the frankest about sex, including non-heterosexual sexuality—a cannily oblique critique of the recent spate of laws against homosexuality across Africa, justified by the erroneous notion that colonialism brought it here. In Kintu, when a king murders a bisexual warrior, it’s due to envy of his prowess: “The fact that he was a warrior who made both men and women groan beneath him had propped Ssentalo’s manliness to unprecedented heights.” Another gender-bending character, Gitta, is described as a “pugilistic bride… whose feet grasped the earth like a man’s.”
These questions of identity are set alongside other questions of what constitutes a man in the broader sense of a person: “Tradition claimed that identical twins were one soul who, failing to resolve the primal conflict in the self, split—and two people were born.” The older twin is seen as the original, the younger as a copy, but they’re perceived as a single entity. This model of personhood has social repercussions when Kintu prefers a younger twin and initially refuses to marry her sister. “They’re one person,” their parents protest in perplexity. He marries both but when one wife commits suicide, Kintu is so distraught that he asks her sister if they switched places:
“I mean, who, which one of you twins was buried?” “Your wife.” “I know, but which one?”
Centuries later, Kintu’s descendant, Suubi, faces a similar confusion about herself. She keeps seeing a woman who looks exactly like her, and who even wears an old dress Suubi discarded. She eventually learns that her twin sister died at birth and is haunting her, preparing to “collect” her. This threatens to disintegrate not only Suubi’s sense of herself, but her sense of being alive at all, especially after she has a near-fatal brush with malaria.
Death is always around the corner in this novel. Isaac Newton lives in an HIV-status limbo—“We’re all dead,” his friend tells him. “It’s a question of who goes first.” A boy grows so used to seeing corpses during the war that he sees them as ants: “You swept away the ones that were killed the day before and still others came out the following day.” A life in poverty can also bring humans close to the condition of beasts. Suubi compares herself to a stray cat and develops such thick calluses from walking barefoot that rats nibble the dead skin off her feet at night. This animality lurks within, as in the case of the Awakened couple trying to keep their lust at bay: “Sex was the one act during which the human in humanity was erased and man became beast.”
What makes a man is an ethical question, too. The opening scene of Kamu’s death as an “it, a thief” is in effect a moral meditation: “Is a human slayable just like that?… People are not human anymore and all the buntu is gone.” When Kintu Kidda visits the seat of the Buganda empire, the king, Kyabaggu, has just killed his brother to steal the crown; in contrast to that brutal act, Kintu notes, “on this occasion, Kyabaggu was human.” Humanity is also a question of what philosophers call the problem of “moral luck”: Why do bad things happen to good people? Why are bad people sometimes rewarded? This is a version of the old spiritual crux of original sin.
Makumbi’s one revision to the originary myth of the Ganda is that the curse comes from the first man, not the first woman. But the novel’s Adamic figure, Kintu Kidda, is not a bad man, nor even a fatally flawed one—he is neither overreactive nor prone to striking the weak. No woman or creature tempts him to evil. While Kintu’s act of violence is foreshadowed and consequential, it is essentially an accident. His friend tries to reassure him: “Journeying is like that. Some are allowed, some are not. We all slap our children. They don’t drop dead.”
But notions of causality are continually upended in this way in Kintu. A man squeezes a pimple and dies days later; a man indignantly says thief and a mob kills him in the street; a girl follows a man into the bush and later discovers an unaccountable scar scooped out of her thigh. Makumbi’s prose registers these chance and supernatural events with an uncanny matter-of-factness:
That night Kalema returned. He was much younger though. He stood shy, at a distance, his thumb in his mouth. His cloth had faded. “You’re dead,” Kintu rebuked. “What have you come back for?”
Here we see Makumbi probing at the borders between life and death, human and supernatural worlds, but also between sanity and madness. Later, we encounter Miisi’s prophetic visions—“A man stands above him. Miisi feels imposed upon because he cannot see past the man. The man is covered with bees”—and too-lucid childhood memories before we learn that he himself is skeptical of their veracity.
Miisi, whose sons teasingly call him muzungu (the Bantu word for “white man”), continually tries to reconcile his life in Uganda with the “cerebral knowledge” he picked up from his education in Russia and England. He only feels “one with himself” when he wears his traditional floor-length tunic: “A kanzu made him feel authentic: African, Ganda, a muntu.” Muntu is another word for “person”—it is the singular of bantu, people—but the word bears a derogatory postcolonial trace. It means, more precisely, “black man.” As Makumbi has noted, the myth of Kintu resonates with the biblical story of Ham, whose skin was allegedly stained black as a punishment. It is doubly fitting that Miisi is obsessed with his own shadow, which “squat[s] beside” him or “spr[ings] up” like “a giant.”
These manifold tensions about what constitutes a human explode in the novel’s climax: the Kintu clan’s ritual cleansing held over Easter weekend, which aligns beliefs common to both Buganda spirituality and evangelical Christianity, like speaking in tongues and blood sacrifice. During the ceremony, a woman is possessed by a spirit: “she did not own her body anymore.” She spins violently on the ground, breaking fingers and wrist bones; the spiritual medium falls to the ground with no pulse, but his assistant “cannot say he’s dead.”
Miisi completely loses his grip on reality and starts wearing a Western-style waistcoat and coat over his kanzu. In his dishevelment, he comes to resemble his ancestor with that strange thing/person name, Kintu. Miisi becomes a man “floating in two worlds.” Which two worlds? Boyhood and manhood, past and present, muntu and muzungu, Europe and Africa? “I know who I am,” Miisi tells his daughter, “We are not even Hamites. We are Bantu.” But she thinks, “He is now a different person.” In the end, he is riven by his divisions, “in the middle world between sanity and insanity.”
To survive being human, Kintu suggests, is to hold all these divisions together, gently, to “just be.” This argument about personhood is radical because it rejects a long philosophical tradition of considering “humanity” as a matter of self-containment and integrity, of what the human excludes. It is also radical because Makumbi centers this argument in Uganda. But what better place, with its arbitrarily sketched borders, its pliable myths and cultures, its originary status—cradle of the first human/thing—to stage an interrogation of personhood? As Makumbi has remarked in passing about living as an immigrant in the UK: “Out here you are Ugandan. At home you are just human.”
Kintu by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi was recently published in the US by Transit Books.Images obtained by Breitbart Texas show the reported exact location where one Border Patrol was found with fatal head wounds and broken bones and another found who also had severe head injuries. Contrary to the report of an Associated Press (AP) source, the “14 foot culvert” the source claimed the agents may have fallen into is clearly not 14 feet deep. The drop, if they had both fallen, would be no greater that 8-9 feet and the culvert has a soft, sandy bottom with few, if any, objects to fall upon.
In a world where details matter, the AP source clearly did not have them. The source did, however, properly state that the surviving Border Patrol agent was struggling to remember details of what occurred. This fact was known to many in media, but most did not report it out of concern for possibly damaging an investigation.
Breitbart Texas first reported that an agent had been killed and that another was hospitalized with serious injuries on the morning of November 19, 2017. Later in the day, the National Border Patrol Council echoed what agents on the ground where expressing and asserted that illegal aliens had attacked the agents. The word “attacked” became very controversial as many from President Trump to the Texas Governor used the term. Federal officials began insisting that such details were speculation as the FBI had taken over the investigation and that they were releasing no new information.
Simply put, there are many law enforcement officials and agents with some knowledge of what happened in this matter. The National Border Patrol Council and most of the Border Patrol agents Breitbart Texas spoke with believe that the details they know show an attack occurred. Other news outlets, including the AP, have pointed out and focused upon other possibilities. The assertions that the FBI is looking at the possibility of an accident are true, just as the claims that they are looking at the possibility that an attack or two attacks occurred are also true — that is how investigations work. The public will not know for certain what the Border Patrol agents experienced on that fateful morning until the FBI releases their findings.
The images of the scene were provided to Breitbart Texas by officials working under the umbrella of Customs and Border Protection who provided them on the condition that their names not be used.
Brandon Darby is managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded the Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and Stephen K. Bannon. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded the Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and Stephen K. Bannon. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook.Every week of its second season, series showrunner and developer Bryan Fuller will be talking with The A.V. Club about that week’s episode of Hannibal, in a more spread-out version of our Walkthrough feature. This week, we’re talking with him about the second season’s eighth episode, “Su-zakana.”
The A.V. Club: This was the episode where you rebooted the story and came up with a new chapter, and you did that after you’d broken the first seven and actually produced a number of them. What was the process for figuring out this back half of the season?
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Bryan Fuller: We had several concepts in terms of what we wanted with the story we were going to be telling for Will. There were a few archetypes that we were bandying about the writers’ room in terms of Max Cady from Cape Fear to Hannibal’s Sam Bowden. What would that dynamic be? Then it organically fell into place that we needed to continue the seduction, in that it was all about: How do we shift the dynamic between Hannibal and Will once more? In the first half of the season, Will was adversarial and confrontational, and then he realized that didn’t work, so he started to plot and ploy and play wounded bird, and [Laughs.] that got exposed. Now he is in a place where he’s actually being as direct and honest as he was in the first season about some of the darker aspects that he’s noticing in his psyche or becoming aware of or finally accepting, and Hannibal Lecter is seduced by that. In episode eight, we have the fishing metaphor between Jack and Will, and that very much is the macro story for the next several episodes.
AVC: This episode starts with that dinner scene between the three of them and Will deliberately says, “I tried to have you killed,” in a wry, witty way. How often can you point out how ridiculous it is and still get away with it?
BF: I think the cabal is forming right now between these gentlemen conspirators, every one having a different dance partner in the circle, or the triangle. There’s some fun in laying it out there, for Hannibal to actually look at Will Graham and see that Will is playing things honestly with Hannibal. I think that’s what is so seductive. Will is opening up a bit, but he’s opening up like a Venus flytrap for Dr. Lecter.
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Part of the fun of this show in the second half is that we’ve done some pretty ridiculous things. [Laughs.] We’re starting to call them out in a fun way that we hope is tonally consistent with the piece but also acknowledges that we’re sort of cuckoo—particularly when Will walks in and says, “Is that horse your social worker?” [Laughs.] We’re wearing our humor and self-awareness on our sleeve with that sort of thing, but we’re also breaking the tension and tone of the show and giving ourselves permission to have fun with the subject matter. Even though we’re going into a very complex psychological space, there’s a lot of instances in the next few episodes, particularly episode 12, that read more and more darkly comedic.
AVC: This episode and a lot of the episodes this season have been pushing things, the sound design and the editing especially, even further than you ever went in season one. For instance, a lot of the editing has become more blatantly artistic or impressionistic, like the flowers popping up on Hannibal’s score in episode six. What do you gain from that more suggestive editing than straightforward cutting?
BF: I think it’s what strikes us in the edit bay. I was going to say there’s no agenda to spice it up arbitrarily, but I think we love our arbitrary spice on this show. [Laughs.] There’s no kind of hard, fast rule about it as much as there’s, “Oh, wouldn’t that be fun in that sequence to have those flowers pop up with the notes and give us an interesting transition?” It’s just enjoying the craft of storytelling and taking advantage of as many tools as we can and hoping that we remain tonally consistent.
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AVC: This episode has a season one feel in a lot of ways. It’s back to a case-of-the-week structure. We’ve already talked a bit about the therapy scenes being so important to it. Did it feel important to you to reground the show after episode seven?
BF: Yeah, it felt like we needed to, in many ways, reset a lot of the storytelling. We reset the dynamic between Peter Bernardone and Clark Ingram in a different version of the Hannibal Lecter/Will Graham dynamic, and remind Will of a version of him that wasn’t too long ago, as he steps into this new chapter with Hannibal Lecter. It was a lot about the juxtaposition of a proto-Will character in Peter Bernardone, and Will being able to champion his inner child, in a way, for lack of a better example. That felt like it was not only reminding the audience narratively of how far we’ve come in this friendship between Will and Hannibal but also reminding Will how much darkness there still is for him to travel through to achieve his goal.
AVC: This episode has the unholy turducken…
BF: [Laughs.] Yeah, we called it a turducken when we were breaking it, too.
AVC: A lot of the time, the killers or the method of dispatch of the victims is very metaphorical or thematic or a bleak commentary on whatever Will and Hannibal are going through. Can you talk about the process of figuring out what a case-of-the-week looks like on an episode like this?
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BF: Last year when we did the Angel Maker episode, originally, Jack Crawford and Will Graham were going to go into the barn and discover the latest victim of the Angel Maker and as they were examining it, Jack would go out after the tiff with Will and Will would be in there |
� said Cheryl Graffagnino, the city�s healthy foods access manager. �This is a road map for the city and county and community to engage around local food.�
The plan calls for food access to factor into transit planning, meaning bus routes could be reconfigured to better access groceries and farmers markets. And Graffagnino said the committee will look at ways to expand access to public-assistance programs that encourage people to shop at farmers markets.
It also calls on public and private institutions to adopt policies to buy �healthy and local food.�
�It sets policy but also puts forth a plan for us to work with all of the stakeholders,� Franklin County Commissioner John O�Grady said. �We live in an affluent community but we have too many people who don�t have access to appropriate foods.�
O�Grady said the plan will better coordinate manufacturers, growers, food distributors and others in central Ohio to grow the local food industry.
The working group that developed the plan found that the region needs to do more to focus on developing food processing and distribution businesses, including small businesses in local neighborhoods, Graffagnino said.
Zoning codes and permit requirements should be revised to encourage more agriculture and food systems in the region, according to the plan. It also says vacant properties should be used for local food system uses.
About 13 percent of the material in the county landfill is food waste, and the plan calls for reducing that. Once it mixes with other trash, food waste doesn�t break down as easily as it does in compost heaps, Graffagnino said.
The city can use Columbus Public Health�s connections to restaurants to make sure food is donated instead of thrown away, she said, and the plan recommends economic incentives for businesses to develop food-waste-prevention programs.
The Columbus City Council approved the plan on Monday. Franklin County commissioners are expected to vote on it on Tuesday.
Tyson said a committee that the city and county appoint will provide annual progress reports on the food plan.
�It certainly will not be a plan that will sit on a shelf,� she said.
rrouan@dispatch.com
@RickRouanLeading into UFC 162: Anderson Silva vs Chris Weidman, we Bloody Elbow Judo Choppers are taking a close look at the main event. I've already taken a look at the UFC Middleweight Champion's undervalued takedown defense, and now we move on to Silva's ground grappling. First, Silva is a well credentialed man in that department. A Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt under the famed Nogueira brothers and currently training under Andre Galvao, a two-time world and ADCC champion, Silva has six submission wins to his name and is clearly not a hack on the ground.
Silva is a bit of a mixed bag when it comes to the ground, and this article will take a look both at where he shines and where he is somewhat overrated.
We'll start with where Silva is extraordinary; striking from top position. Silva is normally not one to take fights to the ground as he is a fantastic striker, so if a fighter finds himself on his back facing Silva it is usually because Silva has already dropped him with strikes. In that situation, Silva has a fantastic and cold blooded killer instinct.
Silva's grappling game is based around striking, maximizing his and minimizing his opponent's. From the top, Silva isn't really looking to progress to submit, rather Silva is looking to advance to a position from which he can land heavy strikes.
Whenever possible, Silva prefers to attack the guard while standing, which presents real problems to the bottom fighter because without the gi to grip he has very limited control of the top fighter.
Above, Silva is working in the open guard of Nate Marquardt. To get himself in an excellent position to strike, Silva pushes his hips in and moves off to the side, striking while he goes. Silva ends up in the position pictured above, he has slide off to the side into a pseudo standing side control. Silva's knees are against Marquardt's hips, and head stopping him from being able to roll towards Silva. And from that posture, Silva is able to turn his hips into his punches, resulting in excellent power. (Gif)
But the position works both ways, and Silva is also limited in how he can control the bottom fighter. From the side, Silva needs to move a lot to keep in proper striking position (Gif).
As a result, Silva seems to prefer the half guard, which gives him good control of the hips and allows him to posture and strike.
Here is Silva in a standing half guard, which is a very difficult position for a bottom fighter to work from. In sport Jiu Jitsu, this position was what gave birth to the reverse de la Riva guard, which is rendered rather impractical by the ability to strike. And the accuracy and power of Silva's strikes really changes a lot on the ground. It takes away a lot of scrambling because a fighter knows as soon as he takes his arms away from his head Silva will start landing hard, straight punches.
But when a fighter does keep trying to turn into Silva he will establish a more traditional half guard, but again with upright posture so he can strike.
Now on his knees here against Dan Henderson, Silva is able to both control Henderson's hips and posture up to strike. Randy Couture once called the half guard the "beat-down position" because of this ability to both control and attack. But Henderson is a savvy wrestler and is very good at getting to his knees, so Silva abandons his upright posture to control Henderson.
Silva grabs head and arm control and smashes Henderson flat on his back. From this position, Silva will again attempt to reestablish his posture and attack. If a fighter is persistent about rolling to his knees as Henderson was, Silva will pop his leg out and take the back. (Gif)
Silva's top game is geared towards creating the space to strike and then taking advantage of his opponent's movements to defend against those strikes. It is very efficient and effective.
However, on his back Silva's game changes quite a bit.
Silva's bottom game is primary about survival. He works to get back to his closed guard, and from there he will attack with some basic submission and sweep attacks, but he doesn't often overcommit and is content to ride out the trouble until the end of the round or until an opening to escape presents itself.
The problem with this style is the passivity of it. Silva's primary focus is to control the top fighter's posture to minimize the power of his striking. As a result, much of Silva's guard work will look like this:
Silva is applying good, fundamental practices of guard work; he's using both his legs and arms to break down Chael Sonnen's posture. But Silva is flat on his back, and that takes away a lot of the offensive ability of the guard. Silva's use of the body triangle from the guard also provides good control but limits offensive options. Silva will maintain a tight, defensive posture in just about any bottom position and is quite crafty at getting back to his guard.
Once there, Silva is actually able to strike effectively using both punches and very dangerous up-kicks, and looks to establish wrist control.
Here, you see Silva moments before his famous triangle win over Chael Sonnen, and Silva is controlling Sonnen's right hand. The wrist control can be used to take away one arm an opponent could be using for striking. Also, Silva is able to either push or pull that arm to set up a triangle attack. But again we can see that Silva is flat on his back, not the ideal position for guard play.
Silva is not overly aggressive from his guard. In fact, the most active his guard has looked in the UFC was at UFC 67 against Travis Lutter, who was able to use Silva's aggression to pass his guard and then mount Silva. Since then, Silva has become much more reserved in guard, looking primarily to survive and conserve energy, and it often seems Silva is more than willing to give away a round on his back and look to win the next round rather than expend a great deal of energy and give up openings trying to submit or escape from that position.
While Silva is a very able grappler, he is not a great grappler. Silva has been, and always will be, a striker and his grappling game is built to maximize what he does well and close any windows of vulnerability. On top, Silva is very deft at getting into prime striking position and using his Jiu Jitsu to stabilize and then attack with great power. On his back, Silva is not a great threat, but his guard is creditable enough to keep fighters honest, and when passed, Silva has historically been able to stay defensively tight, but it is passive to the point where it can be exploited by experienced and skilled grapplers.
For more on MMA technique or to share thoughts go to the comment line below or reach out to T.P. Grant on Twitter or Facebook.FLICKR, GREENFLAMES09For years, researchers characterized the microbial community of women’s vaginas as being dominated by Lactobacillus bacteria, which ferment carbohydrates to lactic acid, yielding a low pH that is toxic to many pathogenic microbes. When levels of Lactobacillus drop, the pH becomes more neutral, and the risk of infection rises.
But with research revealing notable variation among women’s vaginal microbiomes, as well as some interesting dynamics of the microbial communities within a single organ, “that dogma is changing a little bit,” said Gregory Buck of the Vaginal Microbiome Consortium at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU).
The composition and stability of the vaginal microbiome varies by race, age, even within an individual—and it’s quickly become clear that the formula for a “normal,” “healthy” microbial community cannot be computed by ratios of bacterial species. “In the past we’ve made some generalizations about what kinds of bacteria are found in the vagina, what kinds of bacteria are good or healthy or protective,” said microbial ecologist Larry Forney of the University of Idaho. “What the research is showing is there are tremendous differences between women in terms of the kinds of bacteria that are present and the changes in the communities that occur over time.”
Vaginal diversity
In June 2010, Forney, Jacques Ravel of the University of Maryland School of Medicine, and their collaborators published a survey of the vaginal microbiomes of nearly 400 women and found that the majority harbored bacterial communities dominated by one of four Lactobacillus strains. More than a quarter of the women studied, however, did not follow this pattern. Instead, their vaginas had fewer Lactobacillus and greater numbers of other anaerobic bacteria, although the bacterial communities always included members of genera known to produce lactic acid.
In many ways, the microbiome of these women resembled the bacterial communities of women suffering from bacterial vaginosis (BV), an infection characterized by an odorous vaginal discharge, Buck noted. “By looking at the microbial components, you’d say they have BV, but they have no clinical symptoms,” he said. “These people are not unhealthy.”
The researchers also found that the composition of a woman’s vaginal microbiome was linked to her race. Eighty percent of Asian women and nearly 90 percent of white women harbored vaginal microbiomes that were dominated by Lactobacillus, while only about 60 percent of Hispanic and black women did. Moreover, vaginal pH varied with ethnicity as well, with Hispanic and black women averaging 5.0 and 4.7, respectively, and Asian and white women averaging 4.4 and 4.2. “There is a racial difference in the vaginal environment and the microbial [community] in parallel,” said Buck.
This raises questions about the role of the commensal bacteria and risk of preterm labor, which has been linked to BV—and to low levels of Lactobacillus in particular—and is one-and-a-half times more common among African American women than Caucasian women. In an attempt to better understand these associations, Buck and his colleagues designed the Multi-Omic Microbiome Study-Pregnancy Initiative (MOMS-PI). Launched last September, the project aims to collect samples from 2,000 women during their prenatal doctor visits to characterize changes in the microbiomes of diverse body sites, including the vagina, throughout the course of their pregnancies.
Nationwide, preterm labor affects about 10 percent of pregnancies, said Buck, but in the largely black and Latina patient population of the VCU Medical Center, he and his colleagues see rates closer to 20 percent. A study of 2,000 women should provide them with an in-depth evaluation of the body’s microbiomes throughout the pregnancy of 400 women who give birth prematurely. With 200 participants enrolled so far, the researchers “anticipate an early data snapshot by the end of September,” said VCU’s Jennifer Fettweis, the project’s director.
Meanwhile, the researchers continue to sort through 40,000 swabs from more than 6,000 women to better characterize the bacterial communities living in the vagina. But Fettweis and her colleagues face a common problem in microbiome research. “In many samples, only a fraction of [the genetic sequences] align to anything we have in our databases,” she said. “So I think there’s still a lot of work to be done in terms of actually understanding: What are these organisms?”
Ever-changing flora?
Another question facing researchers probing the vaginal microbiome is how it is initially colonized. “Where do [the bacteria] come from?” said Forney.
Many suspect that the process occurs during vaginal childbirth. But the adolescent microbiome does not resemble that of a sexually mature woman, having far less Lactobacillus, leading some to suspect that there may be a second colonization of the vagina later in life. And if the birthing process is important to establish the vaginal microbiome, what happens in the case of C-sections? “We have more questions than answers,” Forney said.
The microbiome is also not stable later in life. It is now well known that the vaginal microbiome changes after menopause, containing fewer Lactobacillus than the vaginas of reproductive-aged women, with the notable exception of women on hormone-replacement therapies.
Moreover, recent research has revealed that the composition of the vaginal microbiome can change in as little as 24 hours. In 2012, Forney, Ravel, and their colleagues sampled the vaginal microbiomes of 32 women twice a week for nearly four months and found that “communities can change rather dramatically in women in a relatively short period of time,” said Forney. And once again, there are differences among individuals in this regard, with some women’s microbiomes appearing to be more stable that others’.
The temporal dynamics of the vaginal microbiome raise important questions about developing microbiota-based diagnostics and therapeutics, said Forney. “If you perform a diagnostic test, would you get a different result tomorrow or the day after? In some cases, yes. How do you incorporate that into [a] decision about whether some kind of intervention is required?”
More Beyond the GutFantasy model games retailer Games Workshop, soon to be rebranded Warhammer, reported that profits were running “well above” last year’s levels.
According to the Financial Times, the high level of operation gearing in the business, meaning its cost base is largely fixed, has led to rising sales and rising profits.
After its annual general meeting in September, Games Workshop said sales were running well ahead of the year before, while adding this morning that they were still performing “strongly”.
In its last financial year, Games Workshop posted skyrocketing growth, seeing pre-tax profits jump by 126 per cent to £38.4 million.
Meanwhile, investors are starting to take notice of the retailer after shares rose 20 per cent over the last two months.
Revenues are also expected to grow 13.55 per cent over the next two years.
Click here to sign up to Retail Gazette‘s free daily email newsletterChinese funeral has several main traditions. There are Buddhist ceremonies that last at least for 49 days. First 7 days are believed to be the most important. Prayers are said every 7 days for 49 days. If a family of the deceased is poor this period can be short, lasting for only 3 days.
Traditionally the daughters of the deceased pay the funeral costs. The head of the family should at least be present at first prayer ceremony, if possible at second prayer ceremony and certainly at the burial or cremation.
Chinese also have a special prayer ceremony held every 10 days. This ceremony includes the Buddhist ceremony and 3 succeeding periods of ten days until the burial or cremation.
A final ceremony may be organized 100 days after death. But, for most Chinese it is not so important.
The age of the deceased, the cause of death, the fact that the deceased was single or married, the social status of the deceased are all factors that influence Chinese death rites. The whole procedure of the funeral and everything around should be done in a proper way. Any irregularities can cause bad luck and accidents in the family of the deceased.
Preparations for the funeral start when a person is gravely ill. First, a family orders traditional Asian coffin. The shape of such a coffin is rectangular with three "humps". It has to be mentioned that nowadays western style coffins are becoming more popular.
If the deceased is a father his eldest son is becoming a head of the family. And in case the eldest son dies his role is taken by the second son of the family. His duties among others include relations with the family ancestors.
When someone in the family dies all statues of Chinese gods in the home are covered with red paper. All mirrors are removed. It is done according to the belief that if some person sees a reflection of a coffin in the mirror yet another death would happen in the family very soon. A piece of white cloth is put over a doorway.
There is one more detail. If the deceased is a man people put a gong to the left of the entrance. And if the deceased is a woman a gong is put on the right side.
Body of the deceased is cleaned with a damp towel with some talcum powder applied on it. Then the deceased is dressed in the finest clothes. Such clothes are usually white, black, blue or brown.
Only one colour is forbidden. It is red. Why? Chinese believe that if the deceased would be dressed in red he/she will be become a ghost. All other clothes that the deceased used to wear when he/she was alive are burned.
Then the face of the deceased is covered with a yellow cloth. The body is covered with a light blue cloth. After that the body is put in the coffin.
The wake is what follows. If the deceased died at home the coffin will also be there. But, if he/she died out of home than the coffin will be placed in the courtyard. There are rules considering the position of the coffin. The coffin is put on two stools with a head of the deceased positioned towards the house.
During the wake people do not wear jewellery that includes red objects. Traditionally children and grandchildren of the deceased would not cut their hair for 49 days after the death. This tradition is not so common anymore.
After the wake family members gather around the coffin. Here persons are positioned according to rules.
The colour of clothes worn is also very important. Children and daughters-in-law wear black. Black symbolized the strongest sadness. Grandchildren wear blue clothes and grand grandchildren, if there are any, wear light blue clothes. Sons-in-law wear white or of similar colour. The children and daughters-in-law of the deceased will also wear a sackcloth hood on their head.
The eldest son is suppose to sit at the left shoulder of his parent's coffin and the spouse of the deceased sits on the right. Traditionally those relatives who arrive later are crawling on their knees towards the coffin.
At the foot of the coffin the family prepares an altar. A burning incense and lit white candle are put on such an altar. The Chinese believe that the deceased should have kind of income during his afterlife. That is why during the wake people burn joss paper and prayer money.
Everyone present at the wake burns an incense and bows as a sign of respect for the deceased. There is also a donation box where people put some money as a sign of respect and help for the family. The costs of funerals are quite high.
The following tradition is also held at the wake in China. In the courtyard of the home that used to belong to the deceased there are usually some people gambling. Yes, you read right. This gambling is organized for those who are “guarding” the body of the deceased. It helps them to stay awake during the vigil. Gambling is also suppose to offer some comfort to those present at the wake.
The wake usually lasts for a day. During the wake a monk chants parts of Buddhist or Taoist scriptures. All these prayer, chants and offerings should help the deceased to reach the heaven. Some music with gong, flute or trumpet is performed.
When everything is over the coffin is closed. Then a yellow and white “holy” paper is placed on coffin. This paper should protect the body from dangerous spirits. The whole ritual of closing the coffin has some rules. People should never watch it as it brings bad luck.
A piece of wood is tied over the coffin. It is used for carrying the coffin. People who carry the coffin are believed to be blessed. The coffin is first carried to the road next to the house. More prayers are offered and some paper scattered.
The coffin is then put on a funeral vehicle which will take the coffin to the place of burial. The eldest son and the family are just behind it. If there are many relatives a piece of white cloth is used to connect family to the funeral vehicle.
A long, lit joss stick is carried during the funeral procession. This stick is a symbol of the soul. Paper figures of cars, ships or other objects are sometimes carried as symbols of family wealth. There is a belief that the deceased must be informed whenever the coffin passes over water.
Chinese cemeteries are usually located on a hillside. Why? Well, this is very good according to the Feng shui practice. When the coffin is removed from the funeral vehicle and put into the grave site everyone should turn away. When the coffin is in the grave everyone will throw a handful of soil on the coffin.
When the burial is over. The cemetery keeper will also offer some prayers. The eldest son of the family will then take little bit of soil from the grave and put it into an incense holder. After returning home the family will use an ancestral tablet to worship the deceased.
Everyone present at the funeral will get a little red packet with some money. This packet is a sign of gratitude from the family of the deceased.
Family members wear a piece of cloth on their sleeve for 100 days to show that they are mourning. The colour of this cloth differs. The children of the deceased wear a black cloth. Grandchildren wear blue and grand grandchildren wear a green cloth. This 100 days period of mourning is not observed if the deceased is a child or a wife.
Let's mention two more of Chinese traditions that are held when someone dies. A special red plaque with some inscription on it is put outside the house. Why? People in China believe that 7 days after death the soul of the deceased will return to his/her home. And for the soul not to get lost this plaque is put.
On the seventh day everyone in the family will stay in their rooms. The floor of the entrance hall is sprinkled with little bit of flour or talcum power. This should show if the soul of the deceased has visited the house or not.
According to a Chinese tradition parents are not suppose to offer prayers for their dead child. Such funerals are performed in silence.About The Author Ricardo Zea is a Full-Stack Designer originally from Medellín, Colombia with a passion for web design, CSS and HTML. He’s the author of two books: Mastering … More about Ricardo …
An Ultimate Guide To CSS Pseudo Classes And Pseudo Elements
Smashing Newsletter Upgrade your inbox and get our editors’ picks twice a month. Your email Subscribe →
Hola a todos! (Hello, everyone!) In my early days of web design, I had to learn things the hard way: trial and error. There was no Smashing Magazine, Can I Use, CodePen or any of the other amazing tools at our disposal today. Having someone show me the ropes of web design, especially on the CSS front, would have been incredibly helpful. Now that I am far more experienced, I want to share with you in a very friendly, casual, non-dogmatic way a CSS reference guide to pseudo-classes and pseudo-elements.
In my early days of web design, I had to learn things the hard way: trial and error. There was no Smashing Magazine, Can I Use, CodePen or any of the other amazing tools at our disposal today. Having someone show me the ropes of web design, especially on the CSS front, would have been incredibly helpful.
Now that I am far more experienced, I want to share with you in a very friendly, casual, non-dogmatic way a CSS reference guide to pseudo-classes and pseudo-elements.
Further Reading on SmashingMag:
Meet Smashing Book 6 — our brand new book focused on real challenges and real front-end solutions in the real world: from design systems and accessible single-page apps to CSS Custom Properties, CSS Grid, Service Workers, performance, AR/VR and responsive art direction. With Marcy Sutton, Yoav Weiss, Lyza D. Gardner, Laura Elizabeth and many others. Table of Contents →
If you’re an experienced web designer or developer, you must know and have used most of the pseudo-classes and pseudo-elements discussed here. However, I encourage you to check the table of contents; you might not have heard of one or two of them before.
Before diving into the meat and bones, and because this article is about pseudo-classes and pseudo-elements, let’s start with the basics: Have you ever wondered what the word “pseudo” means? If so, here’s a definition from Dictionary.com:
adjective 1. not actually but having the appearance of; pretended; false or spurious; sham. 2. almost, approaching, or trying to be.
Without getting overcomplicated with the W3C’s technical definition, a pseudo-class is basically a phantom state or specific characteristic of an element that can be targeted with CSS. A few common pseudo-classes are :link, :visited, :hover, :active, :first-child and :nth-child. There are more, and we’re going to see them all in a minute.
Also, pseudo-classes are always preceded by a colon ( : ). Then comes the name of the pseudo-class and sometimes a value in parentheses. :nth-child anyone?
Now, pseudo-elements are like virtual elements that we can treat as regular HTML elements. The thing is that they don’t exist in the document tree or DOM. This means we don’t actually type the pseudo-elements, but rather create them with CSS.
A few common pseudo-elements are :after, :before and :first-letter. We’ll talk about them towards the end of this article.
Single Or Double Colon For Pseudo-Elements?
The short answer is, in most cases, either.
The double colon ( :: ) was introduced in CSS3 to differentiate pseudo-elements such as ::before and ::after from pseudo-classes such as :hover and :active. All browsers support double colons for pseudo-elements except Internet Explorer (IE) 8 and below.
Some pseudo-elements, such as ::backdrop, accept only a double colon, though.
Personally, I use single-colon notation so that my CSS is backwards-compatible with legacy browsers. I use double-colon notation on those pseudo-elements that require it, of course.
You are free to use either; there is really no right or wrong about this.
However, the specification, at the time of writing this article, does recommend using single-colon notation for the reason mentioned above, backwards compatibility:
Please note that the new CSS3 way of writing pseudo-elements is to use a double colon, eg a::after { … }, to set them apart from pseudo-classes. You may see this sometimes in CSS. CSS3 however also still allows for single colon pseudo-elements, for the sake of backwards compatibility, and we would advise that you stick with this syntax for the time being.
In the headings in this article, pseudo-elements that support both a single and double colon will be shown with both notations. Pseudo-elements that support only a double colon will be shown as is.
When (Not) To Use CSS Generated Content
Generating content via CSS is achieved by combining the content CSS property with the :before or :after pseudo-element.
This “content” may be either plain text or a container that we manipulate with CSS to display a graphic shape or decorative element. Here, I’ll be referring to the first type of content, text.
Generated content shouldn’t be used for important copy or text, due to the following reasons:
It won’t be accessible to some screen readers.
It won’t be selectable.
If generated content uses superfluous content for the sake of decoration, screen readers that do support CSS generated content will read it out loud, thus making the UX even worse.
Use CSS generated content for decoration and non-vital information, but make sure it’s properly handled by screen readers, so that people with assistive technology are not distracted. Think “progressive enhancement” when deciding whether to use CSS generated content.
Here on Smashing Magazine, Gabriele Romanato has an awesome article about using CSS generated content.
Experimental Pseudo-Classes And Pseudo-Elements
A pseudo-class or pseudo-element that is experimental means that its specification is not stable or finalized. The syntax and behavior could change down the road.
However, we might be able to use experimental pseudo-classes and pseudo-elements now by applying vendor prefixes. To do this, refer to Can I Use; and some kind of auto-prefixing tool, such as -prefix-free or Autoprefixer, is a must.
In this article, you will see an “experimental” label next to a relevant pseudo-class or pseudo-element’s name.
All right, everyone, let’s get this show started!
Pseudo-Classes
We’ll begin our discussion of pseudo-classes with those relating to states.
States
A state pseudo-class usually come into play when the user performs an action. An “action” in CSS could also be “no action”, as in the case of a link that hasn’t been visited yet.
Let’s check them out.
:link
The :link pseudo-class represents the “normal” state of links and is used to select links that have not yet been visited. Declaring the :link pseudo-class before all other pseudo-classes in this category is recommended. The order of all four is this: :link, :visited, :hover, :active
a:link { color: orange; }
If you use it as follows, it can be omitted:
a { color: orange; }
:visited
The :visited pseudo-class is used in links that have been visited. Position :visited pseudo-class second in order (after the :link pseudo-class).
a:visited { color: blue; }
:hover
The :hover pseudo-class is used to style an element when the user’s pointer is above it. It doesn’t have to be restricted to links, although that is the most common use case.
It should appear third in order (after the :visited pseudo-class).
a:hover { color: orange; }
Demo:
See the Pen CSS :hover pseudo-class by Ricardo Zea(@ricardozea) on CodePen.
:active
The :active pseudo-class is used to style an element that has been “activated” either by a pointing device or by a tap on a touchscreen device. It can also be triggered by the keyboard, just like the :focus pseudo-class.
It works very similarly to :focus, the difference being that the :active pseudo-class is an event that occurs between the mouse button being clicked and being released.
It should appear fourth in order (after the :hover pseudo-class).
a:active { color: rebeccapurple; }
:focus
The :focus pseudo-class is used to style an element that has gained focus via a pointing device, from a tap on a touchscreen device or via the keyboard. It’s used a lot in form elements.
a:focus { color: green; }
Or:
input:focus { background: #eee; }
If you work with CSS preprocessors, such as Sass, this bonus content might interest you.
(If you’re not into CSS preprocessors — and that’s OK — you can skip to the section on structural pseudo-classes.)
In the spirit of optimizing our workflow, below is a Sass mixin that we can use to create a basic set of links.
The idea behind this mixin is that no defaults are declared in the arguments. So, we are “forced,” in a friendly way, to declare all four states of our links.
The :focus and :active pseudo-classes are usually declared together. Feel free to separate them if you prefer.
Note that this mixin can be applied to any HTML element, not just links.
Here is our mixin:
@mixin links ($link, $visited, $hover, $active) { & { color: $link; &:visited { color: $visited; } &:hover { color: $hover; } &:active, &:focus { color: $active; } } }
Usage:
a { @include links(orange, blue, yellow, teal); }
Compiles to:
a { color: orange; } a:visited { color: blue; } a:hover { color: yellow; } a:active, a:focus { color: teal; }
Demo:
See the Pen Sass Mixin for Links by Ricardo Zea(@ricardozea) on CodePen.
Structural
Structural pseudo-classes target additional information in the document tree or DOM and cannot be represented by another type of selectors or combinators.
:first-child
The :first-child pseudo-class represents the first child of its parent element.
In the following example, the first li element will be the only one with orange text.
HTML:
<ul> <li>This text will be orange.</li> <li>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.</li> <li>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.</li> </ul>
CSS:
li:first-child { color: orange; }
:first-of-type
The :first-of-type pseudo-class represents the first element of its kind in its parent container.
In the following example, the first li element and the first span element will be the only ones with orange text.
HTML:
<ul> <li>This text will be orange.</li> <li>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet. <span>This text will be orange.</span></li> <li>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.</li> </ul>
CSS:
ul :first-of-type { color: orange; }
:last-child
The :last-child pseudo-class represents the last child element in its parent container.
In the following example, the last li element will be the only one with orange text.
HTML:
<ul> <li>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.</li> <li>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.</li> <li>This text will be orange.</li> </ul>
CSS:
li:last-child { color: orange; }
:last-of-type
The :last-of-type pseudo-class represents the last element of its kind in its parent container.
In the following example, the last li and the last span elements will be the only ones with orange text.
HTML:
<ul> <li>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet. <span>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.</span> <span>This text will be orange.</span></li> <li>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.</li> <li>This text will be orange.</li> </ul>
CSS:
ul :last-of-type { color: orange; }
:not
The :not pseudo-class is also known as the negation pseudo-class. It accepts an argument — basically, another “selector” — inside parentheses. The argument can actually be another pseudo-class.
It may be chained but may not contain another :not selector.
In the following example, the :not pseudo-class matches an element that is not represented by the argument.
HTML:
<ul> <li class="first-item">Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.</li> <li>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.</li> <li>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.</li> <li>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.</li> </ul>
CSS:
In the following, all text is orange, except the li element with the class of.first-item :
li:not(.first-item) { color: orange; }
Now, we’re going to chain two :not pseudo-classes. All elements will have black text and a yellow background, except the li element with the class.first-item and the last li element in the list:
li:not(.first-item):not(:last-of-type) { background: yellow; color: black; }
Demo:
See the Pen CSS :not pseudo-class by Ricardo Zea(@ricardozea) on CodePen.
:nth-child
The :nth-child pseudo-class targets one or more elements depending on their order in the markup.
This pseudo-class is one of the most versatile and robust pseudo-classes in CSS.
All of the :nth pseudo-classes take an argument, which is a formula that we type in parentheses. The formula may be a single integer, a formula structured as an+b or the keyword odd or even.
In the an+b formula:
the a is a number (called an integer);
is a number (called an integer); the n is a literal n (in other words, we will actually type the letter n in the formula);
is a literal (in other words, we will actually type the letter in the formula); the + is an operator that may be either a plus sign ( + ) or a minus sign ( - );
is an operator that may be either a plus sign ( ) or a minus sign ( ); the b is an integer as well but is only required if an operator is being used.
Using the Greek alphabet, here are a few examples using the following basic HTML structure:
<ol> <li>Alpha</li> <li>Beta</li> <li>Gamma</li> <li>Delta</li> <li>Epsilon</li> <li>Zeta</li> <li>Eta</li> <li>Theta</li> <li>Iota</li> <li>Kappa</li> </ol>
CSS:
Let’s select the second child. So, only “Beta” will be orange:
ol :nth-child(2) { color: orange; }
Now, let’s select every other child starting from the second. So, “Beta,” “Delta,” “Zeta,” “Theta” and “Kappa” will be orange:
ol :nth-child(2n) { color: orange; }
Let’s select all even-numbered children:
ol :nth-child(even) { color: orange; }
Let’s select every other child, starting from the sixth. So, “Zeta,” “Theta” and “Kappa” will be orange:
ol :nth-child(2n+6) { color: orange; }
Demo:
See the Pen CSS :nth |
that dress again!
There's definitely something to be said about wrestling at your natural weight. I'm now wrestling a lot closer to my natural weight class, and I'm getting to focus more on wrestling and just getting better and making my body stronger, rather than constantly fighting to make my body small enough. Everyone is so focused on losing weight -- your body likes to fit within a certain range, and if you force it to go one way or the other, it's difficult.
I had to cut almost 30 pounds for the 2012 Olympic team trials. Before the matches, I was eating dinner with my mom and I just stopped and was holding my jaw. She was like, "Oh, did you get hit in one of your matches?" "No, my jaw is sore from not chewing food for the last three weeks before this event." I was just eating protein shakes for every meal. The realization that I hadn't chewed and used those muscles in so long that they would cramp up and get sore halfway through a meal... it was almost heartbreaking, because why would somebody do that to their body?
I can be so stubborn when it comes to rehab. I dislocated my knee in 2010 at a World Cup event, and over the course of rehab, I didn't realize that I was basically dislocating it every day. One day I was driving back to Denver to see my family, and when I went to press on the gas pedal, my kneecap popped out. I had to hold it in place the whole way to Denver -- just cursing my sport and my whole situation the entire time.
You are allowed to be a female and be considered beautiful and still be an athlete and still be badass in that realm. Adeline Gray
It's amazing how limited I still am on that side. Eventually, I had surgery, but I had to accept that my leg was never going to be the same leg it was. And I think every athlete goes through that moment when they realize that the arm they broke is never going to be 100 percent but that they can still win with it. I think that's what has made me such a great athlete -- I don't have to be 100 percent, I just have to be good enough to win. Finding that new normal just takes some time and some coping.
I don't have cauliflower ear. My dad was adamant that I wear my headgear growing up. That's because I was born with a dysfunctional eustachian tube, which connects your throat to your ear canal. Most people have a certain degree of tilt, but mine doesn't have enough tilt to drain properly. I've had 15 ear surgeries, and I'm partially deaf on my left side just because I have so much scar tissue buildup.
I want to impart some dreams to young girls who haven't had opportunities in the past. Boys really have a leg up on us because they have these professional leagues that they can dream about. So if I can be like Serena Williams or like some of these main stars out there who are being iconic and groundbreaking and are role models for this next generation, it would be an honor and a blessing.(Image: Royal Society)
A newly identified fossil could explain one of evolution’s biggest mysteries – the origin of the turtle’s shell.
Bone fragments from a 210-million year-old, land-dwelling reptile from New Mexico suggest that the earliest turtles didn’t have much of a shell at all.
Over millions of years, rows of protective armour plates gradually fused together and to the reptile’s vertebrae, eventually creating a complete shell.
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“Turtles ultimately originated from something that looked like an armadillo,” says lead author Walter Joyce, a palaeontologist at the Peabody Museum of Natural History in New Haven, Connecticut.
His colleague Spencer Lucas, of the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science in Albuquerque, discovered a neck-bone fragment of the new reptile more than a decade ago, but its provenance remained debatable because the skeleton was so small, Joyce says.
However, recent erosion revealed enough pieces of Chinlechelys tenertesta – Latin for thin-shelled turtle – to remove any doubt.
Unlike turtle fossils dating from the later Jurassic era – “they’re so common people stopped collecting them,” Joyce says – Triassic turtles are few and far between. That’s probably because they lived on land, where fossilisation is far less likely to happen, he says.
The new animal is about 30 centimetres long, with a shell only a millimetre wide. “This one’s by far the thinnest ever found,” Joyce says.
More importantly, the reptile’s dorsal ribs aren’t fully fused to its shell – or carapace – as is the case in later fossils and in modern turtles.
“This is a crucial new discovery,” says Guillermo Rougier, at the University of Louisville in Kentucky, who uncovered the first Triassic turtles in northwest Argentina. These and other early turtles had already gained their carapaces and offered few clues as to its origin.
C. tenertesta, on the other hand, points to the body form that must have given rise to the shell. “This new guy is an animal that belong to the lineage of turtles, it’s a proto-turtle in a way,” he says.
Exactly why turtles evolved their shell remains a mystery, Joyce says. A full shell might offer added protection and stability. And the proof could be in the pudding – their body plan is the world’s oldest, changing little over 200 million years. “For some reason just being a turtle is an idea that came along and just really works,” he says.
Journal reference: Proceedings of the Royal Society B (DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2008.1196)
Evolution – Learn more about the struggle to survive in our comprehensive special report.Florida’s Palm Beach has long been an exclusive enclave of wealth and fame. But now the president’s palatial club is open to the world’s gaze as ‘the Weekend White House’. Not everyone is happy
In his first month as president of the United States, Donald J Trump spent three weekends at his home in Palm Beach, Florida, a palatial estate known as Mar-a-Lago. Initially he called it “the Winter White House”, but last Friday he renamed it “the Southern White House”, signalling that he is likely to make trips to the 118-room waterfront mansion all year round, at taxpayer expense. Some are joking that it has become “the Weekend White House”.
In his book The Art of the Deal, Trump, a native New Yorker, called his Florida home “as close to paradise as I’m going to get”. But that’s not why he has already visited it so often as president.
Other presidents have found in Florida a quiet refuge from their political storms. Harry Truman had a “Little White House” in Key West, in the state’s southernmost reach, where the US navy catered to his every need. Richard Nixon could relax on property he owned on Key Biscayne, near Miami. It’s where he first learned of the Watergate burglary (carried out by a team hired from the Cuban exiles living in Miami, a classic Florida irony).
The president's wild weekend at Mar-a-Lago Read more
Mar-a-Lago is different. It’s not just a private home, as those locations were. It’s also a commercial enterprise – specifically a club.
“For Trump it is the best and the worst,” said historian James Clark, author of Presidents in Florida. “He has the most magnificent home in Palm Beach, but he has to share it with hundreds of other people.”
Before the election, Mar-a-Lago charged a membership fee of $100,000 and annual dues of $14,000. After the election, the price of membership doubled to $200,000. In addition to using the facilities – two pools, a spa, tennis and croquet courts, and of course a beach – members have access to more than 30 guest rooms, from suites to cottages, where the cost of a stay can exceed $1,000 a night. Mar-a-Lago is also a catering facility that’s available to rent for everything from bat mitzvahs to car shows. A horse show there in 2014 featured singer Bruce Springsteen’s daughter riding in competition.
The combined membership and rental fees are a major source of revenue for the new president. According to a candidate disclosure form, Trump – who stays in a private wing of the building – made $15.6m from Mar-a-Lago in 2014.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Business and pleasure... Trump appoints HR McMaster (left) as national security adviser at Mar-a-Lago. Photograph: Susan Walsh/AP
As the New York Times noted over the weekend, the membership rolls include “dozens of real estate developers, Wall Street financiers, energy executives” and others whose business is likely to be affected by Trump’s policies. That makes Mar-a-Lago “unprecedented in American history,” the paper reported, because it’s the first presidential home “with customers paying a company owned by the president”.
The fact that Trump’s club is making money from his presidential presence has been enough to start his critics talking about ethical problems. Trump’s second visit to Mar-a-Lago sparked further controversy. Trump had brought Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe there to play golf. Later, as they ate dinner together surrounded by other club members, they learned that North Korea had fired a ballistic missile into the ocean off Japan, a clear test of Trump’s new administration as well as Abe’s.
Suddenly the Mar-a-Lago patio turned into a makeshift situation room, with the other members looking on, listening in and snapping pictures that they posted on social media. The Republican-controlled Congress, slow to act on other accusations against Trump, has raised questions about the wisdom of discussing state secrets amid the gawking diners of Mar-a-Lago.
Trump’s visits have also led to considerable disruptions in town. City officials are now asking all contractors, landscapers and pool cleaners to leave the island before 3pm when he’s in town, and they are urging all residents to sign up for traffic alerts so they will know which roads are closed off for his motorcades. The closures have already hurt business at the pricey Worth Avenue shops.
Despite the uproar, Trump will spend as much time at Mar-a-Lago as possible throughout his tenure in the Oval Office, predicts Laurence Leamer. Leamer, a Palm Beach resident, wrote a book called Madness Under the Royal Palms that takes readers behind the gated walls of America’s most exclusive enclave of wealth and fame. “He comes down here because he needs constant applause,” Leamer says. “He’s adored within the confines of that club.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘The Southern White House’... Photograph: AP/Carolyn Kaster
It doesn’t hurt that everywhere Trump turns in the building he sees his own image or name plastered on things, including the menu, which features “Mr Trump’s Wedge Salad” and “Three Layer Trump Chocolate Cake”. There’s even a Trump meatloaf.
The dining room is the true focal point of Mar-a-Lago. “It’s basically just a big supper club, says Leamer, who has dined there more than once. “The people who are members there don’t play tennis, don’t swim, and don’t go to the beach. The whole point is to show that you’re a member of the elite.”
This is not at all what Mar-a-Lago’s original owner had in mind.
The mansion was built by cereal heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post in 1927, at a cost of $7m. Post, at one time the wealthiest woman in the US, named her Florida home for its picturesque location between the Atlantic Ocean and Lake Worth. The architect she hired to design it, Marion Sims Wyeth, also designed the Florida governor’s mansion.
When Post died in 1973, she left her estate to the US government. She wanted it used as a winter White House – a place where a president could find solitude and rest. But in 1980 the government handed it back to her daughters because its annual upkeep cost $1m.
Post’s mansion, a mix of Italian, Spanish, Dutch and Portuguese architectural styles, is far from the only ostentatious edifice built in Palm Beach. The island has long been a haven for the extremely wealthy. It got its name when a shipload of coconuts washed ashore and the early settlers planted them to see what would grow. But what put Palm Beach on the map was railroad magnate Henry Flagler’s decision to build one of his most opulent hotels there in 1896. The Breakers, as it became known, was designed to cater to the very, very rich, offering every possible amenity – including an illegal gambling hall run by a friend of Flagler’s that stayed in business for decades, with local authorities looking the other way.
Rich man’s playground... Palm Beach. Photograph: John Parra/Getty Images
The Breakers’ guest list included the Rockefellers, the Vanderbilts, Andrew Carnegie and JP Morgan. Some were so smitten by the island that they bought homes there, including Joseph P Kennedy, father of future president John F Kennedy. More recent residents include radio pundit Rush Limbaugh, novelist James Patterson and, until his death in 2014, Manchester United and Tampa Bay Buccaneers owner Malcolm Glazer. In 2005, when media mogul Conrad Black was indicted on fraud charges, part of his $20m bond was secured via his Palm Beach mansion, which he then sold in 2011.
Palm Beach’s reputation as a rich man’s playground had become so established by the 1940s that Hollywood writer-director Preston Sturges set one of his screwball comedies there, calling it The Palm Beach Story.
Part of Palm Beach’s appeal for the millionaires and billionaires from the 1920s through to the 50s was its exclusivity. The town was harshly segregated, with no blacks, Hispanics or Jews allowed, explains Brian Crowley, longtime political editor of the daily Palm Beach Post: “I grew up here. This was a hotbed of segregation.”
The town’s ruling class has always tried to keep tight control over every aspect of life, from the design of the business awnings to the clothes allowed in public. “As late as the 80s we had a law forbidding men from jogging without a shirt,” says Crowley.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Marjorie Merriweather Post, the cereal heiress who had Mar-a-Lago built in 1927. Photograph: Alfred Eisenstaedt/The Life Picture Collection/Getty Images
In 1985, Guardian cartoonist Garry Trudeau mocked the town’s elite in his Doonesbury strips for requiring people who worked in menial service jobs to carry a town-issued identification card. One strip joked that black motorists driving slower than 35mph would be charged with loitering. “We’re just the target of some very jealous people,” the head of the chamber of commerce told reporters. “‘We know we’re different. We’re unique and we’re far above it.”
Meanwhile the propensity of so many rich old men for marrying much younger women has led to an odd sociological phenomenon in Palm Beach, says Leamer. “They die and leave their money to their wives, and the place becomes a matriarchy.”
The main focus in Palm Beach is on “the season”, meaning the winter. That’s when all the wealthy widows who live elsewhere the rest of the year flock to their Florida mansions and get caught up in a whirl of charity balls and dinners. Nearly all of them are held at The Breakers or at Mar-a-Lago, and covered extensively by the Palm Beach Daily News, nicknamed “the Shiny Sheet”.
“They go to these charity events to see and be seen, to visit with their friends and pose for pictures and get their pictures in the Shiny Sheet,” says Crowley. “Then they all go back up north at the end of the season.”
Except for travelling back and forth between their homes and the airport, the upper crust of Palm Beach see no need to leave the island, says Leamer, “except to die, because there are no cemeteries or funeral homes on the island”.
If they did leave, though, they would discover Palm Beach is about as far removed from the rest of Palm Beach County as the Earth is from the moon. The county’s voter rolls are dominated by Democrats. Palm Beach County voted overwhelmingly for Hillary Clinton for president, not its part-time resident. (The voting precinct that includes Mar-a-Lago, though, gave Trump 64% of its ballots. The GOP’s 2012 nominee, Mitt Romney, did far better, with 78%.)
Some of Florida’s poorest people live in Palm Beach County in communities at the edge of the Everglades, no more than 20 miles from the glittering mansions of Palm Beach. “There’s great wealth here and great poverty, and never the twain shall meet,” says Crowley.
The surrounding county is more like the rest of Florida than Palm Beach is. Its mix of residents includes immigrants, many from Mexico and Guatemala, as well as factory workers and elderly retirees. This is a place where you could find animal sacrifices by the Santeria religious cult at an Audubon Society nature preserve.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest A long, leisurely history... verandah of the Palm Beach Hotel. Photograph: Geo P Hall & Son/The New York Historical Society/Getty Images
It’s also where the poorly designed “butterfly ballot” baffled so many voters in 2000 that it helped alter the course of the presidential race, further cementing Florida’s image as a swing state that controls the fate of the nation. Florida voters are notoriosly fickle, going for Barack Obama twice, but in between electing and re-electing Tea Party darling Rick Scott as governor.
Palm Beach County isn’t what attracted Trump, though. He only had eyes for the Post mansion and Palm Beach.
Trump first spotted Mar-a-Lago while on a Florida vacation in 1982. He wrote later that he knew right away he had to have it. He offered $28m and was rejected. Three years later the housing market had slumped and three other sales – to the Marriott hotel chain, to friends of country singer Tammy Wynette and to a Houston land developer – had fallen through. Trump at last picked it up for a mere $8m, furnishings included.
He was determined to make money from the property. His original plan was to subdivide it and build homes, keeping the main residence for himself, but the town’s strict zoning codes prevented that. Instead, he converted the place to a private club, one that reflects his own taste and interests. He converted the Post library, full of rare first editions, into a bar adorned with his portrait in tennis whites. He added on the 20,000sq ft Donald J Trump Ballroom, which features $7m worth of gold leaf. He also added four gold-plated sinks.
The ballroom made its debut as the place where he and his third wife Melania were wed in 2005. Tony Bennett sang, and the attendees included Hillary and Bill Clinton.
Although he inherited wealth, Trump frequently came across to much of the island as the epitome of nouveau riche. “Trump represents the biggest change to hit the island over the past 30 years,” says Crowley. “He represents the new money coming in, defying conventions.”
His long-time butler told the New York Times last year that Trump never cared to shop at any of the businesses on Worth Avenue that cater to the rich. Instead, he preferred to stick to Mar-a-Lago, popping out to glad-hand visitors during dinner or at various charity events. Occasionally he would venture out to play a round or two at the Trump International Golf Club, a 10-minute drive away in West Palm Beach, but that was it.
He soon got into legal battles with the town over his oversized flag and flagpole (80ft high, nearly double what the local ordinance allowed) and over the fact that the mansion is directly under the flight path for the local airport. Now that he’s president, though, air traffic is forbidden from entering the air space above Mar-a-Lago when he is in residence, which costs the local airport thousands of dollars.
When he first got to Palm Beach, he did something with Mar-a-Lago that irritated the older elites. He opened up his club to Jewish, black and gay members. Anyone could join, as long as they had the money. Rich people who had been rejected by Wasps-only clubs flocked to Trump’s.
Now, when Trump makes a presidential visit to Mar-a-Lago, the Secret Service takes over the parking lot. Mar-a-Lago’s new-money members are directed to use the lot of the club next door that wouldn’t let them in, greatly inconveniencing it.
For Trump, says Leamer, “that’s the sweetest revenge”.
• Craig Pittman is the author of Oh, Florida!: How America’s Weirdest State Influences the Rest of the Country, published by St Martin’s Press (£18.99). To order a copy for £16.14 go to bookshop.theguardian.com or call 0330 333 6846. Free UK p&p over £10, online orders only. Phone orders min p&p of £1.99Jon Jones' fifth consecutive light heavyweight title defense at UFC 159, finishing Chael Sonnen, leads to natural comparisons with Tito Ortiz, whose record he tied.
Ortiz was UFC's light heavyweight champion from 2000 to 2003 when he defended his title five times and set the record. It has since been broken by Anderson Silva as the longest lasting champion in UFC history. And even after losing the belt to Randy Couture, Ortiz was arguably UFC's most well-known star and biggest drawing card for three more years.
The sport, and the business, were completely different in those days. When Ortiz first won the title, it almost seemed like it was in need of miracle to survive, to the point Joe Rogan, then one of UFC's biggest fans, would joke about how maybe some day a crazy billionaire would buy the thing.
Ortiz suggested if he was still in his prime, and faced Jones today, he would win. That's a tough one to swallow.
While Ortiz suggested this past Monday on The MMA Hour that if he was still in his prime, and faced Jones today, that he would win, well, that's a tough one to swallow.
Ortiz was essentially big for his weight class power wrestler at a time when the depth of talent in the sport, particularly in the United States, and quality of the athletes, couldn't compare to today. But even in power wrestling, Ortiz, who couldn't implement his game against a number of the wrestlers he faced, would come up short against Jones.
In striking and speed, they aren't even close. Ortiz retired last year with a 16-11-1 record. Jones is 18-1, and that loss to Matt Hamill remains the single most one-sided destruction ever listed as a loss in UFC history.
In short, Jones rag dolled a wrestler who was Ortiz's equal, if not better. Jones threw several dozen unanswered elbows on the ground on Hamill, waiting for the referee to stop it. By the time he did, Hamill was helpless, with a separated shoulder, and unable to move. But the referee ruled the last few elbows were of the dreaded 12-to-6 variety, and Jones was disqualified. It seemed ridiculous that night, and seems borderline criminal with the benefit of hindsight.
But the careers of Ortiz and Jones had some common threads. Both started as high school wrestlers. They were both among the youngest champions in UFC history. Both shocked fans early on by beating better known veterans. Both had their fans, but it appeared for as many fans that loved them, there were an equal amount who hated them. Both ended up in the cross hairs of UFC president Dana White at times. And both men's most talked about career match was against a former training partner that each had at one point claimed they would never fight. But while Ortiz had his big wins, and big losses, nobody has still been able to do anything to Jones.
But there is one category Ortiz has over Jones, and may always have, even if he shatters his records with subsequent wins. Ortiz played a key part in the UFC still being around. And he also had a level of personal charisma that Jones has at times shows flashes of, but never was able to fully develop.
For better, and often for worse, Ortiz was the type of person who always stood out in any crowd. Any time he was at a UFC press conference, even after a fight where he'd lost in a relatively one-sided fashion, he was always the center of attention.
While Jones is his athletic and fighting superior by a wide margin, and at 25, already should be considered as one of the five greatest fighters in the sport's history, Ortiz is still likely to end up as the more historically significant light heavyweight.
Some of that was timing. You could make a fairly strong case that if there had not been a Tito Ortiz, the UFC would not exist today. You couldn't make such case for Jones as a difference maker. UFC would be around, and be every bit as popular as it is today, whether Jones came along or not.
When Ortiz was champion, the light heavyweight belt was the key one in the company. He drew the biggest crowds, and it was his fights that showed the company there was at least a ray of hope that some day it would be successful.
You can argue Jones may be UFC's best fighter today, and he may some day be viewed as the historical all-time best, a category Ortiz is not up for consideration in.
But Jones does not draw the biggest crowds, and the light heavyweight division is not the company's signature weight class right now.
Ortiz debuted on May 30, 1997, as a 22-year-old alternate, who fought as an amateur so he could maintain his college wrestling eligibility as part of the powerhouse Cal State-Bakersfield squad. Due to an eye injury, Enson Inoue could not come out for a tournament final against Guy Mezger, who by that point was already a major star on the Japanese scene.
Ortiz was put in the finals of that night's tournament, took Mezger down, and was kneeing him in the head when such a move was legal. Mezger was bleeding, and referee John McCarthy stopped the fight so the doctor could check on Mezger's cut. At the time, the rules were not to restart them in the same position.
When the inexperienced Ortiz, who had 31 seconds of cage time going into the fight, shot in for another takedown, Mezger caught him in a guillotine and Ortiz had to submit. Two years later, Ortiz, then in only his fifth pro fight, dominated Mezger and won via ref stoppage.
He then taunted Mezger with an inflammatory T-shirt that read "Gay Mezger is my b**ch," and followed by flipping off Mezger's coach, Ken Shamrock, one of UFC's first stars, who was then out of the sport after taking a lucrative contract with the World Wrestling Federation.
This led to one of UFC's all-time landmark rivalries.
Jones debuted as a 21-year-old late injury replacement, facing veteran IFL star Andre Gusmao on Aug. 9, 2008, in Minneapolis in an undercard fight. Jones had debuted in the sport less than four months earlier and had already won six times, all by stoppage.
Ortiz had his first title fight, which he lost to Frank Shamrock, at 24, just two years and four months after his debut. Jones had his first title fight, which he won from Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, just before his 24th birthday, and also less than three years after his debut.
Frank Shamrock left what appeared to be a dying promotion. The UFC was bleeding money, with no hope of getting television, and only on pay-per-view to satellite dish.
Ortiz then defeated Wanderlei Silva on April 14, 2000, in Tokyo, to win the vacant title. Ortiz was managed at the time by Dana White.
White, who was looking to start a boxing promotion with high school friend Lorenzo Fertitta at the time, while managing both Ortiz and Chuck Liddell. White, because of his association with Ortiz, the UFC's biggest star at the time, found out the company was on death's door. He told Fertitta, and this led to them purchasing the promotion.
But the early years were not successful, with many pay-per-views doing less than 35,000 buys. The only signs of life were Ortiz's fights with the likes of Ken Shamrock in 2002 (150,000 buys), Randy Couture in 2003 (75,000 buys) and Chuck Liddell in 2004 (105,000 buys).
There is a strong possibility that had Ortiz not been around to show there was potential, Fertitta would have thrown in the towel by 2002.
There is a strong possibility that had Ortiz not been around to at least show that there was potential, that Fertitta would have thrown in the towel by 2002.
By 2006, everything had changed. The company got on Spike TV in 2005 and financially turned things around. In 2006, Ortiz fought four times. He beat Forrest Griffin, He got two wins over Ken Shamrock, before losing to Liddell. The Griffin fight broke the company's pay-per-view record topping 400,000 buys. The Shamrock fight destroyed it doing, 775,000 buys. The Liddell fight is still one of the few in company history to crack the 1 million mark. According to White, Ortiz earned $5.6 million that year.
Ortiz and Liddell were training partners. Ortiz claimed they had a pact that they would never fight, which Liddell has always denied was the case. Ortiz's avoiding the first fight fractured whatever friendship the two had. It led to the creation of an interim title, when Ortiz took a movie role instead of signing to face Liddell in 2003. But Ortiz ended up 0-2, losing by stoppage both times, against his former training partner.
Just as Ortiz's fought an established star in Mezger in his second UFC fight, Jones' second UFC win came against Stephan Bonnar. While today, Jones vs. Bonnar would side like a mismatch, in early 2009, nobody had heard of Jones as he dominated Bonnar for two rounds before tiring in the third, in the match that put him on the map.
Jones' biggest fight had a similar story. As Jones started impressing people in his early UFC fights, he wound up leaving his home in upstate New York to train at Greg Jackson's camp in Albuquerque. That was the home of light heavyweight stars Rashad Evans and Keith Jardine. At the time, a pact was made that the three would never fight.
While Jones' popularity these days is a mixed bag, it was a scant two years ago when the Newark, N.J. crowd was euphoric from start-to-finish on the night Jones became champion. He ran down a mugger in the park in the afternoon. He gave Mauricio "Shogun" Rua the beating of his career. Jones then charmed everyone, until he made a remark acting as if he would consider fighting Evans.
Crowds soured on Jones leading up to that fight after that remark, and he wasn't nearly as popular in his win over his former training partner. His popularity fell even more when his turning down a replacement fight with Chael Sonnen led to UFC 151 being canceled.
Still, through all of Ortiz's career ups-and-downs, perhaps his most emotionally satisfying moment came near the end.
Long past his prime, in what most figured to be his last match, with his neck and back fused, he stunned the heavily-favored Ryan Bader with a punch. Ortiz put Bader out with the same guillotine that Guy Mezger finished Ortiz with, and Bader was finished in 1:56.
At that point, it had been nearly five years since Ortiz won a fight. The win got Ortiz three more fights, all losses, before he retired after losing last summer at the age of 37 after losing his third fight with Griffin.
As one of the key stars in UFC history, Ortiz is a deserved company Hall of Famer.
But Jones as a fighter, already is far more.IBM and Nvidia have been awarded $425 million by the US Department of Energy to build two brand-new supercomputers that leverage IBM’s Power8 CPUs and Nvidia’s upcoming Volta GPUs. The two computers — Summit, which will be built at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Sierra, built at Lawrence Livermore — will have peak performance of around 150 petaflops when they’re completed in 2017-2018. This should make them the most powerful supercomputers in the world, though I wouldn’t be surprised if China is working on something even faster to retain its supercomputing crown.
Today, the USA’s fastest supercomputers are Titan at ORNL and Sequoia at LLNL, both capable of around 17 petaflops, and placed second and third in the world respectively. Both of these supercomputers are actually quite new (completed in the last couple of years), so I’m not sure if Summit and Sierra will replace them, or if all four supercomputers will exist at the same time (which would be awesome, but would require a ridiculous amount of power — about 50 megawatts).
At this point, we only know the loosest of hardware specifications for the new supercomputers. Primarily there will be thousands of IBM Power8 CPUs running the show. Attached to those Power8 chips, via the new CAPI interface, will be thousands of Nvidia Volta GPUs. We don’t know a whole lot about Volta, except that it will feature “stacked DRAM” — DRAM stacked on top of the GPU using through-silicon vias (TSVs) — with memory bandwidth around 1TB/sec and very low latency. Nvidia’s current GPU accelerators (the K40, K20, etc.) are based on the Kepler core; Volta is the core after Maxwell.
Depending on their final specifications, IBM tells us that Summit and Sierra will use between 11.4MW and 13.1MW — which, for systems capable of 150 petaflops, is very, very efficient. The world’s fastest supercomputer, Tianhe-2, uses 17 megawatts and maxes out at around 34 petaflops; the USA’s fastest supercomputer, Titan, hits 17.5 petaflops while using 8.2MW.
Read: Intel unveils 72-core x86 Knights Landing CPU for exascale supercomputing
According to IBM, the secret sauce behind the massively improved efficiency of Summit and Sierra is “data centric computing,” which “puts computing power everywhere data resides.” When I pushed to find out what this actually means in terms of how the supercomputer will be laid out, no further data was forthcoming. Cutting through the PR fluff, it think it simply means that the Power8 architecture, combined with an InfiniBand interconnect, are capable of moving data around really quickly. (The press release mentions “17 petabytes per second,” but presumably that’s the aggregate total between thousands of individual chips/blades.) Or, to put it another way, these new supercomputers will be very good at processing Big Data — an important buzzword nowadays, and one that IBM is trying to own.
All in all, it seems the US government is rather serious about staying at the top of the supercomputing game. When Summit and Sierra are completed sometime in 2017-2018, they should be the world’s fastest supercomputers, unless China is secretly working on its own contender — but even then, the US will still have much more total computing power than any other country in the world.
Perhaps the most interesting bit about these two computers, though, is their incredible power efficiency. Summit and Sierra are about five times more efficient than Titan, Sequoia, or Tianhe-2. 150 petaflops at 13.1MW is about 11,000 megaflops per watt — way, way beyond any supercomputer currently in operation, and a good sign that exascale (1000-petaflop) systems may actually be feasible before 2020.
Now read: Supercomputing director bets $2,000 that we won’t have exascale computing by 2020UFS appoints Prof Francis Petersen as Vice-Chancellor and Rector Received from the Chairperson of the UFS Council, Judge Ian van der Merwe The Council of the University of the Free State (UFS) is pleased to announce that it has decided to appoint Prof Francis Petersen as Vice-Chancellor and Rector of the UFS.
Announcing the decision to appoint Prof Petersen today (Friday 2 December 2016) during the quarterly Council meeting on the Bloemfontein Campus, the Chairperson of the UFS Council, Judge Ian van der Merwe, said the university was fortunate to be able to appoint a candidate of such good quality to the position.
Prof Petersen, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Institutional Innovation at the University of Cape Town (UCT), and Prof Lis Lange, Vice-Rector: Academic at the UFS, were in line for the position. The university’s Selection Committee expressed equal preference for both and the two candidates were therefore recommended to Council for the position.
“It has been a truly participatory and transparent selection process, which has assisted in the Council being able to make this decision. The higher-education sector has been through a difficult and challenging time during the past few months and the Council is thankful that a leader like Prof Petersen can head the university in 2017 and beyond,” said Judge Van der Merwe.
In his statement of intent, which was submitted earlier as part of the application for the post, Prof Petersen indicated that it is important to imagine the UFS’s location in South Africa and Africa, to realise the challenges within this context, now and in the future, so as to sharpen the university’s focus to become a more inclusive, academic excellent institution, embedded in a culture of innovation. “Therefore, the ideal of academic excellence must be supported by an institutional framework of diversity and inclusivity. The Academic Project should focus on a unique educational experience for every UFS student, the enhancement of student throughput-rate in academic programmes through dedicated academic support, graduate attributes, and curriculum change and renewal,” he said. He furthermore stated that research and innovation must focus on impact and international visibility. “It is thus not only the increase in research and innovation output, but the quality and impact thereof.”
Prof Petersen was previously the Dean of Engineering and the Built Environment at UCT. He brings to the position of Vice-Chancellor and Rector his extensive experience of management in both the industry and academic sectors. He has been the executive head of strategy at Anglo American Platinum and head of the Department of Chemical Engineering at |
ko) January 7, 2015
@Salondotcom Dear God, PLEASE take down that tweet. I was wrong. I’ll say it a thousand times if you want. — Adam Kotsko (@adamkotsko) January 7, 2015
Nothing I post here represents the views of Shimer College, nor does anything I posted here and subsequently deleted. — Adam Kotsko (@adamkotsko) January 7, 2015
But later, Kotsko resolved to “move forward” since the tweet was publicized by “2 daily caller freaks [sic].”
Follow Alex Griswold on TwitterMotorcycle lane filtering laws apply in NSW. Our animation explains the laws and shows how to lane filter safely. Read a transcript.
What is lane filtering?
Lane filtering is when a motorcycle rider moves alongside vehicles that have either stopped or are moving slowly (less than 30 km/h).
What motorcyclists need to know about safe lane filtering
Motorcycle lane filtering laws apply in NSW, with strict conditions
Motorcyclists must only lane filter when travelling less than 30 km/h
Motorcyclists can lane filter through stationary and slow moving traffic
Motorcyclists caught moving between traffic at over 30km/h face heavy fines and three demerit points under the offence called ‘lane splitting’
It is illegal for motorcyclists to lane filter: next to the kerb next to parked vehicles in school zones
Motorcyclists should always look out for pedestrians and bicycle riders
Motorcyclists should not lane filter around heavy vehicles and buses
Only fully licensed motorcyclists are allowed to lane filter
Motorcyclists must only lane filter when it’s safe
Motorcyclists must comply with all existing road rules when lane filtering. This includes stopping before the stop line at a red traffic light or stop sign, never in front or over it.
Our lane filtering FAQs have more detailed information, including a Summary of Trial Results from a 2013 trial in the northern part of Sydney's CBD.
Safety for other road users
Motorists
Motorists should always check twice for motorcycles.
Motorists should not deliberately move into the path of a motorcyclist who is lane filtering.
To ensure safety, motorcyclists:
Are only allowed to lane filter when they are travelling less than 30 km/h
Are only allowed to lane filter when it's safe
Should not lane filter around heavy vehicles and buses.
Pedestrians
Pedestrians should always check twice for motorcycles.
Pedestrians should always cross at pedestrian crossings or traffic lights where they are available.
To help protect the safety of pedestrians, motorcyclists:
Should always look out for pedestrians when lane filtering
Should not lane filter near buses
Should not lane filter near parked vehicles
Are not allowed to lane filter in school zones
Are only allowed to lane filter when it’s safe.
Bicycle riders
Bicycle riders should always check twice for motorcycles.
To help protect the safety of bicycle riders, motorcyclists:
Should always look out for bicycle riders when lane filtering
Are not allowed to lane filter next to the kerb
Should not lane filter near heavy vehicles or buses
Should not lane filter near parked vehicles
Are only allowed to lane filter when it’s safe.
The Road Transport Legislation Amendment (Lane Use by Motor Bikes) Regulation 2014 (PDF, 34kB) has details of the new laws.NORTH EAST, Pa. — The newest environmental threat to the Great Lakes is very, very small.
Tiny plastic beads used in hundreds of toiletries like facial scrubs and toothpastes are slipping through water treatment plants and turning up by the tens of millions in the Great Lakes. There, fish and other aquatic life eat them along with the pollutants they carry — which scientists fear could be working their way back up the food chain to humans.
Scientists have worried about plastic debris in the oceans for decades, but focused on enormous accumulations of floating junk. More recently, the question of smaller bits has gained attention, because plastics degrade so slowly and become coated with poisons in the water like the cancer-causing chemicals known as PCBs.
“Unfortunately, they look like fish food,” said Marcus Eriksen, executive director of the 5 Gyres organization, speaking of the beads found in the oceans and, now, the lakes. His group works to eliminate plastic pollution.
Studies published in recent months have drawn attention to the Great Lakes, where there may be even greater concentrations of plastic particles than are found in oceans. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has also been looking at the impact of microplastics on marine life.Controversial petrochemicals giant Ineos – who own fracking licenses covering 329 square kilometres of central Scotland – are pressing ahead with a massive £17m office complex in Grangemouth, which will act as their new headquarters. This week, the contractor for the new building was announced through the trade press, with the construction company commenting that it’s nice working “with a client that already knows exactly what they want.”
Few would dispute that INEOS know exactly what they want. But given that the firm have publicly stated that they’ll shut down their Grangemouth refinery if fracking doesn’t get the go-ahead in Scotland, it does beg the question – do INEOS know something that the rest of us don’t?
Because last time I checked, fracking doesn’t have the go ahead in Scotland. Unconventional oil and gas extraction was banned – on a temporary basis – in January, and a separate moratorium was placed on underground coal gasification in October. While this was celebrated as a huge victory by anti-fracking campaigners and exploited by the SNP ahead of the election, the fracking industry has remained quietly confident. Fossil fuel extraction is a long game and the frackers are more than happy to play it. In July, Jim Ratcliffe – the shadowy Bond villian-esque billionaire and majority shareholder in INEOS – told The Herald:
[The Scottish Government] are being quite clear. What they’ve said to us is they’re not against fracking. But what they do need to do is get comfortable with whether they’re happy with the risks of fracking in Scotland. They want to spend a couple of years understanding it in more detail. I think that’s a responsible thing for them to do and say. We don’t need to do any fracking for the next couple of years. What we’d like to do is just drill a couple of holes, do the seismic, and just find out what’s down there.”
Right on cue, an 18 month test drilling trial began in October. Meanwhile, INEOS are working on a charm offensive in communities across central Scotland and, through a network of secretive lobbyists, have been trying to exert their influence over decision makers, not least the SNP. Grassroots moves to push the SNP towards backing a full ban on fracking were narrowly defeated at their October conference, with the Scottish Government remaining committed to the existing consultation process during the moratorium, expected to run until mid-2017. What follows the end of the consultation will partly depend on public pressure, and fracking remains one of the few issues in which there’s a serious – and vocal – split within the SNP.
But INEOS do not fuck about with their money. Ratcliffe built his company up from nothing on the basis of taking over other businesses and then ruthlessly cutting costs. When they entered into a collision course with Grangemouth’s highly unionised workforce in 2013, Ratcliffe opted to shut down the plant and lock out the workers and threaten them with the sack, effectively holding the entire Scottish economy to ransom, rather than reinstate one union organiser. With little option, the workforce voted for a pay freeze, pension cuts and signed away their union rights in a bid to save their own jobs, while the Scottish Government chucked a £9 million Regional Selective Assistance grant Ratcliffe’s way (despite his personal net worth of £3.2bn. Ratcliffe’s yacht alone is worth £130m).
Ratcliffe is a man who likes getting his own way. While INEOS are making provision for shipping US shale gas across the Atlantic, they are also pressing hard for unconventional oil and gas extraction to begin in central Scotland, which contains an estimated 80 trillion cubic feet of gas and six billion barrels of oil. Their quiet confidence about the fracking morotorium ending in their favour and their investment in a £17m four-storey, 74,000 square foot headquarters in Grangemouth may not be such a coincidence. Whether the Scottish Government can triangulate themselves out of this situation remains to be seen.
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Further Reading:
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Find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/AThousandFlowers
Follow us on Twitter @unsavourycabalit'd be nice if there was a bit more information online about it. i actually saw it listed in the new release sheets that i get from a distributor here in canada. it also didn't saw anything. other then this...
ZAPPA, FRANK "2014RSD2 - 200 Motels" (UME) BPR1226 $6.69 7"
keep in mind that $6.69 is the price they sell them for.
good luck in finding it any cheaper then $10 (at least here in canada)
i would like it to be a whole new mix of songs and movie dialogue mixed together. because that'd be kinda neat...but if not, then i hope it'd be this...
Side A - Semi Fraudulent Direct From Hollywood Overture/Mystery Roach
Side B - Magic Fingers
or
Side A - Lonesome Cowboy Burt
Side B - Daddy Daddy Daddy
either way, i had to make sure i order myself a copy of it. i got the other 3. why ruin the flow.Our shared misery works to spark creativity
My name is Jeremy Kaplowitz and I’m here at Binghamton University so that I can appease my parents for four years and then throw it all away to become a starving-artist-comedian-type until that doesn’t pan out. You may have seen me at a Bing Stand Up show, or opening at the Dollar Show for your friends who forced you to see a cappella, or opening for the wonderful Ron Swans — I mean Nick Offerman — during Family Weekend, or walking around campus wrapped up in my own ego and self-deprecation. I’m someone who thinks that comedy is very important — probably way more important than it actually is — because I think it brings us together and serves as a catalyst for change by pointing out what is absurd and what is funny. Also, laughing is fun.
This year, Nick Offerman came to Binghamton for Family Weekend and sold out the Events Center. Three thousand people paid money to be disappointed by the fact that a man they saw on “Parks and Recreation” didn’t say, “Give me all the eggs and bacon you have.” Last year Demetri Martin came and sold over 2,000 tickets. The year before, Lewis Black’s show marked the start of a trend in which the Student Association books high-profile comedians to perform in the Events Center during Family Weekend. Binghamton students seem to love comedy, and we come out to see comedians in huge numbers the more and more we are exposed to them.
But Binghamton is also a productive hub of comedy. Despite the fact that the University really only showcases whichever Baldwin graced Binghamton with his presence decades ago, there’s a whole bunch of way more talented alumni who no one seems to know about.
Just to name a few: Madeleine Smithberg is the co-creator of “The Daily Show” (or the show that you and your friends simply call “The News”). Carol Leifer is a stand-up comedian and writer who was also the inspiration for Elaine from Seinfeld. Art Spiegelman, the creator of the terrific satirical graphic novel “Maus,” got his start drawing comics for Pipe Dream. Andy Kindler is a very famous stand-up comedian who was a judge on “Last Comic Standing” and featured in recurring roles on “Maron” and “Bob’s Burgers.”
And Paul Reiser. Seriously, Paul Reiser. In 2004, Comedy Central named him the 77th greatest stand-up comedian of all time. He got his start at the Hinman Production Company.
But we only care about Flo. Not even Stephanie Courtney, a comedian from Binghamton University who went on to be a member of the famous comedy troupe The Groundlings. You may know her from her role as Flo.
So how does Binghamton end up rearing some of the most talented and influential comedians in the country? We don’t really have the institutions for comedy outside of the Pappies and Bing Stand Up. Other schools like Harvard and NYU are actually proud of their comedians and funnel them into success. Colin Jost went from writing at the Harvard Lampoon to immediately being hired as a writer for SNL. Now he’s the head writer and the face of Weekend Update. It’s kind of a trope at this point that wealthy white men write college comedy in sweater vests at their Ivy League schools and then graduate into fame.
You may think it’s weird that I include Binghamton as a place where comedy is grown in the same paragraph as schools that people actually want to go to. That’s the point.
Self-deprecation is the key to comedy. Binghamton is a school full of kids who were smart in high school but then slacked off and/or didn’t want to pay too much for school. We all ended up in this sad excuse for a city that we joke about being the fourth most depressed in the country and the second most obese. We’re coping with the fact that we’re here and it brings us closer together as a community. And then when someone from Cornell says “Ha! Binghamton sucks!” we say “Go fuck yourself.”
Binghamton forces us to be creative through its tolerable bullshit. When construction on campus turns the University into a labyrinth or the math department is terrible, these hardships are the glue that keeps our school together. It’s comedy. It’s the source of the one connection that everyone shares.
One of the amazing things about our school is the abundance of driven clubs and communities. Would we have so much going on if we didn’t have such a pile of bullshit driving us to be creative? Why aren’t there that many famous comedians from Buffalo or Geneseo or Albany? The same middle class New Yorker kids attend these schools, but if you google “notable alumni Albany University,” go to the Wikipedia, and ctrl-f “comedian” there are zero results.
Because Binghamton is a place that forces us to be creative and connect with each other, we have this amazingly rich history of successful comedians. Harvard, NYU, Chicago, UCLA, Binghamton. It’s insane to me that I can end a list of schools like that with one that recently put out a warning about meth houses Downtown.
Let’s be creative, let’s be funny, let’s be proud of all of the artists who have been in our exact same position. Let’s take something that may not have been the best situation and use it to bring us closer together and fuel a drive that makes our college experience not only worthwhile, but extraordinary. And most of all, let’s continue to churn out some of the greatest comedic minds in our country’s history.
Also, holy shit, Paul Reiser went to Binghamton. Do people not realize how big of a deal that is? Fuck Billy Baldwin.
– Jeremy Kaplowitz is a senior majoring in Economicson •
THE GUERRILLA ANGEL REPORT — Philadelphia. Trans woman. Shot in the head. Unidentified. It’s now six days later and that’s still just about all we know.
A search of the Philadelphia news media came up with zip. Another trans death dropping off the radar...
Can any local trans people shed light on this?
(My thanks to those of you who brought this to our attention.)
[Trigger warning — both links!]
http://articles.philly.com/2012-09-04/news/33564203_1_dead-man-allison-steele-philadelphia-police
Man’s body found in woman’s clothes in Frankford | 6abc.com.
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Categories: Deaths, Murder, Law Enforcement, Police, Transgender, Transsexual, TransYou might think that Sen. Rand Paul, Republican-Ky., would be the kind of right leaning politician that would bring out the protestors at UC Berkeley, but that was hardly the case when the tea party favorite spoke Wednesday at the university's Chevron Auditorium.
Dressed in blue jeans and a polo shirt, Paul entered the Chevron Auditorium to a warm reception.
The choice of Cal and the city of Berkeley as the place to try and win Republican votes at first glance may look like an uphill battle.
According to Alameda County voter registration records, the city's voter pool is almost 65 percent Democratic and only 4.2 percent Republican.
But Paul's message was about more than turning Democrats and Independents into Republicans, it was about issues he says Americans of every political stripe can relate to -- government spying.
"If you own a cellphone, you're under surveillance. I believe what you do on your cellphone is none of their damn business," Paul said.
That was one of several lines that brought applause from the audience and suggested why some find the senator so appealing.
"I really don't agree with either extreme to completely so I guess a moderate candidate," Cal student Jessica Evaristo said.
"I think that it's good to counter the notion that Berkeley is this liberal place and that's all we are," Cal ASUC Caitlin Quinn said.
Quinn should know as a senator of UC Berkeley's student body, she says different messages are important and the invitation extended to the junior senator from Kentucky to speak makes perfect sense.
"The government has reached too far in a lot of ways and that we're in a lot of wars that we shouldn't necessarily be in," Quinn said.
After his speech, the senator addressed the elephant in the room, his 2016 political ambitions and should he decide to run and when he would announce.
"I know it won't be before the elections in 2014 and from there I don't know because we haven't made a final decision," Paul said.
The overflow crowd meant that some Paul supporters were forced to wait outside, to catch a glimpse of the man they believe could change the face of the Republican Party.
The Chevron Auditorium was packed with more than 400 people. The only thing missing was demonstrators. The university known for protestors was quiet. It could be that they not only enjoyed messenger, but the message.(Photo by Garrett Ellwood/NBAE via Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS — A year ago at Vegas Summer League, the Raptors found a major steal in rookie Norman Powell, who they traded for after he was selected 46th by the Bucks in the NBA draft.
It only took two games in Vegas for the Raptors to sign him, and he went on to average 18.3 points on 50.9 percent shooting, leading the team to the No. 1 seed in the summer league tournament. Months later, he was given the rare chance for a second-round pick to start in the Eastern Conference semifinals, after averaging 15.3 points in April.
This past week in Vegas, Powell was at it again, averaging 19.8 points and solidifying the Raptors once again as the No. 1 seed. From mostly scoring last year as an off-the-ball guard, this summer the Raptors made him the team’s go-to facilitator and he excelled in more pick-and-roll play.
For how quickly Powell has ascended in just one year’s time, his playing days could have ended even faster. He nearly quit basketball when he was younger after his uncle, Raymond, passed away. Raymond was his basketball rock, and Powell decided to dedicate the game to him. He has a tattoo in his honor. But that’s not all Powell faced. He was constantly fighting through his family’s extreme poverty, which even meant sacrificing missing lunch at school so his mother, Sharon, could have some extra money.
This past weekend, Powell opened up to the NBPA on his incredible journey, how he’s risen from being an underdog his whole life, the different parts of his development, motivational one-on-one matchups with DeMar DeRozan and Jerry Stackhouse, and much more. His conversation with the NBPA is presented below in a first-person perspective and edited for clarity and length.
I play with a chip on my shoulder all the time.
That’s been instilled in me from the jump, never backing down, never accepting that you can’t do something. I saw my mom, Sharon, struggle with raising me as a single parent and my two older sisters.
There were many tough times: not having money for lunch, living with the lights cut off, getting kicked out of our houses, moving probably every month to the point where I had to live with my uncle, Raymond, in a one bedroom. There were six people in there; it was really tough. Seeing my mom struggle, she didn’t have money to get us things for school like back-to-school clothes. She struggled with paying bills.
I used to see my mom crying and just break down and depressed, because she didn’t know where the money was going to come from. So that was the toughest thing for me growing up. I was fortunate not being in some other situations where kids’ parents are doing drugs. But it was still tough financially and we were always moving, trying to save our money. My mom would give me money for lunch and I would put it back in her wallet. So I went to school without eating.
My uncle and I used to watch games with him holding a basketball around the house, and he really saw how much I loved the game of basketball. So he always took me to the gym working on my game, and really pushing me around. I couldn’t beat my uncle in basketball because I was so little, but he saw how much I wanted it and told me, “As long as you work hard for what you want, anything can happen.”
I really believed that, and that’s where that chip formed. I was always the underdog, I was overlooked and my uncle just said, “If you continue to work, continue to believe, your work is going to show and people will see that they made a mistake on you.” And that was all throughout high school, all throughout college and even now.
I owe it all to my mom. She deserves the world. #happymothersday A photo posted by Norman Powell (@normanpowell4) on May 8, 2016 at 10:40am PDT
I look back to last year and people were making a lot of knocks on my game, saying that I was too small, I couldn’t be a point guard/shooting guard while I was a 6’4″, and I couldn’t shoot. But it was weird to hear those things because the guys that I compare myself to are my height—Dwyane Wade and Russell Westbrook—and they’ve done really well in the league. I thought what I did at UCLA playing in different roles every year and excelling in every role showed the versatility in my game. So it was shocking to me that I fell in the draft.
Last year, Raptors assistant coach at the time Jesse Mermuys came to me where I was working out in Vancouver, showing me what I could do—having more freedom and not being locked into one role. And it just opened up everything in Vegas last year. Vegas is where I was able to play my game.
I was able to be that aggressive attacker downhill playing in pick-and-rolls and getting into my midrange game. I think that really opened everybody’s eyes because they were saying that I probably wouldn’t be able to score, I’m not creative with the ball. But the floor’s open in the NBA and it really opens up one-on-one play. I was able to do that.
After only my second game in Vegas last year, my agent told me that the Raptors were going to sign me. I was excited, but I was still, like, “This is what I wanted, this is what was supposed to happen, so I’ve still got to go out there and play my game and show that everybody made the mistake.” So it was a great moment for me when that happened, but it just filled my fire even more.
Had to make it official. #MakeThemBelieve #NBARookie #HoopDreams #WeTheNorth A photo posted by Norman Powell (@normanpowell4) on Jul 15, 2015 at 6:16pm PDT
Phase 2: Developing Leadership and Point-Guard Skills
I never was really content with how last season went. I felt like I could’ve played better. I’m always looking at the next thing I need to achieve, even when I do have a good game. Most people are, like, “You did phenomenal for a second-round pick,” but I never pictured myself as a second-round pick. I felt I was a top-20 pick in the draft, and everything else was just trying to go out there and prove people wrong.
It was good for me to make a little noise last season, have people talking about you, but I still block all that out because there’s so much more for myself that I feel like I can achieve.
The whole reason why I came to Vegas this year was to work on things that the Raptors want me to improve upon—leading the young guys, keeping the energy up, talking to the team and getting them ready and adjusted. I’m talking to the young guys about what this season is going to look like, what they should expect and trying to lead by example.
I’m a real hard-working committed guy, so I’m coming in here not looking for rest or an excuse. I’m playing through everything—adversity, bad calls, whatever it is. It’s the same thing they’ve got to do. Mainly I’m a leader by example by just the work I put in, and people usually follow along with that. But now it’s working on being that vocal leader.
I tell them to stay at it. There are so many things going on in Vegas where you can get sidetracked. You’re trying to prove myself, but sometimes it’s not about playing. Being that good teammate, being that person who’s always in the gym working is really what the team sees and what coaches see. It’s just doing the right thing every single time, whether people are looking or not. If you continue to do the right things, you’re going to be able to run through that door and shock everybody.
With my game development, my focus is just making the right play. I’ve been doing a lot of film breakdown of different reads and options, and just looking to see where the defense is at and where the next option would be if something was taken away. I can score the ball and that’s what the coaches want me to do, but now it’s working on getting guys better—taking what the defense gives you, getting to your spots and making the right play.
On film, I’m watching Dwyane Wade, Russell Westbrook and Jimmy Butler on offense, and Tony Allen on defense. I watch those guys because they play like me with an aggressive mindset. I see where they’re looking at the mismatch or the breakdown defensively or offensively. I’m always pausing when Dwyane or Russell is coming off the pick-and-roll to see how they’re setting up their hesitation dribble to get to the basket, or whether D-Wade is cross screening to his step back.
Dwyane was one of my biggest idols—somebody I looked up to and really tried to model my game after with how he uses his body, his Eurostep move, his step throughs, his finishes. So I work on all types of finishes because being a 6’4″ guard with 7’0″ guys with 7’6″ wingspans, you’ve got to be able to finish around them and be as creative as possible.
I’m still trying to get the Dwyane Wade cross screen into a Eurostep finish with the opposite leg. He finishes with his left and extends it right. So that’s something that I’m really working on, and my floaters. Kyrie Irving is really good at that—going fast through a split, doing a Eurostep and then a floater over the defense.
Playing against Dwyane was really competitive in the Eastern Conference finals, and I was still in the, “Damn, I’m playing against Dwyane Wade phase.” I didn’t know how to approach him, but I wish I did. Hopefully I’ll be able to talk to him this year and I’ll pick his brain a little bit.
Special Impact of DeMar DeRozan, Kyle Lowry and Jerry Stackhouse
DeMar and Kyle have been really big for me. DeMar found out how much of a player that I looked up to him when I was in high school watching his highlight tapes. He’s always been talking to me, mentoring me, especially in games where he sat out. And Kyle, too. Kyle pulled me to the side and just told me to continue working and good things are going to happen. They’re always taking the team out for dinner, showing that they’re good mentors and role models.
DeMar has really taken me under his wing, and I’ve been able to pick his brain about different situations, especially with all the criticism that he and Kyle were going through about not being able to win. It’s how he deals with it and the way he looks at it—the pressures, the naysayers, the doubters. I think that my competitiveness and the way I go about it really gravitated to him. And he really gravitated to me because I see the same way he sees it of proving people wrong and working, and staying low key and doing the right thing.
When your vets got your back @kyle_lowry7 and JJ. #rookie #nextup #patienceis? A photo posted by Norman Powell (@normanpowell4) on Jan 5, 2016 at 12:19pm PST
I’ve played a little bit of one-on-one with DeMar. It’s a lot of fun. He’s so crafty, so skilled in that low-post area, using his body, using his shot fakes. That’s the next part of my game—the shot fakes in that area, and using my body and footwork to get to where I need to get to. One time, we were playing one-on-one and he’s killing me. But then there’s this one spot on the left block where I hit like five straight midrangers in a row in face-up opportunities. He’ll say that he wasn’t playing hard, but I definitely got him.
I’ve also battled with Raptors assistant coach Jerry Stackhouse. Every day last year in practice me and him played one-on-one early before practice and after. Stack always talked about how he saw a lot of him in me and he was telling me to be competitive, not taking anything from anybody, never backing down, really fighting and competing. He liked that I was just hungry for competition and wanted to be best.
There’s a lot of trash talk going on, but he’s definitely talking to me and letting me know where improvement can be made with my post game and even in post defense—where to guard and how to take away what your opponent wants to do. He was a great low-post player, so he knows that area really well and he’s always helping me, teaching me to improve on both sides of the ball in that area.
It’s been fun because I always joke with Stack. Before, I used to not like Stackhouse. I respected his game, he was really good, but he always used to beat up on my Lakers. So I always used to hate him because he killed my Lakers. But it’s been good to have somebody who’s so involved with basketball and have such an impact on the game just help you mold as a player.
Lasting Impression
There was a time I thought about giving up basketball.
When Raymond passed away when I was in high school, I didn’t know what to do without him out there on the court. He was a huge male role model, father figure in my life. He was the first one who saw me have all the love and passion that I have for the game.
So I really started to dedicate everything I do not only for myself and my family, but for him to make him proud. There’s a lot that goes into this that’s more than just basketball for me. I have a tattoo on my left shoulder dedicated to him, which has two hands holding a basketball with the words “Raymond Edwards RIP.”
It was a really tough time for me, but I’m playing basketball for him. I know he’s looking down at me, proud of me, watching over me.
With him and my family in mind, I’m really big on giving back to my community. I’m actually putting on my first camp on August 6, and it’s free for everybody in San Diego. And I’m starting up my own AAU travel ball team, NP4 Elite. I have an eight-and-under team and a 13-and-under team right now, so I’m working on next year getting the elite high school team set up.
Whose coming out to my First Annual Norman Powell Basketball Camp."Understand The Grind" August 6th. Make sure you sign up link is in my bio. The camp is Free and the link is in my Bio Spots are limited. Sign up ASAP. #UTG A photo posted by Norman Powell (@normanpowell4) on Jul 15, 2016 at 1:02pm PDT
Giving back is something that my uncle taught me—it’s great to be selfless. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for the people who supported me in my life, so giving other people the same opportunity is what I do. Hopefully with my next contract, I’ll be able to set my family up where they don’t have to worry about anything.
On the court, the only one goal right now is to win a championship. I’m coming to be a key contributor to this team, and my main goal is to get back to the Eastern Conference finals and get another spot at winning the title being two games away. To see it come to an end, especially in your rookie season, it was hard for me.
Winning is the whole reason I’m doing this. It’s nothing for all the other things—MVP, Most Improved Player. That’s all great, but none of that matters if you don’t win a championship.*I want to thank everyone who pitches in with guest posts, so that I can finish this book, particularly younger son and right-hand-wench Kate Paulk.*
Three-Fifths of a Lie – Kate Paulk
We’ve all heard the people who wrote the Constitution of the United States dismissed with a flip comment about how much modern people can trust someone who thought blacks were worth three-fifths of a person. Seeing and hearing comments like that from people who damn well ought to know better, people who should have some grounding in what the Constitution means and the context (you know, historians, lawyers… people who have supposedly studied this stuff) really gets my back up because the truth is so freaking obvious and it’s all there. It’s not like anyone’s tried to cover this up.
Way back in the ancient history (well, not quite) that was the late 1700s, some of the states coming into the fledgling United States of America had legal slavery, both the indentured and chattel variety. Some did not. The people writing the Constitution included representatives from slave states and free states. All of them wanted to make sure their states had reasonable representation in the new government.
And they argued. They argued over everything. I’m sure there were duels almost fought over the placement of every dot on every i. Some of those arguments make no sense to us now, while others still resonate – and one of the biggest sources of contention was in how the states were to be represented in the new government.
A simple representative system wouldn’t work: the states with the biggest cities and highest populations would completely overwhelm the voices of the smaller and/or less populated states. Think New York City telling Alaskans (rural or urban) what was a reasonable amount of heating to use (only then it was more NYC telling the ass end of PA or telling NH what they should be doing). At the same time, allocating each state the same proportion of representation would allow the small, rural, thinly populated states to dictate terms to the big urban states.
They weren’t going to get agreement with either option – and they knew if they couldn’t come to some kind of agreement, there wouldn’t be a United States.
For the legislative branch, obviously, they went with the lower house being the purely population based one, and the upper having equal representation per state.
For the Presidency (and back then, the Vice President’s office as well), what ultimately emerged was something I grew up with in Australia: to win, the President needs to win a majority of votes in a majority of states – it’s not phrased quite that way, but that’s how the Electoral College works out, made a little less obvious by the way each state has its allocation set according to the state population. The basic idea to ensure that anyone elected to the Presidency had a reasonably broad appeal.
Which led to a rather thorny problem and what I’ve been known to euphemistically describe as animated discussion.
To determine how many Electoral College votes each state could cast, a census was going to be used. But in the slave states, there were more slaves than free Americans, and while free men could potentially become voters, that wasn’t going to happen for slaves. This meant that if every person was counted, the slave states would have a disproportionate influence over the nation.
But, if the census only counted free people, the slave states would walk away from the union, something all the delegates at that first Constitutional Convention knew couldn’t be allowed to happen, no matter how distasteful the compromises they’d need would be. If the slave states walked, the free states wouldn’t be strong enough to protect themselves against the British Empire (and neither would the slave states).
What to do? If the delegates had gone with the more enlightened modern perspective certain people on the Intertubes seem to think they should have taken and counted everyone, the slave states would have dominated Congress, the Senate, and the Presidency. It’s likely that slavery wouldn’t have gone away until mechanical cotton harvesting became a thing – and became cheaper than housing and feeding slaves.
If they’d refused to count slaves towards how many electoral districts and how many Electoral College votes the slave states had, the union would have failed.
Instead, they went for the three |
, regardless of which platform you’re playing on.
Enchanting narrative
One of the more novel concepts behind Dragon’s Crown is the constant narration by an unseen character as you navigate through the story. The tutorial opens up with a character of your choice being accompanied by a thief named Rannie, all while that mystical voice offers a bit of insight on why you two are travelling together. From then on, your character travels through a tale of rising from a lowly adventurer taking the odd job from the adventurer’s guild or assisting with recovering an artifact for the castle royalty up to searching out the game’s mythical namesake, the dragon’s crown. The main story bears many similarities to a Dungeons & Dragons campaign, so pen-and-paper players can get in and enjoy the story, perhaps even drawing inspiration for a future campaign.
All of the levels in Dragon’s Crown offer a surprising bit of content just waiting to be discovered. Hidden rooms, occasionally hinted at by the narrator, lead to all kinds of extra treasure or runes to cast. In addition, every stage offers two path each one leading to a different boss and taking the story in different directions. While these second paths are initially locked off until later on in the story, taking the long way can lead to some really crazy encounters.
In addition to the soothing voices of the nameless narrator are additional voices available later on. For a meager one million gold, players can acquire a change in narration to Lucain the wizard once they’ve completed the game, or six more voices for each of the playable characters for free during a month-long promotion when Dragon’s Crown is released.
All the loot you can hold
Bearing similarities to the Diablo series, Dragon’s Crown features a great deal of persistent loot available for the taking. Random prefixes and suffixes exist for any of the equipment available for your characters (weapon, belt, mantle, gauntlet, boots, et cetera). These prefixes only apply to the first perk on a given item, so a wyrmsbane belt might give a damage reduction from draconic foes but bolster up to five other random attributes given the item’s rank. Dragon’s Crown throws piles of treasure at the player in every dungeon, so it won’t take long to find the right setup for those extended journeys.
Taking the long road
Dragon’s Crown offers no shortage of content for the player, be it through local play or shooting for the online multiplayer once they finish the game. For those that are already giddy about getting their hands on the preorder art book, there’s a bevvy of in-game imagery unlockable from performing various tasks and quests for the adventurer’s guild. Over fifty pieces of guest animation and artwork fill the roster with more unlockable by completing the game with each class.
There’s also an added dungeon known as the Labyrinth of Chaos. With the first nine floors of the labyrinth teeming with challenges, players will venture forth a completely random assortment of stages and bosses on each floor in hopes of acquiring some pretty amazing loot. What exists beyond those first few floors? You’ll just have to play on and find out!From Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia.
This article is about an episode of the Pokémon anime that has not yet aired anywhere in the world. As such, it is a reflection of what is currently known about the episode, rather than coverage of the episode as a whole.
ゆれる島の戦い！ドジョッチVSナマズン！！ Shaking Island Battle! Dojoach VS Namazun!! First broadcast Japan Unaired United States Unaired English themes Opening N/A Ending Japanese themes Opening チャレンジャー!! Ending GLORY DAY 〜輝くその日〜 Credits Animation Team Ota Screenplay 大橋志吉 Yukiyoshi Ōhashi Storyboard 秦義人 Yoshito Hata Assistant director 大町繁 Shigeru Ōmachi Animation director たけだゆうさく Yūsaku Takeda No additional credits are available at this time.
(Japanese: ゆれる島の戦い！ドジョッチVSナマズン！！ Shaking Island Battle! Dojoach VS Namazun!!) was intended to be the 101st episode of the Advanced Generation series, and the 375th episode of the Pokémon anime. It was set to air in Japan on November 4, 2004. The episode was skipped in Japan due to strong earthquakes in Niigata prefecture nearly a week before the first airing of AG100. It was also subsequently skipped in the English-language broadcasts, and has never aired in any other country as well. Also, the move Earthquake, alongside similar moves such as Fissure and Magnitude, have not been used in the anime since this event.
Plot
Ash Ketchum finishes the Mossdeep City Gym and his next goal is the final Gym at Sootopolis City. Ash and his friends journey toward Jojo Island on the way and are caught in an earthquake caused by a Whiscash. They then meet a Pokémon Trainer named Chōta and start a Whiscash extermination there.
Major events
Debuts
Pokémon debuts
Characters
Humans
Ash
May
Brock
Max
Jessie
James
Chōta
Pokémon
Trivia
This was the only Advanced Generation series episode to be banned in every country, the second episode of the entire Pokémon anime series as a whole to be banned in every country, the first being EP038, and the first regular episode of the entire Pokémon anime series to never be aired at all. Two later episodes were also cancelled just before airing because of an earthquake.
series episode to be banned in every country, the second episode of the entire Pokémon anime series as a whole to be banned in every country, the first being EP038, and the first regular episode of the entire Pokémon anime series to never be aired at all.Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Tube trains are tested near the village of Old Dalby, Leicestershire
London's underground Tube trains are one of the capital's best-known symbols. And yet, the flash-by streaks of red, white and blue can be found in unexpected places up and down England. BBC News Online finds why Tubes are in such high demand.
From its iconic map to its crisp passenger announcements such as "mind the gap", the Tube train is indelibly associated with London.
So, to find one rushing past grazing sheep and wooded hillsides in the heart of rural Leicestershire comes as something of a surprise.
Image copyright Transport for London Image caption S Stock Tubes for the Metropolitan, Circle, Hammersmith & City and District lines are tested in rural Leicestershire
Especially because they are on the route of the old Midland Railway link between Nottingham and Kettering, which closed in the 1960s.
But, a 2.8 mile (4.5 km) stretch of the line, near the village of Old Dalby, is now used as a test track for Network Rail, which leases it to London Underground.
"We test the trains at Old Dalby because the Tube network is used 20 hours a day for passenger service, so we need to be able to test trains off site so that we're not disrupting passenger services," said a London Underground spokesman.
Image copyright Bombardier Image caption Bombardier builds Tubes at its site in Derby and the stock is tested in Leicestershire, before travelling to London
The new S - or sub-surface - stock Tubes, which are manufactured by Bombardier, in Derby, undergo a minimum of 500km (310 miles) of testing before being delivered to the transport network.
"The new trains will... serve the Metropolitan, Circle and Hammersmith & City lines and are being rolled out on the District," added Transport for London.
In which other unusual locations can Tubes be found?
On top of a building
Image copyright Village Underground Image caption The Tubes on top of a Great Eastern Street warehouse are used as a not-for-profit "cultural space"
London itself can hardly be described as an unexpected place to spot a Tube.
But four carriages sitting on top of a 10m (33ft) high Victorian warehouse is not something you come across every day.
The venue, in Great Eastern Street, Shoreditch, is run as a not-for-profit "cultural space" by Village Underground, an arts centre.
"We basically run a venue which is located under the trains," said office manager Amelie Snyers.
"We rent out the trains to various people - start ups, designers, freelancers etc."
Image copyright Village Underground Image caption The "upcycled" Tubes are rented out to artists and designers by Village Underground, an arts centre
She said the venue's founder, Auro Foxcroft, came up with the idea of using the trains because he wanted to build "something as sustainable and eco-friendly as possible which is why he ended up upcycling old Tube carriages."
On an island
Image copyright Dave Harrison Image caption The Tube cars on the Isle of Wight travel 700m (2,300 ft) across water, carrying passengers from the pier to Shanklin
If you are used to dashing down a lengthy escalator to catch the next train to Marble Arch, you might be a little surprised to find London Tubes skimming around the more leisurely environs of the Isle of Wight.
But holidaymakers are accustomed to catching the re-commissioned rail links from the pier at Ryde to the seaside resort of Shanklin.
Andy Naylor, head of Island Line's customer experience, said 10 former Northern Line cars, dating from 1938, were bought after flooding in a tunnel meant the track-bed had to be raised.
"The Tube cars were the only stock that would fit through the tunnel," he said.
Image copyright Brian Harrison Image caption Island Line Trains say their Tubes are the oldest non-heritage stock still in regular service
Today, Mr Naylor says the Tubes are the oldest non-heritage stock in Britain still in regular service.
The carriages have been fitted with a standard wheel set, to enable them to operate away from the Underground network, but are painted in their original livery.
"They are one of those quirky things people come to the island to see," Mr Naylor said. "But people also use them every day to get to work and school. About one million people a year travel on the service."
The Isle of Wight link is not the only offshore network to employ ex-Tube stock.
Former Tube trains can also be found on the channel island of Alderney.
There, volunteers have restored a former quarry line to make a pleasure railway for tourists.
"I think the Isle of Wight went for them because they were fairly easy to get across there, whereas we went for them because they are practical for us," said Tony Le Blanc, chairman of the Alderney Railway Society.
Image copyright Christine Le Blanc Image caption People are "surprised" to see the Isle of Alderney's Tube cars, which are pulled by a diesel locomotive
"The Tubes are light and only need small platforms. We have a 1949 diesel locomotive called Elizabeth and she chugs up and down, pulling the cars behind her.
"People are very much surprised to see them. They think it's really quirky. They can travel from the middle of the island down to the sea to explore the lighthouse.
"We get a lot of French visitors and I tell them the Northern line doesn't end at Morden - it actually ends in Alderney. You get a few of them who believe me."
As a film-set
Image copyright Walthamstow Pumphouse Museum Image caption The Walthamstow Pumphouse Museum says it gets film crews in "all the time"
Tube trains make popular film sets.
As Lindsay Collier, who founded the Walthamstow Pumphouse Museum says: "It's very difficult to film in an Underground car on the Tube, so we get film-makers in all the time.
"They come because it's quite reasonably priced and it's safe - you're not anywhere near live rails. The film-makers put up blue screens outside the windows so it appears as if the car is moving."
The museum has a decommissioned 1968 model Victoria Line Underground railway carriage and Mr Collier hopes to build a replica Tube platform for it next year.
Image copyright Underground Basement Galley Image caption The car has another use - as a "supper club" destination for Londoners
The car also doubles as a part-time restaurant, being used by an organisation called Underground Basement Galley for a monthly supper club.
Alex Cooper, managing director of the company, said people like eating and socialising in the Tube because it seems opposed to normal Tube etiquette.
Image copyright Underground Basement Galley Image caption The company that organises the supper club says it is novel for people to talk and socialise on the Tube
"Normally when you go on a Tube, eating is frowned upon and people don't really talk to each other," he said.
"At our supper club, we encourage complete strangers to sit next to each other and engage with each other. As a result, we've had people start business deals and one couple even got married after meeting that way."
The Vintage Carriages Trust, based at Ingrow, near Keighley, also has two Metropolitan line carriages from 1919 and 1924 that are frequently used in films and TV shows, including the Woman in Black and the BBC's North and South.
Image copyright Vintage Carriages Trust Image caption The BBC's North and South was one of several productions to use the heritage Tubes at the Vintage Carriages Trust, near Keighley
"Our carriages aren't necessarily what may spring to mind for many people when they think of Tube trains," said Jackie Cope, the trust's treasurer.
"The carriages are wooden and date from the days when the Underground was steam-hauled."
On a farm
Image copyright Mangapps Railway Museum Image caption The Mangapps Railway Museum, based on a farm in Essex, says its three Tube cars are popular with visitors
There are three Tube carriages in the middle of a farm in rural Essex - but this is the home of the Mangapps Railway Museum.
Managing partner John Jolly and his team look after the coaches, two from 1959 Northern stock and one a 1938 District line car.
The coaches, currently non-operational, form part of an exhibition at the museum about London Tubes.
"There aren't many places you can see old London underground trains," said Mr Jolly. "Railway preservation is usually centred around steam railways.
"I think there are two main reasons why they are so popular. The first is that so many people have travelled on the Tube. It was the first and, for a long time, the largest urban rail transport network in the world.
"The second is that it's one of those icons - like the London bus - that people associate with London."Your browser does not support HTML5 video tag.Click here to view original GIF
Military researchers at DARPA have been developing ammunition which can change its path in mid-air to ensure it always hits its target. Now, it can even correct itself mid-flight to hit a moving target.
The Department’s Extreme Accuracy Tasked Ordnance (EXACTO) is a.50 caliber bullet that maneuvers itself as it travels through the air. It’s far from clear how it works—“the system combines a maneuverable bullet and a real-time guidance system to track and deliver the projectile to the target,” says DARPA—but it’s now effective enough to swerve and dive to hit a moving target.
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In a video released by DARPA, a trained sniper uses the system to reliably hit a target that starts moving once the shot is taken. But, unnervingly, it also manages to hit the spot when an untrained user of the sniper rifle takes a shot. The Department claims that it’ll “improve sniper effectiveness and enhance troop safety by allowing greater shooter standoff range and reduction in target engagement timelines.” We just hope it stays firmly in the battlefield, given how effective it is in the hands of the untrained. [DARPA via The Verge]In some people's minds, Google's Larry Page just committed the cardinal sin: He offended Wall Street.
Wall Street has reacted to the first quarter in the Page regime by tossing the stock overboard. Larry Page is spending way too much, Wall Street says. Larry Page isn't communicating well enough. Larry Page couldn't even be bothered to spend more than a couple of minutes on the earnings call with Wall Street last night. So to hell with him!
Lost under the outrage, of course, is that Larry Page may be doing exactly the right thing: Focusing on Google and Google's products and users, instead of Wall Street.
Wall Street loves to be made to feel that there is nothing that matters more to a CEO than Wall Street. But Wall Street's focus is relentlessly short-term: Wall Street cares about this quarter and next quarter, not the next 10 years. And although short-term performance certainly provides an indication about where a company is headed, for the long-term value of the company itself, it's nearly irrelevant.
If Google is to wrest back the mantle of innovation leadership from Apple and Facebook, it needs to focus on the long term. It needs to revitalize the culture of innovation that defined the company in the beginning. It needs to make big, bold bets that cost a lot of money. And it needs to address its biggest weaknesses. In short, it needs to do exactly what Larry Page and Sergey Brin said Google would do when it went public seven years go: Focus on the long-term, not the short term, and make decisions that won't make short-term investors happy.
Doing what Google needs to do to be a fast-growing dominant company in five years means sacrificing some of the bottom line this year and next (and maybe forever). It also means spending less time kowtowing to Wall Street and more time focusing on products and users.
In his first few weeks on the job, Larry Page is doing exactly that. And if Wall Street doesn't like it, whatever.
It's true! I don't give a damn about what Wall Street thinks. And now look at me! AP There's a great precedent for doing what Larry Page is doing, by the way. A little commerce company up in Seattle called Amazon.com.
For years, Jeff Bezos ran Amazon with little or no regard for Wall Street. He made big bold bets, and he sacrificed the short-term bottom line. He said he was focused on building for the long-term, and he wasted almost no time sucking up to Wall Street. And he said explicitly, if you care about the short-term, then don't buy our stock.
For years, Wall Street hated Amazon, and the stock moved sideways. Then, gradually, Bezos's long-term bets began to pay off and Wall Street figured out that Bezos actually knew what he was doing. And now Amazon's dominating its industry again, and its stock price has gone to the moon.
Investors are right to be concerned that Larry Page may not actually have a clear vision for Google and may lack discipline. In the past, Larry has championed projects like wind power and self-driving cars that there's no conceivable reason for Google to be pursuing. If Larry continues to pursue these pet projects, and refuses to articulate a clear long-term vision for the main business, then Wall Street may be smart to head for the hills.
But, otherwise, those who want to invest in Google for the long-term, shouldn't be shaking their heads at Larry's behavior. They should be applauding it. Contrary to what Wall Street thinks, Wall Street is often a terrible influence on companies, and some of the best managers in the world (Buffett, Bezos), pretty much ignore it.Jonas Gutierrez left Newcastle United in May 2015 after seven years at St James' Park
Midfielder Jonas Gutierrez was dropped by Newcastle United because of his cancer diagnosis, an employment tribunal has found.
The 32-year-old was suing the Magpies for about £2m on the grounds of disability discrimination.
The tribunal also ruled the club made it impossible for Gutierrez to trigger an appearance-based contract extension.
Newcastle say they are "dismayed" by the judgement and are considering further options with their legal team.
Gutierrez's barrister Martin Budworth said: "The tribunal has made it clear that a Premier League football club owes the same duties to a disabled person as any other employer."
Claims of unfavourable treatment and another of harassment related to disability were dismissed.
A further remedy hearing will be held in due course, in which compensation will be addressed.
Although Gutierrez has not released a statement, he did post on social media, saying: "Always in my heart Geordie nation. I love you."
Gutierrez's claims
Gutierrez, who joined Newcastle from Real Mallorca in 2008, was diagnosed with testicular cancer in October 2013.
He had been a regular at St James' Park before that time, scoring 10 goals in 177 appearances at the time of the return of the illness and subsequent treatment.
The Argentina international sued Newcastle over the way he was treated following his diagnosis and claimed the Premier League club saw him as a liability after he returned from treatment.
Gutierrez, now playing for Deportivo La Coruna in Spain, also alleged that he was not selected for some of the second half of the 2014-15 season, when the Magpies avoided relegation on the final day of the campaign, so the club would not trigger an automatic one-year contract extension.
The findings
Jonas Gutierrez was told he would not be part of first-team plans two weeks after his return from cancer
The tribunal found that Gutierrez was discriminated against following his diagnosis and subsequent return to fitness as it deemed he was considered part of the club's plans right up to the point of his absence.
The ruling stated:
Gutierrez "had maintained his place in the starting line-up without difficulty for five years."
"Just over two weeks after the claimant returned to the club in November 2013 following his diagnosis and treatment, and at a point when he was match fit and returning to action he was told that he no longer featured in the club's future plans. We conclude that the decision to drop the claimant was because of the claimant's cancer."
The tribunal also concluded that Gutierrez was not considered for selection following his return to fitness until he could not achieve the 80 Premier League starts required over the length of his four-year contract to trigger the extension.
As a result of his absence because of cancer, Gutierrez had only 121 games instead of 152 to earn his extended deal and the club had discriminated against him by failing to make reasonable adjustments.
The ruling stated:
"It was in essence more difficult for the claimant to achieve the required number of games because in the periods of time that he was not absent for treatment or rehabilitation he had to be more frequently selected as a proportion of the total number of games available than his non disabled counterparts. We conclude that this was a substantial (more than minor or trivial) disadvantage."
"Had the possibility of a triggering of the clause not been an issue then Mr Charnley [Newcastle managing director Lee] would not have needed to discuss it at all with Mr Carver [former manager John] and would not have needed to double check how close the claimant was to triggering the clause."
Claims of unfavourable treatment were rejected, as his move to Norwich City on loan in January 2014 was consensual.
A claim of harassment which related to Gutierrez training and playing with the under-21s was also dismissed as the tribunal ruled that many players, such as "Davide Santon, Siem de Jong and Gabriel Obertan" were required to do so to gain match fitness after injury.
The witnesses
Parts of John Carver's evidence were "vague" and "rejected"
Gutierrez was found to be a "credible and convincing witness".
Former Newcastle boss Alan Pardew "was able to deliver his evidence in a confident, convincing and articulate way".
However, "the detail of what was said was not necessarily as credible as the manner in which the evidence was delivered". Some of Pardew's evidence was deemed to be contradictory and "inconsistent".
Managing director Charnley's evidence was described as "evasive and lacking in credibility".
Parts of former Newcastle boss John Carver's evidence were "vague" and were "rejected".
Newcastle's unconvincing evidencePrime Minister Justin Trudeau will post a deficit of about $30 billion in his first budget next week, signalling he won’t unveil additional initiatives to kick-start the economy, government officials said.
The budget, to be released March 22 by Finance Minister Bill Morneau, will mainly comprise pledges made during and since last year’s election, two governmental officials said on condition they not be identified because the plans aren’t yet public.
A $30 billion deficit would be triple what Trudeau campaigned on. However it’s in line with an announcement last month that pegged the baseline deficit at roughly $18.4 billion, before $10.5 billion in campaign spending pledged for the fiscal year that starts April 1.
The cornerstone of Trudeau’s budget is expected to be the Canada Child Benefit, a new social program that would boost direct transfers to low-income families with children. It was a hallmark of the prime minister’s election campaign. He’s also expected to deliver billions in new infrastructure funding over the next four years, another campaign pledge.
In an interview this month, Trudeau ruled out significant new stimulus funds, citing in part the need to be careful as the country moves deeper into deficit. He and his team have consistently said the country needs investment, but even as oil and the currency dropped in his early weeks in power they have avoided framing it as a stimulus package.
“I don’t think we need massive stimulus,” Trudeau said in the March 2 interview. “What we need are smart investments that are going to help the economy and the families who need it in the short term while creating a path toward greater growth and greater prosperity in the longer term.”
A $30 billion deficit would be 1.5 per cent of gross domestic product. That’s a swing of 1.4 percentage points, from an expected deficit of 0.1 per cent of GDP in the current year. Since the end of World War II, there have been only four one- year expansionary fiscal swings of more than 1.4 percentage points of GDP.
Bloomberg NewsA week ago, I wrote an article discussing Trump and the belief that he was a better option for Republicans than 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, and that he could be molded into a better candidate. In part, that article was mostly for anti-Trump Republicans and their continued public distrust and dislike of Trump. A part of me would still like to believe that Trump can be molded into a better candidate, but the question of whether or not that is capable before it's too late is one that remains up in the air.
After writing that article, I had no idea that Trump would go on a tirade attacking the heritage of the judge presiding over the Trump University case. Growing up in Texas, where there is a large Hispanic population, and also recognizing that Hispanics are America's largest minority group, I couldn't help but become uncomfortable and concerned with some of Trump's statements and how they would likely be perceived — not just by Hispanics, but other minority groups as well. And to make matters worse, Trump is now saying that a Muslim judge could be potentially biased against him, too.
I would like to see nothing more than a Republican win the White House this November, but I have to seriously ask myself if Trump is capable of doing just that. I have attempted to remain hopeful and a part of me will continue do so, but Trump's antics make it impossible for any Republican — particularly a minority — to defend him, which can only mean bad things for the future of the GOP.
Let's take a trip down memory lane. If you recall, in 1964, then-Sen. Barry Goldwater of Arizona was the GOP nominee running against President Lyndon Johnson. Goldwater voted against the Voting Rights Act and was considered by most to be extreme. Goldwater famously said, "Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice" — and perhaps that is what Trump thinks. However, a fundamental question must be asked: Is liberty really being attacked?
Of course, there are many differences from Trump and Goldwater. Trump is concerned more about style and Goldwater was consciously concerned about policy and the identity of conservatism. However, there is one eerie similarity, and that is the complete alienation of minority voters. Goldwater's nomination led to the final massive switch of African-Americans to the Democratic Party and — just like that migration — it appears certain that the same will happen with the Hispanic community and could mean the complete inability of the Republican Party to compete within minority communities.
A party that has struggled with garnering the African-American vote since Goldwater's failed attempt at the presidency now risks repeating history with the Hispanic community — and if that occurs, one has to ask, what does that mean for the Republican Party and its ability to compete for the minority vote? I think the answer is simple: It will become extremely difficult for any Republican to court the Hispanic vote if Trump doesn't change his tone. He must not only do it for his candidacy, but it must also be done for the future of the Republican Party. This is a fight that we cannot lose and we must be careful not to allow history to repeat itself.
Singleton is a Republican political consultant who has worked on Newt Gingrich's and Mitt Romney's presidential campaigns, and most recently, Dr. Ben Carson's. He is currently the communications director for Carson and appears weekly on "NewsOne Now with Roland Martin" on TV One. Follow him on Twitter @Shermichael_.DES MOINES — Sally Gaer has spent two years pressing Iowa lawmakers to change state laws to allow for treatment of epileptic seizures with cannabidiol, an oil extract of the marijuana plant.
Now, Gaer has joined a nationwide coalition that is making the same effort with federal lawmakers.
Gaer, a West Des Moines women whose daughter suffers from epilepsy, has joined a group of women meeting this week with members of Congress, including new U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis.
The group — the Coalition for Access Now — met with members of Congress Monday and Tuesday in Washington, D.C., They are attempting to generate support for legislation already introduced in Congress that would allow people to access cannabidiol by removing it from the definition of marijuana.
“They’re all very receptive,” Gaer said. “They’re all willing to listen to the stories.”
The bills being considered have 58 sponsors in the House and nine in the Senate, according to federal records online.
The group is scheduled to meet with Iowa’s two U.S. senators, Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst.
Ernst’s office said she still is considering the bill. A Grassley spokesman said because the bill essentially makes cannabidiol a dietary supplement not regulated by the federal Food and Drug Administration, Grassley “would likely not be in favor of it.”
Gaer and advocates like her want cannabidiol to be legal for use in treating epileptic seizures. Those who live in states with cannabidiol programs say the product is effective at reducing seizures.
One such testimony comes from Paige Figi, founder of Coalition for Access Now, whose young daughter has a serious form of epilepsy. Figi, who lives in Colorado, where cannabidiol is legal, as is recreational marijuana use, said her daughter’s seizures have been “all but resolved.”
“She came out of a hospice, end-of-life situation, and now she’s at school, she can ride a bike,” Figi said. “She has been a huge success story.”
Gaer’s efforts in Iowa in part led to a law that allows for possession of cannabidiol. But it does not allow for creation or distribution of the product in Iowa, and federal law prohibits the transfer of the drug across state lines.
Gaer continues to push for a broader law in Iowa and now is hoping for success at the federal level as well.
“I think there’s good, bipartisan support (for the federal legislation),” she said. “I think, at the end of the day, people really want to help those who are sick and suffering from epilepsy, especially children. Once the education piece is done, I think it can be done very quickly.”Decades of Delay
Questioning CIA Rationales Have the British Been Meddling with the FRUS Retrospective Volume on 1953? Foreign Office Worried over Very Embarrassing Revelations, Documents Show The United Kingdom sought to expunge "very embarrassing" information about its role in the 1953 coup in Iran from the official U.S. history of the period, British documents confirm. The Foreign Office feared that a planned State Department publication would undermine U.K. standing in Iran, according to declassified records posted on the National Security Archive's Web site today. The British censorship attempt happened in 1978, but London's concerns may play a role even today in holding up the State Department's long-awaited history - even though U.S. law required its publication years ago. The declassified documents, from the Foreign Office (Foreign and Commonwealth Office since 1968), shed light on a protracted controversy over crucial gaps in the State Department's authoritative Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) series. The blank spots on Iran involve the CIA- and MI6-backed plot to overthrow the country's prime minister, Mohammad Mosaddeq. Six decades after his ouster, some signs point to the CIA as the culprit for refusing to allow basic details about the event to be incorporated into the FRUS compilation.[1] Recently, the CIA has declassified a number of records relating to the 1953 coup, including a version of an internal history that specifically states the agency planned and helped implement the coup. (The National Security Archive obtained the documents through the U.S. Freedom of Information Act.) This suggests that ongoing CIA inflexibility over the FRUS volume is not so much a function of the agency's worries about its own role being exposed as a function of its desire to protect lingering British sensitivities about 1953 - especially regarding the activities of U.K. intelligence services. There is also evidence that State Department officials have been just as anxious to shield British interests over the years. Regardless of the reasons for this continued secrecy, an unfortunate consequence of withholding these materials is to guarantee that American (and world) public understanding of this pivotal episode will remain distorted. Another effect is to keep the issue alive in the political arena, where it is regularly exploited by circles in Iran opposed to constructive ties with the United States. Background on FRUS and the Mosaddeq Period By statute, the FRUS series is required to present "a thorough, accurate, and reliable documentary record" of American foreign policy.[2] That law came about partly as a consequence of the failure of the original volume covering the Mosaddeq period (published in 1989) to mention the U.S. role in his overthrow. The reaction of the scholarly community and interested public was outrage. Prominent historian Bruce Kuniholm, a former member of State's Policy Planning Staff, called the volume "a fraud."[3] The full story of the scandal has been detailed elsewhere,[4] but most observers blamed the omission on the intelligence community (IC) for refusing to open its relevant files. In fact, the IC was not alone. Senior Department officials joined in opposing requests for access to particular classified records by the Historical Advisory Committee (HAC), the group of independent scholars charged with advising the Department's own Office of the Historian.[5] The head of the HAC, Warren Cohen, resigned in protest in 1990 citing his inability to ensure the integrity of the FRUS series. Congress became involved and, in a display of bipartisanship that would be stunning today (Democratic Senator Daniel P. Moynihan getting Republican Jesse Helms to collaborate), lawmakers passed a bill to prevent similar historical distortions. As Cohen and others pointed out, while Moscow was disgorging its scandalous Cold War secrets, Washington was taking a distinctly Soviet approach to its own history.[6] By 1998, State's historians and the HAC had decided to produce a "retrospective" volume on the Iran coup that would help to correct the record. They planned other volumes to cover additional previously airbrushed covert activities (in Guatemala, the Congo, etc.). It was a promising step, yet 15 years later, while a couple of publications have materialized, several others have not - including the Iran volume.[7] Institutional Delays A review of the available minutes of HAC meetings makes it apparent that over the past decade multiple policy, bureaucratic, and logistical hurdles have interfered with progress. Some of these are routine, even inevitable - from the complications of multi-agency coordination to frequent personnel changes. Others are more specific to the realm of intelligence, notably a deep-seated uneasiness in parts of the CIA over the notion of unveiling putative secrets. In the Fall of 2001, an ominous development for the HO gave a sense of where much of the power lay in its relationship with the CIA. According to notes of a public HAC meeting in October 2001, the CIA, on instructions from the Director of Central Intelligence, decided unilaterally "that there could be no new business" regarding FRUS until the two sides signed an MOU. Agency officials said the document would address legitimate IC concerns; HAC members worried it would mainly boost CIA control over the series. The agency specifically held up action on four volumes to make its point, while HAC historians countered that the volumes were being "held hostage" and the HO was being forced to work "under the threat of 'blackmail'."[8] The CIA held firm and an agreement emerged in May 2002 that, at least from available information, appears to bend over backwards to give the IC extraordinary safeguards without offering much reassurance about key HO interests. For instance, the MOU states that the CIA must "meet HO's statutory requirement" - hardly something that seems necessary to spell out. At the same time, it allows the CIA to review materials not once, but again even after a manuscript has passed through formal declassification, and once more after it is otherwise in final form and ready for printing. In the context of the disputed Iran volume, HAC members worried about the "random" nature of these provisions which gave the agency "a second bite at the apple."[9] The implication is that the CIA will feel little obligation to help meet the HO's legal requirement if it believes its own "equities" are at stake. (This of course may still affect the Iran volume, currently scheduled for 2014 publication.) Is It the British? As mentioned, the CIA has begun to release documentation in recent years making explicit its connection to the Mosaddeq overthrow. Even earlier, by 2002, the State Department and CIA jointly began compiling an Iran retrospective volume. These are not signs of a |
't help it because that's their nature. And since you are a werewolf, you're more used to that. It's like walking while wearing high heels. It will be uncomfortable, but it will not harm your feet and you will get used to it as you continue walking this way.
{"smallUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/3\/3b\/Make-People-Think-You-are-a-Werewolf-Step-4.jpg\/v4-460px-Make-People-Think-You-are-a-Werewolf-Step-4.jpg","bigUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/3\/3b\/Make-People-Think-You-are-a-Werewolf-Step-4.jpg\/v4-760px-Make-People-Think-You-are-a-Werewolf-Step-4.jpg","smallWidth":460,"smallHeight":345,"bigWidth":760,"bigHeight":570} 4 Practice three different stares. Werewolves can look menacing and outright scary if they're angry. Practice putting on several different stares to perfect the impersonation. One for your enemies. Make it deep and aggressive. Look straight into their eyes and charge around them. Smile at them with your mouth open. When wolves do that, it's a sign of challenge.
The other one for your prey. Charge around your prey while observing very slight movement they make. Even if they move their feet a bit or just their finger. Spot it and make that clear. (Do not try smiling with your mouth open with this, since there is not going to be an equal fight. I don't mean that you are going to fight your prey or attack it, but that's how wolves are.)
Last one, for interesting people and friends. Try to make it friendly and playful. Wolves are very playful with their friends. Werewolves can look menacing and outright scary if they're angry. Practice putting on several different stares to perfect the impersonation.
{"smallUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/0\/05\/Make-People-Think-You-are-a-Werewolf-Step-5.jpg\/v4-460px-Make-People-Think-You-are-a-Werewolf-Step-5.jpg","bigUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/0\/05\/Make-People-Think-You-are-a-Werewolf-Step-5.jpg\/v4-760px-Make-People-Think-You-are-a-Werewolf-Step-5.jpg","smallWidth":460,"smallHeight":345,"bigWidth":760,"bigHeight":570} 5 Target someone who loves wolves or is very connected with animals. If there is no one like that, target your best friend. Creep around in places they are and stalk them, but don't scare them! Think that you are a wolf and you are their protector. Keep a close eye on them and make eye contact. In the beginning, they might be scared a little bit if they don't know you. But prove to them that you are a friend and make them feel safe around you.You can tell something about Louisiana's flair for the flavorful just by looking at our calendar. There are more than four seasons in Louisiana, and every one of offers a tasty surprise that welcomes visitors year-round. Discover when seafood is in season in Louisiana to discovering some extra seasons you never knew existed - #OnlyLouisiana! From crawfish season to Mardi Gras season, you might just love them all! Share or pin this infographic with share buttons to the left of this page.
Seasons of Louisiana
Crawfish Season in Louisiana
The crawfish are abundant in Louisiana late winter through early spring. Whether you are a purist and like to boil them or whether your taste buds are more decadent and prefer a crawfish Étouffée, either way, these crustaceans are delicious and served up by the pound. Learn how to eat crawfish and get the crawfish boil recipe.
Where to find it: Ponchatoulas in Ruston, Crawfish House and Grill in Opelousas, Rocky's Cajun Kitchen in Eunice and so, so, so many places in between.
Crab Season in Louisiana
Louisiana blue crabs are a quite the delicacy and can be found late spring through early fall. Found in dishes ranging from crab dip appetizers to crab and shrimp gumbo, Louisiana blue crab are a sweet, succulent treat. Get the recipe for Creole Crab Dip.
Where to find it: Seafood Connection in New Iberia, Juban's in Baton Rouge, the Seafood Palace in Lake Charles are just a sampling.
Shrimp Season in Louisiana
Brown shrimp are readily available May through July and white shrimp are available April through December. Ensure you check the label when you purchase shrimp to ensure you are getting Louisiana caught or domestic shrimp which are tested ensuring the quality and safety of the shrimp. Shrimp can be found in much of Louisiana cooking from breakfast to dinner. Get the recipe for Louisiana Barbequed Shrimp.
Where to find it: Roberto's River Road restaurant in Sunshine, Tony's Seafood Market & Deli in Baton Rouge, Charley G's in Lafayette and many more stops around the state.
Oyster Season in Louisiana
October through April is the prime season for these succulent, large Gulf Coast delicacies, however they are available year-round. Whether you prefer your oysters served freshly shucked with tabasco and lemon or you like to get fancy with Oysters Rockefeller, Louisiana will be your oyster heaven. Get the recipe for Holiday Duck and Oyster Gumbo.
Where to find it: Jefferson Parish Oyster Trail (yes, we have an entire area dedicated to Oysters!), Casamento's and Acme Oyster House in New Orleans
Mardi Gras Season in Louisiana
Every year the dates of Mardi Gras season vary so check your calendars because you do not want to miss the party! Across the entire state of Louisiana, everyone is celebrating—experience family-friendly parades on the Northshore to traditional Cajun celebrations called Courir de Gras where masked revelers take to horseback and ride through Eunice, Mamou and Iota, Louisiana. Learn more about Cajun Mardi Gras and check out New Orleans parade schedules.
Snoball Season in Louisiana
Snoballs are most popular in the summer. Similar to a snowcone, snoballs are perfect for a refreshing tasty treat. Where to find it: Cajun Sno in Lafayette, Hansen's Sno-Bliz in New Orleans, Frosty's Sno Shack in Bossier City and many places in between.
Tailgating Season in Louisiana
Tailgating (a.k.a Football Season) is a wonderful fall and winter activity full of excitement and incredible food! From the LSU Tigers to the New Orleans Saints, Louisiana supports their favorite teams with delicacies served up anywhere from the favorite neighborhood bar to the parking lot of Grambling State University's Eddie Robinson Stadium.
Where to find it: LSU Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, Joe Alliet Stadium in Ruston, Grambling State University's Eddie Robinson Stadium in Grambling, University of Louisiana at Lafayette's Cajun Field.
Learn more about Louisiana's diverse culinary scene with stories, food experiences, recipes and more.
And if you need extra trip-planning resources, then download the Official Inspiration Guide and let the planning begin!We're in the home stretch now!! We still have a lot of the "early bird" specials available, but there are only 15 opportunities left to pick up ALL FIVE covers at the $100 pledge level!
ALL FIVE COVERS
As a reminder, ALL FIVE COVERS are now included in all non-retailer pledge levels above $100 as well. (Once a level is pledged to, you cannot edit the details to add another item, but they ARE included).
Pledge levels that include ALL FIVE covers :
$100 – all five covers, five bookplates, an original head sketch (of a character in the series) a set of art cards, a print pack, and all stretch rewards.
$125 - an original short story commission (approx. 1,000 words) by Tara Flynn, PLUS all five covers, five bookplates, an original head sketch (of a character in the series) a set of art cards, a print pack, and all stretch rewards.
$150 - a single character, torso, full color commission on sketch blank or 8x10 Bristol, PLUS all five covers, five bookplates, an original head sketch (of a character in the series) a set of art cards, a print pack, and all stretch rewards.
$250 - two character, torso, full color commission on sketch blank or 8x10 Bristol, PLUS all five covers, five bookplates, an original head sketch (of a character in the series) a set of art cards, a print pack, and all stretch rewards.
$300 - Be drawn into the book as a background character in issue #1, get a full color print of all pages you appear on, PLUS all five covers, five bookplates, an original head sketch (of a character in the series) a set of art cards, a print pack, and all stretch rewards.
$500 - An inked, 11x17 full cover quality commission, PLUS all five covers, five bookplates, an original head sketch (of a character in the series) a set of art cards, a print pack, and all stretch rewards.
And of course, the $5,000 level has TWO of each cover, as well as ALL of the original interior art and cover A for Issue #1, and a TON of extra goodies.
The bumper sticker and Elias Chatzoudis print have been added to ALL physical reward pledges of $10 or more!
In the near future, civilization has been rendered immortal due to a mutated food supplement. Human biology is frozen in time, and although society has been left impervious to aging and disease, the ability to heal from even the smallest of wounds has been lost.... in all but a few.
Set in and around Los Angeles, NEW AND IMPROVED follows Mallory and her 13- year-old daughter Charlie, whose exposure to a unique batch of the supplement has given them, and a small group of others, accelerated healing powers. After Charlie is captured for inhumane testing by the government agency who claims to be searching for a cure, the single mother must find a way to rescue her daughter while evading capture herself.
Pages 2 and 3
THE PROJECT
We are raising funds to produce issue #1 of NEW AND IMPROVED, a five issue horror/sci-fi mini-series.
If it's a five issue series, why not fund for the whole thing?
In short - we did it for you, the backers. By focusing this Kickstarter Campaign on producing Issue #1, we were able to involve a number of other talented artists, provide a variety of rewards, and get those rewards to you sooner.. Any money we earn over the original goal will be put towards finishing the rest of the series, in single issue and/or graphic novel format.
Page 5
TARA FLYNN (writer) - NEW AND IMPROVED is Tara's creator-owned debut, having worked mostly behind the scenes in the comic book industry for the last five years. After being introduced to Batman by the Tim Burton films, she created her own villain (The Bad Otter, the spawn of the Penguin and Catwoman) and spent the entire summer trying to drown people in the pool with her patented "Otter roll" kill move. Twenty-five years and hundreds of hours of therapy later, she has decided to write down her crazy story ideas and start bringing them to life.
ANTHONY SPAY (art) - One of the Bad Otter's victims, he quickly became her sidekick when they got married in October 2014. (Anthony: I am not the sidekick, she is the sidekick!) An MFA graduate of Savannah College of Art and Design, Anthony spent several years as the art director for Zenescope Entertainment before deciding to go freelance to focus on his art. In addition to his interior and cover work for Zenescope, he has worked on Warhammer 40k through Games Workshop/T-Pub, and has been an artist on numerous titles under Upper Deck's Legendary Marvel banner.
LEONARDO PACIAROTTI (colors) - Argentinian born, with Italian surnames, Leo grew up watching Superman (1978) and Batman (1989) until the day he was able to devote himself to the comics world professionally! Since then, he has worked with publishers such as DC Comics (Legends of Dark Knight, with Hank Kanalz), Boom Studios (Sirens, with George Perez) and is currently working for Zenescope and Aftershock as interior colorist. As a cover colorist, he has worked for Marvel and Image Comics (with Rob Liefeld) for different collections, as well as coloring posters for films (Terrordactyl) and posters for the Paris Opera Ballet.
JIM CAMPBELL (letters) - Jim Campbell is a professional comic-book letterer, one-time writer and occasional artist. He knows more about print production than mortal man was meant to know and has also scanned more images than you've had hot dinners. Unless you're ninety years old.
Additional covers and artwork provided by:
Pages 7 and 8
The Rewards sidebar lists everything that is included in each level, so be sure to read carefully when selecting your reward level.
Most levels combine all lower tier rewards, with the exception of the Homage Cover and Elite Cover, which are not included in the commission and appearance levels (due to their limited print run). A limited number of commissions will be available as add-ons through BackerKit, as will any remaining limited variants and all other reward items.
Logo and cover text subject to change.
Cover A by Anthony Spay
Cover B by Mike Capprotti
Cover C by Ariela Kristantina and Bryan Valenza
Homage Cover by John Burgin
Elite Cover by Ryan Kincaid
Series artist Anthony Spay will be offering a limited number of commissions through the Kickstarter campaign. Additional commissions may be available as an add-on through Backerkit after the campaign.
We are proud to partner with BackerKit!!
The first two levels have been unlocked!!!
CREDITS
Stock Media provided by SoundIdeasCom / Pond5
"News of Sorrow" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
"Nerves" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/SAN JOSE — Just how bad has crime gotten in San Jose? Once known as America’s Safest Big City, the capital of Silicon Valley has a higher crime rate than California or the United States as a whole, while the city’s police force is catching half as many criminals as it did just a few years ago.
That’s according to a new analysis by the city’s independent auditor, which also found the city was clearing a far lower percentage of crimes than the average U.S. city and had seen police response time for some emergency calls more than double in eight years.
The new data come as the six major candidates for mayor each jockey to make public safety their top priority heading into the wide-open June primary. And police Chief Larry Esquivel, sworn in last week, confronts a department with low morale as officers continue to flee for better-paying jobs elsewhere.
“What we’re seeing is the effect of 10 years of skyrocketing costs” for police officers, Mayor Chuck Reed said of the depleted force. “I believe it has an impact on the crime rate — I think we’re seeing that in the deterioration of services. We need more officers.”
Among the findings from auditor Sharon Winslow Erickson’s annual report:
San Jose’s major crimes rate was 35 percent below the U.S. and California averages a decade ago. But last year, it climbed to 3,278 major crimes per 100,000 residents, 3 percent above the California average and 1 percent above the U.S. average, and higher than Los Angeles and San Diego.
Police made about 17,000 arrests last year, down from roughly 36,000 in 2007.
Response times for Priority Two emergency calls, such as attempted rapes and gang disturbances, have shot up from 8.2 minutes in 2005 to more than 20 minutes in 2013.Trailer of Shahrukh Khan’s upcoming movie Raees was released today and it has already set the chatter going if it will be a hit or a flop and whether it will also see protests from some parties as it has a Pakistani actress named Mahira Khan in it.
While we will know about those things when the movie finally releases, the other aspect that is getting attention is the real life character, upon whose life the movie is based. And that character is underworld don Abdul Latif, who was as ferocious and dangerous as Dawood Ibrahim, though not as popular in common knowledge.
And the story of Latif is very interesting as it plays an important role in the decline of Congress and growth of BJP in Gujarat, the state from where the don hailed.
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Abdul Latif was born in Kalupur area of Ahmedabad in 1951 in a poor Muslim family. One of seven children of his father, he couldn’t get a decent upbringing and struggled to finish school. He was soon employed by his father at his shop, where he sold tobacco, but he started fighting with his father for more money. After getting into his 20s, he decided to go his own way.
To make quick money, he entered the world of illicit businesses and joined Allah Rakha, a bootlegger who also ran a gambling den. Latif was first employed at the gambling den. He then left Allah Rakha and joined a rival gambler, but parted ways with him too after being accused of theft.
He then became a bootlegger himself, and that’s where his journey into the world of crime, politics, and terrorism started. As a bootlegger, he established contacts and relationships with smugglers, criminals, policemen and politicians who helped and allowed this illegal business to flourish.
In the process of growing his clout and illicit business, Latif became involved in other crimes like extortion, kidnapping and even murders. He developed contacts in Pakistan too. He formed his own gang, and at one point of time in the early 80s, he was indulged in a gang-war against Dawood Ibrahim.
It is reported that Latif’s gang was almost exclusively made up of Muslim members only, which was not the case of other criminal gangs in those times. Perhaps he did it to cultivate a Robinhood type of image among poor Muslims – a community he was born in. And it worked. Latif could win in five municipal wards in local body elections of Ahmedabad in 1986-87. He was in jail at that time.
Although his political career was cut short as he was disqualified from the post, he could show that he commanded popular support among Muslims. As a result, he was increasingly used by politicians, especially those belonging to the Congress party, to win elections and to settle scores with political rivals. His proximity with the Congress party was evident as Hasan Lala, President of Gujarat Youth Congress in those times, was his childhood friend.
In the mid 80s, when anti-reservation protests (a prelude to anti-Mandal protests that India would see later) erupted in some parts of Gujarat, especially Ahmedabad, it is said that the then Congress government used Latif to target the protesters, which caused the anti-reservation protests to turn into communal riots. Many other communal skirmishes and riots in Ahmedabad saw active participation of Latif’s gang in this duration. Hindus of Gujarat, especially those in Ahmedabad, started looking for a saviour who would save them from Latif.
Meanwhile seeing the growing clout of Latif, even Dawood Ibrahim decided to make peace with him in the late 80s. In November 1989, Latif is reported to have received a message from Dawood for a meeting in Dubai. There, a maulana made both Dawood and Latif swear on the Holy Quran not to fight against each other and work as a team. And that was the beginning of Latif’s entry into the world of terrorism.
In August 1992, Ahmedabad saw AK-47s being used in a gang-war that left 9 people dead in Radhika Gymkhana. Latif’s gang members had gone there to kill one Hansraj Trivedi, but since they didn’t recognise him, they killed everyone. The orders to kill everyone came from Latif. The city was shocked at this naked display of terror.
In the following years, Latif became synonymous with crime and Islamic terrorism in Gujarat as he joined hands with Dawood, who by then had started planning the Mumbai blasts of 1993. Latif was also seen as the product of the policy of Muslim appeasement by the Congress party, which allowed such criminals to grow for petty political gains.
BJP made the arrest and downfall of Latif an election issue and it is said that it played a very vital role in the growth of the party in the state, especially in Ahmedabad.
In 1995, BJP formed its own government in Gujarat and the same year later Latif was arrested in Delhi following a two month long operation led by the Anti Terrorism Squad of Gujarat Police. Latif was lodged in Sabarmati Jail of Ahmedabad subsequently, and two years later, he was killed in an encounter when he tried to flee from the police custody.
The arrest and end of Latif’s terror was seen as a promise kept by the BJP and is seen as a major factor why BJP’s popularity and political power kept growing and Congress could never come back to power in Gujarat.
Now it is to be seen how Shah Rukh Khan’s upcoming movie Raees portrays Abdul Latif. Will he be portrayed as the communal gangster turned terrorist that he was, or will there be some whitewashing of his deeds?
(pieces of information in this article are sourced from the book “Dial D for Don” by former Commissioner of Delhi Police Neeraj Kumar)
Share This Post and Support:Kofi Annan's Syria plan near certain to fail as troops fire into Turkey and Bashar al-Assad demands rebels disarm first
International efforts to resolve the bloody crisis in Syria are mired in disarray and uncertainty in the face of violence spilling over into Turkey and the near certain failure to meet Tuesday's UN-imposed deadline for government troop withdrawals and a ceasefire.
Amid reports of new attacks and more than 100 dead, it was clear that the six-point plan of the UN-Arab League envoy to Syria, Kofi Annan, for breaking the deadlock had stalled because of the insistent demand by the president, Bashar al-Assad, for written guarantees that "armed groups" would first lay down their weapons, and their swift refusal to do so.
Turkey's deputy foreign minister, Naci Koru, said bluntly that the 6am morning deadline was now void.
Ankara also voiced concerns after Syrian forces fired across the border into a refugee camp near the town of Kilis in south-western Gaziantep province. It was the first such incident since Turkey began sheltering thousands of Syrians last summer and the latest to fuel international alarm about the escalating crisis.Washington expressed outrage, saying the Syrian government appeared to have little commitment to Annan's peace plan.
Mohammad Abdelqader, a refugee in the camp, told Reuters he had witnessed the shootings on Monday and that two Syrians had been killed and two more had been injured. Turkey is understood to have immediately protested.
Turkey's foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, has briefed the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, and Annan on the refugee issue, and Annan is to visit the border on Tuesday. Two prominent US senators, John McCain and Joe Lieberman, are also expected to visit the camps.
Analysts suggested that having apparently missed one deadline for a withdrawal and ceasefire, it will not be easy for Annan to set another given the profound lack of trust between the Syrian parties. Speculation is rife about a Turkish plan B, perhaps involving the setting-up of a border buffer zone.
According to the UN, 9,000 people have been killed in Syria over the past 13 months. Reports from local activists said 60 people had been killed across the country on Sunday. On Monday activists said a further 30 people, including 17 children, had been killed by security forces during the bombardment of the central town of Latmana. The Syrian Revolution General Commission later reported 30 dead in the shelling of Tel Rafat in the Aleppo area. The local co-ordination committees gave an overall death toll of 104 dead. None of these could be independently verified.
Lebanon's al-Jadeed television channel said one of its cameramen, Ali Shaaban, had been shot dead near the border between the two countries.
Syrian troops fired about 40 rounds across the border into northern Lebanon, killing Shaaban, Associated Press reported. "If you see the car, you would think it was in a war zone," Shaaban's colleague, Hussein Khreis, told the station.
The effective collapse of the Annan plan, sponsored by the Arab League as well as by the UN, means that western and Arab governments are likely to seek to go back to the UN security council, though there is no sign that Russia and China will reverse their opposition to censuring or sanctioning the Assad regime. In February both vetoed a security council resolution on Syria. China did call on both the Syrian government and the opposition to comply with the Annan plan "to alleviate the current tense situation and facilitate humanitarian assistance", and "promote a political solution to the conflict".
The appeal from Beijing came as Syria's foreign minister, Walid al-Muallem, flew to Moscow for emergency talks on the crisis with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov.
Syrian state media insisted on Monday that the Assad government stood by its commitment to the Annan plan and blamed "armed groups" for failing to provide written guarantees that they would stop fighting before regime forces withdrew from cities.
The foreign ministry said: "Annan has not offered written guarantees to the Syrian government that the armed groups agreed to stop violence, nor has he offered guarantees that Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey will commit to stop funding and arming terrorist groups."
Syrian opposition spokesmen said that Assad's demand for such guarantees was a ploy designed to buy time.
Scepticism about Assad's readiness to implement Annan's plan was widespread from the start, but the western governments who dominate the Friends of Syria group insisted it was the "only game in town", given Russian support for Assad and the lack of appetite for outside intervention after Nato's controversial role in Libya last year.
The regime's response suggested it was seeking an outright rebel surrender rather than a truce as a prelude to "Syrian-led" negotiations about future political arrangements. Many Syrian opposition activists and foreign analysts had argued that Assad could not implement the plan because it would trigger massive demonstrations that he would be unable to contain.
Human Rights Watch, meanwhile, said in a report that Syrian security forces had summarily executed more than 100 civilians and wounded or captured opposition fighters during recent attacks on cities and towns. Many of the incidents took place in March this year.
In the cases documented by the organisation, at least 85 victims were Syrians who did not take part in fighting, including women and children. The report describes in detail several cases of mass executions of civilians, including the killing of at least 13 men in a mosque in Idlib on 11 March, the execution of at least 25 men during a search-and-arrest operation in Homs on 3 March, and the killing of at least 47 people, mainly women and children, in three neighbourhoods of Homs on 11 and 12 March.Note: some of the following images have been resized and/or cropped for blog purposes.
"Appearance: Lean, athletic build, modest bust, tanned olive complexion, short and messy dark blond hair, greenish gold eyes. Tends to wear clothes that would be considered too cold for current weather. Always seen wearing restraint mask(think Hannibal Lecter)"
That right there is an excerpt from my character proposal for Lena Forst, written up all the way back in mid-January. Lena was the most developed of my proposed characters(more on that in a later blog post), so I had a pretty good idea what she should look like.
image by imperial.standard
Based on my description, however poorly articulated, imperial.standard pretty much nailed it right away with his concept art. There were some alternative mask designs that were proposed, but in the end, we stuck with something Lecter-inspired. (For more information on the origins of the original SOTL mask, click here.
With the basic design out of the way, we set about pairing prospective sprite artists with characters. Each artist would do test sketches of the girls, and would be assigned characters based on the results. Seemed simple enough; the writers knew what their girls were supposed to look like, so it was just a test to see which artist was best for the job. What I didn't realize was that opening Lena up for try-outs resulted in a period of doubt and questions concerning one of her most distinctive visual traits.
No. Not her mask.
Her boobs.
image by mikeinel
It all started when mikeinel posted up his sketch test. In addition to adding some nice details to the mask, he added boobs. Not what I had in mind, but I could live with that.
Lena x Jeanne. image by naso4. Note the alternate mask design.
Then came Naso's test. Lena went from "modest bust" to curvy amazon. By this point, I was thinking "hmm, Lena doesn't look too bad with a bust. Not bad at all..."
image by sho-N-D.
Here's sho's illustration of Lena wearing bodypaint and a collar. While I felt that Lena as a character would be most appropriate with a DFC, I had to appreciate the possibility of boobs. Because boobs.
Lena x Isolda. image by Yune
Yune kept the flat chest, but went for significantly longer hair.
image by myuto.
Following Yune's lead, Myuto went for longer hair as well. Also, he went for boots instead of sneakers, and a variant of the uniform jacket.
Flat-Lena was closer to my original plan, and made more sense for the character. Busty-Lena, on the other hand, had boobs. At the moment, the two options seemed equally viable. I was pretty torn, so I opened up a poll in the dev section for the forums. I asked my colleagues to consider what fits the character best, what looks good, and how either option best fits with the variety of body types the other heroines have.
The final results were 8 in favor of a flat chest, 4 for curves, and 3 for something in between.
At first, the results were tied, but after some discussion, several of the devs changed their votes. All this just in time for Lena's introductory blog post.
And that was that. With Lena's figure now set in stone, it was clear that Myuto was a perfect stylistic match for her.
Later on, outfit sketches proved that there was some benefit to letting sprite artists have some creative freedoms. The casual outfits I planned for Lena made her look like a wannabe cholo with a thing for ironic tee shirts. Fortunately, Myuto came up with several outfit designs of his own, and Lena is now the best-dressed path girl.
Second to the Twins, Lena has gone through the most noticeable visual changes during her development. Yet, even with all she's gone through, Lena's really only gained some longer hair and a better wardrobe. I suppose there's a lesson here about compromising between differing artistic visions, but I really just wanted to do a blog post mostly about Lena's boobs.
Fun fact: Since Lena is flat, Jeanne is the bustiest of the path girls.
...so far.
image by Myuto
See ya next time...Conor McGregor has agreed to walk Michael Conlan into the ring for his first professional bout which will take place on St Patrick's Day in New York.
Conlan is top of the bill and faces Tim Ibarra who shouldn't pose too much of a problem for the two-time Irish Olympian.
Denver native, Ibarra, has fought eight times in a pro career spanning almost five years and has lost four of those bouts.
The fight will be held at the theatre adjacent to Madison Square Garden in the Big Apple as Conlan looks to achieve, and even better, what he did in the amateur ranks.
Mr @TheNotoriousMMA carring out the Tri Colour for my debut fight on St Paddys Day NY MSG!!! @trboxing @mattmacklin pic.twitter.com/tvHwmr17b7 — Michael Conlan (@mickconlan11) December 2, 2016
Conlan won Olympic bronze for Ireland in 2012 before he became the world and European champ in 2015 and McGregor told his friend at a Q&A in December that he can reach the same heights in the pro ranks.
“I’ve no doubt Michael, you’re a solid, solid boxer. You are skilled boxers down here [Belfast]. You’ve got good backing, and the sky’s the limit for you and I look forward to following your career.
"The sky is the limit, you just have to stay focused. I don’t have to tell you to train hard. You’re hard worker and a successful amateur boxer and you’re climbing into the pro ranks."
©INPHO/Dan Sheridan
Conlan's summer didn't go to well as he lost his quarter-final bout at the Rio Olympics in controversial circumstances to Russian Vladimir Nikitin.
The decision outraged Conlan who raised his fingers to the judges before giving a series of angry interviews, castigating the decision which many boxing pundits also felt was the wrong one.
McGregor praised Conlan for taking a stand.
“You stuck the finger up, you were who you were around your own people. That’s the way to be. Be who you are, let the fighting in you come out.”
Conlan, who is signed up with Top Rank Promotions, has relocated to LA from his Falls Road home in Belfast and is training alongside another hot Irish prospect in Donegal native Jason Quigley.
It has been reported that the Conlan v Ibarra dust-up will be available to watch for Irish fans on BT Sport who are entering the world of live boxing in conjunction with Box Nation.Unless you’re a hermit living in the boondocks, you’ll have heard something about the massive anti-government protests in Egypt that started late last month. The protesters have become global celebrities as they’ve taken a brave stand against the three-decades-old regime of President Hosni Mubarak. The ‘million-man march’ has also made Tahrir Square in Cairo a regular fixture on TV and computer screens across the globe.
A mix of global attention and geo-political significance has prompted reaction and comment from around the world, including here in Southeast Asia. And, based on my monitoring of the online comments from this region, I’d say the responses can be grouped into four categories.
First, there are the netizens who have been focused on declaring support for the struggle of the defiant protesters. They’re using the #egypt Twitter hash tag to express their solidarity with the protesters aiming to topple the Mubarak government. The majority of these commenters are also expressing hope that the protests will help usher in a democratic government in Egypt.
The second, closely related, set of comments has focused on the pro-Mubarak thugs who appear to be sowing the seeds of violence in the streets of Cairo and elsewhere. In particular, they’ve been condemning the use of tear gas and guns to disperse the crowds. These commenters have also noted, with particular concern, the numerous reported attacks on journalists who are covering the crisis.
Then there are those comments focusing on Egypt’s future. It seems that all of a sudden everybody on the web has become a political expert on Egypt and the Middle East. Still, most of them seem to agree that Mubarak’s political fate has already been sealed and that a transition government should be established soon.
This isn’t a view shared by Malaysia’s former leader and now popular blogger Mahathir Mohamad, who himself was prime minister for more than two decades. He warns that political change isn’t always for the better.
‘Should these revolutions succeed there would be new governments. But it is worthwhile to remember that change is not always for the better,’ he wrote recently. ‘It is incumbent upon those bent on effecting change to have some idea about the kind of governments they want. Otherwise they may get the same kind of governments that they try so hard to be rid off. This is because most leaders upon achieving power would change and would forget the struggles and sacrifices which enabled them to be in power. Power corrupts as we all know.’
Finally, many netizens in Southeast Asia are relating the Egyptian protests to past revolts in their own countries. For example, Indonesians are comparing the rallies in Egypt to the 1998 student protests and riots in Jakarta that eventually led to the resignation of President Suharto, who ruled the country for three decades.
Filipinos are describing the ‘revolution’ in Egypt as similar to the People Power Revolution in the Philippines in 1986 that toppled the Marcos dictatorship. Many Filipinos think that it’s more than a coincidence that the Egypt protests are happening during the 25th anniversary celebrations of this historic revolt.
Thai citizens, meanwhile, are pointing out the similarities between the Egypt rallies and the anti-government Red Shirt protests last year in Bangkok.
Remembering the past is a harmless habit as long as it remains a study of ‘dead’ history. But memories of past revolts can also inspire citizens to reflect on their situation today: Are they better off now? Have political and social conditions improved? Remembering the ‘radical’ past could actually trigger a desire in the hearts of many citizens to act in order to change what they see as the oppressive present.
The protests in Egypt therefore dangle the prospect of a real political alternative to those who are tired of waiting for substantial reforms. This makes ‘Egypt’ a potentially subversive idea. ‘Egypt’ is now synonymous with revolution, and this is something that scares dictators of all stripes.
This could well be the reason why Cambodian Prime Hun Sen has warned that he’ll take harsh measures against anyone who attempts to initiate anything ‘Tunisia-like’ or ‘Egypt-like’ in Cambodia.Our data base has recorded over 600 individual tigers in past seven years. The total tiger population in Karnataka is about 250 to 300.Tiger population in India is not dwindling, at least in |
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Courtesy of Houston Texans
Courtesy of Houston TexansArsene Wenger says he’s very happy with Danny Welbeck as the striker prepares for his first game at his old club.
Arsenal travel to Manchester on Monday evening, and although Welbeck hasn’t scored since December 28th against West Ham, he’s had a spell out through injury and has only made 6 appearances.
It remains to be seen if he’ll get the nod against United, but the Arsenal manager is pleased at his £16m deadline day signing thus far.
“He’s one of the players who has played the most games for us, but not in the last couple of games,” he said.
“You have moments in the season where some players play a bit less. I think he’s played in nearly every single game.
“His position is one of the three up front – central, left or right. He can play anywhere. Most of the time it’s up front because not every single player can play every game in the biggest part of the season.
“You have a player like Olivier Giroud who is playing at the moment but he missed four months. During that period Welbeck played every single game.”
Welbeck has 8 Arsenal goals to his name so far this campaign, including a hat-trick against Galatasaray, but even though you’d like to him score more often, the Arsenal manager is backing him to be an important player in the years to come.
“He plays very well for me and is an exceptional player who will have a great future here. I am very, very happy that I bought him.”“Pro-Israel Billionaires From Both Parties Aid Menendez’s Defense Fund,” is the headline of an article in today’s New York Times that might have been reported by Lobelog or us. The piece by Alexander Burns says that embattled NJ Senator Robert Menendez is getting support from Republican Sheldon Adelson, who wants to nuke Iran, and Democrat Haim Saban, who wants to bomb the living daylights out of Iran, along with assorted other billionaires. (What do you think Menendez’s position is on Iran?).
This explains why Hillary Clinton vowed to her benefactor Saban that she will work “across party lines” to fight the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel.
Here are the first 4 paragraphs of the Times report:
Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey, who was indicted in April on corruption charges, raised nearly $1.6 million for his legal defense fund in the second quarter of the year, including from some of the country’s most prominent pro-Israel billionaires, according to a disclosure report filed this week. Though Mr. Menendez is a Democrat, his legal fund has attracted support from political donors in both parties who take a hawkish view of Israel’s security. The New Jersey senator has been an outspoken critic of the Obama administration’s nuclear negotiations with Iran, and its often-troubled relationship with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Sheldon Adelson, the casino billionaire who is a prolific donor to Republican groups, gave $10,000 to Mr. Menendez’s legal trust, as did Mr. Adelson’s wife, Miriam, who is a physician. According to the filing prepared for the Senate Select Committee on Ethics, the Robert Menendez Legal Expense Trust also received contributions from the entertainment magnate Haim Saban, a pro-Israel Democratic donor, and his wife, Cheryl, as well as from the real estate billionaire Mortimer B. Zuckerman. Seth Klarman, a hedge fund billionaire who has donated heavily to Republicans, gave $5,000.
The Times is finding it has no choice but to report on pro-Israel billionaires because they are such a prominent force in US politics on both sides, are the leaders of the opposition to the Iran deal; and because Eli Clifton and Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer and our site too have been pounding the issue so much in recent years. Along with presidential hopeful Sen. Lindsey Graham:
“If I put together a finance team that will make me financially competitive enough to stay in this thing…I may have the first all-Jewish cabinet in America because of the pro-Israel funding. Bottom line is, I’ve got a lot of support from the pro-Israel funding.”
Young officials in the Obama administration all read the Walt-Mearsheimer paper and book “The Israel Lobby” (2006, 2007) and vowed to shape American foreign policy on that basis, reports Michael Oren, Israel’s former ambassador to the U.S., in his new memoir. And though Oren contends that the book advanced an anti-semitic “conspiracy thesis of undue Jewish influence on Congress and the media” he acknowledges its enormous traction:
Nevertheless, the assertion that U.S. support for Israel had precipitated 9/11 and other jihadist attacks against Americans, and that, far from an asset, Israel represented a strategic liability for the United States, tapped into strong campus currents. Graduates of those universities naturally gravitated toward the press and government service. So “The Israel Lobby,” refined into a bestselling book, penetrated the Beltway. This did not mean that Obama had internalized the views contained in either [Edward Said’s book] Orientalism or “the Israel Lobby.” Still, there was no gainsaying the books’ impact on the academic and policy-making worlds from which his administration’s attitudes sprung. The notion of the need to revise America’s global role, to palliate Islam, and achieve diplomatic distance from Israel had become conventional by the time I arrived in Washington. Even the term “Israel Lobby,” once confined to racists such as Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, entered the mainstream media. Israel’s own policies no doubt accelerated these trends and endowed them with a moral pretext.
“Palliate Islam”– that’s an Islamophobic statement. Palliate, Webster’s:
to reduce the violence of (a disease) to cover by excuses and apologies to moderate the intensity of
Imagine someone saying that a writer was trying to excuse Judaism.Mick Mulvaney, director of the Office of Management and Budget, holds up what he described as President Barack Obama’s regulations during a news briefing on Thursday at the White House. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg News)
The White House’s Office of Management and Budget detailed Thursday how it would jettison hundreds of existing or planned regulations as part of its larger push to ease federal restrictions on the private sector, upending federal policies on labor, the environment and public health.
The list, issued as part of a semiannual report on the entire government’s regulatory agenda, shows the extent to which this administration is determined to erase many of the Obama administration’s policy priorities. In several instances, the administration is dropping rules aimed at tightening worker safety standards or omitting species the government had pledged to protect under the Endangered Species Act. In other cases, it is proposing new regulations that provide employers with more leeway in how they run their businesses or report their activities to federal officials.
The Trump administration said it was pulling or suspending 860 pending regulations. Of those, 469 were being completely withdrawn. Another 391 were being set aside or reevaluated. These proposed regulations could be revisited at some point or dropped altogether.
The rules the administration targeted govern everything — from the basics of everyday living, such as a product safety standard for mattresses’ flammability when it comes to cigarettes, to what sort of precautions construction firms should be required to take so their workers are not run over by other vehicles on site.
“I cannot express to you enough how much things have changed when it comes to the regulatory burden, the attitudes towards regulations, in this country, and you are just going to see more of that for the next eight years,” OMB Director Mick Mulvaney told reporters Thursday. “Our philosophy has been that the previous administration fudged the numbers — that they either overstated the benefits to people or understated the costs — and we are going to look at it in a much more pragmatic perspective.”
Consumer and worker advocates countered that Trump officials were scrapping critical government safeguards, and the implications of these actions could ripple across the country for years.
“These rollbacks of critical public protections will leave American workers, consumers and children vulnerable on a daily basis,” said Amit Narang, regulatory policy advocate for Public Citizen’s Congress Watch division, “to risks such as air and water pollution, unsafe products and tainted food, dangerous workplaces and a newly deregulated Wall Street that once again could threaten economic collapse.”
[Trump undertakes the most ambitious regulatory rollback since Reagan]
President Trump has promised to eliminate 80 percent of all federal regulations, arguing that the plethora of rules is harming economic growth and making it harder for companies to create more jobs.
But OMB officials have suggested that could be very difficult to achieve because many regulations are written to enforce congressionally authorized laws, and the White House cannot unilaterally remove them.
Susan Dudley, who directs George Washington University’s Regulatory Studies Center, said in an interview that the agenda “does signify a slower pace of new regulatory actions,” although it was too early to know whether officials would follow through on their pledge to eliminate two regulations for every new one they propose, and ensure these actions did not add to the federal deficit.
Still, the White House’s updated regulatory agenda on Thursday shows that it is taking steps to freeze, slow or remove many pending regulations, some of which have been in the works — and at times, languishing — for years. For example, one proposal that the Trump administration is suspending would have created new standards for the way meat and poultry products are processed. That rule was first proposed in 2001.
Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a conservative economist and former Congressional Budget Office director, said in an interview that at the end of Obama’s second term “there was a lot of overreach” as it finalized a slew of rules, and the new administration is taking corrective action. Holtz-Eakin cited a recent study by the American Action Forum, a conservative think tank, which estimated that the previous administration’s regulations imposed a “cumulative burden” of $890 billion in compliance costs.
“There’s no question the Obama administration went too far,” Holtz-Eakin said. “The notion that you should stop and reexamine things is perfectly sensible.”
Manufacturers have also hailed these moves: In the National Association of Manufacturers’ most recent survey of its members, 80 percent say that Trump’s “actions on regulation are headed in the right direction.”
Raj Nayak, the National Employment Law Project’s director of research, said in an interview that the regulatory rollbacks touted in the new agenda have a consistent theme. “They are deemphasizing the projects that help workers,” said Nayak, who served as deputy chief of staff to Obama’s second labor secretary, Tom Perez.
The administration has touted several regulatory changes already, including the Environmental Protection Agency’s move to repeal a sweeping rule governing what water bodies qualify for federal protection and one limiting greenhouse gas emissions from existing power plants.
EPA spokeswoman Liz Bowman said the agency’s move to withdraw 25 separate regulations reflects the administration’s “commitment to refocusing the agency on our core mission of protecting the nation’s air, water and land while reducing unnecessary regulatory burdens on Americans.”
And in late March, the Energy Department withdrew proposed regulations designed to make products more energy efficient. The regulations concerned gas-fired indoor or outdoor fireplaces, natural gas compressors and computers.
The list the White House issued Thursday was notable for what it said about its plans to address lower-profile measures that govern the operations of businesses and other regulated entities.
Mulvaney noted that many of these federal requirements often escape public notice: “None of them are very sexy, none of them are very glamorous, none of them really rise to the level of getting national attention.”
[EPA rules emerge as major target after administration solicits industry input]
But they often have major implications for how companies operate and what sort of federal enforcement actions they will face.
The Labor Department, for example, removed from its long-term agenda a proposal to stiffen exposure standards for styrene, a chemical used in plastics that has been identified as a carcinogen, and 1-bromopropane, a chemical solvent that is a neurotoxin. It is also jettisoning plans to change permissible exposure limits for some substances that were set in 1971.
In a 2011 letter to the department, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce wrote that given the fact that the permissible exposure limits were set four decades ago, they “do not reflect current technology or contemporary understandings of exposure levels and should be updated.”
“Clearly, what this administration is saying is that no further work will be done on health standards,” said David Michaels, who headed Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration under Obama and now serves as a public health professor at George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health.
Labor Department spokesman Michael Trupo said department officials “are not commenting beyond what is in the agenda.”
In a major win for restaurateurs, Labor indicated Thursday it would reverse an Obama-era rule that prohibited them from sharing some of the tips that servers earning the full minimum wage received with other employees, such as cooks and dishwashers. The National Restaurant Association had challenged the 2011 rule, and there had been conflicting rulings from the 9th and 10th Circuit on whether the regulation was legal.
Angelo Amador, executive director of the association’s Restaurant Law Center, described the move as “a reaction to the years of litigation,” noting that the rule had been stayed since 2013.
Amador said that confining tips to just servers “creates a disparity” between them and those in “the back of the house” washing dishes and preparing the meal. “They’re all working towards the same goal,” he said. “If your food is burned or your plates are dirty, you might not get a good tip.”
But Nayak argued that by allowing the employer to pool tips, “It’s essentially subsidizing wages that the restaurant should pay. Fundamentally, the employer should not be taking a portion of the tips.”
And while the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has agreed to designate protections for several species under the Endangered Species Act by Sept. 30, nearly a dozen of these measures are missing from OMB’s agenda. Federal officials are under court order to determine whether to list the Kirtland’s snake, a rare and secretive reptile in the Midwest, but there is no mention of the species in the document.
“Many of these species are highly imperiled and need all the protection they can get, said Noah Greenwald, endangered species director for the Center for Biological Diversity, an advocacy group.
Abby Phillip and Chris Mooney contributed to this report.The B.C. couple exposed as serial bad tenants by CBC last month are facing more court action and possible jail time as the full cost of their apparent scam becomes clear.
On April 28, a judge in Port Coquitlam small claims court ordered Susan and Chris Perret to repay $6,000 to former landlord Suman Parasad by June 9, or go to jail.
Parasad was the first landlord to take the Perrets to small claims court over unpaid rent, claiming the pair racked up almost $8,000 in arrears in 2013.
Two more landlords have since contacted the CBC to say they have been the victim of the Perrets' apparent scam.
Matthew Huotari says the Perrets' actions amount to fraud. (CBC)
A total of eight landlords are now working together to fight back as a group.
"They know every single rule in the book," Matthew Huotari, the eighth landlord to come forward told CBC.
Huotari — who contacted the CBC after seeing the story with the Perrets' photo — said the pair's actions amount to fraud.
"If you add all of us together, it's a huge amount of money that they've scammed."
Landlords say they are owed $39,650
Counting up all the arrears the landlords claim they are owed by the Perrets, including unpaid rent, utilities, bailiffs' fees, cleaning, fees from bounced cheques, court fees and lost rent from vacancies following broken leases, the amount owed totals $39,650 since July 2012.
July - Sept. 2012: Evicted. Money owed: $7500
Sept. 2012: Evicted. Money owed: $3750
Oct. 2012 - Mar. 2013: Evicted. Money owed: $7900
Mar. - May 2013: Evicted. Money Owed: approx $5000
June - Oct. 2013: Evicted. Money owed: $7500
Nov. 2013 - Jan 2014: Evicted. $3000
Jan. - Mar. 2014: Evicted. $5000
The Perrets' current landlord had served an eviction notice after a cheque bounced, but says since the CBC story aired, arrears have been cleared and monthly rent is now being paid in cash.
The landlord is continuing to fight for an eviction based on the couple's history.
Criminal case?
Nicole Read, who rented to the Perrets for six months and says she is owed $7500, called the RCMP and was advised to file a complaint on behalf of all eight landlords.
"There is some kind of pattern here that I think shows they don't have an intention to pay rent," she told the CBC.
Read says that while she was waiting on overdue rent, Susan Perret was posting about a trip to Las Vegas on her Facebook page.
"We couldn't believe that people would actually do this... the sort of entitlement they felt living in our house not paying rent."
Read went to the RCMP after the Perrets' current landlord failed to persuade the Residential Tenancy Board to evict the couple based on their history.
The RCMP told Nicole Read to file a complaint on behalf of all eight landlords. (CBC)
Rich Coleman, minister responsible for housing in B.C., says that, while most disputes between landlords and tenants in the province are resolved under the Residential Tenancy Act, this case is beyond its purview.
"If you have a fraud complaint, that's well outside the jurisdiction of the act," he said.
"And if it's a fraud and [the landlords] want to pursue it criminally, they should go to the police."
Coleman said they should also pursue action in Small Claims Court.
The CBC contacted the Perrets for comment, but received no response.
Previously, Susan Perret told CBC that she "had issues" with the four landlords named in the initial story.
Later, confronted at a rental home by CBC's Natalie Clancy, Perret refused to answer questions.
"Talk to my lawyer," she said. But Perret refused to give the CBC the name of her lawyer.
What can landlords do?
Landlord B.C. is one organization aiming to assist landlords looking for help in selecting tenants. Members pay $150 a year and get credit and background checks on prospective tenants for just $8.
The association says it uses the screening company Tenant Verification Service Inc., which is based in Surrey, and gives small landlords the tools to assess credit worthiness of potential renters.
There are also several online services to help landlords weed out potential problem renters, such as Equifax, which produces credit-check reports starting at about $22.
3 tips for landlords for safe renting:Grammy voters and political consultants have oddly similar musical taste in at least one respect: They tend to go for the safe picks.
Like any good wedding DJ, the people who curate campaign rally soundtracks tend to choose songs that a critical mass of listeners -- preferably, listeners who’ve been voting for a couple of decades -- have heard before, or at least songs most of them won't hate. If a tune isn't overtly patriotic, it's either inspirational or upbeat. The ideal selection feels both retro and vaguely contemporary. Bruce Springsteen usually hits the sweet spot. In recent cycles, so does U2.
The trail playlist comes with other requirements. As a general rule, the music played at presidential campaign events is as painstakingly appropriate and carefully inoffensive as the career politicians and telepromptered speeches it accompanies. If the choices do offer any glimpse into a candidate’s psyche, then most would-be presidents have minds that vibrate to the stultifying background buzz of a hotel elevator or an airport lounge. Theirs are the songs that played at the cruise ship buffet on your honeymoon, and populate your remaining FM presets. These songs are familiar old friends, or so ubiquitous they might as well be. They're songs your mom would like.
Most of the songs that make up Donald Trump's campaign soundtrack have a familiar feel to them, too. They've just been in deeply unfamiliar territory this year.
A majority of Americans have probably heard snarling '80s hair metal, risque Rolling Stones lyrics, and romantic top 40 ballads. They might be familiar with vintage Broadway show tunes and Italian opera. Except that they've just, in all likelihood, never before heard all of that music played together, or played on the presidential campaign trail, until the Trump campaign began last summer.
Donald Trump has scored his stage entrances to Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not Gonna Take It,” and his helicopter’s arrival and departure to the soaring orchestral overture from the soundtrack to the movie "Air Force One." Before he's taken the stage at his events, and as he's worked the crowd afterward, those who come to hear him speak are reminded that they "can’t always get what [they] want" via one of more than half a dozen Rolling Stones songs in regular rotation, including the eyebrow-raising “Brown Sugar” and "Let's Spend the Night Together," the pill-popping anthem "Mother's Little Helper" and the patiently confident “Time Is On My Side.” (“Now, you always say that you want to be free. But…you'll come running back to me...”)
Sometimes Trump trail music has seemed intended to flatter. Sometimes it seems to mock. Other times, it hasn't been quite clear what it's trying to say; it's just clear no one's ever said it quite that way on the campaign trail before.
On occasion, a Trump event song has offered a sort of societal status report -- Led Zeppelin’s “Communication Breakdown,” for instance, or R.E.M’s “It’s the End of the World.” Audiences have also heard songs wielded like a sonic weapon or symphonic subtweet, messages that have appeared directed -- some subtly, others less so -- at opponents.
Last month, as Trump raised the issue of rival Ted Cruz’s Canadian birth and its possible impact on the Texas senator’s presidential effort, Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.” was famously added to the lineup at a Reno rally. Before an event in South Carolina several weeks ago, an announcer reportedly dedicated a song to President Obama: “Big Girls Don’t Cry.”
Some Trump songs are such stalwarts that anyone who attends even one of his rallies is almost certain to hear them multiple times. Other wild cards pop up briefly for a single night or two -- just long enough to leave reporters wondering how they appeared, and why, and whether they really could have been approved by the candidate himself. Trump's campaign won't comment on individual selections, saying only that the Republican front-runner picks the music that plays at his events.
A good chunk of Trump's rally songs, in grand trail tradition, skew to slightly older ears, and there are more than a few safe picks in the mix (“Hey Jude.” “Eye of the Tiger.” The occasional Kenny G-variety smooth jazz.) But there are also high-culture curveballs: for example, Trump may be the only U.S. presidential candidate in history whose campaign has regularly featured a Puccini aria, one that he has played everywhere from Las Vegas to Louisiana.
Before a Nevada rally ahead of the Republican debate in December, some members of a restive crowd booed the opening chords of "Nessun Dorma" -- only to grow still as Luciano Pavarotti's performance reached its peak. Most probably could not understand Turandot’s defiant Italian lyrics, but the melody left the campaign-relevant message unmistakable.
“Dilegua, o notte!," sang the tenor. "Tramontate, stelle! Tramontate, stelle! All'alba vincerò! Vincerò! Vincerò!” (Vanish, o night! Fade, you stars! Fade, you stars! At dawn, I will win! I will win! I will win!)
The song “taps into the emotion of the Trump phenomenon,” one commenter wrote on the conservative Free Republic message board a few weeks later. “And beautifully. Nessum Dorma is about winning, as is Donald Trump.”
Many campaign playlists are subject to one bitter trail tradition: the need to pull a song following a protest by an outraged artist on the other side of the political spectrum. Trump -- whose campaign has been defined by controversy -- has been no exception. Early on, R.E.M. and Aerosmith both insisted he stop using their music. He did. Neil Young’s complaint last summer over Trump's use of “Rockin’ in the Free World” was publicly dismissed by the campaign, which noted that it had purchased a blanket license entitling them to play the song at live events -- but it hasn't been in the rotation either. Even Twisted Sister's Dee Snider -- who originally gave his approval to the use of "We're not gonna take it" -- seemed to be publicly rethinking his decision as voting neared.
Recently, in what may have the roughest development yet, Adele asked Trump to stop using her tracks. For most of Trump's campaign, the British singer's voice has been a constant at virtually all his rallies, perpetually “Rolling In the Deep,” and bracing for the “Skyfall.” (“I know I’d never be me without the security of your loving arms keeping me from harm...”) The mogul is such a fan, he used a night off the campaign trail this fall to attend one of her concerts. But over the past few days, her music seems to have quietly disappeared from the playlist, at least for now.
Still, that playlist is long, and deletions have been relatively rare. So Trump's mostly conservative audiences this year have heard from Bruce Springsteen and John Lennon. Trump's "good friend" Elton John might now be sounding less than thrilled with his regular appearance in the lineup ("It's nothing personal," the singer told the Guardian around the Iowa caucuses, but "I’m not a Republican in a million years. Why not ask Ted f---ing Nugent?") -- but as of late last week, Trump audiences were still being serenaded with “Tiny Dancer” and “Rocket Man."
And there's been a consistent nod to New York values by way of the sweeping Broadway ballads of alienation, love and loss that play at nearly every Trump event: Fantine’s unrequited yearning in"On My Own," from "Les Miserables." The melancholy nostalgia of “Memory,” from Cats, as Grizabella recalls better days, complete with a spoken-word interlude about the magical rebirth of one lucky Jellicle cat. And, always, the "Phantom of the Opera" song “Music of the Night.”
If Trump really does select every song played at his rallies, some of them might come across as a wink of sorts -- perhaps a self-aware mogul poking fun at his public caricature. There was the time Travie McCoy’s “I want to be a Billionaire” and Calloway’s “I want to be rich” reportedly popped up at one event. The Rolling Stones' “Sympathy for the Devil” is a Trump trail standard: “Please allow me to introduce myself. I'm a man of wealth and taste,” Mick Jagger sings -- in Satan’s voice.
But even viewed through that frame, the Phantom's "Music" might still come across a bit off-key. The song features a man who seeks to impose his will on a world that has rejected him. Who tries to lure (or force) others to “open up your mind... in this darkness which you know you cannot fight” and calls on them to “let your darker side give in to the power of the music that I write.” Who boasts that, with the sound of his song, “the senses abandon their defenses, helpless to resist...”
“Close your eyes, for your eyes will only tell the truth, and the truth isn't what you want to see,” urges the Phantom. “In the dark it is easy to pretend that the truth is what it ought to be...”
To call this an atypical campaign music choice is to understate the live effect; its appearance in a political setting, ahead of a candidate's speech, seems to invite confused analysis and wild speculation. Some Trump attendees at a rally in Plymouth, N.H., earlier this month, asked for their interpretation of the pick, suggested it was intended as a parody of Trump critics’ takes. Others guessed it might be a sentimental selection or a personal favorite. A few said the confusion was the point or that it held no meaning at all.
The campaign, as always, won't elaborate on song choice, and Trump himself has never publicly clarified why he has chosen to share with his rally audiences a musical wish for listeners to embrace their dark sides and “belong to me...”
A few weeks ago, Trump used song lyrics to personally deliver a much clearer message: He warned of hidden dangers posed by refugees by way of his own dramatic live reading of the Al Wilson song “The Snake.” The Northern Soul classic tells the story of a soft-hearted woman who takes in a dying snake, only for the animal to fatally attack her as soon as it recovers. Peering over his reading glasses at a rally podium, Trump emphasized each syllable: “‘Oh shut up, silly woman,’ said the reptile with a grin. ‘You knew damned well I was a snake before you took me in!’”
If he's delivering a message with one of his recent favorites -- the Beatles' "Revolution" -- it's a far less unsettling one. “We all want to change the world,” sings John Lennon. “But when you talk about destruction, don't you know that you can count me out? Don't you know it's gonna be alright?” In a campaign year packed with sour notes, Trump's latest campaign song choice, at least, calls for harmony.
Jenna Johnson contributed to this reportScience fiction often uses allegories to present new ideas in interesting ways, but as a genre it also often borrows creatively from other sources. Here are ten movies that are either remakes of other genres or use a critical idea that they borrowed from a book or a movie that wasn’t science fiction.
Outland (1981)
Directed and written by Peter Hyams, this Sean Connery vehicle takes most of its plot points and narrative from the Fred Zinnemann classic western, High Noon (1952). That’s marginally less surprising when you discover that the movie was originally written by Hyams as a western, but the success of Blade Runner and Alien convinced him to make it a space based film.
The technical term for a space western is a ‘Bat Durston’, after an infamous advert printed in Galaxy Magazine in 1950, which concocted a space gunslinger only to tear the subgenre to pieces. The reputation of western-themed sci-fi took a real beating in the 50s, and it did take a long time to be considered as anything more than pulp material.
That said, Gene Roddenberry sold the pilot for Star Trek as ‘wagon train to the stars’ in the 60s, so some people liked the genre mix. A more recent example of this is Firefly and its associated movie Serenity, which draws on the post American civil war era as its historical reference.
Battle Beyond The Stars (1980)
This movie borrows wholesale from The Magnificent Seven (1960), itself a remake of Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai. But what’s really interesting about its link to the source material is that it also manages to also have Robert Vaughn, playing effectively the same character, and even using some of the same dialogue. And also, it has George Peppard, who was tested for the role of Vin in The Magnificent Seven, even if he didn’t get it.
There are numerous references throughout the movie to both films, with the natives of the planet Akir being called Akira as a nod to Akira Kurosawa.
Normally movies that borrow so heavily from others are coy about it, but Battle Beyond The Stars actually celebrates its origins quite candidly.
Star Wars (1977)
George Lucas is a huge Kurosawa fan too, and the number of ideas borrowed from The Hidden Fortress (1958) in his most famous film are numerous and well documented. What many fans of the series don’t appreciate perhaps is that C-3PO and R2-D2 even have their counterparts as two bickering hangers-on to General Makabe called Tahei and Matashichi. Admittedly The Hidden Fortress doesn’t have a climactic attack on the Death Star, but so much of what happens to the characters in that movie is recreated quite slavishly.
Even those things not borrowed from Hidden Fortress aren’t very original. The attack on the Death Star is the climax of Dambusters (1955) reworked in outer space, and C-3PO’s design is very close to the female robot in Fritz Lang’s classic Metropolis (1927).
Thankfully George is happy to accept how much he’s been influenced, and none of the people who he borrowed from chose to get legal about it.
Enemy Mine (1985)
Directed by Wolfgang Petersen after he’d done with The NeverEnding Story and his TV mini-series of Das Boot, Enemy Mine tells the relatively simple story of two difficult personalities marooned on the same desolate planet.
That they’re two different species is the twist, because this exact story minus the space combat was the previously explored in None But The Brave (1965) and Hell In The Pacific (1968). In those a soldier learns to cooperate with his enemy to survive living in isolation, resulting in mutual respect.
The idea has since reappeared numerous times in TV shows and films. Most notably in Battlestar Galactica (both versions), in Star Trek: TNG and Star Trek Enterprise, to mention just some.
Forbidden Planet (1956)
Gene Roddenberry said many times that this classic movie involving interstellar travel was a massive influence on Star Trek. But what he didn’t point out was that it borrows conceptually from the play the The Tempest by the Bard himself, William Shakespeare.
Shakespeare’s original story is that of a man and his daughter who live on an isolated island, and use magic to try and sink a nearby ship causing the crew to become marooned with them. That’s practically the plot of Forbidden Planet, and there is even a servant character called ‘Ariel’ that Prospero (the Morbius figure) sends like Robbie, to keep an eye on his unwanted guests.
Oddly for Shakespeare, where they really diverge is that The Tempest has a happy ending, where Forbidden Planet most certainly doesn’t, but in many other respects they’re parallel morality tales.
Avatar (2009)
If you’ve not worked it out, and that may include the director and writer James Cameron, Avatar is Pocahontas set on a distant world. Even the character Jake Sully shares the same initials as John Smith, and the plot of a technologically superior invading force devastating and trying to quell nature connected locals remains unchanged. So it’s not just the characters and narrative, but also the theme that’s been borrowed here.
That said, few people are expecting the sequels to Avatar to follow that of Disney’s Pocahontas II: Journey To A New World, or even the historically accurate events of the real native-American who later took the name Rebecca Rolfe, and is buried in a Gravesend churchyard.
Be very suspicious of any creatures that look like a Raccoon in the next one, I say.
Edge Of Tomorrow (2014)
Officially, the source material for this movie is the Japanese graphic novel All You Need Is Kill. But it is very hard to ignore that the premise in both the comic and the film is the same one that was worked so effectively by Harold Ramis in Groundhog Day (1993).
The idea of a day that repeats indefinitely probably wasn’t totally original when it was used by Ramis, and since then it’s reappeared a number of times, even in the Disney animated film Mickey's Once Upon A Christmas and also in the excellent Source Code (2011).
It could be argued that the strong influence of the comic and movie are video games where you often get to repeat the actions, hoping not to die by learning from your mistakes. However, the comedy elements of this movie are undoubtedly inspired by Groundhog Day, and the infuriation that repeating things naturally does to people.
Sadly, there is no Bill Murray cameo as John from Stripes (1981), surely another missed cross-over opportunity.
Robinson Crusoe On Mars (1964)
Can you guess the source material for this movie? If you didn’t say Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe, then sit in the corner with a ‘D’ hat on.
The film follows exactly the plot, with the mild exception that instead of being shipwrecked, Commander Kit Draper and his monkey Mona (don’t ask…), end up marooned on Mars. Even if it sounds utterly preposterous, it makes a much better stab at a Mars movie then a couple of more recent efforts I recall, and how Draper survives is a pretty interesting story. The introduction of ‘Friday’ as an out-of-luck alien who comes from an advanced civilization that enslaved him is also quite compelling.
Defoe penned an interesting yarn, and Robinson Crusoe On Mars does his survival tale some justice, even if the effects aren’t great by modern standards.
Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan (1982)
Star Trek was never a TV show that would pass up some classic literary inspiration, so it wasn’t out of character for it to use a well-known novel as the source for the second movie in the franchise.
If you’ve never made the connection, and the movie tries to make it obvious at numerous points, that the story here is Moby Dick by Herman Melville, written in 1851. Protagonist Khan is Ahab, obsessed with pursuing his white whale, the USS Enterprise.
If you think that’s a coincidence, the book is clearly visible on a shelf in what’s left of the USS Botany Bay. And there are numerous snippets of dialogue lifted from its pages. Khan’s dying worlds are Ahab’s harpoon throwing encouragement verbatim, "From Hell's heart, I stab at thee, for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee."
And another line, “He tasks me. He tasks me and I shall have him! I'll chase him 'round the moons of Nibia and 'round the Antares Maelstrom and 'round perdition's flames before I give him up!” is a mild reworking of what Ahab says on page 156 of the original print.
But, as far as I can ascertain, at no point did Ahab ever get really angry in Moby Dick and shout ‘Khannnnnnnnnnnn!’ inside a hollowed out moon. Shame.
Mars Attacks! (1996)
A |
allows you to inject content into the header or footer of your application's web page. Essentially, it's dependency injection for your JavaScript or CSS assets! All that's required of the user is they register the dependency with their IoC Container of choice within their Startup.cs file.
Enough talk, let's take a look at how it works. Hopefully a demonstration will clear things up.
Injecting JavaScript or CSS assets into the head or body tags
Imagine we have some JavaScript we'd like to include on each page, this could be from either:
A JavaScript and/or CSS library we'd like to use (Bootstrap, Pure etc)
Some database driven JavaScript code or value that needs to be included in the head of your page
A JavaScript file that's bundled with a library that our users need to include before the closing </body> tag.
In our case, we'll keep it simple - we need to include some database drive JavaScript in our page in the form of some Google Analytics JavaScript.
Creating our JavaScript tag helper component
Looking at the contract of the ITagHelperComponent interface you'll see it's a simple one:
public interface ITagHelperComponent{ int Order { get; } void Init(TagHelperContext context); Task ProcessAsync(TagHelperContext context, TagHelperOutput output); }
We could implement the interface ourselves, or we could lean on the existing TagHelperComponent base class and override only the properties and methods we require. We'll do the later.
Let's start by creating our implementation which we'll call CustomerAnalyticsTagHelper :
// CustomerAnalyticsTagHelper.cs CustomerAnalyticsTagHelper : TagHelperComponent {}
For this example the only method we're concerned about is the ProcessAsync one, though we will touch on the Order property later.
Let's go ahead and implement it:
// CustomerAnalyticsTagHelper.cs public class CustomerAnalyticsTagHelper : TagHelperComponent { private readonly ICustomerAnalytics _analytics; public CustomerAnalyticsTagHelper(ICustomerAnalytics analytics) { _analytics = analytics; } public override Task ProcessAsync(TagHelperContext context, TagHelperOutput output) { if (string.Equals(context.TagName, "body", StringComparison.Ordinal)) { string analyticsSnippet = @" <script> (function (i, s, o, g, r, a, m) { i['GoogleAnalyticsObject'] = r; i[r] = i[r] || function () { (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments) }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date(); a = s.createElement(o), m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0]; a.async = 1; a.src = g; m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m) })(window, document,'script', '//www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js', 'ga'); ga('create', '" + _analytics.CustomerUaCode + @"', 'auto') ga('send', 'pageview'); </script>"; output.PostContent.AppendHtmlLine(analyticsSnippet); } return Task.CompletedTask; } }
As you can see, the TagHelperContext argument gives us context around the tag we're inspecting, in this case we want to look for the body HTML element. If we wanted to drop JavaScript or CSS into the <head></head> tags then we'd inspect tag name of "head" instead.
The TagHelperOutput argument gives us access to a host of properties around where we can place content, these include:
PreElement
PreContent
Content
PostContent
PostElement
IsContentModified
Attributes
In this instance we're going to append our JavaScript after the content located within the <body> tag, placing it just before the closing </body> tag.
Dependency Injection in our tag helper
With dependency injection being baked into the ASP.NET Core framework, we're able to inject dependencies into our tag helper - in this case I'm injecting our database driven consumer UA (User Analytics) code.
Registering our tag helper with our IoC container
Now all that's left to do is register our tag helper with our IoC container of choice. In this instance I'm using the build in ASP.NET Core one from the Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection package.
// Startup.cs public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services) { services.AddSingleton<ICustomerAnalytics, CustomerAnalytics>(); // Data source containing UA code services.AddSingleton<ITagHelperComponent, CustomerAnalyticsTagHelper>(); // Our tag helper... }
Now firing up our tag helper we can see our JavaScript has now been injected in our HTML page without us needing to touch any of our.cshtml Razor files!
... <body>... <script> (function (i, s, o, g, r, a, m) { i['GoogleAnalyticsObject'] = r; i[r] = i[r] || function () { (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments) }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date(); a = s.createElement(o), m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0]; a.async = 1; a.src = g; m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m) })(window, document,'script', '//www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js', 'ga'); ga('create', 'UA-123456789', 'auto') ga('send', 'pageview'); </script> </body> </html>
Ordering our output
If we needed to include more than one script or script file in our output, we can lean on the Order property we saw earlier, overriding this allows us to specify the order of our output. Let's see how we can do this:
// JsLoggingTagHelper.cs public class JsLoggingTagHelper : TagHelperComponent { public override int Order => 1; public override Task ProcessAsync(TagHelperContext context, TagHelperOutput output) { if (string.Equals(context.TagName, "body", StringComparison.Ordinal)) { const string script = @"<script src=""/jslogger.js""></script>"; output.PostContent.AppendHtmlLine(script); } return Task.CompletedTask; } }
// CustomerAnalyticsTagHelper.cs public class CustomerAnalyticsTagHelper : TagHelperComponent {... public override int Order => 2; // Set our AnalyticsTagHelper to appear after our logger... }
// Startup.cs public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services) { services.AddSingleton<ICustomerAnalytics, CustomerAnalytics>(); services.AddSingleton<ITagHelperComponent, CustomerAnalyticsTagHelper>(); services.AddSingleton<ITagHelperComponent, JsLoggingTagHelper>();... }
When we we launch our application we should see the following HTML output:
<script src="/jslogger.js"></script> <script> (function (i, s, o, g, r, a, m) { i['GoogleAnalyticsObject'] = r; i[r] = i[r] || function () { (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments) }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date(); a = s.createElement(o), m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0]; a.async = 1; a.src = g; m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m) })(window, document,'script', '//www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js', 'ga'); ga('create', 'UA-123456789', 'auto') ga('send', 'pageview'); </script> </body> </html>
ConclusionTHE St Louis Cardinals’ 2014 season ended in defeat on October 16th, when the San Francisco Giants advanced to Major League Baseball’s (MLB) World Series by beating them four games to one. But hopes were bright in St Louis that the club would contend for another title next year—in large part because of Oscar Taveras, a 22-year-old outfielder widely regarded as one of the best up-and-coming hitters in the sport. That optimism has abruptly turned to grief. On October 26th Mr Taveras and his girlfriend died in a car accident, when he drove his Chevrolet Camaro into a tree while speeding amidst heavy rains on the northern coast of the Dominican Republic (DR).
The sudden loss of such a talented young player cast a pall over the fifth game of the World Series, which was under way when the news broke. With sufficient reflection, though, the shock players and fans felt upon hearing the grim tidings may be partially replaced by surprise that it took this long for a baseball player to be claimed by such a tragedy. According to a 2013 report by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the DR has the second-most-dangerous roads in the world, with 41.7 people perishing in traffic accidents each year for every 100,000 residents. Only the tiny Pacific island of Niue, which saw one driving-related death among its population of 1,465, posted a higher rate. Meanwhile, there are now 151 Dominicans playing in MLB, representing one eighth of the entire league. Assuming that this group spends half its time in the DR, that means that every year there is a 3% chance that at least one Dominican MLB player will be killed in a crash.
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If any good is to come out of the accident, it would be that the loss of a professional athlete might at last focus the nation’s attention on the scourge of vehicular fatalities. But drawing the right conclusions about why Dominican roads are so perilous will be critical. Shortly after Mr Taveras died, Pedro Martínez, a retired superstar pitcher, tweeted his condolences and demanded that “the authorities…repair the country’s highways”. Unfortunately, plugging a few potholes is unlikely to solve the problem. In the World Economic Forum’s most recent Global Competitiveness Report, Dominican road quality actually ranked well above average, ahead of countries like Italy and Norway. The highways connecting its big cities to major tourist areas like Punta Cana are widely viewed as modern and in good condition.
Instead, thorny political, economic and cultural factors have conspired against Dominican motorists. The government’s nominal motorcycle-helmet and seat-belt laws apply only to drivers, not passengers, and enforcement of speed limits and drunk-driving rules is lax. The WHO report scored its efforts in those areas just a three and a two out of ten. Less than 10% of tickets issued for vehicular infractions ever get paid, and drive-through liquor stores and alcohol sales at petrol stations expose drivers to constant temptation. Unions representing bus and taxi drivers have opposed proposed bills that could expose them to new regulation.
When crashes do occur, the mix of vehicles on Dominican roads makes them far more likely to be deadly. The country’s swingeing tropical heat and a widespread fear of being mugged or pickpocketed while walking has led to high demand for short-distance taxi rides. With unemployment at 14%, many Dominicans looking for work have responded by scraping out a living ferrying passengers on motoconchos, or motorcycle taxis, which are extremely popular because of their low cost and ability to navigate back roads in rural areas. Such drivers routinely pack multiple passengers onto their back seats without helmets.
Stepping up regulation and enforcement would go a long way towards reducing the number of Dominicans who will suffer Mr Taveras’s fate. But even a firm government crackdown on dangerous driving can only go so far. The final missing piece in any comprehensive programme to improve road safety would be a public-education campaign to combat the hallowed roles of drinking and speeding in Dominican culture. In 1976 the merengue singer Johnny Ventura lamented that “mi mujer y el radar no me dejan vacilar” (my woman and the radar won’t let me have fun). It is high time that today’s celebrities—and above all baseball players—started to convey the opposite message.CERNOBBIO, Italy (Reuters) - The European Central Bank’s bond purchases will create an unsustainable stock market rally and are unlikely to boost euro zone investments, Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis warned on Saturday.
Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis speaks during a news conference to present the ministry's new general secretaries at the ministry building in Athens March 4, 2015. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis
The ECB began a program of buying sovereign bonds, or quantitative easing, on Monday with a view to supporting growth and lifting euro zone inflation from below zero up towards its target of just under 2 percent.
Bond yields in the currency bloc have collapsed, but record low interest rates so far have not spurred investments that would support growth in recession-hit countries like Italy or Spain.
“QE is all around us and optimism is in the air,” Varoufakis told a business audience in Italy. “At the risk to sound the party pooper... I find it hard to understand how the broadening of the monetary base in our fragmented and fragmenting monetary union will transform itself into a substantial increase in productive investments.
“The result of this is going to be an equity run boost that will prove unsustainable,” he said.
Varoufakis reiterated that the new Greek government was ready to time its promised anti-austerity measures in a way that helped negotiations with European Union partners over the disbursement of financial aid.
“We never said we’re going to renege on any promises, we said that our promises concern a four-year parliamentary term,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the conference.
“They will be spaced out in an optimal way, in a way that is in tune with our bargaining stance in Europe and also with the fiscal position of the Greek state,” he said.
Athens needs to agree with creditors on a revised package of measures in order to access funds pledged to it from the euro zone and the International Monetary Fund under a four-month extension of its bailout program.
Speaking at the same conference on Friday, Varoufakis expressed confidence an agreement would be reached by April 20th.read
Micro-benchmarking code always looks simple: a few variables, a small for loop and two std::chrono calls. I think this simplicity is an illusion. Micro-benchmarking is either complicated or inaccurate.
You have to be careful that the compiler does not optimize out the code you are timing, accurately measure the time and know your time resolution, all the caches are usually hot (as you loop over the same operation) and you will get a totally different cache hit rate than in production, a “production-like” set of inputs has to be generated — without affecting the resuts of the benchmark of course! —, on each iteration of the benchmark the state of your object is changing but should still allow the benchmark to continue, etc. It is really hard.
And this is why I usually don’t micro-benchmark: it is too hard for what it is ; you will get numbers and finally be disappointed or puzzled because you will not get the same latencies in production.
I prefer measuring the impact of my code changes directly in production — or in a production-like environment. The initial cost of setting up such timing system might be higher, but on the long term you get a lot of benefits from it. Lots of code changes can simply not be micro-benchmarked at all. In his talk Optimization Tips - Mo’ Hustle Mo’ Problems, Andrei Alexandrescu is presenting the speed gain of not inlining the destructor of an object — by simply defining an empty destructor in the source file instead of the default one. Good luck to micro-benchmark that, and if you actually do it somehow, I guess you will get the opposite result, as having the inlined call will save some instructions and the instruction cache won’t be polluted.
This post is about my last adventure with a micro-benchmark.
The simplest µ-benchmark
This is a very simple — and the most boring I could find — micro-benchmark:
void benchmark_unordered_set_emplace() { std::unordered_set<int> uset; auto start = std::chrono::high_resolution_clock::now(); for (int i = 0; i < Iterations; ++i) uset.emplace(i, i); auto end = std::chrono::high_resolution_clock::now(); std::cout << Iterations << " iterations of unordered_set<int>::emplace() took " << std::chrono::duration_cast<std::chrono::milliseconds>(end - start).count() << "ms" << std::endl; }
This gives us the output: 100000 iterations of unordered_set<int>::emplace() took 565ms. Awesome. This is exactly what we wanted to know.
A few hours later, we added a lot of other small functions like this one. We are now measuring the time of the emplace operation for different containers, with different contained type — to change their size and the cost of the move, copy, construction and destruction operations — and with different number of elements in the container. We even added a layer of template because it looks better!
Our benchmark() function is now something like this:
void benchmark() { { std::mt19937 gen(seed); std::uniform_int_distribution<> rng; auto gen = [&]() { return rng(gen); }; benchmark_emplace<std::unordered_set<int>>(gen); benchmark_emplace<std::set<int>>(gen); benchmark_emplace<boost::container::flat_set<int>>(gen); } { // Foo is a medium size object... benchmark_emplace<std::unordered_set<Foo>>(&Foo::Generate); benchmark_emplace<std::set<Foo>>(&Foo::Generate); benchmark_emplace<boost::container::flat_set<Foo>>(&Foo::Generate); // We also test big objects, different number of elements, and a lot of other fun stuff. } }
The tragedy
At some point, you decide to re-order the function calls — just for convenience. And boom. You didn’t expect anything to change because you have been at staring these numbers for hours… but your initial benchmark is now twice slower:
100000 iterations of unordered_set<int>::emplace() took 1143ms
How come? You run again and get the same results. You checkout the previous commit and test again: it is fixed. How can a simple re-ordering of calls slow down a 5-lines function?
You decide to run the benchmark twice, as first benchmark and last one:
void benchmark() { std::cout << "first run" << benchmark_emplace<std::unordered_set<int>>(gen); { // a lot of other benchmarks (cf previous listing)... } std::cout << "second run" << benchmark_emplace<std::unordered_set<int>>(gen); }
… which outputs:
first run: 100000 iterations of unordered_set<int>::emplace() took 565ms second run: 100000 iterations of unordered_set<int>::emplace() took 1143ms
Heap fragmentation
As you guessed because it is the title of this article, the difference is due to the heap.
First of all, let’s confirm our hypothesis by actually measuring the time spent during the heap operations — malloc, free and realloc.
I updated for that an old C++ wrapper around the malloc hooks that I developed a while ago to follow each memory allocation — by printing them. Here we don’t want to print them (there are millions!), but measure the time spent in these functions:
template <typename Container, typename KeyGenerator> void benchmark_emplace(KeyGenerator gen) { Container c; // this setups our malloc/free/realloc hooks mtrace<malloc_chrono> mt; for (int i = 0; i < Iterations; ++i) c.emplace(gen()); std::cout << "time spent in malloc(): " << duration_cast<milliseconds>(mt.malloc_time()).count() << "ms
" << "time spent in free(): " << duration_cast<milliseconds>(mt.free_time()).count() << "ms
" << "time spent in realloc(): " << duration_cast<milliseconds>(mt.realloc_time()).count() << "ms" << std::endl; }
And this confirms what we thought:
first run: benchmark_unordered_set_emplace() took 565ms time spent in malloc(): 231ms time spent in free(): 1ms time spent in realloc(): 0ms second run: benchmark_unordered_set_emplace() took 1143ms time spent in malloc(): 916ms time spent in free(): 94ms time spent in realloc(): 0ms
90% of the CPU time is spent in malloc and free on the second run of the benchmark! To go even more in depth, the GNU extension offers malloc_info. This function returns the list of bins — chunks that have been freed — by category (size, unsorted, fast). Let’s insert one call to malloc_info before each benchmark run:
before the first run: <sizes> </sizes> <total type="fast" count="0" size="0"/> <total type="rest" count="0" size="0"/> before the second run: <sizes> <size from="33" to="48" total="383999952" count="7999999"/> <size from="49" to="64" total="64" count="1"/> <size from="33" to="33" total="99" count="3"/> <unsorted from="145" to="1009" total="1156000346" count="3999994"/> </sizes> <total type="fast" count="8000000" size="384000016"/> <total type="rest" count="3999997" size="1156000445"/>
What is very particular in this micro-benchmark is that we have millions of successive memory allocations: small allocated chunks from std::unordered_set<int>::emplace, big ones from boost::container::flat_set, etc. Then, the benchmark is done, the block ends and the several containers go out of scope and are destroyed.
This leads to a very specific heap state:
Millions of chunks are successively destroyed
They were also allocated successively, so quite likely to be contiguous and in the same pages
These freed chunks represent almost all our memory allocations
All freed chunks are merged together, the bins linked lists are cleared, the memory released. And this takes forever.
Remember our code:
void benchmark() { std::cout << "first run" << benchmark_emplace<std::unordered_set<int>>(gen); { // a lot of other benchmarks (cf previous listing)... // several destructors of big containers are called on the next line } std::cout << "second run" << benchmark_emplace<std::unordered_set<int>>(gen); }
If we introduce one malloc(1) call before our second run of the benchmark and run malloc_info again, we now get a heap in a clean state, and the time difference is gone. However, this is not a clean or portable solution.
The unfortunate part, is that there is no nice and clean solution. All the possible solutions I can think of are very dependent to the malloc implementation, and are made on several assumptions. For example, you could be simply rearrange the code to not destroy any of the benchmarked containers before the end of all benchmarks. This means that you only allocate, but don’t free any memory, which will prevent from the symptom we got earlier, but maybe not from another side effet.
In our simple case, we could simply change the code by removing the blocks and leave the inlined function calls in the single benchmark function:
void benchmark() { std::cout << "first run" << benchmark_emplace<std::unordered_set<int>>(gen); // a lot of other benchmarks (cf previous listing)... std::cout << "second run" << benchmark_emplace<std::unordered_set<int>>(gen); }
The only good solution — i.e. not based on any assumptions regarding the malloc implementation — would be to separate the different benchmarks between different applications or application runs.
That’s all! I ran all my tests on my Ubuntu 14.04, based on the GLibC 2.19 (yes, this setup is getting old…). You can find a simplified version of the benchmark code on my github. Don’t be surprised if you get different results, everything in this article is implementation dependant.
Enjoy your holidays, and your micro-benchmarks!On an average day, about a dozen new games are released on Steam. And while we think that's a good thing, it can be understandably hard to keep up with. Potentially exciting gems are sure to be lost in the deluge of new things to play unless you sort through every single game that is released on Steam. So that’s exactly what we’ve done.
Thanks in part to the website WhatsOnSteam.com, we’ve gone through every game that’s launched on Steam in the last week to find the diamonds in the rough. This list, updated every Sunday, won’t include the Grand Theft Autos or the Fallout 4s of Steam, focusing instead on the games that may have been easy to miss.
These games seem the most promising, already have positive user reviews, and may be worth a closer look.
Element
Steam Page
Released: July 27
Developer: Flightless
Publisher: Flightless
Price: $11.99
Element is pitched as an RTS for busy people, which means its space wars wrap up a lot quicker than is usual for the genre. An escapee from a dying solar system, you’ll need to gather resources and minerals while evading and / or destroying opponents with the same thing in mind. “Generate energy, mine elements, build attack and defence units, and destroy the enemy while maintaining a balance between earth, air and water,” so reads the description. The prospect of bite-sized RTS runs is definitely appealing, and it helps that Element looks gorgeous in action. I enjoyed the bit of this I played at PAX a year-or-so ago, so I’ll be checking it out.
The Swordsmen X
Steam Page
Released: July 27
Developer: 上海杜昂网络科技有限公司
Publisher: 方块游戏(CubeGame)
Price: $24.99
Here’s yet another Early Access battle royale game, but wait! It does quite a bit to stand out. For one, it’s got a heavy focus on martial arts, and it looks like a stealthy approach might actually be fun. The current Early Access version boasts “complete combat and matchmaking systems” according to the Steam page, and the usual promise of new weapons and modes is accompanied by new martial arts styles. The studio predicts the game will leave Early Access in less than a year, and while the Steam reviews are currently “mixed”, that’s usually the case when a popular new games launches under the initiative. Still, maybe watch some gameplay vids to see if you’re comfortable with where it’s at.
Liminal
Steam Page
Released: July 24
Developer: Suspicious Box
Publisher: Suspicious Box
Price: Free
Liminal is a free first-person puzzle game set in a dizzying city where your orientation with the sky or the ground can shift in the blink of an eye. The city is sparsely populated with endearing little critters which you’ll use to both solve puzzles and figure out where to go next. “Walk up skyscrapers, fall along alleyways, and puzzle your way through eerie interior and exterior spaces, in order to reach, enter, and bring down the Cathedral Colossus, a walking building which searches the foggy distance,” so reads the Steam description. The game is in Early Access and will stay there until December, and it’ll remain free even when it’s finished.
Semblance
Steam Page
Released: July 25
Developer: Nyamakop
Publisher: Good Shepherd Entertainment
Price: $9.99
Semblance is a 2D puzzle platformer that lets you smash the world into shape. In other words, much of its appeal is in the way it lets you manipulate the putty-like environment in order to complete challenges. Wreak your revenge on platforms, in other words. “Each of the game's three worlds explore a new consequence of a planet that can shift, change and deform. Beat back the strange, crystalline infection of hard material by freeing the world's life essences and uncover the dark cause for its appearance,” so reads Steam.
Helping Hand
Steam Page
Released: July 26
Developer: Hubblegum
Publisher: Hubblegum
Price: $8.99
If you’ve ever wondered if it’s possible to rule the world with only a left hand at your disposal, then Helping Hand was probably made especially for you. Helping Hand was probably made especially for you, because it’s definitely not made with a lot of people in mind. This game about doing everything with just a left hand is probably as niche as they come, but it’s also reportedly very funny. Austin played and wrote about the game last week, and I think there’s quite a bit of rude gesturing with the left hand, so if you’re into, I dunno, being rude in computer games, then you may like this game also.Environment Minister Alan Kelly has announced the provision of 800 new properties in Dublin in the latest effort to tackle the homeless crisis
Environment Minister Alan Kelly has announced the provision of 800 new properties in Dublin in the latest effort to tackle the homeless crisis
800 new properties in Dublin to be provided in bid to tackle homeless crisis
Many of the properties are being bought or leased by the State through Dublin City Council.
Mr Kelly has been criticised over the Government's response to the homeless crisis by campaigners such as Fr Peter McVerry.
Speaking at the announcement of the new measures at a homeless shelter in Dublin City today, the minister said "a huge amount is being done and more has to be done".
"A package has been put together and it is being worked on.
"We need cooperation with the agencies, local authorities and many other state departments. We need to ensure that everybody is working together.
"We have never seen a situation of this scale. There is more being done, more funding being put into homelessness. It’s not about funding. If more funding is required, we will deliver it. It’s not about funding, I am convinced about that.
"We need more focus on the various different agencies and groups working together. I’m going to ensure that happens.
"There is a huge amount of funding that goes into this. It’s about how they can work together.
"We are producing more buildings than has ever been produced before. I am committed to building houses that have never been committed before. Everything that can be done is being done."
Online EditorsIt was a Christmas nightmare at Brampton’s controversial new City Hall building as a flood damaged at least two floors of the new $205-million structure, leaving councillors concerned about who will cover the costs. “We got an email Christmas morning saying there was major flooding in the new west tower,” Councillor John Sprovieri said of the building, an extension of the existing City Hall. Fire crews were on the scene Christmas morning.
A flood struck the first and second floors of the new Brampton City Hall tower on Christmas Day. ( SAN GREWAL / TORONTO STAR ) Flood mitigation equipment stands inside a first-floor lobby in the new Brampton City Hall tower, after a flood on Christmas Day. ( SAN GREWAL / TORONTO STAR )
City spokesperson Brian Stittle told the Star on Monday that the cause of the first- and second-floor flooding has not been determined, and there is no estimate yet for the repair costs. On Monday, restoration crews had set up more than a dozen industrial-size dryers around one of the lobby areas and in a large back office space. Desks and chairs removed from rooms were lined up along a hallway. Councillor Pat Fortini, a former highrise construction supervisor, examined the damage a day after the flood. “One of the maintenance people said it was from the boiler system that heats up the floors and the rest of the building. It’s like a radiator. It just blew. They had to open up all the walls.”
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Fortini said drywall was being removed along the bottom of most walls he saw, to dry areas behind them and inhibit mould. “There’s water in the walls, the carpet tiles were all removed, the elevators were damaged, the washrooms were damaged. It’s a lot of work … I would say it’s at least a few hundred thousand dollars. It had nothing to do with the weather outside. I’ve never seen something like this in a brand new building.” Sprovieri has been critical of the project for years, alleging taxpayers paid far too much for the building, which opened more than a year late. Councillors were shocked earlier this year when they learned staff had excused builder Dominus Construction from paying about $1.4 million in project-delay penalties. Dominus was supposed to have been a 25-year partner in the deal but sold its rights to the project to Fengate LP before construction was completed. However, it stayed on to finish the building. “I hope the builder’s warranty covers this,” Sprovieri said of the flood damage. “Taxpayers better not have to pay a cent for this. We’re going to get to the bottom of this to find out exactly how this could have happened in a brand new building that cost this much money.” Fortini said the same. “It should be Fengate’s insurance (that pays the costs). I don’t want the taxpayer to pay for premiums that would go up. I’m going to ask for a full report on how this happened and who will cover the costs. … There were at least 10 city staff working overtime when I was there, and the private company that was hired.”
Fengate did not respond to a request for comment. Stittle said it’s too early to determine how costs will be covered: “City staff continues to work with contractors and insurance company representatives to get a full understanding of the damage and associated costs … and who will be responsible for them.” The building is expected to reopen as scheduled on Jan. 4, after the holiday break, but a few staff may have to be temporarily relocated, Stittle said.
Read more about:A year after China began tightening regulations around Bitcoin, the virtual currency is still thriving in the country, albeit on the fringes, according to its largest exchange.
Bitcoin prices may have declined, but Chinese buyers are still trading the currency in high volumes with the help of BTC China, an exchange that witnessed the boom days back in 2013, only to see the bust following the Chinese government's announcement, in December of that year, that banks would be banned from trading in bitcoin.
This eventually led to a clampdown that scared customers away from the currency, and threw a wrench in the business of local exchanges, including BTC China.
Although financial institutions are banned from dealing in bitcoins, the virtual currency is still legal, and can be traded by individuals willing to take on risk, according to the government. That's given BTC China enough room to operate, deploying a network of people reselling special vouchers that can be exchanged for bitcoins.
The practice has helped BTC China not only stay afloat, but become the exchange with the largest trading volume, according to bitcoincharts.com.
That doesn't mean bitcoin is gaining steam as a currency used to buy goods. Since the government clampdown, the Chinese bitcoin market has matured into one that's focused on speculative trading, said Bobby Lee, CEO of BTC China.
"So it's very much about people coming to use the platform as a trading vehicle to make money," he added.
About 65 percent of all bitcoin trades are made with the Chinese yuan, according to bitcoincharts.com. Some of these deals involve "arbitrage bots", or software that's designed to make a profit from price differences among the different exchanges.
"There's a huge contingent out from Russia that will buy on BTC, and that will cause the price of bitcoin to go up," Lee added.
To expand its business, BTC China has launched a bitcoin mining pool, so that multiple buyers can work together to mine the virtual currency, and share the profit. But attempting to bring bitcoin to a wider audience in China isn't expected to be easy.
"Bitcoin is real and it's here to stay," Lee said, although how it will evolve in China is still uncertain. The tough government regulations have so far restricted its reach, and Chinese users are gravitating toward other third-party payment systems, such as Alipay, a service with more than 300 million registered users.
Lee said he doesn't envision Bitcoin replacing traditional money systems such as credit cards, but given that its meant to be a global currency, and not tied to any government, there's potential for it to grow.
"We have our sights set on Bitcoin being successful and revolutionary," he added. "We don't know how it will happen, or how fast it will happen. Does it take two to three years, or 20 to 30 years?"I am obsessed with cashew sauces. This is probably the simplest one I make and for that reason, the one I make the most as I am one of those weirdos who used to put sour cream on pretty much anything. I much prefer my chipotle cashew sauce, which I do put on everything but this is easier and a close second.
It is remarkable how much this does taste like sour cream, BUT, don’t go into it with that attitude! Even the smallest of textures of flavour that is different and you will be disappointed. I have been disappointed many, many times by vegan “hacks”. Go in with an open mind and I PROMISE you will be happy with the results. There’s no BS at the Long Player Kitchen!
Like all cashew sauces, the acid is what gives it that dairy feel. I use lemon here and if you are going for sour cream, there is no substitute. I compliment the lemon with a little apple cider vinegar and round everything out with some salt and garlic.
Have a go and let me know any alterations you make or how you usually make yours….
Oh and stay tuned for this stuffed sweet potato with guacamole recipe coming soon!
Serves enough to keep you going for a week
Ingredients:
150g (a cup) cashews, soaked for 8 hours or boiled for 10 minutes if you don’t have a high speed blender
½ lemon, juiced
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1.2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
½ to 1 cup water
Cook it:
Simply add everything to a blender, minus the water (don’t bother soaking if you are using a high speed blender like a vitamix) Start by adding ½ cup of water and blend for about 30 – 45 seconds Check the consistency and keep adding water and blending, tablespoon by tablespoon until you have the consistency you are after Get it into ya!!!
Recommended Tunes:
Wu-Tang Clan “Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)”
t may be the RZA’s (a vegan) involvement with the Kill Bill soundtrack that I recommended on last weeks exceptional post, but I have been on a Wu-Tang kick recently.
I simply love this album. It is everything that the Wu-Tang are about from a hip hop act in their prime.
Bring da mother fucking ruckus indeed!
Listen – but do yourself a favour and buy it on vinyl!!
AdvertisementsHe's been running away from MLS defenses in recent weeks, and now he's run away with the MLS Player of the Month Award for April.
With four goals in four matches, Philadelphia Union forward Jack McInerney was the comprehensive winner of this month's prize, voted on by the North American Soccer Reporters. (See how the North American Soccer Reporters voted here.)
“Jack Mac” got 2013 off to a bright start with two strikes in the first three matches of the season, but really caught fire when April arrived, highlighted by a devastating brace in the Union's 3-2 road win over I-95 |
crashed, removing three fingers from a timing official. The car was rebuilt, and passed into the ownership of the sons of Arthur Conan Doyle,[1] but was quickly retired as a racing car, and was later bought for spare parts by John Morris, the Maybach engine being offered to W.Boddy, editor of Motor Sport.
Chitty 2 [ edit ]
Chitty 2 had a shorter wheelbase, an 18.8-litre Benz Bz.IV aero-engine and the coachwork was carried out by Bligh Brothers of Canterbury, England. It was never as successful as its predecessor, but took part in several road races, including a Sahara Desert expedition in 1922. It later became the property of the Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum in Cleveland, Ohio. It is now part of the private collection of Bob Bahre at his home in Paris Hill, Maine (the former mansion of Hannibal Hamlin, Lincoln's first Vice-President).
Chitty 3 [ edit ]
Chitty 3 was based on a modified Mercedes chassis with a 160 hp (120 kW) Mercedes single-overhead-camshaft six-cylinder aero engine, tuned to produce 180 hp (130 kW). The car recorded a lap of Brooklands at 112.68 mph (181.34 km/h). Louis Zborowski later used it as his personal transport, and drove it to Stuttgart when he negotiated to join the Mercedes racing team.[3]
Chitty 4 [ edit ]
Higham Special, aka "Chitty 4" "Babs", aka "Chitty 4" "Babs"
Chitty 4 (also known as the Higham Special) was Louis Zborowski's largest car yet. Using a 450 hp (340 kW) V12 Liberty aero engine of 27 litres capacity, with a gearbox and chain-drive from a pre-war Blitzen Benz, it was the largest capacity racing car ever to run at Brooklands. Still not fully developed by the time of Zborowski's death in November 1924, it was purchased from his estate by J.G. Parry-Thomas for the sum of £125, equal to £7,003 today.
Parry-Thomas rechristened the car Babs and rebuilt it with four Zenith carburettors and his own design of pistons.[4] In April 1926, Parry-Thomas used the car to win the Land speed record at 171.02 mph (273.6 km/h). However, he was killed in the vehicle in a later attempt on 3 March 1927. Babs was buried at Pendine Sands in Wales, but was later recovered and restored and is now on display at the Pendine Museum of Speed during the Summer and Brooklands Museum during the winter.It's time for a 'how-to' manual that actually walks you through the ABC's of creating your own Edible Eden. A book that you don't have to 'dig' through to get the nitty gritty under your nails. Herb spirals, outdoor mushroom cultivation, raised beds on contour, earthen pizza ovens, starting a food forest, uncommon fruits, fruit trellises, rain gardens, permeable hardscapes and much more. This book will be a great resource for anyone wondering where to start or what to do as they stare at the grass.
This campaign is for the production and publishing costs of a polished book that is straight to the'matter'. With enough help we can put this pictorial step by step resource in the hands of budding or soon to be budding Edible Landscapers.
Eight picture rich chapters will cover how to build herb spirals, inoculate outdoor mushrooms, build an earthen oven, raised beds on contour, start a food forest, make a raingarden that actually looks good, fruit trellises, and choosing uncommon but fabulous fruits. Each one jumping right into the how to, materials, time, resources and ninja tricks to pull off abundant landscapes.
Our initial goal is to raise $4,500 in 60 days to launch the layout but expect to need at least $9,000 to complete publication and first printing. We have to raise the $4,500 in 60 days to launch the book then funding can continue to reach our final goal - so please chip in right away!
*This book could change suburbia forever! Even HOA's will love it.Regardless of who carried out the strikes in northwest Syria on Friday that reportedly destroyed a fresh crop of advanced Russian land-to-sea missiles, the silence that endured in its wake — ruptured Tuesday by the Free Syrian Army’s chief spokesman — is in the interest of both Israel and Bashar Assad.
Shortly after the pre-dawn strike, Syria’s state-run television channel dryly reported “a series of explosions” near the Alawite stronghold of Latakia.
Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon was similarly prosaic, brushing aside a reporter’s question about the attack in the port city with this statement: “There is an attack here, an explosion there, various versions; in any event, in the Middle East it is usually we who are blamed.”
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Only Qassem Saadeddine, spokesman for the FSA’s Supreme Military Council, was more explicit. He told Reuters on Tuesday that the rebel army’s intelligence network had identified newly supplied, Russian Yakhont missiles being stored at the Syrian naval base at Safira, and that the strike, which was not carried out by his men, was of a military scale.
“It was not the FSA that targeted this,” Saadeddine said. The attack, he elaborated, was carried out “either by air raid or long-range missiles fired from boats in the Mediterranean.”
Arab news sites have long been rife with rumor, some of it absurd, about Israeli actions worldwide. In December 2010, after a shark attack near Sharm el-Sheikh, Southern Sinai Governor Abed Al-Fadij asserted that the Mossad had dropped sharks into the Red Sea in order to cut into Egyptian tourism revenues.
In this case, however, the allegations do not seem to be purely within the realm of the imagination: A former defense official confirmed to Reuters that Yakhont missiles, capable of paralyzing Israeli maritime traffic along the Lebanon coast and imperiling Israel’s natural gas platforms, were in fact kept at that base near Latakia.
And yet silence, if indeed this was an Israeli strike, is in the interests of both sides.
Israel, in its dealings with Assad, based on foreign reports, clearly prefers to hammer home its message with anonymous missile strikes, following through on its pledge to thwart the transfer of advanced weapons systems to Hezbollah. In this way, those who need to know, know. And those who need to deny that they know, are able to downplay the strikes.
As far as Israeli decision-makers are concerned any sort of involvement on Israel’s part only pushes Assad further against the wall, with the risk of goading him into responding to violations of Syrian sovereignty.
The president, despite a recent outright victory in Qusair and partial victories in Homs, is still fighting for his life and the future contours of the Syrian state. The last thing the regime needs now is to rouse the Israeli military, which, both sides know well, is capable of delivering a debilitating blow to the Alawite regime, tipping the balance of power in Syria to the Sunni side.
Instead, the regime performs the gymnastics necessary to remain on the balance beam: courting Russia and apparently abiding by its dictates; kowtowing to Hezbollah and Iran, which entails the transfer of weapons to Hezbollah; and refraining from at least a mass usage of chemical weapons, which could force the West into action.
After a muted response to a reportedly Israeli air strike in late January, which destroyed an advanced surface-to-air missile system, the regime was forced into a combative statement in May after a series of enormous blasts yet again shook the capital city of Damascus. “We have informed all the parties who have contacted us that we will respond to any Israeli aggression next time,” Assad told al-Manar, Hezbollah’s television station.
He indicated that rather than, say, launch a volley of Scud-D missiles at sensitive sites within Israel — a clear casus belli — he would instead succumb to “clear popular pressure to open a new front of resistance in the Golan.”
Thus far the Golan has remained relatively quiet. Pentagon officials, if indeed there is what to report, have not spoken with CNN and The New York Times, as they unhelpfully did last time, blowing the lid off the May 3 and 5 strikes, which reportedly destroyed a stockpile of medium-range Fateh-110 rockets sent from Iran to Hezbollah, c/o Syria.
Israeli officials have likewise remained mum.
And in the silence, the Assad regime continues its recently successful push against the rebels; Hezbollah maintains its offensive on Syrian soil and its defensive in its Dahiyeh stronghold in Beirut, as Shiite-Sunni tensions mount in the cedar state; and Israel, as Ya’alon said Tuesday, maintains its official position of concerned objectivity. “For a long while now we have not been involved in the bloodstained war in Syria,” the defense minister said, noting, however, that a theoretical advanced weapons transfer to Hezbollah would trigger an Israeli reaction.This homemade Pressed Juicery Freeze recipe recreates the trendy ice cream treat with nothing but fruits, veggies, and a blender—just add toppings!
[wprm-recipe-jump]
It’s basically salad ice cream. Your childhood dreams have finally come true.
If you’ve ever been on a little thing called Instagram, you’ve probably seen the Pressed Juicery F R E E Z E. Subway tile background, hand holding up a black and white cup, creamy soft-serve swirl, berries nestled around the edges – you know what I’m talking about. Given my serious love for all things cold + creamy + healthy, I have to admit I’ve been a little jealous of all the CA peeps who can get their hands on this fruity froyo-like treat.
If by chance you don’t know what I’m talking about, it’s basically soft-serve that’s the equivalent of drinking a green juice. Soft-serve made of nothing but fruits, veggies, and nuts. To which I say–sign me up! For breakfast. And dessert. And maybe every other meal too if it’s a really hot day.
The jealousy didn’t last for long, because about 3 seconds later I remembered I have fruits and coconut and a blender. I have swirling skill. I have toppings like coconut and berries and even almond butter for drizzling. No it’s not as easy as walking up to a counter and handing over cash for a cold creamy cup of the stuff. But if you are like me and live in one of the 45 states without access to a Pressed Juicery location or another country entirely, the effort is absolutely worth it. Because this green goodness-packed blender copycat is blowing my mind!
Creamier than I had imagined. Sweeter than I had expected. Easier than driving to California. Because not even the greenest fancy froyo can justify the cross country excursion just for a cupful. Although if I went every day while I was there so it wasn’t just one cup…
Lucky for me Pressed Juicery is all about simple minimal ingredients, so DIY-ing it wasn’t too tricky. They offer six different flavors, but I created this recipe based off the Greens version which is made of green juice, coconut meat, and Medjool dates.
Green juice. I don’t own a juicer, and with how easy it is to make juice in the Vitamix I don’t plan to change that anytime soon. Also, for the sake of fiber preservation, I drink smoothies most of the time anyways. But in classic Greens Freeze fashion, this recipe starts with making green juice.
The juice that Pressed Juicery uses for this Freeze flavor is a blend of cucumber, romaine, kale, spinach, apple, and lemon. Now I don’t know the exact ratios they use, so we get to make that part up.
I used approximately…
1 cucumber
1 pink lady apple
1/2 a lemon (seeds and peel removed)
5 large romaine leaves
3 curly kale leaves
1 large handful of spinach
This list made for a fairly sweet green juice, which I love, but you could green it up a little more if you wanted to.
Be sure to add your most liquid-y ingredients (cucumber, lemon, apple) to the blender first otherwise all the foliage will get stuck. After blending, you will have a pulpy but very pretty green mixture. The best option for straining out the pulp is to use a nut milk bag, but a sieve and spoon works too.
Depending on how thoroughly you strain/squeeze, you will probably get 2-3 cups of juice. For the sake of consistency, the recipe uses just 2 cups, so happy green sipping with the extra.
If you own a juicer feel free to use that instead. Or for a really easy option, just buy a bottle of cold-pressed green juice. But check the ingredients first. Personally I recommend avoiding anything with chlorella or spirulina added unless you want soft-serve that tastes like the ocean. And I don’t mean in the good tropical vacay kinda way.
Coconut. If you can find frozen coconut meat, then lucky you. If you want to crack open a young coconut and scoop that stuff out, you and your large sharp object have (careful) fun. But personally I’m just going to use the cream from a can of full-fat coconut milk because it’s easier, cheaper, and safer for all involved.
After chilling in the fridge for a day or two, all the thick coconut cream will separate and you can scoop it right off the top. One can of milk makes for about one cup of cream, which I used all of in this recipe.
The 2:1 ratio of juice to cream made for a super lush creamy texture. You could probably use a little less if you wanted to keep it lower in fat. As is though it’s still lower in fat than a lot of vegan coconut milk ice cream recipes that are pretty much made entirely of coconut milk. And just think of all that good-for-you leafy green nutrition you are consuming with every heavenly bite.
Medjool dates. Are they absolutely necessary? No. Does that pain me a little bit to say about one of my fave fruits? Yes.
Keeping this copycat recipe as true to the original as possible, I added them. But really it’s quite sweet even without. They do probably add a little extra thickness to the texture too, but not essential. So add a few or not – it’s up to you.
No churn. While a froyo machine does make for more pristine swirls than me and my piping bag, you don’t need one. Or even an ice cream maker for that matter. This entire recipe only requires a blender, ice cube tray, and freezer.
After straining the green juice, add it back to the blender with all the other ingredients and blend until completely smooth. Then pour that mixture into an ice cube tray (or a muffin pan works too!) and freeze overnight.
The next day pop those green cubes back into the blender and blend until as creamy as can be. A high speed blender works best, but a food processor will work too. Don’t add any liquid – just keep blending, scraping down the sides, and blending some more.
Swirl with a piping bag or spoon into a cup. Then raid the kitchen for any and all…
Toppings! Raspberries. Blueberries. Fruit of all kinds. Chia seeds. Shredded coconut. Caramel sauce. Nut butter. Granola. Chocolate chips. Sea salt. Chocolate sauce. Sliced almonds. You get the idea.
It may not come in the iconic black and white cup shaped with the kind of swirl precision only a froyo machine can pull off, but none of that matters because this stuff tastes green juice genius!
↓ Check out the VIDEO below! ↓
Copycat Pressed Juicery Greens Freeze ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 5 from 1 reviews Yield: Yield: 4 people Print Pin Description This homemade Pressed Juicery Freeze recipe recreates the trendy ice cream treat with nothing but fruits, veggies, and a blender—just add toppings! Ingredients Green Juice 1 cucumber, (chopped)
1/2 of a lemon, (peeled and seeds removed)
1 apple, (chopped)
5-6 romaine leaves
3-4 kale leaves
1-2 handfuls spinach Greens Freeze 2 cups green juice from above ((or any green juice, from a bottle is fine))
1 15oz can full-fat coconut milk, (chilled overnight)
Optional: 3 Medjool dates Instructions To make the juice, add all the ingredient to a high-speed blender in the order listed. Blend until fully broken down. Strain through a sieve or nut milk bag to remove the pulp. Return 2 cups of the strained juice to the blender. Open the can of coconut milk without shaking. Scoop out the thick cream from the top, it should be about 1 cup. Add the coconut cream and pitted Medjool dates to the blender. Blend until smooth and creamy. Pour into an ice cube tray (or a muffin pan works too!) Freeze overnight. The next day, break apart the cubes and blend in a high speed blender or food processor until creamy and thick like soft-serve. Do not add any liquid. You will need to stop and scrape down the sides several times or use the tamper. Scoop or swirl (using a piping bag) into a cup, add toppings of choice, and enjoy! You can keep the frozen cubes in the freezer for up to 3-4 days and blend just before serving.
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SaveSaveI was blogging almost every day at the end of year 2018 and at the beginning of 2019, but then I slipped by the end of January. I moved my focus to something else. To what? I try to kick-start again my Fler.cz e-shop (= something like Czech version of Etsy). I am telling myself that I really need to do something about this finally. So I am sewing a lot now. (Which was one of my goals for 2019 anyways, I even have a habit tracker for sewing in my diary.) I enjoy sewing leggings. I know, (neccessary?) evil, but I like to wear them at homw and excercise n them when I make myself ;) And it was leggings that got sold a few days after I put them up in my e-shop. I only had them in size M and did not have more fabric, but the lady asked if by any chance there will be her size. So I tried to ask in the shop where I bought the fabric and they still had some, so I was able to sew the requested size. Yay! Konec roku 2018 a začátek roku 2019 jsem zvládala blogovat skoro každý den a chtěla jsem to…No sooner had David Logan joined the Royal Marines than he realised he had made a terrible mistake. How could he persuade them to kick him out? Become an addict? Develop asthma? Or convince them he was gay?
Driving over the brow of the hill on the road leading away from the commando training centre in Devon, I felt like the happiest man who had ever lived. It was sunset, music was blaring, and I was thumping the ceiling of my VW Camper in unadulterated joy. I was free. After months of uncertainty, lies, imprisonment and shame, I finally had my life back, and it lay glittered with hope in front of me.
It was the mid 1990s. I had enlisted in the Royal Marines Commandos and, 30 weeks later, earned my green beret after completing the longest, toughest military training course that can be joined direct from civilian life. Of our original troop of 32, only 11 had succeeded and I felt enormous pride. But I faced a problem: the training had not worked. Officially I was a commando, but mentally I was not wholly with them - I remained too free-thinking.
Ironically, it was this aspect of my personality that had drawn me to the marines. They were interested in a certain calibre of soldier - intelligent, independent and mentally robust. I had needed to get away from my home town, where I was in trouble with a number of drug dealers, and the armed forces provided a good escape. But if I was to join up, I wanted to be the best, better than my army father had been. I read widely about various units and decided that the marines were most my style.
I enjoyed training immensely. Before passing out I had considered going a step further and applying for the Special Boat Service, the navy equivalent of the SAS. But during the famous 30-mile march across Dartmoor, which completed the commando tests, I suffered a painful fracture in my foot. I finished the march, but was on crutches for two weeks afterwards, and then, while all my mates were getting drafted to units, I was kept at the training centre in Lympstone for a course of physiotherapy and recuperation.
Too much sitting around and playing my guitar led my mind to wander. I began to question why I was doing this, and what I had really been trained for. I realised that I was a pacifist and that I did not want to follow orders. I considered a commission, for which I had been singled out during training, but felt that I no more wanted to give orders than to take them. I wanted to travel the world, but wielding a guitar rather than a rifle, and marching alone rather than in single file.
I had more than three years to go before I could apply to leave the service. I investigated buying myself out before then, but could not afford the required £42,000. I thought of going awol, but decided to find a safer way. Feigning mental illness, asthma or amnesia were possibilities. Drug-taking was another. A fellow marine helped me compile a list - a long list - of all the options. I worked through them repeatedly, playing out the scenarios in my head. Then, one day, I read the paper: three officers were being ejected from the RAF for being homosexual. As far as I knew, this had never happened in the marines but still, here was my escape.
I had leave for a long weekend and went to see my mother. I told her my plans, and after much persuading she agreed to help me. As I returned to camp, she rang my troop sergeant and told him that I was very distressed because some of the soldiers had discovered that I was gay and were taunting and threatening me. I waited patiently in my barracks for an order. That afternoon a marine marched into my room and escorted me to the guard room, where the sergeant asked me if my mother's allegations were true. I confirmed that they were. Ten minutes later I was up in front of the regimental sergeant major (RSM). He looked me up and down contemptuously three times and said slowly: "So, Logan, you're a fucking bender?"
"Yes, sir," I replied, suddenly finding it hard not to laugh.
"Right, Marine, take him away and get him into rig, and get him back up here in five minutes," said the RSM to my escort.
Then began two months of hell. I was locked in the guardroom for two weeks; my meals were brought to me; and I was allowed just 20 minutes' exercise in the yard each morning. Word spread quickly, and although my closest training buddies suspected that I was lying, other soldiers, from my troop and beyond, eyed me with disgust and called me names. Some men punched their fists in to their hands when I walked by. At times I feared for my safety; yet despite the taunts, those who mattered - notably my troop sergeant - treated me with kindness.
After a fortnight, I was sent home to await further news on the investigation. Apparently, reporters were beginning to sniff about, and it was best that I was sent away from Lympstone. They wanted to handle the situation properly and discreetly. A few weeks later I was called back and subjected to a thorough medical, followed by in-depth questioning by five officials and military police. They sat behind a long desk and I sat alone on a chair in the middle of the room. A list of acts, such as "oral sex", "anal sex" was read aloud and I was required to answer "yes" or "no" to each in quick succession. Perhaps naively, I had not planned for this uncomfortable and embarrassing interrogation and I went on to affirmative autopilot, answering yes to all without pausing for thought. They asked when I had discovered my homosexuality and how I had first acted on it. My responses were necessarily constructed on the spot, as I had not expected this degree of probing into my imaginary love life. To this day I cannot recall what I said or how I managed to compose myself to answer convincingly.
Once again I was sent home, where I waited for weeks without knowing what would happen. Eventually an officer wrote to me and said that the case had been sent to Whitehall. I waited nervously and began to fear that I would be caught out and sent to military prison. I heard that another marine was selling a camper van; I bought it in preparation for going on the run.
Then, one bright sunny June morning, the phone rang. "Marine Logan?" said a precise voice."Yes, speaking," I said with equal precision."This is Sergeant so-and-so from CTCRM [commando training centre Royal Marines]. You are to return to base on June 10 at ten hundred hours. You are to be administratively discharged from the Royal Marines."
I went crazy, jumping and whooping and crying and shouting "Come on!" very loudly. I couldn't believe it.
So I returned to camp. Somewhat facetiously, I wore a blue-and-white striped Ralph Lauren polo shirt with a paisley tie. The RSM checked me over before I went in to see the discharge officer, and I could see in his eyes that he thought I deserved a more severe punishment, but he settled for yanking my tie into a tight knot and sending me for a grade one crew-cut. I was heckled and jeered as I went to the barbers, but no one could touch me now.
Shorn, I marched back to the officer and was discharged within about a minute: I was marched in, I saluted, and I was told to leave camp immediately. They handed me a reference (which was positive and did not disclose the reason for discharge), I saluted and was marched out again. That was it. All the torment was over in a flash.
I never saw the full details of the investigation. I was never certain whether they believed me or not. For weeks various national papers asked me to talk about it and I agreed to meet a reporter from one. However, at the last minute I cancelled and bought a ticket to Australia.
I had left the marines to travel and be free, not to make money, tell more lies, or bring the issue of gays in the ranks to public attention. Most importantly, I wanted to cause no more trouble for a force for which I still had enormous respect. For all the name-calling I suffered, I remember most of my comrades as loyal and courageous and generous. I actually feel some shame for what I did. My life has been a bit of a mess since I left, as it turns out, and the pious among us would no doubt have something to say about that.
But in those moments when I look back and feel some anguish there is always one memory that makes me smile. It is the laughter on the faces of the men on the front gate as I drove to freedom in my bright pink camper van.
· David Logan is a pseudonym.
Do you have a story to tell about your life? Email it (no attachments, please) to
my.story@theguardian.com. If possible, include a phone number.In symbolic computation (or computer algebra), at the intersection of mathematics and computer science, the Risch algorithm is an algorithm for indefinite integration. It is used in some computer algebra systems to find antiderivatives. It is named after the American mathematician Robert Henry Risch, a specialist in computer algebra who developed it in 1968.
The algorithm transforms the problem of integration into a problem in algebra. It is based on the form of the function being integrated and on methods for integrating rational functions, radicals, logarithms, and exponential functions. Risch called it a decision procedure, because it is a method for deciding whether a function has an elementary function as an indefinite integral, and if it does, for determining that indefinite integral.
The complete description of the Risch algorithm takes over 100 pages.[1] The Risch–Norman algorithm is a simpler, faster, but less powerful variant that was developed in 1976 by A. C. Norman.
Description [ edit ]
The Risch algorithm is used to integrate elementary functions. These are functions obtained by composing exponentials, logarithms, radicals, trigonometric functions, and the four arithmetic operations (+ − × ÷). Laplace solved this problem for the case of rational functions, as he showed that the indefinite integral of a rational function is a rational function and a finite number of constant multiples of logarithms of rational functions. The algorithm suggested by Laplace is usually described in calculus textbooks; as a computer program, it was finally implemented in the 1960s.
Liouville formulated the problem that is solved by the Risch algorithm. Liouville proved by analytical means that if there is an elementary solution g to the equation g′ = f then there exist constants α i and functions u i and v in the field generated by f such that the solution is of the form
g = v + ∑ i < n α i ln ( u i ) {\displaystyle g=v+\sum _{i<n}\alpha _{i}\ln(u_{i})}
Risch developed a method that allows one to consider only a finite set of functions of Liouville's form.
The intuition for the Risch algorithm comes from the behavior of the exponential and logarithm functions under differentiation. For the function f eg, where f and g are differentiable functions, we have
( f ⋅ e g ) ′ = ( f ′ + f ⋅ g ′ ) ⋅ e g, {\displaystyle \left(f\cdot e^{g}\right)^{\prime }=\left(f^{\prime }+f\cdot g^{\prime }\right)\cdot e^{g},\,}
so if eg were in the result of an indefinite integration, it should be expected to be inside the integral. Also, as
( f ⋅ ( ln g ) n ) ′ = f ′ ( ln g ) n + n f g ′ g ( ln g ) n − 1 {\displaystyle \left(f\cdot (\ln g)^{n}\right)^{\prime }=f^{\prime }\left(\ln g\right)^{n}+nf{\frac {g^{\prime }}{g}}\left(\ln g\right)^{n-1}}
then if (ln g)n were in the result of an integration, then only a few powers of the logarithm should be expected.
Problem examples [ edit ]
Finding an elementary antiderivative is very sensitive to details. For instance, the following algebraic function has an elementary antiderivative:[2]
f ( x ) = x x 4 + 10 x 2 − 96 x − 71, {\displaystyle f(x)={\frac {x}{\sqrt {x^{4}+10x^{2}-96x-71}}},}
namely:
F ( x ) = − 1 8 ln ( ( x 6 + 15 x 4 − 80 x 3 + 27 x 2 − 528 x + 781 ) x 4 + 10 x 2 − 96 x − 71 − ( x 8 + 20 x 6 − 128 x 5 + 54 x 4 − 1408 x 3 + 3124 x 2 + 10001 ) ) + C. {\displaystyle F(x)=-{\tfrac {1}{8}}\ln \left(\left(x^{6}+15x^{4}-80x^{3}+27x^{2}-528x+781\right){\sqrt {x^{4}+10x^{2}-96x-71}}-\left(x^{8}+20x^{6}-128x^{5}+54x^{4}-1408x^{3}+3124x^{2}+10001\right)\right)+C.}
But if the constant term 71 is changed to 72, it is not possible to represent the antiderivative in terms of elementary functions. Some computer algebra systems may here return an antiderivative in terms of non-elementary functions (i.e. elliptic integrals), which however are outside the scope of the Risch algorithm.
The following is a more complex example that involves both algebraic and transcendental functions:[3]
f ( x ) = x 2 + 2 x + 1 + ( 3 x + 1 ) x + ln x x x + ln x ( x + x + ln x ). {\displaystyle f(x)={\frac {x^{2}+2x+1+(3x+1){\sqrt {x+\ln x}}}{x\,{\sqrt {x+\ln x}}\left(x+{\sqrt {x+\ln x}}\right)}}.}
In fact, the antiderivative of this function has a fairly short form:
F ( x ) = 2 ( x + ln x + ln ( x + x + ln x ) ) + C. {\displaystyle F(x)=2\left({\sqrt {x+\ln x}}+\ln \left(x+{\sqrt {x+\ln x}}\right)\right)+C.}
Implementation [ edit ]
Transforming Risch's theoretical algorithm into an algorithm that can be effectively executed by a computer was a complex task which took a long time.
The case of the purely transcendental functions (which do not involve roots of polynomials) is relatively easy and was implemented early in most computer algebra systems. The first implementation was done by Joel Moses in Macsyma soon after the publication of Risch's paper.[4]
The case of purely algebraic functions was solved and implemented in Reduce by James H. Davenport.[5]
The general case was solved and implemented in Scratchpad, a precursor of Axiom, by Manuel Bronstein.[6]
Decidability [ edit ]
The Risch algorithm applied to general elementary functions is not an algorithm but a semi-algorithm because it needs to check, as a part of its operation, if certain expressions are equivalent to zero (constant problem), in particular in the constant field. For expressions that involve only functions commonly taken to be elementary it is not known whether an algorithm performing such a check exists or not (current computer algebra systems use heuristics); moreover, if one adds the absolute value function to the list of elementary functions, it is known that no such algorithm exists; see Richardson's theorem.
Note that this issue also arises in the polynomial division algorithm; this algorithm will fail if it cannot correctly determine whether coefficients vanish identically.[7] Virtually every non-trivial algorithm relating to polynomials uses the polynomial division algorithm, the Risch algorithm included. If the constant field is computable, i.e., for elements not dependent on x, the problem of zero-equivalence is decidable, then the Risch algorithm is a complete algorithm. Examples of computable constant fields are Q and Q(y), i.e., rational numbers and rational functions in y with rational number coefficients, respectively, where y is an indeterminate that does not depend on x.
This is also an issue in the Gaussian elimination matrix algorithm (or any algorithm that can compute the nullspace of a matrix), which is also necessary for many parts of the Risch algorithm. Gaussian elimination will produce incorrect results if it cannot correctly determine if a pivot is identically zero[citation needed].
See also [ edit ]
Notes [ edit ]
References [ edit ]Yes, but is it good for the Jews?
That's the punch line of a long-running joke among those of us who grew up among Jewish parents and grandparents whose first reaction to almost any event would be to calculate how it would affect the tribe.
Looking at life through such a parochial lens is hardly unique to Jews, but for generations of Jews who were subject to various forms of persecution and discrimination, the instinct became ingrained. Arthur Goldberg to the Supreme Court: good. The espionage trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg: not so good. The "Godfather" movies breaking box-office records: good (puts spotlight on some other ethnic group). Sandy Koufax refusing to pitch a World Series game on Yom Kippur: bad (encourages anti-Semitism among Dodger fans).
For some, this instinct survives to this day. JTA, a Jewish news service, last week put out an upbeat story on the Blagojevich scandal in Illinois by noting that the governor's arrest has greatly improved the odds that Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky -- a Jew untainted by the scandal -- might be appointed to the Obama seat.
All of which brings us to Bernie Madoff -- "the Jewish T-bill" as he was known affectionately in Palm Beach and on Wall Street because of his reputation for delivering solid, reliable returns to his investors. The Madoff scandal is definitely not good for the Jews -- a shanda far die goyim, as my grandmother would have whispered in Yiddish so as not to upset us children. It's not only that this macher of the Jewish community may wind up holding the world indoor record for financial fraud with his alleged $50 billion Ponzi scheme. Even worse, many of his alleged victims were well-known Jews or Jewish philanthropic organizations, among them the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, which placed about $10 million of its endowment with Madoff.
The fallout from the Madoff scandal extends well beyond Jews, however. It's also an unmitigated disaster for Wall Street, which already stood accused of using complex new financial instruments to create the worst financial and economic crisis since the Great Depression. With the Madoff story, it is now revealed that the masters of the universe aren't just too clever by half -- they're not clever at all. For years, they not only allowed themselves to be bamboozled by a con artist but also willingly and enthusiastically served as his market agent, offering friends, relatives and favorite charities the opportunity to invest with their good pal, Bernie Madoff. (So much for the idea that wealthy individuals and "sophisticated |
ask questions of you and then you messages or give advice. After a while I grew bolder and wrote what is perhaps the finest (certainly the naughtiest) program of my lifetime: It would sit idle with a blank screen for some pre-determined length of time, when it would suddenly erupt with constantly scrolling coloured gibberish. I left that running at the end of the day once or twice in the hope it would give the cleaners a surprise.
Those skills turned out to be useful at college. I studied maths and the graphics calculator I bought let me write programs using a simple Basic dialect.
Basic on Adam Fisher's Casio calculator. Photograph: Adam Fisher
Here emerged a new chapter in my programming. I wrote programs to do my homework for me, little utilities to play tricks on my friends and devised some games. I even put a slow-loading screen at the start of one game to make it seem more complicated than it was.
After college I continued to study maths and it was a few years before I got into programming properly, but looking back the seeds were always there - and it was Basic that nurtured them.
'The great satisfaction of producing something yourself'
Brian Phillips retired programmer
Basic was not the first programming language I learned in the 1970s (dear old COBOL and a couple of Assemblers) – in fact, I only used it professionally once, during the 1990s.
But by then, the arrival of PCs changed everything. For curious coders like myself, Basic came into its own. You had unlimited machine time, and, while its data handling was crude, its syntax was straightforward and there was no waiting for the code to compile. From a first “Mastermind” guess the number routine on a Sinclair ZX80 through Amstrad’s Locomotive Basic and QBASIC to Microsoft’s VBA, I have used Basic for nearly four decades. The key thing is its simplicity.
You type in the code, run it, fix it, run it, fix it (in my case ad infinitum).
Although I am long retired from IT, I still use Basic on a couple of personal projects. I’m glad that Microsoft stuck with it, because I now have the advantage of a simple programming language with more complex data structuring and handling at my disposal. For OAPs (Old Aged Programmers) it still offers the opportunity to write procedural code. Coding dinosaurs like me view Object Oriented Programming with intense suspicion, which is probably why we faded away.
I was especially fond of QBASIC and Visual Basic, from which you could get a skeleton of a programme together in a couple of hours. Despite the innumerable late nights and early mornings trying to resolve a particular problem that may have proved frustrating or futile, there is still the great satisfaction of knowing that you yourself (and anyone with a sufficiently logical mind) can still produce a piece of bespoke code that does exactly what you want it to do.
It seems ironic that Basic - a kind of afterthought as a programming language - has endured longer than its rivals COBOL, Fortran and others, but this is a case of the survival of the fittest.
• Baby we were born to RUN: how the coding language was born in a New Hampshire basement fifty years agoSt. Giles, Abbot (Patron of Physically Disabled) Feast day - September 1
St. Giles is said to have been a seventh century Athenian of noble birth. His piety and learning made him so conspicuous and an object of such admiration in his own country that, dreading praise and longing for a hidden life, he left his home and sailed for France. At first he took up his abode in a wilderness near the mouth of the Rhone river, afterward near the river Gard, and, finally, in the diocese of Nimes.
He spend many years in solitude conversing only with God. The fame of his miracles became so great that his reputation spread throughout France. He was highly esteemed by the French king, but he could not be prevailed upon to forsake his solitude. He admitted several disciples, however, to share it with him. He founded a monastery, and established an excellent discipline therein. In succeeding ages it embraced the rule of St. Benedict. St. Giles died probably in the beginning of the eighth century, about the year 724.When outreach gets out of hand
We get a lot of nice links for our clients and I am sure the other individuals contributing to this piece will provide lots of good stories about how they got great links for themselves or their clients as well.
However, my favourite link building story serves as more of a cautionary tale. I can look back and laugh about it now but at the time I was seriously frustrated about the whole thing…
Back in 2012, I had a client who I was helping to connect with sports and outdoor activity publishers. The relevance was there and by and large the response was positive (and very effective).
There was one publisher though that I really wanted to get a link from because I knew there would be that gravitas for the client of being featured and there would almost certainly be some ongoing referral traffic.
This publisher was based in the US but covered their sport internationally. Now I knew I was chancing my arm to a certain extent offering to contribute a piece to their website (and magazine) about goings-on in this sport local to me since I certainly wasn’t proficient in the sport BUT I was local and figured I’d be able to research the rest and still be providing value that way.
The initial response to my outreach email was positive. They were delighted I’d got in touch and wanted me to write the initial coverage for an upcoming event that was taking place about an hour from me. And they were offering to pay me to do it.
I kicked back feeling like the smartest guy in the room; “I’m going to get a link for this client and then not even have to charge the client because the publisher is going to pay me.” I paused, double checked, then triple checked that the publisher would be happy to include details of the client I was working on behalf of because I felt there was definitely a strong relevance – they agreed.
The paperwork arrived and also entry passes for the event itself, I though “Oh they’ve sorted me a media badge or something”… Nope, it was a participant’s entry badge. Apparently agreeing to cover event meant I was going to take part and write it up afterwards.
I thought well it is a good link, they’re paying me, it’ll be a bit of fun and frankly I’ve come this far. How hard can this event really be?
Now I’m a fit and healthy guy but let me tell you it nearly killed me.
The event covers a distance of about 400 miles and obviously it is split into different legs with different team members tackling the different challenges.
It was brutal.
Anyway, we finished, I wrote up the adventure and submitted the piece. It was due for publication about a month afterward I believe. They sent me a copy of the magazine. Not a single mention of the client. I must have re-read the article 10 times to check I wasn’t missing something, I even flicked to the back to see if there was a mention elsewhere. Nada.
Later that week I got an email to say it had been cut from their online publishing schedule as well due to lack of space (do websites have a fixed amount of space for editorial?!!). Gutted.
Were they trying to screw me? No not at all. They paid up as agreed, I had a bit of fun, they got their piece and it is just the way old-school publishers work, things get cut, the person you deal with doesn’t necessarily have the authority to approve your requests and it’s the nature of the beast.
Let this serve as a cautionary tale though that when you are going for the big links, talking to ‘real’ publishers, the dynamic is very different – they don’t always understand what you are trying to achieve and many know they hold the cards since you are playing in their kingdom.
It hasn’t put me off reaching out to these kinds of publications or encouraging my team to do so but be VERY careful what you sign yourself up for!Signup to receive a daily roundup of the top LGBT+ news stories from around the world
Australian’s same-sex couple who have got married abroad have reported finding it near on impossible to seek out a divorce.
As same-sex couples do not yet have marriage equality in the country, the current legislature does recognise ceremonies performed outside of the country.
This means that the country does not recognise marriages, and thus divorce proceedings are near on impossible to complete in the country, a factor that is costing Australian over $500 million.
The issue stems from section 88EA of the Marriage Act 1961 which states that “Certain unions are not marriages. A union solemnised in a foreign country between” (a) a man and another man, or a woman and another woman; must not be recognised as a marriage in Australia.
Although the lack of marriage equality has been a controversial issue for a number of years in the country, the issue of not being able to get divorced is a new aspect which is now being deemed “cruel”.
Anna Brown, the director of legal advocacy at the Human Rights Law Centre, explained that the refusal to legalise same-sex marriage was having “unexpectedly cruel consequences in reality”.
“It can leave people trapped in a legal limbo where their marriage is legal in one country but not here,” she told BuzzFeed News.
Another knock on effect means that those who are unable to divorce are also unable to marry again, otherwise, they would be committing bigamy.
Brown explained that the situation can quickly become a “legal minefield”.
“Technically, while you remain married to someone you are required to maintain that person, so people can find themselves in situations where a spouse from an overseas marriage makes a claim on their property years after they have separated if they don’t look after their affairs properly,” Brown said.
While overseas governments can offer and recognise same-sex marriages, they often are not required to inform couples about divorce.
“Only the Australian government can ensure overseas same-sex marriages are legally recognised in Australia and avoid the legal black hole that couples can find themselves in,” Brown said.
Gemma Killen married her ex in Canada in 2012, but the couple split in 2014.
She did not seek out divorce immediately, but when she met her current partner and things grew serious she realised that she would have to seek out divorce.
After months of research, Killen had still not come to a resolution.
“I would find myself in this hole of government forms. I always sat down thinking, ‘this time I’m going to figure it out’ – how to fill in forms, which ones, where to send them. And then an hour later I’d be like, I just can’t. I just can’t figure it out.”
As well as the logistical stress, Killen felt another level of shame about her failed marriage because of her sexuality.
“You can’t really talk about getting divorced because we’re supposed to be holding ourselves up as worthy of marriage, which is ridiculous,” she said. “It feels like we have to be twice as good at it.”
“Something has to be done about it. You can’t have people in legal limbo,” she added.MARQUETTE — A 20-year-old Baraga County man was found dead at Founder’s Landing this morning of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, according to the Marquette Police Department.
Police Chief Blake Rieboldt said police received the call at about 8:40 this morning. An employee of the Marquette Parks and Recreation Department found the body seated at a picnic table above the boathouse across from the Landing Condominiums.
Police found the man with his head on the table holding a handgun.
Rieboldt said police were there within minutes of the wound.
“We were there pretty much immediately. There was a slight pulse at first, so they tried to do the best they could, … but it was already done,” Rieboldt said. “He wasn’t going to be saved.”
Det. Mike Archocosky said there is strong evidence to suggest that this was a suicide.
Next of kin have been notified, but police are waiting to release the name to give the family more time, Archocosky said.
No more information could be released, as the investigation is ongoing.WASHINGTON -- During a photo op with the leader of Vietnam Wednesday, President Trump was asked if he is going to pull out of the Paris climate accord.
What you need to know about the Paris climate accord
"You're going to find out very soon," Mr. Trump said.
He seemed to suggest he still hasn't made up his mind.
"I'm hearing from a lot of people, both ways," he said.
But CBS News confirms that the president has started to tell confidants he will withdraw from the agreement. Reports to that effect ricocheted around the globe, drawing criticism from world leaders.
"Climate change is a global challenge. No country can place itself outside of this," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said in a daily news briefing.
On Thursday, the BBC reported that China and the European Union were drafting a joint statement to be delivered after an EU-China summit in Brussels on Friday. In it, the two powers will reportedly say the Paris climate agreement is "an imperative more important than ever."
"The EU and China are joining forces to forge ahead on the implementation of the Paris agreement and accelerate the global transition to clean energy," EU Climate Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete told the Guardian newspaper.
The prime minister of India said it would be a "crime" to spoil the environment for future generations.
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker Reuters
Finland's prime minister said climate change won't be reversed "by closing your eyes."
In Berlin, the head of the European Commission lectured Mr. Trump that "not everything in international agreements is fake news."
Only two nations -- Syria and Nicaragua -- oppose the climate accord.
During the campaign, Mr. Trump dismissed the scientific consensus that rising temperatures are caused primarily by fossil fuels like coal and oil.
But even most major American businesses -- from Exxon to Apple -- support the agreement.
Brian Deese CBS News
Brian Deese, who was President Obama's point person on the Paris accord, says it's not just about the environment -- it's about the economy.
"Across the globe we have a competition for who's going to be the clean energy superpower of the 21st century and who is going to gain the economic benefits from doing that," Deese said. "But we can't win if we step off the playing field and disengage all together."
There is still some uncertainty about the president's decision. Sources say the president has discussed the possibility of renegotiating the agreement, but it's not clear that the rest of the world would go along.I have learned that Ana de la Reguera (Narcos) and Hugh Dillon (The Killing) are among the latest actors to quietly book arcs on the upcoming new installment of David Lynch’s groundbreaking 1990 supernatural mystery series Twin Peaks.
They join returning star Kyle MacLachlan, who is reprising his role as Special Agent Dale Cooper from the original series. New cast additions for the new season, set for an early 2017 premiere, are also believed to include Naomi Watts, Laura Dern, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Amanda Seyfried, Ashley Judd, Tom Sizemore, Balthazar Getty, Patrick Fischler, David Dastmalchian, Grant Goodeve, Larry Clarke and Caleb Landry Jones.
Lynch is directing the new installment from a script he co-wrote with fellow Twin Peaks co-creator Mark Frost.
Dillon also recently booked a supporting role in Taylor Sheridan-directed Wind River opposite Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olsen. He’s repped by Gersh, LINK, and Bernie Breen Management in Toronto. De la Reguera has recurred as Elisa Alvaro on Narcos and Paola on Jane The Virgin. She is repped by Paradigm, ROAR and Gang, Tyre, Ramer & Brown.Announcing Neo4j “Boden Bord” 1.5 GA Release
Down in the engine room
Property store(s) have a new layout on disk, resulting in roughly a 30% reduction in size and a speed bonus as fewer I/O read operations for reading properties. Correspondingly, we’ve updated the batch inserter and added a store migration utility that can be run on startup to migrate older stores.
There’s a lot of useful system/environment logging that will appear in messages.log to help problem solving for lone hackers, community members, and our customers.
Server’s up
HTTP request-level authorisation, fully customizable by developers.
More control over the server’s IP address.
Lower memory overhead for the batch API and better response codes/hints when errors occur.
Simpler REST indexing APIs, particularly useful for folks on the.NET platform.
Cypher
Optional Relationships in match clauses.
New predicates ALL/ANY/NONE/SINGLE for iterables.
Path functions for NODES/RELATIONSHIPS/LENGTH.
Parameterizable literals,index queries and node/relationship id.
Support for the shortest path algorithm.
Bound relationships.
Sensible NULL checking.
A new aggregate function to COLLECT results.
The DISTINCT modifier for all aggregate functions.
Nodes/relationships can be parameters.
Highly Available, made Highly Awesome
Autumnal Blossoms
Get it while it’s hot
Hello graphistas! After a successful Milestone 2 release of Neo4j 1.5 “Boden Bord” and excellent community and customer feedback, we’ve been busy at work putting the finishing touches to our Neo4j 1.5 GA release, which is now available on our downloads page. Since the last milestone you’ll find we’ve smoothed a few rough edges and the documentation has been made really spick-and-span. We think this is our best release yet, but you can be the judge of that considering the splendid set of features and improvements that have gone into it.The Neo4j kernel and other low-level components always gets some love from our hackers, and although not all of their efforts are immediately obvious as new shiny features their endeavours keep Neo4j getting smaller and faster (and brighter and shinier) every release. In the 1.5 GA release we’ve added some cool stuff and importantly we’ve taken some stuff out too — so your databases will be smaller on disk!The Neo4j server has received a lot of attention in this release, both in the Webadmin tool and the REST API. Webadmin has been substantially refined and now offers style profiles that enable users to create rich, domain-specific graph visualizations. It also supports user-defined icons, which can really help with large/interconnected graphs. The visualization in Webadmin really looks super now, and so will your great domain-specific graphs. We’d love to see what you come up with. For inspiration, take a look at what computational biologist @pablopareja has done with an excellent domain-specific visualization example in his post on microsatellites The Neo4j server has been upgraded to support:The Cypher query language goes from strength to strength and is becoming an important pillar of how developers and users interact with graph data. Building on the solid foundation released in the previous milestone, the Cypher team have managed to move quickly enough to squeeze in even more features for this GA release. So in addition to all the goodies from previous releases:Cypher now supports:And in a prolific display of developerproductivity, our community lead Peter Neubauer has even started a Cypher cookbook to capture good idioms and Cypher patterns. It’s also a great place to learn from and contribute to, so jump right in.Our team of tamed kernel hackers have been applying their talents to improving the operational characteristics of Neo4j’s HA clustering. The HA protocol runs way faster now thanks to a revised asynchronous implementation, to the point where production clusters can be run spread across geographically remote locations on unpredictable cloud hardware. Talk about Web scale! We’ve also made a set of changes under the covers to refine the way Neo4j clusters work at larger scales and distributions, including some level of self-healing when transaction managers restarted when they’re found to be in a non-operational state, and proactive repairing of the underlying datastore after a full store copy from master so that log version is synced. To make operating HA clusters a more convenient experience, we’ve added better support for keeping ZooKeeper under control and changed the names of some of the Neo4j config to de-emphasise ZooKeeper’s role and keep cluster administration focussed on Neo4j (which means you might have to revise your deployment scripts to use Neo4j 1.5 GA).Following closely on the heels of the 1.5GA release, Spring Data Neo4j (SDN) will be going to 2.0.0.RELEASE. We’ve gotten great feedback from the SpringOne 2GX conference in Chicago, during which we released a milestone of SDN. Much code has been improved, examples polished and documentation updated with all the changes. If you’re a Java enterprise developer, this is the hot package to warm up your code. Learn more by reading the guide book “ Good Relationships ” by our own Michael Hunger.We always value your feedback and would love for you to join our friendly and information-rich community mailing list. The Neo4j 1.5 GA is ready for download, so download it and get involved Until the next release, stay connected. Jim Webber, Chief Scientist @ Neo TechnologyChristian Bale said that the only advice he gave Ben Affleck about playing Batman was to make sure he could pee on his own, but according to Jennifer Garner, Affleck may be basing his Bat-voice on Bale’s infamous growl.
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In the latest issue of Empire Magazine (via Comic Book Movie), Mrs. Affleck spills the details on what Ben Affleck’s Batman voice will sound like in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice:
“We were not privy to the Batman voice at home, but I’ve been on set enough to hear bits of it. It’s spot on. Growly and decisive and sexy, if I do say so myself! Exactly what you would hope it to be!”
Hopefully it won’t be too long before we all hear what exactly Affleck’s “growly, decisive, and sexy” Bat-voice sounds like. The first teaser trailer for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is rumored to be coming later this year.
How do you feel about Ben Affleck taking a similar approach to Batman’s voice as Christian Bale? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
SOURCE: Empire Magazine (via Comic Book Movie)Hindy, to Bloomberg's left. | Spencer T Tucker Brooklyn Brewery president says paid sick leave 'would be very difficult for a lot of very small companies'
Brooklyn Brewery president Steve Hindy, a prominent businessman who earlier this month came out in support of the “living wage” legislation then under consideration in the City Council, does not plan to similarly speak out in favor of paid sick leave.
“I’m not taking a position in favor of that, the paid sick leave,” said Hindy in a phone conversation with Capital. “I think it would be very difficult for a lot of very small companies.”
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"I’m not a politician, I’m a beer salesman," he hastened to add.
The paid sick leave bill, sponsored by Councilwoman Gale Brewer and heavily backed by unions, would require most employers to provide one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours an employee works.
The bill is believed to have a veto-proof majority in the City Council, but speaker Christine Quinn has refused to let it come up for a vote. Proponents of the bill have in recent days offered to carve out exemptions for new small businesses and for businesses with fewer than five employees. Yesterday, Quinn said she hadn't seen the proposed amendments, and once again declined to express any support for the measure.
"As I said over a year or so ago now, I think the sponsors and proponents of paid sick leave, their goal is a laudable one," said Quinn. "That said, in the economic environment we are in, small businesses are hanging on by a thread in many cases, and I think although this goal is laudable, it’s not one that I could support because I think it is one that could cost us jobs, and cost us small businesses and their future in these tough economic times."
Earlier this month, the living wage bill was in a similar predicament. The legislation would have required a small number of city-subsidized developers, and their retail tenants, to pay employees $10 an hour with health benefits, or $11.50 without. The state minimum wage is now $7.25 an hour.
On Jan. 6, the Living Wage Coalition NYC, backed by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, trotted out Hindy's endorsement of living wage as evidence that a healthy business and enlightened employment practices could happily coexist.
"When large developers and companies benefiting from subsidies boost wages, everyone wins: more working people are self-sufficient, more demand for products and services is generated and consumer spending at businesses of all sizes increases," said Hindy in a statement at the time. "This legislation tells the private sector that government wants to incentivize a higher-wage economy that will enable New York City to maintain its competitive advantage. It’s the right message to send.”
City Council Speaker Christine Quinn ultimately negotiated a compromise living wage bill that exempted retail tenants. She managed to get both the city's business establishment and the union-backed Living Wage Coalition NYC on board, even though the latter had formerly called such a compromise "a fraud."
Today, Hindy said he was always troubled by the inclusion of retail tenants in the bill.
"It did seem unfair that the benefit of the subsidy might go to the developer, and you know the retailer would have no gain from that, but would be required to pay the higher wage," said Hindy.
Of the ensuing compromise legislation, he added, "I think it’s probably about the best that can be achieved at the moment, you know with the mayor’s position and Christine Quinn’s position."Illustration by Dan Evans
This week's inductee to The Cult put himself through immense physical strain to pull on a Spurs shirt each weekend – and the White Hart Lane faithful loved him all the more for it. You can read previous entries here.
Cult Grade: The Man Who Would Be King
There are a few things to consider when you think of the state of play in the Premier League at the turn of the millennium. For one thing, Tottenham Hotspur weren't the force they have become in recent seasons. This was a different time: teams like Leeds United were very much relevant and competing in the Champions League (before their big Jordan Belfort moment) and Coventry City were still in the top tier.
Tottenham finished 10th in 2000, with Leeds third, then 12th in 2001. Spurs were a Fulham (of Scott Parker and Clint Dempsey vintage) or West Ham (of Scott Parker vintage) in terms of mid-table mediocrity and the odd stylish star. The common soundbite back then – and seemingly for time immemorial – was that Tottenham played nice, easy-on-the-eye football, but that if you really got at them – really got all up in their faces – they'd eventually succumb and collapse like opiate-fuelled dandies. That Fergie simply said "Lads, its Tottenham" prior to a clash with Manchester United explains this perfectly.
The man who helped put an end to that inherent shitshow of weakness – as best as one man could – was Ledley King. After making his senior debut for Spurs under George Graham in 1999 King established himself the following year, often playing as a holding midfielder. Clearly, though, his significance and his place in The Cult lie in his ability at centre-back. The fact that he was played in midfield early in his Spurs career just tells us he was a good ball player; that's what set him apart from a glut of nuts-and-bolts centre-halves, who were a dime a dozen back then. Take Gary Doherty, King's peer in the Spurs squad between 2000 and 2004, for example.
One of the most technically gifted players to ever wear a Spurs shirt. Also pictured: Luka Modric // PA Images
Through the years King would prove he had the agility of a youthful Rio Ferdinand and the ball-playing tekkers of a Desailly, but with all the poise and command of Bobby Moore. As a one-club man, he was our John Terry, but without all the inherent evil. I took pride in knowing our homemade stalwart was one of the good guys.
He's sometimes regarded as the best defender Tottenham and England barely had, but I'd go beyond that and say he was the best defender of his generation. Of course, we do love "what ifs", especially us Spurs fans, who in recent years have so often been on the edge of success only to be taken in by the warm, comforting embrace of the botch job.
The trouble with Ledley is that the discussions about the man who would be king – of the Lane, perhaps, maybe of so much more – always carried the disclaimer: "body permitting". His was a body that was both Rolls Royce and Reliant Robin, sometimes simultaneously. At his peak he outpaced even Arjen Robben, but he was robbed of his prime years by a number of injuries that railroaded what would have otherwise been an even greater career. The most notable was his recurring knee problem, an ailment that would eventually see him play top-class football without training in the week and with a cartilage-free left knee.
Point of Entry: Declared Fit
The fact that his knee was made of cinder wood by the end of his career really speaks volumes about the otherworldly talent and skill King possessed. He maintained his fitness by swimming in Spurs' pool and only played actual football at weekends. Surely no player could survive large stretches of their career only playing competitive matches, without ever training, and not experience slumps in form. That is unless they possessed a wealth of residual talent, knowledge and position-specific knowhow. With a handful of exceptions, every professional in the world must do what they do all the time if they want to be good at it. Ledley King was among those exceptions.
Imagine never training, yet still performing well enough to get your one and only club into the Champions League, when all around you are higher-waged sides and UAE-Russo-backed playthings masquerading as projects. King's story is just as significant for the fact that he played on for so long when his body simply didn't want to. He must have felt the profound affection of the Tottenham faithful every time he featured and, in a way, that love would have helped him endure.
READ MORE: The Cult – Alan Shearer
Many players suffer catastrophic injuries that end their career outright, sometimes when beginning the crest of their peak in form. Dean Ashton was just about to cement his spot in the national set-up when Sean Wright-Phillips came in like a perma-one-for-the-future wrecking ball and shattered his ankle. Roy Keane ended Alf-Inge Håland's career in the Manchester derby in one fell swoop of bone-crushing disregard for humanity. Jack Wilshere seems condemned to a life sat on the sidelines, intermittently vaping.
Ledley leaps through the pain barrier and into a perfectly-timed header // PA Images
Of course, footballers have been playing through career-ending problems since long before the Premier League was dreamt up on the back of a napkin in a dimly lit room in Soho. The goalkeeper Bert Trautmann famously helped his Manchester City side win the 1956 FA Cup Final despite nursing a broken neck sustained in the middle of the game. There are several mad examples of unbridled bravery and pride like this, but few instances of players going on, year on year, through physical deterioration like King's knee problem. Football is scattered with sick notes, but Ledley's is unique, in a sense, as his injury caused him immense and almost constant pain. Thanks to a few injections, the agony only came after the game. Accordingly, he was able to stay sharp and be effective every time he was surgically transplanted back into the starting XI.
READ MORE: The Cult – Craig Bellamy
This meant that when he played, he knew he would be paying for it in the week, but he'd be able to compete when needed. Still, he would have understood that with each game he was playing he was eroding more and more cartilage in his knee, until it totally wore away. Whether the advancement of medical science and operations mean he has no lasting pain, I wouldn't want to guess (and make shit up in the process). However, it seems fair to assume it's going to be problematic for him for the rest of his life. This is the sort of commitment he made to his sport and to his club. Beyond his footballing ability – which was immense – it's his sacrifice that makes King so worthy, so heroic, so totally, utterly Cult.
The Moment: A Tackle Fit For a King, November 2006
It's not especially easy to find YouTube clips of defenders carrying out their defensive duties. Most of their job is anticipation and positioning, things that don't generally make great viewing. Invariably, you might see clips of a defender doing tricks, scoring goals or skinning players; this is then held up as a sign of quality, but can be deeply deceiving in centre-backs. I watched videos of Vlad Chiriches looking like a world beater, but it turned out to be amateur hour the moment he rocked up at White Hart Lane.
We could talk about the ridiculously early goal which Ledley scored against Bradford, but I'd rather show you this sublime tackle on Arjen Robben. The context is a tad frustrating because Spurs go on to concede from the resulting corner, but that's irrelevant (or, being as it's Spurs, perhaps it's fitting). King didn't know that, anyway – he just made the tackle. The gas he shows sprinting from the halfway line to make a perfectly timed challenge on the mightily speedy Robben, just as he's about to pull the trigger, is quite remarkable.
Closing Statements
"He is an absolute freak." –– Harry Redknapp
@nick_thompsonogPHILADELPHIA (CBS) — More trouble for Seth Williams more charges filed against Philadelphia’s top law official by the acting US Attorney in New Jersey.
Williams was indicted in March on 23 bribery and corruption charges, but that count is now up to 29.
In a superseding indictment, government officials allege District Attorney Seth Williams used campaign money to buy birthday presents for his girlfriend, along with massages, facials and clothing from a health club.
Philly DA Seth Williams Finds New Lawyer, Temporarily Suspends Law License
They say he used city vehicles designated for an anti-drug-trafficking program, for personal trips, including some of out state.
“All of the information which these charges are based upon, the US Attorney’s office has had for years,” said Williams Attorney Tom Burke.
He denies his client did anything wrong and says calls it a ploy by the prosecutors.
Philly DA Seth Williams Pleads Not Guilty, Released On $50,000 Bail
“They are going to try to add as many charges onto the existing indictment so that they can go before a Federal jury with as many charges in the hopes that something sticks.” he said.
Williams trial is set to begin May 31.Haggard and heavy, the sumo wrestlers of the Arashio stable began to stir. A young rikishi (wrestler) stumbled over sprawling camp beds and stray limbs, coaxing his colleagues out of their deep slumbers. Some opened heavy eyes, while others batted away the young novice’s attempts and returned mulishly to sleep. It was 5:30 am and cold outside – and what awaited the wrestlers was hours of bone-crunching practice in an abandoned car park in the outskirts of Osaka.
The stable – where the rikishi live and train – had temporarily moved to Osaka from its Tokyo home, so the sumos could take part in one of six annual tournaments. I had managed to get access to the wrestlers in the week leading up to the March Osaka tournament, or hon basho, and was interested to view the daily realities of this secretive sport.
After heaving themselves out of bed the rikishi washed and dressed for practice, fixing their hair into slippery chonmage (topknots) and tying the 3m-long mawashi (loincloth) around their inordinate girths. They did not eat breakfast in order to slow down their metabolisms and increase their appetites, and began the day on the longing gurgles of their empty stomachs.
The wrestlers moved like a fleet of ships bashed between high waves, tossing and rolling their bodies down a narrow staircase and into the small marquee outside. There, they set about preparing the dohyo, the sacred circular ring in which the sumo bouts are held. After the clay floor was swept and the perimeters of the ring properly demarcated, the wrestlers nursed old wounds with tape, tightened saggy loincloths and began to stretch. They bent into improbable positions with an ease not unlike the fleshy suppleness of wet clay, and with a grace that negated the slosh and sway of their heavy paunches. One wrestler, whose vast shoulders swelled up the nape of his neck, sat nonchalantly, his thick legs splayed at 90-degree angles like a gargantuan banana skin. Another pressed his head deeply into his knees, his flanks rippling like a folded mattress. All this was done in silence, with the heavy air of a religious ceremony.
Sumo is a sport shrouded in spirituality. Historians agree that sumo dates back to the Tumulus period, around the 3rd Century, when fights were incorporated into rituals and performed on the sacred grounds of temples, in the presence of priests and other religious figures. As such, many of its practices derive from Shintoism, Japan’s official religion. Starting in the 17th Century, as matches were held to raise funds for public construction projects, these rituals transitioned into a sporting event. Sumo transformed into a business and the rikishi into professionals. The celebrity of the wrestlers grew in conjunction with the sale of woodblock prints featuring famous bouts, and the secret sport of Shinto became the opium of the Japanese masses. Little by little the tangible heroism of its wrestlers began to overshadow the abstract powers of the gods, and sumo became more a spectacle than a form of prayer.
After the stretching session, the stable began its training in earnest. Some wrestlers pumped weights in furious repetitions with equally furious grimaces, while others slid and scuttled across the dohyo in a crouched position called the suriashi. A few of the younger wrestlers started with the much parodied sumo manoeuvre, the shiko, in which the wrestler rocks from side to side in series of flailing legs, deep squats and dry, shallow slaps. This |
compared the faith-based adoption bill to “religious exemption” laws introduced in other state legislatures. Currently, 45 bills are under consideration across the country that would allow people of faith to discriminate against LGBT people on the basis of religion.
South Dakota passed a law in March allowing adoption and foster care agencies to deny placement to LGBT families, while a similar bill stalled in the Texas General Assembly earlier this year. The American Civil Liberties Union has estimated that this year, state legislatures will debate over 200 laws aimed at curtailing the rights of the LGBT community.
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Marshall called the onslaught of discriminatory litigation a “kneejerk backlash” to the “sea change” in LGBT rights in recent years.
While passing HB 24 would be bad for everyone, advocates say it’s children who would be hit the hardest. Kendrick, who is currently applying to be a foster parent with her partner, said there aren’t nearly enough families in Alabama to meet the high demand. The couple lives in Jefferson County, the largest in the state, and Kendrick said that there are just 250 homes registered in the foster care system. There are 1,200 children who need placement in Jefferson County, and many, many more across the state.
“HB 24 would do the most harm to the more than 5,500 children in Alabama’s child welfare system who are waiting for loving and stable families and they’re calling this a solution and an inclusive act,” Kendrick said. “It’s a solution to a nonexistent problem.”
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Gov. Ivey, sworn in following the resignation of former Gov. Robert Bentley, has claimed that she wants to steady “the ship of state” following a sex scandal which forced her predecessor to step down. LGBT advocates believe that Ivey, whose spokesperson claimed that the new governor “still needs time to review the bill,” has a golden opportunity to do so — by standing up for Alabama’s children.
“It’s turning the whole standard of what’s in a child’s best interests on its head in order to vindicate somebody’s perceived religious belief,” Marshall said. “We can’t afford to lose any loving, qualified families who want to adopt.”Minister Louis Farrakhan recently responded to President Obama's endorsement of gay marriage calling him "the first president that sanctioned what the scriptures forbid," according to a video posted by the Nation of Islam's "official" news source, Finalcall.com.
During an address at the California Convention Center on Sunday, the Nation of Islam leader ridiculed the media for its portrayal of Obama after the announcement, and chastised politicians and clergy for hypocritically supporting gay marriage despite the fact that the Bible forbids it.
Throughout his speech, Farrakhan carefully points out that he does not condone homophobia, saying "I'm not your enemy. I'm your brother, and I do love you." However, he said "sin is sin according to the standard of God."
"Males coming to males with lust in their hearts as they should to a female," he said. "Now don't you dare say Farrakhan was preaching hate; he's homophobic. I'm not afraid of my brothers and sisters or others who may be practicing what God condemned in the days of Lot. That's not our job to be hateful of our people. Our job is to call us to sanity."
Farrakhan goes on to call out clergy who support gay marriage, saying they are placing society's needs over God's.
"Is this the book that you believe in, but now you('re) backing down from an aspect of it because people will get offended?" he asked.
He also ridicules Newsweek for mocking Obama with their magazine cover that referred to him as the "first gay president," and attacked politicians who take their oath with their hand on the Bible.
"If the book is no good," he said. "What the hell are you using it for to take an oath of office to uphold, not the Bible, but the constitution?"
Farrakhan's words are a mere addition to a firestorm of responses since Obama officially endorsed gay marriage. The president's announcement has the black church community split down the middle with some clergy speaking out against gay marriage and others asking their congregants not to let Obama's stance affect their vote.Goat dangling from cable by horns rescued in Greece
Updated
A goat dangling precariously from an overhead cable by its horns was rescued by a group of men along a remote road in Greece.
In a first unsuccessful attempt, the men used a ladder to hook onto the goat and tried to shimmy the animal back towards trees.
Those leafy trees near the small town of Sykourio is where Dr Sandra Baxendell, a goat-only veterinarian, suspected it all began.
"It looks like the goat got into a tree to eat some leaves and became attached to the wire that way," she said.
"Or someone put it up there, but it's unlikely.
"Goats are known for getting up trees."
In a second rescue attempt, the men tied rope to the goat's feet, before pulling the goat along the cable to safety.
Before too long, the goat was able to go on its way.
Dr Baxenwell said the men did a good job of rescuing what appeared to be a Damascus goat, and it was unlikely the goat was hurt, as it "wandered off pretty happily".
"The horns are pretty strong, although it's never advisable to handle a goat by horns — they can break," she said.
Topics: animals, greece
First postedMedia playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Alison Holt looks at former priest Philip Temple's trail of sex abuse
A former social worker and Catholic priest has been jailed for 12 years after admitting historical child sex abuse charges dating back to the 1970s.
Philip Temple, 66, admitted abusing 12 boys and one girl while working in south London care homes and a north London church.
He also admitted lying on oath in the 1990s when he was cleared of child sex abuse charges against a teenage boy.
Judge Christopher Hehir apologised to the victim at Woolwich Crown Court.
He said: "I am sorry justice was not done when you came to court in 1998 and 1999."
The victim, who cannot be named, told the court he self-harmed, became a recluse and even tried to kill himself after the previous trials.
'Robbed of childhood'
He said: "I can only imagine the damage he has caused to other victims. We can never escape what he did and we can never be free of it."
In a statement read out in court, one victim said: "I feel like I have been robbed of my childhood and sometimes when I see other children in the street I wish I could go back in time and be a child again."
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Victim: "My trust in the legal system was undermined when he was acquitted"
During sentencing, the judge told Temple: "You of course exploited the opportunities your deceit as to your character had afforded you, not only by sexually abusing children but, as a priest, by lying on oath to deny the truthful accusations brought against you by one of your victims.
"Your actions as a priest demonstrated that in truth you were a wolf in shepherd's clothing."
On Tuesday, Temple admitted seven charges committed in the 1970s. He had already admitted 20 similar charges and two of perjury at Croydon Crown Court in April.
Image copyright Julia Quenzler Image caption Philip Temple had'sociopathic qualities' according to one of his victims
Temple abused boys and a girl while working as a social worker in Lambeth and Wandsworth councils between 1971 and 1977.
He became a priest in 1988 and served at Christ the King Monastery in Cockfosters, where he abused two children, including an altar boy.
He abused youngsters in children's homes in south London, including the Shirley Oaks complex near Croydon, the court heard.
Raymond Stephenson of the Shirley Oaks Survivors Association said: "If Temple had been caught at Shirley Oaks he would not have been able to abuse anyone else."
A Lambeth Council spokesman said it was cooperating fully with the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) and added: "We hope the outcome provides some solace to the victims of these dreadful crimes."
A spokesperson for the Catholic Church in England and Wales said when concerns were raised it was limited in the measures it could take because as a monk he was answerable to the head of his order in Italy rather than the archdiocese here.
Timeline of abuse
Image copyright Google Image caption Christ the King Church, site of the monastery in EnfieldDetecting A Surveillance State - Part 4 Cellular Attacks
This is the fourth and final post in my series of posts about state actor surveillance technologies. Thus far we've covered hardware infections, radio frequency exfiltration devices and BIOS/Firmware infections. In this final post, I'll discuss a topic that might be more relevant to a broader audience--cell phone monitoring and cellular network attacks.
This series of posts have been based on the public knowledge gathered together on the Wikipedia page for the leaks released by Der Spiegel and what was publically disclosed at the recent 30c3 conference.
A lot of data has been made available pertaining to the cell phone and cellular network surveillance attacks. Below I categorize attacks under the following types: cell phone monitoring, cell phone malware and rogue cell towers. Instead of addressing the theoretical defenses against each particular attack, I discuss defenses against each type of attack.
As cell phones are still an emerging market when it comes to attacks and defenses, I must take a moment to tip my hat to the individuals responsible for these attacks, which were all available in 2007 and 2008. Most of the device specific attacks listed in the leaked documents reference what is now out-dated hardware and software (Windows CE, Flip Phone handsets, etc…) but the attacks could work similarly and have been updated to target Android, IOS, and the new Windows phones.
Cell Phone Monitoring:
GENESIS
WATERWICH
CANDYGRAM
PICASSO
Foremost, with cell phone monitoring/tracking, there really is no safe choice here aside from removing the cell phone from the picture. Regardless of what device you have, if it communicates over a cell network, that specific device ID is registered to you and state-level surveillance techniques aside, that means the information can be pulled from the provider (with proper judicial oversight) to track the location of anyone with a cell phone on their person. That is unless the device's signal is unable to reach the radio tower or the device is left behind.
Cell phone Malware:
DROPOUTJEEP
GOPHERSET
MONKEYCALENDAR
TOTEGHOSTLY
TOTECHASER
Cell phone malware has become a realistic concern. While these leaked documents show that state actors have been participating in this since the mid 2000s, they are no longer the sole threat. I will cover a bit about the basics of preventing cell phone malware here instead of being specific to the leaked information from over 5 years ago.
There are two ways to approach the problem of cell phone malware: prevention and detection.
Your first steps should be prevention. Knowing how an attacker could install malware on a phone is key here. This topic alone could be its own blog post. Common practices to infect phones include the following: man-in-the-middle attacks, hijacking an over-the-air update, a supply-chain attack could easily infect a phone before it gets to your hands, phishing attacks can trick you into installing malware yourself and juice-jacking or a drive-by attack are also possible if you charge your phone in a public location or leave it unattended. The defenses against these are simple: do not accept applications or updates from sources you do not trust (or at all while on untrusted networks), do not leave your phone unattended and do not trust a random charging port.
In order to detect malware on a cell phone, your first possibility might be some security products available on the market. Many new phones now ship with security products in their manufacturer's stock ROM. These phone-malware detection options suffer from the same issues that PC-based anti-virus products do, they tend to not fair very well at detecting unique, targeted, malicious code. If you have the time or need to be certain about what is going on, then you should take the time to set up a test environment where all network traffic the phone sends out is monitored and then personally review the packet captures to see who the phone is communicating with to detect whether any errant or malicious network communication is taking place.
Rogue Cell Towers:
CYCLONE
CROSSBEAM
EBSR
ENTOURAGE
NEBULA
TYPHO
Finally, to address the threats of rogue cell towers, you may find this solution surprising simple and effective, with the right forethought. If a state actor surveillance crew is able to prop-up a rogue cell tower, they could intercept your cellular traffic (voice and data). The ability to detect the towers in an area has actually become easier with smart phones. Any rogue cell tower would give itself up once it's turned on, which means a defense to this attack would be to monitor the available cell towers your device can reach in an area (many applications can do this for you, even displaying them on a map overlay) then later comparing the towers again to look for any changes. While new towers occasionally pop-up as providers expand services, you may be wary if they tend to always pop up at every new hotel you're staying at.
The real lesson can be summarized in the TL;DR of "do not take your cell phone to untrusted environments."
This concludes this series of posts for now. There are many technologies available in the leaked documents that were not covered due to time constraints.Reddit’s CEO Steve Huffman has been caught editing comments of users of the infamous pro-Trump subreddit The_Donald. For a site which prides itself on “authentic” conversation, the ability of site administrators to secretly alter content has drastic implications.
During its tumultuous year on the site, Reddit’s Donald Trump community (r/the_donald) has been a constant source of strife for users and moderators alike. Huffman was a constant target for abuse for the_donald members, who hurled insults at him at every turn (“fuck u/spez” or “u/spez is a cuck” were the most common—spez being his on-site pseudonym) Finally, he snapped, and decided to edit the posts of users mocking him without their knowledge or consent.
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The_donald caught the changes and logged them in a thread, wherein Huffman admitted to the act, noting that he acted alone and without the consent of the employees he entrusted to handle this exact sort of abuse. By way of explanation he posted the following (emphasis ours):
Hey Everyone, Yep. I messed with the “fuck u/spez” comments. It’s been a long week here trying to unwind the r/pizzagate stuff. As much as we try to maintain a good relationship with you all, it does get old getting called a pedophile constantly. As the CEO, I shouldn’t play such games, and it’s all fixed now. Our community team is pretty pissed at me, so I most assuredly won’t do this again. Fuck u/spez.
Though the comments have since been restored following the debacle, a user named UnimatrixZeroOne leaked a series of Slack chatlogs exchanged between Huffman and a variety of veteran moderators and site admins “out of anger.” It’s natural to question the authenticity of these chatlogs, though Unimatrix apologized to other moderators in a locked subreddit for moderators only after the leak. Not to mention, a log of this scope would be difficult to fabricate.
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The chats reveal that Huffman had turned off notifications long ago, which means he wasn’t seeing any of the_donald’s abuse in the first place. “If you mod politics [a default subreddit and perennial target for the_donald] you should be having an aneurysm ten times what I’m feeling,” wrote pomosexuality, “because spez didnt give two shits about you being trolled for literal months.” “Outright threatened on multiple occasions,” optimalg chimed in.
Huffman finally entered the chat with the words “bring back pao 😞” a reference to interim CEO Ellen Pao who despite—or more likely because of—her attempts to rid the site of abuse made her a target for abuse, and was eventually forced out of the company.
The Slack chats reveal to what extent the top brass of Reddit are tired of the_donald and its penchant for harassment, vote brigading, threats, and otherwise being a blight on the community at large.
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There was an obvious consensus: the members of the_donald break site rules constantly, harass moderators, threaten people, and get away with it. But as Mannoslimmin points out in that chat, “However difficult it was [to contain the_donald] before today, it’s a fuckload more difficult after what spez did today.”
We’ve reached out to Reddit for comment and will update if we hear back.
Update 11/24/16 12:49pm EST: Unimatrix reached out to me over Twitter DM and wrote that, despite his or her initial regret in leaking the Slack chats, “after an overwhelming amount of responses, I am starting to feel the leak was the right thing to do, even if how it was done was not. I figured I’d give you a comment since reddit itself has not.”
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As always, feel free to reach out to me on Twitter, or email bryan.menegus@gizmodo.com if you have any information concerning this matter.Blue Jays manager John Gibbons spoke with power hitter Jose Bautista during spring training about the perils of building a negative reputation with umpires, then witnessed Bautista visibly protesting a pair of strike calls in Tuesday's season opening loss to Cleveland.
"He's a very intense guy, and he thrives on that," Gibbons said. "But what happens is, it can cause some problems.... When you explode on them, they might think you're showing them up and nobody likes to be shown up in the game."
Bautista defending his actions prior to Wednesday's game.
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"I don't see anything wrong with playing with emotion," Bautista said. "I have to rely on my eyes to dictate what I can do and not do on the field and if my eyes are telling me something, then I react. I don't mean any disrespect by it. I'm not trying to make anybody look bad, and I don't think I make anybody look bad by reacting."
On a 3-0 pitch Tuesday, Bautista began walking toward first only to have plate umpire Jeff Nelson signal a strike, late. The pitch appeared to be outside. Later in the game he was called out on a close third strike. On both occasions, his gestures signalled obvious disagreement.
"When I see something that's out of line, I react," he said. "I'm not sitting there yelling at them all the time. A lot of times I just react and get back in the [batter's] box. Sometimes I have trouble, more than other players, dealing with my production being affected by somebody else's mediocrity. That's just the way I am as a person."
Gibbons doesn't intend to re-address the matter in the near term.
"It may never become an issue," he said.
Bautista acknowledged that it's something he'll need to deal with, as the issue is popping occasionally.
"I am starting to feel annoyed about everybody pointing the finger at me reacting, like it's something negative," he said.
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He said there's no proof that umpires are being biased toward him.
"I don't have any evidence to believe that there's animosity," he said.
Bautista's frustration symbolized some evident anxiety within the Toronto dugout during the opener. Though the club is dominated by veterans, "everybody wants to get off to a good start," Gibbons said. "It relaxes everybody.... Let's face it, the buildup we've got here, it can make it tough to play. There are a lot of expectations."
In other news. Gibbons announced that backup Henry Blanco is scheduled to catch R.A. Dickey on Saturday, his next scheduled start. Regular catcher J.P. Arencibia was charged with three passed balls in the Blue Jays 4-1 loss to Cleveland in the season opener.
Gibbons said he wants Arencibia's bat in the lineup regularly.
Dickey and Blanco worked together previously and Dickey praised his abilities repeatedly during spring training. It would not be surprising to see Blanco become Dickey's semi-permanant personal catcher.
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Notes: Left-hander Brett Cecil's velocity is recovering - he reached 94 mph with his fastball Tuesday. He's using the same training program as bullpen-mate Steve Delabar... Third baseman Brett Lawrie (rib cage strain) is at least two weeks away from playing. He isn't taking batting practice yet.James Rosen of Fox News reports that Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee will be presented with “smoking gun” evidence that “the Obama administration, in its closing days, was using the cover of legitimate surveillance on foreign targets to spy on President-elect Trump.”
According to the source for Rosen’s report, this evidence will come from the National Security Agency, which is supposed to produce documents for the House Intelligence Committee by Friday. It is expected to take a week or so for congressional investigators to assess these materials.
The NSA material is said to be even more compelling than the evidence that prompted committee chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA) to announce on Wednesday that “incidental” surveillance of the Trump transition team was conducted by the intelligence community.
Rosen’s report has a few more interesting developments in the aftermath of Nunes’ announcement:
Because Nunes’s intelligence came from multiple sources during a span of several weeks, and he has not shared the actual materials with his committee colleagues, he will be the only member of the panel in a position to know whether the NSA has turned over some or all of the intelligence he is citing. However, Fox News was told Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., had been briefed on the basic contents of the intelligence described by Nunes. CIA Director Mike Pompeo is also sympathetic to the effort to determine, with documentary evidence, the extent of any alleged Obama administration spying on the Trump team, sources said.
Because so much criticism has been leveled at the media for basing reports hostile to the Trump administration on anonymous sources of uncertain motivation, it should be duly noted that the Fox News report relies heavily upon a single source, without a single clue to this person’s identity or position. It’s not clear if this individual is connected to the intelligence community, or to the House Intelligence Committee.
The nature of the NSA’s “smoking gun” information is also left to the reader’s imagination. In fact, it’s described as “potential smoking gun” information.
It should also be noted that on Thursday, a spokesperson for Nunes said the chairman is waiting to see “all the documents he requested” from intelligence agencies before he “knows for sure” what surveillance of the transition team or President-elect Trump was conducted.
Perhaps the material coming from the NSA will positively establish which, if any, Trump transition team members were caught up in the “incidental surveillance” Nunes described on Wednesday.
An unnamed intelligence official speculated to ABC News that surveillance on foreign officials might have caught them “talking about Trump transition team members, as opposed to transition team members participating directly in the communications.” The NSA would seem to be the agency most likely to possess documentation resolving that question.Godspeed You! Black Emperor won the 2013 Polaris Music Prize. A statement from the band follows:
A FEW WORDS REGARDING THIS POLARIS PRIZE THING
hello kanada.
hello kanadian music-writers.
thanks for the nomination thanks for the prize- it feels nice to be acknowledged by the Troubled Motherland when we so often feel orphaned here. and much respect for all y’all who write about local bands, who blow that horn loudly- because that trumpeting is crucial and necessary and important.
and much respect to the freelancers especially, because freelancing is a hard fucking gig, and almost all of us are freelancers now, right? falling and scrambling and hustling through these difficult times?
so yes, we are grateful, and yes we are humble and we are shy to complain when we’ve been acknowledged thusly- BUT HOLY SHIT AND HOLY COW- we’ve been plowing our field on the margins of weird culture for almost 20 years now, and “this scene is pretty cool but what it really fucking needs is an awards show” is not a thought that’s ever crossed our minds.
3 quick bullet-points that almost anybody could agree on maybe=
-holding a gala during a time of austerity and normalized decline is a weird thing to do.
-organizing a gala just so musicians can compete against each other for a novelty-sized cheque doesn’t serve the cause of righteous music at all.
-asking the toyota motor company to help cover the tab for that gala, during a summer where the melting northern ice caps are live-streaming on the internet, IS FUCKING INSANE, and comes across as tone-deaf to the current horrifying malaise.
these are hard times for everybody. and musicians’ blues are pretty low on the list of things in need of urgent correction BUT AND BUT if the point of this prize and party is acknowledging music-labor performed in the name of something other than quick money, well then maybe the next celebration should happen in a cruddier hall, without the corporate banners and culture overlords. and maybe a party thusly is long overdue- it would be truly nice to enjoy that hang, somewhere sometime where the point wasn’t just lazy money patting itself on the back.
give the money to the kids let ’em put on their own goddamn parties, give the money to the olds and let them try to write opuses in spite of, but let the muchmusic videostars fight it out in the inconsequential middle, without gov’t. culture-money in their pockets.
us we’re gonna use the money to try to set up a program so that prisoners in quebec have musical instruments if they need them…
amen and amen.
apologies for being such bores,
we love you so much / our country is fucked,
xoxoxox
godspeed you! black emperorJan Koum, CEO of WhatsApp, has no intention of building an app for desktop computers. WhatsApp is arguably the most successful independent mobile messaging app in the world, so Koum's views have some credibility, but what if mobile is only one half of the messaging puzzle? Viber CEO Talmon Marco is betting big on the desktop with today's launch of Viber for PC and Mac. The app includes video chat and voice calls, like Skype, and syncs all your messages instantly with the company's mobile app across BlackBerry, Windows Phone, iOS, and Android. In a messaging world that feels increasingly mobile-first, Marco's hoping that building apps for every platform will win out. At 200 million users as of today, Viber's already off to a good start.
Viber for PC and Mac feels like a more modern version of Skype mixed with Messages for Mac. All of your contacts fill a left rail, while text and photo content are ordered chronologically on the right. You send text messages to friends, place voice calls, and also engage in video chats. Everything is synced instantly to Viber for mobile devices, which Apple's Messages still struggles with. While the app can't yet do conference calls or mobile-to-mobile video calls like Skype, it boasts some innovative features like the ability to pass off calls from desktop to mobile and vice versa with one tap. Marco is quick to point out, however, that Skype began on desktop while Viber began on mobile — a platform that he affirms is still the most important.
Everything is synced instantly to Viber for mobile devices, which Apple's Messages still struggles with
Viber for PC and Mac is most impressive simply because it acknowledges that many of us sit in front of computers all day, so typing on a 3.5-inch screen isn't always convenient. Yes, there are several ways to message friends from a computer, such as email or IM, but few apps aside from Skype let you easily send rich forms of content and place calls. It seems increasingly likely that we'll have to choose between multiple ways to message friends — especially since most leading messaging apps seem content with operating only on mobile devices — but now that Viber's on Mac and PC (with Linux on the way), Marco hopes you won't have to.Police in Phoenix are searching for a man who is accused of vomiting on a dog and then shooting the owner and two children.
KTVK reported that a 41-year-old man was walking his dog in the courtyard at the Casa Mia Apartments at around 10 p.m. on Tuesday when a 22-year-old man on the second floor balcony vomited on his dog. After the two men argued, the 41-year-old man attempted to retreat into his apartment. But just as he reached the door, the suspect opened fire, hitting the victim in the torso multiple times.
The victim’s 14-year-old daughter and a 9-year-old boy who was visiting were also wounded by gunfire.
The father was in critical condition, but both the 14-year-old girl and the 9-year-old boy were expected to recover.
Police were searching for a 6-foot-1-inch black man with dread locks. He reportedly ran from the neighborhood after the shooting. His name had not been released.
Phoenix Officer James Holmes told WNEM that the the suspect and victim had a history of confrontation.
Watch this video from KTVK, broadcast July 10, 2013.Tattoo health risks - research raises concerns HEALTH New research raises concern over long-term effects of chemicals found in common inks
Vien Tang watches Mario Delgado prepare ink for Tang's octupus tattoo at the Moth and Dagger tattoo studio in San Francisco, Calif. on Saturday, Sept. 3, 2011. Tattoo studios are not required to post ingredients in the inks used but tattoo artist Delgado will provide them on request. less Vien Tang watches Mario Delgado prepare ink for Tang's octupus tattoo at the Moth and Dagger tattoo studio in San Francisco, Calif. on Saturday, Sept. 3, 2011. Tattoo studios are not required to post... more Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 7 Caption Close Tattoo health risks - research raises concerns 1 / 7 Back to Gallery
Although sleazy "scratcher shops" with unskilled artists and dubious safety records are largely a thing of the past, scientists are growing concerned about what's going into tattooed skin, not just how it got there.
New research has turned up troubling findings about toxic chemicals in tattoo inks, including carcinogens and hormone disruptors.
Inks, which are injected into the skin with small needles, have caused allergic rashes, chronic skin reactions, infection and inflammation from sun exposure, said Elizabeth Tanzi, co-director of the Washington Institute of Dermatologic Laser Surgery in Washington, D.C. A study published in July suggested that phthalates and other chemicals may be responsible for some of those problems.
That raises questions about more serious, long-term risks such as skin cancer, scientists say.
One of the chemicals found in black tattoo inks, benzo(a)pyrene, is a potent carcinogen that causes skin cancer in animal tests. Dermatologists have published reports in medical journals on rare, perhaps coincidental cases where malignant melanomas are found in tattoos.
Recently, the Food and Drug Administration launched new studies to investigate the long-term safety of the inks, including what happens when they break down in the body or interact with light. Research already has shown that tattoo inks migrate into people's lymph nodes.
For now, it's unclear what, if any, long-term health risks are posed by tattoo inks.
More people inked
An estimated 45 million people in the United States, including 36 percent of adults in their late 20s, have at least one tattoo, according to estimates by the FDA and a Harris Interactive Poll.
Most customers are concerned with how the tattoo will look years down the road.
"People usually don't come in worried about health concerns," said Mario Delgado, owner of Moth and Dagger Tattoo Studio in San Francisco. "People are more concerned about getting a good tattoo."
In July, German scientists reported that the chemical dibutyl phthalate, a common plasticizer, is found in black tattoo inks. In the study of 14 commercially available inks, they found low levels of the chemical in all of them and determined the substance could be the reason for adverse skin reactions.
With phthalates, which can mimic estrogen or disrupt testosterone, potential effects on fetuses and infants are the major concern. In infant boys, prenatal exposure to dibutyl phthalate has been linked to feminization of the reproductive tract.
But phthalates in tattoo inks may not carry the same risk.
"While this is a potential source of high exposure, it might not last very long and may not present a risk to health," said Joseph Braun, an environmental epidemiologist at Harvard University.
Metals found as well
Heavy metals such as lead, which can harm the reproductive and nervous systems, also were found in a study of 17 different black inks from five manufacturers.
Colored inks often contain lead, cadmium, chromium, nickel, titanium and other heavy metals that could trigger allergies or diseases, scientists say. Some pigments are industrial-grade colors that are "suitable for printers' ink or automobile paint," according to an FDA fact sheet.
Black tattoo inks, which are usually made of soot, contain products of combustion called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, according to a 2010 study by the German scientists.
The PAHs in the inks include benzo(a)pyrene, which was identified in an Environmental Protection Agency toxicity report as "among the most potent and well-documented skin carcinogens." It is so potent that it is routinely used in animal tests to grow tumors. It also has been linked to skin cancer in shale oil workers.
"Tattooing with black inks entails an injection of substantial amounts of phenol and PAHs into skin," wrote the German scientists. They said the PAHs could "stay lifelong in skin" and "may affect skin integrity," which could lead to skin aging and cancer.
Scientists are debating the possible tattoo-cancer link, based so far on a handful of malignant melanomas found in tattoos and reported in medical literature.
"Even though cases of malignancies such as melanoma, basal cell carcinomas, squamous cell carcinomas and keratoacanthomas have been reported for the past 40 years, it remains unclear what role tattoos play in their pathogenesis," wrote scientists from France's University of Montpellier in a 2008 study.
FDA's role
The FDA has the power to regulate tattoo inks and any added colorings. But the agency has never flexed its regulatory power, citing lack of evidence of safety concerns and other priorities.
In 2003 and 2004, the FDA received its largest cluster of complaints, more than 150, from people on the giving and receiving end of tattoos. Since then, the FDA has begun more research on tattoo inks.
One major question investigated by the FDA is where does the ink go when the tattoo fades?
Preliminary results show that a common pigment in yellow tattoo inks, Pigment Yellow 74, may be broken down by the body's enzymes, according to the FDA. Sunlight also breaks it down into colorless components of unknown toxicity. Also, when skin cells containing ink are killed by sunlight or laser light, the ink breakdown products could spread throughout the body.
Previous studies have shown tattoo inks move into the lymph nodes, but whether that is a health risk is not known, according to a 2009 FDA consumer update. Lymph nodes are part of the body's system for filtering out disease-causing organisms.
Because of the chemicals involved, California's Proposition 65 requires all tattoo shops to warn customers of exposure to carcinogens. The warning is included in the release forms that people must sign before getting tattooed in California.While the Spanish may have first discovered the jewel that would become America’s First Settlement in 1559, nearly 500 years later, it was one lucky man plundering through a Pensacola thrift store that really discovered a true treasure.
When you go antiquing, sometimes you find treasure and sometimes you find trash — and one local Pensacolian’s not sure which he’s found with a record called, “I Believe in Pensacola.” Wes Shoemaker discovered the record while shopping at a local thrift store and later uploaded it to YouTube to share with the world. Listen to nearly five minutes of goodness in all its 1980s synthesized glory below:
The record and single, narrated by Luke McCoy and produced by the now defunct WOWW-107 FM Radio, included a note on the album from former Pensacola mayor Vince Whibbs, who notes the “magic” of Pensacola and giving his trademark motto of the Western Gate to the Sunshine State: “Where thousands live the way millions wish they could.”
“I Believe in Pensacola”
Look at Pensacola, the city for you
Look at Pensacola, spread the news
Look at Pensacola, the one to choose!
SPEAKING: It’s a bright town; a true town; the right town for tomorrow. A handsome city, with a style all her own.
Look at Pensacola, we’re the best
Look at Pensacola
We’re proud of the spirit, the heart of our town
When you’re good the news gets around!
Look at Pensacola
Look at Pensacola
The spirit of Pensacola is goin’ strong!
SPEAKING: It’s Pensacola: mother-in-law of the Navy, Cradle of Naval Aviation, the City of Five Flags, Florida’s First Place City, the Gold Coast of Opportunity.
It took a long time, we’re making it right
Pensacola believes in the vision
We’ve come a long way, the future’s in sight
Pensacola believes in the magic
Look at Pensacola
Look at Pensacola
Look at Pensacola, the one to choose!
When you’re good the news gets around
Pensacola’s spirit, the heart of our town
Look at Pensacola — Pensacola — Look at us!
SPEAKING: A dream for the city that drew the first Spanish explorers here more than 400 years ago.
I believe in Pensacola — WOWW 107!
SPEAKING: A dream that continued until Andrew Jackson arrived from Tennessee and laid the boundaries for the modern city that we now call home.
Look at Pensacola — Pensacola — Look at us — 107!
We followed up with Shoemaker and asked him how he found |
the righteous to heaven and this world would have ended.”
But Jesus told Christians to occupy themselves until he returns – advice that Adventists take to heart.
Ryan, the church’s director of strategic planning, said he eagerly anticipates projects to open health centers in poverty-stricken communities and a 26-story hospital in Hong Kong. Besides worshipping on Saturday – the biblical seventh day when God rested – Adventists may be best known for their healthy lifestyles. Studies show they live about 10 years longer than their neighbors.
Of course, most Christian churches preach the Second Coming, and nearly half of Americans believe Jesus will return in the next 40 years, according to a 2010 poll conducted by the Pew Research Center. But few American churches have been built on the ashes of apocalyptic dreams.
Adventism was founded in the aftermath the Great Disappointment, which dashed the hopes of some 50,000 followers who expected Jesus to arrive in 1844. Some had sold their possessions and let their fields lie fallow. The celestial letdown drove a few insane, crushed under the weight of what social psychologist Leon Festinger would later call “cognitive dissonance.”
But the movement did not disintegrate, as Festinger argued. Instead, early Adventists like James and Ellen White adjusted their beliefs. Something of divine import had happened in 1844, even if it wasn’t the Second Coming, they taught.
Meanwhile, Adventist leaders brought dejected believers together, feeding the hungry and bonding over their shared disappointment. While keeping their ears perked for Gabriel’s horn, Adventists also turned an eye to earthly time, setting Saturday as their Sabbath and preaching the value of healthy living.
Over time, Adventists’ social bonds and distinctive doctrines “led to the creation of a church which survives and prospers today as one of the fastest-growing denominations in Christendom,” writes Stephen O’Leary, a scholar at the University of Southern California.
When those doctrines sail against cultural winds – as when Adventists are forced to work on Saturday, or famous members back Creationism – church solidarity strengthens, scholars say.
Adventist growth is especially intense in Latin America and Africa, where people are attracted to the faith’s blend of ethereal optimism (Jesus is coming soon!) and earthly education (Eat your vegetables until he does.)
“It’s a religious movement whose belief system compensates for both human needs and human longings,” said Edwin Hernandez, a research fellow at the University of Notre Dame’s Center for the Study of Latino Religion.
But some Adventists worry that the church’s modern success may bring Adventism full circle: a movement haunted by the hereafter becomes preoccupied with the present.
Adventism thrives because of the urgency of its message, argues church historian George Knight. Countless missionaries have crossed the earth to warn of Jesus’ imminent arrival. “When that vision is gone,” Knight writes, “Adventism will become just another toothless denomination that happens to be a little more peculiar in some of its beliefs than others.”
But Adventist leaders say the apocalyptic pull is still strong at church headquarters, especially during planning sessions. “I see that in our education system,” said Beardsley-Hardy. “Not wanting to over-invest in building because Jesus is coming.”
Beardsley-Hardy said she feels the same tension in her personal life. Should she sock away extra money in her retirement account, she wonders, or gratify immediate needs?
As a child, Beardsley-Hardy said she was convinced that every passing thunderstorm heralded the Second Coming. Now 54, with two grandchildren, she said that sense of urgency is returning.
“I’m getting back to waiting,” Beardsley-Hardy said. “But I’m kind of glad the Lord has tarried.”Republican-dominated state legislatures have adopted partisan-minded ID requirements seemingly calculated to reduce Democratic turnout to manageable proportions. Those laws have been taking their lumps in court, with a number of them put on hold recently.
But laws are only one facet of the war on voting. There is also voter intimidation -- and in that area, the prospects for November look grim. Recently, The Atlantic, the New York Times, and Alternet published startling reports about a well-financed group called True the Vote, an outgrowth of a Texas "patriot" group, that plans to flood polling places with poll-watchers who will aggressively challenge voters who strike them as potential "impersonators." The reports detail surprisingly frank discussions of plans -- similar to one the group's forerunner carried out in Texas in 2010 -- to target districts with high percentages of minority voters, and to look for voters who "don't look like" citizens.
We won't know until Election Day whether True the Vote and allied groups will be able to mobilize the one million voter vigilantes they are hoping for. But even a smaller showing could paralyze some polling places. Aggressive vote-challengers have the potential to slow the lines to the point that some voters will leave without casting a ballot.
There's also the ever-present possibility of misleading signs and flyers warning voters of non-existent ID requirements. Judge Robert Simpson of Pennsylvania's Commonwealth Court recently enjoined state officials from requiring the IDs specified in that state's strict ID law -- but he explicitly allowed officials to ask for the ID. Officials should give information to those who don't have ID, he said, but allow them to vote. As I learned in the South in 1976, there are ways to "give information" to voters that will send many of them home. In all, the mere reduction in oppressive laws does not mean we won't see an organized, and to some degree successful, effort to disfranchise voters in much of the country.
What can be done? Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) recently asked True to Vote to provide documentation of how it selects voter registrations to challenge. But as a minority member of the House Oversight Committee, Cummings can't issue a subpoena or hold a hearing. The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division is already grossly overextended with its involvement in Voting Rights Act and redistricting cases.
But there is one remedy specifically aimed at groups of private citizens who band together to intimidate other citizens seeking to exercise their rights. It is called the Ku Klux Klan Act. As Brentin Mock of Colorlines pointed out yesterday, the Act directly addresses this kind of organized vote suppression.
Passed in 1871, the applicable part of the Act is currently codified at Title 42 of the United States Code, § 1985(3):
If two or more persons in any State or Territory conspire or go in disguise on the highway or on the premises of another, for the purpose of depriving, either directly or indirectly, any person or class of persons of the equal protection of the laws... or if two or more persons conspire to prevent by force, intimidation, or threat, any citizen who is lawfully entitled to vote, from giving his support or advocacy in a legal manner... [and] one or more persons engaged therein do, or cause to be done, any act in furtherance of the object of such conspiracy, whereby another is injured in his person or property, or deprived of having and exercising any right or privilege of a citizen of the United States, the party so injured or deprived may have an action for the recovery of damages occasioned by such injury or deprivation, against any one or more of the conspirators.
What this antique statutory language means is that if ordinary, private people agree to go out and try to stop people from voting, and then carry out their plan, anyone whom they injure may have a right to take them to federal court for damages, and injunctions, and attorney fees.Well that was something wasn’t it?
Energized by the dramatic last-minute equalizer to cap a stunning second-half comeback against FC Dallas, Toronto FC returns to the road after a two-game home stand.
Life away from home has not been kind through their first two attempts – losses away to Canadian opponents Vancouver and Montreal; though only by a single goal in each – and Saturday’s match is unlikely to be a comfortable one.
Toronto and Philadelphia have some history.
It was the Union who laid that nasty 2-6 defeat on Aron Winter’s side back in 2011, the club’s record loss. And again it was Philadelphia who last season outplayed a rejuvenated Paul Mariner-led TFC, earning a 3-0 win – by all rights it should have been more - snapping a five-match unbeaten run and reaffirming the futility of 2012.
The two have already met this season, at the Disney Tournament in Orlando, with the Union refraining that three-goal score-line, thoroughly outplaying the Reds and at times making them look the fool – video highlights for the brave-hearted.
Much has changed in TFC-land since those naïve February days; that said, a closer look at the Philadelphia Union is in order.
The Lineup
John Hackworth, who took over from the controversial Piotr Nowak around the same time Winter was dismissed last year, has done well molding a very young and inexperienced side into something a little more sturdy.
Gradually relying more on a smattering of older, seasoned pros; combining their savvy with the impetuosity of youth, has thus far yielded some positive results. Through five matches the Union have seven points – two wins and a draw – and currently sit in fifth in the East, two points above Toronto and above the hallowed red-playoff-line – not that that counts for much at this point.
They’ve added a few new faces to what should be a fairly similar lineup to the ones Toronto faced last season.
Local Pennsylvania boy, centre-back, Jeff Parke, formerly of New York and Seattle, engineered a move to return home for the twilight of his career, replacing Colombian Carlos Valdes, who himself returned to his native environs on loan to play for Independiente Santa Fe in hopes of earning national team recognition.
Though not a true homecoming, the return of fan-favourite, Sebastien Le Toux, after a lost season spent wandering the hinterlands of Vancouver and New York, has thrilled the loyal crowds and reinvigourated the Frenchman.
And then there is Conor Casey, an experienced target forward – and one-time TFC striker – who pairs nicely with either Le Toux or the maturing Jack McInerney after a successful six-season spell in Colorado.
After dabbling with a 4-2-3-1 against Kansas City in the season opener, Hackworth has been pretty consistent with a slightly diamonded 4-4-2; though that shouldn’t preclude any future tinkering.
Their projected lineup is as follows: Zac MacMath in goal; from right to left – Sheanon Williams, Amobi Okugo, Jeff Parke, and Ray Gaddis along the back; Danny Cruz, Brian Carroll, Keon Daniel, and Gabriel Farfan across the midfield with Sebastien Le Toux and Jack McInerney up top.
With three possible first-choice strikers it’s tough to decide which two to deploy.
Le Toux was held in reserve against Columbus, with Casey taking his first start of the year after debuting from the bench against New York. The idea, supposedly, being that having a big body to battle with the sizeable Crew defense was a shrewd decision.
To leave out McInerney - who has three goals thus far (half of the team’s output) while looking goal-hungry, at times devastating, and earning varied plaudits - is unthinkable.
Casey could well continue, but it is dubitable that Hackworth would rest Le Toux in front of the home fans who cheer him so heartily.
Michael Farfan missed last week with an ankle sprain and the league’s new injury policy makes it hard to tell where his progress is – check back for Waking the Red’s Prematch Notes, due out late Friday or early Saturday for the latest information – but should he be fit he would likely replace either his brother, Gabriel or Cruz on the flank or, Daniel in the middle.
Michael Lahoud is often fielded as a more defensive option alongside mainstay Brian Carroll in the centre of midfield, but given this is a home match and what must be viewed as winnable points; expect the more offensive-minded dreadlocked Daniel to receive the nod.
Fielding a consistent defensive unit of six – MacMath, Williams, Okugo, Parke, Gaddis, and Carroll – has aided in shoring up the defense and establishing a solid base from which to build – much like Toronto – but has caused some tension with Bakary Soumare publicly stating he would like to leave, less than a season after joining, if minutes are not forthcoming.
Veteran additions have been important, but there is still a lot of talented youth fighting for minutes in the side.
Leo Fernandes, a Brazilian-born American midfielder has looked interesting in his brief cameos and lanky forward Aaron Wheeler impressed in a recent Friendly against UNAM Pumas, not to mention the mercurial Roger Torres and the Super-sub Antoine Hoppenot, who have proved devastating to TFC - in the preseason fixture and over previous seasons.
A further three players have been loaned out to USL PRO affiliate Harrisburg City Islanders – Cristhian Hernandez, Greg Jordan, and Jimmy McLaughlin – and eighteen-year-old Zach Pfeffer is spending a season-long loan abroad with TSG 1899 Hoffenheim in Germany.
Newly-minted Designated Player and midfielder, Kleberson, was on the bench in Columbus and could perhaps see some minutes come the weekend – he is only on loan for the remainder of this season.
The controversial Freddy Adu was banished to Brazil – Bahia – transferred on a permanent deal in exchange for the Kleberson loan, having refused to renegotiate his contract terms; adding yet another strange chapter to the complex saga that is the Adu.
The Form
Philadelphia return home after a series of tough road matches in places they’ve previously had little success.
Their 1-2 win in Colorado, on goals from Okugo - his first in MLS, a header from a Le Toux corner kick – and McInerney – a deft counterattack set up by sub Hoppenot – was their first win over the Rapids in six matches. Jamie Smith’s goal for Colorado was a stunning long-range blast.
After a bye week, they were denied a result in New York by a pair of stunning goals from Dax McCarty – a neat outside of the boot flick to a Jonny Steele cross – and Thierry Henry – a gorgeously fluid strike – with Casey tallying in consolation from a long Williams throw in. The 2-1 loss sees them without a point through five away matches to the Red Bulls.
A 1-1 draw in Columbus, goals from McInerney – a simple tap in after a devastating Okugo through-ball allowed Cruz to square to his opener teammate – and Dominic Oduro – a tight angled blast that fooled MacMath – sees them still winless through four all-time meetings in Columbus, though they did manage to take their first point.
The Union were impressive, running Kansas City ragged, throughout the first half in the season opener, taking a lead through Le Toux - touching in a Daniel cross at the back-post. But succumbed to pressure in the second, conceding three goals from Graham Zusi - finishing off a loose ball once Benny Feilhaber’s shot was blocked after Bobby Convey’s cross was expertly headed down by Claudio Bieler, Oriol Rosell – a flicked headed to a perfect Zusi free-kick, and Bieler himself – finishing off a Chance Myers cut-back from space at the top of the box - to lose 1-3.
They snatched a tidy 1-0 win over New England in their other home match – after the trip to Colorado – with McInerney getting a second-bite at a Le Toux corner kick after goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth denied his first attempt.
The Tactics
Their movement in transition is particularly troublesome with McInerney proving adept at finding those gaps in the defense and constantly testing the back-line with darting runs.
Their second goal versus Colorado - with McInerney finishing off some excellently strong play from Hoppenot - is a good example.
Holding off the challenge of Hendry Thomas and then eluding another challenge before sliding a pass in for the slashing run of his teammate is exactly the sort of ability that makes Hoppenot so dangerous later in matches and McInerney such a slippery striker.
Their goal from the weekend in Columbus similarly shows how the constant prodding can desensitize a defense leading to an eventual breakdown.
Okugo provides the service from deep on that one and Cruz unselfishly squares. Note the attitude filled celebration from the young forward.
Michael Farfan is both a playmaker and a scoring threat, should he be fit Toronto must be wary of his movements.
Le Toux will also look to exploit space, getting on the end of long deliveries. He should have had two in the first half against KC, but misfired on the second having gotten on the end of this lovely service from Daniel for the first.
The French forward will likely provide the service from corner kicks, which have led to two of their six goals on the season. Though Daniel has proved equally dangerous from set-pieces – his long-range bomb against Houston last season was stunning – and this season he hit the post on a free kick against Colorado
The long throws of Williams are another dangerous set-piece, as New York discovered when Casey turned one in.
Exploitation
Philadelphia has had trouble defending in situations where ball movement forces the back-line to move away from their rigid structure.
Zusi’s opener saw a left-sided cross sent to the back-post where it was headed down back into the middle of the box, opening up space for the midfielders to exploit.
That difficulty with defending movement will also often leave too much space at the top of the box - KC’s third came with the back-line collapsing on the ball-carrier Myers leaving Bieler alone to finish..
While McCarty’s goal came from a similar position once he got in front of his defender to touch a cross in.
Marking on set-pieces has also caused some trouble with Rosell easily escaping his marker to head in the eventual winner.
MacMath, a young keeper, is still occasionally error prone.
He interpreted Oduro sending a goal-mouth cross through the box from a tight angle, leaving the top of the goal exposed.
It also reiterated their susceptibility to movement, a through-ball opening up space and catching out the defense.
While his handling of long shots, such as the following from New England’s Lee Nguyen, means Toronto should attempt from distance and follow up looking for rebound.
Points of Interest
The first 5000 fans will receive Rally Towels. Woo-hoo!
The clubs met three times last season: 1-0 TFC in Toronto with a late Danny Koevermans strike snapping the streak that shall not be named; a 3-0 Union spanking in Philly on goals from Gabriel Gomez, Adu, and Hoppenot, that ended a five-match unbeaten run by the Reds; and finally, a diplomatic 1-1 draw in Toronto with Williams cancelling out an Eric Hassli strike late, once both were well out of the postseason picture in September.
Toronto has never won in three visits to PPL Park, falling 2-1 in the first meeting back in 2010 – goals from Michael Orozo-Fixcal and Le Toux either side of a Chad Barrett tally and 3-0 last season as described above. They drew their 2011 meeting with Ryan Johnson cancelling out Le Toux’s first half strike twelve minutes into the second half.
Philadelphia, at times, has some extremely one-eyed announcers – the ugly Rivas-Hoppenot head-butt incident from last season was a good example of the enhanced outrage they often portray.
Their classy Bethlehem Steel-inspired third jerseys are some of the sharpest offerings in the league.
For the extra studious, links to last season’s Know Your Enemy previews – meeting one, two, and three.Adan Salazar
Infowars.com
August 10, 2012
The Pennsylvania Department of Health is giving away Potassium Iodide tablets to anyone living near any of the five nuclear power plants located throughout the state.
The Department of Health issued this press release on the 6th:
The Department of Health is again providing free potassium iodide, or KI, tablets on Thursday, Aug. 9, to help Pennsylvanians be prepared for public health emergencies involving nuclear facilities. Pennsylvanians who live, work or attend school within a 10-mile radius of one of the state’s five nuclear power plants can get free potassium iodide, or KI, tablets.
There is no information in the press release on exactly why the Health Department has decided to give away KI tablets, but a report from last year said it was a monthly occurrence. The importance of taking the tablets is noted in the release:
“Taken as directed during a radiological emergency, KI can help protect the thyroid gland against harmful radioactive iodine. Individuals should only take KI tablets when directed to do so by state health officials or the governor.”
The Exelon Corporation, the company that owns the Limerick Generating Station, late last month took Unit 2 offline due to a possible malfunction in a main steam valve, indicated by a rise in temperatures. According to the AP, Plant spokeswoman Dana Melia said that the valve could only be replaced if the reactor was taken offline.
They further noted that the Unit 1 reactor had to be shut down due to an electrical problem on July 18, but that it is now fully operational.
Reuters notes that this summer’s high temperatures may have played a part in the shut down: “Although the heat makes it more difficult to use the warmer river water to cool power plants and can stress power lines due to high usage, the reactors did not necessarily shut due to the heat.”
The Limerick plant is located roughly 20 miles away from Philadelphia.
Also, yesterday it was announced that the U.S. government is halting new construction requests and license extensions for nuclear power plants. The delay was sought by environmental groups after a federal court ruled “in June that the NRC’s plans for the long-term storage of radioactive waste at individual reactors were insufficient.”
The relationship between radiation and cancer, especially in the Pennsylvania area, has been studied and well documented.
A startling report put out recently by Huntington News, a West Virginia news source, notes that since 1958 nuclear plants have long been suspected of causing an increase in cancer rates.
Dr. Ernest Sternglass, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh Medical School, “had his students gather data from vital statistics to verify his hypothesis that emissions from the world’s first commercial nuclear reactor near Pittsburgh, Pa., were killing people, particularly infants, in towns and cities up and downstream on the Ohio. The theory — radioactive contamination had been vented airborne and settled in the soil, water and other environments eventually draining into the Ohio.”
SUMMARY OF CANCER DEATHS
One mile from nuclear plant: Midland, Pa. 149.6 per hundred thousand (1958, when plant opened) to 426.3 (1970), 184% Other Towns/Cities Near and Downwind from plant: Beaver County, Pa. 40% increase cancer deaths 1958-1968 (147.7 to 204.7
Pittsburgh, Pa., up 31% (1958-1968)
East Liverpool, Ohio (ten miles), 40% increase in cancer (1958-1968) and 67% increase (1971)
Steubenville, Ohio (thirty miles, across from Wheeling, WV), 25% increase cancer deaths, (1958-1968)
Cincinnati, Ohio (300 miles), 24% increase cancer deaths
The report goes on to document meltdowns that have occurred in the area:
WALTZ MILLS MELT DOWN ACCIDENT APRIL 1960
This reactor located 20 miles upstream from McKeesport, Pa., which was on the Youghiogheny River had an accidental release of radioactive isotopes from fuel element melt down. Within a year, infant mortality in McKeesport DOUBLES SHIPPINGPORT TEMPORARY SHUT DOWN DUE TO HYDROGEN GAS EXPLOSION, 1974-1976 Aliquippa, Pa. Infant mortality all-time low 11.3 per 1,000 babies (1976)
Could the handing out of KI tablets be in response to faulty reactors? As of yet, this remains unclear, but a couple of things are: Areas around nuclear power plants are not safe places to live. Anyone that chooses to live there should be well aware of the consequences and should be fully stocked on supplies needed to prevent radioactive contamination.
The Infowars store offers Thyrosafe Potassium Iodide tablets, the exact same pills as those that were handed out.Main NI Index | Main Newspaper Index
Encyclopedia of Trotskyism | Marxists’ Internet Archive
The New International
All the full issues in PDF format are provided by the Riazanov Library Project, Marty Goodman, Director, and with help from the Holt Labor Library. The HTML versions of each article were produced by Einde O’Callaghan. Clickling on the linked Vol. and issue number will bring you to the PDF version of each issue. The individual articles listed below each of those links are in HTML and will display immediately in your browser.
THE NEW INTERNATIONAL
A MONTHLY ORGAN OF REVOLUTIONARY MARXISM
Editor:
MAX SHACHTMAN
Business Manager
MARTIN ABERN
For the Fourth International
A Greeting, from Leon Trotsky
Minneapolis and Its Meaning, by James P. Cannon
The Soviets and the League of Nations
The Testament of Lenin, by Leon Trotsky
Dictatorship of Party or Proletariat? by Max Shachtman
The Socialist Party Convention, by James P. Cannon
The Legend of the Vienna Commune, by A. Max
Friedrich Engels on Bimetallism
New Trends Under the New Deal, by Jack Weber
Strikes and the Economic Cycle, by Alfred Weaver
The Decay of the Stalinist Party, by Arne Swabeck
Two Congresses and One Opposition, by S.
ARCHIVES OF THE REVOLUTION:
The “Clemenceau Thesis” and the Party Regime, by Leon Trotsky
BOOKS:
Marxism and Art, by David Ernest
Fatal Admissions, by M.S.
Celine’s Journey, by Earl R. Birney
A New Technics, by J.G.W.
New Warnings: Bulgaria and Latvia, X.
Brandler on the Road to Canossa, by B.
REVIEW OF REVIEWS:
Significant Figures from the Figures Factory
THE NEW INTERNATIONAL
A MONTHLY ORGAN OF REVOLUTIONARY MARXISM
Editor
MAX SHACHTMAN
Business Manager:
MARTIN ABERN
America and the War in the Pacific, by Jack Weber
A New Turn to the United Front
Bonapartism and Fascism
The Testament of Lenin, by Leon Trotsky
The Second International in the War, by Max Shachtman
THE CRISIS IN FASCISM:
On the Slogan of “Disarmament”, by N. Lenin (different translation)
Diplomacy in the World War, by G. Vassilkovsky
The Stalinists and Pacifism, by Arne Swabeck
Six Months of the Doumergue Régime
Murder for Profit: El Gran Chaco, by Jean Mendez
Banned!
DOCUMENTS AND DISCUSSION:
The Question of Organic Unity in France
BOOKS:
Soule’s Revolution, by Felix Morrow
Honky-Tonk, by Louis Berg
A Legal Marxist, by Joseph Carter
American Capacity, by W.E.G.
Inside Front Cover: For the Man on the Planet without a Visa
Inside Back Cover: At Home. An Apology
THE NEW INTERNATIONAL
A MONTHLY ORGAN OF REVOLUTIONARY MARXISM
Editor:
MAX SHACHTMAN
Business Manager:
MARTIN ABERN
Prospects for a New Party in America
The Strike Wave and the Left Wing, by James P. Cannon
Bolshevik-Leninists and the SFIO, by V.
Arms and Capitalism, by John Hart
The AF of L at the Crossroads, by Arne Swabeck
I Break with the Chinese Stalinists, by Harold R. Isaacs
A Stupendous Bureaucracy, by M.S.
Four Letters on Historical Materialism, by Friedrich Engels
Roosevelt and the State, by Jack Weber
Whither the NAP?
Russia, Japan and “Red Mongolia”, by Gatto Mammone
ARCHIVES OF THE REVOLUTION:
What We Gave and What We Got, by Leon Trotsky
Announcement
BOOKS:
Bolshevism, by F.K. v. Arnecke
The Press
Inside Front Cover: For the Right of Asylum for Leon Trotsky
Inside Back Cover: At Home
THE NEW INTERNATIONAL
A MONTLY ORGAN OF REVOLUTIONARY MARXISM
Editor:
MAX SHACHTMAN
Business Manager:
MARTIN ABERN
The Russian Revolution 17 Years After
What Next in the Socialist Party, by M.S.
On the Eve of the Spanish Uprising, by L. Fersen
The First Letter from Spain, by X.
The AF of L at San Francisco, by Arne Swabeck
Power and the Russian Workers, by Christian Rakovsky (other translation)
A Letter on Russia, by Karl Marx
Stern Clouds Over Europe, by Marko Shtip
Shifts in the Negro Question, by J.G. Wright
Passports to Utopia, by John Marshall
The Conflict in the OSP
What Schacht Is Heading Towards, by Brn
The Bankruptcy of the Belgian Labor Bank
ARCHIVES OF THE OPPOSITION:
BOOKS:
Declining America, by Felix Morrow
Man’s Fate, by B. Spartack
THE PRESS
Trade Union Unity in France
Inside Front Cover: Three Conventions
Inside Back Cover: At Home
THE NEW INTERNATIONAL
A MONTHLY ORGAN OF REVOLUTIONARY MARXISM
Editor:
MAX SHACHTMAN
Business Manager:
WILLIAM DUNCAN
The Workers Party Is Founded, by A.J. Muste
Right Face in the Socialist Party, by M.S.
The Second Roosevelt Election, by Arne Swabeck
The Defeat of the Spanish October, by L. Fersen
The Socialists’ Errors in Spain, by Juan Arenillos
Karl Marx and Moses Hess, by Sydney Hook
Passports to Utopia – II, by John Marshall
Marxism: Science or Method?, by Rubin Gotesky
Marxism: Science or Method?[Notice]
The Struggle for the Saar District, by O-R
A Letter to the Independent Labour Party
The Evolution of the Belgian Labor Party, by E. Duma
The SLP
ARCHIVES OF THE REVOLUTION:
BOOKS:
Outlook of Science, by S.L. Solon
Art and Action, by Thomas Cotton
Non-Violence, by John West
Fontamara, by Leon Trotsky
Two Poets, by Harry Roskolenkier
THE PRESS:
Political Ribaldry
Inside Front Cover: The New New International
Inside Back Cover: At Home
THE NEW INTERNATIONAL
(With which is merged Labor Action)
A MONTHLY ORGAN OF REVOLUTIONARY MARXISM
OFFICIAL THEORETICAL ORGAN OF THE WORKERS PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
Editors:
MAX SHACHTMAN
JOHN WEST
Roosevelt and the New Congress, by John West
Behind the Kirov Assassination, by M.S.
American Trade Union Problems – I, by Arne Swabeck
Will the Auto Industry Strike Next? by Karl Lore
The End of the Naval Truce, by Jack Weber
Marx’s Criticism of “True Socialism”, by Sidney Hook
Bureaucratism and Factional Groups, by Leon Trotsky
A Nazi Confesses, by Ludwig Lore
Thorstein Veblen, Sociologist, by John G. Wright
The Anti-Catholic Drive in Mexico, by Jean Mendes
The Peasants’ War in China, by Harold R. Isaacs
ARCHIVES OF THE REVOLUTION:
BOOKS:
Captive Science, by John Marshall
Apologetics, by Joseph Carter
Gods and Society, by Felix Morrow
An Angry Epic, by Florence Becker
Oxford Manner, by J.W.
The United Front
LETTERS:
Inside Front Cover: The Readers Have the Floor
Inside Back Cover: The Press. At Home
THE NEW INTERNATIONAL
(With which is merged Labor Action)
A MONTHLY ORGAN OF REVOLUTIONARY MARXISM
OFFICIAL THEORETICAL ORGAN OF THE WORKERS PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
Editors:
MAX SHACHTMAN
JOHN WEST
The Problem of the Labor Party, by M.S.
Where Is Stalinism Leading Russia?
The Roosevelt “Security” Program, by John West
Lessons of the Paris Commune, by Leon Trotsky
The Housing Question in America:
The Political Situation in Spain, by L. Fersen
Strikes on the 1935 Horizon, by A.J. Muste
Lenin and Rosa Luxemburg, by Max Shachtman
American Trade Union Problems – II, by Arne Swabeck
Why the Saar Was Lost, by Oskar Fischer
In a Billion Dollar Industry, by Jack Wilson
Marxism: Science or Method? by Rubin Gotesky
The Abolition of the Bread Cards in the Soviet Union, by Erich Wollenberg
Stalin the Theoretician, by John G. Wright
BOOKS:
Wells’ Autobiography, by John Hart
Labor Historian, by Dennis Brown
To Make a Revolution, by J.W.
Problems of the Pacific, by Jack Weber
Neurotic Society, by Bernard Wolfe
Briefer Mention, by Florence Becker
A Picture of the Socialist Party
A Note to the Reader
Back Cover: The Press. At Home
THE NEW INTERNATIONAL
(With which is merged Labor Action)
A MONTHLY ORGAN OF REVOLUTIONARY MARXISM
OFFICIAL THEORETICAL ORGAN OF THE WORKERS PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
Editors:
MAX SHACHTMAN
JOHN WEST
Where Is France Going? (from La Verité, Paris) (different translation)
How a Revolutionary Situation Comes About
Immediate Demands and the Struggle for Power
The Struggle Against Fascism and the General Strike
Socialism and Armed Struggle
The Proletariat, the Peasantry, the Army, the Women, the Youth
Why the Fourth International?
Conclusion
A New Nerve Center of Imperialist Lust, by J.P. Martin
Labor in 1935 – Panorama and Prognoses, by A.J. Muste
The Long and Coughlin Movements, by Arne Swabeck
Marxism: Science or Method? II, by Rubin Gotesky
Gangway fo’ de Lawd! by J.G.W.
The Native Question in South Africa, by R. Lee
BOOKS:
Toussaint’s Era, by Florence Becker
“In Defense of Democracy”
Inside Front Cover: All Eyes on France!
Inside Back Cover: At Home
THE NEW INTERNATIONAL
(With which is merged Labor Action)
A MONTHLY ORGAN OF REVOLUTIONARY MARXISM
OFFICIAL THEORETICAL ORGAN OF THE WORKERS PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
Editors:
MAX SHACHTMAN
JOHN WEST
The Bands Are Playing, by John West
The Soviet Union Today, by Leon Trotsky
The Passing of the NRA, by Arne Swabeck
Coming Struggles on the Railroads, by A. Weaver
Some Lessons of the Toledo Strike, by A.J. Muste
Centrist Alchemy or Marxism?
The Civil War in Greece, by J.P. Martin
BOOKS:
History à la Carte, by J.G. Wright
A Party and Its Book, by J.W.
Toiler’s Tale, by Jack Wilson
Anderson’s Dilemma, by J.W.*
In Search of Diana, by Harry Roskolenkier*
THE PRESS
Inside Front Cover: “United Front in France Wavers”
Inside Back Cover: At Home
Note by ETOL: * In the printed edition the titles of these two reviews have been swapped.
THE NEW INTERNATIONAL
(With which is merged Labor Action)
A MONTHLY ORGAN OF REVOLUTIONARY MARXISM
OFFICIAL THEORETICAL ORGAN OF THE WORKERS PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
Editors:
MAX SHACHTMAN
JOHN WEST
Is a Third Party Coming? by Arne Swabeck
An Open Letter to the French Workers, by Leon Trotsky
At the Crossroads in the Socialist Party, by J.P. Cannon
Trade Unions and the Revolution, by A.J. Muste
The Anglo-German Naval Pact, by I. Jerukhimovich
Marxism: Science or Philosophy? by Max Eastman
A Labor Lieutenant and Top-Sergeant, by Harry Strang
Art and Marxism, by Feroci
Luxemburg and the Fourth International, by L. Trotsky
The Anti-Calles Drive In Mexico, by Jean Mendez
Humanism in One Country, by J.G.W.
BOOKS:
A Reply to Olgin, by John G. Wright and Joseph Carter
England’s Intellectuals, by Hans V.
Woman’s Place, by Florence Becker
On Good Intentions
Inside Front Cover: The Third International Is Dead – Long Live the Fourth International!
Inside Back Cover: The Press
THE NEW INTERNATIONAL
(With which is merged Labor Action)
A BI-MONTHLY ORGAN OF REVOLUTIONARY MARXISM
OFFICIAL THEORETICAL ORGAN OF THE WORKERS PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
Editors:
MAX SHACHTMAN
JOHN WEST
On the Seventh Congress of the Comintern, by L. Trotsky
The Real Meaning of the United Front, by Arne Swabeck
From Atlantic City to Atlantic City: On the 55th Convention of the AF of L, by A.J. Muste
The Wagner Bill and the Working Class, by John West
Who Defends Russia? Who Helps Hitler? by L.T.
US Capitalism: National or International, by George Novack
A Critique of Lewis Corey’s The Decline of American Capitalism
Questions of the Italo-Ethiopian War, by Parabellum
ARCHIVES OF THE REVOLUTION:
The Struggle for Peace and the Anglo-Russian Committee, by Leon Trotsky
The Situation in Cuba, by R.S. de la Torre
Copenhagen Socialist Youth Conference, by Walter Held
BOOKS:
Philosophy of Confusion, by Reuben Grote
An American Germinal, by Gerry Allard
In One And The Same Issue
Inside |
four years that can be cut,” said Stenholm, now a member of the Peterson-Pew Commission on Budget Reform and senior policy adviser at Olsson Frank Weeda.
For now, centrist Democrats are leaning toward passing unemployment and COBRA benefits as emergency spending.
Rep. Jim Matheson James (Jim) David MathesonTrump EPA eases standards for coal ash disposal Utah redistricting reform measure likely to qualify for ballot Trump's budget targets affordable, reliable power MORE (D-Utah), the Blue Dog Coalition’s top spokesman, said any spending deserving of the emergency tag must be temporary. He hasn’t decided whether unemployment and COBRA benefits are emergency spending, but said that the current situation, where the unemployment rate is at 9.7 percent, “is a pretty significant situation.”
Republicans did vote for an extension of unemployment and COBRA benefits last fall, and Gregg said that he could vote for the next extension if it’s paid for.
But GOP members appear to be split over whether they should meet pay-go requirements. A jobs bill drafted by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus Max Sieben BaucusOvernight Defense: McCain honored in Capitol ceremony | Mattis extends border deployment | Trump to embark on four-country trip after midterms Congress gives McCain the highest honor Judge boots Green Party from Montana ballot in boost to Tester MORE (D-Mont.) and Sen. Chuck Grassley Charles (Chuck) Ernest GrassleyOvernight Health Care: Drug execs set for grilling | Washington state to sue over Trump rule targeting Planned Parenthood | Wyoming moves closer to Medicaid work requirements Senate reignites blue slip war over Trump court picks Lower refunds amplify calls to restore key tax deduction MORE (R-Iowa) calls for three-month unemployment and COBRA insurance extensions that are only partly offset.
Grassley’s office did not respond to inquiries.
Lawmakers will have to go on record as to whether the extensions qualify as emergency spending, as the pay-go law requires that any emergency designations must be approved in separate votes by the full House and Senate.The Art of No Man’s Sky
.
No Man’s Sky is procedurally generated, but we always want it to have a unique recognisable style, to look like a science fiction book cover come to life.
This is only possible because of our super-talented art team. When we talk about No Man’s Sky, we like to talk about the maths involved in creating the visuals, but really it’s our artists that give the game its beautiful style.
We wanted to try and explain how it works with a quick video, because it’s very different to any other game we’ve worked on.
We recently let a recording crew loose in the Hello Games offices, and not only did they film us hard at work on the game, but our team also helped to answer a few of the questions many of you have been asking over the years.
Hopefully you like it!
Once you’ve finished watching, you might be interested in some new footage we recently showcased for the game, where Sean gave Anthony Carboni, friend of the studio and fellow sci-fi geek, a tour of some of some new features and also let him have a quick play.
Be warned – the body count is high!The Tennessee Titans have their first-round pick under contract.
Wide receiver Corey Davis agreed to terms on his rookie contract Saturday, the Titans announced. Earlier Saturday, NFL Network Ian Rapoport reported the two sides were closing in on a deal and trying to hammer out language in the contract. Davis is the last first-round selection from this year's NFL draft class to agree to terms on a deal.
"I know he wants to be out here with his teammates and I'm glad it's done," Titans coach Mike Mularkey said in regard to Davis. "He didn't very much time.... he's a guy I know who's been studying and doing some things every day he's not been here. I know he'll come in here prepared and not miss a beat."
Worth noting: Davis shares an agent -- Tom Condon of Creative Artists Agency -- with 49ers defensive end Solomon Thomas, who signed his rookie deal on Friday.
Even as the rookie contracts become more boilerplate, there are still negotiating points. Agents working in their clients' best interest can spend weeks hammering out details that might seem like worthless minutiae now but have a significant effect on a player's career down the road. Offset language and bonus distribution are still important enough for some players to miss significant time during training camp, as we saw with Chargers defensive end Joey Bosa a year ago.
The Titans now can look forward to Davis, who has been compared to Dez Bryant and lauded as a potential game-changing weapon for ascending star quarterback Marcus Mariota, being a valuable contributor on the field in training camp.The United States has indirectly admitted that Kiev’s air defense systems were present near Donetsk when the Malaysia Airlines plane crashed, thus confirming the data of Russian satellites, a senior source in the Russian Defense Ministry told RIA Novosti on Sunday.
MOSCOW, July 27 (RIA Novosti) – The United States has indirectly admitted that Kiev’s air defense systems were present near Donetsk when the Malaysia Airlines plane crashed, thus confirming the data of Russian satellites, a senior source in the Russian Defense Ministry told RIA Novosti on Sunday.
"In his statement, the White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest implicitly acknowledged that Ukraine’s air defense systems had been present in the Donetsk area, although he claimed they had not been operating," the source said, commenting on Earnest’s words that the missile that hit the flight MH17 was launched from the area controlled by the militia.
The source stressed that the United States thus confirmed the authenticity of the data, provided by the images from Russian satellites at a special briefing of the Russian Defense Ministry on July 21. It was stated during that briefing that Ukraine’s air defense forces had four Buk-M1 missile systems near the city of Donetsk.
Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed in eastern Ukraine on July 17 killing all 298 people on board.
Kiev authorities accuse independence supporters of downing the plane whereas local militia leaders insist they do not have the necessary technology to shoot down a target flying at an altitude of 32,000 feet.
On Friday, a source from one of the Ukrainian defense departments told RIA Novosti that a system mix up during a Ukrainian air defense units’ rocket launch exercise could be the cause of the Malaysia Airlines plane crash.Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.
July 2, 2016, 2:33 AM GMT / Updated July 2, 2016, 6:05 PM GMT By Alastair Jamieson, Joseph Allcin, Arata Yamamoto and Wajahat S. Khan
DHAKA, Bangladesh — Twenty foreigners, including a U.S. citizen, were killed by six heavily armed militants at an upscale restaurant in the diplomatic quarter of Dhaka early Saturday. The hours-long siege was eventually ended by Bangladeshi forces, officials said.
Sharp weapons were used to kill the victims, with local media reporting that some were beheaded.
Among those killed were three students with ties to American colleges: Emory University in Georgia, and the University of California, Berkeley.
People help an unidentified injured person after a group of gunmen attacked a restaurant popular with foreigners in a diplomatic zone of the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, Bangladesh on July 1. AP
Abinta Kabir, a rising sophomore at Emory University's campus in Oxford, Georgia, was killed in the attack, the school said in a statement. Kabir, who lived in Miami, was in Dhaka visiting family and friends.
The State Department said Saturday that a U.S. citizen was "among those senselessly murdered in this attack," but did not identify the citizen. It was not immediately clear whether it was Kabir.
A second Emory student also died, the school said. Faraaz Hossain, from Dhaka, graduated from Emory's Oxford College this year and was preparing to start at the university's business school in the fall.
Photos: Security Forces Respond to Hostage Crisis in Bangladesh
"The Emory community mourns this tragic and senseless loss of two members of our university family. Our thoughts and prayers go out on behalf of Faraaz and Abinta and their families and friends for strength and peace at this unspeakably sad time," said a post on Emory's Facebook page.
Another student, 19-year-old Tarushi Jain of India, was also killed, according to tweets from Indian Exterior Minister Sushma Swaraj. Jain, who went to high school at the American International School of Dhaka, had been attending the University of California, Berkeley.
"I have spoken to her father Shri Sanjeev Jain and conveyed our deepest condolences. The country is with them in this hour of grief," Swaraj tweeted.
Jain had been in Dhaka for an internship with Eastern Bank Limited since last month, according to UC Berkeley. She planned on majoring in economics in college, the school said. Her father is a textile merchant based in Dhaka.
Nine Italians were also killed in the attack, Italy's foreign minister said, and one Italian was missing.
There were also seven Japanese citizens killed, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Saturday. The five men and two women were consultants with the non-governmental Japan International Cooperation Agency.
“That innocent lives were taken away by this cruel and inhumane act of terrorism, we cannot but feel the strongest of indignation. Whatever the reason, terrorism cannot be forgiven and we firmly denounce it,” Suga said.
Related: Gunmen Kill 4 Officers, Take Dozens Hostage in Bangladesh
Thirteen other foreign captives were rescued by paramilitary forces, who killed all the attackers, Brigadier General Nayeem Ashfaq Chowdhury told reporters. Some police officers were also killed.
Gunmen shouting "Allahu Akbar" stormed the popular Holey Artisan Bakery in the Gulshan district on Friday night during the Ramadan holy month.
ISIS claimed responsibility for the atrocity, according to terror research firms Flashpoint Intelligence and Site Intelligence Group. The Amaq news agency, affiliated with ISIS, also posted photos purportedly showing hostages' bodies. NBC News has not verified the claim.
The restaurant was popular with foreigners. AP
The nine Italians killed were named by the Italian foreign ministry as Adele Puglisi; Marco Tondat; Claudia Maria D'Antona; Nadia Benedetti; Vincenzo D'Allestro; Maria Rivoli; Cristian Rossi; Claudio Cappelli; and Simona Monti.
Gunfire was heard as troops moved to end the standoff more than 10 hours after the attack began. Journalists were not allowed near the scene.
"We heard gunfire open, it continued for about 10 minutes — very loud, rapid gunfire, multiple explosions," Maimuna Ahmad, who lives near the restaurant, told MSNBC. The gunfire was then sporadic and stopped, she said. Other blasts were later heard, but it was unsure what caused them.
At least four security personnel were killed responding to the attack, a senior police official, Assistant Superintendent Fazle-e-Elahi, told NBC News.
Fazle-e-Elahi said most of the police casualties occurred when one hostage escaped, and as officers rushed to help him, a grenade was tossed at them from a balcony. The dead included the assistant police commissioner, he said.
He described the assailants as "heavily armed and equipped" and "tactically sound."
"The attackers are not identified. They were shouting 'Allah Akbar' when they entered the restaurant," Fazle-e-Elahi said.
A doctor at a nearby hospital told NBC News that six of the wounded were in critical condition.
Sumon Reza, a kitchen staffer who escaped the attack, told reporters that the gunmen were armed with firearms and bombs as they bombarded the restaurant.
The bakery by day and popular restaurant at night is just a 15-minute walk from the American Embassy.
State Department spokesman John Kirby said all of the Americans under the diplomatic chief of mission in Dhaka are accounted for.
Security in Dhaka has been stepped up since last year following an ISIS-claimed attack during a Shiite Muslim holiday, when one person was killed and dozens of others were hurt.
Itrat Saeed, who is friends with the manager of the bakery that was attacked, described the restaurant as popular with foreigners. Saeed's friend who runs the restaurant posted on Facebook that he is safe, Saeed said.
"Another friend's daughter is in there," Saeed said. "We haven't heard from her."Russell Street Report Street Talk Five Features of a Kubiak Offense
Give credit where credit is due.
John Harbaugh has taken an impressive first step to reconstructing his moribund offense in Baltimore. In hiring former Houston head coach Gary Kubiak to run the show, he has installed one of the best play-designers in the NFL. Kubiak understands how to attack every layer of a defense in the running game and the passing game.
Kubiak’s roots are from the West Coast offense. However, he does not run a pure West Coast style the way of Bill Walsh, Joe Montana, and Steve Young. His Denver and Houston offenses incorporated the vertical passing game. And not every pass play is based purely on timing and throwing to a spot. Kubiak takes his shots, and he’ll take advantage of Joe Flacco’s big arm. Still, the change in philosophy should force Flacco to anticipate his throws more often, and that will improve his timing with his receivers.
Along with implementing a multidimensional West Coast approach, Kubiak will work with offensive line coach Juan Castillo to resurrect the zone-blocking scheme. Getting the zone-blocking scheme up to par will play a crucial part in not only improving the running game, but also adding much-needed bite to the play-action passing attack.
What are some of the other features of Kubiak’s offense?
Here are five tendencies to watch out for:
1. Hard Run-action. When it comes to well-executed run-action, the entire offense sells the run fake. The line will slide to the play side and the back will continue the action of stepping forward. Houston was one of the best at not only presenting an authentic play-fake, but also carrying out the rehearsal of a running play to fool defenses.
2. Keeping the QB on the Move. Once the run-action and play-fake is in full effect, next comes the QB’s movement to the open (back) side. Kubiak runs an assortment of waggles and bootlegs to get his QBs throwing on the run. He will also move the pocket — something we see Sean Payton do quite often in New Orleans with Drew Brees. Look for Flacco to get more chances to make plays outside of the pocket.
3. Multiplicity. The Texans were one of the toughest offenses for defensive coordinators to prepare for because they showed a variance of formations. They would run with two tight ends, two backs, no backs, and anything in-between.
4. Pre-snap Movement. In addition to using multiple formations from series to series, Kubiak’s offenses also feature “move” players. Receivers will move from the X or the Z position to the slot to create mismatches, or tight ends will flex to the outside. Overall, you’ll also see plenty of movement from the H-back and tight ends to keep defenses guessing. To that end, look for fullback Kyle Juszcyk to get a boost in his role as a flex player who can line up all over the field, similar to former Houston Texan James Casey.
5. Return of the Crossing Route. The tight ends will also play a significant role as over-the-middle targets in Kubiak’s offense. Whether it was Shannon Sharpe, Owen Daniels, or Joel Dreessen, Kubiak used his tight ends heavily on crossers and created matchup nightmares against linebackers. Moreover, the receivers also play a key role in clearing the middle and attracting coverage to open up space for deeper routes to develop.Mirko 'Cro Cop' Flipovic appeared recently on Ariel Helwani's The MMA Hour, ahead of his rematch with Gabriel Gonzaga at UFC Fight Night 64 on April 11 in Krakow, Poland. Cro Cop revealed that he will be bringing in top UFC heavyweight Stipe Miocic to his camp. Miocic was born in the USA, but both his parents are Croatian immigrants. Cro Cop also said this was the first time he had a sparring partner who was a top MMA talent.
“I was always managing to have either top jiu-jitsu fighters or top kickboxers,” said Cro Cop as transcribed by Marc Raimondi for MMAfighting. “I never in my life prepared myself for a fight with a complete MMA fighter and a top one, especially a top one. That's the key. Sparring is the key. You need to spar with complete MMA fighters.”
“The kickboxer doesn't know how to take me down. The jiu-jitsu fighter doesn't know how to punch me on the ground. I need a complete fighter who knows how to throw elbows on the ground, who knows how to do ground and pound. All those things are very important in an MMA fight.”
“He's one extraordinary person. Really nice and humble guy and a top fighter. He's really good and he's young. Definitely a big future is front of him.”
“I just can't go outside of Croatia to train,. I have two sons. I have a family here. It would definitely kill me, personally.
“There is huge benefits to training at a big camp, to have an opportunity to change sparring partners. It's just not an option for me. I just can't go out of Croatia.”
Miocic too has a fight coming up, vs. Mark Hunt at UFC Fight Night 65 on May 10 in Adelaide, Australia. While Miocic has beaten Gabriel Gonzaga by Unanimous Decision, Cro Cop holds a win over Hunt in K-1, and a split decision loss in Pride under MMA. So the pair should have a lot to talk about.Spanish archaeologists have found a depiction of Jesus that dates back to the 4th century, making it one of the earliest images of the Christian deity ever unearthed.
The discovery raises questions about when and how Christianity arrived in Spain -- but some history buffs are much more interested in the fact that this Jesus is beardless.
Unlike modern depictions of Jesus with a long beard and flowing locks, this early Christ is clean-shaven with closely-cropped hair.
The image appears on a green glass paten, which is a plate that holds bread for the Holy Eucharist, according to The Local. The three figures on the plate are believed to be Christ and his apostles Peter and Paul.
The trio are surrounded by halos and are standing between two palm trees. The scene represents immortality, the afterlife and heaven, ABC.es reports.
A group of archaeologists at the Forum MMX excavation project found the artifact at the site of a religious building in the ancient town of Castulo, in southern Spain.
The plate is in surprisingly good condition, compared to similar pieces found around Europe. The team has managed to piece together 81% of the paten.
Historians have long believed that Christianity in Spain started with the arrival of Christianized Visigoths from central Europe and Byzantium in the fifth century, The Guardian reports.
“We were wary about presenting the paten as a 4th century piece in case it clashed with previous studies into the chronology of Christianity in Spain,” the project’s head archaeologist Marcelo Castro said.
But the archaeologists are now standing by their estimates.Perhaps the most important aspect of metal music — what makes music metal — is the sound of the guitars. Ozzy’s haunting vocals definitely helped define the genre’s sound, but one could have easily applied them to spooky prog rock; it was Tony Iommi’s amputation-aided guitar tone that made Black Sabbath the first of a new and powerful genre. Without that heavy guitar sound, it’s just not metal.
YouTuber VAALVLA takes it one step further — without distortion, he proves, metal isn’t just not very metal, it’s basically surf rock. In his latest video, the masked guitarist plays tracks by Slayer, Metallica, and Slipknot, and more without the aid of distortion, and the result sounds like something that would be in the background of a scene in a Quentin Tarantino movie.
At times, the distortionless songs are pretty hilarious, but be warned: metalheads will also begin to go through distortion withdrawal and be consumed by rage. MetalSucks is not responsible for any injuries caused by distortion deficiency, and suggest the new Hooded Menace track as a good recovery drug.
Watch below. You’ve been warned.Speed limit enforcement is the effort made by appropriately empowered authorities to improve driver compliance with speed limits. Methods used include roadside speed traps set up and operated by the police and automated roadside'speed camera' systems, which may incorporate the use of an automatic number plate recognition system. Traditionally, police officers used stopwatches to measure the time taken for a vehicle to cover a known distance. More recently, radar guns and automated in-vehicle systems have come into use.
A worldwide review of studies found that speed cameras led to a reduction of "11% to 44% for fatal and serious injury crashes".[1] The UK Department for Transport estimated that cameras had led to a 22% reduction in personal injury collisions and 42% fewer people being killed or seriously injured at camera sites. The British Medical Journal recently reported that speed cameras were effective at reducing accidents and injuries in their vicinity and recommended wider deployment. An LSE study in 2017 found that "adding another 1,000 cameras to British roads could save up to 190 lives annually, reduce up to 1,130 collisions and mitigate 330 serious injuries."[2]
The perception that speed limits in a given location are being set and enforced primarily to collect revenue rather than improve traffic safety has led to controversy.
History [ edit ]
Traffic calming was built into the 1865 Locomotive Act in the UK, which set a speed limit of 2 miles per hour (3.2 km/h) in towns and 4 miles per hour (6.4 km/h) out of town, by requiring a man with a red flag to walk 60 yards (55 m) ahead of qualifying powered vehicles. The distance ahead of the pedestrian crew member was reduced to 20 yards (18 m) in 1878 and the vehicles were required to stop on the sight of a horse.[3] The speed limit was effectively redundant as vehicle speeds could not exceed the speed at which a person could walk.
By 1895 some drivers of early lightweight steam-powered autocars assumed that these would be legally classed as a horseless carriage and would therefore be exempt from the need for a preceding pedestrian. A test case was brought by motoring pioneer John Henry Knight, who was subsequently convicted with using a locomotive without a licence.[4] The Locomotives on Highways Act 1896 lifted some of the restrictions introduced by the 1865 Act, notably raising the speed limit for "light locomotives" under 3 tonnes to 14 miles per hour (23 km/h). The speed limit was lifted again by the Motor Car Act 1903 to 20 miles per hour (32 km/h).
A Royal Commission on motorcars in the UK reported in 1907 and raised concerns about the manner in which speed traps were being used to raise revenue in rural areas rather than being used to protect lives in towns. In parliamentary debates at the time it was observed that "Policemen are not stationed in the villages where there are people about who might be in danger, but are hidden in hedges or ditches by the side of the most open roads in the country" and were "manifestly absurd as a protection to the public, and they are used in many counties merely as a means of extracting money from the passing traveller in a way which reminds one of the highwaymen of the Middle Ages".[5][6]
In 1905 The Automobile Association was formed to help motorists avoid police speed traps.[7] Chief Justice, Lord Alverston brought a test court case in 1910 ('Betts -v- Stevens') against an Automobile Association patrolman and a potentially speeding motorist—the judge ruled that where a patrolman signals to a speeding driver to slow down and thereby avoid a speed trap, that person would have committed the offence of "obstructing an officer in the course of his duty" under the Prevention of Crimes Amendment Act 1885.[8][9] Subsequently, the organisation developed a coded warning system which was used until the 1960s whereby a patrolman would always salute the driver of a passing car that displayed a visible AA badge unless there was a speed trap nearby, on the understanding that their officers could not be prosecuted for failing to salute.[10]
Gatsometer BV, founded in 1958 by rally driver Maurice Gatsonides, produced the 'Gatsometer' which was described as "a revolutionary speed-measuring device".[11] Developed initially for improving his race times,[citation needed] it was later marketed as police speed enforcement tool.[11] Gatsometer claim to have developed the first radar for use with road traffic in 1971, but this claim is undermined by evidence that radar detectors were already for sale in 1967.[11] Gatsometer BV produced the world's first mobile speed traffic camera in 1982.[11][12]
VASCAR was in use in North Carolina, New York and Indiana by February 1968.[13]
Methods [ edit ]
Speed limits were originally enforced by manually timing or "clocking" vehicles travelling through "speed traps" defined between two fixed landmarks along a roadway that were a known distance apart; the vehicle's average speed was then determined by dividing the distance travelled by the time taken to travel it. Setting up a speed trap that could provide legally satisfactory evidence was usually time consuming and error prone, as it relied on its human operators.[citation needed]
Average speed measurement [ edit ]
VASCAR is a device that semi-automates the timing and average speed calculation of the original manually operated "speed trap". An observer on the ground, in a vehicle or in the air simply presses a button as a vehicle passes two landmarks that are a known distance apart, typically several hundred metres.
Automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) systems that use a form of optical character recognition read the vehicle's licence or registration plate. A computer system reads vehicle registration plates at two or more fixed points along a road, usually hundreds of meters or even kilometers apart, then uses the known distance between them to calculate a vehicle's average speed. From the mean value theorem, we know that the vehicle's speed must equal its average speed at some time between the measurements. If the average speed exceeds the speed limit, then a penalty is automatically issued.[14]
Police in some countries like France have been known to prosecute drivers for speeding, using an average speed calculated from timestamps on toll road tickets.[15]
Speed enforcement using average speed measurement is expressly prohibited in California.[16]
Instantaneous speed measurement [ edit ]
Automatic traffic speed measurement in Denmark
Traffic Speed Interceptor - Vehicles with speed camera used by Bangalore Police, India
Instantaneous speed cameras measure the speed at a single point. These may either be a semi-permanent fixture or be established on a temporary basis. A variety of technologies can be used:
Pacing [ edit ]
Officers in some jurisdictions may also use pacing, particularly where a more convenient radar speed measuring device is not available—a police vehicle's speed is matched to that of a target vehicle, and the calibrated speedometer of the patrol car used to infer the other vehicle's speed.[19]
Cameras [ edit ]
In recent years many jurisdictions began using cameras to record violators. These devices detect vehicles that are exceeding the speed limit and take photos of these vehicles' license plates. A ticket is then mailed out to the registered owner.[citation needed]
Other [ edit ]
Some jurisdictions such as Australia and Ohio, allow prosecutions based on a subjective speed assessment by a police officer.[20][21] In the future there is the potential to track speed limit compliance via GPS black boxes for recidivist speeders identified in the Australian National Road Safety Strategy 2011 - 2020 section on Intelligent speed adaptation.
Effectiveness [ edit ]
Speed cameras [ edit ]
Aside from the issues of legality in some countries and states and of sometime opposition the effectiveness of speed cameras is very well documented. The introduction to The Effectiveness of Speed Cameras A review of evidence by Richard Allsop includes the following in the foreword by Stephen Glaister, director of the RAC (Royal Automobile Club). "While this report fully lays out the background to the introduction of speed cameras and the need for speed limits, its job is not to justify why the national limits are what they are; a review of speed limits to see whether they are soundly based is for another day. What it has done is to show that at camera sites, speeds have been reduced, and that as a result, collisions resulting in injuries have fallen. The government has said that a decision on whether speed cameras should be funded must be taken at a local level. With the current pressure on public funds, there will be – indeed there already are – those who say that what little money there is can be better spent. This report begs to differ. The devices are already there; they demonstrate value for money, yet are not significant revenue raisers for the Treasury; they are shown to save lives; and despite the headlines, most people accept the need for them. Speed cameras should never be the only weapon in the road safety armoury, but neither should they be absent from the battle."
The 2010 Cochrane Review of speed cameras for the prevention of road traffic injuries and deaths [1] reported that all 28 studies accepted by the authors found the effect of speed cameras to be a reduction in all crashes, injury crashes, and death or severe injury crashes. "Twenty eight studies measured the effect on crashes. All 28 studies found a lower number of crashes in the speed camera areas after implementation of the program. In the vicinity of camera sites, the reductions ranged from 8% to 49% for all crashes, with reductions for most studies in the 14% to 25% range. For injury crashes the decrease ranged between 8% to 50% and for crashes resulting in fatalities or serious injuries the reductions were in the range of 11% to 44%. Effects over wider areas showed reductions for all crashes ranging from 9% to 35%, with most studies reporting reductions in the 11% to 27% range. For crashes resulting in death or serious injury reductions ranged from 17% to 58%, with most studies reporting this result in the 30% to 40% reduction range. The studies of longer duration showed that these positive trends were either maintained or improved with time. Nevertheless, the authors conceded that the magnitude of the benefit from speed cameras "is currently not deducible" due to limitations in the methodological rigor of many of the 28 studies cited, and recommended that "more studies of a scientifically rigorous and homogenous nature are necessary, to provide the answer to the magnitude of effect."
reported that all 28 studies accepted by the authors found the effect of speed cameras to be a reduction in all crashes, injury crashes, and death or severe injury crashes. "Twenty eight studies measured the effect on crashes. All 28 studies found a lower number of crashes in the speed camera areas after implementation of the program. In the vicinity of camera sites, the reductions ranged from 8% to 49% for all crashes, with reductions for most studies in the 14% to 25% range. For injury crashes the decrease ranged between 8% to 50% and for crashes resulting in fatalities or serious injuries the reductions were in the range of 11% to 44%. Effects over wider areas showed reductions for all crashes ranging from 9% to 35%, with most studies reporting reductions in the 11% to 27% range. For crashes resulting in death or serious injury reductions ranged from 17% to 58%, with most studies reporting this result in the 30% to 40% reduction range. The studies of longer duration showed that these positive trends were either maintained or improved with time. Nevertheless, the authors conceded that the magnitude of the benefit from speed cameras "is currently not deducible" due to limitations in the methodological rigor of many of the 28 studies cited, and recommended that "more studies of a scientifically rigorous and homogenous nature are necessary, to provide the answer to the magnitude of effect." According to the 2003 NCHRP study on Red Light Running (RLR), "RLR automated enforcement can be an effective safety countermeasure....[I]t appears from the findings of several studies that, in general, RLR cameras can bring about a reduction in the more severe angle crashes with, at worst, a slight increase in less severe rear-end crashes. [22] However it noted that "there is not enough empirical evidence based on proper experimental design procedures to state this conclusively."
However it noted that "there is not enough empirical evidence based on proper experimental design procedures to state this conclusively." The 2010 report, "The Effectiveness of Speed Cameras A review of evidence", [23] by Richard Allsop concludes "The findings of this review for the RAC Foundation, though reached independently, are essentially consistent with the Cochrane Review conclusions. They are also broadly consistent with the findings of a meta-analysis reported in the respected Handbook of Road Safety Measures, of 16 studies, not including the four-year evaluation report, of the effects of fixed cameras on numbers of collisions and casualties."
by Richard Allsop concludes "The findings of this review for the RAC Foundation, though reached independently, are essentially consistent with the Cochrane Review conclusions. They are also broadly consistent with the findings of a meta-analysis reported in the respected Handbook of Road Safety Measures, of 16 studies, not including the four-year evaluation report, of the effects of fixed cameras on numbers of collisions and casualties." A recent study conducted in Alabama reveals that Red Light Cameras (RLCs) seem to have a slight impact on the clearance lost time; the intersections equipped with RLCs are half a second less in use compared with those without cameras; and highway capacity manual estimates a shorter lost time and thus may overestimate the intersection's capacity. [24]
In 2001 the Nottingham Safety Camera Pilot achieved "virtually complete compliance" on the major ring road into the city using average speed cameras, [25] across all Nottinghamshire SPECS installations, KSI (Killed / Seriously Injured) figures have fallen by an average of 65%. [26]
across all Nottinghamshire SPECS installations, KSI (Killed / Seriously Injured) figures have fallen by an average of 65%. In 2003 the British Medical Journal reported that speed cameras were effective at reducing accidents and injuries and recommended wider deployment. [27] In February 2005 the British Medical Journal again reported that speed cameras were an effective intervention in reducing road traffic collisions and related casualties, noting however that most studies to date did not have satisfactory control groups. [28] In 2003 Northumbria Police's Acting Chief Inspector of motor patrols suggested that cameras didn't reduce casualties but did raise revenue – an official statement from the police force later re-iterated that speed cameras do reduce casualties. [29]
In February 2005 the British Medical Journal again reported that speed cameras were an effective intervention in reducing road traffic collisions and related casualties, noting however that most studies to date did not have satisfactory control groups. In 2003 Northumbria Police's Acting Chief Inspector of motor patrols suggested that cameras didn't reduce casualties but did raise revenue – an official statement from the police force later re-iterated that speed cameras do reduce casualties. In December 2005 the Department for Transport published a four-year report into Safety Camera Partnerships which concluded that there was a 22% reduction in personal injury collisions and 42% fewer people being killed or seriously injured following the installation of cameras. [30] The Times reported that this research showed that the department had been previous exaggerating the safety benefits of speed cameras but that the results were still 'impressive'. [31]
The Times reported that this research showed that the department had been previous exaggerating the safety benefits of speed cameras but that the results were still 'impressive'. A report published by the RAC Foundation in 2010 estimated that an additional 800 more people a year could be killed or seriously injured on the UK's roads if all speed cameras were scrapped. [32] A survey conducted by The Automobile Association in May 2010 indicated that speed cameras were supported by 75% of their members. [33]
A survey conducted by The Automobile Association in May 2010 indicated that speed cameras were supported by 75% of their members. *The town of Swindon abandoned the use of fixed cameras in 2009, questioning their cost effectiveness with the cameras being replaced by vehicle activated warning signs and enforcement by police using mobile speed cameras:[34] in the nine months following the switch-off there was a small reduction in accident rates which had changed slightly in similar periods before and after the switch off (Before: 1 fatal, 1 serious and 13 slight accidents. Afterwards: no fatalities, 2 serious and 12 slight accidents).[35] The journalist George Monbiot claimed that the results were not statistically significant highlighting earlier findings across the whole of Wiltshire that there had been a 33% reduction in the number of people killed and seriously injured generally and a 68% reduction at camera sites during the previous 3 years.[36] In 2012, the town had the fewest accident rates per 1,000 registered vehicles: a result linked by the Local Authority Member for Council Transformation, Transport and Strategic Planning to the removal of speed cameras and resultant additional funding for road safety, alongside close working with the police.[37]
Evidence gathering [ edit ]
UK fixed speed camera with road calibration markings
While digital cameras can be used as the primary means of speed detection when combined with automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) average-speed camera systems, their use is more commonly restricted to evidence gathering where speeding offences are detected by various other types of sensors such as Doppler radar, piezo strips, infrared or laser devices.[citation needed]
Photographs are typically time-stamped by a high resolution timing device so that a vehicle's speed can be checked manually after the fact if necessary using the secondary method of calculating its speed between a series of calibrated lines (known as "Dragon's Teeth") painted on the road surface.[38]
The change from analogue "wet film" to digital technology has revolutionised speed cameras, particularly their maintenance and the back-office processing required to issue penalty notices. Images from digital cameras can be uploaded in seconds to a remote office over a network link, while optical character recognition software can automate the "reading" of vehicle registration numbers.[39]
Types of camera include Gatso, Truvelo Combi and D-cam.
Avoidance and evasion [ edit ]
Some drivers use passive radar detectors or LIDAR detectors to detect police radar or LIDAR signals, with the intention |
Disneyland.
Domenic Priore and I uncovered hundreds of images, most unseen elsewhere, including original ride designs, illustrations, and photos of the Tiki-rich, space age, and nautical rides. P.O.P. was often widely seen in movies and television shows throughout the '60s. Its Cheetah auditorium hosted important early rock shows, including those by Ritchie Valens, The Doors, and Pink Floyd.
Following are 10 of the best pictures, showcasing one of the mid-century park's most amazing attractions: Mystery Isle, complete with the exciting Banana Train. Hopefully this will whet your appetite for a book about the park, Pacific Ocean Park: The Rise and Fall of Los Angeles' Space Age Nautical Pleasure Pier, by myself and Domenic, with design by Sean Tejaratchi and a foreword by Brian Wilson.
After queuing, riders would board a unique conveyance: the charming miniature Banana Train. The cab and engine were located in the rear, pushing, rather than pulling the open-air, bamboo-clad cars. The drivers of the trains delivered a live spiel, describing the sights while telling pithy jokes along the way. Leaving the longhouse, guests would spy a miniature, thatched hut, home to a live parrot. Passing under another grass-roofed structure, a menacing cannibal glared down at from above, after which visitors would pass through the native's village, where the driver would joke that they would later be invited to dinner.
The train would veer to the left as a troupe of coconut-throwing monkeys menaced it, then slowly climb up a lift leading into the dark of the mountain as "carnivorous" vultures threatened riders on the edge of the cliff. Inside the dark cavers, guests would encouter a mine with glittering gems, which were guarded by giant, glowing spiders and bats.
The little train would emerge outside again, this time into the crater at the center of a volcano. Bright red "lava" flowed around the track, and a geyser in the center would occasionally spew water at startled passengers. Employee John Ryan recalled, "At night the volcanoes showed up well as the red 'embers' were lit from below, which would contrast dramatically with the evening darkness. You could even see the lights of Santa Monica and Malibu from the outdoor section..."
The train would head back into the heart of the mountain, where more volcanic geysers lay in wait, followed by an earthquake--with a disorienting, rotating tunnel. Escaping this, the ride continued over a truly scary trestle, suspended over the ocean below, into the final scene, an indoor tropical thunderstorm, replete with lightning and strong gusts of wind. Exiting into the sunlight again, the farewell touch was the "Goony Bird"--sitting on a clutch of cartoonish, oversized eggs--who chirped, "Thank you for riding with us!"
The Mystery Island Banana Train was P.O.P.'s knockout punch--a true escape from the urban environment of Los Angeles.
The Mystery Island Banana Train concession at P.O.P. was jointly owned
and operated by CV Wood and Earl Sheldon, with financial assistance from
Robert McCulloch. Wood was best known for his work on the development of
Disneyland, and in 1956 had done some financial studies for the Turf Club during
the development of P.O.P. Operators of the attraction had to take great care while
driving the trains. John Ryan, who worked the attraction, remembered, "The first
portion of the ride was to drive the train up a small hill, and from there it ran like
a coaster with the train operator (my job) applying brakes at strategic locations
so it didn't go too fast and run off the track. Never happened on my watch, but
there were continuous reminders to make sure it didn't..." Sculptor Jim Casey not
only carved the wooden tikis found in and around the attraction, but also created
the scale model for Constable, as well as the coconut-throwing monkeys (modeled
after the Chimpanzee "Dink"), carnivorous vultures and the "Goony Bird" found at
the end of the ride.
Construction on the Banana Train was nicknamed the "Carpenter's
Nightmare" by the contractors--building it was a confusing jigsaw puzzle
consisting of 750,000 board--feet of lumber, all covered with a plaster-of-Paris finish
to simulate rockwork. Conveyance experts Arrow Development were hired to build
the six electrically powered locomotives, with the unique addition of steerable
wheels to navigate corners.
Pacific Ocean Park: The Rise and Fall of Los Angeles' Space Age Nautical Pleasure Pier, by Chris Merritt and Domenic Priore, is available now from Amazon and all good bookstores.I support wireless voice in multiple warehouses. These warehouses use the Cisco 7921G and the 7925G IP Phones. We started with the 7921Gs and moved to the 7925Gs when they became available. Many of the managers have become reliant on the use of these mobile IP Phones. As you can imagine, a warehouse is not the safest place for a mobile telephone. These phones often fall off of forklifts and golfs, unfortunately, I have to replace them more often then I would like.
Recently we made an order for some Cisco 7925G phones. I shipped four of them to the same location to replace broken phones. The onsite tech performed the initial configuration and added them to Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM). I then received a call stating the new phones will not make a call and they give the following error “Network Busy”.
My first thought was Call Admission Control (CAC). I checked the phones to find that the location statement was wrong. I changed it and that didn’t resolve the issue. CUCM was not setup for CAC, all of the locations were given unlimited bandwidth between sites. I started looking into the CAC features on the wireless network. According to the configuration guides, everything looked correct.
After validating my configuration on CUCM and the Cisco 4404 Wireless LAN Controller (WLC), I decided to capture some debugs. Using the following debug command, I was able to figure out the issue.
debug cac all enable
I enabled the debug, then had the onsite tech try to make a call.
In the debug file, I did a search for deny, then fail.
I found the following fail entry.
*apfMsConnTask_0: Oct 30 14:28:40.566: 44:2b:03:55:FF:FF TSPEC from mobile (up = 6), Phy rate check failed.
*apfMsConnTask_0: Oct 30 14:28:40.566:
Not including un-operational rate 12 in TSRS IE
Phy rate check failed was the issue. The PHY is the minimum data rate that the phone will work at. This is a configurable item via the USB configuration through the phones web GUI. The phone was set to 12 Mbps, while the wireless network had a minimum data rate of 6 Mbps enabled. After changing the minimum PHY rate to 6 Mbps, the phone was able to make a phone call.
Everything pointed to a CAC issue, but the debug was the key to finding the problem with the data rates.
What issues have you had that resulted in a “Network Busy” error on the Phone?
Has anybody else found something other then CAC and the data rates to produce a “Network Busy” error on the IP Phone?
Has anybody run into this same issue?
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Like this: Like Loading...The Senate Intelligence Committee announced Friday that it will be launching a bipartisan inquiry into Russian intelligence activities, including looking into whether President-elect Donald Trump Donald John TrumpREAD: Cohen testimony alleges Trump knew Stone talked with WikiLeaks about DNC emails Trump urges North Korea to denuclearize ahead of summit Venezuela's Maduro says he fears 'bad' people around Trump MORE's allies were in contact with the Kremlin.
The scope of the probe will include “Counterintelligence concerns related to Russia and the 2016 U.S. election, including any intelligence regarding links between Russia and individuals associated with political campaigns," according to a statement.
Committee chair Sen. Richard Burr Richard Mauze BurrFive things to watch as Michael Cohen testifies Cohen grilled by Senate Intelligence panel 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 MORE (R-N.C.) said just one day before that no such topic would be included in his committee's investigation.
"As part of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence’s oversight responsibilities we believe that it is critical to have a full understanding of the scope of Russian intelligence activities impacting the United States," Burr said in a joint statement with ranking member Sen. Mark Warner Mark Robert WarnerVirginia man charged after threatening Sen. Mark Warner Cohen grilled by Senate Intelligence panel 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 MORE (D-Va.)
Burr said that both the October statement from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), which said the agencies believed Russians were behind the hack on the Democratic National Committee (DNC), and the more recent full declassified report from the Intelligence Community (IC) on Russian interference in the election "raise profound concerns."
Burr said the committee will “conduct a bipartisan inquiry of the intelligence reporting."
The committee plans to hold hearings, interview officials from the Obama and Trump administrations, "including the issuance of subpoenas if necessary to compel testimony," but said most of the investigation will be done behind closed doors.
The IC report concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin personally ordered a hacking and influence campaign intended to help Donald Trump win the presidency.
It was later reported that in the classified version of the report, the IC also included as an addendum a synopsis of an unverified outside dossier, which began as opposition research and was compiled by a former British intel operative. The dossier claimed that the Kremlin has compromising personal and professional information on Trump and that his campaign aides and Russian intermediaries have been in contact throughout the campaign.
The news of the dossier, and word that Trump and President Obama were briefed on it, exploded this week, leading some to call for further investigation into its claims.
Trump has cast doubt on the intelligence agencies' findings, and slammed the dossier as "fake news."
“The Committee will follow the intelligence wherever it leads. We will conduct this inquiry expeditiously, and we will get it right," the statement read.
Kremlin has consistently denied all U.S. allegations, calling them false and unsubstantiated.Under the Radar Blog Archives Select Date… January, 2019 December, 2018 November, 2018 October, 2018 September, 2018 August, 2018 July, 2018 June, 2018 May, 2018 April, 2018 March, 2018 February, 2018
The stay will remain in place until the Supreme Court receives and acts on an appeal expected to be filed by the State of Texas. | Getty Images Supreme Court blocks ruling against Texas redistricting
A sharply divided Supreme Court has blocked a lower court ruling that congressional district maps Texas adopted in 2013 violate the Constitution and are the product of intentional racial discrimination.
The high court announced Tuesday night that the justices voted 5-4, along partisan lines, to block a three-judge panel’s ruling that Texas needed to redraw the maps or face having them redrawn by the court.
The stay will remain in place until the Supreme Court receives and acts on an appeal expected to be filed by the state of Texas.
As is customary in such cases, the high court announced no reason or rationale for its action. The court’s five Republican-appointed justices voted to grant the stay, while the four Democratic-appointed justices voted to deny it.
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The three-judge panel ruled 2-1 in August that the drawing of two Texas congressional districts, the 27th and 35th, violated both the Constitution and the Voting Rights Act. The panel issued a similar ruling on maps for the Texas state House of Representatives.
Justice Samuel Alito temporarily stayed both rulings last month at the request of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton while the high court considered what to do next in the cases.
Paxton applauded Tuesday’s ruling.
“The Supreme Court confirmed what the rest of us already knew: Texas should be able to use maps in 2018 that the district court itself adopted in 2012 and Texas used in the last three election cycles,” Paxton said in a statement. “In 2012 the Supreme Court ordered the district court to adopt lawful maps, and we believe it did so. We are eager to proceed with this case in the high court.”-US President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin and other key leaders gathered in Hamburg for the talks hosted by German Chancellor Angela Merkel
-German police managed to restore control over the city after fighting street battles with anti-globalization protesters
All updates in Central European Summer Time (CEST):
19:10 Chinese President Xi Jinping called for more international efforts to deal with the situation on the Korean Peninsula. Xi met with US President Trump on the G20 sidelines on Saturday and the two leaders discussed the North Korean nuclear issue. China's state news agency Xinhua said Xi and Trump agreed to keep in touch closely on the issue.
17:34 French President Emmanuel Macron said Saturday there would be a new round of Paris climate talks on December 12.
17:33 At least 5,000 anti-globalization activists participated in a protest rally on the final day of the G20 summit. Hamburg police said the demonstration ended without any incident. There were reports of small groups of anti-capitalist Black Bloc protesters scuffling with German police.
17:33 Amnesty International's Secretary-General Salil Shetty urged G20 leaders to stand up to "hyper-nationalist" leaders in countries like Turkey and secure the release of group's local director and chairman.
"The country [Turkey] is in a serious human rights crisis," Shetty said on the summit sidelines. "It is impossible for the G20 on the one hand to say it upholds values of democracy and free speech and on the other ignore blatant violations of human rights."
16:17 Regarding her negotiations with President Trump, Germany's Chancellor Merkel said they had achieved good results on some issues, but some areas, such as trade, remain difficult.
"I am satisfied now that we have been able to... say: we must keep markets open," said Merkel, noting that the G20 summit had also agreed to fight protectionism and to promote fair trade practices. The German chancellor underlined the compromise on trade had followed "hard negotiations" by the US.
16:10 "The declaration points out clearly what the US wants and what other G19 nations stand for regarding the climate change deal. It is not a common position," Merkel told the press conference.
"I think it's very clear that we could not reach consensus, but the differences were not papered over, they were clearly stated," Merkel told reporters at the end of the two-day meeting.
16:06 The final G20 statement recognized the US' decision to pull out of the Paris climate agreement, but the 19 other countries in the grouping said they were strongly committed to the accord.
16:00 Merkel slammed violent protests during the G20 summit, saying those who act in this way were not interested in political criticism.
15:57 Argentina will host next year's G20 summit, followed by Japan in 2019 and Saudi Arabia in 2020.
15:23 In the concluding G20 press conference, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that despite differences of opinions, the participants were able to find compromises, as reflected in the summit communiqué.
"The final declaration reflects that we have an action plan on terrorism and other issues," Merkel said, adding that more could be achieved through collective efforts.
15:14 Russia's President Putin assured G20 participants his country did not interfere in the 2016 US elections, according to Russia's TASS news agency.
15:04 Many anti-G20 demonstrators in Hamburg condemned the violent protests on Friday, saying the images of criminals wreaking havoc in the city tarnished the idea of peaceful protests and deviated from their actual message: "Solidarity without borders instead of G20!"
14:36 The US, Russia and Jordan have reached a ceasefire and "de-escalation" deal for southwestern Syria, hours after a meeting between US President Trump and Russian President Putin at the G20 summit. The truce is set to take effect on Sunday.
14:36 In spite of Trump's opposition to the Paris Agreement, the G20 communique called for the rapid implementation of the climate accord, according to the DPA news agency.
"We reaffirm our strong commitment to the Paris Agreement, moving swiftly towards its full implementation," the DPA quotes the G20's final text as saying.
The statement says the climate agreement, which has been one of the most divisive issues at the two-day summit in Hamburg, is "irreversible."
The statement also says the US "will endeavour to work closely with other countries to help them access and use fossil fuels more cleanly and efficiently and help deploy renewable and other clean energy sources, given the importance of energy access and security in their nationally determined contributions," the sources said.
13:59 France's Macron told Russia's Vladimir Putin the two countries had made "tangible" progress in bilateral relations.
"So I think now we can move on to a new phase because we both saw that we were doing what we were saying," Macron said after the closed door meeting with Putin.
13:45 New York Mayor Bill de Blasio is set to meet with Hamburg Mayor Olaf Scholz and address a rally later on Saturday.
De Blasio is one of Trump's sharpest critics, and he is set to speak at a moderate "Hamburg zeigt Haltung" rally protesting state injustice in some G20 members.
13:40 Sources cited by dpa say the US opposes a draft statement that had been accepted by other G20 members.
13:35 Germany's Federal Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere is urging the police and the judiciary crack down on violent protesters.
"The brutality shown by violent extremists yesterday and the day before in Hamburg is unimaginable and outrageous. They are not protesters; they are criminals."
Attacking people and destroying property "have nothing to do with protests or politics," he added.
"I thank the police officers whose actions prevented the worst. You and the police chiefs deserve full support and solidarity," de Maiziere said.
13:19 Around 20,000 people march through Hamburg as part of the "G20 - not welcome!" rally, the police says. No violence reported so far.
13:11 China's President Xi Jinping urged Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Saturday to put aside "distractions" that have strained ties between Beijing and Tokyo. He also warned that China was not willing to compromise on Taiwan, according to the Chinese Xinhua News Agency.
13:06 G20 leaders pledged to take action against people smuggling and human trafficking.
"We are committed to taking action" against the smugglers, they said in a statement.
12:59 Hamburg State Interior Minister Andy Grote praised the police and their actions during yesterday's violence.
"We wanted to make sure that no officers were in danger," he said.
12:51 G20 countries are deciding on a joint action plan to spur global economic growth and create more jobs in all parts of the world. At the same time, the nations' leaders admit that they would not achieve a previously set goal of 2 percent growth by 2018, German dpa agency reports.
12:22 Police updates the casualty toll, saying that 213 officers have been injured while clashing with the protesters in Hamburg.
12:20 Some 12,000 protesters have gathered in Hamburg's central square by noon for the "G20 - not welcome!" rally, the police says.
12:05 A 27-year-old has been detained over the suspicion of using a laser pointer to dazzle pilots of a police helicopter on Thursday. He is to be tried for attempted murder, Der Spiegel reports.
11:59 The police are currently conducting a raid at a building in the Hamburg Schanzenviertel, the area that saw the toughest street clashes in the last two days, police chief Ralf Meyer told the German public broadcaster NDR. The security forces received information that criminal plots were being prepared at the location, he added.
Several other buildings are also being searched, according to German media.
11:50 Pope Francis warned against "very dangerous alliances" between G20 countries that would be directed against the refugees, referring specifically to the USA, Russia and China as well as the non-G20 countries North Korea and Syria.
In today's world, the main problem is the fate of the "poor, the weak, the isolated, which also includes the migrants," the pope said in an interview to "La Repubblica."
"That is why I am troubled by the G20, because migrants would be the first to be targeted."
11:45 DW's Fanny Fascar talked to a witness who says he saw a police attacking a peaceful protester.
11:38 Police say they failed to intervene sooner on Friday night because they feared for the lives of their officers. The authorities had information that the protesters on the roofs had concrete slabs and were preparing to set fires.
"We did not want to go in unprepared and fail to secure the area," said police spokesman Timo Zill. "An image of police pulling back would surely be catastrophic," he said.
11:27 Hamburg's Mayor Olaf Scholz urged the protesters to end the violence and make "peaceful coexistence" possible again, adding that his city and the whole of Germany deserved it.
"I am shaken over the violence that many had to endure, with their vehicles or property destroyed, or witnessing this brutality against police officers," he said.
11:23 France's Emmanuel Macron discussed the Paris climate accord and renewable energy projects while meeting China's Xi Jinping on Saturday.
11:18 Commenting on the overnight violence, a Hamburg police spokesman said the anti-police aggression "reached a new dimension." Officers' lives might have been at risk if SWAT teams had not intervened, he said.
11:02 The police is expecting heavy clashes with protesters to continue on Saturday. Police chief Ralf Martin Meyer says there are "clear indications" that violent attackers are likely to join the downtown anti-G20 rally on Saturday.
10:58 Putin met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the Hamburg summit, according to Turkish Anadolu news agency. The two are expected to discuss the war in Syria. Efforts by Russia and Turkey "set a clear example for the international community," Erdogan said.
10:51 Various G20 leaders pledged a total of $325 million (285 million euros) to aid women entrepreneurs in poor countries.
10:39 Hamburg residents came out to help clear the debris from last night, DW's Jenny Witt says.
10:27 US President Trump praised Merkel as "amazing," saying she did "an incredible job" hosting the summit in Germany.
"Your leadership is absolutely incredible and very inspiring," he added.
10:19 Police report "tense atmosphere" as first anti-G20 protesters gather in downtown Hamburg
10:12 German Justice Minister Heiko Maas condemned the Hamburg rioters online, saying they deserved "no tolerance."
"Criminals belong before courts, not on the street," he tweeted.
10:09 Greenpeace activists have scaled Hamburg bridge to display a banner saying "G20: End Coal."
10:04 DW's Fanny Fascar reports on tough security measures from the streets of Hamburg:
9:56 Leaders of France, Germany and Russia agreed on the importance of implementing the ceasefire deal in Ukraine after meeting at the sidelines of the summit.
9:43 While meeting UK Prime Minister Theresa May, Donald Trump says the countries are working on a "very, very big deal, a very powerful deal" on trade between the two countries.
9:39 US President Donald Trump described his first-ever meeting with Vladimir Putin yesterday as "tremendous."
9:29 An EU official says that all G20 members agree on a statement on trade and commit to fighting protectionism.
9:17 Hamburg police say 213 officers have been injured in the violence.
08:37 An EU official says all G20 members are expected to support a joint communique after the meet, but adds there is still an outstanding issue on climate.
08:32 DW reporters at the scene survey the aftermath of last nights' riots in Hamburg.
Read: Blow-by-blow overview of G20 meet on FridayApproximately 9,000 years ago, a small band of Mesolithic hunter-gathers chose a high ridge over-looking the River Bann in modern day Co. Derry as their home. Here, in a forest clearing, they erected a series of tent-like structures, fashioned out of wooden posts and covered in hides or thatch.
These simple buildings represent Ireland’s very first houses.
With no knowledge of farming, their inhabitants had to rely totally on the natural world for sustenance. In this regard, the campsite at Mount Sandel was well chosen. Not only was it surrounded by dense forests full of wild pigs and close to a river abundant in fish, rich coastal and estuarine resources were located relatively nearby.
The houses
This ancient camp-site was rediscovered in the 1970s during a series of excavations carried out by Dr Peter Woodman. This work revealed extensive evidence for habitation, including the remains of at least ten structures (though not all were contemporary), along with a large number of pits, post-holes and hearths. Where discernible, the majority of structures appeared to be broadly oval in plan, measuring approximately 6m across. Located in shallow man-made depressions, they were defined by stout post-holes, which measured up to 0.20m in diameter.
A number of the post-holes were inclined inwards suggesting that they may have held wooden saplings that had been driven into the ground and then bent over to form a tent or wigwam-like structure. Presumably the resultant wooden framework was covered in hides, reeds or some other perishable material. Internally the huts had a centrally placed hearth, which would have provided the inhabitants with both heat and light, as well as somewhere to cook their food.
Diet
The faunal remains from the site indicated that a wide range of species were exploited by the camp’s inhabitants. Fish bones dominated, forming 81 % of the assemblage, with the remainder being made up of mammal (15%) and bird bones (4%). The fish remains included species such as salmon (48%), trout (32%), eel (7%), bass and flounder and these indicate that the nearby River Bann was intensively exploited. The fish were probably caught using harpoons, nets or baited lines, while more complex fish traps may also have been used. Mesolithic fish traps, fashioned out of post and wattle panels and wicker baskets are known from other Irish sites, for example Clowanstown, Co. Meath and Spenser Dock, Dublin. Evidence for wooden racks, over which the fish would have been dried or smoked to aid long-term storage, were also identified at Mount Sandel.
In addition to the fish remains, a variety of birds species were found at the site and these indicate that diverse range of habitats were being exploited. Species of the forest such as wood-pigeon, woodcock and capercaille were hunted, along with waterfowl such as mallard, teal, widgeon and red-throated diver. Upland habitats were also utilised as evidenced by the recovery of grouse bones. Interestingly, eagle bones were found at the site and these birds may been hunted for their plumage rather than for meat (ethnographic parallels indicate that eagle feathers were often incorporated into clothing and head-dresses). The mammal bone, in contrast was less diverse and was dominated by wild boar (98%), with much smaller amounts of hare and wolf/dog also present. The pig bones suggest many of animals were hunted and killed within their first winter.
Wild plant resources were also exploited, especially hazelnuts, water lily seeds and crab apples. Hazelnuts were particularly plentiful and may have been an important part of the Mesolithic inhabitants diet. Easily harvested in the autumn, the nuts would have been an excellent source of protein, fat and vitamins and could be stored for up to 12 months once cured.
Tools
The inhabitants of Mount Sandel used a variety of wooden and stone tools, and there was extensive evidence for flint knapping at the site. There appears to have been a specialised flint-working area to the west of the huts, from which large amounts of flint debitage and numerous microliths were recovered. The latter are tiny flint blades, which were probably used as part of composite tools. For example, a number of microliths may have been inserted along the length of a wooden handle to form a cutting blade or at the end of a wooden pole to make a harpoon or spear. Polished stone axes were also recovered during the excavation and these tools would have been essential for everyday carpentry work, as well as clearing woodland.
Mount Sandel then, gives us a unique insight into the lives of Ireland’s very first inhabitants. Home to what was probably a small extended family group, the camp appears to have been occupied for most of the year. Its residents were adept at exploiting the natural world, targeting migrating salmon during the summer months, harvesting hazelnuts in the autumn and hunting wild pigs during the cold days of winter. They slept in sturdy huts that were warmed by internal hearths and to-date these simple structures represent the only definite Mesolithic houses discovered in Ireland.
Interestingly, the archaeology students of University College Dublin are currently recreating one of these Mesolithic structures. You can read more about this intriguing project here.
References
Waddell, J. 1998. The Prehistoric Archaeology of Ireland. Galway University Press
Smith C. 2012. Late Stone Age Hunters of the British Isles. Routledge
Related blog posts
A Mesolithic cemetery: Ireland’s oldest burials
Dublin, The Prehistoric CityNASA is trying to make progress toward a manned mission to Mars and, to that end, they are testing a cutting-edge spacecraft breaking system called the Supersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator (SIAD).
READMORE: NASA promises 'definitive evidence' of alien life by 2025
The same system was tested last year, when SIAD performed flawlessly. Its parachute, however, did not. Numerous improvements have been made to this year's chute - which will be the primary focus of this month's test.
Viewers will see live images of the test, which will take place off the west coast of Kauai, Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean, taken by four on-board cameras.
The launch, originally scheduled for June 2, but later postponed due to unfavorable ocean conditions, is slated for Wednesday, June 4, after 17:30 GMT. The flying saucer-like LDSD test vehicle will be lifted by a weather balloon to an altitude of 120,000 feet.NASA TelevisionandJPL's Ustream channelwill carry live commentary on the launch from 5:30 pm to 7 PM GST (10 am to noon PDT).
READ MORE: Supersonic entry: NASA’s ‘flying saucer’ to get second test drive
Viewers tuning in will see the same images as NASA does in real time, according to Mark Adler, project manager for LDSD at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. "This year's test is centered on how our newly-designed supersonic parachute will perform. We think we have a great design ready for the challenge, but the proof is in the pudding and the pudding will be made live for everyone to see," he said.Yatish Yadav By
NEW DELHI:After replacing the Planning Commission with its new avatar NITI Aayog, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and National Security Advisor A K Doval are working on an ambitious proposal to restructure the National Security Advisory Board (NSAB), which currently functions as a research body on national security issues under the National Security Council Secretariat.
Sources said Doval had an hour-long discussion last week with Intelligence Bureau director Dineshwar Sharma and Research & Analysis (R&AW) chief Rajinder Khanna on the future role of NSAB in changing security dynamics of the country. The three top intelligence officers are understood to have decided that functional utility of NSAB should be more on security issues and it should be more actively involved with the government machinery in the hour of crisis.
The government is of the view that the existing research-oriented outlook of NSAB has to be transformed into a body of crisis-managers on security and strategic issues. Sources confirmed that Doval has already made some key changes in the working of Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) positioning it as the most important body that advises government on the basis of analysis drawn from intelligence inputs received from IB, R&AW and Military Intelligence.
A top government official said while the two years tenure of NSAB ended last month, the government is yet to reconstitute the board because of ongoing discussion on restructuring within the Prime Minister’s Office. One of the key proposals, the official said, is to make the board more professional and much leaner like NITI Aayog. According to the existing structure, NSAB has 17 members including the chairman. The recently expired board was headed by Shyam Saran, former foreign secretary, who earlier served as the prime minister’s special envoy for the Indo-US civil nuclear issues and later as Special Envoy and Chief Negotiator on Climate Change.
“The government is examining the possibility of having few members and more support staff to make it more effective in dealing with burning issues related to national security and policies. The proposed board could have six to eight members with a chairman,” the official added.
Under the existing system, senior retired officials having expertise in internal and external security, foreign affairs, defence, journalism, science & technology, economic affairs and distinguished members of civil society are selected as members on the board. Sources said there was an urgent need to overhaul the organisation as the government is trying to revive the three-tier structure of National Security Council. Besides NSAB, Strategic Policy Group and JIC are two other organisations under the National Security Council.
A former board member told The Sunday Standard the existing structure of NSAB and role in policy planning was almost zero. He said the country was faced with several crises in the last two years, but no emergency meeting was summoned to discuss or to prepare a report for the government to formulate action accordingly.
“We did not meet during the crises even once and nobody was even interested. The individuals were given projects with a 6-month or year-long deadline and that’s about it. The issues which require immediate intervention by the government were not considered,” the former NSAB member added.
A former R&AW officer and NSAB member Jayadev Ranade said NSAB needs more interaction with various arms of government instead of working in isolation and merely producing policy reports.
“While restructuring, two things needs to be looked into, first they need to review the selection process of members and implement a system through which NSAB could become more relevant, like interaction with concerned Parliamentary Standing Committees and meeting with political leaders,” Ranade said. He added the NSAB’s future role would also depend on the government proposal as they need to decide how much NSAB involvement they are planning in day-to-day functioning of National Security Council Secretariat.
Former DG BSF Prakash Singh, considered to be among the experts on internal security, had resigned from NSAB last year because there were hardly any significant meetings on issues related to important security and strategic matters. Singh said NSAB had lost functional utility and that was the reason he quit six months before the tenure of the board expired.
“NSAB definitely requires restructuring and its responses on issues should reach the government. Whether the recommendations are acceptable or not is immaterial. NSAB must start drafting the policies instead of authoring long-term research papers that hardly get noticed. It should be actively involved in addressing important issues related to strategic relations and national security,” said Singh.Da Nang, Vietnam (CNN) When President Donald Trump awoke on his first day in Asia to news that a gunman had massacred more than two dozen people at a church in Texas, it presaged a week of events back home that -- in a well-worn pattern -- have overshadowed his attempts at diplomacy abroad.
Like presidents before him, Trump is discovering here that foreign travel can prove an exhausting, scripted exercise that is easily obscured by developments elsewhere in the world.
In Japan, South Korea, and China, Trump has dutifully stuck to his talking points about trade fairness and isolating North Korea, while political controversies that would ordinarily spur an outsized response have gone largely unmentioned.
Even his eyebrow-raising comment blaming his predecessors -- and not China -- for unfair trade practices was read from a set of prepared remarks. Despite Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's insistence the comment was "tongue-in-cheek," Trump repeated it twice on Friday.
The scripted sessions have eased concerns -- both among his Asian counterparts and his own advisers -- that Trump would employ his trademark bombast during intensive talks about delicate subjects. But they have also allowed other stories to eclipse his message.
As it turned out, the Texas shooting was only the first interruption.
Domestic interruptions
An hour before he was due to deliver the centerpiece speech of the trip in Seoul on Wednesday, television networks back home began announcing a wave of Democratic wins in local and state elections -- the first electoral rebuke of Trump since he took office.
Three days later, as he prepared to depart Beijing for Vietnam, news emerged that the Alabama Republican Senate candidate, Roy Moore, was accused of making sexual or romantic advances toward teenagers.
Throughout the trip, the Russia investigation has crept closer to Trump's inner circle. News emerged Thursday that his top policy aide Stephen Miller, who is traveling with Trump this week and drafted most of his formal remarks, was interviewed by investigators working with special counsel Robert Mueller. And Trump's aide-de-camp Keith Schiller testified behind closed doors at the House Intelligence Committee.
Compared to some prior political pitfalls, Trump's response to the wave of Democratic wins on Tuesday was muted. He tweeted the Republican candidate for governor in Virginia, Ed Gillespie, "worked hard but did not embrace me or what I stand for." He left it at that.
And news of Moore's alleged sexual improprieties ahead of Alabama's senate election spurred a statement from Trump's spokeswoman, but not from the President himself.
"The President must and will remain focused on representing our country on his historic trip to Asia, where he has been treated with great respect and made unprecedented progress in further strengthening alliances and promoting America's interest above all else," Sarah Sanders said
Yet it may be perfect timing for a president, easily prone to |
July parades. Horses were often given away at naming ceremonies, memorial ceremonies (held a year after a family member's death), and giveaways (which might celebrate a returning veteran or honor a graduating student). Traditional giveaways centered on the giving away of horses, money, clothing, blankets and other material objects. Hosting a giveaway today involves tremendous preparation, including the gathering of gifts, such as brightly colored star quilts, Pendleton blankets and handmade shawls, as well as feeding the whole community.
Continue reading below the slideshow:
PHOTO GALLERY A Song for the Horse Nation
Grandma Grace once told me that her grandmother really knew Indian ways: "Grandpa Pourier would have been a rich man, but Grandma Pourier kept giving the horses away." A horse to be given away would be brought into the Fourth of July dance arbor or other community gathering, while men on horseback waited outside. The horse was shown to the people or paraded inside the arbor, then taken outside, given a slap on the rump, and released. The man on horseback fortunate enough to catch the freed horse became its proud new owner.
My grandmother also remembered that women would give away dresses made of tanned deer hide, with the yoke of the dress completely covered with beadwork. "They would take off their beaded dresses right there in the dance arbor and give them away." The women giving the dress away wore a cloth dress beneath the beaded dress. Giving away a fully beaded dress in honor of a relative was a tremendous act of generosity. The person receiving the valuable gift would shake hands with the giver and with the relative being honored.
Emily Her Many Horses, my paternal grandmother, remembered receiving her Lakota name at about age 10. She wore a wool dress embellished with many elk teeth, valuable because only two of each elk's teeth -- the incisors -- are used for decoration. They are natural ivory. Along with this dress, she wore beaded moccasins and leggings, and after the naming ceremony, she was told to give away the dress, moccasins and leggings. She struggled to keep the dress, but her parents made her part with it -- at such a young age, she did not understand what this act of generosity meant, and she wondered why her grandfather had her shoes, which were tied together by their shoestrings and thrown over his saddle horn. Her grandfather gave away five horses that day in her honor.
Leo Her Many Horses, my father, was given a horse at a Hunka Lowanpi, a naming ceremony head during a Sun Dance. He received a wooden stick that had attached to it a rawhide cutout of a horse. This meant that he would later receive the actual horse. The Hunka Lowanpi is a Lakota naming/adoption ceremony. It creates a kinship relationship that is respected by all the family members involved, and it is at this ceremony that Lakota names are given. The family of the person receiving the name will ask a well-respected individual to name its relative. The person naming the individual will pray with an eagle feather and then tie the feather in that person's hair. The names given at a Huna Lowanpi are used only on special occasions -- to have one's name sung publicly in a song is considered a great honor. The person whose name was sung by his or her family members will give away money, horses or blankets for this honor.
Often on Memorial Day or after a death, people will place articles of clothing, bowls of fruit, packs of cigarettes, or other such items on the grave of a family member. These things are put out with the idea that other people are welcome to come by and take them. This act is performed to honor the deceased family member. My father said that one method of giving away was to place the horse outside the cemetery with the reins left hanging loose to signify that anyone was welcome to take it.
In the collection of the National Museum of the American Indian, there is a beautiful, elaborately beaded horse head cover used at a 1904 Fourth of July parade at Pine Ridge, where my grandmother would be born three years later. The catalog information states that this horse head cover was collected by J.W. Good and was "used by chief of Teton Sioux to lead parade." Imagine the horse that wore this, the white beads glinting in the July sun.
It's a wonderful piece of artistry in its geometric design and lazy-stitch technique, but what's unique about it is that it appears to have been made with the intention of later being recycled into many different objects. The beaded section, which would be placed over the face of the horse, could be remade into a pair of women's beaded leggings, and the area over the horse's cheek could be made into a pipe bag. The upper neck section of the cover would have been made into a pair of tipi bags, also known as a "possible bag," because anything possible was stored inside. The lower neck section could be made into a pair of moccasins.
The resourceful woman who created this horse mask obviously had future plans for it -- plans that were, fortunately for us, never carried out. A fusion of gifts never given, it is a reminder of Lakota traditions pieced together, a silent testament to what lies hidden within all those Fourths of July.
Emil Her Many Horses (Oglala Lakota) is an associate curator at the National Museum of the American Indian and the lead curator for "A Song for the Horse Nation." He lives in Washington, D.C.
This excerpt was reprinted with permission from the book, "A Song for the Horse Nation", published by the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian. The exhibition of the same name is on view in Washington, D.C. until January 7, 2013.Many scientists speculate that our galaxy could be full of places like Pandora from the movie "Avatar" -- Earth-like worlds in solar systems besides our own.
That doesn't mean such worlds have been easy to find, however. Of the 400-plus planets so far discovered, none could support life as we know it on Earth.
"The problem with finding Earth-like planets," said Stefan Martin, an engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., "is that their host stars can emit 10 million times more infrared light than the planet itself. And because planets like ours are small and orbit very close to their respective stars, it makes Earths almost impossible to see."
Together with A.J. Booth (formerly at JPL and now at Sigma Space Corp., Lanham, Md.), Martin may have developed a way to make this almost impossible feat a reality.
Their instrument design, called a "nulling interferometer," observes planets in infrared light, where they are easier to detect. It is designed to combine starlight captured by four different telescopes, arranging the light waves from the star in such a way that they cancel each other out. "We're able to make the star look dimmer -- basically turning it off," Martin said.
Nulling interferometry is not a new idea, but what sets the results from Martin and Booth apart is how effective it turned out to be. "Our null depth is 10 to 100 times better than previously achieved by other systems," Martin said. "This is the first time someone has cross-combined four telescopes, set up in pairs, and achieved such deep nulls. It's extreme starlight suppression."
That suppression could allow scientists to get a better look at exoplanets than ever before. "We're able to make the planet flash on and off so that we can detect it," Martin said. "And because this system makes the light from the star appear 100 million times fainter, we would be able to see the planet we're looking for quite clearly."
Pandora, up close and personal
Nulling interferometry isn't the only way scientists can find other Earths. NASA's Kepler mission, currently in orbit, is looking for Earth-like planets by watching the light of faraway stars dim slightly as their planets pass in front of them. Another method of observing exoplanets is coronagraphy, which uses a mask to block the optical light of a star, making its surrounding planets more easily visible. And the proposed SIM Lite mission would also be able to find nearby planets by observing the gravity-induced "wobbling" of their host stars.
However, Martin and Booth's nulling interferometer could eventually give astronomers the ability to get up close and personal with Earth-like worlds, analyzing their atmospheres for signs of habitability or even possibly life. "We expect to eventually be able to see hundreds of planets with this technique," Martin said.
The technology that they've developed could be used on a follow-up space mission to SIM Lite and Kepler. Martin is now planning to test the system in conditions that better mimic a real-life mission.
Once considered the stuff of science fiction, it may not be long before Earth-like planets, or, in the case of Pandora, Earth-like moons of giant planets, are found to exist other places besides the silver screen.Hand gestures for numbers 1-10 used by Chinese speakers
a common sign for the number one
Chinese number gestures are a method to signify the natural numbers one through ten using one hand. This method may have been developed to bridge the many varieties of Chinese—for example, the numbers 4 (Chinese: 四; pinyin: sì) and 10 (Chinese: 十; pinyin: shí) are hard to distinguish in some dialects. Some suggest that it was also used by business people during bargaining (i.e., to convey a bid by feeling the hand gesture in a sleeve) when they wish for more privacy in a public place. These gestures are fully integrated into Chinese Sign Language.
Methods [ edit ]
While the five digits on one hand can easily express the numbers one through five, six through ten have special signs that can be used in commerce or day-to-day communication. The gestures are rough representations of the Chinese numeral characters they represent. The system varies in practice, especially for the representation of "7" to "10". Two of the systems are listed below:
Six (六) The little finger and thumb are extended, other fingers closed, sometimes with the palm facing the signer. (The extended thumb indicates one set of 5)
(六) Seven (七) In North China : The fingertips are all touching, pointed upwards; or just the fingertips of the thumb and first two fingers [note: this is the most common method]; another method is similar to the eight described immediately below, except that the little finger is also extended. In North China : The index finger and middle finger point outward, with the thumb extended upwards, sometimes with the palm facing the observer. (The extended thumb indicates one set of 5) In coastal South China : The index finger points down with the thumb extended, mimicking the shape of a "7".
(七) Eight (八) In North China : The thumb and index finger make an "L", other fingers closed, with the palm facing the observer. In North China : The index finger and middle finger point down, often with tips on a horizontal surface, making the Chinese number 8 ("八"). In coastal South China : The thumb, index finger, and middle finger are extended.
(八) Nine (九) In Mainland China : The index finger makes a hook, other fingers closed, sometimes with the palm facing the signer. In Taiwan : The thumb, index finger, middle finger, and ring finger are extended. In Hong Kong : Both methods are used.
(九) Ten (十) The fist is closed with the palm facing the signer; or the middle finger crosses an extended index finger, facing the observer. Some Chinese distinguish between zero and ten by having the thumb closed or open respectively. The arms are raised and the index fingers of both hands are crossed in a "十" (making the Chinese number ten) with the palms facing in opposite directions, often in front of the face of the signer.
(十)
Use of the signs corresponds to the use of numbers in the Chinese language. For instance, the sign for five just as easily means fifty. A two followed by a six, using a single hand only, could mean 260 or 2600 etc. besides twenty-six. These signs also commonly refer to days of the week, starting from Monday, as well as months of the year, whose names in Chinese are enumerations.
In different regions signs for numbers vary significantly. One may interpret the "8" sign as a "7". The "index finger-hook" symbol for 9, also means "death" in other contexts.
The numbers zero through five are simpler:
Zero (〇) In North China : The fist is closed. It may be interpreted as 10 depending on the situation, though some Chinese distinguish between zero and ten by having the thumb closed or open respectively. In coastal South China : The thumb and the index finger make a circle, with the last three fingers closed.
(〇) One (一) The index finger is extended.
(一) Two (二) The index and middle fingers are extended.
(二) Three (三) With the index finger and thumb closed, the last three fingers are extended. The thumb holds the little finger in palm with the middle three fingers extended.
(三) Four (四) The thumb is held in palm with the four fingers extended.
(四) Five (五) All five digits are extended. Only thumb is extended, upwards or outwards, with the palm facing the signer.
(五)
Counting with fingers is often different from expressing a specific number with a finger gesture. When counting, the palm can be either facing its owner or the audience, depending on the purpose. Before counting, all fingers are closed; counting starts by extending the thumb as the first, then the index finger as the second, till all fingers are extended as the fifth; then counting can be continued by folding fingers with the same sequence, from thumb through the little finger, for counting from the sixth through the tenth. Repeating the same method for counting larger numbers. One can also starts counting with all fingers extended. Some believe that for formal scenario such as giving speech or presentation, counting with the palm facing the audience and starting with all fingers extended is more polite, since the gesture of folding of fingers representing bowing.
When playing drinking finger games (划拳, 猜拳), slightly different sets of finger gestures of numbers is used. One of them is:
Zero (〇) The fist is closed.
(〇) One (一) The thumb is extended with all other fingers folded toward the palm.
(一) Two (二) The thumb and index finger make an "L", other fingers closed.
(二) Three (三) With the last two fingers closed and the rest fingers (the thumb and the first two fingers) extended, or With the index finger and thumb closed, the last three fingers are extended.
(三) Four (四) The thumb is held in palm with the four fingers extended.
(四) Five (五) All five digits are extended.
(五)
Gallery [ edit ]
From 1 to 5 [ edit ]
1
2
3
3 (alternative)
4
5
From 6 to 10 in North China [ edit ]
6
7
8
9
10 (or 0)
10 (alternative)
From 6 to 10 in coastal South China [ edit ]
6
7
8
9
10
From 6 to 10 in Taiwan [ edit ]
6
7
8
9
10
The digit 0 [ edit ]
The gesture of the digit 0 is used for showing numbers like 20, 30, 40, etc, where the left hand shows the tens digit and the right hand shows the digit 0.
0 (or 10), used in North China
0, used in coastal South China
References [ edit ]Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor turned whistleblower, presented a plan for a smartphone add-on that could help people evade government surveillance on Thursday.
Snowden teamed up with the hacker Andrew “bunnie” Huang to design the device, a piece of hardware that would affix to an Apple (aapl) iPhone and that would alert a person whenever that handset leaked location data. Based in Russia, he introduced the proposal courtesy of livestream video at a day-long conference on “Forbidden Research” at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Media Lab.
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Snowden said that journalists, especially ones reporting in high-risk situations in foreign countries, are not able to trust that their phones will keep their whereabouts quiet, even when set to “airplane mode.” Intelligence agencies and hackers can compromise the handsets with malicious software to make them appear safe, when really the devices are tattling.
Snowden cited the example of Marie Colvin, a reporter for The Sunday Times, who was killed by the Syrian Army in an artillery strike in 2012. (Colvin’s family is suing the country’s administration, alleging that it targeted her after intercepting her broadcasts.)
For more on smartphone hacking, watch:
Smartphones come equipped with a number of radio transmitters and receivers, for GPS, SIM card, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth functionality, as Snowden and Huang lay out in a co-authored paper describing the module’s specs. The pair’s device is designed to detect signals from these features and notify a person on a separate display when they’re active.
Huang, Snowden’s partner, gained notoriety by becoming the authority on hacking Microsoft’s (msft) Xbox video game console. He also recently filed a lawsuit against the United States government for its digital copyright laws, which he says inhibit security research.
At the moment, the anti-spy device is just an experiment. “The next step is refining the system for field deployment,” the two wrote in their paper. “Over the coming year, we hope to prototype and verify the introspection engine’s abilities.”(Photo: United States Forces Iraq / Flickr)The late William Safire, conservative columnist and veteran of the Nixon White House, called the lie detector test a “form of torture” that “breeds the opposite of security.” Writing in The New York Times a decade ago, he said “the hit-and-miss machine” had been thoroughly “discredited.”
But this week, the nation’s top intelligence official announced that the government is expanding its use of the polygraph to expose federal employees who leak classified information to the media.
The testing could put intelligence workers at risk of being falsely stigmatized, jeopardizing their careers and their ability to contribute to the national security. It also could have a chilling effect on employees considering blowing the whistle on government wrongdoing, whistleblower advocates said.
“It is clearly at odds with everything we learned in our report,” said Stephen E. Fienberg, a professor of statistics and social science at Carnegie Mellon University who led a 2003 National Research Council study of the use of polygraphs in security screenings.
Briefing a Senate committee on the study in 2003, Fienberg put it this way: “Unfortunately tests that are sensitive enough to spot most violators will also mistakenly mark large numbers of innocent test takers as guilty.”
In an interview with the Project On Government Oversight this week, Fienberg said the study’s findings still apply.
But that’s not to say the tests are useless.
Despite its ineffectiveness at detecting deception, the lie detector can serve as an interrogation tool, he said. If people believe it works, he said, it can intimidate them into admitting misconduct.
Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper broadened the government’s embrace of the device this week after news reports described clandestine operations, including infiltration of the terrorist group Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and alleged cyber attacks on Iran’s nuclear program. Members of Congress expressed outrage over the leaks, arguing that they compromise national security and damage U.S. diplomatic relations. The Justice Department has since opened probes.
In a news release, Clapper’s office said it is trying to “better protect sensitive information, and help detect and deter potential leakers within the Intelligence Community.”
Specifically, federal intelligence agencies will expand counter-intelligence polygraphs they already perform by adding a question about “unauthorized disclosure of classified information,” the announcement said.
The question will be asked when employees with security clearances undergo routine polygraphs every seven years, according to news reports. In addition, Clapper spokesman Shawn Turner said that, under the new rules, if an inspector general’s investigation gives reason to believe that a particular individual or group of individuals may have released classified information, the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) can direct those individuals to submit to a polygraph that includes questions about unauthorized disclosures to members of the media.
Turner declined to respond to arguments that the test is inaccurate. However, he said the new measures do not prevent whistleblowers from calling attention to waste, fraud, abuse, or other mismanagement.
The agencies involved include the CIA, FBI, National Security Agency, Department of Energy, National Reconnaissance Office, Defense Intelligence Agency, and National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.
The new steps will send “a strong message that intelligence personnel always have, and always will, hold ourselves to the highest standard of professionalism,” Clapper said in a news release.
The Obama Administration’s latest step is part of a broader effort to plug leaks that has included more criminal prosecutions for national security leaks than pursued by any prior administration. Republicans, meanwhile, have accused the Administration of leaking about its own national security triumphs, such as the killing of Osama bin Laden. The president has denied that his White House “would purposely release classified national security information.”
The American Polygraph Association, which represents people who administer the tests, says they have “great probative value.” But the association’s Web site notes limitations.
According to the group, research shows that tests focused on single issues or events “produced an aggregated decision accuracy of 89%,” while testing that probed multiple issues “produced an aggregated decision accuracy of 85% (confidence interval 77% – 93%) with an inconclusive rate of 13%.”
Such averages don’t necessarily tell the whole story.
“You can have a test that averages 90 percent accuracy if it catches 100 percent of the liars, and mislabels 20 percent of the truth tellers,” said Barry Cushman, the association’s president-elect. “Still, there isn’t anything better for catching deception and it’s better than chance.”
George Maschke, the cofounder of AntiPolygraph.org, a nonprofit that seeks to ban polygraph testing from the American workplace, said “being fearful for your own job security can lead an honest person to fail.” Safire’s column is one of many articles cited on the group’s Web site.
Maschke has stated that he became interested in polygraphs after he applied to become a special agent with the FBI. He said he flunked a polygraph even though he answered truthfully and was essentially blackballed with no appeal.
The National Research Council, a private nonprofit institution that provides scientific advice to the government and other organizations, in 2003 reported that the testing “can lead to unnecessary loss of competent or highly skilled individuals in security organizations because of suspicions cast on them by false positive polygraph exams or because of their fear of such prospects.”
“And it can lead to credible claims that agencies that use polygraphs are infringing civil liberties for insufficient benefits to the national security,” the report said.
The bottom line: “Its accuracy in distinguishing actual or potential security violators from innocent test takers is insufficient to justify reliance on its use in employee security screening in federal agencies.”
The National Research Council said that, despite the limitations, the use of polygraphs can deter people from breaching security, and the tests can prompt people to confess wrongdoing.
A federal judge in New York has publicly criticized a federal lie detector test as apparently leading to a false confession by Abdullah Higazy, who was caught up in an investigation related to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 and was accused of lying to the FBI.
If he had not been cleared through a nearly miraculous turn of events, U.S. District Court Judge Jed S. Rakoff said in a 2008 speech, “Mr. Higazy would now likely be rotting in prison or facing execution.”
Jesselyn Radack, the Government Accountability Project’s national security and human rights director, said the intelligence community is taking a backwards approach.
“I think it’s for public perception—to act as if they’re being aggressive on leaking,” she said.
“In the past, we’ve seen whistleblowers subject to mental evaluations, security clearance investigations, and I think this could easily become another tool of retaliation, rather than a tool to find out the truth,” she said.ADVERTISEMENT
What is genetically modified food?
It comes from a plant or animal that has been genetically manipulated, usually by adding a gene from another organism, to give it desirable traits that can't be achieved through normal breeding. Since the first such genetically modified organism — the slow-rotting Flavr Savr tomato — was brought to market, in 1994, the GMO sector has boomed, and now an estimated 70 percent of processed food in the U.S. contains ingredients from crops altered in the lab to make them hardier, more resistant to disease and pests, and more tolerant of herbicides. You almost certainly consume GMO food all the time: 88 percent of the corn and 94 percent of the soy grown in the U.S. is genetically modified, and GMO crops are used to make the high-fructose corn syrup in soft drinks and the hydrolyzed vegetable protein in everything from soup mixes to salad dressings.
What does the California law propose?
Proposition 37, or "The Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act," would require that any food containing genetically modified ingredients be clearly labeled. If it passes on Nov. 6, some of America's most popular food products, from Coca-Cola to Corn Flakes, would have to be marked as "partially produced with genetic engineering" — a phrase that food companies fear could be as damning as a skull and crossbones. Similar labeling laws have been proposed in more than a dozen U.S. states, but the food and agriculture industries stopped them by putting intense political pressure on state legislators. This time the question will be decided by regular voters in a referendum. "To my mind, this is letting the free market work the way it's supposed to," said Rosa Rashall, a nutritionist who helped gather some of the 1 million signatures that put the proposition on the ballot. "Informed consumers decide what they want to buy."
What do food producers say?
They say a labeling law would be pointless and anti-scientific, and raise the price of food not only in California but in every state. Genetically altering a corn plant in the lab — splicing in, say, a bacterial gene that repels pests — is just a more sophisticated form of the selective breeding that early civilizations used to domesticate wheat 10,000 years ago. "It used to take several generations, getting the best from each plant, to get where you want to be," said Lisa Dry of Pioneer Hi-Bred, a DuPont subsidiary that creates and sells GMO seed. "Today, we isolate one gene that has a desired effect, one trait, and put it into the plant where you want." Only through such genetic modification, advocates say, will farmers achieve the higher yields necessary to feed a world population projected to reach 9 billion by 2050. They say labeling would hamper the spread of innovations like drought-resistant corn, no-lactose milk, and "golden" rice, a genetically fortified strain that developers say could end the vitamin A deficiency that kills 6,000 people a day in the developing world, including sub-Saharan Africa and India.
Are GMO foods harmful?
There's no scientific evidence that they are. The Food and Drug Administration maintains that GMO foods do not present "any different or greater safety concern than food developed by traditional plant breeding," and in June the American Medical Association said it saw "no scientific justification for special labeling of bioengineered foods." But opponents of GMO foods say the long-term effect of eating what they derisively call "Frankenfoods'' is unknown, arguing that the industry is turning unwitting people into guinea pigs in a massive experiment. It's possible, they contend, that the documented rise in allergies in recent years is the result of our bodies reacting badly to unnatural foods they do not recognize. "Californians have a right to know whether their baby formula, corn chips, or soy milk contain genetically modified ingredients that have not been proven safe," said Stacy Malkan, a pro–Proposition 37 campaigner. That "precautionary principle" is the basis of GMO labeling laws already in place in Australia, Brazil, China, Russia, and the European Union. In Europe, GMO ingredients now show up in only 5 percent of food.
Is the measure likely to pass?
Polls say 65 percent of California voters favor the law, but companies such as Monsanto, DuPont, Nestlé, and Coca-Cola are spending at least $25 million to change their minds in a "No to 37" campaign. If the labeling referendum passes, the food industry will undoubtedly fight the new law in court. Some advocates of GMO foods think it would be more effective to spend money persuading the public that "genetically modified" is a badge of progress rather than something to be feared. "One of the best ways the industry can turn public opinion around is to be honest, to be transparent," said Belinda Martineau, a plant scientist who helped develop the Flavr Savr tomato. That's a risk the biotech industry has so far been unwilling to take.
Superweeds through science
When Monsanto introduced its Roundup Ready seed in the late 1990s, grateful U.S. farmers quickly flocked to buy it. The soy and corn seeds had been genetically modified to tolerate the herbicide glyphosate, so killing weeds became cheaper and more effective, and crop yields soared. But nature is catching up. Weeds like waterhemp, mare's tail, and Palmer amaranth — also called "pigweed on steroids" — have developed resistance to glyphosate, growing into hulking, 6-foot-tall giants impervious to spraying. Such Roundup-resistant "superweeds" have taken root on at least 13 million acres of U.S. farmland, causing an estimated $1.9 billion in damage last year alone. Now Monsanto competitor Dow AgroSciences is seeking USDA approval for its Enlist line of genetically modified seeds, which are resistant to herbicides containing the potent agent 2,4-D. The geneticists' arms race with nature threatens to increase rather than reduce the use of toxic chemicals in agriculture, argues Margaret Mellon of the Union of Concerned Scientists. "This is not the path to sustainability."Eric Wilhelm asked the mentors of the Google Summer of Code projects 2008 to share their thoughts on the program and their project, so here is my blah.
I mentored Adrian Kreher's project Flesh Out the Perl 6 Test Suite, and overall I'm very pleased.
After being talked into becoming a mentor by Jerry "particle" Gay I was a a little nervous and not really sure if I was up to the task. So I did what my student would be doing later on: write new tests, review old ones, move them to the "official" part of the test suite, and adapt them so that Rakudo can run them (which basically means selectively disabling tests).
On The perl soc mentor's list I found a few links to guides on how to be a good mentor, which I read and which boil down to "communicate with your student, run his code and give him some feedback".
So we (my student and I) made contact, scheduled regular meetings on IRC, I answered a few questions of his, and thus the project began.
Adrian's work was very good in terms of quality, and after a few minor corrections and nits from my part I made myself mostly superfluous, he worked on his own. I continued to monitor his commits, filled out the mid term and end of term surveys, and thusly passed the project for me.
Assessing the work on the test suite is a bit harder than with other project, because most projects had rather clear goals, whereas in this project the goal was "clean up the test suite as much as possible". It was clear from the beginning that Adrian wouldn't be able to make it through the whole test suite (roughly 900 files, 20k+ tests), so the quantitative goal was to create and mofify 1000 tests, which was met, as far as measurable.
As stated before I am very pleased both with Adrian's work (which actually helped the Rakudo developers a lot), and with the whole infrastructure; there was very little administrative work to do and everybody I dealt with was friendly and helpful.
So if all works well (enough free time, and proposals which fit my abilities) I'll surely offer to mentor again.Photo courtesy of the author
In the small town where I grew up, summer began the day my dad took the paper out onto the front step and ended when he put his shirt back on, three months later, and returned to the house with skin a rusty brown colour like the backside of a toilet in a nightclub where it's not safe to ask for Craft beer.
Highlights included: jumping off the bridge into the canal. Hanging bicycles on road signs. Finding roadkill. Distance spitting. Distance pissing. Stealing golfballs off the fairway. Selling them back to the golf club. Getting a touch off a girl in August but only if you started begging her in June.
Oh, we were bored, but we never admitted it. Admitting you didn't like summer around my way was like saying you were tired of tits, or stolen booze, or the taste that a John Player – shared three ways – left on your teeth. But the truth was we knew no different. One bus rolled through every week. It travelled between cities. We watched it from the canal bank bridge. The better spitters could reach the wheels. I like to think that if we'd known there was a whole world of adventure out there, we would have got on board but people who grow up in small, rural towns don't make for the best travellers. It's all the mud on the ground. It binds them to the place.
Once in a blue moon one of us would buck the trend, normally after some strong-arming from a parent, and take off for the summer. They'd come to us on the canal bridge with the devastating news.
"Have a John Player," we'd say.
"But I was sure I was going to get the ride off Brigid," they'd say.
"There's always next summer," we'd say.
Secretly, we were thinking of Brigid. If she'd let him, maybe she'd let one of us, too?
They'd go off to France, or Germany, or America, or what have you and we'd stay behind where we got jobs at either the golf club or the pizza factory. The golf club was badly paid but you were outdoors, you could smoke and if the mood took you, you could tug all you liked in the bushes. The pizza factory threw real money at you but the work was hard and your skin turned into meringue after a fortnight. In and around our jobs we'd find time to jump into the canal and hang bicycles on stop signs and chase the girls who'd been turning us down since the days of velcro shoes for those who couldn't tie laces so well.
We'd talk about our buddy abroad but only with regard to what he was missing out on. The case of flat Stella we found. Brigid in a skirt. The day Nialler spat ten yards. Brigid in shorts. The dead badger on the backroad with yellowy maggots where his eyeballs used to be.
Whenever our friend would get back, he'd be changed. He'd have a tan. He'd have a new accent. He'd be wearing Reebok instead of Asics. His T-shirt would say Sonic Youth, while ours was still the same old 'Maiden. He'd have new curse words: "wankstain", "pissbitch", "cunthole". He'd have found a girl. Maybe they'd have fucked. He'd show us the pictures and even if she wasn't that pretty, we'd all die inside because we knew she liked him back and that was a million times more important than looks when you're growing up in a place where the only girls who talk to you share your surname.
We'd look back on our own summer. The long evenings spent in the company of the same people. The girls who'd eventually let you kiss them but not from love, from attrition. They'd grown tired of telling us to fuck off. And we'd make secret resolutions to get out of there by the time next summer rolled around. We kept the resolutions secret because it was easier to bullshit yourself than to bullshit other people.
Photo by Glauco Canalis
What none of us – apart from the odd one who did get away – realised was that none of the things we thought mattered, really did. That a hometown was only home until another place substituted it and as soon as that did, we'd never want to go back again except for Christmas when the booze would make you all starry eyed for a youth that forgetfulness had swapped for The Wonder Years. The dull jobs we got could be got anywhere. Really, it was like the world was created out of earth, rock, water and minimum-wage opportunities. And the girls we nagged, well, they were everywhere too, and the further we went from our home the less they'd tell us to fuck off until we'd reach a place so far away that our redneck ways, our jumble sale fashion and the way we spoke English like it was something rusted and mechanic, jammed between our tongue and our throat, sounded exotic. Sounded sexy.
I can't understand a word you're saying and you dress like my dad. Come home with me.
What none of us understood was that the world was a good-sized bucket of opportunity and summer was the time to dip our heads in it. Summer is a real beginning. It's not like January, which, if we're honest, is no more a beginning than waking up in your clothes with vomit on the sheets is a beginning. January's the end. The end of all ends. The end of Christmas, the end of being loose with your money, the end of people acting decent to each other because the TV schedule is depicting a world where everyone else is. And the end of pretending that winter is cosy when it's not, you know; it's just cold and long and if we had even half the sense of plants, we'd sleep through it.
Summer's the real deal because summer's a time when you can make brave decisions and the weather and people in general support you.
The difficult thing about making a brave decision is that it wouldn't be brave if it was easy. It's hard to not do what your friends are doing. It's hard to not take the prescribed route. It's hard to say, no, actually, you don't want to spend summer drinking warm cans of piss on |
modest expectations of the areas where we can cooperate," he added.
450 miles from Moscow
A strategic competitor? Where — on Russia's border?
Perspective: U.S. tanks are closer to Moscow than they have ever been in history. ~700km pic.twitter.com/maQ2EUqd4J — Murad Gazdiev (@MuradGazdiev) April 1, 2017
Yes, something tells us "cooperation" is a two-way street that doesn't have room for tanks.
U.S. tanks are now only 700 kilometers from Moscow. That's only a day away if you don't stop for toilet breaks and let amphetamine queen Louise Mensch do the driving. She's an eager beaver!
Close your eyes and imagine a world in which Russian tanks are 450 miles from Washington, DC — greased up and ready to rumble. Now imagine that in this alternate universe, the Kremlin issues daily statements about how there “cannot be any return to business as usual” with Washington because of its "constant interference" with Russia and its 800 overseas military bases and endless drone and proxy wars in the Middle East and North Africa.
That would seem a little bit strange, wouldn't it? Is "strange" the right word? No, probably not.
Russia is guilty of 'persistent interference' around the world, says America and UK https://t.co/LCXqy8Dpoo — The Independent (@Independent) April 1, 2017
The hubris and defiant resistance to reality — it's remarkable.
Detente is as dead as a nameless brown drone victim in Pakistan.Note: I’ll be on TVO’s The Agenda with Steve Paikin tonight talking about Government 2.0.
Why does open data matter? Rather than talk in abstract terms, let me share a well documented but little known story about how open data helped expose one of the biggest tax frauds in Canada’s history.
It begins in early 2007 when a colleague was asked by a client to do an analysis of the charitable sector in Toronto. Considering it a simply consulting project, my colleague called the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and asked for all the 2005 T3010s – the Annual Information Returns where charities disclose to the CRA their charitable receipts and other information – in Toronto. After waiting several weeks and answering a few questions, the CRA passed along the requested information.
After spending time cleaning up the data my colleague eventually had a working excel spreadsheet and began to analyze the charitable sector in the Greater Toronto Area. One afternnon, on a lark, they decided to organize the charities by size of tax-receipted charitable donations.
At this point it is important to understand something about scale. The United Way of Greater Toronto is one of the biggest charities in North America, indeed its most recent annual charitable donation drive was the biggest on the continent. In 2008 – the year of the financial crisis started – the United Way of Greater Toronto raised $107.5 million.
So it was with some surprise that after sorting the charities by 2005 donation amounts my colleague discovered that the United Way was not first on the list. It wasn’t even second.
It was third.
This was an enormous surprise. Somewhere in Toronto, without anyone being aware of it, two charities had raised more money than the United Way (which in 2005 raised target of $96.1M). The larger one, the International Charity Association Network (ICAN) raised $248M in 2005. The other, the Choson Kallah Fund of Toronto had receipts of $120M (up from $6M in 2003).
Indeed, four out the top 15 charities on the list, including Millennium Charitable Foundation, Banyan Tree, were unknown to my colleague, someone who had been active in the Toronto charitable community for over a decade.
All told, my colleague estimated that these illegally operating charities alone sheltered roughly Half a billion dollars in 2005. Indeed, newspapers later confirmed that in 2007, fraudulent donations were closer to a billion dollars a year, with some some 3.2 billion dollars illegally sheltered, a sum that accounts for 12% of all charitable giving in Canada.
Think about this. One billion dollars. A year. That is almost.6% of the Federal Government’s annual budget.
My colleague was eager to make sure that CRA was taking action on these organizations, but it didn’t look that way. The tax frauds were still identified by CRA as qualified charities and were still soliciting donors with the endorsement of government. They knew that a call to CRA’s fraud tip line was unlikely to prompt swift action. The Toronto Star had been doing its own investigations into other instances of charity fraud and had been frustrated by CRA’s slow response.
My colleague took a different route. They gave the information to the leadership of the charitable sector and those organizations as a group took it to the leadership at CRA. From late 2007 right through 2009 the CRA charities division – now under new leadership – has systematically shut down charity tax shelters and are continuing to do so. One by one, International Charity Association Network, Banyan Tree Foundation, Choson Kallah Fund, the Millennium Charitable Foundation and others identified by my colleague have lost their charitable status. A reported $3.2 billion in tax receipts claimed by 100,000 Canadian tax filers have so far been disallowed or are being questioned. A class action suit launched by thousands of donors against the organizers and law firm of Banyan Tree Foundation was recently certified. It’s a first. Perhaps the CRA was already investigating these cases. It must build its cases carefully as, if they end up in court and fail to successfully present their case, they could help legalize a tax loophole. It may just have been moving cautiously. But perhaps it did not know.
This means that, at best, government data – information that should be made more accessible and open in an unfettered and machine readable format – helped reveal one of the largest tax evasion scandals in the country’s history. But if the CRA was already investigating, scrutiny of this data by the public served a different purpose – helping to bring these issues out into the open, forcing CRA to take public action (suspending these organizations’ right to solicit more donations), sooner rather than later. Essentially from before 2005-2007 dozens of charities were operating illegally. Had the data about their charitable receipts been available for the public’s routine review, someone in the public might have taken notice and raised a fuss earlier. Perhaps even a website tracking donations might have been launched. This would have exposed those charities that had abnormally large donations with few programs to explain then. Moreover, it might have given some of the 100,000 Canadians now being audited a tool for evaluating the charities they were giving money to.
In the computer world there is something called Linus’ Law, which states: “given enough eyeballs, all bugs (problems) are shallow.” The same could be said about many public policy or corruption issues. For many data sets, citizens should not have to make a request. Nor should we have to answer questions about why we want the data. It should be downloadable in its entirety. Not trapped behind some unhelpful search engine. When data is made readily available in machine readable formats, more eyes can look at it. This means that someone on the ground, in the community (like, say, Toronto) who knows the sector, is more likely to spot something a public servant in another city might not see because they don’t have the right context or bandwidth. And if that public servant is not allowed to talk about the issue, then they can share this information with their fellow citizens.
This is the power of open data: The power to find problems in complicated environments, and possibly even to prevent them from emerging.A few weeks ago I went to Austin for a wedding and decided to check out a place called the Alamo Drafthouse while I was in town. It was definitely a unique experience as I happened to visit on a day that they were showing Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds, which I never thought I would see on the big screen. However, the film is not what stands out most when I think about my trip to this theater; instead, it was what I saw in the hallway on my way out of the building. Upon exiting my movie, I was greeted with a floor to ceiling mural of the poster for Hammer Studios’ Taste the Blood of Dracula. Being a long time horror fan I was instantly impressed that somebody picked this movie, of all movies, to decorate the hall with; especially since it had such a limited release in the United States. Moving on down the hallway towards the exit, I stopped short when I noticed that the next mural is a poster for the same studio’s film Night Creatures.
Some people may be familiar with Hammer; a British film studio well known for their horror films, particularly their remakes of classic Universal Studios monster movies. Less people are probably familiar with their Dracula films which include the aforementioned Taste the Blood of Dracula (starring the late Christopher Lee), but I can guarantee that hardly anyone has seen or heard of Hammer’s Night Creatures. I first saw this film as a kid when it came on either TNT’s MonsterVision, AMC’s MonsterFest or something like that. Regardless, seeing a poster for the movie some 20 years later instantly brought back memories of the film, so I decided to give it a re-watch as an adult to see if it has held up over the years.
The film opens, as most classic horror movies do, with an unnamed pirate being marooned on an island for killing the wife of his equally unnamed captain. There is no explanation for this scene and it basically leaves the viewer scratching their head and wondering if they’re even watching the correct movie. Then we see the title screen which is a complete tonal shift from the Pirates of the English Channel intro which we were just given. A scarecrow looks out over a misty landscape of marsh and moor as we are told in jagged yellow font that the movie which we are about to enjoy is going to be starring Peter Cushing. For those of you unfamiliar with Hammer Horror, Peter Cushing is a favorite actor of the studio who has cast him as Van Helsing, Dr. Frankenstein and an archaeologist in their Mummy remake. On a related note, Cushing also starred as Grand Moff Tarkin in a lesser known film from the seventies called Star Wars.
Back to Night Creatures; by means of an opening crawl, we are introduced to a marsh-side community where a local legend involves a group of Marsh Phantoms who terrorize anyone foolish enough to wander into the marsh at night. Enter said fool, a local who is stumbling home through the marsh just as the sun is beginning to set. No sooner have the last rays of light left the sky than he is assaulted by a group of skeletons on horseback who promptly knock the poor man into the water thus drowning him. Let me say, these “phantoms” are practical effects at their worst; the viewer can immediately tell that they are extras in costume and seem to be very solid for phantoms. For the rest of the film these physical aspects (pun intended) are painfully obvious anytime the phantoms are onscreen. It almost takes the viewer out of the film that the wardrobe department did such a terrible job; or did they?
Following the ghostly nighttime attack, we are introduced to the two lead characters: Reverend Blyss, a priest who is running a smuggling operation out of the village and Captain Collier, an English officer who is investigating said operation. Herein lies the majority of the plot: Collier investigates and Blyss continuously outwits him. While all this is going on, the Marsh Phantoms are the ever present thorn in the side of anybody who gets to close to discovering the truth behind the smuggling operation. There is also a romance subplot that is shoehorned in there involving the mayor’s son and the adopted daughter of Blyss.
With all this going on with Phantoms, Smugglers and Englishmen, one may wonder as to why we had an introduction with pirates. This lays the groundwork for one of the most legendary series of twists in cinematic history. Needless to say, spoilers ahead. It turns out that Blyss is none other than the deceased Captain Clegg. Who? Captain Clegg is the unnamed pirate captain from the beginning of the movie who marooned one of his crew for killing his wife. This marooned pirate has since been picked up by the English authorities and serves as the plot device which reveals Blyss’ secret identity. To add even more shock value to this revelation, we are told that Blyss’ adoptive daughter is actually Captain Clegg’s/Blyss’ flesh and blood daughter. These revelations would have been much more meaningful to the viewer if they actually knew or cared who these people were, but some of the shock value is lost when the character development is so poorly done that we have no idea who these people even are. That’s it for twist number one; if you are lost don’t worry, any viewer would be as well.
Shortly after the big Captain Clegg reveal, the audience is treated to a rare double twist: the phantoms are really the men behind the smuggling operation! In the tradition of an episode of Scooby Doo, the townsfolk have been dressing up as the Marsh Phantoms in order to scare away or kill anybody who gets too close to uncovering and ending the smuggling operation. At least that explains why the phantom costumes look the way they did; a small-time smuggling operation in the English moors would never have the time, funds or energy to invest too much into their ghost costumes. Hold on, Scooby Doo didn’t come out until 1969 and Night Creatures was released in 1962. Do we have Night Creatures to thank for a lovable cartoon series that continues to this very day?
The film culminates with the townsfolk coming to Captain Clegg’s defense since the money earned from the smuggling operation fuels the town’s livelihood. Just as Collier is faced with a moral decision of ending the operation thus endangering the town’s existence or allowing Blyss/Clegg to retire to the life of a father, the marooned pirate from the beginning kills Blyss/Clegg thus getting his revenge and bringing the film around full circle. In the tradition of most Hammer films, the credits begin to roll almost immediately and the viewer is left in a daze wondering what just happened.
Overall, Night Creatures has earned it’s place as one of the great and forgotten Hammer Films. It is a very forgettable film for numerous reasons, mainly the derivative plot line regarding Blyss secretly being a pirate captain who is supposed to be dead. Secondly, the romantic sub plot involving Blyss’ adopted/biological daughter didn’t need to be there as the female lead exists for no other reason than to be eye candy and drive the romance plot.
The film would have been just fine if they hadn’t tried to rely so much on twists and surprising the audience with reveals that no viewer would expect or even care to see. In a film called Night Creatures, with promotional posters showing human skeletons riding equally skeletal horses, one would expect the titular phantoms to play a larger part in the film. Instead, the supernatural element meant to draw viewers into the theater turns out to just be a plot device used for a twist. In this sense, the film stops being a horror film and becomes a crime thriller.
The good things about the film, unfortunately, have nothing to do with the story or characters. The atmosphere is everything that one would expect from a Hammer Horror movie. Misty marshes and foggy moors abound in this movie and create a truly creepy environment. The images of skeletal horsemen riding through the mists are the memories that instantly popped into my head upon seeing the poster at the theater. The visuals are truly spectacular and almost make up for the chaos that is the plot.
The effects are practical and very Hammer-esque. The early stage green screen used for some of the phantom shots are charming in their simplicity and stand out as memorable for good reasons. The fight scenes follow in the Hammer tradition of using the actual actors instead of stunt doubles and include lots of throwing each other around and destroying the set; they are awesome. The dialogue and some of the ploys that Blyss uses to outsmart Collier are enjoyable for an adult viewer. Basically if the movie were to do away with the whole pirate captain subplot and focus more on Blyss versus Collier, Hammer might have had a much more memorable film. Instead we are treated to a confusing mess where, instead of being entertained by the twists, the viewer is suspicious the whole time as to what the next big reveal is going to be.
Night Creatures is not a typical Hammer Horror film as far as story is concerned; they are usually easier to follow and not nearly so reliant on twists and surprises. Everything else about the movie such as set design, dialogue, effects are classic Hammer. Definitely give it a watch if you are a fan of Hammer Horror, but don’t start with it if you haven’t been exposed to the studio before.Mixed views for pop-up beach in Christchurch Park after complaints lodged by visitors and residents
Christchurch Park Beach Opening on Saturday.Picture:Nige Brown. Charlie Acott. Archant
A pop-up beach which drew thousands to Christchurch Park this summer has sparked debate among residents and visitors.
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Christchurch Park Beach Opening on Saturday.Picture:Nige Brown. Diena Collier and Lia Reynolds. Christchurch Park Beach Opening on Saturday.Picture:Nige Brown. Diena Collier and Lia Reynolds.
The temporary sand area, which opened back in July, was based near the children’s play area – and was used by around 15,000 people in just six weeks.
Decking, a funfair, bungee trampoline and private bar for parents surrounded the beach, which opened seven days a week between 11am and 7.30pm until September 3.
However, despite its popularity, it has since emerged that a number of complaints about noise, alcohol and mess left once the beach was removed have been lodged with the Friends of Christchurch Park group (FOCP) in recent weeks.
Secretary Rowell Bell said: “We have received some complaints about the beach, for instance about noise, alcohol and particularly the quality of the grass after the sand was taken away from the site.
The Christchurch Park beach packs up for the end of the summer. Picture: FRED IXER The Christchurch Park beach packs up for the end of the summer. Picture: FRED IXER
“It is being bulldozed at the moment and grass seed is growing albeit slowly. It’s obviously the first year it’s been here but we’ve had far more positive feedback than negative.
He added: “Ever so many people, I think about 15,000, have enjoyed their time there. We spoke to a few who said the staff operating the rides were very friendly and kind.
“I would say though that it has had somewhat of a mixed reaction. We’ve had some negative comments and it’s clear some people are upset about the noise coming from the park while the beach was there.”
Mr Bell said the group have met with Ipswich Borough Council to discuss the concerns and talks are underway about the future of the beach – particularly whether it will return again next year.
Council leader David Ellesmere said no decision has been made yet. He added: “We have received a handful of complaints about various aspects of the attraction for families that included a beach in Christchurch Park but this has been far outweighed by the groundswell of support for this attraction and by the many, many people from all over the town who enjoyed taking their children there for a treat over the summer holiday. We can assure park users that there will be no lasting damage to the grass – our parks team are experts in maintenance and restoration. Finally, no decision has been taken over what the activities programme for summer 2018 might be.”0:33 Intro. [Recording date: October 3, 2013.] Russ: We're going to talk today about an article you've written for the Journal of Economic Literature on the transportation system in the United States. And we're going to put a link up to the paper itself and a video that Brookings has put together summarizing some of the points. Transportation is a pretty big part of our economy, right? Guest: Yeah, a lot bigger than people realize. If you think about it, it should be a lot. But no one typically sort of thinks of the annual expenditures on transportation. But, when you sum these things up in terms of what consumers spend in terms of getting to work, various pleasure trips and non-work trips, and then you look at what shippers spend on shipping freight and so on and so forth, and then what the government spends building infrastructure, we're talking shares of GDP (Gross Domestic Product) that approach the amount that we are spending on health care. But people obviously don't seem to pay as much transportation as they do about health. And that's just out of pocket expenditures. It doesn't include the time expenditures, which it turns out are about as large as the monetary expenditures. Russ: So, you look at a whole range of policy issues related to transportation, including some of the history. I want to start with the history. How has the role of government in the transportation sector evolved in the history of the United States? Because it would surprise me--I probably knew this but I'd forgotten--how recent some of the government involvement has been. Of course some of it goes back a long way. So, give us a quick thumbnail sketch of the sector and government's role. Guest: Sure. Actually, the interesting thing about transportation is how, although certainly pervasive government involvement now, how virtually all components of transportation, whether they be the modes or the infrastructure were initially started by the private sector, not the government. That is, the first roads in America actually were built by private toll or road companies. The first airports in America were private airport companies. Even air traffic control, which you think has got to be a government function, was actually set up by a private consortium so to speak. So, basically, the system started out in its infancy if you will with the private sector. And gradually government got involved in roads, for example, regulating the roads. And then we get a familiar story. As any part of the system experienced financial distress, and that's certainly was going to happen, then government tended to come in. So that was sort of it's entrée into the road system. Certainly by the early 1900s. And then other things happened. During the Depression we had airports that were private but that had serious financial problems; again, government came in and wound up taking them over; subsequently set up an air traffic control system. In the 1950s, by the time it was the 1950s, there were public transit companies--as the auto came in, it was competing with transit and causing it to have financial distress, and the then-private companies collapsed. Again, there were regulatory issues that may have contributed to this. And again government took over the mode. So you have sort of a familiar pattern that things started out private. There tended to be some sort of crisis. People debate to this day whether the private entities could have pulled through with government assistance. In any case, that was not forthcoming. Government wound up getting involved and taking over the operations. Those things it didn't take over, mainly on the inner-city side--railroads, airlines, trucks--it stepped in and regulated them. And then we saw the withdrawal of economic regulation in the late 1970s as we generally started moving away from government intervention. Russ: Now, you don't talk about it--I don't think you do--in the paper, but one area that government got involved in, in an unusual way, would be the taxicab market. So in many cities it's highly regulated, but it's still run and owned. It's fascinating to me that we are living in a time now where private competitors are starting to bite into that government-run cartel, or whatever you want to call it--sometimes, it depends on the city obviously, but companies like Uber and others are offering private taxicab--I think. Correct me if I'm wrong. Guest: Some areas of transportation are known [?] a lot more than others. Taxis I just briefly mention because there isn't as much knowledge as we'd like. Generally, the stories vary from city to city. Some cities, taxicabs are largely deregulated. Others, they are highly regulated. And certainly the hallmarks of the highly regulated taxi areas are no new people can get in. And then you hear these stories, like New York City, where taxicab medallions are worth millions of dollars. Now, Uber offers a technology that enables a user with an application to get access to some form of what we would call a taxi service. There's nothing preventing somebody from getting a traditional taxi. But in terms of getting new entry, other forms of car service are also trying to be hooked up on Uber. This is the thing that the incumbent taxis want to fight. They don't want this kind of competition. And we're seeing how this is playing out in certain cities, with this kind of entry experiment through a new technology, and we'll just see what it does. Russ: Yeah; I'm sorry. I think the distinction--I didn't make it clear. Taxis are allowed to cruise the streets and look for customers. Car services, you have to call and make a reservation. What Uber does essentially turns a car service into more of a cruising opportunity for pickup of a random passenger. Guest: Yeah, a real-time type of service that's very responsive. Which obviously is something that you can do with Uber at the same time, compensate for cases when it's really just difficult to get a taxi. And you let somebody know you want service, and somebody watching this kind of thing can provide it.
7:55 Russ: Let's start, though, with airports. Airports are kind of mysterious to most of us. We don't spend a lot of time talking about it, and we don't really understand what's going on. Airports typically now, I think almost all major airports in major cities, are run by the city or the county that they are in. But that, you say, wasn't the case. When did that change, roughly, and what were the consequences of that? Guest: Well, roughly it was during the Great Depression. The airports were private as air service began. And during the tremendous drop in air travel--which never was very big at that time, as it was just getting going--airports had problems. And governments mostly came in. For the most part, municipalities have taken them over. And they are the ones that now are providing the infrastructure. And, to a certain extent, it appeared to be a successful way of doing things, in the same way that public highways seemed to be a successful way of doing things. Because it really wasn't congested. The system wasn't really falling apart from excessive use. And so on and so forth. And so we thought, okay, this is a very reasonable way to do things. But as expenses have grown, as delays and congestion has gotten worse, and as airports--as well as highways--are not terribly responsive in dealing with this, we are beginning to see lots of problems with public ownership. Russ: One of the ones that fascinates me is access to the gates. You'd think, well, if I want to offer a flight between Washington, D.C., and Chicago, I'll just go fly my plane, fly my airline to one of those places and land my plane; pick up some people; take them to the other city. And it seems pretty straightforward. But the gates problem is a very severe constraint. Correct? Guest: Correct. One thing that is part of the story is yes, the airports were owned and operated by the municipalities, but, for expansion to the airport terminals and the like, runways and the like, they needed somebody to guarantee the investment that they were going to make. And that came from bond purchases or bond holdings by the airline. So the airlines actually had a very, very important relationship to the public owners of the airports--they were basically funding a fair amount of the capital improvements and enhancements, if you will. But in return, they had say on the types of investments that could be made and effectively were able to block entry to people, who weren't going be able to get gates. The airports certainly weren't going to give them to people and if you wanted gates, in some cases you would have to have a whole new wing built. So, with gates sort of locked up, in certain places that made it very difficult for new airlines to enter. Russ: And they weren't all being used. Right? Guest: They were not all being used. And there were different classifications of gates. There were what we call exclusively used gates where certain airlines had the right to use these things. And then there were things where you did have some flexibility but oftentimes the new airline couldn't get the use of the gate at the preferred time, and these kind of things. So it has become a form of entry barrier. That is, ideally you might want to serve an airport, but if the gate space isn't there for you and you are not going to shell out the money to go out and build additional terminal capacity, you can be out of luck. And of course restrictions on competition are reflected in higher prices. And that's what the evidence has indicated. Russ: How would that work in a private system, though? A private system, say, a consortium of airlines that currently serve a city that own an airport, they are not going to like entry, either. Guest: Well, they are going to have, obviously, a very different financial situation in that they are not going to be beholden on any particular airlines as dating back from when the airports were built, when regulation was set up. Which, by the way, was kind of a convenient situation in restricting entry, because that was done under regulation. So the question about getting gate space never came up during regulation because virtually all their airlines had trouble entering routes anyway. It was only deregulation where the problems started to arise. But in any case, private airports, where in many cities throughout this country competition seems quite feasible, right here, obviously--Reagan National, Baltimore Washington International (BWI)--could compete. The owner is presumably going to try to get entrants who are willing to pay the cost of the services. They are not going to immediately say, You're out of luck, you can't come in. They are going to try to work with the airlines and if they can find ways that they are going to cover their costs, they'll accommodate them. And if demand is growing they'll say, okay, we're going to build new terminals and handle new traffic and we're expecting you to pay for it. But we're not going to call on other airlines to bankroll these investments. We'll do it--because we're going to be able to cover the cost by charging you. So there's obviously going to be a lot more interaction between both the airports and the users of the airport, which is one of the problems we have now. You have customers that use airports but their relationship--the landlords, so to speak--is virtually nonexistent. Russ: I'm just trying to think, imagine, what the owner of a private airport, what kind of entity it might be. So, for example, if I wanted to acquire--I'm thinking back to a city I lived in that had a little more vacant land near it, St. Louis--if I wanted to acquire a large plot of land near the city of St. Louis, maybe in Illinois across the river, and build a private airport and just offer the opportunity for airplanes to fly there, that can't happen right now. Correct? And as a result, if I'm Southwest Airlines and wanted to go into St. Louis, it had to go to the St. Louis airport and build its own terminal. Which is nuts. Unless the other part of the airport is totally full; and I suspect it wasn't. So what is strange about the current world is how difficult entry is and who controls it. Right? Guest: Right. The difficulty--again, let me be clear. We do not need many, if any, new airports really being built. In other words, when I envision privatization, all the existing airports will be sold off. Which I might add will do quite a bit to help a lot of cities' financial situations. They are going to sell off these assets, and infrastructure firms are going to buy them. For budgetary purposes that could be helpful--assuming away what's done with the money. Russ: Good point, but who do you think-- Guest: Most of these things will be sold off, and there will be the existing airports. But then there's also something else, part of this: there are thousands of smaller airports that could be used--for commercial service--but they are not being used now. Russ: Why not? Guest: Basically, these are not airports that are going to get public money. So, to the extent they want to compete they are going to be at a disadvantage. Russ: There's no mechanism for them to use private money right now. Guest: Not right now. Not for that purpose. So, it could be very, very different from what we've got now.
16:45 Russ: Let's think creatively for a minute. So, if every city in America either out of financial desperation or economic wisdom decided to auction off its airport to the highest bidder, how would you imagine that situation settling down after a couple of years? Would there be sufficient competition among airports to prevent them from extracting large sums of money out of customers and airlines to have access to them? Would you let them freely buy the airport and do whatever they want with it? Guest: Well, okay. First of all, I would allow for one requirement. And we've actually learned this from an experiment in London, which, by the way, has privatized its airport. So we're behind the curve here. Interestingly the leader of capitalism in the free world tends to be really slow on the uptake in terms of privatization. Many places have actually been exploring privatization of the airports. But in any case, London made a mistake and initially sold of their airports to one infrastructure company, a foreign one. And subsequently realized that was not the right way to do it. And forced that company to effectively sell two of the airports. Russ: What should they have done. Guest: They should have sold them to independent buyers. So, that's the approach we should take in the United States--at least initially say, yes, we are going to sell off airports but we are not going to have the same company buy all three of them, at least in this area, and give them an outright monopoly to start. We would like independent firms to purchase these things. And so then they will go head to head. And like any fundamental institutional change, like deregulation, there's obviously going to be enormous learning. And I can envision, on the one hand we will reveal inefficiencies that we had no idea existed in terms of operations that could be vastly improved, in terms of interactions amongst airlines and airports that say, look, we could provide better service if you let us do this and get rid of crazy things like tarmac rules. At the same time, there will be shocks, as there have been following deregulations. And undoubtedly financial crises where it will be difficult for certain airports that may have much less traffic. I don't want to oversell how smooth a ride privatization will be. If people thought deregulation was tough, privatization is going to be even worse--it's now going to have people who have no experience for the operating of the private sector. But I think when all is said and done, it will be clear this is a much more efficient way to do things. That, airports--who are already competing already, let's not kid ourselves--public sector airports do try to get passengers and do implicitly compete with each other. We're just going to try to make this explicit. And I think the results could be quite positive. Russ: Yeah. They do a little innovation. Here in the D.C. area there are parking garages that tell you how many spaces are available on each floor and which rows even have available spaces. I find that a very pleasant experience in parking life. But they are not so good at minimizing the distance from where you park your car to where you get on the plane. Dulles in particular I find frustrating. It used to be you had to ride a special bus. Now you've just got to ride a special internal metro system that seems to be designed to go up and down a lot of escalators as much as possible. So it would be interesting to see how much more pleasant that would be if someone was actually trying to make more money off of it. Guest: Yeah. Absolutely. And again, start exploring ways in which passengers, who aren't happy, could be made more happy. What is it that you want at your airport? Right now, the public airports just don't have that big an incentive, since they are getting their funds and are protected from competition. At the same time as we are now seeing in a lot of public transportation services as well as other services, they are starting to run deficits, and that's raising problems with trying to improve services and even trying to maintain current operations.
21:35 Russ: Let's talk about commuting, some commuting issues. I was interested to see in your paper that, despite the passion for public transportation that has engulfed many American cities--the excitement of light rail, the remaining bus systems that are still in place--commuting by car remains not only the dominant form of commuting, but it's grown steadily over the last 40 years. 1. Why do you think that's happened; and 2. What do you think of the claims that we need more public transportation to reduce dependence on the car? Guest: Well, people always look to Europe, high density areas, and say how great their transit systems are. And what they fail to realize is the dynamic of the urban and suburban area. A lot of these older communities, people who have been there for many hundreds of years, and the density is established. America is still a place on the move. And when I came to D.C., no doubt you were--there wasn't the expansion of Tyson's Corner, and out to suburban Virginia and Maryland and so on and so forth. And now, just over the last 10, 20 years, there's been a huge change in this area. Well, if you have a metro system that stops at Vienna and is not going to be able to cater to those people, they are not going to ride it. What are they going to do? They are going to use cars. Well, you multiply that by many experiences throughout the country and you are talking about the inability of transit to keep up with fundamental changes in demographics in our sort of dynamic metro areas. So, that's a |
their human rights are respected and they are handled with care."
When Tsege does appear, he says that "this is a different era," in which opposition movements can express their beliefs freely. He tells the viewer that he is being treated well: "I have really become healthy since I came here. Physically I am so perfectly healthy — absolutely. I'm so thin; there are no bumps anywhere… To tell you the truth there are lots of things I have come to appreciate," he says. His partner of ten years, Yemi Hailemariam, with whom he is bringing up three children, believes he is speaking under duress.
'Andy has now been held in solitary and incommunicado detention for over seven months, under sentence of death.'
The rest of the footage is peppered with slightly bizarre observations that are meant to support the Ethiopian authorities' insistence that Tsege is being treated well and he even manages a comment on the British media. Responding to allegations by the Independent that he is being tortured in prison, Tsege says: "God only knows what they based this story on. You know what? I wish I knew the details. It is one of the respectable papers. It is equivalent to the Guardian and the Times, the Independent."
Tsege says that today's Ethiopian young people lack the commitment of their predecessors: "Today's youth will make an appointment with their girlfriend and will spend an hour getting ready — straightening his shirt or something."
The general opinion in Addis Ababa is that the video is staged. "Practical PR remains awful," a government source told me and a spokesperson for the UK Foreign Office said that its release was "regrettable."
Ethiopia has been a key long-term regional ally for the US and the UK. A large country in the Horn of Africa, it has been an active supporter of the War on Terror — taking on al Shabaab in Somalia and jailing suspected Al Qaeda militants — as well as adapting British and American anti-terror legislation and using it to crack down on opposition groups and civil society.
In the past year, a wide variety of journalists been arrested on very tenuous grounds. As well as Ginbot 7 and others, separatist rebel groups the Ogaden National Liberation Front and the Oromo Liberation Front have been declared terrorist organizations. Ethiopia's development model, which borrows from China, puts alleviating poverty through very tight state control first and has little time for the freedoms that Western democracies purport to champion.
"Ethiopia simply doesn't have a Human Rights Watch approach to human rights," a source in Ethiopia's foreign ministry told me. "It quite deliberately prefers to emphasize food, shelter, and related issues over Western-style democracy and a Western-style free press. Those come a long way behind and the country is not going to get them for a long time."
There are some indicators of success for this model. The country's GDP has gone from $12.4 billion in 2005 to $47.5 billion in 2013, according to the World Bank. And while the British government has expressed its concern with Ethiopia's human rights record, it continues to support the country politically and financially. Ethiopia is a priority for the UK's Department for International Development (DFID), which spent £261.5 million on the country — its biggest program — between 2012 and 2013.
Tsege's case, then, is a headache for the British government. Addis Ababa has only allowed him to be visited by the British Ambassador twice — the last time on December 19. "We continue to press the Ethiopian authorities at the highest levels regarding both Andargachew's treatment and the need to follow due legal process. We strongly oppose the death penalty in his as in all cases," a British foreign office spokesperson said.
Nevertheless, the Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond has not called his counterpart to discuss the case. Internal foreign office emails leaked to the Mail on Sunday revealed that officials were exasperated with Hammond for not finding the time to make a call and not wanting to write a "negative" letter.
Foa shares this exasperation. "It is clear that those working for the Foreign Secretary know how perilous the situation is for Tsege," she told VICE News. "They know that Andy has committed no crime, that his extradition was probably unlawful, and that there are grave risks to his safety. What's shocking is that the Foreign Secretary appears time and time again to have blocked any meaningful action that could potentially bring this British father home to his family, unharmed.
How many political bloggers need to be imprisoned before the US reacts? Read more here.
"Andy has now been held in solitary and incommunicado detention for over seven months, under sentence of death. One has to question what interests the Foreign Secretary is putting above the life and safety of his citizen, when all those around him are calling for him to do more," she says.
It remains very unlikely that a death sentence will be carried out but little progress appears to have been made in the case. The Swedish journalist Martin Schibbye, who was held in an Ethiopian prison for 14 months, told VICE News that, based on his experience listening to the screams of opposition members, he was very confident Tsege was being tortured.
A source in the Ethiopian foreign ministry suggested that if Tsege asks for a pardon, his death sentence would be commuted to a life sentence in prison. This in turn would allow for a presidential pardon later — something that could eventually lead to Tsege being released from jail.
But while Mulatu Teshome, Ethiopia's president, has been more prominent than previous holders of the position and will have views of his own on the case, there is very little concrete evidence Tsege can currently hold on to as grounds for hope.
Follow Oscar Rickett on Twitter: @oscarrickettnowAbout 20 minutes into the first episode of The Handmaid’s Tale, a bunch of American women sit in a dark classroom, listening to Aunt Lydia, head indoctrinator of the Red Center, tell them all about their brave new life of subservience, rape, and forced pregnancy. When one talks back, she is disciplined (read: tased) with an electric baton and carted off to have one of her eyes cut out. “Girls, I know this must feel very strange,” Aunt Lydia says. “But ordinary is just what you’re used to. This may not seem ordinary to you right now, but after a time it will. This will become ordinary.”
This was not the moment that this show broke me (that moment was coming). But it was the first moment of many that I paused playback, looked around my empty apartment, and said, out loud, to no one: Fuck.
Because Aunt Lydia is right. In the weeks after He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named’s election, there were many voices speaking up against the normalization of his behavior, decisions, and various racist, sexist, xenophobic, and essentially untrue comments. Now, the cries against normalization have quieted. We still find his tweeting ridiculous, but we accept it. We still point it out when he lies, but because no one is particularly surprised, the story fades quickly. On to the next thing. It has become ordinary. It has only been five months. We are in the second trimester of the forced pregnancy that is He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, and already we are used to him.
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The night I watched my press screeners of Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale, I was alone. I hesitated for a long time before watching these episodes—the first three—mostly because I was afraid that they wouldn’t be good. Or that they wouldn’t be good enough.
Well, they’re good. They are also completely terrifying. This show is the most effective on-screen horror I have seen in recent memory. I had meant to watch one episode, but I couldn’t bear to stop. By the time I got to the middle of the third, I was crying. Sobbing, actually, so hard that I had a crying hangover the next day. It wasn’t out of sadness. Nor out of regret for the plight of these characters. It was out of fear—a fear that I could feel in my body.
For the record: I don’t really cry. Not at books. Not at funerals. Certainly not at television.
But yes: this show broke me.
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Here’s the most terrifying thing about this adaptation: it’s not just an adaptation of Atwood’s novel. It is, of course, and it’s a good one, but it’s also an adaptation of another text, one that is even closer to my heart: the life that I am living right this second. America in its current political moment. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named’s Twitter account… Yes: your life, right now, is both text and context for this television show.
(Sidebar: the show is set in America—for some reason, I had it in my head that the novel was set in Canada, because of the author’s nationality, though after looking back at it, I found that in fact it had always been America. Of course it had: Margaret Atwood is no fool. Wishful thinking on my part, I suppose.)
In a flashback in the third episode, June (Elizabeth Moss) and her best friend Moira (Samira Wiley) go for a run. After their run, they stop at their usual café to get coffee, but June’s card is declined. The cashier, a man they don’t recognize, gets a bit rude, and then he gets very rude. “Fucking sluts, get the fuck out of here,” he says, pushed past his breaking point by the polite request to run the card again. How do Moira and June respond? They laugh at him. “Are you serious, dude?” they say. “Is this your first day or something?” It is exactly what I would do. This is what makes it so terrifying.
“We are in the second trimester of the forced pregnancy that is He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, and already we are used to him.”
Because June’s card hasn’t been declined by accident. All female citizens’ bank accounts have been frozen, and in fact, in the next scene, June will be fired, because it has become illegal for women in America to be employed. “It isn’t my decision,” June’s boss keeps repeating. Armed guards are in attendance. “I don’t have a choice.” One of June’s male co-workers, who has probably had the desk across from hers for months, if not longer, looks shiftily at her, barely summoning the grace to be embarrassed. (Fucking sluts, he’s probably thinking. Get the fuck out of here.) Women don’t need bank accounts now, or jobs—after all, they can no longer own property. Their money will be transferred to their husbands, or their male next of kin.
“You know, they needed to do it this way,” Moira says. “The bank accounts and the jobs, all at the same time. You imagine the airports otherwise? They don’t want us leaving, you can bet on that.”
This line of reasoning echoes another, of course. When He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named illegally banned travelers to the United States based on their religious beliefs, he tweeted, “If the ban were announced with a one week notice, the “bad” would rush into our country during that week. A lot of bad “dudes” out there!” And, in here, in what was formerly these United States, a lot of women who don’t want to be used as slaves and childbearing machines. Better not give them any notice either.
You-Know-Who’s justification for the Muslim ban was that it was meant to combat terrorism, the number one bullshit American boogeyman since 9/11. (Of course, it was obvious to anyone with two brain cells to rub together that it had nothing to do with that—just look at the countries in question.)
“They can’t just do this,” June says, laughing in disbelief, and echoing thousands of families who live in the current America. “They can’t.” But they can, Moira points out, because the country has been under martial law—the constitution suspended—ever since an alluded-to terrorist attack in DC at some point in the recent past.
“Maybe there never were any terrorists,” she says.
I don’t know what the production timeline on this show was like, but certainly it was finalized before at least some of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named’s recent unconstitutional actions, including (depending on whom you ask) the airstrike on Syria, which makes it as eerily prescient as the book—maybe even more so.
There are protests, of course, as there have been in our reality. In The Handmaid’s Tale, the protests end with the riot police shooting machine guns into the crowd, to a haunting, underwater version of “Heart of Glass.” If you’re thinking, “now that would never happen in America,” well—so were they. The feeling of betrayal is palpable—and recognizable.
The horror of the flashbacks is carefully balanced. This does not seem like a society at the edge of a dystopia. It seems exactly like the world we know. But it isn’t. Unless, of course, it is. Would we know? Moira and June laugh at the rude barista because they don’t realize where they live. They are standing on the edge; they can’t see how much things have changed. They are too close, and so are we. This is why the flashbacks are so much more frightening than the present action of the show, despite the bleakness and creep of the latter. A reflection of the violence of your own reality is always much scarier than any dystopian society with special outfits, no matter how many parallels you can draw, no matter how many people are tortured, murdered, or raped. I’m not saying these parts aren’t horrifying—just that they don’t cut to the bone in quite the same way.
While there is a difference between the flashbacks of The Handmaid’s Tale and our actual present moment—and it is admittedly a big one: all of this is catalyzed by a sharp decline in birth rates—what it really does is remind us of the true precariousness of our own situation in America. We rely so much on the perceived rules of our society, but in fact we have almost no control. We assume that the rules will protect us, but those rules aren’t actually real.
“I have four thousand dollars in that account, they can’t just take it,” June says, when she finds out that her bank account has been frozen.
“We made it easy,” Moira says. “All they needed to do was just push a few buttons.”
I’ve never heard a more convincing argument to go unbanked (I wonder what John B. McLemore would have thought of this show). But more immediately, let’s not forget that we have a president who is continually breaking all of the rules we thought were real. He doesn’t care about propriety. He doesn’t care about poll numbers. He sees no reason to be diplomatic, nor to get the approval of Congress before attacking another country. He will shut down the airports and take away our rights, if he can. My greatest fear is that, like the women in The Handmaid’s Tale, we will not notice—not fully, not enough—until it is too late. We will go over the edge still thinking we have time.
On the final page of the old copy of The Handmaid’s Tale I pulled out to look over for this essay, there is a message in what appears to be purple highlighter. “ I cannot see things from a woman’s point of view,” it says, in a well-formed cursive.
No doubt this is the bored scribbling of some unknown high school student (further annotations within suggest an assignment comparing The Handmaid’s Tale to 1984), but still: it chills me. What a horrifying takeaway after finishing a novel like this—because, of course, if the politicians in the story could actually see things from a woman’s point of view, or if they cared to, the events of the book might not have even taken place. We can make excuses for youth, but I cannot recall ever thinking that I couldn’t see things from a man’s point of view. After all, our country is based on the man’s point of view. We need to start changing that—and fast. We need to start with our children. Or else we’ll all be sobbing in our bedrooms, and much harder than I did, and for much longer, and not because of what we’re watching on television.
Listen: Margaret Atwood talks to Paul Holdengräber on reading vs. watching Shakespeare, the terror of Snow White, and technology and e-books.I loathe YouTube comments. Here’s a simple browser extension to convert them to ‘herp derp’. If you insist on reading the original (which is highly discouraged), click the comment.
DOWNLOAD
10-18-16 –
No jQuery dependency and now open source on GitHub!
3-23-15 –
Got pressured into re-releasing a Firefox version!
5-16-14 –
11-11-13 –
YouTube’s new commenting system is using frames and currently breaks Herp Derp. I have no plans to bring it back in the near future.
10-9-12 –
Firefox version updated!
The latest version of Firefox breaks clicking comments to revert to the original – fix coming soon.
7-15-12 –
Herp Derp is now in the Chrome Web Store!
7-12-12 –
Over 13,000 downloads!
6-3-12 –
When loaded via HTTP Secure (HTTPS) Herp Derp now works (thanks for reminding me @Funshine__Bear)
Firefox no longer freaks out when there is only one comment
YouTube Feather Mode is now supported (thanks @_sjs)
2-13-12 – Fixed a bug where pages other than the first weren’t showing the original comments when clicked.
2-11-12 – Opera support added.
2-3-12 – Safari support added.
1-18-12 – Code optimization and FF release.Environmental Impacts at Fort Belknap from Gold Mining
This page was written by Erin Klauk as part of the DLESE Community Services Project: Integrating Research in Education.
Ruby Gulch flowing through Zortman, MT. Details
The Zortman-Landusky gold mine is a case study of the environmental risks of cyanide heap-leach gold mining and the impacts that these operations can have on communities, water and cultural resources. The Zortman-Landusky mine illustrates how modern mine operations continue to impact landscapes and leave behind massive environmental problems and liabilities. The mine experienced many problems, such as cyanide spills, and surface and groundwater contamination from acid mine drainage. This was one of the first massive cyanide heap-leach operations to open, as well as one of the first to close, leaving behind significant pollution and cleanup problems (Case Studies - The Effects of Mining ( This site may be offline. ) ).
In 1982, 2,953 liters of cyanide-tainted solution leaked from a containment pond and a section of piping used in the mine's cyanide sprinkling system ruptured and released 196, 841 liters of cyanide solution onto lands and creeks. The tap water revealed cyanide concentration levels above drinking water standards and the community's local water system was shutdown. Over the next two years, eight separate cyanide spills occurred. Without a permit, in September 1986, 75 million liters of treated cyanide solution was released onto 7 hectares of land when a solution pond was at risk of overflowing after a heavy rainstorm. Following one of the major spills, cyanide appeared in tap water in a mineworker's housing unit, just south of the mine, animals were found dead, and acid mine drainage contaminates nearly every stream drainage that emanates from the mine (Case Studies - The Effects of Mining ( This site may be offline. ) ).
Even though there were major environmental problems from the mining, the mining company, Pegasus, received only one fine for $15,000 in its first 16 years of operation. After years of unsuccessfully trying to address the environmental problems at Zortman-Landusky, local citizens and environmental groups sued Pegasus under the Clean Water Act, resulting in a 36 million settlement in 1996. Even with this settlement, cleanup funds for the mine were inadequate and citizens in the state were left with cleanup liability of tens of millions of dollars. In 1998, Pegasus went bankrupt (Case Studies - The Effects of Mining ( This site may be offline. ) ).
Although the mines are no longer in operation, tribal water resources continue to be threatened by acid mine drainage that occurs when sulfide rocks uncovered by the mining process produce sulfuric acid after exposure to rain and snow, and the mine sites contain vast quantities of sulfide rock (Final Report of the State - Tribal Relations Committee). The severe acidity of the water will require water treatment, but there is currently only enough funding for treatment until the year 2028 (Final Report of the State - Tribal Relations Committee).
Landusky Mine as viewed from the south. Details
To further investigate environmental impacts from gold mining on the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation, follow the links below.
Investigate the Environmental Impacts on the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation
Resources containing information about the environmental impacts of the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation.Chandra Lye, CTV Edmonton
The Red Cross has been called out to help residents affected by a downtown apartment fire.
The organization said over 100 people were evacuated from the Oak Tower apartment building Sunday afternoon.
Fire crews responded to the blaze at the high rise on 101 Avenue and 117 Street around 11 a.m.
“It went to a second alarm soon after the arriving crews,” deputy fire chief John Lamb explained adding they later made it to a three-alarm call.
Lamb said two of five people rescued were in serious condition including a young child believed to be about 5 or 6 years old.
“There is extensive damage on the eighth floor and some extension to the ninth floor.”
Emergency crews have been working to confirm that all residents have made it out of the building.
Officials from the Red Cross are on hand to offer emergency food, clothing and shelter.
Residents have been gathering in the gym at the Oliver School, which is at 10227 118 Street.
The cause of the blaze is still under investigation.
Lamb said there were about 60 fire fighters at the scene.
With files from Kelsey NicholsI took some screenshots of Wind Waker so people could look and compare some of the visual differences between emulating on PC in Dolphin and the new HD version for WiiU.
To be clear, the visuals are not the only difference between the two games because Nintendo will be adding other stuff (faster sailing and tweaking the end game quest) but this is just a small little visual difference.
Final note, the water in my last screenshot CAN look identical to the Wind Waker one, but it all depends on I believe the time of the day/location in the ocean and I don’t know exactly where they were. But, in Dolphin the water can have the little wave lines all over, it just wasnt like that at that time.
You can find the 1080p versions of the two Dolphin screenshots here and here.
Follow if interested in more content like this.Ready to challenge yourself? Well, you’re in luck! Don’t you worry, we’ve got the best mind teasers, trivia, and general knowledge questions to test how smart you really are when it comes to all things knowledge, education, and more! If you consider yourself a wiz when it comes to riddles, or if you just need a break from the hectic world around you - give this quiz a try!
Do you know the biggest planet in our solar system? What about the full lyrics to Michael Jackson’s “Beat It”? Can you quote every line from “Pretty Woman”, or figure out how many mittens two iguanas and three kittens would need to stay warm in the winter? If you said yes to any of these questions, then this is the place for you! From quizzes about your hometown to quizzes about your favorite songs, women.com has it all!
Looking for a math test? A grammar test? A movie test? Or maybe even a nursery rhyme test? Whatever your heart desires, we can quiz you on it! Visit women.com/quizzes to check out some of our other viral content, and as always, don’t forget to share with your friends! Our goal at women.com is to make people feel good about who they are - and take a relaxing break from the world outside to do something that they enjoy.
So take a breath, stop whatever you’re doing, and get ready to have a little fun. This three-minute escape is exactly what you need!PORTLAND, Ore. -- A man with a fake gun ordered passengers off of a TriMet bus in downtown Portland Wednesday morning, police said.
Officers received a report just before 9 a.m. that a man with a gun was threatening the passengers on a Line 19 bus near Northwest 2nd Avenue and Burnside Street.
The man was off of the bus by the time police arrived at the scene and they were able to take him into custody, according to Portland police Sgt. Greg Stewart.
The suspect, 60-year-old Michael R. Legare, was charged with disorderly conduct and interfering with public transportation.
"The weapon recovered resembled a firearm but was, in-fact, a bb gun," Stewart said. "Initial reports indicate that the individual, a male, may have been having a mental health crisis."
Stewart said the driver did an excellent job of calming Legare. No injuries were reported.After comparing the original iPad to the Motorola XOOM a few weeks back, we took a lot of heat on how “unfair” it was to do that to a product that was almost a year old. The Apple enthusiasts came in waves and the cries for “Just wait for the iPad2!” rang out through the night. Well peeps, here is your comparison to the newly announced iPad 2…nothing groundbreaking at all here. Straight from their spec sheets.
Cheaper price and a thinner body. That’s it.
We’ve already seen dual-cameras, dual-core processors and HD recording. What we aren’t seeing on this new product though, is 1080p on-device playback, Flash support (hah!), 4G capabilities, or expandable storage. And what’s up with that giant bezel?
*Note* – HD playback on the XOOM is now questionable. Motodev site lists it as “Max” 1080p, but the regular consumer XOOM page says just 720p.If you love Dance Moms, you already know that Chloe Lukasiak is basically your reality TV star BFF. She keeps it real, she's not afraid to stand up for herself, and she can do a lyrical routine under extreme pressure like a total boss. You were probs devastated to see her go, which is why you're going to DIE to know that she's coming back.
We caught up with Chloe and she spilled the tea on the new season, being back on a team, and if she's seen Abby Lee Miller.
Seventeen: What made you decide to go back on the show?
Chloe Lukasiak: Well, at the end of the last season I'd heard that my ALDC teammates were back on the east coast and it was going to be their last episode. I was like, 'Oh my god, I have to go see them. Dancing with them is such a big part of my childhood.' So I visited them at Nationals and it was so amazing. Then I found out that the show was coming back for another season and my mom started talking to [the other moms] and we decided to go back for another season. It was pretty insane and out of nowhere.
S: Were you nervous about going back on the show?
CL: I was a little nervous. There were a lot of reasons why my mom and I left and I hadn't really left the show on good terms. It was a little weird, but I was also really exicted. I got to see my friends and be on my team again and it was really crazy. I was backstage at a competition at one point and I was like, "I can't believe I'm back again."
S: Have you seen Abby recently?
CL: I haven't seen Abby and I think I saw Gianna once.
S: Who is your dance teacher this season?
CL: We have Cheryl Burke. She is so amazing. She's been in the industry a long time. She was on Dancing with the Stars. She really got us and took us under her wing.
S: Was she as competitive as Abby?
CL: She's pretty competitive, but she really cares about us.
S: How does it feel to be back on a team?
CL: I was thrilled to be dancing with my friends again. I competed for a year without them, but it wasn't the same. And there are some new faces on the show this season.
S: Was it weird to be on-camera all of the time...again?!
CL: The weird thing was that it wasn't weird even though for two years I learned how to live without the cameras around.
S: Anything exciting we can expect from season 7B?
CL: You can expect a lot of drama from the show, lots of crying. I cried so much. I was like, "I'm such a crybaby." And all of the dances I've done on the most recent season I've really loved. The last number of the season is amazing. But you have to keep an open mind this season because it does change a lot and it's going to be a little different than what fans are used to. I think the change was good for all of us.
S: What do you hope fans take away from your return?
CL: Some people have asked us why we would go back, but I think it's important that I do. It was unfinished business for me. I've now been able to close that chapter and move on. You just have to ignore what people are saying and do what's right for you.
S: Would you want to come back for a season 8?
CL: I don't know. I really have no idea. I think the girls and I are all going in different directions and we're really at the beginning of our careers, so we'll have to see.
S: WAIT. Your mom is coming back too, right?
CL: Of course. She'll be back with all of her little remarks that we're all thinking but only she has the guts to say.
So glad to have you back, girl! Dance Moms premieres Tuesday, Aug. 1 at 9 p.m. ET on Lifetime.
Check out our video with Chloe dancing through the streets of NYC:by @ohthewhomanity
Rogues are one of the few classes whose abilities are explicitly defined in Homestuck canon. According to Calliope, Rogues are the passive counterpart to Thieves. A Rogue is “one who steals”, specifically one who steals in order to benefit others. We can assume that while Vriska Serket, Thief of Light, steals others’ luck for her own use, a Rogue of Light would give that luck to someone else.
“Steal” doesn’t actually seem to be the right word for what a Rogue does. “Steal” implies that one is merely taking from another, and that a victim is left with nothing. But after reviewing the abilities of Homestuck’s three Rogues, I find myself preferring the term “redistribute” to describe their actions.
Rufioh Nitram has been discussed before on this blog as someone who steals freedom, but his Alternian incarnation, the Summoner, didn’t seek to take other people’s freedom for himself. When he started his rebellion, highbloods had much more freedom than lowbloods. His goal was to overthrow the old regime and start a new era of equality–that is, to redistribute societal freedoms, and leave everyone with some freedom, rather than merely taking all the freedom the highbloods had and giving it to the lowbloods, leaving the highbloods with none. Beforan Rufioh, who seems only interested in stealing for himself, hasn’t achieved his full potential as a Rogue of Breath.
Nepeta Leijon is a Rogue of Heart, so the concept she redistributes is the soul, or identity. While she never reaches God Tier and her powers never become as literal as they might have, she has a purrdilection for roleplay, which involves taking on other identities. On the meteor, she and Equius roleplay as each other, achieving two goals: each attains a greater understanding of how they both feel in response to their friends’ recent deaths, and their positive and negative emotions are shared, leaving neither with too heavy a burden at the moment.
When Nepetasprite is prototyped with Davesprite, the resultant Davepetasprite^2 is much more self-assured and confident in their new, combined self than they ever were before. Nepeta’s presence in the sprite causes a redistribution of her and Dave’s identity traits; his use of irony combines with her use of roleplay to create a more genuine kind of self-expression, and their respective anxieties and securities regarding how their friends view them ultimately balance out. The result of this redistribution is undeniably beneficial to all involved–not only does Davepeta feel great about themself, but they’re also motivated to help Jasprose and ARquius feel better about themselves, and to help take down Lord English.
(It’s possible that we will see another application of Nepeta’s Rogue of Heart abilities when Davepeta confronts Lord English, but until then there’s nothing to do but wait.)
Roxy Lalonde, the only Rogue in canon to reach God Tier, shows a wide variety of redistributions. If we treat Void as the opposite aspect to Light, which represents knowledge in addition to luck, then Roxy definitely handles redistribution of “lack of” knowledge: now and again, her powers block out the Cherubs’ viewscreens, keeping Caliborn from both knowing too much and using that knowledge to meddle with her game. While I was planning this essay, @marathemara pointed out to me that Roxy’s behavior as a Rogue of Void involves a bit of wordplay. She “causes voids in the Carapacians’ stomachs to disappear”, effectively robbing them of their hunger by redistributing pumpkins across space and time. Eventually, Roxy learns how to “steal the essence of nothingness” from ideas, creating many Perfectly Generic Objects on her quest to restore the Matriorb.
Despite how Roxy’s powers may appear on the surface, Rogues don’t make new things. The Matriorb didn’t really come out of nothing; it came from a combination of the idea of Matriorbs, what Matriorbs represent, and Calliope’s influence as a Muse of Space. Rogues take what’s already there–knowledge, ideas, and emotions–and rearrange and redistribute until something new comes of it–new understanding, and new chances.
Put another way, Rogues work with the cards they’ve been dealt and manage to make a difference anyway. To all observers, they appear to end up with a different, better hand of cards than what they started with–but really, they got there via the bad hand and a lot of improvisation. Not only do I find the Rogue method totally cool, but I also think we can learn from it and apply it to real-life problems. We might not always be in a good situation, but we can always work with what we have towards a better situation.Most conversations about theme and mechanics treat games as if those are the only two elements a game has. Some comments make it seem like there’s this linear scale with “theme” on one end and “mechanics” on the other. Other comments paint a picture of a Venn diagram with two non-overlapping circles.
The reality is that games are much more complicated.
“Theme” and “Mechanics” mean a number different things in different situations. So it becomes very fuzzy to have a conversation about which is more important in designing, playing, or purchasing games, because each participant in the conversation might have a different idea about exactly what those terms are encompassing.
For the sake of this article, I’m going to define some different terms in hopes of presenting a more accurate model of a game’s elements.
Flavor: Flavor is thematic detail in a game that has no impact on how the game plays. It exists purely in the Imagined circle, which deals with emotions and feelings you want the player to bring with them. Bits of text giving a glimpse into a city’s history, atmospheric art in the rulebook, or a portrait of a random, nameless side character are all examples of flavor.
Rules: This is the theoretical system or parameters of the game. It exists purely in the Virtual circle, which deals with concepts you’re introducing to the player. “You select one option and pass the rest” is an example of the rules you’ll be imparting to the player.
Components: These are the bits that make up the game, cards, boards, dice, pawns, and so forth. These exist purely in the Physical circle, which is all the real-world parts of a game (including the players).
When you start combining these, you get more complex layers.
Imagined + Physical = Narrative
Narrative is the unique sequence of events that players experience during any specific game session. In a themeless, abstract game, this narrative is literally the actions that players take, such as “I place my stone at the intersection of the 4th row and the 5th column.” But in a game with a theme, the narrative changes. Rather than “I put my wooden token at the intersection of those three hexes,” it becomes something more like, “I build my settlement by the wheat, sheep, and wood”.
Physical + Virtual = Mechanics
Where the rules set up the game’s conceptual parameters, the mechanics are the game’s engine. Mechanics are an interactive concept: They’re how the players use the rules to come up with strategy.
Virtual + Imagined = Theme
Where flavor has no impact on the game, theme does. Themes set up parameters for how you expect the game to take place, what behaviors you expect to take, and how you’ll be interacting with others. For example, a zombie theme would probably include the expectation of suspense and perhaps cooperative play, but not include the expectation of political intrigue or medieval warfare.
Put them all together and you get…
CONTEXT
As you might guess from the fact that it rests in the intersection of all three circles, context is really important! Context is how players understand the game as a whole and their role in it.
Context can change by scope.
Context is a high-level view of what the players are doing |
THEORY
"Living Theory" (Contemporary Sociologist, 2013. Debate with Alan Sica about teaching theory)
"Living Theory: Principles and Practices of Teaching Social Theory Ethnographically" (Teaching Sociology, 2016) by Chris Herring,.Manuel Rosoldo, Josh Seim, and Benjamin Shestakofsky
I have been teaching “The History of Sociological Theory” since I arrived in Berkeley in 1976. Neil Smelser, then chair of the sociology department, took quite a gamble in asking me to fill a hole in the course offerings that year. I was no theorist by any stretch of the imagination, having received Bs and Cs for my theory papers in graduate school. It became a case of a course teaching the teacher rather than the teacher teaching the course. But I soon became an unapologetic enthusiast for social theory, aided by two Berkeley golden gifts: first, the willingness of undergraduates -- undaunted by numbers that can rise to over 200 per course or by their dazzling diversity -- to enter into disciplined dialogue with me and with one another; and, second, the devotion of generations of brilliant and dedicated graduate student teachers. The combination was and is electric.
In the beginning the course was but a single quarter long but in 1980, in response to popular demand, we converted it to a two-quarter course and when, in 1984 we moved over to the semester system, it became a year-long course. Since then it has become the mainstay and distinctive mark of the Berkeley undergraduate degree, and we now even offer a non-required third semester of social theory for addicts.
What is social theory? I have likened it to a map of the social world. Maps simplify the world -- they tell us how to get to where we are going, they serve different purposes. So the same with social theories. They too are simplifications, telling us where we might go, pointing to dangerous or forbidden territory, raising very differermnt questions about the social world. I have also likened social theory to a lens without which we cannot see society. We all share social maps, we all wear lenses. That's what makes us members of society. We are, therefore, like it or not, all social theorists. Sociological theory, however, is a special type of social theory. It sees the world as a problem, a world that is less than perfect, a world that could be different. Sociological theory questions what we take for granted. It challenges common sense, showing the partiality of its truth, how in our daily lives we misrecognize what we are up to. Under the spell of sociological theory common sense, from being something natural and inevitable, becomes something socially constructed (and durably so), but also artificial and arbitrary. In this sense sociological theory is always critical theory. For that reason sociological theory is unsettling and subversive, but it also potentially liberates us from the eternal present.
From the beginning I have taken the view that a course in sociological theory is simultaneously a course in reading, writing and thinking. Accordingly, I assign small but carefully selected pieces of classical texts, which students read and reread until, with the help of lectures and sections, they follow an unfolding panorama of theory. This is what I call the ethnographic approach to theory. In calling for intense engagement with manageable portions everyone can participate in compiling them into large vistas. It is opposed to the survey method that requires students to cover broad swaths of reading, which privileges the teacher as the supreme power but also those students trained in the quick read and the superficial essay. The ethnographic approach digs deeper and lasts longer.
Building theory from scratch assumes nothing. It becomes the art of drawing tables and diagrams, a skill students learn in the course, culminating in art exhibits at the end of the year. During the year the course calls for 11 short (1,000 word) papers, which favor brevity and clarity over length and obscurity. Again the pedagogy is designed to make theory accessible to all. The challenge of teaching is to capture everyone’s imagination – to discover the wealth in poverty and the poverty in wealth. The challenge of teaching is to have all students exceed their own expectations, and to develop talents they didn’t suspect they had.
I’m often asked how 19th. Century European writers can form the foundation of a social theory course. So I endeavor to show just how contemporary these writers are, how their profundity stretches over centuries. Moreover, we show how these masters, far from being authors of arid texts, light up the world around us. At the end of two semesters students are instinctively reading newspapers, watching television through different theoretical lens, negotiating their worlds with different sociological maps. Over the years, and at the initiative of Graduate Student Instructors, we have incorporated as a central part of the course what we used to call “Theory in Action” papers, what we now call “Living Theory” – living in theory and, thus, making it live. Throughout the year students write short commentaries that bring theory into conversation with concrete experiences -- their own and that of others. We now have a living theory blog to which everyone can contribute.
So what texts do we read? The ethnographic approach to social theory insists not only on constructing conversations between life and theory but also between and among theories. There are two ways of achieving the latter: dialogue can generate an evolving theoretical tradition or deepen theory through adversarial debate. In the first semester, we build a Marxist theoretical tradition by laying out and then showing the weaknesses of Marx and Engels, weaknesses that are successively addressed by Lenin, Gramsci and Fanon. For each theorist history throws up particular anomalies and contradiction in the writings of their predecessors. In this way theory lives on as an ever-expanding tradition.
In the second semester, theory elaborates itself through argument, Durkheim versus Marx, Weber versus Lenin, Foucault versus Gramsci, and Beauvoir versus Fanon as well as the disagreements they have among themselves. In ending with feminism we call into question the entire course, by posing the repressed question of the relation between theorist and theory. Radical feminism asserts that location is destiny, that men produce sociology for men, that women, potentially at any rate, produce a sociology for women. How, then, we must ask, could Marx, bourgeois intellectual that he is, claim to develop a theory that defends the interests of the working class? How, then, could Durkheim, ensconced in an ivory tower, claim to be developing an objective view of the world?
To even contemplate such an ambitious program it is necessary to have a singular focus that makes dialogue among theorists meaningful. In our case the singular focus is the division of labor around which we reconstruct the classics of sociological theory. How do our theorists define the meaning and forms of the division of labor and how do they see the origins, development, future of the division of labor. Where does sociology itself fit into the division of labor it claims to study? Sociology is fond of such revelatory questions since it believes that the road to freedom is paved with disconcerting truth.SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) – A former Orange County Superior Court clerk and nine others were arrested Wednesday on charges related to a bribery scheme in which more than 1,000 cases were illegally fixed without knowledge of prosecutors or judges, federal prosecutors said.
Authorities expected to have two additional defendants in custody soon, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. All were named in a 38-count indictment.
The ex-clerk, Jose Lopez Jr., was at the center of a sophisticated bribery scheme, according to prosecutors. He is accused of receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars over several years to illegally resolve tickets for people charged with drunken driving or other traffic offenses. The scam ended in 2015 when the court learned of the misconduct.
People who paid the bribes were solicited directly by Lopez, 38, or by the other defendants, who acted as recruiters. Prosecutors said Lopez charged up to $8,000 per case.
As a result, hundreds of defendants had charges dismissed, saw fees reduced, or avoided jail time, prosecutors said.
U.S. Attorney Eileen M. Decker said the scam “compromised the entire justice system” in Orange County.
“Some of these cases involved drunk driving, which is a very serious charge and the individuals involved in those cases were not held accountable,” she said in a statement.
Lopez would “resolve” cases by changing information in the court’s computers to make it appear that a defendant had paid fees or performed the required community service and, in some cases, he forged prosecutor signatures.
In some drunk-driving cases, he falsified records to indicate that a defendant had pleaded guilty to reckless driving, thereby allowing the person to avoid a drunk-driving charge, officials said. He also allegedly changed records to make it appear that second-time DUI offenders had served mandatory jail time when they had not.
Lopez is accused of illegally resolving approximately 1,034 cases – including 69 misdemeanor DUI cases, 160 other misdemeanor cases and other 805 traffic cases.
The court has reopened and reviewed all of the cases in question, Decker said.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press.290-MW Solar Project Says Get Over It: The Age Of Solar Is Here
May 1st, 2014 by Tina Casey
As the world’s largest photovoltaic power plant (for now, anyways), Agua Caliente plants another US solar industry on the world map, and that is a big deal because, after establishing its tech cred back in the space race days, until recently the domestic solar industry failed to compete in the global market.
The Loan Office Program And Agua Caliente
The US solar industry would still be floundering around in the doldrums if it wasn’t for the Energy Department’s Loan Programs Office.
Dating back to the Bush Administration, LPO was created to accelerate innovation in the US energy sector, by providing loan guarantees to cutting edge technologies that are a bit too cutting edge to attract private investors.
From its inception, the program necessarily accounted for a certain amount of risk and it has stayed well within that platform, despite some failures such as the Solyndra bankruptcy. Certain members of Congress (you know who you are) tried to use that episode as an excuse to torpedo LPO and make political hay in the 2012 presidential election cycle, even though the company was in the loan approval pipeline during the Bush Administration for two years before President Obama first took office in 2008.
But, we digress. LPO, survived, President Obama was re-elected, and Agua Caliente blows a giant raspberry in the direction of the whole spooky Solyndra thing (anyways, the usual suspects have moved on to spooky Benghazi, spooky IRS, and spooky Affordable Care Act).
We Built This Tidal Wave Of Utility Scale Solar Power Plants!
Agua Caliente received a $967 million Energy Department loan guarantee, which is actually small potatoes compared to the $1.6 billion it dished out to the new Ivanpah concentrating solar power plant (also the largest of its kind in the world), along with $1.4 billion for the new Solana power plant in Arizona (world’s largest solar array – thermal storage combo), and $852 million for the new 250 MW Genesis concentrating solar power plant in California.
The private sector forces behind Agua Caliente are no small potatoes either, yet another demonstration that the US solar market has grown up. The developers are NRG Energy’s NRG Solar division in partnership with the MidAmerican Solar unit of MidAmerican Renewables (yes, that MidAmerican). First Solar designed and constructed the plant, and will operate and maintain it.
To give you an idea where we were back when President Obama first took office, according to the Energy Department the largest photovoltaic array in the US topped out at 14 MW, at Nellis Air Force Base, and nobody had built a concentrating solar power plant in the US in 20 years.
As planned, as the US solar industry matures it is beginning to attract more private investment. After LPO funded five utility scale projects another 10 projects that crash the 100 MW barrier were announced, all without help from the Energy Department.
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The 3D-printing company will also be making changes to its leadership team to better "focus on [its] people and the MakerBot 3D Ecosystem." The news was announced in a blog post by CEO Jonathan Jaglom.
"We are facing tremendous challenges at MakerBot," Jaglom tells The Verge. "Across the board throughout the industry we are seeing a very slow growth pace in the 3D printing space, and of course MakerBot is impacted by that as well."
"We are facing tremendous challenges at MakerBot."
This is the second round of layoffs under Jaglom since he took over as CEO earlier this year. Jaglom previously worked for Stratasys, a massive 3D-printing company that purchased MakerBot for more than $400 million in 2013.
The acquisition reportedly strained the rapidly-growing MakerBot, as parent company Stratasys set lofty financial and production goals. Bre Pettis — one of the original founders and MakerBot's CEO at the time — left the company little more than a year later. His successor, Jenny Lawton, took over for just a few short months before leaving for an executive position within Stratasys. That's when Jaglom came in.
"They were targets that we believed we could reach when we set them," Jaglom says. But he also admits that the growth of the consumer 3D printing industry is slowing. "What we had predicted and planned for and hoped for is becoming very challenging," he says.
The reorganization will not only affect MakerBot’s staff on paper, as the number of employees is now below 400, but also its physical presence. MakerBot leased spaces in Industry City not long after the acquisition, but now the company will leave one of the two buildings it occupies there — building number 1, specifically, which is the home for the company's customer support, software, and research and development teams. Those departments will relocate to the company's main offices in Downtown Brooklyn. However, MakerBot's brand-new factory will remain in operations in Industry City.
Jaglom said the growth of the company and the pace of the industry at the time demanded the expansion. But as the consumer 3D-printing market's rise has slowed, he says splitting the staff into multiple locations was affecting MakerBot's ability to work efficiently.
"The fact that we were splintered across the organization," Jaglom says, "caused for misalignment, miscommunication, [and a] more challenging environment for our staff to work in." MakerBot's global structure, where MakerBot employees answer up the chain to the respective regional sections of Stratasys, won't see any changes.
The 3D printing industry is still very much an emerging one, at least on the consumer level, and the inherent turbulence has made MakerBot's rapid rise a rather bumpy one. On top of that, MakerBot is currently dealing with a lawsuit that alleges the company (and Stratasys) knowingly sold faulty printing heads.
Correction: Jaglom mistakenly stated that MakerBot will be leaving "building 19" in Industry City. The company's R&D, software, and customer service departments actually occupied "building 1." The story has been changed to reflect this.Have you ever whipped up a batch of protein cookies, tasted the batter, and ended up eating the whole lot? I have! In fact, that's what inspired me to create this recipe and once and for all cut out the middleman—the middleman being my preheated-but-unused oven!
These bars are just like eating cookie dough, only they're more portable and easier to scoff down than those sticky, messy grocery-store logs. You can make these cookie dough protein bars in advance, wrap them up in tin foil, unwrap them when you need them, and kapow! You've got an easy-to-enjoy treat for at work, school, home, or the gym.
Making these bad boys is very easy, and the recipe is open to a lot of fun variations. Tweak the batter depending on your mood and create your desired flavor profile. Whether you're using chopped pecans, coconut flakes, or different types of chocolate chips, the combinations are endless.
Click Here For The RecipeVice President Joe Biden will headline a Chicago-area fundraiser for Rep. Tammy Duckworth next Wednesday alongside Sen. Dick Durbin, the Chicago Sun-Times’ Lynn Sweet reports.
Duckworth is currently locked in one of the nation’s hotly-contested Senate races against incumbent Republican Mark Kirk. The fundraiser is set to take place at the North Side home of Fred Eychaner, a Chicago executive who is considered one of the nation’s biggest Democratic donors.
According to Sweet's report, contributions for the event range from $12,500, which includes a photo reception and dinner, to $36,100, which includes a VIP reception.
The money raised will go to the Illinois Victory 2016 fund. That joint committee benefits the Tammy for Illinois committee, which is Duckworth’s main campaign war chest, and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.The seed market in Europe contains nearly 7,200 seed companies, totaling more than 50,000 employees and accounts for 20% of the total production of oil from crops such as sunflower seeds, maize, and rape seeds. France, Netherlands and Germany are three of the top four seed exporters in the world and will play a key role in sustaining Europe’s seed market growth.
Technavio analysts expect the seeds market in Europe to grow at a CAGR of 10.57% during the period 2014-2019 and expect the market to reach a value of $24 billion, nearly $10 billion more than its current $14.52 billion value. Increased demand for good quality high-performing genetically engineered and hybrid seeds by farmers and rising demand for biofuels in Europe are two of the key drivers for the forecast period. Europe recorded the availability of nearly 2 million Hectares (Ha) of area for seed production in 2014, which is likely to grow consistently and also boost the growth of the market.
Source: Technavio Research
Grain seeds and oilseeds is the largest product segment with a market share of 76.47% in 2014, however, the fruit and vegetable seeds segment is expected to gain traction. Many seed varieties are also likely to be developed in the future as an average of 12-15% of the total revenue is invested in research and development. Despite the traction gained from the fruits and vegetables sector and the future development of seed varieties, grain seeds and oilseeds will continue to dominate Europe’s seeds market through the forecast period.
Source: Technavio Research
France was the world’s largest seed exporting country in 2014, followed by Netherlands, the United States, and Germany. Hungary, Italy and Denmark are all in the top 10, giving Europe six of the top 10 seed exporting countries in the world. Chile is the major exporter of seeds among the Latin American countries in and China dominates the exports in APAC.
Value of Seeds Exports Per Country 2012
via chartsbin.com
Source: Technavio Research, International Seed FederationFlashy glass towers, sprawling lawn, elaborate decorations -- the Crystal Cathedral megachurch is quite a tourist attraction. Now it looks like those in charge of Orange County's Crystal Cathedral may be answering to a different type of higher power -- bankruptcy court. MSNBC.com reports that the church owes close to $7.5 million to unsecured creditors and a total of $55 million in debt.
Crystal Cathedral, which was founded by television evangelist Robert Schuller, has over 10,000 members. In addition to it's commanding presence, Robert Schuller put the church on the map during his televised "Hour of Power" broadcasts. The decision to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy came after several of the church's creditors obtained a writ of attachment. MSNBC.com notes that, "the church's budget woes have forced it to downsize its staff, cancel programming in certain markets, and even send home choir and orchestra members." Prior to filing for bankruptcy, the church was attempting to work out the outstanding bills independent of court intrevention.Like most people, Mike Muscala thinks carefully about what he eats and keeps a close eye on how much he weighs. Unlike most people, Muscala's challenge is keeping the weight that he already carries on his 6'11" frame.
On a typical game day, Muscala eats several times per day with meals'sandwiched' around a schedule filled with shootarounds, pre-game routines and game play.
He used to be concerned with adding weight, but now says that his main goal is to maintain the weight he has.
"I'm about 238 (pounds) right now," he said. "I really realized that it wasn't about putting on weight. I think it was more about getting stronger and being more versatile. Part of my game is that I can play the 4 (power forward) and the 5 (center), and even now I've been working a little bit at 3 (small forward) in the offense. It helps me to move better on defense and to be able to move my feet better and be stronger -- and not just put on weight."
Muscala has also worked with Marie Spano, a sports nutritionist that the Hawks work with.
"She helped me a lot two summers ago," Muscala said. "She gave me sample meals that I could could base off of. And the biggest thing I learned from her was when to eat."
Muscala added that breakfast and right after games are the two most important times for him to eat. Here's a meal-by-meal breakdown of what Muscala eats on a typical day. (Since the frequency of meals makes traditional labels like 'breakfast' and 'dinner' difficult to assign, here's a breakdown by number instead.)
Meal 1, 9:00 a.m.: "For a game day, I'll get a room service breakfast at like 9 a.m.. I like omelets or sausage-and-egg biscuits or waffles or fruit.
"That's the biggest thing for me. I have to eat breakfast, and if I don't, my metabolism just isn't working and it's not good for me. I find it I miss breakfast, it's hard for me to keep weight."
Meal 2, 1:00 p.m.: "After shootaround, we have a team brunch, so I'll eat lunch there."
When at home, and often on the road, the Hawks typically do a Whole Foods catered brunch or lunch. It's a common sight after shootaround to see players headed out of Philips with a boxed lunch.
Meal 3: 4:00 p.m.: "When I wake up from my nap, I'll eat a sandwich."
Meal 4, 6:00 p.m.: "Before the game I'll have a granola bar or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich."
Meal 5 (and sometimes 6), 10:00 p.m.: "After the game, I'll have a recovery drink and dinner."
"And then when I get home, if we're at an away game, I'll have some more food right before bed."
Even though Muscala strives to keep weight on, he has to compete with the best athletes in the world, so there are a few foods he tries to avoid in the interest of adding good calories and not just empty calories.
"I've learned that it's better to eat something than not," he said, "even though it might not be the healthiest. I like staying away from white pastas. I've always been good about avoiding candy and stuff, but the biggest thing is the pasta."
Muscala noted that his weight maintenance plan is working.
"I didn't even lose weight on this road trip," he said of the Hawks' trip to Cincinnati and Jacksonville. "I think I even gained a pound."
Story by KL Chouinard
Twitter: @KLChouinardKazakhstani officials seem eager to counter any negative perceptions about the Central Asian nation and maintain its standing as an attractive foreign investment destination, said Yevgeniya Plakhina, an internet freedom campaigner and media observer based in Almaty. "I think the government is trying to take care of its international reputation, instead of solving the internal problems that actually damage its reputation abroad," Plakhina said.
According to the US government's Foreign Agents Registration Act database, Kazakhstan, via its embassy in London, hired BGR Gabara to provide "relevant outreach to government officials, news outlets, and other individuals with the United States, as directed by the Embassy of Kazakhstan in London, United Kingdom." From last April 1 through the end of 2011, BGR Gabara paid BGR Government Affairs, a Delaware registered company, $45,000 per month for "assistance." The monthly rate that the Kazakhstani government paid BGR Gabara cannot be independently determined.
Separately, in 2011 the Kazakh government hired Portland to undertake "strategic and public affairs consulting and media activities" in the United States. At the time of registration, the fee was reportedly still under negotiation.
Web records indicate that Portland and at least one other firm, Media Consulta, appeared to tinker with Wikipedia entries concerning Kazakhstan and its president, Nursultan Nazarbayev.
Wikipedia compiles a list of all changes made to the content of its pages. The IP address or user names of individuals who make edits are recorded, and it is possible to compare "before" and "after" versions of the pages. Users identified only by IP addresses are listed as frequent editors on a number of Kazakhstan-related Wikipedia entries. But those same IP addresses can be traced, using publicly available means, and they appear to be linked with Portland and Media Consulta.
An individual working from an IP address with apparent links to Media Consulta inserted new sections in President Nazarbayev's Wikipedia page, entitled "Dialogue Between Religions" and "Preventing Global Nuclear Threats." In all, the same IP address is linked to four changes - made May 6, 2010 -- to Kazakhstan's Wikpedia page, and four changes to Nazarbayev's page. An additional four changes were made to the Kazakhstan entry on September 30 and October 7 in 2010.
Nazarbayev's page was edited twice on September 30, 2010, and the Kazakhgate entry was edited four times from September 30-October 7, 2010.
Similarly, an IP address with a link to Portland was the source of changes to the Wikipedia entries for BTA Bank and for Mukhtar Ablyazov, the former BTA chairman, who is accused of defrauding the bank of billions of dollars.
BTA bank and Ablyazov are currently locked in a legal battle playing out in a London court. The case is so complex that it could drag on until 2013 and there is no guarantee that BTA will be able to recover any money, despite $172 million being spent in 2011 on "legal proceedings and the overall recovery process." The Kazakhstani government, via its Samruk Kazyna sovereign wealth fund, controls over 80 percent of the Bank's shares.Tincture of cannabis, sometimes known as green dragon, is an alcoholic extract of cannabis. Cannabis tinctures are used in the production of specific extracts, like nabiximols.
History [ edit ]
Cannabis tincture appeared in the United States Pharmacopoeia until 1942 (Australia 1977, UK 1970s).[1] In the 20th century cannabis lost its appeal as a medicinal product, largely due to the development of apparently suitable alternatives, such as the hypodermic needle, water-soluble analgesics and synthetic hypnotics.[2] A major concern of the regulatory authorities at that time was the widespread recreational use of cannabis.[3]
The pharmacological target for cannabis, the endocannabinoid system, is being researched since its discovery in the 1980s.
Preparation [ edit ]
The tincture is typically made by soaking the dried flowers of the female hemp plant (marijuana) in ethanol. The tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and other cannabinoids dissolve into the alcohol. Some preparations also extract some of the water-based plant products such as chlorophyll, resulting in a dark green or brown liquid. Baking or drying the cannabis to decarboxylate prior to the alcohol bath increases the amount of THC in the resulting preparation.[4][5]
Methods of use [ edit ]
The tincture is ordinarily consumed orally, but may also be applied to the skin.
A similar preparation called nabiximols (USAN,[6] trade name "Sativex") is a pharmaceutical preparation for administration as an oral spray.
Gallery [ edit ]
Cannabis indica fluid extract, American Druggists Syndicate, pre-1937
Cannabis Fluid extract bottle
See also [ edit ]A politically contentious investigation by Congressional Republicans into the practices of Planned Parenthood and procuring of fetal tissue for research quietly concluded this week.
A politically conten tious investigation by Congres sional Republicans into the pr actices of Planned Parenthood and procuring of fetal tissue for research quietly concluded this week.
It’s almost certain the fight isn’t over.
The House Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives filed i ts final report Tuesday, endin g a 15-month, $1.59 million un dertaking that appears to have been a futile search for damn ing evidence to hamstring Plan ned Parenthood operations and halt scientists’ use of fetal tissue in researching cures fo r a host of illnesses.
GOP leaders submitted the 471- page opus in the waning moment s before the 114th Congress ad journed and the new 115th Cong ress convened.
There was no press release nor news conference, simply a lin k on the House Energy and Comm erce Committee web site. If yo u didn’t know it was coming, y ou’d have missed it.
Rep. Suzan DelBene of Was hington, one of the panel’s si x Democratic members, knew and didn’t.
“This Panel has been a brazenl y partisan and ideological wit ch-hunt and it should never ha ve been created in the first p lace,” she said in a statement. DelBene represents the 1st C ongressional District, which i ncludes east Snohomish and Kin g counties.
“I have seen firsthand how thi s so-called investigation has repeatedly shown contempt for the facts and disdain for the truth,” she said. “At a time w hen fake news is inciting real violence and intimidation, Co ngress shouldn’t be adding fue l to the fire by spreading ext reme anti-choice falsehoods an d fabrications in this report. ”
The GOP’s silence this week st ands in contrast to the impass ioned speeches and statements accompanying creation of the p anel in October 2015. It was a big deal then as conservative Republicans got the go-ahead and money to carry out a no ho lds-barred investigation of th e nation’s best known provider of family planning and aborti on services.
The panel convened hearings an d issued subpoenas for mounds of records from colleges, incl uding the University of Washin gton, and private companies. I ts Republican members also sou ght names of individuals invol ved in obtaining fetal tissue and performing abortions.
Hidden camera videos alleged t o capture Planned Parenthood e xecs negotiating payments for harvested fetal tissue incited the furor preceding the panel ’s creation.
And it didn’t dissipate even a fter those videos were found t o be doctored. However, it did prompt the panel’s Republican majority to add a disclaimer in the report stating : “The P anel did not design its invest igation to prove or disprove t he credibility of tapes releas ed by the Center for Medical P rogress.”
Among the report’s recommendat ions are a call to ban abortio ns after 20 weeks, defund Plan ned Parenthood and give states “greater flexibility” to ban abortion providers from receiv ing federal funds. They also w ant to stop donation of fetal tissue from elective terminati ons and additional federal gui delines for use of human fetal tissue.
What’s next is unclear. Though Republicans aren’t making muc h of the findings yet, Democra ts are bracing for legislation intended to carry many of the m out. They worry the House GO P could find allies within the administration of the incomin g Republican president.
“While I welcome the conclusio n of the Panel, I remain grave ly concerned,” DelBene said. “ Women, and our country, cannot afford any more of these taxp ayer-funded crusades against w omen’s health.”How rich are members of the Spanos family, the NFL owners asking San Diego city voters to hike the tax on hotel visits and hand it over to subsidize a $1.8 billion professional football and meeting venue downtown?
By absolute numbers, their wealth is staggering — and growing ever greater. According to the Forbes list of the world’s billionaires, the Spanoses rank 1067th, up from 1500th last year. Among America’s super rich, they place 372nd, with a cool net worth of $2.4 billion.
But what may seem like a lot of money to average San Diegans — whose median household income is $66,192 and more-or-less holding, according to the census bureau — is not enough to keep the growing brood of ultimate heirs to the fortune of family patriarch Alex Spanos in private jets and caviar for the rest of their lives.
Thus, they have turned to the giant Wall Street investment bank of Goldman Sachs, the gold-plated institution which during the last decade alone has done 30 stadium deals with team owners of the National Football League.
A so-called limited liability company, set up in the state of Delaware by the Spanos family on July 5, is widely believed to be the vehicle of choice through which Goldman and the Chargers owners will wash untold millions of dollars of annual profits and an equal amount of paper losses for avoiding taxes, as they soak up their yearly subsidy from San Diego city taxpayers.
The operation is on the Q.T., with family spokesman and Chargers special counsel Mark Fabiani declining to respond to questions about its purposes. The nondescript-sounding Sports, Entertainment, and Tourism, LLC, has the potential to expand the family fortune to dimensions unimaginable to the family’s founder, now sequestered at his estate in Stockton, suffering from terminal dementia.
In November, 2010, it was widely reported that Goldman was shopping an undisclosed percentage of team ownership to unidentified Los Angeles investors.
“In a family-owned business, it’s common as the parents get up in age to attempt to diversify and generate cash to handle estate issues, and that’s exactly what’s happening here," Fabiani told the Union-Tribune. "I think if you look around at many family-owned businesses, you’ll see the same thing.”
Insiders say a new stadium would likely boost the team’s value to outside investors by hundreds of millions of dollars. But no deal was ever announced, and, according to Fabiani, the Spanos family continues to own 96 percent, with two other individuals holding the remaining 4 percent. They have been previously identified in news accounts as retired restaurateur George Pernicano, with three percent, and ex-TV executive Bill Fox with 1 percent.
Twenty-some years ago, when Spanos, then in his late sixties, was healthy, full of energy, and at the top of his big money game, he instilled in his children the unwavering belief that they had a birthright to be super rich.
“A few hundred cars wove their way through Stockton to the spectacular new home of millionaire builder-developer Alex Spanos and his wife, Faye, for their 50th anniversary dinner-dance Saturday,” reported the August 26, 1998 Stockton Record. “The Spanoses, who like everything to work smoothly, had 35 parking valets to handle the horsepower. Then guests were transported in golf carts to their home, Villa Angelica, where 16 Walt Tolleson violinists fiddled away.”
Hollywood fixture Bob Hope, Alex’s longtime show business crony, arrived in a limo. “Bob made his way past the swimming pool filled with roses — you could almost imagine him saying, ‘I’ve heard of putting Four Roses in water, but 25,000 of ‘em?’ — to find his place at the head table.”
A former mayor of San Diego, who had become a United States senator and then governor with Alex’s financial backing, also paid tribute. “Governor Pete Wilson began his remarks with, ‘It’s nice to be in a typical Stockton home.’”
Noted the paper, “The home — with marble floors and terraces, a chapel, three guest bedrooms and a master bedroom suite with dressing rooms that are bigger than most people’s living rooms — is set in a grove of shrubs and trees, most of which were brought in full grown.
“There were 450 guests at the dinner, 450 three-tier wedding cakes (chocolate, vanilla or coffee) were served for dessert, and there was dancing under the stars to the music of Les Brown and His Band of Renown from a stage that had been covered and framed with lemon leaves.
“Then there were the favors: Faberge eggs that opened to reveal Faye and Alex dancing just as they did to the ‘Anniversary Waltz.’ Thanks for the memories.”
Homespun grandiosity was Alex’s calling card. “He was named for Alexander the Great,” wrote the Los Angeles Times in a 1985 profile. “Actually, his father planned to name him for a Greek warrior, Leonidas, but at the baptism, his godfather conferred the name Alexander, and it stuck.”
“I like to think I am the best there is at what I do, and so I have conquered the world like Alexander. But I don’t believe I am the reincarnation of Alexander the Great,” observed Alex.
A big-screen color television devotee, his favorite show was “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous,” London tabloid writer Robin Leach’s paean to the ubiquitous ostentation of the 1980s. “Damn, I wish I had taped that show,” said Spanos of an episode about a wealthy Asian investor’s newest nautical toy. “Can you imagine putting so much into a boat?”
Alex, who made his first fortune as a developer of apartment houses for the middle class, told reporters his craving for luxury and ever more money as an adult emerged from his childhood deprivation at the hands of his father, a Greek immigrant baker.
“ |
However, backlash from developers prompted the company to reconsider,[1] with Jobs announcing on October 17, 2007 that Apple would have a software development kit (SDK) available for developers by February 2008.[2][3] The SDK was released on March 6, 2008.[4][5]
Features [ edit ]
The iOS SDK is a free download for Mac users.[6] It is not available for Microsoft Windows personal computers.[6] To test the application, get technical support, and distribute applications through App Store, developers are required to subscribe to the Apple Developer Program.[6]
The SDK contents are separated into the following sets:[7]
The SDK also contains an iPhone simulator, a program used to simulate the look and feel of iPhone on the developer's computer.[7]
New SDK versions accompany new iOS versions.[8][9]
Programming languages [ edit ]
The iOS SDK, combined with Xcode, helps developers write iOS applications using officially supported programming languages, including Swift and Objective-C.[10]
Java [ edit ]
In 2008, Sun Microsystems announced plans to release a Java Virtual Machine (JVM) for iOS, based on the Java Platform, Micro Edition version of Java. This would enable Java applications to run on iPhone and iPod Touch.[11] Soon after the announcement, developers familiar with the SDK's terms of agreement believed that by not allowing third-party applications to run in the background (answer a phone call and still run the application, for example),[12] and not allowing an application to download code from another source, nor allowing an application to interact with a third-party application, Sun's development efforts could be hindered without Apple's cooperation.[13] Sun also worked with a third-party company called Innaworks in attempts to get Java on iPhone.[14] Despite the apparent lack of interest from Apple, a firmware leak of the 2007 iPhone release revealed an ARM chip with a processor with Jazelle support for embedded Java execution.[15]
Novell announced in September 2009 that they had successfully developed MonoTouch, a software framework that let developers write native iPhone applications in the C# and.NET programming languages, while still maintaining compatibility with Apple's requirements.[16]
Flash [ edit ]
iOS does not support Adobe Flash,[17] and although Adobe has two versions of its software – Flash and Flash Lite – Apple views neither as suitable for the iPhone, claiming that full Flash is "too slow to be useful" and Flash Lite to be "not capable of being used with the Web."[18][19]
In October 2009, Adobe announced that an upcoming update to its Creative Suite would feature a component to let developers build native iPhone apps using the company's Flash development tools.[20] The software was officially released as part of the company's Creative Suite 5 collection of professional applications.[21]
In April 2010, Apple made controversial changes to its iPhone Developer Agreement, requiring developers to use only "approved" programming languages in order to publish apps on App Store, and banning applications that used third-party development tools.[22][23][24] After developer backlash[25] and news of a potential antitrust investigation,[26][27] Apple again revised its agreement in September, allowing the use of third-party development tools.[25][28]
See also [ edit ]New Margarita Expo Tent at the Arizona Taco Festival
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Planning on heading out to the Arizona Taco Festival this weekend? If you’re on the fence (um, tacos, tequila, and margaritas…jump on over that fence) I have something that is really going to seal the deal! This year introduces the inauguration of the Margarita Expo Tent!
In previous years at the Arizona Taco Festival, there was a tequila tent on Saturday and then alternate activities took place on Sunday. The folks behind Affordable Food Festivals received a lot of feedback from folks that were bummed out that didn’t have the chance to continue the tequila party on Sunday. This is how the Margarita Expo Tent was born!
Margarita Wars Conclude at Margarita Expo Tent
If you’ve been paying attention on social media in the last few weeks, you’ve likely caught wind of the Margarita Wars. The Margarita Wars started up back in July at Counter Intuitive and paired up competitors from several hot local watering holes. The events ended being high energy and a lot of fun. No need to have a case of FOMO, you can catch all of the competitors at the Margarita Expo Tent on Sunday, October 16th and sample all of the competition margaritas. You’ll even have the opportunity to vote for your personal favorite.
The people’s choice vote on Sunday will be the final battle in the Margarita Wars. The overall winner of the entire series will be awarded with some serious bragging rights as well as a trip to Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans. Tales of the Cocktail is the spirit industries annual meeting place to exchange new ideas, products, and techniques. The best of the best in the cocktail and mixology world will be there, and with this competition, it’s guaranteed that one of your local favorites will be there representing the great beverage programs that we have here in Arizona.
Make sure to get your special wristband for the Margarita Expo Tent so you don’t miss a sip or any of the action. The wristbands need to be purchased in addition to your entrance to the event. The wristbands for the Expo are $20 and can be purchased online, which is a safe bet since the event is expected to sell out. (Plus, the price goes up to $21 the day of the event.) Your wristband will get you 10 sample sized tastes within the tent.
Who is Participating in the Margarita Expo Tent?
Bitter & Twisted
Blue Hound Kitchen & Cocktails
Cien Agaves
Clever Koi
Crudo
Jade Bar at Sanctuary Resort & Spa
Modern Margarita
Obon Sushi & Ramen
Okra
PY Steakhouse
The Ostrich
The Watershed
Make sure to check out all the great videos that were made featuring the competitors of the Margarita Wars and prep for the final battle!
Hope to see you there!
If you are looking for the best and latest in Arizona restaurant and culinary news, please make sure to sign up for our newsletter, give us a like on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and Instagram to make sure that you never miss a bite!
© Taryn Jeffries 2016
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RelatedWisconsin lawmakers and officials celebrated this week the decision to base a squadron of F-35 fighter jets in Madison, the state's capital.
"This is outstanding news for Wisconsin! The first of the 18 F-35 jets are scheduled to begin arriving at Truax Field on Madison's North Side early in 2023," Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican, tweeted Friday.
This is outstanding news for Wisconsin! The first of the 18 F-35 jets are scheduled to begin arriving at Truax Field on Madison's North Side early in 2023. #WIWorking https://t.co/uzmjspZ03G — Governor Walker (@GovWalker) December 22, 2017
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“I applaud the Air Force for recognizing the strategic importance of our state, and I look forward to Wisconsin playing a major role as the Air Force modernizes and enhances its capabilities to keep America safe and secure," Sen. Ron Johnson Ronald (Ron) Harold JohnsonWhite House, GOP defend Trump emergency declaration GOP senator says Republicans didn't control Senate when they held majority GOP senator voices concern about Trump order, hasn't decided whether he'll back it MORE (R-Wis.) said in a statement.
The Air Force announced on Thursday that Truax Field would host the $100 million F-35 fighter jets. The military branch announced that it would also base a squadron in Montgomery, Ala.
“I congratulate the dedicated men and women of the 115th Fighter Wing,” Sen. Tammy Baldwin Tammy Suzanne BaldwinKlobuchar, O'Rourke visit Wisconsin as 2020 race heats up Dems offer smaller step toward ‘Medicare for all' Overnight Health Care — Sponsored by America's 340B Hospitals — Powerful House committee turns to drug pricing | Utah governor defies voters on Medicaid expansion | Dems want answers on controversial new opioid MORE (D-Wis.) said in a statement.
“I have been proud to play a lead role within the Wisconsin Congressional delegation advocating for the 115th, and I am pleased that the Air Force has recognized the tremendous strategic, geographic and economic capabilities that Truax offers," she said.Republican New Jersey Senate candidate Steve Lonegan said Thursday he has a way to singlehandedly stop Obamacare and help the GOP emerge victorious in its shutdown standoff.
Lonegan’s campaign issued a statement encouraging Republicans in Washington “not to capitulate to the president’s unreasonable demands” until after Wednesday’s special U.S. Senate election in New Jersey. According to Lonegan, he will win that race against Democratic Newark, N.J. Mayor Cory Booker. That in turn will cause Obama to give in to the Republican demands to stop the health care law.
“When I win, Obama will fold,” Lonegan said in the statement.
Lonegan has been gaining in recent polls, though Booker still has a double-digit lead. However, his statement said Lonegan believes “his internal polling shows a neck-and-neck race in the U.S. Senate contest and that all the momentum is in his favor.”
“My victory in this election on Wednesday will send a message to Barack Obama, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi that the American people want an end to Obamacare and the rest of the President’s radical agenda,” said Lonegan. “Republicans need to hold firm because seven days from today when Bob Menendez escorts me down the Senate aisle for my swearing in, the message about what our party should do will be clear for all,”
Read the Lonegan campaign’s full statement below:While surfing the interwebs today I stumbled across a Scientific American blog post titled, “How Do You ID a Dead Osama?” which caught my attention, but not just for the subject, which I had found myself pondering previously. The question the author leads with, “But how do they know it’s him?” got me to thinking about conversations I’ve had in the past on the concept of proof.
While surfing the interwebs today I stumbled across a Scientific American blog post titled, How Do You ID a Dead Osama? which caught my attention, but not just for the subject, which I had found myself pondering previously. (Say those last two words five times fast.) The question the author leads with, “But how do they know it’s him?” got me to thinking about conversations I’ve had in the past on the concept of proof.
As a skeptic, who was previously a fundamentalist Christian, the idea of proof has come up frequently. What I’ve noticed is that we all have our own opinion of what “enough” evidence is in order to qualify as “proof” of something. If you’re smart, you’ll hitch your opinion to something strong like Science so that you don’t have to carry the weight of argument all on your own. But even then, variation abounds. (And you can lessen the weight even by hitching to things not so strong, as long as there are enough others that share it who you can fall back on.) Depending on whether you want to believe something or not, your required level of proof will increase or decrease. I would argue that this is directly a result of confirmation bias. So, the question to me seemed to be “is there an objective level of proof that is really proof?”
Lets say I believe a tree that I’m looking at has orange leaves. I look at it, the leaves look orange, so it seems like a no brainer. So I don’t think of it in terms of my believing that the leaves are red, it’s just a fact. Then you come along, and because you can never leaf me alone you tell me that you’re sure the leaves are green. After wondering if you’re on crack, I tell you that you’re wrong. You start giving me reasons to back up your position. You tell me that most trees have green leaves. You tell me that it’s the middle of June and that Fall hasn’t started yet. All good logical arguments that would seem to back up your position. If you’re convincing enough, I may start to doubt my initial observation in favor of the weight of your arguments. You may at some point “prove” to me that you’re right. So where is the objectivity regarding proof? It could go the other way, given my charm, and I may convince you the leaves are really green. We both feel that it would take enough proof from the other in order to change our minds.
If proof is an arbitrary measurement of reality, I’m not so sure we should be so hung up on proving things to each other. At the end of the day, it would seem to come down to belief. For everything that requires our brain to sign off on an opinion, we each have an equation that helps us get through the moment. Some things provide better (or more voluminous) proof by gathering more consistent details, but if they fail to convince everyone who learns of them can they be called proof?
This was also likely called to mind because I’m in the middle of reading The Ego Tunnel: The Science of the mind and the myth of the self by Thomas Metzinger. One section of which jumped out at me…
The world is not inhabited by colored objects at all. It is just as your physics teacher in high school told you: Out there, in front of your eyes, there is just an ocean of electromagnetic radiation, a wild and raging mixture of different wavelengths. Most of them are invisible to you and can never become part of your conscious model of reality. What is really happening is that the visual system in your brain is drilling a tunnel through this inconceivably rich physical environment and in the process is painting the tunnel walls in various shades of color. Phenomenal color. Appearance. For your conscious eyes only.
So add on top of confirmation bias the problem of perception (being forever trapped behind a time-delayed interpretive model) and how can we ever truly know a dang thing?
Some people might consider this a reason to not worry about proof, and to just hold hands and accept any reality our neighbor claims is there. But not me, I’m stubborn. (And, as my two failed marriages lend evidence to, sometimes slow to learn.) In any case, I can’t help but continue to feel that it’s a question of understanding ourselves. And that the more we learn, the closer we can get to understanding Universe. (Multiverse, whatever.)
Oh, and since I brought it up, the evidence used to prove that we got the right Osama was a combination of a DNA test (99.9% percent confidence) and facial recognition software (about 95% certainty). Probably certain enough for most folks, though I won’t doubt in the least that there will be plenty who claim he’s still alive and out there somewhere ready to direct the next attack because the aforementioned evidence isn’t “enough” for various reasons.
While trying to consider a moral to this story I thought maybe I would say that it’s that we should be more tolerant of others beliefs. But that seems to much like the end of a South Park episode. I think my suggested take away here would be to encourage you to examine your own decisions on what constitutes proof, particularly in situations of debate.
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PocketIf you live in one of the Arab states of the Middle East, then you will likely have been greeted by an interesting new Google doodle today for the anniversary of one of the most celebrated Muslim medeival scientists.
Ibn al-Haytham, known in the West by his Latinized name Alhazen, was born 1 July, 956 AD, in Basra in present-day Iraq but lived most of his life in Egypt. A polymath, Alhazen has contributed to the sciences of optics, astronomy, mathematics and philosophy. He is one of the earliest, if not the first, theoretical physicists in the world, using mathematics to prove his theories of optics.
Alhazen is best known for his work to prove experimentally how we see objects. He disproved the emission theory, which was popular at that time and stated that the eyes shine light on objects that we see, and countered that we see objects because light from them falls on our eyes instead. He was also the first to prove that light moved in straight lines through experimentation on mirrors and lenses and studying refraction and reflection.
This led to the discovery he is best known for, the camera obscura, or pinhole camera. His books had the first clear description of it and an analysis of how it worked.
Most of this research was done when he was under house arrest, after feigning madness when he had promised the caliph of Egypt, Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, he would be able to control the flow of the Nile but it proved too daunting a task for him. His arrest was lifted following the death of the caliph and he continued his research and made money copying books.
The most important contribution of Alhazen to science must be his “Book of Optics”, a seven-volume study of optics and other related disciplines. The book was quite influential in Europe when it was translated in the 12th century. The experimental approaches and mathematical verification that Alhazen took when writing the book were essential for laying the foundation of the scientific method. It was considered the most important book on optics in Europe until Kepler’s work.
In addition to his work on optics, Alhazen is thought to have published 200 books of science in total, with at least 96 being currently known. Most of his work has been lost, but nearly 50 books have survived and are still being studied.On a road trip through south India last year a group of my friends wanted to stop at a Hindu temple of particular significance, but one held back. “I want to come …” she said, “but I can’t, as I have my period.” Here was a 38-year-old Indian woman, a barrister with a postgraduate degree, afraid to set foot in a temple because she was menstruating.
The taboo surrounding menstruation still prevails in both rural and urban India, where menstrual blood is considered impure. Some women are forbidden from preparing food or even entering the kitchen, one in five schoolgirls drop out of education when they begin menstruating, and more than 70% of women don’t have access to sanitary products.
Nikita Azad, 20, an English student at Government College for Girls in Patiala in Punjab recently launched the #HappyToBleed campaign after the board of the Hindu Sabarimala temple in Kerala – which has never admitted women aged between 10 and 50, whether or not they have their period – said that they may one day consider allowing women to enter, but only after the invention of a machine to detect whether or not they are menstruating. The board’s president, Prayar Gopalakrishnan, has since claimed that the quote was taken out of context, but stands firm on the refusal of admittance to women.
Bring on the menstruation revolution: ‘Donald Trump is going to bloody love it’ Read more
Azad wrote an open letter to Gopalakrishnan in which she questioned the “retrogressive, barbaric, and misogynist customs” and took to Twitter and Facebook posting photos of herself holding up sanitary pads along with the words “Happy to Bleed”.
“I was surprised to hear such a statement from one of the most so-called historic temples,” says Azad. “But as Indian women we regularly encounter these things in our daily lives. My mother used to tell me that I’m not supposed to go to the temple, and whenever an advertisement [for sanitary products] came on the television everyone would rush to the remote control to try to change it.”
For Azad, along with millions of Indian women, menstruation was presented as a taboo from the day of her first period. “If I went to the bathroom with a sanitary napkin, I couldn’t carry it in my hand, or even my pocket – I had to take the whole handbag in. Shaming menstruation is a sign of patriarchy. The hashtag #happytobleed is a sarcastic dig at the authorities that shame menstruation. We bleed. Accept it and deal with it.”
The Sabarimala temple has a longstanding tradition of not admitting women of menstruation age, and followers of the temple’s deity have often argued that the exclusion of women has been misinterpreted; that they are, in fact, being singled out during their period as goddesses to be nurtured. Azad laughs: “We don’t want to be considered as goddesses, or objects of pleasure, we want to be considered as humans.”
The HappyToBleed campaign has attracted thousands of followers – as well as a good number of men attacking Azad online and accusing her of being “overeducated”.
“There are pessimistic people who have called us whores and prostitutes and stopped me on the street,” she says. “This always [happens] when you oppose long-standing traditions, but when we do have support from people who want to change, then it doesn’t matter.”
The #HappyToBleed campaign ends on 4 December but Azad’s goal isn’t to be granted entry to the temple, so much as to break the taboo around menstruation and encourage conversation. “It’s a matter of gross negligence, and we want to push for the state to take responsibility for providing menstrual care to women.” She also hopes to present her case to India’s health ministry though she is aware that it will take more than one person to create a shift. “If society wants to change, then it will.”Biden in Munich: The ugly face of imperialism
5 February 2013
“A decade of war is now ending,” President Barack Obama told Americans in his second inaugural address delivered little more than two weeks ago in Washington.
Speaking Saturday at the annual Munich Security Conference, Vice President Joseph Biden set the record straight: not only is this decade-long exercise in US militarism not ended, it is about to erupt in a whole number of new areas across the globe, threatening the lives of countless millions of people.
First held in 1962, the Munich Security Conference—attended by heads of government, foreign ministers, military brass and representatives of the military-industrial complex—was traditionally a forum for airing views on the post-World War II transatlantic relationship between the United States and its Western European allies.
This year’s proceedings, however, took place in a palpably changed atmosphere of unabashed imperialism and neo-colonialism. Both Washington and the powers of “Old Europe” appeared intoxicated with the prospects of using military power to offset economic decline and forcibly lay hold of geo-strategically vital territories, resources and markets.
French President François Hollande was not able to attend the conference, occupied as he was in staging a victory lap in Mali after an offensive by French warplanes and Foreign Legionnaires had conquered the former French colony. He made it clear that France’s troops are not about to leave.
In Munich, Biden’s speech set the bellicose tone for the security conference. Dispensing with rhetoric about the tide of war receding, the American vice president signaled that US imperialism is gearing up for battle in every corner of the planet.
Biden made a significant statement at the outset of his meandering address, linking the sweeping austerity measures that the Obama administration and Congress are preparing to implement with the explosive growth of militarism abroad. Referring to “difficult but critical steps” that the US administration is taking in the wake of “the deepest economic downturn since the Great Depression,” the American vice president declared that the wave of cutbacks at home were necessary to ensure Washington’s ability to meet “our strategic obligations to the rest of the world.” In other words, the immense costs of US militarism will be placed directly on the backs of the American working class.
Biden pointed toward the new focus of US and Western European imperialism—North Africa. There, he claimed, “extremists are seeking to exploit” a set of conditions created by imperialism itself: governmental breakdown, mass poverty and unemployment, and ready access to arms stockpiles left over from the US-NATO war for regime-change in Libya.
Eliminating the supposed threat to “Western interests” posed by these developments, he said, “will take a comprehensive approach—employing the full range of the tools at our disposal—including our militaries.”
Declaring that Washington “applauds and stands with France” in Mali, Biden added, “The fight against AQIM (Al Qaeda of the Islamic Maghreb, with which the US and NATO were directly allied in their war to topple Libya’s Gaddafi) may be far from America’s borders, but it is fundamentally in America’s interests.” A more frank translation of this rhetorical salute would be: France may have gone in first, but Washington and the Pentagon’s AFRICOM are not about to be left behind in the new scramble for Africa and its rich energy and mineral resources.
Biden delivered thinly veiled threats to both Russia and China, warning Moscow that Washington would respect no “sphere of influence” in the former Soviet republics, and declaring that Beijing had better not “engage in anything remotely approaching military competition with the United States.”
While much of the media coverage of the conference centered on Biden’s remark that the US would “be prepared to meet bilaterally with the Iranian leadership,” the vice president deliberately tamped down speculation that this signaled a new and more reasonable approach from Washington. He told the German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung that the window for diplomacy “will not be opened indefinitely,” the alternative clearly being war.
He cast the Iranian nuclear program as a “threat to the national security of the United States,” and warned that the US “will stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.” Echoing the pretext used to launch the Iraq war a decade ago, Biden insisted that the “burden of proof” is on Tehran to prove the negative: that it is not developing nuclear weapons.
In November 1991, in response to the first Persian Gulf War, the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI) convened a World Conference of Workers against Imperialist War and Colonialism. In the statement calling for this conference, the ICFI explained that this war marked “the beginning of a new eruption of imperialist barbarism” and that “all the great historical and political tasks that confronted the working class and oppressed masses at the beginning of the 20th century are now posed in their starkest form.”
The statement explained that the “new world order” announced by the elder George Bush on the basis of the collapse of the Soviet Union consisted of “war, colonial enslavement and mass poverty,” which could be countered only by the revolutionary mobilization of the working class on the basis of a socialist and internationalist program.
It warned that the first Iraq war signaled “the start of a new division of the world by the imperialists.” It continued: “The colonies of yesterday are again to be subjugated. The conquests and annexations which, according to the opportunist apologists of imperialism, belonged to a bygone era are once again on the order of the day.”
This perspective was advanced in opposition to the claims of bourgeois ideologues that mankind had reached “the end of history,” with the “failure of socialism” and capitalism and the free market proving themselves the pinnacle of human development. It also stood in direct contradiction to the demoralized petty-bourgeois pseudo-lefts who mourned the demise of the Stalinist bureaucracies upon which they had rested and spoke of “midnight in the century.”
Two decades later, the prognosis made by the ICFI has been thoroughly vindicated by great events. Once again, as in the prelude to 1914 and 1939, the rape of small, defenseless countries is bound up with the insoluble crisis of world capitalism and the growing tensions and disputes among the major powers that point toward world war.
Only a united struggle by the world’s working class to put an end to capitalism and its outmoded division of the world into nation states can prevent a new world conflagration. The International Committee of the Fourth International is the only movement fighting for this perspective.
Bill Van AukenImage copyright Empics Image caption Nick Blackman (left) spoke to officials following the incident at Fratton Park
A police investigation is under way after a formal complaint was made over crowd chants at a Portsmouth v Reading game.
Reading winger Nick Blackman spoke to officials following the incident at Fratton Park on Tuesday.
Hampshire police said it concerned "chanting believed to be directed towards a player from Reading".
The Football Association is also investigating. Reading FC won the League Cup second round clash 2-1.
The FA said it took all allegations "very seriously" but would not specify the nature of the incident.
During a break in play just before half-time, Blackman was seen pointing towards a corner of the ground.
'Zero tolerance approach'
He appeared to be unhappy about something that happened while he was taking a throw-in.
Supt Kelly Whiting said: "Hampshire Constabulary has a zero tolerance approach towards verbal abuse which could be seen as racist or homophobic in these circumstances, however no individual was identified.
"Contact has been made with the player concerned and a formal complaint has also now been received in relation to this matter."
In an official statement, Reading FC said: "The incident was immediately reported to referee Gavin Ward by Royals forward Nick Blackman... the club will now liaise further with the FA and offer the relevant authorities all the help we can provide on this matter."
Reading assistant manager Kevin Keen said after the game that there had been a "couple of incidents in the first-half with Nick and the crowd".
He added: "There was something that was said to him in the crowd and the referee has acted very quickly and it was put to bed."A source close to Abramovich said: “Jose has been sending messages to people at the club. Not just to Roman, to everybody, dropping hints.”
And Daily Express can reveal Mourinho has been in contact with owner Abramovich, senior Chelsea players and staff.
Mourinho, set to leave Real Madrid after huge fall-outs with the club hierarchy and key players, is favourite to return as manager in the summer after Pep Guardiola joined Bayern Munich.
Jose has been sending messages to people at the club. Not just to Roman, to everybody, dropping hints
Several players remain from the Mourinho era of 2004-07, including skipper John Terry, Frank Lampard, Petr Cech and Ashley Cole, and some keep in regular touch with him.
Abramovich and Mourinho parted company after a fall-out in 2007 but have patched up their relationship since.
Interim boss Rafa Benitez is almost certain to go in the summer and Mourinho, 49, has said he would love to return as he has a “love affair” with English football. He has strong links with London – buying a house not far from Stamford Bridge last year – and his 16-year-old daughter Tita is attending Camberwell College of Arts.
Manchester City remain keen on Mourinho, but Chelsea is where he has always maintained he feels he has a special bond.
Meanwhile, Atletico Madrid have made the first moves towards rescuing Fernando Torres from his Chelsea nightmare in the summer. The Spanish club want to try to secure a season-long loan for £50million misfit Torres with a view to a permanent move.
Torres, 28, has always insisted Atletico, where he began his career and made his name, is his first love and the club are making plans for the possible departures of Radamel Falcao – a Chelsea target – and Adrian Lopez.This is mathematical section of the parent essay Gödel Incompleteness for Startups
Gödel Numbering
A formal system is just a collection of axioms and rules. Just like we did before we can record axioms in plain English like “Number 0 exists”.
Can we associate axioms and rules with natural numbers? As you know everything you read on computer, is actually encoded into numbers. Inside the computer letter “N” is 78, letter “u” is 117, etc. What is word “Number” for us, is just 7811710998101114 for the computer – just one long number. Why is it that “N” is 78 and not 87, or 8787? No reason, its arbitrary arrangement, called encoding standard. That specific standard called ASCII which states that all computers who want to be ASCII-compatible must assign “N” to 78 and vise versa.
But here is an interesting part, a key to Gödel’s proof: Our axiom “Number 0 exists” is first axiom in a system that defines existence of numbers and simple arithmetic. At same time we can encode “Number 0 exists” using ASCII encoding, or any other encoding we choose and get a number that represents that axiom (or a rule) about numbers themselves. You will get something like the following:
Number 0 exists ⇔ 7811710998101114324832101120105115116115
Each number has a successor that is a number ⇔ 6997991043211011710998101114321049711532973211511 7999910111511511111432116104971163210511532973211 011710998101114
That number is awfully long, yet it’s still just a number. And then we do the same for rest of your initial axioms and rules. Then you can start encoding your first deductions about the formal system, deductions of deductions, etc. In the end any axiom or sequence of deductions will be just a long arithmetical number.
Something interesting happens here. On one hand we define a formal system that describes basic properties of natural numbers. On the other hand because of the encoding these very axioms and rules are also numbers themselves! We can go back and forth as we want. We can deal with axioms as plain English text. Or we can switch them into pure, even if very long, numbers, and deal with them as just a set of numbers. The system becomes self-referential: axioms and rules describe what numbers are and at same time are just numbers themselves.
In reality English is very long and inefficient way to describe formal systems. Logicians developed much more compact syntax to describe such systems. Also, ASCII encoding is good for computers, but it lacks certain properties critical for Gödel’s proof. Gödel come up with his own totally unique encoding, which is called Gödel-numbering. Remarkably, he came up with such numbering decades before computers or anything like ASCII existed. That encoding uses prime numbers, which thanks to absolutely fundamental Prime Factorization Theorem gives such encoding important properties that are critical for next steps of the proof. That type of encoding ensures that each unique sequence of logical symbols – axioms, rules, and deductions – have one and only one unique Gödel-number. And one can always move back and forth between Gödel-numbers and original sequences of symbols that originated them1.
Now we can write down logical statements of any length using standard symbols of logic, and then convert them to Gödel numbers. We describe the axioms and rules of formal system about natural numbers (or more complex formal system) and thanks to the magic of Gödel numbering these statements at same time will be just big natural numbers. From the shortest axiom to complicated long chains of deductions that may end up stating something like “User acquisition campaign will have positive arbitrage if lifetime value of average user is higher then average user acquisition cost” – everything in the end can be associated with just a number. And we can deal with these numbers like regular math: prove theorems about them, and show which properties and relationships with each other they have like all numbers do.
Instead of dealing with very complicated matters of the infinite number of all possible proofs within given logical system, Gödel effectively is saying to us:
You know, we don’t have to deal with all that insane complexity. Let me show you a unique way how any proof can become just a big number, and how any such number can be converted back to exactly same proof. Any proof you produce, be that a 10 page proof or 1000 page proof, is just one unique number fully representing your proof. And that’s true for all and any possible proofs. From now on, we can just deal and prove theorems about numbers and functions of numbers. That is a much simpler task.
I Can Prove It
What Gödel does next would be familiar to modern software developer – never mind that he did it many decades before such concepts entered our technical lexicon. He would develop his own personal library of functions, in fact almost a domain-specific language required to solve the problem he set out to solve. And as mere side effect he invents modern recursion. Speaking again in modern terms he diligently proves that all functions he constructs are computable – that they can deliver specific answer in finite (even if may be large) number of discrete steps. The hints of future Turing Machine are floating in the air of his definition of primitive recursion.
The first function is almost trivial: he defines what it means “x is divisible by y”. In modern logical language it would be written down as
1. y | x ⇔ ∃z ≤ x. x = y ∙ z
In plain English says “x is divisible by y if there exists such z that is smaller or equal to x and x is equal to that z multiplied by y” Well, that makes sense: that’s exactly is definition of division.
Afterward definitions start to make use of previous ones like a function calls of modern software library. That allows Gödel to quickly build up complexity of his deductions. Next he defines what is prime number:
2. isPrime(x) ⇔ ￢(∃z ≤ x. ( z≠1 ⋀ z≠x ⋀ z|x)) ⋀ (x>1)
As you can see logical syntax allow you to make more complicated deductions if you follow the rules of the system to create longer statements. That particular statement says “x is a prime number if there are no such number z that is smaller then x, where z is not 1, nor z is equal to x and x is divisible by z. Also x must be larger then 1”. That’s just very explicit statement that x is divisible only by itself or by 1. There is no other numbers that x is divisible by – which is definition of a prime number.
And so on Gödel continues to build logical scaffolding of his library. Starting from Peano axioms he keeps deducing more and more elaborate functions. What is the purpose of that library he is building? Gödel goal is ingenious: he actually wants to describe a function that checks what is provable, what is correct deduction in any logical system.
Gödel-numbering allows us to encode the syntax of logical statements. However that tells us nothing about content of |
usalem) from captivity and we pray to God to give Muslims the honor of liberating it.”
In March, the Simon Wiesenthal Center wrote an open letter to German Ambassador Michael Worbs, chair of the UNESCO Executive Board, to criticize the organization for accepting the former Qatari culture minister's candidacy.
During the months leading up to the election, Egypt and three other Arab nations were engaged in a boycott of Qatar over allegations that the government funds extremists and has overly warm ties to Iran.
French media reported that Qatar recently invited several members of the UNESCO executive board on an all-expenses-paid trip to the country's capital, Doha.
Azoulay's late entry into the leadership race in March also annoyed many UNESCO member states that argued that France shouldn't field a candidate since it hosts the agency. Arab intellectuals urged French President Emmanuel Macron to withdraw his support for her.
She will be UNESCO's second female chief and its second French chief after Rene Maheu, UNESCO's director general from 1961-74. While she is Jewish, her father is Moroccan and was an influential adviser to Moroccan kings, so she also has a connection to the Arab world.
The Trump administration had been preparing for a likely withdrawal from UNESCO for months, but the timing of the State Department's announcement that it would leave at the end of 2018 was unexpected. Along with hostility to Israel, the U.S. cited “the need for fundamental reform in the organization.”
The outgoing Bokova expressed “profound regret” at the U.S. decision and defended UNESCO's reputation.
The U.S. stopped funding UNESCO after it voted to include Palestine as a member state in 2011, but the State Department has maintained a UNESCO office and sought to weigh in on policy behind the scenes. UNESCO says the U.S. now owes about $550 million in back payments.
Azoulay acknowledged the image of the organization — founded after World War II to foster peace, but marred by infighting between Arab member states and Israel and its allies — needed rebuilding.
“The first thing I will do will be to focus on restoring its credibility,” she said.
While UNESCO's general assembly must sign off month on the executive board's leadership pick, but officials said the confirmation vote typically is a formality.Defense Secretary nominee, retired Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis speaks during his Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill, on January 12, 2017 in Washington, DC. Mark Wilson/Getty Images Top Pentagon leaders are warning that the long war is going to get even longer.
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford told Senate leaders on Wednesday that even after ISIS is defeated in Syria and Iraq, US troops will be stationed in the region for at least a few years afterward.
"I believe it's in our national interest that we keep Iraqi security forces in a position to keep our mutual enemies on their back foot," Mattis told members of the Senate Appropriations Committee on Defense. "I don't see any reason to pull out again and face the same lesson," he added, referencing the removal of all US forces from Iraq in 2011.
Though President Barack Obama in 2008 campaigned on a promise to pull troops out of Iraq, the move has been criticized by conservatives in the years since as helping fuel the rise of ISIS.
In 2014, as ISIS militants seized vast swaths of Iraq and Syria, one senior military officer told Business Insider the rise of the terror group in the wake of US troop departures was inevitable.
"We said we won some success but this is reversible," the retired senior U.S. military officer said, on condition of anonymity. "So what we're seeing now is exactly what we forecasted."
So far, Mattis seems more comfortable placing troops closer to harm's way than his predecessor. Though the Pentagon has long downplayed the role of US ground troops in the fight against ISIS in Iraq and Syria, recent deployments of many more "boots on the ground" suggest they may be front-and-center in the coming months.
Green Berets flood a room while practicing close quarters combat techniques. 3rd Special Forces Group
In addition to roughly 500 US special operations forces, the military has sent conventional ground troops inside Syria, to include a contingent of Army Rangers, soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division, and artillerymen from 1st Battalion, 4th Marines to provide fire support just 20-30 miles from Raqqa, the ISIS capital.
"The Iraqi security forces will need that kind of support for years to come," Dunford told the Senate committee.Banks with political connections were more likely to receive emergency loans from the Federal Reserve during the financial crisis, a study released Thursday by the Mercatus Center of George Mason University found. However, the study did not name specific banks that it concluded had benefited from pre-crisis Fed lobbying.
While only 1.5 percent of banks that did not receive a loan from the Fed had a politically well-connected employee, 15 percent of firms receiving support from the Fed employed politically connected people. The banks that received emergency loans also spent 72 times more on lobbying in the decade before the crisis than banks that did not receive loans, the study's author, Benjamin Blau of Utah State University's Department of Economics and Finance, found.
Blau based his study on data from the Government Accountability Office's July 2011 audit of the Fed, the first known audit of the Fed since its creation 100 years ago. That audit showed that the Fed provided $16 trillion in short-term assistance to firms both domestic and abroad during the financial crisis, and by the end of 2008, outstanding loans topped $1 trillion.
The banks that lobbied the Fed or had politically connected employees were more likely to receive emergency loans and received larger loans on average, even when controlling for bank size and not including firms listed as “too big to fail” by the Financial Stability Board.
Additionally, banks that employed politically connected individuals were generally in debt to the Fed for longer than those without politically connected employees.
Blau believes explaining these connections will require more research, but he does not believe the Fed intended to provide political favors to banks with the most connections. He gives three possible explanations for his findings.
First, it may be that the Fed had more information about politically active banks, so awarding those banks loans was an easier decision. Second, politically active banks were more likely to seek loans from the Fed. Third, having ties to those in power may push politically connected firms to take more risks that then prompt the Fed to act.The Air Force wants to upgrade its aging nuclear missiles and the hundreds of underground silos that hold them. One idea it's exploring: the construction of a sprawling network of underground subway tunnels to shuttle the missiles around like a mobile doomsday train. As one does.
As first reported by Inside Defense, the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center will award several study contracts next month worth up to $3 million each to research the idea. A broad agency announcement from the Air Force describes the hair-raising concept, intended to keep the weapons secure through 2075, as a system of tunnels where nuclear missiles are shuttled around on rails or some undefined "trackless" system.
The advantage of the world's deadliest subway: During an atomic holocaust, mobile missiles are harder for an adversary to target than a static silo. Missiles could be positioned at launch holes placed at "regular intervals" along the length of the tunnels.
"The tunnel concept mode operates similar to a subway system but with only a single transporter/launcher and missile dedicated to a given tunnel," stated the notice. "The tunnel is long enough to improve survivability but leaving enough room to permit adequate 'rattle space' in the event of an enemy attack."
The Air Force hasn't given specifics on where the tunnels could be built, or how long they'd need to be. But they'll probably have to be jumbo-sized to "minimize impact from attack during all phases of missions/operations," the notice stated. The Air Force requires that all research proposals address ways to "minimize likelihood" that unauthorized persons could sneak in, while keeping the system working safely and not sacrificing the doomsday train's ability to "conduct world-wide operations."
The project would likely be gigantic, expensive and take decades to build – all things that cut against cut against these relatively lean times at the Pentagon. But the U.S.' silo-launched nuclear arsenal of 420 Minuteman III ballistic missiles are some of the oldest weapons still in service with the military, and they're only getting older. (Not to mention the upkeep the military has to perform on the other two legs of the nuclear triad, submarine-launched Trident II missiles and the air-dropped B61 nuclear weapon.)
The Air Force has spent billions upgrading the Minuteman's guidance systems, rocket motors and power systems to keep them serviceable through 2030. In a March 5 posture statement (.pdf) to the House Armed Services Committee, U.S. Strategic Command chief General Robert Kehler said the Minuteman IIIs are "sustainable through 2030 and potentially beyond with additional modernization investment." But to sustain the missiles until 2075, the service has to come up with new ideas.
The subway of doom isn't the Air Force's only option for revamping its silos. Others include "super-hardened" silos, or ground-based "transporter erector launchers" – really large trucks that can haul nuclear missiles around the country, including on public roads and even off-road. The trucks have their downsides: who knows how well they can cross bridges; people would freak out if they encountered nuclear missiles on their morning commute; and they're way more expensive than silos.
Last year, nuclear analyst and Danger Room pal Jeffrey Lewis estimated that building a fleet of 500 such mobile launchers would cost about $52 billion. "Apparently, building a 200,000 pound truck with rad-hard electronics and capable of withstanding nuclear blast effects is expensive," he blogged. Lewis also noted that the mobile nuclear launchers were too expensive during the Cold War when, y'know, full-scale nuclear war was a big threat.
Hans Kristensen, a nuclear analyst at the Federation of American Scientists, thinks the Air Force is stuck with plain old static silos. "The nuclear subway ICBM is, I think, a pie in the sky and more included to have a review process entertain a range of options so it can land on the most sensible," Kristensen tells Danger Room. "The costs associated with developing and operating such a system would be enormous and completely out of sync with the fiscal realities of this nation. Even a mobile system is probably unrealistic. I think the most likely, and probably only realistic option short of scrapping the land-based leg of the deterrent, is to simply extend the life of the existing Minuteman III ICBM."
Then again, maybe the Air Force defies logic and builds the death tunnels that it says it wants. Tomorrow's Armageddon could ride to work on rails.Sitcom writers and producers have long held a love affair with New York City. Taxi, The King of Queens, Seinfeld, I Love Lucy, The Jeffersons, Night Court, 30 Rock, The Cosby Show, Sex In The City... Some of the most iconic situational comedies in television history were based in NYC (even though many were filmed on a soundstage on the other side of the country).
This map of New York City shows where these sitcoms were supposed to take place:
Illustrator Dan Meth's NYC Sitcom Map is the third entry in the illustrator's A Series of Pop-Cultural Charts. Of course, he had much to choose from: Wikipedia has a massive running list of TV shows set in NYC.
Interesting exercise to have mind blown: cross-reference the make-believe NYC sitcom map with our map of where the real-life celebrities live in New York (or the map of what celebrities pay for rent in NYC).
If you'd like a more national (and epically nostalgia-inducing) perspective, Meth followed up his NYC sitcom map with a map plotting sitcom locations across the country overall.Seeming Contradiction
CACHI, ARGENTINA – Here at the Diary we have fun ridiculing the pretensions, absurdities, and hypocrisies of the ruling classes. But there is a serious side to it, too. Mockery makes us laugh. And laughing helps us wiggle free from the kudzu of fake news.
Is it real? Is it real? Is it real? Above you can see what the problem with reality is, or potentially is, in a 6-phase research undertaking that has landed its protagonist in a very disagreeable situation (a corner of reality best avoided, so to speak). 1. he learns that something is amiss. 2. he has to measure reality, otherwise it doesn’t exist! He does so, and 3. strange people show up at his doorstep, giving him ominous messages. 4. At least reality is now real! Then he learns about a philosopher, who asserts that while it may be real now, in a sense, it is nevertheless a computer simulation. Oh well, what does he know? Unfortunately, a bunch of serious-sounding German physicists calculate that he actually appears to be right. 5. By now our protagonist will believe anything, so when he hears about Dr. Schreber’s efforts to keep the universe from dissolving/imploding by thinking about it all the time, he is no longer even surprised. 6. He enters the Tearoom of Despair – a “world of horror, futility and endless buttered scones” – click to enlarge.
Reading the Diary mailbag, it is obvious that many dear readers are confused by what seems like a contradiction. On the one hand, we recognize that what goes on in public life can never be fully understood; it is infinitely complex and unknowable in its entirety.
Nor can we ever know what will happen as a result of a law, an idea, or a policy; there are millions of possibilities and only one forthcoming reality. Nor can we ever know whether the results will be “good” or “bad.” Only God knows what is good or bad; we know only what we like.
On the other hand, it is our lonely and frustrating role in life to try to look through the leaves and dust to try to see what is really going on, realizing that we will only see “through a glass darkly,” at best.
And so, today, we lift our head up above the leaves… and we look at the last 17 years as though it were a vast historical tableau hanging in the Musée d’Orsay. Yeccch!
Big, Fat Flop
From almost every angle you look at it, the 21st century – so far at least – has been one big, fat flop. Putting it in context, the century opened with high hopes. In technology… broadband internet, mobile networks, and “cloud” computing seemed to open vast possibilities.
Naturally, we believe the intertubes are absolutely great (for many reasons, not all of them economic). Clearly though, a number of things have gone wrong in since the turn of the millennium. Evidently, the boundless optimism of the late 1990s was in many ways misguided.
Photo credit: DPA
In the new century, almost everyone would have unlimited access to the information on which progress depends. No need to go to MIT to learn how to build a nuclear bomb; it’s on the internet! The need for old-fashioned capital – savings, resources, energy – seemed greatly diminished, too.
Knowledge, traveling at the speed of light, would break through the old physical barriers. Poor nations didn’t need to go through the Industrial Revolution; they could go right to the Information Age.
In politics, the Clinton administration had reduced the rate of growth of the national debt… the Berlin Wall had fallen 10 years previously… and George W. Bush was elected on a promise of making government less interfering – especially overseas, where he called for a “more modest” foreign policy.
A piece of Berlin wall gets kicked down. We remember these glorious moments, and the even more momentous and incredible days after Boris Yeltsin had climbed on a tank in Moscow and told Gennady Yanayev and his fellow putsch conspirators to go to hell. Shortly thereafter the Soviet Empire crumbled to dust. At the time it seemed that anything was possible. It was very easy and tempting to be optimistic.
Photo credit: AFP / Getty Images
In the economy, too, there was cause for optimism. Not only were the new information technologies reducing costs and promising faster progress, but also corporate governance was allegedly improving.
Alert boards and activist shareholders were pushing for more efficient uses of capital. Middlemen were being “disintermediated,” which shortened production-to-consumer supply lines and lowered prices.
And globalization allowed countries to do what each did best, further increasing the world’s output. As for employment, the internet opened up new opportunities for work all over the world; you no longer had to be physically on Wall Street to earn Wall Street wages.
Time Waster
Yes, as the new century dawned, U.S. GDP was growing at a rate of about 3% a year. Meanwhile, unemployment was near record lows… stocks were at record highs… the government’s finances were stabilizing… the threat of war was low… and new technology, abundant capital, and 20 centuries of compounded learning promised to make it the best ever.
But then something went wrong. Or many things went wrong. New technology reduced costs. But it didn’t seem to increase output. Shoppers can save money by buying from Amazon.com; but the company virtually makes no profit outside of its cloud computing unit (its operating margins on its core e-commerce business are negligible).
New technology makes it possible to send and receive all the data, information, and entertainment you want. This may or may not increase the quality of life. It makes a few “platform” companies – companies such as Facebook and Google that connect users with information and advertising – very rich.
But it doesn’t create the kind of economic output that provides good jobs and makes ordinary people (outside of Silicon Valley) better off. Just the opposite: More than anything else, the new technology may be a time waster. It is now estimated that America’s unemployed spend as much time on electronic pastimes as they would spend at full-time jobs, if they had them.
Communication – progress and regression at the same time…
Photo via imgur.com
Alcohol, Drugs, and Suicide
Which brings us to the economy. Despite the marvels of new technology, economic growth rates have fallen. Throughout eight years of the most aggressive pump-priming in the history of central banking, the flow of new goods and services never got above a trickle.
Now, GDP growth – clocking in at an annual rate of just 0.7% in the first quarter – is at stall speed. The average American family earns scarcely more today than it did when the century began. Home ownership has fallen back to levels last seen in the 1960s. And there are now fewer people – as a percentage of the working-age population – with full-time jobs than there were 40 years ago.
Particularly hard hit were middle-aged white men. Not only did they lose jobs at the highest rate since the Great Depression, but as a result of higher levels of alcohol, drugs, and suicide, their lives also shortened.
Death from despair – in the US, middle-aged white men are suddenly dropping like flies… the feared patriarchy is removing itself from the scene – permanently – click to enlarge.
Meanwhile, the Fed – desperate to put some distance between it and zero so it will have some rates to cut in the next crisis – claims to be in a “tightening cycle.”
But the world economy now has $215 trillion of debt. This makes it extremely vulnerable to interest rate increases. The Fed will never be able to get far in its “tightening cycle” before it turns around and offers more emergency funding.
Total Disappointment
Finally, politics has been a total disappointment. Instead of a more modest foreign policy, President George W. Bush launched America on the longest, costliest, and losing-est war in its history. Bush Jr., the son of a president and CIA director, was about as deep as you can get in the Deep State. So, it wasn’t surprising that he would start a war in which only Deep State cronies would come out ahead.
Then Barack Obama was elected. He also promised a change of direction. He was supposed to bring the troops home and end the mindless wars overseas. But he was either captured by the Deep State almost immediately, or the fix was in from the get-go.
In either case, he broadened the battle overseas – and increased the level of surveillance and control at home. He also added a medical care boondoggle that guarantees national bankruptcy. As baby boomers retire, support for “free” pills increases… costs rise… and (as Republicans just discovered) there is no way to stop it.
Plus ça change… a series of disappointments, fully in thrall to the Deep State as soon as they were elected.
The latest of America’s 21st-century presidents, Donald J. Trump, pulled the same trick. He campaigned on a platform of “making America great again.” Almost everyone took that to mean great as in how it was before O’care, before the Forever War on Terror, before the EPA, the NSA, the Department of Homeland Security, and the rest of the snoops and regulators were barking orders at us all day long.
Mr. Trump said so many preposterous and contradictory things that it was hard to know what he meant. But three months into his administration, it is clear that there will be no change of direction.
O’care goes on, so does the wacky War on Terror, so does all the meddling, interfering, and crony, win-lose gamesmanship. In fact, it may have gotten worse; Mr. Trump seems to lack any sense of limits, prudence, or constitutional restraint.
So, here we are. Seventeen years into the new century, and we have less peace, less freedom, and less prosperity than we had in the last one.
Chart by: Angus Deaton / Brookings Economic Studies
Chart and image captions by PT
The above article originally appeared at the Diary of a Rogue Economist, written for Bonner & Partners. Bill Bonner founded Agora, Inc in 1978. It has since grown into one of the largest independent newsletter publishing companies in the world. He has also written three New York Times bestselling books, Financial Reckoning Day, Empire of Debt and Mobs, Messiahs and Markets.
Dear Readers!
You may have noticed that our so-called “semiannual” funding drive, which started sometime in the summer if memory serves, has seamlessly segued into the winter. In fact, the year is almost over! We assure you this is not merely evidence of our chutzpa; rather, it is indicative of the fact that ad income still needs to be supplemented in order to support upkeep of the site. Naturally, the traditional benefits that can be spontaneously triggered by donations to this site remain operative regardless of the season - ranging from a boost to general well-being/happiness (inter alia featuring improved sleep & appetite), children including you in their songs, up to the likely allotment of privileges in the afterlife, etc., etc., but the Christmas season is probably an especially propitious time to cross our palms with silver. A special thank you to all readers who have already chipped in, your generosity is greatly appreciated. Regardless of that, we are honored by everybody's readership and hope we have managed to add a little value to your life.
Bitcoin address: 12vB2LeWQNjWh59tyfWw23ySqJ9kTfJifABorn Isabel Mary Bowler in rural Manitoulin Island, Ontario, she moved with her family to the west when she was very young. She grew up on a cattle ranch in Alberta. Paterson's family was quite poor and she had eight siblings. A voracious reader who was largely self-educated, she had brief and informal public schooling during these years: about three years in a country school, from the ages of 11 to 14. In her late teen years, Bowler left the ranch for the city of Calgary, where she took a clerical job with the Canadian Pacific Railway. As a teenager, she worked as a waitress, stenographer, and bookkeeper, working at one point as an assistant to future Canadian Prime Minister R. B. Bennett.
This hardscrabble youth probably led Paterson to attach great importance to productive "self-starters". Although she was articulate, well-read, and erudite, Paterson had extremely limited formal education, an experience she shared with Rose Wilder Lane, who was also Paterson's friend and correspondent for many years.[2]:216–8; 241–2
In 1910, at the age of 24, Bowler entered into a short-lived marriage with Canadian Kenneth B. Paterson. The marriage was not happy, and they parted in 1918. It was during these years, in a foray south of the border, that Paterson landed a job with a newspaper, the Inland Herald in Spokane, Washington. Initially she worked in the business department of the paper, but later transferred to the editorial department. There her journalistic career began. Her next position was with a newspaper in Vancouver, British Columbia, where for two years she wrote drama reviews.
Writer and critic Edit
In 1914, Paterson started submitting her first two novels, The Magpie's Nest and The Shadow Riders, to publishers, without much success. It was not until 1916 that her second novel The Shadow Riders was accepted and published by John Lane Company, which also published The Magpie's Nest the following year in 1917.[2]:46
After World War I, she moved to New York City, where she worked for the sculptor Gutzon Borglum. He was creating statues for the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine and would later carve the memorial at Mount Rushmore. Paterson also wrote for the World and the American in New York.
In 1921, Paterson became an assistant to Burton Rascoe, the new literary editor of the New York Tribune, later the New York Herald Tribune. For 25 years, from 1924 to 1949, she wrote a column (signed "I.M.P.") for the Herald Tribune's "Books" section. Paterson became one of the most influential literary critics of her time. She covered a time of great expansion in the United States literary world, with new work by the rising generation of Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald and many others, African Americans of the Harlem Renaissance, as well as the first American generation of the great waves of European immigrants. Her friends during this period included the famous humorist Will Cuppy.[2]:92–5 In 1928 she became an American citizen, at the age of 42.
She was notorious for demonstrating her sharp wit and goring of sacred cows in her column, where she also first articulated many of the political ideas that reached their final form in The God of the Machine. Her thinking, especially on free trade, was also foreshadowed in her historical novels of the 1920s and 1930s. Paterson opposed most of the economic program known as the New Deal, which American president Franklin D. Roosevelt put into effect during the Great Depression. She advocated less government involvement in both social and fiscal issues.
Paterson and Ayn Rand Edit
By the late 1930s, Paterson led a group of younger writers, many of them other Herald Tribune employees, who shared her views. One was future Time magazine correspondent and editor Sam Welles.[2]:339–40
Another was the young Ayn Rand. From their many discussions, Paterson is credited with adding to Rand's knowledge of American history and government, and Rand with contributing ideas to The God of the Machine.[3] Paterson believed Rand's ethics to be a unique contribution, writing to Rand in the 1940s, "You still don't seem to know yourself that your idea is new. It is not Nietzsche or Max Stirner... Their supposed Ego was composed of whirling words – your concept of the Ego is an entity, a person, a living creature functioning in concrete reality."[4]
Paterson and Rand promoted each other's books and conducted an extensive correspondence over the years, in which they often touched on religion and philosophy. An atheist, Rand was critical of the deist Paterson's attempts to link capitalism with religion. Rand believed the two to be incompatible, and the two argued at length. Their correspondence ended after they quarreled in 1948. During a visit to Rand at her home in California, Paterson's remarks about writer Morrie Ryskind and abrasive behavior toward businessman William C. Mullendore, other guests of Rand, resulted in Rand's disillusionment with "Pat."[5]
Similarly, Paterson had broken with another friend and political ally, Rose Wilder Lane, in 1946.[2]:313
As a sign of the political tenor of the times, The God of the Machine was published in the same year as Rand's novel The Fountainhead and Rose Wilder Lane's The Discovery of Freedom. Writer Albert Jay Nock wrote that Lane's and Paterson's nonfiction books were "the only intelligible books on the philosophy of individualism that have been written in America this century." The two women had "shown the male world of this period how to think fundamentally... They don't fumble and fiddle around – every shot goes straight to the centre." Journalist John Chamberlain credits Paterson, Lane and Rand with his final "conversion" from socialism to what he called "an older American philosophy" of libertarian and conservative ideas.[6] Jim Powell, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, considers Paterson, Lane, and Rand to be the three most important women of modern American libertarianism.[7]
Later years Edit
Paterson further influenced the post-WWII rise of lettered American conservatism through her correspondence with the young Russell Kirk in the 1940s, and with the young William F. Buckley in the 1950s. Buckley and Kirk went on to found the National Review, to which Paterson contributed for a brief time. However, she sometimes sharply differed from Buckley, for example by disagreeing with the magazine's review of Rand's novel, Atlas Shrugged.[2]:351
In her retirement, Paterson declined to enroll in Social Security and kept her Social Security card in an envelope with words "'Social Security' Swindle" written on it.[2]:325
Paterson died on January 10, 1961, and was interred in the Welles family plot at Saint Mary's Episcopal Churchyard in Burlington, New Jersey.[2]:362–363Marijuana Advocates Protest Prosecutor’s Decision To Shut Down Dispensaries
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Gmail Attention Michigan Residents:
Friday, March 8,
1 p.m.
Jackson County Tower Building, Jackson, MI
A large group of medical marijuana activists plans to hold a protest in downtown Jackson, Michigan, to send a message to the county prosecutor that they disagree with his decision to shut down medicinal cannabis dispensaries.
The protest is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Friday, March 8, in front of the Jackson County Tower Building, 1209 West Michigan Avenue, in Jackson, reports Lisa Satayuti at Mlive.com. More than 100 medical marijuana patients, caregivers and activists are expected.
The protest is at the county building — rather than the courthouse where the prosecutor works — to help bring the issue to the attention of all city and county officials, according to organizer Joe Cain. Jackson City Hall is located on the same block as the county building, on the opposite side of Michigan Avenue.
“Even though the focus of much of the debate has been on the dispensary issue, there are more important issues at hand,” said Cain, who owns the Jackson Medical Marijuana Farmers Market. “The Supreme Court decision not only made it possible to shut down dispensaries but it also made almost every transaction involving marijuana illegal.
“They turned a law designed to help the sick into a Stamp Act meant to ensnare those who register for the program,” Cain told Toke Signals on Wednesday afternoon. “Section 4 of the act, that was supposed to protect the sick and their caregivers from arrest, has been nullified.
“I am dealing with tens of thousands of patients across the state who have no access,” Cain told us.
Jackson County Prosecutor Jerry Jarzynka on February 22 sent cease and desist letters to 18 dispensaries in the county. In the letter, he pointed to the recent Michigan Supreme Court ruling banning patient-to-patient sales.
Cain said the group hopes Jarzynka will reverse his decision.
“The purpose of this Act was to protect patients and caregivers from arrest,” Cain said. “Patients and caregivers are now afraid to engage in activity that was guaranteed to them by Michigan voters.
“Now all the dispensaries in Jackson County have been shut down, eliminating access for most of the patients,” Cain said. “The law has been nullified.”
To visit the Facebook page for the protest, click here.by
It has been reported that Juho Lammikko, a Finnish prospect of the Florida Panthers, will leave his team in the Finnish Liiga and join the Kingston Frontenacs of the OHL.
Juho Lammikko (FLA) will play for OHL’s Kingston Frontenacs next season (via @HCAssatPori) + signs w/ Ässät for 15-16 season. — Olli Lähdesmäki (@OlliJLahdesmaki) August 4, 2014
A 3rd round pick in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft (via trade), Lammikko has decided to join the North American ranks for the 2014-2015 season, where he could potentially play with this year’s 3rd overall pick, Sam Bennett.
Lammikko, 18, is a power-forward who has spent his career playing for his native country, Finland. Before joining the the Finnish Liiga, Lammikko tallied an impressive 103 points with a U-16 Jr. C division, and 53 points the following season with the U-18 Jr. B league. Always playing above his age group, Lammikko joined the U-20 Jr. A SM-Liiga team at just 17 years old, recording 42 points (17G-25A) in just 37 games.
Following the 2014-2015 season, Lammikko will likely return to Finland, where he will re-join the Finnish Elite League, and play with Assat full-time, until he feels he’s ready to make the jump to the NHL, where he could join the Panthers.
We welcome your comments and feedback!
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AdvertisementsWhere’s the beef? It got scared off by the flocks of chicken coops taking real estate in Orange County. You may think we’re joking, but we were surprised by what a difference a year makes. If you feel like chicken tonight, look no further than our roundup.
McFadden Public Market – Santa Ana
Rooster Republic’s Nashville Hot Chicken: A balanced blend of heat and sweet, they’re taking flight with this spicy take on our fine feathered friend. Order it in Medium, Hot, Wild or Intense. And throw in some mashed potatoes with red gravy for good measure. Insider tip: If breakfast is more your thing, then order Rooster’s hot chicken biscuit (served only on weekends). 515 N Main St, (714) 850-0241; www.eatroosterrepublic.com.
Lot 579 – Huntington Beach
Southern Fried Chicken Biscuit Sandwich from Burnt Crumbs: Available all day, every day, this handy meal is all about that country gravy. Then we get pulled in by Sriracha honey and garlic potato spread. One of many choices that’ll have you needing a nap right after, the Burnt family does chicken right. If you can’t make it out to HB, you have a second chance in Irvine’s Los Olivos plaza. 21058 Pacific Coast Hwy, (714) 374-0777; www.burntcrumbs.com.
Anaheim Packing House
Sweetbird’s Chef-Driven Fried Chicken Sandwiches: Our newest entry is found on the first floor of Packing House (R.I.P. Vitaly). A trio of flavors include a Citrus (Our favorite!), Smokey and their Original Sweetbird. Imagine a hot, honey-glazed fried chicken on custom OC Baking Company bread and crunchy slaw tossed to-order. Now after you wipe the drool off, be sure to include a side of crisp smashed potatoes with your meal. Future iterations of the Sweetbird will offer multiple heat levels to choose from. 440 S Anaheim Blvd, Ste 107, (714) 905-9832; www.eatsweetbird.com.
Union Market – Tustin
The Kroft’s Country Fried Chicken Poutine: While their Fried Chicken Sandwich is one of the standout menu items, there’s definitely something to be said for nuggets of meat layered over cheese curds and fries. Then again, their Japanese Katsu Curry version has togarashi and radish (Who are we kidding? We heart katsu curry!) Originating in Anaheim, Kroft brought its goodness and beer taps to Tustin. Now we never have to drive near the Orange Crush to get our fix. 2493 Park Ave, Ste 2, (714) 259-1132; www.thekroft.com.
4th Street Market – Santa Ana
Wingman Kitchen’s Main Chicks: These finger-licking good wings are spiced to-order and come in 6, 10 or 15 piece batches. The fan favorite is their Cluckin’ Good style (sweet garlic soy). For something different, order the Buff Chick infused with Sriracha. Just don’t rub your eyes afterwards. 201 E 4th St, (714) 486-0700; www.4thstreetmarket.com/wingman.
TRADE – Irvine
Mac & Cheese Fried Chicken Burrito at Two Birds: An off-menu item, their picture speaks a thousand words. It’s exactly what it sounds like. We’re pretty sure you can request your bird grilled or fried, but you already know the right answer to that question. We think it’s good use of our lunch money. Hint: Sauce your bird with both their signature sauces and bottles of heat! 2222 Michelson Dr, Ste 216, (949) 932-0420; www.twobirdsrestaurant.com.
The OC Mix – Costa Mesa
Eggslice’s Chicken Schnitzel: A chicken dance isn’t complete without our new favorite brekkie at The OC Mix. Toasted, buttery brioche is slathered with Bill’s chilli jam mayo. An over medium egg sits atop panko-crusted chicken breast. What’s |
uer, essentially becoming a "four-A player". In five years with the Indians, he never played in more than 81 games and never hit higher than.232. He was non-tendered following the 2010 season, and tried latching on with the Pirates and Angels in subsequent years with little success until at last the D-backs gave him 16 at-bats in 2014. He repaid that gratitude by hitting a pinch-hit homer in his first at-bat.
Following that, Marte took his talents to the KBO and played the 2015 season with the KT Wiz where he hit.348/.414/.569 with 20 home runs and 89 RBI.
Full career stats HERE.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention caused quite a stir last week when word slipped out that the agency was considering, for the first time, making public health recommendations concerning circumcision. In terms of a woman's health, circumcision makes sense because it lowers a man's risk of getting infected with HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases and, thus, decreases his likelihood of transmitting them to his female partner. That's probably why the editorial board of the San Francisco Chronicle has come out supporting recommendations, expected to be issued by the CDC next year, in favor of circumcision to "curb the spread of HIV and other infections." But those vehemently opposed to circumcision—who call themselves "intactivists"—have expressed outrage that the government is thinking about recommending that all newborn boys be circumcised. They contend it's a form of mutilation that destroys a man's ability to fully experience sexual pleasure.
I'm wondering why the CDC is choosing to tackle this controversial cultural issue at this particular time, when Americans' tempers are already flaring over healthcare reform, and rumors of so-called death panels that will determine whether you live or die just won't go away even though there's no mention of them in the legislation. There's just as much potential here for the spreading of misinformation. Case in point: One headline today reads "CDC Proposing Manditory [sic] Circumcision for Newborn Babies."
That, of course, is a far cry from the truth. As the CDC's Web site states, the "final circumcision recommendations will be completely voluntary." The agency says it hasn't decided yet on the final content of the recommendations and whether they will actually include wording that recommends the procedure for all newborns or merely recommends that doctors educate parents about the potential benefits and risks to help them make an informed decision. The CDC may also make special recommendations for adult men who are at high risk of contracting HIV due to having a female partner who's infected and for men who have sex with other men.
At the moment, the agency hasn't decided what to recommend or whether to issue any recommendations at all. CDC officials are reviewing the latest studies from Africa showing reduced rates of HIV infections in men who were circumcised as adults. These studies also found that circumcised men were less likely to become infected with the herpes virus and the human papillomavirus (HPV), which can cause cervical cancer in women. From this, many experts have drawn the conclusion that circumcised men are less likely to spread certain sexually transmitted diseases to women. Hence, some say, circumcision should be advocated in newborns as part of a public health campaign.
I think, though, that this issue is actually far more complex. Circumcision is not just a medical procedure but a religious and cultural one. Judaism prescribes it on the eighth day after birth, while in Islam, boys may be circumcised anytime from birth to puberty. As a cultural issue, most Americans have come to accept it as the norm (although it's less popular today than it was 20 years ago). Europeans, on the other hand, have never embraced it. In the Philippines, two thirds of teenage boys who responded to a recent survey said that they were choosing to get circumcised to avoid being different than their peers, according to this United Nations Web site. Same, too, in South Korea. The intactivists, who are growing in number, say that the procedure is barbaric and akin to genital mutilation in females.
In terms of the science, it's not clear how much circumcision will protect American men from being infected with HIV, where the virus is largely transmitted through homosexual contact. The studies involving African men suggest that it lessens the likelihood of infection through heterosexual intercourse, but research isn't clear as to whether it protects men from being infected by other men. Other research has shown that circumcised men already infected with HIV are just as likely to transmit the infection to women as uncircumcised men. And that leads to the larger potential pitfall of a public policy advocating circumcision: Men may mistakenly think that if they're circumcised, they're protected from sexually transmitted diseases and don't need to wear condoms—clearly not the message that the CDC wants to transmit. Even now, with all the publicity the African studies have received, I think many women wrongly believe they don't need to push a circumcised partner to use prophylactics.
Certainly, the debate isn't about mandatory snipping in the hospital cradle or whether circumcision will solve the AIDS crisis. But I do think CDC folks will have to evaluate the latest research carefully before deciding to take a cultural practice and turn it into a public health mission.
This poll is now closed, but the debate continues in the comments section.
Should the government recommend circumcision for all newborn boys?
Yes No View Resultsdeadlyfishes Member
Join Date: Oct 2015 Location: San Jose, California Posts: 320
Through The Inferno (Dynamic PvE) - Public US Server
Tutorial video on mission tasking, ground target location acquisition and more!
Some carrier ops gameplay from a random sortie:
Our official public US server can be found in the DCS Multiplayer Server list (you must be on the latest DCS OpenBeta version):
✪✪ Through The Inferno -DYNAMIC PvE- [107th-US PUBLIC] ✪✪
The servers will be up 24/7 unless noted otherwise here.
-- Dedicated server based in California, USA --
Through The Inferno (Dynamic PvE) by deadlyfishes is an exhilarating endless, dynamic, and persistent open-world PvE (Player vs AI only) experience for multiplayer.
Official Website:
http://throughtheinferno.com/
More detailed information with maps, statistics and more can be found on our website.
___
Support Through The Inferno on Patreon!
___
Through The Inferno MP Servers are developed by:
Spoiler :
[107th] deadlyfishes - Overall Mission Design, Server Development
Ciribob - Script Development
[107th] Topper - Persistence and Dynamic Framework Development
[107th] OscarJuliet - Ground Mission Design
[107th] Holt - Website Development
Thanks to the rest of the 107th JAS Squadron members for being patient as we continue to bring great updates to the server.
___
Please note that this is a GENERAL INFO thread to spread the word about our server on the DCS/ED Forums.
All questions, bug reports, community issues/concerns, squadron recruitment and other inquiries can be made on our website or our discord channel community.
Please DO NOT inquire about community issues, bans, kicks from the discord/game servers on this thread.
We WILL NOT consider any ban appeal/complaint made on this thread and will not consider unbanning from then on.
___
This server uses SRS Radio:
IP: Find radio frequencies in-game in the server briefing.
https://discord.gg/BRF2pcN
___
Missions are initiated by players and are dynamically generated by the engine:
There are several exciting mission types available in "Through The Inferno"
Air to Air --> (Easy, Normal, Hard, Aggressive)
Air to Ground --> (Attack Jet A2G or Attack Helo A2G)
Infantry Assault --> (Drop off spec ops troops for a ground attack against enemy infantry using helos)
Multi-role
Anti-ship
Deep Strike Missions can be replayed and stacked. Each mission is dynamically generated and will never be the same when replayed.
Persistent combat environment will generate:
Randomized Scramble/Air Raid Events
Randomized Enemy Air Patrol Events Dynamic, real-world weather in 2.5 Caucasus:
After each restart, the weather will change to match the current real weather conditions in Nevada.
Frontlines Mode - Deactivated for now, but here are the details Spoiler :
FRONTLINES MODE in 2.1 NTTR:
Features a PERSISTENT combat zone where your progress of destroyed targets will persist through server restarts.
combat zone where your progress of destroyed targets will Handcrafted realistic dynamic ground target areas and enemy units.
Enemy CAP spawning logic that will evaluate the combat situation to spawn enemy CAP according to live player population and airframes.
2.1 NTTR features real-world generated weather.
2.1 NTTR brings you a STUTTER FREE enemy unit spawning logic. We've worked very hard to work around the lag/stutter that people experience when a multiplayer server spawns in a vehicle. We've completely optimized the spawning system and eliminated this issue outright.
Modules:
All modern fighter and ground attack modules are available!
Other Features:
Automatic JTAC lase/designate system. No need to "call JTAC"
Refueling tankers
CTLD Script for Helos (Pickup/dropoff troops cargo, AA defenses and more into battle)
CSAR Script for Helos (Rescue downed pilots) Note: Human pilots will not be locked out of a slot once they die/eject. This is purely for helo pilots' enjoyment. - REMOVED due to server performance issues.
EWRS Script for convenient AWACS Picture Reports
Dynamic combat events.
Combined Arms events and play-ability.
Custom kneeboards
Auto-kick and ban system for team killing.
Great for beginners and veterans. _________
Official Server Rules::
http://throughtheinferno.com/rules/
________
Detailed information for specific missions:
Spoiler :
Air to Air - [EASY - NORMAL - HARD - AGGRESSIVE]
This task will initiate enemy combat air patrol units.
A2A Ambient Spawns – x1 Bandit total – x1 Solo Group
These are the spawns that randomly occur when a friendly CAP plane is flying in the airspace. No mission initiation required.
MiG-21
F-5E-3
F-16 MLU
M-2000C
F-15C
F/A-18C
A2A Easy – x2 Bandits total – x2 Solo Groups
MiG-21
F-5E-3
MiG-31
F-4E
A2A Normal – x2 Bandits total – x1 Group
MiG-29S
Su-27
Su-33
F-16 MLU
F-15C
M-2000C
F-4E
A2A Hard – x4 Bandits total – x2 Groups
MiG-29S
Su-27
Su-33
F-16 MLU
F-15C
A2A Aggressive CAP – x4 Bandits total – x1 Group
These are Elite Squadrons, they have their own very skilled flight lead.
Voice and SFX clips are added for more of a narrative approach to these dogfights.
Su-27
Su-33
Su-30
F-14A
F-15C
Air to Ground - [JET - HELO]
This task will initiate enemy ground units.
-JET - Will generate more than 20 ground units, that will spawn at least 30nm away from base.
-HELO - Will generate more than 20 ground units, possibly another helo. These spawns do not spawn further than 20nm from base.
-Infantry Assault - Drop off troops using helos to fight enemy ground troops.
-Helos can use CTLD menu options to bring troops picked up from base to any location on the map, preferably a combat zone in need of support.
Air to Ground missions for all generations of aircraft are available.
Multi-role
This task will initiate enemy ground and combat air patrol units of moderate difficulty.
Anti-ship (Caucasus map only)
This task will initiate enemy ships and an air patrol over the target area at sea (Caucasus map only)
Helo Missions (CTLD Script)
Pick up and drop off troops, build AA defenses, build vehicles and transport them, build FOBs, all using CTLD script (see link below for details)
________
Looking for the single player versions?
DCS Caucasus Map:
https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=198221
DCS NTTR Map:
https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=198219
DCS Pesian Gulf Map:
https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?p=3496171
DCS Normandy Map (WW2):
https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=198218
DCS Normandy Map (Modern):
https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?p=3565516
Looking for the multiplayer versions?
Through The Inferno - PvE Multiplayer Server:
https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=185281
Through The Inferno - PvP Multiplayer Server:
https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?p=3626652
________
Script framework and scripts used:
MOOSE Framework
EWRS
MIST
CTLD
CSAR
Please let us know in this thread of any issues/bugs or suggestions!
Enjoy! Tutorial video on mission tasking, ground target location acquisition and more!Some carrier ops gameplay from a random sortie:Our official public US server can be found in the DCS Multiplayer Server list (you must be on the latest DCS OpenBeta version):The servers will be up 24/7 unless noted otherwise here.-- Dedicated server based in California, USA --is an exhilarating endless, dynamic, and persistent open-world PvE (Player vs AI only) experience for multiplayer.More detailed information with maps, statistics and more can be found on our website._________Please note that this is a GENERAL INFO thread to spread the word about our server on the DCS/ED Forums.All questions, bug reports, community issues/concerns, squadron recruitment and other inquiries can be made on our website or our discord channel community.Please DO NOT inquire about community issues, bans, kicks from the discord/game servers on this thread.Weand______Missions are initiated by players and are dynamically generated by the engine:Missions can be replayed and stacked.Frontlines Mode - Deactivated for now, but here are the detailsAll modern fighter and ground attack modules are available!_________Please let us know in this thread of any issues/bugs or suggestions!Enjoy!
"Through The Inferno"
Endless, Dynamic, Open-World Experience for DCS World
Official Website | Join our Discord Server | Support TTI on Patreon
Through The Inferno SP Missions:
Caucasus | NTTR | Persian Gulf | Normandy (Modern)
Multiplayer Servers:
PvE Server | PvP Server __________________ Last edited by deadlyfishes; 02-10-2019 at 01:45 AM.Editor’s note: This story contains graphic and disturbing details. Please read at your own discretion.
– – –
A Sarnia pair facing first-degree murder charges appear to have been involved in a perverse online relationship that documents detailed accounts of rape and violence.
Two profiles that appear on the social networking site Fetlife contain graphic images of a man and woman who appear to be Tanya Bogdanovich, 31, and Michael MacGregor, 19 — both of whom have been charged with the first-degree murder of 27-year-old Sarnia schoolteacher Noelle Paquette.
The pair was arrested Thursday at London’s Lamplighter Inn. When contacted, a manager there said he had no comment about the arrests.
MacGregor was once a student at A.B. Lucas secondary school in London. His Facebook page was taken down Sunday.
The pair are to return to court Jan. 10.
Two separate Fetlife profiles include photos and discussions of the pair engaging in violent sex acts with each other and documenting their shared obsession with rape and torture.
“The rape and violence is so intense its exciting, thrilling, fulfilling,” reads a journal entry from the username Lana_Caine, described as a 31-year-old Sarnia woman, whose profile photo appears to match that of Bogdanovich.
Other photos featured on the profile show the woman bloodied, bruised, bound and blindfolded, alongside a young man that is believed to be MacGregor, under the username Sterling_Archer4.
The usernames match those of characters from the animated TV spy satire, Archer.
“I have always had this empty hollow feeling inside,” reads a post from the user, listed as a 19-year-old Sarnia man, with what appears to be a photo of MacGregor. “Not necessarily sad or depressed, just like a part of me is missing.”
The usernames are linked to a group called “Kinky Cougar Connection” and “Brother/Sister Love,” and refer to each other as “cub and “puma,” as well as “Little Brother” and “Big Sister.”
Both users list various forms of rape as their respective “fetishes,” and referred to each other as P.I.C., a common acronym for “Partner in Crime.”
Fetlife is described as a free social network for the bondage and discipline, sadism and masochism (BDSM) and fetish community.
The alarming profiles are garnering public comments from others who have linked the pair to the Sarnia murder.
“Both of them have just been accused of a woman’s murder in Sarnia.. so sad 🙁 Disgusting,” wrote one user.
In one chilling post, Sterling_Archer4 responds to Lana_Caine’s ‘journal entry’ about rape, referencing a black unmarked rape van with tinted windows.
Bogdanovich’s Cobden St. home in Sarnia was cordoned off by police Thursday and the pair appeared separately in court the fnext morning.
Noelle Paquette went missing after leaving a New Year’s Eve party in Sarnia.
News of her disappearance sparked a massive search party Wednesday, before her body was discovered in a woodlot on Mandaumin Rd. around 10:30 a.m.
tara.jeffrey@sunmedia.ca
– – –
A CITY REMEMBERS
SARNIA — Hundreds of yellow balloons were released, followed by a moment of silence, as a tearful crowd of family, friends and strangers gathered at Centennial Park here Sunday to remember 27-year-old Noelle Paquette.
“I just wanted to start a small tribute for my family to show love and support for her family,” said organizer Becky Drury. “It kind of took on a life of its own. An amazing and peaceful moment — just for a second — for all to take a deep breath.”
VIGIL
A candlelight vigil is planned for Monday at 5:30 p.m. in downtown Sarnia.
Participants are asked to bring candles, and meet at the courtyard of Christina and Lochiel streets.
For more information, visit “Candlelight Vigil for Noelle” on Facebook.
— QMI AgencyOne of the hardest parts about this game is dealing with all the bugs and errors you get when playing. With the introduction of raids, things have gotten even worse…it’s known to everyone as the “recent gym battle error bug”, but it is called: “Network Error (2)” (this is what it shows at the top of your screen when it happens).
Well, I was determined to figure out how to defeat it! So I am sharing my findings with everyone in the hopes that we all have a fighting chance against this epic gym defender!
Click here to watch the video of me defeating “Network Error (2)”!
Steps to Defeat Network Error (2):
Enter the gym, and pick your team. When you see the error appear at the top, “Network Error (2)” force-close the Pokemon GO application (on iOS you double-tap the “Home” button and swipe up…not sure about Android). Open Pokemon GO. Click on the gym and immediately enter the battle again (do not bother picking your team). Once the battle begins, the game will switch to the Pokemon you picked previously. You will have less time to defeat the Pokemon. Once the Pokemon is killed, click “Battle” to continue knocking out more Pokemon. Repeat Steps 1 thru 7 until the whole gym is knocked out.
[Updated] Important Notes:
Network Error (2) is basically a client-side disconnect error caused by completing a raid “recently” at a gym, and then trying to attack the gym. The time left in battle and the time-passed in real time (based on video-time), are exactly the same. It can also sometimes cause GPS-drift, this is why it is important that you do not continue battling the gym; If you see “Error (29)”, your gym battling is over for a minimum of 10 minutes. Error (29) is caused by random gyms just kicking you out (one gym in my area does this), or by clicking “Leave” after knocking out the first Pokemon to 0 motivation.
Credit to Varunadi92 for finding this reddit post so I get my facts straight! 😉Imagine bouncing down a narrow and rough gravel road in the North Woods in your four-wheel-drive vehicle. On the left, the trees brush against your vehicle. Up ahead, a moose, a deer or a wild turkey trots across the road. Come nightfall, you might camp or stay in a small-town hotel or lakeside resort.
That’s what officials at the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) envision as they begin planning the Border to Border (B2B) Off-Road Vehicle Trail, a 400-mile adventure route that will eventually stretch from Lake Superior to the North Dakota border. The DNR is joining with the National Off-Road Vehicle Conservation Council and the Minnesota 4 Wheel Drive Association to turn the B2B into reality.
Such trails are popular in Colorado and other Western states, the planners said. In 2015, the Legislature approved $150,000 for planning the trail.
The partners hope to link existing state and national forest roads, as well as township roads and minimum-maintenance roads.
Right now, though, planning has just begun, said Mary Straka, off-highway vehicle program consultant for the DNR’s Division of Parks and Trails, and Ron Potter, a consultant with the Off-Road Council.
This won’t be an all-terrain-vehicle trail, where riders wear helmets and race over berms and through valleys. This will be a trail for the whole family with low-gear speeds around 20 miles per hour, Straka said. Families might stop for ice cream in one community and at quaint little stores in another, and then spend the night in an underutilized campground or at a resort.
“So instead of zooming across the state at 55-plus miles per hour, you may meander across the state at 20 mph or less,” Straka said Thursday. “The ideal is to provide an adventure touring route that gets people out into our rural parts of Minnesota, connecting in and out of communities, some of our great scenic features, some of our great state food.”
Planners don’t know yet exactly where the trail will go or when it will be done. Some segments, using existing roads, might open two or three years from now, Potter said.
“We are just getting started,” he said. “We have a kickoff meeting on Monday in Grand Rapids with representatives from the DNR, the Forest Service [and others] to talk about the process and make sure we’ve got everybody on board and all their concerns listed right out of the chute.”
The next step will be setting up meetings in each county across the northern tier of the state to talk about what’s unique in each county or township.
“What should we try to tie into this trail?” Potter said. “What underutilized campgrounds should we try to tie in? What history should we try to tie in? We want them to feel like they’re out in the woods.”
Potter said he hopes those meetings can happen over the next three months, followed by a trail layout, then another meeting with the counties once there is a tentative path.
“This will definitely be a way to bring additional tourism to whatever area it goes through,” Straka said. “Local input is going to be vital. A trail fits best where it’s welcomed.”For the nearby station, see Broombridge railway station
Broome Bridge
Plaque on Broome Bridge
Broom Bridge (Irish: Droichead Broome),[1] also called Broome Bridge, and sometimes Brougham Bridge, is a bridge along Broombridge Road which crosses the Royal Canal in Cabra, Dublin, Ireland. Broome Bridge is named after William Broome, one of the directors of the Royal Canal company who lived nearby. It is famous for being the location where Sir William Rowan Hamilton first wrote down the fundamental formula for quaternions on 16 October 1843, which is to this day commemorated by a stone plaque on the northwest corner of the underside of the bridge. After being spoiled by the action of vandals and some visitors,[2] the plaque was moved to a different place, higher, under the railing of the bridge.
The text on the plaque reads:
Here as he walked by
on the 16th of October 1843
Sir William Rowan Hamilton
in a flash of genius discovered
the fundamental formula for
quaternion multiplication
i² = j² = k² = ijk = −1
& cut it on a stone of this bridge.
Given the historical importance of the bridge with respect to mathematics, mathematicians from all over the world have been known to take part in the annual commemorative walk from Dunsink Observatory to the site. Attendees have included Nobel Prize winners Murray Gell-Mann, Steven Weinberg and Frank Wilczek, and mathematicians Sir Andrew Wiles, Sir Roger Penrose and Ingrid Daubechies.[3] The 16 October is sometimes referred to as Broomsday (in reference to Broome Bridge) and as a nod to the literary commemorations on 16 June (Bloomsday in honour of James Joyce).
References [ edit ]
Further reading [ edit ]
Ireland's Royal Canal, Ruth Delany, ISBN 0-946640-92-0
Coordinates:An earlier version of this story misstated the rate at which drivers’ licenses were declining for males. It has been corrected.
Shutterstock.com
Millennials have received a bad rap for everything from selfishness to technology addiction. Now they can add failing infrastructure to that list.
Millennial driving and vehicle purchasing habits—or lack thereof—greatly contribute to the decreased collection of the federal highway gas tax, which is used to fund transportation and water infrastructure projects, according to a report released Monday by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services. “There’s been a pullback in vehicle miles traveled, and much more so among the younger generation,” says Beth Ann Bovino, U.S. chief economist for S&P. “It probably will continue if you look at the number of driver’s licenses being issued. The younger population isn’t commuting by car.”
The number of males between the ages of 16 and 28 with drivers’ licenses declined to 80% in 2009 from 86% in 2001, according to the report. Licensing rates for females in the same age group remained stable at 82%, though Bovino says the overall rates are likely to decline further over time. And while the national average of vehicle miles traveled has remained relatively stable since 2002, public transportation ridership increased 36% between 1996 and 2014.
Despite the growing preference for public transportation, millennials are still buying cars, but prefer fuel-efficient vehicles. The report states that young households account for a significant amount of overall car sales—one of every four cars sold in the U.S. so far this year—though most of them were compact vehicles, according to data from vehicle market research company J.D. Power. Millennial buyers made up 30% of compact car sales and 25% of small car sales between 2010 and 2014. Fuel-efficient cars do little to ease the strain on funds collected via gas taxes.
However, their environmental and financial benefits may outweigh the decrease in tax revenue. Vehicles with improved fuel efficiency conserve oil, reduce carbon pollution and save drivers money on fuel costs, according to the EPA.
See also: 14 cars with the lowest emissions (now that Volkswagen is out of the picture)
And the proportion of environmentally friendly cars sold isn’t likely to change, either. The Environmental Protection Agency is requiring that all passenger cars, light-duty trucks and medium-duty passenger vehicles achieve a fuel efficiency of 54.5 miles per gallon by model year 2025.
As a result of decreased reliance on gasoline, Bovino says that public spending on infrastructure for transportation and water has dropped about 20% from 1996 to 2013. “State and local governments are kind of in a bind,” she says. “States are either canceling projects or have to turn to the bond market.” “Getting more mileage per gallon is a good thing,” Bovino says. “The question is if the gas tax, as created, might not fit current needs.”
Not everyone blames millennials. The increased number of miles traveled between gas station fill-ups has been a major problem for funding, says Doug Hecox, a spokesman for the Federal Highway Administration, but the agency hasn’t associated the problem with millennial consumer behavior. “The Highway Trust Fund has been starving because of improved fuel economy,” Hecox says.
The most effective solution to infrastructure funding would come from Congress, Bovino says, but due to its current deadlock, states have been left to figure out funding strategies on their own, with little success. The Massachusetts state government attempted to raise the gas tax in a 2013 transportation law, but the measure was thrown out the following year by voter referendum.
“It’s not just the younger generation that’s driving less, it’s just more so true for the younger population,” Bovino says. “If this is the road that transportation is heading down, then it seems like regulation needs to catch up.”
Get a daily roundup of the top reads in personal finance delivered to your inbox. Subscribe to MarketWatch's free Personal Finance Daily newsletter. Sign up here.Hearts & Flowers
Marilynn Marchione got it exactly right.
This Associated Press medical writer has been working on a series of articles about alternative medical treatments. Each piece begins with this note: “Ten years and $2.5 billion in research have found no cures from alternative medicine.”
She’s talking about the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. And I agree completely. For the most part, NCCAM has been cranking out lame studies that test absurdly low doses of herbs or supplements, or use poor forms of these treatments.
For instance, a 2003 study showed that Echinacea was ineffective in treating upper respiratory infections. One problem: Researchers used Echinacea mostly extracted from the flower of the plant. As any herbalist will tell you, roots contain the most potent concentration of medicinal agents, while flowers tend to be the least potent.
So that $2.5 billion that was largely wasted by NCCAM turns out to be a pretty sweet gift for people like Marilynn who take great delight in alt med “failures.”
In the most recent article in her series she spotlights the placebo effect. You can just imagine how she applies this to alt medicine.
Marilynn: “The placebo effect looms large in alternative medicine, which has many therapies and herbal remedies based on beliefs versus science.”
Well…not really. Those beliefs are based on centuries of trial and error conducted by generations of doctors and scientists. That’s how they did it back then. And it’s both naïve and arrogant to dismiss all that knowledge just because it doesn’t conform to a modern idea of “gold standard” research.
Looming large
Marilynn also enlightens us with this note: “Many alternative medicine studies have not included a placebo group…”
Here’s my note to Marilynn: This isn’t 1980. You MUST be aware of the thousands of randomized, double blind, placebo controlled alt med studies over the past decade. And you must also be aware that sometimes a study’s design just doesn’t require a placebo group.
For instance, a recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine tested a supplement of niacin (vitamin B-3) against Merck’s Zetia, a drug that reduces cholesterol absorption in the digestive tract. More than 200 patients with heart disease or heart disease risk were randomly selected to receive either the supplement or the drug for 14 months.
Results: LDL cholesterol and triglycerides were reduced in both groups. HDL cholesterol increased in both groups (mostly in the niacin group). But two important things happened in the niacin group that DID NOT happen in the Zetia group: 1) Thickness of the carotid artery walls was reduced in the niacin group, and 2) Incidence of major cardiovascular events was lower in the niacin group.
Fewer heart attacks and a reversal of arteriosclerosis. Not too shabby! We may not have enough evidence yet to actually say that niacin might “cure” arteriosclerosis. But it’s not too soon at all to point out to Marilynn that as placebo effects go, the reversing of narrowed arteries and prevention of heart attacks is pretty impressive.
In fact, it’s almost too impressive. Why…it’s almost as if this alternative medical therapy actually works!
To Your Good Health,
Jenny Thompson
Sources:
“Experts: Placebo Power Behind Many Natural Cures” Marilynn Marchione, Associated Press, 11/10/09, ap.org
“Extended-Release Niacin or Ezetimibe and Carotid Intima- Media Thickness” New England Journal of Medicine, Published online ahead of print 11/15/09, content.nejm.org
Get urgent health alerts, warnings and insights delivered straight to your inboxFantasy Football News: Pre-Draft Top 20 Fantasy TE Rankings
Byron Lambert, Rosterwatch.com
Photo Credit
When it comes to fantasy drafts, the tight end position is always an interesting topic of discussion. Some players feel you can harbor a distinct weekly advantage by employing a premium tight end. Thus, they tend to lock one up in the first 6 rounds of the draft. Other players notice the annual metamorphosis of sleeper tight end to fantasy gold. Those players tend to wait and try to strike it rich in the later rounds. This year either option will suffice as there is depth across board. Even in 16 team leagues, players should find it pretty easy to draft a respectable option at TE. Here are my early rankings for 2012:
Plain Filthy
Jimmy Graham- Drew Brees’ #1. So young with so much room to grow.
Rob Gronkowski- A monster. So many options in NE, can he maintain the pace?
Old Reliable
Antonio Gates- Always a great option. Getting older. VJax being gone could help.
Jason Witten- Consistently so productive. Plays in a high powered offense.
Value Picks with Proven Production
Aaron Hernandez- Versatile playmaker with big upside
Jermichael Finley- Athletic freak in an Aaron Rodgers offense. Can he take the leap?
Vernon Davis- Spectacular in the playoffs. Alex Smith and now Randy Moss limit his value.
Upside Guys
Jermaine Gresham- Fairly quiet on this front. Poised to explode, Gresham is a beast.
Tony Gonzalez- Father time has been kind. Still a very solid option.
Fred Davis- I really like him. A rookie QB could be a setback but RG3 could be sick.
Jared Cook- Young and explosive. Finally started to come on last year. Inconsistent.
Brandon Pettigrew- Talented player in a potent offense. Megatron opens things up.
Very Serviceable
Kellen Winslow- This soldier keeps on marching.
Brent Celek- Developed better chemistry with Vick in 2011.
Tony Moeaki- Looked so promising as rookie. Hopefully the full year of recovery helps.
The Back-Up Plan
Joel Dreessen- Loved his value last year. Add Peyton Manning to the mix.
Dustin Keller- So talented but Mark Sanchez kills his value.
Anthony Fasano- Was pretty good last year with Matt Moore. New offense?
Tony Scheffler- Lots of production to go around in DET.
Zach Miller- They paid him well. Can he carve his niche in Seattle?
*Notable Omissions (Not everyone can make the Top 20!)
Owen Daniels– Will he regain his form? HOU has transformed in to the Arian Foster show.
Jacob Tamme– Previous experience with Manning. Has some upside.Hitachi has unveiled a construction consortium to build a £10bn nuclear power station in Wales “on time and on budget”, as a rival to the French-backed plans for Hinkley Point C.
There are no British firms involved but among the partners of the Japanese firm are Bechtel of the US, which has just brought a new atomic power plant online in America, but is better known here for work on the Channel tunnel and CrossRail.
Hitachi has yet to reach agreement on financial subsidies from the UK government for the planned new plant at Wylfa, in Anglesey, and its reactor design is yet to be officially approved in this country.
But the Japanese firm is aiming to have the 2,700MW reactors on stream by 2025 aided by the fact that it is using a reactor design that has already been proved to work in a number of domestic projects.
That puts the Horizon project in Wales in competition with Hinkley, which EDF hopes to open around the same time, although the Somerset scheme has already been delayed and hit by EDF’s own financing problems.
Malcolm Twist, project director for the Menter Newydd construction consortium involving Hitachi, Bechtel and Japanese engineering group JGC, said all the partners were proven at the highest level.
“I’m delighted we’ve established the balance of expertise to safely deliver for Horizon, on cost and on schedule. We expect to begin firming up relationships with our main subcontractors – many of them British – very soon.”
The government is no doubt relieved to see a second nuclear project moving forward after a raft of headlines caused by internal disagreements at EDF over the £18bn cost of Hinkley.
Andrea Leadsom, the energy and climate change minister, said she was pleased to see a new project taking shape at the Wylfa site where an old plant is now being decommissioned. “We have to replace our ageing energy infrastructure and new nuclear is an essential part of our plan to power the country now and for the next generation.
“Keeping the lights on is non-negotiable, and new nuclear is the only proven low-carbon technology that can provide clean, continuous power, irrespective of |
can offer.
Primavera Loreato Intermediate Violin Outfit Primavera Loreato is a higher level outfit of Primavera. It is a hand-crafted violin with superb quality for an older beginner and more serious advancing students. Click Here for Pricing, Pictures and Reviews on Amazon Ebony fittings (chin rest, fingerboard, pegs).
Ebony fittings (chin rest, fingerboard, pegs). Crafted using maple and spruce.
Crafted using maple and spruce. Carbon fiber tail piece.
Carbon fiber tail piece. Top of the line in Primavera student violins.
Top of the line in Primavera student violins. Exquisitely detailed with fine tuners.
Exquisitely detailed with fine tuners. Comes with an oblong carrying case with zipper, shoulder straps, and a handle.
Comes with an oblong carrying case with zipper, shoulder straps, and a handle. Rosin included in the kit. Quite expensive for beginners but of higher quality than other brands. Primavera Loreato is an excellent value for money and will not leave you feeling that you have wasted your money. Its ebony fittings and high quality wood give the violin a luxury feel and the handcrafted features make it easy for newcomers to adapt to holding and playing the violin. No doubt, it is one of the few good violins for beginners!
Mendini
If you still are still asking “what is the best violin to buy?”, you may want to consider Mendini.
Mendini is another low to mid budget violin brand, that are ideal for beginners and those still at a lower grade.
They might be factory made, but the instruments offer good value for money and produce tones of a medium quality.
Mendini MV200 Solid Wood Violin Click Here for Pricing, Pictures and Reviews on Amazon Made with Spruce top and maple for the back and sides.
Made with Spruce top and maple for the back and sides. Finished with Ebony fittings.
Finished with Ebony fittings. Bowhair is made from high quality Mongolian horsehair.
Bowhair is made from high quality Mongolian horsehair. Produces a warm tone.
Produces a warm tone. The kit has everything that you will need to start your lessons.
The kit has everything that you will need to start your lessons. Comes with bow, case, rosin, chin rest and a shoulder rest.
Comes with bow, case, rosin, chin rest and a shoulder rest. Alloy tailpiece with 4 integrated fine tuners.
Alloy tailpiece with 4 integrated fine tuners. Color: Natural Varnish. May last through the early stages of learning, perhaps to grade 4 or 5th level of learning, with an enhancement or two on the way. This Mendini is the perfect, all round good budget violin. It will not produce high-class, music-hall performances but will allow students to transition easily into the world of violin playing. Although the violins are low in price, they are durable and will see students through mid range grades when it will be time to invest in a higher quality model.
Mendini MV300 Solid Wood Violin Click Here for Pricing, Pictures and Reviews on Amazon Antiquated satin look.
Antiquated satin look. Maple fittings (fingerboard, chinrest, tuing pegs).
Maple fittings (fingerboard, chinrest, tuing pegs). Alloy tailpiece with fine tuners.
Alloy tailpiece with fine tuners. Hand carved with solid maple back and spruce top.
Hand carved with solid maple back and spruce top. Comes with extra violin bridge, hard case, brazilwood bow, and rosin.
Comes with extra violin bridge, hard case, brazilwood bow, and rosin. Sizes: 4/4, 3/4, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/10, 1/16, 1/32. Little quality control, but once you have settled into playing it, you will be able to develop a better sound for the amount you will pay.
Little quality control, but once you have settled into playing it, you will be able to develop a better sound for the amount you will pay. Be warned that even if it’s nice that it comes in variety of colors, the extra layers of varnish and paint can hinder the sound quality – making it muffled. Mendini violins might be frowned upon by some professionals, due the quality of both the violin and bow. As the violins are not handcrafted, there will be minor fine tuning and adjustments to be made in order to get the best sound possible. And although you will pay a lower price, you are likely to have to replace the strings at some point as the quality is not as good as it could be. However, for children learning the basics of the violin, this is not a big issue because the main concern for beginner children is how to get them to focus on learning and playing. Like Windsor, Mendini offer a range of funky colors and cases that may appeal to a reluctant learner. Mendini violins are fun and functional but above all good value for money for what you get. Great for families on a budget, who would otherwise be put off encouraging children to learn an instrument.
Cecilio
We would not leave out Cecilio in our list of best beginner violin brands, as they are a one of the best violin manufacturers that keeps on producing quality violins for sale.
Cecilio violins win affection from violinist of all levels, with their handcrafted violins and high quality bows.
Cecilio CVN-500 Violin Click Here for Pricing, Pictures and Reviews on Amazon Hand carved one-piece flamed solid maple back & sides; and solid spruce top (premium wood aged to perfection with a minimum of 7 years).
Hand carved one-piece flamed solid maple back & sides; and solid spruce top (premium wood aged to perfection with a minimum of 7 years). Ebony fittings (fingerboard, chin rest, pegs, and tailpiece with 4 gold plated fine tuners).
Ebony fittings (fingerboard, chin rest, pegs, and tailpiece with 4 gold plated fine tuners). Hand-rubbed oil finish.
Hand-rubbed oil finish. Strung with D’Addario Prelude Strings.
Strung with D’Addario Prelude Strings. Comes with a high quality case, brazilwood bow (with pearl inlaid frog), and extra violin bridge.
Comes with a high quality case, brazilwood bow (with pearl inlaid frog), and extra violin bridge. Violin case features velvet interior with padded neck restraint, hygrometers, storage compartments, rosin cake, and durable shoulder straps. Not as low-priced compared to other violin brands but for sound quality, it is really worth it. Named after the patron saint of music and musicians — St. Cecillia, this violin is cherished. Because with Cecilio instruments, experienced violinists can certainly make heavenly music with their violins. Not as heavenly as a Stradivarius or a Guarneri, of course, but definitely an affordable chance to get your hands on serious bit of kit.
Cecilio CVN-600 Violin Click Here for Pricing, Pictures and Reviews on Amazon Hand carved one-piece flamed solid maple back & sides; and solid spruce top (premium wood aged to perfection with a minimum of 7 years).
Hand carved one-piece flamed solid maple back & sides; and solid spruce top (premium wood aged to perfection with a minimum of 7 years). Ebony fittings (fingerboard, chin rest, pegs, and tailpiece with 4 gold plated fine tuners).
Ebony fittings (fingerboard, chin rest, pegs, and tailpiece with 4 gold plated fine tuners). Hand-rubbed oil finish.
Hand-rubbed oil finish. Strung with D’Addario Prelude Strings.
Strung with D’Addario Prelude Strings. Comes with a high quality case, rosin cake, brazilwood bow (with pearl inlaid frog), and extra violin bridge.
Comes with a high quality case, rosin cake, brazilwood bow (with pearl inlaid frog), and extra violin bridge. Violin case features velvet interior with padded neck restraint, hygrometers, storage compartments, and durable shoulder straps. Certainly priced higher than other violin brands, but worth the price
Certainly priced higher than other violin brands, but worth the price Available only in sizes 4/4 and 3/4 Professional players can attest to this violin’s quality and relax in the knowledge that this violin can last long. It’s ‘D’Addario strings’ offer additional quality and you can have faith in the fact that you will not have to change your bow strings frequently. Cecilio violins will last many years and can be handed down through the family, making it a great sentimental buy as well as something that will provide years of great music.
Cremona
This is one of the violin brands that we would not leave off the list for its remarkable playability at a price that will certainly not break the bank.
Cremona is an award-winning company that was founded in 1989, and is renowned for making high quality violins.
Cremona SV-500 Violin Outfit These Chinese instruments are available in all fractional sizes in their beginner line, from 1/32 to 4/4. Click Here for Pricing, Pictures and Reviews on Amazon Hand crafted from well selected tone woods (solid maple and spruce), offfering clean sound and smooth tones.
Hand crafted from well selected tone woods (solid maple and spruce), offfering clean sound and smooth tones. Ebony fittings (fingerboard, nut and saddle); Swiss-shaped pegs.
Ebony fittings (fingerboard, nut and saddle); Swiss-shaped pegs. Bridge made from aged maple; tailpiece with 4 fine tuners.
Bridge made from aged maple; tailpiece with 4 fine tuners. With a Stradivarius chinrest, a comfortably-shaped chinrest for easy playability.
With a Stradivarius chinrest, a comfortably-shaped chinrest for easy playability. Transparent varnish finish (shaded brown-red); inlaid wood purfling.
Transparent varnish finish (shaded brown-red); inlaid wood purfling. Provides a very open sound making it perfect for advanced players.
Provides a very open sound making it perfect for advanced players. Strung with D’Addario Prelude Steel Strings.
Strung with D’Addario Prelude Steel Strings. Comes with a high quality case, rosin cake, brazilwood bow (with pearl inlaid frog), and extra violin bridge.
Comes with a high quality case, rosin cake, brazilwood bow (with pearl inlaid frog), and extra violin bridge. Violin case features neck restraint, storage compartments, and shoulder straps. Certainly priced a bit higher than other violin brands, but worth for the quality of sound it gives. If you want to transition from a beginner to an advance beginner violin, you should check this one! The SV-500 is one of the best intermediate violins. The solid body from premium tone woods features an elegant finish, as well as handcrafted points that give this violin the appearance of a violin suited for dedicated violinists. Though these violins are crafted for beginners, they can produce a surprisingly clear tone and are sturdy enough to be a dependable learning instrument. Cremona violins are one of the most popular violin brands for beginners, and there are no questions as to why this is.
Cremona SV-800 Violin Outfit Cremona SV-800 represents a fine workmanship with clean, and neat inlaid wood purfling. As with all Cremona violins, it is crafted following the finest Italian tradition achieving an exemptional tone for frequent playing. Click Here for Pricing, Pictures and Reviews on Amazon The Cremona SV-800 model is available in all fractional sizes in their beginner line, from 1/32 to 4/4. Hand crafted from selected solid maple back and spruce top producing rich tone.
Hand crafted from selected solid maple back and spruce top producing rich tone. Fingerboard made with genuine ebony.
Fingerboard made with genuine ebony. Neck and scroll made from maple.
Neck and scroll made from maple. Trimmings are hill-styled from finest boxwood.
Trimmings are hill-styled from finest boxwood. Golden orange varnish finish.
Golden orange varnish finish. Strung with Thomastik Dominant Strings.
Strung with Thomastik Dominant Strings. Comes with a high quality case, rosin cake, resilient pernambuco bow (with genuine horsehair), and extra violin bridge.
Comes with a high quality case, rosin cake, resilient pernambuco bow (with genuine horsehair), and extra violin bridge. The violin case is a lightweight oblong-shaped case with plush interior. Quite expensive for beginners, but provides a high quality and sonorous sympathetic tone. Consider this german violin brand if you are attracted to violins that are finely made with both the best materials and the finest craftsmanship passed down from the European masters. We love the care that Cremona luthiers put into their work, as their violins feature quality spruce, maple, and ebony wood. Click Here to Read Our Full Review of the Cremona SV-800 German and Italian masters train all of their luthiers in the old tradition. Master Shang C. Guan, who is an award-winning bow maker in the French method, crafts the bows included in this outfit. Every violin and bow is a continuation of the traditions that produced the best and longest-lasting instruments.
Franz Hoffmann
Beloved by many, the Franz Hoffman beginner violin line is the exclusive beginner violin line promoted at SHAR.
Based out of North America, SHAR music is one of the best contemporary violin makers and trusted violin dealers in the world, so you can have confidence in their expert advice.
They work hard to ensure that you are never coerced into buying what they call a “VSO” or “violin shaped object” but a properly functioning beginner violin.
Franz Hoffmann Maestro Violin These violins are a favorite for many Suzuki and Private instructors for their warm tone and reliable projection. Click Here for Pricing, Pictures and Reviews on Amazon Made from selected solid maple body and spruce top.
Made from selected solid maple body and spruce top. Fingerboard made from ebony.
Fingerboard made from ebony. Ebony wood Guarneri style chinrest, and pegs.
Ebony wood Guarneri style chinrest, and pegs. Spirit varnish finish.
Spirit varnish finish. Strung with Overture Ultra Strings.
Strung with Overture Ultra Strings. Tailpiece with built in fine tuners.
Tailpiece with built in fine tuners. Outfit comes with a Toshira shaped case, SHAR mini rosin, and an A. Schmidt brazilwood bow.
Outfit comes with a Toshira shaped case, SHAR mini rosin, and an A. Schmidt brazilwood bow. The violin case is a lightweight oblong-shaped case with plush interior. This model is not available in funky colors if that is what you are looking for, however, it is available from the 1/16 to 4/4 sizes.
This model is not available in funky colors if that is what you are looking for, however, it is available from the 1/16 to 4/4 sizes. Some music stores sell this instrument without case, and other accessories. The Hoffmann Maestro violin is crafted from high quality woods – maple, spruce, and ebony. If you are willing to pay a little more for higher quality violin, we recommend investing in instruments such as this one, though all Hoffman violins are made with the highest craftsmanship.
Franz Hoffmann Amadeus Violin Click Here for Pricing, Pictures and Reviews on Amazon Made from selected solid maple body and spruce top.
Made from selected solid maple body and spruce top. Fingerboard made from ebony.
Fingerboard made from ebony. Ebony wood Guarneri style chinrest, and pegs.
Ebony wood Guarneri style chinrest, and pegs. Nitro varnish finish.
Nitro varnish finish. Strung with Overture Premium Strings.
Strung with Overture Premium Strings. Tailpiece with built in fine tuners.
Tailpiece with built in fine tuners. Outfit comes with a Toshira shaped case, SHAR mini rosin, and an A. Schmidt workshop bow. Just like the Maestro model, this is not available in funky colors if that is what you are looking for, however, it is available from the 1/16 to 4/4 sizes.
Just like the Maestro model, this is not available in funky colors if that is what you are looking for, however, it is available from the 1/16 to 4/4 sizes. Some music stores sell this instrument without case, and other accessories. Made in China, Franz Hoffman violins are beautifully crafted, with a brilliant, dependable, and consistent tone. Their Amadeus violin outfit has everything you need to start playing the violin. We appreciate that each Franz Hoffman violin sold by SHAR is set up in their Ann Arbor, Michigan shop, so you can rest assured that your violin will be set up for highest playability with a 1-Year limited Warranty with a 30-Day No Hassle Return Policy. You will stand heads above other beginner violinists in orchestra with one of these reliable instruments. These superior violins are guaranteed as the best quality instrument for their price range. We highly recommend them for this and SHAR’s above-board business practices.
Carlo Lamberti
If you are willing to pay a bit more for your violin and is looking for the best violin brands for advanced student, the Carlo Lamberti brand of violins, also by SHAR music, is a great stepping-stone out of the beginner to advanced beginner violin category.
Many great violin teachers consider this violin to be the best violin in the world, and we have to agree.
Carlo Lamberti Sonata (LV11) Violin Hand-crafted by the SHAR Beijing Workshop and set-up at SHAR Ann Arbor Workshop, the Lamberti Sonata model has set the bar for intermediate level violins. Click Here for Pricing, Pictures and Reviews on Amazon The sonata provides exactly what a violinist wants from a high quality violin from SHAR music: remarkable performance, an outstanding finish, and an exceptional value.
The sonata provides exactly what a violinist wants from a high quality violin from SHAR music: remarkable performance, an outstanding finish, and an exceptional value. With premium fittings (pegs, fingerboard, chin rest) and strings.
With premium fittings (pegs, fingerboard, chin rest) and strings. Available in 4/4 to 1/8 sizes.
Available in 4/4 to 1/8 sizes. Outfit comes with a Toshira deluxe case, SHAR mini rosin, and a Meinel Pernambuco bow.
Outfit comes with a Toshira deluxe case, SHAR mini rosin, and a Meinel Pernambuco bow. Provides powerful and rich tone that will delight the student, especially those who has grown used to the limitations and deficiency of some beginner violin. Expensive for beginners but will allow advancing beginner students to make speedy progress with tone development, consistency, and fast passage.
Expensive for beginners but will allow advancing beginner students to make speedy progress with tone development, consistency, and fast passage. If your kid or student wants a colorful one, this model does not come in different colors. Some may hesitate to classify it as a beginner model because of its higher price but we have included it in this list for those who have made a commitment to learn the violin. The Carlo Lamberti Sonata Violin is indeed the best in class! It allows new students to have a bright, clear-sounding violin that is very sweet to the ear. To top that, SHAR music has created this amazing instrument with an impressive violin finish. Moreover, if you are not satisfied with this instrument, you can return it at no cost, and SHAR will send you a gift certificate for your trouble. However, we do not think that you will be unsatisfied with this purchase! For the serious student who wants to advance to a leadership position in youth orchestra, or score the top marks in their exams, this is the violin for them.
Carlo Lamberti Classic (LV14) Violin Outfitted with the highest quality woods, you can rest assured that if you take care of your instrument, the wood will not easily crack, the sound post will not fall down, and the pegs will not slip.
Outfitted with the highest quality woods, you can rest assured that if you take care of your instrument, the wood will not easily crack, the sound post will not fall down, and the pegs will not slip. Have a wonderful tone and projection and are outfitted with Thomastik Infeld Vision strings.
Have a wonderful tone and projection and are outfitted with Thomastik Infeld Vision strings. They come in 1/8 to 4/4 sizes.
They come in 1/8 to 4/4 sizes. Like the Franz Hoffman model above, each Carlo Lamberti violin sold through Shar comes with a 1-Year limited Warranty with a 30-Day No Hassle Return Policy. Expensive for beginners but will allow advancing beginner students to make speedy progress with tone development, consistency, and fast passage.
Expensive for beginners but will allow advancing beginner students to make speedy progress with tone development, consistency, and fast passage. If your kid or student wants a colorful one, this model does not come in different colors. We think that this violin has the most power per dollar of any instrument on this list. Other intermediate-student models just do not compare. I am sure that you will likely be able to hold on to this violin longer than you expect as you progress through your grades. With the high quality of this instrument, it is a true investment. When you are thinking about selling this model to upgrade to a more intermediate violin, you will likely be able to get a lot of your initial investment back, especially if you take good care of this instrument.
Scott Cao
If you are looking to purchase a violin with a maker’s name attached, consider buying a Scott Cao violin.
Master maker, Scott Shu-Kun Cao has crafted top-quality instruments and that musicians love all around the world.
He is rightly considered one of the best contemporary violin makers in the world.
With such a reputation, you can relax that any student model sold under his name will be of the highest quality.
Scott Cao 1714 Soil (STV 850) Copy of a Strad violin currently played by Itzhak Perlman (original).
Copy of a Strad violin currently played by Itzhak Perlman (original). Even balance tone in upper and lower registers.
Even balance tone in upper and lower registers. Nice two-piece back.
Nice two-piece back. Easy to play.
Easy to play. Doesn’t require heavy bow arm to get a nice balanced tone for orchestral setting or ensemble works. Case and bow usually sold separately but can get a discount if bought together.
Case and bow usually sold separately but can get a discount if bought together. Higher-end models are only available in 4/4 sizes. Teachers everywhere who are familiar with Scott Cao violins praise them for their superior tone and quality. If you are willing to pay a bit more, or if you’re just looking for the best violin brands for intermediate players, these instruments, like the SHAR Carlo Lamberti violins above, are true investments.
Scott Cao 1743 Cannon (STV 1500) Click Here for Pricing, Pictures and Reviews on Amazon This is a copy of 1743 Guarneri violin, known as “Il Cannone” due to its tone’s power and full quality.
This is a copy of 1743 Guarneri violin, known as “Il Cannone” due to its tone’s power and full quality. It was the favorite violin of Nicolo Paganini – made by the renowned violin maker Guarneri.
It was the favorite violin of Nicolo Paganini – made by the renowned violin maker Guarneri. The Cannon’s tone is distinctly bright, full, and perfect for a player who wants the sound of their instrument to be set apart.
The Cannon’s tone is distinctly bright, full, and perfect for a player who wants the sound of their instrument to be set apart. This violin has distinct features like: a slightly shorter and thicker sound box as well as markedly curved neck that makes it unique. Case and bow usually sold separately but can get a discount if bought together.
Case and bow usually sold separately but can get a discount if bought together. Higher-end models are only available in 4/4 sizes.
Higher-end models are only available in 4/4 sizes. Though this higher-end models are only available in 4/4 sizes, instruments made in his Chinese workshop range from 1/8 to full-sized. Factory-made instruments made under this brand are available as small as 1/32. More of an intermediate-beginner model, Scott Cao violins boast quality maple, spruce, and ebony from Bosnia, Italy, and India respectively. The best thing about Scott Cao violins is that you can upgrade individual elements to personalize your violin purchase. For example, you can purchase a top-quality pernambuco violin bow along with your violin. (Most beginner violin outfits do not allow for this type of mix-and-match). Scott Cao violin outfits (set) come with high-quality oblong cases, which are a definite improvement to shaped violin cases as they offer more padding and protection for your instrument, as well as provide more space for storing accessories and music. With recommendations from Sarah Chang, Gideon Kremer, Nigel Kennedy, and Itzhak Perlman (who undoubtedly knows all the professional violin brands), with a Scott Cao violin, you are getting quality along with a name. That said we find that his beginner models are still superior to many other violin brands.
Knilling
The Knilling violin is a relatively good quality violin brand for a reasonable price, which is certainly great for families who are on a tight budget.
Made by various luthiers around the world, they sell different types of violins that are selected and integrated under one brand name.
Knilling violins are made predominantly in Germany, the Czech Republic, and Romania with the highest quality woods.
With over 90 years of history, the Knilling brand of violins is the oldest violin company in North America.
Knilling violins are known for their quality and tone.
Knilling 110VN Sebastian Violin Outfit Click Here for Pricing, Pictures and Reviews on Amazon All of their violins are outfitted with an ebony fingerboard and usually ebony or boxwood pegs and tailpiece.
All of their violins are outfitted with an ebony fingerboard and usually ebony or boxwood pegs and tailpiece. Strings are also high quality, either D’Addario Prelude and Helicore or Thomastik Dominant.
Strings are also high quality, either D’Addario Prelude and Helicore or Thomastik Dominant. Depending on the model, these violins are available in sizes as small as 1/16 and all the way up to 4/4.
Depending on the model, these violins are available in sizes as small as 1/16 and all the way up to 4/4. Available for purchase from several retailers is a Knilling Beginner Student Bundle, which contains not just a violin, case, and bow, but also has a wire stand, shoulder rest, violin tuner, rosin, and cloth for cleaning. Sometimes violins that are not of superior quality are integrated under this brand name, so you must be wary. While these violins are generally responsive and finely crafted by the best American violin makers and luthiers around the world, it is imperative that you try out the instrument before you buy. You need to make sure yourself that the violin is of the highest quality for what you are willing to pay.
Knilling School Violin Outfit Click Here for Pricing, Pictures and Reviews on Amazon Solid maple back and bridge.
Solid maple back and bridge. Even grain spruce top.
Even grain spruce top. Inlaid purfling.
Inlaid purfling. Solid carved throughout.
Solid carved throughout. Guarneri style chinrest.
Guarneri style chinrest. D’Addario Prelude strings.
D’Addario Prelude strings. Ebony fittings (nuts, fingerboard, saddle).
Ebony fittings (nuts, fingerboard, saddle). Synthetic tailpiece with built-in tuners.
Synthetic tailpiece with built-in tuners. Outfit comes with shaped case with cover. Sometimes violins that are not of superior quality are integrated under this brand name, so you must be wary. Knilling School outfit is by far the best selling model from Knilling which is affordable and ideal for any violin beginners.
Yamaha
As a maker of all sorts of musical instruments and one of the best contemporary violin makers, the Yamaha Corporation has become a household name for good reason.
Yamaha’s corporate philosophy states that they are committed to creating worldwide excitement and cultural inspiration for making music.
Yamaha SV-130 Silent Electric Violin This model is not like the type of violin you see most of the time. Why? Because this is an electric violin. Yamaha SV-130 is the latest model of Yamaha’s electric violins. Click Here for Pricing, Pictures and Reviews on Amazon This is a type of violin also termed as “silent violin” which allows you to practice for long sessions where you can easily critique your own sound without having to worry about driving the neighbours nuts.
This is a type of violin also termed as “silent violin” which allows you to practice for long sessions where you can easily critique your own sound without having to worry about driving the neighbours nuts. The violin tone is solid; it produces a warm, acoustic sound which is very similar to a “typical” violin.
The violin tone is solid; it produces a warm, acoustic sound which is very similar to a “typical” violin. The fingerboard and pegs are ebony.
The fingerboard and pegs are ebony. The neck is from maple and the body of the violin is from spruce.
The neck is from maple and the body of the violin is from spruce. The reverb as well as the “hall” settings allow the violins to produce a mellow tone even further.
The reverb as well as the “hall” settings allow the violins to produce a mellow tone even further. With built-in controls for master volume, reverb type select, and the line-in volume.
With built-in controls for master volume, reverb type select, and the line-in volume. With AUX IN port to allow you to listen to accompaniment using an mp3 or cd player.
With AUX IN port to allow you to listen to accompaniment using an mp3 or cd player. Comes with Kessler steel core strings. Lacking some of the acoustic violin’s complexity of tone, because of the solid body design of the instrument.
Lacking some of the acoustic violin’s complexity of tone, because of the solid body design of the instrument. Usually sold without its own bow, but use of any standard bow is okay, even carbon composite instead of wood.
Usually sold without its own bow, but use of any standard bow is okay, even carbon composite instead of wood. Sold as instrument only, accessories can be bought separately.
Sold as instrument only, accessories can be bought separately. Requires power to operate but can run with AC adapter or two AA batteries. If you are looking for a beginner violin that can be used for modern, new generation music, this might be the coolest option from the list. Click Here to Read Our Full Review of the Yamaha SV-130 This violin is a solid performer for novice to advanced students.
Yamaha Model 5 Violin Outfit Click Here for Pricing, Pictures and Reviews on Amazon The Yamaha Model 5 comes in spectrum of sizes: 1/16, 1/10, 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, and 4/4 which makes them appropriate for beginners of all ages.
The Yamaha Model 5 comes in spectrum of sizes: 1/16, 1/10, 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, and 4/4 which makes them appropriate for beginners of all ages. It has a durable top made of spruce.
It has a durable top made of spruce. This violin offers carved maple back.
This violin offers carved maple back. The sides are from whole sheets of maple.
The sides are from whole sheets of maple. It also offers a premium fingerboard made of Ebony as well as rosewood pegs and chin rest.
It also offers a premium fingerboard made of Ebony as well as rosewood pegs and chin rest. The outfit comes complete with bow and rosin.
The outfit comes complete with bow and rosin. This student model also comes with 4 fine tuners to facilitate ease of use as the student is learning how to tune their instrument properly. This type of beginner violin is not likely to be sufficient enough for those who are heading towards higher violin grades but will certainly be sufficient for those who are showing an interest in learning. This is a great example of what makes a violin best for the student. This high quality violin outfit offers everything a student needs to easily travel with their violin, practice and perform. Of course it is nicely priced as well, and offers Yamaha’s 5 year standard warranty! If you are interested in a student brand with a tradition of finely crafted instruments, consider Yamaha in buying your first violin. There is a reason that Yamaha has been vetted by teaches and conductors for many years — they belong to the list of good violin brands for beginners.
All Days Music (ADM)
All Days Music, otherwise known as ADM, is a professional musical instrument supplier with overseas factories that deliver beginner quality instruments for a low price.
Currently, they have one line of starter violin the Solidwood Entry Level Violin, which is perhaps the lowest priced beginner violin set available on the Internet.
We’ll be upfront in saying that this review is as much of a warning as it is a endorsement of this instrument.
ADM Full Size Student Acoustic Violin Click Here for Pricing, Pictures and Reviews on Amazon Made with rosewood pegs, fingerboard, and chin rest as well as maple wooden neck.
Made with rosewood pegs, fingerboard, and chin rest as well as maple wooden neck. Back and sides handcrafted to strengthen the stability.
Back and sides handcrafted to strengthen the stability. Hand carved with solid spruce top with alloy tailpiece with built in 4 fine tuners.
Hand carved with solid spruce top with alloy tailpiece with built in 4 fine tuners. offers excellent acoustic sound *
offers excellent acoustic sound * Commonly sold with accessories and everything to start to learn violin playing such as: lightweight carrying case, shoulder rest, music sheet stand, cute cartoon tuner.
Commonly sold with accessories and everything to start to learn violin playing such as: lightweight carrying case, shoulder rest, music sheet stand, cute cartoon tuner. Set also includes two ebony frog brazilwood violin bows, rosin, as well as an extra set of strings, cleaning/polishing cloth, violin mute, and violin bow collimator.
Set also includes two ebony frog brazilwood violin bows, rosin, as well as an extra set of strings, cleaning/polishing cloth, violin mute, and violin bow collimator. 1 year warranty against manufacturer’s defects.
1 year warranty against manufacturer’s defects. Available in the following sizes: 1/16, 1/10, 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, and 4/4. This type of beginner violin is not likely to be sufficient enough for those who are heading towards higher violin grades but will certainly be sufficient for those who are showing an interest in learning.
This type of beginner violin is not likely to be sufficient enough for those who are heading towards higher violin grades but will certainly be sufficient for those who are showing an interest in learning. May last through the early stages of learning with enhancements along the way. This violin is made out of tone woods with quality inlaid purfling that will help the instrument stand the test of time and regular day-to-day abuses.
ADM Solidwood Entry Level Violin Outfit Click Here for Pricing, Pictures and Reviews on Amazon Inlaid purfling violin outfit for students.
Inlaid purfling violin outfit for students. Carved maple back and ribs.
Carved maple back and ribs. Carved spruce top.
Carved spruce top. Fittings (fingerboard, pegs and chin rest) made from solid hardwood, blackened.
Fittings (fingerboard, pegs and chin rest) made from solid hardwood, blackened. Alloy tailpiece with built-in 4 fine tuners.
Alloy tailpiece with built-in 4 fine tuners. Comes with student wood bow made with natural horsehair and hardwood bow frog.
Comes with student wood bow made with natural horsehair and hardwood bow frog. This outfit comes with a student-model bow with natural horsehair, a lightweight shaped violin case with straps, and rosin. Steady quality, fully hand carved from solid tonewoods, pure sound.
This outfit comes with a student-model bow with natural horsehair, a lightweight shaped violin case with straps, and rosin. Steady quality, fully hand carved from solid tonewoods, pure sound. The shaped violin case has a fitted interior with a pocket, 2 bow holders, straps, and a half lid music pocket. For its low price, it has a decently pure sound, but tends to slip in and out of tune easily, which could be frustrating for a student who is just learning how to tune their violin.
For its low price, it has a decently pure sound, but tends to slip in and out of tune easily, which could be frustrating for a student who is just learning how to tune their violin. Unfortunately, you get what you pay for with this instrument. It does not come with an ebony fingerboard, pegs, and chinrest. They are instead made out of a blackened solid hardwood. This means that over time, the blackness will rub off onto your fingertips the more you play this instrument. If you want to try your hand at playing the violin and you don’t have a lot to spare, consider the ADM Solidwood Entry Level Violin Outfit. It is a very low-risk instrument. Let it be known, though, that many teachers and conductors would consider this instrument a VSO, or Violin Shaped Object. If you’re beyond the years of struggling with a subpar instrument, we recommend skipping this one without further thought.
Klaus Mueller
Klaus Mueller is a well-known brand for students. Don’t be fooled by the name, most of these instruments are Chinese-made and are incorporated under the German name Klaus Mueller to give them more authenticity.
These violins are sold through Southwest Strings, but they can also be found on Amazon.
That said many of these instruments are still solid investments if you know what you’re paying for.
Klaus Mueller Allegro Violin Outfit Click Here |
football. Higuaín became a fall-back option but Arsenal still thought that they could turn to him if required. Then Higuaín joined Napoli, and fate decreed that his debut for the club would come against Arsenal at the Emirates Cup last Saturday.
It has come to feel like all or nothing on Suárez; Arsenal would love to take Wayne Rooney but, if the striker was allowed to leave Manchester United, he would prefer to join Chelsea. Wenger has been besieged by Suárez-related questions and the issue has polarised the fans. There are those that cannot countenance a player with Suárez's disciplinary previous wearing the club's shirt; others, who are happy to leave their reservations at the turnstile. They focus on how Suárez's God-given talent would galvanise the team.
Can Arsenal get the deal done? Will fortune favour their bravery? Their second offer for Suárez of one pound over £40m to put pressure on the clause in the Uruguayan's contract incensed everybody at Liverpool, where it was not only the club's owner, John W Henry, who wondered about Arsenal's cheek and the excellence of their weed dealers. Battle lines have been drawn and Wenger's comment last Friday about wanting things to be "amicable" with Liverpool was wishful thinking.
Wenger's transfer policy has shifted in the past two years towards the recruitment of more seasoned internationals. There were Mikel Arteta and Per Mertesacker in 2011; Lukas Podolski, Olivier Giroud and the excellent Santi Cazorla last summer. But the club has never paid more for a player than the £15m that they spent on Andrey Arshavin in 2009 – the Russian was released on 30 June (a bad omen?). The push for Suárez has catapulted them into thorny new territory.
The situation already feels messy. There have been arguments over the strength of the clause, with Liverpool maintaining that it does not entitle Suárez to enter into negotiations. Given that the contentious bid was submitted two weeks ago and there have been no official talks between the player and Arsenal, his employer would appear to be on firm ground.
As an aside, it is remarkable how a supposedly watertight clause that is written in plain English should have been the subject of such differing interpretations. A legal challenge from Suárez has been mooted, together with him submitting a transfer request. With Real Madrid concentrating their efforts on Gareth Bale, Suárez has come to consider Arsenal as his likeliest destination, if he leaves.
Liverpool say that they will not sell, particularly not to Arsenal, who occupied the final Champions League spot last season upon which they have designs. Arsenal, meanwhile, are torn between waiting to see how their offer plays out and making a higher one, which is the real-world call. Wenger has suggested that it could go to the wire. "It's very difficult to predict if something will be sorted out before we play in the first leg of the Champions League qualifier [on 20 or 21 August]," he said.
The problem for Arsenal is that a new centre-forward is not the limit of their requirements. With Thomas Vermaelen out for at least six weeks with a stress fracture to his back and Johan Djourou loaned to Hamburg, a centre-half is a priority, while it would also be encouraging to see reinforcement in midfield, however well Aaron Ramsey finished last season and has performed during pre-season. Wenger has a long standing interest in Everton's Marouane Fellaini.
The goalkeeper is a discussion point, with Wojciech Szczesny erratic last season; capable of maverick misjudgments. Wenger has been urged to sign a new No1 but he will also consider the merits of Lukasz Fabianski, who has a better chance than ever to establish himself. Szczesny makes the entirely valid point that no goalkeeper lasts the season without mistakes and, at only 23, he has plenty of scope for development.
It is a big season for Wilshere, and not only because there is the World Cup at the end of it. The England midfielder is still not 100% fit, according to Wenger but he has had his first pre-season since 2010, which has fired the optimism. Wenger will have moments when Wilshere will need a breather, possibly as important games approach. Can he be strong enough to stand him down? He has admitted in the past that he has been guilty of over-playing Wilshere, which might have contributed to his foot injuries.
Wenger says that a "special bond" exists between his British players and the club, and it permeates to the rest of the squad, helping to set the right tone. Wilshere, Ramsey, Theo Walcott, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Kieran Gibbs and Carl Jenkinson currently stare down from a giant billboard outside the Emirates Stadium and there are exciting young players ready to follow them from the ranks, albeit not British, with Serge Gnabry and Gedion Zelalem the hottest prospects. The club's Capital One Cup ties will be worth watching.
It is an uneasy time, in many respects, with hope undercut by fear. Arsenal are the only top-four club not to have changed their manager, and the stability could give them an edge. If only, their supporters say, they could sign one or two players of the highest order. It is the eternal refrain. The next four weeks, which contain both legs of the Champions League play-off, stand to determine everything.
Player focus infographicA star on the Vancouver-filmed CW series Riverdale has called out a local woman for an awkward fan interaction.
A Twitter user, whose account has since been set to private, tweeted earlier this week about an interaction that took place over the weekend when she encountered stars Lili Reinhart and Cole Sprouse in downtown Vancouver. Reinhart plays Betty Cooper and Sprouse stars as Jughead Jones on the popular CW teen drama.
“So guys listen to this I’m so annoyed,” the woman said in a screen-grabbed tweet. “I went out in downtown Vancouver tonight and I bumped into the cast of Riverdale. I love that show and I was kinda drunk so I kinda approached @colesprouse in a friendly way as if I knew him.”
The woman alleged Sprouse was “rude” to her; she then called downtown Vancouver “trash” and the show’s cast “disgusting and rude.”
“If you’re a celebrity, you gotta deal with the consequences. You know you’re signing up for the public to talk to you, otherwise just quit,” she tweeted. “Don’t become a celebrity if you want privacy, you get paid for having fans so respect them or be nice at least.”
Reinhart fired back on Monday and gave a different account of how the interaction unfolded.
You do not have the right to approach STRANGERS and throw your arms around us like you know us. What you did was not cool and inappropriate — Lili Reinhart (@lilireinhart) September 4, 2017
“You do not have the right to approach STRANGERS and throw your arms around us like you know us. What you did was not cool and inappropriate,” she stated in a series of tweets.
“Cole’s response to you was, ‘Do I know you?’ After you rudely invaded our space and got in our faces. It’s easy to make us look like the bad guys because you think there’s no chance in hell we would ever call you out on it. Here you go,” she said, finishing with a smiley-face emoji.
Earlier this summer, Sprouse was caught up in another fan interaction gone awry when a downtown Vancouver busker refused to stop playing while the show was filming nearby. Sprouse went over to the busker to ask her to stop, prompting the musician to fire back.
When a producer offered to pay her, the musician again refused. The interaction was caught on video and shared online, eliciting a variety of reactions.
The second season of the show, which is filmed in and around Vancouver, premiers on the CW Oct. 11.
sip@postmedia.com
twitter.com/stephanie_ipMy friend Jessie doesn’t use Tinder any more. Aside from the swipe-induced RSI and the serial ghosters, her main motivation for giving up the dating app was the time she matched with a man who sent her a threatening message. “He said: ‘I’m gonna fuck you from behind, and I don’t care whether you want to or not,’” she recalls.
Unfortunately, threats of sexual assault and abuse against women are not uncommon on dating apps. Reports of crimes related to apps such as Tinder and Grindr in the UK have risen by 382% in the past five years with many inappropriate messages documented on blogs such as Bye Felipe and Instagram accounts such as Tinder Nightmare. For every sweet bachelor just looking for someone to share a two-for-one Pizza Express deal, there are plenty more firing off creepy or abusive messages into the semi-anonymous ether, from “requests” to “sit on my face” to illegally doxxing women who reject them by making their contact details public.
A look at one of Tinder’s Reactions. Photograph: Tinder
Women behave abusively, but by and large this is a problem perpetrated by men and male-identifying app users. And so, as I and many of my female friends work our way through various dating apps known to womankind, I’m generally in favour of anything that is designed to keep us safe. Tinder – the biggest dating app of them all, which recently celebrated its fifth birthday – launched a new anti-harassment feature last week called Reactions: a selection of animated responses only available to female users, allowing them – among other things – to throw a virtual martini in the face of a user who is bothering them, or send a sarcastic eye roll. It is part of the company’s Menprovement initiative, launched with a video featuring US comedian Whitney Cummings, in which the company’s female employees decide that “calling out douchebags should be easy and fun”.
Encouraging women to engage in conversation with the “douchebags” who threaten or demean them risks further enforcing the dangerous belief that flirting and abuse are two sides of the same coin. And then there is the pseudo-empowerment vibe: “It’s simple. It’s sassy. It’s satisfying,” says the company. But is it? Tinder say Reactions weren’t designed to fight harassment on the app: “To achieve that, we’ve instituted a number of initiatives across the board, including stricter community guidelines, new messaging standards for all users, and updated our reporting system to make it easier to use.... Tinder has a zero-tolerance policy on abuse and takes the appropriate actions to combat it.”
I speak to Valerie Stark, CEO and co-founder of location-powered dating app Huggle about her strategies for combating harassment and, thankfully, her answer isn’t emojis but super-smart verification. “We’re using technology that maps 160 points on your face,” says Stark. “This is how we verify your profile. So you take a picture of yourself copying one of the gestures we show you on screen, then compare it against the pictures you uploaded.” This sense of accountability means men are less likely to make inappropriate comments – adding that, as a female app founder, women’s safety has been her priority from the start. “It was quite controversial to see [Tinder] try to move in that direction,,” she says.
Likewise, Louise Troen, the international brand director of Bumble, whose USP is that women must message men first, is also keen to highlight the importance of keeping women safe. (Indeed, the app was founded by a former Tinder exec, Whitney Wolfe, after she sued the company for sexual harassment.) While Troen is reticent to comment on Wolfe’s former employer and its “different offering”, she stresses that Bumble has a zero-tolerance policy to abuse, adding that “as soon as you create a response to harassment through things like emojis or gifs, you almost end up lessening the severity of it”. Bumble previously went public in its response, publishing an open letter that outlined why a perpetrator of abuse, named as Connor, would never be allowed back.
On the one hand, that Tinder – with about 50 million users a month – is trying to police its app, which can feel like a veritable wild west of fake profiles, scammers, creeps and narcissists, is surely a step in the right direction. But Reactions still puts the onus on users. Why not target male users, too, and ask them to moderate their behaviour or risk being turfed out? Tinder does have existing facilities to report abuse – but Reactions risks gamifying it.
Yesterday I logged into Tinder and in my inbox, was a message asking if earlier that day I had been near a tube station, where this user thought they had seen me a few times before. I filed this under “pretty creepy”. I hovered over a Reaction of a big red cross with the word “strike” underneath but, rather than spurring the conversation on further, I opted to unmatch and block. Unlike a virtual slap on the wrist, it offered at least a little peace of mind.
Hannah J Davies
This article was amended after publication to include a response from TinderWith deafening cheers and overwhelming emotion, the Minnesota Senate voted 37-30 to legalize same-sex marriage.
“Today, love wins,” said Sen. Tony Lourey, DFL-Kerrick.
The vote, on the heels of a vote last week in the House, brings to a close a decade of debate over marriage that has echoed through the Capitol, bringing thousands of friends and foes of gay marriage to its marbled dome to express their deeply held feelings.
The measure next moves to Gov. Mark Dayton, who will welcome it with his signature in a celebratory ceremony at 5 p.m. Tuesday on the south steps of the Capitol.
Once it is signed, Minnesota will become the twelfth state to legalize same sex-marriage.
"It's historic and I can never be so proud of this body and of Minnesotans," said Sen. Jeff Hayden, DFL-Minneapolis. On the Senate floor, Hayden said that his wife is white and noted that just 50 years ago, his loving relationship would have been barred.
Three Democrats – Sens. LeRoy Stumpf, Dan Sparks and Lyle Koenen – voted against the bill. One Republican, Sen. Branden Petersen, voted yes.
Up until the last moments, some opponents had hoped the bill would fail despite clear indications that it would head to the Dayton’s desk.
Sen. Dan Hall, R-Burnsville, said up until the last he was praying for a miracle and the Senate to reject the bill.
“Some people have said that they are concerned about being on the right side of history. I am more concerned about being on the right side of eternity,” said Hall.
A few opponents of the bill dotted the Capitol holding signs that read 'Don't Erase Moms and Dads’ or gathered in a quiet spot to watch the debate unfold.
"In my heart, I grieve on both sides. Because I know what it's like to be alone and I know what it is like to have somebody close to you and love you. But I grieve inside because I feel we are opening the doors to Sodom and Gomorra. And in the end, God is going to be the judge," said Nelson, of Blaine, tears running down her cheeks.
On the Senate floor, Senators began with a discussion of what kinds of organizations would be protected from punishment if they refuse to involve themselves with same-sex marriage.
The measure being voted upon gives religious organizations protections, but Sen. Warren Limmer said those protections are limited.
“It doesn’t go far enough,” said Limmer, R-Maple Grove.
He said students, teachers, private business and colleges could be punished.
But backers of the legalization measure countered that Minnesota already has a human rights law that bars discrimination based on sexual orientation and that does not change if the marriage law changes.
“That’s true today, that will be true tomorrow,” said Sen. Scott Dibble, DFL-Minneapolis and the sponsor of the marriage bill.
After long debate, the Senate voted down adding a measure to the marriage bill that backers said would offer religious opponents greater protections and opponents said would “gut” the state’s Human Rights act. The Human Rights Act forbids discrimination against people based on their sexual orientation. That measure failed on a 26-41 vote.
Opponents of the bill have repeatedly said that Minnesotans were lied to last year during the campaign against the constitutional amendment that would have banned same-sex marriage. They were told, they claimed, that nothing would change if the amendment didn’t pass.
“Do they feel betrayed today? Absolutely. Do they feel lied to? Yeah,” said Sen. Mary Kiffmeyer, R-Big Lake.
Those who campaigned hard against the constitutional ban deny that they claimed they would never try to legalize same-sex marriage.
Opponents of legalization were vastly outnumbered by supporters in the Capitol on Monday, as they were in the Senate chambers.
In droves, they welcomed lawmakers to the Capitol with hearts pasted on the august building’s stone steps, sang songs, banged drums and created echoes in the marble halls as lawmakers on their side spoke.
“We have nothing to fear from love and commitment,” said Sen. John Hoffman, DFL-Champlin, setting off an echo of praise.
But some Senate members may have something to fear.
Last year, although Minnesota as a state opposed the constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, many districts supported it. Although the vote on the amendment is not a perfect indicator of support, or lack thereof, for same same-sex marriage, those districts’ votes weighed heavy on the minds of lawmakers.
Those districts include the Andover district that Sen. Brenden Petersen represents. A Republican, his district voted to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman to the constitution.
He is a co-sponsor of the law to legalize same sex marriage and was the first legislative Republican to publicly declare his support.
In the final debate, he sent this message to his children: “Be bold and be courageous and you will never regret a day in your life."
He said that he is more uncertain of his future than he has been, but that he is confident that he was standing on the side of liberty.
Some Democrats faced similar conflicts. Sen. Vicki Jensen, DFL-Owatonna, comes from a district that voted for the marriage amendment and she voted yes.
Rep. Joe Radinovich, DFL-Crosby, has been there. Last Thursday, he voted for the bill. Sixty-two percent of his district voted to constitutionally ban same-sex marriage. He announced his vote publicly the week before he took it.
He said he has heard from passionate people on both sides.
“Criticism is a natural part of this,” Radinovich said afterward. But even in his outstate district, feelings are evolving.
“You can see public opinion changing on the ground up there,” he said.
By the time he runs for re-election in 2014, he and all Minnesotans will have a chance to see how same-sex marriage has changed the state. After Dayton’s signature, it will be legal on August 1.
Click here for an interactive graphic of the House and Senate votes that sent the measure to the governor's desk.
Baird Helgeson contributed to this post.
Here's the vote:There’s been a recent increase in unauthorized World of Warcraft account-logins via our website and the World of Warcraft mobile armory app.
We’re in the process of notifying any account holders who were not using an authenticator and whose account showed signs of unauthorized access (e.g., logging in from an unusual IP address). If you are among this group, you will receive an email describing how to reset your account.
As a result of these activities, access to the World of Warcraft auction house via the mobile app has been taken off-line temporarily. Upon request, our customer support team will restore in-game items and gold for any accounts impacted.
While no means of account security is guaranteed, every precaution you take to secure your computer and your account—including changing your password periodically—adds another defensive barrier. We strongly encourage everyone to take a few moments to read through the security tips available on our support website and follow the suggestions posted there.
Update – The auction house is now once again available for use on the World of Warcraft Mobile Armory app and our World of Warcraft community website. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.Men who are out of shape, overweight, drink too much and smoke are costing Canada $36.9 billion a year, according to a new study.
The study, commissioned by the Canadian Men’s Health Foundation, calculated the financial impact of the leading causes of chronic disease among Canadian men: excess weight, physical inactivity, alcohol consumption and tobacco smoking.
The breakdown of the annual economic burden is:
Smoking: $13 billion
Excess weight: $11.9 billion
Alcohol consumption: $7.6 billion
Physical inactivity: $4.4 billion
Those four costly risk factors contribute to approximately 40 different chronic conditions, including lung disease, several types of cancer, Type 2 diabetes and heart disease, according to the Canadian Men’s Health Foundation.
The study also breaks down the economic burden into direct health care costs ($11.9 billion) and indirect costs, such as premature deaths as well as short-and long-term disability ($25.1 billion).
“The cost of men’s poor health is a huge problem that more and more people are talking about,” CMHF founder, Dr. Larry Goldenberg, said in a news release.
“While the economic costs are high, the effects on men’s families and communities are even higher,” he said. “Widows account for 45 per cent of all women aged 65 and over. We men need to start making changes to take better care of ourselves, not just for us, but also for the people who count on us and for our communities.”
That’s why CMHF has launched its second annual Canadian Men’s Health Week, an awareness campaign that encourages men to get healthier.
If Canadian men get active, lose weight, quit smoking and cut back on booze, up to 70 per cent of the staggering health care costs could be avoided, the CMHF says.
According to the foundation, more than half of all Canadian men were overweight in 2013. More than 40 per cent were inactive, nearly 20 per cent smoked tobacco and 12.4 per cent consumed alcohol “at levels that are considered to be hazardous of harmful.”
The prevalence of the risk factors and the cost of related diseases vary by province, the study found. For example, the percentage of men who smoke ranges from 13.6 in British Columbia to 26.2 in Newfoundland and Labrador.
The proportion of men who drink too much ranges from 8.6 per cent in P.E.I. to 14.8 in Quebec.
And the annual financial burden of all four risk factors ranges from $182 million in P.E.I. to $13.8 billion in Ontario.Blocking Fraud Need Not Be A Sisyphean Task
Shailin Dhar Blocked Unblock Follow Following Oct 2, 2015
~$6B lost from AdBlock (Publishers) → ← ~$6B lost to AdFraud (Advertisers)
Digital advertising is an ecosystem comprised of three primary figures: Marketers, Content Owners, and the Consumers. Although no one is more important than the other, both marketers and content owners depend on the basic existence of consumers. These consumers practice consumption of both content and the advertising that funds it. This implicit contract has begun to waver in the world of digital advertising. Since consumers have had the available option of blocking the advertising (again, this is what funds the content creation) to allow for “better” user experience in content consumption, it has become increasingly popular with 41% annual growth1.
This growing trend is threatening the ecosystem that comprises ad-tech space. This threat is as important and merits just as much attention and dialogue as ad-fraud; yet we rarely discuss both in the same conversation.
We propose there is a direct relationship between these two issues, and thus the dialogue need to address both issues simultaneously.
Let us start with the raw numbers ( of course!)
$6.3B Ad Spend on Fraudulent Web Traffic.
$5.8B Lost Ad Spend From Ad-Blockers
$43.8B Total Digital Advertising Spend
14.38% of Total Digital Ad Spend Wasted on Fraud
13.24% of Potential Digital Ad Spend Lost From Adblockers
~45,000,000 Ad Block Users in the United States.
Obviously, those numbers are not exact matches, but they are eerily close. There are some basic concepts that inform our position that ad-block and ad-fraud are closely related.
Advertising budgets stay constant or increase over time.
Publishers want their revenues and audience metrics to stay constant or increase over time.
There is a rapidly increasing segment of users employing ad-block.
The practice of content owners purchasing web traffic to boost numbers has increased over time.
More than 50% of purchased traffic is fraudulent2.
The gradual decline in revenue for publishers and content owners due to ad-block fueled the drive to acquire more consumers, most efficiently accomplished via purchasing click traffic. This act, in turn, allowed for the creation of more companies offering click traffic to publishers and at ever diminishing rates per click due to oversupply of traffic suppliers. Somewhere along the way, we all stopped discerning how legitimate a $0.01 click can really be. It’s the very nature of businesses to focus on the end game.
The resulting growth of pageviews and “users” allowed publishers to have more control over “audience scale “ and thus control volume fluctuation, and therefore revenue.
Advertisers continued to buy this inventory based on historical trust in the quality of publishers’ web traffic and audience data. One problem was that these paid clicks returned better ROI’s for publishers since the suppliers of this traffic were forced to differentiate themselves from their competition. This led to bots getting smarter and smarter.
Some industry pundits, (including those of us at Adsiduous) contend that, data-wise at least, bots are better at being human than humans are. They accumulate lots of cookies, abandon shopping carts, and visit a wide range of websites both large and small. It’s very easy for a bot creator to simulate a valuable target audience. Again, this also compensated for the lack of audience data due to ad-blockers.
Candidly, blame cannot be exclusively pointed at either advertisers or publishers. Economics and business bottom-lines are the fuel in this fire. The key is whether we rapidly grow awareness of this trend and address it properly before it’s too late. Failure to do so will result in a painful restructuring where the entire foundation of digital media economics and the free Internet is in jeopardy.
Ad-blocking became popular because consumers wanted to protect their user-experience which was being threatened by bad/intrusive ad-creative as well as the load time of pages due to multiple ad-calls being made. The answer is clear.
THE CONSUMER IS KEY AND MUST BE RESPECTED
Currently, with adblock enabled, a user is essentially non-existent to both marketers and content owners. To prevent the blocking of ads, which fuels the purchase of fraud traffic, we must address the concerns of the consumer!
The current attempts to block ad-fraud have become a Sisyphean task because the dialogue is not taking into account the user experience, the consumer is the cornerstone for both publisher and advertiser businesses. The implied contract between marketers, content owners, and consumers is slowly going to have to change to an explicit one.
To repeat, the potential lost revenues to publishers due to ad-block are indirectly compensated for through ad-spend on fraudulent activity from purchased traffic. The rise of adblock is due to an increasing distaste for bad user-experience on the web; this is correlated with the rise of ad-fraud. So we MUST, as an industry, bring consumer experience into the forefront of the dialogue when discussing the battle against ad-fraud.
Advertisers shouldn’t be funding the ad-fraud world, but right now unfortunately, they are.
The numbers mentioned above are solely for the US and are from public reports published separately by PageFair & Adobe and WhiteOps & DCN.
The estimate for global potential revenue lost to ad-block is $21.8 B.!
Sources:The new Minecraft Guide and Annual books may make great Christmas presents for children, but will probably end up helping parents understand the game their kids already know inside out.
One of the increasingly common questions I get from parents about video-games is how they can start playing Minecraft in their family. If you'll pardon the pun there's a minefield of versions, mods, skins and updates to tiptoe through for even game savvy families.
To help offer guidance in this area I have worked with a couple of families to put together Minecraft introduction videos. These offer not only information and facts but a peek into how Minecraft works in family homes.
However, these guides attracted younger players rather than the parents they were aimed at. Details around Minecraft Pocket, the Xbox One and PlayStation versions along with how particular mods work are perhaps too much detail for those who haven't actually played the game.
Interestingly Mojang have come up with their own solution to this desire for all things Minecraft. Partnering with publisher Egmont they have two books, The Minecraft Beginner’s Handbook and The Minecraft Annual 2014.
The Beginner's Handbook
The Beginner's Handbook will make interesting reading for parents looking to understand exactly what it is their progeny spend hours playing. In hardback form it teaches new players how to make a shelter, find and gather essential resources and craft amour and weapons.
The quality here is high with weighty pages and well laid out presentation. The density of design is matched by accurate information. It includes exclusive tips from Minecraft creator Notch (Markus Persson) and lead game developer Jeb (Jens Bergensten) and first-hand accounts from well-known Minecraft gamers and experts.
This human side of the game is no small thing for families. It's easy for parents to assume that all games are created by faceless corporations looking to increase profits on the back of playtime. Of course Minecraft couldn't be further from this, and hearing directly from the creative individuals behind the game is a real eye opener.
The Minecraft Annual 2014
The Minecraft Annual 2014 is a more traditional offering in the tried and tested form of Beano and Blue Peter Annuals. It too offers step-by-step instructions for builds and projects as well as tips from the experts. It also offers craft and making projects as well as quizzes, word searches and mazes.
As Lydia Winters, Director of Fun, Mojang put it, "It's exciting to know our community will have some incredible books to take their adventures with Minecraft outside of the digital realm. We're proud that we can give children a renewed sense of passion about reading through their love of our game."
If my son gets his hands on these, I don't think I'll ever get him out the bathroom -- his favorite reading place (and mine).
The Minecraft Beginners Handbook and The Minecraft Annual will be available this Autumn, to be followed by The Redstone Handbook in December.Early Friday morning, President Barack Obama issued an order to public schools that they must respect trans students’ right to use the bathroom that corresponds to their gender identity. The lieutenant governor of Texas, Dan Patrick, was one of the first to argue back. Josh Earnest shaded him right back and a few hours later, Patrick was on Fox News to tell Megyn Kelly more about his thoughts on the matter.
Watch:
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Kelly challenged Patrick on his assertion that this marks the end of public schooling as we know it and countered him repeatedly with talking points from LGBT advocates who say that the learning curve of integration must be weathered to eventually make a better life for trans students who are currently suffering. Then, she challenged him when he brought up “allowing men” in women’s rooms. She sought clarification like this:
Allow men in the ladies’ rooms or allow trans women in the ladies’ rooms?
Then, she asked why he was so afraid men masquerading as trans women would attack little girls if allowed into female-designated bathrooms when there are grown men who prey on little boys who have been allowed in male-designated restrooms for years.
At one point, Patrick said, “Megyn, you’re missing th–” but she cut him off with a quick, “No, I don’t think I’m missing anything.”
Watch above to see not only their back-and-forth — which she cut off as Patrick was still speaking — but a debate between Marc Thiessen and Richard Fowler.
Remember, too, that Kelly has an interview coming up with trans actress Laverne Cox, so this is not the last we will hear from her on the subject of LGBT rights.
[image via screengrab]
For more from Lindsey, go to Twitter or Facebook.
Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.comTheir majority in jeopardy, Senate Democratic leaders are gearing up to confirm a swath of President Barack Obama’s nominations in the lame duck session.
“We will definitely move a lot of nominees during the lame duck one way or the other — possibly more if Republicans take the majority,” said a Democratic Senate leadership aide.
The aide expressed confidence that Democrats would retain control of the Senate, but speculated that due to the “bleak prospects for confirmation under a Republican majority, there will be a strong incentive to get as many confirmed during the lame duck as possible.”
The calendar is tight. The Senate is scheduled to return on Nov. 12, the week after the election. The next Congress convenes on Jan. 6, when Democrats will either have a narrower majority than the current 55 members, or surrender it to the Republicans. (Congress must also pass a new government funding bill by Dec. 11 to avoid a shutdown.)
Norm Ornstein, a congressional scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, said, “It would be crazy if [Senate Majority Leader Harry] Reid did not call them back as soon as possible and go into long hours, night and day, to process as many confirmations as he can.” But he cautioned that doing so “will inflame Republicans and drive them absolutely batshit.”
A top priority for nominations will be to confirm Eric Holder’s successor for U.S. attorney general before Republicans consolidate their gains in January, several top Democratic aides say. A White House official recently told TPM that Obama will announce a nominee after the election, in early or mid November.
A second Democratic leadership aide said the Senate will probably also push through some judicial nominations and “a handful of ambassadors.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and GOP lawmakers, from left, Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., and Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, face reporters. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Senate aides expect the lame duck to be particularly chaotic if the election heads to overtime — it’s plausible that the majority will be decided in a Dec. 6 runoff in Louisiana, or perhaps in another tight race. In that situation, there will be intense uncertainty and not much for senators to do other than vote on nominations.
“Nominations will play a key role in what happens during the lame duck, whether or not we lose the majority,” the second aide said. “But what the order and priorities will be and how it all play out, we really don’t know. … You won’t get a clear sense until a little ways after Election Day.”
A Republican leadership aide declined to comment for this article. The two Democratic leadership aides were not authorized to discuss strategy on the record and were granted anonymity to speak candidly.
Currently there are 156 pending nominations on the Senate floor, so only a small fraction of them will get to be confirmed in the lame duck. Senate Republicans have slowed down nominations over the last year, even the ones they support, and that’s not expected to change in the lame duck. But Democrats will need 51 votes to ultimately confirm most nominees — that task becomes harder in January even if they hold on to their majority.
Numerous forecasts give Republicans an edge to win control of the Senate. In that scenario, the likely next majority leader, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), could effectively veto any nomination by refusing to let it come to a vote on the Senate floor. The expectation is that he would scuttle some of Obama’s most progressive nominees (or those who are otherwise objectionable to conservatives), and seek to extract concessions for others.
“He certainly wheels and deals and I’m sure he’d try to figure out where his leverage points are,” the second Democratic leadership aide said. “But nobody here really knows how he would approach things. He talks a lot about wanting to restore the Senate to functionality but he’s spent years grinding the place to a halt. So, which Mitch McConnell would show up? That’s the real question.”
Russell Wheeler, a visiting fellow on governance studies with the Brookings Institution, noted that the fight against nominations has become historically unusual. Such disagreements didn’t shut down the Senate back when Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan faced a Senate run by the opposition party in their final two years.
“But we are in different territory and it may well be that the modest level of comity that held in previous sessions wouldn’t hold here,” he said. “Relations up there are so terrible.”Theresa May will need parliamentary approval to start Brexit, the UK Supreme Court has ruled.
British Prime Minister Theresa May must give Parliament a vote before she can formally start Brexit, the UK Supreme Court has ruled, giving politicians who oppose her plans a shot at amending them.
Key points: Supreme Court voted against Government 8–3
Triggering Brexit now only possible by an "Act of Parliament"
Court also decided no need for Scotland, Wales or Northern Island to give assent before Brexit
By a majority of eight-to-three, the highest judicial body in the UK dismissed the Government's argument that Ms May could simply use executive powers known as "royal prerogative" to invoke Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty.
"The referendum is of great political significance, but the Act of Parliament which established it did not say what should happen as a result," Supreme Court president David Neuberger said.
"So any change in the law to give effect to the referendum must be made in the only way permitted by the UK constitution, namely by an Act of Parliament."
However, the judges did remove one major potential obstacle for the British Government, saying Ms May did not need the approval of the UK's devolved assemblies in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland before triggering Brexit.
Ruling 'does nothing' to change March timeline
Ms May has repeatedly said she would trigger Article 50 before the end of March, but the ruling means she must now first bring forward urgent legislation before she can go ahead.
That opens up the Brexit process to scrutiny from politicians, the majority of whom had wanted to stay in the EU.
However, a spokesperson for Ms May said the High Court ruling did "nothing to change" the planned March deadline.
"It's important to remember that Parliament backed the referendum by a margin of six-to-one and has already indicated its |
trak worked together and temporarily operated a train service, referred to by the Valley Metro Rail as the "Hattie B." line, between central Phoenix and the southeast suburbs. It was discontinued because of high operating costs and a lack of interest from local authorities in maintaining funding.[104] Nominated by President Reagan, on September 25, 1981, Sandra Day O'Connor broke the gender barrier on the U.S. Supreme Court, when she was sworn in as the first female justice.[105] 1985 saw the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station, the nation's largest nuclear power plant, begin electrical production.[106] Conceived in 1980, the Arizona Science Center, located in Heritage and Science Park, opened in 1984. 1987 saw visits by Pope John Paul II and Mother Teresa.[107]
Downtown Phoenix at night
The new 20 story City Hall opened in 1992,[108] The development of the Sunnyslope area with low-cost housing is noticed by local refugee resettlement centers, which promote the area among refugee communities. During the 1990s, refugees from Afghanistan, Bosnia, the Sudan, Somalia, Congo, Sierra Leone, Laos, Vietnam, and Central and South America would settle there. 43 different languages would be spoken in local schools by the year 2000.[109] Valley National, with $11 billion in assets, was the biggest bank in Arizona, and one of the oldest, when it was bought out by Banc One Corp. of Columbus, Ohio, in 1992. The sale for $1.2 billion was part of the trend toward outside ownership of the state's banking assets.[110] 1993 saw the creation of "Tent City," by Sheriff Joe Arpaio, using inmate labor, to alleviate overcrowding in the Maricopa County Jail system, the fourth-largest in the world.[111] The famous "Phoenix Lights" UFO sightings took place in March 1997. 1997 also saw the closing, after 116 years of publication, of The Phoenix Gazette.[111]
In the mid-2000s, the Baseline Killer and Serial Shooter crime sprees occurred in Phoenix, Tempe, and Mesa. Steele Indian School Park was the site of a mid-air collision between two news helicopters in July 2007.
Phoenix has maintained an expansion streak in recent years, growing by 24.2% before 2007. This made it the second-fastest-expanding metropolitan area in the United States preceded by Las Vegas, whose population had expanded by 29.2% during that time.[112] 2008 was an eventful year in the Valley of the Sun. First, the Phoenix Light Rail would begin operation, with service between Phoenix, Tempe and Mesa.[111] Second, Squaw Peak, the second tallest mountain in the city, was officially renamed Piestewa Peak after Army Specialist Lori Ann Piestewa, an Arizona native who was the first Native American woman to die in combat with the U.S. military, and the first American female casualty in the 2003 Iraq War.[113] And later that same year Phoenix was one of cities hardest hit by the Subprime mortgage crisis. In early 2009, the median home price was $150,000, down from its $262,000 peak in recent years.[114] Crime rates in Phoenix have declined in recent years and once troubled, decaying neighborhoods such as South Mountain, Alhambra, and Maryvale, have recovered and stabilized. As of 2005, Downtown Phoenix and the central core were experiencing renewed interest and expansion, resulting in numerous restaurants, stores and businesses opening or relocating to central Phoenix.[115]
In June 2017, a heat wave grounded more than 40 airline flights of small aircraft, with American Airlines reducing sales on certain flights to prevent the vehicles from being over the maximum weight permitted for safe takeoff.[116][117]
References [ edit ]
Gober, Patricia (2006). Metropolitan Phoenix. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 978-0-8122-3899-0.
Grady, Patrick (2012). Out Of The Ruins. Arizona Pioneer Press. ISBN 978-0-615-55511-9.
Lavin, Patrick (2001). Arizona, An Illustrated History. Hippocrene Books, Inc. ISBN 0-7818-0852-9.
Montero, Laurene; Stubing, Michael; Turner, Korri (June 2008). General Historic Properties Treatment Plan for Archeological Projects Within the Boundaries of the City of Phoenix, Arizona. City of Phoenix, Street Transportation Department.
VanderMeer, Philip (2002). Phoenix Rising: the Making of a Desert Metropolis. Heritage Media Corp. ISBN 1-886483-69-8.
VanderMeer, Philip (2010). Desert Visions and the Making of Phoenix. University of New Mexico Press. ISBN 978-0-8263-4891-3.
Bibliography [ edit ]
Surveys [ edit ]
Pre 1941 [ edit ]
Alsap, John T. "Resources of the Salt River Valley, 1872." Arizona Historical Review (1936) 7#3: 50-54.
(1936) 7#3: 50-54. Barney, James M. "Phoenix, A History of its Pioneer Days and People." Arizona Historical Review 5 (1933): 264-285.
5 (1933): 264-285. Buchanan, James E. (1978), Phoenix: a chronological & documentary history, 1865-1976, Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.: Oceana Publications, ISBN 0379006170
Johnson, ed., G. Wesley, Jr. (1993). Phoenix in the Twentieth Century: Essays in Community History. Diane Pub Co. ISBN 0-7881-6249-7., 15 essays by scholars
, 15 essays by scholars Horton, Arthur Gotzian. An economic, political and social survey of Phoenix and the Valley of the sun Southside progress, 1941.
Southside progress, 1941. James, George Wharton (1917), "Phoenix and Salt River Valley", Arizona, the Wonderland, Boston: Page Company
Luckingham, Bradford. "Urban development in Arizona: the rise of Phoenix." Journal of Arizona History (1981): 197-234.
(1981): 197-234. Maricopa County (Ariz.). Board of Supervisors (1908), "Phoenix", Salt River Valley, Arizona, offers productive lands, a healthful climate and rare opportunities to the investor and homeseeker, New York: Norman Pierce Co., OCLC 16818598
Sloan, Richard E., and Ward R. Adams. History of Arizona (4 vol.) (Record Publishing Co., 1930), with hundreds of biographies and detailed coverage of the city
Since 1941 [ edit ]
Doti, Lynne Pierson, and Larry Schweikart. "Financing the Postwar Housing Boom in Phoenix and Los Angeles, 1945-1960." Pacific Historical Review (1989): 173-194. JSTOR 3639846
(1989): 173-194. JSTOR 3639846 Konig, Michael Francis. "Toward metropolis status: charter government and the rise of Phoenix, Arizona, 1945-1960" Ph D dissertation, Arizona State University, 1983.
Schweikart, Larry. "Collusion or Competition?: Another Look at Banking During Arizona's Boom Years, 1950-1965." Journal of Arizona History (1987): 189-200.
(1987): 189-200. Shermer, Elizabeth Tandy. Sunbelt Capitalism: Phoenix and the Transformation of American Politics (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013) excerpt and text search
Ethnicity, race, religion [ edit ]
Environment and economy [ edit ]
August, Jack L. "Water, Politics, and the Arizona Dream: Carl Hayden and the Modern Origins of the Central Arizona Project, 1922-1963." Journal of Arizona History (1999): 391-414. JSTOR 41696531
(1999): 391-414. JSTOR 41696531 Bimson, Carl A. Transformation In The Desert - Story Of Arizona's Valley National Bank (1962), memoir by longtime president
(1962), memoir by longtime president Bolin, Bob, Sara Grineski, and Timothy Collins. "The Geography of Despair: Environmental Racism and the Making of South Phoenix, Arizona, USA," Human Ecology Review (2005) 12#2
(2005) 12#2 Fink, Jonathan. "Phoenix, the Role of the University, and the Politics of Green-Tech." Sustainability in America’s Cities. Island Press/Center for Resource Economics (2011) pp. 69–90.
(2011) pp. 69–90. Grineski, Sara E., Bob Bolin, and Victor Agadjanian. "Tuberculosis and urban growth: class, race and disease in early Phoenix, Arizona, USA." Health & place (2006) 12#4 pp: 603-616.
(2006) 12#4 pp: 603-616. Judkins, Gabe. "Declining cotton cultivation in Maricopa County, Arizona: An examination of macro-and micro-scale driving forces," Yearbook of the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers (2008): 70#1 pp 70–95.
(2008): 70#1 pp 70–95. Keys, Eric, Elizabeth A. Wentz, and Charles L. Redman. "The spatial structure of land use from 1970–2000 in the Phoenix, Arizona, metropolitan area." Professional Geographer (2007) 59#1 pp 131–147.
(2007) 59#1 pp 131–147. Larson, Kelli L.; Gustafson, Annie; Hirt, Paul (April 2009). "Insatiable Thirst and a Finite Supply: An Assessment of Municipal Water-Conservation Policy in Greater Phoenix, Arizona, 1980–2007". Journal of Policy History. 21 (2): 107–137. doi:10.1017/S0898030609090058.
Larson, Kelli L., et al. "Vulnerability of water systems to the effects of climate change and urbanization: A comparison of Phoenix, Arizona and Portland, Oregon (USA)." Environmental management (2013) 52#1 pp 179–195.
(2013) 52#1 pp 179–195. Schweikart, Larry. "Collusion or Competition?: Another Look at Banking During Arizona's Boom Years, 1950-1965." Journal of Arizona History (1987): 189-200.
(1987): 189-200. Zarbin, Earl A. All the Time a Newspaper: The First 100 Years of the Arizona Republic (1990)
popular history from city website, emphasis pre-1914GETTY God Save The Queen could be scrapped as our National Anthem under new Parliamentary proposals
The move has been branded “rude” by friends of the Queen. A cross-party group of MPs is backing a proposal that would see the song replaced by an England-specific anthem for international sporting events, including this year’s Uefa European Championships. Among those supporting the legislation, which will go before the Commons this afternoon, are former shadow education secretary Tristram Hunt and Liberal Democrat MP Greg Mulholland. Although the Government has no official stance on the issue, Prime Minister David Cameron has previously backed calls for an English anthem for the country’s sporting events, with him declaring the hymn Jerusalem as his favourite.
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GETTY A group of MPs is backing a proposal that would see the song replaced by an England-specific anthem
However, the Queen is not said to favour the move, with her cousin suggesting the Monarch would consider the proposed change “rude”.
We have been happily singing God Save The Queen for ever – I don’t see the need to change it Margaret Rhodes
The Honourable Margaret Rhodes said: “We have been happily singing God Save The Queen for ever – I don’t see the need to change it. “The Queen has always said she’s only there for as long as people want her, but I should think they’d think it’s rather rude.” Mrs Rhodes, 90, who is one of Her Majesty’s closest confidantes, acting as her bridesmaid and lady-in-waiting to the Queen Mother for more than a decade, said: “As far as I’m concerned it’s a silly idea.” Under the plans, God Save The Queen would be reserved for United Kingdom and Team GB events instead of being used to cheer on England-only teams and individuals.
Senior Labour MP Toby Perkins, who is sponsoring the Bill, believes it will strengthen people’s English identities. He said: “I don’t do this out of antipathy for the British national anthem, I am a Christian, and I am not a Republican, but I want to keep God Save the Queen for Britain, and instead introduce a purely English Anthem to be sung in advance of England football and rugby matches and other sporting events. “The union between the home nations is a dear and precious thing that is under threat. England is a component part of the UK but it is not the same thing as Britain.” His English National Anthem Bill, if successful, would require culture secretary John Whittingdale to hold a public consultation on choosing an English anthem. If the country chose an English anthem, sporting bodies would be instructed to have it played at international contests, medal ceremonies and other events involving teams or individuals representing England, with God Save The Queen retained for UK and GB events.
GETTY PM David Cameron has previously declared the hymn Jerusalem as his favourite anthem
Mr Perkins will present the Bill under the ten minute rule procedure, named after the time a backbencher can speak on the Bill’s first outing. He will ask: "That leave be given to bring in a Bill to provide for an English National Anthem for use at sporting events that involve individuals or teams representing England; and for connected purposes." Because it is neither Government legislation nor official Labour policy, such bills have a limited chance but can progress with enough backing. Mr Hunt, who is co-sponsoring the Bill, said: “Scotland and Wales both have strong anthems of their own, and we should have one for England. It’s time English sporting teams had an English anthem.” Mr Mulholland said: “I am pleased to back this Bill, it is high time English sporting associations showed the common-sense and courage to follow the example of Commonwealth Games England and use an English anthem for English athletes and teams, rightly leaving God Save the Queen for Team GB at the Olympics and World Championships. "It is also time to give English people a say as to what the English anthem should be. How much longer do we have to hear about Scottish and Welsh people refusing, understandably, to sing God Save the Queen because it is misappropriated by English teams?”
GETTY Senior Labour MP Toby Perkins believes the move would strengthen people’s English identitiesJoel mourns for the loss of a dear (albeit inanimate) friend. Ellie struggles to find her emotional side. Lines will be crossed and crosses will be aligned in this epic continuation of the Lessons in Guitar Story Arch!(UPDATE)I've gotten a couple responses asking if Joel could just find another guitar string. My excuse?I'd imagine that intact replacements would be quite rare 20 years into the apocalypse, whether that's due to looting, or fires, or earthquakes, or bombings, or fungus, or what-have-you. Joel knows the chances of finding a new string are just about zero, so although he may love guitars, he understands that it's not the most important thing to him, and he can't risk weighing himself down with unnecessary baggage. Just because he lost a treasured possession doesn't mean it's the end of the world, right? HAHA!!!Too soon?Rachel Maddow let the folks at Politifact have it again on her Tuesday show.
Maddow, who is a harsh critic of the organization and its "truth-o-meter," discussed how she felt the organization was "shockingly, shockingly bad" at accomplishing its main goal of fact-checking claims made by members of the government.
Maddow said that she has "lost [her] mind more than once recently about how bad Politifact is, and how anybody who values the meaning of the word fact needs to stop citing them as an authority on the subject of facts." On Tuesday's show, Maddow discussed how Politifact looked into Sen. Marco Rubio's recent claim that the "majority of Americans are conservative."
"So, to sum up," Maddow said. "Marco Rubio says, 'the majority of Americans are conservative.' Politifact looks into that and finds that a majority of Americans do not identify as conservative. And even if you wanted to extrapolate to parties...Republican-leaning instead of conservative...that still doesn't get you to a majority either. So, according to Politifact, Rubio's statement is false." Maddow then turned to Politifact's "truth-o-meter" which concluded that Rubio's statement is "mostly true."
Maddow yelled, "Seriously? Claim A: false. Claim B: false. Overall Politifact rating: mostly true!" Maddow was so angry that she told Politifact to "please leave the building." She asked the organization to leave the lights on as "we will need them to clean up the mess that you have left behind...You are a disaster."
Maddow added that she did not expect to end the Valentine's Day show on this particular note, "but oh my god!"
Politifact editor Bill Adair responded to Maddow's criticism. Read his statement below.
"Our goal at PolitiFact is to use the Truth-O-Meter to show the relative accuracy of a political claim. In this case, we rated it Mostly True because we felt that while the number was short of a majority, it was still a plurality. Forty percent of Americans consider themselves conservative, 35 percent moderate and 21 percent liberal. It wasn’t quite a majority, but was close.
We don’t expect our readers to agree with every ruling we make. We have published nearly 5,000 Truth-O-Meter ratings and it’s natural that anyone can find some they disagree with. But even if you don’t agree with every call we make, our research and analysis helps you sort out what’s true in the political discourse."
WATCH
:Steven Universe has had over 110 episodes now. It's rare that you come across a show that reaches the highs Steven Universe does. In 2016, FORTY episodes aired. Anything from "The Answer" to "Three Gems and a Baby" is able to appear on this list.
What do you think has been the best year for Steven Universe? In my opinion, this year was as good as 2015.
So, what are the 10 highest notes this show has hit this year? Remember, these are subject to change, this is just my opinion, and there may be a few more episodes airing this year.
MAJOR SPOILER WARNING AHEAD. This top 10 list is going to be FULL of ENORMOUS spoilers. So if you haven't caught up with the show, I wouldn't read any further! Also, I have to put a PG-13 warning on this post. There will be talk of rape ahead.
10) Gem Drill (S3E02)
Yup, starting this one off with a controversial opinion. Most people I've come across really didn't like this episode. It's one of the show's most hated episodes in fact. But I absolutely love it. This episode is action-packed and very intense. It is very spooky at times, very creepy, and even contains a bit of feels at the end. Guys, what more could you want in an episode?! I get it, this episode was not a satisfying conclusion to the show's biggest threat, and I do agree that the resolution was rushed. But I do not think it was in any way anticlimactic. Just rushed. But everything else in this episode, even the quiet moments between Steven and Peridot, make up for any pacing or story arc problems. This is a really good episode just on its own.
9) Bubbled (S3E25)
This episode to me was... rather underwhelming on first watch. Steven and Eyeball together in a bubble, and then Eyeball tries to kill Steven. Because every new gem has to try and murder Steven.
Then I watched it again. And it BLEW ME AWAY. I had by this time, seen Mindful Education, and therefore appreciated why the attempted murder scene was necessary. And MAN this episode is deep. This episode is so deep, and so GOOD. I love this episode now. Eyeball tried to kill Steven for a VERY DIFFERENT REASON to Bismuth. She just wanted fame (and a Pearl). Some of the lines in this episode (such as "You're even worse than Rose Quartz") are absolutely spine-chilling. There are some hijinks (and Eyeball literally trying to gut Steven like a fish), such as the asteroid part, but ultimately, this episode left me wanting to see much more of Eyeball. Steven had no choice but to boot her into infinite space whilst he floated there, depressed as his bubble shrunk. And then of course we get the ending, where the gems rescue Steven, and Steven has a very powerful conversation with Garnet about Rose shattering Pink Diamond, and the first four verses of Love Like You play. Man this ending. I could rave about this ending. The part where they're all crying as they hug him is a feelsy moment as well. What more could you want in an episode? Bubbled is amazing.
8) Super Watermelon Island (S3E01)
This is the moment where I have to dodge a flying shoe, right? Say what you will about this episode, I still love it to death. That Malachite vs Alexandrite battle is just so badass. I am SO glad I avoided the Cartoon Network UK leak of this episode (they leaked the ENTIRE FIGHT, bastards! I'm sure somebody got fired for THAT blunder!) as it just made the episode so much better. This episode was just such a great showdown, and say what you will about pacing, I found this to be a very satisfying conclusion to the Malachite arc.
7) Monster Reunion (S3E14)
I adore this episode. This episode is the long-due sequel of "Monster Buddies" all the way back in season 1A. Season 1A!!! Was this episode worth the wait? Hell yes! This episode featured the half-healed Centipeetle, her backstory reveal (which was MUCH better than Lapis' bare-boned backstory in Same Old World, though their stories were actually quite similar), info on corruption, Steven's healing powers FINALLY returning, oh and like its prequel, this episode was FULL OF FEELS. After Centi's backstory, she literally starts CRYING LIKE MAD. Her re-corruption process was one of the most brutal moments on the show, but then the feels swing the other way when Centi ends up happy, reunited with her crew who also corrupted. This episode has lots of lore, and is just very sweet.
6) Bismuth (S3E20/21)
This is the show's first ever true 22-minute episode. It was extremely heavily hyped by Cartoon Network and over 2 million people tuned in to see it. And what a great episode it was! I wouldn't say it lived up to ALL the hype, but it certainly was an outstanding piece of television. The only reason it's so low on the list is because the beginning was kind of slow. But during the climax, where Steven and Bismuth duel to the DEATH over a dispute about a weapon that could literally murder anyone instantly, you really forget that this is actually a kid's show on a kid's channel. It's that good! And even Bismuth herself is an amazing character who I can't wait to see again!
5) Mindful Education (S4E04)
This episode, man!! At the time of writing, this is actually the most recent episode to have aired. We're just four episodes into the new season and we're already getting episodes like this! This episode was just so clever and, oh my god seeing Bismuth, Eyeball, Jasper... all those people Steven WASN'T able to save, and then seeing a murderous image of Rose! How could an episode about Stevonnie training NOT be great? This episode was what I needed to see at the time it aired. This episode is basically a therapy session for Stevonnie. And then there's the song. If you haven't heard it, go listen to it right now! This was just one big fantastic episode that reminded me of Sworn to the Sword, one of the very best episodes of season 2.
4) The Answer (S2E22)
This episode has been nominated for an Emmy, and I'd be genuinely surprised if it didn't win. They REALLY crammed as much into 11 minutes as you possibly can. Oh my god this episode. Full disclosure here, this is the only episode on this list that actually makes me cry pretty much every time I watch it. The scenery, Ruby and Sapphire's relationship, and not to mention the reveals. I think most of us have forgotten, but this is the first episode that showed any sort of Gem society, and also confirmed the existence of Blue Diamond. This episode's parallels to starting a gay relationship for the first time are just another driving force of this episode. Basically what I am trying to say is that this episode is absolutely beautiful.
3) Mr. Greg (S3E08)
I gushed about this episode a TON in my review. So I'll keep this one short. GO WATCH THIS EPISODE. The music, the feels, this episode is an instant classic that obviously had countless hours of effort put into it. This is what happens when they really put a huge amount of effort in. SO many writers these days think kids will watch anything, so they'll write any old crap. This episode showed pure passion from the writers. They REALLY want to make their show as good as possible, despite being for kids. This show is almost wasted on Cartoon Network.
A musical episode that contains 7 songs, absolutely jam-packed with feels, and something I'd write 2200 words gushing over and would do it again. What could POSSIBLY be better?
2) Message Received (S2E25)
This is the episode where Peridot got redeemed and became a Crystal Gem. THIS episode had me drooling on the floor. This episode blew my mind more than ANY other episode. And I mean, ANY other episode. I didn't even SLEEP the night after this episode aired. This episode defied EVERYTHING that happens on TV. Defied just about every trope, and went in a direction that I and many others could NEVER have seen coming. They had a character do a TOTAL 180 IN JUST ELEVEN MINUTES. And guess what? THEY PULLED IT OFF FLAWLESSLY. And not to mention YELLOW DIAMOND. This episode became an instant meme-fest with Yellow Diamond's angry face and the moment where Peridot called Yellow Diamond a clod. This was the biggest fangirl episode in history of television. And then you throw some action sequences into the mix with the robot chase scene. And some feels where Steven briefly loses trust in everyone. Jesus Christ this episode is the BOMB. I actually think this episode is better than Mr. Greg.
Honorable Mentions
-Crack the Whip
-Alone at Sea
-Steven vs. Amethyst
-Same Old World
-It Could've Been Great
1) Earthlings (S3E23)
THIS EPISODE. OH MY GOD THIS EPISODE. This is where EVERYTHING converges into one EPIC showdown in the Beta Kindergarten with Steven, Amethyst and Jasper. This whole episode is basically one big long fight scene. We have Amethyst absolutely OBSESSED with beating Jasper. Jasper smack-talking the corrupted gems with some spine-chilling lines such as "Anyone who doesn't fit the mold must be PURGED!" Amethyst goes balls-out on Jasper and cannot lay a SCRATCH. This episode features some major character development as well as all the action. Oh and I haven't even gotten to the two ENORMOUS events - Steven's first GEM fusion and JASPER FREAKING CORRUPTING HERSELF. How is it that you can feel so sorry for the villain of the season as she slowly and painfully turns into a monster as a result of her own rash actions? It's a stretch, but what Jasper did to that corrupted gem was essentially rape. There is this scene where Jasper and the monster are in the air, and Jasper has grabbed the monster and the monster is struggling... it looks really disturbing and horrifically like that sort of aggression. Seriously go back and watch that scene. I know it can't be applied to gems but... yeah. And then of course we get the wham line "MY DIAMOND. YOUR DIAMOND. PINK DIAMOND!!!" Jasper's last words before she succumbs to corruption entirely and becomes a full-on gem monster. All the while she's pounding the Earth. It's no wonder Steven's wound had no blood, I think they were at the absolute limit of how much violence they could put in one episode!
And then there's Smoky Quartz who became my favorite fusion outside of Garnet. This episode was very action-packed, very big, VERY BIG, had two absolutely MAJOR events where one didn't outweigh the other, and this is where absolutely everything went down. I don't see this episode getting topped any time soon. I think this episode may just be my all-time favorite, just for absolutely EVERYTHING that goes down. The writing is so tight, there are no low points, and not a SECOND of this episode is wasted.
And there you have it. Those are my current 10 favorite episodes that have aired in 2016! Let me know what yours are in the comments. I better be off, I can hear an angry mob brewing outside over my putting "Super Watermelon Island" so high on this list!
I'll keep this list updated should any more episodes come this year that make it onto this list. Although at this point only Three Gems and a Baby is left to air. I hope that makes the top 10!Ruggles Black 3963 Kirby Ste. 200 Houston, TX 77098 Demerits: 18 Inspection Highlights: Food establishment engaging in reduced oxygen packaging without an approved HACCP Plan. (According to the FDA, a HACCP Plan is a management system designed to analyze and control biological, chemical and physical hazards from raw material production.) Observed one large cockroach in dining room. Observed doors opened. Protect openings to the outside against the entrance of insects by doors being kept closed. Photo: Yelp/Ruggles Black less Ruggles Black 3963 Kirby Ste. 200 Houston, TX 77098 Demerits: 18 Inspection Highlights: Food establishment engaging in reduced oxygen packaging without an approved HACCP Plan. (According to the FDA, a HACCP... more Photo: Yelp Photo: Yelp Image 1 of / 29 Caption Close Houston Restaurant Violations April (13-18) 1 / 29 Back to Gallery
One well-known Houston brewery lands on this week's edition of "Houston Restaurant Violations."
Karbach Brewery and Restaurant located at 2032 Karbach Ste. C Houston, TX 77092, was written up by the health inspectors for foods being held an improper temperatures. The inspectors also observed employees weren't washing their hands before beginning work.
ICYMI: Houston restaurant violations April (03-12)
Earlier this month Ruggles Black made headlines when its prominent chef and restaurateur Bruce Molzan was charged with buying protected fish from unlicensed commercial fishermen. Authorities say he may have "funneled" 14 tons of illegally caught finfish through the restaurant. This week the establishment is back in the news after an inspector noticed them engaging in reduced oxygen packaging without an approved management system or plan. A cockroach was also found.
Taking the biggest hit this week with a whopping 101 demerits is food truck Deutscher Fleischwagen - Garcia. The truck parks at 1506 Truxillo and infractions includes not providing enough potable water.
But none of these are the grossest thing an inspector saw last week. One pizza maker at Dominoes had his entire palm bandaged. Instead of washing his hands, he just washed the tips of his fingers.
Before you head out for your next meal, be sure to click through our slideshow above for the list of restaurants with violations (April 13-18).
During health inspections, inspectors distribute violations that carry a weight between 1 and 25, increasing in severity. The term "demerit" is used by city health inspectors to describe the weighted value assigned to each violation. The Houston Chronicle obtained the results of routine health inspections throughout the city and tallied each restaurant's demerits for a comprehensive list of violations. To view inspection reports online or learn more about food inspections, visit the health department website.The World Cup is the absolute pinnacle of competitive sports. It is the culmination of two years of qualifying play, years of hype and close to a decade of preparation on the part of the hosts to make sure it goes off without a synch. As I sit here typing away, there are countless workers in Rio De Janeiro, Sao Paolo, Brasilia, Fortaleza, Recife, Porto Alegre, Belo Horizonte, Curitiba, Natal, Manaus, Cuiaba, and Salvador setting cement, wiring cables, installing support beams, operating complex machinery, and battling an increasingly harrowing deadline. And while much digital ink has been dedicated to bringing the rudderless and aimless construction work going on in Brazil, an almost tragic occurrence on the soccer side took place in the build up to the final round of qualifying in Europe. Having both finished runners-up in their respective groups, Portugal and Sweden were unfortunately pitted against each other in what is easily the most important fixture of the play-off round.
I followed the draw live on my laptop and the cruel reality quickly set in — Ronaldo or Ibrahimovic will not be going to Brazil. How is this possible? Well, the eight teams that are seeded into the play-off round were pitted against one another based on their rankings. Portugal, Greece, Croatia and Ukraine were 1-4 while France, Sweden, Romania and Iceland were 5-8. Instead of just having the teams play based on their rankings (Portugal v. Iceland, Greece v. Romaina, etc), FIFA throws in a pointless lottery to determine the match-ups. So instead of the best teams having an easy road to the World Cup, where the best teams are expected to play, we now have a situation where the better teams are given more difficult opponents and thus introducing uncertainty that no soccer fan is please with. FIFA’s rankings themselves are flawed to begin with, rewarded teams for recent form despite the fact that these teams have been playing the same opponents in their qualifying groups for two years now. So while Sweden had genuine competition in the form of Germany, Austria and Ireland, Greece’s only worthy opponent was Bosnia-Herzegovina, barely managing a draw in one game and being comprehensively destroyed 0-3 in the other. How did Greece do in its 8 other games? 8 wins, against the likes of Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia and Liechtenstein (Nations that have one world-cup appearance between them) so it is very irksome when FIFA can justify Greece being the 15th ranked nation (which is absolutely ridiculous), while Sweden is the 25th.
Thanks to FIFA’s ineptitude we will not be seeing Ronaldo or Ibrahimovic in the World Cup this year. These aren’t just their respective nation’s best player, but they are both firmly top-10 players in the world and have been to the World Cup before. And while we, as soccer fans, have regularly dealt with the sad reality that certain players were simply born in the wrong place (Ryan Giggs, Jari Litmanen, Gareth Bale, Aaron Ramsey, Gus Poyet, Robert Lewandowski, Kuba Błaszczyskowski, Jefferson Farfán and George Weah never got to play in a World Cup and probably never will) this is on an entire other level because these are quality sides that are easily worthy of being in the big dance. Portugal have world-class players in the shape of Joao Moutinho and Pepe, while even Sweden can call on the powers of Kim Källström and Rasmus Elm.
The long-standing gripe with FIFA’s ranking system has even led many publications, websites and analysts to preferring the World Football Elo Ratings system. As expected, the Elo system correctly ranks Greece beneath Sweden and France too and would have guaranteed Portugal and Sweden a chance to both go to Brazil. While there is nothing we can do to rectify this crime against humanity (it’s that bad, people) we must act as a collective and continue to bemoan the shortcomings that damage the game for us. With Zlatan now a twilight-y 32, he cannot be expected to last another four years until the next World Cup, another reason to curse the way things have unfolded to allow Sweden and Portugal to play. Oh well. To the winner go the spoils I suppose.Conan O'Brien is a nice guy. He doesn't want anyone to feel bad about themselves -- especially anyone who's putting his or her neck out there by running for president of the United States. It's a tough job!
So the late-night host has taken it upon himself to help out one particularly downtrodden presidential candidate: Mr. Lincoln D. Chafee of Rhode Island.
The former Rhode Island senator and governor (and former Republican) is running for the Democratic nomination in 2017. He's currently polling at 0 percent.
[Your online guide to Lincoln Chafee]
This makes O'Brien sad.
"I'm not saying we should get him elected," O'Brien explained on his show Wednesday. "I'm personally not going to vote for him. But I think we should get him on the board so he's not humiliated. It seems like the nice thing to do."
And so O'Brien launched his mission for 2016 to get Lincoln Chafee, whose most newsworthy event this campaign came when he endorsed the metric system during his campaign announcement, to 1 percent in the polls.
[Lincoln Chafee's presidential platform: Adopt the metric system, of course]
O'Brien gave out hats and dispensed some Chafee facts. He even commissioned a song by Aimee Mann and Ted Leo |
as she has healed Maia now facilitates workshops and speaks publicly to help others who are also struggling.
Hello nice listener! I’m so sorry but MIHH episodes one year and older are only available at Stitcher Premium. Go to www.StitcherPremium.com/mentalpod and use offer code “MENTAL” to get a free month of listening when you signup. For $4.99/month you get access to ad-free versions of all our shows (older than one year) going back to episodes #1 from March 2011, as well as hundreds of hours of other podcasts’ back catalogs, original shows, exclusive bonus episodes, stand up comedy albums and more. Please remember to use the offer code “MENTAL” because it gives me credit for bringing a new subscriber to Stitcher Premium and that helps me financially and the podcast needs it. I wish I didn’t have to do this but there it is. Every little bit helps.
Episode notes:
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Episode Transcript:
Transcription services donated by Accurate Secretarial LLC. You can find them at www.AccurateSecretarial.com.
Welcome to Episode 320 with my guest Maia Akiva. Today's episode is sponsored by Probimune. Did you know that up to 80% of your immune system relies on a healthy gut? Well, that's why the people at Young Health developed Probimune, a liquid probiotic that promotes intestinal health with a unique blend of bacteria not found in 99% of other probiotics.
It's easy to use, easy to travel with and easy to store, no refrigeration required. I can vouch for that. I take it with me when I travel. And now, you guys can get your first bottle of Probimune free when you sign up for automated delivery. All you pay is $6.75 for shipping and handling. Just go to P-r-o-b-i-m-u-n-e dot com, and use the promo code MENTAL at checkout.
I am Paul Gilmartin. This is the Mental H-, [chuckles] Mental Illness Happy Hour. Sometimes people call it the Mental Health Happy Hour, and it makes me shake my fist at the sky. And so I just, right now, just made me shake my own fist at the sky, at myself. I'm very confused.
This show is called the Mental Illness Happy Hour. It's a place for honesty about all the battles in our heads, from medically diagnosed conditions, past traumas and sexual dysfunction to everyday compulsive negative thinking. It's not meant to be a substitute for professional mental counseling. I am not a therapist. It's not a doctor's office. It's more like a waiting room filled with fun and sadness [chuckles].
The Web site for this show is Mentalpod.com. Go check it out. Fill out one of our anonymous surveys. Maybe we'll read your survey on the show. All kinds of good things you can do on the Web site. You can read blogs, guest blogs, browse the forum, support the show financially, see lists of listeners' favorite episodes from certain years. In fact, I've got one for this year, or for last year, for 2016.
The number 10 most popular among the listeners was the episode with Katie Hirschberg, Letter to My Suicidal 16-year-old Self. Number nine was Religious Abuse with Hilary A. Number eight was NHL legend Theo Fleury. Number seven was sex crimes detective Don Howell. Number six was Murray Valeriano live at L.A. Podfest. Number five was Glamorously Dying with Nikki DuBose. Number four was Melanie R. with DID, a.k.a. multiple personality disorder. Number three was Mara Wilson. Number two was Dr. Jonice Webb on emotional neglect. And number one was ex-CHP officer Kevin Briggs.
Thank you, guys, for voting on those. And voting is still open, so maybe those numbers will change. Stay tuned. This is very exciting. I'm creating drama. I'm creating dra-, this is like my own reality show, I'm creating drama where there is none.
This show is, as I've mentioned before, is sponsored by BetterHelp.com. They provide online therapy. They provided me with an online therapist, and I give you updates every week and love my therapist. She is really helping me with my boundary issues and we're doing some dream work together, which, I don't know, I'd heard about it a lot and so I asked her if we could try doing some of it, so I'm writing some of my dreams down, but I'm not going to share my dreams with you guys because the only thing more boring than listening to somebody describe their round of golf is listening to somebody tell you their dream. So, I'm not going to foist that on you.
But one of the things she is asking me to do is to notice how I feel when my boundaries are clean with somebody, and I'm talking about conversational boundaries. I'm not talking about physical boundaries. I like to think I'm pretty good with physical boundaries, but sometimes I just dive headlong into a conversation and just go too, too much information too quickly, and I know it's related to, you know, my addictions and trauma, whatever stuff you want to talk about, fantasy. By the way, this is a great episode for talking about the power of fantasy.
And so, as I'm writing these things down, it's really becoming clear to me how, when I'm in a conversation, when I'm in my addiction and when I am not. Here's some signs that I'm not in my addiction when I'm in a conversation with somebody. I feel patient. I respect boundaries. I'm aware of them. I don't have a set goal for where the conversation should go. I see the person instead of the imagined scenario that I want the conversation to go to, etc.
And the ways that I know when I'm in my addiction is I feel adrenaline. I begin to, I begin to fear that I am, how do I, fear that I am bad or wrong, because I think consciously I also kind of know that I am pushing boundaries, because I'm looking to escape my, whatever my issue is at the moment, be it pain, fear, loneliness, sadness, guilt, regret, whatever, and that adrenaline rush is one of the things that, when I'm in my addiction, I seek.
And the other thing, when I'm really into my addictions, be it any addiction, is I lose my perspective of myself, others and the situation that I am in. And there's a lot more that I've written down, but I say all that to say that I, I'm making some headway. I feel like it's the, you know, there's a saying in recovery that you're peeling the layers of the onion. I really feel like I'm doing that, like I’m getting to new things and getting better at dealing with issues as I kind of get past ones under control or find peace with or whatever it may be.
But I love BetterHelp.com. You can go there, complete a questionnaire, and get matched with a BetterHelp.com counselor and experience a free week of counseling to see if online counseling is right for you. You've got to be over 18, and I love it.
I do video, camera to camera, with my therapist once a week. We could check in with each other more if I wanted to. She'll occasionally send me a message saying, hey, you know, how about, think about this for next week's session, and that was the list that I just read to you. But I love it, can't say enough good things about it.
I want to read you an Awfulsome Moment. This is filled out by My, What a Beautiful Fucking Day, and she writes, in parentheses, this one is rather dark, Paul. As if that's ever put me off anything.
My new job has been incredibly stressful at times, especially as my anxiety, social anxiety loves to act up around my co-workers. I've spent a number of times crying in a bathroom stall, beating myself up over the belief that I'll never get this job right and I'll always be an awkward annoyance to my peers.
I carry a few sharp instruments during work with which to do my job, including an X-ACTO knife. Unfortunately, I have a history of self-abuse and at times the knife has been all too handy. During lunch one day, I brought out an orange and took the knife out of my pocket to help start the peel. A co-worker sitting with me, over whom I have a throbbing crush, jokingly said, don't do it, as in slicing my wrists. Funny, he seems to like using that joke every time he sees me take out the knife.
And then, as I began to cut into the orange, he says, are you sure you want to use that? You don't know where it's been. I just looked at him, smiled, and said nothing.
[Show intro]
PAUL: I’m here with Maia, who is somebody that I've known for a while, a couple of years, and our paths cross in support groups, and I've just always enjoyed our conversations because you're a very open person about your struggles and your self-loathing--
[Chuckling]
PAUL: --and I think maybe that's something that we both certainly share. And when you shared with me that you listen to the podcast, I was like, well, let's get you on as a guest. I just want to cover some broad strokes about stuff that you deal with and on paper who you are.
You're a lesbian. You were raised in Israel. You moved here when you were in your 20s, to Los Angeles. You saw Ellen. That helped you to come out and realize you were a lesbian. But the real focus of why I want to talk to you, in addition to your low self-esteem and struggling to connect with people, is fantasy.
MAIA: Mm-hmm.
PAUL: And that that is a drug to you.
MAIA: Yep. That is definitely a subject I can talk about.
PAUL: Let's talk about that.
MAIA: Oh, my God. You know, my--
PAUL: And the difference between, like imagination is a healthy thing for people to have, and fantasy is certainly something that everybody does, but we're talking about fantasy as an escape, as a coping mechanism, in a way that distances us from people.
MAIA: Yes.
PAUL: So, when we say that, to...
MAIA: Yeah, you know, when I listen to the podcast, people talk about, you know, their early journey, and when I was kind of thinking about what should I talk about, you know, trying not to be too controlling, but what should I talk about, you know, my journey with fantasy, or with fantasy for survival, I will call it, because that's what it is, started the minute I came into Earth, because I had a birth trauma that, well, when I discovered it, I went to an NLP therapist--
PAUL: What's that?
MAIA: --which is neurolinguistic programming. It's what Tony Robbins practices, and it's--
PAUL: Neurolinguistic...
MAIA: Programming, yeah, it's a way of therapy, and she helped me discover this birth trauma because it's a story I've heard all my life but I didn't realize the emotional impact that it had on me.
But basically, my mother had a pregnancy poison and I was born very tiny, like dangerously tiny.
PAUL: What do you mean when you say a pregnancy poison? She got poisoned in her body--
MAIA: Something in her blood, something in her blood, so I was born in nine months but I was like really tiny, like they can hold me in the palm of their hand, that's what they would tell me.
PAUL: Wow.
MAIA: Yeah, like that's a favorite family story, here's a coconut in my hand, that's how big you were.
So, I heard the story for years, and then I went to the therapist and I told her the story and she like, her jaw drop, and she looked at me and she's like, oh, my God, you have no idea what you went through as a baby.
And basically what happened is, back then, in 1973, in Israel, because I was born so tiny, what they did is, I got out of my mother's womb, they took me, they wouldn't even let my mother touch me, see me, talk to me. They put me in an incubator. They drove me an hour away to another hospital, and they kept me there for two months, and after two months my mother came and took me.
PAUL: So, you missed all of that attachment with your mom--
MAIA: None.
PAUL: --in the key time when a baby is supposed to be smelling the mother and breast-feeding and being held and feeling that electricity.
MAIA: Everything, I missed everything, which I think explained the, I'm telling it to you because I think that was the beginning of my fantasy, you know, issues and checking out and using it because I think that that created such, I think it's created such trauma that, as I became older and became an infant and a kid, I had that thing in me and I didn't know how to cope with other human beings. And it was a traumatic event that happened in our family that nobody ever talked about.
I actually talked to my mother about it, finally, after the therapist, and the therapist, by the way, she did like a meditation to me to get me back to that place, and that place brought up in me the same feelings I have about romantic relationships and about things. So that started at--
PAUL: Really?
MAIA: --that started at minute one. And she said that any, according to her, any baby that was in an incubator or that had some kind of disconnected will be an addict. Like, that's like the beginning of addiction, because right away--
PAUL: They're craving something deeply.
MAIA: Yeah, something that they can't have.
PAUL: All babies or just a lot of babies?
MAIA: In incubator babies, like babies that are like torn away from their parents. And I did some research about it and, nowadays, even if you have a birth, something goes wrong with the birth, they always put you on your mother and they always let the mother have the connection with you. Like, they learned.
But back then--
PAUL: And you don't necessarily mean, because you don't struggle with substance abuse. Your drug is fantasy--
MAIA: Yes.
PAUL: --and love addiction, as it were--
MAIA: Yes.
PAUL: --and food. You struggle with food as well.
MAIA: Yes.
PAUL: So, it's important to make that distinction that, you know, because somebody could, their thing could be workaholism or codependence or they could be a rageaholic, where they're addicted to control and anger.
MAIA: Yes. A part of my journey of recovery and addiction, at the end a humbleness of it, just really realizing that it doesn't really matter, that down, the point is to check out and not be here. Like, that's the point--
PAUL: To not feel the emptiness.
MAIA: Yeah, to not feel the pain, the emptiness, the low self-esteem, the no value. And again, the reason I'm telling this story, because I think it's so ingrained in me, like it's, from day one, I felt abandoned.
Now, the trick is that that wasn't the reality. My mother was so devastated and she went, she drove every day and hour to watch me in the hospital and, but my perception was that I was in danger. And when I got sober, I started having--
PAUL: When you say sober, what do you mean? What were you getting sober from?
MAIA: Sober from love addiction and fantasy addiction.
PAUL: Okay.
MAIA: And I started having those emotional flashbacks. Like, I didn't know what they were, but I would wake up or I would walk around during the day and I would feel in danger, but, in danger, like in danger for my life, in danger for my well-being, in danger for my, I don't know, from my being a human being, and I didn't know what was going on.
And then I started researching it, and I came across this article about post-traumatic stress complex, I don't know if you ever heard about it?
PAUL: Mm-hmm. Is that different than post-traumatic stress disorder?
MAIA: Yes. It's different in the way that post-traumatic stress disorder is about a single event that happened to you. Post-traumatic stress complex is about a period of time--
PAUL: Oh.
MAIA: --that you were, it's more applied for prisoners of war and people in cults and all of that, and for abusive children and that--
PAUL: Abused children.
MAIA: Abused children, children who were abused for a long period of time--
PAUL: Yeah, okay, I gotcha.
MAIA: --and emotional abuse, too. It doesn't, I'm not talking about physical abuse. And that the stuff that I was feeling, look, nobody ever like diagnosed me or told me that's what happened, but I, I know that, for me, that's the truth, is that I think that this feeling that came up when I got sober was from that time being in the incubator and feeling in danger for my life, because it has no rhyme or reason, that danger that I feel. I'm a grown-up. I can take care of myself. You know, everything is okay.
And it feels like infant, like when I think about it, it's like that's what a baby in an incubator, not knowing what's going on, thinking they're in danger for their lives would feel.
PAUL: And I would imagine, you know, even though clearly, as an infant, you didn't know, well, I was born too small and, you know, etc., etc., but just the lack of having the mother there would set off alarm bells that you're not getting something genetically that you need in there.
When I was two weeks old, my small intestine was too small, the valve that goes from your stomach to your small intestine, mine was too small, and so I couldn't digest anything, so everything I was eating I was throwing up. So, the first two weeks of my life, I was basically starving.
MAIA: Oh, my God.
PAUL: And so, they had to put me in the hospital and they had to do this surgery, and I'd never really thought about it, and then I got into therapy and a therapist said, oh, that's incredibly traumatic because you were away from your mom, you were physically starving.
And so, we did some EMDR work on it and I began to kind of think about, oh, yeah, that feeling of like, like a hole in my chest, I can feel that. I can feel that feeling. And one of the things I struggle with to this day is, if I don't know where and when I'm going to eat and I begin to get hungry, I panic.
MAIA: Hm.
PAUL: I have to know where my food is going to come from, and it's, I like, sometimes when I'm hungry, I can't even converse with people. I think some people, when they hear things like you're talking about and I'm talking about, they're like, oh, they're just looking for a reason to feel sorry for themselves, they're just, they're, you know, one of those people that look on the Internet and they go, yes, that explains everything for me, I'm going to go with that.
But I want to say this is a real thing.
MAIA: Thank you. And actually, I'm so glad we're talking about it because I feel like, first of all, it's so real to me, like I can, like the experience cannot be taken away. It's so real.
And I feel like, you know, when a kid is sexually abused, which is a horrible thing by itself. I'm not diminishing anything from it. Again, it's a very acceptable, quote, unquote, thing by society, like you know you're going to have trauma and you know you're going to have problems with relationships and you go to a therapist and you tell them that right away, but having infant, emotional infant trauma is not something that is known, and I think so many people don't even, either don't even know their stories or heard like some kind of story and don't realize the effect.
And if you read any, I'm not a psychologist but I've done a lot of research for myself, any childhood development research or understanding will tell you that it actually goes like the opposite of our sponge-learning thing. From day one, we are the most sponge ever, and as we get older, we get less and less and less sponge.
So, the earlier the trauma is, the more effect it will have on you.
PAUL: Oh, that makes sense. That makes sense.
MAIA: You know, that's why like when you, like again, from what I read, from when you're born, the effect of what you sponge in is so big that it's energetically, it doesn't even have to be said to you.
That's why like kids learn how to, how do babies learn how to do things? Nobody teaches them. It's like they, they can look at something and do it. They get it on an energetic level. And as the older we get, the less and less it is, and I think by the time we reach age seven, it really starts slowing down. That's why they say, you know, to teach babies language, like if you talk to a one-year-old with three languages, they will know three languages. If you talk to an eight-year-old with three languages, it will take them much longer to catch up.
So, I’m so glad we're talking about it because, to me, that was, it explains a lot of things that's going on in my life, and a lot of experience that I have and a lot of like reactions that I get, like rejection, which is hard for everybody.
PAUL: Mm-hmm.
MAIA: You know, like I’m not thinking I'm special or anything like that, but there's moments where rejection to me feels like danger. Like, whenever something feels to me like danger, I now learn that it must be something to do with my trauma as an infant, because nobody's in dan-, like there is no danger except, God forbid, physical danger.
PAUL: So, for you, it goes beyond pain and hurt. It's like your very existence feels threatened.
MAIA: It's post-traumatic stress. It is. Yeah, it's post-traumatic stress.
PAUL: Is it that you feel like you're going to die, you're going to disappear, or is it just a general panicky fear that you can't necessarily articulate what it is that you're afraid of?
MAIA: It's feeling of danger. I know it's hard to explain because it doesn't make sense.
PAUL: But you can't say what specific danger it is that you're imagining. It's just your body is reacting the way you would if somebody were mugging you.
MAIA: It's existential danger. Like, it's like I'm in danger. Now, you look around and you go like, there's nothing dangerous around me, but your body feels like in danger. Like the same way your body feels good when you have an orgasm, like your body feels, like my whole being feels in danger. And it doesn't make sense, and it's the weirdest thing ever.
And I'm so glad Google is around because [chuckles] I don't know what I would do 20 years ago if that would happen to me and I couldn't Google it and kind of research, probably I guess I would go to the library and read about it. So, yeah, so I’m glad we're talking about it because it is a big part of my healing journey and my recovery.
PAUL: And so, I would imagine, of course you're going to be addicted to fantasy--
MAIA: Yes.
PAUL: --because you need to escape that body that, when you are afraid you're going to be rejected, let's go to a place, let's go to the happy place in our head where--
MAIA: Yes. Well, that was my starting point, all right, so right away you know, you know, there were going to be some issues. But then, then it goes, you know, to the more regular stuff, where my parents were in their early 20s, you know, when they had me and they obviously did not know what they were doing and they have their own issues.
And they weren't ready to have kids, and I don't want to get into their stuff because that's their stuff, but they definitely, I was def-, there was definitely emotional problems in the, you know, in the household.
PAUL: Lack of emotion or too intense of emotion?
MAIA: Lack of emotion. So, everything was external, so everything was valued external and everything is about success and good, success and good, so bad, not, I guess there's nothing really bad, but failing or not doing something right--
PAUL: It was about achievement and financial success.
MAIA: Yes, yes. Any success--
PAUL: Any success.
MAIA: --any success you can show other people, you know.
PAUL: I see, okay.
MAIA: Which is something very common in Israel, I mean something very common in Western civilization, but definitely in Israel.
So, even in my childhood, so I think that that's, I think that I realized very, very quickly in my childhood, I mean, I can only imagine, you know, I can't remember consciously, but that I realized very quickly that I feel a lot of pain and I'm not getting loved and I need to check out because I can't survive this.
You know, I mean, again, I don't think it was consciously, but I think like I wasn't able to survive it as a kid so, and, you know, it's so hard to say because like I can see if somebody knows me or my family and they will listen to it, they wouldn't understand what I was talking about, but this is like my emotional experience in my family.
And it's not that my parents did anything wrong. They were wonderf-, like they love me, I know, dearly, and they gave me anything I ever wanted, really. I was not, I will not be able to have what I have today without them. But they didn't give me the love that a child needs because they couldn't, they didn't know how. Like, it's just--
PAUL: Mm-hmm.
MAIA: --you know. And for me, that was a very traumatic experience as a little kid. And I think that I just checked out and I went to fantasy.
Now, of course, as a three-, four-year-old, it's not a sexual fantasy. I mean, it's not a romantic fantasy, but I have very early memories of remembering times when I went to, like six, seven years, like went to camp and I was like sitting in the bus, having this imagination story in my head of how I was this kid who was, like I made a whole world around it, which kids do, so it's not like, you know, I was the only one that was doing it--
PAUL: But generally not when they're on a bus full of people.
MAIA: But, and that's the thing, that now that I look back at it, I remember how good it felt. Like, it felt like good like in a way that now getting high feels good to me. So, I can--
PAUL: Getting high from fantasy now.
MAIA: --getting high from fantasy. So, I can, I can see how it was, it was, for me, a checking-out, you know, thing before I even knew what checking out was.
PAUL: And checking out, not to mean like, hey, I'm going to check this out, like checking out like leaving reality.
MAIA: Yes, leaving reality in my mind. You know, like any, I mean, our imagination is a wonderful thing, but like anything else, like food is a wonderful thing, and somebody can eat, I will just externalize it because it's easier to understand, somebody can go and have the most healthy meal and feel great and nurture their body and it's food, and then somebody like me would go and get food and get high. Same thing with, like really, like literally like In-N-Out makes me high, you know.
PAUL: Mm-hmm.
MAIA: It's like I can feel it in my body, like I can feel the high.
PAUL: That's, In-N-Out is a West Coast--
MAIA: Oh, sorry [chuckles].
PAUL: --burger place that I also get very excited to go to.
MAIA: Yes [chuckles]. And most people are, but again, and it's the same thing with imagination, I think, because people use imagination, and me, too, I'm a creative person. There's parts in my life where I use imagination very healthy and in a very great way, but I also use it to get high.
PAUL: Yeah.
MAIA: And I always like joke around with myself that it's like, like part of me is grateful that I'm not like, I don't use drugs that cost a lot of money and hurt your physical body and you can really get physically hurt by them, so that's that, that's good.
But I can sit on my couch alone, without any other circums-, you know, like nothing that I need from anybody, dependent on anybody, and get high, so it's--
PAUL: The pharmacy is in your brain and it's open 24 hours.
MAIA: You know what? I’m going to steal that from you [chuckles]. You couldn't have said it better. And it's so hard to explain it to people. Like I really think like you have to be a fantasy addict to get it. I think that if you're not a fantasy addict, you can maybe understand, you know, and kind of like go like, all right, I get it, it could happen, but...
PAUL: Yeah. It's, when you get good at escaping into fantasy, it's good. I mean, you've created, it's incredibly unhealthy, but when you're in that fantasy, you are able to coax feelings out of yourself, out of your brain, drugs out of your brain that feel almost as real as if you were in the situation that you're fantasizing about--
MAIA: Yes.
PAUL: --like you could actually feel like, oh, I won the lottery, or I'm married to this person that I’m fantasizing about, or, you know, I'm giving an Academy Awards speech--
MAIA: Yes.
PAUL: --or I've created the, discovered the cure for cancer.
MAIA: Yes, yes, or somebody so cool loves me or somebody I’m not supposed to love loves me back or, you know, as you can see, that's my drug of choice. Or I think it's like--
PAUL: Or chewing somebody out, that's the thing I go to a lot--
MAIA: Oh, really?
PAUL: --is things that I would have liked to have said when somebody put me down or violated my boundaries, you know. I've had so many conversations in my head where I fantasize about how I would have stuck up for myself, where there isn't that fear.
MAIA: Hm. And that's the thing about fantasy, which I now know because I live more in reality, I didn't know that before, there is nothing uncomfortable, nothing painful, nothing that you have to deal with in your fantasy. In your fantasy, you only feel good, everything works to your advantage, even the conflict is just a resolution to get you to where you need to go, and I was kind of like in shock when I joined reality--
[Chuckling]
MAIA: --because I was in situations where I used to fantasize about and, you know, the sober part of me was really happy to experience it and I could feel gratitude and excitement to achieve something, but then everything comes with a layer of reality, which is insecurities and fear and unknown and--
PAUL: Ambiguity and--
MAIA: --out of control and--
PAUL: --things you don't like about it. Yeah, fantasy is complete control, and reality--
MAIA: Totally.
PAUL: --is, you know, and the other thing, as you're talking about this, this is occurring to me, is of course somebody who is a fantasy addict is going to have difficulty with intimacy because intimacy is giving up control.
MAIA: Oh, my God.
PAUL: And fantasy is taking control.
MAIA: Oh, my God, it's like, I think they're the yin and yang, like it's the complete opposite, and that's what I discovered when I joined the human race, when I got sober, is that relationships, A, I discovered I didn't have any relationships even though I thought I did.
I'm very good at, I'm very social, so I'm very good at, you know, talking to people and I, you know, I have friends and I know people, but I never had relationships with people, meaning like when, you know, the other person upsets you or the other person, I mean, that does not happen in my fantasy--
[Chuckling]
MAIA: Or that you have fears or that you have this fear that you're going to get rejected, and I'm not even talking about romantic relationship. I'm actually not dating and I'm practicing, I mean, I'm reali-, not knowing, not like intentionally, but I'm practicing intimacy with friends, and it's so hard. I can't even imagine dating [chuckles].
But it's so great because I'm, and I can't even tell you like how many times, like I laugh at it with myself how I have a friend and we're really close, and she's good so I can talk to her about it and tell her all the fears that come up for me, but I have broken up our friendship like 10 times in my mind.
PAUL: Uh-huh.
MAIA: Like, when--
PAUL: And it's a platonic relationship.
MAIA: Yeah, yeah. It's a friend, like a total friend, and like when I call her, let me give you an example, right. When I call her and she's having a bad day, so, it has nothing to do with me and she's just like short or whatever, you know, she's going through her own stuff. I hang up the phone and I tell myself, and I truly believe it, wow, this friendship is over.
PAUL: [Chuckles]
MAIA: I mean, it was fun, but she will never want to talk to me again. She was, I don't know what, she was pissed at me, she was, and I literally believe with every inch of my body that that relationship is over.
And then she calls me back [chuckles] a week later and I'm shocked, and I tell her that, you know, and she laughs. But what was amazing to me, the power of my belief that this relationship is over and how I used to just stop being in relationships with people because that would have been my assumption. You know, it just shows you how much fantasy was like what I, fantasy taught me how to have a relationship with people. And that is not good [chuckles].
PAUL: Yeah, fantasy taught you how to have an unrealistic--
MAIA: Yes, thank you.
PAUL: --relationship with people.
MAIA: Yes [chuckles].
PAUL: When you say, when I got sober, what were you defining your sobriety by, because, you know, when it's drugs or alcohol, it's very clear cut what sobriety is. It's very black and white. But with something where it involves fantasy or, I mean, what were the, what were and are the things you used to determine your sobriety for your love addiction?
MAIA: There is a list of actions that I’m not allowed to take, and to an average person on the street, they would laugh at that list. They would be like, [scoffs] I do this every day and I’m fine, but to me, if I take those actions, the odds of me getting high or kind of like stepping out of reality is pretty much guaranteed.
PAUL: What is, before we get to that list, if you're comfortable sharing that or some of the things on the list, the person listening that doesn't understand this is saying, okay, so you get high? What's the matter with that? So you feel this intense feeling. You know, they're probably thinking, well, when I orgasm with somebody who's exciting to be around, I'm getting high, right?
MAIA: Right.
PAUL: So, what's the, explain for the listener what the difference is between why that's not okay for you.
MAIA: Whew, that's a loaded |
repealing Section 43 was a rather odd thing to include among the TRC’s recommendations in the first place.
Of course many aboriginal children at the residential schools were spanked — spanked if they were lucky. If the horrors chronicled in the TRC report under the heading “discipline” had been inflicted upon white children, it is safe to say society would have been appalled. Parents would have availed themselves of the luxury of finding another school. Indeed it was bad enough that on many occasions the schools’ overseers, while hardly opposed to corporal punishment per se, objected strenuously to its brutal and random application at the residential schools.
In 1934, principal J.P. Mackey of Shubenacadie, N.S., decided to get to the bottom of some missing money by having the school carpenter, Edward McLeod, construct “a seven-thonged strap” and deploy it against 19 students, drawing blood in some cases, in hopes of exposing the guilty parties. It made the news, and was scandalous enough to lead to an inquiry, the adjudicator of which concluded Mackey “should be commended and congratulated for carefully investigating the conduct of his pupils.”
Obviously we have no need of new legal restrictions on such behaviour. It is a thousand miles past reasonable force. We are talking about banning spanking as a standardized punishment for misbehaviour, followed by a hug; or spanking as a reprove for younger children’s dangerous behaviour. Implemented literally, a “spanking ban” would criminalize the panicked mother who swats her toddler after he runs into traffic for the third time in an afternoon — and at a point in history when parents continue to abandon spanking in droves, all on their own.
Proponents will scoff: prosecutors would never pursue such a minor case, they will insist. Which only re-raises the question: what’s wrong with them applying that discretion under an existing law that demands “reasonable force”? In any event, unfortunately, the discretion exercised by the wielders of government power is rather less appreciated in some communities than in others — thus the TRC report’s call to redress the vast overrepresentation of aboriginal adults in custody and aboriginal children in state care.
Both phenomena are prima facie evidence of discrimination, many believe. As such, giving the state any more power to police parenting seems a curious and risky proposition both in general and specifically with respect to spanking. Most research suggests spanking is considerably more prevalent among less wealthy and less educated parents. Thus it is reasonable to suspect spanking is more prevalent among aboriginal Canadians. Even applied dispassionately, such a law could have perversely negative effects on that community.
It is all very well on Twitter or in a university lecture hall to declare every spank an unconscionable act of violence that must be banned in the name of civilization. Out here on earth, we are talking about children watching their parents being taken away in handcuffs, packing a bag and having dinner with their new foster family — an outcome infinitely more likely to screw them up than any reasonable number of judicious swats.
Presumably a great many members of Parliament were spanked as children by their loving, nurturing parents. They have a duty to imagine themselves in that position before they support anything like an outright ban on spanking.The brown bugs, each about half the size of a pencil eraser, lie in glass petri dishes - a few on their backs, legs in the air. They died within seconds of scurrying across a piece of paper containing drops of a chemical.The next step is to find out whether that same piece of paper will kill insects that crawl over it two, three or four months from now.
This lab is the front line in the federal government's chemical warfare on a scourge that has become resistant to many insecticides and is raising anxiety - and welts - in bedrooms, college dorms and hotel suites across the country: bedbugs.
Among those leading the attack is Mark F. Feldlaufer, an entomologist at the Invasive Insect Biocontrol and Behavior Laboratory on the Agriculture Department's sprawling research center in suburban Maryland. His mission is to find compounds that kill the bloodsuckers, which have made such an itch-inducing comeback in recent years that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Environmental Protection Agency issued a joint statement last month noting their "alarming resurgence."
A common household pest for centuries, bedbugs were virtually eradicated in the 1940s and '50s by the widespread use of DDT. That insecticide was banned in the 1970s, and the bugs developed resistance to chemicals that replaced it.
Unlike many other household pests - ants, termites and cockroaches - bedbugs can live for months without a meal, hidden deep in mattress seams, box springs and baseboard crevices, behind wallpaper and in clutter around beds, making it hard to spray them. And they travel easily, hitchhiking from person to person, apartment to apartment, city to city.
Getting rid of them, experts say, has become a complex political and social problem, not only because of modern concerns about pesticide use but also because of Americans' mobile lifestyle.
"People don't even have time to check their doggone phone messages," said Michael Potter, an entomologist at the University of Kentucky, much less inspect mattresses for brown specks of feces, a telltale sign of an infestation. People also have more possessions, and all that clutter makes for great places for bugs to hide.
And rightly or wrongly, it is considered imprudent to spray insecticides in areas around the bedroom, he said. That means pest control companies are often unable to get rid of all the bugs at once. Return visits increase homeowner costs, and also risk increasing the bugs' resistance to insecticides.
Funding is limited for the kind of work the USDA's Feldlaufer is doing. Research on the public health effects of the bugs has not received much support because even though their bites can provoke allergic reactions, unlike ticks and mosquitoes they are not known to spread disease.
Nontoxic measures to fight the pests include encasing mattresses and box springs and washing clothes in hot water and running them in a dryer on high heat. But mattresses and couches can't be put in a dryer, and heat-treatment technology in apartment buildings is hugely expensive, experts said.
"It's the biggest pest problem we've encountered in several generations," said Bob Rosenberg, vice president of government affairs for the National Pest Management Association.
More bedbug complaints
In Baltimore, calls about bedbugs to the city's 311 line jumped from two in December 2008, when the city began tracking them in earnest, to 92 last month.
Washington is also seeing a big increase in calls to 311 and the health department, with the number this year - 257 - on pace to more than double last year's total, officials said.
Traditionally, complaints come from multi-unit dwellings, but the past three months have seen spikes from single-family homes and visitors who stayed in District hotels, they said.
In Ohio, infestations are so severe that Gov. Ted Strickland (D) made two appeals to EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson.
"The bedbug problem has created a very real physical, emotional and economically devastating situation for many Ohioans," the governor wrote in a June 30 letter.
One Dayton apartment complex owner spent more than $280,000 in an attempt to destroy the pests, he noted.
Another hired an unlicensed pesticide applicator who saturated the inside of an apartment complex with a pesticide, resulting in tenants being treated at a hospital for chemical exposure.
Strickland would like Jackson to approve the use of an insecticide that is banned for residential purposes. The chemical, propoxur, is widely used to kill cockroaches and lawn pests.
Researching solutions
Although many insecticides are approved for use against bedbugs, the great majority contain pyrethroids, a class of chemicals against which the pests have developed rampant resistance, entomologist Potter said.
Potter's research has found propoxur, which belongs to a more toxic class of pesticides known as carbamates, to be effective because it does not rely on direct contact but remains potent on surfaces where bugs crawl even after it dries. The chemical had been approved for use against bedbugs since the 1960s. But manufacturers withdrew it from residential use in 2007 after the EPA found that indoor uses posed risks to children.
Pyrethroids and carbamates both disrupt bedbugs' nervous systems, but in different ways. University of Kentucky researchers have found that the bugs have developed resistance to pyrethroids in several ways, including breaking down the toxin with enzymes before it reached its targets.
An EPA official said the agency is evaluating more data to find out whether propoxur could be used in a more limited way than Ohio has requested.
The EPA, which held a bedbug summit last year, is now leading an interagency task force on the pests that includes the CDC, USDA, Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Defense Department.
Seeking a fast fix
Until a month ago, Feldlaufer and other scientists at the USDA had been focusing on synthesizing new compounds to kill bedbugs. But even if a new chemical were effective, bringing it to market would take much longer because of safety testing. A faster solution would be to look at chemicals already used to treat agricultural pests, where safety data have been established, and determine whether those could be used to control bedbugs.
Hundreds of such pesticides exist. The EPA and USDA are working together to come up with a list for testing, ranked in order of those most likely to get a green light for indoor use, officials said.
But no new chemical would be a magic bullet. To fully eradicate the pests, there needs to be a coordinated approach that includes vacuuming, decluttering and sealing cracks to remove hiding places.
To raise public awareness about the bedbug problem, Baltimore officials have conducted door-to-door campaigns in affected neighborhoods. In the District, health officials put together a five-minute video about bedbugs that airs daily on Channel 16 and is also on the city government's Web site.
Feldlaufer hopes the new urgency will help him get more insecticide-resistant bugs to test. At his Beltsville lab, his 18 mason jars hold tens of thousands of bugs that feed on expired red blood cells (from Walter Reed Army Medical Center) that he mixes with plasma. But only two jars contain the pyrethroid-resistant ones.
His personal hope is to avoid getting bitten by the bugs ever again. He has become extremely allergic to them.
When he was a graduate student, he let dozens feed on his forearm while researching bedbugs. He developed a mild rash but didn't worry much about it. Fast-forward to two years ago, when as a longtime USDA entomologist he took up bedbug research again. He received a collection of the pests from a leading expert and decided to let them feed on his arm again.
This time, his arm swelled and reddish blisters bubbled up.
"Boom - after 10 seconds, I got that reaction, even though I had not been exposed in nearly 30 years," he said.
A photo of his blistered arm is featured in a USDA poster about bedbugs on the wall outside his lab. It's a personal reminder of his professional mission.
Staff researcher Madonna Lebling contributed to this report.Tottenham have been the victims of an attempted fraud after a Croatian middleman forged a signature to try to sell them a Dutch striker.
The fraudster contacted Spurs claiming FC Twente had authorised him to sell Holland Under-21 player Luc Castaignos.
The Croatian gave Tottenham a document supposedly signed by Twente's chairman but when they contacted the Dutch club, they discovered it was forged.
"A player has been offered with this forged document," FC Twente confirmed.
"The forgery has been made known to the KNVB (Dutch Football Federation), with the request to pass it on to Uefa and Fifa and take the appropriate measures."
Gert-Jan Nijweide, FC Twente's finance director, said: "We have recently been informed of this scam from England.
"We have sent a letter to the persons who have used the false document, ordering them to stop immediately."Alexandre Lacazette will sign a five-year deal at Arsenal, Sky sources understand
Alexandre Lacazette is set to finalise his move from Lyon to Arsenal after completing a medical at the Gunners' training ground on Tuesday, Sky sources understand.
Lacazette is expected to sign a five-year deal at the Emirates Stadium after Arsenal agreed a club-record deal with the Ligue 1 side which could rise to £52m over the course of his contract.
The France international, who has agreed personal terms, had verbally agreed to join Atletico Madrid this summer but that deal collapsed last month after Atletico's transfer ban was confirmed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Arsenal's opening bid of £39m was turned down last month, but Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas had confirmed a deal was likely to be completed after the sides met on a fee that would eclipse the £42.5m Arsenal paid for Mesut Ozil four years ago.
Lacazette had said he would only move to a club who are playing in Europe's premier club competition but it appears the 26-year-old's stance on the matter has softened.
He boasted the highest chance conversion rate in Europe's top five leagues last season (38.9 per cent).
His record of 28 league goals last term was more than the combined tally of Arsenal quartet Olivier Giroud, Theo Walcott, Danny Welbeck and Lucas Perez.June 23, 2014 | 7:44 am
On my last trip to see my aging parents, I was struck again by the loneliness that comes from diminished connections. They are both inspiring people, and in their younger years were notably adept at making connections with and for others. And at helping people see the good in each other, in themselves, and in the communities they call home.
However, over time those connections are slowly dissolving. While there’s little to be done at this stage, this experience reaffirms the expediency of staying connected as long as we can to all the networks – internal and external – that make for wellness.
The process of saying “what if” does little good. However, I can’t help myself.
“What loneliness is more lonely than distrust?” – T.S. Eliot
What if there had been a cottage living option in my parents’ neighbourhood that was a short walk to their daily needs? To help us coax them out of their large family house a decade or two earlier? Before it wore them down?
What if our family home had been in a more walkable neighourhood, where they would have been prone to walk the easy thirty minutes a day that is proven to increase memory and decrease the risk of dementia?
These sorts of places are the ones rich in social networks, which – interestingly – build neural networks. Loneliness is as dangerous as smoking or obesity, and more dangerous than inactivity. Loneliness also increases blood pressure and sleep disorders (PLOS Medicine, 2010). John Cacioppo’s scientific book, Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection, he concludes that a sense of isolation disrupts not only our thinking abilities and will power but also our immune systems.
It isn’t being alone that creates loneliness, but the feeling of being disconnected. According to Jacqueline Olds, author of The Lonely American, we should be putting a greater policy focus on the “potentially devastating consequences of social isolation” (Globe and Mail, 2013).
Loneliness is a complicated issue that I’m not prepared to holistically address. It is more prevalent than depression, but we don’t understand it as well because we are generally not as willing to talk about it. We’ve talked extensively about the flip side, though, in walkable, connected places that make for healthy, livable places that tend to contribute to happiness.
“We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men; and among those fibers, as sympathetic threads, our actions run as causes, and they come back to us as effects.” ― Herman Melville
My hometown of Huntsville, Alabama is joining hundreds of others in contemplating a form-based code to make it a better place to live for people of all ages, however at present it’s predominantly suburban in nature. My partner, Ben Brown, has made it clear that these are not easy problems to solve, and few places are well positioned to rebalance housing and provide livability.
Happily, the ones that are tackling these issues with land use reform are finding the results much less litigious than business as usual, according to insightful blog from Jonathan Zasloff.
Part of the issue is that form-based codes are relatively new – 31 years old – but 82% have been adopted since 2003. More at the Codes Study.
So case disputes will likely materialize over time, particularly in the places that:
Didn’t take the time, money, and care to establish a community vision that could then be codified, Adopted an all-new replacement code without having adequate local support, Misapplied the Transect to the region, instead of the neighbourhood, Failed to capture local character within the code’s basic metrics, or made other number errors like wide streets near small setbacks, Required walkable private realms without the appropriate investment to retrofit the public realm, Upzoned properties to be out of the money based on faulty growth projections so stalled economic activity, Downzoned properties without adequate compensation, Overcomplicated administration requirements, ill-defined terms, or undefined appeals procedure, Created confusing text and metrics, or tried to regulate with photos instead of drawings, Created solutions out of line with the local problem set.
Some of the most successful form-based code adoptions have taken a very incremental approach to implementation, making the code optional but heavily incentivized, slowly transitioning downtowns and corridors into mandatory regulations as the locals requested rezoning.
The incremental approach to anything isn’t going to help people of my parents’ generation. But it definitely holds some promise for my kid’s generation, so that our elders’ hard lessons learned won’t be for nothing.
Here’s to the hard work of making the connections within and between our neighbourhoods that make for health and wellness in the long run.
–Hazel Borys
If PlaceShakers is our soapbox, our Facebook page is where we step down, grab a drink and enjoy a little conversation. Looking for a heads-up on the latest community-building news and perspective from around the web? Click through and “Like” us and we’ll keep you in the loop.Thank you so much for all the comments about our work to improve file management basics. We’ve been overwhelmed by the dialog—there’s a huge amount of excitement for the changes we’re making and a ton of energy around this topic. That’s what makes working on Windows 8 so much fun. While there were comments and suggestions around many parts of what we talked about, by far the most back and forth (expressing all sides of the issue for sure) came from the discussion of the file name collision dialog (one dialog!). We thought it would be great to dig up the design archives from the development cycle and show you some of what we considered and how we got to where we are. Down the road we will of course circle back and talk about any changes we might make, but we thought spending some energy looking at our design path would be a useful effort. This post was authored by a set of folks who worked on the feature (they all worked on other parts of Windows 8 as well)-- Ben Truelove (designer), Matt Duignan (UX researcher), Jon Class and Ilana Smith (program managers). --Steven
Our previous post about the new copy experience in Windows 8 generated a lot of questions and comments about the new “Choose Files” dialog for resolving file name collisions. Based on the level of interest, we thought it would be fun to share some of the design iterations and our usability testing that led us to this design.
In the implemented design, there are two levels of control when acting on file name collisions (or “conflicts”).
The primary experience is a simplified, one-click, bulk management of all conflicts, offering “Replace all” or “Skip all.” We call this the “Simple Conflict Resolution dialog.”
There is also an option to enter the secondary experience which offers more information and more fine-grained control. This is the “Detailed Conflict Resolution dialog.”
Windows 7 and before
Resolving file name collisions is an inherently tricky task, as it involves making a meaningful choice between two very similar things.
Here’s how we did this back in Windows 3.1:
We’d certainly made some progress by the time we got to this in Windows 7:
In Windows 7, there’s a lot of information to aid the choice, and more options about what action to take. For Windows 8, we thought we could improve this even further, so it’s easier for you to make the right decisions more efficiently, and get your file transfer tasks completed faster. As we mentioned, the feedback and support calls on the existing dialog were clear—folks were having a hard time finding the information needed to make an informed choice in a fairly complex dialog. Even with the amount of work we do, sometimes it takes quite a while to surface something that isn’t optimal. Keep in mind millions of people used pre-release Windows 7 and this was not a big topic of discussion on our forums (not to say that it didn’t come up, but it was not a broadly raised topic).
Improving on the Windows 7 experience
First, we looked at ways to keep the experience basically the same, but to incrementally improve it by optimizing for the key information that is necessary for the decision.
These designs introduced some concepts that really stuck around:
Getting rid of unnecessary labels (like “Date modified:”) and obvious explanatory text enabled us to present the important details at a glance.
Metadata adjectives were emphasized. Rather than requiring users to compare values like file size, using words like “Larger” gave users the right summary.
Smart defaults were pre-selected, reducing the work for users.
Fast and fluid: better bulk management of conflicts
In Windows 8, we want you to be able to get stuff done more quickly and efficiently—"fast and fluid" are key design words around Windows 8 for all of our designs (for touch, mouse/keyboard or both together). The next major design iteration looked at ways that we could follow on from the cohesive copy progress experience, bring queued-up conflicts together into a single dialog, and provide you with the ability to manage them in a more streamlined way.
The idea of optimizing for the “Replace all” or “Skip all” choice was introduced. Most of the time, you know exactly what you’re copying and why it is conflicting, and you can make a simple choice about what action to take.
For cases where you need more information or finer-grained control, we decided to disclose information in “tiers” of greater detail.
We started with two tiers:
Then we tried three-tiers:
And ended up back at one-tier:
This design offers many positive attributes. It provides a lot of information. Since clicking on the headers selects everything in a column, it provides real power for managing conflicts. But it was a very complex piece of UI to be presenting as the initial experience.
Instead, we combined the best of these options into the following:
Simple and detailed conflict resolution
It was clear that this design was heading toward a balanced combination of simplicity and power that would suit user patterns.
Unfortunately, we identified a real challenge with this design: when you select “Let me pick,” the result is confusing and overly complex because the simpler and advanced options are both available. This led us to a design where the “Simple Conflict Resolution dialog” and the “Detailed Conflict Resolution dialog” were discrete experiences.
With this decision, our basic structure was in place.
Refinements
In preparation for testing with users, we iterated on the design.
We cleared up the confusion caused by a single thumbnail.
We made the source and destination (and their columns) more apparent.
Our User Assistance team (the experts in authoring text we use in the product, assistance, and the web) helped us out with better text.
It’s interesting to see the similarities between the Simple Conflict Resolution dialog and some of the earliest designs for dealing with single file conflicts. It’s also interesting how similar they both are to the final design for the dialog.
First round of usability research
In our usability tests our researchers find a diverse set of subjects who don’t work at Microsoft and represent a range of different skill levels and experiences. We show them the software and ask them to complete a set of tasks. By listening as they describe their thought process, using eye-tracking to watch how they see the UI and measuring successful task completion, we gain valuable insights into what works (or not) about a design.
It is super important to understand that usability tests are one tool we use. Anyone who has ever used this tool knows that you have to be both an expert in the domain and also an expert at designing tests themselves as observer bias and test construction can easily lead you to a false sense of security or efforts to optimize an inherently flawed solution. To help us in that regard, our tests are designed by objective researchers who understand the limits of what can be tested and also make sure that the conclusions drawn from the test match what the test was meant to measure. Ultimately, design choices require the use of many different inputs both qualitative and quantitative as well as experience and intuition.
We knew that we’d learn a lot in our first round of usability tests and make many changes, so we used the RITE method as our protocol. Most usability studies test the same UI with all users, but with RITE, we make changes continuously between participants, based on what we learn. (We were testing with PowerPoint slides at this point, so change was cheap.)
We didn’t end up needing to make many changes to the Simple Conflict Resolution dialog as it tested well, but we tested lots of different things for the Detailed Conflict Resolution dialog:
Our key lessons:
Check boxes are necessary. As much as we preferred the cleaner no-checkbox look, it simply didn’t test well. Users didn’t know what to do when presented with the UI. Check boxes were much more effective in providing appropriate cues for selection. We made sure to retain a large click-target area, so users can click on the check box, thumbnail, or the text to select a file.
Click target area for file selection
Mixing the adjectives (e.g. “newer,” “larger”) and the metadata was confusing. Users interpreted them as two different concepts. The adjectives were particularly problematic – people thought they were titles, or described the file location (for example, “older” was interpreted to mean the files in the destination because they were present prior to the copy.)
Columns needed to be more distinct. At first glance, it looked like the Tiles view in Explorer, rather than a table.
More refinement
There was no simple solution to the adjective and column issues, so that led to more design explorations:
We really struggled with how best to define the hierarchy and importance of source/destination versus conflict rows. We tried vertical lines, which separated the source and destination too much. We ultimately landed on horizontal lines, combined with the file name as a header, to give the most prominence to the distinction between conflicts. The check boxes aided in distinguishing a choice between source and destination without interfering with this distinction.
Some of our earliest ideas were discarded at this point in the process:
No default choices. With conflicts scrolling off the page, defaults posed too much of a risk of data loss. No selection in a row results in the copy of that file being skipped, so nothing is lost.
No adjectives. We liked “Newer” and “Larger,” but they added confusion and users valued the concrete data.
Instead, to help users make the choice, we chose a more subtle suggestion – the newer and larger metadata values are bold in the UI. This has proven to be surprisingly effective, without introducing new concepts or adding clutter.
More usability research
In our next round of usability tests, we were heading toward the final design, and tested fewer alternatives:
The third option was the clear winner. The two-column view is the most efficient use of space and moves the check boxes close to the question. Date and time need to be on the same line because these are primarily a single value.
The Detailed Conflict Resolution dialog also offers the following features to help when even more information is required to make the decision:
Double-clicking the thumbnail opens the file.
Right-clicking the thumbnail opens the standard context menu.
The blue Source and Destination text are clickable, and open those locations in Explorer.
Hovering on the thumbnail or link shows a tooltip with the full file path.
Continuing to iterate
We’ve continued to conduct more studies and make minor changes since the initial research, but the core design has remained basically the same. It has been very encouraging to witness the ease with which users complete usability tasks. Resolving file name collisions is a tricky problem, but users are efficient and successful.
Check out the video in our previous post on file management basics to see this design in action.
We love feedback and want to use it to make the best design we can, so we’ve been carefully reading all your comments, and look forward to you working with it in practice.
-- Ben Truelove, Matt Duignan, Jon Class, and Ilana Smith
(If you missed them, several of our team members made comments on the previous post that addressed some of the questions raised: Alex, Matt, Jordi, Jon.)LOS ANGELES (CBS) — CBS Investigative reporter David Goldstein has learned that a top LAX official has resigned his post after allegations surfaced that he was sexting and sending sexually explicit messages on his LAX-issued phone.
Goldstein tracked Michael Molina down at his house but Molina had no comment.
LAX CEO Gina Marie Lindsey confirmed the resignation to Goldstein late Wednesday afternoon.
Goldstein asked Lindsey if the allegations of sexting were true and she replied, “There were some allegations of that. I asked him about it and he resigned.”
Molina was with LAX for three years. His reported salary: $192,400.
Mayor Villaraigosa declined to comment about the resignation but said if the allegations were true, it was certainly not appropriate, “on any city issued phone…or any phones for that matter.”
Prior to working for LAX, Goldstein reports that Molina was a chief of staff for council member Janice Hahn.
RELATED STORIES:At every seminar and webinar I did this winter, I was asked the same question: What will the price of crude do to profits?
This is a difficult question to answer. I can envision several different scenarios unfolding. However, the simple answer is in two parts:
• Short-term: Lower energy prices are bearish for grain prices, especially ethanol and corn prices.
• Long-term: It is a very positive economic factor for U.S. and global consumers.
4 Questions
To arrive at my answer, I studied four separate questions.
1. What is the effect of lower gasoline and reduced costs for heating homes? Lower energy prices are a huge windfall for consumers around the world. Every $10 down in crude oil increases U.S. consumer buying power by $170 billion dollars. The dollar-per-gallon cut in home heating oil saves U.S. consumers $70 billion dollars.
2. Where will the extra consumer money go? The early economic data shows U.S. consumers reducing debt. Others are taking the extra money each week and going out to more restaurants. This has been good news for cattle, hog, and dairy producers.
3. What will this do to ethanol? Now the bad news. Lower crude oil prices will reduce ethanol profitability. If crude stays in the $40 to $60 range for 2015, the impact on ethanol production will reduce by 3% to 5% in 2015.
As I look ahead to 2016, it may be that much or more. I have been amazed at how efficient many ethanol plants have become. They have more staying power than oil producers in the Bakken region. Still, with all that said, it is not going to be pretty.
4. How much will the government take? Governments in the U.S., Europe, and Asia now see the opportunity to raise gas taxes. Ouch! It is going to happen; it is just a matter of when.
The bottom line is, lower energy prices will accelerate the consolidation pace in the gas and oil industry and in the ethanol industry.
The stock value of several of the big oil companies and publicly traded ethanol manufacturers has been cut in half; some are down by over 80%. The smaller, less efficient plants will close.
How long will energy prices stay low? Not very long. I am not talking about going back to $100, but $70 crude by late in 2015 is possible.
I am surprised at how fast the rigs are pulling out of North Dakota. The total rig count there is down by over 50% and may drop another 25% in 2015 if crude stays below $60 per barrel. The more rigs that shut down, the faster prices will turn around.
A Wild Card
Russia is the biggest wild card. I am nervous about what Vladimir Putin, the president and energy czar in Russia, will do to make crude oil rally back. Lower energy prices are taking a huge economic toll in that country. If crude stays below $60, then Russia will run out of money. Putin will not go broke without putting up a fight. This could get ugly.
3 Scenarios
Here are three scenarios I see as possible as we go into a period of lower energy and commodity prices.
1. An optimistic scenario. Crude oil rallies back to over $70 by the third quarter of 2015. Planted corn acres are down, and a couple of weather scares boost prices. You get the chance to hedge some new-crop corn at over $4.80 per bushel and new-crop soybeans at over $11 per bushel.
2. A realistic scenario. Crude rallies back to $60 to $70 per barrel by the third quarter. Planted corn acres are down, and a couple of weather scares boost prices. You get the chance to hedge some new-crop corn at over $4.40 per bushel and new-crop soybeans at over $10.50 per bushel.
3. A negative scenario. Crude oil stays below $50 per barrel for all of 2015. As a result, ethanol production drops by over 10% in 2015. Corn prices fall below $3 per bushel; soybeans fall to $7.50.
4 Suggestions
These scenarios will have dramatically different effects on your farm operation. So with all of the uncertainty, what should you do to manage that risk in 2015?
Here are four commonsense suggestions.
1. Get the last of your 2014 cash corn and soybeans sold on any weather scare this spring.
2. Buy the right revenue crop insurance product for your farm.
3. Get some additional new-crop hedges put on between April and June.
4. For the bushels you do not hedge, get new-crop price protection using puts. If my most negative scenario unfolds, then those puts will keep you in farming.
One Final Thought
Figure out a way to stay liquid and profitable during 2015. By 2016, things will be better. In 2016, all of my long-term grain cycles turn higher.
It looks like 2012 was a high in farm income, and 2015 will be a low. It is tough to get bullish at the bottom, but try to do it. I think prices will put in a major low in 2015. The most likely time for that low is either March or October of 2015.
Make a plan to survive through 2015, and you will be rewarded with 2016.
NOTE: Trading of futures and options has substantial financial risk of loss and is not for all investors.With the countdown toward the Aug. 26 pay-per-view boxing match between Floyd Mayweather and UFC champion Conor McGregor closing in on the 60-day mark, many top names in the sweet science have taken their turn slinging criticism at the bout.
Despite the fact that Mayweather-McGregor is expected to challenge boxing's live gate and PPV buy records, it's difficult to find anyone who doesn't see the fight for what it truly is: a carnival, entertainment spectacle and outright money grab.
Some like retired great Bernard Hopkins, who holds a competing interest as a promoter in the Canelo Alvarez-Gennady Golovkin showdown three weeks later on Sept. 16, have taken it a step further.
"That shows you the lack of respect that [Mayweather] has for the sport," Hopkins told BoxingScene.com.
"This is all fake news. First of all, [McGregor] hasn't fought an amateur [boxing] fight to my knowledge. I've checked around and I've been around the game for a long time. He hasn't had any experience as an amateur or a professional. How does any commission, in Vegas or anywhere, give him a license to fight a guy like Mayweather, who is one of the icon guys of our era?"
Manny Pacquiao, who returns Saturday to face Jeff Horn in Australia, set the combat sports PPV buy record at an astounding 4.6 million in 2015 against Mayweather. But even "PacMan" said he isn't willing to waste his time watching such a sideshow event, in which almost no one is willing to give McGregor, 28, a chance at even being competitive against the 40-year-old Mayweather.
"The real fight and the best fight is Golovkin versus Canelo," Pacquiao told Yahoo Sports. "The best versus the best. That's the fight I will be watching.
"McGregor has no chance in this fight. In fact, it could be very boring. There is no way he will be able to land a meaningful punch on Floyd. How could he? He has no professional experience in boxing."
Not surprisingly, Alvarez agreed. The Mexican star, who has become the face of boxing in Mayweather's retirement, joined "Money" in their 2013 super fight to produce 2.2 million PPV buys, the third-highest total in history.
"I really don't want to comment about that fight," Alvarez told media members during his recent promotional tour for the Golovkin fight. "Our fight is a real fight; it's a fight [fans] demanded and wanted. It's two fighters at their best, at their peak, and you know what you're going to get."
Alvarez, who was nearly shutout over 12 rounds against Mayweather and struggled to land a meaningful punch, knows first hand the struggles McGregor will face.
"Mayweather's style doesn't make for attractive fights; it's difficult to land punches," Alvarez said. "He's not aggressive; he doesn't punch hard at all. I learned a lot [from that fight], and I've grown."
During a media stop at ESPN headquarters last week, Golovkin said he would only watch the fight if he had the time and said he would |
.x = ((int)pos.x / (7 * bigBatchSizeX)); pos.z = ((int)pos.z / (7 * bigBatchSizeZ)); o = new GameObject("Big_Combined_Mesh-" + mat.name + "_["+ (int)pos.x + ", " + (int)pos.z + "]"); pos.x *= 7.0f * (float) bigBatchSizeX; pos.z *= 7.0f * (float)bigBatchSizeZ; o.transform.parent = transform.parent.parent.parent; o.transform.position = pos; o.transform.localScale = Vector3.one; o.transform.localRotation = Quaternion.Euler(Vector3.zero); bigBatches[mat].Add(o); } MeshFilter filter = o.GetComponent<MeshFilter>(); if(filter == null) filter = o.AddComponent<MeshFilter>(); MeshRenderer render = o.GetComponent<MeshRenderer>(); if(render == null) render = o.AddComponent<MeshRenderer>(); for (int i = 0; i < combines[mat].Count; i++ ) { // Modify each CombineInstance to accountfor the offset in position. CombineInstance comb = combines[mat][i]; comb.transform = Matrix4x4.TRS( -o.transform.position, Quaternion.Euler(Vector3.zero), Vector3.one) * transform.localToWorldMatrix * comb.transform; combines[mat][i] = comb; } // Add the already existing mesh of the cross-block mesh container the list of combines Matrix4x4 matrix = Matrix4x4.TRS( filter.transform.position - o.transform.position, filter.transform.rotation, filter.transform.localScale); CombineInstance inst = new CombineInstance(); inst.mesh = filter.mesh; inst.transform = matrix; combines[mat].Add(inst); filter.mesh = new Mesh(); // Combine the meshes // Note that a mesh can only contain a maximum of // 65535 triangles or vertices. I'm fine in my case, but you // probably want to do some checks. filter.mesh.CombineMeshes(combines[mat].ToArray(), true, true); // Shadow! This should probably be moved in retrospect render.material = mat; if (Game.useShadow) { render.shadowCastingMode = UnityEngine.Rendering.ShadowCastingMode.On; render.receiveShadows = true; } else { render.shadowCastingMode = UnityEngine.Rendering.ShadowCastingMode.Off; render.receiveShadows = false; } }
Special addition that combines meshes across several blocks. [View on GitHub]
This is obviously an incredibly game-specific optimization, but I wanted to show you that doing this is something to consider, as doing this fairly simple trick reduced the number of drawcalls by up to a factor of 7.
A GameObject containing a subcolumn of meshes spanning several blocks
Result
If we assume each block contains 15 SkinnedMeshRenderers and the game has generated the maximum of 500 blocks; the different solutions would yield:
No optimization: 7500 drawcalls
Iteration 1: N/A (but presumably similar to iteration 2)
Iteration 2: varies, but far less than without optimization. No shadows
Iteration 3: 1500 drawcalls
Iteration 4: 215 – 1500 drawcalls, depending on number of blocks that have reached max-level.
Ending Notes
So I suppose the essence of this post boils down to four points:
Don’t optimize too early on, you can always do it later.
Find the loopholes! If something doesn’t work with X, can you temporarily make it into a Y?
Use the Design; assumptions buys performance.
Reuse materials! Using fewer materials allows you to combine more meshes.
Thanks for reading!
View the project at GitHub.
Play the Game!Last week, we reported on the 88-year copyright clause surrounding the highly secretive, single-copy album: Once Upon A Time In Shaolin. Now, in a new interview with XXL, Method Man spoke out against the new conditions tacked onto the project.
“What do you mean 88 years?” said Method Man. Once the conditions were explained, Method Man simply responded “Fuck that album.” He elaborated, saying the following:
“I’m tired of this shit and I know everybody else is tired of it, too. Fuck that album, if that’s what they are doing. I haven’t heard anything like that, but if they’re doing crap like that, fuck that album. Straight up. I’m just keeping it 100. When music can’t be music and y’all turning it into something else, fuck that. Give it to the people, if they want to hear the shit, let them have it. Give it away free. I don’t give a fuck; that ain’t making nobody rich or poor. Give the fucking music out. Stop playing with the public, man.”
Later in the piece, Method Man stated that he was on board with the one-of-a-kind album idea, but the 88 year clause really threw him for a loop. “I dug the whole idea in the beginning. I’m like, ‘Wow, this has never been done before.’ I was cool with shit. But now, this is ridiculous. 88 years? Really? If that shit is true, that shit is stupid. You have to wait 88 years to hear some shit? By that time, it’s going to be fuckin’ played out. If it ain’t already played out. I hope that’s a rumor. Whoever said that, that shit is fuckin’ stupid.”
Reports indicate that offers for the album are somewhere around 5 Million dollars. Conceivably, someone who bought the record could release it to the public if they so desire, but for that price, it seems unlikely.
Meanwhile, RZA took to Twitter to defend the 88 year condition:
@xxl @methodman let us clarify for you. A 88 year “non commercialization”clause. Means corporations can’t buy it & mass produce it for sell — RZA! (@RZA) March 5, 2015
We’ll be sure to continue updating on this thoroughly intriguing story.Two alleged Islamic extremists focus of bomb investigation
One Islamist suspect detained after police search homes
'Terrorist link' examined after triple blasts hit Dortmund bus
Bombs contained pins and one found embedded in headrest
Letter claiming responsibility'refers to Berlin market attack'
It is written 'in the name of Allah' and'mentions Angela Merkel'
High security as match against Monaco delayed until tonight
#bedforawayfans: Stranded supporters offered accommodation
Who is Marc Bartra, the player injured in bus blasts?
Islamist terrorists came within a hair's breadth of massacring one of Europe’s top football teams when they detonated three bombs close to a team bus, German authorities have revealed.
The three devices which exploded next to Borussia Dortmund’s coach were studded with metal shrapnel and pins, one of which pierced a window and embedded itself in a head rest.
The blast, which injured a player and a policeman, had a radius of more than 100 yards and federal prosecutors said it was lucky the toll was not more severe.
Detectives believe that only the strength of the team coach prevented the bombs causing mass casualties.
It has also been revealed that at least two men linked to Tuesday evening’s bombing were known Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) sympathisers who had previously been on the radar of the German authorities.Over 27 million Americans are estimated to be living with osteoarthritis (OA), a debilitating joint disorder that results from continual loss of cartilage that cushions the bones. OA is accompanied by increased levels of the cytokines Interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) in cartilage cells called chondrocytes. These cytokines have been shown to induce the expression of genes involved in cartilage degradation, and the promoter regions of those genes have been found to be hypomethylated in OA chondrocytes when compared to normal chondrocytes, suggesting epigenetics likely plays a role in OA progression. Active DNA demethylation is mediated by the ten-eleven translocation (TET) enzymes, which oxidize 5-methylcytosine (5-mC) to 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5-hmC), and ultimately, the modification is removed. Interestingly, a recent study by Haseeb et al. found that cultured human primary chondrocytes treated with IL-1β and TNF-α had reduced global 5-hmC levels compared to untreated chondrocytes. Therefore, the authors sought to determine if these reduced 5-hmC levels were a result of IL-1β and TNF-α modulation of the TET1 oxidation pathway and if loss of 5-hmC was seen at specific regions of the genome.
Using real-time PCR to measure TET1 mRNA levels, the authors found that decreased 5-hmC levels were accompanied by a 10-fold decrease in TET1 gene expression after IL-1β and TNF-α treatment of chondrocytes. In addition, TET enzyme activity was found to be reduced by 35% in the cells treated with both cytokines, suggesting that lower 5-hmC levels can be attributed to reduced abundance and activity of TET enzymes. Furthermore, the authors showed that the effects of IL-1β and TNF-α require activation of the NF-κB pathway because chondrocytes treated with both cytokines and NF-κB inhibitors did not result in either reduced global 5-hmC levels or decreased TET1 gene expression. This suggested that activation of NF-κB negatively regulates TET1 expression. Efficient TET oxidation of 5-mC to 5-hmC also requires the co-factor α-ketoglutarate (α-KG), but in the presence of IL-1β and TNF-α, α-KG level was 40% lower compared to untreated chondrocytes as measured by LC-MS/MS. The isocitrate dehydrogenases (IDHs) enzymes, which synthesize α-KG, were also found to have lower expression and activity levels. These results demonstrate how IL-1β and TNF-α modulate 5-hmC levels by reducing TET1 and IDH activity.
Lastly, the authors were able to compare 5-hmC levels at specific gene loci between IL-1β-treated and untreated chondrocytes at single-nucleotide resolution by using a genome-wide DNA hydroxymethylation analysis called reduced representation hydroxymethylation profiling (RRHP). RRHP is a positive-display method that detects 5-hmC at CCGG sites across the genome, and 5-hmC levels can be compared between samples based on the number of sequencing reads generated at a specific CCGG site. Overall, IL-1β treated cells have a lower number of 5-hmC reads compared to untreated cells at specific loci, indicating a decrease in DNA hydroxymethylation. In comparison to untreated chondrocytes, treated cells had fewer reads at the promoter regions of five selected IL-1β-induced genes, SOX9, NOS2, ADAMTS4, COX2, and IL-6, indicating reduced 5-hmC levels at these loci. Interestingly, the relative expression of those genes increased in the presence of the cytokines, indicating that the reduction of 5-hmC levels correlated with increased gene expression.
In summary, the authors reported that the cytokines IL-1β and TNF-α reduce 5-hmC levels by interfering with TET1 and IDH enzyme expression and activity. This is correlated with reduced hydroxymethylation at specific promoter regions and, therefore, increased expression of genes known to be induced by Il-1β and TNF-α. These results demonstrate how pro-inflammatory cytokines can induce epigenetic modifications to regulate expression of genes that contribute to OA progression, and also shed light on how the 5-hmC epigenetic modification contributes to regulation of gene expression.
To learn more about the RRHP method used in this study, click here.
Haseeb A, Makki MS, & Haqqi TM (2014). Modulation of Ten Eleven Translocation 1 (TET1), Isocitrate Dehydrogenases (IDHs) expression, α-ketoglutarate (α-KG) and DNA hydroxymethylation levels by IL-1β in primary human chondrocytes. The Journal of biological chemistry PMID: 24469454
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24469454MANHATTAN (CN) – Monsanto cannot toss claims that it caused it damaged a woman’s nervous system by practicing “open pit burning” of a chemical used in “Agent Orange,” a federal judge ruled.
Lead plaintiff Mary B. Spaulding, who lived near Monsanto’s manufacturing plant in Nitro, W. Va., says she developed “peripheral neuropathy” from exposure to dioxin, one of the key ingredients in the most notorious herbicide of the Vietnam War.
The United States dumped tens of millions of gallons of Agent Orange on Vietnam between 1962 and 1971, killing or maiming an estimated 400,000 people, according to Vietnamese estimates.
In court papers, Monsanto credits it mainly with saving U.S. soldiers’ lives by thinning out dense jungle foliage.
According to a recent order, the U.S. government had a contract forcing Monsanto to use its W. Va. Plant exclusively for chemicals to be used in Agent Orange between March 24, 1967 and March 25, 1968.
During this time, Monsanto needed the government’s permission to produce chemicals for other customers, and had to redesign its manufacturing process to meet the Pentagon’s growing demand.
In January, Monsanto sought to toss the suit in part by saying that the U.S. government oversaw their disposal practices, purportedly absolving them of liability as a government contractor.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe rejected that argument.
“Here, there is no evidence that the U.S. Government was ever aware of the alleged open pit burning practice, much less that it had evaluated the hazard posed by such a practice,” Gardephe wrote.
Sandy Spaulding is a co-plaintiff in the suit; Pharmacia Corporation, Flexsys America Co., Flexsys America L.P. and Solutia, Inc. are also defendants.
Like this: Like Loading...UPDATE: Anderson set to return to lineup Sunday night against Edmonton
EDMONTON — Craig Anderson is making his return to the Senators net Sunday night.
Senators coach Guy Boucher confirmed after the morning skate Anderson, who returned to the team Saturday night after taking a leave to be with his wife Nicholle and his family, will start against the Edmonton Oilers.
Anderson is here at the urging of Nicholle after the Senators lost backup Andrew Hammond to a groin injury Friday.
Anderson’s teammates are happy to have him.
“It’s nice to have him back,” said Ottawa winger Bobby Ryan. “His family is going to need people to lean on and he’s got 20 to 25 good support units here.
“He’s a popular guy in the room and they have all our support. That’s all you can say about it.”
Coach Guy Boucher said Anderson is in the right mindset and is ready to play. He came back because he wanted to contribute which is why he’s starting as the Senators wrap up this three-game road trip.
“It’s terrific to have him back,” said Boucher after the skate. “He’s a good person. He’s our No. 1 goalie and he’s got a 4-1 record this year in the five games he’s played.
“He’s a gigantic part of our team. To have him back is huge for us. The way he’s focused is pretty impressive. For him it has to be all about hockey right now.”
Anderson wasn’t up to speaking to the media this morning.
The puck drop will be at 9 p.m. EST.
EDMONTON — Craig Anderson has been given a second leave of absence.
This one comes from his courageous wife, Nicholle, who needs him a lot more right now than the Senators.
An emotional Ottawa GM Pierre Dorion, fighting back tears, delivered the devastating news Saturday before practice that Anderson’s 35-year-old wife has been diagnosed with cancer and that’s why the Senators goaltender was given a leave of absence Thursday to go to Florida to be with his family.
But after learning the Senators have lost Andrew Hammond for at least a week with a lower-body injury he suffered Friday in Calgary, Nicholle Anderson encouraged her husband to rejoin the team. Anderson will likely start Sunday against the Edmonton Oilers at the Rogers Place Arena.
Anderson was scheduled to land late Saturday night and was expected to meet with Dorion, along with the coaching staff, after his arrival.
“Nicholle Anderson has been diagnosed with cancer,” said Dorion, who was asked by the Anderson family to speak on their behalf. “It’s very early in the process. We don’t have many tests right now but we’re there for them and right now they’re in the wait period.
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“Given that they’re in the wait period and Andrew Hammond’s (hurt), Nicholle told Craig to phone me, which he did during the game. We talked to Craig after the game and it was determined that because they’re in a wait period and they were going to drive to Ottawa together as a family today that it would be all right for Craig to come and rejoin his team.”
Dorion said this is a courageous move by the Anderson family.
This isn’t the first time the organization has been touched by the horrible disease. More than two years ago, Senators senior adviser Bryan Murray was diagnosed with colon cancer and he goes through regular chemotherapy treatments while remaining active in the organization.
“We’re very proud of Nicholle and Craig. They’re dealing with a tremendous issue right now,” Dorion said. “For him to be around his teammates, with his presence, he’s going to be embraced by his teammates and it’s only going to help us grow as a family and a hockey family.
“We want to reiterate our support for Craig, Nicholle, his family. His hockey family — Mr. (Eugene) Melnyk (the Senators’ owner), our coaching staff, our support staff — are all behind him and we’re going to do anything we can for both Craig and Nicholle. We’ve gone through this with (GM) Bryan (Murray). We’re really united as a hockey organization and we believe in Hockey Fights Cancer.”
Dorion said he expects the Anderson family will address the media next week in Ottawa “if they feel up to it.
“Nicholle was the one who wanted Craig to come back. She was the one who said, ‘Craig, your teammates need you right now.’ We made this decision after consulting with Craig and Nicholle, their doctors, and we all felt because of this time frame it was all right for him to rejoin the team.
“We have everyone’s support here. I think this is a tremendous gesture on the part of Nicholle Anderson. This shows how good the Anderson family is.”
He said Anderson’s presence in the room will have an impact.
“I think it means a lot to the team. I asked him and I said, ‘Craig you have to be with your wife, and he said, ‘Pierre, she’s the one who told me to phone you. She’s the one that said Andrew went down and your team needs you right now,’ ” said Dorion. “They’re in a holding pattern waiting for the tests, what procedures to go through and how to have the best treatment possible.
“That won’t be done for the next few days, and (Craig) just felt, ‘Why don’t I come back to the team?’ We wanted to make sure the doctors and Nicholle were sure because she was the one pushing this.”
Just because Anderson, a father of two, wanted to return, the Senators needed to be satisfied that he was doing the right thing.
How many times did Dorion ask Anderson if he was sure he wanted to do this?
“Quite a few … quite a few,” Dorion said. “I think Erik (Karlsson) touched upon it the other day that family is way more important than hockey but, at the same time, Craig’s family is this hockey team.
“When you have those guys in that room that are going to embrace his presence, and rally around him, I think it can only be beneficial for all parties.”
Dorion said everyone’s thoughts and prayers should be with the Anderson family.
“To me it’s all about the courage that Nicholle Anderson is showing,” Dorion said.
bgarrioch@postmedia.com
Twitter: @sungarriochMazda has a pair of new patents that describe how to implement an active rear wing that hides in a recess in the taillights when not in use. While deployable aerodynamic devices aren't new, the Japanese automaker's idea would extend outward and upward rather than just rising from the tail.
Mazda sees these patents as a method of reducing turbulence at the rear of a vehicle and an improvement in a model’s aesthetics by hiding the wing when it’s not necessary. This wing would span the entire length of the vehicle’s rear, and the edges would run past the taillights. The thin portions in the corners shouldn’t overly obscure the lamps, though.
A powered arm would control the wing’s movement in and out of the recess, and system would be able rotate it upward, too. This apparatus would be largely hidden, even with the wing at the maximum deployment. In the fully extended position, the wing essentially lengthens the vehicle, and the upward slant would increase downforce.
The two patents focus on different elements of this idea: the recess in the taillights and the deployable wing. However, since these elements work together, the filings overlap in how they describe the tech.
This patent would seem perfect for a stylish performance vehicle, and it appears that Mazda is already toying with the idea of how to implement this idea. Compare the images in this filing to the rear end of the RX-Vision concept. They feature a similar step down from the tail to the thin wing that runs across the rear. It’s quite easy to imagine this piece extending outward and upward for making subtle tweaks of the sports coupe’s aerodynamics.
We may get a demonstration of this deployable wing soon because Mazda has a revised version of the RX-Vision concept at the Tokyo Motor Show on October 25. Rumors even suggest that there’s a small chance that this gorgeous shape could arrive in showrooms.
Source: United States Patent and Trademark Office, 2The Preservation of Authenticity: Italian cheese and their protection rights
The height of any society is defined by the height of its civility, and one of the key components that speaks to the wealth of a culture is the richness of its cuisine. In Europe, no food product has the distinction, classification and even legal rights as that of their cheese. As legendary French statesman Charles de Gaulle so aptly put it:
“How can you govern a country which has two hundred and forty-six varieties of cheese?”
In Europe, certain regional products are protected under a classification system to preserve their authenticity. The climate, variants in crop, animal types and differences in cultivation, fermentation, and ageing techniques will all influence the final flavour of the cheese, wine, and beer.
Certain products must be grown in certain regions, in certain climates and under qualified conditions in order for them to be classified under a regional trademark. Asiago cheese must come from the town of Asiago in the province of Vicenza, for example, and Castelmagno, which dates back to 1277, has to be stamped with the commune of Castelmagno.
Cheese is always integral to the Italian concept of antipasti
Denominazione di Origine Controllata (D.O.C.)
Originating from Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée (AOC), the French legal term, or the “Controlled Designation of Origin”, while Italy uses the Denominazione di Origine Controllata (DOC). Specialised regional food products are regulated, and for Italian cheeses there is yet another designation, the Denominazione di Origine Protetta (DOP), or Protected Designation of Origin, for such regulations.
222 regional Italian products fall under the DOPs protection, from balsamic vinegars to essential oils, and various meat products. The Bresaola della Valtellina, a dried beef from the region of Lombardy, the Pistacchio Verde de Bronte, pistachio from the region of Sicily, and Barolo red wine from the Piedmont region make up this rich tapestry of quality ingredients.
Italian cheese ranges widely from region to region – from a multitude of flavours and textures, a variety of animal milks and with shorter or longer ageing processes like Mozzarella di Bufala Campana, or buffalo mozzarella; to older, harder, more mature cheeses like the Pecorino. Parmigiano Reggiano, Piave and Taleggio are all on the protected list.
The ageing process determines the flavour of cheese
Know your cheese
Marini’s on 57 carries a variety of fine Italian cheeses, including the Pecorino di Fossa, a hard cheese that is matured in a traditional process underground in a pit. This cheese originates from the Emilia Romagna region and is made with sheep’s milk. It can be grated over pasta or served on its own as antipasti.
Another stand out cheese is the Blu 61. This soft Italian blue cheese is washed in Raboso Passito wine and covered with cranberries to give it its distinctive taste. Aged over two to three months this cheese is for the more adventurous cheese lovers looking for intense flavour. At Marini’s on 57, the Blu 61 is served with iconic Barolo grapes from the region of Piedmont.
If you’re looking for something a little more mature there is the 32-month-aged Grana Padano Asiago Stravecchio. This cheese, made from cow’s milk with its ageing resulting in a hard texture and a delicious nutty and fruity flavour.
Cheese can range from different textures, for example, the Taleggio, one of the oldest cheeses known, is a semi-soft cheese washed in sea water once a week. This cheese takes 6 to 10 weeks to fully mature.
Taleggio, Salva and Strachitunt Italian cheeses
Caprino is a cheese made from goat’s milk and comes in a soft to medium-soft texture. This cheese has a fresh milky taste with a dense creamy texture – perfect for a cheese board.
For a luxurious cheese, there is the Ubriaco Prosecco, a cheese made from cow’s milk that begins soft, but as it ages, develops a supple texture that becomes hard, quite similar to parmesan. This cheese is called the drunken cheese and is bathed in dry and sparkling Prosecco wine to leave a sweet tinge of flavour on the palette.
Pair cheese with olives for an exquisite and distinctive flavour, the Italian way
To each his own
The variety of Italian cheeses is numerous; some prefer the strong and mature blue cheese, some prefer harder varieties, while others choose to go with the soft to semi-soft goats and buffalo cheese. They all serve a different purpose and can all be served differently. What’s most important is to know the origin of your cheeses, because with authenticity comes flavour, complexity and taste.SEATTLE (AP) - A man angry at his neighbors went on a rampage in a bulldozer Friday on Washington's Olympic Peninsula, damaging four homes, knocking one off its foundation and cutting power to thousands of people, authorities said.Barry Alan Swegle was booked into the Clallam County Jail for investigation of malicious mischief following the incident in Port Angeles, 65 miles west of Seattle.Sheriff's spokesman Jim Borte said investigators were told that Swegle and his neighbors had a long-running dispute, but it's not clear over what. The rampage knocked over a utility pole and left a pickup truck destroyed, and the downed power lines were preventing authorities from fully evaluating the damage to the homes.Barbara Porter was inside her house when she saw the machine come barreling through her walls."You could just hear noise things getting broke up and tore up and pushed into my place," she said.Porter ran out of the house before she, too, was crushed."I knew I had to get out of the house because I was afraid he was going to tear it down, and I don't think I would have lived if I had been in it and he had tore it down," she said.Borte said the machine was an International Harvester TD-25, similar to a Caterpillar D-9. Investigators were looking into whether the man owned it.Keith Haynes lives near one of the damaged homes and told the Peninsula Daily News the man "just went nuts."Haynes said a woman inside one of the homes escaped unharmed."He took a skidder and took out two houses," Haynes said. "I mean demolished."Haynes said a new Ford truck also was damaged in the incident."It was like a war zone," Haynes, a former law enforcement officer who has lived in that neighborhood for two years, told the paper.Another witness to the destruction screamed at Swegle to stop."When I'm yelling, 'What are you doing?' He looked right at me. He was just - he was blanked face. That was it. he didn't care," said neighbor Bobee Ward.At one point thousands of people were without power, but within a few hours it had been restored to all but 200 customers, said Clallam County Public Utility District spokesman Mike Howe. He said power would remain out to those customers at least through early Saturday morning.On Friday evening, Swegle's mother said she's just grateful that no one was hurt or killed.RMT union announces 24-hour walkout on 4 June followed by 48-hour stoppage five days later after deciding to reject deal that averted bank holiday strike
Network Rail workers are to stage two strikes next month after a fresh pay offer was rejected by union members.
The Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union has announced a 24-hour walkout from 5pm on 4 June and a 48-hour walkout from 5pm on 9 June.
Striking workers – including signallers and maintenance staff – have also been requested not to work any overtime from 6 to 12 June.
Network Rail said the threat of a national rail strike was “unacceptable” and warned that rail services would be severely affected.
A planned bank holiday strike was cancelled after an improved pay offer from Network Rail. But union representatives have since decided the deal was not good enough.
RMT said the latest pay proposals fell “well short of what is required to maintain the living standards and the working conditions for nearly 16,000 staff across Network Rail operations and maintenance”.
Union members employed by Network Rail voted in a ballot by 80% for strike action on a 60% turnout, RMT said.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest A Network Rail engineer checks railway tracks in Cumbria. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
The union’s general secretary, Mick Cash, said Network Rail generated profits of £1bn last year and was paying out £60m in bonuses to senior managers.
RMT had “no option but to move to a rolling programme of industrial action”, Cash said. “We have a massive mandate for action which shows the anger of safety-critical staff across the rail network at attacks on their standards of living.
“The blunt truth is that this dispute could be settled for a fraction of the money being handed out in senior manager bonuses and [compensation] to the train operators for not running services. That is a ludicrous situation which should never have been allowed to have arisen.”
Cash added that the RMT representatives were prepared to come back to the negotiating table if Network Rail improved its offer.
Network Rail originally offered a four-year deal – £500 this year followed by three years of increases in line with RPI inflation.
The new offer was for two years – a 1% rise this year and about 1.4% next year – with no compulsory redundancies for the duration of the agreement.
Network Rail chief executive, Mark Carne, said: “Our people know that there are ways to improve the way work is done. I have always said that if we work together to realise these benefits, there is the possibility to increase pay.
“We are therefore ready to get around the table with whoever the RMT consider can speak on behalf of their members. It is clearly unacceptable for the RMT to massively disrupt the travelling public with strike action when we are ready to continue talks.”
The Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA), which also suspended a bank holiday strike, will ballot its members on the new offer, with the result to be announced on 13 June.
TSSA official Lorraine Ward said: “With the expected cuts in the public sector from the new Tory government, our members were as much concerned about job security as they were about pay.
“This offer means there will be no compulsory redundancies at NR for at least the next two years. Given the current climate, we think this is a major advance.”America's Real Mountain Of Cheese Is On Our Plates
Enlarge this image toggle caption Scott Olson/Getty Images Scott Olson/Getty Images
The U.S. Department of Agriculture took a largely symbolic step to help struggling dairy farmers this week. It announced that it will buy $20 million worth of cheese and give it away to food banks. The USDA is doing this, it says, to help "reduce a cheese surplus that is at a 30-year high."
Food banks were happy to hear this news. Cheese is popular among their clients and often hard to get. This government donation will have a significant impact on their operations. Dairy farmers were happy, too, hoping that this government purchase would help relieve what headlines trumpeted as a mountain of cheese that has been driving down the price they get for their milk.
As we reported last week, there is in fact an oversupply of dairy products, and it's a global phenomenon. Basically, dairy farmers responded to record-high prices two years ago by expanding production, and then they were blind-sided by a sudden drop in sales to China and Russia. Too much supply and too little demand produced a growing mountain of cheese.
But, if we step back and take a broader historical look at this cheese purchase, our current cheese glut looks a lot less impressive.
Take a look at this graph of the amount of cheese in storage over the past few decades. The big bulge of stored cheese in the 1980s was accumulated by the government, which supported milk prices by buying large amounts of dairy products — much larger quantities, in fact, than this week's purchase. Now that's a cheese mountain!
But the government largely abandoned that effort. Today's growing cheese stockpile is held by private cheese makers, and they need a lot more cheese in storage because they're selling much more of the stuff, especially for pizza. Just contemplate this graph for a minute.
There's so much cheese in circulation these days that the USDA's $20 million purchase won't do much for milk prices: It will buy less than 1 percent of the 1.3 billion pounds of cheese that's currently in storage. "I don't expect it to have much actual impact on prices," Mark Stephenson, director of dairy policy analysis at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, told us in an email. "The Chicago Mercantile Exchange spot prices for cheddar cheese were down following the announcement."
In case you're wondering, cheddar and mozzarella cheese probably account for most of the cheese stockpile. They are by far the most-consumed types of cheese in America.
Meanwhile, Stephenson says, milk prices are now starting to recover on their own. Milk farmers around the world are starting to cut back production, and prices are climbing.'It's much more important than just an ad': Meet the wheelchair-bound star of Diesel's new campaign
Diesel artistic director Nicola Formichetti said that Jillian Mercado is his favorite participant in the brand's spring advertisements
She is one of 23 participants who represent different sects of youth culture, including Japanese Internet stars and tattooed models
Diesel’s artistic director Nicola Formichetti has cast a wheelchair-bound fashion editor and blogger in its spring 2014 campaign.
Jillian Mercado - a 26-year-old New Yorker who suffers from muscular dystrophy - stars in the label’s 'We Are Connected' campaign.
The campaign sees her posed alongside visual artist James Astronaut in a denim dress, bright red lipstick and her signature platinum blonde hair, making it clear how Mr Formichetti consciously decided to feature, rather than hide her electric wheelchair in the photo.
Cover girl: Jillian Mercado (right), a 26-year-old fashion editor, stars in Diesel's new spring campaign
She told MailOnline that she hopes the ad ‘gives hope to people who are maybe saying, “My life is over” because they are disabled. You can totally do it, nothing should be stopping you.’
The campaign - photographed by the acclaimed duo Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin - will run in the March issues of magazines including Vogue and Interview, and will also be displayed on the walls of every single Diesel store worldwide.
Miss Mercado first met Mr Formichetti through a shoot produced by We The Urban magazine, where she works as the executive editorial director.
A few months later, she saw that his assistant put out a casting call for young, culturally-representative models to join Diesel as a campaign ambassador. Miss Mercado and her friends decided to enter the lot as a ‘joke’ she said.
Model citizen: Miss Mercado says that those in similar physical situations should not let their disabilities affect their success and dreams
But then, ‘a few weeks later I got an email from the casting agency that said “Hey can you send us more pictures? We are kind of interested in having you in the campaign.”’
Out of disbelief, Miss Mercado responded with an assortment of Facebook and Instagram photos.
Following a few days of deliberation, she was chosen to star in the campaign among 23 tastemakers hailing from her own generation.
' Y ou don’t have to be a conventional model type to represent a brand'
Miss Mercado was not aware when the campaign would become public and on Tuesday morning woke up to see that Mr Formichetti had ‘tagged’ her in a photo on Instagram, signaling the campaign’s surprise release.
In an interview with Women’s Wear Daily, Mr Formichetti indicated that Miss Mercado was his favorite cast member of the campaign’s total 23 participants, who were picked to represent different sects of youth culture (including Japanese Internet stars and tattooed models).
‘It’s never easy for her to move from point A to point B, but she’s totally fearless and has really been an inspiration to me,’ he told the paper. ‘You don’t have to be a conventional |
this was disbanded after half-time. Instead, van Persie started to work the right-hand channel, Kuyt made very central runs, whilst Sneijder stayed in the middle rather than drifting to the left. Still at 0-1, he found himself in acres of space on the edge of the box when Brazil’s players had been sucked into their left-back position, but his first touch was poor, and his shot even worse.
Basic goals conceded
Bastos’ foul on Robben gave Brazil a free-kick, which they worked short to Sneijder, who was not closed down by Bastos, and had time to swing a cross into the box. Confusion between Julio Cesar and Melo resulted in the ball brushing Melo’s head and sailing into the far corner, and Holland were level.
A Julio Cesar mistake is rare, but not as unprecedented as some are making out – earlier this year he was looking slightly shaky, and in a Serie A match away at Fiorentina, ZM noted, ‘Fiorentina equalized just two minutes later with a scrappy goal from a corner kick. Julio Cesar had been troubled by crosses and set-pieces all day and again looked uncomfortable.’
The goal completely changed the game – Holland looked more composed, more confident and more relaxed. They won a cheap corner, again in Brazil’s left-back zone – Robben played it in, Kuyt darted ahead of Fabiano at the near post to get a flick-on, and Sneijder headed in from the edge of the six-yard box. Brazil have become renowned for their excellent defending of set-pieces, and so for them to exit the competition because of a goal like this will be the most difficult thing for Dunga to accept.
Indiscipline costs Brazil
Holland were pressing much better in the second half, giving Gilberto and Melo little time on the ball, and frustrating Brazil overall. Melo’s personal frustration got the better of him, and his petulant stamp on Robben earned him a deserved red card. Melo’s disciplinary record is atrocious and he continually lets his side down in this respect. Few Brazil players can expect a warm reception when they return home, but bowing out of the tournament with a red card and an own goal means the most vilified player will surely be the Juventus player.
His departure was another lift for Holland. Dunga tried to change things by putting on Nilmar – but withdrew Fabiano. Why did he give up on his system? The entire shape is based around a central target man, and whilst Fabiano clearly wasn’t having his best game, this was when Brazil needed him on the pitch. The numerical disadvantage meant they started hitting long balls, which Robinho and Nilmar were never going to win, and their biggest threat came from corner kicks, where Fabiano also would have been useful. The closest they got to scoring was when Kaka’s run and shot was blocked by Ooijer, who grew into the game and had a good second half.
But Brazil looked lost – they’re not used to chasing games, and their low-tempo, counter-attacking style didn’t lend itself to a desperate late fightback.
Conclusion
Two things cost Brazil – discipline and defending set-pieces. The former was a problem in giving away too many free-kicks, and more obviously in Melo’s red card. The latter, a hallmark of the ‘unBrazilian’ thing Dunga’s Brazil supposedly did well, was crucial.
And if you concede goals, end up trailing, and play a style of football like this, it’s not easy to get back into the game. Brazil’s lack of flair has been criticized before the tournament, and will doubtless be criticized after this defeat. We have seen, however, some wonderful moves from Brazil earlier on in this competition – the problem is that their attacking flair relies on defensive solidarity. That wasn’t evident today, and cost Brazil going forward.
Credit must go to Bert van Marwijk for a change of emphasis after half-time, both in terms of Holland’s defending (heavier pressing) and attacking (focussing it down the right). It wasn’t a drastic change in formation or personnel, but it effectively (a) nullified Brazil’s strengths and (b) exploited their weaknesses – good tactics if you’re the underdog.
Related articles on Zonal Marking:A generally accepted, 44-year-old assumption about how certain kinds of bacteria make energy and synthesize cell materials has been shown to be incorrect by a team of scientists led by Donald Bryant, the Ernest C. Pollard Professor of Biotechnology at Penn State and a research professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Montana State University. The research, which will be published in the journal Science on Dec. 16, is expected to help scientists discover new ways of genetically engineering bacteria to manufacture biofuels -- energy-rich compounds derived from biological sources. Many textbooks, which cite the 44-year-old interpretation as fact, likely will be revised as a result of the new discovery.
Bryant explained that, in 1967, two groups of researchers concluded that an important energy-making cycle was incomplete in cyanobacteria -- photosynthetic bacteria formerly known as blue-green algae. This energy-producing cycle -- known as the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle or the Krebs cycle -- includes a series of chemical reactions that are used for metabolism by most forms of life, including bacteria, molds, protozoa and animals. This series of chemical reactions eventually leads to the production of ATP -- molecules responsible for providing energy for cell metabolism.
"During studies 44 years ago, researchers concluded that cyanobacteria were missing an essential enzyme of the metabolic pathway that is found in most other life forms," Bryant explained. "They concluded that cyanobacteria lacked the ability to make one enzyme, called 2-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase, and that this missing enzyme rendered the bacteria unable to produce a compound -- called succinyl-coenzyme A -- for the next step in the TCA cycle. The absence of this reaction was assumed to render the organisms unable to oxidize metabolites for energy production, although they could still use the remaining TCA-cycle reactions to produce substrates for biosynthetic reactions. As it turns out, the researchers just weren't looking hard enough, so there was more work to be done."
Bryant suspected that the decades-old finding needed to be re-evaluated with a fresh set of eyes and new scientific tools. He explained that, after researchers in the 1960s concluded that cyanobacteria had an incomplete TCA cycle, that false assumption was compounded by later researchers who used modern genomics-research methods to confirm it.
"One idea we had was that the 1967 hypothesis never was corrected because modern genome-annotation methods were partly to blame," Bryant said. "Computer algorithms are used to search for strings of genetic code to identify genes. Sometimes important genes simply can be missed because of matching errors, which occur when very similar genes have very different functions. So if researchers don't use biochemical methods to validate computer-identified gene functions, they run the risk of making premature and often incorrect conclusions about what's there and what's not there."
To re-test the 1967 hypothesis, the team performed new biochemical and genetic analyses on a cyanobacterium called Synechococcus sp. PCC 7002, scouring its genome for genes that might be responsible for making alternative energy-cycle enzymes. The scientists discovered that Synechococcus indeed had genes that coded for one important alternative enzyme, succinic semialdehyde dehydrogenase, and that adjacent to the gene for this enzyme was a misidentified gene that subsequently was shown to encode a novel enzyme, 2-oxo-glutarate decarboxylase.
"As it turns out, these two enzymes work together to complete the TCA cycle in a slightly different way," Bryant said. "That is, rather than making 2-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase, these bacteria produce both 2-oxoglutarate decarboxylase and succinic semialdehyde dehydrogenase. That combination of enzymes allows these organisms to move to the next intermediate -- succinate -- and to complete the TCA cycle." Bryant also said that his team found that the genes coding for the two enzymes are present in all cyanobacterial genomes except those of a few marine species. Bryant's co-author on the Science paper is Shuyi Zhang, a graduate student in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Penn State.
Bryant hopes to use the findings of his research to investigate new ways of producing biofuels. "Now that we understand better how cyanobacteria make energy, it might be possible to genetically engineer a cyanobacterial strain to synthesize 1,3-butanediol -- an organic compound that is the precursor for making not just biofuels but also plastics," Bryant said.
Bryant also said that his team's discoveries about cyanobacteria show how science is an ever-evolving process, and that firm conclusions never should be drawn from studies with negative results.
"Sadly, the conclusion that cyanobacteria have an incomplete TCA cycle is written into many textbooks as fact, simply because the research teams in 1967 misinterpreted their failure to find a particular enzyme," Bryant said. "But in science there is never really an end. There always is something new to discover."
The research was supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the Genomic Science Program of the U.S. Department of Energy.The cable contraction continues. This time, it's another NBCUniversal network: Chiller.
A NBCUniversal Cable rep confirmed that the horror-centric channel would cease operations at the end of 2017. Its death comes after carriage struggles with multiple media companies, including Verizon, Charter, Dish and Cox. Chiller has hardly been a marquee player for NBCU, but it is the latest network to fall this year. Cloo (formally Sleuth) officially went under in January, and Esquire closed up shop after only three years on the air in June.
Chiller was home to several original productions, mostly B movies and reality shows, but it did produce one scripted show (Slasher). Much of its schedule was dominated by cost-efficient genre acquisitions, as well as a few high-profile second runs, such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
It comes as little surprise that Chiller is ending its run. Within NBCU's sprawling cable portfolio, which includes mainstays USA, Bravo, E! and Syfy, it was never a priority. Its genre focus was also quite similar to Syfy's. And NBCU has been working to streamline such redundancies. (See the recent rebrand of Oxygen from a lighter version of Bravo to a true crime-focused effort dominated by Dick Wolf fare.)
As troubled as the cable landscape may be, NBCU is at least in an advantageous position to streamline their portfolio while it's still largely thriving. Other comparable cable giants, like the Viacom suite, have been forced to make similar decisions in a time of crisis.
Chiller had been on the air for just over a decade, launching in 2007. In 2016, it lost nearly 30 percent of its audience and dropped out of the Top 100 ad-supported networks, averaging just 64,000 viewers in primetime.
The news was first reported by TVAnswerMan.Refugees and neo-Nazis battled it out on the streets of an east German town on Wednesday night with police fighting to save the migrants outnumbered five to one.
But police said the asylum seekers started the confrontation - and later hurled bottles at the police trying to save them from a beating.
About 100 far-right men and women attacked some 20 asylum seekers in the town of Bautzen after the migrants taunted them. Video footage shows chaotic scenes as fighting breaks out in the German town.
It comes as German chancellor Angela Merkel continues to fight for her political life over her open-door policy on immigration with the threat of fresh gains by the right-wing populist AfD party.
Refugees and neo-Nazis battled it out on the streets of an east German town on Wednesday night with police fighting to save the migrants outnumbered five to one
There were chaotic scenes as scores of neo-Nazis were invovled in a brawl with 20 asylum seekers in the town of Bautzen
A man identifying himself as Mehdi (right) from Morocco shows off a cut he says he received during the violent attacks
Police said the neo-Nazis were goaded before they began chanting 'Bautzen for the Germans' and bottles and fists began flying.
Police charged the groups with truncheons drawn and used pepper spray on both sides.
The violence ended when the young asylum seekers withdrew to their home in the town's Dresdner Strasse with the mob pursuing them all the way.
Police stood guard at the premises all night in case of further attacks. One Moroccan youth, aged 18, required hospital treatment for a wound caused by bottle which hit him in the face.
Police said the neo-Nazis were goaded before they began chanting 'Bautzen for the Germans' and bottles and fists began flying
Police charged the groups with truncheons drawn and used pepper spray on both sides
Police officers stand guard outside the refugee accommodation following the violence
Around 100 far-right men and women attacked some 20 asylum seekers in the town of Bautzen after the migrants taunted them
The ambulance which was taking him away had to turn around and find another route after it was pelted with bricks and stones by the right-wingers.
Police said one local person was also seriously hurt in the disturbances.
A man identifying himself as Mehdi from Morocco later showed reporters a cut he says he received during the violent attacks
Bautzen, scene of a notorious secret police prison in the days when East Germany was a communist state, has witnessed frequent anti-immigrant violence.Eric Holder acknowledged that the work in the courts has gotten more difficult with Jeff Sessions now in his old job running the Justice Department. | AP Photo Holder: Obama is'ready to roll'
Barack Obama is getting closer to making his public reappearance in politics, his friend and former Attorney General Eric Holder said on Tuesday.
Holder said he’s been talking to the former president about ways — including fundraising and interacting with state legislators — that could help the new National Democratic Redistricting Committee, which Obama asked Holder to chair last year.
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“It’s coming. He’s coming,” Holder said, speaking to reporters at a briefing for the new group. “And he’s ready to roll.”
Throughout, Holder said, Obama “will be a more visible part of the effort.”
Holder also predicted that the usual pattern of the party in the White House losing state legislative seats in off-year elections would hold next year, but “I expect we’ll see that on steroids with President Trump.”
The NDRC is looking to be an intensified central force for Democrats to tackle their disadvantage in gerrymandering. The mission is to direct resources into winning targeted state elections, push ballot initiatives for nonpartisan district-drawing commissions and wage legal challenges to existing maps. The hope is that this would put Democrats in a stronger position in state houses, but also in the U.S. House of Representatives, if districts are drawn that more accurately represent the distribution of the popular vote, citing statistics that showed Republicans winning 49 percent of the vote in those elections but getting 55 percent of the seats in the 2016 elections.
Marc Elias, a top election lawyer who’s advising the group, said that in addition to joining existing challenges to state laws, they’re already prospecting for states where they could file new lawsuits, predicting they’ll file more before the end of 2017.
Holder acknowledged that the work in the courts has gotten more difficult with Jeff Sessions now in his old job running the Justice Department. He called the department’s decision to scrap a challenge to voter laws in Texas on Monday “disheartening,” but said that while “it would be good to have the Justice Department on our side … it doesn’t mean that the argument can’t be made, and can’t be made well.”
“This is really a battle for our democracy,” Holder said. “The notion that people are denied their ability to cast a meaningful vote … is inconsistent with who we say we are, inconsistent with what we say our democracy is about.”The storytelling parlor game “Mafia” crosses borders, transcends culture and bridges the language divide in ways you’d never expect.
There are no game boards or joysticks involved in Mafia — just words — and a setup that’s probably as old as human settlement: An uninformed majority of civilians against an informed minority, the Mafia. One side has power in numbers, the other has the power of knowledge.
Since 1987, Mafia has become a television series in Latvia, a World Championship event in Las Vegas and a training tool for the Russian security services. But I was still surprised to learn that Mafia was actually invented in the Soviet Union by Dimitry Davidoff, then a psychology graduate student at Moscow State University.
Dimitry Davidoff in the 1980s Credit: Courtesy of Dimitry Davidoff
Davidoff tells me that even behind the Iron Curtain, he never doubted Mafia would become a global hit. In his day, games that were popular in the Soviet Union were all based on the idea of “us” vs. “them.” But in Mafia, as in real life, we ordinary civilians have no idea who the real enemies are — or whether the enemy is an enemy at all.
It turns out he struck a universal nerve. And once you get the hang of the rules, it’s also wicked fun.
But for today’s global entrepreneurs, Mafia has become much more than a game. “I think I use it all the time in real life," says Sam Lundin, who founded a website named Vimbly that helps New Yorkers find cool and adventuresome activities. He even hosts as monthly Mafia meetup.
Lundin says he's drawing on his Mafia skills "anytime there’s any kind of negotiation or problem-solving scenario going on, or someone is either bluffing or not bluffing in a business environment. Are they really telling the full story? Are they not?”
It also helps him expand his bag of tricks: “You might think of a new trick that would work really well to root out who the mafia is, but then everyone sees that you use that trick and you have to figure something new out genuinely," he says. "I think the entrepreneurial world is like that in that it’s not structured. You constantly are figuring out new tricks.”
Sam was born in America, but he’s in the minority at a recent meetup. Most of the players are from China, Russia, South America or one of the many other places where Mafia is being put to strategic use. That includes Ukraine’s capital, Kiev.
“I believe in Kiev we have maybe 30 or 50 clubs. Maybe even more,” says Eugene Bazhenov. He started an English-language Mafia club back in 2010, and it immediately caught on with Ukrainians.
“The initial motivation is, of course, to improve English. But then they get addicted to the game because it’s really fun to play," Bazhenov says. People have even found dates — and spouses — through the club. "It’s a really good place to meet people, whatever your purpose is.”
As for Eugene’s purpose? “At that time I was working for a company and I wanted to have my own business, but I didn’t have network, I didn’t have money to start the business. So it was totally nothing," he says.
Nothing, that is, but a bunch of people crazy about Mafia, which is actually how Eugene achieved his goal. He ended up creating two companies with the help of expat Mafia players, one from Denmark, the other from Australia. Today, most of his closest friends, he tells me, are foreigners he met through the club.
It turns out, pretending to kill one another can really bring people together.
Meanwhile, back at Lundin's Mafia meetup, a Chinese woman named Joy is killing it — pun totally intended — for the civilians, picking off Mafia one by one.
She keeps insisting her English isn’t very good, but she's had a lot of practice at the game. About six years ago, Mafia — or the “Killer Game,” as it’s known there — became huge in China. Dozens of brick-and-mortar clubs sprang up across the country, complete with high-tech screens and audio systems blasting sound effects — all of which are completely unnecessary, given this is purely a storytelling game.
Silvia Lindtner, who teaches at the University of Michigan’s School of Information, spent two years in China researching the Killer Game phenomenon. As she discovered, the Killer Game boom had everything to do with the booming Chinese economy:
“They were like, ‘We have to deal with people we are not at all familiar with. We sometimes have to convey a particular message to our customers, or to our clients, and you sort of have to sometimes pretend to be someone else in these settings.’” Lindtner says.
Playing Mafia wasn't just a way to hone those skills: It was a great way to establish a competitive advantage. “These were skills they believed were utterly necessary in Chinese society, in international business relationships, and they were also saying that these were skills that would distinguish them from other people in China," Lindtner explains.
These kinds of concerns weren't on Dimitry Davidoff's radar when he created Mafia. Having grown up in the Soviet Union, the thought of a business application for the game never crossed his mind.
He actually designed Mafia in part as a means of understanding the bloody history of the Communist regime: Change the word Mafia to KGB, and the game becomes a metaphor for the Stalin era, where anyone could be an informant and a lot of innocent civilians get killed.
But 25 years later, Davidoff is now living in the United States and he’s made a business out of Mafia. He licenses it for various uses, and even served as a consultant for a Mafia movie that will be released next year in Russia.
The youthful version of himself that invented the game back in the Soviet era might even point at the Dmitry Davidoff of today and call him “Mafia.”
The World in Words podcast is on Facebook and iTunes.Service Jobs, Like Uber Driver, Blur Lines Between Old Job Categories
Enlarge this image toggle caption Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images
Is an Uber driver an employee of the company, or an independent contractor? That question is the focus of a federal class action lawsuit coming up in California, and in smaller cases around the country. But maybe there's a third category — a murky middle not yet defined in the U.S., though there is some precedent abroad.
According to David Plouffe, the senior vice president of policy and strategy at Uber, Uber's drivers are clearly independent contractors.
"Drivers can log onto the platform if they want, and if they don't, they don't have to — even when we're busy," he says.
Plouffe, who ran President Obama's 2008 election campaign, was hired by Uber to help clean up its image and fight public policy battles. He says drivers have "maximum flexibility" over their most important asset: time.
"That's very different than almost any other part of our economy, where even people who work part time at some retail establishment, restaurant establishments — their schedule gets set often times with very little notice," Plouffe says.
The California Labor Commission recently ruled an Uber driver is an employee. The company is appealing that decision.
According to Uber, its drivers in the U.S. work 19 hours a week on average. Plouffe says Uber wants to recruit more casual drivers, specifically getting people on their way to work to pick up passengers.
"If they do 10 trips a week in a 'casual carpool' using the Uber platform, is that person an employee? Of course not," Plouffe says.
But if they do 40 hours a week, they got the car to be an Uber driver, and records show they've been doing it for a year or two, are they an employee?
"I think sort of dicing this up is not the right way to look at this," Plouffe says. He says the driver is in the driver's seat, and hours come down to personal choices.
"Of course it's diverse, but those drivers, whether you drive 40 hours a week or four hours a week, you're not told whether to drive at all," Plouffe says. "It's your decision."
In the U.S., looking well beyond Uber, the employment debate tends to have two poles — employee on one end, independent contractor on the other.
But that's not the case in Canada.
In Canada there's an intermediary class that is recognized by the courts and by labor and employment statutes called a dependent contractor, says Simon Heath, an employment lawyer in Ontario.
"It doesn't really matter now what you call yourself, or how you try to structure your relationship. What really matters is how that relationship plays itself out," he says.
In 2008 and 2009, courts in Canada ruled that economic dependence matters. If a company has relied on a person consistently over the years, if that person derives all or most of her income from that job — then she could be a dependent contractor. Heath says for his clients, the main benefit is getting a severance package if terminated.
"In Ontario that ranges from zero to a maximum of 24 months of pay, so two years," Heath says. "That can be a significant sum of money."
Germany has also created a third category for employee-like workers.
But the U.S. Congress hasn't tweaked fundamentals here in decades.
In the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act, Congress explicitly stated independent contractors are a class that does not get protections given to employees. Since then, workers have tried to get reclassified, like janitors who aren't allowed to work for more than one company or plumbers who've worked more than full time at the same place for years.
"There's been plenty of opportunities for Congress to say more about this issue as it's enacting newer employment statutes, and it really just hasn't caught a lot of attention," says Jeffrey Hirsch, a professor at the University of North Carolina School of Law.
He says as labor moves from blue collar to service jobs — fewer factory workers, more Uber drivers — the need for a third category is growing.“Clojure is immutable, so you can’t change anything, how useless!”
Immutable languages make application state an interesting concept.
In Clojure, you can deal with application state in two main ways. The first way is to pass the state around as parameters to your functions. An example of Pass As Parameter:
(defn delete! [db-con table id] (jdbc/delete! db-con table ["id=?" id])) ;; valid-for-delete omitted (defn delete-user [db-con user-id] (if (valid-for-delete db-con "user" user-id) (delete! db-con "user" user-id))) (defn -main [& [connection-string user-id]] (let [db-con (make-connection connection-string)] (delete-user db-con user-id)))
This requires every function that eventually accesses a database to also have the database connection. The trade-off is one of simplicity: it is easier to test and interact with code that takes all of its dependencies as parameters.
The alternative is to set a thread-safe value somewhere and give the underlying code access to it. In Clojure, the atom primitive is the first choice for this. A common misconception is that Clojure prevents all mutation. The atom primitive can be mutated, it just has to be done with a special swap! function. Let’s call this: Mutate Shared Location.
(def db-con (atom nil)) (defn delete! [table id] (jdbc/delete! @db-con table ["id=?" id])) ;; valid-for-delete omitted (defn delete-user [user-id] (if (valid-for-delete "user" user-id) (delete! "user" user-id))) (defn -main [& [connection-string user-id]] (swap! db-con (fn [old] (make-connection connection-string))) (delete-user user-id))
The atom allows us to not have to pass around the state. We mutate db-con with the connection parameters before calling any database accessing functions. Unfortunately, this sets up an implicit dependency: delete! will only work if the db-con atom was setup beforehand.
Dependencies Correctly Call Function Adding New State Best When Pass As Parameter Explicit Easier Harder State Values Change Frequently Mutate Shared Location Implicit Harder Easier State Values Change Rarely
Mutate Shared Location might look familiar, in a lot of other languages it is implemented with the Singleton Design Pattern. Often a Singleton class will act as the mutable shared location for storing state.
When adding new application state, I typically default to Pass As Parameter as my first choice. When Pass As Parameter grows costly, I fall back to Mutate Shared Location. Pass As Parameter works best when the value changes regularly.
An exception would be something as ubiquitous as a database connection in a CRUD application. A CRUD application will typically need a database connection at every leaf node, and it rarely changes, so I will use Mutate Shared Location from the start.
With these two ways of passing application state, we are offered the flexibility to choose the best tool for the job.Get the biggest What's On 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
The dirtiest takeaways, restaurants and food stores in Greater Manchester can be revealed by the M.E.N. today.
They are the businesses rated by inspectors as ‘zero’ in the Food Standards Agency’s national food hygiene ratings scheme - and there are 68 of them across Greater Manchester.
All of them are deemed to need ‘urgent improvement’ and Bolton is once again the worst of the 10 Greater Manchester suburbs.
And the figures show that food hygiene appears to be getting worse across the region – the figure is 10 more than it was last time the M.E.N. collated the numbers in February.
The FSA scheme shows 19 businesses in Bolton have a zero rating, although one has now closed.
Manchester had two nine months ago - but that figure has surged to 13.
In Rochdale, there are 11 food businesses with a zero rating, a rise of two, followed by seven in Wigan, also a rise, and five in Stockport.
The sale of food in Tameside and Salford appears to be the safest, with each area having just two businesses with the lowest possible score.
MORE : Revealed: The shops and stores in Greater Manchester rated zero for food hygiene
The scale goes from zero to five, with those achieving a grade of five judged to be the safest, cleanest and best.
Food safety officers assess three separate areas. Food hygiene covers handling, preparation, cooking and storage. The cleanliness and condition of facilities and buildings is also checked, alongside management.
The FSA said the system was in place to ensure food sold or served is safe to eat. Staff knowledge is also examined and a spokesman added: “The rating given is based on how well they do in each of these areas – they are all important.”
They said those achieving a rating of zero were likely to be performing poorly in all three areas and may have a ‘history of serious problems’.
Our list is based on inspections that appear on the FSA’s website and is accurate at the time of writing. Visits from council inspectors vary and many might be waiting for upcoming inspections. We will publish newly-updated, zero-rating inspection figures every few months.
In pictures: Takeaways and restaurants with zero ratings from the Food Standards Agency:
Bolton council, which has 2,175 businesses to inspect, said Chip A Latte on Newport Street has now closed.
A spokesman said: “We take food hygiene very seriously and businesses are all assessed against the same set of national standards. We work closely with food businesses and many do score well on the rating system. Overall, less than one per cent have a zero rating and in fact around four in every five premises in the borough – 80 per cent – are rated satisfactorily with a score of three or higher.
“We only have the power to shut a premises down if there is an immediate risk to health. Otherwise we ask the business to take urgent action to rectify the issues and we will revisit them to make sure that these actions have been carried out.”
She said the council would continue to work with businesses that haven’t achieved a satisfactory rating and added: “If we revisit and things have not improved then we would look to take further action such as prosecution.”
“Bolton is larger than many of our neighbours, meaning we have around 400 more premises to inspect than most other local authorities.”
The FSA said businesses with ratings from zero to two must make improvements but nationally, standards were improving. The spokesman added: “The requirements are in place to make sure that the food we buy is safe to eat and it is the responsibility of every food business to ensure they meet these requirements.
“A good food hygiene rating gives people confidence that a business is taking food hygiene seriously.”
All businesses can appeal and ask for re-inspections.
The M.E.N. contacted all the restaurants and takeaways but few wanted to speak about their rating:
Zaidy’s in Bury claimed the website was wrong and they now have a five-star rating
Chicken Cottage on Wilmslow Road in Manchester said they were waiting to be refurbished before a further inspection
T and T Sargeant in Leigh said they were in the process of changing management and the business was being reassessed
Captain Cook in Stretford said the website has not been updated but they had now improved
Gafoor Grocers said the inspectors did not understand his business and most of his shop was for storage.
These are the restaurants or takeaways to receive a zero food hygiene rating in Greater Manchester:
MANCHESTER:
Abduls Takeaway, 121 Wilmslow Road, Manchester.
BBQ Restaurant, Faulkner Street, Manchester.
Bella House, Manchester Road, Chorlton.
Freddy’s Chicken and Pizza, Stockport Road, Manchester.
Hadramout, Walmer Street East, Manchester.
Kebab King, Rochdale Road, Manchester.
Kebabish Sweet and Grill Centre, Wilmslow Road, Manchester.
Khans Biryani and Kabli Pilau Takeaway, Stockport Road, Manchester.
Nawab, Queens Road, Manchester.
Rusholme Sizzler One Ltd, Wilmslow Road, Manchester.
Saffron Eastern Cuisine, Cheetham Hill Road, Manchester.
Chicken Cottage, Wilmslow Road, Manchester.
Khan’s Kebab House, Wilmslow Road, Manchester.
OLDHAM:
Beer and Wine Shop, Greenwood Street, Oldham.
Burgerlicious, Greenacres Road, Oldham.
Charcoal Grill, George Street, Oldham.
BOLTON:
Adam and Sons, Lena Street, Bolton.
ADZ Food Distribution, Unit 3 Cambrian Business Park, Derby Street, Bolton.
Arabian Mist, The Bunker, Gilnow Lane, Bolton.
Bolton Excellency, Varsani House, Carlton Street, Bolton.
Chip A Latte, Newport Street, Bolton.
East to West, Chorley Old Road, Bolton.
Eastern Grill, Springfield Road, Kearsley, Bolton.
Fanty Fashion, Bradshawgate, Bolton.
Finest Foods, Gilnow Road, Bolton.
Gafoor Grocers, Deane Road, Bolton.
Golden Crown, Kearsley Mount Precinct, Kearsley, Bolton.
Halal Meat and Continental Food, Deane Road, Bolton.
Imperial Kitchen, Deane Church Lane, Bolton.
Jitar Tandori, Market Street, Little Lever, Bolton.
Moz Kitchen, Chorley New Road, Horwich, Bolton.
Papa Sams, Bradshawgate, Bolton.
Perito’s Express, Derby Street, Bolton.
Rolls N Wraps, Belgrave Gardens, Bolton.
Yummy Tummies, Higher Market Street, Farnworth.
TAMESIDE:
Il Cafe Roma, Market Avenue, Ashton-Under-Lyne, Tameside.
The Gun Inn, Market Street, Hollingworth, Tameside.
BURY:
Alis Kebabish, Rochdale Old Road, Bury.
LA Pizza, Radcliffe Road, Bury.
Zaidy’s, Parkhills Road, Bury.
STOCKPORT:
Romero’s, Broadstone Road North, Reddish.
Sizzlerz, Garners Lane, Adswood, Stockport.
Sky Way Grill, Middle Hillgate, Stockport.
Spicy Kitchen, Stonepail Road, Gatley, Cheadle.
Thrill on Grill, Cuddington Crescent, Adswood, Stockport.
ROCHDALE:
Flames, Halifax Road, Rochdale.
Iqbal Cash & Carry, Mere Lane, Rochdale.
JR Pizza Bar, Spotland Road, Rochdale.
Mayflower, York Street, Heywood.
Naz Kebab House, Milkstone Road, Rochdale.
Polish Food Tina Ltd, Bridge Street, Heywood.
Shinwari Grill, Yorkshire Street, Rochdale.
Silsila Services, Ramsay Street, Rochdale.
Solomans, Whitworth Road, Rochdale.
The Great Wall, Spotland Road, Rochdale.
Variety Food Store, Spotland Road, Rochdale.
SALFORD:
Simpsons, Church Street, Eccles.
Success 4 ever Services, Basten Drive, Salford.
TRAFFORD:
Captain Cook, Chester Road, Stretford.
Hong Kong, Northenden Road, Sale.
Pride of Bengal, Green Lane, Sale.
WIGAN:
Rainbow, High Street, Standish.
T and T Sargeant, Leigh Road, Leigh.
Tamar Stores, Nel Pan Lane, Leigh.
The Little Orange Cafe, Kiosk at Wigan Market Hall, Wigan.
The Lotus, Bolton Road, Atherton.
Earl Street Chippy, Earl Street, Wigan.
Maidens Butchers Ltd, Market Street, Hindley.
Search for outlets near you rated zero for food hygiene using the tool below (the results given update as the Food Standards Agency website updates its ratings)...Featured image: Buffalo head south, away from Yellowstone’s dangerous trap. Photo by Stephany Seay, Buffalo Field Campaign.
By Buffalo Field Campaign
It gives us great pleasure to share some incredibly positive news with you. Two days after the heartbreaking media tour of Yellowstone’s Stephens Creek capture facility, where one hundred and fifty wild buffalo were “processed” and shipped to slaughter or otherwise condemned, the bulk of the trap was empty and Yellowstone was hungry to capture more bison. Haunted by what we had witnessed there, our hearts sank as large groups of buffalo approached the trap. As expected, Yellowstone park wranglers — those who work at the trap — attempted to capture these buffalo families. First they went after a group of seventy-two buffalo, then another group of thirty. But in a beautiful twist of fate, the buffalo sensed the danger and were determined to save themselves from slaughter. Watch this video to see what happens.
As of this writing, there have |
I ventured to the garden and cut some thyme. When the spoon met my lips, I almost gasped. I was back in that fancy, up-scale restaurant drenching my bite of filet in the best sauce ever. I couldn’t believe it! I called my other frustrated diners who had also resigned from the search for that perfect sauce from the “greatest meal ever.” We were moved to tears. Okay, that is an exaggeration, but we were really excited! Our search had ended and it was delicious!
So, after all the hype this sauce has from that story, I hope that you are excited by it as much as my family. This recipe is quick and simple. It is a great meal for a quick weeknight dinner or a ritzy, weekend dinner party with friends.
To start, I get the sauces going. So, pull out a small sauce pan and heat it over medium heat. Drop in two tablespoons of cold butter and allow it to melt. Once fully melted, drop one minced shallot, and cook until the shallot is softened, which takes about three minutes. Just a little comment here, watch your shallot because you don’t want it to burn and it is easy to get the butter too hot. I am one of those people who turns the stovetop too hot in the beginning and doesn’t notice until I burn my garlic or onions. So, just keep on eye on it.
Once the shallot has softened, add the pint of blueberries and allow them to slow cook for five minutes. They should start to pop and a vibrant purple sauce should start to form in pan. The heat should be on medium. Once the berries look broken down, add half a cup of balsamic vinegar and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the sauce to half, which takes around five minutes. Then add in a half cup of red wine and the fresh thyme. I used a pinot noir this time, but I have used cabernet or merlot in the past. If you aren’t a person who cooks with wine, you could also just add a half cup of water. Allow the sauce to reduce again by half, which should take another five minutes or so. Season with salt and pepper to your liking. Sauce number one is now ready to go!
For the second sauce, in a small sauce pan heat two tablespoons of butter over medium heat. Once melted, add the minced shallot. I know, I know, it starts exactly the same as the first sauce, but here is where the similarities end. Once the shallot has softened, add a cup of heavy cream. Bring the cream to a very light boil, almost more of a simmer, and allow the liquid to reduce by half. The cream should become thick and, when tested, coat the back of a spoon. This reduction takes about five minutes. Once the sauce is to a consistency you like, add a half cup of crumbled gorgonzola cheese. Stir and season to taste with salt and pepper. Sauce number two is now ready to go!
Alright, so it is time to cook the steak. I used elk for this recipe, but these sauces would also pair great with deer, pronghorn, or buffalo. For the cut of meat, I used the infraspinatus muscle, which is found in the shoulder of the animal. When purchasing beef from the super market, this cut of meat is commonly called a flat iron steak. The flat iron is a good steak for grilling, so I use it quite often. Of course, you could also use backstrap or tenderloin for this recipe.
I cut the steak about two inches thick across the grain and let the meat sit at room temperature for about fifteen minutes before I cook it. Letting the meat sit before cooking takes the chill off it, and this allows for more even cooking of the steak. Salt and pepper the steaks before placing them on a large, preheated pan. I heat the pan to medium-high before setting the meat on it so it will develop a nice brown crust. Once you have set the meat on the hot pan, don’t mess with it. At first touch, the meat will stick to the pan and if you move it around you end up with ripped meat. Nobody wants ripped meat.
Allow the first side to cook for four minutes. Flip and cook the second side for an additional four minutes. While the meat is cooking, preheat the broiler to high. After the second side has finished cooking, I place the entire pan under the broiler for an additional minute. If you don’t have a pan that can go from stove-top to oven, you can also remove the meat from the pan and tent it with aluminum foil to allow it to finish cooking. The times I have listed for the meat allow for a two-inch cut steak to come out at about medium-rare. If you like your meat less or more done, adjust the times by a minute. For example, if I wanted a rare steak I would only allow the steak to cook for three minutes per side and then finish with the minute in the broiler. In my experience, most wild game is better when cooked on the rare side. I find the “gamey” flavor people tend to dislike about wild game comes out when the meat is overcooked. Placing the meat under the broiler or tenting it creates a super juicy steak.
Alright, so, time to plate this steak up! Take your steak of choice and drench that bad boy in the blueberry balsamic reduction. Make sure to get a good spoonful of the whole berries as well as the sauce. Second, drizzle just a bit of the gorgonzola cream sauce over the top of everything. If you are looking for a bite of heaven, cut off a bite-size piece of steak that is drenched in the blueberry sauce and has a dollop of the cream sauce on top. Oh man! The blueberries, thyme, and gorgonzola cheese are a winning combination!
For sides, I recommend sautéing up some asparagus. I put my asparagus in the oven on 375 for about 15 minutes with a little olive oil and salt and pepper. I suggest asparagus because the gorgonzola cream sauce is superb on top of it! I also made roasted red potatoes for the same reason. That cheese sauce is probably good on any vegetable, but it was great on the asparagus and potatoes.
Well, I am now officially hungry! And drooling just a tad!
Happy Hunting!
Print Elk Steak with Blueberry Balsamic Reduction and Gorgonzola Cream Sauce Ingredients For Blueberry Sauce 2 Tablespoons Butter
1 Shallot, Minced
1 Pint Blueberries
1/2 Cup Balsamic Vinegar
1/2 Cup Red Wine
1 Tablespoon Fresh Thyme, Minced
Salt and Pepper to Taste For Gorgonzola Cream Sauce 2 Tablespoons Butter
1 Shallot, Minced
1 Cup Heavy Cream
1/2 Cup Gorgonzola Cheese
Salt and Pepper to Taste
4 Elk Steaks, Cut to 2 inches Thick Instructions For Blueberry Sauce Heat a sauce pan over medium-low heat and melt butter. Once melted, add shallots and cook until softened, about three minutes. Pour in pint of blueberries and simmer over medium heat until berries have popped and sauce begins to form, about five minutes. Add balsamic vinegar and bring to boil. Reduce sauce by half, about five minutes. Add red wine and fresh thyme. Continue to reduce sauce, again by half, about five minutes. Salt and pepper to taste. Keep warm until ready to serve over steak. For Gorgonzola Cream Sauce Heat butter in saucepan over medium-low heat. Add shallots once butter has melted. Cook until shallots are soft, about three minutes. Add heavy cream and bring to a very light boil. Reduce cream by half or until it has reached your desired consistency. Add cheese and salt and pepper to taste. Keep warm until ready to serve. For Steaks Allow steaks to rest until coming to room temperature, about fifteen minutes. Salt and pepper generously and place in pan over medium-high heat. Cook each side for four minutes to reach medium rare doneness. Preheat broiler. Allow steaks to finish in the oven for one minute. If you do not have a pan that can move from stove top to oven, tent the steaks under aluminum foil and allow to rest. Top each steak generously with blueberry balsamic reduction and drizzle with gorgonzola cream sauce. Enjoy! Recipe Management Powered by Zip Recipes Plugin 5.0 http://huntingandcooking.com/elk-steak-smothered-in-blueberry-balsamic-reduction-and-gorgonzola-cream-sauce-rich-and-delicious/ All photos copyright of huntingandcooking.com
Share This:Moments ago, the Syrian Arab Army’s 87th Brigade of the 10th Tank Division – in coordination with the National Defense Forces (NDF) – broke-through the Islamist rebel defenses at Kafr Naboudeh and took control of the southern entrance into this imperative town inside the Hama Governorate’s northern countryside.
The Syrian Armed Forces were able to progress to Kafr Naboudeh after the Russian Air Force’s MI-24 Hind Helicopter Gunships pounded the Islamist rebels of the Free Syrian Army’s 101st Brigade, Liwaa Suqour Al-Ghaab, Harakat Ahrar Al-Sham, and the Syrian Al-Qaeda group “Jabhat Al-Nusra” at the aforementioned town, paving the way for the SAA and NDF to attack the southern gates.
Kafr Naboudeh is a town located on the border of the Idlib Governorate; it sits at the neck of the northern Hama salient that the Syrian Armed Forces are currently attacking.
If Kafr Naboudeh is captured by the Syrian Armed Forces, then the Islamist rebels entrenched inside the imperative city of Kafr Zita will be flanked from both the east and west; this would be disastrous for the Islamist rebels because this area provides them a buffer-zone to the south of Khan Sheikhoun.
In addition to their advance at Kafr Naboudeh, the Syrian Armed Forces are pushing north towards the Idlibi town of Al-Tama’aneh; if captured, the strategic city of Khan Sheikhoun will be in serious danger.
AdvertisementsAymeric Laporte (left) in action for Athletic Bilbao
Athletic Bilbao defender Aymeric Laporte says reports that he has agreed to join Manchester City are "unfounded and inaccurate".
Reports in the Spanish media claim City had activated the £39m release clause for the 21-year-old.
However, in a statement on Twitter, the defender wrote: "Given the unfounded and inaccurate news appearing in the media today, my message to the fans of Athletic is very clear and simple.
Pep Guardiola is believed to be a big admirer of Laporte
"In my mind I have only the desire to be useful to the club and my team-mates, to achieve the best goals this season and also recover well from my injury.
"Athletic will always be the first to know about anything that might happen in the future. My loyalty and deep respect for this club is full."
Despite his denial, Sky Sports News HQ understands City are interested in signing Laporte.
Incoming manager Pep Guardiola is an admirer of the 21-year-old and City sporting director Txiki Bergiristain went out to see him in Spain last month.
Laporte is currently recuperating after breaking his leg while playing for France Under 21s in March.
The defender signed a new deal at San Mames last summer that keeps him at the club until 2019.Maude POV Wiping the tears from my face there was one thing on my mind. I needed to talk to Sam. I needed him to make me smile again. "Where's my phone?" I think as I pat my pockets. "Oh yeah it's in my room". I leap onto my bed and grab my phone and notice there is a voicemail. I'd been so dry with him. Is he going to be mad? As I play the message I can hear the nerves in his voice. I feel so bad for the way I'd been texting him. I could tell he was confused and worried. "Wait, what did he just say?!" I shout at my phone. Sam just told me that he loves me. A warm feeling filled my body. This was the happiest I'd felt in a long time. I needed to tell him I love him too, I need to see him. I had to phone him. I wanted him to come over just so I could look in his eyes and say those three words back at him. The happiness quickly fled when a woman answered his phone. Sam was so protective of it. Who is this woman. Immediately I angrily spout out "Eh, who are you?". The information that followed made my heart sink. Diane POV "Holy shit, what have I just witnessed?" Looking at the scene in front of me I was panicking. The hooded figure ran off into a black BMW and sped away. Leaving this poor young man in a pool of his own blood. I shouted at my son to call an ambulance and ran over to the man of the ground. "Hello there sir, my name is Diane I need you to listen to my voice. You have to stay with me" he showed little signs that he could hear me so I continued to speak. "Honey, I need to know if you can hear me? Can you do something to show me that you hear me" I got no response. "How about your name? What's your name?". He tried speaking, his lips slightly moving to let out an inaudible whisper. "Sorry sir I missed that what's your name?". "S..s..sa..Sam" he said in the most saddening whimper of a voice that broke my heart. My son ran over to tell me the ambulance is on their way as he pulled of his jumper and tore it apart to use as a bandage. Its a good thing he got first aid training at his work. I struggled to watch at Sam lay there whimpering as he held my hand. I couldn't make out what he was saying but it sounded like a name over and over again. 'BUZZZZ' 'BUZZZZ' A phone starts to go off in young Sam's pocket so I ask his permission to answer and he gently nods. "Hello" I say. Waiting for a confused response which is what I get. "Sorry ma'am, my name is Diane. I'm currently sitting in the Walmart parking lot with Sam. He has just been attacked by a hooded man and has suffered a stab wound to his stomach. My son and I are waiting with him until the ambulance arrives". This was awful. I could hear the fear and panic in her breathing alone. "Can I just ask your relationship with Sam?". Maude POV "I'm his girlfriend, Maude" I said sharply. I felt sick. I'd been so horrible to him this afternoon and then this happens. I just felt angry, heartbroken and guilty. What if he dies. I have to go on knowing that he died thinking I was mad it him. "Here comes the ambulance" Diane calmly says down the phone. "Can you ask them what hospital they're taking him to please?" I ask her. She tells me to hold on a second but the seconds of silence that followed felt like forever. All I could hear was the paramedics talking in the background and the sounds of them moving Sam to the back of the ambulance. I hear a mans voice down the phone and for a split second I think it's my bunny but I quickly come to the realisation that it's just one of the paramedics. He informed me where they were going and I gave him my name and a contact number, said our goodbyes and then I hear the soft, calm tone of Diane's voice again "Do you need anything else from me sweetie?" She says. "No it's fine if just going to head to the hospital now. "Thank you so much to you and your son. I'm so glad you were there for Sam" I say as I battle through the tears. "Don't you worry about it and I'm sure he will be fine. Bye honey." Just before she hangs up I hear the paramedic saying thank you to her and asking for Sam's phone. The little bit of reassurance she gave me at the end of the call really made the difference. The gentle tone in her voice made me believe that she knew for sure that Sam would be alright. I throw on my trainers and ran out the door. My face soaking from crying as I think about Sam. Thinking about all the happy memories we have together made me smile like an idiot. I needed to tell him I love him too. Even if it's the last thing he hears.Editor's note: This article is written by a Buffalo Rumblings reader that is not a member of the site's editorial staff. It is presented on our front page, in original form (i.e. sans editing), because it is an interesting and unique perspective on The Wells Report. Writer's claims of background have not been verified by the site.
First off I know, this is a Bills site (GO BILLS). Since this will likely impact their second game of the 2015 season and it's been a hot topic of late, hopefully I'm not out of line with this post.
I've seen a lot of back and forth here and elsewhere and felt that this analysis might be a good idea. As I performed internal investigations at work for five years and currently oversee those that do them now I hope my perspective on the report itself might be a fun read for some. Here goes...
The absolute first thing to note about the report is that it's only a summary of the investigation. Considering it broke 100 pages that seems like a ludicrous statement so I'll expand on that. The actual investigation comprises all of the documents they reviewed, all of the testimony they collected (and the resulting statements), etc. etc. The actual investigation might easily be closer to "volumes" for all we know. The report is strictly the conclusion of the investigation with some explanation as to the process and how the conclusion was reached.
This presents with the only flaw (inherent with all investigation reports) that I found with the Wells Report. You have to take the author's word that when they say "Person X said...." that this is accurate to what that person did say. Now the NFL likely does NOT have this limitation. My assumption is that if they asked to see Person X's statement, that it's available for them. But anyway, this is arguably a "flaw." We need to have some faith in the investigator's honesty.
As an individual who has no access to the full body of evidence the rest of my analysis is based on the assumption of a report that was authored with integrity and honesty.
The first sticking point is what was actually concluded. While I personally feel that there is a decent amount of evidence in the report to support that Tom Brady had a more direct role in the tampering, the conclusion merely asserts he knew it was happening (generally aware). As has been reported to death, the wording of "more probable" than not is a reference to a "preponderance of evidence." This is the burden of proof for civil matters in the USA and therefore if this were brought to court the interpretation of this conclusion would be "legally binding." In other words, this wording is as good as "this is what occurred" (for legal purposes, not necessarily court of public opinion). As a matter of fact, the author could have just written "It is concluded that Tom Brady was aware of the practice of..." Both statements are, for an investigation report, the exact same meaning. The lawyers tailored the language to meet the NFL rulebook standard but don't be confused, the legal weight is the same as "this is the story." The same concept is applied naturally to what McNally and Jastremski did. From a civil legal standard, the wording means "it is concluded they did it."
I've seen the scientific analysis from Exponent and Dr. Marlow questioned. Most recently that their findings were disregarded and that they determined that it was possible to explain the level of deflation of the Pats' footballs and the investigator ignored it. That's almost the opposite of what was determined actually. The study concluded they couldn't find that tampering occurred with "absolute certainty" based on their analysis. They then continue that thought by saying they could not find a set of realistic conditions that replicated the amount of deflation the Pats' gear had. They found a "small window" of factors combining that would explain both sets of balls (Pats and Colts) but based on the realities of that game concluded that the window in question was "unrealistic." I won't go into the amount of testing they conducted, but as a person used to looking into all possible details, even I think they went to ludicrous measures to test all possible variations. Every situation I've seen a sympathist say they "neglected" to account for so far is actually in the report. To briefly summarize how far they went, they did a play by play of the entire first half to their best ability to simulate how the balls were handled with as many factors as they could simulate. Oh, and that Dr. Marlow fella. He's not even affiliated with Exponent, the company that did the testing. They hired an company to test anything and everything they could think of and then asked ANOTHER independent party to review their findings. Both Exponent and Dr. Marlow came to the same conclusion.
I've seen various other things like;
Brady's testimony or "side" wasn't accounted for in the report. While I'm sure it doesn't include his entire statement, there's information provided from him all over the place.
Brady's agent saying he cooperated and answered all questions posed to him. I bet he did. But cooperation also means telling the truth. The report shows multiple instances with pretty clear evidence in which he did not. The phone thing became an issue too. I've had to request phone information before. It gets messy and understandably so. However I've never seen or heard of the amount of concessions offered to Tom Brady to protect private information. Don't get me wrong, I totally get his reluctance to have that reviewed but the investigator seems to have offered everything humanly possibly to mitigate the risk.
Similarly, I've seen some say that the counsel to the Patriots was justified in refusing to allow a final interview with McNally. While an investigator SHOULD do their best to limit the intrusion and interview witnesses as few times as possible, sometimes it just can't happen. Multiple interviews are par for the course. The report even goes so far as to specifically mention which information came to light which prompted their request for another interview. If the report is accurate they even offered to meet any time and any place that was convenient for him. Incidentally, this and a few mentions of ongoing accusations from Patriots reps about the integrity of the investigation (early stages conducted by the NFL) and process are mentioned. Essentially, the team that said they'd cooperate fully, deliberately refused at least one attempt for information and seems to have projected an air of disdain toward the early investigation to the point where it made the report. Here's one such quote "At various points in the investigation, counsel for the Patriots questioned the integrity and objectivity of game officials, various NFL executives and certain NFL Security representatives present at the AFC Championship game or otherwise involved in the investigative process." For the record, this accusation seems to have been looked into during the Wells investigation.
I could go on and on, but in my assessment it's a rock solid investigation summary which addresses every single "failure" critics have thrown at it.
My final thoughts are on how the conclusion is actually formed in something like this. The investigator will always go into a case with a story. In this case, the AFC Championship game balls were tampered with. During the course of the investigation this should be modified only slightly (such as quantity differences etc.). This story is then weighed against what else is reported or any other stories that are brought up or can be imagined. Secondary stories get similar attention ("who orchestrated?" would be a secondary question/story for instance).
This is actually where the report shines. McNally, Jastremski and Brady all are on record in the report asserting certain things that explain what they want to convey happened. In all cases, the report acknowledges the counter story and indicates (with evidence based statements) why it is or is not credible. The evidence is applied to all scenarios put forth and the plausibility of each is assessed. Alternatives brought up by Bill B and elsewhere are all similarly evaluated. The evidence simply doesn't support the alternative explanations.In a series full of lost leads, ridiculous amounts of goals, and more than its share of penalty minutes, it didn’t seem like the first 30 seconds of any game would mean much come the final horn.
Claude Giroux thought otherwise.
“Before they dropped the puck, he came over and told me to watch the first shift,” Danny Briere said.
Giroux made sure to put on a show for his fellow assistant captain and everyone else watching Game 6 between the Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins. Just a few seconds into the game, he leveled Penguins’ captain Sidney Crosby with a clean hit in the neutral zone.
The 23-year-old all-star was going to do anything in his power to ensure that there wouldn’t be a Game 7 in Pittsburgh.
Just a few seconds after the big hit on Crosby, Giroux skated up the rink and fired a wrist shot past Marc-Andre Fleury to give the Flyers a lead that they would hold for the rest of the game.
“Claude called it for me before the start of the game. He said I’m going to have a great first shift. I didn’t know what it meant and he was physical and he scored a goal so that’s what a leader would do,” said former Penguin Max Talbot. “Claude definitely set up the tone early for us tonight.”
Giroux was more than fired up after the goal. He shouted “Let’s go!” as he slammed into the glass at the Wells Fargo Center, much to the delight of the fans sitting in the first few rows. It was a much different feeling than the one Giroux had at the end of Game 5, when he shattered his stick over the crossbar in frustration after falling to the Penguins 3-2.
As impressive as Giroux’s first shift was; it almost didn’t happen.
Peter Laviolette had played his checking line, or Sean Couturier, Max Talbot, and Eric Wellwood, against Pittsburgh’s top offensive weapons plenty of times throughout the series. So why, in Game 6, did the Flyers’ coach choose to go with Giroux’s line to start the eventual series-clincher?
“Not only leadership but his game tonight was monstrous, it really was,” Laviolette said after the game. “When the best player in the world comes up to you and tells you, “I don’t know who you’re planning on starting tonight, but I want that first shift”, that says everything you need to know about Claude Giroux right there.”
Be a leader by example by demanding the first shift? Check.
Set the physical tone of the game with a huge hit on the opponent’s best player? Check.
Give your team a lead just 30 seconds into the game? Check.
You can’t ask for a better first shift then Claude Giroux’s 30 second hockey clinic at the beginning of Game 6. The rest is history, as the Flyers went on to win the game 5-1 and take the series 4 games to 2.
Below is the video of the hit on Crosby and the game’s first goal, both delivered by number 28.Barack Obama’s half-brother has once again repeated the discredited claim that the former US President was born in Kenya.
Ardent Donald Trump supporter, Malik Obama tweeted a copy of what he said was a valid birth certificate proving that his half-brother was born in Mombasa, the West African nation's second city.
It featured Mr Obama’s correct date of birth and includes the masthead: “Coast Province General Hospital, Mombasa, British Protectorate of Kenya”.
We’ll tell you what’s true. You can form your own view. From 15p €0.18 $0.18 $0.27 a day, more exclusives, analysis and extras.
Alongside the picture, he wrote: “Surely. What’s this?”
Malik Obama has repeatedly pedalled "birther conspiracy" claims that the politician was born abroad.
The 55-year-old former president has been dogged with questions about his birthplace since his US Senate campaign in 2004.
The issue, along with questions about his religion, have been frequently discussed matters within right-wing circles and conspiracy theorists, although they have mostly been limited to fringe Conservative news websites.
The unfounded rumours were largely meant to call into question the legitimacy of his presidency. All US presidents must be born in America, according to Article Two of the country's constitution.
Pennsylvania Democrat Philip J Berg also attempted to sue him over his birthplace in 2008 and Donald Trump was vocal about the issue for more than five years before he publicly acknowledged last September that Mr Obama was born in the US.
To silence the rumours, Mr Obama published his birth certificate in 2008, which gives Hawaii as the place of birth, and his long-form certificate in 2011.
These were confirmed by the Hawaii Department of Health and corroborated by contemporaneous birth announcements published in local newspapers.
The document tweeted by Malik Obama appears to be the same forgery that right-wing blogger Lucas Smith tried to sell on eBay in 2009.
The website removed the page because of its policy of barring its users from selling purported government documents.
Malik Obama has nonetheless embraced the unfounded claims and has made a string of wild and bizarre accusations about his half-brother.
He once told American filmmaker Joel Gilbert that Mr Obama’s real father was socialist thinker Frank Marshall Davis.
Asked to comment on the supposed birth certificate by The Independent, he demanded $10,000 (£8,200) to speak.
Shape Created with Sketch. Joe Biden and Barack Obama through the years Show all 15 left Created with Sketch. right Created with Sketch. Shape Created with Sketch. Joe Biden and Barack Obama through the years 1/15 Joe Biden and Dr Jill Biden watch Barack Obama's farewell speech on 11 January. Obama called Biden his 'brother' 2/15 US President Barack Obama speaks alongside US Vice President Joe Biden about the Affordable Care Act AFP/Getty Images 3/15 Vice President Joe Biden and President Barack Obama Getty 4/15 President Obama listens to Joe Biden speak of his work on defeating cancer on 18 October in the White House Reuters 5/15 U.S. President Barack Obama is applauded by House Speaker Paul Ryan and Vice President Joe Biden while delivering his final State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in Washington Reuters 6/15 U.S. Vice President Joe Biden interjects as President Barack Obama delivers remarks at a reception for the 25th anniversary of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics at the White House in Washington REUTERS 7/15 Obama and Vice President Joe Biden react after a heckler was removed for their extended interruption (Reuters) 8/15 U.S. President Barack Obama shakes hands with Speaker of the House John Boehner (R) as Vice President Joe Biden looks on 9/15 Barack and Michelle Obama and Vice-President Joe Biden observing a moment of silence outside the White House to mark the 13th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks Getty Images 10/15 Barack Obama and Joe Biden putt on the White House putting green Getty 11/15 President Barack Obama and Joe Biden in April 2013 AFP/Getty Images 12/15 January 1, 2013: U.S. President Barack Obama winks as he arrives with Vice President Joe Biden (L) in the briefing room Reuters 13/15 President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and others receive an update on the mission against Osama bin Laden in the Situation Room of the White House May 1, 2011 in Washington, DC Getty Images 14/15 Vice-President Joe Biden, right, confirmed that the US was looking at ways of taking legal action against Julian Assange - back in December 2010 GETTY IMAGES 15/15 Joe Biden, left, and retired military officers watch President Barack Obama sign orders to close down the detention centre at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in January 2009 GETTY IMAGES 1/15 Joe Biden and Dr Jill Biden watch Barack Obama's farewell speech on 11 January. Obama called Biden his 'brother' 2/15 US President Barack Obama speaks alongside US Vice President Joe Biden about the Affordable Care Act AFP/Getty Images 3/15 Vice President Joe Biden and President Barack Obama Getty 4/15 President Obama listens to Joe Biden speak of his work on defeating cancer on 18 October in the White House Reuters 5/15 U.S. President Barack Obama is applauded by House Speaker Paul Ryan and Vice President Joe Biden while delivering his final State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in Washington Reuters 6/15 U.S. Vice President Joe Biden interjects as President Barack Obama delivers remarks at a reception for the 25th anniversary of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics at the White House in Washington REUTERS 7/15 Obama and Vice President Joe Biden react after a heckler was removed for their extended interruption (Reuters) 8/15 U.S. President Barack Obama shakes hands with Speaker of the House John Boehner (R) as Vice President Joe Biden looks on 9/15 Barack and Michelle Obama and Vice-President Joe Biden observing a moment of silence outside the White House to mark the 13th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks Getty Images 10/15 Barack Obama and Joe Biden putt on the White House putting green Getty 11/15 President Barack Obama and Joe Biden in April 2013 AFP/Getty Images 12/15 January 1, 2013: U.S. President Barack Obama winks as he arrives with Vice President Joe Biden (L) in the briefing room Reuters 13/15 President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and others receive an update on the mission against Osama bin Laden in the Situation Room of the White House May 1, 2011 in Washington, DC Getty Images 14/15 Vice-President Joe Biden, right, confirmed that the US was looking at ways of taking legal action against Julian Assange - back in December 2010 GETTY IMAGES 15/15 Joe Biden, left, and retired military officers watch President Barack Obama sign orders to close down the detention centre at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in January 2009 GETTY IMAGES
In a separate interview, he told ITV’s Good Morning Britain that he has to queue up like everyone else to speak to Mr Obama.
Black Republican radio show host Wayne Dupree responded to his tweet yesterday.
He said: “That’s old… he’s out of office now… moving on right? You really think a Republican congress is going to do something… Send it up… I’ll watch.”
A Phoenix sheriff has also insisted Mr Obama's birth certificate was "fake" after allegedly investigating for five years.
We’ll tell you what’s true. You can form your own view.
At The Independent, no one tells us what to write. That’s why, in an era of political lies and Brexit bias, more readers are turning to an independent source. Subscribe from just 15p a day for extra exclusives, events and ebooks – all with no ads.
Subscribe nowBollywood’s shocker of a case – an A-list actor taking the legal route to accuse an A-list production house of unfair, monopolistic business practices over a Diwali release – has been decided. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) passed an order in Delhi on Monday night deciding that the practices of Yash Raj Films that were described as unfair and monopolistic by Ajay Devgn Ffilms, were not violative of sections 3 and 4 of the Competition Act.What does that mean? Round one goes to YRF. Ajay Devgn Ffilms had filed a case with the CCI, alleging that YRF had used their dominant position in the market to unfairly corner a large number of single screens for JTHJ, leaving few for SOS. At the time of the release of Ek Tha Tiger, YRF had, in return for supplying ETT, made many single screen theatres sign an agreement that they would only screen JTHJ during Diwali.But in their order on November 5, the CCI stated they didn’t think this was monopolistic. These are their arguments: They didn’t see how this causes “appreciable adverse effect on Competition in India”. It doesn’t restrict the entry of new players into the market, it doesn’t drive any existing player out of the market, it does not deprive the ultimate consumers, the viewers, of any benefits. The order says single screen theatres took a business decision by signing the agreement – they knew there were going to be other films releasing during Diwali, and they were free not to sign.It doesn’t prevent SOS from being screened. Multiplexes can screen it, as can those single screens which did not sign the agreement. Plus, SOS’s release can be postponed or could have been advanced if there were concerns that it would not find enough screens.The order also says that the ‘market’ “cannot be restricted to a particular period like Eid or Diwali” and the market “has to be considered a market available throughout the year”. It says there is no adverse effect on the ‘market’ if big films choose to release only in the festive season – if there is such a situation, theatre owners are free to pick one or book their theatres in advance.The order says that Ajay Devgn Films could not substantiate how YRF is a ‘dominant’ player. “No enterprise can be considered dominant on the basis of a big name,” the order said.Yash Raj films told TOI that they would comment on the verdict only after getting a copy of the ruling. Ajay’s spokesperson said, “We are shocked by the rejection of our legitimate case. We have approached the Appellate Tribunal against the order.”PHILADELPHIA (CBS) –– More than a year’s worth of activities marking the 100th Anniversary of the Ben Franklin Parkway will begin Friday night.
A mural unveiling at Park Towne Place and a new exhibit at the Free Library are two of the events launching the Parkway’s 100th anniversary.
McDonald’s Is Moving Into Supermarkets
“It’s our major kickoff for 14 months of celebration for the centennial of the Ben Franklin Parkway,” said Parkway Council Executive Director Judi Rogers.
Rogers says there will be music and arts all along the Parkway.
“There will be things going on inside and outside of the institutions. Over 100 family friendly activities, and it’s a cultural open house,” said Rogers.
Study: Middle-Aged |
latans, lawyers, priests, perverts, apologists, denialists, sado-masochists, victims, flatterers and white knights. This enables the concept of individualism, or self first in conflict with role and duty. From this comes self-consciousness, or the “Will I get caught?” mentality of someone in the process of doing the non-helpful.
Traditional societies were not self-conscious because they were aware of a hierarchy above the social level. They thought about natural order, rank among others, and God, but not social prowess and popularity. This saved them from the neurosis that currently devours civilization. With self-consciousness, thinking becomes a slave to the self, and in so doing, to the herd and its endless doubt and fear.
Tags: crowdism, intellectualization, self-consciousness
Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.Song Premiere: Ben Folds And yMusic, 'Capable Of Anything'
Enlarge this image Courtesy of the artist Courtesy of the artist
Ben Folds music has taken another turn, firmly embracing strings and chamber music yet still maintaining a passion for his love of pop. So There, his next album, will consist of eight chamber pop songs with the very talented yMusic Ensemble and one piano concerto performed with the Nashville Symphony. Today we premiere a little pocket symphony of sorts, a bit of pop perfection called "Capable of Anything."
Enlarge this image Courtesy of the artist Courtesy of the artist Hear The Song 01Capable of Anything 3:50 by Ben Folds and yMusic close overlay Buy Featured Music Your purchase helps support NPR programming. How?
Ben told us via email, "I was looking for a way to frame the new songs I was writing to fit with the three movement piano and orchestra concerto I would feature. With "Capable of Anything," yMusic — a classical secret from NYC — and I cracked the code that would enable us to perform an upbeat pop song with no bass and classical instruments."
I find this to be the most lovable piece of music I've ever heard from Ben Folds, and he's recorded a lot of music in the past twenty years as a solo artist and with his band Ben Folds Five.
But "Capable of Anything" feels like a 5-Hour Energy drink on tightly wound strings — the arrangement is brilliant, with yMusic performing in deft ways where guitars and bass might fall into mediocrity and cliche. They also punctuate the snappy words. "This song is about how, if you're going to say that you are capable of anything, you need accept those things that you are capable of, of which you're not so proud," Ben Folds wrote. The song is mildly prophetic in the way he seems capable of so much more than I ever took him for.
Ben Folds is out on tour with yMusic now with plans for symphony dates in the fall. The album So There is out on September 11.I got my Chromecast yesterday and, after playing with it for a bit, I have some thoughts and first impressions.
Thoughts
First, I think coverage of Chromecast is missing a key point: For many Android users (particularly for the Apple refugees among us), this little dongle removes a big thorn from our collective sides.
When Chromecast came out, the very first thing I did was unplug the Apple TV from my surround sound receiver and put the Chromecast in its place.
Why, as a Google and Android fan, do I have an Apple TV? Simple. As a cable-cutter, it was the easiest way to get movies delivered to my TV on demand. Even after I made the switch from Apple to Android, Google didn’t have a viable replacement for many years. Google TV was meant to enhance cable–something I, and probably other technologists, didn’t care about–instead of creating a streaming set-top box. Even after Google Play built its content offerings to the point it could rival iTunes, they still didn’t have a set-top box platform anyone was convinced would survive big-Google’s capriciousness. So I continued buying content from iTunes, living without a vertically-integrated experience or a single home for my digital possessions.
Chromecast changes that. Now I can finally buy and rent movies and shows on Google, and enjoy being able to see them on my computer, device, or home theater system, delivering on Play’s promise of “your content anywhere, any time,” and allowing me to leave the Apple’s walled garden altogether. I’m not sure journalists care but, as a user, this is a huge deal.
There are a lot of people talking about compatibility with Plex and other video streaming programs, but I think the sales reflect that Google successfully figured out the minimum viable product. I’d venture to guess the Netflix+Google Play combo takes knocks out 90% of use cases. New movies and shows on Google Play, old movies and shows on Netflix. If Google Play can figure out a TV subscription model deal (like they have with music), you’ll see Hulu start to squirm…you may even see Hulu and/or Amazon hurry to support the API just so Google isn’t tempted to go after that market, because you just know Google would love to get those ad dollars. Everything else, to me at least, would just be icing on the proverbial cake.
Make no mistake, things will only get better from here. Google is an advertising agency disguised as a tech company, and if it can’t make its way onto your television, it’s leaving huge money behind. We have not seen big innovations on their part because they hadn’t gained any traction yet. Chromecast sales suggest they may have hit pay-dirt, so I reckon things are going to keep getting better from here.
First Impressions
Much ado has been made about how sleek the dongle looks in advertising images versus what it will look like for most users. Apparently, it only looks like the advertising images when you have a TV that supports HDMI v1.4 and above, which I guess supplies power to the cable. Otherwise, you have to use a USB charger or connect it to a USB port in your TV. I wasn’t worried to begin with, and was vindicated when I used every single attachment and the mega-dongle was swallowed whole by my AV setup. If you have anything beyond a basic HDTV, you’ll probably never notice.
I was amazed by how easy it was to set up. Just open the activation link in the browser, download the software or app, and you’re off to the races. Get the Chrome extension, and you’ll be flinging content to your Chromecast in seconds. If you keep your apps up to date, the requisite cast icons are already there.
Something that caught me by surprise is that the Chromecast can actually switch on my TV. It’s a small thing that has been possible for a long time, but none of my other peripherals have successfully been able to turn on my TV…lemme tell ya, it’s surprisingly nice to have your AV system spring to life and show the content you want with the push of a single software button.
Also, you’re not streaming from your computer. Rather, you’re sending the cloud instructions to send your content to the dongle. The result is that everything looks super-crisp, especially YouTube content and the brand-new 1080p Netflix streaming.
Conclusions
The Chromecast, at $35, is a winner, even without the three months of Netflix. It’s simple to set up, fast, and incredibly smooth. Hopefully all the news about the device selling out will result in Google finally pouring some real effort into innovating television content, now that it appears to have a foothold in the market.
If you have any questions about the device, ask in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer!Yahoo’s Mayer may turn to private-equity firms to save her job
Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer walks off the stage after delivering the keynote address Thursday, Feb. 18, 2016, at the Yahoo Mobile Developer Conference in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg) Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer walks off the stage after delivering the keynote address Thursday, Feb. 18, 2016, at the Yahoo Mobile Developer Conference in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg) Photo: Eric Risberg, Associated Press Photo: Eric Risberg, Associated Press Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Yahoo’s Mayer may turn to private-equity firms to save her job 1 / 1 Back to Gallery
Embattled Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer may be exploring a deal to take the business private in order to stay at its helm, even as her board weighs a sale of the struggling search giant to telecommunications companies.
Mayer’s friend, investment banker Frank Quattrone, has contacted private-equity firms on Mayer’s behalf to explore a potential deal for Yahoo’s core business, according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak on the issue. The news was first reported by Fortune and confirmed by The Chronicle.
Mayer’s move could indicate that she is pursuing her own strategy — one different from the board’s — in an effort to save her job, analysts said. Activist investors, meanwhile, are pushing the board to oust the CEO.
“She wants to finish the job that she feels that she started,” said Eric Jackson, a managing director of SpringOwl Asset Management LLC, one of the investors that wants Mayer out. “You can either admire that, or look at that as she’s already had plenty of time to show her stuff and it just hasn’t materialized.”
Yahoo declined to comment. Last week, the company said it would set up a formal process to engage with potential buyers. A committee of independent directors would evaluate such offers and make recommendations to the board.
Mayer is not part of that committee, and has been implementing a turnaround plan announced in February that would focus on fewer products with a leaner staff.
Under Mayer’s leadership, Yahoo has boosted revenue in mobile, video, social and native advertising, generating nearly $1.7 billion in that category last year. But despite that growth, analysts say Yahoo’s core business has deteriorated since 2012—the year Mayer joined Yahoo.
The board and Mayer have said they support each other, but some analysts are skeptical.
Neil Doshi, an analyst at Mizuho Securities USA Inc., said Yahoo’s board “seems at odds” with Mayer. He believes the better deal for shareholders would be for a strategic buyer such as Comcast, Verizon or AT&T — and not a private-equity firm — to take over Yahoo’s core business. Strategic buyers, he said, are likely to pay more.
“This rift could be exacerbated if the board gets compelling offers that Ms. Mayer is not willing to accept,” Doshi wrote in a note to investors.
Investment bank SunTrust Robinson Humphrey estimates that Yahoo’s core business, including its real estate, could fetch $6 billion to $8 billion from a strategic buyer, compared with $4 billion to $6 billion from a private equity firm.
The story of Yahoo has become a drawn-out saga, pitting Silicon Valley entrepreneurial optimism against the harsh financial perspective of Wall Street investors. Those who have worked with Mayer say she’s not one to back down from a challenge.
“I think she has great optimism and great intelligence,” one former Yahoo executive who declined to be named told The Chronicle in January. “She doesn’t think she’s failing.”
Starboard Value, a New York hedge fund, is expected to engage in a proxy battle with Yahoo, nominating its own slate of board candidates. Starboard has until March 26 to file its nomination notice. If Starboard files its slate, SpringOwl said it will probably support those nominees.
The winner of the proxy contest will be determined by the majority of shareholders at Yahoo’s annual meeting this summer.
Whether Mayer remains head of Yahoo or not does not really matter to investors, as long as the core business is sold, analysts said.
“At that point, that really wouldn’t be the investors’ problem,” said Robert Peck, an analyst with SunTrust Robinson Humphrey. “They are looking for the highest bidder and, particularly, the quickest transaction.”
Wendy Lee is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: wlee@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @thewendyleeGreen Party of Ohio
By Bob Fitrakis & Suzanne Patzer
September 29, 2016
Voters beware! Don’t let mainstream shills for the Democratic Party masquerading as non-partisan progressive journalists or pundits bully you into believing you can’t decide for yourself or that the fallout from your vote will topple our nation.
First of all, let’s get something straight. No vote is a “wasted” vote. Anyone who tells you this does not have respect for you or our democratic system. All Votes Matter. A person who takes time to think about issues or candidates and goes to a polling site to cast their vote is NEVER wasting their time or their political opinion. They are being a responsible citizen participating in the democratic process. They have every right to do so, and to vote for who best represents their beliefs and values.
Second, anyone who suggests that a vote for any minor party candidate is simply done to “give a message” to major political party has a incredibly narrow mindset only able to comprehend a two-party political system. No one voting for a minor party candidate does so merely because they want it to have an effect on the major party. This is an insulting and offensive suggestion. People involved in minor parties genuinely endorse and support their candidates and the parties they represent. They listen to what their candidate will do if elected and if they agree, they vote for that candidate.
To assume the world revolves around Democrats and Republicans in every election and no political decisions can be made independently is absurd. There is little education or information in the U.S. about how electoral systems work in other countries, but believe it or not, our country is unique in that we have only two major political parties. Many countries have four, five or more parties running in every election.
For example, political parties currently holding national office include five in Germany, nine in the United Kingdom, and eight in Sweden. This type of system is considered to be a more democratic way of achieving representation for a variety of views and opinions. Germany and the UK have had an active Green Party on local and national levels for decades.
Independent voters unaffiliated with any political party make up most of registered voters in the country. They have already chosen not to side with one of the two major parties. When they choose Jill Stein, they are making a decision that suits their political wishes. The decision to cast a vote for Jill Stein is simply…to cast a vote for Jill Stein and what she represents.
Third, the notion that the Jill Stein‘s party, the Green Party, is not worthy of your vote must be seen as a very unsubtle tactic to get you to think you’re jumping on the wrong bandwagon. Of course the Greens have less infrastructure than the Dems and the GOP. The Greens are relegated to minor party status by our system that favors major parties and makes every aspect of building a party difficult for minor parties. Why would the Dems and the GOP create laws and election procedures to make it easy for a minor party to gain access to the ballot or money in our political system? Letting minor parties into the mix only threatens the major parties, therefore rules are made that are monumentally hard to overcome. Though it was a struggle, Jill Stein made it on the ballot in 45 states and is a write-in candidate in three. This is a tremendous accomplishment and evidence of widespread support for her and the Greens in our voting public. This happened without huge sums of money from Super PACs, rich people, or international corporations.
Also, it is incorrect to criticize the Greens for focusing on national presidential races and to assume there is no attempt to gain seats on a local level. Greens do run people at the local level and have won seats all over the country. However in some states like Ohio, a minor party cannot retain official ballot status in the state unless they receive 3% of the vote in a presidential election. This requires the state Party and national Green Party to put effort into their presidential campaign in order to stay on the ballot. This is just another one of the rules that stymie minor parties and keep them from becoming major parties.
Finally, be media savvy. As you know, the so-called progressive media and trolls on social media sites would not be bashing Jill Stein and the Green Party unless the Dems were feeling threatened. There are no articles telling us not to vote for the Libertarian Party. The Democrats realize they are a mere shell of the progressive and social justice-oriented party they used to be. They see the upstart Green Party as a young naive version of themselves when their Party stood for human rights, civil rights, environmental protection, anti-coporatism, anti-imperialism, peace, justice and democracy. They are on the defensive. You may not know that the Republican Party was once a third party that challenged the two-party system in the mid-19th century. The Republicans, strangely enough, were the progressives who fought against slavery. This is not an endorsement of what that Party has become today, just a historical fact. Minor political parties have challenged the status quo throughout time and that’s the only way to make change in a country’s electoral system.
The Dems and their shills are attacking Greens and want you to erroneously believe they still represent the only true option for discerning voters. The Bernie campaign threatened them and it was squashed under the lead foot of their anti-democratic, pro-status quo forces. Now the Dems have to silence and marginalize any semblance of a fresh take on their old ideas by the Green Party so they can retain their power and control. Because that’s what politics is really about – power and control. They are not scared of Trump because of his beliefs. They are scared of Trump because he threatens their current power and control in the political system, just like in any presidential election. So, when you waver on whether or not to vote for your chosen candidate or to succumb to the desperate and bullying tactics by friends of the Democrats, remember that social change only happens when people are courageous and act according to their principles.
Editor’s Note: As someone who spent eight years as a Village Mayor in New York State, I am but one of the hundreds of Greens who have faithfully served our local communities, leaving them in better condition than we found them. The only wasted vote is a vote not cast.The inescapable reality is this: wealth is so concentrated that a large segment of society is virtually unaware of its existence, so that some people imagine that it belongs to surreal or mysterious entities. Capital in the Twenty-First Century, p. 259
One of the things that makes Capital in the Twenty-First Century a good read is that Thomas Piketty uses his huge pile of data to look closely at issues we only talk about in platitudes. Even the so-called liberals run from discussions of the grotesque inequalities in our society, including President Obama, Hillary Clinton, and even worse, spineless moderate Democrats. There isn’t any of that cowardice in Capital. Part Three, The Structure of Inequality, begins with a lengthy discussion of Honoré Balzac’s Pere Goriot. The ex-convict Vautrin explains to the protagonist Eugené that if he limits himself to working in the legal field, the most he can hope for is that with thirty years of backbreaking work and toadying, he can hope to be passably comfortable, but he will never be wealthy. The only path to wealth is through marriage to a rich woman. Vautrin suggests Victorine, an unattractive young woman, because if someone kills her brother, she will inherit a million francs and produce the same income Eugené can hope for in his profession. Vautrin offers to see to the murder.
This story sounds familiar. You might win the lottery, which is about as likely as finding a rich spouse or a wildly successful business, or making a fortune in sports, movies or music. All you can hope for as a hard worker with decent smarts is a comfortable life, and that’s far from a sure thing.
Piketty asks
Under such conditions, why work? And why behave morally at all? Since social inequality was in itself immoral and unjustified, why not be thoroughly immoral and appropriate capital by whatever means are available?
Now there’s a question you won’t hear from any economist in the US, and you most certainly won’t hear it from politicians. We live in the best of all possible worlds, in which each and every one of us is just moments away from fabulous wealth. Maybe we need a couple of tweaks, but our system is not immoral. The fabulous wealth of the few is fully justified by their great merit, their wisdom, their grace, their talent, and their general superiority over the rest of us. Our billionaires are fabulously wealthy because of their innate superiority. In the US, there is nothing to learn from Pere Goriot. Let’s ignore the reality that our financial sector follows Vautrin’s advice.
In the context of Capitalist Celebration, let’s look at some of Piketty’s numbers on income and capital inequality. He describes these numbers as estimates, but says they give a good idea of the real world.
Note the excellent title: Inequality of capital ownership across space and time. Piketty says that capital ownership is much more unequal than income inequality in every society he knows anything about. That, in a nutshell, is the beginning point of the story Vautrin tells. This chart puts numbers to that difference. The dominant class owns a huge percentage of the wealth of society. In the US as of 2010 (and it’s gotten worse), the dominant class owns 35% of the total wealth. The bottom 50% owns an aggregate of 5%. In the real world, it’s even worse, because it’s fair to estimate that a large number of lower class people are broke, their liabilities exceed their assets.
Here’s the chart of income inequality. Labor income means all income from work, including both wages and salaries, and income created through labor, as that of a restaurant owner/chef whose profits include a component attributable to labor income, compensation for the hours worked and skills deployed. Capital income is all income derived without any effort on the part of the recipient: interest, dividends, patent license fees, gain on sale of works of art by people other than the artist, and so on.
The labor income chart doesn’t look so bad. The dominant class grabbed 12% of labor income, and the bottom 50% got 25%. But then, even the lower class has to eat, and work is such an excellent discipline for these people, don’t you know? That takes us to the total income chart:
In 2010, the dominant class got 20% of the national income, and the lower class got 20%. The top 1% of the population took the same amount of total income as the bottom 50%.
Piketty extrapolates to the near future, 2030, in the right-hand column of each chart. The dominant class sees an 25% increase in its share of total income. The well-to-do class, the rest of the top decile, sees an increase of 17%, to 35% of total income. The rest of the population see losses. The middle class goes down 17%, to 25% of total income, and the lower class goes down 25%, to just 15% of total income.
Wealth inequality is even worse. The middle class share falls 80%, to the same level as the lower class, 5%. The dream of leaving a bit of wealth to your children is dead.
The richest are taking income and wealth from the middle and lower classes. We’ve already reached the point that most middle class parents can’t pay for their kid’s college education, which is essential if the kid is going to remain in the middle class. With piles of college debt, middle class kids are way behind the income and wealth accumulation trajectories of their parents. It’s worse for the lower class, which will have to borrow even more, attend worse schools and colleges, and overcome increasingly crucial class barriers just to move up a bit in the income chart, with little or no chance of acquiring wealth.
Vautrin’s question demands an answer: If the system is immoral, why should anyone act morally?On MSNBC's Morning Joe, liberal co-host Mika Brzezinski had an interesting reaction to a correspondent's report regarding the ongoing war of words between President Trump and Hillary Clinton. The NBC News reporter played audio of Mrs. Clinton attacking Trump as a sexual predator, then quoted from the president's tweet firing back at his defeated opponent's conspiratorial sore-loserdom. Brzezinski marveled at Clinton's self-unawareness, apologizing -- then instantly withdrawing the apology -- as she urged the former first lady to "stop talking about this topic unless Bill Clinton wants to come forward and apologize." Watch:
“I think the hold that the Clintons had on the Democratic is over,” she said. “I think people are feeling like they finally can speak their minds about it all, but they didn’t for a long time.” Well yeah, but the idea is that they only feel free to'speak their minds' now because the Clinton era is over, and there's very little to lose at this point. Brzezinski also went after New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, one of the elected Democrats who have abruptly decided -- years after the fact, and long after she needed to feel "honored" by his support -- that Bill Clinton's multiple accusers deserve to be believed: "One of the reasons why we, and I mean me and Kirsten Gillibrand, Democrats, lost is because Bill Clinton’s behavior was accepted. It was pushed under the rug and even women defended him...I know but he continues to flourish today and his wife ran for president even though these women who accused him were attacked in the media, were maligned or settled. That’s a different standard than we’re holding other people who were accused of the same behavior or less today. And this is why we have Trump. It’s all connected."
I somehow doubt a mere apology would suffice for someone like Juanita Broaddrick, but an acknowledgement that Bill's rampant predations were not fever dream hallucinations of the "vast right-wing conspiracy" would be a constructive step toward rooting out normalized sexual harassment and endless partisan hypocrisy (which, of course, is not confined to the Left). I do, however, want to revisit a point I made yesterday about the Left's adulation of Ted Kennedy, despite his indefensible act and cover-up at Chappaquiddick -- and in spite of well-known rumors and reports of his extraordinary mistreatment of women. I tweeted an except from a 1990 GQ story, which described the time that Kennedy and fellow Senate Democrat Chris Dodd brazenly assaulted a waitress at a DC restaurant:
The details in this piece are surreal; hadn't read it in a few years. Ted Kennedy's legacy was celebrated during the 2012 DNC, which also relentlessly attacked GOP's supposed "war on women." #Flashback #LionOfTheSenate #WaitressSandwich pic.twitter.com/nfHMnvjIqh — Guy Benson (@guypbenson) November 20, 2017
There were many other anecdotes and vignettes in that piece. Here's another:
In a downtown office, a former congressional page tells of her surprise meeting with Kennedy three years ago. She was 16 then. It was evening and she and her 16-year-old page, an attractive blonde, were walking down the Capitol steps on their way home from work when Kennedy's limo pulled up and the senator opened the door. In the backseat stood a bottle of wine on ice. Leaning his graying head out the door, the senator popped the question: Would one of the girls care to join him for dinner? No. How about the other? The girls said no thanks and the senator zoomed off. Kennedy, the formal page said, made no overt sexual overtures and was "very careful to make it seem like nothing out of the ordinary." It is possible that Kennedy did not know that the girls were underage or that they were pages and, as such, were under the protection of Congress, which serves in loco parentis. Nevertheless, the former page said she did find Kennedy's invitation surprising. "He didn't even know me," she says. "I knew this kind of stuff happened, but I didn't expect it to happen to me."...A former mid-level Kennedy staffer, bitterly disillusioned, recalls with disgust one (now ex-) high-ranking aide as "a pimp…whose real position was to procure women for Kennedy." The fellow did have a legitimate job, she says, but also openly bragged of his prowess at getting attractive and beddable dates for his boss.
After I sent the message embedded above, Katie tweeted a reminder of just how extravagant the 2012 DNC's celebration of toward Kennedy's memory was:
The DNC played a seven minute long tribute video for him in which they sprawled "Women's Rights Champion" across the screen https://t.co/ZtPYypBUCX — Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) November 20, 2017
Fact check: True. This clip played to rapturous applause at Barack Obama's second nominating convention, a major theme of which was Mitt Romney's supposed 'hostility' toward women. The punchline comes at the 40-second mark:
If you're wondering why so many conservatives are skeptical of Democrats' newfound disapproval of misconduct from powerful liberal men within their ranks, this could be exhibit A. I'll leave you with this insanity:Regular price $10.00 CD - $10.00 USD Vinyl LP - $15.00 USD Digital Album - MP3 - $8.00 USD Digital Album - Lossless - $9.00 USD Quantity Add to Cart
In the opening minutes of FREEMAN, the self-titled debut from Aaron Freeman (Gene Ween) new band, Freeman addresses addiction and its aftermath with the combination of merciless self-inventory and artful songcraft that earned Ween one of the most devoted fan bases in contemporary pop. This song, the unmistakably autobiographical "Covert Discretion," is a quiet shocker. "Save your judgments for someone else, Freeman sings. "Be grateful I saved me from myself." As bitter as it sounds, the track clears the air. FREEMAN represents a new beginning— Aaron Freeman's first album of original material since disbanding Ween and getting sober—but it isn't a record mired in its maker's private struggles. It's simply a collection of gorgeous, subtly offbeat songs—in other words, a continuation of the thread that runs through the entire Ween catalog.
The lush psychedelic pop of "The English and Western Stallion"; the melancholy plea of "More Than the World"; the unflappable, Plastic Ono Band–esque blues-rock of "Gimmie One More"—these are songs that bear the unmistakable Aaron Freeman stamp. And to hear Freeman tell it, they wouldn't have been possible if he'd stayed in his old band. "There was so much of 'Aaron had to break up Ween because of addiction' and 'Aaron broke up Ween in order to pursue his solo work,' " he says. "But I broke up Ween because we were at a creative dead end way before our last record, La Cucaracha. Basically we were going through the motions, becoming a showcase band." Freeman stresses that FREEMAN is more about renewal than turning his back on the past. "I want this record to pay homage to Ween," he says. "These are the same songs I would've written in Ween—except without [ex-bandmate] Mickey."
Several tracks hark back to the role-playing that was a hallmark of Freeman's back-catalog: "(For a While) I Couldn't Play My Guitar Like a Man," a badass blues-rock meditation on lost mojo; or "Black Bush," a trippy, heavily stylized ode to the natural beauty of Freeman's recently adopted hometown of Woodstock. But there's also a fresh perspective here, the sound of a shadow lifting. "Delicate Green," which savors life's everyday blessings, is one of the sweetest, most sincere songs Freeman has written. And "All the Way to China" and "El Shaddai" reference Jewish texts—Kabbalah readings and James A. Michener's The Source, respectively—that guided him through his darkest times. "There's a lot of spiritual stuff on here because that really helped me," Freeman says. "I listened to a lot of reggae—'Jah gonna help me through Babylon,' you know? I listened to a lot of Paul McCartney too, and I thought, if he can do this, break up the fucking Beatles, I can certainly break up Ween and be okay."
Aaron Freeman has also turned his back on substance abuse, a fact that might concern fans who mistake intoxication for inspiration. "I wrote the songs I wrote in Ween despite all the drugs and alcohol I was doing, not because," Freeman says. "Most people don't get sobriety at all. They assume you're this better-than-thou monk sitting on a mountain, judging everybody. It's not that way: You have to let everybody do their thing, and you get weirder." A song like FREEMAN's "Golden Monkey," which rivals Ween's underrated Quebec for sheer mind-warping brilliance, proves Freeman's point. In order to get to FREEMAN, Aaron Freeman had to make a clean break. "If I hadn't left my partnership, there wouldn't be anything," he explains. "I'd probably be dead too. I know that at the end of the day, this is the best thing I could've done for me and for every Ween fan."
FREEMAN, an album that distills the Aaron Freeman aesthetic—built on equal parts wonder and malaise, frankness and mysticism, defiance and vulnerability—to its headiest essence, proves his point. This man, known for so long by another name, is finally free.
TRACKLIST
01. Covert Discretion
02. The English and Western Stallion
03. (For a While) I Couldn’t Play My Guitar Like a Man
04. El Shaddai
05. Black Bush
06. Gimme One More
07. More Than the World
08. All the Way to China
09. Golden Monkey
10. Delicate Green
11. There Is a Form
12. I Know a Girl
Standard Black Vinyl LP includes Digital Download Card (High Quality 320kbps MP3).
Released June 24, 2014Just a few years into the project, energy demand and prices were falling. The partial nuclear meltdown at Three Mile Island triggered increased citizen concerns along with increased costs to meet new regulatory requirements. The TVA Board of Directors ceased construction in 1981. The plant was never operational.
While an industrial park was developed nearby in the late 1980s, the plant was only used for safety training exercises – until now.
Today, almost 3,000 solar panels sit on four acres just outside the shadows of the eerie gray concrete structures that were abandoned mid-construction. Rows of panels sits atop driven posts that slowly rotate to follow the sun's path across the sky and maximize the solar energy gathered. The energy is sold to Holston Electric as part of TVA's Distributed Solar Solutions program. It then flows across eastern Tennessee, providing enough energy to meet the need of 100 average-sized homes.
The project made its way into national news in October 2016, when site manager Matt Mounie heard a dog barking in the abandoned plant. Upon investigation, he found a dog treading water at the bottom of a 30-foot hole. Mounie contacted local authorities who staged a rescue. After treatment and a search, the dog was reunited with his owners.
The project's developer and owner is Birdseye Renewable Energy of Charlotte, North Carolina. Birdseye is a leading developer of large solar facilities throughout the southeast, with over 430MW greenfield projects operating including 34 projects at schools in eastern Tennessee. Construction was performed by United Renewable Energy of Alpharetta, Georgia.
"It has been a true pleasure working with TVA distributor Holston Electric, the Hawkins County Industrial Development Board and United Renewable Energy. The team worked seamlessly to provide Hawkins County a notable landmark of innovation in the midst of the Phipps Bend Nuclear site. We look forward to future collaborations with TVA." said Brian Bednar, President of Birdseye Renewable Energy.
"We are proud to work with Birdseye on this exciting project to bring solar energy to east Tennessee. Due to its location, this project visibly demonstrates how clean, efficient solar energy matches other forms of power generation to meet our country's growing energy needs," said Keith Herbs, executive vice president of United Renewable Energy.
About Birdseye Renewable Energy
Birdseye Renewable Energy is a renewable energy developer that delivers thoroughly developed, shovel-ready projects to its clients across the southeastern United States. We specialize in the greenfield development of utility-scale solar facilities through identifying optimal sites and markets, building honest and trusting relationships with local stakeholders, securing all necessary approvals and contractual agreements, minimizing costs, and shepherding our projects to complete pre-construction readiness with a team of leading engineering firms. Learn more at www.birdseyeenergy.com.
About United Renewable Energy
United Renewable Energy is an engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) firm developing photovoltaic farms and energy storage systems to utilities, industrial and commercial companies, Independent Power Producers, and Electrical Membership Corporations in the eastern United States. URE focuses on creative design and implementation to deliver solar and energy storage projects with superior quality, performance, and safety at competitive cost. Learn more at www.u-renew.com.
Media Contact
Name Jakky Shanahan Telephone 678.881.0014 x708 Email jakky@u-renew.com Website www.u-renew.com
SOURCE United Renewable Energy
Related Links
http://www.u-renew.comThe Canadian Press
OTTAWA -- A Liberal MP who sought treatment for an alcohol problem last month said Monday he is "reporting back for duty" in Ottawa.
Seamus O'Regan said in a Facebook post that he has dealt with his "personal challenges" and will continue to do so.
"But, ultimately, my personal challenges are secondary to the needs of my constituents," he said.
The rookie politician, who represents St. John's South-Mount Pearl, said he checked into a Toronto treatment facility last month immediately after wrapping up his work on Parliament Hill.
The former journalist and host of CTV's Canada AM said he made the decision after realizing that simply trying to drink less wasn't working.
"Over the last year or two, alcohol was becoming a part of my daily life. I regularly had several drinks at the end of most days. Sometimes more than several drinks," he wrote.
"I was still working effectively and competently, but I realized, over time, that being competent was not good enough. I was far from my best self. And the simple truth is that I owe |
.
“Well? Are you going to sit?”
He did, slowly.
“You seem confident that I will agree to whatever you ask.”
“Yeah, well, that’s because I know what’s inside that wand.”
Hedault paused. Reynold scrambled for a quill and inkpot. The [Enchanter] stared hard at Ryoka, but didn’t call her a liar or scoff. He just asked one question.
“How?”
Ryoka patted her belt pouch.
“Ivolethe? Want to come out? I’m sure Hedualt has some snacks for you.”
The Frost Faerie flew out of Ryoka’s belt pouch. Hedault’s eyebrows shot up and Reynold instinctively retreated to one corner of the room as Ivolethe gazed around the room, grinning with her pointed teeth.
Ryoka smiled at Hedault and nodded to Ivolethe.
“You want to know how I know? My friend told me. She’s a Frost Faerie. A Winter Sprite. She can see magic and she’s lived longer than everyone in this city put together. She told me what was put in the wand’s core.”
“I see. A Winter Sprite. Intriguing.”
Hedualt glanced towards one of the doors and crooked a finger in his lap. Ryoka blinked as a saucer filled with dried prunes flew over to the table and settled down on it. Ivolethe made a noise of pleasure and began attacking the dried fruit, eating far more than her stomach should have been able to contain.
“If you know the contents of the wand, why offer it to me? Unless the value is lower than my estimation?”
“It’s not. In fact, it’s probably higher. But that’s why you’re going to pay me more. Not just for the wand itself, but for knowing what’s inside.”
“And why should I do that?”
Hedault crossed his arms. Ryoka grinned at that. The mage’s face hadn’t changed, but his folded arms spoke volumes about how much she was getting to him. She gestured expansively at the wand, which Hedault had brought out and put on the coffee table in front of them.
“Just think about it. You’ll never know what was inside, and you’ll have to live with the knowledge that it’s being used by some amateur that won’t appreciate it or utilize the wand’s full potential.”
“I ask again. If it is so valuable, why not give it to the adventurers who recovered it? They would surely desire it most.”
“I’m sure they would. But neither of my friends could use it to its full potential—it’s not specialized in the right area for them. But you could. And if you couldn’t, I’m sure you could find a buyer for it. Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t this the sort of wand an Archmage would want?”
Hedault’s eyes followed the wand. He spoke softly.
“A true [Archmage] would not. But the Archmages of today would certainly use a wand of this caliber if they had nothing finer. And if it is that valuable, I do not believe I have enough funds on hand to pay for it.”
Ryoka nodded, still smiling.
“I know you can’t pay for it. In fact, after talking with Ivolethe, I know you probably don’t have enough gold on hand to pay for this wand. But that’s fine, because what I need isn’t gold. It’s artifacts.”
She sat up, and put her hands on the table. She picked up the wand and felt its weight. Ryoka stroked the cold, metallic wood as she looked at Hedault. Part of her was screaming not to do this, but the rest of her was resolute.
“Here’s the deal. If I give this wand to you, you give me enough armor and weapons to outfit four adventurers. That means armor for two of them—they’re warriors, at least one more sword, maybe a bow, and two wands and a magical robe for the others. Wands, staves…hell, I’ll take a spellbook as well while I’m at it. And more magical rings. And two hundred gold pieces.”
He stared at her.
“Why? This is not a fair trade. Not for a wand of such value. You may approximate the value with lesser artifacts, but no true adventurer would make such a trade. Why are you doing this on their behalf? If this is an act of self-interest, then I will decline. I will have the answer you have failed to give me. Now.”
His eyes were serious. Ryoka met Hedault’s gaze. She thought he was an honest man. A good man, if he cared about adventurers he’d never met. She nodded abruptly.
“That’s right. It’s not fair. But it’s what my friends need. That’s why you’ll never tell anyone what’s in the wand. It’s why I’ll lie to my friends, though I’m giving them a fortune in artifacts. It’s why I’m selling it. Because this wand is powerful—but it’s not what they need.”
“Explain.”
“Come on. You understand, don’t you?”
Ryoka gestured impatiently to the wand she held. She thought she could sense something inside of it. Power. Pure power, untapped, ready to be used. It was so tempting. That was why she couldn’t bring it back.
“They don’t need a wand that will make them a target of every magic-user on the continent. They need armor, weapons—and money. They need the gear to become a Gold-rank team, not a bullseye on their foreheads. So you’re going to give me everything I ask for, and then you’re going to write down in a book, or somewhere important that you’ll never forget. The Horns of Hammerad. That’s who you owe. And someday, you’ll pay that back.”
For a while she thought he wouldn’t accept. Hedault stood up, paced around the room, and stared at the wand. He went to the racks of armor and weapons, inspected them, shook his head, and stared at the wand. He muttered to himself about gold and costs, trying to talk himself out of it. But he kept staring at the wand.
In the end, he sat with a sigh across from Ryoka and she knew she’d won.
“Say I pay your price. What arms and artifacts would you require?”
She shrugged.
“I don’t know what’s best for an adventuring team that’s about to reach Gold-rank. But I bet you do. And I bet you can get everything I want by tomorrow.”
Hedaut stared at Ryoka incredulously.
“And you would trust me to make such decisions?”
“I trust that you would be honest. You seem like you’ve been on a level so far. And I can check all the artifacts you give me, and make sure it sounds like a fair trade.”
Again Hedault went around the room. This time he came to a decision faster.
“One condition. Tell me what is inside. And then I will make my choice.”
Ryoka held her breath. She stared at Hedault, and decided that he wasn’t going to budge. So she judged Ivolethe as the faerie sat on the coffee table, still chewing down the much-depleted plate of fruits.
“Ivolethe? Do you mind doing this?”
The faerie looked up. She stared at Hedault, and then dropped the bit of prune she was eating. She stood up, and flew over to the wand resting on the table. And when she stood above it, she wasn’t the somewhat evil, somewhat playful faerie that lived in Ryoka’s belt pouch.
She was something else. Something older, that stared down at the wand and touched it with a tiny hand. Ivolethe spoke, and her voice was far away.
“In a forest long gone, there grew a tree. It grew wild, and tall. And free. Ten thousand winters passed as it touched the sky. So tall. So very high. And when it shed the last leaf upon the ground it grew a single bloom. A child, a small one to grow out of the tree’s final doom. But they took it, they stole it, and sealed it away. Here to never grow, here to always stay. For magic thou art, thou small seedling hid. Magic to summon and wield as your owner bids.”
She looked at Hedault, at Ryoka, and Reynold who was staring with wide eyes.
“Ye wish to know what lies within? A seed, foolish mortals. A seed of a tree. A child trapped. The power of the earth, of that which stood through wind and storm and fire and axe. Unbreakable. For ten thousand years.”
Ryoka felt her skin tingle with goose bumps. There was something about the way Ivolethe spoke, about the way she existed that made Ryoka believe every word she said. She stared at the wand and felt her heart ache.
Magic.
“Living magic. That explains everything.”
Hedault slowly picked up the wand, and stared at it. He ran his hands down the surface of it, and held it as if he thought it would break. Then he looked at Ryoka.
She didn’t need to ask. Ryoka smiled, and stood up.
“I need to go back by tomorrow. Can you have everything ready by then?”
“Yes. It will not be enough, but yes.”
Hedault held the wand and looked at Ivolethe. She stared at it with ancient eyes, and then laughed and flew back to the prunes. He looked at Ryoka.
“I will give you what your friends need. But I will write down the debt, Ryoka Griffin. And when they need to call on it, they need only message me.”
She smiled. It was a tired smile, but sincere. It had been a long day, but Ryoka smiled. Her expression was unguarded, and for once, totally genuine. Both Hedault and Reynold felt a tug at their hearts. For different reasons.
“Thank you.”
Then she turned and walked out of Hedault’s home.
—-
It was snowing harder outside. Ryoka stared up at the sky and got a big snowflake in the eye for her trouble. She’d seen worse snow days—
Actually, she wasn’t sure if she had. Ryoka stared ahead and found the snow was falling so thickly that she could barely see ten feet in front of her. Already most of the pedestrians were off of the streets.
“It’s disgusting out here. Let’s go to the mansion!”
For once Reynold was in complete agreement. The two set off at a brisk pace down the street, trying not to slip on the icy pavement.
To Ryoka’s unpleasant surprise, she didn’t get to go back to Magnolia’s mansion with Reynold after that. Instead, she and Reynold were caught by a Street Runner, a Dullahan boy who carried his head on a sling as he ran, as they headed towards the place where he’d parked the carriage.
“Miss Ryoka Griffin? You’re wanted at the Runner’s Guild now. There’s a client to see you!”
“A client? Tell them I’m not interested.”
Ryoka wasn’t in the mood, but the Street Runner was insistent.
“They want to see you now, Miss Ryoka! The [Receptionist] told me to get you or not bother coming back. It’s just six blocks away. We can be there in no time if we run. Unless you’re too slow and old?”
Ryoka glared at the Dullahan boy who turned his head to smile cockily at her. She knew it was bait, but that didn’t stop her from beating him to the Runner’s Guild by a solid ten feet. She flipped him off as she walked inside and saw him grin and race away to his next delivery. She quite liked him, on the whole.
The person waiting in the guild was not who Ryoka expected to see. She stared at Laken.
“I thought I was going to see you tomorrow! What gives?”
“Ah, Ryoka. I’m sorry about this, but it couldn’t wait. Have you seen the weather?”
Ryoka grunted sourly. She had snow all over her shoes and Reynold, wheezing a bit as he came in behind her, was brushing snow out of his hair.
“It’s coming down out there. Why?”
“Well, it’s going to be far worse tomorrow, or so I’m told. The snow’s going to cover the roads at least two feet deep—possibly as many as four on top of what’s already fallen if what the [Weather Mages] are saying is true.”
“Fuck. That’s not good. Reynold, how does your carriage handle in deep snow?”
“Fairly well, Miss Ryoka. We should be able to return to Liscor—slowly, but even in deep snow.”
“Well, that’s a relief.”
Laken shook his head.
“It may be to you, but Ryoka, the Merchant’s Guild is saying they won’t be able to deliver the food or have the adventurers escort us for at least a week until the roads clear!”
She stared at him.
“Can’t they melt the snow? Hire a mage who knows flame spells?”
“Too costly for me. If I had more money I could, but—no. And we can’t leave right now.”
“So you want to hire a Runner.”
Ryoka nodded. It was the best solution. She glanced at the Runners shivering as they came in from the cold.
“Hire someone good and give them a bag of holding. It’s pricy, but they might be able to beat the snows.”
“It’s a day’s run for the best of them. No City Runner will do it for fear of losing their way, and there’s no Courier I could hire—even if I could afford one.”
Ryoka stared at Laken’s grim face. She got what he was saying and raised her hands.
“Oh no.”
“Ryoka, please. The village will need food soon, and if I’m away for that long they’ll panic. If you can get to them and send a message—”
“No, I’m not—I’d get lost as well! Hold on, I might be able to if Reynold drives me.”
She looked hopefully at Reynold and Laken turned to the [Butler] as well. Reynold hunched his shoulders guiltily.
“I’m terribly sorry Miss Ryoka, but Lady Reinhart did not authorize me to drive you anywhere but Liscor. Under any circumstances. I believe her exact phrase was ‘if she needs to get anywhere, she can run there herself’.”
“Even to help a village?”
“Even then, Miss. You could try contacting her, but I’m afraid that until then, my orders stand.”
“How long would that take?”
As she asked, Ryoka knew that it wasn’t a good option. Lady Magnolia might say yes, but she’d want to know why Ryoka wanted to help Laken so badly. If there was any way to avoid that, Ryoka would.
“If it is not an urgent issue—and I am afraid that Ressa would not consider this such—Lady Reinhart may not receive your communications for a day or two.”
“And I need to be back in Liscor in two days for Christmas. Laken—”
He stood up.
“I know it’s a lot to ask, Ryoka, but you’re the only person who could do it. I can’t afford anyone else, and I don’t want to leave them alone without word for so long. If you could take a bag of holding—the [Receptionists] assure me you could bring enough food for a week or two and some presents with their biggest bags.”
“Presents?”
“Yes. It’s going to be Christmas soon.”
“Yes, it is.”
Laken smiled a bit, but it twisted on his face with anxiety.
“You know, I don’t have a problem staying here. I can buy gifts for Durene and Gamel—after I explain the idea of Christmas to them, of course. But the people in my village need that food now, not after the roads clear. And I’d like to get them presents as well.”
“I know. I know, but—I can’t. I have to get back home and—I couldn’t find my way through a blizzard either.”
The excuses felt hollow in Ryoka’s mouth. She felt a twisting in her gut, but she didn’t see how she could do it. Running was one thing. She could probably run in deep snow—it would be hellish, but she could do it. But getting lost was another issue.
“If it’s just finding your way…”
Laken paused. He frowned, thinking hard.
“Is there a map you could take? Some sort of magical…GPS?”
It sounded ludicrous. Ryoka shook her head as she sat at one of the tables with him. Laken sighed and pushed the small bowl of cheese and crackers someone had given him away. Ryoka felt a rustling at her pouch.
“Is that food? I claim it!”
Ivolethe leapt onto the table and grabbed a slice of cheese and a cracker. She began munching it down. She was getting gluttonous, Ryoka reflected. She stared down at Ivolethe, annoyed the faerie wasn’t taking things seriously. Then Ryoka paused.
“Hey Laken. Ivolethe’s eating your cheese.”
“I don’t m—”
Laken went silent. He coughed and when he spoke again his voice had taken on a thoughtful tone.
“Christmas is coming up, Ryoka.”
“Yup. Santa Claus.”
“It’s a very famous tradition. I used to hear all the old tales every year. The German stories are different of course, but I’ve heard the American classics as well.”
“Oh yeah. All the good ones, I bet.”
“I especially liked Rudolph, although I can’t imagine what the color ‘red’ must look like.”
“It’s not bad.”
“I hate to ask you to run through a blizzard—”
“I’ve done worse. And I’d like to do it. It is the holidays.”
“But the issue is finding your way. Through a blizzard.”
“Yeah. I’d need a guide. Someone who can find their way. Light the way, rather.”
“I take it the color’s off? I’m told that uh, Winter Sprites are blue. Which is, apparently, not close to red.”
“It’s a bit different. But why don’t I think that will matter?”
Laken and Ryoka kept their voices low. They both felt it. A bit of holiday magic in the air, or perhaps just insanity masquerading as good sense. They turned their faces towards the small Frost Faerie gorging herself on the table.
Ivolethe happily swallowed a large bite of wrinkled prune and then realized she was the target of their scrutiny. Warily, she frowned up at the two Humans staring down at her.
“What? What are ye buggers staring at?”
Previous Chapter Next ChapterSCENE I
A room
Salieri
There is no justice on the earth, they say.
But there is none in heaven, either. To me
That is as plain as any simple scale.
My love of art has been with me since birth,
And as a child, when in our ancient church
The organ would send forth its lofty sound,
I listened and was lost in it; my tears
Involuntarily and sweetly flowed.
I turned away from idle pastimes early;
All studies alien to music I
Found hateful; Stubbornly, disdainfully,
I disavowed them all and gave myself
To music alone. Hard is that first step taken,
And dull that first of roads. I overcame
My early adversities. A pedestal
To art I made out of facility,
And facile I became: my fingers gained
A dry obedient dexterity,
My ear reliability. I deadened
The sounds, dissected music like a corpse,
Proved harmony by algebra. And then,
Then only did I dare, with all my lore,
Yield to the bliss of my creative fancy.
I started to compose, but quietly,
In secret; I didn’t dare yet dream of glory.
How often, after sitting days on end,
Not eating, sleepless in my silent cell,
Tasting of rapture and tears of inspiration,
I’d burn my work and look on coldly as
My thoughts, the sounds I’d fathered, rose in flames
And vanished in a little puff of smoke.
What am I saying? When great Gluck himself
Appeared, unfolding us new mysteries
(And deep enthralling mysteries they were),
Did I not give up all I’d known before,
And dearly loved and fervently believed in?
Did I not briskly follow him, without
A murmur, like a man who’s lost his way,
And meets another who can set him right?
By strenuous and dogged perseverance,
I finally reached, in the infinities
Of art, a lofty level. Glory smiled
On me, and in the hearts of men I found
Some resonance to what I had created.
Yes, I was happy: quietly took joy
In my own work, success and fame, and in
The labors and successes of my friends,
Co-workers in this wondrous art of ours.
Oh, never did I know a moment’s envy,
Never! Not even when Piccini caught
The untamed ears of the Parisians,
Not even when, for the first time, I heard
The opening of Iphigenia played.
Who is there who can say proud Salieri
Was ever that low thing, an envious man,
That trampled snake that only lives to bite
The gravel and the dust in impotence?
Nobody!... Now, though -- I myself must say it --
Now I am envious. I envy deeply;
Yes, I am wracked with envy. O heaven, where,
Where is the justice, when the holy gift,
Immortal genius, comes not as reward
For any burning love or self-denial,
Labor, diligence or prayer, but lights
Its radiance instead in heads of folly
And frivolity? Oh, Mozart, Mozart!
(Mozart enters)
Mozart
Aha! You saw me! I was hoping to
Surprise you with a little joke of mine.
Salieri
You’re here? When did you come?
Mozart
Just now. I had
Something to show you, and was on my way,
But passing by a tavern, suddenly
I heard a fiddle. Oh, Salieri, my friend,
You never in your life heard anything
So funny. This blind fiddler in a tavern
Playing Voi che sapete. Marvelous!
I had no choice, I had to bring him here
To treat you to the pleasure of his art.
In here!
(Enter a blind old man with a violin)
Play us a little Mozart, would you?
(The old man plays an aria from Don Giovanni. Mozart laughs loudly.)
Salieri
And you can laugh at that?
Mozart
Oh come, Salieri,
Don’t you think it’s funny?
Salieri
No, I don’t.
When Raphael’s madonnas are defiled
By worthless daubers, I do not find it funny.
When a contemptible buffoon dishonors
Alighieri with his parodies,
I do not find it funny. Be off, old man.
Mozart
Wait. Take this for yourself, and drink my health.
(The old man leaves)
Salieri, you seem out of sorts. I’ll come
Again another time.
Salieri
What did you bring me?
Mozart
Oh, nothing. Just a trifle. The other night,
When my insomnia was racking me,
A few ideas came into my head.
Today I jotted them down. I wanted to
Hear your opinion, but I can see
You have no time for me.
Salieri
Oh, Mozart, Mozart,
When do I have no time for you? Sit down.
I’m listening.
Mozart (at the piano)
Imagine then... well, who?
Let’s say myself, a little younger, maybe,
A little bit in love, but not too much,
A pretty girl or friend -- yourself, let’s say --
Is with me, I feel good, when all at once...
A funereal vision, sudden gloom, or something...
Here, listen.
(He plays)
Salieri
You were bringing this to me,
And you could stop in at a tavern to listen
To a blind man with a fiddle? God,
Mozart, you are unworthy of yourself.
Mozart
You like it, do you?
Salieri
What profundity!
What boldness and what perfect form! Mozart,
You are a god, and do not even know it.
I know it, though.
Mozart
No! Really?... Maybe so.
But my Divinity is getting hungry.
Salieri
Listen: let’s dine together at the Golden
Lion.
Mozart
Gladly. But first let me go home
And tell my wife not to expect me there
For dinner.
(Exit)
Salieri
Mind you, I’ll be waiting for you.
No, now I can resist my fate no longer.
I have been chosen: I must be the one
To stop him. Otherwise we all will perish,
All of us priests and ministers of music,
Not only I with my dull-ringing fame.
What use is it if Mozart stays alive
And reaches even newer summits yet?
Will he uplift the art by doing so?
No; it will sink again when he is gone;
He leaves us no successor. What’s the use
In him? He brings us, like a cherub, certain
Songs of paradise, and afterwards,
When he has roused in us, us children of
The dust, a wingless longing... flies away!
So fly away! The sooner you do, the better.
Here’s poison; it’s Isora’s final gift.
For eighteen years I’ve carried it with me,
And often in that time my life would seem
A wound not to be borne. I’d often share
A table with some careless enemy,
And never to the whisper of temptation
Did I yield, although I am no coward,
Although I feel an insult deeply and
Care little for my life. No, I held back.
When thirst for death tormented me, I thought:
Why should I die? It could be life will bring
Some sudden gifts to me, it could be too,
I will be visited by rapture, by
The night of the creator, inspiration.
It could be some new Haydn will create
Great things, and I will take delight in him.
While I was feasting with my hated guest,
I’d think: it could be I will find a worse
Enemy yet, and that a bitterer
Insult will blast me from a prouder height.
Then you will not be lost, Isora’s gift.
And I was right! At last I have found both:
I’ve found my enemy, and a new Haydn
Has made me drink deliciously of rapture!
And now -- it’s time. Most cherished gift of love,
Tonight you pass into the cup of friendship.On Sunday, 10th February 2013, it will have been 100 years since Robert Falcon Scott and his colleagues Henry Bowers and Edward Wilson were discovered dead in their tent in the Antarctic, having failed to reach the South Pole nearly a year before. There’s some really interesting footage in the archive of Scott and the expedition, but much of it is contained within longer retrospectives. Here’s a brief summary of the material to help you locate it:
Film of the Terra Nova, the ship which took Scott to the Antarctic and returned without him, was some of the earliest footage that British Pathé released in cinemas. There is a clip of the ship leaving for the Antarctic in 1910 and one of it returning to Cardiff in 1913.
The classic series Time To Remember, produced by British Pathé in the late 1950s and early 1960s, contains some additional footage that can’t be found elsewhere in the archive. The material appears at the end of Reel 1 and the beginning of Reel 2. You can view the relevant portions of those reels here. Included is a nice close up of Scott himself and some remarkable film of the expedition.
“Here’s to the Memory” also has footage apparently filmed in the Antarctic. It features the men huddled on the ground for dinner and trekking through the barren landscape towards their goal. It appears towards the beginning of this section of the documentary.
The expedition material was shot by Herbert Ponting, who accompanied Scott to the Antarctic with his camera. He survived and later produced the 1924 documentary, The Great White Silence.
www.britishpathe.com
AdvertisementsFriday on MSNBC, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) said, “This race is very close. I think we’re going to make history in Texas, and frankly, I think we’re going to be in the column for Hillary Rodham Clinton.”
Jackson Lee said, “Let me say that I’m very proud of The Dallas Morning News among many other papers in the state of Texas, but I’m very proud of my fellow it Texans. This race is very close. I think we’re going to make history in Texas, and frankly, I think we’re going to be in the column for Hillary Rodham Clinton. I think the real issue is what you have raised. Anyone who has said our generals who are sacrificing their, if you will — their lives — willing to put their lives on the line and to attack them and say they’re in rubble, anyone who refuses to call Russia what it is, an aggressor, that has stolen land from another country, Crimea, that is threatening Georgia, that won’t sit down with the president of the United States to resolve Syria, that is actually bombing parts of Aleppo or supporting those who aren’t, losing lives. All of this, as a member of the Homeland Security Committee, one who is here on 9/11, frightens me. And it frightens the American people. And it frightens them because of the lack of judgment and temperament and the willingness to say anything without acknowledging the fact that words on the international arena, diplomacy, matter. I don’t think Mr. Trump understands that. ”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNENIANS
Three Indian scientific journals have featured, for the first time since their inception, special issues authored exclusively by women scientists to trigger a debate on lower representation of women in science. Centred on International Day of Women and Girls in Science (February 11) and International Women's Day on March 8, an all-female authorship is the focus in Current Science journal (forthcoming issue) and the March issue of Resonance (published by the Indian Academy of Sciences) and Physics News (Indian Physics Association publication).
Researchers Prajval Shastri and Sudeshna Mazumdar-Leighton, guest editors of the Resonance issue write in the editorial that "such a'special' issue should not have been necessary". Expanding on the gender gap in sciences and other arenas, they note: "Science faculty in Indian universities, (i.e., trained science PhDs) have about 45 per cent women." "Yet, this fraction is not matched in elite research institutions, in institutional leadership, in awards and honours, and also, it turns out, in the authorship of Resonance, which is under 16 per cent even over the last three years."
The Resonance edition is oriented towards the physical sciences as the field "has a very large gender gap", say the guest editors. Resonance showcases Lise Meitner, an "extraordinary physicist who discovered nuclear fission and the world has never been the same since. Sadly for Meitner, like for many scientists of her time and after who happened to be women, acknowledgement was far from proportional to their contributions to humanity."
Shastri also guest-edited Physics News, along with Bindu Bambah and Vandana Nanal. Current Science (launched in 1932) features articles by young Indian women scientists and also includes a short paragraph about them to highlight their career graph.
"Even though the recent successes of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) have brought the achievements of its women scientists to the forefront, other than Tessy Thomas, the others remain unknown. This special section is a small attempt towards redressing this situation, by focusing on the work of young women scientists," write guest editors Sulabha Kulkarni and Neelima Gupte in the preface.
"We therefore hope that this attempt to showcase good scientific work by young women scientists, will not only be encouraging to women researchers, but will also be seen as a good initiative to encourage and bring to the force the work of women scientists," they say.
Tech2 is now on WhatsApp. For all the buzz on the latest tech and science, sign up for our WhatsApp services. Just go to Tech2.com/Whatsapp and hit the Subscribe button.Evangelical End Times pastor Jonathan Shuttlesworth told his congregation this week that Robin Williams committed suicide because the actor did not have Jesus living in his heart.
During this Tuesday episode of his Revival Today broadcast, Shuttlesworth explained that LGBT people could only repress their sexuality with the help of God.
"I had a homosexual write me on Twitter, I guess he watched me preach online, and he said, 'I don't think it's fair that you preach that because I'm a homosexual and I've tried to not live like that,'" the pastor recalled. "I said, you don't get free by trying... You don't try to live better, you give God your sinful wicked life."
"Somebody bound in homosexuality, that's a wicked spirit!" he shouted. "You can't fight it by willpower! It takes the fire of the Holy Ghost, the same thing that came on me that burned out my speech impediment and straighten my legs."
Pointing to the Gospel According to Mark, Shuttlesworth said that it did not "profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul in the process."
"When you see Robin Williams hang himself, that lets you know that no matter how much success you have, it is not a substitute for Jesus living in your heart," Shuttlesworth opined. "When you see rich people that can't keep their lives together -- you must have Jesus living in your heart."The Canadian Press
VANCOUVER -- Legislation that would make it illegal to require women to wear high heels on the job in British Columbia is getting support from Premier Christy Clark.
"In some workplaces in B.C., women are still required to wear high heels on the job," Clark wrote on her verified Facebook page. "This isn't just old-fashioned; in 2017, it's unacceptable."
Clark says she backs the intent of a private member's bill introduced last week by B.C.'s Green party leader, Andrew Weaver. The bill he introduced on International Women's Day would prevent employers from setting footwear requirements based on gender.
The issue isn't about fashion choices but health and safety, Weaver said in an interview Monday.
High heels can increase the risk of slipping and falling on kitchen floors or restaurant stairs, and the footwear can create health issues like back problems, bunions and bloody feet, he said.
"It's a no brainer. I can't think of a compelling argument anywhere to say restaurant owners should be allowed to require women to wear high heels in a restaurant," Weaver said. "It just doesn't make sense."
The legislation wouldn't ban heels from all workplaces, but an employer requiring staff to wear them must have the same requirement for all staff -- male and female.
"You can have a dress code, but the dress code must apply to all," Weaver said, comparing the new regulations to rules that require everyone on construction sites to wear steel-toed boots.
It's unclear whether Clark will back Weaver's bill or bring in separate legislation. She told a news conference Monday that her government is looking at the "quickest and simplest" way to implement the change.
"We'd like to get on with it because I think, you know, women shouldn't be forced to wear high heels by their employers. It's not fair. It's discriminatory."
Weaver said he's not surprised that Clark has jumped on board.
"I literally can't find anyone who opposes this. By and large, people don't realize this is still a thing in 2017," he said.
The Green party leader said he isn't aware of similar legislation anywhere else in the world, but noted that the issue was recently discussed by politicians in the United Kingdom.
MPs there debated a ban last week on mandatory workplace high heels in response to a petition started by a receptionist who was sent home without pay for wearing flat shoes. The debate was non-binding, but the government promised to act against heel-height rules, makeup guidelines and other corporate codes that apply to women but not to men.
Nicola Thorp was told in December 2015 that her flat shoes were unacceptable for a temporary assignment in London with finance firm PwC.
Her employment agency, Portico, had a dress code specifying that female workers must wear non-opaque tights, have hair with "no visible roots," wear "regularly re-applied" makeup -- and appear in shoes with a heel between five and 10 centimetres high.
Thorp started an online petition, calling formal workplace dress codes "outdated and sexist." It gathered more than 150,000 signatures, making it eligible for a debate in Parliament.
Asked if he would be willing to introduce legislation banning other aspects of discriminatory dress codes, Weaver said it's "egregious" that employers require servers to wear short skirts. But he also said there is a subtle difference between requiring a server to wear heels and other discriminatory dress codes.
"It's hard to argue the health and safety aspect with short skirts," he said. "With the high heels, you can definitely argue the health and safety aspect."Republican candidate Jeb Bush has blamed Mexican drug cartels for the country’s “massive drug problem”, an issue that has also affected his close family.
Prior to speaking to a crowd in New Hampshire today, Mr Bush wrote in his blog post on Medium that the large number of people who are addicted to heroin and illegal drugs is compounded by “sharp increases in the abuse of prescription painkillers”. He went on to write:
“The problem is exacerbated by huge increases in the availability of cheap, highly potent heroin, primarily the result of Mexican drug cartels getting involved in the production, trafficking and distribution of heroin and other illicit drugs.”
We’ll tell you what’s true. You can form your own view. From 15p €0.18 $0.18 $0.27 a day, more exclusives, analysis and extras.
Mr Bush wrote about his daughter Noelle’s drug addiction, her |
van Sabeghi, was the second former U.S. serviceman during the past two weeks to be badly hurt in confrontations between anti-Wall Street protesters and police in Oakland.
The group Iraq Veterans Against the War said Sabeghi was detained during disturbances that erupted late Wednesday in downtown Oakland and was charged with resisting arrest and remaining present at a riot.
Brutal: Kayvan Sabeghi told friends he was arrested and beaten by a group of policemen as he was leaving the Oakland protest to go home
Highland General Hospital confirmed that Sabeghi was a patient in the intensive care unit there.
CHILD SERVICES SEIZES BABY AT OCCUPY DALLAS
Texas child welfare officials say have taken a 9-month-old boy from his homeless parents at an Occupy Dallas camp. Child Protective Services spokeswoman Marissa Gonzales says the baby was taken into state custody Thursday and his parents were being interviewed. She declined to give more details until a judge signs off on the case. Cordell Cameron, a spokesman for the protest group, says the homeless parents, who had joined demonstrators about a week ago, were 'pretty devastated.' He said they were in the process of trying to obtain housing through a family program but feared they would no longer be eligible. Cameron says the child was in a heated tent, 'there was no abuse' but 'obviously you can't keep a baby out in freezing weather.' (Source: AP)
Brian Kelly, who co-owns a brew pub with Sabeghi, said his business partner served as an Army Ranger in Iraq and Afghanistan.
He said Sabeghi told him he was arrested and beaten by a group of policemen as he was leaving the protest to go home.
'He told me he was in the hospital with a lacerated spleen and that the cops had jumped him,' Kelly said.
'They put him in jail, and he told them he was injured, and they denied him medical treatment for about 18 hours.'
The Oakland Police Department did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
Sabeghi's name was listed by the Alameda County Sheriff's Office as one of more than 100 people arrested that night.
The veterans group said in a statement that police struck Sabeghi with nightsticks on his hands, shoulders, ribs and back, and that in addition to a lacerated spleen he suffered from internal bleeding.
Clashes between police and demonstrators broke out in the early morning hours of Thursday in downtown Oakland following a day of mostly peaceful rallies and marches against economic inequality and police brutality.
The Port of Oakland was forced to shut down during the demonstrations, sparked in part by the severe injury of another former serviceman, ex-Marine Scott Olsen, during a confrontation with police last week.
Olsen's injury became a rallying cry for the anti-Wall Street protest movement nationwide.
Man down: Former Marine Scott Olsen's injury has become a rallying cry for the anti-Wall Street protest movement nationwide.Ahmad Bradshaw is the most intriguing running back still left out on the open market. He should find a home before the season, but he won't work out for teams until his foot fully heals.
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That could take some time, but Bradshaw told the Michael Kay Show that three intriguing teams are interested: The Green Bay Packers, Pittsburgh Steelers and the New York Jets. The teams other than the Jets have been mentioned as candidates for Bradshaw before.
"There's a lot of teams out there that need running backs," Bradshaw said, via The Star-Ledger. "I want to go to a team (where) I can be the No. 1 back, get multiple carries every game. I just want to be able to help and be a big part of it."
Bradshaw is only 27 years old, but it seems like he's got the body of an older back. Let's break down the three teams as potential fits:
Packers: Coach Mike McCarthy hinted the Packers want more of a 1-2 punch at running back in 2013. At this stage, DuJuan Harris, Alex Green and James Starks are all in the mix. Bradshaw could fit well as a versatile veteran that excels in the passing game.
Instant Debate: Jets' 2013 reality Rex Ryan and the
and the Jets are set to enter the 2013 season with little to no expectations. How will they fare? Our analysts debate. More...
Steelers: They kicked the tires of Beanie Wells, but haven't signed him. That shows a willingness to add a veteran rather than fill their need through the 2013 NFL Draft. The Steelers need to upgrade from Jonathan Dwyer and restricted free agent Isaac Redman.
Jets: With Shonn Greene now bugging Chris Johnson on the Tennessee Titans, the Jets have Bilal Powell, Joe McKnight and free-agent pickup Mike Goodson on the roster. Goodson's signing could make Bradshaw superfluous.
It's hard out there for a running back. Michael Turner remains out of work. Steven Jackson didn't get much money from the Atlanta Falcons. Bradshaw might have to wait until after the draft to find work, but he's still young enough to help a team out. We like the Steelers as a fit.
Follow Gregg Rosenthal on Twitter @greggrosenthalFabio Borini’s proposed £14m move from Liverpool to Sunderland remained in the balance on Saturday night as the Italian forward played hard to get.
While reports that Borini has rejected the transfer out of hand are wide of the mark, Gus Poyet and Sunderland clearly have some persuading to do if they are to sell the idea of a long-term move to Wearside to a player who enjoyed a successful loan stint at the Stadium of Light last season.
Following Sunderland’s 5-1 friendly win at Darlington on Saturday Poyet confirmed Sunderland had agreed a fee with Liverpool for Borini and said he was waiting to speak to the striker.
Poyet claimed the 23-year-old, who scored 10 goals for his side last season, would be a “perfect” signing. “What I can say is that we have agreed [a deal] with Liverpool, we are waiting for correspondence and then we move on from there,” said Sunderland’s manager.
“It’s clear the impact Fabio had last season. And we are going to spend that amount of money on a player because we know how much he can give us. He would be perfect for us but it’s an ongoing thing.”
Undeterred by reports, largely from Italy, that Borini is digging his toes in and will not leave Liverpool, Poyet expects to speak to the Italian within the next few days. “We have done the steps that we needed to do properly, and now we are waiting. We want to do things the right way,” he said.
Borini played just over an hour for Liverpool in their 2-1 friendly win over Preston at Deepdale on Saturday.
“He spent a really successful period with Sunderland last year, and it’s obviously a fantastic club,” said Brendan Rodgers, Liverpool’s manager who is on the brink of signing Loïc Rémy, the France striker, from QPR for £8m.
“They’ve offered to buy Fabio and that’s where it’s at. There is an agreement between the clubs, but nothing is agreed with the player as of yet. So he’s still very much a Liverpool player, but when that changes, I’m sure you’ll be among the first to know.” With Rodgers keen to sell, Sunderland anxious to buy and a lack of rival suitors willing to match the fee, there is a sense that Borini can only stall for so long.About
ManningFace refers to a photograph of National Football League quarterback Peyton Manning wearing a black hood while kneeling on a football field, which is often linked in comment threads on Reddit as a bait-and-switch joke similar to the practice of rickrolling.
Origin
On January 10th, 2013, Manning was photographed wearing a hood while warming up during football practice for the Denver Broncos in Englewood, Colorado (shown below). Two days later, Redditor FusRoDah7 submitted the picture to the /r/nfl subreddit, where it gathered upwards of 1,600 votes (91% upvoted) and 200 comments prior to being archived. In the comments, many Redditors mocked the size of Manning's forehead in the photo.
Spread
On February 4th, 2014, Redditor throwawayx505 submitted a post asking "What's up with this picture of Peyton Manning?" to /r/OutOfTheLoop, to which Redditor livefreeordont replied with a link to the original /r/nfl thread. On September 4th, Redditor TobyTarazan asked about the origin of the photo on /r/OutOfTheLoop, to which Redditor Kijafa described it as a "bait and switch gag." The photo was subsequently added as "Manningface" on the /r/OutOfTheLoop Wiki. On November 2nd, a Redditor linked to the hooded photograph in a bait-and-switch post on the /r/nfl subreddit. On October 28th, 2015, Redditor Meistarr submitted a post titled "What is it about the skimask picture?" to /r/OutOfTheLoop, where Redditor kevler9oh replied that the picture circulated on /r/nfl due to "the sheer size of Manning's forehead." On November 30th, a close-up version of the photo was uploaded to Imgur, where it gained over 5.8 million views over the next 14 months.
On September 10th, 2016, several Redditors posted the photograph in the comments section of post about Manning on /r/funny. On December 20th, 2016, Redditors CountAardvark submitted a post to /r/MemeEconomy speculating that bait-and-switch memes like Manningface go through regular cycles of popularity.
Search Interest
External ReferencesIn this paradoxical season, it figures the Washington Wizards’ performance would be a nightly contradiction. The fact they can win at Eastern Conference front-runner Cleveland one night and lose the next to perhaps the worst Los Angeles Lakers team ever underscores the complicated journey of a franchise trying to live for yesterday, today and tomorrow all at once.
The Wizards are prisoners of their many possibilities. They have a yesterday worth repeating and polishing: back-to-back playoff appearances and jaunts to the Eastern Conference semifinals, success largely based on becoming a tough-minded defensive team. They have a today that they’re fiddling with: a commitment to a pace-and-space style after seeing its promise last postseason, a new trick that matches the current NBA era but conflicts with a grind-it-out defensive mentality. And they have a tomorrow that they’ve spent years planning: a diligent roster management to ensure ample salary cap space to pursue homegrown Kevin Durant in free agency next summer.
Problem is, when you put all those pursuits in a pot and cook ’em, it tastes like a 10-13 record. It tastes like 11th place in the Eastern Conference for a team that spent the preseason dreaming of earning a top-four playoff seed and advancing to the conference finals. It tastes like a stew that’s starting to make fans stew.
While there’s plenty of time to recover, the first quarter of this season stirred fears of a lost — or at most optimistic, idling — season. As much as the Wizards should be patient, as much as they want to be careful and look toward tomorrow, they must do something soon to fix today. The present and future are linked in a tighter knot than perceived.
While you were watching the Warriors, the Spurs were crushing everyone
Even with the hometown connection to go with all-star point guard John Wall and the good-when-healthy Bradley Beal, the Wizards will have a difficult pitch to Durant if they can’t show clearly that they’re on a championship path. You’re talking about a player vying to be one of the most influential superstars in basketball history. Some stars can get away with striving to win a title, but Durant is basically required to win one, preferably multiple. In theory, he makes most any team an immediate championship contender, but to leave a good situation with Russell Westbrook, Serge Ibaka and Co. in Oklahoma City, Durant will demand a risk level of less than zero.
You say there’s no such thing? Better hire an illusionist.
So here’s the ultimate paradox of this pursuit: The Wizards can’t alter the team and take on any significant long-term contracts if they want to keep the Durant dream alive, or more specifically, the Durant-Wall-Beal dream alive. But if the Wizards don’t make an impact move of some kind before the Feb. 18 trade deadline, they might ruin their plans by regressing too much this season.
That concern should be weighing heavily on the front office. Having said that, there’s no need to panic. Assuming the Wizards don’t fall too far below.500, they probably can wait another month, try to get everyone healthy for the first time this season and see whether they turn into the versatile, sweet-shooting team they envisioned.
“I don’t think we’re too far away at all,” guard Gary Neal insisted last week. “We’ve been dealing with a lot on our plate. We’re not into excuses, but you have to state the facts: The injury bug has been a real problem. We’ve had different rotations and lineups, games without all our big guys, games without many of our shooters. If we have different personnel every game, of course, we’re going to play like a different team from night to night.
“We have to be consistent. We’re not happy about the ups and downs. But we still feel like, when we’re all finally together, collectively, we have a great chance.”
The struggles and injuries are forcing several key players to play better, and this should help the team later in the season. Most significant is Wall, who enjoyed the best eight-game stretch of his career before Monday night’s six-point clunker in Memphis. In that stretch, Wall averaged 27.3 points and 10.9 assists and shot 54.6 percent from the field.
He needs to be aggressive as a scorer, a distributor and a defender for these Wizards. They’re too passive, and they meander without his energy. Coach Randy Wittman accused his team of playing “too cool, too soft” at home after last week’s loss to Houston. Wall didn’t like the “soft” label. This team is built around his ability to attack and make life easier for his teammates. He needs to be a consistent junkyard dog.
This week’s NBA power rankings
But with Beal out because of another stress reaction in his right leg, with Nene recovering from a calf injury and Alan Anderson still not cleared after ankle surgery, the Wizards remain limited. Even when all those players return, they still need help at power forward and could use another experienced, defensive-minded wing to play a small role.
Nene’s expiring contract, which pays him $13 million this season, represents the Wizards’ biggest trade chip. Depending on the talent available in the trade market and how big a deal the Wizards could stomach, they could package Nene with Otto Porter Jr. or Kelly Oubre Jr. or a future first-round draft pick and make the team better. It will take creativity, and it probably will involve swapping expiring contracts to keep the cap space intact, but there will be options that fit the Wizards’ new up-tempo style better.
This team must rediscover its defensive grit, through health, or shuffling current personnel or adding new players or some combination of the three. Wittman is a defensive coach trying to adapt to the current era. The focus is on pace and space, but the Wizards’ solution might be to turn into a chameleon, a team with the flexibility to play multiple styles and keep opponents guessing. For all the attention paid to Golden State’s small ball, the Warriors actually specialize in versatility.
There’s still time. A year ago, the Wizards had a 17-6 record at this point in the season, and they were amid a stretch of nine wins in 10 games that would elevate their record to 19-6, matching their best 25-game start in franchise history. They went 27-30 over the final 57 games but performed well in the playoffs.
This team is still capable of winning 45 to 47 games, but General Manager Ernie Grunfeld and the front office will need to be as creative in the present as they have been in planning for the future.
The Wizards are at a four-way stop. They want to go right, left and forward all at once. When they realize that’s not possible, perhaps this idling season will turn intriguing.Are there labour shortages in Canada? The answer from the business community is an unequivocal ‘yes.’ Every major business organization identifies shortages as a growing problem and often the No. 1 challenge facing businesses, especially for skilled trades.
Economists are more skeptical about labour shortages, reflecting their seeming absence in data on job vacancies and wages. More generally, economists are suspicious of forecasts of shortages based on demographic trends, which have a poor forecasting record.
Here are some reasons firms and economists hold such different views. Economists don’t lack data on labour and skills shortages; what they lack is imagination both in searching out unconventional sources and interpreting the data we have. Most data point to nascent shortages in parts of our economy; that they are not as severe as in 2008 does not detract from their existence. One reason shortages are less severe is that employers have adopted several strategies to expand their labour supply, drawing on their pre-recession experience. These include encouraging employees to stay beyond the usual retirement age, extending their hours of work and selectively using the Temporary Foreign Workers program.
Using all these tools to increase labour supply, employers have capped conventional measures of shortages and their wage bill, a tribute to their adaptability faced with the reality of current and impending shortages. Note the emphasis on expanding the supply of labour, especially of our most valuable workers, as the solution, not the wooly idea circulating this summer that restricting hours worked would somehow help the economy.
However, employers know that many of these tactics can’t be sustained, which is why they are concerned about shortages now and in the near future. Some of the disconnect between how businesses and economists approach the question of shortages revolves around this time frame. Economists look for evidence of shortages in data, which inevitably are backward looking. Firms approach the question with an eye to the future, knowing they will soon have to replace their oldest workers with new sources of labour.
The future supply of labour is worrisome for many employers. One of the most striking divides in today’s labour market is the record gap between unemployment for adults and youths. Adult unemployment is close to a record low, while it remains stubbornly high among youths (Ontario’s youth unemployment rate of 16% is nearly three times as high as for adults). High unemployment among youths creates the statistical illusion that there is a large pool of labour available to work, raising questions about the existence of shortages. However, this calculation is misleading because employers don’t regard youths, especially teenagers, as replacements for their best workers who are approaching retirement. This increases the need for employers to encourage their older workers to stay in the labour force, often working very long hours. A further complication is that almost half of full-time students are looking for work, but their studies obviously limit the time and energy they can devote to work. For employers, this rules out many full-time students as a viable job candidate. For all these reasons, employers do not regard some youths as a substitute for their older adult employees.
Another reason many firms do not evaluate young people highly is the different skills acquired by today’s youths. As the share of youths in community colleges declines and those in university increase, a mismatch has been created between the skills possessed by youths and the skills demanded by employers. Measured by unemployment or employment rates, high school graduates who subsequently acquire a certificate or diploma fare significantly better than for university graduates. One implication is that Canada’s education system has to do a better job of producing graduates with the skills employers want. Part of the problem is that these patterns have not existed long enough to be reflected in wages; it appears lucrative for students to pursue a university education, and they respond to this incentive. One encouraging note for youths is that when they find a job, they are more likely to be keep it.
Cutbacks to in-house training by firms occurred at the same time as Canada’s education system expanded significantly, notably universities. The result, from a global perspective, is a substitution of education done in our public sector for the private sector. It’s not surprising the result has harmed the functioning of Canada’s labour markets. One solution is to have the private sector more involved in education and training.
The final puzzle is why wage increases have not accelerated significantly? Part of the answer is the drag from central Canada’s weak labour markets, which mask a clear acceleration of wages in some provinces and industries. As well, employers face a dilemma; if they boost wages to attract new workers, they will have to raise wages for all their workers. This is especially true for one-industry towns, commonplace in the resource sector. So there is an incentive for employers to use a variety of non-wage incentives to attract new workers. These incentives include everything from paying for moving expenses to signing bonuses, but do not show up in conventional measures of wages.
Philip Cross is the author of a Fraser Institute report on Labour Shortages in Canada and the former Chief Economic Analyst at Statistics Canada[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit [official website] on Monday issued an order [order, PDF] allowing the National Security Agency (NSA) [official website] to continue compiling telephone records of a California-based law firm. Last week a federal judge ruled [JURIST report] against part of the NSA’s controversial surveillance program that collects domestic phone records in bulk. Judge Richard Leon of the US District Court for the District of Columbia [official website] stated that the program was most likely unconstitutional and shut down the program just weeks before the NSA was scheduled to scrap it and replace it. The three-judge panel on Tuesday decided to stay Leon’s decision, stating that the Obama administration had “satisfied the requirements for a stay pending appeal.” Larry Klayman, a conservative activist and attorney who brought the suit against the government, said that he will ask the appeals court to reconsider, and if they decline, will take the case to the US Supreme Court [official website].
On October 30 the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit denied [JURIST report] a motion by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to halt the bulk collection of phone records by the NSA. The court ruled that Congress intended for the agency to continue its data collection over the transition period, and the new legislation was to take effect November 29. In August the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit reversed [JURIST report] a ruling that had blocked the NSA from obtaining call detail records from US citizens. In June 2013 the ACLU, in conjunction with the New York Civil Liberties Union filed suit [JURIST report] against the NSA challenging its phone data collection. The NSA had been collecting mass data under the USA PATRIOT Act since it was signed into law in 2001, but the program was only brought to light in 2013 after leaks by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.Investors often have expectations of real annual returns greater than 7 percent — the areas in green. But over 20 years or longer, rates that high are rare.
After 60 or 70 years, returns are relatively stable, but this time frame is longer than the relevant horizon for many retirement plans.
Outlined squares show investment returns after 20 years
An example If you invested money at the end of 1930 and withdrew it in 1950, the stock market would have returned about 2 percent a year after inflation and taxes. People who invested after the crash in 1929 in hopes of a quick rebound had to wait many years for their investments to pay off.
Average real annual return Includes dividends, average taxes and fees. Adjusted for inflation. This chart at right shows annualized returns for the S.& P. 500 for every starting year and every ending year since 1920 — nearly 4,000 combinations in all. READ ACROSS THE CHART to see how money invested in a given year performed, depending on when it was withdrawn.
In Investing, It’s When You Start
And When You Finish
WORST 20 YEARS
1961-1981
–2.0% a year
2ND BEST
20 YEARS
1979-99
+8.2% a year
BEST 20 YEARS
1948-68
+8.4% a year
The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index has posted double-digit gains for the second year in a row. But the index is still below where it was in early 1999. So what is the proper perspective? Ed Easterling, who runs an investment management and research firm from Corvallis, Oregon, faced similar questions a decade ago. In the summer of 2001, Mr. Easterling had a debate with a client about whether investors should expect to achieve long-term average returns in the future. At the time, the average individual investor expected that the stock market would return about 10 percent a year over the next 10 to 20 years — or about 7 percent after inflation — according to surveys by the University of Michigan’s Survey Research Center, as well as UBS and Gallup.In case you haven't noticed, there's a big problem in the GOP. If the primaries didn't establish this (see Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, et al), then Mitt Romney's so-called "rolling calamity" of a general election campaign certainly has. In the midst of an incredibly important election to determine the future of America, the Republican party is in the throes of an identity crisis.
To be sure, Romney is an imperfect messenger. But he's not entirely to blame for this inability to articulate a sufficiently compelling narrative beyond the "Not-Obama" position. In many ways, he's a victim of the times. The Republican party has spent years suffering from unaddressed, systemic problems.
It boils down to a lack of leadership, vision and unity. This is, of course, interrelated: visionary leaders use rhetoric to inspire unity, and a party or movement that lacks visionary leaders will quickly spiral out of control – into a negative cycle of infighting, score-settling and petty vindictiveness. As Paul Ryan lamented earlier this week to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
"I think that's just the nature of conservative punditry is to do that — to kind of complain — about any imperfection they might see."
Perhaps indicative of this remark, Michelle Malkin and David Frum recently engaged in precisely the kind of feud characteristic of a movement that is very unhappy about its position and looking for someone to blame. Conservative commentary today is essentially bifurcated between the red meat-hurling carnival barkers who pander to the base and the mainstream media quislings who cater to the Georgetown cocktail circuit and the cable TV bookers looking to book a "token" conservative to fill out their Sunday morning panel.
As I recently noted in a Daily Caller column, both sides are destructive in their own ways. The quislings undermine our Republican candidates today by criticizing them, while the demagogues ensure the long-term structural changes aren't addressed. Just try to talk about comprehensive immigration reform as a Republican and see how long you last.
But to blame Republican opinion-formers for not being positive enough about the party they inhabit is surely a case of shooting the messenger. Robust debate can be a sign of intellectual self-confidence, but this sort of divisiveness between conservative pundits is symptomatic a larger crisis of identity and ideas. It's time for Republicans to ask the big questions that Admiral Stockdale made famous in that debate so many years ago:
"Who are we – and why are we here?"
The GOP is running on fumes. Like a copy of a copy of a tape, conservatives have been living off the legacy of Ronald Reagan for decades.
The cold war was the glue that united the conservative movement. Each leg of the stool – social conservatives, fiscal conservatives and national security conservatives – had their own reasons for uniting to defeat the Communists. Reagan benefitted from this unity, as well as from his own ability to inspire, and knew how to play it.
But George W Bush managed to put the final nail in the coffin of the decades-long "Reagan era", and so it's time to start anew. Bush invented a new Republican brand, but then ensured it couldn't be used again.
The "compassionate conservatism" that helped get him elected in 2000 ended up being overlooked by an administration distracted by the neoconservative overreach of two foreign wars, combined with increased spending that blew out the deficit and helped create an economic crisis for which many voters still blame President Bush, rather than President Obama.
Today's GOP is in need of serious intellectual renewal. For one thing, it's mostly the fiscal leg that supports the three-legged stool these days. The New York Times's David Brooks makes a good point about the GOP's current focus on economic issues:
"The Republican party has abandoned half of its intellectual ammunition. It appeals to people as potential business owners, but not as parents, neighbors and citizens."
And this lack of inclusiveness underpins a lot of the Obama campaign's success in tagging Romney as a private equity guy who's only going to look after the prosperity of the super-rich elite. It's been hard for out-of-work "Reagan Democrats" in places like Ohio to identify with Mitt Romney.
This is not to say economics can be ignored, but Republicans have to articulate the moral case for free markets. It can't be framed negatively, as necessary "austerity", or explained in purely wonkish terms. Too often that happens. As one GOP official, giving advice to Mitt Romney, recently told CNN.com:
"Don't make your campaign about marginal tax rates. Make it about your children and your grandchildren and the future of this country."
Some of this is messaging. But there are other not-obviously-ideological ideas that could.
Why not support an e-Congress that would allow members of Congress to vote electronically from their districts? Republicans could carry the torch of putting a man on Mars by 2019. And pledge to pass legislation to make eradication of cancer the nation's top national health priority. Or how about championing the kind of education reform that we've seen in films like "Waiting for Superman" and "Won't Back Down"?
Whether it's finding a way to fix education, deal compassionately with immigrants, or other bold and visionary conservative ideas, America can once again be that "shining city on a hill" Reagan famously spoke of. It's time for Republicans to once again be the party of the future – and of the middle class.
But vision is not just about policy; it's time for conservatives to rediscover poetry. My guess is that one of the reasons speechwriters like Peggy Noonan have been so critical of Mitt Romney's campaign is that it has lacked any romance or poetry.
Conservatives must have a leader who can inspire and can be afforded the luxury of introducing new, unorthodox ideas. In this regard, I'm partial to Senator Marco Rubio, who can eloquently talk about the American Dream, and we have a fresh crop of inspirational possible future leaders: besides Rubio, Representative Mike Pence (a gubernatorial candidate in Indiana) and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, to name but three.
But leaders come and go, and leaders will be found. First, conservatives need to rediscover why it is they want to govern in the first place.In the mid-19th century, the Virginia Central Railway wanted to connect to the Shenandoah Valley. To do that, they needed to build a rail line across the Blue Ridge Mountains. To do THAT, they needed to employ the services of civil engineer Claudius Crozet.
Born in France, Crozet had been an engineer in Napoleon’s army before immigrating to the United States post-Waterloo, where he become Chief Engineer for the Virginia Board of Public Works. In 1849, he was hired as the chief engineer on the Blue Ridge Mountain railroad project and tasked with establishing a rail crossing through the mountains. His plan for achieving this involved building four tunnels, with the last of the four being the longest and most challenging by far.
The Blue Ridge Tunnel, as it was originally called, measures 4,273 feet (1,302 meters) and, at the time of its completion in 1858, was the longest tunnel in the United States and one of the longest in the world. Work on the tunnel began in 1850, with crews of Irish immigrants and slaves digging from both ends with the aim of meeting in the middle. As the project predated dynamite, the work was done with hand tools and black powder, making it exceedingly slow and dangerous; the average pace of progress was one foot per side per day. It’s pretty amazing, then, that when the two sides finally met in the belly of Afton Mountain on Christmas Day in 1856, they were a mere six inches off perfect alignment.
This Blue Ridge Tunnel was used until 1944, when it was replaced by an adjacent parallel tunnel that was able to accommodate larger freight trains. As this new tunnel became known as the Blue Ridge Tunnel, the original was renamed the Crozet Tunnel in honor of the great engineer.
The Crozet Tunnel was designated an Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers in 1976. It is remarkable not only for its length, the hardness of the rock through which the structure was hand dug, or the unique partial ellipse shape of the tunnel that allowed greater freight clearance for less material removed, but also for novel drainage and ventilation techniques employed by Crozet during the tunnel’s construction.
The Crozet Tunnel is currently undergoing renovations, to be reopened as a trail through the mountain for hikers and cyclists that will connect with other nearby recreational areas. The first phase of this project will establish trailheads on both sides of the tunnel, and it is hoped that a second phase will remove the concrete bulkheads constructed in the middle of the tunnel — as part of a scheme to store natural gas which never panned out — which currently prevent passthrough. During this period of construction, visitors are cautioned that there is no public access to either portal, and trespassers are subject to prosecution.Let’s hope it doesn’t cost $4,000.
Technics has announced a “standard” version of its new SL-1200 turntable at this year’s CES show in Las Vegas, following the release of last year’s eye-wateringly expensive SL-1200G model.
According to Technics’ press release, the new SL-1200GR direct-drive turntable “inherits the technology of the Sl-1200G”, and tweaks the classic design to make its damping abilities “more than twice as good” as the SL-1200MK5, released in 2002.
The company hasn’t announced a price for the SL-1200GR yet, but What Hi-Fi believes it will be cheaper than its predecessor, which was launched a year ago.
While last year’s limited SL-1200G sold out on its launch in Japan, Technics took criticism for the model’s high $4,000 price tag, especially from vinyl DJs looking to replace their old turntables.
Earlier this week, a piece in The New York Times saw Technics’ creative director Hiro Morishita explain why the company had turned away from DJs and towards the audiophile market.
“Our concept is analog records for hi-fi listening,” he said. “DJs are fine, too, but as a marketing target it’s problematic. We don’t want to sell the 1200 as the best tool for DJing. The 1200 is the 1200.”
Read next: The eight best DJ turntables on the marketFrontman says the hip-hop collective are "refreshing"
Tame Impala frontman Kevin Parker has revealed that he is a massive fan of Odd Future, describing the hip-hop group as “Amazing”.
Parker professed his love for the LA collective, which features members Tyler, The Creator and Earl Sweatshirt, in a new interview for The Observer. Asked what the last great record he listened to was, Parker said: “My bandmate Dom has been into Odd Future for a while and he played me a few songs from this album. I’m not an avid hip-hop listener and I hadn’t really tuned into Odd Future before but I think they’re amazing. I like how they’re not afraid to say whatever they want. They’re not feeling confined – it’s refreshing.”
Meanwhile, discussing the album that most influenced the sound of Tame Impala, Parker opted for the 2003 Air album ‘Talkie Walkie’. “I was really inspired by the way they layered melodies and sounds to create a sort of electronic orchestra. That opened my eyes to new studio possibilities, because it was just two guys but they were making a world of sounds. It made me realise that it doesn’t have to sound like a band, it can sound like something totally different.”
Odd Future associate Frank Ocean previously spoke about his own admiration for Tame Impala, saying that Tyler, The Creator had turned him onto the Australian band. “As far as collaborations in the future for me, I don’t know. There’s this kid King Krule who is really sick and I would love to do something with. He has a special voice, really cool. I’m getting in with Danger Mouse when I get back to the States. Usually when I meet these guys if we happen to write something then we do but it’s good to just feel these things out,” he said. Before adding: “I love Tame Impala, Tyler put me onto them and they’re wicked. Their music has a freedom to it.”
Tame Impala will perform at London’s Hammersmith Apollo on June 25, shortly before a performance at Glastonbury festival.next Image 1 of 2
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Vanderbilt athletic director David Williams says James Franklin remains the Commodores' football coach as of Thursday afternoon and that Franklin has informed him that he has not accepted another job offer.
Several media outlets have reported that Franklin has an offer from Penn State that he is expected to accept it within 48 hours, or as early as Thursday afternoon.
Williams told The Associated Press that he has heard all of the reports and knows that Penn State officials have been talking with Franklin. The Vanderbilt athletic director says Franklin called him earlier Thursday to tell him reports the coach had accepted another job were "inaccurate."
Williams says that as of 2:45 p.m. EST that Franklin "is Vanderbilt's football coach."Untreated sewage, toxic chemicals were poured into Bengaluru lake.
Highlights Untreated sewage, toxic chemicals poured into lake Fire erupted last month, made international headlines Pitch to clean lake by foreign private firms being reviewed
Bengaluru's lakes |
create a permanent refuge for soil biota, including earthworms, while also adding carbon—in tree roots and expanded soil communities that decompose organic matter on the ground—to the soils. “Soils are already huge stores of carbon, and improved management can make them even bigger,” says geoscientist Dave Reay, a University of Edinburgh professor and one of the authors of the analysis. So now, soil scientists say, they need to do more than just illuminate the remaining dark corners of this erstwhile black box. They also need to convey to the world, to everyone from government officials to rural farmers, the urgent need to preserve and enhance soil biodiversity. Until now, soil communities have largely been ignored in decisions about growing crops, cutting down forests, and building cities, according to Wall. That must change, researchers say. “Healthy soils not only mean dollar signs,” says Wall, “they are also critical to human health and to reaching the world’s sustainable development goals.” Governments have begun to heed this call. In April, the Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy announced $30 million in funding for projects aimed at improving “root and soil function that will help plants to store more carbon in the ground and take up nutrients and water more efficiently” (www.energy.gov/articles/arpa-e-announces-60-million-funding-two-innovative-new-programs). In May, the Obama Administration launched a $121 million National Microbiome Initiative to study the microbial communities in people, oceans, the atmosphere—and soils. The once-mysterious black box under our feet, it seems, is finally getting the attention it needs.US pledges nearly $100 million to support Syrian opposition
MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — The United States ramped up its support for Syria’s opposition with a pledge of nearly $100 million in fresh aid on Saturday. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s top diplomat described the timing of the departure of Syrian President Bashar Assad and the withdrawal of foreign fighters as top sticking points to finding a lasting resolution to the civil war in Syria.
Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced the additional assistance at the Manama Dialogue security conference in the Gulf island nation of Bahrain, where discussion of Syria dominated the gathering of mostly Western and Arab officials. The American promise of cash, which it says brings to nearly $500 million the amount it has pledged to the opposition since 2012, came a day after the U.S. announced it was intensifying its fight against the Islamic State goup in Syria with the deployment of up to 50 special operations troops.
It also coincided with the completion of international talks in Vienna to pursue a new peace effort involving Syria’s Iranian-backed government and opposition groups. The negotiations left open the thorny question of when Assad might leave power, and it was unclear whether he or disparate rebel groups fighting to topple him would sign on to any peace proposal.
A new round of talks was expected to take place within two weeks.The new U.S. funds will support local and provincial councils, civil society activists, emergency services and other needs on the ground inside Syria.
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told delegates gathered under tight security at a Bahraini luxury waterfront hotel that the timing of Assad’s departure and the withdrawal of foreign fighters remain the main sticking points to finding a lasting resolution to the civil war in Syria.Full Story.
Why are we giving so much time to the Saudi’s (the biggest bandits in town) or even listening to them? We should take them out; the House of Saud is the chief sponsorer of Terror after the CIA in the World. Why are they even allowed to come close to the negotiating table? After you watch the video below you will see why; the US government shares the same stinky bed with them. We need accountability again and those responsible for these reprehensible deeds should be punished severely.
Austrian Editor Fired for Telling Truth
biro-censoredThe Styrian editor of Austria’s largest daily newspaper, Die Krone, has been fired after breaking ranks with the controlled media and admitting the truth about the rampant criminality, filth, and Third Word destruction which has accompanied the current nonwhite invasion of Europe. Christoph Biró, chief editor of Die Krone, published an editorial in his newspaper on October 25, 2015, in which he admitted that the “atmosphere [in Austria] has long since tipped.”
Gone are the days when the incoming refugees were received with applause …too much happened since then.
We know of young, testosterone-driven Syrians who can engage in extremely aggressive sexual assaults, to say the least. Afghans have slashed the seats in ÖBB train compartments [Österreichische Bundesbahnen, Austrian Federal Railways]. These acts have no relation to their emergency situation. “We do not sit there,” they say, because “Christians have sat there!”
In the emergency shelters, they do not use the sanitary facilities, but do their business just next to it and then call for female assistants: That means nothing to them….Hordes have stormed the supermarkets, tearing the wrappers off [items], taking what they want, and then disappearing. The police are powerless. Integration? A nice word, nothing more. Integration can at best work only in individual cases. As if on command, thousands still trample over our borders, although all forces of law and order are overrun since [last] Friday, and all the emergency quarters are occupied to overflowing...
At least now ALL has become clear—no matter whether right or left, or hardliner social romantic: The limits have to be made set. The humanitarian catastrophe has to be stopped, especially for Austria and its inhabitants. Biró, a liberal who earlier said he and his wife had given up their holiday to “teach refugees German” was instantly sacked from his job—even though the official statement from Die Krone said he had “voluntarily stepped down” from his position. Full story.
Makes you wonder why the government allowed these individuals into the country, knowing that these problems would arise. No country in the Middle East would open up its doors to a flood of Europeans or Americans for that matter.
This video illustrates how the Germans who welcomed over a million immigrants were rewarded with rapes and violence. The answer should be equally brutal; all the rapists should be castrated and then deported back. All acts of violence should be punished harshly and any chance of legal residence removed. This is an invasion as most of these immigrants cannot contribute to German society and will be a drain on it for years to come.
Other articles of Interest:Protesters gather outside a Wendy's fast food restaurant in support of a nation-wide strike and protest to raise the hourly minimum wage of fast food workers to $15 in San Diego, California December 5, 2013. REUTERS/Mike Blake
By Sharon Bernstein
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) - California lawmakers and union leaders have reached a tentative deal to raise the state's minimum wage to $15 over six years that could avert a campaign to bring the issue to voters, two California newspapers reported on Sunday, citing unnamed sources.
The deal, if passed in the state legislature and signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown, would add to a wave of minimum wage increases at the state level in the United States, where the federal minimum wage has remained at $7.25 an hour for more than six years.
The agreement, as reported by the Los Angeles Times and the Sacramento Bee, would gradually raise the minimum wage in the most populous U.S. state from the current $10 to $15 in 2022. Businesses with fewer than 25 employees would have one extra year to comply with the proposed law.
The Bee said Brown is part of the agreement, while the Times said the Democratic governor could make a formal announcement on a deal as early as Monday.
A spokesman for Brown was unavailable for comment on Sunday.
Sources told the Times that lawmakers could vote on the proposed agreement by the end of next week by amending an existing wage-hike bill.
To pass in the legislature, any minimum wage hike would have to win the approval of moderate Democrats, who in the past have blocked key legislation backed by the governor and the majority party's more liberal leaders.
INCOME INEQUALITY
Raising the minimum wage to fight income inequality has cropped up on many Democratic candidates' agendas ahead of the November presidential, congressional and state elections.
But the idea has drawn fierce opposition from conservatives and some business groups, who have said a higher minimum would harm small businesses and strain the budgets of government agencies forced to pay more to workers.
"Let's start by calling this irresponsible," said Michael Saltsman, research director at the Employment Policies Institute, a fiscally conservative think-tank that has argued against minimum wage hikes.
"When you talk about these really massive jumps it's no longer an impact at the margin, it’s the sort of thing that could be the difference between a business staying open and closing," he added.
In 2013, Brown signed into law a measure that gradually increased the minimum wage from $8 to $10 an hour in 2016. But he said earlier this year that any future increase has to be done "very carefully" and over time.
The latest proposal would allow a sitting governor to stop the increases in the event of a recession, the Bee reported.
Labor unions' proposal to raise California's minimum wage to $15 an hour by the year 2021 has qualified to be listed on the upcoming November ballot in the state.
Supporters of a minimum wage increase who pushed for the ballot question are optimistic the deal would allow them to withdraw that initiative, the papers reported.
But Steve Trossman, a spokesman for the Service Employees International-United Healthcare Workers West, told the Times the union wanted to see the details of the deal before withdrawing the initiative.
Trossman was not immediately available for comment.
Fourteen states and several cities began 2016 with minimum wage increases. Many are now in the midst of multi-year phase-in plans that will ultimately take them to between $10 and $15 an hour.
(Additional reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by Alan Crosby and Mary Milliken)In online shaming, Jordan saw a clue. “I started thinking about friends I knew who were involved in social justice,” she says. “There was a lot of moralistic speech that seemed like it was focused on communicating one’s own position.” In other words, maybe third-party punishment is primarily a signal that tells onlookers that you are trustworthy, in the same way that a peacock’s tail or stag’s antlers signal its genetic quality. It says: If I’m willing to punish selfishness, you know I’m not going to act selfishly to you.
This only works if punishing is an honest signal of trustworthiness, if those who do it are actually more trustworthy than those who don’t. Jordan argues that this is the case because the same factors that incentivize people to actually be trustworthy also incentivize them to punish others who behave badly. For example, you might be more likely to treat peers well if you interact with them repeatedly (contrast a permanent colleague with a summer intern) or if you belong to an institution that enforces codes of conduct (like the military or religious institutions). In these situations, you also gain more benefits from punishing (because you’re signaling your stance to a large group of long-term peers) and pay fewer costs (since more people have your back).
Together with David Rand, a psychologist who studies cooperation, Jordan tested these ideas by recruiting hundreds of volunteers through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk, and having them play a game of trust in two stages. In phase one, a Helper can decide whether to share money with a Recipient; if they’re selfish about it, a Punisher can decide to penalize them. A Chooser watches all of this. In phase two, they get a pot of money and can invest part of it with the Punisher. That investment gets tripled and the Punisher can decide how much to return to the Chooser. So the Chooser must evaluate how much they trust the Punisher, based on what they did in the first game.
Jordan found that the Choosers sent more money to the Punishers if they actually punished the selfish Helpers. “They treated punishment as a sign that you’re likely to be nice,” she says. And they were right to do so because the Punishers who punished ended up returning more money to the Choosers. They were, indeed, more trustworthy.
Jordan then replayed the experiments with a twist. This time, in phase two, the Choosers played with either the Helpers or the Punishers from phase one. In this set-up, punishing is no longer the only signal of trustworthiness; helping can convey the same information. “We predicted that people should be less inclined to punish if they have the opportunity to look good in another way,” says Rand. And they were right: This time, the Choosers were no longer swayed by punishment, and the Punishers were less likely to dole it out.No one needs to remind Washington State of the perils of playing a good FCS team. The Cougars learned it firsthand after suffering a 24-17 loss to Portland State in their season opener a year ago. Vikings quarterback Alex Kuresa killed Washington State with his mobility, leading all rushers with 92 yards on 16 carries.
Now Washington State gets another plucky underdog Big Sky opponent when Eastern Washington visits on Saturday. The Eagles have been a thorn in the side of multiple Pac-12 teams in recent seasons. They upset then-No. 25 Oregon State 49-46 in 2013 and took both Washington and Oregon to the wire over the past two seasons.
This is the fourth meeting between the in-state rivals with Washington State winning the previous three. The Cougars edged the Eagles 24-20 in 2012 in the most recent game in the series.
Eastern Washington at Washington State
Kickoff: Saturday, Sept. 3 at 8 p.m. ET (5 p.m. PT)
TV: Pac-12 Networks
Spread: N/A
Three Things to Watch
1. What can Luke Falk do for an encore?
Washington State torched opposing defenses through the air early and often a year ago. The Cougars boasted the nation's top-ranked passing offense by season's end, churning out 389.2 yards per game. Falk is a big reason for that success.
The former walk-on from Logan, Utah, threw for 4,561 yards, 38 touchdowns and helped Washington State notch its first winning season in 11 years. Falk is poised to put together an even bigger season in 2016 with his top receiver Gabe Marks back. Marks is coming off a season where he accumulated 1,192 yards and 15 touchdowns. It all spells trouble for a porous Eastern Washington defense that gave up 39.6 points per game in 2015.
2. Can anyone stop Cooper Kupp?
The 2015 Walter Payton Award winner is back at receiver for Eastern Washington. Kupp is a threat to score any time he gets the ball, with 58 career touchdowns entering the season. During his freshman season in 2013, Kupp set an FCS receiving record with a touchdown catch in 14 consecutive games. He has averaged 122.4 receiving yards per game during his career.
Kupp always seems to do his best when lining up against FCS defenders. In his college football debut against Oregon State, Kupp totaled 119 yards and two touchdowns on just five catches. Against Oregon last season, he tallied 246 yards on 15 catches. It's a safe bet that Kupp will find a way to make plays downfield against the Cougars as well.
3. Lighting up the scoreboard
Both Washington State and Eastern Washington know how to pull out the offensive fireworks. Stopping other teams from doing the same isn't a major strength for either team.
In their last three season openers against Pac-12 opponents, the Eagles have scored 47.7 points per contest while allowing 55.3 points per game in that same stretch. Washington State struggled to stop other teams at times last season. The Cougars yielded 416.8 yards and 27.7 points per game in 2015. They ranked 74th among FBS teams in scoring defense and 84th in total defense.
Given the level of talent both offenses return in 2016, don't be surprised if this opener turns into a scoring frenzy reminiscent of a WAC football game from the 1980s or ‘90s.
Final Analysis
E astern Washington is used to giving Pac-12 teams fits. This time around, the Eagles are paired with a team that's a huge defensive mismatch. Washington State has too many weapons for Eastern Washington's secondary to handle. Falk will have no trouble loading up on yards and points in a hurry, which will help the Cougars avoid losing to a Big Sky team for a second straight year.
Prediction: Washington State 49, Eastern Washington 38
— Written by John Coon, who is part of the Athlon Contributor Network. Coon has more than a decade of experience covering sports for different publications and outlets, including The Associated Press, Salt Lake Tribune, ESPN, Deseret News, MaxPreps, Yahoo! Sports and many others. Follow him on Twitter @johncoonsports.
(Top photo by Dean Hendrick/Eastern Washington University Athletics)Article by Brandon Freeman
Ahead of the opening game of the new Premier League season there was an air of hope from West Ham fans that we may see a more attacking and more dynamic starting 11 than last season, and a hope that we may be able to grab a fourth successive win over our London rivals. However, as kick-off neared the air of hope slowly ebbed away as the team news was announced and Sam Allardyce once again showed how fan disapproval would have no affect on how he picks his team. Even after the considerable money invested into the team, Allardyce still chose to leave three of West Ham’s most exciting summer arrivals out of the starting 11. Although I cannot blame Sam for not starting Enner Valencia who has been fighting to regain fitness and is still perhaps two weeks away from being ready to start a game, I was still bitterly disappointed that Mauro Zarate and Diego Poyet were left on the bench.
Despite Sam Allardyce on many occasion playing down the importance of pre-season results, surely he cannot fail to recognise the importance of individual player form in pre-season and the impact it should have on squad selection. Therefore, I again struggle to see why Carlton Cole, who had a fairly average pre-season at best, was started ahead of Mauro Zarate who showed some glimpses of the exciting player that he is and was also one of the few players to score in pre-season. Surely this just once again goes to show Sam’s reluctance to stray from what he knows, a characteristic which must also lie behind his decision to start Ricardo Vaz Te, who alongside Carlton Cole, produced little excitement during the game. However, two new signings who Sam did give debuts to were thoroughly impressive. Aaron Cresswell showed all the attributes necessary to thrive in the Premier League. The 24 year-old was an ever-present force on the left of the pitch, continuously showing the energy and desire to get forward and get involved in the attack. As such Cresswell was named man of the match but was pushed hard by Senegalese midfielder Cheikhou Kouyate who also played phenomenally. Kouyate showed some fantastic athleticism, chasing down the ball whenever West Ham were not in possession, and was also highly menacing going forward.
Positives aside the turning point of the game was the dismissal of Kyle Naughton, which handed the initiative to West Ham to go on and win the game. However, when Mark Noble missed from the spot, the pressure was on West Ham to get the goal which would them in the driving seat. Having the numerical advantage I expected Sam Allardyce to make the necessary changes to capitalise upon the number of chances the team created, so we can quite rightly feel outraged that we come away having lost a game that we could have potentially won. However, once again Sam’s reluctance to play with two strikers up-front means that we never attempted to get the goal whilst we had the advantage, and never was a lesson so well learnt as when James Collins received his second yellow and then the impetus was with Tottenham to try and win the game. Perhaps this week-end Sam Allardyce may have learned a lesson that he needs to put on a second striker and play with two up front when the opposition are there for the taking, rather than refusing to make a change, and simply hoping a chance will be taken. Although I highly doubt it!
What did you make of the team selection in our opening game and what changes would you like to see for next week’s game against Crystal Palace? Leave your comments below and follow our Twitter page @e_westham for the latest news and views, all things West Ham.
© e-Football 2014 All rights reserved no part of this document or this website may be reproduced without consent of e-FootballLOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The sun’s winds are less blustery than they used to be, NASA said on Tuesday, revealing data from a solar probe that promises new insights about Earth’s local star but poses few if any consequences for humans — unless you’re an astronaut.
An illustration shows the heliosphere created by solar winds depicted as a bubble surrounding the solar system. Measurements from the spacecraft Ulysses show the wind's pressure has dropped 20 percent since the mid-1990s. As the solar wind weakens, the heliosphere is expected to dwindle in size and strength as well, allowing more cosmic radiation -- super high-energy electrons and protons zipping through interstellar space -- to reach the inner solar system. REUTERS/NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab/Handout
The data show the solar wind, a steady stream of charged sub-atomic particles emitted by the sun and blowing at 1 million mph (1.6 million kph), has dwindled to its lowest level in at least 50 years, reducing its strength as a shield against potentially harmful galactic cosmic radiation.
The solar wind inflates a massive protective bubble, called the heliosphere, around the solar system. But measurements from the spacecraft Ulysses show the wind’s pressure has dropped 20 percent since the mid-1990s. At the same time, the electron temperature of the solar wind has declined 13 percent.
As the solar wind weakens, the heliosphere is expected to dwindle in size and strength as well, allowing more cosmic radiation — super high-energy electrons and protons zipping through interstellar space — to reach the inner solar system.
Scientists studying the phenomenon insist Earth’s inhabitants have nothing to fear. Humans remain protected from cosmic rays by virtue of the magnetic field that surrounds Earth, acting as an inner barrier to our exposure.
A diminished solar wind and corresponding rise in cosmic rays are of concern, however, to astronauts who venture beyond Earth orbit to the moon, Mars or beyond, and to engineers who design trans-orbital spacecraft.
The biggest implications, however, are scientific ones.
Researchers say the findings open the door to a greater understanding of the sun and heliosphere by altering solar conditions in a way that allows scientists to conduct new comparative studies.
“The heliosphere is our laboratory,” said Nancy Crooker, a research professor at Boston University, in a conference call with reporters. “We know the sun has been this cool, this inactive before, but that was prior to the space age. So we didn’t have actual physical measurements until now of such periods.”
Ed Smith, NASA’s project scientist for Ulysses, said, “It’s an opportunity for us to study changes in the sun which will give us newer insights into the origin of the solar wind and its relation to the solar magnetic field.”
The weakening solar wind differs from the 11-year cycles of solar activity associated with such phenomena as sun spots and solar flares that can cause disruptions of electric power grids and radio transmissions on Earth, as well as auroral displays.
However, Dave McComas, a principal Ulysses investigator from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas, said continued diminishment of solar winds could dampen the impact of the next peak in other solar disturbances.
Ulysses, a joint project of NASA and the European Space Agency, was launched from the space shuttle Discovery in 1990 and became the first probe to fly around the sun’s poles.
After more than 17 years, the spacecraft named for the hero of “The Odyssey” has exceeded its original mission lifetime nearly fourfold but is expected to finally wind down in a month or two, scientists said.Scott Walker spent more than $6,400 of the taxpayers' money on his personal vehicle during the two-month period before he took office, Isthmus has learned.
Receipts provided by the state Department of Transportation show that Walker racked up more than 12,500 miles on a brand new 2011 GMC Yukon XL provided by the state for his personal use.
As reported in Isthmus ("Scott Walker's Rockin' New Ride," 12/24/10), the state leased the vehicle for 60 days, from just after the election to just after Walker's inauguration. The state was charged $1,596 per month plus 20 cents for every mile in excess of 3,000.
The receipts show the vehicle was driven 5,288 miles during the first 30-day period and 7,336 miles during the second, for a total of 12,624 miles (an average of 210 miles a day). The total cost was 4,517.80, not including gas, which DOT spokeswoman Peg Schmitt says was "paid for with a gas card issued by the state." Assuming an average of 20 miles per gallon (the Yukon XL is rated at 15 in the city and 21 on the highway), at $3 a gallon, that's an additional $1,894.
As a candidate, Walker ran an ad proclaiming: "I pack a brown bag lunch and drive my 1998 Saturn with over 100,000 miles to cut costs, and think government should do the same."
State officials and Walker spokesman Cullen Werwie say the Yukon XL was picked by the state's security staff. Since becoming governor, Walker has been using Gov. Jim Doyle's former ride - a 2010 Chevrolet Suburban, which the state leases for $935 per month, regardless of mileage.
Asked whether the car was used for others besides Walker, and why so many miles were logged, Werwie replies: "Gov. Walker has traveled extensively, and the only reason the vehicle was rented was to transport the governor. The security detail made all route-planning decisions on the vehicle that was provided to the transition team from Gov. Doyle."
Madison to Milwaukee by way of Green Bay?In 2011, Dunkin' Donuts teamed up with CareerBuilder to shed some light on U.S. coffee consumption in the workplace. After polling 4,700 American workers, they concluded that "some professionals need coffee more than others."
Photo Credit: Linh H. Nguyen via flickr
After the jump, you'll find an infographic that depicts the fifteen professions most dependent upon coffee, along with some interesting trends. Is your job on the list? If you're involved in scientific research, the answer is a jittery, highly caffeinated "yes."
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Among those polled, scientists and lab techs were found to be the heaviest coffee drinkers in the country. Anyone who works, or has worked, in science will likely find this result unsurprising. Science, after all, is a 24-hour job. Experiments often run on timelines that are in every way at odds with the circadian rhythms of a normal human being — or any other creature, for that matter. Many scientists work under crushing pressure to publish results before competing labs or research groups. Limited funding requires researchers to put in countless hours writing grant proposals when they could be doing science. (It's not that they're writing grants instead of doing science, by the way. They're writing grants and doing science.)
In science, there is always an experiment to be performed, an unexpected result to troubleshoot, a poster to prepare, a conference to attend, newly published research to read, old research to brush up on, a minus 80 to de-ice, primers to borrow, a protocol to overhaul, a technician to train, a bench to disinfect, equipment to order, reagents to prepare, glassware to clean, and malfunctioning computers to turn off and on again. And, of course, there's never a time when a scientist can't be thinking about his or her research. Often, this thinking permeates through scientists' entire lives — not because they're required to, but because they're driven to. By curiosity, by pride, by the challenge of pushing knowledge forward. Scientists are workaholics. Caffeine-addiction likely fuels their work-addiction.
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Scientists are so wedded to their work that they've actually done research on how much research they're doing. Back in August, a team of Chinese scientists released the results of a study that monitored, recorded and quantified scientists' work habits by looking at the time of day research papers were downloaded from the websites of scientific journals. Their conclusion: scientists work. A lot. Writing for Wired, applied mathematician Samuel Arbesman provides a tidy summary of the researchers' findings:
The upshot is that scientists work late at night and on weekends. We have a clear difficulty distinguishing different parts of our lives. But it's more interesting than that. Chinese and American scientists have somewhat different patterns of workaholism. American scientists work late at night, but still recognize that weekend as a time of rest (at least a little). Chinese scientists, on the other hand, don't work late at night, but work almost as hard on the weekends as on the weekdays. And Germany is somewhere in between.
This work often intrudes on the rest of scientists' lives in ways that are harmful to their health, relationships, and overall wellbeing. As the researchers explain in the conclusion to their paper:
Scientific achievements are accompanied by intense competition and pressure, which requires a large supply of time and efforts. On the other hand, the demanding assessment from the institution makes the working atmosphere even tenser. Scientists today are spending much more time working than initially intended. They are deprioritizing their hobbies, leisure activities, and regular exercises, which negatively influenced their mental and physical health. Meanwhile, engagement in scientific research after work directly leads to the ambiguity of the boundary between home and office. This investigation on scientists' timetable may in some ways call attention to the unwritten rule of working overtime in academia. As is generally agreed, research is not a sprint but a marathon. Balance in scientists' life is needed.
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Emphasis added, to point out that when talking about scientists, the term "workaholic" is more than an illustrative use of exaggeration — it's an accurate description of behavioral addiction.
In no way is all of this to say that other professions do not beget similar (if not identical) negative side effects as science; you'll find workaholics in every field of employment on Earth. Nor is it to say that this list of coffee-dependent professions (the results of a small survey, conducted by Dunkin' Donuts, I remind you) corresponds to America's fifteen most demanding jobs. It is merely to say that the correlation between coffee consumption and scientists' tendency to overwork is striking, if not entirely surprising, and reflects a tendency within the scientific community to work oneself to the caffeine-addled bone.
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So here's to you, scientists, for all that you do. And here's to coffee, for helping you do it. Just remember to take it easy once in a while, and that coffee can be a double-edged sword; Nobel Laureates may sing its praises, but your coffee addiction could be fueling an unhealthy addiction to your work.
Read the results of the study on scientists' work habits over on arXiv, free of charge.
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[Coffee infographic by ilovecoffee.jp, from The Grindstone via Joanne Manaster]
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Edward Hopper’s most famous painting, ‘Nighthawks’, has been recreated in a life-sized art installation in the foot of the Flatiron Building. The Whitney Museum is behind the piece, which will run through October 6th in parallel to its current Hopper Drawing Exhibit at the Whitney Museum of American Art (945 Madison Avenue at 75th Street).
It may sound gimmicky but it’s actually quite spectacular, mostly because it’s location is not a random decision. The New York City diner featured in the painting can not be found in any historic photos of the time (1942), and while Hopper stated it was loosely based on a coffee shop in the West Village, the shape of the diner bears a striking resemblance to the glass protrusion at the base of the Flatiron building that houses this recreation. Best enjoyed at night!
Here is the exhibit by day, followed by the original painting, followed by the exhibit at night.
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Related Posts:Did Marvel get a little too antsy after dropping that small Elektra tease? Well, thank god for those ants because we now have our first Defenders trailer to devour. There’s a ton to discuss here so let’s break down what we learn from the trailer.
First, let’s delve into where the trailer finds each of our Defenders. There’s some interesting coupling of our principal team so I’m going to do the same here.
Daredevil & Jessica Jones
The trailer picks up with Jessica being held in an interrogation room and subsequently getting questioned by none other than our very own Misty Knight. Apparently would be superheroes meddling in her investigations and getting lead suspects killed is not something Misty is particularly fond of. She seemed especially annoyed here, though in retrospect it tracks with her feelings on vigilantism in general as expressed during Luke Cage. Luckily for Jessica, that thing that we always want to happen when anyone in Marvel’s Netflix Universe gets into some legal trouble happens: attorney Matt Murdock takes the case. It makes a ton of sense to pair up Daredevil and Jessica Jones. They have so much in common and their banter in the trailer is simply amazing. (Spoiler alert: Hopefully you’re a fan of bulleted lists…)
Alright, so similarities:
They will likely be the most reluctant in joining a team, preferring to work alone.
Both operate in a similar fashion: low key, preferring the cover of darkness and rooftops.
Gained their abilities in a similar accident.
A profound struggle with identity and purpose (I guess this could apply to everyone on the team but humor me for a bit.)
I’m sure there are more but I think the key factors in determining if this relationship is mutually beneficial will be in their ability to notice those similarities and overcome their reluctance in working together. Their dynamic will provide for the best avenue towards them being a part of any sort of team (at the very least we’ll be getting some hilarious one liners out of the deal.) Danny and Luke are just ill suited for the job of ensuring the sort of introspection needed for JJ and DD to learn how play well with others.
Speaking of our Heroes for Hire, let’s look at our next pairing.
Luke Cage and Iron Fist
We catch up with Luke seemingly after being released from prison, on a bus heading back to New York. For all you Luke and Claire shippers, it looks as though things are still on. After failing to convince Luke to give up on the Hero of Harlem shtick if he indeed wants to lead a normal life, Claire tells Luke about Danny. The meeting between the two is great. Fans of the comic will certainly know that the Luke Cage and Iron Fist team up has been written in the stars, fated to happen since before the concept of these Netflix shows was even sketched into existence. It’s not just the comic book history that makes this pairing works so well. It’s always been their differences that make the characters compatible.
Notable differences:
Danny is desperate to be a hero, to find purpose. Luke is your classic reluctant hero, opting to mostly stay out of things if he can.
Danny has an irrational and overly emotional approach to most things. Luke is a calm and rational actor. (Wait…which one is the monk again?)
Danny is classically and strictly trained in the art of kung fu. Luke is a brawler with no real need for form.
Again, there’s surely a lot more but it’s pretty clear where Defenders is heading with this pairing. Essentially, Luke needs Danny to push him and Danny needs Luke to hold him back. It’ll be interesting to see where that theme takes them and how their dynamic meshes with the rest of the team. More importantly, I hope Luke reins in the amount of times Danny needs to refer to himself as “The Immortal Iron Fist” (by the way, Luke’s reaction to that is priceless.)
It’s interesting, what will likely bring Daredevil and Jessica together are their similarities but it’s the differences that will bind Luke and Danny. What we’ll discover throughout the course of the season is that the smaller relationships being built outside of the main team are critical in forming what will ultimately become The Defenders. Honestly, could you really imagine just Danny and Jessica working together?
The Story
Whatever their differences or similarities, the fate of New York is on the line (as ever) and, to paraphrase the enigmatic Stick, they’ll need to get their “shit” together if they hope to save it. I expect a lot of The Defenders will be spent getting said “shit” together, which honestly is a good thing. It’s actually one of the reasons I’m so excited for this series. After spending so much time with these characters in their respective solo series, you already understand where they’re coming from (well…except Danny. I kid, I kid!) and the baggage that they have to deal with in The Defenders before they can effectively take on the Hand.
Speaking of the Hand, our main villain we assume is their leader (perhaps primary leader?), Alexandra, played by Sigourney Weaver. And, my god, is she fierce. Doesn’t look like she’ll spend much time playing games, either. In fact, the first words we hear her speak are to issue a threat to our heroes. We know from the last teaser trailer that a key part of the Hand’s plan is wrapped up in whatever is being constructed at the Midland Circle location. What’s unclear, however, is what’s actually being constructed, what it’s being constructed for, or what Elektra is doing creepily stalking our heroes down a hallway. So much is held back here in terms of story, it’s actually pretty refreshing not knowing what to expect. I really hope it stays that way.
Overall Thoughts
If you couldn’t tell, I’m completely enthralled with this trailer. It’s action packed, introduces a sinister villain, there’s |
imental Journey, Laurence Sterne’s 1768 novel. The narrator, Yorick, is visiting the Bastille, thinking that imprisonment there might not be so bad. The prison, he muses, is just a kind of tower, and is a tower really so different from a house you can’t leave? Suddenly, he hears the same words repeated twice over—“I can’t get out—I can’t get out”—and looking up, sees a starling in a little cage. He tries to free the bird, but discovers the cage is locked in such a way that you can’t open it without destroying both cage and bird. All at once, Yorick is brought back to reality. “Mechanical as the notes were, yet so true in tune to nature were they chanted, that in one moment they overthrew all my systematic reasonings …”
Like the starling, Austen’s heroines cannot get out. At a very basic level, they’re trapped at home, isolated from the broader currents of life. Austen’s men—even her young men—have much more freedom. They can go to sea, travel abroad, attend college, even drive 32 miles to London for a haircut if they feel like it, as Frank Churchill does in Emma. Unmarried women, on the other hand, can’t even visit their neighbors without a chaperone. Judging by her letters, Austen herself, who never married, knew the tedium of rural domesticity first-hand: “Our dinner was very good yesterday, and the chicken boiled perfectly tender.” “The spectacles which Molly found are my mother’s.” “I understand that there are some grapes left, but I believe not many.”
Maria Bertram, like her sister Julia, is not exaggerating when she complains that her life is full of “restraint and hardship.” It doesn’t appear that way on the surface; after all, she’s beautiful, lively, and rich. But that doesn’t mean she’s free to go her own way. Like Austen’s other heroines, she’s a prisoner of the social code, constrained by her lack of choices, frustrated that, for reasons of social and financial security, she has to marry a man nobody even pretends to find attractive or interesting. Indeed, Maria’s wealth and spirit make things even worse for her, in that, unlike Charlotte Lucas in Pride and Prejudice, she’s not going to settle for an awful man because it’s the only offer she’s likely to get. Neither will she, like Marianne Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility, let go of her romantic idealism and come to accept a more prosaic suitor.
Before she’s bound forever to boring Rushworth, she wants a little adventure. She wants to flirt with the charismatic Henry Crawford, and who can blame her? After all, she’s only climbing over a gate; it’s not the end of the world. At least, this is how Maria sees it. She doesn’t realize that, in crossing over the ha-ha, she’s transgressing a symbolic as well as a physical boundary. The point of the ha-ha (rather than, say, an ordinary fence or wall) is that is isn’t visible from the house, ensuring a clear view across the estate (the ha-ha was so named because you don’t realize it’s there until—ha ha!—you come to it unexpectedly). A common feature of the 18th-century vogue for landscape “improvement,” it allowed the estate owner to keep livestock and peasants out of view without any break in the sightline. From the perspective of the house and gardens, the ha-ha cannot be perceived—an optical illusion. The ha-ha is an invisible barrier, a boundary line that seems all too easy to cross. Only when you find yourself in the middle of the wilderness do you realize the magnitude of what you’ve done.
Maria goes ahead with her marriage, but she can’t keep away from Henry; before long, their affair has rekindled, and the scandal sheets are full of it. Maria leaves Rushworth for Henry, but he won’t marry her, and rather than take her back, Rushworth sues for divorce. (This was easy enough for the husband of an adulterous wife, though a woman couldn’t get a divorce even if her husband beat her, was constantly drunk, and took a different mistress every week.) Maria is exiled from Mansfield Park in disgrace and even from England, sent to live abroad with a bothersome aunt. Does Fanny sympathize? On the contrary: “The greatest blessing to every one of kindred with Mrs. Rushworth,” thinks Fanny, “would be instant annihilation.”
Nobody likes “restraints and hardships,” but Fanny knows they keep the social order intact. Unlike Maria and Julia, Fanny doesn’t want to get out; she’s perfectly happy in her cage. Significantly, in the late 18th century, caged birds were often seen in English prints and drawings of women at home, engaged in music making or embroidery. The caged bird was a symbol of domestic contentment, of nature tamed and in its proper place. One might argue that even the starling, an uncanny vocal mimic, is in fact not unhappy with its life of restraint; after all, it knows no other experience—and, like Poe’s Raven, “what it utters is its only stock and store.” What Fanny knows, perhaps instinctively, is that our choices eventually become traps, just as our traps, if we stay in them long enough, end up feeling like home.
Correction: An earlier version of this piece named the wrong character from Sense and Sensibility and referred to a “piece” instead of a “bit” of ivory.Senate Republicans tried to make Democrats hold a quick vote on President Obama’s jobs-stimulus bill Tuesday, but were blocked by Senate Majority Harry Reid, the Nevada Democrat who is sponsoring Mr. Obama’s bill but who said other matters take priority.
Mr. Obama has traveled the country calling for Congress to pass his plan immediately — including most recently Tuesday afternoon in Texas — but the tax increases included in his bill are opposed by Republicans and even many Democrats.
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With that in mind, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican, tried to force a vote, which presumably would have resulted in a humiliating defeat for the White House.
“I’d like to give him that vote,” Mr. McConnell said.
The Senate is currently debating a bill that would push for compensatory tariffs on exports from countries that manipulate their currency — which is designed to punish China.
Mr. Reid said that bill has been waiting for years, and takes precedence over the president’s jobs-stimulus. He tried to get an agreement to short-circuit a filibuster and bring up the president’s bill later this month, but Mr. McConnell objected that.
“What a charade we have going on here,” Mr. Reid fired back, calling Republicans’ effort “ridiculous on its face.”
Mr. Reid said “a majority of the Senate” supports Mr. Obama’s bill, and said the president’s repeated calls for immediate action were aimed at Republicans last month, when Congress was fighting over how to add emergency disaster relief to a stopgap spending bill.
“Of course the president was calling for his jobs bill, recognizing that what was going on here … was a waste of time,” Mr. Reid said.
But even after the disaster funding situation was resolved, Mr. Obama has continued to pressure Congress.
Meanwhile, the White House has refused to say whether it supports the China bill Mr. Reid has prioritized ahead of the jobs measure.OTPI've decided that Rainbow Dash/Quibble Pants is a canon ship in my Next Gen! From the get-go I absolutely loved Quibble, not only because he's voiced by one of my favorite comedians, Patton Oswalt, but also for his critical/analytical personality, which I can totally relate to, hehe. He was just one of the smartest, funniest, most cynical character I had seen from the show, and I grew a very fond attachment to his and RD's friendship.If you recall, I have already made some next gen characters for RD, Iris Gale and Sun Flare, children she had with Fluttershy's brother, Zephyr Breeze. The relationship between her and Zephyr was complicated and very much a mistake on both their parts, as they didn't really love each other, and the kids were born out of a one-night stand. They both tried to make the best of the situation, even briefly married for about two and a half years out of obligation, but RD and Zeph found they just couldn't live/cooperate with one another as functioning parents, so they decided to split and share parental duties instead. Zephyr was still a father figure in their life, though not as constant a parent as Rainbow Dash.While they were still currently in their rocky marriage, RD and Quibble met unexpectedly at a convention after they hadn't seen each other in years (though they communicated every so often through mail, they eventually lost track of one another as their lives progressed). They reignited their friendship, both of them already with steady occupations, RD as a fully-fledged Wonderbolt, and Quibble as an up-and-coming fiction writer, looking for places that would publish his books in Ponyville's general area. RD found someone she could confide her struggles with, as she was hesitant to tell the rest of the girls of her issues with Zephyr and their marriage, as it could affect all of them, specifically Fluttershy, and Quibble was eager to help and listen to her, as she was the one who showed him that the real world, not just fiction, could be adventurous, and proved to be a great inspiration to him in his works. RD would frequently visit Quibble, and soon their friendship evolved into romance, leaving RD in a difficult position. Zephyr had already suspected RD was having an affair, but, like RD, he hadn't wanted to cause any worry between the rest of the Mane 6, so both he and RD decided to talk their situation out and promptly decided it was best to just split up. RD kept her relationship with Quibble a secret from Iris and Flare for a while, however, not wanting them to be confused, or to put Quibble in a fatherly position when he himself was uneasy about assuming the role. Once the kids were in their pre-teens, RD confessed to them, which did strain her relationship for a short amount of time with Iris, but in the end, the Dash family is happy.I drew RD in her academy outfit because I thought she could use it as a training outfit instead of the full-body suit (plus I love the design). Tried giving Quibble a writer's look, scruffy beard, flannel and all, hehe. Not exactly proud with how I drew him, however, his face is totally off and I feel like I drew him to make him seem more handsome than what he actually looks like. Hm, well, I'll work on it. I was going to draw Quibble reading a book, but I forgot in the end, lol.What do you guys think? I think this is one of my favorite ships in my next gen so far! Enjoy, guys!Rainbow Dash, Quibble Pants, Zephyr Breeze, and MLP belong to the Pony Gods.Iris Gale and Sun Flare belong to me.The US is still bearing the brunt of the intervention in Libya, despite Washington's promise to minimise its involvement. The campaign has led to a spike of anti-war sentiment on American soil - the highest such surge in decades.
Some fear the title of the operation may spell out a long and painful conflict for the US.
Previously, the names that the US gave to its campaigns made some sense, like Desert Storm in the Gulf War, or Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan or Iraqi Freedom.
But Odyssey Dawn? On top of making no sense as a combination of words in itself, if interpreted literally it could indicate something really lengthy in time, also, the word Dawn – could it possibly imply that what we are seeing is just the beginning?
RT talked to the US command in Africa that was tasked to come up with the two words, and they maintain that the title does not mean anything.
“What happened is there is a group of planning officers led by a Lieutenant Colonel; they sat down and looked at a list and decided to call it Odyssey just because they liked the sound of Odyssey. The second part of the nick-name is basically chosen at random,” explains US Africa Command spokesman Eric Elliot.
But amid the growing confusion that Americans have over the ultimate goal that their government is pursuing in the oil-rich North African country, the title suggests different interpretations.
“The title is confused and so is the operation and so is the public’s understanding of the operation. So I think it is all very confusing,” says Ivan Eland, a senior fellow at the Independent Institute in Washington DC.
“What is really unhappy is if you think about the Odyssey, it is a story about people wandering around the Mediterranean for 10 years unable to find their way home. That seems exactly the wrong metaphor for what they want to convey about this,” says Geoffrey Nunberg, a Professor from the University of California.
President Obama has said the US will be in and out of Libya in no time.
The name Odyssey Dawn seems to be an odd choice for a quick operation, considering Odysseus' 10-year journey to return home after a 10-year war.
“It in some way represents the lack of clarity as to what the objective of the mission is. If Americans could call it something it would be Operation Here Today, Gone Tomorrow," says Hayes Roth, a chief marketing officer from Landor Associates.
For many in the US, Odyssey Dawn has become a joke. But not only do most US comedians poke fun at the name of the operation, they also best express the growing public frustration over the US involvement. Polls show that in the last four decades Americans’ disapproval of military action has never been as high as it is now with the Libya intervention.
Many fear, like Homer’s Odysseus, it may take the US years to finish the journey.In mid-October, people in the central Nigerian village of Nkyie Doghwro desperately sought shelter in a schoolhouse. Yet they did so in vain. Ultimately, 29 of them lost their lives, as they were the victims of an ongoing conflict between ranchers and farmers in the region. Over the last 15 years more than 60,000 people have died in this forgotten conflict – almost four times as many as have been killed by the terror group Boko Haram.
Conflict between ranchers and farmers is a classic motif in Hollywood westerns. But conflict is also very much part of everyday life in many African nations – and the reality of it is far more brutal than that which is portrayed on the silver screen. Such conflict becomes unavoidable when ranchers seek new pastures after traditional grazing lands dry up, just as it does when climate change forces farmers to plant in areas where cattle had previously been herded. Such conflicts feature in this year's edition of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute's (SIPRI) annual report.
Read more: Climate change burden unfairly borne by world's poorest countries
Farmers in Nigeria are having increasing difficulty finding enough land to graze cattle
In an interview with DW, SIPRI director Dan Smith stressed the link between climate change and security: "The effects of climate change, alongside other social, economic and political components, contribute to the violence with which conflicts are resolved."
In 2012, several agencies within the United States' intelligence community prepared a report that predicted: "Many countries that are of strategic importance to the USA will suffer water shortages or flooding over the next 10 years." The report added that such situations would increase the risk of instability or even lead to failed state status as well as contributing to regional conflict.
Climate change as a threat magnifier
That said, one cannot draw a direct connection between climate change and violent conflict, as the causes that lead to bloody conflict are often too complex to allow such mapping. Therefore, it is perhaps more helpful to think of climate change as a threat amplifier. That is how Rob van Riet of the World Future Council describes the relationship between climate and conflict. Van Riet expanded on that thought when speaking with DW: "Existing threats – like resource shortages, poverty, famine, terrorism or extreme ideology – are only amplified by climate change."
Read more: 'Climate change allows terrorists to thrive'
Water scarcity and food expense in Syria added to social chaos and fulled the conflict
SIPRI's Dan Smith also warns that the effects of climate change – from droughts to floods – are not simply local phenomena. He points out that extreme weather situations affect global food prices, and that those rising prices also fuel conflict. "Whenever global food prices go up we see demonstrations, rioting and ultimately lasting social and political instability in 30 or 40 countries at the same time," the SIPRI director observed.
When asked which regions most clearly illustrated that relationship, Smith pointed to North Africa and the Middle East: "Climate change can be clearly recognized within the complex mosaic of causes of conflict in Syria, Egypt and Yemen." Rob van Riet also sees Syria as a prime example of climate change as a driver of conflict. In the mid-2000s, large numbers of farmers were forced to give up their livelihood and move to already hopelessly overpopulated cities as a result of the worst droughts the country had ever seen. "Water became scarce and food expensive. The resulting suffering and social chaos added to ongoing conflicts that eventually spun out of control and ultimately led to the conflict that we are witnessing today," says the World Future Council climate expert.
Flooding in Karachi, Pakistan
Rob van Riet is also gravely concerned about how nuclear powers like Pakistan will deal with the effects of climate change. He says that Pakistan is especially vulnerable, which can be seen in the massive flooding that takes place there annually. "Beyond the fact that such floods immediately deprive people of their livelihoods, they also have a direct influence on nuclear security," emphasized van Riet in a DW interview.
Fleeing from a changing environment
The Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya houses almost 250,000 people
It is clear that the economic effects of climate change are dramatic, and that social effects are as well. The Berlin-based Mercator Research Institute on Climate Change (MCC) is currently analyzing the scope of economic damages caused by climate change. Matthias Kalkuhl, who heads MCC's working group on economic growth and human change, is closely studying 1,400 regions around the world, and told DW: "On average, about 10 percent of a region's economic output – and up to 20 percent in tropical counties – is lost to sinking agricultural and labor productivity caused by climate change – those are substantial numbers!" And Kalkuhl did not factor damages from extreme weather catastrophes such as hurricanes or long-term issues such as rising sea levels into the equation.
Read more: Conflict as Lake Chad vanishes
When entire regions become impoverished it can lead to mass migration, which can, in turn, lead to increased tensions within a country or even beyond its borders. Speaking with DW, Kalkuhl points back to the discussions that accompanied the refugee debate in Germany when "roughly a million people arrived here within a relatively short period of time, throwing the political system into chaos. Therefore, it is very hard to predict how societies will cope with mass population movements."
Right-wing extremism in Germany has risen since the influx of refugees in 2015
So what can be done? The question grows even more complex due to the fact that, in a best case scenario, it would take decades to asses the effects of intelligent climate policy. Will we even see such measures enacted? SIPRI director Dan Smith thinks that an institution serving under the aegis of the United Nations is what is needed. The institution, he says, would be tasked with assessing security risks. It would then pass its findings on to other UN organizations such as the Security Council, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs or the World Food Program. "In one way or another, these organizations will all be affected by climate change related security risks over the next several years," says Smith.PoliZette The Obama Presidency — By the Numbers Eight statistics that will define the legacy of the 44th president of the United States
When President Obama leaves office on Friday, he and his supporters likely will want to focus on numbers like the sub-5 percent unemployment rate, 11.3 million net new jobs and roughly 20 million more Americans with health insurance.
But Obama’s allies almost certainly will want to bury another set of numbers, those that document stagnant incomes, anemic economic growth, and an increasing threat posed by terrorism.
“In any other context, that would be considered extremism.”
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Here is a look numbers that will define Obama’s presidency:
Commutations — 1,385
This is a rare area where both Obama and his critics highlight the eye-popping statistic. With the addition of 209 more shortened sentences on Tuesday, Obama has now commuted more prison terms than any other president in history.
In fact, Obama has granted more commutations than the previous 12 presidents combined, from Franklin Roosevelt through George W. Bush, according to the U.S. Pardon Office.
Neil Eggleston, counsel to the president, bragged about the number on the White House website. He argued the 1,385 commutations — along with an additional 212 pardons — show that “our nation is a forgiving nation, where hard work and a commitment to rehabilitation can lead to a second chance, and where wrongs from the past will not deprive an individual of the opportunity to move forward.”
But William Otis, a former federal prosecutor who worked in both Bush administrations, said the disparity between Obama and his predecessors — both Republican and Democrat — demonstrates a radical departure from accepted use of one of the few presidential powers that is absolute.
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“It’s a clemency binge. Does he really think he knows that much more about the supposed unfairness of the criminal justice system … than his [12] immediate predecessors?” he said. “In any other context, that would be considered extremism.”
Economic Growth — 1.5 Percent
The gross domestic product, the value of all goods and services, grew by an average of 1.5 percent from 2009 to 2015. In the first two quarters of 2016, growth nearly stalled at.8 percent and 1.4 percent, respectively, before posting a healthy 3.5 percent rate in the third quarter.
Even though the current recovery is one of the longest on record, growth never kicked into high gear. Obama’s best year was 2.6 percent last year. He will finish his presidency Friday as the first president since before World War II to never preside over a single year of growth exceeding 3 percent.
Economists say that is one of the reasons why wages have been stagnant. According to the Census Bureau, the household median income in 2015, $56,516, climbed above the inflation-adjusted figure in 2008 for the first time in Obama’s presidency. But it remained below the inflation-adjusted high of $57,909 in 1999.
Labor Force Participation Rate — 62.7 Percent
Even as the unemployment rate tumbled during Obama’s tenure, a more troubling long-term trend took firm hold of the economy — labor force dropouts.
The government calculates unemployment as a percentage of the labor force without jobs. The labor force consists of everyone who has a job or is actively looking for one. But it does not count people who are not looking.
The percentage of adults — those 16 and older — who are employed or looking for work has declined steadily. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the labor force participation rate was 65.7 percent when Obama took office in January 2009, the depths of the Recession triggered by the financial meltdown in 2008. Last month, after a long economic recovery, the rate was 62.7 percent, down 3 full percentage points and near an all-time low.
Part of the reason is the aging of America. As the country gets older and more people retire, the labor participation rate will drop somewhat. But there is a downward trend even among people who are prime working age.
Trade Deficit — Approximately $500 Billion
Obama campaigned for president in 2007 and 2008 on the promise of reining in abuses by China and closing the trade deficit. Instead, he leaves office after having watched the gap in imports and exports grow by more than 30 percent.
Through the first 11 months of 2016, the trade deficit in goods and services was $454.05 billion, on track to come close to or exceed the $500.37 billion gap in 2015, depending on December’s statistics.
It is a bad legacy but one that likely will not tar Obama too badly, predicted economic policy analyst Alan Tonelson.
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“So much of the media world and much of the academic word is on the Left and always stands ready to cover for him and view him very favorably,” said Tonelson, who writes the RealityChek blog. “I think it would take a pretty big reversal.”
National Debt — Nearly $20 Trillion
At least the trade deficit only represents the gap between imports and exports in a given year. Annual budget deficits accumulate, and the combined total has to be repaid one day — theoretically, anyway.
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The national debt for 2008 stood at $10.02 trillion. By last year, it had ballooned to $19.5 trillion. And although the flood of red ink slowed after the economy pulled out the Recession, the budget never came close to balancing under Obama. The debt is projected to grow to $20.1 trillion when the current fiscal year ends in September.
Domestic Terrorism Deaths — 146
Obama is fond of saying that international terrorist organizations have not pulled off a large-scale attack on American during his presidency.
That is true — but obscures a change in tactics. Although Obama did achieve a widely celebrated victory by killing Osama bin Laden in 2011, with increasingly frequency, so-called “lone wolves” have responded to calls from groups like the Islamic State to plan and carry out their own acts of terror. And lone wolves can cause plenty of carnage. A Muslim couple shot up a party in San Bernardino, California, killing 14 people in 2015. A Muslim man who fired randomly at an Orlando nightclub killed 49 people.
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According to the terrorism index tracked by the Institute for Economics and Peace, there were 105 terrorist incidents resulting in 93 deaths from 2009 through 2015.
According to a database maintained by researcher William Robert Johnston, 2016 brought nine attacks and 53 deaths.
Major Regulations — 660
Federal agencies spent the Obama years writing numerous and costly regulations applying to everything from energy to the financial services industry.
The American Action Forum counts 600 new “major” regulations — those in which the economic impact exceeds $100 million. The total cost of those regulations exceeds $800 billion, said Sam Batkins, director of regulatory policy at the Washington-based think tank.
By contrast, George W. Bush’s administration wrote only 496 major regulations. The creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Affordable Care Act, and Obama’s Clean Power Plan made it almost a certainty that regulations would be numerous and expensive.
“They created a whole new agency during the Obama administration,” he said.
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Batkins said that if Congress raised taxes by $100 billion every single year of Obama’s tenure, “That would certainly get people’s attention.”
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According to the Competitive Enterprise Institute, the Obama administration wrote an average about 35 new regulations for every law passed by Congress, roughly twice the ratio during the Bush administration. The think tank estimates that the regulatory burden cost the economy $1.885 trillion in 2015.
“A lot of it is something you see even in independent analysis,” Batkins said.
Obama Vacations — 217 days
According to Mark Knoller, a CBS News reporter who tracks presidential leisure, Obama has taken 28 vacations covering all or parts of 217 days during his two terms.
That is less than his predecessor, who spent 490 days at his Texas ranch while he was president.
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Obama’s travels did not come cheap to taxpayers. The conservative watchdog Judicial Watch reported last month that records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show that taxpayers have spent $96.9 million on Obama’s travel.
“The Obamas’ notorious abuse of presidential travel perks wasted military resources and stressed the Secret Service,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in a statement at the time.Careful With That Fake Social Networking Profile; If You 'Personate' Someone, You Can Go To Jail
from the careful-who-you-mock dept
We've seen numerous lawsuits involving schools punishing students for setting up fake social networking profiles of principals or teachers. However, could setting up a fake profile actually be a criminal offense that gets you sent to jail? Evan Brown has the news of how a California appeals court has ruled that a guy who set up a fake MySpace profile of his former pastor can stand trial for the crime of "personation." Apparently, in California, it's illegal to (a) assume the persona of someone else and then (b) do something while pretending to be that person that could get that person into legal trouble. So, it's not just setting up the profile that gets you in trouble, but then doing something with the profile (in this case, the guy suggested the pastor used drugs and was gay).
Filed Under: fake profiles, personate, pretending
Companies: myspaceArchaeologists have discovered the corpse of a rich warrior in Pylos, Greece, believed to be buried during the start of European civilization.
The grave was discovered on May 18 by Jack L. Davis and Sharon R. Stocker, a husband-and-wife team at the University of Cincinnati who have been excavating at Pylos for 25 years, according to the New York Times.
The remains are believed to be 3,500 years old. What amazes the people behind the discovery are the treasures buried with the body.
These treasures include gold rings, intricate swords, ivory combs, thousands of precious stone beads and dinnerware sets made of bronze instead of ceramic, which was supposed to be more predominant during the era.
Also, in an era where most people shared tombs, this warrior had the tomb to himself, making it all the more probable that the warrior was a rich man, the Washington Post reports.
"This guy was really, really rich. His bones indicate he was strong, robust... well-fed. He may have been royalty, or even the founder of a new dynasty at the Palace of Nestor," Stocker said, according to Los Angeles Times.
The man could also just have been a warrior who led a raiding party or even just a trader who acquired the goods through trade. For now, the corpse remains anonymous, and nothing else about him is known to the archaeologists, the Los Angeles Times adds.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.
NASA has selected SpaceX and United Launch Alliance to deliver to orbit a joint U.S.-European oceanography mission and the next land imaging satellite in the Landsat series on Falcon 9 and Atlas 5 rockets.
The space agency announced the contracts Thursday, splitting awards between the two U.S. companies certified to launch NASA’s large robotic space missions. NASA’s Launch Services Program at the Kennedy Space Center made the selections after separate competitive procurements.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will loft the next satellite in a line of oceanography missions extending back to 1992. Known as Sentinel 6A, or Jason Continuity of Service (Jason-CS), the satellite will measure sea level and wave height on the world’s oceans, collecting data scientists will use in long-term climate change research and shorter-term weather forecasting.
The Sentinel 6A/Jason-CS mission is scheduled for launch into an inclined 830-mile-high (1,336-kilometer) orbit in November 2020 from Space Launch Complex 4-East at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. SpaceX’s contract award is valued at $97 million, including the launch service and other mission-related costs, NASA said in a statement.
NASA is responsible for providing the launcher for the European-built 3,174-pound (1,440-kilogram) oceanography satellite, which is under development in partnership with NOAA, the European Space Agency and Eumetsat, the European weather satellite agency. The satellite is part of the European Commission’s Copernicus program, a multibillion-dollar fleet of so-called Sentinel spacecraft gathering data on Earth’s land masses, oceans, ice caps and atmosphere.
The Sentinel 6A/Jason-CS satellite, manufactured by Airbus Defense and Space, will also host a radio occultation instrument designed to measure temperature and humidity in the atmosphere using GPS signals.
SpaceX launched the most recent satellite in the Jason series of ocean topography missions in January 2016.
The Landsat 9 satellite will lift off on a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket as soon as December 2020, NASA announced last week. The contracted launch date is in June 2021, but ULA will be ready to launch six months earlier, assuming the spacecraft is ready.
The $153.8 million launch contract encompasses ULA’s Atlas 5 rocket, which will fly in its basic 401 configuration without any solid rocket boosters, and other mission-related costs.
Landsat 9 will launch into a polar orbit from Space Launch Complex 3-East at Vandenberg.
An Atlas 5 rocket deployed Landsat 8, the newest Landsat satellite, into orbit in February 2013. Landsat 9 is designed to be a near-copy of Landsat 8, joining the Landsat fleet in polar orbit 438 miles (705 kilometers) above Earth.
“We are honored that NASA has entrusted ULA with launching this critical land imaging satellite,” said Tory Bruno, ULA’s president and chief executive. “ULA’s world-leading performance and reliability, paired with the tremendous heritage of 74 consecutive successful Atlas 5 launches, provides the optimal value for our customer.
“We look forward to working together again with our mission partners at NASA’s Launch Services Program, Goddard Space Flight Center and the U.S. Geological Survey in the integration and launch of this significant mission, contributing to the international strategy for examining the health and state of the Earth,” Bruno said in a statement.
The Landsat series has amassed an uninterrupted record of moderate-resolution imagery since 1972, helping scientists, surveyors and the public track changes in crop patterns, forests, urban sprawl and water usage.
Built by Orbital ATK, Landsat 9 will be operated by the U.S. Geological Survey once in orbit. The mission is expected to cost approximately $900 million, according to a NASA budget document published earlier this year.
Landsat 9 will carry two instruments — an operational land imager and a thermal infrared sensor — similar to Landsat 8. Additional funding for the project in NASA and USGS budgets last year helped move forward Landsat 9’s target launch date from 2023 to the end of 2020.
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Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.Police in the central European country – on the boundary of the EU – registered 2,093 migrants, the highest daily tally so far this year.
Hungary is building a fence on its southern border with Serbia to fend off the rising numbers of migrants.
And Janos Lazar, chief of staff for Hungary's Right-wing prime minister Viktor Orban, lashed out at the EU for not doing enough - despite the European Commission pledging nearly €8 million (£5.83 million) in aid and various other measures for Hungary.
"The European Union distributes border protection funds in a humiliating way," he said. "Old member states have nicked the money from new members.
Photo: Corbis
"If we do not take meaningful steps, we will become a rescue boat that sinks beneath the weight of those clinging onto it."
More than 100,000 migrants, many of them refugees from conflicts in the Middle East and Africa, have entered Hungary, part of the Schengen zone of passport-free travel, this year – en route to the more affluent countries of western and northern Europe.
Photo: AP
Mr Lazar's comments came as the UN warned that 3,000 migrants a day would soon be passing through Macedonia – the latest flashpoint in the migrants crisis sweeping Europe. The Balkans have become increasingly popular transit countries into Europe, as Greece and Italy continue to struggle to cope, and migrants leave refugee camps in Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan.
Not since the wars of Yugoslavia's collapse in the 1990s has the cash-strapped western Balkans seen such large movements of people.
Germany said last week it expects a record 800,000 asylum-seekers to arrive this year, in a crisis overwhelming authorities in Europe from the Greek islands to the French port of Calais.
"We do not see any end to the influx of people in coming months," said Melissa Fleming, chief spokesman of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). She said continued violence in both Iraq and Syria and "worsening conditions" for Syrian refugees in the Middle East was driving them towards the frontiers of Europe.
Photo: APTN
The 28 member states of the European Union must ensure "equitable distribution" of asylum-seekers, she said, adding: "We honestly believe if correct measures are taken this is something that Europe can handle."
Bulgaria, however, was on Tuesday taking matters into its own hands, announcing that it was sending in the army to buttress the south-western border with Macedonia – hit in recent days by an unprecedented influx of migrants.
Twenty-five soldiers and light armoured vehicles will be deployed at Bulgaria's four border checkpoints with Macedonia, a defence ministry operations and training deputy chief told public BNR radio.
"Our task will be to reinforce the controls already implemented by border police," said Nikolay Karaivanov, adding that the number of soldiers might be increased at a later stage if necessary.
And as the Balkan and central European countries struggled to cope, Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, was visiting a refugee shelter in Heidenau, south of Dresden, which was attacked by anti-asylum seeker rioters at the weekend.
Mrs Merkel will meet refugees, support workers and local officials, Steffen Seibert, her spokesman, said in a statement.
Dozens of police were injured when a neo-Nazi mob hurled bottles and fireworks at officers trying to ensure asylum seekers could move into the repurposed hardware store on Friday and Saturday.
Speaking on Monday, Mrs Merkel called the incident "shocking" and "shameful." Germany has seen a surge in refugees coming to the country this year, some coming through the Balkans, while others sail from North Africa towards Italy.
More than 4,400 people rescued from the Mediterranean while attempting to cross to Europe on Saturday, in |
fair go but this is ripping the system off.”
We now know who Peter Dutton is. He is a man who regards the constitution as an inconvenience. That alone should make him unfit for office. He has no respect for the laws made to protect the public from people like him.
This is the man who lied about the intentions of a woman raped while in detention, a woman who was pulled from a hospital bed and deported back to Nauru lest Australian laws be used to protect her. She had been waiting for counselling after seeking an abortion required by that rape.
This is the man who suggested that refugee advocates had coaxed people into self-harm. The man who suggested with no evidence that refugees were paedophiles. The man who ignores the facts of the wicked edifice over which he presides: that people are destroyed here, by rape and violence and mental sickness, and that these terrible facts are not accidents but part of his deliberate system of deterrents.
This is the man who looks at all this and sees only relish. “I enjoy it a lot.”
Dutton’s is a career of moral turpitude. Nowhere can he point to good. His portfolio is this nation’s disgrace.
More than anyone in this government, he stands on real corpses. He stands on women destroyed by rape, and children robbed of their childhoods by imprisonment. He stands on a calculus of cruelty.
It is this man who is touted as a future leader of the Liberal Party. The Australian has written a draft of the speech he would give. It draws on family values and a celebration of his simplicity.
There is nothing to celebrate in Dutton. He could be dismissed as dim if his idiocy were not so calculated. He allows himself to be stupid because he wants this country to be stupid. He wishes to strip Australia of its dignity and its humanity, to ruin its institutions and blacken its soul.
There is nothing to see in Dutton except the worst of what this country could be. We can only be thankful that the court he so criticises stops him from taking us there with him. He plays politics as if it were a game but there is nothing to win, only losses.
Lifeline 13 11 14Here it comes! At least we think it’s coming. That would be Kit Kat (Android 4.4) we’re referring to. According to the flood of emails from readers to our inbox, there is a soak test about to begin for the DROID MAXX, ULTRA, and Mini. Motorola is sending out invites this evening, but would only say that members of the Motorola Feedback Network will have a chance to preview a “new software release.”
With the Moto X seeing Kit Kat so early, what else could this update be? The new DROID family is essentially a tweaked version of the Moto X both in terms of hardware and software, so the update should be easy to do.
Motorola has also already confirmed that the update would arrive on all of these devices.
Typically, when we see a soak test start, the update rolls out to non-members within a week or two depending on the success of the test. Motorola has been pretty spot on with its updates lately. We’ll keep an eye out for other signs that all things are go.
Here is the email:
Hi, Thanks for joining the Motorola Feedback Network. We are inviting owners of Droid Ultra, Droid Mini or Droid Maxx on Verizon to participate in an early preview of a new software release, and provide feedback. If you are not currently using a Droid Mini, Ultra or Maxx, please excuse and ignore this email. This is a confidential test under the terms of the Motorola Feedback Network. Please do not post any details or information about this on any public sites or report it to sites that cover our industry. Click this link — — to take the enrollment survey if you wish to take part. Note that you must be a member in good standing of the Motorola Owners’ Forums to be included. The registration window could close without notice so please respond as quickly as possible. Thanks — please understand that start times are always fluid. We ask for your patience if you register but don’t hear from us right away. Matt
Motorola Owners’ Forums
Motorola Feedback Network
DROID owners, you ready?
Cheers J, B, S, K, and C!Pharmaceuticals giant Pfizer promises to be "open, honest and ethical". Credit:AFP As a member of the "public" then, keen to engage with this "honest" and "open" Pfizer, we sought to discuss the subject of "integrity" in the field of tax. "Thanks Michael and appreciate you contacting Pfizer," came the written response. "In response to your query, Pfizer is not in a position to comment on these matters." Why not? No answer was forthcoming. Shutters down, lights off. What of Pfizer's high-minded claims of civic duty?
To wit: "Pfizer plays an active role in making every country and community in which it operates a better place to live and work, knowing that the ongoing vitality of our host nation and local communities has a direct impact on the long-term health of our business." Really? What we did discover in the Pfizer accounts, with the forensic counsel of University of NSW academic Jeff Knapp, was a share-capital-stripping scheme designed to denude the Australian taxpayer. It is similar to the magic-pudding ruse deployed by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, whose local holding company bought assets from another News entity, created $7 billion in intangibles, inflated share capital by the same amount, soon reversed the intangibles but kept the share capital. It later siphoned $4.5 billion in Australian profits overseas with little tax consequence via "repayments of capital". News Corp was exposed this week for being the No. 1 tax "risk" in Australia, perched, as it is, at the very zenith of the Australian Tax Office blacklist. This is how Pfizer, the maker of Viagra, pulls it off.
On January 3, 2011, Pfizer Australia Holdings acquired the issued capital of AHP Holdings and Pfizer Perth, two minions under the control of Pfizer Inc. This was Pfizer selling to Pfizer. Pfizer Australia Holdings issued 559.7 million new shares at $1.31 a share to a Pfizer Inc affiliate domiciled in the Netherlands to acquire these two new subsidiaries. The purchase price of the two, and the new share capital created, amounted to $733 million. About the time of the deal, there was nothing fancy in the financial statements of AHP or Pfizer Perth, nary a sign of the windfall intangible asset that was about to emerge. The annual financial report of AHP for November 30, 2010, shows no intangible assets and the principal activities of the company are described as "the distribution and sale of pharmaceutical, infant nutritional, consumer and animal health products". The annual financial report of Pfizer Perth shows a minimal R&D expense and the only intangible asset other than goodwill is a patent for $182,000.
Somehow though, when these two companies were assessed in January 2011 for an exchange value of $733 million (well above book value of $231 million), a new mega-million-dollar intangible asset had emerged: "product development rights of $461 million". Sphinx-like, Pfizer Australia Holdings has refused to talk about these mysterious rights. As AHP was involved with "animal health products" perhaps it lay on the verge of a scientific breakthrough in the development of dog biscuits for the treatment of pulmonary edema in Saint Bernards. We don't know. The intangible asset may be nothing more than the right to use the Pfizer name – and therefore luxuriate in the ensuing "integrity" – in the future equivalent of internally generated goodwill. "Shortly after the new $733 million of share capital was created in Pfizer Australia, the business assets of AHP and Pfizer Perth, including the mysterious product development rights, appear to have been transferred to another company in the Pfizer Australia Holdings group," says Knapp. "Investments in subsidiaries are then written down by $591 million. Creating share capital is the dominant purpose of the scheme. Asset value appears for the creation of share capital and then, just as quickly, asset value disappears." Yet the new share capital of $733 million remains.
During the 2014 year, Pfizer Australia's statement of cashflows for 2014 shows that it returned capital of $408 million to a parent company in the Netherlands. In the same period, those enigmatic "product development rights" were written down by $161 million due to "a decline in the value of these assets arising from recent trading results". "These rights probably never had any value," says Knapp. "They came out of the bottom drawer of Pfizer Australia Holdings. In my opinion, they are a vulgar artifice. They were needed to create share capital that could be returned from future cashflows without attracting tax consequences. The rights were given life to create share capital and the intangible asset likewise dies when the share capital is returned."Videos A Look At The Drone Shield Jammer Gun By
A company called DroneShield, as of late has released an ‘anti-drone’ firearm that is intended to meddle with a drone’s signal and constrain it to land. For the individuals who esteem their privacy and loathe the idea of a drone flying over their property, this is an appealing proposition.
As such, the dangers from consumer drones have been more psychological than physical, however that hasn’t ceased a modest bunch of new businesses, for example, Drone Shield from venturing up to offer consumer drone detection and moderation technologies. Indeed, even as the consumer drone industry is simply starting to take off, its partner—what you may call the “anti-drone” industry—is a hot pursue.
The just about six kilogram (13.2 pound) DroneGun can evidently do this at a range of up to two kilometers (1.2 miles), using an assortment of jammer measures. Those measures incorporate jamming 2.4 gigahertz and 5.8 gigahertz frequency bands, and also GPS and GLONASS (the Russian satellite route framework) jamming. It has a battery run time of two hours.
The DroneGun is a piece of DroneShield’s range of anti-drone technologies, despite the fact that it’s one of only a handful few to effectively render drones inoperable.
These anti-drone measures still have an approach before they’re freely available to the overall population. As DroneShield’s site notes, DroneGun may not be utilized or offered available to be purchased as a part of the U.S., other than to the government and its agencies.
In India it’s illegal to fly drones without a proper license; it’ll be interesting to see if the company expands its market in countries where laws are still under making or countries who are excessively concerned for security.
Reference: http://www.businessinsider.in/Is-a-spy-drone-giving-you-nightmares-Heres-a-Drone-Jammer-gun-to-relieve-you-of-all-your-worries/articleshow/55667452.cmsGet the biggest Manchester City 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
Fernandinho has revealed he could have lined up against City tomorrow.
The 28-year-old sealed a £30m move from Shakhtar Donetsk to the Etihad Stadium this summer – but not before Chelsea had been in touch with his agent.
The Brazilian midfielder said: “It is a complicated story. There was contact before City came in for me. Nobody told me about this in Shakhtar. I don’t know what happened between Shakhtar and Chelsea.”
But despite having the option to move to Stamford Bridge, Fernandinho is convinced he made the right choice to join Manuel Pellegrini, whose men face Chelsea tomorrow.
He added: “I’m very happy. I have no regrets. We try to play good football, and in the last few games we have played good football and got good results.”
Not only will Fernandinho (right) be out to show Jose Mourinho what he is missing, he is hoping to prove a point to Brazil coach Felipe Scolari as he comes up against Chelsea’s Oscar, Ramires and Willian who are all rivals for a place in the World Cup squad.
He said: “It is not a case of showing my best just tomorrow, it is about showing my best against all the teams.
“It is the decision of the Brazilian national coach. I do my work here, try to do my best and if he selects me then I will be very happy.”
Meanwhile, Micah Richards believes only Chelsea can match the quality of City’s squad this season.
“Chelsea have an amazing squad, probably as good as ours. If we get any sort of result it would be a major plus for us,” said the Blues defender.
“Arsenal and Liverpool look strong. Spurs have spent a lot and you can never rule out United. Even though they have had a slow start.”Dear Racers,
This version contains an updated Rockingham track and many more fixes and improvements.
LFS now supports a borderless window mode that has various advantages including much better support for multiple monitor setups. New features have been added to the interface and the layout editor.
Community programmers have been working hard on testing some new InSim features that allow a lot of possibilities. New ways to report your car's actions to an external program and the ability to control start lights are among the changes.
Four ways to get version 0.6M :
1) AUTO UPDATER - If you already have version 0.5V or later :
- Click on "Multiplayer" then "List of Hosts" in LFS and choose a download mirror.
2) MANUAL PATCH (55 MB) - If you already have version 0.6K or later :
- Click HERE and save the patch installer.
- You can run the patch installer from its download location or from your LFS folder.
3) MANUAL PATCH (155 MB) - If you already have version 0.6H or later :
- Click HERE and save the patch installer.
- You can run the patch installer from its download location or from your LFS folder.
4) FULL VERSION (417 MB) - If you are new to LFS or making a fresh installation.
- Click HERE to visit the download page and get the full version installer.
Changes from 0.6K to 0.6M :
Rockingham :
The Rockingham track is updated with fixes and improvements
Interface :
Translations updated - thank you translators!
LFS can now restart in a window on a side monitor as expected
Option "Input when window is inactive" keeps controllers working
New button on game setup screen to clear start grid with one click
New arrows to move grid positions - removed "swap position" button
Hold CTRL+SHIFT to show viewed car's player name beside time / fps
User interface elements should now be perfectly aligned with screen
Moved ABS option in car setup above the Traction Control option
Lap number is no longer shown if lap timing is not available
Text command /setlap now works in practice and qualifying
New admin commands /ujoin username and /uai username
Borderless window system :
New SHIFT+key functions are displayed on right of Screen Options
Borderless modes allow ALT+TAB to other programs without minimising
Multiple monitor support is greatly improved by a borderless window
New command /window min/max/monitor/virtual (no parameter=restore)
Full screen vertical sync option affects borderless window modes
F9 to F12 keys now toggle between their mode and a window
Multiplayer :
Add to grid buttons for admins beside names in list of connections
Rare MP bug could cause LFS to enter world before track was loaded
TCP position packets option now also sends TCP packets to host
Layout editor :
You can now set an identifier for a start lights object
Temporary start lights (in layout editor) middle light is now amber
InSim checkpoints and circles can be placed in the autocross editor
New button "place on ground" to restore ground check to objects
Maximum number of autocross circles increased from 150 to 180
Multiple object selection is now available in marshall mode
InSim :
INSIM_VERSION increased to 7 to support new incompatible packets
Backward compatibility system - send INSIM_VERSION in the IS_ISI
New join request system if ISF_REQ_JOIN is set - see InSim.txt
New system to reset a car at a location with or without repair
Packet IS_CSC to report changes in car state (start or stop)
Zbyte added to CarContObject structure to report car's altitude
Zbyte added to IS_OBH so the layout object can be identified
IS_MSO / IS_III / IS_ACR message out packets now have variable size
IS_BFN can now be used to delete a range of buttons with one packet
New packet IS_OCO can be used to override some or all start lights
New IS_AXM option PMO_SELECTION to set the layout editor selection
Added TTC_SEL to request an IS_AXM with layout editor selection
Added TINY_AXM to request IS_AXM packets for the entire layout
IS_SSH documentation updated as it is no longer only for bmp files
New packet IS_UCO sends info about InSim checkpoints and circles
New packet IS_SLC reports a connection's currently selected car
Packet TINY_SLC to request an IS_SLC for all connections
Added TINY_ALC and SMALL_ALC to get and set allowed cars
VR :
LFSRiftVR.dll updated to use Oculus SDK 0.8
LFSOpenVR.dll updated to use OpenVR SDK 0.9.15
Warning if Rift headset is opened using the OpenVR system
Text command /rift changed to /vr (but /rift still works)
New parameters for the /vr command : /vr=rift and /vr=openvr
Hotlapping :
Traction control can no longer be switched on if disabled in setup
Handbrake can no longer be used in single seater cars while moving
In hotlapping mode there is a new HLVC check for cutting cornerS
Corner cutting HLVC check is also reported in InSim IS_HLV
Misc :
AI drivers can now drive in low wind (but not high)
View shift maximum settings increased to 0.1 m per g
A warning is now shown if a car starts outside the path
If car starts outside path it will keep searching to find the path
Hidden object removal is disabled when car is high above the track
No longer stored in message history : /press /ctrl /shift /alt
Fixes :
AI path drive limits were wrong at one corner of Kyoto National
Controls Options - buttons were not displayed under Shifter tab
Colour adjusters looked wrong in Interface and Display options
The text "S3" is now correctly sent in the InSim IS_VER packet
InSim IS_HLV packet no longer reports car contacts as wall hits
Floating text above a lagging car was drawn without transparency
One button look amount was doubled in axis, mouse and TrackIR look
The /track and /ws commands now accept double digit config numbers
Tracks file for /tracks command now works with double digit configs
Blank number plate on joining race after watching an instant replay
- LFS DevelopersIn light of the national gun violence debate that is currently taking place in Washington and in state capitols across the country, a new trend is developing: Police officers are being trained to override hesitation when shooting a suspect.
Law Enforcement Targets, Inc., a Minneapolis-based company that supplies shooting targets for the Department of Homeland Security, has begun to produce “no more hesitation” (NMH) targets, which feature the photos of children, senior citizens, mothers in playgrounds and a pregnant woman — all armed with a handgun. Law Enforcement Targets has indicated that these were a “requested law enforcement target for training.”
In a recording of a telephone conversation with a representative for Law Enforcement Targets that was released on YouTube, the company explained that “unfortunately our world is made up of people, pregnant or otherwise, that are gun owners not for the right reasons,” adding that the targets were to “train police officers.” The representative did make the point that these targets could be used as “don’t shoot” targets.
According to Law Enforcement Target’s marketing team, “The subjects in NMH targets were chosen in order to give officers the experience of dealing with deadly force shooting scenarios with subjects that are not the norm during training. I found while speaking with officers and trainers in the law enforcement community that there is a hesitation on the part of cops when deadly force is required on subjects with atypical age, frailty or condition (one officer explaining that he enlarged photos of his own kids to use as targets so that he would not be caught off guard with such a drastically new experience while on duty).”
“This hesitation time may be only seconds, but that is not acceptable when officers are losing their lives in these same situations,” the marketing team continues. “The goal of NMH is to break that stereotype on the range, regardless of how slim the chances are of encountering a real life scenario that involves a child, pregnant woman, etc. If that initial hesitation time can be cut down due to range experience, the officer and community are better served.”
It is generally argued that in police work, the officer must slow down to make an informed decision when engaging a suspect. As argued by Terrence Dwyer for PoliceOne, “There are no illusions on the part of any experienced officer that his/her actions will not reverberate beyond the immediate scene of an incident. It is an accepted part of the job, an expectation for which every officer must be prepared. Police officers have to articulate, explain and justify their actions, a failure to adequately do so can lead to release of a suspect, civil liability or, in the extreme, criminal charges. This latter possibility is more likely to occur with an officer’s use of force, particularly deadly physical force.”
In deciding to shoot a suspect, a police officer must factor in the danger of non-involved individuals, his own safety, possible collateral damage and the threat assessment of the suspect. At no time should shooting a suspect be a reflex.
Law Enforcement Targets do have $5.5 million in contracts with the federal government, so it is not clear if any of these targets are meant for non-federal law enforcement. However, as federal agencies purchased 2 billion rounds of ammunition over the last 10 months, many are concerned with the government’s intentions.VICKSBURG, Miss. --An accused murderer who escaped from a Mississippi jail more than a week ago was shot and killed this morning by a person he held hostage during a nearly three-hour-long confrontation, police say.
"That is correct. He has met his maker," Vicksburg Police Chief Walter Armstrong said in an interview with 48 Hours' Crimesider.
The eight-day hunt for Rafael McCloud ended around 7 a.m. when police were called to a home about a half mile from the jail McCloud escaped from on March 2. Vicksburg police chief Walter Armstrong said McCloud entered the house through an unlocked garage door at about 4 a.m.
During the next three hours, a husband and wife who were inside with their baby experienced what Armstrong described as "torture."
The husband told police he confronted McCloud soon after the escaped inmate entered the home. Armstrong said it was apparent to police that the couple engaged McCloud in an intense fight, moving throughout the house.
Ultimately, the husband was stabbed in the shoulder, and McCloud managed to subdue both victims, tying them up, Armstrong said.
Then, before 7 a.m., the couple managed to get loose. One of them grabbed a gun and shot McCloud. By the time police arrived, he had already died, Armstrong said.
"This community has really been frightened for over a week, and that has come to an end as of this morning," Armstrong said.
The husband is being treated at a nearby hospital for his injury, which Armstrong said is not life threatening.
McCloud was accused of rape, murder and other crimes, in the June 2015 death of Sharon Wilson. Police said he sexually assaulted the 69-year-old in her home, before bringing her to an abandoned hospital, where he allegedly shot and killed her. Wilson's body was later found by a group of so-called ghost hunters exploring the hospital.
McCloud was indicted in January and escaped by using a homemade knife to corner a jail employee, stealing the person's uniform, keys and radio, before fleeing.
Armstrong said police are now investigating the possibility that McCloud received assistance from people during his eight days on the lam.
"I believe he's had help. He had on a nice white pair of tennis shoes, and he had jeans on that he didn't have when he left jail," Armstrong said.• All the latest trade and free agency news
• Indicative draft order: Keep up to date with all the picks
• Who's hanging up the boots? Keep track of 2017's retirements and delistings
FORMER Brisbane Lions captain Tom Rockliff has one foot inside Alberton Oval after officially accepting a free agency offer from Port Adelaide on Tuesday.
Rockliff, 27, was also hotly pursued by Carlton, with the Blues rolling out club greats Stephen Kernahan and Chris Judd in a meeting with the All Australian midfielder in an attempt to sway him to move to Ikon Park.
But Rockliff informed Carlton last week that he had opted to join Port, and the Power made it official on Tuesday when they tabled a free agency offer with the AFL.
It's believed Rockliff is set to join the Power on a four-year deal worth about $650,000 a season.
Rockliff is a restricted free agent so the Lions can match Port's offer. But they're expected to accept a compensation pick instead, a selection that should fall at the end of the first round or at the start of the second round, either way leaving the Lions with picks Nos.18 and 19 in the NAB AFL Draft.
Rockliff's agent Tom Petroro said he expected the deal to be finalised by Wednesday morning at the latest.
"As a restricted free agent, the departing club has the opportunity to match [the offer]," Petroro told NAB AFL Trade Radio.
"In all my discussions with Brisbane, I'd be surprised if they were going to match. But obviously they have to do their due diligence and go through the process and fill out the paperwork. But I don't see us having any hold up there."
Rockliff had considered an offer from Carlton, but eventually settled on Port Adelaide.
"Tom's from Benalla in country Victoria, about two hours from Melbourne. He's just had a baby, so there was a lure to come back, so Carlton was a really realistic opportunity for him," Petroro said.
"However, for Tom, he thought Port were a little bit closer from a success point of view."
Petroro said Port Adelaide had earmarked a half-forward/inside midfielder role for Rockliff, working in tandem with Robbie Gray.
Lions coach Chris Fagan, when asked last Wednesday about the likelihood of Rockliff leaving the Gabba, said: "It's not the end of the world."
"You do get a compensation pick if he does go and that will be a good player for sure, because it'll be somewhere in the top 20. So it could be good for Tom and it could be good for the footy club."
Rockliff was put up for trade last year after the Lions' tumultuous 2016 season, but there was little genuine interest from rival clubs.
Rockliff lost the Lions captaincy when he returned for 2017 pre-season training, but after being appointed vice-captain to new skipper Dayne Beams he produced an outstanding season.
The former Murray Bushranger averaged 24 possessions and 6.4 clearances a game (equal ninth in the AFL) in 2017 to finish third in the Lions' best and fairest award. His teammates also voted him the club's Players' Player of the Year.
Rockliff played 154 games for the Lions from 2009-17. He won the 2011 and 2014 best and fairest awards, and in the latter season was named an All Australian.
More to come
Want more trade news?
• Trade wrap: Dons get busy, Schache race on
• Make me an Eagle, says Port youngster
• Giants set to make Dons work for Smith
• Ablett'more likely' than not to get to Cats
• Crows' chase for Blues mid fails again
• Dees and Crows'make progress' on LeverWhen I saw the new Universal Windows App project type demonstrated in the Microsoft Build keynote last week, I just had to try it out with an existing Xamarin project. This actually proved quite simple; just copying one line from the Windows project file to the xamarin projects did the trick:
(note that the standard code sharing features of the Universal Windows App project template, across Windows Phone and Store, are quite powerfulf as well; see here for a good overview)
UPDATE 22-4-2014 Add Shared Project Reference… item on the context menu for the References node for your (Xamarin) projects. Instead of manually modifying the Xamarin project files as described in steps 9 and 10 below, you can also install the Shared Project Reference Manager Visual Studio extension. This gives you anitem on the context menu for thenode for your (Xamarin) projects.
So here is how you can create a Universal App solution for Windows Store, Windows Phone, Xamarin Android and Xamarin iOS in Visual Studio 2013 Update 2:
Install Visual Studio 2013 Update 2 Create a new Blank App (Universal Apps) for Windows and Windows Phone; let’s name it QC2Test.
In the VS Solution Explorer, add a new Xamarin iOS Universal project to the QC2Test solution folder
Name: QC2Test.iOS
Folder: create it in the same QC2Test subfolder that contains the Windows projects.
A dialog can appear now, about a conflict in the new project file – select Discard to keep the file system based changes.
Fill in the iOS project properties as usual; typically the iOS Application tab.
In the VS Solution Explorer, add a new Xamarin Android project to the QC2Test solution folder
Name: QC2Test.Android
Folder: create it in the same QC2Test subfolder that contains the Windows projects.
Fill in the Android project properties as usual; typically Application – API levels; also set the Conditional Compilation Symbol __ANDROID__ for all project configurations.
Place the Shared Project App.xaml.cs within #if NETFX_CORE … #endif so it won’t cause errors in Xamarin projects.
Unload the Windows project, edit the project file, and copy this line to the clipboard:<Import Project=”..\QC2Test.Shared\QC2Test.Shared.projitems” Label=”Shared” /> Now reload the project. Unload the Android and iOS projects, edit them, and paste the above line directly above the first existing Import element.
Now reload the projects. Now all projects will show Shared references (which are actually includes):
To test code sharing, add a class SomeSharedClass.cs to the shared project and build the solution; in class view, you can now see the class in all 4 platforms:
Benefits
Until now, I used a code sharing approach with a separate solution file and a separate shared project file for each platform in a shared solution folder and shared project folders, as described here. In comparison, this new Universal App sharing model has these benefits:
A LOT less manual steps to setup the solution structure.
Only one shared project needed instead of one for each platform – no more keeping project item add/rename/delete in sync.
NuGet packages are on the head projects only, no longer on the shared project. This prevents overwriting of the platform-specific packages.config file that occurred when using multiple project files in the same project folder.
AssemblyInfo.cs is on the head projects only; we no longer need #ifdefs for platform specific assembly attributes on the shared project.
Limitations
Note that you cannot build this solution with Xamarin Studio, since it does not understand the shared project include.
However, you can open the iOS project file directly in Xamarin Studio on a Mac to add Storyboards, Xibs etc and you can edit them in XCode just fine.
Conclusion
The new sharing model of the Universal Windows Apps project type also works well for Xamarin iOS and Android projects. This looks like the way forward for sharing code across platforms in those cases where you want to avoid the limitations and overhead that a Portable Class Library brings. Currently you will lose the ability to compile from Xamarin studio, but Xamarin is expected to add support for this project type soon.
NJoy!Top U.S. intelligence officials struggled to determine whether one of the National Security Agency's most treasured surveillance programs actually stopped any terrorist attacks, according to a newly unsealed report prepared by five of the highest-ranking inspectors general in the government half a dozen years ago. The officials were divided over the legality and usefulness of the program, dubbed Stellar Wind, in part because it was shrouded in secrecy.
The American public had its first glimpse of the Stellar Wind program when Edward Snowden, a former contract employee of the NSA, began leaking classified documents to international news outlets in June 2013. The program enabled the NSA to wiretap Americans' international phone calls and collect information about the calls as well as emails without warrants issued by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court. However, top U.S. lawmakers were debating the effect of the program long before the Snowden leaks, according to a declassified document furnished to the New York Times Friday.
Responding to the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, then-President George W. Bush secretly authorized the NSA to collect information on Americans' communications. Neither the Justice Department's top intelligence lawyer nor most low-level CIA officials were told about the program, and the judges involved weren't allowed to keep copies of the Justice Department's legal rationale.
The report released to the New York Times Friday -- prepared by the inspectors general at the NSA, CIA, Defense Department, Justice Department and Office of the Director of National Intelligence -- found the secrecy surrounding the plan undercut its goal. Stellar Wind was legalized by Congress in 2007. That should have happened sooner to eliminate "the substantial restrictions placed on FBI agents' and analysts' access to and use of program-derived information due to the highly classified status" of Stellar Wind, the Times quoted the report as saying.
The report was made public as the result of a Freedom of Information Act request made by the Times.
It calls into question the truthfulness of former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' testimony at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in 2006. “Although we believe that Gonzales did not intend to mislead Congress, we believe his testimony was confusing, inaccurate and had the effect of misleading those who were not knowledgable about the program,” the Times quoted the report as saying. This is an important point because few officials would have been knowledgeable about the program at the time.A woman in her late 70s is in life-threatening condition after being struck by a car in the King Street East and Ontario Street area.
Toronto police said they were called to the scene at 8:15 p.m. Wednesday evening, where they found a woman lying on the ground in the middle of the road, conscious but not moving. Police also said there was a significant amount of bleeding.
Paramedics say the woman was transported to a trauma centre with life-threatening injuries.
The car and driver involved in the incident remained at the scene, police say.
King Street East is closed in both directions between Berkeley and Sherbourne streets as police investigate. Service on the 504 King streetcar is also affected.
Road closures: King Street East, both eastbound and westbound, from Berkeley Street to Sherbourne Street. ^CdK —@TPSOperationsLike most everything today, the campaign was launched with a hashtag. But instead of promoting a new album or a movie release, #AllEyesOnISIS announced the 2014 invasion of northern Iraq—a bloody takeover that still haunts global politics two years later. Revealing a military operation via Twitter would seem a strange strategy, but it should not be surprising given the source. The self-styled Islamic State owes its existence to what the internet has become with the rise of social media—a vast chamber of online sharing and conversation and argumentation and indoctrination, echoing with billions of voices. Social media has empowered isis recruiting, helping the group draw at least 30,000 foreign fighters, from some 100 countries, to the battlefields of Syria and Iraq. It has aided the seeding of new franchises in places ranging from Libya and Afghanistan to Nigeria and Bangladesh. It was the vehicle isis used to declare war on the United States: The execution of the American journalist James Foley was deliberately choreographed for viral distribution. And it is how the group has inspired acts of terror on five continents. So intertwined are the Islamic State’s online propaganda and real-life operations that one can hardly be separated from the other. As isis invaders swept across northern Iraq two years ago, they spammed Twitter with triumphal announcements of freshly conquered towns and horrific images of what had happened to those who fought back. A smartphone app that the group had created allowed fans to follow along easily at home and link their social-media accounts in solidarity, permitting isis to post automatically on their behalf. J. M. Berger, a fellow with George Washington University’s Program on Extremism, counted as many as 40,000 tweets originating from the app in a single day as black-clad militants bore down on the city of Mosul. Media reports from the region were saturated with news of the latest isis victory or atrocity, helping to fuel a sense of the Islamic State’s momentum. There was no time to distinguish false stories from real ones. Instead, each new post contributed to the sense that northern Iraq had simply collapsed in the face of the isis onslaught.
And then it did. Terror engulfed Mosul, a city of 1.8 million people. The 25,000-strong Iraqi garrison may have been equipped with an arsenal of American-made Abrams tanks and Black Hawk helicopters, but it was disoriented by reports of the enemy’s speed and ferocity. Already beset by low morale and long-festering corruption, it crumpled under the advance of a mere 1,500 isis fighters, equipped mostly with small arms. The Islamic State was left to occupy the city virtually uncontested, seizing vast quantities of weapons and supplies, including some 2,300 Humvees. In the abrupt surrender of Mosul and collapse of defending Iraqi forces, one could find echoes of the similarly shocking fall of France to the 1940 German blitzkrieg. The Germans relied upon the close coordination of tanks and planes, linked together by radio. Radio gave their forces speed—and also the ability to sow fear beyond the front lines. isis spread a similar panic online. Immaculately staged photos, filtered through Instagram, transformed a ragtag force riding in dusty pickup trucks into something larger than life. Armies of Twitter bots twisted small, one-sided skirmishes into significant battlefield victories. Hashtags were created and pushed (and others hijacked) to shape and hype the story. Through this fusion of activities, isis stumbled |
health authority that suggested it would deny non-life-threatening surgery to the obese and smokers has said it will put its proposals on hold.
The plans by Vale of York clinical commissioning group (CCG) could have meant that patients who exceed a body mass index (BMI) of 30 would face delays in receiving some NHS surgery for up to a year.
Leading medics have warned it could become part of a growing trend in hospitals that could result in overweight patients being denied elective medical procedures in a bid to cut costs.
The restrictions were described as the “most severe” policy the modern NHS has seen by the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS).
But the North Yorkshire authority said it had been asked to review the plans by NHS England. It said in a statement: “NHS England has today asked us to review the draft approach, which we will now do, and will hold off implementing anything until we have an agreed way forward.
“We will ensure any plans are implemented in line with national guidance, are in the best interests of our patients and are clinically robust.”
A spokesman for NHS England said denying operations to a particular group – such as smokers – was “inconsistent” with the NHS constitution.
“Major surgery poses much higher risks for severely overweight patients who smoke. So local GP-led clinical commissioning groups are entirely right to ensure these patients first get support to lose weight and try and stop smoking before their hip or knee operation.
“Reducing obesity and cutting smoking not only benefit patients, but saves the NHS and taxpayers millions of pounds.
“This does not and cannot mean blanket bans on particular patients such as smokers getting operations, which would be inconsistent with the NHS constitution.
“Vale of York CCG is currently under special measures legal direction, and NHS England is today asking it to review its proposed approach before it takes effect to ensure it is proportionate, clinically reasonable and consistent with applicable national clinical guidelines.”
The report by the CCG said obese patients may secure a referral in less than a year if they shed 10% of their weight. Similarly, if smokers refuse to quit they faced having procedures delayed for up to six months, which can be accelerated if they quit their habit for eight weeks.
News of the proposed rationing sparked criticism from the former health minister Norman Lamb, who said it was “outrageous”.
NHS Providers, which represents NHS leaders, said similar proposals were likely to follow in future.
A spokesman said a number of considerations are taken by health services as well as costs when considering the decision to operate, but added: “However, given that we are in the middle of the longest and deepest financial squeeze in the NHS’s history, we are likely to see more decisions like this in future.”
In April, the RCS found almost a third of CCGs have one or more mandatory policies on BMI level, stopping overweight or obese patients being referred for routine surgery. Cancer patients are not included within the scope of such policies.
Body mass index, which relates to a person’s weight and height, is used by experts to define overweight and obese limits.
Those with a BMI of 30 to 35 and above are said to be moderately obese, while someone whose BMI is higher than 40 is classified as severely obese.
The president of the RCS, Clare Marx, said: “The policies being introduced by Vale of York CCG are some of the most severe the modern NHS has ever seen.
“We would support any attempts by Vale of York to expand its weight-loss and smoking-cessation programmes, but introducing blanket bans that delay patients’ access to what can be life-changing surgery for up to a year is wrong.”
Lamb, a Liberal Democrat who served as minister of state for care and support in the Department of Health between 2012 and 2015, said: “Any rationing not based on clinical need is outrageous. But it is caused by the Conservative government persisting with plans to reduce the share of our national income spent on the NHS.”(AP) WASHINGTON At the end of August, President Obama had about $88.8 million to spend on the final months of the campaign, nearly twice as much as Republican rival Mitt Romney, according to campaign fundraising reports released Thursday.
While Romney's report showed he had $50.4 million to spend as of Aug. 31, he also owed $15 million on a $20 million loan taken that month.
The loan helped Romney pay for mailings, staff salaries and TV advertising and it helped his finances appear healthier on paper. It also boosted his cash-on-hand total from $35.4 million a number that's closer to a third of Mr. Obama's haul.
Full coverage: Election 2012
While Romney raised about $66.6 million in August to Mr. Obama's $84.7 million, the $20 million loan boosts Romney's total receipts to $86.6 million, slightly higher than his Democratic opponent's take.
Both Romney and Mr. Obama spent about as much as they raised during the month of August. Romney spent about $66.4 million, while Mr. Obama spent about $83.7 million.
Romney and the Republican Party raised more than $111 million combined. That was less than Mr. Obama and the Democrats, who raised more than $114 million.
Romney took out a $20 million loan in late August, in the days before his campaign had access to funds they had raised for the general election, because he was not yet the official nominee. He used general election money as collateral for the loan.
The new report shows he paid back $5 million before the end of August. The campaign said it had paid back an additional $4 million in September, although that data won't be publicly recorded until next month.0 Shares
by Chris Black
This year seems to end on a very interesting note. We just got word that a Federal Elections Committee complaint was filed by the Committee to Defend the President against the Hillary Victory Fund (HVF), also known as Hillary Clinton’s campaign organization, but that’s not all. The complaint also mentions state Democratic parties, the Democratic National Committee and a number of DEM mega donors. The ironically named Hillary Victory Fund asked for six figure donations from Democratic donors and then routed the cash through state parties in a money laundering scheme of sorts. Finally, the money ended up into Hillary Clinton’s campaign coffers. Speaking of corruption and embezzlement, this is as good as it gets, but we’ve expected nothing less from the Clinton Crime Family, right?
Now, getting back to our story, it was estimated that approximately 84 million dollars have been laundered by the Democrats in what has been described as the single largest campaign finance scandal in our history.
The complaint filed by the Committee to Defend the President claims that various accounting tricks were used in order to launder the money, and during this operation, US fundraising laws have been violated. Moreover, in late October, the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s campaign were also served a Federal Elections Committee complaint for hiding payment for the now discredited and spurious Russia so-called dossier, the opposition research file that was used against the Donald during the 2016 campaign. Here’s a quote from Investor’s Business Daily:
“Here’s what you can’t do, which the Clinton machine appeared to do anyway. As the Supreme Court made clear in McCutcheon v. FEC, the JFC may not solicit or accept contributions to circumvent base limits, through “earmarks” and “straw men” that are ultimately excessive — there are five separate prohibitions here. On top of that, six-figure donations either never actually passed through state party accounts or were never actually under state party control, which adds false FEC reporting by HVF, state parties, and the DNC to the laundry list. […] HVF bundled these megagifts and, on a single day, reported transferring money to all participating state parties, some of which would then show up on FEC reports filed by the DNC as transferring the exact same dollar amount on the exact same day to the DNC. Yet not all the state parties reported either receiving or transferring those sums.”
And at the very time she was doing this, Dinesh D’Souza was serving a jail sentence and/or probation for giving a cousin a $25,000 contribution. Prosecuted by this very administration.
I wonder what Paul Manafort thinks about Tony Podesta, who is still walking around free with his millions safely in his bank account. I think we have a two-tiered justice system. One for powerful Democrats and another for Republicans.
Podesta has probably been indicted in secret Grand Jury fashion. You know why Manafort’s house was raided and he was publicly arrested? He worked for Trump. Podesta didn’t.
There is nothing like a smear. Nothing in this world.
It was reported that over 90% of federal government employees donated to Hillary Clinton’s campaign. I’d imagine the same ratio of DOJ and FBI employees did the same. So, even if Trump and Sessions did have a secret investigation going on, how can they be sure that it’s not another Hillary email cover-up instead of a legitimate investigation?
After all, the FBI agents involved in Tarmac Gate willingly signed non-disclosure agreements. Was it because their jobs and/or well being was threatened? Or did they just do it on their own free will?
I don’t believe either of those choices are the kind of agents our we need in our FBI.
Besides, look at what Comey and Holder have been propping up and calling integrity. Mueller, McCabe, Baker and even Comey himself have been said to have the highest integrity, even though they’ve all been exposed as corrupt, lawless and liars who are involved in a conspiracy aimed at removing President Trump from office.
Eight of the major players involved have been removed from their positions, but new names keep popping up all the time. There are probably dozens, if not hundreds more of upper level jobs at the DOJ and FBI that are occupied by never-Trumpers/leftist Democrats.
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Related Posts:Image caption Counting the number of children will be a key issue
The Chinese authorities are about to begin the country's first national census in 10 years.
More than six million workers have been hired for the huge task in the world's most populous country.
The authorities hope the census will clarify the number of migrant workers, which by some estimates is said to be more than 200 million.
Earlier this year, in a keynote speech, Premier Wen Jiabao said migrant workers needed better treatment.
One-child policy
The census is a mammoth undertaking - to account for every individual in a country with a population of more than 1.3 billion.
But that is the task facing the millions of census workers as they fan out across China.
The biggest challenge will be documenting migrant workers, who often have no fixed address.
In recent years tens of millions of Chinese have moved from the countryside to the cities in search of work.
But many of these workers have been marginalised and denied services.
It is also hoped that the census will reveal how many children there are in China, which is generally under-reported.
Because of the country's population controls, and the one-child policy, people often do not register extra children.
But the authorities now say that the penalties will be smaller if families come clean during the census.
And for the poorest families, they will be allowed to pay any fines through instalments.That didn’t last very long, did it? Eight minutes into yesterday’s game at Old Trafford, Manchester United split open Tottenham’s midfield with a move that was capped off by a clinical left-footed finish from Marouane Fellaini. (Yes, you read that right.) It was the first step in a comfortable 3-0 rout that both solidified the Red Devils’ hold on fourth and most likely ended any realistic chance that Spurs had of challenging for the Champions League.
The goal was simple — three straight-passes and a shot — but the way Spurs allowed it to happen is indicative of two larger ideas: (1) how hard it can be to press effectively, and (2) how the nebulous concept of “midfield movement” can change games.
When the play starts, there’s very little danger for Spurs. Center back Phil Jones has the ball and is about to play it out to left back Daley Blind. What’s notable at this point is the positioning of both teams: With their defensive line situated well up the field, it sure seems like Spurs — at once narrow and compressed — want to press the ball. At the same time, United’s attackers remain extremely high up the pitch. Wayne Rooney, Ashley Young, and Juan Mata are all playing right on the edge of Tottenham’s defensive line, and Fellaini drifts forward to join them. None of those four players moves back toward the ball to receive a pass.
The factors behind Tottenham’s capitulation are twofold. First, Nacer Chadli moves to double-team Blind — a perfectly normal decision within a pressing team. When the ball goes to the sideline, teams use the boundary as an extra defender and try to force their opponent to move the ball backward. Of course, this is in contrast to how a more conservative team would deal with the situation: Most likely, Chadli would drop into a defensive position deeper in his own territory. And second, Spurs midfielder Ryan Mason moves with Fellaini as the big Belgian drifts into a wider, more advanced attacking position — also a justifiable decision on its own. Fellaini is frequently the target of long balls that initiate attacks, and with Young and Rooney already occupying defenders, the man with the ’fro needs to be picked up.
When both of these things happen at once, though, Spurs have a problem. Mason moving backward and Chadli moving forward opens a gaping hole in the midfield. Michael Carrick recognizes this and quickly darts forward into the vacated area. Mason charges forward hopelessly late — and the rest is history.
Usually, this moment never develops. Usually, Blind swings the ball backward under pressure, either returning it to Jones or dropping it even deeper to keeper David De Gea. Anticipating this, a midfielder like Carrick usually, instead of darting forward, drifts backward so that he can drop between the two center backs and make himself a passing target for the keeper.
Instead, the play happens because Blind and Carrick both recognized an opportunity to break the first line of Spurs’ pressing. Carrick makes a clever run that is deceptively difficult to time well. Had he left before Chadli committed to doubling Blind, the attacker would have just stuck with Carrick and tracked his run. Had he left too late, Chadli and Andros Townsend would have already closed down the passing lane. Meanwhile, a worse ball from Blind would break United’s momentum: too heavy and Mason would be able to contest Carrick as he received it, too soft and the pass to Fellaini would have become longer and harder to execute.
For a United team that has been extremely conservative all year long, going too often for the safe option, the decision by Carrick and Blind to be proactive is an excellent sign.
Even still, Spurs made it too easy for United. One of the dangers of pressing the ball aggressively is that it shrinks a team’s margin for error. Once the first line of the press is broken, defensive responsibilities have to change. From the outside, it’s hard to know what’s supposed to happen here — whether right back Kyle Walker should abandon Young and crash inside, inviting Carrick to pass the ball wide, or whether center back Eric Dier should move earlier and more aggressively to Fellaini and leave his partner Jan Vertonghen one-against-one with Rooney in the middle — but the fallback plan certainly wasn’t for Mason to charge toward Carrick woefully late, leaving the United midfielder with plenty of time to pick out a wide-open Fellaini, who could then turn and shoot without being bothered by a later-arriving Eric Dier.
Beyond the immediate takeaways, Fellaini’s goal also shows just how difficult midfield battles are to quantify. If Carrick hadn’t made that run, no one would have noticed. If Chadli had managed to force Blind backward, he wouldn’t have been awarded with making a goal-saving play. Over the course of a season, though, these small moments start to add up.
Sadly for Spurs, situations like the one Carrick took advantage of have been all too common. Time after time, their midfield has failed to stop attacks that progress right through the center. Slow reactions and late rotations have led to a continuous stream of good scoring opportunities that will ultimately keep them from seriously challenging for a top-four place.
The surprise on Sunday, then, wasn’t that the opportunity to break forward was there for United, but rather that they found a way to take advantage of it. If Louis van Gaal’s men can continue to be more incisive with their passing and their movement, then they have an excellent chance of returning to the Champions League. Just don’t expect it to be as easy as it was yesterday.WASHINGTON (AP) _ Waving a stuffed ″Spuds MacKenzie″ doll in the Senate chamber, Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., accused the alcohol beverage industry Friday of encouraging drinking among youngsters and reneging on a promise to warn them about the dangers of alcoholism.
Thurmond, 84, a teetotaler who abstains even from coffee and soft drinks, cited the Spuds MacKenzie promotional campaign by Anheuser-Busch for its Bud Light beer as an example of advertisements that ″glamorize the use of alcohol″ among young people.
Flanked by blown-up advertising posters featuring the popular bull terrier who is dubbed the ″original party animal,″ Thurmond said in a floor speech that Anheuser-Busch has dismissed critics’ demands that the brewery halt its Spuds MacKenzie campaign.
Instead, Thurmond said, manufacturers are gearing for heavy Christmas sales of Spuds MacKenzie toys, posters and T-shirts for youngsters.
″Is this the kind of responsibility which we can expect from the alcohol beverage industry in the future?″ Thurmond asked. ″If so, I think we in Congress should get to work on some major policy changes.
″I am fully cognizant of the free-speech rights of the alcohol beverage industry. However, what is the cost to society of this freedom to advocate unlawful teen-age drinking?″ he asked.
Thurmond quoted Michael Roarty, executive vice president of Anheuser-Busch, as saying Spuds MacKenzie was created to promote Bud Light only for those ″old enough to drink.″
But the senator said the stuffed animals, children’s toys and T-shirts small enough to fit 12-year-olds ″indicate the real purpose of this campaign.″
Stephen K. Lambright, vice president and group executive of Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. in St. Louis, said Spuds MacKenzie is ″designed to sell beer only to those above the legal minimum age of consumption.″ He said Anheuser-Busch takes pains to avoid offending those customers ″by appearing to market to their children.″
Lambright said the popularity of the Spuds character has spawned many unauthorized products bearing its likeness. He said Anheuser-Busch is ″making strong legal efforts″ to have them removed from the market.
The senator said added evidence of the industry’s ″lack of responsibility″ is seen in advertising that gives the impression that wine coolers, a blend of wine and carbonated fruit juice containing as much as 6 percent alcohol, are actually soft drinks.
″I am not confident in the voluntary efforts of the alcohol beverage industry to increase public awareness of the hazards of alcohol abuse,″ Thurmond said. ″With 12-year-olds drinking wine coolers and wearing ‘Spuds MacKenzie’ T-shirts, there is no basis for such confidence.″
Thurmond said his repeated efforts to win passage of a bill requiring health warning labels on alcohol beverages have failed because ″the full power of the alcohol beverage industry is exerted against it.″
″There is no stronger lobby in this nation than the alcohol beverage lobby,″ he said. ″However, today alcohol is the No. 1 drug of abuse in our country.″Denver’s historic safety-net hospital is scrambling to recover from a slew of doctor resignations.
Physicians heading the departments of medicine and surgery at Denver Health Medical Center left last year and have not yet been replaced. This month, three of its five neurosurgeons, including the chair, gave notice of their intent to leave April 1.
In addition, the chiefs of ophthalmology and oral surgery have left, along with six hospitalists — doctors who specialize in the medical care of hospital patients. The hospital also confirmed that Dr. Christopher Colwell, who heads emergency medicine, and Dr. Jeff Johnson, a top trauma surgeon, are leaving for other jobs.
The departures raised questions about Denver Health’s ability to continue operating as a Level I trauma center, one of only a few in Colorado. Current and former Denver Health doctors who spoke to The Denver Post also voiced concerns ranging from reduced operating room staffs to the hospital’s commitment to serving the needy and the state of its partnership with University of Colorado Hospital.
Some described the situation as a crisis, with a medical staff disconnected from the administration, a de-emphasis of academics and research and a growing emphasis on making money.
Responding to doctor concerns, the hospital administration recently implemented a series of changes, which included dismissing its chief clinical officer and agreeing not to change its physician compensation system.
Hospital chief Arthur Gonzalez offered assurances in a memo that the University of Colorado would provide neurosurgeons to Denver Health. Neurosurgery is vital to Denver Health’s ability to retain its Level I status.
“Denver Health is absolutely and unequivocally committed to its mission,” Gonzalez told The Post, adding that caring for the needy, education and research all belong to that mission.
He acknowledged, though, that the hospital “is going through immense change” because of the federal Affordable Care Act, which provided a Medicaid boost but may take money back from other sources, and potential losses in state payments to hospitals.
“For example, we are more focused on strategic direction, metrics and accountability than ever before in our 155-year history,” he said.
Denver Health is trying to make 4 percent more than it spends yearly to finance a $485 million capital plan, a challenge that Gonzalez said keeps him awake at night. “You’ve got to make some tough choices sometimes,” he said.
The doctors who resigned in the last eight months departed for varying reasons, and “it would be inaccurate to paint all of these people with the same broad brush,” he said.
One veteran physician said he believes Denver Health’s partnership with University Hospital is under strain — though officials at both hospitals say it remains strong.
Denver Health, which treated 222,687 patients last year, depends heavily on the help of medical residents from the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Those residents rely on Denver Health’s deep bench of experienced physicians, which has been thinned by departures.
Dr. Ernest Moore, a 40-year physician at Denver Health and its interim trauma medical director, said a loss of medical residents would have “devastating consequences.”
“You could not provide the level of patient care we have without the residents from the University of Colorado,” he said.
The risk for Denver Health, Moore said, is that the University system, which operates the Anschutz Medical Center in Aurora and has acquired other Front Range hospitals, no longer needs it as it once did.
That risk rises, he said, if Denver Health is seen as providing “a sub-optimal environment” for medical resident training.
Mark Couch, chief of staff for the University medical school, responded that the university remains committed to Denver Health, which has about 200 of its medical residents in various training programs there.
“We value that relationship and support their mission,” he said. “It’s a very important location for us.”
Gonzalez said maintaining a strong partnership with University is a top priority for Denver Health. “We have enjoyed a long history of collaboration, and that will not change,” he said.
Dr. Gregory Jurkovich, Denver Health’s former surgery chief, said neurosurgeons grew concerned about the safety of severely injured patients while he worked there — and they recently took those concerns to the university.
“I was told by them, by the neurosurgeons themselves,” he said.
Jurkovich was recruited by Moore and lasted 3 ½ years before leaving in what was called a voluntary separation.
He said Denver Health changed rapidly after Gonzalez replaced Dr. Patricia Gabow at the helm in 2012.
Dr. Ken Bellian, the hospital’s new chief clinical officer under Gonzalez, “told me I was not a team player in the direction Denver Health wanted to go. It was never explained to me what that meant,” Jurkovich said.
“I in the large part agreed with the efforts Denver Health was trying to make. I just didn’t like the way they were going about it,” he said. He found the administration “largely disrespectful of the clinicians, particularly those who were hospital-based.”
Many of the doctors who left or gave notice after Jurkovich departed had worked under his supervision.
“It’s challenging work,” Jurkovich said. “A largely indigent patient population, multiple languages, resource constraints.” For some, he said, “the ability to function in that environment just became too difficult with all those other constraints.”
Hospital administrators are taking steps to stop the bleeding.
The memo circulated about 10 days ago by Gonzalez and Dr. Bill Burman, president of the medical staff, announced “a decisive plan” to deal with recent events. It ended a controversial new payment plan for doctors.
Its elements also included neurosurgery coverage from the university, a promise to work with doctors “to reformulate the physician leadership structure at Denver Health” and to eliminate the job of Bellian, who had been given wide latitude to manage the hospital.
The memo blamed “problems inherent in the way that role was structured.”
Bellian declined to comment.
Colwell, who is leaving Denver Health for San Francisco General Hospital, said the medical staff went to Gonzalez to discuss “finding ways to work together and focusing on our mission and values,” including Bellian’s elevated authority. “Certainly a fair part of the staff wondered if that should be part of the structure,” he said.
He predicts Denver’s venerable hospital will emerge from its current challenges as a healthy institution.
“I think the future of Denver Health is very bright,” he said.
Moore said he is not worried that the hospital will change its fundamental mission of top-quality care for all.
But he said that scheduling surgeries has become an issue, particularly for patients who need more than one.
“That’s where the frustration arises,” he said. “One of the problem areas is access to the operating rooms for secondary operations.”
Gonzalez responded that “there has been no reduction in operating room space or capacity,” but “if we are inundated with trauma or urgent surgeries, elective surgeries sometimes have to be delayed or rescheduled.”
Hospital officials say they are close to hiring a new chief of surgery.
David Olinger: 303-954-1498, dolinger@denverpost.com or @dolingerdpnational
A cruiseliner chef, who had rushed back to India from Mexico after son's serious accident, beaten up, humiliated after argument with officer who stamped wrong date on passport
As the chef for a cruise liner, Kishore Shimpi was at sea, thousands of kilometres away, but when he heard about his son’s accident and head injury, he desperately began to look for a way to return to family’s side in Mumbai. Time was against him; he was at Mexico, but there was no direct flight to Mumbai from there, so he had to first go to Paris and then catch another flight. But what he could not have bargained for was the hours it would cost him to deal with the incompetence and the insensitive treatment he got at the hands of Immigrations officials.
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Kishore Shimpi
“My son met with an accident, and I was desperate to rush to him after landing at Mumbai airport, but instead I was assaulted, abused and detained for pointing out an error made by an immigration staff at the counter,” said the 43-year-old.
Kishore Shimpi’s passport shows how the immigration officer wrongly stamped his passport with February 28 as the date of entry instead of March 1
On March 1, his flight from Paris (Jet Airways flight 9W 123) arrived at 8.15 am and he rushed towards the immigrations section to finish the formalities and leave the airport. But in his distracted state of mind, Shimpi did not notice that the official had wrongly stamped his passport with February 28 as the date of entry.
Read Story: 23-year-old thrashed by five cops for playing cricket
19-year-old Tushar met with an accident on his bike. He was not wearing a helmet and sustained serious head injuries. He has now been moved out of the ICCU
“I was the first to leave the airplane the moment it reached Mumbai airport and I ran towards the immigration area for the required clearance. It had been a long journey for me without any break, and I was completely exhausted,” he recalled.
It was only when he went forward towards the exit point that another Immigrations staffer pointed out the error. Shimpi was asked to go back to the same counter and ask for the correct stamp. And he wasn’t the only one facing this problem.
“There were four or five more passengers who had also gone to the same counter number 21, and they too had the same problem. The senior immigration officer asked all of us to go back to the Counter number 21 and get the correct date stamp affixed, and the officer even asked a junior to escort us there,” said Shimpi.
They went back to Counter Number 21, where Immigrations Constable Deepak Chavan had affixed the wrong stamp. But to Shimpi’s dismay, the junior staffer began to joke with Chavan. The junior told the counter in-charge to change the date and quipped that it was not February 28 but February 2. That’s when Shimpi lost his temper.
“I said in Marathi, ‘Kay re zopa kadtai ka tumhi lok (Are you guys dozing?), today is March 1’. On hearing this, the immigration staffer left his counter, came towards me in a fit of rage and screamed, ‘Koop mota jalas ka tu baher gaavi javun (Have you become too big after visiting foreign country),” Shimpi recounted.
Also Read: Mumbai man brutally beaten up for trying to save tree
From this point on, the row kept getting uglier, soon turning into fisticuffs. Shimpi alleged that other immigration staffers turned up and held him, after which Chavan was easily able to land punches on him. “I was abused, beaten up and humiliated by the immigration staffer like I was a third-grade criminal,” he told mid-day.
After a while, few armed CISF personnel escorted Shimpi to their office. “I pleaded with them to release me; asked them to keep my passport but allow me to go to my son in hospital, but my request went unheard. By then, I had already wasted two and half hours after landing,” said Shimpi.
An airport doctor was summoned to examine whether he was under the influence of alcohol, and Shimpi was certified sober. Then some immigration staffers took him to the senior officer’s cabin. There, the CCTV footage from the incident was reviewed and Shimpi was found in the clear.
“After seeing that there had been a lapse on the part of his junior colleague, the senior officer asked me to forget what had happened and assured disciplinary action against the errant staffer. But hours of my time had been wasted, so I submitted a written complaint to the senior, who returned my passport to me with the right date stamp. I also registered an non-cognisable complaint against the staffer at Sahar police station,” said Shimpi.
Shimpi could finally leave the airport after noon, and rushed to the hospital in Kalyan, where he learnt that his 19-year-old son, Tushar, had been brought out of the ICCU. However, he had received serious head injuries, including a clot in the brain, after falling off a motorbike. “He is yet to respond and we are praying for his speedy recovery, said Shimpi.
Hours after his complaint, Immigrations officials went to the police station to lodge a cross-complaint, but this time, the cops registered an FIR.
An official from Sahar police station said, “After the passenger registered an NC and left, the Immigration officials came to register FIR against the passenger around 4 pm. An FIR was registered against the passenger under IPC Sections 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and 504 (intentional insult).”
Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Suresh Vedak confirmed the FIR, while other cops said they would have to view the CCTV footage to determine what had happened. Shimpi is more worried about his son than the FIR.
“I was not aware of the FIR but I was the first to lodge a complaint. My priority is to be with my son. I have done no wrong, all the facts are in the CCTV footage. The immigration staffer had no reason to leave the counter and abuse a passenger,” he added.Plano, Texas based 3rd Eye Surveillance and Baltimore based Discovery Patents have filed an infringement lawsuit against the U.S. federal government seeking damages of more than $1 billion for unlawful use of the company’s three video and image surveillance patents, two of which covered voice and facial recognition software.
The lawsuit claims that James Otis Faulkner, the founder of Discovery Patents, invented the surveillance system patents in 2002 to improve residential and commercial security alarm systems as well as protect people and property from potential emergencies.
“I originally invented and patented the real-time surveillance systems following September 11 to help connect multiple databases and allow law enforcement to assess potentially life-threatening situations in real time before acting,” said Faulkner, inventor and patent holder. “The intent of these patents was to save money and lives.”
Faulkner’s invention includes the method of transmitting real-time surveillance video and images to emergency workers via a communications link, as well as two subsequent patents that were issued to cover voice and facial recognition software.
The three patents allow the government to provide real-time surveillance video, audio recognition, facial recognition and infrared images to emergency responders and defense agencies.
“We are thrilled our system has been widely adopted and so helpful for the government, but exploiting these patents without a license cripples our ability to survive as a small business,” said Offie Wiseman, co-owner of 3rd Eye Surveillance, which is the exclusive licensee of Faulkner’s three patents.
The lawsuit identifies the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice, National Security Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Strategic Command, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and other large government agencies among the patent infringers.
The litigation relates to the surveillance used to monitor secure areas for real-time threat assessments, including safeguarding government assets and officials, public locations and monitoring space from ground level.
Faulkner filed patent applications for the technologies on July 8, 2002, and was subsequently issued the voice and facial recognition patents on September 28, 2004 and Jan. 29, 2008 respectively.
He then negotiated exclusive licensing rights of the three patents to 3rd Eye Surveillance in 2012.
The government has yet to respond.
Article Topics
biometrics | lawsuit | patents | U.S. GovernmentLaunch Gallery Expand Libyan government forces have also placed the T-AB-1 landmine in Misrata. The T-AB-1 plastic antipersonnel mine has a low metal content and is therefore difficult to detect. © 2011 Human Rights Watch
(Cairo) - Libyan government forces placed more than 150 antipersonnel landmines in at least one location in the Nafusa Mountains, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch visited the site, inspected mines that had been removed, and interviewed the rebel fighters who removed them.
"These antipersonnel landmines pose a huge threat to civilians," said Steve Goose, arms director at Human Rights Watch. "More than 150 countries have banned landmines, but Libya continues to defy this global trend."
Human Rights Watch has confirmed government use of five types of landmines in six separate locations in Libya, including the use of antipersonnel and antivehicle landmines near Ajdabiya.
This is the first confirmed use of landmines in the Nafusa Mountains, in the far western part of Libya.
The mines found in the mountains are a Brazilian-made antipersonnel mine, the T-AB-1. The mines were placed about 10 miles north of the town of Zintan in a place called Khusha (coordinates N 32º 02.448', E 012º 12.710'), apparently to defend government positions further north.
The T-AB-1 plastic antipersonnel mine has a low metal content and is therefore difficult to detect once placed, Human Rights Watch said. In addition to its antipersonnel properties, the T-AB-1 can be used as a fuze for an antivehicle mine with the same name.
When Libyan government forces placed the antipersonnel landmines remains unclear. Armed opposition forces in the Nafusa Mountains said that rebel fighters discovered the mines on or around June 1, 2011, and removed 169 of them. Human Rights Watch inspected the disassembled mines in Zintan.
The de facto opposition authority in Libya, the National Transitional Council, formally pledged on April 28 not to use antipersonnel and antivehicle landmines, and to destroy all landmines in its possession.
"We hope the rebels will respect their promise not to use landmines and will destroy all mines in their possession," Goose said.
Government forces have placed T-AB-1 antipersonnel landmines in other areas during the conflict. In May, researchers from Amnesty International documented the use of the mine at two places in the Tammina neighborhood of Misrata, a residential area southeast of the city's center.
Libya is one of 37 nations that have not joined the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty. A total of 156 nations are parties to the treaty, and another two have signed but not yet ratified.
Brazil signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997 and became a State Party on 1 October 1999. Brazil ceased production and export of antipersonnel landmines in 1989. It has never used antipersonnel mines.
The Mine Ban Treaty comprehensively bans the use, production, and transfer of all antipersonnel mines, requires destruction of stockpiles within four years and clearance of mined areas within 10 years, and calls for assistance to landmine victims. In recent years, the only government forces that have continued to lay ant |
Ii9wd</a> —@FloraTPan Egan said 150 instruments are "a good start" but the library is also running a community drive for instruments over the next month. People can contact the library for details on how to donate and donations will be accepted at Long and McQuade in Waterloo and at the Waterloo Jazz Festival July 21 to 23.
'It will change lives'
Canadian musician and Blue Rodeo frontman Jim Cuddy was on hand for the announcement.
He said musical education in school is "endangered" and a program like this will help spark musical creativity in young people.
"A program like this that will allow kids to just try something, maybe [they] want to try an electric guitar," Cuddy said.
"There's a great joy in being able to just grab an instrument and take it home and be in your bedroom and listen to it talk to you for a little while."
Cuddy added the program will go on for years as the instruments will last 25 years or more.
"This program can go on and on, and who knows how many lives it will change, but it will change lives," he said.But Mr Hall did admit to a few pangs when he put the restaurant on the market in February. "Of course there's always that, but then again so many people reinvent themselves and their life, get a new career and I think it's time for me to join that gang and do something new and different with my life," he said. "Otherwise you just, you know, get stale." Over the decades many luminaries have passed through the Kookaburra Café's modest doors, including Hollywood legend Katharine Hepburn, Tony Greig and Wally Lewis. Even '90s superstars Nirvana paid a visit during their only Australian tour in 1992.
"They were fine, no worries at all," he said. "They just came in, had some pizza, stayed there for a couple of hours and drank lots of beer, from memory." Mr Hall has also supplied pizzas to Taylor Swift, Beyonce and Jay-Z when they were in Brisbane. "They didn't come to the restaurant, but they certainly got my pizzas when they were in town," he said. While Mr Hall said the capricciosa was the most popular pizza among the Kookaburra Café's patrons, the one he was particularly proud of was the unusual mix of bacon, banana and chilli.
"I invented that about 20 years ago, well I stole it off a toasted bacon and banana sandwich," he said. "That's been a bit of a highlight and subject to a lot of laughter and mirth until people actually try it, and then they're hooked." Mr Hall said he was selling the site business and all, but conceded it was unlikely the old-style charm of the Kookaburra Café would last under new ownership. "I've got a few people who are interested in buying the name and my client list, so it's very likely it could resurrect somewhere in the area under new management," he said. "Hopefully they might just take it on as the Kookaburra Café as it is."
A couple of generations of Mr Hall's inner-west clientele would agree. "We're into the second generation of them now," he said. "We had a lot of students and young people 30 years ago, who I didn't see for years and now they all come back with their own children. "I'm seeing a lot of people re-emerging from their shell." And given the menu "hasn't really changed in 30 years", according to Mr Hall those customers would have known exactly what they were in for.
But Mr Hall was not one for sentimentality and was confident he was making the right choice. "Life should have a lot of variety to it," he said. "I'm 68 now, so I've only got another 32 years to do my other career." Mr Hall said there had been "quite a lot of interest" in the site, at 280 Given Terrace, but the offers had not quite reached what he was after. "I'm hoping for 1.9 to 2 million (dollars) and I'm not quite getting that, so I'm just holding out for a better price," he said.
In the meantime, the Kookaburra Café's pizza oven will be running hot. Think this story is delicious? Like the Brisbane Times Facebook page.Image copyright Alamy Image caption Boris Johnson approved the purchase of three cannon without the Home Office's approval
The use of water cannon on the streets of Britain has been backed by the prime minister.
A Number 10 spokesman said David Cameron believed the police should have the resources they wanted.
On Tuesday, it emerged London Mayor Boris Johnson authorised the Metropolitan Police to buy three cannon for £218,000.
The water cannon will not be deployed until the home secretary authorises their use in England and Wales.
A Number 10 spokesman said the prime minister supported the decision in principle.
Stand in front
Number 10 said there was still "a process of licensing and regulation to be completed and a final decision will be taken by the home secretary".
Speaking at Mayor's Question Time at city Hall, Mr Johnson said: "My view is we need to get on and equip the police with the water cannon they need, or might need."
Talking on LBC radio earlier, he said: "I'm entirely prepared to do anything to show that they're safe within reason.
"I'm not quite sure whether I want to stand in front of a water cannon....[but] if it will really make you happy I will investigate the whys and wherefores whether I can stand in front of a water cannon.
"I suppose I'm going to have to do it now."
In a statement, the mayor's office said purchasing the cannon now for just over £218,000, before Theresa May approves them, meant they could be bought at a "considerably reduced rate".
The cannon will be purchased for £30,000 each plus an additional £127,000 for them to be made "fit for purpose" for use in London, as opposed to the cost of a single new one at £870,000.
Mr Johnson said: "I think it's highly likely approval will be granted and the problem was if we waited we would have missed the window to buy them for the very good price that we've got."Coming Soon
I Am Not Okay With This
A teen navigates the complexities of high school, family and her sexuality while dealing with new superpowers. Based on Charles Forsman's graphic novel.
The Panama Papers
The true story of two journalists whose work set off an international firestorm by revealing how easily the wealthy hid billions of dollars offshore.
Spectros
A teenage boy and his friends get caught in a clash between Brazilian witchcraft and Japanese Shinto spirits in their neighborhood.
Turn Up Charlie
A down-and-out DJ plots to rebuild his music career while working as a nanny for his famous best friend's wild 11-year-old daughter.
Rilakkuma and Kaoru
Kaoru's unexpected new roommate is Rilakkuma, a bear with a zipper on its back that spends each day just lazing around -- but is impossible to hate.
Green Eggs and Ham
Opposites Guy and Sam take a road trip to save an endangered animal, learning to try new things like hope, friendship, and a certain delectable dish.
Osmosis
In Paris of the near future, a dating app matches singles with their soul mates by mining their brain data. But decoding true love comes at a price.
7SEEDS
Natsu awakens to a post-apocalyptic world, only to learn that she’d been cryogenically frozen as part of a program to ensure the survival of humanity.Toyota has unveiled the first mass-market hydrogen fuel cell car, which will start selling in Japan next month and in the US and Europe in 2015.
The four-door sedan, called the Mirai, which means future in Japanese, will emit only water vapor, but it’s not cheap at 6.7 million yen ($57,000). It’s designed for a niche market and Toyota is only expecting to sell 400 of them next year.
Although by the end of 2017, Toyota hopes to have sold 3,000 of them in the US and about 100 per year in Europe.
Toyota, the world’s biggest carmaker, is hoping to make “tens of thousands” of units over the next decade.
The Mirai will be capable of travelling up to 650 kilometers without refueling, three times further than a traditional electric car, while its hydrogen tanks can be filled up in a few minutes like petrol or diesel vehicles so there is no need for a lengthy recharging of batteries. The vehicle emits no exhaust fumes, although fossil fuels are used to produce hydrogen and then to compress it.
Mitsushisa Kato, executive vice president of Toyota, said that Mirai marks a milestone in motoring technology.
"Mirai symbolizes two major innovations. First, this is an innovative way to solve global environmental and energy problems... and second, this innovation will help usher in a hydrogen-based society," he said at a presentation in Tokyo on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda said in a video message on the company’s website: “We are at a turning point in the automotive industry.”
Fuel cells cars like the Mirai are powered by hydrogen and oxygen and produce only water vapor as a byproduct.
It is the Japanese that are the world leaders in the green car sector, including Honda and Nissan. The country’s seven car manufacturers are reportedly planning to spend up to $24 billion in research in the field this year alone.
Honda, one of Toyota’s biggest rivals, also aims to launch a commercial fuel cell vehicle in March 2016. Honda already makes the FCX Clarity, a fuel cell car produced on a small scale for a few markets.
Toyota says it will attempt to bring the price down for hydrogen-powered vehicles and up the number of hydrogen refueling stations to 100 next year. At the moment there only a few dozen hydrogen filling stations in the world, found in developed countries.
Toyota already produces the fast-selling and successful Prius, a petrol-electric hybrid, which has already sold over 3 million units since its introduction in 1997.
“It was a big challenge when we first introduced the Prius, or hybrid car, in 1997. And it’s an even bigger challenge this time because there is no infrastructure, and we’re trying to lead,” said Yoshikazu Tanaku, the deputy chief engineer for Toyota’s next generation vehicle department, The Guardian reported.There has been a great deal of attention surrounding Ferrari's floor since the start of the season, when video emerged showing parts fluttering at speed. There were other suggestions that the rear of the floor was also bending at high speed.
Some believed this behaviour was aimed at trying to seal the floor, in a bid to perhaps create a ground effect to help improve the car's performance in high-speed corners.
There were other theories that the fluttering was intended to create an airflow barrier to disturb any turbulence that could affect downforce-generating parts further back on the car.
Ferrari strongly denied any suggestion of wrongdoing, and its car passed all checks laid down by the FIA, but modifications were made in China where the team created a lip on the upper surface of the floor – shaped like a butterfly's wing.
Ferrari SF70H floor detail Photo by: LAT Images
This extra element was understood to help on two fronts – adding some much-needed rigidity amid the intrigue over the flexing, plus producing an aerodynamic effect.
For the Austrian Grand Prix, however, the more forward slot that forms a key part of this area of the car has been closed – and a metal insert added to increase rigidity.
These notable modifications should move to erase question marks about possible flexing of the floor – but it will be interesting to see if they have any impact on the car's performance on a track where aerodynamic efficiency plays a greater part than recent races.Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII Demo And Wacky Moogle Costume Out Now
By Spencer. November 26, 2013. 12:39am
Square Enix just released the Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII demo from E3 and PAX Prime as a download in Japan. Players will get to try the single character combat system and fight Zaltys, a dragon boss Lightning faces early in the game. The demo also has the Outworld feature so you can post sceenshots like your battle scores on Twitter and Facebook.
The demo also has a special costume. If you have a Japanese PSN account you can download the Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII demo now. It’s available on Xbox 360 as well, but only for Japanese gold accounts. It will be available for Silver Members in Japan starting on December 3.
And if you have Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII you can purchase additional costumes like the Loveable Moogle Style. This outfit comes with the Moogle Queen garb, Moogle Stick weapon, and Moogle Shield. I wonder if any Moogles were harmed making this…
The Holy Asgard set includes Cosmo Curator garb, Crocea Mors weapon, and Abyss Gate shield.
The Ultimate Liberator set includes Celestial garb plus Final Fantasy staples like the Excalibur sword and Aegis Shield.
Each costume is 400 yen ($4) or you can get all three for 1,000 yen ($10). Square Enix will release two more costume collections for Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, one on December 17 and another on February 16, 2014. We’ll have to wait until the game comes out on February 11, 2014 before any of these DLC packs come out.What does it mean to support Israel? What does it mean to support Australia? Here, we understand perfectly well that there are many ways to support Australia – one can make any number of contributions, in any number of fields, which can make it a better place.
People whose occupational or financial interests are tied up with a particular government or its policies may wish to obscure this point, and will try to insist that opposing their particular aspects of the status quo is a form of opposing the entire country.
They are wrong, and we would usually recognise this freely.
Take, for example, the case of Paul Hasluck, the Commonwealth Minister for Territories from 1951-63, and later Governor General.
He complained about the activists for Aboriginal rights who “helped to bring about the situation in which so much of the public discussion concentrated on Australia's shameful record instead of on Australia's attempt to do something better in the future.”
They were the “self-hating Australians” of their time – and it is not hard to think of others. They compared Australia to apartheid South Africa, and complained about Australia to international forums.
Their actions helped make Australia a better place, though they may have made it a worse place for politicians who were determined to oppose any mitigation of the oppression of the Indigenous peoples of Australia.
This point extends to Israel and the Palestinians. There are many people in Australia who consider themselves “supporters of Israel”.
Yet they do not support it in any meaningful sense. Their support consists of endorsing Israeli attacks on Palestinians.
Whilst most of the strongest “supporters” of Israel undoubtedly come from within the Jewish community in Australia, it is striking that, in conversations with many of these passionate defenders of Israel, many of them are strangely ignorant about Israel.
People who love Israel enough to say that its army is the most moral in the world, do not appear to love it enough to pick up a book and read about its history, or even to follow the news in the Israeli media.
When the spokesperson for the Israeli Prime Minister, Mark Regev says that Israel’s blockade on Gaza is purely for security reasons, this is taken as uncontroversial, axiomatic truth.
It is rather as though someone were to pose as a passionate supporter of Australia, simply because they got all their beliefs and deeply held convictions from the professional spokespeople of Australian governments.
Whether Tony Abbott, Julia Gillard or Kevin Rudd, it was all to be regarded as gospel truth. If such a person existed, they would be called a lot of things, but I doubt “supporter of Australia” would be one of them.
A Gisha survey was conducted of Jewish Israelis on the subject of the siege on Gaza in June 2008.
Thirty-two per cent believed the blockade was for security reasons – most thought it was to punish the residents of Gaza, or to pressure Hamas to change its policies.
Seventy-nine per cent thought it “primarily affects the civilian population”, and 60 per cent agreed it was likely to cause Gazans to turn towards Islamic extremism. Sixty-seven per cent thought it hurt Israel’s standing in the world, and 83 per cent thought that it had made Hamas stronger.
On the factual questions, the Israeli public is not stupid. It understands reasonably well the point of the blockade, and it understands that it has not helped achieve Israeli goals, and has harmed the civilian population of Gaza.
But then there was a disturbing moral question: "Pressure on the civilian population of Gaza, including, for example, preventing medical care for seriously ill patients who need to leave to receive medical treatment, is justified if it weakens Hamas."
Forty-eight per cent agreed, 49 per cent disagreed. The Israeli Jewish public was basically evenly divided over whether or not it was okay to cause suffering to the civilian population of Gaza.
Seventy-six per cent agreed that they deserve human rights – but clearly, not all human rights. Thirty-eight per cent also thought that those who supported human rights for Palestinians “are against Israel”.
The survey went on: “Because of the closure on Gaza, the price of bread and basic goods there has risen drastically, 95 per cent of industry in Gaza is paralysed, the middle class has collapsed and patients are unable to leave for medical treatment. These side-effects are justified, if the security of Israeli citizens improves.”
Sixty-three per cent agreed.
“The closure creates hardships for the residents and drives them to desperation, which is likely to cause increased violence against Israel. Therefore, Israel should ease the closure of Gaza.”
Sixty-three per cent disagreed.
All that they cared about was Israeli security. If innocent civilians suffer in Gaza, that doesn’t matter. If violence against Israel increases because of Gazan suffering, that doesn’t matter. Majorities thought Israel had become less secure (68 per cent) and the towns around Gaza had too (85 per cent).
Israel could have ended the rocket fire at Gaza for 10 years if it had accepted Hamas’s terms for a ceasefire and ended the blockade.
Yet the Israeli government has flatly refused to end its infliction of suffering on the civilian population of Gaza, and its supporters have supported this refusal.
This can be taken as a microcosm of the issues that will arise in the coming years about “supporting” Israel.
Israeli policy has been consciously determined to cause harm to the civilian Palestinian populations living in the occupied territories.
The Israeli public understands this, because Israeli politicians are not particularly embarrassed about this, and the Israeli Jewish public broadly supports harming Palestinian civilians if it will help them feel safer.
This is plainly not the kind of message a propagandist for the Israeli government will want to push. So Regev says that Israel is defending itself against terrorists who hate Jews and want to throw us into the sea, that it is carefully targeting terrorists and so on.
Israelis presumably know better, but diaspora Jews – and increasingly, the right-wingers who buy into Israeli propaganda – blindly recite the talking points of the Israeli government, bewildered at those perverse enough to hold contrary views – the kind held by a majority of Jewish Israelis.
A few weeks ago, I reviewed some of the statements by leading Israeli military figures calling for things like causing “intense suffering among the population” to achieve Israel’s political goals.
These kinds of comments are being made increasingly openly – a trend that may cause problems in the years ahead for those determined to promote the official Israeli line.
Take Moshe Feiglin, long described in the liberal Israeli Ha’aretz as a fascist.
He is a Deputy Speaker of the Knesset (Israel’s parliament), and a member of the Likud, the political party of the Prime Minister.
On July 15, he proposed an “Outline for a Solution in Gaza”. It begins with a warning to Gaza, and proceeds briskly: “All the military and infrastructural targets will be attacked with no consideration for ‘human shields’ or ‘environmental damage’. Then a “total siege” on Gaza, and then “conquer”, “using all the means necessary to minimize any harm to our soldiers, with no other considerations.”
He will financially support Gazans who leave, and those Gazans who are willing to fully submit to “Israel’s rule, substance and way of life” will be offered Israeli citizenship.
He modified his plan in a Facebook status.
His lurid language, such as writing “the conquest of the entire Gaza Strip, and annihilation of all fighting forces and their supporters”, managed to scandalise even the Daily Mail.
Jill Reilly reported that Feiglin “lays out a detailed plan for the destruction of Gaza – which includes shipping its residents across the world”, and noted with astonishment his call for “concentration camps in Gaza”.
Evidently, Israeli politicians can still shock Westerners with their unabashed calls for barbarism: his status still received 2000 “likes”.
Feiglin’s call to shut down the electricity to Gaza garnered less attention, though Israel has essentially done just that.
Then there is the case of Ayelet Shaked, a Member of Knesset from the further right-wing party, HaBayit HaYehudi.
She posted on Facebook the wisdom of Uri Elitzur, whose words are “as relevant today as it was at the time” 12 years ago.
He explained that “They are all enemy combatants… this also includes the mothers of the martyrs”, who should “follow their sons” to hell, as “nothing would be more just… Otherwise, more little snakes will be raised there.”
When the issue was raised at the Daily Beast, Shaked responded with fury, but no apology. Evidently, she lives in a different moral universe.
What is also evident is that so do many Israelis, where her comments remain uncontroversial.
Meanwhile, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who built his political career on brutal rhetoric towards the Palestinians, stayed true to form in his response to Palestinians protesting within Israel.
He said on Facebook that “These incidents prove once again that the place of these people is not Israel and until then, their rightful place is in jail”.
‘Until then’ is perhaps a reference to his well-known and longstanding plan to expel Palestinian citizens from Israel by redrawing its borders to exclude them from citizenship.
Lieberman also urged a boycott of Palestinian businesses, writing, “I call upon everyone not to shop anymore at the stores and businesses of those among the Arab sector who are participating today in the general strike that was declared by the Higher Arab Monitoring Committee as a sign of empathy for Gaza residents and against Operation Protective Edge.”
Strangely, the many Australians who accused advocates of BDS against Israel of anti-Semitism, and even Nazism, did not notice this call for yet another form of BDS against Palestinians by Israel.
Then there’s the case of Major-General (reserve) Giora Eiland, a former head of Israel’s National Security Council.
I quoted him in a previous article – and above – arguing for the infliction of “intense suffering among the population” of Lebanon.
In the New York Times, he explained that “Israel should have declared a war against the de facto state of Gaza, and if there is misery and starvation in Gaza, it might lead the other side to make such hard decisions.”
Yes, he advocated “misery and starvation in Gaza”, to pressure Hamas. Because that kind of argument isn’t scandalous in Israel – and clearly, doesn’t shock readers of the New York Times either.
Eiland went on to write an op ed for Ynet, one of Israel’s most popular news sites, where he dismissed the “wrong” view that “the population the organisation is operating from is not the enemy.”
Eiland complained about “food and energy” being supplied to the “enemy state”, by which he meant Gaza.
But “why should Gaza's residents suffer? Well, they are to blame for this situation just like Germany's residents were to blame for electing Hitler as their leader and paid a heavy price for that, and rightfully so.” He openly advocates Palestinian civilians be made to suffer.
Israelis don’t recoil in horror at such advocacy: they understand that it’s Israeli policy. And all the evidence suggests that they are untroubled by that fact.
It is worth noting, there are Australians who are in tune with such advocacy. In the Australian Jewish News (18/7/14), one letter demanded that, “This time the gloves must come off… including the cessation of supplying the enemy with electricity from the Israeli grid”.
Another letter writer urged that the blockade on Gaza be “tightened… making life ever tougher for Hamas. That means Gaza’s Palestinian people will suffer more”. Making Palestinians “suffer more” was not controversial; no letters responded with outrage to this call.
In the latest edition of the AJN (1/8/14), the front page screams “MEDIA DISGRACE”, singling out Fairfax and 60 Minutes for featuring criticisms of the Israeli government, and a cartoon that caricatured Jews.
On the inside, what passed unnoticed was the op ed by Rabbi Ralph Genende.
He wrote that “I am mad at our extreme right wingers stupidly calling to wipe out Gaza (although, my God, I understand their anger and frustration)”, before commenting on how “furious” he was at “extreme left-wingers” and “their fatuous and morally myopic angst”.
He plainly cannot understand why Jews would oppose Israel’s attack on Gaza, but “my God” does he “understand” the “anger and frustration” of those who support wiping out Gaza.
This ambivalent, if not sympathetic position towards proponents of genocide apparently aroused zero notice or interest, though Fairfax has aroused considerable controversy for its cartoon, and has just parted ways with Mike Carlton over his op ed and angry exchanges with Jewish correspondents.
One might speculate on what the reaction would be if a Fairfax writer had explained how well she understood the “anger and frustration” of those who call for Jews to be exterminated.
Nevertheless, there are Israelis who understand the need to sugar-coat their message. Like Tzipi Livni, who wrote, “Hamas paid and will continue to pay a heavy price… And if it wasn’t sufficiently clear to anyone yet, now the world knows who’s responsible for the destruction and the blood of civilians in Gaza.”
It takes a particular perversity to assume that one’s readers will understand that the destruction in Gaza isn’t the fault of the people bombing them. And one can still find liberal Zionists in Australia posting approvingly a blog by a prominent Israeli “liberal”, Naomi Chazan, claiming that Israel’s “emphasis” is “on attacking the terrorist infrastructure in Gaza”.
So let us turn to “supporters” of Israel who are more attuned to the reality of modern Israel.
Thane Rosenbaum wrote an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal where he explained that Palestinians “forfeit your right to be called civilians” when they commit such crimes as electing Hamas – “you have wittingly made yourself targets”.
As noted at Slate, his comments resembled those of Osama Bin Laden – because some Americans – including progressive Jews at Forward – are appalled at arguments that defend the murder of civilians.
The column was, however, reprinted at the conservative Israeli Jerusalem Post.
JPost also ran an op ed called “Why Gaza must go”. He explained that “mowing the grass… simply will not cut it. The grass needs to be uprooted – once and for all.”
Explaining his metaphor, Martin Sherman writes that, “The only durable solution requires dismantling Gaza, humanitarian relocation of the non-belligerent Arab population, and extension of Israeli sovereignty over the region.”
“Humanitarian relocation”, of course, meaning forcible expulsion, and “non-belligerent Arab population” meaning the civilians in Gaza. This humanitarian suggestion mostly passed unnoticed.
Meanwhile, Benny Morris – supported by NSW Jewish Board of Deputies head Vic Alhadeff – has added to his collection of appalling statements with an article in Ha’aretz.
Morris argued on July 30 that Israel should “destroy Hamas and clean out Gaza”.
Sadly, the Israeli government won’t do this, because “there’s no willingness to sacrifice soldiers (and no willingness to exact a heavy price in blood from the enemy’s civilians)”.
Supposing that he wrote his article the day before, at that point, according to UN statistics, Israel had killed at least 827 civilians. But sadly for Morris, the Israeli government wouldn’t commit to a heavier price in blood from “the enemy’s civilians” – one wonders how many Palestinian civilians Morris regards as a sufficiently heavy price. And how willing Morris thinks Israelis should be “to exact a heavy price in blood” from Palestinian civilians.
Meanwhile, Israeli Rabbi Dov Lior issued a halachic ruling that Israel is “allowed to punish the enemy population”, to deny them electricity and to “bomb the whole area”.
He observed that, “Any kind of talk about humanism and consideration are moot”.
A small paper for orthodox Jews in New York advocated expelling the Palestinians from Gaza: “Use that international aid to relocate them”.
And then “the Jews should go down to Gaza and reclaim their homes and businesses” from the settlements they were removed from in 2005.
Meanwhile, the brother of a soldier killed in Gaza wrote to Netanyahu: “I ask you to take the children out of Gaza and turn to diplomacy — or just stop being afraid of the world and turn Gaza into rubble.”
He supports the Liberal Zionist party, Meretz.
Israeli callousness towards the Palestinians can still shock some. Google’s Play Store featured a game called “Bomb Gaza”, for a while, until popular outcry forced Google to remove the game.
One must also consider the Times of Israel, which has excelled in bad taste. It published a blog called “When Genocide is Permissible”.
The title speaks for itself, and the blog was soon taken down.
On the same day, the Times of Israel ran another blog, where it cited the biblical precedent of the Amalekites.
As Irwin Blank wrote, God commanded the Jews to destroy them utterly. Whilst claiming that “we find ourselves in battle with 21st century Amalekites because we have failed to listen to the L-rd”.
Strangely, after stressing this central lesson, he proceeded: “Does this mean we, on purpose, kill the innocent? No, that is merely an allegory of Biblical times, an example of the cruelty of ancient warfare. But it does mean that we leave nothing that might sustain a weakened and beaten foe. To destroy Hamas utterly, we cannot stop this war until they unconditionally surrender, even if it means making the war more horrific for the people of Gaza, who are the victims of their own leadership.”
He then clarified – as of course he would have to – that he was not “advocating genocide of the Palestinians in Gaza”. He was merely advocating “making the war more horrific for the people of Gaza”.
Because whilst outright genocide still offends English speaking readers of the Israeli press, merely advocating terrorism – inflicting harm on civilian Palestinians – does not.
There are many supporters of Israel in Australia who are simply naïve. They do not understand that Israel is deliberately causing suffering to Palestinian civilians.
The Israeli public does understand this: many of them happily tolerate this fact, and even cheer it.
Those who follow political discourse in Israel and follow its media are aware of this open secret about Israeli policy: the conscious, ongoing policy of state terrorism.
Knowledgeable observers, who in a more meaningful sense “support” what Israel does, acknowledge that they are defending the wilful infliction of suffering on civilians.
There are liberal Zionists in the diaspora who cling to Israeli propaganda. And there are liberal Zionists who are simply silent. Who look at all the death and destruction in Gaza, and say nothing.
Whatever all this is, it is strange to describe it as “support” for Israel.
The Australians who exposed Australia’s oppression of Aboriginal people and denounced it in international forums “helped to bring about the situation in which so much of the public discussion concentrated on Australia's shameful record”.
They made Australia’s record less shameful – though Australians today still have a long way to go.
People who closed their eyes, blocked their ears and turned away from Australia’s institutionalised racism are not people we look back on with admiration as lovers of Australia.
We regard them as complacent.
People who love Australia should want it to be a just place, and people who pushed Australia in this direction have made a valuable contribution to our country.
And so, my questions for supporters of Israel are these: Are you supporting Israel? Are you making it a just place? Or are you closing your eyes, blocking your ears and turning away from its appalling crimes against the Palestinians?
Do you love Israel enough to want it to be a more moral place?Over the past few years, the public has witnessed the vigorous debate regarding the police contract. While we have come into agreement over the increase in pay and benefits for our police officers, we have dropped the ball on ensuring our police force is held accountable when officers act irresponsibly. Our officers deserve to be paid adequately for putting their lives on the line every day. However, they should also be held to a higher standard of accountability through the police contract.
It is not enough to say that I do not support the contract without offering a solution. What I want to do is propose a second alternative, where we not only vote on a contract that is good for our officers, their salaries, and their health care, but also a contract that is good for public trust.
It is indefensible to retain language that automatically alters and limits the use of police discipline records. We must eliminate Article 28, Section 19. Council should vote “no” on this contract in order to address the language regarding discipline and then ask the union for a second vote. We can complete this process in three weeks and vote on a revised contract before the end of September and the start of the new fiscal year. This is the right thing to do for our police department and the public.
Here’s some background information for those who haven’t been following San Antonio contract negotiations over the last three years: Council has known about proposed changes to the contract language meant to increase accountability since 2014.
Why haven’t you heard about it until now? With salaries and health care taking up all the air in the room, the changes to Article 28, Section 19 were always seen as a no-brainer. Who can defend language that stands to benefit only a small number of officers with a discipline record to hide? It was only until a mediated settlement was announced in July that the entire council learned that the mayor and the president of the police union struck a deal without accountability reform.
Improving accountability should not be about taking sides; we all have a stake in strengthening the accountability of our police department. Choosing to have these tough conversations will never endanger our relationship with the police community as long as we come to the table with the best of intentions. I suppose I could have stayed silent, but in retrospect, that’s exactly why previous contracts with our police union have turned into unfair deals for the community and taxpayers. These conversations strengthen our commitment to become a better city.
I would like to remind the council of the gravity of our decision when we vote on this contract: Sanctioning the falsification of officer discipline records is not in the public interest or the interest of our police department. If we vote for this contract, we must hope and pray that no officer steps out of bounds and takes advantage of our approved language. It will be our names on a contract that prevent the chief or arbitrator from using an officers complete record for discipline.
We cannot continue to fall victim to the strong arm police union tactics that worked on previous mayors and councils. We have compromised on salaries, we have compromised on healthcare benefits, but we were completely rejected from changes that would make our police force more transparent and accountable. Instead of viewing this as a future council’s problem, we should see this as an opportunity to step up as leaders today. I call on the mayor and police union president to step up and amend this critical component.
I am deeply disappointed that this conversation on police accountability has devolved into political attacks and distractions. The residents of San Antonio deserve nothing less than our best, especially when it comes to their safety and their livelihoods. We cannot plead ignorance on this issue anymore. The public is watching intently, and it is never too late to do what is right. The question is, will we be brave enough to do the right thing?
And to Union President Helle, I ask again: Who benefits when three day suspensions are automatically reduced to written reprimands? Why shouldn’t an officer’s entire record, since the day of taking his/her oath, be usable by the police chief or arbitrator to determine discipline? These are questions that have not yet been answered.
Top image: Councilman Rey Saldaña (D4) leads a press conference showing City support of San Antonio Police Chief William McManus on the count of Mayor Taylor’s absence. Photo by Scott Ball.
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Mayor Defends Police Union Contract, Touts Vision of Global, Smart City
City’s 2017 Budget Balances Basics and Innovation
City-Police Contract Now Awaits Key Votes by Both SidesThis post was co-authored with Claudio Guarnieri, a security researcher specialized in investigating computer attacks and tracking state-sponsored hacking campaigns. He contributed to this report independently from any affiliation.
Introduction
Beginning in December 2016, unconnected Middle Eastern human rights activists began to receive spearphishing messages in English and Persian that were not related to any previously-known groups. These attempts differed from other tactics seen by us elsewhere, such as those connected to Iran, with better attention paid to the operation of the campaign. Curiously, the two initial targets have little in common with each other aside from human rights activism – although not having worked on overlapping issues or countries. This dissimilarity only grew with the further enumeration of other targets, describing a broad targeting across the Middle East without wholly implicating any particular interest, despite clear political intent.
After extensive work to unpack other potential attacks, we begin to describe an actor that has demonstrated higher than average care to avoid discovery, and shown an ability to learn quickly from past mistakes. Efforts to track the operator describe a group that is broadly interested in a diverse set of Middle Eastern interests, from Iranian women’s rights activists to Turkish government officials, and from Saudi Aramco to a Europe-based human rights organization focused on the region. A significant number of the targets of the group are connected to Qatar’s domestic and international politics, drawing recurring parallels to previous campaigns and suggesting a partial connection to the country. Few state interests would convincingly account why someone would engage in |
F-MG Mark Giordano, Calgary Flames
TLCF-MT Matthew Tkachuk, Calgary Flames
TLCF-SB Sam Bennett, Calgary Flames
TLCF-SM Sean Monahan, Calgary Flames
TLCF-TF Theoren Fleury, Calgary Flames
TLLA-AK Anze Kopitar, Los Angeles Kings
TLLA-CS Charlie Simmer, Los Angeles Kings
TLLA-DD Drew Doughty, Los Angeles Kings
TLLA-DT Dave Taylor, Los Angeles Kings
TLLA-JQ Jonathan Quick, Los Angeles Kings
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TLML-AM Auston Matthews, Toronto Maple Leafs
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EM-BH Brett Hull, St. Louis Blues /35
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EM-DH Dominik Hasek, Buffalo Sabres /35
EM-EK Erik Karlsson, Ottawa Senators /35
EM-HL Henrik Lundqvist, New York Rangers /35
EM-JB Jamie Benn, Dallas Stars /35
EM-KL Kris Letang, Pittsburgh Penguins /35
EM-NB Nicklas Backstrom, Washington Capitals /35
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RDD-LK Luke Kunin, Minnesota Wild /99
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R-ES Evgeny Svechnikov, Detroit Red Wings /299
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R-CW Colin White, Ottawa Senators /82
R-ES Evgeny Svechnikov, Detroit Red Wings /37
R-JD Jake DeBrusk, Boston Bruins /74
R-JH Josh Ho-Sang, New York Islanders /66
R-MB Madison Bowey, Washington Capitals /22
R-NH Nico Hischier, New Jersey Devils /13
R-NP Nolan Patrick, Philadelphia Flyers /64
R-PD Pierre-Luc Dubois, Columbus Blue Jackets /18
R-TJ Tyson Jost, Colorado Avalanche /27
R-TT Tage Thompson, St. Louis Blues /32
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RP-AD Alex DeBrincat, Chicago Blackhawks /299
RP-AN Alexander Nylander, Buffalo Sabres /299
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RP-CW Colin White, Ottawa Senators /299
RP-ES Evgeny Svechnikov, Detroit Red Wings /299
RP-HF Haydn Fleury, Carolina Hurricanes /299
RP-IB Ivan Barbashev, St. Louis Blues /299
RP-LK Luke Kunin, Minnesota Wild /299
RP-MB Madison Bowey, Washington Capitals /299
RP-PD Pierre-Luc Dubois, Columbus Blue Jackets /299
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RD-JG Jon Gillies, Calgary Flames /99
RD-JR Jack Roslovic, Winnipeg Jets /99
RD-LK Luke Kunin, Minnesota Wild /99
RD-OT Owen Tippett, Florida Panthers /99
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RQ-IB Ivan Barbashev, St. Louis Blues /49
RQ-JH Josh Ho-Sang, New York Islanders /49
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RJ-TJ Tyson Jost, Colorado Avalanche 1/1 Checklist Top Team Sets 2017-18 Upper Deck Black Diamond Hockey Team Set Checklists Want to know what cards your favorite team has in 2017-18 Upper Deck Black Diamond Hockey? Here’s the checklist broken down by team. Scroll through or click below to go directly to that team. Please check the main checklist in the other tab for parallel specifics and insertion rates.
Eastern Conference Boston Bruins
Buffalo Sabres
Carolina Hurricanes
Columbus Blue Jackets
Detroit Red Wings
Florida Panthers
Montreal Canadiens
New Jersey Devils
New York Islanders
New York Rangers
Ottawa Senators
Philadelphia Flyers
Pittsburgh Penguins
Tampa Bay Lightning
Toronto Maple Leafs
Washington Capitals
Western Conference Anaheim Ducks
Arizona Coyotes
Calgary Flames
Chicago Blackhawks
Colorado Avalanche
Dallas Stars
Edmonton Oilers
Los Angeles Kings
Minnesota Wild
Nashville Predators
San Jose Sharks
St. Louis Blues
Vancouver Canucks
Vegas Golden Knights
Winnipeg Jets
Eastern Conference Boston Bruins BDB-BM Brad Marchand /249
BDB-BO Bobby Orr /249
BDR-AB Anders Bjork – Double Diamond RC /99
BDR-CM Charlie McAvoy – Triple Diamond RC /99
BDR-JD Jake DeBrusk – Single Diamond RC /99
BDR-JF Jakob Forsbacka-Karlsson – Single Diamond RC /99
BDR-PC Peter Cehlarik – Single Diamond RC /99 Base Relics BDB-BM Brad Marchand /149
Base Relics Pure Black Premium BDB-BM Brad Marchand – Patch /50
Championship Banners CB-BO Bobby Orr /70
Championship Banners Gold Autographs CB-BO Bobby Orr /10
Diamond Cutters DC-BM Brad Marchand
Diamond Debut Relics DD-CM Charlie McAvoy /299
Diamond Debut Relics Prime DD-CM Charlie McAvoy /49
Diamond Mine Relics DM-TR Tuukka Rask /299
Diamond Mine Relics Prime DM-TR Tuukka Rask /50
Diamond Relics BDB-BM Brad Marchand – Double Diamond /5
Diamond Relics BDB-BO Bobby Orr – Quad Diamond /5
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Diamond Relics Pure Black BDB-BO Bobby Orr – Quad Diamond 1/1
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Hardware Heroes Gold HH-ES Eddie Shore 1/1
Pure Black BDB-BM Brad Marchand /99
Pure Black BDB-BO Bobby Orr AUTO /25
Pure Black BDR-AB Anders Bjork – Double DIamond 1/1
Pure Black BDR-CM Charlie McAvoy – Triple Diamond 1/1
Pure Black BDR-JD Jake DeBrusk – Single Diamond 1/1
Pure Black BDR-JF Jakob Forsbacka-Karlsson – Single Diamond 1/1
Pure Black BDR-PC Peter Cehlarik – Single Diamond 1/1
Rookie Booklet Relics Auto Patch RBR-CM Charlie McAvoy /99
Rookie Booklets Relics RBR-CM Charlie McAvoy /199
Rookie Gems RG-CM Charlie McAvoy /399
Rookie Gems Pure Black RG-CM Charlie McAvoy /25
Rookie Team Logo Jumbos RTL-CM Charlie McAvoy
Rookie Team Logo Jumbos Gold Alternate Logo Autographs RTL-CM Charlie McAvoy /99
Rookie Team Logo Jumbos Gold Shield Logo Autographs RTL-CM Charlie McAvoy /5
Signature Placards SP-DS Derek Sanderson
Silver on Black Rookie Signatures SBRS-AB Anders Bjork /125
Silver on Black Rookie Signatures SBRS-CM Charlie McAvoy /49 Checklist Top Buffalo Sabres BDB-JE Jack Eichel /249
BDR-AN Alexander Nylander – Double Diamond RC /99 Base Relics BDB-JE Jack Eichel /149
Base Relics Pure Black Premium BDB-JE Jack Eichel – Patch /25
Diamond Debut Relics DD-AN Alexander Nylander /299
Diamond Relics BDB-JE Jack Eichel – Double Diamond /5
Diamond Relics Pure Black BDB-JE Jack Eichel – Double Diamond 1/1
Exquisite Material EM-DH Dominik Hasek /35
Exquisite Material Spectrum EM-DH Dominik Hasek /10
Exquisite Rookies R-AN Alexander Nylander /299
Exquisite Rookies Draft Day RDD-AN Alexander Nylander /99
Exquisite Rookies Draft Day Spectrum RDD-AN Alexander Nylander /8
Exquisite Rookies Patch RP-AN Alexander Nylander /299
Exquisite Rookies Patch Spectrum RP-AN Alexander Nylander /25
Exquisite Rookies Spectrum R-AN Alexander Nylander /70
Pure Black BDB-JE Jack Eichel /99
Pure Black BDR-AN Alexander Nylander – Double DIamond 1/1
Rookie Booklets Relics RBR-AN Alexander Nylander /199
Rookie Gems RG-AN Alexander Nylander /399
Rookie Gems Pure Black RG-AN Alexander Nylander /25 Checklist Top Carolina Hurricanes BDB-VR Victor Rask /249 Base Relics BDB-VR Victor Rask /149
Base Relics Pure Black Premium BDB-VR Victor Rask – Patch /50
Diamond Relics BDB-VR Victor Rask – Single Diamond /5
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Exquisite Rookies Dual Material RD-HF Haydn Fleury /99
Exquisite Rookies Dual Material Spectrum RD-HF Haydn Fleury /10
Exquisite Rookies Patch RP-HF Haydn Fleury /299
Exquisite Rookies Patch Spectrum RP-HF Haydn Fleury /25
Pure Black BDB-VR Victor Rask /99
Rookie Booklet Relics Auto Patch RBR-HF Haydn Fleury /99
Rookie Booklets Relics RBR-HF Haydn Fleury /199 Checklist Top Columbus Blue Jackets BDB-SB Sergei Bobrovsky /249
BDR-PD Pierre-Luc Dubois – Double Diamond RC /99 Base Relics BDB-SB Sergei Bobrovsky /149
Base Relics Pure Black Premium BDB-SB Sergei Bobrovsky – Patch /50
Diamond Debut Relics DD-PD Pierre-Luc Dubois /299
Diamond Debut Relics Prime DD-PD Pierre-Luc Dubois /49
Diamond Relics BDB-SB Sergei Bobrovsky – Double Diamond /5
Diamond Relics Pure Black BDB-SB Sergei Bobrovsky – Double Diamond 1/1
Exquisite Material Quads EQ-BJ Alexander Wennberg/Boone Jenner/Seth Jones/Sergei Bobrovsky /25
Exquisite Material Quads Spectrum EQ-BJ Alexander Wennberg/Boone Jenner/Seth Jones/Sergei Bobrovsky /5
Exquisite Rookies R-PD Pierre-Luc Dubois /299
Exquisite Rookies Draft Day RDD-PD Pierre-Luc Dubois /99
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Exquisite Rookies Jumbo Material RJ-PD Pierre-Luc Dubois /10
Exquisite Rookies Patch RP-PD Pierre-Luc Dubois /299
Exquisite Rookies Patch Spectrum RP-PD Pierre-Luc Dubois /25
Exquisite Rookies Quad Material RQ-PD Pierre-Luc Dubois /49
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Pure Black BDB-SB Sergei Bobrovsky /99
Pure Black BDR-PD Pierre-Luc Dubois – Double DIamond 1/1
Rookie Booklet Relics Auto Patch RBR-PD Pierre-Luc Dubois /99
Rookie Booklets Relics RBR-PD Pierre-Luc Dubois /199
Rookie Gems RG-PD Pierre-Luc Dubois /399
Rookie Gems Pure Black RG-PD Pierre-Luc Dubois /25
Signature Placards SP-ZW Zach Werenski Checklist Top Detroit Red Wings BDB-HZ Henrik Zetterberg /249
BDR-ES Evgeny Svechnikov – Single Diamond RC /99 Base Relics BDB-HZ Henrik Zetterberg /149
Base Relics Pure Black Premium BDB-HZ Henrik Zetterberg – Patch /50
Diamond Cutters DCR-ES Evgeny Svechnikov
Diamond Relics BDB-HZ Henrik Zetterberg – Double Diamond /5
Diamond Relics Pure Black BDB-HZ Henrik Zetterberg – Double Diamond 1/1
Exquisite Rookies R-ES Evgeny Svechnikov /299
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Exquisite Rookies Patch RP-ES Evgeny Svechnikov /299
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Hardware Heroes HH-AD Alex Delvecchio /99
Hardware Heroes Gold HH-AD Alex Delvecchio 1/1
Pure Black BDR-ES Evgeny Svechnikov – Single Diamond 1/1
Rookie Booklet Relics Auto Patch RBR-ES Evgeny Svechnikov /99
Rookie Booklets Relics RBR-ES Evgeny Svechnikov /199
Rookie Gems RG-ES Evgeny Svechnikov /399
Rookie Gems Pure Black RG-ES Evgeny Svechnikov /25
Rookie Team Logo Jumbos RTL-ES Evgeny Svechnikov
Rookie Team Logo Jumbos Gold Alternate Logo Autographs RTL-ES Evgeny Svechnikov /99
Rookie Team Logo Jumbos Gold Shield Logo Autographs RTL-ES Evgeny Svechnikov /5
Signature Placards SP-AM Anthony Mantha
Silver on Black Signatures SB-SY Steve Yzerman /10 Checklist Top Florida Panthers BDB-RL Roberto Luongo /249
BDR-OT Owen Tippett – Double Diamond RC /99 Base Relics BDB-RL Roberto Luongo /149
Diamond Relics BDB-RL Roberto Luongo – Double Diamond /5
Diamond Relics Pure Black BDB-RL Roberto Luongo – Double Diamond 1/1
Exquisite Rookies Dual Material RD-OT Owen Tippett /99
Exquisite Rookies Dual Material Spectrum RD-OT Owen Tippett /10
Pure Black BDB-RL Roberto Luongo AUTO /25
Pure Black BDR-OT Owen Tippett – Double DIamond 1/1
Rookie Gems RG-OT Owen Tippett /399
Rookie Gems Pure Black RG-OT Owen Tippett /25
Rookie Gems Pure Black Signatures RG-OT Owen Tippett /199
Silver on Black Rookie Signatures SBRS-OT Owen Tippett /125 Checklist Top Montreal Canadiens BDB-CP Carey Price /249
BDB-JD Jonathan Drouin /249
BDR-NS Nikita Scherbak – Single Diamond RC /99 Base Relics BDB-CP Carey Price /149
Base Relics Pure Black Premium BDB-CP Carey Price – Patch /25
Championship Banners CB-VD Vincent Damphousse /93
Championship Banners Gold Autographs CB-VD Vincent Damphousse /99
Diamond Debut Relics DD-NS Nikita Scherbak /299
Diamond Debut Relics Prime DD-NS Nikita Scherbak /49
Diamond Relic Retro Rookie Gems BDRR-MR Maurice Richard – Quad Diamond /42
Diamond Relic Retro Rookie Gems Pure Black BDRR-MR Maurice Richard – Quad Diamond 1/1
Diamond Relics BDB-CP Carey Price – Quad Diamond /5
Diamond Relics BDB-JD Jonathan Drouin – Single Diamond /5
Diamond Relics Pure Black BDB-CP Carey Price – Quad Diamond 1/1
Diamond Relics Pure Black BDB-JD Jonathan Drouin – Single Diamond 1/1
Exquisite Material EM-CP Carey Price /35
Exquisite Material Quads EQ-MC Max Pacioretty/Alex Galchenyuk/Carey Price/Shea Weber /25
Exquisite Material Quads Spectrum EQ-MC Max Pacioretty/Alex Galchenyuk/Carey Price/Shea Weber /5
Exquisite Material Spectrum EM-CP Carey Price /10
Hardware Heroes HH-CP Carey Price /99
Hardware Heroes HH-MR Maurice Richard /99
Hardware Heroes Gold HH-CP Carey Price 1/1
Hardware Heroes Gold HH-MR Maurice Richard 1/1
Pure Black BDB-CP Carey Price AUTO /25
Pure Black BDR-NS Nikita Scherbak – Single Diamond 1/1
Rookie Booklet Relics Auto Patch RBR-NS Nikita Scherbak /99
Rookie Booklets Relics RBR-NS Nikita Scherbak /199
Rookie Gems RG-NS Nikita Scherbak /399
Rookie Gems Pure Black RG-NS Nikita Scherbak /25
Rookie Gems Pure Black Signatures RG-NS Nikita Scherbak /199
Silver on Black Signatures SB-PR Patrick Roy /10
Team Logo Jumbos SCFL-PR Patrick Roy – Stanley Cup Champions
Team Logo Jumbos Gold SCFL-PR Patrick Roy – Stanley Cup Champions /15
Team Logo Jumbos Gold Alternate Logo SCFL-PR Patrick Roy – Stanley Cup Champions /5
Team Logo Jumbos Gold Shield Logo SCFL-PR Patrick Roy – Stanley Cup Champions 1/1 Checklist Top New Jersey Devils BDB-TH Taylor Hall /249
BDR-NH Nico Hischier – Quad Diamond RC /99 Base Relics BDB-TH Taylor Hall /149
Base Relics Pure Black Premium BDB-TH Taylor Hall – Patch /15
Diamond Cutters DCR-NH Nico Hischier
Diamond Debut Relics DD-NH Nico Hischier /299
Diamond Relics BDB-TH Taylor Hall – Double Diamond /5
Diamond Relics Pure Black BDB-TH Taylor Hall – Double Diamond 1/1
Exquisite Rookies R-NH Nico Hischier /199
Exquisite Rookies Draft Day RDD-NH Nico Hischier /99
Exquisite Rookies Draft Day Spectrum RDD-NH Nico Hischier 1/1
Exquisite Rookies Spectrum R-NH Nico Hischier /13
Pure Black BDR-NH Nico Hischier – Quad Diamond 1/1
Rookie Booklets Relics RBR-NH Nico Hischier /199
Rookie Gems RG-NH Nico Hischier /399
Rookie Gems Pure Black RG-NH Nico Hischier /25
Rookie Team Logo Jumbos RTL-NH Nico Hischier
Rookie Team Logo Jumbos Gold Alternate Logo RTL-NH Nico Hischier /99
Rookie Team Logo Jumbos Gold Shield Logo RTL-NH Nico Hischier /5
Run for the Cup RUN-NH Nico Hischier /99
Run for the Cup Gold RUN-NH Nico Hischier 1/1
Team Logo Jumbos SCFL-BR Martin Brodeur – Stanley Cup Champions
Team Logo Jumbos Gold SCFL-BR Martin Brodeur – Stanley Cup Champions /15
Team Logo Jumbos Gold Alternate Logo SCFL-BR Martin Brodeur – Stanley Cup Champions /5
Team Logo Jumbos Gold Shield Logo SCFL-BR Martin Brodeur – Stanley Cup Champions 1/1 Checklist Top New York Islanders BDB-JT John Tavares /249
BDR-JH Josh Ho-Sang – Triple Diamond RC /99 Base Relics BDB-JT John Tavares /149
Base Relics Pure Black Premium BDB-JT John Tavares – Patch /25
Championship Banners CB-DP Denis Potvin /81
Diamond Cutters DCR-JH Josh Ho-Sang
Diamond Relics BDB-JT John Tavares – Triple Diamond /5
Diamond Relics Pure Black BDB-JT John Tavares – Triple Diamond 1/1
Exquisite Rookies R-JH Josh Ho-Sang /299
Exquisite Rookies Quad Material RQ-JH Josh Ho-Sang /49
Exquisite Rookies Quad Material Spectrum RQ-JH Josh Ho-Sang /5
Exquisite Rookies Spectrum R-JH Josh Ho-Sang /66
Pure Black BDB-JT John Tavares AUTO /99
Pure Black BDR-JH Josh Ho-Sang – Triple Diamond 1/1
Rookie Booklet Relics Auto Patch RBR-JH Josh Ho-Sang /99
Rookie Booklets Relics RBR-JH Josh Ho-Sang /199
Rookie Gems RG-JH Josh Ho-Sang /399
Rookie Gems Pure Black RG-JH Josh Ho-Sang /25
Rookie Gems Pure Black Signatures RG-JH Josh Ho-Sang /99
Rookie Team Logo Jumbos RTL-JH Josh Ho-Sang
Rookie Team Logo Jumbos Gold Alternate Logo Autographs RTL-JH Josh Ho-Sang /99
Rookie Team Logo Jumbos Gold Shield Logo Autographs RTL-JH Josh Ho-Sang /5
Silver on Black Rookie Signatures SBRS-HS Josh Ho-Sang /49
Silver on Black Signatures SB-JT John Tavares /99
Team Logo Jumbos SCFL-MB Mike Bossy – Stanley Cup Champions
Team Logo Jumbos Gold SCFL-MB Mike Bossy – Stanley Cup Champions /15
Team Logo Jumbos Gold Alternate Logo SCFL-MB Mike Bossy – Stanley Cup Champions /5
Team Logo Jumbos Gold Shield Logo SCFL-MB Mike Bossy – Stanley Cup Champions 1/1 Checklist Top New York Rangers BDB-HL Henrik Lundqvist /249 Base Relics BDB-HL Henrik Lundqvist /149
Base Relics Pure Black Premium BDB-HL Henrik Lundqvist – Patch /25
Diamond Relics BDB-HL Henrik Lundqvist – Triple Diamond /5
Diamond Relics Pure Black BDB-HL Henrik Lundqvist – Triple Diamond 1/1
Exquisite Material EM-HL Henrik Lundqvist /35
Exquisite Material Spectrum EM-HL Henrik Lundqvist /10
Team Logo Jumbos SCFL-MM Mark Messier – Stanley Cup Champions
Team Logo Jumbos Gold SCFL-MM Mark Messier – Stanley Cup Champions /15
Team Logo Jumbos Gold Alternate Logo SCFL-MM Mark Messier – Stanley Cup Champions /5
Team Logo Jumbos Gold Shield Logo SCFL-MM Mark Messier – Stanley Cup Champions 1/1 Checklist Top Ottawa Senators BDB-EK Erik Karlsson /249
BDB-MH Mike Hoffman /249
BDR-CW Colin White – Double Diamond RC /99 Base Relics BDB-EK Erik Karlsson /149
Base Relics BDB-MH Mike Hoffman /149
Base Relics Pure Black Premium BDB-EK Erik Karlsson – Patch /25
Base Relics Pure Black Premium BDB-MH Mike Hoffman – Patch /50
Diamond Cutters DC-EK Erik Karlsson
Diamond Cutters DCR-CW Colin White
Diamond Debut Relics DD-CW Colin White /299
Diamond Debut Relics Prime DD-CW Colin White /49
Diamond Relics BDB-EK Erik Karlsson – Triple Diamond /5
Diamond Relics BDB-MH Mike Hoffman – Single Diamond /5
Diamond Relics Pure Black BDB-EK Erik Karlsson – Triple Diamond 1/1
Diamond Relics Pure Black BDB-MH Mike Hoffman – Single Diamond 1/1
Exquisite Material EM-EK Erik Karlsson /35
Exquisite Material Spectrum EM-EK Erik Karlsson /10
Exquisite Rookies R-CW Colin White /299
Exquisite Rookies Patch RP-CW Colin White /299
Exquisite Rookies Patch Spectrum RP-CW Colin White /25
Exquisite Rookies Quad Material RQ-CW Colin White /49
Exquisite Rookies Quad Material Spectrum RQ-CW Colin White /5
Exquisite Rookies Spectrum R-CW Colin White /82
Pure Black BDB-EK Erik Karlsson /99
Pure Black BDB-MH Mike Hoffman AUTO /99
Pure Black BDR-CW Colin White – Double DIamond 1/1
Rookie Gems RG-CW Colin White /399
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will present this in the new year. But all of this can only happen with you, the community.The Steering Committee exists to help provide direction and lend a hand, but it cannot do everything on its own. In January we will be asking for everyone’s help to continue to drive Torque 3D forward and make it the best open source 3D engine out there.I wanted to end this blog with an amazing video. This is a Virtual Reef that comes out of the Queensland University of Technology. It uses the power of Torque 3D to draw users into an interactive aquarium. Enjoy!- DaveStar Wars
Not so long ago, not so far away by Dan Rubey from Jump Cut, no. 18, August 1978, pp. 9-14
copyright Jump Cut: A Review of Contemporary Media, 1978, 2005 George Lucas's enormously popular STAR WARS (1977) plugs into the central nervous system of its audience by mixing an American love of machinery with the heroic myths and dreams of western European civilization.[1] This technological fairy tale reflects in the symbolic language of its images the desires and ambiguities produced by living inside a machine-oriented technology, supported by anachronistic ideologies of individual heroism and metaphysical justification. STAR WARS embraces technology in order to enjoy the sensations of power and exhilaration it offers. Then it falls back on heroic individual action and the metaphysical, non-rational Force to solve the problem of eroded values and depersonalized experiences created by that technology. The film's combination of traditional models of individual combat with the technology of electronic warfare re-romanticizes war, creating a new set of heroic images appropriate to a technological age and the kind of electronic warfare the United States waged in Vietnam. The meaning of STAR WARS and much of its appeal depend on the ways in which the striking special effects reinforce the fantasies and mythic echoes of the plot. THE VISUAL IMAGES The visual aesthetic of STAR WARS is a machine aesthetic, one that invests machine surfaces with the life and interest denied human forms. The film uses images of size, speed, sharp contrasts and violent action to create a visual counterpart to the plot structures, in which the young rebels are menaced by monstrous and powerful enemies. The visual and aural experience of STAR WARS was intended to be as overwhelming as possible. The 70mm film and Dolby quadraphonic sound amplify the impact of the images and the volume of the sound, enclosing the viewer in the world of the film. The general visual pattern involves contrasts between overwhelmingly large images and vulnerably small ones. In the opening shot, for example, a tiny spaceship is pursued by another ship of enormous size which slowly enters the screen from the right top corner, moves into the center of the screen, and finally fills it entirely, engulfing the smaller ship. This visual dichotomy of small and large reinforces the dichotomy of good-young-less-powerful versus evil-older-more-powerful that organizes the plot, and it helps the audience participate emotionally in the vulnerability of Luke and the Princess. Most of the special effects involve either explosions or simulations of dazzling speed and acceleration, usually involving bright light against a dark black background, as in the explosion of the Death Star or the jump into hyperspace. Stark contrasts of light and dark, black and white, are used to organize shots: the white ships against the black void of space, Darth Vader's black robes and Luke and the Princess's white ones. When the colors are not simply black and white, they are usually restricted to metallic gold and silver, the colors of the world of spaceships and robots. These patterns and the ear-shattering noises create a machine ambience for the film, a basically inhuman atmosphere —hard-edged, dry and metallic. Initially, technology seems menacing in images such as the enormous battleship, or the Death Star, or Darth Vader's face-mask. But every frame of the film celebrates machines and the speed and power they seem to promise, and the special effects create a technological kick for the audience. The special effects of STAR WARS derive largely from 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968), but a second-generation computer technology makes them much more sophisticated.[2] Lucas's effects are classier and he can do more with them, particularly in simulating three-dimensional movement. But 2001 director Stanley Kubrick introduced new kinds of special effects to try to create visual images of a different order of reality and to force his audiences to participate in the disorientation of the characters in the film. Lucas simply uses special effects to heighten the intensity of his combat sequences, to make them super-real, while at the same time keeping us firmly grounded in the familiar world of World War II dogfights and police-movie car chases. The special effects in 2001 move us out of the technological world portrayed in the film and create feelings of otherness, other spaces, other kinds of experiences. In STAR WARS the special effects involve us more deeply in the technological, machine-oriented ambience of the film, producing visceral effects that heighten our involvement in the conventional patterns of the fantasy structure. Compare, for example, the shot in 2001 where the space pod with Bowman in it rushes between the converging horizontal and vertical planes of colored lights in deep space, and the parallel shot in STAR WARS where Luke and the other pilots attack the Death Star by flying at great speed down a narrow trench in the surface of the space station. In both films the tremendous speed and acceleration produce excitement and a touch of fear in the audience. Kubrick's 2001 simply presents the visual effect, with only a vague context for it ("Beyond Infinity"). This lack of definition increases the audience's sense of disorientation. Bowman's helplessness inside the machine, his inability to control or even understand what is happening to him, gives the scene a powerful sense of ambiguity and anxiety. On the one hand, the pod is his only protection in this tremendously threatening environment, the only thing that is keeping him alive and connected to reality. But on the other hand, the pod itself seems like a trap, something encapsulating him, keeping him from the world outside. The very word "pod" suggests a seed pod, and the whole sequence becomes an experience of birth or rebirth. In the comparable scene in STAR WARS, the combat context creates a focus for the feelings of anxiety and excitement generated by the visual effects, and transforms the anxiety into feelings of aggression and violence. Since the feelings of unease are given a specific focus on the plot level—the desire for the destruction of the space station—the explosion of the Death Star serves as catharsis. The sequence generates a desire to use the machine more skillfully, not to escape from it. For Kubrick, human dependence on technology is simply one stage in evolution, and the obelisks represent an extra-human reality. In STAR WARS, the Force is a better bombsight. In STAR WARS, the special effects—the speed, lasers, explosions, the jump into hyperspace, the noise—excite and satisfy the audience in their own terms, almost apart from any connection to the narrative line. The constant contrasts of large and small call up feelings of vulnerability and powerlessness, which in turn reflect the frustrations (general and specific) of the youthful audience the film is aimed at. These frustrations are then satisfied by the feelings of enormous power created by the film's machine aesthetic and the special effects of speed, power and violence. The machine ambience of the film provides an illusion of power and control, the ability to escape the limitations of our bodies. It enables us to take on the nature of our machines and share in their power and relative invulnerability—the bionic fantasy of television shows and comic books. Machines move as fast as we can think, erasing the gap between thought and performance, desire and satisfaction, making us into comic book superheroes. But this fusion with the machine and machine sensibility has some strongly dehumanizing side-effects, partly as a result of placing the machine between ourselves and what it acts on, and in part because of the nature of the film medium itself. As sophisticated viewers of film, we have learned to pay attention solely to what is presented to us on the screen and not to speculate about what is not shown. (Less cinematically-sophisticated audiences interrupt the film to ask questions about characters who have disappeared from the screen.[3]) So when ships or planets blow up, we do not think about the people who presumably die in those explosions. The special effects tend to exist for their own sake, regardless of their function in the plot, and we take them in without examining their implications. As a visual image, the destruction of the planet Alderaan looks very much like the explosion of the Death Star, and Obi-Wan Kenobi's brief attack of heartburn does not convince us that something tragic has happened. We do not experience the deaths of the people on the planet, and thus those people do not exist in the film. Both explosions are visual experiences to be enjoyed in aesthetic terms. Everything is a visual trip, an aesthetic experience. This act of turning war into aesthetic experience seems connected to the increased use of airplanes in World War II, and to the images of the air war created in both the news media and in films about the war. World War II films tend to move in one of two directions—towards infantry "war is hell" movies that record the blood-and-guts suffering of the war on the ground and occasionally its effect on the civilian population. Or the films move towards air-war, fighter-pilot ones that romanticize war and combat and take place in the more abstract and generalized realm of the sky. These differences reflect real differences in the two modes of warfare, that of the ground troops who have no escape from the war and its implications, and the pilots who live in protected rear areas and fly to the war as if going to work, experiencing combat as moments of great intensity and exhilaration spaced out by respites in comparatively comfortable surroundings. The actual physical detachment from the realities of war on the ground lends itself to the aestheticization of war and to a psychic detachment from what is really going on, which is evident in the treatment of the war in the media. In a Movietone News film clip, reproduced in Marcel Ophul's film on the Nuremberg trials, MEMORY OF JUSTICE (1975), the narrator describes footage of the night fire-bombing of Dresden, perhaps the greatest Allied atrocity of the war, as "magnificent bombing shots." And, in fact, aesthetically the footage is very beautiful. But such a judgment completely leaves out any translation of what those images actually mean—the burning and destruction of the city and the hideous deaths of 35,000 civilians. These air-war films are the lineal ancestors of the combat sequences in STAR WARS. Lucas used actual footage of dogfights in those films to construct his own sequences. Lucas explains: "The dogfight sequence was extremely hard to cut and edit. We had story-boards that we had taken from old movies intercut with pilots talking and stuff, so you could edit the whole sequence in real time."[4] But despite its roots in World War II films, the sophisticated level of technology in STAR WARS—the use of computers, missiles and lasers, the flashing space-age control panels, the beeping radar gun-sights—actually reflects the air war in Vietnam, the technological warfare of what pilots called "the Blue Machine," the U.S. Air Force. STAR WARS is the first war movie of a new age of electronic combat, a prediction of what war will feel like for combatants completely encapsulated in technology, like the soldiers in Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers (written in 1959). The dogfights and one-man fighters are a romantic attempt to recapture the glamour of WWII films and disassociate ourselves from the destructive role that our bombers and rockets actually played in Vietnam by projecting that aspect of the war onto the Death Star. By associating the bad guys with the heavily armored Death Star, which destroys a helpless planet, and the good guys with the small one-man fighters, STAR WARS uses an image of ourselves from the past as a defense against our more recent history. But this separation is not so simple. The technology of the air war in Vietnam was a natural outgrowth of the more primitive machines of World War II, and the attitudes of the pilots about what they were doing in Vietnam was fundamentally the same as the attitude expressed in the Movietone News film of the fire-bombing of Dresden. Totally cut off from the effects of what they were doing by the speed and accuracy of their machines, the pilots viewed their bombing runs as aesthetic experiences, as exciting and exhilarating moments in their lives—the experience that STAR WARS recreates through its use of special effects. In Peter Davis's HEARTS AND MINDS (1974), one of the pilots says that the bombing runs were like "a singer singing an aria." The pilots took pride in their technical expertise; they found the excitement of seeing the bombs explode to be "incredible," "thrilling, deeply satisfying." But they never saw any people, or any blood. As one flyer says, "You could never see the people. You never saw any blood. You could never hear any screams. It was very clean. I was a technician." Robert Lifton argues in his study of Vietnam veterans that technological warfare like the United States air war in Vietnam has an avoidance of guilt built into it. Lifton says, "Increasing technicizing of the war makes certain that the people we kill are outside of our immediate and imaginative vision."[5] In this kind of war in which the killers and their victims are separated by such vast distances, the only awareness of the "enemy" comes as electronic feedback in the form of blips on a screen. This technological detachment from the realities of war makes possible what Lifton calls "numbed warfare: killing with a near-total separation of act from idea."[6] The sensory equipment of the machines becomes an extension of the pilot's sensory equipment —a substitute for it—and along with it the pilots seem to take on the machine's lack of moral sensibility as well. Fred Branfman records a statement by a flyer in a Washington Monthly article on the era of the Blue Machine in Laos: "You become a part of the machine as you really do it. Guys who fly keep their professionality …. I haven't bombed now for three months and I really feel out of shape. The key is to be able to bomb without really thinking about it, automatically, to take evasive action … instinctively—to be able to do this you have to be flying every day."[7] This statement is a good description of Luke's final attack on the Death Star, the scene in which he switches off his gunsight and releases the missile instinctively, in a fantasy of bionic fusion with his ship, a fusion made possible by the Force. STAR WARS reproduces the sensory experience and the excitement of technological warfare with its use of special effects. Then it uses the plot to provide a romance-fantasy structure that glamorizes and justifies this kind of experience. The film articulates and feeds on its audience's feelings of frustration and desires for escape, mobility and power. It satisfies those frustrations and desires with conventional fantasies about good and evil, the family romance, vague mystical forces that guide and give meaning, and images of war and combat as metaphors for competition and individuality. In the process, the film endorses both the traditional structures of racism, sexism and social hierarchy that have helped to create and maintain those frustrations, and the monocular attitudes towards technology that form an important part of the whole ideological package. FANTASY SYSTEMS AND THE BIAS OF MEDIEVAL ROMANCE STAR WARS is not a science fiction film; it is a combination of what used to be called "sword and sorcery" and "space opera," and is now usually lumped together as "epic fantasy." Lucas says he wanted to make a space fantasy in the genre of Edgar Rice Burroughs rather than Stanley Kubrick's 2001. He wanted to do a film for "kids" and "the kids in all of us" that would restore "the fairy tales and dragons and Tolkien and all the real heroes" left out of science fiction and films in general since the 50s. Lucas wants to turn "some ten-year-old kid" on to outer space and the possibilities of romance and adventure in space exploration: "What we really need to do is to colonize the next galaxy, get away from the hard facts of 2001 and get on the romantic side of it." When we colonize Mars, we will "go with Stanley's ships but hopefully we are going to be carrying my laser sword and have the Wookie at our side." That is, the actual exploration and colonization of space Lucas hopes for in the future will be accomplished by the realistic technology of 2001, but STAR WARS will provide the fantasies and motives of the explorers. Lucas says, "I would feel very good if someday they colonize Mars when I am 93 years old or whatever, and the leader of the first colony says: 'I really did it because I was hoping there would be a Wookie up there.'"[8] These ingenuous statements about fantasy and kids and the irrational serve to disguise Lucas's conservative ideological bias, his assumption that humanity's greatest challenge still lies in expansion and the conquest of new territorial frontiers. Space is the new West, the new frontier to be opened and exploited. Instead of using our energies and resources to deal with problems we have created within the frontiers we already have, we can continue to direct them outward in fantasies of endless worlds and limitless expansion. Lucas ignores the ideological character of these views by claiming he is working inside an eternal tradition of fairy tales and myths stretching from Homer's Odyssey to John Ford's westerns. He says of the kind of adventure he is trying to recreate for kids today: "I call it the fairy tale or the myth. It is a children's story in history and you go back to the Odyssey … the myths which existed in high adventure, and an exotic far-off land which was always that place over the hill, Camelot, Robin Hood, Treasure Island. That sort of stuff that is always big adventure out there somewhere. It came all the way down through the western."[9] But Lucas' picture of an unbroken tradition of adventure mythology stretching from Homer to John Ford ignores both the specific meanings these stories had for the societies which created them and the important differences between them. Myths and fantasies are not eternal: they are historical. To trace the background of its genre briefly, the plot of STAR WARS is a chivalric romance plot. Chivalric romance as a specific form in western Europe was first developed in twelfth-century France by authors such as Chrêtien de Troyes, and remained widely popular throughout the sixteenth century. The form was revived in the nineteenth century by poets such as Tennyson (whose Idyls of the King is a reworking of the fifteenth-century Morte d'Arthur of Malory), and writers like the socialist William Morris (in his Well at the World's End). These works and others like them filtered medieval romances though a gauze of nineteenth-century concerns. In turn, they became the sources of the sword-and-sorcery fantasies of the twentieth century, among them Tolkien's Ring series, begun in the 1930s, and contemporary works like Michael Moorcock's Sword Rulers series. So, even leaving aside the relation between chivalric romance and romantic (as opposed to realistic) novels, romance has been one of the most successful and long-lived of the fictional structures of Western culture. Romance developed originally in a period when the rigid class structure of the first stages of medieval feudalism began to relax enough for the formation of a commercial middle class and a lower order of nobility within the aristocracy itself. This lower order of nobility was formed primarily by the gradual granting of aristocratic status to the military class, the knights. In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, this class came to share the legal status, but not the power and wealth, of the great lords. And it filled an increasingly bureaucratic and administrative role in the growing governmental apparatus dominated by the lords. Within this social framework, Arthurian romances like those of Chrêtien (stories about the British King Arthur and his knights) articulated the desires of these lesser nobles for upward social mobility within the rigidly hierarchical feudal system. The fantasy structure of romance in this period depends on a combination of Germanic feudal military codes and the newly rediscovered Roman idea of the state and the Roman conception of imperial power as based on "popular sovereignty." It modifies earlier forms of Christianity, in which God forbade the taking of Christian lives, into a newer style of imperial Christianity, in which the state became the supreme moral force on earth and could order men to kill soldiers from rival Christian states in its name. Within this fantasy structure, military action for God and country (increasingly symbolized by an aristocratic woman) provides the path to recognition, fame and acceptance (that is, social mobility). Combat becomes a symbolic rite of passage that has social as well as individual implications. Romance fantasy was potentially revolutionary in the sense that it expressed desires for the overthrow of existing social hierarchies (often expressed through the reversal of male/female roles inherent in courtly love). But it finally served to support the existing hierarchy because the lesser nobility wanted to rise within the system and enjoy the fruits of being at the top rather than overthrow the system entirely, as the social conservatism of romance indicates. So as a genre, romance recognizes and expresses revolutionary impulses, but finally it defuses them and renders them harmless to the social structure as it exists. This fundamental orientation persists within the form. When medieval romance (and medievalism in general) was revived in the nineteenth century, it was often used to suggest an alternative to industrialism and capitalism and their tendencies towards the destruction of human values. But this alternative had implicit within it a number of conservative and even reactionary strains. As Raymond Williams argued, this particular kind of critique of capitalism, with its nostalgia for past golden ages, knights in armor and flowing robes, carries within it a system of received social values which, if they become active, "at once spring to the defense of certain kinds of order, certain social hierarchies and moral stabilities, which have a feudal ring but a more relevant and more dangerous contemporary application."[10] This implicit conservative and reactionary strain is present in STAR WARS, and undercuts its tone of youthful rebelliousness. The final scene of the film, in which Luke and Han Solo walk between rows of uniformed soldiers at rigid attention to receive their medals, clearly echoes the march of Hitler, Himmler, and Lutze to the Nuremberg memorial in Leni Riefenstahl's TRIUMPH OF THE WILL.[11] The grins that the heroes exchange with Princess Leia are meant to assure us that these three at least aren't taking all this military pomp very seriously. But since the scene and its totalitarian, fascist overtones grow so naturally out of the rest of the fantasies and images in the film, it seems fair to ask whether the grins really undercut this image, or if they simply allow it to function for us in much the same way that Riefenstahl's original image functioned. The scene confirms all the hierarchical and militaristic values that have characterized the bad guys up to this point, and applies them to the heroes. Martial tones dominate the scene and the accompanying music. The military position of "attention" and the practice of lining troops up in precisely even rows is an attempt to deny the weakness and vulnerability of the human body, to make human beings hard-edged and precise like their weapons. Up to this conclusion, the bad guys have been associated with their rigid body-armor, impenetrable mask-like helmets, and heavily armored Death Star. When so drastic a reversal or transition takes place at the end, it becomes important to try to understand the nature of that transition. In romance, the generation gap functions as a symbolic representation of the split between upper and lower social levels, or between those with more power and wealth and those with less. The desire to grow up and escape the frustrations and restrictions of childhood by becoming an adult is symbolically analogous to the desire for upward social mobility. This connection falsely attaches the sense of inevitability, which is a natural part of the process of growing up, to the desire for social mobility. Assuming there is no accident, everyone grows up; not everyone rises within the social system. Luke represents both the youth/age and the class splits: he is young, living with his aunt and uncle. As we see him initially (and as he sees himself), he is a farmer, an unsophisticated, rural hick living on an unimportant planet in a backwater of the universe. Luke feels oppressed on the farm. His uncle needs his labor and refuses to let him go to the academy and become a fighter pilot, thus refusing to let him both grow up and move up socially. The youth/age, peasant/aristocrat split takes on another dimension, that of labor/management. Thus Luke's sense of frustration can resonate for the audience on a number of levels, depending on the circumstances of their own lives. Any or all three of these levels can be present at the same time. Luke's experience in the film provides a generalized fantasy vehicle through which the real experiences of the audience can be organized, "understood," and solved. In the course of the film, Luke grows up by taking part in military action, moving simultaneously into a more cosmopolitan, aristocratic, big-city world. Indicatively, the language of the rural culture differs from the aristocratic one. Luke, his uncle and aunt speak plainly. Aristocratic characters like Princess Leia and Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi speak in the high-flown, ornamental rhetoric of romance and epic fantasy. This language can seem corny and even campy, but Lucas means it to be taken straight.[12] Their dialogue gives the aristocratic, cosmopolitan world Luke is trying to enter a heightened reality above that of everyday life. Lucas' instincts are sound on the point. But if Luke is to rise socially, his success must be explained. A fantasy system like that of romance, which wishes on the one hand to allow for social mobility but on the other to retain the hierarchical status quo, must contain within it some explanation for the fact that everyone in the society does not rise. If everyone rose to the top, those at the top could no longer feel superior to anyone. But on the other hand, if eligible people do not rise, then the social system itself appears unjust and the hero's success arbitrary and meaningless. These two requirements generate an ideology of individualism. The romance hero can win fame, glory and the boss's daughter and still not threaten the hierarchical status quo because he is a uniquely-talented individual. In medieval romance the problem is solved by disguise and mistaken identity. The hero is placed in a situation in which his aristocratic identity is not known. He wins his victory and social acceptance through his own strength and courage, and then he reveals his identity at the end. This solution serves the dual function of proving that merit alone is enough to succeed but at the same time vindicating the social system by equating rank and merit in the hero's own person. In STAR WARS, a film which comes out of a north American culture that officially denies the importance of class, the problem is solved by racism. ROBOTS, WOOKIES AND RACISM The structures of racism in STAR WARS form an alternative, parallel hierarchy, so that the hero who is oppressed and inferior in one system can be superior in the other. Luke is on the bottom of the power and age hierarchies, but he is on top in the race hierarchy. He is human, as opposed to the non-human races, and most importantly, as opposed to the robots. And Mark Hamill's blond blue-eyed all-American Wasp good looks reinforce these racial resonances. In his position at the top of the race hierarchy, Luke acts kindly and generously to those under him (specifically in his treatment of the two robots), behaving as he wished his uncle would behave to him, and as the audience wishes their superiors would behave to them. This behavior marks Luke as a good person. His final success says that good people can, by their own conduct, overcome the unattractive aspects of the hierarchical system and make it function satisfactorily for everyone. The price paid for this affirmation of the hierarchical system is a corollary dehumanization of those in lower positions. Thus a hierarchy that we perceive as unfair and oppressive when seen from Luke's point of view (the virtual slavery of his position in his uncle's house) becomes fair and matter-of-fact when Luke becomes master of the two robots. The robots (or 'droids for androids) are science-fiction Stepin Fetchits. They do the real work of this society but are discriminated against. The issue is raised explicitly in the bar scene when the bartender says he doesn't serve their kind, and earlier when C-3PO (See Threepio in Lucas' novel) says he "can't abide those Jawas." The issue of racism has been explicit in science-fiction treatments of androids at least since the early 1950s, when Theodore Sturgeon published a story in Galaxy in which scientists had created a race of androids so similar to humans that the only distinction was the androids' lack of a navel. The story revolved around discrimination against the androids and the rape of an android woman who conceived a child as a result. The point here is not that the treatment of robots in STAR WARS is racist, but that the film makes use of and supports racist habits of thought when it divides its characters up into hierarchical levels based on their physical attributes. The fact that the film is forced to use racism to support and justify its fantasy structure should call that structure into question and make us examine its implications closely. The robots and the Wookie perform another function in the fantasy system of STAR WARS. They serve as non-competitive, non-sexual comrades and friends, one of the chief emotional satisfactions of racism. We would like friends and allies who have our best interests at heart, but people prefer a leading role in their own play to a secondary one in ours. In fantasy, members of lower classes or races can fill that supporting role because they cannot compete with us. In the fantasy at least, they accept their inferior position without question and assume the role of loyal follower and trusted sidekick. U.S. literature is full of Indians and blacks who fill this role (James Fenimore Cooper's Indians, Huckleberry Finn's Nigger Jim, and so on). In an adventure fantasy you don't want subordinates striking for higher wages while you are being mashed in the garbage crusher, so you make them robots or Wookies who cannot move up in the hierarchy. Wookies and robots are not eligible to court princesses and they do not need money or glory. In the final ceremony only the white male heroes get medals. The Wookie walks down the aisle and then steps aside to join the robots and applaud like everyone else. This focus on the individual and the recognition of individual merit as a validation of the social system itself requires a plot in which individual (rather than collective or group) action can serve a dramatic purpose. The plot of STAR WARS hinges on the fact that the imperial space station, the Death Star, has one vulnerable point, the exhaust vent into which one small rocket manned by one heroic pilot can shoot a missile and destroy the entire installation. So the outcome of the rebellion and the fate of the universe hangs on the outcome of one act by one man. By placing such an apocalyptic weight on the actions of one individual, the film demonstrates both the importance of individualism to the fantasy system. It also reveals the difficulty in the late 1970s of creating a plot in which individual action can have convincing consequences for the society as a whole. Laser swords and guns and one-man fighters are the weapons of STAR WARS because they are the weapons of romantic individual combat, the equipment of fantasies in which things can be changed, outcomes significantly affected, by one person. This kind of individualized military combat (like medieval jousts) is an ideal plot vehicle for romance fantasy because it serves as a romantic and morally-justified screen for the more specific forms of competition which are the avenues to success and social mobility in the real world, and which cannot be so easily romanticized. Combat provides a setting for individual victories that singles out the hero and supports him with the moral force of the whole community. By setting things up this way, Lucas denies that people need to work collectively, or long, or even very hard for change. Individual heroism, at one spot, in one heroic moment, can win the war. Because of this focus on individualism, collective action does not serve collective goals. It only advances the fortune and reputation of the hero. The other pilots' deaths simply make us aware of the difficulty of the task and increase the dimensions of Luke's victory, giving it the added motivation of revenge for lost comrades. Within the fantasy, only Luke, the vehicle for realization of our own fantasies, is real. Other characters simply serve as cannon fodder in an illusory pursuit of dimly articulated common goals. If the hierarchical system is to be preserved, not everyone can rise. Other characters tend to either serve as enemies who initiate and justify the action or as surrogate parents and comrades who help the hero and then drop out of the picture in one way or another. The relationship between Luke and Han Solo has particular interest in these terms. Initially, Han is smarter, cooler, more sophisticated and more competent than Luke. His cynicism and worldliness serve as a foil for Luke's romanticism and naiveté. But as Luke's vague romanticism turns into Force-directed idealism, Han's cynicism turns into a negative kind of individualism, which undercuts him and eliminates him as a serious rival for the audience's affection and approval. Han's withdrawal from the final battle serves two purposes. First, it functions as a criticism of real individualism, the kind of individualism which threatens society because it rejects society's values and imagines the possibility of a life outside its approval, a possibility that romance invariably rejects. Han's decision to take the money and run places him in an inferior position to Luke within the value system of the film, reversing their previous places in the hierarchy. Secondly, since Han leaves the collective pool of cannon fodder, he can avoid the deaths of the other pilots and return at the last minute to support Luke by keeping Darth Vader off his back while Luke scores. SEXISM AND THE RESCUE FANTASY As Princess Leia's withdrawal from the action indicates, this world of romantic combat is structured around male relationships and male-oriented viewpoints. Women exist primarily to provide motivations for male activity, to act as spectators, or to serve as mediators between different levels in the male hierarchy. When Luke's aunt isn't stuffing artichokes into the Cuisinart, she serves first as a mediator between Luke and his uncle and then as a motive for revenge when Luke returns home and finds her charred body, in a scene taken from John Ford's THE SEARCHERS (1956). Princess Leia, despite her attractive spunkiness and toughness, basically fills the same male-oriented roles. She is the traditional damsel in distress—her capture by Darth Vader begins the film and provides the motivation for Ben Kenobi's return and Luke's rescue mission. Although she does grab a laser gun at one point and fires a few shots, she is dependent on her male rescuers, and the only action she initiates during the rescue almost gets them killed in a garbage crusher. Her most memorable line, repeated over and over by her holographic image, is "Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You are my only hope." While Luke goes on from his initial helplessness and rescue by Kenobi to take a more heroic role, Princess Leia recedes into the background. During the attack on the Death Star she is merely a spectator. In the final scene, dressed in a décolleté gown, which symbolizes her role as a sexual prize, she stands on the steps between her father at the top and the young heroes at the bottom, mediating the gap between them and mitigating the scene's overt militarism. Her position in the system is clear. Her existence makes the rebel hierarchy a good hierarchy because she is a path to the top. By winning her favor, Luke can rise within the system. But her position is fixed. She is the prize which coerces men into joining the system. And she is the maternal figure who looks on approvingly while boys undergo their rites of initiation and become men. This role assignment mirrors the ways in which sexism frustrates women in male-oriented societies, but the system is not without its adverse effects on men as well. Women are denied autonomy and a chance to participate on an equal level in the activities valued most highly by the society. They are pushed into the roles of maternal figures or sexual objects, encouraged to see themselves primarily in terms of men and male activities. But by identifying women with the system, men have ensured that when the inevitable feelings of entrapment and betrayal arise, they will be directed at women rather than faced realistically. This identification impels men back into the adolescent, narcissistic male camaraderie which Leslie Fiedler sees as characteristic of American fiction in Love and Death in the American Novel, and which Molly Haskell describes as a dominant theme of Hollywood films like BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID in her book From Reverence to Rape. In STAR WARS, the relationships that Luke has with Ben Kenobi and Han Solo are much more important and rewarding than his relationship with Princess Leia. The sexual implications in that relationship are undercut by Leia's maternal behavior to Luke and the focusing of her romantic attention on the older Han Solo. (In Lucas' novel Han Solo is described as "perhaps five years older than Luke, perhaps a dozen—it was difficult to tell.") Princess Leia is most attractive early in the film, when she functions inside this world of male camaraderie as one of the guys, and less attractive and interesting later as she takes on the female roles assigned to her. In their roles, the two women in the film form two maternal poles that Luke moves between, one middle-class, the other aristocratic. Luke's movement from a lower-class culture into an aristocratic one reflects what Freud called the "family romance," one of the central fantasy structures of the film. Historically, the family-romance fantasy structure first became prominent in medieval chivalric romances in thirteenth-century English works written in or translated into English for audiences that were largely middle-class. In bourgeois romance, the family-romance fantasy structure is a substitute for the overt Oedipal rebellion of the adulterous triangles (Tristan, Isolde, and Mark; Lancelot, Guinevere, and Arthur) that characterize French romances written for the aristocracy. But in structural terms both fantasy systems are parallel. Both reflect the desire of those in a lower position in the social hierarchy to rise within the system. Briefly, in the family-romance fantasy a child exchanges his or her real parents for more aristocratic ones, imagining himself or herself the orphaned or kidnapped child of royalty. The fantasy |
observed at two locations to increase its chances of seeing the eclipse. With local support, the team was able to set up its equipment inside the old Northern Light Observatory and observe the event through specially designed doors that replaced the old windows, and to use an airport hangar located 10 miles away.
Identical sets of imaging instruments were set up at both locations, with six digital SLR cameras fitted with different focal length lenses, and four astrophotography cameras with special filters to observe the colors of light given off by ionized iron atoms, stripped of 10 and 13 electrons. These highly ionized atoms probe the high temperature outer layers, or corona, of the sun. In addition, a special instrument, called a dual-channel imaging spectrograph was used at the observatory to measure the motions of these ions in the sun's corona. At the airport, Dr. Haosheng Lin (IfA) used a spectropolarimeter that he designed and constructed to measure the sun's magnetic fields.
The shadow bands, thin bands of light and dark observed prior to and during totality, were remarkable as the snow-covered landscape offered ideal conditions for seeing them. The corona of the eclipsed sun, which was at an altitude of 12 degrees, was shimmering throughout the 2 minutes and 20 seconds of totality, with one large prominence clearly visible to the naked eye.
To further maximize the likelihood of observing the corona during this eclipse, the other members of the Solar Wind Sherpas team observed from three other sites: the Faroe Islands, located between Iceland and Norway; a Falcon Dassault flying at 49,000 feet (15,000 m) over the Faroe Islands, and an Irish Marine Corps DC-3 flying out of Dublin. All were successful except for the group on the Faroe Islands, where rain prevented them from observing totality.
Members of the team are currently working on the calibration and analysis of the data and will be presenting preliminary results at the upcoming Triennial Earth-Sun Summit (TESS) meeting in Indianapolis. Their results will be published once the analysis is completed.
The 2015 members of the Solar Wind Sherpas and their respective institutions and corporations are Shadia Habbal, Haosheng Lin and Garry Nitta, Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii at Manoa; Adalbert Ding, Technische Universitat and Institute for Technical Physics, Berlin; Judd Johnson, Electricon, Boulder, Colorado; Miloslav Druckmüller, Pavel Starha, Jana Hoderova and Jan Malec, Brno University of Technology, Czech Republic; Petr Starha, Brno, Czech Republic; Peter Aniol, Astelco Corporation, Germany; Martin Dietzel, Zeiss Corporation, Germany; Feras Habbal, University of Texas, Austin; Yaseen Almleaky, King Abdullah University, Saudi Arabia; Huw Morgan, Duraid Al-Shakarshi, Nathalia Alzate and Joe Hutton, Aberystwyth University, Wales; Martina Arndt, Bridgewater State University, Massachusetts; and Scott Gregoire Granite Mountain Research, Boulder. In addition, Peter Gallagher of Trinity College Dublin collaborated on the flight of the DC-3. The Northern Light Observatory was made available by the director of University Centre in Svalbard, Prof. Fred Sigernes, and Dr. Sebastian Sikora. The airport hangar was made available by airport manager Morten Ulsnes.
The dual-channel imaging spectrograph was designed and constructed by Prof. Adalbert Ding (Technische Universitat and Institute for Technical Physics, Berlin).Finally the brightness of summer is on its way. (We were getting worried for a while there; the Game of Thrones ads seemed ominously correct.) Now, for the harsh reality: you’ve had plenty of time during the last five months of gray to forget where you left your last set of sunglasses. If you’re in need of a new pair, the beloved aviator style, made popular by U.S. test pilots, and later, U.S. servicemen of all types during WWII, is always a standout choice.
The style’s popularity has endured for a reason. Aviators are as versatile a frame as you’ll find, pairing just as well with a suit as with board shorts. But while we love the original, it’s nice to stand out from the well-tanned crowd, too. We’ve picked out five alternative takes — each of which maintains the style and heritage of the classic aviator at a reasonable price tag — for your consideration this summer. Make a promise to yourself to keep track of them. Convinced? Read on.
Ray-Ban Folding Aviator
Best New Twist on the Classic Aviator: Ray-Ban is considered the father of the Aviator frame — they were, after all, the company that released them to the public in 1937. The lenses have improved, the colors have gotten crazier, but the frame has stayed the same quintessential shape for over 70 years. This version brings the ability to fold your aviators up to the size of only one lens, making them perfectly convenient to toss into your pocket at the start of a cloudy day, just in case. If these existed in the ’60s, we’d bet McQueen would’ve had a pair on his bureau next to his folding Persols.
Raen Lomis
Best Aviator for the Price: The Raen Lomis takes the Aviator shape and remakes it in Italian Acetate, giving the sunglasses a more substantial look than the traditional wire frames — and making a more substantial statement when worn (we recommend channeling Rick Ross for optimal swagger). Offered in six different colorways, there’s a frame to complement any style. The kicker? Each pair has Carl Zeiss lenses with 100% UVA/UVB protection, and the $137 option is the cheapest polarized set on our list.
Polarization: What the Hell is it? Quick science lesson for you. Light travels in waves. For reasons we won’t get in to, reflected light (which causes that glare we all hate so much) is horizontally polarized. Sunglasses with polarization filters block out all horizontal light waves, only allowing vertical waves to enter. Much like only letting your friends into the bar and leaving those unbuttoned-shirt douchebags out in the cold, this creates a good result: namely, cutting out much of the harsh light that hurts our eyes. Sure, it means a higher price tag, but when you’re trying to see the road, the trail or the hot girl tanning herself across the beach, they’re worth the premium.
Von Zipper Decco
Best Sports Aviator: Von Zipper is all about making cool looking shades for guys who get out and do stuff (usually crazy stuff involving boards, bikes, and/or big air). But even if you’re not shredding at Jaws, you can still look the part with the Decco. Its sporty, wrap-around Polycarbonate frame can take all the abuse you’ll throw at it and blocks sun and glare from all angles (especially the more expensive polarized option). It’s also affordably priced, a big plus, especially if you’re the guy who loses sunglasses every few months. Ahem.
Oakley Plaintiff
Best Die-Hard Aviator: The Oakley Plaintiff holds true to the brand’s typical focus on (over)engineering. The frames are built from ultra-light hi-modulus C5 metal with titanium Mono-Shock hinges. In English, that means the hinges let the stems flex without mangling the frames, saving you big money next time you snag them on your t-shirt and rip ’em off your face. The lenses are polarized and protect against harmful UVA/UVB/UVC waves. Like all Oakley sunglasses, the Plaintiff is made in the U.S.; call us homers, but that’s a big plus. If you want a subtle twist and performance upgrade to the traditional Aviator, the Plaintiff is your frame.
Oliver Peoples TheSoloIst Teardrop
Best Aviator for the Global Citizen: Though they’re technically a few seasons old at this point (they were originally launched in 2012), the vintage-inspired aesthetics of these finely crafted frames should never go out of style, wherever home happens to be for you at the moment. This particular set was one of the first two pairs to emerge from a collaboration between Oliver Peoples and renowned Japanese designer Takahiro Miyashita’s latest label, TheSoloIst. Lucky you for, the style is still available in four colors with polarized glass lenses. They’re classic, but also still on the cutting edge of global fashion — which in today’s jet setting is always a good thing.
Bonus: SUPER 49er Square Aviator
Best Bold Aviator: The SUPER 49er stacks futuristic (Acetate upper) directly on top of classic (hand-crafted Italian wire frames) to create the most, well, unique look on this list. For the price tag, we wish polarized lenses were at least an option, if not standard; that aside, the 49er is the type of frame that will draw plenty of jealousy from your friends and admiring looks from the right kind of people.Down in the Midwest League (Class A), scouts have been flocking to Cedar Rapids' games to no doubt catch a glimpse of Byron Buxton and Jose Berrios, who are among the Twins' top prospects. To their credit, Buxton and Berrios haven't disappointed. Buxton -- who was the No. 2 overall pick in the 2012 draft and the consensus No. 2 prospect in Minnesota's system behind Miguel Sano -- is destroying pitching (.349/.597/1.049) in the Midwest League. Berrios -- who ranks up there with Alex Meyer, Kyle Gibson and Trevor May among the team's top pitching prospects -- hasn't lost in his first four starts (3-0) and is striking out 11.2 batters per nine innings. But there is another name starting to grab the attention of scouts, team executives and long-term Fantasy keeper owners -- Adam Brett Walker II. It sounds more like a name that belongs at an upscale country club than in a baseball lineup, but there's no mistaking Walker can hit. Walker's slash line (.309/.655/1.010) is equally impressive as Buxton's, and he was taken 95 picks after Buxton in the 2012 MLB draft. Walker leads the Midwest League with 44 RBI and hit his third grand slam of the season Tuesday. Baseball execs and scouts have been enamored with Walker's power potential since his college days at Jacksonville, but he slipped into the third round for multiple reasons -- most notably a high strikeout rate, a susceptibility to breaking pitches and having an average arm for an outfielder. While Walker is slugging.555 and has belted 24 home runs in his first 93 games, he's still striking out a lot -- averaging 1.2 strikeouts per game in his career -- and scouts feel he's destined to end up as a first baseman. But there's little denying this kid can rake if he makes contact. When talking about Walker's ceiling, Giancarlo Stanton comparisons often arise in scouting reports. A quick look at Stanton's minor-league numbers compare favorably to what Walker has done early in his career, including Stanton averaging 1.14 strikeouts per game. While no one, not even this writer, is ready to deem Walker the second coming of Stanton, his blistering start has warranted attention. At this pace, it might not be long before Walker is talked about in the same breath as Sano and Buxton. Now, let's move onto five other players in the minors grabbing headlines … Yordano Ventura, SP, Royals
Affiliate: Double-A Northwest Arkansas
2013 stats:3-0, 1.57 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, 47 strikeouts, 14 walks, one home run allowed in seven starts (34 1/3 innings)
Despite coming into spring training having made just six starts above Class A, Ventura was in the mix to make the starting rotation and remained in the thick of it until the end of camp. Though, the decision to start Ventura in the minors hasn't been a bad move for either party. The Royals are winning without Ventura's presence and the Dominican right-hander is building confidence dominating batters in the hitter-friendly Texas League. Ventura is striking out a career-high 12.3 batters per nine innings and allowing a career-low 5.5 hits per nine innings. Although Wade Davis and Luis Mendoza have ERAs north of 5.50, it's difficult to envision the Royals making a brash move to promote Ventura, who isn't even on the 40-man roster. Ventura is more likely to receive a promotion to Triple-A Omaha before landing in Kansas City. Eddie Butler, SP, Rockies
Affiliate: Class A Asheville
2013 stats: 4-1, 1.49 ERA, 0.85 WHIP, 45 strikeouts, 22 walks, two home runs allowed in eight starts (48 1/3 innings)
Although the Rockies lost Mark Ellis to NL West rival Los Angeles in free agency a few years ago, Colorado used its compensatory pick in the 2012 draft on Butler, who has the potential to be a frontline starter for years to come. It's a tradeoff that could have long-lasting implications. Since turning pro, Butler has gone 11-2 with a 1.86 ERA and 0.97 WHIP through 21 outings (20 starts). He commands a fastball that can touch the high 90s, his breaking pitches (curveball and slider) are overmatching minor-league hitters and the right-hander is working on developing a changeup. Given his college pedigree, Butler has the ability to move quickly through the Rockies' system and could be an impact arm in a few years. Addison Russell, SS, Athletics
Affiliate: Class A Stockton
2013 stats:.171/.302/.343/.644, two triples, three home runs, three stolen bases, five doubles, 11 RBI, 15 runs, 20 walks, 30 strikeouts in 27 games
Russell entered 2013 with hefty expectations following a stellar pro debut in 2012. The Athletics invited their consensus top prospect to spring training less than a year after being drafted in the first round, giving the appearance Russell had the makeup to sprint through the minor leagues despite being a high-school draftee. Sadly, Russell has struggled to start the season in the hitter-friendly California League. All Russell has to do is make contact and the baseball should have no problems traveling great distances. Although, let's not be too quick to write off Russell because of a slow start. He spent time on the disabled list in April because of a back injury and he still might be trying to find his rhythm. Although, if he's dealing with any lingering issues, it might not be such a bad thing. At least we would have a reason for his struggles. It's better than the talent evaluators missing on Russell or knowing Russell's struggles stem from him buckling under the pressure of being an elite prospect. Rubby De La Rosa, SP, Red Sox
Affiliate: Triple-A Pawtucket
2013 stats: 0-0, 4.35 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, 26 strikeouts, 10 walks, three home runs allowed in seven starts (20 2/3 innings)
De La Rosa was considered a top 100 prospect by Baseball America in 2011 before blowing out his arm and needing Tommy John surgery. He has had a slow road back, but he's finally ramping up the intensity at Pawtucket and returning to the form he had before reconstructive elbow surgery. Although he's still on a strict pitch count, De La Rosa has tossed four straight scoreless outings, spanning 14 innings. He's also had a 19-to-4 strikeout-to-walk ratio in that span. The Red Sox were over the moon when they landed Allen Webster and De La Rosa in a trade with the Dodgers last season, and their patience with De La Rosa could pay major dividends down the road. In fact, once De La Rosa gets his pitch count up, he might even have a spot in the Boston rotation later this summer. Rob Refsnyder, 2B, Yankees
Affiliate: Class A Tampa
2013 stats (two levels of Class A):.377/.476/.507/.983, one triple, one home run, 13 doubles, 13 stolen bases, 22 RBI, 22 walks, 23 strikeouts, 25 runs in 35 games
The 2012 fifth-round pick needed only 13 games this season before he was promoted from low Class A Charleston to high Class A Tampa. What's been most impressive is that Refsnyder has a higher batting average (.381) in more games (22) for Tampa than he did (.370) in fewer games for Charleston. Refsnyder was a key cog on Arizona's College World Series-winning team from 2012, picking up Most Outstanding Player honors along the way. Refsnyder was lauded for having great plate discipline and the ability to hit to all fields. Although he was an outfielder in college, the Yankees have transitioned Refsnyder to second base because they are unsure if his power will translate to the major-league level. It's been a rough go at second base for Refsnyder, who has committed 13 errors in 32 games this season, but the Yankees are committed to him as an infielder. Though, it won't be his defense that eventually sends him to the majors. It will be his bat -- making him an ideal candidate to put on your radar in long-term keeper leagues.Several hundred young men in balaclavas marched from the country’s parliament to the Presidential Administration building on Sunday, carrying burning torches in what they claim was a show of support for the government’s military operation in the country's southeast.
© AP Photo / Osamu Honda Kiev Silencing Russian Media Reports on Human Rights Abuses in Ukraine
MOSCOW, February 2 (Sputnik) – Several hundred young man have staged a torch-lit rally in Kiev in what they claimed was a show of support for the government’s military operation in the country's southeast, which left thousands killed.
The crowd marched from the country’s parliament to the Presidential Administration building on Sunday, chanting slogans in which they derided the country’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
Fireworks, flares, and smoke bombs added up to the noise from the crowd.
The action was organized by Chesne Slovo (Honest World), an organization which sees "the promotion of the development of the Ukrainian national idea" as one of its core aims.
The escalation of hostilities in the country’s southeast since January 13 has raised the total death toll in the country to at least 5,086 (10,948 people have been wounded) between mid-April last year and January 21, 2015, according to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights at the UN.
"In just nine days, between 13 and 21 January, at least 262 people were killed due to the hostilities. That is an average of at least 29 people killed per day.
This has been the most deadly period since the declaration of a ceasefire on 5 September," OHCHR spokesman Rupert Colville said at a press conference in Geneva on January 23.
"Civilians held or trapped in these areas are subject to a total lack of respect for human rights and the rule of law," he added.Labour would have won the general election with an outright majority if the campaign had run for a couple of weeks longer, John McDonnell has declared.
The Shadow Chancellor hailed his party’s result on Thursday night that saw Labour increase their seats in the Commons by 32 and prevent the Tories from securing an expected overall majority.
As a fresh Survation survey puts Labour six points ahead of the Tories, Mr McDonnell claimed that given the “narrowness” of voting in many seats his party would have won outright should the campaign have gone on for 14 more days.
Writing in the Observer the senior frontbencher said Labour’s success had come despite being “pitted against a barrage of highly personalised and poisonous Tory attacks” and the Conservatives’ “expensively funded” campaign.
Mr McDonnell said the more the public came to see of Jeremy Corbyn the more people saw him for the “honest, decent, principled and indeed strong leader he was”.
“When people saw Jeremy on television, most liked what they saw. They recognised him for what he is: a decent man who knows his mind and is determined to achieve his aims, but who engages with people and does not hector them like most politicians,” he said.
“From then on, the momentum stayed with Labour, despite the suspension of campaigning after the two horrific terror attacks in Manchester and London.
“We were pitted against a barrage of highly personalised and poisonous Tory attacks, and a policy-free, expensively funded campaign in the press and on Facebook.
“My judgment is that if the campaign had been a couple of weeks longer, we would have secured a majority, given the narrowness of the voting in so many seats.”
He also acknowledged that the leaking of Labour’s manifesto did the party a “favour”, with the document acting as a “hugely popular boost”. Mr McDonnell hinted that Labour would seek to push elements of the manifesto in the Commons.
“We will place before parliament policies drawn from our manifesto that we believe are needed to address the challenges Britain now faces and can command support.”
The Survation poll, taken following the general election results, found Labour out in front on 45%, with the Tories trailing on 39%.
‘POLITICS OF FEAR’
Mr McDonnell said there were three lessons to take from Thursday’s result: no party won the election outright, Theresa May failed to get a mandate for her Brexit, and the “politics of hope has overcome the politics of fear”.
“This election demonstrated the large-scale rejection of such politics and may have brought about the first real cracks in the edifice of control of popular political debate by the media-owning oligarchs,” he continued.
“And, finally, never again will young people be taken for granted by politicians in this country. The arrogant view that young people don’t count because they don’t vote has thankfully been smashed forever.”
It comes after reports that 150,000 people have joined Labour since the election, taking total party membership to 800,000.
Senior sources told the Observer that Mr Corbyn will soon carry out a reshuffle to his top team and seek to bring in MPs previously sceptical of his leadership within the parliamentary Labour party.
According to the paper these include former shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper and one-time leadership contender Chuka Umunna, who has expressed willingness to serve in recent days.Cluster HAT usbboot/rpiboot test image (Updated 2018/10/13).
This is a guide to using my modified Raspbian image with rpiboot (usbboot) for a Cluster HAT with up to 4 Pi Zeros (1.1/1.2/W) which can be modified to work with a ZeroStem or standard USB cable.
This test image currently supports 4 Pi Zeros.
What is usbboot/rpiboot?
The "rpiboot" tool allows you to boot Raspberry Pi Zero (and Pi Zero W, Model A, CM and CM3) without an SD card, "usbboot" is the repository which holds the "rpiboot" tool. The original sources are available at https://github.com/raspberrypi/usbboot my modified sources can be found at https://github.com/burtyb/usbboot.
The standard rpiboot supports booting from a single "boot" directory. My version of rpiboot has been modified to support overlay boot directories based on the USB "path" the device is connected via. This allows the use of a custom configuration file for each slot on the Cluster HAT (or ZeroStem/USB Cable). This is used to give each Pi a custom cmdline.txt which sets the MAC address on both sides of the USB Gadget Ethernet device, mount the right NFS directory, etc.
Download
ClusterHAT-2018-10-13-lite-1-usbboot.zip (Stretch for Cluster HAT v1.x and v2.x on RPi upto 3B+).
This image was released on 2018/10/13 to add support for Raspberry Pi 3B+.
http://dist.8086.net/clusterhat/ClusterHAT-2018-10-09-lite-1-usbboot.zip
ClusterHAT-2017-11-29-lite-2-usbboot.zip (Stretch for Cluster HAT v1.x and v2.x).
This image was released on 2018/03/03 to add support for newer v2.x Cluster HAT which uses a different "on" signal for the USB HUB.
http://dist.8086.net/clusterhat/ClusterHAT-2017-11-29-lite-2-usbboot.zip
ClusterHAT-2017-09-07-lite-1-usbboot (Stretch for Cluster HAT v1.x and v2.0).
A new Stretch based image released on 2017/11/27 which no longer needs to be upgraded to support the Cluster HAT v2.0 can be downloaded from:
http://dist.8086.net/clusterhat/ClusterHAT-2017-09-07-lite-1-usbboot.zip
I advise using a 16GB SD card as the image requires 7.5GB, the image will be automatically expanded to fill the SD card on first boot.
ClusterHAT-2017-07-05-lite-2-usbboot (Jessie for Cluster HAT v1.x)
The older ClusterHAT-2017-07-05-lite-2-usbboot.zip Jessie based image can still be downloaded from:
http://dist.8086.net/clusterhat/ClusterHAT-2017-07-05-lite-2-usbboot.zip
I advise using a 16GB SD card as the image requires 5GB and MUST be expanded with "sudo raspi-config" on the controller before trying to boot any Pi Zero.
Issue with ClusterHAT-2017-07-05-lite-1-usbboot.zip - If you've downloaded the earlier version of this then you may find rpiboot gets stuck after booting the first Pi Zero. To fix this you need to update rpiboot by running the following command on the Controller Pi and then reboot.
sudo sh -c "cd /var/lib/clusterhat/usbboot/;git pull;make"
When using either OLD 2017-07-05 image with a Cluster HAT v2.0 you will also need to upgrade the tools to support the newer HAT - see the forum post for upgrade instructions.
Installation
The image should be written to an SD card for your Controller Raspberry Pi by following the standard instructions.
Stretch based images have SSH disabled by default (on Controller/Pi Zeros) and the filesystem will automatically expand.
Older Jessie based image have SSH enabled by default on both the Controller and Pi Zeros, the Controller filesystem must be expanded on first boot using "sudo raspi-config".
The "pi" users password is set to "clusterhat" (without the quotes) you MUST change this as soon as you login AND then expand the Controller filesystem with "sudo raspi-config".
Also please remember to remove SD cards from the Pi Zeros :).
Network Overview
The Pi Zeros have an internal network bridged to "brint" on the Controller, they also have an external network bridged to "brext" on the Controller. The Pi Zeros use VLANs to separate these 2 networks. Untagged traffic is used for internal and VLAN 10 is used for external traffic. It is done this way arround to utilise mounting the NFSROOT filesystem from the kernel command line where configuring VLAN is not possible.
See our original post for more details on this setup.
Internal Network
172.19.180.254 - Is assigned to the Controllers Internal Interface.
172.19.180.1-4 - Are assigned to the Pi Zeros.
These can be used if the Pi Zero doesn't pick up an external IP address correctly or if you want to boot it standalone.
External Network
The Controller/Pi Zeros will request the external IP address via DHCP on the Controllers "eth0" device.
The hostnames are "controller.local", "p1.local", "p2.local", "p3.local", "p4.local".
Usage [Cluster HAT]
The image as supplied expects the Cluster HAT to be plugged into the top USB port closest to the Ethernet port (for 3B) and bottom USB port furthest from the Ethernet port (for 3B+) on the Controller Pi.
If using a Cluster HAT P1-P4 can be powered on using the standard "clusterhat on" command.
You should be able to watch the Pi Zero request files and boot from by looking at the screen session for "rpiboot".
sudo screen -rx rpiboot # To detach from screen press CTRL+a then CTRL+d
Once connected it will show files being requested as it steps through the boot process and eventually after a few seconds the LED should illuminate on the Pi Zero and it will boot up. It may take more than a minute before the Pi Zero requests the external IP address and starts SSH but you should be able to ping 172.19.180.1/2/3/4 early in the boot process as this is used to mount the root filesystem over NFS.
Pi Zeros can be rebooted as normal and will be booted up again automatically.
Usage [ZeroStem / USB Cable]
This section is a bit long/more complicated than it needs to be right now, will be cleaned up - if you need help post on the forum (If you can post the output of "lsusb -t" before and after you plug in the Pi Zero it should be easy to spot even when using standard Raspbian).
The root file system for the Pi Zeros is stored in /var/lib/clusterhat/nfs/pX where X is 1-4. The base "/boot" filesystem is stored in /var/lib/clusterhat/boot/ and within this directory are symlinks to the specific root filesystems for each USB path.
ls -l /var/lib/clusterhat/boot/1-* lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 15 Aug 2 09:11 /var/lib/clusterhat/boot/1-1.2.1 ->../nfs/p4/boot/ lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 15 Aug 2 09:11 /var/lib/clusterhat/boot/1-1.2.2 ->../nfs/p3/boot/ lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 15 Aug 2 09:11 /var/lib/clusterhat/boot/1-1.2.3 ->../nfs/p2/boot/ lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 15 Aug 2 09:11 /var/lib/clusterhat/boot/1-1.2.4 ->../nfs/p1/boot/
These relate to the USB path names so in the example above this relates to.
1-1.2 - Is the top left USB port on the Raspberry Pi 3 which is connected to the USB hub on the Cluster HAT.
1-1.2.4 - Is the first USB port on the Cluster HAT which is used for P1.
1-1.2.3 - Is the second USB port on the Cluster HAT which is used for P2.
1-1.2.2 - Is the third USB port on the Cluster HAT which is used for P3.
1-1.2.1 - Is the fourth USB port on the Cluster HAT which is used for P4.
To use a different USB path topology you'll need to alter these symlinks, first find out the USB path name where you're going to be plugging in the Pi Zero.
So if you're plugging in a Pi Zero with a USB cable or Zero Stem directly into...
Top Left USB port on a Pi 3 the USB pathname would be "1-1.2"
Top Right USB port on a Pi 3 the USB pathname would be "1-1.4"
Bottom Left USB port on a Pi 3 the USB pathname would be "1-1.3"
Bottom Right USB port on a Pi 3 the USB pathname would be "1-1.5"
You can also see the path using the following command.
$ lsusb -t /: Bus 01.Port 1: Dev 1, class="root_hub", Driver=dwc_otg/1p, 480M |__ Port 1: Dev 2, If 0, class="Hub", Driver=hub/5p, 480M |__ Port 1: Dev 3, If 0, class="Vendor" Specific Class, Driver=smsc95xx, 480M |__ Port 2: Dev 4, If 0, class="Hub", Driver=hub/4p, 480M |__ Port 3: Dev 33, If 2, class="Communications", Driver=cdc_acm, 480M |__ Port 3: Dev 33, If 0, class="Communications", Driver=cdc_ether, 480M |__ Port 3: Dev 33, If 3, class="CDC" Data, Driver=cdc_acm, 480M |__ Port 3: Dev 33, If 1, class="CDC" Data, Driver=cdc_ether, 480M |__ Port 1: Dev 47, If 3, class="CDC" Data, Driver=cdc_acm, 480M |__ Port 1: Dev 47, If 1, class="CDC" Data, Driver=cdc_ether, 480M |__ Port 1: Dev 47, If 2, class="Communications", Driver=cdc_acm, 480M |__ Port 1: Dev 47, If 0, class="Communications", Driver=cdc_ether, 480M |__ Port 4: Dev 49, If 1, class="CDC" Data, Driver=cdc_ether, 480M |__ Port 4: Dev 49, If 2, class="Communications", Driver=cdc_acm, 480M |__ Port 4: Dev 49, If 0, class="Communications", Driver=cdc_ether, 480M |__ Port 4: Dev 49, If 3, class="CDC" Data, Driver=cdc_acm, 480M |__ Port 2: Dev 44, If 2, class="Communications", Driver=cdc_acm, 480M |__ Port 2: Dev 44, If 0, class="Communications", Driver=cdc_ether, 480M |__ Port 2: Dev 44, If 3, class="CDC" Data, Driver=cdc_acm, 480M |__ Port 2: Dev 44, If 1, class="CDC" Data, Driver=cdc_ether, 480M
The 1-1.2.4 relates to "Bus 01" - "Port 1". "Port 2". "Port 4" (which is Dev 49 in the example above) so by plugging something into the port and running "lsusb -t" before/after you should be able to work out the path name you need.
So for example to change /var/lib/clusterhat/nfs/p1 to be the filesystem for a Pi zero plugged into the bottom right USB port on a Pi 3 you would need to update the symlink to "1-1.5".
sudo rm -f /var/lib/clusterhat/boot/1-1.2.4 sudo ln -s /var/lib/clusterhat/nfs/p1/boot/ /var/lib/clusterhat/boot/1-1.5
If you have any problem working out the path name you should be using please ask on the forum.
Hacks
The rpiboot process runs in a screen session (under the root user) rather than a systemd service. I do this to make it easier to monitor what's going on when needed without having multiple lines per second end up in the log file. Once things stabalise I expect this to move to a systemd service. This is started in the /etc/rc.local file.
There are still issues with the rpcbind/nfs services not starting on boot so again these are restarted in the /etc/rc.local file which seemed to work OK in my testing.
raspi-config doesn't work as it tries to detect the "/boot" partition is a mountpoint which is isn't as it comes with the root filesystem you can appease it by mounting the "/boot" directory again on the Pi Zero.
sudo mount 172.19.180.254:/var/lib/clusterhat/nfs/p1/boot /boot
Replacing the "p1" as appropriate, you should then be able to run raspi-config to enable the camera/i2c/etc.
Problems/Questions?
If you have any problems, questions or suggestions about the images please use the forum to discuss it.
How?
If you want to make your own image or see how I created this image the script is available here but be aware the script has bugs, it expects to be ran with a ClusterHAT image as the source file on a Raspberry Pi with plenty of storage.When people talk about the biggest obstacles to the growth of sailing, I’d suggest one word for starters: shouting
A few years ago I took part in a memorable regatta among the crew of a yacht whose owner and skipper was an extremely plummy and well-connected member of the legal profession – a business that of necessity is very particular about words. He was the epitome of charm and had the most impeccable manners.
Until the ten-minute gun.
As the gun fired, his demeanour and language underwent an instantaneous transformation. Now that matters were tinged with urgency, directives were peppered with profanities and hurled at the crew at top volume. Amidst the barrage of disparagements were volleys of more surgical character assassination. The ears of the pitiful crew rang with insults for over two hours, until we ran back across the finish line.
Sails were handed and stowed, the kettle was put on and hostilities ceased. The skipper was immediately restored to calm and resumed pleasantries as if nothing had happened.
Another year I raced with a crew of ladies who had dumbfounded me ashore by repeatedly exclaiming “Goody-goody-gumdrops!” (this is the verbal equivalent of a wearing a monocle) yet were turned to fishwives by the sound of the ten-minute gun and chain-smoked their way round a |
station in Penge High Street in Penge, south-east London, at 6.45pm last night.
The victim was left with blood dripping from the face and his shirt ripped open as he said Joel Willingham, who filmed it: “Did you see them ****ing attack me?”
Mr Willingham, 19, was on his way to work when he heard shouting and shot the footage to give to police as evidence.
He said: “I heard a lot of shouting and saw what was going on. Lots of people tried to help which was good to see.
“Steve was very stressed out after the fight but grateful to everyone for helping him out and stopping them from getting away with it.”
Tracey Littlebury, among more than 100,000 people to view the video within hours of its being posted online, said: “I didn’t see the thieves but did see the relieved man get back on his bike and ride off on my way back to Beckenham.
“How blatant.. and how lovely of everyone to step in.”
A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “Members of the public intervened and the two suspects rode off from the scene. They did not manage to steal the scooter.
“The victim was not seriously injured during the incident. There have been no arrests and enquiries continue.”
Mr Willingham has started a fundraiser to help pay for repairs. To donate visit this linkPhilips Hue Motion Sensor tipped for September launch
Philips looks set to add hands-free smarts to its Hue lighting system, with word of a new Hue Motion Sensor sneaking out ahead of the gadget’s launch. A mainstay of many smart home installations, Hue’s wirelessly-enabled bulbs can be controlled by various means, including the company’s iOS and Android apps, from a smartwatch, the Hue Tap switch, and basic scheduling, but if you wanted motion-triggers you had to look to third-party platforms.
That looks set to change with the Hue Motion Sensor, at least according to a recent FCC filing and a prematurely-posted product page in Germany. Philips has packed a motion sensor and an ambient light sensor into what appears to be a roughly 2-inch square, which hooks up to your Hue network’s ZigBee connection.
Thanks to ZigBee’s super-frugal power requirements, Philips can apparently power the sensor with a couple of AAA batteries, though it’s unclear at this point how long they’ll run for before you need to replace them.
According to one German retailer, the Hue Motion Sensor has a 100-degree field of detection and a range over five meters. The ambient light sensor is presumably used to avoid turning your Hue bulbs on when it’s daylight; that way, you could have the bathroom lights turn on when you stumble in at 2am, but not when it’s noon and the sun is shining.
Motion-triggering is one of the more commonplace features of many smart home platforms, and with a SmartThings kit, for instance, you could fairly easily hook up a battery-powered motion detector and link it to Hue bulbs (or, indeed, remote-controlled outlets or other brands of connected bulb). That’s still probably more complex for mainstream users than is preferable, not to mention it involves the expense of buying a whole home automation platform.
In contrast, at least going by German pricing, the Hue Motion Sensor will be a mere 40 Euros, suggesting pricing in the US – where the FCC filing would suggest a launch is definitely on the cards – at around the $40 mark.
According to the Germans, it’ll arrive on September 7 this year, or shortly after IFA 2016.
VIA Zatz Not Funny
SOURCE FCC; AlzaGamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is the main inhibitory neurotransmitter in the human cortex. The food supplement version of GABA is widely available online. Although many consumers claim that they experience benefits from the use of these products, it is unclear whether these supplements confer benefits beyond a placebo effect. Currently, the mechanism of action behind these products is unknown. It has long been thought that GABA is unable to cross the blood–brain barrier (BBB), but the studies that have assessed this issue are often contradictory and range widely in their employed methods. Accordingly, future research needs to establish the effects of oral GABA administration on GABA levels in the human brain, for example using magnetic resonance spectroscopy. There is some evidence in favor of a calming effect of GABA food supplements, but most of this evidence was reported by researchers with a potential conflict of interest. We suggest that any veridical effects of GABA food supplements on brain and cognition might be exerted through BBB passage or, more indirectly, via an effect on the enteric nervous system. We conclude that the mechanism of action of GABA food supplements is far from clear, and that further work is needed to establish the behavioral effects of GABA.
Introduction
Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) serves as the main inhibitory neurotransmitter in the human cortex (Roberts and Kuriyama, 1968; Petroff, 2002). In recent years it has become widely available as a food supplement. In Europe and the United States, GABA is considered a “food constituent” and a “dietary supplement,” respectively. As such, manufacturers are not required to provide evidence supporting the efficacy of their products as long as they make no claims with regards to potential benefits in relation to specific diseases or conditions. These GABA food supplements can be purchased online via numerous websites, including web shop giants such as Amazon.com, with often very positive customer reviews. Hundreds of people report that these supplements have helped them alleviate anxiety and/or improve sleep quality, in addition to other beneficial effects. Interestingly, GABA has long been thought to be unable to cross the blood–brain barrier (BBB), which raises questions about the mechanisms of action behind such beneficial effects (Roberts et al., 1958; Van Gelder and Elliott, 1958; Kuriyama and Sze, 1971; Knudsen et al., 1988). Through what mechanisms do these products exert their action? Do they rely on a placebo effect only? Do they exert an effect through peripheral effects outside of the brain? Or is GABA able to cross the BBB after all?
The current paper aims to give a succinct overview of recent understanding of GABA’s BBB permeability (Blood–Brain Barrier Permeability), the role of GABA in treatment of diseases (GABA, Diseases, and Treatment), its role as a food supplement (GABA as a Food Supplement), and the possibility that this food supplement might affect the central nervous system through an effect on the enteric nervous system (Enteric Nervous System Effects of GABA).
Blood–Brain Barrier Permeability
The BBB protects most of the brain from toxins and ion abnormalities that find their way into vascular space through ingestion, infection, or other means (Purves et al., 2004). On the one hand, the BBB is important in keeping the brain safe from harmful substances. On the other hand it severely limits the passage of substances into the brain that might be beneficial to the individual, such as drugs to treat central nervous system disorders (Pardridge, 2005).
The BBB is made up by neighboring capillary endothelial cells. These cells are connected via tight junctions, which are impermeable (Brightman and Reese, 1969). As a consequence, molecules need to enter via active uptake by specialized transporter molecules or diffusion into the cells of the BBB (Pardridge, 2005, 2007). Tight junctions are responsible for the brain’s high resistance to outside materials. These tight junctions are not present in the rest of the body, where much more ionic and molecular traffic is possible (see Figure 1; Purves et al., 2004). As a consequence, the diffusion of a substance depends on its ability to cross the cell membrane, which consists largely of a lipid bilayer. The ability of a substance to pass through this lipid bilayer (i.e., its lipophilicity) depends largely on basic chemical properties (Lipinski, 2000; Pardridge, 2005).
FIGURE 1
Figure 1. The difference between capillaries as they are generally found in the body versus the ones in the brain and the possible ways for a substance to move across these capillaries.
Initial studies from the fifties reported GABA’s inability to cross the BBB (Van Gelder and Elliott, 1958). Since then, several research groups have replicated this finding (Roberts et al., 1958; Kuriyama and Sze, 1971; Knudsen et al., 1988). However, a number of studies have reported that GABA does cross the BBB, albeit in small amounts (Frey and Löscher, 1980; Löscher, 1981; Löscher and Frey, 1982; Al-Sarraf, 2002; Shyamaladevi et al., 2002). This discrepancy could be the result of variation in chemical compounds, method of administration (i.e., oral versus injection), and the species used.
With regards to the first factor, not every study has employed the same chemical compound. One study administered 4-amino-3-hydroxybutyric acid (Kuriyama and Sze, 1971). Although this compound has a different chemical structure than GABA (i.e., an extra OH group), this study is often cited as providing evidence for GABA’s inability to cross the BBB. In view of the role that simple chemical properties play in BBB permeation, it might be problematic to generalize findings with different chemical compounds to GABA as it is found in the central nervous system and its food supplement version. All other studies that have reported evidence for or against GABA’s BBB permeability either administered radioactively labeled GABA (which is chemically identical to GABA, see Figure 2), or did not further specify the kind of GABA they used.
FIGURE 2
Figure 2. GABA’s chemical structure.
A second factor that may, in principle, account for the discrepancy between animal studies concerns the significant variation in methods of GABA administration. GABA was administered either by intraperitoneal injection (Van Gelder and Elliott, 1958; Kuriyama and Sze, 1971; Frey and Löscher, 1980; Löscher, 1981; Shyamaladevi et al., 2002), intravenous injection (Roberts et al., 1958; Löscher and Frey, 1982; Knudsen et al., 1988), or the bilateral in situ brain perfusion technique (Al-Sarraf, 2002). However, there appears to be no systematic relationship between the method of administration and the research outcome; positive and negative evidence has been found with all of these methods.
Thirdly, the reported studies differ in the species of animals tested. Most studies used rats (Van Gelder and Elliott, 1958; Kuriyama and Sze, 1971; Al-Sarraf, 2002; Shyamaladevi et al., 2002), but mice (Roberts et al., 1958; Frey and Löscher, 1980), rabbits (Van Gelder and Elliott, 1958; Kuriyama and Sze, 1971), and dogs (Löscher and Frey, 1982) have also been used. As with the employed methodologies, both positive and negative evidence has been found with these different species.
One limitation of this field is that there have been no studies with humans that directly assessed GABA’s BBB permeability. This is not so surprising given the limited number of methods for measuring GABA levels in the human brain. GABA levels have been determined in post-mortem tissue samples (Perry et al., 1973). Additionally, neocortical slices have been extracted from epileptic patients undergoing surgery (Errante et al., 2002), but these methods have not been employed to assess the effect of GABA administration on brain GABA levels. The obvious noninvasive candidate for such an assessment is magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), but we are not aware of any MRS studies that assessed brain GABA levels after administration of GABA. Assessment of GABA concentrations in the brain using MRS requires a careful experimental design, since GABA is not only present in the brain, but also in blood vessels located outside of the BBB. Tissue fraction analyses estimating blood, CSF, gray matter and white matter presence within each volume of interest should therefore be incorporated (Draper et al., 2014).
Interestingly, evidence has been found for the presence of a GABA-transporter in the BBB (Takanaga et al., 2001). The expression of such a transporter indicates that GABA can enter and/or exit the brain through facilitated transport. In mice, the brain efflux rate for GABA was found to be 17 times higher than the influx rate (Kakee et al., 2001). This complicates the interpretation of GABA concentrations in the brain, and it is possible that this may have led to an underestimation of the extent to which GABA is able to cross the BBB. That is, some studies may have found little evidence for GABA’s BBB permeability because of the high efflux rate.
GABA, Diseases, and Treatment
Increasing GABA in the brain has for years been the focus of drug development aiming to alleviate the severity of epileptic seizures (Hawkins and Sarett, 1957; Wood et al., 1979; Gale, 1989; Petroff et al., 1995). Initial studies examined the efficacy of administering GABA directly. One study reported a reduction in the amount of seizures in epileptic patients who were administered a very high dose of GABA (0.8 g/kg daily; Tower, 1960). However, this result was found only in four out of twelve patients. Additionally, the patients in whom the administration of GABA did have an effect were children below the age of 15. This finding is in line with the suggestion that the BBB permeability to GABA decreases with age (Al-Sarraf, 2002). Perhaps more importantly, GABA’s half-life is about 17 min in mice (Kakee et al., 2001). If the half-life has a similar short duration in humans, direct administration of GABA is unsuitable as pharmacological treatment of epilepsy.
The GABA analog gabapentin was developed as an anti-epileptic drug. Gabapentin functions by modulating enzymes involved in GABA synthesis. It differs in chemical structure from GABA and its half-life is much longer (McLean, 1994). One MRS study in humans has found that the administration of gabapentin increased brain GABA levels by 55.7% (Cai et al., 2012). Nonetheless, a study exploring the effects of gabapentin in both rat and human neocortical slice preparations suggests that there might be a considerable difference between rodents and humans in the effects on GABA levels: gabapentin was found to increase GABA concentrations by 13% in human neocortical slices, while having no significant effect in rat neocortical slices (Errante et al., 2002).
Patients with Huntington’s disease also have reduced GABA levels in the brain (Perry et al., 1973), but administration of GABA to remedy this deficiency has shown mixed results with regards to the reduction of symptoms (Barbeau, 1973; Fisher et al., 1974; Shoulson et al., 1976). Of course, that the administration of GABA does not consistently alter the symptoms in complex and multifaceted disorders such as epilepsy and Huntington’s disease, does not necessarily mean that GABA is unable to affect the brain.
GABA as a Food Supplement
In recent years researchers have reported a number of placebo-controlled studies in which GABA was administered as a food supplement to healthy participants and participants with a history of acrophobia. One study found an increase in alpha waves in healthy participants and reduced levels of immunoglobulin A (IgA; an indicator of immune system functioning) in participants with a history of acrophobia when they were exposed to heights (Abdou et al., 2006). However, the sample size for the second finding was very small (four participants per group). Another study reported reduced heart rate variability and salivary chromogranin A (CgA) during an arithmetic task compared to a control group after the administration of GABA-enriched chocolate (Nakamura et al., 2009). A third study reported less salivary cortisol and CgA than a control group during a psychological stress-inducing arithmetic task. Additionally, participants who received 50 mg of GABA dissolved in a beverage reported less psychological fatigue after completion of the task (Kanehira et al., 2011). Finally, in a fourth study, participants were found to show a decrease in alpha waves over time while performing an arithmetic task. This decrease was smaller in the group that orally received GABA (100 mg) compared to a control group (Yoto et al., 2012). By way of comparison, one would have to eat 2.34 kg of uncooked spinach in order to consume a similar amount of GABA, and spinach is relatively rich in GABA compared to other foods (Oh et al., 2003).
The results of these studies support the claims made by hundreds of consumers of GABA food supplement products and fit with a growing trend in which GABA is administered through everyday (natural) foods (Diana et al., 2014). However, there are some caveats to consider. First, at least one of the authors in each of these four studies was affiliated with the company that produces the GABA supplement in question. However, a declaration of conflicting interests is lacking in three out of four of these studies. Second, the reported studies used “pharma-GABA,” which is produced for the Asian market through a fermentation process using a strain of lactic acid bacteria, Lactobacillus hilgardii K-3 (Kanehira et al., 2011). Pharma-GABA has been approved by the FDA as a food ingredient (Food and Drug Administration, 2008). While the manufacturer of pharma-GABA suggests that there are important differences with the synthetic GABA supplement sold online in Western countries (http://www.natural-pharmagaba.com/q-and-a.html), these differences refer to the production process and the occurrence of potentially harmful byproducts in synthetically produced GABA, and not to the chemical structure of the active compound GABA.
A recent study by Steenbergen et al. (2015a) with human subjects has shown that the ingestion of synthetic GABA (800 mg) enhanced the ability of prioritized planned actions and inhibitory control (as indexed by the stop-change task; Verbruggen and Logan, 2008; Steenbergen et al., 2015a). However, in view of the lack of evidence with regards to GABA’s BBB permeability in humans, the mechanism through which GABA might have exerted these effects remains unclear. The same holds for the pharma-GABA studies that were discussed above: none of these effects exclude an indirect of GABA on the brain. The oral intake of these supplements may have exerted these effects through indirect pathways, for example through the enteric nervous system (ENS).
Enteric Nervous System Effects of GABA
The bidirectional signaling between the brain and the ENS is vital in maintaining homeostasis (Cryan and O’Mahony, 2011). Even though most research thus far has focused on the signaling from the brain to the gut, an increasing number of studies has explored the influence of the gut’s microbiota on the brain. For example, gut microbiota have been shown to improve mood and reduce anxiety in patients with chronic fatigue (Logan and Katzman, 2005; Rao et al., 2009). Similarly, oral intake of probiotics resulted in reduced urinary cortisol and perceived psychological stress (Messaoudi et al., 2011) and reduced reactivity to sad mood (Steenbergen et al., 2015b) in healthy subjects.
It has been found that certain probiotic strains are able to produce GABA in vivo. Specifically, bacteria from the strains Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium were effective at increasing GABA concentrations in the ENS (Barrett et al., 2012). Indeed, both GABA and its receptors are widely distributed through the ENS (Auteri et al., 2015). Additionally, there is considerable communication between the gut and the brain through the vagal nerve (Cryan and O’Mahony, 2011; Cryan and Dinan, 2012). This nerve consists, for the most part, of sensory nerve fibers that relay information about the state of bodily organs to the central nervous system (Thayer and Sternberg, 2009).
A study in mice showed that the administration of Lactobacillus rhamnosus (JB-1) consistently modulated the mRNA expression of GABA Aα2, GABA Aα1, and GABA B1b receptor subunits (Bravo et al., 2011), receptors commonly associated with anxiety-like behavior. Indeed, on a behavioral level the L. rhamnosus (JB-1)-fed mice were less anxious and displayed antidepressant-like behaviors in comparison with controls. Furthermore, the administration of these bacteria reduced the stress-induced elevation of corticosterone compared to the control mice. Importantly, none of these effects were present in mice that underwent vagotomy (Bravo et al., 2011).
In humans, the stimulation of the vagus nerve through transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS) has been used to treat refractory epilepsy (Vonck et al., 2014). This technique has been shown to affect norepinephrine, acetylcholine and GABA concentrations (Van Leusden et al., 2015). With regards to GABA, VNS seems to increase the level of free GABA in the cerebrospinal fluid (Ben-Menachem et al., 1995). Similarly to the administration of synthetic GABA (Steenbergen et al., 2015a), active tVNS was found to enhance the ability of prioritizing and cascading different actions when performing a stop-change paradigm (Steenbergen et al., 2015c).
To summarize, bacteria from the Lactobacillus spp. strain contribute to the formation of GABA in the ENS. The oral administration of bacteria from this strain can influence GABAergic firing in the mice brain through the vagus nerve. Furthermore, stimulation of the vagal nerve through tVNS has been shown to affect processes thought to be GABAergic in humans. Finally, a similar behavioral effect has been found both for the administration of synthetic GABA and tVNS with regards to action cascading. Even if GABA is unable to cross the BBB at all in humans, an indirect effect through the ENS might be a viable route for an effect of GABA food supplements. The link between the oral administration of GABA, the vagal nerve and GABA levels in the brain has not been established yet, but in view of the available evidence it is a promising candidate for future research.
Conclusion
In this paper we have discussed the conflicting evidence with regards to GABA’s BBB permeability. There are both a number of studies that were unable to show that GABA crosses the BBB and a number of studies that did show GABA’s ability to cross. In view of the multitude of employed methods and species, in addition to the finding that GABA metabolism might differ between rodents and humans (Errante et al., 2002), it is not possible at this time to come to a definite conclusion with regards to GABA’s BBB permeability in humans. The mixed findings concerning GABA administration in clinical populations suffering from epilepsy or Huntington’s disease are insufficient to rule out a possible effect of GABA in the brain. Perhaps the amount of GABA that reaches the brain is too small to be of clinical significance, but large enough for an effect in a stop-change paradigm. We believe that MRS studies are the most promising technique to directly assess the effect of GABA administration on GABA levels in the human brain. Interestingly, in one of the discussed studies with rats, GABA by itself was found to increase brain GABA by 33%, but when GABA was administered together with L-arginine, brain GABA increased by 383.3% (Shyamaladevi et al., 2002). The authors suggest that this dramatic increase in brain GABA might be caused by an L-arginine-mediated increase in nitric oxide, which is thought to affect BBB permeability (Shukla et al., 1996). It would be interesting to see if this effect can be replicated in humans.
Furthermore, we discussed GABA’s role as a food supplement and the way in which these products might exert an effect other than through BBB permeation. There is some evidence for the claims made by hundreds of consumers online concerning the calming effects of GABA food supplements, but evidence from independent studies is needed. In addition, even if a calming effect of GABA can be reliably demonstrated, the mechanism through which these supplements work is unclear. We have suggested that GABA supplements might work through the ENS, but far more research is needed in order to support this hypothesis. Indeed, at this point it is even too early to conclude whether these supplements reach the brain in sufficient concentrations to exert a biologically relevant effect.
Conflict of Interest Statement
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
Funding
This work was supported by research grant from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) awarded to Lorenza S. Colzato (Vidi grant: #452-12-001).
References
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Vonck, K., Raedt, R., Naulaerts, J., De Vogelaere, F., Thiery, E., Van Roost, E., et al. (2014). Vagus nerve stimulation…25 years later! What do we know about the effects on cognition? Neurosci. Biobehav. Rev. 45, 63–71. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2014.05.005 PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google ScholarOne of the most interesting bromides to enter the American political lexicon after the 9/11 attacks has been the line that Americans have been taught to say to American soldiers: “Thank you for your service.”
Yet, hardly anyone ever makes a critical examination of what exactly the “service” for which they are expressing gratitude actually consists. It’s just automatically assumed that the service consists of “defending our country” or “protecting our rights and freedom.”
My hunch is that when the bromide is expressed, most people have in mind Iraq and Afghanistan. That’s because oftentimes the bromide is accompanied by a reference to the “ultimate sacrifice” that some soldiers have made, which means they have been killed in battle.
Yet, there is one glaring fact about the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan: They have nothing to do with protecting our country or our freedom. They never have. That’s because neither Iraq nor Afghanistan has ever attacked or invaded the United States and tried to conquer our country. As a practical matter, that’s the only way they could take away our freedom.
What then is the real service that U.S. troops have performed and continue to perform in Iraq and Afghanistan for which people express gratitude?
Killing people. That’s what U.S. soldiers have been doing in Iraq since 1990 and in Afghanistan since 2001. They have been killing people. Lots of people. Hundreds of thousands of people. And they continue to do so on a regular basis.
It would probably not sit well with many Americans to state the obvious to some individual soldier or to the troops in general: “Thank you for your killing.” It’s more palatable and more comfortable to say instead, “Thank you for your service.”
Let’s break it down a bit more.
Why have they killed all those people? Why do they continue to do so?
Again, it has nothing to do with protecting our country or defending our freedom because no one, and certainly not the people they are killing, are invading and trying to conquer the United States, which would be the way to take away our freedom.
The reason they killed so many people in Iraq and Afghanistan was to oust the governing regimes in both countries from power and replace them with regimes that would look with more favor on the U.S. government. The reason they have killed multitudes of people since their initial invasions has been to ensure the continued existence of the regimes their invasions installed into power.
That’s what killing ISIS members is all about. In large part, ISIS consists of members of the regime that the U.S. invasion ousted from power in its initial invasion of Iraq. Not surprisingly, it wants back in. A classic civil war for power.
It’s no different in Afghanistan. The country was already embroiled in a civil war when the U.S. invaded in 2001. The U.S. invasion ousted the Taliban regime from power and installed the group that was revolting against the Taliban regime. Ever since, the Taliban have been fighting to regain power. That’s what civil wars are all about — the quest for power, oftentimes between two brutal, corrupt, and tyrannical groups, which is certainly the case in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
The horrible irony is that it has been the U.S. government, not the Taliban or ISIS, that has destroyed the freedom of the American people through the adoption of powers that ordinarily characterize totalitarian regimes: secret mass surveillance and the powers to incarcerate, torture, and assassinate American citizens as part of their process of keeping us “safe” from the enemies that U.S. interventionism produces.
Of course, there is also the out-of-control spending and debt necessary to sustain this ongoing, perpetual killing program, both of which constitute a grave threat to America’s economic well-being.
Whether they want to believe it or not, that is the “service” that Americans are actually thanking the troops for when they say, “Thank you for your service.” The reality behind the bromide, as discomforting as it might be, is: “Thank you for killing people and, in the process, contributing to the destruction of our freedom and prosperity here at home.”Jane Austen left six completed novels and a few fragments. Since her death in 1817, the number of books about her, or inspired by her books, is literally countless. Here are five that are really worth considering.
Let’s start with Jane herself. Her family, alas, destroyed most of her wonderful letters, but some, luckily, survive, mostly to her elder sister, Cassandra. The best collection is edited by Deirdre Le |
Ford Motor Co. is attempting to solve that problem by testing its fleet of driverless Fusion Hybrids in snowy conditions at MCity, a 32-acre closed-course testing facility in Ann Arbor. Ford will reveal Monday at the Detroit Auto Show that it is using 3-D maps to help the cars safely travel across snow-covered roads.
“It’s one thing for a car to drive itself in perfect weather,” Jim McBride, Ford technical leader for autonomous vehicles, said in a statement. “It’s quite another to do so when the car’s sensors can’t see the road because it’s covered in snow. Weather isn’t perfect, and that’s why we’re testing autonomous vehicles in wintry conditions — for the roughly 70 percent of U.S. residents who live in snowy regions.”
Autonomous vehicles typically use a combination of sensors, cameras, radar, GPS and LiDAR systems to pinpoint the vehicle’s location on the road so the car can drive itself. But what happens when snow covers the car’s cameras and the road signs and lane markers?
Ford says the answer lies in special 3-D maps, developed with the University of Michigan, that allow the vehicle to understand the road’s precise signs, markings and different geography at all times.
“Maps developed by other companies don’t always work in snow-covered landscapes,” Ryan Eustice, associate professor at UM’s College of Engineering, said in a statement. “The maps we created with Ford contain useful information about the 3-D environment around the car, allowing the vehicle to localize even with a blanket of snow covering the ground.”
The cars are able to create the highly detailed maps during good weather and store that information in the vehicle’s memory. Then, when the weather turns rough, the car uses the maps with a combination of traction and electronic stability control to continue driving.
Ford says it hopes to be able to program the driverless cars to sense when conditions are too rough and to stop driving.
Ford first began testing autonomous technology on an F-250 in 2005, and later switched to Fusion Hybrids in 2013. It announced last week at CES in Las Vegas that it would triple its autonomous fleet to about 30 vehicles, which are tested on public roads and proving grounds in California, Arizona and Michigan.
“The reason we picked the Fusion Hybrid is that it has our most advanced electrical system,” Ford President and CEO Mark Fields told The Detroit News last week. “When you think about the processing power you need in an autonomous vehicle, and being able to interact with the radar, sonar and camera systems, that’s why we’re choosing that vehicle.”
The automaker aslo announced it’s expanding its research in smartwatch applications for the car, looking at how it can link health information to driving performance. That way, the car could tell when the driver is sleepy or in need of medical assistance.
“As more consumers embrace smart watches, glasses and fitness bands, we hope to develop future applications that work with those devices to enhance in-car functionality and driver awareness,” said Gary Strumolo, global manager for vehicle design and infotronics, Ford Research and Advanced Engineering.
Read or Share this story: http://detne.ws/1RhjPzeIn contrast to his contribution just a month ago, which examined how a Greek parallel currency to the euro could allow the Greek government to gain some room for manoeuver in fiscal policy while at the same time continuing the adjustment programme demanded by the country’s creditors, Thomas Mayer explores in the present note the question of how the Greek population could still keep the euro after a default of its government. Contrary to general belief, he finds that Grexit and the reintroduction of the euro as a foreign currency would probably be positive for the Greek economy, although its creditors would be hard hit. It is therefore primarily in their interest that default and Grexit are avoided.
Thomas Mayer is Founding Director of the Flossbach von Storch Research Institute.About This Game
Gameplay
Encyclopedia: Lists of weapons, tools and enemies in Game
Ninja
Kunai (Used by you and enemy)
Ninja Sword (Used by you)
Coming soon! Shuriken (Ninja Star) (Used by you)
Kusarigama (Enemy weapon)
Tekken (Enemy weapon)
Longsword (Enemy weapon)
Gray Wolf (Enemy)
Longbow (Enemy weapon)
Battle axe (Enemy weapon)
Long Sabre (Enemy weapon)
Falchion (Enemy weapon)
Saw (Enemy tool)
Nuclear Power Plant
Toxic gas (Evil Mist)
Evil mists have corrupted the people. Chaos is everywhere. Can you make it in time to the source of the chaos before everything gets consumed by evil?On your way there will be many obstacles and rogue ninja's. Dodge these obstacles and get to the source of evil so that it can be stopped!Game controls:-Keyboard and Mouse-left mouse button: Jumporup arrow key: JumpX: Throw KunaiZ: Sword AttackFEATURES:• Enemy ninjas• Intense run• Throw Kunai• Ninja characters• Deadly traps• Challenge yourself• Epic 85 levels• Unlock all steam trading cardsPrepare for a near impossible challenge in the world of Ninja'sShadow Ninja: Apocalypse is a side-scrolling platform game in which the player takes control of the player character, Shadow Ninja, and guides him through 85 levels. A game over screen appears when a enemy or a trap kills you, however, the player may restart the level and continue playing. In each level you’ll be provided with weaponry (10x Sword or 20x Kunai) to defend yourself and you’re tasked with staying alive as long as possible. The graphics provide a mystery atmosphere and it makes the entire experience just delightful. The controls are pretty simple and easy to understand so you will have a no problem learning the ins and outs of this game.1. Maintain ninja balance control.2. Focus along with your movement, jump and attack.3. Stay alert to the entire scene. Do not become so engrossed in watching only your ninja that you do not notice other enemy ninjas and deadly objects.4. Use only your weapons if needed. Some enemy ninjas are harder to kill with Kunai, use your sword for stronger enemies.Ninja (忍者) were a type of warrior who specialized in unconventional warfare such as infiltration, sabotage and assassination during the age of the samurai. Another way of calling them is "shinobi", meaning "those who act in stealth". Ninja employed deception and forgery tactics to take opponents out by surprise. Due to their unorthodox methods which contradicted the way of the warrior (bushido), the ninja were not credited with the same honor as the samurai.The diverse range of skills practiced by the ninja is called ninjutsu - the art of stealth - and includes training in armed combat, weapon techniques, military strategy, meteorology, geometry and breathing synthesis. Ninjutsu was passed down through generations within families or directly from teacher to a selected one or few disciples. This secrecy in part explains why little factual information exists about the ninja, giving rise to lots of stereotyping of them both within Japan and in the West.The Kunai was a small dagger-type tool that served primarily as a utility knife. It’s secondary use was as a weapon, with a sharp point and short handle it was a great throwing weapon. It was also a great close combat weapon as it could be used in very tight situations.Some other uses for the kunai include a climbing device, a hammering tool, a make-shift spear tip just to name a few.The ninja sword (ninja-to) was different than that of the samurai. The long sword that the samurai carried was made of high-carbon steel, and took months to have made. They were hand made specially for each samurai, taking great care to make a very high quality sword. It was so sharp that it could easily cut a man in two, even through their armor. The length of the samurai swords averaged around 26 1/2 to 37 inches.The ninja sword was considerably shorter, only 24 inches, and the quality of the swords was much poorer. The reason for the poorer quality was the way they used the sword as opposed to the way the samurai used theirs. Samurai would swing their sword, severing limbs and slashing at the opponent. Ninja, on the other hand, used the sword more in a stabbing motion. To use the blade of the ninja sword effectively you would have to use a sawing motion when the blade came in contact with the opponents flesh.Another reason for the poor quality of the swords is that since ninja were mostly mountain people and outlaws, they could not afford to hire expert sword smiths like the samurai could. Also their own sword smiths did not have access to the right resources to be able to make curved edge swords with well constructed blades. If a Ninja could overcome a samurai he would take his swords, simply because they are better.Although the ninja sword was smaller and poorer quality, it still had its advantages. The scabbard for instance was made longer than the sword, about 3 to 4 inches longer. At the end of the scabbard there was a hidden compartment that was used to hide small weapons such as spikes, daggers or small amounts of poisons. Another use the sword had was that it could act as a small step by jamming the blade into the ground, the ninja could use the hand-guard as a step to get that extra height needed to scale a wall. Because the blade was not very sharp, the ninja could also use it as a hammer by holding onto the blade (carefully) and hitting with the handle. Also it was common to have the tip of the scabbard come off so it could be used as a snorkel.The Shuriken is the trade mark ninja weapon made famous by the movies and stories about the ninja. The shuriken was simply a flat piece of metal with sharpened points that were thrown at the enemy.The shuriken was not originally designed as a killing weapon. It was mostly used to distract or deter so the ninja could escape. While in the midst of a get-away, the Shuriken could be thrown at the samurai chasing the ninja, possibly making the samurai think twice about continuing the chase.Although the shuriken was not intended to kill, it was easily made lethal by dipping the edges in poison. This was effective, but sometimes it backfired when the ninja would accidentally cut himself while digging around for it, thus poisoning himself.Shuriken were also designed to hit the opponent then bounce away out of sight. This way a ninja could fool an unsuspecting guard or sentry into believing he had been cut by an invisible swordsmen.The Kusari-gama is a combination of a sickle (short scythe) and a long chain with a weight attached to the end of it.The sickle end was used in a slashing or stabbing motion, as well as used to block and hook opponents weapons. By holding the chain portion of the weapon, the sickle could be swung around to get a greater reach with it.The chain portion of the weapon was most often used for trapping an enemy or their weapon. Once tangled up with the chain, the ninja could finish him off with the sickle. This was a weapon the ninja invented out of farming tools they used and easily available.A metal guard worn over the knuckles in fighting to increase the effect of blows.A longsword (also spelled as long sword or long-sword) is a type of European sword characterized as having a cruciform hilt with a grip for two-handed use (around 16 to 28 cm (6 to 11 in)) and a straight double-edged blade of around 85 to 110 cm (33 to 43 in)a wolf of a large variety found mainly in northern North America, with grey brindled fur.The bow and arrow was a weapon used by the ninja as well as the samurai. Often times the bows used by the ninja would be taken from fallen samurai.There were two types of bows used, the short bow and the long bow. They fired wooden arrows, often dipped in poison to make them even deadlier.Kunoichi (female ninja) were often experts with the bow and arrow.a large broad-bladed axe used in ancient warfare.a light fencing sword with a tapering, typically curved blade.a broad, slightly curved sword with the cutting edge on the convex side.a hand tool for cutting wood or other hard materials, typically with a long, thin serrated blade and operated using a backwards and forwards movement.A nuclear power plant is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor. As is typical in all conventional thermal power stations the heat is used to generate steam which drives a steam turbine connected to an electric generator which produces electricity.Toxic gas having a similar density to air, it mixes easily when inhaled people in the city will acting crazy!Canadians would see Internet freedoms curtailed under the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) currently being negotiated among a dozen Pacific Rim countries, groups critical of the deal say.
The Council of Canadians and OpenMedia have launched a campaign to stop Canada from joining the TPP, saying it would “criminalize some everyday uses of the Internet,” including mash-ups (combining different media works to create a new one) and small-scale downloading of music.
Calling the proposed trade deal an “Internet trap,” OpenMedia said in a statement Tuesday that the deal would also “force service providers to collect and hand over your private data without privacy safeguards, and give media conglomerates more power to send you fines in the mail, remove online content -- including entire websites -- and even terminate your access to the Internet.”
The campaign, dubbed Stop The Trap, comes a week after Canadian officials announced the country had been admitted into TPP negotiations, something for which the Harper government has been lobbying for two years.
The actual contents of the TPP are not yet finalized, with the next round of negotiations set to begin in San Diego next month. The talks have been criticized for taking place under a veil of secrecy. But a draft of an intellectual property chapter leaked in early 2011 raised concerns among privacy experts and Internet freedom advocates because of a slew of proposed regulations on Internet use and the expansion of intellectual property laws.
According to an analysis from InfoJustice, Canada would have to put into place intellectual property laws even tougher than the ones passed last week as part of Bill C-11 to live up to the TPP’s requirements.
For instance, Canadian law currently distinguishes between commercial infringement of copyright and non-commercial infringement, with lesser penalties for non-commercial violations. Under the TPP, there would be no such distinction, meaning a person who breaks a digital lock to copy a song for personal use could potentially face the same criminal sanctions as someone who copied songs to sell pirated music.
And while Canadian law -- including the new copyright law passed last week -- recognizes some reasonable exceptions to the restrictions on copying digitally locked media, the TPP makes no exception at all, InfoJustice reported.
Critics of the TPP, including OpenMedia, are alarmed that 600 industry representatives have access to the negotiations through their positions on government advisory boards, while only a handful of non-profit groups have access.
“Why are a group of lobbyists and unelected trade representatives deciding how citizens around the world—including Canadians—can use their Internet?” OpenMedia executive director Steve Anderson said in a statement. “Will Prime Minister Harper tell us what he’s signing us up for in these back room deals?”
However, it may be the case that not even Prime Minister Stephen Harper knows for sure what Canada is signing up for.
As part of the agreement to allow Canada into the negotiations, it appears the country has agreed to abide by any chapters of the deal that have already been agreed to by the other negotiating countries.
"The fact is that a substantial amount of this agreement apparently has already been negotiated, and Canada is not going to have a choice but either to accept it or reject it," former Prime Minister Paul Martin said on CTV last Sunday, as quoted at Postmedia News.
"In other words, we will have no input into that. And that's worrisome because we don't really know what those agreements are."
The countries negotiating to be part of the TPP are Australia, Brunei, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the U.S. and Vietnam, with Canada and Mexico joining the talks last week. China is not part of the talks, and reportedly views them as an attempt to curtail Chinese power in the Pacific region.
So far, Canadian concerns about the TPP have focused on Canada’s supply management system, which restricts imports and sets prices on certain farm goods such as dairy and poultry. The TPP would likely require Canada to abolish the system, a move that some say could lower prices for consumers and spur agri-business growth, and that others say would hurt farmers and consumers. Critics say eliminating supply management hasn't lowered prices for consumers in other countries.
Also on HuffPostBRITAIN’S exit from the European Union has sent shock waves through the Australian share market, wiping about $70 billion from the ASX.
Several world leaders have warned that a British exit, or Brexit, of the EU would lead to a recession with global spillover effects.
Financial markets across the world went into free fall as results of the EU referendum came in.
The pound collapsed to a 31-year low and currency, equity and oil markets went into free fall Friday as projections showed Britain voted to leave the EU.
Australia’s benchmark S&P/ASX 200 sank almost four per cent on the news, falling 200.4 points, to 5,080.3 at about 3.45pm, joining the sea of red across Asian markets. It managed to regain 123 points, or about $20 million, by the close of trade at 4pm. The benchmark index now sits at its lowest point since April.
“Our financial markets, not just stocks but also the dollar and bond markets, are forward scouts for this particular event,” Patersons Securities’ economist and market strategist Tony Farnham told AFP earlier on Friday.
“So our markets are reacting to the ebb and flow on whether you believe they are going to ‘leave’ or ‘remain’ in the EU. International markets would be showing concern about the uncertain economic ramifications were the UK to vote to leave the EU.”
All market sectors across the S&P/ASX 200 were weaker, with mining stocks making up the bulk of the top 10 losers about midday.
“Anyone that has got a bit of gold... gold is a bit of a safe haven,” Morgans’ stockbroking client adviser Steve Greentree told AFP.
“(There’s a) few little pockets of resistance but predominantly it is coming off. But anyone that’s got a bit of US dollar exposure or North American exposure might outperform a little bit.”
WARNING BELL SOUNDED
In the weeks leading up to the historic vote, there had been widespread warnings that a vote to leave would cause another rout across global markets that would wipe trillions off valuations, just months after a painful China-fuelled sell-off.
And as results came in, the doomsday scenario began to unfold as the BBC and other broadcasters called a win for “leave”.
Australian Treasurer Scott Morrison said despite financial market volatility over the Brexit vote, the way in which Britons vote “doesn’t change anything that the Australian government has to do” in terms of the nation’s economic plans.
“Undoubtedly there is volatility in markets and currencies that sit around these events. But that is not necessarily determinative of long-term volatility,” Morrison told reporters in Sydney.
“The implications for Australia are minimal, potentially. But there are other decisions that may flow from this (from) which will arise different challenges.”
AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR HIT
The Australian dollar has plummeted against the US dollar and soared against the pound after the Brexit vote.
At 5pm on AEST on Friday, the currency was trading at 73.61 US cents, down from 75.26 US cents on Thursday, and at 54.01 British pence, up from 51.06 pence.
Investors had ditched the pound for the greenback en-masse, Commonwealth Bank chief currency strategist Richard Grace said.
Plunging Asian equity markets and commodity prices added to the broader risk-off movement, he said, warning the Australian dollar was still facing downside risks because of the large falls set to occur on the world’s major share markets, as a lot of local asset managers are over-hedged on their offshore asset exposure.
“They will be forced to sell Aussie until month-end to balance the hedge ratios,” Mr Grace said.
“I think we’ll see it go down further.” However, CBA is still forecasting the Australian dollar will sit at 73 US cents by the end of 2016.
Sterling crashed more than nine per cent to $1.3305 in the aftermath — its weakest level since 1985 — while the greenback slumped below 100 yen for the first time in two-and-a-half years as traders fled to safety.
CURRENCIES IN FREEFALL
Earlier, the British pound fell to its lowest level since January 2009, just hours after hitting its highest level for the year moments after the polls closed.
The pound had topped $1.50 following predictions the “remain” group would win but as the Brexit camp posted victories around the country, traders stampeded to put in sell orders.
The US dollar slumped briefly to 99.02 yen, the first time it has gone below 100 yen since November 2013, before edging back up slightly. The Japanese unit is considered a safe bet in times of uncertainty and turmoil.
Tokyo stocks went into a hair-raising dive on Brexit fears, plunging more than six per cent Friday afternoon as major firms’ shares including Toyota and mobile carrier SoftBank went into free fall.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange dropped 6.39 per cent, or 1,037.79 points, to 15,200.56, while the broader Topix index of all first-section shares shed 6.37 per cent, or 82.79 points, to 1,215.92.
A flight to safety also saw higher-yielding and emerging market currencies slump, with the Australian dollar down 3.2 per cent, South Korea’s won diving 2.4 per cent, Malaysia’s ringgit down 2.3 per cent and the Indonesian rupiah shedding 1.7 per cent. There were also heavy losses for India’s rupee, the Canadian dollar and the Singapore dollar.
BREXIT SHOCK
The outcome has upturned expectations, which had been for a tight race narrowly won by the “remain”, while bookmakers had said there was a 90 per cent chance of staying in.
But as the shock results rolled in, equity markets went into meltdown. Tokyo plunged more than eight per cent in the afternoon, Sydney shed 3.7 per cent and Seoul was 3.5 per cent off. Mumbai lost three per cent and Shanghai sank 1.4 per cent by lunch, while Taipei, Wellington, Manila and Jakarta all saw sharp losses.
Hong Kong tumbled 4.7 per cent by the break with British banking giants HSBC and Standard Chartered both plunging more than 10 per cent.
In the early hours in Britain, Nigel Farage, leader of the anti-Europe UK Independence Party, declared victory, saying it was the country’s “independence day”.
The prospect of a severe hit to the global economy also hammered oil prices, with both main contracts slumping more than six per cent.
“We are seeing oil swept up in the general market nervousness to the vote,” Ric Spooner, a chief analyst at CMC Markets in Sydney, told Bloomberg News.
“Corrections are likely to be fairly shallow in oil because prices will be supported by the fact a balanced market is firmly on the horizon.”
World oil prices plunged more than 5.0 per cent in Asia, while US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for delivery in August was down $2.52, or 5.03 per cent at $47.59 at about 3.30pm. Brent crude for August was down $2.52, or 4.95 per cent, at $48.39.
Key figures at about 4pm
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3305 from $1.4974 late on Thursday
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1030 from $1.1422
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FTSE 100: UP 1.2 per cent at 6,338.10As I write these lines the drama in France has just been brought to a bloody climax ending in the death of the two men who killed the staff of Charlie Hebdo. This denouement was as inevitable as the ending of a Greek tragedy. There was no realistic prospect of any other. Three days of high drama that captured the attention of the world have ended with twenty dead, a further unknown number of wounded and a nation in a state of trauma.
Among the dead was one of two armed individuals who had taken hostages, including women and children, in a Jewish supermarket on Thursday, apparently in solidarity with the assassins of Charlie Hebdo. The latter, following a manhunt of vast proportions that mobilised the entire French police and part of the army, were finally trapped in a factory where, after a siege of eight hours, they fell under a hail of bullets. This was immediately followed by an assault on the supermarket during which one gunman and four hostages died. The fate of the gunman’s companion was unknown at the time of writing.
Like a heavy boulder thrown into a lake, the events in France continue to send shock waves that have spread all over Europe and beyond. They began on January 7th, when two armed gunmen burst into the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo, a newspaper known for its controversial satirical cartoons, and shot dead ten staff inside. Two police officers were also killed. These actions provoked a wave of anger and revulsion. They stand condemned for their brutality and as a deliberate attack on free speech.
As Marxists we condemn this unreservedly. But we will not join in the hypocritical chorus that is being orchestrated by people who have no right whatsoever to condemn murderous terrorism for which they themselves are responsible to a very significant extent.
What defence was provided for the staff of Charlie Hebdo? It was well known that they were a prime target for attack. Their outspoken criticisms of Islam had already given rise to repeated threats and their office had alreadysuffered one firebomb attack in 2011. Yet in the fateful moment when their murderers walked up to the door, their sole “protection” consisted of two unarmed policemen, both of whom were shot dead, one of them on the ground where he lay wounded.
Whoever organised it, this was no random attack. The assassins appear to have had a very detailed knowledge both of the layout of the building and the exact day and hour when the editorial staff would be present. They reportedly called for the offending cartoonists by name before cutting them down with a Kalashnikov. Footage showed the assassins shouting “We have avenged the Prophet Muhammad” as they left the building.
It was quickly revealed that the assassins were two brothers Saïd and Chérif Kouachi, born in France of Algerian origins. Why were their identities revealed so soon? It turns out that they were well known to the French Intelligence Services. Chérif Kouachi was sentenced to 18 months in prison in 2008 after being convicted of terrorism charges for helping funnel fighters to Iraq’s insurgency.
In May 2010, police arrested Chérif Kouachi, Djamel Beghal and a number of other associates on suspicion of terrorist activity. The prosecution emphasised that Beghal had played an influential role in the radicalisation of Kouachi, who was characterised as a “pupil” who had gravitated towards Beghal. Police raids at Kouachi’s home uncovered videos of speeches from members of al-Qaida. Kouachi’s internet browsing history revealed a number of Islamist and Jihadi related sites.
It was later revealed that the two men were also on a list of terrorist suspects in the USA. Yet despite this they were able to carry out their deadly plan with surprising ease. If the two men were fairly high level suspects, how could they arrive, armed to the teeth, at the door of a magazine that was known to be a prominent target for Jihadi terrorists. Who was in charge of surveillance? This raises many questions but so far there have been no answers.
President François Hollande declared three days of national mourning.Flags flew at half-mast, and a minute’s silence was observed across the country. The bells of Notre Dame tolled and even the lights on the Eiffel Tower were extinguished. The President swears by all that is holy that the murderers will be hunted down and brought to justice, and he orders a full mobilization of the forces of the state to defend public buildings, mosques and other potential targets.
However, all this is a little late for the unfortunate victims who were slaughtered like sheep last Wednesday. One wonders why all these measures were not taken earlier. In a speech in which he heaped posthumous praise on the dead journalists, a tearful President called them “heroes in the fight for free speech”. It is a pity that neither he nor his “servants” in the police and Intelligence services showed much regard for the safety of these heroes when they were alive.
Why did they do it?
What motivated these men to do such a thing? Chérif Kouachi said some time ago that he was outraged at the torture of Iraqi inmates at the US prison at Abu Ghraib near Baghdad. Now he appears in the role of a Jihadi executioner. That there is a causal link between the murders in Paris and foreign Jihad is hardly a secret. Many have been radicalised and trained in the Middle East, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen.
In the recent period Syria has become the main destination for would-be Jihadis from Europe. It seems that the largest contingent of European fighters in Syria comes from France, which is not surprising given its sizeable Muslim population. All this is clear. But who is responsible? It is conveniently forgotten that only a couple of years ago the West (France included) was presenting the Jihadis in Syria as “freedom fighters” conducting a heroic struggle against the tyrannical Assad regime. What is now called the IS received support, money and arms from the Americans, the British, the French as well as the Saudis and Qataris.
Now the same people are being denounced as barbarians and savages. Why? Because they beheaded a few western prisoners. But these same people have been slaughtering, beheading and crucifying in Syria for years. Were the “free” western media blind, deaf and dumb, that they did not know about these things? Or do freedom fighters become savages only because they behead the citizens of western democracies? It is enough to pose the question for the cynical hypocrisy and double standards of the imperialists to stand exposed in all its ugly nakedness.
Let us remind ourselves that Messrs Blair and Bush justified the invasion of Iraq on the grounds that it was a “war on terror”. The declared aim was supposed to be to protect America and Europe against terrorist attack. Over a decade has passed since the invasion of Iraq, and the terrorist threat, instead of disappearing, is worse now than ever before.
The invasion of Iraq was supposed to be directed against al Qaeda, but before the Americans marched into Baghdad, there was no Al Qaeda in Iraq. Now, thanks to the invasion and the chaos it has brought, Al Qaeda and other groups have a very firm foothold in Iraq, which they are in the process of transforming into a base from which they intend to organize terrorist attacks all over Europe and elsewhere.
Chérif Kouachi’s reference to Abu Ghraib is highly significant. According to Bush and Blair the invasion of Iraq was supposed to represent a victory for democracy over tyranny. Instead, one tyranny was replaced by an even worse tyranny. The foreign occupiers treated the Iraqis as a conquered people. They were arrested and held without trial in hell-holes like Abu Ghraib. In that notorious prison the Americans tortured, humiliated and murdered Iraqis. The images of these abominations carried out by the representatives of democratic, Christian, western civilization were seen all around the world and undoubtedly served to enrage many young Muslims some of whom were thus thrown into the arms of the Jihadis.
Nor can this be shrugged off as the actions of a small number of rogue Americans. The British were equally brutal in their treatment of detainees in Iraq. As for the Americans, it is now public knowledge that the CIA practiced torture on a massive scale. A truly marvellous advertisement for the blessings of western Democracy! It goes without saying that none of this can justify the brutal terrorist attack committed last Wednesday in Paris. But let us not forget that far greater atrocities have been perpetrated by imperialism in Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries. And they are still being carried on to this day.
In this way, imperialism has acted as the most efficient recruiting sergeant for the Jihadi terrorists. The responsibility of imperialism does not end there. It is not generally realised that both the Taliban and Al Qaeda were organized, armed and financed by the Americans and their Pakistani and Saudi stooges for the purpose of fighting the Russians in Afghanistan in the 1980s.
Crimes of imperialism
The actions of imperialism have caused chaos and bloodshed everywhere: in Iraq, in Syria, in northern Nigeria, in Afghanistan and Pakistan. In all these countries massacres and atrocities a thousand times worse than the one perpetrated in Paris occur every day. They have become so common, so normal, that they are hardly reported in the western press any more. But by destabilising the Middle East and North Africa, the imperialists have created monsters and sooner or later their crimes in foreign lands were bound to come home to haunt them.
French imperialism originally remained aloof from the war in Iraq, pursuing its own game in the Middle East to the great annoyance of the Americans. But in recent years Paris has “come on board” and now aspires to usurp Britain’s “special relationship” with the USA – that is, to act as Washington’s pet poodle. It has enthusiastically joined the US-led coalition that is bombing ISIS positions in Iraq. It earlier backed the overthrow of Gaddafi in Libya, which has led to a chaotic situation in which different Jihadi groups have overrun large parts of the Saharan and Sub-Saharan region and are threatening the north of Nigeria. This has turned France, with the largest Muslim population in Europe (4-5 million), into a prime target for Jihadi terrorism.
Now at last the chickens have come home to roost, only these particular chickens’ plant bombs instead of eggs. The security services in France and across Europe, are facing a nightmare scenario. Having become experts in all the arts of death, killing and mayhem, the former “freedom fighters” (now known as “dangerous extremists”), are returning home, inflamed by the thirst for revenge and a hatred for everything western. They mingle with the population and remain unseen until they emerge, as they did in Paris last Wednesday, to give the people of Europe a little taste of life in modern-day Syria. As one French woman put it, “the Middle East has come to Europe”.
The chief of British Intelligence warned of a “heightened threat of terrorist attacks in Britain” and admitted fatalistically that it was “impossible to prevent every attack”. These words will be of no comfort to the ordinary people in France or Britain who bear no responsibility for the crimes of imperialism but who will be the main victims of the bloody terrorist attacks that inevitably flow from them. The terrorists will naturally choose “soft” targets involving civilian, not military targets. It is of course much easier to murder the editorial staff of Charlie Hebdo than to blow up airliners or steer them into the Twin Towers.
A clash of cultures?
Western journalists like to see this ongoing conflict as a “clash of cultures”, that is, a clash between the values of democratic (Western) Enlightenment and obscurantist (Islamic) barbarism. This comforting thought serves them as a convenient justification for backing the weakening or even abolishing civil liberties at home (this is known as “defending Democracy”) and launching repeated military adventures abroad (known as “the war on Terror”). Strangely enough, the Jihadis see the conflict in exactly the same terms, except that they are right and the West is wrong.
The media expresses shock and horror at the savagery of the so-called Islamic State (IS) with its beheading of captives that it glorifies in sick and murderous videos and the carnage inflicted on Afghanistan and Pakistan by the Taliban. All this is attributed to Islamic fundamentalism. But religious fanaticism is not a monopoly of Islam. Do the Jewish settlers in Palestine not justify their atrocious provocations by quoting from religious texts?
And there are plenty of religious fanatics in Christianity whose crimes are far greater than those perpetrated by IS or the Taliban. It is said that Tony Blair and George W Bush sat down to pray together before ordering the bombing of Iraq and then retired to bed with a clear conscience. More than anybody else these two men (both devoted Christians, we are told) are responsible for the bloody morass in the Middle East.
The hired prostitutes of the media, day in and day out, faithfully repeat the message handed down from their masters (this is known as “freedom of the press”). The television and newspapers issue grim, incessant warnings of terrorist threats, real or imaginary. As a result society is gripped by fear that becomes a morbid obsession. In this context, the murders in Paris naturally lead to feelings of anger and outrage.
Marine Le Pen - leader of the right wing nationalist party Front NationalThe main beneficiaries will be the right wing, anti-immigration and racist parties like the Front National in France, the party of Wilders in Holland and Ukip in Britain. As an expression of the impasse of capitalism, anti-immigrant sentiment—especially the anti-Muslim kind— is spreading like a poisonous vapour across Europe. Brutal terrorist attacks like the one in Paris provide nourishment to this disease. Despite their seeming opposition, the right wing nationalists and the Islamists leaning on each other and they feed off each other. In fact, they are head and tail of the same reactionary coin.
The crisis of capitalism has pushed a layer of youth of Immigrant background towards the Islamists over the past period. The root cause has little to do with religion, but a lot to do with poverty, the lack of any perspective for the future and the general decay of society, aggravated by racist attacks and police thuggery. But the most decisive factor has been the complete failure of the Left and the trade unions to offer a way out to the disaffected youth. Even worse, the reformist leaders have all fallen in line with the right wing nationalists and have forgotten all about class politics. The fact that the leaders |
that finished 81-81 in 2010, 2011 was supposed to be the year that the team contended for the AL West division crown. Instead, the team’s poor start crushed all playoff hopes early on and ultimately led to just 74 wins and a third-place finish.
Oakland closed out the season by winning their last two games, but still finished a whopping 22.0 games behind the first-place Texas Rangers. Offensive shortcomings and an array of different injuries throughout the season killed the Athletics this year. Injuries, however, shouldn’t come as any surprise to A’s fans.
The A’s have been hit hard in recent years by the injury-bug that seems to be living at the Coliseum. Oakland lost Dallas Braden and Brett Anderson for the entire season this year, and while the team got support from the likes of Brandon McCarthy and Guillermo Moscoso, losing Braden and Anderson hurt the team.
For Oakland, losing Anderson to injury yet again isn’t something the team anticipated. Anderson, 23, was signed to an extension last year, but since signing the four-year extension Anderson hasn’t remained healthy.
In 2010 the young southpaw made just 19 starts, going 7-6 with a 2.80 ERA over 112.1 innings. Anderson made just 13 starts this season, going 3-6 with a 4.00 ERA over 83.1 innings. He’s a young player with a lot of potential, but his injury history is beginning to be a cause for concern.
Anderson underwent Tommy John surgery on his left shoulder back in July. He’s expected, at the very earliest, to return sometime during the second-half of the 2012 season.
While he’s still a very young player with the potential to rebound from these injuries, Anderson’s career, in my mind, at least, is starting to mimic Rich Harden‘s career.
Harden, who started his career in Oakland before making stops in Chicago and Texas, has battled injuries for most of his career. The A’s brought back Harden this season on a one-year deal, but the A’s only got flashes of the old-Harden this season. The right-hander is regarded as one of the best pitchers in the game when he’s healthy. But this season, Harden’s numbers didn’t look that impressive.
He was 4-4 with a 5.12 ERA in 15 starts this year for Oakland. He showed flashes of dominance, but the A’s certainly didn’t have an ace on their hands this season with Harden. He was, at the very best, a mediocre pitcher in 2011.
Anderson, like Harden, is considered to have quality stuff when he’s healthy enough to make it to the mound. The injuries, however, certainly don’t help Anderson’s career. The A’s are banking on the strength of their young pitching to carry them into the future, but if guys like Anderson can’t make it to the mound, the future doesn’t look all that bright.Mayor Menino Delivers Annual State of the City Address
In front of an audience of local residents, political leaders, and dignitaries, Mayor Thomas M. Menino tonight delivered his annual State of the City address at Boston’s historic Faneuil Hall. The city of Boston has thrived, despite the political and economic divisions surrounding us, and Mayor Menino emphasized that personal connections, relationships, and collaboration, will continue to propel the city forward in 2012.
“We have increased our focus on people and strengthened the relationship between government and the residents we serve,” Mayor Menino said in his address. “We’ve refused to allow strained budgets to result in strained relationships.”
Mayor Menino talked about advancing education, economic development and job growth, public safety, community engagement and the health of our residents in fighting obesity. The mayor also announced new proposals to tackle these challenging issues.
The State of the City was the Mayor’s 19th annual address and 14th State of the City address. He has given five inaugural addresses.
Advancing Education
Transforming Madison Park Technical Vocational High School
Pointing to its potential to be a leader in technical vocational education, Mayor Menino announced two major initiatives to improve Madison Park Technical Vocational High School and make it a shining example for current and future students.
Mayor Menino will work to designate Madison Park an “Innovation School,” giving it flexibility in curriculum, budget, school schedule, and staffing.
Mayor Menino called for the creation of the “Madison Park Business Partnership,” encouraging industry and local business partners to provide advice, jobs, and other resources to help transform the school.
Tonight Mayor Menino proudly announced that two of Boston’s renowned chefs, Barbara Lynch, who herself attended Madison Park, and Gordon Hamersley, owner of Hamersley’s Bistro on Tremont Street, have offered to provide internship and apprenticeship opportunities for Madison Park’s culinary students.
“With these kinds of collaborations, we’ll succeed in creating a first-class vocational education in Boston and a first-class ticket to success for our residents,” Mayor Menino said.
Finishing the Job on School Assignment
Mayor Menino also discussed the building of school communities, pledging that one year from now, Boston will have a radically different school assignment process – one that puts priority on assigning children to schools that are closer to their homes. Mayor Menino has directed Superintendent Carol R. Johnson to appoint a citywide group of dedicated people to design the plan while engaging the entire community in the transition.
“Pick any street in our city. A dozen children probably attend a dozen different schools. Parents might not know each other; children might not play together. They can’t carpool, or study for the same tests,” Mayor Menino said. “We won’t have the schools our kids deserve until we build school communities that serve them well.”
Improving Public Safety and Engaging the Community
Boston reduced its crime rate by 25 percent and its homicide rate by 16 percent. Mayor Menino proposes to drive it lower still by:
Expanding Neighborhood Crime Watch Groups, by launching 100 new Crime Watches across the city.
Adding 25 new recruits to the Boston Police Department.
Expanding the Boston Police Department’s Unresolved Shootings Project, using community outreach, technology, information sharing, and the latest forensic science reduce the number of open shooting cases in Boston.
“I’ve always believed the crime watches are the perfect kind of community meetings – no egos, no fancy titles, just a job to get done,” Mayor Menino said.
Job Creation and Economic Development
Mayor Menino highlighted the fact that the city has brought together developers and community leaders to break ground on 22 new construction projects, putting thousands of people back to work. We also oversaw more than 1,000 new housing starts in the third quarter last year, more than any other quarter since 2006.
Boston Gaming Advisory Board
Mayor Menino noted that 2012 will be the year that another economic development plan takes shape in the form of a resort-casino proposal for East Boston. Tonight, Mayor Menino said he will create a Boston Gaming Advisory Board, made up of leaders from outside of city government. He charged it with a two part mandate:
Maximize job creation for Bostonians.
Provide transparency for residents into the process of casino review.
“Boston must do this in a way that improves our city and enhances our reputation,” Mayor Menino said.
Health of our Residents and Obesity Prevention
Mayor Menino wants the city to take an honest look at its weight. While Boston was recently ranked America’s third healthiest city in Forbes, obesity is a problem that remains. While Boston fares much better than much of the nation, 50 percent of Boston adults are overweight or obese, and that number rises to over 60 percent for blacks and Latinos. More startling is the fact that 1 in 3 school-aged children in Boston are overweight or obese.
“I’m determined to make Boston a leader in obesity prevention,” Mayor Menino said.. “We will implement a citywide strategy that connects all of the good work going on in Boston and reaches out to all children and families, especially those who are being left behind.”
Mayor Menino called on Bostonians to collectively shed a million pounds this year.
Some ways the Mayor proposed cutting obesity include:
Offering no-interest microloans for childcare providers to adopt obesity prevention strategies.
Expand the highly successful Bounty Bucks program, which allows for those receiving nutritional assistance to double their dollars when buying at farmers markets.
Work with Main Street Districts to create healthy kids menus at restaurants.
Create “workplace wellness kits” for businesses to give out to their employees.
The Mayor closed by encouraging people to engage more in their communities. “It has now been said many times that I have met more than half of the people who live in Boston. Not everyone will have the chance to meet so many of our neighbors. But ask yourself, have you met more than half of the people on your street? More than half of the folks in your church? Half of the parents of your child's classmates? I urge you to try. In order to reach great heights, we all have to reach great lengths. In order to reach up in 2012, we all need to reach out.”
The program included the singing of our national anthem by Boston Arts Academy senior Kathryn Lazar. The innvocation was given by Rabbi Barbara Penzner of Temple Hillel B’nai Torah in West Roxbury.
###Submitted by Simon Black via SovereignMan blog,
About 20 years ago when I was still a cadet at West Point, my economics professor organized a class trip to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
The part of the trip that I remember most was touring the Fed’s high security vault, 80 feet below street level beneath the bank’s main office building downtown.
This vault houses the largest known depository of gold in the world.
None of that gold, of course, belongs to the Fed. The Federal Reserve doesn’t own a single ounce of gold.
Almost all of that gold is owned by foreign governments and central banks.
It’s been that way since the end of World War II—European governments wanted to store their wealth overseas, out of the reach of the Soviet Union.
As a kind of professional courtesy among governments and central banks, their gold has been stored for free by the Fed for the last 70+ years.
Even after the Soviet Union fell, most governments still chose to keep their gold in New York.
It was safe. America was a rich, trusted ally. Why bother moving it?
Fast forward a few decades and the world has clearly changed.
The US government is in debt up to its eyeballs. It has been caught blatantly spying on its own allies. And it’s much less predictable than ever before.
Germany was among the first out the door.
Even as early as 2013, the German government announced that they would bring back at least half of their country’s gold reserves (the second largest in the world) by the end of 2020.
They’re ahead of schedule.
Late last week the German government moved $13 billion worth of gold from New York to Frankfurt.
That shipment puts them nearly at their goal, almost four years earlier than planned.
It’s easy to understand why.
The entire global financial system requires having a great deal of trust.
If you have an online brokerage account, you may be surprised to know that you don’t actually own a single stock in your portfolio.
When you log in to your account and buy, say, Apple shares, the brokerage will typically register those shares in its own name, not your name.
Apple has no idea who you are. The shares are effectively owned by your broker. It’s their asset, not yours.
Now that’s putting a LOT of trust in a complete stranger.
It’s the same when you deposit your money in a bank. It’s no longer your money. It’s the bank’s.
The bank, in turn, uses your savings to make loans and buy bonds, thus entrusting your savings to yet another group of people.
This is how the system works; your money keeps getting passed around, which means there’s an entire daisy chain of other people, or “counterparties”, standing between you and your savings.
“Counterparty risk” is the risk that something goes wrong with one of the many, many counterparties in this daisy chain.
Imagine that you deposit money with X.
X invests the money with Y. Then Y deposits the money with Z.
If something goes wrong with Z, you’re all screwed.
This is the nature of counterparty risk. Someone far down the chain can cause consequences for everyone else.
Now, ordinarily, this isn’t a problem. When the system is functioning normally, institutional counterparty risk is low.
But counterparty risk becomes a BIG deal, and QUICKLY, when the system stops functioning normally.
We saw the effects of this during the 2008 financial crisis. As one bank went down, it dragged multiple others with it.
No one ever thinks about counterparty risk until it becomes a problem… and by then it’s too late.
The simple way to reduce this risk is to reduce the number of counterparties.
Germany used to place a lot of trust in the US government and central bank to store its gold.
But there are obvious signs that Uncle Sam is no longer the reliable, credible, trusted counterparty he once was.
Germany hasn’t quit cold turkey; they’re still going to store a minority portion of their gold in the US.
But they have taken a major step to reduce exposure to a counterparty that’s obviously bankrupt, which hence reduces the risk.
You can do the same thing; it’s why we regularly discuss holding physical cash.
Keeping some physical cash ensures that there’s no more middle men (i.e. counterparties) standing between you, and at least a portion of your savings.
When you eliminate the counterparty, you eliminate the risk.
Having some cash means that if some major crisis should ever befall the banking system, then you’ll at least have some emergency savings that’s not at risk.
But even if nothing happens… even if there’s never a single problem ever again in the banking system… you won’t be worse off holding a bit of cash.This article has been updated.
After he met with President Trump this week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan traveled to Embassy Row in Northwest Washington, where Turkey’s ambassador has a home. At some point while Erdogan was there, a group of people across the street at Sheridan Circle began to loudly protest.
The red marker indicates the ambassador’s home. The green marker is the location of the protesters.
That protest ended violently, with pro- and anti-Erdogan sides exchanging blows. Voice of America caught the beginning of the fight.
Police fought to separate two groups that violently clashed outside the Turkish ambassador's residence on May 16 in Washington, D.C. (VOA Turkish/Twitter)
That footage quickly demonstrated that the physical altercation originated with several men in suits who were at the front edge of the pro-Erdogan crowd on the south side of the circle. In a news conference Wednesday, D.C. police stated that some of those involved were members of Erdogan’s security detail — which the Turkish state news agency Anadolu confirmed. “Police did not heed Turkish demands to intervene,” Anadolu said, as The Post has reported, so the guards moved in to “disperse them.”
The police didn’t “heed” those demands to break up a peaceful protest, of course, because those protests were legal, protected under the First Amendment.
On Thursday afternoon, a new wrinkle: It turns out that Erdogan himself observed the brawl from the driveway of the ambassador’s residence.
A video released by Voice of America appears to show Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan observing an attack on protesters outside the Turkish ambassador's residence in Washington on May 16. (VOATurkish)
If you watch that video closely, though, you’ll notice something else. Right before the brawling starts, a man appears to receive instruction from Erdogan, who then signals to another man who walks down the driveway to the street — and the brawling begins seconds later.
The timeline
Timestamp 0:01: A man leans into the car to speak with Erdogan (large circle). We know it’s Erdogan in the rear passenger side because he later emerges from that point. A man with a mustache (small circle) stands nearby.
0:14: After talking with Erdogan, the man next to the door speaks with the man with a mustache.
0:16: The man with a mustache heads down toward the street.
0:22: The protesters, who had been chanting “Baby-killer Erdogan,” suddenly go quiet.
0:28: The cameraman catches the scuffle through the trees.
1:13: Erdogan emerges from the car, at right. The man with the mustache comes back up the driveway as he does so.
1:16: Erdogan and the man with the mustache speak.
1:29: Erdogan walks away from the car. Note the heavyset man in the background.
If you go back to the first footage of the brawl, you can see that heavyset man participating in the fight. Here he is, at the 25-second mark.
The close-up video of the scuffle begins at about the 21-second mark of the Erdogan video, which we can tell by comparing stills from the two.
In other words, the timelines match: Five seconds after the man with the mustache heads down the sidewalk, a man in a suit runs across the street and attacks the protesters. The Turkish the state news agency confirms that Erdogan’s guards were among those involved in the fight.
We reached out to the VOA and the Armenian National Committee of America (which also had footage) to see if there were other angles showing the south side of the street shortly before the brawl began. VOA had no additional footage to share; we haven’t heard back from ANCA. Update: ANCA had no additional footage that helped answer the question.
[How the U.S. can hold Erdogan’s brawling guards accountable — and keep it from happening again]
That Turkish security forces violated the First Amendment rights of American protesters is, of course, a significant breach of international diplomacy, one that has received no small amount of attention over the past few days. If they did so at the direct encouragement of Erdogan, that raises the stakes significantly.
We have reached out to the Turkish embassy for comment.
If you have any additional footage of the brawl, please email.Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has made an impassioned defence of European values and identity at the Bálványos Summer University camp in Romania Saturday, calling on European nations to end their association with billionaire open-borders financier George Soros.
Speaking at the 28th Bálványos Open University camp Saturday, which was this week was hailed as “one of the most important discussion forums of the Hungarian community” by Hungary’s deputy Prime Minister, Orban contributed to an apparently new tradition of the Hungarian PM using the event as a launch pad for pro-European rhetoric and policy.
Hitting out at the Hungarian-born billionaire George Soros, who stands accused by the Hungarian government of using his vast wealth to fund pro-mass migration organisations to create a “new, mixed, Muslimized Europe”, Orban said Brussels was in an “alliance against the people’s will” with the financier.
Viktor Orban: European Union Is Following ‘Soros Migrant Plans’ https://t.co/xUmDqrswyc — Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) July 10, 2017
Laying out his vision for a future Europe without the influence of Soros, Orban said: ““In order for Europe to be able to live, it has to win back its sovereignty from the Soros Empire… Once this is done, migrants must be taken back outside the EU. It sounds strict, but those who came illegally, must be transported back,” Prime Minister Orbán said. “We have to admit that the European continent cannot remain unprotected.”
Discussing immigration to Hungary in a speech that came just days after his government announced the total requests submitted for Hungarian citizenships had hit one million, Orban said he would continue to oppose migrants “who could change the country’s cultural identity”.
As long as I remain the prime minister, the fence will stay in place. We will protect Hungary and Europe. We can never be in solidarity with ideals, peoples and ethnic groups who set out with the goal to change European culture… because the end result is collapse. Will Europe be inhabited by Europeans? Will Hungary be inhabited by Hungarians, Germany by Germans, France by the French, Italy by Italians? Who will live in Europe?
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said that to accept large numbers of migrants would be “national suicide”. https://t.co/cOz5NWFPHv — Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) May 12, 2017
Speaking of this clash of cultures, Orban said: “the culture of migrants is opposed to European culture, conflicting ideas to not prevail at the same time”, and remarked that mass migration could not be the solution to economic problems. Doing as nations like Germany had for decades by importing foreign workers to prop up the economy, he compared to a man stranded on a desert island drinking sea water to survive: “That too is water, but the problem gets worse”.
Better, he said, was for European nations to have stable populations supported by birth rates that allowed for natural biological replacement. For Hungary to achieve that, the Prime Minister said, it would have to achieve a birth rate of 2.1 children per family — a figure presently unheard of among Europeans.
"Is something larger at stake? Yes, family decline is undermining civilisation itself…" https://t.co/WXBiChFlKc pic.twitter.com/Y5wSea33nI — Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) July 22, 2017
Recognising that other Western and European nations were taking many migrants and seeing their cultures change as a result, Orban declared his nation’s borders open to like minded European, declaring that Hungary is a place where “Western European Christians will always be able to find security”.
Speaking just hours after Poland’s upper house passed a series of significant reforms to their judiciary, a move which has triggered significant threats of punishment from the European Union, Orban also offered solidarity with the people and government of the fellow Visegrad four nation.
Accusing the European Union of launching an “inquisitional campaign against Poland” to stamp out dissent against the European project, Orban said Hungary would come to Poland’s defence and “use all legal options in the European Union to show solidarity with the Poles”.If your shop is cluttered with random pieces of wood, then you need to check out these simple solutions on how to easily organize scrap wood! We’ve compiled a list of 10 scrap wood storage ideas that you can DIY this weekend!
1. Vertical Lumber Storage Rack
DIY instructions at Wood Talk Online
2. Portable Lumber Rack
DIY instructions at Addicted 2 DIY
3. Overhead Lumber Rack
DIY instructions at FineWoodworking
4. Workbench with Lumber Storage Space
DIY instructions at The Family Handyman
5. Wall Mounted Lumber Rack
DIY instructions at Ana White
6. Mobile Pallet Wood Storage
DIY instructions at Fix This Build That
7. Folding Lumber Racks
DIY instructions at Kreg Tool
8. Lumber Storage Cart
DIY instructions at Shanty 2 Chic
9. Roll-Around Plywood Cart
DIY instructions at Wood Magazine
10. Pallet And Loose Lumber Enclosure Tower
DIY instructions at The Owner-Builder Network
Do you have a wood storage solution that works for you? I would love to hear about it! Share your ideas in the comments below.About 8 month ago, we shared an interview with Benjamin VonWong about his work in this video:
It’s the story of Eliza O’Neill, turned 5 years old a few days ago (Happy Birthday, Eliza!).
She was diagnosed one year ago with a rare terminal genetic disease, called Sanfilippo Syndrome–Type A. Her parents were told that they would have to watch her daughter fade away before their eyes.
But there was a little light at the end of the tunnel:
Researchers at Nationwide Children’s Hospital have discovered a breakthrough gene therapy treatment that can stop this disease. This treatment could save Eliza and literally stop this disease in its tracks overnight!
The Problem:
The research conducted points to this clinical trial being the answer to stopping this disease, which means the only thing standing between Eliza and her miracle, is money. The trial is lacking funding to make the medicine, administer.
So the O’Neill’s planned to make a (hopefully viral) video and start a GoFundMe-Campaign to pay for that cure.
What would you do if you knew that money was the only thing standing between your child and their chance at a full and happy life? What would any parent do?
Today, the fundraising reached the goal.
I am sure a lot of you guys already heard about the campaign – after all it started with the help of some Photographers.
At first there was DL Cade (PetaPixel) asking Benjamin VonWong, who did an amazing job with that video. After a few weeks, SmugMug started a very clever “buy a print – help safe a live“-project, with the top photographers of our time. The hall of fame (each one generated more than 400$) could be my personal “favorite Photographers”-List as well: Bill Geckas, Benjamin Von Wong, Dave Brosha, Julia Kuzmenko, Robert Hall, Renee Robyn, Danielle Tunstall, Joel Robinson… The list is much longer – this is just the gallery of “the 12 most effective”.
I am very happy to see a lot of friend help and contribute to make this happen. Now we keep our fingers crossed and say: Stay strong little Eliza!A self-admittedly bumbling tourist, Ayun Halliday shared the travel stories most are too self-conscious to tell in her best-selling travel memoir No Touch Monkey! And Other Travel Lessons Learned Too Late (Seal Press), which was first published in 2003. As the updated edition is published this month, Halliday reflects—with her characteristic humor and razor-sharp wit—on the ways travel has changed over the last decade in a new foreword.
I wrote this book so long ago that the effects of traveling through Africa and Asia without sunscreen had yet to manifest on my face or in the public consciousness. Even more shocking, the Internet hadn’t been invented yet. That meant no email or social media. No Facetime, travel blogs, couch surfing, or internet cafés. The guest houses I stayed in didn’t have websites; nor were there discussion boards where expats and recently returned travelers could share their experiences, good and bad.
With the internet as yet uninvented, I couldn’t very well double-check the accuracy of whatever information I managed to come by, whether in advance or on the road. Most of it proved dated. Calling ahead was no solution when you consider pre-millennial, pre-cellphone international rates. Once in a country, phones meant long waits in lurid international call centers and massive cock-ups involving the American ambassador’s wife... (More about that escapade when we get to Singapore, dear reader.)
Unchain yourself from the grid. Stop Instagramming your damn banana pancakes and checking Twitter. Kick it old school.Simply put, inconvenience was built in to the low-budget traveler’s philosophy. It became our creed, the source of a thousand jokes in the second-class carriage.
Our mothers counted themselves lucky if they received a postcard every other week. It was confirmation that we were alive... or had been when we mailed the card. (“Dear Mom, I’ve got malaria, but my tent mate’s an Australian nurse. She made me take Fansidar. No worries. According to her, the American medical authorities are overly cautious about blindness and kidney failure...”)
I remember the thrill of pawing through the poste restante boxes in a sleepy post office guarded by an old man with a musket. Even then it was a charmingly antiquated system. It made me feel like something out of a W. Somerset Maugham story. After sorting through the Hs, I’d check the As, then flip through the entire alphabet, admiring the handwriting and stamps, imagining how happy the recipients would be when they rolled into town—if they rolled into town. Our itineraries rarely stayed the imagined course. Shortly after I’d touched down after one extended trip, a friend presented me a yellowing Sunday Tribune the Lao People’s Democratic Republic had returned to her after I’d failed to pick it up within the allotted year. Now that’s what I call a functional postal service!
As to postcards, I can’t imagine the tourist industry phasing them out any time soon. How they’ll reach American destinations once our post office does a dodo... well, the future’s always uncertain to a degree.
I’d far rather write a postcard, then take it to the post office to be franked in front of me (thus thwarting the nefarious insider who’d peel and resell the stamps) than gawp at the screen of an international SIM-card-equipped iPhone, waiting for my loved ones to reply to an electronic message sent a few seconds earlier.
Not that I didn’t do my share of zombified staring at screens, pretty much every time I rolled onto Khaosan Road, a cafe-lined Bangkok strip luring bush-fried backpackers with complimentary showings of Rambo III. I regarded it as a lotus eating hellhole on my first visit, but the longer I stayed out, the more the place grew on me. Its ridiculous action movies, delicious fries, and abundant pirate goods offered temporary respite that energized us to keep pursuing the bigger escape. Thought who could have predicted that that tawdry scene would also come to feel a bit Maugham-y? The jewels that comprised its booming black-market—bootleg cassettes, tattered English-language paperbacks, extremely-fake-looking fake IDs—have become obsolete to the point of romance.
I know there are parents out there, the same age that I am now, going crazy because their young traveler inexplicably failed to keep their daily Skype date, but I encourage that kid to keep pulling the plug. Unchain yourself from the grid. Stop Instagramming your damn banana pancakes and checking Twitter. Kick it old school. Sit around the guesthouse breakfast table for hours, trading graphic descriptions of your intestinal workings with the people you met last night. Pay attention. It’s either the beginning of a beautiful friendship, or you’ll never see them again. Either way, everybody wins.
This book is a record of what it was like to be young, foolish, curious, unfettered, stupid, hungry, untethered, amazed—and offline.
—Ayun Halliday
New York City, 2015Share On more Share On more
1. Your first job won't be your dream job. 2. When you have the nicest apartment in your group of friends, you'll always be the one hosting. 3. Having lunch with your ex will definitely upset your current significant other. 4. Thanksgiving isn't always as perfect as it's supposed to be. When in doubt, just serve grilled cheese. 5. Your independence is more important than the financial security of a husband. 6. Don't kiss your boss on a job interview. Or ever. 7. "It's not that common, it doesn't happen to every guy, and it is a big deal." 8. It's fine to spend Friday nights in your pajamas playing board games.
9. When in doubt, order pizza for dinner (or if you're feeling extra hungry, "the Joey Special"). 10. And a foosball table is a perfectly good substitute for a kitchen table. 11. Condoms are only 97% effective. 12. Trust your instincts. 13. Just because you love someone, doesn't mean they're necessarily right for you. 14. But your lobster is probably out there somewhere. 15. Once a friend, always a friend. 16. Unless you're over them, in which case, phasing them out is the best way to get rid of them. 17. A chick and a duck are not good pets to keep in city apartments. Neither is a monkey. 18. You're never too old to dress up for Halloween.
19. It's important to show your friends support, even if it means buying every newspaper in the city to protect them from a bad review. 20. You'll go on a million awkward dates, and might even end up on a blind date with an ex by accident. 21. You'll do regrettable things with your hair, and there will be photographic evidence. 22. Getting older isn't the end of the world — you don't need to get drunk to survive each birthday. 23. If you work hard and stay persistent, you'll end up with a career that makes you happy. 24. Don't be insecure about your significant other's work life — jealousy ruins relationships. 25. Most of your money will go toward rent. 26. And your apartment probably won't be rent controlled. 27. Don't be above taking odd jobs to make ends meet, like catering for your mom or playing a famous actor's extra. 28. Once you hit your twenties, you don't have the luxury of relying on your parents as much as you used to.
29. Your friends might date people that you don't actually like. 30. And your friends won't always like your significant other, either. 31. There's an art to using a public laundromat. 32. Don't be shy to tell your friends if you can't afford to do stuff with them. 33. It's OK to drink mimosas with breakfast when you're on vacation. And on Saturdays. And basically whenever you want. 34. Be honest and communicate what you want to your significant other. 35. Don't feel pressured into getting married too young. Or ever.
36. But if you do get married, don't worry — you can have as many do-overs as you want. 37. You can't run away to avoid your problems, they might follow you all the way to Yemen. 38. You shouldn't steal your best friend's significant other, and if you do, be prepared to sit in a box and think about what you did. 39. If you date sometime decades older than you, you'll eventually have to address how you want different things out of life. 40. NEVER bet your apartment. Especially if it's rent controlled. 41. Making a pro and con list is a really easy way to hurt someone. 42. You can't always trust who you meet on the internet. 43. Being good at poker is not gender-specific.
44. Quitting the gym isn't easy. 45. It's good to know what you want, but don't overstress about the future. You don't always need a "plan." 46. Enlist help when building furniture, and make sure you get the measurements right. 47. Building (and hanging out in) forts isn't just for kids. 48. Searching for an apartment is awful. Always. 49. Take advantage of free, delicious food when it's just sitting on your doorstep. 50. Telling the truth will set you free. 51. It turns out your siblings aren't so bad, after all.
52. Wearing leather pants can be a slippery slope. 53. Spray tans might seem like a good idea, but they rarely look good. 54. You should go to your high school and college reunions, if not just for the laughs. 55. And staying in touch with childhood friends could also result in career opportunities. 56. Unagi isn't just a kind of fish — it's "a state of total awareness." 57. Self-defense is a skill worth learning. 58. Making friends with your barista comes in handy. 59. Take care of yourself when you get sick instead of denying it. 60. Shark porn isn't a thing.
61. Some hobbies are better left in your college years, like playing the synth keyboard. 62. Just because you want something, you shouldn't take out loans and spend a bunch of money you don't have to get it. 63. It's OK to have lazy days with your friends. 64. Most of your childhood fantasies were lies. 65. Be nice to your old, cranky neighbors. They'll die someday and you'll feel bad. 66. It's a good idea to have a fake alias, just in case you don't want someone to know who you really are.EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. -- Another Minnesota Vikings player is in trouble with the law -- and in this case, it's a player who has found legal trouble before.
Minnesota wide receiver Jerome Simpson faces a Nov. 3 arraignment for misdemeanor charges of marijuana possession, driving with an open bottle and violating limited license restrictions. AP Images/Ann Heisenfelt
Wide receiver Jerome Simpson has a Nov. 3 arraignment scheduled in Hennepin County for misdemeanor charges of marijuana possession, driving with an open bottle and violating limited license restrictions after he was pulled over in Bloomington, Minnesota, on July 7, according to Bloomington police. Simpson was not arrested but was cited for the aforementioned charges.
Coach Mike Zimmer said he hadn't heard about Simpson's latest run-in with the law until he was told about it by a team PR person on Thursday, and he did not want to comment on it until he'd talked with general manager Rick Spielman.
Speaking generally about the team's recent spate of legal trouble, however, Zimmer said, "We're going to look for high-quality guys. We're going to keep guys who care about football, guys who are passionate about playing the game. We're going to continue to get those guys and keep working. There's really nothing I can do about what everybody else says. All I can do is what I think is best at the time."
Simpson was already serving a three-game suspension at the start of the season after he was arrested for drunken driving last November in Minneapolis. He pleaded guilty to lesser charges of reckless driving on Jan. 2 but was still suspended by the NFL. It was his second suspension in three years with the Vikings, following a three-game ban in 2012 stemming from a marijuana-related arrest in Kentucky in 2011.
Simpson, who caught 48 passes for a career-high 726 yards last season, is due to return from his most recent suspension on Monday, but it's fair to question his future with the Vikings in the wake of his latest trouble.
The terms of his Jan. 2 probation called for Simpson to have no alcohol-related, drug-related or traffic offenses. He could face more legal repercussions and additional league discipline for violating his probation, and his contract with the Vikings calls for him to earn a roster bonus of $3,125 for every game he is active.NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York police who |
made a monstrous play and had a chance to bring Ben Roethlisberger down. Unfortunately, he escaped like only he could. Honestly, I don't think any other quarterback in this league escapes from Wilkerson's grip, but that's just the way it goes sometimes. This would have given the New York Jets two points, and the ball.
Failure to Convert, Q1: 4:25 remaining. When the Jets got into the red zone here, they ran three plays. The first was a short pass to Jeff Cumberland, and the second and third were runs with Bilal Powell. When they didn't make any of them, they kicked the field goal. But at no point did they actually throw the ball into the end zone. They ran three extremely conservative plays, and were left with three points instead of the seven they might have had.
Hill Misfire, Q2, 4:48 remaining. This is the play that shows you exactly what Stephen Hill is capable of. He makes a small move, and that's enough to prevent Ike Taylor from pushing him off his route. After that, he quickly gets a step on Taylor, and no one can keep up with him. If this ball is thrown an inch and a half shorter, the team has an 80 yard touchdown, and seven more points.
Gates Return, Q3, 15:00 remaining. The past two weeks, special teams has looked better and better. We haven't seen as many fair catches, and we've seen some bigger returns. Unfortunately, in both weeks, Clyde Gates was stopped from a potential touchdown by the kicker. Last week, he whiffed on a stiff arm and just missed the kicker. Here, a shoestring tackle brings him down. With Cortez Allen closing from the bottom, it's unclear if Gates would have broken free. But he would have had a much better chance had he not been tackled by a 200lb. kicker.
First INT, Q3, 8:01 remaining. This play was perhaps the most perplexing of all. It's unclear what Geno Smith was looking at. Had he waited another moment, Jeff Cumberland likely would have been open right in the middle of the end zone. Instead, he immediately decided to throw it away. Yeah, I said throw it away. That's what he said in a post-game interview, and the more I watch it, I believe it. The way he's trying to heave it and just the trajectory, it looks like he just misfired to me. Unfortunately, it was a devastating misfire considering the nice drive the team had put together.A FIRM providing swimming classes to thousands of Edinburgh children has lost £30,000 since the school closure crisis as the clamour for businesses to be compensated grows louder.
Gail Smith, managing director of SwimEasy which tutors children in school pools, has had to cancel scores of lessons worth £30,000 and has no idea when she can resume classes at Royal High and Braidburn schools.
A timetable for reopening all schools is still being considered amid reports some could remain partly closed until August.
Read more: after-school clubs poised for compensation claims over Edinburgh schools closures
Ms Smith has moved 200 of children to classes in other pools sparking more disruption for parents but around 300 have declined the invitation to train elsewhere.
"For four or five-year-olds it's a significant interruption to the lessons," she said.
"We have managed to put some people in other programmes but not everyone wants to travel, they want to stay locally.
"Some have said they won't be back at all."
SwimEasy is the biggest private sector swimming class firm in the Capital.
Faults have been identified in all 17 buildings constructed or modernised through a private finance scheme, dubbed PPP.
It may be weeks or even months before they are all re-opened.
The Federation of Small Businesses Scotland said the schools crisis is like the "new Forth Road Bridge", which was closed suddenly last year when a crack appeared, creating weeks of disruption in and around Edinburgh.
Some running sport and swimming classes reported as much as a 75per cent drop in business, it is claimed, as FSB warned the open-ended Edinburgh schools fiasco could be a financial pressures for firms.
Compensation specialists Thompsons Solicitors said a firm who can show they have lost out because of the school closures could potentially make a claim for a share in an overall compensation pot.
Read more: Edinburgh school crisis company wins £60,000 contract 'to inspect city walls'
A spokesman for Edinburgh City Council said it is currently in discussions with the consortium which constructed the schools, Edinburgh Schools Partnership over compensation.
It comes as the leader of Edinburgh City Council when the PPP deal was struck called for greater transparency over the contracts.
Donald Anderson, a former leader of the then Labour-run council, apologised for the problems that arose but added the council could not have detected any faults unless they had dismantled the buildings all together.
Mr Anderson told BBC Good Morning Scotland: "I think I like every body else who was involved in the whole investment programme is deeply sorry to see the problems that have arisen.
"We need to find out exactly what happened.
"This looks very much like a problem in construction rather than procurement. Somebody signed off on that."
He added: "You couldn't pick up some of these details by any inspection, what you have to do is rely on trust that developers and construction companies will do this properly.
Read more: Edinburgh PPP schools crisis: pupils return to class
"I think in terms any major building or construction in Scotland there may be issues."MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, Mass. -- New technology at Tufts University's Center for Scientific Visualization is enabling researchers to translate the most abstract, complex scientific concepts into clearer, more precise 3-dimensional images than conventional visualization systems can create.
Funded by a $350,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, Tufts' new 14-foot by 8-foot visualization display offers a combination of advanced features found nowhere else in New England and in only a few other installations in the country. Its application will further Tufts' research and educational programs in diverse disciplines, from mathematics and physics to human factors engineering, and even drama and dance.
Brain's Untapped Capacity for Visuals
"Users will be able to manipulate, simulate, touch and literally immerse themselves in data in a way they never have been able to before," said Amelia Tynan, vice president and chief information officer and co-principal investigator on the grant.
Visualization is built on the age-old premise -- borne out by modern cognitive science -- that pictures say as much as, or even more than, words.
The human brain has a powerful, often underutilized capacity to process visuals, noted Robert Jacob, computer science professor and co-principal investigator on the project. A large portion of the brain processes visuals, and visualization technology puts that ability to work. "The brain absorbs a lot more information when it's presented in pictures rather than in stacks of data from a computer," Jacob said. This, he says, enables researchers and students to recognize things more quickly and also develop insights about what's going on with the data.
Unusual Combination of Technologies
While visualization is widely used in science, Tufts' "VisWall" offers unusually robust capabilities by combining advanced features not typically found together.
Housed at Tufts' School of Engineering but available to the entire university, the seamless wall features a high resolution display system that uses rear projection in order to enhance the amount of detail that is visible. Most visualization systems use several projectors at once or multiple, tiled screens to display images. Tufts' uses just a single screen with close to 9 megapixels resolution (4,096 x 2,169 pixels) and two projectors (with overlapping fields of projection) to create high- resolution images and animation.
By using a single screen and two projectors, Tufts is able to produce ultra-high resolution images -- including 3-D images -- that appear smoother and without seams. Images projected at a higher resolution reveal fine, minute details that would be imperceptible on a screen with fewer pixels or tiled images. The VisWall's projectors are equipped with Infitec filters to minimize ghosting, in which an image appears to include elements of another image. Ghosting is a common drawback with conventional polarized filters.
In addition, the Tufts system can combine the sense of touch with that of sight through haptic devices that convey varying levels of resistance to the user when he or she touches graphical objects on the display wall. This also allows Tufts researchers to create virtual environments, such as the human body for surgical simulations that can be physically manipulated and transformed.
Order in Chaos
Tufts faculty have already discovered applications of the new technology. Mathematics Professor Boris Hasselblatt made a surprising find while viewing a mathematical model of butterfly populations as they fluctuated through successive generations. The model, used for research in dynamical systems theory, is based on a simple formula and is well-known to anyone familiar with chaos theory.
Visualizing the large population dataset with the 14-foot-wide, high-resolution graphical display enabled Hasselblatt to detect anomalies impossible to perceive with conventional displays: subtle traces of curving lines that he said indicated irregularities in variations in the population. The lines extended over different areas of the model and then converged at one distinct point.
Hasselblatt has looked at smaller images of this classic model many times during the last 20 years but had never recognized this convergence. He has not yet determined the implications of this discovery, but he said the pattern reflects order in what mathematicians have always thought to be a progression of chaotic cycles. "The pattern is so subtle that it's imperceptible but in this rendition the resolution is fine enough that I can easily see it," he said.
Bruce Boghosian, chairman of the mathematics department at Tufts and principal investigator on the NSF grant, said that the VisWall will benefit his study of fluid dynamics. Visualization capabilities can help him and his fellow researchers better understand fluid flow.
"You can go right up to streamlines in a fluid or dig into a reservoir and see which way it's flowing," said Boghosian. "That's the direction we would like to move in. You can imagine all kinds of other uses for something like that."
Virtual Surgery
The VisWall will also aid Mechanical Engineering Assistant Professor Caroline Cao. Her goal is to develop more robust laparoscopic surgical training systems in which 3-D computer simulations enable surgeons in training to feel as well as see.
She and her team, including senior Kyle Maxwell, have already developed software that enables users to remove a "tumor" during a simulated procedure. With the haptic device, these virtual surgeons receive force feedback when touching a hard surface, such as a tumor or bone, and a soft, deformable surface, such as tissue. The reaction is determined by the parameters provided by the model, which is based on real material properties.
Cao, who is director of the human factors program in the School of Engineering, said she wants to develop more anatomical features in the models. She also hopes to develop software that will simulate more complicated virtual procedures like heart surgery and colonoscopy. The VisWall's size, resolution and 3-D capability will greatly help in her work.
"Imagine the difference between simulating a virtual environment on a computer screen and one on a visualization wall -- the difference is tremendous," she said. "That's what large-scale visualization gives us, a capacity to create a richer immersion experience."
From Particle Physics to the "Lord of the Rings"
Similar benefits could be gained by physicist Austin Napier. His work in high energy physics relies on the ability to process huge streams of data from organizations like Switzerland's CERN, the world's largest particle physics laboratory. Tufts' VisWall will enable him to visualize on a single display what would otherwise require multiple computers.
Tynan said she expects the VisWall to become a resource for the broad range of academic disciplines at Tufts. She envisions scientists and engineers collaborating with faculty from the arts or humanities.
Boghosian brings up the example of the character Gollum in the "Lord of the Rings." Actor Andy Serkis' movements were tracked and translated to the digital rendering of the creature in the film. Similar technology is now available through the VisWall, which goes beyond traditional 3-D rendering to create a true virtual reality environment.
"Imagine taking the ability to do something like that and applying it to drama and dance," Boghosian mused. "Imagine taking the ability to do something like that and trying to use it for facial recognition or occupational therapy or many other fields. We haven't really even begun to explore those kinds of things yet."
###
Tufts University, located on three Massachusetts campuses in Boston, Medford/Somerville, and Grafton, and in Talloires, France, is recognized among the premier research universities in the United States. Tufts enjoys a global reputation for academic excellence and for the preparation of students as leaders in a wide range of professions. A growing number of innovative teaching and research initiatives span all Tufts campuses, and collaboration among the faculty and students in the undergraduate, graduate and professional programs across the university's schools is widely encouraged.
Publication-quality images are available.Tolls could be coming to pay for a new Highway 2 trestle.
Traffic on the trestle has become so bad it is now known by a different name.
"We call it the stressle," said Allison Seed with a laugh.
Seed of Lake Stevens avoids the "stressle" as much as she can and describes the traffic with one word: "Terrible!"
The trestle connects Interstate 5 and Everett to the rapidly growing communities of Lake Stevens, Snohomish, and Marysville.
On a bad day it can take up to half an hour to cross the just two-mile span.
Replacing the trestle would cost an estimated $600 million.
But how to pay for it?
You only have to look about 25 miles south to see what might be coming down the road.
"I hadn't even heard anything about tolls so that shocks me," said Seed.
Tolls are one option currently being considered.
How much? Up to $6.30 one way, according to State Rep. Mark Harmsworth, R-44th District.
"I was shocked," he said.
Harmsworth believes the state should find a different way to pay for the replacement, because there are few other options for drivers. Those options are mainly getting to I-5 through the already congested streets of Marysville or taking surface streets south through Mill Creek.
"This is a lot of money," said Harmsworth. "They're going after the families that are just trying to make it each day. They just can't afford it."
Any tolls would have to be approved by the legislature. More information is expected about the funding plan when a full report is given to lawmakers on January 8.
Copyright 2017 KINGFantasy Premier League is finally back! We’ve all done at least 45 drafts over the past few days it’s been live, but its now time to consider the players from Everton. Since last season, Everton have changed the back room staff completely, including a goalkeeper, defensive and attacking coach, which should mean that Everton will be a whole lot better than last season. Southampton last year had one of the best defences, therefore Everton benefit from Koeman’s appointment and should be a lot stronger at the back.
Everton will be looking forward to a potentially strong season and there are a few potential players that could find their way into your fantasy football teams…
STAR MAN – Romelu Lukaku (9.0m)
Come on, this shouldn’t be too surprising! Lukaku scored 18 goals in the Premier League last season, in one of Everton’s worst ever Premier League performances in a while. He had very little supply, wasn’t on penalty or free kick duty, but on every opportunity to score, he usually delivered. With Barkley, Deulofeu and Mirallas behind him, and with Koeman looking for more creative midfielders to supply Lukaku, he should reach 20 goals comfortably this year. At 9.0m, he could be a bit of a bargain, and should definitely be a consideration for your fantasy football teams.
HIDDEN GEM – Leighton Baines (5.5m)
Not many fantasy managers will remember how good Baines was in the 2013/14 season. Clean sheets, goals, assists, everything that got you points, Baines was always getting them. He was on penalty duty, he was fantastic on free kicks and he was on corner duty with Mirallas. After that season, Martinez took him off corners, he was plagued with injuries, he lost his set piece duty and was dropped for Oviedo mid season. Now though, Koeman will look to him as a crucial part of his defence. Baines has been back on free kicks during the pre-season fixtures, in which he has looked reasonably sharp. He’ll definitely a defender to pick if you are looking for those that find themselves picking up a few attacking points.
BARGAIN OPTION – Gerard Deulofeu (6.5m)
There are a few bagrains within the Everton squad, with the likes of Mirallas and co. Deulofeu however is our pick. Last season, Deulofeu was incredible. He had a fantastic partnership with Lukaku, assisting him 7 times last season and overall he created 9 goals. The second half of the season, wasn’t as good as the first for the Spaniard. Martinez dropped him and never started him in back to back games in the last 19 games of the season. Deulofeu only played 1,383 minutes and again, collapsed as a player under the hands of Martinez. With Koeman as a manager, Deulofeu should return back to the player he once was. He’s a very good player with a lot of potential and at just 6.5m he could be a real bargain!
Written by Bonus FPL (@BonusFPL)Chinese Premier Li Keqiang publicly defended the death penalty as he pressed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to sign a formal extradition treaty while denying agents are covertly dispatched to Canada to intimidate Chinese fugitives to return home.
Mr. Li, the first Chinese leader to visit Canada in six years, is on a mission to forge closer ties. That included announcements to start exploratory talks on free trade, the settling of a canola dispute and pledges to double trade by 2025.
But China's No. 2 leader was adamant that high on his bilateral agenda is an extradition treaty to seek the return of fugitives accused of economic crimes. More than 40 other countries, including France and Australia, have signed such treaties, he said.
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Read more: Justin Trudeau defends extradition treaty talks with China
Read more: Chinese agents enter Canada on tourist visas to coerce return of fugitive expats
During a joint news conference on Thursday, the Premier took a swipe at Canadian critics of an extradition treaty, saying they are wrongly disparaging China's justice system as being based on torture, repression and coercion.
"There shall be no torture including suspects and sentenced people, humanitarian treatment must be applied. This is provided by Chinese law and the judicial and law authorities follow this role very strictly," he told reporters as Mr. Trudeau stood by his side in the foyer of the House of Commons.
Mr. Li said he can't "promise 100 per cent" that the odd police officer could mistreat an accused, but said anyone caught doing that would be treated "very seriously." At the same time, he argued that China's death penalty is needed to deal with violent crime.
"If we abolish the death penalty, innocent people will lose their lives," he said.
Amnesty International says China is the world's top executioner while the United Nations says China routinely uses torture, and its judges, prosecutors and the police answer to the Communist Party.
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"We stand by our assessment that there are a vast array of very serious human-rights concerns," Alex Neve, Amnesty International Canada's secretary-general, said in an interview. "Torture is widespread and rampant throughout the country and backed up by near total impunity."
China's human-rights record has taken on added significance since The Globe and Mail reported Tuesday that Ottawa had opened up formal talks on an extradition treaty on Sept 12, one day before a Chinese court ordered jailed Canadian missionary Kevin Garratt back to Canada.
Critics interpret Mr. Garratt's release as a quid pro quo for Canada acceding to China's long-standing call for an extradition treaty. The lack of action on such a treaty over the past decade led China to send agents to Canada on tourist visas in an attempt to induce expatriates to return home to face justice.
The Globe and Mail reported Wednesday that the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and RCMP are investigating the covert Chinese spy operation. CSIS has interviewed Chinese citizens living in Canada, all of whom have been threatened by agents from China.
"I don't know where you got those reports," Mr. Li said when asked about The Globe report. "I can tell you firmly that China … strictly follows international law and norms and we obey the laws of other countries."
The Prime Minister said Canada would not deport anyone who would face execution but argued he was confident a formal extradition treaty could be worked out.
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"We recognize that Canada and China have different systems of law and order and different approaches and it'll be very important that any future agreement be based on reflecting the realities, the principles, the values that our citizens hold dear in each of our countries," Mr. Trudeau said.
As part of the talks, both leaders approved a feasibility study on free trade with the goal of doubling bilateral trade by 2025. They also reached a four-year deal to allow for the continued exports of Canadian canola, worth $2-billion annually to Canadian farmers, and Mr. Li lifted China's ban on imports of bone-in beef from Canadian cattle younger than 30 months of age.
In the House of Commons Question Period, NDP Leader Tom Muclair deplored the move to conclude an extradition treaty, calling China a "dictatorship that abuses human rights."
Conservative Foreign Affairs critic Peter Kent accused the Prime Minister of being naive if he thinks China wouldn't apply the death penalty to Chinese fugitives. "Canada has no control over what happens in Chinese prisons. The Chinese have many ways of killing people," he said.
The Prime Minister told the House the new dialogue with China allows Canada to raise serious issues with Chinese leaders including consular cases and provides "huge opportunities for Canadian businesses."
Mr. Trudeau has gone out of his way to welcome Mr. Li to the capital. When Mr. Li and his wife arrived Wednesday night, they were invited to the prime ministerial retreat at Harrington Lake. A photo released by the PMO showed the leaders overlooking the lake with glasses of beer.
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A dinner was held for Mr. Li at the History Museum Thursday night. On Friday, Mr. Trudeau accompanies the Premier to Montreal where they will speak to the Canada-China Business Forum.I feel a little slow on the draw. Time beat me, Barak Ravid of Ha’aretz and everybody else to the punch to give Benjamin ‘Bibi’ Netanyahu a massive dose of free publicity and attention that’s size-appropriate for his ego. One of America’s finest news publications decided to crown Bibi King of Israel! Long May He Reign! I mention Mr. Ravid because he almost sounds miffed about not getting to do the laying on of hands himself. Not that he’s alone. According to Ravid, Netanyahu, “rarely has in-depth conversations with Israeli reporters, and makes do with short telephone conversations in which he passes messages on issues that are of priority to him, or speaks in order to minimize damage.” The Prime Minister apparently assumes that Ha’aretz, Yediot Ahronoth, and the others are out to get him and so doesn’t talk to them, other than to give out sound bites to the writers to fill space in their columns. In Israel reporters don’t understand the role that His Majesty has set out for them to play.
So King Bibi barely has time for the scribes there, preferring to bask in the glow of his American ‘journalist’ loyal subjects who line up to pay him homage. Time sent Managing Editor Rick Stengel to work on polishing the laurels of His Majesty for publication in the States. Stengel was given great access to Netanyahu at his private Jerusalem residence, and the Prime Minister disseminated bon mots of Bibi-Think to his new friend. Although a far more sophisticated politician than George W. Bush ever was Netanyahu shares 43’s love of an obedience streak when dealing with the Fourth Estate, and it’s clear the Time editor got the gig in part on his willingness to play gossip columnist.
So, what did Bibi want to gossip about? From the piece we are led to believe that the Prime Minister has risen to the ranks of peerage by brave deeds of political skill. Stengel writes, “Netanyahu is poised to become the longest-serving Israeli Prime Minister since David Ben-Gurion, the founding father of Israel. He has no national rival.” The proof of this claim is Netanyahu’s approval rating, “roughly 50%”, and the 94 seat- “bullet-proof majority” he has constructed by getting the ex-Likudniks from Kadima to go back to being Likudniks again. It’s also clear from the article that Netanyahu, a man who keeps a picture of Winston Churchill on a shelf behind his desk, is now eyeing his role as “a defining figure in Israeli history and a significant player on the world stage.” It’s not enough that His Highness has power and prestige; he must also cement his claim to being a demigod in the pantheon of World Leaders.
This kind of pomposity should surprise no-one; it has always been Netanyahu’s stock in trade. Stengel also dropped the tag word that sums up Bibi’s raison d’être as a political animal: Security. When he first ran for Prime Minister in 1996 they called him ‘Mr. Security’, meaning his focus was going to be more on swords than ploughshares. Nobody messed with Mr. Security then, except those who did, but now that he’s King Mr. Security it’s as if all the stars have aligned and the big moment has arrived for the former commando and son of a historian.
More hot air from the coronation of the Great Man in Time: Netanyahu, “would like to be a hero, but he will not be one at the expense of Israel’s security.” Huh? What does that mean? Does that mean that Netanyahu is willing to set his Brobdingnagian ego aside to arrange a peace deal with Mahmoud Abbas, or drop the sabre he’s been rattling at Iran over its nuclear program? Or does His Majesty see a bully little war against the Islamic Republic as the sort of thing a humble servant of the people would do in time of crisis, and not heroic? Who knows? Kings have always used some caveat like Divine Will to change their mind as they see fit. Why should we expect no less from the new monarch in Jerusalem?
The fact is, Israel could use a real leader right now. They’re gearing up again for the socio-economic summer protests in Tel Aviv, and Gaza is a set piece from John Carpenter’s Escape From New York. The West Bank is a powder keg made worse by the settlers and the Border Police. Iran thumbs its nose at Israel’s irrational threats to bomb. What’s worse is that hasbara, Israel’s traditional tool in reducing bad press, has become increasingly ineffective in dealing with the country’s perpetual PR issues which result from its policies. The Netanyahu government’s intransigence on the Palestinian issue and its war-mongering pillow fight with Tehran have made it such that almost nobody thinks Israel is cool anymore, and its place in opinion polls is down there with the Iranians, Pakistan, and the like.
It seems like a country having a nervous breakdown. Mr. Stengel alludes in his column to David Ben Gurion in comparison with Netanyahu, suggesting the two be equated. But Ben Gurion, the ruthless author of the ethnic cleansing in 1948, was by all accounts a very pragmatic and resourceful evaluator of people and situations. As an example, consider the Mavi Marmara incident. While Ben Gurion would no doubt have approved of a commando raid on the vessel, once the situation turned into a major international incident with Turkey would he have allowed it to fester as King Bibi has? I doubt it. Israel’s first Prime Minister would’ve done what the current one has not, mustering the necessary support in his cabinet and the Knesset to mend relations with an essential regional ally. So is King Bibi cut from the same cloth as the founder? Mr. Stengel may think so, but I don’t. Netanyahu is more like French playwright Alfred Jarry’s Ubu Roi, the fictitious monarch of Poland who revels in greed and self-aggrandizement. King Bibi seems committed to making a splash in the history books no matter the blowback, with friends in high places willing to polish his graven image for American public consumption.
I’m disappointed in Time for enabling this egotist, and Netanyahu should be ashamed of himself for letting them do it. Only a public figure of such arrogance, so obsessed with his own legend and would-be place in history, and so deeply wrong on the direction he is attempting to put his country on a path to would allow himself to be so cheaply venerated. As long as this blowhard is allowed to keep his hand at the tiller, Israel will continue to flounder, crown or no crown.Start looking at the numbers, and many leading actors have died at least a few times. A long enough career can rack up the kills. For example, Robert de Niro has died on screen 19 times. Other stars like Leonardo DiCaprio have died 9 times. So where does Sean Bean fall along this list?
I crafted the following chart to find out:
Click to enlarge!*
It looks like the “walking spoiler” meme has a grain of truth to it. While Bean does have over 70 movies under his belt, he certainly dies in a lot of them — almost a third of his films.
However, even though Bean has perfected his “I’m dying” face, he still hasn’t died the most on screen. Two legendary horror actors, Vincent Prince and Bela Lugosi, each outpace Bean by at least 10 movies.
But the top honor of most on-screen deaths goes to wonderful character actor John Hurt. With over 120 movies, Hurt’s death percentage is similar to Bean’s — around 30% — but just seeing the list of Hurt’s 43* deaths is impressive.
He has died in The Wild and the Willing, Sinful Davey, A Man for All Seasons, 10 Rillington Place, The Ghoul East of Elephant Rock, Spectre, Alien, The Elephant Man, Heaven’s Gate, The Osterman Weekend, The Hit, After Darkness, The Black Cauldron, Jake Speed, Spaceballs, Aria, Deadline, Little Sweetheart, Scandal, L’Oeil qui ment, Monolith, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, Contact, The Climb, All the Little Animals, You’re Dead, Lost Souls, Hellboy, Pride, Tabloid, The Proposition, V for Vendetta, Outlander, Boxes, An Englishman in New York, Ultramarines, Whistle and I’ll Come To You, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Only Lovers Left Alive, Snowpiercer, Hercules, and finally the TV miniseries I, Claudius.
Maybe it should be #DontKillJohnHurt.
So is Sean Bean a walking spoiler alert? For that we could compare deaths per film to standardize among the actors. If we do that, Sean Bean is still at the top of the list with 0.32 deaths/film, tied with Bela Lugosi, and followed closely by Mickey Rourke and John Hurt with 0.31 deaths/film. Vincent Price and Cary Tagawa are next with 0.28 deaths/film, and it decreases from there. (For the curious: South Park‘s Kenny barely beats Bean with 0.38 deaths/episode.)
Of course, Bean has indeed racked up a large number of deaths early on in his career, relatively speaking (he has made far fewer films compared to Lugosi, Price, and Hurt). In the years to come, we could see Boromir bite the dust enough to become the undisputed duke of the death scene.
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Kyle Hill is the Science Editor of Nerdist Industries. Follow on Twitter @Sci_Phile.
*UPDATED: This post originally missed Hurt’s three most recent movie deaths and now includes more actors in the graph (thanks commenters)! And a hat tip to biologist Josh Witten for suggesting the deaths/film metric.Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky is trying to eliminate the ban on guns in U.S. Post Offices. Shannon Watts of Moms Demand Illegal Guns for Mayors Against Action (or something like that) opposes the move. “Prior to the current ban on guns inside federal buildings, mass shootings at U.S. Post Offices were so frequent that the phrase ‘going postal’ became a popular way to describe workplace violence in America.” Which implies that ‘going postal’ has gone out of fashion because the gun ban was/is so effective. Yes, well, in 1972, the Postal Service enacted 39 C.F.R. § 232.1(l) (“USPS Regulation”). That reg stipulates that...
Notwithstanding the provisions of any other law, rule or regulation, no person while on postal property may carry firearms, other dangerous or deadly weapons, or explosives, either openly or concealed, or store the same on postal property, except for official purposes.
So how many post office shootings pre-date the ban and, indeed, the turn-of-phrase? For that info we turn to the hive mind at Wikipedia:
The expression derives from a series of incidents from 1983 onward in which United States Postal Service (USPS) workers shot and killed managers, fellow workers, and members of the police or general public in acts of mass murder. Between 1986 and 1997, more than 40 people were gunned down by spree killers in at least 20 incidents of workplace rage.
Of the 21 entries in Wikipedia’s List of postal killings all of them occurred after the law went into effect. More to the point – well, my point – all of the incidents involved armed killers murdering unarmed victims. What’s more, “researchers have found that the homicide rates at postal facilities were lower than at other workplaces.”
So much for that then. Except of course, for Shannon’s shrieking. Here’s her full press release on the subject of gun ban reform in U.S. post offices:Gov. Paul LePage said Thursday that two leaders of a referendum on raising the minimum wage in Maine should be jailed, echoing comments by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump about jailing his political rival.
LePage’s comment, made during a speech urging voters to reject Questions 1 through 5 on the Nov. 8 ballot, came just four days after Trump stirred controversy by saying that if he were elected he would appoint a special prosecutor to investigate his opponent, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and possibly jail her.
LePage, speaking to the Lewiston-Auburn Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, said Mike Tipping and Ben Chin, both officials with the Maine People’s Alliance, should be jailed because increasing the minimum wage will lead to higher prices and potentially harm elderly residents on fixed incomes. The alliance is a progressive organization that frequently backs Democratic initiatives and is one of the major groups pushing for a stepped increase in the minimum wage, which will rise to $12 an hour by 2020 if voters approve the question.
“Frankly, those people (Tipping and Chin) should be sent to jail for what they’re doing to the elderly,” the Republican governor said.
The head of the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine said the suggestion that political opponents should be jailed “is rare, if not unprecedented” in American politics.
“In the United States, we don’t lock people up for having different political views,” said Alison Beyea, executive director of the ACLU of Maine. “The beauty of democracy is that all people get to participate – not just the ones in power.”
Brendan Nyhan, a professor of government at Dartmouth College, worries about the effect such threats could have on the nation’s democracy.
“I worry about criminalizing political differences,” he said. “Suggesting that your political opponents should be jailed is destructive and anti-democratic rhetoric.”
The targets of LePage’s statement largely dismissed the idea that promoting a referendum measure that the governor opposes would land them in a prison cell.
“This is my one phone call,” Tipping joked when responding to a request for his reaction to LePage’s remarks. “This is part of a pattern where the governor says something extreme in an attempt to get people, to get the media, to pay attention to his lies.”
‘A NEW LOW FOR DEMOCRACY’
He also referred to the threat made by Trump – whom LePage has endorsed – to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Clinton if he wins the election.
“It’s also pretty disturbing that we hear politicians call for jailing their political opponents. This is a new low for democracy,” said Tipping, a political blogger who formerly wrote for the Portland Press Herald.
Chin said the governor’s call for the pair to be arrested was an empty threat.
“The governor is all bark and no bite,” Chin said. “He wakes up in the morning figuring out how he can embarrass himself, his party and the state.”
Chin said many elderly Mainers work part-time jobs at hourly wages to supplement their income, and raising the minimum wage would help, not hurt, those older workers.
LePage used the speech to a mostly friendly audience of business leaders to urge “no” votes on the five citizen-initiated referendum questions on the ballot. He bemoaned “government by referendum,” saying the ballot measures reduce “complex issues” to “small questions.”
He said he will send the Legislature a state budget proposal that slashes income tax rates if voters approve Question 2, which calls for a 3 percent income tax surcharge on earnings above $200,000 to provide more money for education.
LePage argued that referendum questions can’t direct money to a specific program and that the revenues would have to flow into the state’s General Fund.
John Kosinski, campaign manager for Yes on Question 2, said LePage is wrong and that the money can be directed to what he called “a rainy day fund for schools.”
OPPOSITION TO EDUCATION SURCHARGE
LePage also said most school districts in the state wouldn’t benefit from the fund, and that most of the money would flow to wealthy towns such as Cape Elizabeth and Falmouth, while others, such as Lewiston, would get nothing.
Kosinski challenged that assertion as well, saying Lewiston would receive about $4 million in additional education aid if the referendum proposal passes, and that other communities also would benefit.
If the measure is approved, LePage said, he will send a budget to lawmakers in January that would slash income tax rates to 4 percent, so the 3 percentage point sur |
a counteroffer. Fehr said he's still doesn't have a timetable for that because the union is still poring over 76,000 pages of financial information the NHL provided last week. And Fehr said there's still more documents to come.
"You can't do it in 15 minutes," Fehr said. "We have to satisfy ourselves that even if the production of the background financial information from the NHL is not complete, that we have enough of it to form some preliminary conclusions at least, and have an opportunity to go through it and work with it."
What's clear is that Fehr and the players have expressed disappointment regarding the NHL's initial offer made last month. The NHL is proposing to cut players' share of revenues from 57 percent to 46. That translates into as much as a $450 million change in revenue.
The league's also seeking to restrict free agency on several fronts. That includes limiting length of contracts to five years (there are currently no limits in place); lengthening the time a player must wait to be eligible to become an unrestricted free agent from seven years to 10; and eliminating players' rights to salary arbitration.
Fehr said the reaction from players he met in Europe was similar to that of North American players.
"They reacted to the proposals that the owners made, and the approach that the owners have taken in much the same way that anybody would, faced with the kinds of demands that the owners have made," Fehr said. "So it's no surprise there."
One fear that's being raised is whether cuts in salary and changes to free agency might lead to more players — particularly Europeans — to consider leaving the NHL for other leagues. The NHL's biggest competitor on an international scale is the Russian-based Kontinental Hockey League.
Several players, including Jaromir Jagr, Sergei Fedorov and Jiri Hudler, have enjoyed stints in the KHL.
Fehr acknowledged that could be a concern.
"We want to be able to say without hesitation that the best 725 hockey players in the world are playing in the NHL," Fehr said. "So, any time you have a circumstance in which it makes the choice to play in the NHL as compared to playing elsewhere more difficult or less likely that you're going to play in the NHL, that's a problem."
Daly disagreed. "We do not believe that any of the proposals we have made to this point," he wrote, "would have any material impact on the league's ability to continue to attract the best players in the world."After spending a year of independent study on Hawaiian culture, Ecohabitude CEO Kristen Drapesa told NBC she was inspired to make changes in the way she lived, which led to her founding her company in 2014.
“Growing up on an island, the lifestyle has always been different-people are more accustomed to being mindful of the land and others around them," said Drapesa, who was born and raised in Hawaii and is of Hawaiian, Chinese, and Norwegian descent. "Since you are sharing such a small land mass with others, sustainability & consideration of resources becomes more of a necessity, rather than a choice.”
The RISE Collective
The RISE Collective is a jewelry company founded by Mei Elizabeth Tan, a Cambodian-American woman whose family was enslaved in Cambodian concentration camps during the Khmer Rouge regime.
Tan began the jewelry company with its Signature Survivor Cuff as a symbol for the fight for freedom against modern day slavery. In homage to her four-year-old brother, who did not survive her family’s escape, Tan created The RISE Collective to help give children of survivors resources to flourish.
Turning weapons of war to symbols of peace, the cuffs are made with deactivated and recycled brass munitions that were handcrafted by local Cambodian artisans at a fair wage. Proceeds from the purchase of the cuff help provide food, education, and medical supplies to children of survivors.
“The reason why The RISE Collective is so important to me is that it is more than just a piece of jewelry or even a passion project that I’ve been working on for over a year," Tan told NBC News. "It is a symbol of triumph in each of our personal stories, as well as our collective journey of rising to reach our highest potential of humanity as individuals and as a community. Each cuff serves as not only a statement piece, but as a statement for peace, for compassion and for empowerment."
Vaute
Vaute, a word combination between "vegan" and "haute" and is pronounced like “vote,” wants to help consumers "vote in" a way of making clothing that is animal-friendly and completely cruelty-free.Supporting multiple resolutions in 2D games
Supporting various Android devices for your game can be confusing. For 3D games it's easy, because conversion to 2D space is done constantly at run-time. Players of 3D games don't mind if the result is blocky, blurred or sharp at edges. However, for 2D games, every pixel matters. You could use built-in scaling, but the image is not crisp and your game doesn't look as good as it deserves. All the hard effort you put into making great graphics would go to waste.
To make your game look good, you want to use the device native resolution. Because of this, you need to produce all graphics in different sizes. But there are a myriad of screen sizes and resolutions on Android, with different width/height ratio. Here are some hard and fast rules you can use to support all the devices that currently (2014) make 99% of the market.
First thing to remember is that all resolutions on most modern (made since 2009 forward) devices should have an aspect ratio between 4:3 and 16:9. The solution would be to draw the graphics that would span both ratios (and thus everything in between). The central part would be visible on all devices, while the background would show different areas (top and bottom on wide devices and left and right side on the more square ones).
But this isn't just pure math. We need to take note of market share of different devices, so that we don't sacrifice the way game looks on the more common ones just to please some outliers.
One picture is worth a thousand words, so here are some diagrams to make it all simple and easy to understand. The lowest resoltions used today are 800x480 and 854x480. There are also some tablets using 800x600. So, we'll set the base at 800:
This would mean that you should draw all the background graphics to cover 854x600 pixels. The central part where all the action takes place is 800x450.
There is no device with 450 pixel on the market, but we still use that as the baseline, so that we can simply scale everything to devices with 1024, 1280 and 1920 base width. Those devices currently make most of the market and have 16:9 aspect ratio. We want the game to look best on them.
The next step is a based on 1024 pixels. The most common resolutions are 1024x600, 1024x768 and 1024x800. The problem is 1024x800 which is even more square than 4:3. Those are some cheap tablets from asian manufacturers. Still if we decide to support them, we get this:
Now, there are some devices using 960x540 and 960x640 pixels. Those make less than 1% of the market, so we could use scaling in that case. Or we could sacrifice a little bit of 1024 screen space and allow it to fit.
Luckily the higher resolution screens are more expenisive, so we don't have that many variants. It's actually pretty straightforward. The next step is 1280x720, 1280x768, 1280x800 and 1280x960. Again, there are some outliers, more square than 4:3, most notably 1280x1024.
Next, we have 1536x1152. I haven't found any other variants with 1536 base. Still, we want everything to scale, so the play area has to be smaller:
1920x1080 is used in some very popular devices, but also 1920x1152 and 1920x1200 are common. 4:3 ratio would be 1920x1440, but I haven't found any devices using that resolution:
However, there are some 2048x1536 devices out there. The next resolution that follows is 2560x1600 which is much larger, so we don't want to clamp them together. Creating a special set of assets for 2048 would only give us 6-7% larger images. Therefore, it would be best to merge 2048 into 1920 base:
The current top devices (say Nexus 10) use 2560 as the base. I have only seen 2560x1600 devices, which is 16:10 and found 2560x1536 mentioned on the web without a device name. If we wanted to accomodate future 4:3 devices, we would have to produce 2560x1920 assets.
I used the wider 16:9 ratio as the base, because more mainstream devices use it (Samsung, Google, Sony, etc.). Square ones approaching 4:3 (and beyond) are produced by cheaper brands and don't have the market share. We still support all those devices, but 5-30% of screen real estate is just showing background filler picture.
Here's the whole table:
Typical resolution Play area Background Scale 800x480 800x450 854x600 100% 1024x600 960x540 1024x800 120% 1280x800 1280x720 1280x1024 160% 1536x1152 1536x864 1536x1152 192% 1920x1200 1920x1080 2048x1536 240% 2560x1600 2560x1440 2560x1600 320%
It turns out you'd need 6 different sets of assets for a game. To do all this in libGDX, I use separate bundles for different resolutions, so devices with low specs (low resolution, not much memory) do not try to load the large images.
When designing backgrounds, you might want to create a common huge background picture and scale it down. However, 2560x1920 would not suffice in this case because when you scale that to 1280 pixels, the other dimension would be only 960 pixels. Some tablets are 1280x1024, so you would have to create a separate background for them. This might be desirable if you want to have different assets adapted for each resolution, but if you have pictures or other graphics that don't lose quality when scaled in some drawing program (Gimp, Photoshop), you might want to simplify the process. In that case, we would need to use the source image of 2560x2048 pixels to be sure. But, the problem can also happen with the other dimension. Calculating the relations in the table above, we end up with 2733x2134 pixels.
Conclusion: if you want to draw a huge picture and just scale it down for each resolution without having to consider different aspect ratios later, make sure your source picture is at least 2733x2134 pixels.
With that out of the way, I'm starting to create the title screen. I commisioned some images on fiverr. For $5-$30 you can get some real quality if you take some time to investigate who are good designers.
As you can see, the game will use the portrait mode. I created the title using Diogenes font and Gimp.
Bigosaur, 2014-10-03The study, to be released on Wednesday, will ramp up pressure on Australia's consumer affairs ministers, who will meet in Melbourne on Friday, to end the confusion. Choice is demanding an enforceable national standard that would replace the patchwork of voluntary codes and laws – free range stock density rules span 750 to 10,000 hens per hectare – across the country. Federal Small Business Minister Bruce Billson, who will chair the fourm, said they will discuss five possible solutions: the status quo, an industry-developed trademark scheme, a revised model code, an industry code of conduct and a national information standard. "The range reflects the number of moving parts in this discussion. One is so consumers can be confident about what terms actually mean and therefore make an informed decision," he said.
"Also, egg producers want to know what they need to do to claim a premium standing or higher value product so they're not troubled by false or misleading claims allegations." Mr Billson said all five options had "enforcement capability attached to them". He plucked the status quo as an example, highlighting the string of federal court action taken against dodgy egg producers by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. At Friday's meeting, NSW Minister for Innovation and Better Regulation Victor Dominello will be advocating for the National Information Standard, which will ultimately include a legal definition for "free range". Despite ballooning free range egg sales and, in tandem, consumer confusion, he conceded it may take years for the public to witness decisive action. "I don't know if we'll get to a once and for all, definitive position on Friday because it will be a two or three stage process. If we can at least agree to a national standard, then we can start working on the definitions," he said.
"All sectors are crying out for this, the consumers and producers crying out for clarity." Choice acknowledges that the term "free range" should be based on factors beyond stock densities, such as size and location of openings and outdoor and indoor conditions. But as well as a mandatory national standard, it is demanding a logo be applied to every product clearly indicating stock density levels. John Coward, chief executive of Queensland United Egg Producers and spokesperson of Egg Farmers of Australia, said it was ignorant of Choice to place so much focus on stock density and rejected the logo proposal.
"It will be misleading as there are too many variables and other impacts that come into it. Stock density should not be the key focus," he said. "The focus should be on the management practices at each level of densities, factors such as the range area, the provision of shelter, the outdoor environment, access to range, and so on." The Australian Egg Corporation has previously proposed "free range" stock density levels at 20,000 hens per hectare. This was later rejected by the ACCC, which deemed it as misleading. Choice, which launched a fresh campaign for meaningful labelling, said the study also showed shoppers were paying on average 55 cents per 100 grams for caged eggs, 71 cents for barn laid eggs, and 99 cents for free range. Of the 55 free range egg products, only 24 provided stock density details on the packaging or online. For 11 of the products, Choice had to request the information.
The producers of 20 free range egg products refused to reveal stock density levels, including IGA Signature, Pirovic and Field Fresh. Only 2 per cent of free range egg buyers believe that farms running at 10,000 hens per hectare is acceptable, according to a recent Choice survey. But Pace Farm, Farm Pride and Manning Valley account for a third of the free range market and each operate at 10,000 hens per hectare. Given the grocery volume of free range eggs sold last year was 696 million, according to Retail World, Choice estimates at least 213 million eggs bought by Australians did not meet their expectations of free range.Authorities in Missouri say they will file charges in a car crash last weekend that left a 19-year-old woman critically injured, and the world wondering about the identity of the "angel" priest who prayed with her until rescuers could free her from the mangled wreck -- and then disappeared.
Officials are still scratching their heads over the cleric, who appeared out of nowhere. Perhaps more mysteriously, the local fire chief said he does not appear in any of 80 photos from the accident scene.
Ralls County Prosecuting Attorney Rodney Rodenbaugh said he anticipates charges will be filed against Aaron Smith, 26, who crashed his car at 9 a.m. Sunday morning into an oncoming car driven by 19-year-old Katie Lentz of Quincy, Mo., KHQA reports.
Lentz remains at Blessing Hospital, where she was treated for multiple fractures and serious internal injuries.
The crash went global after reports of the mysterious priest who stepped forward when Lentz asked someone to pray with her while firefighters struggled to free her from the wreckage.
“The fire chief, Raymond Reed, had stepped back and came up to me and said he was concerned because he was out of options. His tools weren’t working and by that time, it was almost an hour and said I don’t know how we’re going to get her out,” Ralls County Sheriff’s Deputy Richard Adair told KHQA.
Then the priest appeared – although the highway was blocked for two to three miles and emergency responders were not letting anyone past the roadblocks.
“He came and he asked to anoint the girl in the car,” Adair said. “My first thought was that it would possibly send the wrong message to Katie that maybe we had called a priest and thought she wasn’t going to make it. So I went back and talked to the priest and told him we were worried she would think we’d given up hope. He said, ‘I just want to anoint her’and so we just let him come up to the scene.”
Witnesses said he anointed Katie and her rescuers with oil, prayed with them and asked them to remain calm.
At that point the Hannibal fire department pulled up with fresh equipment and was able to free Katie. After getting her in the Air Evac helicopter, rescue workers said the priest was nowhere to be found.
Fire Chief Reed said the department took 80 photos of the scene and the priest did not appear in any of them.
The Diocese of Jefferson City says it has not located the priest involved. “Out of respect for the privacy of any priest who may have been involved and does not wish to come forward, the Diocese does not plan to further investigate this incident. The Diocese is grateful that a priest was able to exercise his ministry in this manner and requests prayers for healing of the victim, as well as prayers of thanks.” said Deacon Dan Joyce.
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Click For More From KHQAMass immigration has led to the growth of Muslim ‘ghettos’ in Britain which are run under Sharia Law, Nigel Farage declared last night.
In an interview with US news channel Fox News, Mr Farage said the authorities had turned a ‘blind eye’ to the growth of ghettos where ‘the police and all the normal agents of the law have withdrawn and that is where Sharia law has come in’.
Mr Farage's controversial remarks came after US terror ‘expert’ Steve Emerson sparked ridicule by claiming Birmingham was 'totally Muslim' and religious police squads were roaming the streets of London.
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Ukip leader Nigel Farage pictured during an interview with Fox News. He has now claimed Britain has ghettos controlled by Sharia law
Communities Secretary Eric Pickles accused Mr Farage of ‘pandering to peoples’ worst fears’ and branded his comments ‘irresponsible and wrong’.
The Ukip leader was interviewed yesterday by presenter Sean Hannity on the causes of the Paris massacre, following his comments last week in which he blamed a ‘fifth column’ and ‘gross multiculturalism’ for the attacks.
In yesterday’s interview, Mr Hannity asked why Britain and other countries had allowed ‘people to come to the country, not assimilate, separate, take their land ostensibly and then risk even being at war with them’.
Mr Farage said: ‘I agreed with your sentiments entirely’.
He added: ‘So wherever you look you see this blind eye being turned and you see the growth of ghettos where the police and all the normal agents of the law have withdrawn and that is where Sharia Law has come in.’
Mr Farage said the imposition of Sharia law meant there had been no prosecutions for the ‘tens of thousands’ of female genital mutilations carried out in Britain.
He said ‘moral cowardice’ was to blame for the police not trying to catch Muslim men involved in child abuse in parts of Northern England.
Mr Farage's remarks, to the US TV chanel Fox News, came after the network's terror 'expert' Steven Emerson earlier this week claimed Birmingham was a 'no-go' zone for non-Muslims
NIGEL FARAGE: FRENCH CITIES HAVE 'NO-GO ZONES' FOR NON-MUSLIMS Most big French cities have 'no-go zones' which non-Muslims cannot enter that are the result of European countries''moral cowardice' in preventing the development of large ghettos, Nigel Farage has claimed. The Ukip leader said such 'no-go zones' were increasing across Europe and he was 'hoping and praying' it did not occur in Britain, The Telegraph reported. He said Britain had been turning a blind eye to preachers who had arrived in the country from the Middle East and were saying things for which the rest of the population would be arrested. 'In parts of northern England we've seen the sexual grooming of under-age girls committed by Muslim men, in the majority, and for all of these things we are seeing the law not being applied equally, we're seeing the police forces not doing their job because we've suffered from moral cowardice. 'We have through mass immigration and through not checking the details of those people who have come to our countries, we have allowed big ghettos to develop and when it comes to confronting tough issues we're run a mile and that is why we're in the mess we're in, we've been led very badly.'
Mr Farage said: ‘We’ve been turning a blind eye to preachers of hate that have been coming here from the Middle East and saying things for which the rest of us would be arrested.
‘In parts of northern England we’ve seen the sexual grooming of under-age girls committed by Muslim men, in the majority, and for all of these things we are seeing the law not being applied equally, we’re seeing the police forces not doing their job because we’ve suffered from moral cowardice.
‘We have through mass immigration and through not checking the details of those people who have come to our countries, we have allowed big ghettos to develop and when it comes to confronting tough issues we’re run a mile and that is why we’re in the mess we’re in, we’ve been led very badly.’
He said: ‘We even, a few years ago, had some quite clear examples where the immigration services were actually allowing women to come into Britain from Pakistan and elsewhere to join polygamous marriages something that is against our law.
But Mr Pickles said the comments were ‘irresponsible and wrong’, and accused the Ukip leader of both ‘running down’ Britain and ‘pandering to peoples’ worst fears’.
He said: ‘It is disappointing that Nigel Farage is running our country down on American television, and his comments are both irresponsible and wrong.
‘This Government is standing up for British values and British liberties.
‘We’ve clamped down on the excessive use of foreign translation by councils, re-affirmed the importance of Christianity in public life, tackled divisive politics in Tower Hamlets, and are taking firm action to stop the criminal abuse of children. Mr Farage should show some leadership rather than pandering to peoples’ worst fears.’
Fox News sparked controversy earlier this week when it interviewed a terror expert who said Birmingham is run by hard-line Islamists.
Steven Emerson said ‘there are actual cities like Birmingham that are totally Muslim, where non-Muslims just simply don’t go in’.
Mr Emerson, whose website states he is an ‘internationally-recognised expert on terrorism’, later said sorry for his ‘terrible error’.
How Birmingham responded to US 'terror expert' who claimed Britain's second city was 'totally Muslim' and 'non-Muslims simply don't go in'
A US terror ‘expert’ sparked ridicule this week after claiming Birmingham was 'totally Muslim' and 'non-Muslims just simply don't go in'.
Steve Emerson made the bizarre comments on Fox News in the US - also claiming there were religious police squads roaming the streets of London who'seriously wound' people in non-Muslim dress.
David Cameron labelled him a 'complete idiot'. He added: ‘When I heard this, frankly I choked on my porridge.'
Mr Farage's remarks, to the US TV chanel Fox News, came after terror 'expert' Steven Emerson told the network's Jeanine Pirro that Birmingham was a 'no-go' zone for non-Muslims
It also sparked bafflement on Twitter under the hashtag #FoxNewsFacts, with users suggesting his theory was about as likely as Brummie TV presenter Adrian Chiles being a radical cleric.
Online wits used images of Mecca Bingo, the Queen wearing a headscarf and bearded football manager Roy Keane to satirise the bizarre statement made by Steve Emerson on American television.
Others made a series of groan-worthy puns - including jokes about 'Halal Kitty', 'Burqa King' and 'Mosque Bros'.
Mocking: This was one of many #foxnewsfacts tweets making fun of the claim that Birmingham is a Muslim-only city; it shows Aston Villa's former assistant manager Roy Keane
Pun: One tweet suggested that 'Halal Kitty' would become a popular toy in the wake of the controversy
Mecca: The name of the popular bingo chain was linked to Islam's holiest city by several online wits
Under wraps: Some people compared this image of the Queen wearing a headscarf to the Islamic burqa
The controversy originated when Mr Emerson, a self-styled expert on terrorism, was participating in a Fox News discussion in the wake of the attacks on Charlie Hebdo's office in Paris.
'In Britain, it's not just no-go zones,' he claimed. 'There are actual cities like Birmingham that are totally Muslim where non-Muslims just simply don't go in.'
The pundit later apologised for his blunder - just 22 per cent of the city's residents are Muslim, compared to 46 per cent describing themselves as Christian - but could not stop the bemused reaction.
Amidst the backlash, he announced that he would donate £500 to Birmingham Children's Hospital in a bid to atone for his 'terrible, inexcusable error'.
Among those criticising Mr Emerson were Prime Minister David Cameron, who said yesterday: 'When I heard this, frankly I choked on my porridge. This guy is clearly a complete idiot.'
Sporting: A cricket writer posted this picture of England batsman Moeen Ali as part of the trending hashtag
Lookalikes: One Twitter user pointed out that children's sweets Ice Gems look like models of domed mosques
Band: Duran Duran have been reborn as 'Quran Quran' in this jokey tweet
Veiled: The decoration of the Selfridges store in central Birmingham was compared
Battle: A Doctor Who image is compared to a horde of rampaging women in another mocking message
Others were even more scathing, using the hashtag #foxnewsfacts to mock the controversy.
Journalist Richard Adams tweeted a photograph of Roy Keane, former assistant manager of Aston Villa who now sparks a large beard, writing: 'Dangerous bearded fanatics have a history of running Birmingham's sporting institutions.'
In a similar vein, cricket writer James Marsh posted a picture of England star Moeen Ali with the caption: 'Terrifying photo of how a typical Muslim from Birmingham guards the city gates against infidels.'
Several users put up photographs of Mecca Bingo branches, joking that the name of the company is a reference to the holiest city in Islam.
Map: This mocked-up image shows Birmingham in the middle of Iraq
Sporting occasion: Journalist Robin Wigglesworth shared this photograph of the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca and claimed it was Aston Villa's game against Birmingham City
Tower: This image purports to show a minaret towering over Birmingham - but it's actually the BT Tower
Covering up: Even jam has to dress modestly in Birmingham, according to web jokers
Pop culture: Harry Potter was also roped in to the ongoing Twitter storm
Convert? Lawrence of Arabia wearing a headdress with superficial similarities to the burqa
Mix-up: The Brighton Pavilion, decorated in a Mughal Indian style, could be mistaken for a mosque by an unobservant witness
One tweeter, @enoch_macdhu, sent out a photograph of a Meccano box, adding: 'British toy manufacturer threatened with fatwa after writing Mecca-no on construction kit boxes.'
Mark Ferguson wrote: 'The Vicar of Dibley was reproduced for transmission in Birmingham as The Imam of Dudley.'
And BBC DJ Nihal joked: 'Ozzy Osborne was part of a Muslim sleeper cell known as Black Shaheed. Ozzy short for Osman.'
Professional comedians also got in on the trend - Al Murray tweeted: 'Ming the Merciless is named after the centre of Birmingham.'
Puns: Many couldn't resist riffing on the names of British institutions such as Moss Bros and Black Sabbath
Bafflement: In time-honoured fashion, the ironic hashtag was soon circulating on Twitter
Politican Tom Copley weighed in with a pun, writing: 'Birmingham has a chain of fast food restaurants called Burqa King.'
Another joker, Wes White, started a petition on Change.org with the title 'Let non-Muslims back in to the city of Birmingham'.
He wrote: 'Birmingham had loads of non-muslims in the last time I was there, so this is a real shock.
'We call upon the city of Birmingham and other non-specified British cities to once again allow non-Muslims to roam their streets.'
Mr Emerson announced yesterday that he would give a donation to Birmingham Children's Hospital, and the hospital confirmed today that it had received a £500 gift from the pundit.
A spokesman said: 'We would like to thank Mr Emerson for his donation. The money he has donated will go towards improving the lives of thousands of patients and their families who are treated at our hospital each year.
'We hope that the public reaction to his comments have shown what a fantastic city Birmingham is to live and work in.'
Most residents of the city have stood up for their home, praising its diversity and denying that there are significant problems between the different races living there.Trump's Continued Ties To 'Celebrity Apprentice' Raise More Conflict Questions
Enlarge this image toggle caption Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images
Even after he becomes president, Donald Trump will hold another title dear to his heart: executive producer.
The next head of the U.S. government is to retain a stake and a credit for the NBC reality series Celebrity Apprentice, Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks tells NPR. The story was first reported in the Hollywood trade publication Variety.
"Mr. Trump has a big stake in the show and conceived of it with Mark Burnett," Hicks told NPR. The show, for which Trump served as host and an executive producer, is now majority owned by MGM Studios and airs on NBC, though it has not been broadcast since early 2015.
Records filed with federal ethics officers show Trump's holdings are elaborately structured in a way that — intentionally or not — greatly obscures clarity on just how much he makes from the show or owns of it. He could receive a significant cut of its profits from MGM. Trump clearly cares about the show: He has publicly criticized the Emmy Awards for failing to bestow recognition for his work on the program.
The disclosure of Trump's involvement on the NBC show instantly raised questions on twin grounds — that it could serve as a distraction and could represent yet one more conflict of interest. As president, Trump will nominate the U.S. attorney general, who is the ultimate boss of the Justice Department's antitrust division. He will also nominate members of the Federal Communications Commission, which regulates television as well as cable and Internet providers. NBC corporate parent Comcast is heavily involved in all three.
Norm Eisen, who served as President Obama's chief ethics lawyer, told the Chicago Tribune that Trump will "be tempted, consciously or otherwise, to favor NBC or use the White House to promote this source of revenue."
Trump's former campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, told CNN that Trump would work on the show "in his spare time." She compared his role with the show to Obama's recreational pursuit of golf.
In remarks to The Washington Post, Los Angeles entertainment attorney Eric Spiegelman said President Obama's contract for past recordings of his audiobooks could be considered analogous to Trump's involvement with the show.
Reports in The New York Times and elsewhere have shown that Trump's vast deals abroad with foreign investors and governments represent a thicket of conflicts of interest for someone who will run the federal government.
Trump's relationship with NBC is long-standing, meaningful to his swift political rise, and mercurial. His ubiquity on the hit NBC prime-time reality franchises Apprentice and Celebrity Apprentice helped cement his almost universal name recognition for the country at large. (The next host of Celebrity Apprentice is to be another famous and unlikely politician: former California governor and action star Arnold Schwarzenegger.)
On the campaign trail, Trump often assailed reporters and anchors for NBC and its sister cable channel MSNBC, including Lester Holt, Joe Scarborough and Katy Tur. Trump also denounced the network for the leak of video from the NBC show Access Hollywood in which he could be heard boasting of grabbing a woman's genitals.
Critics note that entertainment companies often undergo tough scrutiny from federal regulators — many of those regulators and their bosses will be appointed by soon-to-be President Trump.
Trump once suggested regulators would take a new look at the terms under which parent company Comcast took over NBC.
Now Trump and NBC are back in business.by
Um game desenvolvido em Curitiba que tem o objetivo de levar noções de Direito Constitucional para crianças recebeu uma menção honrosa na Microsoft Image Cup, uma das principais competições internacionais de tecnologia. O jogo também dá noção de Direitos Humanos. O game coloca a criança no papel de um prefeito. Assim, no comando da cidade, o jovem terá que equilibrar um triângulo de elementos que influenciam no desempenho da cidade: saúde, educação e renda. A criança evolui no jogo encontrando desafios mais difíceis em bairros com maior desigualdade até que a cidade esteja equilibrada e com mais igualdade entre as regiões. Segundo a professora orientadora do projeto, Adriana Inomata, o objetivo é gerar cidadãos mais críticos no futuro.
O jogo é destinado para jovens entre 6 a 10 anos. A ideia é usá-lo como ferramenta de ensino. O jogo está em fase de desenvolvimento e deve ficar pronto até a metade desse ano. O objetivo é aplicar o jogo em escolas públicas e privadas.
O game foi desenvolvido por estudantes do curso de Jogos Digitais do Centro Tecnológico Positivo e por estudantes do curso de Direito e Sistemas de Informação da Universidade Positivo.Five years ago today, Empire of Soccer was born.
The year was 2011. It was a time where the New York Red Bulls ruled the pro soccer roost. A time when New York City FC was nothing but a day dream in Don Garber’s mind. A year where the New York Cosmos were a distant memory revived through apparel.
What a difference five years make.
Back then, the idea behind EoS was simple: to be at the vanguard of New York City’s growing pro soccer community, filling the gap in mainstream soccer coverage by offering breaking news, player profiles, and insightful opinions to the soccer loving fans of our region.
Looking back, I think we have done alright.
The growth of the site has been extraordinary. Comparing our inaugural year of 2011 to 2014, site views and unique visitors have grown a whopping 94%. With that meteoric rise, EoS — an independent operation — has grown to become the media destination for all New York soccer news.
Much of that growth is directly attributed to the passion and dedication of our staff — a top-notch group of objective, soccer-loving writers who bring you the latest on your favorite teams on a daily basis.
But that growth is also due to the readers who passionately bring EoS to life.
As we embark on Year Five (!), we look back with fondness on what we have achieved — and look forward to bigger things to come. Our EoS Radio podcast is nearing its debut. Studio space is being formatted for video content. Shop EoS continues to grow and, in turn, help fund our operations (we are getting ready to reveal new designs for 2016, so keep an eye out for that). The EoS brand may also begin to branch out nationwide (Hi, Florida!). Meanwhile, conversations continue to move forward with potential sponsors as well.
We are proud of where we are and where we are going — and all of this is impossible without you.
To the entire EoS Family – THANK YOU for your unwavering support.
We look forward to another year of footy madness — and are elated to have you along for the ride.
Onward and Upward,
Dave MartinezThe purpose of this review is to examine human and preclinical data that are relevant to the following hypotheses. The first hypothesis is that deficient CB1R-mediated signaling results in symptoms that mimic those seen in depression. The second hypothesis is that activation of CB1R-mediated signaling results in behavioral, endocrine and other effects that are similar to those produced by currently used antidepressants. The third hypothesis is that conventional antidepressant therapies act through enhanced CB1R mediated signaling. Together the available data indicate that activators of CB1R signaling, particularly inhibitors of fatty acid amide hydrolase, should be considered for clinical trials for the treatment of depression.
CB1R are expressed at very high density in the brain and are found on presynaptic terminals in many brain regions [ 44 ]. It is well accepted that eCB-CB1R signalling underlies many forms of retrograde, activity dependent suppression of neurotransmitter release [ 45 ]. The eCBs, particularly 2-AG, are synthesized in post-synaptic neurons in response to increased excitatory activity. The process by which the eCBs are released from synthetic cells is not understood, but they activate CB1R on the presynaptic terminals to inhibit neurotransmitter release on short (via inhibition of calcium channel opening) and long (via kinase cascades) time scales. CB1R are present on glutamatergic [ 46 ], GABAergic [ 47 ], serotonergic [ 48 ] and noradrenergic [ 49 ] axon terminals in the brain |
have a clear statement, so that we will be able to help them more than this.
QUESTION: Michael Gordon (ph), New York Times.
Sir, as I understand it, Kurdish law limits the presidents to two terms in office. Your second term in office was extended by two years in 2013, until August of this year. Do you plan to seek another extension of your term in office as president, or, if there was significant internal opposition to that, would you step aside? Thank you.
BARZANI (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): The two-year term or the two-year extension that was extended, it was not upon my request, and it was imposed on me.
And now, I have not asked for extension, and I will not ask for it. And now I have written a letter, two years ago I have written a letter to the parliament for them to carry out an election to prepare the ground for this and for me to hand over the responsibility to the person who will be elected.
And even now, before my trip, I have talked to the parliament and the political parties that they have to sort this issue out.
Certainly I would not be the reason that as a result of the presidency chair, I would create an internal problem for Kurdistan. I will never do that.
QUESTION: Judith Kipper (ph).
It's always good to see you, Mr. President, in Washington, and I think many of us here really admire how the Kurds have thrived in the last 25 years through so many conflicts.
You've talked a little bit about Iran, a little bit about Syria, but I wonder if you could give us your impression of whether Turkey is being cooperative in the struggles in the region, not only against ISIS, but generally—a member of NATO, a very powerful country and very important, obviously, to your region.
BARZANI (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): When we realized that there was a big change in Turkey in their policies towards the Kurdish question, we thought that this would be a good opportunity for us also to improve our relations with Turkey and to encourage them and to cooperate with them in that. So we will continue on this in order to encourage a peaceful solution for the Kurdish question in Turkey.
We enjoy good relations with Turkey now.
In the fight against ISIS, Turkey at the beginning had some reservation. What we see right now—that reservation has been decreased.
SEIB: And just, if I can...
BARZANI (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): (OFF-MIKE) (inaudible).
SEIB: I was going to add, what lessons did you learn from the way—or what lessons perhaps Turkey learned from the way they handled the fight over Kobani, which I think was reflected (ph)...
BARZANI (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Of course, this was the second time for a Peshmerga force to go from Iraqi Kurdistan to another part in order to support and to protect. The first time was is in the year 1945, '46 during the times of the Republic of Kurdistan in Mahabad when a force went from Iraq Kurdistan to help. And this time, they went from Kurdistan to Kobani.
Of course, without American cooperation and Turkish cooperation, this would not have been possible.
So, a lesson that have learned—if there is cooperation among us, then we would be able to achieve good results.
And a—a strange coincidence—so that the first Peshmerga who martyred—was martyred in Kobani, and the first Peshmerga who was martyred in Iran in 1946—they were cousins.
SEIB: Hmm. Wow.
Way in the back there, and then they're next, just behind you.
QUESTION: (inaudible). My name is (inaudible) from Rudaw News Agency. My Iraqi passport has been expired since March of this year. Do you think I should wait from the two years until I get a Kurdish passport?
And also...
(LAUGHTER)
... has any country given concrete promise to support Kurdistan independence? When you met, for example, the European leaders?
Thank you.
BARZANI (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Until we get an independent Kurdistan, you can renew your passport, extend your passport. The Iraqi ambassador is here and he's a Kurd. You can use that passport.
(LAUGHTER)
So in the past, there were many world leaders who were not ready to talk about Kurdish independence or the rights of the Kurdish people and the future of the Kurds. Right now, that barrier is no longer there.
So we are pleased and delighted to see the change that has taken place. In the past, we would have known the answer even before the meeting. We would have known what we would be told. But we still—we would go—we would talk about our issues. And we would be told that this is an internal issue. We would not interfere. But, thank God, nowadays, we are not hearing such kind of statements.
SEIB: There, and then back there next.
QUESTION: Thank you. Mohammed Hashki (ph) from the Research (ph) Group. Mr. President, I had a question—forelorn (ph) question on Kurdish independence. Assuming that there's progression towards that objective, do you see that as an end in itself as far as the Kurdistan Region of Iraq is concerned? Or do you see that as being a nucleus for perhaps, you know, a broader sort of Kurdish coming together, given that the Kurdish nation is spread across multiple countries in the region?
Thank you.
BARZANI (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Throughout history, there have been a lot of injustices committed against our people. The right that was given to other nations—it was—our people were deprived of that right, especially after World War I, when during—during the self (ph)—the right to self-determination was supposed to be given to the Kurdish people.
Each part has got it's own characteristics. As a nation, yes, we are one nation, but we have to observe the new realities on the ground today.
But most importantly is that—the most important point is that neither we as the Kurdish nation nor other nations that (inaudible) we should not be thinking about bloodshed and wars in order to solve our problems; Solving these problems have to be through democratic and peaceful means.
And for us, when we talk about Kurdish independence, we talk about Iraqi Kurdistan, or the southern part of Kurdistan. For the other parts of Kurdistan, it's up to the people, the Kurdish people in these areas to decide their own future.
SEIB: Right there, and then there.
QUESTION: Hi. I'm Nancy Berg (ph), George Washington University.
I have another question about lessons learned. In the places that you've liberated, I wonder what the learning has been about the way ISIL tries to govern, what's—what's been happening with the people there, other lessons about ISIL operates.
And then you mentioned the day after for Mosul. And I wonder what—what the process is in the other areas that have been liberated for meeting the needs of the people.
Thank you.
BARZANI (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): As far as ISIS and their fighters are concerned, there are three main categories.
First, the immigrants, or the caliphate army. They are the foreign fighters who come from different parts of the world.
The second group are those who were in (inaudible) and now they have adopted the ideology of ISIS and some of the former Ba'athists.
They also had some other people with them at the beginning who were coordinating, but now they have adopted their policies and their style. They agree on whatever ISIS is doing, and they agree with the approach, with the conduct and behavior, and they have chosen to be with ISIS and the lifestyle that has been chosen by ISIS.
Of course, they are the minority. The majority of the people there—at the beginning, the majority of the people there, they were thinking that ISIS is their liberator. They came to rescue them from the situation.
But that has changed afterwards when they realized the reality. Now the majority of the people are tired of ISIS, and they want to change it.
Just imagine when one would live in such an area, that everything would be imposed on you, imposed on you what to wear, what to do, what to eat, when to sleep and when to wake up, and that would be very difficult to endure and to afford.
As for the areas that have been liberated, we—those who have come to Kurdistan region, we have held them, and those who have stayed in these areas—after those who were with ISIS, they have left the areas, those who have remained, they have been provided with respect and with services, and they are much—much more comfortable than the times they were under ISIS.
And according to what they have told me personally when I visited these areas, they said that "We do not want to belong to any other area; we want to belong to Kurdistan region."
But of course, we—we will provide every service and everything that we can, provided that these people are not with ISIS.
SEIB: We have time for one last question, Robin.
QUESTION: Thank you. Robin Wright, the New Yorker.
What role is Iran playing specifically today in terms of providing arms and developing strategy?
One of your colleagues described Kassim Soleimani as the commander-in-chief of Iraq. Would you disagree?
BARZANI (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Of course, Iran provided assistance to us at the very early of the fight against ISIS.
We were short of some kind of ammunition that was a type that we did not have any. They provided that kind of ammunition, and that was a great help to us.
I talk on behalf of the Kurds and on behalf of the Peshmergas. They would not accept a foreigner to lead them.
SEIB: I believe I have to give you the last word.
QUESTION: Your excellency, (inaudible).
First of all, we're honored to have you here in D.C.
Second, I'm sure I'll give the password to the...
(LAUGHTER)
Third, I have a reflection question (inaudible) Iraqi to an Iraqi or Kurd to a Kurd.
My father, when I started my political activism back in the early '80s, when I asked him about describing the Iraqi opposition and others, he used to say they need to have more deep-rooted community connection for the politics flourish.
Now, after 30 years, how does the excellency (ph) see we need for our politics and our interests (ph) to converge rather than diverge, as what we have now in Iraq? Thank you.
BARZANI (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): And I want to assure that I knew your late father before you were born.
(LAUGHTER)
He was a very patriotic, very respectful and very human person. That same statement is true for today.
SEIB: Our time is up. I want to express two sincere thank-yous here. First, to you, Mr. Minister, for making this conversation possible. You did a flawless job. And we really, really appreciate. Thank you very much. We're honored to have you here.
(APPLAUSE)
Safe travels. And I hope, next time you're in Washington, you'll join us.
ENDA HAMPSHIRE teenager who told “outright lies” and falsely claimed she had been raped has been locked up.
Charlotte Lane told police that she had been raped by a stranger at an unknown address in July last year.
In a police interview the 18-year-old said she had felt “tipsy” after sharing three bottles of wine with friends in Southampton city centre.
She claimed that she decided to go on alone to another bar in the city centre to see a friend when she was accosted by a man in a taxi.
The teenager said she was then pulled from the car and taken to the side of a house where she claimed she was raped on a patio table.
After inquiries were made with the taxi driver police arrested a 19-year-old man who said he had consensual sex with Lane.
Carl Anderson, prosecuting at Southampton Crown Court, said that as the police investigation progressed “significant doubt” emerged about Lane’s version of events.
He said numerous witness statements, CCTV footage and mobile phone records all confirmed the account given by the initial suspect.
Lane, of Chadwick Road, Eastleigh, pleaded guilty to one charge of perverting the course of justice.
Alistair Wright, mitigating, said that Lane had a “disturbed history” growing up, including the death of her father in a road traffic accident.
He said that she made up the allegation as an “expression of regret” for having had sex with the man, failing to see that regret was not the same as a lack of consent.
He added: “She (Lane) appears to recognise part of the impact on the community but not the levels of seriousness.”
Judge Derwin Hope sent Lane, who has a previous conviction for battery, to a young offenders’ institution for 20 weeks.
“An enormous amount of police time was taken up with the police investigation while you persisted with the lies,”
he said.
“I am in no doubt that this matter is so serious only a custodial sentence will do.”Editor’s note: ESPN.com revisits the NFL’s most interesting teams since Y2K with a five-part “Most Compelling Teams of the Century” series. We continue with the 2010 Minnesota Vikings.
Brett Favre retired and then he really retired and then three Minnesota Vikings teammates lassoed him on his Mississippi farm and he agreed to do them a "favor" and then suddenly he was old and slow and a sitting duck and the subject of off-field accusations and finally, no longer the Iron Man of football. Sidney Rice had a minor hip injury and major hip surgery and then fumed amid questions about his condition so the Vikings tried to trade for Vincent Jackson and then got the cockeyed idea of acquiring Randy Moss who caught 13 passes in four games and clashed with coach Brad Childress and finally got himself cut a few hours before Childress told reporters Moss was still a Viking. Percy Harvin was Moss' best friend on the team and never forgave Childress and later in the season had to be held back from fighting him during practice. Childress was fired and Leslie Frazier was the coach when the Metrodome roof collapsed under heavy snow and the Vikings played home games in Detroit and on a frozen field at TCF Bank Stadium on which Favre made a final surprise start before taking a concussed sendoff.
And … breathe.
That's what the Vikings' season felt like for those who spent time around it: One soap-opera installment after another in run-on, never-ending fashion. It was so wild that no one blinked when another snowstorm forced a three-night stay in Philadelphia for a Week 16 game ultimately played on a Tuesday night. Naturally, the Vikings managed a 24-14 upset of the playoff-bound Eagles, led by a quarterback, Joe Webb, who had been drafted eight months earlier as a receiver.
I remember waking up early on Dec. 12, 2010. I figured it would take a while to clear the exceptionally heavy and wet snow that began falling the previous evening, and I wanted to be done in time to start blogging by midmorning. Before heading outside, I took a quick look at Twitter. Several local news stations had posted photos of the stadium roof collapse, which had occurred overnight.
It was about 6:30 a.m. CT. I texted ESPN colleague Ed Werder, who as it turned out was in Minneapolis to chronicle what would ultimately be the first game Favre had missed in two decades.
"That's a joke, right?" Werder replied.
Nope, I said. Welcome to the 2010 Minnesota Vikings.
Surreal. Theater of the Absurd. Unprecedented. I had used those descriptions and others throughout the year, often as they related to Favre. It began in late July of that year, when he told Childress he wouldn't play in 2010. No one believed him. About midway through training camp, reports surfaced that he would remain retired rather than rejoin the team after camp, as he had in 2009. No one believed him.
In fact, no one believed Favre until the team broke camp, and he still hadn't joined the team. Childress panicked. He sent three key players in owner Zygi Wilf's jet to talk Favre into playing, all while ducking the media and instructing two assistants to lie about the players' whereabouts. It wasn't until 30 minutes before Wilf's plane was scheduled to depart that Favre finally relented, agreeing, in his word, to do the Vikings a "favor."
Right away, it was clear that the magic of 2009 -- Favre had arguably the best season of his career in leading the Vikings to the NFC Championship Game -- was gone. Favre was using lubricant injections to limit discomfort in his troublesome ankles, and he threw almost as many interceptions (six) in the Vikings' first three games as he did in all 16 games of 2009 combined (seven).
Something needed to be done. Rice had been his favorite receiver in 2009, and the Vikings didn't seem to trust his commitment to returning. Jackson and the San Diego Chargers were in a contract stalemate, and the Vikings worked for a week to complete a trade before declining the Chargers' steep asking price.
That brought them to Moss, who the franchise had already fired once. Moss had worn out welcomes in Oakland and New England since then, and the match seemed poor from the start. Childress was a strict disciplinarian, both on personal comportment and scheme, and Moss had never been much of a conformist. It was a connection made by the gods of the unemployment line. I was flabbergasted to learn the two didn't speak before the trade. One conversation would have been enough to scuttle it.
Moss cost the Vikings a third-round draft choice. He made no impact on the offense, floored Childress with typically salty demeanor and in his final act, conducted a question and answer session with himself because he was upset about media complaints that had led to a $25,000 NFL fine.
Childress cut him the day after his fourth game with the team, a 28-18 loss to the Patriots in which Favre had been carted off the field, nearly unconscious, after a hit below the chin.
There was one problem, however. Childress had passed over the tiny detail of informing owner Zygi Wilf before executing the move. He got caught lying to reporters about it a few hours later, telling them he expected Moss back with the team in two days even as media reports confirming Moss' demise were surfacing.
Childress was cracking. Favre was playing -- heroically or stupidly? -- on a fractured foot and, at one point, paraded through the locker room with a protective boot in full view of reporters. Deadspin.com reported that he had texted inappropriate photographs to a woman who worked for the New York Jets in 2008, bringing Favre to tears during a pregame address to his teammates.
A month after firing Moss, Childress himself was fired after the Vikings' sideline erupted in dysfunction during a 31-3 home loss to the Green Bay Packers. That came shortly after Harvin exploded in practice when Childress questioned the severity of an injury. How quickly had Childress flamed out? His dismissal came one year after he signed a three-year contract extension.
By the time the Metrodome roof decided it had had enough, Favre was taking more direct hits than at any time in his career. It was sad, really, watching a once-elusive athlete absorb so much punishment. In Week 13, he suffered a sprained sternoclavicular joint after Buffalo Bills linebacker Arthur Moats slammed him to the turf.
Backup Tarvaris Jackson was preparing to start the following week against the Giants when the roof collapsed. Two days later, we all jumped on planes to cover the "home game" in Detroit at Ford Field. Favre stood on the sidelines wearing a stocking cap indoors and seemed relieved that his streak of 297 consecutive starts had ended. With three weeks remaining in the season, and Favre telling everyone who would listen that he couldn't feel his right hand, it seemed clear he would never play again.
That is, until the morning of Dec. 20. Snow was in the forecast, and the Vikings' final "home" game was scheduled for "Monday Night Football" against the Chicago Bears at the outdoor TCF Bank Stadium. Favre telephoned athletic trainer Eric Sugarman and, later, Frazier. Would the NFL allow him to play after the team had already ruled him out on the injury report?
Why yes, it would. Was there really any other answer for the 2010 Minnesota Vikings? Favre took a few warm-up throws in the snow and decided he wanted one last hurrah. This was an NFL game, not a reality television show, but it felt more like the latter. He played into the second quarter before Bears defensive end Corey Wootton slammed him to the frozen turf.
(As you might recall, Vikings punter Chris Kluwe got his start as a rabble-rouser that week by tweeting his concerns about the frozen turf, which had no heating coils under it and clearly posed a danger to players.)
Favre recently said he felt like an "idiot" for playing in the game, as he recounted the resulting concussion. At one point, he said he asked Sugarman, "What are the Bears doing here?"
And that, my friends, is the most appropriate image I can recall of the 2010 Minnesota Vikings. One of the NFL's greatest players lying on the frozen turf of a college stadium, playing not because he could, but because he wanted to, asking why there was an opponent on the field. I mean, the only thing stranger would have been a local catering service gaining national attention after a player criticized its food. Oh, wait….Details Created: Friday, 19 April 2013 20:31 Written by Other Sources
CALL TO ACTION!
We have information that Venezuelan opposition members in the UK are holding a protest against the Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in London tomorrow. A similar protest was held last Tuesday where embassy staff were insulted and threatened. We are making a call out for a counter protest, to uphold the sovereignity of Venezuela, and defend the democracy of the Bolivarian Republic who today inaugurated Nicolas Maduro as President.
Come and show your support, publicise and share this event.
Meet 12 noon at South Kensington tube station to go to the embassy
(1 Cromwell Road, South Kensington, London SW7 2HW)
We must support the fight for socialism in Venezuela! In these times of class war, as austerity and the economic crisis deepens a victory in Venezuela is a victory for us here in Britain! Viva Venezuela! Maduro Presidente!
Maduro sworn in as President
At Just after 2:00 pm on Friday 19 April, Nicolas Maduro was sworn in as Constitutional President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, in a ceremony held in the Federal Legislative Palace, in Caracas. Maduro confirmed his inaugaration with the following statement:
'I swear, today April 19, by the eternal legacy of the liberators, I swear to God, I swear by the people of Venezuela, I swear in eternal memory of the supreme commander that I will abide by and enforce this Constitution to build a country, happy, independent and socialist for all'.......'The fight that you began, for liberty, to construct our homeland, today continues and is intact'
The British Government finally recognises Maduro’s victory.
Today the Foreign Office issued an official statement recognising the triumph of President Nicolás Maduro in the elections held last Sunday 14 April.
The statement reads as follows:
“On the occasion of the inauguration of Nicolas Maduro as President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, the UK Government looks forward to working with the Government and people of Venezuela to strengthen our relationship and deepen cooperation in areas of mutual interest.”
The UK Government has thus joined the majority of countries in the world in recognising the democratic will of the Venezuelan people, as demonstrated at the polls last Sunday 14 April.
Press Unit of the Embassy of Venezuela in London
Friday 19 April 2013The season for Miami Dolphins starting tight end Jordan Cameron ended prematurely in Week 1 because of a concussion, and it's unknown if Cameron will play again in 2017.
Jordan's replacement, Dion Sims, completed his rookie contract and will be an unrestricted free agent in March. Fellow backup tight end Dominique Jones also is a restricted free agent.
It is safe to say Miami has a major hole on its roster at tight end as it enters the offseason. Backup MarQueis Gray and 2016 seventh-round pick Thomas Duarte currently are the only tight ends under contract for 2017.
MarQueis Gray is the only Dolphins tight end currently signed for 2017 who has any career receptions (26). Steve Mitchell/USA TODAY Sports
It will be interesting to see how the Dolphins go about filling this position. Historically, tight ends have been a key part of head coach Adam Gase's offense. But this wasn't an area of strength for Miami last season, and Gase correctly adjusted.
The best route is to look in the draft. Alabama's O.J. Howard is the top-rated tight end in the draft and could be on the board when Miami selects at No. 22 overall. Howard has the size, athleticism and playmaking ability at the position that Gase covets and showed that off with a 68-yard touchdown reception in the national championship game against Clemson. He would fit in well with Miami's other offensive weapons such as running back Jay Ajayi and receivers Jarvis Landry and DeVante Parker.
Free agency also presents some interesting options. Martellus Bennett of the New England Patriots played for Gase in Chicago and knows the system. Bennett would be a good fit if the Patriots let him walk in March. Jared Cook of the Green Bay Packers and Jermaine Gresham of the Arizona Cardinals are less-intriguing options.
Either way, expect major changes at tight end as Miami attempts to get more production from the position in 2017.A critical PHPMailer bug tied to the way websites handle email and feedback forms is leaving millions of websites hosted on popular web-publishing platforms such as WordPress, Drupal and Joomla open to attack.
UPDATE
A critical PHPMailer bug tied to the way websites handle email and feedback forms is leaving millions of websites hosted on popular web-publishing platforms such as WordPress, Drupal and Joomla open to attack.
The flaw was disclosed by researcher Dawid Golunski of Legal Hackers, who said the vulnerability could be used by an unauthenticated remote attackers to achieve remote arbitrary code execution in the context of a web server and could be used to remotely compromise targeted web applications.
The vulnerability (CVE-2016-10033) is related to the way websites handle web-based email submission forms using the PHPMailer component. PHP is an (Hypertext Preprocessor) open-source scripting language embedded into website HTML. PHPMailer is a popular component used by an estimated 9 million sites for handing tasks such as email submission and registration forms. According to Golunski all version of PHPMailer released before version 5.2.18 are affected.
“To exploit the vulnerability an attacker could target common website components such as contact/feedback forms, registration forms, password email resets and others that send out emails with the help of a vulnerable version of the PHPMailer class,” writes Golunski in a technical breakdown of the flaw.
Golunski privately disclosed the bug last week to the authors of PHPMailer. On Saturday a software update (PHPMailer 5.2.18) was made available to fix the vulnerability. However, days later Golunski said a bypass of the patch was was found and has been given a new CVE assignment (CVE-2016-10045).
“There is no public patch at the moment. All PHPMailer versions are vulnerable again. Back to square one,” Golunski wrote Wednesday in a brief statement to Threatpost. He said a software fix is expected Wednesday.
A limited technical alert on the flaw was first published Sunday. A proof of concept of the vulnerability has since been published by Golunski.
WordPress and Drupal have both issued warnings regarding PHPMailer. Drupal described it as a “highly critical” vulnerability and issued the warning: “In general the Drupal project does not create advisories for 3rd party libraries… However, given the extreme criticality of this issue and the timing of its release we are issuing a Public Service Announcement to alert potentially affected Drupal site maintainers.”
Additional web-publishing platforms 1CRM, SugarCRM and Yii are also impacted.
Golunski says he has developed a working Remote Code Execution proof of concept exploit regarding this vulnerability. The flaw, he said, has to do with the way the PHPMailer script allows unverified sender email addresses to be used. This allows an attacker to inject arbitrary options into the Sendmail command line within the context of PHPMailer.
Golunski says the Sendemail validation is done using the RFC 3696 specification that in some circumstances allows hackers to add quotes and characters within an email address. When unverified, those quotes and characters can be interpreted as command line arguments that create the remote code execution vulnerability in PHPMailer.
Golunski says a more complete description of the attack vectors and exploits will be disclosed at a later date, allowing more time for patching by impacted websites and platforms.
This story was updated 12/28 at 9:30 a.m. ET to reflect the fact a bypass for the patch that fixed the PHPMailer bug has been found and that impacted parties will need to apply the upcoming software update once it becomes available.I went yesterday with a couple of Eberly’s Army buddies to catch the San Antonio Scorpions 2013 home opener, the inaugural game in the brand new Toyota Field stadium. We joined the Crocketteers supporters at both the pregame tailgate and in the stands. Aside from the home team winding up on the wrong end of the 2-0 scoreline, it was a great evening.
Following are some assorted thoughts and observations. I also took some pictures; see them in this Flickr set (this stadium map will help orient specific locations).
The number of people at the tailgate was phenomenal. The support they have already for this team is amazing.
The new stadium is bigger and nicer than I expected. I really like it. It has an interesting design and a very comfortable feel.
They sell beer at the stadium! This has come to feel like the holy grail of soccer games, at least to us in Austin, where games are played at a high school stadium where beer sales are prohibited. But here’s the thing: it was all crappy mass-market stuff, Coors Light et al. I guess I’ve become a real beer snob, because although I drank it last night, it honestly made me wonder if that watery dreck is worth all the fuss.
The supporters section was good, full and in full voice. They’re led by not one, but two, capos, who worked tirelessly all night to keep the fans loud.
One chant the supporters had was the “I believe… I believe that…” call and response. The chant ended sometimes with the “we will score” or the “we will win” that I’ve heard, but sometimes in just, “Scorpions!”. Over-thinking this last had the three of us cracking up every time the “I believe in Scorpions” chant came along. Yes, we sure do believe in them, why wouldn’t we, the existence of these arthropods has been conclusively proven, it doesn’t take all that much faith. 😛
My favorite chant was struck up during the introduction of the opposing players before the game: “You … may all … go to hell … I … will go … to TEXAS” (an homage, of course, to the famous Davy Crockett quote).
For all the impressiveness of the supporters’ presence, it cracked me up to overhear more than one person call them “booster clubs”.
What a great bargain these games are. Tickets start at $10, and parking is free. Even if you have a Miller Lite or four, that’s still not too expensive.
When you go, don’t hit up the traditional concessions until after you head down to check out the row of food trucks behind the north stands.
We couldn’t cheer for him out loud, but it was good to see former Aztex fan favorite Jay Needham putting in his usual solid work in defense for the Rowdies.
Conclusion: two enthusiastic thumbs up for the Scorpions gameday experience. Aztex games at House Park are great, but I look forward to the day when we have this kind of environment here in Austin, too.What do you do with hundreds of monkeys and apes rescued from the illegal wildlife trade? Build them a better home and conscript them as a force of monkey police.
Until now authorities have housed the animals at the Kabok Koo “Beast Feeding Center” east of Bangkok in Chachoengsao province, which will be turned into a “primate kingdom” and monkey police academy.
Technically considered evidence in various legal cases, the 400 monkeys and 100 gibbons and langurs will live in improved environments divided into spaces for different species.
Some of those animals will be deputized by local authorities to scare off the smaller long-tailed macaques, hundreds of which are very naughty monkeys who cause problems for residents in the area.
“We start training pig-tailed macaques of six months to one year old in what we call the monkey college at the centre,” said Teerapat Prayoonsit, director-general of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation. “They are learning to take orders from trainers, and the next phase they will receive crowd-control training which should take at least one year.”
These trained monkeys will be unleashed into local communities which have long suffered at the paws of the macaques to meet out simian street justice.
The bigger, trained monkeys should be able to handle their mischievous cousins in Lop Buri but may need to pair up with a monkey partner to handle any monkey business, Teerapat added.
For more information, visit the Bangkok Post.It’s been a week now since I first got my Canon M5 and I can honestly say I’m in love. From its first announcement I was intrigued by it, although I had the M3 and it seemed too soon to upgrade. I had convinced myself I could at least wait a few months until I sold the M3 to fund the M5, then I seen a sale that was too good to resist and all my self control went out the window.
For this short review, I will just be covering how it works for my uses and I won’t be looking at areas such as dynamic range. All the images shown in this post were shot in RAW and processed in Lightroom and Photoshop.
Size and Build
The size of the M3 was definitely a huge advantage. I got it as a point and shoot for my girlfriend to use while we travelled, although I ended up using it a lot myself as the image quality and performance was a lot better than I excpected. From product images online, I initially thought the M5 was a lot bigger than it actually is. It is not much larger than the M3 aside from the EVF bump at the top and the slightly larger hand grip.
In my hands, I can barely feel any weight difference compared to the M3 which is obviously a good thing. A common issue I read of and experienced with the M3 was camera shake affecting images due to the body being too light. I haven’t noticed any issues with the M5 but this could be due to the improved autofocus which i will go into more detail later on. When using EF lenses via the adapter, it does add to the size but that is also dependent on the lens. For smaller lenses such as the Canon EF 50mm f1.8 or 35mm f2 IS, it doesn’t add too much bulk to the already small stature of the M5.
Autofocus
Although it was certainly not bad, the M3 did leave something to be desired when it came to autofocus. My other body is a 6D which does have an impressive center AF point, although the other focus points are few and leave quite a bit to be desired.
Athough I had previously never used a body with Dual Pixel AF (DPAF), I had seen what it could do and was eager to experience it first hand. The fact that the M5 had DPAF was a huge selling point for myself and possibly the main reason I wanted to upgrade to the M5. After one week I prefer the M5 over my 6D in some ways, the main one being due to the DPAF. I’m not the steadiest when it comes to shooting handheld and the fact I always shoot wide open doesn’t help either. The M5’s tracking plus continous focus has really helped in situations where I’m shooting wide open and my subject finds it hard to stay steady.
One thing I have noticed that is definitely worth mentioning is the issue of using continuous focus with EF lenses via the Canon mount adaptor. Although the AF is still accurate, it is a bit loud compared the native mount EF-M lenses with their STM focusing.
Image Quality
This is an area that the 80D is definitely not lacking and considering it shares the same sensor, it has already proved itself in this area. I have all my cameras set to capture JPEG + RAW although I rarely ever use the JPEG’s (the exception would be family events or happy snaps when I travel). The M3 managed to impress me with the quality of its JPEG files and the M5 is no different. The rear LCD combined with the “Fine Detail” picture style makes for some great images that not only look impressive if you wanted to use them, but also help when reviewing images.
High ISO performance is quite impressive. I remember back on my 550D, I would be nervous to even shoot at ISO 800 as anything over that could get quite noisy. The image below was taken in a fairly dark restaurant and the amount of noise was minimal. I don’t usually touch the noise reduction in post but decided to give it a try which made the final result look pleasantly clean. If I was to shoot in a bright or moderately lit situation, I wouldn’t hesitate to bring the M5 along with me. If this situation was more challenging, the 6D would still be my weapon of choice due to its better high ISO performance. This is of course expected of a full frame sensor and nothing to hold against the M5. Electronic Viewfinder (EVF)
My first impression of the M5’s EVF was not that positive. Although I personally didn’t notice any lag, the display seemed somewhat over saturated which doesn’t suit my personal taste (especially after always using an OVF). After a week of using the EVF as much as I could over the rear LCD, it no longer bothers me and I’m comfortable with it. Although it is not a unique feature for the |
Elon could really point to that as a possibility. On the other hand, there are other possibilities, other ideas as to what that scene really is about. What do you think it’s about?
I think it does suggest that there is some form of magic on the mountain, which could really carry over, have big implications for other characters. Maybe death isn’t permanent for those who live on the mountain. Maybe Big Foster isn’t dead. Maybe Lady Ray isn’t really dead.
Yeah, I think that basically there is a magic to Shay Mountain. Whether it’s a good magic or bad magic, I don’t know. I guess it’s a combination of all of the above. Most of everything that we’ve seen, it could be interpreted as a bit of magic, but also just be explained by rational things. Here’s something that’s a little bit different and maybe throws the rest of the show into a little bit of a relief, and opens the door to all kinds of stuff that might happen in Season 2.
It could also be that this is an afterlife for Elon? Maybe he’s found some peace now that his father is dead, and the rest of his family will find peace?
That’s right. You could interpret it that way as well. I guess I would say to viewers that it’s like, “tune in for Season 2, and we will resolve these questions about him.”
What should viewers be considering about Big Foster then? He appears to be dead, but the only person who confirms he’s dead is one of the men who was working with him. Maybe he only appeared to be dead as a side effect of the poison G’Win was feeding him.
That’s true. He looks pretty dead to me. But you’re right, there could be a question about that, too.
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We see G’Win become the new Bren’in. She’s been such an incredible character all season, and definitely acted as a potential leader for the family. What can you say about that going forward? What’s that going to mean for her and the family?
All along, we wanted to end the season with her in that position of power for all the reasons that you just brought up. I think in Season 2, there’s a lot of things that have to be… a lot of questions that have to be answered about her and her ability to lead. She hasn’t been in that position before. In the finale, this leadership is thrown on her, and I think there’s a big question as to whether or not that was something that she really hoped for and plotted for, and maybe manipulated her way into, or whether it was something that just befell her, that she deserves. We started the series with Lady Ray as the Bren’in. Even though it’s a very macho world, it’s on some level a matriarchy. We go to a very different Bren’in in Big Foster. Then we end again with a matriarchal choice. I think the Farrells are surprising and not very predictable in that way.
The dream Big Foster has about his dad at the beginning of the finale… he tells G’Win that he’s actually the one who shot him. So he killed both his parents?
I like your interpretation of his dream. The way I interpreted it was that that was a dream in which he killed his dad, but that wasn’t actually what happened. It could be interpreted in different ways, but I took it to be that it was a nightmare in which he had killed his father, but that wasn’t actually what happened on the day.
It’s maybe motivated then by his guilt about having killed his mother?
I would say so, yeah, and the fact that he is full of the poison from G’Win. He’s having strange dreams, let’s put it that way.
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Lady Ray told Asa that there will be one person who will save the Farrells, one who will destroy. I think the assumption for a lot of viewers has been that Asa is the one who will save, and Big Foster is the demon. But it still feels like there’s some, with Asa especially, there’s some wiggle room about just how committed he is to the mountain and the family.
Yeah, I think you hit it right on the nose that it’s still an open question as to who is the return that will save them and who is the demon, and exactly what role Asa will play going forward. Again, we wanted to set some things up and then play with viewers’ expectations in terms of the story and always keep it fresh and keep it surprising. We’re leaving the end of this finale with a lot of open questions that we’re going to answer in Season 2.
I think we flip flop back and forth through the season with our feelings about the triangle of Asa and Lil’ Foster and G’Win. I love that. Lil’ Foster has been through so much with so many different characters, and it feels like he’s come to a certain peace and understanding about everything. G’Win maybe has a little more appreciation of just what a steady presence he’s been and how how far he’s willing to go for her, to protect her. Asa… he’s already proved he’ll leave her. At the end of the season, do G’Win and Lil’ Foster have a stronger relationship than ever?
I think that’s a good point. I think he is at more of a place of peace, and she does see that. I think his character, he was someone who very much… his identity, his self worth were really defined by others and how other people felt about him, whether it was his father or G’Win. I think he’s been through the ringer with all these people, with G’Win’s betrayal of him, not just with Asa, but with marrying his father. His father’s many betrayals of him. He tried to kill himself, but he’s in a very different place. I will say that in Season 2, he has a giant arc for his family and really becomes an incredibly important person to the Farrells.
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Is it possible that Lil’ Foster is the one who will save them all?
I can’t give anything away, but I will say that you’re a very perceptive viewer.
I have to touch on Breece. Obviously it was a great part of the storyline, but heartbreaking to lose that character, especially at the point where we had really gotten to know him. He was really torn in a lot of different directions, and was, I think, more than anyone, trying to do the right thing.
It was absolutely the right thing for the story. But I hated losing that character, and that actor [Jeb Kreager] too, because he was just such a pleasure to work with. If it wasn’t 100 percent the right thing for the story, we would have kept him around, but we really had to show that a) Big Foster was a bit of a loose canon, and b) these cultures, when they mix… anything can happen.
Related: 'Outsiders’ Star Thomas M. Wright On Wade’s Ring, Breece’s Death, and His Kentucky Road Trip
It was also a catalyst for Wade. We’ve watched him emerge throughout the season as someone who finally appears to have decided to actively participate in his life and his family, and his community, his job. What does this ending do to him, because you talked about how G’Win was thrown into leadership. Wade is thrown into his worse nightmare, with his belief that the Farrells and the mountain have this magic power. Now he’s maybe finding out that he was right.
Yeah. When his father worked for the coal company some 20-25 years earlier, he led a small group of people up the mountain to try to evict the Farrells or convince them to leave… it went wrong, and shots were fired. Someone was killed, at least one person, that being Big Foster’s father. Then this raid or whatever you want to call it came to an end, and the townie people went back down the mountain, including Wade’s dad. They just decided that it’s best to leave the situation alone. Some months later, his dad was just walking down the street, and he was hit by lightning, killed. A lot of people in that town, including his eight-year-old son, really felt that this was retribution on the part of the Farrells, that they used their black magic. Of course other people are like, “That’s absurd. He got hit by lightning.” But [the magic] has always been the fear of a young boy, and that still lives with Wade, inside of him, in a lot of ways. We’ve seen lots of evidence of that during the season. And then there he is up on that mountain, confronted by hundreds of Farrells, not just a few. It’s storming, and lightning, all around him. Yeah, it is absolutely his worst fear. Exactly what happens in that moment, we will reveal in Season 2.
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Will we pick up right where we leave off in the finale for the beginning of Season 2?
We answer the major questions. We don’t jump forward too much, I don’t think. I don’t want to give anything away.
What is the sculpture garden and the hut that Wade and his men walk into? Is that a Farrell mausoleum?
It’s not 100 percent clear exactly what it is. What we wanted to do was create a space that [gave] more of a folk art vibe than anything else, so that Wade stumbles upon something that’s really strange and magical. And immediately, because, you have to remember, this is the first time that he’s seen anything of the Farrells’ world, we wanted him to stumble upon something that was both very strange, and at the same time incredibly beautiful, and not at all threatening. Perhaps a little spooky to him, but not at all threatening, actually a beautiful spot to just land with him in this different world.
Related: ‘Outsiders’ Star Jeb Kreager on Breece’s Fate
Hasil and Sally-Ann gave us some lighter moments, sometimes some incredibly violent moments, but they are a fun, sweet, sexy couple. The season didn’t end well for them, they certainly were not in a romantic place the last few episodes, but is there hope for them as a couple in the future?
I’ll say yes. I’ll say that their love goes really deep. The fans of “Sasil,” as they’re called, will have a lot to go on in Season 2.
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The coal company was scared off back in Wade’s dad’s day, but it’s such a different world now. It seems very unlikely the coal company would just walk away at this point. But everyone clearly underestimated the population of the Farrells…
Absolutely. I think the big surprise at the end of the finale is just how many Farrells there are. That changes everything for Season 2. Yeah, the mission’s going to change, but basically there’s still a billion dollars of coal sitting in that mountain, as somebody said in the pilot. It’s not something they’re going to let go of right away.Dark Souls is often praised for its interconnected world design, and how it shows distant areas that you can travel to (indirectly, typically). I’ve been wanting to do a demonstration of all the notable views/ skyboxes to help point them out and explain them.
Larger source images can be seen in this album.
1) The Great Hollow and Blighttown from Firelink Shrine
From the Firelink Shrine, we can see a giant tree in the distance:
An up close look reveals that this part of the skybox is simply a 2D texture, though it represents the very same Great Hollow tree that you descend to reach Ash Lake:
Looking down from Firelink, you can see the pillars that run through Blighttown’s swamp:
If Firelink’s orientation to Blighttown is a bit confusing, remember that the Great Hollow tree is at one far end of the poison swamp, while Quelanaa and the entrance to Quelaag’s Domain is at the other. This means that Firelink is much closer to Quelaana’s side, and in fact the entrance to Quelaag’s domain is essentially far underneath the graveyard in Firelink. This can’t be seen in-game, but the 3D Map Explorer shows this relationship nicely:
The view from the 3D Map Explorer also shows us the actual Great Hollow’s shell and not the 2D skybox drawn from Firelink, which indicates that the placement for the skybox is pretty accurate to the game’s actual map data/ geography:
As a bonus fun fact, you can see the Gaping Dragon’s boss room to the left, meaning it’s meant to be behind the curved wall you see in the first image in this post.
2) Firelink Shrine from Blighttown
Did you know that you can also see Firelink Shrine from Blighttown? It’s kind of impressive that they even bothered because there’s only a couple select areas/ angles from where you can see it.
Down in the swamp, near Mildred’s spawn location:
And in upper Blighttown, by the Eagle Shield:
This version of Firelink uses a simplified LOD Model which looks a bit comical and distorted up close. You can see weird artifacts, something that looks like a bridge extending out from the bonfire area:
But if you consider the angle of view, we can assume that’s actually meant to be the aqueduct tunnel, distorted to be a bit more “2D-like” by not bothering to actually set it back further. Because all the way from the swamp, you’re not going to be able to tell (if you can see this at all).
Here’s more of Firelink, with the elevator shaft to the Undead Parish seen as a stone-textured object running up the wall.
You can see a more in-depth examination of this LOD Firelink here.
Looking back down at Blighttown from the LOD Firelink, we can see what Blighttown is actually supposed to look like if it was fully rendered from Firelink and not drawn in a simplified form:
(the brownish-red smudge that’s off-center is Mildred’s bloodstain on her spawn location)
Compare that to the screenshot above of the player looking down into Blighttown from Firelink, and it matches very nicely. The only noteworthy detail missing is the various branches.
3) “Other Burg”, seen from Firelink Shrine
One of the few cases of distant scenery that can’t be traveled to is the town seen from the Graveyard area of the Firelink Shrine:
There are already some pretty good up-close examinations of it, so I’ll link to an existing video from /u/CrestfallenWarrior:
But I’ve seen people ask about what this place is. What’s the “lore” behind it? My interpretation is pretty simple: It’s meant to be a nondescript town, positioned amongst the outer walls. It’s one of many unseen towns in Lordran that surround Anor Londo, as depicted in the opening cutscene:
The image here is almost entirely unrecognizable, asides from having a large city high up that looks like Anor Londo, with large outer walls and towns surrounding it. We can assume this is earlier concept art of Lordran, which wasn’t used as a literal blueprint for the world’s design. In-game, the outer walls are arranged more erratically and not in one large circle. But because the general idea is the same, we can interpret the “Other Burg” as the developers’ attempt at showing us something kind of similar to the above image. That there are towns beneath Anor Londo in walled-off areas, possibly home to lower classes.
The “Other Burg” could be any random collection of buildings from the above picture, it doesn’t really matter. It’s not really meant to be anywhere specific. If you go out even further, you can find a couple more lower-res towns in different sections behind this one:
4) Darkroot Garden and Valley of Drakes, from the Undead Burg
The Darkroot Garden can be seen from the Undead Burg, though due to being daytime and very, very low quality, it can be easy to miss. Here’s the view from the wooden platform with the Firebomb-throwing hollows:
Look familiar? That darker-thing in the middle is the zig-zagging path that leads down into the Darkroot Basin. The green area in the upper right is meant to be the Forest area of the Darkroot Garden, and the flat area in-between is where you can survive the fall from the Forest into the Basin:
If you pan the camera down from this angle, you can see even further into the Valley of Drakes below, particularly the bridge that enters New Londo Ruins (New Londo Ruins is on the left of that bridge, Basin elevator would be on the right):
Here’s a closer look at the LOD Basin/ Forest:
Going down to the LOD Valley of Drakes Bridge, looking towards the Basin elevator:
Looking the other way, into New Londo Ruins:
They even included an incomplete/ low quality version of the Valley of Drakes path itself, though there’s no angle where you can actually see this from the Burg:
5) Capra Demon’s Room from Upper Undead Burg
Being able to see parts of the Lower Undead Burg from up above is no surprise, though sometimes the Capra Demon’s room is overlooked. It can be seen from the beginning of the level, on the return path from the side-area that you drop down to (you climb a ladder to get back out). The room is less detailed from up here, but the staircase is obvious:
Headed back to the ladder we just climbed up, and looking more to the left, we can just barely see the staircase and the edge of the doorway that leads into the tower (the one with the Female Undead Merchant at the top):
6) The Duke’s Archives from the Undead Burg
The Duke’s Archives can be seen from the Undead Parish, Sen’s Fortress, and Anor Londo. Though more impressively, it can first be spotted all the way back from the Hellkite Drake’s bridge:
It’s not exactly a fully-to-scale model, but it gets the point across:
6) Sen’s Fortress and the Undead Parish
This is a pretty obvious one that doesn’t need much explanation. You can see Sen’s Fortress from the Church Rooftop in the Parish, and vice versa.
(you can also see the Duke’s Archives from here if you pan the camera up over Sen’s Fortress)
One detail that’s kind of neat, is that you can see the Giant that mans the portcullis from up here in Sen’s Fortress. Perhaps a little reminder that he’s there if you haven’t found the illusory wall yet.
7) A couple more views of the Duke’s Archives.
I wanted to mention how Dark Souls continues to show off the Duke’s Archives as if it’s some kind of ominous, final destination. It can be seen in both cutscenes where the Gargoyle Demons take you to and from Anor Londo. The cutscene where you return to Sen’s Fortress from Anor Londo I find a bit more interesting, since it shows Duke’s Archives for longer and carefully pans down in such a way that you get a good look at it without being obscured by the mountain:
It reminds me of Castlevania 1 on the NES, where Dracula’s final tower is looming off in the distance. In addition to showing us the tower in the map between every stage, there’s also a single spot in level 3 where unique background art is dedicated to hint at what’s ahead:
Here’s a closer look at the LOD Duke’s Archives, as rendered from Anor Londo:
8) Various views from Anor Londo
Anor Londo includes a very hard to see LOD of lower Lordran. I find it interesting that they bothered, since you can’t really get a good look at it. Unless I’m completely missing another viewpoint, the best you can see is trying to peek around the corner from where the Gargoyle Demon drops you off:
Oddly enough, this area includes mostly everything nearby asides from Sen’s Fortress, which has an empty area where it should be:
Then there’s also the city of Anor Londo itself. There’s not much of note here since it’s just a bunch of random buildings, but here’s a few screenshots showing them up close:
Continued in Part 2.(NaturalNews) Men who consume more folate are significantly less likely to produce sperm with the chromosomal abnormalities that can lead to birth defects, according to a study conducted by researchers from the University of California at Berkeley and published in the journalA high intake of folate by women is already known to help prevent neural tube birth defects, but this is the first study to show that a father's intake of the nutrient might be similarly important.Researchers analyzed sperm from 89 healthy, non-smoking men for a condition called aneuploidy, in which a sperm cell carries the wrong number of chromosomes. While in most cases, aneuploidy leads to either a failure to conceive or to miscarriage, sometimes the fetus can be carried term. Such children suffer from birth defects such as Down's, Klinefelter's or Turner's syndrome.The researchers also questioned the men about their diets and calculated their intake of folate, beta-carotene, zinc, vitamin C and vitamin E.The sperm samples from men who consumed the highest amount of folate - between 722 and 1150 micrograms per day - contained between 20 and 30 percent fewer aneuploidal cells than those from men who ate the least folate.Researcher Brenda Eskenazi said that the findings suggest that the recommended daily folate intake for men - 400 micrograms - might be too low for those expecting to conceive.Reproductive expert Allan Pacey from the University of Sheffield said that while evidence continues to emerge that certain nutrients lead to healthier sperm, the best way to get this benefit is from a healthy diet."Before couples run out to the chemist and stock up on supplements, I would suggest that they just lead sensible lives and stop smoking, moderate alcohol intake and eat sensibly, making sure they get their five portions of fresh fruit and [vegetables] each day," he said. "And because it takes three months to produce sperm, any lifestyle changes should take place well in advance of any attempt to conceive."This article is about removing salt from water. For soil desalination, see Soil salinity control
Desalination is a process that takes away mineral components from saline water. More generally, desalination refers to the removal of salts and minerals from a target substance,[1] as in soil desalination, which is an issue for agriculture.[2]
Saltwater is desalinated to produce water suitable for human consumption or irrigation. One by-product of desalination is salt. Desalination is used on many seagoing ships and submarines. Most of the modern interest in desalination is focused on cost-effective provision of fresh water for human use. Along with recycled wastewater, it is one of the few rainfall-independent water sources.[3]
Due to its energy consumption, desalinating sea water is generally more costly than fresh water from rivers or groundwater, water recycling and water conservation. However, these alternatives are not always available and depletion of reserves is a critical problem worldwide.[4] Desalination processes are usually either driven by either thermal (e.g. distillation) or electrical (e.g., photovoltaic or wind power) as the primary energy types.
Currently, approximately 1% of the world's population is dependent on desalinated water to meet daily needs, but the UN expects that 14% of the world's population will encounter water scarcity by 2025.[5] Desalination is particularly relevant in dry countries such as Australia, which traditionally have relied on collecting rainfall behind dams for water.
According to the International Desalination Association, in June 2015, 18,426 desalination plants operated worldwide, producing 86.8 million cubic meters per day, providing water for 300 million people.[6] This number increased from 78.4 million cubic meters in 2013,[5] a 10.71% increase in 2 years. The single largest desalination project is Ras Al-Khair in Saudi Arabia, which produced 1,025,000 cubic meters per day in 2014.[5] Kuwait produces a higher proportion of its water than any other country, totaling 100% of its water use.[7]
A – steam in B – seawater in C – potable water out
D – brine out (waste) E –
G – condensation collection (desalinated water) H – brine heater
The Schematic of a multistage flash desalinator A – steam in B – seawater in C – potable water outD – brine out (waste) E – condensate out F – heat exchangeG – condensation collection (desalinated water) H – brine heaterThe pressure vessel acts as a countercurrent heat exchanger. A vacuum pump lowers the pressure in the vessel to facilitate the evaporation of the heated sea water ( brine ) which enters the vessel from the right side (darker shades indicate lower temperature). The steam condensates on the pipes on top of the vessel in which the fresh sea water moves from the left to the right.
Methods [ edit ]
Reverse osmosis desalination plant in Barcelona, Spain
There are several methods. Each has advantages and disadvantages but all are useful.
The traditional process of desalination is distillation, i.e. boiling and re-condensation of seawater to leave salt and impurities behind.
Solar destillation [ edit ]
Solar destillation mimics the natural water cycle, in which the sun heats the sea water enough for evaporation to occur.[8] After evaporation, the water vapor is condensed onto a cool surface.[8]
Vacuum distillation [ edit ]
In vacuum distillation atmospheric pressure is reduced, thus lowering the temperature required to evaporate the water. Liquids boil when the vapor pressure equals the ambient pressure and vapor pressure increases with temperature. Effectively, liquids boil at a lower temperature, when the ambient atmospheric pressure is less than usual atmospheric pressure. Thus, because of the reduced pressure, low-temperature "waste" heat from electrical power generation or industrial processes can be employed.
Multi-stage flash distillation [ edit ]
Water is evaporated and separated from sea water through multi-stage flash distillation, which is a series of flash evaporations.[8] Each subsequent flash process utilizes energy released from the condensation of the water vapor from the previous step.[8]
Multiple-effect distillation [ edit ]
Multiple-effect distillation (MED) works through a series of steps called "effects".[8] Incoming water is sprayed onto pipes which are then heated to generate steam. The steam is then used to heat the next batch of incoming sea water.[8] To increase efficiency, the steam used to heat the sea water can be taken from nearby power plants.[8] Although this method is the most thermodynamically efficient among methods powered by heat,[9] a few limitations exist such as a max temperature and max number of effects.[10]
Vapor-compression distillation [ edit ]
Vapor-compression evaporation involves using either a mechanical compressor or a jet stream to compress the vapor present above the liquid.[9] The compressed vapor is then used to provide the heat needed for the evaporation of the rest of the sea water.[8] Since this system only requires power, it is more cost effective if kept at a small scale.[8]
Reverse osmosis [ edit ]
The leading process for desalination in terms of installed capacity and yearly growth is reverse osmosis (RO).[11] The RO membrane processes use semipermeable membranes and applied pressure (on the membrane feed side) to preferentially induce water permeation through the membrane while rejecting salts. Reverse osmosis plant membrane systems typically use less energy than thermal desalination processes.[9] Energy cost in desalination processes varies considerably depending on water salinity, plant size and process type. At present the cost of seawater desalination, for example, is higher than traditional water sources, but it is expected that costs will continue to decrease with technology improvements that include, but are not limited to, improved efficiency,[12] reduction in plants footprint, improvements to plant operation and optimization, more effective feed pretreatment, and lower cost energy sources.[13]
Reverse osmosis uses a thin-film composite membrane, which comprises an ultra-thin, aromatic polyamide thin-film. This polyamide film gives the membrane its transport properties, whereas the remainder of the thin-film composite membrane provides mechanical support. The polyamide film is a dense, void-free polymer with a high surface area, allowing for its high water permeability.[14]
The Reverse Osmosis process is not maintenance free. Various factors interfere with efficiency: ionic contamination (calcium, magnesium etc.); DOC; bacteria; viruses; colloids & insoluble particulates; biofouling and scaling. In extreme cases the RO membranes are destroyed. To mitigate damage, various pretreatment stages are introduced. Anti-scaling inhibitors include acids and other agents like the organic polymers Polyacrylamide and Polymaleic Acid, Phosphonates and Polyphosphates. Inhibitors for fouling are biocides (as oxidants against bacteria and viruses), like chlorine, ozone, sodium or calcium hypochlorite. At regular intervals, depending on the membrane contamination; fluctuating seawater conditions; or when prompted by monitoring processes, the membranes need to be cleaned, known as emergency or shock-flushing. Flushing is done with inhibitors in a fresh water solution and the system must go offline. This procedure is environmentally risky, since contaminated water is diverted into the ocean without treatment. Sensitive marine habitats can be irreversibly damaged.[15][16]
Off-grid solar-powered desalination units use solar energy to fill a buffer tank on a hill with seawater.[17] The reverse osmosis process receives its pressurized seawater feed in non-sunlight hours by gravity, resulting in sustainable drinking water production without the need for fossil fuels, an electricity grid or batteries. [18][19][20]
Freeze-thaw desalination uses freezing to remove fresh water from salt water. Salt water is sprayed during freezing conditions into a pad where an ice-pile builds up. When seasonal conditions warm, naturally desalinated melt water is recovered. This technique relies on extended periods of natural sub-freezing conditions.[21]
A different freeze-thaw method, not weather dependent and invented by Alexander Zarchin, freezes seawater in a vacuum. Under vacuum conditions the ice, desalinated, is melted and diverted for collection and the salt is collected.
Electrodialysis reversal [ edit ]
Electrodialysis utilizes electric potential to move the salts through pairs of charged membranes, which trap salt in alternating channels.[22]
Membrane distillation [ edit ]
Membrane distillation uses a temperature difference across a membrane to evaporate vapor from a salty brine solution and condense pure condensate on the colder side.[23]
Wave-powered desalination [ edit ]
CETO is a wave power technology that desalinates seawater using submerged buoys.[24] Wave-powered desalination plants began operating on Garden Island in Western Australia in 2013[25] and in Perth in 2015.[26]
Considerations and criticism [ edit ]
Energy consumption [ edit ]
Energy consumption of seawater desalination has reached as low as 3 kWh/m3,[27] including pre-filtering and ancillaries, similar to the energy consumption of other fresh water supplies transported over large distances,[28] but much higher than local fresh water supplies that use 0.2 kWh/m3 or less.[29]
A minimum energy consumption for seawater desalination of around 1 kWh/m3 has been determined,[30][31] excluding prefiltering and intake/outfall pumping. Under 2 kWh/m3[32] has been achieved with reverse osmosis membrane technology, leaving limited scope for further energy reductions.
Supplying all US domestic water by desalination would increase domestic energy consumption by around 10%, about the amount of energy used by domestic refrigerators.[33] Domestic consumption is a relatively small fraction of the total water usage.[34]
Note: "Electrical equivalent" refers to the amount of electrical energy that could be generated using a given quantity of thermal energy and appropriate turbine generator. These calculations do not include the energy required to construct or refurbish items consumed in the process.
Cogeneration [ edit ]
Cogeneration is generating excess heat and electricity generation from a single process. Cogeneration can provide usable heat for desalination in an integrated, or "dual-purpose", facility where a power plant provides the energy for desalination. Alternatively, the facility's energy production may be dedicated to the production of potable water (a stand-alone facility), or excess energy may be produced and incorporated into the energy grid. Cogeneration takes various forms, and theoretically any form of energy production could be used. However, the majority of current and planned cogeneration desalination plants use either fossil fuels or nuclear power as their source of energy. Most plants are located in the Middle East or North Africa, which use their petroleum resources to offset limited water resources. The advantage of dual-purpose facilities is they can be more efficient in energy consumption, thus making desalination more viable.[36][37]
The current trend in dual-purpose facilities is hybrid configurations, in which the permeate from reverse osmosis desalination is mixed with distillate from thermal desalination. Basically, two or more desalination processes are combined along with power production. Such facilities have been implemented in Saudi Arabia at Jeddah and Yanbu.[38]
A typical Supercarrier in the US military is capable of using nuclear power to desalinate 1,500,000 L of water per day.[39]
Economics [ edit ]
Costs of desalinating sea water (infrastructure, energy, and maintenance) are generally higher than fresh water from rivers or groundwater, water recycling, and water conservation, but alternatives are not always available. Desalination costs in 2013 ranged from US$0.45 to $1.00/cubic metre. More than half of the cost comes directly from energy cost, and since energy prices are very volatile, actual costs can vary substantially.[40]
The cost of untreated fresh water in the developing world can reach US$5/cubic metre.[41]
Average water consumption and cost of supply by sea water desalination at US$1 per cubic metre(±50%) Area Consumption Litre/person/day Desalinated Water Cost US$/person/day USA 378 0.38 Europe 189 0.19 Africa 57 0.06 UN recommended minimum 49 0.05
Factors that determine the costs for desalination include capacity and type of facility, location, feed water, labor, energy, financing and concentrate disposal. Desalination stills control pressure, temperature and brine concentrations to optimize efficiency. Nuclear-powered desalination might be economical on a large scale.[42][43]
While noting costs are falling, and generally positive about the technology for affluent areas in proximity to oceans, a 2004 study argued, "Desalinated water may be a solution for some water-stress regions, but not for places that are poor, deep in the interior of a continent, or at high elevation. Unfortunately, that includes some of the places with biggest water problems.", and, "Indeed, one needs to lift the water by 2000 m, or transport it over more than 1600 km to get transport costs equal to the desalination costs. Thus, it may be more economical to transport fresh water from somewhere else than to desalinate it. In places far from the sea, like New Delhi, or in high places, like Mexico City, transport costs could match desalination costs. Desalinated water is also expensive in places that are both somewhat far from the sea and somewhat high, such as Riyadh and Harare. By contrast in other locations transport costs are much less, such as Beijing, Bangkok, Zaragoza, Phoenix, and, of course, coastal cities like Tripoli."[44] After desalination at Jubail, Saudi Arabia, water is pumped 320 km inland to Riyadh.[45] For coastal cities, desalination is increasingly viewed as a competitive choice.
In 2014, the Israeli facilities of Hadera, Palmahim, Ashkelon, and Sorek were desalinizing water for less than US$0.40 per cubic meter.[46] As of 2006, Singapore was desalinating water for US$0.49 per cubic meter.[47] Perth began operating a reverse osmosis seawater desalination plant in 2006.[48] A desalination plant now operates in Sydney,[49] and the Wonthaggi desalination plant was under construction in Wonthaggi, Victoria.
The Perth desalination plant is powered partially by renewable energy from the Emu Downs Wind Farm.[50][51] A wind farm at Bungendore in New South Wales was purpose-built to generate enough renewable energy to offset the Sydney plant's energy use,[52] mitigating concerns about harmful greenhouse gas emissions.
In December 2007, the South Australian government announced it would build a seawater desalination plant for the city of Adelaide, Australia, located at Port Stanvac. The desalination plant was to be funded by raising water rates to achieve full cost recovery.[53][54]
A January 17, 2008, article in the Wall Street Journal stated, "In November, Connecticut-based Poseidon Resources Corp. won a key regulatory approval to build the $300 million water-desalination plant in Carlsbad, north of San Diego. The facility would produce 190,000 cubic metres of drinking water per day, enough to supply about 100,000 homes.[55] As of June 2012, the cost for the desalinated water had risen to $2,329 per acre-foot.[56] Each $1,000 per acre-foot works out to $3.06 for 1,000 gallons, or $.81 per cubic meter.[57]
Poseidon Resources made an unsuccessful attempt to construct a desalination plant in Tampa Bay, FL, in 2001. The board of directors of Tampa Bay Water was forced to buy the plant from Poseidon in 2001 to prevent a third failure of the project. Tampa Bay Water faced five years of engineering problems and operation at 20% capacity to protect marine life. The facility reached capacity only in 2007.[58]
In 2008, a Energy Recovery Inc. was desalinating water for $0.46 per cubic meter.[59]
Environmental [ edit ]
Factors that determine the costs for desalination include capacity and type of facility, location, feed water, labor, energy, financing and concentrate disposal.
Intake [ edit ]
In the United States, cooling water intake structures are regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency |
like what was happening in the sky now. It wouldn't surprise him if such things had happened before. The memory of Theros was long, and the gods unruly.
"At last, the Champion faced the final head of the mighty Polukranos. He had learned that swallowing her would only lead to pain. He tried to step on her, but she set her spear to skewer his mighty feet. He lashed out with his tail, but she nimbly dodged. When he faltered, she dashed up his tail, ran across his back, climbed his last thrashing head, and drove her spear into his eye.
"Polukranos, eater of poleis, beloved of the gods, was no more. All that remained on the silent plateau was the Champion of Heliod, her spear shining in the sunlight."
Lanathos bowed expansively, and the leonin murmured appreciation. No doubt the storyteller understood by now that leonin were much more subdued than human audiences.
As the crowd dispersed, Ajani made his way over to the chronicler.
"A fine story," he said.
Lanathos bowed.
"My name is Ajani. The leonin of Oreskos count me as a friend, and I'm glad to see they consider you the same."
Lanathos chuckled.
"Friend to most," he said. "Pest, propagandist, and spy to others. As with anything, it depends on who's telling the story. But I seem to have King Brimaz's trust, and that's enough for most people."
"It's enough for me," said Ajani. "I was hoping you could help me find a friend of mine, a human. Her name is Elspeth."
"That's an unusual name," said Lanathos. "So's Ajani, when it comes to it. Where did you say you're from?"
It's always the storytellers who ask, thought Ajani.
"Far away," said Ajani. "Over the mountains, and then some."
He'd thought it an innocuous answer, but he could tell right away he'd said too much. Lanathos's bright eyes widened.
"There are people across the mountains? Leonin and human? Have they cities? Temples? Knowledge of the gods?"
Ajani held up a hand, and Lanathos paused in his breathless litany.
"Later," said Ajani, "perhaps, I will answer your questions."
Lanathos's face reddened—something like lowering one's ears in shame, Ajani had learned, although there were nuances of human expression he still didn't grasp.
"Of course," said the chronicler. "You're looking for your friend." He rubbed his scar-mottled chin. "I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I'm the only human in all of Oreskos that I'm aware of."
"Brimaz said you spoke with human traders recently. Did you hear anything from them about a newcomer to their lands, a solitary woman who spoke strangely and carried a sword?"
Lanathos blinked.
"Of course I did. You just heard the story they told me."
Ajani's ears swiveled back of their own accord. Was the old human making a joke?
"I am looking for my friend," he said. "Not the Champion of the Sun."
"What makes you think your friend isn't the Champion?"
Ajani let his ears fall entirely flat.
"I heard stories of the Theriad the last time I was here," he said. "About the Champion training with the centaurs, and living among the leonin. My friend is here now, and she never did any of that."
"Ajani, you're speaking about the Theriad as though it were about a single person."
Ajani took a deep breath and let it out.
"Yes," he said. "I am. Remember, I am from a distant land. If I've misunderstood, please, explain."
"The Theriad is about the Champion of the Sun," said Lanathos. "But that's not a person. It's a title, bestowed by Heliod on a worthy mortal in times of great need. The story of the Theriad is the story of all of them, from the first, whoever that was, to the latest—the woman who slew Polukranos."
Art by Tyler Jacobson
Something didn't fit.
"The latest," murmured Ajani. "You told that story as if..."
His eyes widened.
"How long ago?"
"Recently," said Lanathos. "Very recently. During the Silence of the gods. A month ago, perhaps slightly more."
How quickly Theros transformed events into history, and history into myth!
"In your story, the Champion fought with a spear," said Ajani. "I've never known Elspeth to carry one."
Lanathos shrugged.
"Details are like clothing; people change them to keep them fresh. When I heard the tale, it was a spear. When the traders who told it to me first heard it, perhaps it was a sword. These things change in the telling."
"And what about the setting?" asked Ajani. "The Plateau of the Four Winds. Do you think she was truly there?"
"Perhaps not on the plateau itself," said Lanathos. "I'd wager she really was near Meletis, though. Polukranos threatening the City of the Twelve is the soul of the story. But don't think she's there any longer."
"What makes you say that?"
"Another story I heard," said Lanathos. "After she slew Polukranos, the Champion was spotted at Akros, which has been besieged by a horde of minotaurs. Brimaz is aware of it, as a military situation, but I wasn't going to tell that story yet. I still don't know how it ends."
"Thank you," said Ajani. "You've helped a great deal."
"What are you going to do?" asked Lanathos.
"Find her," said Ajani. "Help her, if she needs it."
He smiled.
"After all, the Champion always has companions."It’s happened to all of us. You ordered a Big Mac at the McDonald’s drive-thru, but when you got home and opened the bag, you discovered a Filet-O-Fish in its place. When this conundrum arises, most people choose between three options: toss the offending food, eat the offending food, or return to the esteemed establishment from whence the food came and kindly ask for a replacement.
Those are all perfectly acceptable responses. These 10 reactions are not.
1. Fire shots
In February, a Grand Rapids woman placed an order at a McDonald’s drive-thru. It was wrong, allegedly missing bacon. Understanding just how upsetting missing bacon can be, the workers apologized and promised that her next order would be on the house, so the woman returned at 3 a.m. for her free meal. It was also incorrect. Rather than ordering again and running the risk that it, too, would be wrong, Shaneka Torres pulled out a gun and shot through the closed car window and the drive-thru window. Luckily, no one was injured.
2. Call 911
Getty Images
When her local Subway put the wrong kind of sauce on her sandwich and refused to make her a new one, Bevalente Hall was determined to right the wrong. She dialed 911 and reported the malicious use of marinara—pizza sauce was her preference—and demanded the presence of an officer immediately. The officer that arrived promptly arrested Hall for misuse of the 911 system, jailed her for three minutes, and released her on a $2000 bond.
You can hear the call here.
3. Call 911 three times.
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In 2009, Latreasa Goodman walked into a McDonald’s in Fort Pierce, Florida, and ordered chicken nuggets. After she paid for said nuggets, Goodman was told that the restaurant had actually just run out. She asked for her money back, but employees denied her, trying to sell her a McDouble instead. Goodman called 911. The first dispatcher suggested that Goodman talk to a manager, but promised to send someone. After she called back a third time, an officer finally arrived and charged Goodman with misuse of 911. McDonald’s corporate offices said that a refund should have been issued and said they were sending her a gift card.
4. Throw the food... then call 911.
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Breakfast enthusiasts Michael and Nova Smith ordered early-morning value meals at McDonald’s in Mesa, Arizona. When they received their bags, the Smiths noticed that something was terribly, terribly awry: Their hashbrowns were missing. Not just one of the hashbrowns. Both of the hashbrowns. Enraged at this injustice, Nova threw the meals at the cashiers while Michael dialed 911. “I was barely able to hold myself back,” Michael said. “If not for the 911 call operator holding me back, I probably would have went berserk.” Because employees were hit with food, the couple was charged with assault.
5. Get in a SWAT Team shootout.
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In 2011, a Taco Bell in San Antonio ended the promotion they were having on the Beefy Crunch Burrito, which raised the price from 99 cents to $1.49. Frequent customer Ricardo Jones discovered the price increase after ordering seven of the Beefy Crunch Burritos, and became so enraged at the higher bill that he shot at the drive-thru window cashier, then pulled out another handgun and an assault rifle and put them on the roof of his car. He didn’t use them at Taco Bell, though. Jones was found at a hotel two miles away where he engaged in a four-hour shootout with the SWAT team. He was finally forced out of his room with tear gas and arrested.
6. Ram the car in front of you in the drive-thru.
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Timothy Braddee, Jr., had such an Arby’s craving in 2010 that he couldn’t wait for the slowpoke in front of him in line. After placing his order, Braddee began flashing his high beams at the car in front of him, then rammed the vehicle with his SUV. The customer moved aside, then immediately contacted the manager. Braddee, now at the coveted food-dispensing window, was told that he couldn’t harass customers. He responded by pointing a loaded rifle at the manager, then driving away, presumably without the food that he so desperately wanted. Police later found Braddee passed out at his home with a blood alcohol level of.191.
7. Impersonate a cop.
In March, Austin Schoor got excessively angry when he received the wrong order at a Palm Beach, Florida, Burger King. His reaction was so extreme that managers threatened to call the police—which is when Schoor said, “Call the police. I’m an officer.” The manager called his bluff, which is when the real police got involved. Schoor amended his story, saying that he actually had been a member of the West Palm Beach Fire Rescue, not the police. Police called the West Palm Beach Fire Rescue, who said that Schoor had not worked for them in more than a year. He was arrested and released on $1000 bail.
8. Get hot under the collar over hot sauce.
Apparently no one told Jeremy Combs that getting hot sauce packets at Taco Bell is as easy as asking for them. When Combs noticed his drive-thru order was missing the spicy condiment, he pulled a 12-gauge shotgun on the cashier at the window. He didn’t fire, and was arrested at his aunt’s house two hours later, still intoxicated.
9. Refuse to leave the drive-thru.
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Last summer, Kimberly Womack pulled up to a McDonald’s with an infallible ruse to collect free breakfast. Though it was 6:30am, she requested two Big Macs. When the cashier responded that they didn’t make breakfast Big Macs, Womack demanded two free Egg McMuffins instead. The manager refused, but Womack stood her ground at the drive-thru for more than 10 minutes. Deputies eventually approached her car; she informed them that her rights were being violated. Upon her arrest, she was probably surprised to learn that “free Egg McMuffins” is not right up there with freedom of speech and freedom of the press.
10. Threaten to assume your ultimate form.
Melodi Dushane knows what it’s like to crave the wrong menu at the wrong hour. When she was refused chicken nuggets during breakfast hours at an East Toledo, Ohio, McDonald’s, Dushane got out of her car and hissed at the drive-thru attendant, then reached through the window and punched her in the face. She eventually shattered the window, but only after spewing forth all sorts of unlikely threats. Here’s the video. There’s some salty language. Goes great with fries.Jeffrey Wright may not be the lead of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1, but as with so many of his other projects, that doesn’t stop him from making a huge impression. His Beetee brings a thoughtful, mature vibe to the series that helps balance out the more volatile energy of his younger co-stars. It’s no wonder this tech geek has become a fan favorite.
At a recent press day in New York, I got a few minutes to chat with Wright about the Hunger Games series. He told me all about his love for Beetee, why he preferred the Catching Fire shoot to the Mockingjay one, and his plans (or lack thereof, rather) for Bond 24. Hit the jump to read my Jeffrey Wright interview.
What attracted you to this role? What about this character specifically connected with you?
I liked that his primary weapon was his capacity to think, and that he was less a fighter than a tinkerer. I thought that was interesting in the first movie, in Catching Fire, that among all these warriors there’s an inventor. It just seemed contradictory and curious to me. And then I think I was attracted to his sense of responsibility to his fellow citizenry, to the cause, and his loyalty to the ideals behind this rebellion. Because I think he, like everyone else, has a personal engagement with this and his commitment to this is driven by personal damage as having been a previous participant in the Games. But unlike Katniss, who I think is purely driven by personal concern, which makes her resonant because she’s apolitical really, he, I think, is highly political and is driven by — maybe I’m romanticizing, but driven by moral outrage at the society that he finds himself within. And I like that. I like that. That’s the sense I get anyway. Maybe I’m overlaying it, but that’s the sense I get.
Whereas Katniss, you know, throughout this, is I think more accessible and kind of universal in her response because it’s only about — the impulse for her to join this rebellion is largely about protecting the things that she loves, protecting her love, and her home and her family, and trying to recreate a sense of personal security. She’s not caught up in all the political aspects of it but it’s really about protecting the sense of home, and I think that’s incredibly noble and also why her story is so easily translated to people, because it’s things that we all can relate to.
In the last one, you spent a lot of time being the oldest person in a group of young people, and in this one you spend more time among other grown-ups. Can you talk about how this one felt different?
If I had the choice of spending my time with younger people on the beaches of Hawaii or older people in a pretend subterranean laboratory in suburban Atlanta, I would take the former every day. I’ll take Hawaii with the younger people on the beach. [Laughs] Surfing on my days off… I prefer that.
The Hunger Games is considered a YA book, but it also seems to resonate with adults. What do you think is it about the story that rings a bell with people who are outside the YA target audience?
They’re books told from the perspective of a young girl who is operating in a very mature world, a world that, as drawn by Suzanne Collins, doesn’t pull punches on the complexity of the themes that she’s exploring, which are themes around class division and war and the consequences of war on society and on warriors particularly. I think these themes are obviously, maybe too resonant for us now. She’s managed to craft a very accessible cosmology. What I think is fascinating about what she’s done is that she allows space, even though the books have political undertones, she’s allowed space across partisan lines for participation. Some people read these books and they take kind of a “99% versus the 1%” class inequality tack on it. Other people read these books and find a Second Amendment argument in it. You can slide yourself in no matter where you lie on the political spectrum. So that opens up the audience.
And as well I think there’s another aspect to this, at least for me and for some other adults, is that they’re books and films that you appreciate as parents because they are examinations of these relevant themes, but filtered through the lens of a young reader. That’s healthy for our kids and so I think there are some adults who — it resonates more on that level as well. At least I’m one of them. There’s one adult, at least.
Before I go, I have to ask: Bond 24? Any chance you’ll be in it?
No. Felix is going to be playing Beetee next fall or whenever it comes out.Now that Gone Girl has officially hit theaters, it's safe to say that its ending is less than conclusive. And despite the many who are probably upset about that lack of "proper" resolution — as was certainly the case with the novel — that's a good thing. David Fincher's bleakly amusing marital-warfare satire closes on a purposefully vague note in order to create a haunting sense of further horrors to come. As such, it joins a long list of cinema greats that, rather than tying things up with a neat-and-tidy bow, prefer to finish in uncertainty. By leaving questions unanswered, these works compel audiences to remain engaged with their stories (and themes) long after the theater lights have come up, and as such, linger in our collective memory longer than so many other definitive finales. With everyone still arguing about Gone Girl's denouement, we present the ten best ambiguous endings in film history. (It probably goes without saying, but: spoilers follow.)
2001: A Space Odyssey
Stanley Kubrick's sci-fi saga leaps from man's distant simian past to his intergalactic future, along the way charting the dehumanization of humanity and the chilling sentience of machines. Yet after astronaut Bowman (Keir Dullea) travels through a vortex of strange lights (in the legendary "Star Gate" sequence), he finds himself in a strange new universe, and then in a white room with an aged version of himself, and also with the monolith, and then... Is that a Star Child? In terms of climaxes that leave audiences guessing, theorizing, and heatedly debating, 2001 has no equal.
American Psycho
Mary Harron's darkly hilarious adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis's novel charts yuppie scumbag Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale) as he hacks and slashes his way through New York City, enjoying serial killing with a big smile on his face. Yet at film's conclusion, a critical question is raised, without every being fully answered: Was his rampage all in his mind?
No Country for Old Men
Joel and Ethan Cohen's No Country for Old Men makes clear the untimely demise of Josh Brolin's main character. But much to the chagrin of many people who wanted absolute closure from this Oscar Best Picture winner, it keeps much else in doubt, including the fate of force-of-evil killer Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem), who merely walks off into the sunset after surviving a car crash, as well as the meaning behind the anecdotal stories told by sheriff Tommy Lee Jones's sheriff.
Blade Runner: The Director's Cut
Ridley Scott's seminal sci-fi noir was a rather cut-and-dried affair when first released in 1982. Yet that all changed when he revisited the film for 1992's "Director's Cut," which immediately became the definitive version of the film. While its most obvious alteration was the removal of Harrison Ford's awkward narration, the inclusion of a sequence in which Ford's cyborg-hunting cop Deckard dreams of a unicorn — especially when matched with an existing closing moment involving origami — famously intimates that the detective himself might, in fact, be a machine.
Total Recall
Arnold Schwarzenegger's Mars-set saga is kick-started by the hero's decision to go to a futuristic facility that implants vacation memories — an experience that, in a twist, seems to de-tangle his mind and expose his true identity as a secret agent. Or is that very secret-agent revelation merely part of his paid-for fantasy? Regardless of director Paul Verhoeven's own stance on the issue (which he reveals in a home-video commentary track), the question of what's real and what's not remains, even in the final moments, up in the air.
The Thing
John Carpenter's The Thing is one of the all-time great horror movies, thanks in large part to its conclusion. With the Arctic base destroyed, the two remaining survivors (Kurt Russell and Keith David) take a seat across from each other to see which of them — before they freeze to death — will potentially reveal himself to be the shape-shifting alien that's caused so much mayhem. Refusing to show us what will become of them, it's an ambiguous climax par excellence.
A Serious Man
Joel and Ethan Cohen's second film on this list is perhaps their most underrated. 2009's bitter A Serious Man is the story of a man whose life falls apart, piece by amazing piece, until it finally ends in a moment of impending catastrophe so over-the-top that the preceding tale's questions about faith and forgiveness are left (pun intended) hovering in the air.
Once Upon a Time in America
Sergio Leone's 1984 gangster masterpiece recounts the saga of a group of New York City kids who form a criminal gang that endures all sorts of highs and lows over the course of 40 years. Yet a bookending sequence in which Robert De Niro's adult protagonist is spied narcotizing himself at an opium den suggests, teasingly, that at least some portion of the material was, in fact, just a drugged-out dream.
The Shining
Even without all the crazy theories surrounding The Shining (some of them detailed in the fan-criticism doc Room 237), Stanley Kubrick's 1980 horror masterpiece finishes with an unforgettable image open to interpretation. With Jack Nicholson's psycho-daddy having frozen to death, the director's camera zooms into an old 1921 black-and-white photograph that shows Nicholson at the center of a party, thereby implying that he had been there long before the film began — and, perhaps, forever?
Mulholland Drive
David Lynch's neo-noir Hollywood satire is a deliriously surreal head trip about an aspiring actress (Naomi Watts) who arrives in L.A. and, alongside a beautiful amnesiac (Laura Harring), finds herself at the center of a twisty-turny mystery. As per usual, Lynch's film is a non-linear tumble down the rabbit hole, and ends with a flurry of what's-going-on action that, like the best ambiguous finales, leaves one trying to untangle its knotty enigmas even after it's over.In 2015, the Baltimore boy made history as the first child to successfully receive a double hand transplant. Now, at 10 years old, Zion can use his new hands to perform everyday tasks that other children might take for granted, such as reading and writing, making his lunch and gripping a baseball bat.
"He was able to grip a baseball bat, which was something he wanted to do, by about a year, but now he can do it more powerfully with more coordinated motion between the right and the left hand," said Dr. Sandra Amaral, medical director of the hand transplant program at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, who was involved in Zion's care.
"Most of his functional outcomes or progress have been really related to doing things more efficiently and effectively," she said. "A few new things that he can do: zip his pants, rip open a granola bar by himself and manipulate it to eat it."
Additionally, Zion can go to the bathroom without any help, said Dr. L. Scott Levin, chair of the department of orthopaedic surgery at Penn Medicine and surgical director of the hand transplantation program at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, who led the surgery.
"He really has gained tremendous independence, which is what we all strive for in our personal lives," Levin said. "We have restored, even in this little boy, a sense of personal dignity."
JUST WATCHED Boy is first child to get double hand transplant Replay More Videos... MUST WATCH Boy is first child to get double hand transplant 01:03
Levin, Amaral and 28 other doctors and researchers co-authored a paper describing Zion's history-making surgery and recovery, published in the journal The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health on Tuesday.
While Zion has not achieved any new significant milestones since last summer at the one-year anniversary of his surgery, the authors of the paper wanted to document in the scientific literature that his surgery was a success. Zion and his family were unavailable to comment on the new paper and his progress at the time of publication for this article.
Zion's hands and feet were amputated when he was 2 years old due to a life-threatening sepsis infection that resulted in the failure of multiple organs.
Then, at 8, he underwent a complicated 10-hour surgery in which the hands of a donor were surgically connected to his arms and became his own.
"This isn't the first amazing thing that he's done. He's been doing amazing things since he's been sick. I don't know many adults that can handle half of his life on a day-to-day basis," Pattie Ray, Zion's mother, said in 2015 before his surgery
Fast-forward to about 18 months later, and "for our case report, he was actually able to write out his name for me to provide photo release consent," Amaral said of the new paper.
The paper reinforces that hand transplantation in a child can be surgically, medically and functionally successful under certain circumstances -- and even life-changing for a family, Levin said.
He said there's one moment immediately after Zion's surgery that he will always remember.
"I spoke to Zion's mom, Pattie Ray, and I said, 'Your little boy has two new hands,' and she just started to hug me and got teary-eyed," Levin said.
"I think (Zion) was a pioneer and his mom was courageous enough to allow us to engage our team to transplant his hands, and the end result, two years later, is a wonderful outcome thus far," Levin said.
After Zion's bilateral hand transplantation surgery, Levin said, his team closely monitored the boy's brain, using MRI and other imaging techniques to assess the progress of his hand function. After all, since Zion was 2, his brain had been used to functioning with no hands. After his surgery, that suddenly changed.
"When we gave him hands and connected his nerves to his new hands, those areas of the brain (that are responsible for hand function) woke up," Levin said, adding that it took only a few months for those brain regions to light up in the brain images.
Zion's bilateral hand transplantation procedure now holds clues to how such surgeries could be performed in other children, something that Levin said is being explored at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
Another possible hand transplant candidate is being evaluated, he said.
"So the program is continuing," Levin said. "This kind of transplant is here to stay."
Join the conversation See the latest news and share your comments with CNN Health on Facebook and Twitter.
Zion knows that his surgery and recovery have helped doctors prepare for future transplant candidates, and he has been eager to help others, Amaral said.
"He lets us videotape him, and he lets us study his brain, and lots of these tests take hours and hours of time, but he never puts up a fuss about that," she said. "We've talked a lot about how he's kind of the first, but hopefully, there'll be more, and so I think that he's mindful about making sure we get as much information to help others."0 of 30
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It's all well and good that the NBA has released its schedule for the 2014-15 season, but what good is it to drool over marquee matchups if we don't know which players are actually going to be participating? After all, the NBA is a player's league; its stars are among the most marketable and popular athletes on the planet.
Granted, there's more to the Association than just the big names. Basketball's inherent fluidity makes a superstar's teammates not only of vital importance but also practically inextricable in their efforts from those of the great player they support.
But enough philosophical mumbo jumbo. The point is, if we're really going to start sizing up the best games to be played between late October and mid-April from a perch in mid-August, it would probably help to have a better picture of the specific actors who'll be at the center of the on-court drama.
With that in mind, here's a look at what each team's starting lineup could look like come the fall.According to CNN panelist Symone Sanders, the vicious attack on a mentally disabled man in Chicago during which his attackers yelled “fuck Donald Trump” and “fuck white people,” can be blamed on one man; Donald Trump.
Four people are now in custody after a shocking video emerged of an 18-year-old man being tied up, tortured, cut, beaten and forced to drink toilet water while his assailants screamed racial slurs and live streamed the entire thing on Facebook.
The victim was held by his kidnappers for 24-48 hours before being released, at which point he was spotted by police stumbling around in a west Chicago suburb and immediately taken to hospital.
The chilling footage has sparked a fresh conversation about how the mainstream media’s race baiting and its support for ‘Black Lives Matter’, a group that has inspired violence and whose ideological inspiration is a cop killing terrorist, is legitimizing violent anti-white racism.
However, according to CNN contributor Symone Sanders, the main culprit behind the attacks is Donald Trump.
“I just want to remind folks that we cannot sit here and ignore that, at least for the last year, on very public display, the worst parts of America have been brought from the fringe into the mainstream,” Sanders told CNN’s Don Lemon. “So, that affects people on both sides.”
“We’ve talked about white nationalists and white supremacists and the KKK, but there also, when this inflammatory rhetoric is out there, when someone is repeatedly telling you that your community is the worst of the worst, it brings out the worst of the worst in people,” she added.
When Lemon said that the attackers probably “never watch the news,” Sanders responded, “Ya’ll have to give young people more credit than that [sic] is,” she said. “Everybody knows who Donald Trump is.”
Sanders also asserted that the attack wasn’t a hate crime, commenting, “Was this for hate for Donald Trump, because of the things he said? Or, was this for pure hate of white people, because that matters.”
“That is not a hate crime,” she added. “Hate crimes are because of a person’s racial ethnicity, their religion, their gender, a disability, it isn’t your political leanings, because someone doesn’t like you’re political leanings and they do something bad to you, that is not a hate crime.”
“I’m sure if a group of white Trump supporters live streamed themselves tying up and torturing a black man while demanding he say “Fuck black people” and “Fuck Obama” she’d be just as understanding,” comments Chris Menahan.
Sanders previously responded to the black mob beating of a white man in Chicago because the mob thought he had voted for Trump with the refrain, “Oh my goodness, poor white people!”
She also previously caused controversy by saying, “we don’t need white people leading the Democratic party.”
Meanwhile, Chicago police have refused to label the incident a hate crime, with Chicago Police Department Commander Kevin Duffin telling reporters, “Kids make stupid decisions — I shouldn’t call them kids, they’re legally adults. But they’re young adults and they make stupid decisions.”
Chicago law states, “A person commits hate crime when, by reason of the actual or perceived race, color, creed, religion, ancestry, gender, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, or national origin of another individual or group of individuals, regardless of the existence of any other motivating factor or factors, he commits assault, battery, aggravated assault.”
Given that the attackers yelled “fuck white people” and forced the man to say “I love black people” during the vicious assault, the incident is clearly a hate crime. If the victim’s mental disability was also a motivating factor, then that makes it a hate crime on at least two counts.
Let’s reverse the situation again. If four white Trump supporters abducted a mentally disabled black person for 48 hours and tortured him while yelling racial slurs, would it be a hate crime?
Of course it would, and the left would be apoplectic with rage and condemnation. But in a world defined by social justice warriors and radical leftist professors who ludicrously insist that it’s impossible to be racist against white people, the same rules apparently don’t apply.
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Paul Joseph Watson is the editor at large of Infowars.com and Prison Planet.com.CLICK IMAGE for slideshow: Riot police stand guard as demonstrators protest the shooting death of teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri August 13, 2014. Police in Ferguson fired several rounds of tear gas to disperse protesters late on Wednesday, on the fourth night of demonstrations over the fatal shooting last weekend of an unarmed black teenager Brown, 18, by a police officer on Saturday after what police said was a struggle with a gun in a police car. A witness in the case told local media that Brown had raised his arms to police to show that he was unarmed before being killed. (REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni)
Police officers responding to protests in a St. Louis suburb Wednesday night were outfitted in fatigues, wore gas masks and body armor, carried military-style rifles, and were backed by tanklike armored vehicles as they sought to clear the streets.
Tear gas, smoke bomb explosions and the pop-pop-pop of nonlethal projectiles added to the picture, as photographs and video from Ferguson, Missouri, depicted a scene more reminiscent of a war zone than a civil rights protest against the police shooting Saturday of an unarmed teen in the largely low-income Midwestern town of about 20,000 people.
The military appearance of the St. Louis County police prompted an outpouring of responses from veterans and policymakers on social media and in statements. Brandon Friedman, a U.S. Army veteran, tweeted a photo of himself deployed in Iraq next to an image of a police officer in Ferguson. “The gentleman on the left has more personal body armor and weaponry than I did while invading Iraq,” Friedman wrote.
The gentleman on the left has more personal body armor and weaponry than I did while invading Iraq. pic.twitter.com/5u6TxyIbkk — Brandon Friedman (@BFriedmanDC) August 14, 2014
Democratic Rep. Hank Johnson of Georgia announced that he will introduce a “Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act” in Congress next month. And the issue even attracted a rare moment of bipartisan concern, as Republican Sen. Rand Paul wrote Thursday that local police departments are now “essentially small armies.” Attorney General Eric Holder, meanwhile, said in a statement that he was "deeply concerned" about the the "deployment of military equipment and vehicles" in the town.
So how did small-town cops end up with tanks and so much other military gear?
The vast majority of America’s police departments have special paramilitary units — called SWAT teams — to respond to emergency situations, conduct drug raids and even, as we’re seeing in Ferguson, patrol the streets and control crowds. In the past few years, more of these SWAT teams have received armored vehicles and other military-grade equipment provided for free by the federal government to expand their capabilities.
The first SWAT team was formed to respond to the Watts race riots 50 years ago near Los Angeles, and the command structure soon spread to other police departments as the federal government began funding aggressive local responses to the “war on drugs” in the 1980s. After the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the federal government funneled even more money to municipalities for equipment to battle terror threats.
The Defense Department’s 1033 program, which began in the late 1980s to recycle old military equipment to local police, has given out tens of thousands of machine guns, military fatigues, and, more recently, at least 600 MRAPs (mine-resistant ambush protected vehicles) to help outfit SWAT teams. Police departments can also apply for grants through the Department of Homeland Security to buy lighter armored vehicles, like BearCats, and other military equipment to combat terrorism and drug dealing.
Police departments in St. Louis County have received equipment from the Pentagon program, including six Humvees, 12 M-16 rifles, and a bomb-defusing robot, according to DoD spokesman Mark Wright. The Bearcat, however, was not given to the county by the 1033 program.
A riot police officer aims his weapon while demonstrators protest the shooting death of teenager Michael Brown, in Ferguson, Missouri, on Aug. 13, 2014. Police in Ferguson fired several rounds of tear gas to disperse protesters late on Wednesday, on the fourth night of demonstrations over the fatal shooting last weekend of Brown, 18, an unarmed black teenager by a police officer on Saturday after what police said was a struggle with a gun in a police car. A witness in the case told local media that Brown had raised his arms to police to show that he was unarmed before being killed. (REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni) MoreKUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia’s former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad and opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim haven’t agreed on much, if anything, in the 15 years since the latter was ousted from Mahathir’s government and then jailed on sodomy and corruption charges.
U.S. President Barack Obama makes a statement to the press in the briefing room of the White House in Washington September 30, 2013. REUTERS/Larry Downing
But a U.S.- |
the messages, the messages are decrypted at each hop along the way and are visible there,” Kocher says.
Decidedly unsocial
Encryption used in other forms of online messaging—social networks, in particular—is also hit or miss. For the most part, when you have one of these server-based cloud services where the cloud has the ability to access all of the data, all of your security depends on the machines that are hosting your information, Kocher says.
In a statement issued after NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden blew the lid off of his former employer’s PRISM program, Apple claimed conversations taking place over its iMessage and FaceTime services “are protected by end-to-end encryption so no one but the sender and receiver can see or read them.” The company further said that it “cannot decrypt that data. Similarly, we do not store data related to customers’ location, Map searches or Siri requests in any identifiable form.”
Apple’s claim of end-to-end encryption means anyone trying to compromise communications via its services must compromise an end point to capture them. But that isn’t necessarily hard to do, especially for an intelligence agency or an experienced attacker, Kocher says. “It means [they] have to target a particular end point as opposed to turning the vacuum cleaner on and sucking up [every message] automatically.”
Skype used to claim to have endpoint-to-endpoint encryption. “From some evaluations I’m aware of, that actually seemed to be the case in the past,” Kocher says. More recently, however, Microsoft (which bought Skype in 2011) has modified the protocols so that data is decrypted at the server and then reencrypted before being sent out to the other end of the communication. “So it appears that they’ve actually gone from a stronger model to one that is weaker and more susceptible to surveillance,” he adds. Recent reports indicate that Microsoft actually helped the U.S. government circumvent the company’s own encryption, granting the federal agencies access to Skype video calls as well as Outlook Web chats and e-mail, and information stored via Microsoft's cloud-based SkyDrive online backup and storage software.
If more people used encryption, it would be more difficult—not impossible—for cyber thieves and government agencies to eavesdrop. Still, even if people do a better job of protecting their e-mail communications and data stored on their devices, they need to likewise monitor their use of social networks and other Web sites visible to the general public. Who needs a court order or computer virus when so much information if offered up willingly via sites such as Facebook and Twitter?Who is the most despised Houston Rocket ever? This is a question that many will have different answers on: some say Tracy McGrady(a tenure marred by injuries), some say Yao Ming(same as T-Mac, injuries almost defined his career on the court), some say Vernon Maxwell(no need to get into ‘Mad Max’s character). But for Yahoo! Contributor Mike De Moor, Ralph Sampson is the most despised Rocket ever in his eyes.
But do injuries justify hate? If that is the criteria and logic, then Greg Oden would be the most hated person in the NBA. Is it disappointing to see a player with an unlimited ceiling be hampered by injuries? Yes. Is it frustrating for fans to see their favorite team invest millions of dollars to somebody who has trouble staying on the court(or field)? Absolutely. But does that make them hated? The majority will say no.
Sampson was rookie of the year in 1983-’84, averaging 21 points, 11.1 rebounds, and 2.4 blocks for a 29-win Rockets team. But after Houston drafted Hakeem Olajuwon the next season, the Twin Tower duo became a dominant bunch. In Olajuwon’s rookie season, the duo combined to average 42.7 points, 22.3 rebounds and 4.7 blocks per game and a playoff berth, and carried the Rockets all the way to the NBA finals in 1986, where they would eventually lose in 6 games to the Boston Celtics. While it looked like the ceiling was infinite for the Rockets franchise, the ’85-’86 season would be the peak, as Sampson began suffering injuries in the ’86-’87 season, and was dealt to the Golden State Warriors in 1988.
De Moor connects Sampson to another Portland Trail Blazers big man, Sam Bowie, who will forever be remembered as the infamous no. 2 pick in the 1983 draft, the pick before Michael Jordan was selected. But an injury-riddled career held the Blazers franchise back from being a championship contender for nearly a decade. But where’s the connection? Sampson actually produced and helped carry the Rockets to Western Conference supremacy, while Bowie, in essence, was nothing more than just a role player.
“Sampson had the most disappointing career of any Rocket to date, as him and Olajuwon once appeared headed for greatness, but Sampson’s injuries forced the Rockets franchise into a tailspin. Houston didn’t get out of the second round of the playoffs again until the 1993-94 season, when Olajuwon led the Rockets to their first title in franchise history. If Sampson would have stayed healthy, and the rest of the ’86 supporting cast kept their heads straight (Lloyd and Mitchell Wiggins were suspended for cocaine use, and Lucas, an alcoholic, suffered a relapse), they could have been the premier team of the ’80s, but, instead, they turned out to be just another team that almost got itself a ring. Sampson’s career will be forever entwined with the “What if?” label, as the Rockets’ faithful were cheated out of a decade of greatness. Fortunately, for the Rockets, they were able to win a couple titles during Michael Jordan’s baseball years, which seems like a crooked kind of redemption for a franchise that was the victim of circumstance.”
Oh, the “what if” games and scenarios are always fun to play. So let’s play this game: what if Scottie Pippen’s tenure with the Rockets lasted longer than 7 months in 1999? To start, we must go back to 1997 first.
After the Rockets decided to trade away Robert Horry, Sam Cassell, Chucky Brown, and Mark Bryant for superstar Charles Barkley in 1996, the Big 3 duo of Barkley, Clyde Drexler, and Olajuwon carried the Rockets to the Western Conference Finals against the Utah Jazz, before a John Stockton buzzer-beater in game 6 broke the hearts of Clutch City. The 3 future hall of famers, all on their last wheels, needed more help for the Rockets to remain championship contenders. Injuries and age cost Houston the ’97-’98 season as they lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Jazz again, and Drexler retired after the season. A youth movement was in need.
The Rockets drafted Michael Dickerson and Cuttino Mobley in 1998, and made the biggest headline weeks before the NBA lock-out was scheduled to end in January 1999 when they acquired Pippen for basically a sack of marbles(taking nearly all of Pippen’s new 5-year $67-million contract for Roy Rogers and a 2nd-round pick). The Big 3 was reloaded; Olajuwon and Barkley on their last legs, joined by Pippen, who was still in his prime at that time to make a championship run, and Pippen to be the face of the franchise in the next few years to come.
But the vision turned into a travesty. The Rockets played pretty well in the regular season, finishing 31-19 in a lock-out shortened season despite Pippen and Barkley feuding throughout the season, but flopped in the playoffs, losing to the Los Angeles Lakers in 4 games, 3-1. While Barkley was at most going to play 1 more season, Pippen felt like he didn’t want to stick around anymore, and demanded a trade after the two got into some heated arguments traveling together for a Nike Tour that summer. And so, the Rockets shipped away Pippen to the Blazers, for his satisfaction only. In return, Houston got Kelvin Cato, Stacey Augmon, Walt Williams, Ed Gray, Brian Shaw and Carlos Rogers, that lead to 4 years in the lottery, a doormat in the Western Conference, 10 years before winning a 1st-round playoff series, and PLENTY of bad contracts and decisions(Maurice Taylor, Kelvin Cato, Eddie Griffin, Glen Rice etc.)
Let’s put this in perspective: the Rockets traded away Dickerson for Steve Francis in the summer of ’99 before they shipped away Pippen, so the future all-star would have been paired up; add Mobley, Olajuwon as a role player, and the Rockets would have a solid core after Barkley retired.
No, the Rockets would not have instantly become championship front runners, like the tandem of Sampson and Olajuwon would have been, but they would have been Western Conference contenders for the following years.
You can’t hate a player for something they can’t control(injuries), but you can definitely hate a player for not being able to control his mouth. Scottie felt the need to tear Barkley down publicly, and his actions set the Rockets franchise into irrelevance for a period of time. That’s why he’s the most despised Rocket.THE true beauty of the world’s most beautiful game, according to Johan Cruyff, who knew, didn’t lie in tricksy technique. If a man could juggle a ball a thousand times, it proved only that he ought to join the circus. Of course, it was great when Rudolf Nureyev said he should have been a dancer. But he was not just using his long, lean body when he played football. He was mostly using his brain. That brain, as well as his famously agile feet, made him a local hero in Holland and Spain and, by extension, all over football-mad Europe.
His rules of the game were simple. (Geometrical, some said, even mystical.) If he had the ball, the space on the pitch had to be made as large as possible. If he didn’t have it, the space had to become threatening and small. He adjusted his perspective continually with the movement of the ball. At one given moment—neither too early nor too late, en un momento dado, his catchphrase when he shaped Barcelona into the world’s top team—the ball and he would meet. And from this, as often as not, came glory. Toon Hermans, his fellow-countryman, eloquently described his almost spiritual enthronement in Dutch hearts:
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And Vincent saw the corn
And Einstein the number
And Zeppelin the Zeppelin
And Johan saw the ball.
He didn’t just see it. One piece of wizardry, the Cruyff turn, involved a dummy pass and a back-flick, completely wrong-footing the defender. He invented that in 1974, the neatest of legacies. In another trick, a pretend penalty of 1982, he rolled the ball sideways from the penalty spot to an unnoticed team-mate, who then slipped it stealthily back to let him score. In 1977 he achieved a phantom goal, leaping up and twisting round, back to the net, so the keeper barely saw it coming. He back-heeled the ball then, but could also score with the laces, inside or outside of either foot. That made him six times as talented, he reckoned, as most modern players.
In 1966-67, his best season for Ajax, he scored 33 goals. In 1974 he almost won the World Cup for Holland. He usually played forward, but his philosophy of “total football”—in which he had been coached himself by Rinus Michels at Ajax, before he became its most celebrated “conductor”, as of an orchestra—allowed any player to take any position on the field. Left-wingers could be right-wingers, and a goalie could even be an attacker, using his feet for a change. (Why not? It was a waste of a position otherwise.) Switching and swapping was a neat way to confound the opposition, whether the whirling “carousel” was wearing Ajax white-and-red or bright Holland orange. He had found yet another way to shake up European football.
Match analysts almost made him into a scholar of the turf, “a Pythagoras in boots”, as he was called once. For him, it was all just instinct. He was a cocky, all-knowing Mokummer, master of the one-liner delivered in best Amsterdam slang: a poor boy from Betondorp, “Concrete Village”, who got into the Ajax junior academy mostly because his mother cleaned at the club and his stepfather was a groundsman. At ten, he was putting out the corner-flags and begging players to take pot-shots at him; at 17 his first team-photos showed him open-mouthed and wide-eyed, hungrier for the ball than anyone else. At that point, the mid-1960s, the Dutch football league was becoming increasingly professional. By the mid-1970s, with him playing, Ajax had won six Eredivisie titles and three consecutive European Cups.
For all his talk about teamwork, he didn’t naturally fit in. He was a loner who smoked too much, preferred family to team-mates and wore the number 14 on his shirt. When the Dutch national team was sponsored by Adidas he wouldn’t wear their boots, and went with Puma instead. At the start of the season in 1973 he suddenly left, following Michels, to play for Barcelona for a spell. He returned to Ajax only to leave again in 1983, convinced that they undervalued him. He was never guilty of that himself. Clubs that took him on later as a director or adviser were berated when things were not done as they had to be, his way. “Before I make a mistake, I don’t make that mistake,” he said.
Skinny’s cathedral
His most lasting triumph, though, was the coaching of Barcelona. El Flaco, as they called him, “Skinny”, took the team to the top of La Liga and then, in 1992, to victory in the European Cup. Even more than at Ajax, Barça absorbed his edicts, setting up at his instigation a junior academy, La Masia, like the one he had gone to at Ajax. There a new generation of players—Messi, Iniesta, Xavi and the rest—learned to play in the swift, precise and total Cruyff style. Though he was no more gregarious, and as anti-majoritarian as ever, his separatist head warmed to the Catalans, and they to him. With him they felt they couldn’t lose, and in his eight years at the Camp Nou they rarely did.
His most acclaimed successor as coach, Pep Guardiola, talked of him as the architect of a cathedral he could only reverently restore. Others compared his strategic nous to the paintings of Vermeer. It was all a bit highfalutin. But when he was on the ball, in that sweet moment when he was not too early and not too late, when opponents tumbled in astonishment and space sprang open where none had been before, then, yes, he was quite a lot like God.
Correction: The original version of this article suggested that it was another player who scored the 1982 penalty. It was Johan Cruyff himself and this has been corrected.A Short History of Dublin's Temple Bar By Sean Murphy Copyright © 1994-2002 Centre for Irish
Genealogical and Historical Studies
Carraig, Cliff Road, Windgates, Bray, Co Wicklow, Ireland
E-mail seanjmurphy@eircom.net
Contents may be reproduced freely offline for
personal and educational use Introduction Dublin's Eastern Suburbs Seventeenth-Century Expansion Naming of Temple Bar Streets of Temple Bar Architecture of Temple Bar Decline and Revival of Temple Bar References
Introduction
Temple Bar is a colourful quarter of Dublin City which, almost accidentally it could be said, over the years developed a bohemian 'Left Bank' character, while retaining in its cobbled streets and old buildings a charm no longer to be found in many other parts of the city. The Temple Bar district extends from Fishamble Street in the west to Westmoreland Street in the east, and from the River Liffey in the north to Lord Edward Street-Dame Street-College Green in the south. The bulk of the Temple Bar area is within the boundaries of St Andrew's Parish, while portions to the west are in St Werburgh's and St John's Parishes.
It should be stressed that 'Temple Bar' is not an actual historic name for the quarter, but rather one selected relatively recently for convenience, from the name of the street on which the area is roughly centered. Having been saved from destruction in circumstances described more fully below, the Temple Bar quarter was entrusted in 1991 to the administration of a government-sponsored body, Temple Bar Properties Ltd. The'mission' of Temple Bar Properties was 'to develop a bustling cultural, residential and small-business precinct that will attract visitors in significant numbers'. (1)
The present webpage grew out of the writer's interest in Temple Bar and a booklet published in 1994, which gave a brief account of the area's history and associations for the benefit of visitors, residents and others interested in the area. The booklet and the webpage also express the writer's concern that the history of Temple Bar is not adequately understood and studied, and that some of the quarter's unique features have been neglected or sacrificed needlessly in the course of redevelopment. As a general principle, and one that has been borne out many times in Dublin, it can be stated that there is a deadly linkage between acts of planning vandalism and historical ignorance or apathy.
The Temple Bar Properties prospectus manages to compress 1,000 years of history into the following masterly precis: 'Temple Bar has been a part of Dublin since Viking times and has become what it is through the intervention of many different people'. This skimpy historical review is supplemented with a comment on 'radical interventions' in the area in the past and an implied promise of more to come, which together with a notable lack of specifics in relation to architectural conservation, should have set alarm bells ringing. (2) There is also an official illustrated history of Temple Bar which is not without merit, but it stumbles somewhat in endeavouring to explain how the quarter's principal street received its name, making an irrelevant reference to a'sandbank', and its uncritical tone leaves room for a different approach. (3) Finally, it should be acknowledged that a good deal of the research on which the present webpage is based was originally performed for Temple Bar Properties, and although unfortunately it failed to impact much upon that organisation, the work is published with its kind permission.
Dublin's Eastern Suburbs
Gaelic Ireland did not contain towns as such, although its monastic settlements might be considered 'proto-towns'. Dublin in Gaelic times actually appears to have been composed of two settlements, one called Dubh Linn, the Black Pool, located where the River Poddle meets the Liffey, and the other called Áth Cliath, the Ford of the Hurdles, in the vicinity of the present day Fr Matthew Bridge. While these settlements gave rise to the official English and Irish names of the city, Dublin and Baile Átha Cliath, the foundation of the city itself was due to the Norse, who established a longphort in 841. (4)
The most prominent monument left by the Norse was the Thingmount or Thingmote, a large mound used as an assembly point for public debates and legal proceedings, which was located on the east side of present day Suffolk Street and survived until the seventeenth century. In the ninth and succeeding centuries Dublin developed as a Hiberno-Norse town, its Norse rulers generally acknowledging Gaelic overlordship, with the exception of intermittent periods of conflict. In 1170 Dublin was captured by the combined forces of Dermot MacMurrough and Richard Fitzgilbert de Clare, or Strongbow as he is more commonly known. The city was henceforth an Anglo-Norman stronghold, the Norse inhabitants being driven north of the Liffey to Ostmanstown, now Oxmantown.
The existing Norse walls of Dublin were strengthened and expanded by the Anglo-Normans, and in 1204 the building of a castle was commenced on the site of the original Norse stronghold. The channel of the Liffey was narrowed by a process of reclamation employing revetments or retaining walls, and this and other features of the developing medieval city are being revealed by ongoing archaeological excavations. The district that was to be Temple Bar was part of the eastern suburbs, outside the city walls, though most of the portion north of Dame Street was still unreclaimed.
The area was sufficiently populous to be served by a church, St Andrew's, and in addition to this church and the Thingmount, the most important features of the area included Hoggen Green, St Mary de Hogges Abbey and the Augustinian Holy Trinity Friary. Holy Trinity Friary was founded about 1282, and its site is believed to be marked by Temple Lane, Temple Bar, Fownes Street Upper and Cecilia Street. (5) Fascinating glimpses of life in the medieval Friary are provided by a reconstruction of a gruesome murder case there in 1379, when Friar Richard Dermot was murdered by some fellow Augustinians and his body hidden in a well. (6)
St Andrew's can be considered the first of Dublin's suburban parishes, and was probably founded during the Norse era. The medieval church was located by the Castle in Dame Street, on the site of the present Allied Irish Bank. St Andrew's was attached to St Patrick's Cathedral from 1219, and the parish appears to have declined in succeeding centuries due to its exposed position outside the walls, which rendered it vulnerable to attacks by the native Irish. In the middle of the sixteenth century St Andrew's parish was united with St Werburgh's, and St Andrew's Church fell into disuse, eventually being converted into a stable for the viceroy! (7)
Seventeenth-Century Expansion
From the early seventeenth century on our knowledge of the processes whereby the Temple Bar area was developed becomes more detailed, and ongoing archaeological investigations should provide further information. The reclamation by the developer Jacob Newman in the early 1600s of a small amount of land in the area of Parliament Street, involving the enclosure of the Poddle-Liffey confluence, facilitated further eastward expansion. (8) The land between St Stephen's Green and the old city became increasingly fashionable for house building in the Stuart era, and some of the new dwellings had gardens stretching down to the Liffey. (9)
Among the prominent families living in the Dame Street area in the early seventeenth century were Temple, Eustace and Anglesea, all still commemorated in street names (although the more complicated position with regard to Temple is explained below). The original line of the Liffey shore was marked by Essex Street-Temple Bar-Fleet Street, but land beyond was progressively walled in and reclaimed. Unusually, the reclaimed land was not quayed initially, but had houses adjoining the water's edge, and it was not until 1812 that these houses were replaced by Wellington Quay. Bernard de Gomme's Map of Dublin 1673 shows the major reclamation and new building which had taken place in the eastern suburbs south of the Liffey in the course of the seventeenth century. De Gomme's is the earliest map or document specifically to refer to Temple Bar, and other familiar streets in the area are Dammas (Dame) Street and Dirty (formerly Hogges, now Temple) Lane. (10)
As a result of this seventeenth-century expansion, it was considered necessary to revive St Andrew's as a separate parish in 1665, and Sir John Temple and Arthur Earl of Anglesea were appointed as the first churchwardens. In 1670 a new St Andrew's Church designed by the architect William Dodson was built to the east of the old church, on the site of the present church adjoining Suffolk Street. (11) Dodson's 1670 church was round or more properly oval in shape, the only Dublin church so unusually constructed, and it has been pointed out that there was a tradition of building circular churches dedicated to St Andrew.
The oval St Andrew's Church was reconstructed without altering its shape in the 1790s, the work being completed in the early 1800s under the direction of the famous architect Francis Johnston. The reconstructed church was unfortunately destroyed by fire in 1860, following which the third and still surviving conventional church was built. One does not have to be an occultist to consider that the intriguing old 'Round Church' of St Andrew was laden with symbolism. The church was shaped like an eye which peers at you from the map, its 'St Andrew's Cross' (X) diagonals harmonised with the compass-like shape of St Andrew Street and Suffolk Street, and the effect was completed by the 90 degrees (though off-centre) square of the southern churchyard walls. While curious coincidence may be advanced as an explanation, the all-seeing eye and the square and compass were favourite symbols among Hermeticists and Freemasons, as well as being employed more practically by architects and cartographers.
The Naming of Temple Bar
Most sources agree that Dublin's Temple Bar was named after the Temple family, and specifically after Sir William Temple, whose house and gardens were located there in the early seventeenth century. The official Temple Bar Guide goes one better by adding that 'a bar was the name for a walkway by a river, so the path used by the Temple family became known as the Temple Bar', (12) which of course is simply naive. Sir William Temple first came to Ireland in 1599 as secretary to Robert Devereux, second Earl of Essex. Temple appears to have had some complicity in Essex's rising in London in 1601, for which Queen Elizabeth I had the Earl executed. Essex had been prominent in pressing the claims of Scotland's King James VI to succeed the aged Elizabeth, and when the Scottish monarch became James I of England in 1603, Essex's reputation was to some extent restored. Thus while Temple's career initially suffered a setback as a result of his involvement in Essex's rising, in 1609 he was appointed Provost of Trinity College Dublin, a post he held until his death in 1627. His son Sir John Temple and his grandson Sir William Temple also had illustrious careers, as Master of the Rolls and diplomat respectively. (13)
The writer first had doubts that Dublin's Temple Bar was simply named after the Temple family when he noticed that there is also a Temple Bar in London. Furthermore, London's Temple Bar is adjoined by Essex Street to the west and Fleet Street to the east, and streets of the same names occupy similar positions in relation to Dublin's Temple Bar. It seems almost certain therefore that Dublin's Temple Bar was named firstly in imitation of the historic Temple precinct in London. However, a secondary and equally plausible reason for using the name Temple Bar in Dublin would be a reference to one of the area's most prominent families, in a sort of pun or play on words. Or as it has been put more succinctly, Temple Bar 'does honour to London and the landlord in nicely-gauged proportions'. (14)
Fleet Street in London was named after the river Fleet, and as there is no such river in Dublin, the naming of Fleet Street here was just plain imitation. Essex Street in London was named after Essex House, the residence of Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex. Essex Street in Dublin is usually stated to have been named after a later Earl of Essex, Arthur Capel, who was Irish Lord Lieutenant from 1672-7, and who significantly was acquainted with members of the Temple family. The title of Essex was peculiarly ill-starred, as the first holder, Geoffrey de Mandeville, died in 1144 of a wound received while in rebellion (and was buried in the London Temple), Robert Devereux died on the block in 1601 as already mentioned, and Arthur Capel was to cut his throat in the Tower of London in 1683 when imprisoned on suspicion of involvement in the Rye House Plot against Charles II. The fact that the earliest documented reference to Dublin's Temple Bar is dated 1673, during Capel's lord lieutenancy, lends weight to the claim that Dublin's Essex Street, Gate, Quay and Bridge were named in his honour, but again a secondary imitation of the London street name and therefore an association with William Temple's old patron Robert Devereux cannot be ruled out.
The term 'bar' in the London context meant a barrier or gate closing the entrance to the London property of the Knights of the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem, or Knights Templar for short. The centre piece of London's Temple precinct is a still surviving round church built in imitation of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, apparently often confused in medieval times with the Temple of Solomon. The military-religious Templar Order was founded in 1118 with the primary purpose of defending travellers to the Holy Land, and was suppressed in sensational circumstances after 1308, when its members were accused, probably unjustly, of offences including blasphemy and sexual deviancy. The dramatic destruction of the Templars had a profound effect on the popular mind, and a powerful mystique crediting the order with occult powers and underground survival has lasted to the present day, as witnessed by publications by Baigent and Leigh and Umberto Eco. (15)
Given that several European cities had Templar precincts, including London and Paris, it would be surprising if the order did not maintain some sort of premises in such an important city and port as Dublin, although its Irish headquarters were at Clontarf, County Dublin. Bristol, which had close links with Anglo-Norman Dublin, possessed a Templar quarter known as the 'Temple Fee', in which was located an oval church. It is not known if the first St Andrew's Church in Dublin was oval like the second, but it could well have been. Definite evidence has been found of a Templar presence in St Andrew's parish in 1239, when a sum of 12 pence of silver was to be paid annually in respect of property there to the 'House of Clontarf'. (16) That the Templars retained an interest in property in the area is indicated by the fact that after the order's suspension in 1308, there was due to it arrears of rent being paid by the 'nuns of Hogges', whose nunnery was on the site of the present St Andrew's Church. (17)
When it is considered that the surname Temple originally designated residence in or near a Templar house, the apparently inescapable Templar associations arise again. Furthermore, Freemasonry, a largely Scottish invention with roots in Renaissance Hermetic and occult thought, (18) has long possessed an addiction to romantic Templarism. Freemasonry itself was probably introduced to Ireland after or shortly before the accession of James I in 1603, while Masonic Templarism can also be traced back to Scotland. It has been suggested plausibly that Scottish planter families such as the Hamiltons brought Freemasonry and Templarism with them to Ulster, (19) and James Hamilton, later Earl of Clandeboye, also resided for a time in Dublin as a teacher and political agent of the future James I. Hamilton was appointed one of Trinity College's first fellows in 1592, and we have seen that Sir William Temple was appointed Provost of the university in 1609. Coincidentally or not, the earliest documented manifestation of Masonic organisation in Ireland was in Trinity in 1688. (20)
While it must be stated that no evidence has yet been found that the Temple family possessed Masonic links, both Freemasonry and Masonic Templarism had strong connections with Dublin's Temple Bar area in the eighteenth century, as will be demonstrated below in the account of its streets. If we were to allow ourselves to be intoxicated by the Templar mystique, we would immediately conclude that Dublin's Temple Bar must also have been named after an important medieval foundation of the mysterious Templar Order, the existence of which had been forgotten by all but a few initiated adepts of a surviving underground. Alas, the absence of any documented evidence for such a Templar foundation, and the fact that the name Temple Bar appears in Dublin records only from the late seventeenth century, mean that such a conclusion would be fanciful. Hyper-sceptics will criticise us for raising the subject at all, but we consider the cult of Templarism worthy of serious investigation, and must allow the possibility that its resonances at least may have influenced those who named Dublin's Temple Bar in the seventeenth century. However, we must reiterate our earlier conclusion that the main motivations for naming the Dublin street would have been imitation of a London street name and commemoration of one of the area's most prominent families.
The Streets of Temple Bar
At this point we shall take a look at the various streets which comprise the Temple Bar quarter, explaining how they were named, listing some of their principal associations and noting other points of interest. (21) The writer has recommended several times that attractively designed commemorative plaques should be erected on the identifiable houses or sites of houses of the most notable residents, as this would add an additional feature of interest and information for visitors to Temple Bar. Regrettably, there is more than a suspicion that the failure to erect such plaques is due to the well-founded belief that they would limit freedom of action in terms of demolition work. It should be added that the Temple Bar area is dotted today with shops, restaurants, bars and cultural centres which are of interest to visitors, but which it is not within the scope of the present publication to itemize in detail (for information on such facilities see Dublin City guides and websites). Proprietors of the, perhaps a little too numerous, public houses or bars in the Temple Bar area should consider reviving historic tavern names - indeed it is noted that some now have - and a fair selection of these is given below.
The Temple Bar district is bounded on the west by Fishamble Street, so called because it was the medieval location of the city's fish markets, and it also contains the site of the Music Hall where Handel's Messiah is stated to have been first performed in 1742. James Grattan, father of the patriot Henry Grattan, resided in Fishamble Street until 1757. Among the taverns in Fishamble Street were the 'Swan', 'Ormond's Arms' and the 'Bull's Head', the latter much frequented by Freemasons in the 1730s. The urban legend that the famous Molly Malone was a real person who resided in Fishamble Street in the seventeenth century is considered elsewhere on this website.
Essex Street West and East, Essex Gate, Essex Quay and Essex (now Grattan) Bridge were all named after Arthur Capel, Earl of Essex and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland 1672-7, although as noted above, imitation of the name of the London street may have played a part. Essex Street West was formerly named Smock Alley, where was located the famous Smock Alley Theatre, and the writer suggests that it might be a good idea to restore such a historic street name and mark the site of the theatre, the structure of which apparently survives in SS Michael and John's Church. Among the many printers and publishers based in Essex Street were Nathaniel Gun, the Jacobite Edward Lloyd, and George Grierson, appointed King's Printer in 1727. Taverns and coffee-houses in Essex Street included the 'Elephant', the 'Crown Tavern', the 'Three Nags' Heads', the 'Merchants' Coffee-House' and the 'Globe', and on Essex Bridge, the 'Freemasons' Coffee House'. The medallist William Mossop resided at Essex Quay from 1784.
Exchange Street Upper and Lower were named due to the fact that they led on to the Royal Exchange, now the City Hall, and were formerly known as Blind Quay Upper and Lower. Again, it seems a pity to lose such a colourful street name, and Exchange Street Lower at least might have the name Blind Quay restored. Copper Alley is said to have taken its name from the copper money coined there in 1608 by Lady Alice Fenton. Lord Edward Street is named in honour of the 1798 patriot and son of the Duke of Leinster, Lord Edward Fitzgerald. Cork Hill takes its name from the fact that Richard Boyle, the first Earl of Cork, had a mansion in the area, known as Cork House. The old 'Eagle Tavern' was located on Cork Hill, and Richard Parsons, Earl of Rosse and first recorded Grand Master of the Irish Freemasons, is stated to have established a Hell-Fire Club in the tavern about 1735. James Esdall, printer of the works of the patriot Charles Lucas in 1749, was in business on Cork Hill at the corner of Copper Alley (Lucas's statue can be seen in City Hall in Dame Street).
Wellington Quay of course commemorates the great Duke of Wellington, victor at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. The old Custom House and Custom House Quay were sited at the western end of Wellington Quay. Parliament Street owes its name to the fact that it was built with the aid of a grant of the Irish Parliament in 1757. George Faulkner, printer and publisher, friend of Swift and publisher of his works, resided in Parliament Street at the southern corner of Essex Street. Dame Street derives its name from Dame's Gate, the eastern gate of the city adjoining the Church of St Mary del Dame. There were many printers and publishers based in Dame Street in the eighteenth century, including Peter Wilson, founder of Dublin's first trade directory in 1752, Abraham Bradley, Edward Exshaw and Samuel Powell. Taverns in Dame Street included the 'Duke's Head', the 'Robin Hood', the 'Rose and Bottle', and 'Daly's', from which evolved 'Daly's Club'. The sign of the Ouzel Galley Society, forerunner of the Dublin Chamber of Commerce, can be seen affixed to the side of the reconstructed Commercial Buildings facing Dame Street. Crane Lane is named after a public crane located near the old Custom House. Sycamore Street, formerly Sycamore Alley, possibly referred to the species of tree or more probably to a tavern bearing the name.
Eustace Street was named after Sir Maurice Eustace, Speaker of the House of Commons and Lord Chancellor, who died in 1665 and whose house and gardens stood on the site of this street. The Quaker (Religious Society of Friends) Meeting House in Eustace Street has |
59:55 PM Bradfords_ACL GROW ME UP 5:59:55 PM AllTheMegahertz digestion 5:59:56 PM unguilt voted to STAY 5:59:56 PM zacketysack 42 5:59:56 PM brotatoochip bile 5:59:56 PM lexicaleigh primemodel - was a girl i think, rebel something 5:59:57 PM exponant 43 5:59:57 PM boy_wanders 43 5:59:57 PM mtriper digestion 5:59:58 PM Beard_of_Gimli swallowing 5:59:58 PM Wannabkate [Robin Autovoter 1.9] 200 and 397 more in this room! Voting will end in approximately 5 minutes 5:59:58 PM wascal_ttkk MAY AS WELL SPAM MY SOUNCLOUD AGAIN FOR OLD TIMES SAKE : https://soundcloud.com/wascal 5:59:59 PM Fordasbutton vaso vegas reaction 5:59:59 PM peacecorn rebel? he might be primemodel. did you see his picture? looked yummmy 6:00:00 PM zacketysack 44 6:00:00 PM Bradfords_ACL GROW MEEEEEEH 6:00:01 PM stacyslays digestion 6:00:02 PM edlll91 swallowing 6:00:04 PM chrismash spitting 6:00:05 PM Shufflebuzz esophagus 6:00:05 PM AllTheMegahertz swallowing 6:00:05 PM rian294 CAN'T ABANDON 6:00:06 PM CatTypingDetected like sadness going down your throat? 6:00:06 PM ifuckhamsters swallowing 6:00:06 PM NJMurr voted to STAY 6:00:10 PM Fordasbutton lol nvm 6:00:10 PM stacyslays swalloing 6:00:12 PM NJMurr voted to GROW 6:00:13 PM bericac Fuck you trivia bot 6:00:15 PM unguilt voted to GROW 6:00:16 PM Xgonnagive swallowing 6:00:16 PM TheDerplessHerp voted to GROW 6:00:17 PM loxias44 trivia bot sucks 6:00:17 PM ydoowoody lol wtf TB 6:00:19 PM zacketysack 44 6:00:20 PM exponant 45 6:00:20 PM boy_wanders 45 6:00:20 PM Xgonnagive like your mom 6:00:20 PM DILeakStudios pfft 6:00:22 PM gchrisdean ******https://www.reddit.com/r/joinrobin/comments/4d3qwc/anybody_in_the_soc0lilsgt_chat/******* 6:00:22 PM Fordasbutton i cant read because spam 6:00:24 PM Aslan-is-best-lion digestion 6:00:24 PM zacketysack 46 6:00:25 PM loxias44 Rupee 6:00:25 PM AllTheMegahertz Rupie 6:00:25 PM Beard_of_Gimli rupee 6:00:26 PM opek1987 indian rupee 6:00:26 PM SuperAstronomyNerd rupee 6:00:26 PM ydoowoody Rupees 6:00:27 PM ifuckhamsters Rupee 6:00:27 PM SnorkleDork rupee 6:00:28 PM edlll91 rupee 6:00:28 PM bericac rupee 6:00:28 PM chrismash rupee 6:00:28 PM Poulol voted to GROW 6:00:29 PM p4p4k4p rupee 6:00:29 PM wascal_ttkk RUPEE 6:00:30 PM Madhog_ rupee 6:00:30 PM Shufflebuzz rupee 6:00:30 PM AllTheMegahertz Rupee 6:00:30 PM domasin rupee 6:00:31 PM zacketysack 46 6:00:31 PM gchrisdean ******https://www.reddit.com/r/joinrobin/comments/4d3qwc/anybody_in_the_soc0lilsgt_chat/******* 6:00:32 PM Xgonnagive rupee 6:00:32 PM DILeakStudios shekel 6:00:32 PM exponant 47 6:00:32 PM boy_wanders 47 6:00:34 PM pixzleone rupee 6:00:35 PM brotatoochip rupee 6:00:35 PM wascal_ttkk RU PAUL 6:00:36 PM _thisisnotme rupee 6:00:37 PM [robin] RATELIMIT | you are doing that too much. try again in 2 seconds. 6:00:37 PM 48 6:00:38 PM bericac shekel 6:00:38 PM SuperAstronomyNerd hitler currency 6:00:39 PM CatTypingDetected fordasbutton https://www.reddit.com/r/joinrobin/comments/4cwk2s/automatic_grow_userscript_bot/ 6:00:40 PM jawkas rebelsmiley11u here, u had a nice lasagna 6:00:41 PM miker2049 https://soundcloud.com/miker2049 6:00:41 PM zacketysack 48 6:00:41 PM potatopierogis stop shitposting please 6:00:42 PM wascal_ttkk RU PAUL 2012 6:00:42 PM Bradfords_ACL kolkata 6:00:42 PM exponant 49 6:00:43 PM boy_wanders 49 6:00:44 PM ifuckhamsters INR 6:00:44 PM Liquid-Fire runs away 6:00:45 PM [robin] RATELIMIT | you are doing that too much. try again in 4 seconds. 6:00:45 PM 50 6:00:49 PM OnTheR0cks James Dean died in a car accident. 6:00:51 PM zacketysack 50 6:00:51 PM corytheboyd like comment and subscribe plz 6:00:51 PM jawkas rebelsmiley11 * u here? 6:00:52 PM boy_wanders 51 6:00:52 PM exponant 51 6:00:56 PM rebelsmiley11 jawkas I ate i 6:00:57 PM wascal_ttkk https://soundcloud.com/wascal ENJOY 6:00:57 PM dgspai voted to STAY 6:00:59 PM brotatoochip james dean was gaaaay 6:01:00 PM zacketysack 52 6:01:01 PM kilroydacat I make poopoo in my pants 6:01:01 PM exponant 53 6:01:02 PM dgspai voted to GROW 6:01:02 PM boy_wanders 53 6:01:03 PM LIB_SPENDING_MACHINE smash dat fuckin grow button 6:01:04 PM jawkas rebelsmiley11 hence, had 6:01:05 PM gchrisdean ******https://www.reddit.com/r/joinrobin/comments/4d3qwc/anybody_in_the_soc0lilsgt_chat/******* 6:01:05 PM inmyshade REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE 6:01:07 PM QMaker IMETHANBRADBERRY 6:01:09 PM [robin] RATELIMIT | you are doing that too much. try again in 999 milliseconds. 6:01:09 PM 54 6:01:11 PM zacketysack 54 6:01:12 PM dgspai voted to STAY 6:01:12 PM rebelsmiley11 jawkas it is in the fridge now 6:01:12 PM exponant 55 6:01:12 PM LIB_SPENDING_MACHINE where my nini niggas at 6:01:13 PM boy_wanders 55 6:01:16 PM [robin] RATELIMIT | you are doing that too much. try again in 3 seconds. 6:01:16 PM 56 6:01:18 PM domasin OnTheR0cks The porn star? 6:01:19 PM ydoowoody Abba 6:01:20 PM AllTheMegahertz Daft Punk 6:01:20 PM Beard_of_Gimli daft punk 6:01:21 PM bericac Abba 6:01:21 PM dgspai voted to GROW 6:01:21 PM loxias44 Simon and Garfunkle 6:01:22 PM SuperAstronomyNerd The hitler brothers 6:01:22 PM zacketysack 56 6:01:22 PM shokk Welcome to the shadows. 6:01:23 PM Madhog_ Abba 6:01:24 PM boy_wanders 57 6:01:25 PM exponant 58 6:01:25 PM kilroydacat I felt the Bern But it was only ghonorea 6:01:26 PM brotatoochip sup lib 6:01:27 PM DILeakStudios abba 6:01:28 PM shuckfatthit voted to STAY 6:01:30 PM lexicaleigh Rebelsmiley11, that was it! Was it worth the wait? 6:01:31 PM AllTheMegahertz Abba 6:01:31 PM TheDizeazed voted to STAY 6:01:32 PM Shufflebuzz kraftwerk 6:01:33 PM bericac Simon and Garfunkle 6:01:33 PM pixzleone abba lmao 6:01:33 PM SuperAstronomyNerd simon and garfunkle 6:01:34 PM Zidane8998 Kraftwerk 6:01:35 PM peacecorn stepping away from the computer....... see you later! 6:01:36 PM edlll91 kraftwerk 6:01:36 PM SnorkleDork simon and garfunkle 6:01:37 PM brotatoochip abba 6:01:37 PM sotricious NICE ONE TOOK2ARROWS! 6:01:38 PM Madhog_ kraftwek 6:01:38 PM letsplayterraria voted to ABANDON 6:01:39 PM Bradfords_ACL Milli Vanilli? 6:01:41 PM Shufflebuzz Kraftwerk 6:01:41 PM ManWithNoSpoon Later penus! 6:01:41 PM domasin Kraftwerk 6:01:42 PM xBytez testlink http://example.com/ 6:01:42 PM zacketysack 59 6:01:43 PM exponant 60 6:01:44 PM Xgonnagive LOL 6:01:46 PM sotricious original AND fun! 6:01:47 PM [robin] 1 users abandoned 6:01:47 PM rebelsmiley11 lexicaleigh it was worth the wait :D my tummy is happy 6:01:48 PM edlll91 abba not german guys 6:01:48 PM ScottFromCanada this is horrible 6:01:48 PM bericac Lmfao Abba 6:01:48 PM letsplayterraria voted to ABANDON 6:01:49 PM lexicaleigh See you later @peacecorn 6:01:50 PM letsplayterraria voted to ABANDON 6:01:50 PM SnaargTheInert voted to GROW 6:01:54 PM domasin But Kraftwerk is a quartet 6:01:55 PM zacketysack 61 6:01:56 PM exponant 62 6:01:56 PM boy_wanders 62 6:01:57 PM Xgonnagive Shogun 6:02:00 PM zacketysack 63 6:02:00 PM Madhog_ shogun 6:02:00 PM brotatoochip shogun 6:02:00 PM ydoowoody Samarai 6:02:01 PM mipu See ya peacecorn 6:02:03 PM Bradfords_ACL Shogun 6:02:04 PM AllTheMegahertz Shogun 6:02:04 PM SnorkleDork shogun 6:02:05 PM bericac Shogun 6:02:05 PM DILeakStudios shogun 6:02:06 PM Aslan-is-best-lion shogun 6:02:06 PM gchrisdean ******https://www.reddit.com/r/joinrobin/comments/4d3qwc/anybody_in_the_soc0lilsgt_chat/******* 6:02:07 PM [robin] RATELIMIT | you are doing that too much. try again in 2 seconds. 6:02:07 PM 63 6:02:08 PM ScottFromCanada shogun 6:02:09 PM lexicaleigh ScottfromCanada - get a script and mute :) 6:02:09 PM SuperAstronomyNerd shogun 6:02:10 PM bericac Samurai 6:02:10 PM TheDizeazed voted to GROW 6:02:13 PM DILeakStudios Knock kncok, it's the US 6:02:14 PM zacketysack 63 6:02:15 PM edlll91 shogun 6:02:15 PM boy_wanders 64 6:02:15 PM exponant 64 6:02:17 PM domasin shogun 6:02:19 PM rebelsmiley11 shogun 6:02:20 PM shokk You have false idols to stop you from tearing down spam! We will show you your true dark lord. 6:02:24 PM miker2049 65 6:02:24 PM zacketysack 65 6:02:25 PM exponant 66 6:02:25 PM boy_wanders 66 6:02:28 PM fzh /r/obin 6:02:29 PM Lajumin with huge boats, and guns. gunboats 6:02:29 PM [robin] RATELIMIT | you are doing that too much. try again in 999 milliseconds. 6:02:29 PM 67 6:02:31 PM OnTheR0cks I am too drunk to taste this chicken. 6:02:32 PM zacketysack 67 6:02:33 PM exponant 68 6:02:33 PM boy_wanders 68 6:02:35 PM LongStrangeTrips voted to GROW 6:02:36 PM [robin] RATELIMIT | you are doing that too much. try again in 3 seconds. 6:02:36 PM 69 6:02:37 PM ScottFromCanada naw. Im playing a game and mostly ignoring this anyway 6:02:39 PM ifuckhamsters WHY>???? 6:02:40 PM rian294 muted took2 6:02:40 PM miker2049 67 6:02:40 PM Xgonnagive Chrystler Building 6:02:41 PM zacketysack 69 6:02:42 PM boy_wanders 68 6:02:42 PM exponant 70 6:02:43 PM ifuckhamsters wtf??? 6:02:43 PM DILeakStudios the dick of New York 6:02:43 PM WythDryden Yeah, I've just resigned to trying to mute all the trivia 6:02:44 PM Jack2671 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXa9tXcMhXQ - Great stuff for 1977, the beginning really... 6:02:47 PM LongStrangeTrips http://pastebin.com/raw/mEJXJBB7 6:02:47 PM bericac Do you want an essay Trivia bot? 6:02:47 PM ydoowoody Tall 6:02:48 PM Bradfords_ACL It towered over the fucking usa 6:02:48 PM [robin] RATELIMIT | you are doing that too much. try again in 3 seconds. 6:02:48 PM 71 6:02:48 PM RATELIMIT | you are doing that too much. try again in 1 second. 6:02:48 PM 71 6:02:50 PM zacketysack 71 6:02:51 PM brotatoochip tallest 6:02:51 PM boy_wanders 72 6:02:51 PM exponant 72 6:02:52 PM AllTheMegahertz Because it is in the empire state 6:02:52 PM LongStrangeTrips PENIS Anyone left? 6:02:54 PM WythDryden It's still taking me a while with the lag 6:02:54 PM [robin] RATELIMIT | you are doing that too much. try again in 5 seconds. 6:02:54 PM 73 6:02:55 PM Madhog_ tallest 6:02:56 PM rebelsmiley11 tallest building 6:02:56 PM bericac New York 6:02:56 PM SuperAstronomyNerd spire 6:02:57 PM [robin] RATELIMIT | you are doing that too much. try again in 2 seconds. 6:02:57 PM 73 6:02:58 PM miker2049 68 6:02:59 PM shokk Salt, gathered from the tears of a thousand angels, restraining the essence of TriviaBot, the Seed of Destruction. 6:03:00 PM opek1987 TEAM LIQUID ARE DOING IT BOYS! 14-9 AGAINST LUMINOSITY HOLY SHIT!!!! #MAKE NA CS GREAT AGAIN 6:03:01 PM zacketysack 73 6:03:02 PM Dirty_Liberal_Hippie Because it was built by darth vader and the empire 6:03:04 PM brotatoochip wtffff 6:03:06 PM OrangeredStilton "It's In The Empire State"? 6:03:07 PM lexicaleigh WythDryden - all questions and answers... it's the only way to be left with conversation! 6:03:08 PM JeremyQ voted to GROW 6:03:09 PM Dank3nstein VOTE FOR GROW PPL 6:03:09 PM [robin] RATELIMIT | you are doing that too much. try again in 999 milliseconds. 6:03:09 PM 73 6:03:10 PM OrangeredStilton Really, all of that? 6:03:12 PM sotricious Is there anyone OVER 40 years old in here? 6:03:12 PM zacketysack 73 6:03:12 PM ifuckhamsters LOL Trivia bot 6:03:13 PM Nyavlis voted to GROW 6:03:13 PM exponant 74 6:03:13 PM boy_wanders 74 6:03:14 PM rian294 can we please remove triviabot, too much spam 6:03:15 PM chrismash VP 6:03:17 PM bericac Paul Revere 6:03:18 PM Madhog_ VP 6:03:18 PM JeremyQ [Robin Autovoter 1.9] 200 and 396 more in this room! Voting will end in approximately 2 minutes 6:03:18 PM brotatoochip me 6:03:18 PM LongStrangeTrips PENIS I can only see messages that start with PENIS 6:03:20 PM zacketysack 75 6:03:20 PM Syn7axError Godiva 6:03:20 PM QMaker lady godiva 6:03:20 PM miker2049 75 6:03:21 PM exponant 76 6:03:22 PM boy_wanders 76 6:03:22 PM chippiearnold JIMMY SAVILLE 6:03:23 PM brotatoochip godiva 6:03:23 PM Xgonnagive Lady Godiva 6:03:23 PM opek1987 MAKE NA CS GREAT AGAIN BOYS LETS GO LIQUID 6:03:24 PM JeremyQ 69 6:03:24 PM goldsmit409 voted to GROW 6:03:24 PM domasin 11 6:03:24 PM Madhog_ godiva 6:03:24 PM bericac Lady Godiva 6:03:25 PM rian294 2 6:03:26 PM VinnyP215 Godiva 6:03:26 PM [robin] RATELIMIT | you are doing that too much. try again in 3 seconds. 6:03:26 PM 77 6:03:26 PM Bradfords_ACL lady godiva 6:03:27 PM Shufflebuzz Lady Godiva 6:03:28 PM lexicaleigh Let's not, Potato 6:03:28 PM shokk This I can promise, for every one of you that votes STAY, two GROW shall arise. 6:03:29 PM chrismash wtf are you going to do without trivia? 6:03:30 PM zacketysack 77 6:03:31 PM boy_wanders 4 6:03:31 PM exponant 4 6:03:31 PM cj1990 what the hell is happening here 6:03:31 PM miker2049 78 6:03:32 PM edlll91 lady godiva 6:03:37 PM DILeakStudios 1 6:03:38 PM WythDryden lexicaleigh That's what I'm trying to do. I have to save the bot for last so I can tell more easily who is playing to mute 6:03:38 PM AllTheMegahertz Lady Godiva 6:03:39 PM domasin lady godive 6:03:39 PM [robin] RATELIMIT | you are doing that too much. try again in 999 milliseconds. 6:03:39 PM 79 6:03:41 PM zacketysack 79 6:03:43 PM shokk 69 69 69 69 6:03:45 PM gchrisdean ******https://www.reddit.com/r/joinrobin/comments/4d3qwc/anybody_in_the_soc0lilsgt_chat/******* 6:03:45 PM miker2049 80 6:03:45 PM Syn7axError oh come on 6:03:45 PM enNova ็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็ ็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็ 6:03:46 PM exponant 81 6:03:47 PM boy_wanders 82 6:03:49 PM TheDizeazed ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒𝔸𝕃𝕃 ℍ𝔸𝕀𝕃 𝕊𝕌ℙℝ𝔼𝕄𝔼 𝕃𝔼𝔸𝔻𝔼ℝ /𝕌/ℙ𝕌𝕊𝕊𝕐𝕃𝕀ℙ𝕊▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ 6:03:50 PM opek1987 CLICK ON A PERSON'S NAME TO MUTE THEM BOIS 6:03:50 PM zacketysack 83 6:03:56 PM miiuiiu LASAGNA 6:03:56 PM exponant 4 6:03:56 PM Madhog_ Spain 6:03:56 PM wascal_ttkk HOLLAND 6:03:56 PM VinnyP215 Denmark 6:03:56 PM Animus_Glitch hello friends 6:03:57 PM boy_wanders 5 6:03:58 PM SuperAstronomyNerd australia 6:03:58 PM brotatoochip russia 6:03:58 PM DILeakStudios Africa 6:03:59 PM ydoowoody Sweden 6:04:00 PM OrangeredStilton Israel 6:04:00 PM Dank3nstein less than 1 min 6:04:00 PM SuperAstronomyNerd denmark 6:04:00 PM bericac Holland 6:04:01 PM AllTheMegahertz Spain 6:04:01 PM miker2049 84 6:04:02 PM Madhog_ Denmark 6:04:03 PM miiuiiu DOES ANYONE HAVE THE LASAGNA PICS 6:04:03 PM zacketysack 85 6:04:03 PM lexicaleigh I see, Wyth. I mostly just mute anyone who's duplicating answers :P 6:04:04 PM squatly voted to GROW 6:04:04 PM Xgonnagive holland 6:04:04 PM c0bra51 ENGLAND! 6:04:04 PM boy_wanders 86 6:04:05 PM exponant 86 6:04:05 PM Shufflebuzz Israel 6:04:05 PM sotricious it is so sad what we are witnessing 6:04:05 PM berglund17 Denmark 6:04:07 PM sssasssafrasss michigan USA 6:04:07 PM edlll91 denmark 6:04:07 PM Bradfords_ACL Israel 6:04:07 PM loxias44 Denmark 6:04:08 PM [robin] RATELIMIT | you are doing that too much. try again in 1 second. 6:04:08 PM 87 6:04:10 PM wascal_ttkk SOUNDS ISRALI ACTUALLY 6:04:10 PM Fordasbutton SPAM LASAGNA 6:04:10 PM brotatoochip hooland 6:04:10 PM zacketysack 87 6:04:10 PM Xgonnagive FUCK 6:04:11 PM AllTheMegahertz Sudan 6:04:11 PM chrismash isreal 6:04:11 PM miker2049 88 6:04:12 PM boy_wanders 88 6:04:12 PM Madhog_ Israel 6:04:12 PM bericac Israel 6:04:12 PM exponant 89 6:04:13 PM SuperAstronomyNerd israel 6:04:14 PM OnTheR0cks Purples vote abandon 6:04:14 PM Forgetting_Pedro Indiana USA 6:04:15 PM jawkas http://imgur.com/iDFBs2P this is baloney it's supposed to be spring. eff this snow 6:04:16 PM Dank3nstein Libya 6:04:16 PM [robin] RATELIMIT | you are doing that too much. try again in 2 seconds. 6:04:16 PM 90 6:04:17 PM domasin Isreal 6:04:18 PM [robin] polls are closing soon, please vote 6:04:18 PM QMaker isreal 6:04:19 PM lexicaleigh miiu - Rebel did post one, I can't remember where it went 6:04:19 PM [robin] RATELIMIT | you are doing that too much. try again in 999 milliseconds. 6:04:19 PM 90 6:04:21 PM zacketysack 90 6:04:22 PM exponant 91 6:04:23 PM miker2049 91 6:04:23 PM boy_wanders 91 6:04:23 PM wascal_ttkk YUSSSS 6:04:23 PM AllTheMegahertz Israel 6:04:24 PM shokk Even now you can sense his quivering mass sotricious. So cheesy with nacho goodness. 6:04:25 PM mipu The problem is that some people are playing *and* chatting 6:04:25 PM noscythes [Robin Autovoter 1.9] 200 and 396 more in this room! Voting will end soon 6:04:29 PM [robin] RATELIMIT | you are doing that too much. try again in 999 milliseconds. 6:04:29 PM 92 6:04:31 PM YoungTugger [Robin Autovoter 1.8] 200 in this room! Voting will end soon 6:04:31 PM zacketysack 92 6:04:32 PM opek1987 pacific 6:04:32 PM ifuckhamsters pacific 6:04:33 PM loxias44 Pacific 6:04:33 PM miker2049 93 6:04:33 PM exponant 93 6:04:33 PM boy_wanders 93 6:04:33 PM edlll91 pacific~ 6:04:33 PM chrismash kim jong un 6:04:33 PM chippiearnold 0118 999 881 999 119725.......3 6:04:34 PM bericac Pacific 6:04:34 PM SuperAstronomyNerd oacific 6:04:34 PM Fordasbutton Pacific 6:04:34 PM Xgonnagive Pacific 6:04:34 PM Beard_of_Gimli pacific 6:04:35 PM ydoowoody Indian 6:04:36 PM QMaker arctic 6:04:37 PM Shufflebuzz Pacific 6:04:37 PM berglund17 pacific ocean 6:04:38 PM VinnyP215 Pacific 6:04:38 PM pomosexuality Specific 6:04:38 PM Bradfords_ACL Pacific 6:04:39 PM p4p4k4p the pacific 6:04:40 PM zacketysack 94 6:04:40 PM Xgonnagive TOO EZ 6:04:40 PM bericac Pacific Ocean 6:04:40 PM domasin now is the time my friends! prepare to merge! 6:04:41 PM exponant 95 6:04:41 PM SuperAstronomyNerd pacific 6:04:41 PM boy_wanders 95 6:04:41 PM _Sultan_ Pacific 6:04:42 PM brotatoochip john cena 6:04:42 PM miker2049 96 6:04:42 PM opek1987 14-9 LIQUID VS LUMINOSITY OHHHHH MY GOD NA CS 6:04:42 PM umlaut voted for Butts 6:04:43 PM chrismash pacific 6:04:44 PM LiberalDutch stardew fucking valley 6:04:44 PM wascal_ttkk PACIFIC 6:04:45 PM dutchy131 lol 6:04:45 PM [robin] RATELIMIT | you are doing that too much. try again in 3 seconds. 6:04:46 PM 97 6:04:47 PM Forgetting_Pedro Who the hell is Catlicker3000 6:04:48 PM [robin] RATELIMIT | you are doing that too much. try again in 1 second. 6:04:48 PM 97 6:04:48 PM AllTheMegahertz Pacific 6:04:49 PM LongStrangeTrips PENIS join the penis tribe! http://pastebin.com/raw/mEJXJBB7 6:04:49 PM [robin] RATELIMIT | you are doing that too much. try again in 999 milliseconds. 6:04:49 PM 97 6:04:51 PM Dank3nstein Ishmael 6:04:51 PM RobinRamen voted to STAY 6:04:52 PM zacketysack 97 6:04:53 PM miker2049 98 6:04:53 PM exponant 98 6:04:53 PM boy_wanders 98 6:04:53 PM thermochromatic voted to ABANDON 6:04:56 PM Shufflebuzz Did you see that ludicrous display last night? 6:04:57 PM Patarknight [Robin Autovoter 1.9] 200 and 396 more in this room! Voting will end soon 6:04:57 PM [robin] RATELIMIT | you are doing that too much. try again in 2 seconds. 6:04:57 PM 99 6:04:59 PM [robin] RATELIMIT | you are doing that too much. try again in 999 milliseconds. 6:04:59 PM 100 6:05:00 PM shokk The nacho goodness will save you. Do not ignore that which will stay his cheesy wrath LongStrangeTrips. 6:05:01 PM miker2049 100 6:05:02 PM zacketysack 100 6:05:02 PM exponant 101 6:05:02 PM boy_wanders 101 6:05:03 PM VinnyP215 [Robin Autovoter] Voting will end soon 6:05:04 PM LiberalDutch PENIS oh shit, penis is still around? 6:05:05 PM wascal_ttkk lol @ shuffle 6:05:05 PM chippiearnold The trouble is they try to walk it in 6:05:06 PM lexicaleigh mipu - frankly I'm willing to make the mute anyway. ;) 6:05:09 PM fzh wow such a slow chat for 600 people 6:05:09 PM Wannabkate [Robin Autovoter 1.9] 200 and 396 more in this room! Voting will end soon 6:05:10 PM zacketysack 102 6:05:11 PM miker2049 103 6:05:11 PM exponant 103 6:05:11 PM boy_wanders 103 6:05:13 PM LongStrangeTrips PENIS is around 6:05:14 PM ifuckhamsters la paz 6:05:14 PM [robin] RATELIMIT | you are doing that too much. try again in 5 seconds. 6:05:14 PM 104 6:05:14 PM Fordasbutton montevideo 6:05:14 PM OrangeredStilton Paraguay 6:05:15 PM shokk It's happening!! 6:05:16 PM loxias44 La Paz 6:05:16 PM SuperAstronomyNerd buenos aires 6:05:18 PM _Sultan_ la paz 6:05:18 PM edlll91 montevideo 6:05:19 PM Beard_of_Gimli la paz 6:05:19 PM domasin la paz 6:05:20 PM zacketysack 104 6:05:20 PM Madhog_ Paraguay 6:05:21 PM Forgetting_Pedro /count 6:05:21 PM exponant 105 6:05:22 PM boy_wanders 105 6:05:23 PM bericac Montevido 6:05:23 PM miker2049 106 6:05:23 PM berglund17 uruguay 6:05:24 PM loxias44 Montevideo 6:05:24 PM Xgonnagive Montevido 6:05:24 PM SuperAstronomyNerd la paz 6:05:27 PM miiuiiu I'm |
.[26] It was estimated that in the 1950s, there were 300,000 Triad members in Hong Kong.[27]
Notable examples [ edit ]
Mara Salvatrucha gang member with a tattoo showing his gang membership
Perhaps one of the most infamous criminal gangs are the Sicilian Cosa Nostra and the Italian-American Mafia.[28] The Neapolitan Camorra, the Calabrian 'Ndrangheta and the Apulian Sacra Corona Unita are similar Italian organized gangs.
Other criminal gangs include the Russian mafia, Mexican,[29] Colombian Drug Cartels, the Aryan Brotherhood, the Mexican Mafia, the Texas Syndicate, the Black Guerrilla Family, the Nuestra Familia, the Mara Salvatrucha, the Primeiro Comando da Capital, the Irish Mob, the Puerto Rican Mafia, Nuestra familia, the Chinese Triads, the Japanese Yakuza, the Jamaican-British Yardies, the Haitian gang Zoe Pound, and other crime syndicates.[30]
On a lower level in the hierarchy of criminal gangs are street gangs in the United States (mostly branches of larger criminal gangs). Examples include:
Types and structure [ edit ]
Latin King gang member showing his gang tattoo, a lion with a crown, and signifying the 5 point star with his hands
Many types of gangs make up the general structure of an organized group.[34]
There are street gangs, with members of similar background and motivations.[35] The term "street gang" is commonly used interchangeably with "youth gang", referring to neighborhood or street-based youth groups that meet "gang" criteria. Miller (1992) defines a street gang as "a self-formed association of peers, united by mutual interests, with identifiable leadership and internal organization, who act collectively or as individuals to achieve specific purposes, including the conduct of illegal activity and control of a particular territory, facility, or enterprise."[36]
Understanding the structure of gangs is a critical skill to defining the types of strategies that are most effective with dealing with them, from the at-risk youth to the gang leaders.[37] Not all individuals who display the outward signs of gang membership are actually involved in criminal activities. An individual's age, physical structure, ability to fight, willingness to commit violence, and arrest record are often principal factors in determining where an individual stands in the gang hierarchy; now money derived from criminal activity and ability to provide for the gang also impacts the individual's status within the gang. The structure of gangs varies depending primarily on size, which can range from five or ten to thousands. Many of the larger gangs break up into smaller groups, cliques or sub-sets. The cliques typically bring more territory to a gang as they expand and recruit new members. Most gangs operate informally with leadership falling to whomever takes control; others have distinct leadership and are highly structured, which resembles more or less a business or corporation.
Prison gangs are groups in prison or correctional institution[38] for mutual protection and advancement. Prison gangs often have several "affiliates" or "chapters" in different state prison systems that branch out due to the movement or transfer of their members. The 2005 study neither War nor Peace: International Comparisons of Children and Youth in Organized Armed Violence studied ten cities worldwide and found that in eight of them, "street gangs had strong links to prison gangs".[39] According to criminal justice professor John Hagedorn, many of the biggest gangs from Chicago originated from prisons. From the St. Charles Illinois Youth Center originated the Conservative Vice Lords and Blackstone Rangers. Although the majority of gang leaders from Chicago are now incarcerated, most of those leaders continue to manage their gangs from within prison.[39]
Criminal gangs may function both inside and outside of prison, such as the Nuestra Familia, Mexican Mafia, Folk Nation, and the Brazilian[29] PCC. During the 1970s, prison gangs in Cape Town, South Africa began recruiting street gang members from outside and helped increase associations between prison and street gangs.[40] In the USA, the prison gang the Aryan Brotherhood is involved in organized crime outside of prison.
Involvement [ edit ]
Matthew O'Deane has identified five primary steps of gang involvement applicable to the majority of gangs in the world; at risk, associates, members, hardcore members, and leaders.[41]
Gang leaders are the upper echelons of the gang's command. This gang member is probably the oldest in the posse, likely has the smallest criminal record, and they often have the power to direct the gang's activity, whether they are involved or not. In many jurisdictions, this person is likely a prison gang member calling the shots from within the prison system or is on parole. Often, they distance themselves from the street gang activities and make attempts to appear legitimate, possibly operating a business that they run as a front for the gang's drug dealing or other illegal operations.[42]
Membership [ edit ]
Freshly tattooed teardrops signify his stints in prison for a young member of the 18th Street gang in Los Angeles.
The numerous push factors experienced by at-risk individuals vary situationally, but follow a common theme of the desire for power, respect, money, and protection. These desires are very influential in attracting individuals to join gangs, and their influence is particularly strong on at-risk youth. Such individuals are often experiencing low levels of these various factors in their own lives, feeling ostracized from their community and lacking social support. Joining a gang may appear to them to be the only way to obtain status and success; they may feel that "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em". Upon joining a gang, they instantly gain a feeling of belonging and identity; they are surrounded with individuals whom they can relate to. They have generally grown up in the same area as one another and can bond over similar needs. In some areas, joining a gang is an integrated part of the growing-up process.[43]
Gang membership is generally maintained by gangs as a lifetime commitment, reinforced through identification such as tattoos, and ensured through intimidation and coercion. Gang defectors are often subject to retaliation from the deserted gang. Many gangs, including foreign and transnational gangs, hold that the only way to leave the gang is through death. This is sometimes informally called the "morgue rule".[44]
Gang membership represents the phenomenon of a chronic group criminal spin; accordingly, the criminality of members is greater when they belong to the gang than when they are not in the gang—either before or after being in the gang. In addition, when together, the gang criminality as a whole is greater than that of its members when they are alone.[45] The gang operates as a whole greater than its parts and influences the behavior of its members in the direction of greater extend and stronger degree of criminality.
Some states have a formal process to establish that a person is a member of a gang, called validation. Once a person is validated as a gang member, the person is subject to increased sentences, harsher punishments (such as solitary confinement) and more restrictive parole rules. To validate a person as a gang member, the officials generally must provide evidence of several factors, such as tattoos, photographs, admissions, clothing, etc. The legal requirements for validating a person are much lower than the requirements for convicting of a crime.[46][47][48][49]
Non-member women in gang culture [ edit ]
Women associated with gangs but who lack membership are typically categorized based on their relation to gang members. A survey of Mexican American gang members and associates defined these categories as girlfriends, hoodrats, good girls, and relatives.[50] Girlfriends are longterm partners of male gang members, and may have children with them. Hoodrats are seen as being promiscuous and heavy drug and alcohol users. Gang members may engage in casual sex with these girls, but they are not viewed as potential longterm partners and are severely stigmatized by both men and women in gang culture. Good girls are long term friends of members, often from childhood, and relatives are typically sisters or cousins. These are fluid categories, and women often change status as they move between them. Valdez found that women with ties to gang members are often used to hold illegal weapons and drugs, typically, because members believe the girls are less likely to be searched by police for such items.[50]
Typical activities [ edit ]
The United Nations estimates that gangs make most of their money through the drugs trade, which is thought to be worth $352 billion in total.[51] The United States Department of Justice estimates there are approximately 30,000 gangs, with 760,000 members, impacting 2,500 communities across the United States.[52]
Gangs are involved in all areas of street-crime activities like extortion, drug trafficking,[13] both in and outside the prison system, and theft. Gangs also victimize individuals by robbery and kidnapping.[53] Cocaine is the primary drug of distribution by gangs in America, which have used the cities Chicago, Cape Town, and Rio de Janeiro to transport drugs internationally.[54] Brazilian urbanization has driven the drug trade to the favelas of Rio. Often, gangs hire "lookouts" to warn members of upcoming law enforcement. The dense environments of favelas in Rio and public housing projects in Chicago have helped gang members hide from police easily.[55]
Street gangs take over territory or "turf" in a particular city and are often involved in "providing protection", often a thin cover for extortion, as the "protection" is usually from the gang itself, or in other criminal activity. Many gangs use fronts to demonstrate influence and gain revenue in a particular area.[56]
Gang violence [ edit ]
Latin Kings graffiti of the King Master along with the abbreviations "L" and "K" on the sides
Gang violence refers mostly to the illegal and non-political acts of violence perpetrated by gangs against civilians, other gangs, law enforcement officers, firefighters, or military personnel.[57] Throughout history, such acts have been committed by gangs at all levels of organization.[58] Modern gangs introduced new acts of violence, which may also function as a rite of passage for new gang members.[59]
In 2006, 58 percent of L.A.'s murders were gang-related.[60] Reports of gang-related homicides are concentrated mostly in the largest cities in the United States, where there are long-standing and persistent gang problems and a greater number of documented gang members—most of whom are identified by law enforcement.[61]
There have been reports of racially motivated attacks against African Americans.[62] Members of the Azusa 13 gang, associated with the Mexican Mafia, were indicted in 2011 for harassing and intimidating black people in Southern California.[63]
Gang-related activity and violence has increased along the U.S. Southwest border region, as US-based gangs act as enforcers for Mexican drug cartels.[14]
A gang war is a type of small war that occurs when two gangs end up in a feud over territory.
Sexual violence [ edit ]
Women in gang culture are often in environments where sexual assault is common and considered to be a norm.[50] Women who attend social gatherings and parties with heavy drug and alcohol use are particularly likely to be assaulted. A girl who becomes intoxicated and flirts with men is often seen as "asking for it" and is written off as a "ho" by men and women.[50] "Hoodrats" and girls associated with rival gangs have lower status at these social events, and are victimized when members view them as fair game and other women rationalize assault against them.
Motives [ edit ]
Usually, gangs have gained the most control in poorer, urban communities and developing countries in response to unemployment and other services.[64] Social disorganization, and the disintegration of societal institutions such as family, school, and the public safety net, enable groups of peers to form gangs.[65] According to surveys conducted internationally by the World Bank for their World Development Report 2011, by far the most common reason people suggest as a motive for joining gangs is unemployment.[66]
Ethnic solidarity is a common factor in gangs. Black and Hispanic gangs formed during the 1960s in the USA often adapted nationalist rhetoric.[67] Both majority and minority races in society have established gangs in the name of identity: the Igbo gang Bakassi Boys in Nigeria defend the majority Igbo group violently and through terror, and in the United States, whites who feel threatened by minorities have formed their own gangs, such as the Ku Klux Klan. Responding to an increasing black and Hispanic migration, a white gang formed called Chicago Gaylords.[68] Some gang members are motivated by religion, as is the case with the Muslim Patrol and the Epstein-Wolmark gang.[69]
Identification [ edit ]
A Sureño gang tattoo
Most gang members have identifying characteristics which are unique to their specific clique or gang.[70] The Bloods, for instance, wear red bandanas, the Crips blue, allowing these gangs to "represent" their affiliation. Any disrespect of a gang member's color by an unaffiliated individual is regarded as grounds for violent retaliation, often by multiple members of the offended gang. Tattoos are also common identifiers,[71] such as an '18' above the eyebrow to identify a member of the 18th Street gang. Tattoos help a gang member gain respect within their group, and mark them as members for life. They can be burned on as well as inked. Some gangs make use of more than one identifier, like the Nortenos, who wear red bandanas and have "14", "XIV", "x4", and "Norte" tattoos.[72] Also, many male gang members wear earrings or other types of body jewelry, or simply have pierced ears to depict gang membership, unlike females, who usually wear jewelry for fashion.
Gangs often establish distinctive, characteristic identifiers including graffiti tags[73] colors, hand signals, clothing (for example, the gangsta rap-type hoodies), jewelry, hair styles, fingernails, slogans,[74] signs (such as the noose and the burning cross as the symbols of the Klan),[75] flags[76] secret greetings, slurs, or code words and other group-specific symbols associated with the gang's common beliefs, rituals, and mythologies to define and differentiate themselves from other groups and gangs.[77]
As an alternative language, hand-signals, symbols, and slurs in speech, graffiti, print, music, or other mediums communicate specific informational cues used to threaten, disparage, taunt, harass, intimidate, alarm, influence,[78] or exact specific responses including obedience, submission, fear, or terror. One study focused on terrorism and symbols states that "[s]ymbolism is important because it plays a part in impelling the terrorist to act and then in defining the targets of their actions."[79] Displaying a gang sign, such as the noose, as a symbolic act can be construed as "a threat to commit violence communicated with the intent to terrorize another, to cause evacuation of a building, or to cause serious public inconvenience, in reckless disregard of the risk of causing such terror or inconvenience … an offense against property or involving danger to another person that may include but is not limited to recklessly endangering another person, harassment, stalking, ethnic intimidation, and criminal mischief."[80]
The Internet is one of the most significant media used by gangs to communicate in terms of the size of the audience they can reach with minimal effort and reduced risk.[81] The Internet provides a forum for recruitment activities, typically provoking rival gangs through derogatory postings, and to glorify their gang and themselves. Gangs use the Internet to communicate with each other, facilitate criminal activity, spread their message and culture around the nation. As Internet pages like MySpace, YouTube, Twitter, AIM, and Facebook become more popular, law enforcement works to understand how to conduct investigations related to gang activity in an online environment. In most cases the police can and will get the information they need, however this requires police officers and federal agents to make formal legal requests for information in a timely manner, which typically requires a search warrant or subpoena to compel the service providers to supply the needed information. A grand jury subpoena or administrative subpoena, court order, search warrant; or user consent is needed to get this information pursuant to the Electronic Communication Privacy Act, Title 18 U.S.C. § 2701, et seq. (ECPA). Most gang members have personal web pages or some type of social networking internet account or chat room where they post photos and videos and talk openly about their gang exploits. The majority of the service providers that gang members use are free social networking sites that allow users to create their own profile pages, which can include lists of their favorite musicians, books and movies, photos of themselves and friends, and links to related web pages. Many of these services also permit users to send and receive private messages and talk in private chat rooms. Often a police officer may stumble upon one of these pages, or an informant can give access to the local gang page. Alternatively, they will have to formally request the needed information. Most service providers have four basic types of information about their users that may be relevant to a criminal investigation; 1) basic identity/subscriber information supplied by the user in creating the account; 2) IP log-in information; 3) files stored in a user's profile (such as "about me" information or lists of friends); and 4) user sent and received message content. It is important to know the law, and understand what the police can get service providers to do and what their capabilities are. It is also important to understand how gang members use the Internet and how the police can use their desire to be recognized and respected in their sub-culture against them.[81]
Debate surrounding impact [ edit ]
In the UK context, law enforcement agencies are increasingly focusing enforcement efforts on gangs and gang membership. However debate persists over the extent and nature of gang activity in the UK,[82][83] with some academics and policy-makers arguing that the current focus is inadvisable, given a lack of consensus over the relationship between gangs and crime.[83]
The Runnymede Trust suggests that, despite the well-rehearsed public discourse around youth gangs and "gang culture", "We actually know very little about 'gangs' in the UK: about how 'a gang' might be defined or understood, about what being in 'a gang' means... We know still less about how 'the gang' links to levels of youth violence."[84]
Professor Simon Hallsworth argues that, where they exist, gangs in the UK are "far more fluid, volatile and amorphous than the myth of the organized group with a corporate structure".[83] This assertion is supported by a field study conducted by Manchester University, which found that "most within- and between-gang disputes... emanated from interpersonal disputes regarding friends, family and romantic relationships", as opposed to territorial rivalries, and that criminal enterprises were "rarely gang-coordinated... most involved gang members operating as individuals or in small groups."[83]
Cottrell-Boyce, writing in the Youth Justice journal, argues that gangs have been constructed as a "suitable enemy" by politicians and the media, obscuring the wider, structural roots of youth violence. At the level of enforcement, a focus on gang membership may be counterproductive; creating confusion and resulting in a drag-net approach which can criminalise innocent young people rather than focusing resources on serious violent crime.[83]
Gang membership in the US military [ edit ]
Gang members in uniform use their military knowledge, skills and weapons to commit and facilitate various crimes. As of April 2011, the NGIC has identified members of at least 53 gangs whose members have served in or are affiliated with US military.[14]
In 2006, Scott Barfield, a Defense Department investigator, said there is an online network of gangs and extremists: "They're communicating with each other about weapons, about recruiting, about keeping their identities secret, about organizing within the military."[85]
A 2006 Sun-Times article reports that gangs encourage members to enter the military to learn urban warfare techniques to teach other gang members.[86] A January 2007 article in the Chicago Sun-Times reported that gang members in the military are involved in the theft and sale of military weapons, ammunition, and equipment, including body armor. The Sun-Times began investigating the gang activity in the military after receiving photos of gang graffiti showing up in Iraq.
The FBI’s 2007 report on gang membership in the military states that the military's recruit screening process is ineffective, allows gang members/extremists to enter the military, and lists at least eight instances in the last three years in which gang members have obtained military weapons for their illegal enterprises.[87] "Gang Activity in the U.S. Armed Forces Increasing", dated January 12, 2007, states that street gangs including the Bloods, Crips, Black Disciples, Gangster Disciples, Hells Angels, Latin Kings, The 18th Street Gang, Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), Mexican Mafia, Norteños, Sureños, and Vice Lords have been documented on military installations both domestic and international although recruiting gang members violates military regulations.[88]
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
Bibliography [ edit ]
External link [ edit ]
Media related to Gangs (organized crime) at Wikimedia CommonsJERUSALEM  The Israeli military’s YouTube site is using ‘pirated’ footage confiscated from journalists on board a Turkish vessel in a bid to defend its botched flotilla raid, a press body charged on Thursday.
“The Foreign Press Association (FPA) strongly condemns the use of photos and video material shot by foreign journalists, now being put out by the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) spokesman’s office as ‘captured material’,” a statement from the organization said.
The complaint centers on footage shot on board the Mavi Marmara passenger ship, which was the focus of a deadly Israeli commando raid at dawn Monday, in which nine foreign aid activists were killed, provoking an international outcry.
One of the clips on YouTube, entitled: “Flotilla Passenger: I Want to Be a Shahid (Martyr)” shows a passenger being interviewed on the boat before the raid, by someone holding a microphone with ‘Press TV’ stamped on it.
The 23-second clip, in which the man talks about wanting to become a martyr, is not credited to any journalist or media outlet, and only described as “footage captured on the Gaza flotilla.”
Several other unattributed clips shown on the IDF’s YouTube channel also feature “footage captured on the Mavi Marmara” — one of which shows activists hurling objects and hosing down troops trying to board the vessel from an assault craft.
“The material and/or equipment that was confiscated from journalists covering the events on the ships, should be returned to the owners and their media organizations,” the FPA said.
“The use of this material without permission from the relevant media organizations is a clear violation of journalistic ethics and unacceptable,” it said, warning media outlets to treat such material “with caution.”
“We call upon the authorities to immediately clarify the source of the material.”
The army had no immediate comment on the exact source of the footage, with a spokesman saying only it was “found” on board the Marmara after it was taken over by troops following the bloody operation.
Nearly 700 passengers were travelling on board the aid fleet, of which around 60 were journalists, press freedom group Reporters Without Borders said earlier this week, including correspondents from Al Jazeera, Al Arabiya and the Sydney Morning Herald.
Since Monday, the army has broadcast more than a dozen video clips on YouTube in a bid to back up its claim that the activists on the boat were not harmless peaceniks but Islamists bent on violence.Celestial Emporium of Benevolent Knowledge (Spanish: Emporio celestial de conocimientos benévolos) is a fictitious taxonomy of animals described by the writer Jorge Luis Borges in his 1942 essay "The Analytical Language of John Wilkins" (El idioma analítico de John Wilkins).[1][2]
Wilkins, a 17th-century philosopher, had proposed a universal language based on a classification system that would encode a description of the thing a word describes into the word itself—for example, Zi identifies the genus beasts; Zit denotes the "difference" rapacious beasts of the dog kind; and finally Zitα specifies dog.
In response to this proposal and in order to illustrate the arbitrariness and cultural specificity of any attempt to categorize the world, Borges describes this example of an alternate taxonomy, supposedly taken from an ancient Chinese encyclopædia entitled Celestial Emporium of Benevolent Knowledge.
The list divides all animals into 14 categories:
Those that belong to the emperor
Embalmed ones
Those that are trained
Suckling pigs
Mermaids (or Sirens)
Fabulous ones
Stray dogs
Those that are included in this classification
Those that tremble as if they were mad
Innumerable ones
Those drawn with a very fine camel hair brush
Et cetera
Those that have just broken the flower vase
Those that, at a distance, resemble flies
Borges claims that the list was discovered in its Chinese source by the translator Franz Kuhn.[3][4][5]
Influences of the list [ edit ]
This list has stirred considerable philosophical and literary commentary.
Michel Foucault begins his preface to The Order of Things,[6]
This book first arose out of a passage in Borges, out of the laughter that shattered, as I read the passage, all the familiar landmarks of thought—our thought, the thought that bears the stamp of our age and our geography—breaking up all the ordered surfaces and all the planes with which we are accustomed to tame the wild profusion of existing things and continuing long afterwards to disturb and threaten with collapse our age-old definitions between the Same and the Other.
Foucault then quotes Borges' passage.
Louis Sass has suggested, in response to Borges' list, that such "Chinese" thinking shows signs of typical schizophrenic thought processes.[7] By contrast, the linguist George Lakoff has pointed out that while Borges' list is not possibly a human categorization, many categorizations of objects found in nonwestern cultures have a similar feeling to Westerners.[8]
Keith Windschuttle, an Australian historian, cited alleged acceptance of the authenticity of the list by many academics as a sign of the degeneration of the Western academy[9] and a terminal lack of humor.
Attribution [ edit ]
Scholars have questioned whether the attribution of the list to Franz Kuhn is genuine. While Kuhn did indeed translate Chinese literature, Borges' works often feature many learned pseudo-references resulting in a mix of facts and fiction. To date, no evidence for the existence of such a list has been found.[10]
Borges himself questions the veracity of the quote in his essay, referring to "the unknown (or false) Chinese encyclopaedia writer".[4]
See also [ edit ]Jason Shelton, an American soldier, was on my plane to Greenville last night.
I hadn’t slept in two days. I’d left my hotel 22 hours before. My back and neck were knotted up. I needed a hot shower. I needed to sneak into my boys’ rooms and give them a hug. I’d been gone a week. I missed my family.
We don’t think about how long it takes America’s military personnel to fly home from the warzones in the Middle East or, in Shelton’s case, Germany where he was training. We don’t consider how uncomfortable they are during deployments that can last longer than their kids’ childhoods. I remember a decade ago when seeing our troops in the airports felt new and scary and patriotic. Now it happens so often, it’s weird not to see one of the brave souls in camouflage getting a Starbucks between flights.
The flight home from Atlanta lasts barely more than 30 minutes. I’d carried on both bags so I could make a quick escape for home once we taxied to the gate. I was on the aisle, Bose headphones on, “Astral Weeks” cutting off the sound of the engines. The landing was a little harder than normal, the kind that makes my eyes open a bit faster and my heart skip a half a beat.
We don’t think much about what the soldiers have to endure when they get back home. Their kids have gotten older. Their spouses have sometimes hardened or drifted. The things that make their eyes open and hearts skip are things we can’t see or hear.
When the seat belt bell dinged, I started to stand and grab for the overhead bin when I saw the honor guard outside the window. There were seven of them, all in dress uniforms and white gloves. Their salute wasn’t a snap to their foreheads. It was a slow, melted wax, almost robotic trip from their waist to their brow. One of them held an American flag folded into a triangle. The next thing I saw was the hearse.
The window seat in front of me emptied, and I sat down in it. Over my shoulder, I heard a man a little older than me whisper, “Kind of puts it all in perspective, doesn’t it?”
In a matter of less than a minute, the people who were going to leave the plane did. The rest of us sat in silence and watched Jason Shelton’s casket come out of the cargo hold. The man behind me had his hand over his heart. I put my forehead against the window and stared at the casket. It was silver and gray, attached to a wooden pallet with black fabric loops on the side. Someone had draped a flag over it from end to end.
In the background was a banner supplied by Delta that read “All gave some. Some gave all.” I felt something like anger tighten in my chest—not that the banner was there or that Delta had chosen that way to honor Shelton, but that this wartime has lasted so long that banners like this are part of a normal corporate operation.
I didn’t know who was in the casket at the time. Until I read the news this morning, I didn’t know Shelton was inside. As I sat there with my head against the cold window, I pictured him having a mother, or a wife, or kids, and I couldn’t stop the tears. I stayed until Shelton was in the hearse. When I stood, I saw the plane was still mostly full. There were eyes full of tears from the front to the back. I’ve been on hundreds of planes, and I’ve never heard one so quiet, reverent, or sad.
Jason Shelton had a wife. Her name is Heather. He’s from Madison County, North Carolina. At 22 years old, he died in a training exercise. Veterans on flag-flying motorcycles met the hearse in the cold air outside the airport and escorted the soldier the rest of the way home. I sat in my car and watched them pass.
It’s hard not to remember the time when the government didn’t allow pictures of dead American soldiers’ caskets as they came back from war. From 1991 to 2009, there was a ban on those photos. Some people said it was to protect the soldier’s family’s privacy. Other people said it was an attempt to hide the reality of wartime’s true hell. There have been thousands of those caskets since we went back to war in 2003. I’d say we should all have to see them on the national news every night. The sad reality is, dead soldiers aren’t news anymore.
When I got on the flight last night, I was tired, sore, and thinking about only myself and what I had to do the rest of the week. This morning, my kids jumped in my bed and kissed me. They told me they missed me and thanked me for their souvenirs. I may have to leave sometimes, but it’s almost always guaranteed I’m coming home. That’s not the case for the people we task with fighting the battles we choose.
It’s a good thing we can now see the pictures of our fallen soldiers coming back to America. If we stop bearing witness to their deaths, then we forget the meaning of what they do and the reason they are there. Today I wonder, though, if looking at those pictures is enough. Today my heart is hurting for a man I never knew and the family left behind. That’s because I shared Jason Shelton’s last flight to the Carolinas.
I wonder how we all might look at things—our country, our government, our soldiers, and our lives—if we all could be touched in the same way. I wonder how our leaders might think about the choices they make and the people they choose to carry out those decisions if they, too, had to share those flights, see the honor guard, and watch the casket slip into the back of the hearse.
We should do more than mark Veterans Day. We should do more than lay flowers on a grave on Memorial Day. We should do more than wave a flag on Independence Day. We should witness. We should simply do more, feel more, and honor more than we do. Put another way, we should all have to carry them home.Special Report: Light Rail On LRT Reaffirmation Vote, Cowardly Council Defers Decision Are there seriously some councillors who have yet to make up their minds whether they will accept the Provincial money that Council asked for? By Ryan McGreal
Published May 12, 2016
Well, it wasn't the disaster some people feared - but it wasn't a proud moment for Council either.
Last Week, Ward 4 Councillor Sam Merulla threw down the gauntlet with a notice of motion calling on Council to "reaffirm the acceptance of the $1.0 billion dollar investment in infrastructure and public transit that the Province of Ontario has provided for the express purpose of completing the LRT project."
That motion was presented at last night's Council meeting, and while no one was sure quite what to expect in the debate, it was widely assumed the motion would pass overwhelmingly once the posturing and grandstanding was out of the way.
Instead, with almost no opportunity for debate, the motion was deferred by a 9-6 vote until the May 18 General Issues Committee meeting, when the preliminary LRT Alignment report from the May 2 LRT Sub-Committee meeting is presented to all the councillors.
That meeting turned acrimonious when Ward 5 Councillor Chad Collins and Ward 8 Councillor Terry Whitehead grilled staff with questions and claims designed to undermine confidence in the LRT plan. Whitehead claims he still supports the Provincial investment, whereas Collins says he opposes it, even though he voted in favour of it consistently between 2008 and 2014.
Last night's meeting never had a chance to turn acrimonious. As soon as Merulla had spoken to his motion - and he spoke like an old-timey preacher, if old-timey preachers railed about people lacking "balls" - ward 15 (Flamborough) Councillor Judi Partridge immediately moved to defer the motion. Once a deferral motion has been made, the procedural rules bar Council from debating the issue further.
Thanks to Joey Coleman of The Public Record, you can watch a video of the LRT proceedings:
First, Merulla confirmed with City finance chief Mike Zegarac that the City has spent $5-6 million on LRT planning so far, of which some has come from the Province (including $3 million to complete the original Class Environmental Assessment on the B-Line).
He also confirmed with the City Clerk that Council has voted multiple times in favour of LRT. The Clerk confirmed "at least three" votes from memory, but there are at least several votes:
In addition to the February 2013 vote to approve the Rapid Ready LRT plan and the April 2013 vote to reaffirm Council's support for Rapid Ready, Council voted last year to establish a new LRT Office to coordinate with Metrolinx on the consultation and design work for the LRT line.
Early this year, Council voted to approve a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with Metrolinx on their collaboration to write an amendment to the LRT Environmental Assessment the City completed as part of the original Rapid Ready LRT plan.
And Council has approved every LRT Sub-Committee report that has been presented to it since the November 30, 2015 meeting.
Merulla further confirmed with Zegarac that the billion dollars is already earmarked in the provncial Treasury to be spent by Metrolinx on Hamilton's LRT system. He went on to argue that for any infrastructure projects along the LRT corridor that were already budgeted by the city but will be covered by the LRT capital project, that municipal money can be freed up to complete other projects on the city's infrastructure backlog.
Sidenote: Ward 5 Councillor Chad Collins' body language is remarkable during this segment of the meeting. While Merulla is speaking, he is literally swivelling back and forth in his chair and rolling his eyes at the ceiling.
Ward 5 Councillor Chad Collins, left, slowly rolls his eyes at the ceiling while Ward 4 Councillor Sam Merulla speaks to his LRT motion (Image Credit: screen capture from TPR video)
Collins' disdainful gaze at the ceiling continues through Paul Johnson's response:
Councillor Collins, bottom left, continues to roll his eyes slowly as Paul Johnson, top left, responds to a question from Councillor Merulla, bottom right (Image Credit: screen capture from TPR video)
After getting through his questions, Merulla got to his statement, which is worth quoting in full:
Mr. Mayor, what we have before us, really, is a situation of inconsistency, unpredictability and chaos. People can't commit to what already we've committed to. It is a frightening state of affairs of voting based on false pretense and communicating to our public accordingly. I have, since 2008, conducted nearly 25 public meetings. I have cordially [audio cuts out for a second]. Those of us that are on the line from City Motor [Hotel site] to McMaster [University] and now going down to the [West Harbour] GO station have a direct impact. And as a direct result, I was very proactive in communicating what this all meant. To now, in any way, from an obstructionist standpoint, try to impede the progress that we've made to this point, although the line is already [unintelligable] at ten percent, we're already at the implementation stage here, folks. We're not debating the merits of the project. And if I can draw attention to what we went through with the [Red Hill Valley] Expressway - now, understanding that I supported that expressway, and understanding that we were coining opponents to that expressway as obstructionists. But nobody went as far as what's going on or what I've heard or at least what people have indicated to me, that there might be a deferral to actually commit to what we've already committed to, of a billion dollars sitting there to be spent for LRT, which then concludes, to my eyes, that people |
than RGB space. The standardized palette provided on Wikipedia is a idealized representation of how these colors are intended to look, but in practice, it is substantially different from how NES games actually look when played on a circa 1980s CRT screen.
A color grading lookup table containing 54 unique values
In order to recreate the look of a NTSC signal in YIQ space, I use a color grading lookup table to alter the RGB values rendered to the “clean” frame prior to blending with the previous frame. This lookup table is 32 texels to a side, represented as a 1024×32 2D texture map. This texture is programmatically generated at runtime given on a few input parameters, using an algorithm is based on Drag's palette generator, as mentioned earlier.
The original scene transformed in color space to approximate an NTSC signal
In this particular example, the overall effect is to darken the image, but in general, with the default values I provide, this tends to push colors towards greens and browns, and also serves to separate some very similar shades of bluish-green teal more clearly into distinct greens and blues.
One of the most obvious effects we see in the final image is the motion trails. (I should also note that the gap between the immediate frame and the end of the trail is due to the delay caused by taking a PIX capture. During gameplay, this gap would not exist.) In an actual CRT television, motion trails are caused by phosphor decay. Ideally, if one frame is presented every 1/60 of a second, we would want the phosphors to emit an even light for the full duration of the frame and then immediately fall to zero just in time for the electron beam to pass over them again. In practice, there is always a tradeoff here. If the decay time is too short, the image will appear flickery; if it is too long, the image will leave trails.
Trails and edge "fringing"
To simulate these trails, I save off the final output of the previous frame and blend it with the current scene. (This is identical to some older motion blur implementations.) In the pixel shader, I also sample the pixels directly to the left and right of the local pixel on the previous frame. This makes the trails blur horizontally over time (as seen in the detail below) and also produces some desirable blur or "fuzz" on static images. I scale all samples made from the previous frame buffer by an input RGB value to emphasize the reds and oranges, as this is closer to how I remember these trails looking on my TV set as a kid.
One unfortunate downside to this implementation of trails is that it depends on having a consistent frame rate; it has been tuned for 60fps and will not behave exactly as expected at other rates or if vsync is disabled. This could conceivably be tuned based on actual frame deltas, but it is important to remember that unless you're working with floating-point color buffers, weighting the previous frame too heavily can put you in a state where bright values never fall completely to zero.
A detail of a scene with clear fringing
As the electron guns sweep across the screen, varying their intensity to adjust brightness, they tend to overshoot their desired value and bounce back a short time later. This creates alternating vertical bands of light and dark seen at the edges of high contrast changes in brightness. The effect is similar to that of an unsharp mask, in which deltas in brightness are accentuated locally, applied several times over. In order to reproduce this effect, I sample a few neighboring pixels to the left and right of the local pixel and then scale the brightness of the local pixel by the difference in brightness between itself and each of these neighbors, weighted by the distance to the neighbor, and with every other weight negated in order to produce the alternating bands seen here. (I realize that's a lot to unpack, so I should mention that sample code is available here.)
A texture used to simulate NTSC signal artifacts
I mentioned earlier the "stair-stepping" artifacts created by sharing color information among adjacent pixels. This can be accurately simulated at some cost using the method described on the NESDev wiki, but I chose to approximate it using a fairly cheap trick of my own design. For each pixel in the scene, I sample a texture map consisting of diagonal stripes of red, green, and blue, and I adjust the value of the current pixel by the difference between itself and its immediate horizontal neighbors, weighted by this texture sample. (Once again, sample code may be useful to understand this.) It's a simple trick and not remotely accurate, but it creates an effect similar enough to the real one to get by. The 60Hz flicker I mentioned can also be simulated by vertically offsetting the coordinates when sampling into this texture every other frame.
Once again, this effect depends heavily on running at a consistent 60fps, so optionally (or necessarily if vsync is disabled), I can sample the texture at both positions, blend the samples, and use this value to produce a temporally stable result that still evokes the same look.
Once these steps are done, I save off the image to be used as the "previous" frame on the next tick. To avoid having to copy the pixel data, I actually implement this by flipping between two buffers each tick. On "even" frames, I draw to Buffer A and sample from Buffer B; on "odd" frames, I sample from Buffer A and draw to Buffer B. This avoids an additional copy at the slight video memory cost of having a second 256×224 backbuffer all the time.
A mathematically generated CRT screen mesh
Now that we have the game scene fully processed in its own coordinate space, the next step is to draw this 256×224 image to the screen. I use the render target containing the game scene as a texture map and draw it across the surface of a 3D mesh of a curved glass television screen. When this 3D mesh is rendered from the view of a perspective camera, it produces the curvature seen here. If I were to use an orthographic camera to render this scene, the lines would be perfectly straight, ignoring some additional distortion that I apply intentionally, and which I will mention later.
In this step, I can also scale the texture coordinates in order to adjust the aspect ratio of the pixels. As mentioned previously, the NES outputs at an 8:7 pixel aspect ratio, which makes everything look slightly wider than authored. Scaling the source 256×224 image by this ratio produces an image with a ratio of 64:49, which is slightly narrower or taller than the 4:3 dimensions of the screen mesh, so when we fit this image to the horizontal bounds of the screen, it pushes a few pixels off the top and bottom. We can also apply additional overscan at this time if desired by offsetting and multiplying the texture coordinates.
The shadow mask texture used in Super Win the Game
I also simulate the shadow mask in this step. This creates alternating vertical lines, as seen in the detail below. In contrast to some of my earlier games, where I matched the dot pitch of the shadow mask texture exactly to that of the source pixels, I’m now applying some pincushion distortion to intentionally stagger these a bit and also to compensate for some of the curvature due to camera perspective. This can be seen to some extent in the following image; the white line indicated does not perfectly align with the shadow mask.
A detail illustrating the spatial disparity between the source pixels and the shadow mask
Also visible in this detail is another new addition, which is a reflection on the screen border. This is a cheap hack that just samples from the game scene using the exact same shader code as the screen mesh, but with flipped texture coordinates to create a mirror image. At the corners of the screen, the texture distortion starts to look a little wonky (that's a technical term) as it wraps from one edge to another, so in this case I taper off the intensity of the reflection using a one-dimensional texture coordinate to define reflection intensity on a per-vertex level.
The final image with bloom applied
This step is also where in-world lighting and any additional postprocess effects can be applied to simulate the look of a shiny glass screen. I used a simple Blinn-Phong model with diffuse and specular terms, plus an additional bloom pass to help sell the "glow" of the screen for Super Win the Game.
In developing this process, I tried a few things that didn't quite make the cut. I briefly toyed with multiplying in horizontal scanlines of the sort seen in arcade and console game emulators for years, but the effect proved to be largely redundant in the context of the shadow mask. The resulting image was noisy and looked less like my reference CRT than without, so I cut it. I also tried simulating a reflection of the scene behind the perspective camera, but this failed on a few levels as well. In the absence of camera motion, the effect didn't read as a reflection, only as odd noise. It also brought my shader instruction count higher than desired, such that I could no longer meet my goal of shipping on ancient Shader Model 2 hardware. (In the future, though, I can imagine a version of this technique that uses an image-based lighting model to replace the Blinn-Phong lighting and also provide environmental reflections, but I'll save that one for another day.)
There were a few other effects that I considered but made no attempt to implement in Super Win the Game. The first of these was interlacing, in which every other line would only be drawn every other frame. I came up with a solution for this which I did eventually prototype for a future project, although as one Twitter reader pointed out to me, the NES did not exhibit these interlacing artifacts due to its low resolution, so this effect would not be authentic anyway.
Sprite flicker and slowdown were two other related effects that I rejected out of hand. Neither of these is aesthetically pleasing to my eye, nor are they a part of my retro gaming nostalgia, and it was not my goal to deliberately diminish the quality of the output image. I realize this is a completely arbitrary line in the sand. Many players have made it clear to me that this entire CRT simulation could very well be seen as an exercise in diminishing image quality, and for those players, I always include the option to disable everything and play with the clean, unaltered pixel art.
Shortly before launch, a friend suggested that I go a step further and add options to fine-tune the look of the CRT simulation rather than only being allowing it to be toggled wholesale. I had already left a number of shader parameters exposed to the game's configuration system, so this became simply a problem of mapping these configurable variables to UI.
Options for customizing the CRT simulation in Super Win the Game
As a closing note, I found it very useful while developing this technique to A/B test shader changes against a variety of familiar NES games. It's easy to become numb to changes when you're looking at your own art assets for too long. I found that occasionally swapping out my own content for a scene from the likes of Super Mario Bros. 3, Metroid, or Ducktales was often the key to pinpointing the look I was going for.
I also kept a reference CRT television (pictured near the top of this blog) on hand for side-by-side comparisons. This led to some interesting discoveries, notably that LCD screens simply can't produce as vivid of a blue as a CRT, but also that my threshold for acceptability of CRT artifacts goes way down when I'm not looking at an actual CRT. What I found on multiple occasions was that if I tried to accurately recreate what I was seeing, the resulting image would just be too garbled to even seriously consider. I had to reel in my values several times, and even then, many players' initial impressions were that I had gone too far.
A familiar scene may provide a clearer indication of what does or doesn't work
Looking to the future, I'm continuing to tweak and tune this technology for my next game (shameless plug for Gunmetal Arcadia, which you can follow through development at gunmetalarcadia.com). At some point, I would love to try to port this technique to Unity or to emulators, although I'm secretly hoping that by talking openly about it, some clever developer with more experience in those fields than I have will take up that flag.During the debate among Republican presidential candidates last month, Jeb Bush hammered Donald Trump on his abuse of eminent domain. But Trump apparently sees nothing wrong in having government officials force people to sell their property.
Trump replied,
Eminent domain is an absolute necessity for a country, for our country. Without it, you wouldn’t have roads, you wouldn’t have hospitals, you wouldn’t have anything. You would have schools, you wouldn’t have bridges. And what a lot of people don’t know because they were all saying, oh, you’re going to take their property. When somebody — when eminent domain is used on somebody’s property, that person gets a fortune. They at least get fair market value, and if they’re smart, they’ll get two or three times the value of their property.
This last assertion led George Mason law professor Ilya Somin (an expert on eminent domain) to quip at the Volokh Conspiracy, “If eminent domain really were a good way to make a fortune, the Donald Trumps of the world would be lobbying the government to condemn their property. But that rarely, if ever, happens.”
Put aside Trump’s hyperbole about the supposed impossibility of schools, hospitals, and bridges without eminent domain. What I want to focus on is his claim that eminent domain is not objectionable because people who have their property taken make out just fine financially.
That claim is simply indefensible. The truth is that people who lose their property to eminent domain proceedings are almost never made whole.
Legal scholars have for many years been writing about the injustice that usually befalls people who have to settle for what the government deems “just compensation” under the Fifth Amendment. I wouldn’t expect Mr. Trump to know about that because he is too busy making deals. But the kind of deals businessmen usually make involve two parties who can say “no,” unless and until they think the deal will improve their positions.
With eminent domain takings, however, the property owner can’t say “no,” and usually must settle for much less than he or she would have bargained for in a voluntary setting.
Professor Gideon Kanner has written extensively about the problem of inadequate compensation for people who’ve been forced to sell under eminent domain. In his article “[Un]Equal Justice under Law: The Invidiously Disparate Treatment of American Property Owners in Taking Cases,” he writes:
The true standard of compensation is not indemnity, but rather fair market value so artfully defined as to exclude factors that sellers and buyers in voluntary transactions would consider, and that the government need only pay for what it acquires, not for what the owner has lost.
Those losses include business goodwill, relocation expenses, and the emotional damage of having to leave a community where one may have strong ties. In the government’s calculus, people are expected to suffer such losses as part of the price of living in America.
As the Supreme Court stated in the 1949 takings case Kimball Laundry v. U.S., “Loss to the owner of non-transferable values … is properly treated as part of the burden of common citizenship.” That “tough luck, property owner” mindset still prevails.
Knowing that they hold the high cards (and ultimately the guns) when they deal with property owners, government officials take full advantage. As Kanner observes, “Condemning agencies regularly reap unjustified windfalls from the fact that the majority of their offers (including the many low-ball ones) are accepted without litigation or even involvement by a private appraiser or lawyer.”
Therefore, eminent domain causes many property owners to suffer uncompensated losses.
Far from “getting a fortune” or “two or three times” the market value of their property, most owners are left substantially worse off for their unwanted encounter with condemning government agencies. Few if any of them shrug off the losses as their part of the “burden of common citizenship.”
Although the eminent domain issue came up during a debate among presidential candidates, there is hardly anything that the president can do to rectify the problem of under-compensation for property owners. He (or she) cannot issue an executive order mandating that property owners be made whole.
If there is to be a solution, it must come from the judiciary.
Judges, and especially the justices of the Supreme Court, will have to stop ruling that merely because an individual is paid an amount deemed “fair market value,” the Fifth Amendment’s requirement of “just compensation” has been satisfied.
It would also help property owners if the Supreme Court would overturn Kelo v. New London and establish that property can only be taken for actual “public use,” as the Fifth Amendment requires, and not for private use that local politicians think might have some “public benefit.”
Since we are going to have confirmation hearings for a new member of the Court eventually, it would be important to find out precisely what the nominee thinks “just compensation” and “public use” actually mean.Tesla Motors is downplaying a claim that completely draining the battery in its electric sports car "bricks" the vehicle, a problem that could in theory apply to any electric vehicle and is best avoided by simply plugging the car in regularly.
In what is sure to become another rallying cry for critics of electric vehicles, a report published by Michael Degusta of The Understatement claims fully discharging the Roadster's massive 53-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion pack effectively kills the battery, rendering the car inoperable. This, he claims, can happen even if the car isn't being driven.
"A Tesla Roadster that is simply parked without being plugged in will eventually become a 'brick,'" Degusta, who has placed a $5,000 deposit for Tesla's forthcoming Model X crossover, writes. "The parasitic load from the car’s always-on subsystems continually drains the battery and if the battery’s charge is ever totally depleted, it is essentially destroyed."
Degusta claimed, without offering proof, the forthcoming Model S sedan could experience the same problem. He notes in the post that he interviewed an unnamed Tesla regional service manager who identified five unnamed Roadster owners who have experienced the problem in a variety of circumstances, including using a 100-foot extension cord to charge a Roadster. One owner, Max Drucker, provided Wired.com with an email he sent to Telsa Motors CEO Elon Musk saying his battery was rendered "dead and unrecoverable" after he left the unplugged car in storage for six weeks.
"I had no idea I could be putting my car at risk," Drucker told Wired.com by phone. "This was an accident. I didn't know."
Tesla Motors downplayed Degusta's report, arguing the issue he raises isn't a technical problem so much as an issue of properly maintaining the vehicle. The company likens the need to maintain a minimal charge to ensuring there is sufficient oil in a conventional engine.
"All automobiles require some level of owner care," the company said in a statement. "For example, combustion vehicles require regular oil changes or the engine will be destroyed. Electric vehicles should be plugged in and charging when not in use for maximum performance. All batteries are subject to damage if the charge is kept at zero for long periods of time."
The issue comes at a critical time for Tesla Motors and for electric vehicles. Tesla is preparing to ramp up production of the Model S sedan and recently announced plans to launch the Model X in 2014. More broadly, electric vehicles from Ford and others will follow the Nissan Leaf and Mitsubishi i to market.
Drucker, first identified by Green Car Reports, took delivery of Roadster No. 340 in May 2009, more than a year after placing a $50,000 deposit for the vehicle. He said he has driven the car 13,000 miles and followed Tesla's service guidelines. He moved into a rental house while his home was being renovated and parked his Roadster in the garage, leaving it with a 25 percent state of charge. He didn't touch it for six weeks and found it dead when he attempted to start it earlier this month.
"It wouldn't do anything," he said. "It wouldn't even unlock. It took four guys two hours to get the car out of my garage and onto a flatbed truck. The car wouldn't even roll."
He sent the car to the Tesla store in Los Angeles. Three days later, Drucker said, Tesla told him the battery must be replaced at a cost of $32,000 plus tax and labor. He said Tesla told him the warranty will not cover the repair, and his car remains at the Tesla store.
"I'm going to sell the car for salvage," Drucker said. "I'm done with this Roadster."
Drucker complains that Tesla has not adequately warned owners of the risk or done enough to mitigate it.
Tesla Motors spokesman Ricardo Reyes would not comment beyond the company's statement, but Tesla's point that batteries require a minimum level of maintenance by owners was echoed by EV advocates and Thilo Koslowski, an auto analyst with Gartner.
“This isn’t all that surprising," Koslowski said. "This is what you’d expect with batteries. The same thing will happen with the battery used by your internal combustion engine. If you don’t maintain it, it will go dead. The issue here for Tesla is the battery is of course a significant part of the drivetrain. It is very expensive, and there are liability issues."
Degusta wrote that the only solution is replacing the pack, which can cost more than $30,000. Koslowski said it is possible to revive a "dead" battery. However, it is a complicated, time-consuming process and there's a risk the battery was damaged by being depleted. This makes it unlikely an automaker would be willing to revive a dead pack.
Tesla argues the problem is not so great as Degusta alleges because the Roadster warns owners as the state of charge approaches critical levels, providing ample notice of the need to plug in. It also notes the risk of the battery depleting over time is an issue only if the car is left idle for extended periods. Most of the 2,200 Roadsters on the road will alert the driver — and Tesla Motors, if the owner has opted into the program — when the state of charge is critically low.
"Tesla batteries can remain unplugged for weeks (even months), without reaching zero state of charge," the company said. "All Tesla vehicles emit various visual and audible warnings if the battery pack falls below 5 percent SOC [state of charge]."
This could, in theory, be an issue for any electric vehicle, but it is one General Motors and Nissan said they've considered in the design of the packs in their cars with cords. Although the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid features a 16-kilowatt-hour pack, only 10.4 kilowatt-hours is used to actually propel the car. The rest is a "buffer" designed to prevent over-charging or depleting the pack, said company spokesman Robert Peterson.
The Nissan Leaf features several visual and audible warnings to alert drivers to the declining state of charge, and the pack was designed so it cannot be fully discharged, company spokeswoman Katherine Zachary said in a statement.
"One element of the battery management system is a failsafe wall that stops the battery from reaching zero state of charge, even after a period of unplugged storage," she said.
Koslowski and others said the simplest solution for any EV owner is to plug the car in whenever possible, particularly if it's going to be sitting for an extended period. This is akin to putting a trickle charger on the battery under your hood.
Indeed, this is just what owners' manuals suggest. Tesla, for example, warns that "over-discharge can permanently damage the battery" and "if storing for more than 15 days, it is strongly recommended that you keep it plugged in." The Tesla manual warns that a fully charged Roadster pack will drop as much as 50 percent in the first week, then lose about 5 percent per week thereafter. Tesla says a fully charged battery would require about 11 weeks to fully discharge if the vehicle were not used.
According to Green Car Reports, Tesla has buyers sign a document acknowledging their responsibility to maintain a charge in the pack and stating that any damage caused by failing to do so is not covered by the warranty. The Tesla Motors "Disclosures and Acknowledgements" form specifically states, "Note, your Roadster warranty as it relates to the battery does not cover damage caused by exposing an unplugged vehicle to ambient temperatures above 120 degrees Fahrenheit for over 24 hours, storing an unplugged vehicle in temperatures below -40 degrees Fahrenheit for over seven days or leaving your vehicle unplugged where it discharges that battery to at or near zero state of charge."
But Drucker argued that Tesla's warnings are vague and do not adequately warn owners to the risks. He said nothing he read or heard suggested the battery could be ruined, and he would have heeded any explicit warning to maintain a minimum charge or leave the vehicle plugged in during storage.
"It doesn't say that if you don't leave the car plugged in your battery will be dead and you'll be out $40,000," he said. "I am not an idiot. If I had ever heard that, I would not have allowed this to happen."
At the bottom line, electric vehicles are a fundamentally new technology for most consumers, one with different maintenance needs. As more automakers follow Tesla, Nissan and General Motors to market, the entire industry will have to do a better job educating prospective EV owners about the maintenance requirements of cars with cords.
“There will be some maintenance requirements that will go away when you transition away from internal combustion engines, but there will be some new ones that people need to be aware of,” Koslowski said. “The industry has not done a good job explaining this, and outlining the long-term maintenance requirements."
To that end, Drucker has outlined seven suggestions for Tesla Motors, among them making it explicitly clear during the sales and vehicle checkout process that leaving the car unplugged can destroy or "massively harm" the battery. He also suggests affixing a decal to the charging port door warning of such risk, providing optional battery insurance and including a spare 110-volt charger "just like a spare tire." He also calls on Tesla to replace, at no cost, the batteries in any "bricked" cars.
UPDATED: 8:07 p.m. EST to include information from Green Car Reports identifying Max Drucker.
UPDATED 9:35 p.m. EST to include additional information provided to Wired.com by Drucker.About a year ago, early on a Saturday morning, I walked out into the courtyard of my apartment building in Los Angeles to pick up the newspaper and received an impromptu education about contemporary childhood. My 11-year-old neighbor was getting set to embark on a quintessential kid activity: riding his bike. I waved hello and stared transfixed at the boy's elaborate preparations. First, he shimmied a set of hard-plastic and soft- cushion pads over his sneakers. He worked them up his shins and positioned them carefully over his knees for maximum protection. He did the same with a pair of elbow pads, flexing his arms to make sure the fit was right. Then came the gloves, thickly padded on the palms and across the knuckles. Finally, he picked up the helmet, adjusted it on his head, strapped it down across his chin, and rapped on it once (for luck, I suppose).
As he peddled off in his body armor, his father appeared, coffee mug in one hand. "You be careful," he called after his son. And then the father, who like me is in his 30s, turned my way and added, somewhat sheepishly, "I remember riding my bike barefoot in the rain. Things sure are different nowadays with the kids."
About six months ago, I received another unscheduled lesson in contemporary childhood (or, more precisely, contemporary parenting). My wife and I had moved to a small town in southeast Texas, and I was dropping our 3-year-old son off for the first time at his new day care center. As I started out of the U-shaped driveway, I saw something that made me hit the brakes so hard I almost cracked my head against the windshield: A car pulled into the driveway with a toddler jumping up and down in the passenger seat of the automobile; in the back seat, I saw another unbelted child climbing the upholstery. What the hell kind of parent would allow such a thing? I wondered for a second before the answer came to me: my mother, my father, and every other parent I knew growing up during the '60s, '70s, and early '80s.
Things sure are different nowadays with the kids, and in a most puzzling way. By most standards, the vast, overwhelming majority of American children are doing better than ever. With some notable, insistent, and tragic exceptions, indicators such as mortality and accident rates, life expectancy, and educational attainment all suggest that the kids are more than all right. In fact, they are flourishing, brimming over with the potential to live longer, to live better, and to be smarter than their parents (just as their parents outstripped their parents).
And yet, the national discourse on children--the way we talk about "the kids" and their future--describes a tableau of unremitting fear and trembling, a landscape marked by relentless risk and deprivation. Although apocalyptic rhetoric in general has diminished in recent years--overpopulation, nuclear war, global warming, and the like just don't pack the same wallop they did in years past--the air remains thick with stories of how children must be protected from a world that is conceived largely as a malevolent presence that seeks only to hurt them, a sort of Mad Max environment for the younger set.
While not exactly new, this trend has been intensifying over the past two decades or so, lurching from isolated scares about poisoned Halloween candy in the 1970s and child abduction in the 1980s to a generalized calculus that places perceived harm to children at the center of seemingly every discussion. The tendency is ubiquitous enough to be fair game for parody. On The Simpsons, for instance, one character routinely asks at any public gathering, "What about the children?" It is not coincidental that the rise of such attitudes to cultural dominance occurred as the baby boom generation--that gargantuan cohort born between 1946 and 1964--shifted into parenting mode and started to grapple with the most unfamiliar role of authority figure. While it is unclear what effect this may have on the kids themselves--Will they respond to doomsday scenarios by shrinking from the world or by becoming what-the-fuck nihilists?--one result has been a gradual shifting of the costs of raising children onto wider and wider swatches of society, and not merely in dollars: If kids have access to TV, for instance, then all programs must be made child-safe.
The threats are everywhere, we are told: If children are not hounded by ritual satanic child abusers at day care or by perverts on the Internet, then they're sucking in too much asbestos at school, or chewing on too much lead at home; if television, purportedly the babysitter of choice in the overwhelming majority of American homes, hasn't transformed kids into underperforming, slackjawed dullards, it has overstimulated them into feral children who must be tamed with Ritalin and Prozac; if we haven't failed the kids by not spending unlimited amounts of tax money on them, then we have transformed them into shallow consumers who can only measure affection in terms of dollars spent; if they're not at elevated risks of brain cancer from eating hot dogs, then they're likely to become punch-drunk from heading soccer balls; and on and on.
Interestingly, such stories tend not to focus on the kids who may truly be most at risk, such as impoverished children in the inner city or rural outposts. Instead, the tendency is to paint with a broad brush, to talk about that great hypothetical abstraction, "middle-class America." As Hillary Clinton put it in last year's It Takes A Village and Other Lessons Children Teach Us, "Like many parents, I feel there is much to worry about when it comes to raising children in America today....Against this bleak backdrop, the struggle to raise strong children and to support families, emotionally as well as practically, has become more fierce." It doesn't matter if you're in the first income quintile or the fifth: We're all in this bleak backdrop together.
This is hardly a hobby horse the First Lady rides alone. Judging from national polls and random conversations, her feelings are widely shared. "Yeah, I'm really worried about raising my kids," a college friend with two pre-teen girls tells me. "Everything's out of control: drugs, schools, college costs." I try reminding him that he himself first smoked dope at age 15 and that his and his wife's combined income--somewhere around the $100,000 mark--should let them be good providers, but he cuts me off: "No way, it's totally different now. Do you know how much college costs? Have you seen the kids today? Do you hear the music? They're out of control," he says, forgetting for the moment his early-'80s penchant for humming Sex Pistols lyrics such as, "I am an anti-Christ, I am an anarchist, don't know what I want, but I know how to get it" and "God save the Queen, she ain't no human being....No future for you!"
We are suckers for tales of decline. Most of the fears and worries regarding children, however, are less based on shared experience and more the result of relative affluence, indiscriminate risk assessment, and a generational solipsism that seems particularly acute in baby boomers. The first generation to "discover" alienation, rebellion, sex, and drugs has been painfully slow to recognize recurrent truths: that parenting is an awesome and fearsome experience, that your children grow up speaking a foreign language, that youth culture is always precisely calculated to maximize disgust in parents.
It is, of course, always worth paying attention to the particular ways in which children and childhood are discussed. That's because on one level, children simultaneously incarnate both vulnerability and the future--they are, in that most threadbare of clichés, the "leaders of tomorrow." More than that, they are relatively clean slates that must be etched in properly. As such, they are the repository of parental and societal aspirations and anxieties; they function as a sort of communal ink-blot test upon which adults project their own hopes and fears. On another level, kids represent the cutting edge of public policy. As concerns about children get translated into policy, the tendency almost invariably is to centralize and to consolidate power in fewer hands in hopes of eliminating all risk, of sweeping away broken glass from any place where small feet might tread: If something can hurt (or help) one child, it makes sense to ban (or extend) it to all children. A parallel impulse is to expand the reach of policy (how else to child-proof the world?), even while trying to place it beyond the scrutiny of reasoned analysis. Invoking "the children" is the rhetorical equivalent of zipping yourself into a Kevlar suit: Only a heartless bastard would dare question the efficacy or efficiency of programs for the kids.
Welcome to what might be called the Buddhafication of American children. Not long after the birth of my son a few years back, I realized that the legend of the Buddha was, in a very real way, about parental anxiety. Siddartha--the Buddha--is born to a wealthy, doting king who seeks to keep his son from experiencing the world as it actually is in it all its variety, its richness, and its poverty. To that end, the father builds a huge, extravagant walled palace around the child and never lets him leave the grounds. "The king was anxious to see his son happy," goes one telling of the tale. "All sorrowful sights, all misery, and all knowledge of misery were kept away from Siddartha, for the king desired that no troubles should come nigh to him."
One doesn't need to be a parent to sympathize with the king and understand his motivation: He only wants his child to be untroubled by the harshness, the difficulties, the indifference of the wide, wide world. As a society, we are following his lead. We, too, are wealthy and, we, too, desperately (and understandably) try to wall our children off from everything that is harsh and ugly in life. We, too, are raising little Buddhas whom we believe face unprecedented and ubiquitous threats.
Risks that were once taken for granted have now become plainly intolerable and have fueled any number of "common-sense" policies passed during the past decade or so. Hence, the removal of asbestos from school buildings (more than $10 billion spent over the past decade, with $20 billion more already in the pipeline); more and more efforts to educate school kids about drugs; mandatory bicycle helmet laws for kids (adopted by more than a dozen states); the V-Chip and television ratings; increasingly elaborate sports safety equipment; proposed Federal Aviation Agency guidelines requiring separate seats for children under 2 (who can currently share an adult's seat); and government plans for a "universal" child's car-seat attachment harness that, as White House spokesman Mike McCurry put it, will at last ensure that parents can "get the little thingy in through the back and get it stuck into the little deal that goes in the side."
Such policies are of a piece with discussions that see environmental, sociological, and even neurophysiological dangers everywhere. Redbook warns about "Bullies: The Big New Problem You Must Know About." "There have always been tough boys and girls who pick on other kids," reads the story. "But it's the '90s, and the bullies have become more dangerous." (Despite the threat-filled language, the piece is pointedly not about gun- or knife-wielding teens; rather, it focuses on a child taunted about his ears.) The subtitle of Barbara Dafoe Whitehead's The Divorce Culture, a book based on her widely discussed 1993 Atlantic article, "Dan Quayle Was Right," indicates "how divorce became an entitlement and how it is blighting the lives of our children." In a "special report" on "How a Child's Brain Develops," Time frets, "Too many children today live in conditions that threaten their brain development. What can we do?"
As the Time reference suggests, the endpoint of these discussions is often an implicit call to public action: What can we do? "Is your playground safe?" asks Parents magazine in a recent article that notes, "More than 267,000 children will sustain playground-equipment- related injuries this year....A number of children will even die as a result." Later, the story suggests that "one reason for the safety problem is that there are no federally mandated playground-safety standards."
Other times, the call to arms is explicit. In 1995, the Environmental Protection Agency and |
a robust workflow and rarely encounter problems, you’ll most likely pick up a trick or two as well.
If you want to quickly skip between different parts of the production pyramid, you can do so by clicking these links:
What is the Production Pyramid?
The Production Pyramid breaks down the process of producing a track in a clear, easy-to-follow framework that consists of five steps.
Just as a building a house requires a solid foundation before the frame is added, a track needs to start with foundational elements. If making a dance track, it’s unwise to spend time thinking about the mixdown before a foundational groove is laid down. Likewise, if a melodic track is being made, focusing on sound design and complex production tasks is nothing more than a form of procrastination.
The 5 steps, as shown below, are not mutually exclusive. The point of this article is not that you must focus on composition first and ignore sound design while doing it, or that you must do all your EQ and compression – mixing – only after the first three steps, but rather that to focus as best you can on each step leads to a better end product, with less trouble along the way.
Despite what we’re often led to believe, multitasking isn’t beneficial for anyone, especially the electronic music producer. Jumping between creative tasks and logical tasks means that our brain is continually having to stop, switch and regain momentum, only to have to suddenly reconfigure and restart the process again.
Furthermore, viewing the production workflow through this 5-step framework works incredibly well with a task-based or task-managed workflow. That is, viewing the song creation process as a set of tasks rather than one large task. For example, one could split up the 5 parts of the framework into smaller subtasks…
Composition Write basic chord progression Write melody Write counter melody Create underlying rhythm for track Write bridge chord progression
Arrangement & Instrumentation Choose drum sounds Arrange intro Arrange chorus Finish basic arrangement
…and so forth.
If you want to learn more about task-based music production, I suggest reading this article.
What is composition and what is its importance?
Put simply, composition is the process of generating musical ideas. The composition process is often a fluid process; one where ideas are generated, then manipulated, variated, expanded upon or even simplified. The choices made in this stage often set the track on a particular path in terms of genre, vibe and style.
The key to a successful track is strong melodic, harmonic and rhythmic ideas. These ideas will sit best in the track if they’re established during the beginning of the production process. Why? Because once the main ideas are solidified and the track starts to take shape around them, it becomes very difficult to remove or change them without impacting heavily on other elements. The best technical production skills mean nothing without the presence of solid musical ideas.
What are the goals of the composition stage?
To decide on a key, tempo, time-signature, chord progression, strong motif, melody, countermelodies, harmonic layers and any other accompanying lines that complement and support one another
To develop ideas for the introduction, verse, bridge, chorus, breakdown and outro
Select a basic set of patches and instruments to be used as placeholders before the sound design stage (where they will then be crafted further)
Write ideas with a ‘forward-thinking’ focus (being creative whilst making strategic choices to reduce problems in the later stages)
Focus on developing strong, straightforward lines (as opposed to many weaker lines which are difficult to arrange and mix later on)
Create a bank of various motifs, lines and melodies that can be easily accessed if needed
Elements of composition
A piece of music must contain all three elements of music – melody, harmony and rhythm.
A dance track cannot exist without a pulse for the audience to dance to and listeners will be unable to sing along to lyrics if there is no melody in place. Each genre of music uses each element in varying amounts.
Melody
A melody is a succession of notes played one after the other that together form a phrase or idea. Catchy melodies are often the part of the track that the audience will remember.
Whilst there are twelve notes in an octave, a melody generally doesn’t use all twelve notes. It instead uses the notes from the scale it is in. If the key of the track is A minor, the melody will use notes from the A minor scale. Notes can be added from outside of the scale but they may introduce dissonance.
Harmony and chord progressions
Harmony complements the melody, providing support while adding texture and mood.
A chord progression is a series of chords. A progression often repeats over and over throughout the track and commonly consists of four chords (but not always). Chord progressions are important as the bass usually plays the first note of each chord. For example, an A minor – D minor – C major – F major chord progression will typically have the bassline playing the notes A – D – C – F as single notes.
Keep in mind that a chord progression in a minor key will usually include a mix of both major and minor chords. Minor chord progressions often use a combination of minor and major chords and vice versa.
Rhythm
Rhythm is a pattern of stressed and unstressed sounds over a period of time which are organised into bars. Most electronic dance music uses a 4/4 simple metre, that is 4 beats per bar. Syncopation is created when emphasis is put on the weaker beats, also known as offbeats, of the bar (typically beats 2 and 4 of the bar).
Breaking the mould and using other time signatures for dance music is unusual and may not be popular with DJs who will find it difficult to mix the track into their sets. Adding interesting rhythmic patterns or polyrhythms and cross-rhythms instead over the top of a 4/4 kick will create a point of difference while adding interest and groove.
Other elements & considerations
Key
A key gives a composition a sense of home, resolution and rest. A key may be major or minor, though most dance music is composed a minor key as it is regarded as darker and more emotive than the major key.
A key gives the listener context and acts as an anchor. If the track is written in A minor, the A minor chord gives a sense of home. If theory isn’t your forte, writing in A natural minor is the preferred key to write in as it consists of only white keys.
Tempo
Tempo is the speed of a piece of music and is indicated in Beats Per Minute (BPM). A track written at 128BPM means that 128 beats occur in the duration of one minute. BPM is often used to distinguish genres from one another – electro house is centered around 128BPM while trance often falls anywhere between 128 – 145 BPM. When starting a new track, tempo plays an important factor in determining which genre the track will fall into. Respecting the BPM range of the genre makes it more DJ friendly – tracks of similar BPMs will make beatmatching easier.
Motifs
A motif is a small fragment that is placed in a track at various points and is the thing that is stuck in the listener’s head afterwards. It doesn’t have to be complicated – just a few notes or a rhythmic fragment will do the trick.
Structure
Most dance music follows simple structure that’s predictable enough for the audience to gauge what’s coming next. Well thought-out structure takes the audience on a journey consisting of anticipation, tension and emotional release and also lets us know how far through the track we are. Structure and arrangement will be discussed further in the next stage of the Pyramid.
It is important in this stage that ideas are written for every section of the track. Avoiding writing the main lead idea and trying to come up with it later on makes things unnecessarily difficult.
Starting the composition process
Producers often become overwhelmed by the blank DAW screen, and the uncertainty of “beginning.” Keeping the three elements of music in mind (rhythm, melody and harmony) and ensuring that each of these elements are present when generating ideas will help. Having an existing track for inspiration and an idea of which genre to write will also help.
Restriction enhances creativity. Many producers have a wealth of instruments, plugins, and samples available to experiment with which can be suprisingly detrimental to creativity if the wrong mindset is assumed. One approach to composition is restrict everything to a single neutral instrument such as a piano, guitar, voice or synthesiser with an initialised patch and perhaps a simple 4/4 kick acting as a metronome. Using a neutral patch will ensure that the producer isn’t ‘pigeonholed’ into a particular genre or style.
A common way to start a composition is by writing a simple chord progression and then adding different melody lines on top of it. Alternatively a lyric, loop, or sample might trigger the creative flow. Writing a 4, 8, or 16 bar loop and then continually adding elements is another common approach.
Avoid focusing on sound design or spending time scrolling through patch banks. Starting the process by spending hours designing a ‘perfect’ patch can cull creativity. While sound design is indeed important in the production process, its inclusion at the beginning of the creative process can slow down things down and result in hours of unecessary work without a single note being written.
A patch can ‘pigeonhole’ a producer, forcing them to create a certain genre or style to suit the patch they’ve labored over. The key to the composition process is to write with an open mind in order to create an array of musical ideas that can then be variated, developed, or discarded at a later stage. Find ‘placeholder’ patches that sound similar to the sound you’re going for but don’t obsess over them.
Tips to ensure a successful composition session
Brainstorm many ideas in one single sitting (writing many ideas, developing some and deleting others)
PLAN: Start with mental themes or have an inspiration track. Having some direction before starting will help.
Work as quickly as possible – perfectionism is time-consuming
Keep the creative process as organic as possible (playing an instrument, tapping and clapping or using the human voice to create ideas)
Use a neutral patch or piano to generate ideas
Start with your ‘weakness’. If writing chord progressions come easy to you, start with rhythm instead.
Learn basic music theory and the basics of playing an instrument
Ensure that the track is working musically before worrying about sound design and production
The composition process should be fluid – find an idea, play around with it and then choose to delete it, put it aside or develop it
Pay attention to all three elements of music – rhythm, melody and harmony
KISS (Keep It Super Simple) – keep in mind that the majority of your audience will have very little or no formal music training. Elements should be uncomplicated and straightforward.
The Composition stage is quite heavily tied into the Arrangement stage and one can view them almost as sitting side by side on the Production Pyramid as opposed to Composition first and Arrangement section.
What is Arrangement and what is its importance?
Arrangement is more than just assembling a verse, bridge and chorus in the right order. The aim of arrangement is to assemble musical ideas in a way that is digestible, easy to follow and flows from one section to the next resulting in a strong sense of beginning, development and completion. It also includes adding and subtracting different instruments throughout the duration of the track in order to build or reduce tension.
The arrangement must appeal to both the audience and DJs, and can make or break a track. The introduction of a lead at the wrong point or a track that isn’t easy to mix in or out of can severely reduce its appeal and impact.
What is Instrumentation and what is its importance?
Instrumentation refers to choosing different instruments to represent the different elements in a track. If you’ve written a chord progression and melody on the piano for example, the next step is choosing the best instruments and patches to convert it from a piano solo to an electronic piece of music.
The producer must make appropriate choices in order to create a track that fills out the available width and depth, using elements that complement and support each other while also appealing to the audience and portraying the elements in the best possible light.
Why is Arrangement and Instrumentation important to the Production Pyramid?
The musical ideas generated in the previous Composition section are simply ideas. They’re not finished products, and they need to be put into some sort of order. Proper arrangement ensures that the musical ideas are placed in such a way that they properly fulfil their roles.
Many musicians consider composition and arrangement to go hand in hand with each other. When arranging a track, the producer may notice a section that sounds bare or like it is lacking in energy. Being able to quickly compose an element to fill this space and then continue with the arrangement is a vital skill. Here, arrangement becomes a compositional tool which highlights ‘holes’ in the overall composition.
What are the goals of the Arrangement and Instrumentation stage?
To create a sense of flow/pull/momentum and tension/release
A well-arranged track should grasp the listener’s attention, keep their attention and make their emotions mimic what is happening in the track (excitement, tension, anticipation, relief)
Follow the typical structure of tracks (for example, including a one minute introduction for DJs to mix into)
Layer instruments to complement, support and harmonise with each other (not clash or compete for space in the mix )
Ensuring instruments are spread out across the sonic spectrum and balanced evenly
Choices are made with the audience’s behaviour in mind (where will they dance, sing, take a rest etc)
To choose ‘placeholder’ patches that will then be developed in the next stage
Things to consider during instrumentation
Instruments must have a particular space and purpose in the mix. While in-depth sound design and tweaking should be reserved for the next section, choosing placeholder patches now is important in order to arrange the track. When considering instruments, the following should be considered:
Timbre
Pronounced ‘tam-bar’ or ‘tim-bar.’ Timbre, also known as tone colour or sound quality, is the quality of a musical sound. Take a distorted guitar and a sine wave for example; when both are at exactly the same note and the same loudness, we are still able to distinguish between them. We could say that the guitar is colourful, noisy and contains a lot of upper harmonics, while the sine wave is smooth. This is because of their distinctive timbre. Using a range of instruments with varying timbre creates interest, contrast and colour.
The role of the instrument
Will this instrument play a leading part or sit in the background? Will it be forward or back in the mix?
A bright pad, for instance, will be difficult to push back into the mix. Choosing a duller pad would be a better choice. Yes, you can filter out the highs or add reverb in a later stage to push back the pad but starting with a patch that is ‘almost there’ will save time and allow you to get a better vision of the overall track early on.
Instrument quantity and balance
It is unrealistic, for example, to have more than one piano or two guitars playing in a live band, so always aim to keep the quantity and balance of instruments as realistic as possible. Working in a digital workspace means that we can add and duplicate instruments instantly which can quickly overload a track. Study the balance of instruments in an orchestra and try to replicate this balance in your track.
Feasibility and convenience
Having access to musical instruments and the recording facilities to record such instruments live is a dream for many producers with most instead having to rely on virtual synths, samplers and instruments. Remember, a drummer only has two hands so overly complex drums patterns will sound like a drum machine or sample. Avoid going overboard with layering and duplicating these virtual synths (unless you’re purposely trying to make your music sound unrealistic and complex).
The frequency range of each instrument
It is important to have an idea of where each instrument sits in the mix for two reasons:
The instruments will sound realistic. Having a cello play two octaves above will sound unrealistic and obviously electronic. Keeping each instrument within its range will make the mix sound logical. The mix will be clearer. Having a sense of each instrument’s frequency range will help you make better choices. Knowing that XYZ frequency is already occupied by XYZ instrument will make you think twice about piling three more instruments in that space.
Less is best
Keep in mind the more instruments you add, the more competition for space there is in the mix. Choose one strong instrument instead of doubling up two weaker patches. This will also reduce the chance of phasing and make life easier in the following stages.
Things to consider during arrangement
Arrangement and structure takes time to master and is often a result of hours of listening to other tracks in the same genre. The structure should flow from one section to the next and take the audience on a seamless journey of beginning, middle and end.
Include variation
Music should evolve as it progresses. Slight melodic or rhythmic variation can pull a track along or give the listener something to latch onto. Adding a new element every 8 or 16 bars can keep the audience locked into the track.
Control tension and energy
Dance music relies on careful manipulation of tension and energy. If your build-up has more energy than your drop, then listeners (especially those on the dancefloor) will be disappointed. Likewise, if your build-up doesn’t create enough tension, your drop will be perceived as lacking impact.
What’s the focus?
It’s often said that the listener can only focus on three elements at a time. The arrangement and structure of your track should reflect this. If the vocal is the main focus of a certain section, then make sure that there aren’t too many other unnecessary instruments playing that detract from it.
Also, make sure that each section of the track is clearly defined. In the intro, the focus should be on the rhythm, holding back the main melodic and harmonic elements so that the DJ can mix cleanly into it. In the breakdown, the rhythm won’t be as obvious and the energy will be brought down.
“Personally when I try to arrange music I think of what feeling I want each section to have and how they will flow into each other to build up, breakdown, bridge, or introduce the chorus ect. A lot of trial and error.
Often listen to some of my favorite songs, rock, pop or classic disco to help to try figure out how they flow or what makes them work so well.
I try to work on composing, arrangement and then production and find I’m usually arranging several broken ideas into one.” – David Pugliesi, LA Rocksteady
What is sound design and what is its importance to the Production Pyramid?
We often think of the special effects in movies at the mention of sound design. But sound design is more than just tapping taut steel cables (as in Star Wars) or recording the sounds of water with underwater microphones (as in many other sci-fi films) – sound design also encompasses the creation, or tweaking, of unique patches on synthesisers or VSTS.
Excelling at sound design can help to set a producer apart, giving their instruments an edge that presets and sample packs may not be able to provide. Often using an unaltered preset usually isn’t enough, particularly for prominent instruments like the bass. To make the preset shine, a degree of tweaking and the addition of an EQ and compressor at the very least is required.
Great patches and samples will ensure that the carefully chosen and arranged ideas from the previous sections shine through in the mix and gel together.
Some producers start building patches from scratch (or the ‘init’ patch) while others use a preset and tweak them from there. Building new patches from scratch takes practice and requires at least a basic knowledge of how a synthesiser works (or the patience for trial and error). Without this, the producer may find themselves changing parameters at random on the synth but not getting the result they want. It’s like playing notes on an instrument at random having never taken a music lesson – there’s a good chance that you won’t hit what you want at first.
Sound design is an area that producers can quickly become bogged down in, continually tweaking a patch or spending days in abandoned train tunnels capturing echoes with a field recorder.
Many producers prefer to perform the majority of their sound design outside of song projects. The reason being that sound design is time-consuming, and is a much more enjoyable and creative process when done outside the limitations of an already arranged track.
“The way I got my head around sound design was just spending a lot of time mimicking synths from producers like Deadmau5, Wolfgang Gartner, Eekkoo etc. I see all too often more novice producers saying “bro never copy someone’s track because you’ll never get creative!” and I couldn’t disagree more. Mimicking is a brilliant way to learn, sure don’t release something if you’ve ripped a huge part of a track but if you can eventually get to the point where you hear a track and can already build that sound in your head just from listening that power opens up a HUGE amount of creative possibilities.” – Lachlan Scott McDiarmid, Faure
What is production and what is its importance to the Production Pyramid?
The production stage is the final stage before focusing on the sonic credibility of your track. It may consist of a number of things, such as:
Filling in the arrangement with sound FX and tension-builders
Tweaking and cleaning up transitions
Creatively using audio effects like EQ, delay, reverb, compression, and distortion
Making key decisions and preparing for the mixing stage, i.e., deleting unnecessary tracks, making final arrangement tweaks
Tips for excelling at sound design and production
Practice daily. Practicing for a small amount on a daily basis is going to help you improve far quicker than having one big session a couple of times a month.
Practicing for a small amount on a daily basis is going to help you improve far quicker than having one big session a couple of times a month. Don’t be afraid to start with a preset. As mentioned in the previous stages, start with a patch that sounds close to the sound you would like. Tweak and enhance it to suit your track.
As mentioned in the previous stages, start with a patch that sounds close to the sound you would like. Tweak and enhance it to suit your track. Don’t get bogged down. Work quickly. Get it as close as you can and move on. Spending hours tweaking your bass may cause frustration which then leads to boredom and procrastination.
Work quickly. Get it as close as you can and move on. Spending hours tweaking your bass may cause frustration which then leads to boredom and procrastination. Watch tutorials and learn from others. There are millions of Youtube tutorials that take you step-by-step through the process of making a particular patch. A simple search like “Trance Bass Sylenth” should bring up more than enough results to help you out. Also, watch “In The Studio” videos to observe how other producers work.
There are millions of Youtube tutorials that take you step-by-step through the process of making a particular patch. A simple search like “Trance Bass Sylenth” should bring up more than enough results to help you out. Also, watch “In The Studio” videos to observe how other producers work. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Ever wonder how those producers can make that bass patch in just a few minutes? Usually it’s because they’ve repeated the process over and over until it’s become second nature. To get the most out of a tutorial video, initialise the patch after the video has finished and then try to repeat the steps. Repeat the process ten times. You’ll find that the sound you couldn’t make an hour ago is now a familiar process.
Ever wonder how those producers can make that bass patch in just a few minutes? Usually it’s because they’ve repeated the process over and over until it’s become second nature. To get the most out of a tutorial video, initialise the patch after the video has finished and then try to repeat the steps. Repeat the process ten times. You’ll find that the sound you couldn’t make an hour ago is now a familiar process. Set time aside to experiment. You need to practice to get better. The same goes with sound design. Set time aside to concentrate just on experimenting with synths and plugins. The trick here is to do this when you have a spare half-an-hour, not during the actual production of a track (as you can go down the rabbit hole and not come back up for hours).
You need to practice to get better. The same goes with sound design. Set time aside to concentrate just on experimenting with synths and plugins. The trick here is to do this when you have a spare half-an-hour, not during the actual production of a track (as you can go down the rabbit hole and not come back up for hours). Set a time limit. Again, don’t get lost in sound design. Set yourself an hour to experiment and save whatever patches or plugin chains you come up with during that time.
Again, don’t get lost in sound design. Set yourself an hour to experiment and save whatever patches or plugin chains you come up with during that time. Start with clean sounds for a clean mix. Don’t muddy up your mix with many sounds that have a lot of reverb, distortion, delay and multiple oscillators and voices. Remember that effects are cumulative – a small amount of an effect on one instrument won’t seem like a lot but is noticeable once you add everything together. Take the time to choose clean and strong sounds to carry your ideas across.
Don’t muddy up your mix with many sounds that have a lot of reverb, distortion, delay and multiple oscillators and voices. Remember that effects are cumulative – a small amount of an effect on one instrument won’t seem like a lot but is noticeable once you add everything together. Take the time to choose clean and strong sounds to carry your ideas across. Learn one synthesiser inside out. Choose one synthesiser and stick to it – it’s better to know one instrument inside out than to have a moderate knowledge of three. Avoid getting swept up into purchasing the newest synths as they’re released (the same goes for plugins) – too many tools, samples or plugins can often be more of a hindrance than an advantage. Limitation can enhance creativity.
Beware of overproducing
It is possible to go overboard with sound design and production by adding too many plugins or simply allocating too much time to an instrument that doesn’t require it. Don’t spend four hours on an atmospheric pad that sits in the background whilst using an unaltered patch for a driving lead that dominates the foreground. In a perfect world we’d have infinite time to allocate to each area but unfortunately we aren’t in one, which is why it’s better to work quickly and move on.
Ensure that you maintain each instrument’s character, particularly ‘traditional’ instruments like a piano or violin. Unless you’re going for an over processed sound, tweak orchestral instruments only to enhance them and keep plugins to a minimum – there’s nothing worse than an ‘acoustic’ piano patch playing in a trance breakdown that sounds fake.
Be wary of the costs of changing instruments and patches at this later stage, as making a change – particularly to the elements that hold the track together like the kick or bass – could throw the whole track out. The trick is to choose placeholder patches in the Composition stage that are close to the sound you’re going for. Aim to make wise instrument choices in the previous stage to minimise work in this stage. It’s all about fine tuning, not heavy processing.
What is the role of each plugin you’ve added to chain? Is it enhancing the sound? Can you describe its exact purpose or is it just there to fill up space? We often add plugins out of habit or because we’ve seen a tutorial and XYZ producer swears by this or that plug in. Ask yourself these questions as you reach for another plugin. If you can’t answer the questions, don’t add it! Remember, less is best.
What is mixing and why is it important?
Mixing is the stepping stone that facilitates the presentation of music with the artistic intent of the composition, arrangement and production.
When discussing mix engineering, we must first understand that what we’re trying to do is engineer a musical production.
Now in understanding that, there are two elements we address in mixing that we must always be conscious of and how they affect the presentation of the music:
Creative elements Technical elements
Producers often keep the two separate, which can be detrimental to their end product. The key to remember, is that when engineering, we are problem solvers. The problems are most often creative, the solution is most often technical, and the equation we implement to achieve our creative goals is unique to every single one of us.
Good productions provide space for the mixing engineer to interpret, engage with and develop the presentation of the creative with their technical expertise.
Now, one might ask, how does mixing tie itself into the production pyramid? It’s simple. Without the foundations of a good composition, arrangement and production, the mixdown process can only present to a listener what information it is fed. If fed a poor production, the engineer will spend countless hours chasing their tail, trying to remedy or make compromises in order to keep the presentation of the creative information sounding desirable.
A mixdown won’t compensate for poor voicing choices between pads, lackluster percussion tracks and melodies. These are all elements which need to be addressed with strong concern earlier on. With this in mind, a well thought-out composition, arrangement and production can make way for endless possibilities to be achieved through the mixing process.
What are the fundamental building blocks of a mix?
The fundamental building blocks of a mix can be described through the simple physical locations in the sound stage such as left to right (Width), foreground & background (depth), and high & low (height). These three elements house a large deal of importance when trying to make elements sit in their own space within a mix.
Width
The delivery device more often than not for music consumption – especially with electronic music – is a stereo playback system. We utilize the characteristics of this system to position a listener and embellish the motifs in a production/arrangement. Appropriate the stereo field with the intentions of your production, arrangement and composition with some of general notes below.
Characteristics of the stereo image:
Low frequencies carry a lot of energy in a mix. By keeping them centered the balance/focus of your mix will be weighted evenly. Generally, in electronic music a lot of emphasis is placed on the weight, thud and umph of the kick and bass line. By having both the left and right speakers reproducing the SAME information in unison will help share the weight needed to reproduce that strong, chest punching bass.
Higher frequencies travel with greater direction and less dispersion making it easy for a listener to localize where the sound source is located in the stereo field. This directly relates to creating a sense of SPACE. Utilize your pan pot for elements such as hi-hats, backup synths, layered top heavy synths, auxilliary percussion, backup vocals and toms. By doing so you can create and position your listener in an engaging environment which embellishes the motifs of the production and composition.
The center of the soundstage in a mix has the most utilizable space for PROMINENCE and FORWARD CLARITY Elements like lead synths, melodic lines, and lead vocal tracks can be made to feel forward and present with little effort when placed in the centre.
Transients punch through with greater strength and prominence when centred. In electronic music the “Feel” and “Umph” of a driving rhythm is a key ingredient to a great song. By utilizing the centre soundstage for kicks and snares or rhythmic synth elements you can embellish the feel of a production’s rhythm to great effect.
Depth
The dimension of depth in a mix is one that directly frames what is and isn’t in focus to the listener. With a dynamic range of 96db in a 16-bit session and 116db in a 24-bit session, the great amount of dynamic depth that can be achieved purely with faders is an asset that shouldn’t be ignored.
Good depth in a mix can provide a sense of impressionable dynamics, distance and intimacy. By being sympathetic to the production, arrangement and composition’s intentions you can begin to develop a sense of depth with the following key points in mind.
DYNAMICS: A sense of tasteful dynamics is the anchor point that divides good mix downs from great mix downs. The ability to discern which elements are needed in a production to be up front and in the listener’s face in contrast to elements which play a secondary role supporting the production in the background is a skill that is often overlooked. FADERS FIRST: get your levels sorted before flicking the switch on any of your EQs or Compressors. Listen intently to how the production is presenting the information to you has a listener. Want something sitting in the front? Ride the fader up. Hearing too much of something else? Bring it down. If elements appear to be whaling in and out of focus due to dynamic variance (Vocals and bass lines typically), employ the use of a compressor to help hold their dynamic range in check and remain seated where required in the mix.
A sense of tasteful dynamics is the anchor point that divides good mix downs from great mix downs. The ability to discern which elements are needed in a production to be up front and in the listener’s face in contrast to elements which play a secondary role supporting the production in the background is a skill that is often overlooked. DISTANCE + INTIMACY: Creating an impression of space, distance and intimacy is the next stepping to stone to build on and further embellish the intentions of the dynamics in a production and mix. By using processing such as reverb and delay, you can generate a sense of environment in which you position the listener in. When adding some early reflections or mixing in a prominent wet reverberation effect it can help signal to the listener how close or far away a particular sound is. Utilizing longer reverbs and delays help keep background elements feeling distant in relationship to lead synths which you may leave dry and upfront in volume to help create focus within the mix. The overuse of reverberation and delays can leave a mix feely muddled, use sparingly with taste and with intent.
Creating an impression of space, distance and intimacy is the next stepping to stone to build on and further embellish the intentions of the dynamics in a production and mix. By using processing such as reverb and delay, you can generate a sense of environment in which you position the listener in.
Height
The height of the mix is all about the tonal balance and harmony of the overall track. The way the height of a mix frames the production is important. Think of height from the bottom up, lowest frequency to the highest, respectively.
If it’s a bass driven production and the overall timbre of the mix is very bright and boxed up, it will detract from the key compositional and production features and lose the bottom-end drive that’s needed to present the mix most appropriately.
The most appropriate tool to pinch frequencies of elements in and out to adjust the height of them in a mix is an EQ. An equalizer is a tool that requires a whole article of its own to explain all its assets and applications throughout audio engineering. The one key thing to understand is that when using an equalizer there is always a relative “ying-yang” effect taking place. When attenuating low frequencies you are respectively boosting the high frequencies and when boosting low frequencies you’re attenuating the highs. By understanding the cause and effect of each of your moves with an equalizer and adapting the mentality to create a track with well balanced height, you can create a very full and impactful presentation of your production.
What is mastering?
“Mastering is the last creative step in the audio production process, the bridge between mixing and replication (or distribution)… …Regardless of the form in which product is sold, our job as mastering engineers remains: we help music to be presented in the best possible way” – Bob Katz, Mastering Audio – the art and the science 3rd ed. pg1.
Mastering is a process that has evolved significantly over the past 50 years as playback mediums have fallen in and out of favour, most notably between the shift from analogue to the digital technologies of recorded music.
The primary goal when mastering is to turn a fully arranged mix/set of mixes into a presentable musical product ready for distribution; that when broadcasted, downloaded, streamed on a hi-fi system, headphones, car system or on any playback system presents the listener with the most accurate intentions of the music from the first second to the last. In saying this, when mastering, we are not necessarily looking at each individual element in the mix, but rather looking at the whole song, EP, or album as a full start-to-end experience for the listener.
Before any mastering processes, session bookings, or ozone presets take place, it is always important to prepare your session. Set a brief and goals for what you are trying to achieve through the mastering process. Establish, with yourself or your mastering engineer, what your mix is trying to achieve and how you want it to connect with your listener, where it’s come from, and where it’s intending to go.
This preparation helps develop an understanding and appreciation for the work that has already been put into the mix, and also allows an empathetic approach to the finer details throughout the mastering process.
How does mastering fit into the production pyramid?
Your artwork is the composition and arrangement, your colors are the production, and the application of your colors is done through mixing. It’s the mastering stage that sizes it up, frames it and presents it to the public.
The framing of the mix is achieved through a process of; Quality control, ensures the mix has no artifacts or audible elements that will detract or impose themselves negatively during the mastering session. Surgical processing, addressing elements of the mix which may have been unheard/attended to during the mixing stage and push the listener away from the content of the mix. Creative processing, working with the tonal and dynamic qualities of the mix to present them in their best light to the listener. Last but not least – sequencing and rendering, the process of timing lead-in into the track, and the fade-out/gap at the end of one track to the next, as well as rendering the files for the medium they’re to be released on.
Quality control, surgical/creative processing as well as sequencing and rendering are all aspects that are addressed during mastering. However it does not accommodate for shortfalls in the mixing process without some level of compromise.
To learn more about the mastering process and how it relates to the Production Pyramid, read this article.
Conclusion
There you have it – a 5-step framework for taking a track from conceptual idea to finished product. Reading an article like this means nothing if you don’t apply the teachings, so, at the very least, try and experiment with this workflow and see how it goes.
Also, be sure to tweak the Production Pyramid to your liking. Music production is such a subjective art form, and we’re not claiming that you must absolutely work this way if you want to make good music, but it will most likely help.
Have any questions? Leave a comment below.
Check out Cassandra Zko over at ZKO Music.
Check out Nicholas Di Lorenzo over at Panorama Mastering.Gold prices shot up to a new record of $1,512.50 an ounce in New York late on Friday, posting a record weekly gain and maintaining a six-week winning streak |
and failures of fiscal coordination). His analysis is not focused on veto players, and extends both to the theoretical and the empirical level. Here are Treisman’s conclusions: ‘it is hard to reach any general conclusions about whether political—or administrative, or fiscal—decentralization will improve or impair the quality of government and economic performance. They will have many effects, driving in different directions on different dimensions’ (2007: 274). In fact, according to Treisman, only one general conclusion may be made about decentralization: ‘If political decentralization increases the number of actors whose acquiescence is needed to change policies, this will—other things being equal—tend to entrench the status quo’ (2007: 274). This, of course, was the reality in Italy for several decades, and the present reforms of the electoral system and of the Senate move in the opposite direction. By removing the Senate as an institutional veto player in the system of governance, Italy will experience more policy change in the future, should it follow through with its reforms. The effect on the economy or growth, however, remains indeterminate.
Consequences for institutional balance of power In addition to constitutional revision and policymaking, Italy’s reforms would have important consequences for balance of power between branches of government if adopted, particularly between the legislature and judiciary. More specifically, this analysis argues that while the reforms would decrease the statutory interpretation power of the judiciary, they would amplify the courts’ power in constitutional interpretation. Figure 5a illustrates the intuition for the statutory component of this argument. Assume for a moment that there are three legislative veto players in Italy, such that the triangle 123 connecting the players forms the legislature’s core (again, the set of points that they cannot possibly agree to change). Assume also that J and K represent statutory interpreters (namely, judges). Under this arrangement, if a judge selects one of the points inside of the core, a legislative override is not possible. Thus, Figure 5a illustrates three different possibilities. In the first two cases, the judge’s ideal points J and K are outside the legislative core, and they select the closest core point to them (J’ and K’, respectively). Despite the fact that these two choices are significantly different from each other, the legislative veto players are incapable of changing either of them. In the third case, the judge is located inside the legislative core, but changes her mind and moves from point L1 to point L2. Since her ideal point is inside the core, she can select it. Here again, the legislative veto players can do nothing to stop her. In each of these cases, the power of a judge to move policy increases with the size of the legislative core. In other words, if judges hold the power to interpret existing statutes, they can move the statutes unilaterally, and then wait for the legislature to respond. The larger the core, the larger the number of status quo relocations to which the legislature will be unable to respond. This basic point explains why the judiciary’s statutory interpretation powers should decrease in response to Italy’s proposed reforms. As noted above, the removal of the Senate as a legislative veto player would decrease the size of the policy-making core within the legislature. As the core shrinks, the judiciary will find fewer opportunities to relocate the status quo without legislative overrule: a small core means that the legislature can retaliate on a larger number of possible statutory interpretations. Empirical evidence in favor of this argument has been presented by Tsebelis (2002) for advanced industrialized countries and from Andrews and Montinola (2004) for developing ones. Thus, the proposed reforms would decrease the courts’ power in statutory interpretation in Italy. Still, while the proposed constitutional reforms would decrease the judiciary’s statutory interpretation power, they would increase the courts’ power in another realm: constitutional interpretation. Consider now Figure 5b. Like Figure 5a, the triangle 123 represents the legislative or statutory core, and actors J and K are the ‘first movers’ (judges in our case, though they could also be bureaucrats). Unlike Figure 5a, however, another actor, actor 4, is present in Figure 5b. Actor 4 represents the additional approval needed for constitutional revisions – either additional approval in the legislature (up to two-thirds of both chambers), or the approval of the populace in a referendum. With the addition of 4, the core grows – now encompassing the quadrilateral 1234. Under these circumstances, J and K’s power of interpretation increases: instead of having to project her ideal point onto the perimeter of 123, K (for example) may now select her ideal point. And on constitutional issues the preferences of the Court may shift from C1 to C2 (or conversely) without the possibility of reaction by the political system (constitutional revision). As before, when the size of the core increases, the ability of the legislature (and/or other veto players) to overrule a court’s decision decreases – ultimately empowering the courts. This theory of the judiciary’s power in constitutional interpretation has already received empirical support in the Italian context. Indeed, in examining unconstitutional sentence reversals by Italian courts, Santoni and Zucchini (2004; from now on S-Z) find that the number of reversals closely tracts the ‘constitutional range’ in Italy (i.e. the size of the constitutional core). It is interesting to note that S-Z calculate the constitutional core in two dimensions, along the argument presented in Tsebelis and Chang (2004), using the first two dimensions from Laver and Hunt’s (1992) book. Figure 6 depicts the relationship between sentence reversals and constitutional range, derived from S-Z’s data. Indeed, as constitutional range increases, so too does the independence of the judiciary. S-Z’s analysis has been criticized by Fiorino et al. (2007). They consider the appointment process of the judges, and when they include their own set of variables, they claim that S-Z’s findings (on which the analysis in this article relies) are reversed. Yet, as Fiorino et al. acknowledge, they do not consider constitutional decisions alone. They claim that ‘The consideration of all types of decisions that the Court may undertake in reviewing legislation makes our analysis more adherent to reality’ (Fiorino et al., 2007, 695). As a result, their dependent variable (unlike S-Z and this article) does not address constitutional decisions. In addition, in terms of their independent variable, they consider the ‘Herfindahl index of the fragmentation of parties in the government coalition’ (Fiorino et al., 2007, 692) as a proxy. However, this variable has nothing to do with the constitutional core used in this analysis (as well in the S-Z argument) for at least two reasons: first, it covers the government alone, and not the required two-third majority required by the constitution, and second, it is a function of the number of seats in Parliament that each governing party has, and not of policy positions. To make things clear, the Fiorino et al. variable depends on the distribution of seats in the government coalition: fragmentation increases the weak main coalition partner. On the other hand, the S-Z variable of core size depends on the positions of the parties of the constitutional core (including the Communists), and increases when the distance between Communists and the most conservative government coalition partner increases. Consequently, the Fiorino et al. arguments (with different independent and dependent variables) not only do not invalidate but cannot be even considered relevant to the S-Z arguments or the arguments in this article. 8 With regard to Italy’s proposed constitutional reforms, then, both empirical and theoretical research suggests that judges’ power of constitutional interpretation will increase. Indeed, because the reforms will render constitutional revision more difficult (growing the constitutional core), the judiciary will face fewer possibilities of constitutional revision for which the legislature could agree to overrule their decision. 9 Figure 6 uses S-Z data to show the historical evolution of Constitutional Court decisions to invalidate government decisions on grounds of constitutionality, along with the size of the constitutional core. The two time series seem correlated, and the next pictures shows that the visual impression is correct: the independence of the court is correlated with the size of the constitutional core. As a result of the proposed reforms, then, Italy would see two important changes that are relevant to the power of the judiciary, depicted in Figure 7. First, it would see a decrease in the size of its legislative core, shrinking from triangle 123 to 12’3. This would limit the courts’ power in statutory interpretation. However, the reforms would also increase the size of the constitutional core, growing from quadrilateral 1234 to 1234’. This would empower the courts, in terms of constitutional interpretation.Amid a flurry of announcements around the development of automated driving technology, online retail behemoth Amazon quietly joined the fray by being granted a patent for communications between autonomous vehicles and roadway management systems.
Specifically, U.S. Patent 9,547,986 deals with sharing lane direction and guidance information with self-driving vehicles on roads that have reversible lanes. While the system would seem to deal mainly with on-highway automated vehicles, the proposed system is applicable to "any type of vehicle, including but not limited to cars, trucks, vans, buses, street cars, helicopters, trains, subways, aircrafts, boats, etc., regardless of how powered or driven."
The patent contains no information about what Amazon's plans may be, but given that the company already operates a dedicated fleet of semi-trucks hauling goods to and from its distribution centers as well as panel delivery trucks, a move into autonomous driving seems inevitable.
Amazon didn't respond to emails and calls seeking additional details on the patent, granted January 17.
In 2016 Uber purchased self-driving truck startup Otto for an estimated $680 million, underscoring an intention to expand from ride-hailing services for individual passengers into commercial trucking and deliveries. Given how dependent Amazon's business is on fast, efficient logistics it is intensely focused on deploying technology that helps fulfill customer orders as rapidly as possible.
Unlike dense urban environments, highway driving is generally less challenging for vehicles under the control of artificial intelligence systems to master. Still, Amazon's vehicle-to-infrastructure communication system addresses an issue that must be solved before the technology can be deployed, along with helping vehicles merge in traffic and change lanes.
The metro Seattle area, Amazon's home region, has long used reversible highway lanes to ease rush-hour congestion and the technology the retailer has developed ensures that automated vehicles are guided to the appropriate lanes when the change occurs. Automated vehicles using Amazon's system can also alert the roadway management system of lane changes they plan to make, with a goal of keeping traffic flowing smoothly.
Amazon has leased cargo aircraft, filed for an ocean freight shipping permit, tested prototype drones it wants to deploy for speedy delivery of small items and has been rumored to be a potential investor in HERE, a high-definition mapping service that's working with a broad range of auto and tech companies real-time navigation data services. Robotic trucks and vans are a logical addition to the company's evolving logistics strategy.Despite shaky results as a team in Kirby Smart’s first year as head coach, Georgia clearly has the quarterback it needs to rebuild the program. Jacob Eason is coming off a promising freshman year in which he showed the potential to develop into an elite passer.
Using our new heat map tool we charted all of his passes from the 2016 season and broke them down into two charts. On the left are his completions and the on the right are his incompletions.
Eason clearly excels within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage, especially on the right side. But there is plenty of room for improvement down the field.
Arm strength is never an issue for Eason, so as he becomes more comfortable and patient in the pocket, he should improve his downfield productivity. Eason is a strong candidate to be one of the most improved quarterbacks in the nation in 2017.WILMINGTON, Del. -- The police shooting Wednesday of a Delaware man who was in a wheelchair was "an execution," a relative said at a press conference Thursday.
Jeremy McDole, 28, was shot around 3 p.m., after police responded to a call of a man who had a possible self-inflicted gunshot wound, the Wilmington Police Department said in a brief statement that officers.
Police have released few details, but said McDole had a handgun when officers shot him to death.
McDole's uncle, Eugene Smith, was among a crowd of about two dozen people who gathered Thursday at the scene of the shooting.
"It was an execution. That's what it was. I don't care if he was black, white, whatever," Smith said.
McDole is black. The race of the officers involved was not immediately released.
The police chief and mayor planned a news conference Thursday afternoon to talk about the shooting.
Smith said he was with his nephew about 15 minutes before shooting. "I didn't see no gun. He had a book bag, but I never seen a gun," he said.
The shooting occurred on a narrow street behind an auto parts store in an area that includes a mix of shops and rowhouses.
A bouquet of flowers was placed in the area where McDole was shot and some gray powder was on the concrete, apparently to soak up bloodstains on the street. At least seven small yellow chalk circles were on the pavement across from where McDole was shot, presumably outlining where the shell casings from officers' guns landed. A.40-caliber shell casing was found in the grass about 15 feet from where McDole was shot.
Smith said McDole had gotten out of jail about a year ago and was living in a nursing home near the scene of the shooting. He said McDole had been in a wheelchair since being shot in the back several years ago.
The Delaware Department of Justice's Office of Civil Rights and Public Trust is investigating the shooting and will determine whether the officers acted within the law. The agency investigates all police shootings that result in injury or death.Even in fair weather, the crowd at Tuesday evening’s public hearing on the PolyMet mining project at the RiverCentre in St. Paul would have been impressive: at least 2,100 by the official count, in a mass no news photo can really convey, and more than the two earlier sessions in Duluth and Aurora combined.
Many hundreds had traveled a half-day, in temperatures that didn’t get above zero, to be felt if not heard: Organizers had made clear that getting a moment at the microphone would require winning a lottery. Of more than 600 who signed up to speak, only 59 got the chance to deliver a three-minute pitch.
For three solid, tightly paced hours, the speakers alternated almost perfectly between pro and con — not only on whether PolyMet’s NorthMet project should go forward, but also on the actual subject of the hearing, which was whether the much-redone environmental review of NorthMet is now adequate.
29 spoke out against the NorthMet project and/or the agencies’ review, with most alleging deficiencies — some quite specific — in the current environmental impact statement prepared by the Minnesota DNR, the U.S. Forest Service and the Army Corps of Engineers. Nearly all of these focused on the problem of very long term and possibly perpetual acid drainage from sulfide ores.
30 spoke in favor of the project, usually without much reference to particulars of the agencies’ regulatory review. Their consistent message: Northern Minnesota needs the economic boost of copper/nickel mining; the impact assessments have gone on long enough; PolyMet and its regulators can be trusted to ensure environmentally benign mining; it’s time to let the dirt fly.
The two sides differed strategically in one way that I found interesting — use of a procedural rule that allowed someone whose name had been drawn for a speaking spot to yield their time to another. This happened 31 times, by my count:
PolyMet’s challengers used the option on 10 occasions, usually yielding time to a spouse, fellow student or technical expert on some portion of project review. Just once, this process brought up a speaker for whom the testimony was part of his job: Steve Morse, who heads the Minnesota Environmental Partnership.
MinnPost photo by Ron Meador Larry Long of Minneapolis sang an anti-mining song he dedicated to Pete Seeger.
(It also brought up the troubadour Larry Long, with guitar and harmonica, who managed to get out two minutes of a new anti-mining song for which he’d managed to work the phrase “acid rock” into the lyrics.)
PolyMet’s supporters, by contrast, used the option 21 times, and almost always the time was yielded to elected officials, business executives, union leaders and others you might consider as being paid in some way to be at the podium.
There were three current or former legislators in the bunch — Sen. David Tomassoni, former Sen. Ron Dicklich, former Rep. Tom Rukavina — and a string of mayors and county commissioners, past and present, from the Iron Range communities.
MinnPost photo by Ron Meador Former Sen. Ron Dicklich of Duluth said environmentalists are pursuing a shameful anti-mining agenda against the PolyMet project.
This was well within the rules, of course, and I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with it.
But you couldn’t ask for a clearer illustration of the present state of this debate, in which serious and usually science-based environmental concerns typically are not actually answered but are merely rebutted with assertions of economic and political power.
Here are some of the comments from last night’s session that seemed to me to frame this divide most clearly, compellingly or both:
Rukavina, of Virginia, who knows how to grab a headline as well as anyone, held up a grocery bag and suggested that everyone in the audience who opposes mining deposit, on their way out, their cell phones, iPads, car keys and other items that depend on metals PolyMet would mine.
“Everyone in this room uses the metals we’re talking about, so we’re all polluters. … This project — think about it —is the biggest recycling project in the history of Minnesota.
“We’re not talking about pop cans and beer bottles on the curbs here, folks. We are talking about (re-using) crushers, concentrators, railroads, tailings ponds, haul roads — they’re all already there. “
Bob Tammen of Soudan, a retired electrician in the taconite mines, rebutted the notion that mining is a revenue stream for Minnesotans. Responding to the mayor of Hoyt Lakes, who had talked about tireless efforts by the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board to diversify the regional economy, Tammen said:
“I go to IRRRB meetings and I can assure you they work tirelessly to rebate tax dollars to right back to the mining companies — in the last 20 years, more than $200 million. They’ll do it again this year unless we embarrass them enough, and it takes a lot to embarrass a mining company.”
Tomassoni, of Chisholm, whose district includes five of the state’s six taconite mines, said “mining is our way of life.”
The impact assessment in its current form, “of approximately 2,200 pages, costing more than $65 million, eight years in the making, with seven agencies both state and federal involved … it’s hard to imagine that more can be done.”
“The agencies deserve a lot of credit for making sure it was done right. PolyMet will be done right, and jobs and the environment will co-exist for the benefit of everyone.”
Scott Helgeson of Bloomington, a self-described MBA who understands investment and business models, said the proposal to build a project that might require 500 years of expenditure on cleanup and containment is “insane.”
He had just come back from Utah, where “just up the road from Salt Lake City is a big mine, a copper mine. The people who live next to that copper mine are relying on reverse osmosis for their well water. They cannot drink it. The EPA says it’s just fine.
“What prevents [PolyMet] from going bankrupt 30 years from now and saying, guys, we just can’t pay the bills anymore. Are we insane?”
Jason George, speaking for the International Union Operating Engineers Local 49, said “it’s hard for me to believe all these people who get up and say there’s no way we can do this [safely]. I’ve never heard so much negativity. This is America — we can do anything, right?”
MinnPost photo by Ron Meador Jason George of the International Union Operating Engineers Local 49 said he has 3,000 Minnesota members working heavy construction in North Dakota, and “let’s bring ’em home.”
Referring to estimates that NorthMet would create more than 300 mining and processing jobs, he said, “Nobody’s talking about 2 million construction hours, which is what it’s gonna take to build this project. That’s about what it took to build Target Field. We’re talking about a stadium-sized project in northern Minnesota, which is desperate for jobs.
“Right now there are 3,000 49ers who live in Minnesota but are working in North Dakota. Let’s bring ’em home.”
Morse, of St. Paul, noted that as a deputy commissioner of the DNR for four years earlier in his career, he oversaw environmental reviews — including PolyMet’s proposals. A chief concern about this review in its current form, he said, is that it is “completely lacking” in plans for accidents and emergencies “if something goes wrong with the tailings ponds, the pumps, the pipes, the filters of the water treatment system that need to operate for hundreds of years.”
“Surely we have learned something from the oil wells erupting in the Gulf of Mexico, chemical tanks contaminating drinking water in West Virginia, and oil-tanker trains exploding on the North Dakota prairies. None of this was supposed to happen, yet it did occur.”
Jeffrey Hanson, of Babbitt, impressed me with the complexity of his testimony. With choking emotion in his voice, he told of growing up on Birch Lake, which his bedroom window overlooked, and which is now “Ground Zero” for other copper/nickel mining that may lie beyond the PolyMet project.
“The deposits are under my lake, by the shores of my lake, and I’ve been passionately concerned about that since they first discovered copper and nickel back in 1964. Ever since then, I’ve known that, sometime, they’re going to mine around my lake.”
“We can’t exchange the environment for mining,” he said, but then surprised me by telling about his work over the past six years — with PolyMet — to mitigate acid drainage from old taconite operations, including the Dunka Pit near his lake. “We have to do it right,” he said, and he still thinks that’s possible.
But on the basis of sheer newsiness, the last word today goes to Ron Sternal of St. Louis Park, a retired Wall Street executive who has been looking at the PolyMet project from a different vantage point and made some points that you probably haven’t seen in media coverage thus far. Excerpts from the most informative three minutes in the hearing:
You’ve all heard that northern Minnesota is home to one of largest copper deposits in the world. It’s not. It doesn’t even come close. At peak production, this mine would produce 72 million pounds per year. The largest copper mine in the United States, which doesn’t even make the list of the top 10 mines in the world, is the Morenci mine in Arizona, which produces 1 billion pounds a year. People ask, can we trust PolyMet? It’s not PolyMet we need to trust. It is Glencore Xstrata, the primary owner of PolyMet, which [reportedly] will buy the rest of PolyMet once all the permits are in place. So, who is Glencore Xstrata? Glencore Xstrata is a Swiss-based firm known for its ruthlessness. It is the fourth-largest mining company in the world. It controls 50 percent of the world’s copper through its ownership of more than 100 mines around the world, and its commodities trading operations. Glencore Xstrata has run up a long list of labor and environmental abuses, including 58 mining fatalities between 2008 and 2010, over twice the number reported by any other mining company over that period. Just in 2012, their environmental and labor record includes dumping raw acid in waterways in the Congo, failure to provide a vapor barrier to keep an acid mist from descending on 3,000 people in Zambia, utilizing child labor as young as 10 years old in mines in Congo, and causing environmental damage at its McArthur River mine in Australia. Can we trust these people to “do it right” in Minnesota? I think not.
***
The DNR continues to take public comments on the Northmet project; information is available here.
***
Join MinnPost for a substantive discussion of environmental risks and regulatory challenges presented by proposals to mine and process metals from sulfide ores. Monday, Feb. 10, 5:30 p.m. Click here for details and tickets.WWE Hall of Famer Bret Hart recently spoke with WrestleZone Radio in which he gave his thoughts on this year’s Royal Rumble which he felt was one of the worst:
“I wasn’t that impressed with [the Rumble match]. I thought it was one of the least exciting ones I’ve ever watched. I just didn’t find it very exciting. I found it very predictable. When all of the guys came out and ganged up on Roman Reigns, I knew that he was going to come back out later. It was just so easy to figure out. It was not suspenseful…
…Even when it got down to the last four guys, I was surprised that they were the four guys. That they would pin the whole hopes of WrestleMania on the hopes of these four guys. Or two of them anyway. I didn’t like the decision that Triple H, surprise, put the belt on himself again. It just seemed like it just showed a real lack of imagination, if you ask me.
I watched three hours of wrestling last night and I got very little out of it. When it was over, I thought, “That was the worst Royal Rumble I think I’ve ever watched.” Maybe next to the one from a couple of years ago. There was another lousy one. I just really had higher expectations. When I say all of my criticisms, I just want to be honest. I have a lot of respect for the talent… They do good stuff out there. It’s how they are used.”Released 11th August 2017
Serving avid listeners around the globe with ample amounts of quality bass weight, Albion Collective untethers their third, highly anticipated vinyl installment. The U.K.-based imprint has quickly grown to showcase a multifaceted approach to Dubstep - releasing prime selections driven by low frequency oscillations. Ranging from Vaun & Jafu’s jazzy reverberations with J.Sparrow on contemplative version business to the experimental dancefloor music of talented producer Taiko - their return to the spotlight amasses a dream team of Dubwise visionaries - Digid, Dubbing Sun and Croatian bass wonder Egoless, contributing a version. Based in Belgium and Austria respectively, Digid and Dubbing Sun have swiftly ascertained themselves as one of their countries leading figures in Dub-affine bass music with joint vinyl releases on J:Kenzo’s Lion Charge and Archetype Records among others, as well as successful solo projects, such as Digid’s recent ZamZam Sounds debut and Dubbing Sun’s own quality vinyl-only imprint.
Emerging through pristine and crystal clear sound, Digid’s ‘Rainbow Dub’ kicks off the record in a colourful exhibition of livid chord stabs and melodies, minimal percussion tastefully appended. As low frequency oscillations set the air in motion, listeners find themselves in a true-to-the-roots modern dub extravaganza, skanking: mandatory. As is customary ‘Come Dung’ allures listeners as the expertly crafted fusion of version and original business that is is, hurling another massive rhythm, accompanied by a lively arrangement, that does the pioneers of the old days justice.
Coming together for the flip-side, Digid & Dubbing Sun crafted a roots earthquake of tremendous proportions. ‘Dread Come Again’ has come to conquer keen sound systems all over as anthemic brass stabs echo along the dub-infused soundscape and a monumental bassline hauls both its weight and groove to every last fibre of your body. Last but in no conceivable way least, the recent Deep Medi and Tempa signee Egoless turns ‘Dread Come
Again’ on its head - stripping the music down to its warbly core of rhythm and bass, drenched and covered in shifting spaces and creative usage of his varied palette of analogue effects - a mind-bending version, worthy of the anthemic original.
a1. Digid - Rainbow Dub
a2. Digid - Come Dung
b1. Digid & Dubbing Sun - Dread Come Again
b2. Digid & Dubbing Sun - Dread Come Again (Egoless Remix)QR Code Link to This Post
SO! I am offering you all a piece of history. This rug was made from 3 of my ex's most prized shirts, including an old school Beastie Boys shirt he got at a concert years ago. It really is something, and I spent a lot of time making it, so I don't want it to go to waste.What do I want in return? Well, I'm pretty broke. Our breakup left me essentially pennyless, but whatever. I'm willing to accept anything in return (extra points if YOU have a tshirt rug made from your evil ex's shirt that you would like to trade). Here's the catch though...you have to promise to abuse this rug. I mean straight up abuse it. Make it a front door mat so everyone can wipe their feet on it. Put it under your cat's litter box. Hang it on the wall and throw offensive things at it...I don't care. But if you could send me a photo of the rug once you've had your filthy way with it, I would be much obliged :DThis is a small photo of the rug in question. It is quite large, and if you want, I have a couple more shirts of his that I would gladly attatch to this rug, making it much larger. If you would like a better photo, please just ask, and I will send one your way. But please, serious offers only. This is a work of art, and I am quite proud of it.If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.Today the office of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko released via Twitter important details about the organization and structure of Russia’s occupying army in Southeastern Ukraine. The order of battle (ORBAT) information is clearly derived from a lot of intelligence, especially SIGINT (I say this as someone who used to do ORBAT intelligence for a living: this is well done).
Since most of my readers know neither Russian or Ukrainian, I’m passing on what Kyiv has released today in English. The translation isn’t great but it works. I’m providing comments below since most normals are not well acquainted with the nuances of Russian military organization.
Russian Military Command, South-East Ukraine (Novocherkask):
Commanding Officer (CO): GenCol A N. Serdyukov [1]
1st Army Corps (“Donetsk People’s Republic” Military), HQ: Donetsk
CO: GenMaj A.V. Zavizyon [2]
2nd Army Corps (“Luhansk People’s Republic” Military), HQ: Luhansk
CO: GenMaj Y. V. Nikiforov [3]
The organization of the 1st and 2nd Corps, no surprise, corresponds exactly to the standard tables of organization and equipment (TO&E) of Russian Ground Forces. There are several maneuver brigades (“motor rifle” is the Russian term for mechanized in NATO parlance) supported by independent regiments and battalions. As Kyiv has announced, the 35,000 troops belonging to “DNR” and “LNR” forces are bolstered by 9,000 reservists. While some forty percent of the troops are locals, the rest are Russians plus a few mercenaries and foreign volunteers.
The senior command staff are exclusively Russian officers assigned to the 1st and 2nd Corps — officially they are “not there” of course — while the operation is run, logistically and command-wise, from neighboring Russia.
To anybody with a decent memory, this closely resembles the relationship during the 1992-95 Bosnian War, when the Bosnian Serb Army (VRS), while consisting largely of local rank-and-file troops, had most of its command, and nearly all of its financing and logistics, coming from neighboring Serbia and its military — which, in practice treated the VRS as merely as an extension of itself, as in fact it was.
Needless to add, the “DNR” and “LNR” militaries would not last twenty-four hours without constant command and logistical support from Putin’s military. They are an extension of Russian Ground Forces and should be treated as such by the West. It’s time to end, once and for all, any fiction about “rebels” — these are Russian-controlled forces, led by Russian officers, supplied with Russian guns and ammunition, that are waging war inside Ukraine.
Kudos to Kyiv for putting this important information out there as an aid to understanding what’s really going on in their country.
Comments:
1. AKA Sedov; GenCol is a Russian “three-star” rank.
2. AKA Pilen; GenMaj is a Russian “one-star” rank.
3. AKA Morgun; GenMaj is a Russian “one-star” rank.
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PrintRedskins linebacker London Fletcher said Wednesday he has not yet decided whether to
London Fletcher (Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post)
return to the team and play next season.
“It’s still a process,” Fletcher said. “Understand I do this every year, probably the last four or five years. It’s just when you get older in your career, you have to evaluate everything. Health is one thing. Can I still do it at the level that I want to do it at and play at? So this year is no different than those years in the past.”
Fletcher spoke at an appearance for a financial video game. He was asked if he could imagine himself not playing football.
“I think we all, as athletes, have to imagine ourselves not playing football,” he said. “If you don’t picture yourself not playing, then you won’t be prepared. So obviously I have thought about that. I have thought about that for a number of years. So it’s just a matter of taking it one day at a time. It’s a process, again. I’m not going to rush anything, just continue to see how I feel.”Speaking at Yankee Stadium while greeting fans as part of the 22nd annual Yankees Holiday Food Drive, Sabathia said that he has not stopped throwing since the end of the regular season and is excited about rejoining the team's rotation.
NEW YORK -- CC Sabathia has been so encouraged about the health of his left arm that he said Wednesday his training is "light years" ahead of where it has been in past offseasons, raising his optimism level about a productive 2016 campaign.
NEW YORK -- CC Sabathia has been so encouraged about the health of his left arm that he said Wednesday his training is "light years" ahead of where it has been in past offseasons, raising his optimism level about a productive 2016 campaign.
Speaking at Yankee Stadium while greeting fans as part of the 22nd annual Yankees Holiday Food Drive, Sabathia said that he has not stopped throwing since the end of the regular season and is excited about rejoining the team's rotation.
"I'm probably light years ahead, being able to fully work out and do the things I want to do totally healthy," Sabathia said. "The workouts are a lot tougher, but it's kind of what I need at this point in my career."
Sabathia left the Yankees at the conclusion of the regular season, seeking treatment for alcohol abuse. During his month-long stay in rehab, Sabathia said that he was able to find ways to keep his arm loose and strong.
"I'm one of those guys that never stops throwing, so I found a couple of guys in rehab to throw the football with," Sabathia said. "Then when I came out, I picked up the baseball and have been throwing."
Yankees manager Joe Girardi said that he has seen Sabathia frequently this offseason at Yankee Stadium, where the left-hander uses the club's training facilities a few times each week. Girardi said that Sabathia's decision to seek treatment could have a positive impact on the 35-year-old's performance.
"I hope that he got a weight off his shoulders, number one," Girardi said. "I think that's important. I don't think anyone wants to carry a weight around. If you're hiding something, it's difficult to go through life. Hopefully it allows him to be more effective."
Sabathia said that he speaks regularly with a sponsor, though that person will not travel with him on the road next year, and that it has been a relief not to keep his issue as a secret.
"I'm in the early stages. I'm always going to be recovering," Sabathia said. "I have the support of my family, my organization and my team, my friends. I feel pretty good about where I'm at and I look forward to just getting back out on the field and being myself."
Sabathia also said that he will continue to wear a brace on his right knee when throwing off the mound, with plans to strap that back on in January. Sabathia was 6-10 with a 4.73 ERA in 29 starts last year, but he went 2-1 with a 2.17 ERA in five September starts while experimenting with the brace.
"I'm definitely looking forward to it, to getting back out there," Sabathia said. "I'm ready to get to Spring Training. I'm excited."Do you ever get the feeling that something isn’t right with the world? Although you can’t quite put your finger on it, you instinctively know that life shouldn’t be the unending uphill struggle to make ends meet while coping with stress and a job that provides little interest or stimulation? The very fact that you’re reading the Socialist Standard suggests that you’re looking for answers to questions about the way we live and that you already have serious doubts about the things the media and politicians tell us. So what does being a socialist mean?
Adopting a socialist view means looking at the world from a class perspective instead of a national one. It is understanding how and in whose interest today’s world is organised, envisaging how a socialist society can be established, and appreciating how socialism will improve people’s lives. Socialism has nothing to do |
Starting at 6th level, when you are targeted by an attack, you can use your reaction to teleport to a point you can see within 30 feet. If you expend 1 sorcery point, a Fog Cloud appears in your previous location. Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a short or long rest.
Avalonian Magic At 14th level, the connection you have attained with the Island of Avalon increases. Your power over metamagic reflects your newfound ability. You can now use two Metamagic options on a spell when you cast it even if you could only use one before. This includes two of the same Metamagic options. Wrath of Oberon Beginning at 18th level, whenever you use a Metamagic option, you automatically use Empowered Spell without having to pay the sorcery point cost. Warlock Patron: Avalon Instead of being directly connected in some way to the powers that are Avalon, you have instead searched it out and pulled the power from the very dimension itself. You have somehow made a bargain with either Lord Oberon or Queen Mab and are able to draw on their power. Either way, their abilities are an extension of Avalon's, thus they are yours now as well. An Avalonian patron differs from the Archfey Patron. Avalonian Warlocks are inherently tasked with keeping the secrets of the island from others. Lord Oberon has enough to handle with the natural denizens; he does not necessarily desire others to seek out and taint his home. Expanded Spell List The Avalon Patron lets you choose from an expanded spell list when you learn a warlock spell. The following spells are added to the warlock spell list for you. Avalonian Expanded Spells Spell Level Spells 1st Disguise Self, Fog Cloud 2nd Blur, Nystul's Magic Aura 3rd Blink, Nondetection 4th Mordenkainen's Private Sanctum, Polymorph 5th Modify Memory, Planar Binding Mab's Blessing Starting at 1st level, when you make a spell attack or cause a creature to make a spell-based saving throw, you can roll an additional 1d4 and either add it or subtract it from your roll or your opponent's. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier (a minimum of once). You regain any expended uses when you finish a long rest. Your Blessing die changes when you reach certain levels in this class. The die becomes a d6 at 5th level, a d8 at 10th level, and a d10 at 15th level. Avalonian Ward Starting at 6th level, you learn to magically ward yourself against magical attack. When a creature makes a spell attack roll against you, you can use your reaction to impose disadvantage on that roll. If the attack misses you, your next spell attack roll against the creature has advantage or their saving throw has disadvantage if you make it before the end of your next turn. Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a short or long rest. Repulsion Starting at 10th level, you have advantage on all saving throws against magic attacks that you can see. Time Siphon Starting at 14th level, you are able to draw upon the time-changing aspect of the Avalon dimension itself. As an action, choose a creature that you can see within 60 feet of you. It must make a Wisdom saving throw against your warlock spell save DC. On a failed save, it is frozen in time for one minute or until your concentration is broken (as if you are concentrating on a spell). This effect ends early if the creature takes any damage. You can also use this ability to make a short rest half of its normal time. Either way the ability is used, you must complete a short or long rest before you can use this feature again.
New Spells Auallonia ad Ostium (Entrance to Avalon) 8th-level conjuration Casting Time: 1 minute
1 minute Range: 30 foot radius
30 foot radius Components: V, S, M (A token from Avalon)
V, S, M (A token from Avalon) Duration: Instantaneous When you cast this spell, a deep and dense fog appears that heavily obscures a 30 foot radius from the caster. All present in the fog are transported instantly to the secret Island of Avalon. If the spell is cast while on a boat in the water, the caster arrives just off shore. If it is cast while on land, they appear on the beach just outside the Castle of Oberon itself. You can use this spell to banish an unwilling Avalonian creature back to Avalon. Choose a creature within your reach and make a melee spell attack against it. On a hit, the creature must make a Charisma saving throw. If the creature fails this save, it is transported back to the court of Oberon. A creature so transported must find its own way back to your current plane of existence. Auallonia Nebulæ Turbinibus (Mists of Avalon) 4th-level conjuration Casting Time: 1 minute
1 minute Range: 30 foot radius
30 foot radius Components: M (A token from Avalon)
M (A token from Avalon) Duration: Instantaneous As you cast this spell, an unnatural fog begins to form around you in a 30 foot radius. Depending on the type of terrain you are on, the mists of Avalon teleport you and all in the mists randomly to a location elsewhere on your plane of existence. The landscape that you are on typically matches the new landscape, hence, if you are in a boat on a body of water, the mists send you to another body of water. Once you exit the area of the fog, you will be in the new landscape. The mists of Avalon transport the caster and their companions to where they are needed the most. There is no amount of control with the casting of the spell, unless the caster can roll a DC 30 Intelligence (Arcana) check. If they succeed, they can make their destination the island of Avalon itself. Facies Auallonia (Planes of Avalon) 6th-level conjuration Casting Time: 1 minute
1 minute Range: 30 foot radius
30 foot radius Components: M (A token from Avalon)
M (A token from Avalon) Duration: Instantaneous Much like the 4th level version, this spell summons an unnatural fog that extends for 30 feet in every direction from the caster. Instead of sending you to another location on your plane, however, this spell sends you to another dimension where you are needed most. A caster can again attempt to force their way on to Avalon itself by succeeding on a DC 25 Intelligence (Arcana) check. Finibus Bonorum Auallonia (Summons of Avalon) 9th-level conjuration Casting Time: 1 minute
1 minute Range: 5 feet
5 feet Components: V, S, M (A full-length mirror)
V, S, M (A full-length mirror) Duration: Concentration, up to 1 hour You summon a random Avalonian, who appears through the full-length mirror. The Avalonian disappears when it drops to 0 hit points or when the spell ends. The Avalonian is friendly to you and your companions for the duration. Roll initiative for the Avalonian, which has its own turns. It obeys any verbal commands that you issue to it (no action required by you), as long as they don’t violate its alignment. If you don’t issue any commands to the Avalonian, it defends itself from hostile creatures but otherwise takes no actions. The DM has the Avalonian’s statistics. Typically, they are either imitators of Gods from Queen Mab's Court, or Fey tricksters from Lord Oberon's Court. Either way, they are powerful spellcasters in their own right and know the secrets to Avalon and how to get there. Ut Duae Animarum (Two Souls as One) 9th-level abjuration Casting Time: 1 minute
1 minute Range: Touch
Touch Components: V, S
V, S Duration: Indefinite This spell wards two willing creatures you touch and creates a mystic connection between them until the spell ends. While the targets are within 60 feet of each other, they have resistance to all damage. Also, each time one takes damage, the other takes the same amount of damage. The spell ends if one target drops to 0 hit points. If the targets become separated by more than 60 feet, the spell becomes nullified, but returns if the targets come back within 60 feet. It also ends if the spell is cast again on either of the connected creatures. You can also dismiss the spell as an action.
New Magic Items
Avalonian Ferry Wondrous item, legendary
This item appears as any other ordinary rowboat or dinghy. The bow has a carved human head that leads the way. The boat is made out of ordinary wood, but when the proper phrase is spoken, a heavy mist forms around it. Everyone within a 30 foot radius becomes enveloped in the mists as they are transported to the island of Avalon. If this boat is used when leaving the island, the boat transports the speaker to a place in their home-world where they are needed the most. Once this item is used, it cannot be used for another 24 hours. The Eye of Odin Wondrous item, artifact, requires attunement
Belonging to a demigod in another realm apart from Faerun, this item bestows upon its user their innermost desires. When first worn, the character advances 2 levels, keeping track of their previous experience points. As they continue to level up with their original experience point level, the 2 level bonus continues. As it is worn though, the wearer begins to change. The change can be physical, mental or spiritual, but it always begins to pervert the wearer to pursue those deep and dark desires. If those desires are good, then the wearer begins to believe that they are doing righteous things, even to the detriment of others. If they are selfish desires, they covet all other things and slowly draw the ire of others. A player can attempt to control their desires and maintain their normal faculties after their first day wearing it, if they succeed on a DC 12 Wisdom check. Every day that they wear the item though, they must make another saving throw, with an additional +1 to the DC. Every week that they do not wear the eye, the DC lowers by 1. If they fail the saving throw, the Eye bestows greater power on the wearer, but with less control. The DM has the ultimate say as to what happens to the wearer who succumbs to their desires in each individual case. Some examples are: a paladin becomes what he thinks is the avatar of his God, smiting any who are not of his alignment; even his friends. A rogue who relishes violence succumbs to the feral desires of a werewolf and transforms every night. A sorcerer who wants ultimate power might gain a few extra sorcery points, only to use them all up on their first few spells. The item can be removed by the wearer themselves by succeeding on a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw, should they choose to remove it. This attempt can only be made once every long rest. If it is forced from the wearer, the creature attempting to take it must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or take 20 points of electrical damage and fail to remove it, even if the wearer is unconscious. This item gives the DM the opportunity to either let the player’s show what their character's innermost secrets might be, or to let the DM wreak havoc on the player. The Phoenix Path Wondrous item, Artifact
This item contains the actual spirit of a Phoenix within in and is used to travel through time. Speaking the command words, a sphere of fire envelops a 5 foot radius, transporting the user to any space or time in the past or present with just a thought. As powerful as this item may appear to be, the user indelibly realizes that time is immutable, and no matter how far back you go or what you do in the past, nothing changes from what you already perceive. Your actions, no matter what they are, have already had an effect on the present and do not change what you think they might. This item also cannot travel into the future; only back to the wielder’s present. Therefore, once the wielder goes to the past, they are able to travel back to their current time. Depending on how much time has gone by while in the past determines how much further into the "present" they can then travel. If they spend 1 day in the past, then 1 day has passed in the present that they are able to travel forward into. Though the past is immutable, other creatures and objects can be brought from the past to the present. Whenever this occurs, it must have coincided with the original timeline, else the attempt fails in some way. Titania's Mirror Wondrous item, legendary
This mirror has the ability to summon an Avalonian with the spell Finibus Bonorum Auallonia (Summons of Avalon), who possesses a higher than normal CR and is under the caster's control for 1 week as opposed to 1 day. This summons can only be completed once per week, and only one Avalonian creature can be summoned from the mirror at a time. The Avalonian is friendly to you and your companions for the duration. Roll initiative for the Avalonian, which has its own turns. It obeys any verbal commands that you issue to it (no action required by you), as long as they don’t violate its alignment. If you don’t issue any commands to the Avalonian, it defends itself from hostile creatures but otherwise takes no actions. The DM has the Avalonian’s statistics. Typically, they are either imitators of Gods from Queen Mab's Court, or Fey tricksters from Lord Oberon's Court. Either way, they are powerful spellcasters in their own right and know the secrets to Avalon and how to get there. Some are even powerful enough to grant wishes.Earlier this year, in a feat of willful naiveté, the Swedish transport company MTR Express turned to the public to name their new Stockholm-Gothenburg express trains. Did they learn nothing from the British public-naming hullabaloo in which the people voted to name a boat Boaty McBoatface? Apparently not.
As of Tuesday, Swedish commuters will be able to ride Trainy McTrainface. The name overwhelmingly won the popular vote—likely as retribution and vindication for Britain’s cruel decision to nix Boaty McBoatface in favor of naming the vessel after Sir David Attenborough. The Swedish transport company, at least, committed to following the will of the people.
"We saw pretty quickly that Trainy McTrainface was in the lead and the popular option. There was a bit of international attention on the vote, and I imagine that some people were quite delighted to get some revenge for the Boaty McBoatface thing," said MTR marketing chief Peter Nasfi.
The crowdsourced names of the route’s other trains include Ingvar (after a popular television presenter), Estelle (after Sweden’s Princess Estelle), and Glenn (after a long-standing joke that everyone in Gothenburg is named Glenn).
Via: Atlas Obscura, The LocalBREAKING VIDEO: BOMBS AT ST. PETERSBURG METRO – At Least 10 Dead, 50 Injured
At least two bombs went off Monday on the St. Petersburg Metro.
At least ten people are dead.
One of the bombs was filled with nails.
Two nail bombs on St Petersburg metro kill at least 10 as Putin visits city for meeting https://t.co/NQQ7rWExxb pic.twitter.com/WrEKhz9zkH — Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) April 3, 2017
A door was blown off the train.
BREAKING: St. Petersburg subway press office: Explosive device was set off on a train in the Russian city. — The Associated Press (@AP) April 3, 2017
A video shows a huge hole in the side of the Metro train in St. Petersburg.
Watch deadly blast in St Petersburg. The blast killed 10 and caused injuries. pic.twitter.com/h7NgbLxBgo — A Anderson (@Ward4Anderson) April 3, 2017
At least 10 killed and 30+ injured in twin blasts on Metro trains at #StPetersburg pic.twitter.com/h0bTnzshXx — REAL FRESH NEWS (@MVT_NEWS) April 3, 2017
MORE VIDEO From Russia Today.
At least 50 injured….A secretive United States Air Force space plane is on a fourth trip into orbit.
As with the previous flights, the Air Force revealed few details about what the unmanned X-37B spacecraft, which resembles a smaller version of NASA’s retired space shuttles, will be doing.
“The test mission furthers the development of the concept of operations for reusable space vehicles, and fine-tunes technical parameters for an affordable, reusable space vehicle,” said Capt. Christopher M. Hoyler, a spokesman for the Air Force.
Boeing has built two X-37B spacecraft for the Air Force. The first launched in April 2010, setting off speculation over the vessel’s purposes. Some suggested that the craft had something to do with space weapons, which the Pentagon denied. It landed in December that year. The second orbiter was sent up from March 2011 to June 2012. The first craft made a second flight, launching in December 2012 and returning 674 days later, in October 2014.
The Air Force was not saying which of the two was packed inside an Atlas 5 rocket on the launchpad at Cape Canaveral, Fla.After a bunch of fires — something you want to avoid in a smartphone — the Galaxy Note 7 is gone. Everyone can agree that your phone catching fire is a bad thing, but at the moment it’s a bit abstract. All we’ve seen are pictures of phones after they caught fire, so it was a bit tricky to imagine just what was going on to these phones.
No longer. The Associated Press has video of Dee Decasa’s phone catching fire in her Honolulu home Sunday morning — this is the sixth reported replacement Note 7 to catch fire in the US, if you’re keeping track. In the video, you can see a clearly alarmed Decasa carry a smoking phone into the kitchen and place it down, before apparently fainting.
It’s easy to imagine how terrifying it would be to have a phone begin smoking like this on a plane or on your bedside table. No thanks.Vancouver, B.C. – Canucks Sports & Entertainment (CS&E) is proud to announce a new partnership with Scotiabank, the Official Bank of the Vancouver Canucks. The partnership will focus on programs aimed at supporting fans, community initiatives and grassroots hockey.
“Scotiabank is an important partner of the Canucks,” said Victor de Bonis, Chief Operating Officer, Canucks Sports & Entertainment, Alternate Governor, NHL. “Scotiabank delivers exceptional fan experiences with their NHL partners, which we strongly believe in providing to our fans. Together the Canucks and Scotiabank will support grassroots hockey in the communities we serve and connect with fans in new and exciting ways.”
The Vancouver Canucks and Scotiabank formally announced their partnership today at a press conference attended by Canucks alumnus and current Sr. Advisor to the General Manager Stan Smyl, Canucks COO Victor de Bonis and Scotiabank Senior Vice President BC Region, Dave Poole at Rogers Arena.
“Scotiabank is excited to partner with the Vancouver Canucks and we are thrilled to add the Canucks to our roster of teams and leagues that we sponsor across Canada,” said Dave Poole, Scotiabank’s Senior Vice President, BC & Yukon Region. “This is a great time to be a hockey fan in Vancouver and like all Canuck fans, Scotiabank and its employees are passionate about hockey and having a team to cheer for. Over the last several years, we’ve developed programs that unite us with professional and grassroots players and leagues, connecting fans with teams and this sport we all love. Our partnership with the Vancouver Canucks is a natural fit for us as we expand our hockey program in communities across Canada."
Scotiabank and the Canucks celebrated this partnership by presenting Open Scrimmages Friday through Sunday, September 13-15th at Rogers Arena. On Saturday September 14th, Scotiabank invites fans attending the scrimmages to participate in a number of initiatives at Rogers Arena including Canucks alumni autograph signings and ‘hot stove’ style question and answer sessions as well as interactive hockey features. For more information and free tickets please visit www.canucks.com/scrimmages.
“Scotiabank’s partnership with the Vancouver Canucks speaks to our commitment to hockey at all levels - from grassroots to professional leagues and teams from coast to coast,” said Duncan Hannay, Scotiabank’s Senior Vice President, Canadian Marketing Scotiabank. “Whether you’re lacing up to play on the ice or watching from the bleachers, players and their families grow with and through the sport of hockey. This game is at the heart of our culture at Scotiabank, and we are thrilled announce this new partnership. We look forward to what we can accomplish with the Vancouver Canucks."
Scotiabank sponsors more than 4,500 minor hockey teams and leagues across Canada as part of their Scotiabank Community Hockey Sponsorship Program. Over the course of the partnership, Scotiabank and the Canucks will provide a range of initiatives and programs including a community hockey in-game feature, where local Scotiabank sponsored teams who have made a positive impact on their community will be recognized during Canucks home games; Scotiabank Girls HockeyFest, a free hockey festival for girls aged 7-14 where theyhave a chance to improve their on-ice and off-ice life skills by learning from elite and CWHL women athletes; and by supporting the Canucks for Kids Fund.
About Scotiabank
Scotiabank is the Official Bank of the NHL®, NHL Alumni™, CWHL, Vancouver Canucks®., Winnipeg JetsTM, Toronto Maple Leafs®, Ottawa Senator and the Calgary Flames® whose home arena is the Scotiabank Saddledome. The Bank also has a partnership with the Montreal Canadiens®. Scotiabank has a long tradition of supporting hockey in Canada from local teams and minor hockey associations to professional players and leagues. Across Canadian communities from coast to coast, Scotiabank's Community Hockey Sponsorship Program reaches out to more 4,500 minor hockey teams and leagues. To find out more about Scotiabank's hockey programs, please visit www.facebook.com/scotiahockeyclub.
Scotiabank is committed to supporting the communities in which we live and work, both in Canada and abroad, through our global philanthropic program, ‘Bright Future’. Recognized as a leader internationally and among Canadian corporations for our charitable donations and philanthropic activities, Scotiabank has provided on average approximately $47 million annually to community causes around the world over each of the last five years. Visit us at www.scotiabank.com.SOUTH BOSTON, MA - JANUARY 20: Boston Convention Center - Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick greeted people during the 44th annual Martin Luther King, Jr. breakfast held at the Boston Convention Center on Monday morning, Jan. 20, 2014. The breakfast is the nation's longest-running event dedicated to the memory of Dr. King, according to the event website. (Photo by Dina Rudick/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (D) is being pressured to speed up access to medical marijuana.
Advocates for medical marijuana rallied outside the Massachusetts statehouse Thursday as lawmakers held a hearing on a bill that would legalize marijuana in the state, according to the AP. Residents with multiple sclerosis, Lou Gehrig’s disease and other debilitating illnesses attended the rally.
Though the state's medical marijuana law went into effect in January 2013, dispensaries won't open until this summer. Massachusetts Patient Advocacy Alliance Executive Director Matthew Allen said, "we've lost sight of what this is really about."
“The process has become politicized," Allen said. "This is about compassion for people with serious illnesses who still do not have access to their medicine.”
Advocates with marijuana reform group Bay State Repeal have already begun laying the initial groundwork in order to begin coordinating a campaign to legalize pot with a ballot initiative in 2016.I’m very happy to announce that Kickstarter is live! I first mentioned the project back in September, and have been privileged to sit on the board and advise their development for the last ten months.
Kickstarter aims to let creative people of all kinds — journalists, artists, musicians, game developers, entrepreneurs, bloggers — raise money for their projects by connecting directly with fans, who receive exclusive access and rewards in exchange for their patronage. Like Josh Freese and Jill Sobule, the site allows creators to have multiple tiers of rewards (e.g. $20 for the book, $50 for signed copy) with optional limits for each.
The model is simple: a project creator sets a fundraising goal, deadline, and an optional set of rewards for backers. If the goal’s reached by the deadline, then everyone’s charged via Amazon Payments and the backers get their goodies. If the goal’s not reached, nobody’s charged. It’s all or nothing.
If you want to raise money to build an iPhone app, make a run of t-shirts, or print a book, you can do it with absolutely no risk or up-front costs. If there’s enough demand for your idea, you’ll be able to sell every copy before you’ve spent a dime.
Kickstarter also offers publishing tools, where creators can post project updates with audio and video, either publicly or for backers only. For projects without a physical reward, exclusive updates could be a great incentive for people to get involved. Check out this project for a good example.
Anyway, I’m thrilled to see what people come up with! For now, anyone can back projects, but you’ll need a Kickstarter invite to be able to create your own project. (You can get an invite from an existing member, or sign up to get notified when Kickstarter opens to the public.)Visiting the U.S. for the first time has to be weird for foreigners. This has been the case for as long as America has been a nation, and in fact a French guy made quite a name for himself writing about our peculiarities for a Continental audience over two centuries ago. We've always been a bit "different" and like most countries we're rather proud of (some of) our unique attributes. But I think we are starting to overdo it with the cognitive dissonance. We're far and away the wealthiest nation on Earth but we sure as hell don't look like it. We've built a magnificent castle of wealth on top of crumbling, centuries-old infrastructure in which no one seems willing or able to invest. The effect is not unlike seeing a decrepit trailer park with a 2010 Bugatti Veyron parked out front.
Two anecdotes are relevant before we move on.
First, I have a friend who was raised in Berlin Wall-era Eastern Europe. I once asked her to recount her impression, having been raised in a much different society and subject to considerable anti-American propaganda, of seeing America for the first time. She responded that she was amazed at how shabby it was (being in the South at the time didn't help). Potholed, filthy streets lined with boarded up buildings. Trash everywhere. Public transportation systems that would embarrass any other nation on Earth. Say what you will about the failings of the Communist system, she concluded, but at least it was clean and looked like someone gave a shit about it.
Second, the company at which I worked in Chicago for several years briefly took in a Kenyan exchange student studying law at a university in the city. He accompanied me on a field visit to a hospital in the decrepit Austin neighborhood on the far west side. He surveyed the neighborhood and said "This looks exactly like Nairobi." That made me incredibly sad. It didn't help 30 seconds later when he added "Actually, most of Nairobi is nicer than this."
I don't think many Americans understand this. We raise our children to believe that everyone else in the world wants to come live in America. Most of us, I think, believe that America looks terribly impressive to foreign visitors. I seriously doubt that Los Angeles is impressive to a traveler. Other countries have shitholes too, so I assume most visitors have seen one before.
Pictured: St. Louis. Or maybe Mogadishu. I don't know.
The NYT has recently emphasized the fact that most major cities' sewage networks are crumbling. Many date back to the 19th Century and are literally leaking shit into our water. Our roads and bridges are disintegrating (and occasionally fails at considerable economic and human cost). Our society and economy rest upon a "third world power grid" that occasionally fails spectacularly. The average African country has better, newer, cheaper cell phone infrastructure. We lose (waste) seven billion gallons of clean, treated water every day through the leaks in our water system. The American Society of Civil Engineers estimates that it would take a five year investment of over two trillion dollars to bring the nation's road, levee, and utility infrastructure up to a passing grade. Not even an A. Just a C. And this doesn't even include general urban blight – the collapsing tenements, abandoned businesses, and wagon-rut roads.
Our theory, aided considerably by how continuously broke state and local governments are, seems to be of the patch-and-pray variety: do just enough to prevent total collapse and hope it holds up. We did precious little to address this with the Federal stimulus package, most likely because the right would have gone into hysterics over infrastructure projects as a Trojan Horse for funneling kickbacks to organized labor. Not that we could use blue collar jobs these days.
It makes perfect sense that Americans, like many people, adopt the ego-defensive position that we live in a great place. While we certainly don't need anything else to be sad about these days, I can't help but wonder why more people do not look around and think, "Wow. Was this place always such a dump?" Instead we tell ourselves that billions of people around the globe secretly long to live in Spartanburg or Waco or Merced. Sure they do, Billy. Sure they do.Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park preserves historic earthworks, cannon emplacements and monuments that help people learn about and interpret the great Civil War battle that took place there in June 1864 – a rare full-frontal assault by Gen. William T. Sherman’s on Confederate troops in his bid to reach nearby Atlanta. Now, a decidedly 21st century element has been grafted onto the park, with the installation of a solar power system, LED lamps and a new roof with improved insulating material at the visitor center.
In a press release, AEG Power Solutions described how it designed, engineered and did the installation of the various improvements. The aspect of the project visitors will most readily notice: the rooftop PV system. AEG said it consists of 288 modules, made by Georgia-based panel company Suniva, that are expected to generate 67,000 kilowatt hours of energy every year.
The work at Kennesaw was featured in a presentation for National Park Service facility managers in November, and according to AEG “will serve as a demonstration for future renewable energy implementations in other national parks across the United States.”
By the way, though Sherman was stymied at Kennesaw, it was just about two months later that he would be able to send word to President Lincoln stating, “Atlanta is ours, and fairly won.”
Like what you are reading? Follow us on RSS, Twitter and Facebook to learn more and join the green technology discussion. Have a story idea or correction for this story you are reading? Drop us a line through our contact form.Israeli academic Neve Gordon was the target of a forceful backlash from peers and Israel lobby groups like J Street four years ago when he endorsed the Palestinian call for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) targeting Israel – albeit as a last-ditch effort to save the “two-state solution.”
Now, using this week’s conference of the Israel lobby group J Street as a hook, Gordon has come back with an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times concluding that the two-state solution is essentially finished.
Gordon proposes a sort of hybrid one-state solution modeled on the 1998 Belfast Agreement (also known as the “Good Friday agreement”) in Northern Ireland.
Here is an excerpt of Gordon’s op-ed:
Northern Ireland offers a real-life model of a just and equitable one-state solution because it accommodates ethno-national distinctions between citizens. In political science it’s called “consociationalism.” Premised on collective and individual entitlements, a consociational government guarantees group representation, ensures power sharing in the executive branch and offers group vetoes. It could assure both the Israeli and the Palestinian communities that no important decision would be made without the broad consent of representatives of both groups. No less important is the notion of “parity of esteem,” one of the core concepts of the Northern Ireland peace process. It requires each side to respect the other side’s identity and ethos, including linguistic diversity, culture and religion. In order to guarantee political equality to the Catholic and Protestant communities in Northern Ireland, the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement assigned essentially equal status to two executive roles — the first and deputy first ministers. Each group has an equal number of legislative committee chairmanships, and membership balance on public bodies, including the judiciary and police forces. Israelis and Palestinians would have to create their own model, and at least initially, it might be good to add to this basic setup internal territorial partition of certain areas, but with porous borders. Consociationalism offers a tenable framework for beginning to address the contradictions arising from Israel’s wish to concurrently sustain its Jewish character, control territory in which 4.5 million Palestinians live, and maintain a democratic system.
Northern Ireland as a model
While it is encouraging to see the discussion moving in this direction, it is important not to understand what happened in Northern Ireland as a potential way around the need for real, deep decolonization – “ethical decolonization” as Omar Barghouti puts it – entailing the removal of the privileges of Israeli Jews in exchange for citizenship and “indigenization.”
“Consociationalism” can’t be a back door to retain Israeli Jewish privilege and the power that comes with it.
Indeed, elements of the Good Friday agreement were explicitly borrowed by the Palestinian, Israeli Jewish and other authors of the 2007 One State Declaration which offers principles for a single, democratic, decolonized and secular state:
Any system of government must be founded on the principle of equality in civil, political, social and cultural rights for all citizens. Power must be exercised with rigorous impartiality on behalf of all people in the diversity of their identities.
“Consociational” features – not specific to the Belfast Agreement – have already been proposed by intellectuals and political leaders among Palestinian citizens of Israel, notably in the 2007 document “The Future Vision of the Palestinian Arabs in Israel” published by the National Committee for the Heads of the Arab Local Authorities; the “Democratic Constitution” published by Adalah; and the Haifa Declaration.
While these documents spoke only about democratizing present-day Israel within its pre-1967 boundaries, they were provocative enough that Israel’s Shin Bet secret police promised to “disrupt the activities of any groups that seek to change the Jewish or democratic character of Israel, even if they use democratic means.”
Yet there are also aspects of the Northern Ireland agreement that would not and should not apply in Palestine, where Zionist settler-colonialism is more recent than English-Scottish settler-colonialism in Ireland.
And of course Israeli settler-colonialism is still an ongoing process of violent dispossession.
Learning more
In my own work, I’ve looked at Northern Ireland closely both in terms of the political process that led to agreement, and in terms of the institutional-legal form of a political settlement.
In a 2012 article for Al Jazeera (“Finkelstein, BDS and the destruction of Israel), I summarize the relevant historical similarities between Palestine and Ireland and how the principles of the Good Friday agreement could apply in Palestine.
The Al Jazeera piece is partly based on a longer article, “Lessons for Palestine from Northern Ireland: Why George Mitchell Couldn’t Turn Jerusalem into Belfast,” included in the forthcoming book Palestine and the Palestinians in the 21st Century, edited by Mimi Kirk and Rochelle Davis.
I also examined the implications of the Belfast Agreement for Palestinian and Israeli Jewish “self-determination” claims in a 2010 policy brief for Al-Shabaka: “Reclaiming Self-Determination.”
And in 2011, in two articles in the journal Ethnopolitics I looked at how leading scholars of “ethnic conflict” have failed to take seriously the idea that partition might not be the solution in Palestine, but the problem.
Without diminishing its significance, it is also important to acknowledge that their are strong critiques of the Belfast Agreement within Ireland.
Gordon’s piece comes just weeks after University of Pennsylvannia professor Ian Lustick’s New York Times op-ed calling for examination of alternatives to the “Two-State Illusion” set off storms of outrage from die-hard defenders of a two-state solution.
These steps are still tentative, but it’s good to see this discussion coming – belatedly – into the mainstream.
As the two-state solution fades, we can now expect the discussion to shift away from simply putting the “one-state solution” on the agenda, to much more focus on what kind of state it can be.Simplicity. A TEDxVCU event. View this email in your browser TED Talks. At Midnight. We will be showing a selection of TED Talks outdoors in the Commons Plaza starting at 11:00pm on Friday, September 5th. Come stop by to find out more about TEDxVCU.
We also have an Open Mic Night scheduled for late September:
September 26th from 7:30-10:00pm in Commons Underground RSVP here
If you want to be a speaker, register at this link.
Students make up the cornerstone of our university. We want to hear your voice. Together we can create an event that makes a lasting impact. We are VCU. Simplicity.
What can we do to improve VCU? What ideas need to be noticed? What makes you proud to be a Ram? Those questions are the cornerstones of TEDxVCU. Our aim is to host an event in the Fall of 2014 that will highlight the ideas of those who push the boundaries, those who seek solutions, and those who constantly strive to improve upon the human condition. We |
city planners and traffic engineers.
So remember, the reason you're stuck in traffic isn't all these jerks around you who don't know how to drive; it's just the road that you're all driving on.When one talks about techno in Australia, it’s usually Melbourne that dominates the conversation. Once regarded as one of the main techno cities in the world, it still has a diverse and active scene. Sydney, on the other hand, has long been seen as too glamorous, sunny and money-oriented to foster “proper” techno. The scene in Sydney has mainly been smaller, on the margins of music and party culture. However, the last few years have seen a new batch of producers and DJs emerge with a DIY ethic, a purist approach to the music and the drive to take their music to the rest of the world. Many of these artists actually went to the same high school, which may explain why this tight group have been encouraging one another to new levels.
Sydney’s techno scene can be traced back to the late 1980’s, when the UK rave scene arrived in full force. In the first few years, regular parties for 2,000-20,000 people happened in licensed as well as warehouse venues, including regular parties at The Hordern Pavilion, and many were run by English ex-pats. However, the brief halcyon days of mass raves didn’t last long. The inevitable unravelling of early elements sent the scene to smaller spaces and licensed clubs. There was a dispersion into smaller sub-scenes around different genres of techno, house and breakbeat, Police cracked down on larger raves (particularly following the 1995 death of teenager Anna Wood at the Phoenician Club) and there were implosions or breakups of some of the main promoter teams.
Matt Costain, a veteran of the Sydney techno scene as a punter and now a sometime promoter, describes his introduction to the scene in the 90’s as, “Raves in ’95, then club nights that crossed over house and techno like Tweekin, Sabotage, Love, Vertigo. A turning point was the first Phony night, on a Wednesday with a DJ I didn’t really know, who was Luke Slater; that completely changed my mind about what was possible with two turntables (it was actually three). Jeff Mills played a life changing set at Apollo Festival in 1998 (which also featured Daft Punk in their first Australian appearance), and after that, a lot of warehouse parties from groups that sprung up from the remnants of Vibe Tribe, such as Phreakin, Junglepunks, Swarm, Acid Faction, Flash, and the club nights of the times. Good times.” From the late 90’s onwards, the scene was disparate, largely inhabited by either “crusties” listening to the more acid-leaning side of techno/trance, or “serious heads” following a strict diet of Detroit with dashes of “proper” UK techno. Some important names in the scene of the 90’s, many of whom are still involved to some extent, include Biz E, Hi Shock, Phil Smart, Abel, Ming D, Patrick HAF, XXX, Sugar Ray, Orion and Ken Cloud.
This video features a great collection of photos and flyers from early Sydney techno / rave history:
The mid-late 00’s saw something of an upswing in interest in more “techno-oriented” music. German labels such as Perlon, Kompakt and Force Inc/Force Trax made were making house music more techno in its structure and sounds, and a new batch of successful artists began touring the world with this sound. And then there was “minimal”, perhaps the cousin everyone now wants to forget. Some notable artists and events from this more recent period up to now in Sydney techno include Magda Bytnerowitz, Strange Signals parties (run by Matt Costain), Glitch DJs & events, Kate Doherty, Methodixx, Sebastian Bayne and many more, and most are still going strong.
Lately crews such as Hunter Gatherer, Compound Interest, Shrug,.darkroom and others have pushed a deep techno sound into some of Sydney’s clubs and warehouses, begging the question: Who are these new techno people and are they making techno in Sydney “cool” again?
Take a listen to some of the artists mentioned in this Soundcloud playlist, the first four tracks come from Sydney’s old school DJ’s / artists, while the last three tracks are from some of the producers leading Sydney’s new wave of techno.
A big part of the newest wave of techno is a tight-knit crew of Hunter Gatherer-associated artists from Sydney’s Northern beaches, all graduates of Manly High School in 2008, including Mark Smith (half of Gardland with Alex Murray), Gareth Psaltis, Hannah Lockwood, Jordan Peters, Josh Leenaars/Asger Jorn,
Ben Fester and Tristan Alaba. This crew is also tight with a bunch of other contemporaries such as Cassius Select, Tuff Sherm/Dro Carey, Alba, Nander and James Walsh. Several of them were already involved in indie rock projects, and Alex of Gardland describes how he came to work with Mark as Gardland: “Mark & Gary were in a band, and I was in another (Only The Sea Slugs), and I liked their band more than mine, so I used to tell the guys in my band to invite them to play every time we played, so we did a lot of shows together and became close friends (Alex was also in Bon Chat, Bon Rat). But it became increasingly hard to find venues to play in, and having to try to get signed to a booker and having to upload your tracks to Triple J’s Unearthed, it just became obvious that wasn’t really going to happen.” The closing of a venue called Tone, which fostered small live acts, also signalled the end of this period for Alex and Mark, who then decided to start making techno together and form Hunter Gatherer Records, releasing EPs by themselves, Gareth Psaltis, Cassius Select and Nander.
First of the group to embrace techno was Jordan Peters, a techno DJ previously into Drum’n’Bass who, “Went to the Labyrinth festival in Japan in 2011, and picked up a stack of records from Disk Union in Shinjuku”, while Gareth Psaltis, who played bass in bands since he was 15, describes a head-shifting experience at Future Music Festival: “I didn’t like any of the other music all day, so when I stumbled across the looping, psychedelic minimal techno from Richie Hawtin I was instantly drawn in. After seeing that I was obsessed and began trying to research as much electronic music as possible and have been doing that ever since. Then there were visits to Berghain and other clubs in Berlin.”Jordan Peters describes this recent scene: “In terms of the newer promoters it’s mostly regular punters that moved on to throwing their own parties, which is awesome. I think in the techno scene everyone is really in it with music as the number one priority. With DJs it’s a mix of old and new but there’s quite a few who’ve started playing out in the last few years. I think it’s the same with live acts – and there are some awesome live techno acts in Sydney at the moment! The Sydney techno scene is very healthy… the parties have been gradually getting bigger and bigger.”
Perhaps because of their non-techno musical backgrounds, these artists have tended to come at techno in their own ways, with little regard for making “straight-up” dancefloor music or following well-worn tropes. Matt Costain describes the sound as, “Less loopy banging stuff that dominated the late 90s/early 2000s, less about Detroit and Chicago, less about the old hard UK acid sound, and less about the late 2000s minimal sound. There tends to be elements of dub, hypnotic psychedelia and analogue experimentation. It’s a bit deeper, even though it can definitely get banging.” While each of the above artists has a different sound and approach, there is something of a shared aesthetic, with the live acts emphasising improvisation and, as Mark Smith put it, “Working up from a micro level, rather than working down from a macro level… it comes from our musical background (outside techno), where other people can make things for the floor because that’s what they know, we come at in an arse-backwards way where we reduce the abstraction as time goes on and we get more interested in things having a functional value.” Gareth Psaltis says, “Techno is more open to experimentation, musicality, darkness and emotional expression than most other forms of music. I see techno as being more music for the head. It is more psychedelic in that it uses more minimalist, drawn-out and evolving patterns. House can be very psychedelic too though. Techno also seems to be more industrial, dark and cosmic. The futurist influence is definitely present in the approach to creating techno music and also the ideas behind the music.” Artists such as Morphosis, Donato Dozzy, Dino Sabbatini and John Elliott have also left a strong impression during their visits.
As far as approaches to production and performing live, there is also a lot of crossover within this group. Both Gardland and Gareth Psaltis base their productions and live sets around the Dave Smith Tempest (a modern analog drum machine), alongside some smaller pieces of gear – Psaltis has a Roland Space Echo pedal and an MFB 522 (an 808 drum machine clone), whiel Gardland also add the MFB522 and Jomox 999 drum machines plus a Jomox Moonwind filter box, which allows a great deal of on-the-spot improvisation from a small setup. And not a laptop in sight. When Psaltis plays with Hannah Lockwood as Phile, Hannah brings a modular synth and Maschine (by Native Instruments) to the mix. Asger Jorn/Josh Leenars uses an Elektron Machinedrum, Moog Voyager, Roland Re-201 Space Echo, Roland JX8p and some field recordings while Nander uses an APC40/Ableton Live based setup.
This tightly knit group of friends have already started landing increasing numbers of local and interstate gigs, and spreading their wings further afield. Tuff Sherm/Dro Carey has multiple releases on labels such as The Trilogy Tapes, Plastic World and others (recent trips to record stores in Germany and Amsterdam have turned up many of his releases). Gardland are releasing for RVNG Intl. with more to come soon, and have relocated to Berlin and signed with Magnet bookings. And keep a look out for forthcoming releases by other members of this clique on local and international labels.
This may be the beginning of a new story: Young Sydney People Embracing Real Techno.
Our guest blogger Simon Caldwell is one of Sydney’s most revered and eclectic DJs. You can catch Simon regularly on FBi radio sunsets and check out his souncloud for some excellent mixes.
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“It is often said that the invention of terrible weapons of destruction will put an end to war. That is an error. As the means of extermination are improved, the means of reducing men who hold the state conception of life to submission can be improved to correspond.” – Leo Tolstoy, The Kingdom of God is Within You (1849)
According to the theory of Near Term Extinction (NTE) the human race is about to go the way of the Dinosaurs. Though polls on the subject are scarce, it is safe to assume that the majority of humanity disagrees. Most of us remain at least cautiously optimistic about our long term survival prospects. Notable exceptions can be found amongst various apocalyptic cults, whose followers anticipate near term divine judgement, as well as trans-humanists, who anticipate the rise of post-humans due to exotic new technologies. In contrast to these views, NTE is not rooted in religion or science-fiction but a pessimistic reading of the environmental sciences, probability theory and the law of unintended consequences. Nor it NTE limited to the fringe.
Stephen Hawking, Richard Dawkins and Noam Chomsky are among a growing number of scholars who consider near term extinction plausible, though certainly not inevitable (predictions range from years to decades to centuries). Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, environmental crises such as climate change have supplanted global thermonuclear war in the pessimist’s hierarchy of doom. Yet these threats are not mutually exclusive. A leaked 2004 report by the Pentagon on global warming anticipates increased risk of “Nuclear conflict, mega-droughts, famine and widespread rioting…Once again, warfare [will] define human life.”[1] Though such predictions are self-serving – environmental crises are deemed another threat that can only be contained by militarism – they are also rational. Under capitalism, competition for diminishing resources may exacerbate violent conflict, creating a feedback loop not unlike global warming itself. This essay will argue that if the human race is to survive, anarchic systems based on participatory democracy must replace top down models of state rule.
Realpolitik
In his book The McDonaldization of Society, sociologist George Ritzer portrays rationalism as a paradox: highly rational models frequently produce highly irrational outcomes.[2] The modern workplace, where we spend most of our waking hours, provides a familiar illustration: rationalist modes of production based on efficiency, calculability, predictability and control have reduced human beings to human resources, disposable entities afforded little in the way of self-determination and dignity.
In the realm of international affairs, rationalist models have led to the school of realpolitik. Unlike idealist interpretations of the state, which focus extensively on ethics, realpolitik is primarily concerned with power. The 16th Century Italian diplomat and philosopher Niccolo Machiavelli wrote, “How we live is so far removed from how we ought to live, that [the ruler] who abandons what is done for what ought to be done, will rather bring about his own ruin rather than his preservation.”[3] Since the ruler’s primary objective is to maintain power – ostensibly for the “greater good” – immoral behaviour is not only acceptable but necessary. Brutally practical, Machiavelli suggested that people should either be “well treated or crushed.”[4]
The 19th Century anarchist Mikhail Bakunin agreed with Machiavelli’s cynical understanding of power but came to very different conclusions about how humanity should proceed. He praised the Italian philosopher for exposing the state with “terrible frankness,” and demonstrating that “crime…is the sine qua non of political intelligence and true patriotism,” yet rejected the notion that such crime was inevitable. “We are the sons of the revolution…We believe in the rights of man, in the dignity and necessary emancipation of the human species.”[5] The state – as well capitalism – should be abolished.
Up until the mid-twentieth century, and with the exception of a few rogue philosophers who advocated world government, self-government or no government at all, near-constant warfare between competing states has been viewed as an unfortunate but necessary byproduct of international relations. The invention of the nuclear bomb changed that – or would have, if the idealists were correct. American military strategist Bernard Brodie was overly optimistic when, in 1946, he wrote, “Thus far the chief purpose of our military establishment has been to win wars. From now on its chief purpose must be to avert them. It can have almost no other useful purpose.”[6]
The military establishment, soon to be termed the military industrial complex by President Eisenhower, did in fact have another purpose, namely to expand American power through imperialism. Tolstoy was proven correct: not even the creation of the most “terrible weapons of war” would put an end to the state’s quest for dominance.
Noam Chomsky describes current models of international relations theory as “quite rational.” Nevertheless, these seemingly rational models may bring about the irrational consequence of “collective suicide.”[7]
Few people who consider themselves rational would advocate for the disarmament of the state apparatus in which they live. Yet in the age of nuclear weapons, it is precisely this insistence on “national security” through state power that is most likely to kill us. If, as Bakunin argued, “small states are virtuous only because of their weakness,”[8] powerful states demonstrate an ineluctable tendency toward dominating others. The result is militarism.
MAD
The history of civilization is sufficiently blood-soaked that many modern intellectuals, including Albert Einstein, have argued that competitive state frameworks must be abandoned if the human race is to survive.
Following the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Einstein implored:
A world government must be created which is able to solve conflicts between nations by judicial decision. This government must be based on a clear-cut constitution which is approved by the governments and nations and which gives it the sole disposition of offensive weapons.[9]
It is doubtful that a world government such as envisioned by Einstein – which allowed for the centralization of “offensive weapons” – would have eliminated the nuclear threat, let alone war, if for no other reason than secessionist movements and other power struggles would have remained a constant concern (we will return to this subject at the essay’s closing).
In any case, Churchill, Truman and Stalin would carve up most of Europe at the Yalta and Potsdam conferences, creating the foundation for the Cold War. As if to underscore the improbability of world government, the three leaders had an argument over who would enter the Potsdam conference room first; they eventually decided that they would enter at precisely the same time through three separate doors.[10]
The new paradigm was MAD – Mutually Assured Destruction. Because man is a rational being, he would not risk nuclear annihilation by attacking his foe. Game theorists at the Rand Corporation, a Pentagon think tank, provided the theoretical basis. According to the prisoner’s dilemma, both players had to assume the other was rational.
While most nuclear strategists took it for granted that the point of the game was to maintain peace between the super-powers, others believed, quite logically, that the point of the game was to win it.
Among those who embraced the “winner takes all” view was General Curtis Lemay, purported model for the character “Jack the Ripper” in Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove.
Best known for masterminding the massive bombing campaign against Japan during WWII (which resulted in half-a-million dead and about five million homeless), Lemay headed up the Strategic Air Command and served as Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force from 1961 to 1965.
During his service, Lemay drew up a war plan which involved dropping “the entire stockpile of atomic bombs in a single massive attack” on the Soviet Union – 133 atomic bombs on 70 cities. The Washington Post later quoted the General as stating, “Every major American city – Washington, New York, Philadelphia, Detroit, Chicago, Los Angeles – will be reduced to rubble. Similarly, the principal cities of the Soviet Union will be destroyed.”[11]
According to then Defence Secretary Robert McNamara, Lemay was “absolutely certain” that “the US was going to have to fight a nuclear war with the Soviet Union,” and that “we should fight it sooner rather than later.”[12]
Equally disturbing as the super-hawks at the Pentagon were the numerous academics – people who considered themselves highly rational – who advocated a similar strategy. Most found their home at the Rand Corporation.
One of Rand’s most notorious strategists was Herman Kahn. He believed that the US atomic arsenal was a wasting resource. So long as the Soviet Union continued to build its own arsenal, America’s would decrease in value. For Kahn, nuclear weapons were like a precious commodity in danger of depreciation on the global marketplace. Though he did not explicitly advocate a first strike, Kahn believed that a nuclear war was “winnable.”[13]
Breaking the Chain of Command
MAD is widely regarded as a triumph of both rationalism and hard-nosed realpolitik. The missiles stayed in their silos. We didn’t go extinct. Starry-eyed idealists who rejected Ronald Reagan’s belligerence and exorbitant military spending were proven wrong.
What few realize is that we escaped destruction primarily due to a handful of individuals who rejected the chain of command – and even the logic of their computer screens – in order to embrace the better angels of their being.
In my documentary film The Power Principle I explore several of the biggest “close calls” during the Cold War.
The most serious event occurred during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
In the midst of the conflict, a group of United States Navy Destroyers began dropping practice-depth charges on a Soviet submarine positioned near Cuba in order to force it to the surface. The sub commanders believed WWIII was underway.
According to Soviet military protocol, the commanders had previous permission to launch missiles if all three reached consensus. Two said yes – one said no. Then “an argument broke out among the three, in which only Vasili Arkhipov was against the launch.” Thomas Blanton, a director of the National Security Archive, later remarked, “A guy called Vasili Arkhipov saved the world.”[14]
In 1983, a computer malfunction at a nuclear warning facility near Moscow falsely indicated a nuclear attack by the United States. The probability indicator was at level 1.
The man in charge, Stanislav Petrov, did not have the ability to launch a retaliatory strike. However, were he to pass on the information to the top command, the Soviet leadership would have only had a few minutes to decide on whether to launch a counter-attack. According to Bruce Blair, a Cold War nuclear strategist, “the top leadership, given only a couple of minutes to decide, told that an attack had been launched, would [have made] a decision to retaliate.” Petrov broke military protocol, and waited.
It turned out that the computer malfunction was caused by “a rare alignment of sunlight on high-altitude clouds and satellites.”[15]
The third biggest close call occurred in the same year when NATO began a war exercise; the scenario – an all out nuclear attack on the Soviet Union. It was codenamed Able Archer.
When the Nazis invaded Russia during WWII, they did so under the guise of a war game. Alarmed by Ronald Reagan’s “evil empire” rhetoric, as well as America’s deployment of Pershing II strategic missiles in Europe, hard-liners in the Kremlin became convinced that history was about to repeat itself. In the run up to the exercise, the Soviets secretly mobilized all key components of their military forces, including nuclear submarines. One mistake by either side and a holocaust would have resulted.
There are other examples, though not quite as hair-raising. A report by the Nuclear Files Foundation lists over 20 “close calls” during the Cold War.[16]
The greatest danger has never been a rogue commander in the vein of “Jack the Ripper” – though that threat is real enough – but accidental nuclear war caused by incompetence and/or technical malfunction.
“So long as nuclear weapons exist,” states Noam Chomsky, “the chances for the survival of the human species are quite sleight.”[17] Former Defence Sectary Robert McNamara eventually came to the same conclusion. In his promotion of various arms reduction treaties he wrote, “It can be confidently predicted that the combination of human fallibility and nuclear arms will inevitably lead to nuclear destruction.”[18]
Unlike most of the public, US military leaders are well aware of the numerous close calls of the Cold War. The same is presumably true of most men and women who (along with military leaders) formulate current US policy. If their goal was the survival, let alone health, of the human race, the United States would have long since abandoned aggressive war. A fraction of the US military budget could eliminate poverty worldwide [19], and in doing so drain the swamp of resentment and rage that provides the lifeblood of the “terrorist threat.”
For critics of American foreign policy, the failure of US leaders to pursue a peaceful path following the collapse of the Soviet Union is often attributed to a uniquely American belligerence or depravity. Yet a cursory glance through the history books shows that the American empire, while exceptional in terms of global reach and technology, is anything but exceptional in terms of base motivation; it is behaving in a remarkably similar fashion to every empire that preceded it. We can only conclude that powerful states – and the people to tend to wield great power within them – share peculiar forms of logic that are alien to most of their citizenry.
The Power Principle
The dominant view amongst anthropologists is that we have lived in relatively peaceful, cooperative, egalitarian societies for 99% of our history. In the words of anthropologist Christopher Boehm, “Humans were egalitarian for thousands of generations before hierarchical societies began to appear.”[20] Many of the behaviours we now celebrate – “success” through the hoarding of wealth, for example – were traditionally considered socially deviant. Ethnographies of extant nomadic foragers reveal that they are “all but obsessively concerned with being free from the authority of others. That is the basic thrust of their political ethos.”[21]
The Utku in the Canadian Arctic have an extreme intolerance for “displays of anger, aggression, or dominance” (Boehm).[22] The Pintupi Aborigines insist that “One should assert one’s autonomy only in ways that do not threaten the equality and autonomy of others” (Myers).[23] Among the Wape tribe in New Guinea, “A man will not tolerate a situation where a neighbour has more than he has. A man should not possess either goods or power to the disadvantage of others” (Mitchell).[24]
In both egalitarian and hierarchical societies, power is jealously guarded. For egalitarians, the goal is to maximize freedom through group solidarity; for despots, the goal is to maximize the “freedom” of rulers to oppress the majority.
Among political philosophers, only anarchists have seriously considered the threat posed by hierarchy in human affairs. For this reason they have been labeled “utopian.” Yet it may be that idealized notions of benevolent hierarchies are not only unrealistic but wildly implausible. Just as systems of domestic law have proven incapable of preventing tyranny, so too have international laws utterly failed to prevent war.
For anarchists, the reason for this is obvious: the logic of power is power. There is no law or principle so compelling that it will not be tossed aside at the first sign that those who hold power are in danger of losing it. Hunter-gatherers are able to prevent social dominance hierarchies because they act in a group wide coalition; under the state apparatus, with its entrenched hierarchies, this ability is severely curtailed.
Nevertheless, for the vast majority of political philosophers, the idea that a select minority should rule over the mass is taken for granted. James Madison, the “father of the American constitution,” argued that a primary purpose of government was to “protect the minority of the opulent against the majority.” His great fear was “levelling tendencies,” in other words, real democracy.[25]
If nation states existed in a vacuum, incapable of waging war against other states, minority rule would perhaps be tolerable, depending on the disposition of the men and women who happen to rule over the majority at a given time. The problem is that states are not content to rest on their laurels. Schopenhauer’s famous quote about wealth – that it is “like sea-water; the more we drink, the thirstier we get” – applies equally to power itself. The anthropologist Gregory Bateson explained the phenomenon in terms of “optima” and “maxima”: “the ethics of optima and the ethics of maxima are totally different ethical systems. The ethics of maxima knows only one rule: more.”[26]
Egalitarian societies are able to maintain optima due to a low center of gravity. In large hierarchical societies, wherein power becomes centralized, leaders or entire social classes can easily become despotic. As the great American novelist Kurt Vonnegut wrote, “Human beings are chimpanzees who become crazy drunk on power.”
Austrian political scientist Leopold Kohr, who described himself as a “philosophical anarchist,” regarded powerful states as the most dangerous expression of the maxima principle:
There could be no gentler peoples on earth today than the Portuguese, the Swedes, the Norwegians, or the Danes. Yet, when they found themselves in possession of power, they lashed out against any and all comers with such fury that they conquered the world from horizon to horizon. This was not because, at the period of their national expansion, they were more aggressive than others. They were more powerful.[27]
Great powers may temporarily “check” one another, to the point where – depending on the global power configuration – some powerful states may seem positively benign; nevertheless, by their very nature, states must exist in an environment of perpetual conflict; when a “critical quantity of power” is reached by one state in relation to others, war or even genocide is a likely result. For these and other reasons, Bakunin believed that international law is always destined to fail.
There is no common right, no social contract of any kind between them; otherwise they would cease to be independent states and become the federated members of one great state. But unless this great state were to embrace all of humanity, it would be confronted with other great states, each federated within, each maintaining the same posture of inevitable hostility. War would still remain the supreme law, an unavoidable condition of human survival. Every state, federated or not, would therefore seek to become the most powerful. It must devour lest it be devoured, conquer lest it be conquered, enslave lest it be enslaved, since two powers, similar and yet alien to each other, could not coexist without mutual destruction.[28]
Universal Hostility
In my documentary The Power Principle, Noam Chomsky rhetorically asks, “Why wasn’t NATO disbanded after the Soviet Union collapsed?” After all, “there was no more Soviet Union to defend ourselves against.”
Why indeed did NATO not disband?
According to Chomsky, the simplest answer is that Washington was terrified of “Europe going off in an independent direction.”[29] In other words, U.S. leaders were frightened of a diminution in their power.
Speaking in 2005, American military geostrategist Thomas Barnett boasted that since the collapse of the Soviet Union, “demand for our services has increased 4-5 times.”[30] Instead of the “peace dividend” promised by Bill Clinton, aggressive war by the United States actually escalated.
Twenty years after Perestroika, Gorbachev lamented that his concessions – rather than creating more peace and harmony – had produced a “winner’s complex” among the American political elite.[31] Gorbachev had envisioned for post-Soviet Russia a social democracy similar to the Scandinavian nations. What actually followed were a series of brutal “free market” reforms engineered by technocrats from the Chicago school of economics. It took decades for Russia to regain some semblance of stability. Now that it has – and despite the vanished pretext of an ideological battle between capitalism and communism – the Cold War is back with a vengeance.
When Gorbachev allowed for the peaceful dismantling of the Soviet Union, he was promised by George H.W. Bush that NATO would not expand “one inch to the east.”[32] Instead, NATO has expanded to much of the world – including Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, the Baltic and Central Asia. Coinciding with these aggressive policies of expansion and encirclement, the US has insisted on establishing anti-missile systems in Poland designed to eliminate Russia’s nuclear deterrent.
The theoretical basis behind America’s treatment of post-Soviet Russia crosses party lines. Paul Wolfowitz, who served as Deputy Secretary of Defence under George W. Bush, wrote in Defence Planning Guidance (1992): “Our first objective is to prevent the re-emergence of a new rival, either on the territory of the former Soviet Union or elsewhere.”[33] Similarly, Jimmy Carter’s National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski argued in his 1997 book The Grand Chessboard that control of Eurasia – to the exclusion of Russia – is the key factor in ensuring American primacy.
In February 2014, the democratically elected albeit corrupt government of Ukraine was overthrown in a right-wing putsch supported by the United States, prompting Vladimir Putin to engineer a referendum in Crimea allowing for its annexation into Russia. Long before the crisis, and in response to previous provocations on Russia’s borders, Putin delivered a speech to the Kremlin in which he stated:
Their [U.S.] defence budget in absolute figures is almost 25 times bigger than Russia’s. This is what in defence is referred to as ‘their home — their fortress’. Clever…Very clever. But this means that we also need to build our home and make it strong and well protected. We see, after all, what is going on in the world. Comrade Wolf knows whom to eat, as the saying goes. It knows whom to eat and is not about to listen to anyone, it seems.[34]
In Putin’s portrayal of America as a ravenous wolf we see an echo of Bakunin’s maxim that states must “devour lest [they] be devoured.”
The desire by Russian leaders to retain control of their Black Sea port in Crimea and to project power into neighbouring (hostile, NATO-affiliated) states is a classic expression of the cordon sanitaire or “quarantine line.” In state-craft, the term is defined as a protective barrier against a potentially aggressive nation or dangerous influence.
Putin has not been without his own forays into military violence, such as the brutal subjugation of Chechnya in the mid-90’s (during which the capital, Grozny, was largely reduced to rubble). Nevertheless, the Russian leader has focussed most of his attention on building economic alliances, most notably that of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa).
Following the first BRICS summit in 2009, member nations called for a new global reserve currency (rather than the US dollar) that would be “diversified, stable and predictable.”[35]
Apart from the small matter of nuclear weapons, it is in the economic realm that Russia is considered most dangerous. Russia provides the European Union with about a third of its gas, remains one of Germany’s largest trading partners, and is currently arranging a massive natural gas supply deal with China.
In the same way that NATO has attempted to encircle Russia, the Pentagon’s “Asia pivot” seeks to quarantine China militarily. China has responded by announcing a new Air Defence Identification Zone in the East China Sea, overlapping disputed territories with Japan. In April, the US established a new “Defence” pact with the Philippines.
Russia and China have repeatedly vetoed US-sponsored Security Council Resolutions that would have allowed for the “legal” bombing of Syria (which houses one of Russia’s last foreign military bases outside of the former Soviet Union). But this has not prevented the United States from attempting to subvert the Syrian government through semi-covert means. The CIA, the British SAS, Saudi Arabia and NATO member Turkey have been training and supplying Syrian rebels in Jordan since the beginning of the insurgency against Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.[36] Syria, in turn, has a mutual defence pact with Iran.
As always in the recent history of the Middle East, the wild card is Israel.
The destruction of Iran remains Israel’s primary foreign policy objective. Though Hezbollah has sensibly warned that an attack against Iran would “set the entire middle east ablaze,”[37] Israeli leaders perceive Iran as a potential counter-check to Zionist power. In addition to geopolitical concerns, Israeli leaders embrace a peculiar military strategy known as the “mad dog” doctrine. First articulated by Israeli military leader and politician Moshe Dayan, it calls for Israel to behave “like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother.”[38]
The most disturbing manifestation of this strategy is the so-called “Samson option.” Named after the biblical character Samson, who pushed apart the pillars of a Philistine temple, thereby killing both himself and his captors, the Samson option calls for destroying much of the world in response to an existential threat to the Jewish state. Israeli military historian Martin van Creveld explains: “We possess several hundred atomic warheads and rockets and can launch them at targets in all directions…We have the capability to take the world down with us.”[39]
The Samson option, and Israel’s behaviour in general, has led the American political scientist Norman Finkelstein to describe the country as a “lunatic state.”[40]
In his article “Marching as to War,” American paleoconservative author Pat Buchanan expresses incredulity over American Vice President Joe Biden’s post-Ukraine-coup trip through the former Soviet bloc countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. During the junket, Biden reiterated America’s commitment to “protect” these nations: “our word” is “solemn” and “iron clad.” According to Buchanan, Biden was “affirming war guarantees General Eisenhower would have regarded as insane.”[41]
Here we may say that while Biden’s actions may have been insane during the Eisenhower administration, they are perfectly logical under the Obama administration. In keeping with the theory of the Power Principle, or Kohr’s notion of “critical quantities of power,” the collapse of the Soviet Union eliminated the primary check to the American empire. The dogs of war could be fully unleashed. Now that Russia is resurgent, and the US declining economically, there is a great deal of barking going on.
On April Fool’s Day, 2014, NATO Sectary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen stated:
NATO’s greatest responsibility is to protect and defend our territory and our people. And make no mistake, this is what we will do. We will make sure we have updated military plans, enhanced exercises and appropriate deployments.[42]
Rasmussen is nothing if not worldly, considering that “his” people evidently include populations from countries as varied as Albania, Croatia, France, Iceland, Italy, Romania, the UK and the USA.
The illegal bombing of Serbia by the Clinton administration may be regarded as the starting point in the New Cold War, for it was during the assault that NATO began its eastward shift.
The destruction of Yugoslavia was “rational,” argues historian Michael Parenti, because “Yugoslavia was the one country in Eastern Europe that would not voluntarily overthrow what remained of its socialist system and install a free-market economic order…Yugoslavs were proud of their postwar economic development and of their independence from both the Warsaw pact and NATO.”[43]
Considerably less rational was the behaviour of US General Wesley Clark during the conflict. According to British pop singer James Blunt (best known for his song “You’re beautiful”), who commanded 30,000 NATO troops in Bosnia, he was instructed by the US General to attack a squadron of Russian soldiers at the Pristina Air Base.
The direct command [that] came in from Gen Wesley Clark was to overpower them |
to the brain. i would say it HELPS THE BRAIN, i mean, it is basicaly useful in EVERY sort of addiction, not just opiates, it can prevent tolerance to ALL kinds of drugs like [URL="https://drugs-forum.com/wiki/Caffeine"][COLOR=#0066cc]caffeine[/COLOR][/URL][COLOR=#0066cc] nicotine amps, i mean ALL MANNER of drugs.all the people i know who heavily abused [URL="https://drugs-forum.com/wiki/Dissociatives"][COLOR=#0066cc]dissociatives[/COLOR][/URL][COLOR=#0066cc] are now off them and are some of the most intelligent people i know.olneys is OUT THE ****ING WINDOW come one now people. if wedMD calls DXM a "Co-Analgesic", well **** thats good enough for me. it also greatly reduces fybromyalgia pain even by itself, and if i take grapefruit juice first then a small dose of dex when i have NO pain meds, it actualy gives me SIGNIFICANT wd relief AND pain relief.look more into these drugs before you bash them anyone, please, because i believe them to be miracle drugs.and ketamine, is the safest of the dissociateves anyways, just for your information. even when all that olneys **** was going around, they said PCP was most likely to cause it, followed by dxm, followeed by ketamine. i have also have ++++ psy experiences on K.show me any real evidence that the **** is hard on the brain any ill listen. but even if it is miniscualy bad for you............its either that, or a never ending skyrocketing opiate tolerance.............hummmm.....hard descisionpeaceI'm also inferring from the study that the researchers must consider DXM safe taken long-term. I mean, assuming 80mg morphine qid, we're talking 320mg of DXM daily -- still quite a bit shy of the gram recommended above, but 320mg is (for most people) a very psychoactive dose. I'm only taking 15mg and definitely feel it helps. I can't explain my lack of Ultram tolerance after 400mg/day for several months any other way.Well, I'm hanging on 40mg of Adderall with 3 NDMA antagonists: L-[URL="https://drugs-forum.com/wiki/Theanine"][COLOR=#0066cc]Theanine[/COLOR][/URL][COLOR=#0066cc] at 100-200mgs, DXM 60mg. Magnesium up to 1000mg. I first used 10 mg Adderall but without NDMA antagonists in two months had to jump up to 40 mgs. Then I started using the above and I can say that (I think) they work. I'd use acamprosate or memantine if i'd have access though.Hiya,I wasn't able to look through all these studies to see if they gave any definitive information on human dosages of DXM which block NMDA receptors, but 60mg Delsym seems to work great for me -- there's no way in hell I'd still be finding relief from 60mg Adderall if it weren't for the DXM!Vince,Memantine, for me at least, is effective for amphetamine tolerance. Whereas before it would poop out ofter about 3 days, leaving me wrung out and irritable, it now gives me a smooth effect (one dosage of 40mg. lasts about 12hours), that I can take every day- giving me energy, concentration, motivation and social confidence.I've waited to log this post because I was hoping to learn exactly what mechanisms allowed memantine to work this way. But, at this point, at least, I will have to say that it is a bit of a mystery. Presumable, amphetamine induces hyperglutaminergic activity, which incuces the tolerance, which the memantne is able to prevent by limiting glutaminergic activity to within physiologically safe bounds.Also memantine is seemingly effective for tardive dyskinsia (see patent referred to above). Also effective as a adjunct mood stabilizer to valporate acid (sp?) and possibly lamotrigine.It is speculated to be effective for OCD disorders. Also I can't help but wonder if it won't prevent, at least in some, instances, of AD poop out.BTW: I take, 5mg/day [URL="https://drugs-forum.com/wiki/Selegiline"][COLOR=#0066cc]selegiline[/COLOR][/URL][COLOR=#0066cc], 40mg/day adderall, 30mg./day memantine, 4g.day [URL="https://drugs-forum.com/wiki/Klonopin"][COLOR=#0066cc]klonopin[/COLOR][/URL][COLOR=#0066cc] at night and 50mg./day of amisulpride.AndrewBIt's hardly utopia, but memantine to attenuate amphetamine tolerance to mood/motivational effects has worked for me (at 9 weeks in), and among a few others, this guy who documented his experiences with some extensiveness:Like andrew I in the past acquired complete tolerance to the mood/motivational effects of amphetamine after about 2 or 3 days of chronic dosing, leaving a concentrative effect which for me (not everyone) always felt zombifying. These mood/motivational effects (in combination with the concentrative effect) are considerably more therapeutic for me.> I'm not concerned with development of tolerance as I've been able to maintain a constant effect from amphetamines for months now without raising dose. In all fairness, I do take 60mg Delsym (dextromethorphan polystirex) twice daily, which is quite likely preventing tolerance. My pdoc endorses the use of DXM to all his stimulant-treated patients now, ever since I brought it to his attention months ago. He's seeing many patients finally stabilized on doses of amphetamines whereas they used to escalate monthly or even weekly. It doesn't seem to be working as well for his patients taking [URL="https://drugs-forum.com/wiki/Methylphenidate"][COLOR=#0066cc]methylphenidate[/COLOR][/URL][COLOR=#0066cc].I take (d)-amphetamine 15mg IR ~3 days per week. It works very well for SA and sometimes can make me very extroverted, but it's not a practical treatment as tolerance sets in if I use it more frequently.After hearing many glowing reports about how memantine inhibits the development of amphetamine tolerance, I started taking it at 5mg for 4 days, and have been on 10mg/day since. On the 12th day of being on 10mg memantine, I took my usual 15mg dose of amph, and felt a powerful surge of euphoria, sociability, confidence, and was completely free of SA. It was just like taking amphetamine for the first time! Over the next 4 days, I took 15mg each morning but skipped one day. Each dose was just as powerful and efficacious, AND the duration was extended to ~7-8 hours! So this brings me to today, where I decided to reduce my amph dose to 10mg, and it's working even better than 15mg did before starting memantine.Could memantine render amphetamine a practical longterm treatment for SA/social anhedonia (among many other disorders)? Looks like it may, but I'll have to give it the test of time. Anyone else have any experience with this regimen?Memantine has truly saved my life, i do not exaggerate. Although Memantine, by itself, doesn't offer me significant benefits (other than reduction of OCD) it pretty much, is the most important part of my regimen. It doesnt seem possible to actually prevent the tolerance to the Actual beneficial effects of Amphetamine, but....it is possible. I see no benefit in taking Amphetamine at all, if not combined with Memantine. I currently take 15 mg Memantine a day......5 and 10mg/day both significantly inhibited tolerance, however, only for a period of 2-4 weeks, I could take Amphetamine consistently (every day, 30mg) with its mood-elevating and anxiety-reducing and pro-social benefits, continuing to remain and be of use. When tolerance becomes a problem, i take short 2-5 day breaks from Amphetamine, and every time, my tolerance goes down significantly, and I am able to resume amphetamine, with its beneficial effects being much stronger again.There is ALOT of evidence, that Memantine and other NMDA antagonists/glutamate antagonists reduce some of the neurotoxicity of Amphetamine. Some of the neurotoxicity will remain, regardless of NMDA antagonism.....however, glutamate itself, is responsible for a significant portion of amphetamine-induced neurotoxicity......honestly, Memantine appears to be, almost perfect, without any obvious shortcomings. It will only be a matter of time, before a negative effect of such, is discovered, but nevertheless, Its positive effects, appear to greatly outweigh its cost. Yay for memantineMemantine is good stuff. I've been taking 5mg a day for several weeks now, and i'm just now starting to see its tolerance prevention ability. I took one 20mg adderall XR + 5mg memantine this morning after a 4 day break from adderall and it has worked great all day. I lost the magic there for awhile but today the addy is working like it did during the first few months and this is just from 20mg.Read more: [URL]https://drugs-forum.com/threads/227885#ixzz2j2BZ6IU9[/URL]OnTheStrength added 4 Minutes and 2 Seconds later...This information is based on NMDA receptor Antagonists. DXM, along with ketamine even magnesium are antagonists. Some are more effective then others. What is an NMDA receptor? It has many functions, one including tolerance memory. The brains ability to recognize chemical functions and tolerance development. Go look it up on Wikipedia.[/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color]Story highlights Luis von Ahn founded the company behind CAPTCHA
He used that technology to help digitize old books
His new project provides a free way to learn languages and thereby translate the Web
I want to translate the Web into every major language: every webpage, every video, and, yes, even Justin Bieber's tweets.
With its content split up into hundreds of languages -- and with over 50% of it in English -- most of the Web is inaccessible to most people in the world. This problem is pressing, now more than ever, with millions of people from China, Russia, Latin America and other quickly developing regions entering the Web. In this TED talk, I introduce my new project, called Duolingo, which aims at breaking the language barrier, and thus making the Web truly "world wide."
We have all seen how systems such as Google Translate are improving every day at translating the gist of things written in other languages. Unfortunately, they are not yet accurate enough for my purpose: Even when what they spit out is intelligible, it's so badly written that I can't read more than a few lines before getting a headache. This is why you don't see machine-translated articles on CNN.
With Duolingo, our goal is to encourage people, like you and me, to translate the Web into their native languages.
Now, with billions and billions of pages on the Web, this can't be done with just a few volunteers, nor can we afford to pay professional translators. When Severin Hacker and I started Duolingo, we realized we needed a way to entice millions of people to help translate the Web. However, coordinating millions of contributors to translate language presents two major hurdles. First, finding enough people who are bilingual enough to help with translation is difficult. Second, motivating them to do it for free makes this next to impossible.
The idea behind Duolingo is to kill two birds with one stone by solving both of these problems simultaneously. We accomplish this by transforming language translation into something that anyone can do -- not just bilinguals -- and that millions of people want to do: learning a foreign language.
It is estimated that over one billion people worldwide are learning a foreign language, with millions doing so using computer programs. With Duolingo, people learn a foreign language while simultaneously translating text.
When you learn on Duolingo, the website gives you exercises tailored specifically to you that teach you every aspect of the new language. You may be asked to translate a sentence, to pronounce or listen to a phrase, or to describe what you see in an image.
Some of the sentences you translate come from real websites. By having multiple students translate each sentence, and then choosing the best one, Duolingo produces translations that are as accurate as those from professional language translators.
Because you create valuable translations as a side effect, learning on Duolingo is 100% free: no ads, no hidden fees, no subscriptions. Duolingo entails a new business model that allows anyone online, regardless of socioeconomic status, to have access to education.
For example, the leading language-learning software sells for over $500, which is beyond the means of the majority of the world's population. If language education is offered free of charge in exchange for students' performing useful tasks, those who cannot afford to pay with money pay with their time -- time that would have been spent learning anyway.
This is how I want to translate the Web. Now go on and sign up for Duolingo.So after dismissing all arguments about exposure to radiation with the porno-scanners and attacking anyone who questioned them, now their story is changing.
The Transportation Security Administration is reanalyzing the radiation levels of X-ray body scanners installed in airports nationwide, after testing produced dramatically higher-than-expected results.
The TSA, which has deployed at least 500 body scanners to at least 78 airports, said Tuesday the machines meet all safety standards and would remain in operation despite a “calculation error” in safety studies. The flawed results showed radiation levels 10 times higher than expected.
At least one flier group, the Association for Airline Passenger Rights, is urging the government to stop using the $180,000 machines that produce a virtual-nude image of the body until new tests are concluded in May.The National Lawyers Guild—a hard left assortment of radical lawyers and “legal workers”—is seeking to have President Obama, Secretary of Defense Hagel and members of Congress indicted by the International Criminal Court for “aiding and abetting” genocide, crimes against humanity and other war crimes. Among the bases for these extraordinarily serious accusations, is that “the United States Congress overwhelmingly passed, and President Obama signed, an appropriation of $225million for Israel’s Iron Dome missile system”—a purely defensive shield that destroys missiles heading for Israeli population centers.
Yes, you read that correctly. According to these irresponsible bigots, it is genocide to help the nation-state of the Jewish people protect its Jewish and Arab citizens against thousands of rockets being fired at its cities, towns and airport. Imagine the implication for the rule of law if defending one’s citizens becomes a war crime. But don’t worry. These professional Israel-bashers won’t try to apply this Orwellian theory to any countries other than Israel and its supporters.
The entire letter brief submitted by the National Lawyers Guild and several other radical organizations is premised on the fact that there is one law for Israel and a different law for the rest of the world. For example, it quotes—out of context—statements made by fringe Israeli politicians, none of whom are in the government, that it says constitute incitement against Palestinians. It never mentions that these fringe politicians have been rebuked by the Israeli mainstream media and politicians. It also quotes Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as reading a poem following the murder of the three abducted Israeli school children that calls for “vengeance for the blood of a small child,” but never mentions the Hamas murder of these and other children, or that the vengeance Netanyahu was referring to was against the specific perpetrators of these murders. It never quotes the Hamas Charter which demands the murder of every single Jew hiding behind rocks and trees. Nor does it quote Hamas leaders and leading Imams who regularly call for genocide against the Jewish people and its nation-state.
Nor does the letter brief ever mention the word “tunnel,” despite the reality that the only reason Israel sent troops into Gaza was to destroy the 40 or so terror tunnels designed to send death squads into Israel’s towns and kibbutzim. I was in one of those tunnels located close to a kindergarten with more than 50 Israeli children. It condemns Israel for sending the troops, but it doesn’t mention the reason Israel had to go into Gaza. That would be as if an indictment charging somebody with first degree murder, only stated that the defendant shot at the victim, without mentioning that the victim shot first at the defendant and his family. If a prosecutor ever were to file such an indictment, he or she would be disciplined or disbarred since it would be failing to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, as lawyers are obliged to do.
Neither does the indictment ever mention the fact that Hamas deliberately employs human shields in order to maximize civilian casualties among its own people. Hamas leaders acknowledge this as Fathi Hammad did when he said:
“For the Palestinian people, death has become an industry, at which women excel, and so do all the people living on this land. The elderly excel at this, and so do the mujahideen and the children. This is why they have formed human shields of the women, the children, the elderly, and the mujahideen, in order to challenge the Zionist bombing machine. It is as if they were saying to the Zionist enemy: We desire death like you desire life.”
Again, this would be as if an indictment charged to a police officer with murdering a child, without mentioning that the child had been taken hostage and was being held as a shield to protect the gunman who was shooting at civilians, and the policeman, in an effort to stop the gunman, accidentally shot the child.
Finally, the brief fails to mention that Hamas turned down several offers of a cease fire that Israel had accepted, and that when it finally accepted a cease fire, it immediately violated it killing three Israeli soldiers. Had Hamas accepted Israel’s initial offer of a cease fire, far fewer Palestinians and Israelis would have been killed.
But none of this matters to the National Lawyers Guild, which has been the sworn enemy of Israel and the legal arm of Palestinian terrorism since the early 1970s following the Soviet Union’s switch from supporting Israel to opposing it. The National Lawyers Guild has lost most of its lawyers since that time and has instead filled its membership roles with paralegals, amateur investigators and other assorted “legal workers.” It has no credibility in the legal profession and even some of its anti-Zionist members have recently quit, calling its policies regarding Israel “crazy,” “irresponsible,” and “bigoted.”
No responsible lawyer should want to be associated with an unprofessional and unethical brief such as the one filed by the National Lawyers Guild and its co-conspirators, the Center For Constitutional Rights, The International Association of Democratic Lawyers, The American Association of Jurists and The Arab Lawyers Union. No responsible client should ever hire a lawyer who had anything to do with this bigoted and mendacious brief.
Although the National Lawyers Guild itself and the other organizations that signed this brief have no credibility, the primary signatory of the brief, Azadeh Shahshahani, is also a high official of the American Civil Liberties Union. She was a paid executive director of the Georgia ACLU and now serves as the National Security/Immigrant Rights’ Project Director. Nor is she the only ACLU official who has gone over the edge when it comes to applying a double standard to Israel. Chuck Anderson and Hector Villagro, the President and Director of ACLU, Orange County, signed a brief in support of anti-Israel students who tried to shout down and censor a pro-Israel speaker at the University of California, all in violation of ACLU policy regarding freedom of speech. There is grave danger therefore that the bigotry of the National Lawyers Guild is creeping into leadership positions at the American Civil Liberties Union. That would be a great tragedy, because the ACLU—unlike the National Lawyers Guild—is an important organization with well-deserved credibility. It risks losing this credibility if its leaders join with the National Lawyers Guild and other irresponsible organizations in promoting bigotry against the nation-state of the Jewish people.Warns girls not to go to Learning Centers, saying ‘Western education’ is ‘haram’.
QUETTA: An armed group based in Panjgur, Balochistan’s western district, has threatened 23 English Language Learning Centers to shut down and stop imparting co-education and teaching in English, which they say is ‘Haram (prohibited) in Islam’.
Masked armed men barged into one language center on Wednesday and threatened the teachers and the young male and female students. “Co-education and learning English language is Haram (forbidden in Islam),” they told the teachers, according to one instructor who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The armed men destroyed the school’s furniture and tore textbooks during the incident.
Panjgur police have lodged an FIR against unidentified persons under the Anti Terrorism Act and security has been increased around the centers. “They also told girls who were on their way home from the English Language Center and threatened them, saying they should not go to the schools again,” SHO Panjgur police station Mohammed Murad told The Express Tribune.
However, the girls say they are not cowed. “I am not scared and will go to school under all circumstances,” said one of the girls, speaking with The Express Tribune over the phone. She said the man who was threatening the girls spoke in Balochi, with a local Panjguri accent.
The men have also distributed threatening letters across Panjgur. An organization calling itself Tanzeem-ul-Islami-ul-Furqan has circulated a list of those in charge of the private schools, accusing them of corrupting the minds of local girls by imparting Western education. Station House Officer (SHO) Panjgur Mohammed Murad said the organization has emerged recently.
“Private schools should stop girls’ education – both co-education and separate education,” warned the letter, adding, “We urge all van and taxi drivers to refrain from taking girls to schools. Otherwise, they will also be targeted.”
“It seems there has been a spill-over of Taliban culture into Panjgur,” remarked one of the heads of the language center, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “This development comes after the recent operation against Baloch militants. It seems someone is trying to radicalize people in Panjgur,” he felt.
The English Language Learning Centers remained closed for three days after receiving the threats. Hundreds of protestors staged a sit-in in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s Office. District administration and police officials assured the protestors that they will arrange foolproof security for the centers and the schools were reopened on Tuesday. However, attendance at the schools was comparatively low.
The Panjgur and Kech regions are known as centers of learning and the ‘intellectual capital of Balochistan’.
Read full storyCongress leader Rashid Alvi kicked up a row with his remarks over Prime Minister Narendra Modi, evoking sharp reaction from an audience, which asked him to take back his words and apologise. Organisers of the India TV conclave "Samvaad", to mark the two years of completion of Modi government, tried to pacify the agitated audience who shouted down the Congress leader as words of'shame shame' rent the air.
It all started with Alvi asking HRD Minister Smriti Irani, who was also present, on what action was being initiated on Modi coming out as "most stupid Prime Minister" in Google search. This was offensive to by the audience.
Responding to the remarks, Irani said, "In Congress, those who throw stones and spits at Narendra Modi will be blue-eyed. The poison against Narendra Modi has crossed the limits that people forget that he is country's Prime Minister." "When Rashid bhai uses such words for the country's Prime Minister, what kind of words does he use for a woman minister by saying that 'it is heard that you are very close to Modi ji'. We have to live with this poison everyday and then you say why does Smriti Irani get angry," she said.
Lashing out at the Congress, she said, "There is a cabal who have festered this democracy for too long. They have lived off the scraps of the dynasty and they have done this irrespective of the damage they do to institutions. Because their whole survival was never dependent on their talent, but it was dependent on their proximity."
Irani said by the example put forth by Alvi, neither Modi nor his supporters would be hurt, but the Congress leader has only Alvi lowered his own image by doing so. Earlier BJP leader and former JD-U MP Sabir Ali said it reflected the mindset of Congress, who were unable to digest their defeat and that their regime and influence were gone.
"I expect him to take back his words. I feel such language can be used only by people with such mindset who have a regret that their regime and influence have gone. Those who feel that being influential is their right can use such words," he said.
Lyricist and screenwriter Prasoon Joshi said Google provided information the way it was put forth before the search engine. "It is like an algorithm. Google always follows the pattern of your search. It is not a gospel, it is a pattern. It is an algorithm and should be read like that," he said.Sometimes when I browse pcmasterrace I see some comments about the Minecraft's poor performance or people forced to use computers too weak to run it comfortably. Also since Minecraft's price is never discounted and not available to buy through 3rd party stores, the price may be a problem for some people.
I have Minecraft since it's beta stages, back when it was discounted and I have played it from the time to time, but we never got it for my fiancee since all the Steam sales made us spoiled in paying the full price for any odler game to justify throwing another 15 euro at Minecraft while we had other games to play. At one point we got OUYA and was looking for a game for it, and noticed Minetest listed as one of the game for it. I never really were curious to try most of the other Minecraft clones out there (some of which were paid too), but since it was free and I wanted to try few games on the OUYA anyway, I gave it a try. Turned out it was very Minecraft-alike actually.
After Googling a bit I found out that it's free and open source (which is always a good thing) and the best part, I could crossplay OUYA version with the PC! After spending some time I found out there's quite a wide variety of mods for the game, so even while the base version is pretty basic, you can add most of the things via mods easily. And they are all server-sided, so once all the mods were installed on my local server, no clients had to bother to install anything, making it pretty seamless experience. And the mods are easy to create and install too. Majority of them are traditionally found on Minetest's official forums with the links to github and can be downloaded and added to game without any kind of compilation needed, just extract the files and enable them ingame.
When it comes to performance, the game is written in C++ (Irrlicht) instead of Java and should perform better than Minecraft overall. It's quite polished, too, the game being in development for almost 3 years already.
There are three kinds of how mods are distributed. You can either download a pre-made "subgames" out of them, which is a collection of assorted mods often making the game vastly different (there are game mods that make Minetest a survival game or try to make it more Minecraft-like for example), modpacks which are collection of mods or simply standalone mods. There are texture packs too.
The game have a few adventages over the Minecaft out of the box too - outside of being free, open source, easy to mod and multiplatform, you can also dig real deep or make really tall structures, as it's height is as limitless as the other dimensions, up to 31,000 blocks in all directions, crafting grid is available right in the inventory and items go straight to your inventory (the latter two can be changed to more Minecraft-alike via mods if you wish so).
So to sum up (and TL;DR), on why Minetest is a worthy alternative for Minecraft:
Totally free!
Open source
Available for Windows, OS X, GNU/Linx, Android and FreeBSD with ports for OUYA and Raspberry Pi
Easily moddable with a wide amount of mods
Better performance and, not based on Java
Various (and easily tweakable)
You can dig really really deep and build huge towers :3
Also the game, skins, textures and almost all (all?) mods are available as FOSS, so there should be no troubles with redistributing them.
Keep in mind though that not all the features from Minecraft, especially the newer ones, are available through mods yet and most of the core functionality from Minecraft have to be added through mods (redstones AKA mesecons, minecarts, armor, hunger and even creatures for example). There are no such epic shaders as SEUS for Minetest, although some shaders (such as parallax mapping) are built in the game.
If you are interested, you can read more and download the game here: http://www.minetest.net/. There's also fairly active suberddit for it at /r/Minetest
I also made a PCGamingWiki article a while ago if you are interested.
The
Here are some worth mentioning mods for the starters too:
PS. Sorry if this submission sounds too much like an advertisement, though I get no benefit from doing so and I'm not related to the game development in any way too, I just wanted is a good to share it, especially for those looking for a free and/or better performing Minecraft alternative. It's actually also my first submission in pcmr, so sorry for any mistakes I might have made :(
Also sorry about it being so lengthy :PFiorentina to end Berbatov's nightmare as striker jets out to Italy to complete £4.5m move
Fiorentina hope to finalise a £4.5million move for Manchester United's Dimitar Berbatov.
Berbatov flew to Italy on Wednesday to complete the move to the Serie A club, a source close to the Bulgarian revealed.
'Fiorentina have agreed personal terms with Dimitar and they'll announce the deal very soon,' the source said, adding the transfer was subject to Berbatov passing a medical.
Short but sweet: Fulham have beaten Juventus and Fiorentina to Dimitar Berbatov
His agent Emil Dantchev also confirmed: 'His future will be decided over the next few days.'
Berbatov, who became United's most expensive player when he joined from Tottenham Hotspur in 2008 for £30.75m, had reached an agreement with the Serie A club on a two-year contract with an option for a further year.
The 31-year-old was the Premier League's joint-top scorer in the 2010-11 season with 20 goals but has struggled to hold down a place in Sir Alex Ferguson's starting line-up since and was keen to revive his career in another top European league.
Ferguson made it clear it was probably time for Berbatov, who is Bulgaria's all-time leading scorer with 48 goals, to look for a move when he signed Dutch striker Robin Van Persie from Arsenal prior to the start of the Premier League season.
Out of favour: Berbatov has struggled to hold down a regular first-team place over the last two seasons
If the deal is completed, Berbatov will become the fourth Bulgarian in Serie A after defender Nikolay Iliev and strikers Hristo Stoichkov and Valeri Bojinov, who played for Fiorentina between 2005 and 2007.
Football experts in Bulgaria believe the transfer could also lead to Berbatov ending his self-imposed international exile.
Earlier this year, Berbatov, who quit the national team in 2010, said he would be open to an approach from coach Luboslav Penev after he moved to a club where he could play regularly.(This post was originally published on August 1st, 2014)
Krocky Meshkin calls himself a “paranormal street photographer.” The Los Angeles-based photographer loves to capture real moments on real city streets … with a mysterious twist. He’s the mastermind behind “Headless Sightings” — a quirky, surreal photo series that features headless figures walking among the general public in L.A.
Krocky’s inspiration for the headless series came after a stint working in reality television. While editing footage together to craft a story line, he realized the potential to change the way viewers see series of events. “The magic to reality TV is everything you’re seeing really happened, but your perception is altered,” Krocky says.
Carrying the idea of altered reality into his photography, Krocky made his first headless sighting in 2008. After setting up his tripod on the street and taking anywhere from 1,000 – 3,000 shots, he began playing with layering, making one of the subjects a headless person. The result is a surreal street scene with a touch of the occult. “I like this ideal of real, unknowing pedestrians with this mystery right in the mix,” he explains.
As Krocky created more and more headless photos, he began researching headless people in literature, which led him to the headless horseman of Washington Irving’s Legend of Sleepy Hollow. As he read about the famous author’s career, he was particularly struck by one point: Washington Irving began his career with a hoax.
In 1809, Irving completed his first major book, A History of New York from the End of the World to the Beginning of the Dutch Dynasty. Prior to the book’s publication, Irving posted missing person ads in New York newspapers, seeking information on an allegedly missing historian named Diedrich Knickerbocker. The ads created massive public interest, and when Irving ultimately released his book under the fictitious Diedrich Knickerbocker moniker, it was immediately successful.
Channeling the creativity of Washington Irving, Krocky decided to pull a hoax of his own over Los Angeles. He printed up black-and-white fliers of his photos titled “Headless Sighting” and posted them all over town, including the specific locations where the photos were taken. The fliers didn’t include any information aside from a fake department of investigations people were told to alert if they had any information about the headless people.
Just like Irving’s stunt, Krocky’s hoax sparked massive public interest. People began sharing photos of his posters with the #HeadlessSighting hashtag on social media, all the while trying to figure out where, why, and how these curious occurrences took place.
It was nearly five years later when Krocky ultimately decided to go public with his images and post the full-color versions on his Flickr account. The reactions — and theories — came pouring in. Some thought the headless people were actually papier mache statues, others speculated they were simply people in costume. The photos created a huge buzz. “A half million people saw these images or shared these images,” Krocky says. “It just kept building.”
Krocky hopes that his photography can add a little bit of magic back into the day-to-day. “I hope people see these, and it triggers their brain, their heart, makes them laugh,” he says, “because it’s all about adding this element of mystery back into our clearly defined lives.”
Visit Krocky’s photostream to see more of his photography.
Previous episode: ‘Strange Worlds’ photographer aims to trick the eye
Special thanks to Flickr members CherryTeresa and a.k.a. Pedestrian Photographer for sharing their “Headless Sighting” photos.
Do you want to be featured on The Weekly Flickr? We are looking for your photos that amaze, excite, delight and inspire. Share them with us in the The Weekly Flickr Group, or tweet us at @TheWeeklyFlickr.cityscape Spotted: The John Irwin House, Mid-Air
Historic building defies gravity on concrete stilts while construction goes on below it.
SPOTTED BY: Vik Pahwa, from the Torontoist Flickr Pool
WHERE: Yonge and Grenville streets
WHEN: Monday, January 27
WHAT: The John Irwin House, dating back to 1873, which had to be moved to the north-east corner of the site in order to accommodate the new 50-storey Karma condo development. The house is resting on a new foundation and support columns, and will remain perched on its concrete legs until construction on the condo’s underground parking lot is complete. When the condo complex opens, the historic building will be reinvented as retail or restaurant space.
Spotted features interesting things our readers discover in their journeys across Toronto. If you spot something interesting, send a photo and pertinent details to [email protected].A group of Anonymous claiming to be responsible for the hack which took down Turkeys internet last year has announced new plans for a massive DDoS campaign to be launched against Donald Trump on April, 1 2016. The group has released a video, prepared a memoir and put together a list of websites for all who are interested to target.
Operation Press Release | Web Sites To Target: https://ghostbin.com/paste/gdahn
As a contributor for Anonymous news I feel it would be unethical for me not to place a warning in with this type of posting. Usually when an attack occurs people do not go out and announce the exact date and time to the public weeks in advance. Make no mistake Donald Trump will be aware of this event now and you can bet the NSA and the Secret Service will be particularly interested in monitoring all the internet activity on these sites April 1st. Understand, the group |
reaction was unbearable. “I felt like, god, this woman just lost her father. She’s trying to be so honest and open and vulnerable,” one former aide says. “Don’t we want people to be thoughtful about this stuff? Shouldn’t we want this from our leaders?”
Courtesy Clinton Library Clinton being interviewed by Michael Kelly, 1993.
Clinton took particular issue with a cover story in the New York Times Magazine by Michael Kelly, to whom she’d given two interviews. “My words were derided,” she writes in her memoir, Living History. The article took Clinton’s ideas at face value, but also described some of them as “easy, moralistic preaching couched in the gauzy and gushy wrappings of New Age jargon.”
Not mentioned in Clinton’s memoir is the matter of the pictures. Inside the magazine, opposite the headline, “Saint Hillary,” an illustration depicts the first lady beneath a golden halo. The cover features Clinton posed in a silky all-white dress against an all-white backdrop. Verveer remembers flying back to Washington with Clinton one day, not long before the photo shoot. “We had no idea how the story was gonna turn out or what it would be about. But on the plane, she said, ‘What do you think I should wear?’” They decided on white. “And that white dress was interpreted as dressing herself as this innocent goody-two-shoes God-knows-what... And it was like, where did this come from?" (Clinton doesn’t elaborate much on the “Saint Hillary” piece when mentioned in the interview.)
Photograph by Michael O'Neill Illustration by Anita Kunz New York Times Magazine, May 23, 1993.
At the time, Clinton vowed to keep talking about the ideas behind her speech. And she did, occasionally. They became the basis for much of her book It Takes a Village. But Clinton dropped the phrase “politics of meaning.” (She’d taken the term from the Jewish writer Michael Lerner, who became the subject of articles about Clinton’s new “guru,” followed by articles about his attempts to deny his role as anyone’s “guru,” before flying to Washington to hold a poorly attended press conference to defend his “politics of meaning” from ridicule, prompting more coverage.) By her second year as first lady, she saw Washington as a place that could “capture” a person. “This year has taxed every fiber of my being, because I do not want to be a cynical person,” she told an interviewer in 1994. In the media, she said, questions like “how you reach out” and “how you care” are “not fashionable things to talk about.”
Courtesy Clinton Library. Hillary being interviewed, 1993.
Two decades later, Clinton still thinks so. In fact, she says, talking about something like “love and kindness” may be even harder now than before. She is wary of a cynical reaction to the line, and heightened to the changes in media and technology that have altered the process of campaigning. “It’s so much harder than it used to be,” she says. “You don't get a chance to think before you have to respond to something.” Clinton believes what’s required of politicians to be successful has changed in some fundamental ways. Though she doesn’t frame it this way, she is at a unique vantage point, having been at the center of four presidential campaigns over the last 25 years during a period of massive media change, from the rise of CNN and the internet, to the decline of the daily newspaper and the editorial board endorsement, and to the current moment in which phone-captured video is instantly shareable and Twitter dominates the delivery of political news. Sitting in the kitchen, after a campaign event and before another one, she says she thinks any politician — and here she is not talking in partisan terms — faces greater challenges than they did in the past. She thinks the changed media environment has changed politics, and that any politician today understands this. “They're aware that they have to break through in the media, on social media in particular — and how do you do that if you are not somewhat confrontational, somewhat controversial?” "The cynicism or skepticism that really stalks most political journalists is pretty clear," she says. But women, Clinton notes, have been more interested in questions surrounding her motivations. “I don't want to sound sexist about this, but I think women who have interviewed me have been more interested. I don't know why. I can't explain it.” Part of the issue, as Clinton puts it, is that a candidate’s motivations might have no place in the new media environment: “A conversation like this doesn't lend itself to a tweet, for example.” And the need to “break through,” as she puts it, “makes the discussion about what we’re doing this for, and who we’re trying to help, and why us... it makes that discussion harder to have because it's not considered interesting.” “The vocabulary is, I think, somewhat challenging because there is such a premium on skepticism, even cynicism, in our political discourse right now,” Clinton continues, sitting forward. She can even predict the questions — questions she’s probably heard before. “People will say, ‘Oh, what’s the angle. What does that really mean? How do you translate that?’ or ‘Why is she saying that? She's got some ulterior motive, right?’” “I am aware of that,” she says. “I don't want to undermine what I am trying to do and what I am trying to say by triggering such a dismissive reaction as could come.” “So, I don't know,” she trails off. “I think that there are life experiences and, you know when I talk about this stuff, I talk about this with my friends, my girlfriends, right? I mean, we have these conversations. We trade quotes. We trade books. We trade ideas. And it's totally normal for us. We’ve gone through so much together: deaths, divorce, illness, and good things like grandchildren. So people in those settings, it’s very natural to have these kinds of conversations, right? And it's just not in the public discourse very much — so now whether what I am trying to do will have any impact or not, we will see.”
Kieran Kesner for BuzzFeed News
Public life has a way of taking the coherent and the integrated, and breaking it down into individual pieces, to be labeled and sorted. This is how Hillary Clinton used to articulate it back in the ’90s, during her first year or so in the White House. In her view, you couldn’t be “complex.” You couldn’t be “rounded.” You couldn’t be many things all at once. “You have to be either-or.” The language is violent — as if you can literally unravel inside the political system, as if people “nitpick around the edges,” “force” you into “boxes,” pull you “out of one corner,” push you “into another corner.”
“And if you give into it, you really can begin to pull yourself apart.” This was a lasting, wearing effect of the 1993 experience, aides from the time recall. “Unfortunately, when you get whacked upside the head like she did after the politics of meaning speech, you tend to retreat and restrain yourself a bit more, which is a shame,” says one. “I do think it had a bit of a dampening effect.” “It’s incredibly frustrating. This is her heart. This is who she is,” another one of Clinton’s White House aides says. “The most important thing is she has to continue to go back to that theme. It hasn’t stopped her from having that conversation where she can.” But for all that she has tried to inject the language of “love and kindness” into her speeches — and back into the broader political discourse — Clinton has expended far less energy now trying to explain all that the line encapsulates in personal terms. “Part of it,” she admits, “is maybe I don't think to mention it.”
Kieran Kesner for BuzzFeed News
Maybe she isn’t as concerned with communicating her motivations. Maybe she accepts the reality that still frustrates her close aides and saddens her good friends — that Clinton is not widely known for the worldview she described first in 1969, and again in 1993 — and maybe won’t ever be known for it, except to close friends and aides. Maybe she’s resigned to the fact that she could be misunderstood, that “love and kindness” might just sound like a line, that more than anything it might invite mockery. “Maybe it's just something I've gotten used to,” she says, toward the end of the interview, at this point speaking without any edge. “And so I don't have a personal... sense of disappointment, or being misunderstood, because I’m aware that I present personally a kind of Rorschach test to so many people.” That’s been true since the 1969 commencement, when, as Clinton writes in her memoir, “my mother reported that opinion about my speech seemed to be divided between the overly effuse — ‘she spoke for a generation’ — to the exceedingly negative — ‘who does she think she is?’” “So when I get the zing, or the criticism, you know, I don’t take it so much to heart,” she says. “I try to take criticism seriously, but not personally. Like if somebody writes something or says something that is critical, you know, I will kind of process it and think, Well maybe there is something to that. But I won't take it personally. Not anymore. It's not gonna get to me.” She is still bringing it up. She’s still trying to talk about it. She’s still asking simply and plainly for love and kindness. The integrated life, she says, is something you strive for, not achieve. “I am not sure anybody ever gets there. But recognizing the path and being willing to keep moving forward — and trying to do better to be a coherent person with a coherent set of beliefs, and a value placed on what's most important in your life, and maybe life in general — is what I continue to strive for.” “I try to do it every day.”
Kieran Kesner for BuzzFeed NewsKraft Foods Group Inc. CEO Tony Vernon's total compensation jumped 49 percent last year as the food company successfully spun off from its predecessor.
Mr. Vernon got a pay package of $6.83 million in 2012, according to a document filed today with the Securities and Exchange Commission. He took home $4.58 million the previous year when he was president of the North American division of predecessor Kraft Foods Inc.
Northfield-based Kraft was created in October when Kraft Foods Inc. separated its international snacks business into Mondelez International Inc. and its North American grocery unit into Kraft Foods Group. Mr. Vernon became head of the new Kraft while Irene Rosenfeld became CEO of Mondelez.
Increases in base pay, stock awards and option awards enhanced Mr. Vernon's 2012 pay. His base salary was $920,404 in 2012, compared with $758,081 the previous year.
Mr. Vernon's stock awards were nearly $4 million in 2012 and his option awards were $790,866. That compares to $2.01 million in stock awards and $506,803 option awards in 2011.
He received a $947,625 annual cash incentive last year for "successful separation of Kraft from our former parent, strong innovation performance and reduction of overhead expenses."They don’t just make them in the mould of Xavi, Xabi Alonso and Mikel Arteta they say. Of course it is unjust to expect replica’s of heroes of a glorious era, but something closer to their profiles is expected to fill the void created, when they eventually do hang up their boots. And there is one such rough cut diamond who has only recently emerged onto the scene of Spain’s top flight- Real Sociedad’s Asier Illarramendi.
To speak of Illarramendi, one cannot do without the mention of Xabi Alonso. For nearly a decade, Xabi Alonso has been recognized as the untiring soul of the Spanish national team. At Liverpool, Xabi Alonso was responsible for Rafa Benitez’s success, as the former Valencia manager bought Champions League success to Merseyside after nearly two decades. After moving to Madrid in a Les Meringues shirt, Alonso continues to stamp his supremacy with his play-making style even at the age of 31, so much so that the otherwise ruthless, Florentino Perez would love to have Xabi Alonso end his career at Madrid.
Illarramendi is still light years from stepping into Alonso’s shoes or even the much under-rated Arteta’s shoes for that matter, but his playing style and stats have earned him comparisons with the likes of the previously mentioned. Illarramendi’s rise to prominence in Sociedad’s midfield alongside the highly rated, Inigo Martinez (click here to read a Scout Report on him), has brought many top clubs to Sociedad’s door for Illarramendi’s services.
Profile
Asier Illarramendi was born in Mutriku, Gipuzkoa in northern Spain. He has been at Sociedad since he was a kid and steadily rose through the ranks of their Academy. Illarramendi has spent a majority of his time at Sociedad playing for their B-team in the Segunda Division B, making 93 appearances between 2008 and 2011.
Soccer Wiki Report
His rise to the first team coincided with Sociedad’s return to the Spanish top flight in 2010, after a three year absence. Illarramendi made his debut for the first team on the last day of 2009/10 season in an away defeat to Elche CF, even though Sociedad had already wrapped up their promotion.
Illarramendi has since made 38 appearances for the first team, in a side which is hoping to secure Champions League football next season. He is yet to receive a call for the national side from Vincent del Bosque, but has already featured 11 times for the U-21’s and twice for the U-23’s. He was also a part of Spain’s U-17 side in 2007, that finished as runner up’s in the FIFA U-17 World Cup in South Korea.
Illarramendi also received a call up to Spain’s Olympic team last summer but did not feature in any of the games during the campaign.
His rise to prominence in the current season is marked by his 29 appearances this season, which has put him on the radar of clubs like Real Madrid and Barcelona.
Style, Strengths & Weaknesses
Illarramendi has featured as a defensive midfielder throughout his promising campaign this season, partnering Markel Bergara in Sociedad’s 4-2-3-1 formation. This is much similar to Alonso’s role at Madrid and Arteta’s at Arsenal, where the latter is often deployed just in front of the defense with a partner in Aaron Ramsey or Jack Wilshere.
Illaramendi’s game is compared to Alonso’s due to their similarity in passing and ability to cut open passes while lying in the deep, with splendid through balls. A high passing accuracy of 81% along with an average of four long balls in every game, further define the similarity in their style of play. Meanwhile, he has also notched up two assists, with one of the assists coming in the game against FC Barcelona, which was the Catalan club’s first defeat of this season.
Illarramendi most notable attribute is his strong tackling which consolidates his claim as an exemplary defensive midfielder. He averages 4 tackles per game this season and 2 interceptions (at the time of writing). These stats lend him a rank of 9th in the list of successful tacklers in the La Liga this season. An exceptional sense of position means he can nip any advancing attacks in the bud with successful interceptions.
Though he hasn’t scored any goals this term, he does play the long ball very often and create chances from the deep. He also possess an average shot accuracy of 29%, a decent stat by any means for a defensive minded player.
Mikel Aranburu’s retirement meant that Illarramendi was immediately expected to step up into his role. His industrious work rate means he shuts down any leaks in the midfield to prevent advances from the opposing play makers, while also being able to regain and retain possession due to his exceptional tackling and interception.
Unlike other defensive midfielder’s plying their trade in Spain at the moment, Illarramendi has a direct approach to the game and is a more traditional defensive midfielder, even when compared to Alonso and Arteta. He may have little flair in his game, mainly due to his role in Sociedad’s starting XI, but when it comes to his defensive abilities, he has mastered them excellently for a player aged 23.
Illarramendi’s abilities may have earned him a comparison to Xabi Alonso, but it is also his composure on the ball, his confidence and vision that are much akin to those of the former Sociedad captain.
Though his stat’s may be modest compared to others, his passing and finishing will certainly improve with time and Illarramendi could earn a call-up soon to Vincent del Bosque’s side in upcoming friendlies.
Transfer Situation
While Manchester United and Chelsea have only been linked to the Zubieta graduate in the recent past, Real Madrid and Barcelona have closely monitored Illarramendi’s transfer situation over the past couple of seasons.
Real Madrid are more desperate than the rest to land the lad, as they seek to find a long term replacement for Xabi Alonso who has reportedly refused to sign a contract at the Bernabeu, though Florentino Perez himself wishes to offer him a two-year extension on his current deal.
It is rumored that Real Madrid may use Alonso as a bargaining chip to lure Illarramendi to the capital, with the possibility of a swap deal not being ruled out. Alonso’s father, Periko Alonso has showered praise on the young player saying:
“He covers a lot of ground, is always involved and does everything well, offering the team a good outlet. He’s a really important player and has come on in leaps and bounds this season.”
Illarramendi has a contract with Real Sociedad that runs until 2018, and any team wishing to prise him away from the San Sebastian based club will have to match a reported clause of 30 million euro’s.
UPDATE: Asier Illarramendi joined Real Madrid.
Original image (pre editing) taken from AS.comred quinoa and green split peas, soaking
Traditional cultures took great care to ‘deal with’ their legumes and grains with a long soaking before cooking. Soaking has been practiced by our ancestors in nearly every culture, from what I can find, around the world that has had beans and grains as the basis of their survival.
We Americans eat a lot of processed bread, pastries, crackers, corn chips, oatmeal, and buns. All these grains and beans contain enzyme inhibitors and toxins (ex. phytates, tannins, goitrogens) not meant for us to consume that way. The inhibitors and toxins are what allow whole grains and beans (actually they are seeds) to remain dormant and stored for long periods of time.
The enzyme inhibitors (which can be toxic to us) can be minimized, or eliminated, in as little 8-24 hours. We can achieve this by soaking grain and beans in warm water with an acid (ex. yogurt, whey, lemon juice~ See below). This simple step mimics God’s own germination process in the soil, causing the seed to think it’s time to sprout and activate its enzymes.
When we consume properly soaked grains and beans, their enzymes increase the availability of many vitamins to our bodies and allow more nutrients to be readily absorbed.
I love Mexican food but have learned to avoid Mexican restaurants for this reason. They don’t soak their beans before cooking them! Those ‘anti-nutrients’ such as phytic acid and enzyme inhibitors are going to be in your gut causing gas and whatever other digestive issues happen when you eat something that isn’t particularly digestible. Pretty much defeats the purpose of trying to eat healthy!
Downside of Not Soaking Grains and Beans
When consumed on a regular basis, un-soaked and un-germinated grains and beans can irritate the digestive tract – potentially leading to a variety of health conditions including:
Food intolerances
Allergies
Gluten insensitivity
Impaired Immune function
Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
Leaky gut syndrome
Decaying teeth
Osteoporosis
Chronic Inflammation
Insulin resistance
Blocked absorption of minerals like calcium, iron, magnesium, and zinc
Blocks protein absorption. This not only applies to the minerals and protein in the food that contains the phytic acid, but also the food you eat with it!
Reading Sally Fallon-Morell’s book, Nourishing Traditions, really expanded my thinking. Since devouring that book 12 years ago, we’ve gone back to the traditional ways of soaking our beans and grains. We always soak our oatmeal overnight, and we eat sprouted-grain bread or naturally fermented sourdough bread.
Our daughter used to ferment and make our breads. Now that she is married and far away in the PNW, since I am not a baker, we resort to buying sprouted bread. The go-to sliced bread of choice for us is the Ezekiel 4:9 family of organic (no GMOs) sprouted grain breads by Food For Life. Trader Joe’s also has their own sprouted grain bread that is essentially the same, but read the ingredients.
Both are delicious and great for impromptu sandwiches and cheese toasties, but, of course, are not gluten-free.
Ancient, Traditional Old Ways Being Lost
Soaking grains, fermentation (here and here), making herbal remedies (here and here), bone broth, and preserving foods are part of the ancient and sustainable old ways we don’t want to lose, but we are losing them.
Soaking Chart
Chances are if you are taking charge of your health you already know all about soaking, but for those who are new to it, below is a helpful little chart.
The acid medium (vinegar or whey) helps to neutralize the enzyme inhibitors (phytates), making beans and grains more digestible and nutrient-dense. Soaking them in water makes them swell and begin the slow process of sprouting which makes the nutrients available.
Approximate amounts (remember wet beans will swell 2, sometimes 3 times, their dry size)
acidic medium
soak time
2 cups black beans 2 tbsp
24 hours
2 cups black eye peas, pinto, navy etc. beans
warm water
12-24 hours**
2 cups red kidney beans
warm water
12 hours
2 cups brown rice *
4 tbsp
7 hours
2 cups split peas warm water
7 hours
2 cup lentils
2 tbsp
7 hours
2 cup millet *
4 tbsp
7 hours
1 cup quinoa
2 tbsp
12-24 hours**
1 cup chickpea
2 tbsp
24 hours
1 cup teff or amaranth
2 tbsp
24 hours
1 cup oat groats
2 tbsp
12-24 hours
* due to low phytate counts, soaking is recommended but not necessary
** smaller beans need more soak time
What you will need:
a glass or stainless bowl 3-4 times the size of the dry beans to allow for swelling
the acidic medium ( either apple cider vinegar, whey, kefir, plain yogurt or lemon juice) helps to neutralize the enzyme inhibitors (phytates)
the time in the chart above corresponding to the bean or grain you have
Directions:
Place your grains or beans into the bowl, keeping in mind the swelling and cover several inches with water. Add the acidic medium. I use whey or apple cider vinegar. If you have a intolerance to lactose, use lemon juice or vinegar instead. No need to cover it. Finally, rinse it well after the time is over. For the tiny grains like teff and amaranth, you will need a cheesecloth lining a sieve. For some you can just rinse in the soaking bowl, holding the grains back with your hand.
Note on beans: Sometimes bubble scum will form on soaking beans; that is the gas formed in our gut when we consume them un-soaked and why people resort to artificial means such as Beano to decrease abdominal gas and bloating. Just drain and rinse the beans until all the scum is washed away. You can soak a large pot of beans and then slowly cook them. Later after cooling, I’ve frozen them for easy, quick meals when beans are required like homemade chili. Saves time for you and discomfort for your family.
Before Cooking
Before cooking, discard the acidic soaking water and use fresh. Your plants or garden will
appreciate the soaking water.
The general principal ~ long slow soaking and long slow cooking is best for beans.
Examples from my kitchen of soaking:
Brown bastmati rice… Wild rice…
I keep several 3 gallon glass jars of dry beans within handy reach and also store our coconut oil in one. It is a part of my food storage system. They will keep for many years if kept must be kept cool and dry. This crock is dedicated to mixed soup beans.
Red quinoa (pronounced keen-wah) finished soaking after ~18 hours. You can see and feel the phytic acid poured off in the soaking water…
These kidney beans have swollen up almost 3 times their size and absorbed all the water. I needed a bigger pan or less beans to soak them properly. They must be completely covered with water for the proper length of time…
Yellow split peas…
Mixed soup beans…they are so pretty on the counter and remind me that I am a steward of all we have been given to use it wisely.
Say “Bye bye” to phytic acid; you can also say “Bye bye” to the old digestive aid from the grocery called Bean-o! You won’t be needing it ever again!
“Phytic acid not only grabs on to or chelates important minerals, but also inhibits enzymes that we need to digest our food, including pepsin needed for the breakdown of proteins in the stomach, and amylase needed for the breakdown of starch into sugar. Trypsin, needed for protein digestion in the small intestine, is also inhibited by phytates.” ~Dr. Ramiel Nagel (source)
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If you’ve been encouraged or informed by something you’ve read here at Deep Roots, please consider liking my page on Facebook, joining us on Pinterest, or subscribing to the helpful email resources. Thank you!PRIME Minister Portia Simpson Miller's announcement that Jamaica will replace the British Monarch and implement a republican system of Government made headlines and triggered intense debate in England last week. However, the decision is not being frowned upon by Queen Elizabeth II.
"The issue of the Jamaican head of state was entirely a matter for the Jamaican Government and people," the BBC reported a Buckingham Palace spokesman as saying on Friday.
The Buckingham Palace position was included in the BBC's report on Simpson Miller's inaugural address at her swearing-in ceremony at King's House — the official residence of the Queen's representative, the governor general — on Thursday.
Simpson Miller, after taking the oaths of office, told the more than 8,000 guests seated on the sprawling lawns of the colonial mansion that this 50th anniversary of Jamaica's Independence from Britain will be a time for reflection on the lessons of the past.
"I love the Queen, she is a beautiful lady, and apart from being a beautiful lady she is a wise lady and a wonderful lady," Simpson Miller said. "But I think time come.
"As we celebrate our achievements as an independent nation, we now need to complete the circle of independence. In this regard, we will, therefore, initiate the process for our detachment from the Monarchy to become a republic with our own indigenous president as head of state."
In addition to the BBC, the report was carried on SkyTV and in the Daily Mail newspaper which, in its headline, said Jamaica intended to 'ditch the Queen as official head of state'.
The headline, however, has not found favour with respected protocol expert and consultant Merrick Needham, who said the Mail "was definitely aggressive" and a bit unfair to Simpson Miller.
"The prime minister spoke kindly, even glowingly of Her Majesty, and was gracious in the manner in which she indicated her Government's intention," said Needham. "Furthermore, her announcement was nothing new, former Prime Minister [PJ] Patterson spoke similarly years ago; more recently, I believe, so did former Prime Minister [Bruce] Golding."
Needham, who holds both British and Jamaican citizenship, said he supported the planned move to sever colonial ties to Britain and is in favour of the island having a ceremonial rather than an executive president. However, he raised an important issue that will impact on the decision — cost.
"In the short term, and our present serious financial circumstances, has anyone thought of the costs?" he asked. "As someone of considerable standing said to me only last week, such a major undertaking must be executed properly or not at all."
According to Needham, apart from the more obvious legal and associated costs, "one of the major other items is, perhaps surprisingly to civilians, the headdress badges and rank insignia of all the personnel of the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF), Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), Jamaica Combined Cadet Force (JCCF), and others. This could probably well amount to the better part of 20,000 uniformed personnel".
He said that when Hong Kong reverted from British to Chinese rule in 1997, he recalled hearing that the cost of changing the forage cap badges and shoulder-strap rank insignia of the police was somewhere between US$2.5 million and US$4 million.
"Even the lower figure of US$2.5 million at today's exchange rates, all of nearly 15 years later, would be in the order of J$217 million," said Needham.
"In the JCF, apart from all cap badges, from which the St Edward's Crown must be removed, the rank insignia for all gazetted officers will need to be replaced, as all of them contain British royal emblematic factors. Similarly, in the JDF, headdress badges for both caps and berets (ie double the JCF cost per person), as well as all rank insignia for all ranks above sergeant will need replacement, except for some Coast Guard personnel. The same applies to the six battalions of the JCCF," added Needham.
He also pointed to other items that would need to be changed, notably the Queen's and Regimental Colours of each of the three JDF infantry battalions.
"And don't say that these flag-like emblems are not necessary, unless you feel the same way about a preacher's Bible," said Needham.
He said he had heard recently of acceptable quality, but less expensive alternatives. However, "the last time I knew costs from the traditional UK suppliers of these complex, hand-crafted, silk-embroidered items, the six replacements for The Jamaica Regiment would, at that time, have cost about £60,000 or, at today's exchange rates, about J$8 million".
"All these costs are just lead examples," he said, adding that "there are obviously others elsewhere".
Those other costs could include legal bills incurred in what he described as a "massive constitutional change" that is easier said than done.
"My layman's understanding is that at least a six-month parliamentary timetable is required in addition to the holding of a national referendum — and all that after the Government has fully formulated the proposed new republican constitution and presented it to Parliament for debate," he said.
Despite that, Needham is optimistic about the decision which, he pointed out, has been discussed since the 1970s. "If our new prime minister can at least really get things moving, well fine," he said. "However, she has far more immediate priorities, as she has rightly indicated. I suspect that we'll be 'ditching' Her Majesty later rather than sooner."
Prince Harry, the Queen's grandson, is scheduled to represent her on a visit Jamaica in March. His visit, which will be his first to the island, is meant to celebrate her Diamond Jubilee.Hey guys!
So as a Nintendo fan and musician, I am deeply interested in Nintendo’s music, from their soundtracks to their production.
In the past 10 years, since the Wii era, Nintendo has finally begun to use live instruments for its videogames (save for a few earlier examples, such as Star Fox Assault).
Over that time, Nintendo has utilized various studios to record their music in.
You may remember Nintendo recorded videos from the recording sessions, and seeing different musicians record that music in different studios.
Well I’ve done a lot of digging recently, and have uncovered the locations of nearly all the studios Nintendo has used for its live music recordings for its first-party games!
Enjoy!
To begin, here is video of Nintendo’s own internal sound studios:
It does not look the same as the other studios Nintendo uses.
Speaking to a sound employee at a Nintendo partner game studio, they told me they think Nintendo mainly uses this studio for just recording sound effects. I speculate they also do their in-house composition and music production here too, as well as voice recordings, but just not live music recording.
As for English vocal recording and voiceovers, for the Mario and Star Fox series (Miyamoto series), Nintendo does this mostly at or near its headquarters in Washington. However, it has more recently begun to use California-based talent, as well, for more voice-acting heavy games such as Kid Icarus: Uprising and Fire Emblem: Awakening. Additionally, some games, such as Star Fox Adventures and Xenoblade Chronicles (Wii) were voiced in England.
For series like Super Smash Bros., voice talent from all over the world has been used, to reflect the many characters in-game.
Interesting series on the voice acting behind Nintendo games:
Anyways, back to the main topic!
Here is an early sound studio Nintendo used, the Kannonzaki Marine Studio. Used for soundtracks such as the original Fire Emblem:
http://sunileng.biz/technote6/board.php?board=studio&page=3&command=list&no=95&command=list&page=2
http://vgmdb.net/album/21429
It may have also been used for the Star Fox Assault or Super Smash Bros. Melee recordings.
Here’s the studio Nintendo records their biggest hits in:
After much digging, I’ve found out it is the iconic Sound Inn Studios “Studio A” in Tokyo!
Info:
http://www.sound-inn.com/soundinn_Ast.html
http://www2.digidesign.com/digizine/dz_main.cfm?edition_id=43&navid=674
http://sunileng.biz/technote6/board.php?board=studio&page=12&command=list&no=&command=list&page=13
Music for films, TV, and videogames has been recorded here, such as the CG movie, “Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children”, the TV series “Dragon Ball Z,” and the game “Final Fantasy XIII-2”, to name a few.
I speculate that Star Fox Assault was recorded at King Studios, Mit Studios, Victor Studios, or Music Inn Studios, because those were studios Namco recorded at previously before Star Fox Assault. However, there’s no way to know for sure, as the CD notes did not contain the recording studio’s name. It also could have been recorded at Nintendo’s usual Sound Inn Studios.
Sources and info:
http://vgmdb.net/album/2984
http://vgmdb.net/album/560
http://vgmdb.net/album/2784
http://mit-studio.com/1st.html
http://cnt.kingrecords.co.jp/studio/recording/
http://victorstudio.jp/studio/studio/401st.html
http://sunileng.biz/technote6/board.php?board=studio&page=10&command=list&no=&command=list&page=1
http://www.sound-inn.com/soundinn_Ast.html
http://sunileng.biz/technote6/board.php?board=studio&page=12&command=list&no=&command=list&page=13
Here’s another studio Nintendo and Monolithsoft used for the livestream recording of music from Xenoblade Chronicles 3D:
The soundtrack for the game was recorded at Burnish Stone Recording Studios.
Info:
http://vgmdb.net/album/18946
http://www.joint1.net/index.php?BURNISH%20STONE
http://sunileng.biz/technote6/board.php?board=studio&page=4&command=list&no=&command=list&page=5
I am not sure which studio this livestream performance was recorded in, however I speculate it could actually be at Nintendo’s very own sound stage, seen in in the first video.
The reason I speculate this: See those upper wall panels behind Satoru Iwata in the first video? They have a very similar design to the wall panels behind the performers in the performance video. It very well could be the room right behind Mr. Iwata that they performed this in. That idea combined with the fact that based on my research, there are no other big public recording studios it could be, gives this idea some credence.
Info:
http://xenoblade.wikia.com/wiki/Live_Recording
Here’s a “music video” featuring music from Xenoblade Chronicles X:
The music for this game was recorded at multiple studios:
AVACO CREATIVE STUDIO, LAB recorders, Studio Soundvalley (also used for Splatoon and The Legend of Zelda: Triforce Heroes), SoundCity, Bunkamura Studio
Info:
http://vgmdb.net/album/51792
http://www.avacostudio.com/studio/301.html
http://www.mixerslab.com/labrecorders/Ast/index.html
http://www.studio-a-tone.com/master.html
http://www.soundcity-w.com/studio/r_ast.html
http://www.birdiehouse.co.jp/studios/bunkamura/
Here’s a studio in Bandai Namco headquarters used for Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS:
Although the music and sound effects may be mixed here, I assume that the music was recorded at the Sound Inn Studios Nintendo usually records in, not here.
Here’s where they recorded the Legend of Zelda 25th Anniversary CD (the first recording space used in the U.S.)
This is at the Bastyr Chapel in Kenmore, Washington, USA.
Info:
http://www.bastyr.edu/public/event-hosting-weddings/bastyr-university-chapel
And finally, here is a new studio they’ve used for Splatoon, The Legend of Zelda: Triforce Heroes, and even Monster Hunter X (Generations)!
Through a lot of digging, I |
aren given in a pay-off then?
We should find out in the full accounts, but as of yet McClaren and his backroom staffs’ pay-offs have not been released. It is confirmed that “the change in first-team management personnel” did impact on the club’s finances, however.
Could a new sponsor bring with them a much-needed cash injection?
Let’s hope so. We know Newcastle are in negotiations with Far-East companies, as well as some based in the UK, for a headline sponsor to replace Wonga on the shirts for next season. United’s negotiating position will hopefully be strengthened by the fact they look likely to go up this season - and that might bring some much-needed additional money into the coffers.
Is promotion essential, then?
Yes, 100 per cent. If United fail to clinch promotion, Benitez will leave and the club will have to slash their day-to-day running costs, as well as their wage bill. Promotion will bring a guaranteed £100m-plus next season. United desperately need it, as Charnley stresses.Listen: Zika damages mouse testicles and has implications for human male fertility
South Floridians have one more reason to avoid the Zika virus—and this one’s especially for the men out there: New research using mouse models shows the Zika virus can shrink testicles.
“We started looking at the placental barrier and seeing if the virus could cross there,” says Dr. Jen Govero, a scientist who worked on the study at Washington University in St. Louis.
Govero says part of what makes Zika unusual is that it has a tendency to get past what are known as “immune privilege sites.” These are places in the body that act as natural roadblocks to most viruses--like the placental barrier, the blood-brain barrier and the blood-testes barrier.
“The body tries and protects more against viral and bacterial infection because there’s precious cargo there,” says Govero.
But the Zika virus is managing to break through all these safeguards.
In the mice, Zika infection decreased testes to a tenth the average size. The mice’s testosterone dropped. And the virus showed up in their sperm.
“This, I think, will be an eye-opener to also look at the effects this could have on men and their fertility,” says Govero.
According to Govero, it could be months or more before researchers know what this means for humans. In the meantime, it’s one more reason for men to pay attention to mosquito prevention tips like wearing long sleeves and bug repellent.Trump Ignores CNN’s Acosta AGAIN, CNN Complains Trump Only Calling On Conservative Press (VIDEO)
CNN’s Senior White House Correspondent, Jim Acosta doesn’t like getting ignored. Acosta complained that in the last three press conferences “all of the questions to the American news media have been handled by conservative press.”
You might remember Jim Acosta as the out of control reporter who was screaming at President Trump a month ago as Trump called CNN ‘Fake News’.
Jim Acosta tried to ask President Trump a question about Russia and Trump completely ignored him-AGAIN. Acosta complained to Wolf Blitzer that Trump was only calling on conservative media:
The two questions that were asked were called upon from uh the President in this news conference went to Christian Broadcasting Network…it’s a very conservative network and Townhall.com which is a very conservative news website and so in the last three news conferences, Wolf all of the questions to the American news media have been handled by the conservative press and I…I think Wolf there is no other way to describe it but THE FIX IS IN.”
Poor Jimmy and CNN! Perhaps if they didn’t spread non-stop propaganda and actually reported facts they would be taken seriously. The media elite have no idea how to handle the new environment where other outlets are given a voice. The monopoly over the media is crumbling and what you are seeing is a total meltdown.
TGP has White House press credentials now and the fake news media is in attack mode.ADB Tools Connects Your Android Device with ADB over WiFi
Normally anytime you need to connect your Android device to your PC with ADB, you probably scrummage around your drawer a little bit and find that tangled up spare USB cable for your device. Of course, this means that you’ll be limited by this physical cable form factor: untangling it, bending it at the right spot so there’s a connection, moving aside the TV remote, earphones and wallet on the table to make room for your device. So naturally, it wouldn’t hurt if there’s something that’ll make things a little easier, as ADB Tools does.
Developed by XDA Forum Member idragon81, ADB Tools is a handy app that enables you to connect your Android device to your PC with ADB over either USB or WiFi. Of course, the standout feature of this app is that it allows your device to connect wirelessly, and this is done simply by typing in “adb connect” followed by the IP address generated by the app into CMD on your PC. Idragon81 plans to hopefully integrate features such as start service on device startup and widget to toggle mode in the future.
ADB Tools is a simple app with a very practical and useful feature that Android devs will surely appreciate. If you would like to give this a whirl, head over to the ADB Tools application thread for more information.Key Points
Bitcoin price dived yesterday against the US Dollar, but found support near the $405-03 levels.
BTCUSD is currently moving higher, and attempting to break a short-term resistance near $412.
There is a bullish trend line pattern formed on the hourly chart (data feed from Bitstamp), which can be seen as a support area for the bulls.
Bitcoin price broke down yesterday, but managed to hold the $405-00 support area. Now can it recover or challenge $420 once again?
Bitcoin Price – Buying favored
Bitcoin price broke a channel pattern, which was highlighted in yesterday’s post. However, as I kept saying the $405-00 support area is a major barrier for the bears. The price found support around the same area yesterday, and recovered. The price managed to clear the 38.2% Fib retracement level of the last drop from the $419 high to $403 low.
There is currently a bullish trend line formed on the hourly chart (data feed from Bitstamp), which may be seen as a buy zone it the price moves down one again. The best part is the fact that the price closed above the 100 hourly simple moving average, suggesting bids exceeded offers and pushed BTC higher.
Currently, the price is near the $412.-13 resistance area, so there is a chance of a minor dip before BTCUSD moves higher once again. Alternatively, if there is no dip and the price breaks the stated resistance area, then a move towards the 76.4% Fib retracement level of the last drop from the $419 high to $403 low is possible.
On the downside, the 100 hourly SMA and the trend line support are major hurdle for sellers in the near term.
Looking at the technical indicators:
Hourly MACD – The hourly MACD is in the bullish zone, calling for more upsides.
RSI (Relative Strength Index) – The RSI is above the 50 levels, which is a positive sign for the bulls.
Intraday Support Level – $408-407
Intraday Resistance Level – $412-413
Charts from Bitstamp; hosted by Trading ViewUnless you live under a rock, you probably heard about the Women’s March that happened in Washington, D.C. and across the country, following President Donald Trump’s inauguration. Now, shocking details surrounding the past of one of the communist organizers have surfaced, and it’s safe to say that this is not a woman any red-blooded American should be following for any reason, let alone feminists.
The Women’s March was supposed to be a protest of newly inaugurated President Donald Trump. With just 24 hours passing from the time he took the presidential oath, Trump has literally taken away no rights from women or any other human being, but that didn’t stop the liberal puppets from appearing on the streets and begging the government to do something. However, no one is quite sure what that something is or what these lunatics wanted from the government other than to make a spectacle of themselves, but I digress.
There was nothing really to protest except the fact that their candidate wasn’t sworn in, but that didn’t stop them. Ironically, they failed to realize that since Donald Trump hadn’t made any changes regarding women’s rights since he was just sworn in, their complaints about an alleged lack of equality where females are concerned were more of a diss to previous leaders, including their beloved Barack Obama, but they didn’t see it that way. Everything is Trump’s fault in their mind.
The pointless march took place all over the country, and it achieved exactly nothing — except for outing the skeletons hiding in some of these leftists’ closets. In fact, one of the organizers of the march was a “proud Palestinian” Jew-hater with ties to radical Islamic extremists and terrorists, who even met an ex-Hamas operative and has family ties to the terrorist group, and she wasn’t alone.
According to the Women’s March website, the purpose of their march taking place right after President-elect Trump’s inauguration day is to advocate for “demonized” groups including LGBTQIA, Muslims, etc. The Women’s March has partnered with several Islamic groups, including Hamas-linked CAIR (CT), the Muslim Women’s Alliance, Arab American Association of New York, and the Women for Afghan Women. While the movement strives for intersectionality between various groups – ethnic, religious, or otherwise, these groups cannot coexist without first assessing that their values align. [Source: Pamela Geller]
Ironically, Palestinian-born Linda Sarsour, one of the organizers of Saturday’s Women’s March, has never been against the gender apartheid, honor killings, or the oppression and subjugation under Islamic Sharia law. And, she’s a communist, although she hasn’t admitted it yet.
She supported self-admitted communist Bill de Blasio when he ran for mayor of New York City and Bernie Sanders, who calls himself a “Democratic Socialist,” which is just another term for communism if the majority demands it.
The most hypocritical part of this whole march is that the feminist movement is opposed to the demands of Islamic supremacists. Feminists seem to not care that Islam and feminism cannot coexist and are not compatible in a society. Still, female supremacists and Islamic supremacists seem to now be working together to weaken the Christian, conservative, and white American to take their voice, and we have liberalism to thank.
H/T [Pamela Geller]Cocaine seized by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Photo via DEA official website.
One hundred years ago this March, the Harrison Narcotics Act came into force, heralding the onset of American drug prohibition. It promptly spread across the globe. 2015, however, may well be remembered as the year that the cure for criminalization broke the drug war fever.
If nothing else, there have been an awful lot of encouraging signs since January.
For starters, 2015 was marked by a hastening of the end of the national war on pot. Two new states—Oregon and Alaska—joined Colorado and Washington in implementing recreational marijuana legalization, as did Washington, DC, (albeit in a bizarre fashion that doesn't actually provide a reliable source of legal pot other than growing your own.)
Gallup polling in favor of complete national legalization also matched an all-time high of 58 percent, with support having roughly doubled since the 1990s, and more than a dozen states could vote on pot legalization either through ballot initiatives or legislatures in 2016. The only apparent setback was the failure of a legalization initiative in Ohio. But that was a special case, as it was clear that what voters didn't like in that case was creating another rich oligopoly by limiting sales to a small group of companies—they didn't oppose legalization, per se.
The top two contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, have both expressed some openness to allowing states to legalize, with Sanders going further and suggesting that marijuana be removed from federal drug prohibition laws, as well. And even Republican candidates Donald Trump, Jeb Bush, and Ted Cruz are in favor of letting the states decide—an unprecedented level of mainstream political support for what as recently as the 1990s seen as a fringe position.
While some Republican contenders like Marco Rubio remain firmly opposed to legalization, the lack of a clear frontrunner in the GOP race means that it is distinctly possible we have an election where both the Republican and Democratic candidates agree on allowing states to legalize pot. The Obama administration, moreover, just urged the Supreme Court to reject a case brought by neighboring states that seeks to end legalization in Colorado because it is supposedly flooding Nebraska and Oklahoma with dank.
The good news goes far beyond marijuana, however. Although Republican candidate Chris Christie still staunchly opposes legalization of any type, a speech he made urging that addiction be viewed as a disease rather than a criminal justice problem—one that sounded like it could have been written by legalizers—went viral in late October, garnering millions of page views.
Not long thereafter, "drug czar" Michael Botticelli appeared on 60 Minutes making the same case. "We can't arrest and incarcerate addiction out of people," he said. "We've learned addiction is a brain disease. This is not a moral failing." So now the White House office once devoted exclusively to promoting the drug war is at least saying a public health approach to all drugs is better, though the national drug control budget still suggests otherwise.
Even the cops began taking steps towards drug decriminalization in 2015. A formal initiative, started in 2011 in Seattle and known as Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD), showed stunning results in an outcomes evaluation published this year. The idea of LEAD is to bring the concept of "harm reduction" into policing: Rather than trying to force drug users to quit by arresting and incarcerating them, the program aims to cut harm by attracting users into recovery, or at least less-harmful use instead.
In the study, LEAD participants—typically, homeless and often mentally ill people with addictions—were around 60 percent less likely to be re-arrested, compared to those who were simply booked as usual, in the six months after being evaluated. To spur recovery, LEAD offers services like housing, health care, and treatment. Unlike in drug courts, participation is voluntary and abstinence from drug use is not required.
LEAD has been so successful that it is already being replicated in Santa Fe, New Mexico and Albany, New York—and a White House conference was held in July to get the word out to representatives of at least 25 police departments, including New York City, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Baltimore.
This is nothing like your parents' anti-drug policy.
And LEAD isn't even the only police-driven step towards drug decriminalization. Other departments and officials made moves in the same direction, like Leonard Campanello, the police chief of Gloucester, Massachusetts. After seeing repeated overdose deaths, he announced on his department's Facebook page that he would offer amnesty from possession charges and help get treatment to drug users who came to the station. The post went viral and the program he eventually developed has now been picked up by roughly 40 departments in about a dozen states.
Opioid harm-reduction also expanded dramatically this year. Last month, the FDA finally approved a nasal spray version of the overdose-reversing drug naloxone, and it seems like every day, a new police force, fire department, school, or program for drug users and their loved ones announces a distribution and training program. Shortly thereafter, without fail, reports of lifesaving use of the drug have followed. Pharmacies like CVS began making naloxone available over the counter in 14 states, including California and New Jersey, and Rite Aid is now joining in to do the same in New York.
Perhaps more important, conservatives and liberals in Congress actually joined forces to craft legislation that would cut mandatory minimum drug sentences and pledged to seek additional ways of ending what everyone now—disparagingly!—labels "mass incarceration." Sadly, complete elimination of these harmful and ineffective sentences is not on the table, but since the proposed law would be retroactive, it would at least help bring many people who have been incarcerated for far too long home.
Of course, no consideration of drug policy in 2015 could be complete without highlighting the resilient Black Lives Matter movement, which arose following the police killing of unarmed teen Trayvon Martin in 2013 and Eric Garner and Michael Brown in 2014. This year, BLM confronted both Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, taking her to task in particular for her role in supporting the harsh drug policies of her husband.
Racism has played a starring role in American drug policy right from the start. Indeed, the Harrison Act was passed with clear racist intent, with Southern states traditionally opposed to federal intervention embracing a ban on cocaine because it supposedly made black men both harder to kill and more likely to rape white women. Around the same time, California banned opium because it was said to allow Chinese men to seduce or rape white women.
Now, however, many media outlets are emphasizing that the latest drug epidemic—heroin and prescription opioids—is mainly a white problem ( actually, this has been true for decades). At the same time, support for criminalizing users is crumbling—and this is obviously no coincidence, even the New York Times noticed. While it's shameful that framing addiction as a white problem may be what it takes to end or dramatically scale down the drug war, at least it helps move the needle in the right direction. One hundred years of using drug laws to demonize and repress minorities while continuously increasing the harm related to addiction—rather than addressing it—is more than enough.
Follow Maia Szalavitz on Twitter.Sergey Mikhalkov, a Russian children’s book writer who died in 2009, had an unusual claim to fame — he rewrote his own national anthem three times. His strange experience is part of the slightly schizophrenic story of the Russian and Soviet national anthems in the twentieth century.
At the beginning of 1917, Tsar Nicholas II was enthroned as Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias, and the ponderous God Save The Tsar! was the national anthem of the empire, as it had been since the 1830s:
By the end of the same year (after a brief detour through the provisional government’s Worker’s Marseillaise) Lenin decreed that the Internationale would be the anthem of the new Bolshevik state (with the revolutionary lyrics tellingly changed from future to present tense):
And so it remained, until 1943. It was then that Stalin decided that a brand new anthem was required to inspire victory over Hitler, and so, taking the preexisting anthem of the communist party, he ordered the twenty-nine-year-old Mikhalkov (together with poet Gabriel El-Registan) to write new lyrics, literally overnight. The next day, Stalin made a few revisions to their words and declared himself happy (as well he might, seeing as the new lyrics exclaimed in part that “Stalin has taught us faith in the people, to labour, and inspired us to great feats”), and it became the official national anthem of the USSR on March 15th, 1944.
An English version of the anthem was also famously recorded by Paul Robeson, the black American singer and civil-rights activist:
As a result of the process of De-Stalinization that followed his death in 1953, the references to Stalin in the lyrics of the national anthem were now seen as a troublesome inconvenience, and so the heads of the communist party were caught in a familiar bind — how to deal with an embarrassing situation without having to admit having made any mistakes. Their solution was crude but effective: from 1955 onwards, all the lyrics were simply removed from the anthem, and from then until 1977, the piece was performed as an instrumental.
The soviet leaders finally got around to updating the national anthem in 1977, to coincide with the new constitution, and they decided to go back to Mikhalkov for the lyrics. For this, his second version of the anthem, he altered his earlier words to remove the mentions of Stalin and World War II, added in a couple of mentions of red banners and unbreakable unions, and had the whole thing ready in time for the 1978 Winter Olympics. This version of the anthem remained in use until 1991.
The early years after the collapse of the USSR in 1991 were an unclear and fearful time for most Russians, so it is perhaps unsurprising that Boris Yeltsin ditched the soviet grandiloquence and plumped for another instrumental as the anthem of the new Russian Federation. Patrioticheskaya Pesnya (The Patriotic Song) was a piece that dated originally from the 1830s, and remained the anthem in instrumental form until 1999 (when, briefly, words were added by the poet Viktor Radugin).
Radugin’s words only lasted a few months, however, as Vladimir Putin’s new administration decided to change the anthem yet again. Their solution was solidly in the tradition of Russian bluntness — they simply restored Stalin’s anthem. However, they again needed new words, and so Mikhalkov, now 87, wrote his third and final set of lyrics for the song. References to communism and Lenin were switched and replaced with mentions of God, seas and forests, wisdom and glory, and loyalty to the fatherland, and the new Russian anthem was debuted in December 2000.
For those keeping count, that’s nine anthems in nine decades, with seven sets of lyrics for five pieces of music written by thirteen different writers and composers. Mikhalkov, most prolific amongst them, died in 2009 aged 96. Additionally, each soviet republic also had their own anthem, and there were also anthems for the communist party and the army. Hear them all, with hundreds of variations, at Hymn.ru and Marxists.org. Perhaps there’ll be another new version soon enough. To finish, however, here is possibly the most rousing — or terrifying — version of the song, sung by over 6,000 Russian soldiers in Red Square in 2007, to mark Victory Day, as artillery fires in the background:It began with four interceptions in Green Bay in 2009. It ended with an interception in New Jersey in 2016.
In between, there was a God-given arm squeezing rockets into double coverage. There was an embarrassing offensive line allowing concussion-inducing sacks. There was an NFC North crown and a playoff win. There was a controversial injury and a devastating loss. There were perfectly weighted fades to Brandon Marshall and home-run bombs to Alshon Jeffery. There were 154 touchdown passes and 109 interceptions. There were 18 game-winning drives. There were Super Bowl aspirations and burning dumpsters.
The Jay Cutler era in Chicago is over. On Thursday, the Bears cut him. Cutler, 33, is no longer the quarterback of the Chicago Bears. The dream former Bears general manager Jerry Angelo had when he sent a king’s ransom -- including two first-round picks -- to Denver in April 2009 never materialized.
Cutler’s legacy, however, is more complicated than wins and losses. This won’t be an easy eulogy, because his career can’t be captured by his touchdowns and interceptions. What Cutler is leaving behind is the legacy of a quarterback who dedicated his heart and body to a city and sport that never loved him back, because they both failed to understand him.
Jay Cutler departs Chicago as the most underappreciated and misunderstood player -- arguably ever.
Jay Cutler never got the credit he deserved. USATSI
Every Bears fan undoubtedly remembers where they were when the Bears pulled the trigger, freeing Cutler from the tyranny of Josh McDaniels. He wasn’t just a 25-year-old, Pro Bowl quarterback who oozed potential. He was Chicago’s savior, a God in the form of an emo haircut, a smug smile and a rifle for an arm.
He never fit the part. In his first start -- against the Packers -- he threw four interceptions. Angelo was left staring “blankly at the field, glasses off,” as ESPN’s Jon Greenberg chronicled. Cutler led the league in interceptions.
But hope lingered into his second year, when he overcame the league’s worst offensive line, helping the Bears win the NFC North and reach the conference title game. The Super Bowl, the reason Cutler came to Chicago, was within reach. Only the hated Packers stood in his way.
What happened next has been documented to death: Cutler tore his medial collateral ligament and finished the game pedaling a stationary bike on the sidelines. The Bears lost. Fans burned his jersey. Former players and pundits sitting on comfortable couches in their cozy homes and studios claimed Cutler should’ve played through the injury, as if quarterbacks don’t need their knees.
Bad luck and disappointment followed. The next season, the Bears were in the midst of a five-game winning streak and pushed their record to 7-3. But Cutler broke his thumb trying to tackle a defender who only intercepted his pass when a receiver slipped on a slant. Cutler needed the Bears’ backup quarterbacks to go 3-3 to get the chance to shake his playoff narrative. They went 1-5 and missed the playoffs instead.
In 2012, the Bears won 10 games, but that wasn’t good enough to qualify for the postseason. In 2013, the Bears seemingly locked up the division despite their 30th-ranked defense, until Aaron Rodgers’ fourth-down miracle to Randall Cobb. In 2014, the ugliest season in recent Bears history, Cutler was turned into a scapegoat by a desperate-to-save-his-job Marc Trestman. In 2015, despite nobody really wanting him in Chicago, he experienced a career-best season on a rebuilding team. His 2016 season was ruined by injuries. His final pass -- a desperation heave -- was intercepted by the Giants. After the game, we learned that Cutler had torn a labrum in his throwing shoulder, which robbed him of an opportunity to save his job.
Just like that, his Bears career was over. It was a fitting ending -- the quarterback playing through an injury nobody knew about and coming up just short.
In the end, Cutler led the Bears to a 51-51 record (because of course he did). He’s the franchise’s all-time leader in passing yards and touchdowns. He brought stability to a team that didn’t know what that word meant. He’s the greatest quarterback in Bears history.
But it wasn’t enough. Before Cutler arrived in Chicago, the NFL had already determined that he was supposed to turn into one of the NFL’s best quarterbacks. Cutler, like most athletes, had no say in the matter. Anything less than what the league expected would be regarded as a failure.
In that sense, Cutler failed. He never became the quarterback we all thought he would. And we blamed him for that failure.
In 2012, Bill Barnwell wrote this for Grantland:
The dominant narrative surrounding Jay Cutler — to an extent unmatched by any player in the NFL — is that he needs to be fixed. That Jay Cutler is a few small changes away from being the quarterback we want him to be. That there are flaws so patently obvious and easy to fix that one new offensive coordinator or receiver or city will do it. Imagine if there were a Jay Cutler who didn’t throw four picks in one game! Or one who didn’t yell at his teammates when they screwed up! Or one who didn’t walk around with that smug look on his face all the time! We lash out at Jay Cutler after his bad games like we’re fighting with our significant others. If Jay Cutler would just put the dishes in the dishwasher instead of leaving them in the sink, we’d all have gone to the Super Bowl a long time ago. Let’s turn this question on ourselves, though, because it’s going to tell us a lot about how we judge football players irrationally. Why does Jay Cutler have to get fixed? Why can’t he just be a pretty good quarterback who delivers one or two terrible games a year? Isn’t that good enough?
It has been four-and-a-half years since Barnwell wrote that and the answer is still a resounding no.
When ESPN reported on Feb. 21 that the Bears were actively shopping Cutler, which officially signaled the end of the era, the bashing began. Twitter joked about the interceptions Cutler was already throwing for his next team, even though Eli Manning, Drew Brees, Philip Rivers and Carson Palmer have been picked off more times since Cutler entered the league. Some pointed out that his backups were always better than him, even though his backups posted a 7-19 record. Who in their right mind, the internet mused, would want to trade for one of the worst quarterbacks of all time?
Those criticisms aren’t fair. Does Cutler throw too many interceptions? Of course. Does that make him a bad quarterback? Of course not. But to his critics, Cutler is the devil, because he never lived up to their -- not his -- expectations.
Toss aside those failed expectations for a moment, though, and look at what Cutler did for the Bears. He never turned into a savior, but he was a quarterback the Bears needed, someone they could trust to score just enough points and not get in the way of an elite defense. Cutler kept the Bears in close games with his toughness and athleticism, winning with his knack for engineering late-game comebacks.
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The stats never did him justice. What went down as ordinary completions for Cutler were impossible plays for most other quarterbacks. Cutler turned a broken offense into an actual NFL offense.
He was an imperfect, ungraceful escape artist:
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He rescued failed plays. He was arguably more effective when things didn’t go as planned.
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He chucked up jump balls because he trusted (sometimes to a fault) his teammates to win downfield.
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He made the kind of throws from crowded pockets that most quarterbacks wouldn’t dare try.
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It never was easy. For much of his time in Chicago, Cutler targeted receivers who were primarily on the roster for special teams. Pundits who wonder why Cutler never mastered perfect throwing mechanics overlook that he always had pass rushers bearing down on him. He was sacked 2.46 times per game in his Bears career. Still, he never slid when he had the chance, choosing to sacrifice his health instead.
And he almost always got back up, even from hits like this:
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I’ve never appreciated a player like I appreciate Cutler, who repeatedly took a beating -- all for a city that refused to respect him.
Here’s what he accomplished: From 2010-12, when the Bears featured a playoff-worthy defense, he guided them to a 27-13 record while the team’s backup quarterbacks went 2-6. In that span, Cutler won the seventh-most games among all quarterbacks, despite the fact that he missed eight games. Not many quarterbacks could’ve won the amount of games Cutler did with that offensive line and that supporting cast (WR1: Devin Hester, WR2: Johnny Knox). Even Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, with their limited mobility, would’ve been doomed.
After that three-year window, Cutler’s problems began. He spent the next four seasons toiling away for mostly bad teams. He suffered serious injuries -- almost like all of those previous poundings added up on a human body. When Bears greats like Brian Urlacher, Charles Tillman and Lance Briggs aged, the defense collapsed. And Cutler wasn’t good enough to save the Bears by himself. But how many quarterbacks are? Outside of Brady, Rodgers, Manning (Peyton, not Eli) and Brees, there aren’t many.
That’s the truth about his talent level: You can win with Cutler, with that three-year stretch serving as proof. But you can’t win with only Cutler -- the past few seasons prove that much. He’s a good, not great, quarterback.
His perception never helped him. We’ve all seen his smug smirk, the Smokin’ Jay Cutler meme, and his aloof personality. That’s where Cutler is misunderstood.
Critics say he doesn’t care. That he’s not a leader. Fans hate him so much he was once named one of the league’s most unpopular players, right alongside someone who ran a dogfighting ring and someone who has been accused of sexual assault twice.
Reality says otherwise. The evidence says that when Cutler was a member of the Broncos, he was immature. It suggests he likely didn’t feel comfortable becoming a leader in a Chicago locker room that already featured prominent voices in Urlacher, Briggs and longtime center Olin Kreutz. But it also says that he grew as he aged. Cutler matured over time, at least to his teammates and those in the media who covered him. Unsurprisingly, that maturation occurred after marriage and fatherhood.
His teammates never shied away from defending Cutler. Robbie Gould once publicly called out the Bears’ coach to defend Cutler. This past season, Cutler was elected (by the players) to John Fox’s leadership council.
#Bears coach John Fox on QB Jay Cutler: "The perception in the building may be a little different than outside from what I've gathered." — Zach Zaidman (@ZachZaidman) March 1, 2017
Look at what Kyle Long wrote Thursday:
In recent years, reporters who covered Cutler for a number of years talked about his growth off the field. When David Haugh of the Chicago Tribune sat down for an interview with Cutler in January 2016, he noted how much the circumstances changed:
In 2009, Cutler and I sat down for a similar one-on-one interview. Scratch that: We didn’t sit at all that day almost seven years ago; Cutler cavalierly stood with his back against the wall in a hallway at the Bears facility and tossed a plastic water bottle in the air between questions, avoiding eye contact at all costs. In retrospect, that detached prima donna seems like a different guy than the one who now undergoes regular introspection.
In that interview, Cutler credited couples therapy for helping him mature. He admitted to mishandling the Denver trade debacle. He said if he could, he would go back and do it differently. He was thoughtful and reflective.
“We all become a little wiser,” Cutler told Haugh. “Now I take a little more time to process things. In Denver, when it went down and I [asked for a trade], it was more of a reaction instead of thinking about it and saying, ‘Do I really want to go through with this and pit myself versus [former Broncos coach] Josh [McDaniels] and Denver?’ If I was in that situation now, it might play out differently. But as you get older and having Kristin and the boys [Camden and Jaxon] and now a daughter [Saylor], there’s a lot more to think about. It’s not just you. Having kids helps you realize how selfish you can be as a person, rather quickly. These have all been things I haven’t mastered, but I’m definitely more aware of.”
From the beginning, he always was honest and blunt. In his early years, he said he had a stronger arm than John Elway (true). In January 2016, after a career season, he bragged about outlasting all of his detractors.
“Still here,” Cutler told Chicago Sun-Times. “Everybody’s kind of probably taken a shot to get rid of me. It hasn’t worked so far.”
Also true. Well, until now.
He did what he wanted. In the process, he was unintentionally entertaining.
Remember when he told offensive coordinator Mike Martz to “f-- off” on national television? Remember when he didn’t see the defense he wanted and let out an audible “G------it” at the line of scrimmage on national television? Remember when he showed up to training camp in a conversion van? Remember when offensive coordinator Mike Tice tried to talk to him during a game and a frustrated Cutler refused to acknowledge him, again on national television?
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In a league that so often features bland, censored, PR-friendly athletes -- the Russell Wilsons, Tom Bradys and J.J. Watts -- Cutler is the opposite. He doesn’t give a damn about his public persona. He says and does whatever he wants in front of the microphone and cameras.
He didn’t seek out the spotlight or endorsements when he arrived in Chicago. He didn’t care about that. He was always true to himself, as Chris Jones wrote for ESPN:
It’s a mistake to think he doesn’t care about anything. I believe he cares so deeply about only a few things that his soul doesn’t have room for anything else. He loves football, throwing footballs in particular, and he apparently loves some tiny blond woman from TV and their baby boy. That nothing else catches hold in him -- including what any of us think -- is his gift, not his curse. We should all be so lucky to have such single-minded hearts.
He should’ve been beloved for that attitude. He was chastised instead, all because he doesn’t have a smile for TV.
He suffered the consequences for that single-minded heart of his, because we -- Chicago, fans, pundits -- wanted him to be better than us, both on and off the field. The cruel truth was that he was the same as all of us. He showed his frustration when his co-workers didn’t have his back. He argued with his bosses when he felt they weren’t putting him in a position to succeed. A friend of Grantland’s Robert Mays once noted, “There were those couple games where you could see him feeling like I do when I come to work, which is, ‘Screw it. This is not going to be fun, but I’ve got a job to do.’” He made mistakes.
Jay Cutler was no God. He was human. He was like you and me. But that was never good enough for us.
Cutler certainly isn’t faultless in this divorce. He never lived up to his potential -- that much is true. If the Bears had known he would be nothing more than a solid quarterback, they never would’ve mortgaged their future for him. But the Bears also deserve blame. They bought a Ferrari and refused for so many years to maintain it. It’s not Cutler’s fault they traded Greg Olsen, drafted Shea McClellin, Kyle Fuller and Gabe Carimi in the first round and hired Marc Trestman over Bruce Arians. Playing the blame game is pointless, because there’s plenty to throw around.
It’s also pointless to say the Bears are making a mistake in severing their relationship with him. Can the Bears win with Cutler? Yes. Is he still a capable player who can thrive in the right environment? Yes. Is |
Chula Vista, Calif., enlisted in the Navy soon after graduating from high school, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
“There was never a time that Carlos wasn’t making people laugh,” Chase Cornils, a fellow cadet in Chaparral High School’s Naval Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps, told the newspaper. “He always had a cheerful attitude and a smile on his face. When I think of Carlos, I can only remember an extremely happy guy who was willing to help all of his friends.”
Sibayan felt like the Navy was his calling, Cornils told the newspaper.
“I knew he was extremely excited to join and start his career in the Navy and serve our country,” he said. “He wanted to start as soon as he could.”
Gunner’s Mate Seaman Dakota Kyle Rigsby, 19, from Palmyra, Va., was a volunteer firefighter with the Lake Monticello Fire Department and a graduate of Fluvanna County High School, according to ABC 8 television news.
Classmates of Yeoman 3rd Class Shingo Alexander Douglass, 25, of Oceanside, Calif., who attended Kubasaki High School on Okinawa, remembered him as a class clown who raised spirits on the tennis team.
Lan Thi Huynh, 23, the sister of Sonar Technician 3rd Class Ngoc “Tan” Truong Huynh, 25, of Oakville, Conn., told the Hartford Courant that her brother enlisted in 2014 because he wanted to give back to his mother who raised four children alone. The accident happened on her brother’s 25th birthday, she said.
“It’s not something he always wanted to do, but he wanted to do something adventurous,” she said.
“We will always remember him in our hearts as the most selfless person, quiet yet had the brightest smile,” she said. “I just want everyone to know that he was the best brother ever, and the sweetest human being that I knew.”
Darrold Martin, father of Personnel Specialist 1st Class Xavier Alec Martin, of Halethorpe, Md., told Maryland news station WJZ-TV that the loss was hard.
“He’s my only child,” Martin said. “He’s all I have.”
His aunt, Daneace Jeffery told Baltimore FOX45 news station that Martin, a graduate of Lansdowne High School who joined the Navy five years ago, “was a wonderful man who loved his job.”
A cousin of Gunner’s Mate 2nd Class Noe Hernandez, of Weslaco, Texas, told CBS Dallas-Fort Worth that pictures of her cousin always kept them together.
“We lived through his experiences. His travels. We were just proud that our boy was up there,” Aly Hernandez-Singer said.
“We all came from poverty in Guatemala,” Hernandez-Singer said. “He was the one who made it. And we were so proud of him.”
robson.seth@stripes.com
cook.leon@stripes.comThere's also a number of accessories you can add to your Shield bundle, including an official £40/€50 remote, £20/€30 stand and £50/€60 gamepad. One controller is included as standard, but two might make gaming on the Tegra X1-powered set-top box a whole lot more enjoyable. To coincide with the launch, the company is also debuting GeForce Now, the Netflix-for-games service which we originally knew as GRID. It's free for the first three months on Shield devices, but transitions to a £7.49/€9.99 plan thereafter.
If you're looking for something that matches Amazon's Fire TV in the streaming stakes but has a little more oomph in the gaming department, Amazon and GAME will stock the Shield TV, but you can also grab it from NVIDIA's official store if the online retailer doesn't have a presence where you live.We've just been given the heads up from one of our readers of the recent release of Let's Go! Which is now available for the Amstrad CPC or via the emulator JavaCPC. Developed by A Bearded Dragonz Production (Morri) using AGAS and ESD; Let's Go! is a platformer with a difference! A Run and Stop platformer to reach the end flag, that forces to the player to hit the space bar to stop him from running into obstacles, which is then limited by time. The longer you hold, the less time you have to complete a level.Available as the first major release after a number of testing versions, this final version features all the gameplay elements as well as 12 levels added with a ranking system! A very enjoyable game indeed that is easy to play but a challenge to beat, is ready for your download at the CPCWiki forums!Links 1) Discussion× $50,000 Reward to Be Offered in Fatal Shooting of Transgender Woman
Law enforcement and community leaders were set to announce a $50,000 reward Friday in hopes of generating leads in the fatal shooting of a transgender woman in East Hollywood.
Aniya Parker was shot in the head as she tried to run away from three men she encountered around 2:30 a.m. near Kenmore at Melrose avenues on Oct. 2, according to a joint news release from the City of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Police Department.
Surveillance video from a nearby business captured the altercation between Parker and the men.
As Parker tried to run away, one of the men followed her, shooting her point blank in the head as she crossed the street, the video showed.
The 47-year-old victim could be seen stumbling and eventually collapsed on the sidewalk. Minutes later, a bystander came to her aid and called for help.
The first officers on the scene and found Parker with a gunshot wound to her head.
“From what we’ve been told by witnesses, it appears … that it may be a robbery gone bad,” LAPD police Lt. Joe Losorelli said at the time of the shooting.
Parker was taken to L.A. County-USC Medical Center where she was later pronounced dead.
A Go Fund Me page has been set up to help Parker’s family.
Family members who called Parker by her knickname “Ballie,” said she had “a heart of gold.”
“A giver with a sense of humor, Ballie could always make you laugh even when Ballie wasn’t trying,” the family posted on the Go Fund Me page.
The family urged anyone with information to contact the Los Angeles Police Rampart Division at 877-LAPD-24-7.Important notice! Pokemon Mega-Fearow is a fictional character of humans.
There is only single Creator of everything and anything
All Pokemon are made up by humans based on real animals or existing objects.
The stroies of Pokemon are all fictional and in most cases illogical or nonsense.
Games are for only fun time and do never put any spiritual/religional or deity meaning into them!
Never pass your necessary jobs and duties due to gameplaying!
Official Pokemon Info from Bulbapedia (Content is available under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5)
Fearow (Japanese:????? Onidrill) is a dual-type Normal/Flying Pokémon introduced in Generation I.
It evolves from Spearow starting at level 20.
Biology
Fearow is a large, mostly brown avian Pokémon with a vulturine neck and broad, powerful wings. It has a long, pointed, pink beak, and a decorative red coxcomb on top of its head. Its narrow eyes have very small pupils, and do not appear to have colored irises. It has shaggy, feathers on the base of its neck and covering the upper portion of its wings. These feathers are cream-colored, as are the tips of its flight feathers. Its sharp-clawed talons are pink, with three toes pointing forward and one pointing backward.
Fearow's large wings and stamina allow it to fly for an entire day without landing. It will shoot upward, and then dive down to catch prey. Its long neck and beak allow it to pluck prey from both land and water, and it will even catch tiny insects that hide underground. Fearow is found in wastelands and desolate fields.
In the anime
In the main series
Fearow in the Fearow in the anime
Major appearances
The Spearow who attacked Ash in the first episode evolved before Pallet Party Panic. Pidgeotto evolved into Pidgeot to defeat it. It reappeared in a flashback in Fighting Flyer with Fire.
Other
Skyler owns a Fearow which helped him pull his balloon in the balloon race and driving Team Rocket away in The Big Balloon Blow-Up.
Two Fearow appeared under the ownership of Tyson in Talkin' 'Bout an Evolution and Rage Of Innocence.
Rico, the Pokémon poacher, owns a Fearow in A Poached Ego!.
In Pokémon Ranger and the Kidnapped Riolu! Part Two, J's client used a Fearow to escape from Officer Jenny, Ash and his friends.
A Fearow appeared in Adventures in Running Errands! where it stole Chespin's purse. Later on, it was chasing Chespin and Bunnelby to try steal the purse again, but they took care of it while digging up a hole to flee.
Minor appearances
Fearow was first seen in a Pokémon Center in Sparks Fly for Magnemite.
A Fearow appeared in Princess vs. Princess competing in the Queen of the Princess Festival contest.
In Mewtwo Strikes Back, a Trainer tried to ride a Fearow to New Island. This Trainer never turns up on the island, unlike the others who set out. Mewtwo also uses one to scout for powerful Trainers.
A Fearow appears in The Battle of the Badge and Lights, Camera, Quack-tion.
Multiple Fearow also appeared in the second original series movie, The Power of One.
Multiple Fearow make an appearance in Don't Touch That 'dile.
Three Fearow briefly appeared in The Psychic Sidekicks! where they came out of the blue scaring the gang unintentionally.
A Fearow attacked and injured a Pidgey named Ken in Carrying On!. Ash's Noctowl drove it away after hypnotizing it making it believe that Noctowl was a Charizard.
A Fearow attacks several Pichu in The Apple Corp!. Ash's Pikachu drives it away after zapping it.
A Fearow attacked Team Rocket in Freeze Frame.
A Fearow alongside a flock of Spearow attacked a Pidgey named Orville in Fly Me to the Moon
Gary owns a Fearow, as seen in his profile in The Ties That Bind.
A Fearow was one of the Pokémon that fought in a battle as seen in a flashback in Pop Goes The Sneasel.
A Fearow also appeared in Pinch Healing!.
Pokémon Ranger Jack used his Capture Styler to capture a Fearow to help Pikachu recover the Manaphy Egg stolen by Team Rocket in Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea.
A colony of Fearow appeared in A Staravia is Born!
Paul attempted to catch a Fearow in A Maze-ing Race!. By the end of the episode, it is unclear whether or not he succeeds.
Multiple Fearow made a brief cameo in Giratina and the Sky Warrior.
A Fearow appeared in Pursuing a Lofty Goal! as one of the participants of Squallville's PokéRinger competition.
Several Fearow appeared in Frozen on Their Tracks!.
Another Fearow also appeared in Historical Mystery Tour!.
Two Fearow appeared in Grooming Furfrou!.
Four Fearow appeared in The Guardian's Challenge!.
A Fearow appeared in SM003, as a silhouette.
Pokédex entries
Episode Pokémon Source Entry EP081 Fearow Ash's Pokédex Fearow, the Beak Pokémon. The evolved form of Spearow. Its large, powerful wings allow it to fly for an entire day. The crushing power of its beak is tremendous. This concludes the entries from the original series.
In Pokémon Origins
Red caught a Fearow in File 4: Charizard.
In Pokémon Generations
A wild Fearow appeared near the Indigo Plateau in The Legacy.
In the manga
In The Electric Tale of Pikachu manga
Ash owns a Fearow in the manga The Electric Tale of Pikachu. It is one of the few Pokémon that Ash owns in the manga but not in the anime. It was given the nickname "Fearless" in Play Misty For Me.
Ash captured Fearow in the first chapter, Pikachu, I See You!. It was his first capture (besides Pikachu, who was not technically captured in a Poké Ball in the manga). Ash sometimes has trouble getting Fearow to obey him.
In the Pokémon Adventures manga
Fearow debuts in the Red, Green & Blue chapter in...But Fearow Itself! when a wild one kidnaps a mutated Bill. It was a tough old bird, able to swiftly dodge Pika's Thunder Wave and Poli's Ice Beam (humorously causing Bill to get hit with the attacks), and even survived a Thunder from the former, after which it uses Drill Peck. Poli, however, was narrowly able to counter the move by using Double Team and landed a powerful Ice attack to incapacitate it at last. Red catches it afterwards, much to the shock of Bill.
In The Coming of Slowpoke (Eventually) the Pokémon Fan Club President owns a Fearow after watching the Ninth Triennial Indigo League two years ago. It is notable that it has the move Pay Day.
A wild Fearow appeared flying over New Bark Town in Number One Donphan.
Later Cyrstal mentions she captured a Fearow on her way to Professor Elm's Lab in Three Cheers for Chikorita.
Professor Oak also owns a Fearow that evolved from his surprisingly formidable Spearow sometime prior to the FireRed & LeafGreen chapter.
In the Pokémon Gotta Catch 'Em All manga
Ran has a pair of Fearow she used to attack Shu in Pokémon Gotta Catch 'Em All
In the TCG
Game data
NPC appearances
Pokémon Ranger: Fearow is Spenser's partner Pokémon.
Pokédex entries
Generation I Red With its huge and magnificent wings, it can keep aloft without ever having to land for rest. Blue Yellow A Pokémon that dates back many years. If it senses danger, it flies high and away, instantly. Stadium A Pokémon that enjoys flying. It uses its broad wings to adroitly catch the wind to soar elegantly into the sky. Generation II Gold It shoots itself suddenly high into the sky, then plummets down in one fell swoop to strike its prey. Silver It cleverly uses its thin, long beak to pluck and eat small insects that hide under the ground. Crystal It uses its long beak to attack. It has a surprisingly long reach, so it must be treated with caution. Stadium 2 It shoots itself suddenly high into the sky, then plummets down in one fell swoop to strike its prey. Generation III Ruby Fearow is recognized by its long neck and elongated beak. They are conveniently shaped for catching prey in soil or water. It deftly moves its long and skinny beak to pluck prey. Sapphire Emerald Its long neck and elongated beak are ideal for catching prey in soil or water. It deftly moves this extended and skinny beak to pluck prey. FireRed Its huge and magnificent wings can keep it aloft in the sky. It can remain flying a whole day without landing. LeafGreen With its huge and magnificent wings, it can keep aloft without ever having to land for rest. Generation IV Diamond It has the stamina to fly all day on its broad wings. It fights using its sharp beak. Pearl It has the stamina to keep flying all day on its broad wings. It fights by using its sharp beak. Platinum It has the stamina to fly all day on its broad wings. It fights using its sharp beak. HeartGold It shoots itself suddenly high into the sky, then plummets down in one fell swoop to strike its prey. SoulSilver It cleverly uses its thin, long beak to pluck and eat small insects that hide under the ground. Generation V Black It has the stamina to fly all day on its broad wings. It fights by using its sharp beak. White Black 2 It has the stamina to fly all day on its broad wings. It fights by using its sharp beak. White 2 Generation VI X With its huge and magnificent wings, it can keep aloft without ever having to land for rest. Y It has the stamina to fly all day on its broad wings. It fights by using its sharp beak. Omega Ruby Fearow is recognized by its long neck and elongated beak. They are conveniently shaped for catching prey in soil or water. It deftly moves its long and skinny beak to pluck prey. Alpha Sapphire Generation VII Sun It's tough and has excellent stamina. It has no problem flying continuously for a whole day carrying a heavy load. Moon Drawings of a Pokémon resembling Fearow can be seen in murals from deep in ancient history.
Game locations
In side games
In events
Games Event Language Location Level Distribution period R G B Pokémon Stamp Fearow Japanese Japan? August 1998
Held items
Stats
Base stats
Stat Range At Lv. 50 At Lv. 100 HP : 65 125 - 172 240 - 334 Attack : 90 85 - 156 166 - 306 Defense : 65 63 - 128 121 - 251 Sp.Atk : 61 59 - 124 114 - 243 Sp.Def : 61 59 - 124 114 - 243 Speed : 100 94 - 167 184 - 328 Total: 442 Other Pokémon with this total Minimum stats are calculated with 0 EVs, IVs of 0, and a hindering nature, if applicable.
Maximum stats are calculated with 252 EVs, IVs of 31, and a helpful nature, if applicable.
This Pokémon's Special base stat in Generation I was 61.
Pokéathlon stats
Type effectiveness
Learnset
Generation VII Other generations: II - III - IV - V - VI Game Move Type Cat. Pwr. Acc. PP This Pokémon learns no moves by tutoring. A black or white abbreviation in a colored box indicates that Fearow can be tutored the move in that game
A colored abbreviation in a white box indicates that Fearow cannot be tutored the move in that game
Bold indicates a move that gets STAB when used by Fearow
indicates a move that gets when used by Fearow Italic indicates a move that gets STAB only when used by an evolution of Fearow
indicates a move that gets STAB only when used by an evolution of Fearow Click on the generation numbers at the top to see Move Tutor moves from other generations
By a prior evolution
Generation VII Other generations: I - II - III - IV - V - VI Stage Move Type Cat. Pwr. Acc. PP This Pokémon has no moves exclusive to prior evolutions. Bold indicates a move that gets STAB when used by Fearow
indicates a move that gets when used by Fearow Italic indicates a move that gets STAB only when used by an evolution of Fearow
indicates a move that gets STAB only when used by an evolution of Fearow Click on the generation numbers at the top to see moves from other generations
Side game data
Evolution
Sprites
Trivia
In Generation IV, Fearow weighs as much as the male protagonist of the game, Lucas. It shares this characteristic with Skuntank, Togekiss, Sudowoodo, and Yanma.
The English names of the Spearow family and Beedrill are almost reversed from the Japanese in that Beedrill is named Spear and Fearow, Spearow's evolution, is called Onidrill.
Origin
Fearow takes inspiration from many soaring, predatory birds. It has traits similar to raptors such as hawks and vultures, as well as similarities with storks. Its physical appearance may be vaguely based on a cormorant or an anhinga, despite the fact that they are water birds. It also shares characteristics with chickens and snipe, most notably its comb and long beak, respectively. Its coloration and size also resembles the Goliath Heron, whose feathers when ruffled look superficially like a comb.
Name origin
Fearow is a combination of fear and sparrow. It may also derive from feather or arrow.
Onidrill is a combination of? oni (demon) and drill. The first four syllables can be taken to mean?? onidori (demon bird).
In other languages
Language Title Meaning Japanese????? Onidrill From? oni and drill French Rapasdepic From rapace, as de pique and piquer. Effectively translates as "Swooping predator" Spanish Fearow Same as English name German Ibitak From Ibis and Attacke Italian Fearow Same as English name Korean????? Kebidrillzo From??? dokkaebi, drill, and?(?) jo Cantonese Chinese?? Mojeuk Literally "Devil sparrow" Mandarin Chinese??? Dàzuiquè Means "Big-mouthed sparrow" [hide]More languages Hindi?????? Fearow Transcription of English name Lithuanian Jiecius Translation of English name Russian????? Firou Transcription of English nameGet the biggest Business stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
A developer goes head to head with supermarket and fast food giants tomorrow over plans for a £40m superstore and food outlets development tipped to create 300 jobs.
Conygar Investment Company PLC want to build on a 14 acre site in Llandudno Junction known as the Old Brickworks, behind Cineworld cinema.
The proposal is for a food retail store of around 90,000 sq ft and three fast food outlets.
The plans go before the planning committee of Conwy County Borough Council on Wednesday, tipped for approval by officers.
But the scheme, which is on council owned land and has yet to confirm the anchor occupier, has some heavyweight opposition.
Supermarket giants Tesco and Morrisons claim the scheme will harm local town centres, an accusation often hurled at the companies themselves.
Site of new store in Llandudno Junction
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In a letter to planners Tesco, which owns a supermarket close to the site and are projected to lose up to 20% of trade, say it will have an adverse impact on local town centres.
They questioned the estimates of the turnover of the new store and where that trade will come from and say their "concern is focused" on the town centre.
Morrisons, which owns a store in Colwyn Bay, says the new supermarket would impact on retail in the area and could hurt trade in the Colwyn Bay.
They have also lodged an objection.
The owner of the Junction Leisure Park(Legal & General), which would see a road cut across their site and Pizza Hut relocated have written to object to the scheme.
READ: Llandudno Junction Asda to reinstate manned tills after pressure from campaigners
They say the project will impact on the operation of units on the site, which as well as the Cineworld cinema include McDonald’s and Kentucky Fried Chicken.
The group warned they would consider lobbying the Welsh Government to intervene if it is given the go-ahead by the planning committee.
Fast food giant McDonald's said it is against the plans, saying that switching the main access road to the site will impact their restaurant.
There are the same fears from Gastronomy Foods, which runs the KFC outlet next to Cineworld.
LOOK: North Wales McDonald's restaurants set for £2m digital revamp
Llandudno’s Mostyn Estates claim the proposal is “unacceptable” and that there is no demand for a new foodstore in this area.
They say they fear the site could eventually become an out-of-centre retail park and threaten the “vitality and viability” of town centres in the local area.
Edward Hiller, from Mostyn Estates, said this went against the national policy of supporting town centres.
He said the application would take trade away from Colwyn Bay, Llandudno Junction, Llanrwst and Llandudno town centres.
Parc Llandudno joined in the fray saying that the plans would have an unacceptable impact on Llandudno town centre.
The scheme includes
■ A supermarket with restaurant facilities with circa 5,700m2 of sales area.
■ A petrol filling station including a car wash and sales kiosk with ancillary retailing space.
■ The relocation of the existing Pizza Hut unit and the construction of three additional restaurant units.
■ Provision of a new vehicular access from Junction 18 of the A55 directly into the site to serve the new development and existing leisure complex
■ Reconfiguration of parking on the combined site.
In its application, Conygar said that the development will have no unacceptable retail impacts on town centres. It states that the store will principally compete with other similar out-of-centre superstores and the A3 units will provide for existing visitors to the mixed use site.
An Impact and Mitigation Report suggests the impact on Tesco Llandudno Junction (-20%), Asda Llandudno (-19%) and Morrisons Colwyn Bay (-14%).
The Report indicates the proposal will impact negatively on both Llandudno Junction and Colwyn Bay.
It says the impact on Colwyn Bay would be balanced by additional footfall/spending resulting from Colwyn Bay Regeneration Programme and Office Accommodation Strategy and suggests financial contributions to mitigate the impact on Llandudno Junction.
These financial contributions would amount to £580,000 towards street scene improvements, commercial property improvements, and renewal of empty properties.
Planning officers said they were minded to grant conditional planning permission, subject to the applicant entering into S106 Planning Obligations to require payments towards a Scheme of Mitigation Measures for Llandudno Junction and require the provision of bilingual signage.
The meeting to decide the application takes place on Wednesday at 2pm.An artist's impression of what Mars might have looked like 4 billion years ago, according to a new study.
The face of Mars has changed since the planet's younger days. Billions of years ago, rain or snow may have carved major valleys on Mars, just as the largest volcanic structure in the solar system was forming on the Red Planet, new research suggests.
Understanding how Mars has matured over the years could help explain other mysteries of the Red Planet, such as why vast ice deposits lie buried under the Martian surface far from its poles, scientists added.
Mars is home to Tharsis, the solar system's largest volcanic structure. This continent-size bulge near the equator in the western hemisphere of Mars is about 7.5 miles (12 kilometers) high and 3,100 miles (5,000 km) wide, and hosts giant volcanoes up to 100 times larger than any on Earth, the researchers said. [Photos of the Red Planet from Orbit]
Previous research found that Tharsis started forming more than 3.7 billion years ago during the Noachian period. Prior work also found that its enormous mass — about a billion billion tons, or one-seventieth the mass of Earth's moon — was enough to pivot the outermost layers of Mars over the rest of the planet, a dramatic phenomenon known as "true polar wander," which caused the locations of Mars' north and south poles to shift.
Scientists previously found that many valleys on the Red Planet that formed by the end of the Noachian period more than 3.5 billion years ago were strangely oriented the same way as each other. The timing of the formation of these valleys and Tharsis suggested that Tharsis' effects on the hard rocky shell of Mars — its lithosphere — might have somehow influenced the directions in which these valleys ran, researchers said.
However, researchers now suggest that falling rain or snow helped carve these valley networks.
"We finally understand why the rivers formed where we see their dry beds today," the study's lead author, Sylvain Bouley, a planetary scientist at the University of Paris-Sud in Orsay, France, told Space.com.
The scientists carried out computer simulations to reconstruct how the Martian surface looked before, during and after the formation of Tharsis. They found that Tharsis would not have warped the Martian surface in ways that would explain the directions in which these valley networks formed.
A chronology of Mars' shifting magnetic poles, based on new research. Left image text: Formation of the dichotomy, Heavy bombardment, Adjustment of the polar axis. Middle image text: Tharsis formation, Tropical precipitation with valley networks formation. Right image text: Tharsis formation causes a TPW, Valley networks on a small circle, Tharsis bulge on the equator. (Image: © Sylvain Bouley)
To help solve the mystery behind the orientation of these valleys, the researchers noted that these valley networks occur in a band that runs around Mars. This circle is tilted with respect to the Martian equator.
The researchers suggest this circle of valleys originally lay parallel to and southward of the Martian equator. Their models suggest that substantial rainfall or snowfall in the tropical regions of Mars could have led to rivers that ran southward mostly parallel to each other, cutting valleys into the rock of Mars during the birth and growth of the Tharsis bulge. Later, during true polar wander, the position of this band of valley networks shifted, making it tilted with respect to the current equator of Mars.
These new findings suggest that these valley networks were born about the same time as Tharsis, instead of after Tharsis' formation, as previous research proposed. This in turn suggests that Mars' atmosphere was cold and substantially denser than it is today, which could have led to snowfall that helps explain why the Red Planet has giant ice deposits buried far from its poles, Bouley said.
The scientists detailed their findings online today (March 2) in the journal Nature.
Follow Charles Q. Choi on Twitter @cqchoi. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.Heads up, Tinseltown: Ward 8 Councilmember Marion Barry is looking for someone to tell his story in celluloid. The mayor-for-life told LL earlier this week that he's in a race against time to get a film about his life made.
Dedicated Barry watchers will remember that HBO Films is already working on a Barry biopic. Unhappy about how he thinks he'll be portrayed in the HBO movie, Barry says he wants someone else to release a film version more to his liking first.
“At one point I was trying to kill it," Barry says of the HBO movie. "But I’m going another route now, because I'm going to sell my movie rights in the next two or three months."
Barry says he turned against the HBO project after having dinner with John Ridley, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of 12 Years a Slave who was attached to the project with Spike Lee as the director. Barry says he was unhappy with how Ridley planned to portray his arrest at the Vista Hotel for smoking crack.
"I told him right then and there, you're on the wrong track," Barry says. "You're going to sensationalize something that's serious."
(What kind of account of the Vista arrest would Barry approve of? Look no further than his upcoming autobiography, which calls it "the night of embarrassment.")
Barry's schedule might not suggest much time for frenzied filmmaking, with the councilmember headed up to New York City in June to promote his book. But HBO doesn't seem to be in a rush, either. Two-and-a-half years after it was first reported, the project is still in development, according to an HBO rep.
Still, HBO has one advantage over Barry: It's already found a screenwriter. According to the HBO rep, District noir novelist George Pelecanos, who's also written episodes of The Wire and Treme, has joined the biopic's screenwriting team.
Photo by Darrow MontgomeryEver since head coach David Blatt was fired, the Cleveland Cavaliers have played with an obvious pep in their step, and Kevin Love is “finally” starting to look like, well, Kevin Love.
LeBron James says that the big fella is has at last found his comfort zone within the team—Love even joined his boys for a postgame photo op Monday night, after being ignored all season long.
The Cavs’ Big Three of James, Love and Kyrie Irving reportedly had a heart-to-heart, and promised that they would hold one another accountable going forward.
Per the Akron Beacon Journal:
“I think right now he’s finally getting comfortable in his role,” LeBron James said. “I think coach (Tyronn) Lue has done a great job clearing the air what he expects out of all of us, including Kev, and he’s a big focal point of our team. When he’s playing locked in like this, it’s great for us.” […] Love is averaging 23.7 points in his past three games (going into Monday’s matchup in Indiana.) His 71 total points in the Cavs’ past three victories is his second-highest total when he, James and Kyrie Irving share the floor. The only time it was better was a brief three-game stretch last season in wins against the Wizards, Pacers and Bucks.
“There are a lot of levels to this,” Love said. “I think it can get even better.” […] Making Love comfortable in this system was never a priority to Blatt, who often grew defensive whenever questions about Love’s role surfaced. Love talked with coaches last summer about installing some of the elbow sets he thrived in during his Minnesota days, but those conversations and ideas never gained much traction until Lue took over.
One guy who looks inspired defensively is Kevin Love. His string of 20-point scoring games ended (he finished with 19), but Love has been active defensively in recent games and made a big impact Monday. He was credited with two steals and two blocks, including a big one on Paul George coming out of a pick-and-roll in the fourth quarter. Then he posted this to his Twitter account. #lovethehashtag […] Love has often conceded he isn’t a great defender, but Lue was surprised to hear that after the game. “He admits that?” Lue asked. “Oh, I’m not going to say that. I’m not going there. I’m not going to admit that.”Kim Dotcom, the founder of Megaupload, recently appeared on the RT network’s Keiser Report to discuss the progress of his bitcoin-powered service Bitcache and the launch of Megaupload 2.0 (MU2).
During the interview, Dotcom explained that each file transfer encrypted by a third party service provider will be linked to a bitcoin microtransaction that will operate as the core component of its cloud-based affiliate program.
In traditional media and advertising markets, an affiliate program means a system where individuals are incentivised with a referral fee or commission when a customer visits a particular web resource. Within the MU2 network, Dotcom’s affiliate program may enable content providers that drive direct traffic to the Megaupload platform to be incentivised through bitcoin micropayments.
Each time the cloud-based content is viewed on the Megaupload platform, the network may transfer a very small fraction of payment to the content provider that drove traffic to its affiliate program. As more users or customers continue to view and click the affiliate link, the content provider will receive more micropayments as a reward.
“On top of that, we’ll have a solution called Bitcache where every file transfer is linked to a microscopic bitcoin transaction. So, we’re utilizing the blockchain, utilizing this new digital currency and linking it to every file transfer kind of like an affiliate program and the combination of those two things will break new ground,” explained Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom.
Considering that Bitcache will be integrated into the new Megaupload cloud storage service as its core component, the MU2 development team will most likely utilise the bitcoin micropayment system as the basis of an affiliate program that will essentially link each file transfer to a transaction broadcasted on a public ledger.
However, Dotcom still has failed to specify how Bitcache could overcome the scaling limitations of the bitcoin network and its other technical restrictions to be able to handle an unlimited number of micropayments and transactions.
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The Oscars air Sunday, but this year, the stars of the silver screen will be faced with picket lines and protesters.
That’s because the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), which represents 2.1 million service workers around the world, plans to protest the Academy’s decision to hire Security Industry Specialists (SIS)—a company the union accuses of sexual harassment, racial discrimination, and worker intimidation—to provide security for awards night. (The company denies the allegations.)
“We don’t think [the Academy] should be using a company that has this kind of record,” SEIU campaign director Sam Kehinde explains. “All we are trying to do is make sure the public knows about it and the client knows.”
SEIU activists bearing banners and signs voiced their concerns at last week’s Nominee Lunch in Beverly Hills, but they were unable to relay their concerns to Academy representatives. Now, Kehinde says, the union is back for round two.
Over 100 SEIU activists—including current and former SIS employees—will converge near the Dolby Theatre on Friday afternoon in the hope of attracting attention from the public and entertainment industry officials who will be on site preparing for Sunday’s event, Kehinde says. The protesters plan to follow up with a smaller protest on Sunday, when it will be more difficult for a large group to gain access to the area.
Daivon Young, an SIS security specialist assigned to Amazon, is traveling all the way from Seattle to participate in the protest. He says he is scared about his job security and how he will be treated after speaking out against SIS, but “it is the right thing to do.”
Young has been an SIS employee for a year and a half and works at the high-security buildings. Though he is considered a specialist, he makes $15.50 an hour and is given 36 hours a week. He says he thinks the wage is good but many employees are only offered part-time work.
As the sole breadwinner supporting his three-month-old son, Malachai and his wife, Lavicy, Young’s concerned. “It is important for me to be able to provide for my family,” he says. “Me, growing up, I didn’t have a mom. I didn’t have my dad. Putting a roof over my son’s head—it means everything to me.”
Young describes the pressure he feels at work and says the simplest mistake will result in termination. He is often fearful about being penalized and says he feels belittled by his employers. Provoked by these concerns, he turned to the internet. “I wanted to look up reports about SIS,” he explains, “ |
the league is just going to get better and better."
"I'm concerned about it. I think it needs to be done in an extremely strategic way. We don't want to dilute it by having college kids come up. The fact of the matter is that the college game is kind of going down."
"It's been very positive, and the quality of play is improving drastically year over year. There is no fear of diluting the player pool."
What the players said:
"It's hard for an MLS player making $50,000 to get up for an extra game for like a $30,000 bonus between 30 players. A lot of guys look at it like 'Oh, crap,' rather than an opportunity."
"It's very difficult to believe you could win two home-and-away series against a top Mexican team."
"I think an MLS team will win it in the next three or four years."
What the players said:
"Sixth. Guys would play in that league and figure it out. I think guys in this league are a lot better than people give them credit for."
"Relegated. The best MLS team would get relegated every year in the Premier League. An MLS All-Star team would fight to [survive] in the bottom half."So, What About Tennessee? Last weekend, the media was focused on a failed attempt of a terrorist to blow up a bomb in Times Square. The media was focused on the Gulf Oil Spill that threatened the spoil the ecosystem of the Louisiana Coast. Nearly a week later, the oil had yet to reach the US mainland but had spoiled some uninhabited islands off the coast.
Certainly, the oil has caused great harm to marine life and the ecosystems of those islands. It seems inevitable that the oil will eventually find its way to the US mainland. Nevertheless, it seems counter-intuitive but it’s not completely out of the question that ocean currents keep the oil offshore. Probable? No. Possible? Yes. The point is that we can thank the ineptitude of the bomber that the Times Square Bomb did not go off and no one was hurt. We can thank the NTSB and NYPD that the guy was caught. Thank goodness that so far the oil has not had the feared effect and, if luck holds out, we will dodge a bullet. So, those two events were big news that held great potential for harm but had done no huge harm. Yet, on May 1 and May 2, 30 Americans were losing their lives in parts of the South and parts of Tennessee were feeling great harm from flooding that has not been seen in the region for at least a generation. That news received relatively little attention. People were dying. Property was in fact being destroyed. No if; No maybe; No could or might. It was happening. Yet the media dismissed it.
The Cumberland River at Nashville crested on May 3 at 51.86 feet, which is not an all-time record. The all-time record on New Years Day 1927 was over 56 feet. The next six highest crests were in the late 19th Century. The eighth all-time high point was last weekend’s event but it was the highest by far since the Cumberland River was controlled by a dam system in the 1960’s. The previous high since the control system was put in place was was 47.6 feet on March 15, 1975. The Cumberland River at Clarksville set an all-time record river level of over 62.5 feet. That surpassed the previous March 14, 1975 record by nearly 5.5 feet and was 16.5 feet above flood stage. Record river levels were also found in various locations on the Duck River and Harpeth River as well as on the Red River and Buffalo River.
Nashville also had some other records broken: Calendar day rain total of 7.25″ breaking old record of 6.60″ on Sept. 13, 1979; 12 hour rain total of 7.20″-old record 6.37″ Sept. 13, 1979; 6 hour rain total of 5.57″-old record 5.17″ Sept. 13, 1979; 24 hour rain total of 9.09″ spanning parts of May 1 and May 2-old record 6.60″ Sept. 13-14 1979; greatest 2-day calendar day total of 13.57″ shattering the old record on Sept 13-14 1979 of just 6.68″. It should be obvious the previous big rain days was September 13 and September 14 in 1979. That was the result of the remanant of Hurricane Frederick that had come on shore at Mobile Bay the night before. Oh, by the way, there were also 3 tornadoes confirmed in the Nashville region. The clean up will take months. (slide show)
It wasn’t just Nashville and the surrounding area. It was almost all of Western Tennessee. The Memphis region confirmed 13 tornadoes, one of which killed three people. Many parts of Western Tennessee received 10-15 inches of rain with doppler radar estimates as high as 20 inches in some areas. The main rail line of the CSX railroad connecting Nashville and Memphis is closed. Why you ask? Two bridges were washed away. The railroad will try to work quickly but the line will be closed for 4-6 weeks. Memphis and Shelby County health experts are concerned about disease resulting from prime mosquito breeding conditions following the flood. Of particular concern is the West Nile Virus and St. Louis Encephalitis. On Thursday a flood victim was discovered in Memphis. He has a name. It’s 32-year-old Terrance Williams who went missing 5 days before early Saturday morning. Williams death brings the storm death total to 30 with 19 killed in Tennessee from flooding, one from a tornado and 10 others in Mississippi and Kentucky. CNN says its 31.
Downtown Nashville has been shut down with many iconic destination locations like the Grand Old Opry suffering damage that may take weeks to repair. But, more importantly, one of Nashville’s two water treatment plants is out of commission. Much like the well publicized flooding in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina, the flood waters are contaminated with a number of toxic elements including raw sewage. The AP reports that in the Cottonwood subdivision in Nashville, residents were trying to withstand the malodorous smell and one resident reported lots of white things in the water. Those white items were pieces of toilet paper. We saw all sorts of stories like that with Katrina; Very few for Western Tennessee. In a story in which he questions why the media has largely ignored the flooding, Newsweek reporter Andrew Romano says that Google had 8390 hits for “Times Square bomb” and 13, 800 for “BP Oil spill.” “Nashville Flood” had 2430 hits with many of those being local.
Romano points to several reasons for the dearth of reporting. Initially, he says that the national media tends to determine what is news by what others are covering. I’ve seen that before and some refer to it as a “pack mentality.” I’ve been in many a TV newsroom that determines what to cover that day based on what is in the morning paper. I”ve done an informal study and looked at the pie charts in USA Today and found that, more often than not, it seems like at least one of those pie charts finds its way as a story on a national evening news cast. Romano describes it as such: “Everyone is talking about BP and Faisal Shahzad 24/7, the “thinking” goes. So there must not be anything else that’s as important to talk about.”
He then adds that the Nashville story didn’t have enough sizzle. It lacked a political hook and there were no plots of intrigue like the BP oil spill and the Times Square story. But, in my mind, those stories lacked a basic underlying theme: human misery. And this was not human misery on the other side of the world. This was misery for Americans dying and suffering. Damage estimates are climbing to the $1 billion level and the governor thinks it will go higher. The flooding in Western Tennessee could end up being one of the costliest natural disasters in US history. Yet, by Friday, national news headlines were about the stock market and more on the BP oil spill. The stock market is bouncing around. The oil is still there “threatening” the mainland and BP is still trying to figure out how to stop the oil. 30 people are dead in Tennessee, Mississippi and Kentucky and the misery continues. Romano says that the media suffers from Attention Deficit Disorder and that no story lasts forever. For many news outlets, the Tennessee flooding story never existed in the first place.
The BP oil spill story is huge. It could be a great calamity and in some regards already is a huge disaster. The Times Square bomber story is a tremendous issue relating to the security of the nation. But, the Tennessee flooding story is historic in many regards, especially for those families who have relatives whose history has ended. Country music stars Faith Hill and Tim McGraw say they are in shock over what they’ve seen in Nashville. Perhaps it is the fact that Nashville is the home of many of country music’s biggest stars that attention will be brought to the plight of the people through celebrity effort. CNN’s Anderson Cooper has been on the seen but one cannot say that the national media has really focused on the needs of Tennessee. In other natural disasters in the United States or around the world, telethons are held for the victims. I haven’t seen any for this disaster yet, but one is in the works by a country music cable channel. There is an immediate need for donations cleaning supplies, face masks and work gloves. Relief supplies are coming in from fellow Tennesseans. A TV station in Nashville had a local telethon that raised over $1.7 million. A radio station in Knoxville teamed with the Salvation Army to send much needed items, like clean water.
When Louisville was devastated by a tornado in 1890, the residents received no help from the Federal government but instead rebuilt the city in a year on their own. Tennessee is known as the “Volunteer State” and no doubt, Tennesseans are and will continue to lend a hand to their neighbors. Much as Louisvillians didn’t run to someone else for help in the late 19th century, it is evident that Tennesseans aren’t waiting around for someone else to help. HCA in Nashville has donated a half million dollars and is giving its employees leave to help with local relief efforts. Country music star Taylor Swift donated $500K of her own. But, this is not a country music disaster. These are our countrymen; fellow Americans. The governor has asked and received a Federal disaster declaration but by and large, Tennesseans aren’t looking for handouts. But, Americans should and will lend a hand if the media would tell them how bad it is in the Volunteer State. From wherever you are, you can find out how to help by clicking here to VolunteerTennessee.net. Country music cable network Great American Country Television will be airing a National Telethon on May 16, but I doubt if the major networks will plan any such thing. They just don’t have the time.
Weather Bottom Line: Weekend weather will be spectacular if not coolish. After topping out at 88 on Friday, the front was windy with a t’storm or two but that’s about it. Pretty much what I anticipated. Look for highs in the low to mid 60’s on Saturday and for Mother’s Day. We could see some action around here about midweek next week.Attorney General Jeff Sessions has agreed to appear before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday, the Associated Press reports.
Sessions’ testimony will come less than a week after former FBI Director James Comey appeared before the committee and declined to say that President Donald Trump tried to interfere in the FBI’s investigation of former National Security Adviser Mike Flynn.
In a letter to Sen. Richard Shelby, Sessions explained that he would skip an appearance before a Senate subcommittee chaired by Sheldy where he was supposed to discuss the Justice Department budget to instead testify before the intelligence committee. The AG said it’s clear that, in the wake of Comey's testimony, the Russian investigation would become the focus of questioning, according to the AP. Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein will appear before Shelby's subcommittee in his stead, Sessions said.
I previously accepted an invitation to testify on behalf of the Department of Justice before the House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees about the Department's FY18 budget, which funds the Department's efforts in several important areas such as combatting the opioid crisis and violent crime. Some members have publicly stated their intention to focus their questions on issues related to the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, from which I have recused, and for which the Deputy Attorney General appointed a Special Counsel. In light of reports regarding Mr. Comey's recent testimony before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, it is important that I have an opportunity to address these matters in the appropriate forum. The Senate Intelligence Committee is the most appropriate forum for such matters, as it has been conducting an investigation and has access to relevant, classified information. Therefore, I am pleased to accept the invitation to appear before members of that committee on June Therefore, I am pleased to accept the invitation to appear before members of that committee on June 13th. Accordingly, Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein, who has operational and budget responsibilities for the Department, will appear before the Senate and House Appropriations Subcommittees on Tuesday. I firmly believe in the mission of the Department of Justice, and I believe that appropriations hearings are an important way for both Congress and the American people to learn about the vital work that dedicated Department employees do every single day to ensure the fair administration of justice. I appreciate your commitment to our efforts.
CNN reported on Friday that Comey told members of the intelligence committee that the FBI had been investigating the possibility that there was a third undisclosed meeting between Sessions and Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak that allegedly took place at Washington's Mayflower Hotel in April 2016.
Sessions recused himself in March from a federal investigation into contacts between Russia and President Donald Trump’s campaign after acknowledging that he had met with Kislyak twice, despite telling Senators at his confirmation hearing in January that he had not met with any Russians during the campaign.
The Justice Department has said that while Sessions was at the Mayflower, for a speech by Trump, there were no meetings or private encounters. Comey said during his testimony that the FBI had expected Sessions to recuse himself weeks before he actually did, but declined to elaborate on these claims in the open session, the New York Times noted.
It is unclear whether the upcoming intelligence committee hearing will be open or closed, according to CNN.Many people are aware of the "Aero Wars" of 1969 and 1970 in NASCAR, when Chrysler and Ford reshaped their cars in radical ways to make them go faster. While pushing the bounds of what could plausibly be called "stock" cars, the companies raced—and sold to the public—some of the most outlandish cars ever built in Detroit. And one of the lesser known cars–the Charger 500–is also the rarest of the bunch.
By the mid-1960s, the automakers realized that sheer horsepower was not enough to win on the big tracks of NASCAR. Sure, they could push a car into the 180+ mph range, but at those speeds the cars often became unstable. And there was the problem of diminishing returns. The faster a car is pushed into the air, the more horsepower it needs to get more speed. Chrysler brought in rocket scientists to study the problem and they pointed to the obvious answer: streamlining.
In 1968, Dodge had released a new body style for the Charger. It won awards, sold well, and raced horribly. The car had an indented grille and the rear window was also recessed. In a wind tunnel the car was a catastrophe. Too much air got under the car and the air that went over swirled over the trunk. Someone suggested making the grille flush with the leading edge of the hood and filling in the cavity at the rear. Wind tunnel tests confirmed that this would solve many of the car's problems.
At the time, NASCAR required at least 500 cars to be sold to the public for a car to be considered "stock." When the tests confirmed improvement with the modifications, Dodge gave the go-ahead for the cars to be sold to consumers. Dubbed the "Charger 500," The car was unveiled to the press in June 1968 and then pitched to the NASCAR czar, Bill France. France had no problem with the car being allowed to race except he objected to a spoiler Dodge wanted to place under the car's front bumper.
NASCAR was hesitant about any aerodynamic modifications on the cars.
NASCAR was hesitant about any aerodynamic modifications on the cars which made them look more like race cars and less like street cars (The opposite of today). France met with Chrysler engineers to discuss the Charger 500 and told them his only objection was the front spoiler. John Pointer, an outspoken Chrysler aerodynamicist, noted to France that the car he had driven to the meeting–an Indianapolis "Pace Car" Camaro–had a front spoiler on it. Apparently unware of the fact, France got on his hands and knees in the parking lot to inspect the car's front spoiler.
The memo went out July 18, 1968 to Dodge dealers, telling them the 1969 Dodge Charger 500 would be available in very limited numbers. Initially, dealers were told the car would only be available with the 426 Hemi. Dodge shipped unfinished 1969 Chargers to Creative Industries and let them install the grille, front spoiler, rear window plug, and chrome a-pillar covers which the engineers had also found helpful in the wind tunnel. Dodge also decided to make the car available with a 440. Base price was $3,843 and a Hemi would bump that up by $648. Most experts think the cars were sold at a loss.
But somewhere along the line, Dodge either lost interest in building the street cars or someone noticed that France wasn't counting how many cars were actually being built. Most agree that only 392 Charger 500s were built and sold to the public. And for those who are curious, none of those were ever raced. The cars NASCAR drivers and others raced were simply the ones they had been racing when the modifications were announced. Chrysler sent the parts necessary to turn a regular Charger into a 500 to the teams racing the Chargers and they simply upgraded their rides.
Everyone knows the rest of the story: The Charger 500 did not dominate or compete at the level Chrysler had hoped. They pulled out all the stops in their next effort when they built and sold the Dodge Charger Daytona with its nosecone and huge wing. That one was sold in appropriate numbers for NASCAR homologation, with 503 turned loose on the streets. And while those are highly sought after in the collector market, many people have forgotten that the interim Charger 500 is actually a rarer car. And the prices of the 500s are climbing. They will probably never reach the values of their winged brethren but a nicely maintained example sold at auction in 2014 for $181,500. Not bad for a car which retailed for $5,821.91.
Steve Lehto is a writer and attorney from Michigan. He specializes in Lemon Law and frequently writes about cars and the law. His most recent books include Preston Tucker and His Battle to Build the Car of Tomorrow, and Dodge Daytona and Plymouth Superbird: Design, Development, Production and Competition. He also has a podcast where he talks about these things.According to a study conducted by the Children's Hospital Boston, approximately 25 percent of gay teens in Massachusetts have no place to call home. They're not necessarily living on the street. In this case, "homeless" means the students have no permanent address -- they could be staying with friends or extended family. But the lack of a stable home can negatively affect a student's performance in school, and makes dropping out more likely. The study is summarized in this release from the hospital:
Roughly 1 in 4 lesbian or gay teens and 15 percent of bisexual teens are homeless, versus 3 percent of exclusively heterosexual teens, finds a Children's Hospital Boston study of more than 6,300 Massachusetts public high school students. Moreover, among teens who were homeless, those who were gay, lesbian or bisexual (GLB) were consistently more likely than heterosexuals to be on their own, unaccompanied by a parent or guardian.
The study, published online July 21 by the American Journal of Public Health, is the first to quantify the risk of homelessness among teens of different sexual orientations with population-based data. "Prior studies in homeless street youth have found that sexual minorities occur in much higher numbers than we'd expect based on their numbers in the community in general," says Heather Corliss, PhD, MPH, of the Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine at Children's, the study's first author. "This study looked at the magnitude of the difference for the first time."Russia has not sent Mikoyan MiG-31 supersonic interceptors to Syria and does not intend to operate the aircraft in the war-torn country, CEO of Russian Aircraft Corporation MiG Sergei Korotkov stated refuting recent rumors.
Refuelling Tuesdays — MiG 31 being refuelled somewhere over Russia [920 × 1213] — #army #military pic.twitter.com/a6gajWu9cQ — Army Complex (@ArmyComplex) 11 августа 2015
"We did not deploy [the MiG-31s] to Syria and we have no plans to operate them there," Korotkov asserted.
On Monday, unconfirmed reports surfaced that six Russian MiG-31s landed in Syria as part of an arms deal allegedly signed in 2007. The aircraft were said to have arrived at a Mezze Airbase on the outskirts of Damascus a day earlier.
Mig-31 foxhound pic.twitter.com/dK0A8Sn35a — Ahmad Rizky R (@AhmadRizky80) 17 мая 2015
© Sputnik / Vitaliy Ankov Russian MiG-31 Successfully Downs Cruise Missile in Military Drills
The supposed delivery, according to the Turkish BGN News agency, reflects Russia's intent to help Damascus counter the Islamic State.
The MiG-31 (NATO reporting name: Foxhound) made its maiden flight in 1975. Manufactured by the Russian Aircraft Corporation MiG, it is in service in Russia and Kazakhstan. The Russian Air Force is expected to operate the supersonic interceptor until at least 2030, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.
The MiG-31 is designed to detect and destroy air targets at extremely low, low, medium and high altitudes, at day and night time and in any adverse weather conditions. IHS Jane's described the supersonic interceptor as a "highly capable platform that features some of the latest sensor and weapons fits."20 years ago, one album changed music for an entire generation. Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic and Butch Vig talk to Steve Lamacq about the heady days of Nevermind's gestation.
20 years ago, one riff changed music for an entire generation. 'Smells like Teen Sprit' swept away the last shreds of hair metal and opened hearts and minds to alternative rock.
In 1991, Nirvana were a relatively unknown alternative rock three-piece from the state of Washington, in North West USA. Their debut album 'Bleach' on Sub-Pop has sold modestly. When 'Smells Like Teen Spirit', first single from 'Nevermind', was released, nobody was prepared for the frenzy that followed.
'Nevermind', which initially failed to trouble the charts on it's release on Sept 24th 1991, began to pick up sales on the back of the relentless and growing popularity of 'Teen Spirit'. By January 1992 the album had knocked Michael Jackson off the number 1 slot. 'Nevermind' went on to shift more than 30 million copies worldwide and the Nirvana's dissonance defined how rock music sounded during the 90's.
In this programme, Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic and Butch Vig talk to Steve Lamacq about the heady days of Nevermind's gestation and the explosive times following it's release.Breaking News: 2016 Lexus GS-F To Be Announced in Detroit Auto Show
We knew it would come, and finally it is here: the 2016 Lexus GS-F.
Today Lexus released two teaser photos of a new high performance F models, which is to be debuted in next month’s Detroit Auto Show. Although Lexus did not say what model it is, but judging from the exterior styling and also the distance between the front axle and the engine bay’s firewall, we are almost certain that it is the long-rumored GS-F sedan.
Teaser
The GS-F is said to be equipped with a 500hp 5.0L V8 engine. We will know the exact number on Jan. 13, 2015, when Lexus hold the press conference during the auto show.
Below is the short press release.
Lexus announced it will be adding a second vehicle to its growing stable of F brand high performance models. Earlier this year, the luxury manufacturer launched the RC F, a V8 powered performance coupe.
The newest Lexus F brand vehicle will make its global premiere at the 2015 North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) on Jan. 13. The vehicle will be revealed at a press conference in the Lexus display space at Cobo Center on Tuesday, Jan. 13 at 8:40 a.m. EST.
Feel free to leave a question or share an opinion in the comment box below.
YouWheel.com is dedicated to bringing you the best automobile news, reviews,tips, test drives & technical talk, throughout the auto industry. Visit our Member Center & Blogs at http://youwheel.com/welcome/ Sign up and become a Free YouWheel.com Member todayAng Lee Will Direct the Pilot for FX’s New Drama 'Tyrant,' From the Creators of 'Homeland'
Less than a month ago Ang Lee won the Oscar for Best Director. So, naturally, along comes the news that for his next trick, he’s headed for the small screen.
FX announced today that the “Life of Pi” auteur will direct the pilot for the network’s new project “Tyrant,” a drama from “Homeland” producers Howard Gordon and Gideon Raff (the creator of the original Israeli show “Prisoners of War” on which the Showtime hit is based) as well as “Dirty Sexy Money” creator Craig Wright.
“Tyrant” will be Lee’s first project post-“Life of Pi” as well as his first venture into television. “Tyrant,” which hasn’t yet been picked up to series but seems a pretty safe bet to get a season order, is about an unassuming American family that gets drawn into the workings of a turbulent Middle Eastern nation.
READ MORE: ‘Homeland’ Creator Gideon Raff Lands New Project ‘Tyrant’ at FX
Raff created “Tyrant” and wrote the pilot, while Wright will serve as the showrunner if “Tyrant” is ordered to series. Gordon, Raff and Wright are all executive producers in association with Keshet Broadcasting — the project is being produced by Fox 21 and FX Productions.
“Ang Lee has demonstrated time and again an ability to present characters with such depth and specificity that they reveal the universal human condition,” said FX’s John Landgraf in the announcement “No one could be a more perfect film maker to bring Howard Gordon, Gideon Raff, and Craig Wright’s ‘Tyrant’ to indelible life.”
Production is tentatively slated to begin this summer.
Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.Finding No. 5824 – This multi-mode Morgan Poll on Federal voting intention was conducted via face-to-face and SMS interviewing over the last two weekends of September 13/14 & 20/21, 2014 with an Australia-wide cross-section of 2,922 Australian electors aged 18+, of all electors surveyed 2.5% did not name a party.
In mid-September ALP support rose to 54.5% (up 0.5%) increasing their lead over the L-NP 45.5% (down 0.5%) on a two-party preferred basis. If an election had been held the ALP would have won easily according to this week’s Morgan Poll on voting intention conducted with an Australia-wide cross-section of 2,922 Australian electors aged 18+ over the last two weekends.
Primary support for the ALP rose to 37.5% (up 0.5% over the past fortnight) whilst L-NP primary support was up 0.5% to 38.5%. Support for the other parties shows The Greens rose to 12% (up 1.5%), the Palmer United Party (PUP) 4.0% (down 0.5%) while Independents/ Others fell 2% to 8%.
Support for PUP is highest in the three States that elected Palmer United Party Senators: Queensland (7%), Western Australia (5%) and Tasmania (4%). Support for PUP is lower in the rest of Australia: Victoria (3%), New South Wales (2.5%) and South Australia (2%).
Analysis by Gender
Analysis by Gender shows ALP support well ahead amongst women: ALP 57% cf. L-NP 43% on a two-party preferred basis. However, men also support the ALP 51.5% cf. L-NP 48.5%
Analysis by Age group
Analysis by Age group shows the ALP still with its strongest advantage among younger Australians. 18-24yr olds heavily favour the ALP (76.5%) cf. L-NP (23.5%); 25-34yr olds favour the ALP (62.5%) cf. L-NP (37.5%); 35-49yr olds favour the ALP (55.5%) cf. L-NP (44.5%); 50-64yr olds favour the ALP (53%) cf. L-NP (47%); only those aged 65+ still clearly favour the L-NP (60.5%) cf. ALP (39.5%
Analysis by States
The ALP maintains a two-party preferred lead in all Australian States except Queensland. New South Wales: ALP 55% cf. L-NP 45%, Victoria: ALP 55% cf. L-NP 45%, Western Australia: ALP 56.5% cf. L-NP 43.5%, South Australia: ALP 56% cf. L-NP 44% and Tasmania: ALP 55.5% cf. L-NP 44.5%. Queensland is level pegging: L-NP 50% cf. ALP 50%
Roy Morgan Government Confidence Rating
The Roy Morgan Government Confidence Rating has risen to 95.5pts this week (up 0.5pts over the past fortnight). Now 42.5% (down 0.5%) of Australians say Australia is ‘heading in the wrong direction and 38% (unchanged) say Australia is ‘heading in the right direction&rsquo
The Morgan Poll surveys a larger sample (including people who only use a mobile phone) than any other public opinion poll. The Morgan Poll asks Minor Party supporters which way they will vote their preferences. *News Corp’s poll does not measure or reference the PUP vote!
The Morgan Poll allocated preferences based on how people say they will vote – allocating preferences by how electors voted at the last Federal Election, as used by News Corp’s poll*, show the ALP (53.5%) cf. L-NP (46.5 %) – for trends see the Morgan Poll historic data table.
Gary Morgan says:
“Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s decision to commit 600 Australian troops to Iraq has failed to boost the Government in today’s Morgan Poll. This is unusual as the Morgan Poll has shown on past occasions that external security threats usually favour the incumbent Government. This was the case in early 2003 in the run-up to Iraq War and also in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
“In addition, Prime Minister Abbott lifted the Australian terrorism alert to high for the first time ten days ago (September 12, 2014) just before this polling period began. However, in contrast to what the Morgan Poll has shown in the past the L-NP has received no ‘poll boost’ in the past fortnight with the ALP (54.5%, up 0.5%) increasing their two-party preferred lead over the L-NP (45.5%, down 0.5%).
“The small boost in support to the ALP comes despite a special snap SMS Morgan Poll last week showing a narrow majority of Australians (54%) approving of Abbott’s decision to send 600 Australian troops to Iraq against 46% that disapprove. Interestingly, the snap SMS Morgan Poll showed a majority of men and Australians aged 35+ approved of sending the troops whereas a majority of women and Australians aged 18-34 disapproved.
“Supporting the sentiment amongst younger Australians against sending Australian troops to Iraq is a strong swing to the ALP amongst 18-24yrolds in today’s Morgan Poll. Now a huge 76.5% (up 15.5%) of 18-24yr olds support the ALP cf. 23.5% (down 15.5%) support the L-NP on a two-party preferred basis.
“The extensive raids carried out last week against potential terrorists in Australia have had a strong impact on the electorate with a separate special snap SMS Morgan Poll last week showing a narrow majority of Australians (52.5%) support the death penalty being imposed for people convicted of a terrorist act in Australia that kills someone compared to 47.5% that are opposed. This is the first time a majority of Australians have favoured the death penalty being imposed for any crime since 1995 when 53% of Australians supported the death penalty for convicted murderers.”
Electors were asked: “If an election for the House of Representatives were held today – which party will receive your first preference?” Visit the Roy Morgan Online Store to browse our range of Voter Profiles by electorate, detailed Voting Intention Demographics Reports and Most important Political Issue Reports (all 150 electorates ranked by an issue).
Finding No. 5824 – This multi-mode Morgan Poll on Federal voting intention was conducted via face-to-face and SMS interviewing over the last two weekends of September 13/14 & 20/21, 2014 with an Australia-wide cross-section of 2,922 Australian electors aged 18+, of all electors surveyed 2.5% did not name a party.
For further information:
Contact Office Mobile Gary Morgan: +61 3 9224 5213 +61 411 129 094 Michele Levine: +61 3 9224 5215 +61 411 129 093
Data Tables
Federal Voting Intention Summary - House of Reps (%)
Two Party Preferred Vote (%)
Australia Heading in the "Right" or "Wrong" Direction
Margin of Error
The margin of error to be allowed for in any estimate depends mainly on the number of interviews on which it is based. The following table gives indications of the likely range within which estimates would be 95% likely to fall, expressed as the number of percentage points above or below the actual estimate. The figures are approximate and for general guidance only, and assume a simple random sample. Allowance for design effects (such as stratification and weighting) should be made as appropriate.Dagenham & Redbridge winger Jordan Maguire-Drew knows quick-fire goals helped kill of Bromley
Jordan Maguire-Drew of Dagenham & Redbridge celebrates scoring at Bromley (pic: David Simpson/TGS Photo) ©TGS Photo tgsphoto.co.uk +44 1376 553468
On-loan youngster feels two speedy goals for Daggers proved fatal for Ravens’ hopes of success
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Jordan Maguire-Drew feels two quick-fire goals for Dagenham & Redbridge during the second half of a 3-1 win at Bromley in the National League nullified any potential threat the Ravens offered.
A first goal for Corey Whitely since joining Daggers from Enfield Town put the visitors ahead at Hayes Lane, but Rob Swanie equalised for the hosts in the 50th minute.
However, goals from Maguire-Drew and Oliver Hawkins put the Essex club back in front and they never looked back as John Still’s men held on to remain top of the National League.
And the teenage winger believes the victory, Daggers’ fourth in a row, was down to how quickly the Victoria Road side scored their second and third goals.
“It was a great performance all-round, Bromley are a tough side to beat,” said Maguire-Drew. “They’re big, strong and physical, but when we got the second and third goals in quick succession, that was it.
In the build-up to Maguire-Drew’s goal, Swaine was dismissed for fouling Fejiri Okenabirhie with the Bromley defender picking up his second yellow card.
And the on-loan Brighton & Hove Albion winger admits that further aided Daggers, who were able to add a third soon after with Hawkins netting from the spot after Maguire-Drew was fouled in the box.
“They’d had a man sent off and the game opened up. We executed the game well, it was great game management from us,” he added.Two young Thais accused of defaming the monarchy in a university play have been jailed for two and a half years, as the ruling military government intensifies a crackdown under the controversial lese majeste law.
Student Patiwat Saraiyaem, 23, and activist Porntip Mankong, 26, were sentenced on Monday after pleading guilty to defamation following their arrests last August, nearly a year after "The Wolf Bride", a satire set in a fictional kingdom, was performed.
The pair were originally sentenced to five years in prison each but the term was reduced to two years and six months due to their confessions, said a judge at Ratchada Criminal Court in Bangkok.
"The court considers their role in the play caused serious damage to the monarchy and sees no reason to suspend their sentences," he said.
The pair had each been charged with one count of lese majeste linked to the performance at Bangkok's Thammasat University, which marked the 40th anniversary of a pro-democracy student protest at the campus that was brutally crushed by the military regime in October |
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