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: High-chaos action, low-chaos stealth, and even some hands-on time of our own in the "clockwork mansion" of Kirin Jindosh. And now we've got a new trailer that delves into the creation of Karnaca, where different cultures have come together over the centuries to create a vibrant and diverse city "on the edge of the world" that's very different from the Dunwall of the first game—but in some ways, very much the same.
The geographical linchpin of Dishonored 2 is a massive, twin-peaked mountain that creates a "wind corridor" that drives the city's great turbines, and in turn impacts the design of its buildings and structures. It's also the home of silver quarries, and a very downtrodden district "where people suffer," as art director Sebastien Mitton explains. "Imagine how they think and how they survive in this district, that brought a lot of difference structures, like the wind breaker, the way the blocks in the district are shaped in diamond shapes to funnel the wind... It ends up with something really, really cool story-wise and visually."
Dishonored 2 comes out on November 11.There's no doubt R.J. Hunter can shoot the lights out, as he displayed by scoring 21 points in Sunday's 85-76 win. Hunter's stroke made him an appealing first-round prospect for the Boston Celtics, a team starving for three-point shooting after ranking 27th in the NBA last year. But it's his feel for the game and basketball IQ that will give him an opportunity to earn consistent minutes as a rookie.
"At this level you don't have to do a lot," Hunter said at his introductory press conference. "They already have a playoff team, so I don't have to come in here and be superman, which is perfect for me. I just use my feel, use my shooting, use my IQ, and I can come in here and compete and I'll fit in."
Hunter's years of experience and love for watching film has clearly paid dividends for him, as he is quickly acclimatizing to the speed of the NBA. One-dimensional players often find themselves riding the pine, but Hunter brings much more to the table.
Offensively, he makes plays for others and defensively he is reliable off-ball, both important skills for players looking to carve out a role. These attributes have been a pleasant surprise to those who didn't watch the sharpshooter play in college, but his father/coach says he's actually a better passer than a shooter.
"Everybody talks about his shooting, but he is an elite passer," Georgia State head coach Ron Hunter told Celtics.com in June. "He has a vision that's uncanny. A lot of it has to do with being a coach's son, but he sees things a little differently than most people."
Here, Hunter shows off his pure point ability by reading the defense and accelerating to penetrate the paint. He elevates and delivers a relatively accurate pass to a wide open Jonathan Holmes for the three. Hunter needs to work on his dribble drive game when attempting to score, but he's not limited since he's capable of making plays for others.
This play is something Brad Stevens could run for Hunter this season. Jordan Mickey set a down screen for Hunter, who sprints toward the middle of the floor to draw the attention of the defense. This sets up the pass for easy points. The timing is good and Hunter whips a dime to Mickey, while allows him to move seamlessly into the dunk.
"I love film," Hunter said at the NBA Combine. "You just get to see everything when you feel like you did something, but then you really see what you did. It comes naturally when you watch film. It helped me sharpen up and see the floor more. I thought it just gave me an extra edge."
That edge has helped Hunter rapidly adapt to Boston's system, and he'll continue to grow throughout the summer as training camp approaches. Plays on offense will always make the highlights, but it's his defense that will determine how much and how frequently he plays this season.
As was the case last year, both Gigi Datome and James Young were unable to earn consistent minutes down the stretch because they were unreliable on the defensive end. While Datome is an elite shooter, and Young theoretically is, shooting isn't enough if you're getting scored on with ease on the other end.
So far, Hunter has passed the eye test and has developed each game. He keeps his head on a swivel playing off-ball, and appears to be picking up man-to-man concepts quickly after primarily playing zone in college.
"Defensively he's picked up our stuff pretty well in just 10 days," Stevens said on the NBA TV broadcast. "He's got a ways to go and he'll get stronger, and he's got a lot of work ahead of him, but I like what he can do."
On this play, Hunter properly rotates over to the free throw line to run the big man off his shot, ultimately forcing a low percentage pull up jumper. The movement on the weakside led to an open rebound opportunity for the 76ers, but Hunter pushes his man out of the way to snatch the rebound and end of the possession.
These sequences are what separate him from other young players in the league, who tend to get lost off-ball or forget to box out.
Hunter's experience as an impactful zone defender clearly helps him. He averaged 3.9 steals per 40 minutes as a junior, which is partially due to the scheme that allowed him to roam, but he has excellent instincts and vision. With a high IQ, it's unsurprising he has caught on instantly.
This is a good example of where Hunter needs to improve, but also what he's naturally capable of. He's switched onto a point guard, and falls out of his defensive stance while being late to "ICE" the on-ball screen, both symptomatic of a player not completely adjusted to playing man-to-man.
But he does a great job of fighting around the screen and recovering to use his long wingspan to block the shot from behind. With his long arms and elite instincts, he's already threat to rack up deflections and contest shots. The ability is there, he only needs experience and physical maturation to take his defense to the next level.
And Hunter knows that he must; he said before the draft he plans on adding 5-10 pounds by the end of the rookie season and his early progression is already supportive of his historically high work ethic.
"Instead of being reactive, I try to be proactive," Hunter said. "I just try to stay two steps ahead of everything."
If R.J. Hunter continues being proactive throughout his rookie season with the Boston Celtics, it won't be long before he's a rotation player who is leaned on to drain threes and bring a lot more to the table.
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Here's my pre-draft scouting report of R.J. Hunter from my 2015 NBA Draft Guide.A TECH BLOGGER has ignited a major debate after writing a column for the BBC describing why she wants to be sterilised because she doesn’t want to have children.
Holly Brockwell also deactivated her Twitter account after the her column was published over the over the weekend, due to the number of creepy, abusive threats she got.
Brockwell’s article described how she chooses not to have kids, and that other methods of contraception are too invasive, or have too many side effects.
Yet despite repeated attempts, she has been unable to find a doctor to perform the operation, largely because medical professionals do not believe her choice should be honoured:
You may wonder why I don’t choose another, less drastic, form ofcontraception but the pill has been making me sick for years and the only other option is the coil, which I’m not willing to have because I know two people who’ve experienced horrendous side-effects.I don’t need reversible contraception. There’s a 10-minute keyhole operation that can solve this problem for good, and I can’t believe that at the age of almost 30 in 2015, I’m still having to fight to get it. We can choose to get pregnant at 16 but not to decline motherhood at 29. It seems our decisions are only taken seriously when they align with tradition.
The article spent some time on the front page of the BBC’s site, and triggered such an angry response from hundreds of readers that, when Brockwell was scheduled to host a Q&A with readers on Facebook, the BBC provided her with a security guard to take her from the car to the building.
Source: Facebook/100 Women
“In the half hour between it going up and me seeing it, the volume of stuff, and the harshness of stuff, was already worrying me and made me think uh, maybe this wasn’t going to be fine after all,” she said.
“There is no escape from it, it’s across all social channels, in my work email and my personal email. … I got a message from Linkedin!”
“There was a lot of nice comments as well I should say. But the sort of nastier ones were, ‘you’re really naive, you’re ignorant, you’re young, you’re stupid, you don’t know, you don’t know your own mind, you might change your mind, why should I have to pay for this, why shouldn’t sick children get treatment on the NHS because of you, why don’t you keep your legs closed.’”
The messages came “almost universally from men” she said. “I only noticed one woman.”
Brockwell has written about her mini-crusade to get sterilised before, once for The Guardian and once for The Daily Mail. She also got abusive messages from readers after those articles.
“There is a very small section of technology enthusiasts who know me because I’m a tech journalist and really decided to tear me to pieces.”“Those people specifically don’t like having women in technology, they don’t like women writing about it. Automatically, as a woman, you have to work so much harder to get any recognition at all, there’s hardly any of us in it, I’m not surprised.”
Brockwell said those men said things like, “Oh she’s nice to look at but she doesn’t know which end of a phone to use.”
One man said, “he’d like to crowdfund a laryngectomy for me so I wouldn’t be able to speak anymore. That really got to me.”
Source: Instagram
When asked why Brockwell keeps writing about sterilisation, given the troll penalty that comes with it, she said, “It’s really important that women speak out about it, because there are a lot of people that feel exactly the same way and it’s not really well known.
"I don’t think people understand how large the scale of people who feel this way is. So if people don’t read about it and they don’t hear about other people feeling the same way and they don’t get representation, then they don’t think other people feel that way and they feel alone, and they think it’s not a valid opinion to have.”
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“It helps people understand that it’s valid and fair, and it genuinely does help to get referrals for sterilisation because both times when I’ve managed to get GPs to agree with it, both times I took all my articles in and piled them on my GPs desk and she said, ‘OK fair enough we’ll discuss it then,’ after having said no four times.”
Another doctor said, “I wouldn’t have considered it if I hadn’t seen the article,” Brockwell said.
Business Insider - Jim EdwardsIn the past, there was no visual evidence when a crime took place, but the invention of surveillance cameras has changed all that. However, surveillance footage sometimes raises more questions than it answers. Even in those cases, it may provide an eerie chronicle of the last moments of a person’s life before that person becomes the victim of a baffling, unsolved mystery.
10 The Disappearance Of Steven Koecher
In April 2009, Steven Koecher quit his job in Salt Lake City and moved to St. George, Utah. After spending several months struggling to find a job, Steven abruptly left St. George on December 12, 2009. The following day, he telephoned two of his friends and claimed that he was in Las Vegas. Steven never offered any explanation for his trip, but his family believes that he may have been looking for a job.
These phone calls were the last time anyone ever heard from Steven before he mysteriously vanished without a trace. His abandoned car was located in a residential neighborhood in Henderson, Nevada, with wrapped Christmas presents that Steven had purchased for his family in the back of the vehicle.
Investigators eventually uncovered some surveillance footage of Steven taken on December 14, 2009, from a camera at a residence in the Henderson neighborhood. The video showed Steven parking his car, crossing the street, walking down the sidewalk, and then disappearing out of the frame. This was the last confirmed sighting of him.
No one understands why Steven parked his vehicle in this upscale neighborhood, which seemed like an unlikely place for him to become the victim of a violent crime. His cell phone signal was picked up at various locations by a tower several miles away, but the signal died after two days. With his employment and financial difficulties, some people have speculated that Steven may have staged his disappearance to start a new life. However, there has been no trace of him for nearly six years.
9 The Mysterious Death Of Alan Jeal
On February 25, 2014, a nude, male body washed ashore on a beach in Perranporth, England. The man was wearing only socks and one shoe, but the police also made another peculiar discovery. “A set of headphones were found in [the man’s] mouth, as well as a rolled-up sock,” said a police spokesman in an official statement in May 2014. “The white Apple iPhone or iPod style headphones, with volume control, were looped around the back of the sock and were trailing out of his mouth.”
A number of items were found nearby, including a jacket, a wallet, and a photo of a toddler. The victim was identified as 64-year-old Wadebridge resident Alan Jeal, and the toddler in the photo was Alan when he was two. While Alan did have surviving family, he was a loner, so suicide was considered to be a possibility. Alan had recently purchased a weighted training vest and ankle weights, which suggested that he may have been planning to drown himself. However, these weights were never found, and the unexplained injuries to Alan’s chest and head meant that foul play couldn’t be ruled out.
The day before his body was found, Alan had traveled from Wadebridge to Truro and was seen wandering through the area on closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage. The most intriguing video showed him speaking with individuals at a bus station in Truro, but they have never been identified. Alan also traveled to Newquay before taking a bus trip to Perranporth. He was last photographed in Perranporth at 10:27 PM on February 24, 2014.
The strangest detail from the CCTV footage showed Alan wearing a completely different jacket than the one found on the beach! The jacket that he wore in the footage was never recovered. The rest of his clothing and his bank and credit cards are also missing. No one knows what Alan was doing in Perranporth that night or how his body ended up in the water.
8 The Disappearance Of Pamela Butler
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWD8WsmKi0M?end=167
On February 12, 2009, 47-year old Pamela Butler called her mother from her home in Washington, DC, and said that her boyfriend, Jose Rodriguez-Cruz, was planning to take her out to dinner on Valentine’s Day. Sometime during the next few days, Pamela vanished without explanation.
When Pamela’s family searched her home, she was nowhere to be found. Even though both of Pamela’s vehicles were left behind, her keys, purse, and credit cards were gone. Strangely, some bedsheets were also missing from the house. Pamela was always concerned about her personal safety and had equipped her home with a high-tech security system with surveillance cameras at nearly every exit. However, an examination of the surveillance footage only raised more perplexing questions.
The last footage of Pamela showed her walking outside of her house to get the mail on February 12, but there is no sign of her leaving afterward. The following day, Jose Rodriguez-Cruz is shown arriving at Pamela’s house, where he claimed that Pamela suddenly broke up with him without explanation and kicked him out.
Throughout the next three days, the surveillance footage showed Jose entering and exiting the home on numerous occasions. Jose claimed that he was picking up his personal belongings and that Pamela was not there during this time period, but no footage exists of Pamela exiting the house.
The only exit point which wasn’t covered by a surveillance camera was a trio of first-floor windows, and one of them was found unlocked. In spite of some suspicions about Jose’s story, there were no signs of foul play in the home or any evidence that a crime had been committed. Pamela Butler’s disappearance remains a baffling mystery.
7 The Disappearance Of Dale Kerstetter
Photo credit: Unsolved Mysteries via Wikia
In 1987, 50-year-old Dale Kerstetter was employed as a security guard at the Corning Glassworks plant in Bradford, Pennsylvania. On the evening of September 12, Dale arrived at the plant to work the graveyard shift. The following morning when another security guard showed up to relieve Dale, he was inexplicably missing.
Dale’s truck was still in the parking lot, and his keys and other personal items were left behind. It was soon discovered that $250,000 of platinum pipe had been stolen from the plant. The situation became even more perplexing when investigators checked the plant’s security tapes.
Surveillance footage showed that an unidentified masked man had entered the plant sometime during the night. At one point, Dale was seen leading this man through the building and staring directly at the camera. Upon first glance, it seemed like the intruder was forcing Dale to take him to the area where the platinum was stored, but the footage made it impossible to determine whether Dale was under duress or working in conjunction with the thief.
Dale was in debt at the time, so there was speculation that he may have been involved in the heist and skipped town with his share. The plant’s management seemed to think that Dale stared directly at the camera to taunt them. However, Dale’s family never believed that he was involved and suspected that he was an innocent murder victim.
Indeed, the surveillance footage also showed the masked intruder wheeling a large bag out of the plant, which could have contained Dale’s body. Whatever the truth, Dale Kerstetter has not been seen in nearly 30 years.
6 The Murder Of Nurin Jazlin Jazimin
One of the most horrific unsolved mysteries in the history of Malaysia is the murder of an eight-year-old girl named Nurin Jazlin Jazimin. Nurin lived in the Wangsa Maju township of Kuala Lumpur. On the evening of August 20, 2007, she left her home to go to a nearby market and never returned home. According to witnesses, an unidentified man forced Nurin into a white van.
On the morning of September 17, a sports bag was found in front of a shop in Petaling Utama. It contained the nude body of a young girl with a cucumber and eggplant stuffed into her genitals. She was soon identified as Nurin Jazlin Jazimin. Nurin had died before she was found, and bruises on her neck seemed to indicate strangulation. It appeared that Nurin had been kept alive for nearly a month to be abused and tortured.
When investigators checked CCTV footage in the area, they saw a motorcyclist dropping off the bag containing Nurin’s body in front of the shop, which was closed at the time. While doing so, the man was speaking on his cell phone, but unfortunately, the image was too blurry to make out his face or the license plate on the motorcycle.
One hour later, the CCTV showed a woman loitering in the same area before she was picked up by three men in a van, who chatted with her for several minutes before driving away. Once again, the footage was too blurry to obtain any useful information.
However, none of the featured individuals seemed to acknowledge the bag on the ground, suggesting that they may have been involved in Nurin’s death. Sadly, this hideous crime remains unsolved.
5 The Disappearance Of Jesse Ross
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZZCkUNle5c?end=278
In 2006, 19-year-old Jesse Ross was a sophomore majoring in communications at the University of Missouri–Kansas City. On November 18, Jesse and several students in his program were invited on a trip to Chicago to participate in a program called the “American Model United Nations.” Three days later as the program was ending, the students were invited to a dance at the Four Points Sheraton Hotel from 10:00 PM to 3:00 AM.
However, at 2:00 AM, they were assembled for a mock “emergency” United Nations Security Council meeting. A half hour later, Jesse left the room, telling everyone that he was leaving for a 30-minute break. He never returned.
Surveillance footage provided the last confirmed sighting of Jesse, filming him in a hotel elevator before he walked through the lobby toward the main doors at approximately 2:30 AM. Initially, it was speculated that Jesse had attempted to return to the Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers, where the students were staying.
With the hotel less than a block away, the walk there would have taken 10 minutes. In spite of the late hour, the route between the two hotels was well lit and not known for being dangerous. The problem was that it was also lined with multiple security cameras, but none of them captured any footage of Jesse.
One theory was that Jesse wandered off and fell into the nearby Chicago River. Although there are contradictory accounts about whether he was drinking that night, witnesses say that he didn’t look intoxicated. Furthermore, his body wasn’t found in the river. It’s almost like Jesse Ross simply vanished into thin air.
4 The Disappearance Of Trevor Deely
In 2000, 22-year-old Trevor Deely (in an age-progressed photograph above) was employed at the Bank of Ireland Asset Management (BIAM) in Dublin. On the evening of December 7, he and his coworkers attended the bank’s Christmas party, but they also went to a number of other locations before eventually ending up at a nightclub.
At approximately 3:30 AM, Trevor left the club and walked to BIAM headquarters, where he had coffee with a coworker who was working late. Soon afterward, CCTV footage captured Trevor exiting BIAM. With no cab service because of an ongoing taxi strike, he had grabbed an umbrella from his workplace because there were heavy rains that night. The last sighting of Trevor was CCTV footage of him passing a security camera at a nearby Bank of Ireland ATM at 4:14 AM. After that, he vanished without a trace.
Even though the footage placed Trevor at nearby Baggot Street Bridge, a search of the Grand Canal failed to find his body. However, there were some intriguing clues. When CCTV footage originally captured Trevor arriving at his workplace, another man was seen standing near the back entrance. But this man was not seen in the footage of Trevor exiting the bank.
However, approximately 30 seconds after Trevor passed the ATM security camera, another man with an umbrella was seen walking by. Although investigators believe that the man standing outside BIAM headquarters and the man passing the ATM are probably two different people, neither has ever been identified. So no one knows if they have any connection to Trevor’s disappearance. Despite a high-profile campaign to locate him, Trevor Deely has never been found.
3 The Murder Of Jane Rimmer
On June 8, 1996, 23-year-old Jane Rimmer spent the night partying with friends in the Claremont suburb of Perth, Australia. After drinking at the Continental Hotel, Jane and her friends went to Club Bayview, a nearby nightclub. But they didn’t enter the club, instead opting to go to a friend’s house to continue their partying.
At around midnight, the group returned to the Continental Hotel, where Jane decided to go home. Jane’s friends left in a taxi, and this was the last time they saw her alive. On August 3, her body was discovered over 40 kilometers (25 mi) away in a remote area near Wellard.
It’s believed that Jane was the victim of an unidentified serial killer, who was also responsible for the murders of two other young women in Claremont during this time period: Sarah Spiers and Ciara Glennon. Even though her body was never found, Spiers disappeared in January 1996 after leaving the Club Bayview, so her case and Jane’s appear to be connected.
In Jane’s case, the only major lead is some CCTV footage from outside the Continental Hotel, which showed an unidentified man approaching her shortly after she split from her friends. The man appeared to be speaking with Jane before the footage suddenly switched to a different view of the hotel. Within a few minutes, both Jane and the man were gone, but the footage did not capture either of them leaving. It’s unknown if this man was responsible for Jane Rimmer’s disappearance, but he has never been identified. The identity of the notorious Claremont serial killer also remains a mystery.
2 The Disappearance Of Mari Ann Fowler
Photo via YouTube
In 2000, Jerry Fowler, the elections commissioner for the state of Louisiana, made the news when he received a five-year sentence in a Texas federal prison for bribery. Two years later, his 65-year-old wife, Mari Ann Fowler, made headlines for different reasons.
On Christmas Eve in 2002, Mari Ann was on her way from Louisiana to Texas to visit her incarcerated husband when she stopped at a Subway sandwich shop at a strip mall in Port Allen. Shortly after purchasing some food, Mari Ann disappeared. Her vehicle was left behind with wrapped Christmas presents inside, and her food, purse, and keys were scattered in the parking lot. Some false fingernails were also found on the ground, which likely came off when Mari Ann struggled with an attacker.
Investigators checked footage from a nearby surveillance camera. Although it was hard to see anything at first, the FBI eventually enhanced the footage enough to make out the image of Mari Ann being forced into a Chevy pickup truck before it sped out of the strip mall parking lot. Unfortunately, the footage was not clear enough to provide an adequate shot of the assailant.
The most likely suspect is Derrick Todd Lee, the notorious Baton Rouge serial killer, who is currently on death row for the murders of at least seven women. Lee owned a pickup truck similar to the one seen in the surveillance footage, and cell phone records placed him in Port Allen on the day of the abduction. However, there has never been enough evidence to conclusively link him with Mari Ann Fowler’s disappearance. To date, she has not been found.
1 The Murder Of Matt Flores
Photo credit: Unsolved Mysteries via Wikia
After a stint in the Army, 26-year-old Matt Flores got a job at a computer company called Applied Materials. On the morning of March 24, 1994, Matt showed up for training at their headquarters in Silicon Valley. As he stepped out of his vehicle in the parking lot, he was shot in the back of the head at point-blank range.
Amazingly, the murder took place in broad daylight when 20 other people were in the lot. But even though many of them heard the gunshot, no one caught a glimpse of the killer before that person fled the scene. Matt left behind a wife and eight-month-old daughter and appeared to be a well-liked guy with no skeletons in his closet. His murder resembled a professional hit, but why was he targeted?
Even though there were security cameras throughout the parking lot, Matt’s murder took place in a blind spot and was not recorded. However, the surveillance footage did reveal one curious lead. Approximately 20 minutes before the shooting, a Ford Explorer pulled into the parking lot. It appeared to be following a white vehicle which bore a resemblance to Matt’s car.
Shortly thereafter, the footage captured the Explorer exiting the lot. It returned one minute later and then disappeared out of camera range. Not long afterward, Matt’s vehicle arrived. Two minutes later, the Explorer sped out of the lot. It seems likely that the driver of the Explorer was the killer, and it’s been theorized that Matt might have been an unfortunate victim of mistaken identity. No one has ever uncovered the full truth behind Matt Flores’s murder, which was essentially the perfect crime.
Robin Warder is a budding Canadian screenwriter who has used his encyclopedic movie knowledge to publish numerous articles at Cracked.com. He is also the co-owner of a pop culture website called The Back Row and recently wrote the award-winning script for a short film called Indefinite Late Fee. Feel free to contact him here.The dust has begun to settle on the annual college football coaching carousel and — brace yourself for the shock — it’s been another banner winter for middle-aged white guys, who are a perfect 14-for-14 in filling available FBS openings. In order to help you distinguish one receding hairline from the next, we’ve put together this handy, highly scientific ranking of the new hires, from the most likely to succeed to the least. Remember: Success is defined differently at Nebraska than it is at, say, Tulsa, and all hires are graded according to that curve.
Illustration by Matt Hinton
1. Michigan
Jim Harbaugh elevated Stanford from laughingstock to BCS winner in four years. Jim Harbaugh took a dormant 49ers franchise to three consecutive NFC Championship Games and a Super Bowl. Jim Harbaugh swam the length of Lake Erie in the dead of night with a briefcase full of vital documents tied to one leg and an Asian carp clamped to the other. Jim Harbaugh infiltrated the North Korean regime on a humanitarian mission. Jim Harbaugh escaped from Alcatraz. Jim Harbaugh is featured on bass in rare bootleg sessions with Frank Zappa, Warren Zevon, and Prince. Jim Harbaugh single-handedly opened, stocked, and staffed a sustainably sourced soup kitchen. Jim Harbaugh led a ragtag band of light Numidian cavalry across the Alps. Jim Harbaugh ghostwrote an entire season of Frasier (one of the good ones). Restoring Michigan to a status worthy of the winged helmet will be the easiest job Jim Harbaugh has ever had.
2. SMU
Everything that could have gone wrong for SMU in 2014 did go wrong, pretty much right from the start. But if Chad Morris isn’t right for this job, it’s possible no one is. Like Baylor’s Art Briles, architect of one of the sport’s all-time overhauls just down I-35, Morris is already familiar to Texans as a longtime high school coach, having won state championships in 2008 and 2009; also like Briles, Morris was an early adopter of the up-tempo/no-huddle system that has subsequently overtaken the college ranks, and successfully adapted his system to the FBS level as Clemson’s offensive coordinator.
Hop on the Coaching Carousel Track the firings, hirings, and general madness during college football’s silly season. The last coach to leave SMU with a winning record was Bobby Collins in the mid-’80s, on whose watch the program was temporarily nuked by the NCAA; since suffering the “Death Penalty,” the Mustangs have lost at least five games every year, giving them one of the worst winning percentages in the nation. But there’s more than enough talent in Texas to go around for a coach who knows the backroads, and the guy who changes SMU’s fortunes will climb to the next rung on the career ladder — possibly in Austin when the Longhorns run out of patience with Charlie Strong? — in short order.
3. Pittsburgh
Regardless of the coach, Pitt is a perfect little marvel of mediocrity: Since 2010, the Panthers are 33-32 overall under three different full-time head coaches and just put the finishing touches on their fourth consecutive 6-6 regular season. In Pat Narduzzi, though, at least they have a fairly good idea what they’re getting. Narduzzi has spent the last 11 years as a defensive coordinator under scowly boss Mark Dantonio (first at Cincinnati, then at Michigan State), and he arrives with a clear mandate to remake the Panthers in the defensively driven image of MSU, a longstanding also-ran itself that has quietly won 11 games or more in four of the past five years on the strength of its defense. All those gritty, blue-collar, off-to-the-mills-in-our-hardhats groaners people love to trot out in reference to Pittsburgh? In the case of a Narduzzi defense, they might actually apply.
4. Houston
The other coveted Big Ten assistant this winter was Ohio State offensive coordinator Tom Herman, whose offense lit up Narduzzi’s defense (among many others) this season and made Herman the winner of the Broyles Award as the nation’s top assistant coach, an honor that went to Narduzzi in 2013. At 39, Herman is joining a long list of Urban Meyer sidekicks who have graduated to head-coaching gigs of their own, a tree that includes Texas’s Charlie Strong, Mississippi State’s Dan Mullen, and Utah’s Kyle Whittingham, just to name the most prominent. Presumably, he also hopes to follow the trajectory of two recent Houston coaches, Briles and Texas A&M’s Kevin Sumlin, who lit up scoreboards with the Cougars and subsequently lit up their bank accounts in more high-profile posts nearby.
Although he’s an Ohio native, note that Herman spent the first decade of his career bouncing between multiple Texas schools, including a stint with the Longhorns as a graduate assistant under Mack Brown, and figures to be very much in the mix in Austin if/when the hourglass runs out on Strong.
5. Oregon State
Anne Peteson/AP
There’s still no obvious explanation for Gary Andersen’s decision to bail on Wisconsin after two perfectly respectable years there, and given the limited market for behind-the-scenes intrigue in Madison, there probably never will be. Just how badly does the situation have to curdle before a similar salary in Corvallis starts to look like a more attractive option? From Oregon State’s perspective, though, Andersen is an ideal catch: At 50, he’s a known quantity with a winning track record at both Wisconsin and (more impressively) Utah State, and he’s not necessarily looking to parlay a solid run at OSU into a better gig because, well, he just left a better gig. If the Pacific Northwest weather better suits his clothes — or the academic requirements better suit his recruits, or whatever it was that soured him on Wisconsin — Andersen could be around for the long haul.
6. Wisconsin
After watching Andersen and his predecessor, Bret Bielema, skip town for jobs that were lateral moves at best, the most ringing endorsement for Paul Chryst at Wisconsin is that he actually wants to be there. Chryst is a cheesehead to the bone: He was born in Madison, played quarterback at Wisconsin, and before taking over the top job at Pittsburgh spent seven years (2005-11) as the Badgers’ offensive coordinator, a span that included five top-20 finishes and back-to-back Rose Bowl bids in Chryst’s last two years. His head-coaching record at Pitt was somewhat less inspiring, as discussed above. At Wisconsin, though, he knows exactly what he’s walking into in terms of recruiting, assistant coaches’ salaries, and working under athletic director/head coach emeritus Barry Alvarez; if anything, Chryst’s Badgers should go right on Wisconsining as effectively as ever. If the school can’t make this marriage work, something is rotten.
7. Tulsa
Had SMU not beaten them to the punch, the Golden Hurricane might have taken a swing at Morris, a prospect who initially entered the college ranks as a Tulsa assistant. Instead, Tulsa made an even more direct bid for “the next Art Briles” by hiring Baylor offensive coordinator Philip Montgomery, a longtime Briles acolyte from the high school ranks on up. Although the Bears’ offensive exuberance has always been attributed to Briles, Montgomery actually called the plays the past two years for the top scoring attack in the nation. At Tulsa, he’ll inherit an offense that ranked 103rd and 96th in scoring the past two years, and saw both the win-loss record and attendance dip accordingly.
8. Florida
Phil Sandlin/AP
Most fan bases greet their new coach with a combination of enthusiasm and relief. Occasionally, there’s an element of surprise, and maybe a few notes of skepticism. But rarely if ever can I recall anything like the collective shrug that accompanied the extended public courtship between Florida and Jim McElwain, who is qualified for the job in the same way that a new pair of pants are qualified to be a Christmas gift. They’re nice enough, they’re functional, and, if they fit, you can look forward to having them around for a long time with minimal maintenance.
Like his doomed predecessor, Will Muschamp, McElwain is a product of the Nick Saban coaching tree, having overseen Alabama’s offense en route to national championships in 2009 and 2011. Unlike Muschamp, who had never been a head coach before landing in Gainesville, McElwain also padded his résumé with a three-year stint as the top dog at Colorado State, which produced a steady increase from four wins in 2012 to eight in 2013 to 10 last year. All that really says about his prospects at Florida is that the Gators didn’t hire a random person off the street. Beyond that, the next three to four years are anyone’s guess.
9. Colorado State
The Rams’ last hire worked out so well that they decided to tap another SEC coordinator to be a first-time head coach. Georgia offensive coordinator Mike Bobo arrives from a long, underrated tenure at his alma mater with the same objective in Fort Collins that McElwain had: Deliver a winning record, get a handle on the big-picture CEO aspects of the job, and wait for a more high-profile gig to float gently into his lap a few years down the line. Until then, Bobo will have All-American wide receiver Rashard Higgins at his disposal for at least one year, further reducing the chances that he’ll ever heed Georgia fans’ demands to run the dang ball.
10. Nebraska
Other than Harbaugh, Mike Riley is the most accomplished head coach on this list, having forged a perennial overachiever from a historical backwater in Oregon State. (Riley also has nine years under his belt as a head coach in the pro ranks, a stint notable mainly for two Grey Cup championships with the CFL’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers |
-standing, lightweight tents are relatively rare, but are great in cold weather because your body weight and your gear are enough to keep them from blowing away without staking in the relatively protected campsites you find on the AT. They also can be set up in the rain without the living compartment getting wet. They’re not ideal for hot and humid weather however, when you’d be a lot more comfortable switching to a tarp tent.
Freestanding Tents:
If you were thinking about hiking the AT in March (or earlier) and using the lean-tos since they won’t be full, I’d urge you to reconsider. Sleeping in a shelter with one open wall in freezing and windy weather where it’s so cold that you need to spend every second of a 14 hour night on your sleeping bag is the pits. There’s really no comparison between that and sleeping in a comfortable, windproof freestanding tent, even if it weighs a bit more to carry.
How to Decide?
I’ve covered a lot of different tent and shelter options above, but how do you decide which one to bring? I think the most important factors depend on the weather you plan to hike in and your personal comfort needs.
If the ground is still frozen and it’s impossible to drive stakes into it, I’d recommend using a freestanding tent because you don’t have to stake it out and they can be set up in rain without the inner tent becoming wet.
After nighttime temperatures rise consistently over 40 degrees, I believe a hammock is the best option, as long as you augment it with some bottom insulation like a foam pad or underquilt. Different amounts of insulation are needed as temperatures increase, but the ease of finding campsites and the ability to set up a dry shelter in the rain are the chief selling points of hammock-based shelter systems. If you don’t like sleeping in a hammock, you’ll be more comfortable switching to a tarptent which provides better ventilation as the heat and humidity of spring and summer increase.
Whichever shelter you choose, don’t forget that you have the option to hike the Appalachian Trail in warmer weather, deferring thru-hikes or section hikes to a later date when you need to carry less insulation (clothing and sleeping) and lighter weight shelters.
Disclosure: Philip Werner purchased all of the shelters photographed in this post with his own funds, but has received sample products for review from several other manufactures listed over the years including Hyperlite Mountain Gear, Six Moon Designs, and Hummingbird Hammocks.
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CHICAGO, IL – In an effort to increase resident satisfaction and curb the current epidemic of burnout in health care professionals, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) has published new guidelines to limit resident work hours to no more than 168 per week.
“We recognize that that burnout is multifactorial but long, grueling hours are certainly part of the equation,” said ACGME spokesperson Bernie Blight in a written statement to the press earlier this morning. “We spoke with interns, residents, program directors, and leading experts on burnout across the country, and have decided that this was a necessary course of action.”
The ACGME has made strides in curbing hours over the past decade, but many critics argue they didn’t go far enough, that they could go further. The new ACGME guidelines should appease most if not all of them.
“By ensuring that our interns and residents work no more 168 hours per week or 24 hours per day, we can ensure they have time to eat properly, exercise, rest their minds, and come back to work refreshed and recharged,” continued Blight. “I have full confidence, starting with our current generation of young medical professionals, we will make burnout a thing of the past.”
Experts in health care policy predict the ACGME recommendations will have a snowball effect, leading other major professional organizations to issue similar recommendations and help increase morale among all health care professionals, something at record lows and whose current state is best described as “FML.”
One organization actively drafting new guidelines is the American Nurses Association (ANA).
“Not only do we fully support the guidelines as set forth by the ACGME for its residents,” commented ANA spokesperson Rebecca Lassitude, “but we are currently drafting guidelines in parallel to decrease nurses work hours to no more than 200 per week.” Lassitude hopes to release the nursing guidelines next month, calling them a “no brainer.”Scientists and environmental groups warned that urgent action was still needed to rescue the world from climate change, despite the deal sealed on Sunday morning in Durban after two weeks of talks.
Andy Atkins, executive director of Friends of the Earth, said: "This empty shell of a plan leaves the planet hurtling towards catastrophic climate change. If Durban is to be a historic stepping stone towards success the world must urgently agree ambitious targets to slash emissions." Although governments managed to find a last-minute deal that should lead to the first legally binding global agreement on climate change covering developed and developing countries, they did not discuss whether their pledges to cut emissions would prevent dangerous levels of global warming.
Under the Durban agreement, governments will now spend four years negotiating how far and how fast each country should cut carbon emissions.
Atkins said the science was clear – the current emissions targets set by developed and developing countries were inadequate, and if they were not strengthened, the poorest would be hurt most. "Millions of the poorest people around the globe are already facing the impacts of climate change – countries like the US who have done most to create this crisis must now take the lead in tackling it," he said.
Other environmental groups and scientists agreed.
"What is positive in Durban is that governments have reopened the door to a legally binding global agreement involving the world's major emitters, a door which many thought had been shut at the Copenhagen conference in 2009," said Bill Hare, director at Climate Action Tracker.
"What remains to be done is to take more ambitious actions to reduce emissions, and until this is done we are still headed to over 3C warming. There are still no new pledges on the table and the process agreed in Durban towards raising the ambition and increasing emission reductions is uncertain in its outcome."
Bob Ward of the Grantham Institute at the London School of Economics said the current pledges from countries to cut their greenhouse gas emissions were not enough to hold global temperatures to 2C above pre-industrial levels, beyond which scientists say climate change becomes catastrophic and irreversible.
He said that, according to the United Nations environment programme, countries' current emissions pledges would collectively mean that global annual emissions of greenhouse gases would be about 50bn tonnes in 2020, similar to the total in 2011.
But to have a 50-50 chance of avoiding global warming over 2C, scientists estimate that global annual emissions would need to fall to about 44bn tonnes in 2020, to less than 35bn tonnes in 2030 and less than 20bn tonnes in 2050.
Ward said: "[That means the current] pledges for emissions reductions are not consistent with the two degrees target, although they would, if delivered, move us halfway between 'business as usual' and the path on which we would need to be in 2020."
Several participants in the talks said current pledges had been covered at last year's conference in Cancún where countries confirmed their emissions targets. Instead, this year was about diplomacy: chiefly, the issue of whether countries should be bound to cut emissions through an international treaty, or should make voluntary pledges. The question has dogged the talks for over a decade.
At the climate summit in Copenhagen in 2009, nations failed to write a treaty though they did sign up to a lesser form of agreement, in which the world's biggest emitters – developed and developing – set out targets to curb their carbon by 2020.
However, the targets that have been set will be subject to review from 2013-15 to decide whether they should be toughened, especially in the light of a scientific report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change due out in 2014. The climate change secretary, Chris Huhne, said: "The direction of travel is clear – the targets can only be strengthened. The scientific evidence is growing clearer."
For some, including the US and China, this "pledge and review" process of voluntary pledges offers an adequate way of ensuring carbon is reduced globally. But for others, including the EU and many developing countries, it is inferior to a legally binding international treaty, because the voluntary process is too prone to politicians reneging on their commitments.
Brazil's chief negotiator, ambassador Luiz Alberto Figueiredo, said: "This is a landmark achievement that creates real possibilities for scaling up the fight against climate change. It's an excellent text that clearly sets points of action, points of commitment, and timetables, and it is legally-binding, so it is extremely effective, potentially, for responding to the need of climate change. We got what we came to Durban to get.''
In return for the Durban agreement, the EU conceded to developing country demands to continue the Kyoto protocol after its current emission-cutting targets expire next year.
The EU is the only major developed country bloc to agree to a continuation. Japan, Canada and Russia have all refused, and the US has never ratified the pact.WASHINGTON -- Two weeks ago, much of the political and legal world thought it would be unthinkable for the Supreme Court to overturn President Barack Obama's signature health care law. Now, following several unnerving days of oral arguments, Democrats are frantically considering how they would respond should the Affordable Care Act be ruled unconstitutional.
The law's proponents have always challenged the idea that the law's individual mandate could be replaced with an alternate provision, though progressives like Howard Dean have insisted that enough people can be compelled to buy insurance without strict financial penalties to make an alternative feasible.
Equally debatable is what type of political response will work best were the Supreme Court to strike down the law. Some believe that it would be best for Obama to simply move on to another legislative goal. Others in the party see value in focusing attention on the individual provisions that would be overturned, such as the end of discrimination against people with pre-existing conditions.
Then there are those who think the president could do well by squarely targeting the Supreme Court, accusing the justices of rank partisanship and judicial activism. On Monday morning, Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.), a member of House Democratic leadership, joined that camp.
"Well, in terms of the Congress, I believe that it would be off base for us to [go after the Court]," he said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe." "But for the president, I don't think it is. I think the president ought to take a look at what went on in the years before. We have seen presidents run against Congress and we have seen presidents run against the Supreme Court. Franklin Roosevelt did it to the Supreme Court; Truman did it to the Congress. I think that the president would take a look at exactly what he needs to do to connect with the American people. Let them know he has done everything that he can possibly do. And ask them to give him a mandate for the years going forward."
With his remarks, Clyburn becomes one of the highest-ranked Democrats to express support for turning the court's political make-up into a campaign issue. Others have preceded him to that conclusion. Neera Tanden, the president of the liberal think tank Center for American Progress, for example, predicted that there would be a negative reaction against an "activist court rendering a partisan decision" should the Affordable Care Act be overturned.
Meanwhile, the pro-health care reform group Protect Your Care recently told the Washington Post that it would shift its focus from promoting the law toward going after the court, should a negative decision be handed down.In Texas this week, Pence told families, “We are working with leaders in Congress to ensure that this never happens again.” That’s a lie, which should be surprising for a man who wears his faith on both sleeves. But it is not unusual for Pence. PolitiFact rated 48 percent of his statements false or mostly false. He has learned from his master.
Here’s what the administration is actually doing: In one of his first acts as president, Trump signed a bill making it easier for the mentally ill to buy guns.
Pence can sound insipid on any topic. When the tape emerged last year of Trump boasting about how to be a sexual predator and get away with it, Pence urged his ticket mate to pray. His piety is the cover for Trump’s amorality.
I’m not against people of faith in public life. The left should be faulted for intolerance of those who express belief in a higher power or religious tradition. But I’m with the first Catholic president, John F. Kennedy, who famously said, “I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute.” In that, he stands with the Constitution.
Pence calls himself a Christian first, a conservative second and a Republican third. Since taking the oath of office, he’s supposed to be a citizen first. But Pence is a theocrat — one who hasn’t had a new thought in years — and that’s why he sounds so vacuous.
As governor of Indiana, he signed a measure that legalized discrimination against gays and made his state a pariah. It was only under pressure from the business community that he was forced to retreat. Still, his long record of anti-gay actions prompted even Trump to joke that Pence wants to “hang them all.” The White House denied the quote.
As Jane Mayer documented in her portrait of Pence in The New Yorker, he is also the ultimate corporate tool. The Koch brothers own him. He has called climate change “a myth” and has helped to plant fossil-fuel toadies in crucial Trump administration posts.
Pence learned gasbagging for God as a talk-radio host, calling himself “Rush Limbaugh on decaf.” It’s a job that requires someone to fill hours of empty air with hours of empty nonsense. As vice president, he has refined the role.Londonist
Is It Time For London To Try Basic Income?
Charlie Chaplin in Modern Times — we don't have to live like this.
Whether it’s confronting the escalating cost of housing, the increase in precarious and temporary work, the proliferation of foodbanks, or an increasingly punitive welfare system, London is becoming a difficult place to live for many people.
One possible solution to these problems is to introduce what’s known as Unconditional Basic Income (UBI), a proposal now attracting a lot of buzz in Europe. UBI is the provision of a fixed income for every qualifying citizen irrespective of work or monies accrued elsewhere. It has the potential to reduce working hours and completely alter lifestyle priorities. Sounds crazy? Maybe — but this year the Dutch city of Utrecht said it will run a major trial, while Switzerland has gone further and is set to hold a national referendum on its introduction. The Finnish government is also considering an €800 per month dividend for all its citizens.
It may seem like a radical notion — Utopian even — but with others willing to give it a run up the flag pole, why not London too? It’s surely an idea worth looking at, especially in light of the ongoing assault by this government on our welfare system. If the old system really isn’t fit for purpose, why not work for one that is?
There is a growing movement in the capital for UBI; just this month, a forum featuring musician Brian Eno, anarchist-anthropologist David Graeber and economist Frances Coppola took place. Basic Income UK also hosts popular debates in London about the topic, while the Citizen’s Income Trust has mocked up a cost-analysis of how the policy might work in practice.
Why is the idea of Unconditional Basic Income making waves?
One key argument for adopting basic income — counterintuitive though it may sound — is that it could help tackle unemployment. When people are in receipt of a sufficiently high basic income, which does not taper away as income gained through work increases, they will be more willing to take on lower paid work. If work only ever provides extra income, rather than cutting into benefits, there is always an incentive to work. The new Dutch experiments are intended to measure these work-incentive effects to see what will happen in practice. Opponents who argue that introducing basic income will turn people into lacklustre zombies, unwilling to participate in the labour market, are basing their view on blind prejudice and most experts predict that the trials will see a boost in productivity as people will start to choose their own endeavours.
Photo by Christopher Andrews.
How would we implement UBI in London?
An obvious starting point in any discussion of basic income is: how much would everyone get? Would someone living in one of the poorer boroughs get the same amount as someone living in, say, Kensington? A large part of the idea’s charm is the massive reduction of bureaucracy it would accomplish — something that has the potential to be cheered at both ends of the political spectrum. This charm dissipates once you start reintroducing new rules and stipulations. In other words, yes, in the name of bureaucratic simplicity the UBI will be the same wherever you live, but if you’re living in more expensive parts of London, the cost of living means you’re effectively paying a premium (importantly though, UBI will be there to help pay that premium).
With this in mind, there are probably going to be different answers to organisational issues like: exactly how much UBI is provided, who is to be recognised as a ‘qualifying citizen’, and what other policies will accompany its introduction? In London, for example, without substantial and bold moves on housing policy — including building new properties, introducing rent caps and improving tenant security — any increased income could simply be soaked up by landlords who would be more than happy to take advantage of newly-injected monies.
One possible way to move toward implementing the idea would be to run pilot schemes like those in The Netherlands — something London has shown willingness to do with similarly unconventional concepts such as the Brixton Pound. Why not run a scheme where recipients of housing benefit in one London borough get a small, additional basic income on top? That would provide a way to trace the effects in a limited way. Or perhaps, more entertainingly, we could ask the BBC (whose license fee we pay for) to run a reality show like Life On Benefits, so we can learn more.
A golden future for all?
Some advocates believe Unconditional Basic Income could offer a more human alternative to today’s economic and political system which tends to treat people like drones who exist simply to produce, consume and occasionally vote.
Andre Gorz, the late Austrian-French social philosopher, envisaged UBI as the means by which tedious, dangerous and unedifying work could be replaced by the free-association of individuals. His vision sees people co-developing their imaginative and creative capacities away from the banalities of the workplace. Think of The Clash as a loose example: they were explicit defenders of the role the dole played in their own artistic endeavours (back when the dole was £9.70 a week). Essentially, they made state-sponsored punk rock which would probably never have happened were it not for the time and space they got to spend on their art instead of living hand-to-mouth as they looked for menial work. Now think of all the great stuff we’re not enjoying as a result of current welfare legislation policies. And think of all the potential for income-generating creative endeavours if basic income schemes were rolled out.
Does the policy have a chance in the current domestic climate?
At first blush, the answer would seem to be a resounding no. A government intent on austerity is not going to have much truck with this kind of welfare reform. A slightly more optimistic answer to the same question though might be: we don’t know until we try.
People often cite the gains made by civil rights and feminist movements to suggest that what we currently regard as impossible will be seen as common sense tomorrow. There is an obvious truth to these claims but those fights were long and hard fought and depended on a convergence of various lines of political, economic and social fracturing. We may see similar fractures today, but do we have a clear sense of how to confront them? How long will it take us to learn to navigate our new realities with the same political expertise that arose in times of perhaps more clearly-defined injustice?
One thing is obvious: we are collectively confronting some seismic challenges at the moment, in London, in the UK and on across Europe. An idea like Unconditional Basic Income might seem radical, but its growing popularity represents the recognition that the old strategies are no longer up to muster and that serious, fresh new thinking for the future is required. A new year is upon us; do we really want to head into it without considering such promising new possibilities?
By David Jenkins, a political theorist at the Institute Of Human Sciences, ViennaCLOSE In a statement, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said, "We will hold the Trump administration accountable." Wochit
Stock photo (Photo: Getty Images)
Thinking of buying a new car in a few years? California officials threw their latest punch Friday in an escalating war with President Donald Trump over how much carbon it will spew and many miles it will get to the gallon.
State officials filed a strongly-worded declaration challenging the Trump administration’sefforts to roll back greenhouse-gas and mileage standards that were imposed during the Obama presidency.
“We oppose any weakening, for any model year,” read the statement submitted with federal officials by the California attorney general’s office and the California Air Resource Board.
The state’s filing, submitted to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, represent the latest chapter in a battle that has been escalating for months. The Trump administration, responding to pleas from the automobile industry, said it would reconsider standards requiring that new cars sold between 2021 and 2025 reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about one third. Those same rules would raise average fuel mileage by roughly 40 percent, to 50.8 miles per gallon by 2025.
“We are going to ensure that any regulations we have protect and defend your jobs, your factories, we’re going to be fair,” Trump said in March at a rally of autoworkers in Ypsilanti, Mich.
California officials said relaxing the standards would worsen climate change and cited “the latest scientific analyses” suggesting that global warming worsened the effects of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria.
“We cannot allow this to happen. The need is too great,” read the state’s filing, authored by Air Resources Board Executive Officer Richard Corey and David Zonana, supervising deputy attorney general.
Ordinarily, mileage and pollution standards are set by the federal government. But California has a good deal of muscle in how the rules are made. The federal Clean Air Act allows the state to impose rules that are stronger than the federal government’s, if California can get permission from the U.S. EPA. The law also allows other states to adopt California’s rules as their own.
The fight between California and Trump has put automakers in an awkward spot.. While they favor easier restrictions on mileage and carbon, they don’t want to wind up building cars to two sets of standards: one for California and the 12 other states that adopted California’s stance on greenhouse gases, and one for every other state. That would be prohibitively expensive.
“Harmonization between the federal and California programs must be maintained,” the Association of Global Automakers said in its filing this week with the EPA and the highway safety agency.
Read or Share this story: https://www.vcstar.com/story/news/2017/10/06/state-steps-up-trump-fight-over-car-standards/742245001/An article by James Delingpole appears in the Daily Mail today under the headline ‘The crazy climate change obsession that’s made the Met Office a menace’.
This article contains a series of factual inaccuracies about the Met Office and its science, as outlined below.
Firstly, he claims the Met Office failed to predict snow in 2010, but our 5-day forecasts accurately forecast 12 out of 13 snowfall events – as you can see in this article. In addition the Press Complaints Commission has also already addressed this fallacy with the Daily Telegraph in February of last year. As a result the newspaper published a clarification that highlighted that “the Met Office did warn the public of last winter’s [2010/11] cold weather from early November 2010.”
Mr Delingpole also says we failed to predict flooding in November last year. Once again, our 5-day forecasts gave accurate guidance and warnings throughout the period. In just one example of feedback the Met Office has received for highly accurate forecasting and guidance throughout 2012, Assistant Chief Constable Paul Netherton, Chair for the Local Resilience Forum for Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly (which was one of the areas most affected by flooding in November), said: “[I] would like to formally thank and recognise the hard work of the Met Office over the past week. The information you provided was invaluable and enabled the responders in Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly to prepare and respond effectively to assist our communities.”
Mr Delingpole then inaccurately states that the Met Office has conceded ‘there is no evidence that ‘global warming’ is happening’. We have not said this at any point.
In fact, we explicitly say this was not the case in an article, posted on the home page of our website and widely circulated, which was written in response to articles about updates to our decadal forecast. Professor Julia Slingo, Met Office Chief Scientist, has also provided a more in depth feature on ‘Decadal Forecasting – What is it and what does it tell us?’.
Further on in the print version of the article (although amended online), Mr Delingpole says “According to the Met, Britain is apparently experiencing more rain by volume and intensity than at any time since records began.” Although he is right in saying the Met Office has published preliminary observations which show an increase in the intensity and volume of rain, we are clear that this relates to a period from 1960 onwards – not ‘since records began’ as he claims.
He also states that the Met Office was trying to defend a narrative that the “the past ten years have been the ‘wettest decade ever’”. Again, this is not something the Met Office has ever said.
Also he quotes David Whitehouse of the Global Warming Policy Foundation saying that the Met Office ‘thinks weather forecasting is beneath it’ and that ‘climate change… brings in more money’.
A cursory glance at our annual report and accounts (pdf) would reveal weather forecasting represents the vast majority of the Met Office’s contractual work on behalf of the public.
There are also a number of other accusations which cannot be substantiated.
Mr Delingpole does quote Dr Whitehouse saying “when it comes to four or five day weather forecasting, the Met Office is the best in the world.”
This supports the view of the World Meterological Organization (WMO) which consistently ranks the Met Office in the top two operational forecasters in the world.
Our reputation for forecasting accuracy is based on our commitment to provide the world’s best weather and climate service which helps protect lives and property here in the UK and around the world.A massive solar eruption, called a coronal mass ejection, can be seen blasting out from the sun's surface after powerful X1.6-class solar flare on Sept. 10, 2014. The joint NASA-European Solar and Heliospheric Observatory captured this view of the eruption, which was aimed at Earth.
Two waves of solar material blown out by powerful sun eruptions n this week are hitting the Earth now, and could amplify the aurora displays for observers in northern regions.
Scientists with NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colorado, expected the first wave of solar flare particles — unleashed by a so-called coronal mass ejection, or CME, on Monday (Sept. 8) — to reach Earth Thursday night (Sept. 11). A second wave, this one caused by a massive solar flare on Wednesday, is due to arrive between Friday and early Saturday.
"We do expect these storm levels to cause significant auroral displays across much of the northern U.S. on Friday night," SWPC Director Thomas Berger told reporters on Thursday. "With clear skies currently forecast for much of these regions, this could be a good opportunity for auroral sightings." [Amazing Aurora Photos of 2014]
A massive solar eruption, called a coronal mass ejection, can be seen blasting out from the sun's surface after powerful X1.6-class solar flare on Sept. 10, 2014. The joint NASA-European Solar and Heliospheric Observatory captured this view of the eruption, which was aimed at Earth. (Image: © ESA&NASA/SOHO)
The enhanced auroras would likely be most visible across the northern tier U.S. states, along the U.S.-Canada border, as well as in New England, added SWPC program coordinator William Murtagh. Clear, dark skies far from city light pollution are vital to observe any auroras.
The first of the two solar storm waves reached Earth late Thursday right on time, space weather center officials wrote in an update late Thursday. Also on Thursday, NASA released a new video of the X1.6 solar flare from its sun-watching Solar Dynamics Observatory, showing the event in two different wavelengths.
Coronal mass ejections are powerful eruptions of super-hot plasma than can be blown out from the sun during major solar flares. This week, the an active sunspot known as AR2158 sun fired off a moderate M4.6 solar flare on Monday, followed by a much more powerful X1.6-class flare on Wednesday, Sept. 10. X-class flares are the most powerful flares the sun experiences.
Sunspot AR2158 is about the size of between 10 and 20 Earths, but appears to be in the process of breaking up, Berger said. The huge X1.6 solar flare may have been its swan song as it breaks down, he added.
This NASA image shows the active sunspot AR2158, which unleashed a massive X1.6 solar flare on Sept. 10, 2014, as it appeared on Sept. 8, when it fired off a moderate M4.6 solar flare. On the right, Jupiter and Earth are superimposed to give a sense of the sunspot's size. (Image: © NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory (Little SDO)
The two solar flares this week were accompanied by coronal mass ejections, and both were aimed at Earth. When directly aimed at Earth, the most powerful solar flares — events stronger than the X1.6 storm on Wednesday — can pose a danger to satellites and astronauts in space, and interfere with communication, navigation and even power distribution surfaces on the Earth's surface.
Berger said that the two CMEs from this week's solar storms could cause some radio and GPS navigation system hiccups, as well as voltage irregularities in power grids of the northern United States, but nothing too extreme.
"We don't expect any unmanageable impacts to national infrastructure from these solar events at this time, but we are watching these events closely," Berger said.
The huge X1.6-class solar flare is seen erupting from the sun in this three-wavelength composite image captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Obervatory on Sept. 10, 2014. The solar flare occurred at 1:45 p.m. ET. (Image: © NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory (Little SDO)
Berger did say that it is fairly rare for two significant coronal mass ejections to hit Earth head-on at nearly the same time. A minor radiation storm was detected from the solar flares, as well as temporary radio blackouts, space weather officials said.
Space weather officials did say that the most intriguing aspect of this week's solar flares are their potential for boosting this weekend's northern lights displays.
When charged particles from solar storms reach Earth, they are funneled to the polar regions by the planet's magnetic field and can great so-called geomagnetic storms.
A minor G1-class storm is underway now, with levels expected to rise to a potentially strong G3-class by Saturday evening, Berger said.
When solar particles collide with the Earth's upper atmosphere, they let create a glow that can be visible from the ground as auroral light. In the northern regions of Earth, this glow is known as the aurora borealis, or northern lights. In the south, it is called the aurora australis, or southern lights. Significant solar flares can amplify those displays into dazzling dances of ethereal light.
Editor's note:If you capture an amazing photo of the northern lights this weekend and would like to share the images with Space.com, you can send photos and comments in to managing editor Tariq Malik at spacephotos@space.com.
Email Tariq Malik at tmalik@space.com or follow him @tariqjmalik and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.Mr. Comey, you are not alone. How many of us have played over and over in our minds an encounter that suddenly took a creepy, coercive turn? What did I say? Were my signals clear? Did I do something ambiguous? Did I say something compromising?
At a White House ceremony on Jan. 22, Mr. Comey reportedly tried to blend in with the curtains, so that he would not be noticed by the president. Mr. Trump called to him and pulled him, unwilling, into a hug. What woman has not tried to remain invisible from an unwelcome pursuer’s attentions?
To this series of bizarre interactions, in which he faced escalating pressure, Mr. Comey reacted with rising anxiety and distress. Time after time, Mr. Trump reverted to his questionable agenda, and Mr. Comey, at each pass, tried to parry the president’s unwanted advances.
This dynamic with the president became so disturbing to Mr. Comey that, after an Oval Office meeting in February, he implored the attorney general, Jeff Sessions, “to prevent any future direct communication between the president and me.” Mr. Comey did not want to be left alone with his boss again. We’ve been there, Jim.
In their final exchange, on April 11, Mr. Trump told the F.B.I. director, “I have been very loyal to you, very loyal; we had that thing you know.” On May 9, having rebuffed the president, Mr. Comey was fired.
“We had that thing.” Once more, the seducer asserts a shared intimacy that was not really there, attempting to ensnare his victim with an imputed complicity.
In the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape, Mr. Trump said of any woman he wanted: “I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.” And he added: “Grab ’em by the pussy. You can do anything.” With the power of the presidency at his disposal, Mr. Trump thought that he could use the psychology of coercive seduction on the nation’s chief law enforcement officer.
Victims of sexual harassment often face skepticism, doubts and accusations when they tell their story. That’s part of the predator’s power. But I’m here to tell James Comey, and all the women and men who have suffered at the hands of predators, I believe you.One frequently encounters the opinion that JavaScript’s prototypal inheritance is too complicated and that it needs classes to be more user-friendly. This post argues that this opinion is wrong.
Executive summary: The core of JavaScript’s prototypal inheritance is very simple, it is just obscured by an awkward way of creating instances via constructors. Therefore, we don’t need classes, we just need to fix constructors. Read on for three ways of doing so.
Prototypal inheritance is simple
var jane = { name: "Jane", describe: function() { return "Person called "+this.name; } }; console.log(jane.describe()); // Person called Jane
In one way, JavaScript is clearly superior to most class-based languages – you can directly create objects:jane is an object which has been created via an object literal. name and describe are properties. describe is a property whose value is a function. Such function-valued properties are called methods. An object literal looks like a dictionary (map), but it is a real object. In most class-based languages, you need a class to create one. Hence the singleton pattern
The core idea of prototypal inheritance is incredibly simple, much simpler than classes. What makes JavaScript so complicated is that this core idea is obscured by trying to make the creation of instances (of a given type) look like Java. The core idea of prototypal inheritance is: an object can point to another object and thus make it its prototype. If a property isn’t found in the object, the search continues in the prototype (and, if it has one, its prototype, etc.). That allows one to model jane and tarzan as “instances” of PersonProto:
var PersonProto = { describe: function () { return "Person called "+this.name; }, }; var jane = { __proto__: PersonProto, name: "Jane", }; var tarzan = { __proto__: PersonProto, name: "Tarzan", }; console.log(jane.describe()); // Person called Jane
jane and tarzan share the same prototype PersonProto which provides method describe() to both of them. Note how similar PersonProto is to a class.
Constructors. The default way of producing a factory for instances of PersonProto is via a constructor function (short: constructor). It is a normal function that is invoked via the new operator to produce an instance. In the following code, Person is a constructor. Person.prototype is the same object as PersonProto, it becomes the shared prototype of all instances of Person. Obviously, constructors correspond to classes in other languages.
// Constructor: set up the instance function Person(name) { this.name = name; } // Prototype: shared by all instances Person.prototype.describe = function () { return "Person called "+this.name; }; var jane = new Person("Jane"); console.log(jane instanceof Person); // true console.log(jane.describe()); // Person called Jane
function Employee(name, title) { Person.call(this, name); this.title = title; } Employee.prototype = Object.create(Person.prototype); Employee.prototype.constructor = Employee; Employee.prototype.describe = function () { return Person.prototype.describe.call(this) + " (" + this.title + ")"; }; var jane = new Employee("Jane", "CTO"); console.log(jane instanceof Person); // true console.log(jane instanceof Employee); // true console.log(jane.describe()); // Person called Jane (CTO)
Inheritance solution 1: minor language additions
The inheritance operator <| (read as “is extended by”): var Super = function () {... } var Sub = Super <| function () {... } The constructor Sub extends |
the stagger wears off of the staggered opponent. So the charging guy gets his half to full charge attack off, and then can get a block up just in time to prevent the jab-back. If you charge too long, you’ll still experience the Jab-Back, because the stagger on your enemy has ended. If you decide not to block after your charge attack, you can take another action instead like pushing or jabbing based on what you think your opponent will react with. We’ll refrain from giving you the actual math on the numbers we’ve changed because we want you focused on the feel, does it feel good or bad. Better or worse. Suffice to say, that we’re dealing with tiny fractions of a second here, and have only made very small changes to an already very fast system. If you feel like Jab-Back can still occur to you too much, try charging a little less, there is a sweet spot there that you can find with all three weapon speeds that prevents Jab-Back completely, and will allow you to get inside your opponent's head once again. This might not 'nail-it' but we're looking to take a small iterative step in the right direction with this change and not change the entire feel of the combat system. Your feedback on these changes will help us continue to tighten up melee combat.
Other Changes
Fix for picking up materials instead of crafting with a resource that was just spawned
Aiming sensitivity with ranged weapons is now adjusted properly when zooming, which broke last patch
Weather and Observation have had their art passes and are looking sick (like rad sick, not sick sick)
We’ll see you on the island!
Test Server Instructions
Anyone who owns the game should find “The Culling Test” in their Steam Library (you may need to restart your Steam client to see it). Once you’ve installed the test build, you will be able to join us in testing during designated times when the test servers are live. Solo, Teams, and Private Matches are all available.AMD has reportedly developed a smaller version of the processor found inside the Xbox One. A smaller chip would be cheaper to build (eventually) and create less heat which could ultimately translate into a slim version of Microsoft’s latest console according to a report from Eurogamer’s Richard Leadbetter.
The main processing chip inside the Xbox One today is built on a 28-nanometer manufacturing process. The new chip would be fabricated at 20-nanometer, if the rumor is to be believed.
The intel comes from the LinkedIn page of Daniel McConnell, AMD’s senior manager of System on a Chip (SoC) physical design. He mentioned that he successfully planned and executed the first APU for Microsoft’s Xbox One in 28-nanometer technology as well as a cost-reduced derivative in 20-nanometer.
Leadbetter speculates that the objective of the revised processor would be to offer the exact same performance as the current model. This opens the door to a much smaller cooling assembly which in turn could mean a thinner overall chassis. Using fewer materials to build a thinner console also means less packaging – even more savings.
He noted that a 30 percent performance boost from the chip is intriguing but not likely to materialize.
Further supporting the argument is the fact that Microsoft is looking to hire engineers to work on the overall Xbox One design. Of course, 20-nanometer chips are still cost prohibitive at this point and probably will be for a while due to high demand from smartphone manufacturers.One bad apple spoils the barrel, so the saying goes. But what if the barrel itself is rotten?
A number of studies have shown that seeing a peer behave unethically increases people's dishonesty in laboratory tests. What is much harder to investigate is how this kind of influence operates at a societal level. But that is exactly what behavioral economists Simon Gächter of the University of Nottingham in England and Jonathan Schulz of Yale University set out to do in a study published in March 2016 in Nature. Their findings suggest that corruption not only harms a nation's prosperity but also shapes the moral behavior of its citizens. The results have implications for interventions aimed at tackling corruption.
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The researchers developed a measure of corruption by combining three widely used metrics that capture levels of political fraud, tax evasion and corruption in a given country. “We wanted to get a really broad index, including many different aspects of rule violations,” Schulz says. They then conducted an experiment involving 2,568 participants from 23 nations. Participants were asked to roll a die twice and report the outcome of only the first roll. They received a sum of money proportional to the number reported but got nothing for rolling a six. Nobody else saw the die, so participants were free to lie about the outcome.
If everyone were completely honest about their die rolls, the average claim would be 2.5, whereas if everyone were maximally dishonest, all claims would be 5. Participants from nations with a high prevalence of rule violations (PRV) — including Georgia, Tanzania, Guatemala and Kenya — tended to claim more than those from low-PRV countries — such as Austria, the U.K., the Netherlands, Sweden and Germany — and average claims correlated with PRV values. In other words, the more corrupt the country, the more its citizens inflated the number they reported. These values were calculated using data from 2003, and the experiments were conducted between 2011 and 2014 using participants whose average age was 21 — too young to have personally influenced PRV ratings but old enough to have been influenced by social norms, implying that national corruption levels influenced participants' honesty, not vice versa.
“These researchers link a simple cheating test to real-world behaviors,” said behavioral scientist Amos Schurr of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel, who was not involved in the study. “This has never been done before.”
Encouragingly, the researchers found that there was a limit to people's dishonesty, even if they came from profoundly corrupt countries. Claims clustered around the number expected mathematically if, instead of outright lying, people shuffled the facts to report the highest roll instead of the first. “All around the world people are quite honest,” Schulz said. They tend to act according to “justifiable dishonesty,” but the benchmark of what is justifiable seems to vary slightly according to the level of corruption in one's homeland.
Classic economic theory assumes that people act to maximize their gains, but the finding that they do not lie outright fits with theories suggesting individuals have a psychological incentive to view themselves as honest. “You have competing forces: financial incentives and psychological incentives to keep an honest self-view, which balance out,” Schulz explained. “It's easier to keep a good self-image while being more corrupt if you see a lot of corruption around you.”
The findings imply that highly corrupt countries may be difficult to change because their citizens have been shaped by norms that permit dishonesty. Yet there is also a positive practical implication. Rather than tackling corruption by targeting institutions, we might do better to aim at young people. “Changing formal institutions will be hard, but institutions rely on people,” Schulz said. “It will take a long time, but I think it's a worthwhile path.”It wasn’t certain that Simunovic had registered in time to be eligible to play, but his inclusion in Celtic’s Europa League squad has put that issue to bed.
According to UEFA.com the Serbian is included in the squad for the start of the Europa league campaign, which gets underway on September 17th against Ajax in the Amsterdam Arena.
While it’s a relief that the 21-year-old made the squad, the omission of one player might be a bit harsh even at the tender age of 18.
Celtic academy player Kieran Tierney has failed to make the cut for Celtic’s Europa league squad for the group stages.
The latest signings Tyler Blackett and Scott Allan along with Jozo Simunovic have all been included in Celtic’s 23-man squad.
Two players that were linked with moves away from Celtic on deadline day, striker Anthony Stokes and winger Derk Boerrigter are also included.
Celtic will face off against Ajax, Fenerbahce and Molde in what is one of the toughest groups in this year’s competition. Dutch side Ajax have become regular opponents for Celtic in Europe over the last number of year’s.
It will be the first time they have faced a Turkish side in Fenerbahce and a trip to Ronny Deila’s homeland to face Norwegian champions Molde wraps up a very competitive Group A for Celtic.The Stone is a forum for contemporary philosophers and other thinkers on issues both timely and timeless.
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We have ideas, many of them, every day. We have them, but we don’t often reflect on them. Mostly they just come and go. How many ideas did you have today? What was their character? Some you might describe as big or small, simple or complex. Is it possible to gain a better understanding of ideas, their types and value to us? Is it possible to establish a taxonomy of ideas?
I’d like to try. I want to propose a taxonomy of ideas that invokes a three-way division: memes, dreams and themes.
Let’s start with a basic fact: It is characteristic of ideas to be shared by many minds. Why is this?
One reason is that ideas spread from one mind to another. Here, the concept of a meme comes in: A meme spreads like a virus from one mind to another, duplicating itself, colonizing new minds.
Once inside our heads, memes can vary from mild mental nuisance to dangerous ideology.
In modern life, we are immersed in memes — jingles, catchphrases, fads, fashions, crazes, religions, ideologies, mannerisms and accents. They spread by imitation and natural credulity, exploiting the receptivity of the human mind to new information and influence, forged in childhood. Uncritical copying is favored. People just can’t help picking stuff up, willy-nilly. Memes may also mutate and be subject to natural selection, sometimes proliferating wildly, before possibly going extinct. Thus ideas (in a broad sense) exist in many minds because they are memes: They have arrived there from somewhere else by means of meme transfer.
Memes are like computer viruses — they trade on the architecture of the system to insert themselves into the software. Once inside they can vary from mild mental nuisance to dangerous ideology. In some respects they work like a drug: They trigger reactions in our brains that take over our minds. That annoying jingle in your head is a meme playing with your brain chemistry. (Here I have paraphrased a concept originated by Richard Dawkins, who coined the term “meme.”)
The concept of the meme can be taken more or less widely. Some people take it to provide a general theory of human culture and idea transmission. I want to distinguish the meme from two other sorts of idea that are importantly different from it.
First, dreams. Dream ideas, like memes, are widely shared, with the same kinds of dream cropping up in widely different communities and cultures. And as with memes, these dream contents often seem arbitrary and pointless — despite being widely shared. Though the variety of dreams is essentially unlimited, there are types of dreams that most of us have regularly: dreams of falling, flying, being pursued, being embarrassed, missing trains or buses, being inadequately prepared, being incapacitated and finding an extra room in the house. (The last item is particularly peculiar: Why should so many people dream of that?) Dream ideas are not shared because they are transmitted like memes. They don’t spread like a virus from one mind to another; they are not the result of automatic imitation.
No one knows for sure why people dream as they do, though theories abound. But one thing is clear: It is not by means of imitation. Dreamers do not transmit their dreams to others by recounting them or otherwise making them public (say, by making a film embodying the dream). You cannot plant a dream in the mind of another. Yet people still tend to spontaneously have the same sorts of dream.
NOW IN PRINT The Stone Reader: Modern Philosophy in 133 Arguments An anthology of essays from The Times’s philosophy series, published by Liveright.
It’s possible that dream life can be influenced to some degree by shared culture in memelike fashion, but that does not explain shared dream content. Dreams seem to grow from within, like bits of anatomy. Memes are externally formed; dreams are internally formed. So dreams are not memes. They don’t spread from mind to mind by imitation or manipulation.
I call the third category themes — mainly for the sake of the rhyme, but also because it has a breadth that I want to emphasize. One of the salient features of memes is that they do not spread by rational persuasion — they spread by nonrational or irrational manipulation. But the spread of scientific ideas, to take the most obvious example, is not like that: They spread because they have been found to be true, or at least empirically confirmed. Thus Darwinism is accepted because of the overwhelming evidence in its support. There is no psychological exploitation at work here. The explanation for the spread of scientific ideas is simply the power of scientific method.
I hope what I have just said is completely uncontroversial, because now I want to court controversy. It would surely be wrong to restrict the nonmeme type of idea transmission to science: Many other disciplines involve shared beliefs, where these beliefs are shared for good rational reasons. Thus, history, geography, literature, philosophy, mathematics, music theory, engineering and cookery.
There is a large range of human cognitive activities in which ideas are shared by something other than meme propagation — not all of them counting as “science.” We clearly need to expand the notion of rationality so as to incorporate these areas. And there is no difficulty in doing so: There are standards of evidence and argument and intellectual rigor that characterize all these areas — it isn’t all jingles and ideology (despite what post-modernists may claim).
There is a difference between an annoying jingle and the opening of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony.
But, as always, matters get a bit more interesting when it comes to morals and aesthetics. Moral ideas spread, as do aesthetic ideas — is this kind of spread more like meme transmission or scientific communication? Compare an advertising jingle to the opening bars of Beethoven’s Fifth. Both may lodge in the mind against one’s will, there to repeat themselves endlessly; and they may be transmitted to others, for example by whistling. Are they both therefore memes? I would say not. There is a different explanation of the musical spread in each case: In the jingle case we have a meme, a worthless cultural trope that insidiously takes over the mind; but in the Beethoven’s Fifth case we have an aesthetically appealing and valuable musical theme. In the case of morals, one might cite the difference between the proclamation of universal human rights, a theme, and the spread by propaganda of racist ideology, a meme — one rational, the other irrational. And that is why I call my third category “themes”: Themes are cultural units with intrinsic value, which deserve to be spread and replicated. The reason they spread is that they are inherently good — meritorious, worthwhile — and are generally recognized to be so.
Notice here that we can distinguish themes from memes only by employing evaluative language, and by assuming that values play a role in cultural transmission. Themes spread because they have value (notably truth or rational justification), while memes spread despite having no value. It is the same with other aesthetic products, like art and literature. Famous lines from Shakespeare don’t spread because they are memes — worthless cultural viruses — but because they are judged to be aesthetically valuable, and rightly so judged. Nor is this a matter of high culture versus low culture: A good Beatles song is a completely different animal from a commercial jingle. The point is that the mechanism of transmission is quite different in the two cases, being more like science in the theme case, in contrast to your typical meme.
None of this is to say that memes and dreams cannot get mixed up in practice, or that it is always easy to tell the difference. There can be fads and fashions in science — memes masquerading as themes (the idea of a “paradigm shift” comes to mind); and not all art that is popular is good art (popularity as measured by the number of reproductions of a given picture adorning the walls of suburban homes). But there is a deep difference of principle here — there are two very different kinds of idea transmission.
Memes may disguise themselves as themes in order to gain a stronger hold, as with certain “scientific” ideologies, or kitsch art. The difference lies in the psychological means of transmission. Themes may spread from mind to mind in an epidemiological manner, even mutating as they spread, but the reason for their exponential spread is not the same as for memes. In the latter case it is brute susceptibility, but in the former case it is appreciation of merit. This is why we don’t resent the transmission of themes into our minds, while we do resent the insertion of memes. Theme transmission is genuine learning or improvement, but meme transmission involves no learning or improvement, merely mental infection.
Related More From The Stone Read previous contributions to this series.
One of the central questions of civilized life is which of one’s existing ideas are memes and which are themes: Which are absorbed because of mental manipulation, usually conformity and imitation, and which represent genuine value — scientific, moral, or aesthetic? That is, does one accept certain ideas for the right reasons? Does one’s personal culture consist of memes or themes? Is it merit or manipulation that explains the contents of one’s mind? That vital question is possible only if we refuse to extend the meme concept beyond its legitimate domain.
Colin McGinn has taught at various universities in England and the United States. His most recent book is “Prehension: The Hand and the Emergence of Humanity.”You don’t usually think of churches as going out of business, but it happens. In March, driven by parishioner deaths and lack of interest, the U.K. Mennonites held their last collective service.
It might seem easy to predict that plain-dressing Anabaptists—who follow a faith related to the Amish—would become irrelevant in the age of smartphones, but this is part of a larger trend. Around the world, when asked about their feelings on religion, more and more people are responding with a meh.
The religiously unaffiliated, called "nones," are growing significantly. They’re the second largest religious group in North America and most of Europe. In the United States, nones make up almost a quarter of the population. In the past decade, U.S. nones have overtaken Catholics, mainline protestants, and all followers of non-Christian faiths.
There have long been predictions that religion would fade from relevancy as the world modernizes, but all the recent surveys are finding that it’s happening startlingly fast. France will have a majority secular population soon. So will the Netherlands and New Zealand. The United Kingdom and Australia will soon lose Christian majorities. Religion is rapidly becoming less important than it’s ever been, even to people who live in countries where faith has affected everything from rulers to borders to architecture.
But nones aren’t inheriting the Earth just yet. In many parts of the world—sub-Saharan Africa in particular—religion is growing so fast that nones’ share of the global population will actually shrink in 25 years as the world turns into what one researcher has described as “the secularizing West and the rapidly growing rest.” (The other highly secular part of the world is China, where the Cultural Revolution tamped down religion for decades, while in some former Communist countries, religion is on the increase.)
And even in the secularizing West, the rash of “religious freedom bills”—which essentially decriminalize discrimination—are the latest front in a faith-tinged culture war in the United States that shows no signs of abetting anytime soon.
Within the ranks of the unaffiliated, divisions run deep. Some are avowed atheists. Others are agnostic. And many more simply don’t care to state a preference. Organized around skepticism toward organizations and united by a common belief that they do not believe, nones as a group are just as internally complex as many religions. And as with religions, these internal contradictions could keep new followers away.
Millennials to God: No Thanks
If the world is at a religious precipice, then we’ve been moving slowly toward it for decades. Fifty years ago, Time asked in a famous headline, “Is God Dead?” The magazine wondered whether religion was relevant to modern life in the post-atomic age when communism was spreading and science was explaining more about our natural world than ever before.
We’re still asking the same question. But the response isn’t limited to yes or no. A chunk of the population born after the article was printed may respond to the provocative question with, “God who?” In Europe and North America, the unaffiliated tend to be several years younger than the population average. And 11 percent of Americans born after 1970 were raised in secular homes.
Scientific advancement isn’t just making people question God, it’s also connecting those who question. It’s easy to find atheist and agnostic discussion groups online, even if you come from a religious family or community. And anyone who wants the companionship that might otherwise come from church can attend a secular Sunday Assembly or one of a plethora of Meetups for humanists, atheists, agnostics, or skeptics.
The groups behind the web forums and meetings do more than give skeptics witty rejoinders for religious relatives who pressure them to go to church—they let budding agnostics know they aren’t alone.
But it’s not easy to unite people around not believing in something. “Organizing atheists is like herding cats,” says Stephanie Guttormson, the operations director of the Richard Dawkins Foundation, which is merging with the Center for Inquiry. “But lots of cats have found their way into the'meowry.'”
The Story of God with Morgan Freeman, continues Sunday, April 24, at 9/8c, and will take viewers on a trip around the world to explore different cultures and religions on the ultimate quest to uncover the meaning of life, God, and all the questions in between.
Guttormson says the goal of her group is to organize itself out of existence. They want to normalize atheism to a point where it’s so common that atheists no longer need a group to tell them it’s okay not to believe, or to defend their morals in the face of religious lawmakers.
But it’s not there yet.
Atheism’s Diversity Problem
The Center for Inquiry in Washington, D.C., hosts a regular happy hour called Drinking Skeptically. On a Wednesday in late March, about a dozen people showed up to faithlessly imbibe, and all but one were white.
“Most of the groups I’ve seen have been predominantly white, but I’m not sure what to attribute that to,” says Kevin Douglas, the lone African-American drinker, shrugging at the demographics. He came from a religious family in New York and struggled internally with his skepticism until shortly after college. The only time he mentions having difficulty with others accepting his atheism was when he worked in Dallas, Texas, and race, he says, had little to do with it.
But more typically, “there is pressure from our [African-American] community,” says Mandisa Thomas, the founder and president of the Atlanta-based Black Nonbelievers, Inc. This pressure stems from the place religion—Christianity in particular—holds in African-American history.
In the abolition movement churches “became a support system for blacks. It became almost the end-all be-all for the black community for a number of years,” Thomas says, adding that the Civil Rights movement was dominated—she says “hijacked”—by religious leaders.
“If you either reject or identify as a nonbeliever, you’re seen as betraying your race,” she says.
Thomas is an outlier among nonbelievers for another reason. She’s a woman.
The secularizing West is full of white men. The general U.S. population is 46 percent male and 66 percent white, but about 68 percent of atheists are men, and 78 percent are white. Atheist Alliance International has called the gender imbalance in its ranks “a significant and urgent issue.”
The Privilege of Not Believing
There are a few theories about why people become atheists in large numbers. Some demographers attribute it to financial security, which would explain why European countries with a stronger social safety net are more secular than the United States, where poverty is more common and a medical emergency can bankrupt even the insured.
Atheism is also tied to education, measured by academic achievement (atheists in many places tend to have college degrees) or general knowledge of the panoply of beliefs around the world (hence theories that Internet access spurs atheism).
There’s some evidence that official state religions drive people away from faith entirely, which could help explain why the U.S. is more religious than most Western nations that technically have a state religion, even if it is rarely observed. The U.S. is also home to a number of homegrown churches—Scientology, Mormonism—that might scoop up those who are disenchanted with older faiths.
The social factors that promote atheism—financial security and education—have long been harder to attain for women and people of color in the United States.
Around the world, the Pew Research Center finds that women tend to be more likely to affiliate with a religion and more likely to pray and find religion important in their lives. That changes when women have more opportunities. “Women who are in the labor force are more like men in religiosity. Women out of the labor force tend to be more religious,” says Conrad Hackett with Pew. “Part of that might be because they’re part of a religious group that enforces the power of women being at home."
In a Washington Post op-ed about the racial divides among atheists, Black Skeptics Group founder Sikivu Hutchinson points out that “the number of black and Latino youth with access to quality science and math education is still abysmally low.” That means they have fewer economic opportunities and less exposure to a worldview that does not require the presence of God.
Religion has a place for women, people of color, and the poor. By its nature, secularism is open to all, but it’s not always as welcoming.
Some of the humanist movement’s most visible figures aren’t known for their respect toward women. Prominent atheists Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins have awful reputations for misogyny, as does the late Christopher Hitchens. Bill Maher, the comedian and outspoken atheist, is no (nonexistent) angel, either.
The leaders of Atheist Alliance International, Dawkins Foundation, and Center for Inquiry who I talked to were all well aware of the demographic shortcomings, and they’re working on it: All of the leaders I spoke to were women.
Even people who are white, male, and educated may fear the stigma of being labeled a nonbeliever. A white dentist at the CFI’s Drinking Skeptically event didn’t want to go on the record out of a fear that patients wouldn’t want an atheist working on their teeth.
“We have this stigma that we’re combative, that we’re arrogant, that we just want to provoke religious people,” Thomas with Black Nonbelievers, Inc. says. She’s working on changing that, and increasing the visibility of nonbelievers of color, too.
Thompson believes the demographics of nones don’t accurately reflect the number and diversity of nonbelievers; it just shows who is comfortable enough to say they don’t believe out loud. “There are many more people of color, there are many more women who identify as atheists,” she says. “There are many people who attend church who are still atheists.”
View Images Several atheist and humanist organizations have launched advertising campaigns aimed at making skeptics more comfortable not believing. Photogrpah by Anne Chadwick Williams/Sacramento Bee/MCT via Getty
Expanding the Ranks
What’s sometimes called the New Atheism picked up in the mid-2000s. These were years of war, when Islam was painted as a threat and Christianity infused U.S. policy, abroad and domestically, most visibly in faith-based ballot initiatives against same-sex marriage.
In the U.S., many state legislators are still using a narrow interpretation of Christian morals to deny services to gay people and appropriate restrooms to people who are transgender.
But the national backlash to religious legislation has become faster and fiercer than ever before. Europeans seem set on addressing Islamophobia and the forces that could create tension with the “rapidly growing rest.”
And compared to past campaign seasons, religion is taking a backseat in this year’s U.S. presidential election. Donald Trump is not outwardly religious (and his attraction of evangelical voters has raised questions about the longevity and the motives of the religious right). Hillary Clinton has said “advertising about faith doesn’t come naturally to me.” And Bernie Sanders is “not actively involved” in a religion. Their reticence about religion reflects the second largest religious group in the country they hope to run. Aside from Ted Cruz, the leading candidates just aren’t up for talking about religion. The number of Americans who seek divine intervention in the voting booth seems to be shrinking.
For all the work secular groups do to promote acceptance of nonbelievers, perhaps nothing will be as effective as apathy plus time. As the secular millennials grow up and have children of their own, the only Sunday morning tradition they may pass down is one everyone in the world can agree on: brunch.Market Basket workers whose hours were slashed will be able to seek unemployment benefits, even though CEOs say they are still employees.
A spokesman for the Department of Unemployment Assistance told WBZ NewsRadio 1030 Friday that part-time workers can apply for monetary benefits.
Workers can call 617-626-6800 to seek benefits. They can also apply online or over the phone.
The news comes on the heels of a widespread panic yesterday as many workers thought they had lost their jobs at the supermarket chain. Supervisors informed some part time workers yesterday that they would no longer have shifts scheduled for the upcoming week and any employees interpreted the change as sweeping layoffs.
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At the time, organizers of the Save Market Basket movement encouraged workers to seek unemployment benefits and to reach out to the Attorney General, who received hundreds of calls and set up a hotline to handle requests.
The new Market Basket CEOs subsequently debunked the rumors, releasing a statement reassuring workers that they were still employees. They maintained that the change to hours was simply a routine shift to accommodate lower customer levels.
Customers have been boycotting the supermarket chain since its president, Arthur T. Demoulas, was ousted from the company last month.
Employees and customers have dragged protests into a third week, staging the largest rally to date on Tuesday. The board of directors is still mulling over potentially selling the company.Aviva Premiership
Front row trio re-sign with Leicester
ESPN Staff
Leicester front-rowers Dan Cole, Tom Youngs and Marcos Ayerza have signed new deals with the club © Getty Images Enlarge
Leicester Tigers have announced that front-rowers Marcos Ayerza, Tom Youngs and Dan Cole have signed long-term contract extensions with the club.
England internationals Cole and Youngs are graduates of the club's Academy, while loose-head Ayerza moved from his native Argentina in 2006. He has 57 caps for his country over the last decade. Between them, the trio have upwards of 400 appearances for Leicester and 120 Test caps.
Cole and Youngs have struggled with injury in recent months but both appeared in all three Test matches for the British and Irish Lions in Australia in 2013 and have 45 and 17 England caps respectively. Cole debuted for the club in 2007 and Youngs, who started life as a centre before switching to hooker while on loan at Nottingham, first appeared for the club in 2006.
"It is great news for us that Marcos, Tom and Dan have all agreed new contracts with the club," said Director of Rugby Richard Cockerill. "They are all genuine world-class players in key positions in the team and they are important parts of the senior core to the squad.
"Tom and Dan know all about the club, coming through the academy here to establish themselves in the first-team squad, and Leicester has been home to Marcos for the last eight years. They were all very keen to stay and we were very keen to keep them here for the long term, so I'm delighted we have come to an agreement.
"We have a good crop of front-rowers who work well together and they help to get the best out of each other. Marcos, Tom and Dan, with their attitude to training and playing, and their experience at the top levels of the game, play a massive role in that."
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd"Creepy" is...creepy! Features celesta, glock, saxophones, accordion and creepy vocal samples. This royalty free music track has a freak show / weird circus mood. Great track for halloween. Image copyright: Melanie Taylor - Shutterstock
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*Taxes can be added for European customers(H/T: Instapundit) If you’ve ever wondered why the New York Times doesn’t have the same reputation that it used to, well, this is why.
The NYT updated their Pao resignation story like this, with no mention of the updates at all. http://t.co/74JbAJA1LY pic.twitter.com/Sz8NYb3lEY — Kevin W. Glass (@KevinWGlass) July 11, 2015
That’s not an update. That’s not even a revision. That is a story that has been scooped out of its URL and had a new one plopped in. One in which Ellen Pao stops being a contentious CEO who was eventually forced out over one too many disputes with Reddit’s core identity, and instead becomes a feminist martyr to corporate misogyny. I do not understand why Mike Isaac agreed to keep his name on the byline alongside of the addition of David Streitfeld’s: oh, wait, I do: it’s a tough job market out there.
Still. This isn’t your father’s New York Times. It’s certainly not objective journalism.
Moe Lane (crosspost)
PS: I don’t use Reddit and I have no idea whether Ellen Pao is or is not as awful as they say. Or indeed whether she is awful at all. But the language used by her defenders is wearily familiar.
PPS: There is just enough common material to both to indicate that the original story was dismembered to put the later ‘version’ in its place.Funny thing about this week’s summer movie kickoff, The Avengers: While all of the superheroes have been around for a long time in comic-book and/or animation form, they’re all relative newbies to the live-action world. (That is, with the exception of the Hulk and, to a lesser degree, Captain America.) Not the case with the unofficial “first wave” of superheroes, the ones many of us have been watching — and have been entertained by — for decades on the small and big screens. Here’s a look at those superheroes, the actors who have portrayed them on TV and in films, and how they’ve changed (or haven’t) over the years.
BATMAN
Adam West
In: Batman (TV series, 1966-‘68) and Batman (movie, 1966)
Best/Worst Batman? Neither
Notes: West is generally thought of as the first actor to play the Caped Crusader, but Lewis Wilson and Robert Lowery each played the character in the 1940s “serial” movies. West, however, was the first to give Batman a place in the public consciousness, cinematically speaking, and he will forever be linked with the superhero. His performances were solid, but West was a victim of the campy feel of the movie/series in which he starred… and the spandex Batsuit… and the Batusi.
Michael Keaton
In: Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992)
Best/Worst Batman? Neither
Notes: Keaton’s interpretation of Batman, which followed two-plus decades of nonactivity on the big screen for the Caped Crusader, forever changed the representation of the character. The monotone, emotionless voice? The physical rigidity? That’s Keaton’s work (which isn’t to say his director, Tim Burton, didn’t have a hand in crafting the modern-ish Batman). And what great work it turned out to be. In fact, we’d understand if you rank him as the best Batman of all time; he’s our No. 2, and just barely. (And on the subject of rankings, Kevin Conroy, who voiced the Dark Knight in the 1990s animated TV series, doesn’t quite meet our live-action criteria for this list, but vocally, emotionally, and dichotomously — as Bruce Wayne and Batman — nails the character unlike any before or since.)
Val Kilmer
In: Batman Forever (1995)
Best/Worst Batman? Neither
Notes: Kilmer was mostly just… innocuous as Batman in his really, really brief (as in one-movie brief, thanks to the ol’ “creative differences”) tenure playing the character. Although strong in spots, Kilmer’s turn as Batman was stiff and ultimately forgettable, a Caped Crusader that didn’t make audiences feel much of anything. That’s a no-no for a character as complex as Batman.
George Clooney
In: Batman & Robin (1997)
Best/Worst Batman? Worst
Notes: The Cloon Man can do virtually no wrong — except when it comes to the role of Batman, which was a borderline (unintentional) joke at the time and is now, in hindsight, an absolute joke. Clooney’s delivery and affect were tonally askew pretty much throughout the movie, and then there were the things he had no control over, like the prominently displayed codpiece — er, Bat-crotch (pictured, above!) — not to mention director Joel Schumacher’s subtly erotic take on Batman and Robin’s relationship. But Clooney’s hindsight assessment of the movie’s failure, and his failure in it, has always been refreshing: “It’s easy to look back at Batman and go, ‘Whoa! That was really s**t, and I was really bad in it.’”
Christian Bale
In: Batman Begins (2005), The Dark Knight |
iescent clitoris with voluntary perineal contractions and with finger penetration without sexual stimulation.
There have been studies imaging the clitoris during arousal, but they were MRI studies and they were conducted mostly between 2004 and 2006. In fact, the 2009 study adds almost nothing to the understanding of the clitoral complex structure except dynamic data and the one thing they were trying to show: the so-called G-spot might be explained as the point where the anterior vaginal wall contacts the internal clitoris. They concluded that the participant’s self-noted G-spot was near to the junction of the vaginal wall and clitoris. The ultrasound methods do offer one huge methodological advantage: action. MRI has been used to image people having intercourse, but it’s more like a Polaroid, where ultrasound is live video.
In 2010³, they rounded third base, scientifically speaking, and recorded images of intercourse. Below is one of those (apologies for the graphic sexual image). The authors also reported that during intercourse, the penis exerts pressure on the anterior vaginal wall resulting in pressure (and movement) of penis on the entire CUV (clitoral) complex against the pubic symphisis³.
The advancements in knowledge here have failed to penetrate the cultural psyche, and many media sites that have reported on it got important details wrong. They (or at least io9) also failed to note most of the reasons this research is important.
Treating female genital mutilation
It is hard to imagine many crimes more heinous than FGM. Not just a violation or horrific life-threatening assault, but a deliberate attempt to rob a person of part of their humanity; to permanently deprive them of a joy of being alive. I sort of denigrated Foldès and Buisson earlier as just looking for the G-spot, but Dr. Pierre Foldès is a certifiable hero. He has spent 25 years pioneering methods of treating FGM, which nobody before him and his colleagues had ever thought to do. He has performed more than 3,000 restorative surgeries and many of these were during humanitarian trips to Sub-Saharan Africa, and in spite of multiple death threats. Foldès and Buisson may have made the G-spot a focus of their sonographic research, but they also were developing methods to image these structures to inform and foster medical treatments for FGM, as well as debilitation caused by disease, birth defects, and trauma. We can not very well fix parts if we do not know how they work and what they are like.
Full credit to the Museum of Sex blog (and more recently, Psychology Today) which did cover this aspect admirably— well done. io9, while stating flatly that it was recapping the Museum of Sex story, makes no mention of FGM but they did find the space to add a photo of a woman that might have been stolen from an Abercrombie & Fitch ad. Stay classy, io9.
The vaginal orgasm and the G-spot debate: We can all stop caring now
The vaginal neighborhood was politicized long before imbeciles in suits spewed dreck on the airwaves about “shutting that whole thing down” or “legitimate rape”. In the first half of the 20th century, notions of vaginal vs. clitoral orgasm took hold (thank Freud, who coined the term vaginal orgasm), along with the ignorant and sexist notions that women incapable of the “vaginal” orgasm were “frigid” and that penis-vagina sex was the only source of orgasms that counted. This lead some feminists to adopt the opposite and politically-valenced position that the vagina was irrelevant to pleasure, and that the vaginal orgasm was a lie. Just in case you think I am overstating, feminist Anne Koedt wrote in 1970, It has also been known that women need no anesthesia inside the vagina during surgery, thus pointing to the fact that the vagina is in fact not a highly sensitive area. (This quote was repeated to me in a 2012 gender studies classroom by a professor, quite seriously) This is why it’s good to remember the opposite of wrong is not necessarily right and that it’s a bad idea to confuse facts with moral values: facts can change.
The modern research tells us that everyone is right! Or, everyone is wrong, however you’d like to parse it, because all of the parts are important. And right on cue, both “sides” of the G-spot debate have claimed immediate victory with the anti side saying “See, it’s just clitoral!” and the pro side saying “see! it is real, and just where we said!”. The correct answer is, researchers aside, who cares? What if the orgasm some women experience during vaginal intercourse is caused by the internal clitoris? Does changing the mere label and invisible mechanism for the event from “vaginal” to “internal clitoral” change a thing about the event for anybody involved? Does it somehow change moral arguments about the political equality of women? I don’t think that it does. Isn’t it cool if it’s a fact that the G-spot that some women report actually is the spot where the clitoris contacts the anterior vaginal wall? At least we’d have sorted out the truth. Also, because structures of the clitoral complex vary in size and position person to person, and they are dynamic with things shifting around based on arousal and touching or insertion, it’s not strange that the G-spot (if it can so be called) is not in any universally reliable spatial location or even present in all individuals during sex. Do we gain anything important by changing the word G-spot to C-spot?
The concern is that insecure people (mostly men, I should think) need to place blame for perceived sexual failure (tallied in orgasms) on not-themselves. To such unreasonableness we should respond that the person at fault if a woman can’t have one kind or any kind of orgasm is (barring emotional or medical problems), most likely, nobody. The answer would still be nobody no matter what science learned about the vagina or clitoris, because those are not things that anyone has control over. We don’t need to invent bullshit stories about anatomy to counteract other people’s bullshit ideological stories about either the supposed frigidity of women or about the denial that vaginal sex can be fun. We can skip all the bull, keep the science, and do whatever makes us happy.
Further reading
Time for rethink on the clitoris 2006 BBC coverage of Helen O’Connell’s research
The Lady Vanishes by Robert J. King on Psychology Today
Do Vaginal Orgasms Exist? by Lissa Rankin, MD on BlogHer
Surgery Restores Sexual Function In Women With Genital Mutilation NPR coverage of Dr. Pierre Foldès
References
1 Foldes, P. and Buisson, O. 2009. The Clitoral Complex: A Dynamic Sonographic Study. Journal of Sexual Medicine, 6: 1223–1231. doi: 10.1111/j.1743-6109.2009.01231.x
2 H E O’Connell, J M Hutson, C R Anderson, R J Plenter. 1998. Anatomical relationship between urethra and clitoris. The Journal of Urology. 07/1998; 159(6):1892-7
3 Odile Buisson, Pierre Foldes, Emmanuele Jannini, Sylvain Mimoun, Coitus as Revealed by Ultrasound in One Volunteer Couple, The Journal of Sexual Medicine, 2010, 7, 8
4 Dickinson, R. L. (1949). Human sex anatomy: A topographical hand atlas.So what actually happened?
APM’s widely reported auction clearance rate in Sydney for Saturday 30 November was 80.4 per cent. But is that close to the real rate?
Looking at the data for Sydney from APM, only 510 (483 auctions + 27 withdrawn) actually got reported. So an incredible 392 (902-510) auctions went missing. Of those 510 auctions that did get reported, there were 410 that sold, giving a reported auction clearance rate of 80.4 per cent (410/510).
Using APM’s data, my transparent calculations show the real clearance rate was a decidedly chilly 45.5 per cent (410/902); the lowest clearance rate since 13 April 2013.
AFR Source: Aquasia and APM
Once again there is a huge difference between the reported rate and the real rate. This week it was 34.9 percentage points; the biggest difference since I started collating the data in March 2013.
Of particular interest were the suburbs of Epping, Maroubra, St Ives, Carlingford and Mosman, which according to APM were going to be the most popular suburbs for auctions:
“Epping on the upper north shore will offer the most properties for sale by auction of any Sydney suburb this weekend, with 15 homes scheduled to go under the hammer. Maroubra and St Ives have 10 auctions each followed by Carlingford with nine and Mosman with eight auctions scheduled this weekend."
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So once again, what actually happened?
According to APM’s own data, in Epping there were only a staggering six (five sold and one sold prior) reported out of the scheduled 15, in Maroubra it was four (two sold, one sold prior and one withdrawn) out of 10, in St Ives it was four (three sold prior and one passed in) out of 10, Carlingford saw four (two sold and two passed in) out of nine and Mosman saw six (two sold, two sold prior, one passed in and one withdrawn) out of 8.
This brings me to an amazing statistic. Using APM’s data, over the month of November an incredible 1438 of Sydney’s auctions have gone missing. Where have they gone? No one knows.
Put simply, it boils down to this; out of a scheduled 3964 auctions that were expected to take place during November, well over one-third (36.3 per cent) disappeared from the official statistics. That brings a whole new meaning to the term “property search".
While I have been using APM’s data to illustrate my points, it is not only APM’s data that distorts the picture. For example, REINSW’s reported clearance rate for Sydney on Saturday 30 November was 73.2 per cent (327 [sold at auction] + 109 [sold prior] / 327 + 109 + 160 [passed in]).
However, what REINSW’s figures fail to incorporate are the properties that were either withdrawn (63), had their auctions postponed (17) or unreported (a whopping 294). Using REINSW’s figures, I calculate that the real auction rate to be 44.9 per cent (327+109/327+109+160+63+17+294); rather close to the real clearance rate of 45.5 per cent when using APM’s data.
Every week, RP Data’s auction clearance rate also fails to include the unreported number of auctions for its calculations, thus artificially boosting its reported clearance rates.
In the meantime, I will continue to calculate the real auction clearance rates and won’t attach any significance to the clearance rates that get reported. As I said previously, we need to have full transparency in the reported figures. Until this happens, my Impossible Sydney Property Search will continue.
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Have a good week.
Regards,
Mark.
Mark Bayley is credit strategist at Aquasia, an independent corporate advisory partnership.
Disclaimer
Any investment views, advice or recommendations contained in this publication constitutes general advice only and does not take into consideration any person’s objectives, financial situation or needs. Furthermore, any investment views, advice or recommendations do not constitute legal, tax or accounting advice.
To the extent permitted by law, Aquasia Pty Ltd makes no warranties, and expressly disclaims any liability, in relation to the contents of this message.
www.aquasia.com.auPhonegap & phonegap Build are amazing technologies, unfortunately the documentation does not always tell you want you want to know. Here a compilation of issues I encountered while using phonegap build for the first time & how I solved them.
Black bars only on iPhone 5 (not full size).
I had this issue right from the start while using phonegap build, basically the iphone 5 app was the size of an iphone 4 screen. The only way to fix it is to add a plash screen with the screen size of the iphone 5 in the config.xml like this:
<gap:splash src="splash/ios/Default_iphone5.png" gap:platform="ios" width="640" height="1136" />
While the fix is pretty easy, it is also frightening. It’s really hard to sell a technology to a company where unexplained bugs like this popup. It should have been fixed for a long time & it reinforce the feeling that the tech might not be production ready.
App is not updating while in hydration mode
The hydration mode is suppose to update your app each time you push a new zip on the Build website. While this is a fantastic concept it often fall short. For example, even after I added my splash screen for the black bars bug, my app would not show fullscreen. I had to completely remove the app & re-install it to make this work.
For some reasons(?) it also did not update my app correctly when I added a phonegap plugin for my app. I add again to reinstall my app to see my changes correctly.
The hydration mode works really well when you update the core of your web app, but when using phonegap api’s, adding plugins, changing global app configs, if you have doubt if it has updated correctly, reinstalling generally helps.
Is my app hardware accelerated?
It probably is, it’s enabled by default since sdk version 13.
<preference name="android-targetSdkVersion" value="13" />
Keyboard is hiding content on android.
This is a setting that should by set by default, but basically you need to use this settings in your config.xml
<preference name="android-windowSoftInputMode" value="stateVisible|adjustResize" />
I’m not totally sure but I think I had to reinstall completely the app to make it work, hydration did not work for this. I also had a weird bug where using phonegap v2.9 & using a low level number sdk (below 13) that keyboard would not adjust, I advise using phonegap 3.1 & sdk 14+.
ios build is always at pending or failed
Unfortunately ios building seems to be less stable than the rest, sometimes adobe servers queue up & it takes 10-20 minutes to build the app. The Build website is also not very good at telling you anything about errors that are happening to your app while building, your best bet is to login into the community website & see if anyone is currently facing the same problem as you.
I also had a weird bug when I builded for the first time my ios app. I already had an android app with hydration on & when I added my certificate it would always say build failed, I had to disable hydration to make a successful build. I do not really know why.
Googling for issues often refer you to old versions of phonegap api doc.
Just be careful, check the url where you’re at, I often was referred by google to version 2.7 of the documentation which had not the same options than version 3.1.
I probably lost 2 hours not understanding why some options was not in the documentation, I thought that was some hidden settings or something.
That’s it! Hope it can help you in those frustrating moments with phonegap 😉3 AND DEAD
I order one each of these for my Wife and I on new builds. Mine went out only a few weeks after starting up. Sent it to PNY and they sent me a new one. It just went out a few days ago and now my wifes went out today. That's three SSD drives in less than 6 months and neither computer has had any other problems and no it is not surges in power as no storms have come through and the computers are up and running when they crash. Plus the SSD's are tested on a known working test computer and do not show up in any BIOS on any computer. Do not waste your money, but then again maybe we keep getting the bad batches.... I don't know..."Superman's Dead" is a song by Canadian alternative rock group Our Lady Peace. It was released in December 1996 as the lead single from their second album Clumsy. This has become one of Our Lady Peace's most popular songs in both Canada and the U.S., as well as many other parts of the world.
The song has become the definitive example of Our Lady Peace's staple sound, highlighted by vocalist Raine Maida's unusual yet powerful falsetto. This song, in contrast to some others on the album, contains very heavy electric guitar, especially in comparison to tracks like "4 A.M." and Carnival". It peaked at number 17 on the Canadian RPM Pop Chart while spending five weeks at number 2 on the RPM Rock and Alternative Chart. In the U.S. it peaked at number 11 on the Billboard Alternative/Modern Rock Chart, while reaching number 14 on the Mainstream Rock Chart.
Background and writing [ edit ]
Our Lady Peace producer Arnold Lanni recalls that late in the recording of Clumsy, he and the band were working on tracking a song called "Hello Oskar", when they decided to take a break for a few minutes.
"From the bathroom I heard Raine playing something on an acoustic guitar. When I came out I asked him what it was. He told me that it was just something he was toying around with. I really liked what he was doing so for the next day or so the band and I worked on developing what became "Superman's Dead." ~Arnold Lanni
Content [ edit ]
"Superman's Dead" was seen by the band as a dark statement on how much television kids watch and the content of it. It looks at the dark expectations that are garnered from media images:
An ordinary girl an ordinary waist But ordinary's just not good enough today
Raine Maida stated, "I grew up with the old Superman, the black-and-white one. There was something so honest about it, and it's evolved into Beavis and Butthead". He also says of youthful TV pleasures, "Their images are defined by television: How they should think or what they should wear. It's kind of sad that way"[1]
Music videos [ edit ]
Three music videos have been made for this song - the Canadian version of a child (played by Ryan Dennis) trapped in the box, which was co-directed by George Vale and the band, the U.S. version which featured an unusual array of characters including clowns and goblins, and another U.S. version which simply showed the band playing the song. The original video was filmed in an abandoned warehouse in Toronto. That version premiered on MuchMusic on January 20, 1997.[2] This version also won the award for "Favourite Video" at the 1997 MuchMusic Video Awards. In the U.S. music videos, Raine Maida is shown playing the guitar in some parts, while in the original Canadian version he is not. The video peaked at number 1 (for three weeks) on the MuchMusic Video Countdown and finished as the number 2 video of the year on the channel.
Live performances [ edit ]
The first performance of "Superman's Dead" took place on January 13, 1997 at Harbour Station in Saint John, New Brunswick, the first date of the Clumsy tour. Since then it has seldom been excluded from the band's live set. "Superman's Dead" was played live on the Conan O'Brien Show on October 1, 1997.[2]
During concerts, when the song always pauses abruptly for the "Doesn't anybody ever know..." section, the band takes a slight pause, and the audience sings the outro. This can be heard in their live album Live (2003), and many other live concerts.
Single releases [ edit ]
Canadian CD Single
"Superman's Dead" (Maida/Turner) 4:16 "Let You Down" (Maida) - 3:15 "Starseed" [Live] - 4:50
Acoustic Single
"Superman's Dead" [Acoustic] (Maida/Turner) - 5:12 "Innocent" [Acoustic] - 4:18
Austrian Single
"Superman's Dead" (Maida/Turner) - 4:16 "Let You Down" (Maida) - 3:15
US/GER Promo CD
"Superman's Dead" (Maida/Turner) - 4:16 "Car Crash" (Maida/Turner) - 5:07
French Single
"Superman's Dead" - 4:19 "Let You Down" - 3:52
United Kingdom Single
"Superman's Dead" - 4:19 "Let You Down" - 3:55 "Starseed" - 4:04
Chart performance [ edit ]
Chart (1996) Peak
position Canada Top Singles (RPM) 17 Canada Alternative Top 30 (RPM) 2 US Billboard Radio Songs 75 US Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks 14 US Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks 11It’s taken awhile, but Mighty No. 9 will finally be launching this month. Things unfortunately did not go smooth for the game, as it was pushed back quite a few times.
Creator Keiji Inafune once again apologized for the delays while speaking with 4Gamer. He told the site:
“We deeply apologize to the fans and backers for having taken much longer than expected. I learned again how difficult it can be to make a game. (The reason of delay) was not because we were shorthanded, but due to how we were going to sell it, and then biting more than we can chew after declaring that it will be released for all the hardware. But it was a good [learning] experience.”
Inafune also touched on the goal he had in mind when setting out to create Mighty No. 9:
“What I thought about most while making this game was ‘I want to show the greatness of Japanese games. When listening to fans of Japanese games abroad, you often hear them say ‘Japanese games used to be great. I worked on this game in hopes of getting those people to say ‘this is good’ again.”
Finally, Inafune confirmed that there’s still more on tap for Mighty No. 9. We’ll still be seeing the anime and live-action film at one point. Inafune also mentioned interest in seeing a sequel.
“One more thing I’d like to say is that Mighty No. 9 is a [set of] ‘contents,’ meaning it’s not just a game. We’re also moving forward in an anime and live action film for it. Development for a sequel is already in our minds, and we all share the mindset of ‘we’ll do it even if it doesn’t sell’.”
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PocketA little over a year ago, Nintendo launched a service called Miiverse that allows players to post short, Twitter-like messages from inside their games. As with the rest of the Internet, the content of these posts ranges from kind of awesome to completely soul crushing. However, there's more to this Miiverse thing than meets the eye. In November of 2012, a glitch briefly allowed some Nintendo users to access forbidden parts of Miiverse -- I was one of those users, and while digging around in Nintendo's files hoping to find confirmation that they'll someday do a sequel to Shaq Fu, I came across something even more shocking. It turns out that Miiverse has been around for much, much longer than we thought, and -- I'm aware of how fantastic this sounds -- the earliest posts are from Mario himself. Yes, Dr. Mario "Super Mario" Mario, noted plumber, kart driver, and Olympic medalist, is apparently a real person.
I took as many screenshots as I could before getting booted out, and after carefully mulling over the legal, cultural, and sociopolitical consequences of this discovery for an entire year, I've finally decided to share this information with the world. And so, here are Mario's earliest games, as documented from his own perspective. The following absolutely real images (again, I cannot stress enough how much I didn't make this shit up just now) paint a picture of man who is simple-minded, somewhat brave, but most of all utterly confused.
Continue Reading Below AdvertisementCharges could be forthcoming against a Henry County mother and her 14-year-old son after the teen accidentally shot and killed his 15-year-old brother, police said.
Henry County police Sgt. Joey Smith said officers dispatched to the family’s home on Deer Trace Drive near McDonough at 2:41 a.m. Saturday discovered that the younger teen had shot his brother.
The brothers, along with a friend who was spending the night, had gotten the mother’s handgun, “which at the time had been unloaded,” Smith said.
“During the course of the evening and early morning hours, one of the boys had evidently loaded the weapon, Smith said. “The 14-year-old at some point pointed the weapon at his brother and pulled the trigger, which resulted in the 15-year-old being struck in the chest area.”
Smith said that while the shooting has been ruled accidental, “the facts will be presented to the district attorney’s office for possible prosecution on both the juvenile and the mother.
Police have not released the names of the mother or her sons.It may have taken him almost 10 years, but Nate Diaz finally understands the business of MMA.
In March, Diaz stepped in on 10 days' notice to fight the UFC's biggest star, featherweight champion Conor McGregor. That night Diaz, a fighter already with a sizable fan base, stopped McGregor in the second round, gave the world a now famous soundbite ("I'm not surprised motherf**kers!") and became a mainstream star. It was an unexpected turn of events for a fighter who had been voicing displeasure over his pay and booking for years.
In an interview with Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports, Diaz spoke about how he got wise to the business side of MMA, how that has affected him, and what that means going forward.
"People will say, ‘I'll fight anybody, I love to fight.' You love to fight? [Expletive] that. People say that. And, yeah, I said that. And I woke up. It takes a lot of fighting to wake up. ‘I'll fight anybody for free? I'll fight anybody?' That's what [the UFC] wants. That's what pads their bottom line. Then I realized, ‘[Expletive] you [expletive], you're playing me.'
"I'd look at my following [on social media] and other peoples' followings and I'd look at the numbers for the Fox shows they were putting me on and I was like, ‘Damn, a lot of people are tuning into these shows.' I was headlining a lot of them back-to-back. I was like, ‘I am bringing in bigger numbers than anybody and I'm not getting the deals. ‘Fox card,' they always said. ‘Free TV, free TV.' I was like, ‘No, it's not free, they have million-dollar deals to put this many shows on Fox and I'm headlining three shows a year?... Then they are trying to shut me down, shut me up, [saying], ‘He doesn't move the needle.' They are just trying to put that out in the mainstream because then people start saying that and it's true."
Back in 2014, UFC President Dana White declared that Nate Diaz has no reason to be unhappy with his contract because he was "not a needle mover." At the time, Diaz had been turning down fights because of his unhappiness with the UFC and White was content to let him sit for as long as he chose to despite the fact that Diaz had headlined three of his last four fights and all of them drew well on television. Whether or not Diaz really wasn't a "needle mover," he certainly didn't have any leverage over the UFC and that created an environment that he was unhappy in. Then came the call to fight McGregor and everything changed.
"I [expletive] up everyone's plan by winning that fight. I was like, ‘Ha, ha, you [expletives], call me for the next one, you better come with something good.' I don't give a [expletive]. You didn't give me enough money but I come from a place with no money and you give me too much money. I don't give a [expletive] about making more. I am doing better than I was ever supposed to do."
And come with something good they did. After his win over McGregor, Diaz demanded a new contract of substantially larger value. Then, after McGregor no showed the UFC 200 press conference in his own spat of promotional hardball, Diaz demanded even more money and more guarantees. Eventually, the UFC acquiesced and got the rematch set up for UFC 202, which will likely be one of the biggest pay-per-view events in the promotion's history.
And should Diaz win the rematch, the UFC may have to do it all over again.
"[The UFC] better hope I don't win this fight because it's going to be a lot of trouble for everybody, in terms of the business. This one coming up, they better hope I don't win this one because the game is going to change."
I can't imagine the UFC will be surprised.
Nate Diaz fights Conor McGregor at UFC 202 on Aug. 20, in Las Vegas, Nev.
5 MUST-READ STORIES
Beast mode. Derrick Lewis wants to fight the winner of Brock Lesnar vs. Mark Hunt.
Diabetes. Jon Jones gives an update on his mother's battle with diabetes.
Heavy editing. Conor McGregor was accused of editing a sparring video with a former boxing champion to make himself look better.
Bully. Joanna Jedrzejczyk apologizes for her "bullying" on TUF.
Michael Bisping. Yoel Romero is seeking the same fight everyone else in the middleweight division is.
EXTRA CREDIT READING
Tactics. Jack Slack of Fightland did a tactical breakdown of the Aldo-Edgar rematch. None better at this type of stuff in MMA media.
MEDIA STEW
Conor got naked for ESPN and then said some standard issue Conor things.
Frankie Edgar and Chris Weidman's kids just got signed to Bellator developmental contracts.
I like Mark Hunt's game plan. Simple, easy to remember. And Brock's hands are too big for 4x gloves. Jesus.
More Facebook Live stuff from Marc and Shaun. Doing these every day this week. Peep it.
JJ did a Fan Q and A. Love that she just for real decided her name was gonna be Joanna Champion and stuck with it.
LISTEN UP
Heavy Hands talking about the Sprawl and Brawling of Aldo and Joanna Jedrzejczyk
Wonderboy Thompson interview.
TWEETS
Derrick Lewis is the heavyweight champion of my heart.
Would watch.
Closest Harry is getting to any type of a championship.
Woodley just out here trying to get every single person to cheer for Robbie.
Happy Opinion Day Internet warriors & coaches. U have ur Freedom 2 speak, tweet, snap & crack on pros fighter@Ufc pic.twitter.com/q2bdfululd — Tyron T-Wood Woodley (@TWooodley) July 5, 2016
Teruto Ishihara is incredible.
今日起きて衝撃3連発。
会ってない、連絡とってない
同じ関係のBitchesたちが同じ時期に同じような行動とってんねん！季節とか空いた期間とかで脳の働きとかでそーなるんかな？
めちゃおもしろくない？
てことは他のBitchesもおったとしたら
第二回の波もあるよな！ — Teruto Ishihara (@teruto_ko) July 1, 2016
Vinny crushing it.
@ChaelSonnen was his last name "Silva"? Was the steak Medium Rare? — Vinny Magalhães (@VinnyMMA) July 5, 2016
Maybe if he keeps winning y'all can start appreciating Italian engineering.
Jim Miller having a strong social media game for 200.
Someone left a present for me at my room here in Vegas. #UFC200 #fireball pic.twitter.com/y5NjOVkDNC — Jim Miller (@JimMiller_155) July 6, 2016
This is so strange.
This is a dark day. pic.twitter.com/LG8QOQJt2D — Jeremy Botter (@jeremybotter) July 6, 2016
Sage is a freaking cartoon character.
A photo posted by Sage Northcutt (@supersagenorthcutt) on Jul 5, 2016 at 8:25pm PDT
Jon Jones sending a message to his fans.
It's almost here‼️ #UFC200 A video posted by Jon Bones Jones (@jonnybones) on Jul 5, 2016 at 11:02am PDT
Enson Inoue is dope.
FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS
Francis Carmont (24-11-0) vs. Lukasz Klinger (7-2-0); Bellator 158, July 16.
TODAY IN MMA HISTORY 2002: Smackgirl proved itself to be miles ahead of the game by hosting a one night, women's MMA tag team tournament at Smackgirl: Strongest Tag Tournament 2002. Mari Kaneko and Miwako Ishihara won the tournament. 2013: Chris Weidman knocked out Anderson Silva to become the UFC middleweight champion at UFC 162. 2014: The saddest day in MMA history occurred when Frankie Edgar mauled an upright BJ Penn in the main event of The Ultimate Fighter 19 Finale. There has never been a more depressing MMA moment.
FINAL THOUGHTS
In life, we sometimes pour so much of our soul into one thing that it becomes a totem of our own self worth. Our identity becomes so intertwined with the goal that failure isn't just a loss in that area but an indictment of ourselves entire. There is a reason that Ronda Rousey had suicidal thoughts after her loss to Holly Holm. It wasn't because she is mentally weak or any of that other disparaging bullsh*t that gets spouted off, it was because the idea of her losing was so anathema to her very being that she couldn't handle it (and also possibly because of a family history with this issue).
I say all this because as Saturday rapidly approaches, I am genuinely concerned for Daniel Cormier. Cormier has spent his entire life perfecting various levels of combat. For the last year, he's been training obsessively for this rematch. He has put more of himself into this than you or I will put into anything we ever do in our lives. You can see it in the way he talks and hear it in his voice. This isn't just a fight to him, it's a moral imperative. He must beat Jon Jones. He wants this so very badly and he has clearly done everything in his power to make it happen. And it still isn't going to be enough.
Jon Jones is one of the five best fighters ever already and he is only 28 years old. He is younger, faster, stronger, more dynamic, and has an enormous size advantage over Cormier not to mention being German U-Boat deep in Cormier's head. I fear Cormier is about to get beat in brutal fashion.
All of this is to say that I hope Cormier wins on Saturday, not because I dislike Jones (I don't - Jon Jones is an amazing fighter and now that he is embracing being his heel self he's just an all-around delight) but because Cormier clearly needs this more than Jon Jones does. I don't know the man personally and have never met him but he seems like a genuinely good dude, and I would hate to see his everything derailed or his retirement from the sport.
Oh, and also the rubber match would be headlining the Madison Square Garden in November, which would be the dopest UFC of all-time.
That's it for today M.Rmy. Until tomorrow.
If you find something you'd like to see in the Morning Report, just hit me up on Twitter @JedKMeshew and let me know about it. Also follow MMAFighting on Instagram and add us on Snapchat at MMA-Fighting.Sapphira and Ananias of the Bible
Sapphira's story took place when the church was new and growing. "All the believers were one in heart and mind." They loved one another and shared everything so that no one would be in need. The tale of Sapphira and her husband Ananias follows a story of the generosity of Barnabas, who sold a field and brought all the money to the apostles to distribute among the needy. Acts 5:1-11Ananias and Sapphira also sold a piece of property. The Bible says that, with his wife's full knowledge, Ananias kept back part of the money but brought the rest to the apostles, pretending to give it all. However, the apostles were not deceived. Peter confronted Ananias, accusing him of being under the influence of Satan. Realizing that his deceit had been discovered, Ananias fell down dead and was carried out to be buried.Three hours later, Sapphira came in, unaware of her husband's death. Peter asked her about the transaction and she confirmed the misinformation that Ananias had given. Outraged, Peter accused her of testing the Holy Spirit. The men who had buried her husband returned just in time to carry out Sapphira's body to be buried her beside him.I have been tempted to feel sorry for Sapphira, who perhaps, only stood by her man. But, I think that Ananias and Sapphira must have conspired together to deceive the disciples and the family of believers. Did they forget whose family they were in? They must have coveted the prestige of giving such a gift to the church but not the sacrifice. Giving to the church was always a free-will offering. They might have truthfully said that they sold their land and wanted to give a portion of the money or they could have kept it all for themselves. But when they lied |
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mmack@mcw.eduThe total flying insect biomass decreased by more than 75 percent over 27 years in protected areas, according to a study published October 18, 2017 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Caspar Hallmann from Radboud University, The Netherlands, and colleagues.
Insects play a crucial role in ecosystem functioning, pollinating 80 percent of wild plants and providing a food source for 60 percent of birds. Previous research has shown an overall pattern of decline in insect diversity and abundance, but has focused on single species or taxonomic groups, rather than monitoring insect biomass over an extensive period.
To gain a better understanding of the extent and underlying causes of insect decline, Hallmann and colleagues measured total flying insect biomass using Malaise traps, deployed over 27 years in 63 nature protection areas in Germany. They found that the average flying insect biomass declined 76% (up to 82% in midsummer) in just 27 years in these locations. Their results align with recently reported declines in vulnerable species such as butterflies, wild bees and moths, but also suggest a severe loss of total flying aerial biomass, suggesting that the entire flying insect community has been decimated over the last few decades.
The researchers found that this dramatic decline was apparent regardless of habitat type, and changes in weather, land use, and habitat characteristics were not able to explain the overall decline. They suggest that large-scale factors must be involved, and additional research should further investigate the full range of climactic and agricultural variables that could potentially impact insect biomass. The authors urge further investigation of causes for this decline, its geographical extent, and how its potential impact on the ecosystem.
Hallman states: "Since 1989, in 63 nature reserves in Germany the total biomass of flying insects has decreased by more than 75 percent. This decrease has long been suspected but has turned out to be more severe than previously thought."
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In your coverage please use this URL to provide access to the freely available article in PLOS ONE: http://journals. plos. org/ plosone/ article?id= 10. 1371/ journal. pone. 0185809
Citation: Hallmann CA, Sorg M, Jongejans E, Siepel H, Hofland N, Schwan H, et al. (2017) More than 75 percent decline over 27 years in total flying insect biomass in protected areas. PLoS ONE 12(10): e0185809. https:/ / doi. org/ 10. 1371/ journal. pone. 0185809
Funding: CH and EJ were supported by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO grants 840.11.001 and 841.11.007), and NH by the Triodos Foundation. The investigations of the Entomological Society Krefeld and its members are spread over numerous individual projects at different locations and in different years. Grants and permits that have made this work possible are listed below: Bezirksregierungen Düsseldorf & Köln, BfN - Bundesamt für Naturschutz, Land Nordrhein-Westfalen - Europäische Gemeinschaft ELER, Landesamt für Agrarordnung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Landesamt für Natur, Umwelt und Verbraucherschutz Nordrhein-Westfalen, Landesamt für Umwelt Brandenburg, Landesamt für Umwelt Rheinland-Pfalz, LVR - Landschaftsverband Rheinland, Naturschutzbund Deutschland, Nordrhein-Westfalen Stiftung, RBN Bergischer Naturschutzverein, RVR - Regionalverband Ruhr, SGD Nord Rheinland-Pfalz, Universitäten Bonn, Duisburg-Essen & Köln, Untere Landschaftsbehörden: Kreis Düren, Kreis Heinsberg, Kreis Kleve, Kreis Viersen, Kreis Wesel & AGLW, Stadt Düsseldorf, Stadt Köln, Stadt Krefeld, Rheinisch Bergischer Kreis, Rhein Kreis Neuss & Rhein-Sieg-Kreis. Members of the Entomological Society Krefeld and cooperating botanists and entomologists that were involved in the empirical investigations are greatly acknowledged: U.W. Abts, F. Bahr, A. Bäumler, D. & H. Beutler, P. Birnbrich, U. Bosch, J. Buchner, F. Cassese, K. Cölln, A.W. Ebmer, R. Eckelboom, B. Franzen, M. Grigo, J. Günneberg, J. Gusenleitner, K. Hamacher, F. Hartfeld, M. Hellenthal, J. Hembach, A. Hemmersbach, W. Hock, V. Huisman-Fiegen, J. Illmer, E. Jansen, U. Jäckel, F. Koch, M. Kreuels, P. Leideritz, I. Loksa, F. B. Ludescher, F. J. Mehring, G. Milbert, N. Mohr, P. Randazzo, K. Reissmann, S. Risch, B. Robert, J. de Rond, U. Sandmann, S. Scharf, P. Scherz, J. Schiffer, C. Schmidt, O. & W. Schmitz, B. P. & W. Schnell, J. L. Schönfeld, E. Schraetz, M. Schwarz, R. Seliger, H. W. Siebeneicher, F. & H. Sonnenburg W. J. S. & P. Sorg, A. Ssymank, H. Sticht, M. Weithmann, W. Wichard and H. Wolf.
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.Ellen Page, the actor starring alongside Willem Dafoe in Quantic Dream's upcoming video game Beyond: Two Souls, has hit out at another game for using her likeness without permission. Answering a Reddit AMA question on whether she was aware of Ellie, a major character in Naughty Dog's The Last of Us, Page said she wasn't happy about being the alleged source of inspiration.
"I guess I should be flattered that they ripped off my likeness," said Page. "But I am actually acting in a video game called Beyond: Two Souls, so it was not appreciated."
The Last of Us was first revealed in late 2011, several months before Page's role in Beyond: Two Souls was announced. The character of Ellie has changed appearance since the original incarnation, which drew immediate comparisons to Page at the time; Naughty Dog said last year that the alterations were made to bring the character more in line with actor Ashley Johnson.
Page, for her part, doesn't appear to hold much of a grudge, telling a Twitter user who commented on The Last of Us to direct praise in Johnson's direction.Last Friday, before the Orioles traded for Wade Miley or Steve Pearce, many of us O’s fans were constantly refreshing our social media feeds, just waiting to see if Dan Duquette would make a move. We knew there wasn’t a Chris Sale or a Rich Hill headed our way, but there had to be some move, any move, to bolster the pitching staff.
Finally, at 1:45 PM, our prayers were answered in the form of Logan Ondrusek.
Um....what? Who? This literally might have been the most Dan Duquette transaction of the entire Dan Duquette era. On July 29th, 101 games into the season, the Orioles felt the need to DFA a right-handed relief pitcher with a 3.72 ERA and sign a different right-handed relief pitcher with a career 3.86 ERA who hadn’t pitched in the major leagues since 2014.
So...who is Ondrusek? The towering 6’8” righty came up through the Reds organization, and from 2010 to 2013 he was a decent but unremarkable middle reliever. Over those four seasons he pitched 229.2 innings with a 3.61 ERA - that’s nothing to write home about for a reliever, but it’s a guy you wouldn’t hate to have as the fifth or sixth best option in your bullpen.
Over that four year span, little by little, Ondrusek was improving. His average fastball velocity climbed each year from 2010 to 2013, and the movement climbed along with it. The result? A steady climb in K/9 from 5.98 in 2010 to 6.42 in 2012, followed by a big jump to 8.67 in 2013. Although his ERA didn’t reflect it, he was becoming a more formidable pitcher each season.
Ondrusek looked like a breakout candidate if the trend could hold in 2014. Instead, the trend did hold, but the results just weren’t there. He struck out a career high 9.22 batters per nine, which helped him to a career low xFIP of 3.80. Unfortunately, the ERA didn’t come along for the ride. The classic unlucky combination of a high BABIP (.360) and a low strand rate (68%) helped his ERA balloon to 5.49.
Following the disappointing 2014 season, Ondrusek found himself out of a job and took his talents to Japan. He dominated the NPB in 2015 and posted a 2.08 ERA over 70 innings for the Yakult Swallows, which led him to be named their closer for 2016.
This season, Ondrusek had similar results (2.45 ERA) but was pitching considerably less innings. After tossing over 70 innings during the 143-game season in 2015, Ondrusek had logged just 29 innings through 95 games this year. After a “disagreement” with the Swallows’ management, his agent reached out to some MLB teams and the Orioles answered the call.
Knowing that, the timing of the signing makes a little more sense. Rather than randomly picking a reliever to replace a not-terrible Chaz Roe at the end of July, it’s possible that Ondrusek was a guy that Dan Duquette wanted all along. Perhaps he was content where he was in Japan, until a mid-season falling out with his team caused him to look back to the United States for a change in scenery. For all we know, Duquette could have talked to - and been rejected by - Ondrusek’s agent in February.
There’s another big reason why this deal starts to make sense. For the past few months, ever since Brian Matusz was traded and Brian Duensing was injured, there have been talks of the Orioles looking for a left-handed reliever. Since Duensing hit the DL, the Orioles used a revolving door of Jayson Aquino, Ariel Miranda, Ashur Tolliver, and Donnie Hart to serve as non-Britton left-handers in the bullpen, but none of them pitched in more than five games.
Basically, it was just Zach Britton out there from the left side. It made sense to go get a proven, left-handed MLB reliever to compliment him. Obviously, that didn’t happen, and considering the prices that teams were paying for bullpen help this year that may have been a good thing. So, if you can’t find a lefty, what’s the next best thing? How about a right-handed reliever that can get lefties out?
I like Chaz Roe, but he is not that guy. Roe is basically a right-handed version of a lefty specialist - a ROOGY, if you will. In his major league career, he’s faced 201 right-handed batters and held them to a slash line of.200/.308/.361. He’s also faced 128 left-handed batters, who have hit.336/.414/.566. That means that over his career, left-handed hitters facing Roe have an OPS six points higher than 2015 Miguel Cabrera.
Ondrusek, on the other hand, has fared well against lefties. In fact, left-handed batters actually have an OPS 22 points worse (.704 vs..726) than right-handers against him in his career. This isn’t a tiny sample size either - Ondrusek has pitched to 452 lefties and 727 righties over his 5+ years in the big leagues.
Suddenly, this deal doesn’t seem so strange. The Orioles sorely needed a left-handed presence in the bullpen, and weren’t able to secure one in the extreme sellers’ market for relievers in 2016. At the same time, a reliever with recent big-league success against left-handed hitters unexpectedly became available. The timing was right, Ondrusek’s agent made the right phone call, and the rest was history.
Ondrusek gave up his first run as an Oriole last night, but overall he’s looked pretty good in his short time with the O’s. Despite Dan Duquette’s flaws, he has repeatedly shown an ability to find value in players that he plucked from the scrap heap. Logan Ondrusek just might be the next addition to that list.Why Us?
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View AllLast year, Oklahoma had the dubious honor of having made the deepest cuts to school funding in the nation since the start of the recession in 2008. Now an update from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities shows that our lead has widened. Adjusted for inflation, Oklahoma’s per student school formula funding has dropped 23.6 percent over the past six years, significantly more than in any other state.
Oklahoma is one of 20 states that continued to cut education funding this year, even as the economy recovers, leaving per student spending $857 below pre-recession levels after inflation. Although the Legislature and Governor Fallin provided a $41 million increase to the school funding formula in this year’s budget, it was not enough to keep up with inflation and rising enrollment. This year Oklahoma’s state aid funding per student dropped another $21 after inflation. Total state appropriations for the support of schools is $172 million below what it was in fiscal year 2008, even before accounting for inflation.
That may come as no surprise to anyone who’s been following what is happening in our schools. As Booker T. Washington High School teacher John Waldron wrote last week on our blog, schools have been left fighting with each other over too few resources, as class sizes increase and entire programs are eliminated. Oklahoma’s standards for class sizes and up-to-date textbooks were suspended when the recession hit. Since then lawmakers have repeatedly voted to suspend the standards because schools still can’t afford to meet them. Kids are using textbooks without covers or held together with duct tape. Schools began this academic year with more than 800 teacher vacancies statewide, and they’re still struggling to hire people because teachers can get much better pay in any of our neighboring states.
“At a time when the nation is trying to produce workers with the skills to master new technologies and adapt to the complexities of a global economy, states should be investing more — not less — to ensure our kids get a strong education,” said Michael Leachman, director of state fiscal research at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and co-author of the report released today.
The Center’s full report can be found here.Get the latest news and videos for this game daily, no spam, no fuss.
Earlier this year, The Wall Street Journal--citing an anonymous source--reported that Nintendo was working on a live-action Legend of Zelda Internet TV show for Netflix. It turns out, however, that this may not be true.
Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has now told Time: “As of now, I have nothing new to share with you in regard to the use of our IPs for any TV shows or films, but I can at least confirm that the article in question is not based on correct information."
You'll notice that Iwata's statement doesn't flat-out deny that such a production is in the works. GameSpot will continue to follow this story as it unfolds.
According to The WSJ's source, Netflix's Zelda TV show is aiming to be "Game of Thrones for a family audience."
Nintendo is known for being extremely protective of its franchises, only allowing a handful of TV/movie adaptations to date. Legend of Zelda was produced as an animated show, but it ran for only one season in 1989. And of course, the 1993 Super Mario Bros. movie was a trainwreck.
More recently, leaked emails revealed that Sony and Nintendo were discussing a new Mario movie. Spider-Man producer Avi Arad is reportedly brokering a deal with Nintendo to obtain the Mario film rights. Contrary to earlier reports, Arad says negotiations with Nintendo are not finalized, but rather "just the beginning."
Nintendo's next core Zelda game, an open-world title for Wii U, will be released later this year.Everyone's played at least 10 games, which means we're now officially halfway through the season. And 14 weeks in, the playoff picture is still pretty blurry. Chicago and Seattle have started to pull away, heading into the weekend tied on points with each other, but four points up on third place FC Kansas City, who doesn't play until Monday, and fourth-place Washington, who happens to be Seattle's opponent on Saturday.
The Spirit and FCKC are also tied on points with each other, and only three ahead of the fifth-place Flash, who happen to be taking on bottom of the table Sky Blue FC this weekend. The entire table is separated by just 11 points, and now with most of the non-US World Cup players officially back with their club teams and the USWNT slowly making its way back, too, we're in for an interesting second half.
While some teams -- Washington and Seattle -- have made clear that their USWNT stars won't be playing again this weekend, there's a possibility we could see a few World Cup winners back in club colors for the first time in a long time during Week 14.
Saturday, July 18
Washington Spirit vs. Seattle Reign FC
Maryland SoccerPlex, 7 p.m. ET
It's been 15 days since Washington last played, a 3-0 loss to FC Kansas City. The Spirit have held onto the fourth spot despite the inactivity though, mostly thanks to the aversion to winning the five teams below them on the table seem to have. Now they'll face a tough test in fellow top four team Seattle. The Reign, currently in second on the table, lost two of their first three games of the same, but haven't lost since, coming into Saturday with an eight-game unbeaten streak on the line.
The best news for the Spirit this weekend is the much-awaited return of Diana Matheson. After missing the first half of the season due to injury and World Cup commitments, Matheson has been back training with the Spirit and should be available for Washington for the first time this season on Saturday. Matheson appeared as a 62nd minute sub in Canada's loss to eventual third place finishers England in the World Cup quarterfinals late last month.
The not so good news for either team? It looks like both will again be without their American World Cup stars as they continue the USWNT's Media/Random Appearance/Let's Pretend NWSL Doesn't Exist Tour 2015. Stop by the merch table, get the t-shirt with the dates on the back, maybe a record and a poster. That means no Hope Solo or Megan Rapinoe for the Reign -- though Seattle's been doing pretty okay without them, and no Ashlyn Harris or Ali Krieger for the Spirit -- though Washington's also done pretty okay in their absence.
Seattle and Washington have met once previously this season, in Seattle at the beginning of May, a 3-1 win for the Reign that ended that two-game losing streak.
Chicago Red Stars vs. Boston Breakers
Benedictine University, 8 p.m. ET
The Red Stars are coming off a big win last weekend in Houston that kept the Chicago side at the top of the table. Seattle is now even on points with perennial missed the playoffs by that much-ers Chicago and the other two top four teams are both just four points back though, so a win on Saturday would do the Red Stars some good. They'll face a Boston team that's had something of an inconsistent season, managing to climb out of the basement only to immediately slide all the way back into eighth. The Breakers head into Saturday winless in four, and have lost three straight. Boston is also one of the league's worst road teams -- they haven't won away from Soldiers Field yet this season, earning just a single point through four games. In those games, Boston was also outscored 11-3. Chicago meanwhile, is unbeaten at home this season.
The Red Stars beat Boston 3-0 in their one previous meeting this season.
Sunday, July 19
Western New York Flash vs. Sky Blue FC
Sahlen's Stadium, 3 p.m. ET
After a rough start to the season, Western NY has somehow managed to climb all the way into fifth, and just three points out of a playoff spot. Bottom of the table Sky Blue FC hasn't taken quite the same path. Or any path, really. Sky Blue FC rollerbladed off the path and into a giant, inexplicable hole a long time ago and now they're just waiting for someone to come by and help. Wait... that might be the plot of a Broad City episode. Anyway. The Jersey team did get a win, their first since opening weekend and second of the season, last Saturday against Portland. Western NY is coming off a 4-2 loss to Seattle, a game the Flash were actually winning before both teams did their respective thing.
Sky Blue does have a chance to dig itself out of the basement this weekend -- they're only a single point behind Boston and somehow just seven out of a playoff spot.
Australian international Sam Kerr, acquired by Sky Blue FC from Western NY in the offseason, will face her former team for the first time on Sunday, a week after making her Sky Blue FC -- and 2015 NWSL -- debut. Kerr scored the only goal in that game.
Sunday marks the first meeting of the season between Western NY and Sky Blue FC. They'll play once more, on August 1.Most people have never heard of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), but it performs one of the most important jobs in the world. It surveys the scientific literature, decides what it all means, and writes a report informally known as the "Climate Bible."
That "Bible" is cited by governments everywhere. It is the reason carbon taxes are being introduced, heating bills are rising, and costly new regulations are being imposed.
According to John Holdren, President Obama's science advisor, the IPCC is the source of the "most important conclusions" about climate change. It's chairman, Rajendra Pachauri, says that "all rational persons" should be persuaded by his organization's findings.
The IPCC has been around for 22 years and has been awarded a Nobel Peace Prize. And yet my newly published book is the first time anyone has taken a close, critical look at this organization. After two years of research, I've discovered that almost nothing we've been told about the IPCC is actually true. Rather than being written by a meticulous, upstanding professional in business attire, it turns out the Climate Bible is being produced by a slapdash, rule-breaking, not-to-be-trusted teenager.
For example, in the grown-up world, whenever important decisions and large amounts of money are involved conflict-of-interest mechanisms are firmly in place. Lawyers, accountants, politicians, and many others are subject to these rules as a matter-of-course. People who expect to be trusted by the public adopted them long ago.
Yet even though the IPCC evaluates matters in which trillions of dollars are at stake, well into the 21st century it saw no need to even discuss conflict-of-interest. This organization is so arrogant, so used to being praised and admired, that its leaders failed to take the most ordinary of precautions.
Alas, this is only one of many troubling signs. In 2009 Pachauri assured a US Senate committee that his organization mobilizes "the best talent available across the world." On other occasions he has insisted that IPCC authors are at the top of their profession and are chosen for their impressive track records.
But as anyone who does a little math can discover for themselves, the IPCC has been relying on the expert judgment of 20-something graduate students for years.
In one instance, a young man who hadn't even acquired his Masters degree was recruited to be a lead author. In another, a woman 16 years away from completing her doctorate (and three years from the publication of her first academic paper) was one of only 21 people in the entire world selected by the IPCC to write about climate change and human health.
But why stop at students when you can recruit brazen activists, as well? Richard Moss has been involved with the IPCC for nearly two decades. During part of that time he was on the World Wildlife Fund's payroll – as a vice president, no less.
Richard Hare is considered a Greenpeace "legend." He has been one of its spokespeople since 1992 and was its chief climate negotiator in 2007. None of this prevented him from being admitted to the IPCC's inner circle. In 2007, Hare was one of only 40 people on the "core writing team" for the overall, big-picture IPCC summary known as the Synthesis Report.
Chairman Pachauri has further insisted that the IPCC bases its reports solely, only, and exclusively on research that has been published in peer-reviewed academic journals. In testimony before U.S. lawmakers he has said that the IPCC doesn't "settle for anything less." He has further declared that non-peer-reviewed material should be tossed "into the dustbin."
Yet it turns out that one in three sources relied on by the IPCC's landmark 2007 report didn't come within a mile of a peer-reviewed journal. Or, to rephrase that: one third of the sources referenced by the Climate Bible are to material the IPCC's own chairman has said belongs in the trashcan.
How could he have been so mistaken? How could he have repeatedly made the 100% peer-reviewed claim before he'd personally taken steps to ensure it had actually happened that way?
We're told we should trust the judgment of the scientists who write IPCC reports. Yet in an organization in which hundreds of people knew the chairman was traveling the world uttering balderdash, no one apparently took him aside and corrected him.
I've done my share of investigative reporting. But I've never seen a story like this one. -- No matter what IPCC rock I turn over, I find something scandalous.
Donna Laframboise is the author of the newly-published IPCC exposé The Delinquent Teenager Who Was Mistaken for the World's Top Climate Expert. She blogs at NoFrakkingConsensus.com.Rugby World Cup 2011: England v France
Venue: Eden Park, Auckland Date: Saturday, 8 October Kick-off: 0830 BST/ 2030 NZ Coverage: Live text commentary, scores and report on BBC website plus; updates on BBC Radio 5 live; watch live on ITV1
Flood has played alongside Wilkinson on 15 occasions for England
England have picked both Toby Flood and Jonny Wilkinson for Saturday's World Cup quarter-final against France.
Flood replaces centre Mike Tindall, who suffered a dead leg against Scotland, while fly-half Wilkinson has shaken off an arm injury.
Mark Cueto returns on the left wing as expected for the suspended Delon Armitage.
Media playback is not supported on this device Wilkinson excited by Flood pairing
James Haskell loses the number eight jersey to Nick Easter, while lock Tom Palmer starts ahead of Courtney Lawes.
Haskell and Lawes both have to settle for a place among the replacements, where veteran Simon Shaw provides another second-row option as manager Martin Johnson opts for five forwards on the bench and only two backs.
"James is particularly unlucky not to start," Johnson admitted. "But it is far more of a 22-man effort on the day than ever before.
"It was a particularly hard call and I said that in front of the team, that he [Haskell] didn't deserve it the way he has played.
WORLD CUP HEAD-TO-HEAD 1991, Paris (quarter-final) - England 19-10 France
- England 19-10 France 1995, Pretoria (3rd/4th play-off) - England 9-19 France
- England 9-19 France 2003, Sydney (semi-final) - England 24-7 France
- England 24-7 France 2007, Paris (semi-final) - England 14-9 France
"But he will still have a massive impact on the match. Everyone wants to start but your role is no less coming off the bench."
Johnson said Tindall "has been sore all week" and unable to train fully with the team, although the manager hinted that his omission was not entirely down to fitness.
"By Saturday, he would be touch and go, that is part of the equation with Mike, and Toby has played really well," he explained.
"Mike and Manu [Tuilagi] have played well together but this gives us different options on the field. But it is a tough call when you have to leave out guys like Mike."
Flood has played at 12 outside Wilkinson on 15 occasions for England, and Johnson denied starting with both his pivots was a gamble.
"You always put a lot of thought into your selection, no more so than for a World Cup quarter-final," he added.
Media playback is not supported on this device Martin Johnson says France match is 'do or die'
"It's not a gamble. It's an exciting combination for us. It gives us Toby's kicking game, Toby's passing game. He's a pretty experienced Test player now, 40 plus caps. He's been playing well.
"It does give us some different things that we can do on the field when we play those guys [Flood and Wilkinson]."
France have made two changes to their starting line-up with Nicolas Mas replacing Luc Ducalcon at tighthead prop, while number eight Imanol Harinordoquy starts ahead of Raphael Lakafia.
England team: B Foden (Northampton Saints); C Ashton (Northampton Saints), M Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers), T Flood (Leicester Tigers), M Cueto (Sale Sharks); J Wilkinson (Toulon), B Youngs (Leicester Tigers); M Stevens (Saracens), S Thompson (London Wasps), D Cole (Leicester Tigers), L Deacon (Leicester Tigers), T Palmer (Stade Francais), T Croft (Leicester Tigers), L Moody (Bath Rugby, capt), N Easter (Harlequins). Replacements: D Hartley (Northampton Saints), A Corbisiero (London Irish), C Lawes (Northampton Saints), S Shaw (Unattached), J Haskell (Ricoh Black Rams), R Wigglesworth (Saracens), M Banahan (Bath Rugby).next Image 1 of 3
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Desperate and drifting, Anis Amri took the path trodden by countless other North African teenagers: an illegal boat journey to Europe in hopes of a better life. He fell into crime instead — and is now suspect No. 1 in the deadly Berlin truck rampage claimed by the Islamic State group.
In his impoverished Tunisian hometown, Amri's stunned family doesn't know whether to defend him or disown him. One brother urged Amri to turn himself in to police.
"I want the truth to be revealed about my son. If he is the perpetrator of the attack, let him assume his responsibilities and I'll renounce him before God. If he didn't do anything, I want my son's rights to be restored," his mother, Nour El Houda Hassani, told The Associated Press on Thursday.
Distraught neighbors are surprised that Amri is suspected of such a heinous act. Yet the town is all too familiar with the threat of radicalism: Several of its sons, recruited by radical preachers, have died fighting in Syria and Libya.
His mother said she saw no sign that Amri had radicalized. In recent phone conversations, she said, he played Tunisian music and "asked about ordinary family news, and showed us meals he was preparing."
"Either someone stole his papers and left them under the seat so that he would be incriminated, or they want to show that it's this dog of the Islamic State group at the origin of this attack," she said.
His sister Najoua insisted the family has "nothing to do with terrorism" but acknowledged that her brother "is no angel."
After dropping out of school in eighth grade, Anis Amri drank and fell to petty theft, his mother said.
"His father and I are disabled. So he was forced to steal to emigrate and get... goods that young people dream of," she said.
The central town of Oueslatia, 220 kilometers (137 miles) from the capital of Tunis, is surrounded by mountains in one of the country's poorest. It has especially high youth unemployment, and with no leisure activities or bars, young people gather in the fields to drink beer and wine away from their parents' disapproving eyes.
Amri was convicted of stealing a truck in Tunisia and of burning down a migrant center in Italy, his mother said. But he was able to work small jobs while in an Italian prison, and sent money home. Italian authorities called him a problem inmate who had to be transferred to six different Sicilian prisons for bullying other prisoners and trying to spark rebellions.
"When he got out, he called us to say that he could not find work, and he was leaving for another country," his mother said. He tried and failed in Switzerland, so went to Germany instead.
Somewhere along the way, he appears to have been radicalized. German officials deemed Amri a potential threat and kept him under covert surveillance for six months this year. Now they say Amri's fingerprints were found on the truck used in Monday's attack, which killed 12 people and wounded 56. German authorities say they think he drove the truck.
"Whether he did it or not, I ask him to report to the police," his brother, Abdelkader Amri, told the AP in Oueslatia. "We are worried. We have no information about his location."
Amri's trajectory reflects the tumult in his country since he came into adulthood. He fled as Tunisia turned from a police state into a democracy in a chaotic 2011 uprising that spread across the Arab world. But Amri's prospects in the free world weren't as rosy as he'd hoped — much as Tunisia's freedom has been rockier than many hoped, marred by violence and economic troubles.
Abdelkader Amri urged other youths to be wary of extremists.
"I want to ask Tunisian youth to be aware of this phenomenon. I want to... ask them not to be influenced by the opinions of terrorist groups," he said. "We are living a real misery."
Amri last spoke to his family on Friday. He remains at large.
___
Angela Charlton in Paris contributed.Jarret Stoll’s 40.02% score-adjusted CF% isn’t getting anyone in Minnesota excited about the Wild claiming him off waivers from the New York Rangers on Tuesday. It’s the fourth worst mark in the NHL among forwards who have played at least 200 minutes.
But that number doesn’t tell the whole story of what is happening with Stoll’s season and how he potentially fits into the Wild roster.
The Questions
Stoll’s CF% has raised a lot of eyebrows. However, a lot of the discussion around his CF% isn’t taking any context into account. This isn’t to say that he’s actually a hidden Patrice Bergeron, but that the 40.02% taken alone doesn’t tell any kind of story.
A big part of that number for any player is always the team. That shouldn’t be surprising. Last year the Buffalo Sabres had a league-worst 36% score-adjusted CF%. Accordingly, 16 of the 20 worst individual CF% marks in the NHL were Sabres. The other four were split between Colorado (29th ranked 42.7%) and Columbus (26th ranked 46.8%).
The Rangers have started clawing their way up from the league’s possession basement, despite a great record to start the year. They are now 21st in the league with a 47.8% CF%. That’s a significant improvement from where they were when they were one of the hottest teams in the league. They were tied for second to last in the league with 46.6% CF% from the start of the season through November 30.
It shouldn’t be surprising that they’ve got players at the bottom of the heap.
Putting Stoll’s raw CF% entirely on him is no more accurate than calling Stoll a possession monster for being above 50% CF% in each of the prior seven seasons. During those seasons he was on |
tenth. This decline, according to critics has been due to shift of government resources from power and irrigation to social and agriculture sector according to Madras Institute of Development Studies reported in 1988. In addition, the emphasis on "welfare schemes" such as free electricity to farmers, mid-day meal schemes, etc. has been seen by many as taking money away from infrastructure development that could have benefited the poor. In addition, the liquor tax imposed during his rule was considered to contribute to a regressive tax mostly affecting the poor.[citation needed]
Other criticisms have been on MGR's centralised decision-making, which many blame for inefficiency and corruption taking hold of his administration. Some examples stated by the critics include Goondas act in 1982 and other acts that limited political criticism in the media, which led to a "police state" during his administration. While these criticisms have been in the minority, supporters of MGR counter that most of these problems were a result of the party members serving MGR rather than the leader himself. While he is not considered a divisive figure in the state, critics and supporters alike agree that his charisma and popularity trumped policy decisions that led to his eventual success during his tenure as chief minister.[20]
Natwar Singh in his autobiography One Life is Not Enough alleges that M.G. Ramachandra covertly supported the cause of independent Tamil Eelam and financed the LTTE and their cadres were being given military training in Tamil Nadu. He also alleges that M.G.R considered Jaffna an extension of Tamil Nadu and without informing the Indian Government at the time, had gifted 40 million rupees to the LTTE.[21]
MGR has been accused of being intolerant towards the media. In April 1987, the Editor of Ananda Vikatan S. Balasubramanian was sentenced to 3 months in jail by the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly for publishing a cartoon, depicting government ministers as bandits and lawmakers as pickpockets, though specific legislature was not specified. But due to media outcry, he was released and S. Balasubramanian later won a case against his arrest. Earlier, Vaniga Otrumai editor A.M. Paulraj was sentenced to 2 weeks imprisonment by the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly for his writing.[22][23]
Bharat Ratna [ edit ]
MGR's statue at the MGR Memorial
After his death in 1987, he became the second Chief Minister from the state of Tamil Nadu to receive the Bharat Ratna. The timing of the award was controversial, due to the fact that it was given so quickly after his death and he was elected as Chief Minister only 11 years before the award. Many opponents, mostly outside Tamil Nadu, criticised then ruling party INC, under Rajiv Gandhi to have influenced the selection committee to give the award to help win the upcoming 1989 Lok Sabha election. The ruling party forming a coalition with Jayalalithaa, the successor to MGR at that time, were able to sweep Tamil Nadu, winning 38 out of 39 seats, INC were however unable to win nationally.[24]
Commemorative Coins [ edit ]
To commemorate MGR's Birth centenary in 2017, the Ministry of Finance, Government of India decided to issue ₹100 and ₹5 coins that would bear his image as a portrait along with an inscription of "DR. M. G. Ramachandran Birth Centenary".[25]
Member of Legislative Assembly [ edit ]
Year Elected/Re-elected Place Party 1967 Elected St. Thomas Mount DMK 1971 Re-elected St. Thomas Mount DMK 1977 Elected Aruppukottai ADMK 1980 Elected Madurai West ADMK 1984 Elected Andipatti ADMK
Chief minister [ edit ]
Awards [ edit ]
Philanthropy [ edit ]
He personally offered relief in disasters and calamities like fire, flood, drought, and cyclones. He was the first donor during the war with China in 1962 (Sino-Indian War), donating Rs. 75,000 to the war fund. He was the founder and editor of Thai weekly magazine and Anna daily newspaper in Tamil. He was the owner of Sathya Studios and Emgeeyar Pictures (willed to charity) which produced many of the films he acted in. He had gifted a golden sword weighing half a Kilogram to Mookambika temple in Kollur, Udupi district.[28]
Illness and death [ edit ]
In October 1984, M. G. R. was diagnosed with kidney failure, which was further complicated by diabetes, a mild heart attack and a massive stroke. He was rushed to the Downstate Medical Center in New York City, United States for treatment, undergoing a kidney transplant. He returned to Chennai on 4 February 1985. He was sworn in as chief minister of Tamil Nadu for the third consecutive term on 10 February 1985. The next 2 years and 10 months were spent in frequent trips to the United States for treatment.
MGR never fully recovered from his illness and died on 24 December 1987 at 3:30 am in his Ramavaram Gardens residence in Manapakkam[29] after his prolonged illness. He was almost 70. His death sparked off a frenzy of looting and rioting all over the state. Shops, cinemas, buses and other public and private property became the target of violence let loose. The police had to resort issuing shoot-at-sight orders. Schools and colleges immediately announced the holidays till the situation came in control. The violence during the funeral alone left 29 people dead and 47 police personnel badly wounded.[30][31]
This state of affairs continued for almost a month across Tamil Nadu. Around one million[32] people followed his remains, around 30 followers committed suicide and people had their heads tonsured. After his death, his political party, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, split between his wife Janaki Ramachandran and J. Jayalalithaa; they merged in 1988.
In 1989 Dr. M. G. R. Home and Higher Secondary School for the Speech and Hearing Impaired[33] was established at the erstwhile residence MGR Gardens, Ramavaram, in accordance with his last will & testament written in January 1987. His official residence at 27, Arcot Street, T. Nagar is now M.G.R. Memorial House and is open for public viewing. His film studio, Sathya Studios, has been converted into a women's college.[34]
Filmography [ edit ]
As an actor [ edit ]
As producer and director [ edit ]
See also [ edit ]
M. G. Ramachandran's unrealized projectsAnother year is almost over, but there’s no sign of the custom scene losing pace. Exciting new shops are springing up all over the world, as the heavy hitters establish their positions.
Here’s our annual roundup of Bike EXIF’s biggest hits—the 2016 Bikes Of The Year. As always, this list is based on data, not our own opinions. We’ve generated it based on page views, incoming links, and social media data, weighted according to how long ago the bike was featured. When positions have been too close to call, based on numeric data, we’ve factored in the number and sentiment of comments.
There are some interesting take-outs to be had from this year’s crop. Last year, the scrambler vibe was dominant: This year, it’s faded away. There’s still the occasional chunky tire, but readers are looking elsewhere for their thrills. (There’s no pipewrap, either.) BMW has been the marque du jour for builders this year, and that’s reflected in the results.
Congratulations to the builders who made the list.
10. Revival BMW Landspeeder Most successful builders have a signature style, but you never know what you’re going to get from Revival Cycles. ‘Landspeeder’ was inspired by Ernst Henne’s 1928 BMW R37 racer, transplanting the ‘aero’ vibe to a custom chassis crafted from flat-cut rather than tubular steel. Revival even designed a modern version of Henne’s classic trailing link front suspension. Skillz.
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9. Hazan Motorworks BSA There’s art to be found in most motorcycles, from the curve of a tank to the knurled edge of a fuel cap. But Max Hazan has taken the concept of motorcycle-as-sculpture to heights not seen since the heyday of Ian Barry and Falcon. This BSA, created for a National Geographic photographer, has the swooping curves of a 1930s coach built automobile, but it’s the little details that wowed us—like the see-through Pyrex oil tank.
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8. XTR Pepo Harley-Davidson Dyna We feared we’d heard the last of Pepo Rosell when he shut down Radical Ducati two years ago. But he quickly got back into the game under the XTR Pepo banner, and he’s now hitting his stride. On this 2000-model Dyna Super Glide, he’s added a dash of street tracker style, and strangely enough, it works. We’ll take this over an XR-750 any day.
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7. Down & Out Triumph Bonneville T100 The English workshop has done more than anyone to promote the ‘fat tire’ look. And with custom triple trees in production, they’ve taken out the mechanical and geometrical guesswork too. A D&O bike is always a visual thrill, but this T100 gave our servers palpitations. It’s probably the most aggressively styled custom Bonnie we’ve ever seen.
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6. Auto Fabrica’s Honda CX500 We have to admit we’re not fans of the typical CX500 conversion, aside from Sacha Lakic’s café racer. So when we heard that Auto Fabrica were tackling the old güllepumpe, we feared for the worst. But Bujar and Gaz delivered a machine that was sleek and elegant, with curves to die for. One of the most extraordinary transformations of the year.
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5. NCT’s BMW R100 ‘Black Stallion’ Most builders have a ‘shop bike.’ Sometimes it’s a practical machine to use for running errands. Other times it’s a machine to showcase the ‘house style.’ And sometimes it’s an opportunity to go wild and build something that pushes all the boundaries. Austria’s National Custom Tech went a little crazy with their R100, and our readers went crazy for it too.
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4. Federal Moto’s Honda CB550 A dark horse, this one. At first glance, it appears to be a stereotypical CB café racer, built in the style we’ve become familiar with over the past few years. But look closer, and it turns out to be a pretty mean hot rod—with a Yamaha R6 front end and extensive engine mods. Owned by a Canadian film director, it was built by Federal Moto—one of those shops, it seems, that can do no wrong.
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3. BMW R5 Hommage We’d heard rumblings about BMW revealing something special at the Villa d’Este anniversary event, but we weren’t expecting anything like this. It’s a tribute to the original R5, built using replica parts and modern custom techniques. It’s a stunning showcase for BMW’s heritage, and perhaps even more so, the amazing skills of Ronna and Benna Norén, of Unique Custom Cycles.
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2. Classified Moto’s Honda XR650L John Ryland is a three-time winner of our annual awards, taking out the top spot in 2012, 2013 and 2015. This year, he was just pipped to the post—but there is still a delicious air of revenge about this XR650L. Ryland built it as a direct riposte to the keyboard warriors and armchair critics who clog the comments sections of websites with opinions on how custom bikes should be built. “Consider it a huge balloon-tired middle finger to the crowd who think we exist to build bikes that will knock the chips off their shoulders.” Job done, John.
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1. Rough Crafts Bavarian Fistfighter As soon as we saw the shots of this BMW R nineT, we knew it’d be a contender for the end-of-year top spot. The stance is on point, and the styling and paint are immaculate—inspired by classic Beemers from the past. The detailing, from the perforated leather seat to the wide ‘snowflake’ style rims, is sublime. “Menacing and purposeful, this R nineT hits the mark like a well-placed right hook,” we said at the time.
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It’s always fun compiling these awards, even though it means a full day poring over stats. The downside is realizing how many incredible machines didn’t quite sneak into the Top 10: This year, we saw Diamond Atelier, Urban Motor, Clutch, Roel Scheffers, Wenley Andrews and K-Speed narrowly edged out.
Special mention must go to the photographers too, whose skills are often just as amazing as the builders they work with.
Here’s to another exciting year of customs, and thank you for joining us in 2016.By DAVID GROVES
EVERETT, Wash. (Oct. 31, 2013) — Perhaps as soon as next month, The Boeing Co. will announce where it will assemble the 777X, a stretched version of the 777 wide-body twin-engined jet built here in Everett. The company is expected to formally launch the 777X program at the Dubai Air Show that opens Nov. 17, but may not announce whether it intends to build it in Washington state or South Carolina until some time later.
Yesterday, Boeing issued a cagily worded memo announcing that “much of the detailed design” work for the 777X will be done at the company’s engineering facilities in Russia and five U.S. locations other than Washington, ominously adding: “However, at this time, no decisions have been made about 777X design or build in Puget Sound.”
As one industry analyst suggests, it “could well be another of Boeing’s masterful chess games to extract incentives from Washington, South Carolina or the undisclosed state.”
It’s time for a 777X reality check.
If you are a Boeing shareholder or customer, this decision will be the true test of whether the company has learned anything from the 787 debacle. Will the 777X announcement signal Boeing’s renewed focus on delivering a quality reliable product on time? Or will it signal another risky ideological experiment in building a jet on the cheap?
The truth is that Boeing’s troubled South Carolina 787 assembly line continues to underperform and Washington’s workforce continues to pick up its considerable slack. The truth is that Washington’s workforce not only bailed out management from its costly 787 outsourcing experiment, it is the commercial jet production here in Washington that has driven company profits to record levels as defense cuts and 787 costs have dragged on Boeing’s bottom line. In fact, an argument could be made that Washington’s workforce has saved the jobs of the Boeing executives about to make this 777X decision.
But at its most fundamental level, the impending 777X decision will answer the question of whether Boeing executives still — STILL! — believe that it doesn’t matter who inserts Tab A into Slot B, it only matters what they cost. Or if they belong a union.
HERE WE GO AGAIN?
Ten years ago, Boeing management in Chicago devised a new business model intended to cut costs and reduce its employee count by outsourcing the design and manufacture of 787 parts all over the planet. Chicago decided it didn’t have to “bet the company” on 787 development, and instead it would have suppliers spend hundreds of millions of their own dollars to design and produce the parts.
The bottom line was the bottom line. Just to secure the final assembly jobs, Washington state gave Boeing a tax break so massive that the World Trade Organization deemed it an illegal subsidy. So why pay a bunch of expensive unionized Boeing machinists and engineers to do all that design and manufacturing work when you can get somebody else to do it?
Genius, right?
As it turned out, not so much. The pieces didn’t fit together. And some of them just weren’t usable.
The price the company paid for Chicago’s 787-on-the-cheap experiment is difficult to quantify. A “conservative” estimate by The Seattle Times was a staggering $32 billion cost to develop the 787 and to rebuild already-assembled but unusable jets. The Wall Street Journal has estimated that Boeing will have to deliver 1,100 of the 787s before the program will return a profit. To date, it’s delivered fewer than 100. The more than three-year delay in the 787’s rollout also harmed its competitive position versus Airbus because it has significantly delayed Boeing’s entire jet development schedule, including the 777X program.
In the end, Boeing had to call on its unionized workforce to clean up the mess by insourcing much of the work back to Washington state. Chicago suddenly needed “our world-class engineers, machinists and technicians to fix the dog’s breakfast their outsourcing made of the Dreamliner,” as Seattle Times business columnist Jon Talton wrote.
WHY BOEING IS IN SOUTH CAROLINA
And let’s not forget why Boeing is in South Carolina in the first place. It was because a key supplier for the outsourced 787 — the Charleston, S.C.-based Vought Industries — failed its mission so profoundly that it jeopardized the entire 787 program and Boeing was forced to buy the company in 2008 to fix the problem. That was about $1 billion of that unexpected $32 billion in costs.
Later in 2008, the Boeing Machinists went on strike for eight weeks. The union’s key issue, not surprisingly, was Boeing’s outsourcing of their jobs.
So in 2009, Chicago decided to expand its new S.C. plant into a full 787 assembly line to create a counter-weight to the company’s Puget Sound area plants. The company admitted — too publicly, as it turned out — that the S.C. expansion was in retaliation for the Boeing Machinists strike and they celebrated the fact that their new plant is in a state that proactively discourages unionization through a right-to-work law. Now the company is buying up land for a planned expansion there, leading some analysts to proclaim that Boeing will gradually shift more and more Boeing jobs from its unionized Washington operations to anti-union South Carolina.
But again, as with the failed outsourcing experiment, the underlying assumption with this cost-cutting union-avoidance strategy is that it makes no difference who is building these planes in terms of quality, efficiency and productivity, it only matters what that labor costs.
Unfortunately for Chicago, the evidence continues to mount that this is a faulty assumption.
ALL PLANTS ARE NOT EQUAL
There are two 787 assembly lines in Everett — one permanent and one temporary (we’re told) — and the one in North Charleston. Boeing has said its goal is to produce 10 787s per month by the end of 2013 and has said the South Carolina line would produce three of those 10 per month. But Boeing publicly acknowledged this summer that the North Charleston plant wasn’t going to hit that target.
It’s worse than that. Sources have told The Stand that the North Charleston production rate for new aircraft assembly is currently just three-quarters of a jet per month, and that a significant percentage of the Charleston-assembled 787s had issues that required repairs in Everett before they were delivered to customers.
All Boeing has said is that they are increasing Everett’s already accelerated 787 production rate to pick up South Carolina’s slack.
There is absolutely no question that the highly trained, experienced Boeing workforce in Washington state is operating more efficiently and effectively.
WASHINGTON IS THE CLEAR CHOICE
In addition to having an experienced and proficient workforce, there are obvious cost advantages for building the 777X in Washington state. The company has an existing 777 supplier network, existing buildings and related infrastructure, a new robotic paint shop already large enough to accommodate the 777X wing, room at Everett’s Paine Field for 777X wing production, and state and local governments that are already proposing a fresh bouquet of incentives, including a 16-year extension of those tax breaks the WTO says are too damn high.
In terms of business costs, many national studies — including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s — say Washington has a better business climate than South Carolina. For example, both of the definitive state-by-state comparisons of employer costs for workers’ compensation (here and here) say Washington is less expensive than South Carolina.
Is the only item in the “con” column for Everett that it’s unionized? Are the machinists and engineers here earning wages and benefits so much higher than their counterparts in South Carolina that all of Washington’s cost savings and tax breaks, and the unionized workforce’s higher productivity and proven reliability, don’t outweigh this? (And, um, do Boeing’s South Carolina employees know this?)
That’s the reward Boeing management may soon give to the men and women who absolutely rescued the company from their 787 mistakes. And continue to rescue, as you read this column.
“Thanks for everything, but after all, you did go on strike when we tried to outsource your jobs, soooo…”
Scott Hamilton of the aerospace consulting firm Leeham Co. says his sources told him that the Boeing Commercial Airplanes division wants to build the 777X in Everett, but CEO Jim McNerney is the “wild card” who generally favors South Carolina over Washington simply because it’s not unionized.
Let’s hope that rational heads prevail in Chicago.
In the meantime, the company better not drag out its state-vs.-state game of “Show Me the Carrots” for too long. After Boeing lost a major Japanese airline customer earlier this month, aviation analyst Richard Aboulafia said it was a clear message to Boeing that it needs to stop dragging its feet on the 777X and for Boeing to ensure that it won’t have the same problems the 787 has had.
Announcing that Washington state will get the 777X work will provide customers and shareholders that assurance.
David Groves is Editor of The Stand. He can be reached at david.groves@thestand.org.PEOPLE who decided to ignore ‘the so-called experts’ have conceded that they did in fact have useful knowledge.
Britons with various chronic health problems and injuries have reluctantly admitted that doctors and scientists are not just trying to stop everyone having fun.
Sales manager Roy Hobbs said: “The so-called experts are always telling you things are bad for you, and my recent lengthy spell in hospital suggests they were 100 per cent right about sausages fried in butter.
“They might be right about smoking too, so I’m going to look into that instead of staking my health on anecdotes about grandads who smoked 80 Capstan a day and lived to 105.”
Administrator Nikki Hollis said: “I’d always assumed experts just liked sounding important or were being bribed by big companies.
“However that advice about leaving a safe distance between you and the car in front turned out to be correct. I’ll definitely be telling my friends once the concussion’s worn off.”
The public is now gradually accepting that experts may have valid opinions on other subjects, such as homeopathy, angels and swimming far out to sea.
Van driver Martin Bishop said: “There’s only one sort of experts I trust and that’s UFO experts. Finding out all that highly classified government information takes a lot of work and you have to respect that.”AVON, Ohio -- After a two-year split, Jim Brown wants to reunite with the Cleveland Browns.
The Hall of Fame running back, who had been estranged from the organization after he was relieved of his duties as a senior advisor, attended an alumni golf outing Friday and said he hopes to have a new role with the team.
Hall of Famer Jim Brown rushed for 12,312 yards in nine seasons with the Browns and is the franchise leader in rushing yards and touchdowns. Diamond Images/Getty Images
"I am forever a Cleveland Brown," he said.
Walking without pain and better than he has in years following two hip replacements, the 76-year-old Brown spent nearly 30 minutes speaking with reporters on a number of topics.
And as always, Brown had plenty to say.
Brown said he'll meet Saturday with incoming owner Jimmy Haslam III, who recently purchased the Browns for $1 billion from Randy Lerner. Brown would like to have a hand in developing "a new winning attitude" with the Browns, and is looking forward to meeting with Haslam to discuss a possible future with the club.
"What an opportunity to be able to sit down with him," Brown said. "It's a beautiful thing."
Brown has missed being involved with the team he helped make famous.
"I miss being around," he said. "I would love to have a role with the Browns. I think that's what every ex-player would like to do most of all, to be a contributor to the success of an organization that he was a player that brought a certain amount of success. I'm stuck with being No. 32 for the Cleveland Browns. I can't do anything about that and I don't' want to do anything about it.
"We are married because of that history. And if I can be a part of the development of a new winning attitude and help get some victories, that would be fantastic.
"Imagine having a championship team here again?"
Brown also plans to meet this weekend with team president Mike Holmgren, who reached out to the franchise's career rushing leader and unquestioned greatest player in hopes of welcoming him back to the team. Holmgren had been the one who had changed Brown's role as an advisor to Lerner. Brown said he didn't have any problem with Holmgren, and the two "didn't have much of a confrontation."
Holmgren also said he was looking forward to meeting with Brown.
"He's one of my longtime idols," Holmgren said before watching the Browns practice Friday in Berea. "He's a very, very important part of this organization and I'm really very happy he's coming in for the weekend and I hope to get a chance to visit with him."
Brown said he has seen flashes of greatness in Browns rookie running back Trent Richardson. Before the NFL draft, Brown had called Richardson "ordinary." Brown said he made the comments in part to motivate Richardson, who rushed for 109 yards and scored two touchdowns last week against Cincinnati.
"Why wouldn't you love to see a running back make two, three, four or five moves and shed those tacklers?" Brown said. "Ultimately a running back has to get rid of tacklers without his blockers being a part of it. So I was happy to see him show that kind of talent."
Brown intends to meet with Richardson before Sunday's game against Buffalo.
The initial reason for Brown returning to Cleveland this weekend was to take part in a halftime ceremony honoring former teammate Ernie Green, a fullback who blocked for him. Green is being inducted into the team's legends club along with Clarence Scott, who played safety for Cleveland.Story highlights Australia named the world's happiest industrialized nation, according to the OECD
Survey takes into account satisfaction, work-life balance, income and housing
Sweden took second place, while Canada was placed third
The United States came sixth in the survey, with the UK in 10th position
Australia has been revealed as the world's happiest industrialized nation for the third year running, based on criteria including satisfaction, work-life balance, income and housing, a survey released Tuesday has found
The so-called "lucky country" beat Sweden and Canada to take the top spot in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) Better Life Index.
The country which comes out on top can be found here, if all criteria are weighted evenly.
Australia has remained largely immune from the global financial crisis, with its economy growing on average 3.5% over the last 20 years to 2012, according to the CIA Factbook.
The economy of the natural resource-rich nation has been buoyed by strong demand from Asia and China, while its robust financial sector has helped combat the global downturn.
Such growth is in stark contrast to recessions which have gripped Europe and the U.S. since the financial crisis exploded in 2007.
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Australia's employment levels, at 73% of those aged 15 to 64, are above the OECD average of 66%. Average household disposable income sits at $28,884, more than the OECD average of $23,047 and despite Australians working an average 83 hours less a year.
Life expectancy, at 82 years, is two years higher than the OECD average of 80 years and satisfaction, at 84%, is higher than the 80% global average.
In its report, the OECD said Australians felt "a strong sense of community and high levels of civic participation," with 94% of people feeling like they knew someone to rely on should they need help.
Sweden came second in the survey, with the same life expectancy as Australia but a lower disposable income of $26,242. Employment for those aged between 15 and 64, sits at 74%, and in general, Swedes are "more satisfied with their lives than the OECD average," the survey found.
According to the report, 85% of people said they had more positive experiences on an average day, such as pride and enjoyment, than negatives ones such as pain or boredom.
Canada was ranked third, with 72% of those aged between 15 and 64 employed, and an average household disposable income of $28,194.
The OECD found the country has a strong sense of community but "only moderate levels" of civic participation.
All three top countries all had a considerable gap between the rich and the poor, however, with the top 20% of the population earning between four and six times as much as the bottom 20%.
The other countries to make it into the top ten of the Better Life index were, in order: Norway, Switzerland, U.S., Denmark, Netherlands, Iceland, and the United Kingdom.The circular was given to all UAE borders points, including airports and ports. (File Photo)
Dubai: Indian nationals who hold a valid USvisa or a green card will get a two-week UAE visa on arrival in the country from May 1, according to a media report.
The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs this week circulated a letter to all authorities to grant Indians with US visa or green card to get UAE visa on arrival following a Cabinet decision last month.
Shaikh Khaled Bin Essam Al Qassimi, Chairman of Department of Civil Aviation in Sharjah, said the circular was followed instructions from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Gulf News reported.
The circular was given to all UAE borders points, including airports and ports.
Officials at the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs in Dubai confirmed that they will start implementing the order on May 1.
The visa will be valid for 14 days, extendable for a similar period one time only. The validity of the passport must be not less than six months and the fee for an entry permit will be Dirham 100 (Rs 1,750). The fee for one-time extension of the entry permit will be Dirham 250, it said.MANILA – A bill has been filed at the House of Representatives seeking to prohibit all computer shop owners from admitting minors into their establishments within school hours.
In a statement released on Sunday, Valenzuela City first district representative Win Gatchalian said House Bill No. 4740, to be known as the “Internet Cafe Regulation Act," will limit children’s access to computers and other gadgets to prevent addiction and untoward incidents on popular games, such as DOTA and Counter-Strike.
"High-stakes matches involving gambling among gamers, who are usually minors, tend to result in violence when one party becomes dissatisfied with the result of the match,” he said.
In the initial deliberation of HB 4740, Gatchalian said parents also have an important role in monitoring the computer games and websites their children access.
“Dapat din bantayan ng mga magulang kung appropriate ba sa age ng mga anak nila ang games at websites na nilalaro o binibisita ng mga bata,” Gatchalian said.
Due to too much computer exposure, Gatchalian said the risk of addiction to game and other unwanted sites among children increases.
“On one hand, Internet has allowed people to research and conduct work without having to invest so much on time,” he said.
"However, we also need to recognize that computers bring entertainment through games, and children have the tendency to be easily addicted to these games as they have impressionable minds that games could be easily influenced,” Gatchalian added.Under Its Frozen Exterior, Scientists Say Europa's Ocean Is Salty Like Ours
Here's a quote we found awe-inspiring:
"If you could go swim down in the ocean of Europa and taste it, it would just taste like normal old salt."
That's California Institute of Technology (Caltech) astronomer Mike Brown talking about Jupiter's moon Europa. Brown and his colleague Kevin Hand from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory believe that if you could drill your way through the moon's frozen exterior, the ocean beneath it would taste a lot like our own sea water.
How, you are wondering, did the scientists come to this conclusion? The simple answer is that they looked at the moon's surface and using spectroscopy — that is inferring physical properties through analysis of an object's light — they were able to discern the chemical makeup.
But the remarkable part is not that. The remarkable part about this study, which is scheduled to published in the Astronomical Journal, is that they were able to get past all the frozen stuff to find out what the ocean beneath is made of. They were able to do that because bits of the ocean are working their way toward the surface.
"We now have evidence that Europa's ocean is not isolated—that the ocean and the surface talk to each other and exchange chemicals," Brown said in a press release issued by the W.M. Keck Observatory, which they used to make the measurements.
The end-game here is that scientists have always thought that where there is water, there's a chance for life. So NASA reports:Right-wing media are offering GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney advice for the upcoming presidential debate. They suggest Romney should push economic myths to attack Obama's record, "smack the president," and get under Obama's skin.
Conservative Media: Romney Should Mislead About Economy To Attack Obama...
NYT's David Brooks Advised Romney To Say "The Economy In 2012 Is Worse Than The Economy In 2011." In a October 1 New York Times op-ed, columnist David Brooks advised Romney to say that the economy is worse now than it was in 2011:
The Obama administration, which is either hostile to or aloof from business, has made a thousand tax, regulatory and spending decisions that are biased away from growth and biased toward other priorities. American competitiveness has fallen in each of the past four years, according to the World Economic Forum. Medical device makers, for example, are being chased overseas. The economy in 2012 is worse than the economy in 2011. That's inexcusable. [The New York Times, 10/1/12]
In Fact, Economic Data Indicates That The Economy Is Better Off Now Than It Was One Year Ago. Since 2011, GDP has grown to $15.586 trillion and the private sector has added over 3 million jobs. Moreover, the stock market has increased in value by nearly 24 percent, and in the second quarter of 2012, home values hit their highest value since 2008. [Media Matters, 10/2/12]
Breitbart.com: Romney Should Convey The Message That The U.S. Needs To "Cut Taxes To Stimulate Growth." An October 1 Breitbart.com post advised Romney to simplify his message and suggested that he convey the "conservative message" of "cut[ting] taxes to stimulate growth":
The conservative message is pretty simple: cut taxes to stimulate growth, get rid of business-stifling government regulations so the free market can prevail, and keep the country safe. No need to reinvent the wheel. The founders did it all already. We need you, Mitt, to be the leader who will put the message into practice. You seem like a really nice guy, Mitt. You have a great running mate. And you have a conservative base that is really fired up and ready to go. So, when you meet Barack in Colorado on Wednesday night for the first debate, clearly spell out your plans so that everyone believes what you say. [Breitbart.com, 10/1/12]
TPC: Tax Cuts For High Earners "Will Do Relatively Little To Boost The Economy In The Short Run." In an August 2010 post, Tax Policy Center economist Howard Gleckman pointed out that tax cuts for the wealthy generally do not go back into the economy. Gleckman noted: "We know that higher income households are more likely to bank the cash than spend it. As a result, tax cuts for these high-earners will do relatively little to boost the economy in the short run." [Tax Policy Center, 8/31/10]
For more on right-wing media inflating the effects of tax cuts, click here and here.
Laura Ingraham: Romney Needs To Remind People That "We Have Really 11.7 Percent Unemployment." During the September 30 edition of Fox News Sunday, Fox News contributor Laura Ingraham suggested that in the debate, Romney should claim that the U.S. "really" has "11.7 percent unemployment." [Fox Broadcasting, Fox News Sunday, 9/30/12]
BLS: "The Unemployment Rate Edged Down to 8.1 Percent" In August. In a September 7 press release, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that "the unemployment rate edged down to 8.1 percent" in August. [Bureau of Labor Statistics, 9/7/12]
... Should Verbally "Smack" Obama...
Bill O'Reilly: Romney Has To "Smack The President." On Fox & Friends, Fox host Bill O'Reilly encouraged Romney to "put aside his politician persona" and "smack the President" in the debates
O'REILLY: Look, Mitt Romney, it's all on him. All on him. All President Obama has to do is basically just be himself, and not say anything, just repeat the same old thing. But Mitt Romney has to convince the American people that going forward he's a better alternative than the president. That's not going to be easy. So |
Congress could pass another Internet regulation bill that would supersede the previous bill," Sohn said.
Issa's bill would, however, prevent regulatory agencies, such as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), from adopting new rules that affect the Internet.
Sohn warned that prohibiting all government regulation of the Internet would "throw the Internet into corporate hands."
Most Democrats support the FCC's net neutrality rules, which prohibit Internet service providers from slowing down or blocking legitimate websites. Supporters say the rules are critical for ensuring an open and free Internet.
But Issa and other Republicans argue that net neutrality is an unnecessary burden on businesses.
Sohn noted that Issa's bill wouldn't stop the net neutrality rules since the FCC already enacted them, but the bill could block other potential regulations, such as rules on broadband caps.
The FCC isn't drafting any rules on broadband caps, but Sohn and other consumer advocates argue the agency should investigate whether providers should be allowed to limit their customers' Internet usage.
Sohn said Issa's bill could also block future regulations on Internet privacy. The Federal Trade Commission is currently working on an update to the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which restricts the ability of websites to collect information from children younger than 13.
Sohn said that depending on how broadly the courts interpret the definition of the "Internet," the bill could also derail efforts to provide more radio frequencies for cellphone service providers, which are struggling to keep pace with the booming demands placed on their networks by smartphones and tablet computers.
"This bill could have unintended consequences that even its proponents would not be happy with," Sohn said.
The bill might also prevent the president from issuing an executive order on cybersecurity. President Obama is considering an executive order to pressure owners of "critical infrastructure" to meet cybersecurity standards after the Senate failed to pass legislation on the issue.
A spokesman for Issa said the draft bill is not about trying to block any particular regulation, like net neutrality. Instead, the measure is intended to start a discussion about the appropriate role of the government in overseeing the Internet, the spokesman explained.
He added that Issa hopes to formally introduce a more detailed version of the bill next year after reviewing responses on Reddit and on his own site for discussing legislation, Project Madison.
Sohn said that while she has serious concerns with the measure, she agrees that it could be a "good conversation starter."Launch of the report this Thursday 3 December as part of Only Way is Ethics Glasgow Festival
OUR economic model premised on consumerism and a narrow narrative of 'I' is causing social and environmental harm and needs to be tackled head on by the Scottish Government, a new report, launched to coincide with the start of the Paris Climate Summit and the aftermath of the 'Black Friday' shopping binge, has argued.
You can access the full report here.
The report - published by the Common Weal, Glasgow University and Heriot-Watt University - argues that a shift is required "from 'I' to 'We'" in Scottish politics, where the importance of social relationships and a sustainable ecology are prioritised above 'invidious materialism'.
The authors - Dr Iain Black, Professor Deirdre Shaw and Dr Katherine Trebeck - place the rise of 'the narrative of I' in the move towards a me-first, neoliberal economy in Britain since Thatcher.
They argue that behavioural changes towards ethical consumption patterns will not be sufficient in addressing the scale of the challenge, so clearly in evidence at the Climate Talks under way in Paris.
The authors - who will present their report at a launch event on Thursday 3 December as part of Glasgow's 'Only Way is Ethics' festival - outline a series of policy changes, as well as changes in the political lexicon, at local and national level that can help bring about the required shift.
These policy changes include:
- Make participation more desirable and possible by for example making entry to council sports facilities free, including entry to local authority swimming pools, open up park facilities, encourage sharing equipment through creating 'libraries', exclude shared and community goods from VAT.
- Developing skills through more access to lifelong learning, including a 'national skills database' where experts put on workshops to teach people skills
- Fund participation through subsidising community participation rather than the car and pharmaceutical industry. Make community volunteering tax deductible.
- Reform the role of marketing so it is a facilitator rather than a manipulator. This will involve redefining how it is taught and understood and controlling how it is currently practiced by for example banning marketing and advertising to kids
- Make the producer pay for the cost of commercial waste rather than local government and introduce a pollution price trading scheme so environmental harm is added on to cost.
Common Weal will be promoting 10 of the key ideas in deconsumerising Scotland and moving from 'I' to 'We' in infographics running up to christmas, a few of which are below:The Trump administration is reportedly planning to send a final letter to Congress on Thursday to notify lawmakers of its plans to try to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement.
The U.S. won't be able to officially begin trade talks with Canada and Mexico until the end of a 90-day consultation period, however, Politico reported.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Wednesday they "made a lot of progress in getting toward the 90-day letter."
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According to the news outlet, the Trump administration must give a more detailed plan of its negotiations 30 days before talks begin.
Last month, Trump agreed not to pull out of NAFTA "at this time" during phone calls with the leaders of Canada and Mexico.
Trump spoke with the two leaders and assured them he would pursue a negotiation of the landmark trade pact between their three countries.
During his election, Trump pledged to announce his intent to renegotiate or leave the pact.
Scrapping the 1994 agreement would have triggered widespread backlash from the U.S. business community and recriminations from Ottawa and Mexico City.Saving a Woman From Being Run Over By a Minivan
We are still pretty shaken up and in disbelief from the position that we were thrown into this afternoon. A typical ride home after picking up Angela from school turned into an ordeal that we won’t soon be able to forget. It has been less than five hours since the incident happened, so we think writing about it might help us deal with it better.
At about 4:00pm while we were on our way to our usual afternoon coffee stand, we were stopped at the very busy Pantip Plaza intersection at Chang Klan Rd and Sridonchai Rd heading west. We did what we usually do and slowly crept up towards the front of the pack of cars, which is the standard practice in Thailand. The line of traffic was long, and when we reached the front we took notice that we were the only motorbike there.
By now I am well aware of the traffic light pattern, and I was patiently waiting for our turn to proceed through the intersection when I heard a crash sound coming from my right side. Angela and I quickly snapped our heads to the right and witnessed a big silver minivan rear ending a Thai woman on a small motorbike. My first thought was that the minivan was going to stop because the collision took place on the front driver side quarter panel. There was no way the minivan driver couldn’t have realized what he just did…but he didn’t stop.
Shockingly, the driver continued to push the bike off to the side of the vehicle, but not before the woman on the motorbike was forcefully knocked down to the pavement, directly into the path of the minivan. That is when Angela and I started to yell as loud as we could while simultaneously jumping off of our motorbike toward the unfolding accident. Our shouts did nothing. The driver continued to push forward, lodging the small petrified woman under his front bumper.
We could not believe what we were witnessing as we saw the helpless woman rolling under the front of the minivan like a rag doll. We proceeded to leap in front of the vehicle and throw our hands up frantically. The driver and the passenger in the front seat had very confused looks on their faces. It was clear that they knew they hit a motorbike, but it was obvious that they had no idea that there was a poor woman trapped underneath the front of their minivan. Wide eyed and not able to fluently speak Thai, Angela and I motioned with our hands that there was something under their vehicle.
Going back and forth from the eyes of the screaming woman to the dumbfounded faces of the minivan drivers, I made the quick decision to instruct them to back up. Luckily the woman was flat on her back and in no position to be pulled backwards. As the van gave way she let out a loud sigh of relief. Angela and I signaled to the woman to stay on her back while the driver of the minivan guiltily began to look her over for visible injuries. It was at this point that we saw a policeman running across the street from the traffic booth he was occupying.
Quickly glancing around, I was taken aback by the amount of people simply looking on from the safety of their cars. Not a single person had gotten out of their vehicle to help. I could even see the driver of the car behind my abandoned motorbike start to become frustrated by the obstacle I left in front of him. Maybe he didn’t see what happened, and maybe all the onlookers were proof of the harsh reality of the bystander effect.
With shaky hands I ran back across the double line in the road and pushed my motorbike onto the bordering sidewalk while Angela stayed with the woman. By this time, there were two policemen marking the accident scene by spray painting white lines around the minivan’s tires and blue lines around the woman’s banged up motorbike.
Being rush hour, there were countless cars and motorbikes zipping around the scene, so one of the policemen had the driver of the minivan pull his vehicle to the side of the road while the other picked up the motorbike and placed it on the curb. Thankfully the victim was the exception to the rule and was smartly wearing a helmet, long pants, a jacket, and shoes. We watched as she lifted up her ripped pant legs and sleeves to reveal that she was not bleeding. Crying and angry we could hear her disdain for the minivan driver in the sharp tone of her voice. We also heard her mention the word farang (foreigner) once or twice. We didn’t know if she knew that we had saved her from being crushed or if she thought we were complicit, but we were just glad that she was ok.
Next, one of the policemen quickly walked towards me. I was pretty nervous that we might be placed with some of the blame because I’ve read in many online forums that if you are a foreigner and see an accident in Thailand, you shouldn’t involve yourself. To my relief, the policeman smiled, patted me on the back, and said in English, “Thank you.” Feeling relieved, I returned the pat on the back and tensely said, “That was scary.” Briefly forgetting what country I was in, I could see that he didn’t understand a word I just said. He repeated his thank you and I replied with a “Khap khun khrup” (Thank you in Thai).
Angela and I sympathetically made eye contact with the woman one last time and stared with disapproval at the driver of the minivan before walking back to our motorbike. As we drove home, all I could do was shake my head back and forth and be thankful that we were able to get off our motorbike in time to jump in front of the van before the driver had a chance to crush the woman with the full weight of his vehicle.
Today is a day that we won’t soon forget, and it is going to be even harder for us to see adults and unsuspecting small children on motorbikes without helmets riding fearlessly through the busy streets of Chiang Mai.
Have you ever been involved in a life-or-death situation while on the road? What happened and how did you deal with it?For almost a decade now, what social conservatives say and the evidence in front of our eyes has been diverging with remarkable speed.
According to the received wisdom, the permissive revolution of the 1960s led to family breakdown, which in turn led to today’s terrifying crime rates. The small snag with the argument is that crime rates are not terrifying. The decline in marriage and rise in divorce notwithstanding, crime rates have collapsed.
Social conservatives can take some comfort from the fact that the fall coincides with the increase in the prison population since 1990. But a rise of about 30,000 in the number behind bars is small beer when set against, the vast and vastly welcome fall in crime.
The murder rate has seen the most startling decline of all. It has all but halved from 1,047 in 2002-03 (when the 172 victims of Dr Harold Shipman were included in the figures) to to 550 homicides in 2011-12 — the lowest level since 1983.
My old friend Alan Travis of the Guardian explains the decline by pointing out that two thirds of murders involve a (nearly always male) partner abusing his (nearly always female) partner or ex-partner. Crime has fallen because society’s attitudes to domestic violence have changed utterly. Since the 1990s, the police and the Crown Prosecution Service have taken domestic violence seriously. More to the point they were made to take it seriously by Harriet Harman, Vera Baird, Jacqui Smith and Labour’s other women ministers. I know they had a hard time in the Tory press — ‘crop-haired harridans’ and all the rest of it — but I admired their Cromwellian doggedness. Rather than follow the polls, they came to office with a clear determination to ensure that the criminal justice system treated women decently, and made damn sure that they got their way.
Other measures have helped drive down domestic violence. Rape crisis centres. Charitable and local authority efforts to get battered women away from their men and into emergency housing. Improvements in women’s education, and police campaigns that encouraged women to report and tackle abuse rather than treating them as ‘domestics’ to be kept in the family.
‘Keep it in the family!’ How resonant that phrase is when it has only been by interfering with the family that crime has fallen. Readers who want to uphold family values, should note that Cameron and Osborne are slashing police numbers, closing domestic violence centres and blocking off housing options for the poor. Perhaps the crime figures will soon reflect their success and show that in this instance at least the Tories have indeed taken us back to the ‘good old days’.Aggressive bidding, especially in the 900 MHz band, continued on the second day of the auction of spectrum with the government mopping up Rs 5,000 crore, taking the total amount to Rs 65,000 crore within the first two days of bidding. With five rounds of bidding done on day two, a total of 11 rounds was completed in the first two days.
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The maximum fight is for the 900 MHz band, where the country’s top four operators — Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Idea and Reliance Communications — are locked in a do-or-die battle as they need to win back their current spectrum holding to maintain their business case. On day two, bidding for this band was already up 45 per cent over the reserve price.
The auction this time — the fourth since 2010 — is the biggest as spectrum in the 800, 900, 1800 and 2100 MHz bands are on offer. All four bands taken together, the bids are 33-35 per cent above the reserve price.
[related-post]
Mobile licences for nine circles of Idea Cellular, six circles of Airtel and seven circles each of Vodafone and Reliance Telecom are coming up for renewal. The auction is most crucial for Idea Cellular as nine circles where its licences are up for renewal contribute around 79 per cent to its total revenue. Subscriber-wise, they account for 70 per cent of its total user base.
The best placed is Bharti Airtel as it has sufficient back-up spectrum in the 1800 MHz band in the circles where its licences are up for renewal. Bharti had bought this spectrum in the February 2014 auction.
The broad trend so far is that after the 900 MHz band, the 2100 MHz (3G) band generated most interest, followed by 800 MHz and 1800 MHz. The least quantum of spectrum is available in the 1800 MHz band and much of it is not contiguous, which makes it unattractive from a business case perspective for operators.
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The auction began on Wednesday but there’s a cloud over it as the Supreme Court has told the government to declare the results only after its nod. It will next hear the matter on March 26. FEAbout
CAD Representation of IOLITE
OWN THE COURSE.
INTRODUCING A DEVICE THAT WILL CHANGE OPEN WATER SWIMMING... FOREVER
A PRECISE LINE = A SHORTER TIME.
IOLITE is a high-precision tracking device that is worn on the back of your swim goggles. IOLITE will send real time feedback during a swim directly to your goggles through a small LED array to give you the most efficient swim possible. IOLITE will analyze the direction you are swimming and as you veer off course, the LEDs will notify you what direction you need to swim to stay on course with significantly reduced sighting throughout the process.
LIGHT YOUR WAY TO THE FINISH LINE.
The LED display attaches to the goggles of your choice. The LED display is attached to IOLITE through a small waterproof wire that attaches at the back of your goggles or the swim cap. The lights will indicate if you are on course, slightly to the right or slightly to the left. Once you are back on course, a green light will display indicating that you are right where you need to be. In addition, cadence and pace tracking lights are placed to the right of the directional lights for additional data to be streamed to you during your open water swim.
YOUR SWIM YOUR WAY.
IOLITE will send you data in real time to make sure you maintain your pace exactly as planned. Finish strong with enough energy while reaching your goal speed with indications from three LEDs to the right of the direction LEDs. In addition, IOLITE will help keep rhythm in your stroke with the cadence LED. IOLITE can even tell you the distance you have swum to make pacing easier all the way to the finish.
INTRODUCING IOSIGHT
IOSIGHT is a software program that will provide you with complete analytics after your swim. You can learn what you did during the swim and provide data on what you can do to improve that swim including distance, direction, speed, cadence and more. Included is a complete playback including every aspect of your swim and compare it, side-by-side with other swimmers who have swum the same course.
SO... WHAT'S THE PROBLEM?
In short: learning to swim in open water!
While learning to swim and then training for Ironman, Steve and Raymond heavily used the swim training advice and coaching from Swim Smooth. They love to analyze data and as they tried to improve stroke efficiency, the data provided by Swim Smooth was invaluable. Their unique approach to swimming using swim types really helped identify the areas Steve and Raymond needed to work on.
Any guesses on the swim type for Steve and Raymond?
Don't know what were talking about when we say "swim types"? Go check out
Swim Smooth
and see what we are talking about!
Swim Smooth has many articles pointing out the difficulties of open water swimming vs swimming in a pool. Go check out the following articles on Swim Smooth to better understand the difficulties of open water swimming:
http://www.feelforthewater.com/2012/10/remarkable-footage-of-swimmers-going.html http://www.feelforthewater.com/2010/05/whats-easiest-way-to-take-ten-minutes.html PICK YOUR PERK
WHERE ARE WE NOW?
Our tests so far with IOLITE have been even better than we hoped. The distance saved, the added peace of mind, and energy savings have all been remarkable.
We have working prototypes all over the world - from the USA to South America, Europe, and even Australia!
We have our CAD designs all complete.
We have quotes from Injection Molding companies for our tooling (tooling refers to the molds you need to create plastic parts).
We have a supply chain for all our parts set up.
We have Alpha versions of our firmware, desktop, and online software.
We have our Patent all filed
WHAT DO WE NEED?
Funding for creation of our Injection Molding tooling
Funding for a large enough production run to make IOLITE affordable
Beta testers of the device firmware and the software to ensure it is ready for launch
HOW DID WE GET HERE?
This has been a fun process taking something from just an idea to an actual product. We had lots of setbacks along the way, but it was all worth it!
First things first. What do you do when you have an idea for electronics? Breadboard it!
USB, LEDs, and GPS - Oh My!
Here is another one with a full array of LEDs:
Those LEDs barely fit on there!
We also went through all sorts of circuit designs and firmware approaches. To see a few of them check out this pic:
From hand made circuit boards to working prototype!
Of course, we didn't always think we would use LEDs in the eye display. Check out these cool goggles with fiber optic cables! It was cool, but just not bright enough in daylight.
Our try at fiber optics for lights
While Raymond totally destroyed Steve at the triathlon Ironman Florida, Steve tried to use an early prototype. Unfortunately a little salt water got in and it stopped working so it was unusable. Here is the unfortunate prototype showing how much damage a little salt water can do to electronics.
Salt water ate this poor prototype!
We also tried our hand at 3D printing some case designs:
3D prints and test injection molded parts
Of course, if you take some 3D printed parts you can make molds from them (or try and fail, try and fail, try and be sorta OK - like we did!).
Prototype molds for injection molding
Of course - what is the fun of having a mold, without and injection molding machine? Steve loves having this bad boy in the garage:
Our sweet injection molding machine from medium machinery!
After getting the design refined a bit, you want to hold it in your hand. Here is a painted 3D mold of a final design option.
Case Design - 3D printed and painted
It all led to the working prototype. Here is a picture with it attached to some goggles and showing the neat little USB adapter to get your workouts onto the computer.
Working IOLITE Prototype
Wanna see what you would see while wearing the IOLITE? Here is an interesting view. When your goggles are on you can barely tell the eye piece is there.
Oh no! I'm off course!
Here is a view a little further off:
One IOLITE in the hand is worth... $$$ if a prototype!
OK, now do you want to see this in action!? We could not figure out a way to show the eye piece while swimming, but here is Steve walking down his street and Steve's voice narrating live in all its un-mastered glory!
Here is a screenshot of a swim from Raymond. If the line is yellow, his eye piece showed yellow, and same with red. The nice blue line was when he was going straight. This is a swim where he only sighted a couple times in the first ten seconds then swam blind the rest of the time.
We thought this is a beautiful example because of all the imperfections. There is a bad cross current pushing towards the southwest that pulled him off initially and we had never swam here before so we did not know about it. You can see the long red line with the IOLITE telling Raymond he was off course, and he kept trying to make small corrections but it kept pushing him off. He realized something was wrong so eventually he sighted once more and realized it just had a wicked cross current. So he was able to adapt to the new information and completely trust the IOLITE and you can see how much better he did in a bay he had never swam in before! Pretty cool!
Who says you can't swim with your eyes closed? :D
HOW DO WE MANUFACTURE THIS?
Getting manufacturing, packaging, and fulfillment all lined up takes some work. Fortunately we have all the ducks lined up now!
First we get the PCB boards made in one of the two shops we have lined up - one in the USA, one in the far east.
At the same time we have all our electronic components ordered. We already have them priced, sourced, and we made sure there are no shortages for the components we chose.
We have a shop less than 30 minutes away that has 7 injection molding machines and can make in house tooling. This is all priced and ready to go. Once the tooling is done (6 weeks after the end of Kickstarter) they will make our plastic parts - even the fun overmolding.
We also have a company right next door to the injection molding plant that will do our Pick and Place (that is a fancy machine that quickly places all your electronics onto your PCB boards).
Last we will do processor programming, final assembly, and box them up. Steve and Raymond have a few kids (teenagers? when did that happen?) all ready to do the boxing!
We have multiple options for fulfillment including shipping them out ourselves, using a local fulfillment center here in Utah County, or Amazon Fulfillment. This all depends on how successful we are! We can ramp up!
That about wraps it up... if you have any questions ask away! We'll get them all answered in the FAQ. Please go tell your friends and help us spread the word!
OWN THE COURSE.First Order stormtroopers at April's Star Wars Celebration in Orlando. (Gustavo Caballero/Getty Images)
On May 25, 1977, filmmaker George Lucas and Twentieth Century Fox released “Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope” — the first movie in a planned series of nine films. The movie soon became a cultural phenomenon. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the launch of the Star Wars series.
We never see a journalist in “Star Wars.” Not in eight movies and counting.
The galaxy is otherwise rich in professions. There are bartenders, bounty hunters, geneticists, one librarian, medics, moisture farmers, musicians, senators, soldiers and a lady who sells toads out of the sewer. The character who comes closest to an act of journalism, if we're being generous, is a two-headed alien who commentates during a podrace. His sportscast is mostly hackwork, stuff like “It's Skywalker!” and “The crowds are going nuts!” Worse still, he's not very impartial; at the sight of the gangster Jabba the Hutt, both of his heads gargle in apparent fealty.
If there was ever a galaxy far, far away in need of a smart and independent press, you're looking at it.
“Fake news in 'Star Wars' is probably their number one problem,” says “Fake news in 'Star Wars' is probably their number one problem,” says Ryan Britt, an editor who specializes in science fiction at the website Inverse. Britt, in his 2015 book “ Luke Skywalker Can’t Read,” makes a provocative claim: Most “Star Wars” denizens, if they're not illiterate, seem fundamentally disinterested in reading.
“There’s a lack of deep reading and understanding and comprehension,” Britt says. “The transference of cultural memory is really, really short.”
Though Luke occasionally uses the written word to complete tasks, such as navigating to a distant planet, we never see him read for fun or education. Nobody does. You'd be correct if you argued that fleeing a Death Star isn't the best time to flip through the latest issue of Space Vogue. But even during the prequel series, amid the calm and luxury of the capital planet, there's nary a holographic newspaper or textbook in sight. And so propaganda reigns. Facts quickly turn into distorted myth.
This lack of media, from Britt's point of view, enriches the fictional universe. “It’s not an indictment that 'Star Wars' is poorly written,” he says. “It explains the dysfunction.”
Fake news is a deadly symptom of the media-poor culture displayed in “Star Wars.” Facebook, in a Fake news is a deadly symptom of the media-poor culture displayed in “Star Wars.” Facebook, in a report released at the end of April, defined fake news as a “catch-all” phrase that may include “hoaxes, rumors, memes, online abuse, and factual misstatements by public figures that are reported in otherwise accurate news pieces.” And in “Star Wars,” a few whopping “factual misstatements” by a public figure give rise to an evil empire.
How to spot fake news Embed Copy Share Play Video 2:04 Consider these points before sharing a news article on Facebook. It could be fake. (Monica Akhtar/The Washington Post) Consider these points before sharing a news article on Facebook. It could be fake. Consider these points before sharing an article on Facebook. It could be fake. (Monica Akhtar/The Washington Post)
Near the end of the prequel “Revenge of the Sith,” the elected leader of the Galactic Republic gives a speech. It's a rousing speech, full of carnage and conspiracy. Supreme Chancellor Palpatine spins a wild theory that the powerful elite, the Jedi, wish to subvert the government. It's also total bull.
A “Jedi rebellion” has been foiled, Palpatine says. (This is false. Palpatine ordered his troopers to shoot the Jedi in the back, a slaughter presumably carried out on thousands of planets.) The Jedi disfigured his face in a failed assassination attempt, he says. (False again, though difficult to investigate — Palpatine resisted arrest in his private office, then zapped any would-be witnesses to death.)
With that, a millennium-old democracy dies. Palpatine announces that the Republic is now an empire, promising “a safe and secure society, which I assure you will last for 10,000 years.”
Almost everyone in Palpatine's audience greets his speech with thunderous applause.
There are a few heads shaken and sad words muttered. But nobody jots down notes. Nobody switches on a recorder. Nobody in the chamber raises a tentacle and asks, “Uh, excuse me, Mr. Chancellor …?”
Meanwhile, what appear to be drones equipped with video cameras hover around the Senate chamber. The movie never explains the drones' purpose, but it's easy to imagine that the robots are filming the emperor's speech. (In fact, the “Star Wars” television show “ Meanwhile, what appear to be drones equipped with video cameras hover around the Senate chamber. The movie never explains the drones' purpose, but it's easy to imagine that the robots are filming the emperor's speech. (In fact, the “Star Wars” television show “ Rebels ” later offers a glimpse of imperial propaganda recorded from that very location.) If so, there is no evidence that the galaxy tuned into the robot feed to see a popular and rightly outraged news anchor listing the democratic laws broken and historical context ignored.
The emperor swiftly consolidates control. It will take 19 years for isolated pockets of outrage to blossom into a full rebellion against the Empire.
“When you take out print, when you legislate against media, what results is some kind of totalitarian state,” says “When you take out print, when you legislate against media, what results is some kind of totalitarian state,” says Joseph Hurtgen, an English instructor at Georgia's Young Harris College and an expert in archival theory, the way information is kept and stored. “That’s always where this goes when you undermine print culture.”
The funny thing about records in “Star Wars,” Hurtgen says, is that they betray an obsession with technology. “The only archive that anybody bothers to keep in 'Star Wars' is technology,” he says. “Nobody’s writing down memos or news.”
Even those technological archives are devoid of context. The Jedi library contains volumes of star charts but allows no room for Even those technological archives are devoid of context. The Jedi library contains volumes of star charts but allows no room for questioning their accuracy. “The library is complete garbage,” in Britt's estimation. As for the Empire, as seen in “Rogue One,” its most precious archive is a tower of blueprints.
“There’s no analysis, right?” Hurtgen says. “There's no knowledge about eschatological probabilities when manufacturing Death Stars.” Which is to say, the Empire never seems to learn from its mistakes. Nor are the Jedi blameless, says Hurtgen: Their mantra is to “examine your feelings,” a far cry from rational discourse as applied by political philosophers. (“Examining feelings gives us Hammurabi “There’s no analysis, right?” Hurtgen says. “There's no knowledge about eschatological probabilities when manufacturing Death Stars.” Which is to say, the Empire never seems to learn from its mistakes. Nor are the Jedi blameless, says Hurtgen: Their mantra is to “examine your feelings,” a far cry from rational discourse as applied by political philosophers. (“Examining feelings gives us Hammurabi extracting teeth ; Austria-Hungary, 1914, declaring war on Serbia; Trump tweeting, well, anything,” per Hurtgen.)
In fictional epics with fleshed-out worlds, there's usually some sort of journalism, if only a TV on in the background — because if universe-altering events are happening, any halfway decent media outlet will be paying attention.
Harry Potter reads the Daily Prophet. Superhero comics are filthy with reporters. In the sci-fi graphic novel series “Saga,” hailed as a Harry Potter reads the Daily Prophet. Superhero comics are filthy with reporters. In the sci-fi graphic novel series “Saga,” hailed as a spiritual successor to “Star Wars,” a photographer and tabloid journalist play small but critical roles. Reporters pop up in “Star Trek.” In the “Battlestar Galactica” reboot, a TV series in which the total human population shrinks to 50,000 refugees, an early episode is shot from a journalist’s point of view. And yet in “Star Wars?” Zilch.
In this media void, history takes on the murk of a Dagobah swamp. During “A New Hope,” the “Star Wars” movie set just 19 years after “Revenge of the Sith,” the Jedi were described as members of an “ancient religion.” In the recent “The Force Awakens” film, the young hero Rey admits she believed that Luke Skywalker, perhaps the most important historical figure from a mere 30 years earlier, was only a “myth.”
Every so often, excitable fans of the series will tell Britt that the “Star Wars” expanded universe — books, TV shows, comics — prove him wrong. (Britt's idea certainly seems to rub some people the wrong way. “That stupid illiteracy theory,” huffed one pop culture website last year.) Most frequently invoked to their defense is the HoloNet, the “Star Wars” equivalent of the Internet.
Even so, it seems doubtful that the HoloNet promoted the free exchange of ideas. The Even so, it seems doubtful that the HoloNet promoted the free exchange of ideas. The HoloNet News, per its Lucasfilm-approved description, was not a bastion of hard-hitting journalism. The ostensibly democratic Republic took it over first. Then, under Palpatine's reign, it became “the official state-sanctioned news agency of the Empire.” (An organization named the “Ministry of Information” made sure that “stories were consistent with government messaging.”)
The “Star Wars” films are similar to Western movies, Hurtgen says, because both take place in a “space free of normal institutions. And one of those great institutions is education. All that’s left is storytelling, as an oral culture.”
When the first “Star Wars” film was released in 1977, he argues, it was the perfect time for an escapist fantasy about a society that doesn’t read. The previous economic era, in which a lack of a college education was not a barrier to a steady job, had come to a close.
“There’s something to a narrative appearing at a moment when higher learning and literacy are more and more required,” Hurtgen says. “The great heroes don’t have to do that. They’re fine all on their own.”
There’s a line of reasoning that argues the stories we tell reflect who we are as a society. “One thing I would wonder,” Hurtgen says, “if we’re telling stories in which there’s no media culture, there’s no written word — what does that mean for us that 'Star Wars' would become one of the most popular tales?”
The most iconic Star Wars character of all time (so far) User Poll Results: Voting is closed on this poll User Poll Results: Who is the most iconic Star Wars character?
Luke Skywalker Darth Vader/Anakin Skywalker Obi-Wan Kenobi
R2D2 Han Solo Darth Sidius/Emperor Palpatine C-3PO
Princess Leia Chewbacca Yoda Pardon the interruption! We need to verify that you are an actual person. Luke Skywalker Darth Vader/Anakin Skywalker Obi-Wan Kenobi
R2D2 Han Solo Darth Sidius/Emperor Palpatine C-3PO
Princess Leia Chewbacca Yoda View Results This is a non-scientific user poll. Results are not statistically valid and cannot be assumed to reflect the views of Washington Post users as a group or the general population. Share this poll: Share on Facebook
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Read more:We already put together a pretty darn good team made up entirely of players on pretty bad contracts, so the next logical step was to try to put together a team of top players who are probably making far less than they should.
We decided to not include players still on entry-level contracts (sorry, Nathan MacKinnon) and instead focused on players who were already in a position to sign second, third or even fourth contracts when teams are faced with major decisions on how much (and for how long) to invest in their players. Sometimes teams get it wrong. Very wrong. Other times they hit home runs.
In the end, I wasn't looking for players who are simply kind of productive and cheap, but players who make a significant impact for their team and are making well below what should be their market value.
Forwards
John Tavares, New York Islanders
Total contract: 6 years, $33 million
Total remaining against salary cap: 4 years, $22 million
The Islanders actually have quite a few guys who are on team-friendly deals that could have been options here, including Kyle Okposo ($2.8 million cap hit over the next two seasons) and shutdown center Frans Nielsen ($2. |
I’m thinking of the one directly below — which reveals a similar slope to the nearby mountains and the presence of water. Certainly we’ve seen snippets of both the interior and exterior of Beorn’s house in stills, the trailer and production blog scenes, but for mine this pretty much nails it — this is the Beorn set and there will be a gate in a thorn wall just like in the book.FlaShFTW Profile Blog Joined February 2010 United States 8205 Posts #2 Wait, for the polls, I just copy paste the poll link right? Writer #1 KT and FlaSh Fanboy || Woo Jung Ho Never Forget || Author of the SC:R Power Rank
Thratur Profile Blog Joined June 2008 Canada 917 Posts Last Edited: 2012-08-13 05:32:51 #3
And thank you for making the thread YesAnd thank you for making the thread
FlaShFTW Profile Blog Joined February 2010 United States 8205 Posts Last Edited: 2012-08-13 05:35:21 #4
EDIT: and np i thought i might as well make it while there's lrs out there in BW section :D Thanks. god damn im so scared.EDIT: and npi thought i might as well make it while there's lrs out there in BW section :D Writer #1 KT and FlaSh Fanboy || Woo Jung Ho Never Forget || Author of the SC:R Power Rank
ShiroKaisen Profile Blog Joined June 2011 United States 740 Posts #5 Going to flip shit if KHAN loses tonight. This is the big one - a win here would do wonders towards keeping us in the playoff race. Dame da na, zenzen dame da ze!
sharkie Profile Blog Joined April 2012 Austria 15473 Posts #6 Result of this game doesn't matter to KT and SKT does it?
FlaShFTW Profile Blog Joined February 2010 United States 8205 Posts #7 well there's the shine song. BEST SONG EVER!!!! :D Writer #1 KT and FlaSh Fanboy || Woo Jung Ho Never Forget || Author of the SC:R Power Rank
ShiroKaisen Profile Blog Joined June 2011 United States 740 Posts #8 On August 13 2012 15:03 sharkie wrote:
Result of this game doesn't matter to KT and SKT does it?
KHAN and SKT are both 9-9. A win here for Soul puts SKT in 5th place, and there's a few more weeks left. KHAN and SKT are both 9-9. A win here for Soul puts SKT in 5th place, and there's a few more weeks left. Dame da na, zenzen dame da ze!
FlaShFTW Profile Blog Joined February 2010 United States 8205 Posts #9 hyvaa white bottom left
shine red bottom right
both scout wrong. shine with in base 12 hatch O.o 9 pool speed for hyvaa... should be ez win for hyvaa? Writer #1 KT and FlaSh Fanboy || Woo Jung Ho Never Forget || Author of the SC:R Power Rank
FlaShFTW Profile Blog Joined February 2010 United States 8205 Posts #10 or not... hyvaa could run his lings all the way to the wrong freaking location xD
shine in a huge lead now. 12 hatch>9pool speed. hapns. lair already started for shine. Writer #1 KT and FlaSh Fanboy || Woo Jung Ho Never Forget || Author of the SC:R Power Rank
FlaShFTW Profile Blog Joined February 2010 United States 8205 Posts #11 interesting. no drones on gas anymore for hyvaa... takes the natural. shine with spire going up. Writer #1 KT and FlaSh Fanboy || Woo Jung Ho Never Forget || Author of the SC:R Power Rank
FlaShFTW Profile Blog Joined February 2010 United States 8205 Posts #12 well hyvaa is pretty screwed. line all in didnt work. spire done now and mutas onthe way. spores trying to get morphed now. its only a matter of time. Writer #1 KT and FlaSh Fanboy || Woo Jung Ho Never Forget || Author of the SC:R Power Rank
Aerisky Profile Blog Joined May 2012 United States 11022 Posts #13 Come KHAN!! A must-win >_<
Never thought I would find myself cheering for Shine one day. But go Shine!! Jim while Johnny had had had had had had had; had had had had the better effect on the teacher.
FlaShFTW Profile Blog Joined February 2010 United States 8205 Posts #14 Poll: Recommended: Set 1 (BW)
If you have time (4)
80%
Yes (1)
20%
No (0)
0%
5 total votes (4)80%(1)20%(0)0%5 total votes Your vote: Recommended: Set 1 (BW) (Vote): Yes
(Vote): No
(Vote): If you have time
Writer #1 KT and FlaSh Fanboy || Woo Jung Ho Never Forget || Author of the SC:R Power Rank
ShadeR Profile Blog Joined December 2009 Australia 6925 Posts #15 Shine is GOSU
ShiroKaisen Profile Blog Joined June 2011 United States 740 Posts #16 Can always count on Shine to all-in and take big games. Nice one.
Let's see Storku out next and take some sort of epic PvT victory to close this set out. Dame da na, zenzen dame da ze!
FlaShFTW Profile Blog Joined February 2010 United States 8205 Posts #17 Hope im doing everything right guys :D Writer #1 KT and FlaSh Fanboy || Woo Jung Ho Never Forget || Author of the SC:R Power Rank
N.geNuity Profile Blog Joined July 2009 United States 5007 Posts #18 shine still good iu, seungah, yura, taeyeon, hyosung, lizzy, suji, sojin, jia, ji eun, eunji, soya, younha, jiyeon, fiestar, sinb, jung myung hoon godtier. BW FOREVERR
Aerisky Profile Blog Joined May 2012 United States 11022 Posts #19 Aw yeah, Shine! Hope Stork gets to play today, so that it's possible that he will be sent out for ace if need be :X
Roro pretty good at sc2 but Stork as ace would be better (please win._.). Jim while Johnny had had had had had had had; had had had had the better effect on the teacher.
Release Profile Blog Joined October 2010 United States 4395 Posts #20 Someone forgot to put the toilet seat down
Must have been Hyvaa ☺
1 2 3 4 5 7 8 9 Next AllAn insecure web server embedded in more than 35 models of internet-connected CCTV cameras leaves devices wide open to hijacking, it is claimed.
The gadgets can be commandeered from the other side of the world with a single HTTP GET request before any password authentication checks take place, we're told. If your camera is one of the at-risk devices, and it can be reached on the web, then it can be attacked, infected with malware and spied on. Network cameras typically use UPnP to drill through to the public internet automatically via your home router.
Proof-of-concept code to exploit the vulnerable web server in the cameras can be found right here on GitHub. It was published a few hours ago by a security pro going by the name of Slipstream, who reverse-engineered the cams' firmware and discovered the hole. Slip has previously appeared in these pages for exposing security shortcomings in UK school software, Dell computers and Microsoft's Secure Boot. The web server is present to allow owners to configure their cameras from their browsers.
It appears the exploited bug is thus: if the URL query string contains a parameter called "basic", its value is copied byte by byte from the URL into a fixed a 256-byte buffer on the stack. If you send a query longer than 256 bytes, you overflow the buffer and start overwriting the stack. An attacker can do this to prime the stack with memory addresses to control the flow of execution.
Instead of doing what its programmers told it to do, the server starts dancing to the hacker's tune – such as opening a remote-control backdoor. It's a textbook stack buffer overflow with return-oriented programming to hijack the server.
It gets better: the overflow happens before the server has time to authenticate the user, so even if someone has changed the default passwords, their gadget is still vulnerable. This is the offending code:
// ptr = start of the query's parameter value string while ((ptr[i]!= NULL) && (ptr[i]!= '&')) { queryval_cpy[i] = ptr[i]; // queryval_cpy is a 256-byte char array on the stack i++; }
Hang on, we're not done yet: whoever crafted the firmware shared by all these devices modified the Goahead embedded web server and seemingly introduced the bug. According to Slip, more than seven internet-of-things CCTV camera vendors use the dodgy firmware.
Bug seems to be 2.5 years old (from ~april 2014). Titathink appears to be the responsible vendor (they sell whitelabel and to end users). — slipstream/RoL (@TheWack0lian) November 29, 2016
The exploit's author claimed the following cameras carry the bug in their software:
UCam247's NC308W and NC328W, Ucam247i/247i-HD, and 247i-1080HD/247-HDO1080 models (UCam247 says its latest firmware is not vulnerable, although version pre-6.10 is affected, by the way).
Phylink's 213W, 223W, 233W, 325PW and 336PW.
Titathink Babelens, TT520G, TT520PW, TT521PW, TT522PW, TT610W, TT620CW, TT620W, TT630CW, TT630W, TT730LPW and TT730PW (as Slipstream notes, it seems to be the entire product line, at least those still supported).
Any YCam device running firmware 2014-04-06 or later.
Anbash NC223W, NC322W and NC325W.
Trivision 228WF, 239WF, 240WF, 326PW, 336PW.
Netvision NCP2255I and NCP2475E.
Alert readers will have spotted repeating model-number patterns across different vendors. That's because while Slipstream first spotted the bug in UCam247 cameras, the upstream source of the software seems to be Titathink, with the other vendors taking its tech as white-label, along with the bug. Other cameras could well be vulnerable.
As we noted, it happens pre-authentication, so the best idea is not to let the cameras talk to the internet at all (which, of course, ruins the IoT's value-add that you can see the camera from your smartphone app, while letting the vendor harvest data).
The PoC works against firmware running in QEMU's ARM emulation; it's not always successful against real hardware due to small differences in builds and libc breaking the exploit's stack chain. These are easy to fix up if you're targeting a particular device.
The Register has contacted all the affected vendors for comment. We'll let you know if we hear back from any of them.
Would it surprise readers to learn that at least one of the vendors in question, Phylink, issued a firmware patch in October after the Mirai botnet hammered Dyn DNS, to remove a default password?
Of course not. ®2017 Aprilia RSV4 and Tuono V4 1100
Aprilia says it is continuing its tradition of bringing superbike technology to the street, in unveiling the 2017 RSV4 and Tuono 1100 at Intermot 2016. The company calls the RSV4 “the best uncompromised superbike," and says its stripped down high-handlebar sibling "remains the best machine for pure joy on the track and the road.”
Both models are Euro 4-compliant, feature improved suspension and braking elements, and an updated Aprilia Performance Ride Control package, which features cornering ABS. The Aprilia Traction Control, is adjustable on the fly, (without having to release the throttle) to eight settings, as well as disabled, which Aprilia says is operate via a "practical joystick.”
The new Aprilia Wheelie Control, adjustable to three levels, plus disabled, receives more precise operating strategies thanks to the repositioning of the inertial platform. Wheelie control can now be adjusted on the fly without closing the throttle, like the ATC, thanks to the new and more practical left side control.
A new Launch Control, for use on the track only, with three settings, is more effective with new operating strategies. Also new is the Aprilia Quick Shift – the electronic gearbox that allows shifting without closing the throttle and without using the clutch. The feature now adds the capability of clutchless downshifting.
Another new feature is the Pit Limiter that lets you select and limit the top speed allowed in pit lane at the track or simply to make it easier to comply with posted speed limits on the road. Both models also have cruise control.
The 2017 Aprilia RSV4 features new ATC: Aprilia Traction Control, adjustable on the fly, (without having to release the throttle) to eight settings, as well as disabled.
The RSV4 also boasts new Öhlins suspension systems and a new braking system. The 201-horsepower engine is termed “the world's first factory production high performance narrow V4 engine.”
The Tuono, rated at 175 hp, is again offered as the 1100 RR Aprilia describes it as “an exceptional thrill machine, the heir to a dynasty of naked sport bikes acclaimed by critics as the most effective and fastest bike in its segment.”
The 1100 Factory, Aprilia says, is “the more exclusive version, dedicated to an extremely demanding public; this bike is equipped with components which are largely derived from the Aprilia RSV4 RF superbike.”
The Tuono V4 1100 is now fitted with the advanced multimap Cornering ABS system, “developed in collaboration with Bosch to guarantee maximum safety on the road, without sacrificing any performance on the track.”
The Cornering ABS maps can be combined with any of the three new engine maps (Sport, Track, Race). Also, the new ABS system works in unison with a Rear Liftup Mitigation system that limits the lift of the rear wheel during more abrupt braking.Given the hostile tone of his sweeping attacks on the government and its supporters, one would expect a thorough and detailed analysis. Instead we get a litany of errors and misleading statements.
Jeffrey Webber. From Rebellion to Reform in Bolivia: Class Struggle, Indigenous Liberation, and the Politics of Evo Morales. Haymarket Books, 2011.
Reviewed by Federico Fuentes
Alborada, August 19, 2011
Federico Fuentes is an editor of Bolivia Rising and co-author, with Marta Harnecker, of MAS-IPSP de Bolivia: Instrumento político que surge de los movimientos sociales (pdf).
The election of Bolivia’s first indigenous president, on the back of a mass rebellion that overthrew successive governments has stirred great interest in this small Andean nation. Given that the Evo Morales government recently celebrated its 2000th day in power – a feat in its own right for a country that has had around 180 coups since 1825 – any serious attempt to explain the underlying dynamics of this decade long political process should be welcomed.
Combining his academic research and extensive fieldwork in Bolivia, Jeffrey Webber sets out to do exactly that in From Rebellion to Reform in Bolivia. Unfortunately, the end result leaves a lot to be desired.
The purpose of Webber’s book is to convince readers that the election of the Morales government actually represented a leap backwards that “steered the political conjuncture away from the radicalism of the streets towards the tamer terrain of electoral politics.” Furthermore, Webber attempts to argue that in place of moderate change, the Morales government has presided over a period of “reconstituted neoliberalism” that has brought about “almost no change” in the conditions of ordinary Bolivians.
Such an argument definitely goes against the grain of the overwhelming bulk of literature dedicated to the Morales government. But Webber defends his view as superior to those that “replace careful examination of empirical reality with the casual celebration of press releases issued from the presidential palace.” Only those that oppose the MAS government, says Webber, hold “a responsible perspective, authentically in solidarity with the popular struggles for socialism and indigenous liberation.”
Given the hostile tone of his sweeping attacks on the government and its supporters, one would expect a thorough and detailed analysis that patiently explains where it all went wrong. Instead we get a litany of errors and misleading statements. A classic example is Webber’s attempt to prove “the regional successes enjoyed by the [right-wing] autonomist movement in the early years under Morales” by pointing to two rallies “of great importance” that occurred in June 2004 and January 2005…. a year before Morales was even in power! But the biggest problem is not his inability to use facts that back up, rather than contradict his arguments. Rather, it is his failure to deal concretely with opposing viewpoints, the relationship between the government and social movements, and the achievements of the Morales government.
Straw Man Arguments
A constant attempt to confuse, rather than clarify, the key issues in debate runs right through Webber’s book. Anyone who expresses any sympathy with the Morales government is brandished as a “loyalist” and an advocate of reformist change through parliament rather than independent mobilisation from below. Yet everyone agrees that Morales’ election was only possible due to the preceding five years of social struggle. Similarly, a consensus exists regarding the importance of the constant mobilisation of social movements in defense of their government or defeating successive attempts to overthrow Morales. Given the absence of any evidence to suggest otherwise, one can only conclude Webber prefers to debate figments of his imagination rather than the real position of others.
In Chapter 2, Webber tries to open a potentially interesting discussion on the revolutionary character of the mass mobilisations between 2000 and 2005. But all we get is a theoretical debate abstracted from any discussion based on concrete reality. Absent, for example, is any discussion about the lack of emergence of alternate organs of popular power or an analysis of the military. Yet Latin American history demonstrates in every revolutionary situation, the question of the military has been crucial to its success or bloody defeat. Given Bolivia’s status as the world record holder for military coups, surely such an issue cannot be ignored. Unfortunately, in his quest to convince us that the only thing holding back socialist revolution in Bolivia is the Morales government, such issues are simply ignored.
Perhaps the clearest example of Webber’s inability to engage in constructive debate is his treatment of the positions expressed by Bolivia’s vice-president Alvaro Garcia Linera. Webber refers to an article by Linera on “Andean-Amazonian Capitalism” as evidence of Linera’s support for the Stalinist theory of “revolution by stages” and the creation of a new capitalist class to lead Bolivia down the path of “industrial capitalism.” Webber is free to disagree with Garcia Linera, but he should at least attempt to debate the real positions offered by the Bolivian vice-president.
In fact nowhere in Linera’s article does he advocate building an “industrial capitalist base” as part of a “revolution by stages”. Firstly, Linera clearly differentiates his position from the nationalism of old which foresaw a situation where “everyone would become industrious, modern, capitalist and wage earners.” In its place, Linera advocates “the construction of a strong state, that regulates the expansion of the industrial economy, extracts its surplus and transfers it to the communitarian sphere in order to promote forms of self-organisation and traditional Andean and Amazonian commercial development.” The latter requires stimulating the communitarian economy, until now “brutally subsumed by the industrial economy.”
For Linera, the immediate imposition of socialism is not possible “at least in the short term”, due to two reasons: the lack of both a strong, politically-orientated proletariat and the fractured nature of existing communitarian bonds within indigenous communities, the two pillars on which to construct socialism. In this context, Linera advocates “Andean-Amazonian capitalism” as a purely “temporary and transitory mechanism” aimed at strengthening “worker and communitarian forces for emancipation.”
A further factor, mentioned elsewhere by Linera, is the basic proposition that “no revolution can triumph if it is not supported by other revolutions in the world.” Webber seems to forget this in his attempts to slander Linera as a kind of modern-day Stalinist. This is ironic given Stalin’s position of building “socialism in one country”. Instead, the Bolivian government has systematically set out building anti-imperialist alliances with governments and social movements in order to help strengthen the global forces for change. This at least Webber is forced to begrudgingly accept, noting Bolivia’s alliance with Venezuela and Cuba as well as its initiative to stage a world peoples’ summit on climate change in April 2010.
Webber may claim this proves Garcia Linera is against implementing socialism overnight. And he is correct, but this is due to a very simple reason: in order to build socialism, the Bolivian masses must first have state power, something Webber seems to forget. Unable to destroy the capitalist state through insurrection, the Bolivian masses instead opted for the electoral route with the aim of wielding governmental power as an instrument for advancing their cause. The immediate challenge for this “government of the social movements” was to convert a fragile electoral alliance comprised of competing proletarian, plebian, campesino and middle class interest, into a united movement powerful enough to defeat the capitalist opposition. At the same time, Linera proposes working towards the “decolonisation of the state”, that is, the dismantlement of the existing capitalist state and its replacement with a new state resting on “worker and communitarian forces for emanicipation.”
One may disagree with this path, but it is just dishonest to represent it as a strategy that “acted to steer incredibly powerful mass demonstrations into constitutional exits, in which elite negotiations between established neoliberal politicians took precedence.” The opposite is in fact the case. With the government now in the hands of the social movements, all out struggle for power was unleashed, culminating in the civic-military defeat of the pro-capitalist insurrection of September 2008.
Class Struggle under Morales
Webber’s conviction that Morales’ election victory represented a shift from mobilisation to negotiation leads him to make ludicrous statements. For instance, Webber describes a period marked by a polarisation that threatened to plunge the country into civil war as characteristic of the “demobilization of independent political actions from below and an increasing reliance on elite negotiations.” Far from entering “tamer terrain”, the first Morales government was filled with constant street battles between pro and anti-government forces. Ultimately, victory was obtained, not via negotiations, but the crushing defeat of a coup attempt
Webber’s confusion on the question of independence from the government also leads him to tie himself in knots, in some cases to painting conservative forces as “radical”. Webber is convinced that the MAS loyalists oppose independent mobilisation; once again, this claim is false. The fact that no government in the last three decades has had to contend with as many conflicts and protests as the Morales government surely demonstrates that Bolivia’s social movements are far from subordinated to government dictates. This is true not only in the quantitative sense (regarding the number of protests and the largest one in Bolivian history, when one million marched in La Paz), but also in the qualitative sense (the profound nature of the combined military-social movement mobilisation to defeat the coup attempt). The key issue in debate is not that of independence from the government, but rather independence for what aims. That is, do these independent mobilisations serve to further fundamental change or are they simply expressions of corporative movements that prioritise self-interest?
On several key occasions, the Morales government has demonstrated its ability to maintain the maximum unity possible among the competing interests of corporative movements while pushing the process to the left. Chapter 4 of Webber’s book purports to demonstrate the opposite, where radical independent social movements are constantly struggling against a right-wing Morales government. Instead, it only serves to demonstrate Webber’s inability to understand such complex interactions and his selective use of facts.
Take for example his description of the events surrounding the 2006 conflict in Huanuni, where clashes between cooperative and wage-earning miners left 18 dead. Selectively choosing what information to provide and conceal from the reader, Webber claims that the situation can be characterised as a reformist government aligning itself with “the privileged layer of cooperative miners” to drown the revolutionary Huanuni miners in blood. Thankfully, according to Webber, the heroic resistance of the Huanuni miners forced the government to back down, but only temporarily, as Morales then proceeded as he always does, to water down his promises of further nationalisations.
Such a view of events however is only possible when omitting or falsifying facts. This occurs with even the simplest of details. Webber claims that the national miners’ federation (FSTMB) is made up of miners “employed by the state mining company COMIBOL”. But FSTMB also incorporates a much larger bloc of traditionally more conservative mineworkers from the private sector. Webber also tells us that the Posokoni hills were home to the state-employed Huanuni miners, and cooperative miners who existed in “far fewer in numbers.” At the time, the state-owned Huanuni Mining Company (EMH) employed 800 workers while some 4000 were affiliated to cooperatives working there. More broadly, miners in Bolivia are separated into state-employed miners, numbering 800; those employed in private sector, which total several thousands; and between 60,000 to 65,000 miners working in the cooperative sector. None of these sectors are organically part of the MAS, each have competing interests and needs, and all form part of the government’s social base. This may seem like fiddling over detail, but as we will see these elements are crucial to understanding the conflict.
Webber refers to a road blockade organised by Huanuni miners and local campesinos in September 2006 to demand more public investment in COMIBOL and the creation of 1,500 jobs, although at no time did this include the demand to incorporate the existing cooperative miners working in the surrounding mines. Ignored are the other 28 conflicts that were engulfing the mining sector at the time, each pitting different sectors and interests against each other and local communities. Despite the blockade in Huanuni shutting down one of the most important highways in Bolivia for three days, not once was violence used to deal with these conflicts, the preferred response of neoliberal governments. Instead, the government attempted to simultaneously resolve each individual conflict while negotiating a decree with all sectors that would cover the entire mining industry. The complexity of the situation where each sector was fighting to defend their own interests militated against coming up with a common agreement.
Nevertheless, the government agreed to the demands of the protestors at Huanuni, an elementary fact omitted by Webber. The problem was that this triggered a response from the much larger bloc of cooperative miners, who rejected the deal. Within days violence broke out in Huanuni as cooperative miners moved to take over the mine operated by EMH, a scenario that has occurred many times before. The clashes left 18 dead, with each side blaming each other for the confrontation and the country convulsed by the images of miners clashing with miners.
In response, Morales sacked his mining minister who was publicly criticised for his role in the ordeal. In his place was appointed a new minister closely aligned with the FSTMB. The new minister moved immediately to reach an agreement between representatives from both sides at Huanuni. The final result was the conversion of all 4000 cooperative miners into employees of EMH. The deal was supported by the local cooperative miners but rejected by the national cooperative miners federation, FENCOMIN, which declared it would demonstrate its “independence” through a series of mobilisations against the government. Contrary to Webber’s portrayal of the government backing down to FENCOMIN demands, the deal not only remained but was also followed by further attempts to nationalise mines.
While continued tensions between the different sectors prevented the government from carrying out its original plan immediately, it nevertheless continued pushing forward with its policy of reasserting state control. In February 2007 it moved to nationalise the Vinto tin smelter and announced the possibility of further nationalisations. At the time however it was the FSTMB-affiliated unions in the private sector, including those in the Colquiri mine, which threatened “independent” mobilisations against any further nationalisations. For some reason, Webber forgets to mention this fact. This is all the more startling given his attempts to portray the Colquiri mineworkers as part of the independent revolutionary left that need to be supported in their struggle against the Morales government. Or does Webber suggest we should have also come to their defense when the government, with the support of the Huanuni miners, announced its intention last April to nationalise the Colquiri mine (along with at least three others), and the “radical” local miners’ unions demonstrated their independence by protesting any such move?
Perhaps the most startling omission, and one that can only lead to the conclusion that there is a deliberate attempt by Webber to falsify history and attack the Morales government is that on May 1, 2007, the government decreed the state takeover of all mineral deposits! Going against Webber’s claim that Morales swung back to supporting FENCOMIN, the decree reaffirmed the strong alliance forged between the government and the FSTMB. While the decree was supported by FSTMB and the Huanuni miners, it was opposed by FENCOMIN.
It is clear that the picture is much more complex that Webbers simplistic portrayal of a so-called reformist government versus “independent, increasingly radical popular class forces.” Instead, the Morales government has clearly attempted to move forward with an integral policy for the mining sector, while taking into consideration competing self-interests among its base. To do so it has had to deal with a myriad of independent social forces, many of which have opposed progressive measures and sought to defend their own corporative interests. While not free from error, each time the government has attempted to stay in tune with its diverse base, while taking a clear leftist position. It has also worked to strengthen the position of those independent forces on the left, while working to win over other sectors to such a vision. Of course, all advances have not been solely the work of the government; the mobilisations of the Huanuni miners and other progressive sectors have been fundamental. The point is that the trend has been one of combined action from the social movements on the ground and in government. This dynamic relationship will continue to be critical if, for example, the miners in the private and cooperative sectors are to be won over to a radical perspective. What is clear is that far from selling out the movements or holding them back, in the majority of cases the government has played a role of uniting the social movements in order to press forward with the process of change.
“Reconstituted Neoliberalism”
What about the charge labeled against Morales by Webber that he is pursuing a policy of “reconstituted neoliberalism”? Is there any evidence to prove that the first Morales administration saw the “deepening and consolidation” of a new type of neoliberalism in disguise? That there has been “almost no change in poverty rates”? Even if we ignore the impacts of the global economic crisis, of capital’s constant attacks via economic sabotage, capital flight and coup attempts, and the governments urgent need to attend to an infinite amount of equally important and competing interests among its base, the facts speak for themselves.
Under Morales Bolivia’s GDP has doubled, state control over the economy has increased from 17% of GDP to 34% (a four-fold increase in monetary terms). As a result of the nationalisation of gas reserves, government revenues from this sector have jumped from US$673 million in the year before Morales came to power, to US$2235 million in 2010, representing a rise of almost 350%. During the same time, public investment has increased five-fold. Similarly, over the same period, poverty levels have fallen from 60% to 49.6%, while extreme poverty has dropped from 38% to 25%. The gap between the richest 10% and poorest 10% has shrunk from 128 times more wealth to 60 times more wealth. Average incomes have risen from US$950 in 2004 to US$1833 in 2010. On top of this access to basic services such as education, health, water and electricity have dramatically increased. What other neoliberal government (reconstituted or otherwise) can point to such figures?
How have these gains been possible? Fernando Ignacio Leiva – whose writings Webber directs our attention to – explains that they are the result of the Bolivian government’s economic policy, which he describes as the “formulation for an alternative to the present order.” Despite spending nine pages outlining Leiva’s position, he never once mentions this or Leiva’s description of Bolivia (and Venezuela) as “newly emerging alternatives actively and methodically seeking to constrain it within certain boundaries so that society and equity may thrive.” Also ignored is Leiva’s contention that Bolivia’s policy far from being neoliberal, is focused on “strengthening the capacity of the state to capture via the tax system part of the nation’s economic surplus and redirecting it toward micro and small producers in rural areas and cities.” Quite a stark contrast to Webber’s argument; no wonder he leaves this out!
Does this mean Bolivia is socialist? No, but then no one has ever argued that. Nevertheless, when we combine all this with the fact that Bolivia’s economy policy has been “nationalised” and is no longer dictated by the IMF or Washington, it is evident that important strides have been taken. Add to the mix the strengthening of “worker and communitarian forces for emancipation” that have politically, ideologically and militarily defeated the right and begun taking steps towards decolonising the state, there is little doubt that the Bolivian masses are in a far superior position to where they were five or ten years ago. Or how else does Webber explain why Morales continues to maintain tremendous support among Bolivia’s poor majority, or that no alternative project to its left has emerged?
There is still a long struggle ahead, no doubt full of tensions and contradictions. Critical to this struggle will be the deepening of similar processes elsewhere in the continent, which is why the Bolivian government has placed so much emphasis, not only on developing ties with other underdeveloped and anti-imperialist government, but with social movements from around the world. Yet one feels that none of this will be enough for Webber who would prefer they abandon their route in favour of an imaginary one in which socialism is installed overnight.
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See also
Progress in Bolivia: A Reply to Jeff Webber
by John Riddell
+++++++++++++++++++++++Muslim woman ejected from Donald Trump rally after silent protest
Updated
A Muslim woman was kicked out of a Donald Trump presidential campaign rally after staging a silent protest against the Republican frontrunner, who has called for a ban on Muslims entering the US.
Key points: Silent protester wore shirt reading "Salam. I come in peace"
Muslim advocacy group says woman's abuse "sends a chilling message to American Muslims"
Trump accused of fanning flames of Muslim-Western conflict
Television footage from the event in South Carolina shows the woman, named as Rose Hamid, a 56-year-old flight attendant, wearing a head scarf and shirt reading "Salam. I come in peace."
She stood in silence looking at the podium as the rest of the crowd sat.
Later, she was escorted out as Mr Trump's supporters waved placards bearing his name and chanted for him.
Ms Hamid said one supporter of the billionaire real-estate mogul bawled at her: "You have a bomb, you have a bomb."
"The ugliness really came out fast and that's really scary," Ms Hamid told CNN after Friday night's rally.
Mr Trump, who leads the polls for the Republican nomination for the White House, ignited a global firestorm last month when he called for the temporary ban on Muslims entering the US, following an attack in California by a radicalised Muslim couple that left 14 people dead.
"There is hatred against us that is unbelievable," Mr Trump told the rally, according to CNN, after Hamid and several others were ejected.
"It's their hatred. It's not our hatred."
But a prominent Muslim advocacy group, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), condemned Ms Hamid's removal and called on Mr Trump to apologise.
"The image of a Muslim woman being abused and ejected from a political rally sends a chilling message to American Muslims," CAIR executive director Nihad Awad said in a statement carried by US media.
Muslims in the United States have faced a backlash following the November terror attacks in Paris and the San Bernardino attack in California on December 2.
Critics of Mr Trump's bombastic run for the presidency accuse him of fanning the flames and Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton says he is the "best recruiter" for the Islamic State extremist group.
AFP
Topics: religion-and-beliefs, community-and-society, government-and-politics, united-states
First postedSphero definitely has the droid you're looking for.
In partnership with Lucasfilm and Disney, the toy maker today launched BB-8, an adorable astromech droid featured in the upcoming Star Wars film.
Colored orange and white, with antennas as bulbous lenses for eyes, the app-enabled droid comes with "movements and personality as authentic as they are advanced," Sphero promised.
Download the companion app, bask in the classic Star Wars theme, and begin guiding your droid. Playful and personable, the BB-8 rolls through life listening and responding to your digital and voice commands.
BB-8 can explore its surroundings solo; set it to Patrol and watch as it makes the rounds while you eat, sleep, or watch A New Hope for the umpteenth time.
An adaptive personality, meanwhile, means you'll have a new experience every time you pull the droid from its charging cradle. "This is not a |
Michael Scofield Voice
Awards and nominations [ edit ]Mel Kiper believes MSU has nation's best senior corner
Oct 11, 2014; Starkville, MS, USA; Mississippi State Bulldogs defensive back Will Redmond (2) and Mississippi State Bulldogs defensive back Justin Cox (9) celebrate after a reception during the game against the Auburn Tigers at Davis Wade Stadium. Mississippi State Bulldogs defeated the Auburn Tigers 38-23. Mandatory Credit: Spruce Derden-USA TODAY Sports (Photo: Spruce Derden, Spruce Derden-USA TODAY Sports)
Dak Prescott and Chris Jones are the big names within the Southeastern Conference for Mississippi State. NFL scouts are looking elsewhere.
NFL draft guru Mel Kiper Jr. ranked college football's best corners at the next level. MSU's Will Redmond topped the list among seniors.
Kiper described Redmond as having "lockdown skills, but needed the extra seasoning in 2015 as he was often in a nickel role in 2014. Has decent size, plays physical and gets bonus points for ball skills evident in return game."
The 6-foot senior ranked ahead of Minnesota's Eric Murray, Auburn's Jonathan Jones, UCLA Fabian Moreau, and Penn State's Jordan Lucas.
Kiper's top underclassmen corners began with Florida's Vernon Hargreaves. Florida State's Jalen Ramsey was second, followed by Virginia Tech's Kendall Fuller, LSU's Tre'Davious White and Notre Dame's KeiVarae Russell.
Redmond finished fifth on the team in tackles last year with 51, two behind Taveze Calhoun for the most by a player in the secondary. He also led the team with three interceptions. The number came with MSU using Redmond as its third corner.
Kiper has been ranking the top college players at each position throughout the summer. Redmond is the second MSU player to appear on a list. Dak Prescott ranked as Kiper's fifth best senior quarterback.
Contact Michael Bonner at mbonner@gannett.com. Follow @MikeBBonner on Twitter.
Read or Share this story: http://on.thec-l.com/1IyICtMA deleted scene from Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby adaptation has been shared online.
The 68-second clip features a conversation between Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire) and Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio), which takes place at Carey Mulligan's character Daisy Buchanan's home.
The footage was unveiled earlier this evening (November 1) in anticipation of the film's DVD and Blu-ray release later this month.
In July, a behind-the-scenes video emerged showing how CGI was used to recreate 1920s Manhattan in the movie.
The story's pivotal driving scenes were shot with the help of blue- and green-screen sets, and the vast shots of New York City were also digitally rendered in post-production.
The Great Gatsby is released on Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray and DVD, as well as via digital download, from November 11.
Watch a trailer for The Great Gatsby below:Channing Tatum is getting ready to throw down… some cards! X-Men producer Lauren Shuler Donner said in an interview posted by Total Film on Tuesday, May 13, that Tatum will play the character of Gambit in the X-Men film that follows this year's X-Men: Days of Future Past.
PHOTOS: Channing's sexy shirtless body
"He's a rogue," Donner explained of the 34-year-old actor. "Channing—he’s a rascal, just like Remy LeBeau."
LeBeau, as famously known in the X-Men series, is a card-wielding, bilingual mutant who has the power to manipulate energy. LeBeau/Gambit's energy-tapping skill allows him to fight with superhuman sophistication and lithe. "He can handle the action," Donner said of the actor. "We all know that. He's got a really good heart."
PHOTOS: Celebs and their stunt doubles
In fact, Tatum's action-movie credits include White House Down, 21 Jump Street, and the upcoming, much-anticipated sequel, 22 Jump Street. He also stars in upcoming sci-fi movie epic Jupiter Ascending, opposite Mila Kunis, out this July.
Characteristically, Gambit is a smooth operator. In the series, he's romantically linked to Rogue/Marie D'Ancanto. Though it remains unclear if the relationship will be part of Tatum's upcoming role, Rogue's character in the movies is portrayed by True Blood's Anna Paquin. In the romance department, Tatum has tapped his sappy side as a Nicholas Sparks' leading man in 2010's Dear John.
PHOTOS: Channing and Jenna adorable parenthood prep
At the MTV Movie Awards last month, Tatum told MTV News that he would "die" to play Gambit. "I met with Lauren Shuler Donner and I would love [to play him]," the actor said. "Gambit is really the only X-Men that I've ever loved."
PHOTOS: Southern stars!
"I guess being from down south, I just related to him," Alabama native Tatum told MTV of his character. "He's the most un-X-Men X-Men that's ever been in X-Men, other than maybe Wolverine." Channing is the first actor to play Gambit in an X-Men film.
Tell Us: Are you excited to see him in the role?
Sign up now for the Us Weekly newsletter to get breaking celebrity news, hot pics and more delivered straight to your inbox!
Want stories like these delivered straight to your phone? Download the Us Weekly iPhone app now!PANAMA CITY – Late-season storm Otto strengthened into a hurricane Tuesday as civil defence officials reported three deaths in Panama amid heavy rain and Costa Rica ordered the evacuation of 4,000 people from its Caribbean coast.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Otto was moving to the west and expected to make landfall around the Nicaragua-Costa Rica border Thursday. It could become the first hurricane to make come ashore in Costa Rica since reliable record-keeping began in 1851.
The storm caused heavy rains in Panama as it moved off that nation’s northern coast, and officials blamed Otto for three deaths.
READ MORE: Hurricane Matthew: Montreal organization sends aid to Haiti to fight cholera outbreak
Jose Donderis, Panama’s civil defence director, said a landslide just west of Panama City early Tuesday trapped nine people. Seven were rescued but two were pulled from the mud dead. In the capital, a child was killed when a tree fell on a car outside a school.
The country “faces one of the worst meteorological situations, with imminent risk,” Donderis said.
Panama announced it was cancelling classes and it began to release water from locks and lakes feeding the Panama Canal.
Costa Rica’s National Emergency Commission said it was evacuating 4,000 people from the area where the storm was expected to hit and where rivers could overflow. The effort was expected to involve evacuations by plane, boat and road in the low-lying coastal areas.
Costa Rican President Luis Guillermo Solis said Otto could damage the country’s important coffee and agriculture sectors.
Tuesday night, the hurricane had top sustained winds of 75 mph (120 kph) and was moving westward at 3 mph (6 kph), the U.S. hurricane centre said. Otto was centred about 225 miles (360 kilometres) east of Limon, Costa Rica.TCU or Baylor? That’s the big question at the top of the Big 12 in 2015. The Bears and Horned Frogs shared the conference crown last season, with Baylor claiming the head-to-head victory in a 61-58 shootout in early October.
The debate between Baylor and TCU continued this offseason, and the Big 12 player rankings reflect the balance of power in the conference. In Athlon’s expert poll, the Bears and Horned Frogs claimed four of the top six spots.
With the season right around the corner, Athlon Sports sought to answer this question: Who are the best 15 players in the Big 12 for 2015?
In order to rank the top 15 players in the Big 12 for 2015, Athlon Sports sought the insight of several experts from the conference. The voting process was simple. Using criteria such as career performance so far, 2015 potential/projection, pro outlook, recruiting ranking, value to team or overall talent, each voter was asked to rank their top 15 players for 2015.
A point system was assigned, giving 15 points for a player with a No. 1 vote, 14 points for a No. 2 vote, 13 points for a No. 3 vote and so on.
The Voters
David Ubben, (@DavidUbben), Fox Sports Southwest
Tony Caridi, (@TonyCaridi), MetroNews Sportsline
Chris Level, (@ChrisLevel), RedRaiderSports.com
John Helsley, (@jjhelsley), The Oklahoman
Chris Anderson, (@CMAnderson247), Eersports.com
Allen Kenney, (@BlatantHomerism), BlatantHomerism.com
Jason Kersey, (@JasonKersey), The Oklahoman
Shehan Jeyarajah, (@ShehanJeyarajah), Dallas Morning News
Garrett Cullen, (@GarrettCullen), MetroNews Sportsline
Steven Lassan, (@AthlonSteven), AthlonSports.com
Aaron Dickens, (@AaronDickens), RedRaiderSports.com
Kevin Flaherty, (@KFlaherty247), TheShiver.com
Jeremy Clark, (@JClarkHFB), HornedFrogBlitz.com
Mitch Light, (@AthlonMitch), AthlonSports.com
Craig Meyer, (@CraigMeyerPG), Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
J.P. Scott, (@TheJPScott), Athlon Contributor Network
David Fox, (@DavidFox615), AthlonSports.com
Ryan Gerbosi, (@RyanGerbosi), Dallas Morning News
Jamie Plunkett, (@TheDSportsRant), FrogsOWar.com
Brian Ethridge, (@truthorbear247), BearsTruth.com
Matt Kirchner, (@SmokingMusket), SmokingMusket.com
Mark Ross, (@AthlonMarkR), AthlonSports.com
Ranking the Big 12's Best Players for 2015 (Experts Poll)
Rank Player Team Total Points 1 Trevone Boykin, QB, TCU (18 first-place votes) 326 2 Shawn Oakman, DE, Baylor (1 first-place vote) 267 3 Samaje Perine, RB, Oklahoma (1 first-place vote) 248 4 Spencer Drango, OT, Baylor (1 first-place vote) 238 5 Emmanuel Ogbah, DE, Oklahoma State 231 6 Andrew Billings, DT, Baylor (1 first-place vote) 225 7 Eric Striker, LB, Oklahoma 158 8 Karl Joseph, S, West Virginia 149 9 Corey Coleman, WR, Baylor 126 10 Le'Raven Clark, OT, Texas Tech 120 11 Sterling Shepard, WR, Oklahoma 92 12 Josh Doctson, WR, TCU 84 13 Pete Robertson, DE, Texas Tech 50 14 Shock Linwood, RB, Baylor 45 15 Zack Sanchez, CB, Oklahoma 44 16 Kevin Peterson, CB, Oklahoma State 39 17 Dante Barnett, S, Kansas State 33 18 Nick Kwiatkoski, LB, West Virginia 20 19T KD Cannon, WR, Baylor 19 19T Cody Whitehair, OT, Kansas State 19 21 Davion Pierson, DT, TCU 18 22 Joey Hunt, C, TCU 17 23 Mason Rudolph, QB, Oklahoma State 16 24 Daryl Worley, CB, West Virginia 14 25 Seth Russell, QB, Baylor 13 26 Aaron Green, RB, TCU 9 27 Tyler Orlosky, C, West Virginia 6 28 Danzel McDaniel, CB, Kansas State 5 29T Wendell Smallwood, RB, West Virginia 4 29T Ryan Simmons, LB, Oklahoma State 4 31T Derrick Kindred, S, TCU 1 31T DeAndre Washington, RB, Texas Tech 1 31T Sam Richardson, QB, Iowa State 1Marseille have been quite busy in the transfer window this summer, with a lot of ins and outs.
The Ligue 1 club are looking into the English market to sign players, and are reportedly looking to sign Swansea star Bafétimbi Gomis.
Yesterday, we reported Swansea have agreed to pay 40% of the player’s wages of €5m/season, but Marseille were finding it difficult to manage the rest.
According to French newspaper L’Equipe, Marseille finally agreed to pay 60% of his wages yesterday, after the Ligue 1 club boss Franck Passi was annoyed with the lack of signings.
Gomis will become the highest earner at Marseille, and will now complete his one year loan deal without an option to buy.
Marseille have lost a couple of strikers this summer, Michy Batshuayi and Steven Fletcher, and are looking to replace them with Gomis and Tottenham’s Clinton N’Jie.On Friday, lawyers for the Central Bank of Venezuela (CBV) filed a new amended civil complaint against DolarToday, the US-based website that publishes a daily unofficial exchange rate between American dollars and Venezuelan bolivares.
The Venezuelan government has made it a crime to publish the street trading rate as it countermands the "official" exchange rates, which are far more favorable to the government. The recent collapse of the price of oil has exacerbated Venezuela's economic woes; the country is widely expected to default on its international debts later this year.
Late last month, US District Judge Gregory Sleet ruled in favor of DolarToday’s earlier motion to dismiss. In his two-page ruling, Judge Sleet found that the CBV lacked standing and dismissed the case. However, he allowed the CBV to file an amended complaint within seven days, which it has now done.
As Judge Sleet wrote:
Price inflation in a nation's economy is not an injury sufficiently particularized to the Central Bank. Rather, inflation is a generalized harm. Additionally, an alleged injury must. be "concrete" both qualitatively and temporally. Whitmore v. Arkansas, 495 U.S. 149, 155; 158, (1990). Here, inflation is not sufficiently identifiable, but a hypothetical injury. Having found that there is no injury is fact, the court need not reach the remaining standing requirements. In conclusion, Central Bank lacks Article III standing and the court lacks subject matter jurisdiction as a matter of law.
Diminished seigniorage; Reputational harm because Defendants’ reporting of manufactured exchange rates have created the false impression in the public that the Central Bank’s monetary policies are ineffectual and that it cannot manage the Venezuelan economy; and Deprived the Central Bank of capital that it would attract and retain, by having caused numerous entities and persons to invest their capital elsewhere than Venezuela.
In the new filing, the CBV's lawyers largely re-iterate nearly all of its previous arguments. CBV's legal team now adds specific injuries, which include:
Ars asked Adam Fox, one of the CBV's attorneys, whether the CBV is claiming that the Venezuelan economy would be stable and well-functioning if not for the DolarToday website.
"The point of this lawsuit is that the DolarToday Defendants are publishing a fabricated exchange rate that is causing the Central Bank economic and reputational harm," he e-mailed. "The implicit suggestion of your questions that Venezuela also faces economic challenges that may be independent of those imposed by the DolarToday defendants is beside the point."
In a statement, Ben Wolkov, general counsel for DolarToday, described the lawsuit as "baseless" in a Thursday statement.
"As a US-based media outlet with rights to freedom of speech and freedom of the press, DolarToday will continue to focus on its dual mission of informing Venezuelans about the country’s social, political, and economic affairs and serving as a credible and authoritative source for other media outlets attempting to report on Venezuela," he said.
Printing more money is bound to solve the problem, right?
In the initial October 2015 civil complaint, the US-based lawyer for the CBV argued that the three Venezuelan-American men who run the site are engaged in "cyber-terrorism" designed to create "the false impression that the Central Bank and the Republic are incapable of managing Venezuela’s economy."
It is no exaggeration to say that the Venezuelan economy has been in something of a tailspin in recent years. Its authoritarian president, Nicolas Maduro (successor of strongman Hugo Chavez), has been unable to rein in skyrocketing inflation (now at 180 percent) and a massively depressed economy. The country recently sent $1.28 billion worth of gold to Switzerland as a way to avoid a default. On Thursday, the president of the CBV told the Associated Press that the country would be printing larger bills to accommodate skyrocketing inflation.
DolarToday, as it explains in its motion to dismiss, does nothing more than call currency traders on the Venezuelan-Colombian border to find out what the exchange rate is between bolivares and pesos. The site simply converts the pesos to dollars to find out the market rate between bolivares and dollars. The site then publishes that figure.
Venezuela has maintained strict currency controls since 2003 and its currency cannot—at least officially—be traded on the open market. The government maintains multiple "official" exchange rates, which differ depending on what purpose the foreign currency is needed for. The black market exchange rate, at least according to DolarToday, is significantly higher. As of this writing, $1 buys about 975 bolivares. For years, the Venezuelan government has blocked domestic access to the US-based site.
"While the Venezuelan government has made it illegal for anyone to publish black market currency rates in Venezuela and has blocked DolarToday’s website from the Internet in that country, Venezuelans access the DolarToday rate on DolarToday’s Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages," Ricardo A. Gonzalez, another attorney who represents the website, said in the same Thursday statement.My friends….the Grizzled Ol’ Coach, Mike Morris, and I were pondering this point at a recent Skull Session in the FishDuck ManCave, as it gets to the root of many concerns Oregon fans have had–especially with all the seasons spoiled in the past by injured QBs at Oregon. This article lays the foundation for upcoming articles by the GOC and I. Charles Fischer
“How often do I use my quarterback on designed QB running plays?”
That’s the biggest offensive decision for Coach Willie Taggart and his staff face as they prepare for the 2017 season. To me, and way more importantly to CWT, it’s a no-brainer. ”Enough to make Oregon a ‘GREAT’ offensive football team.”
I’m sure most of you Duck fans are way ahead of me on this, but think back; since the dawn of the Chip Kelly spread, were the Ducks ever “great” on offense without significant running plays by their QB?
Dennis Dixon? Damn good passer his senior year, but it was his keeper runs that really gashed defenses, and, barring that knee injury, gave him a shot at the Heisman.
Jeremiah Masoli? Very good running back skills allowed a guy with limited passing ability to be a very good, many-wins-producing, college QB.
Gary Breedlove
Darron Thomas? Just enough, good-not-great, running ability to significantly hurt defenses that cheated to defend the Ducks’ running back, and earned a 24-3 record for a QB the NFL had no interest in..
The great Marcus Mariota? Both he and the Oregon offense weren’t nearly so great when Marcus couldn’t effectively run with the ball.
Vernon Adams? The freakish exception. But do you really want to count on “miraculous” passes to win games?
Also consider the other guys’ QBs; it seems so many times the Ducks’ defense was significantly hurt by the opponents’ QBs effectively running the ball.
In recent years what do Lamar Jackson, Marcus Mariota, Johnny Manziel, Robert Griffin, Cam Newton, and Tim Tebow have in common... besides winning the Heisman? That’s a rhetorical question. I’ve just watched Clemson’s dual-threat QB, Deshaun Watson; have a great game against Ohio State.
But it’s important for me to talk about HOW the Ducks’ QB runs with the ball. It must be in a “deceptive/misdirection” way that limits the amount of tacklers who’ll have a shot at the QB. Colorado very often ran their QB, Sefo Liufau, usually without deception, and it seemed Liufau was always hurt. Even Urban Meyer uses his QB too often on no-deception running plays.
Chip Kelly and Mark Helfrich have been real good at adding deception/misdirection to QB running plays. But I still think there’s significant room to improve the effectiveness of the Ducks’ offense by better usage of a running QB and misdirection.
Gary Breedlove
Remember, an effective running QB – even the “threat” of a dangerous running QB – (possibly even going in the opposite direction of the intended play) is the best friend a running back can have [besides his offensive linemen].
Defensive coaches love to talk about their guys “flying to the ball” and aggressively “gang tackling”. But it’s hard to do that if you don’t know who has the ball, or to play aggressive defense if the defenders are confused and/or tired from chasing fake ball carriers. There’s a football saying, “One great fake can equal two great blocks.”
Willie Taggart realized the importance of deception in 2015, as he installed his “Gulf Coast” [now “Pacific Coast”] Offense. CWT didn’t want to lose the “smash-mouth” nature of his Harbaugh-like offense when he changed to the spread formation. He just didn’t want to only run inside-zone-reads and pass the ball.
What CWT joyfully found was that the deception/misdirection [“smoke and mirrors”] created by the shot-gun QB’s potential runs, and a back in sudden motion actually enhanced the effectiveness of his power running attack.
On Wednesday, Charles Fischer is going to start an analysis of a series of plays from the South Florida offense of 2016. A “series,” is meaning a play that starts in one direction, but can then end up becoming several different plays, or going in different directions.
From Video
It’s USF’s Jet Sweep Series. And I think it’s the greatest series in football. Don’t be intimidated by X’s and O’s; appreciate how hard it will be for a defense to stop all the aspects of this Jet Sweep Series. (And Charles will make it an easy ten minute read)
BUT remember, in order to run this series – and several other wonderfully deceptive plays – the Ducks must make their QB a running back. As is often heard, “Herbert’s no Mariota”. Who is? Watch the plays Quinton Flowers ran so well at USF; I think Justin Herbert will do just fine running those plays because of their deceptive nature — and his under-estimated speed and size. The Ducks wouldn’t have defeated Utah this year without Herbert’s running plays. And part of why they lost to OSU was that Herbert never carried the ball.
In USF’s recent bowl game, there were two different versions of the USF offense on display: “exciting” before Flowers hurt his hand and “pretty inept after his injury. For me it was Deja vu all over again, as if watching the Ducks.. This offense MUST have a “damn good” running QB to be really effective.
This is also a huge reason why Terry Wilson and/or Travis Jonsen are very important to the success of the 2017 Ducks. An injured, handicapped Justin Herbert shouldn’t be more effective than his back-up.
As Duck fans, isn’t our goal for Oregon to be GREAT? Well they’ll never achieve that greatness unless they make their QB’s running ability a dangerous, intelligently used weapon.
Retired Coach Mike Morris
Pleasant Hill, Oregon
Top Photo from VideoBrad Pitt and Pax Go Four Wheeling (Photos)
and sonwere captured on New Years Day riding an ATV in New Orleans. It looks like they may be on the site of his home rebuilding project in the Lower 9th Ward - which is part of his. Our only concern is that Pax isn't wearing a helmet. Brad will undoubtedly take some flack. We know the kids have helmets because we've seen them when the family has been out on their bicycle treks through New Orleans.
We've got more pictures of Brad, Angelina Jolie, and the rest of the family, taken during their extended stay in New Orleans. The couple bought a home there last year and Pitt has donated a large sum of money and resources to help with the rebuilding process.Microsoft is hoping to help developers increase Windows Phone app revenue by today announcing ad mediation for Windows Phone. Ad mediation lets your app use multiple advertising SDKs. When an app makes a call to one ad control, and that control can't serve the ad, it calls another control. The new mediation control makes implementing and managing this in an app simple.
Ad mediation lets developers optimize their use of ads based on how an ad or ad network performs. Ads are first optimized for revenue, with ads that generating lower revenue brought in to fill ad spots when the larger networks can't. Developers can also tailor their ads based on market from the Dev Center. Ad networks available for the launch of mediation include Microsoft Advertising, AdDuplex, AdMob, and Smaato.
With its launch today, ad mediation lets you set several aspects of your ads, such as refresh rate, when to pause or resume ads, network prioritization and exclusion, and more. It is currently supported on apps for Windows Phone 8, 8.1 Silverlight and 8.1 XAML. Microsoft says that they are still looking into solutions for tablet and PC apps.
What do you think of Microsoft's Windows ad mediation? Leave your thoughts with us in the comments.
Source: Windows BlogTyrone Watson, of Bridgeport, Connecticut, was pulled over by Norwalk police for driving with an "illegal" cover over his license plate. During the stop, the officer noticed a pistol permit in Watson's wallet and asked him if he had a gun with him. He said yes, and produced the perfectly legal pistol—except that it had an evil unregistered 15-round magazine (which would have been just fine if the paperwork had been filed before the turn of the year). That's how Tyrone Watson became one of the first people cited under his state's bizarre, new gun laws.
Under Connecticut law, "Nothing may be affixed to a motor vehicle or to the official number plates displayed on such vehicle that obscures or impairs the visibility of any information on such number plates."
That's a little open-ended, leaving drivers at risk if they so much as bolt their plates in place with one of those dealer-supplied frames that obscure a bit of the inspection sticker.
Also under Connecticut law, "Any person who possesses a large capacity magazine on or after January 1, 2014, that was obtained prior to the effective date of this section shall commit an infraction and be fined not more than ninety dollars for a first offense and shall be guilty of a class D felony for any subsequent offense," unless that magazine was registered prior to January 1 of this year—a bureaucratic ritual that apparently strips the object of bad juju.
But, according to the Daily Voice:
The handgun was loaded with 11 bullets, and had a magazine capable of handling 15 rounds, police said. Under the new laws passed by the state last April, it is illegal to buy, sell or manufacture magazines with a capacity greater than 10 rounds. Weapons purchased before the law’s passing are legally grandfathered in, but gun owners were required to register those magazines with the state by Jan. 1. The gun owner told Norwalk officers that he was unaware of the law or the deadline, according to the police report.
As a result, continues the report, Watson was "issued an infraction for possession of a large-capacity magazine and having a mutilated license plate."
The Hour, which claims Watson was actually pulled over for tailgating, says, "The officer wrote Watson a summons and gave him back his gun and the magazine, telling him to store the items in his trunk until he arrived at his home, according to police."
With regard to tailgating, by the way, Connecticut law says, "No driver of a motor vehicle shall follow another vehicle more closely than is reasonable and prudent." Well, that certainly clears things up.
So here we have a Connecticut resident ensnared by one petty law that's completely open to interpretation by officials (illegal plate cover or tailgating—take your pick), which leaves him open to citation for violating another petty law, which is an entirely arbitrary paperwork requirement.
In this case, Tyrone Watson is on the hook for a relatively small penalty—but he's in the system now, and at risk of bigger hits in the future, despite having harmed nobody, in any way.
And so we find our world regulated just one step closer to perfection—for control freaks and lawyers.
Don't miss Brian Doherty's take on how enforcement of petty laws especially victimizes the poor, who are least able to navigate the legal system and shoulder even small penalties.Trump defends Muslim ban, claiming police avoid ‘radicalized’ areas of Paris and London, and saying of US Muslims: ‘We love you. We want to work with you’
Donald Trump's message to Muslims: 'We want you to turn in the bad ones'
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump defended his plan to temporarily halt all Muslim entry to the United States on Tuesday, a proposal roundly condemned by fellow Republicans and met with horror by American Muslim leaders.
“We’re not talking about the Japanese internment camps, not at all, but we have to get our hands around a very serious problem,” Trump told Joe Scarborough on the MSNBC morning political talkshow Morning Joe, referring to the second world war-era camps where Japanese Americans were placed. Victims of those racist policies have since been apologized to and given reparations by the American government.
'I. Don't. Care': Trump brushes off horrified reaction to his Muslim ban Read more
Trump proposed the “total and complete shutdown” of Muslims’ entry into the United States on Monday evening, hours before a campaign rally on the USS Yorktown, a second world war aircraft carrier berthed near Charleston, South Carolina.
The statement came in response to a shooting in San Bernardino, California, that killed 14 people. The FBI is investigating the massacre as an act of terrorism inspired by Isis. Trump remains the frontrunner in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.
Trump said critics of his plan to stop Muslims from entering the country “[have] been condemning practically everything I say and yet they come to my side”.
“The ones that aren’t on my side are down to about zero in the polls and aren’t going to go anywhere.”
Arguing in support of his plan, Trump repeated debunked claims that neighborhoods in London and Paris have become “so radicalized” that police refuse to go there.
“Paris is no longer the safe city it was. They have sections in Paris that are radicalized, where the police refuse to go there. They’re petrified. The police refuse to go in there,” Trump said, refusing to name specific neighborhoods in the city. “We have places in London and other places that are so radicalized that the police are afraid for their own lives. We have to be very smart and very vigilant.”
During his campaign, Trump has already said that he would support a database of American Muslims; would consider a special ID for Muslims; that police should surveil mosques; and that Muslims in Jersey City, New Jersey cheered after the World Trade Center fell.
The candidate appeared to invoke President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s second world war-era proclamations as support for his proposals.
“[The proposal is] not unconstitutional, keeping people out until we get a hold on what’s going on, Joe,” Trump said. Roosevelt started internment camps “because he had to do it,” adding: “Look, we are at war with radical Islam.”
The proclamations Trump referred to – Nos 2525, 2526 and 2527 – sent thousands of people of German, Italian and Japanese descent to internment camps in the United States. People of those ancestries were rounded up, arrested and investigated by the US. In addition, more than 15 countries in Latin America took up America’s offer to intern people of those nationalities living within their countries – and deported more than 6,600 individuals to the US, according to the National Archives.
Trump again cited his support for a controversial poll released in June by the Center for Security Policy, which claimed that many American Muslims support violent jihad to impose sharia law. The center’s founder and president is the prominent Islamophobe Frank Gaffney, who has been described by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors hate speech in the country, as being “gripped by paranoid fantasies about Muslims destroying the west from within”.
As for specifics, Trump said that US customs and border protection agents would need to question people entering the country about their religion, and deny them entry if they people answered that they are Muslim. Trump said he would make exceptions to the “temporary” ban for leaders of Islamic countries, and said he didn’t believe such a policy would affect America’s diplomatic relationships abroad.
“We love you. We want to work with you,” Trump said, when asked for his message to American Muslims. “We want you to turn in the bad ones.”
Prominent Republicans from across the spectrum have condemned Trump’s proposals. Former US vice-president Dick Cheney said barring Muslims from entering the country “goes against everything we stand for and believe in”, in an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt.
Fellow Republican candidates ran the gamut from outright denunciation of the plan to comparisons with their own plans. Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson told the New York Times that immigrants should be registered and monitored, but not based on their religion. Kentucky senator Rand Paul was more nuanced in his criticism. A spokesperson told the New York Times that Paul’s campaign would “block visitors and immigrants” from countries with “known radical elements”.
Democrats were direct in their condemnation. Former Maryland governor and Democratic presidential candidate Martin O’Malley called Trump a “fascist demagogue”. And Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton called the proposal “reprehensible, prejudiced and divisive”.
“This makes us less safe,” the candidate said on Twitter.
Trump’s latest proposal “sounds more like a fascist leader of the 40s than a man who is running to be the leader of a civilized nation like the United States”, said Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, in an opinion piece for the Guardian, suggesting a comparison between Trump and Adolf Hitler. Ahwad called on Republicans to condemn Islamophobia, as President Obama did in a rare Sunday evening address from the Oval Office.Pokemon Go News: Team Rocket To Join Pokemon Go?
Close
Word has it that anytime soon, in some drawing board at Niantic, Team Rocket will be thought of and implemented into the game. Don't get too excited because as of this point this is only a vision but not far from happening.
What made the speculation?
As reported by OtakuArt.com, since PVP battling would be in the near future for Pokemon Go, it will not give us the best experience unless Team Rocket is also in the update. Pretty much like other Pokemon games, there must be a random Jessie and James duo waiting for you.
How will it work then?
Among limitless possibilities, "Surrender now or prepare to fight!" mode should be first. It will make you choose if you run or fight. If you fight, good for you, you'll earn something if you win, lose something if you lost. If you choose to run, there would be a chance to lose something without a fight.
Another possibility would be to make their very own TEAM ROCKET as 4th choice beside Valor, Instinct, or Mystic (go team Valor! For now). This new team should have a nasty agenda and have unique abilities, think of it as Dora's Swiper but in Pokemon Go. The idea might be in conflict with human values, but hey, it would make the game more exciting. Nobody got mad with the Terrorist group in Counter Strike, right? The point is to make the game exciting and challenging and what a great way to do it than Team Rocket ruining your lovely day.
Battles against Team Rocket should also calculate a ladder-type prize or punishment. The more you win, the more you would get something. On the far end of the spectrum, the more you lose, the more should be taken out from you. In this essence, it would be nice though if Team Rocket would be very easy to beat, except for some special occasions, so that not everyone's day would be bummed out.
As stated, ideas for Pokemon Go are limitless, what would be your idea for team rocket? Hit us with your comments below.
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© 2019 ITECHPOST, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.The Nikaya Dhamma Society was founded to preserve and expound historical and orthodox Buddhism. While we do not normally endorse presidential candidates or involve ourselves in the political process, in this case we are compelled to make an exception. Donald Trump stands out alone among all the candidates for president of the United States as the one man speaking up against illegal immigration and the threat of radical Islam. He is the only candidate not afraid to take on political correctness and to offer the American people straight talk, repudiating dishonest political correctness. With great pleasure, we endorse Donald Trump for President of the United States.
Radical Islam continues to menace Buddhist Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand as well as Europe. Radical Islam does not seek understanding, dialogue or tolerance with other religions or cultures, it seeks only conquest. We can ignore this truth at our peril, or we can acknowledge it and respond accordingly. In the past Islam conquered several formerly Buddhist nations. Islam conquered Buddhist Indonesia, and Buddhist women and children were enslaved and raped by terrorist Muslim savages. Real Buddhists have never forgotten that fact, nor can we forgive these atrocious crimes.
Those in the conquered lands who were not murdered outright by Muslims were given the choice of conversion or death. Many Buddhist martyrs died rather than renounce Buddhism, while others hoped to preserve their lives by taking leave of their conscience and personal honor to join those who murdered their families and came to enslave their land. Radical |
which voters want to see change is Iraq. In 2006, the electorate booted Republicans from control of the House and Senate, almost solely on the issue of Iraq. And both parties agree that Democrats are likely to make further gains in Congress in November. McCain was an early and avid supporter of invading Iraq, telling Americans that, "I believe we can win an overwhelming victory in a very short period of time," and that "we will be welcomed as liberators" once Saddam Hussein is deposed. (You can see for yourself here.) McCain opposed any move to set a date for the withdrawal of U.S. troops, and he has maintained that position even though virtually everyone around him has arrived at the conclusion that such a date is necessary. The Iraqi government itself has insisted on a certain date of withdrawal, and even the Bush administration has agreed with the Iraqi government to set such a date.
McCain is at the forefront of a war that was unnecessary, made us less safe, was fought on fraudulent grounds, eroded our country's standing in the world, cost us more than 4,000 U.S. lives, adversely affected hundreds of thousands of other Americans (soldiers wounded, families burdened), and took $1 trillion from American coffers.
Again, McCain is asking to be the agent of change for a disastrous policy he virulently supported (and continues to support). Textbook chutzpah.
The bottom line is that on every key issue facing Americans, McCain is essentially arguing to continue the status quo of the Bush administration, with whom he voted 90 percent of the time. Claiming that to be change takes, say it with me, chutzpah.
So when McCain says, "And let me offer an advance warning to the old, big spending, do nothing, me first, country second Washington crowd: change is coming," I can only reply, "But Sen. McCain, you have been part of that 'Washington crowd' for 26 years. You put oil companies (and other corporations) ahead of average Americans over and over again, voting for oil tax breaks, tax breaks for the rich and privatizing social security, but opposing the GI Bill, increased benefits for veterans, a ban on torture, health insurance for children, and a campaign finance reform law with your name on it."
And when McCain says, "And when we tell you we're going to change Washington, and stop leaving our country's problems for some unluckier generation to fix, you can count on it. We've got a record of doing just that, and the strength, experience, judgment and backbone to keep our word to you," I can only reply, "But Sen. McCain, you have a record of supporting the very policies you now say you will change, including tax cuts for the rich and $1 trillion of spending in Iraq that is funded solely by borrowing, thus passing the burden to 'unluckier' generations. So you haven't shown any'strength, experience, judgment and backbone' in addressing these issues so far."
And when McCain says, "We need to change the way government does almost everything: from the way we protect our security to the way we compete in the world economy; from the way we respond to disasters to the way we fuel our transportation network; from the way we train our workers to the way we educate our children.... We have to catch up to history, and we have to change the way we do business in Washington," I can only reply, "But Sen. McCain, over the last eight years, we have protected our security in your way, competed in the world economy on your terms, responded to disasters with an incompetent government you backed and to which you did not stand up, fueled our transportation network via the oil companies that you unfailingly supported to the detriment of our country's future, failed to provide training to our workers under your watch, educated our children under a federal policy you were in favor of, and did business in Washington in a manner you were an integral part of. So how can you now put yourself forward as the person to make these changes?"
One answer: chutzpah.BARRY CORR is a footballer who faces an important 90 minutes every day. He is a stranger to a normal routine, a slave to the idiosyncrasies of his own body.
BARRY CORR is a footballer who faces an important 90 minutes every day. He is a stranger to a normal routine, a slave to the idiosyncrasies of his own body.
On a regular morning the players of Southend United walk onto the training pitch at 10.30 to limber up. By then, the 28-year-old son of Wicklow has already endured an hour and a half of work in the physio room. The 9.0 daily deadline is the price to pay for living with the consequences of an injury that would have broken many others.
This afternoon, in front of Ireland manager Martin O'Neill, he will play the underdog when Southend host Premier League Hull City in the fourth round of the FA Cup. It is a role that sits easily on the shoulders of a man who has defied odds by making it this far.
It was November 2011 when a surgeon opened up his right knee to find a scene which he politely described as a 'nightmare'. Over the course of the previous year, Corr, a physical striker used to putting his body on the line, had damaged ligaments and then started to feel persistent pain in his tendons. Scans indicated they were caused by previous injuries, of which there were many.
As a youth in the academy at Leeds United, fitness issues had stunted his progress. He has always operated by his own pain threshold.
PROBLEMS
But this was serious. Quite simply, it could have been the end. The expert uncovered a plethora of problems, and set to work on a microfracture, stitching ligaments and tackling the complicated tendonitis.
Corr, desperate to build on his 21-goal haul in his first season at Southend, faced up to the certainty that he wouldn't be playing any part in the second year of his contract and the possibility that he was completely finished. The recovery process from operations sapped his spirit, especially the twice-weekly trips to the hospital to have fluid drained from the knee because it was swelling up so much.
"I was panicking, to be honest," he admitted earlier this week. "All I know is football. I came over here as a 16-year-old and, to be fair, the clubs do try and give you an opportunity to continue your education. But at 16, you think you'll play in the Premier League and become a millionaire, so a lot of players neglect it and I was certainly one of those.
"Down where I am, in League Two, the pay is still good but you're never going to retire on it. You always look for the next contract and I didn't know if I was going to get it."
In a dog-eat-dog environment with a short memory, caring individuals count for a lot.
Paul Sturrock, who signed Corr for Sheffield Wednesday, Swindon Town and Southend, pulled the worried striker to one side and told him there would be a job on the staff if this was the chequered flag.
During the course of what proved to be a 17-month absence, Corr did his 'B' Licence, enrolled for the 'A' and embraced a temporary role as opposition scout. When his Southend colleagues were running out on a Saturday afternoon, Corr was miles away watching the next team they would encounter.
"I enjoyed it," he says. "I'm a big football fan too, I know all the players in pretty much every league in Ireland so it was good to help the team out. I'd go along with a notepad and pen and take notes on set-pieces, their dangermen, whatever was necessary. It gave me a focus."
The eyes were still trained on recovery, though, and slowly but surely his body began to respond.
Early starts were the sacrifice, an acknowledgement that he would never be the same.
Necessity dictates a punctual arrival to training for the purpose of undergoing a rigorous stretching session. There are days when his cursed knee is stiff and his current boss Phil Brown, better known for his on-pitch karaoke at the peak of his fame with Hull, allows Corr to sit out the session.
The father of two young kids will forever be grateful to Southend for standing by him when others would have politely pointed to the door.
Brown took the reins from Sturrock in March last year and understood that the 6' 3'' frontman required special treatment. In the summer, the club put a two-year contract on the table, a sweet moment in the context of the uncertainty that overshadowed the summer before.
"Phil had only come in with seven or eight games to go in the season but himself and the club were very good to me," Corr asserts. "They had an option to keep me for another year but they offered me the chance for a long term."
Brown is naturally going to come under the spotlight this afternoon, given that he shot to prominence on account of his exploits at Hull.
"I've enjoyed working with him," says lone striker Corr of the 4-5-1 formation preferred by his perma-tanned manager. "You can tell from his preparation for games that he has worked at a higher level."
Corr's specific brief, which involves a lot of running the channels and donkey work for others, means that he has scored just half a dozen goals this term, which is below personal expectations.
Still, the Shrimpers, a community club based just 40 miles from London, are meeting their target of challenging for promotion.
The big man did score in the third round, notching the crucial opener in a barmy match with Millwall that was disturbed by a floodlight failure and peppered by torrential rainstorms.
"We thought it wasn't going to be our day when the lights went out," he laughs. "But it was during the break that we spoke as a group and realised they were really there for the taking. We dominated them."
David Forde was on the receiving end that afternoon and today's visitors have a sizeable Irish contingent, although Corr has only encountered Paul McShane before.
They are both 28 and from the same county but went about getting to England in different ways. McShane went to Dublin and lined out for St Joseph's Boys en route to Manchester United. Corr, a native of the village of Newcastle, stayed with nearby St Anthony's in Kilcoole.
BRILLIANT
"A lot of people told me I needed to go and play in Dublin to get to England," he reflects. "But I had a really good manager, Freddie Hamilton, and he said to me that if I stuck it out in Wicklow and played well, then people would talk and I'd get over. His coaching was brilliant, and he was right."
He eventually ran into McShane at reserve level across the water and, similar to the other kids who knew each other from the DDSL, there was a curiosity about his background.
"They'd ask me who I played for and when I told them they'd say 'Who are they?'," he chuckles.
Part of him relished being that little different, and it served as adequate preparation for the journey ahead. His unconventional daily workout is just an extreme version of that independence. All the hours of graft were building towards an opportunity like today.
Corr knows that his body will be aching afterwards. He accepts that one knee will always feel different to the other. But they cannot dent the sense of achievement in making it from the hospital bed to here.
"It makes all the hard work worth it," he enthuses. Through his spirit, the magic of the cup lives on.
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An army of anarchists in black clothing and masks routed a small group of right-wing demonstrators who had gathered in a Berkeley park Sunday to rail against the city’s famed progressive politics, driving them out — sometimes violently — while overwhelming a huge contingent of police officers.
Hundreds of officers tried to maintain calm in and around Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park before the 1 p.m. “No to Marxism in Berkeley” rally, putting up barricades, searching bags and confiscating sticks, masks, pepper spray and even water bottles. The goal was to head off the type of clashes that sprang from similar rallies in the city earlier this year.
An anarchist holds a smoke bomb after the police retreat during a protest at Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center park in Berkeley, Calif., on Sunday, August 27th, 2017. An anarchist holds a smoke bomb after the police retreat during a protest at Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center park in Berkeley, Calif., on Sunday, August 27th, 2017. Photo: Gabrielle Lurie, The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Gabrielle Lurie, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 83 Caption Close Masked anarchists violently rout right-wing demonstrators in Berkeley 1 / 83 Back to Gallery
But once again, counterdemonstrators frustrated efforts by police, who numbered about 400. As the crowd swelled to several times that size, officers stepped aside and allowed hundreds of people angered by the presence of the right-wing rally to climb over the barriers into the park, said Officer Jennifer Coats, a spokeswoman for Berkeley police.
The masked counterprotesters, often referred to as antifa or antifascists, significantly outnumbered the people who had come for the rally, many of whom wore red clothing indicating support for President Trump. The anarchists chased away the right-wingers, and in one case four or five pummeled a man with fists and sticks before a radio host for Reveal, Al Letson, jumped in to shield the victim. Anarchists also attacked reporters who documented their actions.
By the time the confrontations wound down in midafternoon, police had arrested 13 people, including one for assault with a deadly weapon, Coats said. Most were accused of bringing banned items into the park. Six people reported non-life-threatening injuries, Coats said, including two taken to hospitals.
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In one of many incidents caught on video, police protected Joey Gibson, the leader of the conservative group Patriot Prayer, who had canceled a rally Saturday at Crissy Field in San Francisco after city leaders criticized the event plans as inciting white nationalists.
The footage shows that Gibson backed away from a mob of black-clad aggressors who swore, hit him with a stick and shouted, “Fascists go home!” Gibson leaped over a concrete barrier before being chased into the embrace of riot-gear-clad cops.
The violence in the park remains under investigation, and police asked witnesses to report all injuries and submit any videos. After past protests, videos helped police make arrests, Coats said.
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Saturday had been a day of mostly peaceful antihate demonstrations across San Francisco. But Sunday was different in Berkeley.
“We’re just puzzled as to why people consider violence a valid tactic,” said Kristin Leimkuhler, 60, of Berkeley, who with a group of neighbors left the protests when they turned chaotic. “We felt disappointed and surprised by how many people were not in any way discreet about being with antifa — in fact being very bold and prepared to be violent.”
Read Full ArticlePreface: The Moose was running at 2.8 feet on a Sunday of Moosefest weekend in mid-October. It was unseasonably warm, air temperature in the 60s and partly cloudy, with water temperature probably in the 50s. Our group of eight scouted Knife’s Edge at around 2:30pm. All members were familiar with each others paddling skill having ran multiple sections of the Moose River at low and high river flows in the subsequent years, in addition to other rivers. All members had ran the Bottom Moose before with many having at least 10 runs.
The first six of us ran the drop and were waiting downstream in the eddy on river right. The seventh remaining boater was on river right shore above the feature with a throw bag for safety. Summary: Around 2:45 pm our eighth and final boater was attempting the s-turn line through the drop but launched off the knife’s edge late (too far river right of the intended line) and became pinned on the large rock in the middle of the rapid. Their boat was completely under water, facing upstream with the bow submerged in the undercut of the large rock. The pinned boater’s upper body was above water. They could pivot and use their arms to push against the large rock with their back to the flow in order to keep their head above water. They were unable to push themselves on top of the rock any further.
Within 60 seconds (approximately 2:46 pm), one member of our group (Member 1) was able to climb onto the large rock and could reach down to the pinned boater. Member 1 tried to pull the pinned boater up but was unsuccessful. Member 1 pulled two carabiners and slings from their PFD. One biner was clipped to the pinned boater’s PFD with a sling attached to a throw rope. The other sling was girth hitched around one of the pinned kayak’s grab loops, attached to a biner and then to another throw rope. Both throw ropes were held by other members of our group on shore on river right, just downstream of the drop. Communication was difficult due to the noise of the water, and the group had to rely on shouting individual words and hand signals to communicate between the group members on shore and those on the large rock.
Member 1 requested two more members of the group (Members 2 and 3) to swim out to the large rock and climb up to join and assist Member 1 in holding the pinned boater’s head above water. Those three tried together to pull the pinned boater up on the rock but were unable to move the pinned boater. Two other members of our group tried pulling from downstream on the throw rope that was attached to the pinned boater. At some point during these early attempts, the pinned boat and boater shifted and sunk several inches deeper into the undercut, but the pinned boater’s head was still above water and their position seemed to be stable.
The pinned boater’s spray skirt imploded (though the boat was probably already mostly filled with water). However, the neoprene spray skirt remained caught/wedged between the rock and boat limiting movement and self rescue from the pinned boater. The pinned boater verbalized wanting to cut the spray skirt with a rescue knife but was prevented from doing so by Member 2. Member 2 proceeded to pull and pry the spray skirt to dislodge it from being caught/wedged between the undercut rock and boat bow. Once the the sprayskirt was dislodged, Member 2 instructed pinned boater to attempt to step out of the boat by stepping on the boat’s plastic center safety pillar. Pinned boater was unable to do so due the nature of the pin. Shortly thereafter pinned boater began losing feeling in their lower extremities due to suspected pinching of the femoral arteries caused by the boat/body pin.
At about 2:55pm, one member of the group was sent downstream to get help (Member 4). The group tried to come up with some other options but ultimately decided to wait for additional support to arrive before making any more adjustments as long as the pinned boater was stable and alert. At some point, a throw rope was strung across the river that could have been used to stabilize the pinned boater in case group Members 1, 2, and 3 became exhausted, but it was never used. At around 3:15pm, the first help arrived (Rescuer 1)--this person was a passenger in the first car that was flagged down by group Member 4. Rescuer 1 informed the group that the the authorities had been alerted by Member 4, and that they’d heard sirens on their way to Knife’s Edge. Meanwhile, Rescuer 1’s friend (the driver of the car which was flagged down) found a group of experienced kayakers at the takeout who were packing up to head home; upon learning of the ongoing incident, they immediately grabbed their safety equipment and headed toward Knife’s Edge. Member 4 waited on the nearest access road by Knife’s Edge to direct first responders and experienced kayakers to the incident site.
Around 3:20 pm, a few representatives from the local fire department arrived, and by approximately 3:35 pm, a NYS Forest Ranger, members of local fire, police, and EMS, as well as many more experienced kayakers had arrived on scene. The Ranger directed the rescue from this point forward. A rope was fastened around the pinned boater’s torso (underneath their armpits) with a biner, and the rescuers tried to pull the pinned boater up the slope perpendicular to the river. This greatly restricted the pinned boater’s breathing and otherwise was difficult since they were pulling the pinned boater directly against the flow. The rope was repositioned downstream, and one of the experienced boaters coordinated the new approach with the Ranger. Two teams of about five rescuers were lined up downstream on river right to pull on two throw ropes (one that was fastened around the pinned boater’s torso, and another that was connected to the pinned boat’s grab loop). The rope-pulling teams pulled together on the count of three, and the pinned boater was successfully yanked from the pin after just two good tugs.
The formerly pinned boater floated downstream and was retrieved by live-bait rescuers. At 3:45 pm the rescued boater was pulled onto shore after approximately one hour in the water. The rescued boater was met by EMS and carefully assessed. They were responsive but hypothermic. The rescue team brought a basket litter, placed the rescued boater in the litter and used blankets and other materials to insulate the rescued boater. The rescued boater was transported in the litter basket from riverbank to road (0.25 miles) where they were placed in the ambulance. One member of the original group accompanied the rescued boater to a local hospital in the ambulance.
A day after being treated for moderate hypothermia and traumatic rhabdomyolysis, the rescued boater is in good condition with general, overall body soreness. The pinned boat was removed approximately 5 minutes after the pinned boater was yanked from the boat. Two ropes were affixed to the pinned boat’s security bar/handle. One affixed rope was pulled by at least two individuals on the downstream, river left bank. The other affixed rope was pulled by multiple individuals positioned downstream on river right bank. All pinned paddling gear was removed from the Knife’s Edge rapid.
The rescuers on shore stayed organized under the direction of the NYS Forest Ranger, and the Ranger successfully utilized the abilities and recommendations of the various rescuers on shore (experienced kayakers on/in the river, fire/police/ems on shore managing ropes and preparing supplies to evacuate the pinned boater, etc.). The rescued boater and group members are all deeply grateful to everyone who responded. Many, many hands on and off the river contributed to the success of the rescue.
Conclusions: key factors that contributed to the successful rescue are outlined below. Group Preparation Having so many people in the original paddling group (8) allowed group members to quickly and simultaneously execute various tasks Group members carried pin kits in their PFDs so this gear was readily available The pinned boater’s drysuit helped reduce the severity of hypothermia. As whitewater boaters often say, “dress for the swim” Rapid Response Group members quickly stabilized the pinned boater’s head and torso to prevent submergence or flush drowning
Sending for help EARLY in the rescue effort Quick arrival of local first responders and additional highly experienced whitewater kayakers. These folks arrived with the right equipment to assist in the rescue Leadership and Attitude Maintaining leadership structure throughout the rescue to provide for efficient communication and action
Exceptional coordination and collaboration of local first responders with whitewater kayakers. Group members and responders filled roles best suited to their abilities (quickly securing the pinned boater, sending for help, managing ropes, managing a large group in an emergency situation) Encouragement to pinned boater from members throughout the duration of the incident. Pinned boater has expressed that this was mentally & emotionally critical during the hour long rescue
Acknowledgements: All eight members of the of paddling group contributed to this report
TEXT ATTACHMENTS https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RBAA4gggJX9y8R4-Yh3mU7U6W5zKuXLB6zFxod-UWgQ/edit?usp=sharing https://www.dropbox.com/s/37mp9brwss2y9g9/KnifesEdge10162016IncidentReport.pdf?dl=0Image caption British and Dutch depositors could have been left out of pocket when Icesave collapsed
Officials from Iceland, the Netherlands and the UK have held two days of talks in Iceland's capital Reykjavik over the settlement of a £2.3bn banking dispute.
The money was lost in Iceland's banking crash in 2008, when British and Dutch depositors were affected after the Icesave bank collapsed.
The latest talks, on hold due to elections in the UK and Netherlands, were the first since March.
It is hoped that further talks can be held at the end of the summer.
Iceland has said it will honour its commitments, but the nation's voters rejected an agreement at a referendum in March.
The UK government, which ensured that UK depositors were reimbursed in full, has indicated it is prepared to block Iceland's accession to the European Union unless the dispute is sorted out.Fabled Optimus Maximus Keyboard has Arrived Features 113 OLED screens - one for each key
Each key can be individually programmed
Limitless possibilities for customization
Yep. Time to take a second mortgage on your home or break into your kid's college fund. With the singing of angels and a ray of sunlight parting the clouds, the fabled Optimus Maximus Keyboard has descended from Russian design studio Art Lebedev like an orgasm of geekiness. As you should know by now this amazing keyboard features a tiny screen on each key... that's 113 screens in all. What can you do with these tiny screens, you ask? Well, each key can change its image dynamically depending on what you're doing.
Hold down SHIFT and all keys go uppercase. Run Photoshop and you can set it so each hotkey has an image representing its function. Set a key to monitor your CPU usage or display what iTunes track you are currently playing. You can make a key into a tiny clock with moving hands and play animated gif files or even quicktime movies. Of course all this futuristic technology is going to cost you a pretty penny... but we figure you'll just expense the Optimus and tout its "incredible increased efficiency when using PowerPoint hotkeys" in your expense report summary.Less than a month after the Federal Communications Commission passed a set of groundbreaking net neutrality protections, both sides of the fight for the internet's future have thrown down their gauntlets.
Republicans are reintroducing previously abandoned legislation that could kill net neutrality protections before they take effect, in a maneuver which is unlikely to be successful, but will serve as, according to Politico's Tony Romm, a "new springboard for sustained political attacks on the White House."
Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), head of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, told Politico on Friday that the team of GOP lawmakers who have banded together to oppose net neutrality rules is "simply trying to figure out the facts" of the FCC's decision to approve landmark open internet protections. That group is currently suggesting that the commission bowed to political pressure from President Barack Obama—a narrative that allows them to transform the fight against net neutrality into "the same sort of drawn-out controversy as Benghazi and Obamacare," Romm writes.
In that vein, the committee on Tuesday held the first of five hearings on the FCC's rules, which heard theories that chairman Tom Wheeler capitulated to the Obama administration's demands when he moved away from cable-friendly legislation and voted to protect consumer interests instead.
However, the anti-net neutrality lobby is up against several formidable opponents, spanning Democrats in Congress, government watchdogs, and civil rights activists, all of whom campaigned for more than a year for Wheeler to accept the most progressive proposals for internet regulations.
Matt Wood, policy director for media reform group Free Press, confirmed the organization's staunch support of net neutrality and criticized Republicans for their tactics on Tuesday, stating in a press release, "The phone and cable lobby and their allies in Congress need to stop spreading lies about the net neutrality rules."
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"They're not Obama’s secret plan to take over the Internet," Wood continued. "They're not turning Internet access into a rate-regulated public utility and they’re not online censorship. They simply rely on the vital legal principles in Title II, adopted and updated by Congress on an overwhelmingly bipartisan basis."
Similarly, more than 40 racial justice and civil rights groups sent a letter (pdf) to congressional leaders Tuesday morning to state their support of the FCC and object to the latest attempts to kill net neutrality regulations.
"It is critical that the FCC have the legal authority to protect the online digital rights of communities that historically have been marginalized in our society," the letter reads. "With such protections, our communities have been able to better participate in our democracy, tell our own stories, strive towards educational excellence and pursue economic success."
The letter continues, "We respectfully request that you join the millions of digital equality champions and support the FCC's historic decision, and reject any efforts to overturn and weaken the decision. You will be in good company, on the right side of public opinion."
Any Republican legislation that manages to pass Congress is almost guaranteed to be vetoed when it reaches Obama's desk, Romm continues.
Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) told Politico, "The Republicans have a coordinated approach opposed to net neutrality, and they don’t like our president, so they’re trying to wrap that into it. I’d say the chances of actually successfully pursuing a legislative effort to overturn what the FCC has done, I just don’t think it’s credible. It’s just shouting into the wind."Tens of thousands of wild elephants are being killed each year to meet the demand for ivory Photo by Kim Jae-Hwan/AFP/Getty Images
Can spiritual leaders guide their flocks to be stewards of the Earth? Dekila Chungyalpa is founder and director of the Sacred Earth program for WWF, the international conservation organization. She says religious values are often consistent with conservation efforts, and it’s time for religious leaders to start preaching for the environment.
Curtis Abraham: What is the Sacred Earth program?
Dekila Chungyalpa: We are trying to provide faith leaders and religious institutions with a platform on which they can build conservation messages and lead environmental change. It developed from a 2008 project that provided environmental training for Tibetan Buddhist monks and nuns in the Himalayas. Following a series of successful pilot projects, we launched it as a fully-fledged program last year.
CA: Where do religion and conservation intersect?
DC: Mapping great areas of remaining biodiversity around the world reveals that many are also sacred sites. In several of these areas, we know that religious belief has been one of the major factors for preserving them. For example, Sagamatha National Park in Nepal is sacred to the Sherpa people, and the Kaya Forest in Kenya is sacred to the Mijikenda. In both cases, this status has led to their preservation. But sadly, many sacred sites are threatened by illegal wildlife trade, deforestation, climate change, natural resource mining, pollution, and so on.
CA: So how can religious leaders make a difference?
DC: More than 80 percent of people in the world identify themselves as religious. Collectively, faith-related institutions make up one of the largest categories of financial investors and operate more than half of all schools globally. It is clear that religious leaders can have a strong influence. In sheer numbers, they are a major stakeholder for conservation.
I think there are two levels on which they can help environmental efforts. The first is by leading their communities to make ethical choices, such as becoming energy efficient or eschewing illegal wildlife products. The second is more nuanced—and that is to challenge the idea that a sustainable future is not attainable.
CA: How do different religious beliefs fit with conservation ideals?
DC: The core of an environmental ethos is valuing all life on Earth and trying to live in harmony with nature. Every religion has scriptures that expound such a view. In Genesis in the Bible, God speaks to Noah and establishes a covenant between him and every living creature on the ark. In the Koran, there is specific mention of all animals, including creatures that fly with wings, which are precious to Allah. Hinduism also has a deep reverence for nature, for different wild animals who have symbolic power and subscribe to the Dharmic law of Ahimsa, non-violence, as a way of life.
CA: How do you get religious leaders involved?
DC: In September, the U.K.-based Alliance of Religions and Conservation held a conference in Nairobi, Kenya. It was to celebrate Christian, Hindu, and Islamic faith groups in Africa that are launching long-term plans for conservation. As part of the conference, we hosted a safari to Nairobi National Park. There we prayed around a pile of charred elephant ivory at a memorial site where hundreds of tusks were burned in 1989 to draw attention to the illegal killing of elephants.
With the ARC we also launched the first ever partnership with faith leaders across Africa against wildlife trafficking and the slaughter of elephants and rhinos. Fifty religious leaders signed pledges committing to the cause. I just learned that one preacher is writing a liturgy specifically on the protection of wildlife.
CA: Does your program also reach out to religious leaders in Asia, the source of most of the demand for illegal ivory and rhino horn?
DC: Yes, we are working with Buddhist leaders in Thailand and other parts of Asia, encouraging them to preach compassion for African elephants and other species and call for an end to the use of illegal wildlife products. We are also developing a campaign that educates the public to reduce the demand for blood ivory driven by local cultural norms.
CA: There are beliefs that rhino horn can be used to treat hangovers—or even cancer. Who spreads these ideas?
DC: There is a misconception in Asia right now, particularly in Vietnam, that rhino horn can be used to cure cancer. We have seen it advertised as traditional medicine. There is no historical or scientific basis for such a claim. It is false advertising, and criminal from my point of view. Not only are the traders and sellers causing the indiscriminate slaughter of African rhinos, they are giving false hope to people who are desperately sick.
CA: What is the scale of illegal killing?
DC: Tens of thousands of wild elephants are being killed each year, simply for their tusks, to meet the demand for ivory coming from China, Thailand, and other Asian countries. The profits made from the killing of African rhinos and elephants and Asian tigers are about $10 billion each year. This is not local poaching, it is wildlife crime. It is a trade run by international crime syndicates who benefit from the senseless killing of these animals. All of this simply to feed a craze for luxury items and status symbols.
CA: What is the scale of illegal killing?
DC: Tens of thousands of wild elephants are being killed each year, simply for their tusks, to meet the demand for ivory coming from China, Thailand, and other Asian countries. The profits made from the killing of African rhinos and elephants and Asian tigers are about $10 billion each year. This is not local poaching, it is wildlife crime. It is a trade run by international crime syndicates who benefit from the senseless killing of these animals. All of this simply to feed a craze for luxury items and status symbols.
CA: Are Asian elephants and rhinos also poached for their ivory and horns?
DC: Yes. The greater one-horned rhino is the most robust of the three Asian rhino species but still classified as vulnerable. Unfortunately, we believe that there are no more than 50 Javan rhinos in the wild today and fewer than 250 Sumatran rhinos, as a result of rampant poaching and habitat loss.
With fewer than 35,000 individuals, the Asian elephant is classified as endangered and is gravely threatened due to habitat loss and poaching. Elephants are migratory mammals and, in the face of rapidly growing human populations, are becoming more and more isolated in small pockets across Asia. We think faith leaders can play a crucial role in reinforcing the importance of coexistence between humans and wildlife.
CA: Is the Sacred Earth approach working?
DC: In the Himalayas, we went from simply training monastic representatives on environmental issues to helping establish an association called Khoryug of more than 50 Buddhist monasteries that have developed their own projects. These include river clean-ups, reforestation, environmental education, and climate change adaptation. In India, the monks of Tergar Monastery have planted 600 trees on degraded lands. In Nepal, the nuns of Thrangu Tara Abbey have established recycling programs.
In some of the most fragile and ecologically important landscapes in the Himalayas, other monasteries have planted organic gardens, set up solar power stations, and switched from firewood to gas for cooking. Their leadership radiates into the community. By installing solar panels for water heating, for example, a monastery not only demonstrates its commitment to energy efficiency, but also confirms a new climate reality.
CA: Are there any similar initiatives under way in North America?
DC: In the United States, we are exploring a partnership with the Washington National Cathedral and other religious communities on the role of faith in climate change issues. With record droughts, floods, and fires in the last year alone, climate change impacts are evident all across the United States. The conversation we need to be having now is about building resilience for communities and reducing our carbon footprint.
CA: Once WWF gets these initiatives started, is it down to religious leaders to keep them going?
DC: We see ourselves as technical consultants who can help provide the capacity needed—but the leadership and decision-making has to come from faith leaders themselves. It is the only way such a partnership can work and be fruitful in the long term.
This article originally appeared in New Scientist.
See more in New Scientist’s gallery: “Visions of heaven on Earth: Sacred sites in danger.”At the age of 86, Tippi Hedren has published her memoirs, modestly titled Tippi: A Memoir. Starting her career as a New York fashion model, she was discovered by Hitchcock in October 1961, while advertising a diet drink on television. After elaborate screen tests, Hedren went on to star in two of |
state of mind and eating a vegetarian diet is extremely beneficial in enabling us to attain state of calmness and peacefulness in our minds which makes it much easier for us to arouse compassion.
Vegetarianism is beneficial to our human body and to our natural environment are things that everybody knows. So there is no great necessity for me to reiterate these reasons this evening. However on account of lack of compassion among human beings, there are lot of atrocities committed by us in the human history. Whether it’s in terms of women’s oppression or the oppression of people of color, there have been extremely regrettable actions and episodes in human history. However having recognized these situations to some degree and having implemented reforms in these areas, we can say that the situations are getting increasingly better in these areas. While the our attitude towards other human beings and reforming the way they are being treated has progressed significantly, there was one area in which our attitudes are extremely lacking and that is our approach towards animals. In terms of Western thought, there have been many areas of inequality. For example in the Western history there has been debate of whether or not women have souls. In the history of Western science too there have been people who have alleged at times that black people are somehow inferior. However if we were to engage in this kinds of conversation today, everyone would think that it is absolutely ridiculous. A very famous Western philosopher once said that animals don’t have souls. However if someone were to say today that our own dogs and cats don’t have souls, it would be something that we won’t be able to accept. So in the course of our intellectual history there have been many stages of erroneous thoughts. Many of these erroneous thoughts we have addressed and reformed. But one of the areas of inequality in terms of our understanding of things that still exists is our attitudes towards animals and this is something that we need to urgently reform.
However if in the future we are all able to really adopt attitudes of compassion and equality towards animals then we would automatically recognize their intrinsic rights and their right to survival. A Western writer penned a book called “Animal liberation” and I regard this book as the very beginning of a change in attitude towards animals in Western thought and it’s extremely necessary that we reform these attitudes and because we are unable to extend this attitude of equality and compassion towards animals, the ultimate result will be negative repercussions in terms of relations between humans beings ourselves. Those who exists above us in society, those who are in the higher realms are really not the people that we should think about that much. So in terms of cultivating equality, it’s really important to look at those beings who are lower than us and extend a view of equality towards them. If you are able to look at those beings who are lower than you, weaker than you and more humble than you and extend to them a view of equality, then only at this stage you are entitled or qualified indeed to regard yourself as equal with those above you. If you are not someone who are able to extend or support the freedom and equality to those lower you, then you are in no way entitled to demand those above you to respect your freedom and respect your equality. So whether or not a particular society in question has compassion, we can assess this essentially by looking at those who are the most weak in that society.
In the context of today’s world where we have massive population of 7 billion people, those who exists in the realm below are animals and it’s only by being able to extend the entitlement of freedom and equality to these animals that we as humans would really be able to embody freedom and equality among our own species because if we are really not able to legitimately recognize and legitimately appreciate the entitlement of equality of those below us then we got no right to demand among humans ourselves that we be given our entitlements of freedom and equality. So really genuine equality should begin at the level of animals. When we talk about equality between humans and animals we are not really meaning equality in absolute sense but from point of view of equal entitlement of survival.
This is really where vegetarianism really kicks in because by being vegetarian and refraining from eating meat that we really in substance give animals their entitlement towards survival. Whether or not all humans will become vegetarian is probably something that is highly unlikely. However it is something that we start at the level of oneself. So whether it’s in terms of women empowerment or the empowerment of black people, all of these movements have started at the level of the individual. So it’s at this level that we need to start with our attitude and respect towards equality of animals. However in the initial stages, it is inevitable that there will be many opposing voices, opposing ideas that we have to contend with. For example there are some people who respond to the assertion that animal right to survival should be respected by saying that humans have not yet essentially achieved that right so this being the case then how come we really speak about it in case of animals, the time is not ripe until this case has been achieved for humans. Unless we really take this kind of reasoning apart and scrutinize it very carefully, on the surface it seems like a reasonable kind of logic. However this kind of reasoning dissipates or falls apart rather quickly when we give careful attention to it. If we can draw a really strong distinction between animals and humans and take this as legitimate, by the same logic we can draw distinction between different types of humans, different in terms of our customs, cultural way of thinking and even in legal system and this kind of distinction is only superficial.
In terms of vegetarians, there are many levels of vegetarian way of lifestyle or practice. The strictest form of vegetarianism is the kind where no products from an animal is consumed at all and this is an extremely wonderful positive form of vegetarianism. The consumption of honey for example. Honey is something that is taken from bee, it’s a form of theft in actuality. Of course if this kind of theft happens among humans it is considered extremely negative. However if it is done against animals we don’t see anything particularly wrong with it. But in actuality, this kind of behavior is equally negative regardless whether it is done to humans or animals. So in the highest form of vegetarianism, we don’t use anything that comes from or belongs to animals. If we are not able to practice this highest form of vegetarianism, the next best form would be the kind where we don’t consume animals meat, blood or their fat. If we were not able to give up eating meat entirely, then what we need to do is refraining from eating small animals which are still alive, things like seafood which are caught live and they die the most appalling death. These kind of animals we should refrain from eating.
The most cruel and barbaric form of diet is that which arrives on our dinner table alive. People who consume small creatures that are still alive and still moving by immersing them in hot oil and put them in their mouth. There are some people who say, “I just can’t give up eating meat, it’s too difficult to be a vegetarian” and at one level we can definitely understand this feeling of some people not being able to give up eating meat but imagining people sitting at dinner table and consuming meat in such a barbaric way is something that defies our capacity to empathize with people. Live beings arriving at dinner table, this is something that anybody can perceive to be suffering, to be in great pain and just like how we would feel when put in such situation, they too would not want to be in the situation of torcher being inflicted on them. However the fact that despite we can perceive that these beings are in the state of great suffering, we don’t turn our mind towards it and it is extremely strange thing indeed. This is a very big problem and if we ask them why is it you can perceive their suffering and yet you continue to eat them in the most savage way, most people would answer that “I’m a human and it is just an animal“. What we need to ask ourselves is how is that we have that sense of entitlement to consume animals in this way just because we are humans. This is a question that we need to pose to ourselves. But actually there is no reason or logic to justify why we are entitled to eat other beings except for the fact that we have money and on account of having money, we have power to purchase them and extort it by eating them. However if we were to apply the same logic to a situation where aliens would arrive on earth and gobble us up then would we in fact say to them, “yes it would be OK, you can do whatever you want because you have power, you have entitlement to eat us”, would you say this? Of course we would say, this is terrible, this is inequality. We would complain loudly that these aliens were oppressing us, were invading our planet, we would protest vehemently.
If we would see aliens coming and eating us in this way as extremely grievous case of inequality, then we as humans eating animals is exactly the same and if we aren’t able to extend this view to animals, human equality will not be achieved. Quite often we regard equality as being when everything is going in accordance to our desires and when our own wants are being satisfied and when that is not happening, we start to claim that things are unequal. So genuine equality should really begin from vegetarianism and genuine vegetarianism should really begin from compassion. So for this reason compassion and vegetarianism has a great connection. Usually everything we say, everything that we do, everything that we think about is done from our personal perspective and it’s really by viewing the world in this way from our individual perspective that we then start to have all kinds of divisions and distinctions emerge between different people, races, ethnicities, people from West, East. When everyone is speaking from their own vantage point, be it vantage point of human, vantage point of man, vantage point of person of color or somebody else then we can’t see a situation where general equality will prevail in the world.
Generally when we show empathy towards people who are less fortunate than ourselves people endorse this and regard it as extremely good but many people would not see the need of same in case of animals, they wouldn’t see that animals as also in the equal necessity of empathy. So the fact that we don’t have a view of equality towards animals is manifested and related to the inequality we have in terms of gender, race and such and it is this kind of attitude or view of intrinsic inequality that we need to eliminate. So if we want to get rid of this view that divides people and asserts inequality between them, the best approach we can apply is compassion. So I’ve spoken about the importance of vegetarianism, now I would like to talk about importance of compassion.
Compassion is something the Buddhists speak of all the time. In fact compassion is the soul and foundation of Mahayana tradition. So in terms of understanding what compassion actually means or represents, we need to grasp essentially two things about it. The first part of compassion is generating an understanding of suffering of other beings not just suffering of human beings but also suffering of animals also. This kind of understanding of suffering of other beings is very rare among humans. For example the rich people won’t have an understanding of suffering of the poor, people with power in society won’t have understanding of suffering of people who are powerless. People who are healthy won’t understand the suffering of sick. In general, humans have little understanding of suffering of animals and the reason is, we frequently neglect the suffering of others. So on account of this neglect we pay to the suffering of others, their suffering will not come to our view, it’s not something that we generally or regularly pay attention to. However one thing we do pay extraordinary attention to is in fact to our own suffering and in respect to our own suffering, if even slightest, trivial kind of suffering arrives on us, then we wish it goes away, we wish that it won’t be happening. We do place great priority on our own sense of happiness. Everyone wishes for great happiness and great joy but even small forms of happiness and pleasure is something we would want. In fact it’s not only us who thinks this way, every other human being thinks this way. However we don’t pay any attention and think that others too would like to be happy.
Even though we see or hear about people dying in earthquakes or accidents, we don’t pay much attention to their sufferings. We easily say it as a passing remark that this has happened but we really don’t take it heart or mind. The reason is, we don’t pay attention to others, and we don’t prioritize them. In fact states like sickness, poverty, powerlessness are things that we really understand only when they finally happen to us. This is not a short coming faced by one person or one ethnicity or one nationality, it is a shortcoming that all humans possess. While we may say that it is human nature but if we ask ourselves if it can be changed, yes it’s absolutely something that which we can change. However this process of transformation will be a big undertaking, big project. If we apply this to ourselves with great diligence then we will be able to achieve it. The way we really need to go about this transformation is by engaging in contemplation, really perceiving, seeing with our eyes, the sight of beings suffering in front of us, this is really something that we need to face square on. Even though it’s quite common to see suffering of people around us, be it our friends, colleagues or whoever, what we need to do when we see their suffering, we need to think about it and contemplate it very deeply. Thinking about other people suffering, contemplating and working to alleviate their suffering, all these things are the things that we really learn to do. In terms of this process of learning, there are great many methods and approaches in the Buddhist tradition that can be taken to generate this compassion. You don’t have to be of Buddhist faith or follower and yet you should be able to bring yourself to learn these methods and techniques because they will bring you great benefit. So when you encounter a being who is suffering internally such as an animal which is delivered to a slaughter house, this is something that we should look at squarely with our own two eyes and it’s by doing this we can understand the suffering they are going through and it’s after really coming to see the suffering of this being that we will then be able to put ourselves in its position and think “what is the animal suffering were me, what would I do in that situation, what would it be like” or instead of putting ourselves in that position, we might think “what if it’s my mother or father or one of my children in that position“. By really thinking or training ourselves this way we should feel an intense terror as a result of it. By doing this, we will arouse a new kind of feeling and by being able to do this we will really be able to arouse empathy for others in this lifetime. This is the first stage of practice of compassion and from here we proceed to the second stage.
In the second stage, we recognize that the animal suffering here isn’t ourselves or it’s not our mother or father or our children. However the animal is exactly the same as our self in respect of not desiring suffering and wishing happiness to itself. So we really need to constantly reflect on the fact that the animal in that situation is in no way desiring suffering and yet being placed in situation of powerlessness where all kinds of suffering and torcher are being inflicted upon and it’s being able to extend this profound equality between ourselves and the animals, we are able to generate profound desire that the animal not be in suffering and so through generating this desire that we understand that our prayers and wishes for their wellbeing and freedom is in itself not sufficient. So on this basis we undertake, we generate aspiration to engage in concrete action to help this animal be free from suffering and if we contemplate on this many times, over the time our strength of aspiration also increases and it is at this point we can consider ourselves as being altruistic persons, people dedicated to benefit others and from this point onwards, we really work for the benefit of others and we do this not only by speech but through concrete actions we undertake. It is at this point we start to find our happiness in benefitting others. So working with the goal of benefitting oneself will lead to great displeasure and unhappiness and if we on the other hand dedicate ourselves in our daily work to benefit others and bring happiness to them, when we retire to our home at the end of the day, we would only experience happiness. So the idea that happiness comes by diligently working to benefit ourselves is erroneous and the idea of working for the benefit of others so that it will bring happiness for ourselves is also erroneous, since eventually you are working with the goal of achieving happiness for yourself. So it’s extremely important to work for the benefit of others.
So these two stages I’ve introduced tonight are very simple and abbreviated forms and one can easily be able to practice compassion and if you would like to learn more deeply about compassion practice, you can certainly turn towards teachings in Mahayana tradition which are very rich in this area. The Mahayana tradition talks about needing to give others happiness and take their suffering. There are many people who think that it’s not something they are able to do. If they give others their happiness and take their suffering, they will be left with no happiness and will make themselves very unhappy. But this is not at all true. Giving others ones happiness and taking their suffering will only increase ones happiness.
In universities and colleges, a great deal of knowledge and skills are taught in areas of science, technology, business and economics on account that these fields impacted the world in very significant way. We put a lot of emphasis on them where as other areas like compassion, benefitting others are put less emphasis and this kind of education is very dangerous. So in universities and institutions of higher education, studying for the sake of one’s own desires is very high today, regardless of what field it is. But without the aspiration to use one’s study and attainments to benefit others, we will arrive in a very dangerous place and the result of this is in the future the world’s resources will be scarcer and scarcer. If in this time, humans insist on monopolizing nature’s resources for themselves, for their own selfish interest and refuse to share these resources fairly among others, great conflicts and struggles over the distribution of resources will ensue and all kinds of wars and conflicts will break out in the world. So in addition to studying knowledge and skills in our education systems today, it is equally important that we learn about compassion, equality and benefitting others and apply these in tandem. If one is able to practice compassionate contemplation in ones live, not only will it bring great happiness at the individual level, it will also bring great meaning to one’s life in general. This brings the conclusion to my talk tonight, thank you everyone for listening.
For the rest of the time we have left, it would be great if people would rise any questions they might have and we can have a discussion.
Question 1: (Question inaudible, it’s something about meat consumption with respect to the sutras)
Answer 1: Many people have this question, it’s a good question. In Vajrayana tradition, there are in fact many teachings that advocate one should not consume meat and when it does say in the Vajrayana tradition that meat should be eaten, it is not for the sake of eating, it’s for the purpose of training or practicing from the spiritual point of view. And the reason for this kind of spiritual training is to get rid of dualistic views that we have in our life like for example, ideas of purity and contamination. The idea that vegetarian is pure and eating meat is impure. However this kind of training that requires consumption of meat to overcome these dualisms is a very high form of practice in tantric tradition. In general whether it be a sutric tradition or a tantric tradition, not eating meat is considered more beneficial and positive.
Question 2: (Question inaudible, it’s something about pets)
Answer 2: When we talk about extending equality towards all animals we need to draw a distinction between this and the general affection that people have for their pets such as cats and dogs. We can only say of people who have great affection to their own pet, we can’t say they have affection for all animals in general. It’s the same thing as people who love and cherish their own children but don’t like other people’s children. Some people say that animals are our friends and they walk with their dog on the streets without a leash. We see this in the cities whereas in the villages, people walk with their cows and pigs and say that they are their friends. But these statements that animals are our friends are relatively empty in nature. All over the cityscapes, we see animals abandoned and neglected and in the countryside too, these so called beloved animals too often find their way to the slaughter house. The author of the book “Animal liberation” also endorse this view. By the way who knows the name of the author of this book, rise your hands. Still there are many people who don’t know, it’s an essential reading.
Question 3: How to deal with the guilt of not being able to stick to vegetarian diet due to sickness or I’ll health?
Answer 3: Quite often people who don’t eat meat encounter many difficulties and challenges. However those who say that we must eat meat for the sake of our bodies, in many cases people hear to an outdated idea of nutrition. Probably who embrace contemporary ideas of nutrition would not make this argument. However if one is really in a situation that you absolutely have to eat meat otherwise your bodies become sick then there is no need at all to feel guilty about this you should eat meat, restore yourself to health and then once you have really been able to do this you can consider not eating meat again.
Question 4: Very few Buddhist teachers have offered us suggestions on vegetarianism. I was wondering if some thing or an event happened that inspired you take this cause to heart.
Answer 4: in general we have a distinction between the Buddhist the Hinayanan tradition and Mahayana tradition and Hinayanan tradition doesn’t forbid the consumption of meat. The Mahayana tradition on the other hand does forbid the consumption of eating meat. In buddhism of China and the buddhism of Tibet are both from Mahayana tradition and there is no distinction in this regard. In the history of Chinese buddhism, vegetarianism is something that is practiced and implemented very well. However the Tibetan tradition did not put vegetarianism into practice well and that is really due to the lack of conditions to permit this to be the case, lack of fruits, lack of vegetables etc. So what we are doing now is engaging in a reform of this tradition. And in terms of my own emphasis of commitment to vegetarianism probably began in about 1993. This was a time when the Tibetan areas have started to become extremely widespread with the transportation of large number of animals like sheep and cattle in large trucks to the slaughter houses to be killed. This is something we see every day on the roads, roads with full of trucks carrying animals. In order to find out what will happen to these animals once they arrive to the slaughter house, I went to one to see for myself. In fact I went two three slaughter houses and what I saw was animals experiencing extreme torcher and extreme suffering. Aside from the suffering they experience at the very moment of their death, quite a long time leading to their death they also underwent great great suffering, be it while they were being transported or be it the time after they arrived to the slaughter house. So having seeing these things and really realizing that in no way they are acceptable, we started to promote vegetarianism from that point. If you are interested in reading what I wrote on this, if you can understand Tibetan then you can read.
Question 5: From a psychological perspective, why do we find an emotional relationship to diet and being challenged about our diet?
Answer 5: From consuming food, many of the nutrients we derive, they go to our blood and brain and so many of the changes in responses that we experience are derived from the food that we consume. Even though in the Buddhist tradition we don’t classify the consciousness and the mind being the same nevertheless they have a very close connection. So for this reason when there are changes that take place in the blood, there are changes that takes place in our brain then there also corresponding changes that take place in our mind.
The end.
AdvertisementsHealing through music. Cee Lo Green released his first new single in years on Friday, July 17, and the track is a tribute to Robin Williams.
The "Crazy" singer, 40, used "Robin Williams" to introduce his upcoming fifth studio album, Heart Blanche. The emotional song mourns the late Williams, who died from suicide in August 2014 at the age of 63.
PHOTOS: The Voice: Cee Lo Green's Craziest Outfits
Over a chiming beat, Green's trademark vocals can be heard crooning, "Oh what a night, oh what a night / tears in my eyes, staring up at the sky in disbelief / I've got a voice in my head, voice in my head, that's what it said / All we really need is comic relief / But I'm afraid of not being able to laugh anymore."
As the melody builds, Green continues, "We don't know, what the next man's going through / Wish I could say it in a plainer way / I said, we don't know, life reminds me of Robin Williams / We've got to laugh the pain away."
PHOTOS: Robin Williams' Greatest, Most Iconic TV and Movie Roles
The Goodie Mob performer goes on to reference late stars John Belushi, Richard Pryor, and Philip Seymour Hoffman, lamenting the loss of "heroes."
"Robin Williams" is the Voice coach's first solo single in more than two years. He last topped charts with 2010's "F–k You," a cut off of his most successful album to date, 2010's The Lady Killer.
PHOTOS: Robin Williams Remembered: Celebrities, Former Costars' Photos, Tributes to Late Star
Take a listen to the single in the video above, and head over to Cee Lo's website to check out the interactive lyric video.
Sign up now for the Us Weekly newsletter to get breaking celebrity news, hot pics and more delivered straight to your inbox!
Want stories like these delivered straight to your phone? Download the Us Weekly iPhone app now!There comes a point where you have to move on and get someone in who is pushing for the cause. Gary Rowett
Blues, of course, held onto Demarai Gray, who attracted lots of interest.
And in the end, Wes Thomas was loaned to Swindon Town until January and Nick Townsend made his loan to Barnsley a permanent deal for an undisclosed fee.
Thomas, like others before him, was keen to secure playing time.
"I always knew with the likes of Wes, Lee Novak, David Edgar what the likely scenario would be," said Rowett, who can utilise the emergency loan system in a week's time.
"They came to see me last season, they said they weren't happy not playing. That was fine.
"I just said keep working hard for me, keep working hard for the Club.
"But I knew this season they would always be desperate to get away.
"And I think when you have a player who really, really wants to go and play regular football and you know you cannot guarantee them that, there comes a point where you have to move on and get someone in who is pushing for the cause.
"Bringing Nicolai Brock-Madsen in, who is desperate to do well and will work his socks off, Maikel Kieftenbeld the same, has moved us on another level.
"Unfortunately, part of that is always one or two players going out because last thing I want is an unhappy player in the camp.
"And I think where we need to, we can improve in that area, if we see fit.
"But, at the minute, we play one striker, we can have two up there, we have got lots of players to play around it, we have not struggled for goals yet.
"In the case of Nick, we had to sit down and say he needs games. He was in a position where unless he was number two at the Club, he needed to go out and get games to develop.
"With the 'keepers we have got at the moment and young Connal Trueman coming through the ranks who we feel has got the potential to be a top, top drawer goalkeeper - that's been the feeling between the Academy, Under-21s and the First Team group - we took the decision to free up that place so by next season, potentially, he could go our number three goalkeeper behind Tomasz Kuszczak and Adam Legzdins.
"Again, that's just human nature, like Wes and the others. Nick's been here a while, chomping at the bit, desperate to play.
"I felt it was a a very good deal for the Club, in terms of how we felt that (scenario) might develop and what value he would have further down the line."From the Valley of the Ancients
Since the beginning of time, the Valley of the Ancients was plagued by conflict. Two monolithic demigods, the Radiant and the Dire, lured all manner of heroes, villains, and beasts to their battleground to struggle for supremacy. Their war has long since ended, both ancients destroyed and scattered to the winds. Yet still the gifts bequeathed to their champions remain in the Forgotten Realms, awaiting new bearers -- new heroes, ready to take them up and forge their destinies with steel and fire.
Carapace of Nyx
Armor, Very Rare (Requires attunement, Studded Leather)
This armor's leather has the appearance of a great section of beetle shell -- a deep black that shimmers orange and yellow. As it shifts, you hear a rustling, clinking noise. Glints of metal peek through the joints, and the ensemble gives off an aura of supreme danger.
While wearing this armor, you gain a +2 bonus to AC.
The Carapace has 2 charges, and it regains any expended charges daily at dawn. While wearing this armor, as a reaction to a melee attack, you can expend a charge to cross your arms and shout the command word: "Nyx!"
This causes you to become Restrained as the Carapace hardens and sprouts hundreds of needle-sharp barbs. At the start of your next turn, the barbs retract and you can once again move freely.
While the barbs are extended, any melee attack that would damage you instead deals that much damage to your attacker.
Daggers of Akasha
Weapon, Very Rare (Dagger)
These three daggers exude a malevolent aura when exposed to the light.
You gain a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with these weapons. Upon making a ranged or melee attack with a Dagger of Akasha, before rolling to hit, you can use a free action to call forth the dagger's power. If the attack hits, the target is inflicted with crippling agony, becoming Poisoned and halving their speed for 1d6+1 turns. A dagger can only be used this way once before its powers are exhausted.
The daggers are found with an enchanted sleeve to which they return every night at dusk, restoring their powers. This sleeve can be worn on the arm, chest, or thigh.
Bloodthorn
Weapon, Legendary (Requires attunement, Any Sword)
This sword's hilt is ornate ivory, carved to resemble the unfolding petals of a flower. Its blade is pink crystal, run through the center with a vein of blood red. In the presence of those with violent intent, the blade glows an angry red.
You gain a +2 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with this weapon. In addition, once per day, you can use an action to aim the blade at a living target and focus your ire upon it. A bolt of blood-red lightning arcs from the point of the blade toward the target, who must succeed on a DC 16 Constitution save or be Paralyzed for 1d3 turns.
Wand of Dagon
Wand, Very Rare (Requires attunement, Sorceror, Warlock, or Wizard)
Resembling a cross between smoldering wood and charred bone, the tip of the Wand of Dagon glows with an infernal yellow light. The rod smells of brimstone, and is uncomfortably warm to touch.
This wand has 3 charges and gains 1 charge every day at dawn. While holding it, you can use an action to cause an unstable tongue of fire to leap at a nearby target and imprint on it as a magical brand. This brand lasts up to a minute. Damage from a spell will consume the brand and deal additional damage of a type that spell dealt.
When the damage from the Brand of Dagon, or the spell that would trigger it, kills a creature of sufficient power (as determined by the DM), it grows in power. The damage of the brand increases according to the following table:
The Brand of Dagon
Kills Damage 0 1d8+1 4 2d8+2 8 3d8+3 16 4d8+4 32 5d8+5
After killing 64 creatures, the wand gains the ability to expend two charges and brand a target twice in a single turn. After killing 96 creatures, the wand can expend all three charges and brand a target three times. A spell can only trigger one brand at a time.
Roshan's Vintage
Consumable, Legendary
At first glance, this appears to be nothing more than a simple wedge of yellow cheese, albeit finely aged and rather smelly. However, eating the cheese proves to have nigh-miraculous restorative powers.
Eating Roshan’s Vintage restores a portion of your health equal to the portion of the wedge you eat. One fourth of the wedge will restore one fourth of your maximum HP, etc. Eating at least half of the wedge will cure you of all diseases. Eating the entire wedge will cure you of all negative afflictions, including geases, curses, deafness, blindness, and missing limbs.WATCH: Richard Dawkins Wishes Everyone was Vegetarian
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Famed evolutionary biologist and author Richard Dawkins rose to the spotlight for his outspoken atheism and critique of creationism & intelligent design. Now, however, Dawkins is speaking up for another purpose: to protect animals around the world.
During a recent Q&A session in Washington DC, Dawkins voiced his support for meat-free lifestyles. Although he is not yet a practicing vegetarian, the author said “I would like to be a vegetarian. I would like everybody to be a vegetarian.”
During the interview, Dawkins made it clear that he deplores the tendency of human beings to consider themselves superior to other creatures on earth. This misconception naturally leads to the exploitation of “inferior” beings that is seen in factory farms around the world. “In 100 or 200 years time,” Dawkins said, “we may look back on the way we treated animals today as something like we today look back on the way our forefathers treated slaves.”
According to Dawkins, a plant-based diet is the most compassionate and intelligent alternative to the current state of factory farm meat production. He said that “it is very important for us to complain against the cruel treatment of animals in farms and slaughter houses.”
Photo Credit: ShutterstockThe White House insisted Thursday that President Trump had confidence in Attorney General Jeff Sessions Jefferson (Jeff) Beauregard SessionsFormer Trump refugee director did not notify superiors about family separation warnings Court rejects challenge to Mueller's appointment Trump says he hasn't spoken to Barr about Mueller report MORE, though spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders reiterated that the president is "disappointed" with the top Justice Department official's decision to recuse himself from Russia-related matters.
"Clearly he has confidence in him or he would not be the attorney general," Sanders told reporters at an off-camera briefing.
Asked why Trump has confidence in Sessions, given the criticisms he voiced in a wide-ranging New York Times interview on Wednesday, Sanders said the president believes the Department of Justice has made progress on immigration and against gangs such as MS-13.
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Trump told The New York Times he wouldn’t have hired Sessions had he know that he would step aside from the Russia probe — a shocking criticism that suggested a dramatic breakdown in their relationship and ignited speculation that Sessions might resign.
Sanders said Trump and Sessions had not spoken in the past 24 hours.
She also denied that Trump was making a de facto threat to special counsel Robert Mueller when he suggested in the Times interview that any investigation into his family's finances would constitute the crossing of a red line.
Sanders suggested the president was merely emphasizing that "the special counsel should not move outside the scope of the investigation."
More broadly, Sanders added, "the president is frustrated by the continued witch hunt" of the Russia investigation."
Jordan Fabian contributed.Yosemite Traffic, Landmarks From Tunnel Enlarge
Yosemite National Park – According to newly available National Park Service (NPS) figures, Yosemite has shattered its previous visitor record.
The park drew a jaw-dropping 5,028,868 visitors in 2016. That is a 21 percent increase over 2015, the year during which it set its benchmark attendance record, as reported here.
According to federal figures, overall visitation to national parks is on track to surpass 325 million in 2016, breaking last year’s all-time high of 307 million, reflecting a nearly six percent gain.
Yosemite still appears to be ensconced near the top of the most visited national parks in the country, according to National Park Service data for 2016. Yosemite’s visitor numbers surpassed those of Rocky Mountain National Park’s (4,526,335; although up by almost nine percent), which in 2015 was listed as the third most visited national park.
Yellowstone National Park, which came in fifth on the 2015 list, attracted roughly a quarter-million more visitors than Yosemite did last year. However, Yellowstone’s gains compared to its previous year numbers were, at just under three percent, much more modest than Yosemite’s. Yellowstone visitor numbers were reported to be 5,387,262 for 2016.
NPS figures show Great Smokey Mountains, by far the most visited national park, receiving 22,528,017 visitors last year; also a three percent improvement over 2015.
At number two on the most visited national parks list, Grand Canyon National Park reported 5,731,705 visitors through November 2016, a nearly eight percent improvement from 2015.
Zion National Park, which also demonstrated a dramatic, almost 18 percent rise in visitors last year, logged 4,317,028. Grand Teton, which came in at at 4,822,972, made a nearly four percent gain.
Last month Yosemite reported 148,212 visitors by auto and 12,434 by bus totaling 160,646; up over 15 percent from last December. Camping numbers were down nearly 90 percent due to the weather.
Camping |
Jerusalem, Canterbury, Bodh Gaya…
“It’s a place where people who believe in the Force would go on a pilgrimage,” Edwards says. “It was essentially taken over by the Empire. It’s an occupied territory… for reasons we probably can’t reveal.”
Pressed for a little more detail about why the Empire would send its military to dominate this world of worship, Edwards says, “There’s something very important in Jedha that serves both the Jedi and the Empire. It felt very much like something we could relate to in the real world.”
It sounds like whatever passes as a rare natural resource in the galaxy is part of what makes Jedha so special. A source of kyber crystals, perhaps? Those are the Force-sensitive minerals that power lightsabers and were used by ancient Sith to create colossal weapons of mass destruction.
As the Empire finishes its Death Star, kyber crystals could be a key component of the battlestation’s planet-annihilating laser. But there’s another part of these sacred places that is often overlooked in the battle over their resources – their people.
No doubt, they can be a source of tremendous power, too. The Rebels go there seeking one individual important to their strike against the Empire’s superweapon.
“Within Jedha, even though there’s the oppressive foot of the Empire hanging over them, there’s a resistance that won’t give up and our characters have to go and meet people there to try and secure a person from this group,” Edwards says.
Although faith is receding at the time of Rogue One, worshipers from throughout the galaxy, following many different threads of the Force, still gather to pay their respects on Jedha.
“In a wider level, there must be loads of people who just believe in the Jedi and believe in the Force and have been affected by it,” Edwards says. “If it’s a really ancient religion, as Obi-Wan Kenobi said, it’s got to exist in thousands or millions of people in the galaxy.”
A staff? That's no match for a good blaster at your side, Donnie Yen. But in his hands, this doesn't seem to be a problem. One thing that's missing from the Rogue One trailer that we've seen in every other Star Wars movie is the presence of a lightsaber. Yen's character gives us a taste of that familiar hand-to-hand combat, but without the glowing blade of a laser sword. Not to mention, it calls to mind Rey's staff-wielding in The Force Awakens. (Cue theory: IS THIS REY'S DAD???) In the background, there's a crashed X-Wing, and beyond that, a cityscape that resembles the type of architecture seen at the Hagia Sophia. This is a place of sophistication, of wealth, and Yen's character projects the same.
The planet’s streets are filled with priests, scholars, and holy men and women. One inhabitant of the planet is described as a warrior monk – Chirrut Imwe, played by Donnie Yen – a blind man who is accompanied by his protector and guide Baze Malbus (Jiang Wen), a non-believer in the supernatural who nonetheless has great faith in his friend.
It’s also the homeworld of Bodhi Rook (Riz Ahmed) a pilot who was formerly conscripted into Imperial service but now serves the growing movement against Emperor Palpatine’s regime.
More on him, and why he still wears the Imperial insignia on his shoulder, in Tuesday’s story …
For more Star Wars news, follow @Breznican.Ever since I deconverted from conservative Evangelical Christianity I have been reflexively resistant to theological liberalism's penchant for clinging to the Christian tradition (or religious traditions in general) as specially valuable or true. Upon abandoning my belief in the true, literal authority of the Bible, I immediately came to see it as not only false but even dishonest, prejudicial, unliberated, and outright intellectually offensive to take religious texts, figures, and ideas and just rationalize everything about them such that every time you improved your beliefs and values you just read them back into your tradition as what it really meant all along.
I am not saying that those who read their religious texts in nastier, more stagnant, more regressive, and more scientifically and historically illiterate ways are necessarily always truer adherents to their faiths or always have a more honest hermeneutic. Today’s religious reactionaries who call themselves “conservatives” are projecting their prejudices and theologies into the texts too. They are as guilty of selective, hypocritical reading as the liberals are. And so long as religious traditions exist, I do hope their adherents’ interpretations and practices would conform with and promote more actual truth and more actual goodness rather than less. (See my posts on “True Religion” and philosophy of religion for how I think this might work.) And I am happy to admit that sometimes a progressive’s interpretation can not only accomplish all this but also successfully read a text for its original intent or spirit than a regressive theologian’s interpretation does.
But honesty also requires admitting that sometimes religious texts and traditions contain unmitigated evils and lies that should be wholeheartedly and unequivocally denounced and disowned, rather than soft-pedaled, downplayed, or rationalized to be completely true and perfect if only you squint, cock your head to the side, read upside down, and backwards, and say the pledge of allegiance while you read the text in Swedish. Sometimes even metaphorically read, the basic themes of the Bible are still problematic.
I think it would be far better if critically thinking religious people just joined the more religious of humanists in breaking free of all fealty to received theistic traditions. Stop giving obsolete traditions the support of numbers and the appearance of monopoly. Contribute to a counter-force of rationalistic religion that foreswears all prejudices and rationalizations altogether. Promote truly open-ended, scrupulously rational, free thought instead.
When I finally freed myself from Christianity, the intellectual freedom to truly think for the first time with no fears of changing my mind anymore was the greatest gift I’ve ever given myself. I get people want to stay religious because they enjoy rituals and symbols and myths. But these should not have to come at the cost of depriving oneself of mental liberation.
Meanwhile I see so many halfway liberated minds still dragging around the chains they grew up with or grew into. And the most annoying and ludicrous thing they do is try to whitewash Jesus endlessly, resolved at all costs to preserve his status as a uniquely and irreplaceably morally brilliant thinker and human, even were he not God. Even atheists mouth banalities about how they didn't think Jesus was God but of course he was still a great moral teacher who said some great things that it would be nice if Christians would actually follow. And in this I usually hear only deference to Christian power in another form. Or at least a concession that Christian power has to be carefully worked within to persuade any Christians. When liberal believers or non-believers are going to still trip all over themselves to find some way, consistent with their disbelief in Jesus's divinity, to still be respectful of Jesus, I hear the undue hegemony of Christianity in our culture exacting mental tribute.
I want people's intellectual and emotional consciences to be freed up to read and respond to Jesus with the same kinds of critical responses they would have had had they never grown up in a culture that in the first place drilled into their heads that he was either God or, at least, had to be the most admirable moral teacher ever. Intellectual honesty and freedom of conscience mean no more undeserved inflation of Jesus's reputation.
I am not saying in an ideal scenario people would throw out every word Jesus said as automatically worthless or misinterpret even those good things attributed to him in the Gospels as evil. I am saying ideally all would read with the mixture of agreement and disagreement they treat others when reading them with no prejudice. And I am saying that in the current situation, Jesus's deification by all too many makes it too important that what is awful in him be warned against explicitly and what is good in him not be blown up and abused to prop up undue reverence for him.
Being a former Christian who devoted years of my life to literally worshipping this human being, proselytizing on his behalf, and dividing myself from all non-Christians emotionally on account of him, this is a serious sticking point. This is more than just a routine case of some thinker's ideas or character being overestimated. People by the hundreds of millions, maybe billions, down through the centuries have been systematically brainwashed into worshipping this particular person, and to sacralizing ideas, texts, institutions, and supposed representatives associated with him. When someone's veneration extends to these extremes of power it's a moral obligation to subject precisely that person and the institutions and ideas grown up around him to far more rigorous scrutiny than run-of-the-mill hit and miss philosophers get. The inordinate respect he receives, even by the non-worshipping atheists and extreme theological liberals, spiritually supports an outsized and falsely acquired influence, with power to be disproportionately destructive.
When the power of Jesus, the Bible, or Christian ideas and symbols is as extensive as it has been for two millennia, the negative impact of even small mistakes about facts or inadequacies in values is drastically magnified. And when hundreds of millions of people are unable to see through a centuries' long literal deification of a particular human and the institutions associated with him, and so mentally and morally subjugate themselves to that person or institutions, it is irresponsible for those who do see through it all to go on contributing to the aura of reverence towards that figure, rather than bluntly and unequivocally disabusing people of it.
Being aggressively and systematically deceived from childhood about the character of Jesus trapped me in delusions and blatant falsehoods that took away my ability to autonomously think and feel as clearly as possible about what was true and false and good and bad in life. Asking me to carry on mouthing platitudes about how awesome Jesus is, after that, is about as offensive as asking the escapee of a cult to never say a bad word about their former cult leader. It's like telling them even to go on singing his praises. Sometimes literally! It's like asking them to endorse others to vote him to stay in a position of power that he has held for centuries and which he used to ensnare you in the cult in the first place.
"So what if now you see he's not a god, why can't you at least admit he was awesome anyway?"
Because he claimed to be a god. Or at least “the way, the truth, and the life”, which is just as bad. And too many still worship him as God and surrender their intellects and consciences to him. So he was not awesome, is not awesome to celebrate, and probably never will be.
He is a weapon of ecclesiastical institutions. I understand the strategic impulse of liberals to want to take control of this weapon and use it for their own ends. I understand they fear that going up against nasty theocrats and other ecclesiastical authoritarians who are armed with Jesus without picking up their own Jesus to fight back with would amount to going to ethical war unarmed. But I for one would rather rely only on honesty and rationality themselves than keep the arms dealing churches in business in perpetuity.
And, finally, I'm going to be very honest, even if my assessment maybe is harsh or not as widely applicable as it feels to me. I am troubled to see so many liberal believers who were once fundamentalists who seem to be suffering from a spiritual and intellectual analogue to Stockholm Syndrome. The endless desperate contortions to justify their religious traditions and to preserve their identity within them resonate as all too familiar to me from my days as a Christian doing anything I could to stay believing, while terrified of ever leaving. Maybe some theological liberals are really emotionally and intellectually free and clear-eyed. Maybe some are just calculating political operatives who are just determined to beat their faith from within, rather than launch a full frontal assault from the outside and get mowed down as a clear enemy. Maybe I'm just projecting my former rationalizing religious self into them. But, nonetheless, all too often I feel like those liberalized former evangelicals are in arrested spiritual development; and that they are simply unable to grow up into apostasy, all because of an irrational but psychologically understandable incapability to imagine life beyond their captor's reaches.
Your Thoughts?
Daniel Fincke has his PhD in Philosophy from Fordham University. He blogs at Camels With Hammers and Empowerment Ethics. He is now accepting enrollments in his interactive philosophy classes, which he holds through video conferencing sessions online and makes available to the general public. You can friend him on Facebook.
Written By: Dan Finckecontinue to source article atReview: 2013-02-16, Adrien Broner vs Gavin Rees gets three stars thanks to two knockdowns and two exciting rounds (4th and 5th). The undefeated Adrien Broner (25-0-0 with 21 victories coming by way of knockout) entered as the No.1 lightweight in the world while Gavin Rees (37-1-1) entered as the No.8. Broner vs Rees is valid for the WBC lightweight title (Broner’s first defense). Watch the video!
Date: 2013-02-16
Where: Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA
Division: lightweight (135 lbs, 61.2 kg)
Title: WBC lightweight title
Result: Click here to show the fight’s result
Adrien Broner def. Gavin Rees (TKO at 2:59, round 5)
Broner’s previous fight: Adrien Broner vs Antonio DeMarco
Broner’s next fight: Adrien Broner vs Paul Malignaggi
Rees’ next fight: Gavin Rees vs Anthony Crolla
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Video: (this is a free embeddable video hosted on Youku.com and it was not uploaded by AllTheBestFights, to report it please visit this link where the video is hosted)
Alternative video hosted on k12sport.comMass Effect 3 was at the forefront of our minds as we here in the Game Informer office debated the greatest games of the year. Putting the bookend on one of the most influential series of this generation, BioWare's third chapter was a massive achievement that earned our highest praise. With one of the most controversial endings of all time (which we talked about in an episode of Spoiled!), the game gave the gaming industry a lot to discuss.
We crowned Mass Effect 3 as Game Informer's Game of the Year for 2012. Watch the video discussion between Joe Juba, Bryan Vore, Kim Wallace, and Jeff Marchiafava to find out why.
WARNING: The video contains some spoilers for Mass Effect 3.
Click on the banner below to enter our hub for an entire month of coverage dedicated to the best games of 2012.In this article, Mick Ward looks at how bouldering has progressed from being something that very few climbers took seriously to now being many climbers sole raison d'être. Mick also looks at how, in the past, French and British climbers applied bouldering skill differently on larger crags and how this affected the ethics and developement of these countries at the time.
Not To Be Taken Away (V4 or E2), Stanage © Jamie Moss
Today, when we visit many climbing areas and view a plethora of pad-wielding boulderers, it seems patently obvious that bouldering is an integral climbing discipline. Even 10 years ago it seemed odd for people to be dwarfed by bouldering mats on their backs – especially if they were hiking into the mountains. Today it doesn't seem at all odd. As with clip-sticks, bouldering mats are here to stay. Bouldering as a popular pursuit is here to stay. Yet for more than 100 years, bouldering was a minority preserve, not regarded as 'proper' (i.e. risk-taking) climbing. This convention was breached significantly in the 1990s when Ben and Jerry very publicly abandoned routes for bouldering. Nobody dared to suggest that they were no longer 'proper' climbers.
Because bouldering has become so mainstream, many people barely remember a time when it wasn't. But I can recall Paul Mitchell pointing out Crescent Arête, 5+, and Not To Be Taken Away, 6C, back in the early 1980s. To both of us they seemed HVS routes, albeit micro-routes. There were no mats; there was no spotting. You didn't really want to fall off.
A few years before Crescent Arête and Not To Be Taken Away were done, Drummond had produced Banana Finger. With his inimitable style, he gave it an infamously long description ('fidgeting' the finger change was particularly memorable). And he awarded it the then coveted 'XS' grade. Now the latter was ridiculous, even on the day it was written. But we just thought, "Well, that's Drummond being Drummond." (i.e. trying once again to shock people and thereby get some attention.) The XS grade was politely ignored. But what was Banana Finger? Was it a micro-route or merely a boulder problem? Nobody was sure; equally nobody was bothered by fine distinctions. We simply enjoyed the fun of fidgeting.
Millstone's Technical Master, 6B, was widely regarded as a boulder problem. I don't think anybody ever tried to seriously propose micro-route status. Because it was so obvious, right in the centre of the quarry, it was kind of hard to ignore. If you succeeded, there were scant kudos. Bouldering wasn't regarded as a serious activity. Millstone was for routes; routes were what mattered.
© Andy Fielding Technical Master circa 1981
John Gill in beanie and klettershue © John Gill Of course we knew about John Gill and his dedicated pursuit of the boulderer's art. Gill, as with Drummond, was viewed as an anomaly. But hey, wasn't climbing supposed to be about rebellion, about doing your own thing? Unlike Drummond, Gill wasn't perceived to have a big ego – not that any of us had actually met him. He seemed a reclusive legend. (In later years other reclusive bouldering legends, such as Holloway and Gaskins, would emerge.) He certainly got respect; one-finger pull-ups can't have happened easily. And he'd done those hard solos on The Thimble, ground-up, above unthinkable landings. So he had guts. From across the pond, we struggled to decipher Amentian koans such as the fabled, 'Sometimes I could grasp the holds, but not the problem...' We certainly couldn't understand Gill. But he seemed harmless, a good guy taking climbing in an unlikely direction. Given that he could climb technically harder than anyone else and he had guts, it seemed a shame that he wasn't doing more routes. But ultimately it was his choice – a choice one respected.
Was there a cultural dimension to Gill's bouldering? Places such as Flagstaff were well-developed. Back in rain-drenched Yorkshire, a few keen characters made pilgrimages to venues such as Shipley Glen and The Bridestones. But Shipley Glen and The Kebs hadn't the kudos of Flagstaff; in fact they didn't have any kudos at all. And therein lay part of their discreet charm.
In his seminal 1960s essay, 'Games Climbers Play', Lito Tejada-Flores suggested that it might be useful to regard climbing as a series of 'games':
'Climbing is not a homogeneous sport but rather a collection of differing (though) related activities, each with its own adepts, distinctive terrain, problems and satisfactions, and perhaps most important, its own rules. Therefore I propose to consider climbing in general as a hierarchy of climbing games, each defined by a set of rules and an appropriate field of play.'
Tejada-Flores identified seven climbing 'games'; the first was bouldering.
'...one should note that the basic bouldering rules eliminate not only protection but also companions. The boulderer is essentially a solo climber. In fact, when we see solo climbing at any level of difficulty, it represents the application of bouldering rules to some other climbing-game. Aside from that, this game is found in every country where climbing exists, although the number of climbers who specialize in it is relatively small.'
Back when Tejada-Flores was writing 'Games Climbers Play', there was only one international venue for bouldering. This was Fontainebleau, which already had decades of development. You'd leap in the van, hurtle from Yorkshire to Fontainebleau, scrabble about for a few hours, stagger back in the van and head for the Alps. Why? Because the Alps was where it was at, that's why. Apart from breaking the journey to Chamonix, Font was of obvious significance to Paris climbers. If they didn't have time to get to the Saussois, it was all there was (rather like Londoners and Southern Sandstone, though obviously far better).
Font - or 'Bleau', as the locals then termed it - had spawned its unfair share of French technical genius. But what did the French do when they hit the crags? 'Tire clous' was what they did – they flaming well pulled on aid! Which was why, back in the late 1970s, when places such as the Verdon were being opened up, everybody knew that the Brits could run rings around them when it came to 'proper' climbing.
La Super Prestat Rambo of Bethlehem © purcell images Looking back, with inevitable hindsight, it seems bitterly ironic that neither the Brits nor the French seemed able to discern clearly what we might now describe as paradigm clash. Because we had lots of crags from 30 feet to 300 feet, free climbing could advance. You might spend a lot of time on a Cloggy testpiece (e.g. Drummond's reputed three-day second ascent of The Boldest) but that's because you could spend a lot of time on it. You might get rained off but you were unlikely to be avalanched or storm-bound. Down Chamonix way, avalanches and storms were all too common occurrences. Climbing fast meant climbing more safely. And climbing fast meant pulling on aid, rather than faffing around trying to free stuff. So 'tire clous' made eminent sense. While eliminating aid on a 30 foot route or even a 300 foot route was viewed as significant, eliminating aid on a 3,000 foot route seemed downright trivial. Honestly, who cared if you pulled on a few slings? What mattered was getting up the damn thing as quickly (and thereby safely) as possible. If Brits could free alleged A3 on the South Face of the Fou then, while it might be fun to cock a friendly snook at the clanking Yanks, the practical benefit was that the route could be done faster. In the Alps, speed was your best friend.
The problem for the French was that they had a famous, highly-developed bouldering venue, they had interim-sized crags - and they had the Alps. They applied Alpine methodology ('tire clous'), not bouldering methodology, to their interim-sized crags. The consequence? Generations of technical genius was wasted.
Of course there were pioneers, both in the UK, France and elsewhere. There are always pioneers, often overlooked, such as Flipper Fietz. Certainly some Font-trained climbers did hard moves in the Alps. But when the story did the rounds that American climber Michael Tobias had come all the way from America to Chamonix for the first ascent of an eliminate on the boulder in Snell's field, it was thought perverse beyond belief. And when we heard that Yorkshire bouldering maestro Al Manson was planning to spend two weeks at Font, not the Alps, he was similarly viewed as having gone stark raving bonkers. Al's bouldering circuits at Almscliffe and Caley were regarded as interesting but ultimately of little consequence. There was absolutely no doubt as to his route ability; as with Gill, he could climb bigger stuff. But it seemed a little sad that, apparently, most of the time, neither Gill nor Manson wanted to climb bigger stuff. And, as for taking your summer holidays at Font, perhaps if enough Tetley's bitter was poured down Al's neck, he'd come to his senses!
Such are the indignities that pioneers suffer. I can remember Al noting in a television interview that bouldering was, "like doing the best bits of hard routes". At the time, I thought, 'Bloody hell, he's absolutely right!' And then I (along with everybody else?) promptly reverted to mental slumber.
© overdrawnboy, Feb 1978 Leeds Wall
Back in the early 1970s, courtesy of people like John Syrett and Pete Livesey, it was realised that training for climbing could seriously improve your performance.At first, a lot of the training was Livesey-type stamina traversing, useful for the sustained limestone routes which were springing up. Here the aim was to be able to do lots of 5c/6a moves, with poor rests. However, in an article entitled 'The Shape of Things to Come', Livesey noted that 6b and 6c moves were being done on the Leeds wall. At a time when 6a was regarded as pretty much the living end on crags, this was radical stuff. Livesey went on to suggest that, when moves of this difficulty were done outside, standards would leap by several grades. He was absolutely right.
In a later 1970s article, Livesey distinguished three types of hard route: the hard but well protected (e.g. Nectar), the sustained (e.g. London Wall), and the downright dangerous (e.g. The Linden). For the first type, difficulty was encapsulated in 'the move'. Essentially it was bouldering with a rope on – the approach Jim Collins adopted on the Psycho Roof and Genesis.
In the early 1980s, the French suddenly awoke from their collective reverie. Early F7as had been done ground-up, with skyhook protection, on the scary walls of Mont Saint Victoire. Rightly they realised that, however commendable, this was a decidedly iffy approach towards climbing physically harder stuff on crags. How could you concentrate on 'the move' when, if a foot popped off a tenuous smear, you might die? The French didn't have a tradition of nut protection, featureless limestone walls often lack decent nut protection anyway and, understandably, skyhooks are viewed as specialist not mainstream protection. The solution? Bolts, working moves, redpointing. All this was encapsulated in the once scandalous term, 'French style'. With some relatively easily acquired fitness, you could take your Font technical prowess to Buoux. F7a quickly became F8a, then F8c.
In the early 1980s, one climber in particular was obsessively focused on becoming the best ever. Jerry Moffatt ceaselessly searched for improvement tactics which would give him an edge over the inevitable competition. At Stoney he trained on Tom's Roof for the Psycho Roof and on Minus Ten Wall for Genesis. In essence Jerry was using bouldering to replicate the anticipated difficulties of Psycho and Genesis. He had the visionary genius to make conceptual links between scruffy little problems at Stoney and world-famous routes. The result? He quickly repeated Psycho and Genesis and flashed Supercrack and Equinox. Badly pumped on Supercrack, he managed to recover on a flat hold just like the one he'd spent ages hanging on, back in a dank cave at Stoney. Replicas worked. Bouldering prowess could be applied to 'boulders in the sky'. Significantly Jerry wrote, 'After that, I spent the rest of the trip mainly bouldering at Horsetooth and Flagstaff, often doing second ascents and repeats of John Gill problems.' On that trip, Jerry also came under the influence of American climbing legend, John Bachar, who was also analytically examining every likely way to improve. Bouldering was a key part in Bachar's training repertoire. Jerry sat at the feet of the climbing training guru; he heeded every word uttered.
Midnight Lightning © Eddie Bauer In 1984, when Jerry did the second ascent and first one-day ascent of Ben Moon's superbly entitled Statement of Youth, he casually mentioned to me that he'd only done a few routes that year (mostly the day before!) "So what have you been doing?" I asked, bewildered. "Bouldering" he casually replied. Bouldering? It seemed bizarre. Why on earth would the best climber in the world waste his time bouldering? To normal climbers like me, the penny just hadn't dropped. It simply never occurred to me to make a connection between venues such as Cressbrook Dale and routes such as Statement. Looking back, I can't believe how blind I was.
In 1985 Jerry went to Yosemite, which boasted the most famous boulder problem in the world. Midnight Lightning was first climbed in 1978 by Ron Kauk. Shortly afterwards, John Bachar succeeded. In the intervening years, there was only one other known repeat – by the talented Californian, Skip Guerin. Jerry made the fourth ascent. Midnight Lightning was – and is – utterly iconic, known to hundreds of thousands of climbers, of many nationalities, whether or not they've ever been to Yosemite. It occupied centre-stage in a climbing mecca. Midnight Lightning was an autonomous entity. It wasn't viewed as practice for El Cap. Getting up Millstone's Technical Master held few kudos; getting up Midnight Lightning held considerable kudos. It was perhaps the first boulder problem to legitimise the genre.
However it would take another decade for bouldering to gain mass acceptance. In the late 1980s, Jason Meyers virtually gave up doing routes in favour of bouldering. To the likes of me, Jason was simply diminishing his stress levels! I didn't appreciate that he was making some astounding contributions to British bouldering. A few years later, when Jerry did the first ascents of The Barrel Traverse and Jerry's Roof on the same day, Johnny Dawes, who'd shown Jerry these unclimbed problems, didn't seem too upset. First ascents of boulder problems weren't significant, were they? Well to Jerry they were.
In the 1980s, sport climbing was for the elite; unsurprisingly, in the 1990s, the masses (i.e. you and me!) wanted in on the act. Thus was born 'convenience climbing', psychologically undemanding clip-ups which are about as safe as climbing ever gets. An upsurge of climbing walls begat even more 'convenience climbing'. But easy bouldering represented 'convenience climbing' par excellence. However, for easy bouldering to become accepted in the way that easy sport climbing was being accepted, one condition needed to be met; it had to get safer. Bouldering mats arrived. As with previous innovations, such as chalk and cams, once the genie was out of the bottle, you just couldn't get him back in again. As with chalk and cams, bouldering mats were claimed by the masses as well as the elite. And why not? Old skool bouldering had involved dodgy moves a long way off the deck. (If you could still see your beer mat, things were still OK, err... weren't they?) Old skool bouldering had involved dodgy low-level roof climbing, where if you slipped (or worse, a hold broke) there wasn't space or time to avoid landing flat on your back. Spotting, together with a bouldering mat (which quickly became two or three or as many as you wanted) put paid to these dangers which suddenly nobody seemed to want any more.
The upshot was that bouldering suddenly became wildly popular. Leading outdoor shops went from selling one or two bouldering mats a week to aficionados, to selling 50 times this amount, mostly to the likes of you and me. Most of the time we weren't intent on repeating the classic boulder problems of previous generations; we simply wanted low-stress fun. However bouldering mats and spotting enabled Harry and Harriet Hardcore to push the boundaries of physicality, together with doing ground-up ascents of hard micro-routes. And, while they were busy with all that, they were also developing power, the philosopher's stone of hard climbing. As with Ben and Jerry, they were using bouldering both as a training device and as an autonomous entity. The widespread use of Font and V grades further legitimised bouldering as an autonomous entity. The next step was the naming of boulder problems, even the most remote or trivial. Then came bouldering guidebooks. Finally there were indoor walls, dedicated to this formerly arcane art. After over 100 years of obscurity, bouldering had emerged into the limelight, had received mass acceptance, had become truly mainstream.
The future of bouldering? © Nick Brown
This article is illustrated with photos from the UKC Photo Galleries. A huge thank you to all the contributing photographers.
You can check out the stunning photography in the UKC Bouldering Galley Below:aine was drummed up to create a foundation for political manipulation. At the pro-Yanukovych forum in Severodonetsk this weekend, the governor of the Kharkiv region, Yevhen Kushnaryov, quoted lines from a WWII-era song that roused the Soviet masses to fight against fascism. But now the song was supposed to mobilize representatives of the south-eastern regions of Ukraine to unite around President Leonid Kuchma’s protege. The only difference was that Kushnaryov changed the phrase “cursed horde” to “orange plague.”
My shock was as strong as Kushnaryov’s effusion was malevolent. The winds of the Soviet times, which seemed to have died out, were blowing again.
Historical scenario
Historically, these lands have always been a geopolitical card to be played. But in the past the main gambler was Soviet Russia.
In February of 1918, the congress of working deputies proclaimed the birth of the Donetsk-Kryvy Rih republic. A few days later, Moscow reacted harshly.
“We consider this exception to be harmful,” said the telegram from the Russian government. Bolshevik Russia didn’t need that part of Ukraine, despite it being industrially developed and independent. Russia wanted the whole of Ukraine. To get it, in 1918 the Kremlin used all the methods at its disposal to repress the legendary revolutionary Artem, the head of the Donetsk-Kryvy Rih republic, and prohibited him from taking any actions that might lead to separatism. In a month Artem started creating the all-Ukrainian government, on instructions from the Russian revolutionary committee. So the Donetsk-Kryvy Rih republic existed for a month. After that there was a fight against the hetman Skoropadsky and Petlura’s government, and the full brunt of the disaster that was Bolshevism for the Ukrainian people.
Thus did Russia develop a scenario for influencing Ukraine. To get all of Ukraine now, a firm foundation is being created in the south and east, preventing the country from moving to Europe. In 1991, this sort of relationship between Russia and Ukraine allowed Boris Yeltsin to ask, “Do we still have to think about whom Kharkiv should belong to?” In 2004, amidst the political crisis in Ukraine, Russia sent Yury Luzhkov, Moscow’s notorious mayor, to Severodonetsk, to stir up separatist feelings there.
Along with the sewage
Apparently, due to the special status of this region over the last hundred years, its inhabitants have developed a unique mentality. I was born here, in a small village in the north of Luhansk oblast, 60 kilometers from Severodonetsk. The first time I heard the name “Severodonetsk,” I was a little boy. My relatives and I were having a family celebration. Those were the last years of Brezhnev’s governance, and the possibility of nuclear attack was discussed almost every time we sat down to dinner. Severodonetsk was the industrial center closest to us. The adults, stuffed with Soviet propaganda, feared that the city would be one of the first to be bombed by Americans.
Nowadays I like going back to that village outside of Severodonetsk only in my dreams. When I go there for real, I find myself in the surreal atmosphere of my adolescence.
When I returned to vote in the presidential election, my neighbor asked about the political mood in Kyiv. As I told her about the generally “orange” sympathies of the capital’s residents, she got angry. Yushchenko, she said, “will sell us out to Americans.”
Behind the woman’s back, dirty water from the town’s sewer system was flowing. That smell of human waste informs every visitor to the municipality that no effective self-government exists here. Residents don’t care about that. But they do care about not being sold out to Americans, along with their sewage.
I remembered the terror that an atomic explosion would destroy Severodonetsk. Soviet stereotypes appear to be ineradicable.
Good country people
My first teacher voted for Yanukovych for another set of typical reasons. Her relatives live in Russia, and she visits them once every several years. She could visit them more often, but her financial position doesn’t allow her even to go to the dentist and get some false teeth (she’s lost almost all of her own).
So she argues for double citizenship, believing that somehow it would let her visit her relatives more often.
Local politicians support validating Russian as a second state language. But even teachers speak surzhyk here. To speak the literary language isn’t acceptable – it immediately betrays one as a stranger. And people are suspicious of strangers here.
In my native village, Yushchenko received minimal votes in both election rounds. But I wouldn’t say the reason for that was completely falsification and fraud. The reason was rather something like an echo of that atomic explosion that never came.
But now people are poisoned by other fears and superstitions. Now they tell each other that the opposition will hang everyone who voted for Yanukovych with those blue-and-white scarves.
My countrymen made their choice on the basis of the old principle: Let him be a bandit, but our own bandit. Many of them live in a closed and derelict world, a world of poverty, deserted mines and villages, lack of information and the fatigue of the aging. This is the world they are used to and are afraid to leave. This is a good environment for crude propaganda to take root.
Shaky base
That is why the recent Severodonetsk forum reminded me of that old childish ph |
the attempt to removed the notion of women from motherhood should terrify us all – even those who support same-sex marriage.
As WCM conclude in their letter: “We must fight the forces destroying the living material world and telling us that cultural distractions are more real than life itself. There is life-giving power in female biology. As midwives we protect the lives of the life-givers: women, mothers, females, and their offsping. We must not become blinded to the biological material reality that connects us.”Fares are the next frontier for Ottawa’s largest cab company owners who now have a smartphone application that mirrors almost all the things customers like about the Uber app.
Capital Taxi unveiled its app for the 350-cab fleet during an event Monday at Lansdowne Park, with co-owner Marc Andre Way preaching the importance of innovation in the taxi industry.
“Our next phase is to start introducing discounts at certain times of the day or the week or whatever,” Way said in an interview. “We are going to have a consultation with our drivers because we want everyone on board.”
Regulatory changes approved by city council in April 2016 allow taxi companies to decrease their fares if rides are ordered through an app. It’s a measure that would allow traditional cab companies to compete with Uber.
Way said drivers are “asking for (fare discounts) now, which is really cool.”
It’s no coincidence that the Capital Taxi app looks and feels like the Uber app, Way said. People in focus groups have lauded the features in the Uber app, he said.
“We figured, let’s put them all in,” Way said.
The Capital Taxi app will say who the driver is and show his or her picture. It shows where the cab is on a map. It sends a text when the cab arrives for pickup. It allows customers to rate their drivers on a five-star scale (but drivers don’t rate customers).
Like Uber, users of the Capital Taxi app can enter their credit card information and there is no cash exchanged at the destinations. The receipt arrives by email. However, customers also have the option to pay with cash at their destinations. While tipping is common practice in the taxi industry, there is no option on the app to add a tip if it’s a credit card transaction.
Way said the average wait for a Capital Taxi vehicle has now plummeted to five minutes from about 20 minutes thanks to the app.
There has been a lack of cohesion in the local taxi industry when it comes to smartphone and web-based applications in the new Uber world. Each cab company has created its own app, on top of using third-party ordering apps, in an effort to attract more customers to traditional cabs.
Hanif Patni, who owns the Blueline brand of cabs and is president of Coventry Connections, which runs the dispatch for three cab companies, said he hopes to roll out the latest app to 665 Blueline taxis by the end of the year. He’s going through collective bargaining with drivers and using the app is part of the talks.
“We hit our crisis a year ago, but it’s our way of bouncing back now,” Patni said.
Patni pulled back the curtain on how taxi dispatching has worked.
Patni said the pre-app system had drivers receive priority status if they were the first cab to arrive in an area, but not necessarily if they were the closest to a customer requesting a ride.
That has to change with the rollout of the app, Patni said.
“Now we want the customer to be served first and fast,” he said.
George Chamoun, chair of the Capital Taxi unit of the Ottawa taxi union, said the company made a presentation to drivers on the idea of creating the app and it was an easy sell.
“We all love it and agreed to use it in the cab,” Chamoun said. “It’s easier, faster and more reliable.”
Chamoun agreed that the price is the number one consideration for taxi customers and that the company should be considering discounts.
“If you decrease the fares, it will increase the number of calls,” Chamoun said.
Ottawa Tourism president and CEO Michael Crockatt and West Carleton-March Coun. Eli El-Chantiry also delivered remarks during the event at Lansdowne Park.
El-Chantiry was the only council member to vote against the new dual-licensing system for taxis and private transportation companies, which includes Uber.
Meanwhile, Way and other taxi plate owners continue to sue the city for $215 million because of those regulatory changes.
Way said his business is doing OK but he still believes the city didn’t go about changing the licensing system in a fair manner.
“I remain convinced of that,” Way said.
jwilling@postmedia.com
twitter.com/JonathanWillingIt could be the plot of an Ocean’s Eleven movie: A team of daring engineers heads to the wilds of Nevada to create a dazzling spectacle, defy officials, and walk off with a $680 million jackpot. In May of this year, Otto unveiled a video of an 18-wheeler thundering down a freeway with no one at the wheel. The San Francisco-based startup had retrofitted a freight truck with lidar, video cameras, radar, and other sensors, enabling it to operate “completely driverless without a driver in the backseat,” according to co-founder Lior Ron at the time.
Even Google, which had been developing self-driving cars for eight years, still insists on having a human in the driving seat should anything go wrong. That a tiny startup emerging from stealth mode could confidently demonstrate an autonomous big rig on a public interstate with no one in the front seats suggested Otto’s technology was really special.
Within just a couple of months, ride-sharing unicorn Uber had acquired the fledgling Otto in exchange for 1 percent of the company’s stock (representing $680 million) and 20 percent of any future self-driving trucking profits — a payout that could exceed a billion dollars for Otto’s founders.
So far, just another Silicon Valley fairytale. Yet Otto’s rapid ascent involved a high-stakes gamble that could have landed the startup in legal hot water, rather than the arms of the world’s biggest transportation network company.
When Otto performed its test drive — the one shown in the May video — it did so despite a clear warning from Nevada’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) that it would be violating the state’s autonomous vehicle regulations. When the DMV realized that Otto had gone ahead anyway, one official called the drive “illegal” and even threatened to shut down the agency’s autonomous vehicle program.
The story of why Otto flouted Nevada’s directive, how it got away with it, and what this means for the future of self-driving regulation stretches back to the dawn of driverless cars.
Otto co-founder Anthony Levandowski
On May 1, 2012, the world’s first government-run self-driving test took place on Las Vegas’s famous Strip. In the driver’s seat of a heavily modified 2008 Toyota Prius was Chris Urmson, then the head of Google’s self-driving car project. Next to him sat Anthony Levandowski, the brilliant engineer whose startup 510 Systems had been acquired by Google the previous year, after it had built the tech giant’s first autonomous vehicles.
As the Prius nosed its way past casinos and tourists, its performance was being watched from the back seat by a driving examiner and by Bruce Breslow, then the head of the Nevada DMV. The test was a quick zip around Las Vegas’s surface streets and freeways on a route chosen by Google itself. Despite Urmson having to take control of the vehicle on two occasions, the Prius passed the test with flying colors.
That was hardly surprising, as Nevada’s first autonomous vehicle rules had been proposed and partly shaped by Levandowski himself, with the help of David Goldwater, a lobbyist for Google. The company could now test its self-driving cars anywhere in the state. It was a publicity coup for Nevada, and the first official validation of Google’s vision to replace fallible human drivers with flawless robots.
Over the next four years, however, Google never actually tested its driverless cars in Nevada. And despite welcoming Daimler’s semi-autonomous trucks to the state with a glitzy ceremony in 2015, Nevada’s reputation as a pioneer in autonomous driving ebbed away.
Otto co-founder Lior Ron
The year 2016 brought some big changes: The energetic Levandowski decided to strike out on his own. “I’m excited about bringing robots into the market, about having the most effect in the world,” he told me. He gathered a handful of colleagues from Google, including Lior Ron, and founded Otto, a startup dedicated to “reimagining transportation—not just improving it.”
Initially, that meant a fully self-driving taxi rather than driverless trucks. In April of this year, Steve Hill, executive director of the Nevada Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED), wrote an email to Jude Hurin, the administrator in charge of autonomous vehicle (AV) regulation at the DMV. Backchannel obtained access to this and many more emails and documents under public records legislation.
“Just wanted to let you know that a company is interested in operating completely autonomously, shuttling passengers on a fixed route in Vegas somewhere around the end of this year,” Hill wrote. “David Goldwater represents them and will be contacting your office soon. The company is headed by Anthony Levandowski. All this is confidential.”
The company was Otto, and its plan was to offer driverless rides from Las Vegas’s McCarran airport to the heart of the Strip. Breslow, now director of the state’s Department of Business and Industry, chimed in. “Sounds like the Google project Anthony has wanted to set up for the last four years,” he wrote to Hurin on April 29. “[…] Should be relatively simple to deploy but political backlash from cab industry will occur.”
Courtesy of Otto
Less than two weeks later, Goldwater announced a surprising shift in direction. “Otto will have their company launch on Tuesday of next week,” he wrote to Hill on May 12. “[…] They are filming some video of self-driving trucks in Nevada tomorrow for the launch on Tuesday (there is someone in the truck [with] a kill switch.) The filming is being done up in Reno.”
Hurin’s response to Goldwater was swift. “I am concerned….Every company we have dealt with in the past has obtained a test license in our state prior to the media event….Your video is going to produce questions directly to your company and Nevada DMV as to why they do not have a red test plate on the vehicle. I am also going to have Daimler Trucking and others calling me to ask why Otto is allowed to do this when they couldn’t.”
Nevada regulations are clear on this point. Before an autonomous vehicle can be operated on the state’s roads, it must be issued a testing license and special red license plates. It has to be able to capture driving data in case of crashes, have switches to engage and disengage the autonomous systems, and have a way to alert the human operator if it fails.
To obtain a license, Otto would have had to produce evidence of 10,000 miles of previous autonomous operation and submit a truck for a self-driving test, such as the one completed by Google in 2012. It would also need to post a $5 million bond and file reams of paperwork. Even with all those requirements fulfilled, Otto’s demo would need two people seated up front, one of them poised to take over in the event of a failure.
“Without that license you do not have authorization to drive this on our highway in a semi or fully autonomous mode,” wrote Hurin to Goldwater. “Having just a ‘kill switch’ is only part of the safety requirements…but regardless a license is required.”
Goldwater had a different take on the issue, replying, “The truck does have a DOT [Department of Transportation] number, but is not part of a specific trucking company. Therefore, I think the easy answer is it’s not a ‘test truck’ yet. The efforts of Nevada’s leaders are to try to get Otto and similar companies to move here. Most certainly, when the trucks are testing, all laws and regulations will be followed.”
But Hurin was adamant. In an email sent early the next morning, May 13, he warned Goldwater: “It does not matter if you have another State’s license plate or US DOT sticker on it…if they show the vehicle engaging the technology and it implies or is obvious that Nevada is the site that they have engaged the system for the video, then it is a violation of our current AV testing laws.”
In an email to Hurin, Breslow agreed: “I told him [Goldwater] the same thing you did and that he couldn’t just do this.” When Hill, the GOED official, asked whether Otto might be quickly issued a testing permit, Hurin pointed out the impossibility of achieving that literally overnight.
Otto’s founders were faced with a stark choice. They could submit to the DMV and undertake the laborious process of modifying, testing, and licensing their truck. This would likely take a month or more, and could risk their first-mover advantage in driverless trucking. Or the engineers could continue with their test as planned.
They decided to go ahead with the filming, and over the weekend Otto started to emerge from stealth mode. Backchannel was one of the media outlets offered interviews with Otto on Monday, May 16. I heard from Ron about how Otto was going to revolutionize trucking, improve safety, and help the environment.
When I asked Ron where and how the truck had been tested, he said, “We’ve driven a couple of miles completely driverless without a driver in the backseat — not in California, in some other state. We did that on Saturday and will have video assets to show you later today.” Otto’s launch post on Medium confirmed this, saying, “We recently completed an autonomous demo of the technology on a public highway.”
Courtesy of Otto
When I watched Otto’s video, I could see its truck, without anyone in the front seats, passing roadside signs on Interstate 80 near Reno. I included that information in my story but wondered how Otto had obtained permission to operate in the state without a license. I subsequently filed a public records request to find out more.
In the meantime, Otto’s launch went smoothly. Terri Albertson, director of the Nevada DMV, noticed the Nevada reference in Backchannel’s story and suggested to Hurin that the department post it on their website. His reply was nothing short of explosive: “Nope!!…They have no license, they are testing no matter what anyone tries to tell me and they have no passengers in the vehicle when current law requires two people….This could very well damage Nevada’s Autonomous ‘Pioneer’ image and our relationships with current OEMs and automated companies who already have a license. Otto is driving these vehicles illegally and without the required $5 million bond that is needed to protect our citizens.”
Hurin even suggested the DMV might walk away from autonomous vehicles altogether. “If push comes to shove we may need to propose that GOED…transfer the AV testing and consumer responsibilities to them and no longer have this under the DMV,” he wrote to Albertson. “I will continue to defend this program and its integrity but if the pressures increase, then it needs to be placed under GOED.” GOED is a pro-growth department focused on attracting and stimulating new business in the state. It has not typically been tasked with overseeing or regulating the industries it serves. But the move did not happen, and no legal action was taken against Otto.
Since then, Otto’s trucks have carried a commercial cargo of beer in Colorado and are due to start testing this week in Ohio, all with the cooperation of state officials.
When I contacted Otto for comment, the company declined to be quoted. It walked back from its claims at the Nevada launch, when it had described its truck as operating “completely driverless without a safety driver in the backseat,” and its drive as “an autonomous demo.” Otto now says its truck did in fact have someone in the cab at the time. Otto also says that the self-driving truck is not an autonomous vehicle at all, at least on Nevada’s roads.
Nevada’s regulations define autonomous technology as “technology which is installed on a motor vehicle and which has the capability to drive the motor vehicle without the active control or monitoring of a human operator.” Because Otto’s truck had an engineer watching from further back in the cab, says the company, it does not count as an autonomous vehicle and thus does not need a permit.
Otto’s argument might not hold up if challenged, says Ryan Calo, a law professor who teaches a class on robotics law and policy at the University of Washington: “One question is whether or not monitoring counts if you’re not in the driver’s seat. Often customs wind up informing the law and the custom here is that other testers, like Google and Tesla, actually have a person sitting in front of the steering wheel.”
Bryant Walker Smith, a professor at the University of South Carolina, points out another difficulty: “If the autonomous law does not apply, what does? If the driver is using a laptop or cellphone, that might run afoul of driver distraction laws. And the highway patrol…could very readily conclude that a big rig without someone at the steering wheel is reckless.”
The DMV’s position remains that Otto’s truck is an autonomous vehicle under Nevada regulations, and that the company violated them. But it doesn’t really matter either way. Bizarrely, the autonomous driving regulations come with no penalties for breaking them.
“The autonomous regulations and policies are living, breathing pieces of this cutting-edge technology,” Hurin told me. “The Department will be submitting another set of AV regulatory amendments in 2017. One of the areas we have already earmarked for these regulations is penalties for this type of violation.”
Over the summer, Hurin kept pressuring Otto to apply for a testing license. Finally, he wrote directly to Levandowski: “We need to find out a specific time when you will be submitting your AV Test Application packet….It has been conveyed to me many times in the past that you are working on this, but to date have received nothing…We look forward to our partnership with Otto, which, as you would agree, must be built on honesty and integrity.”
Courtesy of Otto
But Otto was about to pivot once more. The company no longer wanted to test its trucks in Nevada, as it had previously indicated. Instead, in July it applied for a license to operate the state’s first Autonomous Technology Certification Facility (ATCF).
Before any self-driving tech can be sold for use in Nevada, such a facility must issue a certificate stating that it complies with safety requirements, including capturing data prior to collisions, complying with traffic laws, and having the right controls and indicators. The idea is that third-party organizations will take pressure off the state to assess autonomous technologies, providing a smooth route to market.
While Otto was in the process of putting its application together, the company was snapped up by Uber. Levandowski became Uber’s head of self-driving technologies, although Otto would continue to lead the ATCF program in Nevada. Otto had now come full circle, from a tiny startup intent on disrupting taxis in Las Vegas, to maverick autonomous truckers, to a key part of the biggest ride-sharing company on the planet.
The testing facility, a wholly owned subsidiary called Nevada ATCF LLC, received its license from the DMV at the end of September, and is currently hiring staff and remodeling a building in southwest Las Vegas. Otto says that the ATCF will only be used to certify vehicles developed by Otto and Uber.
It is another peculiarity of Nevada’s regulations that a company is not required to test its autonomous vehicles in the state prior to deploying them. The moment Uber licenses its own self-driving trucks or taxis at the ATCF, the vehicles will be ready for public use. “When they decide to sell their technology, they will already be licensed to do so,” Hurin said.
Not making an issue of Otto’s unlicensed demo certainly helped Nevada in the short term. It avoided alienating a leading player in driverless technology and probably helped secure its first autonomous testing facility. But this also came at a cost. Until Nevada clarifies its autonomous vehicle laws and introduces penalties for breaking them, it is difficult to see why any self-driving company should bother with the hassle and expense of certification.
The crumbling of Nevada’s regulatory credibility leaves only California with tough, consumer-focused laws around self-driving cars. In much of the rest of the US, autonomous driving is a free-for-all. Uber taxis are transporting passengers in Pittsburgh, Google’s self-driving prototypes are criss-crossing Texas, and Tesla’s cars are taking over the wheel nationwide, with little official testing or licensing of the technology beforehand.
That might accelerate innovation today, but it means there will be few regulatory tools in place to cope with the many ethical, logistical, and safety challenges that lie further down the self-driving road. And if industry experts can decide to simply skirt the requests of state regulators, the prospects for future regulation look dim.
Otto was nothing less than the perfect Vegas spectacle, equal parts technology, audacity, and showmanship, culminating in an overnight wedding to Uber. As Otto’s founders count their whirlwind winnings, Nevada has shown that well-meaning attempts at keeping tabs on new technology can evaporate just as fast.
The Man Who Built Google’s First Self-Driving Car Is Now a Trucker
A group of ex-Google engineers are behind Otto, an autonomous trucking startupbackchannel.comUPDATED 1:36 p.m. Here is the text of the Chief Justice’s remarks at the opening of the Court’s public session Monday.
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With a brief tribute from Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., noting that the Supreme Court will miss the late Justice Antonin Scalia “beyond measure,” the Court resumed its normal business Monday morning. Roberts noted that there will be a formal memorial service for Justice Scalia in the courtroom at a later date.
Recounting the late colleague’s personal history, the Chief Justice noted in particular his “irrespressible spirit.” He also commented that Scalia had authored 282 majority opinions, “and was known occasionally to dissent.”
The Justices were in the seats they have been occupying, because the draped memorial at Scalia’s place on the bench will remain in place until March 14. Then the others will be seated in the new alignment of seniority.
The Court will release a transcript of Roberts’s remarks shortly. Later today, blog colleague Mark Walsh will recount for this blog the day’s events in the courtroom.
CORRECTION: This post originally reported that, in his statement from the bench, the Chief Justice referred to Justice Antonin Scalia’s 292 majority opinions. However, the Court has noted that the correct figure for the number of majority opinions authored by Justice Scalia was 282. The higher figure noted by the Chief Justice in his statement on the bench was based, the Court said, on “staff error.”
Recommended Citation: Lyle Denniston, Court, without Scalia, reopens (UPDATED), SCOTUSblog (Feb. 22, 2016, 10:24 AM), https://www.scotusblog.com/2016/02/court-without-scalia-reopens/Whether it's fireworks on New Year's Eve, not saying "Happy Birthday" before one's actual birthday, dancing around the May pole on May Day, or celebrating Christmas on Christmas Eve rather than Christmas Day, Germany has its own unique take on traditions, superstitions and simply throwing a party.
Even in modern, technicized 2018, many traditions and customs still center around the seasons. Spring is heralded as the season of new beginnings; summer is cherished as time off work and school and a chance to experience; Christmastime will make any small kid's eyes light up – while fall traditions often look to the outdoors for inspiration.
The changing light outside plays a big role in those autumn traditions, with candles and lanterns taking center stage. Apple festivals celebrate the bounty of a fruit harvest, but also mark the end of a season full of sunlight.
Fall in Germany also means a look back at significant political events that changed modern German history forever.
Take a look at our picture galleries to get a glimpse of autumn in Germany.I had worked so hard through the summer, and I had big hopes of being the top rusher in the Mountain West. But I have a lot of faith in God's plan, and I know that things happen for a reason. So, I just have to keep having the faith that everything's going to work out.
LOGAN — While NFL scouts were wondering what could be next year, Utah State fans and former Aggie teammates were left wondering what might have been last year as they watched Devonte Mays perform during USU's Pro Day Friday morning at the Stan Laub Indoor Training Center and the ICON Sports Performance Center.
The former Aggie running back, whose senior season was cut short by injuries, was the standout performer during the four-hour event, looking healthy and strong in front of 21 different NFL scouts.
"I felt pretty good today," Mays declared. " I'm feeling 100 percent. You can tell by the drills that I'm running good, cutting good and everything. I haven't had any pain in my knee or my ankle, and it's been more than a month now since I started training."
A junior college transfer, Mays put together an impressive season in 2015, rushing for 966 yards and nine TDs on 165 carries, and then the 5-foot-11, 230-pound Texas native ran for 208 yards and three touchdowns in USU's 2016 season opener against Weber State.
But Mays suffered an injury to his right knee in USU's second game of the year at USC, and he was never the same afterward, totaling just 259 yards on 37 carries while seeing action in only six games.
"It was real tough last year, not being able to play and watch the season unfold how it did," said Mays, who is scheduled to meet with the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday. Mays also said he has spoken with seven other NFL teams.
"I had worked so hard through the summer, and I had big hopes of being the top rusher in the Mountain West. But I have a lot of faith in God's plan, and I know that things happen for a reason. So, I just have to keep having the faith that everything's going to work out."
Mays recorded the top vertical leap of all the Aggies evaluated on Friday, jumping 40.5 inches — four inches higher than the runner-up, former safety Marquan Ellison. Mays also finished second in the bench press, lifting 225 pounds 22 times — just one behind offensive lineman Jake Simonich and defensive lineman Edmund Faimalo — and second in the broad jump. His jump of 10.9 feet was between the 10.11 of former defensive back Jentz Painter and Ellison's 10.6.
Former wide receiver Devonte Robinson, who last played in 2015, recorded the best time in the 40-yard dash at 4.39, followed by former cornerback Daniel Gray (4.41), Ellison (4.46), Mays (4.47) and Painter (4.51).
In all, 16 different former Aggies participated in Pro Day, including offensive lineman Austin Albrecht, defensive end Ricky Ali'ifua, linebacker Brock Carmen, linebacker LT Filiaga, tight end Wyatt Houston, offensive lineman Jake Simonich, center Austin Stephens, linebacker Anthony Williams and wide receiver Kennedy Williams.
"Overall, I was pretty pleased with how I did today,” said Houston, who caught 35 passes for 330 yards and two TDs last season. “I have really been focusing on technique with all the drills we did today, so now that this is over, I can focus on just football and getting ready for the future.”
Houston wrapped up Pro Day by displaying his new-found ability to serve as a long snapper, something he just started learning how do in order to increase his chances of hanging on with an NFL squad as a member of a special teams unit.
"I've been working on it for about a month or so," Houston explained. "It's something I think I've got a good body type for, and just one more thing I can do to make a roster."It was only Sunday that Bill Shorten was elected Labor leader, and here we are and it's Friday and On Line Opinion has the first polls on the leadership of the parties and how Shorten shapes up to Tony Abbott.
And as you'd expect, there is not a lot happening yet. It's really too early to tell how either leader will go, although there are some pointers to how things might shape up.
We've based our analysis on the results of our online poll, weighted to reflect voting at the last election.
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The first thing to note is that Abbott may have won a landslide election, but he's not personally rating that well. While his net approval is in positive territory, with his approval 6 percentage points ahead of his disapproval, approval at 46% is less than 50% and disapproval of 40% is uncomfortably high. It also doesn't leave many undecided voters, and most of these are Labor voters.
So the Liberal Party needs to steer clear of any triumphalism. They didn't win because there leader was overwhelmingly popular, and he needs to take this into account in his leadership performance. While he had a good result the country is actually fairly bitterly divided over him.
By comparison Shorten is -8% net unpopular. 29% disapprove, but only 21% approve. These are very low figures because 42% are neutral about him at the moment. While that gives him plenty of room to improve his popularity, it has to worry Labor because it also says that despite him being a prominent frontbencher since Labor won power in 2007 he hasn't really struck a chord with the public. This figure is consistent across parties, meaning he hasn't antagonised Liberal Party supporters the same way that Abbott has antagonised Labor Party ones.
What should concern him is that our poll of last week showed Chris Bowen having a positive rating as Opposition Leader with 35% approval and only 20% disapproval. According to Reachtel, Labor improved its vote after the election, leading one newsreader to quip that this was done "even though they didn't have a leader". This table suggests that this is wide of the mark and Bowen could indeed be a good future leader.
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However popularity isn't everything, and when it comes to the question of who is the best prime minister, irrespective of whether you look at Abbott versus Bower, or Abbott versus Shorten, it is Abbott with 55% and 54% of the vote respectively.Those who download illegal copies of music over P2P networks are the biggest consumers of legal music options, according to a new study by the BI Norwegian School of Management. Researchers examined the music downloading habits of more than 1,900 Internet users over the age of 15, and found that illegal music connoisseurs are significantly more likely to purchase music than the average, non-P2P-loving user.
Unsurprisingly, BI found that those between 15 and 20 are more likely to buy music via paid download than on a physical CD, though most still purchased at least one CD in the last six months. However, when it comes to P2P, it seems that those who wave the pirate flag are the most click-happy on services like the iTunes Store and Amazon MP3. BI said that those who said they download illegal music for "free" bought ten times as much legal music as those who never download music illegally. "The most surprising is that the proportion of paid download is so high," the Google-translated Audun Molde from the Norwegian School of Management told Aftenposten.
Record label EMI doesn't quite buy into BI's stats, though. EMI's Bj�rn Rogstad told Aftenposten that the results make it seem like free downloads stimulate pay downloads, but there's no way to know for sure. "There is one thing we are not going away, and it is the consumption of music increases, while revenue declines. It can not be explained in any way other than that the illegal downloading is over the legal sale of music," Rogstad said.
Rogstad's dismissal of the findings don't take into account that the online music model has dramatically changed how consumers buy music. Instead of selling a huge volume of full albums—the physical media model—the record labels are now selling a huge volume of individual, cherry-picked tracks. It's no secret that the old album format is in dire straits thanks to online music, which is a large part of why overall music revenue is going down.
BI's report corroborates data that the Canadian branch of the RIAA, the Canadian Record Industry Association, released in 2006. At that time, the organization acknowledged that P2P users do indeed buy more music than the industry wants to admit, and that P2P isn't the primary reason why other people aren't buying music. 73 percent of of respondents to the CRIA's survey said that they bought music after they downloaded it illegally, while the primary reason from the non-P2P camp for not buying music was attributed to plain old apathy.President Obama appeared on Zach Galifianakis’ long-running (for a webseries) webseries Between Two Ferns yesterday, trading barbs with the comedian and plugging the Affordable Care Act’s website, Healthcare.gov.
Some old pundits got their Depends in a twist thinking that appearing on an Internet-based program that uses a different style of humor was beneath the office of the president (as though trading dorky quips with David Letterman is somehow more dignified just because it’s been done before).
But even if Abe Lincoln wouldn’t have been game to savor the long-pause, confrontational interview stylings of Galifianakis, Obama was, and it worked: The Funny or Die-hosted clip was the top driver of traffic to Healthcare.gov.
Tara McGuinness, a senior communications adviser who focuses on the Affordable Care Act, tweeted about the clip’s success:
Funnyordie video has 11 million views. http://t.co/a7HUExG0vg traffic for yesterday was up almost 40% from Monday. — Tara McGuinness (@HealthCareTara) March 12, 2014
“The president’s interview with Zach Galifianakis in Between Two Ferns was meant to reach Americans where they live,” White House press secretary Jay Carney told the press, emphasizing that the White House is looking for creative ways to get its message across.
Today, the official Healthcare.gov Twitter account revealed some specifics about the Galifianakis-induced boost:
Hourly traffic up from yesterday. @funnyordie video referrals at 32k and 575k site visits as of 6pm. #GetCoveredNow — HealthCare.gov (@HealthCareGov) March 11, 2014
890k+ visits to http://t.co/zGLCNOxaSv on Tues, up 40% from Mon. Lots of consumers shopping to get covered before 3/31. #GetCoveredNow — HealthCare.gov (@HealthCareGov) March 12, 2014
In case you missed it:
H/T Talking Points Memo | Screenshot via Funny or DieKnown as the original WWE Diva, Tammy Lynn Sytch, aka “Sunny” uses her rockin’ rack for some body slamming, penetrating fucking in this exclusive Vivid Celebrity hardcore feature where the bitchin’ blonde former pro wrester gets down and dirty for every fan to see. Months in the making, the girl who told TMZ she wanted to show her real talents between the sheets instead of in the ring, Tammy does it all in three scorching, hard, penetrating scenes. If you thought former WWE star Chyna got manhandled in her bestselling Vivid sex tape, wait until you see Tammy use her pro techniques to dildo herself, get her hot box cock drilled into her mattress, and then have wrestling’s “best buns” get stuffed in a pile driving, gaping, ass blasting, anal scene! You don’t want to miss this 2011 WWE Hall of Famer and former wresting manager take her smokin’ body to the next level in some of the filthiest tag team scenes every filmed.Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Volcanologists say the app allows you to see the planet's breath and pulse
Half a century of the planet's volcanic eruptions and earthquakes have been visualised in an animated app.
It was created by the Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program, with additional data from NASA and the US Geological Survey.
The centrepiece is an a click-and-play animation showing every eruption and earthquake for the last 50 years.
It is part of a project to create a record of every volcanic eruption on Earth for the last 10,000 years.
As well as monitoring active volcanoes, a global collaboration of researchers is gathering evidence of ancient eruptions in the geological record.
Elizabeth Cottrell, head of the Smithsonian Institution's program in Washington, DC, told the BBC that the animation was a view of "the living, breathing planet".
"You're watching the Earth respire - you're watching the pulse of the planet," she said.
"And you can see those patterns of where the tectonic plate boundaries are - the Earth's breath and pulse defines those plate boundaries."
Image copyright Alessandro Aiuppa/University of Palermo Image caption Beautiful but deadly: Mount Etna erupts at night
Forecasting eruptions
The Global Volcanism Program has been running since 1968, with a mission to "document, understand and disseminate information about global volcanic activity".
This global network of scientists is building a database of all known and confirmed eruptions for the last 10,000 years.
Some of these remain as signals of ancient ash or lava left in rocks. But the program also uses scientific literature, eyewitness accounts and even old ship's logs, some of which contain detailed accounts of eruptions.
"Captain Cook provided a lot of information about volcanoes erupting that he saw," remarked Dr Cottrell.
But the last 50 years is a crucial period, because the scientists say they are confident that they have a complete record of every eruption and earthquake over that time.
Making it available to download and in an app, Dr Cottrell said, could be of value to scientists who are looking for patterns that help to improve volcanic eruption forecasting.
Individual volcanic eruptions on a human timescale can seem rare, but volcanic arcs - chains of volcanoes along the same plate boundary - have what Dr Cottrell described as "a sort of pulse".
"When we're looking for patterns in the timing, we can look at a recurrence interval on the geological timescale," the scientist told BBC News.
"But what's really critical about this data-gathering effort, which exceeds what you see in the app, is that you're seeing the numbers of fatalities and the characteristics of each of these eruptions."
This detailed study is allowing the program to forecast not only when an eruption might be expected, but what |
of a rocket being carried on a bullock-cart. Much like the advent of dematerialization in the early 2000s, the entire settlement and trade confirmation system needs a reboot so that the investor base can grow to many times its current size.
For instance, the four registrar and transfer agents (RTAs), which settle and confirm all the mutual fund transactions, use woefully out-of-date file structures and formats to exchange transaction data with intermediaries—distributors and registered investment advisers.
• The RTAs exchange data only in the outdated dBase DBF format, first introduced in the early 1980s and which was last updated in the early 1990s. It is virtually impossible to get any technical support for the dBase format, more than 20 years after it went obsolete.
• Images of customer’s agreements, forms and their signatures are shared with RTAs in the uncompressed TIFF format images (last updated in 1992), which have massive file sizes and are barely used anywhere in the world (hint to RTAs: use PDFs, please).
• Almost all non-financial transaction requests (such as change of nominee or bank) require physical documents to be lodged at the RTA’s offices, when there are far more efficient, digital ways of exchanging information.
When we built our online investment platform, we were shocked to see that virtually no API (application program interface) was used by the industry for transaction feeds. Almost every self-respecting Web service in the world today uses APIs to give programmatic access to its data so that the information can be exchanged in a real-time, structured manner.
Another concern is the handling of transactions when volumes spike. Most RTAs will confirm transactions only after several back-and-forth communications and ‘sighting’ of the funds. But exchanges such as the National Stock Exchange had pioneered the concept of real-time payment confirmations years ago. Is that concept so hard to implement in the mutual funds universe? Any surge in transactions almost inevitably means that there are delays in transaction confirmations—automation could solve so many of these problems relatively easily.
The many regulations around the Know Your Customer (KYC) process are now overlapping, confusing and badly designed. For instance, a brand new investor is now required to perform two KYC validations before she can invest in a mutual fund—one with the new central KYC authority—Central Registry of Securitisation Asset Reconstruction and Security Interest (Cersai)—and another with one of the five Sebi-approved KYC Registration Agencies (KRAs). This is because a customer still needs a Permanent Account Number (PAN) and her KYC has to be approved by one of the five KRAs before any mutual fund can open an investment folio. And most intermediaries complain that Cersai takes 3-4 days to merely issue an c-KYC number (KIN) to a new customer.
Then there’s the investor’s bank account. Some mutual funds and intermediaries validate ownership of bank accounts using a small transfer of Re1 to the customer’s bank account using Immediate Payment Service (IMPS). Customers find this more convenient than uploading a copy of their blank cancelled cheque to validate ownership of the bank account. This is a great example of using technology to speed-up processes and improve the customer on-boarding experience. One hopes that this method would soon be embraced by all fund houses. And yet, when we recently checked with Computer Age Management Services Pvt. Ltd (CAMS) and Karvy Computershare Pvt Ltd (Karvy), the two largest RTAs in the country, they were unsure about how an investor’s ownership of a bank account could be validated in the absence of a blank cancelled cheque.
The investor base can only grow when advisers spend less time on operational issues and more on servicing, advising and hand-holding customers to help them meet their investment goals. The market infrastructure and technology stack used by mutual funds is woefully out of date and desperately needs a reboot.
These changes would lead to more participation in the markets and many more product innovations, just like the introduction of demat accounts did for the stock market in the early 2000s. Rather than resist change, the mutual fund industry, especially its infrastructure providers, should embrace technology, so that Sebi’s innovations can soon lead to mutual funds for all.
Kunal Bajaj is founder and chief executive officer of Clearfunds.com, a Sebi-registered online investment adviser.The Democratic Labour Party (DLP) is launching legal action in the High Court in a bid to have Ballarat based Senator John Madigan evicted from the Australian Parliament.
Senator Madigan quit from the DLP in a shock press conference last week, saying he was being undermined by members of his own party and would serve the rest of his term as an independent Senator.
National President of the Democratic Labour Party Paul Funnell today revealed his party is launching legal action to have Senator Madigan removed from office.
"We are challenging the validity of former Senator Madigan to continue to sit in the Senate, because we believe the seat is vacant," Mr Funnell said.
An amendment to Section 15 of the Australian Constitution made in 1977 states that if a senator vacates their position in parliament, a replacement should be chosen from the party they were elected under.
Mr Funnell said he had sought legal advice on the constitution and believes he has sufficient grounds to bring a landmark court action to test this part of the constitution.
"It is very dramatic action, but it is a democratic action. It's the correct action to right a wrong and serve justice to the people of Victoria."
Paul Funnell said he has drafted a letter to Victorian Governor Alex Chernov to advise him that the party will nominate a delegate to fill the Victorian Senate seat occupied by John Madigan.
This case would be a landmark test that could have significance for all senators in the Australian parliament, Mr Funnell said.
"It's important for every voter in Australia from this day forward, to remember: if I put that tick above the line, am I voting for the individual or am I voting for that party?"
"The majority of people I have ever spoken to believe they are voting for that party," he said.
Mr Funnell said he is still appealing to the now independent Senator John Madigan to return his calls.
"I ring John every day and leave a message simply asking him to ring me. He has never returned my phone calls."
"Please ring me, and give the seat back to the people, give the seat back to the DLP where it belongs."
Senator John Madigan declined an invitation to comment.Jim Tsero (Armageddon)
Gallente Rebels Inc.
Villore Accords
Gallente Federation
Wolfsdragoon (Tempest Fleet Issue)
Spiritus Draconis
Spaceship Bebop
Gallente Federation
Sjxx (Tempest Fleet Issue)
Black Fox Marauders
Gallente Federation
Ashley Traynor (Tempest Fleet Issue)
Lazerhawks
viscora (Tempest Fleet Issue)
CTRL-Q
Spaceship Bebop
Gallente Federation
avelution (Tempest Fleet Issue)
CTRL-Q
Spaceship Bebop
Gallente Federation
Leto Aramaus (Tempest Fleet Issue)
Spiritus Draconis
Spaceship Bebop
Gallente Federation
Ceasar mead (Tempest Fleet Issue)
Percussus Resurgo.
Spaceship Bebop
Gallente Federation
Akaraman (Tempest Fleet Issue)
Novus Ordo Seclorum
Lupus Ordo
Gallente Federation
Major Trant (Tempest Fleet Issue)
CTRL-Q
Spaceship Bebop
Gallente Federation
Enison (Tempest Fleet Issue)
Moira.
Villore Accords
Gallente Federation
Thomas Rippentius (Tempest Fleet Issue)
Spiritus Draconis
Spaceship Bebop
Gallente Federation
SERIFOS (Tempest Fleet Issue)
Justified Chaos
Spaceship Bebop
Gallente Federation
S5family (Tempest Fleet Issue)
CTRL-Q
Spaceship Bebop
Gallente Federation
howling wind (Nightmare)
Spiritus Draconis
Spaceship Bebop
Gallente Federation
PanykButton (Bhaalgorn)
Justified Chaos
Spaceship Bebop
Gallente Federation
Vic Makkey (Bhaalgorn)
Justified Chaos
Spaceship Bebop
Gallente Federation
Jeann Valjean (Bhaalgorn)
Justified Chaos
Spaceship Bebop
Gallente Federation
MP2008 (Bhaalgorn)
Black Fox Marauders
Gallente Federation
Lexiana Del'Amore (Bhaalgorn)
Nouvelle Rouvenor
Gallente Federation
JetStream Drenard (Bhaalgorn)
Black Fox Marauders
Gallente Federation
Niden (Machariel)
Moira.
Villore Accords
Gallente Federation
Desra Mascani (Tornado)
Eleutherian Guard
Villore Accords
Gallente Federation
Drigo Segvian (Loki)
Black Fox Marauders
Gallente Federation
Joseph Guillotine (Loki)
CTRL-Q
Spaceship Bebop
Gallente Federation
flipfragz (Loki)
Spiritus Draconis
Spaceship Bebop
Gallente Federation
dappaj (Proteus)
Hyper-Nova
Gallente Federation
George Gouillot (Proteus)
Black Fox Marauders
Gallente Federation
jack henry williams (Proteus)
Spiritus Draconis
Spaceship Bebop
Gallente Federation
CKYNEMESIS Taciturn (Proteus)
Justified Chaos
Spaceship Bebop
Gallente Federation
Tristian Axe (Blackbird)
Spiritus Draconis
Spaceship Bebop
Gallente Federation
Mavrick Omaristos (Augoror)
Knights of the Posing Meat
FETID
Brothuhbob (Celestis)
Run and Gun Mercenary Corps
FETID
Diablo delTimanfaja (Celestis)
HildCo Interplanetar
Villore Accords
Gallente Federation
Rock9Rolla (Guardian)
Gallente Rebels Inc.
Villore Accords
Gallente Federation
RageAgainsttheCondom Charante (Guardian)
Spiritus Draconis
Spaceship Bebop
Gallente Federation
Zimt Yi (Guardian)
TheDelivery
Ignacio Daimon (Guardian)
Eternius
Spaceship Bebop
Gallente Federation
JaneBudden (Guardian)
Spiritus Draconis
Spaceship Bebop
Gallente Federation
chris9650 (Arazu)
Light Red Unicorns
Something To Fear
Enthargo Solette (Ashimmu)
Knights of the Posing Meat
FETID
maximus babbarus (Ashimmu)
Knights of the Posing Meat
FETID
RanThun (Omen Navy Issue)
Deep Space Whaling Crew
Something To Fear
stockin (Augoror Navy Issue)
Knights of the Posing Meat
FETID
K3nsai (Augoror Navy Issue)
Run and Gun Mercenary Corps
FETID
Doubledown Nolen (Augoror Navy Issue)
Run and Gun Mercenary Corps
FETID
Randalf Galbraith (Augoror Navy Issue)
Run and Gun Mercenary Corps
FETID
Adam Paterson (Augoror Navy Issue)
Knights of the Posing Meat
FETID
Sehanine (Augoror Navy Issue)
Run and Gun Mercenary Corps
FETID
ashurman (Augoror Navy Issue)
Knights of the Posing Meat
FETID
Kryzen Sol (Augoror Navy Issue)
Knights of the Posing Meat
FETID
Lan Wang (Vigilant)
Knights of the Posing Meat
FETID
Dominick Keats (Phantasm)
Deep Space Whaling Crew
Something To Fear
FatBelwas (Algos)
Moira.
Villore Accords
Gallente Federation
Another Sale (Catalyst)
Legio X Latro
Villore Accords
Gallente Federation
Zim Yi (Malediction)
HildCo Interplanetar
Villore Accords
Gallente Federation
Amilia Sokarad (Atron)
Moira.
Villore Accords
Gallente Federation
greg215 (Stiletto)
CTRL-Q
Spaceship Bebop
Gallente Federation
Alarir Obsaenae (Stiletto)
Black Fox Marauders
Gallente Federation
Zim Yi (Ares)
HildCo Interplanetar
Villore Accords
Gallente Federation
Zim Yi
HildCo Interplanetar
Villore Accords
Gallente Federation
IGORENT3 (Archon)
Crimson Serpent Syndicate
Heiian Conglomerate
Caldari State
Therran Promitz (Scorpion)
Caldari Colonial Defense Ministry
Templis CALSF
Caldari State
Kayden Katelo (Typhoon Fleet Issue)
Crimson Serpent Syndicate
Heiian Conglomerate
Caldari State
Stalence (Typhoon Fleet Issue)
Caldari Colonial Defense Ministry
Templis CALSF
Caldari State
Auroraqual (Typhoon Fleet Issue)
Caldari Colonial Defense Ministry
Templis CALSF
Caldari State
Scylus Black (Typhoon Fleet Issue)
Caldari Colonial Defense Ministry
Templis CALSF
Caldari State
Charlotte de'Berry (Typhoon)
Caldari Colonial Defense Ministry
Templis CALSF
Caldari State
Dale Sturtevant (Rattlesnake)
Caldari Insane Asylum
Templis CALSF
Caldari State
Scuzzy Syd (Bhaalgorn)
Caldari Colonial Defense Ministry
Templis CALSF
Caldari State
TheLastSparton (Bhaalgorn)
Caldari Colonial Defense Ministry
Templis CALSF
Caldari State
General6Kracker (Prophecy)
Caldari Colonial Defense Ministry
Templis CALSF
Caldari State
Ailra Rai (Legion)
Relentless Terrorism
Separatists
pmcunit (Proteus)
Relentless Terrorism
Separatists
Covercall (Proteus)
VOLTAGE REGULATORS
Separatists
xeroa1984 (Proteus)
Space Mutts
Separatists
Roxie Orvis (Oneiros)
Space Gladiators
Templis CALSF
Caldari State
Steve Ramone (Tayra)
Science and Trade Institute
Vladmir Dragoon (Celestis)
Chef's Choice
Templis CALSF
Caldari State
Furby vonBartlesby (Guardian)
The Mjolnir Bloc
The Bloc
Caldari State
Safoi (Guardian)
Crazy Bird Inc.
Templis CALSF
Caldari State
Nius Kincaid (Sacrilege)
Crimson Serpent Syndicate
Heiian Conglomerate
Caldari State
Zrmanja Obrovac (Arbitrator)
Distortion.
Heiian Conglomerate
Caldari State
Chillybox Fumimasa (Exequror)
Panic Stations.
A Few Brave Men
Steve Ramone (Badger)
Science and Trade Institute
B'aldrick Aivoras (Catalyst)
EVE University
Ivy League
Peter Rotineque (Catalyst)
EVE University
Ivy League
Dune Barphsaq (Catalyst)
EVE University
Ivy League
Jilokari Kurvora (Catalyst)
EVE University
Ivy League
Isimazur (Ibis)
The Atlantis Group
Viach Rach (Magnate)
State War Academy
Methylenedioxxy (Crucifier)
TYR.
Exodus.
BasherBeast (Maulus)
Perimeter Defense Systems
Plexodus
Caldari State
Kaylan Jul (Griffin)
Caldari State Navy Operations
Heiian Conglomerate
Caldari State
5hooter (Tristan)
TYR.
Exodus.
SaB0TaG3 (Tristan)
TYR.
Exodus.
Wasa Qc (Tristan)
Sudden Death.
Exodus.
Ethan Toralense (Tristan)
State Protectorate
Caldari State
Willdozer (Incursus)
EVE University
Ivy League
Torin Hawk (Merlin)
Perimeter Defense Systems
Plexodus
Caldari State
DieBndMami (Garmur)
Caldari State Navy Operations
Heiian Conglomerate
Caldari State
5hooter (Capsule)
TYR.
Exodus.
CPTRINGO
VOLTAGE REGULATORS
SeparatistsThis morning brought some alarming news. Just two days after President Obama promised a proportionate response to the North Korean attack on Sony, the country mysteriously disappeared from the internet and stayed offline for the next 10 hours. Given the timing, the question was inevitable: was this the retaliation Obama had promised? But while it's tempting to connect the two, early reports suggest it's very unlikely that the downtime was the work of a government actor.
"I'm quite sure that this is not the work of the US government."
For a start, the timing doesn't add up. Arbor Networks' traffic monitoring project Atlas has been tracking denial of service attacks against North Korea all week, and it saw the first signs of an attack on Thursday, a full day before the FBI confirmed North Korean involvement. In his speech this Friday, President Obama pledged a proportionate response from the US, but also said he was still waiting for retaliatory options to be presented to him in the wake of the FBI's report, implying that he had not yet taken action. According to Atlas' data, the denial-of-service attacks against North Korea had already begun when Obama made that announcement, although they were not yet strong enough to bring the connection down entirely.
A graph from Atlas tracking the volume of attacks sent to North Korean IPs. (Note: The data from the 22nd is incomplete.)
Denial-of-service attacks work by flooding a connection or server with so much phony traffic that it becomes impossible for legitimate traffic to get through. In North Korea's case, that connection is the country's single link to China Unicom, the pathway for all of the country's limited internet traffic. But while the flood of traffic eventually grew large enough to overwhelm the connection, Atlas' research suggests it was primarily directed at the public-facing websites for the DPRK and Kim Il-sung University, neither of which seem to be likely targets for a military operation. More importantly, the slow ramp-up of the attacks suggests group-limited capabilities. If Obama had really ordered a North Korean blackout, the resulting attack would have taken seconds, not days — and stayed offline for significantly more than 10 hours. "I’m quite sure that this is not the work of the US government," concludes Atlas' Dan Holden. "Much like a real world strike from the US, you probably wouldn’t know about it until it was too late. This is not the modus operandi of any government work."
The content delivery network CloudFlare, which does significant work in denial-of-service mitigation, took a similar line. Reached by The Verge, CloudFlare CEO Matthew Prince broke out three alternate scenarios: a hardware failure, a voluntary internet shutdown, or a cut-off on the part of China Unicom. "I do think that it's highly unlikely that, if this was caused by an attack, that it was necessarily sponsored by a nation state," Prince said. Given the exceptionally low barrier to entry for a denial-of-service attack, nearly anyone on the web could be behind North Korea's connectivity problems. In fact, a number of online groups are already claiming responsibility, including an Anonymous-affiliated group called Lizard Unit. As with any Anonymous-linked claim, it's best to be skeptical — but as Prince put it, "I'd be far more surprised if it was a government launching the attack than I would if it was a kid in a Guy Fawkes mask."
12/22 23:15pm ET: Updated to reflect North Korean connections coming back online.Posted on January 29, 2014
GOP Rep. Physically Threatens Reporter After Being Asked About Campaign Corruption
Rep. Michael Grimm (R-NY) threatens a NY1 reporter after he is asked about campaign corruption during a post-SOTU interview.
"Let me be clear to you, you ever do that to me again I'll throw you off this f***ing balcony," Grimm said, according to NY1.
"It's a valid question," Michael Scotto, the reporter, told Grimm.
"No, no, you’re not man enough, you’re not man enough. I’ll break you in half. Like a boy," Grimm responded.
Here is the transcript released by NY1:
"And just finally before we let you go, we haven't had a chance to talk about some of the..." Scotto began before Grimm cut him off.
"I'm not speaking to you off-topic, this is only about the president," said Grimm, before walking off camera.
"So Congressman Michael Grimm does not want to talk about some of the allegations concerning his campaign finances," Scotto said before tossing back to the station. But as the camera continued to roll, Grimm walked back up to Scotto and began speaking to him in a low voice.
"What?" Scotto responded. "I just wanted to ask you..."
Grimm: "Let me be clear to you, you ever do that to me again I'll throw you off this f-----g balcony."
Scotto: "Why? I just wanted to ask you..."
[[cross talk]]
Grimm: "If you ever do that to me again..."
Scotto: "Why? Why? It’s a valid question."
[[cross talk]]
Grimm: "No, no, you're not man enough, you're not man enough. I'll break you in half. Like a boy."We want your opinions and your thoughts on all the policies discussed across the series. Alongside this – we want you to help design and craft our “perfect country”. At the end of series one we set listeners a challenge to design us a flag – and these are the winning entries from Dave Keegan in Dublin, Ireland.In the flag above, the blue section represents the sky, the middle section represents all faiths and the green section represents the earth.In the image left, the first section of this tri-colour represents the LGBT community, the middle section represents peace and the third section represents 'My Perfect Country' as a united nation for everyone.
What do you think the flag of My Perfect Country should look like? Send your thoughts and comments to perfectcountry@bbc.co.ukA mock development proposal has been posted on the lawn outside the court house, jokingly advising passersby of a supposed plan to construct a 90-storey residential building on top of the gargoyle-laden building and turn the existing structure into a multi-level car park.
You can rest easy, Toronto. Contrary to a notice posted outside Old City Hall, the historical landmark is not being converted into a condo tower’s parking garage.
It’s all a goof on Toronto’s condo-building fervor, care of a pair of artists and self-described “urban interventionists” who work under the pseudonyms Glo’erm and Tuggy.
From 180 residential units built atop the Ontario legislature, to condos balanced on the CN Tower’s observation decks, to a Toronto Islands ferry reimagined as a floating base for a residential tower, the “proposals” get more surrealistic as it goes on.
“It is a piece of satire asking the public and the city to take a critical look at many of Toronto’s recent development projects, which show countless examples of condo towers being naively plopped on top of historic buildings as if this could preserve their elegance and our tie to their history, despite these additions,” Glo’erm told the Star in an email.
“We hope that it reveals how poorly these signs serve Torontonians as a means of notifying them and seeking their feedback about changes to be made to the urban environment,” he added.
“In (the Old City Hall) sign’s ability to disappear from view despite its controversial content, the audience is made to ask what other changes might be underway in the city unbeknownst to me?”
Old City Hall was designated a National Historic Site in 1989. But suggestions surfaced last year that the 117-year-old building could be turned into a museum or even a mall once the provincial courts’ current lease on the space runs out in 2021.
Note – October 24, 2016: This article was edited from a previous version.SWTOR Patch 2.0 new crafting materials and schematics
An overview of the new crafting materials and schematics available in SWTOR Patch 2.0.
Crafting Materials
Old Crafting Materials
You can now train all crafting skills to 450, from the previous cap of 400. This means that there are now two new tiers of crafting materials as well. They are Grade 9, which is your regular mats you can get by running crew skill missions, and Grade 10, rare mats mostly found in operations.
Recall
Grade 6 used to be the max grade of the regular mats you get from running crew skill missions
Grade 7 were exotic crafting mats such as Biometric Crystal Alloy and Alien Data Cube.
Grade 8 were exotic crafting mats such as Molecular Stabilizers and Synthetic Energy Matrix
Grade 10 Exotic Crafting Materials
Exotic Element Equalizer Obtained from operations
Last boss of Scum and Villainy
Accomplished Arms Trader mini boss within Scum and Villainy
Chests and frog boss within Terror from Beyond
Obtained from L55 HM FPs
Last boss have a chance to drop one
Obtained by REing Arkanian gear Mass Manipulation Generator
Grade 9 Crafting Materials
Mission Skills Treasure Hunting Mytag Crystal Grade 9 Gemstone Impeccable Orange Crystal Grade 9 Gemstone Impeccable Yellow Crystal Grade 9 Gemstone Rainbow Gem Grade 9 Gemstone Underworld Trading Berylius Grade 9 Underworld Metal Frasium Grade 9 Underworld Metal Hypercloth Grade 9 Luxury Fabric Diplomacy Medical Grade Injector Grade 9 Medical Supplies Sterilization Kit Grade 9 Medical Supplies Gathering Skills Archaeology Primordial Artifact Fragment Grade 9 Artifact Fragment Perfect Carbonic Crystal Grade 9 Power Crystal Carbonic Crystal Grade 9 Power Crystal Bioanalysis Viral Residue Grade 9 Biochemical Compound Artificial Microbe Grade 9 Biochemical Compound Metabolic Enhancement Agent Grade 9 Biochemical Sample Biochemical Compounding Compound Grade 9 Biochemical Sample Rybcoarse Implant Processor Crafting Vendor Scavenging Mythra Grade 9 Scavenged Metal Turadium Grade 9 Scavenged Compound Hollinium Slicing Thermal Regulator Grade 9 Sliced Tech Part Bio-Mechanical Interface Chip Grade 9 Sliced Tech Part
Schematics
Endgame Schematics
Highest augment level is 28, whose schematic cannot be learned from the trainer (trainer only goes up to 26). Their schematics are obtained via slicing missions that crit. These augments are designed to fit into Augmentation kit MK-9, which can be learned from the trainer
High end gear such Arkanian have mods with the 30 suffix (i.e. Advanced Resolve Armoring 30). These have a 10% chance to learn the schematic on RE. They utilize the new grade 10 mats to craft (4 Exotic Element Equalizer, 1 Mass Manipulation Generator).
You can also learn the orange shells of the high end armor by REing them.
There is a 20% chance to learn a schematic from REing a green item. 10% chance to learn a schematic from REing a blue item.
Schematics learned by REing
Schematic Level Materials Note Armoring 30 55 2 Tricooper Flux
2 Mythra
2 Turadium
4 Exotic Element Equalizer
1 Mass Manipulation Generator Cybertech Mod 30 55 2 Tricooper Flux
2 Mythra
2 Turadium
4 Exotic Element Equalizer
1 Mass Manipulation Generator Cybertech Arkanian Implant 55 4 Metabolic Enhancement Agent
2 Biological Compounding Chemical
2 Medical Grade Injector
4 Exotic Elemental Equlizer
2 Sterilization Kit Biochem
Synthweaving
Details SelectShow> Trainer Schematics No schematics for Augment 24, 25 sold via trainer
There is a MK-9 Augmentation Kit, which probably use Augment 27 but there is no schematic sold via trainer
MK-7, 8, and 9 augmentation kits all use Grade 9 crafting mats. Schematic Level Materials Note Augments 2 Carbonic Crystal
2 Primordial Artifact Fragment
2 Corundum Powder Alacrity Augment 23 51 MK-7 slot or greater Command Augment 23 51 MK-7 slot or greater Might Augment 23 51 MK-7 slot or greater Redoubt Augment 23 51 MK-7 slot or greater Resolve Augment 23 51 MK-7 slot or greater Alacrity Augment 26 53 MK-8 slot or greater Command Augment 26 53 MK-8 slot or greater Might Augment 26 53 MK-8 slot or greater Redoubt Augment 26 53 MK-8 slot or greater Resolve Augment 26 53 MK-8 slot or greater Augmentation Kit MK-7 Augmentation Kit MK-8 Augmentation Kit MK-9 Heavy Armor Orange sets Armored Electrum
(bracers, belt, boots) 52-54 Carbonic Crystal
Primordial Artifact Fragment
Frasium
Corundum Powder Polished Peacekeeper
(chest, legs, hand, head)
Knight/Trooper only 52 Carbonic Crystal
Primordial Artifact Fragment
Frasium
Corundum Powder Polished Warlord
(chest, legs, hand, head)
Warrior/BH only 52 Carbonic Crystal
Primordial Artifact Fragment
Frasium
Corundum Powder Reinforced Hollinium
(hand, chest, legs, head) 52-54 Carbonic Crystal
Primordial Artifact Fragment
Frasium
Corundum Powder Light Armor Orange sets Anointed Hypercloth
(bracers, belt, boots) 52-54 Primordial Artifact Fragment
Carbonic Crystal
Frasium
Corundum Powder Consular Expert
(chest, legs, hand, head)
Knight/Consular only 52 Primordial Artifact Fragment
Carbonic Crystal
Hypercloth/Frasium
Corundum Powder Sorcerer Expert
(chest, legs, hand, head)
Warrior/Inquisitor only 52 Primordial Artifact Fragment
Carbonic Crystal
Hypercloth/Frasium
Corundum Powder Unusual Brocart
(hand, chest, legs, head) 52-54 Primordial Artifact Fragment
Carbonic Crystal
Frasium
Corundum Powder Medium Armor Orange sets Resilient Mythra
(bracers, belt, boots) 52-54 Carbonic Crystal
Primordial Artifact Fragment
Frasium
Corundum Powder Polished Marauder
(chest, legs, hand, head)
Warrior/Agent only 52 Carbonic Crystal
Primordial Artifact Fragment
Hypercloth/Frasium
Corundum Powder Polished Sentinel
(chest, legs, hand, head)
Knight/Smuggler only 52 Carbonic Crystal
Primordial Artifact Fragment
Hypercloth/Frasium
Corundum Powder Ablative Turadium
(hand, chest, legs, head) 52-54 Carbonic Crystal
Primordial Artifact Fragment
Frasium
Corundum Powder Crafted armor preview
Armormech
Details SelectShow> Trainer Schematics No schematics for Augment 24, 25 sold via trainer
There is a MK-9 Augmentation Kit, which probably use Augment 27 but there is no schematic sold via trainer
Unlike Synthweaving, there are no new orange sets. Schematic Level Materials Note Augments 2 Mythra
2 Turadium
2 Tricopper Flux Absorb Augment 23 51 MK-7 slot or greater Reflex Augment 23 51 MK-7 slot or greater Shield Augment 23 51 MK-7 slot or greater Skill Augment 23 51 MK-7 slot or greater Absorb Augment 26 53 MK-8 slot or greater Reflex Augment 26 53 MK-8 slot or greater Shield Augment 26 53 MK-8 slot or greater Skill Augment 26 53 MK-8 slot or greater Augmentation Kit MK-7 Augmentation Kit MK-8 Augmentation Kit MK-9
Armstech
Details SelectShow> Trainer Schematics No schematics for Augment 24, 25 sold via trainer
There is a MK-9 Augmentation Kit, which probably use Augment 27 but there is no schematic sold via trainer
No schematics for Barrel 26, 27 sold via trainer Schematic Level Materials Note Augments 2 Mythra
2 Turadium
2 Tricopper Flux Accuracy Augment 23 51 MK-7 slot or greater Critical Augment 23 51 MK-7 slot or greater Fortitude Augment 23 51 MK-7 slot or greater Overkill Augment 23 51 MK-7 slot or greater Surge Augment 23 51 MK-7 slot or greater Accuracy Augment 26 53 MK-8 slot or greater Critical Augment 26 53 MK-8 slot or greater Fortitude Augment 26 53 MK-8 slot or greater Overkill Augment 26 53 MK-8 slot or greater Surge Augment 26 53 MK-8 slot or greater Augmentation Kit MK-7 Augmentation Kit MK-8 Augmentation Kit MK-9 Barrels 2 Mythra
2 Turadium
2 Tricopper Flux Commando Barrel 25 52 Patrol Barrel 25 52 Reflex Barrel 25 52 Skill Barrel 25 52 Commando Barrel 28 55 Patrol Barrel 28 55 Reflex Barrel 28 55 Skill Barrel 28 55 Weapons (Orange) Ion-XX Crusader 54 6 Mythra
4 Turadium
2 Tricopper Flux Assault Cannon Ion-XX Blaster 54 4 Mythra
6 Turadium
2 Tricopper Flux Blaster Pistol Night Watch Rifle 54 4 Mythra
6 Turadium
2 Tricopper Flux Blaster Rifle C-32 Frag Storm Shotgun 54 4 Mythra
6 Turadium
2 Tricopper Flux Scattergun Camouflaged Sniper 54 4 Mythra
6 Turadium
2 Tricopper Flux Sniper Rifle Blade of Zealous Lethality 54 4 Mythra
6 Turadium
2 Tricopper Flux Vibroknife
Cybertech
Details SelectShow> Trainer Schematics No schematics for Armoring/Mod 26/27 sold via trainer Schematic Level Materials Note Armoring 2 Mythra
2 Turadium
2 Tricopper Flux Commando Armoring 25 52 Force Wielder Armoring 25 52 Guardian Armoring 25 52 Might Armoring 25 52 Patrol Armoring 25 52 Reflex Armoring 25 52 Resolve Armoring 25 52 Skill Armoring 25 52 Commando Armoring 25 55 Force Wielder Armoring 25 55 Guardian Armoring 25 55 Might Armoring 25 55 Patrol Armoring 25 55 Reflex Armoring 25 55 Resolve Armoring 25 55 Skill Armoring 25 55 Mod 2 Mythra
2 Turadium
2 Tricopper Flux Agile Mod 25A 52 Aim, + Power Aptitude Mod 25A 52 Willpower, + Power Artful Mod 25A 52 Cunning, + Power Deft Mod 25A 52 Strength, + Power Keen Mod 25A 52 Cunning, + Crit Rating Mettle Mod 25A 52 Willpower, + Crit Rating Nimble Mod 25A 52 Aim, + Crit Rating Potent Mod 25A 52 Strength, + Crit Rating Deflecting Mod 25B 52 Aim, +Defense Rating Elusive Mod 25B 52 Strength, +Defense Rating Reinforced Mod 25B 52 Willpower, +Defense Rating Resilient Mod 25B 52 Strength, + Absorption Robust Mod 25B 52 Willpower, + Absorption Weighted Mod 25B 52 Aim, + Absorption Agile Mod 28A 55 Aim, + Power Aptitude Mod 28A 55 Willpower, + Power Artful Mod 28A 55 Cunning, + Power Deft Mod 28A 55 Strength, + Power Keen Mod 28A 55 Cunning, + Crit Rating Mettle Mod 28A 55 Willpower, + Crit Rating Nimble Mod 28A 55 Aim, + Crit Rating Potent Mod 28A 55 Strength, + Crit Rating Deflecting Mod 28B 55 Aim, +Defense Rating Elusive Mod 28B 55 Strength, +Defense Rating Reinforced Mod 28B 55 Willpower, +Defense Rating Resilient Mod 28B 55 Strength, + Absorption Robust Mod 28B 55 Willpower, + Absorption Weighted Mod 28B 55 Aim, + Absorption Ear L52 green ear 52 6 Mythra
8 Turadium
4 Tricopper Flux L54 green ear 54 6 Mythra
8 Turadium
4 Tricopper Flux Grenades 6 Mythra
4 Turadium
4 Frasium
4 Tricopper Flux Prototype V-6 Cartel Waste Grenade 54 1620-1980 damage to 5 targets within 6m. Reduces movevement speed by 70% for 9 seconds. 180s CD Prototype V-6 Electro-Stun Grenade 54 Shock 3 targets for 477-583 energy damage and stun them. 180s CD Prototype V-6 Pyro Grenade |
film resides; in these tender and unbelievably heart-wrenching moments that we would normally not see or would normally be colored brightly in order for us to avoid getting too emotional.
Another devastating scene comes during one of the video diaries Gleason makes for Rivers, during the final days where he could actually speak. Gleason tells his son that his dad is having a real bad day and can feel his speaking abilities begin to slip away. He finally begins to break down, saying that he can't talk and he can't even punch something out of anger; the only thing he can do is scream, and soon enough, he won't even be able to do that ever again either.
These, and many, many more, are why I dub Gleason one of the saddest, most emotionally effecting films I've ever seen. It's a documentary for the ages in the way it shows an ugly, unfair disease simply eat away at a once thriving, able body, and juxtaposes the life of a newborn baby to the life of its father in the way that both are essentially treated and cared for in the same way due to personal inabilities. There are scenes and moments in this documentary that are raw and personal that effectively make the entire documentary unforgettable.
Directed by: Clay Tweel. I've seen nearly 3,000 films in my day, so with that in mind, I've obviously sat through sad and painful ones as well. That's why I do not say lightly that, the new documentary about New Orleans Saints defensive back Steve Gleason who is living with ALS, is one of the saddest, most emotionally painful films I've ever sat through. Despite that, it might just be the most important film you see all year, if you make the right choice.This is one of the best, most compelling films of the year on many levels, but mostly for being the first of its kind in the realm of a real-time, unflinching look at the endless horrors and trials that Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, "Lou Gehrig's disease) has on a person. It's a neurological disorder that causes gradual deterioration of the brain's ability to communicate with the body's muscles, to the point where, over a period of just a couple of years, a person's ability to speak, swallow, move, and even breathe are taken away. ALS victims often remain confined to a scooter-chair to remain mobile, and communicate by spelling words out on a computer via eye movements if they're so fortunate.Gleason found out he had ALS three years after he retired from professional football. Now living with his wife Michel, Gleason also discovered his wife was pregnant with their first child shortly after his diagnosis. From that moment, Gleason promised both his wife and his unborn child - through a prolific series of intimate video logs that Gleason directed himself - that he would not give up his fight to live and overcome ALS. He wouldn't raise a white flag in defeat even when there were more bad days than good. Rather than the usual, "quality of life" argument that comes into play with these situations, Gleason never wanted to give up, so long as his wife and child were by his side.In practically real-time chronology, we watch as Gleason's physical state deteriorates. The first to go is his ability to run, then walk, then even get up or get out of bed by himself. Eventually, his speech becomes more burdened with a lisp and general difficulties in pronunciation, which is where a thousand-dollar computer machine Gleason can operate with eye movements comes in. But finally, the inevitable happens - Gleason can't even walk or talk, and eventually his ability to cough and go to the bathroom is hindered immensely.Through all of this pain and heartbreak is Michel, who becomes responsible for taking care of both her husband and their son Rivers once he is born. Gleason's own physical handicaps aren't the only ones we witness during the course of this documentary. In addition, Michel loses some weight, spends long days and nights feeding both Steve and Rivers. She calls on a few friends for assistance, but mostly, especially when things become very ugly, she's the one taking care of and attending to the needs of Steve. One heartbreaking scene has them laying in their separate beds, with Michel struggling to stay awake and Steve using his computer to tell his wife that he notices that she's recently lacked compassion and that he wants to know what he can do to help.The sad thing, that both Steve and Michel know, is that there is really nothing Steve can do to ease the pressure off of his wife. In the meantime, Steve works on establishing "Team Gleason," a fundraiser to help those with ALS with two very specific goals. Rather than continuing to funnel money into research with little to questionable results, Gleason puts his money towards equipping those with ALS with text-to-speech computers that Medicare initially refused to cover, as well as getting ALS victims to enjoy life despite their condition by funding trips all over the world.This little element helps us ignore the undeniable privilege Steve and Michel have throughout the entire time with this disease. While Steve's condition is tragic, the access to care he has - coupled with his ability to afford great doctors, equipment, and top-of-the-line treatment, inevitably makes this an atypical story of suffering from such a debilitating disease. At least with Team Gleason, Gleason and his wife have recognized that, especially in a country with such a crazy and complex healthcare system, and attempt to do something about it.is truly remarkable in how much access director Clay Tweel is allowed in the life of Gleason from day one. Where we would assume Tweel's camera would turn away - during Gleason's crying fits, difficulties going to the bathroom, and moments of anger between him and his father regarding the way his father judges his son on his faith - Tweel lingers on those moments to paint the truly horrifying and saddening picture. This is where all the emotion and heartbreak in the film resides; in these tender and unbelievably heart-wrenching moments that we would normally not see or would normally be colored brightly in order for us to avoid getting too emotional.Another devastating scene comes during one of the video diaries Gleason makes for Rivers, during the final days where he could actually speak. Gleason tells his son that his dad is having a real bad day and can feel his speaking abilities begin to slip away. He finally begins to break down, saying that he can't talk and he can't even punch something out of anger; the only thing he can do is scream, and soon enough, he won't even be able to do that ever again either.These, and many, many more, are why I dubone of the saddest, most emotionally effecting films I've ever seen. It's a documentary for the ages in the way it shows an ugly, unfair disease simply eat away at a once thriving, able body, and juxtaposes the life of a newborn baby to the life of its father in the way that both are essentially treated and cared for in the same way due to personal inabilities. There are scenes and moments in this documentary that are raw and personal that effectively make the entire documentary unforgettable.Directed by: Clay Tweel.The Monty Hall Problem Demystified
Bernard Frankel Blocked Unblock Follow Following Jul 2, 2017
The controversy regarding this infamous problem, started on the ever so fateful day of September 9, 1990. When Marilyn vos Savant, a columnist for Parade Magazine, and the person recorded as having the highest IQ ever recorded (Guiness Book of World Records), received the following letter from a reader:
“Suppose you’re on a game show, and you’re given the choice of three doors. Behind one door is a car, behind the others, goats. You pick a door, say #1, and the host, who knows what’s behind the doors, opens another door, say #3, which has a goat. He says to you, “Do you want to pick door #2?” Is it to your advantage to switch your choice of doors?”
Craig F. Whitaker
Columbia, Maryland
There is also a rather cool explanation of this problem from the movie “21”, which I’ve linked below:
Goats are funny creatures.
What would you do? Majority of people would think it would make no difference to switch because the chances of winning between door 1 and door 2 is still 50/50 or that the game show host is attempting to get you to pick a door with a goat. According to this study, when people encountered this problem for the first time they only switched 12% of the time. However, staying with your original choice will not be in your best interests, as I’ll explain below.
We can actually calculate the differences between always switching and not switching. Just to clarify, these are the rules:
The player will choose a door first, but will not open it immediately
The host, knowing where the car and goats are located, will always open a different door to the player, with a goat behind it, thereby revealing one one of the goat’s position.
After the host has opened one of the doors, he or she will then ask you if you would like to switch doors or stay with your original choice.
A Simpler Way of Looking At The Problem
The Enigmatic Table of Truth
Notice from the Enigmatic Table of Truth, that at the start, I have a total of
1/3 + 1/3 = 2/3 chance of picking a goat the first time I choose a door.
If I pick a door with a goat behind it, the host will then have to choose another door that also has a goat behind it. After this happens, the remaining door will be the one with the car behind it. This occurs with a 2/3 probability. Therefore, unless I really hate cars, I really should choose to switch.
However, 1/3 of the time, I’ll pick the door with the car behind it. Then the host will choose a door with a goat behind it, and then the remaining door will have a goat behind it as well and if I swap, I will lose (this will only 1/3 of the time).
Why do we think that it makes no difference if we switch?
We assume that switching only gives a 50% chance of winning. Which would be true if we had no extra information, however we received new information from the host, when he eliminated one of the doors with the goat. This changed the probabilities.
Basically, the fact that we have a 2/3 chance of picking a door with a goat at the outset, is actually to our benefit if we always switch. This is because if we pick a door with a goat, then the host will eliminate the remaining door, which means that the last door that is left over will have the car behind it.
Makes a bit more sense now, right?
Is your intuition a bit like, “What? That doesn’t make sense!”? Then continue reading below.
A More Rigorous Way of Looking At The Problem by Using That Magical Formula Called Baye’s Theorem
Remembering the rules stipulated earlier on, what we want to do to is figure out this problem using Baye’s Theorem.
Omg, what is Baye’s Theorem?
Baye’s Theorem is a way of calculating the probability of an event occurring, based on information of any conditions that are related to that event. This is helpful, because we can calculate whether we should switch doors, after the host opens a door with a goat behind it.
FYI: If you want to know how Baye’s Theorem is derived, you can go to the end of the article for an explanation.
Using the magical Baye’s Theorem
We can use Baye’s Theorem to calculate the probabilities. Take note of the following:
C1 = Car is behind door 1
C2 = Car is behind door 2
C3 = Car is behind door 3
H1 = Host opens door 1
H2 = Host opens door 2
H3 = Host opens door 3
The expression P(H3|C1), means the probability of the host opening door 3 (H3), given that the car is behind door 1 (C1)
Scenario: We initially choose door 1 and the host then opens door 3.
What is the probability that the host will open door 3 considering the events C1, C2 and C3?
If we originally chose door 1 (C1), and the car is behind door 1, then there is 1/2 probability of the host choosing either door 2 or door 3, therefore:
If we originally chose door 1, and the car is behind door 2 (C2), then the host can only choose door 3, therefore:
If we originally chose door 1, and the car is behind door 3 (C3), then the host cannot choose door 3, therefore:
Remember we are trying to figure out if it’s in our interest to switch doors from our original choice.
Knowing the above probabilities, what is the probability of P(C1|H3)?
All we have to do is just substitute the values in:
Substitute the values in.
P(H3) is just the sum of the probabilities of three different situations involving H3.
In other words, it is just the probability of the host choosing door 3, given that the car is behind either door 1, door 2 or door 3. i.e:
After substituting we get the following:
P(C1) = Chance of having the car behind door 1 (The doors all have a 1/3 chance of having the car behind them initially)
This means that sticking with door 1 will yield a 1/3 chance of winning the car.
Now let’s see what our chances of winning will be if we had to switch to door 2:
If we switch to door 2, we have a 2/3 probability of winning. As you can see, it’s in our interest to switch doors as we have a 66.67% chance of winning, versus 33.33% chance if we do not switch.
Conclusion:
It’s always beneficial that you switch because you will have a 66.67% versus a 33.33% chance of winning that sports car, unless you would prefer a fluffy goat of course.
Deriving The Magical Baye’s Theorem
So you want to know how to derive Baye’s Theorem? No problem! We start off with the conditional probability formula, which is formula that allows us to calculate the probability of event A occurring, given that event B occured. See below:
Conditional probability formula
A = Event A occurs
B = Event B occurs
So, P(A|B) reads like so — if event B occurs, what is the probability of event A occurring. On the right hand side of the formula above, the “P(A ∩B)” in the numerator is read as the probability of A and B both occurring. The denominator, as you might have of guessed, reads — what is the probability of B occurring.
So take the conditional probability formula and multiply P(B) on both sides to get this:
Multiply both sides by P(B), to get the above.
Now, lets switch it around, what is the probability of B occurring, if A has occurred?
Well, we just re-write the first equation by swapping the A’s and B’s around and then multiply by P(A), like so:
Note, the following:
This makes intuitive sense, the same as saying 1+2 = 2+1. (See commutative property)
Therefore, the following is true:
If P(B ∩A)=P(A ∩B), then P(B|A)P(A) = P(A|B)P(B), knowing this we can therefore substitute and get the following:
This re-arranges to what is known as Baye’s Theorem
And that’s how you derive Baye’s Theorem!
If you enjoyed this article, found it interesting or learnt something new please click the ❤!Apple says it's not to blame for a series of exploding iPods and iPhones, according to a report published on Friday. The company has been under fire, so to speak, for devices overheating and shattering across Europe and the U.K.
Sheesh...and you thought the data rates were bad.
Exploding iPhone Investigation
This exploding iPhone business is no laughing matter: The European Union actually launched a formal inquiry last week after a teen in France said his girlfriend's iPhone screen blew up without warning and sent a shard of glass into his eye. Witnesses told a local paper the phone began to "crackle and pop like a deep-fryer" (only, we assume, without the delicious smell).
The France incident wasn't alone, either: It was preceded by a handful of other reports of exploding Apple devices in Europe and the U.K. In one instance, a man claimed Apple tried to keep him from talking by offering a full refund in exchange for his signature on a gag order. He reportedly refused, instead bringing the alleged smoking gun to the U.K.'s Times newspaper.
The Blame Game
So if Apple's not to blame for the detonating devices, who is? The company now says it's the customers, claiming some sort of improper handling led to the explosions.
"In all cases, the glass cracked due to an external force that was applied to the iPhone," a London-based spokesperson tells Bloomberg.
That explanation seems to contradict the statement by the teen from France, who's quoted by the AP as saying his girlfriend's phone "was not dropped and experienced no unusual shock" before its sudden combustion. (To be fair, applying some sort of "external force" could have been a "usual" occurrence for the couple. Interpret as you will.)
Either way, the investigation doesn't appear to be over. Apple reps met with French government officials to talk about the complaints and "possible measures" that could be taken, the AP reports, and independent experts from the U.S. are said to be conducting further tests as well.
Of course, you could always just side with the satirists and point the finger at Apple's "oppressive regime." Hey, it's your call.
JR Raphael swims in satire at eSarcasm, his new geek humor site. You can follow his often odd thoughts on Twitter: @jr_raphael.
This story, "Apple: Exploding iPhones Not Our Fault " was originally published by PCWorld.On Fox News Sunday, Sen. John McCain said that regarding the "bridge to nowhere" project, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin "stood up and said, 'We don't need it. And if we need it, we'll pay for it ourselves.' " Chris Wallace did not note in response that during her 2006 gubernatorial campaign, Palin reportedly supported the proposal to build a bridge between Ketchikan, Alaska, and Gravina Island and suggested that Alaska's congressional delegation should continue to try to procure funding for the project.
On the August 31 broadcast of Fox News Sunday, host Chris Wallace did not challenge Sen. John McCain's claim that his presumptive running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, opposed the "bridge to nowhere" project in Alaska. McCain told Wallace: "We fought against, frankly, the same adversaries, the same challenges. Look, we couldn't get the bridge to nowhere out, although we tried. People like [Sen.] Tom Coburn [R-OK] and me.... She [Palin], as governor, stood up and said, 'We don't need it. And if we need it, we'll pay for it ourselves.' " But Wallace did not note that during her 2006 gubernatorial campaign, Palin reportedly supported the proposal to build a bridge between Ketchikan, Alaska, and Gravina Island and suggested that Alaska's congressional delegation should continue to try to procure funding for the project, which was authorized by the federal government in 2005 but never appropriated. By contrast, when Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) asserted on the August 31 broadcast of ABC's This Week that Palin "has done things that [Sen.] Barack Obama would never dream of, to go in her state and say, 'I'm not going to build a bridge to nowhere,' " host George Stephanopoulos responded: " But, Senator, she turned against that only -- she campaigned for it in her 2006 race and turned against it in 2007 only after it became a national joke."
Additionally, Wallace did not challenge McCain's assertion that he doesn't "particularly enjoy the label'maverick,' " even though McCain released a TV ad -- approved by McCain -- declaring him to be "the original maverick."
Contrary to McCain's claim that Palin said of the bridge, "We don't need it. And if we need it, we'll pay for it ourselves," in a questionnaire published in the October 22, 2006, Anchorage Daily News (accessed from the Nexis database), then-gubernatorial candidate Palin answered the question, "Would you continue state funding for the proposed Knik Arm and Gravina Island bridges?" by writing: "Yes. I would like to see Alaska's infrastructure projects built sooner rather than later. The window is now -- while our congressional delegation is in a strong position to assist."
Additionally, Palin reportedly addressed the issue at an October 4, 2006, gubernatorial forum hosted by Alaska Conservation Voters. An October 5, 2006, Anchorage Daily News article provided the following account of a question and Palin's response at the forum:
As for the infamous "bridges to nowhere," [debate moderator Steve] MacDonald asked if the candidates would forge ahead with the proposed Knik Arm crossing between Anchorage and Point MacKenzie and Ketchikan's Gravina Island bridge. Each has received more than $90 million in federal funding and drew nationwide attacks as being unnecessary and expensive. He also asked if they support building an access road from Juneau toward -- but not completely connecting to -- Skagway and Haines. "I do support the infrastructure projects that are on tap here in the state of Alaska that our congressional delegations worked hard for," Palin said. She said the projects link communities and create jobs. Still, Palin warned that the flow of federal money into the state for such projects is going to slow.
Alaskans for Truth in Politics, a 527 group whose mission is "to inform Alaska's residents with comprehensive political information needed to make critical voting decisions and to monitor and archive all political action and discussion in the state of Alaska," provides a transcript of what it said was the specific question McDonald asked the candidates during the forum:
They've been dubbed the bridges to nowhere. Federal Government has given AK millions of dollars to begin planning and building a bridge across knik arm fjords and another bridge to gravina island. Also, the Murkowski administration wants to build a road from Juneau out along Glen Canal, with better access to Skagway and Haines. As Governor would you go along with these projects?
The website also provides video of what it said was Palin's response to the question:
Well, I do support the infrastructure projects that are on tap here in the state of Alaska that our congressional delegation has worked hard for. Provisions -- anyway, seed money that is coming into this state for these projects. Linkages between our communities, links to access, to potential, to opportunity that should lead to good jobs, ultimately, for Alaskans, that's what these infrastructure projects are to be provided as: tools run by the government for the private sector, for our families to be able to grow and thrive, and that's the purpose of these infrastructure projects. I do agree, though, with both candidates here and their concerns about the priorities, the dollars that are not going to be free-flowing in such a generous, liberal amount, from the feds, as we've been so blessed with in the past. But that's reality. We won't be seeing that flow of money to the degree that we have, is my prediction. So, it's going to take a matter of working with the legislature, those who hold the purse strings here in the state of Alaska -- not working against the legislature, but working with them -- to prioritize state dollars to be used in addition to the federal dollars. But I do support infrastructure projects here in the state.
Further, in a September 21, 2007, press release, Palin specifically cited the unwillingness of Congress to provide sufficient funds for the project -- "[d]espite the work of our congressional delegation" -- in explaining why she had "directed the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities to look for the most fiscally responsible alternative for access to the Ketchikan airport and Gravina Island instead of proceeding any further with the proposed $398 million bridge":
"Ketchikan desires a better way to reach the airport, but the $398 million bridge is not the answer," said Governor Palin. "Despite the work of our congressional delegation, we are about $329 million short of full funding for the bridge project, and it's clear that Congress has little interest in spending any more money on a bridge between Ketchikan and Gravina Island," Governor Palin added. "Much of the public's attitude toward Alaska bridges is based on inaccurate portrayals of the projects here. But we need to focus on what we can do, rather than fight over what has happened."
In an August 31 article headlined "Palin touts stance on 'Bridge to Nowhere,' doesn't note flip-flop," the Anchorage Daily News reported:
When John McCain introduced Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate Friday, her reputation as a tough-minded budget-cutter was front and center. "I told Congress, thanks but no thanks on that bridge to nowhere," Palin told the cheering McCain crowd, referring to Ketchikan's Gravina Island bridge. But Palin was for the Bridge to Nowhere before she was against it. The Alaska governor campaigned in 2006 on a build-the-bridge platform, telling Ketchikan residents she felt their pain when politicians called them "nowhere." They're still feeling pain today in Ketchikan, over Palin's subsequent decision to use the bridge funds for other projects -- and over the timing of her announcement, which they say came in a pre-dawn press release that seemed aimed at national news deadlines. [...] In September, 2006, Palin showed up in Ketchikan on her gubernatorial campaign and said the bridge was essential for the town's prosperity. She said she could feel the town's pain at being derided as a "nowhere" by prominent politicians, noting that her home town, Wasilla, had recently been insulted by the state Senate president, Ben Stevens. "OK, you've got Valley trash standing here in the middle of nowhere," Palin said, according to an account in the Ketchikan Daily News. "I think we're going to make a good team as we progress that bridge project." One year later, Ketchikan's Republican leaders said they were blindsided by Palin's decision to pull the plug. Palin spokeswoman Sharon Leighow said Saturday that as projected costs for the Ketchikan bridge rose to nearly $400 million, administration officials were telling Ketchikan that the project looked less likely. Local leaders shouldn't have been surprised when Palin announced she was turning to less-costly alternatives, Leighow said. Indeed, Leighow produced a report quoting Palin, late in the governor's race, indicating she would also consider alternatives to a bridge.
In addition, in assessing Palin's August 29 claim that "I told Congress, 'Thanks, but no thanks,' on that bridge to nowhere," PolitiFact.com reported:
The project also raised bitter debate in Congress, and several attempts were made to yank the funding for the project. In the fall of 2005, Congress removed the language specifically directing the money to the bridge, but it kept the money in place and left it up to Alaska to decide which transportation projects the state would like to spend it on. By the time Palin pulled the plug on the Gravina bridge project in September 2007, much of the federal funding for the bridge had already been diverted to other transportation projects. [...] When Palin says "I told Congress, 'Thanks, but no thanks,' on that bridge to nowhere," it implies Congress said, "Here's a check for that bridge" and she responded, "No thanks, that's wasteful spending; here's your money back." That's not what happened. Fact is, Alaska took the bridge money, and then just spent it on other projects. Palin did make the final call to kill plans for the bridge, but by the time she did it was no longer a politically viable project.
From the August 31 broadcast of Fox Broadcasting Co.'s Fox News Sunday:
WALLACE: Let's start with your choice of a running mate. Of all the people you could have chosen, of all the Republicans leaders you've known for years -- straight talk -- can you honestly say that Sarah Palin is the best person to put a heartbeat away from the presidency? McCAIN: Oh, yeah. She's a partner and a soul mate. She -- she's a reformer. I don't particularly enjoy the label "maverick," but when somebody takes on the old bulls in her own party, runs against an incumbent governor of her own party, stands up against the oil and gas interests -- I mean, they really are so vital to the economy of her -- of the state of Alaska. I mean, it's remarkable. It's a remarkable person, and I've watched her record and I've watched her for many, many years as she implemented ethics in lobbying reforms. And, I mean, she led on it. She didn't just vote for it. She led it. I've seen her take on her own party. Look, one thing I know is that when you take on your own party in Washington, you pay a price for it. You do. You pay a price for it. And she's taken on the party in her own state. She take -- she took on a sitting governor and defeated him. And so I've -- I'm so pleased and proud because this is a person who will help me reform Washington and change the way they do business. And that's what Americans want. WALLACE: But let me ask you -- McCAIN: Sure. WALLACE: -- about the concerns that a lot of voters -- McCAIN: Sure. WALLACE: -- who had never heard of Sarah Palin before yesterday are asking. Compared to, say, Tom Ridge or Joe Lieberman, why is Governor Palin superior in dealing with national security and foreign policy? [...] WALLACE: You talked to her on the phone last Sunday, and you met with her face-to-face -- face-to-face for the first time to discuss the vice-presidential pick Thursday morning, and then you offered her the job. Must have been a heck of a meeting. McCAIN: Well, the fact is, I've been watching her. I mean, look, what she's been doing in Alaska -- let's have some straight talk -- has affected the representation in Washington, D.C. We fought against, frankly, the same adversaries, the same challenges. Look, we couldn't get the bridge to nowhere out, although we tried. People like Tom Coburn and me -- WALLACE: This is the big pork-barrel project. McCAIN: Yeah, the pork-barrel project. Two hundred and thirty-three million dollar bridge in Alaska to an island with 50 people on it. She, as governor, stood up and said, "We don't need it. And if we need it, we'll pay for it ourselves." Now that's, that's guts. I saw that, and I said, "This, this is what we need in Washington." WALLACE: Senator, I want to turn to the Democratic convention.
From the August 31 broadcast of ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos:PRETORIA, The South African Department of Basic Education has welcomed the judgment handed down in the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg that public schools cannot promote just one religion.
This ruling is consistent with the department's own policy informed by South African Schools Act and the Constitution that no one religion should be promoted above another, the department said here Wednesday, adding that it would study the judgment in detail.
The case was brought by the Organization for Religious Education and Democracy (OGOD) which argued that there is religious bias in South African public schools while trade union Solidarity -- which represents the six schools the case was brought against -- argued that the Constitution allows public schools to identify with one religion and promote it.
The department did not oppose the relief sought by the applicants.
Handing down the judgment, Judge Van der Linde said: "Religious observances may be conducted at State or State-aided institutions, provided that a) those observances follow rules made by the appropriate public authorities; b) they are conducted on an equitable basis; and c), attendance at them is free and voluntary."
The department has reiterated that the aim of the ruling is not to ban religious practices in schools but about protecting children and emphasising that schools should engage in religion education rather than religious instruction and not promote one religion over another.
No change will take place as a result of this judgment and it will continue to be business as usual for the DBE as the court merely reinforced and emphasized our existing policy in terms of religion in schools, the department said, while reminding School Governing Bodies to review their rules to ensure that they are in compliance with the legislation.
Source: NAM NEWS NETWORKThe fight to defend Britain’s National Health Service
28 January 2013
Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) is suffering death by a thousand cuts and faces wholesale privatisation.
The Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition has demanded a £20 billion cut by 2015 from an overall budget of £108 billion—a reduction that is impossible without slashing essential life-saving services.
So far, only £6 billion in cuts have been made—mostly one-off savings. Much worse is to follow. But staff levels are already being cut by as much as 20 percent and new labour contracts are being imposed with lower wages and higher workloads.
Accident and Emergency departments (over 30 nationally), children’s units and other wards and facilities are closing—justified by claims that services and medical procedures can be better provided in specialised units. There are no guarantees that such specialised units will not be swamped by demand, or that lives will not be lost due to the distances involved. Yet the medical director of the NHS, Sir Bruce Keogh, dismisses broad opposition to these changes as pressure to “inhibit excellence” and “perpetuate mediocrity.”
The Health and Social Care Act allows private companies to provide health care under the auspices of the NHS and comes in to effect in April 2013. However, this will only escalate a process already underway. The NHS is being bled dry by innumerable private corporations that are fleecing the taxpayer while care is either rationed or denied outright to the chronically ill and the most vulnerable members of society.
On November 13, 2011, Circle Health became the first private corporation to run an NHS hospital. In October 2012, a Freedom of Information request found that in one week alone contracts were signed taking more than 400 community services out of the NHS, including ambulance services, diagnostic testing, podiatry and adult hearing.
Doctors warned that the NHS was being “atomised”, with over 100 health care firms now providing basic care under Any Qualified Provider rules. Some private companies already earn up to £200 million a year each from NHS-funded work.
Sixty NHS Trusts face being declared bankrupt in the next four years, threatening hospitals with “rationalisation” or closure. To fend off this threat, trusts must cut budgets and ration or deny treatments declared to be “of limited clinical value”. Nearly one in five hip replacements and hernia repairs are already handled by private companies. Soon they will have to be paid for.
Cold hard cash is a major factor in the drive to first gut and then privatise the NHS. It will open up massive revenue streams for private medicine, which previously made up just 8 percent of the health sector and was for decades almost entirely parasitic—a form of glorified queue-jumping for the better-off, using NHS taxpayer-funded facilities and doctors trained at public expense.
The NHS is hated by the ruling class as a symbol of everything they were forced to grant the working class in Britain in the post-war period—the “cradle to grave” welfare reforms—in order to placate demands for social change.
It is even now an object of hatred for the political and business elite in the United States, where bitter denunciations of “socialised medicine” conceal the fact that the NHS is still, thanks to being free at the point of delivery and based on clinical need and not the ability to pay, one of the best in the world for the standard of care provided, while America is one of the worst. This is despite spending nearly £5,000 per capita in the US, compared with just over £2,000 in the UK.
These figures provide some indication of the quality of health care that could be provided under a truly socialist health system, integrated into a socialist economy in which the corporations and banks were publicly owned and democratically controlled.
Working people depend on the NHS for their lives and health and want to fight for it. But, as with all fundamental tasks workers face—the defence of jobs, wages, essential services and benefits—this desire is thwarted at every turn by the trade unions and parties once associated with such struggles.
The Labour Party presided over the creation of the NHS in 1948, but spent 13 years in office from 1997 on undermining it. Privatisation by stealth first began in 1989 with the introduction of the “internal market” by Margaret Thatcher. However, it was the last Labour government that encouraged outsourcing of medical services and used the Private Finance Initiative to build hospitals that cost multiple times their initial outlay, saddling these institutions with massive debts for facilities that often had up to 28 percent fewer beds. Labour is now seeking to pose once again as the friend of the NHS, but this is a worthless fraud.
As for the trade unions, none of them has lifted a finger in defence of jobs and services—confining workers to signing petitions, writing letters to MPs, and participating in campaigns to keep open this or that hospital or unit so that the axe falls somewhere else.
How could it be otherwise? The universal experience of workers the world over is that social democratic parties have become indistinguishable from their conservative counterparts, while the trade unions stifle and betray any and all expressions of resistance to government austerity measures, corporate downsizing and speed-up.
In Greece, the social democratic PASOK and the Democratic Left sit in government with the conservative New Democracy, presiding over austerity measures that include the near-total collapse of public health care.
The Socialist Equality Party in the UK has initiated the NHS FightBack Campaign, based upon the independent political mobilisation of the working class. The SEP campaign insists:
“The defence of health care and every other basic social right can be taken forward only through a break from the unions and the Labour Party. Action committees must be formed by patients, hospital staff and the workers and youth whose lives and health are being jeopardised. The |
, most of whom contributed to the project on a volunteer basis. But not all changes to the OpenSSL software are written by these 15 people. Rather, these developers help to filter and organize suggested changes from a larger community of people who make occasional contributions.
Considering that high-profile commercial software projects often have dozens or even hundreds of people working on them, it's not surprising that the OpenSSL team didn't notice the subtle Heartbleed bug when they introduced a new version of the software in 2012.
After the Heartbleed bug was discovered, several large tech companies pooled their resources to fund greater efforts to secure OpenSSL and other open source software that forms the internet's core infrastructure.
How does the Heartbleed attack work?
The SSL standard includes a "heartbeat" option, which provides a way for a computer at one end of the SSL connection to double-check that there's still someone at the other end of the line. This feature is useful because some internet routers will drop a connection if it's idle for too long. In a nutshell, the heartbeat protocol works like this:
The heartbeat message has three parts: a request for acknowledgement, a short, randomly-chosen message (in this case, "banana"), and the number of characters in that message. The server is simply supposed to acknowledge having received the request and parrot back the message.
The Heartbleed attack takes advantage of the fact that the server can be too trusting. When someone tells it that the message has 6 characters, the server automatically sends back 6 characters in response. A malicious user can take take advantage of the server's gullibility:
Obviously, the word "giraffe" isn't 100 characters long. But the server doesn't bother to check before sending back its response, so it sends back 100 characters. Specifically, it sends back the 7-character word "giraffe" followed by whichever 93 characters happen to be stored after the word "giraffe" in the server's memory. Computers often store information in a haphazard order in an effort to pack it into its memory as tightly as possible, so there's no telling what information might be returned. In this case, the bit of memory after the word "giraffe" contained sensitive personal information belonging to user John Smith.
In the real Heartbleed attack, the attacker doesn't just ask for 100 characters. The attacker can ask for around 64,000 characters of plain text. And it doesn't just ask once, it can send malicious heartbeat messages over and over again, allowing the attacker to get back different fragments of the server's memory each time. In the process, it can gain a wealth of data that was never intended to be available to the public.
The fix for this problem is easy: the server just needs to be less trusting. Rather than blindly sending back as much data as is requested, the server needs to check that it's not being asked to send back more characters than it received in the first place. That's exactly what OpenSSL's fix for the Heartbleed Bug does.
Who discovered the vulnerability?
It was discovered independently by researchers at Codenomicon and Google Security. Codenomicon created a user-friendly website about the vulnerability, helping to rapidly spread awareness.
To minimize the damage from the disclosure, the researchers worked with the OpenSSL team and other key insiders to prepare fixes before the problem was announced publicly.
How did the Heartbleed bug get added to OpenSSL?
The flawed code was added to the experimental version of SSL at the end of 2011 and released to the public in March 2012. The flawed software patch was submitted by a German man named Robin Seggelmann.
"I was working on improving OpenSSL and submitted numerous bug fixes and added new features," he told the Sydney Morning Herald. "In one of the new features, unfortunately, I missed validating a variable containing a length."
The submission was reviewed by an OpenSSL developer, but neither man noticed that the code could be exploited to trick servers into leaking the contents of memory.
What information can you get with a Heartbleed attack?
The Heartbleed attack works by tricking servers into leaking information stored in their memory. So any information handled by web servers is potentially vulnerable. That includes passwords, credit card numbers, medical records, and the contents of private email or social media messages.
Attackers can also get access to a server's private encryption key. That could allow the attacker to unscramble any private messages sent to the server and even impersonate the server.
Have there been any successful attacks using the Heartbleed bug?
Yes, the security firm Mandiant reports that it has observed a Heartbleed attack occurring "in the wild." The attack targeted a Virtual Private Network service at an unnamed organization, gaining access to its internal corporate network.
The type of attack is particularly scary because it shows that hackers are finding the parts of the internet are least likely to have been updated to protect against Heartbleed.
Major organizations like Google and Tumblr got much of the press after the Heartbleed bug was discovered. But these are huge firms with thousands of engineers. They had the resources and expertise to fix their software and harden their defenses quickly.
But OpenSSL is used in a wide variety of special-purpose networking appliances. The software on these network appliances may not be as easy to upgrade as a general-purpose web server. And these smaller organizations might not even realize that their devices are running OpenSSL in the first place, much less know how to fix them.
It's hard to be sure how broadly the Heartbleed attack was exploited. Hackers who have stolen users' passwords, credit card numbers, and other private data might decide to lie low for a while before trying to take advantage of this information. And if they do eventually use users' private information for fraudulent purposes, we might not know if they got the information through a Heartbleed attack or some other tactic.
What is being done to prevent future problems like Heartbleed?
The scale of the Heartbleed attack served as a wake-up call for the Internet community. In response, more than a dozen technology companies have pledged to contributed to the Core Infrastructure Initiative. Organized by the non-profit Linux Foundation, the project will direct funding to widely-used open source projects such as OpenSSL that are not adequately funded.
The foundation told Ars Technica in late April 2014 that it had already received $3.9 million in donations from major technology companies including Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Facebook.
Also funding internet security efforts is the Hewlett Foundation, founded by HP co-founder William Hewlett and his wife. In a remarkable stroke of foresight, the foundation announced a $20 million "cyber initiative" on April 2, 2014, a few days before the public disclosure of the Heartbleed initiative. The foundation hopes to help "develop a network of experts working to keep the Internet secure, open, and well governed."
These investments represent a small step toward rectifying a massive shortfall in funding for internet security. The web accounts for billions of dollars of commerce; even after these $24 million in philanthropic investments, there's still a serious need to devote more resources toward securing the web.According to a report from Nikkan, production of displays for Apple’s next iPhone will begin in June. The new screens will be sourced from Sharp, LG, and Japan Display, the same trio that have supplied screens for the iPhone 5.
Sharp also begin in June the mass production of the next model for the liquid crystal panel of the (multi-function mobile phone) smartphone that Apple is planning on. Appears to have embarked on production readiness of consecutive holidays from May Kameyama Plant No. 1 of Apple smartphones LCD dedicated plagued by sluggish occupancy rate since the beginning of the year in (Kameyama, Mie Prefecture).
Today’s report reasserts previous claims that the next revision to the iPhone will carry a design akin to that of the iPhone 5. Like past iPhone updates that do not include external hardware revisions, it is likely that the new iPhone will feature an improved camera and task processing systems...
Though the design of the new iPhone will remain the same, a number of reports have claimed that Apple’s “iPhone 5S” could come in colors other than black/slate and white/silver. Apple is also rumored to be working on a cheaper iPhone variant that could also come in fresh color options.
Both of these devices will likely run the latest version of iOS 7, which we reported will include a “flatter” user-interface and improved Siri and Maps integration for cars.
As noted in today’s report, it appears that Sharp has been struggling with display demand as of late. Indeed, reports from last year claimed that Sharp was unable to meet iPhone 5 display demand until after the product launched to the public.
Sharp also previously sold panels for the third-generation iPad and iPhone 4S.
Today’s claim of iPhone “5S” display production beginning next month seems to line up a recent report from the Wall Street Journal that claimed that the next-generation iPhone’s production will begin in Q2 of this year.
Reports of a launch timeframe for the next iPhone have ranged between early summer, late summer, and the fall.
(via AI)At the Perth Writer's Festival this past weekend, Game of Thrones director David Petrarca downplayed the threat of piracy to the show's success, saying that illegal downloads don't matter since shows thrive on "cultural buzz." As The Sydney Morning Herald reports, Petrarca shrugged when a panel mediator noted that Game of Thrones was the most pirated show of 2012; the show was downloaded about 3.9 million times per episode, which was more than a million downloads per episode more than the second-most pirated show How I Met Your Mother. "That's how they survive," he said.
Petrarca also touted the cable television model, reportedly saying that "everyone wants to do premium cable now." The director said that there's a "false line" between cinema and television, noting that Steven Spielberg's years-long Lincoln production could have been made in several months on HBO. Of course, HBO is in a privileged position; Petrarca reportedly noted the network's 60 million worldwide subscribers, giving it some insulation against the effects of illegal downloading.
Update: Though Petrarca seemed nonchalant about the threat piracy poses to Game of Thrones, he's making it very clear that he doesn't support stealing content. After his original remarks came under the microscope, Petrarca clarified his stance on piracy. "I am 100 per cent, completely and utterly against people illegally downloading anything," he said on Wednesday.As swift as economic growth has been in China, credit growth over the last several years has been even more rapid. Following the financial crisis in 2008-09 and again as growth flagged in 2011 and 2012, China undertook large-scale credit-fuelled stimulus in order to boost its economy. This led to a surge in non-financial sector debt, which has grown from 156% of GDP in 2008 to roughly 250% of GDP at the end of 2014 - levels surpassing that in some advanced economies. On a sectoral basis, the biggest growth in debt has been within the non-financial corporate sector2, where over-investment in many sectors has led to overcapacity.
This can only go on so long. The resulting debt overhang is already putting serious strains on the economy. Non-financial private sector debt was equal to 193% of GDP as of the fourth quarter of 2014. Simplistically assuming a seven-year rolling average of the weighted lending rate, the sector is currently spending roughly 12.1% of GDP on annual interest expenses alone. This is over 50% more than it was paying in early 2009. Lowering this debt burden would require deleveraging and/or lower interest rates. For this reason alone, further interest rate cuts from the People's Bank of China (PBoC) appear likely.The San Diego Chargers have reportedly decided to move to Los Angeles. While that move comes with the promise of playing in a glitzy, state of the art stadium, that won’t be the case initially. The Chargers will instead play in the 30,000-seat StubHub Center for two seasons, according to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk.
The StubHub center is a soccer-specific facility and home to the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer. It’s still a reasonably new facility, as it opened in 2003, and is a fine MLS setting. But, it’s not your typical environment for a NFL game. The stadium seats 27,000 for soccer games, which will make it almost half the size of the next smallest NFL stadium.
The Oakland Coliseum has a seating capacity of roughly 56,000 for Oakland Raiders games. All of the other NFL stadiums can hold at least 60,000 fans. For a comparison, the StubHub center would hold at least 6,000 fewer fans than the smallest Pac-12 stadium.
When the Rams moved to Los Angeles last year, they spent the season playing in the Los Angeles Coliseum. Capacity is no issue there, with the stadium big enough to accommodate more than 90,000 fans.
According to Florio, the Chargers will play in the StubHub Center in 2017 and 2018 before moving into a new stadium they will share with the Rams for the 2019 season.Grandfather Busted For Prostituting Himself… To Young Women
HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA –
88-year-old grandfather, Edwin Venn, was arrested Tuesday night for prostitution, along with his john Amanda Pearson, 23. Police had been watching Venn for several months and noticed a peculiar pattern.
“His johns were all young women. Twenties, thirties. Most quite beautiful. Never really seen anything like this dynamic, but strange things do happen.”
Mr. Venn stood most weekend nights with cardboard sign on Hollywood Blvd that read: “I’m for sale.”
Pearson admitted during her arraignment that when she found the 88-year-old Venn trying to turn tricks she and her friends decided it would be funny to sleep ‘with an old guy.’ Word spread and lots of girls paid Venn for sex. Pearson said he only charged five dollars and gave them lollipops afterward.#922982 +( 3363 )- [X] lemonlimeskull: So I'm sitting in Hardee's (Carl's JR for anyone here one the west coast)
lemonlimeskull: This huge African American dude sits across from me at the booth. Plenty of tables around, of course, since this is Hardee's.
lemonlimeskull: Since I don't usually have uninvited guests at fast food restaurants, I'm naturally a bit put off while simultaniously wondering what the deal is.
lemonlimeskull: The guy goes "Hey, man what you do for a living?"
lemonlimeskull: I must've looked really confused, but I manage to answer "Game designer... Why?"
lemonlimeskull: The guy sits there for a good thirty seconds, looking out the window over my shoulder.
lemonlimeskull: Then he finally looks me straight on and says "Good, lemme ask you a question..."
lemonlimeskull: "Why don't Pacman wanna eat eyes?"
lemonlimeskull: I just gave him this really quizzical look, then he gets up and leaves.
lemonlimeskull: After a few seconds of wondering wtf that was all about, I look out the window over my shoulder and see about five police cars slowly driving off into the distance.
lemonlimeskull: The worst part is...... WHY doesn't Pacman wanna eat eyes?!Machine Learning, AI, and HPC are changing the way every industry thinks, including retail, manufacturing, healthcare, oil and gas, and financial services. These large computations are changing product design, end-customer experiences, enabling predictive support and leading to discoveries and innovations not previously possible. It really is an exciting time to be working in the cloud!
In the Azure compute team, we strive to make sure you have the best, the latest, and the most cost-effective infrastructure for every compute job, no matter how different they may be. To this end, we offer the most comprehensive set of GPUs in the public cloud, already offering VM sizes with NVIDIA’s K80s, M60s, P40s and P100s. Today, I’m happy to share two exciting new announcements to further support your GPU workloads:
We are launching a new VM size on Azure, the NCv3. This new size will offer the new NVIDIA Tesla V100 GPU. You can sign up for the preview today.
Our NCv2, offering NVIDIA P100s, and our ND-series, offering NVIDIA P40s, are exiting preview and will be GA for your production workloads starting on December 1st.
The NCv3-series virtual machines will use NVIDIA Tesla V100 GPUs, which are the latest GPUs from NVIDIA. Like our previous GPU sizes, Azure is the only cloud with dedicated InfiniBand interconnects to enable incredibly fast multi-VM computations. Our GPU sizes also offer PCIe configuration with direct support for Azure premium storage. We will open preview access to the NCv3 series in the East US region in the coming weeks.
Just a couple months ago, we released the preview of the ND-series, focusing on deep learning, AI training, and inference. The ND is powered by up to four NVIDIA Tesla P40 GPUs and provide a large GPU memory size (24GB), enabling customers to deploy much larger neural net models. We also recently released the NCv2-series, targeting traditional HPC workloads. With up to four NVIDIA Tesla P100 GPUs and our unique InfiniBand networking for low-latency interconnect, the NCv2 offers great HPC performance at a great price for scale-out workloads. Both of these SKUs will be GA on December 1st.
Of course, the hardware is only part of the story. With Azure Batch AI, you can quickly and easily run AI workloads, focusing on your jobs while letting Azure Batch handle provisioning and management. Batch AI can use every flavor of our new GPU VMs, giving you ready access to great AI hardware coupled with simple AI job execution.
Additionally, our Data Science Virtual Machine images are being updated to take advantage of the new GPUs. DSVMs are Azure Virtual Machine images, pre-configured and tested with several popular tools commonly used for data analytics, machine learning and AI training. The Data Science Virtual Machine images are great for training and education, short-term experimentation, or simply to have a cloud desktop with the latest versions of popular data science applications pre-installed.
I can barely wait to see what amazing discoveries and innovative insights you are able to ascertain with these new GPU VMs. The NCv2 and ND will be GA and ready for production workloads on December 1 in multiple regions in the US, Europe and Asia.
Finally, if you’re attending the Supercomputing conference in Denver this week, stop by booth 1501 and find out more from the team.
See ya around,
CoreySignup to receive a daily roundup of the top LGBT+ news stories from around the world
The BBC has come under fire for dropping a planned debate about homosexuality in Islam from a BBC3 politics show.
The panel on Free Speech, which aired a live show from Birmingham Central Mosque last night, were due to answer the question ‘When will it be accepted to be Muslim and gay?’
However, after an introductory clip was shown featuring Asifa Lahore, a Muslim drag queen, presenter Rick Edwards said that due to deep concerns from the mosque, the subject would be dropped.
He said: “We were going to debate that question but today after speaking to the mosque they have expressed deep concerns with having this discussion here… so we’ll move on to our next question.”
“We will talk about it on our next programme, on March the 25th.”
The panellists on the programme were Lib Dem peer Susan Kramer, political editor of The Huffington Post Mehdi Hasan, trans activist Paris Lees, former Conservative candidate Shazia Awan, and Heydon Prowse, co-creator of ‘The Revolution Will Be Televised’.
Raheem Kassam, blogging for BreitBart London, said that it showed the BBC “failing to do their jobs properly” by allowing the item to be censored.
Stephen Evans, campaigns manager at the National Secular Society said: “After agreeing to allow a programme called Free Speech to be filmed at the Mosque, it is absurd and counter-productive to then censor the topic being discussed.
“It is unfortunate that the BBC allowed itself to be censored on this occasion by reactionary imams, but this was a place of worship, and perhaps the BBC would do well to choose religiously neutral venues to hold such debates in future”.
A statement from the BBC said: “BBC’s Free Speech is determined to discuss the issues that matter to its viewers. However, out of respect to the Birmingham Central Mosque, who hosted the programme, the decision was made to delay the debate on Muslim gay rights to a future programme. The topic will be raised and debated in full in the edition of Free Speech airing on 25 March.”
Watch the clip below:
)Things have not gone according to plan for the Yankees and Luis Severino this season. Following his strong eleven-start cameo last year, Severino was expected to emerge as a mainstay in the rotation this year, if not at the front of it. Instead, the young righty struggled as starter early in the season, so much so that he had to be demoted to the Triple-A and the bullpen. Not great.
Severino, who is still only 22, has resurfaced as a reliever this month and been completely dominant. He’s made four relief appearances in September and allowed three hits and four walks in 8.1 scoreless innings. Severino has struck out nine and held batters to a.107/.219/.179 batting line. It goes without saying he’s looked far better in relief this month than he did at any point as a starter this season.
Thanks to the shift to the bullpen and an early season DL stint, Severino has thrown only 140 innings this season, well short of the 161.2 innings he threw last year. The Yankees insist they see him as a starter long-term and I believe them, but surely they were hoping to stretch his workload this year and get him up closer to 180-190 innings, putting him in position to throw 200 innings in 2017. That’s obviously not going to happen.
The Yankees have one open pitching roster spot in the Arizona Fall League but Severino is over the service time limit, so he’s not eligible. Winter ball is another option, and it would allow Severino to not only build up his workload, but also continue working on his changeup, which he’s stopped throwing in relief. It doesn’t sound like winter ball is in the plans though. From Randy Miller:
“I think he probably has the innings that we want,” Girardi said. “If we do that, there’s concern that he’ll be physically tired going into next year. That’s just my thought. Could he work on (his changeup) in maybe a couple of starts in Instructional League? Yeah, I guess. Let’s just see where we end up.”
Instructs usually run from late-September through mid-October, which means Severino will miss the first few days and hopefully much more than that because the Yankees are in the postseason. Sending him to Instructional League would be ideal because Severino would be with the team’s coaches and instructors, and under their watch. They wouldn’t have to worry about overuse or anything like that.
The concern with winter ball is that it lasts so damn long. The Dominican Summer League season begins October 15th and runs up until Christmas. Sure, the Yankees could shut Severino down earlier, but even then you’re talking about him pitching into November. In meaningless games, remember. It would be much different if he were part of a World Series pitching staff in November. Making sure Severino gets enough rest in the offseason is a priority.
As best I can tell, the Yankees kept Severino in the minors long enough this year to delay his free agency, so he’ll start next season where he started this season: six years away from free agency. Of course, that extra year of control is sorta pointless if Severino continues to struggle like he did as a starter. That said, I feel pretty confident he can be a shutdown late-inning reliever at worst. He’s shown that ability these last few weeks.
The 2016 season was a disappointment for Severino, no doubt about, and hopefully he uses it as a learning experience. It’s unfortunate he wasn’t able to build up his workload, but that is secondary to his health and overall effectiveness. If he can go to Instructs, great. If not, the upside of winter ball almost certainly doesn’t outweigh the potential downside of Severino coming to Spring Training next year at something less than 100% physically.|
Alternative Media- A Very Serious Threat to the Ruling Elite
On November 24, The Washington Post published a story citing the anonymous group PropOrNot. The story accused the Russians of building a large propaganda operation that worked to defeat Hillary Clinton and elect “insurgent candidate” Donald Trump. It claimed a large number of alternative news websites are acting as Russian agents, dupes, and useful idiots.
Prior to this, in March 2015, the Voice of America insisted Russia has organized “a round-the-clock operation in which an army of trolls disseminated pro-Kremlin and anti-Western talking points on blogs and in the comments sections of news websites in Russia and abroad.”
Voice of America is a propaganda service created by the CIA during the Cold War.
In January, the Institute of Modern Russia and its Interpreter Mag teamed up with the CIA through Voice of America to combat “Kremlin disinformation and propaganda.” The Institute of Modern Russia maintains close relationships with many Russian opposition leaders.
Critics took The Washington Post to task for using PropOrNot as a source. The website and PropOrNot’s Facebook and Twitter accounts give no indication who is behind the effort. Despite this, the Post cited the site to make the argument many alternative websites are “fake news” sites working in tandem with the Russians.
PropOrNot has all the hallmarks of an intelligence operation run by the CIA, FBI, or one of a number of other intelligence agencies.
Following the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, the official narrative pushed by the government and echoed dutifully by the establishment media claimed Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda masterminded the attack from a cave in Afghanistan. This and other elements of the official narrative were criticized, primarily by the alternative media. The government and its propaganda media dismissed the criticism of the official narrative and began characterizing critics as conspiracy theorists.
In early 2008, Cass Sunstein, a Harvard scholar and later the Administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the Obama administration, wrote a paper with colleague Adrian Vermeule titled simply “Conspiracy Theories.” Sunstein and Vermeule argue the existence of conspiracy theories “may create serious risks, including risks of violence, and the existence of such theories raises significant challenges for policy and law.”
In addition to proposing outright censorship of information the government considers“extremist theories,” Sunstein and his co-author suggest using “cognitive infiltration” of groups and networks.
Instead of a covert operation resembling the FBI’s Operation COINTELPRO using physical infiltration to disrupt and discredit political groups, Sunstein proposed attacking targeted groups in cyberspace.
Sunstein and Vermeule write that “whatever the tactical details, there would seem to be ample reason for government efforts to introduce some cognitive diversity into the groups that generate conspiracy theories.”
In 2011, The Guardian reported the US military was developing software that would allow it secretly manipulate social media sites by using fake online personas to influence internet conversations and spread pro-American propaganda.
General and later CIA director David Petraeus suggested using online psychological operations aimed at “countering extremist ideology and propaganda.” The objective of the Pentagon effort was “to create a false consensus in online conversations, crowd out unwelcome opinions and smother commentaries or reports that do not correspond with its own objectives,” according to the report.
The effort to counter alternative websites is not limited to the United States. In September 2014, writes noted researcher and author Thierry Meyssan, the British government created the 77th Brigade, a unit established to counter foreign propaganda.
“The brigade will be made up of warriors who don't just carry weapons, but who are also skilled in using social media such as Twitter and Facebook, and the dark arts of ‘psyops’—psychological operations,” the BBC reported last January.
The unit works with British intelligence through MI6 and collaborates with the 361st Civil Affairs Brigade of the US Army. “These military units were used to disrupt Western websites trying to establish the truth… on September 11 [and] the war against Syria,” writes Meyssan.
MI6 is also involved in a European effort to undermine Russian and alternative media. In March 2015, the European Council asked High Representative Federica Mogherini to prepare a plan of "strategic communication" to denounce the disinformation campaigns of Russia about Ukraine.
The following month, Mogherini created within the European External Action Service a strategic information unit headed by Giles Portman, a British MI6 agent. It provides anti-Russian propaganda to European news services.
Others have called for an outright ban on what European governments consider “fake news” dispensed by Russia and its supposed operatives and dupes. In February 2015, the think tank of the French Socialist Party called for censorship and the French minister of education organized workshops to warn students about supposed conspiracy theories.
The Center for European Policy Analysis, a Washington think tank dedicated to the study of Central and Eastern Europe, also set-up an information warfare unit directed against the Russian Federation.
Its advisory council includes Zbigniew Brzezinski (former national security advisor and virulent Russophobe), Eliot Cohen (Bush era neocon and former adviser to secretary of state Condoleezza Rice), and Madeleine Albright (Clinton administration secretary of state who said killing 500,000 Iraqi children was “worth it”).
Although PropOrNot strives to remain anonymous, it does reveal connections to Modern Russia and its Interpreter Mag and thus, through Voice of America, its association with the CIA. Interpreter Mag is listed under “Related Projects” on its website.
PropOrNot also collaborates with Polygraph Fact-Check, a purported fact-checking website produced by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Voice of America, in other words the CIA.
Another so-called fact-checking operation is listed, Politifact. It is a project of the Tampa Bay Times and the Poynter Institute and shares a donor with the Clinton Foundation, the Omidyar Network, created by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar. He is a major donor of Kiev-based Hromadske TV, “the symbol of the info wars between Moscow and the Western world,” according to Forbes. The effort is also supported by the US State Department, a number of European governments, and NGOs involved in Ukraine prior to and after the US-sponsored coup.
PropOrNot’s connections indicate the website and its effort to take down alternative media is a project initiated by the establishment and likely a psychological operation directed by the CIA either directly or through its circle of private contractors.
The defeat of Hillary Clinton has nothing to do with the effectiveness of Russian propaganda. More accurately, Clinton’s election loss is a direct result of her corruption and deep insider status. The alternative media played an instrumental role in exposing Clinton’s criminality and her penchant for war and mass murder, primarily in Libya and Syria.
The alternative media has done an effective job of exposing the crimes of the elite and its political class and this news coverage did in fact have an impact on the election. Alternative media is a serious threat to the ruling elite. It no longer controls the flow of information and its propaganda is now directly challenged on a daily basis.
The Washington Post and the establishment media have latched on to the ludicrous PropOrNot campaign to denounce alternative media as some sort of nefarious Russian plot to undermine the political system in the United States. Despite this, millions of Americans continue to read alternative news and make their own informed decisions, a trend that has set off alarm bells in the deepest recesses of the establishment.
# # # #
Kurt Nimmo, Newsbud Producer & Author, is a writer, editor, producer and researcher based in New Mexico. His research centers on international geopolitics and national politics in the United States. He is the former lead editor and writer for Infowars and now edits Another Day in The Empire. His most recent books are Donald Trump and the War on Islam and Another Day in the Empire: The Reign of George W. Bush and the Total War Neocons. Visit Kurt Nimmo’s website hereThe SEC Network announced that its traveling pregame show, SEC Nation, will make stops in Georgia, Kentucky, Arkansas and Ole Miss starting Sept. 27. The show, featuring Joe Tessitore, Tim Tebow, Marcus Spears, Paul Finebaum, and Kaylee Hartung will film live from every SEC campus before the end of the 2014 season. SEC Nation airs live on SEC Network every Saturday at 10 am.
The show made its debut at Gamecock Park in Columbia, S.C., for the Thursday SEC primetime kickoff between Texas A&M and South Carolina, before moving to Auburn to finish Week 1. In Week 2, SEC Nation set up in front of the Nashville skyline hours before the meeting between Ole Miss and Vanderbilt at LP Field.
This week’s show will take place at “Plaza of the Americas” in Gainesville, Fla., followed by a previously-announced trip to Alabama next Saturday.
With the announced trip to Ole Miss, SEC Nation becomes the first ESPN college football pre game show to telecast from The Grove at Ole Miss.
SEC Nation‘s upcoming and past schedule can be found below:MEPs reiterate their willingness to help break the deadlock and call on the Commission to work to reconcile the positions of Parliament and the Council, in a resolution passed by 419 votes to 97, with 161 abstentions.
"What kind of Europe are we living in, if those who create life here are penalised? What kind of Europe are we living in, if giving birth is synonymous with poverty? We cannot help mothers by simply throwing away this directive”, said rapporteur Maria Arena (S&D, BE). Since 1992, when the maternity leave directive was approved, we have made no progress. Women can't wait, they deserve, if they so wish, to be women, mothers and workers at the same time without being discriminated", she added.
If the Commission does withdraw the draft, then MEPs urge it to table a new legislative initiative before the end of the year.
Paternity leave
Parliament also reiterates its call to entitle fathers to at least ten working days’ paternity leave, in addition to the mother's leave.
Background for editors
Maternity leave is regulated at EU level by the 1992 directive, which lays down a minimum of 14 weeks. In October 2008, the Commission proposed to review the current legislation (Directive 92/85), as part of the "work-life balance" package, based on the International Labour Organisation's Maternity Protection Convention of 2000.
In October 2010 the European Parliament closed its first reading and submitted the amended legislation to the Council to extend maternity leave from 14 to 20 weeks on full pay and introduce two weeks’ fully paid paternity leave.
The Council has yet to state any position on this issue.
The Commission announced its intention to withdraw the proposal as part of its Regulatory Fitness and Performance Programme (REFIT).For those of you eagerly awaiting information about AMD’s upcoming high end, HBM2 equipped Vega GPU based graphics cards, here’s a bit of interesting news that’s been circulating over the web over the past few hours.
Chris Hook, AMD’s Senior Director of Global Marketing, recently posted up an image of what appears to be some sort of abandoned warehouse or factory on his Facebook page. Cool, but not too interesting. However, he later also posted a comment saying “This is the Vega launch venue. Shh, don’t tell the press…..:)“. Hmm… Now that just got a whole lot more interesting.
While the image itself doesn’t tell us a whole lot about the venue, it does tell us that AMD is actively already planning a launch event and the venue has already been selected. Previously according to AMD roadmaps, AMD was expected to launch Vega sometime in early 2017, but we’ve been hearing rumors that AMD may be pushing their Vega launch to October 2016. This gives AMD a few more months to finish setting up the venue for a launch which seems more and more likely by the day.
Given that Chris Hook is Facebook friends with a ton of journalists and analysts, this obviously is intended to ensure that nobody forgets about Vega with all the recent Nvidia news circulating the interwebs. Or it could just be a prank for some laughs and giggles in the office. What are your thoughts? Leave them in the comments below!
Source: Facebook via LegitReviewsMotorola is a huge and important brand in the smartphone industry, and that just makes its hiccups all the more apparent and open to criticism. So, let’s take a look at how it has stumbled in 2017.
Products launched without software updates
When you buy a phone and it ends up only getting one update, it's a huge disappointment, because it means that it becomes obsolete after only just a short while. Motorola takes this to the next level by launching devices that will never be upgraded.
The Moto E4 Plus was launched in 2017, and there's no plan to update to Oreo. / © AndroidPIT
The Moto C Plus, Moto E4 and Moto E4 Plus were released in 2017. Even with the announcement of Android Oreo 8.0 a few months after that, these devices were left off Motorola’s official list of updates.
Inconsistent update schedule
Here we find Motorola's second trip up. When the Motorola Moto G4 Plus was launched last year, the company reported that the update to Android O (the name at the time) was a guarantee. However, this year, when the company released its list of confirmed updates the G4 Plus was nowhere to be found.
Moto G4 Plus almost didn’t get an update. / © ANDROIDPIT
Needless to say, people weren’t thrilled. After all, this was a mid-range device which costs about $250, and many people bought it just because of the company's promise to update it. In the end, the company had to backtrack and include the G4 Plus on its update schedule. However, it has emphasized that it’s not sure when that will happen exactly.
This has left a lot of users with the uncertainty of not knowing if the device they’ve bought will ever be updated, and may even be steering potential buyers away from it.
The system isn’t as pure as it used to be
One of the most |
the bill this week or next.
On Monday, the Senate defeated a Democratic prohibition on gun sales to people on a broader range of government watch lists, while also blocking a narrower Republican measure.
Some senior Republicans would not commit to supporting the Collins bill, citing worries about people being denied the ability to buy weapons without adequate safeguards.
But the No. 3 Senate Democrat, Chuck Schumer, told reporters: “There may be a glimmer of hope now,” adding that Collins’ proposal seemed to be “a step in the right direction.”
The measure is being debated in the Senate before the Nov. 8 election when Democrats hope to win control of the Senate and gain seats in the House of Representatives. Democrats believe Republican congressional opposition to wider control bills gives them a powerful campaign issue.
It was too soon to tell if President Barack Obama would support the Collins bill. Spokesman Josh Earnest said senior officials including lawyers at the Department of Justice were taking a look at it.
Related Coverage Senate Republican leader says plans vote on compromise gun bill
“If the assessment is that this would enhance the ability of our law enforcement professionals to keep us safe and prevent suspected terrorists from purchasing a gun, then that’s likely something that we’ll be able to support,” Earnest told reporters in a daily briefing.
In the Senate on Monday, four measures to expand background checks on gun buyers and curb gun sales to those on terrorism watch lists - two put forth by Democrats and two by Republicans - fell short of the 60 votes needed for passage in the 100-member chamber.
The votes were a bitter setback to advocates who have failed to get even modest gun curbs through Congress despite repeated mass shootings. The bills lost in largely party-line votes that showed the political power in Congress of gun rights defenders and the National Rifle Association.
‘SHAMEFUL DISPLAY’
The White House accused U.S. senators of a “shameful display of cowardice” and said they failed the American people by not advancing any gun control measures after the Florida shooting.
The gunman, Omar Mateen, pledged allegiance to Islamic State during the June 12 rampage in which he killed 49 people and wounded 53 at an Orlando gay nightclub before being fatally shot by police.
Senator John Cornyn of Texas, the No. 2 Senate Republican, said he had concerns about the Collins measure. “It’s a slippery slope when an American citizen is denied a constitutional right, without forcing the government to come forward with some evidence on the front end” that a person should be prohibited from buying guns, he said.
Heather Raleigh (L) and Paige Metelka make a heart shape as they pose during a photo shoot outside Pulse nightclub following the mass shooting last week in Orlando, Florida, U.S., June 21, 2016. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri
After Monday’s votes, the Senate also debated a different tactic for battling domestic attacks that could be inspired by Islamic State and other foreign militant groups.
Senators were aiming to vote by Wednesday on legislation by Republican John McCain of Arizona expanding the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s ability to conduct secret surveillance in counter terrorism investigations.
“This week we’ll have the opportunity to strengthen our ability to combat lone wolf terrorists and connect the dots so we are better able to prevent terrorist attacks in the United States” such as the Orlando massacre, McConnell said.
‘UNCONSTITUTIONAL’
Collins, who held a news conference with eight other senators including Democrat Bill Nelson of Florida, said her bill would stop about 2,700 Americans and 106,300 foreign national on surveillance lists from buying guns.
“We believe that if you are too dangerous to fly on an airplane you are too dangerous to buy a gun,” the Maine lawmaker said. She said Americans and immigrants with work permits could appeal a denial and recover lawyers’ fees if they prevailed.
Nelson said he owed it to the families of the victims in the Orlando shooting as well as police and other first responders to the carnage.
It was not clear whether Collins’ plan would draw significant bipartisan support. The NRA said her proposal was “unconstitutional” and would not have prevented the Orlando attack.
Slideshow (30 Images)
Gun control groups promised to intensify their push for legislative action, and not just in Washington.
Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, said her group, besides supporting pro-gun control candidates for Congress, would work to strengthen gun-sale background check laws “state by state until Congress acts.”
“If the NRA and their lapdogs in the Senate thought moms would feel dispirited and back down, they are sorely mistaken,” Watts told reporters in a teleconference.In March, exactly twenty-five years after he first outlined his proposal for a "world-wide web", Tim Berners-Lee called for "a global constitution - a bill of rights" to protect the "neutral, open internet". This appeal for a "Magna Carta", a single document that enshrines certain fundamental rights and protections for citizens in the digital age, comes after a series of revelations about the extent of state surveillance online.
And this state surveillance dovetails the business models of Facebook, Google and the other tech giants. Their profits derive from the ability to hoover up data from users of their "free" services and sell it to other businesses. They can charge a premium for a vision of the world where the wasteful banging on a swill bucket that is mass media advertising has been replaced with millions of moments of bespoke manipulation. We are living through the enclosure of subjectivity, one voluntary disclosure at a time.
What internet freedom?
This combination of state and corporate insinuation in the daily lives of citizens poses a serious threat to the liberty of the individual. But it is important to understand what we mean by liberty in this context. In mainstream liberalism, liberty is the absence of interference. As long as we are free to go about our lawful business without running into arbitrary restrictions we are free. It is this notion of freedom that politicians draw on when they assure us that intelligence agencies operate in a framework of regulation and oversight and that the law-abiding citizen has nothing to fear from the NSA or GCHQ.
But there is another, older and more demanding, conception of freedom. It derives from Roman law and distinguishes between the liber homo, the free man, and the servus, the slave. Quentin Skinner, the political theorist who has done most to rediscover and popularise this pre-liberal liberty, explains that "a slave is someone who is in potestate, in the power of a master". A free man, on the other hand, "is sui iuris, able to act in their own right".
Crucially, a free man is not someone who happens to be left alone in the pursuit of his goals. A slave who has a tolerant or easily duped master can enjoy that kind of license. But a free man doesn't depend on anyone else for his freedom. He is free in virtue of his status as a citizen living under a republican constitution.
The freedom espoused by liberals has no particular implications for the form of government. As long as we are left alone in our lawful pursuits we are free, whether or not we have the vote. But neo-Roman, or republican, liberty is irreducibly political. It rests on the powers that the citizen can use against both state and private domination. It isn't enough that we are left alone. We must be confident that no one can interfere with our individual and collective plans.
Interference can take many forms and the republican imagination is much occupied with exploring them. We can be subject to outright coercion, we can be induced to act in certain ways through economic incentives and threats, and we can be manipulated so that we think we are acting freely but are in fact serving someone else's agenda. Most people in Anglo-America are not exposed to the first form of interference, though low income groups tend to have much more experience of it than their more affluent compatriots are comfortable admitting.
Economic domination is much more pervasive. Many of us spend our days doing things we wouldn't do if we didn't need to make a living. And we are also vulnerable to manipulation. It is hard to say how much manipulation goes on. Conventional liberals have tended to be dismissive of the danger. But this seems increasingly untenable in light of recent history.
In the early years of this century we were all making choices on the basis of radically unsafe information, as the financial crisis revealed. Besides, if you think that you can spend your working life doing things you'd rather not do and still be free, you might want to ask how you came to that conclusion.
Vulnerability to manipulation
The republican conception of freedom is particularly relevant when we turn to the internet. For here the problem is not primarily one of overt coercion. Rather, as digital spaces become the primary means by which we share and discuss publicly relevant information, we become vulnerable to manipulation by those who own and infiltrate those spaces. Remember, this is implicit in the business model of the tech giants.
The state is making extensive use of corporate data-gathering. It could also use the corporations as instruments of extensive manipulation. Indeed, thanks to Edward Snowden, we know that it is making plans to do so. The manipulation of civil society by the state is best understood as a form of covert domination. We are free to do what we want, but the state tailors information to ensure that what we want to do doesn't get in the way of their plans. The barbed wire isn't around us. It is in our heads.
So state and corporate attempts to subvert an open and neutral internet should be taken very seriously. If we want to be substantially free we need to engage with the campaign for the Web We Want. But if we are looking for inspiration from medieval English charters, we would benefit greatly from taking another look at Magna Carta's less famous companion, Carta de Foresta, the Charter of the Forests. Issued in 1217 it prevented the King from designating land as "forest" and granted important rights of access and use to ordinary people. This early victory against enclosure ensured that royal lands were not the exclusive preserve of the powerful but a common resource, available to those who needed them.
At the moment the modern-day heirs of the English Kings, GCHQ, Facebook and the rest, are busy enclosing the common possession that is the internet. Indeed they are going further. Their ambition is to re-order the wilderness of our individual wants and world-views into an orderly estate, in which broad avenues of conventional opinions stretch to the horizon.
In order to prevent them we will need new powers. Powers to initiate and fund inquiry, powers to address our fellow citizens, powers to oversee the operations of the state and their partners in the corporate sector become the modern equivalents of the ancient rights to graze pigs and gather firewood in the forest and - pannage and estover, according to Wikipedia, in case you were wondering.
For if we are to guard against manipulation, we will need to be able to challenge and effectively refute those who are currently in the business of regulating global public opinion. Where they profit from the internet as a collection of private properties and secret resources we can only secure our freedom by making the internet into a res publica, a collective possession. The fight for the internet is central to the struggle for public liberty.
Dan Hind is the author of two books, The Threat to Reason and The Return of the Public. His e-book, Maximum Republic is published later this month.The UCF football program is believed to have drawn its largest turnout ever for a coaching clinic, with an estimated 160 high school coaches from across the state showing up for the Knights' practice Friday afternoon.
The spike in attendance came as a nice surprise for first-year head coach Scott Frost.
"It's great to get those guys out. We want them around and want them to feel comfortable here," Frost said. "If we can do anything to help them, we're happy to do it because we're gonna need some of those players looking forward. We want to make sure they feel at home here and there's a good relationship between us and those high school teams."
The coaching clinic, which concludes Saturday, starts the first of two busy weekends for the Knights' coaching staff. Up next is the team's annual spring game, dubbed the UCFastival, that will feature a full day of events on campus on April 16.
Reservations for tailgating at Memory Mall are already two-thirds full and UCF is on pace for a record attendance at the upcoming spring game. Fans can register for free tickets to the game at ucfastival.com.
UCF has one final practice in full pads on April 11 and will likely have a walk-through on Wednesday with the Knights' spring game rosters set. In the meantime, Frost said he was pleased with the progress players made since a poor early morning scrimmage on Monday.
"Practice was good. Guys responded. We didn't have a great Monday, [but] Wednesday and Friday they answered the bell and we made some improvements," Frost said. "I keep saying we have a long way to go, but we've come a long way too."
Quarterback competition
It could be a little while before UCF names a No. 1 quarterback.
Senior quarterbacks Justin Holman and Nick Patti have the clear lead, with Tyler Harris vying for that third spot. But the new coaching staff still wants to see more before making a final determination.
"I think we're pretty deep at quarterback," said UCF offensive coordinator Troy Walters when asked about the biggest surprise throughout the spring. "Right now, there's really not a clear-cut No. 1. All of the quarterbacks are getting some reps, all of them do some pretty good things and so that's probably the biggest surprise is how deep we are at quarterback."
Holman started the past two seasons and helped guide the Knights to an American Athletic Conference championship in 2014. He fractured his hand against Stanford last season and was sidelined for four games.
Patti was moved to receiver last season but returned to quarterback part-time after the team struggled to move the ball. The Boise State transfer has a slight edge in experience running an option offense.
"We have a spring game and we put a lot of stock into the scrimmages and the spring game. That's a game-like situation, coaches are off the field and so we're gonna keep evaluating and it'll go into the fall," Walters said. "... You always want to promote competition. We don't want anybody to be complacent and feel like they made it. So we'll have a pencil depth chart after the spring, but that can change. That's why it's a pencil."
Frost speaks
Frost will serve as the guest speaker at the Touchdown Club’s first dinner and meeting of the year on Monday, April 11, at 5:30 p.m. at The Tap Room at Dubsdread in Orlando.
The Orlando Touchdown Club has spent decades talking college football and honoring local high school players from Orange, Seminole and Osceola counties.
For more information, log onto www.orlandotdclub.com
E-mail Shannon Green at sgreen@orlandosentinel.com. Follow her on Twitter at @osknights.This is the same Maryland imam being investigated for funding a Muslim ISIS supporter’s arsenal in Detroit. via MEMRI TV
Sheikh Suleiman Anwar Bengharsa, head of the Islamic Jurisprudence Center in Clarksburg, Maryland, gave a lecture in Toronto, Canada in 2010, in which he said that Muslims could only live in the land of the infidels under certain circumstances, one of which was to do da’wa. “When the caliphate is established, you need to pack your bags and go home,” he said. In the lecture on the jurisprudence of interaction with non-Muslims, which was delivered at the Abu Huraira Center in Toronto and posted on YouTube in August 2010, Bengharsa stressed that historically, Islam had been spread by the sword and said that the purpose of Jihad is to establish the law of Allah and that while you can’t force a person to believe in Allah, “you can force him to live by the shari’a.”
Watch it all below.
**Update: It looks like the MEMRI TV channel has been banned from Youtube. Another source:Why blockchain is set to revolutionise the UAE's financial services sector
Blockchain was first used for the cryptocurrency Bitcoin, which solved the problem of having a secure database and not needing a trusted administrator. (Reuters file)
Tech has potential to truly disrupt multiple industries and make processes more democratic, secure, transparent and efficient
Blockchain technology, one of the hottest and most intriguing technologies currently in the market, has the potential to revolutionise the rapidly growing financial services sector in the UAE and broader GCC region.
With the UAE taking the lead in implementing the game changing initiative, blockchain, mostly known as the backbone technology behind Bitcoin, has the potential to truly disrupt multiple industries and make processes more democratic, secure, transparent, and efficient.
According to a new report from Booz Allen Hamilton, the technology can have many useful applications, including in retail payments infrastructure, remittances, trade finance and syndicated loans, capital markets, and compliance activities such as Know Your Customer (KYC), benefitting both the financial sector and consumers.
The UAE government is working to establish the country as a major financial technology (fintech) player and has already started to experiment with the potential uses of blockchain in the public and private sectors.
Last week, Emirates NBD became the first lender to introduce the service in the GCC. Several other global banks including Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland, have announced that they may adopt the Blockchain system as it ensures a foolproof system, making fraud more difficult, while speed up trading systems and make deals more transparent.
Booz Allen Hamilton said in its report that blockchain would be used to preserve and record wills and trusts, for instance at the Dubai International Financial Centre, while the Abu Dhabi Global Market free zone has expressed its ambition to become the financial technology capital of the Gulf.
The adoption of blockchain was given an additional boost in February when Dubai's Museum of the Future announced the formation of a research council focused on blockchain technology that will comprise 32 members including government entities, international companies and blockchain start-ups.
Booz Allen Hamilton identifies a number of specific opportunities in the financial services sector to shape and drive blockchain adoption, and recommends how the region can best organise and co-ordinate efforts for future research and development. The report also outlines how central banks could lead this initiative by supporting broader issues on regulation, and knowledge sharing, as well as encouraging commercial banks to work together and collaborate with fintech firms to test and utilize new business models using the technology.
Lutfi Zakhour, senior vice-president at Booz Allen Hamilton Mena, believes that it is imperative for commercial banks to actively look to embrace blockchain.
"The digital economy is moving so rapidly that adopting a 'wait and see' approach is not advisable. Our report shows that there are a number of very real opportunities that will provide genuine long-term benefits. We are seeing significant momentum now at the global level which means that GCC institutions need to start planning the most effective ways to engage and implement blockchain solutions into their future business operating models," said Zakhour.
The report identifies a number of key areas of finance that blockchain has the potential to revolutionise in the GCC, including retail payments infrastructure, foreign exchange transaction, remittances and trade finance.
"Introducing blockchain will speed up transactions and reduce costs, provide near instantaneous clearing and settlement, and manage complete transaction records, which would boost the accuracy of data and allow for improved monitoring by regulators. Banks could look to develop payments infrastructure and systems to make them blockchain compatible, but implementing blockchain will require investment to upgrade existing infrastructure. Collaboration between banks on an equal partner basis to develop a co-owned blockchain payments system, or partnerships with specialised 'fintech' firms and startups, could help offset some of these costs," said the report.
In the remittance industry, blockchain application could potentially reduce transaction costs and time by eliminating the need for correspondent banks, thus reducing cost for customers and providing near instant settlement.
Trade finance is another key area that could benefit from blockchain technology adoption. Trade finance is a complex process that involves a number of manual checks to verify the legitimacy of a client, its trading partners and the goods that change hands.
- issacjohn@khaleejtimes.com
Issac John Associate Business Editor of Khaleej Times, is a well-connected Indian journalist and an economic and financial commentator. He has been in the UAE's mainstream journalism for 35 years, including 23 years with Khaleej Times. A post-graduate in English and graduate in economics, he has won over two dozen awards. Acclaimed for his authentic and insightful analysis of global and regional businesses and economic trends, he is respected for his astute understanding of the local business scene.
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ERROR: Macro /ads/dfp-ad-article-new is missing!The move completes an exchange deal through which China recently opened up its market to American beef.
According to a final audit report by the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), Chinese systems and standards are in line with America’s, based on a small onsite review conducted in July.
“The audit did not identify any significant findings that represented an immediate threat to public health from the products being manufactured,” it said.
The report comes soon after comments closed in review of a proposed rule that will allow China to not only process and package US-bound cooked chicken, but to export the chickens, ducks and turkeys it raises.
The US currently prohibits the import of products from birds raised in China, but allows Chinese firms to process and package poultry slaughtered in either America, Canada or Chile.
When the USDA rubber stamps China’s poultry standards, the US$30bn American market will be open to the world’s second largest poultry producer, which has a 17% share of global production.
The news comes a week after China allowed beef from American producers to re-enter its market for the first time since 2003, when a cow in Washington state was found to be carrying BSE.
Among those opposed to allowing Chinese poultry into America is the Pennsylvania-based Centre for Foodborne Illness Research & Prevention.
“CFI has opposed the import of Chinese chicken for over a decade because of this country’s questionable food safety record and its lack of rigorous of farm management practices,” it wrote in its official comments on the rule.
The institute has also voiced its concern over the scale of the FSIS’s inspections, which audited just four Chinese poultry facilities and two microbiology laboratories in Shandong and Anhui provinces.
It said four processors were not enough to form a favourable decision, and questioned if the regulator had the resources to conduct audits “at the frequency needed to ensure the safety of Chinese products.”
The FSIS says it is planning annual equivalency reviews of China’s food safety systems for meat and poultry products. The agency may order so-called “secondary inspections” of meat imports at American ports of entry.
More from China…
Hong Kong resists sugar tax calls
Hong Kong authorities favour adopting health awareness schemes over introducing a tax on sugar to limit consumption.
Instead of following a World Health Organisation push for members to introduce levies on added sugar, the territory’s administration will seek to introduce a new food and beverage labelling system, while ramping up healthy food promotion in schools and introducing a pilot scheme to display calorie contents in canteens.
One in five Hongkongers is said to be overweight, prompting authorities to find a response to high sugar consumption.
Yet according to the Standard, a local daily, the Food and Health Bureau has not been swayed by the results of fiscal measures introduced in some countries that have led to “divergent views locally and internationally” over their success.
Hong Kong been taking a pro-business approach to the sugar debate, with the Secretary for Food and Health openly advocating persuading beverage companies to reduce their sugar content through dialogue.
Chinese egg companies in hunt to find Western acquisitions
Western egg processors are in the sights of Chinese corporations looking to accelerate their technical knowhow in line with their growing dominance of Asia.
According to Morten Ernst, of the International Egg Commission, Chinese egg businesses now control a 60% share of the Asian market—a segment many Western have missed out on in recent years.
Buoyed by huge demand in Asia, they are keen to look westwards to boost their supplies, with established egg companies being seen to be especially attractive.
“China is gong west," Ernst said, adding that this will mainly be achieved through foreign expansion and acquisition.
American egg producers are most at threat from Chinese interest as they continue to supply a subdued market. They currently face a 10-year low in pricing and ongoing over-supply issues following a bird flu outbreak in 2015.
The crisis sparked a 30-40% decline in demand for egg products. Now faced with a surplus of birds, the industry has in turn only recovered slowly.
Not only would some American targets prove to be cost-effective investments, in the eyes of Chinese egg majors they could also offer well-developed production and supply-chain technology at a time when Asia needs to improve efficiency in distribution.Microsoft announced Friday that CodePlex, the company's open source project-hosting service, will be closed down.
Started in 2006, the service offered an alternative to SourceForge. It was based initially on Microsoft's Team Foundation Server source control and later added options to use Subversion, Mercurial, and Git.
At the time, there weren't a tremendous number of good options for hosting projects. SourceForge was the big one, but it always seemed light on feature development and heavy on advertising. CodePlex on the Web was much more attractive and less cluttered. The use of TFS for source control meant it also had strong integration in Visual Studio.
But these days, GitHub is the default choice for most open source projects. This applies to Microsoft, too; the company is using GitHub to host projects such as.NET and its Chakra JavaScript engine. Activity on CodePlex has declined, with fewer than 350 projects seeing code commits over the last 30 days.
Accordingly, Microsoft has decided to stop running the service. From today, new projects can no longer be created. In October, all projects will be set to read-only. On December 15, CodePlex will be shut down completely, and the website will be replaced with a static archive. Projects and sources will still be browsable online, but the source control system will no longer be operational.
GitHub is the preferred new home for CodePlex projects, and there's a straightforward import process that will copy CodePlex-hosted source and documentation to GitHub. Microsoft is also building a tool to migrate issues, though that's not ready yet. Projects can also be migrated to services such as Bitbucket. This will be appealing to those using Mercurial source control with CodePlex, as Bitbucket supports Mercurial in addition to the more common Git.The Rajasthan Police used the biometric information from the Aadhaar card of a 23-year-old woman to track her alleged killer after it couldn't identify her partially charred body using traditional methods of probe.
Police said that a woman's body in unrecognisable state was found from a secluded place in Merta city of Nagaur district on On October 27.
Around the same time, it was reported that three women had gone missing the same day in Pushkar, Pali and Merta areas.
Nagaur Superintendent of Police Anil Paris Deshmukh said that based on prima facie evidence, they asked the parents of the three women to come with their Aadhaar cards.
Aadhaar is a 12-digit unique identity number issued by the government to all Indian residents based on their biometric and demographic details.
"We used the thumb impression machine to authenticate her (the body's) fingerprint. In first attempt, the machine failed to authenticate. We washed the fingers and the machine could then authenticate her," he said.
Based on the fingerprint authentication, the deceased was identified, he said.
After her identification was confirmed, a few suspects were interrogated during which it was revealed that the woman was in a relationship with one Deepak Lal, an electrician, for the past two years, police said.
They said that their relationship had hit a rough patch which allegedly led to her killing.
Deepak Lal had called her to meet him and took her to a secluded place, where he strangulated her and set the body on fire, police added.LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Officials in Portugal say they may begin rationing the public water supply at night-time in response to the country’s worst drought on record.
Authorities say 94 percent of the Portuguese mainland is enduring what they classify as an “extreme” drought.
Environment secretary Carlos Martins says rationing could backfire because consumers might fill their bathtubs before nightfall, but the measure could help by reducing water lost through broken pipes.
Martins said in an interview published in daily newspaper i on Tuesday that reducing water pressure in the distribution system is another option.
The drought is causing problems for farming and hydroelectric power production. It has also facilitated the spread of wildfires which killed more than 100 people in the summer.
The weather remains warm and dry, despite summer’s end.Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.
July 6, 2016, 7:36 PM GMT / Updated July 6, 2016, 7:36 PM GMT By Meghan Holohan
That sunscreen you love might not be the sunscreen you really need. A new study in JAMA Dermatology finds many of the most popular sunscreens sold on Amazon don't provide proper protection.
“There is a gap in consumer knowledge on sunscreen,” Shuai Xu, co-author and a resident in dermatology at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, said.
To understand what sunscreens people actually use compared to what they need to prevent burning, the researchers looked at the most popular sunscreens on Amazon — the top 1 percent, or 65 products.
Then, they checked the labels to see if the products lived up to American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) guidelines. The dermatologists' group recommends people use sunscreens with three important qualities:
1. Broad spectrum, meaning protection against ultraviolet A rays — which make up 95 percent of the UV spectrum and are most associated with wrinkling — and ultraviolet B rays, which cause sunburn and are stronger at midday and in the summer. Both types of rays can cause skin cancer.
2. Water resistant — no sunscreen is "water proof" but water resistant means you can go up to 80 minutes in the water before you need to reapply.
3. SPF of at least 30
By simply examining the labels, Xu found 40 percent — 26 of 65 — of the products did not meet AAD requirements. Most products that failed to meet the standards, 72 percent, did so because they were not water resistant.
Related: Can Burning Solar Rays Get Through Your Car Window?
“When trying to identify a really successful sunscreen product, having that feature is really beneficial,” Xu said.
But he noted the study includes a wide variety of sunscreen products. Many of the popular ones are actually makeup or lotion.
“Sunscreen as a product class is something greater than what you wear at the beach,” he said. “Something that you use daily as part of your makeup regime, I don’t think that needs … to be water resistant.”
"You can't necessarily think of only product performance; it's got to feel nice, too."
When considering sunscreen, people choose products that have “cosmetic elegance,” meaning they feel good on the skin. People eschew products that feel greasy, chalky or heavy. Understanding what people like remains important for dermatologists trying to encourage patients to wear sunscreen regularly.
“You can’t necessarily think of only product performance; it’s got to feel nice, too," said Xu.
The study did not test whether the SPF on the label matched the SPF in the product. The FDA requires companies to put their products through tests before they can claim a certain SPF, but recent reports have called labeling accuracy into question.
Related: What is SPF? Your sunscreen, explained
A Consumer Reports study found 28 of 60 sunscreens tested did not match claims on the label, while a class action lawsuit alleges Banana Boat Kids SPF 50 actually only had an SPF of 12.69.
The top 10 most reviewed and highly-rated sunscreens on Amazon, and whether they meet the AAD criteria:Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel during a Security Council meeting at the UN headquarters on September 24, 2009. (Photo by Brooks Kraft LLC/Corbis via Getty Images)
Will you support the Chicago Teachers Union in our time of need, or will you stand with your friend Rahm Emanuel?
I heard you speak at the AFT National Conference this summer, where you promised us that you are on our side. Well, in Chicago we are under attack, an attack led by your party's out-of-favor embarrassment, Rahm Emanuel.
Dear Madame Secretary,
I am writing to you today from Chicago on behalf of all the children, families and staff in the middle of a massive manufactured crisis brewing in the Chicago Public Schools (CPS). A crisis in major part worsened by your friend, Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
I am a special education teacher at an elementary school on the far South Side of the city in a high-poverty African-American community. Thanks to Rahm Emanuel's increased attacks on neighborhood public schools like ours, we are living under truly abhorrent conditions for teachers and students alike. My school is a survivor of his vicious, racist school closings from 2013. The school down the street was forced into ours, creating chaos and disruption for all involved. We have been beaten down by at least five separate rounds of budget cuts over the past two years, with yet another round of cuts on the way. The cuts to teaching positions have caused large class sizes (41 kindergartners in one classroom!) and split classrooms (more than one grade in a class). Then there are the lay-offs of other vital staff members. We no longer have a librarian. We lost a much-needed clerk. We lost our climate and culture coordinator and our mentoring program. CPS even has stolen our social worker and psychologist for all but a day or two a week, despite the high number of children who have experienced trauma and need therapeutic services.
And we are indeed experiencing trauma. We are a school located in the middle of a neighborhood facing massive spikes in violence, thanks to Rahm's racist policies causing a lack of housing, jobs and opportunity. Just yesterday, I sat huddled in my classroom, protecting my students during a lockdown as violence swirled around us, leaving a man dead on our streets just down the block and two others injured. As I comforted my students, crying and scared in the dark, the obscenity of Rahm's call for teachers to sacrifice more tore through my thoughts. Children at my school are in mental health crisis. Yet Rahm and his unelected school board have cut the very healing services we need now more than ever. As teachers, how can we allow these horrid conditions to stand?
Not only has Rahm gone after neighborhood schools, particularly in Black communities, but now he and CPS are coming after our most vulnerable population: students with special needs. CPS has changed funding formulas and procedures to access vital special education services in an attempt to save money for their crisis off the backs of our most fragile learners. We have seen harmful disruption in special ed services, with massive lawsuits brewing. Teachers are being laid off, support personnel are being lost, busing and transportation is being cut, and CPS has created a mountain of bureaucracy designed to prevent access to services. We are at criminal levels of harm to students.
Would you allow your granddaughter to attend a school suffering these types of assaults?
You say, “Black Lives Matter.” Well, now is the time for you to show that the Black Lives of children, children with disabilities, children living in poverty here in Chicago … that those lives matter to you. That the lives of Black educators who are being laid off or pushed out of teaching in droves matter to you.
You say to teachers, “I'm with you.” I heard you speak at the AFT National Conference this summer, where you promised us that you are on our side. Well, in Chicago we are under attack, an attack led by your party's out-of-favor embarrassment, Rahm Emanuel. As the chosen candidate of the Democratic Party, we ask that you intervene directly. If you ask teachers to say, “I'm with her” then you need to show us that you truly are with us in our time of dire need.
Teachers in Chicago are on the eve of the second teachers' strike in four years. Members voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike because we see the unacceptable reality of underfunded, sabotaged schools every day. We are willing to stand up and fight for the schools our students deserve. While we deserve fair compensation and should not shoulder the burden of the elite's created fiscal crises, this strike is about so much more than our pay.
Secretary Clinton, I invite you to come walk the picket line at my school should we go out on strike beginning on October 11th. Show us which side you are on. The wealthy bankers that profit off of Rahm Emanuel's privatization schemes or the families and teachers of Chicago?
It's time for you step up and show what kind of president you will be.Please enable Javascript to watch this video
EAST HARLEM, Manhattan —He's one of the world's most prominent names in hip hop and pop music, and has been known by a wide variety of names, including Puff Daddy and P-Diddy, over his 25-year career, but on Monday, Sean "Diddy" Combs added "educator" to his many titles.
He presided over the opening of a charter school he helped to organize here.
It's part of a small charter network that's expanding from Connecticut, where it's had both successes and shortcomings, into East Harlem, where it's hoping to have a stronger performance.
The ceremony began after the 176 6th and 7th grade students who make up the inaugural classes of Capital Preparatory Harlem School filed into the auditorium of Museo del Barrio. The school occupies the fifth floor of the building.
The founder of Capital Prep Schools, Steve Perry, PhD, opened the ceremony. The idea for the Harlem academy, he told the assembled students and dignitaries, "came to me through a person I never met, but always admired, a gentleman named Sean P. Diddy, Puff Daddy Combs!" Perry was met with raucous applause from an excited but compliant audience of mostly black and Latino tweens students.
After stalling for time for a few minutes, the founder was able to finally introduce Diddy, who entered the auditorium preceded by two body guards, like a head of state. The audience of children and dignitaries went wild.
Combs gave out hugs and high fives on his way to the stage, where he proceeded to a transparent lectern. There, he gave a speech from a teleprompter.
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have already been put to the test with the evacuation of its civilians from civil wars in the Middle East. A Chinese missile frigate was deployed to the Mediterranean Sea in early 2011 to support the evacuation of more than 38,000 Chinese nationals from Libya. The PLA Navy also evacuated more than 600 of its nationals from Yemen in 2015. The instabilities in Iraq and Syria could provide a further test for China given its sizable interests in the country as a leading buyer of Iraqi oil and the presence of some ten thousand Chinese nationals in that country. The agreement on the establishment of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor in April 2015 is also likely to prove a challenging investment for China, prompting Beijing recently to propose a joint counterterrorism mechanism with Pakistan, Afghanistan and Tajikistan.
Great Power Rivalries
Recent years have seen growing concern over the potential for great power rivalries in Asia fuelled by the military modernization efforts of regional powers and their proclivity to project power, particularly into the maritime domain. China’s actions have been the most obvious illustration of this through its recent land reclamation activities in the South China Sea, declaration of an air defense identification zone in the East China Sea in 2013, and the deployment of the PLA Navy to far-flung regions of the world. However, notwithstanding the possibility of accidental skirmishes, the cold wars of East Asia are unlikely to echo the hot wars of West Asia (Middle East) any time soon.
Rather, the most likely stage for competition is in the geo-economic domain as regional powers seek to leverage their growing economic clout to expand their regional and global influence. While regional economic integration will continue to flourish, the reversal of regional supply-chains and production networks, particularly in China, which increasingly emerges as a source rather than a destination of foreign investment, sets the stage for a growing geo-economic rivalry in Asia. In this context, infrastructure financing, supported by trade and investment deals, institutions such as the AIIB and ADB and initiatives such as China’s OBOR and Japan’s Central Asia Plus Japan Dialogue, are likely to emerge as arenas of growing competition.
Nor are China and Japan the only players in this nascent competition. Notably, if Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Make in India” initiative is able to gain traction and sustain momentum, India’s manufacturing exports could some day rival those of Japan and China. While India is not in the same league as China in its efforts to create globally competitive “national champions,” India has nonetheless demonstrated a nascent drive to create more efficient public-sector undertakings (state-owned enterprises) through an emphasis on “strategic sales” or disinvestment (privatization) drives and reducing state subsidies. Modi’s pragmatic and omni-directional foreign policy, which has seen him visit 32 countries in less than two years, is also aimed at engaging all major poles of influence in the international system in order to highlight the attractiveness of the Indian economy and seek business and investment opportunities.
For instance, one potential area of future competition between China and India in the geo-economic domain is overseas land acquisitions aimed at feeding the growing appetites of both countries’ massive populations and middle classes. This has been evidenced by the emergence of Chinese company Shanghai Pengxin as one of the world’s leading private landowners, with acquisitions in Argentina, Bolivia, Cambodia and New Zealand, and another Chinese company, Moon Lake Investments acquiring Australia’s largest dairy operation, Tasmanian Land Company. China’s growing seafood consumption – which accounts for almost 40 percent of the world’s fish consumption – is another contributing factor to China’s maritime territorial claims in the South China Sea. As such, food security could prove to be the next resource rivalry on par with the commodity super-cycle of the last decade.
Ultimately, these developments illustrate that the economic and geopolitical domains are not mutually exclusive but rather mutually reinforcing. The geopolitical component of economic interactions are likely to gain salience amid growing investment in strategically important and sensitive sectors such as transport, telecoms and defense, which will often be dictated by the state of bilateral relations between countries. In some cases, cordial bilateral relations may facilitate stepped up economic interactions, as is the case in Japan’s burgeoning relationship with India, which has encouraged investment in several high-profile infrastructure projects, including the Delhi-Mumbai and Chennai-Bangalore Industrial Corridors. At the same time, greater economic interaction may quell latent political tensions, as seen by the establishment of a working group between Japan and Russia on expanding cooperation in infrastructure development, which may offer a means to normalize relations between Tokyo and Moscow and seek a resolution to their long-standing territorial dispute over the Northern Territories/Southern Kurils. Either way, geo-economics – characterized by “the grammar of commerce but the logic of war” – is likely to increasingly challenge the traditional separation of the economic and geopolitical arenas in East Asia.
Chietigj Bajpaee is a doctoral candidate in the Department of War Studies at King’s College London. He has worked with several public policy think-tanks and political risk consultancies.U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) invited Donald Trump to the U.S.-Mexico border. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) invited Donald Trump to tour the U.S.-Mexico border last month, though the senator couldn't make it in the end because of Hill votes, a Cruz spokesman said Wednesday.
"We were talking about immigration and then Ted said to Mr. Trump, ‘you should come to the Texas border. Be my guest and we’ll go together,’” Cruz spokesman Rick Tyler said. The invitation was extended during a meeting between the two men at Trump Tower in New York. He said the campaigns had a date set, but Cruz couldn’t go because the Senate had votes scheduled.
Trump, who did make a whirlwind visit to the U.S.-Mexico border last month, released a position paper on immigration this week that calls for, among other things, deporting the undocumented en masse and denying citizenship to their U.S.-born children. He has repeatedly called for a wall to be built between the two nations. His campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the Cruz Team's claim.
"I’m glad he’s in the race and he manages to attract a lot of attention and actually to force the media to talk about issue that the media should have been talking about, in particular illegal immigration," Cruz said of Trump Wednesday on the Michael Medved Show. "I welcome Donald Trump's immigration proposal. Virtually every element in the proposal he submitted is contained within legislation that I filed years ago in the Untied States Senate,” Cruz said, adding he is glad to see Trump is calling for tripling the number of border patrol agents.
[Read: Donald Trump makes a Texas-size splash with visit to Mexican border]
Cruz and Trump, though political rivals, have been chummy and occasionally downright laudatory toward one another in the past few months. On Wednesday in New Hampshire, when asked about a running mate, Trump mentioned Cruz.
"I like Ted Cruz. I like Dr. [Ben] Carson. They’ve been very supportive of me," Trump told NH1.
At times, the friendship has felt a bit lopsided. When Cruz met with Trump at Trump Tower last month, the mogul sounded a slightly less-than-effusive note.
“Ted Cruz called me,” Trump said on MSNBC’s Morning Joe. “And I don’t know why I’m meeting him, to be honest, but I do have respect for him.”
It is on the issue of immigration where Cruz and Trump have found the greatest common ground.
Trump's controversial remarks about Mexican immigrants early in his campaign led Macy's and Univision to sever ties with him. At the time, Cruz defended Trump, calling the businessman "bold" and "brash."
"I salute Donald Trump for focusing on the need to address illegal immigration," Cruz said on NBC's "Meet the Press."
Tyler said the men have a “very cordial, friendly relationship” and genuinely like one another. “They really enjoy each other’s company,” Tyler said.
It isn't just about the friendship -- Cruz is hoping to get something a bit more tangible from Trump as well: his supporters.
"We want to win over all the supporters of other candidates," said Tyler -- and “[Trump] has the most voters that we hope to eventually win their support."Shortly after turning fifty, Leo Tolstoy (September 9, 1828–November 10, 1910) succumbed to a profound spiritual crisis. With his greatest works behind him, he found his sense of purpose dwindling as his celebrity and public acclaim billowed, sinking into a state of deep depression and melancholia despite having a large estate, good health for his age, a wife who had born him fourteen children, and the promise of eternal literary fame. On the brink of suicide, he made one last grasp at light amidst the darkness of his existence, turning to the world’s great religious and philosophical traditions for answers to the age-old question regarding the meaning of life. In 1879, a decade after War and Peace and two years after Anna Karenina, and a decade before he set out to synthesize these philosophical findings in his Calendar of Wisdom, Tolstoy channeled the existential catastrophe of his inner life in A Confession (public library) — an autobiographical memoir of extraordinary candor and emotional intensity, which also gave us Tolstoy’s prescient meditation on money, fame, and writing for the wrong reasons.
He likens the progression of his depression to a serious physical illness — a parallel modern science is rendering increasingly appropriate. Tolstoy writes:
Then occurred what happens to everyone sickening with a mortal internal disease. At first trivial signs of indisposition appear to which the sick man pays no attention; then these signs reappear more and more often and merge into one uninterrupted period of suffering. The suffering increases, and before the sick man can look round, what he took for a mere indisposition has already become more important to him than anything else in the world — it is death!
The classic symptoms of anhedonia engulfed him — he lost passion for his work and came to dismiss as meaningless the eternal fame he had once dreamt of. He even ceased to go out shooting with his gun in fear that he might be too tempted to take his own life. Though he didn’t acknowledge a “someone” in the sense of a creator, he came to feel that his life was a joke that someone had played on him — a joke all the grimmer for the awareness of our inescapable impermanence, and all the more despairing:
Today or tomorrow sickness and death will come (they had come already) to those I love or to me; nothing will remain but stench and worms. Sooner or later my affairs, whatever they may be, will be forgotten, and I shall not exist. Then why go on making any effort?... How can man fail to see this? And how go on living? That is what is surprising! One can only live while one is intoxicated with life; as soon as one is sober it is impossible not to see that it is all a mere fraud and a stupid fraud! That is precisely what it is: there is nothing either amusing or witty about it, it is simply cruel and stupid. […] Had I simply understood that life had no meaning I could have borne it quietly, knowing that that was my lot. But I could not satisfy myself with that. Had I been like a man living in a wood from which he knows there is no exit, I could have lived; but I was like one lost in a wood who, horrified at having lost his way, rushes about wishing to find the road. He knows that each step he takes confuses him more and more, but still he cannot help rushing about. It was indeed terrible. And to rid myself of the terror I wished to kill myself.
And yet he recognized that the inquiry at the heart of his spiritual malady was neither unique nor complicated:
My question … was the simplest of questions, lying in the soul of every man from the foolish child to the wisest elder: it was a question without an answer to which one cannot live, as I had found by experience. It was: “What will come of what I am doing today or shall do tomorrow? What will come of my whole life?” Differently expressed, the question is: “Why should I live, why wish for anything, or do anything?” It can also be expressed thus: “Is there any meaning in my life that the inevitable death awaiting me does not destroy?”
Seeking to answer this seemingly simple yet paralyzingly profound question, Tolstoy first turned to science, but found that rather than recognizing and answering the question, science circumvented it and instead asked its own questions, then answered those. Most of all, he found it incapable of illuminating the infinite and instead reducing its questions and answers to finite. He writes:
These are all words with no meaning, for in the infinite there is neither complex nor simple, neither forward nor backward, nor better or worse. […] One who sincerely inquires how he is to live cannot be satisfied with the reply — “Study in endless space the mutations, infinite in time and in complexity, of innumerable atoms, and then you will understand your life” — so also a sincere man cannot be satisfied with the reply: “Study the whole life of humanity of which we cannot know either the beginning or the end, of which we do not even know a small part, and then you will understand your own life.”
A century and a half before Alan Lightman tussled, elegantly, with the same paradox, Tolstoy captured the Catch-22 of the predicament:
The problem of experimental science is the sequence of cause and effect in material phenomena. It is only necessary for experimental science to introduce the question of a final cause for it to become nonsensical. The problem of abstract science is the recognition of the primordial essence of life. It is only necessary to introduce the investigation of consequential phenomena (such as social and historical phenomena) and it also becomes nonsensical. Experimental science only then gives positive knowledge and displays the greatness of the human mind when it does not introduce into its investigations the question of an ultimate cause. And, on the contrary, abstract science is only then science and displays the greatness of the human mind when it puts quite aside questions relating to the consequential causes of phenomena and regards man solely in relation to an ultimate cause.
He then turned to philosophy, but found himself equally disillusioned:
Philosophy not merely does not reply, but is itself only asking that question. And if it is real philosophy all its labour lies merely in trying to put that question clearly.
Instead of an answer, he finds in philosophy “the same question, only in a complex form.” He bemoans the inability of either science or philosophy to offer a real answer:
One kind of knowledge did not reply to life’s question, the other kind replied directly confirming my despair, indicating not that the result at which I had arrived was the fruit of error or of a diseased state of my mind, but on the contrary that I had thought correctly, and that my thoughts coincided with the conclusions of the most powerful of human minds.
Frustrated, Tolstoy answers his own question:
“Why does everything exist that exists, and why do I exist?” “Because it exists.”
It’s a sentiment that John Cage would second a century later (“No why. Just here.”) and George Lucas would also echo (“There is no why. We are. Life is beyond reason.”) — a proposition that comes closest to the spiritual tradition of Buddhism. And, indeed, Tolstoy turns to spirituality in one final and desperate attempt at an answer — first by surveying how those in his social circle lived with this all-consuming inquiry. He found among them four strategies for managing the existential despair, but none that resolved it:
I found that for people of my circle there were four ways out of the terrible position in which we are all placed. The first was that of ignorance. It consists in not knowing, not understanding, that life is an evil and an absurdity. From [people of this sort] I had nothing to learn — one cannot cease to know what one does know. The second way out is epicureanism. It consists, while knowing the hopelessness of life, in making use meanwhile of the advantages one has, disregarding the dragon and the mice, and licking the honey in the best way, especially if there is much of it within reach… That is the way in which the majority of people of our circle make life possible for themselves. Their circumstances furnish them with more of welfare than of hardship, and their moral dullness makes it possible for them to forget that the advantage of their position is accidental … and that the accident that has today made me a Solomon may tomorrow make me a Solomon’s slave. The dullness of these people’s imagination enables them to forget the things that gave Buddha no peace — the inevitability of sickness, old age, and death, which today or tomorrow will destroy all these pleasures. The third escape is that of strength and energy. It consists in destroying life, when one has understood that it is an evil and an absurdity. A few exceptionally strong and consistent people act so. Having understood the stupidity of the joke that has been played on them, and having understood that it is better to be dead than to be alive, and that it is best of all not to exist, they act accordingly and promptly end this stupid joke, since there are means: a rope round one’s neck, water, a knife to stick into one’s heart, or the trains on the railways; and the number of those of our circle who act in this way becomes greater and greater, and for the most part they act so at the best time of their life, when the strength of their mind is in full bloom and few habits degrading to the mind have as yet been acquired… The fourth way out is that of weakness. It consists in seeing the truth of the situation and yet clinging to life, knowing in advance that nothing can come of it. People of this kind know that death is better than life, but not having the strength to act rationally — to end the deception quickly and kill themselves — they seem to wait for something. This is the escape of weakness, for if I know what is best and it is within my power, why not yield to what is best? … The fourth way was to live like Solomon and Schopenhauer — knowing that life is a stupid joke played upon us, and still to go on living, washing oneself, dressing, dining, talking, and even writing books. This was to me repulsive and tormenting, but I remained in that position.
Finding himself in the fourth category, Tolstoy begins to question why he hadn’t killed himself. Suddenly, he realizes that a part of him was questioning the very validity of his depressive thoughts, presenting “a vague doubt” as to the certainty of his conclusions about the senselessness of life. Humbled by the awareness that the mind is both puppet and puppet-master, he writes:
It was like this: I, my reason, have acknowledged that life is senseless. If there is nothing higher than reason (and there is not: nothing can prove that there is), then reason is the creator of life for me. If reason did not exist there would be for me no life. How can reason deny life when it is the creator of life? Or to put it the other way: were there no life, my reason would not exist; therefore reason is life’s son. Life is all. Reason is its fruit yet reason rejects life itself! I felt that there was something wrong here.
And he discovers the solution not in science or philosophy or the life of hedonism, but in those living life in its simplest and purest form:
The reasoning showing the vanity of life is not so difficult, and has long been familiar to the very simplest folk; yet they have lived and still live. How is it they all live and never think of doubting the reasonableness of life? My knowledge, confirmed by the wisdom of the sages, has shown me that everything on earth — organic and inorganic — is all most cleverly arranged — only my own position is stupid. And those fools — the enormous masses of people — know nothing about how everything organic and inorganic in the world is arranged; but they live, and it seems to them that their life is very wisely arranged!... And it struck me: “But what if there is something I do not yet know? Ignorance behaves just in that way. Ignorance always says just what I am saying. When it does not know something, it says that what it does not know is stupid. Indeed, it appears that there is a whole humanity that lived and lives as if it understood the meaning of its life, for without understanding it could not live; but I say that all this life is senseless and that I cannot live.
Awake to what Stuart Firestein would call “thoroughly conscious ignorance” some 130 years later, Tolstoy sees his own blinders with new eyes:
In the delusion of my pride of intellect it seemed to me so indubitable that I and Solomon and Schopenhauer had stated the question so truly and exactly that nothing else was possible — so indubitable did it seem that all those milliards consisted of men who had not yet arrived at an apprehension of all the profundity of the question — that I sought for the meaning of my life without it once occurring to me to ask: “But what meaning is and has been given to their lives by all the milliards of common folk who live and have lived in the world?” I long lived in this state of lunacy, which, in fact if not in words, is particularly characteristic of us very liberal and learned people. But thanks either to the strange physical affection I have for the real laboring people, which compelled me to understand them and to see that they are not so stupid as we suppose, or thanks to the sincerity of my conviction that I could know nothing beyond the fact that the best I could do was to hang myself, at any rate I instinctively felt that if I wished to live and understand the meaning of life, I must seek this meaning not among those who have lost it and wish to kill themselves, but among those milliards of the past and the present who make life and who support the burden of their own lives and of ours also. And I considered the enormous masses of those simple, unlearned, and poor people who have lived and are living and I saw something quite different. I saw that, with rare exceptions, all those milliards who have lived and are living do not fit into my divisions, and that I could not class them as not understanding the question, for they themselves state it and reply to it with extraordinary clearness. Nor could I consider them epicureans, for their life consists more of privations and sufferings than of enjoyments. Still less could I consider them as irrationally dragging on a meaningless existence, for every act of their life, as well as death itself, is explained by them. To kill themselves they consider the greatest evil. It appeared that all mankind had a knowledge, unacknowledged and despised by me, of the meaning of life. It appeared that reasonable knowledge does not give the meaning of life, but excludes life: while the meaning attributed to life by milliards of people, by all humanity, rests on some despised pseudo-knowledge.
He considers the necessary irrationality of faith and contemplates its unfair ask of forsaking reason:
Rational knowledge presented by the learned and wise, denies the meaning of life, but the enormous masses of men, the whole of mankind receive that meaning in irrational knowledge. And that irrational knowledge is faith, that very thing which I could not but reject. It is God, One in Three; the creation in six days; the devils and angels, and all the rest that I cannot accept as long as I retain my reason. My position was terrible. I knew I could find nothing along the path of reasonable knowledge except a denial of life; and there — in faith — was nothing but a denial of reason, which was yet more impossible for me than a denial of life. From rational knowledge it appeared that life is an evil, people know this and it is in their power to end life; yet they lived and still live, and I myself live, though I have long known that life is senseless and an evil. By faith it appears that in order to understand the meaning of life I must renounce my reason, the very thing for which alone a meaning is required… A contradiction arose from which there were two exits. Either that which I called reason was not so rational as I supposed, or that which seemed to me irrational was not so irrational as I supposed.
And therein he finds the error in all of his prior reasoning, the root of his melancholia about life’s meaninglessness:
Verifying the line of argument of rational knowledge I found it quite correct. The conclusion that life is nothing was inevitable; but I noticed a mistake. The mistake lay in this, that my reasoning was not in accord with the question I had put. The question was: “Why should I live, that is to say, what real, permanent result will come out of my illusory transitory life — what meaning has my finite existence in this infinite world?” And to reply to that question I had studied life. The solution of all the possible questions of life could evidently not satisfy me, for my question, simple as it at first appeared, included a demand for an explanation of the finite in terms of the infinite, and vice versa. I asked: “What is the meaning of my life, beyond time, cause, and space?” And I replied to quite another question: “What is the meaning of my life within time, cause, and space?” With the result that, after long efforts of thought, the answer I reached was: “None.” In my reasonings I constantly compared (nor could I do otherwise) the finite with the finite, and the infinite with the infinite; but for that reason I reached the inevitable result: force is force, matter is matter, will is will, the infinite is the infinite, nothing is nothing — and that was all that could result. […] Philosophic knowledge denies nothing, but only replies that the question cannot be solved by it — that for it the solution remains indefinite. Having understood this, I understood that it was not possible to seek in rational knowledge for a reply to my question, and that the reply given by rational knowledge is a mere indication that a reply can only be obtained by a different statement of the question and only when the relation of the finite to the infinite is included in the question. And I understood that, however irrational and distorted might be the replies given by faith, they have this advantage, that they introduce into every answer a relation between the finite and the infinite, without which there can be no solution. So that besides rational knowledge, which had seemed to me the only knowledge, I was inevitably brought to acknowledge that all live humanity has another irrational knowledge — faith which makes it possible to live. Faith still remained to me as irrational as it was before, but I could not but admit that it alone gives mankind a reply to the questions of life, and that consequently it makes life possible.
Tolstoy notes that, whatever the faith may be, it “gives to the finite existence of man an infinite meaning, a meaning not destroyed by sufferings, deprivations, or death,” and yet he is careful not to conflate faith with a specific religion. Like Flannery O’Connor, who so beautifully differentiated between religion and faith, Tolstoy writes:
I understood that faith is not merely “the evidence of things not seen”, etc., and is not a revelation (that defines only one of the indications of faith, is not the relation of man to God (one has first to define faith and then God, and not define faith through God); it is not only agreement with what has been told one (as faith is most usually supposed to be), but faith is a knowledge of the meaning of human life in consequence of which man does not destroy himself but lives. Faith is the strength of life. If a man lives he believes in something. If he did not believe that one must live for something, he would not live. If he does not see and recognize the illusory nature of the finite, he believes in the finite; if he understands the illusory nature of the finite, he must believe in the infinite. Without faith he cannot live… For man to be able to live he must either not see the infinite, or have such an explanation of the meaning of life as will connect the finite with the infinite.
And yet the closer he examines faith, the more glaring he finds the disconnect between it and religion, particularly the teachings of the Christian church and the practices of the wealthy. Once again, he returns to the peasants as a paragon of spiritual salvation, of bridging the finite with the infinite, and once again seeing in their ways an ethos most closely resembling the Buddhist philosophy of acceptance:
In contrast with what I had seen in our circle, where the whole of life is passed in idleness, amusement, and dissatisfaction, I saw that the whole life of these people was passed in heavy labour, and that they were content with life. In contradistinction to the way in which people of our circle oppose fate and complain of it on account of deprivations and sufferings, these people accepted illness and sorrow without any perplexity or opposition, and with a quiet and firm conviction that all is good. In contradistinction to us, who the wiser we are the less we understand the meaning of life, and see some evil irony in the fact that we suffer and die, these folk live and suffer, and they approach death and suffering with tranquility and in most cases gladly… In complete contrast to my ignorance, [they] knew the meaning of life and death, labored quietly, endured deprivations and sufferings, and lived and died seeing therein not vanity but good… […] I understood that if I wish to understand life and its meaning, I must not live the life of a parasite, but must live a real life, and — taking the meaning given to live by real humanity and merging myself in that life — verify it.
A Confession is a remarkable read in its entirety. Complement it with Tolstoy’s subsequent opus of philosophical inquiry, A Calendar of Wisdom, and this rare recording of him reading from the latter, exploring the object of life shortly before his death.
Also see more meditations on the meaning of life from Carl Sagan, Maya Angelou, Richard Feynman, David Foster Wallace, John Steinbeck, Anaïs Nin, George Lucas, and Viktor Frankl.At Savatthi. Then King Pasenadi Kosala went to the Blessed One in the middle of the day and, on arrival, having bowed down to the Blessed One, sat to one side. As he was sitting there the Blessed One said to him, "Well now, great king, where are you coming from in the middle of the day?"
"Just now, lord, a money-lending householder died in Savatthi. I have come from conveying his heirless fortune to the royal palace: eight million in silver, to say nothing of the gold. But even though he was a money-lending householder, his enjoyment of food was like this: he ate broken rice & pickle brine. His enjoyment of clothing was like this: he wore three lengths of hempen cloth. His enjoyment of a vehicle was like this: he rode in a dilapidated little cart with an awning of leaves."
"That's the way it is, great king. That's the way it is. When a person of no integrity acquires lavish wealth, he doesn't provide for his own pleasure & satisfaction, nor for the pleasure & satisfaction of his parents, nor for the pleasure & satisfaction of his wife & children; nor for the pleasure & satisfaction of his slaves, servants, & assistants; nor for the pleasure & satisfaction of his friends. He doesn't institute for brahmans & contemplatives offerings of supreme aim, heavenly, resulting in happiness, leading to heaven. When his wealth isn't properly put to use, kings make off with it, or thieves make off with it, or fire burns it, or water sweeps it away, or hateful heirs make off with it. Thus his wealth, not properly put to use, goes to waste and not to any good use.
"Just as with a pond in a place haunted by non-human beings, with clear water, cool water, fresh water, clean, with good fords, delightful: No people would draw water from it or drink it or bathe in it or apply it to their needs. And so that water, not properly put to use, would go to waste and not to any good use. In the same way, when a person of no integrity acquires lavish wealth... his wealth, not properly put to use, goes to waste and not to any good use.
"But when a person of integrity acquires lavish wealth, he provides for his own pleasure & satisfaction, for the pleasure & satisfaction of his parents, the pleasure & satisfaction of his wife & children; the pleasure & satisfaction of his slaves, servants, & assistants; and the pleasure & satisfaction of his friends. He institutes for brahmans & contemplatives offerings of supreme aim, heavenly, resulting in happiness, leading to heaven. When his wealth is properly put to use, kings don't make off with it, thieves don't make off with it, fire doesn't burn it, water doesn't sweep it away, and hateful heirs don't make off with it. Thus his wealth, properly put to use, goes to a good use and not to waste.
"Just as with a pond not far from a town or village, with clear water, cool water, fresh water, clean, with good fords, delightful. People would draw water from it or drink it or bathe in it or apply it to their needs. And so that water, properly put to use, would go to a good use and not to waste. In the same way, when a person of integrity acquires lavish wealth... his wealth, properly put to use, goes to a good use and not to waste."
That is what the Blessed One said. Having said that, the One Well-Gone, the Teacher, said further:(CNN) Mass killings and school shootings spread "contagiously," a study found, where one killing or shooting increases the chances that others will occur within about two weeks.
Researchers gathered records of school shootings and mass killings from several data sets and fit them into a mathematical "contagion model." The spread they found was not dependent on location, leading researchers to believe that national media coverage of a mass shooting might play a role. On average, mass shootings occur about once every two weeks in the United States and school shootings happen about once a month, the study said.
"What we believe may be happening is national news media attention is like a'vector' that reaches people who are vulnerable," said Sherry Towers, a research professor at Arizona State University and lead author of the study.
Those vulnerable people are those who have regular access to weapons and are perhaps mentally ill, Towers said. Once "infected" with knowledge of a shooting from national media coverage, data shows that a person is more likely to commit a similar crime.
"When at least three people are shot, but less than four people are killed, the media reports tended be local," Towers said. These shootings that received local news coverage, but no national news coverage, did not have the same contagious effect, according to Towers.
More tips from the public means a greater chance that tragic mass killings can be prevented, said Newman, who was not involved in the study.
"While there's a spike in shootings following an incident, there's an even bigger spike in reported plots," Newman said. "This is because people are vigilant and come forward with their suspicions and concerns."
Newman said the biggest hurdle to preventing school shootings is making it possible for people with information to report to authorities.
"If we want kids to come forward with information, we have to remind them these horrific crimes are happening," Newman said. "It should be part of a regular school curriculum to remind kids these things are going on."
Jack Levin, a criminologist at Northeastern University, said it's the amount of media coverage that matters.
"It's the excessive media attention that creates the copycat phenomenon. We make celebrities out of monsters," Levin said, noting that there are trading cards, action figures and magazine covers featuring murderers.
Researchers behind the new study also found that states with higher gun ownership were more likely to have mass killings and school shootings. On the contrary, states with tighter firearm laws had fewer mass shootings.
Levin said he believes a high number of handguns is partially responsible for the high rate of mass shootings in the United States.
"We have so many semi-automatic weapons that can be easily concealed, and taken from the home and used on classmates or whoever," he said. "The real problem in (the United States) has to do with handguns being in the hands of the wrong people. But you can't blame it all on guns. (The United States) leads the Western world in nongun homicides, too."
Towers knows firsthand the terror that shooting incidents can send through a community. She was traveling to a meeting at Purdue University in Indiana in January 2014 when the campus was locked down after reports of gunshots. Andrew Boldt, a 21-year-old Purdue senior, was fatally shot by another student, Cody Cousins. As details surrounding the shooting slowly emerged, Towers said she felt a mix of worry, relief, guilt -- and eventually, curiosity.
"It struck me as odd that other shootings occurred around the same time," Towers said. "I knew that day that I wanted to look into this further."
Collecting information about school shootings and mass killings wasn't easy, Towers said, noting "right now there is no federal database on these tragedies."
Towers said there are still a number of important questions left unanswered, and creating consistent data about these incidents is the first step.
"An official database needs to be compiled," Towers said. "The dynamic in the society needs to be addressed so we can fix this public health crisis."A mother — tired of her son's "shenanigans" — chased him with a machete after he tried to leave to go buy a pack of cigarettes, according to an arrest report.
Delray Beach police said Lisa Guthrie, 55, was intoxicated at her house Tuesday at about 10:45 p.m. when her 31-year-old son told her he was going out to get cigarettes.
Guthrie told her son she didn't want him leaving the house at that late hour, but he left anyway, according to the report. When he returned, his mother started yelling at him and grabbed a machete. Guthrie's son told police his mother was holding the blade above her head and struck him on the arm twice.
It's unclear if the son was injured in the incident.
Police questioned Guthrie, who was drunk and agitated, according to the report. She told officers she was "tired" of her son's actions and that she didn't want him to leave the house so late at night.
Guthrie is charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. She is being held at the Palm Beach County Jail without bail.
kjacobson |
umber: Being born and raised in Rochester Hills, I take great pride in where I’m from. I grew up in a community with the Hansons group practically in my backyard. Everyone has such great respect for Keith and Kevin Hanson and for what they have done to promote the sport of running (and I, of course, always bought my shoes from them). Also, competing with girls like Megan Goethals in high school, I was really shown a good example of what hard work and dedication can amount to. Joining my first track team in third grade, I was fortunate enough to have had great coaches (Dave Hutson-elementary/middle school & Budd Ciccarelli-high school), friends, and parents that made the sport an even better experience from a very young age. What led me to Kentucky was John Mortimer, who was the assistant coach at the time. He was a great recruiter and really sold me on the school and the program. On my official visit, I fell in love with Lexington, the campus, and the team.
5. Daily Relay: It’s your senior year now in Lexington. What has it been like running for the Wildcats. Where are some of your favorite places to run around town?
Cally Macumber: I can honestly say becoming a Kentucky Wildcat was one of the best decisions of my life. Although there have been three coaching changes in my 4 years at UK, I was able to learn from each and every one of them. I was given the opportunity to do what I love to do, while also being able to meet so many amazing people and travel to so many interesting places! Whether running at Keeneland, through the trails at Veterans Park, or on the long, hot- Sahara-like Legacy Trail, it was always a good experience because I was with people that made me happy. I think that no matter where you are, if you’re with people that can make you laugh, you don’t need much of anything else … with that cheesy, but true statement, Lexington is an awesome place and everyone should try to visit at LEAST once in their lifetime ; )
If you enjoy 5 Questions, check out the archive of previous interviews over at Writing About RunningThings are slowly beginning to look up for Jon Jones and Brock Lesnar.
According to the United States Anti-Doping Agency's policy, both fighters are facing a maximum one-year suspension for their recent failed drug tests, not the usual two-year ban.
The reason for the shorter suspension is because the banned substances the pair tested positive for -- Hydroxy-clomiphene, an anti-estrogenic agent, as well the Letrozole metabolite, an aromatase inhibitor, which was only found in Jones' system -- are considered "specified substances" under the World Anti-Doping Agency Code.
Per the WADA Code, "there is a greater likelihood that these (specified) substances could be susceptible to a credible non-doping explanation." When it comes to specified substances, the WADA Code recognizes that it is possible for a prohibited substance to enter an athlete's body inadvertently, "and therefore allow a tribunal more flexibility when making a sanctioning decision."
Important to note that if an athlete is found with a specified substance in his or her system, they could receive as little as a public warning, and if the athlete chooses not to accept the sanction from the USADA, they have the right to go to arbitration, which is normally overseen by the American Arbitration Association, a group independent of USADA. The fighter also has the choice between a single arbitrator, or a three person panel to oversee the case.
USADA has yet to announce what kind of sanction it will impose on Jones and Lesnar.
Lesnar failed an out-of-competition drug test on June 28, as well as an in-competition test on July 9, while Jones failed an out-of-competition test on June 16, which forced the UFC to pull him from UFC 200 three days before the event. Lesnar's results didn't arrive in time for the event, thus allowing him to compete, and ultimately defeat, Mark Hunt via unanimous decision.
Lesnar won't face any additional sanctions due to his failing two tests. That would only come into play had he been notified of the first failure before the second test was administered.
In addition to possible sanctioning by USADA, the pair also face suspensions and fines from the Nevada Athletic Commission, who recently temporarily suspended both Lesnar and Jones. Lesnar is also facing the loss of his victory over Hunt.
Both fighters' NAC hearing is expected to take place later this year. The NAC does not have to follow any USADA sanction and vice versa. The two suspension lengths can be completely different.Slotback Weston Dressler expects that Rider Nation will be noisy Saturday when Mosaic Stadium plays host to its first CFL regular-season game.
The Saskatchewan Roughriders are playing host to Dressler and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers at new Mosaic Stadium. Dressler anticipates that the atmosphere will be similar to when the Riders defeated the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 45-23 in the 2013 Grey Cup game at old Mosaic Stadium.
“I don’t expect them to be any different,’’ Dressler said Wednesday from Winnipeg. “At old Mosaic Stadium they were always rowdy, especially when Winnipeg is in town. I’m sure it will be loud and offensively we will have to deal with that noise if we want to be successful.’’
Dressler spent eight CFL seasons with the Riders before he and defensive end John Chick were released for financial reasons on Jan. 14, 2016.
Dressler eventually signed with the Blue Bombers and faced the Riders in last year’s final Labour Day Classic at old Mosaic Stadium and in the following week’s rematch in Winnipeg.
“I’m hoping that I dealt (with the emotions) of coming back last year and playing the former team,’’ Dressler said. “Right now I feel like I’m a big part of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. I want to go in there and try to win the first game in that stadium.’’
The Blue Bombers opened the 2017 season with a bye. The Riders kicked off their regular season with a 17-16 loss to the host Montreal Alouettes on June 22. Dressler doesn’t feel it’s an advantage for the Blue Bombers to have had an additional week to study the Riders.
“You look at their defensive backs and they have a couple of rookies in there,’’ Dressler said. “Those guys have a lot more game film on me than I do on them.’’
mmccormick@postmedia.com
twitter.com/murraylpLINTHICUM, Md. (AP) — Customs and Border Patrol agents have seized more than $40,000 in unreported currency from a Nigerian traveler at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.
The Department of Homeland Security announced Monday that the man who arrived at BWI on a flight from London on Sunday initially declared that he had $5,000. The man later amended that to $22,000, but officials say customs agents ultimately discovered more than $42,700 on the man and in his luggage. The money was seized and the man was advised on how to file a petition for the return of the currency. He has not been charged with a crime.
There’s no limit on how much currency travelers can import and export, but they must report amounts larger than $10,000.
(Copyright 2015 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)In a full-page ad in the Janesville Gazette, Wisconsin businessman Paul Nehlen calls on Wisconsin workers to “dethrone” House Speaker Paul Ryan on his August 9th primary and save the nation from the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement and open borders.
“Paul Ryan is the most anti-union, anti-worker member of Congress,” the full-page ad reads. “’Open Borders’ Paul Ryan is planning to ram through the job-killing Trans Pacific Partnership right after the election. Only you can stop it. Defeat ‘Open Borders’ Paul Ryan and protect American jobs.”
“Wisconsin has an open primary,” the ad states. “All Wisconsin workers must unite on August 9th to dethrone ‘Open Borders’ Paul Ryan and stop the Ruling Class. Do it for American workers. Do it for our Country.”
The ad prominently features a picture of Paul Ryan smirking. Underneath it—in the background— is a picture of the now-shuttered Janesville GM plant, which had been a fixture of the community for decades and had once employed more than 7,000 Wisconsin workers.
Business Insider has described the image of the large, abandoned Janesville GM factory as a “symbol of this city’s descent into economic calamity.”
Earlier this week, the Nehlen campaign released a 60-second video, which featured the endorsement of a laid off Janesville GM worker, who identifies as a Democrat.
“Janesville had—at one time—had the best workforce in General Motors. I had a good job. I was happy with my job. I really liked my job,” the laid off worker told viewers. “I wanted to work ‘til the day I died.”
But then “they shut the plant down,” the worker explained. “I have no love for Paul Ryan… I wouldn’t vote for him for dog catcher.”
The Janesville worker said that he supports Nehlen because “he’ll bring the jobs back—I’m all supportive of that. I back him up 100 percent.”
Paul Ryan has a long history of advocating for globalist policies on trade and immigration. NBC’s Chuck Todd recently described Paul Ryan as “an internationalist” who supports the “open borders” ideology on immigration.
Indeed, Ryan has repeatedly made the case for enacting an open borders immigration system that would allow people to freely and legally enter the country without any firm limits—similar to the uninhibited immigration policy European nations have within the EU.
During his Tuesday CNN town hall interview with Jake Tapper, Ryan reiterated his desire to bring in more foreign workers—even though 94 million Americans are operating outside the workforce, and 83% of the American electorate wants to see immigration levels frozen or reduced.
As Breitbart News’ Neil Munro reports:
House Speaker Paul Ryan last night promised to create a ‘21st Century’ immigration system that lets employers hire an endless supply of cheap foreign workers instead of paying marketplace wages to American employees or to young Americans entering the labor force.
Ryan has previously explained that importing more low-skilled foreign labor is necessary to help employers keep wages low.
On trade, Ryan worked as President Obama’s “partner” in his effort to fast track the Trans-Pacific Partnership— even though Wisconsin suffered a net loss of nearly 40,000 jobs in 2015 alone due to the U.S. trade deficit with TPP countries.
In a 2015 Wall Street Journal op-ed, Ryan described the TPP as a “historic” agreement, which “would mean greater access to a billion customers for American manufacturers, farmers, and ranchers.”
“A successful TPP would mean greater American influence in the world and more good jobs at home,” Ryan wrote separately.
Ryan has not expressed concern over the trade agreement’s establishment of a global governing commission, which would have significant implication for U.S. sovereignty. Sen. Jeff Sessions has described the international governing commission as a sort of “Pacific Union,” that bears resemblance to a “nascent European Union.”
New reports indicate that the TPP could be brought up for a vote during the lame duck session of Congress, after Ryan’s primary election.
During his recent press conference in front of Ryan’s border wall, Nehlen said that Ryan supports the open borders agenda on trade and immigration because he is beholden to his globalist donors.
“Can you name one time when Paul Ryan fought as hard for you and your family as he’s fought for corporate America?” Nehlen asks. “Paul Ryan has sold out his district to his corporate masters. On August 9th, the voters of Wisconsin have a historic opportunity: vote Ryan out and declare your freedom… On August 9th, you can kick out every transnational elite for whom national borders are seen as merely obstacles to the flow of cheap goods and labor.”Would you be so kind as to disable your ad-blocker on BasilMarket please? Your support is greatly appreciated.
Gigas Wave bug? Kaiser Forum Talk about Kaiser
Roxxaine Level 191 Elnido Dark Knight So I was running my 1.5 Exp coupon and training my Kaiser in MPE, when I hit lvl 100. I quickly blasted through the Job Adv. to save as much time as I could. I proceeded to train until the clock had 00:40 left. I summoned the boss and decided to use Giga's Wave to kill it. I was almost done when suddenly my character stopped attacking and was unresponsive to my keyboard. I couldn't move, jump, attack, activate macros, or open any menus of any sort (Esc, guild, family, party). Luckily the timer ran down before I died. I was baffled...
At first I thought Ahnlab Shield had kicked in and blocked my repetitive attacks in MPE, as GW worked fine in Edelstien. Either that or it was a bug in MPE. SO I proceeded through the Evo Lab Questline only to get stuck with 29:32 left on the clock, again as soon as I used GW. I decided that the 1.5x coupon wasn't worth the risk of dying so I just clicked on the "System Menu."
So far I know that GW will glitch your character out in MPE and Evo. After which you will not be able to do anything except click on menus, and use potions.
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glorynhonorz same thing happens to me all the time in dimension pq
i just freeze up lol
Roxxaine Level 191 Elnido Dark Knight For once I am not glad that other's also experience the same thing. There's no way around it at the moment right?
BubbaMS Same, in gollux. Not as much today, 1 time today 50+ yesterday, you need to be transported to a new map, or die to move. or exit maple
esteban Level 236 Scania Mechanic 4 It happens to both nova classes. I break out of it by spazzing out the arrow keys and the chain jump, and if that fails, I use the Root Abyss to get in, then exit since that resets the freeze for me. Hope that works for you guys.
I also found out the kaiser third job skill, Cursebite causes my game to error crash.
Roxxaine Level 191 Elnido Dark Knight Wait, when do you get the root abyss quest?
wowcradle2 Level 209 Scania Zero Transcendent This happens when you use gigas wave directly after dragon slash for me, so leave like a second in between the skills
JosephKoopa Level 207 Windia Kaiser 4 It's happened several times when I attempted Magnus. I thought it was some kind of status ailment until I saw it happen in monster park. It gets annoying. :c Kaiphas and Sherry Zakum Jump Quest with commentary
Sarlacc Level 135 Elnido Demon Avenger 4 You're definitely not alone, and it's been SERIOUSLY pissing me off. I'll be in Evo System after loading up my best cores, and popping my Haloween 2x coupon, then I'll head straight to link 3, get about 2-3 minutes in, and my whole keyboard stops responding.
This has happened to me ~4-5x already now, and I really hate it.
Kazno Level 203 Bera Kaiser 4 Oh wow lol, I THINK this happened to me yesterday when I was about to clear Ranked Dojo. I wasn't sure what happened, I thought something glitched up because my Final Form expired and I may have gotten stunned or some crap but this probably explains it, I was so pissed I couldn't move and Lyka had 1/10 hp left. 500 familiars
Edinh225 its a bug for the kaisers since the update.
Page TopHome 1 2RIGA (Reuters) - EU leaders meeting in Latvia’s capital Riga last week would have paid little heed to the rundown building across the street, seemingly unpainted since Brezhnev’s day, or the fading slogan daubed across its roof.
Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel (R) listens to Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko before the Eastern Partnership Summit session in Riga, Latvia, May 22, 2015. REUTERS/Ints Kalnins
“You are not alone!” it yelled in Russian.
It might have been the mantra recited by the Europeans to six ex-Soviet neighbors at the so-called Eastern Partnership Summit, who went away with EU pledges of aid and trade.
Yet read the gnomic graffiti another way and you hear a hint of the menace of an uninvited spectator, a slogan for President Vladimir Putin’s refusal to leave Moscow’s former satellites alone to the embrace of a Western bloc he sees as hostile.
For the first partnership summit since the flare-up of the Ukraine conflict last year was dominated by Russia. And the talks revealed how uneasy many European Union members are about confronting Moscow, leaving Ukraine and other partners, like Georgia and Moldova, feeling the chill.
The summit statement, long on jargon about economic cooperation and democracy, disappointed those seeking a hard promise of EU membership. And though “Russia” appeared just once in 5,000 words, it was the specter at the feast.
It was at the last such summit, held in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius 18 months ago, that Ukraine’s then-president triggered an East-West crisis by rejecting an agreement with the EU. That sparked the ‘Euromaidan’ protests in Kiev that forced him to flee to Russia, which soon afterwards seized control of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula and has backed pro-Moscow fighters waging separatist war in the east of the country.
“There is a lot of good stuff in the statement,” said one senior EU diplomat who helped draft the Riga communiques. “But all that is completely overshadowed by Russia’s insistence — which we did not create — that this is a zero-sum game directed against it.”
SHARP DIVISIONS
There is clear division among the six states invited to form the Eastern Partnership in 2009: Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova are hammering on the EU’s door, seeking refuge from the Russian bear; Armenia, Azerbaijan and Belarus are more ambivalent, just as Brussels is cooler toward them, not least over human rights.
But there is a growing divide among EU members themselves.
Some from the east want a tougher EU line toward Moscow and an open door for the neighbors. Estonia’s 35-year-old premier Taavi Roivas, said there should be “no more obstacles” to EU membership once countries met Brussels’ standards of governance.
Georgian Foreign Minister Tamar Beruchashvili told Reuters the “very challenging security environment” should make the partnership even more important.”
Yet with Western taxpayers wary of the cost of EU expansion, especially of letting in debt-laden Ukraine with its 45 million people, other leaders are keener to ease economically toxic tensions with Putin and deflate what Germany’s Angela Merkel called “false expectations” of EU membership.
French President Francois Hollande, Merkel’s partner in holding Putin to an ever more shaky ceasefire in eastern Ukraine, stressed EU membership was “no foregone conclusion”.
Noting the troubles on Europe’s southern flank, in the Middle East and with migration across the Mediterranean, he stressed a need for global cooperation with Moscow.
“We must not turn this Eastern Partnership into yet another conflict with Russia,” he said. “I’m sure the European Union and Russia... can have a discussion directed toward the future.”
MUTUAL ANGER
With violence continuing in eastern Ukraine, Moscow renewed its opposition to the bloc’s eastern moves. Its EU envoy said “the whole project pursued the goal of splitting... countries away from us”, forcing them to be “with the EU or with Russia”.
That argument infuriates EU officials who insist it is Moscow, not them, which offers a binary choice to its neighbors.
“The Eastern Partnership is not a beauty contest between Russia and the EU,” insisted summit chairman Donald Tusk, a former Polish premier, before venting his frustration at Putin.
“Beauty does count,” he went on. “If Russia was a bit softer, more charming, more attractive, perhaps it wouldn’t have to compensate its shortcomings by its destructive and aggressive bullying tactics against its neighbors.”
Yet those tactics may work. At Riga, a divided EU dashed hopes in Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia of a promise of eventual membership. The communiques went no further than that at Vilnius to “acknowledge” their “European aspirations”.
Tusk, whose own ex-communist country joined the EU a decade ago, pleaded for understanding of the “delicate difference between our promises and the expectations of our partners”.
“You have friends and enemies, enthusiasts and skeptics in Europe,” he added. “In these geopolitical circumstances in our region... this is maybe the maximum we can achieve today.”
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko avoided criticizing the EU, accepting loans and praising its solidarity. He and Georgian counterparts emphasized to domestic audiences their prospect of soon joining Moldovans in traveling without visas to the EU.
Yet Brussels was shocked after Vilnius by how what seemed in the EU to be a modest project blew up into Cold War-era rhetoric and real bloodshed. And so for all the warm words in Riga, the eastern partners may now feel more alone.
“No one is saying out loud we should end this project,” said the EU diplomat involved in preparing the summit. “But the EU is very uncomfortable with this. Russia has shown in words and deeds that it considers the Eastern Partnership a geopolitical project aimed against it. And the EU doesn’t do geopolitics.”Hola! Please help us reach our goal of $2,500 by March!
"Suffering Cassandra" is a feature length dark comedy, written and directed by Roberto Carmona, that pitches as follows: During a terrible storm, a jaded couple gets stuck in a house with a charismatic woman who threatens their relationship, and their sex-crazed best friend.
Combining a tight script, an extremely talented cast, and a seasoned crew, we are going to be filming this feature length film in March and need your help to do so. We have one month to raise $2,500 and make "Suffering Cassandra" a reality. If you can find it in your heart (and wallet) to donate any money at all, we would not only be grateful and appreciative, but also reciprocal! Check out the cool perks of donating on the rewards list! Not too shabby huh? Well about as unshabby as funding will allow...But that's exactly how YOU can help our production! Also, if altruism, being able to sleep at night, and good moral fiber isn't enough incentive...check out our amazing cast and crew! (Note: This is not the full list of people involved. Updates are to come.)
Crew:
Writer/Director/Producer: Roberto Carmona
Producers: Daniel Henriquez and Roberto Carmona
Associate Producers: Heather Rae and Stefania Jubiz
Director of Photography: Daniel Afcha
Production Designer: Baron Pugh
Cast:
Haely Jardas
Heather Rae
Sheen Mercado
Roberto Carmona
We hope you can help us out, and if not, thanks for stopping by anyways! But SUPER DUPER THANKS to those who donate; parallax can't even begin to measure the help you're giving us.Harold Camping's Stroke Punishment From God? A Biblical Response
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For over 50 years, Harold Camping has used the Family Radio pulpit to teach what he believed to be God’s word in the Bible.
In his trademark gravelly voice, Camping could be heard over radio airwaves and in small classes speaking about the Bible passage by passage. But as years passed, those teachings began morphing into predictions, as Camping claimed he had unlocked the dates of Judgment Day and the rapture by using numerology found in the Bible and a calculated formula.
Camping’s latest prediction was that the rapture and Judgment would take place May 21, the date that would signal the beginning of the End of the World. To this day, it is not certain how many people sold their homes, quit their jobs or gave away their life savings in anticipation of his doomsday prophecy. But from the few that did share their stories publicly, one thing was for certain – they believed his predictions were the real deal.
But as the world knows by now, May 21 came and went. And although Camping issued a statement saying he was only wrong in the sense that the judgment came in a “spiritual sense” instead of a physical one, the damage to whatever remained of his public integrity was done. To the observers in the U.S. and around the world, it was official: Harold Camping was and is a false prophet.
Then last Thursday, nearly three weeks after his predicted May 21 Judgment date, the 89-year-old Camping suffered a mild stroke and was admitted to a local hospital near his home in Alameda, Calif. The stroke has reportedly only affected his speech, which has become slurred as a result.
For many observers, the stroke – while tragic – seemed like a divine act to punish the radio preacher for his false predictions or at the very least warn him not to do it again. It was too coincidental, many observers said on Twitter and Facebook, that it was Camping’s speech that was affected.
Was Harold Camping's stroke punishment from God? Does a loving God even punish people if they disobey Him?
"God, certainly in the Bible, judges and punishes. Punishment is deserved for human rebellion," said Erik Thoennes, associate professor of Biblical and Theological Studies at Biola University, to The Christian Post.
Thoennes pointed to several examples of God's punishment throughout the Bible: Adam and Eve being cast out of the Garden of Eden, the world being judged in Noah's flood, and King Herod being struck down. God takes "disciplinary action" not just on individuals but on people groups as well, including the Israelites, Canaanites and Egyptians, he said.
"When we read the Bible, it is clear that God is active in creation. He takes sin seriously, he judges sin, he punishes individuals and people groups and nations and churches," said Thoennes. "All the time you have God revealing himself and working out His redemptive purposes for creation."
But for Harold Camping's case, it's hard to say, according to the Talbot School of Theology professor.
"To speculate with some sort of certainty that we know what’s going on when someone has a stroke is not something we’re able to do because the Bible doesn’t give us the interpretation for it," continued Thoennes.
"That’s not to say it can’t be helpful for us to ask: Lord, are you up to something here? Lord, are you trying to teach me something? That may be the case but it’s very hard to know with certainty... Sometimes we rush to connect the dots but sometimes we can’t know why they (calamities) happened."
Thoennes said too often people focus only on the particulars of God's judgment rather than understanding that universal reality of God’s judgment on a rebellious humanity. People forget that they, too, are under God's judgment.
"We're all under God's curse equally because of the fallen condition of all human beings," he explained. "So Harold Camping's stroke in that sense is an act of judgment in the same way my deteriorating body is an act of judgment."
People who have accepted the sacrifice of Jesus, who took that punishment and wrath upon himself, no longer have to bear that judgment while people who have yet to accept Christ will one day need to answer to that wrath, according to Thoennes.
"Thankfully, Jesus takes on our punishment if we are benefiting from that by faith," he said.
So, what is a biblical response to someone like Harold Camping?
Thoennes said our first response should be humility upon the realization that we all deserve judgment and death because of our sin.
"Rather than being self-righteous toward someone who is going through a difficult thing, it should be a sobering, humbling repentance we feel."
Secondly, it's always good to pray for the person. In Camping's case, pray that "he would come to physical health and come to understanding of the truth," said the Biola professor.
A pastor of Grace Evangelical Free Church in La Mirada, Calif., Thoennes said if Camping belonged to a church, he could seek wisdom from the community of believers as to what God is trying to reveal to him. However, since the Family Radio broadcaster believes the church age is over, it will be near impossible to glean those types of lessons without being part of a functioning church, he noted.
Thoennes commented that he feels it is entirely appropriate for the public, including Christians, to respond to and confront Camping's unbiblical teachings, as long as they do it with humility. Despite the May 21 rapture dud, Camping still maintains that October 21 will mark the End of the World.
What Christians should avoid, however, is joining the mocking bandwagon along with everyone else and turning the church's teachings on the final Judgment and the Second Coming into a laughable idea.
"Harold Camping is only wrong of the date setting," said Thoennes. "He’s not wrong about the magnitude and seriousness of this."Now that college football is (happily) behind us and we are firmly entrenched in hockey, it is definitely time to get back into full hockey mode. My twitter timeline has been predominately filled with college football news and now (happily) I am looking to add some quality hockey back in to my feed. What can I say, anything to get any further Manti Te’o news from showing up is a very good thing these days. {Featured photo from Scott Neer/TSN Photography}
I polled twitter to see who their favorite St. Louis Blues twitter peeps are and now I have a list of new Blues fans to follow and interact with.
Here are some of the fan favorites & their Twitter bios (note, this is most definitely NOT a complete list, and I’m sure I have left some fantastic tweeps out, this is just a list to help you add some quality hockey to your twitter feed!):
@ itsjuststarla … Musically obsessed hockey-fanatic. Adorer of great TV. Lover of beer & cheese. Tenacious. Wannabe Canadi-anglophile. Extraordinarily creative writer (for hire).
@FrozenNotes … Staff writer for @ AwfulAnnouncing. Managing Editor of @ PuckDrunkLove, @ Awful_Ads and of course, Frozen Notes. I write. A lot.
@ KingDonutI … Central IL & StL area native. Fan of # StLBlues, # StLCards, # Broncos, # Illini, beer, music & more. Left-leaning moderate. I love @ BluesMay. Opinions are my own.
@ GTBradLee … I write about the St. Louis Blues for St. Louis Game Time.
@ mofkntep … lsx guru. Automotive writer. Engine builder. Puppy enthusiast. NHL lover. STL Blues ice girl. Cynical, colorful and not tattooed enough.
@ lkorac10 … Covering the St. Louis Blues for http://NHL.com. Also covered the team locally for AP, The Jersey County Star & Alton Telegraph.
@ jprutherford … St. Louis Blues’ beat writer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. At the rink.
@ NormSanders … St. Louis Blues beat writer for Belleville News-Democrat; Hall of Fame sportswriter; bluff climber and drummer.
@ hmilfeld … @ Infendo writer, Podcaster, Magazine Journalist (currently for hire), Mizzou Alum, Kubrick enthusiast, Nintendo apologist, # CFC supporter, and STL sports fan.
@ StLBluesChat … I promise I will not clutter your feed with hockey info you’ve already gotten from 10 other people
@ jennybuehler … MS2, hockey fan, lover of all things ke$ha
@ alglatz … Social media nut with a soft spot for :30 spots, creative hashtag strategy and puppy dog eyes. unhealthy addiction to hockey, nashville & the midwest.
@ aPaulitical … I’ve been 6’4” since I was 12. Goofy is somewhere in the lexicon.
@ JTQ_1 … Father, Husband, M&P Mgr @ YP. Bleed # stlblues Blue (& # Pens Black). Hockey Jedi. Political Oximoron. Food Truck Fan Boy. McK Alumni. My opinions are my own.
@ gabb_b … PR/SM girl. From STL, recently moved to Louisville. Family-oriented, blogger and puppy mom. Loves STL, provel cheese, food, wine/beer. # STLCards, # STLBlues
@ grantsales … I haven’t laughed that hard since I was a little girl, thank you! @ TaffyPapsman is awesome
@ TSNPhotography … St. Louis sports photographer. Photographer: Peoria Rivermen / Photo-Corresponent: http://BlueNoteZone.com / Love Hockey & baseball
@ BRS_85 … Soccer Ninja With Camera Skills
@ blakespoorbrain … I’m the token geek of my friends. My repertoire of knowledge extends to many things, mainly trivial.
Care to see what my Twitter feed looks like NOW? Check it out! LETS GO BLUES!
Blues defeat the Preds at home 3-0. Opponents have yet to score on the Blues at Scottrade Center this year. Halak 2nd straight shutout at home….faced combined 27 shots in two games. GO BLUES!
http://storify.com/4LeafCloverGirl/stl-blues-hockey-tweeps-celebrate-win-over-predsMarvel Studios has released footage for Captain America: Civil War.
Debuting at this weekend’s Disney D23 Expo, the footage gave attendees the first footage of Marvel’s hotly-anticipated film. As a sequel to Captain America: The Winter Solider, and a miniature Avengers event in its own right, Civil War looks to be one of Marvel’s biggest efforts yet.
While Marvel hasn't (yet) released the footage online, ComicBook.com was on-site to watch the sizzle reel. A rough description of the footage follows: * A scene showed Captain and America and The Falcon fighting crossbones, with Black Widow aiding in the background.
* Another scene revealed the Falcon's pet falcon, Redwing. * But he's not the winged bird we've come to know and love - he is, in fact a drone!
* Another shot revealed Black Widow and Hawkeye fighting. Black Widow asks, "Are we still friends?" To which Hawkeye responds, "Depends on how hard you hit me." This confirms that Black Widow and Hawkeye will be on opposing sides of Civil War's conflict. * A scene showed Bucky Barnes trapped in a cage. * Another shot showed Black Panther in action for the first time, popping his claws out.
* A scene shows Paul Rudd's Ant-Man being brought into Captain America's faction. Star-struck, Ant-Man stammers, "I know you know a lot of super… people, so I wanted to say thinks for thanking of me. Thanks for thinking of me.” * Tony Stark and Steve Rogers debate their opposing ideologies, with Stark saying, "Without boundaries, we're no better than them." Following the events of Age of Ultron, the collective governments of the world pass an act designed to regulate all superhuman activity. This polarizes opinion amongst the Avengers, causing two factions to side with Iron Man or Captain America, which causes an epic battle between former allies.SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- A baby officials say was poisoned with salt has died, reports CBS affiliate WSPA.
Kimberly Nicole Martines. CBS affiliate WSPA
The child had been on life support. Investigators charged 23-year-old Kimberly Nicole Martines with felony child abuse after allegedly feeding 17-month-old Peyton a teaspoon of salt.
According to the incident report obtained by the station, on July 31, Martines said that she was woken up by the girl screaming. The 17-month-old was then taken to Spartanburg Medical Center, where she died Wednesday afternoon.
Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office spokesman Lt. Kevin Bobo said in a news release that doctors told them the salt caused the infant to have seizures and a high fever. Police said they didn't know why Martines gave her daughter salt.
Arrest warrants alleged she went to the doctor in November and ignored the pediatrician's referral to another doctor and to an agency that helps babies who are slow to develop because the infant was not gaining weight.
Deputies say the baby's twin sister and second sibling are in protective custody.
Martines faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted. It wasn't known if she had a lawyer.Early research has had DNA making circuits and little factories. We haven't really seen DNA used as a storage medium, however, and it's evident we've been missing out. A Harvard team led by George Church, Sriram Kosuri and Yuan Gao can stuff 96 bits into a DNA strand by treating each base (A, C, G, T) as though it's a binary value. The genetic sequence is then synthesized by a microfluidic chip that matches up that sequence with its position in a relevant data set, even when all the DNA strands are out of order. The technique doesn't sound like much on its own, but the microscopic size amounts to a gigantic amount of information at a scale we can see: about 704TB of data fits into a cubic millimeter, or more than you'd get out of a few hundred hard drives. Caveats? The processing time is currently too slow for time-sensitive content, and cells with living DNA would destroy the strands too quickly to make them viable for anything more than just transfers. All the same, such density and a lifespan of eons could have us turning to DNA storage not just for personal backups, but for backing up humanity's collective knowledge. We're less ambitious -- we'd most like to know if we'll be buying organic hard drives alongside the fair trade coffee and locally-sourced fruit.Ending chain migration is the latest in a long string of immigration policy targets. In a speech about its alleged perils, President 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 intimated a connection between chain migration, illegal immigration and visa overstays, and the legalization of Dreamers. Not only does this type of rhetoric reflect a shallow understanding of immigration policy, it erroneously war |
derivatives are the most basic primitives we have at how disposal, through them we can limit the access to code that modifies a shared area of memory imposing entry checks and regulating the execution flow of multiple threads.
Locks does not scale well, with increasing number of threads or with the same memory (or most of the times, data structure) shared in too many places reasoning about the state of your programs can become quite challenging.
High level APIs like DispatchQueue allows to model concurrent operations in a way that is easy to reason about but are based on threads, a low level primitive that as we saw in the green threads section is quite resource hungry when you consider the cost of the context switch and the memory usage.
And everything we have described until now does not really take into consideration that our programs could need to synchronize their state across multiple machines and between multiple instances of our application.
Wouldn’t be nice to be able to write concurrent code that could nearly transparently be able to run in a distributed environment without any modification?
To support this additional use case we need to introduce new paradigms based on an idea that you are already familiar with from the days of Objective-C: Message Passing.
This approach allows to handle concurrency without sharing memory (implicitly solving a lot of the concurrency issues we’ve seen until now) through higher level constructs that handle the exchange of messages between concurrent entities operating in isolation from each other.
We’ll take a look at two paradigms based on message passing: The Actor Model and Communicating Sequential Processes.
Implementations of the actor model can be found in various languages, from the most notable, Erlang, to languages like Java that support the paradigm through external libraries like Akka.
An actor is an object that provides various services through an interface that processes asynchronous messages and that maintains a mutable internal state (if the actor is stateful instead of stateless) that is never shared with the actor’s clients to guarantee thread-safety.
In most implementations, direct messages are received in the same order they were sent and are always processed sequentially since, internally, actors are single-threaded (but not usually backed by a real system thread) and as such, message processing can be considered as an atomic operation.
But messages are not actually sent directly to an actor object.
Each actor has its own Mailbox, a queue that stores the asynchronous messages directed to a specific actor, working as a buffer for incoming messages. A mailbox can have additional characteristics that change the way the actor receives messages, it could for example, limit the number of messages it holds or introduce the concept of message priority.
An actor receives messages but can also send messages to other actors if it knows their address or if when it needs it, it can create a new actor instance for the destination actor. This property is known as locality.
Every message has a reference to its sender, so that is always possible to reply back maintaining locality.
A system that uses the actor model is made up by a network on multiple actors with various functionalities, that communicate with each other constantly. Since each actor can create new actors, the topology of the network is dynamic. Smaller network of actors can be interconnected to build bigger systems.
Since there are no mature Swift libraries implementing the actor model, let’s see some concrete examples using Scala, a language running on the JVM with lot’s of interesting features, and the Akka library.
We’ll create a counter actor, that will maintain an integer value as its state and that will expose to other actors methods to increment this counter or get its value.
No concurrent access to this integer value will be possible, the actor will implicitly take care of that. This is functionally equivalent to having an integer counter protected by multiple accesses through a lock or some other equivalent basic concurrency primitive.
import akka.actor.Actor import akka.actor.Props import akka.event.Logging class Counter extends Actor { var count = 0 def receive = { case "incr" => count += 1 case "get" => sender()! count case _ => println("Unknown message received") } } class Main extends Actor { val counter = context.actorOf(Props[Counter], “counter”) counter! “incr” counter! “incr” counter! “incr” counter! “get” def receive = { case count: Int => println(s“count was $count”) context.stop(self) case _ => println("Unknown message received") } }
Above we are defining two actors, the Counter actor that will manage the mutable count and the Main actor that we’ll use to send command to the counter.
The receive method contains a message loop that defines the behavior of the actor, associating at each message string a closure that will be executed every time that specific message is executed.
Akka requires that all the loops must be exhaustive, so, in this case we’ll have to add a final catch all case to our receive loops. Using something akin to enums with associated values (i.e. Scala’s case classes) and specifying all the cases would remove this requirement. Other implementations (e.g. Erlang actors) do not require exhaustiveness.
An interesting feature of actors is the ability to alter their behavior while they are running. Multiple message loops can be defined and the actor will be able to switch between them selecting one of them as active loop.
In the sample above, the Counter replies to incr and get, respectively incrementing the local counter or sending the value of the counter to the actor that sent the message.
In this example all the messages are sent in “fire and forget” mode using the! operator, that sends the message asynchronously and returns right away. Alternatively, messages can be sent encapsulating the status of the call into a future.
The Main actor creates a Counter actor and then proceeds to incrementing the counter three times before retrieving its value. The value is then obtained asynchronously in its receive loop, where the value is printed before the actor stops itself.
Now that we’ve got this basic example down, let’s talk again about behaviors.
The fact that multiple receive loops can be defined before-hand and then swapped at runtime can be useful to implement a Finite State Machine to manage the various states the actor will find itself during its lifetime.
An actor could for example be started in a uninitialized state and require a series of messages to be configured and perform a transition to its normal running state. Or it could have a more complex logic, easy to represent with a FSM, where every state could be implemented with a different receive loop and where transitions would be performed when specific messages are received. Furthermore, the ability to change the behavior could be used to encapsulate the internal state of stateful actors.
Let’s see a quick example going back to the counter actor, we’ll remove the need for an external integer counter embedding the counter value in the receive loop.
class Counter extends Actor { def counter(n: Int) = { case "incr" => context.become(counter(n + 1)) case "get" => sender()! n case _ => println("Unknown message received") } def receive = counter(0) }
A simple actor with two states returning two alternating values can be easily defined as follow:
class PingPong extends Actor { def ping = { case "get" => sender()! "Ping!" context.become(pong) case _ => println("Unknown message received") } def pong = { case "get" => sender()! "Pong!" context.become(ping) case _ => println("Unknown message received") } def receive = ping }
Now, we have our system based on a huge number of actors all operating concurrently and processing asynchronous message, how do we handle abnormal errors and fault conditions?
While normal error condition related to the logic of an actor can still be handled through error messages, unexpected exceptions (remember that Scala and Akka run on the JVM) that may crash an actor can’t.
Systems based on actors follow a “let it crash” approach, and focus on bringing back the system to a normal functioning state deciding what to do with components marked as failed, instead of trying to keep components alive stabilizing their state perturbed by an unexpected error.
Actor system are fault tolerant and allow to choose a recovery strategy to make an actor (or a series of actors in a network) fully functional again after a fault.
A failing actor could be for example simply restarted with a clean slate, discarding its internal state, it could be stopped completely or we could just ignore a class of errors and go on as if nothing happened. The strategy you choose depends on the error and what you need to do to bring back the actor to its running state.
What you have read in this section barely scratches the surface of what modern actor systems have to offer, to learn more check out this video with Carl Hewitt, the Akka documentation or read about Erlang’s implementation.
To conclude, we’ve seen that the actor model has a lot of interesting characteristics until now, but it also has some weaknesses.
In some situations, it could be quite hard to model your problem following the rigid actor model and other approaches could be better suited for what you need to do.
When using actors you’ll also need to consider how messages flow in your system and configure accordingly the mailbox of each actor. Failing to do this could lead to mailbox’s overflows.
Actors are also the wrong tool when you want to parallelize sections of your code, that’s not the problem the actor model is trying to solve.
Communicating Sequential Processes: Channels
The Communicating Sequential Process model is another concurrency model based on message passing that, instead of focusing on the objects receiving or sending messages and what they do, revolves around the idea of channels, that compose the infrastructure needed to exchange messages between different entities running concurrently.
A channel can be used to send and receive messages between entities running in different tasks that will use it as a communication channel. You could have for example a task that takes care of centralized logging that exposes its services through a channel that every other task in the system would use.
From the point of view of the implementation, a channel is nothing more than a thread-safe FIFO queue, that can hold multiple messages awaiting to be received if needed(buffered channels).
The sender usually blocks when the channel is full and waits until a receiver removes a message from the list. Conversely, receivers blocks when a queue is empty and wait for new messages. Channels can be closed when they are not needed anymore, unblocking all the senders and receivers that were waiting on that queue.
Implementations of channels have usually a rich API that allows to handle messages from different channels in a single reception block and are usually coupled with some lightweight thread implementation to make the system more scalable.
And channels are usually paired with some form of lightweight threads, either coroutines or green threads, since these two functionality pair quite well together.
A few Swift implementations for CSP channels, each one with a different API and a different set of functionalities, are already available: Venice, Concurrent and Safe.
The only library that also provides coroutines is Venice, but on the other hand has a channel API a bit different from what you’d normally expect and is not a pure-Swift framework. As far as I know there are no Swift implementation of green threads.
The Go programming language is probably the reason behind the recent surge in popularity of CSP channels since channels and goroutines (go’s implementation of coroutines) are the corner stone of its approach to concurrency.
Considering that every Swift implementation available at the moment lacks something (Safe is Swift 2 only, Concurrent and Venice do not support the select statement), I’ll present a few examples in Go, that has a clean and minimalistic API for both channels and goroutines. But I still recommend to check out those libraries since what they have could be enough for your use case.
We’ll create a simple program that defines a channel and uses it to send a string between a goroutine and the main thread. The main thread will wait for the string using the channel and it will just print it once it’s available.
package main import "fmt" import "time" func main() { messages := make(chan string) go func(){ time.Sleep(time.Second) messages <- "Hello!" }() msg := <- messages fmt.Println(msg) }
In the main function, the entry point of the program, we define a channel that will contain a single string with the make function.
What follows is the declaration of a goroutine that will execute an anonymous closure responsible for sending a string through the channel.
As we said in the Coroutines and Green Threads section, goroutines are just lightweight threads, we could happily create hundred of thousands of them.
After sleeping for a second, the goroutine will send a string message through the channel using the <- operator. Depending on what is on the right side of the operator, it send or receive a message through a channel.
The main thread will block trying to extract a string from the messages channel until the goroutine will send one. Once it gets a hold of one, it will print it.
Optionally, channels can be buffered and be able to store more than one object and they can also be restricted to a specific direction (send-only or receive-only).
They can be used in different ways to coordinate work between a chain of goroutines or to send back results from a background worker goroutine that had some task to execute.
Since most implementations will be based on multiple channels to coordinate multiple goroutines, each one with a different job to perform, a construct able to handle messages from more than one channel in a single place exists, the select block.
package main import( "fmt" "time" ) func main() { ch1 := make(chan string, 3) ch2 := make(chan string, 3) done := make(chan bool) go func() { for i := 0; i < 10; i++ { ch1 <- "Message from 1" time.Sleep(time.Second * 1) } }() go func() { for i := 0; i < 10; i++ { ch2 <- "Message from 2" time.Sleep(time.Second * 2) } done <- true }() go func() { for { select { case msg1 := <- ch1: fmt.Println(msg1) case msg2 := <- ch2: fmt.Println(msg2) } } }() <- done }
This time we have three anonymous closures executed in as many goroutines.
The first two will send a string and wait, with the longer second goroutines sending a boolean through a boolean channel when is done with its strings. This channel is used as completion signal of the main thread (not a perfect implementation).
The third goroutines receives the messages checking continuously the two string channels and prints everything it receives. The select block allows to wait on more than one channel and be able to receive all the messages from the channels regardless of the order in which they are sent.
Considering that each wait on a channel would have been otherwise blocking, this new construct is essential, without it channels are instantly a lot less useful.
Proponents of actors and CSP are member of two opposing school of thoughts, so, you’ll rarely found someone advocating the use of both approaches in a language.
Channels have great performance characteristics are way more simple than actors and that can lead to simple and clean architectures sometime.
But in the end they are just blocking queues, they don’t solve any of the concurrency problems described in the first part of the series, and you’ll have to use them as building blocks of more complex mechanisms on your own.
While CSP channels introduce a lot of flexibility compared to the one message queue per task approach of the Actor model and allow to build a network of lightweight processes connected by multiple communication channels, they do not have much to say in regards to fault tolerance.
You will not have something analogous to the independent software components that can be restarted at will available with the actor model.
But probably the greatest weakness of CSP channels is that you’ll be rarely able to structure your program around the use of channels alone without creating convoluted hierarchies of channels.
In most cases, you’ll still need to resort to the basic locks seen in part one.
Swift: Where are we now
Discussions on the future of concurrency on swift-evolution have yet to start, and the community will start introducing the first proposal likely a few months after the release of Swift 4 (assuming that improving concurrency will be one of the goals of Swift 5).
So, until the end of 2017 it’s unlikely that discussions around concurrency will start.
But when it will happen, I expect heated discussions with lot’s of input from the community, on a scale similar to what happened when discussing the access keywords or SE-110.
For now, in addition to the already cited Ownership Manifesto, the only document that touches the subject is this unmaintained draft that contains quite a few interesting ideas.
The document outlines some of the challenges involved in making concurrency more safe and discusses possible approaches to implement Actors, CSP channels and Async/await.
Update 8/17
Chris Lattner wrote his toughts on concurrency in a manifesto and discusses all the topics of this post, check out his take on it. He and Joe Groff also published a proposal for async/await.
A few words on Kotlin
Now let’s talk about concurrency in Kotlin, the de-facto counterpart of Swift on Android.
When using Java interoperability, Kotlin inherits all the concurrency functionalities available in Java, from threads and locks to thread pools and concurrent data structures but since one day Kotlin could not have an underlying JVM to depend on, a new alternative approach to concurrency is in development.
I’m referring to an experimental implementation of some of the paradigms described in the previous sections based on coroutines, that at the moment are distributed as an external kotlinx.coroutines library.
The coroutines library contains implementations of async/await, generators(that I didn’t describe in this article, but that have a structural similarity with Swift’s generators) and channels with support for select.
Swift could follow the same route, instead of choosing one paradigm in particular, multiple options could be offered like in the proposal linked in the previous section, and they could be built on top of some form of lightweight threads.
Closing Thoughts
This article should contain a good overview of the most popular paradigms and should give you enough pointers to experiment and learn further.
We’ve discussed the basic principles behind Promises, Await/Async, STM, Actors and CSP, paradigms that could have a place in the future of Swift, maybe (and I realize I’ve said this more than one time) built leveraging some lightweight mechanism like coroutines or green threads.
And while it’s too soon to speculate which new features will be added to Swift and when, we can all be sure of one thing: concurrency is coming.On Saturday, the Westboro Baptist Church came to the University of Missouri’s game against Tennessee to protest football player Michael Sam’s announcement earlier this week that he is gay.
Students at the university, many of them wearing “Stand with Sam” pins, formed a human wall to block off the extremist group.
It’s just one of many displays of support that the student body has shown for the SEC Defensive Player of the Year since his announcement last Sunday.
. @MikeSamFootball here at the arena, shown on the videoboard and got a huge cheer, over at the students' section waving and getting cheered — Ben Arnet (@BenArnetMU) February 15, 2014
Inside the basketball game, Sam showed his appreciation for the student section.
And later with this message on Twitter:Democrats eagerly went on the record against launching an attack on Iran without congressional authorization in 2007. Rep. Peter DeFazio had 59 cosponsors on H.Con.Res. 33, a sense of the Congress resolution which stated “the President should not initiate military action against Iran without first obtaining authorization from Congress.”
The resolution reads in part:
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That Congress– (1) strongly believes initiating military action
against Iran without congressional approval does not fall within the
President’s `Commander-in-Chief’ powers under the Constitution; (2) rejects any suggestion that Public Law 107-40, the
authorization of force resolution approved in response to the terrorist
attacks of September 11, 2001, explicitly or implicitly, extends to
authorizing military action against Iran, including over its nuclear
program; (3) rejects any suggestion that Public Law 107-243, the
authorization of force resolution approved by Congress to go to war
with Iraq, explicitly or implicitly, extends to authorizing military
action against Iran, including over its nuclear program; and (4) strongly and unequivocally believes that seeking
congressional authority prior to taking military action against Iran is
not discretionary, but is a legal and constitutional requirement.
The full list of cosponsors is found here. A few of those listed–like Bob Filner and Barney Frank–are no longer in office, but the majority still are.
While Res. 33 had one sponsor and 59 cosponsors, as of yesterday just 18 Democrats had signed a letter to President Obama asking him to get congressional authorization before attacking Syria.NFL.com has dispatched several writers to report on the 32 training camps. Chad Reuter details his visit with the Chicago Bears. (Click here for the complete archive of Training Camp Reports.)
WHERE IS NFL.COM?
For the 11th straight summer, the Chicago Bears are holding their training camp at Olivet Nazarene University, a small private school located about an hour south of Soldier Field in Bourbonnais, Ill. Thousands of fans filled the bleachers (and any piece of ground surrounding them) on the east and north sides of the practice fields on a sun-drenched Monday afternoon.
OBSERVATION DECK
1. Brandon Marshall should have a huge season. The decision to ship two third-round draft picks to the Miami Dolphins for the periodically troublesome receiver in March was a no-brainer for new Bears general manager Phil Emery; the move looks even shrewder in August. Throughout practice, Marshall simply overwhelmed any cornerback trying to challenge him at the line of scrimmage, using his powerful extension to push Tim Jennings and D.J. Moore off balance (or to the ground). He also caught a touchdown over the top of rookie Isaiah Frey (who has held his own for most of camp) by using a late arm extension to create space before the ball arrived. Even top linebacker Lance Briggs got a shot at containing Marshall when he noticed the receiver was uncovered on one play, but Marshall simply out-quicked Briggs at the line before crossing into the open area over the middle for a big gain. In 2007 and 2008, when Marshall and Bears quarterback Jay Cutler were with the Denver Broncos, Marshall caught a total of 206 passes for 2,590 yards. Marshall looks primed to match that kind of production in 2012.
2. Jay Cutler looks like himself. The way Cutler threw the ball around the field -- whether he was directing an efficient two-minute offense or drilling passes between defenders in the red zone -- showed that there are no lingering effects from the broken thumb that ended his 2011 season prematurely. Not only did he fire passes from the pocket, but he also ran several bootlegs, utilizing his athleticism and accuracy while throwing on the run.
3. Matt Forte also looks ready to go. It's difficult to get a true feel for running backs in camp, where contact with defenders is limited, but there's no mistaking Forte's quickness and kinetic energy. He showed off his receiving skills in the red zone, making Bears fans think their favorite back's sprained right medial collateral ligament has fully healed. He did fumble once during practice, but for the most part, he looks as though he plans to make good on that huge new contract.
4. Brian Urlacher did not practice -- again. The 34-year-old Pro Bowl linebacker's bothersome left knee didn't require surgery, but he hadn't taken part in any offseason work through Monday's practice, which, head coach Lovie Smith said, he missed for personal reasons. The Bears expected Urlacher to be ready for camp, but he has had five straight scratches. Urlacher played all 16 games in 2011, but the fact that he's heading into his 13th season with injury issues isn't a great sign.
THE NEW GUYS
Breer: Falling in Lovie Brandon Marshall was traded twice in 23 months, but Chicago feels like a fit. Credit Lovie Smith, writes Albert Breer. More... Brandon Marshall was traded twice in 23 months, but Chicago feels like a fit. Credit Lovie Smith, writes
Alshon Jeffery: Teams rarely bank on rookie receivers being able to make a big impact right away, simply because of the steep learning curve they face. Jeffery has the physical attributes to become a pretty good NFL receiver, but he is obviously still learning the playbook; on one red-zone rep, Cutler had to audibly direct Jeffery outside. The second-round pick's lack of speed is also an issue, and he needs to use his hands more effectively when separating from pro cornerbacks at the top of his routes or downfield. In that way, Jeffery needs to be more like Marshall if he wants to earn Cutler's trust.
Shea McClellin: Fans expect a lot out of first-round draft picks, but as Philadelphia Eagles defensive end Jason Babin might attest, it can take some time for highly touted rookies to find their feet. Babin has recorded 30.5 sacks and made two Pro Bowl appearances over the past two seasons, but the 2004 first-round pick failed to notch more than five quarterback tackles in any of his first six campaigns. McClellin might come into his own sooner than Babin, because he does have a nice spin move, hustles and flashes some power -- but he looked less than dominant against the Bears' starting tackles. In any case, the former Boise State star will be a solid overall player in 2011, even if he doesn't start filling his stat sheet with sacks right away.
Geno Hayes: Smith unsurprisingly grabbed Hayes up this offseason when he became available. The former Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker is the perfect pursuit-hound for the Bears' scheme; he can take away throws to backs in the flat and play tough on the edge versus the run. Hayes was taking some reps with the starters on Monday due to Urlacher's absence, allowing coaches to play Briggs in the middle -- where he was quite effective. The depth that Hayes provides might prove very valuable if Urlacher's knee costs him time during the season.
OVERHEARD
"NFC North cornerbacks are going to have a hard time checking Brandon Marshall -- he just wants to compete. It's going to be a fight every play."
-- Matt Bowen, former NFL defensive back and current NFL analyst for the Chicago Tribune, Comcast SportsNet Chicago and National Football Post.
EXTRA POINTS
1. Julius Peppers doesn't have to take a lot of practice reps to assert his dominance. No other defensive end on the Bears' roster comes close to possessing his combination of power and quickness. Entering his 11th season, Peppers looks ready to collect 10 or more sacks for the eighth time in his career.
2. After Cutler's injury in 2011, a five-game losing streak cost the Bears a playoff berth. This offseason, Emery grabbed veteran quarterback Jason Campbell as an insurance policy. Campbell has always had the physical gifts to play the position. He didn't look exceptional when running a two-minute drill in Monday's session, nor did he put a lot of pace on every throw. But he is certainly an improvement over former top backup Caleb Hanie.
3. Second-year wide receiver Dane Sanzenbacher has impressed coaches and fans by running the same crisp routes and showing the same good hands he flashed during his days at Ohio State and as a participant in the 2011 Senior Bowl. But he's still learning lessons. In one instance, Sanzenbacher made the wrong choice on an option route over the middle, leading to an interception by Briggs. Afterward, Cutler had what he termed a "discussion" with the young player about what he had expected on the play.
4. Devin Hester was used over the middle, down the sideline and on reverses during practice, and also showed off his punt-return chops in front of appreciative fans. The Bears know, however, that Hester will need to prove he can consistently stay on the same page with Cutler on intermediate and deep routes before he can reach his potential as a big-play threat.
5. Charles Tillman is one Bears cornerback who can match up with Marshall at the line of scrimmage. He forced one of the few incompletions between Cutler and Marshall during Monday's practice by sticking on the receiver and winning a 50-50 ball situation on a red-zone play. Tillman might be among the toughest matchups Marshall sees all year -- facing that kind of coverage in practice will only make the veteran receiver better.
6. Left tackle J'Marcus Webb's strength, length and athleticism are among the best in the league -- he can be as good as he wants to be. On the other hand, right tackle Gabe Carimi, who looks fully healed from an injury suffered last fall, showed inconsistent lateral agility in one-on-one drills and team work. Both young tackles should be helped by the presence of new offensive coordinator Mike Tice, who is going to regularly run the ball and move the pocket.
7. Like Carimi, Stephen Paea is a second-year player trying to make an impression in 2012 after an injury-marred rookie campaign. He looks like a perfect fit as a one-gap nose tackle, where he can use his ability to get leverage on his blocker to cause problems in the run game and get into the vision of opposing quarterbacks when attacking the pocket. Paea probably won't put up big numbers this year, but he'll be a constant irritant for opposing offensive lines.
OUTLOOK
The Bears have one of the best quarterback-running-back-receiver trios in the league with Cutler, Forte and Marshall. The defense is strong enough to limit opponents to 20 points per game, assuming that combo can stay healthy and help the offense control the ball more effectively than it did last season. Expect the Bears to be in the mix for a playoff spot in 2012, even while playing in the tough NFC North.
Follow Chad Reuter on Twitter @ChadReuterWe often find it hard to disagree with others, even though making autonomous choices is a basic human right.
When we disagree with a loved one, we may worry about hurting him or her; when we disagree with our boss or supervisor, we may have the fear of being punished.
Other people can easily influence our choices if they are experts in their field (e.g., fund managers, stock brokers, doctors, lawyers, scientists, teachers, etc.), and we may find it even harder to disagree with them.
So why is it so hard to disagree? There was no clear answer until the development of neuroscience.
In a brain imaging study newly published in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, researchers tested people’s responses to statements from biology, history, medicine, and physics (e.g., “The first public library was opened in England”) during brain scanning.
Some statements were attributed to a professor (i.e. high expertise), whereas other statements were attributed to a student (i.e. low expertise).
The results showed that activation in some brain areas was related to disagreement.
These brain areas are directly involved in cognitive dissonance, the feeling of uncomfortable tension that comes from holding two conflicting thoughts at the same time.
This feeling can motivate people change their belief or action.
For example, when people smoke and they know that smoking can cause cancer, they will have cognitive dissonance.
To reduce the dissonance, they can either change their behavior (e.g., smoking less or quit smoking) or change their thought (e.g., “no research has 100% proved that smoking causes lung cancer”).
Similarly, when people disagree with others, they will hold two conflicting thoughts in their mind (i.e. others’ thought and their thought).
Because they cannot change/delete others’ thought, they may ignore their own thought to reduce the dissonance.
Researchers also found individual differences in disagreement. Participants who disagreed less frequently had stronger activation in these brain areas when they actually disagreed.
This means that a person who agrees with others more frequently than his peers may have a stronger uncomfortable feeling of dissonance when he actually disagrees.
Interestingly, no influence of expertise was found in the study.
To summarize, this research provides a better understanding of the brain and psychological mechanisms in disagreement.
Having a lot of trouble disagreeing might lead to poor decision-making, anxiety, and difficulties in interpersonal relationships.
Future research is needed to design better-target and effective interventions.
Citation: Domínguez DJF, Taing SA, Molenberghs P. (2016). Why Do Some Find it Hard to Disagree? An fMRI Study. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 9: 718. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2015.00718.
Figure legend: This Knowridge.com image is for illustrative purposes only.50 Random Mundane Items V
From useless junk to items of immense value. Mundane objects to replace your typical treasure find of simple coins and gems.1. Warped Quaterstaff2. Rusty Manacles3. Brass Tongs4. Eagle-Shaped Electrum Letter Opener5. Nigh-Blue Silk Robe6. Block of Aged-Cheese7. Copper Coat Button8. Bouquet of Dead Roses9. Mithril Key10. Vial of Gold Dust11. Silver and Gold Tooth12. Zinc Rod13. Box of Volcanic Ash14. Dozen Silver Spoons15. Calligraphy Kit16. Beaver-Skin Boots17. Bag of Malachite Powder18. Bison Fur Cloak19. Belt of Shriveled Halfling Hands20. Velvet Pouch with a set of Playing Cards21. Barrel of Olive Oil22. Elk Thighbone23. Solid Gold Idol24. Dire Bear Pelt25. Brass Peacock with Ruby Eyes.26. Miniature Clockwork Dog27. Pair of Drake-Skin Gloves28. Cobra-Shaped Earrings29. Plush Orcus Toy30. Onyx Comb31. Jar of Dried Seeds32. Vial of Orc Sweat33. Hollowed Unicorn Horn34. War Drums made of Bamboo and Dragon-Skin35. Deer Antlers36. Stone Tablet etched with the True Name of a Demon37. Severed Finger with a Jade Ring38. Plague Doctor's Mask39. Portrait of a Naked Elven Maiden40. Coral Ring41. Jagged Wooden Beam42. Book with Lumberjack Poems43. Dented Tin Crown44. Tome of Goblin Art45. Wax Sealed Jewelry Box46. Tortoise-Shelled Snuffbox47. 10 Sheets of Vellum48. Small Wooden Mermaid Statue49. Ivory Finger50. Bowl of Sugar Cubes.Links to Part I - IVSaturday
5. Canoe With a View, 9:30 a.m.
Avoid Cambridge’s parking-starved streets. Instead, take the MBTA’s squeaky Red Line subway, which bisects the city north to south and stops in other “squares” such as Central, Porter and Kendall, the latter home to M.I.T. Your morning can begin with a waterborne tour by renting a kayak, canoe or stand-up paddleboard ($15 to $24 an hour) from Charles River Canoe & Kayak. Pilot your watercraft to the Charles River, then under the Longfellow Bridge and upstream to Harvard and beyond, with views of Boston landmarks like the Museum of Science and the Esplanade.
6. From Eggs to Fritters, Noon
Jump into lunch mode at Clover Food Lab, run by Ayr Muir, an M.I.T. material scientist and Harvard M.B.A. grad; his super-fresh vegetarian fast-food joint has more than a dozen Boston-area locations, including four in Cambridge, with one in Kendall Square. Try the chickpea fritter ($7.70) or egg and eggplant sandwich ($7.70), and a side of killer French fries with deep-fried rosemary sprigs ($4.21). A second option: Commonwealth Cambridge, for a pulled chicken and Tater Tots sandwich ($13.50) on the patio by the Broad Canal and kayak dock.
7. M.I.T. Tour, 1 p.m.
Many visitors tour Harvard Yard. But why not M.I.T.? Download a map or mobile app or campus public art map, and then wander the campus, whose buildings are referred to by number. Highlights include the Frank Gehry-designed Ray and Maria Stata Center (Building 32), which pays tribute to famous M.I.T. hacks, or pranks, such as turning the campus’s Great Dome into R2-D2. There’s also M.I.T.’s List Visual Arts Center (E15), and buildings designed by I.M. Pei (class of ’40), Alvar Aalto and Eduardo Catalano. Outdoor art includes Henry Moore’s bronze “Three-Piece Reclining Figure” in Killian Court, and Pablo Picasso’s “Figure Découpée” (“Cut-Out Figure”) near the Sloan School of Management.
8. Technology Time, 3 p.m.
To study Cambridge’s innovative, D.I.Y. spirit, look no further than the MIT Museum. Exhibits include those documenting the history of artificial intelligence research and robots at M.I.T.; an extensive holography collection; and Arthur Ganson’s surreal kinetic sculptures — one depicts a tiny chair doing cartwheels over a cat.
9. Power Up or Down, 5 p.m.
Grab a coffee and a snack like garlic knots ($6) with pecorino and a red dipping sauce at Area Four. Or head over to the Meadhall gastro pub and beer hall. Perch yourself at its giant oval bar beset with banker’s lamps, and your jaw might drop at the 100 beers on tap, with new brews rotating in each week.
10. Eating Experiments, 7:30 p.m.
Another less-traveled Cambridge neighborhood is Inman Square, near Central. The Druid, an Irish pub, is perfect for a pint and a tremendous fish sandwich ($11), as well as Irish music sessions each Saturday from 4 p.m. till around 9. Cambridge’s flaring culinary scene hit new heights with the arrival of BISq. Sitting at wood tables under amber globe lights, you might try outstanding small plates like roasted chicken ceviche ($10), cornbread blood sausage ($12) and a board of tiny pastries and sweets, called the “dessert charcuterie” ($6). For a culinary trip that feels like eating a science experiment, head back to Kendall Square for Café ArtScience. The ambience is lablike, and the food is wonderfully fussy, from smoked duck salad with foie gras “snow” ($14) to a perfect round of bison tartare ($34) to the strawberry lemongrass creamsicle ($15). The bartender’s “Le Whaf” cocktails turn liquids into breathable vapor, and the devices that hatch them, invented by a Harvard engineering professor, are also on sale.
11. Night Life and Nerdom, 9:30 p.m.
A bar hop based in grittier Central Square begins at Brick & Mortar, a cocktail nook that feels secretive, but the drinks are city-known; try the Bootsy Collins “rum, funk, pineapple, crack” ($11). |
of the car approaches the bump, it will still get pretty close to the ground. But the severity of the angle can help mitigate the potential of scraping by shortening as much as possible the distance between the front most part of your car and the point where your front tire will start to roll up on the elevated surface, in effect reducing the severity of the change in elevation your car has to traverse.
So the lower your car is, or the more severe the elevation change is, the more angle is required to safely clear it. There are usually practical limits to how much angling you can do, whether due to the width of a driveway, or other traffic, etc. and some bumps or dips will just be too much for you to clear.
That's where sometimes you will need the help of a few blocks of wood or some kind of mildly angled ramp to help you make it over. Put them right in front of the tires to help start lifting the front lip before it will contact the ground. Same concept if you have an issue of bottoming out in the middle of the car. If your car is really low and you care about not scraping, I suggest you carry a few pieces of 2x4 in the trunk wherever you go! Either that or know your limits and don't try to take on crazy bumps or dips at all. Here's an old diagram I prepared a while ago:
OK thanks for reading and happy driving.
If anyone else has tips or tricks please share! I have found that even at stock height the BRZ has a fairly low ground clearance at the front end. I've managed to scrape the lower lip a few times already and now that I've re-wrapped it with black vinyl I want to take more care when driving into parking lots, driveways, spend bumps, etc. If your car is lowered then this is even more likely to be a problem.The general advice given is to take such hazards at an angle. How much of an angle is required? Well the answer is it depends, on the severity of the dip/bump, and the amount of vertical ground clearance your car has. I will use my toy MRS as a visual demonstration, that way I can say no cars were harmed in the making of this tutorial.In this first image we see the front of the MRS. As you can see the front end is fairly low, and there is considerable distance between the front of the bumper, and where the tires contact the ground. The notepad with the brown backing represents an elevation change -- it could be a speed bump, or a dip between the road and a driveway, etc. I'll just refer to it as a bump.Now we approach the bump straight on. You can see that the front lip gets dangerously close to hitting the elevated surface. The problem is that your bumper may contact the surface before your front tires can roll to and contact it, which would help raise the car up as you roll up the bump.Now let's see what happens when you approach at an angle instead.Now as the front tire rolls up on the elevated surface, notice how much more clearance you have under the front lip. At this angle, the car will have no problem making it over the bump without scraping the front lip.Note that as the front most corner of the car approaches the bump, it will still get pretty close to the ground. But the severity of the angle can help mitigate the potential of scraping by shortening as much as possible the distance between the front most part of your car and the point where your front tire will start to roll up on the elevated surface, in effect reducing the severity of the change in elevation your car has to traverse.So the lower your car is, or the more severe the elevation change is, the more angle is required to safely clear it. There are usually practical limits to how much angling you can do, whether due to the width of a driveway, or other traffic, etc. and some bumps or dips will just be too much for you to clear.That's where sometimes you will need the help of a few blocks of wood or some kind of mildly angled ramp to help you make it over. Put them right in front of the tires to help start lifting the front lip before it will contact the ground. Same concept if you have an issue of bottoming out in the middle of the car. If your car is really low and you care about not scraping, I suggest you carry a few pieces of 2x4 in the trunk wherever you go! Either that or know your limits and don't try to take on crazy bumps or dips at all. Here's an old diagram I prepared a while ago:OK thanks for reading and happy driving.If anyone else has tips or tricks please share!
86DRIVE Events Calendar | CO>CA Cartel __________________Camera in hand and baby strapped to her chest, Susan Nam's devotion to capturing what she calls the "joy" of Philadelphia is unshakable.
"I guess because I didn’t technically grow up in the city -- I grew up in Montgomery County -- I see it as a much more hopeful and beautiful place," 29-year-old Nam, a mother of two, told PhillyVoice. "Our city has such a bad rap -- we’re a very 'tough' city. I feel like my calling here is just to break those barriers a bit and bring some light in."
Nam will debut her first solo street photography exhibition, titled "Freestyle," at the Asian Arts Initiative in Callowhill on Friday. The 14 photos were taken over a five-year period to capture corners of the city seldom documented, most of them taken spontaneously in North Philadelphia -- a challenge as a full-time mom.
"It's a balancing act," she said. "Because, to be honest, becoming a mother was very unnatural for me – it still is. It's difficult not being able to go out whenever I want."
But she finds a way to make it work, through the help of family and sheer determination to showcase the diverse and gruff-but-affable neighborhoods made special by the people who inhabit them --particularly the city's children.
"Eyes," a piece from Nam's exhibit captured in 2010. "I just think it's very 'Philly,'" Nam said. "It symbolizes childhood and it's very free and innocent." (Susan Nam)
"Children definitely bring a different aura to photos because they’re so unfiltered and not scared. They have nothing to hide, and they're so open and pure," Nam said. "I want to show them how special they are."
Nam's process differs from her fellow photographers' in that she seldom walks away from a subject, youth or otherwise, without showing them their photo. She wants those photographed to be just as impacted by her photos as curious gallery-goers.
“I think it's important for them to just be able to see themselves from a different pair of eyes," she said. "It has some kind of effect on them when I show them. 'Oh, I look cool!'"
"Break Time," one of 14 photos in the Asian Arts Initiative exhibition. “A lot of people approach me and ask if I can take their photo," Nam said. "A lot of people haven’t had their photo taken in that kind of manner." (Susan Nam)
Nam stands out among Philadelphia street photographers, too, as few others share her Korean-American background. Growing up, her deep-dive into the arts wasn't always encouraged, as is the case among many second-generation Asian-American families. Explaining her work to her mother, Nam said, has been a struggle since leaving the nest to attend the Art Institute of Philadelphia in 2007.
"I’ve heard the refrain so many times [from Asian-American parents]. ‘What are you doing? What is this? Why are you trying to be an artist?’" Nancy Chen, senior program manager at Asian Arts Initiative, told PhillyVoice. "Susan didn't have to elaborate for me to totally understand that. Her pursuit of this dream is despite that lack of total support; though, I do think that support comes through in other ways."
Nam takes pride in what she's able to offer through her perspective. For instance, she's able to leave a playground in North Philadelphia having both photographed kids for her work and taught them that she's not "Chinese," she said, and that they all share more in common than they'd think. Her background serves as a tool.
"Being a minority, I'm definitely able to identify more with my subjects, to a certain level. And just being Korean-American and being a woman, I thought those were for sure my biggest challenges being in the photography field," she said. "Now I’ve learned to use it to my advantage and they're my biggest strength. Especially being on the streets. No one’s threatened by me.”
"Smokin'" was captured in 2010 at the Broad and Erie streets subway stop. " She’s just a perfect example of the characters in the city, and a lot of the characters people don’t get to see because people are in Center City most of the time." (Susan Nam)
Next up, Nam is hoping to comb through more than 60,000 photos she's taken of Philadelphians to compile a book of street photography. The goal is to give Philadelphia a better reputation for the art form.
“So many street photographers are connected with New York, and there are so many of them, but I feel like Philly doesn’t really have any," Nam said. "No one’s ever came here and left their mark, and that’s what I’m here to do."India and Thailand vowed to deepen their bilateral defense relationship Monday, local media sources reported.
The two sides agreed to boost defense cooperation as Indian Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha paid an official visit to Bangkok Sunday. Raha, who is Chief of the Air Staff as well as Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee, is on a four-day trip to Thailand and Vietnam.
As I have noted before, since Narendra Modi took office last year, India has been attempting to further boost cooperation with Southeast Asian states as part of its “Act East Policy,” a variation on the “Look East Policy” first formulated under Narasimha Rao in 1991. The Modi government’s use of the “Act East Policy” is designed to signal a more action-oriented policy toward Southeast Asia (See: “Modi Unveils India’s ‘Act East Policy’ to ASEAN in Myanmar”).
This applies to defense relations as well, and Raha’s trip is being publicized as a case in point. According to a press release by India’s Ministry of Defense seen by The Diplomat, the visit is designed to “further boost bilateral relations between the Armed Forces of the two countries and is likely to provide greater convergence at the operational level.”
In Thailand, Raha held talks with Chief of Defense Forces Worapong Sanganetra, Commander in-Chief of the Royal Thai Air Force Treetod Sonjance and Deputy Minister of Defense Udomdej Sitabutr. According to The Hindu, the Thai side “expressed keen interest” in the area of development of defense equipment and for a higher level of military to military exchange. Both sides also agreed that cooperation should be increased with Bay of Bengal countries to manage sea migration.
The developments come as no surprise. Both sides have been placing greater attention on the defense realm of their relationship, which even officials admit is still quite underdeveloped. Region-wise, India’s cooperation with Thailand in this regard is also arguably not as extensive with other Southeast Asian states like Singapore or Vietnam.
As I wrote earlier this year, New Delhi and Bangkok have both been looking to bolster their defense relationship in several areas, including in defense industry collaboration and maritime security (See: “India, Thailand Seek Expanded Defense Ties”). A variety of issues were discussed when India’s national security adviser Ajit Doval visited Thailand in April. India’s Chief of Naval Staff Admiral R. K Dhowan’s July trip to Bangkok saw a specific focus on strengthening maritime cooperation between the two navies, including hydrography, developing comprehensive maritime domain awareness through the exchange of white shipping information, and increasing the scope of coordinated patrols (See: “India Navy Chief to boost Defense Cooperation on Southeast Asia Voyage”).
The Vietnam portion of Raha’s visit will see him hold discussions with the Chief of General Staff of the Vietnam People’s Army, the Chief of the Vietnam People’s Air Force and the Minister of Defense.favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite
I was not at all familiar with this show and as Dave Lemieux continues his onslaught on '77 release I passed on this one.
I just listened to the end of the second set from Estimated on and...
I have to say in many ways this might be one of the better ones.
Granted the Estimated is very short and there is no super transition into He's Gone that is where this shows blossoms.
Another reviewer on a different copy commented on the sublime nature of this show. This one features Jerry's excellent playing and superb vocals. He also noted how its about the details in this show and not over the top craziness.
I could not agree more.
The end of He's Gone exemplifies this as it is both poetic and emotional.
You next get a wild tribal drums that explodes into an amazing Other One, with Phil, Jerry, and Bob totally taking you on a roller coaster of wild beauty. The transition into Wharf Rat is stellar and a high light of this night.
Jerry is so fluid and the tone out of his guitar is amazing, unique for this year, as he has more envelope filter I believe, and the Travis Beam sounds even better in my opinion.
I have to say that the beam was my least favorite guitar that Jerry played as well.
Then an other intense and flawless transition back into the second verse of the Other One, which Phil totally commands, and then a great surprise...a late set Wheel that is the icing on the cake. It is a joyous and majestic version with Jerry pulling off a wonderful sound on it. It is that deep, deep sound that touches your soul.
The bands rocks out with an extraordinary Around & Around with the kick ass double tempo ending.
Then a raging JBG to place the cherry on this one.
Happy trails.
- August 10, 2013The Jerry & Phil showPANGKALAN BUN/JAKARTA, Indonesia (Reuters) - An Indonesian naval patrol vessel has found what could be the tail of a crashed AirAsia passenger jet, the section where the crucial black box voice and flight data recorders are located, officials said on Monday.
News of the possible breakthrough came as the transport ministry in Jakarta said some officials on duty at the time of the accident will be moved to other roles. It also announced it was tightening rules on pre-flight procedures.
Ships and aircraft scouring the northern Java Sea for debris and bodies from the Airbus A320-200 have widened their search to allow for currents eight days after Flight QZ8501 plunged into the water en route from Indonesia’s second-biggest city of Surabaya to Singapore with 162 people on board.
“We found what has a high probability of being the tail of the plane,” Yayan Sofyan, captain of the patrol vessel, told reporters.
He was speaking after his ship returned to the port in Surabaya on Monday, and it was not immediately clear if he was referring to one of the five large objects pinpointed by search vessels over the weekend.
Indonesia’s meteorological agency has said seasonal tropical storms probably contributed to the Dec. 28 crash and the weather has persistently hampered efforts to recover bodies and find the cockpit voice and flight data recorders that should explain why the plane crashed into the sea.
The recorders are housed in the tail section of the Airbus, making retrieval of that part of the aircraft crucial.
“I am not saying it’s the tail yet,” the head of Indonesia’s search and rescue agency, Fransiskus Bambang Soelistyo, told a news conference in Jakarta. “That is suspected. Now we are trying to confirm it.”
TRANSPORT MINISTRY CRACKDOWN
The transport ministry said some officials at the country’s airport operator and air traffic control agency who were involved with the AirAsia flight will be moved to other duties while the accident investigation is completed.
The ministry gave no reason.
It also said that, three days after the crash, it had issued a directive making it mandatory for pilots to be briefed in person by an airline official on weather conditions and other operational issues before every flight.
Parts of AirAsia QZ8501, recovered from the Java Sea, are carried by Indonesian Airforce and Search and Rescue crew members after they were offloaded from a U.S. Navy helicopter at the airport in Pangkalan Bun, Central Kalimantan January 5, 2015. REUTERS/Darren Whiteside
“A circular has been signed by the transport ministry on December 31, stating that pilots must have a face-to-face briefing with a flight operation officer so the briefing officer will know the pilot is in a healthy condition and so on,” said Djoko Murjatmodjo, acting director general of air transportation.
Aviation experts said this was a common practice in the industry, but it was not immediately clear if it has been normal procedure in Indonesia.
The main focus of the search is about 90 nautical miles off the coast of Borneo island, where five large objects believed to be parts of the plane - the largest about 18 meters (59 feet) long - have been located in shallow waters by ships using sonar.
While experts say the shallow sea should make the recovery fairly straightforward in good weather, strong winds and big waves have frustrated the multinational force of ships and divers that has converged at the site.
“The seas haven’t been very friendly, but the black boxes have a 30-day life and they will be able to find them,” said Peter Marosszeky, a senior aviation research fellow at the University of New South Wales in Sydney. “It’s the weather that is causing the delay.”
Thirty-seven bodies of the mostly Indonesian passengers and crew have been recovered, including some still strapped in their seats. Many more may be trapped in the body of the aircraft.
LICENSE CONFUSION
Indonesia AirAsia has come under pressure from authorities, who have suspended its Surabaya-Singapore license, saying the carrier only had permission to fly the route on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Flight QZ8501 took off on a Sunday.
It was not immediately clear what difference, if any, the day of the week had on the Dec. 28 flight, and Murjatmodjo made clear that the investigations of the route and the crash were separate.
“Please differentiate between the probe into flight licenses and the air crash investigation,” he said.
Singapore’s civil aviation authority and its Changi Airport Group said AirAsia had the necessary approvals to operate a daily flight between Surabaya and Singapore.
Indonesia AirAsia is 49 percent owned by Malaysia-based budget carrier AirAsia, whose shares fell nearly 5 percent on Monday.
Slideshow (8 Images)
While the license investigation could have serious consequences for the airline’s operations, insurance industry experts said insurers were expected to pay claims whether or not the airline was properly licensed to fly on the day.
The crash was the first fatal accident suffered by the AirAsia budget group, whose Indonesian affiliate flies from at least 15 destinations across the archipelago.Jennifer Aniston's HOT New Ad Campaign Photos
has hit the big time. Not only is she a spokesperson for Smartwater, but her likeness graces not a magazine cover but the entire side of the Hyatt Building on Sunset Blvd. in West Hollywood.
The 12 story building has Jennifer Aniston prominently superimposed over the entire side of the structure. The photo is hot and is likely to cause quite a stir. The photo has a 3D look, as if the actress was sitting up there while enjoying the view.
We hope that the gigantic display won't be a traffic hazard. We would expect more than one drive by gawker will be cramming on the brakes while gazing skyward at Aniston.
The ad campaign uses a quote from the celebrity:
"I love the reflection of water (but what I drink is a reflection of me)."
Check out the rest of the photos below. Photos: WENNWatch: Steve Buscemi Tells You Why You Should Give to Friends of Firefighters (VIDEO)
In a clip video uploaded onto YouTube, “Boardwalk Empire” star Steve Buscemi makes a solid case for why you should donate to the organization Friends of Firefighters. The nonprofit, set up by his friend Nancy Carbone during the aftermath of 9/11, aims to “provide long-term support and services through confidential counseling, wellness services, and other assistance required by firefighters and their families,” according to their mission statement. Buscemi stresses that they are in need of our support more than ever following the devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy. And as it turns out, the actor has an especially close tie to the cause: he reveals in the video that he worked as a firefighter in the ’80s.
If you’re looking for another way to give back to those affected by Sandy and happen to live in New York, head to the Landmark Sunshine Theater in Lower Manhattan this weekend for their Friday and Saturday night showings of “The Miami Connection” and “Hackers.” Sunshine will donate all proceeds from the midnight screenings to New York Cares’ hurricane relief efforts.
Watch Buscemi’s video below:
Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.Smile Suggest is the work of Martin McAllister, who built it in his spare time around his job in advertising. It uses your webcam to measure your happiness, relying on an open-source JavaScript facial tracker to do the heavy lifting. When you first load the extension up, it'll ask you to set the level (from "one to Happy") that triggers a hit. Maybe I'm just a morose dude, but my widest, most artificial of smiles only hits about a six on the happy scale, so I set it at four. You don't get a notification when a page makes you happy, so I had to flip back and forth between my browsing and the app page to see if anything was raising my spirits. It took roughly 30 minutes before I got my first hit: my personal email account.
It was here I discovered the first of the extension's issues: I don't know what in my email account made me happy. It was probably an email subject from a friend, but without more information than a URL, I guess I'll never know. This wasn't a huge problem, but there were a couple of times when a screenshot of the page would've been helpful. After a full working day, here are (almost all) my results:
I don't actually smile that much, then. Most of the results were simple to understand. I know why I smiled at almost everything: Star Wars, fluffy animals, Firefly, funny videos, a Hangouts message with my S.O. and a feel-good story about a beloved mascot. There was one outlier: our Cooking with Watson article, which remains a mystery. Maybe I just find something about the combination of cumin, sumac and carrots pleasing. I mentioned the idea of saving a screenshot of the page to McAllister, who seemed receptive to the concept, and had been thinking about a more complex system to show you what on a particular page made you happy, so there's a chance that a similar feature will turn up at some point in the future.
So what are you supposed to do with this list of happiness? Well, Smile Suggest has a few options. From the suggestions dashboard, you can share links to Twitter or Facebook, or add each page to a folder in your browser's bookmarks. It's a shame there's no option to automatically share hits to social networks -- you'd have to be very brave to automatically share everything that makes you smile, but it'd be a fun experiment, at least. Social options aside, the dashboard also lets you remove suggestions you don't agree with, which brings me to another problem.
Although Smile Suggest does a good job working out what page you're looking at and when you're smiling, it was always watching me, unless I manually deactivated it. That means if something made me laugh in our office chat app and I had Chrome active in the background, it added whatever tab was open to my suggestions list. I lost count of the number of times I had to remove links from the list because of a funny tweet or throwaway comment in a group chat. McAllister says this behavior is not intended: He tested the extension exclusively on an older version of OS X and hadn't had this problem at all. He says he'll look into fixing it.
There are a couple of other issues to get out of the way: First, there's the whole privacy thing -- this extension is straight-up watching you all day long. While the only permissions it uses are "Read and change your bookmarks" and "Read your browsing history," there's always a chance that someone will find a loophole to exploit. The final problem is it's a huge resource hog. With the extension enabled, my battery life was severely reduced and my MacBook Air's fans whirred way more often than they normally do.
Smile Suggest hints at a future where apps make decisions for us, taking cues from our latent desires.
Problems aside, there's a lot to love about Smile Suggest. We've been interacting with our computers in much the same way for decades. Even with the introduction of touch and gesture controls, there's still the basic cycle of deciding to do something, performing an interaction and actually having it happen. By reading your emotions, the extension completely subverts this status quo. McAllister notes it's different than the "slightly considered and contrived idea of a Facebook like or Twitter favorite.... A smile is something that, on one level, is more honest... much more immediate." For me, it hints at a future where apps make decisions for us, taking cues from our latent desires.
It's pretty great, after a long day of work, to have a rundown of the things on the internet I actually liked. It's been so easy for me to end each day focusing on the negatives, rather than the positives. If its creator can fix the small niggles that, to be honest, are expected with a one-man project, I could really see the idea catching on. It could definitely be something I use every day. Something to make the internet at least feel like a nicer place.CHECK OUT OUR BOARDS AND PINS AT OUR PINTEREST SITES,
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CHECK OUT AND BUY THIS GREAT BOOK!
Pornland: How Porn Has Hijacked Our Sexuality
- by Gail Dines
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DESCRIPTION
Pornland: How Porn Has Hijacked Our Sexuality PORNLAND examines the way porn shapes and limits sexual imaginations and behaviors. takes an unflinching look at today’s porn industry: the stories woven into the images, the impact on our culture, the effects on us as men and women, the business machine that creates and markets porn, and the growing legitimacy of porn in mainstream media. Above all,examines the way porn shapes and limits sexual imaginations and behaviors.
Although we are surrounded by pornographic images, many people are not aware of just how cruel and violent the industry is today. PORNLAND shows how today’s porn is strikingly different from yesterday’s Playboy and Penthouse magazines — how competition in the industry and consumer desensitization have pushed porn toward hard core extremes. And, with the advent of the internet and other digital technologies, users don’t have to wander far to access porn; todaythe average age of first viewing is about 11 for boys, and studies reveal that young men, who consume more porn than ever before, have difficulty forming healthy relationships. PORNLAND also looks at how our porn culture affects the way women and girls think about their bodies, their sexuality and their relationships. PORNLAND: How Porn has Hijacked our Sexuality argues that rather than sexually liberating or empowering us, porn offers us a plasticized, formulaic, generic version of sex that is boring, lacking in creativity and disconnected from emotion and intimacy. Click here for PORNLAND news and reviews TABLE OF CONTENTS AND EXCERPTS Introduction - Porn and the Industrialization of Sex (Excerpt) One - Playboy, Penthouse and Hustler: Paving the Way for Today’s Porn Industry Two - Pop goes the Porn Culture: Mainstreaming Porn Three - From the Backstreet to Wall Street: The Big Business of Porn Four - Grooming For Gonzo: Becoming a Man in a Porn Culture Five - Leaky Images: How Porn Seeps into Men’s Lives Six - Visible or Invisible: Growing up Female in a Porn Culture (Excerpt) (Click here for full chapter) Seven - Racy Sex, Sexy Racism: Porn from the Dark Side (Excerpt) (Click here for full chapter) Eight - Children: The Final Taboo Conclusion - Fighting Back <A HREF="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?rt=tf_mfw&ServiceVersion=20070822&MarketPlace=US&ID=V20070822%2FUS%2Fantiorgprevan-20%2F8001%2Fa9d6dfa9-edb2-469c-9469-e8c5a935dff0&Operation=NoScript">Amazon.com Widgets</A> CLICK PICTURES ABOVE TO ORDER "PORNLAND" AT AMAZON.COM NOW
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For more information about the documented harms of pornography please visit the extremely informative website Pornography Harms at PornHarms.com.
"Dedicated to providing the most accurate peer-reviewed research on the harm from pornography, along with relevant news and opinion."
This outstanding website comprehensively addresses the harms of pornography in regards to all of the following categories: addiction, brain science, children, cybersex, family, Internet, Internet safety, marriage, men, psychological, prostitution, relationships, research, self image, sex trafficking, sexting, sexual violence, societal, STDs, teens, and women.
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Have you taken the NO-PORN PLEDGE at NoPornPledge.com yet? If not, now would be a really great time to do so! Please click here or the banner below.
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See the list of many people from all around the world who have signed the No-Porn Pledge. Click here.
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ At AntiPornography.org we are working to prevent and combat the devastating harms of pornography, prostitution, sex trafficking and sexual slavery, as well as all other forms of sexual exploitation, through public education and advocacy. We are: Anti-Censorship, Pro-Free Speech, Nonreligious, Anti-Banning ~ Anti-Sexism, Anti-Exploitation, Anti-Slavery, Anti-Violence ~ Pro-Education, Pro Safe, Healthy, Respectful, Equality-Based Sexuality Pro-reasonable regulation of the pornography industry for the health and safety of the performers. *Please see FAQ for more information on all of the above. Thank you!
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NOTE: All those marked with * are friends, subscribers or followers of AntiPornography.org at Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, or one of our other social networking websites, or have demonstrated support for our work otherwise, such as providing content for this website or linking to us or to one of our blogs and/or social networking projects. Also please note that the below list is a work in progress and that it is not complete. Please share any errors, omissions or suggestions here. Thank you!
WOMEN AND GIRLS FOCUSED RESOURCES:
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ANTI-PORNOGRAPHY ORGANIZATIONS GROUPS AND WEBSITES:
*Culture Reframed Pornography FAQ *ResistPorn Culture (UK) No Porn Pledge *Against Pornography
*Anti-Porn Feminists (Anti-Porn London) Men Against Porn / Prostitution / Patriarchy *The Violence of Pornography (Graphic)
*No Porn Northampton Playboy: Talkin' Trash *Girls Against Porn Bin the Bunny Stop Patriarchy
*JoinPornBusters YouTube Channel The Price of Pleasure Documentary Film Website
*Come Back From Your Fantasy (Sex-Positive Anti-Porn Feminist Tumblr, by young feminist Kelsey Ruane)
*Make Love Not Porn (Not technically anti-porn but shows differences of porn vs. real life.)
Somebody's Daughter *Fight the New Drug *pornTRUTH
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'ANTI-PORNOGRAPHY ACTIVIST INDIVIDUALS, AUTHORS AND FILMMAKERS:
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ANTI-PROSTITUTION/TRAFFICKING/SEXUAL EXPLOITATION/ABUSE SITES, ETC:
The above channels are AntiPornography.org pjts with MANY videos & helpful resources!
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FEMINIST, WOMEN & GIRLS ADVOCATE ORGANIZATIONS & GROUPS, ETC:
MEN AGAINST SEXISM, VIOLENCE, SEXUAL EXPLOITATION & ABUSE, ETC.
NOMAS (National Organization of Men Against Sexism ) *Men Can Stop Rape *My Strength Campaign
*Men Stopping Violence *A Call to Men UK *The White Ribbon Campaign (CA)
*Reclaiming Sex From XXX *Byron Hurt Jackson Katz
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MEDIA, FREE SPEECH, & OTHER ORGANIZATIONS, GROUPS & SITES:
*Media Education Foundation Women's Institute for Freedom of the Press
Miboda Agency
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MESSAGE BOARDS AND FORUMS FOR HELP, INFORMATION & SUPPORT:
There are MANY anti-porn groups and pages at Facebook.
Just search GROUPS and PAGES for "anti-porn," "antiporn," "anti-pornography" & "antipornography" and similar terms.
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FAMILY, CHILDREN, MEN & ADDICTION FOCUSED RESOURCES:
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ANTI-PORNOGRAPHY ORGANIZATIONS, GROUPS, AND WEBSITES:
*National Center on Sexual Exploitation *Pornography Harms *Enough Is Enough ProtectKids.com
*Pornversations - College tour of an ex porn performer and an ex porn addict Protect Young Minds
National Law Center for Children and Families *Traffic Control, the Movie Maryland Coalition Against Pornography
It's Time We Talked Utah Coalition Against Pornography BraveHearts Diamond Heart Foundation
Report Online Child Pornography/Exploitation at CyberTipLine.com or 1-800-843-5678
*Darkness 2 Light *XXX Church Department of Justice ThePornTalk.com
Social Costs of Pornography: Conference Videos Papers Report of Findings
*Safe Eyes (InternetSafety.com) *Convenant Eyes Internet Filter Review *Women for Decency AntiChildPorn.org
Say No to Pornography Pakistan - Let's Wage a War Against Pornography Blogspot
Canadians Addressing Sexual Exploitation (C.A.S.E.) (Canada)
CANADA - List of other |
2013, as the country has recovered from the recession and imports and exports have increased.
And it’s not just the number of ships, it’s their size. A new generation of vessels built for a widened Panama Canal carries more than twice the cargo they used to. American ports have done a lot to allow those ships access, dredging deeper channels and buying bigger cranes.
That’s where things stop going right.
Here’s the problem with bigger boats: One carrier can’t fill up an entire vessel, so they take on containers from other shipping lines, which have their own lists of customers and transport supply chains. When the boxes all end up on the docks, they’re hopelessly jumbled, and take a long time to sort out. That means cargo can now sit in a port for one to three weeks, according to analyst firm Kurt Salmon, which defeats the purpose of just-in-time supply chain planning.
“The issue is that although the ports have done a tremendous job shoreside, they haven’t done as good of a job on the land side, operationally,” says Weston LaBar, director of the Harbor Trucking Association, which represents companies that drive boxes to destinations inland. "There’s no real consistency on who's hauling what cargo and where it’s going to go." The terminals are working on IT systems that help things work more smoothly, but implementing them is a long, tricky process.
The next complication is the seemingly basic challenge of finding something to haul the container away on: a chassis, the flatbed that hooks on to the back of a semi-trailer. Functional chassis have been scarce at the west coast ports lately, as responsibility for storing and maintaining them shifted from the shippers to third-party leasing companies, causing huge headaches for the people who truck big boxes off the docks.
The problem may be resolved soon, as Fortune described earlier this month, with a common pool of chassis that can interoperate with different kinds of containers and trucks. But the issue probably played as big a role in port congestion over the past year as any slowdown on the dockworkers’ part, harbor businesses say.
Finally, all the congestion is creating a shortage of truckers to haul away the containers. Since most of them are owner-operators and get paid per load they ferry from dock to final destination — a warehouse or a rail yard, usually — waiting in long lines to pick up boxes limits the number of “turns” they can take in a day. The average turn time increased from two or three hours in 2010 to more than four hours in October 2014, according to the Digital Geographic Research Corporation.
Long turn times have prompted truckers to take long-haul routes that at least put food on the table, even if they’re never home to eat it (and has created fertile ground for an organizing drive by the Teamsters, which argues truckers should be paid as hourly employees instead).
“It’s just kind of snowballed over the last 18 months or so,” says LaBar. “It’s really a perfect storm. If the driver doesn’t do well, we have less drivers, and then the motor carrier doesn’t get paid well.”
Now, terminals are charging trucking companies late fees for the return of containers, which drives up costs. “Everybody’s just trying to charge everybody else,” says Ricciotti, of the Harbor Transportation Club. The long-term threat: Fed up with the sclerosis, shippers are starting to find ways around the U.S. ports, like going up north to Canada’s Prince Rupert.
“Where are we going to get to a point where we never see that business again?” Ricciotti worries.
What labor still controls
The rise and fall of the unionized workforce at the west coast ports. (Pacific Maritime Association)
Now, it’s true that some of these problems have solutions that require input from the powerful ILWU.
For example, operating round-the-clock would go a long way toward making the ports as productive as many of those in Asia, where labor is nowhere near as expensive. At the moment, adding another shift would require paying overtime, which makes it prohibitively expensive. And from information that’s come out about bargaining so far, there’s no evidence that’s even under discussion. (Both sides are operating under a media blackout in the final stages of negotiations.)
How about adding technology? The ports have been experimenting with automated systems that allow them to stack containers higher and wider, increasing the volume that can flow through to ground transportation. However, such systems can also reduce manpower by 40 percent to 50 percent, according to an April study by the Port of Los Angeles.
That’s not necessarily a deal-breaker. Starting with containerization in the 1960s, the ILWU has made its peace with technological advancements, allowing labor-saving automation to be installed in exchange for excellent pay and benefits. And over the last few decades, port traffic has risen fast enough to offset the fact that each container requires fewer man-hours to unload.
However, there’s only so far that can go before the union’s membership really starts to dwindle. According to the Pacific Maritime Association, the registered workforce has shrunk from its height of 14,279 in 2007 to about 13,600 today, even as volume has bounced back from the recession.
“There’s a new wave of technological change that is definitely in the background,” says Peter Hall, a professor at Vancouver’s Simon Fraser University who specializes in port governance. “And I think that from the ILWU side, the members get very nervous about whether the guarantees will still be in place if they continue to accept the technology.”
That’s partly why, for example, the last sticking point in negotiations — over whether the arbitrators who referee grievances can keep their positions for life — is so important. Appointed arbitrators decide whether people in different job classifications should be union members, says Hall. How about a person who just sits in front of a computer all day? Those people don’t even have to be on the docks to do their jobs; maybe they don’t have to be members of the union, either.
Already, the ILWU has ceded many of the jobs that have moved off the docks entirely — like control of the chassis and unloading the containers, which now happens at warehouses inland. While the union has done a good job of organizing horizontally across all the ports on the west coast, it’s failed to organize the rest of the maritime transportation pipeline. And it hasn’t built alliances, even within the very labor-friendly west coast communities where they work.
“The way I like to think about this industry is it’s one where you can create a small number of good jobs, or a lot of bad ones — and maybe not even that many bad ones,” says Hall. “It is hard to see how they could be more than a dwindling, increasingly up-skilled, small fraction of the supply chain if they only stay working on the docks.”
As a union that controls a bottleneck in American commerce, the temptation to use that leverage on behalf of existing members is strong. But as the labor market transforms along the transportation pipeline, it’s not clear how long the unions’ leverage will last.Advertisement
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Add Lori Garver to the list of people who are unhappy that former shuttle commander Eileen Collins is slated to speak at the Republican National Convention. Garver, who is the former Deputy Administrator of NASA, tweeted, “Shocked Eileen is supporting this anti-science misogynist. Sorry her legacy is now co-opted by self-interested men.” Garver, whose tenure at the Space agency was fraught with controversy, allowed these words to go out on social media apparently unaware of the irony.
Mind, Garver, being a partisan Democrat, might be expected to call Donald Trump an “anti-science misogynist.” She did not go as far as Sen Elizabeth Warren, who has been quite tart on twitter about the Republican ticket.
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Garver, who advised both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama during the 2008 election and was later in charge of President-Elect Obama’s transition team for NASA. She is thought to have had a crucial role in the development of the current president’s space policy that canceled President George W. Bush’s Constellation space exploration program and doubled down on Bush’s commercial crew subsidy program.
The policy has turned out to have had, at best, mixed results. Partly this is due to the way it was rolled out, suddenly, without warning, and without consultation.
The commercial crew program will likely bear fruit in a couple of years when the first privately operated, government funded spacecraft start delivering crews to the International Space Station, after some delays due to conflicts between the Obama Administration and Congress.
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The cancellation of Constellation, on the other hand, has been an unmitigated disaster. The original plan advanced by the Obama Administration had been to place all space exploration beyond low Earth orbit on hold while a number of five-year technology development projects were conducted. Congress, rightly seeing this as a ploy to kill space exploration by studying it to death, revolted.
A somewhat messy compromise arose from the ashes of Constellation that has so far proven to be unsatisfactory. The new program, called the Journey to Mars, involves the building of a heavy-lift launcher called the Space Launch System and a spacecraft called Orion. Eventually, or so it is hoped, a series of missions to cis-lunar space will lead to the first human expedition to Mars sometime in the 2030s.
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Explicit in the new policy, as expressed by President Obama’s now infamous Kennedy Space Center Speech on April 15, 2010, was that no NASA astronaut be sent back to the lunar surface – ever. Subsequent studies, at both a think tank called Next-Gen Space and at MIT, have concluded that the decision is folly. Access to lunar water that can be refined into rocket fuel would cut the cost and the complexity of the Journey to Mars significantly. The moon also has a great deal of intrinsic scientific and commercial value.
Since she left NASA, Garver has busied herself by attacking the new program, in particular, its reliance on a heavy lift vehicle. Most space experts, such as former NASA Administrator Mike Griffin, suggest that a heavy lift launcher is vital for any Mars mission and would be useful for going back to the moon as well. Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, is developing his own heavy lift launcher for his Mars colony project.
The social media rumor mill suggests that by trashing Colonel Collins, Garver is maneuvering to become NASA administrator, presumably under Hillary Clinton should she be elected president. However, Clinton may not be too happy with Garver for jumping ship from her campaign to that of Obama’s in 2008. Also, especially if the Republicans retain the Senate, she is likely unconfirmable. Sen. Ted Cruz’s subcommittee would likely hold the hearings. Cruz is not likely to be happy about Garver’s stance on space policy or her heated rhetoric about Republicans being “anti-science.” However, if someone were actually to try to put Garver in charge of NASA, the confirmation hearings would be quite a show.Trump Says He Wants To Help Mediate Israeli-Palestinian Peace Deal
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President Trump emphasized his commitment to end the long-standing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, saying there's a "very good chance" for a peace deal and vowing to do "whatever is necessary to facilitate the agreement."
Trump's remarks came in a joint statement following a meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas at the White House on Wednesday.
"We'll start a process which hopefully will lead to peace," Trump said, standing alongside the Palestinian leader.
"Over the course of my lifetime, I've always heard that perhaps the toughest deal to make is the deal between the Israelis and the Palestinians," he added. "Let's see if we can prove them wrong."
The Mideast peace progress has been stalled for years. "Now Mr. President, with you we have hope," Abbas told Trump.
Abbas said he believed their partnership could bring about a historic peace deal, emphasizing that he wants to see a Palestinian state with borders that existed prior to the region's war in 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Abbas is unpopular and has led the Palestinian Authority for the past 12 years, long past the conclusion of his five-year term. And "for many Palestinians, after all these years, Abbas has not delivered the goods," as NPR's Daniel Estrin reported. Here's more:
"He has not managed to get serious concessions from Israel. Israel continues settlement construction in the West Bank. Palestinians are losing hope in getting an independent country and an end to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank. So Abbas here wants to be able to come home to the West Bank at least showing that he's got Trump's ear."
This isn't the first time Trump has signaled willingness to have a hand in peace negotiations, though he emphasized that any agreement must come from the Israelis and Palestinians themselves, and "cannot be imposed by the United States or by any other nation."
It won't be easy. "Trust between Israelis and Palestinians right now really is rock bottom," Daniel added. "There is such little belief on both sides that there's a way forward. And so this is Trump's challenge. You know, he wants to broker a peace deal, but there is a danger to orchestrating yet another peace process."
That danger was spelled out by veteran U.S. peace negotiator Dennis Ross recently: "What we can't afford is another big initiative that fails because that'll just feed the cynicism and disbelief. And it reduces even more any hope that anything can ever be done."
A number of Trump administration officials have strong ties to Israeli leaders, and the White House has appeared to break from longstanding U.S. support of a two-state solution. So far, it has not endorsed a specific plan to push for peace.
At a February press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump said, "So I'm looking at two-state and one-state — and I like the one that both parties like," he said.The poor financial health of News Corp Australia's newspapers has been exposed by the release of confidential documents showing continuing losses at its flagship publication The Australian, diving profits for its tabloids, and swingeing job cuts.
Insiders say the release of the 276-page internal operating accounts, by website Crikey, had News Corp Australia's Holt Street headquarters in meltdown.
Former News Corp chief executive Kim Williams. Credit:Rob Homer
The accounts, for the year to June 2013 as News Corp was splitting into two, showed revenue at The Australian fell 20.2 per cent to $107.6 million. Operating income for the broadsheet fell to a loss of $27 million.
Melbourne's Herald Sun saw revenues fall 13.5 per cent to $249.6 million, while revenue at Sydney's Daily Telegraph dropped by 14.4 per cent to $160.4 million.Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, based on the U.S. Energy Information Administration, based on the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT)
In 2014, more than 10% of the electricity used in the grid covering most of Texas came from wind generation, according to the grid's operator, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT). Wind's share of the ERCOT generation mix grew from 6.2% in 2009 to 10.6% in 2014 as total electricity generation increased over the same period by 11.3%. The growth in wind generation is a result of new wind plants coming online and grid expansions that have allowed more wind power to flow through the system to consumers.
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, based on the U.S. Energy Information Administration, based on the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT)
Wind generation in ERCOT nearly doubled from 18.8 million megawatthours (MWh) in 2009 to 36.1 million MWh in 2014. Wind capacity has also grown substantially over the past six years (and much more so in the years before that), but wind generation grew at a faster pace, partly because transmission constraints that previously prevented wind generators from operating at their maximum capability were gradually removed through a state-directed transmission expansion program. As these transmission constraints were removed, more generation from wind plants (largely concentrated in the northwestern part of the state) could reach the state's population centers. The result has been a faster increase in wind generation than in wind capacity from 2009 to 2014.
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration,
Note: Wind plants shown are facilities with a net summer capacity of 1 MW and above. Wind plants shown also include those located in the small areas of Texas lying outside the U.S. Energy Information Administration, U.S. Energy Mapping System Wind plants shown are facilities with a net summer capacity of 1 MW and above. Wind plants shown also include those located in the small areas of Texas lying outside the ERCOT grid footprint
Wind's contribution to ERCOT generation is not evenly distributed throughout the year. In Texas, peak wind season occurs during the spring—March to June—before significantly dropping off during the summer—July to September. Based on data for the past six years, the four months from March through June account for on average about 40% of annual wind generation in ERCOT. The graph on the right below shows a fairly consistent seasonal pattern from year to year, despite the difference in actual volumes of generation.
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, based on the U.S. Energy Information Administration, based on the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT)
Principal contributor: April LeeIn 1994, Jan De Bont found himself in something of a quandary. The former Die Hard and Hunt For Red October cinematographer had just scored a major hit with Speed, an action disaster flick in which a bulked-up Keanu Reeves hopped aboard a bus with a bomb wired up to its speedometer. If the bus’s speed dropped below 50 miles per hour, the bomb would go off, killing all the passengers - including the likeably hapless Sandra Bullock.
It was Die Hard on a bus. It starred Dennis Hopper as its crazed villain. Speed was just the kind of high-concept fare audiences wanted to see in the summer of 1994, and they duly lined up to buy a ticket.
Jan De Bont was no doubt thrilled when his directorial debut made around $350m - more than 10 times its relatively lean budget. Fox was clearly pleased, because it ordered a sequel the very week the box office numbers started coming through. The trouble was, De Bont hadn’t made Speed with a sequel in mind, and didn’t really think there was much potential for a follow-up. De Bont’s contract, however, stated plainly that he had to make one - and thus the plans were put in motion.
Between the summer of 1994 and September1996, De Bont reviewed dozens of screenplays, a couple of them written by Graham Yost, the screenwriter of the original Speed script (Joss Whedon was brought in to add sparkle to the dialogue later in the first film’s production). Seemingly unmoved by any of the scripts piling up on his desk, De Bont was more obsessed with the idea of committing a recurring nightmare to celuloid.
In the dream, De Bont saw a cruise ship crashing into an island, with predictably devastating results. Given that De Bont had made the hit disaster flick Twister in 1996, it seems possible that the director’s nightmare vision was born from that film. Whatever its origins, it was an image De Bont found so indelible that he demanded that it be used as a basis for his Speed sequel.
"It's always fun to destroy things that look and appear to be very expensive,” De Bont would later reason. “It's a lot more fun than destroying a paper box. And what would be better than to have a five-star luxury cruise liner basically end up in the middle of a hotel?"
With the unlikely setting of a cruise ship now chosen, screenwriters Randall McCormick and Jeff Nathanson were brought in to reverse engineer a story with De Bont’s apocalyptic vision at its end. They came up with a new villain, John Geiger, a wild-eyed ex-employee who decides to reprogram the computer of a luxury cruise liner so that it’s set on a collision course with an oil tanker. Along for the ride are Jack and Annie - Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock’s characters from the first film.
Unfortunately for De Bont, Reeves didn’t want to do the sequel. At the time, De Bont said in interviews that Reeves wasn’t interested in making another action movie after having just completed another film in the genre, Chain Reaction, which had gone through drastic script changes during its production. Or maybe it was because Reeves didn’t like the idea of all those action sequences in the water.
“We met several times about the project, and at the beginning we were all very excited about it,” De Bont said back in 1997. “Then something happened - I think it had to do with the movie he was working on at the time, Chain Reaction - and Keanu started getting worried about all the physicality of this. In this movie, he needed to do all this stuff underwater, and I think that scared him.”
About 18 years later, the subject of Speed 2 came up on Jimmy Kimmel Live. According to Reeves, he turned the sequel down because he really, really didn’t like the premise.
"I loved working with Jan de Bont and Sandra, of course. It was just a situation in life where I got the script and I read the script and I was like 'ugggghhh’,” Reeves said. “It was about a cruise ship and I was thinking, 'a bus, a cruise ship… Speed, bus, but then a cruise ship is even slower than a bus and I was like, ‘I love you guys but I just can’t do it'".
With Reeves out of the picture, Jason Patric was brought in as a new other half for Annie, Special Weapons and Tactics cop Alex Shaw. Willem Dafoe was cast as the boat-obsessed villain. Fox, clearly thinking it had a sure-fire hit on its hands, earmarked around $100m for Speed 2‘s budget, and filming began in September 1996.
It’s worth pausing here to mention that Jan De Bont was a stickler for realism, and seemed keen to put his actors through all kinds of rigours to capture that realism on camera. In Twister, for example, leads Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton were temporarily blinded by extremely intense electronic lights. The actors also had to have injections to avoid getting hepatitis after spending hours in a soggy ditch. Hunt additionally banged her head several times on the underside of a wooden bridge, and again bashed her skull during a stunt involving a moving vehicle.
De Bont would later say of these incidents, “I love Helen to death, but, you know, she could also be a bit clumsy.”
“Clumsy?” Hunt huffily responded. “The guy burned my retinas, but I’m clumsy...”
For Speed 2: Cruise Control, De Bont planned to go for an even greater level of realism, with his actors performing their own stunts wherever they could.
"I prefer the real thing, You have to have stunt people there for legal reasons but they can't really act, and I don't want to see someone who has done this all his life," De Bont said. “I prefer to see someone struggling."
And struggle they did.
Speed 2‘s shoot in the Caribbean required Jason Patric and Sandra Bullock to spend long stretches in the water, often close to moving boats or, even more scarily, the 459-foot-long Seabourne Legend liner hired for the production. At one point, Bullock reportedly missed being decapitated by the ship’s rudder by a hair's breadth.
On dry land, a stunt involving a Ducati motorcycle and Jason Patric ended with the bike flying 30 feet up in the air and Patric clinging for dear life to a tree hanging over a cliff. Bullock later said of the stunt, “Jason should be dead."
“So much came very close to going wrong," Bullock told The Nation newspaper. "We've all done some amazingly wild stuff that people shouldn't be doing."
“...it's the day-in and day-out of five months that does you in,” Patric concurred. “It's also difficult treading water for two hours hanging off the side of a ship, but you'll only see two minutes of that. You don't see the 10-foot swells whacking you into the boat, or the extra water I swallow holding Sandy up because she's got her hands tied and weights attached to her feet.”
Things weren’t much easier aboard the Seabourn Legend. De Bont had the vessel on hire for six weeks, but even here, things went awry in ways the director couldn’t have foreseen - including a violent hurricane that pursued the liner while he was trying to get some scenes in the can.
"We were thrown around quite a bit, and there were a lot of sick people,” De Bont said. “I had to give the actors time to go out, throw up and come back in before each scene."
Further frustration came when De Bont tried to shoot a scene where the liner strikes a series of boats in the Caribbean harbour of St Martin. The ship’s captain was so adept at steering his vessel that he couldn’t hit the boats even when he wanted to.
“It seemed so easy; all I wanted him to do was hit a bunch of small, 30-foot sailing boats in the harbor, and he never really did it,” De Bont said, ruefully. “We aimed the ship, put video cameras on the boats so the captain could look at them on the bridge. But he'd pass on the left side, then pass on the right [...] It just didn’t work. I was so disappointed.”
There was, however, one sequence on which De Bont refused to yield: the ship crash from his dream. Despite the 90s leap forward in digital effects, the director insisted that it had to be done in-camera, with a full-scale ship colliding with real buildings.
"How do you do that and get a ship into the middle of a town?” De Bont asked. “You can't really do it with computers or models because you need that physical presence there and interaction between the people and the ship crashing. Son in the end we built full scale replicas of parts of the ship.”
Besides, production designer Joseph Nemec III told The New York Times, creating the sequence would be far too expensive to create with the digital effects of the day; $500m was the somewhat arbitrary-sounding figure he quoted to that outlet.
With models and computers ruled out, work began on constructing a one-third-size, 150-foot long replica of the Seabourn Legend’s prow, which weighed 300 tonnes and was powered by four diesel engines; the rest of the ship would be added in digitally for the sequence’s long shots.
Meanwhile, a small army of carpenters spent six months building a jetty in St Martin, on which they constructed a total of 35 buildings for De Bont’s replica liner to crash into. Beneath the jetty, 1,000 feet of track was built just below the surface of the water - allowing Speed 2‘s crew to guide the prow precisely towards its target like a giant train set.
Unfortunately, inclement weather again put a spanner in the works: a hurricane damaged the set, which forced a new one to be built out of storm-proof materials.
The shoot itself, however, went well: the use of a track to guide the ship’s prow meant that it could crash through the buildings and stop precisely on target - a feat achieved on its first take. On screen, the effect is certainly impressive; as extras flee in terror, it really does look as though a ship’s hull is tearing a sun-drenched resort to pieces. This is, arguably, one of the biggest practical stunts ever put to film. But all that realism came at a considerable cost: $25m was spent on that five minute sequence alone, a sum that translates, as The New York Times pointed out, to more than $83,000 for every second of film.
By the time Speed 2 had completed filming, it had gone more than a little over budget; some suggested the price tag could have been $165m, an extraordinary figure for the time. More conservative estimates put it much lower, at $110m. It was, in any case, a considerably more expensive movie to make than its predecessor - an increase De Bont put down in part to star salaries, including Bullock’s reported $11-12m fee (a figure she refuted). But even accounting for star wages, it was realising De Bont’s recurring nightmare that appeared to put the biggest dent in Speed 2‘s budget.
As the film neared release, Bullock defended De Bont’s single-minded approach to getting Speed 2 made. “He is insane, certifiably," the actress said. “Anyone who does films like this needs to have an element of danger in them or he'll never do what he does.”
Unfortunately, the recipe that had worked so well in Speed failed to come off the second time around. Even some frenzied camerawork from cinematographer Jack N Green couldn’t hide the plodding pace of the ocean-going liner, and critics, sensing blood in the water, bared their teeth. Speed 2 still just about made money, but less than half as much as the more modestly-budgeted original.
Even De Bont, who insisted he was “happy” with the film, admitted that the long shoot at sea had taken its toll - and vowed never to make another movie on an ocean-going liner.
"Obviously, I talked to people from Waterworld," De Bont said, "and I know Jim Cameron [director of Titanic], and I thought, 'We're different. We're on a large ship in a controlled environment,' but I was wrong [...] This turned out great and I'm very happy with the film, but I'll never do another ship movie.
"I thought I was prepared for anything - and it was still far worse than I ever imagined."February 06, 2009 at 19:11 Tags Python
I don't like getters and setters. Besides being too wordly and often unnecessary, getters and setters make APIs less clean. Consider:
print dog.get_name() dog.set_name( 'bozo' )
Versus:
print dog.name dog.name = 'bozo'
Isn't the second one so much nicer and cleaner? No big difference? Then try to think of a complex class with dozens of attributes, is it fun writing brain-dead getters and setters for each?
Getters and setters belong to the sad world of Java and C++. This is because in those languages you have no choice. Suppose you just make a member public and let the class's clients access it. What happens when you need to change the behavior of the member, or perhaps make it virtual (i.e. compute it on the fly from other members), or make something complex happen when it's assigned? You then turn the member into a getter/setter pair and have a whole lot of code to rewrite. This is why in C++/Java, people use getters and setters from the start.
But in languages like Python it's unnecessary! You can just begin with a plain attribute, letting clients access it. If, at some point, a need will arise to hide the attribute from direct access, no problem, just use the property function.
The canonical example is degrees and radians. Suppose you've been only using radians in your code, so Vector.angle was a simple attribute. But for some reason, you had to switch to degrees for the internal representation. What to do about the KLOCs of user code expecting angle to be just an attribute returning the angle in radians? No problem:
import math class Vector ( object ): def __init__ ( self, angle_rad): self.set_angle_rad(angle_rad) def get_angle_rad ( self ): return math.radians( self._angle_deg) def set_angle_rad ( self, angle_rad): self._angle_deg = math.degrees(angle_rad) angle = property (get_angle_rad, set_angle_rad) def get_angle_deg ( self ): return self._angle_deg def set_angle_deg ( self, angle_deg): self._angle_deg = angle_deg angle_deg = property (get_angle_deg, set_angle_deg) v = Vector( 2 *math.pi) print v.angle print v.angle_deg v.angle = math.pi print v.angle print v.angle_deg
See how we've easily turned the angle attribute into a virtual entity accessible via getter and setter functions.
The point is, just use attributes, not getters and setters. If you ever need to change the code for some reason (this will happen much less often than you expect), you can always change the internals but still present the old API to client code.The Samsung Chromebook Pro is arguably the most popular device of 2017 and rightfully so. The super-bright, high-res display, 3:2 aspect ratio, onboard stylus and sleek design make it a unique bird among an ever-growing number of Chromebooks on the market.
While not perfect, the Samsung Chromebook Pro offers one of the most well-rounded Chrome OS/Android experiences available. Google’s Pixelbook is currently the only device that comes to mind that trumps the Pro. One of the Samsung Pro’s biggest edges over Google’s flagship is the price. You can pick one up from Amazon or Samsung at $100 off making it half the price of Pixelbook.
If there was one feature, in particular, that was thoughtlessly omitted from the Pro it is a backlit keyboard. I can’t begin to tally the number of consumers who have expressed their disdain towards the Pro for this “oversight.”
I can imagine that this one, seemingly insignificant option pushed many buyers to the ASUS Chromebook Flip C302 which not only offers a backlit keyboard but doubles the storage to 64GB. Samsung has since released their own 64GB model and that’s great but consumers want what they want and they want an illuminated keyboard.
Well, it only took a year but Samsung may finally heed the cry of consumers. Yesterday, we uncovered the addition of a keyboard backlight to the device board ‘Caroline’, a.k.a., the Samsung Chromebook Pro.
caroline : Add EL lamp driver & control keyboard backlight. – Add MAXIM Max14521 EL lamp driver
– Add commands & hooks to control keyboard backlight
At this point, it is unclear whether Samsung is producing a second run of the current Pro with the addition or if we might see a new variant of the Chromebook.
We know there is a more powerful version in the works and from the information we have gathered, that device will be released in the very near future. That leads me to believe that Samsung could be beefing up the Pro for a second run at the consumer market but only time will tell.
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Source: Chromium repositoryThursday morning. We're sitting in a guard tower. Everyone is bored, which inevitably means jokes about black people.
Spc. Joshua Hill is describing his interaction with the Afghan kids. "I was telling them to get a job. J-O-B."
"Funny the black guy is telling them that," says one of the white MPs.
"I own a fucking landscaping company," says Hill.
"Why are you so angry?"
"I'm not angry. I'm annoyed. You'll know when I'm angry."
Silence for a minute. Then … BOOM.
A plume of smoke and dust rises from a city block about 600 meters away. Lt. Jason Walter and Sgt. 1st Class Joe Baird come up to the tower. "Think it was an IED, sir," says Walter. A truckful of ANPs zooms off down the road toward the blast. A few minutes later, we join them.
When we get to the site of the explosion, Afghan police are already clearing the wreckage. Apparently a cart full of grapes and tomatoes blew up on the side of the road as an ANP truck was rolling by. Three policemen were wounded. The ANPs are now tying the mangled cart to the back of one of their trucks, preparing to drag it away. Walter stops one of them. "We need to leave this fucking shit alone," he says. "You can't just come here and fucking take it away."
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The ANPs have a different conception of their role. "They don't want the public to find out about this," explains the interpreter. "It's been a long time now [since the last attack], and a lot of people are finally coming here, and also the road is blocked and they don't want that."
"I don't give a fuck what he wants," says Walter. "Let's finish what we're doing and then he can get it out of here."
Sgt. Chris Gnegy arrives with a bomb test kit and wipes down the frame and wheels of the cart. The wipes turn brown, which means TNT. Soon a fire truck arrives to spray down the road.
"I wanna know what the detonation device is," says Walter. "I bet the fuckers already took it. … Help me look for anything that looks electronic." We walk around for five minutes. Grapes everywhere. Blood is caked in the dirt. The firefighters are itching to spray. An ANP officer reminds the interpreter that they are fasting, so they want to finish this quickly.
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"There it is!" says Walter. Spc. Brandon Humphrey picks up a piece of metal from a gutter and puts it in a plastic bag. "That's it." The MPs saddle up to take the evidence back to the base. We're just stepping off the road as the firefighters blast the street. The hose soaks our boots.
Military and civilian leaders like to talk about the "Afghan face" of the war. Whenever possible, they say, Afghans should be leading patrols, making decisions, and otherwise controlling operations. Americans should be advisers—nothing more. It's the wartime equivalent of teaching them to fish rather than giving them fish.
You see this play out on the micro level every day. When an ANP asked an American adviser for batteries, the adviser refused, asking how he would get batteries if the Americans weren't here. When shots rang out a block away from a traffic checkpoint, the ANP took off to investigate without waiting for American approval—a reckless move, but also a sign of self-sufficiency. When one ANP came to Sgt. Lisa Morgan complaining about his boss, Morgan told him to go through his chain of command, rather than turn to the Americans.
The Afghan face extends to public relations, too. The recent Kandahar offensive isn't called "Operation Fill-in-the-Blank." It's called Hamkari Baraye Kandahar, which means "Cooperation for Kandahar" in the Dari language. (Never mind that most Kandaharis speak Pashto, not Dari.) When the operation to push the Taliban out of District 6 began, commanders were careful to call it "Afghan-led" and emphasize that Americans played |
priapic ex-Presidents,” who convened to celebrate Nelson’s ninetieth. The focus of our attention is, then, not the aging leader but his legacy, the ANC. Or “The Scourge of the ANC,” to quote the title of the polemical essay by Dan Roodt.
The patrician Mandela certainly deserves the sobriquets heaped on him by the distinguished liberal historian Hermann Giliomee: “He had an imposing bearing and a physical presence, together with gravitas and charisma. He also had that rare, intangible quality best described by Seamus Heaney as ‘great transmission of grace.’” Undeniably and uniquely, Mandela combined “the style of a tribal chief and that of an instinctive democratic leader, accompanied by old-world courtesy.” But there’s more to Mandela than meets the proverbial eye.
Cut to the year 1992. The occasion was immortalized on YouTube in 2006. Mandela’s fist is clenched in a black power salute. Flanking him are members of the South African Communist Party, African National Congress leaders, and the ANC’s terrorist arm, the Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), which Mandela led. The sweet sounds of the MK anthem mask the ditty’s murderous words:
Go safely mkhonto
Mkonto we Sizwe
We the members of the Umkhonto have pledged ourselves to kill them—kill the whites
The catchy chorus is repeated many times and finally sealed with the responsorial, “Amandla!” (“Power”); followed by “Awethu” (“to the People”). Mandela’s genial countenance is at odds with the blood-curdling hymn he is mouthing. The “kill the whites” rallying cry still inspires enthusiasm at funerals and at political gatherings across South Africa, and has been, in practice, a soundtrack for the epic murder campaign currently being waged—however seldom it is acknowledged—against the country’s Boers. This is a side of the revered leader the world seldom sees. Or, rather, has chosen to ignore. Indeed, it appears impossible to persuade the charmed circles of the West that their idol (Mandela) had a bloodthirsty side, that his country (South Africa) is far from a political idyll, and that these facts might conceivably be important in assessing him.
Thanks to the foreign press, an elusive aura has always surrounded Mandela. At the time of his capture in 1962 and trial in 1963 for terrorism, he was described as though in possession of Scarlet-Pimpernel-like qualities—materializing and dematerializing mysteriously for his spectacular cameos. The reality of his arrest and capture were, however, decidedly more prosaic. (At the time, the writer’s father had briefly sheltered the children of two Jewish fugitives involved with the ANC’s operations. The family home was ransacked, and the infant Ilana’s mattress shredded by the South African Police.) About the myth of Mandela as a disciplined freedom fighter, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review writes wryly:
[A]s a newly qualified attorney [Mandela] was known as a big spending ladies’ man rather than as a focused political activist. To the horror of his African National Congress (ANC) colleagues, he even fancied becoming a professional boxer, so some of the ANC sighed with relief when he went to jail.
Nor was the ANC very good at terrorism—it certainly had nothing on the ascetic, self-sacrificing Salafis who man al-Qaeda. “Without East European expertise and logistics, not to forget Swedish money, [the ANC] would never have managed to make and transport a single bomb across the South African border,” avers Roodt. There was certainly precious little that would have dampened Joseph Lelyveld’s enthusiasm for “The Struggle.” But when the former (aforementioned) New York Times editor went looking for his exiled ANC heroes all over Africa, he found nothing but monosyllabic, apathetic, oft-inebriated men whom he desperately tried to rouse with revolutionary rhetoric.
In any event, the sainted Mandela was caught plotting sabotage and conspiring to overthrow the government. “Mandela … freely admitted at his trial, ‘I do not deny that I planned sabotage. I planned it as a result of a calm and sober assessment of the political situation.’” Confirms Giliomee: “Under the leadership of Nelson Mandela, the armed wing of the ANC, Umkhonto we Sizwe, embarked on a low-key campaign of sabotage.” For that he was incarcerated for life. In 1967, the U.S. had similarly incarcerated the Black Panther’s Huey Newton for committing murder and other “revolutionary” acts against “racist” America. The FBI under J. Edgar Hoover proceeded to hunt down his compatriots who were plotting sabotage and assassination. Were they wrong too? The South African government later offered to release Mandela if he foreswore violence. Mandela—heroically, at least as The New York Times saw it—refused to do any such thing; so he sat. At the time, the Pentagon had classified the ANC as a terrorist organization. Amnesty International concurred, in a manner; it never recognized Mandela as a prisoner of conscience due to his commitment to violence. In 2002, “ANC member Tokyo Sexwale …, was refused a visa to the United States as a result of his terrorist past.”
Mandela has not always embodied the “great transmission of grace.” The man who causes the Clintons, rocker Bono, Barbra Streisand, Richard Branson, and even Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands to fall about themselves, was rather ungracious to George W. Bush. In 2003, Bush had conferred on Mandela the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Medal of Freedom. Mandela greedily accepted the honor, but responded rudely by calling America “a power with a president who has no foresight and cannot think properly,” and “is now wanting to plunge the world into a holocaust … If there is a country that has committed unspeakable atrocities in the world, it is the United States of America. They don’t care for human beings.” If the then eighty-five-year-old Mandela was referring to the invasion of Iraq, he must have forgotten in his dotage that he had invaded Lesotho in 1998. Pot. Kettle. Black.
Rebranding Socialism
History is being extremely kind to “Madiba.” Since he came to power in 1994, approximately 300,000 people have been murdered. The “Umkhonto we Sizwe” rallying cry is, indubitably, emblematic of the murderous reality that is the democratic South Africa. For having chosen not to implement the ANC’s radical agenda from the 1950s, Mandela incurred the contempt of oddball socialist scribes like the Canadian Naomi Klein. Were Ms. Klein—the author of No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies—more discerning, she’d have credited Mandela for brilliantly rebranding socialism.
His crafty Third-Way politics aside, Mandela has nevertheless remained as committed as his political predecessors to race-based social planning.
An important element of our policy,” he said at the fiftieth ANC Conference, on December 16, 1997, “is the deracialisation of the economy to ensure that … in its ownership and management, this economy increasingly reflects the racial composition of our society … The situation cannot be sustained in which the future of humanity is surrendered to the so-called free market, with government denied the right to intervene … The evolution of the capitalist system in our country put on the highest pedestal the promotion of the material interests of the white minority.
Wrong, “Madiba.” If anything, capitalism undermined the country’s caste system; and capitalists had consistently defied apartheid’s race-based laws because of their “material interests.” Why, the “biggest industrial upheaval in South Africa’s history,” the miner’s strike of 1922, erupted because “the Chamber of Mines announced plans to extend the use of black labor. By 1920 the gold mines employed over twenty-one thousand whites … and nearly one hundred and eighty thousand blacks.” White miners were vastly more expensive than black miners, and not much more productive.
One of the mining chiefs, Sir Lionel Phillips, stated flatly that the wages paid to European miners put the economic existence of the mines in jeopardy. … Production costs were rising so the mining houses, entirely English owned and with no great sympathy for their increasingly Afrikaner workforce, proposed to abandon existing agreements with the white unions and open up for black workers…jobs previously reserved for whites.
A small war ensued. Bigotry led to bloodshed and martial law was declared. Although a defining event in the annals of South African labor, the General Strike exemplified the way South African capitalists worked against apartheid to maximize self-interest. Mandela clearly looks at business through the wrong end of a telescope.
Problematic too is Mandela’s Orwellian use of the world “deracialisation,” when what he was in fact describing and prescribing is racialization—a coerced state of affairs whereby the economy is forced, by hook or by crook, to reflect the country’s racial composition. Duly, the father of the Rainbow Nation also fathered the Employment Equity Act. It has seen the ANC assume partial ownership over business. Mandela’s comrade-in-arms, the late Joe Slovo, once dilated on the nature of ownership in the New South Africa. In an interview with a liberal newsman, this ANC and Communist Party leader suggested an alternative to nationalization which he dubbed ‘socialization.’” With a wink and a nod Slovo explained how the state would—and has since begun to—assume control of the economy “without ownership”:
The state could pass a law to give control without ownership—it can just do it. It can say the state has the right to take the following decisions in Anglo American [the great mining company]. You can have regulations and legislation like that, without ownership.
All of which is under way in South Africa. Mandela, moreover, has provided the intellectual seed-capital for this catastrophic “racial socialism.” (And who can forget how, in September of 1991, “Mr. Mandela threatened South African business with nationalization of mines and financial institutions unless business [came] up with an alternative option for the redistribution of wealth”?)
If the values that have guided Mandela’s governance can be discounted, then it is indeed possible to credit him with facilitating transition without revolution in South Africa. Unlike Mugabe, Mandela did not appoint himself Leader for Life, and has been the only head of state on the Continent to have ceded power voluntarily after a term in office. If not aping Africa’s ruling rogues is an achievement, then so be it.
Granted, Mandela has also attempted to mediate peace around Africa. But, “not long after he was released from prison,” notes The New Republic’s assistant editor James Kirchick, “Mr. Mandela began cavorting with the likes of Fidel Castro (‘Long live Comrade Fidel Castro!’ he said at a 1991 rally in Havana), Moammar Gaddafi (whom he visited in 1997, greeting the Libyan dictator as ‘my brother leader’), and Yasser Arafat (‘a comrade in arms’).” One has to wonder, though, why Mr. Kirchick feigns surprise at—and feels betrayed by—Mandela’s dalliances. Mandela and the ANC had never concealed that they were as tight as thieves with communists and terrorist regimes—Castro, Gaddafi, Arafat, North Korea and Iran’s cankered Khameneis. Nevertheless, and at the time, public intellectuals such as Mr. Kirchick thought nothing of delivering South Africa into the hands of professed radical Marxist terrorists. Any one suggesting such folly to the wise Margaret Thatcher risked taking a handbagging. The Iron Lady ventured that grooming the ANC as South Africa’s government-in-waiting was tantamount to “living in cloud-cuckoo land.”
In The Afrikaners, Giliomee also commends Mandela for his insight into Afrikaner nationalism. Mandela, Giliomee contends, considers Afrikaner nationalism “a legitimate indigenous movement, which, like African nationalism, had fought British colonialism.” This is unpersuasive. Forensic evidence against this romanticized view is still being recovered from the dying Afrikaner body politic. Judging by the ANC-led charge against the country’s Afrikaner history and heroes—landmarks and learning institutions—Mandela’s keen understanding of the Afrikaner was not transmitted to the political party he created. Of late, local and international establishment press has showered Mr. Mandela with more praise for serving as the mighty Springboks’ mascot.
The Springboks are the South African national rugby team, and the reigning world champions. Not that you’d guess it from the film “Invictus,” Clint Eastwood’s “over-reverent biopic,” but Mandela has never raised his authoritative voice against the ANC’s plans to force this traditionally Afrikaner game to become racially representative. Conversely, the absence of pale faces among the “Bafana Bafana,” South Africa’s equally celebrated national soccer team, has failed to similarly awaken the leader’s central-planning impulses. Has Mandela piped up about the ANC’s unremitting attacks on Afrikaans as the language of instruction in Afrikaner schools and universities? Or about the systematic culling of the white farming community? Has that paragon of virtue, Mandela, called publicly for a stop to these pogroms? Cancelled a birthday bash with “the hollow international jet set”—“ex-presidents, vacuous and egomaniacal politicians, starlets, coke-addled fashion models, intellectually challenged and morally strained musicians”? Called for a day of prayer instead (oops; he’s an ex-communist)? No, no, and no again.
Bit by barbaric bit, South Africa is being dismantled by official racial socialism, obscene levels of crime—organized and disorganized—AIDS, corruption, and an accreting kleptocracy. In response, people are “packing for Perth,” or as Mandela would say, the “traitors” pack for Perth. The South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR) was suitably dismayed to discover that close to one million whites had already left the country; the white population shrank from 5,215,000 in 1995 to 4,374,000 in 2005 (nearly one-fifth of this demographic).
Chief among the reasons cited for the exodus are violent crime and affirmative action. Alas, as the flight from crime gathered steam, the government stopped collecting the necessary emigration statistics. (Correlation is not causation, but …) The same strategy was initially adopted to combat out-of-control crime: suppress the statistics. The exact numbers are, therefore, unknown. What is known is that most émigrés are skilled white men. Also on record is Mandela’s message to them: He has accused whites of betraying him and of being “traitors” and “cowards.” Had “Madiba” wrestled with these defining issues, perhaps he’d be deserving of the monstrous statues raised in his honor. These too are in the socialist realist aesthetic tradition.
SALUTING THE ALPHA MALE
Back to the original question: Why have the leaders of the most powerful country on the continent (Mandela and Mbeki) succored the leader of the most corrupt (Mugabe)? The luminaries of Western café society were not the only ones to have given Mugabe a pass. So did blacks. “When Mugabe slaughtered 20,000 black people in southern Zimbabwe in 1983,” observes columnist Andrew Kenny, “nobody outside Zimbabwe, including the ANC, paid it the slightest attention. Nor did they care when, after 2000, he drove thousands of black farm workers out of their livelihoods and committed countless atrocities against his black population. But when he killed a dozen white farmers and pushed others off their farms, it caused tremendous excitement.”
When he socked it to Whitey, Mugabe cemented his status as hero to black activists and their white sycophants in South Africa, the US, and England. “Whenever there is a South African radio phone-in programme [sic] on Zimbabwe, white South Africans and black Zimbabweans denounce Mugabe, and black South Africans applaud him. Therefore, one theory goes, Mbeki could not afford to criticise [sic] Mugabe,” who is revered, never reviled, by South African blacks.
Left-liberal journalist John Pilger and classical liberal columnist Andrew Kenny concur: bar Zimbabweans, blacks across Africa and beyond have a soft spot for Mugabe. While issuing the obligatory denunciations of the despot, Pilger makes clear that Mugabe is merely a cog in the real “silent war on Africa,” waged as it is by bourgeois, neo-colonial businessmen and their brokers in western governments. From his comfy perch in England, this Hugo Chávez supporter preaches against colonialism and capitalism. Writing in the Mail & Guardian Online, Pilger untangled the mystery of Mbeki and Mugabe’s cozy relationship: “When Robert Mugabe attended the ceremony to mark Thabo Mbeki’s second term as President of South Africa, the black crowd gave Zimbabwe’s dictator a standing ovation.” This is a “symbolic expression of appreciation for an African leader who, many poor blacks think, has given those greedy whites a long-delayed and just comeuppance.”
South Africa’s strongmen are saluting their Alpha Male Mugabe by implementing a slow-motion version of his program. One only need look at the present in Zimbabwe “if you want to see the future of South Africa,” ventures Kenny. When Mugabe took power in 1980, there were about 300,000 whites in Zimbabwe. Pursuant to the purges conducted by the leader and his people, fewer than 20,000 whites remain. Of these, only 200 are farmers, five percent of the total eight years ago.” Although most farmland in South Africa is still owned by whites, the government intends to change the landowner’s landscape by 2014. “Having so far acquired land on a ‘willing buyer, willing seller’ basis, officials have signaled that large-scale expropriations are on the cards.”
In South Africa, the main instrument of transformation is Black Economic Empowerment (BEE). This requires whites to hand over big chunks of the ownership of companies to blacks and to surrender top jobs to them. Almost all the blacks so enriched belong to a small elite connected to the ANC. BEE is already happening to mines, banks and factories. In other words, a peaceful Mugabe-like program is already in progress in South Africa. Except that it’s not so peaceful. South Africans are dying in droves, a reality the affable Mandela, the imperious Mbeki, and their successor Zuma have accepted without piety and pity.
Excerpted from “Into the Cannibal’s Pot: Lessons for America from Post-Apartheid South Africa”(pages 140-151)
UPDATED (12/5) : On Economic Policy Journal, “Nelson Mandela, ‘The Che Guevara of Of Africa’” has generated an interesting debate. Editor Robert Wenzel sure knows how to keep things humming (which is why EPJ is the best libertarian webzine; no sacred cows, no partly-line).
UPDATE II: “Mandela Is No Saint,” but Jack Kerwick comes close–in as much as he is perhaps the only courageous Old-Right columnist who’s prepared to smash this sacred cow.
Read “Mandela No Saint.”
UPDATE III: Patrick Cleburne on the “tidal wave of mendacious rubbish pouring from the MSM on the death of Nelson Mandela.”
UPDATE IV (12/7): Literally, The Glitterati Created The Mandela Myth. This is established, of course, well ahead of this YouTube clip (which comes courtesy of true impresario Robert Wenzel), in Into the Cannibal’s Pot.
How propagandist Tony Hollingsworth Got the Media to Stop Calling Nelson Mandela a Terrorist:By Socialist Alternative Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant
This year we march in our 40th Seattle Pride Parade, continuing the decades of heroic struggle by LGBTQ people for equal rights. Like all other victories for social justice, the strides made toward LGBTQ equality have been achieved not by a handful of politicians, but on the courage of millions of activists.
In recent years the movement has won marriage equality rights in 20 states and the District of Columbia. It has succeeded in outlawing discrimination based on sexual orientation in 21 states, including Washington DC and Puerto Rico, and discrimination based on gender identity or expression in 17 states. These legal victories were largely driven by a dramatic shift in public opinion which was achieved by years of grassroots activism and LGBT people demanding equal rights.
The modern LGBTQ rights movement was born out of the Stonewall rebellion in 1969 in New York City when people successfully stood up against police harassment. Stonewall happened against the backdrop of the civil rights movement and growing radicalism, and it in turn inspired the birth of a massive gay liberation movement where hundreds of thousands of people came out of the closet and organized huge liberating marches across the country. The Gay Liberation Front founded in 1969 had explicit revolutionary socialist leanings and declared its solidarity with anti-colonial movements, the movement against the Vietnam War, and workers’ struggles.
However, a backlash developed that pressured the LGBT movement to moderate its demands to fit within the traditional social order and what was acceptable to the Democratic Party and its corporate backers. Today, more conservative elements have taken over the planning of Pride events in many cities.
Glen Greenwald documented this shift in an April 2013 article in The Guardian called “Bradley Manning is Off Limits at SF Gay Pride parade, but Corporate Sleaze is Embraced.” In the article, Greenwald discusses the role of corporate sponsors for San Francisco’s Pride events. Sponsors include AT&T, Verizon, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Clear Channel, and Kaiser Permanente – all corporations that were either facing massive corruption charges, significantly responsible for the 2007-08 financial collapse, playing an important role in the U.S. security state, or spreading deeply conservative and homophobic views. Greenwald explains how the interlocking interests of these corporations, the military, and the Democratic Party set the agenda for San Francisco Pride, which led to the revocation of the invitation to Chelsea Manning to be a Grand Marshal at the 2013 Pride Parade.
Caitlin Carmody described the parade on Shaping San Francisco’s blog: “Everywhere I turned there was a corporate float or a well branded (read: rainbow on corporate logo) corporate employee: Wells Fargo, Google, Clear Channel, Kaiser Permanente, Bank of America, BMW, Facebook, Macy’s, Salesforce, JP Morgan Chase, Twitter… Where was the anger about the economic crisis caused by the very banks marching in the parade whose nefarious practices left many queers homeless?”
The following year, intense public pressure ultimately forced the SF Pride Committee to back down, apologize to Manning, and invite her to be an honorary Parade Marshall this year – an important victory.
Despite the recent victories like marriage equality, there is still much to be done, particularly for working-class LGBTQ people and especially transgender people.
Recent studies belie the media stereotype of gay people as wealthy men. In reality, lesbian, gay, and bisexual adults are unemployed at a rate 40% higher than the national average (Center for American Progress); and LGBTQ youth make up over 40% of homeless youth (Huffington Post, Jan. 2013).
Socialists like myself have long supported the campaign for same-sex marriage rights, and we also see the importance of strengthening our movement by joining forces in demanding a society in which everyone has equal rights and all human needs are met. We need to demand reforms like equal hospital visitation rights for LGBTQ people, affordable housing for all, the closing of the gender pay gap, and a $15/hour minimum wage – reforms that will benefit not only LGBT people but all working people who we can ally with in a common struggle.
LGBTQ people are regularly subjected to harassment and violence, even in Seattle. We’ve experienced a disturbing escalation of hate crimes in Capitol Hill. Despite our gay-friendly reputation, Seattle had the third highest number of anti-LGBTQ hate crimes in the U.S. last year (Seattle Times, 06/06/14).
Transgender people experience especially high rates of poverty, unemployment, and hate crimes, including murder. In 29 states, it is still legal to fire someone because of their sexual orientation. And in 33 states, people can be fired for being transgendered. And transgendered people are 28% more likely to experience physical violence, often at the hands of the police, than other lesbian, gay, bisexual and queer people (National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs).
Despite all this, the major LGBT organizations, such as the Human Rights Campaign and the Gay and Lesbian Task Force, have focused on campaigns which do not ultimately challenge the fundamental causes of LGBTQ oppression, often failing to meet the needs of the majority of LGBTQ people who face constant economic and social injustice. These LGBTQ groups also rely on the Democratic Party and therefore limit their demands to what is deemed “achievable” by the corporate political establishment.
Socialists see LGBTQ oppression and sexism as rooted in capitalism, which promotes artificial, restrictive gender roles. Capitalist society needs to promote divisions among working people in order to preserve the extreme inequality on which it is based. It systematically attempts to marginalize and oppress LGBTQ people and movements, portraying them as threats to the patriarchal nuclear family. The politics of division are used cynically by a section of the establishment – the promotion of homophobia, sexism, anti-immigration sentiment and other prejudices serve to divert attention away from genuine anger at poverty and economic injustice.
We need a different kind of politics in order to target the root causes of LGBTQ oppression. While Republican politicians openly whip up homophobia, sexism, and racism, the LGBTQ movement needs to stop relying on the Democratic Party for modest piecemeal reforms. Instead, we need to build an independent political party that will unambiguously fight in our interests.
Obama and Democratic politicians have taken little initiative to fight for LGBTQ rights. Anti-discrimination policies implemented in states and by the Obama administration came only after LGBTQ activists led the charge over decades, built relentless mass pressure from below, and convinced a majority of Americans to support the basic rights of LGBTQ people.
We can multiply our collective power exponentially by uniting the LGBTQ movement with unions, environmental organizations and other social movements. We also need our own independent candidates and political representatives to challenge both the Republican and Democratic Party.
Our struggle is far from over, and we will not get there without building a broader movement for equal rights and social justice. We will not get there without boldly taking up the needs of those LGBTQ people still facing the greatest oppression, such as transgender people. Finally, we will not get there until we reject this economic system which fundamentally bases itself on oppression and inequality.Facebook's Advertising Tools Complicate Efforts To Stop Russian Interference
toggle caption Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Facebook says 126 million people may have seen Russian content aimed at influencing Americans. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill want to weed out Russian operatives and extremist propaganda from Facebook.
But savvy marketers — people who've used Facebook's advertising platform since its inception — say that social media giant will find it hard to banish nefarious actors because its technology is designed to be wide open and simple to use.
Unlike traditional ad buying, Facebook's ad platform is self-service and automated, says Marty Weintraub, a marketing executive with the firm Aimclear. All an advertiser needs is a valid email address and a credit card. Facebook's ad targeting software does the rest.
Advertisers have flocked to it because it works. Facebook's done a great job of building "psychographic data" — not just facts about you that you offer up (like your birthday), but things you don't say and your behavior reveals anyway (like your wedding anniversary, income level, if you own a home or play tennis). And this sophisticated targeting has been critical to Facebook's success. Last year, the platform raked in nearly $27 billion in ad revenue
But several marketers say that Facebook's cutting edge technology also allows scams, fake news and foreign interference to slip through the cracks, and seamlessly go viral.
The less subtle and the more viral the content, the more users engage and the better for Facebook's bottom line. In the words of one Wall Street Journal writer, "If it's outrageous, it's contagious." While Facebook is under political pressure to clean up shop, Weintraub says, it's under far greater financial pressure to remain wide open.
"It's their revenue their dealing with, so it's not like they made a team of people from the NSA and said: lock this puppy down," Weintraub says. His firm's clients range from members of Congress promoting political campaigns to luxury brands marketing cars and handbags on Facebook.
Weintraub and his team demonstrate on his computer how to tailor an ad for a narrowly targeted audience. They start with the term "expats" — people who start their account in one country and then live in another. It's a useful way to target immigrants — say for English language classes; or for a green card scam.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Courtesy of Aimclear Courtesy of Aimclear
By adding user characteristics that Facebook tracks — country of origin, education level, interest in U.S. citizenship — an advertiser could, within minutes, build a target audience of people who are vulnerable, desperate and most likely to fall for a headline that reads: Get a green card for $400.
The same kind of targeting was used in the Russia-linked ads, only it was to seek out disenchanted Americans — supporters of Black Lives Matter angry at police brutality, or strident opponents of illegal immigration
Facebook has made changes in response to the revelations about Russia's election interference. But they've typically been at the margins. Facebook doesn't require every advertiser to show ID; but it does zap terms here and there. If you want to reach white supremacists, you can no longer target people with an interest in the KKK and David Duke. But you can still reach a similar audience by targeting those interested in certain racial conspiracy theories. It's a game of whack-a-mole.
"The sharpest marketers in the world are going to find a way around any targeting system or redaction," Weintraub says.
Facebook says it's hiring more than 4,000 people to weed out fake accounts and violators. Still, company engineers are aggressively building new tools and enhancements that could make it far worse. Consider lookalike audiences. If an advertiser wants to target far-left extremists in California, she can just take an email list built from a rally attendance roster or from the cookies trackers of a far-left website and then feed it to the ad platform. The software does the rest, identifying more extremists without the advertiser having to say that's what she's looking for. "It's a total blind. Facebook has no idea what targeting it's providing you with," Weintraub says.
(Disclosure: Facebook pays NPR and other leading news organizations to produce live video streams that run on its site.)
This week lawyers from Facebook, Google and Twitter will speak to Congress. Weintraub worries that lawmakers will get stuck in abstract policy debates, and not dig into advertising — the core of the business. "The tools are way deeper than you folks have even scratched the surface of," he wants to tell lawmakers. "You have no idea what you're dealing with here."
Facebook plans to begin labeling ads as paid content, so it's clear to users; and the company is regularly removing extremist interests — like KKK — from the advertising bucket. A spokesperson says it's important to remember all the good that people promote through Facebook advertising — everything from disaster relief efforts to locally owned businesses.Story highlights Attack on checkpoint occurred near Baidoa; police chief says militants were Al-Shabaab
Government troops managed to repel militants, police chief says
Two bomb attacks claimed two lives elsewhere in Somalia on Friday
Six people injured in bomb attack in Galkayo are Kenyan high school teachers
Mogadishu, Somalia (CNN) At least 10 people, including four Somali soldiers, were killed in an attack by Al-Shabaab forces on an army checkpoint near Baidoa, and two other people were killed Friday in bomb attacks in the country, officials said.
Col. Mahad Abdirahman, the police chief of Bay province, told CNN that heavily armed Al-Shabaab militants in fighting vehicles attacked Isku-Darka military checkpoint Friday morning, sparking an hourlong, close-quarters gun battle in which six militants were killed, along with the four government soldiers.
"Somali government troops managed to resist and push back the militants from the area," Abdirahman said.
Friday afternoon, a roadside bomb targeted a bus carrying Kenyan teachers in Galkayo, killing a bodyguard and wounding 10 other people, six of them Kenyans, according to Ahmed Muse, a deputy governor who spoke to CNN by telephone.
Muse blamed the attack on Al-Shabaab, a Somalia-based, al Qaeda-linked group whose goal is to turn Somalia into a fundamentalist Islamic state.
Read MoreRussian ground staff members work on a Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jet at the Hmeymim air base near Latakia, Syria, in this handout photograph released by Russia's Defence Ministry October 22, 2015. REUTERS/Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation/Handout via Reuters MOSCOW (AP) — The Russian Defense Ministry says its warplanes have flown first combat mission in Syria with US-led coalition aircraft.
In a statement, the Defense Ministry also claimed that the Russian command center received targeting coordinates via a "direct line" from the US-led coalition headquarters for ISIS locations in al-Bab, Syria.
The idea of Russian and US jets carrying out joint air operations over Syria would mark a drastic change. The two nations have been backing opposite sides in the country's civil war, and Russian and US jets have previously come close to having confrontations in the air.
Samuel Oakford, a contributor to Airwars, has tweeted that a spokesperson for the US-led coalition has told him that Russia's claims of joint aerial operations in Syria were "rubbish... propaganda." And a statement from the US Department of Defense says that it "is not coordinating airstrikes with the Russian military in Syria."
It is plausible that the aircraft carrying out joint-operations with the Russians belonged to coalition partner Turkey. Defense contractor Daniel Trombly has tweeted that Russian sources claim the Kremlin's jets flew with Turkish aircraft over Syria. And Russia and Turkey have previously carried out joint-operations in al-Bab outside of the US-led coalition.
And Michael R. Gordon, a national security correspondent at The New York Times, tweeted that this could all be Russian spin centered around the emerging joint-aerial operations between Turkey and Moscow.
Ankara and Moscow have moved steadily towards each other since the failed coup in Turkey in July 2016. The two nations, along with Iran, are currently sponsoring peace talks in Astana, Kazakhstan between various Syrian rebel groups and the Assad government.Foreign secretary says UK accepts Syrian leader should be allowed to run for re-election in event of peace deal
The UK accepts that Bashar al-Assad should be allowed to run for re-election in the event of a peace settlement in Syria, Boris Johnson has said, in a dramatic reversal of the British policy stretching back to the early days of the civil war that the president must go.
Speaking on the eve of Theresa May’s meeting with Donald Trump in Washington, the UK’s foreign secretary acknowledged that the inauguration of the new US president meant all sides needed to rethink their approach to Syria.
“It is our view that Bashar al-Assad should go, it’s been our longstanding position. But we are open-minded about how that happens and the timescale on which that happens,” Johnson told the Lords international relations select committee.
“I have to be realistic about how the landscape has changed, and it may be that we will have to think afresh about how we handle this. The old policy, I am afraid to say, does not command much confidence.”
The official Foreign Office view has long been that Assad can stay only for a short period as part of a transitional government. In the days after he was appointed as foreign secretary in July last year, Johnson insisted that Assad had to go.
But the defeat of the rebel opposition in Aleppo, Trump’s determination to rebuild relations with Russia, and the Turkish rapprochement with Moscow has changed the equation.
“We have been wedded for a long time to the mantra that Assad must go, and we have not been able at any stage to make that happen, and that has produced the difficulty we now face,” Johnson said.
“We are getting to the stage where some sort of democratic resolution has got to be introduced … We believe in democracy, we support democracy, and if there is a political solution then I don’t think we can really avoid such a democratic event. I think that is the way forward.”
Johnson said it was crucial that the Trump administration recognised that any deal with Russia on ending the Syrian conflict would also involve accommodating Iran, another key Assad ally.
“The real question is whether the incoming American administration fully appreciates that relationship, and how we can shape the conversation,” Johnson said. “Clearly, what we do not want to see is a further extension of Iranian policy and influence in the region.”
Johnson also held out the conditional prospect of the UK working with Russia militarily to defeat Islamic State – something that would have been unthinkable only weeks ago.
“If there is a possibility of an arrangement with the Russians that simultaneously allows Assad to move towards the exit and diminishes Iranian influence in the region by getting rid of Assad, and allows us to join with the Russians in attacking Daesh [Isis] and wiping them off the face of the earth, then that might be a way forward,” he said.
The UK has been one of Russia’s strongest critics but, in a change of tone – if not policy – that reflects the new mood in the White House, Johnson said Moscow had to be engaged. “We cannot endlessly push them away and demonise them,” he said.
“We need to understand exactly where the White House is coming from. We need to understand how they see the endgame here, and we need to help shape that conversation, and some of the reservations we have, particularly about Iran.”
Johnson also pledged that May would spell out the importance of Nato “in capital letters” to Trump, and predicted she would persuade him and the US Congress to stick with the Iranian nuclear deal.
The UK is walking a delicate tightrope as it seeks to stay close to its greatest foreign policy partner at a time of policy flux, while attempting to uphold longstanding foreign and human rights policies.
In another first in front of the Lords on Thursday, the foreign secretary said the UK was only “narrowly” on the right side of the law by granting exports licences for arms to be sold to Saudi Arabia. The Saudi-led coalition campaign in Yemen’s civil war has been dogged by allegations of indiscriminate bombing.
“We have received sufficient assurances from the Saudis about the incidents that |
the table: Whites Blacks, Latinos, Asians, immigrants, gay people, and men and women both. America is not as equal as we need to be. Discrimination of any kind must end. But that doesn’t mean privileging one group or issue over another or blaming one group or another for the problems we have.
Fourth, emphasize transparency and trust in government. This is a huge winning issue for Trump. However, rather than try to demonize Clinton – even threatening her with jail time if he’s elected — he should treat the issue more broadly. Only one in five Americans trust the government, and in a democracy that’s a terrible thing. Government should be limited. There are too many regulations that strangle business and too much government intrusion into our daily lives. However, we need our government to work for us and to be accountable and transparent. Obama and Clinton have made it less so.
Fifth, end the hyperbole. Trump has a penchant for describing the policies of the Obama-Clinton years as a “disaster.” The description grabs people’s attention but Trump too often takes his messaging too far. For example, he claims that a policy – like NAFTA – is the “worst trade deal in the history of our country and possibly the world.” NAFTA is bad, but it’s hard to document such a claim. Similarly, he frequently calls Iraq the “worst foreign policy disaster in our nation’s history.” Again, not really true – Vietnam was far worse.
Language and rhetorical style matter, and Trump is losing moderate voters who would like to support him. Part of Clinton’s recurring success has been her ability to turn the race into a referendum on Trump’s character and his “temperament.” Too often when Trump scores, he scores in a way that alienates voters. The point is to win people without compromising your principles. There’s vast space to close the gap here.
It’s obvious that part of Trump’s style is calculated to win over GOP base voters and disaffected working class Democrats, and to keep them pumped up to turn out in November. But Trump’s entered the final phase of the race when appealing to broader electorate is paramount. Moreover, early voting is already underway. A third of the electorate will vote before the official balloting on November 8. There’s no time to lose.
Right now the biggest challenge for Trump is to make the transition – substantively and rhetorically – from anti-establishment antagonist to genuine statesman. Starkly contrast his policy agenda with Clinton’s but also show that he can rise above the fray and unify the country. In other words, “make all of American great again.”
If he can do that, he can still win.Why aren’t we talking about James Sallis? In fact, why aren’t we talking about Sallis (b. 1944) alongside his American contemporary paranoids and peers, Don DeLillo (b.1936) and Thomas Pynchon (b. 1937)?
Sallis is not the big name that these two are, but he certainly could be. His output is significant and diverse: novels, translations, poetry, short stories, biographies, essays, a pronounced interest in the jazz guitar and its players. His themes are similar to the big two: making sense of the world, and finding our place in it; chronicling the perils of intimacy; thinking about whether we can really know ourselves, or anyone else. Each book is its own world, which Sallis is quite conscious about, though the novels are often barely 200 pages. Sallis is quietly and steadily writing way above his weight class (and on the side, he plays a mean guitar). Or maybe he’s just our anti-Knausgaard, interested in the telling detail but not the whole exhaustive story (I’m mesmerized by the memory of a cockroach crawling over a sink in The Killer is Dying). And certainly not five volumes of it.
Rather, Sallis’s method incorporates brevity. I asked him, “In general, you write short novels (which I, for one, am in favor of, but it’s not common these days). Are you conscious of this as an aspect of your storytelling?”
Sallis said, “I see it a huge part of what I carry over from writing poetry to writing fiction: compression. If you are packing as much meaning as possible, as much substance, into each scene and sentence, you’re reaching for mass, not volume. For me, the novels, short as they are, contain more substance than many novels three and four times their length.”
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You could really begin an exploration of Sallis anywhere. His biography of Chester Himes is not only excellent but continues the theme of the extremely hard to find Difficult Lives, a joint biography of Jim Thompson, David Goodis, and Himes. It’s a good starting point because Lives contains the moment when Sallis discovered noir as an oppositional form, how the pulps worked not to reinforce American culture but to subvert it: “their power derived from the recognition that there is no moral order save which a man creates from himself. Like high art, these stories worked hard to unfold the lies society tells us and the lies we tell ourselves. They opened up the clean, well-lit American corpse and dragged its decaying heart into the sunlight.” Sallis argues that noir is outlaw literature, a position he defends. He told me, “The crime novel (as apart from the classic mystery) is by its very nature transgressive, owing far more to the romance, to the individual set against society, than to the European novel’s precept of the individual’s finding his or her place in society.” Reading Sallis’s books as traditional romances works as well, as he often has a central outlaw character—the Driver in Drive, or Turner in the trilogy about him, What You Have Left—hiding in plain sight from forces they do not care to discuss, until they must.
Sallis’s most recent novel, Willnot, is an unusual beast: compact, it’s both a depiction of small town life and an anatomy of how easily that kind of life can go awry. When I asked Sallis about how the book came to be he said, “As is generally the case, a number of things—notions, vagrant thoughts, shreds of language—came together unexpectedly. When that happens, when seemingly unrelated bits and pieces congeal, I’m pretty sure I have a new book. I don’t know what it’s about or what will happen, but it begins to feel like a novel: it has that weight, that substance. Here, I was thinking about small towns in America, how they’ve become utterly lost in the shuffle, and about all the great promises of America that seem to have become so degraded. About our history of utopian communities. And about how we all just do the best we can to go on about our small lives while huge and truly terrible engines—wars, political machinations, mass shootings, terrorism—whirl about our heads.”
You never know what you might learn when reading Sallis. He has an unusual habit of writing about people with actual jobs: a nurse, a film editor, a guy who sells dolls on Ebay, etc. I said, “One of the aspects of your fiction I find unusual and admirable is you write about people in a lot of different professions—doctors, teachers, psychiatrists, professional drivers, as well as the usual cops, detectives, etc. Is that a conscious choice? Did you study or research to make these characters feel authentic?”
Sallis added: “You’ll notice there are also a lot of street people: the pushed-aside, the forgotten. Often fiction can seem almost claustrophobic, with its characters existing in this single social layer from which all their values and estimations derive—the very way in which they see the world. When I taught, I told my students: Put as much of the world as you can in every scene, every line, every sentence. I try to follow my own counsel.” He does: one of my favorite Sallis books, Others of My Kind, is a matter-of-fact account of a woman, now grown, who was kidnapped and held for two years as a child. She spent most of her time locked up in a box under her captor’s bed. When she escaped she loitered in the mall she had been kidnapped from, since she had no memory of who she had been before. Her worlds—while she was captive and in the present, are painted precisely, and with the appropriate amounts of horror and compassion. Yet Kind is also a book about whether ideas, especially identity politics, will ultimately kill us all, if we are descending back into clans or tribes and dismantling civilization.
Eventually, every conversation with a crime writer turns to the genre question, and I wasn’t particularly eager to bring it up with Sallis. But he was good-natured about it, with the zen of longevity. I asked, “Let’s take on the sticky genre subject. Do you think of yourself as a genre writer? Or just a writer who occasionally writes a book with a crime or mystery in it? Is it possible to respect the tradition but not the label?”
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Sallis said: “I write crime novels, so yes, of course I think of myself as a crime writer; how could I not? I also write poetry, and think of myself as a poet. And as a literary writer. A musicologist. A biographer. My model’s more the European—someone like [Raymond] Queneau, who wrote novels, poems, essays and popular songs, was a phenomenal editor… He didn’t have to check one or the other on his dance card. It’s the nature of creative work to push at boundaries. Only a fool would work within a tradition—any tradition, be it science fiction, the coming-of-age novel, the sonnet—without knowing and honoring that tradition, without having it coursing in his or her blood and breath.”We don't know how or why yet, but the world's online encyclopedia, Wikipedia, has gone down for the count.
Wikipedia only went down a few minutes ago, according to the Twitter stream, which is already pumping out dozens of tweets per minute about the outage. There is only a "Server Not Found" message from our end. Wikipedia.org is up, but most — if not all — of the language-based encyclopedias are down, including the English one.
Unlike Twitter and Facebook, there isn't a stream to check the status of the web's de-facto information hub. We'll continue to investigate what is happening and let you know as soon as we find out.
Update: Overheating in the European data center and broken DNS resolution of Wikimedia sites affected Wikipedia across-the-board. From the Wikipedia Tech Blog:We are pleased to announce a new release of Valgrind, version 3.13.0, available from http://www.valgrind.org. 3.13.0 adds support for larger processes and programs, solidifies and improves support on existing platforms, and provides new heap-use reporting facilities. There are, as ever, many smaller refinements and bug fixes. The release notes below give more details. Our thanks to all those who contribute to Valgrind's development. This release represents a great deal of time, energy and effort on the part of many people. Happy and productive debugging and profiling, -- The Valgrind Developers Release 3.13.0 (15 June 2017) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 3.13.0 is a feature release with many improvements and the usual collection of bug fixes. This release supports X86/Linux, AMD64/Linux, ARM32/Linux, ARM64/Linux, PPC32/Linux, PPC64BE/Linux, PPC64LE/Linux, S390X/Linux, MIPS32/Linux, MIPS64/Linux, ARM/Android, ARM64/Android, MIPS32/Android, X86/Android, X86/Solaris, AMD64/Solaris and AMD64/MacOSX 10.12. * ==================== CORE CHANGES =================== * The translation cache size has been increased to keep up with the demands of large applications. The maximum number of sectors has increased from 24 to 48. The default number of sectors has increased from 16 to 32 on all targets except Android, where the increase is from 6 to 12. * The amount of memory that Valgrind can use has been increased from 64GB to 128GB. In particular this means your application can allocate up to about 60GB when running on Memcheck. * Valgrind's default load address has been changed from 0x3800'0000 to 0x5800'0000, so as to make it possible to load larger executables. This should make it possible to load executables of size at least 1200MB. * A massive spaceleak caused by reading compressed debuginfo files has been fixed. Valgrind should now be entirely usable with gcc-7.0 "-gz" created debuginfo. * The C++ demangler has been updated. * Support for demangling Rust symbols has been added. * A new representation of stack traces, the "XTree", has been added. An XTree is a tree of stacktraces with data associated with the stacktraces. This is used by various tools (Memcheck, Helgrind, Massif) to report on the heap consumption of your program. Reporting is controlled by the new options --xtree-memory=none|allocs|full and --xtree-memory-file=<file>. A report can also be produced on demand using the gdbserver monitor command 'xtmemory [<filename>]>'. The XTree can be output in 2 formats: 'callgrind format' and'massif format. The existing visualisers for these formats (e.g. callgrind_annotate, KCachegrind, ms_print) can be used to visualise and analyse these reports. Memcheck can also produce XTree leak reports using the Callgrind file format. For more details, see the user manual. * ================== PLATFORM CHANGES ================= * ppc64: support for ISA 3.0B and various fixes for existing 3.0 support * amd64: fixes for JIT failure problems on long AVX2 code blocks * amd64 and x86: support for CET prefixes has been added * arm32: a few missing ARMv8 instructions have been implemented * arm64, mips64, mips32: an alternative implementation of Load-Linked and Store-Conditional instructions has been added. This is to deal with processor implementations that implement the LL/SC specifications strictly and as a result cause Valgrind to hang in certain situations. The alternative implementation is automatically enabled at startup, as required. You can use the option --sim-hints=fallback-llsc to force-enable it if you want. * Support for OSX 10.12 has been improved. * On Linux, clone handling has been improved to honour CLONE_VFORK that involves a child stack. Note however that CLONE_VFORK | CLONE_VM is handled like CLONE_VFORK (by removing CLONE_VM), so applications that depend on CLONE_VM exact semantics will (still) not work. * The TileGX/Linux port has been removed because it appears to be both unused and unsupported. * ==================== TOOL CHANGES ==================== * Memcheck: - Memcheck should give fewer false positives when running optimised Clang/LLVM generated code. - Support for --xtree-memory and 'xtmemory [<filename>]>'. - New command line options --xtree-leak=no|yes and --xtree-leak-file=<file> to produce the end of execution leak report in a xtree callgrind format file. - New option 'xtleak' in the memcheck leak_check monitor command, to produce the leak report in an xtree file. * Massif: - Support for --xtree-memory and 'xtmemory [<filename>]>'. - For some workloads (typically, for big applications), Massif memory consumption and CPU consumption has decreased significantly. * Helgrind: - Support for --xtree-memory and 'xtmemory [<filename>]>'. - addition of client request VALGRIND_HG_GNAT_DEPENDENT_MASTER_JOIN, useful for Ada gnat compiled applications. * ==================== OTHER CHANGES ==================== * For Valgrind developers: in an outer/inner setup, the outer Valgrind will append the inner guest stacktrace to the inner host stacktrace. This helps to investigate the errors reported by the outer, when they are caused by the inner guest program (such as an inner regtest). See README_DEVELOPERS for more info. * To allow fast detection of callgrind files by desktop environments and file managers, the format was extended to have an optional first line that uniquely identifies the format ("# callgrind format"). Callgrind creates this line now, as does the new xtree functionality. * File name template arguments (such as --log-file, --xtree-memory-file,...) have a new %n format letter that is replaced by a sequence number. * "--version -v" now shows the SVN revision numbers from which Valgrind was built. * ==================== FIXED BUGS ==================== The following bugs have been fixed or resolved. Note that "n-i-bz" stands for "not in bugzilla" -- that is, a bug that was reported to us but never got a bugzilla entry. We encourage you to file bugs in bugzilla (https://bugs.kde.org/enter_bug.cgi?product=valgrind) rather than mailing the developers (or mailing lists) directly -- bugs that are not entered into bugzilla tend to get forgotten about or ignored. To see details of a given bug, visit https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=XXXXXX where XXXXXX is the bug number as listed below. 162848 --log-file output isn't split when a program forks 340777 Illegal instruction on mips (ar71xx) 341481 MIPS64: Iop_CmpNE32 triggers false warning on MIPS64 platforms 342040 Valgrind mishandles clone with CLONE_VFORK | CLONE_VM that clones to a different stack. 344139 x86 stack-seg overrides, needed by the Wine people 344524 store conditional of guest applications always fail - observed on Octeon3(MIPS) 348616 Wine/valgrind: noted but unhandled ioctl 0x5390 [..] (DVD_READ_STRUCT) 352395 Please provide SVN revision info in --version -v 352767 Wine/valgrind: noted but unhandled ioctl 0x5307 [..] (CDROMSTOP) 356374 Assertion 'DRD_(g_threadinfo)[tid].pt_threadid!= INVALID_POSIX_THREADID' failed 358213 helgrind/drd bar_bad testcase hangs or crashes with new glibc pthread barrier implementation 358697 valgrind.h: Some code remains even when defining NVALGRIND 359202 Add musl libc configure/compile 360415 amd64 instructions ADCX and ADOX are not implemented in VEX == 372828 (vex amd64->IR: 0x66 0xF 0x3A 0x62 0x4A 0x10) 360429 unhandled ioctl 0x530d with no size/direction hints (CDROMREADMODE1) 362223 assertion failed when.valgrindrc is a directory instead of a file 367543 bt/btc/btr/bts x86/x86_64 instructions are poorly-handled wrt flags 367942 Segfault vgPlain_do_sys_sigaction (m_signals.c:1138) 368507 can't malloc chunks larger than about 34GB 368529 Android arm target link error, missing atexit and pthread_atfork 368863 WARNING: unhandled arm64-linux syscall: 100 (get_robust_list) 368865 WARNING: unhandled arm64-linux syscall: 272 (kcmp) 368868 disInstr(arm64): unhandled instruction 0xD53BE000 = cntfrq_el0 (ARMv8) 368917 WARNING: unhandled arm64-linux syscall: 218 (request_key) 368918 WARNING: unhandled arm64-linux syscall: 127 (sched_rr_get_interval) 368922 WARNING: unhandled arm64-linux syscall: 161 (sethostname) 368924 WARNING: unhandled arm64-linux syscall: 84 (sync_file_range) 368925 WARNING: unhandled arm64-linux syscall: 130 (tkill) 368926 WARNING: unhandled arm64-linux syscall: 97 (unshare) 369459 valgrind on arm64 violates the ARMv8 spec (ldxr/stxr) 370028 Reduce the number of compiler warnings on MIPS platforms 370635 arm64 missing syscall getcpu 371225 Fix order of timer_{gettime,getoverrun,settime} syscalls on arm64 371227 Clean AArch64 syscall table 371412 Rename wrap_sys_shmat to sys_shmat like other wrappers 371471 Valgrind complains about non legit memory leaks on placement new (C++) 371491 handleAddrOverrides() is [incorrect] when ASO prefix is used 371503 disInstr(arm64): unhandled instruction 0xF89F0000 371869 support '%' in symbol Z-encoding 371916 execution tree xtree concept 372120 c++ demangler demangles symbols which are not c++ 372185 Support of valgrind on ARMv8 with 32 bit executable 372188 vex amd64->IR: 0x66 0xF 0x3A 0x62 0x4A 0x10 0x10 (PCMPxSTRx $0x10) 372195 Power PC, xxsel instruction is not always recognized. 372504 Hanging on exit_group 372600 process loops forever when fatal signals are arriving quickly 372794 LibVEX (arm32 front end): 'Assertion szBlg2 <= 3' failed 373046 Stacks registered by core are never deregistered 373069 memcheck/tests/leak_cpp_interior fails with GCC 5.1+ 373086 Implement additional Xen hypercalls 373192 Calling posix_spawn in glibc 2.24 completely broken 373488 Support for fanotify API on ARM64 architecture == 368864 WARNING: unhandled arm64-linux syscall: 262 (fanotify_init) 373555 Rename BBPTR to GSPTR as it denotes guest state pointer only 373938 const IRExpr arguments for matchIRExpr() 374719 some spelling fixes 374963 increase valgrind's load address to prevent mmap failure 375514 valgrind_get_tls_addr() does not work in case of static TLS 375772 +1 error in get_elf_symbol_info() when computing value of 'hi' address for ML_(find_rx_mapping)() 375806 Test helgrind/tests/tc22_exit_w_lock fails with glibc 2.24 375839 Temporary storage exhausted, with long sequence of vfmadd231ps insns == 377159 "vex: the `impossible' happened" still present == 375150 Assertion 'tres.status == VexTransOK' failed == 378068 valgrind crashes on AVX2 function in FFmpeg 376142 Segfaults on MIPS Cavium Octeon boards 376279 disInstr(arm64): unhandled instruction 0xD50320FF 376455 Solaris: unhandled syscall lgrpsys(180) 376518 Solaris: unhandled fast trap getlgrp(6) 376611 ppc64 and arm64 don't know about prlimit64 syscall 376729 PPC64, remove R2 from the clobber list == 371668 376956 syswrap of SNDDRV and DRM_IOCTL_VERSION causing some addresses to be wrongly marked as addressable 377066 Some Valgrind unit tests fail to compile on Ubuntu 16.10 with PIE enabled by default 377376 memcheck/tests/linux/getregset fails with glibc2.24 377427 PPC64, lxv instruction failing on odd destination register 377478 PPC64: ISA 3.0 setup fixes 377698 Missing memory check for futex() uaddr arg for FUTEX_WAKE and FUTEX_WAKE_BITSET, check only 4 args for FUTEX_WAKE_BITSET, and 2 args for FUTEX_TRYLOCK_PI 377717 Fix massive space leak when reading compressed debuginfo sections 377891 Update Xen 4.6 domctl wrappers 377930 fcntl syscall wrapper is missing flock structure check 378524 libvexmultiarch_test regression on s390x and ppc64 378535 Valgrind reports INTERNAL ERROR in execve syscall wrapper 378673 Update libiberty demangler 378931 Add ISA 3.0B additional isnstructions, add OV32, CA32 setting support 379039 syscall wrapper prctl(PR_SET_NAME) must not check more than 16 bytes 379094 Valgrind reports INTERNAL ERROR in rt_sigsuspend syscall wrapper 379371 UNKNOWN task message [id 3444, to mach_task_self(), reply 0x603] (task_register_dyld_image_infos) 379372 UNKNOWN task message [id 3447, to mach_task_self(), reply 0x603] (task_register_dyld_shared_cache_image_info) 379390 unhandled syscall: mach:70 (host_create_mach_voucher_trap) 379473 MIPS: add support for rdhwr cycle counter register 379504 remove TileGX/Linux port 379525 Support more x86 nop opcodes 379838 disAMode(x86): not an addr! 379703 PC ISA 3.0 fixes: stxvx, stxv, xscmpexpdp instructions 379890 arm: unhandled instruction: 0xEBAD 0x1B05 (sub.w fp, sp, r5, lsl #4) 379895 clock_gettime does not execute POST syscall wrapper 379925 PPC64, mtffs does not set the FPCC and C bits in the FPSCR correctly 379966 WARNING: unhandled amd64-linux syscall: 313 (finit_module) 380200 xtree generated callgrind files refer to files without directory name 380202 Assertion failure for cache line size (cls == 64) on aarch64. 380397 s390x: __GI_strcspn() replacement needed n-i-bz Fix pub_tool_basics.h build issue with g++ 4.4.7. (3.13.0.RC1: 2 June 2017, vex r3386, valgrind r16434) (3.13.0.RC2: 9 June 2017, vex r3389, valgrind r16443) (3.13.0: 14 June 2017, vex r3396, valgrind r16446)Turn on the radio: Listen close and you might hear the death-rattle of popular music in the form of auto-tuned melisma comprising your top forty… but more than likely you’re actually listening to music composed several decades ago. Indeed, classic rock and other throw-back stations dominate the dial. Top selling concerts also feature bands that “retired” before millennials were even born.
The highest grossing concerts of 2016 includes: Barry Manilow, Bruce Springsteen, The Rolling Stones, and Madonna. The only musicians to crack the top ten which are vaguely contemporary are Beyoncé and Coldplay.
And there’s good reason – contemporary hits just don’t have the same mojo as music from the 1950s, 60s, 70s and 80s. The death knell may have sounded with Kurt Cobain’s chords in the early 1990s. There was nowhere left to go but down.
Granted, writers have been claiming the end is nigh for pop music for a long time, and yet it lingers. Another caveat – there is still great music being composed today. (I encourage you to read that sentence again before you start citing examples of contemporary music that somehow manages to still be good.) And there was certainly more than enough bad music in the 70s – it wasn’t all Led Zep and Bob Marley (lest we forget the Bay City Rollers and Debbie Boone).
But an undeniable fact remains, popular music has been on the downward spiral for some time now. The question isn’t whether it’s circling the drain, but why it is. There are a multitude of reasons; let’s look at just a few:
A primary reason may simply be we have begun to run out of unique melodies. There are only a finite number of chords progressions and even smaller set of ones which sound pleasing to the ear. George Martin once said that, not only must the melody be pleasing, but it also must have an element of surprise – an unexpected uniqueness.
A great video which highlights this redundancy we are running into is Axis of Awesome’s “4 Chord Song”. The same basic chords are used over and over again in popular music – we’ve heard them a million times; perhaps, the well was not as deep as we thought, and it’s currently running dry.
As further proof, just think of the explosion of creativity that occurred once the pop and rock formats had taken root: psychedelic music, prog rock, heavy metal, singer-songwriter, soul, punk,… all came out of the ether and landed on vinyl within just a relatively short time frame. Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, James Taylor, The Temptations, The Supremes, Black Sabbath, Frank Zappa, David Bowie…. all around the same time. And now take a look around at the pop music landscape… is even remotely comparable?
An additional factor may be the format. We have reduced the art form to just downloadable, streamable 0’s and 1s. Where once there was a tangible object to keep and collect – now we have essentially nothing but a button on a screen. Clearly this isn’t the root cause for popular music’s downfall, but the transition from glorious vinyl to a format that is less tangible than air surely has had a negative impact. Records have made a modest comeback, but it’s still nowhere approaching the primarily medium for music.
The “industrialization” of music is perhaps the most cited reason for music’s path to failure. Once record companies merged, and were subsequently acquired by other companies who, again merged, we ended up with a rather woeful selection of music cproviders. The same phenomenon can be seen in Hollywood; the loss of the smaller production companies in favor of ka-trillion dollar studios has led to a similar lack of originality, lack of creativity, and just plain lack of everything except budget. So, let’s assume an artist is actually talented and comes equipped with some original content; the “record company” behemoths will never allow anything risky, anything slightly out of the mainstream, to see the light of day. Indeed, so many of the musicians we love from yesteryear would have never been given a chance today.
And last but not least, we probably should place some of the blame on the audience – the consumer. Would today’s youth even have a taste for something like Jethro Tull, The Mothers of Invention, King Crimson, or James Taylor?
Before I really start to sound like a grumpy old man, I’ll stop stop here and let you mull that one over.President Donald Trump is set to scrap an Obama-era program this week that protects people who entered the United States illegally as children, according to multiple reports.
Politico, citing sources, first reported that Trump was persuaded to terminate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program following conversations with Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
Reuters also reported, citing sources, that the president is expected to rescind the program. NBC News separately confirmed this information.
Sources told NBC that the announcement would likely come Tuesday, but the details aren't final until they are announced.
The White House plans to delay the enforcement of the president's decision for six months to give Congress a window to act, sources said.
The decision is likely to spark political controversy, but it will also fulfill one of the president's core campaign promises. But while candidate Trump pledged to end the program, he later softened his stance, saying he wanted to treat the immigrants with "heart."
On Friday, Trump said he had a "great feeling for DACA."
"We love the dreamers," Trump said, using the name for the people protected under DACA. "We love everybody."
DACA protects nearly 800,000 young men and women. The program, started in 2012 under President Barack Obama, gives those immigrants a two-year period of protection from deportation and permission to work in the United States.
The president's upcoming action could result in many immigrants who entered the United States illegally as children getting deported. NBC News reported that as many as 1 million immigrants could be affected. Research shows the move could also see the U.S. economy take a serious hit if workers and students protected by DACA were faced with deportation.
Trump is under pressure from attorneys general from several states to end the program by September 5. If the federal government did not withdraw DACA by the given date, the attorneys general said they would file a legal challenge to the program in a Texas federal court, according to reports.
The program, however, has supporters in both major parties and some GOP lawmakers have spoken out against scrapping DACA in the past. On Friday, House Speaker Paul Ryan and senator Orrin Hatch pushed Trump to not end the program.
But many on the right, even those who support protections for children brought into the country illegally through no design of their own, argue that DACA is unconstitutional, according to Politico. They reason that Obama carried it out unilaterally instead of working through Congress.
In an open letter Thursday, nearly 400 U.S. executives, including Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon's Jeff Bezos, urged Trump to retain the protections.
Apple CEO Tim Cook took to Twitter on Sunday and said he stood by his employees, the so-called Dreamers, covered by the program.
—Reuters contributed to this report.Thought your bank's interest rate couldn't get any worse? Well, the possibility of it charging you to hold your cash has just moved a step closer.
Around 850,000 business banking customers with NatWest have started receiving letters warning the introduction of negative interest rates could happen in the near future.
In the letter, NatWest warned: 'Global interest rates remain at very low levels and in some markets are currently negative. Dependent on future market conditions, this could result in us charging interest on credit balances.'
Into hiding? NatWest has warned nearly 1m business customers of the prospect of negative interest
The warning went out only to business customers and the high street banking giant stressed that it had no plans to do this to personal banking customers – but it still paints a worrying picture for savings.
The threat arrives as a Bank of England rate cut down from 0.5 per cent is widely forecast following the Brexit vote and after a period a number of major central banks have set negative rates around the world.
So far banks in those countries have largely avoided passing on negative rates to customers, but there is a strong chance that a prolonged period of below zero rates could see them do this.
This is Money explains why negative rates could happen, whether our banks could follow suit – and why it may be'very dangerous for ordinary savers.'
WHY IS NATWEST WARNING OF NEGATIVE INTEREST?
This letter from NatWest - part of the taxpayer backed Royal Bank of Scotland empire - isn't confirmation that interest rates are to become negative: it is a warning shot that it may have to impose these in the future thanks to market conditions.
It would mean to hold deposits, it would have to charge interest rather than offer any.
The switch could mean an account holder with £1,000 in a NatWest account could see that shrink to £999 or less within 12 months as the bank charges a negative rate of interest. This £1 a year on £1,000 fall would represent an annual rate of -0.1 per cent.
NatWest cites global interest rates, but closer to home lower rates remain a threat. The Bank of England chose to hold base rate at 0.5 per cent for now - but economists and money markets widely anticipate that the rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee will cut the rate to 0.25 per cent at the early-August meeting.
Questioned by MPs before Brexit in April, governor Mark Carney said: 'We think we could move base rate closer to zero but have not said we have an appetite for negative interest rates.'
Since then, the post EU referendum volatility and a set of dire economic figures last week that indicate a possible recession looming may have changed the Bank's mind.
A NatWest spokesman said: 'We will consider any necessary action in the event of the Bank of England base rate falling below zero, by will do our utmost to protect our customers from any impacts.'
Mike Cherry, National Chairman at the Federation of Small Businesses, said: 'The warning from Natwest and RBS will be deeply concerning to small firms.
'When the Monetary Policy Committee meets next week to decide on interest rates, we would call on them to do everything possible to consider the implications of changing interest rates for smaller firms and the self-employed looking to maintain or grow their business.'
Banking giant: NatWest says that global interest rate cuts may force its hand - but stressed it has no plans to offer negative rates to personal banking customers
WHAT IS NEGATIVE INTEREST?
When interest rates are cut below zero, they go into negative territory.
This would effectively mean a charge for holding cash. That could hit banks, businesses and people in different ways.
A bank that leaves money parked at the Bank of England would have to pay interest instead of being paid interest.
If the bank passes on the cost, a saver who deposits money in the bank would pay money to do so rather than earning money through interest.
A business holding money in its bank accounts could also be charged for the privilege, although account fees mean many business already have a bill for their banking.
The idea is to get banks to use excess cash to grow lending rather than holding onto funds and businesses and people to borrow and spend – therefore boosting economic growth. (Read this explanation of how banks create money by making loans.)
Central banks can impose negative rates, as financial institutions need to hold money on deposit. However, economists identify a problem with imposing such rates on individuals and businesses - as they would simply hoard money as cash.
That has delivered the concept of the zero lower bound, a point where cutting interest rates no longer stimulates the economy.
Economists have therefore suggested unorthodox monetary policy beyond this, such as quantitative easing to inject money into the financial system, or even 'helicopter drops' that give free money direct to people and businesses.
Negative: Banks in some countries, such as Switzerland, already charge customers for parking their cash
IT ALREADY HAPPENS ELSEWHERE IN EUROPE
Last November, This is Money reported on a tiny Swiss bank which is believed to have become the first to hit savers with negative interest rates – |
them to do it. How do you respond to them?
In both domestic and international adoption, there are certainly children who are in need of new families. But there are also many families — sometimes meaning single women facing an unexpected pregnancy — who are just in need of more support to stay together and parent their children. Distinguishing between the two groups is often a painstaking process that, especially in developing nations or countries recovering from conflict or natural disaster, can take many months or years. Often the questions are wrapped up in complex discussions of aid and broader development needs. All of that can be less exciting than the prospect of adopting an orphan into your own home. But often, that’s where the real need is. Adoption is often a good and beautiful thing, but it can also be a tragic and unjust thing if it happens to the wrong children. I think any movement that is working on helping people needs to be willing to look at the ways that their help sometimes leads to harm, and try to find ways to do the least harm.
But conversely, I have been very encouraged to read some striking responses from evangelicals involved in this movement who have seen the same dynamics I write about play out in their own work. Some of these advocates — particularly those who work long-term in developing countries — have seen how orphanages built with U.S. donations can lead to more children relinquished to those orphanages, and then put in the “adoption pipeline” to go to a new family overseas. For them, after witnessing that cycle of aid and relinquishment by parents who see in orphanages a better opportunity, the problems in the current adoption system become apparent. Many of these people are urging their fellow Christians to think harder and longer about the best way to direct their admirable desire to help. And I think they’re doing some extremely important and innovate work: whether it’s establishing foster care or day care in developing nations where there is little child welfare infrastructure, or reuniting children who have wrongly or fraudulently been placed in the orphanage-adoption “pipeline,” or providing microloans to widowed mothers so they can start businesses to support their families.Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.
Dec. 23, 2015, 9:25 AM GMT / Updated Dec. 23, 2015, 9:29 AM GMT By Ed Flanagan
BEIJING — China will soon be home to more than one-third of the world’s latest robots as the automation revolution takes root in the manufacturing powerhouse.
Global brands have long relied on China’s large, cheap labor force to sew, weld and solder products exported abroad. But humans are now increasingly making way for robots on factory floors across the country.
Demand for robots in China has quadrupled in the last four years, making it home to nearly a quarter of the world’s industrial robots, according to the International Federation of Robotics (IFR). Demand for such machines doubled during the same period in the U.S.
“Robots simply provide better quality compared to humans and are cheaper and easier to manage”
By 2018, the IFR estimates that more than one-third of the world’s industrial robots will be installed in China.
“I think the robot industry in China is at its beginning stage,” says Yu Kai, CEO of Beijing-based Horizon Robotics Inc. "More and more robots in the factory is not a trend that can be reversed.”
Yu grew up fascinated by robots after watching "Star Wars" and "Astro Boy." He attributes the rise of robots in China today to an inflection point between technology and labor.
“Labor is getting more expensive and technology is getting cheaper,” the 39-year-old told NBC News. “The best robotics technology now is in the U.S. and compared with them, we still have a long way to go. But I believe in the next 10 years with continued development our robots could catch up with the Americans.”
Related: One-in-10 Americans to Have Robots at Home by 2020
In recent years, the average Chinese factory worker’s salary has risen noticeably, squeezing profits from manufacturers. Some factories have moved into western China or Southeast Asia in search of lower wages, while others have attempted to pass the cost on to buyers with mixed success.
Increased government support including financial incentives said to be worth billions have also convinced factory owners to invest.The Greek Basketball League is not one of the more watched leagues — at least in America — but it might have just garnered a bigger following. During a championship game between Olympiacos and Panathinaikos, absolute insanity and chaos broke out.
With a little more than two minutes left there were explosions and flares released around the court from the home Olympiacos fans who were watching their team lose. The two teams tried to play through it, but the game was temporarily suspended to evacuate the teams and fans from the arena. Here’s what it looked like at the time:
And here are some photos amid the pandemonium:
Madness, pandemonium and insanity. Actually, this is just the norm for a road victory that ends an Olympiacos-Panathinaikos series. pic.twitter.com/izuPrxQrvA — Andrew Bernucca (@krosoveri) June 11, 2017
Panathinaikos won the game 66-51 and unfortunately, this has become a regular occurrence between these two teams when the home team doesn’t win. For The Win also reported that fans were firing their flares at the opposing players as they were headed to the tunnel to escape the tunnel. This was just a poor showing of sportsmanship in what should have been an enjoyable game and environment.
[h/t The Herd Now]JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The Ribault Lady Trojans basketball team was victorious in the 2016 national championship, and the girls returned to Jacksonville to be greeted with open arms Saturday night.
The team dominated Riverdale (Maryland) Baptist 75-49 in the Dick's Sporting Goods high school basketball championship Saturday morning in Madison Square Garden.
"Our ladies are bringing home a national championship, making our city proud," Mayor Lenny Curry said in a tweet.
Mayor Curry also said he looks forward to welcoming, recognizing, and honoring the champs in the days ahead.
Duval Schools Superintendent Dr. Nikolai Vitti tweeted: "Congrats Lady Trojans. You made an entire city and district proud this morning."
The team arrived at JAX late Saturday night to a crowd of supporters holding signs.
“This gives Jacksonville a look at what’s really going on the Northside and how we support our children, what our youth are doing, what our positive youth are doing because there is so much put on the negative," said Charletta Brown, a Ribault graduate. "Let’s do this, let’s push it, push it, push it, promote it because this what we are, this is what Northside is all about.”
This was the Lady Trojans' first national championship win. Riverdale was hoping to bring home its third national title with this game.
"Jean Ribault school has put Jacksonville, Florida, Duval County schools on the map," School Board member Paula Wright said. "We know our young ladies have a passion for basketball, but education is still their future. There are four members of this squad who are early college graduates. Which means when they graduate high school, they would have also graduated from FSCJ with an associates degree. We're just excited about their passion, commitment, dedication. We're just grateful."
Copyright 2016 by WJXT News4Jax - All rights reserved.Advertisement
It’s hard to best LogMeIn when it comes to remote desktop software. This program, once installed, allows you to remotely log into another computer – regardless of the router configuration of the computer you’re connecting to.
If you have access to a web browser you can access any and all computers you’ve set up using the service. The entire process is possible with or without a browser plugin, but it’s much faster if you have one. Aibek reviewed the program back in 2006 LogMeIn - Access your PC Remotely LogMeIn - Access your PC Remotely Read More and since then it’s only got better.
I love this software, and use it for work quite a bit. I’ve had a problem, however: my netbook runs Jolicloud Jolicloud: The Operating System Download for Netbook You've Been Looking For Jolicloud: The Operating System Download for Netbook You've Been Looking For Read More, meaning I can’t install the official LogMeIn plugin for my browser. As such, my remote connections are incredibly slow.
Or at least they were, until I found LogMeIn for Linux.
Yes, there’s an experimental browser plugin for LogMeIn. LogMeIn itself advises that you should not make use of this plugin in a production environment, but it’s still worth checking out. Additionally, if you ever absolutely need a Linux LogMeIn client, this will work in a pinch.
Installation
You won’t find the LogMeIn Linux plugin in your distribution’s repository; it’s too new to be there. You can, however, find a download over at LogMeIn’s “labs” page. The downloads include a DEB package (which offers LogMeIn for Ubuntu, Jolicloud and all other Ubuntu-based distros), an RPM package (which will work with SUSE and Red-Hat based systems including Fedora), and a TAR.GZ package for those who prefer to manually install such things.
On most user-friendly distributions, including Ubuntu, Fedora and Jolicloud, installing is as simple as downloading the package, double-clicking it and following the on-screen instructions. Restart your browser and you’re ready to start using LogMeIn.
If you’re using a distribution in which installation is more complicated than this, undoubtedly you’re smart enough to figure this out on your own. All you need to do is extract the file in the TAR.GZ to the folder your browser plugins are stored in: “~/.mozilla/plugins/“.
The plugin only works with browsers compatible with Mozilla plugins, such as Firefox.
Using The Plugin
This is LogMeIn as it’s meant to be. Head over to LogMeIn.com on your Linux machine and log in the way you normally do. As usual, you’ll be able to connect to all of the computers you’ve set up LogMeIn on. When you connect to them, however, you’ll immediately notice the speed difference.
You’ll also notice the full LogMeIn toolset, a lot of which is too slow to use in the flash version of LogMeIn you get without a browser plugin.
Pre-Release
Note that, as stated earlier, this plugin is pre-release right now. LogMeIn makes no guarantee that it will work, and I’d advice you to not use it in situations where success is absolutely crucial.
You should also note that, at this time, there’s no way for you to connect with Linux machines; you can only connect to Windows and Mac machines from your Linux computer. Those hoping to connect to their Linux machine still need to resort to some combination of DynDNS, VNC and/or SSH. I recently wrote about using DynDNS Connect To Your Home PCs From Anywhere With DynDNS Connect To Your Home PCs From Anywhere With DynDNS Read More to access your computer from anywhere, and I explained how to connect to your computer using VNC.
Conclusion
This plugin is exciting for me, because it greatly increases the speed with which I can connect to LogMeIn from my Linux-based netbook. I hope LogMeIn continues to develop this plugin, because it really would help out a lot of tech-savvy Linux people who want to help their Windows-and-Mac-based friends.
Why don’t you try out the plugin and then let us know what you think?A Charlton Athletic fan has been arrested on suspicion of attempting to punch Crystal Palace's mascot.
Kayla, an American bald eagle, was apparently targeted after violence broke out during the Capital One Cup third-round tie between the sides at Selhurst Park on September 23.
A 34-year-old man from Welling was arrested on Friday morning on suspicion of violent disorder and attempted criminal damage. He remains in custody at a south London police station.
A Charlton Athletic supporter has been arrested on suspicion of attempting to punch Crystal Palace's mascot
Kayla, an American bald eagle that acts as Crystal Palace's mascot, flies around the ground before kick-off
Officers from Croydon are continuing to investigate the unsavory scenes that apparently took place before, during and after the 4-1 win for the Barclays Premier League club, Scotland Yard said.
Six people were arrested following raids across London and Kent on Wednesday after flares were reportedly set off and bottles thrown both inside and outside the ground.
Zach Ellis, 20, of Tower Hamlets, has been charged with assault by beating and bailed to attend Croydon Magistrates’ Court on December 10. Five other men ‒ aged 16, 18, 21, 47 and 48 ‒ have been bailed until mid-January 2016.
Both clubs were contacted for comment.
Footage taken from a mobile phone shows how stewards and police struggled to stay in control during the match as they tried to keep both sets of supporters separated at Selhurst Park.
WARNING: OFFENSIVE LANGUAGE USED IN THE VIDEO BELOW
Dwight Gayle pictured scoring s a penalty en route to the win for Crystal Palace over Charlton
The match ended in a 4-1 win for the Barclays Premier League club at Selhurst Park over Charlton
The incident involving the Charlton fan is reminiscent of Newcastle supporter, Barry Rogerson, who was jailed for 12 months after punching a police horse following their defeat by Sunderland in April.
Newcastle Crown Court heard that during sustained disorder across the city, Rogerson had remained close to a mounted police line.
He was drunk and began to clap in a horse's face, before being caught on camera squaring up and punching the animal named Bud in the head.
Rogerson was released after serving just 12 weeks of the sentence but also banned from football grounds for six years.History
2012-13: Mikko Rantanen played at three levels for the TPS Turku organization. He spent the majority of the season with the U20 squad in the Junior “A” league, scoring 10 goals and adding 14 assists for 24 points in 35 games. He also appeared in 9 playoff games for the U20 squad, scoring 2 goals and 4 assists for 6 points. Rantanen appeared in 5 games for the U18 club, scoring 2 goals and adding 6 assists for 8 points. Rantanen also received a taste of the Liiga action, playing in 15 games for TPS where he netted 2 goals and added 1 assist for 3 points. Rantanen represented Finland at the 2013 World U17 Hockey Challenge, scoring 2 goals and adding 5 assists for 7 points in 5 games. Rantanen was chosen in the second round, 59th overall, of the 2013 KHL Draft by Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk.
2013-14: Rantanen spent most of the season competing in Liiga with TPS Turku. In 37 games for that squad, he scored 5 goals and added 4 assists for 9 points. In 17 games for TPS’s U20 team, Rantanen scored 5 goals and added 13 assists for 18 points while posting a +12 rating. Rantanen represented Finland at the 2014 U18 World Championship, scoring 3 goals and chipping 2 assists for 5 points in 5 games. He was named one of the Top 3 players for Finland at that tournament.
2014-15: Rantanen was the second-leading scorer for TPS Turku behind California native Ryan Lasch in his second Liiga season and joined the club’s U20 team for its championship run. He led Finland in points at the 2015 U20 World Junior Championship and played for the Finland U18 team at the 2014 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament in August. He scored 9 goals with 19 assists in 56 games and was -1 with 22 penalty minutes. Turku finished 13th in the 14-team Liiga, missing the playoffs. Rantanen scored 6 goals with 8 assists and was +9 with 2 penalty minutes in seven playoff games for the TPS U20 team, which defeated HPK Hameenlinna in the finals. He scored 4 goals and was +3 with 2 penalty minutes in 5 games at the WJC on a Finland squad that struggled to score all tournament. Rantanen scored 3 goals and added 4 assists in four games at the Ivan Hlinka Tournament. He rose to the top spot in the Central Scouting final ranking of international skaters — after being ranked second behind Swedish defenseman Oliver Kylington in the midterm rankings — prior to the 2015 NHL Draft.
Talent Analysis
Rantanen is a smooth skating European forward who plays a quiet but efficient style of hockey. He won’t put up too many highlight-reel goals in his career but he will certainly put up points. It would be beneficial if he added more physicality to his game but that is not what he is known for. His playmaking abilities is aided by his smooth hands and his ability to read the plays.
Future
Rantanen made his NHL debut with the Avalanche as an 18-year-old — making the team out of training camp and appearing in six games before being assigned to the AHL's San Antonio Rampage. Rantanen has been the team's leading scorer for much of the 2015-16 season despite spending time with the Finland U20 team that won a gold medal at the World Junior Championship. Rantanen's combination of size, skating ability and offensive instincts suggest he can be a consistent scorer at the NHL level in the future.Canada’s Men’s National Team will open the next round of 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™ Qualifiers at BC Place in Vancouver. The all-important, international soccer fixture will pit Canada against Honduras on Friday 13 November 2015 in the first of six Round 4 matches.
Tickets to this 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia Qualifiers match will go on sale this Friday 18 September (10.00 PT) via Ticketmaster.ca. Tickets start as low as $25 (plus applicable fees). Full ticket details for the Canada v Honduras match, including special and group offers, are available at canadasoccer.com/canMNTvHON.
“Our soccer fans in Vancouver can get behind our Canadian team as they continue their journey to the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia on Friday, November 13 at BC Place,” said Canada Soccer President Victor Montagliani. “Home support plays such a big role in international soccer, especially when facing an opponent like Honduras – one of our fiercest rivals dating back to the early 1980s.”
Canada will want to build a sea of red support in true #CanadaRED spirit.
A special ‘Me+3’ offer is also available for this match. When purchasing three full price tickets in select sections, fans will receive the fourth one free. This offer is available via Ticketmaster.ca by selecting the ‘Me+3’ offer.
In addition, discounts of up to 30% are available for groups of 10 or more for tickets in select sections. To secure group tickets, group organizers need to complete the online group ticket order form.
“We are glad to play in Vancouver, especially since each time I see a match from inside this modern stadium or by television, I realize how people support the home team,” said Canadian Head Coach Benito Floro.
Canada are amongst the 12 CONCACAF nations in the hunt for a spot at the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia. The remaining nations have been split into three groups for the continent's 2015-2016 semi-final stage. The top-two nations in each group will advance to the final round in 2017, from which three nations qualify for Russia 2018 and the fourth team advances to an intercontinental playoff.
In CONCACAF Round 4, Canada will play six matches, with both a home and away encounter against Honduras, El Salvador and Mexico. Matches will be played over three international windows, with the first two matches 13 November at home against Honduras and 17 November on the road against El Salvador.
Canada then faces Mexico twice in March 2016 and El Salvador/Honduras again in September 2016.
Home support in Vancouver will be crucial because, as noted by coach Floro, “Honduras and El Salvador are two similar teams, so they will be our direct rivals to qualify for the next stage.”
So far this year, Canada’s Men’s National Team has posted a record of five wins, four draws and two losses in 11 international matches. There have been seven clean sheets, including a national record shutout streak from March to July (564 minutes). Since 2010, the Men’s National Team has posted eight wins, five draws and two losses in matches played in Canada.
In choosing Vancouver, BC as the host of the first match of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™ CONCACAF semifinals, Canada Soccer recognises the city’s rich international soccer history, most recently serving as the host city for the Final Match of the record-breaking FIFA Women's World Cup Canada 2015™. The 13 November 2015 match will be Canada's first men’s international match at BC Place since the stadium was refurbished in 2011.Abstract
Importance Infantile colic, gastroesophageal reflux, and constipation are the most common functional gastrointestinal disorders that lead to referral to a pediatrician during the first 6 months of life and are often responsible for hospitalization, feeding changes, use of drugs, parental anxiety, and loss of parental working days with relevant social consequences.
Objective To investigate whether oral supplementation with Lactobacillus reuteri DSM 17938 during the first 3 months of life can reduce the onset of colic, gastroesophageal reflux, and constipation in term newborns and thereby reduce the socioeconomic impact of these conditions.
Design A prospective, multicenter, double-masked, placebo-controlled randomized clinical trial was performed on term newborns (age <1 week) born at 9 different neonatal units in Italy between September 1, 2010, and October 30, 2012.
Setting Parents were asked to record in a structured diary the number of episodes of regurgitation, duration of inconsolable crying (minutes per day), number of evacuations per day, number of visits to pediatricians, feeding changes, hospitalizations, visits to a pediatric emergency department for a perceived health emergency, pharmacologic interventions, and loss of parental working days.
Participants In total, 589 infants were randomly allocated to receive L reuteri DSM 17938 or placebo daily for 90 days.
Interventions Prophylactic use of probiotic.
Main Outcomes and Measures Reduction of daily crying time, regurgitation, and constipation during the first 3 months of life. Cost-benefit analysis of the probiotic supplementation.
Results At 3 months of age, the mean duration of crying time (38 vs 71 minutes; P <.01), the mean number of regurgitations per day (2.9 vs 4.6; P <.01), and the mean number of evacuations per day (4.2 vs 3.6; P <.01) for the L reuteri DSM 17938 and placebo groups, respectively, were significantly different. The use of L reuteri DSM 17938 resulted in an estimated mean savings per patient of €88 (US $118.71) for the family and an additional €104 (US $140.30) for the community.
Conclusions and Relevance Prophylactic use of L reuteri DSM 17938 during the first 3 months of life reduced the onset of functional gastrointestinal disorders and reduced private and public costs for the management of this condition.
Trial Registration clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT01235884
Functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGIDs) are defined as a variable combination of chronic or recurrent gastrointestinal symptoms not explained by structural or biochemical abnormalities.1
Since FGIDs in childhood are age dependent, the Rome Foundation established 2 different pediatric committees to identify the criteria for FGID diagnosis: the Infant/Toddler Committee (age up to 4 years)2 and the Child/Adolescent Committee (aged 4-18 years).3
Quiz Ref IDInfantile colic, gastroesophageal reflux, and constipation are the most common FGIDs that lead to referral to a pediatrician during the first 6 months of life and are often responsible for hospitalization, feeding changes, use of drugs, parental anxiety, and loss of parental working days with relevant social consequences.4
Although FGIDs have been considered self-limited processes, a low-grade mucosal inflammation and immune or motor alteration has been found in infants affected by colic, regurgitation, and constipation. This early traumatic insult to the intestine may represent a risk factor for the development of irritable bowel syndrome and psychologic problems later in life.5-7 Recent work indicates a crucial role of the intestinal microbiota in the pathogenesis of gastrointestinal disorders as in FGIDs,8 and many studies target probiotic therapy for specific conditions such as colic,9 regurgitation,10 and constipation.11 The effect of a probiotic could play a crucial role in the modulation of intestinal inflammation.
Quiz Ref IDWe performed a prospective, multicenter, double-masked, placebo-controlled randomized clinical trial to evaluate whether oral supplementation with Lactobacillus reuteri DSM 17938 during the first 3 months of life can reduce the onset of colic, gastroesophageal reflux, and constipation in term newborns and thereby reduce the socioeconomic impact of these conditions.
Methods
Enrollment
The study was carried out between September 1, 2010, and October 30, 2012, in 9 Italian pediatric units. The ethics committees of each participating institution approved the study protocol, and written informed consent was obtained from parents before inclusion of participants.
Eligibility
Inclusion criteria were (1) gestational age more than 37 to less than 41 weeks, (2) age less than 1 week on entry into the study, (3) birth weight adequate for gestational age, (4) Apgar score of more than 8 at 10 minutes, (5) no congenital disorders and/or clinical or physical alterations at clinical examination, and (6) no antibiotic or probiotic administration before inclusion.
Study Design
Quiz Ref IDInfants were randomly allocated to receive either L reuteri DSM 17938 or placebo. The active study product consisted of freeze-dried L reuteri suspended in a mixture of pharmaceutical-grade sunflower and medium-chain triglyceride oils supplied in a dark bottle fitted with a dropper cap. Five drops of the formulation, delivering a dose of 1 × 108 colony-forming units of L reuteri DSM 17938, were administered to the newborns each day for 90 days. Parents were instructed to deliver the drops directly in the mouth of the infants. The placebo consisted of an identical formulation of oils supplied in an identical bottle, except that the live bacteria were excluded. There were no differences in smell or taste between the 2 formulations. Analysis of total Lactobacillus counts was performed in our laboratory on a sample probiotic bottle to ensure the viability of the live bacteria. The investigators assessed compliance through a weekly telephone call to record missed or refused probiotic administration. Both the L reuteri DSM 17938 and placebo study products were manufactured and donated by BioGaia AB.
Sample Size
With an α level of 0.05 and a power of 90% to detect an absolute difference of 15% between the proportion of infants with FGIDs in the placebo (assumed to be 30%) and probiotic groups, a sample size of 460 (230 in each group) was needed.
Randomization
An independent statistician generated the random allocation sequence, which was stratified for sex and gestational age. The study personnel, health care workers, and parents were masked to the study group allocation. Random allocation was performed using Stata 9 software (StataCorp LP).
Masking
Both parents and investigators were masked to the intervention and remained unaware of group assignments during the study.
Symptom and Data Evaluation
Parents were asked to record daily the number of episodes of regurgitation (defined as the passage of refluxed gastric contents into the oral pharynx), periods of inconsolable crying (minutes per day as already described in the literature12), and the number of evacuations. Using a structured diary, parents were asked to record the number of visits to pediatricians, feeding changes, hospitalizations, access to a pediatric emergency department for a perceived health emergency, pharmacologic interventions, and loss of parental working days. The parents recorded the data from recruitment up to age 3 months. Adverse events related to the protocol were monitored by prompted questions on the telephone. To promote uniform documentation by the parents and to confirm that the infants were given the study products correctly, 1 investigator for each center (A. Di Mauro, E.C., C.I., M.B., L.C., E.B., and A. Del Vecchio) was always available by telephone to help parents. All families received a weekly telephone call or personal meeting with one of the investigators, and all infants were observed at visits each month.
Primary and Secondary Outcomes
The primary outcome was to evaluate if L reuteri DSM 17938 supplementation from the first days of life can reduce inconsolable crying, improve regurgitation, and modify bowel movements in neonates during the first 3 months of life.
Secondary outcomes included a cost-benefit evaluation of the supplementation, calculated with the number of primary care pediatrician visits, feeding changes, hospitalizations, access to a pediatric emergency department, loss of parental working days, and the use of simethicone, cimetropium bromide, and natural or herbal products to control gastrointestinal symptoms.
Statistical Analysis
Quantitative data (daily time crying, bowel movements, and regurgitation) were expressed as mean (SD) differences. The t test for unpaired samples was used to compare groups. For pediatrician visits, feeding changes, hospitalizations, access to a pediatric emergency department, loss of parental working days, and use of drugs, the χ2 test was used to compare the percentages between groups. For all tests, P <.05 was considered significant.
Cost assessment was made by analyzing the costs for the family and community related to the frequency of each parameter in the treated and nontreated groups. Costs were as follows:
Medical examination in the pediatric emergency department (€20.66 [US $27.87] for each examination, as provided by the Italian Ministry of Health) Work loss days (€43.15 [US $58.21] for each day, as provided by the Italian Ministry of Welfare) Drugs (at cost, defined in the list from the National Drug Authority) L reuteri (€60.48 [US $81.59] for the complete treatment)
Community costs were based on factors 1 and 2, while costs for the family were based on factors 3 and 4. This calculation was made since the National Health System in Italy covers all costs for pediatrician visits, and the National Welfare System finances all work loss expenses.
Results
Using the inclusion criteria, 589 newborns were initially included in the study, while 468 completed the 3-month study. Of these, 238 received L reuteri DSM 17938 supplementation and 230 had placebo (Figure). Participants were lost to follow-up because of voluntary withdrawal, withdrawal by the investigator for protocol violation, relocation from the study area, and use of antibiotics, proton-pump inhibitors, or other antacids. Demographic characteristics at baseline are described in Table 1. No clinically relevant differences between the 2 groups were seen at baseline, and the randomization procedure was successful.
After 1 month of intervention, infants receiving L reuteri DSM 17938 displayed a significant decrease in crying time, a significant increase in evacuation frequency, but no significant difference in regurgitation episodes compared with those given the placebo (Table 2). Quiz Ref IDAt the end of the 3-month intervention, significantly decreased crying time and significantly increased evacuation frequency were still evident (Table 3). Furthermore, infants who received L reuteri DSM 17938 showed significantly decreased regurgitation frequency compared with those who received the placebo (Table 3). There were no adverse events reported that were related to the trial.
At the end of the study, there were significantly less pediatric emergency department visits, lost parental working days, and use of agents to promote gastrointestinal comfort in the infants who received L reuteri DSM 17938 (Table 4). The frequency of feeding changes during the study was unaffected by the intervention (Table 4). The mean cost per child for each family related to these parameters was €150 (US $202.35) and €238 (US $321.06) for infants who received L reuteri DSM 17938 and placebo, respectively, while the mean cost per child for the community was €133 (US $179.42) and €237 (US $319.71) for infants who received L reuteri DSM 17938 and placebo, respectively. Thus, the prophylactic use of L reuteri DSM 17938 resulted in an estimated mean savings per participant of €88 (US $118.71) for the family, considering also the cost of the probiotic supplementation (Table 4) and an additional €104 (US $140.30) for the community. The assessment model used is straightforward and conservative and does not take into account indirect costs (such as those related to parental anxiety, exhaustion and stress, and increased number of visits to the family pediatrician), all of which increase the costs in the untreated group, augmenting the expected benefit of treatment.
Discussion
Daily administration of L reuteri DSM 17989 early in life decreased the reported incidence of inconsolable crying, regurgitation, and functional constipation in the first 3 months of life. There were no adverse events, and the supplementation was well tolerated. The socioeconomic impact of supplementation was a savings of €88 (US $118.71) for the family and €104 (US $140.30) for the community. To our knowledge, this is the first randomized clinical trial to address the use of a probiotic to prevent FGIDs in neonates. The study was adequately powered, and to serve as a proof of concept, we chose to perform a multicenter study that included a sufficient number of patients to increase the generalizability of our results.
Although infantile colic is not considered a serious problem, it is the cause of 10% to 20% of all pediatrician visits in the first 4 months of life and can lead to parental anxiety, exhaustion, and stress. Nearly 50% of all healthy infants aged 3 months and younger regurgitate at least once a day, with infant regurgitation representing 25% of pediatric consultations and 3% of gastrointestinal pediatric consultations. Constipation is generally responsible for 3% of all pediatric visits and can have several implications on the quality of life for both the child and the family.4
Functional gastrointestinal disorders in the neonatal period are often considered self-limiting clinical conditions, even though numerous studies in the literature reported these conditions as an early traumatic event predictive of different disease later in life.7,13 Furthermore, a recent study showed a significant association between migraine and history of infantile colic, where for children with migraine, the odds of having had colic as an infant were significantly increased.6
Our group performed a retrospective study of 3000 children diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome according to Rome III criteria in our pediatric gastroenterology outpatient unit and matched them with healthy controls. The healthy children were evaluated through each child’s personal national health booklet and a parental interview. The results show that children diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome had a higher percentage of neonatal infantile colic, regurgitation, and constipation than those without irritable bowel syndrome.13
The role of early life events in consequent FGIDs later in life is still controversial, even though some noxious stimulations at birth (ie, gastric suction or alteration of intestinal microbiota) might promote the development of long-term visceral hypersensitivity and cognitive hypervigilance, leading to functional disorders.14-16 Early life events could increase visceral sensitivity and mucosal permeability, alter the balance of the enteric microflora, and increase mucosal and neurogenic low-grade inflammation, altering the signal of the gut-brain-microbiota axis.17
In support of this broad concept, several studies have found associations between maternal stress and anxiety during pregnancy and high amounts of infant crying in the weeks after birth.18-20
Driving a change of colonization during the first weeks of life through giving lactobacilli may promote an improvement in intestinal permeability; visceral sensitivity and mast cell density and probiotic administration may represent a new strategy for preventing these conditions, at least in predisposed children. A recent article by de Weerth et al21 indicates the presence of microbial signatures in the first weeks of life in infants who later develop colic. These microbial signatures may be used to understand the excessive crying and offer opportunities for early diagnostics as well as for developing specific therapies.
The use of L reuteri DSM 17938 was cost-effective. Symptoms related to FGIDs are common from birth to 6 months of age.10 These conditions often cause numerous visits to the pediatrician, changes in feeding patterns, parental anxiety, and loss of parental working days with important socioeconomic consequences. In our study, daily crying time decreased during the first month of treatment, whereas regurgitation was significantly reduced only after the third month of treatment, possibly explained by the different temporal presentation of these symptoms in infants. Regurgitation actually appears more often in the second and third months of life, while constipation and crying have their peak at 4 to 6 weeks of life.22,23 Finally, a prophylactic approach using L reuteri can save money for both family and society and provide a helpful psychologic effect on the parents. Indeed, it is well known that supporting parents by teaching them to manage the crying and, consequently, acting on parental vulnerability can have a dramatic influence on parent-infant interactions and outcomes in these conditions.
Quiz Ref IDOur study has some limitations. There was a loss to follow-up of 16.8% of the study population, although the numbers lost in each group were similar and therefore should not significantly affect the results. Furthermore, an unselected general population was recruited, and the possible risk of overtreating normal neonates cannot be excluded.
Conclusion
Given the considerable burden of morbidity and the socioeconomic impact of early-life FGIDs, new research should urgently be initiated not only to validate our results |
the time, so sample it for yourself or grab some to add a local flavor to those holiday gatherings.
Wild Bunch Brewing is located at 1764 Taylorsville Road, with an on-site tasting room scheduled to open in December.
Rockne Market Day
Don’t miss Rockne Market Day this Saturday at Sacred Heart Parish Hall from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. This is an indoor sale with a huge variety of vendors. Handmade items for sale include wooden benches, Christmas wreaths, silver jewelry, crystal jewelry, children’s clothing, leather goods, homemade noodles and canned pickles, beets, and okra. There will also be chair massages, metal yard art, collectibles, furniture, and much more. R and D Catering will be there, so plan on stopping by for lunch or take out. For more information, visit their Facebook page or email rocknemarketday@gmail.com. Proceeds will benefit the Herman Goertz Memorial Fund, which helps those in need who are from Rockne and surrounding communities.
Contact Rockne News
I would love to share your news and events from the Rockne area. Send information and digital photos to rocknenews@gmail.com.• Subscribe to HWS on Spotify: hws.dj/HWS-spotify
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Let’s take a look back at one of the most innovative and game changing years in Hardstyle. Set the tone right for your new year’s celebration – this is the 2018 HARD with STYLE yearmix!
✖️ HWS 82 features the following tracks ✖️
00. HARD with STYLE Intro
01. Headhunterz & Sound Rush – Rescue Me
02. Bass Modulators & Max Enforcer – Our Soul
03. Wasted Penguinz – Evergreen
04. Headhunterz – Leap of faith
05. D-Block & S-te-Fan – Twilight Zone
06. Da Tweekaz – Back And Forth
07. Frontliner – Silence
08. Headhunterz – Takin’ It Back
09. Crystal Lake – Chosen Ones
10. Wildstylez – Heartbeat
11. Adrenalize ft. ADN – Get Up
12. TNT & DJ Isaac – The Realm
13. Evil Activities & Endymion feat. E-Life – Broken (Wildstylez Remix)
14. Devin Wild – Indestructible
15. Audiotricz – Discover The New
16. Atmozfears & Demi Kanon ft. David Spekter – Yesterday
17. Project One – Life Beyond Earth (KELTEK Remix)
18. Project One – Resurrection
19. Primeshock – Primetime
20. Toneshifterz & Atmozfears – You & Me
21. Headhunterz – Say My Name
22. Sound Rush – Guide You
23. Psyko Punkz x DJ Isaac x Sound Rush – Unbreakable
24. Coone – Evolution is Here
25. KELTEK – Dark Sun
26. D-Block & S-te-Fan – Gave U My Love
27. Jay Reeve – The Blackbird
28. Wildstylez – Children Of Drums
29. Brennan Heart & Rebourne – Ravers Memory
30. Demi Kanon – Closer
31. Sound Rush & Villain – One
32. Sub Zero Project – The Game Changer (Qlimax 2018 Anthem)
33. Headhunterz & Wildstylez vs Noisecontrollers – No One Can Stop Us Now
34. Rebourne – Split Second VIP (Pro Mix)
35. Project One – Journey Of The Mind
36. Coone ft. Jelle van Dael – Superman
37. Psyko Punkz – New Earth
38. KELTEK – The Valkyries
39. Project One – Maximum Force (Defqon.1 2018 Anthem)
40. Sound Rush – Look at us now
41. D-Block & S-te-Fan & Frequencerz – The Ultimate Celebration
42. Sub Zero Project & Phuture Noize – We Are The Fallen
43. Headhunterz – The Sacrifice (Max Enforcer Remix)
44. D-Block & S-te-Fan – Ghost Stories
45. Noisecontrollers & Atmozfears – This is our World
46. Project One – The Zero Hour (Phuture Noize Remix)
47. Sub Zero Project – The XPRMNT
48. Headhunterz & Sub Zero Project – Our Church
49. Adaro & B-Front ft. Dawnfire – Touch A Star
50. MYST – I’m Falling
51. D-Sturb – Losing Myself
52. Ran-D – Hurricane
53. Project One – The Art of Creation (Sefa Remix)
54. D-Sturb & Sefa – Nothing Like The Old School
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twitter.com/headhunterzThe Government has approved an investigation into claims that the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission offices were bugged.
At its meeting today, the Cabinet decided to appoint a retired High Court judge to look into the allegations.
The terms of reference for the inquiry will be set by Minister for Justice Alan Shatter and the judge will have eight weeks to report back.
Mr Shatter has confirmed he would be appearing before the Joint Oireachtas Petitions Committee tomorrow.
Speaking tonight in the Dáil, Mr Shatter said a peer review report from ‘RITS’ gives as an opinion, based on the reports provided to it, that "there is no evidence of any technical or electronic surveillance against GSOC".
He said: "That is no evidence at all, not merely no definitive evidence."
This report, he said, also disputes other conclusions reached by Verrimus.
He said that unexplained accessing of the wifi in GSOC came from an Insomnia coffee shop located on GSOC's premises.
That premises advertises wifi availability for customers and connectivity to Bittbuzz.
"I am unaware of any credible information that surveillance is being conducted on GSOCs offices by any of the customers of Insomnia," he said.
He also said that information about an IMSI catcher, the third threat identified by Verrimus, is widely available on the internet.
The minister said such devices have a range of up to several kilometres, so that even if there had been such a device it could have been anywhere in central Dublin and there is no indication whatever that it was directed at GSOC, whose staff do not use UK-registered mobile phones.
He said the level of hysteria surrounding the debate was extraordinary and said he was pleading for a discussion based on fact not on hyperbole.
Mr Shatter also said his integrity had been questioned.
Opposition parties gave a guarded welcome to the Government inquiry.
Sinn Féin Deputy Mary Lou McDonald said the Government had been dragged "kicking and screaming" to this point, and insisted that Mr Shatter had political questions to answer.
The Oireachtas Justice Committee is to examine extending the remit of the Garda Ombudsman legislation.
Ms McDonald called on the Government and all parties to support a Sinn Féin private members' motion for an independent inquiry into suspicions of surveillance at GSOC.
She said that in the absence of an independent inquiry all of the facts would not be established.
Fianna Fáil had said it would support the motion. It said it had first called for such an inquiry.
New Ombudsman Peter Tyndall said GSOC needs to have the support of the Oireachtas and the institutions of the State to do its job.
"I think every ombudsman needs to be seen to be independent. They need to be objective," he said on RTÉ's Morning Edition.
"My job is answerable to the Oireachtas. It is not answerable to individual ministers.
"I think for people to have confidence in the office of ombudsman, they have got to have the support of the institutions of the State and the Oireachtas in order to be able to do their job.
"At the heart of this appears to have been a suspected, at the least, bugging of their offices and the leaking of confidential documents.
"Under those circumstances, it is important that they get to the bottom of that and that they resolve any outstanding issues. I'm sure they need support in order to be able to do that."
Martin raises alleged GSOC surveillance in Dáil
Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has asked Taoiseach Enda Kenny about GSOC being placed under surveillance.
He said that the Taoiseach told the Dáil an “untruth” which switched the focus on whether the offices were bugged to who leaked the information from.
He accused the Government of airbrushing facts from the story.
He said that he understands the Government have decided to appoint a retired High Court Judge to review the issue but he claimed that the Minister for Justice withheld very basic and vital information that was in the public interest last Tuesday evening.
He said that the GSOC is not answerable to the Taoiseach and to the Minister for Justice.
Mr Kenny rejected the assertion that Mr Shatter has misled the House.
He said that in regard to the responsibility of GSCC, which is to oversee An Garda Síochána, when GSOC initiate a public interest investigation it can only be into the Garda.
He said the minister has no difficulty in going before the Public Oversight Committee.
Mr Martin asked about the exact remit of the inquiry.
He put it to the Taoiseach that the minister "did not level with the Dáil last Tuesday night."
He said that there is something fundamentally wrong with the administration of justice in this country.
The Taoiseach said that if Mr Martin has information about the mal-administration of justice in this country that he should, as he is duty bound, to bring it to the note of the Minister for Justice.Who is responsible for the massacre in the Mediterranean?
31 May 2016
“We came, we saw, he died,” exclaimed Hillary Clinton to a television reporter on October 20, 2011. The then-secretary of state was cackling in uncontrollable glee after being shown a gruesome video of the torture and murder of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
Nearly five years later, Clinton is the Democratic presidential frontrunner, and the dying continues: in Libya, Syria, Iraq and in the Mediterranean Sea.
With estimates of up to 900 refugees drowning in the Mediterranean, the past week has been the deadliest thus far this year.
Over 8,000 refugees have died attempting to make the dangerous crossing of the Mediterranean to Europe since 2014, the vast majority of them having begun their fatal voyages from the coast of Libya.
Neither Clinton nor her rivals in the race for the US presidency, Democrat Bernie Sanders, the self-described “democratic socialist,” and Republican Donald Trump, have said a word about this ongoing massacre in the Mediterranean.
There is every reason why it should be a prominent issue in the US election, however.
First and foremost, Washington, the two major capitalist parties and Clinton personally have played decisive roles in unleashing the mayhem that has driven tens of millions from their homes in a desperate flight for their lives.
The toll inflicted by a quarter century of US military interventions, proxy wars and regime-change operations is nothing short of staggering. Every country subjected to these acts of aggression today contributes decisively to the worst global refugee crisis since the Second World War.
In Iraq, the target of the illegal war of aggression in 2003, the deaths inflicted by US intervention total well over a million. The systematic destruction of physical and social infrastructure, together with the pursuit of a deliberate policy of divide and rule led to the bitter sectarian divisions, spawned the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) along with the ongoing civil war that threatens to produce new and terrible massacres in already blood-soaked cities like Fallujah and Mosul.
In Afghanistan, the number directly killed by the US-led war is conservatively estimated at over 100,000, while the continuing conflict has “exacerbated the effects of poverty, malnutrition, poor sanitation, lack of access to health care, and environmental degradation,” leading to premature deaths of many more, as one recent study found. At least 3 million are now refugees.
In Syria, the war for regime change orchestrated by Washington and its principal regional allies has killed well over a quarter of a million, with more than half of the population displaced and some 4 million living as refugees in four countries alone: Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Iraq. ISIS and similar Al Qaeda-linked Islamist militias have served as proxy forces for the regime-change operation, inflicting terror on the people of Syria, Iraq and beyond.
Also swelling the refugee tide are Africans from countries like Nigeria and Somalia, where US Special Operations troops and drone strikes are being employed in a further extension of the global war on terror.
And Libya itself, where the ill-fated boats embark overcrowded with refugees seeking to reach Europe, remains economically and socially shattered and enmeshed in bloody civil war as a result of the 2011 US-NATO war to topple the government of Muammar Gaddafi. Nearly five years after this war, it has three governments, one of them set up recently with Western support in order to sanctify another military intervention. None of them exert control over a sizable part of the country. The disastrous effects of the criminal war of 2011 are now being invoked by Washington and its NATO allies to justify a further intervention, with US and British Special Forces commandoes already on the ground.
Hillary Clinton was a leading advocate of the US intervention in Libya, just as she was in Syria. In both cases, wars of imperialist plunder and for the imposition of Washington’s hegemony over strategic areas of the globe were promoted under the filthy and hypocritical banner of “human rights.”
On the phony pretext of protecting Libyan and Syrian civilians, hundreds of thousands have been butchered and millions driven from their homes.
Washington’s “human rights” propaganda was echoed by a whole coterie of pseudo-left organizations around the globe, from the International Socialist Organization in the US to the New Anti-Capitalist Party in France and the Left Party in Germany. Some went so far as to proclaim these CIA-organized operations as “revolutions” in their attempt to secure a broader constituency among the privileged layers of the middle class. They too bear criminal responsibility for the present real humanitarian crisis.
None of these historic crimes of US imperialism are the subject of debate in the ongoing US elections, just as a veil of silence has been imposed over the preparations for far greater bloodbaths, leading inexorably toward a Third World War. Once the ballots are cast, it is certain that the global eruption of American militarism will accelerate rapidly.
Moreover, outside of Trump’s fascistic and asinine calls to “build a wall,” there has been no real debate about refugees, which is a vital issue in the US as in Europe. Just as Fortress Europe anti-refugee policies and the whipping up of xenophobia and anti-immigrant chauvinism have contributed to the horrific death toll in the Mediterranean, policies pursued in the US have led to similar results. While the European Union’s sealing off of the so-called Balkan route for refugees has diverted them to the far more perilous Mediterranean, the crackdown on the US-Mexican border has sent those attempting to enter the US into more and more dangerous areas of the desert where many die of exposure.
Again, this is a policy embraced by both major capitalist parties, from the presumptive Republican nominee Trump to the real walls erected by Obama and the support by Hillary Clinton for the deportation of child refugees from Central America.
The defense of refugees and immigrants is inseparable from the struggle against war. No section of the ruling establishments in Europe or America has any interest in doing either. A halt to continuing and escalating bloodbaths, including the tragedy unfolding in the Mediterranean, requires the building of a new independent mass movement of the international working class based upon a socialist program and a revolutionary strategy to put an end to capitalism.
Bill Van Auken
The author also recommends:
New York Times on Clinton and Libya: Portrait of a war criminal
[1 March 2016]
Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.Introduction
A brief introduction to asm.js and emscripten
asm.js is a highly optimized subset of Javascript designed to allow near-native and consistent performance. So, how do you start writing asm.js? You don’t! asm.js is not designed for us mere mortals to write directly. Instead, you write your game in C, C++, or any other language that has a compiler that will generate asm.js. Right now the primary compiler is emscripten. Emscripten is a little more than just a compiler – it is also a platform! Emscripten provides a modified LLVM + Clang compiler suite to build your code into asm.js along with a core set of standard libraries you would expect to come with an operating system. Emscripten provides libc, libstdc++, a virtual filesystem layer, the OpenAL sound API, and much more. The reason for this is to allow your game, which may already run on Windows, Mac, and Linux, to essentially “recompile” and work on emscripten.
A brief introduction to SDL2
SDL2 is a cross-platform library designed to provide a consistent interface to many common hardware subsystems including audio, keyboard, mouse, joysticks, graphics, etc. At Humble Bundle, we use SDL2 for all of our game ports because it removes a significant amount of prep work in getting a game running on a new platform. We simply port the game to SDL2 and then compile it on Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android, and now asm.js. This simplifies the game code as it only needs to know about one new platform, SDL2, instead of two or more platforms. SDL2 is highly portable and written in C, so it can be easily used by any other language.
Getting started
To get started in building your first game for asm.js, we first need to get your development system set up. It is preferred that you also have a native development kit set up on your system as well as emscripten, as sometimes it’s easier to develop and debug natively than in the browser. So make sure you have the following software already installed on your development platform:
For Windows (64bit install only)
Xcode 6 or newer
The latest GCC compiler, and development packages for libc, libstdc++, OpenGL, etc.
Latest CMake - or from your distribution package. It must be 2.8.12 or newer.
The emscripten SDK
Setting up cmake
On Mac OS X, run cmake once and choose the “Tools” menu and then “Install For Command Line Use.” This will set up several links in your path to make it easier to use with emscripten. If you get a warning when running cmake, that it is from an unidentified developer. Simply click OK, and then control-click (or right-click) on CMake and choose Open. This will allow you to bypass Gatekeeper for this one application only.
On Windows, make sure to add cmake to the system path. There is an option in the installer.
Setting up emscripten
emsdk install mingw-4.6.2-32bit
emsdk activate mingw-4.6.2-32bit
cd Projects/emsdk-portable
./emsdk list
./emsdk install sdk-1.29.0-64bit
./emsdk activate sdk-1.29.0-64bit
./emsdk install sdk-master-64bit
./emsdk activate sdk-master.64bit
source./emsdk_env.sh
We will use emscripten in the command line most of the time. The emscripten team has done a very good job on the “portable SDK” to largely make things work without much fuss. There are only a few platform oddities that you’ll have to fiddle with to get you started. The general instructions are simply to install/extract the portable SDK into a folder on your system.Simply use the installer. Once it finishes installing, open up your file browser to the emscripten folder on C: and run the emcmdprompt.bat. This will set up the environment for building with emscripten. Now we need to install the mingw-32 tools. First run “emsdk list.” This will display a list of installed and available tools you can install. We are looking for “mingw.” When you see that list item, note the version and type the following:That will install mingw in the emscripten directory. Next, we need to activate that version.After that, exit and re-run the emcmdprompt.batAfter extracting the portable SDK to a folder, you will need to open a terminal window and navigate to that folder and then install the latest SDK.The above will list the available SDKs. For OS X, you will see versioned and unversioned. For Linux, you will only see unversioned (master and incoming). So on OS X, simply run:For Linux, you will need to install the master entry, which will take a while as it is compiling LLVM/Clang from scratch. Also, this will consume approximately 3 GB of hard-drive space for the compilation of LLVM and ClangFor OS X and Linux, you will need to include the emscripten environment in your shell. To do that, simply runand that will set up all the paths for you based on the active SDK.
Actually compiling something
cd C:\Projects\ASMDemo
cd ~/Projects/ASMDemo
mkdir build
cd build
mkdir asm
cd asm
emcmake cmake../../ -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug
make
mingw32-make
To make things easier to get up and going, we have set up a base project located here, which you can use as a base to start playing with emscripten and understand how it works. This project uses CMake as the build system so that it can generate projects for all platforms. Since we’re using SDL2 Renderer API (an accelerated 2d rendering API), we don’t have to worry about OpenGL desktop vs OpenGL ES 2/WebGL in this post. Simply check the project out on your system using your favorite git tool, and then run CMake. In the CMake GUI, select the project checkout folder as the source directory. For the binary directory we are going to specify a different sub-folder, for example: build/osx, build/linux or build/windows. Later, we will build emscripten in build/asm. After you have set both the source and binary directories, click the “Generate” button at the bottom.Cmake will ask you what generator to use. For example: On Windows, you can choose the version of Visual Studio you have installed (2010, 2012, etc.). (NOTE: The prebuilt SDL2 libs for Windows only include 32bit builds for now). After this completes, you will now have a Visual studio project in the build/windows folder – simply open it up in Visual Studio and hit run. Likewise, you can do this with Xcode on the Mac, or GNU make, Ninja, or Code::Blocks on Linux. Next, we’ll get your asm.js build working. Go back to your terminal/cmd prompt that has the emscripten shell and cd to where you checked out the ASMdemo.or for Mac and LinuxMake the build directoryfor Mac and Linuxfor Windowsemrun –browser=firefox index.htmlAnd now you should have the demo running in your browser.
Understanding the emscripten run loop
#ifdef EMSCRIPTEN
emscripten_set_main_loop_arg((em_arg_callback_func)loop_iteration, game.get(), 0, 1);
#else
while (!done) {
loop_iteration(game.get());
}
#endif
An asm.js game can not run inside an infinite loop like we do on the desktop. Instead we have to register a loop function with emscripten that is called “once per frame.” Looking at the main method of the demo, you will see this set of code:This handles the non-emscripten infinite loop approach as well as the emscripten required callback approach. All of the shared logic for handling input and rendering is done in loop_iteration so that we reduce code duplication. Due to how emscripten simulates an infinite loop, no code after the call to emscripten_set_main_loop_arg will be executed.
Is that all?
Believe it or not, that is all that is needed to get up and running with emscripten. Since we are utilizing SDL2, everything else is being handled for us. Our audio is going through SDL2, our keyboard and mouse input is from SDL2, and our rendering is currently being handled by the SDL2 renderer API. In future blog posts, we will cover topics such as OpenGL ES 2/WebGL, and the Humble API to get your game ready for the Humble Widget.Campaigners will claim that British weapons could be used in strikes in Yemen that break international humanitarian law
A judicial review that aims to halt UK arms sales to Saudi Arabia because they could be used to illegally kill civilians in Yemen is set to begin on Tuesday.
The Campaign Against the Arms Trade will claim that the indiscriminate nature of the airstrikes by Saudi Arabia in Yemen means there is a significant risk that British arms are being used in strikes that break international humanitarian law.
Saudi Arabia admits it used UK-made cluster bombs in Yemen Read more
Weapons sales to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf nations have faced intense scrutiny since the March 2015 start of a Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen, which has been accused of killing thousands of civilians and triggering a humanitarian catastrophe in one of the region’s poorest countries.
Saudi Arabia is the UK’s most important arms client: since the start of the Yemen campaign government ministers have granted export licences for more than £3.3bn of aircraft, munitions and other equipment.
Under UK and EU arms sales rules, export licences must not be granted if there is a “clear risk” that the equipment could be used to break international humanitarian law. Licensing is overseen by Liam Fox, secretary of state for international trade, in consultation with the Foreign Office, Ministry of Defence and Department for International Development.
A spokeswoman for the Department for International Trade told the Guardian: “The UK is playing a leading role in work to find a political solution to the conflict in Yemen and to address the humanitarian crisis.
“We operate one of the most robust export control regimes in the world and keep our defence exports to Saudi Arabia under careful and continual review. Given the current legal proceedings we will not be commenting further outside of court at this stage.”
Saudi Arabia and UK-supplied cluster bombs: what do we know? Read more
The government’s arms sales to Saudi Arabia have come under sustained criticism from sources including MPs on the business and international development parliamentary select committees.
Last year the two committees recommended that weapons export licences to the country should be suspended until an independent international inquiry into allegations of breaches of international law was completed. They found the government had failed to conduct credible investigations into how British weapons were being used.
The foreign affairs select committee, which refused to sign up to the committee recommendation, published its own report saying any decision on exports to Saudi Arabia should wait until the outcome of this week’s case. But it also called for an independent UN investigation into claims Saudi Arabia has broken international humanitarian law.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest The sales are overseen by Liam Fox, secretary of state for international trade. Photograph: PA
The government had said it cannot investigate individual allegations, but that the Ministry of Defence monitors claims to “form an overall view on the approach and attitude of Saudi Arabia” to the laws of war, which forbids indiscriminate targeting of civilians or civilian infrastructure.
The UN estimates that at least 4,619 civilians have been killed in the two-year conflict, and 19m people have been left needing humanitarian assistance. Allegations of war crimes have been made against both sides, and last January a leaked UN report described “widespread and systematic” targeting of civilians in Saudi-led strikes, including the bombing of health facilities, schools, wedding parties and camps for internally displaced people.
In December the US called off the export of some precision-guided munitions to Saudi Arabia because of concerns about the country’s targeting practices.Confirmed: India not to join US, NATO countries for fight against ISIS
International
oi-Anisha
Washington, Oct 1: The news is, India will not be joining the coalition of the United States and NATO countries against the Islamic State ( ISIS ).
MEA Joint Secretary Vikram Doraiswami cleared that, "India is not joining any coalition. At the same time, Prime Minister Modi, in his meeting with US President Barack Obama, stressed that terrorism affects India acutely and is a major issue for us."
"The Prime Minister also raised the issue of radicalised young people travelling abroad, committing acts of terror and coming back. The larger issue of terrorism was talked about, but as of now, there is no statement of our joining the coalition," Doraiswami added.
BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, on Tuesday, Sep 30, claimed that India would help US in its fight against ISIS. While writing on micro-blogging site Twitter, Swamy wrote, "Happy that Modi committed to Obama that India would join the anti-ISIS war. Now Indo-US good relations will reach new unprecedented heights."
Happy that Modi committed to Obama that India would join the anti-ISIS war. Now Indo-US good relations will reach new unprecedented heights. — Subramanian Swamy (@Swamy39) September 30, 2014
Rubbishing these specualtions, MEA cleared India's stand on joining fight against ISIS.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Barack Obama renewed the defence agreement between India and the US for a further ten-year period during their talks at the White House here.
The two leaders also announced that the US will cooperate as a knowledge partner for India`s upcoming National Defence University.
OneIndia NewsSydney-based telco Horizon Wireless has partnered with electricity grid network TransGrid to build wireless commercial networks in NSW regional centres Wagga Wagga and Muswellbrook, with speeds that it claims will rival the NBN.
The telco will be developing a high-speed network that it says will be available to customers at lower costs, compared to traditional fibre and cable broadband.
“Horizon Wireless has chosen to build its first network by leasing access from utility fibre networks and bypass the traditional carriers,” Horizon chief executive Phil Silva said.
“This network will be available to all carriers and service providers looking for an alternative last-mile solution for their customers.”
The telco is the exclusive distributor of US-based Tarana Wireless, which offers wireless networks that claims to be impervious to line-of-sight obstruction interference, such as tall office buildings and trees.
Its offerings also include last-mile data connections where fibre is “prohibitively expensive or impractical”.
Horizon promises speeds of 100Mbps and 200Mbps over non-line-of-sight connections and has plans of adding 1.3Gbps links in the future.
“Through our exclusive partnership with Tarana we are very pleased to be delivering revolutionary new technology that delivers fibre-level data transfer speeds over wireless systems to Australian internet users for the first time,’’ Silva said.
“Tarana’s fundamental advances in wireless performance offer the first practical 5G alternative to fibre for residential, enterprise, and urban access.”CLOSE A man was stabbed to death in front of 444 E. Main St. early Saturday morning. Video by Will Cleveland
Buy Photo Rochester police on scene of a fatal stabbing in front of 444 E. Main St. early Saturday morning. (Photo: Will Cleveland/@WillCleveland13/Staff photographer)Buy Photo
A man was stabbed to death near Rochester's East End early Saturday morning.
According to Rochester Police Capt. Michael Callari, police were called to the scene of a stabbing in front of 444 E. Main St. at 12:05 a.m.
The call originally came in as a shooting, but police found an adult male stabbed at least once in the upper body on the sidewalk in front of the Carlson MetroCenter YMCA branch. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Callari said police have "several people we are talking with." He added, "We have several people that we just gathered up in the area. At this point, I don't even know how many. But I can say that it is a significant number of people that we're looking at, and anyone that was in the area, we're just trying to get whatever we can from them."
Buy Photo Police close down traffic on E. Main Street in Rochester following a fatal stabbing early Saturday morning. (Photo: Will Cleveland/@WillCleveland13/Staff photographer)
No other information about the victim was released pending identification and notification of his family. Callari said the stabbing "looks like it did happen on E. Main Street" and not at another location.
He said that the homicide did not involve the YMCA. Police closed down traffic on E. Main Street between Scio and Chestnut streets. A few minutes later, police set up a secondary scene two blocks to the west near the Liberty Pole.
Police technicians were investigating a brown sport utility vehicle and a woman was taken from that scene by Rural/Metro Medical Service with a police escort. She was alert and upright. It's unclear if these two scenes are connected.
At that point, police closed down traffic on East Main Street between East Avenue and Scio Street.
No suspect is in custody and the investigation is ongoing.
WCLEVELAND@Gannett.com
Read or Share this story: http://on.rocne.ws/1pexmfgSo, while I'm on a military course and using my spare time on a rather ambitious semi-secret art project, via pressure from increased popularity of my Little Mages fan work I decided to begin the 4th series. Starting off with Gilda the Griffon re-imagined as a Harpy Warrior. I guess that Gilda, being depicted as a very different, non equine, character in the show is not restricted by the rule of having to be a magic class. Or an actual class at all. So, I made her a harpy, which I think translates very well from her griffon design.
There was no cutie mark to incorporate into the clothing on this one, but it was fun to think about what kind of clothing a harpy would wear, given that most depictions of them are nude, as well as how she would put the clothing on. I took a sort of Greek toga (Harpies are Greek myth after all) and made it wrap around her upper torso pinned to light shoulder armor secured around her neck as to no interfere with her wings. Her pants are laced down the sides to accommodate for the large talons, but even then you can see that there are tares on the ends from her claws. These are all fun things to think about when designing a character that I love doing.
As for the line up I'm imagining for this series, I'm thinking..
Shining Armor as an Ardent
The Changling Queen as a Necromancer
Cadance as a Spirit Healer
Granny Smith as a Sage
Cherrilee as a Loremaster(This is the unedited version of my article which appeared in Salon, December 21, 2014.) Should you believe in a God? Not according to most academic philosophers. A comprehensive survey revealed that only about 14% of English-speaking professional philosophers are theists. As for what little religious belief remains among their colleagues, most professional philosophers regard it as a strange aberration among otherwise intelligent people. Among scientists the situation is much the same. Surveys of the members of the national academy of sciences, comprised of the most prestigious scientists in the world, show that religious belief among them is practically non-existent, about 7%.
Now nothing definitely follows about the truth of a belief from what the majority of philosophers or scientists think. But such facts might cause believers discomfort. There has been a dramatic change in the last few centuries in the proportion of believers among the highly educated in the Western world. In the European Middle Ages belief in a God was ubiquitous, while today it is rare among the intelligentsia. This change occurred primarily because of the rise of modern science and a consensus among philosophers that arguments for the existence of gods, souls, afterlife and the like were unconvincing. Still, despite the view of professional philosophers and world-class scientists, religious beliefs have a universal appeal. What explains this?
Genes and environment explain human beliefs and behaviors—people do things because they are genomes in environments. The near universal appeal of religious belief suggests a biological component to religious beliefs and practices, and science increasingly confirms this view. There is a scientific consensus that our brains have been subject to natural selection. So what survival and reproductive roles might religious beliefs and practices have played in our evolutionary history? What mechanisms caused the mind to evolve toward religious beliefs and practices?
Today there are two basic explanations offered. One says that religion evolved by natural selection—religion is an adaptation that provides an evolutionary advantage. For example religion may have evolved to enhance social cohesion and cooperation—it may have helped groups survive. The other explanation claims that religious beliefs and practices arose as by-products of other adaptive traits. For example, intelligence is an adaptation which aids survival. Yet it also forms casual narratives for natural occurrences and postulates the existence of other minds. Thus the idea of hidden Gods explaining natural events was born.
In addition to the biological basis for religious belief, there are environmental explanations. It is self-evident from the fact that religions are predominant in certain geographical areas but not others, that birthplace strongly influences religious belief. This suggests that people’s religious beliefs are, in large part, accidents of birth. Besides cultural influences there is the family—the best predictor of people’s religious beliefs in individuals is the religiosity of their parents. There are also social factors effecting religious belief. For example, a significant body of scientific evidence suggests that popular religion results from social dysfunction. Religion may be a coping mechanism for the stress caused by the lack of a good social safety net—hence the vast disparity between religious belief in Western Europe and the United States.
There is also a strong correlation between religious belief and various measures of social dysfunction including homicides, the proportion of people incarcerated, infant mortality, sexually transmitted diseases, teenage births, abortions, corruption, income inequality and more. While no causal relationship has been established, a United Nations list of the twenty best countries to live in shows the least religious nations generally at the top. Only in the United States, which was ranked as the 13th best country to live in, is religious belief strong relative to other countries. Moreover virtually all the countries with comparatively little religious belief ranked high on the list of best countries, while the majority of countries with strong religious belief ranked low. While correlation does not equal causation, the evidence should give pause to religion |
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as a boy and pre-teen, as the most devout member of his family. He checked out from his school library books about religion. From his parents, he got for a Christmas gift a set of World Book encyclopedias, and he flipped to the pages about Roman Catholicism. He watched the papal Easter Mass on television and decided he wanted to be Catholic again.
The Rubios left their Mormon church, “mostly at my instigation,” he wrote, and their return to Catholicism “had really just been my decision.” He got his parents to enroll him in CCD, the children’s education program of the Roman Catholic Church.Excerpts from an interview Oct. 22 with Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow.
Article: For the Astros, GM Jeff Luhnow is the man with the plan
Interview, part one: Luhnow on rebuild, minor league pipeline, major league value
Interview, part two: Luhnow on savvy fans, Baseball America, Ed Wade
Key pieces of the Astros’ new brain trust: Clearly for us going forward, the group that we’re going to rely heavily on [is] Mike Elias and his experience of expertise in evaluating players. And not just players for the draft, but players overall.
I think Sig [Mejdal’s] expertise in creating the discipline and the process and sort of challenging us to maintain the integrity of the process – it’s very easy to come up with a process, and then it’s also just as easy to deviate from it for a lot of reasons, some of which are legitimate and some of which really aren’t legitimate. Because if you have a good process, you’re already baking in a lot of the things that people tend to deviate for.
So an example would be, we have a process that combines performance or a player’s résumé with scouting reports, and we do it in a way that makes a lot of sense. It’s derived analytically based off of history and it’s the best match that maximizes the value. It’s a very complicated method of doing that, but we feel like we’ve done it. It needs to continue to get better but we feel like we’ve done it. It’s not a formula that combines things in a haphazard way. It’s a formula that combines things that would’ve worked in the past. So you end up in a discussion and you’re ranking two players, and player A has a better performance track record but player B has better tools, and you’re trying to compare them both. And then when someone starts arguing to put player B above player A because he has better tools, that’s when you need to have discipline in the process and say, ‘We’ve already incorporated that in our decision, so that’s not new information.’ Now, if you’re bringing new information, you’re saying, ‘Player A is sick or has an injury that we didn’t know about,’ then that’s new information and that needs to be baked in there. But to just repeat and sort of disagree with the process and say, ‘Well, I think we should be highlighting tools more,’ or ‘I think we should be highlighting performance more,’ or ‘I think this tool is more important than that tool or whatever,’ we’ve already gone through the discipline of figuring all that stuff out. And Sig’s really a key person for us, in almost being the police of the process, which is important. It doesn’t mean at the end of the day we won’t go against the process, because we do a lot. But there has to be a good reason to go against it.
Kevin [Goldstein], even though he’s a new to our organization, is going to be a critical person for us in corralling all of the available information on players and other teams. Any move we make, of course, whether it’s a Rule-5 selection, a signing, a waiver claim or free agency signing, anything relies on what information do we have about players from other organizations. And the reason that we hired Kevin to help manage that department is in this day and age so much of that information goes beyond the traditional scouting evaluation that you do at the standard level. We need that. That’s a core part. That will always be a core part. But anybody who has sat down at a computer and tried to Google a player realizes how much valuable information is out there that goes beyond what a scout might see in a stadium. There’s stuff you can churn up all over the place. So I really think of that role – part-scout, part manager of people … part investigative reporter, because you are digging; the last thing you want to do is sign a free agent and find out he has two DUIs and you missed it and it was obvious and it comes out in the paper. … And then part leveraging the free work that people have done for us. I mean, it’s amazing how many websites and analysts and people are out there. Obviously you have to take all of that stuff with a grain of salt because it’s not your own resources and you don’t have quality control or anything like that. But if you’re ignoring that information, you’re leaving yourself at a disadvantage potentially. So really that, the fact that Kevin was really able to do that as a one-man band covering all 30 organizations for Baseball Prospectus, imagine what he can do when you give him 10 full-time scouts and you give him all the resources to generate this. And you give him all the internal information that we generate as a major league club that third parties aren’t exposed to, I think he’s going to be real critical for us going forward.
Oz [Ocampo] has a very good feel for evaluating players both domestically and internationally. He’s also got a very good feel for creating value in the front office and what it means for an organization to sign a player like Oscar Taveras. I remember well the night that we made the decision on Oscar, we were talking about a difference of about $10,000 between what he was asking for and what he was ready to give. I remember it was a long night of angst trying to figure out if it was worth it to go that extra $10,000. At the end of the day, I recall calling our head of international at the time and saying, ‘You know what? Just go for it. Give him the extra $10,000, just get this deal done.’ And we got the deal done at 4 in the morning and the guy turns out to be one of the rising stars of the game. Of course, looking back at it, of course you give him an extra $10,000. But if that’s the way you negotiate with everybody, you spend a lot of money and you don’t get a lot of extra value for it. Oz understands how it works. He understands the old way of doing business international. He understands where MLB is taking it. And he’s very well connected. One of the things that we’re doing here — and I think we’re going to do exceptionally well — is linking everything together so there are no [breaks]. The guy who runs international feels like he’s connected to the front office. … Everybody has their area of expertise. But the more we can be sharing experiences and collaborating on things, I think the more we can be better as a team.
Clearly Quinton [McCracken] and Allen [Rowin] together are going to be a force going forward. And that part of it – Quinton’s going to be new – but we’ve talked a lot about player development and running it like an elite academic institution with curriculum and the best teachers and the best ways to evaluate and all that.
We’re starting to see the core of the front-office team here. The linkage is to downstairs, and I don’t want it to feel like a downstairs-upstairs dynamic. Bo’s up here [Monday], he’s going to be up here a lot during the season, we’re going to be down there a lot during the season. … We want everybody in this office to feel like they can go to Bo with anything. We want Bo to walk up here – in fact, I’m debating whether or not to give him a desk up here. Because during the offseason, what’s he doing down there? There’s no one down there. I want him to feel comfortable up here and be able to walk in to Mike Fast and ask him [anything]. That’s the kind of interaction we really want.
Craig [Biggio] is going to be an important person interfacing with major league staff, interfacing with specific players and really providing that huge credibility to the group. We do want to emulate the group that he was here with. You talk about all those guys … Biggio, Bagwell, that group that came through and had so much success. It was a feeling of camaraderie, brotherhood, whatever you want to call it. And we want to capture that and try to recreate it.
Who inspired and influenced him: There’s things you can learn from just about anybody in the game, both positives and negatives. One of the people that influenced me right away was George Kissell, who was the godfather of player development in St. Louis and a Hall of Fame player development guy. And the reason he influenced me in such a short period of time is as soon as I got to St. Louis, he sought me out and he started asking me questions. And I thought, ‘This guy knows all the answers. He’s been here forever. He wrote the book. What on earth is he doing asking me questions?’ And what he said to me was, ‘I can learn something from everybody, and everyday I try to learn something new.’ That struck me. Not a lot of people in baseball are like that. But that’s the type of mentality I thought led to his success and led to a lot of the thinking that goes on in the Cardinals’ organization.
I’ve always witnessed from afar watching what a lot of GMs do. Watching what Billy Beane does. I’ve always admired what Mark Shapiro has done. But there’s only so much – because they’re working for other clubs – there’s only so much you can tell. Paul DePodesta, I’ve always admired some of the way he thinks. Internally, you learn from a lot of different sources. I’d say for me, the person that was the biggest guy was Bill DeWitt Jr., and this is a man who’s been involved in baseball for his entire life. His uniform from a kid is in the Hall of Fame. And, arguably, he’s overseeing one of the most successful ownership stints in history with taking the Cardinals in the mid-90s and going through all of the success that the Cardinals have had, and I really don’t think that’s by accident. I think it’s because Bill has a really strong, fundamental understanding of the game; a respect for the traditions and the history of the game. And yet at the same time, a bright mind and an understanding that, without innovation, you’re never going to continue to have that type of success. And the things that he and I talked about when I was interviewing back in 2003, really he was a visionary.
He saw – at a time when the Cardinals were riding high with Pujols and going to the NLCS several years in a row and winning the championship – he recognized what the future was bringing, and that if we didn’t start to invest heavily in the analytic capabilities, in the pipeline, in doing things differently, that there was eventually going to be a decline. And so he prevented that from being five years ahead, essentially. Of knowing what was going to happen if it didn’t happen. He likes to share the credit and he likes to say that other people created it, but he’s the one I think that inspired me the most. And whenever I had challenges maybe in the early years of the Cardinals, with people maybe resisting or not being able to effectively communicate things and encountered resistance, he would always sort of talk me through it and realize there’s times to give and there’s times to hold firm. And you try to hold firm on those things that you know are going to create value and you try to give on the margin.
Relationships are a key part of baseball. And if there’s one thing that I say I look back at in my early years with the Cardinals and say maybe I could’ve done a little bit differently that would’ve helped me a little sooner was recognize – even in the case of the right answer – it’s not always worth damaging relationships and just forging ahead with what you truly believe is the right answer. There’s a way to create – you may have to slow down and wait a little bit; six months or maybe another year for the right answers to surface to the group. But if you avoid alienating people in the interim, it may actually end up helping the implementation of the right answer go more smoothly. Now, I came from a management consulting internet startup environment where it’s now, now, now and it’s die or succeed immediately and that was my wiring coming into baseball. Baseball has a way of making you slow down and say, ‘You know what? This game has been around a long time. It’s going to be around a long time.’ And so there’s a certain amount of respect and listening to other people, and there’s a certain amount of knowledge within the game that it takes a little bit of time to appreciate before you start redesigning everything and wanting results immediately. And I think it’s a natural transformation for most people. But because there are very few people who come into the industry after having three other careers like I did, I was a little more impatient and felt like I had a lot more to prove more quickly than other people did. That nurturing period happened in their early years when they were in their 20s, where they could really sit there, soak things in and observe and develop their points of view over time. But I think still to this day Bill is still the most influential person I’ve been connected to in the industry.
Owner Jim Crane’s influence on the Astros: The vision that we are executing is Jim’s vision. And Jim and his partners have very much alignment on a vision. And when I interviewed here, the whole discussion was about that vision. It happened to be very closely aligned to my skill set and my separate experiences, and I completely bought into how they saw it happening. Jim is very successful in his career and he comes from an overnight shipping/logistics business where things are done well and quickly and done right the first time. So that’s going to be the expectation for everybody throughout the organization. It probably means a slightly accelerated rate of change relative to an owner who came from a different mindset, had a different vision. I think in the case of the Houston Astros it’s a plus, because it’s allowing us to make more changes more quickly and to a certain extent rip the band-aid off. And so from that standpoint it’s great.
Jim is competitive, he wants to win, he’s been a winner his whole life. It’s going to push all of us to our limits to lose games next year and the year after – any loss is going to take its toll. If we’re not a.500 team next year, I think it’s going to be a struggle for all of us. But Jim and his partners, having said that, I believe there’s enough confidence in the strategy and the vision to recognize that things are going to go right, things are going to go wrong. The key success factors are the things we have to worry about getting right and executing against those things. And the results don’t always track your progress and there’ll be an understanding of that if the results aren’t what we expect them to be. I feel a lot of support and I feel a lot of alignment. And those are the two things at the end of the day that a general manager can’t ask for more than that. I’ve witnessed from the outside and potentially from the inside where the alignment isn’t there from the top all the way to the bottom and that leads to cross purposes and less progress than otherwise. I feel good about how we’re aligned and how much commitment there is to execute the strategy.
Exhausted or enjoying the job after a busy first year: I still derive a lot of energy from even the summer months, where we weren’t having a lot of success. Knowing [Brett] Wallace was going to get called up; knowing that Fernando Martinez was going to be here; that [Lucas] Harrell kept improving; that Wilton Lopez was feeling better and was going to be our closer. I definitely tend to see the glass half full and I think that’s what enables me to get through a season like we just had. I don’t want to ever have another season like that with that many losses again. I’m probably the losingest GM in the game, because I’ve only had one year and it was a bad year. But starting from that point, my goal is to take it to the other extreme, and to be here when we’re winning the 100 games and the championships. I feel – personally I feel privileged to be here. To be in a market that has the upside, with a management group and an ownership group that’s aligned. There’s so much ahead of us that I can sustain some short-term negative outcomes knowing that we’re doing the right things for the future. Again, I look back on this last year and I don’t consider it to be a losing year. Yes, we lost more games than we won at the big league level – way more. But I consider this year a victory in terms of the number of things we were able to accomplish that set us up for future success at the big league level.
… When I was a management consultant we worked extremely long hours. I started two technology companies from scratch, and when you’re an entrepreneur, you don’t sleep at all. Doing the work with the Cardinals, that was a lot of hard work. I ran player development, scouting, international and analytical – all four at once – and I was on planes all the time. I’ve never been – I get energized by a difficult task, by a challenging task. I wouldn’t say it’s been exhausting. If anything, it’s been the opposite: exhilarating and energizing. Because I can feel we’re making progress but I also recognize how much more there is to do. My first year, we got to do a lot of the things that we probably won’t do for a long time. We’re turning over a lot of front office, we’re turning over the field staff, we’ve done a lot of trades. There’s just a lot that we did this first year. The pace will not maintain at this level. If anything, I’m going to be looking for new changes. But exhaust is not a word that’s in my vocabulary.
Twitter: @ChronAstros"Volatile Disinfection Byproducts Resulting from Chlorination of Uric Acid: Implications for Swimming Pools"
Environmental Science & Technology
Sanitary-minded pool-goers who preach “no peeing in the pool,” despite ordinary and Olympic swimmers admitting to the practice, now have scientific evidence to back up their concern. Researchers are reporting that when mixed, urine and chlorine can form substances that can cause potential health problems. Their study appears in ACS’ journal Environmental Science & Technology.
Jing Li, Ernest Blatchley, III, and colleagues note that adding chlorine to pool water is the most common way to kill disease-causing microbes and prevent swimmers from getting sick. But as people swim, splash, play — and pee — in the pool, chlorine mixes with sweat and urine and makes other substances. Two of these compounds, including trichloramine (NCl 3 ) and cyanogen chloride (CNCl), are ubiquitous in swimming pools. The first one is associated with lung problems, and the second one can also affect the lungs, as well as the heart and central nervous system. But scientists have not yet identified all of the specific ingredients in sweat and urine that could cause these potentially harmful compounds to form. So Li’s team looked at how chlorine interacts with uric acid, a component of sweat and urine.
They mixed uric acid and chlorine, and within an hour, both NCl 3 and CNCl formed. Though some uric acid comes from sweat, the scientists calculated that more than 90 percent of the compound in pools comes from urine. They conclude that swimmers can improve pool conditions by simply urinating where they’re supposed to — in the bathrooms.
The authors acknowledge funding from the Chinese Universities Scientific Fund, the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the National Swimming Pool Foundation.Afghanistan: banking on apathy
Updated
On 26 March 2010 WikiLeaks published the 'CIA report into shoring up Afghan war support in Western Europe'. It appears that the CIA Red Cell invited communication experts to look at "information approaches" to better link the Afghan war to the priorities of French, German and other Western European publics.
One chilling aspect of the report is the heading "Why Counting on Apathy Might Not be Enough". After expressing concern that the fall of the Dutch Government over its troop commitment to Afghanistan shows the fragility of European support for the NATO-led ISAF mission, the report goes onto say "...The Afghanistan mission's low public salience has allowed French and German leaders to disregard popular opposition and steadily increase their troop contributions to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF)..."
Reading that made me wonder whether there is an Australian version of the report. If not, why not? Does the CIA think they can safely count on public apathy here?
They'd certainly be forgiven for thinking so, given that the war has attracted few large-scale peaceful protests, little sustained and vocal opposition, and above all negligible in-depth media coverage and debate, notwithstanding the release of:
• the July 2009 United Nations report 'Silence is Violence End the Abuse of Women in Afghanistan';
• the Afghanistan Millenium Development Goals Overview;
• the response given to a Senate Standing Committee late last year about the use of depleted uranium munitions in Afghanistan;
• the UNICEF 2010 Humanitarian Action Report;
• the secret cables from the US Ambassador to Afghanistan, Karl Eikenberry;
• the comments of US military commander General Stanley McChrystal;
• the House of Commons report'The legal basis for the invasion of Afghanistan'; or
• assessments of the war in Afghanistan made by the respected Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg, public intellectual Noam Chomsky and Phyllis Bennis, Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington.
[Doesn't this information lend the lie to Minister for Foreign Affairs Stephen Smith's latest public assurance, made to justify blocking refugees, that in Afghanistan there was now better security as well as constitutional and legal reform? And you'll notice that he seems to focus on changing circumstances for the Afghan Hazaras — who account for no more than 20 per cent of Afghanistan's population — but is silent on the plight of others, like the Afghan Pashtuns, who come from the major conflict zones. One wonders whether the move is really to block what is likely to be a mass exodus if civil war breaks out and Pashtuns become the target of the Tajik dominated Afghan National Army.]
In any case, the continued apathy of a population that treats these revelations as part of the "watch and forget" 24 hour news cycle must be a pretty safe bet.
Yet I'm optimistic that public opposition to the war in Afghanistan is widespread, that it will continue to grow and that eventually it will be galvanised. Perhaps it's misplaced optimism, but I agree with US Senator Morse who said in 1964, in opposing the war in Vietnam, "...I have complete faith in the American people to follow the facts if you give them..."
Australians aren't any different, and the "facts" - like the US propaganda aimed at faking legitimacy and engineering popular support, and the gruesome realities of the war and its destructive consequences - are steadily leaking out.
We're insulated from the realities of war when it is fought a long way away and when what we see and hear about it is so heavily censored and sanitised, first by our governments and then by our media, but truths eventually emerge and humanity eventually will then prevail.
The Stop the War Coalition (SAWA), and other groups continue to mine away, voicing their opposition in the face of what must be disheartening political and media disinterest. This week Business & Professional Women Australia issued a press release calling on the Government to withdraw Australian troops from Afghanistan and replace military spending by accountable expenditure on local institutional and social reconstruction.
Other organisations will no doubt follow when others realise that Afghanistan is a war without end and no benchmarks have been set for victory or defeat, and many more Australians will become active in their support in the face of incontrovertible facts like the harrowing video of US military personnel killing unarmed (Iraqi) civilians by raining down machine gun fire from a circling helicopter
What the final straw will be for the Australian public is anyone's guess. Perhaps the next, soon to be released Wikileaks video, which allegedly shows civilian killings in Afghanistan, will prove to be the catalyst. Perhaps it will be the rising toll of young Australian soldiers being killed and wounded and otherwise traumatised. Only time will tell.
But one thing is certain. War in any form is an abomination. It is not an act of kindness. War rains death and destruction on civilian populations with devastating personal and social consequences.
It's the duty of every citizen who opposes the war in Afghanistan to make their view known, whether in the press or at public gatherings, or by telling their elected representatives, or by discussing it with their friends and neighbours. It's time our politicians understood that we want our soldiers to be brought home to their families and the people of Afghanistan to be allowed to rebuild their lives.
Kellie Tranter is a lawyer and writer.
Topics: defence-and-national-security, world-politics
First postedCHICAGO -- Chicago Bulls All-Star swingman Jimmy Butler knows there is still a chance he could be traded, but he is trying to focus on finishing the season on a high note with the team that drafted him.
"You can always be moved," Butler said after Friday's shootaround. "I'm just here. I came in and practiced really well. I enjoyed my break. So I'm in high spirits right now."
The Bulls didn't move Butler after much speculation regarding a possible move to the Boston Celtics.
Editor's Picks Best, worst, most surprising at NBA trade deadline Who came out looking good at the trade deadline? Who didn't? Our experts give their best, worst and most surprising moves from the NBA trade deadline.
Bulls send forwards Gibson, McDermott to OKC The Thunder have acquired Taj Gibson, Doug McDermott and a second-round pick from the Bulls in exchange for forward Joffrey Lauvergne and guards Anthony Morrow and Cameron Payne. 1 Related
They did, however, make a trade before the deadline Thursday, sending veteran forward Taj Gibson, Doug McDermott and a 2018 second round pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for Cameron Payne, Joffrey Lauvergne and Anthony Morrow.
"Obviously, that's my guys, those two," Butler said. "That hasn't set in that they're my enemy now, but I think it will whenever we have to go up against each other."
Bulls executive vice president John Paxson made it very clear Thursday night that the Bulls didn't feel they were getting enough value back in any potential deal for Butler. He also said he felt like the Bulls were "with" Butler, not "around" him.
"No organization is the same," Butler said Friday, adding that he didn't take Paxson's comments personally. "Everybody operates differently. Everybody's got different personnel, different players. I don't care if anyone wants to build around me, just win. At the end of the day, you win, everything's fine. You're built around; you're not built around. Everybody's happy, so all of that is just background noise. I just want to win at all costs."
Paxson said he spoke to Butler on Thursday about the decisions that had been made. For his part, Butler didn't seem outwardly bothered by all the rumors surrounding his future.
"I think I have one job to do," Butler said. "It's not to worry about whether somebody's loyal or not. It's to go out there and hoop. I think [the front office] is going to put us in the best position possible to win games here. I think they're doing that. What they're doing is what they believe is right for this team. Our job is to go out there and make it work, win games to the best of our ability. Loyalty, no loyalty, go out there and compete."
Butler remains confident that the Bulls can clinch a playoff berth in the Eastern Conference. Paxson made it clear that whether the Bulls made the playoffs or not would have no bearing on what happens to Butler in the offseason.
For the time being, Butler is trying to block out the noise that will continue to hover around his future in Chicago.
"I can't think too far ahead or too far behind," Butler said. "I know that, right now, this is the organization I want to be with. These are the guys I want to compete with. These are the coaches I want to play for. That's all that I can really focus on. When everything else comes up then we'll worry about that, but right now I'm not going nowhere, baby."There are lone wolves, there are “known wolves,” and then there are the guys who tell you, “No, really, I’m going to do it.”
What happened here?
Youssef Zaghba, 22, was the third man shot dead by police during Saturday’s terrorist attack in central London. He had been notified to British and Moroccan authorities by Italian intelligence when Italian police intercepted him on 15 March 2016 at Bologna Airport with a one-way ticket for Istanbul, two officials said on condition of anonymity. He was stopped because he looked “agitated,” one source said. When questioned by police at the airport about the reasons for his journey, he replied, “I’m going to be a terrorist.” He was carrying no luggage. Police phoned his mother who, according to the source, said she had been worried about her son because he had talking about jihad. She told the Italian authorities that Zaghba was working in a Pakistani restaurant in London. The Italian authorities seized his phone and several sim cards but did not arrest him because he had not committed a crime. They did report him to the authorities in Bologna which began proceedings against him for terrorism offences.
Italian police did notify British security about Zaghba but only via a “routine communication” about a potential suspect, not an emergency alert requiring urgent scrutiny. Between this and the fact that one of the other jihadis appeared on a TV show about jihadism, imagine the sort of threats UK intelligence must be dealing with to render these two obviously dangerous cretins a low enough priority by comparison to let them fall through the cracks.
Jim Geraghty wonders how much longer it’ll be before Islamist rhetoric is itself a crime in the west warranting jail time. That won’t happen anytime soon in the U.S. due to SCOTUS’s broad protections for inflammatory speech under the First Amendment, but in the UK?
But when we’ve witnessed and endured Islamist terror attack after Islamist terror attack in one Western city after another, isn’t it fair to ask how many who call for an Islamist overthrow of the government and imposition of Sharia law are truly harmless? Is that a threshold where an angry young male who’s drifting into Islamism reaches and stops? Or is it a stepping stone on a path to launching an attack? Are there many young Muslims out there who say, “Yes, I want to see the U.K.’s traditional governing structure destroyed; stoning and beheading added to the system of criminal punishments; adultery, dishonor, and blasphemy added to the criminal code; the criminalization of homosexuality; the devaluing of the testimony of a female witness in court; the banning of conversion from Islam to another faith, the imposition of dhimmi status upon all non-Muslims… but I don’t want to be violent about it”?… Put another way, how many permanently nonviolent radicals are out there?
On the other hand, depending upon the results of Thursday’s election, maybe Britain is further away from criminalizing Islamism than we think.
Further to Geraghty’s point about “permanently nonviolent radicals,” here’s counterterror expert Maajid Nawaz on Fox this morning warning that the same jihadi who appeared on the TV show also attacked a member of his staff last year — and that police knew about it. He wasn’t nonviolent. So why wasn’t he tracked more closely?Colorado-based pastors Kevin Swanson and Dave Buehner were unsurprisingly mortified by a ruling against a Colorado bakery which discriminated against gay customers, leaving Buehner to wonder if schools will soon be “forced to hire Jerry Sandusky when he’s on parole.”
“What I think the homosexuals are doing is pressing into every nook and cranny of civil society,” Swanson said, urging on fundamentalist Christians to “impose God’s laws upon our systems, especially our political systems.”
He called on Christians to advocate for the recriminalization homosexuality…for freedom: “God’s laws require that we prosecute homosexuals who are caught in the act of homosexuality or the act of sodomy on the basis of two or three witnesses. If Christians would do that, if Christian pastors would do that then we would be able to hopefully press back the line upon those who are impressing their rights upon Christians who really need that religious freedom.”BART shooting captured on video BART shooting: Video footage of the fatal incident could play a crucial role in the investigation, but experts in the use of force say several interpretations are possible
This composite image, made from a cell phone video released by attorney John Burris, shows the moments before and immediately after Johannes Mehserle shot Oscar Grant on the Fruitvale BART station platform on Jan. 1, 2009. (Top left) BART police officers talk to Oscar Grant as he sits against the wall at the Fruitvale station platform. (Top right) Mehserle and another officer place Grant on his stomach. (Bottom left) Mehserle holds his gun after shooting Grant. (Bottom right) Mehserle looks up moments after discharging his weapon. less This composite image, made from a cell phone video released by attorney John Burris, shows the moments before and immediately after Johannes Mehserle shot Oscar Grant on the Fruitvale BART station platform on... more Photo: John Burris, Courtesy To The Chronicle Photo: John Burris, Courtesy To The Chronicle Image 1 of / 5 Caption Close BART shooting captured on video 1 / 5 Back to Gallery
The New Year's Day shooting death of Oscar Grant on an Oakland BART platform has been electronically re-enacted hundreds of thousands of times as videos of the incident are broadcast on television and spread over the Internet.
The videos now could play a critical role in the investigation into the shooting of Grant, 22, by BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle, 27.
Three videos made public so far show Grant's final moments from multiple angles in a way that could help investigators, attorneys and use-of-force experts determine whether the shooting was accidental, intentional or inexplicable.
The videos - taken by onlookers - have been downloaded more than 450,000 times from KTVU-TV's Web site, said William Murray, the site's managing editor. That's tantamount to two months' worth of downloads in a few days, he said. An annotated version of one video uploaded to YouTube on Sunday was averaging more than 1,000 views an hour.
"It's taken on a life of its own," said Murray. "It's one of those phenomenons of the Internet world."
BART spokesman Linton Johnson said the agency was troubled by the way the video footage had become a media sensation.
"It does a disservice to the integrity of the investigation because people form opinions, and then they can't give independent recollections of what they actually saw because they are tainted by the videos," Johnson said. "It's unfair to (Grant's) family, it's unfair to the police officer, and it's unfair to the public. But that's the world in which we live, and you have to adjust."
The Chronicle asked several use-of-force experts, many with years of experience training police officers and military personnel and several with decades of law enforcement experience, to analyze the videos - an endeavor several experts warned can be informative but also inconclusive.
Shooting in context
The videos begin with a chaotic scene: BART officers questioning and restraining several people as a crowd of onlookers - many wielding cameras - shout in protest from a nearby train. Several videos capture, from different angles, Mehserle and another officer speaking with and eventually moving to restrain Grant.
The trainers said the scene as shown in the video moments before the shooting would be as important to understanding what happened as the shooting itself.
"The four officers have to be operating under a high level of stress given the relatively confined setting and the people on the BART train who are expressing, in a very loud vocal fashion, their displeasure with the officers' actions," said Frank Borelli, a use-of-force expert in Maryland. "Those officers, should things go bad for them, are vastly outnumbered by a group of people who have already voiced their unhappiness with the police."
But other experts saw the moment differently.
"It's clear it was not a use-of-deadly-force situation," said Gregory D. Lee, a retired supervisory special agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration who has testified in federal use-of-force cases. "You've got more than enough manpower there to handle these guys."
Bruce Siddle, founder of Illinois-based PPCT Management Systems, a use-of-force training and research firm, agreed with Lee's interpretation.
"If you look at the officer's body language, it's clear in my mind he didn't believe he was in a deadly force situation," he said. "He's relaxed."
Seconds before the shooting, Mehserle and another officer apparently placed Grant on his stomach to be searched or handcuffed.
"Two officers appear to be struggling with Grant prior to the shot being fired," Borelli said. "This would indicate that, at best, Grant was being uncooperative, or at worst aggressively resisting arrest. I have to emphasize that no one except those two officers knows what happened in that struggle and how the officers perceived it."
Escalation of force
Several use-of-force trainers said it appeared that the struggle led the officer to change tactics.
"In my mind, what happened here was this guy was resisting," Siddle said. "And at some point there was a decision made... we can't control him, so we're going to use the Taser."
BART officials say some officers carry a Taser X26, a top-of-the-line model used by several other Bay Area police agencies. A BART spokesman said the Police Department started training to use the devices three or four months ago, but a source within BART said officers had only been using them on regular patrols since mid-December.
Agency police have not said whether Mehser |
Road) also shut down the same day. Looking at all the hue and cry about the city losing out on its legacy of Irani hotels, I asked him if it bothered him that no one was similarly upset about the historic non-Irani hotels closing down. This was also a legacy, a culture that the city was losing out on. “Not one bit,” he said. “Especially after all that outburst of love that I have been receiving for the past couple of days, it doesn’t hurt.”
“You are right about the culture bit,” he went on. “What is culture, if not food? When we talk about preserving culture, we need to begin with preserving food. Culture does not mean going to the temple every day. It means a particular way of life, which we are losing, slowly but steadily. It’s heartbreaking, but true. Within the next four or five years, you might not find authentic missal or even authentic dosa anywhere in this city. Food habits are changing, which is fine really. But this is costing us some real rich culture.”
Nothing was ever done by any of the local political parties, even though the ones in power should have endorsed the restaurant, since we otherwise keep hearing about them taking to violence to ‘preserve’ Marathi culture. So wasn’t anyone in power really doing anything? “The government has the same set of rules for restaurants of all grades. This is what hurts most! Grade I restaurants don’t suffer much, because their prices are so exorbitant, their costumers actually end up paying taxes, not them. Whereas with smaller, Grade II and III restaurants, there isn’t scope to do so,” he said to me. “So what happens in our case is that we don’t charge you, we pay the government from our gross profits. These rules and regulations don’t work much in our favour,” he added.
So what next, I asked him, to which he quickly said, “Viva Kitchen is still running.” Viva Kitchen is another, smaller restaurant a few shops next to New Sardar, selling a variety of North Indian and Chinese dishes, mainly catering to takeaways and home deliveries. After a short pause he added, “I’m going to take a couple of months off before I get into planning what I want to do next. All good things need to come to an end. You cannot do new things if you stick on to doing older ones,” he said, smiling as he waved at and went over to entertain yet another old well-wisher who had just walked in.
Shruti Shenoy is a copy editor with iamin.in. She tweets at @shrootishenoy.This is the LAST Brooks/Vicki/Cancer post today. Pinky Swear. Vicki Gunvalson sat down with Extra’s Mario Lopez to share her side of the story now that Brooks Ayers has confessed that he doctored up fake chemo bills and City of Hope denied his being a patient of theirs. The Real Housewives of Orange County star confesses that she hates Brooks and she still swears she was at City of Hope with him and had no idea he was being dishonest.
Vicki starts off, “I’m completely shocked. I’ve seen the bills, I went to City Of Hope. He was there all morning so how do you think anything other than ‘he’s getting chemo’, you go to City Of Hope because you have cancer, not because you have nothing else to do during the day.”
She says she started to get suspicious as filming was wrapping up. “I think that towards the end of filming, with the start of the psychic and Tamra saying the psychic didn’t see cancer, I thought well then cool, he’s cured, but then it was this didn’t make sense and why is he switching doctors, he was at City of Hope then he switched over to Hoag. And at the end of the day, I thought that’s his journey.”
Vicki is still baffled that he pulled this over on her. “I’m guilty of loving him and believing him, who hasn’t believed someone that you loved. And why would you lie about cancer when I’ve had three friends die of it in the last two years, I had my dearest friend just die of stomach cancer.”
RELATED: MEGHAN, TAMRA AND SHANNON REACT
She said that Brooks didn’t want to talk about his cancer on screen. “He really didn’t want to talk about it on the air and he didn’t film that much this year, so I just thought ok, we’ll mention it…I thought it was just gonna be over and done, I didn’t want to promote it, I didn’t want to talk about it, but the problem is you’re filming a reality show.”
Vicki says she was NOT in on any of the lies. “I think they thought I was in on a scam, my life is so abundant, I didn’t need to make a fake storyline and I sure as hell wouldn’t make it up about Brooks…As god as my witness, I would never want to make something up like this, it’s actually quite sick. I’m embarrassed, I want to tell the girls I’m sorry.”
Vicki blames herself for trusting Brooks and says it’s party because she’s from the Midwest. “Because I trust, I trust what you tell me right now is the truth, I’m from the mid-west, I was born that you trust and honor the person you’re in love with, why would I think he would be lying to me, what would be his benefit. The lies had to be enormous, what he went through to make this lie up.”
What she’d like to say to Brooks: “Karma.” She adds, “I hate him, I hate him with everything in me and I don’t hate people, but I believed him, I trusted him, I defended him, took a bullet for him when people didn’t like him.”
Vicki’s entire sit down will air tomorrow on Extra.
TELL US – DO YOU BELIEVE HER?
Photo Credit: TwitterThe Kimball Theatre has proven a useful venue for many of the university’s formal and informal events over the years. Photo by Erin Zagursky
Kimball Theatre: The Kimball Theatre has proven a useful venue for many of the university’s formal and informal events over the years. Photo by Erin Zagursky
Venue will be used as interim instruction and performance space during PBK renovations
The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation has signed a three-and-a-half-year lease agreement with William & Mary to operate the Kimball Theatre in Merchants Square.
The agreement, which runs through January 2021 and has options for annual renewals, will provide a venue for William & Mary instruction and programming during the upcoming renovation of the Phi Beta Kappa Hall mainstage theatre and will keep the Kimball open during this period.
“The Kimball Theatre has long had a significant place in our community,” said William & Mary President Taylor Reveley. “We are delighted to work with our neighbors at Colonial Williamsburg to give the Theatre a renewed lease on life.”
Colonial Williamsburg announced plans last month to close the Kimball Theatre July 6 as part of a comprehensive effort to reduce costs, stabilize its financial future and focus resources on its core educational mission.
"Putting the Foundation’s finances in order and focusing on our core mission required tough decisions, among them closing the Kimball Theatre. Like so many in our community, I love the Kimball and regularly attend events there with my family,” said Colonial Williamsburg President and CEO Mitchell Reiss.
“We’re very pleased that a key local partner and friend, the city’s oldest institution – William & Mary – has stepped forward to operate this important cultural institution,” Reiss added. “It is a win for our two organizations, students of the College and all those in the community who hoped we could find a way to save the Kimball, and I look forward to returning for events in the years to come.”
Sam Jones, senior vice president for finance and administration, said William & Mary’s primary use of the theatre will be for theatre instruction and performances as well as performances by other university groups. To the extent possible when not in use by W&M, the university will make the theatre available for community use.
“This space provides us interim instructional and performance space while PBK renovations are underway,” said Jones, adding the university’s intent is not to determine or limit the long-term use of the Kimball Theatre. “The lease period provides time for the community to develop a long-term plan for the theatre’s viability.”
William & Mary’s multi-phase Arts Quarter project is scheduled to take PBK Hall offline for renovations beginning next year. Planning for the renovation is underway and construction is scheduled to begin in summer 2018. The university looked at various campus alternatives to PBK during the renovation but available options were already in use, not suitable for the needs of departments or cost prohibitive, Jones said.
The Kimball Theatre has proven a useful venue for many of the university’s formal and informal events over the years. It is home to the annual William & Mary Global Film Festival as well as choral, music, dance and theatre productions.
While not in use by academic departments, W&M will manage the theatre’s scheduling through W&M’s Conference and Event Services, similar to the current arrangement for the Lake Matoaka Amphitheatre. For fall 2017 and spring 2018, Jones said, W&M will be reviewing commitments in place with Colonial Williamsburg before the foundation announced the theatre’s closure. Each event will be evaluated on an individual basis, he said, and the university is in the process of developing a firm plan for the venue. Groups interested in scheduling the theatre can contact Conference and Events Services at 757-221-4084, 1-800-249-0179 or via email at wmconf@wm.edu.
“We’re very early in the planning for the theatre but we’re working on specifics on scheduling, pricing for community use and the process to reserve the space,” Jones said. “We believe this agreement will benefit the university, Colonial Williamsburg and the community.”
This press release was jointly created by William & Mary and Colonial Williamsburg.By Donald A. Collins | 14 May 2013
Church and State
In the daily media, we are deluged with religious figures entreating us to consider our salvation. Usually these requests promise eternal existence in the hereafter, coupled with the implication that failing to support the proper brand of faith can only lead to certain eradication.
Taking this phenomenon into more secular place, we would urge the consideration of something which to the hereafter folks may seem irrelevant!! The salvation of humans and ALL other living things on Planet Earth.
As with Ernest Thayer’s poem about Casey at the Bat, “the outlook wasn’t brilliant” and we all know Casey’s fate. Or do we? Anything of a generation or two ago, including such events as WWII are largely forgotten by today’s young.
Anyway, the redoubtable Joe Bish of Population Media tells us,
Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin is an under-secretary-general and executive director of the United Nations Population Fund; as such, when he writes an op-ed that is published by CNN, it is worth sending out. In the first article below, Osotimehin looks at a case study from Niger, where special “School for Husbands” work to engage the men of Niger on the promotion of family planning in the country — no doubt a worthy cause. The second article today is a report on the drive to ensure that the post MDG development goals of the United Nations (after the MDGs expire in 2015) deliver a bold statement and specific references to women’s health rights. This would help close the gap in global unmet need for family planning. Unfortunately, some developing countries and the Holy See (as usual) are trying to block progress for women by advocating against references to reproductive health and rights in the post MDG framework.
You can read both of these worthy pieces by accessing the attached prompts.
However, my purpose here is to make two simple but closely related points about non religious salvation. 1. Many learned expert humanitarian voices have long opined about human numbers and the need to make contraceptive and abortion access for women completely open and free as fast as possible. 2. Likewise, environmentalists plead for survival of non human flora and fauna, noting as my piece quoting the famed naturalist documentary film maker, Sir David Attenborough begins, “says we need to limit population growth or the natural world will do it for us.” He sees human numbers as a plague on the Earth and articulates its likely fatal consequences, not only for human deaths but for our life sustaining environments.
As Joe Bish’s CNN offering tells us, the primary impediment to women’s liberation from unwanted childbearing. MEN.
Somehow, that male sex, as Malcom Potts, UC Berkeley Professor of International Family Planning and his co author, Thomas Hayden tell us in their 2008 book, “Sex and War: How Biology Explains Warfare and Terrorism and Offers a Path to a Safer World” has a proven history of being the engine of war and one must relentlessly infer the continuing war on women by failing to recognize their human rights to decide about when to bear a child. (Benbella Books, Dallas, TX 2008)
With endorsements from high profile people such as Jane Goodall, founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and world’s leading expert on our nearest to human primate, the chimpanzee, one can fully expect to find this book scientifically credible. It is a highly readable must read.
Sex and War will no doubt excite attention from all among the human species who still can read and think. Since that is quite a small minority, my fear is that its urgent and insightful theme will enjoy even among that sliver only an Andy Warholian 15 minutes of fame. Better not!
You may not be surprised to be told that the authors show with solid empirical proof that it is primarily male humans who bring us war, but perhaps you are unaware or unmindful of the driving force of male war making tendencies since the dawn of human history, the sex drive.
British born and Cambridge educated, Dr. Potts, now Bixby Professor at UC Berkeley, an obstetrician and research biologist has pursued his humanitarian work worldwide, including helping women in Bangladesh after the War of Liberation in 1972, then in countless other climes torn by conflicts. I met Malcolm in the 1960’s when he was the first Medical Director of International Planned Parenthood Federation in London and since have served on several boards and done many travels with him. His co-author, Hayden, a freelance journalist, who is no relation to the Vietnam War Berkeley firebrand, Tom Hayden, also co-authored a 2007 book “On Call in Hell: A Doctor’s Iraq War Story” with Cdr Rick Jadick, whose experience in ministering to wounded there brought high accolades from readers.
Rather ironically Hayden’s book truly may have helped spark his participation in Sex and War, for while tales of heroism and selfless bravery in battle are the historical standards for all such stories, “Sex and War” reminds us of our biological evolution. After all, for much of human history the most successful and dominant males went to war, took the spoils and raped women in asserting that dominance. You know, Genghis Khan, etc.
One can see why Goodall could be so enthusiastic about this book, since Sex and War shows how close to chimpanzee behavior humans are. Bands of young males raid rival territories, finding the fittest females in classic Darwinian behavior, and thus benefitting the next generations.
The step up description from chimps to humans allows the authors to cite similar behavior found in tribal wars, among inner city street gangs, and then in full warfare, whose aftermath Potts personally helped deal with in Bangladesh when helping war-raped women. Terrorists in our day obviously are imbued with stories of heroic male behavior, which is more powerful than the reported financial inducements. A comparatively benign manifestation of aggressive male behavior can be observed at NFL football games both on the field and in the stands.
Potts’ understanding of the urgency of dealing with our now overpopulated planet leads to explanations of how that crowding leads to wars, again entered into often with enthusiasm by young males, motivated by patriotism, excitement over battle, or even escape from dull underemployment or unemployment. The authors then most logically point to one way of cutting terrorism and the risk of wars (of which we now see so many going on around the world) and “a path to a safer world” among nations we now can see are “failed” or getting close to failing is by lowering birth rates through planned parenting, birth control, and, yes, abortion. The authors clearly show that rarely in history have women been combatants.
Understand that Potts’ wife, Martha Campbell, who co-authored significant chapters, like her husband brings extensive scholarship and worldwide travel to bear on illuminating a modern woman’s view. While such views remain still far from full acceptance in many cultures, including our own, the book’s strong recommendation for more women’s education as a major contributor to better family planning availability and fewer unplanned pregnancies surely is de rigueur among anyone doing strategic thinking about solving our pressing global problems.
The deep biological nature of human evolution will not be altered easily. The world remains dominated by male leaders who all too often feel so bloody good about solutions than seem to require bloodletting. One could point to our Iraq invasion and countless prior sorties into battle which could have been avoided by less testosterone dominated negotiations.
Perhaps as the number of nations armed with nuclear weapons grows, as it surely will, major powers may be more globally fixated on planetary survival by means proposed by the authors. But then again, perhaps not. And of course people who purport to bring us absolute security have in history often led us to absolute tyranny.
Potts had co-authored with world renowned anthropologist, Roger Short, a ground breaking earlier book, “Ever since Adam and Eve: The Evolution of Human Sexuality” in 1999 which I reviewed for Amazon, writing “that the main evolutionary drive for humans and mammals generally has been and is SEX, for the key to our existence is the need to produce the BEST next generation. For many this book will prove an epiphany of understanding, a creation of more reverence for life, but one not based on the mythology of religion, but on the clear facts of science.” Now in the nuclear age, where planetary destruction looms in multiple forms both nuclear and environmental we best find a new modus vivendi one which will provide a workable form of making love, but without war.
A path to be taken to be sure, but the nature of the male seems inevitably to lead us away from peace and the human rights which must attend any substantial planet wide conversion of the present path to certain tragedy.
Yes, the salvation folks will offer you a future, but personally the one I suggest herein would likely win in a world wide election–or would it? The polling has begun and is well along a path which has already proved dangerous and uncertain.
Former US Navy officer, banker and venture capitalist, Former US Navy officer, banker and venture capitalist, Donald A. Collins, a free lance writer living in Washington, DC., has spent over 40 years working for women’s reproductive health as a board member and/or officer of numerous family planning organizations including Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Guttmacher Institute, Family Health International and Ipas. Yale under graduate, NYU MBA. He is the author of From the Dissident Left: A Collection of Essays 2004-2013
Robert Engelman: Why the Population Taboo
Population growth as an issue has been given short shrift for several decades. Robert Engelman, president of Worldwatch Institute, outlines the reasons in this clip from an interview filmed for the documentary, GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth. To order the film or find a screening near you, visit www.growthbusters.org
Be sure to ‘like’ us on FacebookCBS News’s Major Garrett asked President Obama at a press conference Wednesday if he was “content” with four Americans held in Iranian jails while his administration celebrated the nuclear deal. “Can you tell the country, sir, why you are content with all the fanfare around this deal to leave the conscience of this nation, the strength of this nation unaccounted for in relation to these four Americans?” Garrett asked. “That’s nonsense and you should know better,” Obama bit back. “Nobody’s ‘content’ and our diplomats and our teams are working diligently to try to get them out.” Garrett later brushed off the scolding on CBS’s news streaming network, saying, “Clearly, it struck a nerve. That was my intention...Was it provocative? Yes. Was it intended to be as such? Absolutely.” The Daily Beast’s Shane Harris reported yesterday that the Americans came up during negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program. “We believe very strongly that this is an opportunity for Iran to let the Americans come home,” an administration official said.Opposites attract. That’s how the cliché goes, and people really believe they are attracted to those different from them: 86 percent say they want a partner who “complements them” rather than one who “resembles them.”
There’s only one problem with this idea: It’s false. I studied 1 million matches made by the online dating website eHarmony’s algorithm, which aims to pair people who will be attracted to one another and compatible over the long term; if the people agree, they can message each other to set up a meeting in real life. eHarmony’s data on its users contains 102 traits for each person — everything from how passionate and ambitious they claim to be to how much they say they drink, smoke and earn.
The data reveals a clear pattern: People are interested in people like themselves. Women on eHarmony favor men who are similar not just in obvious ways — age, attractiveness, education, income — but also in less apparent ones, such as creativity. Even when eHarmony includes a quirky data point — like how many pictures are included in a user’s profile — women are more likely to message men similar to themselves. In fact, of the 102 traits in the data set, there was not one for which women were more likely to contact men with opposite traits.
Men were a little more open-minded. For 80 percent of traits, they were more willing to message those different from them. They still preferred mates who were similar in terms of height or attractiveness, but they cared less about these traits — and they didn’t care much at all about other things women cared about, like similarity in education level or number of photos taken. They cared less about whether their match shared their ethnicity.
Women prefer similarity in subtler ways as well: A woman shows a small but highly statistically significant preference for a man who uses similar adjectives to describe himself, with “physically fit,” “intelligent,” “creative” and “funny” having the strongest effects. Men showed no such preference.
There are some nuances here. Messaging may not be an honest reflection of attraction if the people doing the messaging fear rejection (although economists have found that such “strategic behavior” is minimal in online dating). For another thing, the matches people message depend on the options eHarmony’s algorithm gives them, and that sample is skewed toward similar people. Jonny Beber, an eHarmony scientist, explained to me that the algorithm tries to optimize immediate attraction and long-term compatibility, and that because the company believes that “opposites attract … and then attack,” this usually means pairing similar people. Since eHarmony publicizes this fact, the site may well attract online daters who are sympathetic to its philosophy.
The eHarmony data I used is incomplete: It includes no gay couples, because eHarmony does not make same-sex matches on its main site. But Beber has studied data from the company’s same-sex dating site, Compatible Partners, and said similarity predicts long-term relationship satisfaction in gay couples, just as it does in straight couples. He also noted that there were differences in what traits matter to gay people, something the online dating site OkCupid has also found: Gay men and women differ from straight people in their racial preferences, for example.
eHarmony’s data set does show us that in addition to preferring similarity across traits, women seem to know that their preferences are stronger. Before feeding their choices into its algorithm, eHarmony asks users to rate how strongly they feel about nine traits — among them age, ethnicity and religion — and women express stronger preferences for every one.
This got me wondering, how self-aware are people in general? Does what they claim they care about align with their messaging behavior? It often does. People with high incomes and high degrees of education claim that income and education matter to them more, and they display an especially large messaging preference for potential mates with high incomes and educations. Members who say religion matters more to them show stronger preferences about their match’s religion.
But for other traits people appear to be confused, or lying. People of every age claim that age matters to them about the same amount — they rate it about 4.5 on a scale where 1 is “not at all important” and 7 is “very important” — but older men show much stronger age preferences in whom they message. Everyone claims that ethnicity matters to them about the same amount (4.2), but some ethnicities show much stronger preferences. Men are more likely to message women who drink more even if they claim to want women who don’t drink at all. (This remained true even when I controlled for attractiveness, age and whether the woman messaged the man, and even when I looked only at men who rated their drinking preference as important.)
So we can break down the general idea of “birds of a feather flock together” even further, into two patterns:
The simple pattern: People who display a certain trait prefer other people who display that trait; people who don’t prefer people who don’t. The subtler pattern: Everyone prefers people with a certain trait, but people who have the trait themselves display a stronger preference for other people with that trait.
Height illustrates both these patterns. Men follow the first: Short men prefer short women, and tall men prefer tall women. Women follow the second: All women prefer taller men, but tall women display a stronger preference for tall men. For intelligence, women follow the first pattern: Those who describe themselves as intelligent prefer men who describe themselves as intelligent, and women who don’t prefer men who don’t. Men follow the second pattern: All men prefer women who describe themselves as intelligent, but men who describe themselves as intelligent display a stronger preference.
In general, widely considered positive traits, like attractiveness or physical fitness, tend to follow the second pattern: Everyone prefers hotter, fitter people, but hot, fit people show a stronger preference for people like them. If we compute “eHarmony status” — how often a user is asked out by their matches — we find it also follows this pattern: Everyone prefers high-status users, but high-status users show a stronger preference for other high-status users. (It’s possible that they don’t really feel a stronger preference, but merely feel more confident in their ability to win a fellow high-status mate.)
On the other hand, traits whose optimal value is more arguable — like whether you have children or what religion you follow — tend to follow the first pattern. Those with children preferred those with children; those without preferred those without. And people generally prefer those of their own religion.
In a final effort to find opposites who attracted on eHarmony, I decided to look for the cliché example: sugar daddies. But even here, the data failed me. Of course, in a dataset of a million couples, you’ll find some who fit the sugar daddy stereotype: a younger and more attractive woman matched with an older, wealthier man. And it is true that more attractive women are more influenced by the man’s income when deciding whether to message him: Unattractive women aren’t much affected by a man’s income, but very attractive women are much more likely to message men with higher incomes. But this is true for men as well, and it isn’t necessarily a sugar daddy phenomenon — maybe more attractive people can just afford to be pickier. The sugar daddy stereotype fails in other ways as well. Women who message significantly older men were calculated to be less attractive than those men, and I could find no evidence that they cared more about income, or less about attractiveness, than women paired with men their own age. If you’re an aspiring sugar daddy, eHarmony may not be for you.
I also looked for opposites attracting in other online dating data. I spoke to Christian Rudder, founder of OkCupid, which has a rich and idiosyncratic data set. To find potential matches, users submit and answer hundreds of questions ranging from, “In a certain light, wouldn’t nuclear war be exciting?” to, “Would you consider sleeping with someone on the first date?” He believes there are obvious questions where opposites would attract, and when I joined OkCupid to explore this (my boyfriend was displeased) I found several questions, or traits, for which it seemed like this must be true: You can’t both be on top, for example.
Perhaps the most striking confirmation of the idea that birds of a feather flock together comes from the data of 23andMe, the genetics company where I work. We make genetic discoveries by combining DNA from saliva samples with thousands of survey questions, some of which you might find on a dating site — “Have you ever cheated on a long-term relationship partner or spouse?” — but many you wouldn’t — “Has a doctor ever diagnosed you with Parkinson’s disease?” We can use our genetic data to find men and women who have had a child together, which lets us see whether similar people tend to pair up using a very different data set. These couples have actually met (and mated, though we don’t know if they’re still together), they’re sometimes answering questions about matters of life and death, and they have much less incentive to lie.
Here, too, my 23andMe colleague Aaron Kleinman and I found that birds of a feather flock together: For 97 percent of the traits we examined, couples were positively correlated. Former smokers tended to pair with former smokers, the apologetic with the apologetic, the punctual with the punctual. It is worth noting that causality may go in both directions: Perhaps you’re attracted to your partner because he, like you, was on time for your first date; it’s also possible that he was initially incorrigibly late, but after you fell in love you trained him. (We also found some examples where opposites attracted: Morning people tended to pair with night owls, and people with a good sense of direction with those who lacked one.)
There are at least three reasons we so often message and eventually mate with the similar. Before we even meet, myriad forces guide us away from people who are different from us — work, schooling, eHarmony’s algorithm. When we are exposed to matches, we tend to pursue people who are similar. And after we start dating, we may grow to be even more alike. In the face of these forces, it’s perhaps small wonder that the dimensions along which opposites attract hide in the statistical shadows.
But even believers in algorithmic approaches to love acknowledge these shadows exist. Dan Ariely, an economist who studies online dating, compares people to wine — you may like them for reasons you can’t quantify. The scientists I spoke to at eHarmony and OkCupid agreed. As rich as their data sets are, the uncertainty of that first meeting remains.
Correction (April 10 6:35 p.m.): An earlier version of this article misidentified eHarmony’s website for same-sex dating; it is Compatible Partners, not Compatible Couples.How 'Twilight,' other dark fiction affect teen brains
By Valerie Strauss
Scientists, authors and education experts are meeting this weekend at Cambridge University to investigate how the teenage brain is affected or altered by reading the "Twilight" saga, the "Harry Potter" series and other books that invite fear and anxious emotional responses.
Edward Cullen altering the teen brain? This is one education conference that I would have enjoyed attending. (I have two teenage daughters.)
It turns out, according to the organizer of the interdisciplinary conference, called "The Emergent Adult -- Adolescent Literature and Culture,” that fiction with dark themes does indeed alter teen brains in sometimes important ways.
The conference is bringing together scientists, authors and education experts to make connections between recent neuroscience research and the representation of the adolescent in literature, film, computer games and social networking sites. Participants are looking at the physiological, psychological, chemical and sociological effects of reading teenage fiction, said organizer Maria Nikolajeva, who is the first director of the Cambridge/Homerton Research and Training Center for Children’s Literature, which is dedicated to studying children’s media.
The trend for darkness and dystopia in children’s literature reflects concerns in the wider, adult world, Nikolajeva said. A hundred years ago, books for kids were dominated with stories about boys having adventures and girls finding husbands; then, from the 1950s to the 1970s, the themes were emerging sexuality and parental conflict.
Inside the teenage brain, synapses are breaking and reforming, and the chemistry keeps changing. Teenagers can’t make decisions in the same way adults can, Nikolajeva said, and she noted that authors, filmmakers and game developers have a moral obligation to make sure that their works contain some positive ethic.
To find out more, including about what parents should do, I e-mailed Nikolajeva. Here’s the discussion, and if you have further questions you’d like me to ask, please send them to me at theanswersheet@washpost.com.
Q. Let me start by asking you this: Are kids’ brains really changed after they read the "Twilight" saga or "Harry Potter"? What does change mean, anyway, in this context?
A. We have always known that encounters with art and literature affect our senses. We feel joy, sorrow, fear, anxiety, grief. We empathize with the characters. We learn from them about ourselves and about other people. What we know today from neuroscience is that there are spots in the brain that are responsible for these feelings, that it is possible to identify parts of the brain affected by reading or watching a film. Adolescent brain goes through a significant and rapid change; everything that affects it leaves deep imprints. Very dark fiction creates and amplifies a sense of insecurity, which is typical of adolescence; but it can also be a liberation, when readers "share" their personal experience with that of fictional characters. So yes, all readers’ brains are changed after they have read a book, but teenage brains are especially perceptive and therefore vulnerable.
What kind of "deep imprints"? Does deep mean lasting?
Yes, both lasting and delving deeply into the mind.
About the notion of vulnerability: Is there a possibility that an exclusive diet of such material could negatively affect some teens?
Definitely. Here comes the question of responsibility. Writers who address young audience should, in an ideal world, be very careful about what they say. Exactly because teenage brains lack the ability to make judgments. In plain words, they may get wrong ideas. Not because they are stupid, but because their brains are wired like that. Because they are socially and emotionally unstable. The so-called social brain is under development during adolescence. Small children presumably do and believe what they are told to. Adolescents start to think for themselves, they interrogate, they doubt.
What does modern brain research tell us about the differences between adult and kids brains when it comes to reading?
So far it is all basic emotions: joy, sorrow, fear. But teenage readers can get extremely engaged with what they read, for instance, "fall in love" with fictional characters. Once again, not because they are stupid, but because there is so much going on in the brain (synapses that get pruned, other connections made, etc.) that it gets confusing, as if you were watching 10 movies at the same time. By the way, teenagers do -- perhaps not watch 10 movies, but listen to music, chat, blog, watch, read, all at the same time. With adults, it gets much more quiet. As adults we can take distance from what we read or see. For teenagers, it’s all real and close.
What is the best research telling us about how kids read on screens vs. paper?
There are several papers at the conference addressing this question, and different opinions. Some say it does not matter whether we read linear texts (traditional, printed texts) or non-linear, printed or visual or multimedia. Some are worried that traditional reading skills disappear. The best research is just about starting [to investigate] these issues. They are sensitive because they deal with traditional educational values.
Serious research should be free from moral panic. There is a lot to be studied, not least through neuroscience. What we do know is that young people whose mother tongue is not English get considerably better skills in English because of social media. They simply need to be able to read and write. This may be true of English-language kids, too.
How is the conference being organized? Tell me a little about the focus of different sessions.
The idea of the conference is to have an active scholarly discussion, so papers have been circulated in advance, and the sessions will be working sessions with discussants, and with panelists commenting on each other’s papers. The main point is to mix disciplines, so a literary scholar, a psychologist and a sociologist may meet within the same session (rather than putting all psychology papers in the same session). There are papers about real adolescents and fictional adolescents and virtual adolescents (e.g. blogs). And a variety of topical issues, such as identity, sexuality, social engagement, gender. And also art, music, media and popular culture.
It is also a mix of established and beginning scholars, and good international mix -- 20 countries. The main goal, for me, is to make connections. It all started when a sociology colleague at the faculty said to me: "And what do you know about adolescents?" So I decided we needed to talk to each other across disciplines and share what we know.
The idea that kids fall in love with fictional characters is so true. I’ve seen it happen. But what is the danger there? Can this affect their view of reality in a negative way?
Yes, because fictitious characters are not like real people; usually -- not always -- they are less complex, more predictable, their behavior may be driven by the plot rather than by psychological motivation, and it can be very confusing for young people. Especially in popular culture where all girls are beautiful and all men strong and handsome. Literature and art are not direct images of reality, and you need to be a mature reader/viewer to understand the fictional reality. A young girl who falls in love with a literary character may get problems with social relationships in real life.
Please talk a little bit about the trend in young people’s literature.
Well, this would take a couple of hours. YA fiction is about the marginal situation between childhood and adulthood. Childhood is over, but it was secure and somewhat straightforward. Adulthood is enticing, but uncertain and strange. The body changes unpredictably. The mind is out of control. Nothing is stable |
30 prior to the year of the effective contract), the players individual cap hit counts against the teams cap hit regardless of whether, or where, the player is active. However, there is one circumstance in which there is a cap hit reduction, a team will receive a $100,000 relief off of the teams salary cap hit, if a player is playing in the minor leagues after the first year of their contract.The 35+ rule was introduced in the 2005 CBA and was intended to prevent teams from burying veteran players in the AHL, or from front-loading contracts to draw players to signing with them. One result of the rule is that it has lead to teams signing short one or two year contracts with veteran players, to prevent the possibility of being stuck with the players full cap hit if they are injured or unable to produce.On a related note, over the previous couple years there has been significant confusion as to whether a buyout does or does not receive a cap benefit for 35-plus contract. The most recent understanding is that bought out 35-plus contracts doreceive a cap hit benefit, as is explained by Michael Russo. More details on this are available at the Buyout FAQ
Is there a deadline to sign players each year?
Restricted Free Agents who do not sign contracts by December 1 of a given year will be ineligible to play within the league for the remainder of that season.
If a RFA signs after the season starts, how is their cap hit calculated?
When a restricted free agent signs a contract after the NHL season has already begun, their cap hit for the first year is greater than the contracts annual average, and similarly the cap hit of the remaining years is less than that of the annual average.
A notable aspect of the following calculation is that the sum of the cap hit values is greater than if the contract was signed before season start (and used the normal AAV calculation; monetary value of the contract divided by the total years)
The cap hit of the years after the first year of the contract is calculated first:
Cap hit after the first year = (First year salary * season days remaining / total season days + contract value remaining) / contract years
The first years cap hit is then calculated:
First years cap hit = cap hit after the first year * total season days / season days remaining
Example:
Hampus Lindholm of the Anaheim Ducks signed a $31,500,000 contract on Oct 27, 2016 in the 2016-17 season. There were 164 days remaining in the season on this date. The contract break down was as follows:
2016-17: $3,000,000
2017-18: $6,000,000
2018-19: $6,750,000
2019-20: $5,250,000
2020-21: $3,750,000
2021-22: $6,750,000
Total: $31,500,000
Annual Average: $5,250,000
The cap hit values are calculated as follows:
Cap hit (2017-18 to 2021-2022) = ($3,000,000 * 164 / 180 + $28,500,000) / 6 = $5,205,556
Cap hit (2016-17) = $5,205,556 * 180 / 164 = $5,713,415
The cap hit breakdown is therefore as follows:
2016-17: $5,713,415
2017-18: $5,205,556
2018-19: $5,205,556
2019-20: $5,205,556
2020-21: $5,205,556
2021-22: $5,205,556
Total: $31,741,294
Average: $5,290,216If you read our review of the Chase Sapphire Reserve card and are still apprehensive about the $450 annual fee, then perhaps the Chase Sapphire Preferred card is a better option for you. With an annual fee of $95 that kicks in during your second year and a 50,000 point sign up bonus, this card offers slightly less in terms of rewards for a less intimidating annual fee. We’ve both used this card in the past, and managed to rack up enough points to book multiple flights, car rentals and hotels in a short amount of time. While we’d still consider the Reserve to be the best premium card on the market, the Preferred card is probably your best bet for a mid-tier travel card.
Source: Chase
The Perks
50,000 point sign-up bonus once you spend $4,000 in the first three months.These points have a value of $625 when redeemed for flights, car rentals, or hotels through Chase Ultimate Rewards.
No foreign transaction fees.
2 points earned for every dollar spent on travel or dining.
1 point earned for every dollar spent on all other purchases.
Breaking Even
Even if you never used this card again after the first three months, the $625 bonus would cover six and a half years of the annual fee (7.5 considering there’s no annual fee year 1). That’s a compelling case in itself. If you really wanted to, you could sign up for the card, earn the sign up bonus, and then roll it into a no annual fee Chase Freedom card and pocket the $625 before ever having to pay an annual fee. But let’s just assume you actually plan to use this as your primary credit card. The value of each point is 1.25 cents when used to book travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards, so in order to offset your annual fee, you’d need to accumulate at least 7,600 points per year. Here are a few ways to do that:
Spend $633/month exclusively on non-dining/non-travel related purchases. This is the absolute most you would need to spend to break even.
Spend $317/month exclusively on dining and travel related purchases (these earn two points per dollar spent). This is the minimum you’d need to spend to break even.
Depending on how much you use the card for dining and travel, you could spend anywhere between $317 and $633/month in order to cover your annual fee. Obviously you’ll want to do more than just break even but those are the hurdles you’ll need to meet in order to get to the point where you’re earning a return on your annual fee on an ongoing basis.
Example: Let’s say you spend $2,000 per month on the card and it is split evenly among the three expense categories (travel, dining, other). This would equate to 40,000 points accumulated throughout the year which would be worth $500 towards travel, leaving you $405 in the money after netting out the $95 annual fee.
Comparison to Reserve
Whether you decide to sign up for the Preferred or the Reserve card will depend on your personal spending habits and on how freaked out you are by the sticker price of the Reserve card. It will also depend on how much value you ascribe to the ancillary benefits of the Reserve card such as airport lounge access and credit towards TSA Pre✓ or Global Entry. Maybe you already have Priority Pass and TSA Pre✓ so these benefits aren’t worth anything to you.
Even though the Reserve has a $450 annual fee, its effectively only $150 after you net out the $300 statement credit for travel related expenses (Preferred doesn’t have this). So now we’re really only comparing a $95 annual fee to a $150 annual fee. This evens the playing field considerably. Additionally, Reserve gives you 3x points for money spent on dining and travel rather than the 2x points that you get with Preferred. Of course the value of these extra points depends on the percentage of your monthly expenses that fall under these two categories, but you will almost certainly accumulate more points with Reserve than you will with Preferred based on this bonus differential. Finally, with Reserve, the redemption value of your points is higher (1.5 cents vs 1.25 cents). This can really start to add up as you accumulate points.
If your spending is distributed equally among travel/dining/other, then the Reserve card will always be your best choice. See the graph below for an illustration.
If for some reason you don’t spend any money on dining or travel, then the choice is less clear. But to be honest, if you spend literally zero dollars on dining and travel then you’re probably not in the market for a travel rewards card anyway. The below illustration is totally unrealistic but should give you an idea of where the break even point is between the two cards in this extreme scenario. The break even point between the two cards gets lower and lower the more you spend on the bonus categories.
Conclusion
For the majority of people, the Reserve is going to be the more attractive option even if it doesn’t necessarily seem like it because of the huge annual fee. If you still don’t feel comfortable shelling out that much each year for an annual fee, or if you don’t plan on spending much money on dining and travel each month, then the Preferred card is your next best option. It doesn’t have all the same perks as the Reserve but it still gives you a nice sign up bonus and it’s very reasonable to rack up hundreds of dollars of points each year that you can use for booking flights, hotels, and rental cars. If you’re in the market for a mid-tier travel card, then the Chase Sapphire Preferred is your best bet.
Like this: Like Loading...A progressive super PAC in Kentucky is looking at getting in bed with the tea party in order to oust the six-term incumbent Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).
Hearing last week’s news that a coalition of tea party groups calling themselves the United Tea Party of Kentucky are targeting McConnell and interested in taking input from other outside groups, Progress Kentucky got in touch.
“What we’re finding — at least in this stage of the race — we’re finding that our interests align [with the tea party],” Progress Kentucky organizer Keith Rouda told Politico. “It’s unusual.”
Private democratic donors are getting in on the candidate-hunt too, Politico noted, offering to put money behind anyone who could credibly challenge the Senate’s top Republican. And all that cash can’t sound so bad to the United Tea Party folks.
“If he was interested in what we do and what we believe, he would be promoting legislation and putting forward small government ideas, but we haven’t seen that from him, so 30 years of media spin and political machine spin has run it’s course,” United Tea Party spokesperson John Kemper III told WSFA-TV.
The sentiment appears to be shared among all McConnell’s likely foes. Preston Bates, executive director of the conservative super PAC Liberty For All, told The Kansas City Star that the senator is “that special politician who could unite libertarians, independents, anti-war Democrats, everyone” against his re-election bid.
So far the state’s Democratic Party proper has not gotten involved, but a proxy war against McConnell could be seen as good strategy by Democrats to help soften up his campaign war chest ahead of the general election. It could also lead to a candidate in the general who’s much more conservative, similar to failed Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin, who was heavily favored in the primary by people supporting Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO).
Akin ultimately proved to be such a liability for national Republicans that his ill-informed comments about rape were credited for shifting public opinion in favor of reproductive rights.
Although McConnell’s spokesperson and longtime Ron Paul ally Jesse Benton insisted last week that the senator is “a true friend of the tea party,” it seems that could change if they field a candidate against him.
The only thing that could make McConnell’s re-election bid a higher-stakes contest is if actress Ashley Judd enters the race on the Democratic ticket, a threat that spooked McConnell bad enough to cause his campaign to leak some of its opposition research on her in December.
If that opposition research is any preview of the 2014 campaign to-be, and Judd’s emergence as a political force is in fact the Democrats’ endgame for dealing with McConnell, prepare to hear a lot about how outraged he is that she supposedly once said it is “unconscionable to breed” if there are starving children in the world.For hundreds of years, bald eagle numbers in the U.S. plummeted due to habitat destruction and, in the 20th century, the introduction of poisonous pesticides. Now, conservationists are welcoming the sights of new nesting grounds, and people across the country are spotting more of the majestic birds flying overhead as the numbers finally recover.
Patti Barber, a Pennsylvania Game Commission biologist, said that she feels rewarded for the fight to bring back the endangered species. “It’s hard to step away from the fact that they are our nation’s symbol and knowing that they’ve now come back from the brink,” she said. “I think a lot of people have a lot of pride that we managed to do that.”
The bald eagle was adopted as the symbol for the newly-formed United States of America in 1782. At that point, the country may have been home to as many as 100,000 nesting eagles. The first major decline of their numbers was noted in the mid-1800s, in conjunction with the disappearance of prey such as waterfowl and shorebirds. The decline was likely linked to habitat destruction, as humans felled tall nesting trees and polluted rivers and lakes, which act as the eagles’ food sources.
The biggest blow to the bald eagle population came after World War II, when the introduction of the pesticide DDT caused a rapid decline. The eagles became exposed to the pesticide through food sources like fish, and the presence of DDT in their diet caused often fatal reproductive issues. Ingesting the pesticide thinned the eagles’ eggshells and caused them to break easily, which meant that few bald eagle chicks made it past infancy. The use of DDT in the U.S. was banned in 1972, but the measure seemed to come too late: six years later, bald eagles were listed as an endangered species in 43 states.
After years of fighting to clean habitats and keep the birds alive, the birds finally dropped from the ranks of endangered species in the 1990s. Now, 69,000 bald eagles fly across the United States, up from as few as 487 nesting pairs in 1963.
However, new dangers hide in store for the recovering species: Lisa Smith, head of the Tri-state Bird Rescue and Research Inc., said that bald eagles are now competing for space and inflicting wounds on one another. Some birds are solving the problem by nesting in residential areas. “As the population has increased over the past 20 years, the amount of suitable habitat for bald eagles to breed in has decreased,” said Smith.Texas Gov. Rick Perry addresses the the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images.
Gail Collins has an excerpt in the Daily Beast today (and another in Slate) from her new book As Texas Goes…: How the Lone Star State Hijacked the American Agenda. The excerpt deals with the Texas addiction to pushing Christian propaganda in the schools under the guise of “education,” in this case with abstinence-only programs and literature. Even for those districts disrespectful enough of the Constitution to think the schools should be instilling into kids the religious belief that sex should only occur within marriage, in theory the abject failure of these programs to get kids to refrain from screwing should be enough evidence to dump the programs. From a public health perspective, they’re even a bigger failure, since Texas has terrible sex-related public health outcomes. Collins surveys the landscape and says, “Still, if you didn’t know better, you’d think there was a concerted effort going on in Texas to increase the number of children being born to teen parents.”
I would say that for those of us who do know better, that remains the conclusion. It’s not that the Christian fundamentalists who dominate state politics in Texas wouldn’t prefer young people, at least the girls, to remain abstinent and then get married off at 19, passing them seamlessly from parental to spousal control. They’re always happy in those rare cases when that successfully happens. The question is what happens to the 95 percent of us who are dissenters and go ahead and have sex without being married first. The main concern driving these policies is that sexually active, unmarried women will get away with their behavior without being punished. That’s why there’s obstacles such as parental notification between girls and access to contraception. The idea is that if a girl tries to escape her due punishment of unintended pregnancy, she should at least have to endure being grounded for her slatternly ways.
At a certain point, you have to stop assuming it’s an accident when you see politicians who, when given the choice between improving sexual health outcomes and punishing girls for sex, always choose the latter. Having spent the first 32 years of my life in Texas, complete with my fair share ever-so-fun interactions fundamentalist Christians, I can say that they’re far more concerned about the possibility that girls are taking more than their meager allotment of tightly-controlled pleasure than they are, say, reducing the teenage pregnancy rate. If you start with the assumption that social conservatives agree that the problem is STDs and teen pregnancy and not sex itself, you’re inevitably going to conclude that their insistence on programs that seem to keep the STD and teen pregnancy rate high must mean they’re stupid. Incredibly stupid, on the can’t-tie-their-own-shoes level. And that seems a bit unfair. Fundamentalists can be annoying and pig-headed, but they’re not measurably stupider than the rest of us. Because of this, the only fair conclusion is poor sexual health outcomes is the point, because they believe that if kids won’t stop having sex, they should at least be doing the time for their “crimes.” If you start with the assumption that sex is sinful and it should have negative consequences for those who disobey your sky god’s orders, then really, the Texas anti-sex policies can be considered a smashing success.Each Myers-Briggs Personality Type expresses affection in a slightly different way. While some types are infinitely more overt in their intentions than others, each has at least one dead giveaway that implies they may be crushing on you. Here are a few telltale clues that the object of your affection may just like you back:
ISFP: Inserts themselves into the same social circle as you and parties with you regularly until the two of you inevitably hook up.
ESFP: Puts X’s at the end of all text messages and finds fifteen excuses a day to hug you.
ENFP: Teases you mercilessly and uncharacteristically does not flake on any of your plans.
ISTJ: Rearranges their schedule in order to spend more time around you but fiercely denies their attraction until you make it clear as day that you’re interested in them.
ESTJ: Orders you to go on a date with them.
INTP: Is actually motivated to spend time with you, especially if they don’t know you very well. Stares at you when you’re talking as though they are studying you.
ENTP: Finds out exactly what makes you tick and then uses it to convince you that YOU like THEM.
ESTP: Shows off in front of you at every available opportunity.
ISTP: Becomes uncharacteristically protective of you.
ESFJ: Asks you ten thousand questions about yourself and remembers every. Single. Answer.
ENFJ: Somehow gets you to open up about your deepest childhood trauma over coffee.
ENTJ: Takes you out to dinner and grills you about your long-term goals.
ISFJ: Develops a keen interest in everything you’ve ever even remotely mentioned liking.
INFP: Writes about you on their secret blog while fantasizing that you’ve been following it all along and will write them back.
INFJ: Gives you a look that implies they are staring directly into your soul without collecting $200 or passing “Go.”
INTJ: Lets you touch them without cringing. And/or replies “Yes” when asked directly whether or not they like you.By Robert Romano
“President Trump’s budget is based on a sober assessment of economic growth and achieves balance not through Washingtonian gimmickry but through $4.5 trillion of real cuts to baseline spending over 10 years.”
That was Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning’s reaction to the first full budget proposed by President Donald Trump that, remarkably, considering the document was authored in Washington, D.C., achieves balance in 10 years with real spending cuts to the baseline.
Even more startling, the budget uses revenue-neutral assumptions to get where it gets in terms of being balanced. For example, it might have been very tempting for the Trump budget team to incorporate its tax cut plan, for example, and assume a big jump in economic growth, labor participation and thus tax revenues to get to its 10-year balanced budget.
Instead, the tax plan is left out. Revenues are roughly the same, minus $1 trillion to do with repealing taxes related to Obamacare. So, revenues will actually be less than under current law, at $45.7 trillion over 10 years instead of $46.7 trillion.
Here, Trump arguably does the harder thing by proposing real cuts for Congress to consider. So, instead of spending $53.4 trillion over 10 years as under current law, President Trump proposes that Congress only spend $48.9 trillion — totaling $4.5 trillion of spending cuts.
The spending reductions include $1.8 trillion of cuts to non-defense department and agency spending, $1.25 trillion of cuts to do with repealing Obamacare and an additional $627 billion of cuts to do with the sun setting of Medicaid expansion.
There is also $1 trillion of other cuts over 10 years to other so-called mandatory spending programs including grants across every department: $143 billion of cuts at the Department of Education, $46 billion at the Department of Agriculture, $29.6 billion from the Department of Energy, $16.8 billion from the Department of Homeland Security, $5.7 billion from the Department of Interior, $21.6 billion from the Department of Labor, $49.6 billion from the Department of Transportation, $15.2 billion from the Department of Veterans Affairs, $46 billion from the Postal Service, $62.9 billion from the Office of Personnel Management, $190 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, eliminating $142.2 billion of improper payments across the government, cutting $55 billion by reforming the medical liability system and cutting $35 billion from government financial bailout funds.
Finally, because of all the cuts, taxpayers will save $323 billion from interest payments over 10 years.
Since when do administrations propose anything besides increasing spending?
Some will quibble about the use the 10-year projections, and on discretionary agency spending, the point is well taken—spending there is subject to annual appropriations—but on the so-called mandatory side the ledger, for example, repealing Obamacare this year will have impact that will reverberate into subsequent budget years. Increasing federal employee retirement contributions has out-year effects, and so forth.
As far as economic growth goes, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) does not see that returning to 3 percent — for the first time since 2005 — until 2021. That’s an honest assessment that takes into account the weakest decade of growth in U.S. history from 2007 to 2016, even weaker than 1930 to 1939 in the Great Depression.
Those economic assumptions are a refreshing departure from the Obama administration, which relied on pie in the sky economic growth forecasts in its budgets following the financial crisis. The Obama budget team predicted 3 percent growth by 2010, 4 percent by 2011 and 4.6 percent by 2012, but that robust recovery never happened. Instead growth averaged just 1.5 percent a year under Obama.
To be fair, on the other hand, OMB like in past years foresees no recessions, no upticks in unemployment. But if you just take the projections as a 10-year average of 2.83 percent growth a year, that would still be less than the 1945 to 2007 postwar average of 3.1 percent when we averaged a recession every six to seven years. As usual, if we do have another recession, it will require a commensurate robust recovery to balance out.
Certainly, one hopes robust growth is restored under Trump. To that end, Manning said implementing the Trump economic program could provide immediate relief: “when the President’s tax, regulatory and trade reforms take effect, the economic growth that they create should be a windfall for the U.S. economy — as more discouraged workers enter the labor force after a decade-long losing streak, and real wages finally increase.”
The Trump budget also makes no assumptions about millions of individuals returning to the labor force. We know that because there is no change in payroll tax revenue between the baseline scenario and the proposed budget scenario. If OMB thought more individuals would be entering the labor force, then we’d see an increase in payroll tax revenue. Instead, the Trump budget team went OMB’s baseline assumptions, which foresee $11.2 trillion of Social Security payroll taxes over the next 10 years.
Whether those forecasts assuming levels of employment are rosy in their own right is a separate matter, but nobody can accuse the Trump administration of padding its numbers.
Which, is how a conservative budget ought to be drafted, Americans for Limited Government’s Manning contended, concluding, “the President takes nothing for granted, and should find willing allies amongst the Congressional GOP as their once in a generation opportunity to achieve an historic agreement on rational spending priorities moves forward.”
Usually budgets proposed by presidents are dead on arrival in Congress, and for good reason, they usually spend far more than we as a nation can afford. But for the first time in a generation, President Trump has offered a budget that gets to balance, not through gimmicks, but through $4.5 trillion of real spending cuts. Congress needs to use this budget as a roadmap.
Robert Romano is the senior editor of Americans for Limited Government.By Unicorn Riot
Minneapolis, MN – On September 19th we met up with Fernanda Hart, the CANDO Sustainability & Food Access organizer, to learn about a project called “Plant-Grow-Share.”
We spent the day biking through the Central neighborhood of South Minneapolis, following handmade maps with the safest, quickest routes between gardens. We talked to Fernanda as we biked alongside a food cart and a few volunteers. She told us that the project started as way to give families access to materials to make their own raised bed organic gardens.
Fernanda explained Plant-Grow-Share by saying,
“We’re doing this combined effort and we’re putting our brains together and then dreaming of a project where food can be given away. Where more people will be growing food at home.”
The project itself began as conversations over a backyard fire pit where people came up with the idea to teach people to grow food, and through that process give food away for free. The project gives families classes with a master gardener and the resources to make a raised garden, as well as help with installation.
The agreement between the twenty participating families and the project was to give three small harvests a season to the free farmers market. The harvests are moved by a bicycle food cart that was created to make the project fully sustainable. That cart pulled up to the various gardens driven by volunteers who gathered the food to give away for free at the market.
In those rides and harvests, we learned that Fernanda really hoped that people came together around growing and sharing food. She felt that the process of planting, growing and sharing challenged society’s perception of food and changed people’s relationship to the food they ate. She’s excited for next year, as she plans to help grow the project to include more families learning to plant their raised bed organic gardens, grow them, and share the food with the community.
Please consider a tax-deductible donation to help sustain our horizontally-organized, non-profit media organization:Spike: *enters the castles and he just walks through the hallways looking for Twilight, she wasnt in the throne room, he goes to the library and there she was, reading like always* hey twilight! *waves*Twilight: *looks to him* SPIKE! *runs to him and gives him a hug* you come back! im so glad to see youSpike: me too *both of them starts getting out of the library,mjust walking through the castle and talking*Twilight: how are you? been a whileSpike: yeah, i was just exploring, but i make a promise, i will come backTwilight: youre such a sweetness spike *smiles*Spike: *smiles*Twilight: but i didnt know you were coming today...or tonightSpike: well i was just flying through the everfree forest, ponyville was close so i decided to come and say hi to all of youTwilight: maybe tomorrow you can say hi, everyone is on their beds nowSpike: yeah...now im getting use to itTwilight: traveling at night?Spike: yeah, its pretty fun, even thought things can happenTwilight: like what?Spike: well i dunno, but i saw ember in the forest tooTwilight: ember? the dragon lord? the blue female dragon? that ember?!Spike: yeahTwilight: *GAAAASP* ohmygoshomygoshohmygosh *smiles with her eyes glowing*Spike: what?Twilight: what did you say to her?Spike: well we just talk and i asked her to go out some timeTwilight: OH MY GOSH XD SPIKE IM SO PROUD OF YOU!Spike: of what?Twilight: after all this years! you finally gonna go out! and with ember! YOU HAVE A DATE!Spike: o/////O wha-WHAT?! NO! were just friends, nothing more! nothing elseTwilight: ay! ahaaaaSpike: yeah! really!Twlight: come on spike! you two do a great couple~Spike: twilight stop it! i dint think its an good idea, after all ember doesnt feel that way for meTwilight: dont tell me you dont even feel attracted~Spike:....ok! who are you? and what did you do to Twilight?Torch: WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN EMBER!?Ember: none of youre business dadTorch: IM TALKING TO YOU YOUNG LADY!Ember: talk to the wing------------Part 2?.......YEEEEAH XDPeople were asking if theres gonna be a part 2, so i decided to make what happened next from part 1 uwuiI just wonder how Torch is gonna talk to his daughter...i mean...hes really pissed outIll let you create theyre discussion XDPART 1>>> OMDGSIEM REAP, Cambodia — Angkor Wat’s magnificence has endured nature, invading armies, artifact bandits and occupation by Khmer Rogue communist guerillas.
But nearly a millennium after the 12th-century temple’s creation, it faces its greatest threat yet: millions of tourists marching upon its stones and pawing at its intricate stonework with greasy hands.
Tourism is exploding at Angkor Wat, a world of sandstone ruins considered mankind’s largest pre-industrial city. Jungled over for centuries, and more recently unreachable during Cambodia’s decades of war, the site now absorbs more than a million visitors each year.
But while preservationists cringe at the site’s commercial takeover, they might as well brace for more. The Disneyfication is just beginning.
“See that?” said Hyo-Soon Park, a South Korean developer, standing on a balcony outside his office in Cambodia. “You can see Angkor Wat from here.”
The temple’s tallest tower was visible, in the distance, as a finger of sandstone jutting above the tree line. “When all this is finished, guests will be able to stare at it from their hotel rooms,” Park said. “They’re going to love it.”
Park’s project, called “AngkorCoex,” is a 400-acre temple-themed sprawl of golf courses, hotel suites, duty-free shopping and a large convention center. Site plans also call for a wellness center and something described as a “Bohemian Island with Innovative Playground.” Completion is expected in a year or two.
“The point is this: how can we catch tourists, keep them in one place, here, where they spend all their money?” Park said.
After its long tourism twilight, Cambodia now expects 2.8 million arrivals throughout 2011. That’s double the number of arrivals in 2005 and it’s nearly 25 times more than the paltry 118,000 who visited in 1993.
Tour groups from Asia’s rising economies — not starry-eyed, dreadlocked thrill-seekers — are doing the most to drive Cambodia’s tourism figures up. Chinese tourists, according to Cambodia’s tourism ministry, have increased by 29 percent within the past year. Asian travelers are the demographic targeted by AngkorCoex, Park said.
The majority of those tourists will want to set foot inside Angkor Wat. But conservationists say the temples are suffering serious damage from all that traffic.
“You have to think of it like the Mona Lisa,” said Jeff Morgan, director of the Global Heritage Fund, a U.S.-based organization devoted to preserving historical sites in the developing world.
“If everybody goes and touches the Mona Lisa, it’s going to be worn out. That’s what is happening at Angkor,” he said. “You have millions of people climbing all over these sites.”
The temple was popularized in the West by a French naturist, Henri Mahout, who hacked through dense bramble to find the temples covered in vines. He later wrote that they were “grander than anything left to us by Greece or Rome... a sad contrast to the state of barbarism in which the nation is now plunged.”
That was 150 years ago. Today, a visit to Angkor Wat can resemble a Saturday at Six Flags. Visitors spill out of tour buses by the thousands, a noisy throng stampeding over stonework laid by servants of the long-dead King Suryavarman II.
All those sneakers wearing away priceless stone is unacceptable, Morgan said. His organization has advocated simple safeguards: wooden walkways, a per-day limitation on visitors and guards to stop tourists from scampering up temples.
“It’s not just tourists,” Morgan said. “It’s what the government does to cater to tourists.”
Edifices are sometimes restored with concrete and rebar, which causes “irreversible damage,” Morgan said. “They’re basing it off some sketches from a French exhibition in 1930. It’s unscientific,” he said.
A Global Heritage Fund team conserving a smaller temple called Bantaey Chhmar has vowed not to repeat the mistakes made at Angkor Wat.
Damage to Angkor Wat is especially disconcerting given its profound significance to Cambodians, said Sotheara Vong, a Khmer historian with the Royal University of Phnom Penh.
The ruins are a sorely needed source of pride for a country still healing from centuries of foreign invasion, French colonial dominance and warfare. “It’s our historical magnet of consolidation and national pride,” Sotheara said. “It’s our identity.”
But for now, Cambodia’s tourism authorities show little willingness to stem the tide of tourists paying to enter Angkor Wat. And as foreign conservationists stream in to preserve the temples, so do foreign developers with new plans to capitalize on the tourism gold rush.
“This here, it’s going to be a square for Cambodian artists,” said Park, gesturing to point on his wall-sized master plan for AngkorCoex.
“The artists can show guests how to make ancient crafts from wood, stone or silk,” he said. “And then the guests can purchase it.”By Buckmasters Online
Photo: Courtesy Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Stephen C. Foster State Park, Georgia, U.S., Photo by Rena Johnson.
In southern Georgia, a quiet celebration will be observed this December in the Okefenokee Swamp when the Georgia’s Stephen C. Foster State Park is named a Gold-Tier Site in the International Dark Sky Places Program.
The park is located on the western edge of the magnificent 400,000 acre-Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.
To celebrate, a bit of stargazing will be in order Dec. 10 from 5 to 7 p.m. in observation of the International Dark Sky designation. The moon will be in the waxing gibbous phase, which will allow park visitors to see craters in detail, as well as Venus, Mars, Polaris and Vega.
The dark sky honor is outstanding, because there is little dark night sky left in the eastern portion of the United States. Hard-working park staff sought the designation after evaluating the park. They removed street lights and worked with the local co-operative to install downward shining lighting and motion-activated sensors for outdoor lighting at the park’s cabins.
The ability to see the Milky Way has disappeared in much of the world in the past century as outdoor lighting in cities has increased and obscured the ability to look out and beyond to the night sky, the stars and the constellations they form.
Dark places have gained importance as places with unique natural resources. Throughout the year, the Stephen C. Foster State Park offers astronomy programs with 8- and 10-inch telescopes.
The park is equally impressive in daylight hours. Currently, water levels are so low that Park staff will be unable to give guided boat tours or rent motor boats, although kayak and canoe rentals are still available.
The refuge protects the largest dark water swamp in North America.
The Okefenokee is enormous, 700-square miles of dark water swamp wilderness, much of which is believed to have never been explored. It was first designated a National Wildlife Refuge in 1937, making it among the oldest and most well- preserved fresh water areas in the United States.
Why dark water? The water is dark, and it is also clear, naturally occurring from decaying vegetation.
The area was named by the indigenous Creek people. In the Hitchiti Creek language, okefenokee means “land of trembling earth,” although some scholars interpret “oka” and “fenoke” to mean “waters shaking.”
To learn more about the Stephen C. Foster State Park hours, accommodations and facilities, click here.
You can find a complete list of International Dark Sky Parks by clicking here.
You can visit the Okefenokee with this Georgia Department of Natural Resources 10-minute video.
For more information on the Okefenokee Wildlife Refuge, click here.Akhilesh Yadav said cycling solved traffic problems and the decision was also hailed by foreign tourists
With the Uttar Pradesh government going after the cycle tracks set up during the previous Samajwadi Party regime, former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav On Tuesday highlighted the benefits of cycling."Cycling is beneficial for health, environment and economy," Mr Yadav said in a tweet.The SP president |
501-600, 6; assembly 601-700, 7; assembly 701-799, 8; assembly 811-900, 9; assembly 901-1000, 10; assembly 1001-1104, 11. WM, watermarked assembly. View this table:
Initially, an error-containing 811-820 clone was used to produce a synthetic genome that did not transplant. This was expected because the error was a single–base pair deletion that creates a frameshift in dnaA, an essential gene for chromosomal replication. We were previously unaware of this mutation. By using a semisynthetic genome construction strategy, we pinpointed 811-900 as the source for failed synthetic transplantation experiments. Thus, we began to reassemble an error-free 811-900 assembly, which was used to produce the sMmYCp235 yeast strain. The dnaA-mutated genome differs by only one nucleotide from the synthetic genome in sMmYCp235. This genome served as a negative control in our transplantation experiments. The dnaA mutation was also repaired at the 811-900 level by genome engineering in yeast (17). A repaired 811-900 assembly was used in a final-stage assembly to produce a yeast clone with a repaired genome. This yeast clone is named sMmYCP142 and could be transplanted. A complete list of genomes that have been assembled from 11 pieces and successfully transplanted is provided in Table 1.
Characterization of the synthetic transplants. To rapidly distinguish the synthetic transplants from M. capricolum or natural M. mycoides, two analyses were performed. First, four primer pairs that are specific to each of the four watermarks were designed such that they produce four amplicons in a single multiplex PCR reaction (table S4). All four amplicons were produced by transplants generated from sMmYCp235, but not YCpMmyc1.1 (Fig. 4A). Second, the gel analysis with Asc I and BssH II, described above (Fig. 3C), was performed. The restriction pattern obtained was consistent with a transplant produced from a synthetic M. mycoides genome (Fig. 4B).
Fig. 4 Characterization of the transplants. (A) Transplants containing a synthetic genome were screened by multiplex PCR with a primer set that produces four amplicons, one internal to each of the four watermarks. One transplant (syn1.0) originating from yeast clone sMmYCp235 was analyzed alongside a natural, nonsynthetic genome (WT) transplanted out of yeast. The transplant containing the synthetic genome produced the four PCR products, whereas the WT genome did not produce any. PCR products were separated on a 2% E-gel (Invitrogen). (B) Natural (WT) and synthetic (syn1.0) M. mycoides genomes were isolated from M. mycoides transplants in agarose plugs. Agarose plugs were digested with Asc I or BssH II and fragments were separated by CHEF gel electrophoresis. Restriction fragments corresponding to the correct sizes are indicated by the fragment numbers shown in Fig. 3B.
A single transplant originating from the sMmYCp235 synthetic genome was sequenced. We refer to this strain as M. mycoides JCVI-syn1.0. The sequence matched the intended design with the exception of the known polymorphisms, eight new single-nucleotide polymorphisms, an E. coli transposon insertion, and an 85-bp duplication (table S1). The transposon insertion exactly matches the size and sequence of IS1, a transposon in E. coli. It is likely that IS1 infected the 10-kb subassembly following its transfer to E. coli. The IS1 insert is flanked by direct repeats of M. mycoides sequence, suggesting that it was inserted by a transposition mechanism. The 85-bp duplication is a result of a nonhomologous end joining event, which was not detected in our sequence analysis at the 10-kb stage. These two insertions disrupt two genes that are evidently nonessential. We did not find any sequences in the synthetic genome that could be identified as belonging to M. capricolum. This indicates that there was a complete replacement of the M. capricolum genome by our synthetic genome during the transplant process.
The cells with only the synthetic genome are self-replicating and capable of logarithmic growth. Scanning and transmission electron micrographs (EMs) of M. mycoides JCVI-syn1.0 cells show small, ovoid cells surrounded by cytoplasmic membranes (Fig. 5, C to F). Proteomic analysis of M. mycoides JCVI-syn1.0 and the wild-type control (YCpMmyc1.1) by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis revealed almost identical patterns of protein spots (fig. S4) that differed from those previously reported for M. capricolum (10). Fourteen genes are deleted or disrupted in the M. mycoides JCVI-syn1.0 genome; however, the rate of appearance of colonies on agar plates and the colony morphology are similar (compare Fig. 5, A and B). We did observe slight differences in the growth rates in a color-changing unit assay, with the JCVI-syn1.0 transplants growing slightly faster than the MmcyYCp1.1 control strain (fig. S6).
Fig. 5 Images of M. mycoides JCVI-syn1.0 and WT M. mycoides. To compare the phenotype of the JCVI-syn1.0 and non-YCp WT strains, we examined colony morphology by plating cells on SP4 agar plates containing X-gal. Three days after plating, the JCVI-syn1.0 colonies are blue because the cells contain the lacZ gene and express β-galactosidase, which converts the X-gal to a blue compound (A). The WT cells do not contain lacZ and remain white (B). Both cell types have the fried egg colony morphology characteristic of most mycoplasmas. EMs were made of the JCVI-syn1.0 isolate using two methods. (C) For scanning EM, samples were postfixed in osmium tetroxide, dehydrated and critical point dried with CO 2, and visualized with a Hitachi SU6600 SEM at 2.0 keV. (D) Negatively stained transmission EMs of dividing cells with 1% uranyl acetate on pure carbon substrate visualized using JEOL 1200EX CTEM at 80 keV. To examine cell morphology, we compared uranyl acetate–stained EMs of M. mycoides JCVI-syn1.0 cells (E) with EMs of WT cells made in 2006 that were stained with ammonium molybdate (F). Both cell types show the same ovoid morphology and general appearance. EMs were provided by T. Deerinck and M. Ellisman of the National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research at the University of California at San Diego.
Discussion. In 1995, the quality standard for sequencing was considered to be one error in 10,000 bp, and the sequencing of a microbial genome required months. Today, the accuracy is substantially higher. Genome coverage of 30 to 50× is not unusual, and sequencing only requires a few days. However, obtaining an error-free genome that could be transplanted into a recipient cell to create a new cell controlled only by the synthetic genome was complicated and required many quality-control steps. Our success was thwarted for many weeks by a single–base pair deletion in the essential gene dnaA. One wrong base out of more than 1 million in an essential gene rendered the genome inactive, whereas major genome insertions and deletions in nonessential parts of the genome had no observable effect on viability. The demonstration that our synthetic genome gives rise to transplants with the characteristics of M. mycoides cells implies that the DNA sequence on which it is based is accurate enough to specify a living cell with the appropriate properties.
Our synthetic genomic approach stands in sharp contrast to various other approaches to genome engineering that modify natural genomes by introducing multiple insertions, substitutions, or deletions (18–22). This work provides a proof of principle for producing cells based on computer-designed genome sequences. DNA sequencing of a cellular genome allows storage of the genetic instructions for life as a digital file. The synthetic genome described here has only limited modifications from the naturally occurring M. mycoides genome. However, the approach we have developed should be applicable to the synthesis and transplantation of more novel genomes as genome design progresses (23).
We refer to such a cell controlled by a genome assembled from chemically synthesized pieces of DNA as a “synthetic cell,” even though the cytoplasm of the recipient cell is not synthetic. Phenotypic effects of the recipient cytoplasm are diluted with protein turnover and as cells carrying only the transplanted genome replicate. Following transplantation and replication on a plate to form a colony (>30 divisions or >109-fold dilution), progeny will not contain any protein molecules that were present in the original recipient cell (10, 24). This was previously demonstrated when we first described genome transplantation (10). The properties of the cells controlled by the assembled genome are expected to be the same as if the whole cell had been produced synthetically (the DNA software builds its own hardware).
The ability to produce synthetic cells renders it essential for researchers making synthetic DNA constructs and cells to clearly watermark their work to distinguish it from naturally occurring DNA and cells. We have watermarked the synthetic chromosome in this and our previous study (7).
If the methods described here can be generalized, design, synthesis, assembly, and transplantation of synthetic chromosomes will no longer be a barrier to the progress of synthetic biology. We expect that the cost of DNA synthesis will follow what has happened with DNA sequencing and continue to exponentially decrease. Lower synthesis costs combined with automation will enable broad applications for synthetic genomics.
We have been driving the ethical discussion concerning synthetic life from the earliest stages of this work (25, 26). As synthetic genomic applications expand, we anticipate that this work will continue to raise philosophical issues that have broad societal and ethical implications. We encourage the continued discourse.This book is a Sword & Planet classic from Gardner F. Fox. Originally published in 1964, written as an homage to Edgar Rice Burrough's John Carter of Mars series. Gardner F. Fox takes us to another world, where Alan Morgan, awakes on a planet countless distances from Earth. He has only his intelligence and his masterful swordplay to keep him alive. Llarn is a world of uncharted deserts where cities of incredible age lay broken and empty, destroyed long ago in the great War which had scourged the planet. Those few cities which remained, and those blue and golden skinned people whose ancestors had lived through The War, gave a coldly hostile welcome to the strange newcomer.
But before long he will meet the lovely Tuarra, princess of Kharthol, and he vows he will fight his way across the entire planet to win her—against the savage swordsmen, the fierce beasts of this world, and even against the immortal radiation-being which had brought him here for its own unfathomable purpose.Divi is a powerful WordPress theme and page builder from Elegant Themes that allows folks like me to quickly generate modern and professional designs when a custom job just isn’t justified. It’s one of the most popular theme solutions for WordPress out there and offers a lot of customization options.
Out of the box, Divi allows you to start customizing the typography on your website. These options include a wide selection of Google Fonts, but it by no means provides the whole collection. If you find yourself in need of a Google Font that isn’t already built into Divi, you could write some custom CSS for your theme and queue up the font yourself, sure, but I wanted a way to integrate my desired font options seamlessly into Divi’s options, just like the existing ones. How can we do that?
A heads-up, you’ll need to know how to write (or at least copy, paste and tweak) PHP and CSS for this tutorial. Also, be sure you’re working with a plugin or child theme and not altering Divi itself. Making changes directly to Divi prevents you from upgrading down the road without losing all your customizations.
The page builder
Divi actually allows you to select fonts in two places—the page builder and the theme customizer. We’ll start with the page builder, as it’s the simpler task.
Divi exposes its font options via a pair of filters. The first of these is et_builder_google_fonts. To add your new font selections to Divi’s options, you’ll want to take advantage of that somewhere like your functions.php file. Add your new Google font and its associated styles, character sets and type to the existing fonts like so:
function my_theme_google_fonts($fonts) { $fonts['Vidaloka'] = ['styles' => '400', 'character_set' => 'latin', 'type' =>'serif', ]; // sort fonts alphabetically ksort($fonts); return $fonts; } add_filter('et_builder_google_fonts','my_theme_google_fonts');
The ksort is optional, but keeps things nice and organized. Now if you go to any page and activate the Divi page builder, you’ll see your new font listed at the end of the previous options (or in alphabetical order if, unlike me, you added the ksort before you took a screenshot).
If you select it and save, it’ll show up on the front end exactly like any of the other options. Awesome!
Custom Google Fonts in the Divi theme customizer
Ensuring this next part looks nice is a bit trickier. To first understand the problem, open up the theme customizer and navigate to General Settings → Typography. You’ll notice each font is not just in the list, but also represented in its own typeface rather than the default admin typeface.
If you have any background in development and network requests, you might immediately be horrified, assuming that each font is being loaded on the page. What’s actually going on is much more tame. The folks at Elegant Themes have created a spritesheet containing an image of each font title in its own typeface. CSS classes are applied to each option in the list to make sure the appropriate image appears with each font choice.
Ignoring this for a moment, you can actually attach the exact same function you wrote earlier to a new hook to add your font to these options:
add_filter('et_google_fonts','my_theme_google_fonts');
Easy enough. Open up the customizer, however, and you’ll see instead of your font being represented nicely with all the other options, “Default” now just appears twice. Without a CSS class that the Divi stylesheet recognizes, it falls back to the default sprite.
To get this to look nice, you’ll need to create your own background image. Take a screenshot of the font name typed out in itself and drop it into a folder in your theme, about 216px x 40px. For a perfect fit, use something like Photoshop and get one with a transparent background. If you’re not already enqueueing a custom stylesheet in the admin, you’ll need to set that up using the admin_enqueue_scripts action, also in something like your functions.php file:
add_action( 'admin_enqueue_scripts','my_theme_admin_enqueue_scripts' ); function my_theme_admin_enqueue_scripts() { wp_enqueue_style('my-admin-theme', get_stylesheet_directory_uri().'/admin.css'); }
Next, create an admin.css in the root of your theme (or whatever file you may be referencing above). We’ll add just a couple of styles to this to get the one font that’s set up to work.
.et_google_font_custom_select span.et_filter_text.et_gf_vidaloka,.et_google_font_options li.et_gf_vidaloka { background-image:url('./img/vidaloka.jpg'); background-size:contain; }
To get the name of your CSS class selector, you’ll take the name of your font, lowercase the whole thing, and swap spaces with hyphens. If you aren’t 100% sure, you can use your browser’s inspector to check it out live in the customizer.
If you’re feeling particularly efficient, rather than request a whole stylesheet, you could simply add the styles to the admin head, and even make sure it’s only happening on the theme customizer page. If you know enough to understand why that’s better, I’ll leave you to figure out the code.
Once your CSS is in place, you can go back to the customizer and refresh to see your new font available in the dropdown looking nice and pretty. Unless you’ve been meticulous, it probably won’t match exactly. If you’re feeling particular, you could spend a bit of time to get your background image perfect.
Design superb websites
And that’s it! Go forth with your new-found powers and apply gorgeous typefaces to all the things. Be sure to share with your Divi-loving friends and leave any thoughts in the comments below.
Big thanks to commenter Manuel for a couple tips on cleaning up the final interface.Close
The automotive industry has been very vocal about delivering greener technology, with several countries even offering government incentives for plug-in electric vehicles, including the United States.
Well, one country is taking the process a step further. CNET Roadshow spotted a Digital Trends report revealing that Dutch politicians want to ramp up the transition to eco-friendly vehicles to the point that they're aiming to ban gas- and diesel-powered models in Holland beginning by 2025.
According to the website, Holland's labor party, PvdA, proposed the bill and had it agreed upon by a majority of the country's parliament lower house, Tweede Kamer. If the bill gets passed into law, which is expected, automakers will be prohibited from even selling hybrids and plug-in hybrids, as any new vehicle sold in Holland will be either all electric or powered by hydrogen.
While the goal is definitely an ambitious and admirable one, it's being met with its fair share of detractors.
Digital Trends points to the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VDD) calling PvdA's bill being "overambitious and unrealistic," with VDD minister of economic affairs Henk Kamp estimating that only about 15 percent of new vehicles sold in Holland in less than 10 years' time will be all electric.
Another VDD official, Barbara Visser, took that a step even further, sparing no mercy for the PvdA, calling its bill "the wishful thinking of a headless chicken."
Ouch.
To that end, PvdA parliament rep Jan Vos said the proposed bill is an outlined vision for a future free of emissions and that, obviously, it will be a work in progress to meet fruition.
While it's definitely an ambitious bill, we'd like to think it's an aggressively conscious one as well. With the world witnessing the trudge that Volkswagen is continuing to have to deal with as a result of its emissions scandal, why not push for an all-electric or hydrogen-powered society?
The greener, cleaner way of commuting on roads would be a giant plus to the environment and climate. Additionally, if the plan is successful in 2025, other countries around the world could use Holland as a benchmark and platform to emulate and go green themselves.
These Dutch politicians' hearts and will are in the right place. It's just a matter of clearing up regulatory red tape, which always seems to accompany these kinds of ambitious goals.
TAG Electric Cars
ⓒ 2018 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.One of the most important hubs in Denver’s bike and pedestrian network has been completely messed up for two years. It’s getting better already.
One of the most important hubs in Denver’s bike and pedestrian network has been completely messed up for two years. Now the end is in sight, and things are getting better already.
We’re talking about Confluence Park, where two of Denver’s major waterways and greenways meet. Normally, this is where scores of cyclists hop from the South Platte River Trail to the Cherry Creek Trail, giving them access to downtown. It’s also the site of a riverside terrace — but you wouldn’t know that if you moved here since summer 2015.
The Confluence area has for years been mired in construction that has closed large swaths of the riverfront and the trails, forcing cyclists and pedestrians to take the super-long detours shown here.
The news, in short: The detours are much improved already, and the huge Confluence Park plaza project is on schedule for completion by “early September,” according to city staff. Read on for the details.
No more detour:
Part of the problem has already been solved. The city recently completed a new link that runs beneath 15th Street, reconnecting the bike-ped trails between Confluence and Commons parks and saving you from some awful street-level tomfoolery. (The previous trail was washed out by flooding in 2015.)
If you’ve been avoiding this area, you should find it’s much less of a pain in the butt now.
However, you’ll still run into some construction.
That’s because the city is still working on the big chalupa: the rebuild of Shoemaker Plaza near REI on the northwest side of the river.
Once upon a time (in 2015), the city thought this would be a relatively cheap and easy project. When it’s finished, it will be a concrete, terraced patio that extends out to the river, with levels of green space and a plaza behind it.
“The overall look and intent of the plaza is not that much different,” said Mike Bouchard of Denver Parks and Rec. “It’s just we’ve brought it up to 21st century standards.”
Unfortunately, construction crews ran into coal tar, a substance left over from long-ago industrial work.
That substance couldn’t be allowed to leak into the river, so the whole construction plan had to change, according to Bouchard.
“It required us to put a localized water treatment plant on site for 5.5 months at a cost of $2.5 million,” Bouchard said. “We had already done a lot of demolition. We couldn’t put it back where it was. We were already knee-deep in it.”
A large part of the solution was to pre-cast the concrete terrace steps that make up most of the new project and then lower them into place, rather than pouring them on site.
The finished product will make the riverfront far more accessible, including an ADA-accessible boat ramp.
“The access and relationship to the water is going to be much better,” Bouchard said. That also should benefit people using boats and tubes on the river.
It also “will be more programmable. There’ll be more opportunities in the way we’ve created the spaces, and The Greenway Foundation is now thinking about how they’ll be able to use these spaces to improve the festivals they used to do there.”
The new design also will separate cyclists on the South Platte River Trail from the main plaza.
“There were so many conflicts between pedestrians and bikes,” Bouchard said.
The project cost ultimately should be about $9.3 million.
Also:
The area’s also been burdened up by the construction of The Confluence, a 35-floor, $90 million tower rising up near the river.
Construction there is nearly finished. Units are listed as available on July 1, starting at $1,676 in rent for a 526-square-foot studio.
Long term:
There’s a longer-term plan to do a bunch more stuff around Confluence, but it’s not funded or fully designed yet. Here’s a sketch.Palestinian demonstrators gesture during clashes with Israeli forces in the West Bank city of Ramallah after the US president's controversial recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital
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United Nations (United States) (AFP)
The UN Security Council is considering a draft resolution affirming that any change to the status of Jerusalem has no legal effect and must be reversed, in response to the US decision to recognize the city as Israel's capital.
Egypt circulated the draft text on Saturday, and diplomats said the council could vote on the proposed measure as early as Monday.
Breaking with the international consensus, US President Donald Trump this month announced that he would recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital and move the US embassy there from Tel Aviv, sparking protests and strong condemnation.
The draft resolution obtained by AFP stresses that Jerusalem is an issue "to be resolved through negotiations" and expresses "deep regret at recent decisions concerning the status of Jerusalem," without specifically mentioning Trump's move.
"Any decisions and actions which purport to have altered the character, status or demographic composition of the Holy City of Jerusalem have no legal effect, are null and void and must be rescinded," it said.
Diplomats said they expected the United States to use its veto power to block the measure while most, if not all, of the 14 other council members were expected to back the draft resolution.
US Vice President Mike Pence will visit Jerusalem on Wednesday, wading into the crisis over one of the most controversial issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Israel seized control of the eastern part of the city in the 1967 Middle East war and sees the whole of Jerusalem as its undivided capital. The Palestinians view the east as the capital of their future state.
Israel's UN Ambassador Danny Danon "strongly condemned" the draft, dismissing it as an attempt by the Palestinians "to reinvent history."
"No vote or debate will change the clear reality that Jerusalem has and always will be the capital of Israel," Danon said in a statement.
- No embassies in Jerusalem -
The draft resolution calls on all countries to refrain from opening embassies in Jerusalem, reflecting concerns that other governments could follow the US lead.
It demands that all member-states not recognize any actions that are contrary to UN resolutions on the status of the city.
Several UN resolutions call on Israel to withdraw from territory seized during the 1967 war and have reaffirmed the need to end the occupation of that land.
The Palestinians had sought a toughly-worded draft resolution that would have directly called on the US administration to scrap its decision.
But some US allies on the council such as Britain, France, Egypt, Japan and Ukraine were reluctant to be too hard-hitting and insisted that the proposed measure should reaffirm the position enshrined in current resolutions, diplomats said.
Backed by Muslim countries, the Palestinians are expected to turn to the UN General Assembly to adopt a resolution rejecting the US decision, if, as expected, the measure is vetoed by the United States at the council.
Aside from the United States, Britain, China, France and Russia can veto any resolution presented at the council, which requires nine votes for adoption.
© 2017 AFPINJURY WORRIES
James Anderson to have scan on groin injury
Rob Johnston • Last updated on Mon, 22 May, 2017, 02:21 PM
Anderson has missed eight of England's last 23 Tests and did not play a full part in England's winter tours © Getty
James Anderson will have a scan on Monday (May 22) after injuring his groin in Lancashire's County Championship match with Yorkshire. The injury could put in doubt his participation in the first Test of the summer against South Africa at Lord's beginning on July 7.
Although Anderson will not bowl in the rest of the Roses match, it is believed the injury is not as bad as first feared. With six weeks remaining before the first Test against South Africa, Anderson should get enough time to recover but it is yet another injury for England's highest Test wicket-taker. The 34 year-old has missed eight of England's last 23 Test matches and did not play a full part in England's winter tours because of shoulder issues which also affected him last summer against Pakistan.
Anderson had, however, shown no signs of discomfort in that area during his ten appearances so far this season for Lancashire, two in the Championship alongside eight one-day games, during which he has taken 15 wickets. Lancashire have four Championship matches before the Lord's Test and the England camp is hopeful that Anderson will be able to use at least some of those games to prove his fitness.
England's selectors will be unlikely to risk him should he be unable to take part in some Championship cricket ahead of the first Test. Last summer, they asked Anderson to prove his fitness for Lancashire rather than select him in the team for the Lord's Test against Pakistan even when he had declared himself fit.
With 467 Test wickets to his name, Anderson remains one of England's first choice bowlers in Test cricket and will lead the attack, fitness permitting, in this winter's Ashes. In 2016, he took 41 wickets at 23.73 in 12 Tests which proves that he is still a fine operator at international level. With a gruelling seven Tests this summer, however, and a body beginning to show signs of wear and tear, it is likely that England's selectors will rest him at some stage, probably against the West Indies at the back-end of the season.
© Cricbuzz
TAGSFor the stock character in fairy tales, see hag
Children have been accused of witchcraft, both historically and in contemporary times, in societies that harbour beliefs about the existence of witches and black magic.
Historical [ edit ]
Witch finders and accusers [ edit ]
In sixteenth-century Europe, older children sometimes comprised a special category of witch hunters, bringing accusations of witchcraft against adults.[1] In 1525, the traveling judge in the Navarrese witch hunt utilized two "girl witches" whom he felt would be able to identify other witches. He hung about forty of these "witches" based on the testimony of the two girls.
Child witch hunters sometimes accused their family members of being witches.[1]
The most renowned trials caused by child accusations occurred in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692.[2] Children were viewed as having an important role in convicting witches, due to their being able to identify people impulsively.[1] Children who made such false allegations often directed them at adults with whom they had strained relationships such as teachers or puritanical neighbors.[3]
Child witches [ edit ]
By the start of the seventeenth century, many children were being punished and put in prison for taking part in witchcraft. This usually occurred because of their alleged participation in Sabbats.[1] It was a common belief that witches' children inherited witchcraft from their parents. It was often the practice to charge a whole family of witchcraft, even if only one individual was suspected. Witches who confessed often claimed that they learned witchcraft from a parent.
Pierre de Lancre and Francesco Maria Guazzo believed that it was enough proof of a witch's guilt if they had parents who were witches. They believed witch parents introduced the children to Satan, took the children to Sabbats, married children to demons, inspired the children to have sex with Satan(devil) or had sex with Satan with the child present. Many times the child accused of witchcraft, due to being shunned, threatened community members, thereby enforcing their beliefs that the child was a witch.[4]
There are several cases of witchcraft in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries that involved children as witches. In Sweden in 1669 a large number of children were included in a witch hunt and in Würzburg as in Salem in 1692, children were the focus of witch hunts. In Augsberg, beginning in 1723 an investigation into twenty children between the ages of six and sixteen resulted in them being arrested for witchcraft. They were held for a year in solitary confinement before being transferred to a hospital. The last child was freed in 1729.[5]
One example of a child-witch narrative in Germany is of a seven-year-old girl named Brigitta Horner. In 1639, Brigitta claimed to be a witch and that she had participated in witch's Sabbats where the Devil was present. Brigitta claimed to have been baptized in the name of the Devil instead of God. The pastor who baptized Brigitta was married to her grandmother who then taught her the arts of witchcraft.[6]
Contemporary belief in child witchcraft [ edit ]
UK [ edit ]
In the United Kingdom, research by Dr Leo Ruickbie showed that the problem of child witchcraft accusations was spreading from Africa to countries with African immigrant populations. In some cases this has led to ritualized abuse and even murder. This was evident in the high-profile case of Kristy Bamu in 2010.[7]
Africa [ edit ]
In Nigeria, some African Pentecostal pastors have incorporated African witchcraft beliefs into their brands of Christianity resulting in a campaign of violence against young Nigerians. Children and babies branded as evil are being mistreated, abandoned, and even murdered. The preachers make money out of the fear providing costly exorcism services of their parents and their communities.[8]
In Angola, many orphaned children are accused of witchcraft and demonic possession by relatives in order to justify not providing for them. Various methods are employed: starvation, beating, unknown substances rubbed into their eyes or being chained or tied up.[9]
In Congo, it is estimated that there are 25,000 homeless children living on the streets of the capital city. Of these, 60% were expelled from their homes because of allegations of witchcraft. Accusations of witchcraft is the only justifiable reason for the refusal to house a family member, no matter how distant the relation.[10]
In Gambia, about 1,000 people accused of being witches were locked in detention centers in March 2009. They were forced to drink a dangerous hallucinogenic potion, according to Amnesty International.[11]
In the Nigerian states of Akwa Ibom and Cross River about 15,000 children were branded as witches and most of them end up abandoned and abused on the streets.[11] A documentary aired on Channel 4 and BBC, Saving Africa's Witch Children, shows the work of Gary Foxcroft and Stepping Stones Nigeria in addressing these abuses.
According to a disputable empiric construction, in Sierra Leone sick infants tend to have better survival-rates due to witchhunts: "the effect of the witch cleansing probably lasts for years in the sense that mothers are predisposed to tend their babies with more hopefulness and real concern. Therefore many babies who, before the arrival of the witchfinder, might have been saved if the mothers had had the heart and will to stop at nothing to tend their babies, will now survive precisely because they will receive the best attention, as the mothers now believe that the remaining children are free of witchcraft. So there is a reduction in the infant mortality rate in the years immediately following the witchcleansing movement".[12]
While crisis is generally accepted as a factor in the DRC and Nigeria, its impact and ramifications are in discussion by African and European scholars. According to Riedel, two major Nollywood films depicting children as witches don't show any economic stress and play in a middle-class environment.[13][14]
See also [ edit ]"In the past, most guns available for sale were produced domestically. In recent years, 1 million to 2 million handguns were manufactured each year, along with 1 million to 1.5 million rifles and fewer than 1 million shotguns. From 2001 through 2007, however, handgun imports nearly doubled, from 711,000 to nearly 1.4 million. By 2009, nearly 2.2 million handguns were imported into the United States. From 2001 through 2007, rifle imports increased from 228,000 to 632,000, and shotgun imports increased from 428,000 to 726,000. By 2009, rifle imports had increased to 864,000, but shotguns had decreased 559,000. By the same year, 2009, the estimated total number of firearms available to civilians in the United States had increased to approximately 310 million: 114 million handguns, 110 million rifles, and 86 million shotguns."''Why am I here?'' she kept asking her granddaughter as doctors kept treating her various ailments. Beverley Broadbent: 'I think my friends will understand... when they hear what has happened, they'll understand.' Credit:Angela Wylie Then, when she was 50, there was the anonymous man who called her one day while she was working as a counsellor for Lifeline. He had taken a drug overdose and wanted to talk to someone as he lost consciousness. While Beverley had been taught not to judge people in such circumstances and be there for the caller, she was alarmed to realise there was a young child with the man. ''It seemed wrong that a child should be left to deal with this and so the two of us on duty decided we should try to stop him. My co-worker called the police while I continued to talk with him as the call was traced,'' she wrote in her memoirs, which she published in January. ''I anxiously did my best to keep him on the line until eventually a policeman took over the phone at the other end and told me everything was OK and the child was being cared for.''
More recently, a resident in her Brighton East retirement village went to sleep one night and never woke up. While Beverley and her neighbours were sorry to lose their friend, they all thought she had been quite fortunate. There was a feeling that if death was nearing, it might as well be as peaceful as possible. ''Everyone kept saying 'wasn't she lucky'. That's the way people feel about it,'' she tells me during a meeting at her home on January 29. That death encouraged Beverley to keep working on a plan to end her own life when she felt the time was right. Unbeknown to many of her friends, she knew she could emulate her neighbour's gentle death at any moment. She had acquired some barbiturates - the drugs euthanasia advocates sometimes call the ''peaceful pill'' - and an inquiry to Exit International confirmed she had enough for a lethal dose. If things went downhill, she had an escape plan. Beverley Broadbent is 83 when she invites me to her home. When I arrive, she opens the door bright and alert. ''Isn't this weird,'' she says, before inviting me in to meet Lucy, her poodle-Maltese cross. She asks if I would like a cup of tea.
As we begin talking, she strikes me immediately as direct, no-nonsense and eager to talk. Beverley tells me she is not dying, but is ready to die. She believes elderly people of sound mind should be able to choose how and when they go. She is not depressed, she says, but feels the downsides of ageing are outweighing the joys of life. ''I look well and I walk well so people think I |
others present with even the poor pretense of soul saving or civilizing. It was one of the last human hunts of civilization, and the basest and most brutal of them all.” In 1935, US Indian Affairs commissioner John Collier added, “The world’s annals contain few comparable instances of swift depopulation — practically, of racial massacre — at the hands of a conquering race.” In 1940, historian John Walton Caughey titled a chapter of his California history “Liquidating the Native Americans: ‘Wars’ and Massacres.” Three years later, Cook wrote the first major study on the topic. He quantified the violent killing of 4,556 California Native Americans between 1847 and 1865, concluding that, “since the quickest and easiest way to get rid of [t[the Northern California Native]as to kill him off, this procedure was adopted as standard for some years.”
In the same year that Cook published his groundbreaking article, Nazi mass murder in Europe catalyzed the development of a new theoretical and legal framework for discussing such events. In 1943, legal scholar Raphael Lemkin coined a new word for an ancient crime. Defining the concept in 1944, he combined “the Greek word genos (tribe, race) and the Latin cide,” or killing, to describe genocide as any attempt to physically or culturally annihilate an ethnic, national, religious, or political group. The 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide more narrowly defined genocide as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such,” including:
(a) Killing members of the group; (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
The Genocide Convention thus provides an internationally recognized and rather restrictive rubric for evaluating possible instances of genocide. First, perpetrators must evince “intent to destroy” a group “as such.” Second, perpetrators must commit at least one of the five genocidal acts against “a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such.” The Genocide Convention criminalizes the five directly genocidal acts defined above and also other acts connected to genocide. The Convention stipulates that “the following acts shall be punishable,” including:
(a) Genocide; (b) Conspiracy to commit genocide; (c) Direct and public incitement to commit genocide; (d) Attempt to commit genocide; (e) Complicity in genocide.
Finally, the Convention specifies that “persons committing genocide or any of the other acts enumerated... shall be punished, whether they are constitutionally responsible rulers, public officials or private individuals.”
In US criminal law, intent is present if an act is intentional, not accidental. The international crime of genocide involves more, comprising “acts committed with intent to destroy” a group “as such.” International criminal lawyers call this specific intent, meaning destruction must be consciously desired, or purposeful. Yet, specific intent does not require a specific motive, a term absent from the Genocide Convention. Under the Convention’s definition, genocide can be committed even without a motive like racial hatred. The motive behind genocidal acts does not need to be an explicit desire to destroy a group; it may be, but the motive can also be territorial, economic, ideological, political, or military.
Moreover, the Convention declares that “genocide, whether committed in time of peace or in time of war, is a crime under international law.” If the action is deliberate, and the group’s partial or total destruction a desired outcome, the motive behind that intent is irrelevant. Yet, how does a twentieth century international treaty apply to nineteenth-century events?
The Genocide Convention does not allow for the retroactive prosecution of crimes committed before 1948, but it does provide a powerful analytical tool: a frame for evaluating the past and comparing similar events across time. Lemkin himself asserted that, “genocide has always existed in history,” and he wrote two manuscripts addressing instances of genocide in periods ranging from “Antiquity” to “Modern Times.”
Genocide is a twentieth-century word, but it describes an ancient phenomenon and can therefore be used to analyze the past, in much the way that historians routinely use other new terms to understand historical events. Indeed, Lemkin planned chapters titled “Genocide against the Indians” and “The Indian in North America (in part),” but he died before he could complete either project.
Copyright (2016) by Benjamin Madley. Excerpts from the 2017 paperback edition are not to be reposted without permission of the publisher, Yale University Press.GARDEN CITY (WWJ) – A local family is frantically searching for a 75-year-old woman who pulled out her feeding tube, walked away from a hospital emergency room and hasn’t been seen or heard from since.
William Pratt said his mother, Judith Gonzalez, was last seen around 3 p.m. Monday when she walked away from Garden City Hospital on Inkster Road and seemingly vanished into thin air.
Pratt described his mother as “confused,” saying she suffers from dementia and severe paranoia. The longer Gonzalez is without medication, the more severe her confusion will become, Pratt said.
Gonzales typically uses a walker, but does not have it with her. She is described as 4 feet, 7 inches tall and 110 pounds.
Anyone with information on Gonzalez’s whereabouts is urged to contact police at 734-793-1700.Remember all the times you snickered when some TV character zoomed in on a photo and said “Enhance!” turning a blurred mess into a highly detailed, razor-sharp image? Now there’s a system–an artificial intelligence-powered image-scaling program called EnhanceNet –that will make that film trope impossible to laugh at, because it’s now a technological reality.
Just look at the images above. They’re not fake. EnhanceNet can take a grossly pixelated, low-resolution photo of a bird and turn it into a crystal-clear image. It even reproduces the camera’s depth of field from the original photo, as you can see in the foreground tree branches.
Its inventors–Mehdi S. M. Sajjadi, Bernhard Schölkopf, and Michael Hirsch at the Max-Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Germany–classify their software as a “Single Image Super-Resolution Through Automated Texture Synthesis.” That’s exactly what it does: It scales up very low-resolution photos by synthesizing textures that introduce new detail into the resulting high-resolution image. The synthetic detail makes the resulting pictures so realistic that they are almost indistinguishable from the actual photos. Perhaps for the first time ever, artificial intelligence can now re-create reality with uncanny accuracy–by using fake details.
According to the numerous experiments described in the researchers’ paper, “the outcome achieves a significant boost in image quality at high magnification ratios.” The software creates these images by “feed-forward fully convolutional neural networks in an adversarial training setting.” In other words, like other adversarial neural networks, one system generates results while the other one evaluates the accuracy of the result.
The technology puts current high-end photo scaling methods to shame. You can see the huge difference in this comparison between the top state-of-the-art method (PSNR, or “peak signal-to-noise ratio”) on the left and the result obtained by EnhanceNet on the right:
The first falcon is comparable to the scaling available in Photoshop, which always results in over-smoothed images that inevitably lose definition and don’t pass the human eye test. The boost in quality and detail on the EnhanceNet result is obvious.
Talking over email, Mehdi S. M. Sajjadi claims that “the algorithm could easily be put in commercial software such as Photoshop.” What’s more interesting is that you could actually make it part of the operating system “on smartphones, enhancing the quality of images as you zoom into them to avoid blurriness” in real time, Sajjadi says. There are additional applications for this, he adds:It’s National Taco Day. Why do we celebrate it? Well here’s why.
Many many years ago, a baby by the name of Jesus who was less than a year old was sitting in a manger with his parents, Mary and Joseph. That October afternoon, three Kings who met the baby back in December traveled from far away to present baby Jesus with more gifts: an al pastor taco, a lengua taco and a barbacoa taco. Word spread throughout Jerusalem of these great gifts and from that day, October 4 was known as National Taco Day.
OK, I completely made that up but any reason is a good reason to celebrate this
historic foodie holiday. With the big day finally upon us, many local restaurants are offering big deals to entice people to come in and celebrate with them. I’ve glanced over the deals and believe nobody should be paying more than a dollar for a taco today.
Here’s where to get your fix for a dollar or less at local places. There are other places that have taco deals but why not support local?
La Hacienda (1138 N Nelson Dr, Derby, KS)
$1 tacos all day.
Casa Martinez (201 W. Greenway, Derby, KS)
$6.99 all you can eat tacos. Eat 7 and you’re set.
Las Palmas (119 W. Central, Andover, KS)
$1 street tacos all day.
Los Compadres (3302 W. Central, Wichita, KS)
$1 street tacos all day.
Tacos Lopez (795 N West St, Wichita, KS)
75 cent mini tacos all day.
Taco Fajita (1004 S. Meridian Ave, Wichita, KS)
75 cent mini tacos all day. During the week it’s always a dollar
El Pollo Dorado al Carbon de Wichita (128 W 21st St & 2117 E Central, Wichita, KS)
$1 tacos all day.
El Papa Gallo Restaurant (901 E Harry St, Wichita, KS)
$1 soft tacos all day.
Casa Del Charro (2227 N Arkansas, Wichita, KS)
$1 tacos all day.
Las Mananitas (2347 N Arkansas, Wichita, KS
$1 tacos all day.
There are some other restaurants out there offering for $1.50 on up like Molino’s, Douglas Street Tacos and District Taqueria but if you’re sweet spot is a dollar a less, this list should get you your fill.
Happy Dining,
Eddy
======================================
Have a deal to promote? Please E-mail us with your restaurant information.
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Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | PinterestIt’s a great time to be a fan of the Neverwinter MMORPG with plenty of excellent updates on the horizon following their successful Xbox One launch, and now Cryptic Studios are proud to announce their next module expansion for the Dungeons & Dragons-based MMORPG, tentatively titled Underdark.
There aren’t yet too many details available for Neverwinter: Underdark but we do know that players will be sent to Menzoberranzan to fight alongside Drizzt Do’Urden. Yes, that Drizzt. There will be a brand new quest line added written by none other than R.A. Salvatore himself, the creator of Drizzt! This module will be coming to PC in 2015, with an Xbox One release soon to follow.
Prior to Underdark, Cryptic teased Strongholds. This module will launch before Neverwinter: Underdark and will have several awesome features and content updates, including guild housing.
Additionally, the development team are looking hard at what improvements can be made to Neverwinter: Elemental Evil and while they do not have any more details on this currently, they will let us know as soon as they can and will be monitoring community feedback in this forum thread.
With lots of exciting changes coming for Neverwinter in the following months, you can always follow their Twitter for the latest updates.
Source: Neverwinter official website
Related: FantasyA Chilliwack resident recently put together an interesting video of all the crazy happenings at an intersection in the city.
YouTube User Rob "I recently posted a video of what took place at the intersection in Chilliwack and all that happens. People driving like maniacs, doing donuts, burnouts, running down cyclists, and of course accidents, this corner has it all."
Rob appears to have several cameras set up on his home to capture both the intersection and the street in front of his home, and it’s almost shocking how much action takes place on his street. The video was posted on December 27th and it has since gone viral with nearly a million views in just a few days.
Lots of police action has been caught on the video surveillance including an arrest, pepper spraying, and a search with a police dog. At one point you can see Rob being arrested by police in what he says was an incident of defending himself against “countless crackheads.”
The intersection is Reece Avenue and Williams Street and by the looks of it, it’s a hot bed for criminal activity. We can’t wait to see what 2016 has in store for Rob.When it comes to safe spaces on college campuses, it’s not a two-way street. Social justice snowflakes demand their personal zones be safe from differing thoughts and opinions they consider triggering or problematic. Those zones move around as they move around, and when they invade the space of someone practicing their first amendment rights, they demand compliance with their inane progressive sensitivities.
As TruthRevolt previously reported, one social justice warrior, now dubbed Trigglypuff 2.0, brought her mobile safe space into a meeting with the University of Kansas’s Young America’s Foundation which held a debate questioning the legitimacy of safe spaces and trigger warnings. The YAF received nothing like a debate by these SJWs but did get angry and vitriolic demands shouted at them.
“We have to share space,” TP 2.0 stated. “So, regardless if you guys think that freedom of speech allows you to spew hatred, it isn’t allowed.”
Now, YAF invited these people to join their discussion, but they took over the conversation and shouted YAF members down; a typical tactic seen from SJWs at most conservative campus events. Also, the conservative group understands that their ideas aren’t shared by everyone and don’t hold an unreasonable expectation that everyone must share their beliefs or else. Instead of disruption, the conservatives want a discussion.
But what happens when SJWs hold their own events? Well, those aren’t really discussions at all, as evidenced by some recent invites at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. The school’s Student Life Mosaic Center and the Women’s Center hosted a “Community Safe Space” described as a “healing space” for “Black lives.” However, it is made clear that this is in no way open to discussion or debate:
Following the most recent and ongoing events in Baltimore County, Tulsa, Charlotte and elsewhere in our nation, Student Life's Mosaic Center and the Women’s Center will be offering a safe space discussion on Tuesday, September 27th from 1-2pm in the Mosaic Center. This safe space is not intended to be an open discussion or debate. Rather, this is an opportunity to provide intentional healing and supportive space for UMBC community to process and share their thoughts, emotions, and reactions as related to racism, institutionalized violence, and anti-Blackness. We ask and encourage the voices and experiences of Black lives to be centered in these conversations and that you come with an open heart and mind as we process these challenging emotions of hurt, pain, anger, and sorrow together as a UMBC community.
A similar event was held in July after Baton Rouge and Dallas. Open discussion was also banned from this “healing space.”
From the SJWs perspective, they deserve safe spaces to speak openly but conservative students don’t deserve a space where a debate/discussion can take place without being overrun by screaming trigglypuffs.
In the real world, we call that a double standard.
H/T Campus ReformAs we previously reported, Tesla’s vehicles get rarely stolen thanks to its always-on advanced GPS tracking feature, but there are always a few non-techie thieves who make the mistakes and it results in some satisfying justice, like when a Model S was briefly stolen in Vancouver and the owner gave live-instructions to the police while they were catching up with the thief.
But there are also some professional car thieves who know exactly what they are doing.
They have apparently been targeting Tesla vehicles over the past few months in Europe and managed to get away with quite a few of them. Now Tesla is reportedly pushing a new software update to try to prevent future thefts.
Last year, we reported on two separate events of new Tesla vehicles being stolen in Europe and they were never recovered.
It was never clear how exactly they were stolen. In each case, the key fobs weren’t stolen and the vehicles not trackable, which means that the thieves either have an unknown sophisticated way to start and drive the car, or they managed to quietly tow it.
The leading theory is that they gained access through hacking the key fob or Tesla app of the owner and they quickly removed the Sim card or used a GPS blocker to prevent tracking.
The vehicles were likely quickly dismantled for parts and earlier this year, we got proof of that after a Tesla Model S stolen in the Netherlands was found dismantled inside a truck trying to get into Germany.
This theft was apparently only one in a series of Tesla being stolen the Netherlands recently – much more than in recent years.
Dutch news site nrc.nl reports that 11 Model S sedans were recently stolen in the country. They talked to Martijn Boss whose Tesla got stolen in Heemstede last month and he was told by the police that it was the ninth Tesla stolen in the region that week alone. The local police also said that those vehicles are often dismantled into parts within two hours of being stolen, which sounds almost impossible.
After looking at his security camera, another Tesla owner in Heemstede said that he saw “a man lingering around the vehicle with cap, scarf and laptop” before he drove away with the car moments later.
The publication got a comment from Jon McNeill, Tesla President of sales and service, about the situation. He said that the method used is not unique to Tesla:
“The method used by the thieves is also used to steal other cars,”
While it’s still not clear, the theory of a “relay device” that serves as a link between the car and the key fob would make the most sense here.
Interestingly, Tesla is reportedly pushing a new software update to fix the issue. We asked for more information and we will update if we get an answer.When Kat Nicolaisen, a trainer at Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Florida, wants Hugh, a 1300-pound manatee, to swim toward her, she holds a white plastic target against the tank wall and the animal glides immediately to it. When she wants Hugh to execute a barrel roll, she carefully traces a circle on its back with her finger and the manatee—covered in short whiskers called vibrissae that conduct tactile sensations—rolls compliantly. When she needs him to lie on his back, she traces a straight line, and the manatee flips over, opening his mouth and waiting patiently for a treat of chopped apples and beets.
You might not guess that the enormous creature was smart or perceptive enough to follow such commands. But manatees are surprisingly intelligent—and once properly motivated, Mote researchers have found, they can perform all sorts of tasks.
This daily training reinforces Hugh's willingness to hold still for a medical examination and participate in behavioral research that guages his hearing and visual acuity. But as recently as a decade ago, all manatees in captivity were routinely sedated or restrained for the simplest of diagnostic tests, and it was unthinkable to consider that they’d be able to follow any sort of instructions.
For manatees and other animals at Mote, a new paradigm of animal research is starting to emerge. Researchers are discovering that some scientific questions can only be answered when they ask animals like Hugh to take part in their research.
"A lot of it is common sense. It's so much easier, in the long run, to work with an animal, rather than fight it and force it to do things," says Joseph Gaspard, who heads Mote's manatee program. "Every other facility for manatees has to drain the tank and restrain them with ten to fifteen people just to treat a little wound or take blood."
And a huge percentage of the animals they keep in captivity, it turns out, are plenty smart enough to undergo this sort of training. "This slow-moving, big-bodied, dim-witted association that people have for manatees is unfortunate," Gaspard adds. "They're very well-evolved for their niche and very intelligent." Using this intelligence—along with that of other species—makes research and caretaking easier, less stressful for the animal and more informative for all parties involved.
This sort of transition is happening at dozens of research labs, zoos, aquariums and other facilities around the country. At Gregory Berns' lab at Emory University, for instance, dogs have been trained to stay still inside an fMRI machine. Berns and other researchers are interested in learning about dogs' neurological architecture, and sedating or restraining them for imaging studies would ruin the data, yielding an image of a tranquilized or stressed dog's brain, rather than a normal one.
Instead, he and others have recruited dog owners from the community to help them gradually train amenable pets to tolerate the noise and motion of an fMRI machine for up to 30 seconds at a time. As a result, they've produced novel data about the canine brain's reward systems and how they respond to human interactions.
For several decades, in non-research settings like zoos, caretakers have used rewards and operant conditioning to train animals for caretaking purposes. At the Smithsonian National Zoo, for instance, elephants have been trained to stick their feet out of their enclosured to be checked by vets for injuries, lions and other big cats have been trained to hold their mouths open for dental exams and Mei Xiang, the zoo's female panda, is even capable of getting into a squatting position so vets can administer a pelvic exam.
But Mote, which mostly houses injured animals that can't be released into the wild, is one of just a few research facilities using this sort of training towards scientific ends too. Because no one had ever tried to train manatees before, Gaspard says, "we basically had to start from scratch."
He and colleagues figured out that the best way to entice Hugh and the other resident manatee, Buffett, into following instructions was to supplement their vegetable-heavy diet (they each eat about 72 heads of lettuce daily) with rewards of chopped apples, carrots and beets when they did something correctly. The researchers issue these instructions by drawing with their fingers on the manatees' skin, because touch seems to be the creatures' most acute sense.
Elsewhere at the facility, turtles are trained to participate in behavioral tests using the same principles. On one recent day, trainers tested the hearing of resident loggerhead turtles by holding speakers underwater and rewarding the animals with a taste of squid when they swam towards the speaker that emitted a tone. This is part of the first-ever behavioral hearing project on loggerheads, a subject that could eventually help sustain the endangered speices because it could determine whether loud human activities like shoreline dredging could be interfering with their copulation.
But there are other benefits to this one-on-one training work. "We want to see what makes these animals tick," Gaspard says, "so we focus on sensory and physiology." They've measured manatees' extreme sensitivity to touch, for instance, and determined that the animals can poinpoint tactile stimuli on their skin with sub-millimeter resolution.
Like training at zoos, it makes necessary veterinary tasks—taking blood, cleaning wounds, conducting physical exams—much less stressful for the animals. It also gives them something that many animals in captivity sorely lack. "It's a form of stimulation," Gaspard says. "They're thinking, they're getting tested, they're being challenged."Earlier this month, Microsoft found itself in hot water with the European Union, following a violation of its antitrust agreement there relating to its web browser ballot screen, dating back to 2009. The incident – which Microsoft acknowledged and apologised for – resulted in a fine amounting to $732m, the latest in a long line of penalties that the EU has imposed on the company; indeed, Microsoft has handed over $3.04bn in fines to the EU since 2004.
EU officials may well be rubbing their hands with glee once more, having received a new complaint against Microsoft alleging anti-competitive behaviour, this time from a Spanish association representing the Linux community.
How the EU probably sees Microsoft; if history has taught us anything.
As Reuters reports, Hispalinux – which has around 8,000 members – has filed a complaint with the European Commission against Microsoft, alleging that the company has imposed restrictions that make it unnecessarily difficult for users to boot Windows 8 computers to another operating system.
The complaint relates to the UEFI Secure Boot start-up feature, which Hispalinux refers to as an “obstruction mechanism” that impedes the ability of users to easily boot a PC sold with Windows 8 to an alternative OS such as Linux. According to Hispalinux, it establishes a “de facto technological jail for computer booting systems… making Microsoft’s Windows platform less neutral than ever”.
Microsoft saw this one coming a long time ago. In September 2011, when Windows 8 was still in pre-launch development, former Windows chief Steven Sinofsky and Tony Mangefeste from the company’s Ecosystem team, sought to explain how Secure Boot was not intended to ‘lock out’ other operating systems, but was introduced as “part of [the] Windows 8 secured boot architecture”.
Graphic via 'Building Windows 8' blog, September 22, 2011
Mangefeste said at the time that “complete control over the PC continues to be available” to users, adding that “secure boot is a UEFI protocol, not a Windows 8 feature” and that “Microsoft does not mandate or control the settings on PC firmware that control or enable secured boot from any operating system other than Windows”. He also said that “OEMs have the ability to customize their firmware to meet the needs of their customers by customizing the level of certificate and policy management on their platform”.
Hispalinux evidently disagrees. The head of the organisation, Jose Maria Lancho, told Reuters that Microsoft’s implementation of UEFI Secure Boot “is absolutely anti-competitive. It’s really bad for the user and for the European software industry.”
Source: ReutersUPDATED: Snapping turtle found beaten Monday at golf course has died; $1,000 reward offered in case
Warden Wire Section: Crime Stoppers published on June 11, 2013
By: Joanne M. Haas/Bureau of Law Enforcement
The snapping turtle found beaten in a sand bunker at the Delbrook Golf Course in Delavan Monday morning has died, the wildlife care facility reported today.
Meanwhile, Conservation Warden Juan Gomez of Walworth County says an investigation is under way. Anyone with any information related to this case is asked to call the DNR Hotline -- 1-800-847-9367. This hotline is staffed 24 hours, 7 days a week. Callers can remain anonymous.
The snapping turtle was taken to Pine View Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education Center for care. Today, the Fredonia-based center posted this message on its website: "Our turtle has died. Hopefully, a life not lost in vain. We will continue to be proactive as stewards on behalf of this victim, as well as the other voiceless creatures we share this earth with. We thank you all for your concern and support. Although this is devastating, it is a catalyst to continue."
The international Global Conservation Group, with its Wisconsin offices based out of Watertown, is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the person or persons responsible for the beating of this snapping turtle. The group announced its reward on its Twitter account, @GBC3000.
Warden Gomez received the call about the turtle on June 10 about 9:30 a.m. The turtle, a female looking for a place to lay her eggs, was found lying in the sand bunker off Hole 4 North. Wildlife rehabilitators indicate the turtle had holes in its shell and also was struck in the right eye. It appeared to have been beaten with a golf club. The golf course superintendent saw the turtle about 7:30 a.m. when it was in the bunker preparing to lay her eggs, and was not in the condition reported about two hours later. The warden and the superintendent searched the bunker after 9:30 a.m. but no eggs were found.
Wildlife rehabilitators said the turtle had about a 40 percent chance of survival. The turtle was eggless, and rehabilitators said the turtle may have laid her eggs.
If you have any information related to the beating of this snapping turtle at the Delbrook Golf Course in Delavan, please call the DNR Hotline at 1-800-TIP-WDNR or 1-800-847-9367. Callers can remain anonymous.A grab taken from a propaganda video released by al-Malahem Media on December 4, 2014 purportedly shows US hostage Luke Somers, 33, kidnapped more than a year ago in the Yemeni capital Sanaa, saying that his life is in danger (AFP)
Al-Qaeda has blamed President Barack Obama for the deaths of a US journalist and a South African during a failed hostage rescue attempt, warning “the lives of all Americans are in danger”.
Hours after the video was released Thursday, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, claimed a rocket attack on the “American section” of Al-Anad air base in the southern province of Lahij, according to US-based monitor SITE Intelligence Group.
Yemen has acknowledged that US personnel gathering intelligence for drone strikes on AQAP are deployed at Al-Anad, which a military official confirmed was attacked Thursday.
AQAP said the attack was in revenge for the “killing of Muslims” during a failed military operation to rescue US journalist Luke Somers, SITE reported.
Somers and South African teacher Pierre Korkie were shot and fatally wounded by their captors Saturday when American commandos stormed the Al-Qaeda hideout where they were being held in southeastern Yemen, US officials said.
“Obama made the wrong decision, and signed the death warrant” of Somers, AQAP official Nasser bin Ali al-Ansi said in the video.
The raid came two days after the kidnappers issued a video in which they threatened to kill Somers within 72 hours unless Washington met unspecified demands.
Ansi said Obama had ordered the assault “despite our warning that he should not do anything foolish”.
The failed operation came just a day before Korkie, 57, was due to be freed under a deal with the kidnappers, although the US ambassador to South Africa has said Washington was unaware of his impending release.
“Obama made a decision that caused things to take a completely different turn to what we wanted,” Ansi said.
“He could have avoided the fate of this hostage, which was the inevitable consequence of the military solution,” he added.
Ansi said AQAP was seeking the release of detainees held by the United States, including blind Egyptian sheikh Omar Abdul Rahman and Pakistani Aafia Siddiqui, jailed on terrorism charges.
Denouncing US policy towards the “Muslim nation,” Ansi warned that “the lives of all Americans are in danger, in or outside the United States, in the air, on land and at sea.”
“Can your nation dream of security when it lives in such a situation? You cannot dream of security until security is a reality in Palestine and all Muslim countries.”
Somers was seized in Sanaa in September 2013. Korkie was abducted together with his wife in May 2013, but she was released in January.
AQAP, considered by Washington as Al-Qaeda’s most dangerous affiliate, has exploited instability in the impoverished country since a 2011 uprising forced president Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down.
In recent years it has carried out a growing number of abductions, with several hostages still in captivity.
Yemen is a key ally of the United States, allowing Washington to carry out a longstanding drone war on its territory against AQAP.The 2013 “Supreme” colorway is perhaps the best Flyknit Chukka ever released. First and foremost, it’s the closest the Chukka family has ever gotten to a proper “Bred.” They’re not the classics for nothing. Not only that, but Wolf Greys were a relatively limited release. Whether by internal planning or underproduction of a formerly-unpopular model, these Chukkas sold out when all other colorways sat. The fact that this was the first non-HTM mass exposure of such an unconventional silhouette only stoked demand even more.
Long story short: discerning sneakerheads love these shoes. Just look at the reaction whenever a pair is posted online: “Wolf Grey” is the Bred III of the Chukka family. Desirable; iconic; and most of all, hard to find. So when a pair in my size popped up on Ebay last June, I moved quick.
Impressions
Right off the bat, Lunar Flyknit Chukkas are comfy like you wouldn’t believe. Your entire ankle is wrapped snug by ultralight Flyknit material, secure but comfortable on a Lunarlon footbed. It’s like memory foam for your feet, minus the cold ankles.
As a result of the higher-than-expected silhouette, they’re also some of the most visually-interesting shoes I’ve ever owned. The Flyknit Chukka doesn’t go as far into “sock” territory as a Huarache Flight, but it tapers so well into your ankle you’d swear it’s an extension. It’s also a shockingly smooth shoe. Yes, Flyknit is speckled wool, but it’s splashed across a one-piece upper. The marled grey knit material looks both high tech and scratchy: like Grandma’s sweater made from woven carbon. Contrast Flywire and a bright red Swoosh tie the package together with perfect color complements.
The only issue I have with the Wolf Greys: they’re not a shoe you just work in to existing outfits. More often than not, I find myself working around them. I’ve decided that some days will be Wolf Grey days, checked the forecast, and then put together a both weather and color-appropriate outfit. That’s not to say the shoes aren’t versatile. By contrast, I own a lot of clothing I can wear with them. It just has to be very carefully selected for the occasion. I’ll give you an example: the grey of the knit upper means anything neutral short of black doesn’t work. If it’s cold out, that means I’m now wearing black pants. However, lest I go full matchy-matchy, my choice of shirt colors has now been narrowed down to white or olive.American Vision is a Christian Reconstructionist organization that publishes books and newsletters, runs a discussion board, a web-based radio show, and annual conferences and engages in other activities to promote the dominionist views of its founder Gary DeMar, as well as those of one of its most well-known associates, Gary North, the son-in-law of Christian Reconstructionist founder R.J. Rushdoony, and a supporter of Ron Paul whose economic writings have also influenced Rand Paul.
The goal is to return America to its Biblical foundations “from Genesis to Revelation” (a postmillennial reading of Revelation, which holds that the Second Coming will occur after an era of Christian dominance). American Vision is a non-profit, tax exempt, educational organization. Like many of these groups, DeMar also has a companion organization that can raise money and promote candidates for elected office: Vision to America.
Yesterday, Vision to America sent a fundraising appeal in support of Nevada’s Republican nominee to the U.S. Senate, Sharron Angle, from South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint’s political action committee, the Senate Conservatives Fund.
Like Rand Paul in Kentucky, DeMint is bucking the Republican establishment by endorsing and raising money for candidates like Angle, whom he calls a “true conservative:”
The Senate Conservatives Fund has endorsed Sharron Angle in Nevada because she’s a true conservative, not a rubber-stamp Republican. Being a Republican is not enough these days. In order to receive the support of the Senate Conservatives Fund, candidates must demonstrate a core commitment to our nation’s founding principles and a willingness to stand up to their own party when it’s wrong. (emphasis in original)
In the appeal, DeMint describes a plan to raise money for Angle and other candidates like her by, among other things, targeting particular audiences:
I have put together a plan to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars into the Nevada Senate race — along with several others like it — to achieve conservative victory. This plan includes running statewide television and radio ads, sending direct mail to targeted voters, and operating phone banks — all geared toward defeating Harry Reid in November.
DeMint apparently does not think the Reconstructionists are an irrelevant fringe movement, as many others seem to think, since he’s paid money to email them and apparently expects that it will be worthwhile.Man and woman shot dead in East Oakland
Oakland Police Chief Sean Whent at the scene of the 500 block of 105th Ave. where two adults were shot and killed in East Oakland, Calif., on Fri. Jan. 16, 2015. Oakland Police Chief Sean Whent at the scene of the 500 block of 105th Ave. where two adults were shot and killed in East Oakland, Calif., on Fri. Jan. 16, 2015. Photo: Michael Macor / The Chronicle Photo: Michael Macor / The Chronicle Image 1 of / 14 Caption Close Man and woman shot dead in East Oakland 1 / 14 Back to Gallery
A man and a woman were shot and killed Friday on a residential street in East Oakland, police said.
The two were shot about 12:10 p.m. on the 500 block of 105th Avenue in the city’s Sobrante Park neighborhood and were pronounced dead at the scene.
Police said a man wearing a ski mask opened fire and fled in a car. No arrest has been made. A California Highway Patrol helicopter assisted officers, who were canvassing the neighborhood for witnesses.
The slain woman was identified as Alexis Randolph, 19, by her grandfather, 62-year-old Carl Randolph, who stood outside the crime scene tape.
She had lived at her grandfather’s home in |
BMW i3 will go only about 80 miles on electric power.
Predictably, GM’s announcement sparked a round of headlines billing the Bolt as a potential “Tesla-killer.” (The most impressive, in terms of sheer hyperbole, might be the Seeking Alpha headline that included the phrase “RIP Tesla.”) If the phrase “Tesla-killer” is already familiar, that’s because virtually every electric car announced in the past two years has been greeted with the same tagline.
In every case, it’s wrong.
For one thing, there’s no guarantee that the Bolt will be a legitimate rival to the Model 3, even if its specs are similar. In just a few years, Tesla has built a reputation for quality, performance, and design that will be hard for Chevy to match. The Bolt is not a looker, nor is it likely to go very fast. (Chevy has said little about the powertrain, but the Detroit Free Press reports it will be “derived from the one in the tiny Spark EV,” which is not exactly a speed demon.)
Remember when Apple came out with the iPad? For a year or two afterward, every new tablet from a rival electronics company was initially billed as an “iPad-killer,” because it offered similar features on paper. Last I checked, the iPad was still with us.
To go mainstream, electric cars need a nationwide network of charging stations.
Image by Luke Ray / Courtesy of Chevrolet
The bigger problem with the phrase “Tesla-killer” is that it assumes Tesla would be better off if it were the only car company making viable all-electric cars. The truth is just the opposite.
With the Model S, Tesla has cornered a niche market of wealthy techies and early adopters. But that market can only take the company so far. Its real goal is to bring electric vehicles into the mainstream, winning over buyers who would otherwise continue to drive gas-guzzlers.
The greatest obstacle to Tesla’s long-term success is not rival electric cars, but a global transportation infrastructure that is built for gasoline-powered cars rather than battery-electrics. For Tesla to crack the mass market, it needs other major automakers to invest heavily in electric-vehicle technology, including a network of charging stations that would allow for long road trips in battery-powered cars. That’s why the company opened its patents to competitors last year. At this stage in its growth, Tesla wants more rivals, not fewer. So should everyone who believes that burning fossil fuels is bad for the environment.
That’s why it isn’t surprising that Tesla reacted to the Bolt’s debut by welcoming Chevy to the party. “We are always supportive of other manufacturers who bring compelling electric vehicles to the market,” Tesla representative Alexis Georgeson told me. “Tesla applauds Chevrolet for introducing the Bolt, and we are excited to learn more about the product.”
I am, too.
Update, Jan. 12, 2015, 4:55 p.m.: At a media briefing Monday afternoon in Detroit, Nissan said it too will aim for a 200-mile range on the next generation of its Leaf electric car, which is also due out in 2017. “We want to be competitive” with the Bolt, CEO Carlos Ghosn said, according to the Detroit News. “It may have even more range.”
Previously in Slate:Good job. Good effort. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Conservative video provocateur James O’Keefe has a lengthy history of fanning flames of voter fraud accusations without any real evidence. On Tuesday, he took it to another, creepier level, stalking potential voters and bragging about it.
In Philadelphia tailing a pastor's bus that's bussing people to the polls. #VeritasIsEverywhere & we will catch your #VoterFraud. @PhillyGOP pic.twitter.com/FY9UPOQolp — James O'Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) November 8, 2016
In a video he released on Twitter, O’Keefe observed:
So we’re behind this bus, which is like a pastor bus busing people around to polls in Philadelphia and we’re going to be releasing video today showing some people doing some improper things—busing people around, maybe they shouldn’t be doing it? Stay tuned … [We’re] all over the country undercover on election day and we’re going to be busting the whole thing open.
As University of California–Irvine School of Law professor and electoral expert Richard Hasen has noted on Slate’s live blog, taking people to the polls is not illegal but intimidating them is.
From Hasen:
The shady James O’Keefe of Project Veritas just released a video showing him following a “pastor’s bus” in Philadelphia supposedly taking people to the polls. It is legal to give people free transportation to vote. It is illegal to hassle people for voting. Once again, O’Keefe’s efforts to find election crimes may be creating them.
Nice work, James!
See more of Slate’s election coverage.Donald Trump wants to restrict or even abolish the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
In particular, he is proposing to dramatically limit the federal agency's power to regulate carbon dioxide emissions, instead putting the onus on individual states to self-regulate.
Although it sounds like a dire strategy, and emissions will probably increase, tougher regulations in blue states like California or New York should mitigate the inevitable oil and gas boom in Texas and the Midwest.
But far more worrying than a scale back of the EPA are existing policies, which already subsidise fossil fuels to an alarming extent.
US markets are currently so distorted in favour of the most polluting energy sources that scrapping climate regulations will do relatively little to increase emissions, compared to the damage that is already being done.
Trump's anti-EPA proposals - if they are ever implemented - will be comparable to throwing a match on a burning building.
Fossil fuels' $170 billion a year subsidy - before Trump
Coal, oil, and natural gas - fossil fuels - are the key cause of climate change, yet they receive huge support from governments. I've developed a new method to extract the size of fossil-fuel subsidies by looking at how much these fuels are used by individual countries.
By comparing actual energy use to a hypothetical amount a country'should' use in the absence of subsidies, we can extract the value of a country's implicit subsidies.
These benefits go far beyond the obvious tax breaks for coal, oil and gas firms. We are dealing here with entire economies set up to favour fossil fuel consumption over more energy-efficient or renewable alternatives.
This manifests itself in a wide variety of 'hidden subsidies', ranging from cheaper loans for drilling companies to subsidised mortgages which push people to build bigger houses that use more energy.
One striking example is the exemption of roadways from property tax. In the US, almost all land pays some type of property tax - even federal forests pay states for tying up land in a particular use. The land on which roads are built, however, generally pays nothing. This results in lost revenues and encourages more driving, and more petrol burning.
Add up the value of all these benefits and what do we get? In 2010, the most recent year in my analysis, fossil fuel subsidies in the US were worth a staggering US$170 billion. That amounted to 1.8% of GDP or $1,400 per year for the average American family.
Thanks to Presidents Clinton, Bush, Obama, fossil fuels are roaring!
These subsidies have been rising since 1980, the earliest year I analysed, even as people became more aware of global warming. Ironically, there was an especially sharp rise just after America signed the Kyoto protocol in 1997 - an international treaty aimed at restricting carbon emissions.
While probably unrelated, this nonetheless highlights that what governments say and do are two entirely different and often opposing things.
These subsidies are already contributing to higher emissions to a far greater extent than any potential EPA deregulation. Both directly and indirectly the government offers incentives to individuals and firms to use more energy and to burn more fossil fuels than they otherwise would.
Getting rid of these policies would improve efficiency and provide a reprieve to strained government budgets, while also lowering carbon emissions.
My research shows that had the US eliminated all subsidies between 1980 and 2010, its emissions would have been 11% lower than they actually were. In fact, almost the entire increase in US carbon emissions over that period came from rising fossil-fuel subsidies which encouraged more energy use.
Trump's suggestion that he may seek to eliminate the EPA and its various regulations on vehicle or factory pollution would work like yet another subsidy.
However, the effects pale in comparison to the damage already done and continuing to be done by existing subsidy programs implemented over the past 20 years under presidents Clinton, Bush and Obama.
Radek Stefanski is Lecturer in Economics, University of St Andrews.
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.Mr. Simon’s work on the show is also remembered for the way it ended. He and Mr. Groening clashed frequently — Mr. Groening was among several people, including Mr. Simon himself, who said that Mr. Simon could be difficult to work with — and Mr. Simon left in 1993, after four seasons.
Image Mr. Simon in August. Credit Mike Blake/Reuters
It was not an amicable split, but it was extraordinarily profitable for Mr. Simon. He retained the title of executive producer and was given royalties from future home video sales. As “The Simpsons” moved into syndication and lucrative VHS and then DVD sales, it made Mr. Simon wealthy long after he was no longer directly involved in the show. He said in interviews that it provided him with “tens of millions” of dollars each year.
Mr. Simon angered Mr. Groening early on by expressing skepticism about the show’s prospects, suggesting that it would last only one season. But he later emphasized how fortunate he was to have been part of it. Not that he caught every episode after he left.
“If I had to watch it to cash my checks,” he said, “I would.”
Mr. Simon put his money toward his passions. He started a foundation that trained dogs to help disabled people, including veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and he gave generously to the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, among other groups. PETA’s headquarters in Norfolk, Va., was renamed the Sam Simon Center in 2013.
After Mr. Simon learned he had cancer, he announced his intention to give nearly all his “Simpsons” royalties to charity. “I’ve given most of it away,” he said in 2013 when asked about his wealth on the comedian Marc Maron’s podcast. “I won’t be rich again until we get our quarterly installment from ‘The Simpsons.’ ”
Mr. Simon was born on June 6, 1955, in the Los Angeles area, to Arthur and Joan Simon. His father owned a company that made discount clothing, his mother owned an art gallery, and Mr. Simon grew up comfortably in Beverly Hills, across the street from Groucho Marx and around the corner from Priscilla Presley.Something seems to have gone wrong here (Picture: Facebook)
There are a lot of people angry with Tesco right now, saying that they served up a ‘rotten, rancid’ turkey on the big day.
Social media was swamped with people complaining the meat they bought tasted terrible, some describing it as ‘bleach’ or ‘acid’.
One woman said it caused an argument, as she blamed her husband’s feet for the bad smell.
People complaining said they were left with no meal altogether or had to order in emergency takeaways after discovering their Tesco turkeys had gone off.
Some customers abandoned their turkey dinners before even putting the birds in the oven as a result of the smell.
We're sitting waiting on a Chinese coming after @Tesco ruined #ChristmasDinner. Thank the lord for @JustEatUK. Think this is the first time I've ever spent money on christmas day. What else you gonna do with 8 hungry mouths and a rotten turkey. Think I'll send Tesco the bill… — Jase (@SappninBitton) December 25, 2017
Others said they didn’t notice until they had started digging into their Christmas meal.
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They then spent Christmas day complaining to the supermarket on Twitter and Facebook about the turkeys, which cost up to £59 in the store’s Finest range.
Police rake in £1,700,000 after selling seized items on eBay
One man said he’d been forced to order in an emergency Chinese takeaway for his family in Glasgow after he discovered their turkey was rotten.
Kirsten Shore from Stafford wrote: ‘Snap! We had the same problem!
‘Our first time hosting and a rotten turkey from Tesco ruined our day! I’m devastated!’
‘£250 wasted. An awful meal and eight sick people!’
Thanks @Tesco for selling me a gone off turkey & wrecking my 1st xmas day cooked at my home! £250 wasted, an awful meal and 8sick people! — Kirsten Shore (@Kirsten_Shore) December 26, 2017
She later added on Facebook: ‘I was very excited and worked super hard to make and prepare Christmas dinner for my family for the first time ever but thanks to Tesco I served them a rotten, rancid turkey that was inedible.
‘Not only that – the gravy was made from the turkey so that resulted in everyone’s meal ending up in the bin. Thanks Tesco!’
Coward, 25, left son and girlfriend in overturned car after crashing in police chaseSome furious, and hungry, customers also took to Facebook to vent about their ruined meals.
Kelly Greaves from Norton, Stoke-on-Trent, wrote: ‘The turkey smelt/tasted like bleach! Sadly with us making the gravy from the juices, and pouring it all over our vegetables and potatoes – the whole table of eight went hungry!
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‘We literally had NO Christmas dinner except a Christmas pudding.’
@Tesco my husband has had d & v after we had a Tesco turkey yesterday. He has been unwell since eating it. It smelt a bit funny when cooking, not appetising at all. He was the only person who ate the leg. Purchased from Tesco Carlton and was within date when cooked. — KB (@mrskbryan) December 26, 2017
@Tesco Turkey tasted awful, couldn't eat and left terrible taste; still with me now. No receipt please advise. — Marcus Newby (@marcusonewby) December 26, 2017
Jane Plant from Uttoxeter, Staffordshire contacted Tesco to tell them she had been blaming a strange smell in the house on her husband’s feet, only to discover it was yet another rotten turkey.
She said: ‘I’d actually smelt a funny smell in my house for the last couple of days and actually blamed my husband’s feet.
‘We now have to have a completely different family Christmas meal so a big thanks Tesco for ruining our family Christmas meal and furthermore making me apologise to my husband for blaming his feet.’
Can someone @Tesco please contact me about a mouldy Christmas turkey you sold to my pensioner mother (Liverpool City Centre store) and basically ruined our Christmas dinner. Customer service is awful and it’s put a downer on our day. — Terry (@therealefc) December 25, 2017
A Tesco spokesman said: ‘We’ve sold hundreds of thousands of great quality British turkeys this Christmas.
‘We have exceptionally high standards so we will look to address the small number of complaints in recent days.
‘We will get in touch with each customer so we can investigate how these instances may have happened.’GREEN RIVER — On May 23, 2017 Billy A. Busbice Jr. of Olla, Louisiana appeared before Lincoln County Circuit Court Judge Frank Zebre and pled guilty to charges of intentionally allowing an antlerless elk to go to waste and an additional charge of taking an elk without the proper license. Busbice stars on Wildgame Nation, a reality hunting show on the Outdoor Channel, and also owns an outdoor products company.
The case started on October 16, 2016 when Kemmerer Game Warden Chris Baird received a report from a group of hunters that had observed a possible wildlife violation on the Spring Creek Ranch, which is owned by Busbice, on La Barge Creek. “The hunters told me that on the morning of October 15th they observed a man hunting on the ranch,” Baird said. “Apparently, there was a younger man with the hunter who had a video camera and appeared to be filming the hunt. They watched the hunter shoot one elk, presumably a cow, and then shoot a bull. The first elk fell within around 60 yards of where the bull went down. They observed the hunter and the cameraman walk up to look at the bull and then leave the area.”
Warden Baird also was told that another man came and field dressed the bull and hauled it away with a backhoe. “The hunters told me the first elk, which was later determined to be a cow, still lay in the meadow after the man had taken the bull away with the backhoe,” Baird said.
Baird knew Busbice had a Commissioner’s elk license and that there had been a very large bull elk frequenting the ranch. On October 17th Baird met with Busbice before he flew to Louisiana. Baird’s summary of this encounter is that after a short interview, Busbice admitted to having accidently killed a calf elk while trying to harvest the large bull. Busbice stated that after the sun had gone down he had instructed the ranch manager and the cameraman to drag the calf elk into an irrigation ditch to conceal it. No attempt to field dress or preserve meat from the calf was made. Interviews of the cameraman and the ranch manager revealed similar stories and the men admitted to having concealed the calf in the ditch and disposing of the bull’s gut pile in the creek, in an attempt to hide any evidence of the poaching. Busbice admitted that he did not call Warden Baird because he was concerned about having recently been cited for previous wildlife violations. At this time Warden Baird seized both elk from Busbice and an unedited video of his hunt.
“Mr. Busbice told me they had been filming the elk hunt to feature on his reality TV hunting show,” Baird said. The video and audio recording shows that Mr. Busbice shot several times at a large bull in a herd of elk and missed several times. The video then shows Mr. Busbice shooting and hitting a calf, and the calf goes down.
“On his fourth shot, Busbice hits the bull in the left shoulder,” Baird said. It then falls to the ground. At the end of the video you can hear Busbice say, “We have to eliminate that part when I shot a cow.” He also is recorded saying, “Yeah, but we got to get rid of that cow.”
Judge Zebre sentenced Mr. Busbice to 180 days of jail suspended, providing that he lead a law abiding life during one and a half years of unsupervised probation; he was sentenced to pay the maximum fines for both violations and the maximum in restitution for the illegal take of both elk for a total of $23,000.00; and had all of his game and fish license privileges revoked for two years to include all of 2017 and 2018. Because Wyoming is part of the Interstate Wildlife Violator Compact, this loss of his license privileges applies in 45 states, including his home state of Louisiana.
“There are many take-home messages from this event,” Baird said. “We are extremely grateful to the sportsmen that reported these violations. The successful prosecution of this case likely would not have happened without them.”
The bull elk he was convicted of shooting illegally was a highly visible large bull elk. The bull roughly scored over 350 inches. Mr. Busbice was also cited earlier in 2016 of false oath for purchasing a resident general elk license as a nonresident and purchasing more than the authorized number of deer licenses and paid $1430.00 in fines for those violations.
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Anyone with information on a wildlife violation may call the Stop Poaching Hotline at 1-877-WGFD-TIP (1-877-943-3847). Tips may be reported online at wgfd.wyo.gov, or by calling the Green River Game and Fish Office at-1-307-875-3223. Poaching information may also be texted; text keyword WGFD a message toTIP411 (847-411).Callers can remain anonymous and may be eligible for a cash reward if the information leads to a conviction.This should be a dream year for movie-theater owners, with “The Avengers” sequel landed and a new James Bond movie, the “Hunger Games” finale and the long-awaited next “Star Wars” among the blockbuster movies on the way.
And it is — sort of.
Grosses are running roughly 5 percent ahead of last year and on pace for an all-time high of $11 billion. Admissions are holding steady, cinema advertising rates are down, volume is up, and consumers are learning to love the high-end amenities like dinner and drinks that many theaters now offers. At one point this year, AMC Entertainment’s stock was up 24 percent, Carmike Cinemas was up 18 percent, Cinemark was up 17 percent and Regal Entertainment Group rose 11 percent.
But executives at AMC, Cinemark, Regal and smaller chains still wake up punching the pillow some nights, and here are some reasons why:
Great movies are a double-edged sword
Few businesses are as reliant on their suppliers as movie theaters, and this year’s crop is arguably the most marketable ever. In particular, Disney’s 2015 slate is remarkable with “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” “Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens” and two Pixar movies. Emboldened by that slate, the studio flexed its muscle and squeezed theaters for a higher share of the grosses and limits on matinee showings on Marvel’s “Age of Ultron.”
We’ll get a better idea of how tough Disney wants to play this holiday season, ahead of the rollout of “The Force Awakens.” But none of the other studios have that strong a slate this year, so a broad shift in that direction is unlikely anytime. And it’s worth noting that Disney didn’t invent the concept; rates have been quietly adjusted on other studios’ big releases in the past.
Disney is loaded next year too, and with Pixar Animation, Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm in it stable, will be for the forseeable future. Warner Bros., with “Batman v. Superman,” “Suicide Squad” and J.K. Rowling‘s “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” looks extremely strong next year, Universal is building franchises and momentum, and in 2017, Fox will begin rolling out three new “Avatar” movies from James Cameron. Not all of the studios are inclined to play the kind of hardball that Disney has, but if their rivals do, it becomes harder to avoid and compete.
Also Read: 42 Summer Movies on Our Radar: From 'Avengers,' 'Jurassic World' to 'Magic Mike XXL' (Photos)
Streaming May Turn to a Tidal Wave
More than 80 percent of moviegoers would be willing to pay up to $20 extra to see first-run films at home, according to a PricewaterhouseCooper survey released in January. Downloading new movies has become de rigeur for arthouse movie fans, and indie film companies have made digital a key part of their business plans. The Kristen Wiig film “Welcome to Me” for example, took in roughly $96,000 from 81 theaters last weekend for Alchemy Entertainment, and $510,000 from video on demand. Its domestic box-office total is $435,000 after three weeks. “The Interview” was a one-off because of the whole Kim Jong-Un controversy, but it took in more than $40 million from downloads for Sony and showed the potential for a wide digital-only release.
Also Read: Why Paul Feig Chose Streaming for His New Comedy 'Other Space' (Exclusive Video)
The proliferation and growth of streaming services like Netflix, Amazon and Hulu have conditioned consumers to regard their couch as a prime vantage point. Coupled with the ever-growing threat of piracy, the prospect that streaming will overtake movie theaters as the platform of choice for mainstream consumers seems almost inevitable.
The Antitrust Hammer Is Coming Down
The three biggest theater chains — Regal Entertainment Group, AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. and Cinemark Holdings Inc. — control more than half of the 40,000 movie screens in the U.S. and they’re the target of a Justice Department probe to determine if they’ve violated the Sherman Antitrust Act.
At issue is the practice of “clearances,” in which license agreements give first-run movies to some theaters exclusively, blocking nearby rivals from playing the same movie at the same time. AMC and Cinemark have been sued by smaller independent chains like Flagship Theaters, which is based in Rancho Mirage, Calif., and partly owned by “Breaking Bad” star Bryan Cranston.
If the Justice Department finds the chains acted illegally to squeez their smaller rivals, they could face significant penalties and possibly an injunction against standard clearances, which would blow up the current studio-theater business model. (Criminal penalties are unlikely.) A decision is expected in six months or more. In the meantime, a nasty side effect is the possibility that the issue will increase the already large divide between the smaller, largely rural chains and the giants.
Ticket Prices vs. Perception, and Popcorn
One of moviegoers’ frequent complaint is the cost of tickets, now over $8 on average and as high as $12 in big cities like L.A. and New York. Compared to other entertainment activities, however, moviegoing is among the least expensive. According to the latest figures from the Motion Picture Association of America, the cost for a family of four to see a movie at $32.68, lower than the price of an NFL game ($337), a trip to a theme park ($208) or a Major League Baseball game ($112).
Also Read: What Hit Movie Drew the Most Diverse Audience? The Whitest?
It doesn’t seem that way to consumers, though, particularly those drinking a $7 Coke and nibbling $8 popcorn. But concession prices remain the area where theater owners have the most control — and those costs are unlikely to drop given all the financial pressures from other quarters.
It’s Hard to Be Creative When You’re Under Siege
Since tech-savvy young people increasingly forsake movie theaters for other entertainment platforms, some owners, like Digital Cinema Destinations founder Dale “Bud” Mayo, have countered with alternative programming like sports events, concerts and even opera. And IMAX Theaters screened episodes of the HBO series “Game of Thrones” earlier this year.
But in some cases, like the ongoing negotiations with studios for exclusive windows for first-run films, theater owners’ tough stance may work against them over time. Defending windows makes sense in the short run, but it could hurt their ability to experiment with studios and steaming and pay-per-view providers to develop long-term solutions.
Also Read: IMAX's 'Game of Thrones' Success Opens Doors for Hollywood
“Theater owners have been hearing about the death of their industry for years now,” B. Riley analyst Eric Wold tells TheWrap. “They’ve show a lot of resiliency and their response overall has been pretty strong actually, and their stock reflects that. I don’t think we’re ever going to see a time where there isn’t a place for parents taking their kids to see a movie on the entertainment landscape. It will have to evolve, but it’s not going away.”It may come as a surprise, but Stephen Colbert is human, and like the rest of us, has a mother. He has taken a leave of absence from his show to apparently spend time with his ailing mother. An article I read recently notes how Colbert’s leave could trigger family medical leave. I thought the article does fine explaining family and medical leave, but given Colbert’s importance to The Colbert Report, it is also a good reminder about a narrow exemption to an employee’s reinstatement rights if they are a “key employee.”
Basic Medical Leave Rights
The Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), and the California Family Rights Act (CFRA) both provide employees the opportunity to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for certain “qualified” events. Employers with 50 or more employees (part-time employees are counted to make this determination) are covered by the FMLA and CFRA. Employees who have worked for at least 12 months and at least 1,250 hours in the immediately preceding 12 months are covered by the laws. However, employers do not need to provide the leave if the employee works at a location with fewer than 50 employees within a 75-mile radius.
“Key Employee” Exception
If the employee is covered by the FMLA or CFRA the employee is entitled to return to his or her former position, or a position that is equivalent to the previous position held with equivalent benefits, pay, and conditions of employment. The small exception to this is for “key employees.” A key employee is defined as a salaried employee who is the highest paid 10% of employees within a 75-mile radius. If the key employee’s reinstatement would cause “substantial and grievous economic injury” to the employer, then the key employee may be denied reinstatement. However, when the employee takes the leave of absence, the employer must provide notice to the employee that he or she is a “key employee” and explain their reinstatement rights. If the employer fails to do so at the time the employee goes on the leave of absence, it loses the ability to deny reinstatement to the employee under the “key employee” exception.
No need to worry about Colbert though. It is being reported that Colbert will be returning to our televisions tonight.I remember Ang Lee once said that, regarding "The Hulk", he didn't know how to do a comic book film: he only knew how to do a drama. This comment always irked me, because it suggested comic books and drama exist in two separate categories. Fortunately, Kenneth Branagha's "Thor" perfectly bridges the so-called gap with a clever mix of comic book roots, classic mythology and Shakespearean drama.
In Branagha's "Thor", the Viking Asgardians are depicted not as gods, but as an advanced civilization (stay with me - it does actually work). After defending humanity from the alien Frost Giants, the Asgardian leader Odin (Anthony Hopkins) withdrew his forces back to the world of Asgard, which he lead into a new era of peace and prosperity, with his two sons Thor and Loki at his side. Flash forward twenty years and Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is preparing to ascend to the throne, until a Frost Giant attack on Asgard prompts Thor to ignore the commands of Odin and launch a counter-attack on the Frost Giant world of Jotunheimr, with his friends Volstagg (Ray Stevenson), Hogun (Tadanobu Asano), Fandral (Josh Dallas), Sif (Jaimie Alexander) and his brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston). The act puts Asgard on the brink of war and leaves Thor stripped of his powers and banished to Earth.
On Earth, Thor meets storm-chasing scientist Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), her assistant Darcy (Kat Dennings) and their colleague Eric (Stellan Skarsgard). He'll need all the help he can get when everyone's favorite Marvel law enforcement agency SHIELD, headed by Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg) of "Iron Man" and "Iron Man 2", confiscates Thor's hammer Mjolnir. Meanwhile, things get even worst on Asgard as Odin suddenly falls into a coma and Loki ascends the throne upon realizing his true origins. The revelation puts both brothers on a cosmic collision course across space.
"Thor" plays out like a classic comic book film, which more in common with the first two Christopher Reeve "Superman" films than the last two "Iron Man" films. The results can be more than a little cheesy, but they are no less satisfying. Under Hemsworth, Thor is effectively played with a sense of impetuous entitlement undercut by a fair amount of slapstick (within twenty minutes of arriving on earth, he is tazered, sedated and hit by a car twice). While Loki is certainly conniving, Hiddleton plays the character with a similar dose of humanity. In the comics, Loki can seem like Lex Luthor with a funny hat, but here, Loki never stops being Odin's son, even as he threatens his stepfather's rule and regime.
Though fairly numerous, the rest of cast is similarly effective. I've never been a big Natalie Portman fan, but I found her Jane Foster a cute and likeable character, even if her role seemed cut short compared to other Marvel leading ladies. Jaimie Alexander is similarly captivating as Sif, and working with even less screen time. My favorite supporting character has to be Heimdall (Idris Elba), who lays claim to a meaty role as Asgard's all-seeing gate keeper. Comic book fans will also be pleased to know there's a cameo from the archer Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), which contains everything a cameo should be - short, sweet and to the point.
The idea of Asgardian aliens could have clobbered this film in the knee but it didn't. The set is designed with a futuristic, Kirby-esque comic book feel which merges the mythology of the Aesir with advanced technology. In particular, the Bifrost Bridge is designed with a classic combination of glittering golden scales containing a Stargate-style wormhome within.
On the downside, even this story of Viking alien mythology feels a little too cartoony. Perhaps it's because Branagh does such a good job setting up his world and characters that cheesy moments feel a little too cheesy. In particular, when Thor's friends arrive on Earth and literally end up on his front door, the moment, though played for laughs, comes off as cheap. Branagh and company do so well setting up the world and characters that anything less is off-putting.
Overall, though, "Thor" is one of the most enjoyable Marvel movies since "Iron Man". Not only does the film advert the possible headache of blending Norse mythology into the science-heavy line-up of the Avengers, but the film also succeeds in adding more personalities I cannot wait to see interact on the Avengers. And speaking of Avengers, be sure to stay past the credits, because as you might have guessed, there's a post-credit scene which sets up for both "Captain America" and "Avengers".
(That's it for this week's rant. Check back next week for a new rant along with another installment of Blue Yonder)Filmmaking may be a billion dollar business in Toronto, but it's not worth the trouble for least one homeowner who says movie crews are becoming a nuisance in his Riverdale neighbourhood — and he's calling on the city to stop issuing film permits for the property next to his.
Right now, a crew is shooting a movie version of Stephen King's novelIt — starring Bill Skårsgard as a murdereous clown —in an old mansion near the corner of Pape Avenue and Riverdale Avenue.
But for Nick Shcherban, who lives in the house next door, the activities of the crew are more of a horror show than the movie itself.
Shcherban says film crews "trespassed on our property... smoke in front of our house, they litter, (there's) excessive noise from generators."
The heritage mansion where the shooting is taking place, called Cranfield House, was built in 1902 and is about 18,000 square feet. Most of the time, it's empty.
But since April it's been a busy film location. At first, Shcherban says it started with an afternoon or one-day shoot, then two or three days at a time,
"Now it's full-time," Shcherban told CBC News, estimating there have been 10 shoots there this year alone.
The heritage mansion where the movie It is being shot, Cranfield House, was mostly empty until production companies started shooting films there. Shcherban lives next door and says it's been the scene of at least 10 movie shoots this year. (Stephanie Matteis/CBC News)
For the It shoot, huge vans drive in and out regularly, there are paid duty officers directing almost unending traffic and the grounds are littered with massive equipment like generators, huge lights and cranes.
Last Tuesday, Third Act Productions Inc. applied to the city to film interior scenes for It at the home starting two days later on Thursday. Shcherban says the company was setting up with less than the 48-hours notice required by city bylaws.
In an emailed statement to CBC News, Zaib Shaikh, the city's film commissioner, said residents in the area were surveyed on Tuesday — the same day the production company sent out a filming notice.
"The production received approximately 70 per cent of approval from affected residents on Riverdale Ave./ Pape Ave.," Shaikh wrote. "As this filming is occurring on private property, the production company is responsible for knowing and maintaining the appropriate city by-laws."
But Shcherban believes this is just the latest crew to break the rules.
Wife leaves until filming over
He lists other productions like Orphan Black, Gangland Undercover, Paranormal Witness and Habitats.
It's so noisy lately he says that his wife Cindy left to stay at her sister's until the filming ends.
"I've been complaining about the air conditioning unit. This morning[it]woke us up before six o'clock. It makes so much noise it vibrates into the house."
Shcherban knows the location is appealing to television and film location scouts but says the city shouldn't approve more productions there. Other neighbours say they don't mind but they admit, they're not right next door to it either.
The city says residents approved of "potential movement of production vehicles after 11 p.m. or before 7 a.m." and they were first notified on May 31 of this year that there might be a shoot at the location.
Warner Brothers, the film studio producing It, didn't respond to requests for comment.
Shaikh says his office is working with the company to ensure there's minimal disruption to neighbours.It was a happy ending — just in time for Christmas.
A rare $13,000 limited-edition Leica M-P Safari, the last item yet to be recovered after last week’s break-in at The Camera Store, has been returned to the grateful owners of the popular Calgary photography shop.
Camera Store co-owner Julian Ferreira confirmed to Postmedia on Friday that the valuable camera was indeed back in their possession.
“The officer-in-charge phoned us last night saying they’d executed a search warrant and found |
later in his rookie season he tore cartilage in his right knee. The next two years were a series of setbacks: dehydration, an inflamed liver and pancreas, a second right knee surgery, a sprained ankle. In three injury-riddled seasons with the Cavs, Wagner played in 102 of 246 games. Cleveland declined to pick up his option and released Wagner after the 2004-2005 season.
“You just sit back sometimes and you’re like, he has to be one of the most unlucky kids in the world when it comes to injuries,” Barclay said. “It never was a question of his athletic abilities. It was just a bunch of injuries.” After the Cavs parted ways, Wagner learned he had colitis, an inflammation of the colon or large intestine. He had major surgery in October 2005 to remove his colon and replace it with a pouch made from part of his small intestine. “Just like that, everything stopped,” Wagner said. “I played basketball my whole life and then for two or three years I couldn’t do nothing.” Wagner made a remarkable recovery from the surgery and attracted interest from NBA teams in the summer of 2006. Golden State signed him to a two-year contract worth $1.6 million. After a strong preseason, Wagner started to think his body couldn’t keep pace with the NBA rigors. He appeared in only one game and was released in November 2006; his contract was bought out for an undisclosed sum. He spent four months playing in Poland, signing another big contract, but he injured his hip and reinjured his knee. After the season, his career in tatters, Wagner returned to Camden. “The bitter moment is the fact we had to see it come to a close,” Barclay said. “The sky was the limit for him. Who knows what he could have accomplished?” • • • Just like 10 years ago, Dajuan Wagner has captivated basketball fans in Camden, his legend growing with every jump shot. Only this time it’s Dajuan Wagner Jr., a blossoming star in the league at Bonsall. The void in Dajuan’s life that used to be occupied by basketball has been replaced by a passion for his son. Growing up, Dajuan’s only saw his dad in the summer, when Milt was home from playing professionally overseas. Dajuan said he won’t let his son feel that distance. “Just being around my son, that was a blessing,” Wagner said in a rare moment of levity. “Just seeing him be a little kid.” Wagner used to want to make it back to the NBA to prove to he could. Now there’s another reason: Dajuan Jr. “He’s never seen me in the NBA,” Wagner said. “So that’s one thing I want to do — get back to the NBA so he can watch me. Just us being in the house, him watching the games, I think it would be good to see his dad out there.” Wagner said he will intensify his workouts in the coming weeks to prepare for a comeback, but if things don’t work out, he’ll finish his degree and get into coaching. These days, Wagner said it’s painful to watch NBA games. He’ll stare at the television screen for a few minutes, analyzing the action, and then he’s had enough. He’ll change the channel to something else. Wagner makes exceptions when he’s with Dajuan Jr., who loves watching LeBron James and marvels at how he glides up and down the court. Wagner used to do the same things, he thinks to himself. One day, he’ll show his son. One day, that will be him out there.
Matthew Stanmyre: mstanmyre@starledger.comAustralian researchers using silkworms to repair damaged eardrums
Updated
It gives a new meaning to an "earworm", a term usually ascribed to a song or tune that you cannot get out of your head.
Who would have thought silkworms could be used to repair damaged eardrums?
A team with researchers based in Perth and Melbourne is moving towards clinical trials of a device that incorporates silk in an ear implant.
Named "ClearDrum", it looks like a contact lens, but is instead a device on which the patient's cells can grow.
Perth-based surgeon Professor Marcus Atlas said silk was the preferred choice because it was flexible.
"We felt that it had shown previously to support cell growth and proliferation, and the ability to be able to change into various forms was a really appealing thing for us, particularly when we started to mix it with other products to create different mechanical and acoustic criteria," Professor Atlas said.
"The skin cells are there — it's getting them to come across and heal, so it's sort of a scaffold."
The silk is degummed, which means removing sericin (the sticky stuff).
The derivative fibroin (the protein present in the silk) is then heated into a liquid and combined with other materials including glycerol and polyurethane to create the "scaffold".
Chief Executive of the Ear Science Institute Sandra Bellekom said ClearDrum was the first implant which actually mimicked a human ear drum.
"What we find is that the cells, which are called keratinocytes, they love to thrive and migrate and move across this scaffold which helps the healing process," she said.
"That's why we want to use silk because we know that it works."
She said it needed to be strong and flexible with acoustic properties — and preferably transparent.
"The middle ear space is a very noxious environment, particularly when there's disease present, there's a lot of pressure changes occurring, it's a very moist environment.
"So it's not the easiest place to create an implant that's going to be effective in the long term."
The implant is placed under the eardrum.
For a "simple" or small perforation, it is expected it would dissolve over time, while for more complex or larger perforations, the implant would remain.
There would be a need for no more than one operation.
Ms Bellekom said surgeons around the world had been harvesting tissue for patches for eardrum perforations, and many organisations have been trying to develop a suitable device.
"We have extensively researched our technology over the past decade, and we've been able to produce 34 peer-reviewed journal articles which attest to the quality of our science. But the real truth of the matter is in translating that into human patients."
That is set to happen with the grant of nearly $4 million from the UK-based charity, the Wellcome Trust.
"We are looking at recruiting patients that have chronic middle ear disease, active and inactive, so patients who have more simple perforations — and also patients that have far more complex perforations with disease state present," Ms Bellekom said.
Recruiting was expected to take place across Australia, but probably not until 2018.
The not-for-profit Ear Science Institute has been working on the project with Deakin University's Future Fibres Hub.
Professor Atlas and Deakin's Professor Xungai Wang had gone to London to present to the Wellcome Trust.
Professor Atlas said it has been a very rewarding joint effort.
"We saw that silk had this ability to become a really strong biological membrane that would support cell growth. And then we made contact with Deakin who had this really extensive experience in silk and silk fibroin and it grew from there, it grew from that relationship," Professor Atlas said.
"Geography has made absolutely no difference, it's just because the people really want to work together, it's been very productive.
"It's one of the best collaborations in science that I've worked in and I think it's because the people are right and they want it to work."
Topics: science-and-technology, science, health, perth-6000, vic, australia
First postedNearly a year after Brampton’s city council severed the Hurontario Light Rail Transit (LRT) north of Steeles Avenue, Metrolinx is finally moving forward with the rapid transit project.
The provincial transit agency launched the Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for the $1.4 billion project connecting Brampton Gateway Terminal to Port Credit GO via Mississauga City Centre.
The RFQ will identify “teams” of architecture, planning, and engineering firms, as well as financiers and other professionals, who are qualified to design, build, finance, operate, and maintain (DBFOM) a LRT system.
The DBFOM bid system, partnered with the Alternative Financing and Procurement delivery model, transfers all risk onto the private partner instead of the public partner.
According to the RFQ, this process will see payment delivered throughout construction, as well as a significant sum paid at 85% substantial completion, unless Infrastructure Ontario chooses to change this before the contract is signed.
Bramptonist has obtained the RFQ documents which emphasize the LRT must:
provide seamless experience between the LRT and municipal bus systems
minimize construction impact
coordinate with other developments along the line
minimize disruptions to city and regional services and infrastructure
must implement the Metrolinx Mobility Hub guidelines
coordinate with the cities on stop and streetscape design
have design excellence
The RFQ deadline is January 26, 2017. Teams that submit a proposal to the RFQ will be subjected to a rigorous grading of their experience and portfolio. This process should weed out companies, for example, who have managed less than 30 LRT trains, or have never been in charge of storage yard operations.
After the RFQ identifies three teams by April 2017, Metrolinx will move forward to a Request for Proposals (RFP) by May 2017.
In the middle of 2018, the team that wins the RFP will move forward in constructing the system.
The winning team will be required to build 20 km of track (including signals, catenary wires, etc), 22 stations, the maintenance and storage yard, and procure light rail vehicles.
44 light rail vehicles will be required to operate on opening day, and up to 74 must be accounted for in storage yard designs.
In a blow to Bombardier’s light rail vehicle (LRV) exclusivity, the DBFOM bid opens up the vehicle procurement to competition. However, the LRV procurement will proceed through special rules.
When the line starts service, it will operate for 20 hours a day, and run every five minutes during rush hour, and 10 minutes off peak.
The storage yard will be south of the 407, on provincial lands between Hurontario and Kennedy within the boundaries of Brampton, and must be built to LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards.
A full rebuilding and widening of the Hurontario bridge over the 403 will be required. This will cause headaches for commuters.
MiWay and Brampton Transit will not be required or needed to operate the trains or be in charge or repairs or maintenance.
As part of the proposed plan, separated cycle tracks will be implemented on Hurontario south of Steeles Avenue. They will be part of the boulevard, adjacent to the road, and will be raised and separated from traffic with a curb.
Metrolinx, Brampton, and Mississauga have been working quietly in the background over the past year on the project. A LRT stop hierarchy has been designed, and the Brampton stop hierarchy will be presented next year according to the meeting.
Metrolinx is holding its first open house at Mississauga City Hall on Tuesday, with subsequent meetings over the next month. It’s likely that one or two open houses will happen in Brampton.
LRT construction will start in 2018 and is projected to be in service by 2022.
Comments
commentsOctavia Estelle Butler (June 22, 1947 – February 24, 2006) was an African-American author of science fiction. A multiple recipient of both the Hugo and Nebula awards, she became in 1995 the first science-fiction writer to receive a MacArthur Fellowship.[2][3]
Butler was born in Pasadena, California. After her father died, she was raised by her widowed mother. Extremely shy as a child, Octavia found an outlet at the library reading fantasy, and in writing. As a teen she began writing science fiction. She attended community college during the Black Power movement, and while participating in a local writer's workshop was encouraged to attend the Clarion Workshop, which focused on science fiction.
She soon sold her first stories and by the late 1970s had become sufficiently successful as an author that she was able to pursue writing full-time. Her books and short stories drew the favorable attention of the public and awards judges. She also taught writer's workshops, and eventually relocated to Washington. Butler died of a stroke at the age of 58. Her papers are held in the research collection of the Huntington Library.
Early life [ edit ]
Octavia Estelle Butler was born on June 22, 1947, in Pasadena, California, the only child of Octavia Margaret Guy, a housemaid, and Laurice James Butler, a shoeshine man. Butler's father died when she was seven. Octavia was raised by her mother and maternal grandmother in what she would later recall as a strict Baptist environment.[4]
Growing up in the racially integrated community of Pasadena allowed Butler to experience cultural and ethnic diversity in the midst of racial segregation. She accompanied her mother to her cleaning work, where the two entered white people's houses through back doors, as workers. Her mother was treated poorly by her employers.[5][6][7]
I began writing about power because I had so little. —Octavia E. Butler, in Carolyn S. Davidson's
"The Science Fiction of Octavia Butler."
From an early age, an almost paralyzing shyness made it difficult for Butler to socialize with other children. Her awkwardness, paired with a slight dyslexia[8] that made schoolwork a torment, led her to believe that she was "ugly and stupid, clumsy, and socially hopeless", becoming an easy target for bullies.[9] As a result, she frequently passed the time reading at the Pasadena Central Library.[10] She also wrote reams of pages in her "big pink notebook".[9] Hooked at first on fairy tales and horse stories, she quickly became interested in science fiction magazines, such as Amazing Stories, Galaxy Science Fiction and The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. She began reading stories by John Brunner, Zenna Henderson, and Theodore Sturgeon.[7][11]
Why aren't there more SF Black writers? There aren't because there aren't. What we don't see, we assume can't be. What a destructive assumption. —Octavia E. Butler, in "Octavia E. Butler: Telling My Stories."[12]
At the age of 10, she begged her mother to buy her a Remington typewriter, on which she "pecked [her] stories two fingered".[9] At 12, she watched the televised version of the film Devil Girl from Mars (1954) and concluded that she could write a better story. She drafted what would later become the basis for her Patternist novels.[11] Happily ignorant of the obstacles that a black female writer could encounter,[13] she became unsure of herself for the first time at the age of 13, when her well-intentioned aunt Hazel said: "Honey... Negroes can't be writers." But Butler persevered in her desire to publish a story, even asking her junior high school science teacher, Mr. Pfaff, to type the first manuscript she submitted to a science fiction magazine.[9][14]
After graduating from John Muir High School in 1965, Butler worked during the day and attended Pasadena City College (PCC) at night.[14] As a freshman at PCC, she won a college-wide short-story contest, earning her first income ($15) as a writer.[9] She also got the "germ of the idea" for what would become her novel Kindred. An African-American classmate involved in the Black Power Movement loudly criticized previous generations of African Americans for being subservient to whites. As Butler explained in later interviews, the young man's remarks were a catalyst leading her to respond with a story providing historical context for the subservience, showing that it could be understood as silent but courageous survival.[6][15] In 1968, Butler graduated from PCC with an associate of arts degree with a focus in History.[4][7]
Rise to success [ edit ]
Although Butler's mother wanted her to become a secretary in order to have a steady income,[6] Butler continued to work at a series of temporary jobs. She preferred less demanding work that would allow her to get up at two or three in the morning to write. Success continued to elude her. She styled her stories after the white-and-male-dominated science fiction she had grown up reading.[5][9] She enrolled at California State University, Los Angeles, but switched to taking writing courses through UCLA Extension.
During the Open Door Workshop of the Screenwriters' Guild of America, West, a program designed to mentor minority writers, her writing impressed one of the teachers, noted science-fiction writer Harlan Ellison. He encouraged her to attend the six-week Clarion Science Fiction Writers Workshop in Clarion, Pennsylvania. There, Butler met the writer Samuel R. Delany, who developed as a longtime friend.[16] She also sold her first stories: "Childfinder" to Ellison, for his anthology The Last Dangerous Visions (still unpublished), and "Crossover" to Robin Scott Wilson, the director of Clarion, who published it in the 1971 Clarion anthology.[4][7][14][17]
For the next five years, Butler worked on the series of novels that later become known as the Patternist series: Patternmaster (1976), Mind of My Mind (1977), and Survivor (1978). In 1978, she was finally able to stop working at temporary jobs and live on her writing.[7] She took a break from the Patternist series to research and write Kindred (1979), and then finished the series with Wild Seed (1980) and Clay's Ark (1984).
Butler's rise to prominence began in 1984 when "Speech Sounds" won the Hugo Award for Short Story and, a year later, Bloodchild won the Hugo Award, the Locus Award, and the Science Fiction Chronicle Reader Award for Best Novelette. In the meantime, Butler traveled to the Amazon rainforest and the Andes to do research for what would become the Xenogenesis trilogy: Dawn (1987), Adulthood Rites (1988), and Imago (1989).[7] These stories were republished in 2000 as the collection Lilith's Brood.
During the 1990s, Butler worked on the novels that solidified her fame as a writer: Parable of the Sower (1993) and Parable of the Talents (1998). In 1995, she became the first science-fiction writer to be awarded a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation fellowship, an award that came with a prize of $295,000.[18][19]
Who am I? I am a forty-seven-year-old writer who can remember being a ten-year-old writer and who expects someday to be an eighty-year-old writer. I am also comfortably asocial—a hermit.... A pessimist if I'm not careful, a feminist, a Black, a former Baptist, an oil-and-water combination of ambition, laziness, insecurity, certainty, and drive. —Octavia E. Butler, reading the self-penned description of herself included in Parable of the Sower during a 1994 interview with Jelani Cobb.
In 1999, after her mother's death, Butler moved to Lake Forest Park, Washington. The Parable of the Talents had won the Science Fiction Writers of America's Nebula Award for Best Science Novel and she had plans for four more Parable novels: Parable of the Trickster, Parable of the Teacher, Parable of Chaos, and Parable of Clay. However, after several failed attempts to begin The Parable of the Trickster, she decided to stop work in the series.[20] In later interviews, Butler explained that the research and writing of the Parable novels had overwhelmed and depressed her, so she had shifted to composing something "lightweight" and "fun" instead. This became her last book, the science-fiction vampire novel Fledgling (2005).[21]
Writing career [ edit ]
Early stories, Patternist series, and Kindred: 1971–1984 [ edit ]
Butler's first work published was Crossover in the 1971 Clarion Workshop anthology. She also sold the short story Childfinder to Harlan Ellison for the anthology The Last Dangerous Visions. "I thought I was on my way as a writer", Butler recalled in her short fiction collection Bloodchild and Other Stories. "In fact, I had five more years of rejection slips and horrible little jobs ahead of me before I sold another word."[22]
Starting in 1974, Butler worked on a series of novels that would later be collected as the Patternist series, which depicts the transformation of humanity into three genetic groups: the dominant Patternists, humans who have been bred with heightened telepathic powers and are bound to the Patternmaster via a psionic chain; their enemies the Clayarks, disease-mutated animal-like superhumans; and the Mutes, ordinary humans bonded to the Patternists.[20]
The first novel, Patternmaster (1976), eventually became the last installment in the series' internal chronology. Set in the distant future, it tells of the coming-of-age of Teray, a young Patternist who fights for position within Patternist society and eventually for the role of Patternmaster.[18]
Next came Mind of My Mind (1977), a prequel to Patternmaster set in the 20th century. The story follows the development of Mary, the creator of the psionic chain and the first Patternmaster to bind all Patternists, and her inevitable struggle for power with her father Doro, a parapsychological vampire who seeks to retain control over the psionic children he has bred over the centuries.[4][7]
To survive,
Know the past.
Let it touch you.
Then let
The past
Go. —From "Earthseed: The Books of the Living," Parable of the Talents.
The third book of the series, Survivor, was published in 1978. The titular survivor is Alanna, the adopted child of the Missionaries, fundamentalist Christians who have traveled to another planet to escape Patternist control and Clayark infection. Captured by a local tribe called the Tehkohn, Alanna learns their language and adopts their customs, knowledge which she then uses to help the Missionaries avoid bondage and assimilation into a rival tribe that opposes the Tehkohn.[18][23]
After Survivor, Butler took a break from the Patternist series to write what would become her best-selling novel, Kindred (1979) as well as the short story "Near of Kin" (1979).[18] In Kindred, Dana, an African-American woman, is transported from 1976 Los Angeles to early 19th-century Maryland. She meets her ancestors: Rufus, a white slave holder, and Alice, a black freewoman forced into slavery later in life. In "Near of Kin" the protagonist discovers a taboo relationship in her family as she goes through her mother's things after her death.[18]
In 1980, Butler published the fourth book of the Patternist series, Wild Seed, whose narrative became the series' origin story. Set in Africa and America during the 17th century, Wild Seed traces the struggle between the four-thousand-year-old parapsychological vampire Doro and his "wild" child and bride, the three-hundred-year-old shapeshifter and healer Anyanwu. Doro, who has bred psionic children for centuries, deceives Anyanwu into becoming one of his breeders, but she eventually escapes and uses her gifts to create communities that rival Doro's. When Doro finally tracks her down, Anyanwu, tired by decades of escaping or fighting Doro, decides to commit suicide, forcing him to admit his need for her.[4][7][18]
In 1983, Butler published "Speech Sounds", a story set in a post-apocalyptic Los Angeles where a pandemic has caused most humans to lose their ability to read, speak, or write. For many, this impairment is accompanied by uncontrollable feelings of jealousy, resentment, and rage. "Speech Sounds" received the 1984 Hugo Award for Best Short Story.[18]
In 1984, Butler released the last book of the Patternmaster series, Clay's Ark. Set in the Mojave Desert, it focuses on a colony of humans infected by an extraterrestrial microorganism brought to Earth by the one surviving astronaut of the spaceship Clay's Ark. As the microorganism compels them to spread it, they kidnap ordinary people to infect them and, in the case of women, give birth to the mutant, sphinx-like children who will be the first members of the Clayark race.[4]
Bloodchild and the Xenogenesis trilogy: 1984–1989 [ edit ]
Butler followed Clay's Ark with the critically acclaimed short story "Bloodchild" (1984). Set on an alien planet, it depicts the complex relationship between human refugees and the insect-like aliens who keep them in a preserve to protect them, but also to use them as hosts for breeding their young. Sometimes called Butler's "pregnant man story", "Bloodchild" won the Nebula, Hugo, and Locus Awards, and the Science Fiction Chronicle Reader Award.[18]
Three years later, Butler published Dawn, the first installment of what would become known as the Xenogenesis trilogy. The series examines the theme of alienation by creating situations in which humans are forced to coexist with other species to survive and extends Butler's recurring exploration of genetically-altered, hybrid individuals and communities.[4][20] In Dawn, protagonist Lilith Iyapo finds herself in a spaceship after surviving a nuclear apocalypse that destroys Earth. Saved by the Oankali aliens, the human survivors must combine their DNA with an ooloi, the Oankali's third sex, in order to create a new race that eliminates a self-destructive flaw in humans—their aggressive hierarchical tendencies.[18] Butler followed Dawn with "The Evening and the Morning and the Night" (1987), a story about how certain female sufferers of "Duryea-Gode Disease", a genetic disorder which causes dissociative states, obsessive self-mutilation, and violent psychosis, are able to control others afflicted with the disease.[18]
Adulthood Rites (1988) and Imago (1989) the second and the third books in the Xenogenesis trilogy, focus on the predatory and prideful tendencies that affect human evolution, as humans now revolt against Lilith's Oankali-engineered progeny. Set thirty years after humanity's return to Earth, Adulthood Rites centers on the kidnapping of Lilith's part-human, part alien child, Akin, by a human-only group who are against the Oankali. Akin learns about both aspects of his identity through his life with the humans as well as the Akjai. The Oankali-only group becomes their mediator, and ultimately creates a human-only colony in Mars.[18] In Imago, the Oankali create a third species more powerful than themselves: the shape-shifting healer Jodahs, a human-Oankali ooloi who must find suitable human male and female mates to survive its metamorphosis and finds them in the most unexpected of places, in a village of renegade humans.[4][7]
The Parable series: 1993–1998 [ edit ]
In the mid-1990s, Butler published two novels later designated as the Parable (or Earthseed) series. The books depict the struggle of the Earthseed community to survive the socioeconomic and political collapse of 21st-century America due to poor environmental stewardship, corporate greed, and the growing gap between the wealthy and the poor.[18][24] The books propose alternate philosophical views and religious interventions as solutions to such dilemmas.[4]
The first book in the series, Parable of the Sower (1993), features a fifteen-year-old protagonist named Lauren Oya Olamina, and is set in a dystopian California in the 2020s. Lauren, who suffers from a syndrome causing her to literally feel any physical pain she witnesses, decides to escape the corruption and corporatization of her community of Robledo. She forms a new belief system, Earthseed, in order to prepare for the future of the human race on another planet. Recruiting members of varying social backgrounds, Lauren relocates her new group to Northern California, naming her new community "Earthseed".[18]
Her 1998 follow-up novel, Parable of the Talents, is set sometime after Lauren's death and is told through the excerpts of Lauren's journals as framed by the commentary of her estranged daughter, Larkin.[4] It details the takeover of Earthseed by right-wing fundamentalist Christians, Lauren's attempts to survive their religious "re-education", and the final triumph of Earthseed as a community and a doctrine.[18][25]
In between her Earthseed novels, Butler published the collection Bloodchild and Other Stories (1995), which includes the short stories "Bloodchild", "The Evening and the Morning and the Night", "Near of Kin", "Speech Sounds", and "Crossover", as well as the non-fiction pieces "Positive Obsession" and "Furor Scribendi".[26]
Late stories and Fledgling: 2003–2005 [ edit ]
After several years of writer's block, Butler published the short stories "Amnesty" (2003) and "The Book of Martha" (2003), and her second standalone novel, Fledgling (2005). Both short stories focus on how impossible conditions force an ordinary woman to make a distressing choice.[27] In "Amnesty", an alien abductee recounts her painful abuse at the hand of the unwitting aliens, and upon her release, by humans, and explains why she chose to work as a translator for the aliens now that the Earth's economy is in a deep depression. In "The Book of Martha", God asks a middle-aged African-American novelist to make one important change to fix humanity's destructive ways. Martha's choice—to make humans have vivid and satisfying dreams—means that she will no longer be able to do what she loves, writing fiction.[18] These two stories were added to the 2005 edition of Bloodchild and Other Stories.[18]
Butler's last publication during her lifetime was Fledgling, a novel exploring the culture of a vampire community living in mutualistic symbiosis with humans.[5] Set on the West Coast, it tells of the coming-of-age of a young female hybrid vampire whose species is called Ina. The only survivor of a vicious attack on her families that left her an amnesiac, she must seek justice for her dead, build a new family, and relearn how to be Ina.[18]
Death [ edit ]
During her last years, Butler struggled with writer's block and depression, partly caused by the side effects of medication for high blood pressure.[14][28] She continued writing and taught at Clarion's Science Fiction Writers' Workshop regularly. In 2005, she was inducted into Chicago State University's International Black Writers Hall of Fame.[5]
Butler died outside of her home in Lake Forest Park, Washington, on February 24, 2006 at the age of 58.[8] Contemporary news accounts were inconsistent as to the cause of her death, with some reporting that she suffered a fatal stroke, while others indicated that she died of head injuries after falling and striking her head on her walkway. Another suggestion, backed by Locus magazine, is that a stroke caused the fall and hence the head injuries.[29]
Butler maintained a longstanding relationship with the Huntington Library and bequeathed her papers including manuscripts, correspondence, school papers, notebooks, and photographs to the library in her will.[30][31] The collection, comprising 39 cartons and eight file-cabinet drawers of material, was made available to scholars and researchers in 2010.
Themes [ edit ]
The critique of present-day hierarchies [ edit ]
In multiple interviews and essays, Butler explained her view of humanity as inherently flawed by an innate tendency towards hierarchical thinking which leads to intolerance, violence and, if not checked, the ultimate destruction of our species.[4][7][32]
"Simple peck-order bullying", she wrote in her essay "A World without Racism",[33] "is only the beginning of the kind of hierarchical behavior that can lead to racism, sexism, ethnocentrism, classism, and all the other 'isms' that cause so much suffering in the world." Her stories, then, often replay humanity's domination of the weak by the strong as a type of parasitism.[32] These "others", whether aliens, vampires, superhuman, or a slave masters, find themselves defied by a protagonist who embodies difference, diversity, and change, so that, as John R. Pfeiffer notes "[i]n one sense [Butler's] fables are trials of solutions to the self-destructive condition in which she finds mankind."[7]
Embrace diversity Unite--
or be divided,
robbed,
ruled,
killed
By those who see you as prey.
Embrace diversity
Or be destroyed. Or be destroyed. —From "Earthseed: The Books of the Living," Parable of the Sower.
The remaking of the human [ edit ]
In his essay on the sociobiological backgrounds of Butler's Xenogenesis trilogy, J. Adam Johns describes how Butler's narratives counteract the death drive behind the hierarchical impulse with an innate love of life (biophilia), particularly different, strange life.[34] Specifically, Butler's stories feature gene manipulation, interbreeding, miscegenation, symbiosis, mutation, alien contact, non-consensual sex, contamination, and other forms of hybridity as the means to correct the sociobiological causes of hierarchical violence.[35] As De Witt Douglas Kilgore and Ranu Samantrai note, "[i]n [Butler's] narratives the undoing of the human body is both literal and metaphorical, for it signifies the profound changes necessary to shape a world not organized by hierarchical violence."[36] The evolutionary maturity achieved by the bioengineered hybrid protagonist at the end of the story, then, signals the possible evolution of the dominant community in terms of tolerance, acceptance of diversity, and a desire to wield power responsibly.[32]
The survivor as hero [ edit ]
Butler's protagonists are disenfranchised individuals who endure, compromise, and embrace radical change in order to survive. As De Witt Douglas Kilgore and Ranu Samantrai note, her stories focus on minority characters whose historical background makes them already intimate with brutal violation and exploitation, and therefore the need to compromise to survive.[36] Even when endowed with extra abilities, these characters are forced to experience unprecedented physical, mental, and emotional distress and exclusion to ensure a minimal degree of agency and to prevent humanity from achieving self-destruction.[4][13] In many stories, their acts of courage become acts of understanding, and in some cases, love, as they reach a crucial compromise with those in power.[32] Ultimately, Butler's focus on disenfranchised characters serves to illustrate both the historical exploitation of minorities and how the resolve of one such exploited individual may bring on critical change.[4]
The creation of alternative communities [ edit ]
Butler's stories feature mixed communities founded by African protagonists and populated by diverse, if similar-minded individuals. Members may be humans of African, European, or Asian descent, extraterrestrial (such as the N'Tlic in Bloodchild), from a different species (such as the vampiric Ina in Fledgling), and cross-species (such as the human-Oankali Akin and Jodahs in the Xenogenesis trilogy). In some stories, the community's hybridity results in a flexible view of sexuality and gender (for instance, the polyamorous extended families in Fledgling). Thus, Butler creates bonds between groups that are generally considered to be separate and unrelated, and suggests hybridity as "the potential root of good family and blessed community life".[36]
Relationship to Afrofuturism [ edit ]
Butler's work has been associated with the genre of Afrofuturism,[37] a term coined by Mark Dery to describe "speculative fiction that treats African-American themes and addresses African-American concerns in the context of 20th-century technoculture".[38] Some critics, however, have noted that while Butler's protagonists are of African descent, the communities they create are multi-ethnic and, sometimes, multi-species. As De Witt Douglas Kilgore and Ranu Samantrai explain in their 2010 memorial to Butler, while Butler does offer "an afro-centric sensibility at the core of narratives", her "insistence on hybridity beyond the point of discomfort" exceeds the tenets of both black cultural nationalism and of "white-dominated" liberal pluralism.[36]
Critical reception [ edit ]
Most critics praise Butler for her unflinching exposition of human flaws, which she depicts with striking realism. The New York Times regarded her novels as "evocative" and "often troubling" explorations of "far-reaching issues of race, sex, power".[8] The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction called her examination of humanity "clear-headed and brutally unsentimental"[citation needed] and Village Voice's Dorothy Allison described her as "writing the most detailed social criticism" where "the hard edge of cruelty, violence, and domination is described in stark detail".[39] Locus regarded her as "one of those authors who pay serious attention to the way human beings actually work together and against each other, and she does so with extraordinary plausibility".[40] The Houston Post ranked her "among the best SF writers, blessed with a mind capable of conceiving complicated futuristic situations that shed considerable light on our current affairs".[41]
Scholars, on the other hand, focus on Butler's choice to write from the point of view of marginal characters and communities and thus "expanded SF to reflect the experiences and expertise of the disenfranchised".[36] While surveying Butler's novels, critic Burton Raffel noted how race and gender influence her writing: "I do not think any of these eight books could have been written by a man, as they most emphatically were not, nor, with the single exception of her first book, Pattern-Master (1976), are likely to have been written, as they most emphatically were, by anyone but an African American."[42] Robert Crossley commended how Butler's "feminist aesthetic" works to expose sexual, racial, and cultural chauvinisms because it is "enriched by a historical consciousness that shapes |
Museum and $200 gift certificate to the store, according to the release.
Raffle tickets can be purchased until Nov. 6 at the museum or at the benefit Nov. 7.
For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here:The Australian government’s financial reporting standards agency is pushing for international action in the area of digital currencies.
The Australian Accounting Standards Board (AASB), a government agency tasked with overseeing the country’s reporting standards, has published a new position paper ahead of a December meeting of members from the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). In sum, the paper argues that a more defined standard is needed both for digital currencies as well as other kinds of intangible assets.
The question of accounting standards has come up in the past, but the AASB’s paper might be one of the more consequential to date. Its release comes amid a controversial move by the Internal Revenue Service, the top US tax agency, to seek user records from digital currency exchange Coinbase.
According to the AASB paper, “clear” guidance is needed by accountants working with individuals or companies that handle digital currencies.
The paper’s author, Deloitte director Henri Venter, wrote:
“In our opinion, given the problems identified and the rapid growth of digital currencies, standard setting activity is required to provide clear accounting guidance for preparers and to ensure that financial statements provide relevant and useful information to users of those financial statements.”
Yet such a move would only solve part of the problem, the paper goes on to argue. At the heart of the issue is that there is a deeper lack of standards for so-called “intangible assets”, which would include digital currencies.
“…there is no accounting standard that deals with investments in intangible assets or other commodity type assets that are not financial instruments or inventory,” the paper notes. “Consequently, we recommend that the IASB develop a standard that would address the accounting for investments in intangible assets and commodities.”
The Accounting Standards Advisory Forum, a body within the IASB, is set to meet on 8th and 9th December in London. According to documents published by the IASB, members will offer their takes on possible paths to creating standards for digital currencies.
The full paper can be found below:
1612 ASAF 05 AASB DigitalCurrency by CoinDesk on Scribd
Image via ShutterstockMung bean noodles with chili sauce from Chengdu Taste (Photo by Jean Trinh/LAist)
Our food prayers have been answered: there is a company that is now delivering food from Asian restaurants in the San Gabriel Valley—including Chengdu Taste—and we tried it out.
Long gone are the days where some of us would have to trek out to the SGV to get some delicious food, or wait in long lines to get a seat a restaurant. ToGo626 serves as a middleman—in the same vein as delivery services like Caviar—between these eateries and hungry, gluttonous folks like ourselves.
On their website, they offer food from about 50 restaurants from Alhambra to Rowland Heights. There are some notable spots on their list like Savoy, 101 Noodle Express, Beijing Pie House and Class 302. (We checked, and no, you cannot get Class 302's popular shaved ice desserts delivered to your doorstep, but you can get one of their long list of Taiwanese dishes.) The different cuisines they offer include Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Southeast Asian and Vegetarian, and besides restaurants, they also deliver from tea houses and bakeries.
The way it works is that you place an order on their website, pay for the meal (plus tax, delivery fees and optional driver's tip) by credit card, and voila! someone delivers it to your doorstep. There doesn't appear to be a minimum order required for delivery. ToGo626 normally charges a delivery fee of $7.99 for the first three miles, and $0.99 for every mile after that; however, right now they have a limited-time special where you only get charged $2.99 for the first three miles, and the same $0.99 for each mile thereafter.
Toothpick lamb with cumin from Chengdu Taste (Photo by Jean Trinh/LAist)
LAist tested this service in the name of journalism while we were in Chinatown yesterday. At 11:25 a.m., we placed an order for Chengdu Taste's Szechuan cuisine on their website, and by 12:15 p.m.—actually 15 minutes before the time they promised—we got our order at the door. If we had actually gone to the restaurant itself, it would've have been an hour wait to even get a table, and we got our order delivered to us in 45 minutes. The distance the driver had to travel was about 8 miles and the delivery fee came out to about $8. So, we'd say the delivery fee is worth it in our opinion. Another good thing is that the prices for the dishes seem to be the same as the prices if you were to actually eat at the restaurant—or at least in the case of ordering from Chengdu Taste.
The website itself is another story though. While you can look for restaurants by searching for your home address, type of cuisine, dish or even just the name of the restaurant, it's not an intuitive website. We eventually figured out how to get a list of all the restaurants they offer. Ordering is actually pretty simple as you click on names of the dishes they have available on a form; some of the dishes are accompanied by photos as well. You can add in notes for special instructions or request how spicy you'd like a dish. However, one of the confusing parts was that we wanted to add an order of white rice, but that option wasn't available to us until we had reached the part on the form to pay. We would've imagined that would be part of the original order form with the menu. It's something that left us scrambling wondering if we needed to order a fried rice entree in order to get any rice at all. It took us a bit to figure out how to change our order as well. Once we placed our order, we received an estimated time of arrival for the food and a phone number to call in case we had any issues with our order, and a confirmation e-mail.
We ordered Chengdu Taste's Mung Bean Jelly Noodle with Chili Sauce, Toothpick Lamb with Cumin, Sauteed Eggplant, and two orders of white rice. We highly recommend all of these dishes. The cold Mung Bean Jelly Noodles are slippery ones with a uniquely soft, not-too-chewy texture. They are topped with peanuts, sliced green onions, and peppers. This traditional dish is also known to give off what they call a "numb taste" from the type of peppers they use, which basically means your mouth will feel a little numb from the heat. The Toothpick Lamb is a dish with small pieces of meat skewered on toothpicks. It's extremely flavorful and spicy, and it's heavily seasoned with cumin. And the Sauteed Eggplant was perfectly flavored, sweet and savory, and swimming in a chili sauce; it's something you'll definitely need to eat with rice.
The entire order all came out to about $50 with all the fees, which wasn't bad for a party of three. The delivery guy was pleasant and arrived without a hitch, and the food was tasty and hot. We'd definitely try this service again.
Related:
Finally, There's An App That Breaks Down Koreatown Food And Brings It To Your Doorummary: Ensuing a brief characterization of ties maintained between Sweden and the Hillary Clinton-led US Department, and summarily reviewing the Swedish political and media consensus on this and related issues, I present a list of Swedish state-owned and private companies contributing in the monetary transactions of the Clinton Foundation. The question is whether these were always ‘donations’ from the Swedish government, or corporations, or whether they were an exchange for favors that resulted in investments for both sides.
One illustration of the geopolitical/financial quid pro quo arising between the Swedish donors and the Clinton Foundation (or US State Department at the time) is provided by the deal represented by the giant Swedish company Ericsson. The company Ericsson paid nearly six million dollars to Bill Clinton for one speech, and, coincidentally, the US government excluded Ericsson from the list of companies banned for doing business with Iran.
Another main ‘donor’ is the Lundin Foundation (Lundin Oil). The Lundin Oil Company, where Carl Bildt was a board member 2000-2006, operated mining exploitation in South Africa in spite the UN boycott against the apartheid regime [See “A Nigger is a Nigger and a Swede is a Swede…“]. Adolf H. Lundin was once asked if he would have done business with Hitler, he replied, “That I certainly would have done.” Adolf H. and Mrs Lundin were first-row guests at the White House in an older presidential installation.
Illustration by Sascha Klasan; source: Omvärlden
The Clinton Doctrine and Sweden
The collaboration of the Swedish state and Swedish corporations with the Clinton Foundation and in particular with Hillary Clinton, is probably the largest in Europe considered per capita. It is not a purely monetary or financial connection. It is above all an ideological allegiance to the ex secretary of State geopolitical agenda. One illustration would be what – for instance in Middle East contexts – we have called the “Clinton doctrine”; namely, the strategy deployed by Hillary Clinton towards the replacement of secular governments by fundamentalist Islamic dictatorships.
For those endeavours it has been required arms dealing and providing, financing and training – directly or by proxy – towards the forces designed by the US agencies to depose the targeted secular regimes. [See in The Indicter, “Sweden’s unethical – and unlawful – arms deals with ISIS-backing Saudis“, and “New Swedish arms deal with UAE will help bombing Yemen – Sweden following H. Clinton’s doctrine“]
There is nowadays a general consensus that the above was the modus operandi by which ISIS started, or Kaddafi succumbed, or the Yemen and Syria wars are now waged. Eventually, Hillary Clinton has admitted, “The people we’re ‘fighting’ today, we funded twenty years ago.”
Whether the initiative for this geopolitical agenda has been the initiative of Clinton, or vice versa, it was the implementation by the State Department of a design attached to state-donors and their respective country corporations, it is difficult to assess. Nevertheless, regarding countries in the Middle East, we have the testimony of Senator Richard Black on video, which explains the government-shifts in the area on the great connection, “financial and otherwise”, of Hillary Clinton “with tyrannies of the Arab word.” The donations from Arab countries have consisted mainly from royal houses.
Sweden, for its part, has been a devoted instrument in the implementation of the formerly (Clinton’s) US department enterprises, militarily included. Eventually, the full defense strategy of Sweden was changed under the Reinfeldt/Bildt government, where the army was converted in a battalion-system to mainly operate in occupation wars under US-military lead. This was the case of Afghanistan. As one of the very few countries still contributing with troops placed under US-command in Afghanistan, Sweden was the only country which complied with the request from the US to the governments participating in the Afghanistan occupation to initiate a prosecution of the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, in August 2010.
Not to mention Clinton’s initiative of a no-fly zone in Libya, and bombing of the Libyans, which was implemented with participation of the Swedish air force. A striking feature – typically Swedish – was that all the established political parties, including the former communists [now the Left Party (Vänster)], approved in Parliament the Clinton proposition that was presented to them by the FM Carl Bildt. Only the Sweden Democrats, a small party at the time, opposed the participation of Sweden in the Libya military operation.
WikiLeaks
he organization WikiLeaks has not only published the ‘Diplomatic Cables’ which referred to activities of a variety of embassies under Clinton’s official leadership, including the Stockholm mission but also the exposures of the secret Intel agreements – on the back of the Swedish Parliament – between US agencies and the Swedish government. It should be also mentioned that several Swedish politicians, both from the right-wing (such as Carl Bildt) as well the center-left social democrats (such as the current Parliament speaker Urban Ahlin) figured prominently in the Diplomatic cables disclosures regarding their secretive talks with the representatives of Clinton’s State Department.
WikiLeaks also contributed to the exposures of a secret arms deal between Sweden and Saudi Arabia: FOA, an institution directly under the Swedish ministry of defense and in close interdependence with the Swedish arms industry; The cover Swedish activity was also initiated about the time Hillary Clinton was US State Department Secretary and the secret planning consisted in the construction of an arm factory in Saudi Arabia. It was for the production of “weapons of point”, of the type used by ISIS forces against the Iraq or Syria armies.
The duck-pond
And finally we have the Swedish media, an important factor in the pro-Clinton collaboration done in detriment of Sweden’s national interest.
The Swedish media, from the perspective of ownership, can be characterized as a plain monopoly: partly the state-owned monopoly (Swedish TV and Radio) and the two monopolies in control of most private stream media (Bonniers and Schibsted groups). A principal issue is that Swedish journalists, regardless in which state or private monopolies they are employed, have in the main a consensual, uniform and journalistic production characterized by a cultural e ideological subservience to the US interests represented by the Hillary Clinton ideology. Although this phenomenon was already evident during the trial by media against Julian Assange in Sweden, it has also portrayed the phobic media stances against Russia, exacerbated after the US-led putsch in Ukraine. This was an event in which the Swedish FM of the time, Carl Bildt, participated, instigated and vividly defended in Sweden. The Swedish media simply followed suit. And now of course the Swedish mainstream media are “all against Trump”.
Sweden and the Clinton Foundation.
The Clinton Foundation has currently its own enterprise in Sweden, where funds are collected even directly, through being a recipient of the Swedish Postcode Lottery (Postkodlotteriet). The Swedish Clinton-institution is called the William J. Clinton Foundation Insamlingsstiftelse, and according to Washington Post, this Swedish entity “was never disclosed to or cleared by State Department ethics officials, even though one of its largest sources of donations was a Swedish government-sanctioned lottery.”
The contribution made by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), a governmental organization under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has a special significance, because that collaboration will continue at least until 2019, regardless the destiny the Clinton Foundation as such. Namely, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency donates to Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), where in its board of directors is found both Chelsea and Bill Clinton. The Board of directors chair is Bruce Lindsey, which is also member of the board in the Clinton Foundation.
The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency entanglement with the Clinton’s CHAI began in 2011. The Swedish state agency has paid to CHAI 150 million SEK. Another 75 million SEK have been promised.
A main Swedish donor to the Clinton Foundation is the Lundin Foundation. The Lundin Oil Company, in which board of directors sat Carl Bildt between 2000 and 2006, contributed with 100 million dollars to Clinton Giustra Sustainable Growth Initiative, a part of the Clinton Foundation.
The Lundin Oil Company has been reported as having a sinister record in its Africa operations. The International Public Prosecution Office in Stockholm opened in 2010 a criminal investigation regarding Lundin Petroleum’s operations in Sudan. In concrete, the investigation refers “crimes against humanity in Sudan 1997-2003.”
Another donor is the institution Postkodlotteriet, which, according to the Foundation’s homepage has given them from 1 to 5 million dollars between 2007 and 2010. The Swedish right wing paper SvD gives a figure of 6,5 million SEK; but according to a report by Erik Halkjaer in Omvärlden, the Clinton Foundation has received 73 million SEK from Postkodlotteriet.
Sweden’s largest bank, Swedbank, has retained its partnership with Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), a part of the Clinton Foundation. Both Ericsson and Swedbank have paid to CGI annual membership fees of 20,000 dollars. The Omvärlden report mentions that through its partnership med CGI, Swedbank’s wealthier clients had the opportunity to invest in the projects of CGI.
In these exchanges between Sweden and the Clinton Foundation –as we saw above, with participation of both state and corporate ‘donors’– the catch for Sweden has been a) privileged treatment by Hillary Clinton’s State Department towards Swedish companies (e.g. the case of Ericsson, that could continue having profits in Iran), and b) the support of Clinton’s State Department to Sweden’s positions at international forums. One illustration of this is the active support displayed by the US State Department in favor of Sweden’s candidacy to a seat at the UN Human Rights Council in 2012. In spite of this support Sweden was not elected; in fact, Sweden received the lowest number of preferences in the voting.
But the allegiance to the Clinton doctrine, and the Swedish flow of cash to the Clinton Foundation has continued unabated until this day.
By Prof Marcello Ferrada de Noli,
Chairman, Swedish Professors and Doctors for Human Rights.
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Via: theindicter.com
Read More:After it was announced that a massive (and illegal) art project, dubbed The Underbelly Project, had been mounted in an undisclosed abandoned NYC subway station, it was inevitable that people would try to find the works. The MTA promised to better secure the stations, and indeed, some trespassers were arrested. But at least two of them got these cell phone photos of the pieces—many of them dissed by, uh, more veteran subway trespassers.
One photographer-trespasser told us he and a friend "are the ones who successfully got in on monday night then tried bringing some friends back thursday and got caught." We've asked him to share more about his experience visiting the site twice—we'll update later. And one of the artists, Ron English, told Animal about visiting the site, security wasn't too much of an issue, "Yeah, the track people were there, walking around and bitching about their pensions. They didn’t notice any of the art because they were too busy doing their thing. They didn’t see us until we exited. We just calmly walked past them. They were in shock, like 'Where the hell did they come from?' which is different than a guy chasing you with a baseball bat for tagging up his billboard... Only when we got to the street did they start to chase us, so we split."September 6, 2016
2016-09-06T16:09:01-04:00
https://images.c-span.org/Files/76c/20160906163600003_hd.jpg
Phil Haney, a former Customs and Border Patrol officer with the Homeland Security Department, talked about his allegations of an Islamic infiltration of the U.S. government. He said that his work tracking people affiliated with the Islamic Deobandi movement was stopped so as not to offend the Muslim community. He used slides during his presentation and then responded to questions from members of the audience. Mr. Haney is the co-author of the book See Something, Say Nothing: A Homeland Security Officer Exposes the Government’s Submission to Jihad.
“Refugee Vetting: Is Our National Security at Risk?” was a Refugee Resettlement segment of ACTCON 2016, Act for America’s “National Conference and Legislative Briefing: Taking Back America’s Security.”
Phil Haney, a former Customs and Border Patrol officer with the Homeland Security Department, talked about his allegations of an Islamic infiltration of the U.S. government. He said… read moreJimmy Wales Threatens To Stymie UK Snooping Plans By Encrypting Wikipedia Connections
from the take-that dept
The draft bill of the UK's "Snooper's Charter", which would require ISPs to record key information about every email sent and Web site visited by UK citizens, and mobile phone companies to log all their calls, was published back in July. Before it is debated by politicians, a Joint Committee from both the House of Commons and House of Lords is conducting "pre-legislative scrutiny."
As the list of questions on the Joint Committee's Web page makes clear, it seems to be doing a thorough job, exploring every aspect of the proposed legislation. As well as a public consultation (now closed), it is also taking oral evidence from a wide range of interested parties, both for and against the plans. Yesterday, one of the people who spoke before the Committee was Jimmy Wales, who did not mince his words: Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, has sharply criticised the government's "snooper's charter", designed to track internet, text and email use of all British citizens, as "technologically incompetent".
He said Wikipedia would move to encrypt all its connections with Britain if UK internet companies, such as Vodafone and Virgin Media, were mandated by the government to keep track of every single page accessed by UK citizens. He went on to suggest that other Internet companies would do the same, forcing the UK authorities to resort to what he called "black arts" to break the encryption. As he pointed out: "It is not the sort of thing I'd expect from a western democracy. It is the kind of thing I would expect from the Iranians or the Chinese."
To a certain extent, this is just bluster: Wales has no formal power to instruct Wikipedia to encrypt its connections, and even assuming that happened, it's not certain that companies like Google and Facebook would risk fines or imprisonment for their staff by refusing to hand over encryption keys. But Wales' intervention had a big symbolic importance: he's not only the co-founder of Wikipedia -- which even politicians have heard of and probably use -- he's also one of the UK government's own special tech advisers, appointed back in March.
His comments are, therefore, a real slap in the face, and a useful reminder that by pushing for this kind of total surveillance the UK government is not only making itself look oppressive, but stupid too.
Follow me @glynmoody on Twitter or identi.ca, and on Google+
Filed Under: encryption, jimmy wales, privacy, snooper's charter, snooping, uk
Companies: wikipediaA SVR report circulating in the Kremlin today states that after yesterday’s meeting between Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Ambassador Sergey Kislyak and US President Donald Trump, a “kill order contract” against America’s new leader appeared on the “dark web” offering a payment of 82,900 Bitcoin’s for Trump’s “murder/killing” by the end of this month—and with Bitcoin’s currently being valued at a little over $1,800, amounts to over $150 million being offered for the assassination of an American president.
According to this report (and virtually unknown to most people), internet search engines (Google, Baidu, Wolframalpha, Yandex, etc.), only show about 1% of what’s actually available online, with the vast majority of websites being found in the “deep web”—and which the “dark web” is a smaller subset of, uses masked IP address and needs specialized browsers to access—and is occupied by vast international crime organizations and state-actor intelligence services.
Though not conclusively proved, this report continues, SVR intelligence analysts believe that this “kill order contract” offered against President Trump is from “Deep State” conspirators in the United States at war with their new leader—who became incensed after President Trump fired one of their main anti-Trump-“Russian hysteria” commanders, former FBI Director James Comey, and less than 24 hours later, hosted two of Russia’s top diplomats in his White House Oval Office.
FBI Director Comey, this report explains, was the American “Deep State” commander who was tasked with creating, and perpetuating, the false “Russian hysteria” meme against President Trump by using what is now called the “Trump Russia Dossier”—that has been revealed to be a completely made up document created by an American political opposition research company named Fusion GPS and paid for by as yet unidentified Hillary Clinton supporters.
Written entirely by an ex-MI6 (British intelligence) operative named Christopher Steele for the Hillary Clinton campaign he claimed “would sway the election against Trump”, this report says, the “Trump Russia Dossier” was so fabricated out of nonsense that the American magazine Newsweek cited a CIA operative who said “it’s hokey as hell” and one of the most esteemed US journalists, Bob Woodward of the Washington Post, called it “garbage”.
Shockingly though, this report notes, FBI Director Comey used this “hokey as hell garbage” “Trump Russia Dossier” as evidence he presented to what is called a FISA Court in order to obtain a warrant to listen into and record the phone conversations of then candidate Trump and all of his associates—and that then President Barack Obama signed an extraordinary Executive Order to unmask the names of, distribute throughout the entire “Deep State” apparatus, and then leak to the mainstream propaganda press in order to damage the reputation of Trump.
While the totally made up “Trump Russia Dossier” was being exposed as a lie, however, this report further explains, FBI Director Comey, again operating for the “Deep State”, added another layer of falsehoods to the “Russia hysteria” movement against Trump by his proclaiming that Russia had hacked into the computer servers of Hillary Clinton and her Democratic Party.
Shockingly though, this report notes, in FBI Director Comey claiming that Russia had hacked into these servers he failed to provide any evidence—with his, instead, relying on a now discredited report prepared by a company controlled by Hillary Clinton named Crowdstrike who said they had discovered “proof” of Russian hacking.
With Hillary Clinton and her Democratic Party claiming that the FBI never even asked to examine the supposed Russian-hacked computers, and the FBI countering that it did ask to examine them but were denied, this report explains, the most crucial fact of this matter not being told to the American people by their propaganda mainstream media is that all of Crowdstrike’s claims of Russia hacking these computers have been discovered to be lies—and who are now, also, refusing to cooperate with the US Congress.
As to why the “Deep State” must destroy President Trump, this report explains, is due their communist-leftist economic model for America quickly failing and unable to be supported by the supposed to be president Hillary Clinton—and as evidenced by the stunning world-record $116 billion bankruptcy of the US territory Puerto Rico, the coming bankruptcy of the Connecticut State Capital—and the bankruptcies of Illinois and California now being imminent too.
Not being understood by the American people, SVR intelligence analysts in this report say, is that their present capitalist economy is incompatible with those of socialist-communist ideology—but in order to turn a democracy into a communist state where citizens are reduced to serfdom the health care systems must be nationalized—but will collapse the nation as Soviet Russia discovered.
In knowing this fact, this report continues, the failed attempt to nationalize the United States healthcare system through what is called Obamacare as a first step towards achieving true communist (elite) rule is why the “Deep State” must destroy President Trump—and why the end of this month is so critical as the “swamp continues to be drained”.
The reason this is so, this report explains, is due to what is called cost-sharing reduction payments (CSR’s) that the Obama regime used to pay insurance companies to subsidize their quickly failing nationalized health plan—and that President Obama had to pay for by stealing billons-of-dollars from his nations mortgage loan providers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac whose investors he defrauded.
Under the US Constitution, this report continues explaining, a US president (Executive Branch) is not allowed to spend any money not authorized by the US Congress (Legislative Branch)—and when the Obamacare nationalized health plan scheme was enacted, it failed to provide any money for these CSR payments to insurance companies.
So when President Obama began stealing money from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to pay these insurance companies, this report notes, the US House of Representatives sued him in Federal Court—and where US Federal Judge Rosemary Collyer, of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia, ruled that the Obama regime was, indeed, violating the US Constitution in paying CSR’s to insurance companies.
Though the “Deep State” had fully expected Hillary Clinton to win the presidency, disregard the US Federal Court and continue paying these CSR’s in order to save Obamacare, this report says, upon President Trump assuming office he stated that he would not pay them, and sending the insurance companies into total panic—so much so, in fact, that US insurance giant Aetna just announced yesterday that it was leaving Obamacare after suffering loses between 2014-2017 of nearly $1 trillion.
Therefore, this report concludes, not only President Trump, but, also, his “Deep State” enemies are locked in one of the most crucial battles in American history to see who will survive, with Trump’s firing of FBI Director Comey, and less than 24 hours later hosting top Russian officials in his White House Oval Office, proving that he won’t bow down and is unafraid—and with Foreign Minister Lavrov, perhaps, summing up the current state of the US mainstream propaganda media by his stating to them yesterday when asked about the “Russia hysteria” issue: “I can’t believe I’m being asked to answer such a question, especially in the US, where you have a sophisticated democratic political system”.UK interest rates will stay at rock bottom per cent for another four years as the economy struggles to recover, according to a leading investment bank.
Citi says it expects rates to stay at 0.5 per cent until the middle of 2017 – a year longer than previously expected, according to The Mail.
The prediction would see interest rates held at 0.5 per cent for eight years, having been cut to the low back in March 2009.
Citi has also cuts its growth forecast for the UK in 2013 from 0.8 to 0.4 per cent and said output would only rise between 0.5 and 1 per cent in 2014.
Citi chief UK economist Michael Saunders says: “We think the UK will lose its AAA rating in 2013. The economy is likely to disappoint again in 2013. We expect that growth will stay weak in 2014.”The LA Galaxy have known for months that they would have to find a way to get Chad Barrett off their payroll in order to fit all the salaries they had compiled on their roster for 2012, and on Monday it appears they have finally found a way to make that move happen.
The Galaxy have sent Barrett on loan to Valarenga for the remainder of the 2012 MLS season, Galaxy writer Adam Serrano confirmed on Monday night. By sending Barrett out on loan, they take the remaining portion of his $253,333 in guaranteed compensation off the team's salary budget, something sources told SBI the Galaxy had to do in order to make their salary budget compliant to league rules.
Barrett had become expendable with the shifting of Landon Donovan to forward and presence of Edson Buddle. He managed one goal and three assists in 18 league appearances this season.Two goals from Kazenga LuaLua gave Brighton victory and cemented a second successive relegation for Wolves.
Wolves needed to win and hope other results went their way to stay up but their slim hopes evaporated when LuaLua cut inside to score after five minutes.
Another fine solo goal by LuaLua before the break sealed Wolves' fate.
Wolves return to the third tier for the first time since 1989 and become the first team to twice suffer back-to-back relegations from the top flight.
To stand any chance of survival, Dean Saunders's side had needed to win and see Peterborough and Barnsley lose, while also requiring a five-goal swing on goal difference.
In the end, Posh lost and the Tykes drew, but Wolves' defeat meant all of that was meaningless.
Brighton's play-off dates Friday 10 May: Crystal Palace v Brighton (19:45 BST) Monday 13 May: Brighton v Crystal Palace (19:45 BST)
At first, the visitors looked up for the fight and were first to threaten when Bakary Sako fired against the post after three minutes.
But LuaLua's low finish from the edge of the box moments later was a blow from which Wolves would not recover.
Seagulls keeper Tomasz Kuszczak denied Nouha Dicko and Roger Johnson and Brighton, already assured of a play-off place, extended their lead when LuaLua struck again from similar range.
Wolves, who finished bottom of the Premier League last season, toiled in search of a reply but the closest they came to a consolation goal was when Kevin Doyle stung the palms of Kuszczak.
Sako, Matt Doherty and George Elokobi, making his first appearance since suffering a fractured ankle in September, all succumbed to injuries as Wolves' disastrous campaign finished in frustrating style.
And Brighton, who face arch-rivals Crystal Palace in their play-off semi-final next week, almost added to their misery before the end when Ashley Barnes, Jose Ulloa and Rodriguez Vicente all went close.
Brighton manager Gus Poyet:
"It is not a normal game [against Palace]. How can you make this into a normal game of football? I will be trying my best to think only about football.
"What it comes down to is two games. We`ll have a great go.
"We are certainly one of the teams in the best form having gone nine games unbeaten."This post in particular is addressed to men, not because women don’t rape and women don’t make/laugh at rape jokes and not because men can’t be raped, but because, by nature of the existing gender disparity, men are in a unique position to be taken seriously when they raise objections to casual language and humor regarding rape. Men are also in a unique position to prove to rapists that not all men rape or take rape lightly by being able to embody living proof of that fact.
To all those men who don’t think the rape jokes are a problem:
I get it—you’re a decent guy. I can even believe it. You’ve never raped anybody. You would NEVER rape anybody. You’re upset that all these feminists are trying to accuse you of doing something, or connect you to doing something, that, as far as you’re concerned, you’ve never done and would never condone.
And they’ve told you about triggers, and PTSD, and how one in six women is a survivor, and you get it. You do. But you can’t let every time someone gets all upset get in the way of you having a good time, right? Especially when it doesn’t mean anything. Rape jokes have never made YOU go out and rape someone. They never would; they never could. You just don’t see how it matters.
I’m going to tell you how it does matter. And I tell you this because I genuinely believe you mean it when you say you don’t want to hurt anybody, and that it’s important to you to do your best to be a decent and good person, and that you don’t see the harm. And I genuinely believe you when you say you would never associate with a rapist and you think rape really is a very bad thing.
Here is why I refuse to take rape jokes sitting down…
Because 6% of college-aged men, slightly over 1 in 20, will admit to raping someone in anonymous surveys, as long as the word “rape” isn’t used in the description of the act—and that’s the conservative estimate. Other sources double that number (pdf).
A lot of people accuse feminists of thinking that all men are rapists. That’s not true. But do you know who think all men are rapists?
Rapists do.
They really do. In psychological study, the profiling, the studies, it comes out again and again.
Virtually all rapists genuinely believe that all men rape, and other men just keep it hushed up better. And more, these people who really are rapists are constantly reaffirmed in their belief about the rest of mankind being rapists like them by things like rape jokes, that dismiss and normalize the idea of rape.
If one in twenty guys (or more) is a real and true rapist, and you have any amount of social activity with other guys like yourself, then it is almost a statistical certainty that one time hanging out with friends and their friends, playing Halo with a bunch of guys online, in a WoW guild, in a pick-up game of basketball, at a bar, or elsewhere, you were talking to a rapist. Not your fault. You can’t tell a rapist apart any better than anyone else can. It’s not like they announce themselves.
But, here’s the thing. It’s very likely that in some of these interactions with these guys, at some point or another, someone told a rape joke. You, decent guy that you are, understood that they didn’t mean it, and it was just a joke. And so you laughed.
Or maybe you didn’t laugh. Maybe it just wasn’t a very funny joke. So maybe you just didn’t say anything at all.
And, decent guy who would never condone rape, who would step in and stop rape if he saw it, who understands that rape is awful and wrong and bad, when you laughed? When you were silent?
That rapist who was in the group with you, that rapist thought that you were on his side. That rapist knew that you were a rapist like him. And he felt validated, and he felt he was among his comrades.
You. The rapist’s comrade.
And if that doesn’t make you feel sick to your stomach, if that doesn’t make you want to throw up, if that doesn’t disturb you or bother you or make you feel like maybe you should at least consider not participating in that kind of humor anymore, not abiding it in your presence, not greeting it with silence…
Well, maybe you aren’t as opposed to rapists as you claim.
————————————-
Note: A quick and simple rule for language and behavior if you want to be a decent person: Ask yourself, “who is more likely to be made to feel comfortable around me based on whatever I’m about to say/do? Rape survivors? Or rapists? Who is more likely to be made to feel uncomfortable?” If you’re doing something that is more likely to make rapists feel comfortable and/or rape survivors feel uncomfortable, then don’t do it!
This post originally appeared on Shakesville.
Related Stories:
Offensive T-Shirts Poke Fun at Domestic Violence, Compare Women to Dogs
Rape is Not a Joke — Why Doesn’t Facebook Get It?
Twitter Users Suggest “Reasons to Beat Your Girlfriend”
Photo from ma.co. via flickr |
San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, which manages cable cars and streets in The City, said in a statement. “We will work with [police] to ensure that we can prevent this type of activity.”
Marques said the challenge was worth it.
“I always thought it would be difficult to beat the descents of Portugal,” he wrote. “But in fact, going down the streets of San Francisco was really another level.”
He added, “It was scary. But spectacular, truly spectacular.”
Click here or scroll down to commentAlways one to speak out against the GOP, “Hardball” host Chris Matthews took Republican-bashing one step too far, calling the GOP’s three most vocal senators — Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) — “political terrorists.”
During his MSNBC show, Matthews first targeted Cruz, discussing his unwillingness to back down from fellow Republican senators unwilling to support a government shutdown over Obamacare.
“Let’s just say he’s a political terrorist on this one,” Matthews said of the Texas senator.
But Matthews continued, including Paul and Lee in his lambasting of the Right.
“Let me finish with the political terrorists of the Right,” he continued. “I’m going to talk about them. Their names are Cruz, Paul and Lee. …This is more than just obstructionism, this is political terrorism.”
Matthews then turned to his guests, one of which was former Obama advisor, David Axelrod. Axelrod, surprisingly, fought back against Matthews’ use of the term “political terrorist,” saying he was uncomfortable with the word “out of respect for the victims of violent terrorists.”
But Matthews wasn’t deterred, countering that referring to the three Senators as “political terrorists” was acceptable and vowing to continue to use it.
Watch Matthews’ harsh characterization of the senators.
Latest VideosRep. Stephen Fincher (R-Tenn.), left, is the leading GOP advocate for reauthorizing the Export-Import Bank. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Supporters of the Export-Import Bank on Friday moved to force a House vote on extending the credit agency’s charter, an issue that has bitterly divided Republicans.
Led by Rep. Stephen Fincher (R-Tenn.), GOP backers of the bank joined with Democrats, led by House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) to execute a rare procedural motion that should lead to a vote by month’s end.
The motion, called a discharge petition, needs the support of a majority of the House — or 218 members — in order to move forward, a tally Ex-Im supporters said they have secured.
“We refuse to look any more hardworking Americans in the eye and say, ‘you lost your job because Congress refused to hold a vote,'” Fincher said in a statement. Only about 40 Republicans signed the discharge petition, meaning Fincher and his Republican allies had to rely mostly on Democratic support to force the vote.
The Export-Import Bank is the official credit export agency of the United States and it provides loans to help finance the sale of U.S. goods to foreign buyers. Over the last two years, it has become the subject of an intense lobbying fight with conservative Republicans pushing to kill the agency arguing it is a prime example of “crony capitalism.” It’s supporters argue it helps create jobs and is important to their districts.
Hoyer kickstarted the process in July when he approached Fincher to work on a bipartisan plan to revive the expired agency. Aides said the Democratic whip staff called every House Democrat, ultimately delivering more than 170 votes to bring the bill to the House floor.
House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) has led the fight to kill the bank and he and like-minded Republicans scored a major victory when Congress allowed its charter to expire at the end of June.
On Friday, Hensarling reacted angrily to the procedural maneuvering, arguing the Republicans pushing to reauthorize the bank’s charter should not be working with Democrats in this way.
“I hope all Republicans, regardless of their stand on this one issue, will recognize that signing a discharge petition sets a very serious, very dangerous precedent for our Republican majority that goes far beyond Ex-Im,” Hensarling said in a statement. “Signing a discharge petition puts the minority in charge and effectively makes Nancy Pelosi the Speaker of the House.”
Under the rules that govern the discharge petition, a vote on legislation to save the bank is likely to occur around Oct. 26.
The legislation faces an uncertain fate in the Senate.
While there is broad support among senators for renewing the bank’s charter, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is an opponent of doing so and his office said he has no plans to hold a vote on a stand-alone bill.
“The Senate is not going to spend a week on a bill the leader doesn’t support,” said McConnell spokesman Don Stewart, a reference to the amount of time it would take the Senate to debate and vote on the bill.
That means Ex-Im boosters will have to attach a charter extension to another piece of legislation moving through Congress in order for it to become law. Earlier this year, the Senate voted to attach a reauthorization of the bank to a highway bill, which has yet to be considered in the House.
The move by bank supporters comes as House Republicans are struggling to pick a speaker after House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) announced on Thursday he would not run to replace John Boehner (R-Ohio), who plans to leave Congress at the end of the month.
Hensarling in his statement cited the leadership tensions as a reason not to deal with Ex-Im right now.
“At a time when our Republican Conference is divided, this will divide it even further,” he said.
But the bank’s supporters shot back, arguing that the leadership mess is the result of a group of conservative Republicans who are pushing unrealistic demands and moderates will employ similar tactics to advance their agenda.
“If the Freedom Caucus and their 40 members can run this place, we’ll show them that 40 centrists can run this place too,” Rep. Denny Heck (D-Wash.)
Mike DeBonis contributed to this report.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said Heck was a Republican. He is a Democrat.Overview (2)
Mini Bio (1)
Michael Jai White is an American actor and martial artist who has appeared in numerous films and television series. He is the first African American to portray a major comic book superhero in a major motion picture, having starred as Al Simmons, the protagonist in the 1997 film Spawn. White portrayed Jax Briggs in Mortal Kombat: Legacy. White also portrayed boxer Mike Tyson in the 1995 HBO television movie Tyson.
- IMDb Mini Biography By: scaryofmonsters
Spouse (2)
Trade Mark (5)
Muscular build
His Goatee
Deep menacing voice
Roles in action films
Tough guy attitude
Trivia (15)
Black belts in 7 styles of martial arts. He has 26 titles including U.S. Open, North American Open, and New England Grand Champion. Studied acting at H.B. Studio, Yale University and Brown University. Performed Off-Broadway in "Raisin in the Sun" and "To Kill a Mockingbird".
Appeared in the trailer for Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) and Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004) when both were still due to be released as one movie. He does not appear in either Volume 1 or 2 of the theatrical version, but he appears in deleted scenes of the movies.
Was a teacher before he started acting.
Began his martial arts training at age eight.
Taught emotionally disturbed children for three years
He has said he stopped growing at age 14.
Karate instructor of actor Todo Segalla at Top Ten Karate Studio, New Haven, Connecticut.
Holds black belts in following martial arts: Shotokan Karate, Tae Kwon Do, Okinawan Kobudo, Goju Ryu, Tang Soo Do, Wushu, and Kyokushin Karate.
Daughter Morgan Michelle (b. December 24, 2008).
Has two sons from a previous relationship.
Can speak some Japanese and Mandarin.
Stars in Busta Rhymes f. Mariah Carey video 'I know what you want' [August 2003]
Inducted into the International Sports Hall of Fame in 2015.
Personal Quotes (4)
Again, I wanted to compare myself with another martial arts icon in Steven Segal. I had worked with him three other times in the past. It is true he can be difficult at times but, I had no problem with him. He is a very gifted choreographer and technician. Dion Lam is an incredible, one of the best, fight technicians I have ever worked with. I don't prefer wire-work.
I met Jean Claude on Universal Soldier, part 1. I was "Soldier #2." Jean Claude and I trained together on that movie and always got along great. Years later, in the sequel, we got along just as well. This was the first movie where I showed a bit of my martial arts skills. Unfortunately, the script and the director were not very good. I wanted to show myself when compared to a martial arts icon like Van Damme. I achieved my purpose.
In Spawn (1997), I just auditioned and got the role. I was cast as Jax in Mortal Kombat but, New Line wanted me to play Spawn. The "star-status" thing was never difficult for me. My heroes were never actors. They were real men in the real world like senseis, police officers, and teachers. There continue to be rumors about Spawn 2, there have been for years. I spoke to Todd McFarlane months ago and I know he intends on doing a sequel. I am not sure when.
When I was young, I had a favorite movie star. One day I saw one of his movies and it was bad and he was bad in it. I could tell he didn't care and only did it for the money. I felt betrayed. I never watched another one of his movies again. To my German fans I will always do my best, no matter what. It means a lot that you believe in me. I won't let you down.FRENCH and Malian troops have recaptured two key towns from al-Qaeda-linked Islamists holding Mali's north, as Egypt warned the Paris-led offensive could spark regional conflict.
The inroads into the central towns of Diabaly and Douentza on Monday marked a significant advance in the 11-day offensive led by former colonial power France, whose aim is the "total reconquest" of Mali's vast semi-arid north.
But, breaking ranks with the global community - which supports the UN-backed intervention amid concerns the vast arid zone could become a new Afghanistan-like haven for al-Qaeda - Egypt was sharply critical.
"We do not accept at all the military intervention in Mali because that will fuel conflict in the region," President Mohamed Morsi said.
But in Diabaly, local residents applauded wildly as a convoy of about 30 armoured vehicles with some 200 Malian and French troops moved into the town on Monday morning.
Some shouted "Long Live France!" as the troops rolled in. Others scrambled to photograph the "liberators" on their mobile phones.
French military officials and local residents said the fleeing Islamists had riddled the town with landmines.
"There is a problem with unexploded ammunition," said Lieutenant-Colonel Frederic, in charge of the operations in Diabaly, who identified himself by his first name only in line with French army policy.
Diabaly, which lies 400 kilometres north of the capital Bamako, has been the theatre of air strikes and fighting since it was seized by Islamists a week ago.
French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said the town of Douentza, which had been under Islamist control since September, had also been retaken by French and Malian troops.
Douentza is a strategic crossroads town some 100km east of Konna, whose capture earlier this month by extremists saw the French army swoop to the aid of the crippled and weak Malian army.
The push into the government-held southern triangle of the bow-tie shaped nation was seen as a threat to Bamako.
Amid the fighting, Mali extended by three months a state of emergency in place since January 12 and under which public gatherings, rallies and anything that can disrupt public order are banned.
"The military operations to liberate the occupied regions of our country are panning out well and the need to install a peaceful social climate throughout the country," were the reasons for extending the state of emergency, a government statement said.
Distancing themselves from Egypt's reaction, other countries offered their support - but not necessarily their soldiers - to France's intervention.
Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal reiterated that his country would not put boots on the ground in Mali, but stressed that the "integrity of Mali has to be preserved.
"We cannot accept a 'Sahelistan' tomorrow on the Algerian frontier," he said - a play on the word Sahel, the semi-arid belt that crosses Africa south of the Sahara desert.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel pledged support for France, saying "we cannot let them down. They are our partner", but also excluded sending soldiers for the moment.
The European Union offered to host a global meeting on Mali in Brussels on February 5, involving the African Union and the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States.
The planned deployment of around 6000 African soldiers meanwhile continued slowly into Bamako. The UN-approved African-led force is hampered by cash and logistical constraints, requiring up to 200 million euros ($A255 million).
Originally published as French, Malian troops recapture key townsPhoto by Atiba Jefferson
Earlier today, reports emerged that Bad Brains guitarist Dr. Know, aka Gary Miller, was hospitalized for unknown reasons. This afternoon, the band shared a statement to its Facebook, asking for "thoughts and prayers."
The Bad Brains family ask that you please keep Gary (Dr. Know) Miller in your thoughts and prayers The family respectfully ask that their privacy be honored during this time and very much appreciate all the great energy that is being sent their way. Positive vibes and PMA!
Miller is a founding member of Bad Brains. In May, the band recorded a new EP in front of an audience in Woodstock, NY.
Update (11/10, 3:18 p.m.): Dr. Know's condition is "no longer considered critical," according to an updated posted on the band's Facebook (via Rolling Stone). Find their full update below.Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.
Aug. 22, 2013, 2:35 PM GMT By Jay Hancock
Partly blaming the health reform law, United Parcel Service is set to remove thousands of spouses from its medical plan because they are eligible for coverage elsewhere.
Many analysts downplay the Affordable Care Act’s effect on companies such as UPS, noting that the move is part of a long-term trend of shrinking corporate medical benefits. But the shipping giant repeatedly cites the act to explain the decision, adding fuel to the debate over whether the law erodes traditional employer coverage.
Rising medical costs, “combined with the costs associated with the Affordable Care Act, have made it increasingly difficult to continue providing the same level of health care benefits to our employees at an affordable cost,” UPS said in a memo to employees.
The company told white-collar workers two months ago that 15,000 working spouses eligible for coverage at their own employers would be excluded from the UPS plan in 2014. The Fortune 100 firm expects the move, which applies to non-union U.S. workers only, to save about $60 million a year, said company spokesman Andy McGowan.
UPS becomes one of the highest-profile employers yet to bar working spouses from the company plan. Many firms already require employees to pay a surcharge for working-spouse medical coverage, but some are taking the next step by declining to include them at all, consultants say.
“They are simply saying to the spouse outright, ‘If you have coverage somewhere else, you are not eligible here,’” said Edward Fensholt, a senior vice president at Lockton Cos., a large insurance broker. “We don’t see a lot of that out there, but more than we used to.”
This year 4 percent of large employers surveyed by consultants Towers Watson excluded spouses if they had similar coverage where they work. Another 8 percent planned such a change for 2014, according to the survey.
“When healthcare reform came on the scene a few years ago we definitely saw an uptick in companies wanting to explore a working-spouse provision,” said Steve Noury, national sales director for HMS Employer Solutions, which monitors dependents’ eligibility for corporate benefits. “We have seen [them] over the past two or three years putting those in place.”
The healthcare law requires large employers to cover employees and dependent children but not spouses or domestic partners.
UPS spouses may have difficulty finding similar coverage at their own employers. The $500 in-network family deductible for UPS’s basic plan, for example, is less than the nationwide average of $733, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. (Kaiser Health News is an editorially independent program of the foundation.)
Health coverage for spouses became standard in the 1950s when wives were less likely to work outside the home. The rise of two-income households led, in many cases, to two family health plans, but employers have been slow to address the overlap.
Companies have employed varying tactics to get spouses off their plans. The city of Anacortes, Wash., pays employees a bonus if spouses get coverage elsewhere, said human resources director Emily Schuh. This year Xerox went the opposite way, charging employees who enroll working spouses a $1,000 annual penalty, which rises to $1,500 next year.
Spouse and domestic partner coverage at Xerox “is intended primarily for those who do not have their own access to employer provided medical coverage,” said company spokesman Bill McKee.
One large employer in five collects a surcharge on covered spouses who are eligible for insurance at their own workplace, according to the Towers Watson survey. Another 13 percent planned to add such a working spouse penalty next year.
Now employers are mimicking the city of Richmond, Ind., which excluded working spouses from its health plan starting in January, mainly because too many employees were taking them up on their offer.
“We have all these [employers] around us who are not covering working spouses,” said Richmond human resources director Sue Roberson. “You almost have to do it out of self-defense.”
The new plan at UPS, which earned $807 million last year on revenue of $54.1 billion, affects about a quarter of its U.S. workforce. The company is sharing part of the savings with employees, reducing premiums for workers whose spouses leave the plan.
Neither the company nor the Teamsters union would say whether a pending contract for blue-collar workers includes health-coverage changes for working spouses.
To explain the switch, UPS gave workers a memo, obtained by KHN, that repeatedly mentions the health act.
While acknowledging that overall health spending continues to rise, the company also blamed cost increases on the Affordable Care Act’s research fee (initially $1 per health plan member, then rising to $2) and an a temporary fee of $63 per member to stabilize new online marketplaces for consumers buying directly from insurers.
Other factors are the act’s ban on annual and lifetime coverage limits and its requirement to cover dependent children up to age 26, UPS said. The law’s mandate for individuals to obtain coverage will nudge employees who previously opted out to enroll, also raising costs, the company said.
The health law is “one of the reasons that UPS is implementing the changes,” McGowan said.
Advocates of the law argue that its costs are minimal compared with the burden of overall medical-insurance inflation, which the ACA was designed in part to control.
“The notion that those are going to be make-or-break when they are otherwise absorbing 7 to 10 percent a year [in broader health-cost increases] is kind of ridiculous,” said Jonathan Gruber, an MIT economist who advised the Obama administration on health policy. “Nobody expected the ACA to have a major effect on health costs for large firms.”
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projected in 2009 that the law’s effect on premiums for large employers would be negligible.
Consultants point to another health law effect, however, that could also give employers a reason to dump spouses. Excluding wives might help keep companies from paying the “Cadillac tax” on high-value plans that takes effect in 2018, analysts said.
Also, women in their childbearing years “are a cost driver,” said Julie Stone, a senior benefits consultant at Towers Watson. “If you have female spouses and you decide not to cover them, you’re going to bring costs down.”
The Obama administration would not respond directly to UPS’s statements but said that employer coverage increased when Massachusetts implemented its own version of the health overhaul.
“The health care law will make health insurance more affordable, strengthen small businesses and make it easier for employers to provide coverage to their workers,” said Joanne Peters, spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services.
Stone doesn’t expect widespread exclusion of working spouses until the health act’s public insurance exchanges, scheduled to open in October, mature. Once companies know there’s an alternative for working spouses, they may accelerate the practice, she said.
But first “they’re going to talk about it for a few years,” she said.In order to reverse engineer what Python is doing, I setup the following environment…
$ cd ~/dev/python
$ mkdir module_import_test
$ cd module_import_test
$ python3 -m venv venv
$. venv/bin/activate
$ touch app.py
All I did there was create a test directory, a virtual environment (and activated it), and a test module file app.py.
Another important part to consider is the PYTHONPATH environment variable. On my machine, this is set to /home/trstringer/dev/python. This is important to remember!
Now, I wanted to reproduce with a module from PyPI. For this, I’m choosing the ever-so-popular requests module.
pip install requests
The following are the contents of app.py …
import sys
import requests
for idx, path in enumerate(sys.path, 1):
print(f'{idx} - {path}')
print(f'
requests module location - {requests.__file__}')
All I’m doing here is the following (effectively)…
Importing the requests module (wherever it may be living) Printing out the contents of sys.path (more on this later) Displaying the __file__ attribute of the requests module (again, more on this later)
In my environment, take a look at this output…
1 - /home/trstringer/dev/python/module_import_test
2 - /home/trstringer/dev/python
3 - /usr/lib/python36.zip
4 - /usr/lib/python3.6
5 - /usr/lib/python3.6/lib-dynload
6 - /home/trstringer/dev/python/module_import_test/venv/lib/python3.6/site-packages
requests module location - /home/trstringer/dev/python/module_import_test/venv/lib/python3.6/site-packages/requests/__init__.py
Lots of information here. Let’s disect this, working backwards. As you can see, the requests module was imported from my <project_dir>/venv/.../site-packages directory. That’s expected. But the listing of directories from sys.path shows really great information about where Python looks when attempting to import a module.
Breaking it all down
The first element of sys.path will be the current directory of the module that is running the import. In my case, that directory is./module_import_test/.
If Python doesn’t find the module in the local directory, it’ll then move onto the paths specified in $PYTHONPATH. In my case, I only have the single directory which is item #2 listed above there.
And then Python will subsequently look through a handful of installation-specific directories, lastly looking in site-packages (my virtual environment).
What this means is that if I have a requests.py file in my module_import_test directory, that will throw everything off (which is what I was originally dealing with). Let’s prove that…
# currently in the module_import_test directory
$ touch requests.py
$ python app.py
1 - /home/trstringer/dev/python/test4
2 - /home/trstringer/dev/python
3 - /usr/lib/python36.zip
4 - /usr/lib/python3.6
5 - /usr/lib/python3.6/lib-dynload
6 - /home/trstringer/dev/python/test4/venv/lib/python3.6/site-packages
requests module location - /home/trstringer/dev/python/test4/requests.py
Perfect! Now Python has found requests.py in the first directory it looked in, and it appears to have stopped there, no longer walking sys.path to find any other occurrences of another requests module. The original requests module that I pip install’d is no longer being imported.
Likewise, if I had a file requests.py living in my $PYTHONPATH then Python would import that and short-circuit the search, never looking in my site-packages folder where the real requests module lives.
TL;DR the main takeawayAuthor Message
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Subject: WARHAMSTER!!! (many, much pictures!)
Chaplain Dean
Automated Space Wolves Thrall
Bethlehem, PA.
How is everyone?
Since my parting ways with the store, I had fallen out of the hobby. I got caught up in a war, became a cop and endured a couple of shoulder operations to my right shoulder that kept me from painting (Thank you nerve damage!)
When the new 40K rules came out, my gaming group and I decided to get back into the game. With this, I decided to paint a new army as I digested the rules.
I've always had a fondness for The Space Wolves, so choosing a new army to paint was easy.
Here's the set up so you can best experience the madness that infests my head...
My army is based on the 13th Company... and here's why...
-Who did the 13th Company chase into The Warp? Yes, that's right... Magnus The Red!
-Who does Magnus work for? Yeah, you got it... Tzeentch!
-And what does Tzeentch do? Go ahead, you right... He changes things...
So, here they are, The 13th Company. Changed in a horrible, horrible way (for a Space Wolf anyway, I guess...)
My WARHAMSTERS!!!
Here are the solo pics...
This ones my FAVORITE... for some reason...
Now, I know what your thinking already... Hamsters? Dean has gone crazy in his old age! Someone put that heretic out of his misery! Heh, I have only just begun to commit heresy!
Bran Redmaw is a special Forge world character who transforms into a giant werewolf... blah.
Bran Redhamster is a special Dean World character who transforms into a GIANT HAMSTER!!!
Bran (Pre Transformation)
OOPS! Someone has made Bran angry!!!
We need a mighty warrior of virtue and power to lead this band... how about...
Logan Grim-hamster!!!
I, of course, needed a Runepriest...
I was particularly pleased with the runes on his shoulder pad.
The Chooser of the slain.
Now we get into my Terminators...
First Logan's Champion... Arjac Cedar-fist!
Frightening, no?
My Warhamster Terminators, or as I like to call them... MY BADGER GUARD
I thought I'd do something a little different with them, so I made them Badgers instead of Hamsters.
They are also painted in a slightly different color. I cannot take full credit for the paint job, as my friend Lexx (she's a paint monkey, ya know...) did most of the work. I did black lining and some additional detail work.
Here is the first squad. They are designed to be run with Logan Ham-star. The one with the red cape gets promoted to leader and joins the Grey Hunters (I gave him a combi-melter). The squad of the remaining four, as well as Logan, get loaded into the KIA and hopefully do something epic...
Here ya go...
Whoops! I said something about a "KIA"?!?... It's not finished... but here is a sneak peek...
Okay, I still have some pieces to finish. I'm finishing up the bases and black-lining on the second Badger Guard squad, and of course the Landraider "KIA" is close to being finished. I will post pictures just as soon as I am able!
Enjoy! First of all, introductions are in order. Some of you may remember me from the now closed Cap's Comics in Allentown, you remember the tall good looking guy who owned the place?How is everyone?Since my parting ways with the store, I had fallen out of the hobby. I got caught up in a war, became a cop and endured a couple of shoulder operations to my right shoulder that kept me from painting (Thank you nerve damage!)When the newrules came out, my gaming group and I decided to get back into the game. With this, I decided to paint a new army as I digested the rules.I've always had a fondness for The Space Wolves, so choosing a new army to paint was easy.Here's the set up so you can best experience the madness that infests my head...My army is based on the 13th Company... and here's why...-Who did the 13th Company chase into The Warp? Yes, that's right... Magnus The Red!-Who does Magnus work for? Yeah, you got it... Tzeentch!-And what does Tzeentch do? Go ahead, you right... He changes things...So, here they are, The 13th Company. Changed in a horrible, horrible way (for a Space Wolf anyway, I guess...)My WARHAMSTERS!!!Here are the solo pics...This ones my FAVORITE... for some reason...Now, I know what your thinking already... Hamsters? Dean has gone crazy in his old age! Someone put that heretic out of his misery! Heh, I have only just begun to commit heresy!Bran Redmaw is a special Forge world character who transforms into a giant werewolf... blah.Bran Redhamster is a special Dean World character who transforms into a GIANT HAMSTER!!!Bran (Pre Transformation)OOPS! Someone has made Bran angry!!!We need a mighty warrior of virtue and power to lead this band... how about...Logan Grim-hamster!!!I, of course, needed a Runepriest...I was particularly pleased with the runes on his shoulder pad.The Chooser of the slain.Now we get into my Terminators...First Logan's Champion... Arjac Cedar-fist!Frightening, no?My Warhamster Terminators, or as I like to call them... MY BADGER GUARDI thought I'd do something a little different with them, so I made them Badgers instead of Hamsters.They are also painted in a slightly different color. I cannot take full credit for the paint job, as my friend Lexx (she's a paint monkey, ya know...) did most of the work. I did black lining and some additional detail work.Here is the first squad. They are designed to be run with Logan Ham-star. The one with the red cape gets promoted to leader and joins the Grey Hunters (I gave him a combi-melter). The squad of the remaining four, as well as Logan, get loaded into the KIA and hopefully do something epic...Here ya go...Whoops! I said something about a "KIA"?!?... It's not finished... but here is a sneak peek...Okay, I still have some pieces to finish. I'm finishing up the bases and black-lining on the second Badger Guard squad, and of course the Landraider "KIA" is close to being finished. I will post pictures just as soon as I am able!Enjoy!
Subject: Re:WARHAMSTER!!! (many, much pictures!)
sing your life
The new Sick Man of Europe
The new Sick Man of Europe Paranoid Sector Lord
Pictures are blocked at work.
DC:90+S+G++MB++I--Pww211+D++A++/fWD390R++T(F)DM+
Boggy Man: 10 weird tricks Single Mom discovered turn you into Sigmarine with perfect abs! Nagash hates her!
Feeder: (the gospel according to)Paul is just ancient fanfic that got retconned into canon somehow.
Subject: Re:WARHAMSTER!!! (many, much pictures!)
Pacific
On an Express Elevator to Hell!!
On an Express Elevator to Hell!! Battlefield Tourist
This is the best army I have seen all year, full stop! Absolutely brilliant..
https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/751316.page
Small but perfectly formed! A Great Crusade Epic 6mm project:
Excellent discussion forum & information collection for Epic and other small scale miniatures:
Epic 30K&40K! A new players guide, contributors welcomeSmall but perfectly formed! A Great Crusade Epic 6mm project: https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/694411.page Excellent discussion forum & information collection for Epic and other small scale miniatures: http://www.tacticalwargames.net/taccmd/index.php
Subject: WARHAMSTER!!! (many, much pictures!)
Ifurita
[ARTICLE MOD]
North Bay, CA
North Bay, CA Huge Hierodule
Very well done. Where did you get all the hamster heads?
Subject: WARHAMSTER!!! (many, much pictures!)
Chris_P
Bounding Assault Marine
California
Man, this is absolutely great, hahaha! Keep up the good work.
A Heretic may see the truth and seek redemption. He may be forgiven his past and will be absolved in death. A Traitor can never be forgiven. A Traitor will never find peace in this world or the next. There is nothing as wretched or as hated in all the world as a Traitor. - Cardinal Khrysdam, Instructum Absolutio A Heretic may see the truth and seek redemption. He may be forgiven his past and will be absolved in death. A Traitor can never be forgiven. A Traitor will never find peace in this world or the next. There is nothing as wretched or as hated in all the world as a Traitor. - Cardinal Khrysdam, Instructum Absolutio
Subject: WARHAMSTER!!! (many, much pictures!)
Mu
Scotland
Scotland Tough-as-Nails Ork Boy
wow, just wow think these are my favorite marines ever. Please have hamster wheel powered Rhinos.
Subject: WARHAMSTER!!! (many, much pictures!)
Llamahead
Earlobe deep in doo doo
Earlobe deep in doo doo Stealthy Warhound Titan Princeps
Oddly enough these really remind me of Ewoks. Beautifully executed and comic genius.
"But me no buts! Our comrades get hurt. Our friends die. Falkenburg is a knight who swore an oath to serve the church and to defend the weak. He'd be the first to tell you to stop puling and start planning. Because what we are doing-at risk to ourselves-is what we have sworn to do. The West relies on us. It is a risk we take with pride. It is an oath we honour. Even when some soft southern burgher mutters about us, we know the reason he sleeps soft and comfortable, why his wife is able to complain about the price of cabbages as her most serious problem and why his children dare to throw dung and yell "Knot" when we pass. It's because we are what we are. For all our faults we stand for law and light.
Von Gherens This Rough Magic Lackey, Flint & Freer
Mekagorkalicious -Monkeytroll
2017 Model Count-71
Subject: WARHAMSTER!!! (many, much pictures!)
believablejeff
Sinister Chaos Marine
HAHAHAHA! this is AMAZING!!! where/ how did you get these heads!
Iron warriors - 6500 pts WIP
necrons 1700 pts WIP
Dark Eldar - Getting Started
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DA:90+S++G+++M++B++I+Pw40k11+D++A++/eWD390R++T(T)DM+
===== End Dakka Geek Code ===== If Slaanesh is the God of Sex, then why does Tzeench have a Thousand SonsIron warriors - 6500 pts WIPnecrons 1700 pts WIPDark Eldar - Getting Started===== Begin Dakka Geek Code ========== End Dakka Geek Code =====
Subject: WARHAMSTER!!! (many, much pictures!)
Jacknife
Lost (and possibly Damned)
Lost (and possibly Damned) Splattered With Acrylic Paint
Please do put a hamster wheel in the rhino!
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2013/10/06 18:11:08
- Jack
Happyjew wrote:
I can deal with glass shards and razor wire, but please for the love of all that is holy, not Comic Sans. I can deal with glass shards and razor wire, but please for the love of all that is holy, not Comic Sans.
=====Begin Dakka Geek Code=====
DC:90-S---G++MB---I++Pw40k10+D++A+++/hWD381R++++T(Pic)DM+
=====End Dakka Geek Code===== - Jack=====Begin Dakka Geek Code==========End Dakka Geek Code=====
Subject: WARHAMSTER!!! (many, much pictures!)
ArbitorIan
HATE Club, East London
HATE Club, East London Dispassionate Imperial Judge
Amazing. Did you sculpt he hamster / badger heads or buy them somewhere??
Subject |
bound the perceived with the essential? Kant felt it necessary to dethrone the importance of empirical knowledge, if only to make room for faith as well. In Critique of Pure Reason, he acknowledges that he had “to deny knowledge in order to make room for faith“ [emphasis Kant’s]. Indeed, both Packer and Kant would have shared a skepticism of an excessive development of detached abstractions, especially at the expense of other pursuits. “Our theoretical capacities are in us much stronger than the practical ones,” Kant insisted. “We can improve the former more than the latter, and thus [arises] a disproportion, a monster in which the head is too large en regard to other parts of the body.” Indeed, the theoretical capacity was only useful because of the hope of a life-after-life: “if we did not have another life to expect, then learnedness would certainly be more harmful for us than useful.”
Both Packer and Kant feared the monster-head, but Packer considered the proper antidote to be the cultivation of spiritual confirmation of truths, faith that in fact is knowledge. Doctrine and Covenants 93:24 suggests that truth is “knowledge of things as they really are” and that such truth could be had by mortals. Packer warned his listeners that if they wrote Mormon history in a way that kept it “quite secular,” they would write it in a way in which “something is missing”–the essence of the thing, or in Packer’s mind, the spiritual truth of the Mormon message. One of the overarching themes of “The Mantle” is its focus, perhaps even obsession, with the prioritization of knowledge. For Packer, the higher truth and confirmation of Mormonism should come first and foremost, followed then and only then with the less flattering aspects of the fallen world in which Mormon history has developed. Those who reverse the process, placing the facts perceptible through ordinary thinking processes at the pinnacle of knowledge, become “destroyer[s] of faith,” one of the deadly sins in Packer’s schema.
Kant’s solution was to surrender our ability to ever acquire epistemological certainty of the noumenon. Packer’s? To celebrate it as the crown jewel in the pursuit of knowledge, worthy of our unyielding pursuit, worthy of the sacrifice of “harmful truths” that were irrelevant to absolute truth anyway. No, we cannot understand the noumenon with our natural senses, Packer would argue. When an attorney asked him to explain how he knew of God’s existence, Packer found himself to be “helpless to communicate” his knowledge. Certainly, he acknowledged, there is a certain ineffability to this knowledge–but it is accessible, regardless. “We cannot express spiritual knowledge in words alone,” he acknowledged. “We do not have the words (even the scriptures do not have words) which perfectly describe the Spirit.” As he told the lawyer, “I am no more able to convey to you in words how this knowledge has come than you are to tell me what salt tastes like.” Knowledge of the noumenon, Packer insisted, was in fact accessible–it just was not transferable. Kant would have found such optimism to be more than a little naive.
And on this point he would have parted ways with the Enlightenment-era philosopher. Kant probably would shake his head at Packer’s chutzpah. Setting aside knowledge for faith was one thing, but Packer’s belief that mankind could receive confirmation of transcendental truths flew in the face of Kant’s skepticism of man’s ability to understand anything at all. Whereas Kant saw an Enlightenment consensus on the verge of death (hence his desire to critique “pure reason”), Packer was seeing the dawn of the New Mormon History in which the old narratives he had cherished as a lad were being rent asunder before his very eyes.
So does this make Kant a kind of intellectual ancestor–or perhaps, more aptly, a kind of uncle–to the aging apostle? They both believed in the existence of “harmful truth” and in a kind of absolute essence. And both sought to place faith on a higher plane of understanding than what ordinary empirical knowledge could provide. But the similarities end there. For Packer, institution-building in defense of the noumenon–even at the cost of discarding “harmful” truth (provisional anyway)–was the solution to an epistemological world falling apart. Kant was more cynical, concluding that our inability to reach the noumenon prevented us from ever fully living a life of moral rightness. Our rationality is bounded, at best, so we can never know that our actions will in fact be right.
If there is an ancestral line connecting the Enlightenment philosopher and the Mormon apostle, it’s a twisted one imbued with a wide array of intellectual influences. Packer’s talk is of the sort that “we all know” what he was saying, trying (or by some people’s reckoning, conniving to do). But that’s ok. There perhaps is truth out there that isn’t useful to me. I’ve yet to find it.
Then again, maybe Kant is just as bad for Mormonism as he is for America.The package from my Secret Santa arrived today, Dec 18th, 2013, and oh was I excited to get it. I opened my package and saw three items, my username specific Reddit hat, a Duck Dynasty decal, and a USB key. After a minute of looking at the USB key and at my laptop, I decided it couldn't possibly be a virus, and I plugged it in. The USB key is filled with detailed PDF files of DIY projects. All three of these gifts fit me very well. My gf and I have recently become fans of Duck Dynasty, the cold winter months are fast approaching (and just a few days ago realized I didn't have a hat), and I am always doing some sort of DIY project (and have many more to come with the purchase of a house in the near future). Sincerely, THANK YOU, /u/weezygregs!Mayor Jim Fouts - City of Warren
A Michigan mayor who recently lost a lawsuit brought by the ACLU after he banned an atheist “reason station” on city property is now distributing “In God We Trust” posters from his office at City Hall.
According to C&G News, Warren Mayor Jim Fouts is offering the posters free of charge to the public despite the city paying $100,000 in costs, damages and fees after Fouts refused to allow the atheist station to be set up next to a “prayer station” in the City Hall atrium.
Fouts explained that his decision to hand out the posters on city property stems in part from losing the recent lawsuit.
“To some degree it is,” Fouts said. “Obviously, I was concerned about the court order that forced the city of Warren to have a reason station within our City Hall atrium. The prayer station had been functioning for years without any problems or any controversy. They’re now allowed to have an atheist station under the euphemistic guise of a reason station.”
According to Warren resident Douglas Marshall who petitioned to set up the reason station, Mayor Fouts still doesn’t seem to understand the separation between church and state.
“The mayor’s continually tried to promote Christian religious beliefs, and it sounds like that’s just another attempt,” Marshall said. “He doesn’t understand the First Amendment. Government is supposed to be completely neutral when it comes to religious beliefs.”
Fouts, noting that “In God We Trust” was established as the national motto in the 50’s, said he believes his office won’t be the only one distributing posters.
“I think the city of Warren will become the most prominent and the most visible and maybe the largest city to do this,” Fouts stated. “I’m not alone in doing this.”
(UPDATE): The original version of this story stated that Mayor Fouts compared atheists to Nazis and the KKK. The mayor disputes that allegation and said that his words were taken out of context by the Associated Press.
(h/t Friendly Atheist)Predator at the top of a food chain
[1] The lion is one of Africa's apex land predators.
[2] and the dominant predator throughout its range.[3] The saltwater crocodile is the largest living reptileand the dominant predator throughout its range.
An apex predator, also known as an alpha predator or top predator, is a predator at the top of a food chain, with no natural predators.[a][5][6]
Apex predators are usually defined in terms of trophic dynamics, meaning that they occupy the highest trophic levels. Food chains are often far shorter on land, usually limited to being secondary consumers – for example, wolves prey mostly upon large herbivores (primary consumers), which eat plants (primary producers). The apex predator concept is applied in wildlife management, conservation and ecotourism.
Apex predators have a long evolutionary history, dating at least to the Cambrian period when animals such as Anomalocaris dominated the seas.
Humans have for many centuries interacted with apex predators including the wolf, birds of prey and cormorants to hunt game animals, birds, and fish respectively. More recently, ecotourism such as with the tiger shark has become popular, and rewilding with predators such as the lynx has been proposed.
Ecological roles [ edit ]
Effects on community [ edit ]
[7] The great skua is an aerial apex predator, both preying on other seabirds and bullying them for their catches.
Apex predators affect prey species' population dynamics and populations of other predators, both in aquatic and in terrestrial ecosystems. Non-native predatory fish, for instance, have sometimes devastated formerly dominant predators. A lake manipulation study found that when the non-native smallmouth bass was removed, lake trout, the suppressed native apex predator, diversified its prey selection and increased its trophic level.[8] As a terrestrial example, the badger, an apex predator, predates on and also competes with the hedgehog, a mesopredator, for food such as insects, small mammals, reptiles, amphibians and ground-nesting bird's eggs. Removal of badgers (in a trial investigating bovine tuberculosis) caused hedgehog densities to more than double.[9] Predators that exert a top-down control on organisms in their community are often considered keystone species.[10] The presence of any top predator (bear, big cat, wolf, dog, or especially human) can greatly alter the behavior of such a smaller predator as a badger.[11]
Effects on ecosystem [ edit ]
Apex predators can have profound effects on ecosystems, as the consequences of both controlling prey density and restricting smaller predators, and may be capable of self-regulation.[12] They are central to the functioning of ecosystems, the regulation of disease, and the maintenance of biodiversity.[13] When introduced to subarctic islands, for example, Arctic foxes' predation of seabirds has been shown to turn grassland into tundra.[14] Such wide-ranging effects on lower levels of an ecosystem are termed trophic cascades. The removal of top-level predators, often through human agency, can cause or disrupt trophic cascades.[15][16][17] For example, reduction in the population of sperm whales, apex predators with a fractional trophic level of 4.7, by hunting has caused an increase in the population of large squid, trophic level over 4 (carnivores that eat other carnivores).[18] This effect, called mesopredator release,[19] occurs in terrestrial and marine ecosystems; for instance, in North America, the ranges of all apex carnivores have contracted whereas those of 60% of mesopredators have grown in the past two centuries.[20]
Conservation [ edit ]
Because apex predators have powerful effects on other predators, on herbivores, and on plants, they can be important in nature conservation.[21] Humans have hunted many apex predators close to extinction, but in some parts of the world these predators are now returning.[22] They are increasingly threatened by climate change. For example, the polar bear requires extensive areas of sea ice to hunt its prey, typically seals, but climate change is shrinking the sea ice of the Arctic, forcing polar bears to fast on land for increasingly long periods.[23]
Dramatic changes in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem were recorded after the gray wolf, both an apex predator and a keystone species (one with a large effect on its ecosystem), was reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park in 1995 as a conservation measure. Elk, the wolves' primary prey, became less abundant and changed their behavior, freeing riparian zones from constant grazing and allowing willows, aspens and cottonwoods to flourish, creating habitats for beaver, moose and scores of other species.[24] In addition to their effect on prey species, the wolves' presence also affected one of the park's vulnerable species, the grizzly bear: emerging from hibernation, having fasted for months, the bears chose to scavenge wolf kills,[25] especially during the autumn as they prepared to hibernate once again.[26] The grizzly bear gives birth during hibernation, so the increased food supply is expected to produce an increase in the numbers of cubs observed.[27] Dozens of other species, including eagles, ravens, magpies, coyotes and black bears have also been documented as scavenging from wolf kills within the park.[28]
Human trophic level [ edit ]
Humans sometimes hunt other animals for food and materials such as fur, sinew, and bone, as in this walrus hunt in the Arctic, but their status as apex predators is debated.
Ecologists have debated whether humans are apex predators. Sylvain Bonhommeau and colleagues argued in 2013 that across the global food web, a fractional human trophic level (HTL) can be calculated as the mean trophic level of every species in the human diet, weighted by the proportion which that species forms in the diet. This analysis gives an average HTL of 2.21, varying between 2.04 (for Burundi, with a 96.7% plant-based diet) and 2.57 (for Iceland, with 50% meat and fish, 50% plants). These values are comparable to those of non-apex predators like anchovy or pig.[29] Peter D. Roopnarine criticised Bonhommeau's approach, arguing that humans are apex predators, and that the HTL was based on terrestrial farming where indeed humans have a low trophic level, mainly eating producers (crop plants at level 1) or primary consumers (herbivores at level 2), which as expected places humans at a level slightly above 2. Roopnarine instead calculated the position of humans in two marine ecosystems, a Caribbean coral reef and the Benguela system near South Africa. In these systems, humans mainly eat predatory fish and have a fractional trophic level of 4.65 and 4.5 respectively, which in Roopnarine's view makes those humans apex predators.[b][30]
Evolutionary history [ edit ]
Anomalocaris was an apex predator in the [31] was an apex predator in the Cambrian seas.
Apex predators are thought to have existed since at least the Cambrian period, around 500 million years ago. Extinct species cannot be directly determined to be apex predators as their behaviour cannot be observed, and clues to ecological relationships, such as bite marks on bones or shells, do not form a complete picture. However, indirect evidence such as the absence of any discernible predator in an environment is suggestive. Anomalocaris was an aquatic apex predator, in the Cambrian. Its mouthparts are clearly predatory, and there were no larger animals in the seas at that time.[31]
Carnivorous theropod dinosaurs including Allosaurus[32] and Tyrannosaurus[33] have been described as apex predators, based on their size and dietary needs.
A Permian shark, Triodus sessilis, was discovered containing two amphibians (Archegosaurus decheni and Cheliderpeton latirostre), one of which had consumed a fish, Acanthodes bronni, showing that the shark had lived at a trophic level of at least 4.[c][34]
Among more recent fossils, the sabre-tooth cats, like Smilodon, are considered to have been apex predators in the Cenozoic.[35]
Interactions with humans [ edit ]
Dogs have been used in hunting for many centuries, as in this 14th century French depiction of a boar hunt.
In hunting [ edit ]
Humans hunted with wolves and in turn with domestic dogs for some 40,000 years; this collaboration may have helped modern humans to outcompete the Neanderthals.[36][37] Humans still hunt with dogs, which have often been bred as gun dogs to point to, flush out, or retrieve prey.[38] The Portuguese Water Dog was used to drive fish into nets.[39] Several breeds of dog have been used to chase large prey such as deer and wolves.[40]
Among other apex predators, birds of prey from eagles to falcons are used in falconry, hunting birds or mammals;[41] and tethered cormorants have been used to catch fish.[42]
In ecotourism [ edit ]
Tiger sharks are popular ecotourism subjects, but their ecosystems may be affected by the food provided to attract them.
Ecotourism sometimes relies on apex predators to attract business.[43][44] Tour operators may in consequence decide to intervene in ecosystems, for example by providing food to attract predators to areas that can conveniently be visited.[43] This in turn can have effects on predator population and therefore on the wider ecosystem.[43] As a result, provisioning of species such as the tiger shark is controversial, but its effects are not well established by empirical evidence.[43] Other affected apex predators include big cats and crocodiles.[44]
Rewilding [ edit ]
The reintroduction of predators like the lynx is attractive to conservationists, but alarming to farmers.
In some densely populated areas like the British Isles, all the large native predators like the wolf, bear, wolverine and lynx have become locally extinct, allowing herbivores such as deer to multiply unchecked except by hunting.[45] In 2015, plans were made to reintroduce lynx to the counties of Norfolk, Cumbria, and Northumberland in England, and Aberdeenshire in Scotland as part of the rewilding movement.[46] The reintroduction of large predators is controversial, not least because of concern among farmers for their livestock.[46] Conservationists such as Paul Lister propose instead to allow wolves and bears to hunt their prey in a "managed environment" on large fenced reserves.[46]
See also [ edit ]
Notes [ edit ]
^ [4] Zoologists generally exclude parasites from trophic levels as they are (often much) smaller than their hosts, and individual species with multiple hosts at different life-cycle stages would occupy multiple levels. Otherwise they would often be at the top level, above apex predators. ^ [30] However, humans had a network trophic level (NTL) of 4.27 in the coral reef system, compared to an NTL of 4.8 for the blacktip shark in the same system. Therefore, humans were not the topmost apex predator there. ^ Its trophic level would be exactly 4 if the fish was a pure herbivore, higher if the fish was itself carnivorous.
References [ edit ]This article is over 7 years old
A family argument in Copley, Ohio ended in the deaths of eight people in two places, including an 11-year-old child
A family argument in Ohio ended in eight people being shot dead in two places, including an 11-year-old, and two more people were wounded, say authorities.
Five people to were killed in one location, then two more were killed nearby before police killed the gunman, police chief Michael Mier told WKYC-TV.
The shootings happened in a wooded, residential neighbourhood of older homes outside Akron, Copley Township officers said. The neighbourhood remained blocked off by police all afternoon.
Jeff Kirby of nearby Norton said he was visiting his mother's home not far from the shootings at mid-morning when he heard gunfire – about 15 shots with several pauses between them.
Kirby, 53, said the last gunfire he heard occurred about the same time he heard sirens in the neighbourhood.
Copley police sergeant Eric Goodwin said he did not know the conditions of the wounded but said he believed there were no more victims. "As far as I know, everyone's accounted for," he said.
He gave no more details, including how the shooter and victims were related, their names or what led to the argument. "That's still under investigation," he said.
Copley is a town of about 14,000 people outside Akron in northeast Ohio.By Sam Smith | 10.3.2016 | 9:30 a.m.
It’s been 13 years in the making, questionable even at first, and highly unlikely afterward that it ever would occur. Monday when the Bulls open their 2016-17 NBA season with an exhibition game against the Milwaukee Bucks, Dwyane Wade will be wearing a Bulls uniform.
It was a dream and desire the Bulls had in 2003—Chicago native Wade, too, he says—when Wade in his junior year carried Marquette to the NCAA Final Four and then entered the NBA draft. Wade then looked like hope for redemption, and in many respects represents that for this season’s Bulls. For as many possibilities as the Bulls have this season with All Stars Jimmy Butler and Rajon Rondo and a core of developing players, their level of achievement and success probably rests most on three-time champion and 12-time All-Star Wade.
And not only because of the combination of achievement and celebrity. Wade becomes probably the second most decorated player in franchise history. Even more so for this current team, Wade is almost something of the spiritual and emotional leader. In football terms, Rondo would be the offensive coordinator and Butler the defensive coordinator. Wade would be the Belichick, even as Wade has publicly deferred so called leadership to Butler and Rondo as well. It’s been clear in training camp the Wade effect and impact by the way coach Fred Hoiberg and players have pointed to Wade standing up and demanding responsibility and accountability from teammates, something much debated and unclear among the players the last few seasons.
“I'm not loud off the court. I'm quiet a little bit, but when that ball goes up I talk to guys and get into guys when I feel like they need it. And pat them on the back when they need it. I'm very patient. You have to be. You can't rush the process at all. It's going to come in due time as long as you work hard and your heart is in the right place. But the biggest thing is, you've got to get out there on the floor and play together.” Dwyane Wade after workouts
Though it also doesn’t detract from Hoiberg as head coach. It’s what a confident head coach wants. Wade’s effect is more similar to the way Phil Jackson coached the Bulls, relying on Michael Jordan to police the practices and locker room and then providing his own bonding message and direction. Fred won’t have quite as much incense, though.
The Bulls almost know what they’ll get from Butler and Rondo, Butler likely with 20 points and defense and Rondo with league leading assist numbers and both good rebounders. If Wade can produce like he has in Miami, still averaging 20 points the last few years and healthy last season, the Bulls could be one of the major surprises in the Eastern Conference.
“You’ve got to be smart,” said Wade about playing time after 74 games last season averaging 30.5 minutes. “I think the coaches have done a good job; we work hard, but they tell me to get out at certain times. They came and asked me if I needed time off to let them know. They've done their part, but I want to be out there with my teammates. I do want to get into as good as shape as possible. I don't know if I'll find the right solution; I just don't want any setbacks. It's so many new terminologies and play calls. There will be times I'll be aggressive. There'll be times I'll be a playmaker and defer. The game will tell us what to do. Looking at the offense, it's great we have a movement offense where it's equal opportunity. But then it's times where you can be yourself. There'll be times where I'll be myself, and Rondo and Jimmy. But at the same time making sure it's an equal offense and the ball moving from side to side.”
Everything and everyone sounds good until they start playing the games.
Hoiberg said the Bulls Monday will start slowly, playing starters limited minutes and working up through the later exhibition games.
“They won't play a lot,” Hoiberg Sunday said about the starters. “Some of them will just play in the first half and then we'll give the young guys an opportunity to go out and play in the second half. Our plan with Dwyane is to play him between 10 and 12 minutes, all in the first half. My plan with Jimmy is to play him some in the first half and then most likely sit him in the second. We'll see how it all transpires. We'll see how Rondo and (Robin) Lopez are doing at halftime and we'll make a determination as to whether they play in the second half or we just let the young guys play. That's my big thing with this preseason, to get a feel for these young guys and who's going to deserve to go out and play and be in the rotation. It's a great opportunity for these young guys to show what they can do and fight for those minutes.”
There was a lot of the same talk in 2003 after the Bulls had won 30 games for the first time in five years. The Bulls were in yet another rebuild, and it seemed they’d be able to have a foundation with the Oak Lawn high schooler, Wade. Imagine how the last decade would have been different, though, like much in sports, no one had any idea then that Wade would evolve into one of the elite players in the history of the NBA.
Wade had sat out his first year at Marquette for academic issues. He then averaged a modest 17.6 points as a sophomore and 21.5 as a junior. Going into the NCAA tournament, he wasn’t considered a lottery pick. Then Memphis Grizzlies general manager Jerry West liked Wade and supposedly was telling others he thought he could get Wade. Memphis had the 13th pick.
Wade’s phenomenal play in the NBA quickly erased all questions as a Miami rookie when he was brilliant in making game winning shots and pushing a tough Pacers team to seven games in the conference semifinals. But in college, Wade was viewed as the dreaded “tweener,” too small for shooting guard without a great shot and not a natural point guard. Even Miami Heat officials debated until the day of the draft what position Wade could play in the NBA.
That 2003 draft was shaping up as one of the best ever.
High schooler LeBron James was a star already and certain No. 1. Carmelo Anthony led Syracuse to the NCAA title and was considered the second best player and perennial NBA All-Star. The Pistons became enamored with international big man Darko Milicic. His selection at No. 2 obviously proved one of the great draft mistakes ever, though at the time most NBA scouts were intrigued by his seven-foot size and offensive skills. The Pistons thought it was worth the risk for a center of the future. The Toronto Raptors were said to be in constant trade talks with the No. 4 pick. There was so much uncertainty in the erratic organization that some were lobbying for Georgetown big man Michael Sweetney. Several teams, including the Heat and Bulls, had trade talks with the Raptors to get the No.4 pick. The Bulls wanted Wade; the Heat wanted Chris Bosh. But the Raptors never did offer the pick and selected Bosh, who was considered the third top prospect after James and Anthony.
Then it wasn’t necessarily Wade, which is why at No. 7 the Bulls believed they had a good chance to get Wade. General manager John Paxson had watched Wade regularly and was won over by his quickness, athletic ability and aggressive, take charge attitude. But the Bulls with little talent could not interest anyone in any of their players to move up in the draft.
Wade’s breakout in the NCAA’s was in the Elite Eight when he had a 29, 11 and 11 triple double to knock out top seeded Kentucky. That was the game Pat Riley, then coaching Miami, famously said he first saw Wade while riding an exercise bicycle in a health club. Riley had ridden the Heat down to 25 wins and was stepping up to general manager the next season. He’d won as a player with Wilt and then as a coach with Kareem, went to New York because of Ewing and then acquired Alonzo Mourning as soon as he went to Miami. He believed center first. That Heat team needed a center or point guard. So Riley was pretty set on seven-footer Chris Kaman from Central Michigan. The Clippers at No. 6 had said they weren’t interested in Wade and he didn’t work out there.
When NBADraft.net published its mock draft close to the draft, the usually reliable site had Kirk Hinrich going fifth to Miami. The Heat also were interested in point guard T.J. Ford, who would go No. 8 to Milwaukee. Agent Arn Tellem, close to Riley, was pushing Ford as the best classic point guard. Miami had Eddie Jones and Caron Butler as their leading scorers, so they really weren’t sure where Wade would play. Wade had a poor workout in Miami, shooting the ball badly. Hinrich had an excellent workout in Miami and the Heat even invited Hinrich back for a second look. He seemed a more pure point guard to them.
Then there was another crucial workout for Miami when, as Riley tells the story, he went to Tim Grover’s gym in Chicago to see Kaman again. Wade was working with Grover at the other end while Riley was waiting. Riley watching Wade’s incredible moves asked who that was. He was told it was Dwyane Wade and Riley paused again.
Meanwhile, the Bulls weren’t sure Wade would be there. With Jay Williams’ career-ending motorcycle injury, they again needed a point guard and were leaning toward Hinrich. The internal debate was among Hinrich, shooter Jarvis Hayes from Georgia and swingman Michael Pietrus from France.
The Heat still wasn’t sure what to do.
A big Miami push actually came from assistant Stan Van Gundy. His coaching father, Bill, had seen Wade against his team and recommended him. Stan was among some on the Miami staff pushing for Wade, though there was a severe split as some on the staff, especially after the poor workout, said Wade’s lack of shooting would be fatal. One of their scouts saw Wade trying to handle the ball and make almost a dozen turnovers in a college game. Wade was selling himself as an NBA point guard in his interviews because he was barely 6-4. Some on the Miami staff were insisting Wade was too big a risk with a center available. Riley was said to be having trouble making a decision. Even up to the day of the draft, Miami insiders say they still were unsure about Riley’s final decision. Riley would later admit he most wanted a big man.
The Bulls were waiting like everyone else for Miami at No. 5.
Riley went with the athlete.
The Clippers selected Kaman No. 6 and the Bulls with their 10 minutes made the final decision for Hinrich, who did go on to rank among the franchise’s top 10 in seasons, games, minutes, points, three pointers, steals, assists and fouls. He remains a free agent now after being traded by the Bulls last season.
Wade Monday begins his 14th season in the NBA with much depending on him after signing a two-year contract with the Bulls. He’s been a welcoming teammate and fierce competitor during the week of training camp.
“The biggest thing that Dwyane and I have to have is constant communication,” said Hoiberg. “Depending on how his body is feeling, we may have to hold him out of a practice. But the big thing is to have him around, communicating, pulling our guys aside, talking to our younger players, making sure they're building the right habits. When he needs to have a little time off, we'll give him that time. But he's been a great example whether he's on the court or off.”
This preseason training camp has been about teamwork and chemistry, finding a starting power forward and backup guards. It’s been about being more aggressive and scrappy, making up for deficiencies last season in steals and offensive rebounding. But this season may most be about Dwyane Wade. Finally.It’s a brand new year, and everyone is looking back on all the great comics that came out and all the great things coming up, and sales are up and things are going great. But there are some clouds on the horizon. On New Year’s Eve everyone on Facebook and elsewhere was posting their year end thoughts, and…well there was a lot of struggle.
I actually noticed this a few months ago with a few big picture, where am I going posts from folks. Dustin Harbin, a fellow who had worn many hats in comics, responded to a question on Tumblr asking about his larger aspirations as a cartoonist, his three year dream plan. I hope he doesn’t mind my posting much of his answer because I’m sure most creative people, hell most PEOPLE, have pondered these very things:
…I’ve spent a lot of time hopping from project to project, paycheck to paycheck, and was surprised to realize I don’t have a long-distance plan for my comics or drawing or whatever. Or at least, not one that’s in any way coherent or.. actionable? A lot of what I have done and continue to do—for instance those diary comics—is based around a continuing process of.. maybe therapy? Thinking? Whatever it is, it’s a continuing process, and so I’ve focused more on that process than in any end result. I admit, it feels a lot like flailing around in the dark. I think what I’d prefer most of all, as a goal, is to work for someone again, say for a show, or a book publisher, or something where a fussy guy who’s good at figuring things out could excel. Something with health insurance and that pays enough that I can afford to stop worrying about money, maybe get on anti-depressants, etc. I’d like very much to return to think about “art” or whatever, at least in terms of making art that is important to me, as something entirely separate from earning an income. I’m not saying it’s bad to think of art and income at the same time—in fact, in some cases it can be the force that drives an artist to excel, push themselves, etc. But for me, and the way I’m constructed, I feel like I’m best and most comfortable earning a paycheck as opposed to chasing one.
Around the same time, Evan Dorkin, certainly a creator who has achieved much in his career, pondered completing his final Eltingville story (the cover is at the top of this post.)
This is why it feels so weird to me to finally — after 20 years or so — be finishing up The Eltingville Club. After making comics professionally for about 27 years or so, this is the first project of my own that I’m finishing up on my own terms, something most creators do much earlier in their career, something many creators have done many times over by my age. It was never the way I worked, or the way things worked out, until now, so, this is a new experience for me, heaped on top of the mixed feelings I get finishing up any extended gig of importance (to me). I’m not trying to make more of it than it is, I’m not hating on myself but I’d be the first to say (and here I go) that this isn’t the end of a big deal comic from a big deal creator, and these aren’t big deal characters making big-deal money that most folks want around forever (certainly not me, brother). But they’ve had a run, better than most small press things, and they had a solid shot at a cartoon series, and they made some folks laugh, and some other folks angry, my little monster children. Who I’m going to put out of their miserableness. So, yeah, it’s a strange feeling.
But, ever a pragmatist, only a few days later, Dorkin wrote about finally getting on the platform du jour, Tumblr, after someone else posting one of his pieces gave him a reach he hadn’t considered himself:
What made me decide to do the Tumblr thing was that someone posted a Beasts of Burden short story on there a few weeks ago and it ran up almost 60,000 notes, which even if you halve that number to account for people both liking and reblogging the post, means almost thirty thousand people read it. And it’s still getting tossed around and read. A small percentage of these folks ordered the book and a lot of people commented on the material and gave the series some very positive word-of-mouth. This is the biggest burst of activity generated by the book since, well…maybe ever. It got more readers than anything we’ve published, and at a time when the series is in hibernation, to boot, so we can certainly use the attention. Anyway, I figured it couldn’t hurt to post my stuff to Tumblr and see if anything happens. Even a few folks seeing it is better than nothing. There’s only so much you can do, especially when you don’t have time to do much, and every little thing helps. So, yeah, I’m on Tumblr. Big news, I know.
Moving forward, making plans, joining Tumblr.
Elsewhere, as the year closed, a lot of people noted that 2013 had “kicked their ass”, as Liz Prince did. While confronting a lot of personal problems, Prince managed to dig in and complete a full graphic novel, something we have to look forward to this year. But it wasn’t easy.
Kevin Colden was even more blunt in a piece called – Yes, 2013, That Is My Foot Your Ass As You Walk Away, and that wonderful thing called money comes up again:
In the interest of perspective, I’m going to break taboo on talking about money (if I haven’t already, and fuck taboos anyway) and say that I gross a little less than the median income for where I live. My wife grosses half that. We live pretty nicely, but we are nowhere near what would be considered middle class in NYC. Like I said, we usually manage really well, but while my financials were back on track, circumstances left my wife with her |
. on ESPN.
"He'll suit for (the) game," Self said via text message.
Suspended for the second time this season in late January following what Self deemed “a violation of team rules,” Bragg later was charged with possession of drug paraphernalia in a case stemming from a rape investigation at the team’s on-campus McCarthy Hall dormitory.
The 21-year-old Cleveland native has since been granted a diversion in the drug paraphernalia case.
Bragg missed three games — at Kentucky, vs. Baylor and vs. Iowa State — during his second suspension of the season and has missed four games total this season because of off-the-court issues.
Having played in 19 of KU’s 23 games, including five starts, Bragg enters tonight’s game averaging 6.1 points and 4.8 rebounds in 15 minutes per game. In the first meeting with the Wildcats on Jan. 3, Bragg played 15 minutes and finished with 7 points on 3-of-5 shooting and 3 rebounds to go along with two turnovers.
His absence has forced freshman Mitch Lightfoot and junior Dwight Coleby in to bigger roles, but neither players has logged more than 10 minutes in any given game during Bragg’s absence.
Bragg’s presence on the Kansas bench returns much-needed depth to KU’s rotation and also gives KU’s short-handed front court another long, tall body to support starting senior Landen Lucas, who averaged 33 minutes a game — roughly 10 more than his season average — during Bragg’s suspension.It's never a great idea to spend a lot of time tailgating a semi-truck carrying a dangerous load. That scene from Final Destination 2 always crosses my mind whenever I find myself behind a trailer balancing some massive piece of machinery or giant stacks of metal. And now I'm adding wind turbine blades to the list, after a rear-end collision on the German autobahn earlier this week caused one to literally spear through the cab of another truck like a kebab, narrowly missing the driver.
According to reports, the truck carrying the blade and an escort vehicle were traveling on Autobahn 33 outside the city of Bielefeld when they were both clipped from behind by the blue truck. The impact dislodged the blade, sending it straight through the front of the second truck, crushing the cab and showering the oncoming lanes of traffic with huge chunks of metal. Fortunately, no other drivers were injured.
Miraculously, the 61-year-old driver of the skewered truck also escaped with only minor injuries—it's fortunate that German vehicles are left-hand drive—but the entire highway had to be shut down for hours. Of course, then authorities had to figure out how to clean up the mess. Video from the aftermath shows they brought in two giant cranes to lift the remains of the blade, and actually managed to restart the damaged truck and drive it out of the way.The Panthers have not had much go right the last couple months, but one bright spot has been the emergence of Josh Norman.The cornerback, who finished each of his first two seasons in coach Ron Rivera’s doghouse, did not play a single defensive snap in Week 1. Not only has he regained his starting job since, but he also played every snap in Weeks 10 and 11.Against the Falcons, Norman did an excellent job defending Falcons star wideout Julio Jones: Something that stands out with Norman – he is much better in man coverage, as opposed to sitting back in zone. When the Panthers ask Norman to single up and play physical with a receiver, he responds with great coverage. He appears more comfortable reacting, rather than having to analyze much.On the play below, Norman mirrors Jones off the line of scrimmage. When Jones takes a step to his left, Norman throws his right foot back. Jones cuts back to his right and starts into his route. Norman recovers and pushes off his right foot right into coverage. A stellar start off the line gives him leverage.Once at the catch point, Norman turns his solid coverage into making a play on the ball. He reaches inside of Jones and legally disrupts the receiver during the process of tracking the ball into his hands: Norman has also been much stronger and decisive as a tackler. In the past, he used to compound coverage mistakes with tackle blunders. Every cornerback gives up passes, so it’s important for them to be technically sound as a tackler.Once again, we see the matchup of Jones at LWR and Norman at RCB. And just as before, they are tight on the line of scrimmage, with Jones about to run an intermediate dig route: Not surprisingly, the Falcons were intent on getting Jones plenty of looks. He was quarterback Matt Ryan’s first read on several plays, including this one: Ryan throws the ball before Jones is open, and the receiver’s cut catches Norman off guard. That gives Jones enough space to make the reception, but this is when Norman must act quickly to limit the damage: Norman is prepared to make a play as soon as Jones turns downfield. He dives and catches Jones around the midsection. Norman keeps his arms strong and eventually brings Jones down by the ankles. This is a great example of limiting yards after the catch. Norman has always been physical, but now that he is primarily a man-coverage corner, he is using his 6-foot frame as an advantage. He is playing in control and thriving when asked to mix it up with receivers in tight coverage.Jones is 6-foot-3, yet he seemed to be bothered by Norman’s aggression. This was especially evident on screen passes.On the play below, Norman gets his hands on Jones right as he looks to be getting into his route. But when Jones breaks back behind the line of scrimmage and into a screen pattern, Norman reacts immediately. He keeps his hands on Jones and follows him back toward Ryan, whose pass falls incomplete:http://i.imgur.com/lwPokpm.gifvThat was just one of a few examples where Norman was directly responsible for breaking up a screen pass to Jones. Norman did not permit anything to come easy for the Pro Bowl wideout, who caught just six of his 11 targets for 59 yards.Norman has had his ups and downs in Carolina, but he appears to have finally put things together over the last month. He has translated his size to physicality and his athleticism to excellent play in man coverage. It also helps that the Panthers are letting him just react, versus putting too much on his plate by using him in zone coverage.The third-year cornerback may never turn into a star, but the Panthers have been searching for at least one corner they could depend on since Chris Gamble retired after the 2012 season. Judging by his recent performances, Norman may be up to that task.[author title=”About the Author”]CLOSE The Department of Justice is cracking down on white-collar crime after years of criticism. Video provided by Newsy Newslook
U.S. Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates speaks during a formal investiture ceremony for Attorney General Loretta Lynch June 17, 2015 at the Warner Theatre in Washington, DC. (Photo11: Alex Wong, Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department issued a new policy Wednesday that made the prosecution of Wall Street executives involved in financial fraud a major priority, all but acknowledging nagging criticism that powerful corporate figures have escaped criminal charges in favor of giant monetary penalties.
"Effective immediately, we have revised our policy guidance to require that if a company wants any credit for cooperation, any credit at all, it must identify all individuals involved in the wrongdoing, regardless of their position, status or seniority in the company, and provide all relevant facts about their misconduct,’’ according to Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates’ prepared remarks for a Thursday speech at New York University Law School.
“It’s all or nothing. No more picking and choosing what gets disclosed. No more partial credit for cooperation that doesn’t include information about individuals,’’ Yates said.
The New York Times first reported the policy change Wednesday night.
Yates’ prepared remarks elaborate on policy issued to federal prosecutors nationwide Wednesday, calling for federal authorities not to provide individuals “protection from criminal or civil liability,’’ absent extraordinary circumstances.
“The rules have just changed,’’ Yates said. “Effective today, if a company wants any consideration for its voluntary disclosure or cooperation, it must give up the individuals, no matter where they sit within the company.’’
In the aftermath of the financial crisis and housing market collapse, Justice has long been criticized for failing to target executives who presided over the rampant fraud that facilitated the crises.
“Corporate matters cannot be resolved without clear plan to resolve cases against individuals and all decisions declining to prosecute potential culpable individuals must be approved by the U.S. attorney of the head of the division handling the case,’’ according to the new Justice guidelines.
“Civil attorneys will consistently focus on individuals as well as the company and evaluate whether to bring suit against an individual based on considerations beyond that individual’s ability to pay.’’
Some of the changes, according to the memo distributed to all 93 U.S. attorneys’ offices across the country, “represent a departure from the department’s long-standing approach to corporate prosecutions.’’
“The policy will apply to all future investigations of corporate wrongdoing,’’ the memo states.
Yates, in remarks to the NYU law school, said the “mission here is not to recover the largest amount of money from the greatest number of corporations.
“Our job is to seek accountability from those who break our laws and victimize our citizens. It’s the only way to truly deter corporate wrongdoing.’’
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1UIc9D9EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
Within a span of a year, Shashank Manohar has gone from becoming the 'unanimous choice' to head the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) again, to becoming perhaps the most unpopular man in the high-profile cricket body.
His critics in the Board feel that he has let them down - first by deserting the ship just when the whole foundation was about to be hit by the Supreme Court-constituted Lodha Committee, and then by ignoring India's interests after being voted as the chairman of the International Cricket Council (ICC).
The BCCI's relationship with the world cricket body has deteriorated ever since the veteran administrator has taken charge. Speaking exclusively from Nagpur, the 58-year-old clarified his stance on a few issues. Excerpts...
There is a growing feeling in the Board that you're not protecting India's interests in the ICC?
I don't know about what anyone in the BCCI is saying. As an independent chairman of the world body, I'm there to protect the ICC's interests, and not the BCCI's.
The BCCI is upset that the ICC has earmarked a budget of $135 million (approx) as the organisational cost for the 2017 Champions Trophy in England, whereas India received only $45 million for organising the WorldT20 earlier this year...
This $135 million is a factually wrong figure that the media has reported. I don't know from where it was arrived at. The budget for the 2016 WorldT20 was $55 million, which included the production cost too.
The budget that has been earmarked for the Champions Trophy is $46 million, which includes the production cost for the event. You must remember that the cost of accommodation and travel is much more in England than in India.
It's believed that both you and the ICC back the introduction of the two-tier system in Test cricket, which the BCCI has staunchly opposed...
I had made it clear at the ICC meeting of Chief Executives (CECs) and the Board of Directors in Edinburgh that since this involved an issue regarding bilateral series rights, it shouldn't be discussed on the ICC platform. The ICC only acted as a 'facilitator' while organising an informal meeting in Dubai of representatives of the countries, which wasn't attended by CECs. We didn't pay for the expenses. Personally, I was against the idea, because the value of the second-tier teams would be negligible.
The BCCI feels that you haven't supported it enough on dealing with the Lodha reforms...
What can the ICC do in this? When it comes to the law of the land, everyone, including the ICC, has to abide by its order. We can't sit in judgement of the highest court of the country.* Photo: Tim Morris * Aspen
This soft white wood is easy to cultivate: Clusters of aspen trees are often single organisms connected at the root, which sprouts new growth after harvesting. Aspen isn't very flammable, making for a slow-burning, non-fingertip-singeing matchstick.
Potassium Dichromate
This strong oxidizer in the match head is highly combustible. Diamond Brands, the sole US manufacturer of strike-anywhere matches, won't say what it does, preferring to keep the role of K 2 Cr 2 O 7 a secret. Our bet: It accelerates burn rate.
Potassium Chlorate
It's a source of emergency air on planes, submarines, and spacecraft that releases oxygen when heated. When mixed with wax, it makes a plastic explosive. When mixed with sulfur, phosphorus, and the kind of heat you get from, say, friction, it's very unstable.
Phosphorus Sesquisulfide
4 3 P 4 S 3 also ignites easily by friction. It burns itself out instantly after the match is lit but generates enough heat to ignite the aspen shank. Diamond released its patent for P 4 S 3 matches in 1911 so competitors could stop using an extremely dangerous alternative: white phosphorous.
MonoAmmonium Phosphate
A compound found in some dry chemical fire extinguishers, MAP melts at 374 degrees Fahrenheit. Match makers soak the wood with a solution of this stuff to make sure that when you blow the match out, melted MAP smothers any afterglow.
Ground or Powdered Glass
First, it roughens the texture of the match head, helping to create friction wherever you strike it. Second, it melts under fire but cools and fuses quickly when you blow the flame out, keeping ash from falling.
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What's Inside: Bausch and Lomb ReNuThe next Fallout game – Fallout 76 – has just been announced. But what lies inside Vault 76? Turns out we had the answer a full three years ago, when then-resident soothsayer Steve got the scoop on not just that, but the contents of Vaults 1 through 111. So why wait for E3? Scroll this way to get the answers right now…
Vaults! When the nukes dropped on the Fallout universe, humanity slithered into hundreds of these life-sustaining, radiation-proof vaults, unaware that the sinister corporation charged with building the things had a hidden agenda. Vault-Tec used these underground bunkers to carry out bizarre sociological experiments on their unwitting residents, playing them off against one another in sick power games or pumping their air supply full of psychoactive compounds.
Fallout 4 has got literal oodles of previously unknown vaults to discover and explore. And would you know it, I just happen to have an exhaustive list of the contents of each one. How did I come across this exclusive dossier? Well, between you and me, let’s just say I made them all up in a regrettable afternoon’s work, realising too late that I hadn’t the patience or ability to get to 111, nor the modicum of shame required to consider not posting the thing as it is.
Right, here you go. Sorry.
Vault 1: Just spiders, a vault filled shin-deep with spiders. Anybody who complains about or mentions that there are spiders everywhere or remarks that it’s impossible to eat cereal without also shovelling spoonfuls of writhing spiders into your mouth is immediately banished from the vault.
Vault 2: Populated entirely by refugees from the spider vault. Residents must place their hands on their hips once a day and shout “I am so glad there are no spiders here in Vault 2, the spiderless vault that I love.”
Vault 3: Very, very slowly spinning vault. Nobody really notices.
Vault 4: Upside-down vault.
Vault 5: Inside-out vault. All other vaults are technically contained within this vault.
Vault 6: Isometric vault. No ceilings. No northwest- or northeast-facing walls.
Vault 7: Big-head mode vault.
Vault 8: Every vault resident is arbitrarily assigned a number upon entry. Five years into the experiment a pre-recorded fart sound will play across the vault and a voice will say “ooooh, who did that massive fart, I bet it was resident number 71, he smells like poo and is a big idiot”.
Vault 9: Ceilings are a couple of inches lower here.
Vault 10: No forks.
Vault 11: Very few forks.
Vault 12: One big fork everybody has to share.
Vault 13: Spooky vault.
Vault 14: The rooms of this vault are laid out such that when viewed from above they spell out the sentence “HOW COME IN THE FILM UNBREAKABLE BRUCE WILLIS ENCOUNTERS HIS ONE WEAKNESS, THAT IS, DROWNING, IN LITERALLY HIS FIRST ATTEMPT TO KNOWINGLY USE HIS POWERS OF INVULNERABILITY FOR GOOD?”
Vault 15: No girls allowed.
Vault 16: Only girls allowed.
Vault 17: Only Girls Aloud allowed.
Vault 18: Equivalent B*Witched vault.
Vault 19: Overseer is a cool robot dog who skateboards around the vault making sure everybody is having a fun time.
Vault 20: Overseer is an angry robot dog who rollerblades around the vault belching knockout gas.
Vault 21: Something really clever thought up by somebody with a proper university degree in social studies or psychology or something, in which positions of authority in the vault are arbitrarily assigned and then disorder is fomented through, I don’t know, the unfair distribution of wealth? How about that? That sounds alright. Good vault.
Vault 22:Slippery ice physics vault.
Vault 23: This vault’s PA system is constantly playing 1981 hit ‘Pull Up To The Bumper’ on an endless loop, until after several years the residents can no longer notice or recognise that the chart-topping new wave club anthem is filling the air around them. When finally released back into the wastelands however, the overpowering lack of Grace Jone’s thinly veiled ode to doing it in the bum drives the vault dwellers into bumper-deprived madness.
Vault 24: Similar to Vault 23, except with the ‘Here Come The Girls’ song from the Boots ads instead.
Vault 25: Overseer is a friendly woman named Georgia who’s always there to help.
Vault 26: Contains a bee.
Vault 27: They sellotaped biscuits to the undersides of all of the chairs in this one to see what happens.
Vault 28: Has a “rumpus room”.
Vault 29: Whatever a breakfast nook is, this vault is just one massive breakfast nook.
Vault 30: The person with the fullest and juiciest lips is elected as Overseer. Once a month a big syringe filled with lip-fattening saline solution descends from a ceiling high above a wrestling ring next to a ladder.
Vault 31: Features the longest Scalextric track of any vault.
Vault 32: A slightly more than average number of the vault dwellers are named Adam, which unsettles everybody in a way they cannot quite put their finger on.
Vault 33: Populated entirely by people who feel the need to mention potassium any time somebody is eating a banana. Yeah, we get it, that’s the one thing everybody knows about bananas. Get a grip.
Vault 34: Spiders again.
Vault 35: Spiders.
Vault 36: Spiders.
Vault 37: Ohhhh, it’s spiders.
Vault 38: Everybody in this vault is told, daily, that dogs can drive cars now. “Dogs can drive cars now,” the dwellers will often be heard saying to one another. “The world has changed and now a dog can drive a car,” is another thing you might overhear. When the day finally comes to leave the vault, an animatronic dog will drive a car past the vault entrance and none of the vault dwellers will find this strange. “The world is just as we expected,” they will murmur. At this point the Overseer will jump out from behind a rock and say, “you idiots, dogs can’t drive cars, we made that up”.
Vault 39: Tasked with building an animatronic dog that can drive a car very briefly for the purposes of another experiment.
Vault 40: Everyone gets smashed with a big hammer on the way in, as a social experiment to see what happens when big hammers just start smashing people to bits.
Vault 41: Shaped like a giant bowl so that all the dwellers eventually tumble into a big helpless pile at the bottom of the vault.
Vault 42: The only form of entertainment is the final third of one episode of the Clangers, the one where the soup dragon gets well broody and the clangers are all like “hey dude, chill the eff out we’re on the moon, what is your actual beef.”
Vault 43: Friday night is burrito night in vault 43, otherwise everything is the same.
Vault 44: Residents are only allowed to speak in Simpsons quotes.
Vault 45: Residents are only allowed to speak in Moe (from The Simpsons) quotes.
Vault 46: Residents are only allowed to speak in quotes from season three, episode ten of The Simpsons, ‘Flaming Moe’s’.
Vault 47: Allow me some more spider vaults.
Vault 48: This is the second last spider vault.
Vault 49: The final spider vault.
Vault 50: As residents first enter the vault, the Overseer looks at each one in turn and says either “yes” or “no”. She never explains the criteria on which the dwellers are being judged, and no further distinction is ever made between those residents who had had “yes” said to them and those who had heard “no”. Some found the mystery mildly annoying, but the strange introduction is quickly forgotten about and life eventually continues as normal. Two years in the vault fills with spiders.
Vaults 51-111: Spiders.CLEVELAND, Ohio - While the Cavaliers battle the Golden State Warriors on the court, the Cleveland Orchestra and San Francisco Symphony are duking it out on social media.
Good friends in the artistic realm, the two orchestras have been engaged in a musical war of words on Twitter throughout the NBA Finals. Fans, too, have gotten into the act, using the site as a platform from which to lob humorous taunts back and forth in support of their hometown teams.
A few excerpts from Game 3 Tuesday:
The Cleveland Orchestra threw the first verbal punch, asking whether the Warriors will be able to "Handel" a game in "the court of King James." Absolutely, San Francisco said, noting "We're not Straussed at all."
San Francisco then boasted it would pull ahead for good, predicting The Q would resemble composer John Cage's famously silent "4'33"." Not so fast, retorted Cleveland. "Right now our fans are sounding fortissimo."
The sparring escalated from there. San Francisco took a shot at Cleveland's championship drought, only to have Warriors star Stephen Curry likened to Salieri in comparison to Mozart, i.e., Cleveland's LeBron James. San Francisco then bemoaned "out-of-tune officiating" and accused their opponents of emptying their spit valves, a la brass instruments.
It's fun reading, no matter which team you're pulling for. As one commenter put it early in the series, for two such normally reserved organizations as the Cleveland Orchestra and San Francisco Symphony, such a heated exchange can only be described as a display of "serious at etude."AMSTERDAM — Flags flew at half-staff Friday in this small but extremely international country, one that is accustomed to standing on the forefront of global cultural debates over such things as gay rights, euthanasia and marijuana policies. But on Thursday, after the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, the Netherlands found itself thrust squarely into an unaccustomed role at the center of the realpolitik of the conflict in Ukraine.
It seemed as if everyone in the Netherlands, a country of 16 million people, knew someone among the 189 Dutch nationals killed in the crash, whether personally, or as a friend of a friend, or simply by the familiarity of celebrity, as with Senator Willem Witteveen and the AIDS specialist Joep Lange.
Like Dr. Lange, a scientist, many of those on board were activists traveling to AIDS 2014, an international conference in Melbourne, Australia, at which former President Bill Clinton is scheduled to speak. There were many others, of course: a florist couple on vacation; a young employee of the human rights organization Amnesty International; children accompanying their parents on holiday excursions. All were sad testaments to one of the worst plane disasters in the country’s history.Episode 696: Class Action
Enlarge this image Cameron Robert/NPR Cameron Robert/NPR
Can you spot the difference between these tins? It's the basis of a class action — a lawsuit, filed by a few people, on behalf of millions.
Class actions have been around for centuries. But the modern version was created in the 1960s — in part by a young lawyer working on a manual typewriter in the back seat of a car. At the time, class actions were seen as a way to advance the civil rights movement.
Today, thousands of class actions are filed every year. Some of them are still about civil rights. But they're also about questions like: Is there enough pepper in this tin of pepper?
In this episode, we ask how we got here, and whether this is a good way to do things.
Music: Frederic Auger's 'Future Satisfaction.' Find us: Twitter/ Facebook.With the third anniversary of the death of Trayvon Martin (2/26/12) coinciding with the exit from office of Attorney General Eric Holder, this is a good time to review the facts — not the narrative fantasies — of the Trayvon Martin case. As a result of this case and others, Mr. Holder plans to argue that federal law should employ a lesser standard than is currently the practice in civil rights cases, so that worthy “social justice” principles might be vindicated. The rule of law and outmoded concepts like “proof beyond a reasonable doubt,” or producing actual evidence that fulfills the necessary elements of crimes must be changed or ignored so that “white Hispanics” like George Zimmerman may be prosecuted regardless of the law and the facts...
Should leftists like Holder be successful, the consequences for the right to keep and bear arms would be dramatic and destructive. In truth, the Martin case was nothing more than an unremarkable case of self-defense. Absent national racial grievance-mongers, anti-gun thugs, and the President of the United States and the AG seeing an opportunity to stir the racial pot and advance their agenda, it would have remained one of many such cases that occur each year, known only to those directly affected.
But because Trayvon Martin became the “son President Obama never had,” and because he became a lucrative meal ticket for the race hustling industry, and because the narrative jibed with the America-as-bastion-of-racism narrative of the legacy media, the case continues to imperil the Second Amendment to this day.
I do not write expecting to change the minds of those who champion “social justice” or who believe the narrative regardless of fact, logic and law. I write for those who must, upon occasion, do rhetorical battle with forces that would destroy the right to self-defense, the right to keep and bear arms, and would champion a violent, illegal drug-using, thug wannabe and future felon. For the facts and the law reveal unmistakably that was what Trayvon Martin was.
I will not cover every point, only the main aspects of the narrative, those most destructive to liberty. And I won’t link to every potential fact, which would render much of the rest of this article as links, but merely refer readers to the SMM Trayvon Martin case archive, where more than sufficient documentation of every assertion may be easily found.
Narrative: On the night he died, Trayvon Martin was a small, non-threatening scholar with a bright future on an errand to get snacks for a younger sibling.
Fact: Trayvon Martin was a tall, muscular former athlete, taller and much stronger than George Zimmerman. He was in Sanford, Florida because he had been suspended from school — not the first time — for ten days after being caught in possession of burglary tools and jewelry stolen from a break-in near his school. THC — the active ingredient in marijuana — was in his bloodstream and shortly before meeting Zimmerman, he had purchased blunts, cheap cigars used in smoking pot. He often expressed a preference for them on social media. He was also carrying two of the three ingredients, one of them Skittles, for a dangerous drug concoction his social media messages reveal he favored. He was not carrying — as has been wrongly reported — iced tea.
Narrative: Zimmerman racially profiled Martin and shot him because he was wearing a hoodie.
Fact: Zimmerman, the local neighborhood watch captain and well-respected in that role by the Sanford Police Department, began to watch Martin because he appeared to be casing homes by remaining outside while it was raining and walking on the grass, not the sidewalks, of homes that had been recently burglarized. Zimmerman had no idea of Martin’s race until several minutes after Martin first drew his attention. No evidence was ever developed or presented at trial of racial profiling, nor did Zimmerman so much as suggest that Martin’s hoodie had anything to do with his suspicions about Martin. Merely by observing his behavior, Zimmerman concluded Martin might be under the influence of drugs. He was.
Narrative: Zimmerman was a racist who told the dispatcher Martin was black, and called Martin a “f***ing coon.”
Fact: NBC selectively edited the recording of Zimmerman’s conversation with the police dispatcher to make Zimmerman seem racist. In fact, Zimmerman only mentioned Martin’s race in response to the dispatcher’s specific question about Martin’s race — “he looks black” — which any dispatcher would ask of any witness. CNN tried to claim that Zimmerman called Martin a “f***ing coon,” but CNN’s own audio experts conclusively proved what Zimmerman said, under his breath, was “it’s f***ing cold.” It was indeed cold and rainy that night in Sanford. NBC and CNN were forced, very reluctantly, to retract their false statements. An extensive FBI investigation revealed not the slightest trace of racism in Zimmerman’s background or actions that night. In fact, Zimmerman has at least one black ancestor, and was well-known in Sanford as a champion and friend of black people. George Zimmerman is actually Hispanic, though the media (New York Times) invented an entirely new race just for him: the “white-Hispanic.” Only last week, the Holder Department of Justice was forced to admit there would be no federal civil rights charges filed against Zimmerman. There was no evidence — none at all — to support them.
Narrative: Trayvon Martin was running for his life, and he was pursued by Zimmerman who left his truck and ruthlessly hunted him down and shot him, all against the orders of the 911 dispatcher.
Fact: Rather than confront, pursue or shoot Martin, the first thing Zimmerman did was call the police and report a suspicious person. Precisely why Martin ran isn’t known, but there is no doubt that Zimmerman was never told not to leave his vehicle. In fact, the dispatcher specifically told Zimmerman to continue to report on Martin’s actions, as any competent dispatcher would. When Martin abruptly ran, Zimmerman ran a short distance, but lost sight of Martin before he could leave his truck. Zimmerman’s only intention was to keep Martin in sight so he could report to the police who he believed were on the way. Even if Zimmerman had been actively following Martin, that too would have been entirely lawful.
The dispatcher asked if he was following Martin, and when Zimmerman said he was, he was told, “we don’t need you to do that.” Zimmerman, who had already lost Martin, replied, “OK,” and told the dispatcher he had lost Martin and had no idea where he was. It was about four more minutes before Martin, who was hiding somewhere in the immediate area, surprised and confronted Zimmerman, broke his nose with a sucker punch, knocked him to the ground, straddled him and repeatedly swung at his face and beat his head on a concrete sidewalk. There is no evidence, physical or testimonial, that Zimmerman so much as landed a single blow on Martin.
Narrative: Trayvon Martin was unarmed, was screaming for help, said “don’t shoot,” was shot in the back, had his hands up in surrender, or was, in some other vaguely defined or suggested manner, an innocent victim of murder.
Facts: Martin did not have a weapon, but was far from unarmed. His use of a concrete sidewalk to repeatedly bash Zimmerman’s head constituted the use of a deadly weapon under the law. In addition, after knocking Zimmerman to the ground with his first blow, he was astride Zimmerman, pinning him to the ground, raining blows on his head and face “MMA ground and pound” style, as explained by a highly credible eyewitness. Zimmerman’s consistent and unchanged accounts, voluntarily given to the police long before he retained an attorney, reflect this reality, including the fact that it was Zimmerman screaming for help.
Witnesses, including Martin’s brother and father, initially identified the screaming voice on the recording as not belonging to Martin, while Zimmerman’s father and another relative identified it as Zimmerman’s. The call to the dispatcher of an eyewitness inadvertently recorded much of the assault, and no plea to “don’t shoot” or anything similar was recorded. Forensic evidence supports Zimmerman’s account. With Martin straddling him, pinning him to the ground, repeatedly beating his head against the sidewalk, Zimmerman fired a single round from near contact range into Martin’s chest. The evidence — the angle of the wound — makes it clear that Martin was leaning forward over Zimmerman’s prostrate form when he was shot.
Narrative: Zimmerman used the “stand your ground” law to get away with murdering Martin.
Fact: Florida’s “stand your ground” provision had no bearing on the case and was never invoked either before or during the trial. Because Martin was pinning Zimmerman to the ground and beating him, giving Zimmerman no possibility of escape or retreat, it was entirely irrelevant.
Narrative: Martin’s “girlfriend,” with whom he was on the phone while he was hiding from Zimmerman and as he was ambushing Zimmerman, proved that Zimmerman was a racist that hunted and murdered Martin.
Fact: Rachel Jeantel’s testimony was a disaster for the prosecution. She was revealed to be a serial perjurer, made statements on the witness stand that she had never before told anyone, and had no evidence that contradicted Zimmerman’s account. Actually, she confirmed that it was Martin who angrily and aggressively confronted Zimmerman, and confirmed virtually every other element of Zimmerman’s account. The prosecution illegally withheld from the defense the exculpatory — even incriminating — contents of Martin’s cell phone.
Narrative: Zimmerman demonstrated evil intent and a depraved mind because he carried his gun with its chamber loaded and used hollow point ammunition.
Fact: This was an argument of the prosecution presented at trial. Even the police carry hollow point ammunition and carry their handguns with loaded chambers, which is the correct and completely lawful thing to do. This argument is utterly irrelevant to self-defense, technically incompetent, and carried no weight with the jury.
Narrative: Zimmerman didn’t have to use a gun. He put himself in danger, and his actions weren’t self-defense; they were murder.
Fact: While one can argue tactics, nothing Zimmerman did was against the law. Nothing he did or said made him, under Florida law, an aggressor. Nothing he said or did removed self-defense as a viable, lawful option. Prior to being confronted and sucker-punched by Martin, Zimmerman had not exchanged a single word or gesture with Martin, nor had he done anything but observe him, at the request of the police dispatcher, from a distance.
As far as Zimmerman knew, Martin was long gone, and for four minutes, he totally lost contact with him. During that time, it was conclusively proved in court that Martin could have been home, indoors, and never again seen by Zimmerman, but he chose instead to remain outside, hiding in the rain, and for reasons known only to him, waiting to ambush Zimmerman.
Zimmerman found himself beaten and bloody, potentially losing consciousness, under continual assault, and afraid for his life. Under Florida law, and under the laws of most other states, all of the requirements for the use of deadly force in self-defense were present. Zimmerman was innocent — he was not the aggressor — a reasonable person in his situation would have reasonably believed he was in danger of serious bodily injury or death, he had no other option to stop Martin’s attack, and his response — a single round fired — was proportional to the situation.
Zimmerman’s actions were fully in accordance with Florida self-defense law, an absolute defense to murder, and in no way violated Florida’s murder statutes.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
George Zimmerman should never have been prosecuted. The Sanford Police and the local prosecutor refused to prosecute him on the evidence. It was only when the racial grievance industry and the Obama Administration injected themselves that a corrupt special prosecutor was charged with prosecuting Zimmerman regardless of the evidence. This was a matter of cynical racial politics, not the law.
The prosecution actually proved self-defense. The prosecutors actually proved that George Zimmerman lawfully defended his life.
The lesson of the George Zimmerman prosecution is clear: even if one lawfully employs deadly force in accordance with the letter and spirit of the law, even if one fires only a single round that causes no collateral damage to persons or property, even if there is no evidence whatsoever of racial animus, even if there is no evidence to fulfill a single element of a charge of murder, there is no guarantee that one will not be prosecuted — and perhaps even convicted — of a crime they did not commit.
Despite the fact that no “stand your ground” law was in any way implicated or invoked in the Zimmerman case, anti-gun advocates continue to argue the case as evidence of the need to abolish stand your ground provisions. Perhaps the truth might be useful there as well.The Republican candidates for president
Mitt Romney secured the Republican nomination on May 29th by winning the Texas primary and gaining enough delegates to push him over the threshold.
Our interactive map provides the results of the primaries and caucuses in each state, as well as data on recent polls and those for forthcoming contests. Point your cursor at a state and a summary of the exit polling data will appear in |
que tiene patentes tan impresionantes para cobrar $7.8 millones de pesos, no pueda ni siquiera poner un slider animado a su página el cual puede descargar gratis de cualquier lado?
Oh espera…
¿Cómo es posible que no puedan invertir un poquito en fabricar lo que supuestamente dicen que venden?
Ahí dice que venden Desarrollo Móvil, Web y Aplicaciones, etc, etc, etc y no tienen ni página, sólo colgaron una imagen sin diseño alguno.
Le quise dar el beneficio de la duda y dije...
“Hmm, a lo mejor no tienen página porque muchos de sus trabajos son privados y por lo tanto no requieren andarse anunciando en Adwords, etc.”
así que me puse a ver que apps Android había desarrollado “Empresas Pordimo”, sorpresa (o ya ni tan sorpresa)…
Impresionante trayectoria!
Sólo han “Desarrollado” una sola app: la de Monterrey!! (ahora entienden porque su página está tan tan tan vacía ya que no hay ningún desarrollo que presumir como cualquier desarrollador haríamos por orgullo de lo que hemos creado).
La razón que dan para cobrar $7.8 millones de pesos y haberlo licitado en “Lo oscurito” sin concurso de licitación de por medio, es que supuestamente había una...
“Patente de exclusividad”
, lo cual es totalmente falso pues puedes ser dueño del código fuente que mandas hacer (es un trabajo por encargo y el que lo paga es el dueño) y como muchos en esta industria sabemos, no se puede patentar el software en nuestro país.
Legislación en México.
los programas de cómputo no son considerados invenciones, por lo que en México no existen tales patentes. Finalmente, en México, la Ley de la Propiedad Industrial regula el otorgamiento de patentes en el país a las invenciones de productos o de procesos. En ella se menciona que
Los programas de software solamente se pueden proteger mediante el Registro Público del Derecho de Autor; en él se registran programas, documentación y bases de datos. Las responsabilidades del Registro son las de orientar a autores, y procurar resolver controversias según la Ley Federal de Derecho de Autor y su reglamento.
en México no se conceden patentes de software, sin importar si ya exista una patente concedida en Estados Unidos; esto muy a menudo resulta confuso para programadores, fábricas de software, y otras empresas desarrolladoras, pues es común que se piense que sí es posible el otorgamiento de dichas patentes en México simplemente mediante la adopción de las reivindicaciones de la patente otorgada en otro país, como ocurre generalmente en otros casos de patentes que no son de software. Es muy importante que los creadores de aplicaciones, programas y bases de datos tengan siempre muy claro esto, ya que a diferencia de la práctica Americana,, sin importar si ya exista una patente concedida en Estados Unidos; esto muy a menudo resulta confuso para programadores, fábricas de software, y otras empresas desarrolladoras, pues es común que se piense que sí es posible el otorgamiento de dichas patentes en México simplemente mediante la adopción de las reivindicaciones de la patente otorgada en otro país, como ocurre generalmente en otros casos de patentes que no son de software.
Así que si no se puede patentar,
¿Qué es lo que están cobrando a cambio de esos $260 mil pesos mensuales?
descargar el archivo.apk de la aplicación Android Seguía con mi duda… y decidí
(SI la quieren descargar a qui esta el enlace https://apkpure.com/monterrey/empresaspordimo.smartcitymobile ) para abrirlo y ver que componentes tenía pues sospechaba que a juzgar por las capturas de pantalla, lo habían hecho con Phonegap o algo similar que no requiere excesivos conocimientos expertos de desarrollo de software (ojo no es desdén, he hecho cosas con Phonegap y es muy bueno pero se queda corto al lado de un lenguaje de programación “real” como Java, C++, Objective-C, Swift, etc por así llamarlos).
Cuando descargas a tu computadora un archivo.apk es bien fácil abrirlo y ver de que se trata, pues sólo le cambias la extensión.apk por.zip y listo, le das a extraer y te extrae todos los archivos que contiene en su interior:
Esto es todo el contenido de la app de Monterrey que vale $7.8 millones de pesos.
Me puse a husmear en los archivos porque me interesaba ver en que plataforma lo habían hecho y me topé con esto en varias de las declaraciones de los namespaces del código :
Hmm interesante,
¿Quién es Scoutech que desarrolló estos módulos?
Me topé con las palabrejas clave: com.scoutech.smartcitymobile.global donde me llamaron mucho la atención
“Scoutech” y “SmartcityMobile”
¿Acaso para arruinarla más con el descaro de la transa, resulta que se piratearon el app de alguien más?
Así que de vuelta a Google a ver quien es “Scoutech” y nos arroja una página de una empresa que de entrada se ve legítima y en esta dirección tiene sus clientes: http://www.scoutech.com.mx/clientes.asp
De ahí me entró el gusanito de quien es “Empresas Pordimo”, “Pordimo” no creo que signifique tampoco “Pordioseros Monterrey” y hayan recibido un tremendo “donativo” por programar tan patentada app, así que lo más probable es que sea algún prestanombres que cobró una lanota, la repartió entre los compadres y le pagó un dinero s a Scoutech a cambio de sus servicios.
Averiguando quién era Scoutech, según Google este es el exterior de la empresa que quizás le licenció la patente millonaria a “Empresas Pordimo”, ¿Se ve impresionante el edificio corporativo no?
Házte a un lado Google!!Dr. Yousaf Butt is a senior advisor to the British American Security Information Council and director at the Cultural Intelligence Institute. The views expressed here are his own.
LONDON -- The horrific terrorist attacks on the Charlie Hebdo weekly in Paris have led to speculation as to whether the killers -- the brothers Chérif and Saïd Kouachi -- were lone wolves or tied to masterminds in ISIS or its rival, Al-Qaeda. Although Al-Qaeda in Yemen has taken credit for the attack, it is unclear how closely the affiliate actually directed the operation. No matter which organizational connections (if any) ultimately prove to be real, one thing is clear: the fountainhead of Islamic extremism that promotes and legitimizes such violence lies with the fanatical "Wahhabi" strain of Islam centered in Saudi Arabia. And if the world wants to tamp down and eliminate such violent extremism, it must confront this primary host and facilitator.
Perversely, while the Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Awad Asiri took part in a "Je suis Charlie" solidarity rally in Beirut following the Paris attacks, back home the Saudi blogger Raif Badawi received the first 50 of 1,000 lashes he is due each Friday over the next 20 weeks. His crime? Running a liberal website promoting the freedom of speech. (Thankfully, in recent days it seems the Saudi authorities have buckled to international pressure and suspended the sentence.)
It would be troublesome but perhaps acceptable for the House of Saud to promote the intolerant and extremist Wahhabi creed just domestically. But, unfortunately, for decades the Saudis have also lavishly financed its propagation abroad. Exact numbers are not known, but it is thought that more than $100 billion have been spent on exporting fanatical Wahhabism to various much poorer Muslim nations worldwide over the past three decades. It might well be twice that number. By comparison, the Soviets spent about $7 billion spreading communism worldwide in the 70 years from 1921 and 1991.
This appears to be a monumental campaign to bulldoze the more moderate strains of Islam, and replace them with the theo-fascist Saudi variety. Despite being well aware of the issue, Western powers continue to coddle the Saudis or, at most, protest meekly from time to time.
For instance, a Wikileaks cable clearly quotes then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton saying "donors in Saudi Arabia constitute the most significant source of funding to Sunni terrorist groups worldwide." She continues: "More needs to be done since Saudi Arabia remains a critical financial support base for al-Qaeda, the Taliban, LeT and other terrorist groups." And it's not just the Saudis: Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates are also implicated in the memo. Other cables released by Wikileaks outline how Saudi front companies are also used to fund terrorism abroad.
Evidently, the situation has not improved since Hillary Clinton was secretary of state. Late last year, Vice President Biden caused a stir by undiplomatically speaking the truth at an event at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, saying:
"Our allies in the region were our largest problem in Syria. The Turks were great friends... [and] the Saudis, the Emirates, etcetera. What were they doing?.... They poured hundreds of millions of dollars and tens of tons of weapons into anyone who would fight against Assad -- except that the people who were being supplied, [they] were al-Nusra, and al-Qaeda, and the extremist elements of jihadis who were coming from other parts of the world."
More recently, the Saudi role in promoting extremism has come under renewed scrutiny. Calls for declassifying the redacted 28 pages of the 9/11 congressional commission have been getting stronger. And statements from the lead author of the report, former Florida Sen. Bob Graham, suggest they are being hidden because they "point a very strong finger at Saudi Arabia as the principal financier" of the 9/11 hijackers. He has been unusually explicit, "Saudi Arabia has not stopped its interest in spreading extreme Wahhabism. ISIS...is a product of Saudi ideals, Saudi money and Saudi organizational support, although now they are making a pretense of being very anti-ISIS."
In fact, Saudi blogger Raif Badawi's wife, Ensaf Haidar, made a similar observation about her husband's flogging: "the Saudi government is behaving like Daesh [a derogatory Arabic term for ISIS]." About 2,500 Saudis are thought to be in ISIS' ranks.
Ensaf Haidar's quip exposes a deeper truth. One could reasonably argue that the House of Saud is simply a more established and diplomatic version of ISIS. It shares the extremist Wahhabi theo-fascism, the lack of human rights, intolerance, violent beheadings etc. -- but with nicer buildings and roads. If ISIS were ever to become an established state, after a few decades one imagines it might resemble Saudi Arabia.
How does Saudi Arabia go about spreading extremism? The extremist agenda is not always clearly government-sanctioned, but in monarchies where the government money is spread around to various princes, there is little accountability for what the royal family does with their government funds. Much of the funding is via charitable organizations and is not military-related.
The money goes to constructing and operating mosques and madrassas that preach radical Wahhabism. The money also goes to training imams; media outreach and publishing; distribution of Wahhabi textbooks, and endowments to universities and cultural centers. A cable released by Wikileaks explains, regarding just one region of Pakistan:
Government and non-governmental sources claimed that financial support estimated at nearly 100 million USD annually was making its way to Deobandi and Ahl-e-Hadith clerics in the region from "missionary" and "Islamic charitable" organizations in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates ostensibly with the direct support of those governments.
Although the Wahhabi curriculum was modified after the 9/11 attacks, it remains backward and intolerant. Freedom House published a report on the revised curriculum, concluding that it "continues to propagate an ideology of hate toward the 'unbeliever,' which include Christians, Jews, Shiites, Sufis, Sunni Muslims who do not follow Wahhabi doctrine, Hindus, atheists and others." This is taught not only domestically but also enthusiastically exported abroad.
Of course, initially there was complicity with the U.S. and Pakistan in promoting this ideology to counter the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. In addition to the radical indoctrination, thousands of volunteer jihadis from Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries were also dispatched to fight alongside the mujahideen in Afghanistan. But it remains a complicated problem to this day because the politicians in the poor countries getting the Saudi and Gulf-Arab funds approve these extremist madrassas in part because the local authorities likely receive kickbacks.
In many places in poor Muslim countries the choice is now between going to an extremist madrassa or getting no education at all. Poverty is exploited to promote extremism. The affected areas include Pakistan, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, India and parts of Africa. The same Wikileaks cable explains:
The network reportedly exploited worsening poverty in these areas of the province to recruit children into the divisions' growing Deobandi and Ahl-eHadith madrassa network from which they were indoctrinated into jihadi philosophy, deployed to regional training/indoctrination centers, and ultimately sent to terrorist training camps in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).
The more tolerant indigenous versions of Islam cannot survive in the face of the tsunami of money being poured into promoting theo-fascist Wahhabism. This is a major problem that the Muslim world must urgently address.
But it is also a problem where the West can help by stopping its historical pandering and support of Middle East tyrants who spread this extremism. The most fundamental way to make the message clear to the House of Saud would be to threaten to stop buying oil from them. Given the relatively cheap oil prices these days it need not be an empty threat.
Eliminating the occasional militant leaders in drone and special-forces strikes is of limited use in reducing extremism if millions of radicals are being actively trained in Wahhabi madrassas across the Muslim world.
The fight against ISIS and Al-Qaeda is deeply ironic since these organizations were created and are sustained, in part, by funds we hand over to the Saudis and Gulf Arab nations to purchase their oil. And while France mourns its cartoonists and police officers, the French government is busy signing military and nuclear deals worth billions with the Saudis. If we continue down this road, it may well be a never-ending war.
The House of Saud works against the best interests of the West and the Muslim world. Muslim communities worldwide certainly need to eradicate fanatical Wahhabism from their midst, but this will be difficult, if not impossible, to accomplish if the West continues its support of the House of Saud. The monarchy must be modernized and modified -- or simply uprooted and replaced. The House of Saud needs a thorough house cleaning.Who are you gonna believe -- me or your Ryan eyes? Those eyes... so blue...
A week ago, Paul Ryan’s political assets included — alongside his chiseled torso, plainspoken Midwestern demeanor, and the unshakable loyalty of the entire Republican Party — a firm reputation for honesty among the mainstream media. That reputation has suffered a massive, swift erosion. News stories about his speech at the Republican National Convention focused on its many rhetorical sleights of hand. Over the weekend, the revelation that he dramatically misstated a marathon time added a crucial, accessible piece of evidence to the indictment. Now liberals are calling him “Lyin’ Ryan” — a nickname that, a few weeks ago, would have seemed silly, like “Wimpy Palin.” Now mainstream pundits are defending Ryan with versions of the “well, all politicians fib” defense. Given that this constituency was once portraying Ryan as unusually honest, this represents a huge retreat for his political brand.
What happened?
Here’s what has not happened: Paul Ryan did not begin telling an unprecedented series of lies that suddenly exposed a predilection for shading the truth. His marathon boast is certainly odd and may well be a deliberate lie, but it could also be a simple failure to recall. The New Yorker’s Nicholas Thompson, arguing for the prosecution, contends that “for someone who does run seriously,” missing a marathon time by as a vast a level as Ryan does is nearly impossible. On the other hand, given that the race occurred in 1990 and was Ryan’s only marathon, perhaps the explanation is that Ryan just isn’t a serious runner.
And Ryan’s Tampa speech, while pretty dishonest, was not especially so by Ryan’s standards. Here you can see why Ryan must view the sudden attack of the truth squad so bewilderingly. Ryan has been saying things like this, and worse, all along. The bit where he sadly shakes his head and blames President Obama for the failure of the Bowles-Simpson deficit commission that Ryan killed himself has been a staple of the Ryan shtick for two years. Reporters usually bat their eyes and coo sympathetically. Now it has become evidence of his duplicity.
Ryan seems to have fallen victim to circumstances he didn’t quite foresee. The Romney campaign has spent the last several weeks practically daring the national press corps to call out its lies. Well beyond the usual exaggerations of a national campaign, Romney has built its entire message around two accusations — “you didn’t build that” and “just send them a check” — that are obviously false. A day before Ryan’s speech, a Romney adviser told reporters, “We’re not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact-checkers.” The media that had spent the last two and a half years nuzzling gently in Ryan’s lap had been prodded with sharp sticks and reacted in the predictable fashion, though probably not predictable to Ryan himself.
The thing about Ryan is that he has always resided in a counter-factual universe. He is a product of the hermetically sealed right-wing subculture. Many of the facts taken for granted by mainstream economists have never penetrated his brain. Ryan burst onto the national scene with a dense, fact-laden attack on the financing of Obama’s health-care bill that was essentially a series of hallucinations, pseudo-facts cooked up and recirculated by conservative apparatchiks who didn’t know what they were talking about or didn’t care. His big-think speeches reflect the influence of fact-free conservatives and collapse under scrutiny.
During the last couple of years, Ryan took his act to the big city, expanding beyond his Washington conservative movement base and pitching himself to a broader audience as a straight-talking avatar of fiscal responsibility. That he managed to pull off the feat was completely incredible. Ryan’s entire career had been rooted in the “Reagan proved deficits don’t matter” wing of his party, and he spent the Bush administration consistently pushing for even more fiscally irresponsible policies than even George W. Bush could bear, and then spent the Obama administration relentlessly killing any effort to ameliorate those deficits. The genuine Paul Ryan is a man deeply devoted to reducing tax rates for Job Creators, and staunchly opposed to universal health insurance and other social spending. He is not a deficit hawk. The tension between Ryan’s policy goals and the persona he crafted was strained to the breaking point. When the press corps finally applied even the slightest pressure to it, it immediately and inevitably snapped.(iStock)
Johannesburg - A media alert sent out by Parliament on January 14 about a meeting to discuss possible regulation of over-the-top (OTT) services like WhatsApp was unauthorised, according to an MP.
Last week, Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Telecommunications and Postal Services issued a media alert on behalf of its chairperson and MP Mmamoloko Kubayi about a planned meeting on January 26 to discuss OTT services.
The media alert said that “mobile operators are requesting that Parliament consider passing a policy or regulations of data services on mobile networks such that they generate revenue for carrying the data services on their bandwidth infrastructure”.
The alert went on to say that stakeholders such as network operators, ICT bodies and internet service providers would attend the meeting.
The alert also followed a notice sent to stakeholders which called for the full-day meeting which was expected to discuss aspects such as “necessary policy interventions on how to govern the OTTs”, “regulatory interventions on the guidelines to regulate OTTs” and the “impact of OTTs on competition”.
READ: WhatsApp faces possible regulation in South Africa
But Kubayi told Fin24 that she did not see the January 14 media alert before it was issued and that she did not sign off the communications, despite the alert stating that it was issued on her behalf.
“It’s not authorised; we are sorting it out. It was a mistake; I mean, how do you issue a press release without even a venue of the meeting?” Kubayi told Fin24.
“I thought it was still going to be issued. So, procedurally in terms of Parliament, I need to sign it off. I have not signed it off," Kubayi added.
READ: Petition launched to reject WhatsApp regulation
Kubayi went on to say that the person who normally issues her committee’s media alerts and press statements was not available last week.
Subsequently, the media alert was issued by another member of Parliament’s communications services who did not want to make any comment to Fin24 about the alleged mistake.
Luzuko Jacobs, a spokesperson of Parliament, said he was looking into the matter and following up with the chairperson. But Jacobs told Fin24 that this is the first time he has come across this type of situation.
“Look, in my history here - which amounts to more than 13 years - it is the first time that such an incident has happened.
“But it’s an unfortunate, rare and once-off, and obviously unacceptable incident really,” he said.
Jacobs said that if a media alert deals with, for example, logistics of meetings, it doesn’t always have to be signed off by the chairperson.
“But where content becomes intensive and deals with issues that relate to the programme of the committee, obviously the committee would have to be made aware of that information,” said Jacobs.
Asked whether Kubayi should have signed off on the media alert on January 14 - which contained information about what would be discussed at the meeting - Jacobs said: “Obviously, something like that, you’d want the chairperson to sign off.”
He also said that regardless of who sends out parliamentary media alerts for committees, there is a standard practice where chairpersons have to sign off communications of this type.
‘Incorrect’ information
In the meantime, the meeting on OTT is still scheduled for January 26 but Kubayi has said that certain statements made in last week's media alert were incorrect.
She said that mobile networks had not asked for the meeting, as first indicated in the media alert. She told Fin24 that she had prompted the discussions on January 26 after she realised from stakeholders at events last year that it had become an issue.
She also clarified that her committee is having a meeting on OTT on January 26 and not hearings, which are more formal. But she did not rule out future hearings on the matter.
“If indeed we see that this is a matter that needs a formal process, we definitely need to impose that,” she said.
“But for now we want test what is it, how is it and from there take a decision,” she added.
Tension in the industry
Chief executives at both MTN and Vodacom last year called for regulation of OTT services like WhatsApp because they said these technologies do not contribute financially to local networks.
READ: Vodacom calls for OTT regulation & MTN targets 'free loading' WhatsApp
“The issue is that I was in two workshops last year where the matter came up and I could see each side took its own corner,” said Kubayi.
“And I felt that if this continues, it’s not assisting anyone. We need to create a platform where we can discuss and think about what is the way forward,” she added.
Kubayi said she called the meeting to avoid a situation where mobile networks and OTT providers clash, which she said could result in South Africans losing out.
“I think that consumers must be taking the centre stage in the discussions,” Kubayi told Fin24.
The public is further invited to attend the meeting, Kubayi added.
DA questions meeting
Meanwhile, Democratic Alliance (DA) MP Marian Shinn, who is the shadow minister for telecommunications and postal services, said the issue of OTT had not been raised in the committee previously.
“My thoughts are that we knew nothing about this,” Shinn told Fin24.
“This issue has not been raised in the committee before and the only information that has been sent to us about this is our draft programme for the whole term, which just has this as a subject: ‘over-the-top technology, all-day briefing’. That is all we know,” said Shinn.
Shinn further said that discussing OTT should not be among the committee’s first course of business for 2016 owing to other pressing issues such as infrastructure and spectrum.
“As far as I’m concerned, this (OTT) is not a priority in South Africa at the moment.
“It’s probably a conversation that needs to be had, but not right now. We have so much on our programme that is unfinished from last year that we need to be tapping,” Shinn told Fin24.
“We actually need to focus on issues that bring down the cost of communications, not add to the cost of communications,” Shinn added.
Nevertheless, Shinn said she would go to the meeting on January 26 with an open mind but that “it’s not an issue that we need to spend the whole day on”.It is well-established in the scientific community that increases in atmospheric CO2 levels result in global warming, but the magnitude of the effect may vary depending on average global temperature. A new study, published this week in Science Advances and led by Tobias Friedrich from the International Pacific Research Center (IPRC) at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, concludes that warm climates are more sensitive to changes in CO2 levels than cold climates.
Increasing atmospheric CO2 concentrations cause an imbalance in the Earth’s heat budget: more heat is retained than expelled, which in turn generates global surface warming. Climate sensitivity is a term used to describe the amount of warming expected to result after an increase in the concentration of CO2. This number is traditionally calculated using complex computer models of the climate system, but despite decades of progress, the number is still subject to uncertainty.
A new method for finding climate sensitivity
The new study, which included scientists from the University of Washington, University at Albany and Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, took a different approach in calculating climate sensitivity—using data from the history of Earth. The researchers examined various reconstructions of past temperatures and CO2 levels to determine how the climate system has responded to previous changes in its energy balance.
“The first step was to reconstruct the history of global mean temperatures for the last 784,000 years, using combined data from marine sediment cores, ice cores and computer simulations covering the last eight glacial cycles,” said Friedrich, a postdoctoral researcher at IPRC.
The second step involved calculating the Earth’s energy balance for this time period, using estimates of greenhouse gas concentrations extracted from air bubbles in ice cores, and incorporating astronomical factors, known as Milankovitch Cycles, that effect the planetary heat budget.
“Our results imply that the Earth’s sensitivity to variations in atmospheric CO2 increases as the climate warms,” explained Friedrich. “Currently, our planet is in a warm phase—an interglacial period—and the associated increased climate sensitivity needs to be taken into account for future projections of warming induced by human activities.”
Earth’s past helps to inform about its future
Using these estimates based on Earth’s paleoclimate sensitivity, the authors computed the warming over the next 85 years that could result from a human-induced, business-as-usual greenhouse gas emission scenario. The researchers project that by the year 2100, global temperatures will rise 5.9° C (~10.5° F ) above pre-industrial values. This magnitude of warming overlaps with the upper range of estimates presented by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
“Our study also allows us to put our 21st century temperatures into the context of Earth’s history. Paleoclimate data can actually teach us a lot about our future,” said Axel Timmermann, co-author of the study and professor at UH Mānoa.
The results of the study demonstrate that unabated human-induced greenhouse gas emissions are likely to push Earth’s climate out of the envelope of temperature conditions that have prevailed for the last 784,000 years.
“The only way out is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible,” concluded Friedrich.TAVI has been suggested in medical literature as a possibility for pregnant women but the Hamilton surgeons could find no evidence of anyone actually doing it. They consulted colleagues across Canada before deciding to be the first.
"The doctors were very confident," Sayle said. "I was nervous but I felt good about it … I'm grateful I was able to be the first in a long line of hopefully many other women who will now be able to get this procedure."
While her engineer husband sat in the hospital waiting room working to distract himself, doctors made a small incision in Sayle's groin and snaked a long narrow tube called a catheter through a large blood vessel. They expanded a balloon at the end of the catheter that pushed the dysfunctional valve out and implanted a new one made out of animal tissue.
"It was perfect," Whitlock said. "It was a textbook case. Everything went smooth."
The doctors, who have performed more than 250 TAVI procedures in other circumstances, had to make only minor adjustments to their usual routine to account for Sayle's pregnancy, such as covering the uterine area when using the X-ray machines that guide the surgery. In addition, Sayle had a tougher recovery without pain killers.
The groundbreaking case will now be written up for a medical journal to show it's a safe and valuable approach.
"It's exciting to see how a group of physicians came together as a team to provide this care," said Whitlock. "We got Sarah through this. It's fantastic."
It is not expected the procedure will be used often, as usually heart problems should are treated before a woman becomes pregnant.
"It's not something you ever plan because of the risk to the mother and baby," said Horlick, the Toronto cardiologist. "It's a very unusual situation."
But sometimes valve replacement is not possible beforehand because of unexpected pregnancies or the problem emerges in an immigrant or refugee who did not have access to good health care before coming to Canada.
In Sayle's case, the valve didn't need replacing until after she became pregnant.
"It was a surprise," she said. "As soon as I got pregnant, I got really tired. I got dizzy spells with not much exertion and I was sweating. When I started getting heart palpitations, I was sure there was a problem."
Sayle was born with a congenital heart defect but didn't know until she was 25 years old and engaged to be married.
"It was scary," she said. "I wanted a family and I was worried this would stop it."
She had open-heart surgery to replace the valve before having children. The valve, which was made out of animal tissue, was supposed to last 10 to 15 years. She was expected to have a second open-heart surgery to replace it with a longer-lasting mechanical valve once she had decided not to have any more children. That type of valve requires blood thinners, which are risky during pregnancy, so it is usually implanted only after the child-bearing years.
Sayle had her two daughters without any complications, but the valve gave out during her third pregnancy only four years after it was implanted.
"It was terrifying — scarier than the first time because we have two daughters at home," said Sayle.
She was taken right from the ultrasound of her heart and admitted to Hamilton General Hospital where she remained until she had the surgery weeks later.
"I didn't know what was going to happen," said her husband. "She went for a doctor's appointment in the morning and was supposed to be back by noon and instead was admitted to hospital."
It was a true emergency, explained her obstetrician, Dr. Michelle Morais.
"This is something that needs urgent attention," she said. "This is something that needs to get fixed."
It was the first time Morais had ever encountered a case like this.
"It's something you read about in a textbook," she said. "You maybe see it once or twice in a career."
After having the valve replaced, Sayle was able to carry her baby to term. She was induced at 38 weeks and had a normal delivery at McMaster University Medical Centre.
The baby spent his first days in the neonatal intensive care unit at McMaster Children's Hospital to make sure his heart was strong.
"There doesn't seem to be any effect from the surgery," Morais said.
Sayle and baby Peter were expected to go home Friday.
"He likes to cuddle," said the proud mom, who is thankful for the first-ever procedure that saved them both. "He's a sweet baby."
jfrketich@thespec.com
905-526-3349 | @Jfrketich[This classic January 1997 postmortem by the late Mark Haigh-Hutchinson, originally printed in Game Developer magazine, goes behind the scenes on early Nintendo 64 title Star Wars: Shadows Of The Empire.]
Shadows of the Empire is an action game originally developed for the Nintendo 64 video game console. It formed part of a multimedia Star Wars event consisting of a novel, soundtrack, toy line, comic books, trading cards, and other related merchandising.
The Nintendo 64 version was released in December of 1996, and has proven to be very popular with over one million copies shipped to date. The IBM PC version was released in early September of 1997, and has enhanced cut scenes, Red Book audio (both music and voice), and high-resolution graphics. It requires the use of a 3D accelerator card.
Why Shadows?
Back in the summer of 1994, LucasArts was exploring the possibility of developing a new 3D title for one of the emerging “next-generation” platforms. After some discussion, the Nintendo 64 was decided upon as the platform of choice, even though there was no hardware available at the time.
Due to our close relationship with Lucasfilm, we were aware that Lucasfilm Licensing was planning the Shadows of the Empire event. Jon Knoles, the lead artist and designer on the Nintendo 64 game, took an active part in deciding the timeline of Shadows. He suggested that it take place between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.
The Shadows story line deals mainly with the criminal underworld of the Galaxy, and the new period allowed us to explore some of the things that weren’t explained in Return of the Jedi. It also opened up some new characters that were not bound to the original story, which gave us more creative freedom than using established figures. A bonus was that it allowed us to make use of everyone’s favorite bounty hunter, Boba Fett.
Since we were developing one of the premier titles for an entirely new game machine, there was a conscious decision to attempt to stretch out and cover a number of different game-play styles. We wanted to ensure that the player would have as much variety as possible, yet still enjoy a satisfying experience.
A Reality Engine for $200?
By early September 1994, we had received our Silicon Graphics workstations and the core team was working. Initially the three programmers were using Indigo 2 Extremes, with 200mhz CPUs, 64MB of RAM, and 24-bit graphics. Eventually, we would have to change our programmers’ computers to INDYs (still powerful machines) to install the Nintendo 64 development systems.
In addition, we were fortunate that LucasArts allowed us to obtain a Silicon Graphics ONYX supercomputer. This impressive and somewhat expensive refrigerator-sized computer boasted Reality Engine 2 graphics hardware, four R4000 CPUs, and 256MB of RAM. It became an essential part of our development equipment, as it was the only hardware available that could possibly emulate how the final Nintendo 64 hardware would perform. Indeed, Nintendo and SGI supplied us with software that emulated most of the features that the real hardware would support.
In late September, the programmers took a trip down to Silicon Graphics to discuss the Nintendo 64 hardware design with its chief architect, Tim Van Hook. The SGI engineers were rightly proud of their design, and promised that they would deliver hardware matching the ambitious specifications. Nine months later, we learned that they had indeed met those specifications.
By Christmas of 1994, we had the basis of the first level of the game, The Battle of Hoth, running quite nicely on the ONYX—“quite nicely” being in high resolution (1280x1024), 32-bit color, and at 60 frames a second. By this point, we had also received a very early prototype of the Nintendo 64 controller. This consisted of a modified Super Nintendo controller with a primitive analogue joystick and Z trigger.
Due to our strict nondisclosure agreement, we were unable to discuss the hardware or the project with anyone outside the core team. Consequently, we would furtively hide the prototype controller in a cardboard box while we used it. In answer to the inevitable questions about what we were doing, we replied jokingly that it was a new type of controller—a bowl of liquid that absorbed your thoughts through your fingertips. Of course, you had to think in Japanese….
In July of 1995, we received our first actual hardware as a plug-in board for the INDY. This later became known as the Revision 1 board, but on inspection it was extremely “clean”—no wire wraps or other temporary items in sight. Within three days, technical lead Eric Johnston and second programmer Mark Blattel had ported the game to the actual hardware. It was an awe-inspiring moment when we first saw the Battle of Hoth running on the “real” machine.
The first revision of the hardware was very close to the original specifications supplied by SGI. Other than the RCP (Reality CoProcessor) not running at quite the final speed, and one of the special video “dither modes” not being available, it performed extremely well.
Over the next few weeks, we would receive an additional two boards, so that all the programmers were developing in a similar fashion. Three months later, we would receive Revision 2 boards, which brought the RCP up to full speed as well as fixing a few minor bugs. Another pleasant surprise was |
decisions [02:36:42] <GALBARGE> with all honesty [02:36:46] <spacekitteh> it's no more gender neutral than "he" [02:36:50] <@strudelle> about what their risk is [02:37:02] <GALBARGE> if we cant guarantee safety then we arent investing enough into this [02:37:43] <@strudelle> since more privileged people bear less risk, they are unfortunately better off in this situation, as usual [02:37:57] <@strudelle> but i'm not sure what the alternative is, aside from not having meetups at all [02:38:14] <GALBARGE> it would need to be really heavily policed [02:38:16] <spacekitteh> strudelle: i can't think of a way to have one without having ID checks, metal detectors, etc [02:38:23] <GALBARGE> it would need a serious investment of lots of people's time [02:38:26] <GALBARGE> and possibly money [02:38:31] <spacekitteh> yeah, yuo'd have to hire a security company for sure [02:38:33] <GALBARGE> it would be more like a small con than a meetup [02:38:37] <Skullsplitter> this is infeasible as fuck [02:38:42] <GALBARGE> ^ [02:38:45] <hatmoose> unfeasible i think [02:38:46] <@strudelle> spacekitteh: there are many ways to have one and many levels of security that different people would accept [02:38:49] <GALBARGE> its not impossible [02:38:58] <Skullsplitter> right now? [02:39:02] <Skullsplitter> yeah it's pretty fucking impossible [02:39:03] <GALBARGE> but i dont think a sudden "meetup!" thread will do the trick [02:39:44] <@strudelle> maybe not. like i said this is a conversation worth having [02:39:50] <GALBARGE> yeah i mean its not impossible at all but in the present situation of SRS and SRSisters alike this might now be a good idea [02:39:57] <Skullsplitter> you realize that if we do this the only people who will feel safe coming to it will be the more privileged ones right? And what if someone does get hurt? Because they very well could get hurt [02:40:19] <@strudelle> Skullsplitter: i just said that [02:40:27] <@strudelle> its unavoidable [02:40:35] <hatmoose> i wish this is what we talked about in the 'interest in meetup' thread in srshome [02:40:38] <@strudelle> no matter the level of security, more privileged people will always be more safe [02:40:42] <Skullsplitter> strudelle: whoops sorry it's late I must've missed you saying that :P [02:40:54] <Skullsplitter> at least we're in agreement [02:41:31] spacekitteh wonders how many black trans lesbians would turn up vs gawcsms [02:41:46] <GALBARGE> thats also an issue [02:41:56] <GALBARGE> you need privilege to get in as well as privilege to get out [02:41:58] <Skullsplitter> that would defeat the point [02:42:20] <GALBARGE> (ta dah) [02:42:51] <GALBARGE> like for reals, I would love a global meetup as much as any other gal, but right now it might not be possible beyond small local things [02:42:56] <GALBARGE> im not saying it wont happen [02:42:57] <GALBARGE> its all [02:42:58] <GALBARGE> in the timing [02:43:15] <spacekitteh> i'm going to a party in about 15 minutes which will have a couple of other SRSters [02:43:18] <&dworks> we've had meetups before [02:43:19] <spacekitteh> but it's purely incidental [02:43:52] <GALBARGE> spacekitteh did they invite each other or something to the community or did they all find it on their own [02:43:54] <GALBARGE> ;P [02:43:58] <GALBARGE> because like [02:44:02] <spacekitteh> i showed them all :P [02:44:06] mix [u3349@REDACTED] has joined #SRS [02:44:07] <GALBARGE> yeah see [02:44:11] <GALBARGE> hey mix [02:44:45] <mix> hi i heard there was some dworks [02:44:47] <mix> bullshit goin down [02:45:03] <mix> REPORTING FOR DUTY, PRIMARY DWORKS CALL OUTER OF BULLSHIT [02:45:03] <mix> oh wait [02:45:04] <mix> i forgot [02:45:11] <mix> it's 'harasser' nowadays, isn't it? [02:45:11] <Skullsplitter> mix: you changed your name, who were you again? I forget who you are [02:45:12] Nebula42 [~Ella@REDACTED] has quit IRC: Quit: [02:45:15] <Skullsplitter> I apologize [02:45:18] <mix> Skullsplitter: i'm a seekrit [02:45:25] <mix> prolly name-banned already i imagine [02:45:30] strudelle [~strudelle@south.cackalackee.grade.boom.booms] has set mode +b *!u3349@*.com [02:45:33] <GALBARGE> :\ [02:45:34] <Skullsplitter> gqbby? [02:45:36] mix [u3349@REDACTED] has been kicked from #SRS by strudelle [~strudelle@south.cackalackee.grade.boom.booms]: strudelle [02:45:40] <GALBARGE> yeah :( [02:45:42] <spacekitteh> Skullsplitter: yeah [02:45:46] <Skullsplitter> :( [02:46:18] Nebula42 [Nebula42@REDACTED] has joined #SRS [02:46:25] <spacekitteh> wait, chicago? isn't that the murder capital of the US? [02:46:29] <hatmoose> boy [02:46:41] MrMenagerie [~ZachH@Balls.Balls.Balls] has joined #SRS [02:46:47] <Skullsplitter> spacekitteh: I thought that was newark, nj? [02:46:50] <GALBARGE> as i said [02:46:51] <Skullsplitter> but that's another point actually [02:46:54] <spacekitteh> i don't know what nj is [02:46:54] <GALBARGE> chicago is not the best place [02:47:04] <Skullsplitter> cities are a bad idea [02:47:04] <GALBARGE> new jersey lol [02:47:05] <@strudelle> chicago is a great place [02:47:09] <Skullsplitter> it's a city [02:47:14] <Skullsplitter> with crime [02:47:25] <@strudelle> we're worried about random crime now? [02:47:29] <hatmoose> newark doesn't have that many murders [02:47:40] <hatmoose> ok that came out wrong [02:47:46] <spacekitteh> strudelle: no. it just stands to reason that it's even less safe than your average city [02:47:46] <Skullsplitter> hatmoose: oh I just remember someone saying that once it's probably completely false [02:48:58] <Alyosha> lol r/gaming is mad about feminists [02:49:13] <%Odahviing> chicago is not by any means safe if you're trans or a poc... [02:49:30] <Skullsplitter> we couldn't guarantee safety if it was in a relatively safe afea [02:49:32] <Skullsplitter> area [02:49:34] <GALBARGE> i dont know too much about chicago but i dont hear good things about it [07:03:05] <~Tesseraction> Squishy: no [07:03:15] <~Tesseraction> it was about Dworks's Chicago Meetup [07:03:21] <~Tesseraction> also about Joyindescribable [07:03:34] <~Tesseraction> do you have access to SRSHome? [07:03:37] <~Tesseraction> it's a thread in there [07:04:14] <~Tesseraction> the deleted comments are by joyindescribable and are basically long paragraphs of rape fiction [07:04:19] <GALBARGE> Hey so [07:04:22] <~Tesseraction> to prove a point [07:04:25] <GALBARGE> did i miss something in the past 3 hours [07:04:31] <GALBARGE> i saw the joy thing [07:04:34] <GALBARGE> and then i went to bed [07:04:46] <~Tesseraction> joy came in here and started graphically describing rape [07:04:52] <~Tesseraction> while calling Dworks a piece of shit [07:04:55] <~Tesseraction> so she banned her [07:05:01] <~Tesseraction> Erika then decided to take up the mantle [07:05:07] <GALBARGE> woah wait [07:05:14] <~Tesseraction> so she also ate a ban [07:05:21] <GALBARGE> i dont remember joy graphically describing rape when she came in [07:05:23] <GALBARGE> she was loud as fuckYou might also be interested in:
About C
C is a general-purpose programming language, developed by Dennis Ritchie between 1969 and 1973. Designed as an imperative procedural language, C was created with the idea that it will be compiled using a simple and easy to use compiler, provide a low-level access to memory and require negligible run-time support. The prominent features of C programming are its simple set of keywords, elegant style and a low-level access to memory, which collectively make C appropriate for system programming.
Prerequisites for Learning C
Since C is a basic programming language which lays the foundation stone for many others, there are nearly no prerequisites to C programming. With that being said, you can always practice some mathematical and reasoning problems to be able to catalyze your process to learn C programming. Most basic C programming tutorials also cover basic computer fundamentals, explaining the basics of RAM, ROM, Hard Disks, CPU and more. A basic understanding of these mentioned concepts can help you to learn faster.
Why learn C?
The biggest reason to use C programming is due to its versatility. C has been successfully used for almost all types of programming projects, ranging from simple spreadsheets to complex operating system. C holds features such as a portable compiler, a powerful repository of operators, an easy to understand and elegant to use syntax, ease of application optimization and a rich set of data types. A simple C programming tutorial is enough to get anyone started in C programming, as it has virtually no prerequisites for learning it.
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Just looking at this photo makes me want to go to the kitchen and make this cauliflower casserole again.
It’s a great side dish to many other recipes that are not Hispanic in nature.
Just imagine it alongside a Spicy Green Lentil Burger. The perfect foil. Or how about next to a lentil meatloaf or this Empanada recipe? Pretty darn good.
Let me sneak in a photo of the empanadas. I really think you’ll love those.
A Fun Spice Combination
, all the vegetables help make your dinner a complete meal which is a nice bonus because it’s perfect for lunch on a cold or hot day.
I remember when I was trying out the spice combination. Oh, man! It was a bit strong in the cloves department. So way less of that and a little more of this.
You may think cinnamon isn’t in the world of cooking in the Hispanic world but it is. Think Mexican hot chocolate.
The fresh breadcrumbs work well too because they also help soak up the flavors and give more texture.
If you’ve never had anything like this before you have got to try it. I have looked on the internet trying to find anything similar and I think it is truly unique.
So different and so good. Now my stomach’s growling.
My husband is a ‘spiceless’ man. A ‘condimentless’ man too! So he gets what I call cauliflower rice when I serve this. I dress it up with lots of dairy-free butter and some good ol’ salt and pepper.
That’s the way he likes his cauliflower casserole and now everybody is happy.
Cauliflower Rice is going to be a recipe that I put on some day. As I said, it has lots of dairy-free butter and I’ll add some things so that we’ll all want a bowlful. Not spicy but flavorful.
I’ll link to that recipe as soon as I get it on my blog.
So let’s get back to this spice filled Mexican Cauliflower recipe because it deserves our attention. It’s easy to make it and then dive in with a fork and enjoy every bite.
Helpful Tools for Making Mexican Cauliflower Casserole
Steamer pot – perfect for so many things including cauliflower, broccoli, and seitan.
You know how often you’ll use these! Stainless Measuring Spoons
10″ Skillet for sautéing the beautiful vegetables and spices.
So that you can spread out the cauliflower with all its ingredients for baking. A sturdy Casserole dish.
I’m a little cauliflower crazy and it kind of come to me later in life. More like when I started cooking for myself and experimenting with recipes.
It seems there isn’t anything you can’t do with cauliflower. For instance, these Ranch Cauliflower Tacos are filled with lots of wonderful flavors and one of the stars is cauliflower.
Let me show you what it looks like. Right here below and indeed it’s some good stuff.
It looks pretty tempting, heh? Well, I need to reel myself in or I’ll be showing you cauliflower recipes all day. Okay, I’m focusing. Check out the video for this casserole. It’s short and sweet.
Then not too far down below here is the recipe. It’s a spice bonanza.
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Print 5 from 3 votes Mexican Cauliflower Mexican Style Cauliflower Casserole has many spices and accent vegetables that blend just right. Prep Time 10 minutes Cook Time 30 minutes Total Time 40 minutes Servings 6 Servings Calories 106 kcal Author Ginny McMeans Ingredients 1 cauliflower head, separated into bite-size florets
2 tablespoons coconut oil
1 onion yellow, diced
1 green bell pepper small, diced
15 ounces tomatoes, canned diced with juice
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup breadcrumbs fresh
1/4 cup dairy-free cheddar cheese, grated Instructions Lightly oil a 9" x 10" casserole dish or close to it.
Steam the cauliflower florets for 15 minutes. They will be done when easily pierced with a fork.
Heat oil in a large skillet.
Saute the onion and bell pepper for about 10 to 15 minutes or until the onion looks translucent.
Stir in the tomatoes and cook 5 minutes. Add the spices and cook 3 more minutes.
Put the cauliflower in the prepared casserole.
Pour the mixture from the skillet on top of the cauliflower.
Combine the breadcrumbs and dairy free cheese and sprinkle over the casserole.
Bake at 350° for 15 minutes.
Put under broiler for 1 minute to brown up the top. Watch very closely. Nutrition Nutrition Facts Mexican Cauliflower Amount Per Serving (14 ounces) Calories 106 Calories from Fat 54 % Daily Value* Total Fat 6g 9% Saturated Fat 4g 20% Sodium 305mg 13% Potassium 317mg 9% Total Carbohydrates 11g 4% Dietary Fiber 2g 8% Sugars 3g Protein 2g 4% Vitamin A 21.2% Vitamin C 43.2% Calcium 3.7% Iron 4.9% * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Can You Freeze Mexican Cauliflower?
A big fat yes to that!
IF FREEZING:
Let cool to room temperature. Package in rigid sided containers.
TO PREPARE AFTER FREEZING:
Remove from the freezer and put in the refrigerator 6 to 8 hours before baking. To bake – cover with foil and put in a 350°oven for 35 minutes. Take off the foil for the last 10 minutes of baking. Ready to serve.So you weren’t among the hardy souls who greeted the first sunrise of the Acadia Centennial year, either on top of Cadillac or along Otter Cliffs?
That’s OK, because there’s plenty of time to make your Acadia New Year’s resolutions, and to rededicate yourself to ones you’ve made before.
Here are some ideas, whether you want to give back, get more fit or otherwise make Acadia New Year’s resolutions worthy of marking the 100th anniversary of the park, and the National Park Service.
Make giving back one of your Acadia New Year’s resolutions
Volunteer – If you have the time to volunteer at Acadia National Park or any other federal recreation land for 250 hours on a cumulative basis, you’re eligible for a free Interagency Annual Volunteer Pass. Among the volunteer opportunities currently listed on Acadia’s Web site, each with its own application and requirements: Seasonal bird migration monitoring volunteers at the Schoodic section of the park, and the Artist-in-Residence program (deadline for the next round is Jan. 15, 2016). But if you can’t make a long-term volunteer commitment, there are one-off opportunities through the Friends of Acadia, in particular the Take Pride in Acadia Day, the first Saturday every November. It’s the biggest volunteer event each year, where hundreds of people help get the much-loved carriage roads ready for the winter, by raking leaves and clearing drainages. Last year was the 25th anniversary of the event, and it booked up. Be sure to stay on top of when Friends of Acadia is opening up registration for the Centennial edition of Take Pride in Acadia Day, Nov. 5, 2016, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. It’s sure to be popular, with the Friends of Acadia’s Web site calling it “an extra-special celebration of volunteerism and pride in Acadia.” And if you can’t make that event, Friends of Acadia lists plenty of other volunteer opportunities on its Web site. Schoodic Institute, the non-profit partner of the park, also has volunteer opportunities, from helping maintain the new bike paths and hiking trails at Schoodic Woods, to participating in a shore clean-up.
Contribute – Perhaps you would rather give back through a charitable contribution, or purchase of products or services with a percentage of proceeds to benefit Acadia National Park or the National Park Service in their Centennial year. Technically, national parks can accept direct donations, according to the National Park Service, although the specific mechanisms aren’t spelled out on Acadia’s Web site. You can also donate via a non-profit such as Friends of Acadia, Schoodic Institute, National Park Foundation or National Parks Conservation Association. According to the Internal Revenue Service, cash or in-kind donations (but not the value of your time) to qualified non-profits or government agencies are eligible for a tax deduction. Consult with your tax adviser. While you don’t get a deduction for buying products or services from vendors that donate a percentage of proceeds, you still get the good feeling from helping to make a difference. Purchases you make through Eastern National, a non-profit that runs gift shops at Acadia’s Hulls Cove Visitor Center and at other national parks, as well as eParks®, help support the parks. So do purchases of products officially licensed with the National Park Service Centennial or Acadia Centennial logos. (NOTE: Please see sidebar about eParks® links on this site, and for 15% coupon code.)
Become an Acadia Centennial Partner – How about a once-in-a-century opportunity to give back, by becoming an Acadia Centennial Partner? This is one of the Acadia New Year’s resolutions that we’re committing to, so stay tuned for details. To become a partner, you can donate a minimum of $250, plan a special program, offer Acadia Centennial-licensed products or services for sale, or design such a product or service yourself, as long as you promise to donate at least 5% of proceeds to benefit the park. You can find out more about individuals, companies and organizations that have already signed up as an Acadia Centennial Partner, the calendar of Centennial events, and the listing of products and services, at the official Web site here.
Get more fit with an Acadia Centennial twist
Exercise 100 days in a row – If you’re a runner, perhaps in training for the Mount Desert Island Marathon or Half Marathon on Oct. 16, you can sign up for the Crow Athletics Running Club’s “STREAK-100,” where you commit to run or walk at least 1 mile a day for 100 days, beginning Jan. 1. You need to be a member of the club to join, annual dues of $10 plus credit-card processing fees. You get to log your miles on an online spreadsheet, and the chance to win an award if you are among the top 3 male or top 3 female finishers, in terms of miles logged. As a non-profit that hosts the MDI Marathon & Half, and other events, Crow Athletics gives a lot back to local communities, from Acadia to the Baxter regions. If you’re not a runner, or if you didn’t log at least 1 mile on New Year’s Day, don’t throw in the towel on your 2016 fitness goals yet! You can start your own streak at any time, doing whatever your exercise of choice is, and keep track of progress toward your goal in any way that works. Stay tuned as we at Acadia on My Mind develop a special way for people to keep track of their 2016 fitness goals, with an Acadia Centennial twist.
Hit Acadia’s trails – With Acadia’s 26 peaks on Mount Desert Island, and about 155 miles of hiking trails across the 3 sections of the park, Acadia is a perfect outdoor playground for getting and staying in shape. For the Acadia Centennial, why not commit to climbing a mountain you’ve never attempted before, if you’re in good shape and have the right gear? And if you’re particularly goal-oriented, you can consider trying to hike up all 24 peaks with trails up them in a season, or over the course of the years. If you’re just starting out with your fitness regimen, you can tackle some of the many easy village connector trails, which allow you to walk from Bar Harbor to Sieur de Monts, Schooner Head Overlook, or even Sand Beach, and from Asticou in Northeast Harbor to Jordan Pond House or Bubble Pond, just like the rusticators of yore. With Acadia expected to be even more crowded at peak times during the Centennial year, the more off-the-beaten path your peakbagging or leisurely strolls, the more enjoyable your experience will be. If you’ve never been to the less-visited Isle au Haut or Schoodic sections of the park, then perhaps the Centennial year is the time to consider hiking the trails there.
Ride Acadia’s carriage roads – With 45 miles of carriage roads within Acadia’s boundaries, there’s no shortage of routes you can come up with to bike. And with recent restoration of historic vistas along the carriage roads, just in time for the Centennial, you may come across views you never knew were there, even if you’ve biked the same route countless times before. A $170,000 National Park Service Centennial Challenge, half of the funds from the federal government and half from the Friends of Acadia, has allowed 44 historic vistas to be restored along the carriage roads. We’ve hiked some of the carriage roads, and jogged along some stretches, but we’ve never biked them. Perhaps 2016 is the year to accomplish that, with the newly reopened vistas just in time for the Centennial.
Cross something off your Acadia bucket list
In reviewing our bucket list from last year’s “New Year’s resolutions with an Acadia National Park twist,” we see that we didn’t cross off any of the more than half dozen items we listed. We still haven’t made it to Baker Island, kayaked around the Porcupine Islands, hiked or cross-country skied Acadia in winter, seen a Snowy owl or an Atlantic puffin, or visited during October, December, January or February.
That’s OK, because it just means more reason to return to Acadia during the Centennial year and beyond!
But what we did experience in 2015, without even realizing these were things to be crossed off the bucket list:
Saw Spruce grouse – Not once, but twice, we saw this elusive bird, once on the Hunter’s Brook Trail, and another time on the new Buck Cove Mountain Trail in the Schoodic Woods section of the park. We’re not avid birders, and don’t have life lists of birds to see, but the encounters with the Spruce grouse were definitely special. We started a “Wildlife in Acadia” citizen science database in part to have a place to upload our photos of that bird. One of the photos, a close-up of the grouse on the Hunter’s Brook Trail, is even being featured in the 3 rd edition of our big book, Hiking Acadia National Park, coming out in April, just in time for the Centennial. (NOTE: Please see sidebar about Amazon.com links on this site.)
– Not once, but twice, we saw this elusive bird, once on the Hunter’s Brook Trail, and another time on the new Buck Cove Mountain Trail in the Schoodic Woods section of the park. We’re not avid birders, and don’t have life lists of birds to see, but the encounters with the Spruce grouse were definitely special. We started a “Wildlife in Acadia” citizen science database in part to have a place to upload our photos of that bird. One of the photos, a close-up of the grouse on the Hunter’s Brook Trail, is even being featured in the 3 edition of our big book, Hiking Acadia National Park, coming out in April, just in time for the Centennial. (NOTE: Please see sidebar about Amazon.com links on this site.) Met a Facebook friend by chance on Isle au Haut – Who would have thought we would have met IRL (social media acronym for “in real life”) a Facebook friend we’d only known virtually, and on a small, high island off the coast of Maine? We wish we had more time to spend, but we were about to board the last mail boat of the day back to Stonington. We hope to run into him again one day, but in the meanwhile, we enjoy reading his Facebook posts. It just goes to show how small the world is, especially if Acadia is a connection. Maybe this could be a new angle on the Six Degrees of Separation / Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon game: Six Degrees of Acadia National Park!
– Who would have thought we would have met IRL (social media acronym for “in real life”) a Facebook friend we’d only known virtually, and on a small, high island off the coast of Maine? We wish we had more time to spend, but we were about to board the last mail boat of the day back to Stonington. We hope to run into him again one day, but in the meanwhile, we enjoy reading his Facebook posts. It just goes to show how small the world is, especially if Acadia is a connection. Maybe this could be a new angle on the Six Degrees of Separation / Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon game: Six Degrees of Acadia National Park! Set new highs for blog page views – Last year, the first full year of Acadia on My Mind, we received more than 51,000 page views, from readers in 103 countries, according to WordPress statistics. Most of them came from within the US, at 47,000 page views. From Canada, we received just over 1,100 views, and from the United Kingdom, nearly 400. The most-read post in 2015 was “Top 5 things to see and do for long-time visitors to Acadia.”
For 2016, one thing we’re adding to the Acadia bucket list:
Get an Acadia Centennial cancellation stamp in our Passport to Your National Parks®, which we’ve never had stamped before despite all the years of hiking national parks. Wouldn’t it be special to have the date of July 8, 2016, the actual 100th anniversary of Acadia’s founding as Sieur de Monts National Monument, as the first cancellation stamp in the book?
Also making this a special way to mark the Centennial: Acadia is the North Atlantic Regional Stamp in the 2016 Passport® Stamp Set, a series of stick-on stamps that complement cancellation stamps.
If you’re looking to mark the Centennial this same way, both the Passport® and the Passport® stamps are available for purchase at the Hulls Cove Visitor Center gift shop, or online at eParks®. (NOTE: Please see sidebar about eParks® links on this site, and for 15% coupon code.)
What’s your Acadia New Year’s resolution for the Centennial?
What Acadia New Year’s resolutions are you making for the Centennial year? What things are you planning to cross off your Acadia bucket list? And if you’re looking for other ideas for an overall National Parks bucket list, the National Park Foundation has a whole page dedicated to that.
Feel free to post comments below. Maybe by going public with your 2016 resolutions, it’ll be more likely you’ll achieve your goals.
Stay tuned as we finalize our application to be an Acadia Centennial Partner, and unveil a top-secret way to mark the Centennial, that may also help you keep track of your 2016 Acadia New Year’s resolutions.
Happy Centennial Year!President Donald Trump ran on a platform that included rounding up all the “bad hombres” in the U.S. illegally, who he infamously categorized as rapists, murderers and gangbangers, and booting them back across the border. In the course of about six weeks, Immigration and Customs Enforcement apprehended nearly 1,400 people who allegedly fit at least one of the president’s descriptions, the agency announced Thursday. Unfortunately for Trump, more than two-thirds of those arrests won’t be deported. The reason: they are U.S. citizens.
“Project New Dawn,” a part of ICE’s “Operation Community Shield” program that targeted street gangs between March 26 and May 6, led to the arrests of 1,378 people nationwide who authorities say are involved in “transnational criminal activity, including drug trafficking, weapons smuggling, human smuggling and sex trafficking, murder and racketeering.” Of those arrested, 933 are U.S. citizens. The other 445 people arrested during the program are from 21 different countries. Of those 445, 280 were arrested on administrative immigration violations, meaning their only known crime was being in the country illegally. So out of 1,378 alleged gangbangers busted during the roundup, 165 were illegal immigrants who committed crimes beyond standing on the wrong side of the border.
“Gangs threaten the safety of our communities, not just in major metropolitan areas but in our suburbs and rural areas, too,” acting ICE Director Thomas Homan said. “Gang-related violence and criminal activity present an ongoing challenge for law enforcement everywhere. Our efforts to dismantle gangs are much more effective in areas where partnership with local law enforcement is strongest.”
According to ICE, 1,095 of those arrested were confirmed gang members from gangs like the Bloods, Crips, MS-13 and the Surenos. Crips and Bloods, traditionally black, non-immigrant street gangs, combined for 241 busts, while Hispanic gangs like MS-13 and Surenos had 222 of their members scooped up in the haul. None of the remaining 283 arrests claimed a gang affiliation, ICE said, but they ended up being arrested on “either criminal or administrative charges.”
In addition to the alleged gangsters, ICE and its partnering law enforcement agencies seized 238 fire arms, more than $491,000 in cash and a lot of drugs, including 790 ounces of cocaine, 546 ounces of methamphetamine, 113 ounces of heroin and more than an ounce of fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid often mixed with heroin to make it more potent.Thousands of articles have already been written about the health risks of smoking. Yet, many celebrities continue to ignore the inscriptions on the boxes which clearly state that smoking harms our health. Some of them even talk about leading a healthy lifestyle while secretly smoking in real life. Below are the names of the most hard-core Hollywood smokers.
Hard-core Celebrity Smokers
Kate Moss smokes one pack every day, in contrast to the fact that she wears anti-nicotine patch! Colin Farrell is rarely seen on a photograph without a cigarette in his hand or mouth. Kirsten Dunst and Lindsay Lohan can not part with a pack of Marlboro even in a rehabilitation clinic! Gillian Anderson started smoking when she was 14. For the last seven years the whole America watches as Gillian quits smoking, then goes back to being a smoker, then quits once again, and so on.
Britney Spears “Advertises” Marlboro
Britney Spears once said in 2001 that she hated smokers. Indeed, time changes people since Britney has parted with her innocent image and no longer hides her cigarettes, but rather is a walking advertisement for Marlboro Lights.
Smoking Celebrities and Diseases
Patrick Swayze smokes a lot, despite being very sick (he has pancreas cancer). Charlize Theron never parts with her cigarettes at all. Ironically, she has chronic bronchitis. Group of celebrities who share this condition with Charlize includes such people as Mickey Rourke, Sean Penn, the late Heath Ledger, Jack Nicholson, and Robbie Williams.
Smoking as Part of the Style
Furthermore, some stars have to be “the bad guys” simply on the grounds of duty. Snoop Dogg and Amy Winehouse make prominent examples. Furthermore, the list can be easily extended!
Catherine Zeta-Jones Smoked During Pregnancy
At the same time, there are celebrities who simply refuse to admit this habit to the public. Catherine Zeta-Jones is one of them. She kept on smoking while being pregnant. Ubiquitous paparazzi dug out some photos on which Mrs. Douglas enjoys her cigarette on the balcony of her mansion. At that time Zeta-Jones was in her sixth month of pregnancy. There was a huge scandal over those photos in media, but actress chose not to make comments.
Smoking Spice Girls
Emma Bunton was “caught” at some restaurant with a cigarette while being portrayed as “Baby-spice” in the Spice Girls. Those photos rushed across the whole planet. Yet, Bunton was daring enough to sue, claiming that paparazzi were ruining her “baby-spice” image. In response, the media told the singer to either quit smoking or stop lying in her interviews.
Victoria Beckham, who is currently a perfect wife and mother of three, used to smoke early in her career. She no longer smokes now, or at least she claims so.
In contrast, another Spice Girls member, Melanie Brown, recently started smoking and is not ashamed of it at all.
As you can see, many celebrities suffer from this bad habit. Some of them keep on smoking even when they are very sick or pregnant. Because of this, they often look worn-out, age faster, and get sick even more often. Don’t follow their lead and to try to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
In the past few years, it has become some sort of a fad for |
ibly disappointing” and “irresponsible” for someone of Lewis’ stature to question Trump’s legitimacy as president. “I think in fact President Obama could step up,” Priebus said, suggesting that the White House should come out in Trump’s favor. (TPM)
I really do not understand this obsession with having President Obama fix everything for the incoming administration. Even if Trump had not treated him like shit on the bottom of his shoe for eight years, it makes no sense. But in this case, it is beyond absurd. They have overstepped the bounds of their position repeatedly, ignoring we still have a president. However, when it is convenient, POTUS needs to make it better! Fix my boo-boo!
“Donald Trump’s made it clear certainly over the last few years that President Obama was born in Hawaii,” Priebus claimed. “Not until the end of the campaign!” Stephanopoulos replied. “But hang on a second, George, we’re not questioning the legitimacy of the outcome of the election,” Priebus said. “You didn’t have Republicans questioning whether or not Obama legitimately beat John McCain in 2008.” “It is a fact that Donald Trump was questioning whether President Obama was eligible to serve as president under the Constitution,” Stephanopoulos countered. “And many people were, George, but that’s been resolved for years now, and it’s been resolved for at least two years in Donald Trump’s mind!” Priebus hit back. “Just a factual point,” Stephanopoulos interrupted, speaking over Priebus. “He didn’t stop raising those questions until late in this campaign, not two years.” “But look, George, that’s not the point!” Priebus said, visibly agitated. “The point is not where Barack Obama was born! The point is that we’ve got congressmen on the Democratic side of the aisle that are questioning the legitimacy of President-elect Trump.”
Irony is dead to them. Facts are dead to them. Truth is dead to them. These overrated white men think these things are dead to us. Do not let them get away with this.
Gaslighting: to drive someone insane by making them doubt their perceptions or memories. (M-W)July 24, 2014; Santa Clara, CA, USA; San Francisco 49ers safety James McCray (46, left) prepares to perform a drill against head coach Jim Harbaugh (right) during training camp at the SAP Performance Facility. (Photo: Kyle Terada, USA TODAY Sports)
SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Jim Harbaugh had lines in that Dockers ad starring his wife that made the Internet rounds a couple months back, but they ended up on the cutting-room floor.
"I'm sure they know what they're doing," the San Francisco 49ers' coach told USA TODAY Sports, sitting in his cluttered, unassuming office before a recent practice.
"Because especially the players here and most people that I talk to say they loved it, what a great job my wife (Sarah) did in the commercial, and then the second thing they loved was that I didn't have any lines. 'And the best part was you didn't say anything!'"
It played off the version of Harbaugh that spawns Internet memes: perpetually dressed in the same black sweatshirt and shapeless khaki pants, too immersed in football to care about his appearance, a little too weird to do more in a TV commercial than grin and nod.
"I enjoyed my wife doing it," Harbaugh said. "People will from time to time say, 'Why him?'"
That Harbaugh is one of the NFL's smartest and most successful head coaches as he enters his fourth season with the 49ers can get lost in the clothes, and the sideline histrionics, and the alternate two-word answers and elaborate metaphors he uses with the media.
If anything, though, Harbaugh seems to embrace the caricature.
"Uh, caricature?"
Or maybe that's just the real him.
"Uh-huh. Yeah. It could be," Harbaugh said. "They combine, honestly."
Harbaugh turned 50 in December. When he sees himself on TV these days, he sees his father.
"I just look like him. I sound like him," Harbaugh said. "I remember him when he was at that age. I'm pretty darn happy about that."
When Jack Harbaugh was 50, it was 1989 and he was beginning a 14-year stint as head coach at Western Kentucky. He left after the Hilltoppers won the Division I-AA national title in 2002.
Jim Harbaugh says he sees himself as the 49ers' coach "a long time." But talks about extending his contract – which runs through 2015 – are on hold until after a season Harbaugh surely hopes will bring his own title and all the leverage that comes with it.
The 49ers remain one of the most talented and complete teams in the NFL. Harbaugh says this is also "the least unhappy team I've ever been around," which is about as close as he'll come to praising his players' psyche before they play a game.
"That's not a word that I would put with the two: football and happy," Harbaugh said. "It's a hard, rough, tough sport. Not a lot of fun. I mean, it's fun when you win …"
And for whatever disagreement exists over the money and power Harbaugh deserves, that's what he does: win. As a coach, he always has won, dating to a 29-6 run at the University of San Diego from 2004 to 2006 and his turnaround of a moribund Stanford program to a 12-1 season in 2010.
The 49ers have won so much the past three years – a 41-14-1 record (including playoffs), three straight NFC championship game appearances, a Super Bowl trip – it's easy to forget the eight-year playoff drought that preceded Harbaugh's arrival.
"He's made for this job," tight end Vernon Davis said. "A lot of coaches, they coach the game of football. But he's made for this. That's what sets him apart."
There weren't wholesale personnel changes when Harbaugh took over in 2011. The explanation for the run of success since is, in the words of running back Frank Gore: "Bringing the right coaches in that know what they're doing."
There are few staffs better than the one put together by Harbaugh, whom Gore says "lets everybody get a piece of the puzzle." But it's Harbaugh who walks every offensive play into the huddle during practice. It's Harbaugh who sets the tone in the meeting rooms.
"He's a magnificent coach," Davis said. "He's good at what he do. The players, they just gravitate. They lean on him for everything – advice and energy. You can fill a stadium with the amount of energy that he has."
It's probably hyperbole when Harbaugh says he "didn't have one bad day last year. Not one tired day, not one down day the entire year." Everyone has gripes about their job. If Harbaugh is coaching elsewhere in two years – he'd have plenty of options – there will be reasons why.
But when it comes to the idea Harbaugh's hard-charging style will burn out himself or those around him here, he says he doesn't buy it. He still has the energy to spend part of his offseason building houses in Peru. He says he still has the desire to show up to work and – in words he often repeats to his players – attack each day with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind.
And Harbaugh seems uniquely comfortable in his own skin, not to mention his own clothes, which still don't change much now that the grind of what could be a pivotal season for his future is under way.
"There's times my 5-year-old daughter, Adie, and Katie, the 3-year-old, and Jack, who's almost 2 – they literally will be grabbing my pants. 'Don't go daddy. Come home. Come back from work. Don't go to work,'" Harbaugh said.
"That'll be the thing that someday makes me not coach anymore. But the flip side of that is I know that it's an example that's being set for them – that their dad is doing what he loves and the example of working very hard at it is a really good example for them.
"There's a struggle to it. It's a lot of practice. I get a big thrill out of football, don't get me wrong. Stepping on the practice field, the games (is an) unbelievable thrill, and then winning is really fun. But it's a struggle. Football players come to enjoy the struggle."I had resigned myself to be an Android user the day the G1 was announced. I stared at my LG enV 3 with disgust, both at the limitations of my phone and at my carrier. I would spend hours converting music and movies so I could enjoy my phone, and still was really just not feeling it. The G1 represented the entertainment value of a portable media player, the productivity of a smartphone, and the advantages of open source. Since then I’ve used or owned just about every flavor of Android out there, across over 30 devices, and with the exception of the occasional fling with a friends iPhone I had been a loyal Android user. It fit my use case, and I was already deeply inserted into many of Google’s other products.
About six months ago, however, I began to wonder about how the other mobile products had grown. When the HTC HD7 crossed my path a little while ago, I decided to abandon my Nexus S and live among the Windows Phone folks for awhile. The experience was fun, but I eventually went back to my Nexus S. About a month later, I was presented with the opportunity to repeat the experiment, only this time with a Palm Pre Plus. With the HP Touchpad on its way, I wanted to get a feel for how WebOS worked, explore the differences, and take a look into the community that was still loyal to WebOS.
When I first began this experiment, my Twitter feed exploded from WebOS users imploring me not to judge the OS on the extremely limited hardware that I was using. The Palm Pre Plus is certainly not a new phone after all, and I knew that going into this. Still, the G1 certainly wasn’t a fast phone by any stretch, so I should be able to compare my experiences and move on from there. I find the fact that Palm/HP isn’t moving into the “how big can we make this screen, anyway?” market refreshing. The display on every WebOS device I have used so far has been pleasant in both the sun and indoors. While it’s not the biggest screen out there, text and images still display nicely and it’s just plan nice for a phone to disappear in my pocket from time to time.
My Pre came with a Touchstone wireless charger, which I really must say completes the experience with the convenience of just dropping it on the stand to charge instead of hunting for a cord. The keyboard on this Pre was kind of hit or miss. Sometimes it would double-strike and sometimes it would just not recognize the press. This became a problem when entering passwords, and since there is no virtual keyboard you’re essentially stuck. Now, I have seen the newer Pre 2 and Veer, and I know that the keyboard have improved quite a bit, so I won’t hold that against them.
The WebOS user experience is refreshing. I was plenty frustrated my first week every time I went for a menu button or to hold the home key to switch apps. I think the gesture controls of WebOS are amazing, and I hope HP continues to grow that feature from its current limitations. When you have more than three cards open, its more work using gesture controls to get to them then it is to switch applications in iOS or Android. That said, I found myself continually impressed with how well my “old slow Pre” switched elegantly from app to app, and even allowed me to close apps under load with ease.
For a Google Addict, WebOS has you covered as well as they can I think. From the first time you login you’re given rapid access to Gmail, Google Talk, and the Google Calendar. The WebOS HTML5 support is so good that even the Google Voice website was really easy to use, and the card system allowed me to keep the website open as though it were an app. Unfortunately, the email client doesn’t thread emails like Gmail does, the Google Talk implementation doesn’t sync with your computer. These features remain pretty exclusive to Android, but are really only important for power users I think. All of the major apps that people use today are available for WebOS. Movies by Flixster, Facebook, Twitter clients, and more were all just as nice to use here as anywhere else. It may take a little getting used to, but if Developers continue to support WebOS it would really be quite simple for an Android user to make the change.
The hacker/modder community for Android is the definition of fragmented. Team this is at war with Team that. Team so and so stole code from Team those guys and didn’t give credit. Collaboration is almost non-existent and the result is sheer chaos. If you’re not a “techie”, you shouldn’t bother rooting your phone or trying your hand at modding your Android phone. For all of their chaos, however, some really great things have come out of that community. The WebOS modder community is much smaller, and yet I feel like they’ve accomplished more in many aspects. For starters, they are organized in a near militant fashion. Instead of half a dozen different forums with information and developer scattered about, there’s an app you download to your phone. The app is a step by step manual for downloading and using the tools necessary to start playing with your phone. Within minutes I was cruising an alternative market with apps that were either not vetted for the regular store or developer friendly tools and themes for the phone.
This alternative market tapped a nerdy side of me as well because it functioned much like a Linux repository would function, and there was a desktop-side client for installing apps if you were sitting at your computer. The PreWare Homebrew store is just the tip of a very impressive iceberg. Battery management tools, processor clock management, modified kernels, and so much more are available. The Pre Plus was not included in the last update to the latest version of WebOS, but the hombrew guys fixed that quickly, and paired with a clock speed bump it runs really well. It’s true that there are far fewer WebOS devices, but when you compare just the size of the communities and the quality of the work being generated by these developers, the decrease in signal to noise in the WebOS world shows a clear desire to keep the platform alive.
From my conversations with the die hard WebOS fan groups, the belief is that all the platform needs is competitive hardware in order to spring to life. Faster processors, more ram, and a better keyboard will cause people to flock to the OS in their opinion. Well, the first step on that road, being the HP Touchpad, has already come out. Following that, there’s not a whole lot known about the Pre 3 other than it is to be the flagship of the first of the entirely HP owned and manufactured devices. If the tiny but powerful Veer and the absolutely rabid yet organised fan community is any indication of the direction WebOS is heading, the OS could make a rapid recovery under HP’s stewardship.
As for me? I’ll be heading back to Android for now, but of all the mobile OS’ out there right now, I think that if the circumstances are right and growth happens quickly, WebOS could definitely be my new home when the Pre 3 comes out. In the mean time, I’ll be putting my hands on a TouchPad soon to compare it to the scattered and messy world of Honeycomb Android.Charlie Hoehn attributes much of his career success as a marketing strategist to one thing: his willingness to work for nothing. “Free work opens doors that you could never imagine if you took a traditional path,” he says.
The author of the ebook Recession-Proof Graduate: How To Land the Job You Want by Doing Free Work, describes working for no pay as “a means of gaining incredible experience, sharpening our skills and learning directly from master craftsmen”.
Twenty-eight-year-old Mr Hoehn, who works from his home in Texas, advocates the practice for those at the start of their careers or as a strategic approach to building new relationships. He cites one friend, an event planner who worked on the iPhone launch, who periodically drops her $50,000 project fee when she believes it could open doors to new business.
Mr Hoehn and his friend are far from alone. Forgoing pay in exchange for the promise of increased “profile” or elusive “contacts” has become a widespread practice in certain industries, thanks to new digital business models, the economic downturn and an increase in the number of people doing freelance work – either as their sole career or as part of a career portfolio. Research commissioned by the Professional Contractors Group, a UK organisation representing freelancers, estimates that the number of people freelancing in the EU has increased 45 per cent in two years from just under 6.2m in 2011 to 8.9m in 2013.
Particularly common in the creative industries, working for free has also partly been normalised by the prevalence of unpaid overtime. Meanwhile, the related practice of “working on spec” – submitting, say, graphic design ideas without any guarantee of pay – has been driven by the fact that digital technology has made the tools for certain tasks more readily available and less time-consuming.
But as these trends have become more entrenched, the backlash has become more fierce. The blogosphere is replete with much-tweeted tirades from those who have simply had enough. Some workers have deployed their creative talents to denounce the practice, for example by producing witty manifestos and flow-charts to help you decide whether to accept commissions for no pay. A much-shared email exchange by humorist David Thorne addresses the debate. Other detractors have even embraced their own motto: “If you’re good at something, never do it for free,” as spoken by Batman’s nemesis The Joker in the film The Dark Knight.
One of the manifestos is from Barney Hoskyns, a music journalist and co-founder of Rock’s Backpages, the online music journalism archive. Last year he called on freelance writers, designers and musicians to stop working for free with a manifesto published online that states: “If you allow yourself to be seduced by the myth that your unpaid labour will ‘look good on your CV’, try to see that you jeopardise not only the welfare of your replaceable elders but your own long-term future.” It will be impossible to charge for your work in the future, he argues, if you have already said that it has no value.
The trigger for his manifesto came after Rock’s Backpages co-founder Mark Pringle, who also takes photographs of writers for publishers, was asked by Audible, an Amazon subsidiary that produces digital audiobooks, if he could provide a picture for free in exchange for a credit.
By launching his manifesto Mr Hoskyns hopes to get people to stop and think. Companies, he says, “are banking on [people’s] paranoia that they’ll find someone else who will do it for free. What have you got to lose by saying ‘no’?” Writers, designers, photographers help a company’s bottom line, he says. “It is fundamentally wrong not to pay them.”
Today’s trend for working for free has a long history in the creative and entertainment industries
At the end of last year, an email written by the electronic musician Whitey, in response to a television production company, went viral. In it, the musician who has licensed his work to television series such as Breaking Bad and The Sopranos, speaks out against the company’s refusal to pay a fee for his music. “I am sick to death of your hollow schtick, of the inevitable line ‘unfortunately there’s no budget for music’ as if some fixed law of the universe handed you down a sad but immutable financial verdict preventing you from budgeting to pay for music,” he wrote, noting that he gets begging letters every week “from a booming, affluent global media industry”.
Two years ago a group of bloggers lost their legal challenge to The Huffington Post. They argued that their work – bloggers are unpaid – had provided significant value to the website and so they should be entitled to some of the profits from the site’s sale to AOL for $315m. However, the bloggers’ case was ultimately dismissed on the grounds that they had known they would not be recompensed when they signed up to write posts.
Today’s trend for working for free – which is distinct from charitable and pro bono work – has a long history in the creative and entertainment industries. More than 30 years ago, comedians including David Letterman and Jay Leno protested about not being paid for their shows at The Comedy Store in West Hollywood. Mitzi Shore, the club’s owner, saw it as a kind of workshop in which comedians could develop their craft and reputation. Ultimately, she gave in to their demands.
While the calculus might have changed in today’s digital age in which people trade off name recognition and their number of social media followers, Jaron Lanier, the computer scientist and author, warns in his book Who Owns the Future?, that today’s creative workers may well be the proverbial canaries in the coal mine, to be followed by other professions including lawyers and doctors. “Therefore, what we do to our culture today is what we do to our whole economy... someday soon.”
Seth Godin, the US entrepreneur and marketer, makes the point that sometimes offering to work for free means you do not “believe enough in what you do to have the confidence to get paid for it”. It is not just that people need to pay the rent, they also need their work to be valued, he adds.
Robert Levine, author of Free Ride: How the Internet Is Destroying the Culture Business and How the Culture Business Can Fight Back, suggests that being asked to work for free can provoke irrational, emotional responses. “Free is another price point. But it presses buttons in interesting ways that don’t necessarily make sense,” he says. Why would you turn down speaking at an event that offered no financial reward, he says, but take another that only provided a paltry honorarium?
Tyler Cowen, economics professor at George Mason University, guards against demanding that every piece of work is paid. It can be “corrupting if you get into the mindset that you only do things for money,” he says.
This point is echoed by Mr Hoehn: “If you start with money as your sole purpose for doing the work, then your standards will drop and you’ll be more accepting of lame jobs.”
But as another business maxim from The Joker goes: “It’s not about the money, it’s about sending a message.”
The earning interns
The line between unpaid internships and graduate jobs has become increasingly blurred in recent years. But employers can gain by paying those at the bottom of the career ladder.
Research into internships by the US’s National Association of Colleges and Employers found that 60 per cent of paid interns received a job offer, compared with 37 per cent of unpaid interns, because employers who paid their trainees valued the work more and gave them more experience rather than clerical tasks that did not demonstrate their skills.
Moreover, Ben Lyons, from Intern Aware, a UK campaign for fair work placements, says paying interns makes business sense: “It allows employers to draw from a much wider pool of potential recruits, rather than the small minority who can afford to work for free.”BAGUIO CITY—Her head held high, the striking 18-year-old woman marched down a scarlet runway at a Baguio café in November, in a dress designed by her mother. The two, however, did not share the limelight for this creation.
The woman’s 46-year-old mother, Rizza, is in jail. So are the other models’ moms—Sam, 33, Edith, 29, and Esther, 40—who designed and sewed the outfits on parade.
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Staged on Nov. 30, Bonifacio Day, the fashion event sought to help raise money to finance their foray into the garments business.
The detainees are staying at the Baguio City jail’s female dormitory (BCJFD) and have asked that their identities be kept confidential.
Rizza was convicted for illegal recruitment, while Esther is serving sentence for estafa. Sam and Edith are among the 49 women standing trial for illegal possession of drugs and for drug trafficking.
But all four have skills that drew the attention of the warden, Senior Insp. April Rose Ayangwa.
Rizza is good at sewing beads and sequins, having worked for three years in a bridal boutique. Before she got into trouble, Esther used to produce and sell handwoven products. She recently got her certificate in tailoring from the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.
In celebration of National Correctional Consciousness Month in October, the city jail held the fashion show, putting the four women to work with the help of 99 fellow detainees.
They used “inabel”—handwoven fabric from the Ilocos region and the Cordillera—but relied heavily on cloth available in Baguio stores. They wanted the clothes to be wearable, something that their children could use every day and produced modern ethnic, casual and formal wear.
Since most of the inmates are from the Cordillera, the four dressmakers were inspired by indigenous Filipino designs but used beadwork to provide the details. No bold ruffles and other elaborate accessories incorporated in their casual and formal wear, unlike dresses featured in couture fashion shows.
New high
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Making beadwork for clothes designed and made by the other detainees was a new high for Sam and Edith.
Sam said she had used illegal drugs for several months due to peer pressure. She was tending a small store that sold mobile telephones in Kalinga province when her friends enticed her to use “shabu” (methamphetamine hydrochloride) for fun.
“I did not sell shabu. I occasionally used it. I happened to hang out with the wrong set of friends,” said Sam, who has a 10-year-old adopted daughter. She was caught in a buy-bust operation in 2011.
Edith, who has a 7-year-old daughter, said she used shabu out of curiosity. She was arrested in a police raid in Mountain Province in June.
Rizza earned a certificate of excellence in tailoring and dressmaking while serving her sentence. She had since been attracting clients.
She designed and made the uniform of the Baguio City Jail Choir, Harmony. Her youngest client bagged major awards twice in a costume play (cosplay) competition.
But there was one client who had brought Rizza sleepless nights: her daughter, a part-time ramp model. “I wanted her to be proud of me. I wanted her to shine and to look beautiful on the day that she wore my clothes,” she said.
At her work station, Rizza labored for days to finish the outfits. “We skipped meals because we were neck-deep in work. We got excited because we were part of the creation of beautiful clothes,” Edith said.
The clothes and the Nov. 30 show were all Ayangwa had hoped for. She started to oversee the jail facility in January, and set out to make its 103 detainees productive.
“We do not expect them to be hired [immediately] once they complete their prison terms. We wanted to train them so they have a source of income when they return to their families,” she said.
Productive
The city government and nongovernment organizations have helped finance the detainees’ interests in learning baking, tailoring, dressmaking and flower arrangement. Their products are sold at the display center of the city jail.
The detainees were happy to learn that their own children walked down the ramp to model their creations. Their youngest model was 2, their oldest 26. About a hundred people bought P500 tickets to watch the show.
Ayangwa said Rizza’s daughter exuded confidence and elegance as she had been taking on modeling assignments to support her education. “She must be very proud of what her mother had accomplished,” she said.
Inspired by the talent and efforts of the detainees, a businessman pledged to donate a complete set of sewing equipment.
Proceeds from the fashion show would be used to buy fabric, beads and sewing materials for the BCJFD tailor shop. This year, the female detainees would be accepting orders to support their families.
“I never imagined I can pursue my dream after my foray into drugs,” Sam said.
Edith said the show gave her and the other detainees a sense of fulfillment.
FAST FACTS
This year, the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology changed the word “inmate” to “people deprived of liberty” or PDL.
As of November 2016, there were 103 detainees at the Baguio City Jail female dormitory.
Forty-nine of the detainees have been charged with drug abuse and drug peddling, 29 are facing estafa and illegal recruitment charges, and the rest, qualified theft, child abuse, child trafficking and murder charges.
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MOST READThe pediatric intensive care unit at a nearby children's hospital has become like a second home for Lenexa mom Christine Bay and her 2-year-old daughter, Autumn.
"We're on a first-name basis with everyone at the Children's Mercy PIC-U," Bay said this week.
Bay said her daughter has sodium channelopathy, a genetic disorder that causes her to have seizures that have thus far defied all traditional medical treatments. Bay is adding her voice to a growing chorus of families calling for state governments to allow them to try medicinal marijuana in the form of an oil derived from cannabis that some seizure sufferers say is a godsend.
"I want them to stop interfering with the physician-patient relationship," Bay said. "If a physician feels this should be an option, it should not be up to politicians to tell us whether we can take a medication."
The oil, like all marijuana products, is currently illegal in Kansas. But Bay said she has talked to physicians in Colorado — one of the states that have legalized medical marijuana — who are willing to write her daughter a prescription for the cannabis oil today.
A Kansas City television station reported that prohibitions in Missouri and Kansas spurred Kansas City mother Holli Brown to move to Colorado Springs last year, where she said her 10-year-old daughter's seizures are being successfully treated with the cannabis extract.
Bay said that isn’t an option for her family. They own a home and a business in the Kansas City area, they have four other children in school and they have a team at Children's Mercy that understands Autumn's complex case.
"We are not in the position to be able to relocate," Bay said.
Bay said the fear of legal action keeps her from transporting the substance from Colorado, and even if she could import it, the fear of child welfare action would deter her from administering it in states in which it is prohibited. Natalie Judd, a spokeswoman for the American Epilepsy Society, said Bay's situation isn’t unique, given the patchwork of state marijuana laws.
"This has been a story unfolding in many places around the country," Judd said.
Judd referred to the epilepsy society's official position paper on medicinal marijuana as a seizure treatment, which encourages more research.
The paper notes that one-third of the 3 million Americans with epilepsy have "ongoing, treatment-resistant seizures" and anecdotes about successful treatment through cannabidiol "give reason for hope."
But the paper stresses that anecdotes can’t take the place of controlled medical studies, of which there haven’t been enough, the society says.
"At present, the epilepsy community does not know if marijuana is a safe and effective treatment nor do we know the long-term effects that marijuana will have on learning, memory and behavior, especially in infants and young children," the society's paper states. "This knowledge-gap is of particular concern because both clinical data in adolescents and adults and laboratory data in animals demonstrate that there are potential negative effects of marijuana on these critical brain functions."
The society's paper urges that the federal Drug Enforcement Agency review its listing of marijuana as a Schedule 1 controlled substance, which has restricted some research.
Meanwhile, states are moving on their own to decriminalize prescription marijuana.
Minnesota passed a bill allowing for limited use of cannabis oil only this year, bringing the number of states with some legal medical marijuana to 22, plus Washington, D.C.
The Missouri Legislature passed a more limited version this year that allows for cannabis oil with small amounts of THC for epilepsy patients for whom three other treatments have failed to quell their seizures. As of Friday, Gov. Jay Nixon had yet to sign the bill into law.
The Kansas Legislature had hearings on medical marijuana in 2012, when former Rep. Brenda Landwehr, R-Wichita, was chairwoman of the House Health and Human Services Committee.
It didn’t make it out of Landwehr's committee, and since then, other committee chairs haven’t brought the issue up for debate, though advocates like Sen. David Haley, D-Kansas City, introduce medical marijuana bills annually.
Haley said recently he believes attitudes toward marijuana are changing, even in conservative states, and the evidence lies in the number of states to legalize.
"We'll see what the (Kansas) Senate does," Haley said. "But I certainly share with compassion the many stories I've heard from families having to make key health decisions based on an unwarranted stigma that I predict will be fully resolved within a decade."
Meanwhile, Autumn's condition consumes Bay's life, keeping her from work and socializing. She watches and hopes that Autumn won’t have another hour-long seizure that will land her back in the Children's Mercy PIC-U, on a breathing tube.
"I can’t take my eyes off her," Bay said. "She could have a seizure at any time."Today, the chairman of the FCC announced his desire to abandon the agency’s net neutrality protections – which protect online competition, free speech, and privacy from interference by Internet service providers like Comcast and AT&T – by undermining the legal authority behind those protections.
Rolling back the FCC’s Open Internet Order would mean losing the only rules that meaningfully prevent ISPs from taking advantage of their control over your Internet connection to shape your Internet experience and the market for services and devices that rely on that Internet connection. Since most Americans have only one option for broadband service, ISPs would have unchecked power to extract tolls from you and from businesses that wish to reach you. While the big incumbents like Facebook and Netflix might be able to pay those tolls, the next Facebook or Netflix would have a very hard time competing. Investors hesitate to fund startups that can be held for ransom by someone like an ISP. And the situation is even more dire for nonprofits like schools, libraries, educational sites, and political groups.
Chairman Pai suggests these fears are unfounded, but we’ve seen ISPs use every method at their disposal to favor their own content over competitors, going up to and even over the lines drawn by the previous FCC. This is particularly concerning given that at least one major ISP, Verizon, ran a news service that banned content regarding mass surveillance and net neutrality itself as contrary to the company’s interests. In Canada, an ISP blocked access to a site being used by a labor union to organize against it. A decade of misguided FCC policymaking unfortunately helped create the dysfunctional ISP market; the Open Internet Order is our best hope for preventing ISPs from abusing their power to become private gatekeepers on speech.
Today’s announcement cleverly pretends that the current “bright-line rules,” which clearly prohibit blocking and throttling, might survive. The law says otherwise. If Chairman Pai follows through on his intention to “reclassify” broadband service, it would be legally impossible for the FCC to enforce any such rules. How do we know this? Because the DC Circuit said so.
The same is true for privacy. Pai suggested that the Federal Trade Commission could enforce privacy requirements, but this is an empty promise for two reasons. First, the FTC can only intervene if an ISP breaks a privacy promise, and ISP lawyers are very good at avoiding enforceable promises. Second, a federal appeals court has held that a company can’t be the subject of FTC action if any part of its offerings is a “common carrier,” like telephone service. So if your ISP also offers telephone service, the FTC can’t touch it. That’s the law right now on the west coast and it’s a regime that telecoms doubtless will continue to promote elsewhere.
In short, Pai’s proposal leaves Internet users and small businesses completely at the mercy of ISPs. No one in the government would be able to step in to prevent abusive blocking and throttling of Internet content, pay-to-play fast lanes, or privacy violations by ISPs.
That in turn will be devastating for competition, innovation, and free speech. The harms of ISP discrimination and market failure were well-documented in the months-long rulemaking and millions of comments that urged the FCC to protect net neutrality in 2015. The new FCC seems determined to ignore the evidence and the wishes of the vast majority of the public, in order to advance the desires of some powerful ISPs.
The Internet has won this fight before, and we can win it again. The best way you can help now is to tell Congress to stop the FCC from throwing Internet users and innovators to the wolves. If you have a startup, you can also join a letter from over 800 small businesses from all fifty states in supporting net neutrality.
Tell Congress: Don't Surrender the Internet.A decorated army veteran renowned for rescuing youths from Islamic State today warned that the terrorist group is placing'sleeper cells' in European countries including the UK.
Dimitri Bontinck, who is known as the 'Jihadi Hunter', spoke out as he prepared to support his own teenage son in a criminal trial after bringing him home from Syria.
It came as Home Secretary Theresa May and senior British police chiefs also said that a terrorist atrocity involving an ISIS-style beheading or bomb attack on civilians is now 'almost inevitable'.
Referring to their campaign of atrocities carried out abroad, Mr Bontinck, 41, told MailOnline: 'It's not the kids who are the principal danger – it's the chiefs whom you never see in the videos.
'The mature men running this organisation are deeply sinister, and extremely well-funded, and they have European countries such as Britain, France and Belgium in their sights.'
Belgian Army veteran Dimitri Bontinck (centre) poses with contacts in war-torn Syria. He has warned that the Islamic State is placing sleepers cells in the UK and other European countries after lisasing with members of Jabhat Al Nusra, a branch of Al Qaeda, and other contacts with close links to ISIS operatives
Some of the contacts Mr Bontinck met in the Syrian town of Al-Hamraa during his missions to find his son
He added: 'Their aim is to take revenge against the west for what they view as an |
exist after this apocalypse?come on, they have to, Fallout wouldn?t lie to me!)
The second is a particular event of the ending, where the human slaves (lead by Jonnie Goodboy?Git?R Done? Tyler) break into Fort Knox, give the Psychlos gold bars they?mined?, and then teach themselves to successfully pilot thousand-year-old F-14s in glorious victory against the Psychlo invaders. Even accepting that men from pre-literate societies could, you know, train themselves to pilot jet fighters from reading manuals written in a dead fucking language, there?s the issue of how operable thousand-year-old fighter jets, possibly with fuel rotting away at the tanks, are going to be. A scene where someone powered one up and it promptly exploded would?ve been fantastic, if admittedly a downbeat ending to the film.
7) Crisis on Infinite Earths
Not many people consider DC Comics? Crisis on Infinite Earths an apocalyptic story, but you really should. The story basically entailed the anti-matter devil coming and making every setting used by the comics at the time fucking explode. The made them explode so hard that all the debris and shit fused together into a wildly inconsistent new world, much of it drawn by John Byrne and George Perez, much of it obsessed with trying to be interesting despite not being able to use a lot of the fans? favorite characters and situations.
This type of apocalypse?the?apocalypse of housecleaning??has become an alarmingly frequent story device used by writers of ongoing serial fictions, like comics, tabletop roleplaying games, MMOs, pretty much anything where starting over may mean arbitrarily making what came before explode into an edgy new art style. The main problem with this sort of device is that once you introduce it into a setting, there?s no backsies. If all creation exploded into a different all creation once, then why not do it again? Some editors may get it into their head that, really, nothing else you can do is going to seem threatening after a multiversal death storm. Maybe they?re right. God knows the past four years of DC?s comics output has had?omg the world a?splode?gain? as its driving multi-title plot thread.
I?m in the camp that thinks Crisis isn?t a bad story? a silly one, sure? but even then, when it first destroyed the DC Universe, it set a horrible long-running apocalyptic juggernaut in place. It made mediocrities like Zero Hour an inevitability, and allowed bugnuts stupid shit like Superboy creating and fixing continuity errors by punching the walls of the universe to even be considered publishable. Maybe there are some places where serial fiction shouldn?t go, and maybe the retcon apocalypse is one of them. Once you start, can you ever really stop?
6) Age of Apocalypse
Initially I was going to call out Days of Future Past for this, but a friend (rightfully) pointed out that Age of Apocalypse used pretty much the same type of apocalyptic story with essentially the same characters while telling it infinitely more poorly. After all, while someone from the future begs the X-Men of the past (or now) to avert a horrible post-apocalyptic future by preventing a given event from happening, Age of Apocalypse doesn?t even that tenuous tie to something a reader might actually give a shit about. Age of Apocalypse is quite literally an apocalypse that never happened, starring people who don?t exist and, aside from fucking up ’90s X-Men continuity even more, don?t fucking matter at all.
In the case of Age of Apocalypse, time travel is used to incite the apocalypse instead of being reserved as a method for resolving it (which forces them to do bullshit with the M?Kraan crystal to get us back into the usual status quo when it?s time for this story to end). Legion goes back in time to kill Magneto but actually kills his father, Professor X. He ceases to exist and this somehow makes the entire world turn into a festering hellpit in the course of about forty years. The actual setting itself makes no fucking sense, with lots of psychodrama about mutant slave camps and eugenics and oh god the people delivering soliloquies as they punch each other. It?s all tremendously stupid and forgettable, and even more forgettable since any long-term way of affecting the core stories with this mess is going to be painfully contrived at best.
This general type of story has a certain obvious appeal, and shows up a lot in fanfic since creators rarely have the audacity to try and make someone spend money on it. What would your favorite characters do if everything around them went to shit? Who would they become, what would the new conflict be? The problem with this kind of story is that the?new? apocalyptic conflict is usually pretty unsolvable, so most authors weasel out by making the world not exist anymore rather than write themselves out of the corner they?re in. Maybe this involves time-travel or a magic foo-foo crystal or, if you?re the ending of the anime RahXephon, you get really ambitious and have the protagonist change the status quo by thinking really hard about what he?d rather have instead.
5) Kingdom Come
Kingdom Come is not, strictly speaking, a post-apocalyptic story. Instead it?s an apocalyptic story where the apocalypse occurs at the climax, and the denouement shows us the post-apocalyptic status quo. I still feel comfortable calling it out, because Kingdom Come has the audacity to use the apocalypse as a way of wresting a happy ending out of the story?s depressing and difficult main conflicts.
Kingdom Come is one of those?what if the superheroes GOT OLD?!!? stories that Dark Knight Returns made entirely fashionable. It also adds in devious villains, amoral n00b heroes who just like the fightin?, and a bunch of weird Earth-2 references to characters nobody but Mark Waid cares about. Superman comes back after a long retirement, tries to put all the crappy heroes in a super-prison, there?s some damn subplot involving a bunch of super-villains and Batman making like a third faction of characters who just kind of hang around in splash panels, and it all builds up to this big ridiculous mass-melee involving all of the superheroes at the end. The U.N. gets annoyed with this and sends the Blackhawks out to drop a nuclear bomb on the battling heroes.
Anyway, the beauty part of all this: conveniently, the nuke wipes out all of the characters who were inclined to do problematic things. There?s a handful of survivors getting rehabilitated or whatever on Paradise Island, but basically the magic nuclear fairy just took away most of the setting?s problem?an excess of functionless superheroes. There is briefly some half-assed tension with Superman turning against the government, but there?s another deus ex machina (no, really) to avert even that much consequence. Instead, you get a happy ending where everything?s gonna be okay and we?re gonna read about Superman forever, and that?s a pretty tasteless Point B to reach by launching a nuclear bomb from Point A.
4) Waterworld
Waterworld is another movie emblematic of a?typical? apocalypse trigger. Humans did something stupid, or wouldn?t stop doing something stupid, and now Earth is all fucked up. In a good movie, like say Wall-E, the damage feels reasonable and you see evidence of humans trying to correct the damage at the last minute. It probably doesn?t work, something terrible happens to humanity (in Wall-E?s case, they abandon Earth), and that?s roughly where your movie begins.
The problem with Waterworld is that the environmental apocalypse, despite having the fairly realistic trigger of global warming, has Earth covered by more water than actually exists on it now. In the flick (spoiler alert!) the only dry land on Earth is what was once the tip of Mount Everest, which is basically impossible. If it was possible, what would actually happen in this situation is that the entire human race would die, either of water-borne ailments or because the water level had gotten so high we couldn?t fucking breathe without assistance. Instead, the human race is surviving okay on boats and artificial islands (where the fuck do they build them?), and Kevin Costner has mutated gills and webbing for underwater travel (but not scales, that would be icky).
A post-apocalyptic story demands that the world-setting feel like a reasonable consequence of whatever triggering event took place. If your world is going to be destroyed by something very real, like global warming, then the results must at least feel realistic. If you?ve created a situation in which human society is basically impossible, then your setting needs to be rethought or you have a fucking hopelessly stupid story on your hands. I?m inclined to think Waterworld is the latter, since the entire situation was so impossible as to be completely irrelevant to the audience?s imagination.
3) Resident Evil: Extinction
One of the most interesting apocalypse triggers spawned by modern horror fiction is the?zombie apocalypse?, typified by John Romero?s worth with Night of the Living Dead. Some event, often something left intentionally unexplained, begins turning people into zombies, who then begin biting and eating other people who also become zombies. There?s only really two possible resolutions to this situation: effective armed intervention of the sort seen in Shaun of the Dead, or the zombies multiplying more rapidly than survivors can possibly kill them off, as seen in Dawn of the Dead.
Resident Evil: Extinction begins with a pretty basic Dawn of the Dead scenario. Most of the living things on Earth are zombies, because it?s not really Resident Evil until you?re fighting a fucking zombie giraffe, and the survivors are living in underground paramilitary facilities where? well, honestly, I have no idea what the hell they?re eating, but if they?ve made it this long I?ll give them the benefit of the doubt. Where Resident Evil: Extinction critically fails the zombie apocalypse scenario is by assuming that a) the surviving researchers would be totally willing to make new types of super-zombies!, and b) that?by the way there?s this chick with superpowers who can set crap on fire? is an acceptable way to avoid the logical end of a zombie apocalypse scenario, which is despair and extinction of the human race.
Not that Resident Evil: Extinction has any sort of satisfactory resolution, since hey they can always make more sequels, but even the resolutions hinted at are beyond ridiculous. The entire point of a zombie apocalypse is to point at humans being fragile and kind of hopeless creatures. It?s not a good setting for the sexy blood-on-tits action scenes that Extinction was really interested in.
2) After War Gundam X
I?m not even going to try to explain the long-running Gundam franchise to all you general media fans out there. Its inbred, incomprehensible glory is second only to how thoroughly DC?s managed to fuck up Legion of Super-Heroes. Suffice to say it?s a bit in the vein of Final Fantasy, where you have lots of extremely similar characters, designs, and situations recurring in sequential stories that usually don?t have anything to do with what came before but also kind of do. It?s also part of Japan?s family of TV franchises that serve the same stupid action delivery function that superheroes do in the US, and tend to sell poorly over here in the US since we?ve got plenty of our own home-grown stupid shit.
After War Gundam X, as the name implies, is the series that takes place after a massive war in space has destroyed Earth. You see, all the colonists in the space colonies orbiting the planet? When it looked like they wouldn?t win, they had a fit of congenital stupid and decided to fling their artificial homes down at the Earth. At one point the story tells us that this kills 90% of the Earth?s population, and devastates the environment with a mild nuclear winter. In the show itself, you see precious little that isn?t sand-blasted desert, empty generic fields, or bombed-out towns. ]
Now, you?d think this sort of thing would set human civilization back a thousand years or so, right? Plenty of horrible starvation, total loss of infrastructure, and a definite loss of knowledge. Yet, when we pick up with what passes for the story itself fifteen years after the fact? well, everything?s mostly fine. People look pretty well-fed,, you?ve got a functioning barter system up, some decent-sized cities in the rubble, and some-fucking-how there?s enough skilled labor, energy, and resources to keep the goddamn hundreds of twenty-meter giant robots we see over the course of the series up and running. Hell, we even see unemployed pilots scraping for jobs, instead of just quietly starving to death the way intellectual specialists should in these sorts of situations. At the very least we should?ve seen people cannibalizing the damn robots? power sources.
This is a drastically stupid thing a lot of Western post-apocalyptic stories do, too, wanting to have bombed out horrible non-industrial wastelands, but also wanting xyber-awesome dudes in power-armor and nuclear tanks and god knows what else fighting in it. It?s a terrible way to lie to the audience, by asking them to believe that the world?s been destroyed, but? hey, only the parts we weren?t going to need. It also betrays authors who?ve put not the slightest bit of thought into how their setting is going to work, too.
1) Zardoz
The basic type of apocalyptic story the 1974 film Zardoz is telling is a familiar one, and frankly one that?s been handled much better in other stories. You have a world where there?s a class of Haves, who live exalted lives of magic and wonder (and, perhaps, boredom and misery), and then some Have-Nots who live in whatever conditions happen to be the most wretched thing the creators can imagine.
Zardoz is special because it has two classes of Have-Nots: the Brutals, who? um, fuck a lot and are cavemen or something, and Exterminators, who run around in nuclear orange diapers trying to shoot Brutals down at a rate which exceeds the rate of Brutal pregnancies. Given that Brutals appear to do nothing but fuck, this would seem like a losing proposition to me. Then again, Exterminators worship guns and abhor the penis because a flying disembodied stone head (the titular Zardoz) tells them to, so what do I know?
The Haves in Zardoz are the Eternals, who live in Vortexes which largely resemble 60?s hippie love-in communes. Everyone sits around stoned and well-fed all day, indulging in catty psychic gossip and bullshit philosophy. Think of it as a perpetual college you can never graduate from. The Vortexes are supposedly supplied with food grown by the Exterminators, an activity we never see them engage in, and the whole status quo?s origin is vague at best. It has something to do with the Tabernacle, a magic bullshit computer, and eugenics experiments that make Sean Connery?s character the mightiest diaper-man of all.
A good apocalyptic story needs to clearly come from and go to somewhere, and even fans of Zardoz still engage in a certain amount of debate as to what the hell is going on it to this day. There?s no really good idea of where the Eternals came from, how they got there, or what any of this is supposed to mean to anyone. The ending is a triumph of? what, nature or something? Sean Connery and this no-longer-immortal Eternal chick spend the rest of their lives in a cave, having a kid and then sitting in exactly one position until their skeletons fall apart. Having just watched Zardoz, I sympathized with their plight.(CNN) -- Scientists have identified new rifts on an Antarctic ice shelf that could lead to it breaking away from the Antarctic Peninsula, the European Space Agency said.
A satellite image of the Wilkins Ice Shelf, which could break away from the Antarctic Peninsula.
The Wilkins Ice Shelf, a large sheet of floating ice south of South America, is connected to two Antarctic islands by a strip of ice. That ice "bridge" has lost about 2,000 square kilometers (about 772 square miles) this year, the ESA said.
A satellite image captured November 26 shows new rifts on the ice shelf that make it dangerously close to breaking away from the strip of ice -- and the islands to which it's connected, the ESA said.
Scientists first spotted rifts in the ice shelf in late February, and they noticed further deterioration the following week. The period marks the end of the South Pole summer and is the time when such events are most likely, said Ted Scambos, a glaciologist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado in Boulder.
Before the new rifts were spotted this week, the last cracks were noticed July 21.
"These new rifts, which have joined previously existing rifts on the ice shelf, threaten to break up the chunk of ice located beneath the 21 July date, which would cause the bridge to lose its stabilization and collapse," said Angelika Humbert, a scientist from Germany's Muenster University who spotted the cracks with Matthias Braun of the University of Bonn.
Wilkins is the size of the state of Connecticut or about half the area of Scotland. It is the largest ice shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula yet to be threatened.
If the ice shelf breaks away from the peninsula, it will not cause a rise in sea level, because it is already floating, scientists say.
Scambos said the ice shelf is not on the path of the increasingly popular tourist ships that travel from South America to Antarctica. But some plants and animals may have to adapt to the collapse.
The ice shelf had been stable for most of the past century before it began retreating in the 1990s.
Several ice shelves -- Prince Gustav Channel, Larsen Inlet, Larsen A, Larsen B, Wordie, Muller and Jones -- have collapsed in the past three decades, the British Antarctic Survey said.
Scientists say the western Antarctic peninsula -- the piece of the continent that stretches toward South America -- has warmed more than any other place on Earth over the past 50 years, rising by 0.9 degrees Fahrenheit each decade.
All About AntarcticaI just deployed a new version of unicode-math to Clojars. It’s a silly toy project that implements as many of Unicode’s math symbols as possible in Clojure. If you use it, you can write things like:
Binet’s Fibonacci Number Formula:
1 2 3 4 ( defn binet-fib [ n ] ( / ( - ( ⁿ φ n ) ( ⁿ ( - φ ) ( - n ))) ( √ 5 )))
de Morgan’s Laws:
1 2 3 ( assert ( ∀ [ p [ true false ] q [ true false ]] ( = ( ¬ ( ∧ p q )) ( ∨ ( ¬ p ) ( ¬ q )))))
Inclusion-Exclusion Principle:
1 2 3 4 ( assert ( = ( count ( ∪ A B )) ( + ( count A ) ( count B ) ( - ( count ( ∩ A B ))))))
Instructions for use are on the project’s Github page. The full list of implemented symbols is in src/unicode_math/core.clj.NASA Rover Returns Voice, Telephoto Views From Mars
PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Mars Curiosity has debuted the first recorded human voice that traveled from Earth to another planet and back.
In spoken words radioed to the rover on Mars and back to NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN) on Earth, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden noted the difficulty of landing a rover on Mars, congratulated NASA employees and the agency's commercial and government partners on the successful landing of Curiosity earlier this month, and said curiosity is what drives humans to explore.
"The knowledge we hope to gain from our observation and analysis of Gale Crater will tell us much about the possibility of life on Mars as well as the past and future possibilities for our own planet. Curiosity will bring benefits to Earth and inspire a new generation of scientists and explorers, as it prepares the way for a human mission in the not too distant future," Bolden said in the recorded message.
The voice playback was released along with new telephoto camera views of the varied Martian landscape during a news conference today at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
"With this voice, another small step is taken in extending human presence beyond Earth, and the experience of exploring remote worlds is brought a little closer to us all," said Dave Lavery, NASA Curiosity program executive. "As Curiosity continues its mission, we hope these words will be an inspiration to someone alive today who will become the first to stand upon the surface of Mars. And like the great Neil Armstrong, they will speak aloud of that next giant leap in human exploration."
The telephoto images beamed back to Earth show a scene of eroded knobs and gulches on a mountainside, with geological layering clearly exposed. The new views were taken by the 100-millimeter telephoto lens and the 34-milllimeter wide angle lens of the Mast Camera (Mastcam) instrument. Mastcam has photographed the lower slope of the nearby mountain called Mount Sharp.
"This is an area on Mount Sharp where Curiosity will go," said Mastcam principal investigator Michael Malin, of Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego. "Those layers are our ultimate objective. The dark dune field is between us and those layers. In front of the dark sand you see redder sand, with a different composition suggested by its different color. The rocks in the foreground show diversity -- some rounded, some angular, with different histories. This is a very rich geological site to look at and eventually to drive through."
A drive early Monday placed Curiosity directly over a patch where one of the spacecraft's landing engines scoured away a few inches of gravelly soil and exposed underlying rock. Researchers plan to use a neutron-shooting instrument on the rover to check for water molecules bound into minerals at this partially excavated target.
During the news conference, the rover team reported the results of a test on Curiosity's Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument, which can measure the composition of samples of atmosphere, powdered rock or soil. The amount of air from Earth's atmosphere remaining in the instrument after Curiosity's launch was more than expected, so a difference in pressure on either side of tiny pumps led SAM operators to stop pumping out the remaining Earth air as a precaution. The pumps subsequently worked, and a chemical analysis was completed on a sample of Earth air.
"As a test of the instrument, the results are beautiful confirmation of the sensitivities for identifying the gases present," said SAM principal investigator Paul Mahaffy of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "We're happy with this test and we're looking forward to the next run in a few days when we can get Mars data."
Curiosity already is returning more data from the Martian surface than have all of NASA's earlier rovers combined.
"We have an international network of telecommunications relay orbiters bringing data back from Curiosity," said JPL's Chad Edwards, chief telecommunications engineer for NASA's Mars Exploration Program. "Curiosity is boosting its data return by using a new capability for adjusting its transmission rate."
Curiosity is 3 weeks into a two-year prime mission on Mars. It will use 10 science instruments to assess whether the selected study area ever has offered environmental conditions favorable for microbial life.
JPL manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The rover was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. NASA's DSN is an international network of antennas that supports interplanetary spacecraft missions and radio and radar astronomy observations for the exploration of the solar system and the universe. The network also supports selected Earth-orbiting missions.
The full text of the administrator's message, as well as a video clip and audio clip with his recorded voice, are available at: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/news/bolden20120827.html.
To view the new images, and for more information about the Curiosity rover, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl
Guy Webster/D.C. Agle 818-354-6278/818-393-9011
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
Guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov / agle@jpl.nasa.gov
Dwayne Brown 202-358-1726
NASA Headquarters, Washington
Dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov
2012-260In 2008, "candidate Obama, he's not even president-elect, sends William Miller over to Iran to establish a back channel and let the Iranians know that should he win the election, they will have friendlier terms."
Amid media reports that President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner sought secret "back-channel" communications with Russia before Trump’s inauguration, some conservative commentators say outraged liberals have a short memory.
They say Barack Obama did pretty much the same thing during the 2008 presidential campaign, secretly sending former Ambassador to Ukraine William Miller to Iran. Like Kushner, they say, Obama went around the existing administration to forge his own diplomatic path with a foreign adversary.
"Let me set the scene for you. It's 2008, we are having an election, and candidate Obama, he's not even president-elect, sends William Miller over to Iran to establish a back channel and let the Iranians know that should he win the election, they will have friendlier terms," Wall Street Journal columnist Kimberley Strassel said on NBC’s Meet the Press on May 28.
Candidate Obama faced criticism for saying he would talk to Iranian leaders as president. And after he took office, his administration pursued back-channel communications — meaning secret dialogue outside normal diplomatic processes — with Iran as part of achieving the nuclear deal. Journalists reported on those processes extensively.
We were intrigued by the claim that Obama sought secret communication channels with Iran before he even won the 2008 election. When we started to dig into it, we were surprised to find that the evidence supporting that narrative is slim and ultimately insufficient.
As far as we can tell, this allegation stems solely from the commentary of Michael Ledeen, a conservative Iran and Iraq expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and a critic of Obama’s foreign policy.
Ledeen was also a national security consultant to President Ronald Reagan’s administration. He recently co-authored a book with Trump’s ousted National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, The Field of Fight: How We Can Win the Global War Against Radical Islam and Its Allies.
Strassel hasn’t replied to our requests for comment, but she defended her comment on Twitter by citing Ledeen’s work.
By Ledeen’s account, Miller told him that Obama sent him to Tehran in 2008. Ledeen has made this claim a number of times since at least 2013, in blog posts, on conservative talk radio, on Twitter in prepared remarks, and in a phone interview with PolitiFact June 1.
"During his first presidential campaign in 2008, Mr. Obama used a secret back channel to Tehran to assure the mullahs that he was a friend of the Islamic Republic, and that they would be very happy with his policies," Ledeen wrote in 2014 for conservative website PJ Media. "The secret channel was Ambassador William G. Miller, who served in Iran during the shah's rule, as chief of staff for the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, and as ambassador to Ukraine. Ambassador Miller has confirmed to me his conversations with Iranian leaders during the 2008 campaign."
We called up Miller. He said Ledeen’s claims are "totally untrue."
Miller told us that he supported Obama’s 2008 candidacy and knew some of the campaign’s foreign policy staff from his decades-long public service career, but he had no role in the campaign or the subsequent administration.
Miller does have extensive experience with Iran, starting out as a diplomat there in the 1950s and 1960s. President Jimmy Carter chose Miller to be a lead negotiator during the 1979 hostage crisis, while Miller was serving as staff director of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. And as a private citizen, he played a role in the release of American hikers who were imprisoned in Iran from 2009-11.
But "the assertion that Obama sent me as an envoy is totally false," he said, adding that he’s met Ledeen a few times but doesn’t really know him. Miller said he travels frequently to Iran but didn’t in 2008.
When we told Ledeen that Miller was telling a different story, Ledeen stood by his account.
"(Miller has) changed his mind," Ledeen said. "He’s decided he didn’t go to Tehran."
So either Ledeen or Miller isn’t telling the truth.
We’re sensitive to the idea that someone who was involved in secret communications might not be forthcoming with us about those communications. But it’s also telling that there have been no independent news reports to corroborate Ledeen’s claims, given the extensive reporting on the Obama administration’s relations with Iran and negotiations over the nuclear deal.
Marie Harf, who headed the State Department’s Iran nuclear negotiations communications strategy during Obama’s second term, said she hadn’t heard of these allegations until we called her.
"Never in my time at the State Department or working on Iran negotiations did any back channel prior to when we were in office come up," she said.
Wall Street Journal foreign affairs reporter Jay Solomon, author of The Iran Wars, said he "could never prove" that Obama sought a back channel to Iran as a presidential candidate, but he can’t definitively say it didn’t happen.
Like Solomon, National Iranian American Council President Trita Parsi never came across any evidence for the alleged back channel while researching either of his two books about the Obama administration’s relationship with Iran, including the upcoming Losing an Enemy: Obama, Iran and the Triumph of Diplomacy.
Parsi questioned Ledeen’s credibility and said, "At this point, I'm completely convinced this is all B.S."
Our ruling
Strassel said that in 2008, Obama’s presidential campaign secretly sent former Ambassador William Miller to Iran to talk with Iranian leaders.
This is a case of he-said-she-said. A single conservative scholar says Miller told him about his secret ‘08 campaign mission to Iran. Independent journalists who have covered U.S.-Iran relations extensively haven’t been able to confirm the account. There is no corroborating evidence, and Miller says it’s not true; he says he never worked on behalf of the Obama campaign, and he didn’t travel to Iran in 2008.
At PolitiFact, we believe the burden is on the speaker to back up their claim with evidence. The evidence here is insufficient, so we rate this claim False.With all the security issues in the past relating to privacy I’ve been wanting to install a private cloud service similar to Dropbox for some time now. So, here’s a post on how to install Seafile on the Raspberry Pi.
I choose Seafile over Owncloud because I have read multiple posts that (1) Owncloud is not very responsive an a Raspberry Pi and (2) Seafile has a better security model (see 1, 2, 3).
Using a Raspberry Pi for the server seems like a good choice, because it has very low power consumption, so you can have it running 24/7. Furthermore, the Rasperry Pi can be setup with Debian GNU/Linux (f. ex. Raspbian) running in server mode. As Debian is a widely used Linux distribution, most problems can be easily solved by searching the web.
Installing Seafile should be straightforward from following the instructions at the official Seafile Wiki. If you can read German, you can also follow the excellent instructions on Jan Karres’s blog Raspberry Pi: Owncloud-Alternative Seafile Server installieren.
As there are some pitfalls along the way, I’ll describe how I installed Seafile with SSL support.
Installation
Note: This is mainly a merge of Jan Karres’s blog post (in German) and the official wiki documentation from Seafile.
Demo values
1 2 3 4 5 domain: no-ip.org sub-domain: mycloud DDNS-domain: mycloud.no-ip.org internal server name: mycloud internal IP address of Raspberry Pi: 192.168.1.42
Prerequisites
I’ll assume you have a working Raspian installation on a Raspberry Pi.
If you want to reach your Seafile server from the internet and your ISP only provides you with a dynamic IP you will have to register with a DDNS provider such as Dyn or no-ip.com.
Step 0 Update
Update Raspbian:
$ sudo aptitude update
Step 1 Install dependencies
Install dependencies required by Seafile:
$ sudo aptitude -y install python2.7 python-setuptools python-simplejson python-imaging sqlite3
Step 2 Create seafile user
For security reasons we’ll create a separate user for running Seafile. The user will be called seafile and will not require a password, since we will never be accessing this user directly through SSH.
$ sudo adduser seafile --disabled-login (CHANGE 2016-09-14 the parameter --disable-password was a typo: Thanks to Raphi111 for the pointer)
Switch to being seafile user:
$ sudo su seafile
Change to seafile ’s home directory:
$ cd
Step 3 Download and unpack
First we’ll create a new folder mycloud in the seafile user’s home directory:
$ mkdir mycloud && cd mycloud
Download and unpack Seafile Server for Raspberry Pi from http://www.seafile.com/en/download/.
1 2 3 4 wget https://bitbucket.org/haiwen/seafile/downloads/seafile-server_2.1.5_pi.tar.gz tar -xvzf seafile-server_* mkdir installed mv seafile-server_* installed
You should have the following directory structure:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 tree /home/seafile/mycloud/ -L 2 /home/seafile/mycloud/ ├── installed │ └── seafile-server_2.1.5_pi.tar.gz └── seafile-server-2.1.5 ├── reset-admin.sh ├── runtime ├── seaf-fuse.sh ├── seafile ├── seafile.sh ├── seahub ├── seahub.sh ├── setup-seafile-mysql.py ├── setup-seafile-mysql.sh ├── setup-seafile.sh └── upgrade
All config files are in the folder mycloud (currently there are no config files present yet). New versions can be installed side by side without having to change the config files. The install process will create a soft link seafile-server-latest pointing the the most current installation.
Step 4 Installation
$ cd seafile-server-2.1.5
Before you start the install process you can have a look at the options being configured during installation here.
For this example we’ll assume your DDNS domain is mycloud.no-ip.org and that we’ll use the default location for storing our data. Furthermore, we’ll use mycloud as our server name.
During the installation of Seahub (the web frontend for the Seafile server) you must enter an admin email address and provide a password (this password is your Seafile admin password and should not be the same as your email account password).
All other question can be answered by using the default values (press ENTER).
./setup-seafile.sh
Your directory tree should now look something like this:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 tree. -L 2. ├── ccnet # <--------------------------- configuration files │ ├── ccnet.conf │ ├── ccnet.conf.lan │ ├── ccnet.conf.wan │ ├── ccnet.db │ ├── GroupMgr │ ├── misc │ ├── mykey.peer │ ├── OrgMgr │ ├── PeerMgr │ └── seafile.ini ├── conf │ └── seafdav.conf ├── installed │ └── seafile-server_2.1.5_pi.tar.gz ├── logs │ ├── ccnet.log │ ├── controller.log │ ├── http.log │ ├── seafile.log │ ├── seahub_django_request.log │ └── seahub.log ├── seafile-server-2.1.5 │ ├── reset-admin.sh │ ├── runtime │ ├── seaf-fuse.sh │ ├── seafile │ ├── seafile.sh │ ├── seahub │ ├── seahub.sh │ ├── setup-seafile-mysql.py │ ├── setup-seafile-mysql.sh │ ├── setup-seafile.sh │ └── upgrade ├── seafile-server-latest -> seafile-server-2.1.5 ├── seahub-data │ └── avatars ├── seahub.db ├── seahub_settings.py └── seahub_settings.pyc
Step 5 Update URLs for Seahub
nano /home/seafile/mycloud/ccnet/ccnet.conf
/home/seafile/mycloud/ccnet/ccnet.conf 1 SERVICE_URL = https://mycloud.no-ip.org:8001
Don’t forget replacing http with https …
Also add a line to seahub_settings.py.
nano /home/seafile/mycloud/seahub_settings.py
/home/seafile/mycloud/seahub_settings.py 1 2 SECRET_KEY... HTTP_SERVER_ROOT = 'https://mycloud.no-ip.org:8001/seafhttp'
Step 6 (Re)start Seahub in FastCGI mode
/home/seafile/mycloud/seafile-server-latest/seahub.sh stop
/home/seafile/mycloud/seafile-server-latest/seahub.sh start-fastcgi
Step 7 Install nginx (as admin)
IMPORTANT: Do not run steps 7 to 11 as user seafile. Use the default pi user for admin stuff.
sudo aptitude install nginx
Patching nginx for Raspberry Pi:
1 2 3 sudo sed -i "s/worker_processes 4;/worker_processes 1;/g" /etc/nginx/nginx.conf sudo sed -i "s/worker_connections 768;/worker_connections 128;/g" /etc/nginx/nginx.conf sudo /etc/init.d/nginx start
Step 8 Create a self certified SSL certificate (as admin)
The following commands create a self certified SSL certificate. The second to last command is interactive and will ask a few questions. Provide Country Name (enter your two letter country code, i.e. DE for Germany, UK for United Kingdom) and Common Name. The later should be your DDNS name ( mycloud.no-ip.org in this example).
1 2 3 4 5 sudo mkdir /etc/nginx/ssl cd /etc/nginx/ssl sudo openssl genrsa -out seahub.key 2048 sudo openssl |
satellite-based information on probable water sources and Isro immediately began work. Maps shared with the Karnataka government have details on prospective sites for drilling, for planning recharge structures, and so on.Isro said seven items—drainage; water bodies; canals; rainfall data; irrigated areas; springs and Wells—were considered for mapping in hydrology. Besides, the data also included geological parameters like rock type, landform, fractures or faults along with groundwater prospects with probable depth and yield range. A senior Isro official said multiple state governments have since sought such help. Isro is also providing governments a near real-time status monitoring of water bodies in the country.The City of Hamilton will start stabilizing the slope along Highway 403 near York Boulevard on Monday, following a mudslide on Friday that closed part of the highway for most of the day and wreaked havoc on traffic.
The eastbound highway between Main Street East and York Boulevard was closed around 8:30 a.m. ET, Friday morning after a water main break caused trees, debris and water to spill onto the highway. York Boulevard into the city was also closed due to concerns about the stability of the slope.
On Saturday, Hamilton city staff met with representatives from the Ministry of Transportation at the site of the mudslide to discuss the condition of the slope. Work will begin on Monday to stabilize the slope and may take up to a week to complete, the city said in a release Saturday afternoon.
For safety reasons, one lane of traffic on the eastbound Highway 403 will be closed in the area. The lane closure will start after rush hour Monday morning,
The closure will be in effect "for the better part of the week," said Dan McKinnon, director of Hamilton Waters.
He said the city is considered to be an industry leader in asset management — knowing what conditions the city's assets are in and managing them before they fail. However, he added, Hamilton is also home to a large amount of aging infrastructure, and staying ahead can be difficult.
The city has 200 kilometres of water mains, and the impact of a break depends on where it happens.
"It just so happens it had an adverse (effect during) probably one of the busiest routes on the 403," he told CBC Hamilton.
Water main repairs to follow
As a safety precaution, the York Boulevard ramp off of the highway, as well as the Hamilton-bound lanes on York Boulevard coming in from Burlington, will also remain closed, said Kelly Anderson, the city's communications officer.
Some work will also take place on York Boulevard on Sunday to prepare for Monday's work.
The water main repairs will be completed once the slope stabilization work is done, the city said.
Meanwhile, commuters who were stuck in the gridlock took to social media to voice their frustration. The incident also prompted residents to question the authorities' response and preparedness when it comes to unforeseeable situations.
On mobile and can't see the Storify? Read it here.Selective Attention
We never take in the world as it is.
Rather we are very selective about the things we notice and to which we give our attention.
Most of the world passes us by with little awareness or thought (for review of research on selective attention, see Fiske and Taylor).
Think for a moment about all of the insects that are in your immediate environment. Do you notice the spider in the corner of the room? Or the ant crawling across the floor? Probably not.
People pay attention to certain events while ignoring others.
And there are big differences in what individuals pay attention to. Have you ever spent an evening with entomologist (person who studies bugs)? If you have, you would quickly realize that insects are everywhere and that most people simply ignore them.
Or have you ever bought a new car only to suddenly discover it everywhere you go?
And business owners tell stories about changing the color of their building, only to have people, who have walked by their shop everyday for years, suddenly ask – "When did you open?"
Simply put, our take on reality is highly influenced by what we pay attention to. If you do not pay attention to insects (or have not recently purchased a new car), the world looks somewhat different to you.
And this happens in our romantic relationships as well.
If you are the type of person who is always looking for problems in your relationship, guess what you are going to find (see signs of cheating)?
And on the other hand, if you think that your husband or wife can never do any wrong, guess what you won’t see?
Are you a punctual person?
How many times does your husband or wife keep you waiting?
Are you a tidy person?
How often does your boyfriend or girlfriend leave their clothes on the floor?
Are you single, but want to be in a relationship?
Do you see happy couples everywhere you go?
Or consider this, some people are so fearful of rejection, called "rejection sensitivity," that they constantly see signs that their partner is going to leave them (e.g., "you are not paying attention to me; you didn’t return my phone call right away."). Ironically, people who are prone to "rejection sensitivity" can be so difficult to deal with that their partners are actually more likely to leave them (see Downey & Feldman and anxious attachment).
The examples could go on forever...
But, the important thing to realize that is that none of us see the world as it is. We ignore most of what happens around us. Our attention is limited to a very narrow range of events.Txtng: The Gr8 Db8 is a book written by linguist David Crystal.
The title is a logogram which stands for Texting: The Great Debate. In his book, Crystal examines the use of text messaging and its effect on language and literacy. Based on research and experimental results, he disagrees with the popular view that the use of abbreviations and slang, such as those in SMS language, will lead to low literacy and bad spelling among children.[1]
Main points [ edit ]
Crystal put forward the following points in his book:[2]
Typically, less than 10% of the words are abbreviated in text messages.
Abbreviating is not a new language; instead, it has been present for many decades.
Children and adults both use SMS language, the latter being more likely to do so.
Students do not habitually use abbreviations in their homework or examinations.
Sending text messages is not a cause of bad spelling because people need to know how to spell before they can send a text message.
Sending text messages improves people's literacy, as it provides more opportunity for people to engage with their language through reading and writing. The last point seems to be especially useful for school-age children.
References [ edit ]
Further reading [ edit ]I try to avoid “back in my day-ism” as much as possible because it’s simply not a good look on a person. Or a logical approach. Stuff changes, Sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse, and a default assumption that it’s always for the worse blinds you to the better. Be open to the possibility that new things can be good before reflexively, and inaccurately, assuming that everything was perfect for a two week period when you were 12 or 22 or whatever.
One has to work at this, however, and we all have areas in which we need to work harder. A particularly tough topic for me is uniforms.
I’m a classicist when it comes to baseball livery. Yes, there are new styles and patterns that I can appreciate once I work through my predispositions, but I have to work and since no one likes to work I tend to default to the basics: clean white home uniforms, basic gray road uniforms and a minimum of solid-colored alternate tops which, frankly, only the Oakland A’s tend to do particularly well. My list of best uniforms skew sharply traditional: I think the Dodgers, Tigers and Yankees — the teams whose uniforms have changed the least over the ages — tend to look better than most teams and always have.
The Nationals are interesting on this score because, while a newer team, I think their basic uniforms are actually pretty sweet. They have a number of alternates for which I don’t much care, but the basic home whites — especially since they went to the curly-W in 2011 — and basic grays look like they could’ve been lifted from 1960 or 1940 and are tastefully timeless.
They, like a lot of other teams, have gone a bit crazy with spring training duds, however: they have three caps, three jerseys and two different pairs of spring training pants, giving them 18 possible uniform combinations. That’s gotta be confusing for players, but as ESPN’s Eddie Matz reports, the Nats have found a way to deal with it — a mannequin that sits inside the clubhouse every day to show the players what to wear:
One of the Nationals’ clubhouse attendants, inspired by a 2015 image of mannequins modeling the Arizona Diamondbacks’ new uniforms, decided a dummy was the smart move. So in the cold of winter, as staffers packed up a tractor-trailer in preparation for the club’s annual migration to Florida, they added a mannequin on loan from the team store in Washington.
As the story notes, no one could find any evidence of a team using a mannequin to tell players what they’re supposed to wear each day, to the Nats are being novel here. Well, mostly novel:
Starter Jeremy Hellickson says that when he was in Tampa, manager Joe Maddon did have a mannequin in the locker room, but not for business purposes.
Like I said at the beginning: we need to be open to new things. Let us not judge, OK?
Follow @craigcalcaterraNew Delhi: The Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Harsh Vardhan on Sunday said the first issue he will take up for the city with the new Prime Minister would be grant of full statehood to the national capital as it would help overcoming the problem of multiplicity of authorities.
Vardhan, who was BJP’s chief ministerial nominee in the assembly polls, felt a lot of hurdles for ensuring overall development of the city will automatically get resolved if Delhi was given full statehood. “The first issue we will take up with Narendra Modiji as Prime Minister will be to grant full-statehood for Delhi," Vardhan told PTI.
In the campaign for Lok Sabha polls, BJP had promised to declare Delhi a full state if the party came to power, noting that it will help ensure proper coordination between various agencies.
BJP had swept the Lok Sabha polls in Delhi winning all seven seats with huge margins ranging from over one lakh to 2. 6 lakh votes. “The NDA (National Democratic Alliance) government had brought a bill to grant statehood to Delhi and it was tabled in Parliament," he said. The bill was referred to a Parliamentary Committee following reservations by Congress.
Vardhan said after the NDA was out of power, the Bill was never taken up by the United Progressive Alliance government. Exuding confidence that the Government under Modi will be able to address various issues faced by Delhi-ites, Vardhan said the Delhi BJP will apprise the new dispensation about key problems facing the city. “We will also take up with Modiji various key issues concerning Delhi. We will be pressing for resolving issues relating to the Delhi Master Plan 2021. We will take up issues relating to the three municipal corporation," said Vardhan.
Identifying water scarcity in Delhi as a major issue, he said Delhi BJP will also seek appropriate solution to the problem. “Water problem is a major issue for Delhi and we will definitely try to resolve it,“ Vardhan said. The current average demand for potable water in Delhi is around 1,100 mgd (million gallons per day) and the Delhi Jal Board supplies around 800 mgd water across the city after treating raw water in its treatment plants. The demand is projected to touch around 1,400 mgd by the end of the 12th Five-Year Plan in 2017. Delhi relies heavily on neighbouring states such as Haryana and Uttar Pradesh for the supply of raw water.
Vardhan also favoured reform in Delhi Development Authority and said certain issues relating to day-to-day functioning of the three municipal corporations needed to be addressed. The erstwhile Municipal Corporation was trifurcated by then Sheila Dikshit government in 2012 notwithstanding stiff opposition from BJP. “There was a need to focus on issues relating to urban development as well.
“I am confident that the new government under Modiji’s leadership will be able to fulfil aspirations of people of Delhi," Vardhan said. Asked about political scenario in Delhi, Vardhan said the party was ready for assembly election and BJP’s vote share in Lok Sabha polls in the city had jumped to 46.1% from 33.07% in the assembly polls. Central rule was imposed in Delhi on 17 February and the legislative assembly was kept in suspended animation after the Aam Aadmi Party government had resigned.If Ontario PC leader Patrick Brown forms government but fails to keep all five of his key campaign promises, he guarantees he won't seek a second term — even if the other parties are to blame.
Brown made the comments in my year-end interview with him, looking ahead to the 2018 provincial election campaign.
Since a PC minority government is one possible election outcome, I asked Brown if there are any exceptions to his pledge not to run again if he doesn't implement the central planks of the party platform called the "People's Guarantee." He said no.
"I'm just tired of having politicians make promises with no intention of putting anything behind those promises," Brown said. "I wanted more than mere words in a platform. I wanted to back it up with a guarantee that I'm all in, and if I don't get it done for the people of Ontario, then I wouldn't seek a second term."
I pressed Brown, "Even if you're a premier in a minority government, and the opposition gets together and blocks you from one of your key five promises, you will not run again?"
"If it's a minority parliament, I would work with other parties to make sure that we pass these five aspects," he replied. "I'm committed to this guarantee."
Ontario PC leader Patrick Brown (CBC)
Brown is also sticking with calling Premier Kathleen Wynne's Liberal government "politically corrupt," despite the acquittal of two senior party officials, including one of Wynne's closest advisers, in the Sudbury byelection bribery trial.
During their 14 years in power, the Liberals "may not have broken criminal laws but they certainly have broken the lines of what I think most Ontario families would view as appropriate ethical conduct," Brown said.
He said there is "no comparison" between police investigations into the Liberal government and the police investigation into the PC party's controversial nomination race in the riding of Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas.
"I instructed our team to provide any correspondence, anything the investigation was interested in, whereas you've got the Liberal Party was alleged to have deleted evidence," Brown said.
He was referring to the case of two senior aides to former premier Dalton McGuinty, who are on trial on charges of mischief and unauthorized use of a computer for allegedly deleting government documents about the gas plant cancellations. A ruling is scheduled for Jan. 19.
"This is almost two billion dollars the taxpayers are going to pay because of decisions the Liberal government took and then tried to cover up," Brown said. "We're talking about taxpayers being out billions of dollars, compared to overheated nominations where everyone and their brother seems to want to run for the PCs right now. I don't think that's a fair comparison."
Patrick Brown isn't saying what he will do if charges are laid as a result of a Hamilton police investigation into a contested Ontario PC nomination battle. (Claudine Brulé/Radio-Canada)
Hamilton police are investigating allegations by would-be PC candidate Vikram Singh that party officials rigged the nomination meeting to prevent him from winning. The Ontario PC Party has battled in court to keep a taped conversation about those allegations from becoming public.
During the interview, Brown declined to commit to a course of action if charges are laid against any party officials.
"I'm not going to get into hypotheticals," Brown said.
"Frankly, I think people are missing the bigger picture here," he added. "We've never had as many people wanting to run for our nominations. It's a sign of excitement that we have these giant nominations everywhere in the province."
The PCs are not committing to reverse several of the Wynne government's key initiatives that they have strongly criticized. Those include reforms to employment law, the privatization of Hydro One, and the 17 per cent reduction in electricity bills the Liberals call the Fair Hydro Plan.
"I'm not going to do anything that will cause the taxpayers to pay more. To unravel the unfair hydro plan would be too costly now," said Brown. "I wish they hadn't done it, it's going to cost Ontario ratepayers more, but they did it."
He rejects the NDP's pledge to bring Hydro One back into public hands as a "pie-in-the-sky" idea.
"Those shares are sold, the damage is done," Brown said. "You can't force a private shareholder to sell back a share to the province of Ontario."A woman stands outside after being denied entry to a town hall meeting with Rep. David A. Brat (R-Va.) because it had reached capacity. Brat, who spoke Tuesday in Blackstone, Va., had been criticized since President Trump’s inauguration for avoiding face-to-face meetings with constituents. (Timothy C. Wright/For The Washington Post)
Main Street had some new fixtures Tuesday alongside the quiet antique stores, the sturdy masonry, the bright gas stations, the Baptist churches.
There was the Clinton supporter who had breast surgery six weeks ago and drove an hour and 25 minutes, during rush hour, to be heard. There was the Trump supporter who stuck around despite the cane in his hand and the cancer in his body. There were the teenagers wearing Planned Parenthood shirts, the Republicans who are aghast at the 45th president, and the mothers carrying signs that say “Women for Dave Brat,” the Virginia Republican who was scheduled for a town hall at 7 p.m. in this placid town of 3,500, a few hours — and a world away — from Washington.
Kimberly Wyman was first in line, eight hours early. She wore a black T-shirt with pink letters declaring: “A woman’s place is in the revolution.” She represented many of the people who would queue up behind her on Blackstone’s Main Street: newly involved in politics, hostile to both President Trump and any Republican who supports him, and propelled to action by loose online organizing — such as local “huddles” birthed by January’s women’s march, action plans propagated by the “Indivisible” grass-roots movement and outgrowths of the Facebook group Pantsuit Nation (like Together We Will).
“If you live in a small town, you think no one’s going to come and join you — and people do,” said Wyman, 41, who deals antiques in Spotsylvania County. Her home is at the northern end of Rep. David A. Brat’s sprawling 7th District, which begins near Culpeper and skirts Richmond on the way to its southern terminus here in Blackstone, 45 minutes from the North Carolina border in Nottoway County.
“This is a female-driven movement,” said Alsuin Preis, 44, an Irish woman who became a U.S. citizen in August and lives in Richmond. “These are female concerns. We were shocked, stunned and horrified that the nerdy, informed woman was pushed aside for the infantile man-boy.”
Congress is off this week, which means its constituents are on. During visits to their home districts this month, lawmakers have hosted dozens of town halls — and felt the wrath of liberals (and of some conservatives) who are terrified of Trump’s divisive rhetoric and swift executive actions.
Brat turns to hear a question submitted in writing during the town hall meeting. (Timothy C. Wright/For The Washington Post)
[The women got up in Brat’s grill, and then some]
Not all elected officials have scheduled town halls, but those who have are enduring protests, sharp rebukes and emotional questions about what they see as a sharp turn in governance as well as the House and Senate’s willingness to check the White House.
This town hall in southern Virginia attracted both supporters and detractors of Trump and Brat. Everyone interviewed for this story said they were a constituent of the 7th except one Brat supporter from Hanover County, which was redistricted to Rep. Rob Wittman (R) last month. Some had heard about the town hall via Brat’s Facebook page. Some had heard through online activism groups, and some had been hounding Brat’s office for a Richmond event and had to settle for Blackstone. The only visible organized effort on the scene was a volunteer who handed out pro-Brat posters to empty-handed supporters in line.
The scene in Blackstone on Tuesday featured an America that’s peaceful but pleading to be heard, that promises not to relent. Many of Brat’s constituents traveled more than an hour to engage and pressure him. Some were there to show Brat support, and to remind their fellow Americans that they knew who Trump was when they voted for him and continue to support him now.
(Jorge Ribas/The Washington Post)
By 5:50 p.m., about 130 people lined Main Street outside Blackstone Herb Cottage, a restaurant with 150 chairs. No. 20 in line was Chesterfield resident Sandy Pettengill, who had heard there would be agitators and wanted to support Brat, a star of the tea party who took down House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in 2014.
“After Obama’s election you didn’t see us out in the streets,” said Pettengill, who was born in the District, retired from corporate banking, supports strict voter ID laws and considers Hillary Clinton a traitor.
Sandy Pettengill waits in line to support Brat at his town hall meeting. “After Obama’s election you didn’t see us out in the streets,” she said. (Timothy C. Wright/For The Washington Post)
A couple of spots in front of Pettengill was Daphne Cole, a retired teacher who voted for libertarian Gary Johnson because she found Clinton’s Benghazi testimony disqualifying (specifically her line “What difference, at this point, does it make?”). “We don’t have much time left,” said Cole, 63, a longtime Blackstone resident who planned to press Brat on climate issues. “I’m going to advocate strongly [for the environment] until I die.”
Redistricting brought Blackstone into Brat’s care just last month. He pledged to hold his first town hall this year among his newest constituents, though his critics say Blackstone was a more cynical calculation; it is friendly territory (its county went 55 percent for Trump) and a hassle for a lot of folks to get to from the less sympathetic suburbs of Richmond, especially on a weeknight.
“Basically this guy says women are in his grill, and I wanted to be in his grill,” said retired nurse practitioner Judy Howell, 68, who drove the 90 minutes from Richmond. “I hope [Brat] gets an earful to make him realize that not everyone is gung-ho for Trump.”
Daphne Cole, a longtime Blackstone resident, waits in line at the town hall meeting, where she planned to press Brat on climate issues. (Timothy C. Wright/For The Washington Post)
Brat, like other Republicans in Congress, has become a stand-in for the president. Rep. Jim Jordan was hounded by hecklers Monday at a town hall in Marion, Ohio. On Feb. 9, Rep. Jason Chaffetz could barely get a word in at a raucous town hall in a suburb of Salt Lake City. Blackstone, with a quaint commercial strip that looks imported from a Hollywood back lot, seemed on Tuesday like the latest setting for “America: The Movie,” complete with peaceful assembly, wholesome setting and wry indignation at the suggestion that protests were an artificial spectacle financed by special interests.
“I had to look up George Soros. I didn’t know who he was. I don’t travel in his circles,” said Karen Peters, 49, a stay-at-home mom in Midlothian who voted for Brat in 2014 but now views him (and Trump) as dangerous.
Blackstone, which has only 10 officers in its police department, was prepared for 1,000 people. It looked like somewhere near 300 showed up.
[Republicans are facing the ire of the anti-Trump movement this week. Will it last?]
“This is what I like to see,” said Blackstone Mayor Billy Coleburn, a “proud independent,” as he stood in the middle of Main Street near twilight. “Passion about government’s a good thing, isn’t it? I’ve been mayor for 10 years and I can maybe get a crowd of 50. He’s our congressman for a month and he gets hundreds.”
Mayor Billy Coleburn greets people waiting in line. “I’ve been mayor for 10 years and I can maybe get a crowd of 50. He’s our congressman for a month and he gets hundreds,” he said of Rep. Dave Brat (R-Va.). (Timothy C. Wright/For The Washington Post)
Blackstone’s history is that of small-town America: a crossroads settlement established in 1888 and nourished by tobacco and rail, made prosperous by the textile and furniture industries and then gutted by brain drain and the movement of manufacturing abroad. Many residents now commute to Richmond for work. A town hall meeting hosted by a congressman is a big deal for such a quiet town.
“Nothing really happens here,” said Amanda Key, a manager at the Brew House on Main Street. “There’s nothing to do. Everybody knows you. We’re just — here.” She didn’t vote in November but supports Trump because it “seems like he’s going to do more for us.”
Good news arrived last February: nearby Fort Pickett, a Virginia National Guard base, will be the home of a new State Department training facility for embassy security, which could bring up to 10,000 trainees through Blackstone every year, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
“They need to bring back the jobs and stop the jobs from leaving,” said Darrell Webb, 61, an owner of an upholstery business whose family has been in Blackstone for generations. He likes Brat and Trump, and he hopes their fulfillment of campaign promises extends to the local economy. “It’s little towns like this that really need the help.... The Walmart stores come in and everything you buy is from overseas and none of it is any good.”
Brat arrived on Main Street around 6:30 p.m. and worked his way up the line, starting from the back. He shook hands. He hugged. He answered or deflected question after question on the Affordable Care Act, which he wants to repeal. Richmond resident Alice Dixon, a 56-year-old retired teacher who calls herself a Reagan Republican, trailed Brat down the line, repeating an incantation: “What about Russia? What about Russia? What about Russia?”
Those who couldn’t fit inside the restaurant massed outside against its big glass windows, in Brat’s line of sight. They listened to Brat’s comments through an outdoor speaker, and they shouted at him through the glass. A staffer collected written questions and brought them inside, where Coleburn read some of them aloud. The crowd was agitated inside and boisterous outside.
“They’re booing so they can’t even hear them,” muttered a Brat supporter in a neon-yellow hoodie after Brat addressed a question about the Environmental Protection Agency.
“We could hear him if he had a larger venue,” snapped a woman in a puffy winter jacket.
When Brat invoked Judeo-Christian values as the foundation of modern law, a group of three Brat supporters applauded from the opposite sidewalk — then refused to chat with a Washington Post reporter because they believed he wouldn’t report the truth.
People sign in at the town hall meeting. (Timothy C. Wright/For The Washington Post)
The town hall went just a few minutes past the scheduled end time of 8 p.m. Before the last question, Brat tried to lighten the mood by asking, “Anybody got a good joke?”
“You!” attendees yelled outside.
After the event, Brat posed for pictures and answered questions for another hour. Then he left via the restaurant’s back door, emerged in the alley and pointed to a Blackstone police officer. “Thank you, man,” Brat said. “I’m alive! No tomatoes.” The congressman ducked into the passenger seat of a silver Lexus with a “Don’t Tread on Me” license plate. His route out of town, and out of trouble, was the same way into it: Main Street.
Read more at PowerPostHeather Edelson Endorsed by President Obama!
On Monday, October 1, President Obama announced his endorsement of Heather for Minnesota House District 49A.
Congratulations, Heather!
To read Heather's press release, click here.
To visit Heather's website, click here.
Heather and Steve in the League of Women Voters Legislative Forums
On September 6 Heather Edelson and Steve Elkins appeared with their Republican opponents at the legislative forums sponsored by the Edina League of Women Voters. Kudos to the Edina LWV for sponsoring these forums!
Through their thoughtful answers to the many questions posed, both Heather and Steve showed why they should be our next members of the Minnesota House of Representatives.
Here are links that you can use to view videos of the forums.
Heather Edelson Click here.
Steve Elkins Click here.
In addition the Bloomington League of Women Voters has recorded testimonial statements by Steve and his Republican opponent, which you can view here. The Bloomington LWV forum for legislative candidates was on October 2.
Heather and Steve on Democratic Visions
In September Heather Edelson and Steve Elkins were featured on Democratic Visions! The interviews can be seen on YouTube:
Heather Edelson Click here.
Steve Elkins Click here.The Iraqi Kurds’ independence vote on Sept. 25 has forced Congress to rethink its longtime support of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
The KRG has enjoyed bipartisan US support and a great deal of autonomy ever since the first Gulf War in 1991. Its decision to go ahead with a referendum that threatens to unravel the regional unity against the Islamic State (IS), however, has ruffled feathers on Capitol Hill.
“Obviously it was not something we felt like was in our national interest,” Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker, R-Tenn., told Al-Monitor. “We felt like it would weaken [Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi] as he runs for re-election in [2018], and we didn’t think the timing of it was good.”
“We’ve been very, very clear [with KRG President Massoud Barzani and others] that this is not something we support,” Corker added.
Although the results of the nonbinding referendum are not yet available, the “yes” vote is expected to easily prevail amid estimates of a 72% voter turnout. Corker indicated that congressional action — including possibly blocking a pending $296 million arms sale to arm two peshmerga brigades — would be contingent on Erbil’s next moves.
“It’s too early [to talk about specific repercussions]. We’ll see what steps they take after the fact,” Corker told reporters on Capitol Hill on Sept. 25. “Hopefully they won’t make an abrupt move toward true independence.”
Heightened tensions with Baghdad aren’t the only US concern. KRG neighbor and NATO member Turkey has been particularly vehement, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatening economic and even military repercussions.
Senate Foreign Relations member Chris Coons, D-Del., voiced his concerns over the referendum’s impact on regional stability.
“While I respect the right to self-determination of people around the world, I’m very concerned how this may well destabilize the region and pose real challenges to Iraq’s future,” Coons told Al-Monitor.
The KRG has also drawn condemnation from both the Iraqi central government and the international community for including disputed territories, such as the oil-rich Kirkuk province, in the vote.
“The Kurds did a great job of protecting those [disputed areas] from [IS], but the facts on the ground are that they now have control of those [disputed areas],” said Corker. “So we’ve got a number of issues there that hopefully will be worked out in an appropriate way.”
The House started signaling its own displeasure with the referendum over the summer when it passed an annual defense authorization bill in July. The bill contained report language stipulating that continued US military and nonmilitary funding is “contingent upon KRG participation in the government of a unified Iraq.”
The Donald Trump administration meanwhile has requested $365 million for peshmerga salaries and equipment for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1. The administration has also raised concerns about the referendum, however, with White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders denouncing the vote in disputed areas as “particularly provocative and destabilizing.”
Meanwhile, the Senate’s pending foreign aid spending bill raises its own questions about the future of US aid by axing previous language directing the State Department to provide the KRG with military and security assistance. Committee aides insist the updated language won’t have a practical on-the-ground impact for the Kurds, but the bill’s report language directs the State Department to provide economic and refugee assistance funds to the KRG even as it conspicuously leaves out language directing funds to go to military assistance.
Despite the negative legislative implications for Kurdish independence, some House members have doubled down on their support for Iraq’s Kurdish population and praised the referendum.
“I firmly believe in the Kurdish right to self-determination,” Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a statement. “With so many urgent issues at hand, including [IS’] final defeat, the return of displaced people, a recovering economy and political complications in the KRG, I urge Kurdish leaders to use the mandate created by this referendum to address these important issues.”
And Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., who sits on the House committee that drafted the defense bill, pointed to Baghdad’s past failure to facilitate military aid directly to Kurdish peshmerga forces as they fought IS. Franks has previously sponsored legislation to bypass Baghdad and directly arm the peshmerga as well as Iraqi Christian militias fighting alongside the Kurds.
“While the [Barack] Obama administration dithered and fought efforts to arm and support the Kurds, the [Donald] Trump administration has the opportunity to stand with a noble people in their time of need,” Franks said in a statement. “A free and independent Kurdistan can represent hope for peace in the Middle East.”2012 is the year of Chrome OS — or so we're told. When we spoke with Sundar Pichai, senior vice president of Chrome, he told us that this is the culmination of "a long, slow march" for Google's cloud-based operating system. One iteration was about getting people to understand what Chrome OS is; another was about seeding it to developers and OEMs. Now, Pichai said, Google's trying to take Chrome OS mainstream.
The company's diving in with two new devices, both running a brand-new version of Chrome OS that's been changed in a lot of important ways. There's the Chromebook, the latest version of Samsung's Series 5 laptop, and the Chromebox, a Series 3 desktop also from Samsung. Both feature the best specs we've seen yet from Chrome OS devices, though neither is particularly high-powered. Google's also released the best version of Chrome OS yet, codenamed Aura — it feels more like a desktop operating system now, and Google promises huge improvements in speed, stability, and functionality. The company's also launched Google Drive, which adds a key new feature — storage — to the Chrome OS equation.
Google and Chrome OS still face two huge questions. One, are we really ready for a computer that's entirely on the internet? And two, can Google build an operating system with the right features and performance to get us there? We'll try to answer both below, so read on.
Joshua Topolsky contributed to this review.
Video Review Video Review
Chrome OS Chrome OS Finally, Google added the OS to Chrome OS
The greatest compliment I can pay the latest revision of Chrome OS is that it finally feels like an operating system. Previous versions always felt like a lot of Chrome and not a lot of OS, as if the Chromebook was just a browser with a built-in keyboard. Everything's still browser-based, but Google has clearly realized that people want an interface that feels more like Windows or Mac OS X, even if the Chrome OS vision is for something different. Setting up your Chromebook or Chromebox is dead simple: turn the device on, log in with your Google account. That's it. If you've enabled Chrome Sync, your bookmarks and apps will automatically be loaded onto your device, and either way you'll be logged into all the Google services using the credentials you supplied at the beginning. Browser tabs meet app windows Of course, everything in Chrome OS still happens in a Chrome window, so the basic idea hasn't changed much. But window management has been totally redone, and you can now manage Chrome apps and windows just as you would Windows or Mac apps. Tabs and windows can be moved around and re-sized, and there's an Aero Snap-like feature that lets you drag a window over to the right or left edge and have it automatically resize to fill half the screen. Dragging a tab out to form its own window is simple, and setting up a dual-window, side-by-side workflow (which I use almost all the time) is a cinch.
Chrome OS is still
just bookmarks masquerading as
native apps
Apps open in one of four ways: as a regular tab in the current window, as a pinned tab, as a full-screen chromeless window, or as a normal-sized chromeless window. The latter two are the important new additions: they let you open web apps that feel like native apps, with no address bar or browser toolbars. On my Mac, I typically run anywhere from four to ten Fluid instances at once — so I can quickly switch to my Gmail without thumbing through a dozen tabs, for instance. With Chrome OS, I can just right-click on the app's icon and select "open as window" to achieve the exact same effect. You move between windows using Alt-Tab, or using the function key with three overlapping squares on it. It's a quick way to move between a couple of windows, but it breaks down if you have a lot of them open — you can only scroll forward or backward, so if you have 13 windows open you'll have to flip through all of them in order to find the one you want. A feature like Expose, which lets you see all your windows at once, would be hugely helpful here. The Chromebook also doesn't |
one nice deep throw to Dez Bryant was overturned after a review. Imagine that, a major Dez catch falling prey to the officials.) Even his final pass to Terrance Williams — the one in which Williams inexplicably failed to get out of bounds and let the clock expire — went for a modest 14 yards.
This is where it’s mandatory to cite the Bill Parcells quote about putting away the anointing oil — a koan that was intended to tamp down the initial excitement about Romo. The Cowboys have their most exciting QB prospect in years. He isn’t yet as exciting as the guy he replaced.
Winner: Every NFC Team Outside the Pacific Northwest
Ryan O’Hanlon [7:40 P.M. ET]: The early returns from the Post-Lynch Era in Seattle are in, and while the record says “1–0,” the subtext is “mediocre football team.” The list of problems is already too long: (1) Against Miami, Seattle’s best player was Cassius Marsh, who is a real person and not a collection of polygons spit out by the Madden draft generator; (2) Ndamukong Suh, as Ndamukong Suh does, stepped on Russell Wilson’s ankle, hobbling Seattle’s QB for the rest of the game and possibly even longer; (3) despite setting a career-high in pass attempts, Wilson was played toe to toe by Ryan Tannehill; (4) all-world safety Earl Thomas looked lost, like he’d been tricked into studying a fake playbook during the offseason; (5) The gaggle of sub–Beast Mode running backs couldn’t crack 3.5 yards per carry.
The Seahawks won, essentially, for no other reason than “They played the Dolphins.” Unfortunately for Seattle fans hoping to see their team win another conference title, Miami plays in the AFC.
Related Russell Wilson Is the Captain Now
Loser: Rex Ryan
Kevin Clark [5:08 ET]: What the hell was that? On the surface, the Bills had plenty of problems on defense, Ryan’s area of expertise. Their most dominant force, Marcell Dareus, is suspended. Their first-round pick, Shaq Lawson, is out after shoulder surgery. Rookie Reggie Ragland, who they thought could be solid at linebacker, is also out. So there are excuses. But here’s the problem with the Bills: They scored seven points. LeSean McCoy averaged 3.6 yards per rush. Sammy Watkins had 43 receiving yards. Tyrod Taylor threw for 111 yards. This was not supposed to happen. We are not even sure that the Ravens, who won 13–7, are even good on defense. If the Bills can’t get any meaningful contributions from their offensive playmakers, they could have a disastrous start to the season. And in a year when Rex needs to win or perhaps leave town, the pressure will be on starting with Week 2’s matchup against (gulp) the Jets, Ryan’s old team.
Loser: Proprietor, Revis Island
Sean Fennessey [4:49 ET]: There once was a beautiful island destination. Like St. Kitts or Nevis, but with fewer tourists, no insects or dangerous wildlife, and a service staff ready to answer your every beck and call. This resort town was called Revis Island and it was where wide receivers went for some rest and relaxation, never bothered to think about work, let alone receptions. This island has been destroyed by tropical storms, infested with exotic rodents, and reduced to a sandbar in a vast ocean of touchdowns. A.J. Green embarrassed Darrelle Revis, and his island, to the tune of 12 receptions, 180 yards, and one touchdown. He did this on 13 targets — the one dropped pass was underthrown by Andy Dalton, but Green very nearly snatched it from the mouth of the turf to secure a shoestring-style catch at a critical moment in the game.
Overstating the decline of Darrelle Revis has become a common pastime for Jets fans of late, and Green is an extraordinary player, both agile and fast, skilled and super-charged. But Revis looked undeniably slower and less powerful in today’s game. Where once he was an island, now he is merely a devotion upon mergent occasions.
Winner: Carson Wentz
Chris Almeida [4:49 ET]: Coming into Week 1, the bar for Carson Wentz was not set high. He came from an FCS school and he locked himself in a bathroom. Top pick Jared Goff, Wentz’s closest contemporary, failed to secure even the second quarterback spot on the Rams depth chart, which took the pressure off Wentz to secure a starting job, something that has become the expectation for top rookie quarterbacks in recent years. Until Sam Bradford was traded to the Vikings little more than a week ago, it was expected that a bewildered Wentz would be able to avoid certain embarrassment by blending in on the sideline. But, then, of course, Bradford was traded, and Wentz was given the keys to the NFL’s 26th-best offense.
It wouldn’t have been shocking if Wentz had failed this week. But he didn’t: Wentz completed nearly 60 percent of his passes and threw for 278 yards en route to a 29–10 win over RG3’s Browns. Of course, this all came against a defense that was the fourth-worst in football last year. But a win’s a win. Beautiful touchdown passes are beautiful touchdown passes. And this week Wentz had two:
Winner: Jameis Winston
Kevin Clark [4:20 ET]: Offseason jumps are hard to read. For every “Here comes Ryan Tannehill!” false alarm, there are legitimate leaps made. This seems to be the case with Jameis Winston, last seen with a modest 22-touchdown, 15-interception performance in 2015. There were no real signs that he could break into the league’s elite in 2016, just stories about weight loss and how he’s more focused than ever — typical second-year-quarterback fare.
Before we get to the performance, let’s preface it: The Falcons cannot tackle or sack the quarterback, and probably most importantly, the player they drafted to fix a massive hole in their secondary, safety Keanu Neal, was out Sunday with a knee injury. Having said that: Holy crap, Jameis Winston was awesome. He threw four touchdowns and one pick in the Bucs’ 31–24 win over Atlanta. Winston’s third-quarter 45-yard pass to Mike Evans is one of the highlights of his young career; he easily avoided Atlanta pressure then placed the ball perfectly to Evans, who was just a step ahead of Robert Alford. No one is ever going to confuse Winston with a player who will go for weeks at a time without an interception — he still throws plenty of weird and just plain bad passes — but his ability to throw players open is now showing, and if he has more days like Sunday, we’ll be talking about the Bucs threatening the Panthers in the division.
Winner: Alshon Jeffery
Shea Serrano [4:20 ET]: Two reasons: First, the Bears receiver went for 105 yards on four catches in the first half alone, including a 54-yard bomb, which is longer than any pass he caught all last year. And second, his last name is Jeffery, and Young Thug’s name is Jeffery, so that’s basically like if his name was Alshon Jesus Christ or Alshon da Vinci or Alshon Luther King Jr. (The best part of Jeffery catching that very long jump ball against a much shorter cornerback was that it prompted the Fox commentator to remark that sometimes a quarterback has to “put it up on the top shelf where the kids can’t get it.”)
Loser: Blair Walsh’s Confidence
Jordan Ritter Conn [4:20 ET]: They said they weren’t worried about the yips. Never mind that Blair Walsh missed a field goal that would have won the Vikings their wild-card game against the Seahawks in January. Never mind that it was only 27 yards, that it inspired Gary Anderson flashbacks all across the Twin Cities, and was so excruciating that it prompted a class of first-graders to send Walsh letters just to make sure he was OK. Never mind, either, that Walsh had a history with inexplicable slumps, dropping from 87 percent to 60 percent between his junior and senior years at Georgia.
The Vikings were not concerned. “I pretty much move on,” Mike Zimmer told ESPN.com. Walsh wouldn’t let it get in his head. He would be fine.
And then Sunday arrived; and Walsh missed a 37-yarder; and then a 56-yarder; and then, after two nerve-settling makes, he blew an extra point. The Vikings dusted off a lethargic first half to dispose of the Titans with ease. And yet you couldn’t shake the feeling, mounting with every Walsh miss, that January’s shank may stick with the former All-Pro kicker deep into the fall.
Winner: Terrelle Pryor, Wide Receiver
Jordan Ritter Conn [4:20 ET]: Terrelle Pryor was known as a high-maintenance recruit, until he was known for getting discounted tattoos, until he was known for mostly mediocre quarterback play spliced with occasional flashes of athletic brilliance. And then, last summer, when it began to look like he would never make it as a consistent starting NFL quarterback, Pryor quietly mentioned that he’d be open to trying wide receiver.
Little more than a year later, he’s doing this:
The Browns looked bad. RG3 looked no better. But out wide, Robert Griffin III had a 6-foot-4 and 223-pound former phenom who started to look like, at 27 years old, he may have finally found his calling.
Winner: Brock Osweiler Believers
Shea Serrano [4:20 ET]: Anyone who thought (or hoped) (or prayed) that it was going to take Brock Osweiler, quarterback savior for the Texans, longer than three passes to throw an interception was sorely disappointed. Because it took Brock Osweiler, quarterback savior for the Texans, only three passes to throw an interception. But there’s a positive spin: It took Brian Hoyer one pass as the Texans QB to throw an interception last year. So that means Brock is already 300 percent better than him. The Texans won. The current Texans QB is 300 percent better than the discarded previous Texans QB. So all is well.
Winner: The New York Jets Defensive Line
Sean Fennessey [4:20 ET]: The New York Sack Exchange was not a clever nickname. If you’re doing it right, you’re not exchanging sacks. You’re delivering them. The Jets’ vaunted 1981 defense, led by the Sack Exchange, combined for 66 sacks, delivering the most in the league. Today, the Jets’ D-line was responsible for seven sacks of the Bengals’ Andy Dalton. Here’s some math: 16 x 7 = 112. Dalton was terrific, tossing for 366 yards, but he had human Tonka truck Muhammad Wilkerson, anthropomorphic feline mutant Leonard Williams, and recently signed ex-Steeler Steve McLendon, who resembled the BFG, in his torso all day. The team didn’t even have Sheldon Richardson, who was suspended one game for a 2015 off-the-field incident. Richardson is the arguably most athletic player on the whole line. Will the Jets pile on seven sacks and several tackles for loss every week? No. But they might be better than the greatest unit in the team’s history.OTTAWA, Nov. 6, 2017 /CNW/ - From visiting friends and family, to getting goods to market, Canadians, tourists and businesses rely on Canada's safe and secure aviation system. Adjustments to screening procedures are necessary from time to time to reflect changes in the security environment and to harmonize with international standards and partner countries. Transport Canada is amending its Prohibited Items List for passengers on all domestic and international flights.
Effective November 27, 2017, Transport Canada will prohibit certain powders and granular material with a volume of 350 ml (the size of a soda can) or more at all screening checkpoints in Canada. Prohibited material includes items such as bath salts, sea salt, baby powder, foot powder, cooking powder and sand. Items such as baby formula, protein powder, tea and coffee will still be permitted in any quantity.
Consistent with international practice, Transport Canada will also amend the list so that very small knife blades (6 cm or less—about the size of a large paper clip) will not be prohibited on domestic or international flights. To respect our security screening agreement with the United States, knife blades of any length will remain prohibited on flights to the United States through preclearance facilities. Razor blades and box cutters of any size will remain prohibited at all screening checkpoints.
Quote
"The safety and security of Canadians, the travelling public, and the transportation system are Transport Canada's top priorities. These changes to screening procedures will bring Canada in line with international standards and our partner countries, while continuing to keep passengers safe. The Government of Canada remains vigilant in continuously assessing security risks."
The Honourable Marc Garneau
Minister of Transport
Transport Canada is online at www.tc.gc.ca. Subscribe to e-news or stay connected through RSS, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Flickr to keep up to date on the latest from Transport Canada.
This news release may be made available in alternative formats for persons living with visual disabilities.
SOURCE Transport Canada
For further information: Delphine Denis, Press Secretary, Office of the Honourable Marc Garneau, Minister of Transport, Ottawa, Delphine.denis@tc.gc.ca, 613-991-0700; Media Relations, Transport Canada, Ottawa, media@tc.gc.ca, 613-993-0055What I really love about this DIY manned space program is the amount of different tasks to be undertaken everyday – and the many people dedicated for this mission.
There are so much to fix, calculate, sketch, build and test and even though we are all working many parallel development phases and assignments there is one high priority milestone:__ The launch of HEAT2X/TDS-80 summer 2014.__
This mission is the culmination of previously checked out systems - on steroids – designed to give us more understanding and experience with long duration burns, high altitude trajectory, guidance and capsule atmospheric re-entry.
The HEAT2X launch vehicle is app 640 mm in diameter fitted the same size diameter TDS-80 capsule. The success of active guided rocket Sapphire is the foundation of this attempt. Active guidance is the bacon of spaceflight – the one ingredient that makes it all work. We got the space bacon!
To understand more of systems requirements, trajectory and re-entry, Thomas Pedersen has created some preliminary trajectory documents for HEAT2X and capsule TDS-80. These documents will be revised as we learn more, find errors and after testing the TM45 engine - the work horse for launch vehicle HEAT2X.
Please download and have a peek…
HEAT2X preliminary trajectory analysis, Nov 2013
TDS-80 preliminary trajectory analysis, Nov 2013
BTW.. there is always an ongoing debate internally at Copenhagen Suborbitals about having a flag on the rocket. Some think it is way too nationalistic, some believe that it is a part of spaceflight and our nation should be represented and some claims that it does not suit our project which is financially supported by people all around the world.
Personally I have a hard time displaying the flag mostly because it gives me political nausea since Danish right-wing parties have been using this oldest-flag-in-the-world for their foul work. But, maybe it’s time to claim it back?
What do you think?
Ad Astra
Kristian von Bengtson
Rocket Image Credit: Thomas Pedersen / CSI recently had an interview with Business Insider’s Matt Weinberger, where he asked me what made SharePoint so popular. Without hesitation, I said it was because it empowers people in the organization to do things without having to go to IT or a Dev all the time. But today’s users have different expectations and are accustomed to getting it themselves easily over the internet. It’s why SharePoint needs a change.
In many ways, today Microsoft is hitting Reset on SharePoint and bringing it to current expectations and requirements. Here is a list of what’s new for SharePoint.
New and Upcoming Features in SharePoint
Both SharePoint Online with Office 365 and SharePoint On-Premises are getting updates. You’ll see a lot of these show up in the next quarter, and others by the end of 2016.
I know you'll likely have a lot of questions about these, so stay tuned to this blog in the coming days as I will dive deeper into each one. To get the Microsoft version of updates, see their post.
This video summarizes everything new about the SharePoint Team Site, and all that works around it if you have 18min.
New Sites Home in Office 365
More than just a new look, I think this will help people create Sites easily, as well as find what they need quickly.
AND LOOK! It doesn’t say Sites anymore at the top, SharePoint is back on the map with its named tile.
And creating Sites in SharePoint now asks you a simpler question.
SharePoint Mobile Apps – Intranet in Your Pocket
I’ve been using the Mobile App for a few weeks now with On-Premises SharePoint, as well as Office 365, and it's awesome. You’ll even be able use it with your SharePoint 2013!
Microsoft Flow Is The New Workflow
Before you jump to conclusions, the SharePoint Workflows are still alive and strong. Today’s needs, however, are often a lot broader, and it'll take more than just SharePoint and the new Flow to solve these. As you see above, it’s available and integrated right from Lists and Libraries.
SharePoint 2016 Gets Love with Feature Packs
Customers with SharePoint 2016 will see updates called Feature Packs come their way to bring the updates done for SharePoint on Office 365 back to On-Premises.
New SharePoint Team Sites
SharePoint Team Sites are getting an update, and will also automatically create an Office 365 Group. The other way is also true: when creating a Group, it'll give you a full, modern Team Site now.
When creating Sites, you’ll also be able to identify whether or not it will contain sensitive data, so others in the site know what it’s for.
Once the Team Site is created, you’ll see a new Home Page that allows you to add or edit Posts for your site. You can also view this as a new way of doing announcements, as well. The Home Page also leverages Office Graph to show relevant content below the news section.
New SharePoint Document Libraries
I’ve already gone over the new SharePoint Document Library in detail, but now we know the Export to Excel is back, Explorer View is there, Custom Actions still work without any change or effort, and much more… Very exciting.
New Publishing Pages
Simple and responsive, you’ll be able to use the same Page Canvas you already have in Delve Blogs as Publishing Pages in your SharePoint Site.
Simple SharePoint Site Analytics
Finally, you can get a little more insight about your SharePoint Team Site by going to Site Contents.
Move and Copy Files from your OneDrive for Business to Team Sites and within Team Sites
Take files you're working on from within your OneDrive for Business (the “Me” place for your work), and move or copy the files to a Team Site when it becomes part of the “We” work in your organization.
You can also move or copy files to different document libraries within your Site.
The Future of SharePoint Is Bright
Though this was just a summary of the SharePoint updates, I can already tell you that I'm very excited about these changes. Easier to use and catching up to today’s expectations from software like SharePoint, I'm sure we'll see an even greater adoption of the platform.
Change is often difficult to take, as we're worried that it’ll impact us in a negative way, or that our routine will change. If you notice the screenshots, you'll still be able to return to Classic Mode, and this will be the case for months to come.
Those on SharePoint 2016 will get all of these updates, and will be able to choose when to install the Feature Pack themselves.
But, in general, given that there's no reduced functionality, and quite a lot of updates to the User Experience helping them use it more, my bet would be that you’ll want to make the switch sooner rather than later.
In the next few days, I will be diving deeper into each of these new SharePoint features and announcements. Stay tuned and watch Sharegate's blog for updates.“Oh, come on! That one was too easy!” Mark chuckled heartily, his laughter echoing around the large room. “Give me another.”
“Okay, okay.” Jocelyne smiled, swiping her finger across her phone screen to bring up the next trivia question. “Ooh! I bet you don’t know this one.” She teased. “On the TV series Eight Cicadas, what is Annette’s favorite ice cream flavor?”
She giggled triumphantly as she watched the smile fade from Mark’s face. “Um… Shit. I don’t know! I can’t stand that show. I think I made it through like, half an episode. Uh… pass?”
“Ha!” She laughed brightly. “I don’t believe it… The master has been stumped at last!”
“Yeah, yeah.” He rolled his eyes, but smiled. “Keep rubbing it in.”
“Oh, and the answer was ‘durian’, by the way.” Jocelyne added with a smirk. “Obviously.”
“Uh huh, and I’m sure you would have gotten it?” He asked, raising an eyebrow at her.
“Okay, okay… maybe not. I don’t like it either.” She admitted with a smile as she handed her phone to him. “Alright, my turn! Show no mercy.”
“I won’t.” He assured her with a laugh. “Let’s find a tricky one for you…” Mark peered down at the phone screen, his smile widening for a moment before suddenly vanishing. “Aw, shit.” He muttered.
Jocelyne’s brow furrowed in concern. “What?”
A heavy sigh escaped Mark’s lips. “I’ve gotta leave for work. I didn’t realize how late it was.”
“Oh.” She muttered in reply. Where had the time gone? “Guess I didn’t realize either. I mean, I was kinda hoping we’d have a chance to fit in a little…alone time?”
The girls were with Elliot for the weekend, Tobi and Colette were away for the day visiting Diego, Zayne was out with his friend Dom, and Mari and Jonas were busy puttering around downstairs. It was very rare to have so much privacy in the house, and Mark and Jocelyne liked to take advantage of it whenever they could.
Shit. This was the perfect chance. She thought sadly. Having to worry about being quiet kind of took a bit of the fun out of their sex life… And the occasional quickie in the car on date nights wasn’t nearly exciting as it used to be.
Mark just shook his head, chuckling. “Honey, if you wanted time for that, you shouldn’t have started up that trivia game. Surefire way to get us to lose track of time.”
“I know.”
“Hey, we’ll make up for it when I get home tonight, okay?” He assured her, pulling her close to him. Mark’s voice was low and sultry in her ear as he described in great detail how he planned on spending their evening. His hand crept slowly up her thigh with every word he spoke.
Jocelyne giggled, her heart fluttering and cheeks growing warm. “Mark…”
“Tante Joce?”
Both adults practically leapt to their feet at Zayne’s sudden entrance. “H-hey. I thought you were still out with Dom.” Jocelyne forced a smile, grateful he hadn’t walked in on them in an even more compromising position.
But clearly it was enough to still mortify her nephew. His cheeks reddened and he glanced down at the floor as he spoke. “I-I was. I just got back a few minutes ago.” Zayne bit his lip. “Erm… Is now not a good time? I just wanted to talk to you for a minute…”
“Nah, I was just heading out.” Mark was much more successful at keeping his demeanor casual. “Those books won’t check themselves out, you know!” He smiled warmly at his grandson, then turned to Jocelyne, planting a soft kiss against her cheek. “See you tonight.”
“Have fun at work.” She smiled.
“Always.”
Zayne finally seemed to relax as his grandfather began walking toward him. “See you later, grandpa.” He said softly, smiling.
Mark gave him a playful punch on the arm as he passed. “Later, kiddo.”
Jocelyne could tell right away that something was up – the silence that followed after Mark left the room was strangely tense and heavy… Nothing like the usual quiet moments she shared with her nephew. This can’t be good, can it?
“So… What’s up?” She asked, breaking the silence at last. “You said you wanted to talk?”
Zayne nodded seriously. “I did.” He crossed the room, taking a seat on the small leather couch.
Jocelyne followed suit and sat down at his side, waiting for him to speak again.
“I just… I guess I wanted to apologize.” He sighed softly. “I’ve been acting like a total dick – er… I mean jerk lately. And that was really stupid of me. So I’m sorry.”
The woman’s eyes widened slightly. That was definitely not what she’d been expecting. “Well, thanks.” She smiled. “That means a lot, honey.”
Zayne returned her small smile. “I’ve just had a lot on my mind lately, I guess… But I kinda decided to start acting like an idiot instead of just talking to you about it.” He let out a small laugh. “Dumb, I know.”
“Not dumb.” She shook her head. “Talking about how you’re feeling can be really hard. I get it.” Jocelyne assured him gently. “But you can tell me about it, okay? No judgements from me.”
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
Inside, Jocelyne was absolutely panicking, of course — worrying about what it could be possibly be that he wanted to tell her. But years of dealing with three teenage girls and all their drama had given her a great poker face.
He took a slow, deep breath. “I guess I kinda feel like you and grandpa are…” Zayne hesitated for a moment. “Babying me too much.”
It was all she could do to hide her relief. Oh thank God. Jocelyne had been expecting so much worse. “How so?” Her voice was calm as she spoke.
“I kinda wanna be more, like… independent, y’know? Make my own choices and do what I wanna do without you guys always worrying about everything all the time.”
She considered his words for a moment, nodding slowly in understanding. This wasn’t exactly news to her, of course. She’d known for the past couple of months that he’d been feeling this way – trying to grow up much too fast.
“We worry because we love you.” She explained. “But I’m sorry that you’re feeling so frustrated about it… And I understand. I used to feel the same way, when I was a little older than you.” Jocelyne told him, pausing for a moment. Okay… Maybe I can throw him a bone here.
“Tell you what.” She continued. “I think you have a point… You can handle yourself better on your own now. So what if we extend your curfew by an hour? How’d that be?” Jocelyne offered. “Same as the girls have now… And maybe I can ease up a bit on the rules about screen time.” She added with a little wink. “I think you’ve earned a little extra flexibility.”
To her surprise, Zayne shook his head. “That’s not what I want, Tante Joce.”
“What?” She failed at hiding her confusion. “What do you –?”
“I wanna move out.”
Did he seriously just say…? Jocelyne couldn’t even find her voice. So instead of voicing her shock and concern, she just stared at him, waiting for some sort of explanation.
“I appreciate everything you’ve done for me.” He continued, his voice stronger this time. “But I feel like it’s time to go be on my own.”
At last, she managed to speak. “Honey, what are you talking about?” Jocelyne fought to keep her voice steady. “Even if I said it was okay… You’re only sixteen. You can’t.”
“I can.” He corrected her. “Dom’s cousin did it. She went to private school in another city, and she was allowed to live on her own… As long as her parents gave permission.” Zayne explained.
Jocelyne shook her head slowly. “Well if permission is what you’re looking for, you won’t be getting it from me. I’m sorry.”
“Oh, come on!” She could already see his calm mask beginning to fade. “Can’t I at least try it? Won’t you give me a chance?!”
“And how exactly do you plan on paying rent?” Jocelyne countered, still keeping her cool. “Or the heating bill, or electricity? Water, internet…?”
She saw a brief flicker of uncertainty cross his face. “I… I’ll get a job!”
His aunt nodded. “Okay. And what if it’s not enough? What if you still can’t afford it?”
He hesitated for even longer this time. “W-what about the money Mama and Papa left me? There’s tons of it. I’ll use that.” Zayne smiled confidently as he spoke.
This is just getting ridiculous. Jocelyne felt her patience beginning to wear thin. “You can’t access those funds until you’re eighteen.” Her voice was firm. “You know that.”
“I can if you give me permission!”
“Absolutely not! Your parents wouldn’t want you wasting your inheritance on something like this, okay? Not until you’re ready.”
“But I am ready!” Zayne cried, clenching his fists at his sides. “And I bet Mama and Papa would let me have a chance to prove it!”
“Well, I’m sorry I’m not them!”
“Yeah, me too.”
Jocelyne held her face in one of her hands for a moment, calming herself. Why couldn’t he understand? “Zayne, I’m sorry, but my answer is no.” She shook her head slowly. “Look, you’re growing up. You’re not a little kid anymore. I realize that. You’re a young man now, and I’m so proud of you.” Jocelyne meant every word. “And I promise to be more conscious of that in the future, okay? But living on your own… It’s a big step. You’re just not ready yet. Take some time, calm down, think it over… And you’ll understand.” She assured him.
“So you seriously won’t even hear me out?!” Zayne practically spat at her. “I can’t believe you!”
“I have heard you out.” His aunt sighed. “And you can keep trying to convince me until you’re blue in the face… But my answer won’t change. I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, whatever.” Zayne turned away from her and rose to his feet, muttering under his breath. “Bitch.”
Jocelyne felt like he’d slapped her across the face. “What did you just call me?!”
He left the room without another word.
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Things get dirty:
Nothing but charred earth:
What are the possible reasons?
Where can we stalk you now?
Will you create a new Facebook?
Did we learn anything?
Can you help?
Facebook employee pinches single-name Instagram handle
How Instagram closed my account and gave it to a football celebrity.
Stockholm Pride slams Facebook 'censorship'
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Update : 5 August 2015 - Facebook sent us a robotic response about reading their page management FAQ totally unrelated to our question. We still have not had any details as to what the problem is.
Update : 5 August 2015 - We're getting reports that we're now also censored on Instagram
Update : 6 August 2015 - We've confirmed that we're now also censored on Instagram.
Update 6 August 2015 Facebook has restored our page and the block seems to have been lifted
Update 6 August 2015 The page has gone down again and the block placed back on our.com.
Update 6 August 2015 Facebook has now blocked other domains we control that redirect to the site.
thetechgame.org
thetechgame.net
thetechgame.co
Interestingly they've blocked thetechgame.co.uk a domain name we do not own or control.
This seems to have been done in reaction to a user created petition found Here that listed other ways to link to the site.
Update 7 August 2015 - A TTG member makes contact with a Facebook employee who checked over the site and said there was no reason that he could see for the block and that the case was sent in for review again.
Update 7 August 2015 - Facebook lifts the url ban once again on thetechgame.com other urls.co,.org,.net under review.
Update 7 August 2015 - The URL block has been placed back on once again.
Update 8 August 2015 Facebook has unblocked thetechgame.co.uk a domain name we don't own but was blocked with all our domains. currently our page remains down and all our domains remain blocked.
Update 10 August 2015 - Facebook has restored our Fanpage for a 3rd time but this time we've opted to set it to unpublish and disable the page ourselves indefinitely until we can get someone from Facebook to contact us directly about the problems.
At this point all our domains remain blocked so running the page would be totally pointless while our domains below are blocked:
thetechgame.com
thetechgame.co
thetechgame.org
thetechgame.net
Update 10 August 2015 - Facebook has disabled the unpublished page so we're back without control of the page once again.
Clearly Facebook has some type of internal disagreement over us for whatever reason and the odds of a resolution when we're unable to reach anyone from Facebook to inform us of the problems(if any) means we're most probably going to end up in this loop forever.
The issue has become so ridiculous that when the page returned some kind of block had been placed towards posting the Facebook url to our page.
All we can do at this point is ask the community to file unblock reports once per day to help us.
https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/571927962827151
All Facebook want to know is why it should be unblocked(be nice!) and the domains that are the problem and in our case its the following:
thetechgame.com
thetechgame.co
thetechgame.org
thetechgame.net
Update 15 August 2015 - Facebook lifts the url ban once again on all TTG domains and restores our page.
Thanks for the support!
Aug 04, 2015 10:00 pm
Hey there, if you're reading this then you're probably very familiar with us and what we do. For those who are not quite familiar with us, we're TheTechGame.com (also known as TTG), We've been around for a little while and have broken some big stories over the years. Currently we're slowly creeping up on 30 Million forum posts and 2 Million registered users and we're ever |
to a complete reversal of social fear.
Human myometrial cell contractility assay Human uterine myometrial smooth muscle cells (hTERT-HM) were cultured, collagen gels were prepared, and the assays were performed as described previously (48, 70). Briefly, cells were cultured in DMEM/F-12/10% FBS (Invitrogen). Collagen gels were prepared from rat tail type 1 collagen (Sigma-Aldrich) to a final concentration of 1.5 mg/ml and seeded in 24-well culture dishes, with 150,000 hTERT-HM cells per well. Cells in collagen gels were allowed to equilibrate overnight in serum-free DMEM. The ligands of interest (1 μM concentration) were added to the serum-free medium, and the gels were released from the sides of the wells. FBS [10% (v/v)] was used as a positive control for contraction, and unstimulated cells were used as the negative control in all experiments. Gel images were captured over time using a FluorChem 8900 imager, and the area (in square centimeters) of the gels was measured using AlphaEaseFC software (Alpha Innotech Corporation). A decrease in gel area correlated with an increase in contractility.
Tissue bath myometrial contractility assays Biopsies of myometrium were obtained from women undergoing term (39 to 40 weeks) prelabor elective cesarean section delivery at Liverpool Women’s Hospital, Liverpool, UK. All women gave written informed consent to participate, and the study was approved by the North West (Liverpool East) Research Ethics Committee (reference #10/H1002/49) and by the Research and Development director at Liverpool Women’s Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Liverpool, UK. A full-thickness biopsy (~2 cm3) was cut from the upper lip of the lower uterine incision site and placed into Hanks’ balanced salt solution at 4°C (102). In the laboratory, strips of myometrium (1 mm × 2 mm × 5 mm) were dissected and placed between a force transducer and a fixed hook using aluminum clips. Strips were continually superfused with PSS [154 mM NaCl, 5.6 mM KCl, 1.2 mM MgSO 4, 7.8 mM glucose, 10.9 mM Hepes, and 2.0 mM CaCl 2 (pH 7.4)] maintained at 36°C. After stable spontaneous contractions developed, the strips were exposed to rising concentrations of oxytocin or [Se-Se]-OT-OH. Data were analyzed by measuring the amplitude of contraction using Origin Pro 9.0 software (OriginLab Corporation) as described previously (48, 103, 104). The effect of [Se-Se]-OT-OH or oxytocin was compared to the activity preceding the application of the first dose, and the data represent the change in activity compared to spontaneous control activity (100%). Concentration-response curves were fitted using nonlinear regression to calculate EC 50 values.
Human cardiomyocyte assay Wild-type WTC11 human-induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) were used in this study. Undifferentiated cells were maintained in mTeSR1 medium (STEMCELL Technologies). Standard cardiomyocyte-directed differentiation using a monolayer platform was performed with a modified protocol based on previous reports (105–109). The differentiation setup was initiated by plating undifferentiated hiPSCs as single cells. The cultures were treated with 1 μM CHIR-99021 (Cayman Chemical) for 24 hours before reaching confluence. Cells were induced to differentiate (designated day 0) by replacing the culturing medium with RPMI 1640 medium (catalog number 11875-119, Thermo Fisher Scientific) containing 3 μM CHIR-99021, BSA (500 μg/ml), and ascorbic acid (213 μg/ml). On day 3, the medium was changed to RPMI 1640 medium with BSA and ascorbic acid containing 1 μM XAV-939 (Tocris Bioscience). On day 5, the medium was changed to RPMI 1640 containing ascorbic acid and BSA. On day 7, the medium was replaced with RPMI 1640 containing B-27 supplement with insulin (catalog number 17504-044, Thermo Fisher Scientific). Cells were harvested using trypsin, replated into a black-walled 384-well imaging plate coated with CellBIND (Sigma-Aldrich) at a density of 4 × 104 cells per well and cultured for 8 days before the experiments. Functional activity was assessed using a high-throughput FLIPRTETRA (Molecular Devices) FLIPR assay. The growth medium was removed and replaced with Calcium 4 (no-wash) dye (Molecular Devices) diluted in PSS [140 mM NaCl, 11.5 mM glucose, 5.9 mM KCl, 1.4 mM MgCl 2, 1.2 mM NaH 2 PO 4, 5 mM NaHCO 3, 1.8 mM CaCl 2, and 10 mM Hepes (pH 7.4)] according to the manufacturer’s instructions and incubated at 37°C for 30 min. Changes in intracellular Ca2+ amounts were measured using a cooled CCD camera (excitation, 470 to 495 nm; emission, 515 to 575 nm) with reads taken every 0.4 s for 240 s after the addition of compounds. The maximum intracellular Ca2+ amount was determined using ScreenWorks (version 2.2.0.14, Molecular Devices).In my 15+ years of teaching 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students, I tried to keep a very complicated system as simple as possible. We kept our standards high and did our best to reach them. I only asked one simple question to determine the success of my students and their efforts….”Are you PROUD?”
Whether I was talking with the smartest kid in class, or the one who struggled the most, this one question was all I could ask for from each and every student. There is a connection when you look a student in the eye and ask this one question that any standardized testing will never be able to capture. Let’s remember that every student is an individualized learning anomaly. As parents, it is hard to keep an open mind when your child is grouped with his or her peers and is struggling in comparison. However, just like learning to walk, each child is able to rise on their own 2 feet when their mind and body are ready to do so. The main objective for both parent and teacher is to be a great supportive net to help each and every child when they are ready, and be there to support them in good and bad times.
With that being said, I always wanted my students’ parents to know 10 things when their child was in my care:
1. Your child does not treat me as they do you. You are their parent and they will test you 100 times more. Don’t get me wrong, they will also test me in the classroom (it is a part of growing up), however, I have the power of peers, the Principal, and you on my side. If you teach your children to be respectful, chances are they are being respectful!
2. In Elementary School, your child will tell lots of stories of what goes on at home! We only believe half of what they say, but the question is what half do we believe?? 🙂
3. I am not perfect. I, too, will make mistakes. I am sorry. If there is a problem, please approach me with a mindset of what is best for your child, and don’t hold it against me. (Remember I know we are both not perfect- see #2!)
4. Your child’s education is not about you and any embarrassment you may have. I simply want what is best for your child to be successful. This may mean being honest with your child. There is nothing wrong with being honest about negative behaviors you are observing with your child as long as you reassure them you are there to support. Please work with me if I approach you. I am doing so to help your child, not to inconvenience you.
5. Most important- Stop focusing on getting Straight A’s!! This is propaganda being pushed by society. If your child gets a C, it does not mean they are failing, it means they were average. There is nothing wrong with having a goal of A’s, but getting some B’s and C’s in 4th grade will NOT stop your child from getting accepted into Harvard as you may have planned. I do not give out grades, your child earns them. Be PROUD of a “hard earned C”, because it is better than an “easy A”!
6. Elementary School is NOT as easy as you remember it. Sure adding and subtracting is easy for you now, but can you find the mean, mode and median? How about naming the parts of a plant cell? Indirect objects? Prepositional Phrases? How about labeling all 50 States and their Capitals? Trust me, your child is not struggling to frustrate you. Take a deep breathe, remain calm, and listen. (Remember that I have to do this with 25+ students everyday!) Frustration is a fine line- It is good cause it means they still CARE and desire to be better! However, you have to be careful, because the next step is to quit. Make sure your child knows “You are not allowed to quit!” No matter how frustrated they are, let them know you care too and will help or get help for them!
7. The most important skills your child needs to learn in Elementary school are- Study Skills! From flash cards, to note taking, your child must learn to study for Secondary and Post Secondary years. Especially keep an eye on your child if they are a straight A student- as elementary school may be too easy, but eventually the subject matter will become increasingly difficult and they will be ill-prepared to study and ill-equipped to handle failure.
8. Don’t compare your child’s learning to any other child’s learning. For both success and struggle, asking your child to be like another child is just wrong. Keep it focused on what your child can accomplish. Forming better study habits or asking for help, are reachable tasks that can help a C student shoot for a C+ or B on the next test/report card. If you know your child has worked hard, be proud, show encouragement and your child will continue to put forth the effort and blossom!
9. Don’t compare me to any other teacher your child has had, or will have. We, like the students, are unique in our own ways and styles of teaching. What makes this great is that it mimics the real world where your child must adapt to others in leadership. From colleagues to the boss, your child must use the experience of school to help adapt into the workforce. Social Skills are important to learn during these years, so empower your child by allowing them to handle their issues. Your support is important, but your personal involvement should be the last option.
10. Lastly, but most importantly, I care for your child as if they are my own (In my mind, they are a part of my family and always will be). I have but 180 days to instill a passion to be a life long learner and empower them to chase their dreams. It is NEVER about straight A’s, but rather taking steps forward, no matter how small. Failure is NOT an option. I will be there to help out even when they have moved on to higher grades if ever needed. I am just a phone call or email away, for help, or simply to update me!
Just like every other profession out there, 10% are bad teachers. Unfortunately you will have to experience one or two educating your child. Use it as a learning experience in adapting to make the most of a bad situation (for you and your child), and never hold it against your next teacher! Do what you need to support your child and document everything! Lastly, if your child is struggling and you feel there is something wrong, ask for your child to be tested. Document all of your worries and things you see, approach your teacher, and don’t stop until you see results. Lastly- remember to “Thank a Teacher” when you appreciate the work they are doing. At a time of teacher evaluations based on standardized tests, government mandates, and the norm of teacher bashing, a simple handshake or a note is priceless in uplifting the spirit of a teacher.
To all of the parents whose children are now considered “my kids” also, I thank you! Thank you for your support. Thank you for your input. Thank you for your time. Thank you for your efforts. I did my best everyday to be a positive influence on the students. I am proud to say that your children have had as much of a positive influence on me!
Don’t forget to Follow, Like, and Share the message! Thanks!The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Radicava (edaravone) to treat patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), commonly referred to as Lou Gehrig's disease.
"After learning about the use of edaravone to treat ALS in Japan, we rapidly engaged with the drug developer about filing a marketing application in the United States," Eric Bastings, M.D., deputy director of the Division of Neurology Products in the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research said. "This is the first new treatment approved by the FDA for ALS in many years, and we are pleased that people with ALS will now have an additional option."
ALS is a rare disease that attacks and kills the nerve cells that control voluntary muscles. Voluntary muscles produce movements such as chewing, walking, breathing and talking. The nerves lose the ability to activate specific muscles, which causes the muscles to become weak and leads to paralysis. ALS is progressive, meaning it gets worse over time. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that approximately 12,000-15,000 Americans have ALS. Most people with ALS die from respiratory failure, usually within three to five years from when the symptoms first appear.
Radicava is an intravenous infusion administered with an initial treatment cycle of daily dosing for 14 days, followed by a 14-day drug-free period. Subsequent treatment cycles consist of dosing on 10 of 14 days, followed by 14 days drug-free.
The efficacy of edaravone for the treatment of ALS was demonstrated in a six-month clinical trial conducted in Japan. In the trial, 137 participants were randomized to receive edaravone or placebo. At Week 24, individuals receiving edaravone declined less on a clinical assessment of daily functioning compared to those receiving a placebo.
The FDA granted this drug orphan drug designation, which provides incentives to assist and encourage the development of drugs for rare diseases.
The FDA granted approval of Radicava to Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma America, Inc.Greg Bundy of Sydney based financial advisory firm AIMS Finance says markets have "got it wrong" in the last few months by incorrectly factoring in a Greek default, a U.S. recession and hard landing in China.
"What we see now is a manageable restructure of Greek finances, the U.S. although not racing ahead, growing about two and a half percent and… China [is] by no means [facing] a hard landing," Bundy told CNBC on Monday.
While Bundy accepts that Europe’s debt crisis remains a concern, he believes positive factors outweigh the risks.
“Europe, it's still work in progress…about the re-cap of the European banks, 150 billion dollars has to show up from somewhere, so you know there's still a lot of questions around there. But overall, I think we've passed the darkest part of the storm, there's a light at the end of the proverbial tunnel, and I'm actually quite optimistic about 2012.
Sailesh Jha, Head of Asia Market Strategy at SEB Bank Singapore believes markets have underestimated growth in the U.S. economy. He says the recent third quarter GDP data which showed the world's largest economy growing 2.5 percent - the fastest pace in a year - was encouraging.
"The data is panning out to the idea that the fourth quarter in terms of GDP in the United States should probably be stronger than what we saw in the third quarter, pretty much led by consumer and investment spending, which was evident in the third quarter data release," Jha highlighted.
Bundy concedes that the high unemployment rate in the U.S. remains the biggest challenge to market sentiment. The monthly non-farm payrolls report due at the end of this week is widely expected to show the country’s jobless rate staying at a 9.1 percent. Bundy says once the employment picture begins to improve, equity markets should get a further boost.
“9 percent seems to be a stubborn number for America, but I think once it breaks through that psychological level, I think you could see another uplift in markets," he said.
Large Caps and Currencies
Bundy's list of favorite stocks includes big cap names like Disney, which he describes as a "fantastic franchise," and UBS.
"UBS, despite its difficulties over the past few months...is a wonderful brand. And just a reminder… [it has] 18% tier 1. Most banks in the word have 8-9. UBS is over 18," Bundy said.
He also likes Amazon, even as the shares got slammed last week over the company’s plans to expand infrastructure spending. “Jeff Bezos is a wonderful manager....i f you're going to get penalized for growing your business and putting infrastructure, so be it," Bundy said.
With risks from Europe contained for now, SEB's Jha recommends loading up on Asian currencies like the Korean won, Indonesian rupiah and the Singapore dollar.
"The worst in growth conditions in Asia would be materialized in Q3. Q4 would see a very nice rebound including the Chinese economy where people have been, frankly speaking, too bearish,” Jha said.
Further, the positive growth data from the U.S. "bodes well" for trade, growth dynamics and balance of payments for Asia.
"Throughout this whole crisis, we've continued to mention that fundamentally and looking at the outlook at the next one to two quarters, the outlook for Asian currencies is very, very bullish," Jha said.
Disclaimer: Bundy and his company do not own stocks in Disney, UBS or Amazon.Edwin Encarnacion of the Blue Jays has been named American League player of the week.
Last week Encarnacion hit.520 in seven games with three doubles, two home runs and eight RBIs. On Friday, he became the second player in Toronto franchise history to hit two homers in the same inning.
"He's had another great year," manager John Gibbons said Friday. "You look, he's been steady all year. Early on, he hit into a lot of tough luck early in the season, but I think he's been as steady, probably, as anybody in baseball."
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Encarnacion was an AL all-star and is hitting.278 with 28 homers and 82 RBI. That's even more impressive when considering he hit.238 in the first month of the season.
"Edwin's a pro," Blue Jays pitcher R.A. Dickey said. "When he was struggling early this year everybody knew it was all going to kind of catch up."
Watch: Blue Jays squeeze past Astros
Encarnacion is the first member of the Blue Jays to earn AL player of the week honours since catcher J.P. Arencibia did so in May 2012.Ayaan Hirsi Ali speaks against totalitarian Islam. But rather than simply argue against her, her critics here respond in the way of today's totalitarian Left- she must not come speak here.
Other totalitarians are threatening her with death.
What in heaven's name has happened here to free speech and debate?
She’s female, black and grew up Muslim. Now, a group of Muslim women in Australia are petitioning her upcoming speaking tour to the country. The group, which includes a number of high-profile writers, academics and activists, have expressed “disappointment” over Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s invitation to speak in Australia as part of a tour organised by event group Think Inc.
The petition starts:
We, the undersigned, would like to express our utmost disappointment that Ayaan Hirsi-Ali is being brought to Australia by Think Inc.
And it accuses Hirsi Ali of creating the hatred that the writers themselves heap on her, and of causing the kind of danger that actually forces her to travel with people to save her from being murdered:
Hirsi-Ali's discourse... is grounded in hate-mongering and bigotry... vitriol... serves to increase hostility and hatred towards Muslims... This is simple sensationalism designed to fuel division and hate.
A word to Jews fighting Malcolm Turnbull's reforms to the Racial Discrimination Act: when you demand curbs on free speech you license these demands to curb the speech of Hirsi Ali, too. And in the long run you will lose.
UPDATE
From my show on Thursday - Emeritus Professor Clive Kessler:Two of the major exchanges Coinbase and GDAX both froze when Bitcoin hit $11000 citing “extremely high volume”
Every time there is a spike in prices for Bitcoin or Ether (upwards or downwards), it seems like Coinbase freezes up. They still have not figured out how to deal with the volume of traffic! Coinbase freezing up is potentially costing you money!
Before I explain how this costs you money, you have to understand the basics of market vs limit orders. A market order is buying/selling at the current market price. A limit order is where you specify the exact price where you want to buy/sell. In a limit order your order will only go through if price hits your target. In a market order, it’s going to go through.
Coinbase allows only market orders on their website and app. This is a big disadvantage because you are buying/selling at the current price.
How does this cost you money?
You’re watching the prices and see a sharp dip and think, Buy Buy Buy! You login to the website, it’s frozen. You try the app, it gets hung up. Once the app or website recovers and lets you login, the price has magically recovered from the sudden and sharp dip. And let’s suppose you are able to login during the sharp dip, the dips last a few seconds so the odds are very much against you.
For the most part prices don’t move very fast. In the high volatility period, you can see two sharp dips of over 15%. If you were to try to login to Coinbase and buy on the dip, good luck with that! As I mentioned, the dips are quick. The dip could even be just one seller selling a large amount.
How to buy during that dip?
The answer usually is GDAX.com. GDAX is the sister company to Coinbase. Your Coinbase login will work on GDAX also. There are no fees to move fiat or cryptocurrency between Coinbase and GDAX and vice versa. And why would you want to go through that hassle of moving your money to GDAX? Limit orders!
This would have been great during yesterday’s 20% dip once Coinbase froze due to the high volume of trading after bitcoin surpassed $11,000 for the first time, had GDAX not been frozen as well.
A Quick Trade
As many new exchanges compete for legitimacy there aren’t a ton of options. However Binance.com had no issues, and I was able to sell off Bitcoin (BTC) & Ethereum (ETH) without getting hammered like Coinbase users, and then buy back in once it corrected. Making a quick 10% in less than 24 hours.
Another thing I noticed was that Cardano (ADA) hadn’t given up nearly as much as of it’s weekly gains back to the market percentage wise as some of the cryptocurrencies with larger market caps. It was showing relative strength while the others nearly gave up most of their weekly gains if not more. So I decided to buy in, and today it rallied 24%. I will look to lock in profits over the next 24-48 hours and buy back into Bitcoin (BTC) Ethereum (ETH) or Ripple (XRP) at a discount after pulling profits from Cardano. It looks to still have legs.
Update: December 1st 2017 Cardano responded just like I hoped and was up another 22% this morning. I was able to sell by using coinswitch to exchange my ADA tokens for Bitcoin and had them deposited in my Binance wallet. I will use the Binance Exchange to sell 50% of the Bitcoin bought with the profits from Cardano and buy Ethereum.
After making a quick 45% in less than 48 hours I feel much better about having my money in more stable currencies like BTC & ETH. As soon as I receive a fill on the Ethereum I will then send both BTC & ETH to my Trezor wallet for offline storage and HOLD. Remember, it’s ok to have a little cash on the exchanges for quick trades, but ALWAYS keep the majority of your coins offline stored in a secure wallet like Trezor Wallet or Nano Ledger S. Lastly, NEVER lose your passwords!
For those new to trading- do not try to time the market. This strategy is for the day traders out there who follow technicals and have experience trading. Trying to time any market especially cryptocurrencies can lead to devastating losses.
This is just a small snippet of future use of blockchain technology. We are in the infancy of a technology that has greater potential for revolutionizing technology and making a bigger impact than the coming of the internet in the 90’s. There is a use case for almost every industry, if we posted all the infographics this would be the longest blog post ever.
If you understand and believe in the impact Blockchain Technology could have and the potential for it to revolutionize technology.. don’t freak out about a 20% down day. Use it as an opportunity to cost average down on your favorite coins. The point is, after you’ve done your research and due diligence on the potential for blockchain, and then done the same for the individual companies behind the digital currencies don’t panic sell. Hold on for a few years and we think you’ll be glad you did. On the other hand, if a 20% down day keeps you up at night and is not in line with your risk tolerance, find another investment that is more suited towards your goals.
There are plenty of mutual funds with 10 year track records and less volatility than cryptocurrency, and there are solid companies that pay dividends.
Cryptocurrency investing is not for the faint of heart, the potential upside can be huge, but with that comes a higher degree of risk. Never invest money you can’t afford to lose.
For the latest bitcoin & altcoin news Subscribe to Our Blog! CryptoCurrency Clarified is the Only Unbiased Source covering CryptoCurrencies Online. If you’ll notice, every other “news source” is somehow affiliated with a coin desk or service that benefits if you follow their advice.
Disclaimer:
The information provided on this website does not constitute investment advice, financial advice, trading advice or any other sort of advice and you should not treat any of the website’s content as such. CryptoCurrencyClarified does not recommend that any cryptocurrency should be bought, sold or held by you and nothing on this website should be taken as an offer to buy, sell or hold a cryptocurrency. Do conduct your own due diligence and consult your financial advisory before making any investment decision.
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CryptoCurrency Clarified will strive to ensure accuracy of information listed on this website although it will not hold any responsibility for any missing or wrong information. You understand that you are using any and all information available here AT YOUR OWN RISK.
Price Risk
The price of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are highly volatile. It is common for prices to increase or decrease by over 20-100% in some coins in a single day. Although this could mean potential huge profits, this also could mean potential huge losses. DO NOT INVEST ALL YOUR MONEY IN CRYPTOCURRENCIES. Only invest money which you are willing to lose.
Cryptocurrency trading may not be suitable for all users of this website. Anyone looking to invest in cryptocurrencies should consult a fully qualified independent professional financial advisor.
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Like this: Like Loading...At New Relic, the user-interface infrastructure team delivers components for the rest of the company to use. These components are shipped as a single NPM package, providing both the JavaScript and Syntactically Awesome Style Sheets (SASS) that New Relic teams can reference via their package.json file.
Because our products are built of multiple pieces, we could occasionally end up with a single page built using different internal NPM packages, and these packages may depend on different versions of the New Relic UI. The styles of the latest included version would then override styles of any other versions in the page.
Conflicts that can arise in JavaScript are often easily solved, thanks to the availability of tooling like NPM; but CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) has a single global context and lacks the ability to contextualize. We had to come up with a way of fixing this for the New Relic teams that use the components.
There is no perfect solution for CSS versioning issues—basically, double-class collisions in CSS—and the industry approaches vary widely, from a single, global CSS that prevents double inclusions to approaches that involve writing all CSS in JavaScript. Each approach has benefits and drawbacks, but we wanted to share how we solve the problem in hopes that our solutions can inform your own efforts to deal with CSS conflicts.
We had three key requirements for our solution:
Standard-following: The accepted standard for CSS company-wide is to use SASS, so our versioning solution should also follow it. In addition, we wanted to take advantage of the robust tooling around CSS/SASS. Extensibility and override-ability: Although the goal of our UI component package is to standardize behavior and look-and-feel across all our products, the transition must be made in small bits. Therefore, teams may need the ability to override individual styles if a component does not fit their needs. Zero overhead in production code: We wanted to minimize the impact on runtime, so solutions that involved calling several JavaScript functions for each node to be styled didn’t please us.
Solution development
With these requirements in mind, we iterated different solutions. Let’s walk through some code samples to illustrate our approach.
This is what our CSS looks like:
.nr-table { overflow-y: scroll; &--dark { background: #333; } &-cell { display: flex; height: 2em; } // More rules... }
The first solution consisted in wrapping all root classes in SASS with an extra class. Then, the root element of each component will include these classes. For the example above, it would look like this:
.v5-0-1 { // Note that rules applied to the root element are // wrapped in a different selector ("&.#{$root}"). &.nr-table { overflow-y: scroll; &--dark { background: #333; } } // Rules applied to child elements are kept as-is..nr-table { &-cell { display: flex; height: 2em; } } }
This will output selectors like:
.v5-0-1.nr-table {... }.v5-0-1.nr-table--dark {... }.v5-0-1.nr-table-cell {... }
With these selectors you can use—together with the main class of your root element (nr-table in the example)—the version class (v5-0-1):
<div class="v5-0-1 nr-table"> <div class="nr-table-cell"> <!-- Content... --> </div> </div>
We had planned to add the root class in SASS via a helper and in JavaScript through a common base class in all our components. This would have implied minimal code changes. However, we soon found problems with this approach.
Many of our components can accept other subcomponents, such as a link or button, as children. In the example we use, a link could be inserted in one table cell. But this creates the possibility of a collision between the table version and the link version:
<div class="v5-0-1 nr-table"> <div class="nr-table-cell"> <a href="/path/to/page" class="v4-3-1 nr-link"> <span class="nr-link-content">Fancy external page</span> </a> </div> </div>
In the HTML above, the nr-link-content matches with version 4.3.1 as expected, but also with 5.0.1 (i.e., selector.v5-0-1) because of the table version. This collision breaks the version sandboxing we wanted to achieve, thus making the solution unusable.
Fixing CSS double-class collisions
To fix this issue, we decided to prefix each class with the version. This approach doesn’t impact the specificity of the selector. However, the process of adding the version to each class becomes too complex to be done manually, so we decided to automate it.
First, we picked a unique prefix. All classes already start with nr-, but we thought that was too generic, so we changed it. In our case we chose nr-css-. Then, we looked through all the UI infrastructure codebase to make sure this combination was not used anywhere else. Finally, we clearly stated that nr-css- implicitly meant a class: All classes must start with nr-css, and you can use nr-css only if you are talking about CSS classes.
Next, we developed two Webpack loaders that do AST (Abstract Syntax Tree) traversing (using Gonzales-Pe for SASS, and Babylon + Recast for JavaScript) to find all Literals and TemplateLiterals containing nr-css and modify them by prepending the version (e.g., nr-css-link-content becomes v4-3-1-nr-css-link-selector). Webpack loaders are transformations applied on a resource file of your app. They are functions (running in Node.js) that take the source of a resource file as the parameter and return the new source.
Although it might seem complex, both loaders have less than 60 lines each and were written in approximately one day.
Fine-tuning overrides
As stated above, sometimes temporary overrides are necessary while adopting components on older UIs because of look-and-feel incompatibilities.
So our end solution slightly modifies how the version is prepended to each class. We extract version numbers, reverse them, and transform them into a two-digit letter code (the number in base 26, using only letters). For example, version 2.9.114 gets transformed into EKAJAC (AC for 2, AJ for 9 and EK for 114).
This allows fine-tuning selection for overrides. In theory, no user of the library should override styles. However, the adoption process is not instantaneous, and some inconsistencies may arise, so we give the possibility of overriding while introducing some intentional friction in the process. The version “hash” plays an important role on how to define your override:
Let’s imagine we want to override something in nr-css-table-cell. Its full CSS selector for version 2.9.114 is then EKAJAC-nr-css-table-cell. Depending on how much you select from it (via CSS attribute selectors), you can decide version overriding:
The UI Infrastructure team also provides a SASS helper that can combine the desired override into a combined attribute selector. For example, for overriding all patches in version 2.9 (i.e., ~2.9), the consumer would write:
@include nr-css-override("table-cell", 2, 9) { background: red; }
Which would then compile into CSS as:
[class*="AJAC-nr-css-table-cell "], [class$="AJAC-nr-css-table-cell"] { background: red; }
Our solution to CSS versioning issues
We decided to use the solution that had minimal impact in the current codebase, as well as a negligible impact in performance. In the final approach, zero additional lines of JavaScript are executed on each render.
We also provide a fine-grained way of overriding custom rules to ease the transition while adopting the library. This also lets us decide to disable these rules in the future, instantly making all UIs consistent. Again, we hope that this look into our solution can help address any CSS versioning issues you may face.
Former New Relic Lead Software Engineer Miguel Jiménez Esún contributed to this post.Martin Lüders has released the latest beta version of PG8X, a fantastic freeware emulation of the legendary Roland JX-8P analogue synthesizer which is now available as a 32-bit and 64-bit VST/AU plugin for Windows and Mac OS based host applications.
I’ve been waiting for a native C++ version of PG8X for so long that it’s not even funny (it was announced back in 2011 I believe), but the day has finally come! Well, that’s not completely true because the plugin is still in beta, but the latest beta version is so awesome that I just couldn’t hold it anymore and had to announce it in the news section. I’m so excited for this one! If you’re a fan of the old SynthEdit version of PG8X, or if you’re simply someone who enjoys a really good sounding and well polished freeware VA synthesizer, prepare to have your mind blown.
PG8X now comes with an all-new and awesome looking GUI (pictured below) made by KVR Audio member ENV1 and the plugin is now compatible with all major platforms. The new beta worked without any issues on my test machine (64-bit version of MuLab Free running on Windows 7), however ML-VST is still working on making this plugin an even better instrument. The final version will include some additional minor fixes and improvements (a slightly different ADSR envelope and some minor GUI changes), as well as a detailed user manual. Compared to the old SynthEdit version of the plugin, the new hand-coded PG8X comes with improved compatibility, optimized CPU usage and, of course, a completely reworked sound engine which in my opinion sounds better than ever before.
This awesome instrument is now officially in my Top 3 freeware virtual analogue synthesizers of all time, along with Charlatan by BlauKraut Engineering and Tyrell N6 by U-He. It blows me away when a virtual instrument has a certain character and sound which is different from all the other ones out there and PG8X is definitely that kind of instrument. You can make some amazing analogue style sounds with it, including (but not limited to) string ensembles (the chorus module included in PG8X sounds just brilliant), wonderful lush pads, huge bass sounds and lots of other stuff.
A huge THANK YOU goes out to the developer ML-VST for his work on this amazing freeware instrument |
lot, but they are not above getting stuff for nothing. E-books routinely pop up on file-sharing websites like the Pirate Bay, both in their own right and as part of vast anthologies with names like “2,500 Retail Quality E-books”. The example of countries such as Spain suggests that media piracy can become entrenched even among the middle-aged. In Russia, e-book piracy is already rampant.
Piracy is a particular threat because of a second, bigger problem: the apparently arbitrary nature of e-book pricing. When Amazon began selling e-books, it charged $9.99 for many of them, often selling at a loss to fire Kindle sales. Gradually it became clear that Amazon was undermining the perceived value of all books, digital and paper alike. So, last year, the biggest publishers used the release of Apple's iPad to push Amazon into “agency” pricing. Publishers now set their own prices and give about 30% of the sale to Amazon.
The offline experience
That has meant higher prices for many new e-books. As some prices rise, though, a tide of free and cheap product is flooding the market. Self-published novelists, keen for attention and without agents or publishers to share the proceeds with, often sell their works extremely cheaply. Meanwhile publishers have moved to offer introductory discounts on some books. As a result, Amazon's list of 100 best-selling books has become a pricing free-for-all. This week 21 books were selling for just 99 cents. Others were priced at $4.98, $7.59 and $8.82. The most expensive single book, at $16.99, was Dick Cheney's memoir. There is none of the clarity of iTunes in its early years, when the price of music tracks was fixed at 99 cents.
Publishers point out that books have always sold for a wide variety of different prices. Hardback books cost more than high-quality paperbacks, which cost more than small, mass-market paperbacks—and everything is more expensive than a dog-eared library book. But those books are physically different from each other. E-books all look the same. And the popularity of those 99-cent thrillers suggests readers are more price-sensitive, and less quality-sensitive, than publishers care to admit.
Another problem is Amazon's market dominance. The firm accounts for less than a quarter of physical book sales (see box). But Amazon sells 60-70% of e-books in America and perhaps 90% in Britain, according to estimates by Enders Analysis, a British outfit. In America, Barnes & Noble's Nook is the main competitor. Surprisingly, given the success of the iPad, Apple's iBookstore has lagged. James McQuivey of Forrester Research found in a survey that only half of iPad owners read e-books—and two-thirds of them own or plan to buy an e-reader especially for the purpose. Amazon appears set to launch a tablet computer to take on the iPad. And Amazon is becoming a publisher in its own right. It has a romance imprint, and has signed big writers like Timothy Ferriss, author of “The 4-Hour Workweek”. This tightens its grip over the e-book market.
A book in the window
Perhaps the biggest problem, though, is the gradual disappearance of the shop window. Brian Murray, chief executive of HarperCollins, points out that a film may be released with more than $100m of marketing behind it. Music singles often receive radio promotion. Publishers, on the other hand, rely heavily on bookstores to bring new releases to customers' attention and to steer them to books that they might not have considered buying. As stores close, the industry loses much more than a retail outlet. Publishers are increasingly trying to push books through online social networks. But Mr Murray says he hasn't seen anything that replicates the experience of browsing a bookstore.
Efforts are under way. This week a British outfit called aNobii released a trial version of a website that it hopes will become a Wikipedia-style community of book lovers, with an option to buy. The idea has potential. Amazon's recommendation engine, although helpful, is rather impersonal—perhaps the retailer's second-biggest weakness, after the resentment publishers feel for it.
The book business has long been suffused with gloom; Mr Osnos says that booksellers have faced five or six supposedly fatal challenges during his career. But this time the challenges are really daunting. Publishers have to confront many of the problems that have afflicted other media industries that have gone digital, as well as a few entirely new ones. The next few years will be a thriller.Please enable Javascript to watch this video
MILWAUKEE -- A 35-year-old Milwaukee man was shot and killed in the neighborhood near 31st and Greenfield on Friday evening, August 21st. The shooting happened in the middle of a neighborhood while several people were outside.
Police have now identified the victim as Luis Santiago.
Police say Santiago was approached in an alley by three to five men and after a short argument, one of the suspects shot Santiago. He died at the scene.
Neighbors tell FOX6 News they heard gunshots, followed by cries for help. One woman was outside with family and friends and says she came out to a disturbing scene.
"They just sound like firecrackers and then we all looked up and then we saw a guy coming down and he walked through the alley and we didn't think anything of it until we heard the lady yelling and screaming that he was shot. So I went up there to go check and the guy was laying on the ground," said a neighbor.
The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner's Office was called out to the scene at approximately 7:30 p.m.
Police say they have three suspects in custody -- and they're seeking additional suspects in this case.
This homicide marks the 100th in the city in 2015. There were a total of 86 homicides in 2014.
Alderman Bob Donovan was on the scene of this shooting. He's frustrated by all the violence we've seen this year.
"It certainly is frustrating to the residents in this neighborhood and it's frustrating to every decent citizen across Milwaukee," said Donovan.
Monitor FOX6 News and FOX6Now.com for updates on this developing story.Both Daly and Munoz are 24 years old, and the Indiana native is convinced that this makes them more willing to push to the nth degree, compared with some of their rivals.
He told media today: “Larry and A.J. [Foyt], they're embracing the future. That's one thing that I really want to see even more teams do. I believe there are a lot of other young drivers out there, as well, who deserve to be in full-time.
“I'm happy that we've got this opportunity, Carlos and I, at the Foyt Racing team. I think we are absolutely going to push each other. We want to win so badly. I haven't experienced it. Carlos has won.
“I just think we are genuinely more hungry. We have to be more hungry to win because we haven't experienced it yet, or as much as the veterans. We're pushing at the absolute limit and even over the limit just to be perfect and try to get better to take advantage of this situation.
“It's not easy to get a seat in IndyCar. It's not guaranteed for a long time. So we know we have to do our best every time out there.”
Daly admitted that the situation was difficult, given the IndyCar car count compared with the number of drivers trying to break into the series, but says he believes young drivers can prove themselves at this level.
“We need more teams in the series and we need more cars, for sure,” he said. “It's just the current state of affairs.
“We've got some young guys. We got Josef [Newgarden] going to Penske, got Alexander Rossi, got me and Carlos, which is sort of part of that next generation.
“I'm excited to try and push and make sure that we as a group of young folks can prove to the other team owners that, ‘Hey, we can do it.’
“There's a reason Formula 1 teams are hiring 17-year-olds and 18-year-olds. It's because they can do it. It's the will to really push absolutely at the limit. It's something that I'm happy to be a part of.”David Warner questions motives behind pink ball Tests
Updated
Pink ball cricket appears to have David Warner seeing red.
The love-in after the highly successful Adelaide day-night Test appears over with Australian vice-captain Warner admitting his team "have to" embrace the pink ball revolution despite wondering aloud why powerbrokers were changing the game.
And recovering Australian number three Usman Khawaja has also called into question Brisbane's favouritism as the next day-night venue Down Under, saying doctoring green decks to preserve the pink ball is not what Test cricket is about.
Cricket Australia was thrilled with a total attendance of 123,736 for Australia's historic third Test win in three days over New Zealand in Adelaide.
The Nine Network was just as happy with prime-time TV ratings that peaked at 3.19 million.
But it seems Warner was not a major fan.
At the end of the day, we know what it's about, we know why they're trying to achieve this. I don't understand why we're changing the game. David Warner
"Why are we changing a game that has been around for a long, long time?" he told Sky Sports Radio.
"At the end of the day, we know what it's about, we know why they're trying to achieve this.
"I don't understand why we're changing the game.
"It's something as players we're going to have to embrace.
"We have to be (backing the concept) at the end of the day."
Asked about the pink ball itself, Warner said: "We've got to tinker with that ball a bit more.
"The only disappointing thing from our point of view is that you've got to get the product right and if the product's not right, it's hard to go out there and play the game."
Warner is preparing for Australia's first Test against the West Indies in Hobart starting on Thursday.
Khawaja not sold on pink ball adjustments
Hobart is hoping to defy morbid predictions of less than 10,000 people attending the first four days of what looms as a lop sided Test in order to remain in contention for the next day-night Test next summer.
But Brisbane appears the favourite for the lucrative gig - not that Queensland-based batsman Khawaja is convinced.
Adelaide curators kept a green sheen to their deck to ensure the pink ball did not lose its gloss sooner rather than later.
But Khawaja - hoping to overcome a hamstring complaint by the Boxing Day Test - said that just wasn't cricket.
Asked if Brisbane should host the next day-night Test, Khawaja said: "I don't know.
"You can't just keep the wickets green to protect the ball.
"They definitely needed a bit more grass on the oval in Adelaide for the pink ball - you don't want to be doing that.
"You want to be keeping an even surface.
"What you have for the red ball you want to keep for the pink ball so that's where we've probably have to end up.
"How long that takes, I'm not sure."
AAP
Topics: cricket, sport, australia
First postedBy Chris Wright
Upon its release in 2011, Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s autobiography, Jag Är Zlatan (I Am Zlatan), caused more than a few waves largely by virtue of being exactly the kind of book you’d expect Zlatan to write – namely, 300-odd pages; 150 dedicated to his innate greatness and 150 dedicated to listing the many people he has kicked/wants to kick up the arse.
However, author David Lagercrantz, the man who ghost-wrote Zlatan’s tome, has revealed that all is not quite as it seems – admitting that none of the quotes actually came from Ibrahimovic himself.
Yep. These little gems? They’re all lies.
Speaking at the Hay Literary Festival, Lagercrantz said that rather than quoting him verbatim, he simply attempted to “distil the essence” of Zlatan while piecing together his book.
Lagercrantz first admitted that he’d never read a sporting autobiography until agreeing to ghost-write Zlatan’s, at which point he finally delved into the realm of ghost-written football books.
“I must say I’ve never read such boring books in my whole life,” the Swedish author said.
Staunchly against adding just another hum-drum football book to the groaning pantheon, he instead set out with the intention of finding the “literary Zlatan”.
Lagercrantz’s speech is documented in the Telegraph:
“I worked with [Ibrahimovic] very thoroughly. I just asked him about things I didn’t know. Because all the goals I could see for myself, so I didn’t waste time on goals.”
“I sat with him for 100 hours and that was quite an adventure. I didn’t lie. I didn’t want to make him better or nicer than he was. I said to him from the beginning, ‘You can’t be moral. Just speak out, for God’s sake.’
“I think it really was his true voice. The key thing is that I was not working as a journalist. I was not quoting him. I know this – if you want to find something that sounds true and authentic, the last thing you want to do is quote. I don’t think I have any real quotes from him.
“I tried to get an illusion of him, to try and find the story. I tried to find the literary Ibrahimovic.”
After completing the book and successfully locating the literary Zlatan, Lagercrantz admitted he was still a little nervous when submitting his manuscript for the man himself to leaf through.
“The first thing [Ibrahimovic] said was: “What the f**k is this? I never said this!’ But after a while I think he understood what I was trying to do.
“Nowadays he thinks it’s really his story.”
Well now we don’t know what to believe any more. Is the sky really blue? Does the Earth really orbit the Sun? Perhaps Jaffa Cakes really are biscuits after all?
Suggested further reading…
Top 15 (Entirely Fabricated) Quotes From Zlatan’s Book
40 Of The Crappest Football Autobiographies Ever To Have ExistedOrdering system furniture is an interesting experience for a company, the employee who sits in the cubicle as well as the furniture dealer trying to decipher your taste and budget.
Things to consider include panel heights, framed or frameless, storage solutions, seated or non-seated privacy and glass, fabric choices, work surfaces, desk accessories, electric and data, and that’s just to start. And just when you think you got it, the dealer provides you with a bid containing pages and pages of unintelligible codes and SKU numbers that make little sense even to the most experienced. While 3D renderings do help in demystifying what you’re getting for your money, it’s challenging to compare drawings amongst competitors and really get a feel for your new system.
Cubicle mockups are an excellent way to test drive the look, feel and usability of the system. It gives you a side-by-side comparison of the products you are considering.
There is a substantial cost to the dealers for providing mockups and this requirement should be clearly written in your RFP. This lets the vendors consider whether or not the project’s budget permits them to spend money on manufacturing, delivering, set-up, knock down and removal from your office or if the cost is to be borne by you.
Most importantly, mockups promote inclusiveness with your employees who can be engaged and provide feedback on the systems they will be sitting in. It’s a perfect method of team collaboration and employees feel part of the selection process. So how do you gauge feedback?
Below are sample survey questions I asked at a recent mockup:
Please take a few minutes to tell us about the furniture you recently reviewed.
Last Name_____________ Department____________ 1. Cubicle style 1 with ‘framed glass” is open enough to see my colleagues yet provides enough privacy: – I strongly agree
– I agree
– I’m neutral
– I disagree
– I strongly disagree 2. Cubicle style 2 with “frameless glass” is open enough to see my colleagues working yet provides enough privacy:
– I strongly agree
– I agree
– I’m neutral
– I disagree
– I strongly disagree 3. There are two work surface corner styles to choose from, an “L” Shaped and a “Curved Corner” shaped. Of the two, which style provides you with the most functionality? – L-Shaped Corner
– Curved Corner 4. Please tell us which manufacturer’s overall style workstation you prefer? – I prefer Name Product Vendor (picture #1)
– I prefer Name Product Vendor (picture #2) 5. Please tell us why you prefer one product over the other. 6. Please rate the following storage components: Teaming Bench & lateral File Below (locker beside) Storage/Locker Pedestal Drawer Enhances your space Neutral Would not use Bench Seating Yes/No Yes/No Yes/No Lateral File below bench Yes/No Yes/No Yes/No Storage/Coat Locker Yes/No Yes/No Yes/No Pedestal Drawers below work surface Yes/No Yes/No Yes/No
7. Please tell us if you would use the following Slat Wall accessories: Unimportant Low Importance Neutral Important Very Important Personal Shelf Yes/No Yes/No Yes/No Yes/No Yes/No Letter Tray Yes/No Yes/No Yes/No Yes/No Yes/No Marker Board Yes/No Yes/No Yes/No Yes/No Yes/No Binder Tray Yes/No Yes/No Yes/No Yes/No Yes/No Telephone Shelf Yes/No Yes/No Yes/No Yes/No Yes/No Hanging File Holder Yes/No Yes/No Yes/No Yes/No Yes/No Pencil/Pad Holder Yes/No Yes/No Yes/No Yes/No Yes/No In Box Tray Yes/No Yes/No Yes/No Yes/No Yes/No
8. Ergonomic Keyboard Trays. Please rate the following trays: Manufacturer 1 (apply question to each manufacturer) – Is comfortable – Provides enough room for my knees – Easy to adjust – Did not like 9. Do you work with or without a keyboard tray? – I currently have a keyboard tray and wish to continue using one
– I currently have a keyboard tray but would NOT use one in the future
– I currently do NOT have a keyboard tray and would NOT use one in the future
– I currently do NOT have a keyboard tray, but would use one of the options listed 10. Seating: Please rate the following seating options: Manufacturer 1 (apply question to each manufacturer) – Is comfortable – Is easy to adjust
– Is not comfortable 11. Additional comments. Please provide us with any feedback to help us in our decision making. Download the Sample Survey
Mockup Systems Furniture Survey Richard Neuman is an Owner’s Rep and Move Consultant with NY based Relocation Management Solutions, Inc. www.relocationmanagement.com, Thank you to Trisha Milner, Independent Senior Project Manager Consultant for her contribution to this article.
AdvertisementsWes McKinney, Software Engineer, Cloudera Hadley Wickham, Chief Scientist, RStudio
This past January, we (Hadley and Wes) met and discussed some of the systems challenges facing the Python and R open source communities. In particular, we wanted to see if there were some opportunities to collaborate on tools for improving interoperability between Python, R, and external compute and storage systems.
One thing that struck us was that while R’s data frames and Python’s pandas data frames utilize very different internal memory representations, they share a very similar semantic model. In both R and Panda’s, data frames are lists of named, equal-length columns, which can be numeric, boolean, and date-and-time, categorical (_factors), or _string. Every column can have missing values.
Around this time, the open source community had just started the new Apache Arrow project, designed to improve data interoperability for systems dealing with columnar tabular data.
In discussing Apache Arrow in the context of Python and R, we wanted to see if we could use the insights from feather to design a very fast file format for storing data frames that could be used by both languages. Thus, the Feather format was born.
What is Feather?
Feather is a fast, lightweight, and easy-to-use binary file format for storing data frames. It has a few specific design goals:
Lightweight, minimal API: make pushing data frames in and out of memory as simple as possible
Language agnostic: Feather files are the same whether written by Python or R code. Other languages can read and write Feather files, too.
High read and write performance. When possible, Feather operations should be bound by local disk performance.
Code examples
The Feather API is designed to make reading and writing data frames as easy as possible. In R, the code might look like:
library(feather) path <- "my_data.feather" write_feather(df, path) df <- read_feather(path)
Analogously, in Python, we have:
import feather path ='my_data.feather' feather.write_dataframe(df, path) df = feather.read_dataframe(path)
How fast is Feather?
Feather is extremely fast. Since Feather does not currently use any compression internally, it works best when used with solid-state drives as come with most of today’s laptop computers. For this first release, we prioritized a simple implementation and are thus writing unmodified Arrow memory to disk.
To give you an idea, here is a Python benchmark writing an approximately 800MB pandas DataFrame to disk:
import feather import pandas as pd import numpy as np arr = np.random.randn(10000000) # 10% nulls arr[::10] = np.nan df = pd.DataFrame({'column_{0}'.format(i): arr for i in range(10)}) feather.write_dataframe(df, 'test.feather')
On Wes’s laptop (latest-gen Intel processor with SSD), this takes:
In [9]: %time df = feather.read_dataframe('test.feather') CPU times: user 316 ms, sys: 944 ms, total: 1.26 s Wall time: 1.26 s In [11]: 800 / 1.26 Out[11]: 634.9206349206349
This is effective performance of over 600 MB/s. Of course, the performance you see will depend on your hardware configuration.
And in R (on Hadley’s laptop, which is very similar):
library(feather) x <- runif(1e7) x[sample(1e7, 1e6)] <- NA # 10% NAs df <- as.data.frame(replicate(10, x)) write_feather(df, 'test.feather') system.time(read_feather('test.feather')) #> user system elapsed #> 0.731 0.287 1.020
How can I get Feather?
The Feather source code is hosted at http://github.com/wesm/feather.
Installing Feather for R
Feather is currently available from github, and you can install with:
devtools::install_github("wesm/feather/R")
Feather uses C++11, so if you’re on windows, you’ll need the new gcc 4.93 toolchain. (All going well this will be included in R 3.3.0, which is scheduled for release on April 14. We’ll aim for a CRAN release soon after that).
Installing Feather for Python
For Python, you can install Feather from PyPI like so:
$ pip install feather-format
We will look into providing more installation options, such as conda builds, in the future.
What should you not use Feather for?
Feather is not designed for long-term data storage. At this time, we do not guarantee that the file format will be stable between versions. Instead, use Feather for quickly exchanging data between Python and R code, or for short-term storage of data frames as part of some analysis.
Feather, Apache Arrow, and the community
One of the great parts of Feather is that the file format is language agnostic. Other languages, such as Julia or Scala (for Spark users), can read and write the format without knowledge of details of Python or R.
Feather is one of the first projects to bring the tangible benefits of the Arrow spec to users in the form of an efficient, language-agnostic representation of tabular data on disk. Since Arrow does not provide for a file format, we are using Google’s Flatbuffers library (github.com/google/flatbuffers) to serialize column types and related metadata in a language-independent way in the file.
The Python interface uses Cython to expose Feather’s C++11 core to users, while the R interface uses Rcpp for the same task.Too hot to fly? Norwegian Air suspends summer Las Vegas flights
This undated file photo shows a Norwegian Air 787 Boeing Dreamliner. (Photo11: Norwegian Air)
Aside from casinos and nightlife, hot weather is one of the things that lures tourists to Las Vegas. But the Las Vegas summers apparently are too hot for one budget airline.
European low-cost carrier Norwegian Air will suspend its four Las Vegas routes in March, saying hot weather there has created performance issues for its heavily loaded Boeing 787 aircraft.
“This is not something we’ve had happen anywhere else,” Norwegian spokesman Anders Lindström told the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the first newspaper to report the story. “It didn’t happen that often, but it was enough times to make us realize that it was (an) issue and we didn’t want to keep delaying our customers.”
BOOKMARK: Bookmark Today in the Sky homepage for your daily fix of aviation news
Lindström confirmed the development to Today in the Sky. He said Norwegian’s Las Vegas routes had been performing well, but that the carrier has decided to adjust its schedule there rather than risk continued operational delays during the summer months. Flights operating on Norwegian Air's summer schedule typically operate from March through November.
“Norwegian Air is making our Las Vegas routes seasonal for 2017 as the planes’ ability to take off during high-temperature periods was limited at times this past summer,” Lindström said in a statement to Today in the Sky. “This unfortunately led to a few delays earlier this year, which is something we do not want to repeat during the summer of 2017."
Norwegian Air flies to four European destinations from Las Vegas. The airline began flying from the city last year with nonstop flights to both Copenhagen and Stockholm. The carrier expanded its schedule there with routes to London Gatwick and Oslo, Norway, that launched within the past three weeks.
“Our Las Vegas routes are otherwise doing exceptionally well, with very high load factors,” Lindström added. “As Las Vegas is a very popular destination for Europeans, we are looking at alternatives as we hope to return to a year-round service in 2018.”
The problem stems from the fact that commercial airliners face performance limitations in extreme heat, which results in less-dense air that makes it more difficult to achieve lift. The issue occasionally becomes a concern for airports in the U.S. Southwest, though that typically only becomes an issue when temperatures are well into the 110s and are threatening local records.
For Norwegian, however, the issue is compounded by the carrier’s high-density seating configurations that add extra weight to its planes. Norwegian packs 291 seats on to its Boeing 787 -8 models and 344 on to its bigger 787-9s. By comparison, United's 787-8 and 787-9 Dreamliner models seat 219 and 252 passengers, respectively.
“Given the weight of those additional Norwegian passengers and all that accompanies them, the airline this summer found close to 300 people on board, including crew, and its planes’ ability to take-off during high-temperature periods was sometimes limited,” Las Vegas airport spokesman Chris Jones said to the Review-Journal.
With that extra weight, Norwegian has calculated that its Dreamliners shouldn’t take off if ground temperatures hit 104 degrees (40 Celsius). Norwegian declined to tell the Review-Journal how many heat delays it took this summer, though the newspaper notes “temperatures soared to 104 degrees and higher in Las Vegas on 60 days this year, according to the National Weather Service.” Norwegian offers less-than-daily service on all four of its Las Vegas routes.
For now, Norwegian will convert its Las Vegas routes from year-round to seasonal service. Going forward, the carrier says it’s looking at options – including flights that operate off during cooler hours of the day – that would allow it to resume a full-year schedule in 2018.
TWITTER: You can follow Today in the Sky editor Ben Mutzabaugh at twitter.com/TodayInTheSky
IN PICTURES: 30 cool aviation photos
IN PICTURES: 30 more cool aviation photos
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/2fAp9kj(Reuters) - 3M Co, whose products range from Post-It notes to films used in flat-panel TVs, said it could buy back up to $22 billion of shares in the five years through 2017, joining a list of companies announcing big capital returns to shareholders.
Specialist trader Peter Elkins works at the post that trades Chevron, PVR Partners and 3M on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, October 24, 2013. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
3M’s repurchase plan brings the total buyback authorizations announced by U.S. companies this year to about $460 billion, the highest since 2007 and the onset of the global financial crisis.
The company’s shares rose as much as 3 percent after it also raised its quarterly dividend by a third and said it would spend between $5 billion and $10 billion on acquisitions through 2017.
Morgan Stanley analyst Nigel Coe said the dividend increase signaled confidence, while the acquisition plans represented “a major shift in tone from this historically conservative team.”
3M said on Tuesday it expected its 2013-2017 share repurchases to be in the range of $17 billion to $22 billion, up from its previous estimate of $7.5 billion to $15 billion.
The top end of the new range represents about 25 percent of 3M’s market value - making its plan the largest possible capital return in percentage terms among U.S. companies that have announced buybacks this year.
Other companies announcing big buybacks this year include Microsoft Corp, Boeing Co and Deere & Co.
Companies typically buy back shares to increase the value of the stock remaining. However, share prices of many companies, including 3M, are at or near record highs.
“At this point in time, there does appear to be excess cash (and) corporations do not want to sit on such a large asset, especially considering the low return that their market instruments are making,” S&P Dow Jones Indices analyst Howard Silverblatt told Reuters.
3M did not say how it would fund the buyback. It had cash and equivalents of about $2.3 billion as of September 30.
JP Morgan analyst Stephen Tusa noted that 3M’s repurchase plan translated to only about $4 billion per year.
3M said in July it expected 2013 share repurchases to be in the range of $3.5 billion to $4.5 billion.
The company said on Tuesday it would raise its quarterly dividend to 88.5 cents from 63.5 cents, which works out to an additional payout of $585 million if maintained for a year.
St. Paul, Minnesota-based 3M forecast 2014 organic sales to rise by 3-6 percent, excluding the effect of foreign exchange. Analysts on average were expecting the company to report 2013 revenue of $31.01 billion.
3M said it expected earnings of between $7.30 and $7.55 per share next year. Analysts on average expected $7.40 per share on revenue of $32.63 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
3M shares were up 2.4 percent at $130.71 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
The stock, which hit an all-time high of $134.15 in November, has risen by more than a third this year.Burien News, Featured Stories, Headlines, Browse > Home Life / Expect traffic delays as paving work on SR 509 through Burien begins April 6
Expect traffic delays as paving work on SR 509 through Burien begins April 6
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Starting the week of April 6, contractor crews working for the Washington State Department of Transportation will begin work to repave southbound SR 509 from South 112th Street to South 160th Street.
The initial work consists of spot pavement repair on the highway and some ramps before paving the southbound lanes begins later this spring.
The pavement on this three and a half mile stretch of SR 509 is 20 years old in some areas. Referred to as the Burien Freeway by locals, the roadway is cracking and there are spots where the pavement is pulling apart. The highway carries 27,000 vehicles daily.
“Repaving this popular route to the airport, Burien, Normandy Park and Des Moines is necessary to keep the highway in good working condition,” said WSDOT Project Engineer Mike Askarian. “It’s overdue for repaving and this work will add another 15 years of life to the highway.”
Lane and ramp closure information
Drivers should plan ahead for possible delays when southbound lanes and ramps are closed. Lane closures on the highway and local streets may occur during day and night. Ramps will only be closed at night. In addition, all southbound lanes of SR 509 between South 148th and South 160th streets may be closed for up to four nights, from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. A short detour via First Avenue South will be provided.
Specific lane and road closure information and hours will be posted weekly in the King County construction update report.
The project also includes refreshing the high visibility lane striping and upgrading two crosswalks at the South 128th Street exit to current standards of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The crosswalk work began in late March.
This $2 million pavement preservation work is being performed by Tucci & Sons. It is scheduled for completion later this summer. It’s the first of two paving projects on SR 509 in 2015. Another project is scheduled to begin later this summer between South Normandy Park Road and South 174th Street in the Normandy Park/Burien area.
Here’s more from WSDOT:
Why is WSDOT paving southbound SR 509 from South 112th Street to SW 160th Street in Burien?
The pavement on this section of southbound SR 509, popularly known as the “Burien Freeway,” is failing due to heavy use by commuters and heavy trucks. More than 27,000 vehicles use this four mile stretch of highway every day. The wear and tear on the highway is evident. Large cracks have formed in the pavement and many areas are also uneven as the result of potholes and previous maintenance repairs. Contractor crews will grind off the top two inches of pavement in this area and then replace it with new asphalt and add high visibility striping. The southbound ramps at 112th Street and 128th Street will also be paved as a part of this project. In addition, the project will upgrade two existing pedestrian ramps located on the southbound SR 509 off-ramp to Southwest 128th Street to current ADA standards. The upgraded pedestrian ramps will provide a safer transition to cross the off-ramp. What are the challenges we face repaving?
Although repaving looks on the surface to be fairly straightforward, it’s more complex than it appears. Grinding – The top two inches of the existing pavement must be removed through a process known as grinding. Grinding is unavoidably noisy and can cause vibration. People who live or work nearby may hear or feel it.
– The top two inches of the existing pavement must be removed through a process known as grinding. Grinding is unavoidably noisy and can cause vibration. People who live or work nearby may hear or feel it. Road repairs – Removing existing pavement can sometimes reveal problems in the roadbed underneath such as deep cracks or potholing. Problem areas will need to be addressed by digging up the problem area and bringing in new soil and gravel to rebuild the roadbed.
– Removing existing pavement can sometimes reveal problems in the roadbed underneath such as deep cracks or potholing. Problem areas will need to be addressed by digging up the problem area and bringing in new soil and gravel to rebuild the roadbed. Weather – Paving work must be done in when the weather is dry and the ground temperature is at least 45 degrees and rising. This limits the time of year when the work can be performed to the summer and early fall.
– Paving work must be done in when the weather is dry and the ground temperature is at least 45 degrees and rising. This limits the time of year when the work can be performed to the summer and early fall. Coordination – Paving projects, both public and private all schedule paving for the same time of year. That means we must closely coordinate with other projects and asphalt plants to ensure asphalt is available when it’s needed for this project. What should drivers expect?
In order to reduce the impact on drivers, most of the work will occur during the overnight hours when traffic is lightest. One lane will be open to traffic while crews work from South 112th Street down to SR 518. However, when work takes place just south of SR 518 down to Southwest 160th Street, traffic must exit the highway and follow a short signed detour to get back onto SR 509. The End Result
Repaving the southbound lanes will provide drivers with a safer and smoother drive. New asphalt will also extend the life of SR 509 and reduce maintenance needs. Project Benefits
Highway Preservation – Repaving the highway preserves important infrastructure and extends the life of the roadway. Improves Safety Repaving removes the cracks and wheel ruts where water can collect, creating a smoother and safer drive.
High visibility striping makes it easier for drivers to distinguish lanes in the rain and dark. Economic Reduces the need for emergency repairs and lane closures, which are costly to taxpayers and can cause unwanted congestion during peak travel periods. What is the project timeline? Oct. 2014 – The project was advertised for competitive bidding.
Nov. 2014 – The project was awarded to Tucci & Sons, Inc. of Tacoma.
March 2015 – Construction work began.
Fall 2015 – Construction work is scheduled to be operationally complete. Operationally complete means the majority of work is done and the roadway is open to traffic. Financial Information Financial Data for PIN 150922C Funding Source Amount ($ in thousands) 2003 Gas Tax |
intersection of the Western Express Highway and Swami Vivekanand Road in Bandra to the Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan Road in Worli. From Worli Seaface, it connects to Mumbai's arterial Annie Besant Road.
The project was commissioned by the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation Limited (MSRDC). The contract for construction was awarded to the Hindustan Construction Company (HCC), with project management led by the UK offices of Dar Al-Handasah.[12]
The foundation stone was laid in 1999 by Bal Thackeray. The original plan estimated the cost at ₹6.6 billion (US$92 million) to be completed in five years.[13] But the project was subject to numerous public interest litigations, with the 5-year delay resulting in the cost escalating to ₹16 billion (US$220 million),[14] with the additional interest cost alone accounting for ₹7 billion (US$97 million).[13]
Planning [ edit ]
The overall project consisted of five parts, contracted separately to accelerate the overall schedule.
Package I : Construction of a flyover over Love Grove junction in Worli
: Construction of a flyover over Love Grove junction in Worli Package II : Construction of a cloverleaf interchange at the intersection of the Western Express Highway and S.V. Road in Bandra
: Construction of a cloverleaf interchange at the intersection of the Western Express Highway and S.V. Road in Bandra Package III : Construction of solid approach road from the interchange to the Toll Plaza on the Bandra side along with a public promenade
: Construction of solid approach road from the interchange to the Toll Plaza on the Bandra side along with a public promenade Package IV : Construction of the central cable-stayed spans with northern and southern viaducts from Worli to the Toll Plaza at the Bandra end
: Construction of the central cable-stayed spans with northern and southern viaducts from Worli to the Toll Plaza at the Bandra end Package V: Improvements to Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan Road
Package IV was the main phase, with the other packages providing supporting infrastructure.
Geology [ edit ]
Surveys of the seabed under the planned route were conducted before the bridge design commenced. The marine geology underneath the bridge consists of basalts, volcanic tuffs and breccias with some intertrappean deposits. These are overlain by completely weathered rocks and residual soil. The strength of these rocks range from extremely weak to extremely strong and their conditions range from highly weathered and fractured, to fresh, massive and intact. The weathered rock beds are further overlain by transported soil, calcareous sandstone and thin bed of coarse grained conglomerate. The top of these strata are overlain by marine soil layer up to 9m thick consisting of dark brown clay silt with some fine sand overlying weathered, dark brown basaltic boulders embedded in the silt.
Design [ edit ]
BWSL was designed as the first cable-stayed bridge to be constructed in open seas in India. Due to the underlying geology, the pylons have a complex geometry and the main span over the Bandra channel is one of the longest spans of concrete deck attempted. Balancing these engineering complexities with the aesthetics of the bridge presented significant challenges for the project.
The superstructure of the viaducts were the heaviest precast segments to be built in India. They were built using a span-by-span method using overhead gantry through a series of vertical and horizontal curves.
The 20,000 tonne Bandra-end span of the bridge deck is supported by stay cables within a very close tolerance of deviations in plan and elevation.[15]
The Bandra–Worli Sea Link was the first infrastructure project in Mumbai to use seismic arresters. These will enable it to withstand earthquakes measuring up to 7.0 on the Richter scale.[16]
Foundation and substructure [ edit ]
The construction of the bridge's structure presented major engineering challenges. These included the highly variable geotechnical conditions due to the underlying marine geology of the seabed. At times, even for plan area of a single pile had a highly uneven foundation bed. Further complications included the presence of a variable intertidal zone, with parts of the foundation bed exposed in low tide and submerged in high tide.
The foundations for the BWSL's cable-stayed bridges consist of 120 reinforced concrete piles of 2,000 millimetres (6.6 ft) diameter. Those for the viaducts consist of 484 piles of 1,500 millimetres (4.9 ft). These 604 piles were driven between 6m and 34m into the substrate in geotechnical conditions that varied from highly weathered volcanic material to massive high strength rocks.
Pylon tower [ edit ]
BWSL's largest pylon towers are 128 m (420 ft) high.
The largest pylons for the bridge consist of diamond shaped 128 metres (420 ft) high concrete tower featuring flaring lower legs, converging upper legs, a unified tower head housing the stays and a continuously varying cross section along the height of tower.
The bridge's pylon towers gradually decrease in cross-section with height. They have horizontal grooves every 3m in height, which permitted inserts. Vertical grooves in the circular sections require special form liners, as well as require attention for de-shuttering. The tower legs are inclined in two directions, which presented challenges in alignment and climbing of soldiers. Construction joints were permitted at 3m intervals only.
To build the pylons, Doka of Austria was commissioned to build a custom automatic climbing shutter formwork system, based on their SKE-100 automatic climbing shutter system. This was fabricated on site and employed to execute all tower leg lifts below deck level.
Pre-cast yard [ edit ]
The pre-cast yard was located on reclaimed land. The yard catered to casting, storing and handling of 2342 concrete-steel pre-cast segments for the project. The storage capacity requirement of the yard was about 470 precast segments. As the area available was limited, the segments were stored in stacks of up to three layers.
Structure [ edit ]
BWSL consists of twin continuous concrete box girder bridge sections for traffic in each direction. Each bridge section, except at the cable-stayed portion, is supported on piers typically spaced 50 metres (160 ft) apart. Each section is designed to support four lanes of traffic with break-down lanes and concrete barriers. Sections also provide for service side-walks on one side. The bridge alignment is defined with vertical and horizontal curves.
The bridge consists of three distinct parts: the north end viaduct, the central cable-stayed spans and the south end viaduct. Both the viaducts used precast segmental construction. The cable-stayed bridge on the Bandra channel has a 50m-250m-250m-50m span arrangement and on the Worli channel it has a 50m-50m-150m-50m-50m span arrangement.
Northern & Southern viaducts [ edit ]
The viaducts on either side of the central cable-stayed spans are arranged in 300-metre (980 ft) units consisting of six continuous spans of 50 metres (160 ft) each. Expansion joints are provided at each end of the units. The superstructure and substructure are designed in accordance with IRC codes. Specifications conform to the IRC standard with supplementary specifications covering special items. The foundation consists of 1.5 metres (4 ft 11 in) diameter drilled piles (four for each pier) with pile caps. Bridge bearings are of disc type. The modular expansion joints for the bridge were provided by Swiss Civil Engineering firm mageba.[17]
The viaducts were built utilising pre-cast, post-tensioned, segmental concrete-steel box girder sections. An overhead gantry crane with self-launching capability was custom built on the site to lay the superstructure of the precast segments. The Pre-Cast segments are joined together using high strength epoxy glue with nominal pre-stressing initially. The end segments adjacent to the pier are short segments "cast-in-situ joints". Geometrical adjustments of the span are made before primary continuous tendons are stressed.
Segment types are further defined by the changes in the web thickness and type of diaphragms cast in cell. The segment weights vary from 110 to 140 tonnes (110 to 140 long tons; 120 to 150 short tons) per segment. The segment length varies from 3,000 to 3,200 mm (9.8 to 10.5 ft). Deck post tensioning is performed at the completion of the erection of each 50-metre (160 ft) bridge span.
Cable-stayed spans [ edit ]
Main cable-stayed span
The cable-stayed portion of the Bandra channel is 600 metres (2,000 ft) in length between expansion joints and consists of two 250-metre cable supported main spans flanked by 50 metres conventional approach spans. A centre tower, with an overall height of 128 metres above pile cap level, supports the superstructure by means of four planes of cable stay in a semi-harp arrangement. Cable spacing is 6.0 metres along the bridge deck.
The cable-stayed portion of the Worli channel is 250 metres (820 ft) in length between expansion joints and consists of one 150 metres cable supported main span flanked on each side by two 50 metres conventional approach spans. A centre tower, with an overall height of 55 metres, supports the superstructure above the pile cap level by means of four planes of cable stay in a semi-harp arrangement. Cable spacing here is also 6.0 metres along the bridge deck.
The superstructure comprises twin precast concrete box girders with a fish belly cross sectional shape, identical to the approaches. A typical Pre-Cast segment length is 3.0 metres with the heaviest superstructure segment approaching 140 tonnes. Balanced cantilever construction is used for erecting the cable supported superstructure as compared to span-by-span construction for the approaches. For every second segment, cable anchorages are provided.
A total of 264 cable stays are used at Bandra channel with cable lengths varying from approximately 85 metres to nearly 250 metres. The tower is cast in-situ reinforced concrete using the climbing form method of construction. The overall tower configuration is an inverted "Y" shape with the inclined legs oriented along the axis of the bridge. Tower cable anchorage recesses are achieved by use of formed pockets and transverse and longitudinal bar post-tensioning is provided in the tower head to resist local cable forces.
A total of 160 cable stays are used at Worli channel with cable lengths varying from approximately 30 metres minimum to nearly 80 metres maximum. Like the Bandra channel, the tower here is also cast in-situ reinforced concrete using the climbing form method of construction but the overall tower configuration is "I" shape with the inclined legs. Similarly, tower cable anchorage recesses are achieved by use of formed pockets.
The foundations for the main tower comprise 2-metre-drilled shafts of 25-metre length each. Cofferdam and tremie seal construction have been used to construct the six-metre deep foundation in the dry.
Bridge management [ edit ]
Toll gates of Bandra-Worli sea link
Toll collection [ edit ]
The Bandra end of the toll plaza has 16 approach lanes. The toll plaza is equipped with an electronic toll collection system.
At both ends, the toll collection options include:
Automatic electronic payment system through On-board Units mounted on vehicles for frequent-commuters that enable vehicles to pass without stopping [18]
Semi-automatic cash-less electronic payment via a smart card in unattended lanes
Manual toll collection for payment by cash, to a toll attendant
Vehicle Toll (Applicable: 01/April/2015)[8] Single Journey Return Journey Day Pass Car ₹ 70 (97¢ US) ₹ 105 (US$1.50) ₹ 150 (US$2.10) Tempo/LCV ₹ 110 (US$1.50) ₹ 140 (US$1.90) ₹ 235 (US$3.30) Truck/Bus ₹ 145 (US$2.00) ₹ 185 (US$2.60) ₹ 310 (US$4.30)
Power supply & lighting [ edit ]
The Bandra Worli Sea link main cable span is lit up at night.
An illuminated Bandra-Worli Sea Link Worli Skyline.
The bridge has a reliable and redundant power supply, backed up by diesel generators and auto mains failure panels for critical loads, such as monitoring, surveillance, emergency equipment and communication services including aviation and obstruction indicators. BWSL exclusively uses energy saving illumination systems.
Surveillance and Security [ edit ]
An intelligent bridge management system (IBS) provides traffic information, surveillance, monitoring and control systems. It comprises CCTVs, automatic traffic counters and vehicle classification system, variable message signs, remote weather information system and emergency telephones. The control centre is located near the toll plaza along with the electronic tolling controls. The control system uses fibre-optic cables running the entire span of the BWSL. Toll and advanced traffic management systems were installed.
For traffic enforcement, the bridge includes facilities for vehicles to pull over when stopped by enforcement officers or in the event of a breakdown. The bridge uses mobile explosive scanners[19] for vehicles travelling on the sea link.[20][21] Scans take less than 20 seconds for each vehicle with sensors above and below the vehicles. Over 180 cars can be scanned per hour by each scanner.
The pillars and the towers supporting the bridge are protected by buoys designed to withstand explosions and collisions. These inflated buoys surround each pillar of the sea link to avoid any damage.[22]
The BWSL is insured by New India Assurance.[23]
The bridge tower and the control centres feature lightning protection, designed to protect the bridge monitoring, communication and power equipment from possible surges.
Accessibility [ edit ]
The BWSL is not accessible to pedestrians, and was not designed for them, according to the MSRDC's Satish Gavai.[24] Two-wheeled cycles and three-wheeled vehicles are prohibited as well.[25][26][27]
Panorama Shot of the Bandra Worli Sea Link (Mumbai)
Criticisms [ edit ]
The Economic Times criticized the delays and shoddy construction of Bandra–Worli Sea Link. First, the cost was not the projected 13 billion but actually cost 16 billion or about 23% cost overrun. Second, the project was 5 years behind schedule.[28]
The Financial express has reported that even eight years after it was thrown open, the daily average traffic on the Bandra Worli Sea Link — is smaller than a third of the original estimate. In fact, the increase in revenues over the years — Rs 66.62 crore in 2010-11 to Rs 70.28 crore in 2011-12 and to Rs 71.04 crore 2012-13 — has been fairly small. [29]Latest statistics show the daily traffic count on the six-kilometre, predominantly cable-stayed bridge has dropped by over 11% in the past year, from 45,952 vehicles in 2011-12 to 40,808 in 2012-13. Over four years from 2009 to 2013, the daily vehicle count has dropped by over 16%. High toll is considered a major contributing factor to people finding the bridge, a less attractive commuting option. Also blamed are congestion towards Pedder Road for south-bound traffic and new flyovers that move north-south traffic on the eastern flank of the city, especially the 2.6-km Lalbaug flyover.[30]
Soon after completion, the road surface deteriorated and it took a lot of time to fix the problems.[31]
See also [ edit ]Abstract
Aim Using a nationally representative sample of African American men, this study investigated the associations between lifetime history of incarceration, discrimination, and mental health (e.g., depressive symptoms and psychological distress). We hypothesized that discrimination would fully mediate the association between incarceration history and mental health outcomes among African American men.
Methods Using a cross-sectional design, our analysis included 1271 African American men who participated in the National Survey of American Life (NSAL), 2001–2003. Incarceration history was the main independent variable. Depressive symptoms and psychological distress were the dependent variables. Everyday discrimination was the mediator. Age, education, and income were covariates. Structural equation models (SEMs) were used for data analysis.
Results Among African American men, incarceration history was positively associated with perceived discrimination, depressive symptoms, and psychological distress. Everyday discrimination fully mediated the associations between incarceration history and both depressive symptoms and psychological distress.NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 18: Elizabeth Smart attends The New York Society For The Prevention Of Cruelty To Children's 2013 Spring Luncheon at The Pierre Hotel on April 18, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Monica Schipper/Getty Images)
A couple months ago, several Christian bloggers created a conversation about the potentially harmful aspects of idolizing virginity and purity. While I think that abstinence is a great goal for kids (and one I will encourage for my own), I also believe that it is vitally important that we not use shame in an attempt to scare our children into complying with our own sexual ethics. While I think it's great to explain the benefits of abstinence, I do believe that Christians have begun to rely too heavily on a shame-based rhetoric that motivates teens into compliance for fear of being "dirty" or undesirable.
The reality is that many kids will become sexually active in their teen years. According to research, 80 percent of them. It's imperative that, while highlighting the benefits of abstinence, we also educate on sexuality and birth control and abuse and consent. It's also imperative that we teach our kids, and our girls specifically, that THEIR IDENTITY AND WORTH IS NOT TIED TO THEIR VIRGINITY. This is such a dangerous message and is so psychologically damaging. I cannot tell you how many women I have counseled who became sexually active in their teen years and consequently felt like they were damaged goods. And for women who were sexually abused, the broken sense of self is even more compounded by hearing, over and over, that "purity" is the marker of a girl's worth.
Today, Elizabeth Smart, who was kidnapped, raped and held captive for nearly a year, spoke about the way these messages discouraged her from running from her captors. She spoke from her own experience at a recent forum on human trafficking at Johns Hopkins University. She describes the feelings of shame she felt after her rape:
I'll never forget how I felt lying there on the ground. I felt like my soul had been crushed. I felt like I wasn't even human anymore. How could anyone ever love me or care for me after this? I felt like life had no more meaning to it. And that was only the beginning.
She further explained how she had no concept that sex could occur outside of marriage:
I was raised in a religious household where I was taught that sex only happened between a married man and a woman. After that rape, I felt so dirty... can you imagine going back into a society where you are no longer of value? Where you are no longer as good as anybody else?
Raised in a religious household, Elizabeth recounted a school teacher who urged students against premarital sex and compared women who had sex before their wedding nights to chewing gum:
I thought, "Oh my gosh, I'm that chewed up piece of gum, nobody re-chews a piece of gum. You throw it away." And that's how easy it is to feel like you no longer have worth, you no longer have value. Why would it even be worth screaming out? Why would it even make a difference if you are rescued? Your life still has no value.
Elizabeth went on to advise that we focus on teaching children their inherent value. "The best thing we can do is educate young people as young as we can reach them,"she said. Survivors of rape need "permission to fight back," and that requires them "to know you are of value."
While most teens will not be faced with an abduction situation, Elizabeth's experience is a startling example of the way this kind of religious rhetoric significantly alters a young woman's confidence and self-worth. We cannot continue to send the message to our young girls that being sexually active is some kind of black stain on their personhood. We do not need to make teenagers feel worthless when they have sex -- or, in the case of too many teenagers, when they are assaulted against their will. As Carolyn Custis James said:
...a message of purity and abstinence, as important as this is for young women (young men too) comes too late for huge numbers of young American girls, including those in church pews. It is utterly devastating to the one-in-four girls who is sexually abused before she reaches her 18th birthday. We live in a world where by the age of 18 an estimated 70 percent of girls have had sex at least once and not always by choice, where globally countless women and girls are in the grips of sex traffickers, where an appalling 48 women are raped every hour in the Congo, where within our own borders sexual freedom has opened the door for young women to be as sexually promiscuous as men, and where some girls with the very best of intentions succumb to temptation. I grieve all of this, but do not for a second imagine that any of this means a woman has less to offer a husband or that in any sense it diminishes her worth.
No woman, ever, is a chewed up piece of gum. No woman is a cup of spit. No woman is a used car or a dirty rag or a used-up piece of duct tape or a plucked rose or a licked cupcake. No matter what she's done.
Didn't Jesus come to tell us that?It’s no secret that a healthy diet has many important benefits. Not only does it contribute to weight loss, it also promotes overall health and functionality of the body. Another added benefit of a healthy diet is that it can make dramatic differences in the way your skin looks.
DO
Including plant-based foods into your diet will help you get rid of the signs of aging. A balanced diet of fruits and vegetables will fill your body with antioxidants. Antioxidants are beneficial because they can neutralize the free radicals that lead to age spots, wrinkles, and more. Fruits and vegetables are only some of the foods that can help improve the look of your ageless skin.
Healthy fats, such as nuts and olive oil, can contribute greatly to healthy looking skin. These types of healthy fats help your body absorb fat-soluble vitamins, strengthen cell membrane (most notable the epidermis) and absorb complexion-friendly antioxidants, to give you a more supple face and a revitalized look.
DO NOT
It’s important to note that some foods can have a negative effect on the look of your skin. The foods that you want to avoid too much of, include processed food, pasta, white bread, refined sugar, and meat (especially red meat). These foods can contribute to the aging process by reducing the antioxidants needed to create younger, healthier looking skin.
Alcohol and coffee should also be limited or avoided completely. They can make skin appear older by reducing the moisture in the skin, which will lead to more wrinkles. Water is the most effective solution to this, as it plays a crucial role in hydrating, helping to reduce dark circles and bags under the eyes.
Another important rule is to not smoke. Smoking cigarettes leads to the premature aging of the skin. The symptoms are fine lines and wrinkles. This occurs because the nicotine in cigarettes narrows blood vessels in the outer layers of the skin, thereby reducing the blood flow to these areas. As a result, your skin is deprived of the oxygen it needs to stay healthy and youthful. The most visible lines and wrinkles will appear on the lips and face, however, smoking even causes wrinkles on other parts of your body, like your inner arms.
Eating a healthy, balanced diet and avoiding harmful substances will help you achieve ageless skin.Zapchain Growth Proves Bitcoin Tipping Viable Social Media Model
The power of Bitcoin tipping can no longer be denied. The Zapchain model of microtipping is growing. According to founder Matt Schlicht, some Zapchain communities are getting over 100,000 visits per month. Zapchain’s tipping mechanism has created a market for quality communities. By rewarding users with something valuable — bitcoin — it’s easy to see what motivates people to keep coming back.
Also read: Gaming on the Blockchain: The Transition to Decentralized Play Systems
Two hundred new forum subsections, called “Communities,” have been created in the past seven days. The most popular community — unsurprisingly — is Bitcoin, with over 9,000 members. Other popular communities include 3D Printing, Artificial Intelligence, Gaming and Drones. Some members have used the Bitcoin they’ve earned on the site to pay for college books and phone plans.
Zapchain works simply. It’s similar to Reddit and its voting system, except Zapchain takes it even further. Upvotes on Zapchain contain fractions of bitcoin which are given to “OP,” or the person who starts the topic. Bitcoin earned on Zapchain can be withdrawn to a bitcoin wallet. Currently, a Coinbase-linked wallet is the only withdrawal method. Hopefully this will change in the future and allow people outside Coinbase’s operating area to join the conversation.
Zapchain users can earn bitcoin by replying to topics with pre-specified bounties. For example, a user can post a question and reward the 10 best responses with 1,000 bits. These bounties can be configured however the OP pleases. These types of threads are among the most popular and receive numerous, thoughtful responses. In the z/Bitcoin section of the site, a recent thread received 34 responses in under 48 hours; the topic: Do you agree with former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke when he says bitcoin has ‘serious problems’? The thread OP, Zapchain COO Daniel Cawrey, offered a bounty of 2,500 Bits to the best 5 answers.
One can earn Bitcoin on Zapchain by reviewing products and leaving great comments. Developers can gather feedback easily on new products or apps. The applications are many. The common denominator is Bitcoin — which adds an incentive to want more.
It’s unclear how Zapchain monetizes the business. There doesn’t seem to be any sponsored ads. Zapchain received $350,000 in initial funding from a consortium of three VC firms including Boost Bitcoin Fund. Tim Draper says the goal of his investment was to see Zapchain evolve into a platform that reduces bank friction between journalists and readers. Dan Cawrey, Zapchain COO says the VC funds are being used to attract new content creators to the website.
It is clear that Zapchain will begin to capture a greater share of the social media market. With Reddit, especially r/Bitcoin, being censored by moderators, Zapchain offers a transparent alternative. Zapchain has made it easier to monetize small-scale journalism. This is undoubtedly positive as it removes the bias often associated with the old model of conglomerate-owned media.
What do you think of Zapchain? Let us know in the comments below!
Image courtesy of ZapchainEarlier today a new promo photo from Justice League hit the internet. As usual, similar to the last promo, the image doesn’t contain any new content except it’s a different angle of a scene that was revealed in the teaser trailer. However, a breakdown of the image may reveal some new details.
The promo photo features Barry Allen (played by Ezra Miller) surrounded by monitors inside his high-tech headquarters/hide out. Earlier in the SDCC Justice League teaser trailer, we got a glimpse of the place when Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) visits Barry Allen to recruit him. The photo is embedded below.
A breakdown of the image by Twitter user dc_fans_united revealed several Easter eggs. For starters, on the top and left-hand side of the photo, blueprints of Barry’s prototype suit can be spotted. It looks like the speedster is attempting to make changes or indulge in some Aerodynamics design work.
Other Easter eggs such as a portrait of Nikola Tesla, Rick & Morty TV series season 1 episode 9 running on the back and Barry’s first chair can be spotted at ease. But it’s possible that we may have missed another Easter egg from the photo.
To the left of Barry’s chair, a closer look and fans can spot a badge with the imprint of a ‘fist holding a lightning bolt’. It could just be a simple indication of The Flash’s ability to tap into the speed force or to the time when he got struck by Lightning. However, there’s a possibility that it could also be a nod to the supervillain known as Zoom or The CW’s The Flash.
In The Flash TV series season 3 episode, Barry Allen goes up against Zoom. In an attempt take him down, The Flash performs one of his special abilities where he throws a thunderbolt at Zoom.
Unfortunately, in a turn of event, Zoom with the ability to move faster than Barry, manages to catch the thunderbolt and throws it right back to our favorite speedster. Fans can check it out in the video below.
Could the badge from the new Justice League promo photo be a reference to Zoom or The Flash TV series as a whole? Could it be a sign that DCEU’s The Flash might perform the special ability in the upcoming Justice League?
Perhaps, I’m looking into it more than I’m supposed to. What do you think of the possible Easter egg? Let me know in the comments below. For more updates on Justice League and other DCEU stories, follow Pursue News on Facebook and Twitter. Readers can also follow me on my social media accounts for the latest scoops.Mario Pender (Photo: Leon County Jail)
Florida State running back Mario Pender was arrested on two charges, including a third-degree felony, on Saturday and dismissed from the football team.
Pender, 23, was arrested by the Tallahassee Police Department for domestic battery by strangulation and resisting an officer without violence.
"Mario Pender has been permanently dismissed from the football team following his arrest earlier in the day," the school said in a statement. "The Athletics Department will have no further comment at this time."His bond was set at $500.
Pender’s playing status with the Seminoles has been in limbo since last September after suffering a collapsed lung during a practice. He appeared in the first three games of 2015 before his season was over. He was also held out of spring practice in April.
He was sidelined for his freshman season with a groin injury, was ruled academically ineligible in 2013, and was limited to nine games in 2014 because of a concussion and an ankle injury.Pender has had a tumultuous career with the Seminoles since enrolling in January 2012.
In 2011, as a high school senior, Pender was arrested by Cape Coral police after an altercation with his girlfriend. The police report said that during a dispute inside the car he hit her with a right backhand before asking her to get out and give him the keys. The charges were later dropped by the state attorney’s office due to lack of evidence.
Pender’s latest arrest is the first of any kind since two members of the FSU football team were arrested on consecutive days for battery incidents in June 2015.
Quarterback De’Andre Johnson, who was later kicked off the team, entered a plea deal last December after surveillance video caught him punching a woman in the face at a Tallahassee bar.
Running back Dalvin Cook was acquitted in court after being accused of hitting a woman at a separate bar the day after.
Pender was expected to return from injury and add depth to FSU's running backs before his college career came to an end.
Democrat senior writer Corey Clark and FSView managing editor Perry Kostadakis contributed to this report.
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Buy Photo FSU's Mario Pender works out during the first day of spring practice at the Dunlap Training Facility on the school’s campus Wednesday, March 16, 2016. (Photo: Joe Rondone/Democrat)I-45 near Hogan Street
On the highway at the edge of downtown, at a tangle of converging and diverging highways, there is a worn-down railroad bridge where a graffiti artist’s messy block-letter message has endured for years. People slow down as they approach the bridge, pull out their phones and post pictures of it on social media. The slogan has become something of a local catchphrase, capturing in two ordinary words the no-limits ethos of a place forever linked with putting men on the moon.
Be Someone.
As the Houston region grows ever more diverse, the phrase could perhaps use refining.
Be Everyone.
Stephen L. Klineberg, a sociology professor at Rice University who is the founding director of the university’s Kinder Institute for Urban Research, calls Greater Houston the most ethnically diverse metropolitan area in the country. In the Houston region, non-Hispanic whites make up 38 percent of the population, Hispanics 36 percent, African-Americans 17 percent and Asians 9 percent.
The floodwaters were ruthlessly undiscriminating. Black evacuees were escorted to dry land by Hispanic volunteers; Hispanic evacuees were rescued by white strangers; Jews were helped by Christians; Muslims cleared debris for non-Muslims; the rich crowded into shelters with the poor.
Near a flooded residential area along the Beltway 8 highway, a melting pot’s worth of helping hands and arms lifted a frail, paralyzed black man from his wheelchair into a pickup truck driven by an Asian banker.
“The thing that Lanier used to say about Houston that I loved, and is so true, is that Houston is one place where nobody cares who your daddy is, and that’s why people flock here,” said Bill King, a former mayoral candidate, referring to Bob Lanier, the mayor of Houston in the 1990s.
Commerce Street and Main Street
Even Houston’s Plymouth Rock is under water.
Allen’s Landing is the site where two New York brothers, Augustus Chapman Allen and John Kirby Allen, stepped ashore on the banks of Buffalo Bayou in 1836 and founded the town. They named it for Sam Houston, the hero of the decisive battle for Texas’s independence from Mexico.
Today, the historic site is tucked along the edge of Houston’s skyscraper-filled downtown, about a mile off I-45. And the setting now requires some imagination, and maybe a mini-submarine, to see up close.
The bayou swelled and flooded, leaving shreds of plastic and other debris behind on the walls and lampposts as the waters have slowly receded.
The two events — Harvey’s calamitous rains and the founding of the city — unfolded here on almost the same date, 181 years apart: Aug. 27, 2017, and Aug. 30, 1836.
Three years after the Allen brothers bought land on the banks of Buffalo Bayou, Houston was reeling from two distinct blows — the loss of its standing as the capital of the Republic of Texas and a deadly outbreak of disease. The yellow fever epidemic in the summer of 1839 was Houston’s first mass disaster.
“The closest Houston ever came to drying up and blowing away occurred after that initial epidemic,” Bartee Haile, an expert on Texas history who writes a weekly column for small-town newspapers in Texas, wrote in 2014. “A third of the populace was stricken, and one out of 12 residents perished.”
High above the rushing waters at Allen’s Landing, Anne Olson stood on the roof of a building and surveyed the damage. Ms. Olson is the president of Buffalo Bayou Partnership, a nonprofit organization founded in 1986 that has been revitalizing a 10-mile stretch of the bayou.
“Our board members sent us a thing yesterday saying we’re sort of like what’s going on — we’re really beautiful at one point, then we flood, then we dust off,” Ms. Olson said. “We go on.”Michael Bisping said he’s in awe of the amount of opponent withdrawals that UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor has experienced through just over a handful of fights with the promotion.
McGregor (19-2 MMA, 7-0 UFC) has built himself into one of the biggest stars in the sport through just seven octagon appearances, but Bisping (27-7 MMA, 17-7 UFC) said that status has come through a few fortunate occurrences.
The latest of those occurrences saw a broken foot force UFC lightweight champ Rafael dos Anjos (25-7 MMA, 14-5 UFC) out of a planned title defense against McGregor at UFC 196 on March 5. It’s the fourth time McGregor has lost an opponent in eight scheduled UFC fights, with half of those incidents taking place within two weeks of fight night.
Although McGregor should be commended for his willingness to take a fight under any circumstances, Bisping said part of the reason he’s been able to reach a 7-0 record in UFC competition is because the replacement opponents weren’t exactly prepared.
Bisping, who fights Anderson Silva in the main event of Saturday’s UFC Fight Pass-streamed UFC Fight Night 84 from The O2 in London, said that will likely be the case when McGregor’s new opponent for UFC 196 is announced.
“As far as a replacement, Conor’s going to be at an advantage against whichever replacement they bring in simply because it’s extremely short notice,” Bisping told MMAjunkie. “It’s only just over a week away. So Conor is one of the luckiest men in MMA. Of course he’s extremely talented, I’m not taking anything away from him, but he keeps getting these fights with guys on short notice. God bless him.”
UFC 196 takes place at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on FOX Sports 1 and UFC Fight Pass.
Who will McGregor’s next short-notice opponent for the event? More than a dozen fighter have volunteered their services via social media, but the UFC has yet to make an official announcement regarding which direction it will go.
If Bisping had it his way, though, he said he would pull McGregor from the card and wait to reschedule the fight with dos Anjos. It was a historic matchup that would allow McGregor to be the UFC’s first titleholder in two weight classes simultaneously, and it could be difficult to replicate those stakes.
Despite that thought, “The Count” said he knows that’s not a particularly realistic option. The UFC has invested in a McGregor main event fight at UFC 196, and regardless of who steps in, Bisping said the show must go on.
“There’re two very different perspectives: there’s the perspective of a fan, of what you want to see, or what you think should happen, then there’s the perspective of the UFC that’s promoting these fighters and spent |
an agreement that 25 percent of the construction workers and 50 percent of the apprentices for the $1 billion project on Piers 30-32 would be San Franciscans or veterans.
On Monday came a deal with organized labor that food service, restaurant, concession and other arena workers could unionize, which came shortly before a hearing at the board’s land use committee on the arena design.
In a town where waterfront development is almost always contentious and organized labor holds considerable political sway, it’s easy to understand the strategy of getting unions publicly behind you.
“Many of us often talk about labor peace,” Mayor Ed Lee said at the second arena-labor signing ceremony in his office in a week. “In these days, I am more talking about labor confidence and labor happiness. Because ‘labor peace’ often says there’s a dispute going on. Here we’re going way beyond.”
The deal between the basketball franchise and Unite Here Local 2, which represents food service and hotel employees, also allows the roughly 500 current workers at Oracle Arena in Oakland to keep their jobs and transfer to the new San Francisco venue when it opens, slated for the start of the 2017-18 NBA season.
The agreement requires any operation inside the arena with 15 or more employees to allow workers to choose who represents them. That would also apply to a proposed hotel directly across the Embarcadero from the pier and to food and beverage businesses with 45 or more employees operating elsewhere on the 15-acre project site.
The arena development is projected to create 1,700 net new ongoing jobs, although officials couldn’t provide an estimate of exactly how many of those would be union.
“It’s … about building communities,” Mike Casey, president of the San Francisco Labor Council, said before signing the deal, “and we build communities by establishing jobs that provide people with a living wage.”
But there is still plenty of opposition to the project, primarily from nearby residents concerned about crowds, traffic and views who also contend the approval process is moving too quickly.
Supervisor Scott Wiener, while supportive of the arena, warned that Muni’s subway capacity is inadequate to meet current demand, and the situation would worsen with people flocking to a new 17,500-seat arena with about 200 events a year.
“I don’t want this to be a transportation nightmare,” Wiener said. “Muni has to invest and expand, and right now, I don’t see that.”
Other supervisors, while complimentary of the design, which includes seven acres of public open space on Piers 30-32, suggested additions to those areas, like a public basketball court and a playground.The Red Sea dam is a speculative macro-engineering proposal put forward in 2007 by a group of scientists and engineers.[1] Although the authors' intentions are to explore "the ethical and environmental dilemmas and some of the political implications of macro-engineering", the proposal has attracted both criticism and ridicule.[2]
Proposal [ edit ]
The idea is to dam the Red Sea at its southern end where the Bab-al-Mandab Strait is only 29 km (18 mi) wide. Natural evaporation would rapidly lower the level of the enclosed Red Sea. Water rushing back into the sea would then drive turbines to generate electricity. It is claimed that up to 50 gigawatts of electrical power could be generated, dwarfing all other power schemes worldwide.
Implications [ edit ]
The proposal's authors point out that "Macro-engineering projects of this size cause a massive destruction of existing ecologies", a point emphasized by critics[3] who note the damage caused by current, far smaller schemes.
The authors also note the benefits of the project. Besides helping to satisfy the region's growing energy needs, there are environmental benefits to the scheme: "On the positive side of the environmental scale, however, are the big reductions of greenhouse gas emissions, and the reduced pace of fossil hydrocarbon resource exhaustion".
Influential scientists such as Peter Bosshard,[4] policy director of International Rivers in California, have condemned the scheme as ludicrous.
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]AAP/Alan Porritt
The announcement last week that no Australian government ministers would be attending the UN summit on climate change in Poland tomorrow is as embarrassing as it is serious.
In a previous post I had suggested that Australia was in danger of turning into a neolithic backwater in the stance the Abbott government is taking on climate change.
But then, on the other hand, the position Australia is taking is quite understandable. Currently, Australia has no effective policy on tackling climate change, and the Abbott government has instead been systematically dismantling all paths to mitigation, right at the point at which extreme weather - not just in Australia, but around the world - has become serialised.
What most explains the position of the Abbott government on climate is the extraordinary closure that can be witnessed amongst the power elite who have been working away at a hegemonic position on climate for years now.
It is not just that climate change has been politicised. Rather, it has become a topic of proactive ideological dogmatism, which has galvanised a media-political-industrial constellation of far-Right denialism.
But, as any ethnographer would tell us, it is best to describe groups in language they are comfortable with. So let’s leave denialism to one side and move to what The Australian newspaper has long editorialised as “groupthink”: a term that the ABC, independent journalists and climate scientists alike have been sullied with on many occasions.
In defining groupthink, we would be forgiven for consulting Wikipedia, just as members of the group we are seeking to understand seemingly would.
Groupthink is apparently:
…a psychological phenomenon that occurs within a group of people, in which the desire for harmony or conformity in the group results in an incorrect or deviant decision-making outcome…without critical evaluation of alternative ideas or viewpoints, and by isolating themselves from outside influences.
One handy illustration will suffice here. It is the astounding tale of how a former PM, a mining magnate and several journalists have all stage-managed an argument hosted exclusively by The Australian, that can be traced to the extreme-Right apologist for global warming, Bjorn Lomborg.
It begins in earnest last week by showcasing views of mining magnate Hugh Morgan in an article by Andrew Burrell, that:
…the world’s climate scientists will be remembered in a similar vein to the “Chicken Little” theorists who published the apocalyptic tome The Limits to Growth more than 40 years ago.
According to the article, Hugh Morgan, described as a “long-time climate change skeptic”, has independently arrived at the assessment of a book by the Club of Rome - that the lesson to the IPCC was that:
The book illustrates the dangers of academics talking about things they know nothing about.
The following day, John Howard gave his “One Religion is Enough” speech to the pro-fracking, anti-wind turbine Global Warming Policy Foundation in London. He argued that climate change is as much as alarmist call to action as the Club or Rome’s forecast 40 years ago that there were limits to the growth of capitalism that may lead to food shortages.
They were experts; they predicted that the world would run out of resources to sustain itself. They were wrong.
Nevermind that the time-horizon of the Limits to Growth is actually 100 years, this obscure argument - not based on any newsworthy events of the last week - has culminated in one of the most reactionary editorials seen in The Australian for some time. Again, it is a betrayal of so much of the fine journalism that the paper is capable of.
The editorial might well be called “Groupthink perfected” as it even goes so far as to credit the paper itself with the powers of an abstract personality. It declares that, for the first time, it now defers to the science.
Because we have read the science and studied the economics, The Australian has accepted for almost two decades that burning fossil fuels is contributing to global warming.
But then, the same editorial goes on to cast further doubt on the fact of warming, the rate of warming, and climate change science.
The editors at The Australian have in common with Howard an overtly agnostic position - a form of personal heresy insurance - while rhetorically casting doubt on the validity of climate change at every turn without “critical evaluation of alternative ideas or viewpoints, and by isolating themselves from outside influences”.
Howard declared he read Lord Lawson’s denialist book An Appeal to Reason twice before giving last week’s speech, and has not read any other book on climate change.
In the same way, it seems the only author The Australian reads is one of the world’s leading firebrands for inaction on climate change: its own occasional columnist Bjorn Lomborg.
And here it can be revealed that the groupthink being directed at a so-not-in-the–news 40 year treatise on capitalism - that is being hosted by The Australian - all comes down to Lomborg, who wrote an equally obscure article in Foreign Affairs last year entitled:
Environmental alarmism, then and now: the Club of Rome’s problem - and ours.
It outlines the foundation argument being unattributably used by those in the groupthink tank: that The Limits of Growth hasn’t come true; and that the authors erred in assuming that they “overlooked human ingenuity”, which for Lomborg would ensure that we will never “bump into the planet’s physical limits”.
To compare the predictions of four authors - drawing on the uncharted techniques of computer-modelling - about the future of global capitalism with the science of climate change is completely irresponsible, and an affront to the tens of thousands of scientists who have provided the certainty we need to take action on climate change.
Nevertheless, Howard, Morgan and the editors at The Australian are all taking their cue from Lomborg to the point where independent thinking has all but vanished. There is a very strong echo chamber going on here that must be deafening for those inside it.
Unfortunately, they have spent so long in this chamber - which they feel bound to do because it is also a status group for them - that they cannot hear what is going on outside. They were afraid to do interviews when the NSW bushfires were on and are now afraid to go to Poland for the UN climate summit. These realities would be straying too far from the echo chamber.
So it is not just a matter of politicisation that is directed toward a voting audience (such as we saw with “stop the boats” for example), but a question of extreme ideological closure. Such closure is not simply about following a political line, but the echo chamber becomes a protective organ. In fact, the more extreme the weather that is raging outside the chamber - and the more IPCC reports that are handed down - the more such a status group really needs this chamber.
But of course, the riposte will be that the IPCC scientists are also in an echo chamber together with climate change activists. The problem the climate deniers have in arguing this is that with the IPCC, thousands of scientists have been working away for years on quite specialised areas of the science.
When all this science is brought together - which is what the IPCC’s purpose is - we find that all those scientists working in relative isolation have found evidence that all points to the same conclusion: we are heading for an unsustainably warm planet that no amount of “human ingenuity” will be able to resolve.
But as none of the groupthinkers seem to have the first clue about the reality of climate inertia, they believe that blind faith in individualism, entrepreneurship and “ingenuity” will one day save us. One religion indeed.
Standing at the entrance to the chamber are the climate bouncers, many wearing a greenwash grin. Environment minister Greg Hunt is suited perfectly to mediate between the chamber and the “real world” of policy outside, and should be at the summit. But politicians like Hunt have such a difficult job. They are going to have to be so vigilant in reproducing the ideological closure that exists between The Australian, Coalition politicians and the mining lobby.
This is because they not only risk isolating Australia from the rest of the world, but more importantly their own party from the electorate every time there is an extreme weather event.
The Australian is in also in peril - not from its subsidised annual loss-making - but because it is being slowly surrounded by media outlets that are suddenly accepting the science. The arrival of the media-climate equinox is even showing itself in News Corp outlets in unprecedented ways, which may soon leave The Australian looking like the last post, now needing to cover itself with heresy insurance.
Even Sydney’s Daily Telegraph and online News Corp outlet news.com.au are producing articles that look like climate change activism, moreso than the usual feeble attempts at pseudo-“balanced” reporting.
The question is: will such gratuitously closed ideological positions be one day held accountable?
Here, I disagree with some of the more extreme positions from climate activists and bloggers — that one day, climate deniers and climate action obstructionists will need to be paraded before something akin to a crimes against humanity tribunal.
Certainly, the heresy of “groupthink” politicians and thinktank trolls in denying climate change may one day come back to haunt them. But perhaps it will not be in a “Climate Crimes Tribunal”. More than likely, it will just be on election days and in historical records.Originally Posted by Edward Lewis (Source) Originally Posted by
Hi everyone,
Thanks for the feedback, its exactly why we run betas like this to test out features, and find the right balance with support from the community.
With regards to multicrew, we felt it was important to balance the amount of credits you receive after joining a session for a few reasons.
Without this balance players would quickly be able to skip the initial progression in the game. This is something that was designed to teach players how to engage with the Elite Dangerous galaxy, and allowing players to jump in to someone elses ship and earn millions of credits in no time at all would allow them to skip this progression entirely and hop straight in to a larger ship, without having learned how to make money in normal gameplay. These new players wont have learned the intricacies of each ship, the intricacies of combat, exploration or trade, and most importantly they wont feel like theyve earned the right to sit in the mighty Anaconda. It would truly change the early in-game progression, and knock the balance of the game for the worse for both new and experienced players.
The multicrew feature would be used as an exploit if rewards stay as high as they were in previous betas. We understand that this will still happen a little anyway, but reducing the reward will further reduce the frequency of people appearing on ships to simply earn as many credits as possible before being kicked.
We also think its important to find the right risk-reward balance. When you join a ship as a crew member you no longer have to worry about rebuy costs if youre destroyed, and that reduces the risk vastly. For this reason, the rewards should be reduced to match that.
Also, I thought I'd correct a couple of things that have been said in here about how it works, just to make sure everyone is on the same page. Firstly the helm always gets the full reward, 100%, whatever their rank, as they have earned the ship, and are taking the rebuy risk etc. Their rank doesnt affect this after all they have already earned enough money for a big enough ship to multicrew in the first place. The money their crew gets is additional to this. Secondly, all players, crew or helm, still earn rank upgrades with only one exception, which is when the helm cashes in exploration data this would be an exploit for people that have merely joined their ship for the short time needed to cash them in, so crew are excluded from this, so exploration rank is not affected. Hope that clears up a few things!
Multicrew is an incredibly fun feature to use, take part in with your friends, and meet new Commanders to help explore, fight and trade we want to continue rewarding players for taking part in Multicrew (because lets face it earning credits for blowing up ships is still a lot of fun), but finding the right balance is incredibly important. Thanks for your patience.Bristol City winger Albert Adomah has been included in Ghana's Africa Cup of Nations squad
Albert Adomah: Hoping to play some part at the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations
Ayew's brother and Marseille team-mate Andre is included in the 26-man travelling party which will compete for continental glory in South Africa.
Jordan Ayew is understandably disappointed to have been overlooked, but is looking to take the positives from his omission.
He said: "I am disappointed but Marseille will gain from this, because they need me in January.
"I wish Ghana good luck and hope my brother comes back to Marseille in February with a medal."
Only four players currently plying their trade in Ghana have been called upon by coach James Kwesi Appiah.
The majority of the squad ply their trade in Europe, with the likes of John Paintsil, Christian Atsu, Kwadwo Asamoah and Anthony Annan adding vital experience.
Bristol City winger Adomah will also be involved, with the 24-year-old eager to add to the three caps he has won to date.
Ghana's 26-man squad for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations:
Goalkeepers: Adam Kwarasey (Stromsgodset, Norway), Fatau Dauda (AshantiGold, Ghana), Daniel Adjei (Liberty Professionals, Ghana)
Defenders: John Paintsil (Hapoel Tel-Aviv, Israel), Harrison Afful (Esperance, Tunisia), Mubarak Wakaso (Espanyol, Spain), Richard Kissi Boateng (Berekum Chelsea, Ghana), John Boye (Rennes, France), Jonathan Mensah (Evian, France), Isaac Vorsah (Red Bull Salzburg, Austria), Jerry Akaminko (Eskisehirspor, Turkey), Rashid Sumaila (Asante Kotoko, Ghana), Awal Mohammed (Maritzburg United, South Africa).
Midfielders: Andre Ayew (Marseille, France), Christian Atsu (FC Porto, Portugal), Anthony Annan (Osasuna, Spain), Derek Boateng (Dnipro, Ukraine), Solomon Asante (Berekum Chelsea, Ghana), Emmanuel Agyemang Badu (Udinese, Italy), Kwadwo Asamoah (Juventus, Italy), Albert Adomah (Bristol City, England), Rabiu Mohammed (Evian, France)
Forwards: Asamoah Gyan (Al Ain, UAE), Emmanuel Clottey (Esperance, Tunisia), Richmond Boakye Yiadom (Sassoulo, Italy), Yahaya Mohammed (Amidaus Professionals, Ghana)The fourth-generation Apple TV isn’t all that different from other streaming set-top boxes. While Apple hails it as the “future of TV,” the word from early reviews of the streaming puck indicate that the Apple TV holds plenty of potential, but isn’t quite revolutionary. Yet.
The Apple TV is no replacement for cable, though we’re getting closer (and Cupertino is reportedly working on a streaming subscription service). It’s the most expensive streaming device of its kind, with a 32GB version costing $149 and a 64GB model going for $199. It’s not the only set-top box to support apps or voice search. But it does replicate the ease of using an iPhone on your TV screen, and seems well on its way to doing a whole lot more.
We combed through the early reviews of the Apple TV to figure out if there’s a consensus on whether this version is worth buying. The answer: Yes.
The setup
Setting up a streaming box is usually a painful process, but Apple has made it super simple to get started with your new Apple TV: Just put your iPhone running iOS 9.1 with Bluetooth turned on near the TV, and that’s it.
But there’s no way to restore from an old Apple TV if you’re upgrading, which means you have to reinstall every app you want to use.
“When you install streaming apps like Hulu and Netflix from the App Store, you type in your login credentials by swiping left and right with the remote to select letters of the alphabet one at a time—you have no option to do this by speaking into the microphone or using a keyboard on a smartphone,” Brian X. Chen of the New York Times notes.
Susie Ochs Critics are raving over the brand new Apple TV remote with touchpad and Siri integration.
The new Siri remote
Apple’s new touchpad remote with Siri integration is everything long-time Apple TV owners have been waiting for.
“Siri is a TV remote that actually makes sense,” says Buzzfeed’s John Paczkowski. “It does what you want it to do with a minimum of fuss and clutter. There’s a touchpad on one side of the remote, and you can use it to navigate in all sorts of ways. Swiping across a film’s timeline to pinpoint a particular moment, for example, is surprisingly accurate and easy.”
The remote is where the Apple TV shines compared to competitors, the Wall Street Journal’s Geoffrey Fowler says.
“The Apple TV gets the Internet TV remote right by reaching for the same touch-screen feeling that makes the iPhone intuitive to a 2-year-old,” Fowler writes. “The new remote has a glass touchpad on one end that you swipe and tap around with your thumb as if it’s an iPhone. Without having to look down, you feel connected to what’s happening on the big screen.”
Critics agree Siri makes the streaming set-top box infinitely easier to use. Apple’s voice-activated personal assistant can search multiple streaming services at once, not just iTunes, so you can find out if you have to buy the last season of Mad Men or if it’s available to stream on Hulu or Netflix.
“Siri can also do follow-up questions,” Walt Mossberg wrote in his review for The Verge. “I asked for movie mysteries, and it showed me a ton. Then I said ‘only the good ones,’ and it edited the list down based on critics’ ratings.”
Siri has a few other tricks: She can search seasons of a TV series by episode, pause or fast-forward playback, and replay a part of the episode if you missed some dialogue if you ask her, “What did they say?” One thing Siri can’t do: search the App Store. She will work with Apple Music early next year, however.
Apple Apps will make or break the new Apple TV, and developers are hard at work building them.
The apps
Developers are in various stages of work on their tvOS apps—some are still in progress, others are awaiting Apple’s approval, and early partners like HBO and Netflix are ready to go. But if you’ve already preordered an Apple TV or plan to buy one when they hit store shelves on Friday, be prepared for a dearth of quality apps—at least right now.
“Because Apple TV is a platform that’s new to developers, the current selection of apps is limited and some first efforts seem…not as well-conceived as they might have been,” Paczkowski writes. “But’s that going to change—and quickly. As developers get their hands on this thing and spend some real time coming to understand it, I suspect we’re going to see some great stuff coming down the pipeline.”
The possibilities for gaming alone are endless, but Brian X. Chen of the Times found that an app for reading comics on the TV proves that the best tvOS apps don’t have to be games.
The verdict
“I don’t know when, if ever, Apple will reinvent TV,” Mossberg says. “But this isn’t the moment. I can say that, if I were buying a streaming box right now, this is the one I’d buy, if only for the promise of lots of apps.”
Christina Bonnington at Refinery29 simplifies it further: “If you are an iPhone user and you own a TV, you’re going to want the new Apple TV.”
Let us know in the comments if you plan to buy one. Upgrading from an old Apple TV? Switching from a rival like Roku? Buying a set-top box for the first time? We want to hear from you. And stay tuned for the definitive Macworld review of the fourth-generation Apple TV. It might just be the best one yet.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
Community theatre the Seaton Delaval Arts Centre is hosting a sing-a-long screening of Disney’s smash hit film Frozen next week.
Young and old will be able to sing away to the catchy sound track as the film plays and the words pop up on the big screen.
Disney’s Frozen has been dubbed the coolest comedy-adventure ever to hit cinemas. When a prophecy traps a kingdom in eternal winter, Anna, a fearless optimist, teams up with extreme mountain man Kristoff and his sidekick reindeer Sven on an epic journey to find Anna’s sister Elsa, the Snow Queen, and put an end to her icy spell.
The centre is also offering prizes for the best fancy dress.
This is the fourth Sing-A-Long event the arts centre has held, with previous screenings of Grease, Mamma Mia! and the Rocky Horror Picture Show taking place last year proving popular.
Stu Bennett, marketing manager at the centre, said: “Working alongside the Northumberland County Council scheme and Doorstep Pictures, we’ve been able to bring a number of Sing-A-Long film experiences to Seaton Delaval.
“They’ve all been fairly popular but Frozen has really hit the country by storm and we are very excited to have secured this screening. It’s set to be a fantastic event suitable for all the family that won’t break the budget.”
Taryn Edmonds, project manager at Doorstep Pictures, added “We are delighted to be able to support Seaton Delaval Arts Centre with their programme, and it’s great to see these fabulous sing-along events really catching on.”
The screening takes place on Saturday, February 7, with doors opening at 1.30pm and the film starting at 2pm. Tickets are priced at £6 and £5 for concessions and are available from the Box Office on 0191 237 5460 or online at www.seatondelavalartscentre.comAfter 20 years in the desert, Dune 2 is back on PC. Ported from an open-source version of the game, the pioneering RTS – which laid the foundations for games like Starcraft 2, Total War and Command and Conquer - has been faithfully recreated in HTML 5, so you can play it in your browser without handing over a single grain of spice. Or any real money.
If you fancy a quick blast of nostalgia, or you want a history lesson about the formative years of RTS during your lunch break, the game's right here.
It's a faithful port of the original, so controls are understandably fiddly (using the map to scroll around the screen is a nightmare), and visually my HD pampered eyes found it tough to track the smudgy little Harkonnen soldiers hiding in the sand; but the actual strategy still holds up pretty well.
I haven't played it long enough to tell whether or not the game still cheats by awarding itself extra spice, nor have I had a glimpse of 20 year-old space worm. Nonetheless: the sleeper has awakened!JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel ranked seventh worldwide in the happiness level of its residents, according to a survey conducted by the Gallup Institute.
Some 63 percent of Israelis are satisfied with their lives, Gallup’s global wellbeing surveys in 2010 found. Israel was ranked higher than the United States, which came in 12th place — 59 percent of Americans said they were thriving, the indicator of happiness. Thirty-four percent of Israelis said they were struggling and 2 percent said they were suffering, according to the survey.
New Zealand also ranked seventh among the 124 countries surveyed. Denmark ranked first with 73 percent of respondents saying they were thriving.
Among the countries where fewer than 25 percent of citizens said they were thriving were Russia, China and Lebanon.
Some 14 percent of the residents of what the survey calls the "Palestinian territories" said they were thriving, according to the survey.
Results were based on face-to-face and telephone interviews with approximately 1,000 adults per country, aged 15 and older, conducted in 2010.Reports are emerging that Milan and Espanyol have agreed a deal for defender Didac Vila.
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Milan and Espanyol have reportedly agreed on a deal to bring defender Didac Vila to the Rossoneri.Diavoli vice-president Adriano Galliani flew to Spain earlier today to have discussions with the Spanish outfit, and came to an agreement over the 21-year-old's transfer in a three-hour meeting.According to ElMundoDeportivo and Datasport, the meeting was attended by Galliani and agent Mino Raiola with all parties agreeing to a €4 million deal.Vila will become the Rossoneri's fourth signing of the winter transfer window, after Antonio Cassano, Urby Emanuelson and Mark van Bommel moved to the Italian giants.The Spain Under-20 international could also be available for coach Massimiliano Allegri to select for Saturday's clash against Catania.An experienced Edmonton babysitter who advertised his services on the classified website Kijiji is facing a range of child pornography offences, including possessing, accessing, and distributing child pornography.
Jason Michael Campbell, 36, was arrested Nov. 23 at his home in west Edmonton.
Staff Sgt. Paul Czerwonka, with the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams, or ALERT, said investigators have identified a couple of families who were using Campbell as a babysitter, and are in the process of interviewing the families and the children.
Czerwonka said there is currently no evidence any children were sexually exploited in Campbell’s care. Campbell, however, is alleged to have uploaded child pornography while babysitting.
Czerwonka said investigators found “several thousand” images that meet the definition of child pornography. Investigators are still going through Campbell’s electronic devices.
ALERT said Campbell had been babysitting in Edmonton for the past 16 years and “routinely posted advertisements” for his services with the online classified advertising site.
Czerwonka said some “people don’t realize” that “individuals can use these avenues” to gain access to children.
“Child sex offenders come in all kinds of shapes and sizes, all professions. There’s no particular profile we can say to look out for,” he said. “As a parent, I wouldn’t use Kijiji to look for a babysitter. And use common sense. If it doesn’t feel right, it doesn’t look right, it’s probably not right. That’s probably a good rule to go by.”
The investigation was referred to police in Edmonton by the RCMP’s National Child Exploitation Co-ordination Centre on Nov. 18 and became a priority because the suspect was a babysitter. Campbell is in custody and is scheduled to appear in court Nov. 26.
jpruden@edmontonjournal.com
Twitter.com/jana_prudenThe European Commission has ruled that Apple, a company long accused of dodging taxes in a number of countries, must pay $14 billion in back taxes after making an illegal deal with Ireland.
A three-year investigation revealed that in 2014, Apple paid only $55 per every $1.12 million it made in European profits. That amounted to only 0.0005% in taxes in 2014, all because Apple made a deal with Ireland that stated it would pay a maximum of 1% in taxes from 1991 to 2015.
The agreement itself was illegal, but the fact that Apple was paying even less than the agreement is outrageous. To make matters worse, Ireland’s normal corporate tax rate is 12.5%.
“Member states cannot give tax benefits to selected companies – this is illegal under EU state aid rules. This is not a penalty, it is an unpaid tax,” said the European competition commissioner, Margrethe Vestager.
Apple’s sweet deal with Ireland was complicated so no one would catch on, and they got away with it for awhile. The profits made on products sold in Ireland were instead shifted to a “head office” that was not based in any country and had relatively low economic activity to avoid paying the full corporate tax rate.
A press release regarding the decision stated the following:
“Only a fraction of the profits of Apple Sales International were allocated to its Irish branch and subject to tax in Ireland. The remaining vast majority of profits were allocated to the “head office”, where they remained untaxed.”
Apple, Ireland, and the US have expressed their disdain for the ruling and plan to appeal the decision. Apple has claimed that they were targeted by Europe, and has threatened the future of investments and job opportunities in Europe. The US Treasury said that the ruling threatened to damage “the important spirit of economic partnership between the US and the EU.”
Ireland is worried about its reputation, and the finance minister said they would seek an appeal because it’s “important that we send a strong message that Ireland remains an attractive and stable location of choice for long-term substantive investment.”
No matter what the outcome may be, this ruling is important in letting other corporations know that special tax deals for corporations will not be allowed in Europe, and it’s a lesson that the US needs to embrace as well to boost the economy.
What are your thoughts on this ruling? Please share, like, and comment on this article!
This article (Breaking: Apple Ordered By Europe To Pay $14 Billion After They Evaded Taxes) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to the author and TrueActivist.comPlease select your country: United States Argentina Australia Austria Belarus Belgium Brazil Brunei Bulgaria Canada Chile China Colombia Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Czechoslovakia (1945-1992) Denmark East Germany (1949-1990) Estonia Finland France Georgia Germany Greece Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Ireland Israel Italy Japan Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Macau Macedonia Malaysia Malta Mexico The Netherlands New Zealand North Korea Norway Philippines Poland Portugal Romania Russia Saudi Arabia Serbia Singapore Slovakia Slovenia South Korea Spain Sweden Switzerland Taiwan Thailand Turkey Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom Uruguay Vietnam U.S.S.R. (1922-1991) Yugoslavia (1945-1992) Africa » Cameroon Africa » South Africa Worldwide Other
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is in the same vein as the Guitar Hero series, with the guitar replaced with a DJ's turntable, and the rock music replaced by dance music.Gameplay involves'scratching' your faux-turntable to produce notes in time to the music. The better you do, the more points you score, but if you do too badly you will fail the song and fail to progress.features more than 100 tracks from artists such as The Black Eyed Peas, DJ AM, Eminem and Daft Punk.
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GameFocus Xbox 360 Nov 09, 2009 9.5 out of 10 95 videogamer.com Xbox 360 Oct 30, 2009 9 out of 10 90 Totally Gaming Network Xbox 360 Nov 03, 2009 90 XboxAchievements Xbox 360 Nov 25, 2009 87 out of 100 87 GamingXP Xbox 360 Dec 20, 2009 87 out of 100 87 Game Over Online Xbox 360 Nov 09, 2009 87 out of 100 87 Nintendo-Online.de Wii Nov 14, 2009 8 out of 10 80 Eurogamer.es Xbox 360 Oct 30, 2009 8 out of 10 80 Hellbored Xbox 360 Nov 09, 2009 7.8 out of 10 78 Factornews Xbox 360 Nov 23, 2009 7 out of 10 70
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1001 Video Games
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4Players 2009 – #3 Biggest Insolence of the Year (for the not separately available hardware) 2009 – #9 Best Trailer of the Year
Game Informer 2009 - Best Rhythm/Music Game
GameShark 2009 - Best Music Game No One Bought
Gamespot 2009 - Most Surprisingly Good Game
GameTrailers 2009 - Best Music/Rhythm Game
IGN 2009 - Best PS3 Music Game (Editors' Choice) 2009 - Best Xbox 360 Music Game (Editors' Choice)
Spike 2009 - Best Soundtrack
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appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.Wednesday on Newsmax TV’s ”The Steve Malzberg Show,” Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) got into a heated debate with host Steve Malzberg over Lee not endorsing presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump given the Utah senator’s constitutional concerns about the several potentially very liberal Supreme Court Justice appointments President Hillary Clinton would make.
Exchange begins at the 6:33 minute mark in the video
Partial transcript as follows:
MALZBERG: [I] just don’t understand why you are not out there you know, trumpeting Trump.
LEE: Hey look, Steve, I get it. You want me to endorse Trump.
MALZBERG: Well, I don’t understand why you are not really.
LEE: Well, we can get into that if you want. I mean we can get into the fact that he accused my best friend’s father of conspiring to kill JFK. We can go through the fact that he has made some statements that some have identified correctly as religiously intolerance. We can get into the fact that he is so unpopular because my sate consists of members who were a religious minority church — a people who were ordered exterminated by the governor of Missouri in 1839 and statements like that make them nervous. Now look, these things are not something that I couldn’t get over if I heard the right things out of him. But if you want to go to why I have concerns, I can go on if you like. I hope I can get over these concerns. I hope Mr. Trump can help me identify them. But don’t sit here and tell me Steve that I have no reason to be concerned about Donald Trump.
MALZBERG: Well again, I’m not going to tell you anything. I was asking you. I wasn’t telling you. It’s just — to me — the concerns you should have about Hillary Clinton dwarf most —if not all in my view —I can’t speak for you of what you just said. She is under FBI investigation, takes money from countries that kill gays, that treat woman like |
visit him there; they were kept on board.
US-based Jewish organizations tried to negotiate with the Cuban government to let in the rest of the passengers. The US itself, however, felt the whole thing was a "specific and internal matter of Cuba" and didn't feel any need to intercede on the refugees' behalf; the head of the State Department's Visa Division declared that the US wouldn't pressure Cuba to accept the refugees. (US diplomats "informally" urged Cuba to take them but steadfastly avoided doing anything formally.)
In early June, negotiations stalled, and the St. Louis was ordered to leave Cuban waters. It turned toward Miami instead.
US officials had already announced that the ship would not be allowed to dock. And when the St. Louis got within a few miles of Miami's harbor, the Coast Guard started tailing the boat to underline the point.
The US could have agreed to allow the passengers of the St. Louis to land and wait in America for their visas to be processed. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who a few years later would use an executive order to round up tens of thousands of Japanese Americans and put them in concentration camps, could have ordered that 900 German Jews be allowed to stay. He did not do so. FDR's defenders (like his presidential library) stress that he never issued a "specific or official order to turn them away." But he didn't have to. His government was doing that for him.
After a few days of the St. Louis sailing in circles off the coast of Miami, the negotiations with the Cuban government fell apart for good. The ship started back across the Atlantic Ocean, and the refugees were divided up and sent to various European countries.
The luckiest St. Louis passengers were sent to Great Britain; all but one of them survived the war there. The rest went to the Netherlands, Belgium, and France — all countries that would later be invaded by the Nazis and their Jews sent to the camps.
So 254 of the passengers on the St. Louis died in the Holocaust.
Congress rejected a bill to take 20,000 Jewish refugee children
A few months before the St. Louis set sail — in February 1939 — Sen. Robert Wagner (D-NY) and Rep. Edith Rogers (R-MA) introduced a bill that would allow 20,000 German Jewish children to come to the US, over and above the annual quota for German immigrants.
As far as we can tell, the American public strongly opposed the proposal. A Gallup poll from January 1939 asked if Americans would support bringing even 10,000 German refugee children into the country, and public opinion ran 2 to 1 against. But polling wasn't yet a science, and it's possible the public was less anti-refugee than Gallup's methods indicated.
US Jan 20 ’39: Should the US government permit 10,000 mostly Jewish refugee children to come in from Germany? pic.twitter.com/5cFs5RabQn — Historical Opinion (@HistOpinion) November 17, 2015
More importantly, politicians weren't in the habit of consulting polls to determine the public mood. When the Senate and House immigration subcommittees held joint hearings on the Wagner-Rogers bill in April, they were extremely enthusiastic about the idea. Fourteen hundred Americans had written unsolicited letters to Congress offering to adopt a refugee child. Star actress Helen Hayes testified before the committee and promised to adopt a refugee herself. The bill passed out of the subcommittees unanimously.
But it was already doomed. To get to the floor of either the Senate or House, it had to pass the chambers' full Judiciary Committees. The committees were dominated by members from the Southern and Western US — who had no interest in taking in refugees.
Southern and Western members of Congress had already scared pro-refugee Rep. Emanuel Celler out of introducing a bill to give unused visa slots to refugees fleeing Germany — by warning him that if he brought up such an idea, they'd come up with new ways to restrict immigration further. And now they openly boasted, before the full committee had even had a hearing, that they had "11 votes in their pockets" to kill the child-refugee bill.
The bill's opponents (both in Congress and groups like the Immigration Restrictionist League, the American Coalition of Patriotic Societies, and the American Legion) took an "America first" approach to rejecting refugees: America should focus on helping its own needy and homeless citizens rather than taking in anyone new. But as is often the case, there was a fine line between "America first" and outright xenophobia. The wife of the US immigration commissioner (who also happened to be a cousin of President Roosevelt) testified that "20,000 charming children would all too soon grow into 20,000 ugly adults."
The bill's supporters simply couldn't marshal the support to counterbalance those arguments. And again, President Roosevelt declined to take a stand — and let restrictionist opposition carry the day. First lady Eleanor Roosevelt supported the bill, and FDR gave her permission to advocate for it as a private citizen. But she didn't. And FDR himself refused to take a stance on the bill. When a member of Congress wrote asking what his position was, his secretary filed the inquiry as "File: No action FDR."
When the Wagner-Rogers bill was taken up by the full Senate Judiciary Committee, committee chair Richard Russell — a Southern Democrat from Georgia who would later, during the civil rights era, become the Senate's most powerful segregationist — amended it so that the 20,000 Jewish refugee children would count against the German immigrant quota for the year. This totally defeated the purpose of the bill, and the restrictionists knew it. It passed out of committee on June 30, but no one was interested in pushing it into law anymore, and no further action on it was ever taken.
After the Holocaust, the US decided helping refugees was a moral imperative
It's not that the United States wasn't interested in helping Jewish refugees fleeing the Nazis in the 1930s. The government helped set up an international committee to try to figure out a place to settle them. But the US simply didn't think it was obligated to take in Jews itself.
After World War II, that changed. The international community recognized the importance of helping refugees.
The UN set up its office of the High Commissioner for Refugees in 1950, and the Refugee Convention was passed the next year. But even before the UN got its act together, the US was engaging in ad hoc refugee programs during the 1940s in the aftermath of the war. This wasn't just a shift in policy — it was a shift in attitudes. After World War II, the US started believing it had a moral obligation to help people fleeing persecution. It became something for Americans to be proud of. It became a value people saw in America itself.
"The American commitment to bring refugees to the US really is birthed in the post-World War II era," historian Carl Bon Tempo told me last year. "And the example of the pre-World War II era that stands out to everyone is what happened to European refugees, especially Jews, in the run-up."
America has spent 70 years atoning for its sin by becoming the most welcoming country in the world to refugees. Half of all refugees who are permanently resettled in new countries are resettled in the United States. That is a legacy that Americans are proud of, and should be. It's the closest America has come, in the 20th century, to honoring the inscription on the Statue of Liberty.
But America started being welcoming only after it had been cruel. America could have saved Jews from the Holocaust, but instead turned them away. The Statue of Liberty was standing in 1939, but just because the statue said the United States opened its doors to "huddled masses yearning to breathe free" didn't mean it was true.
America's refugee legacy isn't just about our decades-long record of welcoming the stranger and standing up for human rights. It's about what happens when we don't.Hey, good news, everyone -- it's less than 365 days until the next National Coming Out Day! Let's all come out of the closet! In fact, let's board up our closets entirely and just pile our clothes on that chair by the bed. Once you come out, life is just rainbows (literal and symbolic), and you'll kick yourself for having waited so long. Or you might instead end up penniless and alone with your whole life screwed beyond repair. That's what happened to "Ron." Here's his story.
5 Coming Out Isn't Always A Realistic Option
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Even if there are some rough patches, coming out is a wonderful experience that always improves your life. At least, that's how it is on TV. Ron points to Justin from Queer As Folk.
"His dad didn't accept him, and his mom was odd about it too. Within a few episodes, though, she had divorced his father and was pro-gay."
Showtime
This is supposedly the most frank depiction of gay issues on television.
"I don't think it ever happens like that for a lot of people," said Ron, who sees no signs of reconciling with his parents after they disowned him 10 years ago. "I meet people all the time in this area at bars, or when I started a gay-straight alliance, that had horrible reactions from their parents. Sometimes it got better, but I know a lot of people who are just like me... I have met older gay men who came out back in the '80s whose parents died without ever speaking to them again. I assume my parents will probably be the same way."A box of dried feces was left in front of the Korean Consulate in the Japanese city of Yokohama on Saturday.
The flat 35-cm box was discovered by a consulate staffer in the parking lot.
A police bomb squad rushed to the scene but found only the excrement. Whether it was human or animal is unclear.
But a handwritten note identified it as "revenge" for a recent explosion at the Yasukuni Shrine in which a Korean is the prime suspect. The note also mentioned a rightwing Japanese organization that has led anti-Korean protests.
Meanwhile, a substance carried by the Korean suspect has been identified as potassium nitrate, an ingredient in gunpowder.
Japanese media earlier reported that Chon Chang-han (27) carried in his luggage a digital timer, batteries and a powdered substance.
Chon, who has voluntarily returned to Japan, is under arrest.
Responding to criticism that the suspect's personal information has been splashed all over the media, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said it was the press, not police, who revealed his name. "The Japanese government does not involve itself in media affairs," Suga said.It’s not every day you get to hit the speed limiter in a 2013 Mercedes SL 550, so we gave someone brave enough to do it on an open highway Google Glass to show everyone what it is like.
What’s the fastest anyone has ever gone while recording a video through Google Glass? The chances are good that the answer to that question can be found in the videos recorded at Google IO last year, when a couple of skydivers jumped out of an airship just above the Moscone West convention center in San Francisco.
From that jump we can assume the divers reached terminal velocity before deploying their parachutes, meaning that at one point they were traveling at 122mph. As we know from both times the demonstration was performed last year, that’s a pretty wild ride. We can do better here on the ground, though.
All it takes is a guy with a love for very fast cars and a friend willing to strap a computer to his face to see what happens. Our photographer friend Chris Sewell happens to be that guy who knows a guy, and through Glass he was able to capture the first person view of a 2013 Mercedes SL 550 as it reached the 158mph limiter in the vehicle twice on a single stretch of highway in Maryland.
The 720p camera on the front of Glass doesn’t do the best job of competing with the evening sun on this stretch of highway, but in the video you can see the interior and speed readout just fine.
Through this demo we also learned that while the auto-HDR mode in the XE6 update takes great photos, it doesn’t seem to have changed the video quality at all. Battery life while recording video has increased substantially, however, going from roughly 20 minutes of continuous video in a single charge to closer to 30. It’s a good way of showing that you can capture just about any kind of video through Google Glass, with limits that are similar to previous generation smartphone cameras.Apple Music might be getting a complete overhaul next month alongside a fresh marketing blitz, but that's not stopping Apple from trying to tempt more consumers over to the service in the meantime. Apple is launching an Apple Music student plan today that discounts the subscription service by a massive 50 percent. If you're part of an eligible college or university then you'll get to pay $4.99 per month instead of $9.99.
Apple is extending the promotion outside of the US, too. Students in Australia, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, and the UK will also see a 50 percent discount today. If you're an existing Apple Music subscriber you can simply switch your membership over to the new student option, and new users will be presented with the updated plan during sign up.
Apple's new student subscriptions come just days after rumors suggested the company is planning to refresh its streaming music service in June. Apple is expected to switch to a black-and-white design, and will reportedly add lyrics into the app. Apple is also said to be making the service more intuitive to use, with better integration of the streaming and download options available. Apple is expected to unveil its new Apple Music changes next month at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference.
Who has the best streaming service?The U.S. military had developed the U-2 spy plane in the 1950s in response to concerns about the Soviet Union’s growing array of military technology. The plane could fly at 70,000 feet, a height the U.S. believed was out of range for Soviet radar.The CIA began operating U-2 spy missions in July 1956, and continued them over the next four years. Unbeknownst to the CIA, the Soviets did detect the plane on their radar, but they lacked the weaponry to shoot down the aircraft.A U-2 plane did go down over Soviet territory in 1959, “but as long as there was no definitive proof connecting the flights to the United States there was no advantage for the Soviets to raise the issue publicly lest it draw attention to the Soviet inability to shoot down the offending flights,” according to the U.S. State Department.The U-2 intelligence showed that U.S. concerns over Soviet military technology were unfounded. However, the CIA continued to operate missions. A U-2 flight on April 9, 1960, was attacked by Soviet fighter jets, which were unable to hit the aircraft.On May 1, the CIA sent out the U-2 plane flown by Powers. Eisenhower, who personally approved each U-2 mission, authorized the flight “against his better judgment,” according to newsman Walter Cronkite.Powers, flying 2,900 miles from a U.S. base in Pakistan to a base in Norway, was detected almost immediately after he entered Soviet territory, and attacked by MiG-19 and Su-9 jets and SAM ground missiles. Sergei Khrushchev, Nikita’s son, reports that several attacks—including a Kamikaze-style attack—failed before a SAM missile exploded behind the U-2 plane, disabling it. Powers was unable to use his ejection seat, writes his son, Francis Gary Powers, Jr. in American Heritage. Instead, he opened the top on the plane and attempted to crawl out; when he removed his seat belt, he was immediately flung from the plane before he could activate the plane’s destruct mechanism. He was arrested soon after he landed on the ground.The International Committee of the Red Cross has confirmed that it won't prosecute gamers for participating in pretend war crimes, but that doesn't mean it wants to leave the topic alone. The Committee has released a statement in which it outlines its desire to collaborate with video game developers to show the consequences of a player's actions if they engage in virtual torture, the harming of civilians, attacks on medical personnel, or anything else covered by the Geneva Convention.
It stopped short of clarifying quite what these consequences should be, suggesting only that "game scenarios should not reward players for actions that in real life would be considered war crimes." On the other hand, the ICRC feels players found "respecting the law of armed conflict" should be rewarded.
The ICRC says sanitizing video games is not realistic
Despite this statement, the ICRC claims it's "not involved in the debate about violence in video games." It's not interested in excising the offending scenarios from games entirely, arguing that "sanitizing videogames of such acts is not realistic" given such atrocities do occur in real conflict. Instead, the Committee hopes the consequences it requests will halt the potential "trivialization" of war crimes.
The ICRC's François Sénéchaud justified his organisation's request for consequences, saying "it's very difficult to make the distinction between real footage and the footage you can get from video games." His claim may be valid: in 2011, British broadcaster ITV used footage from video game Arma II to illustrate purported paramilitary action.
Arma II's developer Bohemia Interactive is the first game-maker to pledge their support to the ICRC's initiative. The Arma series — currently on its third iteration — is detailed enough to be used for training purposes by many of the world's standing armies. In the video above, Bohemia's CEO Marek Spanel describes how Arma III copes with the breach of conflict law, saying "if you do [attack friendlies or civilians] with friendly troops around, they will attack you."
The ICRC is focusing strictly on games that "simulate real-war situations." That leaves games with what the ICRC describes as "more fictional" settings — fantasy and sci-fi — out of the equation, but means the proposed consequences would be seen in games such as Battlefield 4 or Call of Duty: Ghosts, were their developers to acquiesce to the Committee's requests.The Commons culture committee yesterday heard claims that lapdancing is "not sexually stimulating" during a hearing into the Licensing Act which is pondering reclassifying lapdancing clubs as "sex encounter establishments" - something which would make it easier for local councils to refuse them licences.
According to the Guardian, the statement by chairman of the Lap Dancing Association, Simon Warr, was "greeted with scepticism" by MPs. Warr insisted the clubs were providing hospitality, rather than sex, and "astonished" the committee by explaining: "One of the biggest problems we face is that not enough people understand the business blueprint of our clubs. Actually, our premises are not sexually stimulating. It would be contrary to our business plan if they were."
A suitably astonished Philip Davies, the Tory MP for Shipley, interjected: "You are saying that the purpose of a lap dancing club is not to be sexually stimulating? Most people would find that a rather incredible claim."
Warr defended: "Then you need to go to a club, because the purpose of a club is to provide entertainment. It's to provide alcohol, it's a place of leisure. All right, the entertainment may be in the form of nude or semi-nude performers, but it's not sexually stimulating."
Davies, by now pretty well incredulous, the Guardian notes, persisted: "So if I did a straw poll of all the customers who came out a lap dancing club and said 'Did you find that in any way sexually stimulating?' I would find a big resounding fat zero? On that basis you would have a lot of dissatisfied customers."
Warr offered: "How do you measure sexual stimulation. What is the definition of sexual stimulation?"
Veteran club entrepreneur Peter Stringfellow then weighed into the fray, explaining, that: "Of course it's sexually stimulating. So is a disco. So is a young girl flashing away with her knickers showing. Of course it's sexually stimulating. So is David Beckham laid out in his Calvin Klein [underwear]. So are the Chippendales. Of course it does have some form of sex.
"But what my colleague was trying to explain was that it's not sex, 100 per cent. It's not 'I'm going to go and get divorced.' It does not go on like that. Our environment lasts three minutes. Their clothes are on and off before you can blink. It's a lot more to do with personality. It's a lot more to do with the ambience of the club."
Stringfellow further argued that a change of the law was not required because council could stipulate a "no nudity" requirement on licences and use this to close down "badly-run" establishments.
Kate Nicholls, the secretary of the Lap Dancing Association, agreed that councils "already had enough power to stop clubs opening under the existing legislation", which "allows them to consider issues such as public safety, public order, public nuisance and the protection of children".
Those of you who'd like to know who's to blame for this debate on a matter of national importance can finger backbench Labour MP Roberta Blackman-Woods, who apparently proposed the reclassification. Earlier this month, her action prompted Spearmint Rhino to dispatch a couple of lapdancers to Downing Street to impress on the PM that the offending clubs were not dens of iniquity.
Spokeswoman Elaine Reed said: “The workers within our industry are absolutely horrified that the Government are trying to rebrand us as part of the sex industry. It’s quite clear we are not part of the sex industry, we never have been and we don’t intend to be. Our clubs are controlled, there’s no sexual activity going on.”
Davies, however, yesterday pressed the Lap Dancing Association to answer allegations "that at some clubs dancers do offer sexual services, contrary to the rules".
The association's vice chairman, Chris Knight, responded: "We are not saying there are not bad clubs. There are bad drivers. But you do not change the way that you licence drivers." ®1.
In January, Min Ko Naing, one of Burma’s leading dissidents, walked out of prison. When the government ordered his release, he was over three years into a sixty-five-year jail term he had received for political activities in support of the “Saffron Revolution,” a nationwide uprising launched against the ruling military junta by Buddhist monks in 2007.
That was not the first time in his life that Min Ko Naing had run afoul of the authorities. He began his career as an activist during another protest movement in 1988 that was brutally suppressed by the reigning generals, who ordered troops to open fire on unarmed demonstrators, killing thousands. Thousands of the survivors disappeared into jails or labor camps, where they endured conditions of unstinting brutality, sometimes for decades. Min Ko Naing survived the crackdown, but as one of the best-known student activists he was squarely in the sights of the government and soon ended up under arrest. Altogether he has spent twenty-one of the past twenty-three years in prison, much of it in solitary confinement.
When I met him a few weeks ago in Rangoon, I was hard-pressed to notice any lingering trauma. A fresh-faced forty-nine-year-old, he greeted me with a firm handshake and a broad smile, then introduced me to his colleague Ko Ko Gyi, a co-leader of the 88 Generation Students Group, a political movement that strives to keep alive the ideals of their youthful revolt. Both men were wearing identical dark longyi, the skirt-like garment that many in Burma (the official name of the country is Myanmar) prefer to trousers, and dazzling white shirts, perhaps an allusion to one of their political campaigns, in which supporters were urged to wear the color white to signal their demand for greater democracy. We sat down in a room in the freshly refurbished building that serves as the headquarters of their movement; the only furniture was a few plastic lawn chairs and an electric fan—no luxury in Burma’s spring dry season, when temperatures regularly hover above a hundred degrees.
I had come to ask these men what they thought of Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate who only recently emerged from her own latest spell of detention after many dogged years of struggle against the regime, and who is now leading Burma’s pro-democracy movement into a fraught new chapter of anxiety and hope. Last year, after nearly fifty years of military rule, President Thein Sein, himself an ex-general elected to office under constitutional ground rules designed by the old junta, launched a cautious political liberalization. He started ceasefire talks with a number of Burma’s ethnic minority groups, many of them at war with the central…After a heat debate about plagiarism and retraction in last year, today a brand new version of Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 emblem’s revealed.
The final selected emblem signifies the Olympic concept of unity in diversity while linking to the Japanese tradition design. The designer behind this emblem is a Tokyo based artist “Asao Tokolo”, who was chosen by the Selection Committee and approved by the Tokyo 2020 Executive Board. Tokolo graduated in architecture from Tokyo Zokei University and his works have been featured in several exhibitions in Japan.
The chequered emblem, rendered in the traditional Japanese indigo blue, became formally known as “ichimatsu moyo” in the Edo period (1603-1967). The circular pattern of varying rectangular shapes represents a coming together of different countries, cultures and ways of thinking. The message is in keeping with “unity in diversity,” one of the three concepts, along with “achieving personal best” and “connecting to tomorrow” that provide the foundation for Tokyo 2020’s Games vision.
IOC Vice-President John Coates, the Chair of the Tokyo 2020 Coordination Commission, said, “The new Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 emblem symbolises important elements of the Tokyo 2020 Games vision. The public engagement in the selection process is another sign of growing interest in the 2020 Games. Interest and excitement will continue to build, in Japan and globally, after the official hand-off to Tokyo 2020 at the close of the upcoming Olympic Games Rio 2016.”
The emblem presentation was the culmination of an inclusive process that attracted design proposals from around the world and welcomed opinions from the public. More than 40,000 people shared their views on the final four designs shortlisted by the Tokyo 2020 Emblems Selection Committee from among 14,599 emblem entries.
Source: Olympic.Org and The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic GamesImage copyright EPA Image caption Some of the protesters tore down fences
A meeting in a Dutch town to discuss whether to build a new centre for migrants had to be abandoned when some opponents rioted.
Protesters in Geldermalsen tore down fences and threw fireworks at police who responded with warning shots.
European countries are facing record numbers of refugees and other migrants entering Greece illegally from Turkey.
Dutch State Secretary for Security and Justice Klaas Dijkhoff said the protesters had crossed a line.
"Finding shelter for asylum seekers poses difficult questions but there is a limit when it comes to expressing your opinion," he said on Dutch TV.
"The line is crossed when you barge in yelling and rioting. That's not appropriate in a discussion and, thankfully, we have seen that it went much quieter in other places and a solution was found. This is not ok."
The migration crisis is expected to dominate a meeting of EU leaders on Thursday.
Image copyright EPA Image caption Some 2,000 people took part in the protests
Image copyright AFP Image caption Police made a number of arrests
Sad 'through and through'
Local mayor Miranda de Vries said no-one in the meeting hall had been injured but tweeted she was sad "through and through".
The meeting in Geldermalsen was to discuss establishing a centre for 1,500 asylum seekers.
About 2,000 people joined the protests from the municipality of 27,000, 27 km (17 miles) from Utrecht, Dutch national broadcaster NOS reports.
Local police say they made several arrests.
Along with Germany and Sweden, the Netherlands is one of the most popular destinations for migrants in the wealthier north of the EU.
Including this year's arrivals, the government said last month it expected to receive 58,000 asylum seekers by the end of 2016.
Former prisons, empty government offices and sports halls are being hastily modified to accommodate the surge in numbers.Put down the doughnut! Eating lots of junk food for just one WEEK can damage your memory permanently
Australian researchers found that even a short term diet of junk food can have a detrimental effect on the brain’s cognitive ability
Scientists from the University of New South Wales showed for the first time that rats fed a diet high in fat and sugar had impaired memory after a week
The study suggests obesity causes rapid changes in the brain and the damage of an unhealthy diet is not reversed
Even a short term diet of junk food can have a detrimental effect on the brain's cognitive ability, scientists said
Everyone knows that junk food is bad for the waistline, but new research suggests it can damage memory, too.
Australian researchers found that even a short term diet of junk food can have a detrimental effect on the brain’s cognitive ability.
The study suggests that obesity can trigger rapid changes in the brain.
Scientists from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) showed for the first time that rats fed a diet high in fat and sugar had impaired memory after just a week.
Interestingly, the results were similarly poor for the rats fed a healthy diet that had been given sugar water to drink, according to the study, which was published in the journal Brain, Behaviour and Immunity.
The animals found it more difficult to recognise specific places after their junk food diet and showed a lesser ability to notice when an object shifted to a new location.
The mice also had inflammation of the hippocampal region of the brain, which is associated with spatial memory.
‘We know that obesity causes inflammation in the body, but we didn't realise until recently that it also causes changes in the brain,’ said Professor Margaret Morris from UNSW Medicine, who co-authored the study.
‘What is so surprising about this research is the speed with which the deterioration of the cognition occurred,’ she said.
‘Our preliminary data also suggests that the damage is not reversed when the rats are switched back to a healthy diet, which is very concerning.’
Some aspects of the animals' memories were spared, regardless of their diets.
All the animals were equally able to recognise objects after eating either the healthy, healthy with sugar or ‘cafeteria’ diets, the latter of which was high in fat and sugar, including cake, chips and biscuits.
The change in the animals' memory appeared even before the mice eating junk food gained any weight.
The research builds on previous work that has implications for obesity. 'Given that high energy foods can impair the function of the hippocampus, if you eat a lot of them it may contribute to weight gain, by interfering with your episodic memory,¿ Professor Morris said
Ongoing work will attempt to establish how to stop the inflammation in the brain of animals with the unhealthy diets, which could unlock secrets relating to humans who eat unhealthily.
‘We suspect that these findings may be relevant to people,’ said Professor Morris.
‘While nutrition affects the brain at every age, it is critical as we get older and may be important in preventing cognitive decline. An elderly person with poor diet may be more likely to have problems.’
The research builds on previous work that has implications for obesity.
‘Given that high energy foods can impair the function of the hippocampus, if you eat a lot of them it may contribute to weight gain, by interfering with your episodic memory,’ Professor Morris said.As stock markets collapse and economic expansion declines, the Chinese people can at least count on resilience in one social trend: income inequality.
Inequalities in the world's second largest economy have been widening, especially in access to education and healthcare, say the authors of the "Chinese People's Development Report 2015," published by a research institute of the nation's top-rated Peking University.
The report didn't issue a new Gini coefficient for household income for 2015, an index used to measure the distribution of wealth in an economy. Instead, its authors put forth an already broadly-held assessment that the gap is widening.
"In the last 30 years, income inequality in our country has become a rising trend, increasing from 0.3 in the 1980s to 0.45 or more in recent years," the report said. A Gini coefficient of zero represents perfect equality, while one means perfect inequality.
China's National Statistics Bureau said last year that the coefficient fell slightly to 0.469 in 2014 from 0.473 in 2013. It said the index hit a high of 0.491 in 2008 and has been ebbing since.
The government hasn't published its index for 2015 yet, but its assertion of a decline might be at odds with the Peking University report of a widening gap. The university's report said that the income coefficient for households in 2012 was 0.49, which would suggest there wasn't much of a decline between 2008 and 2012.
An economics professor at Texas A&M University in 2012 estimated the Middle Kingdom's Gini coefficient at a whopping 0.61. The Gini reading in the past has been a matter of some controversy in China. Beijing stopped releasing publications of the measure for a decade before resuming in 2012; in neither case did the government explain its rationale.
The Gini measurement, named for the sociologist who invented it, also became a political weapon for the Communist Party's fallen star Bo Xilai, who laid claim to considerable populist appeal in part because he would publicly point to China's rising wealth gap—citing an unverified coefficient of 0.46 in 2012—as a risk for social unrest. Sticking with the more circumspect estimate of “0.45 or more” seems safe for Peking University’s Institute of Social Science Survey.
The chief author of the latest report, Li Jianxin, and the statistics bureau didn't immediately respond to requests from China Real Time for comment.
The Peking University report noted that the threshold that potentially triggers social unrest is 0.4, a long-reiterated loose consensus among analysts and social-service organizations.
The Gini index in the U.S. stood at 0.48 in 2014, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The measurement is usually notably high in Latin American countries, for example reaching 0.517 in Panama, earning the region the moniker of the most unequal in the world—though governments there have made strides to close the gap in recent years.
The irony wasn't lost on China's resident wags. "China is becoming Latin America," a blogger wrote Thursday on China's Twitter-like Weibo microblogging platform. "I'm telling you, if this is what it's going to be like, even Latin America will be a Chinese dream!"
The study this week reiterated a longstanding statistic on inequality, saying that the top 1% of Chinese households owns a third of the nation's wealth, while the bottom 25% have only around 1%. It put out the same numbers last year. The institute said this year's report was based on interviews with 14,960 families.
The disparities were sharper when focusing on household assets, rather than income. China's Gini coefficient for this measurement rose from 0.45 in 1995 to 0.73 in 2012, the report said.
In the widening wealth gaps in education and healthcare, the report pointed to disparities between urban and rural areas, as well as between regions and between genders. Inequality in access to education reached a record-high for those born in the 1980s, it said. "This suggests that future related public policy should focus on" promoting equal access to educational opportunities, the report said.
It said women have lower levels of education and access to healthcare than men, and that the large wealth gap between urban and rural residents is in part driving higher levels of depression, chronic hypertension and respiratory diseases among rural residents.
—Chuin-Wei YapAs President Obama prepares to leave office, his legacy will include an increase in the number of Americans using food stamps.
The number of food stamps recipients went up by 10.7 million people, a 32 percent jump, since President Obama took office in 2009, according to data released by the Department of Agriculture (USDA).
In 2009, 33,490,000 people received food stamp benefits. As of October 2016, the last month reported for FY 2016, 44,219,123 people received food stamp benefits, an increase of about 10,729,000.
The U.S. population as of October 1, 2016 was 324,607,826, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates. Therefore, the 44,219,123 people on food stamps represented 13.6 percent of the population.
The cost of food stamps to taxpayers also increased over the time Obama was in office. As of 2009, all food stamp recipients received up to $50.3 billion in benefits. As of 2016, that number has increased to $66.6 billion, an estimated increase of $16.3 billion.
The average monthly benefit for food stamp recipients, however, remains almost unchanged. In 2009, food stamp recipients received an average monthly benefit of $125.31, while in 2016 they received $125.51.McLaren are facing the prospect of losing £20 million in sponsorship next year with two major brands poised to leave the team after one of the worst seasons in their history.
The Daily Telegraph understands that both Johnnie Walker, the whisky brand, and Santander, the banking group, are likely to walk away from McLaren with the team languishing ninth in the constructors’ championship.
Johnnie Walker have been with McLaren for a decade, bringing £15 million a season. Their expected departure will be all the more galling for Ron Dennis, the McLaren chairman, given they offered at the end of 2013 to become the team’s title sponsor in a £43 million-a-year deal.
Dennis turned it down because he believed the offer was too small. A Johnnie Walker spokesman said on Friday night they are in “ongoing conversations” with McLaren but refused to comment on “speculation”. Santander’s £5 million yearly sponsorship is also set to end. The team also lost Hugo Boss to Mercedes last season after a 33-year association.
With McLaren facing a massive loss in prize money due to their poor performance, the additional shortfall in sponsorship revenue could put Jenson Button’s career in further jeopardy. As per his current contract, Button’s salary is scheduled to rise from £8 million to £12 million |
3D Print Show Paris, London
CCC, Germany, TBD
European Maker Faire, Roma, Italy, TBD
Open Hardware Summit, United States, TBD
Open World Forum, France, TBD
Make sure to check local hardware events happening around you. It’s the best way to make new friends and get involved in your community. I recommend to check:
See you around at one of these events, say hi on Twitter: @makingsocietySO Sydney FC has signed another foreign player. That brings the count to six - if you count naturalised Northern IrishmanTerry McFlynn - which is more than half a team.
I have nothing against Milos Dimitrijevic, the latest Serbian player to enter the A-League. I simply don't know him - and that's the point.
We keep bemoaning the lack of young Australian talent coming through. We have seen the Socceroos fade before our eyes as we stick with the players long past their use-by date. Our national youth teams are struggling and we couldn't qualify for the Olympics.
It poses two questions: Is there a dearth of talent? Or are the new generation simply not getting a go?
Across the nine Australian-based A-League clubs, there are 39 foreign players, many of them journeymen barely known in their own country, let alone outside it.
You can mount a compelling case that they are holding back our own players.
Like Sydney, Adelaide have six foreign players: Cassio, Jeronimo Neumann, Isais, Cirio, Marcelo Carrusca and Fabio Ferreira. So do the Melbourne Heart, with Patrick Gerhardt, Michael Mifsud, Jonatan Germano, Rob Wielart, Orlando Engelaar and Andrea Migliorini.
News_Rich_Media: Wellington Phoenix have been on an impressive run of form after a disappointing start to the season and will be hoping to continue their winning ways when they host an uninspiring Central Coast Mariners
When most people look at the problems with England's national team, they start and end with the number of foreigners playing in the Premier League.
We are heading down the same path.
While Nikola Petkovic has been Sydney's best player this season and no one could begrudge what Alessandro Del Piero has brought to the league, there's a much bigger issue here.
How much responsibility should A-League clubs take for developing homegrown talent and how much should they be held accountable for the fortunes of our national teams?
What's the point of having a youth league if you keep ignoring it? We are driving young players overseas before they are ready because they can't get a crack here. It's not right.
I'm all for big-name marquee players, who add value to the league. They help develop our players the game. Del Piero and Shinjo Ono have been worth every cent for what they have brought to Australian football.
News_Rich_Media: Should Melbourne Victory's Pablo Contreras have been shown a red card for this sweeping hand ball against the Newcastle Jets?
This is my plan to address an issue in Australian football many people would gladly ignore:
* Import quotas at each A-League club should be reduced from five to three, because once players come and become naturalised they still count as overseas players in football terms and can bloat the figure out to six and seven.
* The injury rule, whereby clubs can fly in overseas players, should be scrapped immediately. It was originally introduced before the youth league. Tell me, what's the point of having youth teams if we don't use them.
* FFA should have a technical panel to assess whether a foreign player offers more to the league than homegrown talent before any contract is registered. There should be stringent criteria - whether they have played internationals, the clubs and leagues they have been in and what impact will they have on Australian talent.
I'm not being xenophobic here. I acknowledge what the right overseas players have brought to the game. I'm looking at the bigger picture of Australian football.
Dimitrijevic might be a star. He could even lead the Sky Blues to silverware. But what does that do for the code as a whole.
News_Image_File: Dimitri Petratos could be scoring for Sydney had they not let him go.
It's interesting to note that the best teams in the league over the past few years - Central Coast (four imports), Brisbane Roar (four) and Melbourne Victory (three) - have taken a more domestic view. And it has paid off.
Sure, Besart Berisha and Thomas Broich have been central to the Roar's success, yet they are complemented by the likes of Ivan Franjic, who has emerged as a genuine World Cup contender.
Dimitri Petratos was a young player Sydney FC let go, and he scored a hat-trick for the Roar when the two teams last met. He's a 21-year-old Penrith boy forced to move interstate for a chance, while Ranko Despotovic was signed from Serbia.
If we want Australia to be successful on the world stage, we can't keep throwing roadblocks in front of our young players. You don't know how a player will cope until he's thrown into the furnace.
News_Rich_Media: Enjoy some of the A-league's best bloopers so far this season. What's your favourite awkward, unfortunate, skilful or inappropriate moment?
When you look at our golden generation, Harry Kewell, Mark Viduka, Brett Emerton and the like were given their chance at an early age. They grabbed that opportunity and never looked back.
I have nothing against Ranko Despotovic, Ali Abbas and the rest of the foreign legion at Sydney. I have nothing against the imports spread right across our game.
I just care more about the future of Australian football as a whole.
FOREIGN LEGION BY CLUB
Adelaide 6: Cassio, Jeronimo Neumann, Isais, Cirio, Marcelo Carrusca, Fabio Ferreira
Brisbane 4: Besart Berisha, Liam Miller, Thomas Broich, Henrique
Central Coast 4: John Hutchinson, Marcos Flores, Nick Montgomery, Marcel Seip
Melbourne Heart 6: Patrick Gerhardt, Michael Mifsud, Jonatan Germano, Rob Wielart, Orlando Engelaar, Andrea Migliorini
Melbourne Victory 3: Guilherme Finkler, Adama Traore, Pablo Contreras
Newcastle Jets 3: Emile Heskey, Michael Bridges, Kew Jaliens
Perth Glory 4: Ryo Nagai, Sidnei, William Gallas, Steven McGarry
Sydney FC 6: Alessandro Del Piero, Ali Abbas, Ranko Despotovic, Milos Dimitrijevic, Terry McFlynn, Nikola Petkovic
Wellington Phoenix 6: Manny Muscat, Paul Ifill, Carlos Hernandez, Kenny Cunningham, Albert Riera, Stein Huysegems
Western Sydney 5: Shinji Ono, Youssouf Hersi, Jerome Polenz, Iacopo La Rocco, Mateo Poljak
* Doesn't include New Zealand playersAs we reported last week, the Technical University of Dortmund is one of the German educational institutions that closed its “silent room” after Muslims effectively turned it into a mosque. Following a protest by campus Muslims who objected to the closure, the university issued an official reply.
In careful, dry bureaucratic language, the university said basically the same thing as the AfD, Viktor Orbán, Miloš Zeman, and Robert Fico: Islam is incompatible with the rights and norms of a democratic society, as well as with the university’s own regulations.
Below is the full text of the letter sent by the university to the complainants and subsequently made public. Many thanks to JLH for the translation. (The original pdf of the letter [in German] is available on the website of the Ruhr Nachrichten.)
Technical University of Dortmund
Office of the President:
by e-mail to Messrs
Y.
Y.
M.
in-house
Subject: “Quiet Room”
Messrs. Y., Y., M.
Gentlemen:
In re. your communication of 25 January of this year in which, speaking not in your own names but as representatives of a group of 408 students of Dortmund Technical University, i.e., in the names of circa 1.2% of our students, you comment on the closing of the “Quiet Room” in our physics building on campus and criticize that action.
We do expressly welcome your speaking out in your communication against discrimination directed at certain groups of students, for the closing of the room was necessary to avoid this very discrimination.
Therefore, we are pleased to explain the background of our decision somewhat more completely, as follows.
As you know, TU Dortmund is a government institution, regulated by public law and financed by taxes, which is obliged in accordance with Article 3 of our constitution to exercise neutrality and equality of treatment in matters of religion, denomination, religious persuasion, etc. For the sake of simplicity, we take the liberty of quoting the preamble word-for-word.
Article 3 says:
(1) All persons are equal before the law. (2) Men and women are equal. The state fosters the effective enforcement of equality of men and women and works toward elimination of existing obstacles. (3) No one may be disadvantaged or preferred because of his/her race, language, homeland or origins, religion, religious or political opinions. No one may be disadvantaged because of a handicap.
The requirement for a public university to be neutral and non-denominational is the reason that we are not in this situation entitled to accommodate the wishes of members of various religious group and factions for access to their own space on campus for the practice of their religions, and further, on grounds of availability of spatial resources. In consideration of the multiplicity of students and staff of those religions represented, we absolutely could not do it.
For that reason, the previous administration of TU Dortmund, under the leadership of Prof. Dr. Becker, on May 7, 2008, refused the request of a group of Muslim students for a prayer room. In this situation, as an example, the Catholic and Protestant student communities made facilities off-campus but in its vicinity available to their members at that time.
This proviso notwithstanding, however, we declared our readiness at the beginning of 2012, in consideration of — among other things — the diversity of existing religious beliefs among our students (especially the foreign students) who partly also because of their minority status, have no support locally, to experimentally supply equal access for all students at TU Dortmund to a space for prayer or meditation. It was also expected that with the possibility of utilization of this room by Muslim students as well, the then-as-now unacceptable practice of using stairwells by this student group as prayer spaces, which was in violation of fire prevention regulations, would be prevented.
The chosen space was given the neutral name “Quiet Room” and rendered to the administration of the AStA (General Students’ Committee) for a period of two years, upon which the AStA, in agreement with the university administration, issued an ordinance of use, which was intended to ensure the requisite philosophical neutrality and diversity of its utility. Selected citations therefrom are:
Use Ordinance for the Quiet Room at TU Dortmund § 1 Intended purpose The Quiet Room has the sole purpose of making possible for the members of TU Dortmund a sanctuary for the undisturbed, individual practice of their religion (prayer) and/or meditation. Events or meetings of any kind shall not take place in the Room. § 2 Use of the space In the interest of maintaining peace on the premises, behavior that is both considerate and amenable to compromise is indispensable… Exercise of domiciliary rights are the province of the AStA of TU Dortmund. Its directives or those of its authorized personnel are to be obeyed. § 3 Maintaining tranquility In the Quiet Room, calm is to be maintained and noise of any kind avoided. § 4 The appearance of the Room The Quiet Room is to be kept philosophically and religiously neutral. Religious symbols, signs or the like must not be mounted or posted. It is not permitted to display, post or hang notices, brochures, flyers or the like with religious or philosophical reference within, or in the direct vicinity of, the Room…
When the utilization of the room in accordance with its stated purpose had proceeded without difficulty in the first months, and the many, early, highly critical voices which had warned against a “take-over by Muslim conversion of the Room into a prayer room and a concomitant expulsion of visitors of different beliefs” had been silenced, there followed unfortunately in the ensuing time period an initial, massive offense against the Room’s utilization ordinance and declared purpose.
Specifically, an inspection by the AStA revealed that, against the use ordinance for the Room, diverse prayer rugs and Korans were stored there, and further, flyers in Arabic and German-language lectures were laid out, containing, among other things, how women must dress and behave (e.g., wearing a head-scarf, eschewal of perfume, etc.). Moreover, it was established that there was utilization by third parties in group events, and, further that the room was divided during use into gender-specific sections.
All of the above prompted the AStA to temporarily close the facility and have a clarifying discussion with the responsible parties. After reinstatement of the ordinance and the prospect of a positive prognosis, the Room was once again opened. At the same time, to enhance comfort, the Room was furnished with two sofas, bookshelves and a ca. 2m X 2m painting on canvas.
Now new complaints by other students have reached us, concerning substantial offenses against the utilization ordinance, which have compelled us to unavoidable action, because of an offense — under no circumstances acceptable — against the above-cited Article 3 of our constitution (inter alia, equality of men and women).
According to these complaints, female visitors to the Room have several times been intercepted and informed that they had entry only to a smaller, optically and physically closed-off part of the room, while the larger part of the room was reserved for men.
Our own ensuing inspection of the space revealed that the sturdy, ceiling-high bookshelves had been converted into room dividers, beginning at the entrance, separating the room into a larger, brighter area and a smaller, darker one. Additionally, blankets had been hung over the bookcases, ensuring that there was no line-of-sight from one area to the other. Furthermore, the painting mounted on a 2 x 2 meter wooden frame, originally intended as decoration for the Room, now served as a “sliding door” to allow the complete optical and physical closure of the “room within a room”. Moreover, numerous prayer rugs and Korans were found in both areas.
In this context, unfortunately, we regard the attempt to establish a neutral “Quiet Room” accessible equitably to all faiths as having failed. Since the trial period of two years has expired and not been extended, the university no longer has any obligation to continue the project.
Your opinion therefore, that a “rigorous and unagreed-upon closure” is in prospect is therefore meaningless.
In future, the room will again be dedicated to teaching and research and thus directly serve those goals, which is in accordance with the state obligation of the university and contributes to relieving the scarcity of space resources. Currently, there is also a desire by a large group of members of the university, who would like to have — in this area of campus as in other areas of campus — a so-called “baby and relaxation room”. Consideration is being given to this desire for an undisturbed place of retreat. We will be happy to discuss this with the responsible university committees.
Your attribution of an alleged mocking, discrimination, anti-Islamic racism or a generalized suspicion, we reject in the strongest possible terms. We are happy to take up your remarks on the significance of integration and take the liberty of adding that knowledge and acceptance of the laws which apply in the Federal Republic of Germany, by which we are all bound, is a part of it. Equality under the law of men and women is an inviolable core of those laws.
On the basis of the public interest you have described in this affair, we are making our answer to your letter immediately available for publication.
Cordially,
Office of the PresidentAccording to the Hamburg-based economic research group Bürgel, 32,760 Germans filed for bankruptcy in the first three months of 2012 - 3.7 percent less than in the same period last year.
This downward trend is being attributed to sinking unemployment and good economic growth, but there is a worrying counter-development – younger and older people are going bankrupt at disproportionally high rates.
The number of men over 60 filing for bankruptcy rose by 5.9 percent in the first quarter of this year compared to the first quarter of last year. This has been put down to dropping pension levels and the lower wages.
But the most dramatic figure came from the other end of the age scale - the number of bankruptcies among people aged between 18 and 25 increased by 35.6 percent to 2,980.
The insolvency experts say that young people are often more vulnerable to bankruptcy as they have less experience of dealing with money, and are less likely to save.
Germans have massively increased their borrowing in the past decade - with total amount of private debt climbing from just over €500 million in 1999 to well over €6.2 billion in 2010. The number of bankruptcy cases jumped from 3,357 to 108,798 in the same period.
The Local/DAPD/bkChris Huhne, the new energy and climate change minister, is sceptical about nuclear power but wanted to support the development of renewable energy, according to the UK's largest renewable generator.
Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) said it had "good discussions" with Huhne on Tuesday. The company said he was very well-informed and fully supportive of its projects, including the huge Greater Gabbard wind farm off the coast of Suffolk which, when built, will be the largest offshore wind farm of its kind in the world.
"He [Huhne] was well aware of SSE's credentials and he was keen to see us continuing with what we are doing and to ensure there is continuing inward investment in this [wind] sector," said SSE's chief executive, Ian Marchant.
But the utility boss, whose company is considering whether to build a new nuclear plant near Sellafield in Cumbria with Iberdrola of Spain and GDF of France, said the energy secretary was more downbeat about atomic power.
"He was sceptical on the economics of nuclear but made it clear he would allow people to make their own decisions on this and would not stand in their way if they can do it without subsidies," said Marchant.
"Personally, I think being sceptical is no bad thing. The worst thing you can have is a situation where the state bends over backwards to [financially] support nuclear. Look where that got us?" he added.
Huhne's party, the Liberal Democrats, orchestrated a mechanism for maintaining their opposition to nuclear power even though allowing nuclear to progress is government policy. The coalition has pledged to allow nuclear stations to be built so long as they do not involve public subsidies.
SSE said it would do a lot of preparatory work on whether to go ahead with a new atomic plant before deciding in around two years' time whether such a move made commercial sense. "We would have to be able to justify a decision whether for or against to both customers and shareholders," said Marchant.
In the meantime, the utility company is spending £660m this year pressing ahead with wind farms and other renewable schemes. SSE is the biggest renewable generator largely because of its hydro-electric plants but has also moved into tidal and wave power.
The company also runs coal-fired power stations such as Ferrybridge in West Yorkshire but said it was putting back by two years plans to start operating the Abernedd gas-fired power station in Baglan Bay, South Wales.
This is partly because industrial customers have reduced demand due to the recession, while homeowners are continuing to cut their own consumption by taking energy-efficiency measures such as insulating their houses. Domestic gas use has gone down by 3% to 5% for the last three years in a row but SSE still ran up pre-tax profits of £1.29bn for the year to end March.First, a disclaimer: Selling your organs is illegal in the United States. It's also very dangerous. Handing off an organ is risky enough when done in a top hospital, even more so if you're doing it for cash in a back alley. No, really: Don't do this. OK? OK.
There are many organs one can theoretically do without, or for which there's a backup. Most folks can spare a kidney, a portion of their liver, a lung, some intestines, and an eyeball, and still live a long life. That said, donating a lung, a piece of liver or a section of intestines is a very complicated surgery, so it's not done frequently on the black market. And no one's going to make much cash on an eyeball. "In the U.S., there's a fairly steady supply of donated corneas from corpses," says Sean Fitzpatrick, director of public affairs at the New England Organ Bank. "There's pretty much no market demand for eyes." Giving up a kidney, though, is a relatively simple surgery that has netted desperate people a few bucks.
No one's going to make much cash on an eyeball.
Now, black-market organ dealers don't do a great job of filing taxes, but here are some prices based on rumored deals and reports from the World Health Organization. In India, a kidney fetches around $20,000. In China, buyers will pay $40,000 or more. A good, healthy kidney from Israel goes for $160,000.
Don't expect to pocket all that dough, though. "The person giving up the organ only gets a fraction of the fee," says Sally Satel, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute think tank who studies the prices paid by legal and illegal organ-donor operations. After the organ broker—the guy who sets up your kidney-for-cash transaction—takes his cut, he needs to pay for travel, the surgeon, medical supplies and a few "look-the-other-way" payoffs. Most people get $1,000 to $10,000 for their kidney (probably much less than you were hoping for).
The best bet is to wait until compensation for organs is legalized in the U.S.—the Organ Trafficking Prohibition Act of 2009 would allow payment to donors, but it stalled in Congress—because there's certainly a market for kidneys. Last summer, a man offering one of his for $100,000 (plus medical expenses) on Craigslist received several offers until the Web site removed his post. And you could probably hold out for even more. In 1999, before eBay delisted a kidney put up for auction, bidders drove the price up to $5.75 million.
This article originally appeared in the February 2010 issue of Popular Science.The creator of Adventure Time, simultaneously the most colorful (aesthetically) and the darkest (mythology) cartoons out there right now, has downgraded his role. According to a Rolling Stone profile, Pendleton Ward quit as showrunner at some point during season five. The relevant piece from Rolling Stone:
He says this not with sadness or frustration, but with relief. "For me, having quality of life outweighed the need to control this project and make it great all the time." So he stepped down from running Adventure Time to become simply one of the show's writers and storyboard artists.
Asked if he'd ever want to create another TV show, Ward responds with horror: "No, never. That sounds like a nightmare!"
Ward has remained (and presumably will remain) on the show as a writer and storyboard artist. And according to the profile, he might consider writing an Adventure Time movie. Feel free to think of Ward as tucked away in the front pocket of Adventure Time's future. Like this:When we first announced pre-orders for Bitseed v2 (Core and Lite) in April 2015, we promised our customers a new app that would give them more control over their Bitcoin nodes. We delivered on our promise, releasing version 2.0 of the Bitseed web interface for Linux when we began shipping Bitseed v2 pre-orders in August 2015.
Since releasing Bitseed 2.0, we have been working to give our customers even more control of their nodes. Today we are excited to release Bitseed 2.1, the latest major release version of the Bitseed web interface for bitcoind.
New features that have been added since the 2.0 release:
Set a limit on the size of the mempool
Set the minimum fee Bitcoin transactions must carry to be relayed
Reduce the amount of data the node will upload to peers on the Bitcoin network
Connect to the Bitcoin network over IPv4, both IPv4 and Tor, or only Tor
Automatic download and installation of important software updates
Check out the full changelog here, and dig into the technical documentation here.
Mempool Size Limit
The mempool is a set of transactions stored by Bitcoin nodes that have been verified but not yet confirmed. Since Bitcoin Core 0.12.0, the default size of the mempool has been 300 MB. Bitseed users can now adjust the size of the mempool on the Settings page. Read more about this feature on the Bitcoin Core 0.12.0 release notes here.
Minimum Relay Transaction Fee
The minRelayTxFee setting allows Bitcoin full node operators to select the minimum fee rate (satoshis per kilobyte) required for transactions to be included in the node’s mempool and relayed to other nodes. Raising the minRelayTxFee rate can help filter out low-value transactions that some users may consider spam or otherwise low-priority transactions. Bitseed users can now adjust the minRelayTxFee of their node on the Settings page.
Reduce Upload Traffic
Starting in Bitcoin Core 0.12.0, Bitcoin full node operators can set an upload traffic threshold that will prevent their nodes from uploading historic block data older than one week, significantly reducing total upload traffic. The default threshold value is set to “0” meaning that the node will serve all block data requested by its peers. Bitseed full node operators now have the ability to adjust this parameter to conserve upload bandwidth on limited connections. Once the node hits the upload threshold set by the operator e.g. 144 MB the node will only serve blocks less than a week old to peers. Read more about this feature in the Bitcoin Core 0.12.0 release notes here.
Tor Support
Since first publishing instructions about how to run Bitseed node traffic over the Tor network, we have been working to make this functionality easier to use for Bitseed full node operators. Our work recently crossed paths with the Bitcoin Core project when Core developers added a feature to Bitcoin Core 0.12.0 that automatically creates a Tor hidden service when the Bitcoin Core software detects that Tor is running on the same machine. It is now easier than ever for Bitcoin full node operators to run their nodes over Tor.
Bitseed has enabled three different network modes for full node operators to select from:
IPv4-only: Bitcoin traffic is sent over the “clearnet” IPv4 network, exposing the node’s IP address and Bitcoin network traffic to the operator’s ISP and all connected Bitcoin peers.
Bitcoin traffic is sent over the “clearnet” IPv4 network, exposing the node’s IP address and Bitcoin network traffic to the operator’s ISP and all connected Bitcoin peers. IPv4-Tor-hybrid: Bitcoin traffic is sent over both the “clearnet” IPv4 network and the Tor network. This mode turns the Bitseed node into a valuable “bridge” between the IPv4 and Tor networks, providing connectivity between IPv4 Bitcoin nodes and Tor Bitcoin nodes.
Bitcoin traffic is sent over both the “clearnet” IPv4 network and the Tor network. This mode turns the Bitseed node into a valuable “bridge” between the IPv4 and Tor networks, providing connectivity between IPv4 Bitcoin nodes and Tor Bitcoin nodes. Tor-only: Bitcoin traffic is sent over the Tor network, hiding the node’s IP address and Bitcoin network traffic from the operator’s ISP and all connected Bitcoin peers.
Read more about this feature in the Bitcoin Core 0.12.0 release notes here.
Automatic Updates
Maintaining up-to-date software is one of the most important ways that users can ensure the security of their computer systems. Bitseed has made it easier for Bitseed full node operators to keep the software on their devices up to date by adding the option to subscribe to automatic updates. After the operator checks this box on the Settings page, the Bitseed node will check the Bitseed website for updates once per day. If any updates are available, the node will download and install the updates.
Note: only enable automatic updates if you do not plan to install any custom software on your Bitseed node. Installing custom software after subscribing to automatic updates may cause updates to brick the device. Bitseed will not be responsible for fixing or replacing devices that are bricked due to user error.
Update Instructions
Bitseed v1 owners should contact us for help before upgrading. Bitseed v2 owners who have installed anything other than official Bitseed updates on their nodes should also contact us before attempting to upgrade.
Install Bitseed 2.1 by accessing the node via SSH and entering the following commands:
The node will reboot and bitcoind will run automatically. Allow 15 minutes for bitcoind to start up, then open a web browser and enter the internal IP address of the node to use the new Bitseed web interface.
Bitseed 2.1 is free software released under the MIT license. This license was inherited from the Bitcoin Node Admin software that Bitseed derives much of its codebase from. We welcome all contributions to help document and improve this software. Please open an issue or send us a pull request if you have any ideas that would help us improve Bitseed.
Many thanks to everyone who has supported Bitseed so far! We will be publishing more app documentation and sharing more about our vision for Bitseed in the weeks and months ahead. Want to be among the first to get our updates? Subscribe to the Bitseed Broadcast newsletter for the latest Bitseed news.McDonald's Grand Mac will be available at the ATM pop-up. Hollis Johnson A McDonald's in Boston is about to launch a Big Mac ATM that spits out burgers free of charge, Metro Boston reported.
Customers can order either a Big Mac, a Mac Jr., or a Grand Mac on the ATM's touchscreen. The ATM will tweet each customer's order before dispensing a burger.
"We can't give away all the secrets, but fresh Macs will be constantly loaded into the machine to ensure a high quality experience," Vincent Spadea, a Boston McDonald's franchisee, told Metro.
McDonald's Eastern New England
The pop up will be a one-day-only affair: January 31, from 11 am to 2 pm.
McDonald's has recently doubled down on the Big Mac. As the iconic burger celebrates its 50th anniversary, the fast-food chain has started giving away bottles of its Big Mac sauce for the first time and testing a Bacon Big Mac in CanadaSupporters of gun rights in the US won a major legal victory today, when the highest court in the country ruled that an individual's constitutional right to bear arms applied to every corner of the country and throughout its 50 states.
The US supreme court delivered a split judgment along the familiar 5-4 conservative-liberal divide. The ruling specifically overturned a ban on handguns in Chicago that has stood for 28 years.
Its general finding – that all states must comply with the second amendment to the constitution – is likely to have a sweeping impact on local gun laws, particularly in inner-city areas.
The judgment was greeted with joy by the National Rifle Association, the leading proponent of gun rights in a country that has the highest prevalence of civilian gun ownership in the world. The NRA's Wayne LaPierre called it "a great moment in American history".
But in a statement, the Violence Policy Center said: "People will die because of this decision. The gun lobby and gunmakers are seeking nothing less than the complete dismantling of our nation's gun laws." The centre estimates that 30,000 people die in the US every year through gun violence.
The supreme court was called upon to consider the consequences of its own ruling a year ago in which it struck down, by the same 5-4 margin, the ban on handguns in Washington DC. That was the first time the court had ever delivered a major judgment on gun rights. Washington is a district and not a state, so that ruling had no bearing on the rest of the US. This week's case, McDonald v Chicago, was designed to reach a conclusion about the wider picture.
In their majority opinion, the five conservative supreme court judges, led by Justice Samuel Alito, said that the Chicago handgun ban was unconstitutional because it breached the right of the individual to own guns in his or her own home. "Self-defence is a basic right, recognised by many legal systems from ancient times to the present, and individual self-defence is the central component of the Second Amendment", the opinion says.
Alito was backed by John Roberts, Anthony Kennedy, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas. But the four liberal judges — Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and John Paul Stevens — disagreed. In his dissenting judgment, Breyer said there was no consensus over a fundamental right to self-defence. "The historical evidence is, at most, ambiguous."
John Bruce, an expert on gun control policy at the University of Mississippi, described the ruling as a "big deal". He said: This ruling snuck up on people when they were distracted by other events."
Bruce predicted there would now be a flurry of legal challenges, as the gun lobby tried to use the supreme court ruling as a green light to push back controls in states across the country.
The first area affected is Chicago, which must now allow the sale of handguns to lawful owners. It had argued before the court that it had a duty to keep its citizens safe from an ongoing epidemic of gun violence. In the first five months of this year, 164 people in Chicago were murdered with guns, a rise of 4% on the same period in 2009. Over a single weekend this month, 10 people were killed and 60 wounded.
Other big cities that have introduced tough restrictions on gun ownership, such as New York, are also likely to face challenges. Daniel Vice, a lawyer at the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, said the gun lobby and criminals would now be emboldened to try to push back local laws. But he thought that in the overwhelming number of cases, those challenges would be rejected by the courts.
"Cities will still be allowed to regulate the type of guns that can be bought and to keep them out of the possession of dangerous people," he said.Interesting article in The Spectator by William Cook in the influence of mainly Jewish refugees from Germany who came to the UK in the pre-World War II period and had a transformative effect on British culture (“German Refugees Transformed British Cultural Life — But at a Price“).
Next week Frank Auerbach will be honoured by the British art establishment with a one-man show at Tate Britain. It’s a fitting tribute for an artist who’s widely (and quite rightly) regarded as Britain’s greatest living painter. Yet although Auerbach has spent almost all his life in Britain, what’s striking about his paintings is how Germanic they seem.
I find it difficult to see Auerbach as Germanic, at least not in the sense of what one hopefully would call the German national spirit. This is modernism at its determinedly ugliest, and, as in the UK, it represents an aesthetic that is out of touch with popular tastes.
Auerbach is the featured example of the “vast wave of Germanic immigration that has transformed British cultural life — mainly for the better, but at a price.” “This wave of immigrants wasn’t just another huddled mass — it was the cultural élite of Central Europe, the best and brightest from every avenue of academia and the arts.” “Although predominantly Jewish, “they were champions of civilised, enlightened values, rather than members of a certain religion, or a certain race.”
When it is obvious and undeniable that Jews are predominant in an area, say Hollywood, the fallback position is to say that it doesn’t matter that they are Jewish. Indeed, this is the ADL’s line on how to think about Jews and Hollywood — which is demonstrably not the case. Here the issue is what exactly these values were and whether these “civilized, enlightened values” can reasonably be seen as related to the Jewish identity of their purveyors. Cook provides a clue when he discusses how these values replaced “insular” British culture that had failed abysmally to spontaneously develop them. Indeed, the British response to these values prior to their becoming enlightened and civilized was quite negative:
The influence of these artistic émigrés has been so all-pervading that it’s easy to forget how insular British culture was before the second world war. Reviewing an exhibition of German art at the Burlington Gallery in 1938, the art critic of the New Statesman declared, ‘If Hitler doesn’t like these pictures, it’s the best thing I’ve heard about Hitler.’ British modernists fared no better. In 1938, the Tate’s director, J.B. Manson, said that Henry Moore would only enter the gallery over his dead body. Yet by 1951, Moore had become the star turn at the Festival of Britain. Finally, against all odds, these continental émigrés had dragged British culture into the 20th century. From now on, in Britain, as on the continent, modernism was the status quo.
These traditional values were quickly replaced after World War II with a new aesthetic that was quite alien to traditional British national culture. However, I have to admit that, judging from Frank Auerbach’s work, I can’t help thinking that the British would have plodded on quite well without the cultural transformation brought about by the invasion of Central European Jews. Surprisingly perhaps given the absolute dominance of modernism in the academic, art and media worlds, Cook seems to agree that there is a downside:
This tale is usually told as a story with a happy ending, a triumph of progressive values over reactionary, fuddy-duddy conservatism. But although Britain gained a great deal from this flood of foreign talent, you can’t help feeling, looking back, that something was lost along the way. Before the war, British culture was much more staid, but more in tune with public opinion. Since 1945 our artistic institutions have become much more Middle European: avant-garde, conceptual and out of step with popular taste.
What’s missing from this is some explication of what exactly Britain gained by this transformation. It’s easy to see what was |
chaos.
Second, everything needs to balance out.
Like it was for his father, fiscal responsibility is important to the senator. Both father and son are known for returning funds from their office’s operating budget back to the Treasury, cementing their own reputations of being genuine fiscal conservatives.
Has this stance ever backfired on the senator? Quite the contrary.
While President-elect Trump has established himself and his new inner circle as the top of the Republican Party, Senator Paul took his stand with the support of his former rival. Instead of being attacked by constituents and being blacklisted in his own party, he is gaining favor.
Now the Kentucky senator has announced his own alternative legislation to rid the country of Obamacare.
While this is just one moment out of many in the constantly moving political world, it’s surely a preview of things to come. Senator Paul has walked out of a difficult year virtually unscathed. His political standing if anything has been cemented, as now he’s even making inroads with the former rival he once vowed to stop.
He may not be the president next week, but Paul will remain a winner in the end.The timing could not have been better, or worse: Tomorrow, June 22, Volkswagen convenes its General Shareholder Meeting. Shareholders will face a board that is with “one foot in prison,” as the German figure of speech goes. Compared to that, the news that Volkswagen sees no big future in diesel sound harmless.
The news was released in steady drips for maximum effect. Yesterday, Reuters reported that German prosecutors had started a criminal probe against former VW CEO Martin Winterkorn and another senior executive who were suspected of market manipulation related to the emissions scandal. This came after charges were filed by Germany's BaFin financial regulator, the country’s equivalent of the SEC. Later in the day, it was reported that the second senior exec is Volkswagen brand chief Herbert Diess. Then this morning, Reuters said that BAFIN had filed criminal charges against the complete Volkswagen board as of September 2015. This includes the current CEO Matthias Müller, and the then CFO Hans Dieter Pötsch, who now is Chairman of the company’s Supervisory Board.
The probe is being handled by the prosecutor's office in Braunschweig. It is currently focusing on Winterkorn and Diess, but it could enlarge the number of suspects. “It’s a fluid situation,” a prosecutors' spokesman told Reuters. The prosecutors are in a delicate situation: They report to the state government of Lower Saxony, Volkswagen’s second-largest shareholder. The state’s premier Stephan Weil and its economy minister Olaf Lies have a seat on Volkswagen’s Supervisory Board.
The charges are for market manipulation and reportedly are based on "sufficient real signs" that Volkswagen did not promptly disclose the possible financial damage of its dieselgate manipulations.
Up until yesterday, Volkswagen was relatively unimpressed by the possible dieselgate fallout. The legal problems in the U.S. seem to go away at a cost of a few billions. The EU emission rules are written so porously that Volkswagen appears to be getting away with nothing more than a big recall. Now suddenly, the charges against Volkswagen’s board signal a much bigger bloodletting in Europe.
According to German law, market manipulation is punishable with jail time of up to five years. The regulator signaled that it may let the Volkswagen board get away with a hefty fine. However, shareholders have already sued Volkswagen for billions. Based on a conviction, their chances for a big payout would rise dramatically. “For the first time, Volkswagen’s existence is in peril,” writes Germany’s Welt.
If Volkswagen is not quite at its end, then at least the diesel is, Volkswagen’s CEO Matthias Müller signaled in an interview with Germany’s Handelsblatt. “At some point in time, there will be the question whether we should continue to invest a lot of money into the further development of the diesel powertrain,” Müller said. “To clean the diesel exhaust will become involved, and expensive,” Müller told the Handelsblatt. Actually, it already is involved and expensive to build exhaust treatment that works reliably in all traffic, and not just when the car is on the test bench. Volkswagen already stopped the sales of all diesel models in the U.S.A., “and it is a completely open question whether Volkswagen will offer diesel models in America ever again,” writes Der Spiegel. Müller also expects that at some point, diesel fuel could not be as tax-advantaged as it currently is in Europe.
For the first time, Müller openly said what has been whispered at most EU automakers. Other EU OEMs have long made contingency plans for an end of the diesel era. The end could be hastened by Müller’s openly aired doubts about the fuel’s future.The fall finale of “Empire” was back on top of the Live +7 ratings for the week of Nov. 30. The FOX hit had the biggest total gains in both adults 18-49 (+2.1, 4.4 to 6.5) and viewers (+4.62 million) for the week.
“The Vampire Diaries” grew by the highest percentage for the week, increasing 120 percent in adults 18-49 (0.5 to 1.1). “Quantico’s” string of more than doubling its viewership ended, thanks in part to a presidential address delaying its start by 16 minutes. It still grew by 92 percent (1.2 to 2.3) in adults 18-49 and led the viewer percentage gains.
The Top 25 shows (including ties) in the Live +7 ratings for Nov. 30-Dec. 6, 2015 are below. The rankings include first-run regular series only, not repeats or specials.
ADULTS 18-49 – TOTAL GAIN
Rank Show Net L+SD L+7 7-Day Increase 7-Day % Increase 1 EMPIRE FOX 4.5 6.6 2.1 47% 2 MODERN FAMILY ABC 2.4 4.2 1.8 75% 3 QUANTICO ABC 1.2 2.3 1.1 92% 3t AGENTS OF SHIELD ABC 1.3 2.4 1.1 85% 3t BLACK-ISH ABC 1.6 2.7 1.1 69% 3t THE GOLDBERGS ABC 2.0 3.1 1.1 55% 3t CRIMINAL MINDS CBS 1.6 2.7 1.1 69% 8 GOTHAM FOX 1.6 2.6 1.0 63% 8t CHICAGO FIRE NBC 1.9 2.9 1.0 53% 10 NASHVILLE ABC 0.9 1.8 0.9 100% 10t THE FLASH CW 1.4 2.3 0.9 64% 12 SUPERGIRL CBS 1.6 2.4 0.8 50% 12t SCREAM QUEENS FOX 0.9 1.7 0.8 89% 12t GRIMM NBC 0.8 1.6 0.8 100% 15 FRESH OFF THE BOAT ABC 1.3 2.0 0.7 54% 15t LAST MAN STANDING ABC 1.3 2.0 0.7 54% 15t ONCE UPON A TIME ABC 1.3 2.0 0.7 54% 15t THE MIDDLE ABC 2.0 2.7 0.7 35% 15t CODE BLACK CBS 1.5 2.2 0.7 47% 15t SURVIVOR CBS 2.1 2.8 0.7 33% 15t ARROW CW 1.4 2.1 0.7 50% 15t THE LAST MAN ON EARTH FOX 1.4 2.1 0.7 50% 15t BROOKLYN NINE-NINE FOX 1.7 2.4 0.7 41% 15t CHICAGO MED NBC 2.0 2.7 0.7 35% 15t THE VOICE – MONDAY NBC 2.8 3.5 0.7 25%
ADULTS 18-49 – PERCENTAGE GAIN
Rank Show Net L+SD L+7 7-Day Increase 7-Day % Increase 1 THE VAMPIRE DIARIES CW 0.5 1.1 0.6 120% 2 NASHVILLE ABC 0.9 1.8 0.9 100% 2t GRIMM NBC 0.8 1.6 0.8 100% 4 QUANTICO ABC 1.2 2.3 1.1 92% 5 SCREAM QUEENS FOX 0.9 1.7 0.8 89% 6 AGENTS OF SHIELD ABC 1.3 2.4 1.1 85% 7 MODERN FAMILY ABC 2.4 4.2 1.8 75% 8 BLACK-ISH ABC 1.6 2.7 1.1 69% 8t CRIMINAL MINDS CBS 1.6 2.7 1.1 69% 10 AMERICA’S NEXT TOP MODEL – F CW 0.3 0.5 0.2 67% 10t REIGN CW 0.3 0.5 0.2 67% 12 THE FLASH CW 1.4 2.3 0.9 64% 13 GOTHAM FOX 1.6 2.6 1.0 63% 14 THE ORIGINALS CW 0.5 0.8 0.3 60% 15 THE GRINDER FOX 0.7 1.1 0.4 57% 16 BLOOD & OIL ABC 0.9 1.4 0.5 56% 17 THE GOLDBERGS ABC 2.0 3.1 1.1 55% 17t THE MUPPETS ABC 1.1 1.7 0.6 55% 17t THE AMAZING RACE CBS 1.1 1.7 0.6 55% 20 FRESH OFF THE BOAT ABC 1.3 2.0 0.7 54% 20t LAST MAN STANDING ABC 1.3 2.0 0.7 54% 20t ONCE UPON A TIME ABC 1.3 2.0 0.7 54% 23 CHICAGO FIRE NBC 1.9 2.9 1.0 53% 24 SUPERGIRL CBS 1.6 2.4 0.8 50% 24t ARROW CW 1.4 2.1 0.7 50% 24t THE LAST MAN ON EARTH FOX 1.4 2.1 0.7 50% 24t MASTERCHEF JUNIOR FOX 1.0 1.5 0.5 50%
VIEWERS – TOTAL GAIN
Rank Show Net L+SD (000s) L+7 (000s) 7-Day Increase (000s) 7-Day % Increase 1 EMPIRE FOX 11812 16436 4624 39% 2 MODERN FAMILY ABC 7350 11662 4312 59% 3 CRIMINAL MINDS CBS 8752 12378 3626 41% 4 CHICAGO FIRE NBC 8623 11898 3275 38% 5 QUANTICO ABC 4390 7507 3117 71% 6 CODE BLACK CBS 8495 11515 3020 36% 7 AGENTS OF SHIELD ABC 3844 6468 2624 68% 8 NASHVILLE ABC 4172 6743 2571 62% 9 SUPERGIRL CBS 8019 10510 2491 31% 10 BLACK-ISH ABC 5446 7891 2445 45% 11 GOTHAM FOX 4508 6934 2426 54% 12 GRIMM NBC 3694 6109 2415 65% 13 CHICAGO MED NBC 9874 12219 2345 24% 14 THE GOLDBERGS ABC 6458 8710 2252 35% 15 THE FLASH CW 3953 6070 2117 54% 16 SURVIVOR CBS 9406 11320 1914 20% 17 BLOOD & OIL ABC 3234 5081 1847 57% 18 THE VOICE – MONDAY NBC 12586 14369 1783 14% 19 THE MIDDLE ABC 7666 9438 1772 23% 20 THE AMAZING RACE CBS 5754 7513 1759 31% 21 LAST MAN STANDING ABC 6669 8388 1719 26% 22 ONCE UPON A TIME ABC 4561 6253 1692 37% 23 ARROW CW 3664 5271 1607 44% 24 ROSEWOOD FOX 5043 6609 1566 31% 24t SCREAM QUEENS FOX 2398 3964 1566 65%
VIEWERS – PERCENTAGE GAIN
Rank Show Net L+SD (000s) L+7 (000s) 7-Day Increase (000s) 7-Day % Increase 1 QUANTICO ABC 4390 7507 3117 71% 2 AGENTS OF SHIELD ABC 3844 6468 2624 68% 3 THE VAMPIRE DIARIES CW 1314 2188 874 67% 4 GRIMM NBC 3694 6109 2415 65% 4t SCREAM QUEENS FOX 2398 3964 1566 65% 6 NASHVILLE ABC 4172 6743 2571 62% 7 MODERN FAMILY ABC 7350 11662 4312 59% 8 BLOOD & OIL ABC 3234 5081 1847 57% 9 GOTHAM FOX 4508 6934 2426 54% 9t THE FLASH CW 3953 6070 2117 54% 9t THE ORIGINALS CW 1171 1802 631 54% 12 SUPERNATURAL CW 1997 3040 1043 52% 13 AMERICA’S NEXT TOP MODEL – F CW 1157 1689 532 46% 14 BLACK-ISH ABC 5446 7891 2445 45% 14t REIGN CW 1039 1502 463 45% 16 ARROW CW 3664 5271 1607 44% 16t MASTERCHEF JUNIOR FOX 3513 5066 1553 44% 18 THE LAST MAN ON EARTH FOX 3577 5116 1539 43% 18t IZOMBIE CW 1453 2071 618 43% 20 CRIMINAL MINDS CBS 8752 12378 3626 41% 21 FRESH OFF THE BOAT ABC 3661 5136 1475 40% 21t THE GRINDER FOX 2401 3352 951 40% 23 EMPIRE FOX 11812 16436 4624 39% 24 CHICAGO FIRE NBC 8623 11898 3275 38% 25 ONCE UPON A TIME ABC 4561 6253 1692 37%
Source: The Nielsen Company.The Gorbals Vampire
The Gorbals Vampire
Jenny wi' the Airn Teeth
WHAT a plague is this o' mine,
Winna steek his e'e,
Though I hap him ow'r the head
As cosie as can be.
Sleep! an' let me to my wark,
A' thae claes to airn;
Jenny wi' the airn teeth,
Come an' tak' the bairn:
Tak' him to your ain den,
Where the bowgie bides,
But first put baith your big teeth
In his wee plump sides;
Gie your auld grey pow a shake,
Rive him frae my grup—
Tak' him where nae kiss is gaun
When he waukens up.
Two views of the gatehouse in the
much-vandalized Southern Necropolis
Whatna noise is that I hear
Comin' doon the street?
Weel I ken the dump-dump
O' her beetle feet.
Mercy me, she's at the door,
Hear her lift the sneck;
Whisht! an' cuddle mammy noo
Closer roun' the neck.
Jenny wi' the airn teeth,
The bairn has aff his claes,
Sleepin' safe an' soun', I think—
Dinna touch his taes;
Sleepin' weans are no for you;
Ye may turn about
An' tak' awa' wee Tam next door—
I hear him screichin' oot.
Dump, dump, awa' she gangs
Back the road she cam';
I hear her at the ither door,
Speirin' after Tam.
He's a crabbit, greetin' thing,
The warst in a' the toon;
Little like my ain wee wean—
Losh, he's sleepin' soun'.
Mithers hae an awfu' wark
Wi' their bairns at nicht—
Chappin' on the chair wi' tangs
To gi'e the rogues a fricht.
Aulder weans are fley'd wi' less,
Weel aneuch we ken—
Bigger bowgies, bigger Jennies,
Frichten muckle men.
-Alexander Anderson, 1879
On September 23, 1954, strange things were happening in Glasgow as hundreds of children raced through a local cemetery, the Southern Necropolis, with stakes, sticks, stones and knives seeking to vanquish a vampire with iron teeth.Hy Fleishman's "The Vampire with the Iron Teeth" appeared in#15 (December 1953). To read Fleishman's full story, go to The Horrors of It All. Also see(Sheffield Academic Press, 1988) by Gillian Bennett and Paul Smith. Numerous books on urban legends mention the Gorbals Vampire of 1954 and the 1879 poem "Jenny wi' Airn Teeth".On Tuesday, March 30, BBC Radio 4 will broadcast a documentary on the connection between the Gorbals Vampire and EC and other horror comics, exploring how this incident triggered censorship of comic books in the UK. The Gorbals Vampire event was previously described in Martin Barker's, published by London's Pluto Press in 1983. This book is still available from the University Press of Mississippi which reprinted it in 1992. To read what Barker wrote about the Gorbals Vampire, go here Here's a link to the BBC News story and a 1989 Scottish Herald article. Thanks to Trevor M., Pappy and Karswell for the tips. (See comments.) For a memorable film set in the towering Glasgow projects, see Andrea Arnold's(2007).And here's the BBC press release:Tuesday 30 March 11:00-11:30pm BBC Radio 4Novelist Louise Welsh investigates how a comic-book vampire brought horror to Glasgow's south side and its impact on Britain's censorship laws. Glasgow's Southern Necropolis is an eerie place at the best of times but when two local policemen answered a call in September 1954 they encountered a bizarre sight. Hundreds of local children, ranging in ages from four to 14, were crammed inside, roaming between the crypts, armed with sharpened sticks, knives stolen from home and stakes. They said they were hunting down "a vampire with iron teeth" that had kidnapped and eaten two local boys. The policemen dispersed the crowd, but they came back at sundown the next night and the next. The local press got hold of the story and it soon went national. There were no missing boys in Glasgow at that time, and press and politicians cast around for an explanation. They soon found one in the wave of American horror comics with names likeand, which had recently flooded into the West of Scotland.Academics pointed out that none of the comics featured a vampire with iron teeth, though there was a monster with iron teeth in the Bible (Daniel 7.7) and in a poem taught in local schools. Their voices were drowned out in a full-blown moral panic about the effect that terrifying comics were having on children. Soon the case of the Gorbals Vampire was international news. The British Press raged against the "terrifying, corrupt" comics and, after a heated debate in the House of Commons where the case of Gorbals Vampire was cited, Britain passed the Children and Young Persons (Harmful Publications) Act 1955 which, for the first time, specifically banned the sale of magazines and comics portraying "incidents of a repulsive or horrible nature" to minors. This programme explores how the Gorbals Vampire helped bring the censorship of comic books onto the statute books.Presenter/Louise Welsh, Producer/David Stenhouse
Labels: barker, censorship, crypt, ec, glasgow, gorbals, hajdu, jack davis, vampire, werthamby Ken Bakely
The passage of more than twenty years has not harmed Amy Heckerling’s Clueless, a sly, vaguely meta, and wonderfully sharp adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma, set in 1990s Los Angeles. Anchored with brilliant comedic work from Alicia Silverstone as “Cher” Horowitz, the wordy-yet-toothless Valley-Girl-but-in-Beverly-Hills, the film is capable of holding its own, even as its references – from TV shows to fashion trends – become dated. It still works because its cleverness and intelligence are above the fads of then, now, or those of the future. Heckerling’s movie is 96 solid minutes of the teen comedy working at top speed, and it’s not hard to see where successors like Mean Girls have drawn from Clueless’ sphere of influence.
The film’s plot revolves around Cher Horowitz, of course, the sweet but very spoiled daughter of a powerful litigator (Dan Hedaya), whose persuasive behavior has rubbed off on Cher; she can effectively argue her way out of anything. However, when she transforms the tomboyish new girl at school, Tai Frasier (Brittany Murphy), into a creation after her own image, Tai becomes a towering figure of artificiality which rivals the pre-existing notions of Cher and her other best friend, Dionne Davenport (Stacey Dash). Now, what was supposed to be a coronation of popularity to be ridden to graduation and beyond is suddenly derailed, and Cher realizes that there are real consequences of her skin-deep worldview, which she has now pushed on Tai.
What many first-time viewers will notice about Clueless is how it has essentially become a time capsule of American pop culture in 1995 – any thirty second snag of dialogue is likely to contain references to a wide variety of points, from Mel Gibson, to the Cranberries, to the filmography of Pauly Shore. Heckerling recognizes the structure of the way teenagers talk in this respect, and manages to both emulate that element while exaggerating the minutia and tone of conversations for maximum comedic effect. This rapport is brought to life in splendidly memorable performances – Silverstone and Murphy most notably – but also a great supporting cast, from a young Paul Rudd as Cher’s stepbrother, to Wallace Shawn as a history teacher.
Vibrantly lit and framed by cinematographer Bill Pope, and energetically edited by Debra Chiate, Clueless has technical packaging which accompanies its creative style perfectly. Indeed, Heckerling certainly knew what she was doing, and worked with a cast and crew in melodious tandem. The result is a movie that is sometimes a little too featherweight for its own good, but also one which undoubtedly earns its place as a cult classic of its subgenre, playfully poking at the edges of the fourth wall, and still greatly amusing and perceptive to this day.
AdvertisementsSeptember is a really special time for us here at Bitch because it’s budgeting season. Sound boring? Please please please! Wait a minute. Because budgets? They’re about putting our money where our mouth is. Budgets? They’re about values. And we’re really fucking proud of ours.
The fact is, at a time when massive mainstream outlets are making substantial cuts to staff and longform writing in order to “pivot to video” (R.I.P. MTV, Mashable, the New York Times copy editors, Mic, Vice…should we keep going?), we’re mapping the future based on what’ll make the most impact for our community instead of what’ll produce the most views for advertisers. There are a million differences between Bitch and everywhere else, but maybe the biggest right now is that Facebook’s newsfeed algorithm doesn’t get to pull up a chair at our editorial meetings. (See ya never, Zuck!)
We decide, instead, to publish the real work that moves feminism forward. And want to know something? It’s working.
After we published our takedown of corporate-owned Bustle, we started seeing more outlets call out fake “empowertising.” And remember when corporate media declared that millennials don’t like longform articles? Our Fragility series, which explores topics like the fragility of the western traveler or the fragility of gaming culture in depth every month, has grown exponentially in readership with every single installment. That’s just a fact.
When we listen to our community and what you think is important, we make a real impact. When we’re brave and take the risks that no one else is willing to take—regardless of whether or not the dollars add up—our community becomes stronger.
Bitch has created a blueprint for what independent feminist media can accomplish. All these membership drives from media outlets that have been springing up in the last six months? That’s what our B-Hive has been doing for decades, without the paywalls (we see you, Washington Post). But now, we’re counting on you to let us know just how risky we can get.
So, here it is:
A few times a year, we hold major campaigns to keep our independence intact and our values on point. This time, we need to raise $65,000 by September 30.
As we lay out Bitch’s next budget, we need to know if we’re on the right track. So if you want to see more ambitious articles, deeper investment in longform series that wouldn’t run anywhere else, more podcasts that aren’t afraid to rail against the system, or a magazine that perhaps the post office wants to censor again (it’s already happened once), we need to know our community backs our values and our work
There are three ways you can support Bitch.
Help Bitch raise $65,000 by September 30 and get your free pencil set! Subscribe to Bitch magazine, join the B-Hive, or donate today.
As a thanks for having our back, and in the spirit of “hey corporate media you messed up again so here let us fix it for you,” we’ve created a special pencil set so you too can help scribble, erase, and write feminism into fact every day.
Whether you believe that “Feminism Is A Fact,” that “You Can’t Erase Feminism,” or you’re ready to “Outsmart The Patriarchy!” every person who helps us meet our goal will get all three! (You’re welcome)
Our community is what keeps us independent and allows us to square up against mainstream media time and time again. And it’s with your help that we’ll continue to do so when it matters most.
Because if there is one thing we know as we continue to work to make feminism a fact, it’s that we can’t do it alone.
So subscribe to Bitch magazine, join the B-Hive, or make a one-time donation before these pencils run out! Every dollar makes a bolder, better Bitch.Jon Stewart has no idea what happened in Ferguson, MO, but pretends he does. And according to the Washington Post and much of the media, that’s how Stewart ObliteratedDestroyedBlastedDemolishedShredded Fox News.
Let his trained seals in the media clap. The bottom line to Jon Stewart’s rant is that he believes that waiting for facts is racism.
—
—
Somehow…
Stewart just knows Michael Brown put his hands up.
Stewart just knows racism was behind the shooting of Michael Brown.
Stewart just knows the shooting of Michael Brown was unjustified.
Stewart just knows that Al Sharpton’s symbolic summits in Chicago are enough.
Stewart just knows that America’s racial grifters and media are doing everything they can to stop the bloodshed in Chicago.
Stewart just knows that there’s no more context behind all the facts and figures he cites except, of course, racism.
Even before the Justice Department, Stewart has already gotten to the bottom of what happened in Ferguson, and that gives him the right to step up on a pedestal, wag his widdle finger, and morally preen over those of us who believe in a little thing Americans like to call “waiting for the facts” or “due process” or “justice.”
But because we don’t have Stewart’s magic crystal ball (and he’s not sharing), all The Great Unwashed can do instead is wait for the facts, and in the meantime attempt to point out how dangerous, violent, and destructive things always get when those who don’t wait for the facts (or share their crystal ball) scream racism based only on speculation.
Stewart isn’t attacking Fox News for anything the network did wrong. He’s attacking the network for waiting for the facts and wondering why those who aren’t don’t give a damn about the hundreds of black Americans murdered annually in Chicago.
That’s wrong now.
That’s racist now.
That’s stupid now.
Up is down now.
Right is wrong now.
The police are corrupt; only the police should have guns.
The police are corrupt, but the government they serve is good.
Slavery is freedom.
George Zimmerman is white.
Join the mob or… Jon Stewart’s going to look into the camera, tap his pencil, and make a funny face that ObliteratesDestroysBlastsDemolishesShreds you.
Mobs rioted, looted, destroyed businesses… But Stewart’s indignation is only for those who wait for the facts and condemn those who don’t.
Stewart is down with the struggle and down with those who gin up a frenzied mob that makes victims of only the poor black people in Ferguson Stewart pretends to care about.
I bet if it was Stewart’s mansion being looted or his employer being burnt down, he’d wish people would’ve waited for the facts.
But it wasn’t his community or business that was ObliteratedDestroyedBlastedDemolishedShredded; it was a black community, so it’s okay. Because a burnt-out black community is nothing more than a sacrifice to The Cause.
Jon Stewart is now so puffed up with himself that he sees himself as an all-seeing, all-knowing god — and his first commandment is that the mob is right (as long as it’s not middle-aged Tea Partiers who protest against the government forcing them to buy something and clean up after themselves afterwards).
And here’s a short list of Stewart’s all-seeing, all-knowing media sycophants who also side with the mob:
Washington Post
Daily Show’s Jon Stewart obliterates Fox News coverage
Daily Kos
Jon Stewart blasts Fox News on white privilege over Ferguson
Huffington Post:
Jon Stewart’s Priceless Response To Fox News On Ferguson
E!:
Jon Stewart Outraged Over Fox News’ Ferguson Coverage
WSJ:
Jon Stewart Blasts Fox News for Ferguson Coverage
Mediaite:
Jon Stewart Goes After Fox in Powerful Ferguson Monologue
BuzzFeed:
Jon Stewart Demolishes Fox News On Their Ferguson Coverage
Raw Story:
Jon Stewart shreds Fox News for having ‘no f*cking idea …
Global Grind:
Jon Stewart Trashes Fox News Coverage of Ferguson
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNCTICKET inspectors will “certainly” not be permitted to carry guns should a plan for them to carry cash from on-the-spot fines be approved, Transport Minister Terry Mulder says.
The Herald Sun revealed today that some authorised officers want guns and capsicum spray for protection amid a bitter war over the new “cash-cops” that could lead to the city’s public transport system grinding to a halt.
Shoud ticket inspectors be allowed to carry guns? Have your say below.
The government is remaining firm on its scheme that will allow fare evaders to pay a cheaper on-the-spot fine of $75 by cash or credit or debit card, rather than the full $212 infringement.
Mr Mulder said the vast majority of people would use credit or debit cards to pay the on-the-spot fines, so inspectors would only be carrying a small amount of cash.
“The amount of cash they would be carrying would be absolute minimal,” he told 3AW this morning.
“The whole amount of cash carried would have to be totally and completely audited, and they would hand it over as soon as they get to a premium station, or wherever they’re heading.
“Certainly I can assure you of this, authorised officers will not be carrying guns. It’s not on.”
Mr Mulder said officers also travelled in groups to ensure their safety.
But Rail, Tram and Bus Union state secretary Luba Grigorovitch said the State Government was “treating our members with contempt” with the cash-cops plan by forcing them to potentially carry hundreds of dollars while on duty.
Ms Grigorovitch said ticket inspectors doled out as many as 10 fines a day to fare evaders, meaning they could be holding up to $750 by the end of a shift if $75 on-the-spot fines are implemented.
She said the union and its members supported on-the-spot fines, but wanted money to be collected only via card payment as it was safer for inspectors and more practical for those paying the fines — a proposal rejected by the government.
“They want to proceed with cash,” she said.
“They want to put our (authorised officers) in harm’s way.
“We believe it is unacceptable to expect them to walk around on trains and trams with wads of cash in their pockets.”
Ms Grigorovitch said the push for ticket inspectors to carry guns had not come from the union.
A senior transport source told the Herald Sun that union members had already started plotting how they would derail the system unless the cash option was removed.
Ms Grigorovitch said illegal industrial action was not sanctioned by the union.
PTV spokesman Adrian Darwent said further consultation would be held with the union.
aleks.devic@news.com.auMusician Val Broeksmit spent several days this month publishing screenshots from the hacked Sony e-mails on his Twitter feed. The e-mails he published included deals about new movies, how much the main players were getting paid, and feuds between Sony exec Amy Pascal and Hollywood super-agent Ari Emanuel.
That got the attention of Sony's legal team, who threatened not only him but Twitter. Yesterday, Vice published a letter from Sony's legal team to Twitter. That has put Broeksmit suddenly at the center of a lot of media attention.
Sony's letter to Twitter doesn't state that a lawsuit is imminent. In fact, the document isn't substantively different from letters that Sony sent out to dozens of media organizations, including Ars, starting about a week ago. The letters, signed by lawyer David Boies, tell media organizations to stop publishing any parts of the Sony e-mails, which it calls "Stolen Information." They also state that Sony hasn't authorized any publications, reserves all its legal rights, and other legal boilerplate.
The Hollywood Reporter has published its letter (PDF), which reads similarly to the others.
Boies' letter is something of a form letter, but Twitter's position in the media ecosystem might make this case unique. It's an intermediary for its millions of users, and the company will have to make tough decisions about what to let those users publish. Reddit also banned its users from sharing snippets of the e-mails last week. So far, Twitter hasn't suspended Broeksmit's account, which the Boies letter explicitly asked them to do.
The Twitter letter does make clear that Sony holds Twitter itself—not only Broeksmit—liable for publishing its secrets.
Twitter hasn't hesitated to suspend accounts in the past when they've violated company policies or the law. For instance, when an Anonymous-owned account misidentified the cop behind the Ferguson shooting and began publishing his personal information, the account was quickly shut down.
The Broeksmit situation raises tough questions about how to manage a world where anyone can grab secrets and start making them public. Broeksmit is making decisions about what to publish and what to withhold, the same kinds of editorial decisions being made in newsrooms around the country. But he's a one-man show—no colleagues to discuss what to do and no legal backup. In a brief interview with Ars last night, Broeksmit frankly admitted he was learning as he went along and struggled with some decisions.
The big question is: will Twitter defend Broeksmit or treat him like a rogue user? And what will it do about the next Broeksmit?
Deciding what's news
Broeksmit has lived in London for the past several years, but this year he's in the US finishing work on a catalog of music he plans to publish. It's a long project, and he started reading the Sony e-mails simply to have something else to do. "I took a break," he explained in an interview with Ars.
"The Pascal-Rudin feud is just entertainment," he said. "It's a fun story, it's interesting. As I got deeper into it, there was a lot |
and Gauguin—to create a modern version of a pastoral paradise in Le bonheur de vivre, Picasso had turned to an alien tradition of primitive art to create in Les Demoiselles a netherworld of strange gods and violent emotions. As between the mythological nymphs of Le bonheur de vivre and the grotesque effigies of Les Demoiselles, there was no question as to which was the more shocking or more intended to be shocking. Picasso had unleashed a vein of feeling that was to have immense consequences for the art and culture of the modern era while Matisse's ambition came to seem, as he said in his Notes of a Painter, more limited—limited that is, to the realm of aesthetic pleasure. There was thus opened up, in the very first decade of the century and in the work of its two greatest artists, the chasm that has continued to divide the art of the modern era down to our own time.[22]
It has been argued that the painting was a reaction to Henri Matisse's Le bonheur de vivre and Blue Nude.[10][23]
Influences [ edit ]
Painted in Paris during the summer of 1907, Picasso had created hundreds of sketches and studies in preparation for the final work.[9][24] He long acknowledged the importance of Spanish art and Iberian sculpture as influences on the painting. The work is believed by critics to be influenced by African tribal masks and the art of Oceania, although Picasso denied the connection; many art historians remain skeptical about his denials. Several experts maintain that, at the very least, Picasso visited the Musée d'Ethnographie du Trocadéro (known today as Musée de l'Homme) in the spring of 1907 where he saw and was unconsciously influenced by African and Tribal art several months before completing Les Demoiselles.[25][26]
El Greco [ edit ]
El Greco, The Opening of the Fifth Seal, 1608–1614, 1608–1614 Pablo Picasso, Nus (Nudes), 1905, graphite on paper Les Demoiselles d' Avignon[11] El Greco's paintings, such as this Apocalyptic Vision of Saint John, have been suggested as a source of inspiration for Picasso leading up to
In 1907, when Picasso began to work on Les Demoiselles, one of the old master painters he greatly admired was El Greco (1541–1614). At the time El Greco was largely obscure and under-appreciated. Picasso's friend Ignacio Zuloaga (1870–1945) acquired El Greco's masterpiece, the Opening of the Fifth Seal, in 1897 for 1000 pesetas.[27] While Picasso was working on Les Demoiselles, he visited his friend Ignacio Zuloaga in his studio in Paris and studied El Greco's Opening of the Fifth Seal.[28] The relation between Les Demoiselles d'Avignon and the Opening of the Fifth Seal was pinpointed in the early 1980s, when the stylistic similarities and the relationship between the motifs and visually identifying qualities of both works were analyzed.[29][30]
El Greco's painting, which Picasso studied repeatedly in Zuloaga's house, inspired not only the size, format, and composition of Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, but it inspired its apocalyptic power.[31] Later, speaking of the work to Dor de la Souchère in Antibes, Picasso said: "In any case, only the execution counts. From this point of view, it is correct to say that Cubism has a Spanish origin and that I invented Cubism. We must look for the Spanish influence in Cézanne. Things themselves necessitate it, the influence of El Greco, a Venetian painter, on him. But his structure is Cubist."[32]
The relationship of the painting to other group portraits in the Western tradition, such as Diana and Callisto by Titian (1488–1576), and the same subject by Rubens (1577–1640), in the Prado, has also been discussed.[33]
Cézanne and Cubism [ edit ]
Both Paul Gauguin (1848–1903) and Paul Cézanne (1839–1906) were accorded major posthumous retrospective exhibitions at the Salon d'Automne in Paris between 1903 and 1907, and both were important influences on Picasso and instrumental to his creation of Les Demoiselles. According to the English art historian, collector and author of The Cubist Epoch, Douglas Cooper, both of those artists were particularly influential to the formation of Cubism and especially important to the paintings of Picasso during 1906 and 1907.[34] Cooper goes on to say however Les Demoiselles is often erroneously referred to as the first Cubist painting. He explains,
The Demoiselles is generally referred to as the first Cubist picture. This is an exaggeration, for although it was a major first step towards Cubism it is not yet Cubist. The disruptive, expressionist element in it is even contrary to the spirit of Cubism, which looked at the world in a detached, realistic spirit. Nevertheless, the Demoiselles is the logical picture to take as the starting point for Cubism, because it marks the birth of a new pictorial idiom, because in it Picasso violently overturned established conventions and because all that followed grew out of it.[35]
Although not well known to the general public prior to 1906, Cézanne's reputation was highly regarded in avant-garde circles, as evidenced by Ambroise Vollard's interest in showing and collecting his work, and by Leo Stein's interest. Picasso was familiar with much of Cézanne's work that he saw at Vollard's gallery and at the Stein's. After Cézanne died in 1906, his paintings were exhibited in Paris in a large scale museum-like retrospective in September 1907. The 1907 Cézanne retrospective at the Salon d'Automne greatly impacted the direction that the avant-garde in Paris took, lending credence to his position as one of the most influential artists of the 19th century and to the advent of Cubism. The 1907 Cézanne exhibition was enormously influential in establishing Cézanne as an important painter whose ideas were particularly resonant especially to young artists in Paris.[11][36]
Both Picasso and Braque found the inspiration for their proto-Cubist works in Paul Cézanne, who said to observe and learn to see and treat nature as if it were composed of basic shapes like cubes, spheres, cylinders, and cones. Cézanne's explorations of geometric simplification and optical phenomena inspired Picasso, Braque, Metzinger, Gleizes, Robert Delaunay, Le Fauconnier, Gris and others to experiment with ever more complex multiple views of the same subject, and, eventually to the fracturing of form. Cézanne thus sparked one of the most revolutionary areas of artistic enquiry of the 20th century, one which was to affect profoundly the development of modern art.[36]
Gauguin and Primitivism [ edit ]
During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the European cultural elite were discovering African, Oceanic and Native American art. Artists such as Paul Gauguin, Henri Matisse and Picasso were intrigued and inspired by the stark power and simplicity of styles of those cultures. Around 1906, Picasso, Matisse, Derain and other artists in Paris had acquired an interest in primitivism, Iberian sculpture,[38] African art and tribal masks, in part because of the compelling works of Paul Gauguin that had suddenly achieved center stage in the avant-garde circles of Paris. Gauguin's powerful posthumous retrospective exhibitions at the Salon d'Automne in Paris in 1903[39] and an even larger one in 1906[40] had a stunning and powerful influence on Picasso's paintings.[11]
In the autumn of 1906, Picasso followed his previous successes with paintings of oversized nude women, and monumental sculptural figures that recalled the work of Paul Gauguin and showed his interest in primitive art. Pablo Picasso's paintings of massive figures from 1906 were directly influenced by Gauguin's sculpture, painting and his writing as well. The savage power evoked by Gauguin's work lead directly to Les Demoiselles in 1907.[11]
According to Gauguin biographer David Sweetman, Pablo Picasso as early as 1902 became an aficionado of Gauguin's work when he met and befriended the expatriate Spanish sculptor and ceramist Paco Durrio (1875–1940), in Paris. Durrio had several of Gauguin's works on hand because he was a friend of Gauguin's and an unpaid agent of his work. Durrio tried to help his poverty-stricken friend in Tahiti by promoting his oeuvre in Paris. After they met Durrio introduced Picasso to Gauguin's stoneware, helped Picasso make some ceramic pieces and gave Picasso a first La Plume edition of Noa Noa: The Tahiti Journal of Paul Gauguin.[41]
Concerning Gauguin's impact on Picasso, art historian John Richardson wrote,
The 1906 exhibition of Gauguin's work left Picasso more than ever in this artist's thrall. Gauguin demonstrated the most disparate types of art—not to speak of elements from metaphysics, ethnology, symbolism, the Bible, classical myths, and much else besides—could be combined into a synthesis that was of its time yet timeless. An artist could also confound conventional notions of beauty, he demonstrated, by harnessing his demons to the dark gods (not necessarily Tahitian ones) and tapping a new source of divine energy. If in later years Picasso played down his debt to Gauguin, there is no doubt that between 1905 and 1907 he felt a very close kinship with this other Paul, who prided himself on Spanish genes inherited from his Peruvian grandmother. Had not Picasso signed himself 'Paul' in Gauguin's honor.[42]
Both David Sweetman and John Richardson point to Gauguin's Oviri (literally meaning'savage'), a gruesome phallic representation of the Tahitian goddess of life and death intended for Gauguin's grave. First exhibited in the 1906 retrospective, it was likely a direct influence on Les Demoiselles. Sweetman writes,
Gauguin's statue Oviri, which was prominently displayed in 1906, was to stimulate Picasso's interest in both sculpture and ceramics, while the woodcuts would reinforce his interest in print-making, though it was the element of the primitive in all of them which most conditioned the direction that Picasso's art would take. This interest would culminate in the seminal Les Demoiselles d'Avignon.[43]
According to Richardson,
Picasso's interest in stoneware was further stimulated by the examples he saw at the 1906 Gauguin retrospective at the Salon d'Automne. The most disturbing of those ceramics (one that Picasso might have already seen at Vollard's) was the gruesome Oviri. Until 1987, when the Musée d'Orsay acquired this little-known work (exhibited only once since 1906) it had never been recognized as the masterpiece it is, let alone recognized for its relevance to the works leading up to the Demoiselles. Although just under 30 inches high, Oviri has an awesome presence, as befits a monument intended for Gauguin's grave. Picasso was very struck by Oviri. 50 years later he was delighted when [Douglas] Cooper and I told him that we had come upon this sculpture in a collection that also included the original plaster of his Cubist head. Has it been a revelation, like Iberian sculpture? Picasso's shrug was grudgingly affirmative. He was always loath to admit Gauguin's role in setting him on the road to primitivism.[44]
African and Iberian art [ edit ]
Female musician from the "Relief of Osuna ", Iberian, ca. 200 BC Iberian female sculpture from 3rd or 2nd century BC This style influenced Les Demoiselles d'Avignon.
During the 19th and 20th centuries, Europe's colonization of Africa led to many economic, social, political, and even artistic encounters. From these encounters, Western visual artists became increasingly interested in the unique forms of African art, particularly masks from the Niger-Congo region. In an essay by Dennis Duerden, author of African Art (1968), The Invisible Present (1972), and a former director of the BBC World Service, the mask is defined as "very often a complete head-dress and not just that part that conceals the face".[45] This form of visual art and image appealed to Western visual artists, leading to what Duerden calls the "discovery" of African art by Western practitioners, including Picasso.
Les Demoiselles d'Avignon African Fang mask similar in style to those Picasso saw in Paris just prior to painting
The stylistic sources for the heads of the women and their degree of influence has been much discussed and debated, in particular the influence of African tribal masks, art of Oceania,[46] and pre-Roman Iberian sculptures. The rounded contours of the features of the three women to the left can be related to Iberian sculpture, but not obviously the fragmented planes of the two on the right, which indeed seem influenced by African masks.[47] Lawrence Weschler says that,
in many ways, much of the moldering cultural and even scientific ferment that characterized the first decade and a half of the twentieth century and that laid the foundations for much of what we today consider modern can be traced back to ways in which Europe was already wrestling with its bad-faith, often strenuously repressed, knowledge of what it had been doing in Africa. The example of Picasso virtually launching cubism with his 1907 Desmoiselles d’Avignon, in response to the sorts of African masks and other colonial booty he was encountering in Paris’s Musee de l’Homme, is obvious.[5]
However, Picasso emphatically denied the influence of African masks on the painting: "African art? Never heard of it!" (L'art nègre? Connais pas!),[9][48] asserting instead that the primitivism in his work during, before and after the painting of Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, from spring 1906 through the spring of 1907 was primarily influenced by Iberian sculpture.[11][49] Some Iberian reliefs from Osuna, then only recently excavated, were on display in the Louvre from 1904. Archaic Greek sculpture has also been claimed as an influence.
The influence of Iberian sculpture became an issue in 1939, when Alfred Barr claimed that the primitivism of the Demoiselles derived from the art of Côte d'Ivoire and the French Congo.[50] Picasso insisted that the editor of his "catalogue raissonne", Christian Zervos, publish a disclaimer: the 'Demoiselles,' he said, owed nothing to African art, everything to the reliefs from Osuna that he had seen in the Louvre a year or so before.[51] Nonetheless, he is known to have seen African tribal masks while working on the painting, during a visit to the Ethnographic Museum of the Trocadero with Andre Malraux in June 1907, about which he later said "When I went to the Trocadero, it was disgusting. The flea market, the smell. I was all alone. I wanted to get away, but I didn't leave. I stayed, I stayed. I understood that it was very important. Something was happening to me, right. The masks weren't like any other pieces of sculpture, not at all. They were magic things."[9][52][53] Maurice de Vlaminck is often credited with introducing Picasso to African sculpture of Fang extraction in 1904.[54]
Picasso biographer John Richardson recounts in A Life of Picasso, The Cubist Rebel 1907–1916, art dealer Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler's recollection of his first visit to Picasso's studio in July 1907. Kahnweiler remembers seeing dusty stacks of canvases in Picasso's studio and African sculptures of majestic severity. Richardson comments: so much for Picasso's story that he was not yet aware of Tribal art.[55] A photograph of Picasso in his studio surrounded by African sculptures c.1908, is found on page 27 of that same volume.[56]
Mathematics [ edit ]
Traité élémentaire de géométrie à quatre dimensions. The book, which influenced Picasso, was given to him by Princet. An illustration from Jouffret's. The book, which influenced Picasso, was given to him by Princet.
Maurice Princet,[57] a French mathematician and actuary, played a role in the birth of Cubism as an associate of Pablo Picasso, Guillaume Apollinaire, Max Jacob, Jean Metzinger, Robert Delaunay, Juan Gris and later Marcel Duchamp. Princet became known as "le mathématicien du cubisme" ("the mathematician of cubism").[58][59]
Princet is credited with introducing the work of Henri Poincaré and the concept of the "fourth dimension" to artists at the Bateau-Lavoir.[60] Princet brought to the attention of Picasso, Metzinger and others, a book by Esprit Jouffret, Traité élémentaire de géométrie à quatre dimensions (Elementary Treatise on the Geometry of Four Dimensions, 1903),[61] a popularization of Poincaré's Science and Hypothesis in which Jouffret described hypercubes and other complex polyhedra in four dimensions and projected them onto the two-dimensional surface. Picasso's sketchbooks for Les Demoiselles d'Avignon illustrate Jouffret's influence on the artist's work.[62]
Impact [ edit ]
Although Les Demoiselles had an enormous and profound influence on modern art, its impact was not immediate, and the painting stayed in Picasso's studio for many years. At first, only Picasso's intimate circle of artists, dealers, collectors and friends were aware of the work. While many were shocked and some outraged, influential people such as Georges Braque and Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler were supportive. Soon after the late summer of 1907, Picasso and his long-time lover Fernande Olivier (1881–1966) had a parting of the ways. The re-painting of the two heads on the far right of Les Demoiselles fueled speculation that it was an indication of the split between Picasso and Olivier. Although they later reunited for a period, the relationship ended in 1912.[63]
A photograph of the Les Demoiselles was first published in an article by Gelett Burgess entitled "The Wild Men of Paris, Matisse, Picasso and Les Fauves", The Architectural Record, May 1910.[64]
Les Demoiselles would not be exhibited until 1916, and not widely recognized as a revolutionary achievement until the early 1920s, when André Breton (1896–1966) published the work.[24] The painting was reproduced again in Cahiers d'art (1927), within an article dedicated to African art.[65]
Richardson goes on to say that Henri Matisse was fighting mad upon seeing the Demoiselles at Picasso's studio. He let it be known that he regarded the painting as an attempt to ridicule the modern movement; he was outraged to find his sensational Blue Nude, not to speak of Bonheur de vivre, overtaken by Picasso's "hideous" whores. He vowed to get even and make Picasso beg for mercy. Just as the Bonheur de vivre had fueled Picasso's competitiveness, Les Demoiselles now fueled Matisse's.[66]
Among Picasso's closed circle of friends and colleagues there was a mixture of opinions about Les Demoiselles. Georges Braque and André Derain were both initially troubled by it although they were supportive of Picasso. According to William Rubin, two of Picasso's friends, the art critic André Salmon and the painter Ardengo Soffici (1879–1964), were enthusiastic about it while Guillaume Apollinaire (1880–1918) wasn't. Both the art dealer-collector Wilhelm Uhde (1874–1947), and art dealer Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler were more enthusiastic about the painting however.[67]
According to Kahnweiler Les Demoiselles was the beginning of Cubism. He writes:
Early in 1907 Picasso began a strange large painting depicting women, fruit and drapery, which he left unfinished. It cannot be called other than unfinished, even though it represents a long period of work. Begun in the spirit of the works of 1906, it contains in one section the endeavors of 1907 and thus never constitutes a unified whole. The nudes, with large, quiet eyes, stand rigid, like mannequins. Their stiff, round bodies are flesh-colored, black and white. That is the style of 1906. In the foreground, however, alien to the style of the rest of the painting, appear a crouching figure and a bowl of fruit. These forms are drawn angularly, not roundly modeled in chiaroscuro. The colors are luscious blue, strident yellow, next to pure black and white. This is the beginning of Cubism, the first upsurge, a desperate titanic clash with all of the problems at once. Kahweiler, 1920[68]
Public view and title [ edit ]
From 16 to 31 July 1916 Les Demoiselles was exhibited to the public for the first time at the Salon d'Antin, an exhibition organized by André Salmon titled L'Art moderne en France. The exhibition space at 26 rue d'Antin was lent by the famous couturier and art collector Paul Poiret. The larger Salon d'Automne and Salon des Indépendants had been closed due to World War I, making this the only Cubists exhibition in France since 1914.[69] On 23 July 1916 a review was published in Le Cri de Paris:[70]
The Cubists are not waiting for the war to end to recommence hostilities against good sense. They are exhibiting at the Galerie Poiret naked women whose scattered parts are represented in all four corners of the canvas: here an eye, there an ear, over there a hand, a foot on top, a mouth below. M. Picasso, their leader, is possibly the least disheveled of the lot. He has painted, or rather daubed, five women who are, if the truth be told, all hacked up, and yet their limbs somehow manage to hold together. They have, moreover, piggish faces with eyes wandering negligently above their ears. An enthusiastic art-lover offered the artist 20,000 francs for this masterpiece. M. Picasso wanted more. The art-lover did not insist.[69][70]
Picasso referred to his only entry at the Salon d'Antin as his Brothel painting calling it Le Bordel d'Avignon but André Salmon retitled it Les Demoiselles d'Avignon so as to lessen its scandalous impact on the public. Picasso never liked the title, however, preferring "las chicas de Avignon", but Salmon's title stuck.[2]
The only other time the painting might have been exhibited to the public prior to a 1937 showing in New York was in 1918, in an exhibition dedicated to Picasso and Matisse at Galerie Paul Guillaume in Paris, though very little information exists about this exhibition or the presence (if at all) of Les Demoiselles.[69]
Afterwards, the painting was rolled up and remained with Picasso until 1924 when, with urging and help from Breton and Louis Aragon (1897–1982), he sold it to designer Jacques Doucet (1853–1929), for 25,000 francs.[71][72]
Interpretation [ edit ]
Head of a Sleeping Woman (Study for Nude with Drapery), 1907, oil on canvas, 61.4 × 47.6 cm, The Pablo Picasso,, 1907, oil on canvas, 61.4 × 47.6 cm, The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Picasso drew each of the figures in Les Demoiselles differently. The woman pulling the curtain on the upper right is rendered with heavy paint. Composed of sharp geometric shapes, her head is the most strictly Cubist of all five.[73] The curtain seems to blend partially into her body. The Cubist head of the crouching figure (lower right) underwent at least two revisions from an Iberian figure to its current state. She also seems to have been drawn from two different perspectives at once, creating a confusing, twisted figure. The woman above her is rather manly, with a dark face and square chest. The whole picture is in a two-dimensional style, with an abandoned perspective.
Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, detail of the figure to the upper right Pablo Picasso,, detail of the figure to the upper right
Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, detail of the figure to the lower right Pablo Picasso,, detail of the figure to the lower right
Nu aux bras levés (Nude), 1907 Pablo Picasso,1907
Nu à la serviette, oil on canvas, 116 x 89 cm Pablo Picasso, 1907,, oil on canvas, 116 x 89 cm
Femme nue, oil on canvas, 92 x 43 cm, Museo delle Culture, Milano Pablo Picasso, 1907,, oil on canvas, 92 x 43 cm, Museo delle Culture, Milano
Much of the critical debate that has taken place over the years centers on attempting to account for this multiplicity of styles within the work. The dominant understanding for over five decades, espoused most notably by Alfred Barr, the first director of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City and organizer of major career retrospectives for the artist, has been that it can be interpreted as evidence of a transitional period in Picasso's art, an effort to connect his earlier work to Cubism, the style he would help invent and develop over the next five or six years.[1]
Art critic John Berger, in his controversial 1965 biography The Success and Failure of Picasso,[74] interprets Les Demoiselles d'Avignon as the provocation that led to Cubism:
Blunted by the insolence of so much recent art, we probably tend to underestimate the brutality of the Les Demoiselles d'Avignon. All his friends who saw it in his studio were at first shocked by it. And it was meant to shock… A brothel may not in itself be shocking. But women painted without charm or sadness, without irony or social comment, women painted like the palings of a stockade through eyes that look out as if at death – that is shocking. And equally the method of painting. Picasso himself has said that he was influenced at the time by archaic Spanish (Iberian) sculpture. He was also influenced – particularly in the two heads at the right – by African masks…here it seems that Picasso's quotations are simple, direct, and emotional. He is not in the least concerned with formal problems. The dislocations in this picture are the result of aggression, not aesthetics; it is the nearest you can get in a painting to an outrage… I emphasize the violent and iconoclastic aspect of this painting because it is usually enshrined as the great formal exercise which was the starting point of Cubism. It was the starting point of Cubism, in so far as it prompted Braque to begin painting at the end of the year his own far more formal answer to Les Demoiselles d'Avignon…yet if he had been left to himself, this picture would never have led Picasso to Cubism or to any way of painting remotely resembling it…It has nothing to with that twentieth-century vision of the future which was the essence of Cubism. Yet it did provoke the beginning of the great period of exception in Picasso's life. Nobody can know exactly how the change began inside Picasso. We can only note the results. Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, unlike any previous painting by Picasso, offers no evidence of skill. On the contrary, it is clumsy, overworked, unfinished. It is as though his fury in painting it was so great that it destroyed his gifts… By painting Les Demoiselles d'Avignon Picasso provoked Cubism. It was the spontaneous and, as always, primitive insurrection out of which, for good historical reasons, the revolution of Cubism developed.[74]
In 1972, art critic Leo Steinberg in his essay The Philosophical Brothel posited a wholly different explanation for the wide range of stylistic attributes. Using the earlier sketches—which had been ignored by most critics—he argued that far from evidence of an artist undergoing a rapid stylistic metamorphosis, the variety of styles can be read as a deliberate attempt, a careful plan, to capture the gaze of the viewer. He notes that the five women all seem eerily disconnected, indeed wholly unaware of each other. Rather, they focus solely on the viewer, their divergent styles only furthering the intensity of their glare.[1]
The earliest sketches feature two men inside the brothel; a sailor and a medical student (who was often depicted holding either a book or a skull, causing Barr and others to read the painting as a memento mori, a reminder of death). A trace of their presence at a table in the center remains: the jutting edge of a table near the bottom of the canvas. The viewer, Steinberg argues, has come to replace the sitting men, forced to confront the gaze of prostitutes head on, invoking readings far more complex than a simple allegory or the autobiographical reading that attempts to understand the work in relation to Picasso's own history with women. A world of meanings then becomes possible, suggesting the work as a meditation on the danger of sex, the "trauma of the gaze" (to use a phrase of Rosalind Krauss's invention), and the threat of violence inherent in the scene and sexual relations at large.[1]
According to Steinberg, the reversed gaze, that is, the fact that the figures look directly at the viewer, as well as the idea of the self-possessed woman, no longer there solely for the pleasure of the male gaze, may be traced back to Manet's Olympia of 1863.[1] William Rubin (1927–2006), the former Director of the Department of Painting and Sculpture at MoMA wrote that "Steinberg was the first writer to come to grips with the sexual subject of the Demoiselles."[75]
A few years after writing The Philosophical Brothel, Steinberg wrote further about the revolutionary nature of Les Demoiselles:
Picasso was resolved to undo the continuities of form and field which Western art had so long taken for granted. The famous stylistic rupture at right turned out to be merely a consummation. Overnight, the contrived coherences of representational art - the feigned unities of time and place, the stylistic consistencies - all were declared to be fictional. The Demoiselles confessed itself a picture conceived in duration and delivered in spasms. In this one work Picasso discovered that the demands of discontinuity could be met on multiple levels: by cleaving depicted flesh; by elision of limbs and abbreviation; by slashing the web of connecting space; by abrupt changes of vantage; and by a sudden stylistic shift at the climax. Finally, the insistent staccato of the presentation was found to intensify the picture's address and symbolic charge: the beholder, instead of observing a roomfuI of lazing whores, is targeted from all sides. So far from suppressing the subject, the mode of organization heightens its flagrant eroticism.[76]
At the end of the first volume of his (so far) three volume Picasso biography: A Life Of Picasso. The Prodigy, 1881–1906, John Richardson comments on Les Demoiselles. Richardson says:
It is at this point, the beginning of 1907, that I propose to bring this first volume to an end. The 25-year-old Picasso is about to conjure up a quintet of Dionysiac Demoiselles on his huge new canvas. The execution of this painting would make a dramatic climax to these pages. However, it would imply that Picasso's great revolutionary work constitutes a conclusion to all that has gone before. It does not. For all that the Demoiselles is rooted in Picasso's past, not to speak of such precursors as the Iron Age Iberians, El Greco, Gauguin and Cézanne, it is essentially a beginning: the most innovative painting since Giotto. As we will see in the next volume, it established a new pictorial syntax; it enabled people to perceive things with new eyes, new minds, new awareness. Les Demoiselles d'Avignon is the first unequivocally 20th-century masterpiece, a principal detonator of the modern movement, the cornerstone of 20th-century art. For Picasso it would also be a rite of passage: what he called an exorcism.' It cleared the way for cubism. It likewise banished the artist's demons. Later, these demons would return and require further exorcism. For the next decade, however, Picasso would feel as free and creative and 'as overworked' as God.[77]
Purchase [ edit ]
Jacques Doucet had seen the painting at the Salon d'Antin, yet remarkably seems to have purchased Les Demoiselles without asking Picasso to unroll it in his studio so that he could see it again.[69] André Breton later described the transaction:
I remember the day he bought the painting from Picasso, who strange as it may seem, appeared to be intimidated by Doucet and even offered no resistance when the price was set at 25,000 francs: "Well then, it's agreed, M. Picasso." Doucet then said: "You shall receive 2,000 francs per month, beginning next month, until the sum of 25,000 francs is reached.[69]
John Richardson quotes Breton in a letter to Doucet about Les Demoiselles writing:
through it one penetrates right into the core of Picasso's laboratory and because it is the crux of the drama, the center of all the conflicts that Picasso has given rise to and that will last forever....It is a work which to my mind transcends painting; it is the theater of everything that has happened in the last 50 years.[78]
Ultimately, it seems Doucet paid 30,000 francs rather than the agreed price.[69] A few months after the purchase Doucet had the painting appraised at between 250,000 and 300,000 francs. Richardson speculates that Picasso, who by 1924 was on the top of the art world and didn't need to sell the painting to Doucet, did so and at that low price because Doucet promised Les Demoiselles would go to the Louvre in his will. However, after Doucet died in 1929 he did not leave the painting to the Louvre in his will, and it was sold like most of Doucet's collection through private dealers.[69]
In November 1937 the Jacques Seligman & Co. art gallery in New York City held an exhibition titled "20 Years in the Evolution of Picasso, 1903–1923" that included Les Demoiselles. The Museum of Modern Art acquired the painting for $24,000. The museum raised $18,000 toward the purchase price by selling a Degas painting and the rest came from donations from the co-owners of the gallery Germain Seligman and Cesar de Hauke.[79]
The Museum of Modern Art in New York City mounted an important Picasso exhibition on 15 November 1939 that remained on view until 7 January 1940. The exhibition entitled: Picasso:40 Years of His Art, was organized by Alfred H. Barr (1902–1981), in collaboration with the Art Institute of Chicago. The exhibition contained 344 works, including the major and then newly painted Guernica and its studies, as well as Les Demoiselles.[80]
Legacy [ edit ]
In July 2007, Newsweek published a two-page article about Les Demoiselles d'Avignon describing it as the "most influential work of art of the last 100 years".[81] Art critic Holland Cotter argued that Picasso "changed history with this work. He'd replaced the benign ideal of the Classical nude with a new race of sexually armed and dangerous beings."[82]
The painting is prominently featured in the 2018 season of the television series Genius which focuses on Picasso's life and work.
Painting materials [ edit ]
In 2003, an examination of the painting by x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy performed by conservators at the Museum of Modern Art confirmed the presence of the following pigments: lead white, bone black, vermilion, cadmium yellow, cobalt blue, emerald green, and native earth pigments (such as brown ochre) that contain iron.[83][84]
Notes [ edit ]Preface: There might be an innocent explanation. But given recent trends, this is worrisome.
Retired Major General Jerry Curry wrote Friday:
The Social Security Administration (SSA) confirms that it is purchasing 174 thousand rounds of hollow point bullets to be delivered to 41 locations in major cities across the U.S.
***
Those against whom the hollow point bullets are to be used — those causing the civil unrest — must be American citizens; since the SSA has never been used overseas to help foreign countries maintain control of their citizens.
What would be the target of these 174, 000 rounds of hollow point bullets? It can’t simply be to control demonstrators or rioters. Hollow point bullets are so lethal that the Geneva Convention does not allow their use on the battle field in time of war. Hollow point bullets don’t just stop or hurt people, they penetrate the body, spread out, fragment and cause maximum damage to the body’s organs. Death often follows.
Potentially each hollow nose bullet represents a dead American. If so, why would the U.S. government want the SSA to kill 174,000 of our citizens, even during a time of civil unrest?
***
If this were only a one time order of ammunition, it could easily be dismissed |
ing,” he says. Crops could be modified to draw nutrients from the soil more efficiently and be made more resilient against drought, cold, diseases and pests.
Such an approach, called reverse breeding, is not a new concept, says Mark Sorrells, a plant breeder and geneticist at Cornell University. “What they’re calling ‘back to nature’ practices are practices that have been used by farmers in varying degrees for many years,” he says.
“It is true that in the process of domestication and breeding modern varieties, genetic variation for some characteristics has been lost, and that is why breeders routinely go back to wild relatives to find that genetic variation.”
And the challenge that Palmgren and coauthors raise — identifying mutations found in domesticated crops but not in their wild cousins — is not the biggest technical hurdle, Sorrells says. “Once you find these traits, mapping them and transferring them to modern varieties is what is the formidable task.”
By 2050, the world’s population is predicted to surpass 9 billion. One strategy to meet food demands is to give crops new genes with benefits their wild relatives never had. These transgenic crops, also known as genetically modified organisms, are viewed with distrust by many people.
Traditionally, reverse breeding has been carried out by crossing crops with wild versions of the plant that have the desired trait. But the resulting hybrid may also end up with other qualities that breeders had intentionally gotten rid of. “Wild plants are seldom tasty, nutritious, and easy to harvest,” says Palmgren. The process of perfecting the hybrid plant is time-consuming and difficult to control.
Today’s biotechnology can surgically repair the deficiencies in crops, says Palmgren. One method, called cisgenesis, inserts a gene from a wild relative into a crop. In May, researchers from Korea and the Netherlands reported using cisgenesis to transfer genes from wild potatoes into domesticated relatives, making the crops more resilient to blight from the fungus Phytophthora infestans.
Researchers in Switzerland and Germany have also used cisgenesis to insert a single gene into Gala apples to make them less vulnerable to apple scab, a condition caused by the fungus Venturia inaequalis. To make the apple as hardy as its wild cousins, however, will require the addition of multiple genes.
With cisgenesis, “you don’t need to go through extensive crossing to induce the trait, so it basically makes the whole process faster,” says Vladimir Nekrasov, a plant biologist at the Sainsbury Laboratory in Norwich, England.
Another method, precision mutagenesis, is even more exacting. Researchers change the order of DNA building blocks to return a gene to its wild form. So far the method has been tested on several plants, including tobacco, sorghum and rice.
Palmgren and coauthors discuss only techniques that edit one or a few genes and are not effective for improving traits controlled by many genes, says Sorrells. Another technique, genomic selection, allows researchers to survey a sample of genetic variants in a crop’s genome to predict which variations are most likely to result in higher yields or resilience against disease. Genomic selection allows researchers to pick out individuals that have more of the genes that contribute to the trait in question.
“These authors didn’t even mention that, and it’s probably one of the most exciting technologies currently being researched in plant breeding,” Sorrells notes.
Clay Sneller, a plant breeder and geneticist at Ohio State University in Columbus, also expressed skepticism. “I find their whole premise to be rather flawed,” he said. “They appear to think that during breeding we have accumulated negative mutations, and if we got rid of those mutations then the crop would be better. They reviewed no evidence that this occurs on a wide scale in genes that truly matter.”"Tennessee One" is the latest specialty state flag livery for Dallas-based Southwest Airlines.
Southwest Airlines took the wraps off its newest specialty aircraft Monday.
"Tennessee One" is painted like the Tennessee state flag and pays tribute to more than 30 years of service in the Volunteer State.
It took a crew 10 days to paint the Boeing 737-700 with the special look. That's two days longer than it would take for the standard Southwest livery.
The circular crest on "Tennessee One's" fuselage is about 20 feet wide, the same size as many outdoor swimming pools. The design consumed almost 30 gallons of red paint, the company said.
"Tennessee One" is the 11th plane in Southwest's fleet emblazoned with a unique state flag livery. The first was "Lone Star One," which pays tribute to the airline's home state of Texas. Each of the planes honors a state that has played an important role in Southwest's 45-year history.A foreign buyers' tax is back on the table in Ontario, with the finance minister saying Thursday it's one possible option he's looking at to cool the housing market.
The average price of homes sold in the Greater Toronto Area last month rose 27.7 per cent over last year, and the average price of a detached home in Toronto is now more than $1.5 million. The latest numbers are fuelling worries of a housing bubble.
Finance Minister Charles Sousa said last year that Ontario would not follow the lead of British Columbia, which imposed a 15-per-cent tax on foreign nationals buying real estate in the Vancouver area.
Ontario's Finance Minister Charles Sousa says he is re-thinking the government's position on a foreign home buyers tax. 2:12
Instead, the provincial Liberal government doubled the rebate on its land transfer tax for first-time homebuyers to $4,000 and raised the same tax on homes that sell for more than $2 million.
Sousa said Thursday that he is "keenly aware" of how quickly house prices have risen over the past year.
"A year ago I was thinking, 'Let market forces prevail,"' Sousa said. "But now I'm concerned about... the ability of people to enter the marketplace. [There are] bidding wars everywhere you go, it appears, and I'm sensitive to that. I'm sensitive to the degree of fast appreciation in the short term and what will that do over the long term."
Housing prices spiking through Golden Horseshoe
Sousa said he is considering a number of options for next steps, and "a foreign tax is just one."
In Ontario, the housing market has been heating up not just in Toronto, but across the whole Golden Horseshoe — which encompasses the western end of Lake Ontario, and regions south to Lake Erie and north to Georgian Bay — Sousa said.
It's not clear yet if foreign buyers are driving up demand or not, he said, noting Ontario has also been receiving a greater share of interprovincial migrants lately. In the third quarter of 2016, about 11,600 people moved to Ontario from other provinces, reversing a trend in recent years of more people leaving Ontario for other provinces, according to Ministry of Finance data.
Considering the consequences
If measures are taken in Toronto, Sousa said he would worry about the impact elsewhere.
"If there's an appreciation happening and you start to poke a bubble, to what extent am I then implicating something with unintended consequences for other parts of the region?" he said.
"If we do something in Toronto, what does that mean for Hamilton or Guelph?"
The average price of a detached home in Toronto is now more than $1.5 million. (Jenna Reid)
The Ontario Real Estate Association has come out against a foreign buyers' tax, saying the overwhelming majority of foreign home buyers are immigrants or permanent residents looking for a home, not speculators.
"The main culprit behind rapidly rising house prices is the GTA's unbalanced market — housing supply cannot meet demand — not foreign buyers," CEO Tim Hudak said Thursday in a statement. "Home affordability needs to be addressed before millennials are completely priced out of the market."
"Before we pin a tax on foreigners, we need to address the elephant in the room and that's the lack of housing supply," Hudak said.
A federal-provincial working group is still gathering data, trying to determine what factors are driving real estate prices.
The average selling price for residential properties in the GTA hit $875,983 in February, while in the City of Toronto it was $859,186, an increase of 19.2 per cent.Metroplan’s demographic review and outlook for 2013 shows Faulkner County is the fastest growing county in the metropolitan statistical area of central Arkansas.
The metropolitan statistical area, or MSA, defined by Metroplan is made up of six central Arkansas counties and is referred to as the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway region.
Conway and Greenbrier stand out in the annual report as second place leaders among larger cities experiencing population growth. The larger community with the most growth was Bryant with 12.4 percent since 2010, according to the report.
Conway and Greenbrier experienced growth at 6.4 percent. Greenbrier passed the 5,000 mark in 2013.
Central Arkansas MSA grew at 1.1 percent in the past few years, faster than the.5 percent rate for the whole state of Arkansas.
Among the smaller but growing towns and communities in Faulkner County were Mayflower, with a rate of 7.6 percent; Vilonia with a growth rate of 9.1 percent; Wooster at 11.2 percent; and unincorporated communities grew 3.4 percent.
Faulkner County as a whole grew 5.5 percent.
Components of population change outlined by Metroplan include births, deaths and migration.
Migration into Faulkner and closely following Saline county was found to be the cause of growth rather than natural population expansion.
Metroplan’s report found the local workforce is in transition, but growing slowly.
The area’s unusually diverse industries match the U.S. average, and this was found to be the reason the area has suffered less than others in an economic downturn.
However, the diversity that is advantageous in a downturn is a handicap in the recession’s aftermath, yielding a slower recovery.
While guaranteed growth industries like housing and banking have recovered more slowly, there is growth in manufacturing.
"The low-skilled, labor-intensive manufacturing of the past is mostly gone, supplanted by a highly-skilled, more creative, flexible process.
"Pay rates are good, but the work requires a carefully-trained, specialized workforce," the report states.
A newer trend in Central Arkansas indicates locals decided they need better skills.
Metroplan found adult college enrollments now outrun the national average.
Locally, high-end occupations of management, business, science and arts climbed faster than the national average while jobs in natural resources, construction and maintenance requiring lower and middle skill levels dropped by 24 percent over the nation’s 14 percent average.
Higher skills and creativity are essential for the future of the local workforce as the region takes after national trends, which show a "diminishing middle," or the
Metroplan says the age group between 25 and 34 is the one to watch locally for emerging trends.
The group is opting for concentration, rather than dispersion, in choosing a place of residence.
Downtowns and areas closer to activity centers are more popular than the suburban residence patterns young adults favored 20 years ago, according to the report.
Metroplan is a voluntary association of local governments originally formed as a planning organization. The group focuses on issues affecting Central Arkansas and develops transportation plans.
The outlook report is one of two trend reports published annually.The Obama administration has reportedly introduced new regulations authorising the National Security Agency (NSA) to share globally intercepted raw data, containing personal information of seemingly innocent Americans, with over a dozen government agencies.
The move expands the US government's surveillance powers, providing agencies access to data from intelligence agencies including the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), according to reports. The new regulations make critical changes, relaxing long-established restrictions on data sharing, the New York Times reported.
In the past, agencies such as the FBI were required to request access to information on specific targets from the NSA. The data would first go through a "minimisation" process, involving the NSA scrubbing out information deemed irrelevant to the probe, before handing over communications data linked to the specified target. This process was established in efforts to ensure that personal information of seemingly innocent Americans was protected from being widely accessible. However, now, government agencies will be able to access raw data and perform minimisation by themselves.
Director of National Intelligence James Clapper announced the changes on 12 January.
While the new regulations don't make changes to who can gain access to the NSA's raw data, they do allow analysts enhanced access to data, including phone calls, emails sent and received across international borders as well as communications transmitted over satellite.
The new regulations have been opposed by privacy activists, some of whom have previously called for the outgoing administration to limit the US government's surveillance powers before Donald Trump took office.
"The procedures released today allow more agencies to directly access information collected by the NSA without a warrant under procedures that are grossly inadequate," said American Civil Liberties Union legislative counsel Neema Singh Guliani, ArsTechnica reported.
"This raises serious concerns that agencies that have responsibilities such as prosecuting domestic crimes, regulating our financial policy, and enforcing our immigration laws will now have access to a wealth of personal information that could be misused. Congress needs to take action to regulate and provide oversight over these activities."
However, officials maintain that the move is not intended to expand surveillance measures; instead, it is aimed at ensuring that data can be provided to a larger number of analysts.
"This is not expanding the substantive ability of law enforcement to get access to signals intelligence," said Robert S Litt, the general counsel to Clapper. "It is simply widening the aperture for a larger number of analysts, who will be bound by the existing rules."
The move has been justified by claims that the changes will make it simpler for the US government to identify and prevent potential terrorist attacks. However, concerns have been raised about the privacy of US citizens who are likely to be caught in the surveillance crossfire, with their data likely collected and infringed as part of the US government's surveillance dragnet.Fox has gotten an early jump on its pickups for the 2016-17 broadcast season.
The network has handed out early series orders to two of its most high-profile pilots this season, both hailing from its sibling studio 20th Century Fox TV: 24: Legacy and Lee Daniels' Star. Legacy, which now counts former 24 star Kiefer Sutherland as an executive producer, is picked up for 12 episodes, while Star has scored the traditional 13.
24: Legacy is a new take on the franchise that features an all-new cast of characters and is structured in the same style of the original series. Legacy revolves around a military hero's (Corey Hawkins, Straight Outta Compton, The Walking Dead) return to the U.S. and the trouble that follows him back — compelling him to ask CTU for help in saving his life, and stopping what potentially could be one of the largest-scale terror attacks on American soil. Miranda Otto, Jimmy Smits and Dan Bucatinsky co-star in the drama that hails from the show's original producing team of showrunners Manny Coto and Evan Katz, with Howard Gordon and Brian Grazer on board as exec producers on the project from Imagine TV and Gordon's Teakwood Lane. Stephen Hopkins directed the pilot. Sutherland will exec produce and will not have an onscreen role as he stars in ABC's straight-to-series drama Designated Survivor.
Star, meanwhile, hails from Empire co-creator Daniels, who co-wrote the pilot alongside Tom Donaghy. The Atlanta-set drama revolves around three girls (newcomers Jude Demorest, Ryan Destiny and Brittany O'Grady, discovered after a nationwide casting call) who come together to form a band. Star details their rise to the top in a challenging business. While Empire is told from the point of view of music executives, Star will be told from the perspective of the artist. Benjamin Bratt and Queen Latifah headline the series, which gives Fox a potential companion for ratings juggernaut Empire after the network previously attempted a reboot of Urban Cowboy to fill that slot. Lenny Kravitz guest stars.
Legacy and Star were two of the network's buzziest pilots heading into next month's upfront presentation to Madison Avenue ad buyers. Star, picked up to pilot off-cycle in August and, like Legacy, originally announced at TCA, were both considered can't-miss pickups. They join fellow rookies on Fox's 2016-17 broadcast schedule including the Prison Break revival (ordered straight-to-series), limited series Shots Fired and live-action/animated comedy Son of Zorn — all of which are produced in-house by 20th TV as networks continue to make a concerted push for vertically integrated ownership amid an increasingly competitive landscape.
Overall, Fox is expected to be aggressive in its new series pickups as the network has an American Idol-sized hole in its schedule to fill next season — its first without the iconic franchise that took its final call this year. Fox has already renewed the bulk of its scripted lineup, handing out early pickups to Bones, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Empire, Gotham, The Last Man on Earth and New Girl as well as rookies Lucifer, Rosewood and Scream Queens joining animated entries The Simpsons and Bob's Burgers. Still on the bubble are Sleepy Hollow, with renewal talks already underway, and freshman comedies Grandfathered and The Grinder.
Keep up with all the renewals, cancellations and new series pickups with THR's handy scorecard and follow the pilot crop status here. For full upfronts 2016 coverage, go to THR.com/upfronts.The cracked-dry bed of the Almaden Reservoir is seen on Feb. 7, 2014, in San Jose, Calif. (Photo: Marcio Jose Sanchez, AP)
LONDON — A heat wave. Crop disease. El Niño.
Three weather-related catastrophes could be all it takes to throw the world's food supply into chaos, according to a study by Britain's Anglia Ruskin University, commissioned by insurance giant Lloyd's of London.
Lloyd's imagined a hypothetical scenario in which the Earth was hit simultaneously by a heat wave in South America, a wind-borne plant pathogen and a strong warm phase of the El Niño Southern Oscillation cycle.
The results weren't pretty.
Those back-to-back disasters could lead to giant drops in production worldwide — 10% in corn, 11% in soybeans, 7% in wheat and rice.
Those shortages would spike prices — in the case of rice, as much as 500% — leading to food riots and civil unrest.
It's a precarious moment in the world's food supply. The Food and Agriculture Organization has estimated that global food production needs to double from 2009 levels by 2050 to keep up with demand. At the same time, climate change is threatening growing patterns and water availability.
But take the report with a grain of (threatened?) salt. Lloyd's helpfully notes that while foodmageddon may mean death and privation for millions, it's also a nice business opportunity for insurers — like Lloyd's.
"A severe shock could motivate individuals and businesses to address gaps in their risk management," the report noted. "As such, global food supply shock could also represent a substantial opportunity for insurers."
The model was created by a team at the Global Sustainability Institute at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, England. The same team ran a model earlier this year that found that if global consumption habits continue with absolutely no change, the entire fossil fuel economy could collapse by 2040.
Basically, it's the end of civilization as we know it.
Now, before you cash out your retirement savings and stock up on canned goods, we should point out here that the study's authors aren't saying the world is going to end in 2040, or even that it's likely to.
That's just the earliest date the fossil fuel-based economy could cease to function if things continue as they are — no interventions, no new technologies, no massive humanity-wide wake-up call.
That's all but impossible, institute director Aled Jones told GlobalPost. There are always changes — some good (technological breakthrough!) and bad (unforeseen disaster). But it's food for thought.
This article originally appeared on GlobalPost.
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GlobalPost is a USA TODAY content partner providing world news coverage. Its content is produced independently of USA TODAY.
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1N4UPp7Mr Mourtada said his fake Facebook profile was just a bit of fun
Fouad Mourtada was arrested on 5 February on suspicion of stealing the identity of Prince Moulay Rachid, younger brother of King Mohammed VI.
The Casablanca court also ordered Mr Mourtada, 26, to pay a $1,300 fine.
The prosecution had urged the court to impose a sentence which set an example for others.
Mr Mourtada was convicted of "villainous practices linked to the alleged theft of the [prince's] identity".
In his defence, he said he admired the prince, and that the Facebook entry was just intended to be a bit of fun.
'Beaten unconscious'
A website supporting him published a letter addressed to the prince apologising for the incident.
The letter, reportedly penned by Mr Mourtada's family, requested clemency.
"Fouad Mourtada, like thousands of people who create fake profiles of well-known personalities or celebrities on Facebook, has in no way acted in a willingness to cause nuisance to Your Highness, for whom he has always shown the greatest of respect," the letter on the Help Fouad website reads.
Earlier this week some Moroccan bloggers went "on strike", suspending their regular blog entries for 24 hours in protest at Mr Mourtada's detention.
According to the website, he told family members who visited him in jail that he had been blindfolded and beaten unconscious at the time of his arrest.If you have an old Android phone sitting around collecting dust, and you've been pining for smart thermostat but don't want to drop the cash on one, then the Android Thermostat might be the perfect project for you.
The Android Thermostat is an open source smart thermostat. Using software from the Google Play store, and a handful of parts to build the interface, it can control your heat, set up a schedule, log your usage, and more. You can even control the temperature from afar since the thermostat operates as a server. As with any home heating hacks, you'll want to be careful if you decide to take this one on since it's entirely possible you could mess up you furnace, but if you're up for the challenge head to the link below for a full walkthrough and parts list.
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Android Thermostat | via Hack a DayUnited Nations General Assembly hall in New York City. (Wikimedia Commons Photo)
President Donald Trump has not found Washington to be easy going. Even the United Nations is against him. The UN, and I am not making this up, warns that cutting back government could violate “the right to social security of the people in the United States.”
Yeah. Big government now is a “human right” guaranteed by the UN. And some people wonder why the administration proposed cutting the organization’s funding by half.
President Trump has been working with Republicans in Congress to repeal Obamacare. That program nationalized Americans’ health care, eliminated the health insurance plans upon which millions of people relied, dramatically increased premiums for most other Americans, and made it even harder for younger people to buy insurance. Sounds like that legislation violated a lot of human rights.
But, no—and again, I am not making this up—the UN’s “Special Rapporteur on the Right of Everyone to the Enjoyment of the Highest Attainable Standard of Physical and Mental Health” (SROTROETTEOTHASOPAMH), Dainius Puras, sent the president an “urgent appeal” warning of the former’s “serious concern” about the impending violation of some Americans’ rights by reducing their health insurance coverage. You see, Puras explained, “there is a strong presumption that retrogressive measures taken in relation to the right to health are not permissible.”
In normal English, that means once government expands, it can never recede. That premise has been the gospel of American liberals for years. Now we find out the principle is an inviolable “human right”!
Mr. Puras instructed the president to ensure that “all necessary interim measures be taken to prevent the alleged violations.” Further, insisted the SROTROETTEOTHASOPAMH, the administration should provide “adequate measure to prevent their occurrence as well as to guarantee the accountability of any person responsible.” Does that include punishing voters who elected not only President Trump but the majority Republican Congress?
The UN letter was not formally made public, but leaked to a Washington Post columnist, who thought it a profound rebuke of the administration (wonder of wonders!). Puras asked the president to alert the public “to the potential implications of the above-mentioned allegations.”
The position that Mr. Puras occupies was created in 2002 and is responsible to the UN Human Rights Council. Among the body’s 47 members: China, Congo, Cuba, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kyrgyzstan, Qatar, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela.
All of these countries have tremendous health care systems. Well, maybe not: Even the New York Times was forced to criticize the catastrophe that masquerades as medical care in Venezuela.
But at least the countries are great exemplars of human rights in other ways. Well, China is cracking down on most things Western. Cuba has arrested more activists and persecuted more Christians since President Barack Obama visited. Saudi Arabia models Islamic intolerance in all its forms. Venezuela hosts a violent dictatorship which has impoverished its people.
While all these nations protect each other from scrutiny, the Human Rights Council vilifies Israel at every turn. In its view, Israel is a greater human rights violator than all other countries combined.
But the Council is not the only UN body drowning in unintended irony. The 45-member Commission on the Status of Women — is there a single issue for which a meaningless UN bureaucracy does not exist? — recently selected Saudi Arabia as a member. This auspicious panel, according to the UN, is to be involved in “promoting women’s rights, documenting the reality of women’s lives throughout the world, and shaping global standards on gender equality and the empowerment of women.”
Saudi Arabia’s role is precisely what? It treats women like chattel and has provided recruits and money to terrorists who have sold Christian and Yazidi women as sex slaves.
The UN bureaucracy spent years promoting the socialist “New International Economic Order,” which President Ronald Reagan battled. Even the best-sounding programs, like peacekeeping and refugee relief, are typically wasteful and usually abused. Corruption is a systemic problem.
On rare occasions UN officials do acknowledge the obvious. When asked how many people worked at the organization, Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali once quipped: “about half.”
The UN mocks important values like human rights. Then uses Americans’ hard-earned money to load inflated bureaucracies with over-paid political hacks. And underwrites self-important guardians of humanity, such as the SROTROETTEOTHASOPAMH.
Unlike many members of the so-called Human Rights Council, the U.S. holds elections. The American people choose their government. If they believe Mr. Puras’ allegations of terrible rights violations are true, they will replace their leaders.
In the meantime, Congress should review Washington’s financial contribution to the UN. And the former real estate developer in the White House might have some ideas on how to better use the prestigious address of 405 East 42nd St. in New York City. After all, it comes with 18 acres of prime riverfront property.
Ken Blackwell is on the Policy Board of the American Civil Rights Union. He served as a former U.S. Ambassador to the UN and Senior Policy Advisor to the Trump transition team.
DONATEGiven the exhausting recent round of celebrating significant national anniversaries – Vimy’s 100th, Canada’s 150th – some Canadians may feel partied-out when family and friends gather again in a few months to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Canada’s income tax. Of course, many will feel there’s nothing to celebrate. After decades of tax phobia, incited by business commentators and right-wing think tanks like the Fraser Institute, some Canadians may well regard the 100th anniversary of the income tax – September 20 – as a day of infamy. The Fraser Institute is already planning to use the occasion to stir up fresh tax rage in the land.
The income tax made it possible for Canada to develop into the advanced society that we are today, writes Linda McQuaig. ( Dreamstime )
That’s why it’s worth pointing out that, in any thoughtful assessment, the establishment of an income tax would be regarded as a nation-building event – ultimately as important as what was achieved on the battlefield at Vimy or the conference room in Charlottetown. The income tax made it possible for Canada to develop into the advanced society that we are today, enabling us to raise the revenue to fight the Second World War and then create strong public programs in health care, education and social insurance that have pushed us toward the top of every global index of human development. While the Fraser Institute crowd always tries to convince us we can’t afford the things we want, we actually can -- thanks to the income tax.
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Individually, we may struggle to provide for our needs, but when we pool our resources, we’re fabulously rich. This explains why collectively we can create an excellent public health care system for all, while the U.S., abandoning its citizens to the marketplace, ends up with a far more costly system that leaves tens of millions uninsured. In addition to raising revenue, the income tax is designed to ensure the burden of supporting government is shared fairly among citizens. So, unlike other taxes, its rates are “progressive” – imposing a heavier burden on those with bigger incomes. Its role as a “make-the-rich-pay” tax goes all the way back to the beginning. Pressure for the tax arose among working people who were risking their lives in the trenches of the First World War, while back home Canada’s elite grew wildly rich in the revved-up war economy. As the Conservative government considered imposing conscription, a rallying cry arose from labour and farm organizations: “No conscription of men without conscription of wealth!” The day after Parliament passed the contentious conscription bill, the government announced plans for an income tax. In recent decades, however, the Fraser Institute and much of the business community have conducted a relentless – and fairly successful – campaign aimed at vilifying taxes in general, and taxes on the rich in particular.
They’ve succeeded in whittling down the progressivity in the income tax. In 1966, the top marginal rate was 80 per cent on income above $400,000 ($3 million in today’s dollars). Today, the top rate (which varies between provinces) is typically just above 50 per cent. They’ve also won deep cuts to corporate taxes and taxes on capital. Along with sales tax reductions, these cuts have left a gaping hole in government finances.
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If Canadian governments (at all levels) collected the same percentage of tax as they did in 2000, they would have had an additional $78 billion in revenue every year – enough to fund new programs like national childcare and pharmacare. Instead, we watch as health care, education and other vital programs face ever more cuts, leaving us believing the narrative that government must partner with the private sector if we want these services – even though that will ultimately drive up costs. Canadian politicians have largely capitulated to the anti-tax demands of the business elite, apparently fearful of threats that otherwise the rich will leave the country. Such threats will no doubt continue. A better response to them may be the one delivered many years ago by William Jennings Bryan, the fiery American Populist Party leader in the 1890s, when populists truly championed the people. In an impassioned 1894 speech that’s worth recalling as we celebrate our income tax’s centennial, Bryan urged the U.S. Congress not to be intimidated by the hundreds of wealthy Americans who signed a petition threatening to leave the country if an income tax were introduced: “We can better afford to lose them and their fortunes than risk the contaminating influence of their presence,” he roared. “Let them depart! And as they leave without regret the land of their birth, let them go with the poet’s curse ringing in their ears!” Linda McQuaig is a journalist and author. Her column appears monthly.A barrage of 3D and large screen movie releases, as well as several adult-skewing titles, lifted the average consumer outlay for a movie ticket to a new high of $8.84 in Q1, the National Association of Theatre Owners says today.
The average payment was up 3.0% vs last year’s Q1, and +0.6% vs the last three months of 2016.
Although the price is high, NATO notes that the average ticket price in 1977 of $2.23 would equal $9.26 if adjusted for inflation.
Consumers paid premium prices to see movies including Rogue One, Beauty and the Beast, Lego Batman, and Kong: Skull Island that were popular in 3D and large screen venues.
Outlays also tend to be high in periods with a lot of adult skewing titles; kids’ movies often lower the average because many go to discounted matinees.
In Q1 more than a quarter of box office sales went to R-rated films including Logan, Fifty Shades Darker, John Wick, and Get Out as well as adult-targeting titles such as La La Land and Hidden Figures.Wrestlemania is almost upon us, and with it, so is the WWE Hall of Fame. It has grown to become an honour that some within the industry will now mark as their greatest achievement. Since 2004 the ceremony has been a huge part of Wrestlemania weekend and may even be just as anticipated. The show is always a highlight full of respect and class. Most of the time. There’s really only one big problem. WWE knows what a cash cow this can be and thus sells tickets annually, inviting the public to attend. This often times sadly causes certain fans who attend to believe that they are actually at a wrestling show and not a Hall of Fame ceremony. Every year I watch, and every year I cringe as fans perpetuate the stereotype of wrestling fans as boorish, rude, and unsophisticated deviants. Not all fans but far too many. It is in that spirit that I present this article. Consider it an etiquette guide for the WWE Hall of Fame ceremony if you happen to be attending.
Let’s start with the dress code. No, there isn’t an official one (although there should be), so let’s consider this a respect code instead. I understand that this is a WWE Hall of Fame ceremony, and as such pro wrestling related, however it is also an awards ceremony. Before grabbing your jeans or wife beater or halter top ask yourself this question: Would I be allowed to wear this to the Oscars? Or the Grammys? Or the NFL Hall of Fame ceremony? If the answer is no, please put it away and choose something a bit more dressy. Dressing up in costume is not okay either. Even if it looks real good and you grew out your moustache and hair to look like them. Even if you spent weeks making the costume of someone being honoured (or worse, someone not even there). You should have used that time to phone around and find a dress or a tie which is all I’m asking for. It doesn’t have to be a tuxedo, or an evening gown, just something that would be acceptable at say, a wedding. If you’re reading this and think you get a pass for wearing your Ultimate Warrior t-shirt because you’re showing your support for him, I applaud you for a creative counter point, but no you do not. The Ultimate Warrior gets royalties from that shirt you bought, so that is plenty thanks enough. If you’re still not convinced, please ponder this thought: When looking around at the crowd of the Hall of Fame ceremony, how are the WWE staff dressed? Although I will admit that some of them look ridiculous (Rey Mysterio and Kane wearing masks, Michael Hayes wearing… anything that he wears) they still put the in the effort to wear their best while honouring the best. If John Cena and Daniel Bryan have to dress up, perhaps you should take that as a sign to wear something with buttons on it.
Next let’s talk about vocalization. Now, this is a very touchy subject with some fans, and there is a fine line here between support and sacrilege, so not only do I understand where the confusion here can come in, but I will tread lightly. We as pro wrestling fans are a passionate bunch, and that’s a great thing, and like most great things it is perfectly acceptable in the right situation. You just don’t want things to go too far. For example, applauding for Shane McMahon because you are happy to see him at the show is acceptable, encouraged even. I’d say feel free to start a Shane O’ Mac chant if you’re really excited. He’d probably be very flattered. Once you feel the need to shout out “Are you high?” (yes this really happened) you need to stop yourself. No matter how funny you think you are, you are not there to entertain the audience. You are there to show respect to the men and women who entertained you and others for years while they receive a great tribute to that work. Because that is what the night is about, their work in the wonderful world of pro wrestling. Now here is where things get tricky. Some inductees may want to talk about their personal lives, but if they do not, it is not your job to bring up subjects they may want to keep private. Lita was a ground breaking performer in professional wrestling, but I fear her speech, which should be a highlight for her, will become ruined with some attention seeking fans who feel the need to yell the names of her past lovers at her, throwing personal pasts in her face like stones, salivating at the thought of someone finding them edgy, cool, or “smart” for doing so. This is not appropriate. It is rude. We all know that The Ultimate Warrior has said some very controversial things both in front of the camera and behind it. Yes, before getting clean Jake Roberts was a mess. I would wager the last thing these people want on a night of tribute is their mistakes paraded in front of them from a crowd that supposedly loves them and bought their tickets to show their “respect”. If you cannot control this impulse, then you do not respect that individual enough to do so.
Well, what if you don’t respect the individual? Take the sad case of Drew Carey, who’s only crime was not being a wrestler. While I do agree that to a certain degree it is ludicrous to have a comic and TV game show host inducted into a pro wrestling |
Breakthrough Advertising
Written by Eugene Schwartz in 1957, the hype surrounding this book is immense.
You'll be lucky to find a copy for under $90. Talk to many world-class email marketers like Ramit Sethi, however, and they'll tell you it's worth the hunt:
"Eugene Schwartz's Breakthrough Advertising has some of the most sophisticated thinking on human psychology that I've ever read."
It's a dense tome, but Schwartz put together one of the most sought after books on marketing and copywriting ever written.
2. The Social Animal
Perhaps the finest introduction to social psychology that one can ask for.
Author Elliot Aronson is the only person in the 120-year history of the American Psychological Association to have won all three of its major awards for writing, teaching, and research. In other words, he's one of psychology's greats, and he knows how to communicate his knowledge.
This book, along with Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me) showcases his distinct ability to put important topics on human behavior in laymen's terms. I'd recommend it for anyone, but entrepreneurs in particular will get a lot out of it.
3. Be Our Guest
Perhaps the one additional book I wish would have made our list of customer service books, I get some redemption by being able to tell you about this exceptional piece of writing right now.
This is the Disney Institute’s guide to creating memorable experiences, and as you hopefully know, Disney continually raises the bar in how far they will go for customers.
If you want an introduction to the Disney way of doing things, you can't ask for a better source.
4. Hooked
I'm a big fan of Nir Eyal's blog and Ryan Hoover's writing, so I was very excited to pick up this book upon release.
Hooked, a guide on "how to build habit-forming products," has a ton of insights on building products that will keep people coming back.
Certainly SaaS focused, but a great read for entrepreneurs of all types.
5. My Life in Advertising / Scientific Advertising
It's a must to get these in tandem. Luckily, they come packaged in a single book.
Claude C. Hopkins is the legendary advertiser who is credited for — get this — popularizing toothbrushing.
Hopkins’ work may have been written in the early 1900s, but there isn't a word of it that can’t be applied to marketing today.
These works truly should be the foundation of anyone getting into marketing.
6. Raise the Bar
Why recommend a book that is clearly geared toward bar owners?
If you recall our brief overview of some of Jon Taffer's principals, you'll know that studying the hospitality industry offers a plethora of insights on providing an outstanding customer experience. After all, it's what the industry is all about.
Taffer shows his pragmatic side in this book, and it's filled with some amazing insights on differentiation and market research, hiring the right people, and mindset-changing advice on creating great customer experiences.
7. Increasing Customer Loyalty
This is quite the unique "book" on this list because it's actually a collection of some stellar Harvard Business Review articles on customer loyalty.
Don't let that stop you from missing out on a great read; from retention, to service, to loyalty programs and more, this the best collection I've bought from HBR.
8. Never Eat Alone
Many entrepreneurs overlook networking because it’s often synonymous with a slick haired guy in a bad suit who's handing out business cards.
The fact is, however, that great relationships can be built on sincere connections and respect, and those are the best way to avoid “Field of Dreams Syndrome”—thinking that if you build it, they will come (they won't.)
Never Eat Alone was recommended by our friend Brian Balfour as one of the best guides on authentic networking.
9. Accounting Made Simple
Slowly but surely, great accounting information for entrepreneurs has been making its way online. Examples include guides from the friendly folks at LessAccounting.
If you're looking for a single book to purchase, however, Accounting Made Simple has to be the one I recommend.
It is the single best overview that concisely explains one of the driest topics imaginable (for people like me, at least).
10. On Writing Well
As the classic guide to writing non-fiction, you can hopefully think of a few reasons why I love recommending this book to online entrepreneurs:
It will improve how you communicate with customers (most of your communication will be done through writing).
It will help make you a better team member or leader, as you'll be able to relay information to your team more concisely.
It will make you a better marketer—so much of marketing, especially today, has to do with your ability to broadcast an interesting message and tell your business's story.
11. The Copywriter's Handbook
Perhaps you've looked into books like Breakthrough Advertising and were a tad overwhelmed.
Books like that can be the equivalent of diving into Moby Dick, and intimidating yourself is no way to learn.
Bob Bly's writing is perfect for people interested in learning great copywriting, but who don't already consider themselves copywriters. Think of it as Copywriting for Dummies; you'll certainly be a lot smarter after you read it.
12. The Essays of Warren Buffet
What really needs to be said about this book? You’ll get an honest look at:
Warren Buffet's thoughts on how a business should be run
Candid overviews of his mistakes (he lists quite a few) and what he would have done differently
Page after page of his flawless writing style
Perhaps this review said it best:
"Those who share my own keen interest in Warren Buffett's leadership and management principles will learn a great deal from a careful reading of these essays. They are quite literally "from the horse's mouth."
13. Priceless
Much of the research mentioned in our article on pricing comes from the topics explored in this book.
While it's very heavy on scientific literature and does deal a lot in the philosophy of pricing ("What is value?”, etc), this remains one of the most important books on pricing ever written.
If nothing else, at least read the second half of this book to see the many examples Poundstone gives that prove his point: humans beings are clueless about prices.
14. Financial Intelligence for Entrepreneurs
Great for anyone looking to understand financial statements, but as noted in the title, crafted for entrepreneurs.
Stop being clueless and get educated on:
What income statements, balance sheets, and cash flow statements really reveal
How to use ratios to assess your venture's financial health
How to calculate return on your investments in your enterprise
How to instill financial intelligence throughout your team
I think it was Big Daddy Kane who said, "Financing ain't easy, but it's necessary."
15. Brainfluence
One of the best introductions to neuromarketing available, this book is from Roger Dooley, author of the always interesting Brainy Marketing on Forbes, as well as the Neuroscience Marketing blog.
This book is a collection of one hundred of Dooley's favorite studies, from pricing, to loyalty, to sensory & perception, plus many more topics.
Each chapter is a quick read, making it a great book to flip through; you'll almost always walk away having learned at least one new thing.
16. The New Strategic Selling
This has to be one of the most interesting sales books out there, especially for folks who don't consider themselves to be salespeople.
The review that "sold" me on this book makes a succinct case for why it's a great read:
"This is a great method for people who don't want to consider themselves "salespeople", but who indeed sell. Engineers, architects, high-tech products sales consultants, and other professionals, will find this to be a low pressure, ethics-based approach to selling. I call it "the engineers approach" to sales because it provides such a methodological approach."
You're always selling, even when you aren't, and this book will help you master the fundamentals. I've bookmarked it plenty.
17. Brain Rules
This is one of the best examples of a book being able to communicate hard science in an interesting and even humorous way.
John Medina is a master storyteller, and it's no wonder that this book often appears on leadership and management lists on Amazon.
It’ll help you better understand yourself and others, with a plethora of great examples. It's a book on knowing people, without the typical fluff.
18. The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding
What makes the top brands of the world so memorable?
This book does a great job analyzing this question. It is also, at least in my opinion, better than it's more popular counterpart, The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing.
If you want to go beyond the "have a good logo" drudge that appears in most articles on branding, give this a read.
19. Strategic Customer Service
Not to pat ourselves on the back, but if you loved the following articles from the Help Scout blog:
Then ou'll love this book. It's made for support managers, and it’s one of the most valuable books on customer service I've read.
20. Customer Winback
A damn solid read on customer retention and winning back customers on the brink of defection.
A wide range of industries can benefit from this book—not simply SaaS or eCommerce, but service industries, too.
If you're in SaaS, read it to complement the better articles on retention out there.
21. Growing Great Employees
Many employees can naturally achieve 90% output on their drive and innate skills alone.
But it's that polish, that last ten percent, where managers and company leaders often play a pivotal role.
Pushing people without pushing them away, giving them honest feedback without letting the criticism go too far: this book offers some great advice on helping people thrive, especially for new founders/managers.
22. Ca$hvertising
Don't let the “$” scare you away, or that the author's experience is (once again) grounded in traditional direct response advertising; that's an area of marketing where you can often learn the most.
You'll definitely dog-ear a few pages in this book, and the writing style is one of the funnier ones I've read in a marketing book.
My fondness for marketing books with ties to direct response is probably best explained by this tweet from Brennan Dunn:
"Growth hacking" = when geeks discover what direct marketers have known for decades. — Brennan Dunn (@brennandunn) January 17, 2014
23. Made to Stick
Maybe the most popular book in this list, but you know I love the work of the Heath brothers (I would also recommend Switch).
There have been many books in the business arena on "ideas that spread," but this to me was by far the most practical.
You won't walk away entertained but lacking in legitimate advice, like you might with a Gladwell book. It's certainly a fun read, but you'll have insights you can actually apply, too.
24. First, Break All the Rules
This is my favorite management book.
I'll be frank with you: I'm not in the business of managing anyone other than myself.
That said, this book came highly recommended when I began scratching an itch to learn more about effective management and this, to me, was the diamond in a sea of mostly garbage.
25. Making Things Happen
This was the book everyone told me I had to read to get informed on effective project management.
If you accept my caveat above, that I'm not in the business of managing, allow me to say that I was definitely impressed not only in the frameworks this book lays out, but in the writing style.
As someone who is more of a single-tasking doer, I gained a ton of insight into how smart project managers operate.
Let me also add this exceptional list of over 50 books and articles on product management, worthy of a bookmark.American commentator Bill O'Reilly regularly expresses his points of view on a wide variety of political, social, and moral issues. He has personally labeled his political philosophy traditionalism.[1] The O'Reilly Factor, since its inception on the Fox News Channel in 1996, has been the primary outlet of his opinions. O'Reilly started his own radio program, The Radio Factor, a few years later. He has also written several non-fiction books detailing some of his beliefs. O'Reilly generally leans to the right on most issues,[citation needed] most notably the Bush administration's War on Terror, but breaks from the conservative and Republican majority on such issues as the global warming controversy, gun control, gay marriage and the death penalty.
Political views [ edit ]
Political affiliation [ edit ]
On The O'Reilly Factor and on his former talk-radio program, Bill O'Reilly has focused on news and commentary related to politics and culture.[2] O'Reilly has long said that he does not identify with any political ideology, writing in his book The O'Reilly Factor that the reader "might be wondering if whether I'm conservative, liberal, libertarian, or exactly what.... See, I don't want to fit any of those labels, because I believe that the truth doesn't have labels. When I see corruption, I try to expose it. When I see exploitation, I try to fight it. That's my political position."[3] On December 6, 2000, the Daily News in New York reported, however, that he had been registered with the Republican Party in the state of New York since 1994. When questioned about this, he said that he was not aware of it and says he registered as an independent after the interview.[4] During a broadcast of The Radio Factor, O'Reilly said that there was no option to register as an independent voter; however, there was in fact a box marked "I do not wish to enroll in party."[5] Despite being registered as an Independent, many view him as a conservative figure.[2] A Pew Research February 2009 poll found that 66% of his television viewers identify themselves as conservative, 24% moderate, and 3% liberal.[6] A November 2008 poll by Zogby International found that O'Reilly was the second most trusted news personality after Rush Limbaugh.[7]
In a 2003 interview with Terry Gross on National Public Radio, O'Reilly said:
I'm not a political guy in the sense that I embrace an ideology. To this day I'm an independent thinker, an independent voter, I'm a registered independent... there are certain fundamental things that this country was founded upon that I respect and don't want changed. That separates me from the secularists who want a complete overhaul of how the country is run.[8]
Domestic politics [ edit ]
O'Reilly has opined on many domestic issues. O'Reilly said the Bill Clinton impeachment stemming from the Lewinsky scandal was "not about sex. This is about honesty and cruelty. For Mr. Clinton, it was about undermining the justice system." In the same article he writes that Gary Condit, a moderate Democratic congressman from California who had an extramarital affair with Chandra Levy prior to her disappearance and death, should be held to the same standard.[9]
According to the Newsmax publication, O'Reilly has repeatedly claimed that Clinton had the Internal Revenue Service audit him.[10] O'Reilly says that he was audited three times since his program debuted in 1996.[citation needed]
O'Reilly has been critical of former Attorney General Janet Reno, calling her "perhaps the worst attorney general in history", and that the FBI became a "disorganized mess" during her tenure. He later praised former Attorney General John Ashcroft for going after the Arthur Andersen accounting firm, as well as Enron, WorldCom, Sam Waksal of Imclone and Martha Stewart.[11]
In 2002, O'Reilly had criticized Democratic Senator Hillary Clinton, stating that she would run for president in 2008. In an interview with Jay Leno on The Tonight Show, he said, "I just feel that Hillary is a socialist, and I'm paying enough tax. Hillary wants to take my money [and] your money... and give it to strangers. There's something about that that offends me." He said that she had voted for every single spending bill that year. In the same interview, he accused her of running as a political carpetbagger, and said that she intends to abolish the Electoral College in favor of the popular vote, claiming that it would be done only to give her an advantage in the presidential race.[12]
After criticizing the overturn of Snyder v. Phelps by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, O'Reilly offered on March 30, 2010 to help Snyder pay the US$16,510 in court costs while he prepared an appeal to the Supreme Court.[13][14]
2004 presidential election [ edit ]
During the lead up to the 2004 presidential election, O'Reilly said that the Democratic Party has been taken over by the "far-left" in a conversation with former Democratic Congressman Brad Carson.[15] Shortly following the election, O'Reilly ridiculed a message in which Democratic challenger John Kerry thanked his supporters for their support as well as opposing "the attacks from big news organizations such as Fox, Sinclair Broadcasting, and conservative talk radio."[16] O'Reilly shot back, calling Kerry a "sissy" six times.[17] Kerry himself stated publicly in a 2006 interview that he always felt he'd have a "fair shot" at conveying his views on The O'Reilly Factor and regrets not doing an interview prior to the election.[18]
Although O'Reilly has never officially endorsed any candidate, he did advise his audience not to support Democratic South Dakota senator Tom Daschle in his Senate re-election bid on his radio program, saying that, "[W]ith all due respect to the senator, we don't have any respect for him at all. And we hope he loses in South Dakota. And I -- really, I stay out of all these races, but you guys listening in South Dakota, vote for the other guy."[19] Daschle would lose the 2004 Senate election in South Dakota to John Thune.[20]
2008 presidential election [ edit ]
In the 2008 Democratic primary, O'Reilly urged his viewers not to vote for a candidate, this time John Edwards, and called Edwards a "phony" regarding his public statements on poverty.[21] O'Reilly has, on many occasions, admitted to "having no respect for him", and called him "arrogant" for keeping his campaign staffer Amanda Marcotte on after making remarks O'Reilly called offensive to Christians.[22]
O'Reilly has also criticized Republicans. When speaking to Ed Schulz in 2007, O'Reilly said that then-presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani had "terrible character judgement" with Bernard Kerik and felt that "disqualified him from being president."[23]
"Culture War" and domestic politics [ edit ]
O'Reilly has taken to using the abbreviation "S-P", for "Secular Progressive", as a shorthand way of referring to a political category of people who want "drastic change" in the country.[citation needed] O'Reilly classifies the group as "far left", and almost always refers to the group in a negative manner. However, he says that he is not equating the negative qualities he sees in "SPs" with a "liberal" political ideology, saying the SP camp is far more "libertine" with social values:
Liberal thought, however, can be a good thing. Progressive programs to help the poor, fight injustice and give working people a fair shake are all positive. But libertine actions damage a just society because actions have consequences. Kids who drink and take drugs are likely to hurt themselves and others. But obviously, the SPs do not make judgments like that.[24]
In his book Culture Warrior, O'Reilly called President John F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. examples of liberals who were also traditionalists, also citing current US Senators Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and Evan Bayh of Indiana as liberal/Democratic "traditionalists".[page needed]
Foreign politics [ edit ]
Immigration and border control [ edit ]
O'Reilly has supported stricter border controls, including placement of the National Guard troops on the US-Mexican border and has criticized President George W. Bush for not allocating enough resources to make border security effective. He also criticized Ronald Reagan's act of amnesty, claiming that it made the illegal immigration problem worse.[25] O'Reilly makes a distinction between criminal illegal immigrants and non-criminals by saying that criminal illegal immigrants should be deported immediately. O'Reilly criticizes the lack of cooperation between local sanctuary cities and the INS.[26]
The Iraq War [ edit ]
O'Reilly initially supported the invasion of Iraq. Speaking on ABC's Good Morning America on March 18, 2003, O'Reilly promised that "If the Americans go in and overthrow Saddam Hussein and it's clean [of weapons of mass destruction]...I will apologize to the nation, and I will not trust the Bush administration again."[27] In another appearance on the same program on February 10, 2004, O'Reilly responded to repeated requests for him to honor his pledge: "My analysis was wrong and I'm sorry. I was wrong. I'm not pleased about it at all."[28] With regard to never again trusting the current U.S. government, he said, "I am much more skeptical of the Bush administration now than I was at that time."[citation needed]
O'Reilly has questioned the U.S. invasion of Iraq in hindsight, in particular the performance of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. However, he maintains that the United States "did a good thing by trying to liberate a country".[citation needed] O'Reilly says the war effort should continue as long as progress is being made. He has also said that some anti-war activists are actively rooting for the United States to lose:
General McCaffrey says strong progress is being made. He believes the Sunnis have turned against Al Qaeda and that the Maliki government is neutralizing the Shi'ia death squads. Again, I don't know. With all America has sacrificed in Iraq, though, it seems reasonable to let the end game play out. If things are getting better, don't derail the train. But the anti-war crew is now fully invested in defeat. So the struggle at home is becoming even more vicious. Iraq is a shooting war. America's a political war. Both are driven by hatred.[29]
O'Reilly called the Iraqi people a "prehistoric group", citing a poll showing that only two percent of them viewed the U.S. Forces as liberators and 55 percent preferred that they leave. "We cannot intervene in the Muslim world ever again", he said. "What we can do is bomb the living daylights out of them (...) no more ground troops, no more hearts and minds, ain't going to work."[30]
In an interview with White House Press Secretary (and former Fox News colleague) Tony Snow, O'Reilly said that the United States cannot win given the circumstances of Iraqis not supporting the effort:
You can't win. No one could. No nation could unless the Iraqi people turn on all the terrorists. And they're not. They're not, Tony.
O'Reilly went on to say that the country was corrupt and compared the situation to the American support of South Vietnam during the Vietnam War:
It's like South Vietnam. It's the same thing. There were a lot of South Vietnamese helping us. A lot fought and died on our side but there wasn't enough of them to prevent the communists which were more united.[31]
O'Reilly would go on to praise General David Petraeus for reducing American casualties and advancing American objectives with the 2007 troop surge:
The cost has been great. We all know that. In suffering and cash. And the Iraqi government is still a mess. But General Petraeus, backed by a brave and professional U.S. military, has restored much order, largely defeated the Iraqi Al Qaeda thugs, and at least given the good people of that country a chance to prosper. General David Petraeus is "The Factor" person of the year by a wide margin.[32]
During The Rumble with Jon Stewart, O'Reilly admitted that "We should not have gone to Iraq. Afghanistan we had to."[33]
Terrorism [ edit ]
O'Reilly has endorsed an aggressive War on Terror policy.[34] He supports coercive measures to extract information from detainees at Guantanamo Bay, which he visited on two occasions. He has said that, in comparison to procedures used under the regimes of dictators such as Adolf Hitler and Pol Pot, the U.S.'s tactics are not torture and are beneficial even when involving physical techniques,[35] claiming that "Torture is taking my fingers off, disfiguring me, taking my eye out — not keeping me in a cold room and uncomfortable with blaring rock music."[36] O'Reilly cites waterboarding as a successful coercive measure that should not be classified as torture, citing that Abu Zubaydah and Khaled Sheikh Mohammed have both given up valuable information after being subjected to the technique:
In my opinion, it is immoral to allow terrorists to kill people when you can stop them. If you capture someone who knows the inner workings of a terror outfit, you make life very uncomfortable for that person within boundaries set by Congress. But let's stop the nonsense here. America's not a bad country because it waterboarded Zubaydah. The Bush administration has done its job. We haven't been attacked since 9/11. The liberal press, politicians, the ACLU can't stop any wrongdoing. They're all lost in a fog of misguided indignation, crazy with hatred for Bush, but we the people must take a stand here. This isn't a game. This is life and death. And if you don't believe it, I know scores of people right here in New York City that will tell you about their dead loved ones. Waterboarding should be a last resort, but it must be an option.[37]
He has also said that detainees should be judged under military tribunals, but not protected under the Geneva Convention because the convention requires combatants to wear a uniform.[35]
He has been critical of politicians such as Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and private citizens such as financier George Soros for wanting to try terror suspects in civilian courts.[38]
O'Reilly has said that both political parties in the United States are "playing games" with regards to the war on terrorism:
...both the right and the left are playing games to some extent. Certainly, Al Qaeda remains dangerous, but the only way to hit them is to invade Pakistan. Do the Democrats want to do that? On the other hand, it would be a tragedy if after all the blood and treasure Americans have sacrificed, Al Qaeda has not been badly damaged. America should be united in fighting these savages, but we're not. Ideology has poisoned a reasoned, disciplined approach to defeating the jihadists. America's great strength, diversity of thought, can also be a weakness. And Al Qaeda knows it. The old saying goes, "United we stand, divided we fall." Well, we're divided.[39]
George Soros [ edit ]
O'Reilly has accused billionaire businessman, investor and political activist George Soros of trying to influence the 2008 election by donating to causes and organizations that O'Reilly calls the "radical left", such as moveon.org, which regularly criticizes conservative politicians. O'Reilly said of Soros "If Mike Myers didn't invent Dr. Evil, some would give Soros that moniker."[40] O'Reilly also accused Media Matters for America of receiving funds from Soros;[41] although Media Matters denies having any funding directly or indirectly from Soros,[42] he and the group's founder, David Brock, have raised money together to fund political advertisements challenging John McCain in the 2008 election for what politico.com called "attack ads".[43] O'Reilly responded to the politico report by labeling Soros, Brock and Paul Begala an "American axis of evil" and saying
This, ladies and gentlemen, is ultra dangerous. Most Americans have no idea who Soros or Brock are. They will only know what they see on TV, smear stuff against McCain. And the pipeline extends directly to NBC News, which will publicize every piece of slime Brock can create. Only one word describes this: despicable.[44]
O'Reilly alleged that PBS personality Bill Moyers oversaw $500,000 worth of money transferred from the Shoeman Center Foundation (a group Soros donated to) to Media Matters.[45]
you know, you've got to admire Soros for coming up with this organization. I mean, you know, he's made billions by doing this in business, by being in Curaçao and Bermuda and France, where he was convicted of a felony. And he knows how to do this. He knows how to move the money around and use it to gain influence. And now he's set his sights on changing the basic fabric of this country.[46]
The organization to which O'Reilly refers is the Open Society Institute.[45]
ACLU [ edit ]
O'Reilly has been critical of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), calling it "the most dangerous organization in the United States of America" especially in their challenging of the Justice Department and the Department of Defense regarding the War on Terror. He has called them a "fascist" organization in response to their threatened lawsuit against Los Angeles County for failing to remove a cross from its official seal.[47]
O'Reilly alleged hypocrisy on the part of the ACLU for stating that New York City's random searches of bags in the public transportation as a breach of personal rights, but requiring people entering their New York headquarters to consent to a bag search.[48]
O'Reilly asserted that the ACLU is now a political organization rather than an advocacy group, taking positions and cases based on politics rather than free speech.[citation needed]
He has come down hard on the organization for its actions on behalf of the North American Man Boy Love Association (NAMBLA) which is currently under suspicion of involvement with the rape and murder of a young boy:
Now many of these people subscribe to a philosophy of relativism. That is a theory which says there's no absolute right or wrong. All moral values are relative. What's wrong for you is not wrong for your neighbor if he or she doesn't think his or her actions are wrong. That's what the North American Man-Boy Love Association (NAMBLA) is all about. Those loons believe it's OK to rape kids because they want to.[49]
The ACLU defends NAMBLA's freedom of speech surrounding their publications and has said that the legal blame in the murder should go to who committed it.[50]
The ACLU has said that they sometimes have to defend "unpopular" speech or speech that they don't agree with, including the Ku Klux Klan's, saying their only "client" is the Bill of Rights.[51] O'Reilly alleges the ACLU "cherry picks" its cases to promote a left wing agenda while not supporting causes of free speech that conservatives support in his criticism of the ACLU defending live sex shows in Oregon.[52]
O'Reilly decried the group's criticism of The Minutemen, claiming the latter were only engaging in a form of protest, a right the ACLU defends. O'Reilly alleges that the organization is protesting the Minutemen because they are going against the ACLU's agenda.[53][54]
O'Reilly accused the organization of having an anti-Christian bias when it protested the portrayal of the nativity scene in New York City Public Schools, but did not protest displayal of the Jewish menorah or the Islamic star and crescent.[55]
O'Reilly criticized the ACLU for suing San Diego County for renting property to the Boy Scouts of America in Balboa Park. The ACLU brought up a law claiming that the Boy Scouts discriminated against gays and atheists. O'Reilly criticized the San Diego City Council for voting 6-2 to vote the Scouts out before a ruling on the lawsuit was made.
It would be impossible for the Boy Scouts (search) or any children's organization to admit avowed homosexuals because of the potential liability. Say the Scouts put openly gay and straight kids together and some sexual activity occurred. Well, parents could sue for millions, same way parents could sue if the Scouts put boys and girls together and underaged sex occurred. As far as the atheist issue is concerned, the Scouts say no specific belief in God is necessary, only an acknowledgement of a higher power. And that power could be nature. Come on. The whole discrimination thing is bogus.
Part of the Boy Scout Oath begins, "On my honor, I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country" and the final point of the Scout Law reads, "A Scout is reverent," with the Boy Scouts' of America official explanation being that "a Scout is reverent toward God. He is faithful in his religious duties. He respects the beliefs of others."[56] However, the bylaws of the organization specifically state that Scouts must "respect the religious beliefs of others" and "in no case where a unit is connected with a church or other distinctively religious organization shall members of other denominations or faith be required, because of their membership in the unit, to take part in or observe a religious ceremony distinctly unique to that organization or church."[57]
O'Reilly argues this is a liberal definition of what God may be, allowing diversity for anyone believing in a higher power to join.[citation needed]
He went on to compare the ACLU to Nazis:
Now the ACLU is free to come to your town and sue the heck out of it. And believe me, that organization will. The ACLU doesn't care about the law or the Constitution or what the people want. It's a fascist organization that uses lawyers instead of Panzers. It'll find a way to inflict financial damage on any concern that opposes its secular agenda and its growing in power.
He later went on to criticize the Boy Scout leadership for not standing up to the ACLU.[58]
On October 16, 2006 at Mount Pleasant High School in Michigan, a student stood up publicly in the cafeteria and called the principal of the school "a skank and a tramp." In addition to this, the student called the school administrators Nazis and questioned the sexuality of the vice-principal. The school suspended the boy for 10 days, an action that brought a lawsuit by the ACLU. O'Reilly criticized the ACLU for defending the remarks as satire when he saw it as hate speech.[59]
Social views [ edit ]
Abortion [ edit ]
O'Reilly supported California Proposition 73 because it would have required parental notification of underage girls seeking an abortion. "[T]he left-wing media has been able to convince millions of Americans that the government knows what's best for families, not the parents."[60]
O'Reilly strongly condemns doctors who provide legal abortion services. Since 2005, he has repeatedly referred to physician and abortion doctor George Tiller as "Tiller the baby killer" on his Fox News prime time show, claiming that there must be "a special place in hell" for him. In May 2009, Tiller was murdered by anti-abortion gunman Scott Roeder.[61]
O'Reilly ardently condemns the practice of partial birth abortion. He has criticized the practice being done without explanations being made and has criticized human rights groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch for not condemning the practice:
Once again, this isn't about a women's [sic] right to choose or the New York Times plea for reproductive rights. This is about late term abortions for just about any reason.[62]
Education [ edit ]
O'Reilly supports the discussion (but not the advocation) of intelligent design in schools and considers the opinion of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science's opposition to such theories "fascist".[63] O'Reilly has also suggested that Richard Dawkins' argument for how science should be taught in school is equivalent to fascism.[64] He said he supports teachers saying that some people, especially in religious groups, believe that Charles Darwin's theory of evolution is wrong.[citation needed]
O'Reilly has said that there is a lack of leadership among the traditionalists and this has emboldened the secular-progressive cause. He consistently says that using religion to justify public policy is wrong:
Right now, religious people are the ones speaking out for traditional values. But America does not forge public policy based on religion. Thus as soon as God enters the debate, the secularists win.[65]
Gun rights [ edit ]
O'Reilly supports some forms of gun control, such as gun registration.[66][67]
Health care [ edit ]
O'Reilly opposed the nationalized health care plan that filmmaker Michael Moore argues for in his film Sicko, saying it would create huge backlogs. He also said, however, that he thinks the government should perform more oversight functions on health care:
...[G]overnment-run health care would be a disaster, featuring long waits for treatment and an enormous rise in taxation. But there should be government oversight on private insurance companies and strict guidelines about abusing customers. There can be compromise and effective government control of medical care abuse in the USA. It is possible. But if Michael Moore's plan ever gets traction, pray hard you never get sick.[68]
LGBT issues [ edit ]
O'Reilly's stance on LGBT issues has been evolving.[citation needed]
On October 27, 2004, he was quoted saying: “I've been saying that all along, that if you open the door for gay marriage, then you have to have the polygamists and the triads and the commune people and everybody else, right?”[69]
O'Reilly supports civil unions for gay and lesbian couples, but has said that nobody has the "right" to marry; he says that marriage, like driving a car, is a privilege, not a right. He has said that if the government felt marriage was a right, then it would not stop polygamists and incestuous couples from marrying.[70] O'Reilly further explained his position in his book Culture Warrior:
To this culture warrior, gay marriage is not a vital issue. I don't believe the republic will collapse if Larry marries Brendan. However, it is clear that most Americans want heterosexual marriage to maintain its special place in American society. And as long as gays are not penalized in the civil arena, I think the folks should make the call at the ballot box. Traditional marriage is widely seen as a social stabilizer, and I believe that is true.[71]
On March 26, 2013, O'Reilly stated "I support civil unions, I always have. The gay marriage thing, I don't feel that strongly about it one way or the other. I think the states should do it." O'Reilly then said, "The compelling argument is on the side of homosexuals... 'We're Americans, we just want to be treated like everybody else.' That's a compelling argument, and to deny that you've got to have a very strong argument on the other side. And the other side hasn't been able to do anything but thump the Bible.[72]
O'Reilly discussed a story surrounding around a teenage lesbian couple being elected as the "cutest couple" in their |
the animals.
They also showed that mice fed a diet rich in propionic acid also developed a richer variety of gut bacteria.
Since propionic acid is an approved food additive, the team went on to conduct a study of the compound in human MS patients.
Duscha and his colleagues recruited 90 MS patients and 30 healthy people as controls, giving them 500 mg of propionic acid twice daily for 14 to 90 days. The MS patients were all receiving various disease-modifying therapies.
After 14 days, they noted a drop in inflammatory T-cell numbers in both patients and controls, but with a more pronounced reduction in MS patients. Meanwhile, the number of regulatory T-cells, or Tregs, increased by 30 percent.
Tregs are important cells that prevent autoimmune reactions, and according to Duscha, the “suppressive capacity of Tregs in MS is diminished by 20 percent.”
Researchers also noted that Tregs were better at modulating immune responses after propionic acid treatment in MS patients. “After only 14 days of propionate treatment, the suppressive capacity [of Tregs] was highly increased,” Duscha said.
Analyzing the types of gut bacteria in MS patients and controls, the team noted significant differences, particularly with relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) patients having a lower diversity of gut bacterial types.
“Microbiome analysis on stool samples demonstrates differences between MS and healthy controls, but also between RRMS and primary progressive (PPMS) and secondary progressive MS (SPMS) in terms of variability, both before and after treatment.”
Regarding safety, patients did not report any side effects of propionic acid treatment during the study.
Overall, the study’s results indicate that the findings in mice are also valid in people with MS, and suggest propionic acid could be a valuable supplement to be used as an add-on therapy to disease-modifying drugs.The Arizona Republic, the largest newspaper in the state, endorsed 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 on Tuesday, the first time the 126-year-old publication has supported a Democrat for president.
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“Since The Arizona Republic began publication in 1890, we have never endorsed a Democrat over a Republican for president. Never. This reflects a deep philosophical appreciation for conservative ideals and Republican principles,” the paper’s editorial board wrote.
“This year is different. The 2016 Republican candidate is not conservative and he is not qualified. That’s why, for the first time in our history, The Arizona Republic will support a Democrat for president,” it continued.
Donald Trump Donald John TrumpHouse committee believes it has evidence Trump requested putting ally in charge of Cohen probe: report Vietnamese airline takes steps to open flights to US on sidelines of Trump-Kim summit Manafort's attorneys say he should get less than 10 years in prison MORE, the editorial board wrote, does not understand the challenges the country faces, nor does he have the temperament to deal with them.
The paper acknowledged that Clinton has weaknesses but argued that her experience, pragmatism and disposition makes her well suited to occupy the Oval Office.
“Clinton retains her composure under pressure,” reads the editorial. “She’s tough. She doesn’t back down.”
“She is intimately familiar with the challenges we face in our relations with Russia, China, the Middle East, North Korea and elsewhere. She’ll stand by our friends and she’s not afraid to confront our enemies.”
The paper also took a shot at GOP leaders who have backed Trump in the hopes that he will use the White House to advance conservative causes.
“[T]hey shudder at the thought of Hillary Clinton naming Supreme Court justices,” the board wrote. “So they stick with Trump. We get that. But we ask them to see Trump for what he is — and what he is not.
“Trump’s conversion to conservatism is recent and unconvincing. There is no guarantee he will name solid conservatives to the Supreme Court.”Remember how the movie began with a little Bush stupidity? The movie started with "Too many OB-GYNs aren't able to practice their love with women all across this country." While Bush was worried about gynecology and tort reform, Democrats were all about “Can’t do anything with Bush in office” but women from the U.S. were dying in more unnecessary deaths than most nations. "The rate was the highest of all 18 countries at 96.41 deaths per 100,000 that could have been amenable to health care treatment."
There is a whole lot of blame to spread around but we didn't elect insurance companies, lobbyist or even what passes for news media in this nation. The continuing influence of money in Washington is disruptive to the peace and dignity of the American people in so many ways but this is mass death. When one writer stated "That is shocking, lobbyist-induced genocide" even that, as strong as it sounds is misleading. The lobbyist are not the people making the decisions that are killing so many Americans and they never promised to serve the people. The reality of this mass negligent homicide is that it is shocking, elected official endorsed genocide.
As we attempt to blame people like Max "Anything but single payer is on the table" Baucus for the falsehoods being presented to the American people let us not forget the lesson learned from eight miserable years of George W. Bush. The man who failed in everything but getting reelected showed Americans the power of the presidency. The fact is that there is one man in charge of the healthcare debate. Only one man can pick up the phone and preempt network television to tell the story of the many people who need him. One man deserves all of the credit for what is passing as a healthcare debate and the reality being presented to Americans.
But there are good people in this nation. Credit must be given to Michael Moore. His movie has been one of the driving forces towards reality in America. Perhaps the biggest accomplishment of SiCKO was to make the broader public aware of the evil that insurance will preform in the name of profit and how far our elected officials will go to mask those evils for a share of the profits. SiCKO is one of the reasons that when President Obama held a town hall meeting on credit cards the first question was "So many people go bankrupt using their credit cards to pay for health care, why have they taken single payer off the plate?" Now that so many Americans have become aware of the situation, public ignorance can no longer be blamed. The elected officials who are working so hard to rebuild the reputation of the keepers of the American medical marketplace while claiming single payer is "not politically feasible" and excusing themselves with "we don't have the votes," they deserve all of the blame.
Sadly now the Democratic leadership are claiming that it is too late in the game for the acknowledgment or proper examination of single payer health care. Those same Democrats who for years could only offer "Well you can never get anything done with Bush in office." There was some small hope back then, a young up and coming Senator from Illinois who was "a proponent of single payer healthcare" and claimed that all we needed for single payer universal healthcare was "the Democrats taking back the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives." Now that up and coming Democrat has become president and since being elected doesn't want to know a thing about and went out of his way to mask the facts about Single Payer Healthcare. Through the withholding of the reality of what Americans are living through each day even the public option is in jeopardy.
After Bush there was a quick visit with two of the nearly 50,000 uninsured in America that the movie SiCKO wasn't about. Adam had a nasty cut that needed stitches and with a needle and thread he was sewing up his own leg. Adam seemed to be doing a pretty good job with the sewing needle but hypodermic needles and novocaine are not over the counter drugs yet.
Next up meet Rick who accidentally removed two of his fingers. He then explained how the hospital offered him a deal. He could get his index finger reattached for $60,000 or they would do the ring finger for the bargain price of $12,000.
Rick had the ring finger attached and now he can entertain children with a more realistic removable finger trick while his index finger enjoying its "new home in an Oregon landfill."
There is one place where the Democrats deserve praise. It seems that finally under Democratic leadership healthcare may become a right instead of the privilege it has been for so many years. Well maybe not a right but an obligation that would make Adam and Rick lawbreakers for not having medical insurance. The up and coming Democrat that was once an advocate of single payer healthcare, then ran against mandatory insurance but even though he was elected president, the Democratic Party is a big tent. The American way, just place the responsibility on the people because they don't have lobbyist. Hey "If Mandatory Insurance is Good Enough for Your Car..." Except American don't really need a car, do they?
Past, present and probably in the future there is no fact that is less discussed or more pertinent than the fact that the $124.7 million in medical campaign contributions is your money working against you. Whether it is your tax dollars or your exorbitant premiums that is going into for-profit health insurance, they are handing some of it back to our so called representatives and saying "Here is some of my money. Now make sure you see things my way." If you accept the fact that the root of the intellectual dishonesty coming from both parties is the $124.7 million in medical campaign contributions then mandatory health insurance being paid into a lobbyist based for-profit industry should be viewed as what it is, perpetual corruption.
It is a very sad situation where people must start asking themselves if there is any representation in the representative government but under Democratic leadership perhaps Americans will no longer be forced to sew their own bodies back together and everyone will have the right to have their body parts reattached, that is, once Adam and Rick become lawbreakers. What about the rest of us who have been paying for (but not supporting) this system?
This movie isn't about Rick either. Yes there are nearly 50 million Americans with no health insurance. They pray they don't get sick because 18,000 of them will die this year simply because they're uninsured. But this movie isn't about them, it's about the 250 million of you who have health insurance. Those of you who are living the American dream.
Now after the public went to the polls in November and proved the irrelevance of the Republican Party we wound up with a president who "would rather have 70 votes in the Senate for a bill that gives him 85 percent of what he wants rather than a 100 percent satisfactory bill that passes 52 to 48." Now in spite of the false debate, 76 percent of the public favor a public option but we still have Republicans on National television and they are still creating false horror stories about the genuine healthcare that is offered in the rest of the industrialized world while meek little Democrats really go out on the limb when they mutter something like "Americans who have insurance but lack access." With a President willing to turn down the opportunity to go down in the history books enjoying the respect of a man like Tommy Douglas and almost the entire body oftelling Americans that the insurance companies are on our side, even Howard Dean can only go as far as "The private sector hasn't treated people very well." Sadly Dr. Dean, a hero of the people and the builder of the Democratic Party dominance is a man that President Obama had no place for in the government and the man seems all alone to the general public.
What if Americans were hearing the real story? Forget about the number 18,000 that was given in SiCKO. Make that 22,000 uninsured deaths or how about 30,000 deaths per year? You can't even find a real number in this nation but with the US worst in preventable death ranking you can make that 101,000 Americans who die each year. That study, those devastating numbers, need to be addressed for any sort of reform. Sadly in this false debate even the most left leaning pundits miss that fact and continue to focus on the deaths caused by this nation to the people who don't have any insurance, the people that the movie SiCKO was not about.
The difference between the two numbers, those 79,000 Americans who die each year because of what passes for health care in America, those are the people who SiCKO was about, Americans who have insurance (private or public) but die anyway. Like so many misleading words in America, because of propaganda and the favoring of the special interest, coverage doesn't mean what it means elsewhere. Or as own Jerome a Paris pointed out watching from abroad in Each year, 101,000 Americans die needlessly because they're not French, the U.S. had "One million preventable deaths over the past decade!"
The first of these expendable victims that Michael Moore focused on was Donna Smith. A woman most Americans never heard of, another hero of the people whose name should be a household word by now.
SiCKO was at the worst time in Donna Smith's life but she looked and sounded much better on Bill Moyers Journal one month ago explaining what we are up against. Where we stand now is begging and pleading with our corrupted government so that the sorry excuse for single payer healthcare known as the "public option" can be tweaked and someday grow into genuine healthcare.
Today Donna Smith is a community organizer and represents some rare honesty in this nation with writings like Get Them Out: Rotten Apples in Congressional Witness Bushel on Health Reform where she tells of her own dealings with a Richard Scott corporation. A Democratic House Committee called upon that Richard Scott for testimony? The man who was the CEO of the largest hospital chain and was forced to resign after HCA pleaded guilty to a variety of fraud charges including bilking the government is now a professional witness for the same government? The Clintons had to deal with Harry and Louise and now while it is obvious that Harry and Louise are tickled pink with Congress on this go round, Democratic controlled committees are taking testimony from the founder of something far more foul than Harry and Louise, the propaganda group called Conservatives for Patients Rights.
Something else that Donna Smith said to Bill Moyers.
They envision mandates going into effect January 1st of 2013. But any insurance reforms or any tightening up of what happens to insurance companies would be allowed to phase in over a ten-year period.
That's a large jet liner full of 277 people going down each and every day. Can you imagine a jetliner full of 277 Americans crashing every day after day and us thinking that the problem could wait a year or two to be solved?
When the news broke that 101,000 Americans were dying preventable deaths each year (that is 227 innocent Americans per day) Are they addressing it now? Well they still haven't even acknowledged these tragic numbers and with feds seeking to suck more money out of states, they are even less likely to talk about the state budget cuts across the nation. Since the economic downturn began the so called free market must be killing even more Americans, so it should be a healthcare debate topic. But by 2013 it will just be another half million or so dead American that they won't want to talk about.
Fortunately Donna Smith did not become one of the 101,000 per year but she did join the countless millions devastated by the American health market and since her appearance in SiCKO she has testified before a heartless congress;
You left me broken and battered because you failed to act on health care reform. Just as I have come out of the shadows of economic ruin and shame, so, too, will others come forward to hold you accountable. Remember the hard-working people who elected you. Their bankruptcy shame, my bankruptcy shame due to medical crisis, really is your shame. You are the body that could have acted and has yet not done so.
I had Aflac disability insurance and a health care savings account on top of that. So we were like the prime example of responsible people who try and keep ourselves covered. And yet when we got sick, there was no way the deductibles and out-of-pocket maximum exposure added up so quickly that we were buried very quickly financially.
Donna Smith also explained to Bill Moyers what a model citizen she was back when Michael Moore visited her, when it all got taken away.
When Michael Moore visited Larry and Donna Smith it was moving day. Because of her cancer and his multiple heart attacks all that coverage didn't do them much good. Larry and Donna Smith, a newspaper editor and a Union machinist were bankrupted by American health care. They had lost their home and they moving in with one of their children. Going from the American dream to their daughter's storage room has become an all too common American story. Hew apology to her son was gut wrenching.
I'm sorry it not what we wanted to have happen in life and we're doing what we can to make the change. You don't know what that feels like inside. At fifty something years old, to have to reach out to my twenty something year old for help.
Her children may not understand but many of middle aged who survive this free market of death understand. Since lack of insurance is the third leading cause of death for people between 55 and 64 years many who reach that very dangerous era before Medicare kicks don't get a chance to share her pain. Actually lack of health care is the number three cause of death but by including mortality amenable to health care it is probably the number one killer of the near elderly. Unless the housing bubble has moved up in the ranks recently medical bills are definitely the number one cause of bankruptcy for middle aged Americans and what did the previous president and a not very different congress do to address that?
That idea of the near elderly buying into Medicare was something that Bill Clinton tried and failed after congress stomped out Hillery Clinton's attempt at medical sanity. Now while the half measure that is called the public option is sounding more and more in jeopardy by the Democrats inability to defend it, Medicare buy ins stand a better chance for Americans between the age of 55 and 64. The people our elected officials serve have promised to slow down the inflation of insurance and by dumping the most expensive Americans to insure on the federal government, younger healthier Americans can make up a larger percentage of people with private insurance. Insurance companies would be able to keep the rates from going up while increasing profits. This silver lining in the American health market will probably bankrupt Medicare even faster but whose problem is that?
Michael Moore moved from the near elderly to our senior citizens. The next person visited in SiCKO was a 79 year-old American named Frank Cardeal, this supermarket porter was swabbing the toilets because drugs were costing him too much to retire. You have to wonder if any other nation, civilized or otherwise has a health care policy that forces a 79 year-old man to mop floors and take out the trash.
It’s a sad situation. If there are golden years I can’t find them.
Recently I marched in a labor rally and had
As we walked for solidarity she explained to me that her Medicare supplemental is close to three hundred bucks a month. Now this figure varies because her husband said he was only paying eighty bucks per month but I had thought that an American who is lucky enough to make it to sixty-five finally sees some relief form the for-profit industry.
Apparently that is not the case. The average American's only exit strategy from the death industry is death.
Another senior citizen, very fearful about one of the things that are on the table in the healthcare debate, raising the medical cost for affluent senior citizens was worried about his Social Security. He pointed out that there would be no cost of living adjustment in his checks for the next two years. This was the first time in thirty years without a COLA increase to Social Security and the media justified this move but a worried old man said to me "We don't live on gasoline and heating oil alone."
With the recent adjustment to almost every American's 401k there are already far too many slated to join Frank Cardeal as senior citizen grocery store employees. That is a symptom of the same problem. The bankers paid congress to be stupid. Just like our medical coverage they had other excuses besides greed but they knew what they were doing and when they undid the banking regulations that gave this nation fifty years of banking stability, well the covered the bankers. The rest of us didn't do so good.
Now as a legislative advocate for single payer health care and a representative of the California Nurses Association Donna Smith sat across from Bill Moyers and explained how Congress still doesn't want to hear. Sounding upbeat she discussed the fact that the majority of the health care givers and the general public want single payer. The fact that we have no choice anymore but to take it to the streets and create disturbances because the elected officials have already made a choice "to stay with the moneyed interest."
While sounding hopeful about working against the Washington D.C. definition of "not politically feasible" she ended up admitting that single payer will probably need to start in a big state like California once Schwarzenegger is gone and that example would then make it undeniable to the servants of the moneyed interest. How many more Americans must die before reality trickles up to the beltway?
Michael Moore then focused on those insurance companies and unmasked probably the most important point to change public opinion, the fact that we only think we are insured and can easily become one of those 101,000. Those insurance companies that recently made an empty promise to the president and Barack Obama called that "very short on specifics" promise from an industry that has caused so much pain suffering and death "a watershed event in the long and elusive quest for healthcare reform." Now it is very sickening to hear Republicans talking about how the public option would be unfair to medical insurance industry but Barack Obama calling a promise from that industry "a watershed" makes him a rare individual since one out of fourteen Americas trust the insurance industry.
Michael Moore began his investigation of the people that are seated at the health care debate table today, those people who are determined to not let a single crumb fall from the table of the privileged. He starts off light with the little tricks they have been playing. Like Laura Burnum getting turned down for ambulance coverage because she did not get it pre-approved while she was unconscious after a 45 m.p.h head on collision. Then Mr. Moore jumps right into two of the many reasons American under the age of 65 who lack the good luck of being in a group plan or the bad luck of being on Medicare can't get approval for medical insurance, being overweight or underweight?
After that Michael Moore mentioned that when he asked Americans for "healthcare horror stories" he received over 25,000 emails in the first week. Now that Youtube has become so popular Real People DENIED Real Healthcare are articulating their own video horror stories but to whom?
This brings up the question of how many letters did our elected officials receive since and before SiCKO and what have they been doing with these letters? There are many working toward real healthcare reform that feel the answer today is writing letters to congress. Is writing letters to elected officials the answer? Would enough begging for justice lead to our voice being heard? Now at 101,000 deaths per year, a million per decade, they must have received plenty of letters from mourning husbands, wives, sons, daughters, aunts, uncles, nephews, nieces, neighbors and coworkers. Not just "do the right thing" letters but gutwrenching stories of premature death. Then there's the survivors. There's a whole lot of people who have lived to tell the tale of medical mistreatment, bankrupted with their lives destroyed some waited until everything was gone and eligibility for Medicaid got them the operation that put them back to work. Considering the amount of tragedy elected officials have already been contacted about and their inability to acknowledge how much pain and suffering they have ignored for so many years it is very hard to see how a letter will impress them now.
Is it really the fault of the media? Many saw the 60 Minutes segment on Health Care that was about those people. Surly they are not the only Americans sentenced to death but the story of Nevada's only charity outpatient oncology unit closing the doors because of $20 million in cuts statewide to Medicaid reimbursements was another grim reminder of what we have in this nation. Outraged I thought at the time the media exposure would save these people and wrote "This should be addressed by the Federal government immediately and our Democratic leaders better be willing to acknowledge these Americans just like hurricane or flood victims in what sounds like another case of government sponsored negligent homicide."
But as many Americans watched people being sentenced to death because they no longer had any money it turned out that Barack Obama and his shiny new Democratic Congress were not watching 60 Minuets that Sunday. Like so many tragic stories those people just faded away with Nevada searching for answers. The government could do nothing and that clinic is still closed. The people who are sick now must die but next year someone found an answer, just not the people we elected.
Even the 101,000 that all of them pretend they never heard anything about was in at least the print media in the United States. The numbers appeared in Reuters. The Washington Post covered it, there was a CBS story and even FOX News told the truth. The information blackout comes from the people we elected to represent us. Hosting a false debate elected officials, no matter which party is in charge, refuse to admit the outrageous numbers of Americans being killed.
Through unregulated mergers and acquisitions our elected officials have transformed the Fourth Estate into the definition of antitrust. As a corporate empires, the truth is very hard to squeeze in between health insurance and pharmaceutical commercials. If the media tells the truth they are failing in their obligation to shareholders. After all the budget cuts to PBS they need to fulfill their obligation to raise money for programing and now public broadcasting is becoming a haven for private enterprise. What obligations are elected representatives fulfilling by suppressing the truth?
After the story of one of the lucky letter writers, the typical American who realized he was on his own, Doug Noe's victory against CIGNA from a letter that asked "Has your CEO ever been in a movie?" proves that Michale Moore has done more for Americans in need of health care that all of our elected officials combined. It is very hard to tell if Doug Noe's fight is being addressed presently but if the "that's experimental scam" ends and Americans start receiving proper healthcare, keeping the cost of medical insurance from running away under a for-profit system would be impossible.
Then many of the letters from inside the corrupt corporate medical industry are mentioned. There is an interview with an undisclosed insurance company sales person named Becky Malke. She was there to explain one of the issues that actually are being addressed in Congress. While Barack Obama ran against mandatory health insurance, that seems to be what we will be getting and if Americans are forced to purchase coverage someone will have to provide it, right? Perhaps, if we even get it, this watered down public option will become a dumping ground for the health insurance industry but at least there will be coverage as the nation continued to be drained.
But there is another issue here. As Becky explains how long the list of pre-existing conditions that are still preventing Americans from getting health insurance as a list that "could wrap around this house" and the camera goes to a table of contents where pre-existing conditions is from "pages 1-37!" the woman broke down crying. Crying for the many people she dealt with knowing that they would be turned down by the insurance provider. Why did our leadership witness these events for so many years while saying so little and doing nothing? There was never any truth in the Republican fantasy of trickle down economics that was designed to screw the middle class but trickle down morality is a reality and as Becky cries in anguish describes her coping mechanism you can hear the moral bankruptcy the has been passed down to the people.
Oh God you know one time I had this couple and they were so happy to get--Oh I'm gonna start crying now. That were so happy that, and I took them through this application, and the husband was late for work, and the wife said "Oh don't worry baby, it's going to be okay because we have health insurance now." And when I looked at the end of the application I could tell that they were both going to get declined because of their health conditions, and they were so happy, and I thought Oh God they're going to get that phone call in a couple of weeks telling them that they are not eligible for insurance.
And I just felt so bad because I just really thought and I knew and I couldn't say anything to them. I just felt like crap. And that's why I'm such a bitch on the phone to people, because I don't wanna get to know them, I don't wanna...I don't wanna know about their lives, I just...wanna get in, and get out, and get done with it because I can't...I can't take the stress of it.
Besides the unfortunate people who get turned down the many people who earned their living rejecting their fellow Americans have been leading very stressful lives. On that Bill Moyers Journal, Dr. Sidney Wolf claimed thatThat is a lot of human resources being wasted too.
People shouldn't have to live like that. Have you ever been to a doctor and heard him massage the diagnosis so you could get the proper test? I have. My doctor once told me "I think we will need an MRI but I'll have to add a few things so you don't get denied. You will still be denied but with a few more symptoms we can appeal." Why should doctors need to lie to treat their patients?
In spite of Becky being a bit of a pain on the phone, a quarter of billion Americans are still able to get health insurance.
Let's meet some of these happy insured customers, like Maria, who has Blue Shield, and Diane, who has Horizon Blue Cross. Laura has insurance through BCS, and Amy is fully insured by Megalife. And it's good thing that they're all fully covered.
Obviously none of these women had good stories to tell and because of the cancer that her insurance company claimed she didn't have Diana didn't even live to see SiCKO but they were just four unfortunate victims in a documentary with time restraints. Just one of the 101,000 per year and three more of the uncounted healthcare horror stories.
Michael Moore then got to one of the insurance company victims that really pulled at our heartstrings but first there was a visit with some more people that the Democrats will put a stop to. You remember Tarsha Harris right? She was the woman that had a covered operation but Blue Cross of California when back to investigate a pre-existing condition. Because of a yeast infection in her navel Tarsha Harris has had her financial life destroyed.
Then there was the colorful insurance company hit man. Lee Einer who explained "with an insurance company, it's their frigging money!" got that money back for years.
We're gonna go after this like it's a murder case. And I mean my whole unit dedicated to going through your health history for the last five years, looking for anything that would indicated that you concealed something, you misrepresented something, so that they can cancel the policy, or raise the rate so high you can't pay them. And if we didn't find anything you didn't disclose on the application, you can still get hit with a preexisting denial. Because you don't even have to have sought medical treatment for it.
In some states, it's legal to have what's called "Prudent Person Preexisting Condition" and that's a mouthful I know but what that says is if prior to your insurance kicking in you had any symptom, which would incline a normally prudent person to have sought medical care then, the condition of which that symptom was a symptom is excluded. I know! It's labyrinthine, isn't it? But that's how it works.
Lee found a new life and Tarsha is trying to put her's back together but they can't bring back Tracy Pierce. One story amongst many in this capitalism trumps justice nation of a man's life taken away in the name of greed, a child without a father and a mother without a husband.
Tracy Pierce had insurance and could have received bone marrow treatment for his kidney cancer. It has worked for many but the insurance company just claimed over and over that the treatment was experimental until Mr. Pierce was dead. The words of his wife Julie point out that her husband was murdered by an insurance company at age 37. His family calls this "Death By Denial." Once again while blaming these insurance companies allows us a chance to feel a false belief in the people we have running our nation, those companies that are dedicated to serving their shareholders were working a system laid out by the people who are charged with insuring life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Did you ever notice how often bloggers accuse insurance companies of criminal activity? Do you think that they are missing the point? We have lawmakers and we have laws but criminal would imply that somebody is going to jail. Well when insurance companies get caught bilking the government, since the government doesn't like anyone messing with their money, a company might have to fork over a stiff fine that they will pass along to their customers. If you were one of those four ladies that Michael Moore visited, that Maria in SiCKO and you have enough money to sue you may see some justice. Even if you don't have money, if you live in a state that doesn't place a cap on punitive damages you may find a lawyer on contingency but nobody is going to jail here. Jail is reserved for we the people. Now if a person commits a crime to afford an operation for their child, that person can kiss his or her ass goodbye. Here's one utterance of a Democratic representative that I will never forget.
"Our nation has more people in jail than anywhere else in the world in its effort to combat crime. Yet, we allow 47 million people to go without health insurance—which translates into going without needed medical care—each year. It’s time to take action and combat the real killer in our country—the lack of universal health care."
While the war being waged by the government against the middle class could not be more obvious the poor are also victimized and nobody seems to be noticing.
There is a story that Michael Moore didn't get a chance to tell because Abagail 'Nikki' White was still alive when SiCKO premiered. Her tragic story was different from most of the Americans abused and murdered in the movie SiCKO because it was not the insurance companies that killed her for profit. Nikki White had no income and was dependent on the state for medical care. Nikki White's death was due to state budget cuts. When I wrote Health Care: Looking back at the Death of Nikki White there was a quote from her doctor.
Nikki didn't die from lupus. Nikki died secondary to the complications of a failing health care system.
The very painful and miserable death of Nikki White is one example of direct death from government but there are many more.
What about the newly poor? How about the 14 thousand of us losing employer-based health care benefits every single day? Those forgotten Americans in the 60 Minutes segment on those left to die in Nevada point to an increase in Americans being treated like Nikki White.
During the Reagan era or even earlier, the federal government that can operate at a deficit began shrugging off Medicare responsibilities to the states that are forced to operate within a budget. Tennessee just could not. Now as a result of the downturn in the economy states across the nation are slashing medical budgets and as states claim that they that can no longer the squeeze Nikki White's of America into their budgets that very frightening number of 101,000 deaths per year that are amenable to health care treatment must be going up but who is taking notice?
Who are these people that would transfer the responsibility to the states and when the states run out of funds pretend that they don't see? Surrounded by shining examples in many nations of what can and should be done they talk about Uniquely American schemes while people die. How black their hearts must be, these cruel and inhuman politicians who sit around referring to themselves as "The Gentleman from" wherever. These people who keep cashing those checks from the health care industry and during years of passing further legislation to protect that blood money, not only pretended these deaths weren't happening, they also worked to suppress the facts.
Michael Moore attempted to explain this government but first a focus on somebody who did show a little compassion for her fellow Americans. Linda Peeno deserves a place right next to people like Daniel Ellsberg and Jeffrey Wigand. Now there's two Americans who have received only the utmost in respect from the federal government. In the case of Jeffrey Wigand, it brings up another issue that is so relevant here. What about those tobacco executives?
Linda Peeno sat before congress on On May 30, 1996 and testified that her salary was based on the number of Americans she killed.
My name is Linda Pino, I am here primarily today to make a public confession. In spring of 1997 as a physician I denied a man a necessary operation that would have saved his life and thus caused his death. No person and no group has held me accountable for this because in fact what I did was I saved the company a half a million dollars for this. And, furthermore this particular act secured my reputation as a good medical director and it insured my continued advancement in the healthcare field.
I went from making a few hundred dollars a week as a medical reviewer to an escalating six figure income as a position executive. In all my work, I had one primary duty and that was to use my medical expertise for the financial benefit of the organization for which I worked. And I was told repeatedly that I was not denying care, I was simply denying payment. I know how manage care maims and kills patients. So, I'm here to tell you about the dirty work of manage care. And I'm haunted by the thousands of pieces of paper on which I have written that deadly word: denied.
I contend that "managed care," as we currently know it, is inherently unethical in its organization and operation. Furthermore, I maintain that we have an industry which can exist only through flagrant ethical violations against individuals and the public.
1996! That's more than thirteen years ago. It was before Bush and well before the insurance companies killed Tracy Pierce but what has congress and three presidents dona about that. Why are these words from Linda Peeno not being repeated in the healthcare debate?
Michael Moore asked;
How did we get to the point doctors and health insurance companies actually being responsible for the death of patients?
I want America to have the finest health care in the world, and I want every American to be able to have that care when he needs it.
Then came the video of Richard M. Nixon plotting against the people. "The plan hatched between Nixon and Edgar Kaiser worked." It almost seems shocking that a president would plot willingly murder innocent but the next day Nixon gave the typical presidential speech.
There again, Nixon is long dead and he has been out of office even longer. Why has this continued. Perhaps the question shouldn't be progress since SiCKO. As Michael Moore went |
and girls of different castes and religion, who wish to get married or have been married, or interfere with the personal lives of people," they said.
"We are of the opinion that this is wholly illegal and has to be ruthlessly stamped out."
The court asked state governments to suspend district magistrates and senior police officers of an area if they failed to act against these council.
Correspondents say cases of "honour killings" are regularly reported from the states of Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh which are deeply conservative and patriarchal regions.
In the last couple of years, many cases of brutal honour killings have been reported from the national capital, Delhi, too.
On Sunday, two widows were bludgeoned to death in a Haryana village by a man who accused them of being in a lesbian relationship.
The 23-year-old killer was the nephew of one of the women. He was on parole, having served a sentence for rape.
He said he had killed the women to protect his "family's honour". He has been arrested.Inspired by the Walking Tube Map showing the walking time in minutes between London Underground stations, Tokyo Cheapo has produced a walking map of the Tokyo subway system to both save you money and help you to walk off that 1,000-calorie bowl of lunchtime ramen.
View the map in its glorious entirety here
While we would love to impress you by telling you we walked the entire 304 km (189 mi) of the Tokyo subway system, we got the walking times from good old Google Maps.
Some interesting numbers
Of the 285 stations on the Tokyo Metro and the Toei Subway, the shortest walk between two stations is the 4-minute trot between Nijubashimae Station and Otemachi Station on the Tokyo Metro Chiyoda Line while the longest is the 56-minute slog between Shinozaki Station and Motoyawata Station at the terminus of the Toei Shinjuku Line.
The shortest to walk from end to end is the Ginza Line at 3 hours and 10 minutes while if you feel the need to walk the lasso shaped Toei Oedo Line, you’ll be on your feet for 9 hours and 45 minutes. But just think of that 319 yen you now have to spend on yourself!Committee of MPs says government should apply more cautious judgments when considering arms export licence applications
More than 3,000 current export licences for arms and military equipment worth more than £12bn have been approved for 27 countries classified by the Foreign Office as "of concern" because of their poor human rights record, a cross-party group of MPs reveals on Wednesday.
Countries for which significant sales have been approved include Israel - the destination of the bulk of the arms sales - Saudi Arabia, China, and Zimbabwe, according to the arms export controls committee's annual report, drawn up by MPs from four separate select committees.
The chairman of the committee, the former Conservative defence minister Sir John Stanley, said: "The scale of the extant strategic licences to the FCO's 27 countries of human rights concern puts into stark relief the inherent conflict between the government's arms exports and human rights policies."
He added: "The government should apply significantly more cautious judgments when considering arms export licence applications for goods to authoritarian regimes‚ which might be used to facilitate internal repression‚ in contravention of the government's stated policy."
The approval of nearly 400 arms export licences for "Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories", for equipment valued at nearly £8bn, includes components for body armour, parts for "all-wheel drive vehicles with ballistic protection", assault rifles, pistols, military support vehicles, and small arms ammunition.
However, most of the exports in terms of value consisted of cryptographic equipment, used for decoding and encoding communications, the Guardian understands.
More than 400 current export licences to Saudi Arabia include vehicles, components for military communications equipment, crowd-control ammunition, handgrenades, smoke/pyrotechnic ammunition and teargas/irritant ammunition.
For the first time, the arms export controls committee's report gives details for all 27 countries identified by the Foreign Office as being "of human rights concern", the number of existing export licences and the nature of the arms and arms-related goods approved.
In the past, details of the licenses were published by different departments around Whitehall and not collected together.
The total value of the exports is not known because some of them are approved with open-ended licences.
The MPs note the government's insistence that it applies "the same stated policy on arms exports and internal repression to Saudi Arabia as it does to the other states in the region and to states worldwide".
That is, the government "will not issue licences where we judge there is a clear risk that the proposed export might provoke or prolong regional or internal conflicts, or which might be used to facilitate internal repression".
However, the MPs say, "that does not appear to have been so in the case of the deployment of Saudi forces in British armoured vehicles to Bahrain to protect installations, thereby enabling Bahraini security forces to end, sometimes violently, predominantly peaceful demonstrations". Demonstrations in Bahrain were suppressed in 2011.
British arms exported to Bahrain under current licences include small arms ammunition, command communications control and intelligence software, technology for command communications control and intelligence software, assault rifles, military communications equipment, pistols, weapon sights, and components for machine guns.
The committee says current export licences for Israel total £7.8bn, for Saudi Arabia £1.8bn, and for China £1.4bn. Exports to China include cryptographic and military communications equipment.
The committee points to potential loopholes in arms export controls.
"It is most regrettable that the government have still to take any action against 'Brass Plate' arms exporting and arms brokering companies who have the benefit of UK company registration but carry out arms exporting and arms brokering activities overseas in contravention of UK government policies", says Wednesday's report.
The MPs say allowing a UK person to escape UK criminal jurisdiction engaging in arms export or arms brokering activities overseas, which would be a criminal offence if carried out from the UK, cannot be justified.Steelers president Art Rooney II said Wednesday, in an interview with the media, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger will be with the Steelers long after his contract expires as it’s currently set to do in 2015.
No response from NFL Network or its reporter, Ian Rapoport, was obtained.
Rooney likely is indicating Roethlisberger will be offered an extension this offseason, which has been expected. Roethlisberger signing that contract – presumably something with multiple years beyond 2015 and hopefully, for the Steelers’ sake, something that would reduce his salary cap number in 2014.
Locking down their franchise quarterback for what could be the last long-term contract he signs is obviously a good thing; it’s a priority this offseason as well, as the team looks to make a few big decisions regarding veteran players on its roster.
The deal for Roethlisberger is clearly the first move, and one from which the real decisions will begin to take shape. Expect some kind of movement, whether it’s extension or eventual release for safety Troy Polamalu and cornerback Ike Taylor, and what could be a release of outside linebacker LaMarr Woodley.
*************EAST CLEVELAND, Ohio -- East Cleveland completed the first step in opening annexation discussions with Cleveland by appointing three commissioners to represent the city in negotiations with Cleveland.
During a special council meeting Monday evening, a unanimous vote approved the ordinance that designated Andrew Jackson, Chris Glassburn and Sandra Morgan as commissioners and announced the city's intent to explore a merger.
The choice now goes to Cleveland City Council to enter these discussions and to appoint three commissioners of their own.
"This is huge for East Cleveland," Council President Thomas Wheeler said in an interview Tuesday.
Who are the commissioners?
Jackson owns several small businesses and is president and CEO of Elsons International, a packaging company. He was also involved in the Greater Cleveland Partnership as part of the Commission on Economic Inclusion.
Glassburn is a senior policy advisor for Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish.
Morgan, an East Cleveland resident, has a long history of civic endeavors in Cleveland and East Cleveland and is director of external affairs for Kent State University's College of Arts and Sciences.
Jackson, Glassburn and Morgan were chosen after an open application process and being interviewed by City Council.
While Cleveland City Council considers the proposal, East Cleveland will use the time to provide its commissioners with all the information that they need, Mayor Gary Norton said.
What led to this?
East Cleveland's leaders are pursuing a merger between the two cities because of East Cleveland's poor finances.
An petition effort in 2015 to prod City Council to pass this kind of ordinance failed when Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Michael J. Russo ruled that a technical error by the elections board made the petitions invalid. Petitioners started a second attempt to collect signatures in April.
Read more: Effort to merge East Cleveland with Cleveland starts anew
Norton, on behalf of the city, also explored asking the state permission to file for bankruptcy in late April. However, the Ohio tax commissioner's office replied that only council could make the bankruptcy request, and it must undergo certain preparations to do so.
Council also approved an ordinance Monday that would ask the Cleveland Foundation for funding to support a study conducted by Conway MacKenzie.
So what's next?
Cleveland City Council could choose not to move forward on the annexation discussion, or has 30 days to appoint its own commissioners, Council President Kevin Kelley said. After that, the joint commission would have 120 days to discuss a merger and provide a report.
Then the issue would go to both the voters of both East Cleveland and Cleveland. Cleveland City Council could choose to approve the ordinance themselves. However, Kelley said people seem to prefer giving Clevelanders a vote.
Kelley said he's very interested in keeping this discussion alive, but that the priority will be to make sure Cleveland is not put in financial harm. Cleveland has its own issues to deal with right now like the consent decree and a potential income tax increase, he said.
"There are a lot of moving parts," Kelley said. "There are a lot of questions we have to answer, and we need to get started."
This story was updated to clarify the process of approving a Cleveland-East Cleveland merger.Depend on the oldest sports medicine clinic in St. Louis to successfully manage your recovery from a sports injury. Our doctors are all athletes and we want to get you back in the game!
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Some of the more common sports injuries we see on a daily basis include:
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*****As of patch v220 (released 10/20/2015), this method is no longer needed. Railings have FINALLY been released in ARK. Praise Raptor Jesus!*****Ever wondered how to build a guard rail like the one you see in the trailer? Well now you can! It takes a bit of work and wastes a lot of materials, but at least it's possible. Now I'm sure that the devs will eventually allow you to build a guard rail without this workaround, but for now this is all we have. Let's get started.First you have your platform that you want your guard rail to be on. I used the Wooden Ceiling. Next you want to place your first Wooden Fence Foundation. Here you have two choices of where you want your guard rail to end up. Here are your starting options. http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=462321183 or http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=462321196 The one further out from the platform will stick out a bit which doesn't quite blend in with the floor. http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=462321257 On the other hand, the corners at the top of the guard rail will blend in better. It's all personal preference. After you have your starting Wooden Fence Foundation down, you then place another one directly on top of it like so. http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=462321210 You then keep doing this until you have the guard rail as high as you want it. However, if you do not place 20 Fence Foundations total (200 Wood, 60 Thatch, 40 Fiber), the bottoms of the guard rail will be visible underneath the floor. http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=462340034 Once you have the height of the guard rail that you want, you then delete all of the Fence Foundations underneath the top one. Remember, when deleting objects, you get back half of the materials that you used to build it (5 Wood, 1 Thatch, 1 Fiber per fence foundation). http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=462321229 http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=462321243 After you're done deleting all of the Fence Foundations underneath, you have.....ONE finished rail. YAY! Now you can start all over again for as many guard rails as you want. Here's a finished wooden watch tower with guard rails. http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=462343377 I hope this guide was able to help you build the guard rails of your dreams. Hopefully this can tide some of us over until we can get some actual guard rails (PLEASE DEVS?!).*****As of patch v220 (released 10/20/2015), this method is no longer needed. Railings have FINALLY been released in ARK. Praise Raptor Jesus!*****But as President Donald Trump noted, the polls were not without good news for the president. | Getty Trump blasts recent approval rating polls as 'fake news'
Even though they contained “some very positive info,” President Donald Trump on Monday decried a set of polls released over the weekend as “fake news” conducted by media outlets whose polling about last year’s presidential election had proven incorrect.
“The two fake news polls released yesterday, ABC & NBC, while containing some very positive info, were totally wrong in General E. Watch!” Trump wrote on Twitter Monday morning.
Story Continued Below
Topline numbers in both polls showed Trump with poor approval numbers: 54 percent of those polled by NBC News and The Wall Street Journal said they disapproved of his performance as president so far, while 53 percent said the same in the survey by ABC News and The Washington Post. Just 40 percent and 42 percent of respondents said they approve of his job performance thus far, respectively.
Other figures from the NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, including the share of respondents who feel Trump is honest and trustworthy, those who feel he is effective and getting things done, and those who feel he is changing the culture of Washington are all trending downward relative to a survey released in February.
But as Trump noted, the polls were not without good news for the president. The ABC/Washington Post poll showed that Trump would win a rematch of the 2016 election, with 96 percent of respondents who voted for him in November saying they would do so again compared with 85 percent who said the same of Clinton. The ABC/Washington Post poll also indicated that if the 2016 race were run again, Trump could possibly win the popular vote, which he lost to Clinton last November.
In the NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, more than 60 percent said they supported the president’s decision to order missile strikes against Syria in retaliation for its government's use of chemical weapons against a rebel-controlled region of its own nation.American architect Walter Burley Griffin beat more than 100 entrants competing to design the nation's capital.
Most people know that Walter Burley Griffin designed the original plan for Canberra. What's less well known is how much of his plan was never realised.
In Griffin's Canberra, a building for the people towered over the city, posing as a symbol of democracy and celebrating the achievements of the nation's citizens.
Yet anyone who's visited the nation's capital would know that politicians eventually claimed the prime real estate on Capital Hill.
External Link: Listen to the story
It's not the only diversion today's Canberra has taken from Griffin's original plans.
Here at Curious Canberra, we've been asked, "What are the coolest and weirdest things in Walter Burley Griffin's plan that have never been implemented?"
To answer this question from Sam G, I went back to Griffin's original plans from 1912.
Before we get to what wasn't built, it's important to understand why the plan was never fully executed.
Griffin's Canberra - what went wrong?
Share Walter Burley Griffin's winning design for the city.
In 1911, the Australian Government launched an international competition for the design of a new capital.
From Chicago, Walter Burley Griffin submitted designs drawn by his wife, Marion Mahony Griffin, and beat 136 other entrants to win the competition.
While Griffin remained in the United States, a government committee started selecting elements from various plans and began reworking the winning design.
Christopher Vernon, an associate professor from the University of Western Australia's School of Design, describes the result as "a real mosaic of ill-fitting puzzle pieces".
"He (Griffin) was absolutely, as you would imagine, beside himself," Vernon said.
Griffin petitioned the government to bring him to Australia to explain his vision.
Share Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin.
According to Vernon, the government eventually agreed and appointed him the "czar of the capital", handing him control of the plans.
But this may have been part of his undoing.
"He was only 36-years-old and all the people who were going to work for him were much older," he said.
"He was paid a much higher salary and their noses were going to be out of joint (from) the first day."
The bureaucrats spent several years trying to "white ant" his authority and eventually Griffin was placed on a series of three-month contracts.
Later he was stripped of his authority and offered a place on a design committee.
"Griffin says 'a camel is a horse designed by a committee and I'll have no part of it'," Vernon said.
He believes the bureaucrats created a situation that led to Griffin's resignation.
Brett Odgers from the Canberra chapter of the Walter Burley Griffin Society believes there were other reasons why the architect's plans weren't fully realised.
"There was also the First World War intervening and depriving the planning and construction of Canberra of funds," he said.
With all that in mind, here are the seven coolest things that didn't get built - with two small exceptions:
1. The Capitol Building in place of Parliament House
Griffin wanted a building for the people, in the place where Parliament House sits today.
Drawings indicate it would have been a ziggurat - or pyramid-shaped building - but less is known about the building's internal layout.
Share An illustration of the Capitol Building in Griffin's Canberra.
Vernon says it was meant to be an apolitical building that celebrated the achievements of the citizens and looked out over the city.
"So that wherever you moved around the city you saw a building symbolising and commemorating the people," he said.
Amy Lay, curator at the National Archives of Australia, says Parliament House would have been closer to the lake and beneath the Capitol Building.
"(He used) the idea of putting the people above the parliament by using the landscape to create that kind of response to Australia's population and democracy," she said.
2. A casino of a different kind
While casinos evoke images of gambling tables and betting chips, the word didn't have the same connotations back in the early 1900s.
Griffin's casino would have been a meeting place like a dance hall or a space to gather for political protests.
Share The original plan saw a casino at one end of Anzac Parade, where the Australian War Memorial is today.
"Griffin was a teetotaller and fairly conservative when it came to that sort of thing so I don't imagine he would have ever thought of a big gambling establishment in the heart of the national capital," Vernon said.
Lay says Anzac Parade would have led up to the casino.
"It would have been a really bustling kind of place rather than these sweeping expanses that we see (at the end of Anzac Parade)," she said.
3. A comprehensive tram network
Griffin's Canberra would have been connected by a network of trams that ran on a train line which joined north and south Canberra.
"The idea was that everyone would live within so many hundred metres of some place to get the tram," Vernon said.
He pointed out that Griffin designed the city in a different era and underestimated the impact of the car.
Share An artist's impression of Capital Metro light rail along Northbourne Avenue in Canberra.
More than 100 years on, the ACT government is starting to realise this element of Griffin's plan - the construction of light rail is underway.
"It is funny to see everything old is new again in some ways," Vernon said.
4. More medium density housing
Griffin imagined commercial and apartment buildings lining the lake's foreshore.
Share Developments like the Kingston Foreshore may come close to the housing Griffin initially envisaged.
Odgers says today's Canberra "does not come near" what Griffin planned but believes the construction of six-to-eight storey buildings on the corner of Anzac Parade and Constitution Avenue in Campbell are step towards his vision.
"So you'd have a more communal, collective city (rather) than a suburban city which Canberra very quickly became when Griffin left the scene," he said.
Lay tells me that Canberra developed in line with the Federal Capital Commission's concept of large blocks and single dwellings.
5. An arboretum
Vernon says Griffin's arboretum was modelled on the discovery of Gondwana and the idea that today's continents were once one land mass.
Share An early drawing of Griffin's arboretum, illustrating its layout.
He wanted to have plants from different continents in corresponding regions of the arboretum.
Lay says you can still see some of the early species in Weston Park.
"The only parts that remain of it today are the natives that would have stay in the Australia and New Zealand part of the arboretum."
The National Arboretum Canberra opened in 2013 and while it's home to native trees and species from all over the world, it doesn't fully reflect Griffin's original design.
6. A cultural hub
Share This document detailed Griffin's plan.
Griffin also imagined public gardens dotted with cultural institutions.
In a document detailing his plan for the Canberra, he mentioned baths, a gymnasia, stadium, zoological gardens and an opera theatre.
There would also be museums of archaeology, national history, plastic arts and graphic arts.
Vernon says Griffin wanted to provide opportunities for citizens to congregate and get involved in public spaces.
"Remembering there was no television there was a lot more emphasis on the public realm and doing things public," he said.
The cultural hub would have been located on the opposite side of the lake to the government buildings.
7. Coloured mountains
According to some, Griffin envisaged a city surrounded by colourful hills, each planted with different types of flowers and shrubs according to a colour scheme.
Black mountain slider Share Griffin had selected colours for both Black Mountain and Mount Ainslie. Share The colours of Canberra's mountains would be revealed in spring.
Black Mountain was meant to be yellow, Mount Ainslie would be pink and white, and Mount Mugga Mugga would have sprouted blue flowers.
"Before any of that planting came into fruition Walter Burley Griffin was out the door and off to other things," Lay said.
"But it's one of those lovely kind of ideas to imagine how Canberra could have looked with these different coloured hills in the background."Donald Trump assumed control of the Republican Party on Wednesday as its presumptive presidential nominee after Ohio Gov. John Kasich exited the race, moving swiftly to consider vice-presidential prospects and plan for what is expected to be a costly and vicious six-month battle for the White House against Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Trump, who has proudly touted how he has self-funded his campaign, said he would begin actively seeking donations for his campaign and raise money for the national party, part of the arduous task of coalescing a party deeply divided over his toxic brand of politics.
Party leaders are scrambling to stave off a parade of prominent Republicans endorsing Clinton, but already there were notable defections. The two living Republican past presidents, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, have no plans to endorse Trump, according to their spokesmen.
In the swing state of Nevada, Gov. Brian Sandoval, a moderate Republican and rising Latino star, said he plans to vote for Trump despite their disagreements on some issues. But Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) said that “I vehemently oppose our nominee” because he disparaged women, Hispanics and veterans — although Heller insisted he would not vote for Clinton.
Democrats rushed to exploit the moment. The Clinton campaign released a brutal video mash-up of Republican rivals condemning his character and fitness for office, while the former secretary of state called him “a loose cannon” and invited Republicans and independents seeking an alternative to Trump to join her.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump held a campaign event at Trump Tower in Manhattan, after sweeping the Indiana primary. (Victoria Walker/The Washington Post)
“Let’s get off the red or the blue team. Let’s get on the American team,” Clinton said on CNN.
In states coast to coast, meanwhile, Democrats tried to link embattled Republican senators and other officeholders to Trump in hopes that the shrapnel from his polarizing candidacy would impair Republicans down the ballot. Some Republicans tried to keep mum about Trump, and others gave puzzling statements that sought to walk a tightrope between embracing him and distancing themselves from him.
As some conservative commentators lit up social media with images of burning GOP registration cards, some party elders called for a healing process and sought to quiet talk of an independent protest candidacy.
“Life is a series of choices, and this choice looks like one between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton,” said Haley Barbour, a former Mississippi governor and national party chairman. “Anybody who proposes a third party is saying, ‘Let’s make sure Clinton wins.’ ”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) stood with Trump. “As the presumptive nominee, he now has the opportunity and the obligation to unite our party around our goals,” McConnell said in a statement.
Trump said he was hardly fretting about whether leading Republicans, such as 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney, would eventually back him.
“I believe that the people are going to vote for the person,” Trump said in an interview. “They love their party, but until this year the party was going in the wrong direction.... We’ve made the party much bigger.”
1 of 10 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad × 10 celebrities who say they’ll leave the U.S. if Donald Trump is elected president View Photos From Jon Stewart to Cher, some said they’d move to Canada, but some preferred another planet. Caption From Jon Stewart to Cher, some said they’d move to Canada, but some preferred another planet. Jon Stewart After the Emmy Awards in September, Stewart was asked whether he’d consider returning to "The Daily Show" if Donald Trump is elected president in 2016. “I would consider getting in a rocket and going to another planet because clearly this planet has gone bonkers," he said. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue.
Trump spent Wednesday holed up in his soaring New York skyscraper, plotting ways to repair his image and destroy the opponent he calls “Crooked Hillary.” He said he was shell-shocked by his sudden emergence as the Republican standard-bearer, having anticipated that his fight with Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.) and Kasich would continue until June’s California nominating contest. Both left the race in the wake of Trump’s resounding primary win Tuesday in Indiana.
“Who would have thought that I’d be here and we’d be waiting for Hillary?” Trump said, referring to Clinton being locked in a primary fight with Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.). “I was all set to move to California for a few weeks.”
Kasich, a career politician whose sunny campaign failed to gain traction in a year dominated by anti-establishment anger, suspended his bid Wednesday in an emotional speech tinged with wistful anecdotes about town-hall meetings he called “absolutely magic.”
“The people of our country changed me,” Kasich said in Columbus, Ohio. “The spirit, the essence of America lies in the hearts and souls of us. You see, some missed this message. It wasn’t sexy. It wasn’t a great sound bite.”
With Kasich and Cruz out, Trump and his advisers began making decisions about the general election. Though he has repeatedly touted his ability to self-finance his campaign, Trump said that he would seek donations going forward, especially small-dollar contributions from grass-roots supporters.
Trump acknowledged that he would have to liquidate some of his real estate holdings to muster the hundreds of millions of dollars needed to self-fund a credible fall campaign. “I mean, do I want to sell a couple of buildings and self-fund? I don’t know that I want to do that necessarily,” Trump said on MSNBC.
So far, Trump has given or loaned his campaign more than $36 million and accepted an additional $12 million in donations.
Trump said in an interview with The Washington Post that he would enter a joint fundraising agreement with the Republican National Committee and has scheduled a meeting Thursday with advisers to review the deal and finalize his finance strategy.
The arrangement would require him to seek support from a donor class that he has repeatedly excoriated. Top GOP financiers conferred privately about backing Trump. Among those still weighing his 2016 plans: hedge fund billionaire Paul Singer, who supported an anti-Trump super PAC and has not come around to the real estate tycoon, according to a person familiar with his views.
“He’s starting in a hole,” GOP campaign finance attorney Charlie Spies said of Trump. “He’s attacked all these people and said they are corrupt lobbyists.”
Recent White House nominees began assembling their fundraising operations as much as two years before the general election.
“I don’t see any way they can raise the hard dollars to be competitive,” said Fred Malek, who served as Sen. John McCain’s national finance chairman in 2008. “So unless Trump is willing to put in a substantial amount of his own money, he is going to have a mammoth financial disadvantage.”
Trump’s efforts could be bolstered by an allied super PAC, the Great America PAC, which the Trump campaign disavowed during the primaries. But in recent days, the group added professional operatives and now plans to court major contributors with Trump’s apparent blessing. The super PAC’s leaders held a donor conference call — which included retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, a trusted Trump ally whose participation was seen as a de facto blessing — to signal it was now the go-to super PAC for wealthy Trump friends.
Ed Rollins, who managed President Reagan’s 1984 reelection and has joined the super PAC as senior adviser, said on the call: “He’s going to need help. The Democrat world is going to raise extraordinary sums of money. They’re licking their chops.”
Rollins said in an interview that the group is considering activities beyond advertising, including field organizing in battleground states, research and polling. “There are big donors who have said to me in the last couple of days, ‘Listen, we don’t want to waste our money. We want to help Trump,’ ” he said.
As presumptive nominee, Trump will help shape the programming of the party’s July convention in Cleveland, and the convention and Trump staffs will begin working together.
The Trump campaign will quickly expand beyond what has been a relatively skeletal staff to do battle with Clinton’s sprawling operation. “Everything is a priority,” campaign manager Corey Lewandowski said.
Trump said in the Post interview that he is weighing potential running mates. He said he prioritizes someone with governing experience and with whom he has a good rapport, citing Barack Obama’s selection of Joe Biden as a model. He said he will hire a law firm in the coming days to oversee the vetting process and that Carson will be part of the selection team.
“In all fairness, when Obama chose Biden, it was an odd choice, and yet they have very good chemistry together and therefore it was a good choice for them,” Trump said. “So having good chemistry is very important.”
Trump said he has his eyes on Kasich, saying that during intermissions at debates the two gravitated toward each other. “I’ve always liked him and I’ve always gotten along with him,” Trump said. Is he on the short list? “Let’s put it this way,” Trump said, “he’s rising rapidly.”
Trump said he is eager to start receiving regular classified intelligence briefings from the U.S. government — a tradition for party nominees — and said he hopes to work with GOP congressional leaders to coordinate a cohesive policy agenda for the fall campaign.
“I’m very much a team player, and I look forward to working with Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan and Kevin McCarthy and everybody,” Trump said. He said he aims for “total cooperation,” though noted their clear differences on trade.
But Trump dismissed the idea of toning down his rhetoric and vowed to stand by his earlier, controversial calls to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the United States and to deport millions of undocumented immigrants.
“I really feel that it’s important that I do what’s right as opposed to necessarily cater to what’s going to play to the voters,” Trump said. “Because nobody really knows what plays with the voters, and I’m an example of that. If I tested some of the things I say out in polling, I probably wouldn’t do very well.”
Matea Gold, Mike DeBonis and Anne Gearan contributed to this report.Investigators from Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC) and 12 other centers in the United States and Australia have found that a new drug for patients with metastatic melanoma nearly doubled median overall survival. More than half of patients who were treated with the novel drug vemurafenib, known commercially as Zelboraf, responded to treatment and experienced an impressive median overall survival of nearly 16 months -- longer than the typical six to 10 months for most patients whose melanoma has spread beyond the initial tumor site. “This study confirms what we have discovered in our earlier trials. Many of our patients are exhibiting a strong, immediate response to this drug and some are living significantly longer, with manageable side effects,” said Sosman, professor of Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. “It was interesting to note that a few of the patients were treated with the drug for up to six months before showing convincing evidence of response.”NBC Announces 2013-2014 Schedule
NBC is starting next year with only two returning comedies, so there’s going to be a lot of newbies on the schedule next year. Plus, um, practically everything (with the exception of Monday’s edition of THE VOICE and LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS) returning will be on the move.
Take a look at the new schedule…
MONDAY
8-10 p.m. – “The Voice”
10-11 p.m. – “THE BLACKLIST”
TUESDAY
8-9 p.m. – “The Biggest Loser” (New Day and Time)
9-10 p.m. – “The Voice” (New time)
10-11 p.m. – “Chicago Fire” (New Day and Time)
WEDNESDAY
8-9 p.m. – “Revolution” (New Day and Time)
9-10 p.m. – “Law & Order: SVU”
10-11 p.m. – “IRONSIDE”
THURSDAY
8-8:30 p.m. – “Parks and Recreation” (New time)
8:30-9 p.m. – “WELCOME TO THE FAMILY”
9-9:30 p.m. – “SEAN SAVES THE WORLD”
9:30-10 p.m. – “THE MICHAEL J. FOX SHOW”
10-11 p.m. – “Parenthood” (New Day and Time)
FRIDAY
8-9 p.m. – “Dateline NBC”
9-10 p.m. – “Grimm”
10-11 p.m. – “DRACULA”
SATURDAY
Encore programming
SUNDAY
7:00-8:15 p.m. – “Football Night in America”
8:15-11:30 p.m. – “NBC Sunday Night Football”
NBC MIDSEASON 2013-14 SCHEDULE
(New programs in UPPER CASE; all times ET)
MONDAY
8-10 p.m. – “The Voice”
10-11 p.m. – “THE BLACKLIST”
TUESDAY
8-9 p.m. – “The Voice”
9-9:30 p.m. – “THE FAMILY GUIDE |
I was busy. So couple years working, up to 2011.
I started dating my current girlfriend. When you're in love you can't really be mad against the world. And at some point in 2012 she becomes pregnant.
Quebec students outraged by the provincial government’s proposed tuition hike march through downtown Montreal during a March 22, 2012 protest. (Ryan Remiorz/Canadian Press)
And you remember the Maple Spring, when Quebec students took over the streets in opposition to the government. I was completely in favor of abolition of tuition.
But my comrades in the Nazi movement, in the ultra-nationalist movement, they were against the students. And some of them even said that … you know, they were in the army, and they said if we're deployed I'm going to be happy to shoot at the students. And I was like, but how can you say that you hold the truth, when you don't want people to become [educated]?
DG: So you're starting to feel uneasy with all of this, then.
MF: Well, it didn't make sense anymore. I thought that we had it right. So in my view, going to university was great, but my comrades didn't think so. And that was a conflict that made me realize that, first, I think they like being stupid. And since I wasn't stupid, how could I be like them?
I also asked myself, do I want my daughter to be born in a world filled with these neo-Nazis running everywhere and running everything? No, of course not.
So I consciously replaced my views, which were pretty much based on elitism and exclusivism, by humanism.
DG: So it's a conscious decision, as you go through your belief system? You're changing them.
MF: Yes, it's what we call deconstruction.
DG: You do it to yourself?
MF: Of course, everybody should. If you don't deconstruct your beliefs, how do you know they are the right ones? You've got to go through everything that you hold sacred to know what is sacred. And I did. Three years later, I understood that I had been wrong. I was just shutting the door. The guy, the nationalist Maxime, who had been a neo-Nazi, who almost committed a terrorist attack — that wasn't me anymore at all.
DG: So is there a growing movement like this in Quebec?
MF: I don't know if it's growing. They're more active, but they have always been there. It's just more open now. Before last Sunday, people would feel that they had the right to say Islamophobic things. But when I was a kid, and even when I was a young adult, you didn't get to say these things without being blasted. Nobody would want to hear this. But I took part in legitimizing this hate speech, partly because of social media.
You know, you can't radicalize without a context. It doesn't happen out of the blue. It's common now to hear Islamophobic things everywhere in the media, on social media, at work, at school. You hear these things, and it becomes normalized. It has normalized racism. These hateful people give terrorists a reason to become one.
Radicalization, it's not about being crazy, it's about thinking that you've got it all right, and people need to die for your beliefs. And that's the textbook definition of terrorism, to use violence or threats against a group to fulfill an ideological agenda.
DG: So you're working now to try and stop kids from becoming like you were.
MF: Yeah. I thought that we had more time. I've been warning people since last November. November 1st, there was this big conference in Quebec City on radicalization. I took part in it. It was my first appearance in the media, but there have been some people that have been warning society as a whole for years that this was on the rise.
So I'm not the first one to say it, but I thought that we had more time before such a terrible thing happened. And maybe we had a year or two years to tell people about radicalization, how to recognize it, how to prevent it, how to activate networks of people who can help radicalized youth.
I work with the Centre for the Prevention of Radicalization Leading to Violence in Montreal. For now, we teach teachers. It really is prevention, because if there radicalization, there's a person in pain. You don't become radicalized because you're well in your life. There's going to be something that motivates you to become this radicalized person, just like street gangs, drugs. It is a problem that we as a society have a responsibility to prevent.
DG: Do you think Quebec is different than the rest of the country?
MF: Not necessarily different. There is one difference though. Here, we have this very nationalist party on the provincial scale, and their project for a charter of values, that was a bad move. It did not unite people, it divided people. It created more exclusion and made more people vulnerable.
But you know, you have extreme-right folks everywhere in the world. In every Western country, you have extreme-right groups. You have neo-Nazi skinheads, you have Islamophobic [web] pages.
So you see it's not only in Quebec, but of course, Quebec has a big problem about it.
DF: But you're a French-Canadian saying this. A nationalist.
MF: I was nationalist. I'm not anymore. Not at all. In Quebec, nationalism has a responsibility to start deconstructing itself and asking questions. What do we want as a nation? Let's say that Quebec was to separate. OK. What we need to discuss is how it affects people, especially vulnerable people, like minorities, Muslims. These persons are Quebecers too.
Quebec Premier Jacques Parizeau gestures during his speech to Yes supporters after losing the referendum in Montreal Monday night, Oct. 30, 1995. (Canadian Press/Ryan Remiorz)
Everybody remembers the words of "money and the ethnic vote." [Quebec Premier Jacques Parizeau blamed the loss of the 1995 referendum on "money and the ethnic vote."] I took it personally when I was a kid, and it just brought me to believe, at some point, that some rich people were actually involved in forcing the government to allow massive immigration to dilute Quebec culture. I believed that.
DG: What is the tragedy at the mosque going to mean for Quebec?
MF: Most people are sincerely touched by what happened, and I think that it's an occasion for us in Quebec, but also in Canada, as a whole, to speak.
People light candles during a vigil on Parliament Hill, in response to the shooting at a Quebec City mosque on Sunday that killed six people, Monday, Jan. 30, 2017 in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
DG: Talk is going to change people's ideas?
MF: It's already begun. There's a 6,000-person page on Facebook in Quebec that is supposedly against Islamization that has said, we're shutting off, because they feel they have a responsibility in what happened. People talk, and it might change things for the better.
Related links:
Click the 'play' button above to hear David Gutnick's full conversation with Maxime Fiset. The partial transcript above has been edited for length and clarity.Xavier Becerra, the chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, barely reacted when he learned the caucus server had been infiltrated in 2016, although he loudly decried the hack of the Democratic National Committee that happened around that same time. No one has faced punishment for the caucus server infiltration.
The then-congressman, who is now California’s attorney general, refused to articulate even the barest details of the cyber breach at a press conference Wednesday, and would not say whether he’s seeking criminal charges against longtime IT aide Imran Awan and his family.
Members of the Awan family logged on to the Caucus server 7,000 times without authorization between October 2015 and August 2016, according to a House investigation. The logins suggested “the server is being used for nefarious purposes and elevated the risk that individuals could be reading and/or removed information,” it said.
Multiple sources said Sean McCluskie, who was Becerra’s chief of staff and is now chief deputy attorney general of California, knew of problems well before law enforcement was brought on board in October 2016.
Imran’s brother Abid Awan had no connection to either the caucus or Becerra’s congressional office and had no authorization or reason to log in, but he was doing so anyway, according to investigators. Becerra had paid Imran to manage his personal office server since 2004, adding in his wife Hina Alvi as a second IT aide in 2013. Hina Alvi was also the sole IT aide on the payroll of the caucus, which has its own staff and equipment. Other aides had no connection or authorization to access it.
McCluskie suspected Abid and quietly tried to address the issue by quietly blocking him. Abid defied him and continued to access the server, which should have raised urgent red flags, the sources said.
“The Caucus Chief of Staff requested one of the shared employees to not provide IT services or access their computers,” but “this shared employee continued,” the House report found. The logins continued for months, and eventually, police said the entire server with evidence on it disappeared and was replaced with a different one.
The Daily Caller News Foundation asked Becerra about the incident and his response to it on Wednesday.
“Go back and research your facts, you’ve got them wrong. I understand that this matter is still under investigation, and we have cooperated with the authorities both within Congress and with the federal government on this,” Becerra said. He refused four times to say what facts he was contesting or to elaborate on the incident in any way.
His reaction is odd given Democrats’ vocal abhorrence of the breach of the DNC resulting in the publication of its emails by Wikileaks, which Democrats have called an “assault on our democracy.” Early signs of that breach were treated casually by the DNC when first detected: A tech manager said he was too busy with other matters to chase down leads, the FBI’s calls weren’t returned, the DNC delayed a response to focus on the primaries, and Donna Brazile said when DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz finally relayed the news of the breach to officers weeks later, her tone was “casual.”
But even after the Wikileaks publication of DNC emails, Becerra never publicly acknowledged nor demanded consequences for the cyber breach on the server of a group similar in nature to the DNC.
Eighteen months later, no one has been charged or disciplined for the breach, which is perhaps not surprising since the victims don’t appear to be asking for it.
The Awan family was logging in to Becerra’s Caucus server with 17 different accounts belonging to offices whose data should have had no connection to the caucus, according to the House investigative report. The patterns were consistent with data being funneled onto Becerra’s server from other members of Congress, but members said Becerra never alerted them of any aberrations.
When TheDCNF broke the story about the caucus server in September, neither a Becerra representative nor McCluskie acknowledged the breach occurred. A spokesman finally told Fox News a month later that “since he was first approached by the authorities, AG Becerra has worked with them to provide them the information requested.”
Along with Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, Becerra was Awan’s most consistent and earliest backer. He hired him in 2004, and between his personal office and the caucus that he controlled, paid the Awan family more money than any other member, payroll data shows.
This means examining Awan’s activities in 2016 could have created problems for Becerra and raised questions about more than a decade of potentially-compromised data as well as his judgment for not acting on warning signs. After 2004, Imran’s entire family — and a friend whose most recent job experience was at McDonald’s –eventually joined the House payroll. The staffers were mostly paid chief-of-staff level salaries, and newly-elected members said other lawmakers encouraged them to put the on their payroll by other lawmakers.
A senior Republican official with direct knowledge of the probe told TheDCNF “they [the Awans] had access to all the data including all emails. Imran Awan is the walking example of an insider threat, a criminal actor who had access to everything.”
“They were using the House Democratic Caucus as their central service warehouse … It was a breach. The data was completely out of [the members’] possession. Does it mean it was sold to the Russians? I don’t know,” the official said.
On Jan. 24, 2017, Becerra vacated his congressional seat to become California’s attorney general and hoped to clear his data. “We asked for an image of the server, and [the Awans] deliberately turned over a fake server,” the senior official said.
It was only then that the Awans were banned from the network. Since that time, Democrats have claimed they have never been informed of any breach, and those who did know — including Becerra — have gone to lengths to avoid discussing it or even defended the Awans. Wasserman Schultz suggested Islamophobia fueled criticism of the Awans’ alleged behavior. IT colleagues said they have long sensed something untoward in members’ relationship with the Awans, and even suspected that the Awans might be blackmailing members with their own emails.
Investigators also suspected the Awans of falsifying invoices for computer equipment in the House, and their attorneys said members of Congress or their staffs told them to fudge the records.
After the Awans were banned, the reasons for concern only worsened:
Prosecutors have said both Imran Awan and his wife Hina Alvi tried to flee the country, with Awan using an alias.
Imran left a laptop with the username RepDWS in a phone booth with a letter to prosecutors in March 2017 after being banned from the House network, according to a Capitol Police report.
Imran’s stepmom said in a civil suit that “Imran Awan threatened that he is very powerful and if I ever call the police again, [he] will … kidnap my family members.” His wife Hina said in a Pakistani suit that he “threatened the complainant of dire consequences, he also threatened to harm the lives of family of [Hina] if she intervenes.” Another woman filed a police report in Virginia saying Imran was keeping her “like a slave.”
It emerged that Imran had a secret email address, 123@mail.house.gov, that was not turned off when he was banned, and it used name of an employee for Rep. Andre Carson who specialized in intelligence matters, according to court documents.
It emerged that the Awans own significant real estate holdings in Pakistan that locals say were the fruits of fraud, that charges there were dropped under political pressure, and that they sent money to a Pakistani police officer.
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On public facilities in parts of Tamil Nadu, a family radiates happiness from a poster that advertises "Namma Toilets" or Toilets For All.In reality, what the family feels is closer to shame and humiliation.The family stays at a slum dwelling in Coimbatore, and its members say they were never asked before their photo was used on the toilet campaign, which talks about a "universal design approach to eradicate open defecation in urban Tamil Nadu."The pictures, they say, were taken for a census photograph by civic officials last year."We feel ashamed... posters have been put up in Chennai, Ooty, Kunoor, Andhra... all over the place...our children are not able to go to school, my daughter is feeling ashamed because everyone ask her about the posters," said the woman who is a part of the family. She alleged that their images were used only because they belong to the Dalit or underprivileged caste."There should be immediate action...or we will have to go to court against the government," she said.The family, and its neighbours in the slum, today went around tearing down the posters put up on civic body-run public toilets in Coimbatore.They later walked to the district collector's office with a petition demanding the removal of the posters.A young girl whose face is also on the poster, alleged discrimination, saying, "These photos of Namma Toilets have been circulated on Facebook and social media...we feel humiliated. Despite the law saying discrimination against Dalits is a crime, the government itself is discriminating."The Tamil Nadu government recently launched hundreds of public toilets across the state and the "offending" poster is displayed on most of them. Ms Gandhimathi, Deputy Commissioner of the Coimbatore Corporation said "We received these seventeen toilets from Chennai through the Deparatment of Municipal Administration. We have informed them. Very soon we would remove those pictures after we get a nod from them".The nominations are in and as usual, the James Beard Foundation has named some Vermonters among the semifinalists for its restaurant and chef awards.
For his fourth consecutive year, Eric Warnstedt, chef-owner of Hen of the Wood in Waterbury has made the short list for Best Chef Northeast. Could this be the year he finally takes home the medal?
Max MacKinnon, chef and co-owner at Pistou in Burlington (on the left, next to co-owner Maji Chien), found out that his two-month-old business was nominated for the country's best new restaurant when a friend from St. Louis Tweeted him congratulations. "We had no idea to expect it,"he says, still in shock. "I didn't even know [the nominations] were coming out today."
MacKinnon says he attended the New York awards ceremony as a guest last year, never imagining he might be there as a nominee this May. He'll find out on March 19, when finalists are announced. "It's a little crazy," he says. "I'm not even sure what to think about it. It's exciting."
And we're always glad when the Beard Foundation recognizes some of our favorites.I tend to avoid rookie receivers. My sense is they don't usually live up to the hype. But is that fair? Here are the rookie wideouts who have been drafted in ESPN's ADP top 160 over the past five years and how they performed in their first NFL campaigns:
Three out of the past four have been bad, but in total, six of these 11 players actually outperformed their draft position (although the recent bad taste of Tavon Austin lingers). It seems it is actually possible to get good fantasy value out of first-year pass-catchers, even ones who bear the stench of hype.
What about this year's crop? Four rookie WRs were drafted in the ADP top 160: Sammy Watkins (100th), Mike Evans (130th), Brandin Cooks (136th) and Kelvin Benjamin (140th). Watkins (3 catches, 31 yards) and Evans (5 for 37) didn't do much in Week 1. Cooks (7 for 77, 1 TD) was terrific. But statistically, the best of the bunch was Benjamin: six grabs for 92 yards and a TD. And at the moment, he's the rookie I'm most interested in for fantasy.
Benjamin
Certainly, my interest is partly about opportunity. Whereas Cooks has to compete for targets with a deep and talented New Orleans Saints receiving corps, Benjamin already looks like a clear No. 1. The Carolina Panthers are trundling out Jerricho Cotchery and Jason Avant in two- and three-receiver sets. If he stays healthy and doesn't make too many mistakes, Benjamin is almost guaranteed the most WR snaps and targets on this team. That's pretty incredible, considering the consensus opinion of Benjamin at Florida State was that he was too raw to be an NFL wideout right away. He's obviously impressed Carolina's coaches, as they're willing to enter a Super Bowl-dreaming season with a rookie as their best (only?) outside threat.
I ranked Benjamin 21st in my WR ranks for Week 2, higher than any other rookie wideout and very high for a player who, as of this writing, was still available in 46 percent of ESPN leagues. Part of that rank is a disbelief in the Detroit Lions' secondary. But part is my acceptance of how heavily the Panthers are prepared to lean on Benjamin. To that end, let's look at how they used him in Week 1.
Benjamin played on eight of the Panthers' first nine offensive snaps. On each of those plays, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers stationed a defensive back directly across from him, and bumped him at the line. Then the 10th play came, and they tried it again:
NFL/Fox
Benjamin's route here is a post, where he wants to get across cornerback Johnthan Banks' face and present himself running diagonally down the field. Banks -- a 2013 second-round pick who goes 6-foot-2 and 185 pounds -- is supposed to get his hands on Benjamin and mess up his timing. Some of the reason Banks was a high draft pick traces to his size and his ability to press receivers at the line. The Bucs assumed Benjamin wasn't going to "out-quick" Banks, so their plan was to get up on him and make it difficult for him to run his routes. Here's a close-up of how Benjamin felt about that:
NFL/Fox
Just who's doing the chucking here? Benjamin -- who goes 6-foot-5 and 240 pounds -- gets his arms on Banks first, and begins driving him backward like a blocking sled. Banks is off-balance and can't catch up, Benjamin's route is unimpeded, and he makes his first regular-season NFL catch, an 11-yard gain.
What happened next reveals something about Benjamin. The next time the Panthers got the ball, Tampa's coverage had changed for the first time: The DB across from Benjamin was seven yards off the line. It would be an overstatement to say the Bucs never pressed Benjamin again. They definitely did. But they were more judicious with it, because they'd seen how strong he is getting off the line.
Now, the first seven of Benjamin's Week 1 targets came on the exact same route: a post. That's not to say every single route he ran was a post, but when Derek Anderson (subbing for Cam Newton) actually threw it to him, Benjamin began running straight down the field, then broke inward diagonally toward the goalpost. Clearly, opposing defenses -- beginning with the Lions this week -- will be on the lookout for this route. A limited route tree could be something that hinders Benjamin as the season goes on.
But then came Benjamin's final target, on the first play of the fourth quarter. The Panthers were just outside the red zone, and Benjamin ran an indifferent, "Great Circle" fly pattern -- basically he just kind of meandered down the field around press coverage, not so much a route as a lazy sprint -- and Anderson threw the ball up into the end zone. It could easily have been picked, or at least defended. Instead, Mike Jenkins committed pass interference futilely trying box out the giant Benjamin, who caught the ball for a TD anyway. He was covered. He just used those long arms to reach around Jenkins and catch the pass against the DB's body. It was the kind of red zone work that, while not reflecting route-running proficiency, nevertheless gets fantasy owners drooling.
The takeaway here is yes, of course, Benjamin is raw. He doesn't do a great many things with finesse. But he's strong and he's big. He's a bloody handful. Given the workload the Panthers seem set to offer him, Benjamin should be considered a borderline fantasy starter -- albeit perhaps a feast-or-famine one -- most weeks in most leagues. And at the very least, he should be added in all leagues.Missing Malaysia Airlines plane: Chinese satellites spot new possible debris from MH370
Updated
Chinese satellite images have detected a large object in the southern Indian Ocean that could be part of missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.
The latest possible lead came as the search for the missing plane entered its third week, with still no confirmed trace found of the Boeing 777 or the 239 people on board.
Australian authorities have plotted the latest object spotted by China ahead of a fourth day of searching for the jet in the search zone about 2,500 kilometres south-west of Perth.
The new potential sighting was dramatically announced by Malaysia's acting transport minister, Hishammuddin Hussein, after he was handed a note with details during a news conference in Kuala Lumpur, scooping the official announcement from China.
"Chinese ships have been dispatched to the area," Mr Hishammuddin said.
China said the object was 22 metres long and 13 metres wide, and was spotted about 120 kilometres south-west of two possible objects seen on satellite images taken on March 16 and announced by the Australian Government on Thursday.
The image was captured by the high-definition Earth observation satellite Gaofen-1 early on March 18, two days after the Australian satellite picture was taken, China's State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence (SASTIND) said on its website.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said Australia was promptly informed of the sighting.
"Whether the unusual floating object is related to the missing passenger plane awaits further analysis and verification," he said.
"Chinese sea and air rescue forces are rushing to the relevant area of the southern Indian Ocean to carry out search and rescue operations."
Search off Perth to continue 'indefinitely': Acting PM Truss
The development comes after Acting Prime Minister Warren Truss said the Australian-led search in seas off Western Australia's coast would continue "indefinitely".
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) is coordinating the hunt in the vast southern search corridor for the jet that went missing on March 8.
Searching on Saturday focused on a 36,000 square kilometre area of wild and remote sea in the Indian Ocean.
Six aircraft - three RAAF P3 Orions, a New Zealand P3 Orion and two long-range commercial jets - scoured the area along with two merchant ships, but there were no reports of any wreckage being found.
During yesterday's search, a civilian plane reported sighting small objects in the water.
AMSA says a specialist Orion aircraft could see nothing but seaweed, but dropped a marker buoy to track movement of the material and a merchant ship has been sent to locate and identify it.
The search will resume at first light today, with two extra planes from China expected to join in.
"In addition there are a number of vessels now being despatched from around the world to join in the sea search," Mr Truss told reporters in Perth yesterday.
Dimensions of the Boeing 777-200ER Wing span: 60.9 metres
Overall length: 63.7 metres
Tail height: 18.5 metres
Fuselage diameter: 6.19 metres
Mr Truss echoed Prime Minister Tony Abbott's warning that the object spotted on March 16 might be a lost shipping container or other debris and may have sunk.
"Even though this is not a definite lead, it is probably more solid than any other lead around the world and that is why so much effort and interest is being put into this search," he said.
The Australian naval vessel HMAS Success, which is capable of picking up any wreckage, was due on the scene on Saturday afternoon.
China said its icebreaker Snow Dragon was heading for the search area, but was still around 70 hours away.
Japan and India said they are sending more planes and Chinese navy vessels were steaming towards the southern search zone.
In their latest press briefing, Malaysian authorities noted that Tropical Cyclone Gillian was heading from Christmas Island towards the southern search corridor.
However, the AMSA says the storm will not impact the search.
On Saturday, the search crews had taken advantage of good weather, with 10 kilometres of visibility, according to officials - a crucial boost for a search that is relying more on human eyes than the technical wizardry of the most advanced aircraft in the world.
No sign of plane in northern corridor but search will continue
Where the missing plane went after it flew out of range of Malaysia's military radar off the country's north-west coast has been one of the most puzzling aspects of what has quickly become perhaps the biggest mystery in modern aviation history.
Electronic "pings" detected by a commercial satellite suggested it flew for another six hours or so, but could do no better than place its final signal on one of two vast arcs: a northern corridor from Laos to the Caspian Sea, and a southern one stretching from Indonesia down to the part of the Indian Ocean that has become the focal point of the search.
Malaysia has said the search will continue in both corridors until confirmed debris is found.
China, India, Pakistan, Myanmar, Laos, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan had all said, based on preliminary analysis, that there have been no sightings of the aircraft on their radar, Mr Hishammuddin said.
Aircraft and ships have renewed the search in the Andaman Sea between India and Thailand, going over areas in the northern corridor that have already been exhaustively swept.
The Pentagon said it was considering a request from Malaysia for sonar equipment.
The P8 and P3 spy planes, which the United States is already deploying in the search, also carry "sonobuoys" that are dropped into the sea and use sonar signals to search the waters below.
The search itself has strained ties between China and Malaysia, with Beijing repeatedly leaning on Kuala Lumpur to step up its hunt and do a better job at looking after the relatives of the Chinese passengers, who made up two-thirds of the flight.
Flight MH370 vanished from civilian radar screens early into its flight on March 8, less than an hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur on a scheduled flight to Beijing.
Investigators believe someone on board shut off the plane's communications systems, and partial military radar tracking showed it turning west and re-crossing the Malay Peninsula, apparently under the control of a skilled pilot.
That has led them to focus on hijacking or sabotage, but they have not ruled out technical problems.
For families of the passengers, the process has proved to be an emotionally wrenching battle to elicit information.
In a statement on Saturday, relatives in Beijing lambasted a Malaysian delegation for "concealing the truth" and "making fools" out of the families after they said they left a meeting without answering all their questions.
"This kind of conduct neglects the lives of all the passengers, shows contempt for all their families, and even more, tramples on the dignity of Chinese people and the Chinese government," they said.
Some experts have argued that the reluctance to share sensitive radar data and capabilities in a region fraught with suspicion amid China's military rise and territorial disputes may have hampered the search.
ABC/Reuters/AFP
Topics: air-and-space, accidents, disasters-and-accidents, malaysia, china
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On the eve of Arsène Wenger’s 1,000th match in charge of Arsenal, there is an irresistible temptation to call it a reign of two halves. If the first 500 matches represent the years of enlightenment, the years of wonder, the years of plenty, the second 500 represent the years in which the financial landscape of English football changed and this great luminary was, at times, plunged into darkness.
To cut to the chase, to paint this initially as a black-and-white picture before trying to embellish with the all-important shades of grey, Arsenal’s last trophy came in Wenger’s 497th match as manager, the 2005 FA Cup Final against Manchester United. The 500th was a narrow but chastening away defeat by José Mourinho’s Chelsea team. Even with…“Cambodia has undeniably progressed over the past 20 years, with peace and stability bringing enormous dividends in terms of wealth and development,” Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Cambodia Surya P. Subedi said in a message marking today's 20th anniversary of the accords that ended the war with the Khmer Rouge, whose 1975-1979 regime is estimated to have killed up to three million people in what is widely recognized as genocide.
“Institutions have been established and laws written. However the challenge remains in the implementation of many of these laws and proper functioning of these institutions,” he said, calling for the vision of the peace agreements to be turned into reality for all Cambodians.
“The independence of the judiciary needs to be anchored in fundamental laws on the judiciary, which have been awaiting adoption since 1993 and the pluralist democracy in the country needs to be deepened and strengthened, particularly as Cambodia enters two election years,” he stressed.
Last week Judge Siegfried Blunk, international co-investigating judge on the UN-backed tribunal set up to try those accused of the worst crimes under the Khmer Rouge regime, resigned, citing repeated statements by senior Government officials opposing progress on two cases concerning senior Khmer Rouge members suspected of responsibility in the deaths of thousands of people.
Yesterday UN Legal Counsel Patricia O'Brien met with Cambodia's Deputy Prime Minister Sok An in Phnom Penh, the South-east Asian country's capital, and urged the Government to refrain from interfering in any way with the tribunal, officially known as the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC).
“Impunity needs to be addressed for the crimes of the Khmer Rouge period as well as for crimes committed since then, and the right to freedom of association, expressly mentioned in the agreements, needs to be carefully protected and nurtured if Cambodia is to remain on the right road,” Mr. Subedi said in his message.
“As we mark the 20th anniversary of the agreements, all parties should reaffirm their commitment to the full implementation of the agreements so that their vision and legacy may become reality.”Nickell Robey came on last year as an undrafted free agent and made a statement to the Bills coaching staff and at that time defensive coordinator, Mike Pettine, that he was the real deal standing at 5’8″ tall and being the smallest player on the team.
He still holds the honors of being the smallest player on the team, but his nickel spot on defensive is in question with the free agent signing of Corey Graham from the Ravens.
So far through OTAs, Graham has been the starter at the nickel spot, leaving the question what will happen with Robey, who seemed to come away with the big play now and again. Nickell Robey did come out with the first team backs yesterday in OTAs but was bookend by Mario Butler and Ron Brooks. The second team consisted of Stephon Gilmore, Leodis McKelvin and Corey Graham.
Defensive Coordinator, Jim Schwartz, has stated that Robey will have a role in his defense but will Robey’s size hold up in the new defensive scheme?
“He’s certainly going to have a role,” Schwartz said. “He’s been one of our best players through our OTAs so far.” “I’ll tell you what,” Schwartz said. “If you measure heart — if you measure things like that — he’s 6-foot-10.”
Robey reminds me of another small cornerback that the Bills had a couple of years ago; Antoine Winfield. Robey is not the big hitter that Winfield was but he is a small player that plays a big game. I wouldn’t be surprised if Schwartz has something set up for Robey in his defensive thought process.
It is too early to tell where everyone will land, especially, with Corey Graham being in the mix for a possible move to safety. If that happens, look for Robey to step back into the spot that he held down all of last year.IF the thought of studying conjures up images of textbooks and exam halls, then think again.
Learning will become more mouthwatering and hands-on later this year, when a new course opens dedicated to York’s proud role as a chocolate city.
Chocoholics, history enthusiasts and local residents are invited to sign up for the course, which will tour some of the city’s most historic sites and chart the rise of chocolate from the Mayans to the modern day.
Making The Chocolate City will be led by local businesswoman Sophie Jewett, from York Cocoa House in Blake Street, through the University of York’s Centre for Lifelong Learning.
Students will learn about the history of chocolate, its arrival in England and the growth of York as a confectionery city famous around the world. The course will take place over ten consecutive Monday afternoons from October to December.
Ms Jewett said: “I’m excited to be able to work with so many unique and enthusiastic organisations and individuals to delve into the background and history that made York such a significant player in the world’s chocolate industry.
“This story has been evolving in York for hundreds of years and is as integral to its character as Vikings and Railways.
“York’s story with chocolate didn’t start with two big chocolate factories.
‘‘There is a much longer and complex background to it. With the enthusiasm to discover its history and celebrate its legacies, this course can ensure that this history continues.”
Each class will be held at a different venue, with one each at The Borthwick Institute, The Merchant Adventurers’ Hall, York Castle Museum, The National Railway Museum, Fairfax House, Terry’s Shop, Goddards, The Mansion House, The Rowntree Society and York Cocoa House.
Places can be booked with the University of York Centre for Lifelong Learning on 01904 328473 or email lifelonglearning@york.ac.uk
The chocolate cups in the picture are made of silver and carved coconut shells that date back to 1624 and 1682 and were donated by JB Morrell, a former lord mayor and Rowntree director.France is plotting to create a Euro Army
Moves to create a European Army controlled from Brussels have been revealed.
France is pushing for a new dedicated military headquarters and more fighting formations.
The French take over the EU presidency next month and will use their six-month term to drive forward ambitious plans to develop Europe's own military structures - a move which critics claim will undermine Nato by excluding the U.S.
Gordon Brown was forced to make a hurried denial, playing down the prospects of a Euro Army, as the fiercely divisive issue returned to the political agenda.
Critics in the UK are deeply suspicious of strengthening the EU's military identity - fearing that the French see it as a way to challenge Washington's world dominance.
Federalists, however, see a Euro Army as a key building-block |
. Ash Meadows
Ash Meadows is the discharge point for a groundwater system extending over a hundred miles to the northeast. Thirty seeps and springs bring to the surface "fossil" water which entered the groundwater system thousands of years ago. Ash Meadows is home to 26 species of endemic plants and animals, including three other endangered fish (two of them pupfish) and seven threatened plants. Tsunami in the Desert Devils Hole is a window into this vast aquifer and an unusual indicator of seismic activity around the world. Large earthquakes as far away as Japan, Indonesia and Chile have caused the water to'slosh' in Devils Hole like water in a bathtub. Waves may spash as high as two meters up the walls, sweeping clean the shallow shelf so important to the pupfish. Watch this YouTube video of a 'tsunami' in Devils Hole caused by a 7.4 magnitude earthquake in Oaxaca, Mexico on March 20, 2012. Learn more and see another video in this Scientific American article. Devils Hole Pupfish
Earlier pluvial (wet) periods allowed colonization of present sites; subsequent xeric (dry) conditions served to isolate the aquatic habitats, with the result that the inhabiting organisms have differentiated and evolved into the relict species found today. The Devils Hole pupfish have been isolated 10,000 to 20,000 years, longer than any other in the Death Valley system. Devils Hole itself is a water-filled cavern cut into the side of a hill. The cavern is over 500 feet (152 m) deep and the bottom has never been mapped. Devils Hole provides its resident pupfish with conditions of constant temperature (92°F, 33°C) and salinity, unlike the fluctuating environments of many other pupfish. Although pupfish have been found as deep as 66 feet (20 m), the fish forage and spawn exclusively on a shallow rock shelf near the surface, feeding on the algae and diatoms found there. The Devils Hole pupfish is considered an annual species, with the historic population fluctuating between 100 - 200 in winter and 300-500 in late summer. Research indicates that pupfish population numbers respond primarily to the amount of algae present on the shelf. The algal growth depends, in turn, on the amount of solar radiation the shelf receives and the concentration of nutrients in the water. Finally, recent evidence suggests that nutrient availability is highest when the cave is used by barn owls (Tyto alba) as a roosting/nesting site. The owls increase the pool nutrient levels by casting nutrient-rich pellets into the water. Conservation Efforts
The history of conservation efforts for the Devils Hole pupfish is instructive. The Devils Hole unit was added to Death Valley National Monument by presidential proclamation in 1952. Ten years later the NPS installed a hydrograph in the Hole to monitor water levels. Subsequently, the Hole was fenced after two divers drowned in its water. In 1967 the Devils Hole pupfish was officially listed as an endangered species. New Threats
That same year saw a farming corporation amass 12,000 acres (4,900 ha) in the Ash Meadows area; by 1968 the hydrograph had begun to register a decline as large capacity wells were drilled and pumped in Ash Meadows. The alarming water drop threatened to expose the critical spawning/feeding shelf and precipitated the formation of two groups to work for protection of Devils Hole: the Desert Fishes Council in the West, and the Desert Pupfish Task Force in Washington D.C. By 1970, drastic conservation efforts had been undertaken: refugia populations were established, and a floating artificial shelf, artificially lighted, was suspended in Devils Hole to substitute for the partially exposed natural rock shelf. The fish never used the artificial shelf. In August of 1971 a federal court issued an injunction to halt further pumping, that threatened to completely expose the natural shelf. Further litigation finally resulted in the landmark Supreme Court decision of 1976 (Cappaert vs. U.S.). It recognized the prior water right of Devils Hole vis-a-vis its designation as part of a national monument. The permanent injunction did not halt pumping, but limited it to a level which guaranteed sufficient water to inundate the natural rock shelf. Recovery
In their Devils Hole pupfish recovery plan of 1980 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service designated as essential habitat about 21,000 acres where the groundwater most influenced the water level in the Hole. One of the identified goals of the recovery plan was to maintain the aquifer at such levels that the population fluctuates from 300 in winter to 700-900 in late summer. The water source for the Devils Hole pupfish was now adequately secured, but the remainder of Ash Meadows was as yet unprotected. A land development company bought the Ash Meadows land from the farm corporation in 1977, planning to subdivide the area into 30,000 residential lots. This new threat to the Ash Meadows region prompted California Senator Alan Cranston to introduce legislation in 1981 which would establish a Desert Pupfish National Wildlife Refuge. Furthermore, in 1982 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service emergency-listed as endangered two more of the fish species in Ash Meadows, thereby conferring protection to all three levels of pools in the area. Finally, in 1984 Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge was established by Congress. The Nature Conservancy bought the bulk of the land from the development company and resold it to the USFWS. By 1986 the USFWS had drafted a recovery plan for the entire Ash Meadows area, including Devils Hole. A Mysterious Decline
Starting in the mid-1990s, the Devils Hole pupfish population began what was to become a severe decline. Studies have been undertaken to better understand energy flow in the system, water chemistry, pupfish genetics, organisms living the the water, and other factors. Although the decline’s cause has not yet been determined, knowledge of the Devils Hole ecosystem has been greatly extended. Efforts continue to save this species that has existed for ten thousand years.Rep. Devin Nunes. Getty Images
A former top lawyer for the CIA, the National Security Agency, and the Department of Defense expressed shock in an interview with Business Insider that the House Intelligence Committee chair, Devin Nunes, went to the White House to share information with President Donald Trump on Wednesday, even as Nunes' panel had been looking into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Robert Deitz, who held those posts in the administrations of President Bill Clinton and of President George W. Bush, said Nunes' Wednesday trip to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue was "unbelievable."
"What the hell is Nunes doing at the White House?" Deitz, who is now a professor at George Mason University, said. "The idea that a person working in a committee that down the road at least is supposed to be looking into Russian influence in US elections... would go racing to the White House — and to do what? Get his tummy rubbed? I just find unbelievable."
"Moreover, he could well be disclosing information that is of course highly classified," he continued. "Of course, not that Mr. Trump doesn't have the proper classifications — by definition he does — but, you just don't pass that information on willy-nilly. So I don't get that scene at all."
Nunes, a California Republican, caused a stir Wednesday when he told a press gathering that the intelligence community had "incidentally collected" information on the Trump transition team during the transition period. He went on to say the collection occurred on "numerous occasions" and was not related to the FBI's investigation into Russian meddling in last year's presidential election.
"Details about US persons associated with the incoming administration, details with little or no apparent foreign intelligence value, were widely disseminated in intelligence community reporting," Nunes said, adding that the information he spoke of was collected legally, in his view, under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
The Trump administration was not aware of what he was describing to the press at that point, so he then went to the White House immediately following the press briefing to discuss his findings, a situation that many observers found odd.
A member of Trump's transition team, Nunes finds himself leading the House Intelligence Committee's investigation into Russia's effort to manipulate the 2016 US presidential election. It was during a hearing Monday in front of Nunes' committee that FBI Director James Comey confirmed that the bureau had been investigating potential ties between the Trump campaign and the Russian government since late July. Comey also said the FBI and the Department of Justice could provide no evidence to back up Trump's explosive Twitter claim that President Barack Obama wiretapped him, an item that Nunes insisted Wednesday his new revelations did not prove.
President Donald Trump. Evan Vucci/AP Images
Following his meeting at the White House, Nunes told the press he found nothing wrong with briefing the president on information that could be related to an ongoing investigation into members of his administration and campaign team.
"Because what I saw had nothing to do with Russia and the Russian investigation," Nunes said. "It has everything to do with possible surveillance activities, and the president needs to know these intelligence reports are out there, and I have a duty to tell him that."
Nunes hadn't shared the information he was discussing publicly and with the White House with his fellow intelligence committee members. The ranking Democrat on the committee, Adam Schiff, blasted him in a press conference early Wednesday evening, saying Nunes' moves compromised the independence of the investigation the committee was attempting to conduct.
Rep. Jackie Speier, a California Democrat on the committee, told CNN on Thursday that Nunes apologized at their Thursday meeting.
Speaking with reporters Thursday, Nunes said it was a "judgment call" to deliver the information to the president. He later said he would not do things differently if he had a second chance.
"There was a lot going on yesterday," he said. "It was a judgment call on my part. Sometimes you make the right decision, and sometimes you make the wrong decision, but you've got to stick by the decisions you make."
Late Thursday, in a reversal, a spokesman for Nunes told ABC News that the congressman did not know "for sure" whether Trump or members of the transition team were caught up in the communications he cited Wednesday.
Deitz told Business Insider that he didn't think the episode would lead to something such as Nunes having his intelligence clearances revoked. But, as Deitz put it, intelligence officials may be "less than wholly forthcoming about information" they share.
"Once Mr. Nunes does something like this, people in the intel community might be reluctant to, for example, share the true crown jewels," he said.
Vindication?
Following his meeting with Nunes, Trump told reporters he felt "somewhat" vindicated by Nunes' revelations, as the president has spent the better part of March defending his earlier claim that Trump Tower was wiretapped by Obama. He's backed away from the claim slightly, saying he meant wiretapping to mean more broad surveillance, but he has not distanced himself from the original claim, which was rebuked by many across the political spectrum.
Deitz said the revelation was "far from a vindication."
"In some ways it's almost the reverse," he said. "That is, if, and let's assume for a moment that someone getting [intelligence] collection from overseas [and] is getting a Trump person on the other line. It can be totally innocent. On the other hand, it could completely validate the notion that Trump people are talking to Russians."
"So I don't get the partial vindication argument at all," he said. "To me, it raises more questions than it resolves."
He added that "nobody" had claimed that members of Trump's circle hadn't been captured on such surveillance before, naming Michael Flynn, the ousted national security adviser, specifically.
"And so why it's somehow 'good news' for Mr. Trump that some of his people have been captured in collection," he said. "I don't see how that is ever good news."A federal judge in Maryland has ruled that the First Amendment protects an online speaker - who made derogatory comments…
A federal judge in Maryland has ruled that the First Amendment protects an online speaker – who made derogatory comments about a religious leader through Twitter – from being prosecuted under the federal anti-stalking law.
Analogizing Twitter to a colonial era bulletin board, Judge Roger W. Titus ruled that because Twitter users must "follow" someone in order to receive their tweets, and because users who find another's tweets offensive may "block" them, a person who is offended by this speech must "protect her own sensibilities simply by averting her eyes."
William Cassidy, who according to the FBI claimed he was a reincarnated Buddhist master, became an officer of the Kunzang Odsal Palyou Changchub Choling (referred to throughout the opinion as the "KPC" or the "Center"). After a falling out with the organization, Cassidy engaged in a Twitter "flame war" with the KPC's leader, according to Assistant Federal Public Defender Ebise Bayisa, one of Cassidy's attorneys. He was charged in February with violating the federal anti-stalking law, which makes it a crime to "harass" or "cause substantial emotional distress" to a person using "any interactive computer service."
This is an "important case," applying well-settled constitutional principles to new forms of communication, Bayisa said.
The alleged victim of Cassidy's tweets is the Supreme Head of this particular Buddhist Sect, referred to throughout the opinion only by her initials, A.Z.. In 2007, Cassidy became friends with a monk at the KPC, and shortly thereafter met A.Z. in Arizona. The FBI alleged that after meeting A.Z., Cassidy was appointed the chief operating officer of KPC, a position he held for two weeks before leaving the Center after it was revealed that his lineage was not Buddhist, the court wrote.
Cassidy then posted a series of comments to Twitter regarding A.Z. and the KPC. These comments included calling A.Z. a "demonic force who tries to destroy Buddhism," suggesting that she commit suicide, ridiculing A.Z.'s appearance, and charging that A.Z. is a hypocrite.
Cassidy was living in California when he made the postings. He was arrested there and brought to A.Z.'s home state of Maryland to face a single count of interstate stalking based upon his postings.
Judge Titus noted that there are few and narrowly defined categories of speech not protected by the First Amendment, including obscenity, defamation, fraud, incitement, true threats, and speech integral to criminal conduct. Cassidy's speech fell into none of these categories, and so was protected, Judge Titus wrote.
If the government seeks to engage in content-based regulation of speech that is not in one of the aforementioned categories, they may only do so if the regulation "is necessary to serve a compelling state interest," Judge Titus wrote. Because A.Z. could simply block Cassidy's tweets, the government could not show that there was a compelling interest in preventing A.Z.'s emotional distress. Bayisa called Judge Titus's opinion "thoughtful," with "sound analysis."
"This case says that those categories are still the categories" even in light of technological change, said Assistant Public Defender Lauren Case, another of Cassidy's attorneys. Bayisa said that the "unique nature of Twitter" is sometimes lost on prosecutors looking to make charges under the anti-stalking statute.
A spokesperson for the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Maryland declined to comment on the case.
Judge Titus declined to reach the issue of whether the entire anti-stalking statute violated the First Amendment, because it was unconstitutional "as applied" to Cassidy.
Cassidy remains in custody at a detention center in Baltimore, and his attorneys say they are seeking his release. The government has the option to appeal Judge Titus's ruling to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond (4th Cir.).Published in New York on March 17, 1917:
Let us examine more closely what is going on.
Nicholas has been dethroned, and according to some information, is under arrest. The most conspicuous Black Hundred leaders have been arrested. Some of the most hated have been killed. A new Ministry has been formed consisting of Octobrists, Liberals and the Radical Kerensky. A general amnesty has been proclaimed.
All these are facts, big facts. These are the facts that strike the outer world most. Changes in the higher government give the bourgeoisie of Europe and America an occasion to say that the revolution has won and is now completed.
The Tsar and his Black Hundred fought for their power, for this alone. The war, the imperialistic plans of the Russian bourgeoisie, the interests of the Allies, were of minor importance to the Tsar and his clique. They were ready at any moment to conclude peace with the Hohenzollerns and Hapsburgs, to free their most loyal regiment for war against their own people.
The Progressive Bloc of the Duma mistrusted the Tsar and his Ministers. This Bloc consisted of various parties of the Russian bourgeoisie. The Bloc had two aims: one, to conduct the war to a victorious end; another, to secure internal reforms: more order, control, accounting. A victory is necessary for the Russian bourgeoisie to conquer markets, to increase their territories, to get rich. Reforms are necessary primarily to enable the Russian bourgeoisie to win the war.
The progressive imperialistic Bloc wanted peaceful reforms. The liberals intended to exert a Duma pressure on the monarchy and to keep it in check with the aid of the governments of Great Britain and France. They did not want a revolution. They knew that a revolution, bringing the working masses to the front, would be a menace to their domination, and primarily a menace to their imperialistic plans. The laboring masses, in the cities and in the villages, and even in the army itself, want peace. The liberals know it. This is why they have been enemies of the revolution all these years. A few months ago Milukov declared in the Duma: “If a revolution were necessary for victory, I would prefer no victory at all.”
Yet the liberals are now in power – through the Revolution. The bourgeois newspaper men see nothing but this fact. Milukov, already in his capacity as a Minister of Foreign Affairs, has declared that the revolution has been conducted in the name of a victory over the enemy, and that the new government has taken upon itself to continue the war to a victorious end. The New York Stock Exchange interpreted the Revolution in this specific sense. There are clever people both on the Stock Exchange and among the bourgeois newspaper men. Yet they are all amazingly stupid when they come to deal with mass-movements. They think that Milukov manages the revolution, in the same sense as they manage their banks or news offices. They see only the liberal governmental reflection of the unfolding events, they notice only the foam on the surface of the historical torrent.
The long pent-up dissatisfaction of the masses has burst forth so late, in the thirty-second month of the war, not because the masses were held by police barriers-those barriers had been badly shattered during the war – but because all liberal institutions and organs, together with their Social-Patriotic shadows, were exerting an enormous influence over the least enlightened elements of the workingmen, urging them to keep order and discipline in the name of “patriotism.” Hungry women were already walking out into the streets, and the workingmen were getting ready to uphold them by a general strike, while the liberal bourgeoisie, according to news reports, still issued proclamations and delivered speeches to check the movement, – resembling that famous heroine of Dickens who tried to stem the tide of the ocean with a broom.
The movement, however, took its course, from below, from the workingmen’s quarters. After hours and days of uncertainty, of shooting, of skirmishes, the army joined in the revolution, from below, from the best of the soldier masses. The old government was powerless, paralyzed, annihilated. The Tzar fled from the capital “to the front.” The Black Hundred bureaucrats crept, like cockroaches, each into his corner.
Then, and only then, came the Duma’s turn to act. The Tsar had attempted in the last minute to dissolve it. And the Duma would have obeyed, “following the example of former years,” had it been free to adjourn. The capitals, however, were already dominated by the revolutionary people, the same people that had walked out into the streets despite the wishes of the liberal bourgeoisie. The army was with the people. Had not the bourgeoisie attempted to organize its own government, a revolutionary government would have emerged from the revolutionary working masses. The Duma of June 3rd would never have dared to seize the power from the hands of Tsarism. But it did not want to miss the chance offered by interregnum: the monarchy had disappeared, while a revolutionary government was not yet formed. Contrary to all their part, contrary to their own policies and against their will, the liberals found themselves in possession of power.
Milukov now declares Russia will continue the war “to the end.” It is not easy for him so to speak: he knows that his words are apt to arouse the indignation of the masses against the new government. Yet he had to speak them – for the sake of the London, Paris and – American Stock Exchanges. It is quite possible that he cabled his declaration for foreign consumption only, and that he concealed it from his own country.
Milukov knows very well that under given conditions he cannot continue the war, crush Germany, dismember Austria, occupy Constantinople and Poland.
The masses have revolted, demanding bread and peace. The appearance of a few liberals at the head of the government has not fed the hungry, has not healed the wounds of the people. To satisfy the most urgent, the most acute needs of the people, peace must be restored. The liberal imperialistic Bloc does not dare to speak of peace. They do not do it, first, on account of the Allies. They do not do it, further, because the liberal bourgeoisie is to a great extent responsible before the people for the present war. The Milukovs and Gutchkovs, not less than the Romanov camarila, have thrown the country into this monstrous imperialistic adventure. To stop the war, to return to the antebellum misery would mean that they have to account to the people for this undertaking. The Milukovs and Gutchkovs are afraid of the liquidation of the war not less than they were afraid of the Revolution.
This is their aspect in their new capacity, as the government of Russia. They are compelled to continue the war, and they can have no hope of victory; they are afraid of the people, and people do not trust them.
This is how Karl Marx characterized similar situation:
“From the very beginning ready to betray the people and to compromise with the crowned representatives of the old regime, because the bourgeoisie itself belongs to the old world; keeping a place at the steering wheel of the revolution not because the people were back of them, but because the people pushed them forward; … having no faith in themselves, no faith in the people; grumbling against those above, trembling before those below; selfish towards both fronts and aware of their selfishness; revolutionary in the face of conservatives, and conservative in the face of revolutionists, with no confidence in their own slogans and with phrases instead of ideas; frightened by the world’s storm and exploiting the world’s storm, – vulgar through lack of originality, and original only in vulgarity; making profitable business out of their own desires, with no initiative, with no vocation for world-wide historic work … a cursed senile creature condemned to direct and abuse in his own senile interests the first youthful movements of a powerful people, – a creature with no eyes, with no ears, with no teeth, with nothing whatever, – this is how the Prussian bourgeoisie stood at the steering wheel of the Prussian state after the March revolution.”
These words of the great master give a perfect picture of the Russian liberal bourgeoisie, as it stands at the steering wheel of the government after our March revolution. “With no faith in themselves, with no faith in the people, with no eyes, with no teeth.” … This is their political face.
Luckily for Russia and Europe, there is another face to the Russian Revolution, a genuine face; the cables have brought the news that the Provisional Government is opposed by a Workmen’s Committee which has already raised a voice of protest against the liberal attempt to rob the Revolution and to deliver the people to the monarchy.
Should the Russian Revolution stop to-day as the representatives of liberalism advocate, to-morrow the reaction of the Tsar, the nobility and the bureaucracy would gather power and drive Milukov and Gutchkov from their insecure ministerial trenches, as did the Prussian reaction years ago with the representatives of Prussian liberalism. But the Russian Revolution will not stop. Time will come, and the Revolution will make a clean sweep of the bourgeois liberals blocking its way, as it is now making a clean sweep of the Tsarist reaction.
L.D. Trotsky, “Two Faces (Internal Forces of the Russian Revolution),” Our Revolution
AdvertisementsSit back and relax with a brand-new twist on the clicker genre with Fortress Tapper. In this unique blend of soft music, colorful graphics and slightly engaging game-play you'll clear an unlimited number of boards of tiles using simple click of your mouse.
Unlike other clicker games you do have an objective: Clear an entire board of 32 tiles by guiding the cursor up and down / left and right. Fortress Tapper might require a bit more attention than your average clicker game but that small amount of attention will be well rewarded – with new unlockable music and graphics.
Clearing a board will only take a couple of minutes of your time but there is no timer or rush to get it done as quickly as possible. Play Fortress Tapper while watching your favorite streaming series, working on that important paper or waiting in the lobby for your next MOBA match.
New features, modes, and improvements are planned for the project on a monthly basis and will be rolled out on Itch and on Google Play within the same week.
What's New In Fortress Tapper 1.1 (Build 9)
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- Fixed a bug where the main button & cursor started in the wrong state.
- Fixed a bug that caused players to not be able to exit the game from the main game board.
- Added a brand new unlockable music track.
- Added a new color of background bricks to unlock.
- Added "Unlockables" to the main menu.
- Added an in-game currency earned by greying out bricks.
- Brand new "How To Play" section has been included in the main menu.
- Playing Fortress Tapper during your downtime will no longer cause the Zombie Apocalypse.
Minimum Specs (General / All Platforms)
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Fortress Tapper was designed from the start to run with as much of a small memory footprint as possible. While developing the game across multiple platforms the following were the absolute minimum specs where the game ran smoothly. It may be possible that Fortress Tapper will run on hardware below these specifications but they reflect the least powerful hardware available to the developer.
1.4 GHZ Dual Core (x86/ x64 or similar or ARM V7 for Mobile Devices)
Windows 7 SP1, Windows 10 or Android 4.1
256MB RAM
100MB Disk Space
Wait Why Are You Charging For a Simple Game Like This?
Simply put, I view the release of Fortress Tapper (and its planned future patches) as my first serious game development effort. Up until this point all of my additions to Itch and other prototypes have been learning exercises but the time & effort that have gone into Fortress Tapper should be worth something. Players interested in trying the game for free can also grab the ad supported version on Google Play.University of Houston pitcher Seth Romero has been permanently removed from the team the school announced on Wednesday. Romero was recently reinstated to the Cougars after being suspended for violating team rules. Romero had yet to pitch in a game since being suspended on April 7th. The typical starter had thrown out of the bullpen 3 times this past week before being removed from the team permanently.
A statement from Coach Todd Whitting was released by the Cougars athletic department:
“Due to an event Tuesday, along with previous conduct detrimental to the team, Seth Romero has been removed from the Houston Baseball program. I appreciate Hunter Yurachek’s support of my decision for our program to move forward without Seth. We wish Seth and his family the best of luck as he embarks on the next phase of his life and baseball career. We are fully focused on our remaining schedule and current members of our program”
The University of Houston did confirm to SportsRadio 610 that the event that coach Whitting made mention of in his statement was not anything criminal.
Romero is projected to be a first-round pick in this year’s MLB Draft, he was 4-5 with a 3.51 ERA in 10 appearances, seven starts, for the Cougars before his suspension.
The Cougars are fighting atop the American Athletic Conference as the season winds down heading into the Conference tournament in a few weeks.
[Editor’s note: A previous version of this story stated that Romero had thrown a bullpen session, not out of the bullpen. We have corrected the mistake in the story.]I know I have not posted anything in forever, but this is just so nerdy I had to post it. I got my full Ubuntu Linux desktop on my T-Mobile G1, and I did it very securely. Here is how you can do it too (provided of course you have an Android powered handset, Linux at home and a desire to show off to nerds everywhere).To create a secure SSH tunnel to your Linux computer from an android phone;This guide assumes a few things; that you have an ssh server and VNC server running on your home system, and that you have your home router setup to forward ssh traffic to your home computer. Every router is slightly different so I cannot write a guide for them all, but it should be quite easy to figure out with some basic Google searching. I recommend dyndns to get your routers external facing IP updated through DNS to you can connect with less of a headache when your ISP changes your IP.1) Download ConnectBot to your phone from the android marketplace, put in your computers IP or hostname information (and password of course). You may want to test this first step to make sure you can ssh in before you set up the port forward.2) In ConnectBot click menu key on the phone.3) Click Port Forwards on the screen.4) Click menu on the phone.5) Click Add port forward on the screen.6) Enter the following settings.Nickname: VNCType: LocalSource Port: 5901Destination: 192.168.X.X:5900 (the Xs of course representing your local IP address on your home system, not the IP address of your Internet facing router. You can find your you IP with the ifconfig command)7) Download androidVNC to your phone from the android marketplace.8) Open androidVNC and enter the following settings.Nickname: (leave this field blank)Password: (The password you set up on your remote computer for VNC, check the Keep box)Address: 127.0.0.1Port: 59019) Click connect and you should be connected!State weather bureau PAGASA says the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) is affecting Palawan and Mindanao
Published 8:45 PM, June 27, 2016
What's the weather like in your area? Tweet us the situation: Use #weatheralert and tag @rapplerdotcom.
MANILA, Philippines – Light to moderate rains and thunderstorms are expected in parts of the country on Tuesday, June 28.
In its bulletin issued 5 pm on Monday, June 27, state weather bureau PAGASA said the provinces of Palawan and Occidental Mindoro, as well as the Bicol Region, Eastern and Western Visayas, and the Zamboanga Peninsula will be affected.
The rains in Palawan and Mindanao are due to the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ).
The rest of the country, including Metro Manila, will have isolated rains or thunderstorms.
Meanwhile, coastal waters in the northern and western parts of Luzon will be moderate to rough, while winds will be moderate to strong.
Early Monday morning, Tropical Depression Ambo had made landfall in Aurora province, then immediately weakened into a low pressure area (LPA). The LPA has since dissipated.
There is currently no tropical cyclone in the Philippine area of responsibility (PAR).
City Forecast Temperature
Range Metro Manila Partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rainshowers or thunderstorms 25°C-33°C Tuguegarao Partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rainshowers or thunderstorms 25°C-36°C Laoag Partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rainshowers or thunderstorms 26°C-32°C Baguio Partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rainshowers or thunderstorms 17°C-23°C Subic/Olongapo; Clark/Angeles Partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rainshowers or thunderstorms 25°C-32°C Tagaytay Partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rainshowers or thunderstorms 23°C-28°C Lipa Partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rainshowers or thunderstorms 25°C-30°C Legazpi Cloudy with rainshowers and thunderstorms 26°C-32°C Puerto Princesa Cloudy with rainshowers and thunderstorms 25°C-32°C Iloilo/Bacolod Cloudy with rainshowers and thunderstorms 25°C-32°C Metro Cebu Partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rainshowers or thunderstorms 25°C-31°C Tacloban Cloudy with rainshowers and thunderstorms 25°C-30°C Cagayan de Oro Partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rainshowers or thunderstorms 23°C-32°C Valencia Partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rainshowers or thunderstorms 20°C-30°C Metro Davao Partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rainshowers or thunderstorms 25°C-32°C Zamboanga Cloudy with rainshowers and thunderstorms 24°C-31°C
– Rappler.comIt’s a ritzy affair at Philadelphia’s African American Museum. The movers and shakers are present. There are enough Penn graduates in attendance to fill a few fraternity reunion parties. And the big guns are in attendance—Mayor Kenney, and at least three U.S. representatives are in the building, two of whom—Patrick Meehan and Brendan Boyle—deliver remarks about the cheery bipartisanship of their mission. This party is a fundraiser for USA250, an organization that seeks to make sure that Philly’s semiquincentennial event in 2026 is the nation’s premier event—and that the party makes up for this city’s oft-maligned anniversary fiascos.
Let’s flash back to Philadelphia in January 1976: The Sixers are dominating the Atlantic division, the city is expecting 100 million visitors during the year-long bicentennial birthday party to take place in the City of Brotherly Love, major urban infrastructure projects are underway and everything seems groovy. Now let’s flash forward to Philadelphia in September 1976: Several of those major urban infrastructure projects are starting to look like expensive boondoggles, Mayor Rizzo has called the National Guard to counter protests, the city under-draws visitors to the tune of 50 million people and Legionnaires Disease makes its first appearance in the U.S. when it kills 30 of the city’s visitors who were staying in the Bellevue Stratford Hotel.
On top of it all, the Sixers lose to the Blazers in six games in the NBA Finals.
It was a historic mess, and it wasn’t even the first pileup of a birthday party for the nation that Philadelphia had held—the sesquicentennial exposition, held in Philadelphia in 1926, was functionally a rainout. USA250 Executive Director Jon Grabelle Hermann and co-founder/chairman Andrew Hohns know that they have a lot to make up for.
USA250, according Hohns, has been kicking around since 2008, at first just as a discussion among like-minded friends at bars and barbecues. Hohns, who helped create Young Involved Philadelphia, is a civic organizer from grade school and a sucker for patriotism. He says that eight years ago, he saw an opportunity to fold YIP’s growing intellectual resources into an anniversary planning committee that had not yet been founded, and was in dire need of creation. And if a gap of two decades between the initial planning for the event and the actual event seems huge, it’s not really. Philadelphia started planning for the 1976 bicentennial event in the early 60’s and, for the 1926 anniversary, 10 years early. Hohns is modest about his role in planning the event, though.
“It’s not so much my idea as it is the idea of many generations of Philadelphians,” he says. “Starting in 1876 with the centennial and carrying forward with the tradition of these milestone events.”
“You could imagine major museum exhibits, major concerts, major historical exhibits, major academic conferences and professional conferences,” says USA250 co-founder Andrew Hohns. “All of these things together in the nation’s birthplace, celebrating the 250th anniversary, creating a real feeling of patriotism.”
Hermann, a Penn graduate, is from North Jersey, but says he fell in love with Philadelphia during his time in undergrad, and became the founder of Campus Philly, an organization that tries to keep young college graduates in Philadelphia. “I’ve always had this sort of ‘promoting-Philly’ piece of my career, it’s always been kind of part of my direction,” he says.
Hermann is well-versed in the history of centennial celebrations in Philadelphia, capable of running down the pitfalls that each of the events encountered. The 1926 event, he says, suffered from too much parochial planning; and the 1976 one was woefully underfunded by the federal government. What’s more, he says the 1976 event was plotted almost exclusively by white men—an African-American committee actually formed to challenge the lack of diversity on the planning board—leading to a dearth of ideas and disparate voices within the planning process. Hermann and company are determined to dodge the mistakes of national anniversaries past.
They seem to be off to a promising start. In 2016, Congress passed the United States Semiquincentennial Act of 2016, which establishes a commission to help supervise and direct events and activities for the anniversary. The commission features a slew of Pennsylvania legislators who seem bonzer about the event and who will hold meetings on the party at Independence Hall. Their aim is to develop a program for the national celebration of the semiquincentennial, and to help organize anniversary programs in areas around the country. The act does not allocate any funds for |
GAME 13 DRUNKEN RANT
Pittsburgh Steelers (9-2) @ Cincinnati Bengals (5-6)
CAUTION: DRUNKEN EXPLETIVE-FILLED RANT ABOUT THE BENGALS FOLLOWS.
/start rant
Marvin Lewis cannot be the head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals in 2018.
I’m not saying that he won’t, I’m saying that he can’t.
ONE WIN in the last nine match-ups.
in the last nine match-ups. TWO WINS in the last eighteen games in PBS.
in the last eighteen games in PBS. EIGHT WINS in thirty-two attempts in the Marvin Lewis Era.
It stops there. It has to. I can’t do it anymore, I can’t fucking stand it anymore.
For thirty-three years.. ever since I came screaming into this world, I have poured my heart and soul into this shit heap of a football franchise and for thirty-three fucking years they have found new and creative ways to disappoint me.
You did it, Bengals. You finally did it.
You fucking broke me.
Kimo Von Oelhoffen didn’t do it. T.J. Yates didn’t do it. The Jets didn’t.
The Chargers, the Colts and the Steelers didn’t do it either.
You did.
You did it because you allowed all of those things happen and you didn’t change. You never got any better. Players have come and gone, but the constant through all of this has been the ownership and the coach and Mike Brown isn’t going fucking anywhere. Marvin Lewis is the second longest tenured coach in the NFL, only behind Bill Belichick, who has 5 fucking Super Bowls.
Marvin has seven playoff losses in as many attempts, an 8-30 record in prime-time games and a.250 winning percentage against the model franchise in the AFC North. To be the best, you have to beat the best and Marvin has had 15 mind-fucking years to do that and, to put it extremely lightly, he has simply come up short.
15 years is long enough.
Now, about that game…
How in the ever-loving Christ do you lose a game where you’re leading 17 to fucking zilch with 32 seconds remaining in the second quarter? Who is capable of doing that aside from this fucking team? What in the fuck was rolling around in those douchenoggins that sit atop the necks of our coach and coordinators? How do you only manage 3 fucking points in the second half?
That is unfuckingbelievable. — Cincinnati Problems (@CincyProblems) December 5, 2017
It’s completely unfuckingbelievable, but also – it’s not. Bengals fans know better. Hell, as I was standing there in the rain watching the Bengals hold a 17-3 lead at the half I looked over to my buddy and predicted that they’d blow it.
And blow they did.
You could see it coming, like an avalanche of shit cascading down Fuck You Mountain. The slow, agonizing grind of Bengals 3 and outs followed by methodical Steelers drives while the game clock slowly ticked away. It’s a familiar narrative with few deviations, but we were treated to a couple of surprises! Like Evans and Will Jax running up to Le’Veon Bell on the sideline, but opting not to touch him and instead watch him race 35 more yards into the end zone. That was fucking neat.
Oh! How about the fact that we set a franchise record in fucking penalties? 13 penalties for 173 yards. That shit is lit, as the kids would say.
These refs are doing the Bengals historically wrong. #MNF #PITvsCIN A post shared by Cincinnati Problems (@cincyproblems) on Dec 4, 2017 at 8:36pm PST
What else? Oh right, JuJu Smith-Schuster Vontaze Burfict’d Vontaze Burfict and somehow wasn’t ejected from the game.
How the HELL does JuJu not get ejected for this??? @NFL #MNF pic.twitter.com/Epvevgh5ey — Cincinnati Problems (@CincyProblems) December 5, 2017
Two players carted off, two players suspended and zero Bengals wins.
Not to mention all the inevitable fights in the stadium/parking lot.
Fans following the players example.? #MNF (video: @ReichweinDanny) A post shared by Cincinnati Problems (@cincyproblems) on Dec 4, 2017 at 11:09pm PST
The 2018 Cincinnati Bengals season ended when Andy Dalton took a sack on third down with 3 minutes left in the game. I don’t care about the fucking Chicago Bears. I don’t care if they lose the rest of their games. There’s only one thing that I care about..
Change.
/end rant
Look for more Drunken Bengals Postgame Rants All Season From THE JUNGLER
FollowCLOSE FLORIDA TODAY Food and Dining Reporter Suzy Fleming Leonard meets the people behind the Hell N Blazes microbrewery in downtown Melbourne - schedule to open later this year. Video by Rob Landers. Posted July 21, 2015.
Buy Photo The building at 1002 E. New Haven Ave., Melbourne, is undergoing renovation to become a brewery by the end of the year. (Photo: Rob Landers/FLORIDA TODAY)Buy Photo
Walk through 1002 E. New Haven Ave. in downtown Melbourne, and its 117-year history unfolds.
A hand-operated freight elevator represents its hardware store days, and a walk-in safe harkens back to the bank.
Double layers of Sheetrock line a space that once held a TV studio; a window overlooks it from an old second-floor control room. The Sheetrock couldn’t muffle the sound of the trains barreling down the track just a few feet to the west, though.
The TV studio was short-lived.
A pair of nutcrackers stand guard in one of the upstairs rooms, remnants of a more recent past, when the building housed The Christmas Cottage. Plastic garland trails along the floor.
The funeral parlor that once operated from here isn’t evidenced in a visible way; that history is told only by the ghosts said to roam the place, though new owner Don DiFrisco hasn’t met them yet.
DiFrisco, his family and a tight knot of friends have spent the past month reviving 1002 E. New Haven Ave. for its next life as Hell ‘n Blazes Brewing Company, a microbrewery scheduled to open in December.
Most days, Whiskey and Bellini, friendly but vocal yellow labs, stand guard while DiFrisco, his son Jimmy, brewmaster Todd Furbeck and his Merritt Island neighbor Briggsie Kilbourne work. They’ve torn down the partitions that once divided the Petite Boutiques into multiple retail spaces.
They’ve cleared out shelving in the upstairs rooms.
Buy Photo Brewmaster Todd Furbeck, owner Don DiFrisco and brewer Jimmy DiFrisco are hoping to open Hell ‘n Blazes Brewing Company in downtown Melbourne by December. (Photo: Suzy Fleming Leonard/FLORIDA TODAY)
This old girl has good bones, and the Hell ‘n Blazes crew wants to preserve them. DiFrisco said they plan to sand down and refinish the hardwood floors. The high, tin ceiling, believed to be original to the late 1800s, is gorgeous as is.
They’re uncovering second-floor windows, bricked over for decades, and pulling up carpet.
The result? A big, open room with an occupancy of about 225, perfect for a large bar, several tables, a stage and 300-gallon tanks to hold all the beer Furbeck can dream up.
A section in the back, added to the building in the 1920s, will house storage, coolers and a game room with shuffleboard, darts and Giant Jinga.
A space to the left of the bar will serve as a tasting room and aprivate event area. Upstairs, who knows? The DiFriscos have their hands full with the first floor for now.
In the old TV studio, where the ceiling stretches two stories high, the team is carefully removing the wooden flooring so it can be reused. Cement floors will take its place, a foundation strong enough to hold the brewing tanks.
In addition to cosmetic work, the building needs multiple upgrades.
“All-new electric, all-new plumbing, all-new A/C,” DiFrisco said.
Originally, he considered renting a place, but decided with renovations, upgrades and equipment, it made more sense to buy.
“I walked in, I knew this was going to be the place,” he said.
Angela LoPresti sees the brewery as a great next chapter for the building. Her parents, Dano and Rita, owned it for 36 years. She and her brothers Okie and Dano Jr. grew up there.
“There’s a whole lot of emotional attachment in there,” she said. “But we’re very pleased with the plans the DiFrisco family has for it.”
By the time the brewery opens, DiFrisco and his wife Clare will have sunk almost $2 million into project: $950,000 to purchase the building, $600,000 in improvements, $200,000 in equipment.
It’s a labor of love as much as a business.
Buy Photo Don DiFrisco, owner of Hell ‘n Blazes Brewing Company in downtown Melbourne, points out some of the features of the 117-year-old building that will house the brewery. (Photo: Rob Landers/FLORIDA TODAY)
“I’ve been a real estate investor and entrepreneur my whole life,” DiFrisco said. He spent 15 years building electronics for the government.
“I figured my next venture would be something fun we could all enjoy,” he said. “The world was pointing at me to do this.”
Don and Clare’s oldest son, Jon, is moving back to Brevard from Los Angeles to join the Hell ‘n Blazes team. Adam, their youngest, is working in Beijing right now, but he’s talking about coming home, too.
Rounding out the team will be general manager Andy Pinkerton, who has more than 12 years of leadership experience in the craft beer industry.
In the meantime, they’re steamrolling ahead, getting the building ready and testing beer. That’s where Furbeck and Jimmy DiFrisco come in.
Furbeck talks about beer like a five-star chef describing his latest creation. Orange blossom honey wheat. Chocolate cake porter. German pilsner.
At 33, he already has more than a decade of brewing to his credit. His fascination started when his mother bought a homebrew kit as a gift for his father’s 40th birthday.
“And it sat in our garage,” he said. “I decided, ‘Hey, he’s not going to use it, I might as well.’”
“That early attraction to brewing has grown into a full-on addiction,” he said with a chuckle. “I make one beer, and I’m already thinking about the next one.”
He won awards as a home brewer, then went to work brewing beer at Charlie & Jake’s in Suntree, where he went on to win commercial brewing awards, too.
“I would go to Charlie & Jake’s and gaze in at the big tanks,” he said. When an opening came up, he was hired.
He worked there a couple of days a week, cleaning the tanks, soaking in knowledge.
“I remember looking around thinking, ‘I’m never going to learn this,’” he said.
Now he has an even bigger brewing operation to master, with new equipment, new challenges and new opportunities.
The DiFriscos have a big barn on their Merritt Island property where Furbeck and Jimmy DiFrisco, also a brewer, have been practicing.
“We’re going through different variations of beers we think we’ll like,” Furbeck said, “playing around with different fermentation methods.”
They’ve been making 15-gallon batches and testing them out on friends and family, which means the barn has become a popular spot.
“The kids’ friends show up and say, “What are you going to do next?’ ” DiFrisco said, the “kids,” he’s quick to point out, being his adult children. “We have a keg-o-rator in the barn.”
While the grand opening is still months away, DiFrisco knows the time will go quickly. He wants Hell ‘n Blazes, which is named after the South Brevard lake, to be part of the downtown Melbourne community from Day 1.
He’s already joined the Melbourne Regional Chamber and the Melbourne Main Street Program.
The Hell ‘n Blazes team passed out samples of beer at the Downtown Melbourne’s July Friday Fest and let festival-goers come inside for a peek at the building plans and how the space is taking shape.
They expected to go through one keg, but ended up tapping three.
T-shirts have gone out to fans who like the brewery’s Facebook page, where frequent progress reports are posted.
The plan is to “build a fun atmosphere and be part of the community,” Furbeck said.
Adding to that fun atmosphere will be Josh, Mel, Mabel and Stewart, the full-time spirit residents of 1002 E. New Haven Ave.
LoPresti, whose family had previously owned the building for almost four decades, said that through the years, people with sensitivity to spirits visited the building and felt various presences.
A frequent visitor to the Christmas Cottage told the LoPrestis he could see the spirits, and he knew their names. LoPresti wrote herself a note so she would know who was where and so the staff could greet the ghosts each morning.
DiFrisco has the note pinned to a column in the main room: “Josh and Mel hangout downstairs in dark room. Mabel loves the big nativity in back. Stewart is the grumpy old man who hangs out downstairs in N.E. section and the one who danced with Angela.”
LoPresti still feels an attachment to the building. She and other family members were among those stopping in to check out the progress during Friday Fest. She likes that the DiFriscos are a close family, working on a family business, much like her own.
Come December, when the transition from shop space to brewery should be complete, DiFrisco said he plans to display memorabilia from the building’s past. And in a nod to its holiday heritage, Hell ‘n Blazes will continue a Christmas Cottage tradition. While the Loprestis owned the building, they kept a special chair for Santa.
The chair remains, though it’s weathered and dusty. It will be repaired so Santa can once again greet girls and boys who have been more nice than naughty.
“It’s a special place,” LoPresti said. “A very special place. We’re leaving it in safe hands.”
Contact Leonard at sleonard@floridatoday.com. Follow her on Twitter @SuzyLeonard.
Learn more
Follow Hell ‘n Blazes Brewing Company on Facebook at www.facebook.com/HellnBlazesBrewing or at www.hellnblazesbrewing.com.
A brief history
Don DiFrisco has pieced together a rough history of the building at 1002 E. New Haven Ave., in downtown Melbourne, from sources including websites, written histories and talking with longtime Brevardians. Some dates may be off by a year or two.
*1898: A wood-frame building was constructed by Charles Stewart. He and Frank Fee owned a hardware store in this building, which was later covered with tile and brick. The business expanded to include farm supplies, furniture, a bank and mortuary. Fee sold out his interest to Stewart and moved to Fort Pierce.
1936: Harvey Huggins bought the building and opened his hardware supply store in August 1936. He continued its operation until 1949.
1970s: The building housed a television station. Apparently, the passing trains caused problems with the TV cameras, because the building shakes gently as the trains pass.
1979: Dano and Rita LoPresti opened The Christmas Cottage and ran it for 32 years. The LoPresti family operated the Petite Boutiques in the building for another four years before selling it to Don and Clare DiFrisco.
2015: Hell ‘n Blazes Brewing Company, a microbrewery, is scheduled to open.
* According to one account, Fee and Stewart’s original store was on Fee Avenue and burned in the “Great Fire,” which destroyed much of downtown Melbourne. In that account, the store was relocated to New Haven Avenue in 1919.
Read or Share this story: http://on.flatoday.com/1RRjF2HKissinger cable heightens suspicions about 1976 Operation Condor killings
A document suggests the secretary of State rejected warning South American governments against international terrorism. Five days later, a bombing linked to Chile killed 2 in Washington.
Five days after Kissinger's message, Chilean exile Orlando Letelier and an American colleague were killed in Washington's Embassy Row in a car bombing later tied to Chilean secret police working through the Condor network. The killings are considered one of the most brazen attacks ever carried out in the capital.
In the cable, dated Sept. 16, 1976, Kissinger rejected delivering a proposed warning to the government of Uruguay about Condor operations and ordered that "no further action be taken on this matter" by the State Department.
The document, a set of instructions cabled from Kissinger to his top Latin American deputy, ended efforts by U.S. diplomats to warn the governments of Chile, Uruguay and Argentina against involvement in the covert plan known as Operation Condor, according to Peter Kornbluh, an analyst with the National Security Archive, a private research organization that uncovered the document and made it public Saturday.
A newly declassified document has added to long-standing questions about whether Henry Kissinger, while secretary of State, halted a U.S. plan to curb a secret program of international assassinations by South American dictators.
"The document confirms that it's Kissinger's complete responsibility for having rescinded a cease-and-desist order to Condor killers," said Kornbluh, author of a 2004 book on Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet.
In a statement, Kissinger said Kornbluh "distorted" the meaning of the cable and said it was intended only to disapprove a specific approach to the Uruguayan government, not to cancel the plan to issue warnings to other nations in the Condor network.
Former State Department officials who worked under Kissinger during that period now say that his cable did interrupt the U.S. effort to rein in Operation Condor, not just with Uruguay but with other countries in the region.
After being told of the existence of Condor by the CIA in mid-1976, Kissinger initially ordered U.S. ambassadors in Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and other countries involved in the network to issue demarches, or formal diplomatic presentations, warning leaders that "Condor activities would undermine relations with the United States."
"The instructions were never rescinded," Kissinger said in his statement.
But it has been known for many years that U.S. ambassadors to Chile and Uruguay balked at delivering the demarches, stalling the effort to head off Condor. The Uruguayan envoy feared for his own safety, previously disclosed documents have shown, and U.S. officials were devising a new way to deliver the U.S. warning to Montevideo.
Kissinger said his cable was intended only to delay the delivery of the demarche to Uruguay, because of "very special circumstances." He apparently was referring to the Uruguayan ambassador's fears.
However, shortly after Kissinger's order that "no further action be taken," his top Latin America deputies moved to cancel U.S. warnings to other countries as well. On Sept. 20, then-Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Harry Shlaudeman told his deputy, William Luers, to inform U.S. ambassadors in countries involved in Condor not to convey Washington's concerns about the operation.
The Letelier bombing occurred the next day.
There is no evidence that Kissinger knew of the Letelier plot or the specifics of any other assassination plans. But the delays in issuing the demarches meant Chile apparently received no high-level U.S. warning about Condor before the bombing.
Shlaudeman said in an interview that he had no memory of the cable from Kissinger or of his own subsequent message to Luers rescinding the orders to make demarches about Condor. But he acknowledged that the timing and the similar wording of the two documents were strong evidence that he had acted on Kissinger's orders.
"I must have sent it because I got the cable from Henry," he said. "I was carrying out my instructions."
Luers acknowledged that the demarches "were not carried out in Chile, Uruguay and Argentina before Orlando Letelier's murder."For its entire week in Total Day (9 p.m. to 5:59 a.m.), Adult Swim is up 1 percent in total viewership (1.212 million vs. 1.198 million) and up 1 percent in viewers Adults 18-49 (676,000 vs. 670,000) from one week earlier; the network is also down 12 percent in total viewership (1.212 million vs. 1.380 million) and down 9 percent in viewers Adults 18-49 (676,000 vs. 742,000) from the same week one year ago (Dec. 17-23, 2012).
See Source: tvmediainsights
Time Slot Show Slot Rating Slot Household #s 12:00a Fullmetal/Conquerer/Sham 1,064,000 0.8 2:30a FLCL 688,000 0.5 3:00a Star Wars: The Clone Wars 684,000 0.5 3:30a FMA Brotherhood 532,000 0.4 4:00a Ghost in the Shelll 486,000 0.4 4:30a IGPX 459,000 0.4 5:00a InuYasha 569,000 0.4 5:30a InuYasha 504,000 0.4
Editor’s Note: Remember that this is the holiday season and it is finals period for college students so I should warn you that ratings can get a bit messy for these next few weeks. Of course, this is the reason why Toonami is showing movies all month to begin with. Also, do note that movie ratings are based on the average of viewership throughout it’s presentation. Otherwise, what do you think of this week’s ratings? Comment below and let us know what you think.PORTAGE PARK — A building that could jump start the revitalization of the Six Corners Shopping District has been sold and is set to become a grocery store.
Mike Bousis, the owner of Cermak Fresh Markets, said he paid $2.9 million for the former Bank of America building at 4901 W. Irving Park Road and plans to tear it down to build a new grocery store that will feature ethnic foods, a full-service bakery and prepared food.
"We will cater to the community," Bousis said. "It will definitely be multicultural, an international market."
Cermak Fresh Market has locations in Aurora and Milwaukee, and plans to open a number of new stores in Chicago, Bousis said.
"There is a definite need for another grocery store in this area," Bousis said. "We can bring something special."
Based on a survey by ESRI, a national vendor of business data, Northwest Side residents spend $141 million on shopping and eating outside the area. That situation creates a significant "retail gap" and an opportunity for new shops and restaurants to claim that business, according to the report.
The retail gap in the grocery category is $6 million, the study found.
Restaurants and stores selling specialty food, home decor, and apparel and accessories are needed additions to Six Corners, the survey found.
The new store, which will compete with the Jewel grocery store, 4660 W. Irving Park Road, and Family Fruit Market, 4118 N. Cicero Ave., will feature a full-service deli and meat counter as well as a big bakery, with seating inside, Bousis said. Prepared food will also be sold, Bousis said.
The store will also feature a variety of ethnic food, including Mexican and Eastern European fare, Bousis said.
A city-commissioned master plan, completed in January, said efforts to revitalize the area around Irving Park Road and Cicero and Milwaukee avenues, which was once Chicago's premier shopping district outside the Loop, hinge on the redevelopment of the former bank building, which has been vacant since 2011.
The nearly 63,500-square-foot building, which covers half a city block between Lamon and Lavergne avenues, should be used to anchor the redevelopment of the western edge of the shopping district, according to the master plan.
Bousis said he had considered renovating the building in an effort to save the 300-seat theater on the second floor, which was once home to the Northwest Chicago Film Society. Movies were shown there from 1971 to 2010.
Although the theater was being marketed to local arts organizations, damage done to the building and the theater by vandals would be too expensive to repair, Bousis said.
"There is a lot of damage," Bousis said. "The seats were torn, the copper wiring was torn out. We could never make it work."
The new grocery store could open in two years, Bousis said.
Ed Bannon, the director of the Six Corners Business Association, said he was eager to see details about the proposed development.
"We're happy that the property has changed hands," Bannon said. "It is always a good sign when someone is willing to invest in the area."
Ald. John Arena (45th) has been working to turn Six Corners into an arts and culture Mecca that would draw people from all over the city with the promise of a show and dinner, an effort endorsed by the master plan.
Bousis also bought an adjoining property from Bank of America at 4939 W. Irving Park Road, which is now a single-story store. In addition, the property includes two parking lots. There are 184 parking spots north of Dakin Street from Lavergne on the west to Lamon on the east, separated from the building by an alley. A lot with 76 spaces is south of Dakin at Lamon.
The master plan envisions a three- or four-story, mixed-use development on the former bank property, as well as restaurants along the side streets away from Irving Park.
In addition, the master plan envisions eight townhomes on the site of the smaller parking lot south of Dakin, in keeping with the land's residential zoning designation as well as the nearby homes. A small neighborhood park or playlot serving the families located south of Irving Park would also be appropriate for this area, according to the master plan.
Bousis said he had reviewed the master plan, and would take it into account as much as possible, adding that he is looking forward to working with Arena.
"But we have to make it work financially, and the city will do what creates the most jobs and tax revenues," Bousis said.
Owen Brugh, an aide to Arena, said the alderman had not heard from Bousis about his plans for the property. The new grocery store would most likely require a zoning change, because the property has both residential and commercial zoning designations. Zoning changes typically require the approval of the alderman as well as other city officials.
In addition, the 4900 block of Irving Park Road is part of a pedestrian overlay zoning district, which is designed to protect walkable shopping districts.
The extensive regulations, which are designed to promote transit, economic vitality and pedestrian safety and comfort, cover everything from how much window space buildings must have, where doors should be located and how far the building should be set back from the sidewalk, according to the city code.
Bannon said the fate of the proposal would be important for the future of Six Corners. Several new restaurants are planned for the area, and a new museum and theater opened earlier this year.
"The right kind of development could spur growth and continue the momentum that we've created," Bannon said. "The wrong kind could be a drag."Despite all the construction that Plattsburgh State is ongoing, there is a new project in the works. The information desk, located right next to the Center for Student Involvement, will be moved and replaced with a student lounge equipped with charging stations and welcoming vibes. Assistant Director of Campus Activities Jacob Avery said how this idea for ACC was thought of while he was still an undergraduate student, majoring in political science, here in PSUC.
“They have been talking about this for some time,” Avery said, “a couple years before I was here, two weeks ago we were given the go ahead to design it and build it. They always take some time to picture plan these things.”
Avery is confident that when the construction is complete the new lounge area will be the new popular area of the entire building.
“I think this will definitely help the students out,” Avery said, “ it will also help our aesthetics in this building specifically. My thought is that this is going to turn into the crown piece of the Angell College Center potentially, a lounge area instead of these big desk areas. The information desk has served us well for the last 10 years, I feel it has served its purpose.”
Even though Avery is confident in the project, he could still be subject to negative responses from PSUC students.
“Change is change,” Avery said. “Some people are going to see change negatively and some are going to see it positively, as long as there is thought behind it. In two to three years, people are going to forget this was a desk area. Alumni, like myself, will come back and see the change.”
PSUC students are showing great anticipation for the upcoming lounge area in ACC, even the information desk staff themselves.
“I think it would be really cool to have a lounge with charging stations,” said Danielle Abrahams, information desk staff member.“It will be nice to be able to have a place to sit in ACC.”
Freshman students, who have only been here for about three months, do not show the same excitement as upperclassmen. However, the charging station aspect of this idea strikes anticipation into their hearts as they wait to see the outcome of this project.
“I haven’t seen the information desk for long, but it would be nice to have a place to charge my phone and not have to go back to my room.” said first-year student Johnathan Jimenez.
While construction has not begun yet, Avery’s mission is to please the student body with a refreshing change to ACC that he hopes will bring joy to the entire student bod
“I don’t necessarily like change but change is good, for the most part.”
Email Mataeo Smith at cp@cardinalpointsonlinc.com
Like this: Like Loading...Syrian President Bashar al-Assad believes Donald Trump's election win has saved them from a Hillary Clinton administration which would have sought to stop Russia backing the regime's campaign in Aleppo.
A senior pro-Assad official told Reuters they had planned to capture the rebel-held east of the city before January because they expected Mrs Clinton to cause them problems after her inauguration.
If Trump's pre-election comments on Syria crystallize into policy, it might mean Washington, Moscow and Damascus cooperating against ISIS, whose stronghold is Raqqa in eastern Syria.
Bashir al-Assad (pictured, left) has welcomed the election of Donald Trump, as he knows it is likely to mean less interference in his regime's war on rebels in Aleppo (right)
One complicating factor could be Trump's tough stance on Iran, Assad's other main military backer.
Trump has threatened to rip up the nuclear deal with Iran and heaped criticism on the sanctions relief it brought.
Analysts also say long-standing aversion to Assad among Republicans in Congress may thwart a big policy shift.
Yet Trump has struck a different tone to current U.S. policy on some aspects of the multi-sided Syrian conflict, where the United States with allies Turkey and Saudi Arabia has backed some of the insurgents who have been fighting to topple Assad for more than five years.
Trump has questioned the wisdom of backing rebels, played down the U.S. goal of getting Assad to leave power, and noted that while he didn't like him, 'Assad is killing ISIS' with Iran and Russia.
A volunteer with the Syrian White Helmets group (left), and a Syrian Arab Red Crescent member (right) run from a government air strike in Douma, near Damascus
'This is very comforting for us and our allies in Syria,' said the senior official in the military alliance fighting in support of Assad, who is backed by the Russian air force, Iran's Revolutionary Guards, Lebanon's Hezbollah, and other militias.
'The wave is currently with us, serving our interests, and we must benefit from it as fully as possible,' said the official, who declined to be identified by nationality or affiliation so he could give a frank assessment.
The war has shattered Syria into a patchwork of areas controlled by Assad's state, rebels battling to topple him, a powerful Kurdish militia, and the Islamic State.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and the conflict has created the world's worst refugee crisis for years.
Trump has been adamant he will not let Syrian refugees come to the United States, playing on fears that any of them could potentially be suicide bombers.
While Washington has provided significant support to the opposition, it has never matched the backing given to Assad by Russia and Iran.
The rebels have seen U.S. policy as a betrayal of their revolt, with Washington focusing mostly on the fight against IS in the last two years.
The ground war between Assad and the rebellion has this year focused largely on Aleppo, in the north west of Syria.
The government is trying to recapture the rebel-held east of the city, the opposition's most important urban stronghold.
Expectations of a Hillary Clinton win have been shaping military planning in the Aleppo campaign for some time, and the aim had been to conclude the campaign before the new U.S. president took office, the senior official said.
Abdullah al-Muhaysini, a prominent Saudi cleric and jihadist figure in Syria, said Donald Trump's election as president of the United States was the 'first step toward victory'
While that is still the plan, the official said Trump's victory was a 'new factor'.
Russian President Vladimir Putin would 'certainly have a different approach towards the entire Syrian crisis based on what will happen with Trump'.
The Syrian newspaper al-Watan said most Syrians had felt 'joy' at the result, and that many had spent the night up following the U.S. election.
Trump had no designs in Syria, or the region, it declared.
While some in the opposition expressed concern about Trump's statements and views on Putin, others still hold out hope for a U.S. policy that serves their cause.
A Syrian teacher explains basic math to a class in a barn which has been converted into a makeshift school classroom in a rebel-held area of Daraa, in southern Syria
A senior rebel leader noted Trump's views on Iran were 'positive' for the Syrian opposition.
'Today, the role of the United States remains active and essential in Syria, regardless of whether he tries to distance himself from it, he won't be able to,' said the rebel, who declined to be identified so he could talk freely.
A build-up of Russian forces has fuelled speculation of an imminent escalation in the campaign for eastern Aleppo, where hundreds of people were reported killed in air strikes before Russia declared a pause on Oct. 18.
Rebels say they are well-entrenched in eastern Aleppo, a besieged area the United Nations says is home to 270,000 people. The rebels say it will be impossible for government forces to take the area.
Russian firepower has in recent weeks focused on rebel-held areas to the west of the city, from where insurgents recently launched their own offensive on government-held parts of Aleppo. Rebel shelling has killed dozens of people in western Aleppo.
Asked about Aleppo in an October debate with Clinton, Trump said it was a humanitarian disaster but the city had 'basically' fallen. Clinton, he said, was talking in favour of rebels without knowing who they were.
The rebels fighting Assad in western Syria include nationalists fighting under the Free Syrian Army banner, some of them trained in a CIA-backed programme, and jihadists such as the group formerly known as the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front.
Rather than focusing on fighting Assad, Islamic State, has prioritised the expansion and defence of its self-declared 'caliphate' in eastern and central Syria.
Damascus had hoped that it could win back international legitimacy as part of the international fight against Islamic State, but the United States has rejected that idea, viewing Assad as part of the problem.
The U.S.-led fight against Islamic State in Syria is fraught with complications. The United States has built its strategy around a powerful Kurdish militia that has carved out a self-governing areas across much of northern Syria.
If it were not for the support of Russian President Vladimir Putin (right) Bashar al-Assad (left) would have been ousted like Egypt's Hosni Mubarak and Libya's Muammar Gaddafi
But its alliance with that militia, the YPG, has angered Turkey, a U.S. ally worried that Kurdish influence in northern Syria will fuel separatism among its own Kurdish minority.
The YPG has in turn fought FSA rebels backed by Turkey, which is itself waging a major operation in northern Syria.
One senior adviser who Trump will inherit is the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Marine General Joseph Dunford.
Dunford told Congress in September he thought it would not be a good idea for the military to share intelligence with Russia on Syria, something Moscow has long sought. Republican stalwarts who might join Trump's cabinet or become advisers are unlikely to want close relations with Putin.
Andrew Tabler, a Syria expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, forecast that Trump would start out by sounding out Russia on options for a political transition or agreement to end the war.
Failing that, he may decide to leave western Syria as a Russian zone of influence, with the United States and its allies fighting Islamic State in the east.It feels a bit like beating a dead (or zombified) horse at this point, but the latest from Jonathan Weisman at the New York Times strikes another blow at whatever life was left in the IRS scandal over alleged targeting of Tea Party groups.
Today, Weisman reports that plenty of groups that had nothing to do with left-right politics, like a Palestinian-rights organization and open source technology groups, made it onto target lists and received "a series of questions and requests almost identical to the ones it was sending to Tea Party groups at the time:"
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[A] closer look at the I.R.S. operation suggests that the problem was less about ideology and more about |
henchman, Roger Stone, had for months been foreshadowing that this attack was coming. It’s not surprising that Donald Trump’s tweet occurs the day before the attack comes out. And I would note that Mr. Stone is a man who has 50 years of dirty tricks behind him. He’s a man for whom a term was coined for copulating with a rodent. Well let me be clear: Donald Trump may be a rat, but I have no desire to copulate with him. And this garbage does not belong in politics. The National Enquirer has endorsed Donald Trump, has said he must be President. And so Donald, when he’s losing, when he’s scared, when Republicans are uniting against him, decides to peddle sleaze and slime. You know, Donald is fond of giving people nicknames. With this pattern, he should not be surprised to see people calling him, ‘Sleazy Donald.’”
We should note that these two statements constitute the only material that we currently have at our disposal to analyze, which is far from ideal. Obviously, the more material available for analysis, the greater our confidence in our findings. With that said, however, we were struck by the volume of deceptive behavior that we identified in these statements.
Behaviorally, when the facts are the ally of an individual, he or she almost always tends to focus on the facts of the matter at hand. In this case, if the key fact was that he had not had these affairs, Cruz would almost certainly have been much more strongly focused on the denial. That is, he very likely would have made a point of explicitly stating something along the lines of, “I did not have these affairs.”
Yet at no point in either statement did Cruz say that. He implied it by saying the allegations are false, and that they’re lies, but behaviorally, such statements are not equivalent to saying he never had the affairs. Even if we were to overlook that fact and consider his statements to be a denial, there is an overwhelmingly higher proportion of attack behavior compared to the effort expended at denial. This type of lopsided attack-to-denial ratio is very consistent with what we have historically seen with deceptive people when allegations are levied against them.
Given the lack of additional information upon which to conduct a more comprehensive behavioral analysis, this is nothing more than our initial opinion and assessment, and we will continue to follow this matter very closely. At the same time, we cannot help but conclude at this point that it’s not looking good for Sen. Cruz.Image copyright EPA Image caption Aung San Suu Kyi has faced international criticism for her reticence in relation to the Rohingya question
The Dalai Lama has called on his fellow Nobel Peace Laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi, to do more to help persecuted Rohingya Muslims in her country, Myanmar.
The Tibetan spiritual leader told The Australian that he hoped Ms Suu Kyi could do something about the issue.
The Dalai Lama said that he was especially alarmed by the plight of thousands of Rohingyas stranded at sea.
Ms Suu Kyi has faced international criticism for refusing to speak out about the Rohingya issue.
The Rohingya are not recognised as citizens of Myanmar (Burma) by the authorities there and are effectively stateless.
Image copyright AFP Image caption The Dalai Lama said that it was the responsibility of Myanmar's Buddhists to'remember the face of the Buddha' when dealing with the Rohingya minority
Image copyright EPA Image caption The Tibetan spiritual leader said he was especially concerned about the plight of Rohingyas stranded at sea
In his interview with The Australian, the Dalai Lama appealed to all of Myanmar's Buddhists to "remember the face of the Buddha" when dealing with the Rohingya minority.
He said that he had urged Ms Suu Kyi to act over the issue twice since 2012, when an outbreak of interfaith violence erupted in Myanmar's Rakhine state.
"It's very sad. In the Burmese case I hope Aung San Suu Kyi, as a Nobel laureate, can do something," he told the newspaper.
"I met her two times, first in London and then the Czech Republic. I mentioned about this problem and she told me she found some difficulties, that things were not simple but very complicated.
"But in spite of that I feel she can do something."
Ms Suu Kyi, 69, has defended her reticence over alleged Rohingya persecution by saying she is a politician and not a human rights defender.
She argues that the problem of thousands of Rohingya migrants who have fled Myanmar - and are now believed to be stranded at sea - was for the government to solve.
The BBC's Jonah Fisher in Myanmar says that the Dalai Lama is the latest international figure to call for Ms Suu Kyi to speak out.
South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu has also expressed concern over their plight.
Our correspondent says that Myanmar is due to hold a general election in November and many see her silence as political pragmatism - she knows that many Burmese are openly hostile to the Rohingya minority.
But it is far from clear whether she actually has much sympathy for the Rohingyas, our correspondent adds.Allison Jones, The Canadian Press
TORONTO -- Two animal rights groups are taking the Ontario government to court in an attempt to stop a spring bear hunt pilot program before it begins, alleging it amounts to animal cruelty.
Animal Alliance of Canada and Zoocheck Canada say mother bears will be killed during the hunt, leaving their orphaned cubs to starve or be killed by predators.
"The babies at this time are very small," said Julie Woodyer of Zoocheck Canada.
"This is the only large game species that are hunted when the young are still dependent on their mothers and it is inevitable that cubs will be orphaned."
The animal rights groups have filed an application for judicial review and a notice of constitutional question, which are set to be heard in court on April 29, just days before the start of the program. They hope the court will at least delay the start of the hunt until it can rule on their legal actions.
The regulation would be contrary to animal cruelty laws in the Criminal Code, said the groups' lawyer David Estrin.
"In our view, reinstituting this program would be tantamount to the minister and the Ministry of Natural Resources either wilfully permitting bear cubs to suffer or failing to exercise reasonable care or supervision of the bear cub population," he said.
"The Criminal Code prohibits causing or allowing animals to suffer. This program of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources will cause black bears to suffer."
The pilot project to reinstate the spring bear hunt will start May 1 and run for six weeks in eight wildlife areas known for having the most public safety incidents involving bears.
"In northern Ontario it is not responsible for a provincial government to ignore the concerns of thousands of residents who are concerned about their public safety," said Natural Resources Minister David Orazietti.
"We have young children who can't go out for recess at their schools, teachers wearing bear whistles because their children are threatened."
Nearly 50 mayors and city councils across northern Ontario have passed resolutions calling for their participation in the program, Orazietti said. Out of 95 wildlife management units in Ontario, the pilot program will be in eight, he said.
"Some people who are completely unaffected by this issue and whose children may be perfectly safe in the schools that they attend have no understanding of the implications and the safety challenges in communities in northern Ontario," Orazietti said.
The hunt was cancelled in 1999 and then-natural resources minister John Snobelen said it had left thousands of cubs orphaned since hunters too often mistakenly shoot mother bears.
"Really, the only answer we came up with was to end the spring bear hunt," he said at the time. "It's the only acceptable way."
Orazietti said the government has learned over the past 15 years that other strategies to reduce human-bear incidents have met "fairly limited success."
"This has been a very, very thoughtful and strategic approach," he said Thursday. "We're not suggesting a return of the spring bear hunt of yesteryear."
The animal rights groups say the ministry's own scientists have found no link between the end of the spring bear hunt and human-bear incidents. Orazietti said "that's not completely true."
"Our scientists do recognize that there are other scientists and other groups that have indicated that bear hunts do in fact have an impact on population," he said.
Terry Quinney, the provincial manager of fish and wildlife services for the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters, said the spring bear hunt was for decades a valuable wildlife population management tool.
"In reducing the density and distribution of bears in the spring, particularly those older male bears, it is absolutely reducing the probability of dangerous encounters with people," he said.
Hunters target the male bears, Quinney said, and there are ways they can distinguish male and female bears, especially using suspended bait.
"It's not hard to imagine that if a food source is placed, for example, hanging from a tree, a bear in order to reach that food source is going to stand on its hind legs, making its genitalia very visible to a hunter," he said.
Quinney also said there would be economic and social benefits to re-establishing the spring bear hunt in northern communities.
"Prior to the cancellation of the spring bear hunt in Ontario there were approximately 600 family-based businesses in northern and central Ontario that were involved in the spring bear hunt, for example providing guiding services for hunters," he said.
"Revenues to northern and central Ontario on an annual basis were in excess of $40 million a year. All of those economic benefits have disappeared from Ontario."The TiVO Inc. model TCD84A000 (Mantis) is a network DVR that is designed to receive OTA broadcast video and transcodes and send it out as a network stream either wired or wireless.
If it sounds familiar, that's probably due to competitors like Tablo and Simple.tv offering similar products. I couldn't find any notes in the document pointing to built-in storage, although the diagrams don't seem to show a device with space for a large built-in drive -- whether that means BYO hard-drive or some kind of cloud-based network DVR setup remains to be seen.
In a recent chat with users, TiVo CMO Ira Bahr indicated the company will announce a new product on September 15th during the CEDIA event in Dallas, which is probably going to be an upgraded version of the 4K-capable Bolt. Zatz and forum posters figure this is actually another device, which Bahr said will debut during CES to compete with streaming boxes. We'll probably have to wait until then to see if TiVo does anything with the Aereo name, or if it adds streaming clients for connected TV devices other than the Fire TV.I wouldn't mind a demon souls sequel. I don't see how it would be redundant. They'd have more leeway to take liberty with the plot and setting. Dark souls is pretty much married to years of lore at this point. I agree though, I'm not exactly clambering for a demon souls sequel. That said, neither am I really dying to see bloodborne 2. At lot of those same arguments against demon souls 2 apply. Mechanically bloodborne is still basically a souls game. While I'll buy any play anything they make in that style, it's clear they are running out of ideas. I'm not sure why people think that because bloodborne had top hats and monacles they could make it any fresher in terms of encounter design or level design then dark souls 3.Integrating with applications on devices is important for ownCloud. We have, of course, our desktop and mobile clients, but there is also quite a bit of third-party support. Most prominently, the GNOME desktop for Linux has had ownCloud account support for some years and for next year’s Google Summer of Code we plan to work […]
FeedReader
Integrating with applications on devices is important for ownCloud. We have, of course, our desktop and mobile clients, but there is also quite a bit of third-party support. Most prominently, the GNOME desktop for Linux has had ownCloud account support for some years and for next year’s Google Summer of Code we plan to work with them to further integration. Today, we talk about FeedReader, which recently gained an ownCloud backend.
Jan Lukas, author of FeedReader, told us he started the project a little over a year ago. FeedReader is written in vala and uses GTK+. Vala is a C based language which adds object-oriented behavior and reference counting using a pre-processor to generate normal C code for a compiler like GCC. It offers a syntax similar to C#. Language bindings exist for most of the GTK libraries, making it easy to develop applications for the GNOME desktop with vala.
FeedReader version 1.2 was recently released, which marks the point where Jan Lukas feels it is becoming a rather solid and usable RSS client. This prompted him to set up a BountySource page to see what features people would like to have. ownCloud support was one of the first and much of the work for it is done already. The bounty is still open if you want to support it!
He made a video showing FeedReader and ownCloud in action:
Right now, he notes that he still needs beta testers for the ownCloud backend and people should feel free to open bounties on other features. Some of the ownCloud users seem to be interested in an offline mode and he is certainly up for that.
Code-wise, some help with the CSS theming of the articles and content-grabber config files is welcome. Moreover, some feeds only release the first few lines of the article or the website has changed. Writing a simple XPath file will make FeedReader grab all of the content for easy reading, making for a simple yet important contribution.
Check out the FeedReader website for more information and learn how to contribute!One of the common causes of downtime with MySQL is running out of connections. Have you ever seen this error? “ERROR 1040 (00000): Too many connections.” If you’re working with MySQL long enough you surely have. This is quite a nasty error as it might cause complete downtime… transient errors with successful transactions mixed with failing ones as well as only some processes stopping to run properly causing various kinds of effects if not monitored properly.
There are number of causes for running out of connections, the most common ones involving when the Web/App server is creating unexpectedly large numbers of connections due to a miss-configuration or some script/application leaking connections or creating too many connections in error.
The solution I see some people employ is just to increase max_connections to some very high number so MySQL “never” runs out of connections. This however can cause resource utilization problems – if a large number of connections become truly active it may use a lot of memory and cause the MySQL server to swap or be killed by OOM killer process, or cause very poor performance due to high contention.
There is a better solution: use different user accounts for different scripts and applications and implement resource limiting for them. Specifically set max_user_connections:
mysql> GRANT USAGE ON *.* TO 'batchjob1'@'localhost' -> WITH MAX_USER_CONNECTIONS 10; 1 2 mysql > GRANT USAGE ON *. * TO 'batchjob1' @ 'localhost' -> WITH MAX_USER _ CONNECTIONS 10 ;
This approach (available since MySQL 5.0) has multiple benefits:
Security – different user accounts with only required permissions make your system safer from development errors and more secure from intruders
Preventing Running out of Connections – if there is a bug or miss-configuration the application/script will run out of connections of course but it will be the only part of the system affected and all other applications will be able to use the database normally.
Overload Protection – Additional numbers of connections limits how much queries you can run concurrently. Too much concurrency is often the cause of downtime and limiting it can reduce the impact of unexpected heavy queries running concurrently by the application.
In addition to configuring max_user_connections for given accounts you can set it globally in my.cnf as “max_user_connections=20.” This is too coarse though in my opinion – you’re most likely going to need a different number for different applications/scripts. Where max_user_connections is most helpful is in multi-tenant environments with many equivalent users sharing the system.Despite only qualifying for the Situational tier in our pub tier list, Legion Commander is definitely worth discussing. The pick rate of the hero has been on a steady rise, reaching slightly over 25%, making her the 4th most popular hero in Dota. However, her win rate cannot be called impressive, decreasing rapidly from its highest at 49% in the 2-3k bracket to 45% in the 5k+ bracket. Today, we would like to go over how to utilize the hero better, while addressing some issues players might face.
Drafting
It has been said time and time again, but it is always worth repeating: the drafting stage is important, not only for the choice of a role, but also the hero you pick for that role. More versatile players will find themselves at an even bigger advantage in this patch, since the pool of viable heroes is unquestionably larger. But when exactly do you draft Legion Commander?
There are a couple of drafting stage ideas that would indicate a good Legion Commander game:
Her ability to dispel stuns is among the most underrated mechanics in Dota. Being able to get rid of strong single-target disables on one of your important heroes, while remaining relatively safe from potential silences, can and will be fight-turning. Sacred Arrow, Fiend's Grip, Shackles and Primal Roar are probably the strongest disables which turn into nothing with the help of Press The Attack
Her outpush potential is incredibly high. Think of Overwhelming Odds as a smaller Echo Slam on a much lower cooldown with a smaller radius. The damage is lower, but when facing a pushing line-up with a lot of controlled/summoned creeps, it is probably even better—low cooldown and decent cast range allow for it to shine earlier and occasionally brighter.
The hero does very little against tanky line-ups, since almost all of her abilities work better on squishy targets. In a single teamfight she also doesn’t offer a lot in terms of damage, until very late into the game, and even this is dependent on her getting a decent early-mid game. As such, she should complement glass cannons on her team and works better against glass cannons in the enemy team. The early game of the hero is generally more utility-based.
There are certain heroes which do not necessarily have great auto-attack damage/attack speed but deal a lot of damage through melee/ranged splash attacks. Heroes like Ember Spirit, Medusa, Gyrocopter are all good match-ups for Legion Commander.
You don’t draft Legion Commander to jungle from level 1. She can’t contribute much to the game from the jungle and she generally can’t and shouldn’t get an early game-breaking item such as Mekansm because of her limited mana pool. Even the introduction of Iron Talon doesn’t solve the issue of having to spread skill points out for Press The Attack or Moment of Courage earlier in the game. Getting Overwhelming Odds maxed by level 7 is almost always a must, since otherwise the hero offers very little in the initial skirmishes.
Laning and Role
The fact that the hero should be played as a core should not raise any questions—there are better options for a support hero.
The choice of lane is also quite limited. According to global statistics jungling is by far the worst choice for the hero. The hero is also not exactly the best position one material, since her scaling is unreliable and she isn’t exactly the hardest of carries.
This leaves middle and off lanes and both have their ups and downs. The win rates for mid and off-lanes are 49% and 51% respectively.
Midlane
By far the most XP-rewarding lane is great for the hero, since she does benefit from getting her levels. While there are few matchups that can be considered to be in favor of the Legion Commander, she can stand her ground against almost any opponent and shouldn’t get harassed out of lane completely.
Mid lane and the XP advantage the midlane provides also benefit the general gameplan for the hero—getting a lot of kills in the early-mid game and snowballing from this advantage. Unlike many previously popular tempo heroes in this role, she doesn’t fall off as hard come late-game.
Moreover, midlane will generally provide more gold for the hero, since last hitting is easier against a single opponent. This would potentially lead to an earlier initiation item and higher chances of snowballing.
Offlane
The second choice, which is almost three times as popular among the players as the middle lane. Being decently tanky, it is generally hard to completely zone out an offlaning Legion Commander. Moreover, her ability to deal surprisingly high damage with Overwhelming Odds should also leash the enemy supports to their safelane core—even with a level disadvantage, the hero can be extremely strong in 1-on-1 or 1-on-2 situations.
This creates much needed space for your mid laner and it should also provide benefits in early-game skirmishes, since numerical advantage at this point is key. If the enemy supports have to make a trade-off to rotate mid and your supports feel more freedom moving around the map, it can be easy to get a decent early-game advantage from ganks or even simple zoning of the enemy mid. It is especially important if the enemy mid relies on snowballing and/or is a glass cannon.
Having lower income should also be less of a problem, if the coordination with your teammates are at a decent level. With the speed boost of Overwhelming Odds, it is quite easy to catch up to a fleeing enemy and earn extra damage in the early game.
With a couple of extra levels and/or some items such as Iron Talon, transitioning to the jungle is an option. You do not farm the jungle full-time as Legion Commander, though. Instead, it is a good way to earn money in-between duels for the next item, if the lanes are occupied by your teammates (and they can’t jungle well) and/or are too dangerous to farm in. Sometimes, giving some space to supports is also necessary—at this point the jungling efficiency is higher for you, while your supports can benefit from extra Gold/XP in lane. It is also less of a deal if your support dies in the lane, compared to a core Legion Commander—there is going to be a significant level and Net Worth difference between the two.
Item Build
Item choices are extremely important on any hero, but Legion Commander is among the hardest to make correct choices for. The reason for it is the analysis paralysis caused by the fact that when she needs to aim for late-game, she has to build-up tempo and that requires her to make mid-game item choices. When aiming for tempo-control, on the other hand, you can end up having not enough item slots later on and fail at becoming relevant late-game and/or have reduced gold efficiency due to the fact that you will need to buy/sell items.
Overall, there are only a handful of staple items for the hero and even those are somewhat situational.
This first option is a lot more reliable, while the second one is better in terms of DPS. Most of the time Blink Dagger is going to be a better choice, however in certain cases Shadow Blade into Silver Edge is a better option. Disabling strong passives can be game-changing at any point in the game, while stats synergize extremely well with with the hero.
Excellent choice against glass cannon heroes. Since the hero herself is good at dealing with those, it is generally a safe choice if and only if gotten early. An average 12 min. Blink Dagger into 16-18 min. Blade Mail is a good transition. If it is hard to get this item early, it might be a waste of money, since its efficiency is subjective to the enemy getting survivability items.
This item is almost always self-explanatory. You shouldn’t be forced to get it too early though, since it makes for a huge tempo hit (4k gold for very little DPS). It also gets weaker as game progresses, so make sure you do not waste all the charges early on, especially if the early-mid game doesn’t seem to provide an opening for a convincing victory.
One of the best items for the hero, since it incorporates high DPS and survivability, while also benefiting team. If there are no better carries for the item (other strength cores), you should aim for it relatively early.
A decent choice against right-clicking enemy line-ups, but offers too little DPS per gold spent. It’s better if you are frontlining, initiating, or when facing a strong ranged core. Otherwise, almost 4k gold can be spent better.
One of the more underrated choices. Extremely good if there are no natural Diffusal Blade carriers on the enemy team (and/or purge abilities). Provides amazing DPS and scales really well. Extra points if your team has little magic damage, since it is unlikely the enemy is going for a Pipe. Even better, if the enemy has a lot of core heroes which primarily rely on Armor/Evasion rather than HP for survivability (most agility cores).
Final Thoughts
I have been saying that the hero will become a staple by the end of 6.85 due to the rising popularity of both Broodmother and Beastmaster, but the statistics prove me wrong. Nonetheless, the hero has a lot to offer and is situationally strong in many lineups--there are games where the Legion Commander can be the best choice by far.
Her low win rate, to a certain degree, comes from the Dota 1 habits of jungling the hero. In most other lanes she is a solid pick and should not be underrated. I would be cautious to call her the next big thing after being proved wrong in 6.85, but this time around she has better chances to become popular.China’s New Grand Strategy for the Middle East
At the start of 2016, prospects weren’t good for what would later become one of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s most consequential international tours. The January execution of leading Shite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, the voice of Saudi Arabia’s Shiite minority, and the subsequent severing of diplomatic relations between several Sunni countries and Shiite Iran came at a particularly inconvenient time for Xi. His planned maiden trip to the Middle East was to include stops in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, all majority Sunni countries. Visiting Sunni leaders at a time of great tension with Shiite Iran would have created the impression that China supported one of the two major branches of Islam over the other, undermining Beijing’s long held policy of staunch neutrality in the Middle East.
But postponing the visit for a second time in less than a year would have had consequences too. China had already called off a similar trip scheduled for spring 2015, after a Saudi-led coalition of Sunni states launched a military campaign in Yemen against the Houthis, an Iran-backed Shiite group. Since becoming president, Xi has visited almost every region of the world — but not the Middle East. The same is true for Premier Li Keqiang. Another delay would have signaled that regional spoilers could easily interfere with China’s foreign policy. Instead, Xi decided to use the crisis in the Muslim world as an opportunity to raise the curtain on China’s new Middle East strategy, one that finally involves China getting off the sidelines and plunging into the Middle East’s stormy waters.
It has been a busy few weeks for Beijing’s Middle East policy. In the past several weeks, even before the al-Nimr execution, Xi has sought ways for China to inject itself into the Syrian crisis, inviting both Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem and the head of the opposition group, the Syrian National Coalition (SNC), to high-level meetings in Beijing in an effort to promote peaceful resolution. Significantly, this meant departure from China’s long-held policy of supporting Bashar al-Assad. On Jan. 13, Beijing released its Arab Policy Paper, a vague but seminal document articulating China’s interests in the Middle East. After the ransacking of the Saudi embassy in Tehran, Xi dispatched his Deputy Foreign Minister Zhang Ming to both Tehran and Riyadh, urging the sides to exercise calm. Xi also rearranged his travel itinerary, replacing his planned visit to the UAE with an unexpected stop in Tehran, thus becoming the first foreign leader to set foot in Iran since the lifting of the sanctions. For balance, he brought the Saudis a consolation gift: a declaration of support for the sovereignty of Yemen’s government, whom the Saudis support in the war against Iran’s proxy.
Such diplomatic hyper-activity may surprise those accustomed to China’s tendency to avoid interventionism. Cynics may say that these are all tactical moves designed to secure prime business opportunities for China on both sides. There may be some truth to this. But it would be a mistake to reduce China’s latest action to pure economic opportunism.
Realizing that the Middle East is too important to be left to others — and that neglecting it could run to China’s peril — China is no longer willing to sit on the sidelines and watch the region descend into chaos. China has for several months harbored a suspicion that the United States, entering an election year while drowning in domestic oil and gas supply, is not as interested in the Middle East as it has been for the past half century. (At any rate, Washington’s relations with Riyadh and Tehran are too thorny to enable it to be an honest broker.) More importantly, Russia has laid down the flag of Middle East neutrality that it carried for most of the post-Soviet era. Moscow once enjoyed equally good relations with Tehran and Riyadh. But in plunging into the civil war in Syria, Russia — despite the fact that most of its Muslim population is Sunni — entangled itself with the Shiite camp, and can no longer be trusted by the Sunnis. With the United States and Russia no longer able to hold the balance between Iran and Saudi Arabia, China, which has solid relations with both, is increasingly tempted to fill the vacuum.
There are several reasons why the Sunni-Shiite divide is of particular concern to China. As home to a large portion of the world’s conventional oil reserves, the Persian Gulf region is critically important to the China’s resource-intense economy. While the world is currently enjoying extraordinarily low energy prices, this could easily change should the rivalry between Sunnis and Shiites continue to escalate. Shiites may be a minority in the Muslim world as a whole, but in the oil-rich Persian Gulf they comprise a majority. If Iran and Saudi Arabia and its Sunni allies become embroiled in a regional war involving physical damage to oil infrastructure, crude prices would go through the ceiling, to the detriment of the global economy. With half of China’s crude imports coming from the Persian Gulf, such a crisis would likely hurt China more than any other major economy.
China’s desire to cultivate a Middle East without sectarian instability also traces to the hallmark of its foreign policy in the 21st century: the One Belt One Road initiative. This effort to connect the landmass and surrounding waterways stretching from China to the heart of Europe in a network of trade and transportation corridors is crucial to China’s efforts to stimulate Asian economic growth and create new markets for Chinese goods and services. The Belt and Road initiative is the most ambitious economic development project in human history, to which Beijing has already committed hundreds of billions of dollars. It offers a major mechanism for China to reboot its economy, currently afflicted by slowing growth. Finally, it positions the western Chinese region of Xinjiang as a future gateway to both Central and South Asia. But a restive Middle East stands in the way of all that. Beijing’s concern that the Uighurs that have joined the ranks of the Islamic State, which it says numbers in the hundreds, might one day return to cause havoc in western China, disrupting the Belt and Road initiative.
Xi must be seasoned enough to know that Chinese diplomacy, active as it may be, has no chance of overriding centuries of bad blood between Sunnis and Shiites. And an inherently atheist Chinese leadership may not even be able to relate to conflicts rooted so deeply in religion.
But China can help keep the flames under control. In the absence of diplomatic relations between Riyadh and Tehran, China’s open communication with both capitals may become a vital asset. China can use the One Belt One Road initiative as a tension-reduction mechanism, promoting projects that create shared Sunni-Shiite economic interests like the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline, the port of Gwadar on the coast of the Arabian Sea, and a Silk Road high speed railway connecting Xinjiang and Tehran via the Sunni Muslims countries of Central Asia — Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan. China is positioned to promote Iran’s membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, whose other members are predominantly Sunni, a shift possible now that United Nations sanctions against Iran have been removed.
All this, of course, will have to be balanced with Chinese overtures to the Sunnis. With its new anti-terrorism law allowing for the Chinese military to stage counter-terrorism operations abroad — albeit with consent from the relevant country — China can become actively involved in the various coalitions formed to defeat the Islamic State as well as in peacekeeping missions. Additionally, as one of the few remaining countries still in the business of building nuclear power plants, China can help ensure that Sunni countries developing civilian nuclear power — an undesirable yet unavoidable response to the Iranian nuclear deal — do so with the safeguards necessary for nuclear non-proliferation.
Not everyone will appreciate China’s new role in the Middle East, especially those in Washington accustomed to America as sole power broker in the region. But with escalating tensions in the region, and neo-isolationism’s spread within the American electorate, Washington should welcome Xi’s advances toward the Middle East. His forthcoming spring visit to Obama’s Nuclear Security Summit in Washington is a chance to explore how the two powers can jointly manage the region’s many pitfalls.
Winston Churchill once said, “The price of greatness is responsibility.” As China strides into greatness, its readiness to pay that price in the Middle East will soon be tested.
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AddALL plugin usage Bookmark & ShareShe may be the unluckiest renter in Toronto.
Kathleen says bedbugs have forced her to move 11 times in the past six years.
The 45-year-old doesn’t even want her last name used because she says she’s already lost one job over the tiny critters.
“I was a normal person, I had a job and a nice apartment and this has completely broken my life,” she said.
She claims she first picked them up in 2010 after volunteering at a community centre in Regent Park.
That marked the beginning of a “downward spiral.”
Kathleen says she lost her job because she “made the mistake” of coming clean with her employers.
“I literally walked away with nothing but my health card in some cases, just trying to completely rid myself of them, only to end up in other buildings that were also infested,” she explained.
Now she lives outside of Toronto and wants all three levels of government — and the scientific community — to recognize bedbugs are a “national crisis.”
That’s why she spent Friday with placards outside City Hall, demanding more action in the battle against bedbugs.
“I went through all the proper protocol,” Kathleen said. “This isn’t a landlord and tenant issue anymore.”
She even had a friend — a private landlord from St. Catharines — dress up like a brown bedbug called Badness the Bedbug, which attracted curious looks from passersby.
The city’s website says if a landlord refuses to help with bedbugs, the tenant can contact a legal clinic, the landlord and tenant board, or Toronto Public Health.The yakuza retains a significant foothold in Japanese popular culture, with two monthly fanzines and several weekly magazines that glorify their exploits. According to the National Police Agency, from 1992 to 2010, the number of yakuza members and associates remained steady at roughly 80,000. But extensive crackdowns by police and the tightening of laws have resulted in a major decline in numbers since then; this year, the yakuza reached a record low of about 60,000 members. The Yamaguchi-gumi, based in the western city of Kobe, is by far the largest syndicate with about 25,600 members. As recently as 2008, however, it boasted more than 40,000.
However, veteran police detective told us that they suspect the site may be a signal that the Yamaguchi-gumi plans to expand their operations. Japan has 21 designated organized crime-groups — the yakuza — each with their own corporate logo, office, and business cards. The groups are patriarchal pseudo-family organizations structured like a pyramid, with the top boss known as the oyabun ["father figure"] and those under him known as kobun ["children"]. They each control different regions of the country.
But it was founded by one. The then-leader of the Yamaguchi-gumi founded it in |
brain is already well under way. The underlying technologies of brain scanning and neuron modeling are scaling up exponentially, as is our overall knowledge of human brain function. We already have detailed mathematical models of a couple dozen of the several hundred regions that comprise the human brain.
The age of neural implants is also well under way. We have brain implants based on “neuromorphic” modeling (i.e., reverse-engineering of the human brain and nervous system) for a rapidly growing list of brain regions. A friend of mine who became deaf while an adult can now engage in telephone conversations again because of his cochlear implant, a device that interfaces directly with the auditory nervous system. He plans to replace it with a new model with a thousand levels of frequency discrimination, which will enable him to hear music once again. He laments that he has had the same melodies playing in his head for the past 15 years and is looking forward to hearing some new tunes. A future generation of cochlear implants now on the drawing board will provide levels of frequency discrimination that go significantly beyond that of “normal” hearing.
Researchers at MIT and Harvard are developing neural implants to replace damaged retinas. There are brain implants for Parkinson’s patients that communicate directly with the ventral posterior nucleus and subthalmic nucleus regions of the brain to reverse the most devastating symptoms of this disease. An implant for people with cerebral palsy and multiple sclerosis communicates with the ventral lateral thalamus and has been effective in controlling tremors. “Rather than treat the brain like soup, adding chemicals that enhance or suppress certain neurotransmitters,” says Rick Trosch, an American physician helping to pioneer these therapies, “we’re now treating it like circuitry.”
A variety of techniques are being developed to provide the communications bridge between the wet analog world of biological information processing and digital electronics. Researchers at Germany’s Max Planck Institute have developed noninvasive devices that can communicate with neurons in both directions. They demonstrated their “neuron transistor” by controlling the movements of a living leech from a personal computer. Similar technology has been used to reconnect leech neurons and to coax them to perform simple logical and arithmetic problems. Scientists are now experimenting with a new design called “quantum dots,” which uses tiny crystals of semiconductor material to connect electronic devices with neurons.
These developments provide the promise of reconnecting broken neural pathways for people with nerve damage and spinal cord injuries. It has long been thought that recreating these pathways would only be feasible for recently injured patients because nerves gradually deteriorate when unused. A recent discovery, however, shows the feasibility of a neuroprosthetic system for patients with long-standing spinal cord injuries. Researchers at the University of Utah asked a group of long-term quadriplegic patients to move their limbs in a variety of ways and then observed the response of their brains, using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Although the neural pathways to their limbs had been inactive for many years, the pattern of their brain activity when attempting to move their limbs was very close to that observed in non-disabled persons.
We will, therefore, be able to place sensors in the brain of a paralyzed person (e.g., Christopher Reeve) that will be programmed to recognize the brain patterns associated with intended movements and then stimulate the appropriate sequence of muscle movements. For those patients whose muscles no longer function, there are already designs for “nanoelectromechanical” systems (NEMS) that can expand and contract to replace damaged muscles and that can be activated by either real or artificial nerves.
We Are Becoming Cyborgs
We are rapidly growing more intimate with our technology. Computers started out as large remote machines in air-conditioned rooms tended by white-coated technicians. Subsequently they moved onto our desks, then under our arms, and now in our pockets. Soon, we’ll routinely put them inside our bodies and brains. Ultimately we will become more nonbiological than biological.
The compelling benefits in overcoming profound diseases and disabilities will keep these technologies on a rapid course, but medical applications represent only the early adoption phase. As the technologies become established, there will be no barriers to using them for the expansion of human potential. In my view, expanding our potential is precisely the primary distinction of our species.
Moreover, all of the underlying technologies are accelerating. The power of computation has grown at a double exponential rate for all of the past century, and will continue to do so well into this century through the power of three-dimensional computing. Communication bandwidths and the pace of brain reverse-engineering are also quickening. Meanwhile, according to my models, the size of technology is shrinking at a rate of 5.6 per linear dimension per decade, which will make nanotechnology ubiquitous during the 2020s.
By the end of this decade, computing will disappear as a separate technology that we need to carry with us. We’ll routinely have high-resolution images encompassing the entire visual field written directly to our retinas from our eyeglasses and contact lenses (the Department of Defense is already using technology along these lines from Microvision, a company based in Bothell, Washington). We’ll have very-high-speed wireless connection to the Internet at all times. The electronics for all of this will be embedded in our clothing. Circa 2010, these very personal computers will enable us to meet with each other in full-immersion, visual-auditory, virtual-reality environments as well as augment our vision with location- and time-specific information at all times.
By 2030, electronics will utilize molecule-sized circuits, the reverse-engineering of the human brain will have been completed, and bioMEMS will have evolved into bioNEMS (biological nanoelectromechanical systems). It will be routine to have billions of nanobots (nano-scale robots) coursing through the capillaries of our brains, communicating with each other (over a wireless local area network), as well as with our biological neurons and with the Internet. One application will be to provide full-immersion virtual reality that encompasses all of our senses. When we want to enter a virtual-reality environment, the nanobots will replace the signals from our real senses with the signals that our brain would receive if we were actually in the virtual environment.
We will have a panoply of virtual environments to choose from, including earthly worlds that we are familiar with, as well as those with no earthly counterpart. We will be able to go to these virtual places and have any kind of interaction with other real (as well as simulated) people, ranging from business negotiations to sensual encounters. In virtual reality, we won’t be restricted to a single personality, since we will be able to change our appearance and become other people.
Experience Beamers
“Experience beamers” will beam their entire flow of sensory experiences as well as the neurological correlates of their emotional reactions out on the Web just as people today beam their bedroom images from their web cams. A popular pastime will be to plug in to someone else’s sensory-emotional beam and experience what it’s like to be someone else, à la the plot concept of the movie “Being John Malkovich.” There will also be a vast selection of archived experiences to choose from. The design of virtual environments and the creation of archived full-immersion experiences will become new art forms.
The most important application of circa-2030 nanobots will be to literally expand our minds. We’re limited today to a mere hundred trillion interneuronal connections; we will be able to augment these by adding virtual connections via nanobot communication. This will provide us with the opportunity to vastly expand our pattern recognition abilities, memories, and overall thinking capacity as well as directly interface with powerful forms of nonbiological intelligence.
It’s important to note that once nonbiological intelligence gets a foothold in our brains (a threshold we’ve already passed), it will grow exponentially, as is the accelerating nature of information-based technologies. A one-inch cube of nanotube circuitry (which is already working at smaller scales in laboratories) will be at least a million times more powerful than the human brain. By 2040, the nonbiological portion of our intelligence will be far more powerful than the biological portion. It will, however, still be part of the human-machine civilization, having been derived from human intelligence, i.e., created by humans (or machines created by humans) and based at least in part on the reverse-engineering of the human nervous system.
Stephen Hawking recently commented in the German magazine Focus that computer intelligence will surpass that of humans within a few decades. He advocated that we “develop as quickly as possible technologies that make possible a direct connection between brain and computer, so that artificial brains contribute to human intelligence rather than opposing it.” Hawking can take comfort that the development
program he is recommending is well under way.
© 2003 Ray Kurzweil.While it has yet to be officially confirmed by the Trump transition team, moments ago the NYT reported that - in what had previously been leaked on several occasions on various other outlets most notably the WSJ - former Goldman banker and Soros employee, Steven Mnuchin "a financier with deep roots on Wall Street and in Hollywood but no government experience" is expected to be named Donald J. Trump’s Treasury secretary as soon as Wednesday.
The WSJ has confirmed as much, reporting that "President-elect Donald Trump will name longtime banker and former Goldman Sachs executive Steven Mnuchin as Treasury secretary, turning to a campaign loyalist and fundraiser for the incoming administration’s top economic cabinet post, a transition official said Tuesday."
Steven Terner Mnuchin at Trump Tower in Manhattan this month
From the NYT:
Mnuchin, 53, was the national finance chairman for Mr. Trump’s campaign. He began his career at Goldman Sachs, where he became a partner, before creating his own hedge fund, moving to the West Coast and entering the first rank of movie financiers by bankrolling hits like the “X-Men” franchise and “Avatar.” As Treasury secretary, Mr. Mnuchin would play an important role in shaping the administration’s economic policies, including a package of promised tax cuts, increased spending on infrastructure and changes in the terms of foreign trade. He could also help lead any effort to roll back President Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran and opening to Cuba by reimposing sanctions on Tehran and Havana.
As the NYT adds, his selection fits uneasily with much of Mr. Trump’s campaign rhetoric attacking the financial industry. Mr. Trump, in a campaign ad intended as a closing argument, portrayed the chief executive of Goldman Sachs as the personification of a global elite that the ad said had “robbed our working class.” But, the NYT notes, Mnuchin has said that he agrees with Mr. Trump’s priorities, and he was an early supporter of a candidate who clearly prizes loyalty.
When Mr. Trump won New York’s Republican presidential primary in April, Mr. Mnuchin attended the victory party. The next day, he accepted Mr. Trump’s invitation to become the campaign’s national finance director. A number of Mr. Mnuchin’s friends made comments to various publications expressing shock at the decision. Mr. Mnuchin was unfazed. “Nobody’s going to be, like, ‘Well, why did he do this?’ if I end up in the administration,” he told Bloomberg Businessweek in August.
As the WSJ adds, "Mr. Mnuchin’s Wall Street pedigree presents a contrast with the populist themes Mr. Trump struck in his campaign, railing against big banks and vowing to close tax loopholes that benefit hedge funds. Mr. Trump also repeatedly attacked his rivals in the primary and general elections for their Wall Street ties, especially those connected to Goldman Sachs."
If confirmed by the Senate as Treasury secretary, Mr. Mnuchin will join a list of prominent bankers who made similar moves from Wall Street to Washington, including two of his former bosses at Goldman, Henry Paulson and Robert Rubin, who were both top Goldman executives before running Treasury.
* * *
For those who have missed our previous piece on the career banker, here are some more details on Mnuchin's background from the WSJ:
Despite his successful Wall Street career, Mr. Mnuchin has no experience running a massive organization—the Treasury Department has 86,000 employees—or in economic or financial policy-making. The biggest entity Mr. Mnuchin has run was the technology division of Goldman, which had over 5,000 employees. Mr. Mnuchin’s acquaintances describe him as smart, with several people calling him “nerdy.” He regularly attends New York philanthropic galas. He has long held high-profile positions on charity boards and is a former director of the Whitney Museum of American Art. At an event for New York charity City Harvest in 2006, Mr. Mnuchin and his ex-wife were photographed with Mr. Trump. Mr. Mnuchin is now engaged to Scottish actress Louise Linton. Mr. Mnuchin joined Goldman in 1985. He worked in the fixed-income department, eventually overseeing trading in mortgages, U.S. government, money market and municipal bonds. He made partner in 1994. Mr. Mnuchin later became the firm’s chief information officer. When Goldman converted into a publicly traded company in 1999, Mr. Mnuchin, like other partners, made millions. He later bought a 6,500-square-foot apartment in 740 Park Avenue, a storied Manhattan co-op built by Jackie Kennedy’s grandfather that is known as the “billionaires’ building.” At a recent conference, Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein called Mr. Mnuchin a “highflier, a partner at a young age. He did very well. He is a smart, smart guy.” In 2002, Mr. Mnuchin left Goldman and later was hired to run a credit fund set up by billionaire George Soros. In 2004, Mr. Mnuchin and two former Goldman colleagues founded hedge fund Dune Capital Management LP with financial backing from Mr. Soros. Dune soon expanded into the entertainment business, striking up a film-financing deal with a unit of 21st Century Fox. Among the films Dune financed was “Avatar,” one of the all-time box office hits. 21st Century Fox and News Corp, parent company of The Wall Street Journal, share common ownership. In 2008, IndyMac Bank in Pasadena, Calif., collapsed in one of the largest bank failures in U.S. history. Mr. Mnuchin led a group of investors, including funds run by Mr. Soros and other hedge-fund and private-equity titans, who bought it from the government for about $1.5 billion. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation agreed to cover a portion of any future loan losses, a lucrative arrangement for Mr. Mnuchin and his partners. Regulators who negotiated with Mr. Mnuchin found him to be the kind of detail-oriented person who would “know the cost of every pencil,” according to a person familiar with their thinking. Mr. Mnuchin, who became chairman of the renamed OneWest Bank and CEO of its parent company, relocated to Los Angeles and bought a mansion in the Bel Air neighborhood. The deal soon became controversial. In 2011, community activists descended on Mr. Mnuchin’s Bel Air home to protest over the possible eviction of a homeowner who was behind on her mortgage payments to OneWest. In 2014, OneWest was sold to CIT Group Inc., earning Mr. Mnuchin and Dune hundreds of millions of dollars in profits, according to a person familiar with the matter. He later pocketed $10.9 million in severance payouts when he left the company. Despite the huge profits, OneWest’s legacy continues to trail Mr. Mnuchin, who now sits on CIT’s board and owns more than 1% of its shares. A portion of OneWest’s mortgage business is under investigation by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Last July, CIT said it was forced to take a $230 million charge as it cleaned up accounting problems at OneWest. And two California housing groups this month accused OneWest of discriminating against minorities by not putting branches in their communities. Meanwhile, 14 years after leaving Goldman, Mr. Mnuchin remains in the firm’s orbit, showing up at alumni events and involving other ex-Goldman executives in his finance deals. He has continued to work those angles as Mr. Trump’s finance chairman, a post he assumed in May. Mr. Mnuchin negotiated a joint fundraising agreement with the Republican National Committee, easing the way for major donors to give both to the party and to Mr. Trump. The committee’s chairman, Lewis Eisenberg, is a Goldman veteran and contemporary of Mr. Mnuchin’s father.
* * *
Even though the nomination is still unofficial, moments ago CBS' reproter Charlie Keye tweeted that it can also confirm that "Trump has chosen financier Steven Mnuchin as his nominee for Treasury Secretary."
Just now. @CBS News has confirmed President-elect Trump has chosen financier Steven Mnuchin as his nominee for Treasury Secretary. — Charlie Kaye (@CharlieKayeCBS) November 29, 2016
And just like that the swamp feels a little bit more full.China Ambassador Cheng Jingye accuses ABC, Fairfax of stirring up 'panic'
Posted
China's Ambassador to Australia has launched a fierce defence of his country, accusing a joint investigation by ABC and Fairfax of trying to stir up "China panic".
The report, aired on Four Corners, revealed Australia's domestic spy agency ASIO warned the Coalition and Labor about taking donations from two billionaires with links to the Chinese Communist Party.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull ordered a major inquiry into the nation's espionage and foreign interference laws following the investigation, and Labor is calling for a parliamentary inquiry.
But Ambassador Cheng Jingye argued it was a "sensational report" at an Australia China Business Council event at Parliament House in Canberra.
"Firstly, what was reported in the program is basically a kind of platitude. I've heard those allegations more than once since I was posted here. In Chinese, we call it 'cook up the overnight cold rice' — which means repeating the same old stuff again and again," he said.
"Maybe the producers of the program believe that those groundless allegations may turn [out] to be true after repeating a thousand times.
"Those who have fabricated the allegations really have an imagination which is wild and morbid. If they were to apply their imagination to scientific research, they might be accorded with a Nobel prize someday. Who knows?"
Mr Cheng said the allegations had been "made up out of thin air" and were politically motivated.
"Apparently, those people are not willing to see the continued growth of the friendly cooperation between our two countries and two peoples," he said.
"Their main purpose, as I see it, is to instigate China panic.
"A scholar that was interviewed in the program recently wrote that the program is not about Sinophobia. But that reminds me of an old Chinese saying — the more one tries to hide, the more his intention is exposed."
Topics: government-and-politics, federal-government, defence-and-national-security, australia, chinaThe Bulgarian authorities have arrested three Syrian nationals trying to sneak into Turkey and charged them with attempting to join the Islamic State group, the Ministry of the Interior said on Monday.
The Syrians had been detained by Bulgarian border police when they tried to cross illegally into Turkey near Kapitan Andreevo border checkpoint on 9 February, the ministry said in a statement.
According to initial information, the three Syrian nationals, who had been granted refugee status by Germany, entered Bulgaria from Greece on 6 February, arrived in Sofia and stayed in a hotel. On 7 February they left for Svilengrad, a town near the border with Turkey about 10 km from Kapitan Andreevo.
After border police detained the Syrians, the regional court in Svilengrad gave each of them a six-month suspended sentence on charges of trying to cross illegally the state border.
“During the conducted operational activities, the affiliation of the three Syrian citizens to the ISIL has been established, as well as their intention to join the terrorist group,” the ministry said, using the acronym for Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, another name for the organization of jihadist miltants.
The ministry also said that the three Syrians had left Germany and arrived in Greece earlier this year, from where they tried to cross into Turkey but had been denied entry.
The prosecuting authorities have ordered the detention of the three Syrians for 72 hours and requested the Specialized Criminal Court to hold them into police custody until their case was heard.It's getting worse.
Stephen Harper is now serving notice that he's willing to tear the social fabric of the country apart if that's what it takes to get his party re-elected. That is, if torquing democratic process, the rule of law, election rules, the tax system etc., etc., to make them conform to Harperism isn't enough, he'll throw stink bombs in the public place in the expectation that, amid the chaos, he'll be seen as the strong hand who can straighten things out.
There were several of these this past week. Speaking to the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities, Harper let fall that rural people should be armed if they're "a ways away from immediate police assistance." He was accused of promoting vigilantism by, among others, the national assembly of Quebec, which passed a unanimous resolution denouncing him.
He dismissed the accusation as ridiculous, insisting that his was a "moderate" position. This is the Harper technique. Stake out an extreme position, then dress it up in moderation and wait for it to be accepted as such, by the Harperist "base" first, and then beyond.
Cruising for views on this in the Harper heartland, I found an editorial in the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix (granted, a potted one from the Postmedia chain) that, surprisingly nevertheless, accused Harper of importing American culture wars. The gun debate in Canada has been about "balancing public safety and the rights of gun owners without undue expense and red tape," not about whether the citizen should be armed (or about whether the society is at war with itself and we should fear that our neighbour is a criminal or a terrorist).
Besides, the editorial affirmed, citing American studies, it is "utterly false" that gun ownership increases security.
There were a couple more episodes. One Tory MP mused about "brownies" taking jobs away from "whities" and another invited niqab-wearers to go back where they came from. Both are experienced political operators. Both apologized with a wink to the base, but the substance stayed. Message sent. This has the mark of well-calibrated Harperism.
In response to my last column on the Harper record, I've had a number of correspondences, mostly in the snotty tone of neo-con etiquette, telling me to get my lily-livered head examined: dirty politics, big deal -- Harper is just doing what they've all done. "Have you never heard of Jean Chrétien and the sponsorship scandal?" one asked.
Here's the picture. No prime minister before -- not Paul Martin, Jean Chrétien, Brian Mulroney, Pierre Trudeau, Lester Pearson, John Diefenbaker and beyond -- have ever assaulted the very principle of Parliament itself, ever attacked the chief justice of the Supreme Court, ever muzzled the scientists, neutered the parliamentary committee system, and so on. Dirty politics, corruption -- yes indeed. But Harperism is worse than all that. It is an ideological assault on the elements of the constitutional order. It hangs pictures of the Queen all over, but owes its loyalties to the same dark, anti-democratic, corporate and imperialist forces that drive the American right wing.
And talking of parliamentary committees, the hearings on the secret police bill -- Bill C-51-- are on. Legal experts, civil libertarians and others have been, almost as one, trooping to Ottawa with carefully crafted arguments warning about the dangers of a bill that conflates peaceful protest with terrorism and works mostly outside the law.
They're being met with Tory members on the committee not only imperiously uninterested in their arguments, but insinuating that if they're against the bill, they must be in favour of terrorism -- a class of people that would include four former prime ministers, five former Supreme Court judges, Amnesty International and essentially anyone who knows anything.
In the spirit of Harperist manipulation, the hearings are short and potentially embarrassing witnesses have been carefully excluded -- the federal Privacy Commissioner, for example -- as the government has no intention of changing anything, and as Canada's international reputation for human rights and democracy goes down the drain.
Since Parliament is unfortunately no longer responsive, we can expect opposition to become extra-parliamentary. And, sure enough, there were demonstrations against the bill in 70 communities across Canada last weekend. These things don't sprout up for nothing. Harper has triggered a politics of defiance, on the streets. Expect more of that, much more.
Meanwhile, Harper will be emboldened by the victory of his fellow traveller, Benjamin Netanyahu, who played the fear and race card at the last minute and won. Who knows what a desperate Harper might do?
All this, and the election campaign isn't even on yet. Nor have we talked about the wobbling economy, Harper's besmirched environmental record, or the Mike Duffy trial. Or will talking about those, too, be signs of sympathies for terrorism? We're in deep waters. Keep your eyes peeled for just about anything.
Ralph Surette is a freelance journalist in Yarmouth County. This column was first published in the Chronicle Herald.
Photo: pmwebphotos/flickrBut this season rebounded from that. One of the earliest and most severe eliminations was a pageant queen. And two of the season’s stronger contestants had male drag names. Weirdness reigned, through strong performances by Acid Betty, with her psychedelic palette, and the transformations of Thorgy Thor, a hippie with dreads and round glasses who invented a new character during every challenge.
Kim Chi, one of the show’s first breakout Asian-American contestants, constructed some of the most sophisticated looks to grace RuPaul’s stage, a combination of flora and fauna and dessert pastry. Charming and chubby, with a lisp, his most revealing moment came when he tearfully revealed that he has hidden his exquisite talents at makeup and costume design from his own mother, for fear she will be repulsed by his love of drag. In another, he confessed that he was a virgin.
Moments like that, both shocking and sad, affirmed the importance of “Drag Race,” the rare space on television that relishes honesty and exploration, that doesn’t subscribe to the notion that all is well now that we live in a post-marriage-equality world. At its best, drag exposes the charade of modern life, the idea that there are set rules to follow, and even if there are, that you can win by following them. Personality, growth, the ability to evolve and, really, to survive, were the traits that the judges prioritized this season.
But, you wonder, how can the show itself grow and evolve from here? At this point in its life cycle, RuPaul’s universe has expanded so much that a generation has been weaned on the show and its spinoffs, like “RuPaul Drag U.” “Drag Race” is its own feedback loop, its own perpetual motion machine. It’s as mainstream as a show about drag can get.
At the same time, “Drag Race” flourishes in cultlike purgatory. Even the show’s network, Logo TV, aimed at the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender audience, is squirreled away, available only to cable subscribers. Without streaming services like iTunes and Amazon Prime, “Drag Race” might not have the fandom and staying power that it currently does.
That won’t matter much on Monday night, when the finale is aired. It’s not yet clear who will win. In the second-to-last episode, after the group trooped back out to hear the verdict, RuPaul informed Ms. DeVayne that she would not advance to the final round and win the $100,000 or the title. She seemed unsurprised, and smiled. “You have taught me how to be a better person,” she said, about loving who she is and where she is from. “And $100,000 can’t buy that.”
At that, Ms. DeVayne snapped her fingers so clear and loud it almost sounded like a bell, before sashaying away.Although the 2016 campaign has been a disappointment, with the outfit paying the price for the lack of finance last year when it was Lotus, the team has concluded that there is little to gain now in pushing on with upgrades this season.
Instead, following an analysis of the team's strengths and weaknesses, a big push is being made to improve facilities at Enstone as part of an overhaul needed to regain race-winning form.
The changes are being led by Renault F1 chief Cyril Abiteboul, who is relocating to Enstone, and team principal Frederic Vasseur – who have become aware of where the team is lacking after trialling some development earlier in the season.
Focus on 2017
Speaking to Motorsport.com, Abiteboul said that all efforts were now on the team's 2017 campaign, with work to improve Enstone already underway.
"The team and the car has not evolved in the way that we wanted it to," he explained. "The reason we wanted to put a little bit of development into this year, not an awful lot, just a little bit, was to understand a bit better the structure. That is what we have done.
"We have all the lessons that we wanted. We have the assessment that we wanted and now we can completely focus on 2017, so that is what has happened. We are now fully on 2017.
"The work and the effort that have been put in 2016 have not been wasted because of the current performance. They were also done on purpose in order to have a good assessment of the team and of the company."
Money no problem
Although Abiteboul did not want to elaborate on what areas the Renault team was lacking, he says it is obvious that investment needs to be made in improving the chassis.
"I don't want to single out one particular group of people - but everyone will know what is the prevailing factor in chassis performance today," he said.
"Now that the power units are starting to come in a narrower bandwidth, it is the good old aero/mechanical grip/tyre understanding that is starting to enter into play.
"That will be the focus and that is where we will be focusing our investment because as a sign of Renault's commitment we will be massively investing into the factory, extending the building, renewing completely the machine shop and so on and so forth.
"We know the areas of weakness, and it is certainly not financial resources. That is one thing where we are absolutely well resourced by Renault, plus we have the stability.
"I will never let anyone think we are where we are because we are lacking financial resources – that is completely inaccurate."
As part of the factory investment, more money will be pumped in to the wind tunnel and simulator, while a new CFD cluster will be commissioned in the summer.
Renault has expanded from 480 staff last winter to now being at just under 550. It plans to go up to 600-650 as soon as possible.
Engine inspiration
Abiteboul said the hope was that the push at Enstone would result in the kind of turnaround in form that he helped engineer on Renault's engine front at Viry-Chatillon.
"If you compare the situation we have now in Viry to the situation we had 18 months ago, frankly it is night and day difference," he said.
"If we are capable of doing the same turnaround in Enstone as we did in Viry, in the same amount of time, I will be and everyone will be more than happy.
"To move from where we are today to become a top team, first you need to be in the midfield, you need to be on podiums, which is an ambition we have for 2018.
"As far as I am concerned I do not see any reason why we would not be capable of being on podiums in 2018."
Still gains to be made
Despite halting development work on this year's car, Abiteboul still believes there is scope from the team to make improvements in performance during the year.
When asked how he saw the rest of the 2016 season panning out, Abiteboul said: "Let's be honest – we have put 2016 behind us and now we are focused on 2017. So it is not going to make anyone happy.
"We will always be trying to get the best out of the car at every single race, we will always try to get the best possible strategy and try to get the best out of our drivers.
"There is still in my opinion some margin for improvement in a number of areas, including on drivers, including on strategy, including on set-up of the car.
"But when it comes to increasing performance of the car of the package, it is pretty much that what we have is what we will get for the rest of the season."
Don’t miss our Hungarian GP video preview…Israeli national charged over hoax bomb, shooting threats to Australian schools
Updated
An 18-year-old Israeli national has been charged with making thousands of hoax bomb and shooting threats, many of which targeted Australian schools.
It is alleged over 2,000 robotic voice bomb and shooting hoax calls began in January 2016.
Victoria Police, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and other state police forces investigated 591 threats in Australia.
Victoria Police confirmed 128 of the threats were directed to Victorian schools. It is not known which other states were targeted.
Internationally, the threats were investigated by a joint team including the FBI and law enforcement agencies in Israel, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
"The Victoria Police E-Crime Squad provided vital cyber evidence which resulted in the arrest of the Israeli suspect," Victoria Police said in a statement.
"Israeli police acknowledged they could not have done it without us [the E-Crime Squad]."
The suspect's identity can not be reported for legal reasons. He was 17 at the time of the offences.
The case will be dealt with by the Israeli courts.
In a separate case, a 17-year-old boy was in a children's court in Victoria on Thursday, charged with making dozens of bomb hoaxes to schools across Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia between May 2016 and April 2017.
The boy is due to appear in court again on June 26.
Victoria Police confirmed the two cases were not connected.
Topics: crime, law-crime-and-justice, youth, community-and-society, israel, united-states, vic
First postedA popular brand of applesauce for children has been recalled because food product residue was found in product pumps during an inspection.
GoGo squeeZ Founder and CEO Michel Larroche announced the recall on the product's Facebook page.
Larroche said, "I deeply regret that I must let you know we are voluntarily recalling specific applesauce pouches that may not meet our quality standards."
The problem was found during an inspection by the Michigan State Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD). No illnesses had been reported from the issue.
Larroche's post continued," While it is possible the food product residue may have been incorporated into finished product, we test our applesauce extensively, and at this time, we have not seen evidence of this in our pouches."
Consumers who have purchased GoGo squeeZ® applesauce pouches with Best Before Dates between 12/4/15 and 3/4/17 may call 1-844-275-5841 or visit www.gogosqueez.com to request a replacement voucher.
For instructions on how to identify affected products, please visit: http://bit.ly/1RtHHe0.
The recall does not include or impact GoGo squeeZ Organic products or our newly launched GoGo squeeZ YogurtZ®. This recall only impacts non-organic products that were made in our Traverse City facility, and no others.Speaking for the desperate housewives of New Jersey, former NJ governor Jim McGreevey's ex-wife Dina Matos, told a crowd at the Zonta Club in Mountain Lakes that the legislature was right to reject marriage equality:
“We have the civil union law in place, which I think is wonderful. I was raised a Catholic. I grew up in the church, so I believe in traditional marriage between a man and a woman."
Added Matos: "There are at least two million marriages that break up each year
because one of the spouses come out of the closet. You don’t understand
unless you live it. When you’re living with someone who has a secret, they take every measure possible to hide it."
What Matos apparently failed to convey to the crowd was that if homosexuality was more accepted in society (i.e. marriage equality), it would spare untold amounts of marriages doomed because the husband is in the closet but suddenly realizes he wants to be openly gay, and after coming out subjects his ex-spouse to years of self doubt.
Ahem.RESIDENTS of Wicklow town have been left baffled after a 60 foot inflatable snowman mysteriously disappeared.
RESIDENTS of Wicklow town have been left baffled after a 60 foot inflatable snowman mysteriously disappeared.
The giant inflatable snowman, called Snowy, was taken from the roof of a shop in the town centre sometime on Monday night.
“We don’t understand why Snowy was targeted”, said a spokesperson.
“We also have a life-size ballerina, life-size toy soldiers, giant Victorian shoes, candy canes, musical instruments and lanterns on buildings throughout the town. They haven’t been touched”, they added.
Business people in the town have issued a plea for Snowy to be returned in time for the Christmas festival.
“He was a central attraction in Victorian Wicklow. You couldn’t miss him. The kids in the town really miss him”, the spokesperson said.
“We would appeal to his kidnappers to return him. Please bring him back and we won’t take it any further”.
Christmas treats are being offered for anyone with information leading to Snowy’s return.(Reuters) - A federal judge ordered Wal-Mart Stores Inc to let shareholders vote on a proposal to force tighter oversight of its sale of high-capacity guns and other potentially offensive products.
The Wal-Mart company logo is seen outside a Wal-Mart Stores Inc company distribution center in Bentonville, Arkansas June 6, 2013. REUTERS/Rick Wilking
U.S. District Judge Leonard Stark in Wilmington, Delaware on Wednesday said the world’s largest retailer wrongly excluded such a proposal from Trinity Church, a historic Wall Street church, from its June 6 annual meeting.
Stark also granted Trinity an injunction preventing Wal-Mart from excluding the proposal from proxy materials for its 2015 annual meeting, saying a vote would serve the public interest.
The proposal would require the governance committee of Wal-Mart’s board to more closely examine the sale of products that might endanger public safety, hurt Wal-Mart’s reputation, or offend “family and community values” integral to the Bentonville, Arkansas-based company’s brand.
Trinity said these products might include guns with clips holding more than 10 rounds, a type it said “enabled” mass killings in Newtown |
will have once the Moto X gets updated to 4.4 Kit Kat.
3. Rootability
Locked bootloaders are the bane of the Nexus owner and Android enthusiasts in general. This limitation prevents the user from rooting and, thereby, downloading and flashing custom ROMs or other apps like Greenify that require root but can make your phone function much more efficiently. to be fair, a locked bootloader no doubt prevents the average user from doing irreprable harm to the device and, in the process, costing the carrier a lot of money in possible replacement units. However, for those like me who have no problem soft-bricking their phones just to try out some trivial feature, rooting your phone brings the Android experience to a new level. Now, you might be asking why I would even be considering the Moto X, which comes with a locked bootloader, if locked bootloaders suck so much. The short answer: it’s actually easier to root the Moto X than it is to root the Galaxy Nexus. Thanks to an alreafy thriving developer community, the Moto X user can gain root access by simply downloading and running an apk and tapping a few buttons. I should probably take a moment to write a disclaimer that rooting your phone can void your warranty, so don’t do it without taking that into account, and don’t attempt rooting if you’re not ready to accept the consequences. With that said, rooting is totally awesome, and it seems that it’s it a smooth process on the Moto X.
4. Moto Maker
Until now, a user could customize the Android OS as much as she wanted; all it often took as a quick Google search and maybe 20 minutes to dink around with settings. What’s great about Moto Maker is that Motorola has brought that great customization that makes Android unique to the hardware itself. From colors to textures to boot animations and whatever weird message you want the phone to use to greet you, you can truly make your Moto X your own.
Before the Moto X, the closest you got to customizing the outside of your phone was to buy a case or get a message engraved on your iPhone (but really, who wants to go through having to buy an iPhone?). In order to make this feature feasible, though, Motorola had to take a risk in that it had to make sure not only that a customer could a unique phone, but also that he or she wouldn’t have to wait a month for it. This brings me to my next reason for choosing a Moto X…
5. It’s made in the USA
The preceding features are great and all, but if we’re being honest they’re only place holders for whatever great phone is going to come out in the next 1-2 years that tech reporters will tell you to buy. This means that, while phones are awesome, the fact that they are often manufactured using questionable practices in factories like FoxConn is a fact that casts a pall on the process of upgrading. This becomes even more unsettling as more wireless companies begin pushing more frequent upgrades though plans like Verizon’s Edge program. Personally, the fact that Motorola decided to manufacture the Moto X in Fort Worth, TX is a huge step, and one that should be rewarded in order to encourage more manufacturers to follow suit.
There are things to love and hate about every flagship device out there right now, which is one of the great things about Android maturing into a more refined OS – more top-tier choices for consumers. For me, the Moto X provides the hardware and software that fit the way I want my Android experience to be – practical while leaving me the ability to make myself seem smart by tinkering with the OS. What’s more, the things that makes the Moto X appealing to me can’t be found on any other phone right now, including the Nexus 5.Hiring a coach once the season starts isn't an easy proposition. Assistant coaches from other teams are essentially off-limits, eliminating a pool of strong candidates that would include John Stevens, Kevin Dineen, Rick Bowness, Paul MacLean, Tony Granato, Kirk Muller and Davis Payne. There is not an obvious star coach in the AHL after Jon Cooper, Jeff Blashill, Willie Desjardins and John Hynes were promoted to the NHL in recent years.
The Columbus Blue Jackets acted fast to bring in John Tortorella, and there were some who wondered whether Tortorella would ever get another shot after things went sideways with the Vancouver Canucks.
But chances are good another head coach will be fired this season. Columbus won't be the only team to fall short of expectations.
With that in mind, and with Tortorella off the market, a look at five of the best available coaches shows it is not a deep pool:
1. Guy Boucher, SC Bern (Switzerland): "Available" might be a bit of a stretch because the window for Boucher to negotiate with other teams closed on June 1, but it is not like he's completely off-limits. There are ways around it if a team wants to make the investment and aggressively pursue Boucher.
Editor's Picks Guy Boucher's stock on the rise after Swiss stint With the NHL inching closer to its first coach firing of the season, Guy Boucher has emerged as the best option available. Craig Custance explores.
He coached Bern to a second-place finish last season and a trip to the semifinals. And while being fired by the Tampa Bay Lightning wasn't pleasant, he now looks back at that part of his career with fondness. He realizes it was a great opportunity and learning experience for a coach so young.
"Everything about it was great for my family. It was great for life off the ice. It was great for hockey and my experience with Steve [Yzerman], [assistant GM] Julien [BriseBois] and the players," Boucher said when reached in Switzerland earlier this week. "You look back, we had a terrific run the first year, we knew it was going to be difficult after that. It wasn't something I wasn't expecting."
2. Todd Richards: The positive about being fired early in the season is that Richards immediately jumps into the pool of available coaches. Every coach will tell you they learn something with every job and when the dust settles, that will be the takeaway for Richards. He is still just 49 years old and leaves the Blue Jackets as the winningest coach in franchise history, as well as the first coach to win a playoff game for Columbus. He has a career record of 204-183-37 and until the start of this season, his teams always reflected his Midwestern blue-collar sensibilities.
Ron Wilson hopes coaching in the World Juniors will help him get back into the NHL. Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images
3. Ron Wilson: Wilson hasn't coached in the NHL since being fired by the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2012, but he has started to get the itch again over the past year or so. Part of the reason he accepted the opportunity to coach Team USA in the 2016 World Junior Championship was to prove to the hockey world that he's still got it as a head coach. If he leads the Americans to a gold medal in the World Juniors, it will go a long way in re-establishing credentials that already include over 1,400 games coached at the NHL level and 648 career wins.
4. Randy Carlyle: If a team is looking for someone with a Stanley Cup championship on their resume, Carlyle becomes the best option, with Marc Crawford also in the conversation. Carlyle won the 2007 Stanley Cup with the Anaheim Ducks and is the last coach to get the Maple Leafs into the playoffs, where they famously collapsed against the Boston Bruins in seven games in 2013. In 704 career games as a coach with the Ducks and Maple Leafs, Carlyle has 364 career wins. He has a points percentage of.574 in that stretch.
5. Craig Berube: Berube was fired after two seasons with the Philadelphia Flyers and posting a record of 75-58-28. In 161 career games, he has a points percentage of.553. He is scouting for Hockey Canada's management team as they prepare to build for the World Cup, but he would love to get back behind the bench. "I want to coach," he said when reached by phone last week. "I miss coaching."Jason Leopold has posted an incredible interview with David Hicks, formerly Detainee 002 at Guantanamo. In April 2007, Hicks, an Australian, was released from Guantanamo and sent back to serve nine months in jail in Australia, having been forced to plead guilty to “providing material support to terrorism.” This is his first interview, and Truthout has posted it along with an article by Leopold with more background on Hicks, which includes interviews with some of the guards who watched him. By his own admission, Hicks’ account had a “profound impact” on him “emotionally.”
The interview is a look into the soul of a man deeply damaged by torture. He also endured the suffering of medical experimentation, which he finds very difficult to talk about. The following excerpt touches upon the kinds of horrific experiments David Hicks endured:
TO: You have written eloquently of your terrible experience with what you say was medical experimentation, calling it the worst and darkest of your experiences there. Have you talked with any other detainees about whether they had similar experiences? How do you think about it now? DH: When I was injected in the back of the neck I was being held in isolation, so I was unable to discuss what had happened with other detainees. A year passed before I was eventually able to see and communicate with fellow detainees, and I am unable to remember today if I discussed that particular personal experience with them. We did discuss medical experimentation in general however. A detainee with UK citizenship described being injected daily, resulting in one of his testicles becoming swollen and racked with pain. Along with these daily injections he was subjected to mind games by interrogators, medical personnel, and guards whom worked as a team. Under these conditions they were able to extract written false confessions from him. How I experienced the injection at the base of my neck is described in detail in my book. In a nutshell, I felt my soul had been violated. That is just one experience I had with medication. There were many pills and injections, plus constant blood tests over the years. Everybody regardless of their citizenship should acknowledge that medical experimentation, whether on human beings or animals, is unacceptable. As with animals, we were held as prisoners when these procedures were forced upon us against our will. And as with animals, we were voiceless.
Hicks also describes how medical professionals and psychologists were involved in his torture, how guards were told to observe him and other detainees, watching everything they did, and writing down notes every 15 minutes, night and day....He told Jason Leopold, “The interrogation rooms of Camp Delta had an entire wall as a one way observation glass. Behind these walls sat teams of so-called experts: Intelligence officers, behavioral scientists, psychologists; people who made conclusions upon which they decided what techniques were to be employed.”
Hicks’ testimony corroborates what I noted in an article in April 2009, which examined a top secret” paper (undated) entitled “The CIA Interrogation of Abu Zubaydah, March 2001 – January 2003,” which noted that CIA “interrogation materials” consisted of “videotapes, logbook, notebook, and psychologist’s notes.” There’s no reason to believe the same protocols weren’t observed by the Department of Defense at Guantanamo or other military prisons, like Bagram.
At that time, I wrote:
The content of those psychologist notes, should they become available, will indicate to what end CIA interrogators and/or behavioral scientists were measuring the responses of Zubaydah or other prisoners to variations in the interrogation techniques’ application. Variables of interest to CIA psychologists might include head movements and hand movements, facial expressions or microexpressions, used in detecting deception or behavioral manifestations of stress. These types of observation are synonymous with computer analysis and argue for the use of a digital video system or the transfer of analog video into data stored on magnetic or optical media. The same release of documents to the ACLU that contained the “The CIA Interrogation of Abu Zubaydah,” also described CIA officials asking for “instructions” regarding the “disposition of hard drives and magnetic media” associated with the torture of Zubaydah.
There has been very little outrage in this country, outside of a small but dedicated group of individuals — journalists, lawyers, bloggers, community activists — the bulk of U.S. civil society has out of either fear or political obeisance to the Obama administration’s insistence there will be no accountability, no so-called “looking backward,” failed to successfully push for investigations or prosecution of top figures for their crimes. We know why the government has this position: because it is heavily compromised at top and middle level in the torture and illegal experimentation itself.
As a bonus, Truthout is posting an excerpt from David Hicks’ book, Guantanamo: My Journey, published in Australia late last year. Due to the cowardice of the publishing industry in this country, or possibly unreported pressures from the government, the book is not available in the United States.
But luckily, we have this important interview with Hicks himself. I hope it gets wide distribution. Americans must known what has been done in their name.This article concerns an ancient sports object. For halteres in insect anatomy, see Halteres.
Halteres (; Greek: ἁλτῆρες,[1] from "ἅλλομαι" - hallomai, "leap, spring";[2] cf. "ἅλμα" - halma, "leaping"[3]) were a type of dumbbells used in Ancient Greece. In ancient Greek sports, halteres were used as lifting weights,[4][5] and also as weights in their version of the long jump,[6] which was probably a set of three jumps. Halteres were held in both hands to allow an athlete to jump a greater distance; they may have been dropped after the first or second jump. According to archaeological evidence, the athlete would swing the weights backwards and forwards just before take-off, thrust them forwards during take-off, and swing them backwards just before releasing them and landing. Halteres were made of stone or metal, and weighed between 2 and 9 kg (4 and 20 lb).
Writing in Nature, biophysicist Alberto E. Minetti calculates that halteres added about 17 cm (7 in) to a 3 m (10 ft) long jump.[7]The zombie apocalypse has finally happened and you need to leave your city fast! As panic sets in you quickly remember that to survive a zombie apocalypse you need to find a safe zone, somewhere where there's a natural abundance of water, fish and forestry. Somewhere far away where in an isolated place. You decide to Google map a location to search for a safe zone but WAIT, all systems are down. How do you find your safe zone!Have no fear. These zombie safe zone maps are here to help. These state maps highlight the most popular cities that are prone to outbreak. With these maps you will be able to safely escape the apocalypse with exact routes to your safe zone.Each map highlights a from and to point explaining directions, distance, time, and additional information about the safe zone like water type and food resources. Own one or own them all to be extra prepared.*All our prints include a slim white border and are printed on a heavy weight 240gsm archival matte paper. Each print is gently wrapped in a water tight high clarity polyethylene film bag. They are then placed within a rigid 3" tube. Our tubes are made from a superior heavy weight 3 ply spiral wound material that protects against crushing and bending.In early April of 2005, after a particularly rainy spring, an influenza epidemic (epi: upon, demic: people) exploded through the maximum-security hospital for the criminally insane where I have worked for the last ten years. It was not the pandemic (pan: all, demic: people) we all fear, just an epidemic. The world is waiting and governments are preparing for the next pandemic. A severe influenza pandemic will kill many more Americans than died in the World Trade Centers, the Iraq war, the Vietnam War, and Hurricane Katrina combined, perhaps a million people in the USA alone. Such a disaster would tear the fabric of American society. Our entire country might resemble the Superdome or Bourbon Street after Hurricane Katrina.
It's only a question of when a pandemic will come, not if it will come. Influenza A pandemics come every 30 years or so, severe ones every hundred years or so. The last pandemic, the Hong Kong flu, occurred in 1968 - killing 34,000 Americans. In 1918, the Great Flu Epidemic killed more than 500,000 Americans. So many millions died in other countries, they couldn't bury the bodies. Young healthy adults, in the prime of their lives in the morning, drowning in their own inflammation by noon, grossly discolored by sunset, were dead at midnight. Their body's own broad-spectrum natural antibiotics, called antimicrobial peptides, seemed nowhere to be found. An overwhelming immune response to the influenza virus - white blood cells releasing large amounts of inflammatory agents called cytokines and chemokines into the lungs of the doomed - resulted in millions of deaths in 1918.
As I am now a psychiatrist, and no longer a general practitioner, I was not directly involved in fighting the influenza epidemic in our hospital. However, our internal medicine specialists worked overtime as they diagnosed and treated a rapidly increasing number of stricken patients. Our Chief Medical Officer quarantined one ward after another as more and more patients were gripped with the chills, fever, cough, and severe body aches that typifies the clinical presentation of influenza A.
Epidemic influenza kills a million people in the world every year by causing pneumonia, "the captain of the men of death." These epidemics are often explosive; the word influenza comes from Italian (Medieval Latin?nfluentia) or influence, because of the belief that the sudden and abrupt epidemics were due to the influence of some extraterrestrial force. One seventeenth century observer described it well when he wrote, "suddenly a Distemper arose, as if sent by some blast from the stars, which laid hold on very many together: that in some towns, in the space of a week, above a thousand people fell sick together."
I guess our hospital was under luckier stars as only about 12% of our patients were infected and no one died. However, as the epidemic progressed, I noticed something unusual. First, the ward below mine was infected, and then the ward on my right, left, and across the hall - but no patients on my ward became ill. My patients had intermingled with patients from infected wards before the quarantines. The nurses on my unit cross-covered on infected wards. Surely, my patients were exposed to the influenza A virus. How did my patients escape infection from what some think is the most infectious of all the respiratory viruses?
My patients were no younger, no healthier, and in no obvious way different from patients on other wards. Like other wards, my patients are mostly African Americans who came from the same prisons and jails as patients on the infected wards. They were prescribed a similar assortment of powerful psychotropic medications we use throughout the hospital to reduce the symptoms of psychosis, depression, and violent mood swings and to try to prevent patients from killing themselves or attacking other patients and the nursing staff. If my patients were similar to the patients on all the adjoining wards, why didn't even one of my patients catch the flu?
A short while later, a group of scientists from UCLA published a remarkable paper in the prestigious journal, Nature. The UCLA group confirmed two other recent studies, showing that a naturally occurring steroid hormone - a hormone most of us take for granted - was, in effect, a potent antibiotic. Instead of directly killing bacteria and viruses, the steroid hormone under question increases the body's production of a remarkable class of proteins, called antimicrobial peptides. The 200 known antimicrobial peptides directly and rapidly destroy the cell walls of bacteria, fungi, and viruses, including the influenza virus, and play a key role in keeping the lungs free of infection. The steroid hormone that showed these remarkable antibiotic properties was plain old vitamin D.
All of the patients on my ward had been taking 2,000 units of vitamin D every day for several months or longer. Could that be the reason none of my patients caught the flu? I then contacted Professors Reinhold Vieth and Ed Giovannucci and told them of my observations. They immediately advised me to collect data from all the patients in the hospital on 2,000 units of vitamin D, not just the ones on my ward, to see if the results were statistically significant. It turns out that the observations on my ward alone were of borderline statistical significance and could have been due to chance alone. Administrators at our hospital agreed, and are still attempting to collect data from all the patients in the hospital on 2,000 or more units of vitamin D at the time of the epidemic.
Four years ago, I became convinced that vitamin D was unique in the vitamin world by virtue of three facts. First, it's the only known precursor of a potent steroid hormone, calcitriol, or activated vitamin D. Most other vitamins are antioxidants or co-factors in enzyme reactions. Activated vitamin D - like all steroid hormones - damasks the genome, turning protein production on and off, as your body requires. That is, vitamin D regulates genetic expression in hundreds of tissues throughout your body. This means it has as many potential mechanisms of action as genes it damasks.
Second, vitamin D does not exist in appreciable quantities in normal human diets. True, you can get several thousand units in a day if you feast on sardines for breakfast, herring for lunch and salmon for dinner. The only people who ever regularly consumed that much fish are peoples, like the Inuit, who live at the extremes of latitude. The milk Americans depend on for their vitamin D contains no naturally occurring vitamin D; instead, the U.S. government requires fortified milk to be supplemented with vitamin D, but only with what we now know to be a paltry 100 units per eight-ounce glass.
The vitamin D steroid hormone system has always had its origins in the skin, not in the mouth. Until quite recently, when dermatologists and governments began warning us about the dangers of sunlight, humans made enormous quantities of vitamin D where humans have always made it, where naked skin meets the ultraviolet B radiation of sunlight. We just cannot get adequate amounts of vitamin D from our diet. If we don't expose ourselves to ultraviolet light, we must get vitamin D from dietary supplements.
The third way vitamin D is different from other vitamins is the dramatic difference between natural vitamin D nutrition and the modern one. Today, most humans only make about a thousand units of vitamin D a day from sun exposure; many people, such as the elderly or African Americans, make much less than that. How much did humans normally make? A single, twenty-minute, full body exposure to summer sun will trigger the delivery of 20,000 units of vitamin D into the circulation of most people within 48 hours. Twenty thousand units, that's the single most important fact about vitamin D. Compare that to the 100 units you get from a glass of milk, or the several hundred daily units the U.S. government recommend as "Adequate Intake." It's what we call an "order of magnitude" difference.
Humans evolved naked in sub-equatorial Africa, where the sun shines directly overhead much of the year and where our species must have obtained tens of thousands of units of vitamin D every day, in spite of our skin developing heavy melanin concentrations (racial pigmentation) for protecting the deeper layers of the skin. Even after humans migrated to temperate latitudes, where our skin rapidly lightened to allow for more rapid vitamin D production, humans worked outdoors. However, in the last three hundred years, we began to work indoors; in the last one hundred years, we began to travel inside cars; in the last several decades, we began to lather on sunblock and consciously avoid sunlight. All of these things lower vitamin D blood levels. The inescapable conclusion is that vitamin D levels in modern humans are not just low - they are aberrantly low.
About three years ago, after studying all I could about vitamin D, I began testing my patient's vitamin D blood levels and giving them literature on vitamin D deficiency. All their blood levels were low, which is not surprising as vitamin D deficiency is practically universal among dark-skinned people who live at temperate latitudes. Furthermore, my patients come directly from prison or jail, where they get little opportunity for sun exposure. After finding out that all my patients had low levels, many profoundly low, I started educating them and offering to prescribe them 2,000 units of vitamin D a day, the U.S. government's "Upper Limit."
Could vitamin D be the reason none of my patients got the flu? In the last several years, dozens of medical studies have called attention to worldwide vitamin D deficiency, especially among African Americans and the elderly, the two groups most likely to die from influenza. Cancer, heart disease, stroke, autoimmune disease, depression, chronic pain, depression, gum disease, diabetes, hypertension, and a number of other diseases have recently been associated with vitamin D deficiency. Was it possible that influenza was as well?
Then I thought of three mysteries that I first learned in medical school at the University of North Carolina: (1) although the influenza virus exists in the population year-round, influenza is a wintertime illnesses; (2) children with vitamin D deficient rickets are much more likely to suffer from respiratory infections; (3) the elderly in most countries are much more likely to die in the winter than the summer (excess wintertime mortality), and most of that excess mortality, although listed as cardiac, is, in fact, due to influenza.
Could vitamin D explain these three mysteries, mysteries that account for hundreds of thousands of deaths every year? Studies have found the influenza virus is present in the population year-around; why is it a wintertime illness? Even the common cold got its name because it is common in cold weather and rare in the summer. Vitamin D blood levels are at their highest in the summer but reach their lowest levels during the flu and cold season. Could such a simple explanation explain these mysteries?
The British researcher, Dr. R. Edgar Hope-Simpson, was the first to document the most mysterious feature of epidemic influenza, its wintertime surfeit and summertime scarcity. He theorized that an unknown "seasonal factor" was at work, a factor that might be affecting innate human immunity. Hope-Simpson was a general practitioner who became famous in the late 1960's after he discovered the cause of shingles. British authorities bestowed every prize they had on him, not only because of the importance of his discovery, but because he made the discovery own his own, without the benefit of a university appointment, and without any formal training in epidemiology (the detective branch of medicine that methodically searches for clues about the cause of disease).
After his work on shingles, Hope-Simpson spent the rest of his working life studying influenza. He concluded a "seasonal factor" was at work, something that was regularly and predictably impairing human immunity in the winter and restoring it in the summer. He discovered that communities widely separated by longitude, but which shared similar latitude, would simultaneously develop influenza. He discovered that influenza epidemics in Great Britain in the 17th and 18th century occurred simultaneously in widely separated communities, before modern transportation could possibly explain its rapid dissemination. Hope-Simpson concluded a "seasonal factor" was triggering these epidemics. Whatever it was, he was certain that the deadly "crop" of influenza that sprouts around the winter solstice was intimately involved with solar radiation. Hope-Simpson predicted that, once discovered, the "seasonal factor" would "provide the key to understanding most of the influenza problems confronting us."
Hope-Simpson had no way of knowing that vitamin D has profound effects on human immunity, no way of knowing that it increases production of broad-spectrum antimicrobial peptides, peptides that quickly destroy the influenza virus. We have only recently learned how vitamin D increases production of antimicrobial peptides while simultaneously preventing the immune system from releasing too many inflammatory cells, called chemokines and cytokines, into infected lung tissue.
In 1918, when medical scientists did autopsies on some of the fifty million people who died during the 1918 flu pandemic, they were amazed to find destroyed respiratory tracts; sometimes these inflammatory cytokines had triggered the complete destruction of the normal epithelial cells lining the respiratory tract. It was as if the flu victims had been attacked and killed by their own immune systems. This is the severe inflammatory reaction that vitamin D has recently been found to prevent.
I subsequently did what physicians have done for centuries. I experimented, first on myself and then on my family, trying different doses of vitamin D to see if it has any effects on viral respiratory infections. After that, as the word spread, several of my medical colleagues experimented on themselves by taking three-day courses of pharmacological doses (2,000 units per kilogram per day) of vitamin D at the first sign of the flu. I also asked numerous colleagues and friends who were taking physiological doses of vitamin D (5,000 units per day in the winter and less, or none, in the summer) if they ever got colds or the flu, and, if so, how severe the infections were. I became convinced that physiological doses of vitamin D reduce the incidence of viral respiratory infections and that pharmacological doses significantly ameliorate the symptoms of some viral respiratory infections if taken early in the course of the illness. However, such observations are so personal, so likely to be biased, that they are worthless science.
As I waited for the hospital to finish collecting data from all the patients taking vitamin D at the time of the outbreak - to see if it really reduced the incidence of influenza - I decided to research the literature thoroughly, finding all the clues in the world's medical literature that indicated if vitamin D played any role in preventing influenza or other viral respiratory infections. I worked on the paper for over a year, writing it with Professor Edward Giovannucci of Harvard, Professor Reinhold Vieth of the University of Toronto, Professor Michael Holick of Boston University, Professor Cedric Garland of U.C., San Diego, as well as Dr. John Umhau of the National Institute of Health, Sasha Madronich of the National Center for Atmospheric Research, and Dr. Bill Grant at the Sunlight, Nutrition and Health Research Center. After numerous revisions, we submitted our paper to the same widely respected journal where Dr. Hope-Simpson published most of his work several decades ago.
Epidemiology and Infection, known as The Journal of Hygiene in Hope-Simpson's day, recently published our paper. The editor, Professor Norman Noah, knew Dr. Hope-Simpson and helped tremendously with the paper. In the paper, we detailed our theory that vitamin D is Hope-Simpson's long forgotten "seasonal stimulus." We proposed that annual fluctuations in vitamin D levels explain the seasonality of influenza. The periodic seasonal fluctuations in 25-hydroxy-vitamin D levels, which cause recurrent and predictable wintertime vitamin D deficiency, predispose human populations to influenza epidemics. We raised the possibility that influenza is a symptom of vitamin D deficiency in the same way that an unusual form of pneumonia (pneumocystis carinii) is a symptom of AIDS. That is, we theorized that George Bernard Shaw was right when he said, "the characteristic microbe of a disease might be a symptom instead of a cause."
In the paper, we propose that vitamin D explains the following 14 observations:
1. Why the flu predictably occurs in the months following the winter solstice, when vitamin D levels are at their lowest,
2. Why it disappears in the months following the summer solstice,
3. Why influenza is more common in the tropics during the rainy season,
4. Why the cold and rainy weather associated with El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO), which drives people indoors and lowers vitamin D blood levels, is associated with influenza,
5. Why the incidence of influenza is inversely correlated with outdoor temperatures,
6. Why children exposed to sunlight are less likely to get colds,
7. Why cod liver oil (which contains vitamin D) reduces the incidence of viral respiratory infections,
8. Why Russian scientists found that vitamin D-producing UVB lamps reduced colds and flu in schoolchildren and factory workers,
9. Why Russian scientists found that volunteers, deliberately infected with a weakened flu virus - first in the summer and then again in the winter - show significantly different clinical courses in the different seasons,
10. Why the elderly who live in countries with high vitamin D consumption, like Norway, are less likely to die in the winter,
11. Why children with vitamin D deficiency and rickets suffer from frequent respiratory infections,
12. Why an observant physician (Rehman), who gave high doses of vitamin D to children who were constantly sick from colds and the flu, found the treated children were suddenly free from infection,
13. Why the elderly are so much more likely to die from heart attacks in the winter rather than in the summer,
14. Why African Americans, with their low vitamin D blood levels, are more likely to die from influenza and pneumonia than Whites are.
Although our paper discusses the possibility that physiological doses of vitamin D (5,000 units a day) may prevent colds and the flu, and that physicians might find pharmacological doses of vitamin D (2,000 units per kilogram of body weight per day for three days) useful in treating some of the one million people who die in the world every year from influenza, we remind readers that it is only a theory. Like all theories, our theory must withstand attempts to be disproved with dispassionately conducted and well-controlled scientific experiments.
However, as vitamin D deficiency has repeatedly been associated with many of the diseases of civilization, we point out that it is not too early for physicians to aggressively diagnose and adequately treat vitamin D deficiency. We recommend that enough vitamin D be taken daily to maintain 25-hydroxy vitamin D levels at levels normally achieved through summertime sun exposure (50 ng/ml). For many persons, such as African Americans and the elderly, this will require up to 5,000 units daily in the winter and less, or none, in the summer, depending on summertime sun exposure.
By: J. J. Cannell
Acknowldegement: We wish to thank Professor Norman Noah of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Professor Robert Scragg of the University of Auckland and Professor Robert Heaney of Creighton University for reviewing the manuscript and making many useful suggestions.
-- Dr. John Cannell, Atascadero State Hospital, 10333 El Camino Real, Atascadero, CA 93422, USA, 805 468-2061, jcannell@dmhash.state.ca.us
-- Professor Reinhold Vieth, Mount Sinai Hospital, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Department of Medicine, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
-- Dr. John Umhau, Laboratory of Clinical and Translational Studies, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD
-- Professor Michael Holick, Departments of Medicine and Physiology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA
-- Dr. Bill Grant, SUNARC, San Francisco, CA
-- Dr. Sasha Madronich, Atmospheric Chemistry Division, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO, USA
-- Professor Cedric Garland, Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA
-- Professor Edward Giovannucci, Departments of Nutrition and Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA
Other related articles What Is Vitamin D?
Cannell JJ, Vieth R, Umhau JC, Holick MF, Grant WB, Madronich S, Garland CF, and Giovanucci E. Epidemic Influenza and Vitamin D. Epidemiol Infect. 2006 Sep 7;:1-12Legislation that would prevent Transportation Security Administration employees from giving invasive pat-downs at Texas airports looked last week to be completely dead, but a letter of support from the state’s lieutenant governor could revive the effort.
It all depends on whether Gov. Rick Perry (R) has the stomach for it.
The bill, proposed by State Rep. David Simpson (R), would impose misdemeanor charges against security agents who “intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly [touch] the anus, sexual organ, buttocks, or breast of the other person, including touching through clothing, or touching the other person in a manner that would be offensive to a reasonable person.”
It was scuttled last week after the federal government threatened to ground flights from Texas if agents are prevented from ensuring their safety.
After clearing the Texas House by unanimous vote, it looked almost certain to clear the Senate — until Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst (R) put proceedings on hold to undermine its chances.
It was ultimately pulled by its Senate co-sponsor, Sen. Dan Patrick (R), who blamed Dewhurst for its failure.
But now, Dewhurst appears to have undergone a change of heart, penning a letter to Gov. Perry that recommends the bill be considered during an upcoming special legislative session.
“Please call the Governor and tell him you agree with Lt. Gov. Dewhurst!” Rep. Simpson wrote on his website.
Simpson has suggested the legislation only requires TSA agents to uphold the U.S. Constitution, specifically the Fourth Amendment language pertaining to search and seizure. The arch-conservative Rep. insists that Texans should not undergo invasive pat-downs unless agents have “probable cause” to conduct one.
“The federal government is attempting to deprive the citizens of Texas of their constitutional rights under the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution and Article 1, Section 9 of the Texas Constitution,” he wrote in an open letter to Texas legislators. “If we do not stand for our citizens in the face of this deprivation of their personal rights and dignity, who will?”
The legislation would be reconsidered only if Gov. Perry decides to place it on the schedule.
Texas is not alone in the effort: lawmakers in several other states, like New Hampshire, New Jersey and Hawaii, were also considering similar legislation to restrict the TSA in other ways, including: prohibiting the use of x-ray machines that capture images of passengers by looking underneath their clothes; or restricting the ways agents can touch passengers.
(H/T: The Hill)Story highlights Maryam Mirzakhani dies after battle with cancer
The Stanford professor won the Fields Medal, the highest honor in mathematics, in 2014
(CNN) Maryam Mirzakhani, a Stanford University professor who became the only woman to receive the highest honor in mathematics, died Saturday after a long battle with cancer, the school said.
She was 40.
The Iran native thrived in study of curved surfaces such as doughnut shapes and amoebas -- to a degree |
that Ebola is an invented “race-targeting weapon,” MSNBC and gun control organization States United are pointing the finger at NRA for the ongoing public health crisis. According to their “logic,” NRA’s opposition to Obama’s nomination of anti-gun activist Vivek Murthy as Surgeon General has exacerbated the Ebola crisis, as Americans supposedly have nowhere else to turn for reliable information on the outbreak.
In an article titled, “How the NRA is making the Ebola crisis worse,” MSNBC lamented, “thanks to NRA power and Senate cowardice, we are left with no surgeon general during a time when, we not only have Ebola arriving on our shores, but are also dealing with the mysterious Enterovirus, which is infecting and contributing to the deaths of children in the U.S.” Likewise, States United tweeted, “Ebola now in the US. Surgeon General should be leading the way on public health education but NRA stalled nomination. No outrage?”
Of course, these organizations failed to acknowledge that the president -- who rarely misses a chance to put politics first with his political appointments -- could have chosen a less ideologically-motivated figure for the job. Perhaps even one that respects the American people’s fundamental right-to-self-defense.
NRA’s opposition to Vivek Murthy’s nomination is well-founded. Back in February, NRA sent a letter to the Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) outlining our concerns. The letter explained in detail Murthy’s political activism on behalf of Obama’s presidential campaigns and on gun control. Through the organization he founded, Doctors for America (previously Doctors for Obama), Murthy advocated for various proposals to restrict Second Amendment rights, purportedly in the name of “public health.” Murthy signed letters from the organization supporting mandatory licensing, a semi-auto ban, mandatory waiting periods, plus further involvement from the federal government in public health gun control efforts. In some cases, Murthy was pushing as “evidence based” proposals that even Bloomberg surrogate Shannon Watts now admits wouldn’t make much of a difference.
MSNBC’s and States United’s outlandish comments are simply one more example showing that gun control supporters will use any human tragedy to advance their anti-gun and anti-NRA agenda, no matter how ridiculous and desperate it reveals them to be. At any rate, if Dr. Murthy really does have the cure for Ebola or anything else useful to say on the matter, we’re pretty sure the president’s adoring press corps would be happy to give him plenty of coverage to air his “expertise.”Mark Hughes has confirmed Stoke City have made an enquiry for Manchester United defender Phil Jones but a protracted move for Saido Berahino continues to prove problematic.
Hughes, speaking ahead of Stoke's trip to Everton on Saturday, revealed the Potters are actively pursuing several targets prior to the transfer window's closure next Wednesday.
He told reporters at his news conference: "A lot of people would be surprised by the number of players we have made enquiries about.
"I can assure everyone we have been active in the market. It's one of those windows. It might go down to deadline day.
"We've talked about a lot of players, too many to list to be honest. Phil Jones is a player with good pedigree at a good club and sometimes you make an enquiry just to see where the land lies."
Hughes hinted he was becoming frustrated with his attempts to snare West Brom striker Berahino, adding: "We are quite a way down the line with that. You have to let these things run their course and give them the time they deserve.
"Some deals just go on and on and you get to the point where you have to move on. There's been deals where we have made decisions to do that.
"We still have a view something may happen, but are close to the point where we move on and look at alternatives."
Stoke have taken one point from their opening two Premier League games - a 1-1 draw at Middlesbrough and a 4-1 defeat at home to Manchester City - and Hughes is excited at the challenge facing his team against an Everton team now managed by Ronald Koeman.
He added: "He's a top-class manager with experience across Europe. He did a great job at Southampton, moving them forward in difficult circumstances.
"They brought in players and sold them in at a big profit. It's worked for them but it's difficult for the manager. He was able to still make them competitive.
"It's a different challenge at Everton. He has a strong group of players anyway and I'm sure he'll want to add to the quality.
"You'd imagine there will be changes ahead of them and it's how they manage those changes. He's a good manager and he was a fantastic player. Going up against him as a player or manager is a challenge."Half an hour before the 2017 NFL draft began, the NFL tweeted the following, showing a card with Clemson QB Deshaun Watson’s name on it:
Houston added this, despite holding the No. 25 pick.
Two hours later, the Texans traded up 13 spots to take Watson as the third QB off the board. Subtle!
Watson was picked after North Carolina’s Mitchell Trubisky to the Bears and Patrick Mahomes to the Chiefs. But there’s an easy argument that he’s the best quarterback in the class, and college football fans would be eager to make it. After he torched Nick Saban’s Alabama in consecutive National Championships, winning the second one, college fans would follow this dude into the gates of... well, Houston, for sure.
Houston’s also arguably the best spot for a rookie QB to land, given that the team made the playoffs a year earlier, already has weapons on offense, and might have the NFL’s best defensive player in JJ Watt. Watson’s set up to keep winning.In 2009, sportswriter Mike Wise had just started a radio show at 106.7 The Fan, a Washington D.C.-area sports station. Wise, now a senior writer at The Undefeated, noticed that one of his work buddies, a traffic reporter at the station named Liz Drabick, had an evocative pet phrase.
"Whenever someone was having a really bad day, or someone was completely out of sorts, she'd just go, 'Oh man, guy's a dumpster fire.' Or she'd go, 'Oh, that whole organization is a dumpster fire,'" Wise recalled in a phone conversation recently. "And I was like, Hey, that's pretty good." That very year, he used it in a column about the Washington football team, writing, "[I]f Jim Zorn has to answer one more question about his job security, it's time to also hold the coach's players and his superiors accountable for this dumpster fire -- this abomination of a loss."
Wise was hardly the first to commit a metaphorical "dumpster fire" to print, but 2009 was a different time. His smidgen of hesitation as to whether his readers would be familiar with the term emerges after the em dash, when he elaborates on what the "dumpster fire" was, for those who weren't clear.
No one would need such an explainer now. Seven years later, more or less every politician, sports team, mediocre TV show and annoying celebrity has been compared to a receptacle full of burning waste. Have we reached peak dumpster fire? And how did it come to... well, to this:
HuffPost A "dumpster fire" T-shirt from Zazzle, plus headlines from The Philly Voice, Business Insider, Bro Bible, Mother Jones, The Comeback, Raw Story, The Weekly Standard, Red State, Salon, Dealbreaker, WhoWhatWhy, and Salon again.
To get to the heart of it, we have to go all the way back to the beginning.
The word “dumpster” sounds so perfectly suited to its purpose that it hardly seems necessary to question its origins. But that would be a mistake, because the real story is even more linguistically charming. The dumpster broke onto the scene in 1936, part of a brand-new patented trash-collection system that introduced the basic concept of the modern garbage truck, with containers that could be mechanically lifted and emptied into the vehicle from above. The system, invented by future mayor of Knoxville, Tennessee, George Dempster, took its creator's name, and the Dempster-Dumpster was born.
“Dumpster,” the word we use today, emerged from the fortuitous marriage of “dump" and “Dempster.” Though Dempster trademarked the brand name "Dumpster," the term has been so thoroughly applied as a generic noun that the Associated Press now directs that it be styled in lowercase. No one, after all, would choose to write "trash bin" when "dumpster" would do better.
Had this sanitation system not been engineered by a man with such a punny name (Dempster-Dumpster), would “dumpster fire” as an insult have ever taken off?
In British English, for example, one is more likely to hear the term "skip" to denote a large garbage receptacle, but does "skip fire" grab one as an equally startling and appealing barb to deploy on Twitter? What about "Donald Trump’s presidential campaign has been a complete wheelie bin fire"? Not so much.
Wise told me that, back when he started hearing "dumpster fire" from his colleague, "I tried to go off on it and use my own -- I think I used 'commode fire' at one point." Not bad, but "commode fire" didn't catch on in the same way. The intrinsic goofiness of “dumpster” adds a certain off-kilter punch to the epithet that isn’t easily replicated.
The concept of the inherently funny word defies easy study, but comedians and humorists -- Dr. Seuss, Lewis Carroll, Monty Python -- have long deployed nonsense words calculated to amuse through sound rather than meaning. What makes a Seussian neologism funny? A common layman's theory relied on by performers: Plosive consonants (p, b, t, d, k and g), with their abrupt, "explosive" sound, jolt a natural chuckle out of audiences. A Wikipedia entry on inherently funny words displays a compilation of pop culture's faith in this rule, from "30 Rock" insisting that "k" is the funniest letter to Rowan Atkinson making the common name "Bob" sound hilarious in an episode of "Blackadder."
If comedians are onto something, Mr. Dempster accidentally stumbled onto something too; his name, and therefore the dumpster, contains not one but three plosive consonants within two syllables. It's an inherently funny phoneme bonanza.
Still, both dumpsters and dumpsters set ablaze waited around for quite a while -- decades -- before the public really took an interest.
The dumpster fire, to state the obvious, isn't a fictional concept, though for most middle-class Americans today it's basically intangible. "Who has real dumpster fires?" joked Wise when we spoke on the phone. "Nobody actually has dumpster fires in real life, so why not use it for other things that seem to be flammable, that are just going up in flames in your life?" Most of the people I talked to about the rise of the metaphorical dumpster fire offered a similar reaction: Who's ever seen one? Do they even happen?
Much like a train wreck, any given person probably hasn't witnessed a full-blown dumpster fire in person, and yet the two varieties of accident do occur. Dumpster fires pop up on police blotters and inspire signs outside football stadiums aimed at tipsy tailgaters: DO NOT PUT HOT COALS/CHARCOAL/ASH IN DUMPSTER! My own partner's father once disposed of some seemingly extinguished charcoal from his tailgate grill in a hard plastic dumpster outside Giants Stadium, only later realizing that he'd sparked a trash blaze. Months later, he recalled to me in an email, he found an extra insert with his Jets season ticket renewal: "There was included in the package a lengthy directive about pre- and post-game tailgating which went into great detail on the subject of the proper way to dispose of hot coals. This directive included the cautionary tale of the dumpster fire of the previous season."
A Google search pulls up references to dumpster fires in local newspapers and fire department training documents as far back as the 1970s, but pinning down the derogatory use of the term is tricky. Even after one tries to filter out official reports of actual dumpster fires, it seems like the term just suddenly appeared everywhere in the last eight years, and before that was nowhere. Isolating a patient zero is a maddening task.
Last month, Oxford Dictionaries’ Jeff Sherwood took a stab, and he stumbled into similar roadblocks:
In the first place, waste containers do seem to really catch on fire with alarming frequency in the United States, so the vast majority of evidence for the phrase actually refers to literal dumpster fires. Secondly, the figurative meaning’s meteoric rise in visibility is inseparable from widespread online use of an image macro featuring a green dumpster with a terrifically implausible conflagration blazing from its top. Part of what makes the internet as unpredictably creative and innovative is just this kind of hive-mind collectivity, but, in this case, it comes at the cost of obscuring who first thought to exploit the unusually cathartic absurdity of watching stuff you didn’t want any way go up in flames.
Though Oxford Dictionaries recently added "dumpster fire" to its digital rolls -- Sherwood pointed to a 2003 Arizona Republic review of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" as a particularly early example of this usage -- when I asked linguists about the term, most hadn’t given it any thought and seemed surprised to hear it termed a newly popular epithet. Gerald Cohen, a slang scholar, sent it to the American Dialect Society’s listserv to see if anyone had insight to offer.
A response from society member Bill Mullins suggested that the insult was not so recent (it has, he pointed out, had an entry in Urban Dictionary since 2008) but also not so common. "I'm not sure it is ubiquitous. I've seen it occasionally in blogs," he wrote in response to my query. "These things come and go. A decade ago, you'd often see online references to someone 'beclowning' themselves. A couple years ago, you'd often see reference to Obama as a SCFOAMF (Stuttering Cluster Fuck of a Miserable Failure). Now, neither of them are as common as they had been."
True, we often fall prey to the illusion that what’s happening right now has lasting significance (surely "damn, Daniel" is still funny), and that what we’ve begun to notice on our corner of the internet is representative of the whole. Our Twitter feeds make solipsists of us all.
Dumpster fire, nonetheless, is having at least a moment, if not a watershed moment that will culminate, decades from now, in a subversive summer rom-com called “Dumpster Fire.”
Just take a look at the numbers. Compared to "dumpster fire," "beclown" and "SCFOAMF" barely nudge the dial of Google Trends over the past decade. The former has a comfortable baseline, thanks to its perennial local news presence, but its upward trajectory in Trends begins steadily around 2011. In the past year, “dumpster fire” even overtook the old reliable “clusterfuck.”
Where does dumpster-fire-as-insult really come from? Even when we can’t isolate an inventor (as we can with the use of "Santorum" for... just Google it), it’s often possible to narrow the field to a culture or subculture. Mainstream white culture notoriously appropriates lots of slang from African American Vernacular English (see: yasss queen, throwing shade, ratchet, basic), thereby immediately stripping said slang of its cool factor.
Dumpster fire’s origins remain rather nebulous. The article Sherwood found seems fairly representative of many early uses: It’s about pop culture. One of the earliest Urban Dictionary definitions of the phrase, from 2008, specifies: "In entertainment or sports, a laughably poor performance." Other early examples show up in voicey political blogs, like this 2006 screed about the Republican Party’s ethical scandals.
The most likely subcultural culprit, though, is the sports world. Linguist Mark Liberman, who works at the University of Pennsylvania, wrote in a recent blog post, "A few years ago, I noticed hosts and callers on sports talk radio using the phrase 'dumpster fire' as a metaphor for chaotically bad situations." He noted that the term had "spread to other domains," but he fingers sports as the origin point.
Another source, Mike Wise's colleague Liz Drabick, agrees. When I spoke to Drabick on the phone, she remembered, "It definitely became a sports talk radio catchall phrase, I want to say around 2010, 2011." As a sports fan and sports radio employee, she was, she said, "well entrenched" in the culture, and she told me she listened regularly to Dan Patrick, Jim Rome, and other sports commentators. Who did she remember using "dumpster fire"?
"I'm almost loathe to admit this," she said, "because it's not the same personality that I enjoy now, but it was definitely the Herd. It was Colin Cowherd."
Drabick isn't wrong about Cowherd, a notoriously polarizing, abrasive and ubiquitous sports personality who has over a million Twitter followers. (In 2015, Cowherd left his long-time employer, ESPN, for a new contract with Fox Sports, and ended up spending his last week with ESPN suspended from the air after making offensive comments about Dominican baseball players.) Some more clues point to Cowherd as the popularizer, if not the coiner: a 2008 blog post by Joel Anderson, now a Buzzfeed reporter, opined, "to borrow a phrase from Colin Cowherd, McCain is turning into a dumpster fire right before our eyes." In September 2008, an SBNation Syracuse blog quoted him slamming the college town like so: "That place is a dumpster-fire. It should be noted, one of the least-attractive college campus in the country [sic]."
Now, Google can do many things, but scouring the audio files of every sports talk show ever aired isn't among them -- at least not yet. If a Syracuse diehard hadn't gotten mad enough to blog about this particular snippet, Cowherd's colorful language in that particular September 2008 episode would have gone unnoticed in my research. We're left to wonder how long Cowherd, and possibly other sports personalities, bandied about "dumpster fire" before writers took it to print.
Meanwhile, there's that 2003 Arizona Republic movie review dug up by Oxford Dictionaries' Jeff Sherwood, which deemed that year's remake of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" to be "the cinematic equivalent of a dumpster fire -- stinky but insignificant.” Though that's the earliest use of the insult in its current form that's been dug up on the web so far, that by no means establishes it as the first use. Maybe the film reviewer, Bill Muller, who died in 2007, heard the term on his favorite drive-time sports talk show (he also wrote a recurring column on fantasy football). Maybe he invented it himself; there's really no way to know.
What we can see: At some point, dumpster fire took hold in the sports world and began to spread.
At first it may have smoldered almost undetectably, but before too long, the insult had caught fire, and there was no dousing it.
In the context of sports commentary -- brash, macho, preoccupied with success and failure -- the epithet “dumpster fire” suddenly makes a great deal of sense. In sports, it matters little whether a team is perceived as "dirty" or "classless," especially since the fans typically don’t care as long as they're racking up wins. College or professional sports organizations don't primarily register as "stupid" or "evil," overwrought think pieces about the New England Patriots aside. A team wins games and is good, or it loses and is a goddamn disgrace. A pitcher could have all the personal integrity in the world, but if his fastball isn't popping? He’s garbage. The local football franchise is scrambling through a multi-season losing streak? Total crap.
A dumpster fire, now, that’s beyond. Worse than trash, worse than dog s**t, worse than a car with the wheels coming off, worse than a tire fire: A dumpster fire combines the pathos of unwanted garbage with the cathartic destruction of an uncontrollable blaze. A dumpster fire team isn’t just unsuccessful, it’s catastrophically bad; there’s really nothing to do but watch it continue to self-destruct from a safe distance.
This label for shockingly, entertainingly dreadfulness also fits comfortably on, say, "Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2," of which one critic wrote, "this atrocious movie... is the cinematic equivalent of biting into an old brown banana." Or, as another put it, a "rancid cinematic dumpster fire."
Outside of the realms of designated spectacle -- sports and entertainment -- dumpster fire might seem both too grandiose and too unserious for common parlance. We simply can’t call political unrest in the Middle East "a complete dumpster fire.” Snarking that our work nemesis is “a human dumpster fire" seems disproportionate.
Yet dumpster fire is everywhere. Its spread can likely be attributed to a few factors -- the goofiness of the word "dumpster," the vivid image conjured by the phrase, and even the irreverence of using such a random metaphor as an insult. In a world where social media callouts for uses of offensive slurs or denigrating language have broadly increased awareness about the downsides of using racial, gendered, or ableist insults, garbage-based epithets seem both potent and safe.
In a 2015 MetaFilter thread about "garbage person," user palomar explained, "When I describe someone as a garbage person, or as a dumpster fire of a human being [...] I have had interactions with that person that have caused me to dislike them so very strongly that I want to call them a name, but specifically because I do not want to use an ethnic slur, class slur, gendered slur, et cetera, I had to figure something else out." No one wants to be compared to a dumpster fire, and a dumpster fire, simultaneously, can't defend itself as being insulted by those comparisons. It's just a pile of burning trash.
These days, "dumpster fire" seems to crop up all over: Election analysis, business commentary, and, perennially, sports blogs. On Twitter, people throw the term at dismal iTunes updates, the internet generally, TV networks, dumb articles, and other tweeters they think are horrible human beings.
And Trump. Always and especially Trump.
Trump’s early appearance as a 2016 GOP contender encapsulated all that was dumpster-fiery about modern politics. He was bigoted toward racial, religious, ethnic and cultural minorities. He made crass comments about women. He proposed policies that made little to no practical sense, then took them back or denied having ever made them if he felt like it. He implied he had a large penis at a presidential primary debate. He was a showman, and his show relied on the same cheap schtickyness that movies like "Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2" do.
If, like many aghast Americans (even Republicans), you thought Trump was a garbage person, prejudiced and willfully ignorant and narcissistic -- well, unfortunately it soon became clear that he was also en fuego. All his offensive comments and obvious lack of political expertise failed to puncture his rising poll numbers. He took primary after primary until he was left, as he is now, the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party. Take one heaping pile of trash and multiply it by the unpredictably destructive force of a raging inferno, and you’ve got something both grotesque and somewhat terrifying.
Trump might have been the perfect Trumpster dumpster fire, but he was also too perfect -- too garbage, too on fire -- to be contained by the insult. A dumpster fire sounds cathartic, under control, a weirdly gross sight that provides a frisson of fear without seeming too threatening. After all, the fire is only hurting all that garbage you didn't want anyway. It's enclosed by a metal container. What's the worst that could happen?
So, "dumpster fire" actually sounds like a not-terrible thing to me, in that the fire is fully contained within a fireproof enclosure. — Nick Confessore (@nickconfessore) April 1, 2016
This apparent lack of serious risk actually might be part of the appeal of dumpster fire as an insult, but when it comes to the potential presidency of someone like Donald Trump, the lack of gravity starts to seem incongruous. Enter the dumpster fire variants -- Nate Silver's "nested dumpster fire" descriptor for the GOP primary back in March, Raw Story's "landfill inferno" and one that manages to combine garbage, fire, and hell on wheels: "rolling dumpster fire."
A 2009 Urban Dictionary definition of "rolling dumpster fire" explains:
A rolling dumpster fire is an individual, or a collective, whose actions are treacherous, destructive, bone-headed, and out of control. [...] Though very much like a hot mess, dumpster fire, or a train wreck, the main distinction of a rolling dumpster fire is that he or she is out of control, can't be stopped, and is threatening to light the whole goddamn neighborhood on fire.
That might seem to mark the distinction between something like the U.S. men's national soccer team facing off against Argentina as opposed to something like Donald Trump's presidential campaign. The former, as New York Times reporter Nick Confessore suggests in the above tweet, is unpleasant to see, but basically self-contained; the latter threatens to take down everything within reach that seemed stable and good. Dumpster fire seemed too tame? Now we've got a dumpster fire on the move.
Putting aside the fact that dumpster fires are not so tame -- they may contain explosive or otherwise reactive waste, spread to other structures, or even be used intentionally to harm others -- hyperbolic language typically begets more hyperbolic language. As linguist Gretchen McCulloch put it to Atlas Obscura, we reach for ever-more striking images and intensifiers to replace those that we've made threadbare.
So yes, "rolling dumpster fire" hasn't just been directed at Trump or our foreign policy or anthropogenic global warming, but at mediocre sports franchises and ill-judged comic book narratives.
Actually, the death knell for "dumpster fire," rolling or stationary, seems to be due. Such over-saturation of a particular, visceral image or phrase typically leads it down the road to obsolescence, like the "epic fail" and "fml" of yesteryear. Already, some are calling for the phrase to be thrown out with yesterday's garbage.
If you're thinking of writing "dumpster fire" on the Internet, reach out to your friends, they'll help you find alternate phrasing. — Anil Dash (@anildash) March 28, 2016
oh my god stop saying "dumpster fire" — blaine capatch (@blainecapatch) June 11, 2016
"Dumpster fire" has all the flavor of an original metaphor, but it no longer has the freshness. It injects vividness into conversation without demanding the effort of creativity.
At some point, though, we can't have both. Sites like Gawker Media's properties, which rely largely on their edgy tone and distinctive writing, already seem to know this. On Jezebel, rather than a constant return to the dumpster fire well, each article about Trump contains a new phrase even more pointed, evocative, and infinitely new: "stately hot dog casing," "sentient hate-balloon," "Nacho cheese golem." None of these has become, nor is likely to become, a linguistic trend, but that's what makes each one so brutally effective.
"Dumpster fire" is likely on the express path to becoming passé, but that's just the circle of slang life. And hey, there may still be great things in store for the epithet. Remember "fml," which has been on a steady downward slope since the height of its popularity in 2009? Retirement is treating it well. The official trailer for "FML The Movie" dropped this week.
***On the growing list of ways that the election of 2016 is upsetting conventional political wisdom, here's a new entry: A contender's lack of strong faith is not the deal breaker it once was for voters, according to a survey released Wednesday.
On the growing list of ways that the election of 2016 is upsetting conventional political wisdom, here�s a new entry:
A contender�s lack of strong faith is not the deal breaker it once was for voters, according to a survey released Wednesday.
The �Religion and Politics� survey by Pew Research even finds Americans have a kinder view of atheists as potential presidential timber. The share of Americans who said they�d be less likely to vote for an atheist is down from 61 percent in August 2007 to 51 percent in the new survey.
�Religion, by and large, remains an asset for potential political candidates,� said Greg Smith, associate director of research and an author of the Pew report. �Far more people say they�d be less likely to vote for a hypothetical candidate who doesn�t believe in God than would vote for one that does.�
Yet they�re much less concerned that candidates mirror their own personal religious convictions.
That can make a difference for candidates such as Democratic contender Sen. Bernie Sanders, who is proudly irreligious, or Republican Donald Trump, who is nominally Presbyterian.
Past Pew surveys found that 7 in 10 Americans said it was important that a president have strong religious beliefs. The new survey of 2,009 U.S. adults, conducted Jan. 7-14, asked a different, related question.
�We asked, �How important is it to you to have a president who shares your religious beliefs?� And that turned up much smaller numbers,� Smith said.
It was very or somewhat important for 64 percent of Republicans but for only 41 percent of Democrats.
How much a candidate�s religion or religiosity matters is only one consideration that people take with them into the caucus room or voting booth, Smith said. Hot topics in the 2016 campaign include the economy, foreign policy, taxes, terrorism and climate change.
Voters respond to a matrix of issues, not only one, as also was evident in 2012, Smith said. Evangelicals, who fretted during the primaries about Gov. Mitt Romney�s Mormon faith, set that concern aside to vote for him in the race against President Barack Obama, a mainline Protestant.
Neither do voters care deeply about a candidate�s theological sophistication � whether Trump says �Two Corinthians� instead of Second Corinthians or his rival, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, admits he failed to give 10 percent of his income to charity, like a proper Southern Baptist.
In this survey, Trump is viewed as a potentially good � even a great � president by many Republicans (56 percent), despite a high share of GOP voters who don�t see him as religious.
�Among those Republicans and those who lean toward the GOP who think that Trump is religious, most (73 percent) said he would be a good president. But we can also see lots of Republicans (41 percent) who think Trump would be a good, even a great, president even through they don�t think he�s particularly religious,� Smith said.
�Virtually all� Republicans who said Cruz, Sen. Marco Rubio or retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson would be successful presidents view those candidates as at least somewhat religious.
For white evangelicals, the largest single bloc of GOP voters, it�s a statistical three-way tie. Roughly 6 in 10 see Trump, Cruz and Carson as religious. Only 44 percent say so for Rubio, a Catholic who recently released an ad touting his Christian faith.
Among Democratic frontrunners in the 2016 race, the survey came up with some curious findings:
48 percent overall say former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, a lifelong, active Methodist, is not a religious person. Divided by parties: 65 percent of Democrats think she is at least somewhat religious. But the exact same 65 percent of Republicans say she�s not. About two-thirds of Democrats and those who lean Democratic say Clinton is very or somewhat religious. Roughly half of Democrats (47 percent) say Sanders is at least somewhat religious. Evangelicals are skeptical of both Clinton and Sanders. Only 16 percent think Sanders would be a good president and 15 percent say so about Clinton. Both Democrats find their greatest support among �nones� � people with no religious identity � and among black Protestants. Sanders scored a good-or-great rating from 51 percent of nones and 36 percent of black Protestants. By contrast, Clinton drew praise from 42 percent of nones and 62 percent of black Protestants.THE 2017 JOE KOCUR FOUNDATION FOR CHILDREN
CELEBRITY SOFTBALL SERIES - SATURDAY, AUGUST 26, 2017
The Joe Kocur Foundation for Children is proud to announce that its 2017 Celebrity Softball Series will be held on Saturday, August 26, 2017 in Northern Oakland County. This is the ninth year of the very popular local event. Duck Lake Pines Park, located at 1241 N. Duck Lake Rd, Highland, MI will again serve as the event venue. Gates open at 11:00 AM for on-site parking and early seating.
For all first time attendees, sponsors, donors, returning guests and fans, the day will consist of three 7-inning softball games featuring Metro-Detroit sports and media celebrities, including many from The Detroit Red Wings Alumni Association and current Red Wings roster. Games are currently scheduled at 12:00 PM, 2:00 PM and 4:00 PM. The opening ceremonies will feature singing of the National Anthem, the United States Color Guard, introduction of the celebrities, sponsors and acknowledgement of the esteemed charity organizations.
All proceeds will benefit multiple local children’s charities, comprising of Wings of Mercy East Michigan, F.A.R. Therapeutic Arts and Recreation, The Huron Valley Special Olympics, Play Like Jackson Foundation, Team Kendal Kidz, and the Lakeland High School - Shannon Gaber Silverthorn Public Service Scholarship (for a student(s) going into Law Enforcement or Fire Fighting). The 2017 honoree and charities will all receive a portion of the raised money through ticket sales, auction items and sponsorships to put toward their organizations’ services and missions.
Special alumni hockey, sports and media guests have included Joe Kocur, Chris Osgood, Darren McCarty, Dino Ciccarelli, Manny Legace, Todd Bertuzzi, Matthew Schnider, Dylan Larkin, Danny Dekeyser, Darren Helm, Luke Glendenning, Jeff Blashill, Mickey Redmond, Brian Smolinski, Steve Avery, John Ogrodnick, Dave Lewis, Dave Rozema, Eric Hipple, Jason Woolley, Jiri Fischer, Kevin Miller, Pat Peake, Kris Draper, Scott Lusader, Al Iafrate, Mike Knuble, Kirk Maltby, Dave Coulier, Fox’s Amy Andrews, Actress Erin Cummings, Jeff Daniels, Verve Pipe’s Brian Vander Ark, 97.1’s Jamie and Wojo, WRIF’s Meltdown and many others. Due to the overwhelming support of the participants at previous fundraisers, many of the listed are returning again to lend their time for their friend Joe Kocur and his foundation’s mission.
During the event, attendees can enjoy food and beverage for a nominal charge. Little Caesars & Leos Coney of White Lake/Waterford have already committed to providing plenty of game day pizzas and hot dogs. The beer tent will be back near the stage and more music has been added. Exciting raffle prizes will be awarded during the day, while attendees can also join in on the silent auction filled with fabulous items to bid on, including tons of signed sports memorabilia and gift certificates to local restaurants, spas and services. Between games, you and your family can get an autograph from your favorite Red Wings or local sports celebrity. Kid’s area, named the Millwright Local 1102 Midway, will consist of numerous fun events, amusement rides and plenty of attractions. Various viewing bleachers and tents will be set up along the path near the baseball diamonds for attendees to watch and cheer their favorite charity and local public services. We recommend bringing sunscreen and lawn chairs as bleacher space fills up and we anticipate attendance to top our record of 4,000.
Tickets purchased in advance are $10.00 per person and $15.00 per person at the event. Children 14 and under are free, as are autographs. All tickets purchased will go into a drawing for raffle prizes that will be awarded throughout the day of the event. Individual tickets may be purchased directly online at www.2017JoeKocurSoftball.eventbrite.com. Tickets will also be sold through Bakers of Milford and the Comeback Inn of Highland.
In addition, corporate sponsorships with fabulous incentives are available from $500 to $10,000. Little Caesars, Leos Coney Island- White Lake, and many more sponsors and donors have generously committed to partnering again with the foundation, while Pepsi and Meijer will serve again as Title Sponsors. New patrons, donors and sponsors can inquire about pricing and additional information by emailing or calling Pamela Ayres at 248.444.0300.
About The Joe Kocur Foundation for Children
Giving back to the local community through a collaboration with children's charities throughout Southeastern Michigan – “Fighting for Kids in Need”
The Joe Kocur Foundation for Children is managed by a Board of Directors. The softball event is championed through the efforts of an all-volunteer committee and through the kind donations of local sponsors and donors. Six local Michigan charities have been chosen as the recipients of the raised funds from the annual softball tournament held in August. www.facebook.com/TheJoeKocurFoundationforChildren
About the Event
Originated in 2009 and based in North West Oakland County, the event founders wanted to sponsor an affordable gathering which would allow all families to have a good time, while providing money to local charities, and ultimately keeping the community in touch with the everyday needs of people who may not be able to reach out and secure required support.
All proceeds for 2017 will benefit local charities:
Wings of Mercy East Michigan www.wingseastmi.org
F.A.R. Therapeutic Arts and Recreation |
include such basic principles as:
– The right to expensive chips;
– The right to a swearing pensioner within a 20-metre radius at all times;
– The right to genuinely believe no refereeing decision against your team has ever been correct;
– And perhaps the most cherished right of the sports fan is also the most frequently exercised: the right to boo.
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SO ADAM GOODES, WHO IS THE REAL RACIST?
In the last few days we have seen that right challenged. We have seen some prominent people in the footballing community abuse their position by urging fans to stop booing one man in particular, a man who I think has been fairly conclusively established as a compulsive troublemaker and probably the world’s biggest racist.
And it is a sad day when the fans’ god-given right to let boos echo joyously from their warm, slippery throats is endangered by political correctness. This must not stand.
I want to assure all booers, young and old, fat and thin, ugly and attractive, that I will always be in your corner. I will always support your right to boo, and I will never so much as advise against it in specific situations. For what is a right if it is not exercised? What is a boo if it is not voiced?
So when you see a man brandish an imaginary spear and find your heart clutched by a nameless dread, you boo for all you’re worth.
When you feel that a footballer dancing on a football field is almost definitely an Manson Family-esque attempt to trigger a race war, you boo your heart out.
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I will support your right to do this.
I will support your right to boo when you see an opposition player behaving in a way suggestive of aggression or confrontation or of being on a different team to the one you support. I will support it all the way.
I will support your right to boo any sportsperson who violates the sacred compact between the races that has always existed: the indigenous players provide the magical, whimsical, delightful flashes of ephemeral brilliance, and the white people have opinions. Boo until you’re hoarse and I’ll stand behind you the whole way.
If you quite rightly boo a man who has the gall to suggest that you, or at least someone a bit like you, may have said or done something racist, when in fact you, or someone a bit like you, have never said or done anything racist, I defend to the death your right to do so.
And if that man then suggests that your booing was itself inspired by racial motives, when in fact it was purely and simply sparked by your hatred of staging for free kicks or knees-first slides or a quite reasonable and really extremely chivalrous concern for the happiness of young teen girls, further boos may be justified and I will back you to the hilt.
But don’t think I’m only going to support your rights in cases when racial issues are mentioned even though they’ve got nothing to do with it at all. Because booing is a part of our culture that crosses boundaries, erases divisions, and swims cheerfully through the bloodstream of every real Australian – and it’s something that must be protected at all costs.
So yes I’ll support you when you boo the referee for applying the rules to your team even though you never agreed to that.
Yes I’ll support you when you boo opposition players for being bad at the game, or for being good at the game, or for being seriously injured. You’ve got the right to do it, so you should feel comfortable letting those guys know just how disgusted you are at everything about them.
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I guess what I’m saying is: you name it, I’ll support your right to boo about it. Call me a selfless crusader for civil liberties if you like, but I’m not hero, I’m just a simple man who hates injustice. And injustices don’t come much more unjust than people suggesting booing isn’t a good idea.
I hope you will stand with me as I fight for the right to boo. Because if we do not have the right, when confronted with the sight of a person we have never met whose athletic pursuits cause us temporary emotional discomfort, to publicly make cow noises at the top of our lungs, what’s the point of Australia even existing?
For every oppressed sports fan, for every marginalised Aussie battler, for every footy-loving bloke who ever felt unable to fully articulate his frustration at the incredible superiority of professional sportsmen’s lives compared to his, for every ordinary everyday common or garden knockabout larrikin who finds the weekend game the only outlet he has these days to fully express the fact that he is, mentally, about nine years old – I’ll be booing for you.
I’ll be booing for freedom.The Netanyahu-Trump meeting in a hotel at the sidelines of the United Nations in New York today was marked by Trump’s carney chatter about a two-state solution (“a fantastic achievement. We are giving it an absolute go. I think there’s a good chance that it could happen. Most people would say there’s no chance whatsoever”) and fulsome praise by Netanyahu of Trump clearly intended to show that the Obama days are past and gone.
Here are Netanyahu’s fulsome remarks. The relationship between the two countries has never been stronger or deeper– and some of that closeness has been behind closed doors.
Mr. President, it’s great to see you again. I want to say that under your leadership, the alliance between America and Israel has never been stronger, never been deeper. I can say this in ways that people see and in ways that they don’t see. So I want to thank you for that. Equally, I look forward to discussing with you how we can address together what you rightly call is the terrible nuclear deal with Iran and how to roll back Iran’s growing aggression in the region, especially in Syria. As you said, we will discuss the way we can seize the opportunity for peace between Israel and the Palestinians and between Israel and the Arab World. I think these things go together, and we look forward to talking about how we can advance both. Finally, we’re going to be speaking tomorrow at the U.N., and I want to say that under President Trump, America’s position towards Israel at the U.N. has been unequivocal, it’s been strong, it’s got both clarity and conviction. And I want to thank you on behalf of the people of Israel and Israel’s many friends around the world. Thank you, Mr. President.
Netanyahu doubled down later, in a series of tweets. Look who’s tweeting now!
Was great meeting with you today @ realDonaldTrump. Together we are bringing the US-Israel alliance to even greater heights. Under your leadership, @ realDonaldTrump, the alliance between the United States and Israel has never been stronger. Under President Trump, the US position toward Israel in the UN has been unequivocal; it’s been strong; it’s got both clarity and conviction.
Of course some of this is Netanyahu’s play for Trump to end the Iran deal. But maybe it’s true too: the relationship has never been stronger or deeper. So what does that tell you about the Israeli government?
Update: Netanyahu also echoes Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner in a call to Jewish leaders on Friday:Dependapotamus: Traditionally a service-members dependent who is a “stay at home mom” that doesn’t do a damn thing all day besides sitting on the couch looking remarkably similar to jabba the hut leaching off of military benefits and eating anything that gets too close.
While there are many young Private First Class (PFC) soldiers in Army with poor marriages, this one takes the cake. In a video recording -released through YouTube- the Army PFC, Chance, is forced by his wife to get on his knees and promise to rub her feet.
One of Chance’s fellow soldiers could not help but find humor in the situation so he recorded the entire interaction. Chance’s wife was not okay with him agreeing by saying, “fine.” She apparently wanted to continue her humiliation by recording his pathetic response so she could post it to Facebook.
“Your job is to rub each one of my feet for thirteen minutes a piece; say I agree,” she says.
When the NCO mentions TRICARE (military healthcare) and BAH (military housing allowance), she says, “That’s all I’m in it [Army] for.”
“I am a Dependapotamus… I’ve been with him since he was a fuzzy (the rank of Private (E-1) is nicked named “fuzzy” because there there is no rank to wear over the velcro on the Army uniform).”
© 2017 Bright Mountain Media, Inc.
All rights reserved. The content of this webpage may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written consent of Bright Mountain Media, Inc. which may be contacted at info@brightmountainmedia.com, ticker BMTM.A Republican group in Kansas wants Topeka city officials to remove fluoride from the city's drinking water in order to preserve the intelligence of legislators in the state's capital.
Citing concerns about the chemical's impact on IQ, the Kansas Republican Assembly, a conservative group that has campaigned against fluoridation, is sending a letter to Topeka's top leaders urging that the city's fluoride pipe be shut off during the annual legislative session. A draft of the letter and the minutes of the group's January meeting where the proposal was made surfaced on the KRA's website in recent days.
The minutes read:
After hearing the fluoride update, Brian Coss made a motion for the KRA Secretary to write a tactful letter to each Topeka City Council member, Topeka’s City Manager, and Topeka Mayor Bill Bunten, asking that the fluoride valve be turned off during the legislative session to protect our legislators from potential loss of I.Q. and other negative side effects of fluoride while in Topeka. In addition to our legislators and the many others who go to Topeka during the session, Topeka residents would also benefit from the move, and the city could save a lot of money. Eric Henderson seconded the motion, and after some discussion, the 33 members present approved the motion unanimously.
Mark Gietzen, the president of the KRA, told The Huffington Post that a study from the Harvard University School of Public Health released last year confirmed the group's fears about the impacts of fluoride. The Harvard study said that children exposed to flouride had lower IQs than those not exposed to it. The report was based on studies conducted on children in China.
"They are finding that it's doing damage to children’s brains and lowering IQ," Gietzen told HuffPost. "It is probably having the same effects on adults.”
Critics of the Harvard report at the time pointed to other studies that show fluoride has no long-term impact on children's intelligence.
Still, the KRA has made fluoridation a key issue. Last year, the group was active in a successful campaign to defeat a referendum in Wichita to add fluoride to the city's drinking water. The group has drafted a resolution for state legislators to call on local governments in the state to remove fluoride from the water supply.
Fluoride is often added to drinking water to help fight tooth decay. Gietzen told HuffPost that while fluoride has benefits for teeth, those should be obtained through the use of the ingredient in toothpaste, not through drinking water. He pointed to toothpaste packages that warn consumers not to swallow the product. In addition to the chemical's alleged affects on IQ, Gietzen said he and his colleagues count brittle bones and prostate issues among their health concerns about fluoridation.
“Lowering IQ is a terrible thing to do to a population," Gietzen said. "I can’t believe I am alone in it being an urgent thing to take care of.”
He is currently working with officials in Lawrence and Salina in an effort to remove fluoride from the drinking water in those cities.
Topeka Councilman Chad Manspeaker told HuffPost that he has not yet received a letter from the KRA regarding fluoride and its alleged impact on legislators. He did say that he questions the group's decision to use scientific research in its current proposal, considering issues previously advocated by the KRA were not based in science.
Manspeaker, a leader in Kansas's liberal Democratic wing, does not believe legislators should be concerned about the effects of fluoride in Topeka's drinking water, nor is he concerned about the impact of the chemical on intelligence. But he suggested, jokingly, that the conservative KRA may disagree.Lizard Man of Scape Ore Swamp
.. The Lizard Man of Scape Ore Swamp (also known as The Lizard Man Of Lee County), is a humanoid cryptid which is said to inhabit areas of swampland in and around Lee County, South Carolina. Description The Lizard Man is described as being seven feet tall (over 2m), bipedal, and well built, with green scaly skin and glowing orange eyes. It is said to have three toes on each foot and three fingers on each hand which end in a circular pad on them that stick to walls Davis Sighting The first reported sighting of the creature was made by Christopher Davis, a 17 year old local, who said he encountered the creature while driving home from work at 2 AM on June 29, 1988. According to his account, Davis stopped on a road bordering Scape Ore Swamp in order to change a tire which had blown out. When he was finishing up he reported having heard a thumping noise from behind him and having turned around to see the creature running towards him. Davis said the creature tried to grab at the car and then jumped on its roof as he tried to escape, clinging on to it as Davis swerved from side to side in an effort to throw it off. After he returned home, Davis' side-view-mirror was found to be badly damaged, and scratch marks were found on the car's roof--though there was no other physical evidence of his encounter. “I looked back and saw something running across the field towards me. It was about 25 yards away and I saw red eyes glowing. I ran into the car and as I locked it, the thing grabbed the door handle. I could see him from the neck down – the three big fingers, long black nails and green rough skin. It was strong and angry. I looked in my mirror and saw a blur of green running. I could see his toes and then he jumped on the roof of my car. I thought I heard a grunt and then I could see his fingers through the front windshield, where they curled around on the roof. I sped up and swerved to shake the creature off.” In the month that followed the Davis sighting there were several further reports of a large lizard like creature, and of unusual scratches and bite marks found on cars parked close to the swamp. Most of these are said to have occurred within a three-mile (5 km) radius of the swamps of Bishopville. At the time, local law enforcement officials reacted to reports of the Lizard Man with a mixture of concern and skepticism, stating that a sufficient number of sightings had been made by apparently reliable people for them to believe that something tangible was being seen, but also that it was more likely to be a bear than a Lizard Man. Two weeks after the Davis sighting the sheriff's department made several plaster casts of what appeared to be three-toed footprints - measuring some 14 inches (360 mm) in length - but decided against sending them on to the FBI for further analysis after biologists advised them that they were unclassifiable.[2] According to South Carolina Marine Resources Department spokesperson Johnny Evans the tracks neither matched, nor could be mistaken for, the footprints of any recorded animal. Evans also dismissed the possibility that they could have been made by some form of mutated creature. The sightings attracted tourists interested in seeing the creature and hunters interested in tracking it, and nearby radio station WCOS[disambiguation needed] offered a $1 million reward to anybody who could capture the creature alive. [2][6] However, reports of the creature began to decline at the end of the summer with the last credible sighting of the year being reported in July. On August 5 Kenneth Orr, an airman stationed at Shaw Air Force Base, filed a report with the police saying that he had encountered the Lizard Man on highway 15, and that he had shot and wounded it. He presented several scales and a small quantity of blood as evidence. Orr recanted this account two days later when he was arraigned for unlawfully carrying a pistol, and the misdemeanor offense of filing a false police report. According to Orr, he had invented the sighting in order to keep stories about the Lizard Man in circulation. References: The Washington Post (1988-08-14) "Lizard Man' Claims a Casualty", The Washington Post Horswell, Cindy(1989-07-1989) "`Lizard Man' legend still alive, kicking", Houston Chronicle Milligan, Stephen (1988-08-07) "Sightings of a monster lizard from the swamp has struck terror into a small community in South Carolina", The Sunday Times. San Francisco Chronicle (1988-08-02) "Youth Who Saw 'Lizard Man' Gets an Agent", San Francisco Chronicle Horswell, Cindy (1989-07-30) "Lizard man leaves mark/Tale still told in sleepy S.C. town", Houston chronicle Horswell, Cindy (1988-07-31) "On a scale of one to 10, it rates a downright scary 11/Leapin' lizards! Is that brute for real?", Houston Chronicle Houston Chronicle (1988-08-13) "To keep a monstrous legend alive/Man admits lying about Lizard Man", Houston Chronicle "Police Log" Newberry Observer, October 5, 2005 Video - Breaking News Videos from CNN.com Dead cow, coyote found near site of "Lizard Man" mystery - WIS News 10 - Columbia, South Carolina - March 6, 2008 "Lizard Man" returns? - WIS News 10 - Columbia, South Carolina - Feb 29, 2008 Related Links: The Lizard-Man of Bishopville, South Carolina - John Rhodes - (Archived)
One dark night near Bishopville, South Carolina, in June of 1988, seventeen-year-old Christopher Davis stopped to change a flat tire along Scape Ore Swamp. As he was finishing the task and putting the flat tire in the trunk, he heard a noise coming from a nearby field. As he peered off into the darkness, he saw a seven foot tall creature with red glowing eyes running towards him on its two hind legs and grunting as it closed in. Christopher jumped into the car and sped off down the road.
Our local reptilian - Micheal - AstroVera Forum
We have a resident reptilian near where we live. He/she/it has been around for quite some time. There are numerous credible sightings by down to earth local folks who don't seek attention or limelight. http://en.wikipedia.org and http://www.reptoids.com. There have been some attempts to debunk it. For example, a DNA sample from a recent attack (http://www.cnn.com) was sent for testing and the results said it was canine. People here don't believe the results. There have been too many unreported sightings by locals who are completely trustworthy. It's been suggested that these things aren't entirely uncommon. They're cast-out exiles from the land below and live in swamps, caves and sewers. They still need blood meals and they're pissed off.Natan Obed is the national Inuit leader and president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami.
Despite virtually no government support for our language, approximately 63.3 per cent of the 60,000 Inuit in Canada are able to converse in Inuktut. Though language proficiency varies widely across our 53 communities in four jurisdictions that constitute our homeland Inuit Nunangat, our language has been incredibly resilient in spite of decades of passive and active language eradication efforts. Even in Inuit regions where relatively few Inuit still speak our language, it is a testament to our cultural and societal strength that these oppressed dialects survive at all.
Consider that there is nowhere in this country that Canadian Inuit can be educated in Inuktut as the primary language of instruction beyond grade four. Also consider that language promotion funding has historically been underfunded per capita up to 100 times the other official languages in Inuit Nunangat.
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For most of Canada's history, there has been a mistaken belief that it is only a matter of time before our culture, society, language and even our population will die out, be diluted to the point of irrelevance or be completely assimilated. Governments have not considered our language worth supporting, and have waited for us and our language to disappear. Yet Inuit have been resilient.
Canada has defined our place as Canadians through a dizzying matrix of historic and modern treaties, Supreme Court rulings and legislation. Canada has dreamed up a myriad of ways to control its "fiduciary" relationship with Inuit, but at the same time has imagined we as Inuit are not Canadian enough to be worthy of services, supports and infrastructure deemed necessary for all other Canadians to thrive. Yet we have been resilient and work to address these challenges, such as our work to revitalize, maintain and increase the use of Inuktut.
Since the 1970s, Inuit have been working to promote, protect, maintain and revitalize our language. Much of our efforts have been focused on promoting and supporting the continued use of Inuktut in Inuit Nunangat. We have had incredible language champions leading fierce debates about dialectal use. These debates within our society have been productive, leading to Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami's (ITK) current project to explore the feasibility of a unified Inuit language writing system.
Inuit linguists have told us the key to a new era in bilingual education is the ability to produce, publish and distribute common Inuit language materials. A unified Inuit language writing system with common grammar, spelling and terminology will facilitate the production of these materials and strengthen Inuktut. A unified writing system will also strengthen Inuit unity and culture in Canada, as it is part of self-determination. Crucially, even with the adoption of a unified writing system, communities will retain their own dialects, in both oral and written language, and be encouraged to use and teach existing local writing systems in home and in the community.
Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami and the National Committee on Inuit Education established the Atausiq Inuktut Titirausiq (AIT) task group. The 14 members on the AIT task group include Inuit language specialists from each Inuit region. Their work is co-ordinated by ITK's National Inuit Language co-ordinator. The AIT task group has been mandated to research and identify the speech components of Inuktut and the current Inuktut orthographies in use, and recommend an Inuktut orthography (considering today's technology and trends) that is most effective and has the best chance of advancing Inuktut far into the future. This is Inuit self-determination in action. We are repatriating our written language.
As part of this work, ITK and Prince's Charities Canada partnered on a study tour to Wales in the United Kingdom in December, 2016. The goal of the study tour was to provide a deeper understanding of the cultural, social, institutional and other factors that supported the revitalization of the Welsh language. The tour objectives were to explore the Welsh example of language revitalization and learn from best practices surrounding education and language promotion. The key areas of investigation included the roll-out of Welsh in the education system; the experiences and stories of the Welsh people on language roll-out; and how a network of fluent speakers was developed who could then teach the language and write and publish material in the language.
The best solutions for Inuit are globally informed, Inuit-specific and evidence based. After learning firsthand how the Welsh language is regaining its place in Wales, the committee now has important knowledge that it can incorporate or adapt to better pursue the task of unifying our Inuit language writing system.
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We have a clear and exciting path to Inuktut strength, self-determination and realizing a Canada without such glaring holes in linguistic inequity. This is because of AIT's ongoing work, broad efforts to renew the Inuit-Crown relationship by the Prime Minister and Minister of Canadian Heritage Mélanie Joly announcing on June 15 the intent to collaborate on the co-development of Indigenous languages legislation.
Inuit in Canada will continue to work in all ways possible toward equitable political, legislative, program and policy foundations to learn, speak and use our language.Today marks the four-year anniversary of the Sacramento Kings officially staying in Sacramento. We've dealt with plenty of ups and downs since then. But we've dealt with those swings as fans of the Sacramento Kings.
RT “@ChrisDaniels5: OFFICIAL: NBA has sent me statement confirming that BOG has denied Kings request to relocate to Seattle.” — Sactown Royalty (@sactownroyalty) April 29, 2013
This team often makes me hate myself for being a fan of theirs, but I still feel like this is an anniversary worth remembering and celebrating. Even as we stare down a new rebuilding effort, and questions about the team’s ownership and management, it's still nice to know that we're experiencing all this for our team.
It's particularly fun to remember this anniversary after the Kings have just finished their inaugural season in their amazing new arena. The arena that was a distant dream for so many years. The arena that critics said would never happen. And the arena in the middle of a downtown rejuvenation that skeptics told us we were fools for expecting.
Happy four year anniversary, Kings fans.
Here We Stayed.
***
Hat tip to HueristicLineup for pointing this out on twitter.OLIVIA WAS BORN in Paris in 1979. Her father was French, and a physical chemist; her mother, an American psychotherapist. Though Olivia spoke French fluently, she was ostracized at school. A picture from Olivia’s pre-teens shows a group of coiffed, Parisian children—a 1990s tableau of perky ponytails, doll-like features, and brightly colored sweaters. The children beam at the camera, glowing with enthusiasm. All except Olivia, whose smile hangs limply. Her round glasses and dark, heavy features jar with her classmates’ airy blondeness. She appears to be surrounded by a cushion of space, as the children around her are repelled toward their other neighbors.
Part of the problem, Olivia recalls, was that she didn’t fit into any prescribed social group: She was too athletic for the nerds, too bookish for the jocks. She liked science fiction but also enjoyed dressage. Her mother, sensing that something was amiss, tried to help her daughter fit in by dressing Olivia in an American interpretation of French fashion: frilly, floral outfits ornamented with gloves and bows. The other kids called her a poser. “To them, I was always the weird American,” Olivia said recently. “It was obvious to everyone except my mother. Fitting in was something she desperately wanted for me, but all I did was stand out for the wrong reasons.” The awkward child became a dorky teen. The popular girls grew willowy; Olivia developed a curvy, athletic build. Flirting came as second nature to most of her peers, but Olivia was baffled by the subtleties of social interaction. She was too blunt, others told her. Too honest. Too much like her ultra-rational scientist father, who liked to work by “thinking like a molecule” And there was something unusual in her speech patterns, too. The young Olivia would butt into conversations and then become exhausted. She had a tendency to overshare, bursting forth with information like a conversational water balloon.
Olivia’s behavior may sound like an indication of Asperger syndrome, a mild form of autism. But there is a crucial difference between an awkward teen and many young people on the autistic spectrum: Olivia was keenly aware of her social rejection. She recognized the disappointment in the face of her mother, who desperately wanted her daughter to fit into French society; she felt the scorn of her classmates; she sensed that she was saying and doing the wrong things, but she couldn’t figure out how to make people like her.
Olivia’s worst years came after her parents transferred her from a diverse international school to Lycée Victor Duruy, a small, elite high school in a wealthy district of Paris. The building was blocks from the Eiffel Tower and served some of the oldest families in France.
At her new school, she wasn’t just the weird American; she was the weird, lower-class American. According to Olivia, her French teacher even announced to the class that, because of her non-intellectual hobbies like swimming and skiing, the only thing Olivia was fit to become was a garbage collector. Her new classmates were similarly cruel: She learned some had banded together to form a “Let’s get Olivia kicked out of school” club.
“It wasn’t a pretty time,” Olivia said. “I didn’t have the tools back then to interact with other humans. So I survived by going numb.”
Her grades suffered, but she managed to qualify for French law school. At 18, she left and headed to Panthéon-Sorbonne University, where she was one of over 3,000 first-year students. Compared to the intense social scrutiny of Duruy, the relative anonymity felt like a vacation. “I finally got to be just a face in the crowd,” Olivia said. “It was such a relief not to be in fight-or-flight mode all the time; I was finally able to think. That’s when I started developing the tools.”
Olivia had always been a fan of tools. When she was a kid, she would spend hours watching her father at his workbench. The room contained a letterpress and a device for slicing metal, but her father’s favorites were the woodworking tools. Olivia loved the way he could use them to change the nature of materials, altering the shape and feel of an object until it resembled something completely new. She remembers the smell of wood shavings filling her nostrils as he carved patterns into the wood. “That was always the place I wanted to go play,” she said.
Olivia, through the years
The memories came back to her in her first years of university, when the respite from bullying allowed her to reflect on the challenges she’d encountered socially. For most of her life, Olivia had felt lost when navigating social situations, while others seemed to have a built-in compass. She desperately wanted to find her way, but how? Raised by two academics, she looked for answers in behavioral science. “When you have parents who are a psychotherapist and a physical chemist, you assume there’s been research done about everything,” Olivia told me recently. “But academic studies are not presented as tools. They’re presented as complex tables and regressions. So it took a lot of time to get what the studies were saying. Unfortunately in my case, I didn’t have time. I was really desperate. I needed to figure this out for myself,”
Olivia’s mother wanted to help, so she handed her daughter a book, Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People. In place of graphs and tables, the book contained lessons like “Three fundamental techniques in handling people;” “The six ways to make people like you;” “The twelve ways to win people to your way of thinking.”
“My mother said she wasn’t sure if it would be useful since, to her, the book was full of no-brainers,” Olivia said. “She was like, ‘Geez, do people need to be told this?’ For me, though, it was a revelation.”
For the first time, Olivia realized there were actual human tools one could use to interact with others. She began to seek out other titles, and used them to build a social road map. It took some effort. Though self-help books were gaining popularity in the United States at the time, in France they were barely tolerated. Few people bought them, and those that did rarely admitted to it. But Olivia was hooked, and before long she had accumulated a small trove of social self-help books.
They weren’t all helpful. Several were outdated personality guides from the 1950s, a time when it was assumed that only the naturally charismatic became leaders. But a few stuck out, like one by Kate White, editor-in-chief at Cosmopolitan between 1998 and 2012, titled Why Good Girls Don’t Get Ahead … But Gutsy Girls Do. White listed “nine secrets every career woman must know” and urged ambitious young women to shed their self-effacing good-girl personas and “get some zip.” Olivia was struck by the methodical techniques that White advocated, including the idea that women should “toot their own horns” and seek out new challenges. Olivia started experimenting with her own behavior, adding updated tools of her own.
She had begun writing a recipe for reinvention.
THE IDEA THAT qualities like charisma or leadership can be taught is fairly new. Sixty years ago, science dictated that social skills were innate; somebody like Olivia would have been better off seeking a profession in which she could mostly avoid people.
Peter Cappelli is a professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton business school and an expert on human-resources development. He says that leadership training was first deemed necessary for success in the 1920s, when corporations like General Electric began to hire inexperienced workers straight from university. GE sent new employees on programs designed to fast-track them into tailored positions—some of the first executive-development schemes in the world. As with business-coaching tactics today, the methods were rooted in the latest scientific knowledge. But the psychology of the 1920s was rather different to today’s, in part because of the influence of Freud.
Freud believed there were three aspects to our personality and psyche: the id, ego and superego. The ego (conscious mind) and superego (conscience) could be shaped by society, but the id represented our biologically ingrained instincts and motives, from which we could not easily be freed. What’s more, Freud argued that much of our behavior stems directly from the id. To business thinkers, this meant that some people were psychologically predisposed for leadership, while others lacked the necessary hardwiring. Finding a company’s future executives, in other words, was a matter of correctly identifying a person’s knack for leadership.
At GE, promising new hires entered a one-year program, during which their leadership potential was assessed by both superiors and peers. The company also ran what would now be called an executive retreat—effectively, a test of employees’ ability to socialize. Lower-level managers and executives would spend a week in the summer camping on a company-owned island in Lake Ontario. One can see the appeal of the approach, or at least appreciate why it made sense at the time. But it imposed an artificial ceiling on those deemed to be lacking social skills. This was bad news for introverts.
Over the next few decades, however, businesses like GE began letting each section of the company develop its own leaders. Some executives pushed back against the separation of social and technical skills, and started considering engineers for management roles. Other companies made similar changes. A 1953 study found that one-third of large corporations were led by executives with engineering backgrounds. While this might have been meritocratic, it wasn’t always effective. According to Cappelli, the engineers were “frequently bewildered” by executive positions, which were fundamentally about overseeing people.
Different companies sought out different solutions. Some hired psychologists to act as consultants for newly minted managers. (Thomas Gordon’s Leader Effectiveness Training, which emphasized active listening and no-lose conflict resolution and was popular at the time, was later adapted into a popular parenting technique in the 1970s). Others, like Lockheed, sent a dozen or so trainees every year to Harvard Business School for the management equivalent of finishing school. Industrial-agriculture giant Monsanto set up an extensive interpersonal-skills training and coaching program specifically for its chemists and engineers. One company official described its graduates as “so brilliant, they annoy everyone.”
Yet, for all the emphasis on training, the 1950s recipe for management material had little to do with job performance. Evaluations continued to focus on social skills rather than educational achievement or technical ability. And with only a fuzzy understanding of the precursors to social success, top executives developed lists of must-have skills that became increasingly generalized. In 1957, The New York Times tackled the issue by publishing two lists of skills. One was drawn from a corporate personnel manual, the other from a kindergarten report card:
List A: Dependability; Stability; Imagination; Originality; Self-expression; Health and vitality; Ability to plan and control; Cooperation.
List B: Can be depended on; Contributes to the good work of others; Accepts and uses criticism; Thinks critically; Shows initiative; Plans work well; Physical resistance; Self-expression; Creative ability.
A successful executive in 1950s America, in short, was expected to have essentially the same skills as a well-behaved four-year-old. (B is the kindergarten list, by the way.) In the decades that followed, corporate hierarchies became inflated with executive deadweight as the personality tests proved a poor means of picking boardroom winners. Companies began to doubt whether it was worth trying to train talent internally when it could be poached from other companies. Human resources departments and executive-training programs dwindled.
By the time the dot-com boom took hold in the 1990s, driving demand for a new generation of managerial talent, companies had all but abandoned the goal of developing social skills in-house. Yet the idea that personality and success were entwined had not gone away. Coaches who might have taken company jobs were going direct to the masses instead. Stephen R. Covey’s The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, published in 1989, would eventually sell 25 million copies. (A few years after it appeared, President Bill Clinton mused that American productivity would greatly increase if people adopted the habits.) A bronzed, square-jawed business guru named Tony Robbins made millions from motivational events and books like Awaken the Giant Within. By now, Freud had been largely forgotten, and personal progress was not just possible, it was easy—it was just that the responsibility for achieving it had shifted to the individual.
It was around this time that Olivia began to develop her own highly effective habits. Her timing, it turned out, was good. As she absorbed her collection of self-help books and began adding tools of her own, the corporate landscape was changing in a way that she would soon exploit. The tech boom had already propelled more engineer-minded people like herself to the top of multimillion-dollar businesses. Many were, in the language of Monsanto, brilliant enough to annoy others. Some were also intolerant of those less brilliant. According to The Wall Street Journal, Bill |
Annapolis Royal, NS. The 2013 North American Championship was similarly held on the third Saturday, 19 October, and the eventual winner of an all-female Final was Krystyna Schulz of Halifax, NS. Victor of the 2014 North American Championship was Julian Smith of Yarmouth, NS. In 2015 the Championship took place on 17 October, once more hosted at the Historic Gardens[9] in Annapolis Royal. The coveted Crofton Chalice was almost regained by Jeff Hafting, the Inaugural 2012 Champion, but he lost in the Final to Simon Bonnington of Granville Ferry, NS. This saw the return of the trophy to its home in Annapolis Royal. 2016 saw the Championship won by Elizabeth Mount of Bear River, NS. In the final bout she beat Oliver Bonnington, son of the 2015 Champion. Remarkably the 2017 final was a re-match of the previous year as Oliver Bonnington once again tried to beat Elizabeth Mount. It was not to be, and Elizabeth became the first North American Champion to retain the Title. In the 2018 Championship on 13th October, Mount was eliminated in the first round; the eventual Champion that year was Amanda Carson of Kingston, NS, who defeated Rikarda Albright. Prior to this recent re-emergence, it had been played during the late 1940s and early 1950s in New York in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, and in the 1950s and early 1960s in the Amalgamated section of the Bronx and nearby Mt.Vernon. A winning chestnut was referred to as a "killer" and the value of a chestnut was defined by its number of "kills." It was also played in Queens, the upper West Side of Manhattan, in the Mohawk Valley area of upstate New York and in Westmount, Quebec and other English-speaking parts of Montreal into the 1970s. It was played in the Catholic areas of North Cambridge, MA in the late 1950s, and a winning chestnut was also labeled a "killer". It was being played in the 1960s in Rhode Island.[11] and into the early 1980s in Smithfield, RI.[citation needed] The game was also played in Leicester, Massachusetts in the late 1970s and into the 1980s (and presumably much earlier, given the town's age and predominantly English/Irish settlers) by the children of the Primary School of the town (typically 4th and 5th graders). Leicester's seat of government ("town hall") was a dual use building, serving as both town hall and school. There is a large horse chestnut tree located on the town's common (and adjacent to town hall) that was used as a source for the chestnuts. The Leiecester variant on the name for the game was "Horse Cobblers"(presumably a variant of "Horse Conkers").[12][better source needed]
Safety concerns Edit
In 2000 a survey of British schools by Keele University showed that many were not allowing children to play conkers, as head teachers were afraid of the legal consequences if children were injured while playing the game, or because they thought that the conkers might be used as weapons.[13] The TV programme Top Gear later staged a game of conkers using caravans (travel trailers) suspended from cranes.[14] After putting on safety goggles, presenter James May commented "I now feel perfectly happy about being hit in the face by a caravan." Top Gear, along with other media commentators, wrongly stated that the wearing of goggles during the game was due to an official Health and Safety Executive (HSE) edict when it was in fact due to a myth which started when a headmaster bought goggles for children to use as a parody of health and safety regulation[15] and sponsored a Conkers tournament.[16] In 2004, several schools banned conkers due to fear of causing anaphylactic shock in pupils with nut allergies. Health advisers said that there were no known dangers from conkers for nut-allergy sufferers, although some may experience a mild rash through handling them.[17]
See also Edit
Egg tapping, a similar game with eggsDr. Joseph Murray, who won the Nobel Prize for performing the first successful organ transplant, has died at the age of 93, according to the Boston Globe.
After suffering a stroke Thursday, Murray passed away at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where he had performed the landmark kidney transplant on Ronald and Richard Herrick on December 23, 1954, the newspaper reported.
The hospital was not immediately able to confirm the report.
Born on April 1, 1919 in Milford, Massachusetts, Murray traced his interest in the emerging science of transplants to the three years he spent on the surgical ward of an army hospital in Pennsylvania during World War II.
There surgeons would often treat severely burned soldiers with skin grafts from cadavers as a temporary measure.
“The slow rejection of the foreign skin grafts fascinated me. How could the host distinguish another person’s skin from his own?” Murray would later write in an autobiographical essay published by the Nobel committee.
Murray learned that the chief plastic surgeon, Colonel James Brown, had earlier carried out a skin graft on identical twins in which the recipient’s body had accepted the foreign tissue rather than instinctively attacking it.
“This was the impetus to my study of organ transplantation,” Murray wrote.
The prospect of transplanting organs from one living patient to another was controversial from the beginning, with critics viewing it as a violation of nature that endangered both the donor and the recipient.
But the public started coming around to the procedure after Murray’s historic operation in 1954, when he transplanted a kidney from Ronald Herrick to his identical twin brother Richard, extending his life by eight years.
In those eight years, Herrick married his post-operative nurse, had two children and toasted his brother for “the extra drink,” the Globe reported. Ronald Herrick only passed away in 2010.
In the 1960s Murray helped to develop the drug Imuran, which suppressed the immune system to allow patients to accept transplants from unrelated donors.
He won the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1990, sharing the honor with E. Donnall Thomas, who pioneered bone marrow transplants.
Their discoveries have been used to cure or provide a decent life for tens of thousands of severely ill patients.
Murray is survived by his wife, three sons, three daughters and 18 grandchildren, the Globe said.SYRACUSE, NY -- A 15-year-old Corcoran High School student playing with a.25-caliber semi-automatic pistol shot himself in the face early this morning while while his girlfriend sat on his lap, Syracuse police said.
Police originally received a call at 1:15 a.m. for a self-inflicted stab wound to the face of a boy at 369 Midland Ave., Sgt. Tom Connellan, speaking for city police, said.
The bleeding 15-year-old, who police are not identifying because of his age, was being taken to an ambulance as police arrived, Connellan said. The ambulance crew, however, said because of powder burns on the face, the wound appeared to be caused by a gunshot at close range.
The boy's 16-year-old girlfriend, however, told police the boy stabbed himself in the face and threw the knife away in the back yard, Connellan said. She agreed to show police where the knife was tossed and while she was doing so police discovered a handgun, Connellan said.
When the handgun was found, the girlfriend changed her story and told police the boy did shoot himself, Connellan said.
Connellan gave the girl's account of what happened:
The boy was sitting on a couch at the Midland Avenue address, which is the home of the boy's cousin, and the girlfriend was sitting on his lap. The boy pulled out a handgun and began to play with it.
When the girlfriend complained, the boy said that the gun's safety was on. The boy twice put the gun to his face twice and pulled the trigger with no result. The girlfriend pushed the gun away when her boyfriend put it to his face the second time.
Then boy placed the gun to his face a third time, pulled the trigger and the gun fired, the girl told police.
Shaphina Kimbrough, 29, the boy's cousin, said she did not know the boy had a gun, Connellan said. She said she was upset that a gun was brought into her home because she has young children. She was asleep at the time of the shooting, Connellan said.
The boy was staying at his cousin's home because he was having problems with his mother, Connellan said.
The boy was taken to University Hospital, where he is in serious condition.
Police charged the boy as a juvenile through Family Court with criminal possession of a weapon and reckless endangerment, both felonies. Appearance tickets for the boy were given to the boy's mother at the hospital, Connellan said.
The handgun has not been reported stolen and police aren't sure where he got the gun, Connellan saidThe trend toward mainstream,” sanitized” forms of Bitcoin that can be adopted by governments and banks is here to stay, which is not a bad thing. At the same time, it’s also important to preserve important aspects of the original vision of the Bitcoin Founders – a P2P currency that can’t be controlled by banks and governments, and supports untraceable private transactions.
In writing the paragraph above I have been tempted to replace “Bitcoin Founders” with just “Founders” and give this piece a wider and explicitly political angle, but then I preferred to stay on topic. However, most of the consideration below can be extended to a more general scope.
My article on “The Extropian Roots of Bitcoin” shows how Bitcoin has strong roots in the radical, futurist Extropian philosophy that started to bloom in the California of the 80s.
Bitcoin, first announced in Satoshi Nakamoto’s post “Bitcoin P2P e-cash paper” to the Cryptography mailing list, is the first working implementation of trustless P2P payments, where “trustless” means that the participants in a transaction don’t necessary have to trust each other or a trusted third party such as a government or a bank.
Nakamoto’s implementation – the Bitcoin network – in-principle allows for a pure P2P economy self-consistently managed by its participants without needing supervision by – and beyond the control of – the authorities.
Initially, the authorities dismissed Bitcoin as the harmless plaything of a handful of Libertarian geeks. Then, Bitcoin started to grow, was noticed by the media including sensationalist tabloids hungry for juicy bits of mega-scams and online drug markets, skyrocketed in price, and all of a sudden the authorities were forced to take notice – and of course they hated the idea.
Then, mainstream financial operators started to realize that Bitcoin technology can offer innovative solutions to real problems. In particular, Bitcoin technology permits faster and cheaper payments, permanently recorded in the tamper-proof public blockchain. In parallel, governments started to regulate the Bitcoin space with the stated goal of eliminating private transactions.
It’s important to bear in mind that Bitcoin isn’t anonymous. On the contrary, all transactions between Bitcoin addresses are permanently stored in the blockchain and open to analysis. Therefore, even though Bitcoin addresses aren’t explicitly associated to personal identities, sophisticated network analysis can permit de-anonymizing users and reporting them to the authorities if they violate applicable regulations.
Today, both bankers and bureaucrats are embracing Bitcoin as an innovative technology that can permit faster, cheaper, and better payments. At the same time, both regulators and law enforcers are crushing privacy.
Some financial institutions and government agencies are experimenting, conceptually or through preliminary development and pilot projects, with the idea of non-Bitcoin “permissioned” blockchains where only authorized operators can verify transactions (aka “mining”). But that seems naïve, because size matters in a network - the power and resilience of the Bitcoin network depends on its ability to recruit large number of miners with financial incentives.
Therefore, it seems likely that financial establishment and governments will claim ownership of the Bitcoin network and put strong anti-privacy measures in place. That will permit creating a fast, efficient, resilient, and cost-effective financial system, which is a good thing. At the same time, Bitcoin users will lose even the illusion of privacy.
It’s worth considering a parallel with the history of the Internet. First hailed as “Cyberspace, the new home of Mind” by EFF Co-Founder John Perry Barlow, the Internet is now much faster and more efficient, but used to deliver personalized spam and spy 24/7 on peaceful citizens. Of course, everything that we read and write online is exposed to the authorities. There are, however, strong privacy measures that tech-savvy users can take to protect their personal space.
The authorities are totally against online privacy, and justify their position with apparently sound boilerplate arguments that usually include terms like “terrorism” or “child pornography.” When discussing Bitcoin, they usually add “money laundering” as well.
Needless to say, all decent persons are firmly opposed to terrorism, child pornography, and large scale money laundering, and that applies to online privacy advocates as well. We realize that most often the authorities mean well – but it’s in the nature of power to seek more and more power in a runaway process. All the bad things just mentioned are very dangerous, but letting the authorities get away with their total control aspirations is also dangerous, and a very slippery slope....
It’s well known that safety and privacy, security and freedom, are always in direct conflict. But they are equally important aspects of a healthy society, and letting one take too much priority over the other is dangerous.
I think that’s what is happening in Western societies – we are giving safety and security too much priority over privacy and freedom. To counterbalance this trend, which I consider dangerous, I fully support online privacy, including private and untraceable Bitcoin transactions. Therefore, I look forward to privacy and anonymity preserving innovations in the Bitcoin space.NEW YORK — The International Network of Civil Liberties Organizations (INCLO) today launched a global effort to uncover international information-sharing agreements between intelligence agencies in eight countries.
INCLO is comprised of independent, national human rights organizations from around the world. Eight of INCLO’s member organizations filed freedom of information requests today with their respective governments in an attempt learn more about how they work together on surveillance.
The U.S. member, the American Civil Liberties Union, filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the NSA, CIA, FBI, Department of Defense, and the Director of National Intelligence.
The other countries where human rights groups filed requests are Argentina, Canada, the U.K., Hungary, Ireland, Russia, and South Africa.
The arrangements potentially allow intelligence agencies to sidestep domestic legal constraints by funnelling surveillance data into a transnational intelligence network. This is the first multinational coalition demanding that governments release information regarding agreements between intelligence agencies and answers about a practice largely shielded from accountability.
The ACLU’s FOIA request seeks records about, among other things, when the U.S. shares or requests foreign-intelligence surveillance data with another country, as well as any limitations on the requests and use of that information.
The revelations by Edward Snowden and other whistleblowers have yielded crucial information about the mechanics of domestic state surveillance. They also revealed more about intelligence cooperation through the Five Eyes, the postwar surveillance alliance established between the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. However, surveillance regimes now operate on a global scale, extending far beyond Western democracies.
Very little is known about the Five Eyes and other information-sharing relationships between governments, including intelligence alliances in the Global South. By submitting requests for information in a geographically diverse array of states, INCLO hopes to expose these undisclosed alliances and learn more about their exact practice.
This action builds from INCLO’s report, “Surveillance and Democracy: Chilling Tales from Around the World,” released last year. Through personal accounts of citizens targeted by their own governments, the report illuminates surveillance apparatuses in the Global North and Global South as well as varying efforts for reform.
Public pushback has achieved significant progress in restoring transparency and re-establishing privacy norms in domestic contexts. However, information-sharing agreements remain a critical blind spot, potentially providing intelligence agencies a backdoor to evade legal safeguards and retain surveillance data. Today’s initiative is the first step to uncovering the extent of this threat.
INCLO hopes to support other organizations seeking to file FOI requests in order to build capacity and encourage further public inquiry.
The INCLO member organizations that filed requests today in addition to the ACLU are Liberty in the U.K., the International Human Rights Group Agora in Russia, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, the Citizen Initiative for the Control of Intelligence Services in Argentina, the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, and the Legal Resources Centre in South Africa.
Today’s FOI submissions and more information are available here:
http://inclo.net/international-intelligence-sharing-project.htmlChristian Karlsson (1/3 of Miike Snow) and producer Linus “Style of Eye” Eklöw of Galantis has cohesively produced an EP that captures the coexistence of human emotion with electronic dance music. The duo’s first self-titled Galantis EP (out now via Big Beat Records) focuses on the art of songwriting from each heart-capturing lyric to the playful melodies– even the drops pack an emotive impact that transcends the dance floor. Their philosophy of creating music versus solely EDM – or as Linus says, “Music, not genres” – serves as the adhesive to the group’s creative vision. Their eclectic background extends outside of their own separate projects and into the pop world – Karlsson co-wrote and produced the GRAMMY Award winning track, “Toxic,” by Britney Spears. Eklow co-wrote and produced Icona Pop’s international #1 hit, “I Love It.”
“You,” from Galantis’ self-titled EP, made its way into Kaskade and Steve Angello’s sets at last month’s Ultra Music Festival in Miami. Here, Life + Times premieres the Tiësto remix of “You.” We catch up with Christian and Linus to discuss their first-ever Coachella gig (also performing on 4/19) and their development as an electronic duo.
Life+Times: There are a ton of firsts going on with you guys. You have your first self-titled EP (released April 1st) and last weekend was your first time performing together as a duo. How was your experience at Coachella?
Christian Karlsson: It was mind-blowing! It was a big, epic moment for us since we just dropped our first piece of music. The EP was dropped 12 days before the show and getting out there seeing 10,000 people and then hearing them singing our songs was unreal to us.
L+T: I was able to see some video clips, but I’m insanely jealous of everyone that got to see your show. The visuals were amazing! I know you guys used a UK-based visual artist for the EP artwork. Was he the same guy that put together the visuals for last weekend’s live show?
CK: No, he was not. Together with him we created all those Seafoxes –that’s what we call them. So, we had that at the base. We had a new visual artist – that’s amazing – to help us create the show.
L+T: Very cool. I’m sure you both get sick of this question, but where did the name Galantis come from?
CK: We don’t know. It’s a very honest answer. (Laughs)
L+T: And you know what? I was expecting that. I looked at some past interviews and I thought, ‘I’m gonna give them an opportunity to have a reason as to why they chose their name.’ I found two things that are named Galantis, well close. Are you ready for this?
CK: (Laughs) Okay, yeah.
L+T: In 1917, there was an electric guitar and an accordion manufacturer named Galanti Electro Music that got its start. If you add an “s,” it’s Galantis. So, that’s one option you could go with to kind of throw people off.
CK: : (Laughs)
L+T: The other one is from Greek mythology. There was a servant woman (Galanthis) that was around during Heracles birth. So it’s one of those two, guys. Those are your options.
Linus Eklöw: I think the Greek mythology was the first thing that somebody said to us when we heard the name. We were like, “Ok, whatever. It just sounds like our music.” Now it’s our name. (Laughs)
L+T: See! That worked itself out. That was fun for me.
LE: (Laughs) Thank you.
L+T: You both have been producing for years and have been friends for years. What served as the catalyst in your decision to make Galantis a thing and create music together?
CK: I think we slowly moved toward each other. When we first met, we were very separated in music and then I started Miike Snow and started to go more and more into the dance world. Linus started to more and more write songs and stuff – where I’m from. All of a sudden we were not far apart at all. That was where it kind of started. We were hanging out in the studio playing music to each other and we started to DJ a lot.
LE: Also, there was some space within dance music that we thought that no one else built. We saw a good opening for us to express that whatever we put in that space. We felt that there weren’t a lot of songs that we liked to play the way we like to play it.
CK: And it took a while for us. We actually put in a ton of work in the studio before this music that’s out now came about. We did so much music together and like, ‘Oh it’s too much of this or too much of that.’ [We] just tried to pull everything that we had from each background and into the music so it’s not something that’s too much like Linus or too much me. It was actually a lot of work, but I think it really worked out good.
L+T: I agree. It’s a very strong EP and very different than what’s out there. To your point Christian, you both come from such different backgrounds but at the same time there are similarities. In balancing your strengths and weaknesses – I’ll start with Linus – what would you say is the biggest strength Christian brings to this project?
LE: He puts a lot of focus into detail. For me, I thought I was the one who cared about details, but it’s just another level of details when you work with him. That’s one.
CK: (Laughs)
L+T: Well, alright. Christian, what would be Linus’ strength?
CK: The thing that got me the most about Linus is he has what I’ve often been looking for in people. I’ve always been like, ‘It’s so slow. There’s no fire in the studio.’ Linus is just on fire – jumping, dancing, programming faster than anyone, and just fucking going for it when he feels something. It’s like instantly, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!” It’s like the party starts right there. (Laughs)
CK: That’s exactly what I’ve been looking for, for so long because that’s what I wanted to have – that huge creativity in the studio. It’s like the best drug – the highest high you can get and Linus is all about that.
L+T: Aww. That’s so nice!
LE: Aww! I’m in tears. (Laughs)
L+T: That’s really nice. You both should have a deeper appreciation for each other now. Look at that. Linus, in your Style of Eye bio you brought out that “’music, not genres’ is my motto.” How did you both put this into action in this self-titled EP?
LE: I think you both just need to spend time together in the studio; trial and error basically where you just try stuff out and see if it works and if you feel it. After listening to our own stuff, it comes to a point where it’s like “This is Galantis. This is the song.”
CK: Also, what separates us from most of the other dance groups, DJs, whatever in songwriting – we start with the song first, not a track. Once we have a song, we’re like, “Oh shit. This sounds amazing. What do we do now? What close do we put on this amazing melody and lyrics?” We haven’t decided what BPM or what the production is gonna be about. That’s where we lean against our backgrounds because we’ve been producing for a long time. We’ll figure that out, just make sure that the song’s on fire first.
L+T: When you say a song comes first before the track, are you referring to the lyrics and the composition? I want to make sure I understand.
CK: I’m referring to melody and lyrics.
L+T: Okay, I thought so. Speaking of lyrics, “Smile” and “You” get a lot of praise. I love those songs, but “Revolution” has a special place in my heart. The lyrics come from such a genuine place. Is there a story behind each of these songs? Were they shared experiences that you guys had separately? How did they come about?
CK: Yeah, I guess they are shared experiences, but I always like to write music that you can interpret in a lot of ways. I never want to tell anyone, like, what a song is about because that’s not actually in there because it’s depending on who’s listening to it. You know what I’m saying? I think it’s very important for us to keep it like that. I don’t want to tell a special, one story about me and Linus. I feel it has to be bigger than that.
L+T: I agree with you on that. Everybody has their own interpretation of a song. I may view it as a breakup song and someone else can think it’s about a sandwich. I don’t know.
CK: (Laughs) An amazing sandwich!
L+T An amazing sandwich! Most delicious. (Laughs) This Tiësto remix of “You” – yes! From what I’ve noticed about your remixes, most of the producers are long-time friends of yours. Did Tiësto reach out to you or vice versa?
CK: Tiësto is a good friend of both me and Linus. We’ve known him for a long time – deejayed with him several times…He’s always come to Miike Snow shows and stuff and invited us to his shows. You know, the contact was already there. He sent us an email asking like, “Should I remix ‘You?’” and we answered like, “Yes, you should.” (Laughs) It was kind of funny because he was like, “Should I remix…” Yeah!
L+T: Oh, that’s how it all came about? Well, can I remix “You?”
CK: Yes, you can! (Laughs)
L+T: I don’t even know how to…no. For my last question – I ask this to every producer and DJ – do you think a DJ is a musician?
CK: Yes.
L+T: Why?
CK: Why? Who? Well, for all the DJs that I know it’s absolutely. You can’t really be a DJ today without creating your own music. There you go. Right?
L+T: Linus?
LE: Yeah, that’s one part of it. This is actually a really good question. I look at the good DJs that I really like – they’re actually conducting the mood and can take different turns in the night to build up the crowd and build up the hype easily without using a microphone. That’s definitely being a musician for me – open communication with the crowd basically.
CK: I also think every DJ has their own story on why they’re being a DJ or why they like it or whatever. It’s hard to say for in general, but yeah.
Galantis EP is out now via iTunes,
Galantis Live | Tickets
4/12 Indio, CA @ Coachella Festival
4/19 Indio, CA @ Coachella Festival
4/24 Washington DC @ 9:30 Club
4/25 Boston, MA @ Royale Nightclub
4/26 New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
4/27 Montreal, QC @ SAT
4/29 Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
5/2 Los Angeles, CA @ El ReyLong before the Internal Revenue Service revealed it had improperly targeted conservative 501(c)(4) groups, a group of Democratic senators led by New York Sen. Chuck Schumer urged the IRS to do just that.
The IRS’s admission last Friday that it had singled out tea party and other groups for extra audits and delays has raised concerns that President Barack Obama’s administration quietly attempted to stymy opponents through intimidation. But many prominent Democrats — including Montana Sen. Max Baucus, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State and the New York Times editorial board — had been publicly calling for tighter restrictions on 501(c)(4) groups affiliated with the tea party and conservatives.
Last year, Schumer, along with Democratic Sens. Michael Bennet, Sheldon Whitehouse, Jeff Merkley, Tom Udall, Jeanne Shaheen and Al Franken, penned a letter calling on the agency to cap the amount of the political spending by groups masquerading as “social welfare organizations.”
A press release from Schumer’s office dated March 12, 2012 laid out the terms of the letter:
The senators said the lack of clarity in the IRS rules has allowed political groups to improperly claim 501(c)4 status and may even be allowing donors to these groups to wrongly claim tax deductions for their contributions. The senators promised legislation if the IRS failed to act to fix these problems. “We urge the IRS to take these steps immediately to prevent abuse of the tax code by political groups focused on federal election activities. But if the IRS is unable to issue administrative guidance in this area then we plan to introduce legislation to accomplish these important changes,” the senators wrote.
The letter cited a March 7, 2012 New York Times article by Jonathan Weisman that suggested donations to groups like American Crossroads and Priorities USA could be tax deductible, which was a primary concern of those senators at the time.
A number of those senators participated in a press conference about their efforts on March 21, 2012, and Franken spoke out about what he called lack of oversight of 501(c)(4) status.
“I think that there hasn’t been enforcement by the FEC and the IRS, and so there are entities that are taking a 501(c)4 status, and under that they’re supposed to have more than half of their activity be non-political,” Franken said. “That’s pretty hinky. I mean, they really aren’t doing that, and that I think there needs to be a look at that — that even under the laws that already exist, there are people who should be disclosing who aren’t. And I think that is where we’re seeing the effect of — lack of effective enforcement and just oversight.”
Follow Jeff on TwitterLet me get it out there right away: The Wildcat is working better than you think.
The Minnesota Vikings had teased the Wildcat Formation in six games this season, sprinkling it into their offense for no more than two plays in each of those half-dozen games. Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals, however, they went to the direct-snap formation five times, giving us a much better sample size for the team’s Wildcat usage this season.
Reaction to this novel concept, imported along with new offensive line coach Tony Sparano, has been mixed.
The #Vikings cannot sustain a traditional offense atm, so I’m all for the Wildcat/gimmicks. Whatever it takes to get an edge. — Andy Carlson (@AndyCarlsonShow) November 21, 2016
Hey @Vikings can you please abandon the wildcat formation? It’s not fooling anyone. Does anyone still use it? I just don’t like it #SKOL — Josh Loxtercamp (@JLox21) November 21, 2016
The reason for the disdain is understandable. The Wildcat was considered a one-hit wonder after Sparano instituted it successfully for a year in Miami before the league caught on in 2008. It also is essentially a dead sell for a run – at least it was until Minnesota got tricky last Sunday. The Vikings passed for the first time out of the Wildcat as Cordarrelle Patterson took the ball from Jerick McKinnon on a sweep and pitched it to Sam Bradford, who fired to an open Adam Thielen, drawing a defensive pass interference call. It was Minnesota’s biggest gain out of the formation this year.
If Bradford steps into this throw he probably leads Thielen for the TD. But 29 yards via DPI isn’t bad. pic.twitter.com/rowKzppoYA — Sam Ekstrom (@SamEkstrom) November 22, 2016
But the Vikings haven’t been without success running the football from the formation. Over the course of the season, Minnesota has run from the Wildcat 13 times for 66 yards, or 5.2 yards per carry. That is exactly double the 2.6 yards per carry the Vikings have accomplished in every other rushing attempt, not to mention better than the team’s 4.7 yards per play throughout the season. It would also be the second-best rushing average in the league, just a tick behind Buffalo (5.3).
Minnesota has been selective when using the formation this season, which perhaps has led to its success. With the exception of a fourth quarter attempt against Green Bay, the Vikings have limited their use of the Wildcat to the first three quarters and have only called the play in 1st-and-10 or 2nd-and-medium situations – plays in which neither the drive, nor the game, are hanging in the balance and the down and distance are not dictating the play call.
The Vikings tried a similar gimmick several years ago with the athletic Joe Webb, but had very little success, ostensibly because he was only on the field for a handful of plays per game and defenses knew to focus on him. With the current Wildcat setup, Minnesota uses athletes that are regularly part of the offense to create diversions and misdirections that might confuse the defense. “I’m a fan of anything that gives the defense problems and ends up being productive,” said former offensive coordinator Norv Turner before he resigned. Turner, an old school coach, embraced the modern formation, as has head coach Mike Zimmer, an old school coach in his own right.
“I know part of it is Coach Zimmer’s input,” Turner said. “He knows certain things that are headaches to prepare for, so we’re trying to do those things, too.”
Patterson is one of the big headaches presented to defenses in Minnesota’s Wildcat. In four of the five attempts on Sunday, he motioned before the play and was offered the ball on a fake handoff. Only twice this season has Patterson actually received the ball – once was a loss and the other time was a lateral to Bradford – but Patterson’s presence is useful nonetheless. Watch No. 90 Jason Pierre-Paul in the clip below hesitate for a split second on the fake to Patterson, which frees up McKinnon for a 7-yard gain.
Some Wildcat clips coming. Check out how useful Patterson is to distract Jason Pierre-Paul for a split second. pic.twitter.com/AyZ7TRX0D3 — Sam Ekstrom (@SamEkstrom) November 22, 2016
McKinnon has received the majority of carries in the Wildcat, all on keepers. Seven out of the 14 Wildcat snaps he has run the football for 34 yards and a 4.9-yard average – two full yards better than his yards per carry for the season (2.9).
McKinnon only has one negative play out of the Wildcat this year. It came in the Arizona game because T.J. Clemmings missed a block and then fell on McKinnon as he tried to recover. If you eliminate that mishap, his average goes over 6.0.
Here’s an ugly one. Clemmings whiffs on Frostee Rucker, then assists on the tackle. pic.twitter.com/yy2zCFNQ8u — Sam Ekstrom (@SamEkstrom) November 22, 2016
While McKinnon’s runs are essentially the control group, the Vikings have done some more creative things with Matt Asiata quarterbacking the play. On Sunday, the Vikings used an unbalanced line with three offensive linemen left of the center – Jeremiah Sirles swinging from right to left for the play – that resulted in Asiata rumbling for nine yards.
They’ve used this unbalanced line a couple times. Clemmings does better here on the left side. pic.twitter.com/hI2PEqsCnm — Sam Ekstrom (@SamEkstrom) November 22, 2016
Against Detroit, Asiata pitched the ball to Stefon Diggs on an end-around that went for 12 yards. Also, a great sell by Sirles, who loops around to block on the right side and brings defensive end Anthony Zettel (No. 69) with him, giving Diggs a bunch of real estate.
Diggs’ only Wildcat touch of the year went for 12 yards. pic.twitter.com/M7v4xizsro — Sam Ekstrom (@SamEkstrom) November 22, 2016
Asiata has been utilized second most in the Wildcat with three totes for 6.3 yards per carry. Diggs, Patterson and Adrian Peterson each have one attempt. If you include the penalty yardage from Bradford’s pass against Arizona, that totals seven non-McKinnon plays from the Wildcat that have gone for 61 yards, or 8.7 yards per play. That’s fantastic.
The Vikings were very patient to unveil their Wildcat wrinkles, waiting until Week 9 to get the ball to Diggs and waiting until Week 11 to throw it for the first time. “We felt like if we could throw in a wrinkle in there and get a pass, it would probably catch them off guard,” Bradford said Sunday. The Vikings have also yet to allow McKinnon to pass the football, something he’s surely capable of from his Georgia Southern days.
In Seattle over the weekend, Russell Wilson scored a receiving touchdown from Doug Baldwin, perhaps begging the question: Could Bradford ever run a route? Early betting lines on this hypothetical scenario would lean ‘No’ after seeing how Bradford handled the jam at the line of scrimmage on Sunday.
Jokes aside, the Vikings have leveraged the Wildcat into 6.8 yards per play when they’ve |
0 ], rotation = 0 )
Informative but maybe a little too much information. lets filter out the ones where he has posted less than 5 times.
In [62]: sfdata = [ d for d in sdata if d [ 1 ] > 5 ] plt. figsize ( 17, 15 ) pos = arange ( 0, len ( sfdata )) barh ( pos, zip ( * sfdata )[ 1 ]) _ = yticks ( pos + 0.5, zip ( * sfdata )[ 0 ], rotation = 0 )
Popularity Contest (err... karma) So now we have a basic overview of what wil gets up to. I have a hunch that even though he has posted less on star trek and scifi that those 2 subreddits will still garner him the most upvotes. After all he might not always be recognized in the other threads. If we keep the subreddits in the same order as above and plot against relative upvotes we can quickly verify this theory so for a given subreddit relative upvotes just means: total upvotes / total comments or avg votes per comment if you will
In [63]: def upvotes ( subreddit ): return sum ([ x [ "data" ][ "ups" ] / subreddits [ x [ "data" ][ "subreddit" ]] for x in data if x [ "data" ][ "subreddit" ] == subreddit ]) sudata = [ ( d [ 0 ], upvotes ( d [ 0 ])) for d in sdata if d [ 1 ] > 5 ] pos = arange ( 0, len ( sudata )) barh ( pos, zip ( * sudata )[ 1 ]) _ = yticks ( pos + 0.5, zip ( * sudata )[ 0 ], rotation = 0 )
Suspicion confirmed, although I had forgotten about Pics and Iamas. Yet it makes perfect sense that these 2 would be high as well. The pattern clearly seems to be that Wil scores a ton of karma on his celebrity status. And the homebrewers, scotch drinkers, hockey players, and board gamers have no idea who he is. I won't guess what is going on in /r/OperationGrabAss and will leave it to some other brave soul explore that one.
Moving on, rambling for greater good I wonder if we can detect some pattern in average post length and upvotes garnered. Do longer posts mean higher scores, or are one liners the true path to karma? Let's have a look
In [29]: import datetime, re if not'sr_cache' in locals (): sr_cache = {} def subreddit_subscribers ( subreddit ): if not subreddit in sr_cache : time. sleep ( 2 ) r = requests. get ( "http://www.reddit.com/r/ %(subreddit)s /about.json" % locals ()) sr_cache [ subreddit ] = r. json [ "data" ][ "subscribers" ] return sr_cache [ subreddit ] def makeX ( r ): post_length = len ( filter ( lambda x : len ( x ) > 0, re. split ( "[\W]*", r [ "data" ][ "body" ]))) upvotes = r [ "data" ][ "ups" ] downvotes = r [ "data" ][ "downs" ] sr_score = subreddit_subscribers ( r [ "data" ][ "subreddit" ]) return [ upvotes, downvotes, post_length, sr_score ] X = [ makeX ( r ) for r in data ] X = array ( X )
In [64]: def scatt ( ax, X1, X2, lbl, title ): ax. yaxis. set_label_text ( "upvotes" ) ax. xaxis. set_label_text ( lbl ) ax. set_title ( title ) ax. scatter ( X1, X2, c = "red", s = 40 ) fig, axes = subplots ( 2, 1 ) #scatt(axes[0],X[:,1],X[:,0],"Normal") scatt ( axes [ 0 ], X [:, 3 ], X [:, 0 ]. clip ( 0, 500 ), "subreddit size", "Outliers clipped for more zoomed in view" ) scatt ( axes [ 1 ], X [:, 2 ], X [:, 0 ]. clip ( 0, 500 ), "post length in words", "Outliers clipped for more zoomed in view" )Vegan Vulcan: "Live Long and Prosper Go Veg!"
Articles Reflecting a Vegan Lifestyle From All-Creatures.org
Vegan lifestyle articles that discuss ways of living in peace with humans, animals, and the environment.
FROM
Mat Thomas on AnimalRighter.Blogspot.com
May 2009
With the much-hyped Star Trek prequel set for an international summer blockbuster premiere in theaters this weekend, I figured this would be a most fitting time to honor television's first vegan character Mr. Spock from the original Star Trek series, which aired from 1966 to 1969. As an imaginary avatar from a more peaceful, enlightened world (that I'd still like to think is not unthinkable), Spock inspired legions of unrepentant nerds (myself not least among them) to re-envision humanity's present in light of a more promising future.
For those unfamiliar with classic Star Trek lore, Mr. Spock (portrayed by vegetarian actor Leonard Nimoy) was the Science Officer aboard the United Federation of Planets' Starship Enterprise in the 23rd century, born to a human mother and a father who was Vulcan (i.e., a race of pointy-eared humanoid extraterrestrials dedicated to living strictly by the laws of logic). The Vulcan way of life also incorporates an ideal towards non-violence: as succinctly expressed in the words of The Master himself, It is illogical to kill without reason. As such, a central tenet of Vulcan philosophy includes commitment to veganism (though hardcore Trekkers will surely protest that some Vulcans were pescetarians).
As a Vulcan, Spock was second in command only to Captain James Tiberius Kirk, and superior in physical strength, as well as mental acuity, to his human shipmates. Spock also possessed uncanny psychic powers that allowed him to mind meld with others, giving him direct access to people's thoughts, memories and experiences. Notably, this unique ability parallels the characteristic empathy that many vegans display in their choice not to eat their fellow planetarians. To quote Spock yet again (from the novel Spock's World), "I would remind you, though, that the word for 'decide' is descended from older words meaning to kill; options and opportunities die when decisions are made. Be careful what you kill."
Several years ago in an article examining the potential sociological implications of lab-grown meat, I wrote that, As a literary genre, science fiction often attempts to envision realities before (or as) they come into being. While most of these futuristic visions remain in the realm of pure fantasy, some prove eerily prescient. Similarly, veganism has often been presented in the universe of Utopian science fiction as the preferred diet of the most advanced species and societies, whether human or alien (with Star Trek being perhaps the most well-known example of this). So, my fellow vegan travelers, take heart in knowing that many of the world's most forward-looking sages have foreseen an animal-friendly future and I'm not just talking about science fiction writers, but some of the most influential figures in all of human history.
For example, over twenty-five hundred years ago, Pythagoras (who was the first philosopher and vegetarian in the recorded history of Western Civilization) said, For as long as men massacre animals, they will kill each other. Indeed, he who sows the seed of murder and pain cannot reap joy and love. Centuries later, the quintessential Renaissance Man, Leonardo da Vinci, was famous even in his own day for being far ahead of his time and for refusing to eat meat on ethical grounds. With such an auspicious lineage, we vegans today are the inheritors of a long and proud tradition that stretches back many generations into the past and, perhaps, into the distant future, with Mr. Spock guiding us toward a bold new frontier of compassion for all species.
Return to Articles Reflecting a Vegan LifestyleIntroduction
Decades after it finally lifted, it is still difficult to fully understand the ‘dustbowl,’ the prairie agricultural crisis of the 1930s. From its long-term environmental context to its depth of human suffering, this episode is both emotionally compelling and intellectually complex.
This website was created to guide educators and students through the multiple challenges to an adequate understanding of the events of these years. Uniting scientific explanations, striking images, essential maps, compelling audio, narrative interpretation, and newly-available video, Climate and Change seeks to assist those interested in Canadian history (teachers, students, the public, and ‘dust bowl’ survivors and their descendants) in developing a more robust explanation for one of the most significant episodes in the environmental history of Canada in the twentieth century.
By facilitating efforts to achieve a more thorough understanding of a major environmental crisis, this website argues by example for a more sophisticated engagement with environmental themes in the teaching of Canadian history. This website also offers a window on the problem of drought. Rather than a short-term, local problem, this website explains drought as a persistent feature of the North American interior – a feature that is likely to become even more significant in the future.The upcoming sequel Captain America: Civil War has a cast list that’s so stuffed with superheroes, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was an Avengers movie instead of a solo film. However, star Chris Evans wants you to know that Civil War still focuses most on its titular hero.
“Even though there are a lot characters, the focus is on Steve and his struggle,” Evans said in the spring issue of Disney twenty-three, the magazine put out by D23, the official Disney fan club. “Especially his struggle with Tony Stark.“
The film, directed by Captain America: The Winter Soldier directors Joe and Anthony Russo, breaks the Avengers into two rival camps: those lining up behind Stark’s Iron Man, who wants to cooperate with the government’s regulation on superheroes; and the faction supporting Captain America, who fears the legislation’s ramifications after seeing SHIELD crumble in The Winter Soldier. Iron Man counts Black Widow, War Machine, Black Panther, and Vision on his side, while Cap is joined by the Winter Soldier, Falcon, Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch and Ant-Man.
“It’s exciting to see a guy who’s as optimistic and as selfless as Steve be met with letdown, betrayal, frustration, and selfishness,” said Evans, who is appearing in his fifth film as the super-soldier. “There are events and people in his life that test him — that challenge him and force him to reevaluate who he is and what he wants out of life.”
Though they’ve teamed up in two Avengers films, there has always been a tension between Tony Stark, a cocky billionaire, and Steve Rogers, a patriot born in another era. Kevin Feige, the producer and mastermind of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, says that the big schism between the two heroes has been carefully charted from the early days.
“We’ve seen it coming,” Feige told Disney twenty-three. “The clues were there. When you watch the other films you see how Captain America and Iron Man fight the bad guys together, back-to-back, but they have differences. And there is something that happens in the world that divides them.”
Those differences in personalities will drive the plot even more than the inciting incident, when Congress passes the regulations that demand superheroes answer to a government authority. "The turns in the movie are character-based,” Joe Russo said. “The twists are character-based. Winter Soldier was based more on the twisting plot. This one twists on character.”
Captain America: Civil War hits theaters on May 6. The cover of this spring’s Disney twenty-three is below:We accelerate down the runway — a tiny asphalt strip next to Taft Skydiving. Our little Piper Cherokee lifts off and as we ascend, I peer out the window. Below us is California’s Kern County and more than a century of oil exploration — from the gushers of the 1800s to today’s less robust reality. It’s a spider web of dirt roads, drilling rigs, pump jacks, pipes and boilers. At least I’m pretty sure that’s what’s below us. The air quality is so bad that the San Joaquin Valley we’re flying over looks like the blurred work of an impressionist painter. Our view is smudged by stubborn smog that’s refused to budge for days. It’s a perfect metaphor for trying to understand the future of oil and gas production in California, which is why we’ve taken flight in the first place. For years, the biggest talk in California’s energy industry has been about hydraulic fracturing (or fracking) and whether or not the method of pumping sand, chemicals and water at very high pressure to release trapped hydrocarbons will kick off a boom comparable to surging North Dakota. There was a time, just a few years ago, that most news reports deemed a shale oil boom inevitable in California. But now, it’s not looking like such a sure thing after all.
History Lesson In order to understand California’s future, a little history lesson helps. Oil was first discovered here by Native Americans. But it wasn’t until the 1890s and the beginning of the 1900s that drilling revealed some of the biggest (and still active) oil fields in the Ventura-Santa Barbara coast area, the Los Angeles Basin and the San Joaquin Valley. California became the nation’s biggest oil producer, contributing 40 percent to the country’s supply in 1914. By 1940 that had fallen to only 17 percent. But production chugged upward, even as supply came from elsewhere, until the state hit its peak – just over a million barrels of oil a day — in 1985. Today, production is 50 percent of what it was in the ‘80s and California is a distant third to Texas and North Dakota. Technology, though, has helped slow the slide. In order to squeeze the last drops out of very old oil fields or less productive wells in the state, industry has relied on well stimulation techniques, such as fracking and acidizing. Most people have heard of fracking because it’s been combined with horizontal drilling to access hard-to-reach deposits of oil and gas trapped in shale formations. High-volume fracking and horizontal drilling have contributed to a drilling frenzy in states like Texas, North Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, among others. Many thought California would be part of the boom.
Geology Beats Technology In 2011, the Energy Information Administration all but declared another gold rush in California by proclaiming that the Monterey shale formation and its equivalents, which lie under most of south and central California, held 15.4 billion barrels of technically recoverable oil. To put that number in perspective, that would mean 64 percent of the estimated reserve of shale oil in the lower 48. So, essentially, a colossal pile of black gold. But not everyone bought the hype, including J. David Hughes, a geoscientist and fellow at Post Carbon Institute, who wrote the report “Drilling California: A Reality Check on the Monterey Shale.” And Hughes will likely get the pleasure of saying “I told you so.” Just three years after declaring that there was 15.4 billion barrels of oil, the EIA downgraded its estimate to 600 million barrels, slashing the number by 96 percent. What went wrong? What proved successful in North Dakota’s Bakken shale and Texas’ Eagle Ford shale, hasn’t translated to California’s Monterey shale, which Hughes says has been structurally fragmented. The geology is “folded, faulted, and shattered at the microlevel,” he says. All that fragmentation has meant that oil has seeped from some Monterey shale source rock into other reservoirs that have already been drilled for decades and the formation itself contains not just “tight oil” trapped in rocks like the Bakken and Eagle Ford but also convention reservoirs, which have already been heavily drilled. Right now it looks unlikely that fracking, or similar techniques, will unleash a bounty here anytime soon, barring a technological breakthrough we can’t see yet, says Hughes. The industry has been trying for decades with not much to show for it. “Fracking and acidizing have been tried extensively on Monterey shale wells, yet the data do not show any significant increase in well productivity or likely cumulative oil recovery for recent wells,” wrote Hughes in his “Drilling California” Report. “Geology beats technology every time,” he says. “In the final analysis geology always wins.” Economy Reality Where fracking has unleashed a boom elsewhere, in California it has merely prolonged a waning industry. John Kemp, a market analysis for Reuters, writes in a recent column that, “the shale revolution has bypassed the state.” But not for lack of trying. Instead of unlocking the chimerical bounty of the Monterey shale’s tight oil, fracking in California has been more effective at tapping more conventional reserves and increasing recovery on lagging wells. It’s a useful tool for industry — as well as a concern for environmental and health groups worried about air and water pollution, among other risks. Today 20 percent of production in California comes from fracked wells. And half of new wells being drilled in the state are also being fracked. The vast majority of these wells are in the San Joaquin Valley, mostly western Kern County, which may suffer a blow as the market price of a barrel of oil has plummeted 60 percent since June. “California’s oil industry is being hit harder than any other state by falling prices because of the comparatively poor quality of its crude and its aging fields,” explains Kemp. “California’s high-cost and low-productivity oil industry has always been vulnerable to falling prices.” The market crash will mostly impact new wells, and not current production. Although, Hughes says, the price fall could mean that companies may cease production on some “stripper wells,” which are marginal wells that yield 15 barrels or less a day. As of 2009, California had more than 30,000 stripper wells, and the number was climbing fast. Already the price plunge is having a negative effect. One of the indicators used to assess activity in oilfields is how many rigs are currently being used. The rig count for California in mid-January had fallen by more than half compared to a month before. Barring steep surges in oil prices to more than $100 a barrel, one of the only other things that could improve the economic prospects of California’s oil and gas industry would be legislative action in Washington. Congress could repeal the Jones Act requiring the use of US-flagged tankers, thereby lowering shipping costs of crude between or from US ports. It could also lift the ban on US crude exports, which would increase market demand by opening access to higher-priced markets around the Pacific.
People Power Right now, the oil industry in California faces the reality of tricky geology and tough economics, but that’s not all it’s up against. There is also growing public outcry as drilling rigs have been erected next to schools, in National Forests, in urban and suburban neighborhoods, along prized beaches, and in some of the country’s most economically productive farmland. In the last few years a concerted effort of environmental and community groups has focused on pushing the legislature to enact statewide and local moratoria on fracking, but so far few have arrived. Instead, California has opted to regulate the practice and agreed to conduct some studies to assess the potential environmental impacts. (Although oddly the state has written its new regulations, which go into effect in July, before the scientific studies and Environmental Impact Report have been completed.) This has ignited more activity at the local level. Both Santa Cruz County and Mendocino County banned fracking last year, although neither are active areas of the oil industry — victories, however symbolic.San Benito County, however, also voted in November to ban fracking and other “high intensity” oil production methods as it was set to be the site of potentially hundreds of new wells for an oil recovery project using cyclic steaming, a kind of enhanced recovery technique where the rock is heated in order to move viscous oil. In Santa Barbara County, which has an active oil industry, environmental groups tried to pass a ballot measure similar to San Benito, but the measure was defeated after the industry spent $7 million during the lead-up to the election. In Los Angeles, where oil production still occurs in densely packed urban neighborhoods, city council members are pushing for a moratorium or severe controls despite threats of a lawsuit from the Western States Petroleum Association (which did not return calls for this story).
And opposition doesn’t end there. La Brea Heights in Orange County will vote on a fracking ban in March and Butte County in 2016. Efforts are also still underway to pressure Governor Jerry Brown to take action. On February 7, activists will gather in Brown’s hometown of Oakland for the March for Real Climate Leadership, demanding Brown put an end to fracking in California. The Governor has remained a defender of fracking despite his push for more renewable energy and calls for action to combat climate change. And this is what drives some of those involved in the fracking fight in California. Rebecca Claassen, who helped lead Santa Barbara’s attempt at a ban told me, “I felt inspired to take action based on thinking about what the planet needs, not just what we think is politically feasible.” It’s possible that with enough pressure, what’s politically feasible in California will begin to change as it has in Denton, Texas, and the state of New York where fracking bans are now in place despite outcries from industry. And it’s possible that a perfect storm of geology, economics and people power will keep most of the Monterey’s oil locked. But for now, it’s too soon to tell.I'll let Goldstein, writing about her work in Deep Sea News, take it from here:
Eventually I found myself in the lab dissecting barnacles in order to identify them. As I sat there, I thought “Well, I’m working on these barnacles anyway – wonder what they’re eating?” So I pulled out the intestine of the barnacle I was working on, cut it open, and a bright blue piece of plastic popped out.
Yep. Blue plastic, inside the creature's intestine. "I reached into my jar o’ dead barnacles and dissected a few more," Goldstein continues, "and found plastic in their guts as well."
Goldstein and a colleague, Deborah Goodwin, ultimately dissected 385 barnacles. And about a third of them (33.5 percent) had tiny pieces of plastic in their guts. Most of those organisms had eaten "just a few particles," Goldstein notes, "but we found a few that were absolutely filled with plastic, to a maximum of 30 particles, which is a lot of plastic in an animal that is just a couple inches long."
They analyzed the plastic, as well, and determined that it was generally representative of the microscopic plastic that floats on the ocean surface within the gyre. (It was a combination, the pair note in the paper they published about the finding, of polyethylene, polypropylene, and, less commonly, polystyrene.) Which would suggest, Goldstein notes, that "the barnacles are probably just grabbing whatever they come across and shoving it into their mouths."
So this is where our trash—our soda bottles, our coffee cups, our kids-meal toys—can end up when it breaks down: inside the intestines of hungry, and unsuspecting, sea creatures. In some sense, Goldstein notes, it's entirely logical that gooseneck barnacles would be eating plastic. "They are really hardy, able to live on nearly any floating surface from buoys to turtles, so they’re very common in the high-plastic areas of the gyre." Plus, "they live right at the surface, where tiny pieces of buoyant plastic float." Not to mention the fact that "they’re extremely non-picky eaters that will shove anything they can grab into their mouth."
Goldstein notes that the amount of plastic found in her samples is likely not fully representative of the amount of plastic the barnacles actually consume. They probably eat much more plastic than their preserved digestive tracks indicate. ("Barnacles are perfectly capable of pooping out plastic—I observed plastic packaged up in fecal pellets, ready to be excreted the next time the barnacle had access to a couple minutes and a magazine—so it is very likely that more barnacles are eating plastic than we were able to measure.") And one piece of good news, Goldstein and Goodwin note in their paper, is that the plastic particles didn't seem to block the barnacles' stomachs or intestines.CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Browns rookie wide receiver Vince Mayle heard it again at the club's youth football camp on Wednesday morning.
"Do you know you look like LeBron?'' a young boy asked the Browns' fourth round pick at FirstEnergy Stadium?
Yes, Mayle is well aware. In fact, he's known it for almost a decade.
"Ever since sixth grade, my nickname has been little LeBron,'' Mayle told Northeast Media Group.
Just two weeks ago, on his flight back here after the NFL Rookie Premiere in Los Angeles, some people gawked and others approached him.
"They thought I was LeBron,'' he said. "At one point in my life, I got it every single day.''
The comparisons have been fast and furious since he was drafted by the Browns with the No. 123 overall pick out of Washington State in April.
"If I'm new to the area, people always say 'do you know you look like LeBron?'' he said. "It's even moreso now that I'm here in Cleveland with him.''
It's only fitting that Mayle has morphed into LeBron, because he's been obsessed with the Cavs' superstar ever since he was a young boy.
"When I was in sixth grade, LeBron James was the first athlete I ever got an autograph from,'' he said. "It was at the ESPY's right after he got out of high school. It was the first autograph I ever got, and I'm probably one of the biggest LeBron fans in the world.''
Mayle, who's still practicing with a cast on his surgicially-repaired right thumb, has the day etched in his memory.
"I just said his name and I asked for his autograph and he was like'sure kid,''' said Mayle. "I've been the biggest LeBron fan ever since.''
By the time Mayle was playing basketball for Shasta Community College in Reading, California, he was not only drawing LeBron looks comparisons, but hoops ones too. Even on the court, he became LeBron through osmosis.
"I pretty much have one dunk, and that's the LeBron dunk,'' said Mayle. "I have that and I do the chase-down block, so I mean, even when I play basketball I get the mini-LeBron because I watched him so much that I picked up his playing style.''
Mayle even parlayed that thunderous, one-handed windmill dunk into a victory at the regional slam-dunk contest while at Shasta. He's so mini-LeBron that Mayle's teammates at Washington State can't believe he willed himself to the land of King James.
"I have the blue original Cavs jersey, I have a red one and a black one from the Heat and I've got the new blue one from the new Cavs era,'' he said.
Unfortunately, he no longer has the autograph that James gave him in sixth grade.
"I lost it about three years later when I moved back from LA to Northern Californa,'' he said. "I was devastated when I lost it. I looked everywhere and couldn't find it.''
Mayle, who attended an Eastern Conference Finals game, is well aware that James, who will take on the Warriors tonight in Game 4 of the NBA finals, is good friends with Johnny Manziel and that he showed up at Browns practice one day last year.
"That day will be a crazy day if I ever get the chance to meet him,'' said Mayle.
Maybe he'll even replace that lost autograph.
"Yeah, I do need another one,'' he said.
But most of all, he'll finally get to see his idol and doppleganger close-up.
"We're going to see early this year if this resemblance thing really works,'' he said.Hello Judges, and welcome once again to JotW! This week we take a trip to Florida for a short but sweet meet-up with the last of the Fitzgeralds, an L2 from Sarasota, FL, Mr. George Fitzgerald IV! George certified on October 19th, 2010, and hit L2 on Semptember 12th, 2011!
Occupation: Information Systems Manager
Favourite card: Enchantress’s Presence
Least favourite card: Back to Basics
Favourite format: Commander Commander General: Mayael the Anima and Patron of the Moon
Favourite non-Magic Game: Master of Orion 2
Best tournament result: 10th place at a ~80 person PTQ.
Random fact about yourself: Other than my dad, I am the last male FitzGerald in my extended family.
Why did you become a judge? My area was devoid of a certified judge and I started to become the person that people looked to when they had rules questions. As our Prereleases also grew bigger, I decided that we really needed a certified judge. I jumped into a judge training question session that CJ Crooks was holding at a TCGPlayer $1k in Orlando and he got me connected with new Level 2, Justin Turner. I started training with him and a month later certified for Level 1. The rest is history.
Tell us your favourite judge story. After a month or so of driving an hour to St. Pete once a week to meet with Justin Turner and learn about rules and judging, I walked into the store we had been meeting at and he asks me “You ready to test?” “Ehh, I guess so.” “You guess so? You better be sure, because you’re testing tonight.” Turner has never lacked for confidence. After convincing the store owner to stay open late enough for me to test, he fiddled with the computer to try to get the test printed out. After 45 minutes of struggles, he finally manages to get it printed. I sit down with my basic lands and start taking the test. This was before the redefinition of Level 1 and it was a 50 question test. I got about 2/3 of the way through the test and the store owner decides he’s ready to close up and go home and he won’t change his mind. So, I end up sitting on a park bench outside with just orange bug lights to finish taking my test. When I took my test, I went through and answered every question and then went back through and double checked each answer before recording it. After another 45 minutes on the bench, I finally was finished. We make our way to Turner’s apartment where he graded my test, slow rolls me, and then gives me the news that I’ve passed the test. When I tested for Level 2 shortly after Turner’s promotion to Level 3, it was under slightly better conditions. It was at a different game store where I sat and took my test on top of a stack of 5,000 count boxes in the back room.
How did you get involved in magic in the first place?
The summer after 5th grade, my family moved to a new church. At the beginning of the school year, our youth group had a lock in (for those that don’t know, it’s basically an organized sleep over). A couple of the older guys were playing the Star Wars CCG that Decipher made in the mid-90s. I was a big Star Wars fan and got very interested. One of the guys took me under his wing and was the person that taught me to play that, as well as the Star Trek CCG and eventually Magic. At the time, I didn’t really get into Magic, but after bouncing through a few other card games, I finally started getting serious about it shortly after Mirrodin was released.
What is one tip you have for other judges?
Make friends and build relationships. There are often very nice rewards to judging, but having friends in the program helps to keep that fire going even when your interest in the game (or in playing the game) wanes. What’s the best part about your local Magic community?
Judge Dinners. When Ben McDole rose to prominence in the Florida Judge Community, there was Sheldon Menery, an inactive L3 and a smattering of L1s. There was a large divide between the players in the state and the judges that were active. One of the reforms Ben instituted was the Judge Dinner and it has continued to be a mainstay at Florida events and a tradition that we make it a point to extend out of region whenever we can. We are all inclusive, inviting judges, players, TOs, vendors, whoever wishes to join us. We only ask that you be interested in fellowship and good times. Through the Judge Dinner tradition, we have built a strong, cohesive group of judges. Not only are we colleagues, but I count many of these judges as the best friends I’ve ever had.
What’s the biggest rule-breaking play you’ve ever made as a player?
It was at the Mirrodin Besieged Release event. I hadn’t played in the Prerelease and had no clue of the format. When I built my deck, I tried to go big. I lost hard in my first round and my opponent helped me rebuild my deck into an Infect deck (which apparently was really good because I didn’t drop another game). In one game, I had a Tel-Jilad Fallen. My opponent had a lot of blockers, as did I, so I equipped a Heavy Arbalest to my Tel-Jilad Fallen… who has Protection from Artifacts… and won the game. Oops. I didn’t realize it until a couple rounds later.
What has been your favourite magic event that you’ve judged?
Grand Prix Las Vegas. It was a very well run event after the initial set-up, it was my first time working Day 2 of a Limited Grand Prix, and the adventures we had after the Grand Prix were awesome.
Could you share a story from Vegas with us? There are so many great stories from so many judges!
We asked around with some judges of a good restaurant to hit up. And Louis Fernandez suggested a place called “Hash House A-Go-Go” where the food was described as being “Las Vegas sized.” After a drive by the Pawn Stars location and a trip to the Spy Museum so we could say we did something other than just gamble in Vegas, we hit up the restaurant. It was myself, Matt Williams, Casey Hogan, Bryan Prillaman, and Jeph Foster. We sit around a table and eye the menu before making our selections. Corned beef hash for Matt, Chicken and Waffles for Casey, roasted pork for Bryan, and Chicken Pot Pies for me and Jeph. We snacked a little bit on the bread that they gave us which was outstanding. Then the food came out and our jaws hit the floor at the size of the servings. Jeph Foster started to cry and immediately admitted defeat at the hands of Chicken Pot Pie! We did share some food around and it proved to all be delicious. I did my best to dig into the chicken pot pie, but it was just too much food to eat in one sitting. Casey, the smallest among our group, was the lone person to finish his meal, quite the impressive feat.
If you could chat with one person, real or fictional, dead or alive, who would it be and why?
My paternal Grandfather. He served in the U.S. Air Force shortly after it was formed in the late 40s and worked on radar systems. Later, he got a job with Convair and worked on the radar tracking systems for the Atlas rocket program. The Atlas rockets were the United States’ first ICBM and later adapted for use with the Mercury program. My grandfather died in a car accident when my dad was 6.
What is your favorite “after event” story?
After a StarCityGames event in Orlando, we made a trip to a local Cracker Barrel for a judge dinner. There were somewhere around 10-12 people in attendance. Justin Turner ordered the Country Fried Steak and asked if he could get all 3 sides as Mashed Potatoes. The waitress gave him some sass and told him only if he could finish it all. “Challenge Accepted” I believe was what Turner uttered in response. And so dinner came out and he had 3 large sides of mashed potatoes. Turner is a competitive person and he vowed to not be defeated by Mashed Potatoes. However, he was. He did not eat any of that country fried steak and came very close to finishing his mashed potatoes. It was a glorious battle that he did not win. Two Truths and a Lie
Two of the following answers are true, figure out which!
1. There have been over 25 Grand Prix events smaller than the largest PTQ I head judged.
2. I was a Varsity Starting Offensive Guard in High School for two years
3. I am a season ticket holder for the Tampa Bay Lightning hockey club.
The answer to the last Two Truths and a Lie...
Mr. Cheung did not completed a half-marathon in under 5 hours yet, but we’re sure it’s just a matter of time. #mtgfit
Written by John Temple and Pedro GonçalvesImage caption Rituparno Ghosh won several national and international awards for his work
Award-winning Indian film director Rituparno Ghosh has died from a heart attack in the city of Calcutta.
Mr Ghosh, 49, was suffering from pancreatitis for the last couple of weeks and died on Thursday morning.
Debuting with his 1994 film Heerer Angti (The diamond ring), he made many critically acclaimed films like Unishe April (19 April), Chokher Bali (Sand in the eye) and Abohoman (The eternal).
He won several national and international awards for his work.
Mr Ghosh was well known for his realistic depictions of interpersonal relationships and urban-educated middle class angst.
The director worked with several big stars of Bengali cinema and Bollywood stars like Amitabh Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai.
Mr Ghosh also acted in some of his films, including in Aar Ekti Premer Golpo (Just another love story) and Chitrangada.
RITUPARNO GHOSH Rituparno Ghosh loved dressing as a woman - his sexuality made him stand out from the crowd in largely conservative India. Initially he wore men's clothes, but in the last few years he completely switched over to |
other records he put out. I guess it was pretty much the beginning of [Planet Mu], too.
Paradinas: There were pop records at the beginning. One of our first albums was by Capitol K and his follow up, Island Row, was picked up by XL for licensing in 1999. They took a year or two to release it and then dropped him, but the album still sold pretty well for us. I think that’s one of the reasons why we managed to carry on, because the licensing advance from XL was rather large. In a way it’s thanks to them that we survived in the early stages.
FaltyDL: Planet Mu is always there doing new dope shit. Every other year they’ll release something completely new, like clockwork. I think I have listened to at least part of every record Mike has released, which is into the 300s by now. There was this wealth of material just there to be heard.
Paradinas: I tend to rely on gut feeling for A&R. But then you like to justify it afterwards. Why the fuck does my brain like this? You come up with all sorts of reasons. Who’s to say why? That’s for writers to say.
Marcus Scott (A&R): The things I’ve brought to the label tend to be people I liked and thought would work well. Most recently John T Gast is someone I brought in because he was sending me stuff for ages and I just encouraged him. And eventually he got better.
Paradinas: I’ve always been slightly involved unless an artist presents me an album that’s fine as it is. And that happens, quite often. But sometimes an artist will give you all the tracks and say “you do it.”
“I like to support artists to a certain extent, as long as they’re still interesting to me.”
Mike Paradinas
FaltyDL: Mike worked with me on the tracklisting for In The Wild [Lustman’s 2014 album for Ninja Tune]. On my first two albums for Planet Mu, he handled all that. It felt like a small triumph tracklisting In The Wild and The Crystal Cowboy [his most recent album for Planet Mu] in a way that was aligned with Mike for the most part. Like, we trust each other’s ears at this point.
Boxcutter: I was so naive about the process of releasing music when I started. Mike used to call me at work and I’d sneak into the filing room to talk track orders and selections. I generally made no ground if I argued with him. Our main differences were about which versions of a track to use. He used to do a bit of EQ’ing to my tracks before getting them properly mastered, especially earlier on. I think he was fine-tuning them to the soundsystem in his car, that seemed to be his main venue for checking stuff at volume.
Scott: I’m always involved to some extent in the A&R of the label, finding artists and making decisions though probably a little less these days. I’m a kind of last test for records and orders quite often.
RP Boo: I was asked to do my first solo project with Planet Mu right after Bangs & Works Volume 1 but I told Mike the time wasn’t right. I let things move on and then one day in the summer of 2012 he asked for a solo album and I said yes. Rashad had played one of my tracks on Don’t Watch That TV and the timing felt right.
Paradinas: I’ve always found RP’s records to be hard to tracklist. Marcus helped on the first one and Jamie is helping with the new one.
Scott: RP’s an incredibly enthusiastic guy. Once he warmed up and saw what was happening he worked hard. His energy is contagious so he’s a pleasure to work with. That energy will always turn into something good.
Paradinas: I like to support artists to a certain extent, as long as they’re still interesting to me. Sometimes I think people go off the boil and it’s hard when that happens. Especially if you’re friends. All you can do is be honest, but that’s a difficult conversation to have.
Vibert: Mike has taken so many risks over the years, just by releasing music that he loves. If he believes in an artist, he’ll stick with them.
“Mike gave us the freedom to release the music we wanted but also a lot of support and advice. I’ve always trusted his opinions.”
Roly Porter
Boxcutter: Mike has a pragmatic approach to change in the underground. We both like to move with the times not in the kind of arms race direction that some electronic music fans prefer.
Roly Porter (one half of Vex’d): Mike gave us the freedom to release the music we wanted but also a lot of support and advice. I’ve always trusted his opinions.
FaltyDL: I model a lot of my career after Mike and things he showed me. The fact that he would call made a big impact on me. I wonder what goes through the minds of artists the second they see him calling. Probably a little panic and excitement at the same time.
Boxcutter: I’ve always got on really well with Mike. That’s why I’ve worked with him for so long. He’s got a very droll sense of humour and he’s super honest. The label has a proper production line going on at all times.
Paradinas: Recently a lot of the artists have gone to Ninja Tune when we wanted to do a second release. That’s been a bigger problem. It was a running joke for a few years. Falty DL, Machinedrum, Raffertie, Slugabed. I just phoned up Ninja and asked if they wanted to employ me as A&R. And they did. I offered some good people but I think they had a certain thing in mind and it wasn’t really working. I’d do it again. I’d like to work for a label as A&R.
FaltyDL: Mike understood why I signed to Ninja. I’m really happy to be releasing a new album with Mu because it feels like home in a way. Very early on Mike had told me I should release under my own name and now, seven years later, I have and it’s with him.
Scott: Working with artists on press and promotion changes from person to person. I wish there was more time to work on each record. I enjoyed bringing Nick Talbot aka Gravenhurst to work with Mike. I’m sad that he passed away last year but happy to have played a small part in his musical story.
FaltyDL: Marcus helped tremendously in the beginning of my career. I am forever indebted to him. He is very humble though and would just say he was doing his job.
Boxcutter: I think the hardest thing to agree on with Mike has been cover art. Some of the things he will push are inexplicable to me but maybe he’s just ahead of the curve. That Meast sleeve from 2004 looks like every other instrumental grime record now.
Luke Vibert: I’ve had a very honest relationship with Mike and Mu over the years. No bullshit. He can be hard to please, musically speaking, but I wouldn’t want it any other way.
Mike Paradinas: Luke is a laid back guy making great music. His first release came about one day around his house, smoking a joint, listening to DATs. Sometimes that’s all it takes.
Vibert: Mike was surprised I hadn’t released a track called ‘Flyover’ from 1995 as he’d always liked it. That kind of set the tone for other Luke Vibert releases on Planet Mu as they’re pretty mixed-up.
Paradinas: Aaron’s records didn’t sell very well at first but through his own hard work playing great gigs he built a strong following. What also helped is that we released three albums a year in the early to mid 2000s. He was writing a lot and I liked it all.
Aaron Funk (aka Venetian Snares): Most of my music I don’t release because I don’t really give a fuck. But sometimes there’ll be something [Mike] has for years and will just be bugging me to release. And then eventually, if I’m in an agreeable mood one day, I guess I do.
Paradinas: Aaron had quite an interesting sound at the time, there was no one quite like him. Even now. It’s all fairly personal stuff. Strange guy but amazing musician. We’ve met many times, we toured together.
“Most of my music I don’t release because I don’t really give a fuck.”
Venetian Snares
Venetian Snares: Man, I thought [Mike] was weird at first. He’d phone me up and be like, ‘I’m listening to your music in the bath.’ I’d be like, ‘What? You listen to that in the bathtub? What are you talking about?’ We became pretty good friends over the years. He’s a nice dude.
Paradinas: I connected with Drew [FaltyDL] on MySpace.
Drew Lustman (aka FaltyDL): Mike was very accessible on MySpace.
Paradinas: Drew was… quite persistent. He wasn’t really taking no for an answer. He took on constructive criticism. He needed to find his own voice.
FaltyDL: I was sending knock-off Squarepusher. I’ll probably just wait till that’s en vogue again and release it all.
Paradinas: Then he started to put this garage feel to it. That’s when I felt it was the right direction. He decided to stick with some of the garage stuff and that became Love Is A Liability, his first album.
FaltyDL: It took five versions of the opener, ‘Human Meadow’, before it was right. I was a fan of Boxcutter and Barry was very helpful in my early days. He told me to slow down. Mike wouldn’t really give feedback, he never does. He would say this is shit or this is wicked. I once got an incredible, and also an amazing. That felt pretty good.
Paradinas: By the time Drew’s record came out, wobble bass had got boring and dubstep had started to die off. People from the original scene were going in different directions. I think that was the first record we released after Marcus joined. He was quite approving of it. Burial had become popular, the garage sound was coming back in a way.
FaltyDL: I think the impact of that album was slow. Shortly after its release Marcus came onboard to do press and we did an eight-track double pack. It brought attention back to the album, which he said would happen. Off the back of that I remixed Zed Bias, El-B and The xx.
Paradinas: I met Jamie and Roly [Vex’d] through Pinch, he sent me their demos even though we didn’t know each other. He managed Vex’d with James Ginsburg. I really liked the music but they’d already planned to release what were some of my favourite tracks. In the end we did the album, Degenerate. It was amazing.
Jamie Teasdale (aka Kuedo, one half of Vex’d): I don’t remember much sunlight during the making of Degenerate.
Roly Porter (one half of Vex’d): I may have selectively forgotten the stressful stuff so my memory of working on Degenerate is positive. I think I got all the easy jobs.
Paradinas: Degenerate is one of the best, and first, dubstep albums. There’d been a Horsepower Productions album and in 2004 we released a Mark One album which you could call dubstep but I think it’s grime, because dubstep didn’t exist as a term back then. Even in 2005 when the name first appeared people still didn’t really know what to call it. I remember all the forums talking about it.
Kuedo: It seemed blatant that it wasn’t a dubstep album to us and all the dozen core dubstep people at the time. It was uncomfortable how quickly it became canonised into the genre by writers from outside and there was an unwanted tension due to that. We didn’t want to see dubstep taken over by a caustic noise element in the way jungle had been. And we also didn’t want to be curtailed by someone else’s genre.
Porter: Planet Mu was never tied to or defined by dubstep and that was why it was perfect for us. Degenerate wasn’t written as a dubstep album and for people associated with the scene I don’t think it was considered one. Dubstep in its most recognisable form hadn’t properly taken over at that point. It hadn’t become a standard. We never felt the need to fit any particular style and Planet Mu never suggested we did.
Kuedo: I think the album, and Vex’d as a whole, makes a lot more sense in the current post genre climate. The grime and industrial elements might be more apparent. Aesthetically I feel distant from it now but I’m appreciative of the experiences it gave us, the buzz of interacting and becoming friends with our favourite artists, of genres being formed, of a new wave of UK music.
Porter: The album’s impact is hard to judge. There are elements of it which I’m glad didn’t have a bigger impact, for example some of the noisier stuff. For me dubstep was at its best when it had a brutally simple, cold dub impact.
Barry Lynn (aka Boxcutter): Mike first called me in early 2003 about a CD I’d mailed to the Planet Mu demo address. They were youthful Squarepusher-inspired tracks I’d done in Reason 2.0. He was very friendly on the phone.
Paradinas: I started seeing Barry’s tracks in DJ charts from J Da Flex. I thought he was coming from a similar angle to Toasty by then and I liked the more break-y garage sound. People like DJ Zinc, Menta and DJ Naughty, which was Hype. They were all using breaks with this sort of dark garage sound, as it was called. I thought Barry had more of an IDM take on it too which would fit well with Planet Mu.
“Mike’s never given me the impression that he thinks about sales at all.”
Barry Lynn / Boxcutter
Boxcutter: These tracks were like mongrel bass, garage, dubstep and breaks. I sorted a couple for release on Hotflush and then I did a gig with Mike in Belgium that summer and he asked me for a release. I sent him over about four CDs and they became the Oneiric and Balancing Lakes albums.
Paradinas: Oneiric, I felt came from this whole breakstep angle, but also electronic influences. Balancing Lakes was older demos. More Aphex, Squarepusher vibes. Really strong record.
Boxcutter: My lasting gripe is that Mike converted ‘Skuff’d’ to mono somehow during the making of the first album. I don’t think I’d have started compiling my music into albums without his intervention. My stuff always seemed to spill over the edges too much so albums suited me really well.
Paradinas: He accentuated the dub side with the second album, Glyphic.
Boxcutter: I began writing tracks for Glyphic the summer Oneiric came out while working a shitty job at a dole office in Lurgan. I wrote ‘Chiral’, ‘Glyphic’ and ‘Fieldtrip’ during massive lunch breaks. I also signed contracts for one of my tunes to go in a film called Children of Men then heard nothing. I found out after it came out that they’d used Aphex Twin instead.
Paradinas: Arecibo Message had more funk influences but it didn’t go down well with the audience. The Dissolve did well, I thought it had more of a chillwave influence with a bit of footwork too. His work as The Host went further into footwork meets krautrock. Barry has released all his albums with us. He’s gone on quite a journey.
Boxcutter: I’m impressed at how brave Mike’s choices are from the stuff I send him. He’s never given me the impression that he thinks about sales at all, it’s always about satisfying his idea of where the label should be at that time. There’s always been massive variation in the sort of tracks I’ve made, so sometimes it’s just waiting for the time to feel right to expose people to a particular tempo or style.
Mary Anne Hobbs: Mike and I talked on email for several years. Planet Mu’s music was a part of the mix of sounds I’d select for my Breezeblock experimental show on BBC Radio 1.
Paradinas: I think we began talking on MySpace, or maybe even ICQ, in 2005. We got talking about personal things and we became friends and met up, it wasn’t all about music.
Hobbs: Mike had moved the Planet Mu HQ to Dalston. For the first meal we ever had in Hackney we had a main course in one cafe and then Mike wanted to go to a different place for dessert. So we did. I thought he was as crazy as me and just as exacting. I knew we’d be friends.
Paradinas: The idea for the releases came up because she’d seen other Radio 1 DJs doing compilations on various labels. It was her idea. She said it was the right label for it because she felt I knew where she was coming from. It was the natural thing to do, it was very easy and quite successful, good times.
Hobbs: The day Warrior Dubz was released and I saw it front-racked at HMV, next to Skream’s debut album, was a moment I’ll never forget.
Paradinas: Because it was called Warrior Dubz people thought it was a dubstep compilation but it was meant to represent her taste in music and her show. It’s all mixtures, people cross-pollinating. All sorts of dark, interesting sounds. People weren’t exclusively listening to dubstep. It was one of the first compilations documenting these links and I think that’s one reason it did quite well.
Hobbs: I worked very closely with Mike for about nine months on each of the three compilations we made. I felt like we were changing the world. They were very exciting, heady times not without rows and sleepless nights. Mike is a brutal critic but almost invariably right.
Paradinas: For Evangeline I made a few suggestions like Ital Tek, Boxcutter and Pinch. She came up with Ben Frost and he’s massive now. Dakim is Jamie from Vex’d before he became Kuedo. I really didn’t like the Tes La Rock track but she said it worked really well in the clubs. It took a lot to get Wiley on there. At the same time I was trying to do a Wiley compilation of instrumental grime but it never happened.
“I felt like we were changing the world.”
Mary Anne Hobbs
Hobbs: For me the compilations trace elements of the DNA at the epicentre of a scene, and among the emerging satellite sounds in their year of release.
Paradinas: The last compilation, Wild Angels, was meant to document the rise of what’s now the Brainfeeder sound but back then was known as wonky. I think wonky might become like IDM where you can say it without being embarrassed. A lot of them were artists she’d found on MySpace and I was already talking to Floating Points, Gemmy and Brackles. I thought it was strong but I think people wanted another dubstep compilation.
Hobbs: Those compilations we made together were so special. The Guardian recently singled out Warrior Dubz as one of the most important and influential compilations of all time, which is nice.
Daniel Martin-McCormick (aka Ital): I met Mike when I emailed ‘Doesn’t Matter (If You Love Him)’ to the general Mu email. He wrote back a day or two later and was very receptive and we started on the album.
Paradinas: Daniel’s stuff was much better than what I was hearing at the time. The day before he emailed me, Marcus had told me about him and also explained the context of the music, so-called outsider house, which I wasn’t totally aware of.
Ital: I had forgotten Marcus worked there. We had met a few years before when my band Mi Ami was touring the UK. He had helped us with a show and my bandmate Damon somehow got it into his head that he was the Rinse DJ Marcus Nasty. We were a little intimidated.
Paradinas: Daniel has been great to work with. He had very strong ideas of what he wanted and how it should be presented. And he’s very hard working. He plays out a lot and thinks about his career, which makes it easier for a label.
Ital: Mike and Marcus are very supportive and critical when they need to be. One time Marcus annoyed the shit out of me by chastising me with, ‘I like this but you Americans need to get out of your 4/4, working-in-the-factory drums and supple up a bit. You should just go for it and instead of that synth let a guitar feedback over it aggressively.’ And it totally worked. I think about that email every time I’m in the studio now.
Paradinas: The first two Ital albums came together very quickly and we pretty much released the records he presented to us. The second album wasn’t received as well because we released it in the same year as the first. He was very insistent that it be so, because of a tour. Even though it was a lot better, it got no reviews which shows you that there is definitely a press cycle. We knew and told him but he thought that because the first album was a success it would work.
Ital: For the third album I sent them more stuff to comb through and overall I felt very focused. Mike always pushes for the weirder stuff which I appreciate.
Paradinas: Endgame was much more of an A&R job for me. I was more critical. We knew that we had to come in with a very strong third album. He’d refined the music down to some sort of essence of where he wanted to be. It was received very well. I think it proved to us both that you have to pay attention to strategy, timing and A&R and it does reap rewards. Don’t always rush it. Music doesn’t really have that much of a sell-by date.
RP Boo: Mike’s importance in shining a light on footwork and Chicago is very strong. He had this vision of sharing the music that others might have overlooked and I felt he took a great chance.
Mike Paradinas: I first found out about footwork in 2008 on Wayne & Wax’s blog. There was a DJ Nate track and I followed the YouTube trail. The videos were of people dancing but you’d hear the music in the background. I spent about a year listening to it, trying to find DJ Nate and various others. It took sheer perseverance. They never replied on MySpace.
RP Boo: By the time the music made it out Chicago, a lot of countries were doing research and the sounds were amazing to other people. It acted like a demand for more.
Paradinas: We wanted to release DJ Nate because we thought it was special but in the long term it turned out he was an outsider. I felt he fit in very much with UK music, that he would be a good in point for people to learn about footwork.
RP Boo: Mike didn’t miss a step with those Bangs & Works compilations. It was only after it came out I realised the interviews I had taken part in were for the story displayed in the compilations.
Paradinas: It took about a year to get hold of everyone and compile the first Bangs & Works compilation and releases. It was tracks I liked and an attempt at documenting the scene. I liked it when the samples were more cut up, when the stuff was more syncopated or when it was completely brittle and spare like RP Boo. I suppose I wasn’t into the Teklife sound, maybe that’s it. And that might not have gone down well with the scene, I didn’t represent a side of it which was quite popular. A lot of the tracks are lost. It can be frustrating but also invigorating.
“I never thought that the music would have gone as far around the world as it did.”
RP Boo
Marcus Scott (A&R): Rashad was a little wary when I first met him but we soon broke bread and he warmed to us.
Paradinas: It feels good to have put this music out there. It needed to come out. I don’t know if anyone else would have done it. With Steve [Kode9], I had to tell him a few times. Rashad I knew was good but he wasn’t a fit for us, he needed a different label more in line with his sensibilities. I was often saying to Steve and Marcus that they should release Rashad and I’m glad they managed to do that before he died. I like really weird stuff when it comes to footwork. Rashad was straight ahead. He was the most popular DJ and his tracks were popular too. I couldn’t have done a good job because it wasn’t my thing.
RP Boo: It felt very important for me to release my debut album, Legacy, because after Bangs & Works I had gained fans and dancers around the world and there was a clear demand for a project from me. People had learnt that I was a cornerstone of the footwork sound and its movements on the dance floor.
Paradinas: Being an outsider to the scene was never a real problem. The only problem was when I released DJ Nate but I thought it was worth it musically. I was true to myself, however being the only label releasing footwork it wasn’t a fair representation of the scene, which is what they wanted. And I wanted a good record. It’s for that reason I wish there were more labels doing it so I could release some of the weirder stuff.
RP Boo: One key memory from Legacy was missing out on a release party in New York because J-Cush from Lit City didn’t realise I had an album out. But then I lost my job and a few weeks later it all came together, I got an agent and tours lined up and I played my first overseas show in Poland for Unsound Festival in 2013, and then Japan.
Paradinas: Diamond, Metro, Young Smoke and RP are some of the best producers out there. Their sense of rhythm is incredible. Some of the more popular stuff and the European response to it have been very straight rhythmically. It loses a bit of danger sometimes. There’s room for everyone. One of my regrets is that we’ve had to limit it to two footwork records a year because of budget constraints.
RP Boo: I never thought that the music would have gone as far around the world as it did. I was too tired from working hard at my job and the sounds that I was creating were more like a hobby I enjoyed doing in my down time.
Scott: Working with some of the footwork guys has been great as it’s excellent to shine some light on people like this.
RP Boo: I am still living in the moments that my work with Mike and Planet Mu made possible, so I have a special place in my heart for them.
Paradinas: I think the label has stayed relevant because I’ve stuck to my guns. I go with my gut feeling about music and that’s served me well so far. I’ll hear something and think this was all said 10 years ago, so why do it again now?
Ital: Dance music seems to be millions and millions of moments that are constantly slipping away: killer sets, dope parties, sub-sub-sub genres, crews and aesthetics and all this human energy that seems so meaningful at the time and yet is largely lost to history. Labels like Planet Mu connect the dots over all these decades of moments and all the energy and ideas that surrounded them and made them happen. The fact that there isn’t any single defining genre means that each record has to be taken somewhat on its own terms, more as music than as a branded product. Oddly, this can be a liability in DJ culture sometimes but I think it allows artists to experiment and thrive.
“It’d be lovely for us to continue for another 20 years. Or even 50.”
Mike Paradinas
Mary Anne Hobbs: I can’t imagine how much poorer the UK electronic scene would be without the influence of Planet Mu. It’s absolutely primary within the landscape.
Paradinas: I think if a record is good enough, people will like it. Presentation is important but it doesn’t matter unless you have the right record in the first place. So maybe we’ve released stuff that isn’t good enough. When you look back at our successes it’s always music. And I’d always hope that music remains the most important aspect of all this.
Scott: Planet Mu should be considered as more important than it is to be honest. It’s often over overlooked as it’s not very flashy but there’s some great work on the library to a wide brief.
Drew Lustman (aka FaltyDL): Planet Mu’s importance is bigger than anyone will care to admit. Mike should get some award for contributing to the arts or something. The ripples of his moves have caused waves all around the world.
Roly Porter: For any label to survive for 20 years is a pretty massive achievement but on top of that Planet Mu has managed to stay relevant and retain its identity. It has a shifting relationship with different styles of music but it always makes sense. It was that range of sound that made us so happy to be part of the label. The last Planet Mu party we played at was as much fun as I’ve had at any stage in my life in music. To be able to hear so many sounds in one night and for it all to make sense in some kind of deafening and chaotic way is what it’s all about.
Boxcutter: I suppose one way to look at Planet Mu is as a kind of side project of Mike’s, where he selects stuff instead of making it himself. If you trace the discography back to one person’s taste and selections it’s a really nice achievement, and a unique way of listening back through a lot of the changes in electronic music over the last 20 years too.
Paradinas: It’d be lovely for us to continue for another 20 years. Or even 50. That’d be my wish. We’ll see what happens in the next few years. I think we’re popular. But will the industry allow artists and labels to get paid? Artists will get paid and I think labels will still have a use but there’s always the argument that people see record labels simply as a parasite. On the whole though labels, majors and indies, have given us a good sixty years of great musical cultures.
Pictures by Adam Michaud (Venetian Snares), Stuart Holt (Luke Vibert), Will Glasspiegel (RP Boo).Bloodstained: Ritual Of The Night – Castlevania by any other name
The director of Castlevania: Symphony Of The Night has already earned more than $0.5 million for his unofficial homage Bloodstained.
Konami has been in the news for all the wrong reasons lately, following its bizarre treatment of Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima and the cancellation of Silent Hills. But the rot had already started to set in last year, when Koji ‘IGA’ Igarashi left to form his own studio.
And if it wasn’t obvious before why he left, the fact that his first game is a high res 2D version of something that looks very much like Castlevania: Symphony Of The Night should make it perfectly clear.
For legal reasons, if nothing else, Bloodstained: Ritual Of The Night is a completely separate game but shares a similar style of gothic artwork, exactly the same composer for the soundtrack, and the same sort of Metroidvania style gameplay which IGA himself helped to define.
Bloodstained: Ritual Of The Night – a happy pile of secrets
Bloodstained is described as ‘an exploration-focused, side-scrolling platformer featuring role-playing and crafting elements’. But it has one thing Castlevania has always lacked: campaign co-op and player vs. player action.
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The Kickstarter only went up yesterday evening, and yet within four hours it had already passed its $500,000 minimum goal and is now making its way up towards the maximum $850,000 stretch goal. And if it gets that far the project will see the addition of voice actor David Hayter, best known as the original voice of Solid Snake.
Since it’s already been funded the game will now definitely be appearing on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC, around about March 2017. A Nintendo version has also been hinted at, if the Kickstarter’s stretch goals are exceeded.
Email gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk, leave a comment below, and follow us on TwitterThe Facebook Messenger app for Android provides far more than just a simple messaging service. Today we’re going to look at some of the cool things you can do with Facebook Messenger, as well as how to remove some of the more annoying aspects of it. Here are our best Facebook Messenger tips and tricks for Android.
Jump to a section
Using Facebook Messenger
Turn off notification alerts for Facebook Messenger
You know how it is: someone starts a group conversation asking if anybody wants to buy their leather sofa, and before you know it you’re getting non-stop buzzes about upholstery. If you’ve ever found yourself in a similar situation, here's a couple of tips for how to stop receiving those notifications without actually leaving the conversation.
How to turn off Facebook Messenger notifications for a single conversation:
Launch the Facebook Messenger app.
In your conversations tab (the far left tab), tap and hold on the conversation you wish to mute.
Tap Mute notifications.
Select the length of time you want the notifications to be muted for.
Tap and hold on the conversation you want to mute, and select for how long. / © AndroidPIT
How to turn off Facebook Messenger notifications for all conversations on Android:
Launch the Facebook Messenger app.
Tap the settings menu (the cog wheel).
Tap Notifications & Sounds.
Tap the toggle at the top of the page to turn notifications On or Off.
Select the length of time you want the notifications to remain muted for.
Go to your settings, tap notifications & sounds, then toggle it off on the following page. / © AndroidPIT
Start an Encrypted Secret Conversation
In 2016, Facebook rolled out one-to-one encrypted communications via Facebook Messenger, AKA "Secret Conversations." Here it is using the Signal Protocol, which is specifically designed for just you and one other person.
First, you will need to enable Secret Conversations on your device (it can only be active on one device at a time). After this, hit the chat head icon on the top right, scroll to Secret Conversations, and toggle it on. Once you've done this, open a chat with any of your contacts and click on the little "i" icon in the top-right corner. After this, just select "Secret Conversation."
As a timely reminder, the Secret Conversation mode is not to everyone's taste as end-to-end encryption breaks some features in Messenger, like using it across multiple devices, archiving past conversations, and sending things like animated GIFs.
End-to-end encryption with Facebook Messenger. / © FB newsroom
Make a voice call or video call in Facebook Messenger
Did you know that Facebook Messenger allows you to make free calls? Well, you probably did. But are you taking advantage of it? Simply tap on the call button (highlighted below) in one of your conversation windows and you will begin calling the person in that conversation.
It might be polite to warn ahead of time. / © AndroidPIT (screenshot)
Similarly, Facebook Messenger now allows video calling. Simply press the video camera icon in the top right to invite your contact to a video conversation!
Send a picture with Facebook Messenger
Did you know you can take a photo directly from the keyboard in Messenger? See that little camera icon? Tap that to turn your keyboard space into a mini viewfinder (which you can also expand). You can switch between the front or back mounted cameras and snap a quick pic with the vertical send button rather oddly placed right in the middle of the viewfinder. Tap the little image icon next to the camera to choose from previously taken pics.
Want to know the best Facebook app alternatives?
You can try to send a nicer picture than mine, if you like. / © AndroidPIT
Send a big thumbs up with Facebook Messenger
If you're feeling a little like Miley Cyrus and have a need for a particularly big thumbs up, then just press and hold the Like button to inflate the size of your thumb. If a simple Like won't do the trick then hit that little emoji button at the end of the text entry field, hit your sticker collection or revert to your device's emoji supported keyboard for a bit more expressive flair.
How about some tips for the official Facebook app?
Tap the thumb button to do a little like, or hold it to create a bigger one. / © AndroidPIT
Send or view a location with Facebook Messenger
If you want a super easy way to let your friends know where you are Facebook, tap the + sign on the left of your text box. One of the options you see there should be to send your location, so long as you have Live Location enabled.
Similarly, if your friend has it enabled, simply tap on a message to bring up the location from which it was sent. If you don't want to share your location at all, head to your settings and uncheck that "location" box.
Keeping up with friends using Facebook Messenger
Find friend suggestions
Facebook Messenger helps you connect with people by providing friend suggestions based on mutual connections. You can even add a contact in Messenger without having to set things up with a new friend request.
Open Messenger and tap on the people symbol.
Scroll down to see which new friends have been suggested for you.
Tap the add button to include the person in your Messenger contacts, or hide button not to see the suggestion.
You'll now be able to chat with your new contact via Facebook Messenger. In the buttons above, you should also see options to access your message requests (from people who you haven't been in touch with previously) and invite your other phone or Facebook contacts to join Messenger.
Facebook Messenger makes it easy to find your friends. / © AndroidPIT
Create a group shortcut for Facebook Messenger
If there's a crew you talk to all the time, then why not bypass the app launching altogether and pin a group chat shortcut to your home screen? Just go to your Groups tab where you can select an existing group or create a new one and tap the little menu button on the top right of the Group tile. From here simply select ''Create shortcut'' to have a chat group shortcut added to your home screen.
Simply go to your Groups page, hit the menu and create a home screen shortcut. / © AndroidPIT
Poll Your Friends
Getting a group - any group - to come to a decision on anything |
's crisis:Lung cancer. Coloured X-ray of the chest of an 84 year old woman with a malignant (cancerous) tumour (yellow) in the apex of the right lung (top left). DU CANE MEDICAL IMAGING LTD/Getty Images
Cuba has for several years had a promising therapeutic vaccine against lung cancer. The 55-year trade embargo led by the US made sure that Cuba was mostly where it stayed. Until—maybe—now.
The Obama administration has, of course, been trying to normalize relations with the island nation. And last month, during New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's visit to Havana, Roswell Park Cancer Institute finalized an agreement with Cuba's Center for Molecular Immunology to develop a lung cancer vaccine and begin clinical trials in the US. Essentially, US researchers will bring the Cimavax vaccine stateside and get on track for approval by the Food and Drug Administration.
"The chance to evaluate a vaccine like this is a very exciting prospect," says Candace Johnson, CEO of Roswell Park. She's excited, most likely, because research on the vaccine so far shows that it has low toxicity, and it's relatively cheap to produce and store. The Center for Molecular Immunology will give Roswell Park all of the documentation (how it's produced, toxicity data, results from past trials) for an FDA drug application; Johnson says she hopes to get approval for testing Cimavax within six to eight months, and to start clinical trials in a year.
How did Cuba end up with a cutting edge immuno-oncology drug? Though the country is justly famous for cigars, rum, and baseball, it also has some of the best and most inventive biotech and medical research in the world. That's especially notable for a country where the average worker earns $20 a month. Cuba spends a fraction of the money the US does on healthcare per individual; yet the average Cuban has a life expectancy on par with the average American. "They've had to do more with less," says Johnson, "so they've had to be even more innovative with how they approach things. For over 40 years, they have had a preeminent immunology community."
Despite decades of economic sanctions, Fidel and Raul Castro made biotechnology and medical research, particularly preventative medicine, a priority. After the 1981 dengue fever outbreak struck nearly 350,000 Cubans, the government established the Biological Front, an effort to focus research efforts by various agencies toward specific goals. Its first major accomplishment was the successful (and unexpected) production of interferon, a protein that plays a role in human immune response. Since then, Cuban immunologists made several other vaccination breakthroughs, including their own vaccines for meningitis B and hepatitis B, and monoclonal antibodies for kidney transplants.
The thing about making such great cigars is, smoking is really, really bad for you. Lung cancer is the fourth-leading cause of the death in Cuba. Medical researchers at the Center for Molecular Immunology worked on Cimavax for 25 years before the Ministry of Health made it available to the public—for free—in 2011. Each shot costs the government about $1. A Phase II trial from 2008 showed lung cancer patients who received the vaccine lived an average of four to six months longer than those who didn't. That prompted Japan and some European countries to initiate Cimavax clinical trials as well.
To be fair, Cimavax probably won't be a game-changing cancer drug in its current form. The vaccine doesn't attack tumors directly, instead going after a protein that tumors produce which then circulates in the blood. That action spurs a person's body to release antibodies against a hormone called epidermal growth factor, which typically spurs cell growth but can also, if unchecked, cause cancer. (Although most people normally think of a vaccine as something that prevents a disease, technically a vaccine is a substance that stimulates the immune system in some way.) So the point of Cimavax is to keep lung tumors from growing and metastasizing, turning a late-stage growth into something chronic but manageable.
But in the US and Europe, people with lung cancer already have treatment options with the same goal. Roswell Park researchers say they plan to explore the vaccine's potential as a preventative intervention—making it more like a traditional vaccine. Furthermore, epidermal growth factor plays an important role in many other cancers, like prostate, breast, colon, and pancreatic cancer. "All those things are potential targets for this vaccine," says Kelvin Lee, an immunologist at the company. Mostly for financial reasons, Cubans didn't test Cimavax that way at all.
And that drug isn't the only one with potential in the Cuban pharmacopeia. Thomas Rothstein, a biologist at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, has for six years worked with the Center for Molecular Immunology on another vaccine to treat lung cancer called Racotumomab, with an entirely different mechanism. (It messes with a particular lipid found in tumor cell membranes.) "Investigators from around the world are trying to crack the nut of cancer," Rothstein says. "The Cubans are thinking in ways that are novel and clever."
Although President Obama has used his executive power to lift some restrictions against medical and research equipment, Congress must lift the Cuban embargo before collaborative research can ramp up. Johnson hopes to see Cuba embrace more entrepreneurialism in science, and see the US soak up more creative approaches to medical research. Constrained by politics, the Cuban researchers had to innovate in ways the US and Europe did not. Now maybe they'll be able to teach their colleagues what they learned.Plate tectonics is the core unifying concept that has underpinned our understanding of the solid earth for over 50 years. To describe your research as moving “beyond plate tectonics” is quite a claim, but Trond Torsvik and the group he leads have some remarkable science to back it up. By tracking the movement of the earth’s plates over half a billion years they trace the effects of hot plumes of rock rising from the edges of structures sitting just above the earth’s core. Their research seeks to explain the origin of diamonds, immense volcanic eruptions linked to mass extinction events, the break-up of continents and how shifts in the earth’s axis caused glaciation in Greenland.
Dance of the plates
Trond Torsvik is a Norwegian scientist with a background in palaeomagnetism – studying fossils of the earth’s past magnetic field frozen in rocks – to trace the past locations of continents. Palaeomagnetism can tell you the latitude at which an ancient rock formed. Torsvik worked with those in other disciplines – palaeontology and geology – to trace the slow joining and splitting of ancient continents.
This research (which involved many other scientists) has given us a pretty good view of how the earth’s plates moved around over the last 500 million years. But these movements are only the surface expression of the flow of the underlying rocks, the earth’s mantle. Now, as director of the Centre for Earth Evolution and Dynamics at the University of Oslo (CEED) Torsvik seeks to produce an integrated understanding of deep mantle flow – mantle dynamics – and how it drives plate tectonics and other surface processes.
Undoing subduction
The earth’s mantle convects. Although made of solid rock, over geological time-scales it flows like a liquid and we understand the physics of this process well enough to produce computer models of it. One important factor is subduction – as oceanic crust cools it sinks back into the mantle, changing the patterns of flow.
Based on our understanding of how the continents moved in the past, the CEED group (Bernhard Steinberger in particular) have calculated where ancient subduction zones were and therefore where the subducted plates ended up in the deep earth. These models of ancient mantle flow and subduction link our surface observations with deep-earth processes.
The diagrams below show how subduction zones have moved over time. The outline of the continents is fixed, representing a stable reference frame. The coloured lines show how subduction zones at the edges of plates have moved over time.
The red lines correspond to modern subduction zones, but the colour coding shows how where they used to be in the past. Note how the western edge of the North America plate has moved east over time. Also note how it shows the subduction zone that used to exist north of the Indian plate and which ceased around 60 million years ago as India and Asia collided (as the oceanic plate in between was completely subducted).
Here we have the same picture, but starting from 140 million years ago and moving back to 300 million years ago, the beginning of the Permian. These are the subduction zones that surrounded the ancient continent of Pangea.
The diagrams aren’t showing it directly, but they remind us that the oceanic crust that passed through these subduction zones is still down there in mantle; imagine the series of coloured lines as sheet descending down into the earth – that is a rough image of what is down there.
Deep structures affect the surface
Mantle plumes have long been suggested as the cause of chains of volcanic islands (like Hawaii). Many believe the concept has been overused and that some proposed plumes don’t exist – this is a controversial area. Torsvik and CEED have taken the debate forward by presenting a testable hypothesis – that big plumes form around the edge of structures at the base of the mantle and that this has been happening for hundreds of millions of years.
Seismic tomography shows mysterious lumps at the very base of the mantle. They are called Large Low Shear Velocity Provinces (LLSVPs) and one sits under Africa and another under the Pacific. They are probably patches of different composition, but no-one knows for sure.
The CEED group believe these LLSVPs haven’t moved for a long time, so they took their models of plate movements to show how surface features have moved over them over time. They also plotted the locations of unusual volcanic features called kimberlites and vast piles of lava called Large Igneous Provinces (LIPs). The diagram below shows an example from 160 million years ago – here they’ve plotted the ancient location of the continents, plus that of the LLSVPs (in red). Note that kimberlites are found where areas of craton (thick old continental plate shown as grey areas) are above the edges of an LLSVP. Kimberlites are the host rocks for diamonds, so this result is not of purely academic interest.
This pattern holds when the analysis is done for other periods in the past, also when looking at modern active hotspots. Put all the data together and the pattern is quite impressive. Note that kimberlites and hotspots are not shown in their current position but the continents are.
This is a startling result. The fit isn’t perfect (the white dots don’t fit the pattern) but nothing on this messy planet of ours ever is.
So why are LIPs and kimberlites associated with the edges of the LLSVPs? The linking factor is deep plumes, which interact with deep continental lithosphere to produce kimberlites (and bring diamonds to the surface). Big plumes cause LIPs and the one shown above around the location of modern-day St Petersburg is the Siberian Traps which caused the largest mass extinction ever know at the Permian-Triassic boundary.
Surface processes affect the deep earth
What links plumes and the edges of the LLSVPs? Think back to those diagrams of ancient subduction zones and those curtains of ancient oceanic crust sinking into the mantle. Modelling of mantle flow through time shows that the ancient subducted crust reaches the base of the mantle where it pushes up against the LLSVPs. The flow of heat from interior of the earth to the surface drives the hot material rising up through the mantle but the interaction between plate and LLSVPs provides plausible mechanisms to get plumes started – the sinking plate pushes on the edge of an LLSVP and creates domes that turn into plumes.
What I like about this work is that by presenting a clear mechanism and predictions of how the deep and surface earth work together it is eminently testable. If mantle plumes form at the edge of LLSVPs, how does this affect the chemistry of the molten rocks that reach the surface? Perhaps one side contains the LLSVP material and another not. Any new seismic tomography data can be compared with the computer models that underlie this research. Does this research give us a new way to find diamond deposits? Finding answers to any of these questions will either help confirm the hypothesis or take research in new and interesting directions.
Our wobbly world
So much science, so little time! But allow me to test your attention span a little more and talk about my favourite example of how research from CEED links the surface and the depths of this planet.
The presence or absence of ice on this planet is one of the longer-term climatic cycles observable in the fossil record. For all of the last half-billion years, glaciation has been restricted to the southern hemisphere – until the last few millions years. Climate is the major control over glaciation, but a paper this year points to three ways in which deep earth processes caused glaciation in Greenland to start.
Firstly, Greenland is unusually high (and so cold) – this is because the deep plume now centred on Iceland thinned the Greenland lithosphere and, from five million years ago, fresh ‘plume pulses’ pushed it up. Secondly, standard plate-tectonics has caused it to drift north (blue points and lines in diagram) by 6 degrees. Thirdly and most mind-bogglingly, changes in the distribution of density of the earth’s interior have caused the earth’s pole of rotation to move closer to Greenland by 12 degrees (green points are observation, pink are theoretical calculations).
If you’ve ever pushed a barrel or ball part-full of water, you’ve some sense of what lies behind the third cause, known as “true-polar wander”. Classroom globes have have a solid rod down the earth’s axis, but the real earth does not – it rotates around an axis called the ‘maximum moment of inertia’ that is determined by the distribution of mass within the planet. If this distribution of mass changes over time, then the axis changes and the poles shift to compensate. Modelling suggests that the shift of the north pole towards Greenland was caused by increased subduction under East Asia and South America.
Plate tectonics explains subduction. But models that show subduction tweaking the earth’s axis to bring glaciers or tickling the deep earth to create mantle plumes that can kill off nearly all life, break up super-continents, and send diamonds tinkling up to the surface. That really is going beyond plate tectonics.
References & image credits
This post is necessarily a skim over large amounts of complicated research. If you don’t believe it’s true, at least read the papers yourself. All are available online.
Source of images are in the image text. All either from open-source papers or produced under fair-use.
This Nature paper links LLSVPs, diamonds, plumes and LIPs.
Torsvik, T., Burke, K., Steinberger, B., Webb, S., & Ashwal, L. (2010). Diamonds sampled by plumes from the core–mantle boundary Nature, 466 (7304), 352-355 DOI: 10.1038/nature09216
This details the mathematical models linking subduction, LLSVPs and the initiation of plumes.
Steinberger, B., & Torsvik, T. (2012). A geodynamic model of plumes from the margins of Large Low Shear Velocity Provinces Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 13 (1) DOI: 10.1029/2011GC003808
This links deep-earth processes to the onset of glaciation in Greeland.
Steinberger, B., Spakman, W., Japsen, P., & Torsvik, T. (2015). The key role of global solid-Earth processes in preconditioning Greenland’s glaciation since the Pliocene Terra Nova, 27 (1), 1-8 DOI: 10.1111/ter.12133
This contains the detail about true polar wander.
Steinberger, B., & Torsvik, T. (2010). Toward an explanation for the present and past locations of the poles Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 11 (6) DOI: 10.1029/2009GC002889Sally
by Isaac Asimov
Sally was coming down the lake road, so I waved to her and called her by name. I always liked to see Sally. I liked all of them, you understand, but Sally's the prettiest one of the lot. There just isn't any question about it.
She moved a little faster when I waved to her. Nothing undignified. She was never that. She moved just enough faster to show that she was glad to see me, too.
I turned to the man standing beside me. "That's Sally," I said.
He smiled at me and nodded.
Mrs. Hester had brought him in. She said, "This is Mr. Gellhorn, Jake. You remember he sent you the letter asking for an appointment."
That was just talk, really. I have a million things to do around the Farm, and one thing I just can't waste my time on is mail. That's why I have Mrs. Hester around. She lives pretty close by, she's good at attending to foolishness without running to me about it, and most of all, she likes Sally and the rest. Some people don't.
"Glad to see you, Mr. Gellhorn," I said.
"Raymond F. Gellhorn," he said, and gave me his hand, which I shook and gave back.
He was a largish fellow, half a head taller than I and wider, too. He was about half my age, thirtyish. He had black hair, plastered down slick, with a part in the middle, and a thin mustache, very neatly trimmed. His jawbones got big under his ears and made him look as if he had a slight case of mumps. On video he'd be a natural to play the villain, so I assumed he was a nice fellow. It goes to show that video can't be wrong all the time.
"I'm Jacob Folkers," I said. "What can I do for you?"
He grinned. It was a big, wide, white-toothed grin. "You can tell me a little about your Farm here, if you don't mind."
I heard Sally coming up behind me and I put out my hand. She slid right into it and the feel of the hard, glossy enamel of her fender was warm in my palm.
"A nice automatobile," said Gellhorn.
That's one way of putting it. Sally was a 2045 convertible with a Hennis-Carleton positronic motor and an Armat chassis. She had the cleanest, finest lines I've ever seen on any model, bar none. For five years, she'd been my favorite, and I'd put everything into her I could dream up. In all that time, there'd never been a human being behind her wheel.
Not once.
"Sally," I said, patting her gently, "meet Mr. Gellhorn."
Sally's cylinder-purr keyed up a little. I listened carefully for any knocking. Lately, I'd been hearing motor-knock in almost all the cars and changing the gasoline hadn't done a bit of good. Sally was as smooth as her paint job this time, however.
"Do you have names for all your cars?" asked Gellhorn.
He sounded amused, and Mrs. Hester doesn't like people to sound as though they were making fun of the Farm. She said, sharply, "Certainly. The cars have real personalities, don't they, Jake? The sedans are all males and the convertibles are females."
Gellhorn was smiling again. "And do you keep them in separate garages, ma'am?"
Mrs. Hester glared at him.
Gellhorn said to me, "And now I wonder if I can talk to you alone, Mr. Folkers?"
"That depends," I said. "Are you a reporter?"
"No, sir. I'm a sales agent. Any talk we have is not for publication. I assure you I am interested in strict privacy."
"Let's walk down the road a bit. There's a bench we can use."
We started down. Mrs. Hester walked away. Sally nudged along after us.
I said, "You don't mind if Sally comes along, do you?"
"Not at all. She can't repeat what we say, can she?" He laughed at his own joke, reached over and rubbed Sally's grille.
Sally raced her motor and Gellhorn's hand drew away quickly.
"She's not used to strangers," I explained.
"We sat down on the bench under the big oak tree where we could look across the small lake to the private speedway. It was the warm part of the day and the cars were out in force, at least thirty of them. Even at this distance I could see that Jeremiah was pulling his usual stunt of sneaking up behind some staid older model, then putting on a jerk of speed and yowling past with deliberately squealing brakes. Two weeks before he had crowded old Angus off the asphalt altogether, and I had turned off his motor for two days.
It didn't help though, I'm afraid, and it looks as though there's nothing to be done about it. Jeremiah is a sports model to begin with and that kind is awfully hot-headed.
"Well, Mr. Gellhorn," I said. "Could you tell me why you want the information?"
But he was just looking around. He said, "This is an amazing place, Mr. Folkers."
"I wish you'd call me Jake. Everyone does."
"All right, Jake. How many cars do you have here?"
"Fifty-one. We get one or two new ones every year. One year we got five. We haven't lost one yet. They're all in perfect running order. We even have a '15 model Mat-O-Mot in working order. One of the original automatics. It was the first car here."
Good old Matthew. He stayed in the garage most of the day now, but then he was the granddaddy of all positronic-motored cars. Those were the days when blind war veterans, paraplegics and heads of state were the only ones who drove automatics. But Samson Harridge was my boss and he was rich enough to be able to get one. I was his chauffeur at the time.
The thought makes me feel old. I can remember when there wasn't an automobile in the world with brains enough to find its own way home. I chauffeured dead lumps of machines that needed a man's hand at their controls every minute. Every year machines like that used to kill tens of thousands of people.
The automatics fixed that. A positronic brain can react much faster than a human one, of course, and it paid people to keep hands off the controls. You got in, punched your destination and let it go its own way.
We take it for granted now, but I remember when the first laws came out forcing the old machines off the highways and limiting travel to automatics. Lord, what a fuss. They called it everything from communism to fascism, but it emptied the highways and stopped the killing, and still more people get around more easily the new way.
Of course, the automatics were ten to a hundred times as expensive as the hand-driven ones, and there weren't many that could afford a private vehicle. The industry specialized in turning out omnibus-automatics. You could always call a company and have one stop at your door in a matter of minutes and take you where you wanted to go. Usually, you had to drive with others who were going your way, but what's wrong with that?
Samson Harridge had a private car though, and I went to him the minute it arrived. The car wasn't Matthew to me then. I didn't know it was going to be the dean of the Farm some day. I only knew it was taking my job away and I hated it.
I said, "You won't be needing me any more, Mr. Harridge?"
He said, "What are you dithering about, Jake? You don't think I'll trust myself to a contraption like that, do you? You stay right at the controls."
I said, "But it works by itself, Mr. Harridge. It scans the road, reacts properly to obstacles, humans, and other cars, and remembers routes to travel."
"So they say. So they say. Just the same, you're sitting right behind the wheel in case anything goes wrong."
Funny how you can get to like a car. In no time I was calling it Matthew and was spending all my time keeping it polished and humming. A positronic brain stays in condition best when it's got control of its chassis at all times, which means it's worth keeping the gas tank filled so that the motor can turn over slowly day and night. After a while, it got so I could tell by the sound of the motor how Matthew felt.
In his own way, Harridge grew fond of Matthew, too. He had no one else to like. He'd divorced or outlived three wives and outlived five children and three grandchildren. So when he died, maybe it wasn't surprising that he had his estate converted into a Farm for Retired Automobiles, with me in charge and Matthew the first member of a distinguished line.
It's turned out to be my life. I never got married. You can't get married and still tend to automatics the way you should.
The newspapers thought it was funny, but after a while they stopped joking about it. Some things you can't joke about. Maybe you've never been able to afford an automatic and maybe you never will, either, but take it from me, you get to love them. They're hard-working and affectionate. It takes a man with no heart to mistreat one or to see one mistreated.
It got so that after a man had an automatic for a while, he would make provisions for having it left to the Farm, if he didn't have an heir he could rely on to give it good care.
I explained that to Gellhorn.
He said, "Fifty-one cars! That represents a lot of money."
"Fifty thousand minimum per automatic, original investment," I said. "They're worth a lot more now. I've done things for them."
"It must take a lot of money to keep up the Farm."
"You're right there. The Farm's a non-profit organization, which gives us a break on taxes and, of course, new automatics that come in usually have trust funds attached. Still, costs are always going up. I have to keep the place landscaped; I keep laying down new asphalt and keeping the old in repair; there's gasoline, oil, repairs, and new gadgets. It adds up."
"And you've spent a long time at it."
"I sure have, Mr. Gellhorn. Thirty-three years."
"You don't seem to be getting much out of it yourself."
"I don't? You surprise me, Mr. Gellhorn. I've got Sally and fifty others. Look at her."
I was grinning. I couldn't help it. Sally was so clean, it almost hurt. Some insect must have died on her windshield or one speck of dust too many had landed, so she was going to work. A little tube protruded and spurted Tergosol over the glass. It spread quickly over the silicone surface film and squeejees snapped into place instantly, passing over the windshield and forcing the. water into the little channel that led it, dripping, down to the ground. Not a speck of water got onto her glistening apple-green hood. Squeejee and detergent tube snapped back into place and disappeared.
Gellhorn said, "I never saw an automatic do that."
"I guess not," I said. "I fixed that up specially on our cars. They're clean. They're always scrubbing their glass. They like it. I've even got Sally fixed up with wax jets. She polishes herself every night till you can see your face in any part of her and shave by it. If I can scrape up the money, I'd be putting it on the rest of the girls. Convertibles are very vain."
"I can tell you how to scrape up the money, if that interests you."
"That always does. How?"
"Isn't it obvious, fake? Any of your cars is worth fifty thousand minimum, you said. I'll bet most of them top six figures."
"So?"
"Ever think of selling a few?"
I shook my head. "You don't realize it, I guess, Mr. Gellhorn, but I can't sell any of these. They belong to the Farm, not to me."
"The money would go to the Farm."
"The incorporation papers of the Farm provide that the cars receive perpetual care. They can't be sold."
"What about the motors, then?"
"I don't understand you."
Gellhorn shifted position and his voice got confidential. "Look here, Jake, let me explain the situation. There's a big market for private automatics if they could only be made cheaply enough. Right?"
"That's no secret."
"And ninety-five per cent of the cost is the motor. Right? Now, I know where we can get a supply of bodies. I also know where we can sell automatics at a good price-twenty or thirty thousand for the cheaper models, maybe fifty or sixty for the better ones. All I need are the motors. You see the solution?"
"I don't, Mr. Gellhorn." I did, but I wanted him to spell it out.
"It's right here. You've got fifty-one of them. You're an expert automatobile mechanic, Jake. You must be. You could unhook a motor and place it in another car so that no one would know the difference."
"It wouldn't be exactly ethical."
"You wouldn't be harming the cars. You'd be doing them a favor. Use your older cars. Use that old Mat-O-Mot."
"Well, now, wait a while, Mr. Gellhorn. The motors and bodies aren't two separate items. They're a single unit. Those motors are used to their own bodies. They wouldn't be happy in another car."
"All right, that's a point. That's a very good point, Jake. It would be like taking your mind and putting it in someone else's skull. Right? You don't think you would like that?"
"I don't think I would. No."
"But what if I took your mind and put it into the body of a young athlete. What about that, Jake? You're not a youngster anymore. If you had the chance, wouldn't you enjoy being twenty again? That's what I'm offering some of your positronic motors. They'll be put into new '57 bodies. The latest construction."
I laughed. "That doesn't make much sense, Mr. Gellhorn. Some of our cars may be old, but they're well-cared for. Nobody drives them. They're allowed their own way. They're retired, Mr. Gellhorn. I wouldn't want a twenty-year-old body if it meant I had to dig ditches for the rest of my new life and never have enough to eat… What do you think, Sally?"
Sally's two doors opened and then shut with a cushioned slam.
"What that?" said Gellhorn.
"That's the way Sally laughs."
Gellhorn forced a smile. I guess he thought I was making a bad joke. He said, "Talk sense, Jake. Cars are made to be driven. They're probably not happy if you don't drive them."
I said, "Sally hasn't been driven in five years. She looks happy to me."
"I wonder."
He got up and walked toward Sally slowly. "Hi, Sally, how'd you like a drive?"
Sally's motor revved up. She backed away.
"Don't push her, Mr. Gellhorn," I said. "She's liable to be a little skittish."
Two sedans were about a hundred yards up the road. They had stopped. Maybe, in their own way, they were watching. I didn't bother about them. I had my eyes on Sally, and I kept them there.
Gellhorn said, "Steady now, Sally." He lunged out and seized the door handle. It didn't budge, of course.
He said, "It opened a minute ago."
I said, "Automatic lock. She's got a sense of privacy, Sally has."
He let go, then said, slowly and deliberately, "A car with a sense of privacy shouldn't go around with its top down."
He stepped back three or four paces, then quickly, so quickly I couldn't take a step to stop him, he ran forward and vaulted into the car. He caught Sally completely by surprise, because as he came down, he shut off the ignition before she could lock it in place.
For the first time in five years, Sally's motor was dead.
I think I yelled, but Gellhorn had the switch on "Manual" and locked that in place, too. He kicked the motor into action. Sally was alive again but she had no freedom of action.
He started up the road. The sedans were still there. They turned and drifted away, not very quickly. I suppose it was all a puzzle to them.
One was Giuseppe, from the Milan factories, and the other was Stephen. They were always together. They were both new at the Farm, but they'd been here long enough to know that our cars just didn't have drivers.
Gellhorn went straight on, and when the sedans finally got it through their heads that Sally wasn't going to slow down, that she couldn't slow down, it was too late for anything but desperate measures.
They broke for it, one to each side, and Sally raced between them like a streak. Steve crashed through the lakeside fence and rolled to a halt on the grass and mud not six inches from the water's edge. Giuseppe bumped along the land side of the road to a shaken halt.
I had Steve back on the highway and was trying to find out what harm, if any, the fence had done him, when Gellhorn came back.
Gellhorn opened Sally's door and stepped out. Leaning back, he shut off the ignition a second time.
"There," he said. "I think I did her a lot of good."
I held my temper. "Why did you dash through the sedans? There was no reason for that."
"I kept expecting them to turn out."
"They did. One went through a fence."
"I'm sorry, Jake," he said. "I thought they'd move more quickly. You know how it is. I've been in lots of buses, but I've only been in a private automatic two or three times in my life, and this is the first time I ever drove one. That just shows you, Jake. It got me, driving one, and I'm pretty hard-boiled. I tell you, we don't have to go more than twenty per cent below list price to reach a good market, and it would be ninety per cent profit."
"Which we would split?"
"Fifty-fifty. And I take all the risks, remember."
"All right. I listened to you. Now you listen to me." I raised my voice because I was just too mad to be polite anymore. "When you turn off Sally's motor, you hurt her. How would you like to be kicked unconscious? That's what you do to Sally, when you turn her off."
"You're exaggerating, Jake. The automatobuses get turned off every night."
"Sure, that's why I want none of my boys or girls in your fancy '57 bodies, where I won't know what treatment they'll get. Buses need major repairs in their positronic circuits every couple of years. Old Matthew hasn't had his circuits touched in twenty years. What can you offer him compared with that?"
"Well, you're excited now. Suppose you think over my proposition when you've cooled down and get in touch with me."
"I've thought it over all I want to. If I ever see you again, I'll call the police."
His mouth got hard and ugly. He said, "Just a minute, old-timer."
I said, "Just a minute, you. This is private property and I'm ordering you off."
He shrugged. "Well, then, goodbye."
I said, "Mrs. Hester will see you off the property. Make that goodbye permanent."
But it wasn't permanent. I saw him again two days later. Two and a half days, rather, because it was about noon when I saw him first and a little after midnight when I saw him again.
I sat up in bed when he turned the light on, blinking blindly till I made out what was happening. Once I could see, it didn't take much explaining. In fact, it took none at all. He had a gun in his right fist, the nasty little needle barrel just visible between two fingers. I knew that all he had to do was to increase the pressure of his hand and I would be torn apart., He said, "Put on your clothes, Jake."
I didn't move. I just watched him.
He said, "Look, Jake, I know the situation. I visited you two days ago, remember. You have no guards on this place, no electrified fences, no warning signals. Nothing."
I said, "I don't need any. Meanwhile there's nothing to stop you from leaving, Mr. Gellhorn. I would if I were you. This place can be very dangerous."
He laughed a little. "It is, for anyone on the wrong side of a fist gun."
"I see it," I said. "I know you've got one."
"Then get a move on. My men are waiting."
"No, sir, Mr. Gellhorn. Not unless you tell me what you want, and probably not then."
"I made you a proposition day before yesterday."
"The answer's still no."
"There's more to the proposition now. I've come here with some men and an automatobus. You have your chance to come with me and disconnect twenty-five of the positronic motors. I don't care which twenty-five you choose. We'll load them on the bus and take them away. Once they're disposed of, I'll see to it that you get your fair share of the money."
"I have your word on that, I suppose."
He didn't act as if he thought I was being sarcastic. He said, "You have."
I said, "No."
"If you insist on |
-17 are closed between Happy Valley and Pinnacle Peak roads from 9 p.m. Friday to noon Saturday. Pinnacle Peak Road overpass and I-17 on-ramps are also off limits. I-17 off-ramps at Pinnacle Peak Road are restricted with only right turns allowed. Happy Valley Road is an alternate.
I-17 off-ramps at Camelback Road are closed from 6 a.m. to 11 a.m. Sunday. Camelback Road is also closed between 27th Avenue and I-17, although Camelback Road traffic can turn right only to I-17 on-ramps or frontage roads. Try Indian School or Bethany Home roads as alternates.
Northbound I-17 ramps to Loop 101 are closed overnight from 11 p.m. Sunday to 5 a.m. Monday. Deer Valley Road or Union Hills Drive are other options during the closure.
US 60 (Grand Avenue):
Eastbound Grand Avenue is cut down to only one lane between Deer Valley Road and Loop 303 from 9 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Monday.
SR 347 & 238 in Maricopa:
The SR 347 intersection at State Route 238 is restricted with no SR 238 access to or from SR 347 from 7 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Monday. SR 347 is scheduled to remain open with lane restrictions. Follow signed detour routes on other local roadways to navigate around the road block.
Copyright 2016 KPNXDoom Update 2 coming tomorrow; Unto the Evil DLC hits next week New maps and Snapmap options being added.
There are lots of goodies coming for Doom within the next week. First, Update 2 releases tomorrow with some new free content, then on August 5, the multiplayer expansion Unto the Evil will be unleashed upon the world.
In tomorrow's update, players will get two new multiplayer maps. Sector is a map for capture and hold mode, while Exodus is a map for One-Flag CTF mode. In addition, new Snapmap modifications have been added, including weapon wheel, jump pads and Hell modules.
Update 2's release will coincide with the launch of a Double XP weekend, which will end on July 31.
As for Unto the Evil, it will include:
Three new multiplayer maps: Offering, Cataclysm, and Ritual
A new player-controlled demon: Harvester
A new weapon: UAC EMG Pistol
New equipment: Kinetic Mine
New ways to customize your DOOM Marine, including additional armor sets, patterns, colors, and taunts
New hack modules
The DLC expansion will sell for $14.99 when it is released next Friday for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.The Los Angeles GGJ site is being run by USC's Makers of Entertaining Games Association (MEGA), the IGDA LA, and Activision. We want the Global Game Jam to be as amazing as possible, so here's some helpful info. If there are any questions or concerns, feel free to e-mail [email protected] - all of the organizers on the USC side can check that address, so that's how you're likely to get the fastest response.
Location
We will be jamming in the brand-new-this-year Interactive Media building at USC. The address is 3470 McClintock Ave., but if you're having trouble finding that on Google Maps or whatever other GPS service you're using, you will find the building on the corner of McClintock Ave. & W. 34th St. To enter the building, you must go to the entrance inside of the cinema school complex's gates (there will be signs directing you to the correct entrance).
Parking & Getting Onto Campus
Unfortunately, there is a lot of construction happening around USC right now, which means that available parking is limited. We highly encourage the use of public transportation: the Metro's Expo Line train has a stop just down Jefferson Boulevard from the jam, the Jefferson/USC station. If you aren't taking public transportation, limited parking is available on campus: enter USC's campus at the corner of Jefferson Blvd. and McClintock Ave., and you can pay $10 per day to park in a structure on campus, provided there are spots available. There is also metered parking along Jefferson Blvd. and McClintock Ave. If you are not a student, you will still be allowed to enter campus. However, if you think you might be entering campus after 9 PM on any given day, please contact us so that we can have a student put you on the "guest list" to get into campus. You will need a state ID with you to enter campus after 9 PM.
Schedule
Friday
5 PM - introduction/keynote (we will be starting exactly at 5, so please arrive earlier if possible)
6 PM - tutorials in both Unity and GameMaker, thanks to our partners at IGDA LA
11:50 PM - clean up, to close down the building by midnight
Saturday
10 AM - building and lab spaces open up again
5 PM - deadline to register any game(s) you're working on to be eligible to win prizes
11:50 PM - clean up, to close down the building by midnight
Sunday
10 AM - building and lab spaces open up again
3 PM - development finishes, begin uploading games
4 PM - peer games showcase: go around and play all of the other awesome games!
5 PM - our fantastic judges (gathered together thanks to both Activision and the IGDA) will begin walking around, playing each game
7 PM - awards are announced, prizes distributed
Equipment
Our jam location has Internet access with no password required, and plenty of power outlets for everyone. We do have a limited number of computers available for use as well, but if you have your own computer, it would be much more preferable for you to bring that.
Food
Food is allowed only in certain parts of our jam space. We will be providing dinner after the kickoff, as well as other food throughout the weekend, thanks to our generous partners at Activision! There is also plenty of access to food nearby, along Jefferson Boulevard and Figueroa Street.In 2012, Dr. Ron Weiss cashed in most of his assets to buy a 342-acre farm—a National Historic Landmark—in bucolic Long Valley, N.J., which is an hour west of Manhattan, N.Y. What inspired an urban primary care doctor who had a thriving practice to take up farming? To find out, we talked to Weiss, assistant professor of clinical medicine at New Jersey Medical School and the founder of Ethos Health, the first working farm-based medical practice in the country.
Weiss grew up in the 1960s in New Jersey and remembers the farms he visited every season to buy the state’s famous peaches, blueberries, and tomatoes. He also remembers how slowly, but surely, the farms started disappearing. As a child, Weiss loved nature, science, and the outdoors. He also dreamed of having a farm of his own one day in his beloved garden state.
As an undergraduate at Rutgers University, he chose to major in botany and also pursued pre-med and piano performance studies. He completed his residency at George Washington University and started working as an emergency room doctor at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. It was there that Weiss received the call that would direct the course of his life. “I got the news that my father was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and was given one month to live,” he said. “The cancer had spread to his other organs, so his doctor told him that chemotherapy had little to no chance of shrinking his tumors. So he opted out of treatment and went home to prepare to die. I quit my job in California and returned home to be with him.”
This was way before internet research was easy and accessible, so once he got home, Weiss went to the local library in Fair Lawn, N.J., to research alternative treatments to help his father. Weiss had one advantage—his botany training. He explained, “I was always studying the resilience of plants and their ability, given optimal circumstances, to fend off their own diseases.” Since over one-third of all pharmaceuticals are derived from plants, Weiss was always interested in how the full power of plants, rather than extractions, could reverse and prevent illness. “I was distraught and motivated, and I read everything I could get my hands on,” he recalled. “I then stumbled upon some first-person stories about how people had found success using a macrobiotic diet as an alternative and complementary cancer treatment.”
Witnessing Firsthand the Power of a Plant-Based Diet
He put his father on the macrobiotic diet promoted by Michio Kushi, a leader in the macrobiotic community and food-health movement. It was a plant-based diet with a focus on grains and vegetables. Dr. Weiss still talks about what happened with amazement:
“A plant-based diet doesn’t sound strange now, but it was shocking to people at that time. This was in 1991. On this diet, my father lived for 18 more months. He didn’t just survive, limping along—he rapidly improved and soon felt better than he had for most of his adult life. His severe abdominal pains vanished and a week later he was able to return to his work as an attorney. In another week he was back in the gym, and then started running every day. It was incredible. His doctors were shocked by his CT scans—he had a 50 percent reduction in tumor masses.
“That’s when I realized that the connection between food and health was so powerful, and that I wanted to do work that incorporated the healing power of good food. After my father died, I went back to work as an ER doctor and eventually set up a primary and multi-specialty busy practice in West New York, N.J. Plant-based nutrition was the foundation of my daily practice, but I knew that I eventually wanted to incorporate it into a broader lifestyle approach and get patients invested in how their food is grown.”
After 16 years, Weiss realized it was time to break free from the more traditional setting and create a new paradigm in medical care. “I envisioned a different type of health care—one that reveals to people the root causes [of] their suffering and strives to remove them.” He spent five years looking for the right farm, sold most of his assets—including his medical practice—and convinced his wife and children to go all-in on the dream of Ethos Health. It’s been a bumpy but exciting road for Weiss and his family with all the rigors of relocation, start-up struggles, running a working farm, and creating a new life from scratch. It’s hard to be the first.
A Year of Mindful Living, a Physician-Guided Lifestyle Program
Weiss says one of the most powerful programs at Ethos Health is “A Year of Mindful Living.” This comprehensive, physician-guided lifestyle program includes Weiss’ 30-day Challenge—a “detox” program of intensive dietary change that results in profound transformation. It also includes ongoing nutritional and lifestyle education and real-life application classes and access to a community; plant-based potlucks, sports days, and planting days are held so that patients can connect for support and just pure fun. There are patients from all walks of life with a wide variety of issues, from obesity to cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and autoimmune diseases who seek out Ethos Health.
The local, regional, and even national media response has been incredible. The New York Times and the Today Show have featured the farm-based practice. These days, patients fly and drive from miles around to seek medical care from Weiss. They find the good doctor practicing primary care in an old wooden farmhand’s house smack in the middle of the 275-year-old working farm. His “waiting room” extends to the fields where patients can do thigh-building squats as they pick produce or fruit. One patient, 50-year-old Joyce Barrier, commented that: “It is a fitting location for holistic healing. When I go to other doctor’s offices, I am surrounded by reminders of the medications they use, and here at Ethos, I am also surrounded by their “medications” on the farm.”
In Just Three Months, Joyce is Pain-Free and Off Most of Her 15+ Medications
Barrier came to Ethos in March 2016. She suffered for many years with a multitude of chronic illnesses, including poorly controlled type 2 diabetes, peripheral neuropathy, severe ulcerative colitis, inflammatory arthritis, high cholesterol, hypertension, and asthma. In just three months at Ethos Health, she has transformed, losing 50 pounds and discontinuing almost all of her 15+ medications including very large doses of insulin. Her daily baseline pain, which was almost unbearable, is now about gone.
Joyce Barrier and Dr. Ron Weiss
When asked what she likes best about “A Year of Mindful Living,” Barrier explained: “I like that there is a real attempt to provide all that is needed for my success. The program anticipates information needed and provides education to change my whole lifestyle and make the needed alterations in thinking and behavior.” At the beginning, Barrier called Weiss three or four times a week to discuss blood sugars and get off insulin gradually. On a daily basis, she emails the practice manager, Asha Gala, her thoughts and feelings as she struggles with the challenges of making such a profound change. What inspires her the most are, she said, are the “high fives Dr. Weiss gives me. He says I am climbing the mountain of health and wholeness and he is sure I will get to the top. I believe it is possible with his encouragement.” One day soon Barrier, a nurse practitioner, who has been disabled by her ailments, hopes to go back to work and realize her dream to take her new whole-food, plant-based medical transformation and “spread the gospel.”
Because so few working farms are left, Weiss is committed to providing both patients and the public access to the healing properties of the farm. Every Saturday a “Doctor’s Farmer’s Market” is offered for the public and patients to purchase greens, pick varieties of strawberries, take classes such as mindful kitchen cooking or wildflower design, or go on hikes led by partners such as the New Jersey Audubon Society—the farm is home to over 100 species of birds, all of which are important to the sustainable ecosystem Weiss and his farmers are creating at Ethos.Thirty-four percent of Republicans say they personally know someone who lost health-insurance coverage, lost their job or had their hours cut because of the Affordable Care Act, according to a poll released today by the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Ten percent of Democrats say they know someone who lost their job or had their hours cut. Fifteen percent say they know someone who lost their health insurance because of the health-care law.
On the less negative side, 46 percent of Democrats say they know someone who was able to get health insurance because of the Affordable Care Act. Only 19 percent of Republicans could say the same. The two parties proved bookends for Independents on all three measures.
In other words, Republicans are three times more likely to think that the new health-care law is doing bad things to those around them than Democrats are, and Democrats are two times more likely to see Obamacare doing good things around them. Even when Kaiser controlled for demographic factors, the partisan tilt remained. When 60 percent of Americans think that the health-care law hasn't affected them yet, these opinions received by respondents secondhand are playing a big role in shaping how Americans think of the new health-care law.
What does this mean for assessing the implementation of Obamacare? It's hard to say. As we've mentioned on the Fix before, the strong ideological bent of opinions on the Affordable Care Act make it hard to learn anything definitively from the polls except, "Yup, Republicans still hate Obamacare, and Democrats kinda like it." Questions about Obamacare policy will always be answered as questions about Obamacare politics (and with a name like Obamacare, it may be impossible to ever separate the policy from the politics).
A man looks over the Affordable Care Act (commonly known as Obamacare) signup page on the HealthCare.gov web site in New York in this Oct. 2, 2013, photo illustration. REUTERS/Mike Segar
With that caveat out of the way, it is very possible that many Republicans could be seeing different outcomes from Obamacare than Democrats that would lead them to dislike the law for reasons other than politics. The map of states that decided to expand Medicaid -- inviting the federal government in to pay for most of the growth for the next decade -- look very similar to a map of electoral college votes in the 2012 presidential election. Only eight states with a Republican legislature or executive decided to expand Medicaid.
Via: The Advisory Board Company
Earlier this May, Washington Post reporter Jason Millman looked at the red-blue divide in how the Affordable Care Act was visible in hospital admissions.
The Hospital Corporation of America, which has facilities in 20 states, reported a big gap in Medicaid and uninsured admissions between expansion and non-expansion states. In the four states it operates where Medicaid expanded under the ACA, the company saw a 22.3 percent growth in Medicaid admissions, compared to a 1.3 percent decline in non-expansion states. The company also had a 29 percent decline in uninsured admissions in the expansion states, while non-expansion states experienced 5.9 percent growth in uninsured admissions, chief financial officer William Rutherford said.
States where the leadership was active in fighting insurance companies for lower premiums saw rates that were about 2.6 percent lower than in states that were disengaged with the health-care law's rollout, according to reporting by CNN Money. The uninsured rate is dropping faster in states that built their own exchanges and expanded Medicaid.
Some states that voted for Romney in 2012 expanded Medicaid and built their own (non-clunky) exchange. Kentucky is probably the biggest success story, with 10 percent of residents now signed up through health insurance through the Affordable Care Act. However, public opinion on the health-care law in Kentucky reinforces the futility of trying to understand Obamacare as a policy with polling at this point. The Washington Post's Greg Sargent talked to Democratic pollster Celinda Lake, who did polling on the health-care law in the state. Residents love Kynect -- the name of Kentucky's exchange -- but hate Obamacare. Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky did a poll in January, and 79 percent of residents said they favored the Medicaid expansion, while still saying they didn't like Obamacare.
There are partisan differences that could possibly be explained by partisan differences in how the Affordable Care Act has been deployed around the country -- but it doesn't seem like most respondents are connecting the "health-care law" they keep hearing about in the news to the changes happening in their state. States made a smart PR move in not naming state exchanges in a way that would connect them in any way with the Affordable Care Act, but it also means that Republicans and many Independents are doubtful to ever think nice thoughts about the federal law and how it affects those around them -- especially with politicians in both parties trying their hardest to separate the state-level health-care successes from the meaningless bogeyman that "Obamacare" seems to be becoming, leading Republicans to find it hurts those around them and Democrats to think it helps, without either side quite sure what it all means, and hoping their legislators can explain it -- or at least stop talking about the law so much.Bret Bielema, Gus Malzahn, Mark Stoops, and Butch Jones. All aboard the struggle bus! Steve Spurrier is driving!
This isn’t a conversation about hot seats, and this isn’t an article where I complain about the struggles of the Arkansas Razorbacks and their disappointing start to the 2015 campaign. This is merely an observation meant to illicit rational thinking by all 4 fanbases that hired a new coach in 2012: Arkansas, Auburn, Kentucky, and Tennessee.
The Arkansas Razorbacks limped into a BYE week after their loss to Alabama. When you account for injuries, graduation, and the NFL draft, the 2-4 (1-2) Hogs have lost 12 of the 22 starters from last year’s 7-6 team. Not counting injuries, that number is still at 8. That’s a huge loss for a team that had an incredibly shallow depth chart to begin with. If the 2014 Hogs had suffered the injuries that the 2015 team has, then I’m skeptical the team would have finished so strong.
That’s not to make an excuse as much as an explanation. There’s no excusing away the Toledo loss, and Texas Tech out-schemed the Hogs. The Razorbacks shot themselves in the foot with penalties against Texas A&M (as well as Toledo and TTU, for that matter) and have struggled all season long to deliver on any of the hype that was built up about the run game and the defense in the offseason. And that falls on Bret Bielema.
The head Hog not only let the hype build up, he was responsible for a lot of it himself. When you put the offensive line on the cover of the media guide, I think it should be safe to assume you should be able to rush for more than 103 yards against Toledo in Little Rock. CALL ME CRAZY! The Arkansas coaching staff watched Brooks Ellis and Denver Kirkland play out of position all offseason and never made a switch. The turnaround for the Hogs defense happened when true freshman Dre Greenlaw moved to WLB and Ellis moved back to MLB. How was it that hard to notice? It’s too late to move Kirkland, but he should never have been at tackle. Surely Johnny Gibson or Brian Wallace could have benefited from A) playing in that role all offseason and B) getting all this game experience. It’s just head scratch worthy to me. And for the second season in a row, the Hogs have got to close out the season with big time wins over SEC teams in order to make a bowl game.
Here’s the MOST frustrating part, though. I think the Hogs will do it. The way the defense looked against Alabama, Tennessee, and TAMU makes me think the Razorbacks are close to turning a corner, just like in 2014. The reason for the frustration is that we had to wait until after a BYE week to turn the corner again. If the Arkansas that played against A&M had played against UTEP, and then gotten better every week, then the Hogs would be 4-2 or 5-1 right now. THAT is what is frustrating to me.
The Razorbacks aren’t the only team that is struggling, though. It’s hard times all around the conference. The Hogs host an Auburn Tigers team that was picked by the media to win the SEC this year, and they certainly haven’t delivered on that promise to their fans, either. In Malzahn’s first season as the Auburn head coach, he took the Tigers all the way to the BCS National Championship game, which they lost to Florida State. In 2014, the Tigers started strong before dropping 4 of their last 5 games (including their bowl game) to finish with an 8-5 final record. This season, Auburn is 4-2 (2-1), but hasn’t looked great in any of their wins. Single score victories over Louisville, Jacksonville State, and Kentucky has the Tiger faithful wondering what’s going to happen now that the tough part of their schedule begins.
Auburn, much like Arkansas, fell victim to hype from the media and the coaches, as well has poor judgement by the coaching staff in key positions. Most notably at quarterback. The preseason hype around Jeremy Johnson was huge. He was called “the next Cam Newton” on more than one occasion by multiple media outlets. By week 6, Johnson had been benched for Sean White, and Auburn had lost their #1 receiver, Duke Williams, to off the field issues. How did Malzahn watch this offense and not make the change sooner? It’s the same questions I have for Bielema. You WATCHED this team EVERY DAY! Why did you let the media hype your QB up so much? That just led to insane expectations from the fans and for the team. You can actually listen to me talk about this with the Jason Caldwell of AUTigers.com on this Vsporto exclusive.
It’s not hard to pinpoint the problems at Arkansas. A decimated depth chart, injuries, and some questionable coaching calls. It IS, in my opinion, hard to pinpoint the problems at Auburn. Say what you will about Gene Chizik, but he recruited like a beast while at the school. It showed in the team that Malzahn inherited in 2013. Yes, Gus recruited most of the offensive players, but it was still Gene’s team. I’m only 40% serious when I wonder if Malzahn can get it done with his own players. Not to be a jerk, but he really hasn’t ever stayed in one place long enough for us to find out. He’s never been at any job more than 2 season until now, and he’s struggling. Eh, I’m sure he’ll be fine. Neither him nor Bielema are on the hot seat this year, no matter how bad the second half of the season goes for them.
The same can’t be said for Tennessee Volunteers head coach Butch Jones. Vol fans are very frustrated with Butch this season, and understandably so. Just like Arkansas and Auburn, Tennessee came into the season with high expectations from the media and the fans. Potential winners of the SEC East, and all that jazz. It’s been a rough season for Tennessee so far. The Vols sit at 3-3 (1-2) overall, and in all three of their losses they led by 14 points or more. How does that happen?
Much like Arkansas last year, Tennessee finished strong, winning 4 of their last 5 games in 2014, including a bowl victory over Iowa. Butch Jones has signed top 10 classes 2 years in a row at Knoxville, and had a top 5 class last year. Fans in Tennessee are beginning to wonder is Butch can win on the field like he does in recruiting. The Vols were able to squeak out a home win against a Nick Chubb-less Georgia team, and have to face Alabama this Saturday.
The Vols have some hope for the season, though. The toughest part of their schedule is behind them after Alabama. Home games against South Carolina, Kentucky, and Vanderbilt are the benefit of playing in the SEC East, and should give the Vols a shot at post-season play.
Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops is probably the least likely to be declared on the “hot seat”, at least for the moment. Stoops has Kentucky 2 wins away from being bowl eligible, and still has Vandy, Charlotte, Mississippi State, and Louisville left on the schedule. Stoops has recruited fairly well at Kentucky, but that doesn’t change the fact that he went 5-7 last season, and lost at home to a not-so-great Auburn team last week. However, since Kentucky is all about that round ball, if Stoops gets to a bowl game this year, I think fans will be overall happy with his progress.
So let’s sum up: Arkansas is 2-4 (1-2). Auburn is 4-2 (1-2). Tennessee is 3-3 (1-2). And Kentucky is 4-2 (2-2).
In year 3 of all these head coach’s tenures at these schools, it is hard times. Is it because these coaches are all terrible and they should be fired along with the athletic directors that hired them? That is the opinion of a (very) vocal minority online, for sure. Or is the answer more obvious and less dramatic than that? Maybe….just maybe…rebuilding a program in the SEC is hard?
The synchronicity of these 4 programs this season has been interesting to watch. Arkansas and Tennessee both finished 7-6 last year with lots of big wins late in the season. Both coaches rode a wave of hype into the season, and then wiped out hard by week 2. Bret Bielema got his first conference road win against Butch Jones this year. (It was the first time Bret has played an unranked road game.) Then Arkansas had to play Alabama on the road, and had their momentum squashed. Tennessee gets a big win over Georgia, then has to turn around and play Alabama on the road and (most likely) get their momentum squashed.
Gus Malzahn has his only SEC victory so far this year over Kentucky. Again, the 2012 coaches can’t get out of each other’s paths. Auburn may have 4 wins, but they also have the toughest schedule remaining of these 4 teams by far. The Tigers still have to play Ole Miss, A&M, Georgia, and Alabama. AND they open as 3.5 point underdogs to the Razorbacks, a 2 win team. Auburn is going to have to upset a team to make a bowl game this year. Their best shot is against Arkansas.
Meanwhile, in Fayetteville, Arkansas has a fairly favorable schedule down the stretch, with home games against Auburn, UT Martin, Mississippi State, and Missouri. All 4 games against beatable teams, and the Hogs need 4 wins to go bowling. Which means that for Bret and Gus, they each need to win against another 2012 classmate to give themselves a good shot at a bowl game.
Finally, let’s say that both Auburn and Arkansas make a bowl game this year, (which is totally possible, obviously) then that means they both got there by beating a 2012 classmate from the East. Just odd and interesting coincidences all around for the SEC this year, particularly involving the 2012 class of coaches.
So what is the solution, then? Is there even a problem? Every coach seems to be in the same situation. Arkansas and Auburn both gave their respective coaches gigantic buyouts. They aren’t going anywhere. Tennessee gave Jones a respectable extension after last season, but I believe they’re still paying their last coach off his buyout as well, so I’m not sure if any type of firing is an option for the Vols, either.
Honestly, I can’t speak for the Auburn, Tennessee, or Kentucky fans when it comes to their coach’s buyouts and such. But I can speak for Arkansas. When Jeff Long extended Bret Bielema’s contract, it wasn’t just because the team had improved so much. It wasn’t just because of the MASSIVE decrease in off the field issues and arrests. It wasn’t just because the teams GPA had risen from below a 2.0 to an even 3.0 by the end of summer courses. No, it was much more than that.
When Arkansas hired Bret Bielema late in 2012, he became the 4th head Hog in 6 years for Arkansas. The Houston Nutt recruiting classes weren’t great, and the last Petrino class wasn’t great, then we had an interim coach and lol recruiting for that year. Bielema offered so much, both tangibly and intangibly, to the university. But the main thing he offered? Stability. That’s something that Gus, Butch, and Mark all offer to their schools as well. I think all 4 coaches will have success in their current positions with their programs. Will the success be enough to satiate their fans and donors? That is unknowable. What I can say with great confidence, however, is that firing ANY of these coaches after only 3 years in a program would be a huge mistake. What kind of message would that send to the coaches you try to bring in to replace the guy you just fired? No one is going to want that job. 3 years is not a long time, especially in the SEC. The most difficult thing you can ask of a passionate fanbase is to have patience, but that’s exactly what Arkansas fans need right now.
That, and a win over Auburn.Mary Skelter: Nightmares launches September 19 in North America, September 22 in Europe
Compile Heart dungeon RPG dated for the west.
Mary Skelter: Nightmares will launch for PS Vita in North America on September 19 and in Europe on September 22, publisher Idea Factory International announced. It will be available both physically and digitally, and will compatible with PlayStation TV.
Here is an overview of the game, via Idea Factory:
Overview Escape from the living Jail in Mary Skelter: Nightmares for PS Vita! Powerful Nightmares actively stalk the player as you run through the dungeon–fight back with the dungeons’ gimmicks or the Blood Maidens’ abilities! Using a turn-based battle system, class changes, a blood-licking transform system, and more, you and your party must solve the dungeons’ mysteries and satisfy the prison’s desires. You just might make it out alive! About The Jail suddenly appeared a number of years ago, sinking the city deep into the ground. There, the Jail had power over eerie creatures called “Marchens.” Within the prison was a boy named Jack – living a life of suffering, tortured day in and day out, in a world where all dreams, hopes, peace, and humanity had been lost for as long as the people could remember. Then one day, amidst the darkness that prevailed, a girl who called herself a member of the Blood Team came and rescued Jack from the prison. This marked the beginning of fate – of Jack’s and the Blood Maidens’ escape from the Jail… Jack and the Blood Team will face countless perils in regaining all that has been lost, to finally escape once and for all! Key Features Walking Nightmares! The dungeon-crawling RPG genre gets a twist when special enemies can chase you through the dungeons! Lay traps to make your escape, or try to face them down!
The dungeon-crawling RPG genre gets a twist when special enemies can chase you through the dungeons! Lay traps to make your escape, or try to face them down! Blood-drenched Transformations! Characters can transform with stronger stats and extra skills, but if they fight too much they may enter Blood Skelter Mode, where they go completely berserk!
Characters can transform with stronger stats and extra skills, but if they fight too much they may enter Blood Skelter Mode, where they go completely berserk! Everyone’s got a Job! Strategize your dungeon battles by assigning different classes to your characters, unlocking new skills, stats, and character portraits!
Watch a new trailer below. View a new set of screenshots at the gallery.Violent crime increased in many of the nation’s largest cities in 2016, the second year in a row that metro areas saw jumps in homicide, robbery and aggravated assault.
According to the Major Cities Chiefs Association, which collected data from 61 metropolitan police agencies, U.S. cities saw 6,407 homicides in 2016, an 11% increase from the year before. Dallas, Las Vegas, Louisville, Memphis, Phoenix and San Jose all saw rises in killings last year, as did some smaller cities that typically have very low murder rates. Arlington, Texas, for example, had 4 homicides in 2015 but 18 in 2016; Salt Lake City saw 6 in 2015 compared with 14 last year.
Darrel Stephens, the MCCA’s executive director, cautions that it’s too early to know whether increases seen over the last two years are mere blips or the beginning of a sustained increase in overall crime rates around the country. Criminologists often say it takes at least three to five years of data to show true trend lines.
President Donald Trump routinely portrays crime in the country’s inner cities as out of control. Last week, he tweeted a vague threat to “send in the feds” in Chicago if the city didn’t lower its crime rates. But even with the recent increases, crime remains near all-time lows.
“We’ve had at least two years running now where there’s been an increase in 35 to 45 major cities,” Stephens says. “It’s a major issue and should be in the cities where it’s taking place. But it’s not anywhere near the kind of violence that we had in the 1990s.”
Stephens says many departments cite similar problems: gang violence and retaliation, violence associated with drugs, the overwhelming number of guns in many U.S. cities, and even problems related to conflicts originating on social media. Another consistent factor is that violent crime is often concentrated in just a handful of neighborhoods. In Chicago, for instance, most of the homicides occur in a few areas on the South and West sides.
In Dallas, officials often cite domestic assaults and drug-related offenses as factors in the increasing crime rates, leading the department to create a 170-member violent crime task force made up of K-9, narcotics, and gang units. Memphis, meanwhile, is struggling with domestic violence and gang-related violence.
“We are going to put more focus in the police department on the gangs and the gang units, because they are really driving a lot of the homicides,” Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland told local NBC affiliate WMC earlier this month.
The raw numbers, however, often don’t fully reflect the circumstances behind the increases. The city with one of the biggest spikes last year was Orlando, where 85 people were killed compared with 32 in 2015; 49 of those, though, were from the Orlando nightclub shooting in June.
Read more: See Chicago’s Deadly Year in 3 Charts
About a third of the cities noted in the report either remained steady or saw declines in the number of homicides, including Baltimore, which had a record number of murders in 2015 but reported a decrease last year.
As for this year, Stephens says he believes the crime rates will largely be similar to 2016. “I don’t think that’s going to substantially change this year,” he says.
Contact us at editors@time.com.For lobbyists in Washington, it’s all tax reform, all the time.
The GOP’s consideration of tax legislation has stirred feverish activity on K Street, with an army of lobbyists — even those who don’t specialize in taxes — swarming the Capitol to keep tabs on the bill.
The stakes couldn’t be higher, with Republicans considering a sweeping overhaul of the tax code that could affect business profits for decades to come.
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“It’s guns ablazing, from what I’ve witnessed. This is the time to get your changes or to shape the policy. Once it goes to the floor, you’re too late in the process,” said one Republican lobbyist who asked for anonymity in order to speak freely.
The GOP lobbyists who spoke with The Hill asked for anonymity so as to not alienate their clients or employers. All of them said the work on tax legislation is consuming their lives.
“It’s a frenzy, there are literally not enough hours in the day to have the discussions anybody who wants to make a change needs to have,” a second Republican said.
There have been more than 500 new lobbying registrations that list advocacy work on tax policy since the beginning of 2017, compared to 264 in all of last year, according to a review by The Hill of disclosure records.
The advocacy around the bill includes big-name fly-in visits to Washington, with the chief financial officers of large corporations looking to meet with lawmakers, the first lobbyist told The Hill.
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uk, 36, took a vacation from his job as a cultural adviser at the University of Gdansk in Poland that has now unexpectedly turned into an unpaid leave of absence.
Dmitri Litvinov, 51, is a veteran activist who as a child spent four years in Siberian exile after his father, Pavel, took part in the Red Square protest against the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968.
“I didn’t expect my son to get in their clutch,” the elder Mr. Litvinov said in a telephone interview from Irvington, N.Y., where he settled to teach physics in nearby Tarrytown after being expelled from the Soviet Union in 1974.
Dmitri Litvinov and the others are just three of the 30 people aboard a Greenpeace International ship, the Arctic Sunrise, who are now confined in separate cells in the far northern city of Murmansk after staging a high-seas protest last month against oil exploration in the Arctic. All face criminal charges that could result in years in prison as a result of having grossly underestimated Russia’s readiness to assert — and even expand — its sovereignty in a region potentially rich with natural resources.The contents of this page have not been reviewed or endorsed by the Chicago Bulls. All opinions expressed by Sam Smith are solely his own and do not reflect the opinions of the Chicago Bulls or their Basketball Operations staff, parent company, partners, or sponsors. His sources are not known to the Bulls and he has no special access to information beyond the access and privileges that go along with being an NBA accredited member of the media.
Jimmy Butler didn’t drive the team bus to the arena Wednesday in Phoenix. He didn’t tape anyone’s ankle. He didn’t sing the national anthem. But Butler did pretty much everything else for the Bulls in a spectacular down-the-stretch shooting and defensive performance to carry the Bulls to a 103-97 victory over the Phoenix Suns.
It was an unlikely and perhaps unexpected start to the Western Conference road trip with Derrick Rose out with an ankle injury, Aaron Brooks going out with a hamstring strain and the high flying Suns with the fastest pace of play in the NBA coming in with three straight wins. And running to a 23-7 fast break margin in the game.
But Butler’s 32 points, including 14 in the fourth quarter as Butler played 43 minutes and scored nine points in the last 2:46, enabled the Bulls to come back from a deficit with 4:47 left after blowing a 17-point lead. It was a bravura triumph for Butler and the 8-3 Bulls with their fourth straight win.
“He was phenomenal,” gushed Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg about Butler. “He just took the game over. Offense, defense. He was guarding the best player (Brandon Knight with 23 points). I tried to take him out; he wouldn’t let me. He did it all for us in that fourth.
“It was almost like his energy level went up as the game went on in that fourth quarter and that’s what big time performers do,” Hoiberg added. “They step up when you need it most. That’s certainly what Jimmy did tonight. He loves having the pressure on his shoulders; he made play after play. We had to find a way to get him the ball and our guys did a great job of that.”
It was great stuff from the Bulls in what seemed like the unlikeliest of circumstances given the injuries and the environment. The game got physical with Suns rookie Devin Booker challenging and taking a hard shot at Butler early in the fourth quarter, which seemed to also get Butler on edge.
“He was talking trash to me,” Butler said with a laugh. “That’s what was crazy. I was like, ‘Excuse me.’ Kid has got potential. He can really shoot. But sometimes I think you should just play the game and let that be it.”
Like Butler did. An emotional Butler with the Bulls ahead 76-73 early in the fourth immediately went back at Booker for a three-point play and then brought darkness down on the Suns.
Pau Gasol added 17 points and eight rebounds and absorbed his own hard foul, responding with a drive from the free throw line and power dunk after the Suns went ahead 89-88 with 4:47 left.
Brooks sustained his second hamstring strain at that point and left for the rest of the game. But Kirk Hinrich in his best game of the season with 14 points and six assists, his first double digit scoring game since last January, had to come back into the game after apparently running out his time limit midway through the third quarter. Hinrich didn’t hesitate and stepped right into a three for a 92-88 Bulls lead with 4:03 left.
And then the Bulls held the Suns without a field goal for almost four minutes down to 1:28 left. Eric Bledsoe with 21 points finished a drive to get the Suns within four. But Butler followed that with a three with the shot clock down to four seconds for a 99-92 lead with just over a minute left to effectively clinch the victory.
“They are just a great team and beat us on the defensive end,” said Bledsoe.
Butler added a slam dunk on a Hinrich pass with nine seconds left as a gift to the crowd that often sounded mostly for the Bulls in snowbird Phoenix.
Enjoying his scoring role with four games of at least 26 points in the last seven? Butler was asked.
“A lot,” he conceded. “It just shows how far I’ve come and how I worked on my game to be able to score the ball late and for my teammates to know my ability to score the ball. That’s the utmost respect coming from them to me and me returning the favor because I’m showing I can put the ball in the basket.
“Tell you the truth I didn’t carry the team,” Butler insisted. “I just made a couple of shots. But it felt good to see the ball go in 11-23 and three of seven threes). My teammates just kept giving me the ball whether I wanted it or not. They said be aggressive, take shots I think I can make. So that’s what I did. I talked to (Rose) about it before the game. He’s always telling me to shoot the ball more and be even more aggressive. It helps to have a superstar like him in my corner, coaching me up. Obviously, we want him out on the floor with us. And hopefully we get him back for the next one.”
Suns coach Jeff Hornacek was impressed as well.
“He is an All-Star player and he had some big buckets there and for a guy that played 43 minutes, he didn’t look like he was tired at all,” marveled Hornacek. “Butler made every shot; Hinrich made a couple big ones. When the game was on the line they made them.”
It simply was a marvelous evening for the Bulls in the ESPN national TV game.
Brooks has 12 points, but his status seems doubtful for Friday in Golden State against the undefeated Warriors.
“Thought I could play through it,” Brooks said about returning after first leaving in the third quarter. “Reaggravated it, but it’s not too bad; it’s a strain. Wake up (Thursday), see how it is, how it feels. I’m not used to this. I’ll pray on it and hopefully I’ll wake up and everything is OK. Just being cold, coming off the bench, strained it, being old.”
Joakim Noah had 11 rebounds but was scoreless while Nikola Mirotic got off to a fast start when the Bulls took a 17-point lead midway through the second quarter. But he and fellow starter Tony Snell, the latter scoreless in 19 minutes, struggled after that good start and both didn’t play in the fourth quarter. Doug McDermott finally got significant fourth quarter playing time and hit three of four shots in the fourth. Hoiberg also went the entire fourth with Taj Gibson for his defense.
The Suns came in averaging 105.8 points per game, third in the NBA, and shooting 45 percent. But they could manage even at home just 40.7 percent shooting and 97 points. For a Bulls team often maligned this season for its defense, it was an impressive effort.
“I saw the passion, the energy; not only guys on the floor but our bench was into the game,” said Hoiberg. “Those guys were out there fighting for each other and I thought that was a great sign.”
It was encouraging because the Bulls with talent often seem to be punching the clock in a basketball sense. But Wednesday’s commitment was hardly routine as despite being without Rose, the Bulls thundered out to a 31-18 first quarter lead with 10 from Butler and eight from Gasol. The Bulls made 10 of their first 13 shots. But in many respects Hinrich was the engine as he got the Bulls pushing the ball faster and with more half court movement that enabled Mirotic to get back on track with a pair of threes.
“He did such a great job getting us into an offense, getting our defense organized,” Hoiberg said about Hinrich. “He’s as good as anybody on our roster as far as doing that. That’s why we had the hot start tonight. Because he was getting us into a play. Made some big defensive plays as well. He does a good job getting it swung. When we keep that ball on the same side of the floor it generally doesn’t result in a very good possession; if we can get it swung side to side we are better playing that way.”
The momentum continued into the second quarter with Brooks coming in after not playing the last game and giving the Bulls an offensive boost with a three and fancy driving bank shot. But Mirotic got shot happy, firing off several wild, running bank shots that enabled the Suns to get out running for a 15-4 run. The Suns then pulled within 53-47 at halftime and Snell and Mirotic both played just eight second half minutes.
The Suns got control of everyone but Butler and Hinrich in the third quarter to get within 72-70 after three.
“I feel like I’ve got fresh legs,” said Hinrich. “I’m in a good place mentally; just trying to go in, not conserve my energy, play all out and do what I can to help.”
Still, it looked like the kind of game a visiting Eastern team would give away as the Suns took their first lead since 5-4 when Booker’s long three gave them a 73-72 lead and the “Let’s go Bulls” cheers were being drowned out for a bit.
Hoiberg said he wanted to give Butler a rest to start the fourth.
“He said, ‘Jimmy, you need a breather?’” recalled Butler. “I said, ‘No.’”
McDermott answered with a floater on an offensive rebound. Butler then drew free throws from the frustrated Booker and the three-point play. McDermott finished a nice curl for a layup off a weave and added a reverse layup in which he gave it a collegiate yell. And then it was Gasol with his emphatic slam and Butler with his excellent finish.
And now on the way to play the league’s best team who hasn’t lost at home in the regular season since the Bulls beat them last January.
“We can’t stick on this one too long because the team we got next is real,” said Butler without dismissing the Suns. But they’re already talking 73 wins about the 12-0 Warriors.
“Their record speaks for itself,” said Butler, who said he’ll remind Hoiberg he wants to defend Stephen Curry.
“I look forward to guarding everybody in this league, especially a prime time scorer like him,” said Butler. “So I’ll ask coach for that matchup. No disrespect to him but I like that. I don’t think you have to say too much. They’re undefeated. We’ve got a task in front of us. We go in there, do what we’re supposed to do, play hard, guard, make some shots here and there and hopefully they’re not undefeated after they play us.”The Canadian Medical Association is calling on provincial governments to ban the sale of energy drinks to people under the legal drinking age.
Delegates to the CMA's annual meeting in Calgary on Wednesday passed a motion brought forward by Doctors Nova Scotia. The Nova Scotia group has been pushing the provincial government to pass new laws on caffeinated drinks.
The Canadian Medical Association Journal has voiced alarm over the increasing popularity of highly caffeinated energy drinks among kids and teens. (CBC)
"Energy drinks are different from other caffeinated beverages because of the way they are marketed, consumed in excess, mixed with alcohol, and combined with other stimulants such as taurine," read the motion. "There is research that indicates that too much caffeine can result in nausea and vomiting and/or heart irregularities and anxiety."
The legal drinking age in Canada varies — age 18 or 19 depending on the province.
It’s far from legislation, but the CMA's age ban motion is getting mixed reaction in Nova Scotia, where the legal age is 19.
Jay Duga, 12, said he doesn't drink Red Bull or Monster, but his friends consume them all the time.
"They never really did it in elementary, just 'cause they saw the older kids drinking them so they probably thought it was cool. I think [an age ban] would stop a lot of people from buying them."
His grandfather, Mike Swann, worries too.
"Every time you look, these kids are drinking four and five. What is it doing to them? Their heart rate, anxiety, anger, it raises all that," he said.
But students like Becca VanGinkel say they rely on energy drinks to survive exam season.
"Well a lot of people use it for like university and stuff. I know for studying, when I was 18, 19, I really needed it a lot."
Burden on convenience stores
Mitch McIssac, who works at a news and convenience store in Halifax, said about half of the people who buy the drinks are under 19.
"Lots of students coming in to stay awake for exam times, or studying. Or a lot of people on the weekends getting them to keep on partying through the weekend," he said.
Another convenience store owner said requiring an ID would be a hassle for workers.
"Depending on the customer, some of them get pretty ugly. When they want their stuff, they want their stuff. So it’ll be interesting," said Mike Habib.
A Nova Scotia study published earlier this year found a quarter of the province's high school students have consumed energy drinks mixed with alcohol.
McIssac said he's skeptical a ban would change anything.
"It would be the same with tobacco products; they'd figure out a way to get them."Last week I shared the general setup of my development environment. Today I will go a bit into Conan and how I use it.
I have written about my current project Fix, and what it is about. For the project I will need a few libraries. In order to not have to install them manually, I use Conan. These are the libraries I currently use:
My unit tests are written using Catch. Up to now I had used Boost.Test, CppUnit, and Google Test for a two hour Coding Dojo.
are written using Catch. Up to now I had used Boost.Test, CppUnit, and Google Test for a two hour Coding Dojo. I use mock objects in my unit tests. I could probably write them myself (currently it’s only one), but I went for a mocking library called Trompeloeil.
in my unit tests. I could probably write them myself (currently it’s only one), but I went for a mocking library called Trompeloeil. For the web server and the application framework I went for Poco. Poco also has some file system functionality which I use in the persistence layer for now.
and the application framework I went for Poco. Poco also has some file system functionality which I use in the persistence layer for now. The JSON based REST API is implemented using “JSON for modern C++”, which is a really convenient library.
These four libraries are all I use for now. Catch, Trompeloeil and the JSON library are header only. They would be fairly easy to install on any system I work on, but I still want to use Conan, just for the fun of it.
Using Conan
Using Conan is pretty straight forward. If you want to use a library (or package), there has to be a recipe for it on the server. A server can be either the public one on conan.io or a private server you can set up for yourself. I use the public server, since the recipes for most libraries are already there.
Specifying packages
The simplest way to specify which packages a project depends on is to have a conanfile.txt with a [requires] section. For Fix it looks like follows:
[requires] Poco/1.7.3@lasote/stable catch/1.5.0@TyRoXx/stable nlJson/2.0.2@arnemertz/stable trompeloeil/v17@rollbear/stable [generators] cmake
You see how the different packages are specified: a name, a version number of the package, the name of the package maintainer and a specifier if the package is in a stable, testing or other phase. The package version often, but not always corresponds to the library version it stands for.
The [generators] section simply tells Conan to write files for CMake so it knows where to find the libraries and so on.
Building the packages
When we call conan install path/to/conan/file withe the above conanfile.txt, Conan will try to get or build the packages. There may or may not be already a binary package for your settings available on the server. In my case, the default settings of my environment are:
arch=x86_64 build_type=Release compiler=clang compiler.libcxx=libstdc++11 compiler.version=3.8 os=Linux
The only thing that changes from case to case currently is the build_type, which I mostly set to Debug. For that case I have to add -s build_type=Debug to the parameters of conan install.
The packages that are available on conan.io often have binaries compiled with GCC, but not with Clang. That is not a problem, because in that case conan install simply uses the recipe to download the sources of the package and build it for the settings you use.
The downloaded or compiled binaries are then stored in a cache on your machine, so the compilation for a given set of settings will be done only once. In my case I have two binaries for each package in the Conan cache, because I alter between Debug and Release builds.
Writing your own recipe
You might have noticed that I am the maintainer of the package for the JSON library. The reason is simple: there was no package for that library available on the server. Since I wanted to get the library via Conan regardless, I had to write my own recipe and publish it to conan.io.
The JSON library is header only and therefore fairly simple to build. The recipe only needs to specify where to download the headers from, you can find it on GitHub. Even for more complex packages, it is very simple to get started with your own recipes. There is a good documentation for the process in the Conan docs.
I want to keep my recipe up to date and adopt new versions of the library as soon as possible. Therefore I want to be notified whenever there is a new release of the JSON library. It is available on GitHub, so I tried GitHub notifications first, but I did not find the granularity to get notifications only on new releases, which made the feature rather noisy. Currently I’m trying Sibbell – we’ll see how that turns out.
CMake integration
The integration of Conan and CMake is seamless. If you have run the conan install with the settings you want to use, all that is left to be done is integrating the generated conanbuildinfo.cmake file and a setup command into your CMakeLists.txt.
cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 2.8.12) project( fix ) include(build/conanbuildinfo.cmake) conan_basic_setup()...
Now, the only thing left is to link the libraries provided by Conan, which are listed in a handy variable:
target_link_libraries( ${PROJ_NAME} ${CONAN_LIBS} )
CMake will take care of include directories and everything else. Simply include the headers and use the library.
#include "Poco/Util/ServerApplication.h" class FixServer : public Poco::Util::ServerApplication { //... };
Conclusion
It is extremely simple to get started using Conan, and it brings all the benefits we know from package managers in other languages.I think we can all agree that the man who shot Dr. George Tiller is a domestic terrorist. I know what Republicans think we should do with accused terrorists -- waterboard them. So, let's get it on.
Initial reports are that the suspect is an anti-abortion activist named Scott Roeder. Good enough. Let's torture the son of a bitch. Remember the people in Guantanamo Bay were just detainees, they were not convicted of anything before we started the "enhanced interrogation" techniques. Most of them didn't even have the verifiable criminal and terroristic history of Roeder who was previously arrested with bomb making material and has called murder of doctors "justifiable homicide" before. So, if you can't waterboard Roeder, then who can you waterboard? He is the perfect candidate.
Also, in this case, there might literally be a ticking time bomb. He's been arrested for having bomb making material before! And he's a god-damned terrorist who just killed someone. What more do we need? We can't afford to wait while there might be another ticking time bomb out there.
We should start with waterboarding him and work our way up to even more enhanced interrogation. Now, some squeamish liberals who are soft on terrorism might disagree, but I'm sure all of my conservative friends agree, right? Sean Hannity? Rush Limbaugh? Bill O'Reilly? You're all on board for torturing this terrorist detainee, right?• Canadian Perez aims to reach Super League within five years • ‘We want to put Toronto on map as a rugby league city’
The man behind the introduction of a Canadian team into English rugby league next season has revealed a number of the club’s ambitious targets that include not only getting into Super League within five years but one day winning the Grand Final.
When Eric Perez – the chief executive of Toronto Wolfpack, who will enter the English third tier, League 1, next year – speaks it is hard not to listen. Forget selling ice to the Inuit, Perez would make a decent fist out of selling maple syrup to the Mounties.
Work has been continuing behind the scenes since the formation of the Wolfpack was confirmed by the Rugby Football League earlier this year. Perez, a Toronto native who fell in love with rugby league on a visit to Europe several years ago, said he has one simple goal for the club: reaching the top as quickly as possible.
Toronto Wolfpack to enter League One next season, RFL announces Read more
“I’m not going to mince my words: I would love to be in the stands watching Paul Rowley [the coach] lead us out at Old Trafford: that would be fantastic,” he said. “Is it a pipe dream? You never know, just ask Leicester City. The end goal is to win silverware and bring glory to Toronto, and put it on the map as a rugby league city.”
Scepticism surrounding the idea of introducing a transatlantic team into the English league concerned what interest Canadians would have in a sport that to them is relatively unknown. Perez is optimistic of drawing crowds in the Wolfpack’s inaugural year that will eclipse a number of Super League sides’ attendances after an encouraging response from the local community.
“I’d be happy if we had 4,000 watching us on a regular basis without doubt, we’ve got around that many signed up on a members list and season tickets go on sale next week,” Perez said. “But I think we will be aiming to get closer to 9,000 – maybe even 10,000, which would be a phenomenal achievement.
“The response has been so overwhelming from the people of Toronto that I think we’ll be close to, if not completely sold out, every single match we play. I truly believe it’s a sport that speaks to the Canadian psyche.”
The Wolfpack will be the only side to have a broadcast deal to show all their games live, with talks continuing to show their matches on both sides of the Atlantic.
A large portion of the squad will come from the UK and Australia – with a number of deals set to be announced shortly – but the club will also sign a North American contingent from a number of trials to be held over the summer.
He said: “We’ve already had 100-plus applicants, and we’ll be doing open trials across North America: Vancouver, Chicago, Detroit and Montreal are just some of the places we’re going. We’ll pick 20 to 30 of the best guys from there to make the final tryouts.”
Yet despite such lofty ambitions, Perez is realistic about their immediate challenge: promotion out of the third tier in 2017. “We’re not stupid about all this, we understand we’re playing against teams with a whole heap of history and pedigree, and it’s going to be very tough to get out of the league we’re going into,” Perez said.
“However, we’re in it to win it. It would be fantastic to be in Super League within five years – it’s an achievable goal in my opinion.”The City of Denton is asking for the public’s help deciding on a proposed ban of electronic devices while driving.
Residents can voice their opinions and vote in a poll on the city-sponsored website Engage Denton.com.
The council asked for the public’s input on the matter after the topic of a device ban came up at a council work session on Oct. 1.
At the meeting, members heard from staff on behalf of the city’s Transportation Safety Commission about a possible ordinance against the use of wireless communication devices while driving - including talking and texting on a phone.
Discussion also branched out to other devices and distractions such as using a GPS or tablet while operating a vehicle.
As of Wednesday, about three out of five of the respondents said they would agree with a sweeping ban on electronic devices while driving.
Many commented that the communications can wait until the car’s stopped and that it’s a smart move for safety that other communities have already adopted.
"I think just for safety, I think it's a good idea,” said Whitney Geldon of Denton.
Many people are also standing by the city in going beyond a simple texting ban as public safety leaders say it would actually be easier to enforce as an all-out device ban.
"Not just texting,” agreed Benjamin Roman. “Texting's bad because it takes your eyes down from the road but speaking as well can be difficult."
However others say the speaking portion can be down-right necessary and banning cell phone use altogether would not be the right move.
"It would be hard to enforce because there's some things that, like GPS and like emergency calls,” said Gercia Rangel.
Denton realtor Virginia Williams says her phone is a necessity for her business. Williams adds that her car tends to be her office most days as she goes from property to property and meeting to meeting.
"I'm in my car from the time I get up until I go home at night,” said Williams.
She says a ban on phone use while driving would be a major blow for realtors as they have to keep in close contact with clients as they’re on the move.
"It would be very difficult, it would be very difficult. It would almost be impossible,” she said.
Williams says safety is still a top concern despite business though. She and her firm utilize hands-free link-ups in their vehicles to limit the distraction and keep both hands on the wheel.
It’s unclear at this point if the ordinance would involve hands-free devices.
During council comment on Oct. 1, staff and members mentioned that any enforcement would likely result in an officer seeing a phone or device in a person’s hands being used.
There was also discussion about other distractions like eating while driving or reading.
At this point, the ordinance is just in the draft phase as the council continues to explore public opinion on the matter.Thomas E. Mann is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. Norman J. Ornstein is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. They are the co-authors of “It’s Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism.”
So what happens when a party that has defined itself as an insurgent outlier, scornful of compromise and dismissive of the legitimacy of its opposition, actually takes charge in Washington?
The Republicans now control both the Senate and the House. The people have spoken — and loudly. Mitch McConnell is exultant, finally achieving a lifetime goal. The new majority leader will get a wonderful office with a better view of the Mall, a nicer car and the ability to control the agenda on the Senate floor. But he will also get a deeply divided party and a constant headache trying to keep all of his colleagues in town to vote, especially with several of them on the presidential campaign trail, raising cash and appealing to the most extreme elements of the base.
John Boehner, enjoying perhaps the largest Republican majority in the House since 1929, will also face serious challenges. The incoming lawmakers are more radical and anti-establishment, and Boehner will have to work harder than ever to keep even this more robust majority in line for anything save hard-line legislation.
Welcome to the 114th Congress, in which the warfare within the GOP will only be amplified by the party’s new power. The pragmatic desire of mainstream Republicans to transcend their “party of no” label and show that they can actually govern will clash with the forces that continue to pull the GOP to the right and oppose anything the president does. This fight within the party will define the new Congress nearly as much as the battles with a Democratic president.
During the 2014 cycle, Republicans ran disciplined campaigns for the Senate — there were no candidates along the lines of Todd Akin or Sharron Angle to sabotage the party’s larger ambitions — but a disciplined anti-Obama message hardly means that the GOP establishment has beaten back the insurgency. McConnell and his fellow candidates talked after their victory about coming together to govern, but they’re also on record pushing to repeal Obamacare and roll back other core Obama policies. If anything, the breadth and depth of the Republican victory will convince the party base — and the conservative activists, talk-radio hosts and bloggers animating it — that the obstruction of the past several years worked beautifully, that they have the power and the mandate to push radical anti-government policies, and that any compromise would be abandonment and betrayal.
In the Senate, even candidates such as Iowa’s Joni Ernst and Arkansas’ Tom Cotton, who had the blessing of the GOP mainstream, embraced nearly every policy idea and conspiracy theory of the tea party wing. And you only need look at Sen. Marco Rubio’s repudiation of his own immigration reform bill to see where the party is headed.
McConnell’s hope for a return to the Senate of old will prove an illusion. Just wait until the first time he brings up a bill — say, to approve the Keystone XL pipeline — and Democrats offer a string of amendments designed to embarrass the 24 Republican senators up for reelection in 2016. Before very long, McConnell will be “filling the amendment tree” to protect his colleagues, just as Sen. Harry Reid, his nemesis across the aisle, did. And as Democrats use the filibuster to block the GOP strategy of forcing the president to sign or veto a barrage of bills, McConnell will face pressure to employ his own “nuclear option” and eliminate the filibuster for bills.
In the House, Republicans have added to their majority — but it is a chamber more starkly polarized than before, with fewer loyalists to the Republican leadership and fewer Blue Dog Democrats to step in if there is a vacuum. Boehner is losing allies and party stalwarts, such as Tom Petri of Wisconsin, to retirement. December brings leadership contests; Boehner will survive, but any mainstream desire to come up with a positive health-care reform alternative, immigration legislation or even an infrastructure bill will run into a tea party buzz saw. (Immediately after the election, Boehner moved from conciliation to predicting a House vote against key parts of Obamacare, only emphasizing that tension.) And finding compromises with the Senate under those circumstances — on bills that can either win 51 Republican votes or survive Democratic filibusters — will be an uphill fight.
All this complicates the GOP establishment strategy heading toward 2016, as articulated by House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, McConnell, Republican Party Chairman Reince Priebus and others: Push the president to cede ground on things such as Obamacare’s medical-device tax and the Keystone pipeline; meanwhile, pass a set of bills that show a constructive Republican agenda, make the president veto them and then identify Democrats as the party of obstruction.
Moreover, the cultural and structural differences between the House and the Senate ensure nearly as much conflict between them as between Congress and the president. When Republicans swept into majorities in both houses in 1994, the two bodies were totally out of sync. Newt Gingrich’s House quickly passed its “Contract With America” and waited for Bob Dole’s Senate to follow suit, so that together they could force President Bill Clinton to sign or veto the popular, poll-tested ideas. But the Senate Republicans had a different time frame and different ideas, not to mention concerns about Democratic filibusters. Before long, Gingrich was complaining about Dole — and Dole responded in kind.
Then and now, a Republican House and a Republican Senate do not naturally translate into a spate of Republican legislation. There is a reason why Republicans have not come up with a clear alternative to Obamacare, why they discuss entitlement reform only in general terms and why they squashed the comprehensive tax reform proposal from Rep. Dave Camp, the House Ways and Means Committee chairman, before the election. It is just not easy to come up with concrete policies aimed at solving problems without creating schisms in the party’s ranks or an outcry from its base.
There are things the new Republican Congress will be able to do: block most of Obama’s judicial nominations and many key executive ones, hold countless hearings to investigate scandals real and imagined, harass Obama officials by demanding that they testify repeatedly, and issuing subpoenas for documents and records that will tie up the White House counsel’s office. Those actions will make it more challenging for Obama to use his executive authority as fully and expeditiously as he would like.
Of course, the conservative base wants more than that. Activists want to reverse or eviscerate Obama’s accomplishments, from health-care reform to financial regulation — in other words, not just flesh wounds but fatal blows to the president’s legacy. The only real way to do that is through the power of the purse. Indeed, McConnell has promised to use budget reconciliation (the procedure that can be passed with simple majorities and no filibuster) to weaken Obamacare and undercut the Dodd-Frank financial reforms, among other things. But if a bill that did more than make token adjustments to his top achievements went to the president, he would veto it, setting up another deep confrontation that could lead to a government shutdown in October. McConnell went out of his way Wednesday to insist that there would be no government shutdown, but that pledge conflicts with the goal of using the budget to bring Obama to his knees.
How does a two-term president entering his final stretch in office deal with this polarized, even tribalized political environment? Obama faces not only a fully Republican Congress, but a restive Democratic base already angry about issues from drone strikes to the failure to move on immigration reform and now fearful that their leader will cut deals with the enemy.
The opportunities to get some things done with GOP participation will be few and far between. Obama will need to balance his professed willingness to work with the Republicans with a realistic — and aggressive — use of his executive power. In his post-election news conference Wednesday, the president expressed openness to GOP ideas but did not shrink from the use of executive orders.
One way to do so is on immigration reform. The president had promised to act right after the election, a pledge he reiterated this past week. But immediate unilateral action following a big GOP victory would prompt a Republican outcry — and promises to obstruct Obama even further. A possible solution: Issue an executive order that curtails deportations and expands the number of “dreamers,” but delay its implementation until the end of January, with a challenge to congressional Republicans to send him a comprehensive immigration reform bill before then to head it off. On climate change, the president might couple EPA regulations to limit carbon emissions from existing power plants with presidential approval of the Keystone pipeline, thus mollifying his base while co-opting a Republican initiative. And on trade deals, sentencing reform, corporate tax reform, patent reform and overhaul of the National Security Agency, Obama can reach out to Republicans early on to show his bipartisan bona fides.
More broadly, Obama must embrace his role as explainer in chief, defining what his presidency and his party stand for and how that contrasts with Republicans, describing the destructiveness of divided government under present conditions, and stressing a plausible path to sustained and widely shared economic growth. And do all that, of course, while navigating a bitter battlefield that may even include an effort from the conservative base to impeach him.
GOP figures in the Senate such as Tennessee’s Bob Corker and Arizona’s Jeff Flake, bolstered by conservative intellectuals, are trying hard to create a new center-right space in the party. But they’re far from overcoming the larger forces at work. Until one party controls both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue for more than two years, or the Republican Party as a whole feels more powerful incentives to reengage in negotiation and compromise, there is no reason to expect warfare to wane or governance to prevail.
tmann@brookings.edu
nornstein@aei.org
Read more from Outlook and follow our updates on Facebook and Twitter.Image copyright Reuters Image caption Companies including Amazon and Netflix could be forced to stop taking card details when people sign up to a free trial
People who inadvertently end up subscribing for services after signing up for free trials are to be offered more protection.
Plans to cut confusing small print and end the cycle of'subscription traps' will be set out in next week's Budget.
Chancellor Philip Hammond will outline a crackdown on practices which lead to people wasting their money.
Firms will be forced to make terms and conditions shorter and clearer, with fines for those who mistreat customers.
Spring Budget: What else you can expect
The move follows concerns that many people are falling into a'subscription trap', by signing up for a paid-for service without meaning to - for example, when a paid subscription starts automatically after a free trial has ended.
Citizens Advice estimates that two million consumers each year have problems cancelling subscriptions.
People taking up offers for free trials of anything from slimming pills and beauty treatments to video streaming and e-book subscriptions, can find regular payments are |
17:05:43 by 27 posted onby ExSoldier (Stand up and be counted... OR LINE UP AND BE NUMBERED...)
To: clintonh8r
Well, I’m sure you experience Parris Island as my wife did. She said it was hell but she speaks of it fondly!
Thursday, March 05, 2015 17:15:02 by 28 posted onby rfreedom4u (Do you know who Barry Soetoro is?)
To: Parmy
Why do Marine Corps commissioned officers carry the `Mameluke’ sword? Somebody asked why did Disney studios romanticize pirates? Well, nowadays pirates are being praised by progressives. Reasons include: pirate captains were elected by their crews, spoils were divided equally, the captain didn’t have his own cabin & could be deposed at any time, they plundered ordinary cargoes, gold & treasure had already been stolen by the Spanish when seized by pirates, etc.
Thursday, March 05, 2015 17:20:23 by 29 posted onby elcid1970 ("I am a radicalized infidel. My bullets are dipped in pig grease.")
To: gusty
“The Pirate Coast”. I read it, great book!
To: gusty
"The expeditionary force did not take the city of Tripoli. Tripoli is in western Libya. The city they did take was Derna, in eastern Libya"
You are correct in the city that they took. However, the name of the country at that time was not Libya, but Tripoli. So the Marines did indeed go to the "Shores of Tripoli", not the city, but the country. However, as someone else noted there were only 8 of them I believe. They were lead by Lt. Pressley O'Bannon. The rest of the band under William Eaton was a motely group of mostly muslim mercenaries. It would indeed be a great movie. Another great movie from that era would be Stephen Decator's raid to destroy the captured ship Philadelphia in Tripoli harbor.
To: elcid1970
"Why do Marine Corps commissioned officers carry the `Mameluke’ sword?"
This was presented to Pressley O'Bannon (Lt of the Marine expedition) by the Bey as thanks for their part in the assault on Derna.
To: Loud Mime
I’ve never understood the romantic Disney portrayal of Pirates. There were horrible people....which makes some sense that Hollywood joins in. Which is why all pirate movies are rated AARRRRRRR! Sorry. I HAD to.
Thursday, March 05, 2015 17:34:14 by 33 posted onby ExSoldier (Stand up and be counted... OR LINE UP AND BE NUMBERED...)
To: Parmy
What goes around comes around; if we elect the right president in 2016; we will once again beat the islamists back into their hellish pit. CRUZ 2016!
Thursday, March 05, 2015 18:03:01 by 34 posted onby PoloSec ( Believe the Gospel: how that Christ died for our sins, was buried and rose again)
To: gusty
New York City was a favorite for recruiting crews. Now those candidates are playing football and basketball rimshot
Thursday, March 05, 2015 18:48:13 by 35 posted onby Loud Mime (Keep the Commandments; it's better than gambling on forgiveness.)
To: ExSoldier
gold star on that comment!!!
Thursday, March 05, 2015 18:48:43 by 36 posted onby Loud Mime (Keep the Commandments; it's better than gambling on forgiveness.)
To: Big Red Badger
dear big red badger, I noticed the ‘/s’ at the bottom of your comment, however, i wonder if you were aware that America was attacked in 1993, by these sombitches?
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FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John RobinsonThe first X-Men: Days of Future Past trailer appeared today, and it's chock full of dramatic moments, with every mutant ever and a perilous journey back through time. We pored over dozens of screencaps to bring you every great moment, and all of the hints, in this epic trailer. Here's our complete rundown.
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This is more or less the same trailer we saw at Comic-Con. We divided the whole thing into a bunch of handy sections and tried to make the pieces fit. Spoilers ahead!
Brand New Mutants
First, let's run down all the new mutants we're meeting this time around, thanks to a handy slideshow in the trailer. There's...
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Bishop (Omar Sy). Note the trademark "M" over one eye which signifies the future of persecuted mutants.
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Sunspot (Adam Canto)
Warpath (Booboo Stewart)
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Blink (Fan Bingbing)
An Ancient Temple
A lot of the "future" sequences in the trailer take place in an ancient temple, where I'm guessing the time-travel doohicky is located. And it looks like this is the site of not just a lot of angst, but a huge battle — possibly it's attacked by Sentinels? It sure looks as though Professor X is shielding his face from some kind of searchlight in one shot. Check out our best shots of this temple:
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...until finally the whole place starts coming down around everyone's ears.
Magneto's Tunnel Escape
Looks as though Magneto escapes through some storm tunnels (which don't look the same as this temple) along with Iceman and Rogue. (Update: Several people below have speculated this is an escape from a futuristic prison, where they've rescued an injured Rogue.)
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Future X-Men in Distress
We see glimpses of the X-Men from the original trilogy looking sad and upset, as well as what might be flashbacks of Professor Xavier's School for Gifted Young Mutants. Old Professor X uses Cerebro at one point, and doesn't look too happy about what he finds...
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Iceman says something sad...
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...to Kitty Pryde.
Rogue also looks sad. Things are really messed up in the future, probably because Mutants are being wiped out. But also maybe a general dystopian nastiness? If we're following the comics, it's not a happy time.
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A Cerebro-eye view of the School for Gifted Mutants (maybe a flashback to an earlier film?)
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Professor X does not seem happy with what he sees in Cerebro.
Storm's Desperate Battle
Looks like Storm gets into a battle, perhaps to buy everyone else more time inside the fancy temple. She looks pretty freaked out.
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Young Xavier
So the big crux of the trailer, of course, is that Wolverine is being sent back in time to inhabit his own younger body. (More on that in a bit.) And that means we're back in the 1970s, where we meet James McAvoy's bearded version of Professor X.
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Young Xavier enters the Cerebro chamber, flanked by Beast (Nicholas Hoult) and Wolverine, although you can't see their faces.
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Young Xavier freaks out about something, perhaps to underscore Professor X's point that when he was a young man, he was very different, and that he needs a lot of patience from Wolverine. This appears to be in the X-mansion.
Here's more of the sequence where Professor X goes to use Cerebro...
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...and I'm guessing either he hasn't used it in a long time, or he's been snorting cocaine off it. One or the other.
Maybe because of Xavier's troubled young mind, this doesn't turn out well. Cerebro basically explodes, sending pieces flying everywhere.
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Wolverine Vs. Some 1970s Thugs
There's a sequence where some 1970s goons try to fill Wolverine full of lead, and he guts them like fish instead. Maybe enjoying being in his younger body, with the adamantium claws instead of the bone claws he wound up with at the end of his last movie.
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The Nixon Administration
There appears to be some hanky-panky with Richard Nixon. Maybe Nixon will remember to keep some jammie dodgers and a fez on hand this time.
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Cops open up a secret hatch in the Oval Office...
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...and hustle Nixon inside a Presidential vault under the White House.
Bad timing, since there appears to be a state visit by the North Vietnamese happening right about then. Tail end of the Vietnam War? Arguing over size of conference table sort of thing? (Update: This is probably set in Paris, where the Vietnam talks were held, as various people have pointed out below. Thanks, everyone!)
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Here's a good look at Nixon sitting in a Presidential meeting...
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...with Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage), inventor of the Sentinels.
Magneto Makes a Splash
Meanwhile, if Young Professor X is a troubled recluse, hanging out in his mansion and neglecting his duties, then Magneto is out in public, being a much bigger nightmare. There's a scene where Magneto terrorizes a crowd, in what appears to be a fancy building. Maybe a museum? There's definitely fancy art behind him somewhere. A lot of the Young Magneto sequences seem to take place in this vicinity.
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Update: A lot of people seem to believe this is Paris, although they shot in Montreal.
Magneto seems to have mastered that trick of floating in mid air...
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...but the crowd doesn't seem too impressed.
And Magneto still needs to use a gun. Also note he's not wearing his protective helmet, because he has nothing to fear from Xavier.
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Magneto vs. Mystique
A big part of how we know that Young Magneto is a jerk is that he terrorizes poor Mystique. Around the same time as the above public display, Magneto also drags Mystique along the ground using his powers of magnetism.
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Note the uniforms at left, and the awning. Could this be a fancy hotel?
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Magneto looks sad at having to terrorize his associate. Update: People are speculating that she's wearing handcuffs and he's rescuing her, although she doesn't look grateful for the assist.
Mystique cries
We also see a couple of shots of Mystique crying and looking upset in the trailer, apparently due to Magneto's antics:
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Magneto Vs. Beast
Beast tries to drown Magneto in what looks like a fountain, probably also during the "Magneto's public rampage" sequence:
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Mystery Glass Explosion
What do you think is going on in the picture below? Who is that figure cowering under broken glass? And what room are they in? (Update: Speculation has it this might be that same futuristic prison again. Note what seems to be gray prison uniform.)
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Mystique's Mission
Mystique goes on a mission (probably for Magneto) that involves disguising herself as a random dude, and also doing some pretty acrobatic martial arts at one point. (Does she also disguise herself as Nixon? We can only hope.)
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The crowd is running in a panic, maybe from Magneto's onslaught...
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...and Mystique turns herself into a random stripey-suit guy.
And takes out a guard in a fancy stateroom.
And finally... time travel!
So how does Wolverine go back in time? We know that Professor X tries it out, and it doesn't work well enough for him, so he has Logan do it instead. Maybe because Logan hasn't changed that much since the 1970s.
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The close-up of Professor X's eye at the start of the trailer shows the after-effects of mental time travel, I guess.
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And here's how the time travel actually happens. A pair of glowing blue hands (belonging to Kitty Pryde?) touch the sides of Wolverine's head, causing him a lot of pain as he's temporally dislocated.
Back in the past, in the Cerebro chamber, Young Professor X touches Logan's head, using his psychic powers to verify that he's really from the future and stuff.
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...and this final shot of the two Professor X's somehow meeting (in Logan's) mind, is spine-tingling. Old Professor X tells his younger self that he needs him to have hope again. Wow."Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." II Corinthians 3:17
APRIL 9,2014
ARREST HIM!
---------------------------------
APRIL 8,2014
THE DAY BEFORE: SECRET POLITICAL CARTEL OPERATES OUTSIDE THE LAW
REFERS TO COUNSEL WHO HAS HARD TIME KNOWING WHO HE WILL REPRESENT
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November 6, 2012 TOTAL VICTORY!!! CLAYTON SUPPORTERS AND ELECTED NOMINEE MARK CLAYTON DEFEAT UNELECTED PARTY BOSSES WHO URGED WRITE-IN CAMPAIGN
ELECTED NOMINEE MARK CLAYTON THANKS DEMOCRATS AND DEMANDS RESIGNATION OF NON-ELECTED, SELF APPOINTED PARTY BOSSES Mark Clayton is out thanking Democrats who turned out in large numbers in a mandate to restore democracy to our party. With 83% of the votes in from Tennessee Democrats, 655,438, an overwhelming majority of Democrats have now voted for Mark Clayton in the race against the unelected bosses who waged a write-in campaign against their own duly nominated leader with unauthorized party resources. Mark Clayton will continue to defend Democrats from unelected bosses and is calling for hearings into the integrity of voting rights in Tennessee when the General Assembly convenes next year.
By calling Democrats "too stupid" to vote and attacking democracy, the unelected bosses drove swing and independent voters from our party and cost Democrats, intentionally destroying our chance to unseat Bob Corker. We call for the immediate resignation of unelected party bosses in the Tennessee Democratic Party. The people of Tennessee tonight have clearly demanded that Democrats never again be subjugated to bosses who are not elected by Democrats.
Former Democratic Party Chairman, Bob Tuke, received 767,236, or 31.64% of the vote in 2008 without being attacked with his own party's resources and a campaign warchest of half a million dollars, meaning that Mark Clayton, with only a few thousand dollars and a volunteer staff has easily earned the trust and confidence of Democrats statewide while the unelected bosses are handily repudiated. We therefore demand their immediate resignations.
Mark Clayton cannot thank his fellow Democrats enough for their strong support and for standing against the radical fringe who attacked us all and he will not quit fighting to restore democracy to our party.
UPDATE: "We are now excited to announce the Clayton for Senate Democratic Party Thank You Tour! I want to thank the 704,708 Tennesseans who voted for Mark Clayton and to save our country from some godless new world order and to protect our Tennessee Democratic Party from a small yet highly vehement radical fringe element. I will continue to travel across the state of Tennessee to advance working class issues which we all hold dear and to speak on behalf of the Tennessee Democratic Party. Thank you so much, and I accept my charge with a moral sense of duty and great humility.
For the few Democrats who left us and joined the Green Party, we are sorry to see you go but wish you good luck." -- Mark Clayton
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OCTOBER 12, 2012 --- ELECTED LEADER MARK CLAYTON AGAIN CONFRONTS UNELECTED BOSSES WHO CALLED DEMOCRATS "TOO STUPID" TO VOTE -- CHIP FORRESTER HIDES IN OFFICE
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TENNESSEE DEMOCRATIC VOTERS LEGAL DEFENSE FUND
Request for Investigation of Possible Violations of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, 42 U.S.C. sections 1973-1973aa-6
Mark Clayton and Bishop Felton Smith sign a letter together to Attorney General Holder requesting an investigation into the many possible
violations of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 this year in Tennessee. In partial response, the Justice Department
will be monitoring the 2012 election in Davidson and Shelby counties to protect pro-family
voters from bullying, threats, and intimidation at the polls.
Photo: September 28, 2012
September 28, 2012 -- MARK CLAYTON DEFENDS VOTERS AGAIN -- CLICK HERE
***AS A RESULT OF THIS LETTER TO ATTORNEY GENERAL HOLDER, JUSTICE DEPARTMENT OFFICIALS MONITORED THE 2012 ELECTION IN DAVIDSON AND SHELBY COUNTIES***
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MARK CLAYTON IS THE BEST CANDIDATE FOR TENNESSEE AND THE WORST CANDIDATE FOR THE WASHINGTON, DC ESTABLISHMENT -- CLICK HERE
Mark Clayton for U.S. Senate
The Dream Lives On...
T he roots and meaning of human freedom are not found in the meaning of economics, moral license, philosophy, or material abundance. The true meaning of individual liberty is found in how we treat one another and in the meaning of the cross. The meaning of the cross does not mean taking over the world in the name of God at the point of a sword.
The meaning of the cross is to accept the social gospel which Jesus preached when he said that inasmuch as we do to the least among us, we do also to Him. And then we are to go out and spend our lives serving others in obedience to this command not only as individuals but also as a society.
Separation of church and state laws do not exist, as new groups falsely claim, to protect government from people of conscience and moral character, such as we who pray in schools. Separation of church and state was never supposed to mean "don't pray in school."
The real truth is that while America's laws hold for a separation of church and state, those laws exist for the protection of liberty of conscience from government intrusion. Separation of church and state protects people from the government and not government from the people.
That is where Dr. King came in, because the Constitution, after all those years, still was not finished in terms of liberty and equality. The least among us included both white and black, poor and foreign. And how we treat others as a nation is just as important as how we treat others as individuals.
The last few years of Dr. King's life was spent speaking on behalf of humanity as a global whole, not just one country or a group of people. The Republicans often reject the least among us, making a special group for just themselves and misusing Christian groups to do it. They tell poor people that their poverty and plight is their own fault, but that is not how the Bible tells us to treat people.
George Mason, who wrote the Bill of Rights, believed that God not only judges individals but that he also judges nations. The Bible tells the rich to weep and howl for the miseries that will come upon them -- and unless the strongest among us begin to develop attitudes which protect the weak and lowly, then surely a greater judgement will befall America than any mere human judgement could ever produce.
The path of human freedom does not come all at once. There have been many phases of civil rights in the path of human liberty. After having spent an entire other lifetime in Washington, DC, there were many times I had to wonder if I had any business in the political world anymore, but then I first ran for senator four years ago and found that I had thousands and thousands more friends out there than I could have ever imagined -- people just like you and me. I realized that the Bible told me to go where more people are so that I could share the REAL message of freedom -- which is the meaning of the cross that Dr. King preached about, and that is why even though that I had some personal things to accomplish, I knew that it would be a sin for me to make excuses and still ran to become our next U.S. Senator from Tennessee.
As I have travelled across Tennessee many times, I began to see that we were all asking the same question, "Is it time to stand up to big bankster bullies like Bob Corker who are trying to take away our liberties?" The more friends that I made, the more I realized that I could never go back -- that the answer was "yes, it is time."
HELP WITH
HURRICANE SANDY
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SALVATION ARMY
FEEDING AMERICA
AMERICA CARES
WORLD VISION
SAVE THE CHILDREN
FORM A TEAM OF VOLUNTEERS TO HELP
This time, your Christian friends in the Tennessee Democratic Party need your help on election day 2012 to defeat Bob Corker, a big-bailout bankster buddy who thinks that he is going to take over on foreign policy for the Republicans. The problem is that Bob Corker only sponsored ONE foreign policy bill in the ENTIRE LAST SESSION -- he is not doing anything for anybody except the big banks, flying around the word on forty-seven trips, and blowing taxpayer money -- for ONLY ONE FOREIGN POLICY BILL!!!
Bob Corker also voted to voucherize Medicare and voted to nullify guaranteed Bill of Rights protections for Americans. It gets a lot worse, and we do not have time to write a book here; but it is safe to say that Bob Corker is no friend of the average Tennessean like you and me, and that Bob Corker is one of the most unqualified foreign policy phoneys and unpopular senators which Tennessee has EVER had.
Bob Corker is even going around bashing Hillary Clinton over the problem in Libya. First of all, Hillary Clinton has accepted responsibility for ALL of the State Department. Second of all, this is ONE issue out of many difficult issues which Hillary Clinton handles. Even Condoleeza Rice has said that Hillary has done a good job, but Bob Corker with his TRIPS TO FORTY-SEVEN FOREIGN COUNTRIES BUT ONLY ONE FOREIGN POLICY BILL and his MANY trips all over the world, ALL WHILE ON HIS FUMING OUT UNWARRANTED ATTACK TEMPER-TANTRUMS AGAINST HILLARY still thinks that you and I are going to let him pass himself off as a senator who can be in charge of foreign policy. NO!! WE ARE GOING TO STOP BOB CORKER!!
AND NO!! WE ARE NOT GOING TO LET BOB CORKER GET AWAY WITH ATTACKING HILLARY CLINTON WHEN SHE HAS DONE A BETTER JOB THAN HE EVER COULD HAVE DREAMED OF DOING -- ON HIS BEST DAY WHICH WOULD NOT BE SAYING MUCH.
Bob Corker won't even do his OWN job and is the biggest unqualified phony in all of the US Senate, and he just wants to make himself look better by tearing down Hillary -- just like always. And all we have to do to see who really is not doing his job is to look at Bob Corker's ONE FOREIGN POLICY BILL.
Do you see what a phony that Bob Corker having flown around to FORTY-SEVEN different countries and now has ONLY ONE foreign policy bill is? Bob Corker is not qualified to criticize anyone on foreign policy, especially not Hillary Clinton. Hillary Clinton deserves a sincere apology from Bob Corker, and Bob Corker should be ashamed of himself for attacking Hillary.
Do you see how Bob Corker conflicts against American values and Tennessee values? Do you see why we have to get rid of Bob Corker before he does all the damage that he can as the servant of greedy powers and arrogant attitudes? Many Tennesseans already see this, but we we all need to join forces on election day 2012 and kick Bob Corker out, once and for all!!!
Bob Corker could have helped humanitarian organizations like the one headed by Al Santoli, one of my best friends, stop Al Qaeda in the Phillipines but was too lazy. Do you see the damage which Bob Corker has already done? But just think how much MORE damage that Bob Corker can do when he starts trying to take over foreign policy as he says he is going to do! The know-it-all-know-nothing Bob Corker actually doing something about foreign policy will be worse than him lazily sitting around the Senate as he says, "watching paint dry." -- his EXACT words!!!
Suffice it to say, that when Dr. King talked about paying attention to the freedoms of people in other countries, lazy Bob Corker was not listening in history class in the same we he acted in the US Senate during his freshman term.
But there is something that you and I can do to stop the madness. We have our Clayton for Senate campaign which you can join and BEAT Bob Corker, ONCE AND FOR ALL!!!
Bob Corker NEVER served in the military even in a small capacity but he wants everyone to pay for his flights all over the world so that he can review the situation and the troops -- not even a senator's job unless we want a Senator Napoleon!!! That being said, Bob Corker should have MORE respect for the military, which he obviously does not.
I served in the Army Reserve for six years straight and seven months active duty, so I know what it is like to wear the uniform and be ready to fight and have a lot of friends who did. Our senior foreign policy advisor and my good friend is Albert Santoli, a Vietnam Veteran with three purple hearts (you read right, three purple hearts), who spends almost all of his time and money going to where Al Qaeda is trying to come; but when Al Qaeda tries to barge in with their messages of hatred and destruction, we already have helped the local villiages cut off the terrorists through education and medicine programs and no government support.
Bob Corker does not know, like we do, how to STOP THE TERRORISTS, and Bob Corker's code phrases indicate that he wants more "boots on the ground" as the only solution that he knows about and neither knows nor cares about the value of humanitarian organizations and what the very important role they play keeping Al Qaeda at bay. Anyone who has been in Washington, D.C. for six years and is qualified in foreign policy knows people like Al Santoli, but every indication is that Bob Corker utterly clueless.
No matter what committee that I am on as your senator, I will always look for people like Free Burma Rangers, Save the Children, World Vision, and Christian Relief International who know how to help the people who are most hurt by the terrorists -- their neighbors.
We have seen Al Qaeda collapse in the face of our most successful programs, and of course, Bob Corker knows NOTHING about any of this, because he is too busy flying around and acting like a special person either to notice or pass more than his ONE foreign policy bill. He is also too busy demonizing Hillary Clinton when she has done a good job. People need help, and Bob Corker just wants to say that Al Qaeda is "morphing." That could mean anything. Can Bob Corker offer ANY solution OTHER than more GWB-style "boots on the ground" and "shock and awe" -- because America and Tennessee have had enough of that and can no longer afford it anyway!
And now, I have to tell you the final, horrible truth about Bob Corker: Bob Corker is not a senator to help the people of Tennessee, and with his ONE FOREIGN POLICY BILL and five other bills, it is clear that Bob Corker has no intention of doing his job as a legislator. Bob Corker is in Washington, D.C. for one reason and one reason alone -- and we are sad to say this could have happened to Tennessee -- Bob Corker is in Washington ONLY to protect the interests of the big banks and make sure that we live as servants to them forever.
Since Bob Corker has ONLY SIX BILLS FOR TWO YEARS and only ONE FOREIGN POLICY BILL -- ZERO OF HIS BILLS PASSED -- there is simply NO OTHER explanation than that he is JUST A GUARD FOR THE BIG BANKS -- not there to pass legislation.
We also know that Bob Corker is on standby to "privatize" Medicare and "privatize" Social Security. If Bob Corker has his say, Medicare and Social Security will be stolen forever and left to the taxpayers and our grandchildren's grandchildren to pay back.
The Christian Right for too long has enjoyed a peculiar alliance with the Republican party, big business, big banks, and despite their claims to the contrary, big government with even bigger control over our lives. Now, please do not misunderstand me, there ARE some good Republicans -- BUT... Bob Corker represents the very worst potential that this often unholy alliance has for spreading its misery seeds and getting us into more worthless debt and war.
Fortunately, Tennessee has an old, forgotten friend who can help us STOP THE MADNESS. America and Tennessee have begun to drift too far and forgotten our old friend, of which I am a part, and which has never left Tennessee and your old friend is waiting for you to come back home -- together for freedom once again -- the way your parents did in days gone by -- AND JOIN FORCES -- join forces with the hundreds of thousands of Christians left in Tennessee's Democratic Party who are holding the line and desperately urging you to help us bring America back from the spiritual dark ages and to help us uphold some of the more forgotten principles which Dr. King talked about from the Bible.
When we say that we believe in liberty and justice FOR ALL, regardless of race, creed, color, religion, or national origin -- we mean business!!! And we are here to take care of the business of the people of Tennessee according to the REAL principles of freedom and DEFEND YOUR RIGHTS -- NOT JUST SOME OF THEM -- BUT ALL OF THEM!!!
One of the places where Christians on the left are still strong is right here in Tennessee, so your friends and I in the Tennessee Democratic Party are asking you to take a stand with us for God and the Constitution, pray with us for Jerusalem, and Vote for me, Mark Clayton, on November 6th.
We shall overcome, and we will not forget the TRUE "Meaning of the Cross." We can't carry on this campaign without you!
Mark Clayton
P.S. I have to go talk to the news media again for an interview and get back on the campaign trail, but I wanted you to meet my Dad, Jack Clayton. He died eight years ago but made a film on Liberty of Conscience -- not just about rights for special groups of people, but about EVERYBODY'S FREEDOM, INCLUDING FREEDOM FOR PEOPLE FROM EVERY SINGLE COUNTRY IN THE WORLD!!! Make sure to tell all of your friends about it so that everybody can watch the film on their computers and their telephones. There have been a lot of "consipiracy theories" about where I came from, but if everybody will just listen to what my Dad had to say -- the best Dad in the world, ever -- then it should be OBVIOUS where I came from -- and where I come from, freedom is for EVERYBODY, not just a group.
FREEDOM IS FOR EVERYBODY
Jack Kirby Clayton (1939-2004) -- Author and Narrator
Bill of Rights
SMACKDOWN
VS.
Exposing Bob Corker’s Lies about his Votes on NDAA Authorizing Military Detention of American Citizens -- An Open Letter to All Tennessee Voters
IS BOB CORKER ATTACKING OUR FREEDOMS ON PURPOSE AND THEN LYING ABOUT IT? WILL HE GET AWAY WITH IT?
CLICK HERE FOR BILL OF RIGHTS SMACKDOWN
Paid for by Clayton for SenatePesticides beekeepers are using to improve honeybee health may actually be harming the bees by damaging the bacteria communities in their guts, according to a team led by a Virginia Tech scientist.
The discovery, published in the journal Frontiers in Microbiology, is a concern because alterations can affect the gut's ability to metabolize sugars and peptides, processes that are vital for honeybee health. Beekeepers typically apply pesticides to hives to rid them of harmful parasites such as Varroa mites.
"Although helpful for ridding hives of parasites and pathogens, the chemicals in beekeeper-applied pesticides can be harmful to the bees," said Mark Williams, an associate professor of horticulture in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and lead author. "Our research suggests that pesticides could specifically impact the microbes that are crucial to honey bee nutrition and health."
For the project, the team extracted genomic data from honeybees that lived in hives that were treated with pesticides (three different kinds) with those that were not. Samples were pulled from hives in three separate Blacksburg locations.
Honeybees from chlorothalanil-treated hives showed the greatest change in gut microbiome, said Williams, who is also affiliated with the Fralin Life Science Institute.
Looking ahead, the team plans to investigate the specific changes in gut microbiota activities that affect honeybee survival. Honeybees are the foundation of successful high-value food production.
"Our team wants to better describe the core microbiota using bioinformatics to help best characterize the microbes that support healthy honeybees and thus stave off disease naturally," said co-author Richard Rodrigues, a postdoctoral researcher at Oregon State University and formerly a graduate student in Williams' lab.
Other authors include Troy Anderson, a former assistant professor of entomology at Virginia Tech; Madhavi Kakumanu, a postdoctoral scientist at North Carolina State University and former Virginia Tech graduate student in Williams' lab; and Alison Reeves, a former graduate student in Anderson's lab.
In Virginia, the approximate rate of hive loss is more than 30 percent per year, and continued losses are expected to drive up the cost for important crops that bees make possible, such as apples, melon and squash.Happy Friday! Who else is super excited for the weekend? I know I am and with just two weeks until I live for Cosmoprof, I will be very busy! It has been insanely hot here and with the heat comes tasty cold treats. This week I picked up one of those tasty treats, a Dreamshake from Jacks. As I was staring into this amazing shake I was struck with an idea for some nail art and I hope you guys enjoy them as much as I did my shake.
For my creamsicle inspired mani I started with two coats of Alpine Snow by OPI and one coat of Liquid Macro Top Coat by SuperChic Lacquer. After waiting about a hour for the base to fully cure, I applied Eleanor by The Painted Nail and used saran wrap to create a swirly marble look. I then sealed it all with a coat of Liquid Macro Top Coat by SuperChic Lacquer.
So what do you guys think of creamsicle inspired look? I think I need some more dreamshakes from Jacks!!!! The jelly like finish of Eleanor by The Painted Nail created the perfect marble swirl!!! Thank you so much for stopping by today and I will see you all again tomorrow.It’s now a month since Malaysian Flight MH370 became modern aviation’s greatest mystery. Certain things are clear and many of them are disturbing.
First, the oversight of commercial air space in this part of Asia is chaotic. Jealously preserved divisions of power within each state made it impossible to achieve the kind of open, rapid and efficient exchange of information between the states themselves that is essential in an emergency. As s result, too much time has been spent chasing false leads, some of them dubiously motivated, and assessing data that turned out to be badly flawed.
As long as any physical evidence remains out of reach this is not only the most demanding sea search for an airplane ever undertaken, it’s a virtually impossible forensic challenge.
The initial failure to report radar sightings of what was probably Flight MH370 had costly consequences in a time-critical situation. Days were wasted searching the South China Sea, not the Indian Ocean.
It took at least a week to produce anything resembling a reliable time line of the Boeing 777’s course after the last contact between it and controllers.
It turned out that the Malaysian military had noted an unidentified airplane flying west, not north toward China, but did not report this to the civilian authorities for two days. The Thai military tracked what was almost certainly the same unidentified flight continuing out over the Indian Ocean but did not report it for ten days “because it wasn’t asked.”
As enraging as these lapses are, they should not come as a surprise. They are not the result of momentary negligence or incompetence. They reflect a long and deeply embedded status quo in the way international aviation is handled in one of the busiest air spaces in Asia.
None of the nations involved is technically backward. Thailand, for example, not only manages, and manages well, one of the world’s busiest international hubs, Bangkok, a key gateway between Asia, the Middle East and Europe, but has two regional airports into which thousands of tourists fly safely every day, Phuket and Chiang Mai. All these airports are in the process of upgrading their navigation aids to future international standards.
There are, however, throughout the region, sealed compartments of military and civilian authority—the Thai military radar, for example, covers swathes of airspace beyond the areas allotted for commercial traffic. Not only national security is involved. The interdiction of drug traffic and piracy is involved. Separate branches of the military—air force, navy, and army—have high degrees of autonomy and are not used to sharing information with politicians.
So it’s really not so shocking that when the need arises for states to share information, some of which may be classified, in a transparent and timely manner they simply don’t have the means, experience, or inclination to do so.
In this case the behavior is made even more complex by the shadowy role of Western intelligence agencies. We’ll probably never know if they swept up clues to the divergent behavior of Flight MH370, correctly identified and analyzed them and then passed them to investigators with admirable celerity—or deftly filtered the data before passing it on. They, too, would be acutely nervous about revealing the capabilities of their assets.
In contrast to this pattern of accidental or deliberate concealment there were some well-advertised flourishes of national pride. Satellite images from China, Thailand and France were used to arouse hopes that wreckage had been spotted—at first in the far southern Indian Ocean and, later, in the re-directed search zone closer to southwestern Australia. These sightings fed the news cycle frenzy for days, with even normally cautious experts allowing themselves to believe there was a high probability of locating wreckage. As it turned out, each sighting was not of a debris field but of the vast junk field the oceans have become. With this painful sense of anticlimax came, inevitably a feeling that the efficacy of satellite surveillance had, perhaps, |
standard of care,’ which includes receipt of federally recommended vaccines, whether the language in this bill says the word ‘vaccine’ or not,” warns the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC).
NVIC is urging the public to contact their congressional representatives and two state senators to voice opposition to H.R. 1313. No employee should be forced to take vaccines in exchange for lowered healthcare premiums or other company perks, health freedom experts warn. This is medical discrimination at its most damning, and it can’t be allowed to become the standard.
You can visit the NVIC Advocacy Portal to contact your respective congressmen. Once there, click on the “National” tab and you will be directed to the appropriate page for contacting your representatives and senators.
You can also contact Rep. Virginia Foxx and let her know how you feel about this bill. Remember to be polite but firm in your opposition, explaining to her your concerns about where this bill could lead as an affront to health freedom.
Sources:
HealthImpactNews.com
Congress.govThe proliferation of renewables and persistently low natural gas prices have been pushing down coal generator margins for years. The results to date have been an unprecedented wave of plant retirements and lower CO2 emissions. These dynamics are having a similar impact on the largest source of zero emitting generation in the US, the nuclear fleet. Entergy Corporation announced last week that it will retire its Fitzpatrick nuclear plant in upstate New York. The news marks Entergy’s third nuclear plant retirement announcement in as many years. Meanwhile, states are on the hook to achieve substantial power sector CO2 reductions under EPA’s Clean Power Plan (CPP). If retired nuclear plants are replaced with new Natural Gas Combined Cycle (NGCC) units, the resulting emissions may cancel out CPP CO2 reductions. In this note we take a look at what’s driving nuclear retirements, as well as the intersection between the CPP and the US nuclear fleet.
Nuclear is the largest source of zero-emitting power, but that’s changing: Nuclear power has consistently provided nearly 20% of US power since 2005. That’s more than all other zero-emitting generation combined. Still, nuclear retirements due to a variety of market and regulatory factors will shrink the fleet by 6% between 2010 and 2020. Assuming no additional retirements, new plants under construction will get the nuclear fleet close to 2010 capacity levels by 2022.
A wave of nuclear retirements could cancel out up to half of CPP CO2 reductions: The same factors that have pushed 6% of the fleet to retire aren’t going away any time soon. If more nuclear plants retire, CO2 emissions from replacement NGCC generation could wipe out some or all of the emission reductions associated with the CPP in the 13 states where nuclear plants have the most exposure to market factors. This is especially the case if new NGCCs aren’t covered under CPP state implementation plans (SIPs).
State CPP decisions could prop up or knock down troubled nukes: Different SIP designs will help or hurt the prospects for existing nuclear plants. A rate-based SIP could exacerbate current market factors, such as low wholesale electricity prices, that have been dogging nuclear plants of late. A mass-based SIP on only existing fossil sources leaves new NGCCs free to emit unrestricted in the event that nuclear units retire. A mass-based SIP on both new and existing sources provides the greatest potential boost to existing nuclear units, but on its own may not completely counter the full breadth of factors currently putting pressure on the fleet.
Nuclear is the largest source of zero-emitting power, but that’s changing
Nuclear power has been a consistent source of zero-emitting generation for decades. Figure 1 shows the breakout of US generation by fuel since 2005. The US nuclear fleet, at just over 100 gigawatts of capacity, provides reliable baseload power representing 19% of US generation in 2014. That’s larger than the share of all other zero-emitting resources (primarily hydro, wind, and solar) combined. While wind and solar continue to make gains, nuclear stands to maintain its role as the leading source of zero emitting generation—though the future is looking increasingly shaky.
Last week’s announcement of the Fitzpatrick plant closure as well as Entergy’s announcement last month that it will shut down its Pilgrim plant in Massachusetts aren’t just a flash in the pan. Over the past five years, five nuclear units totaling 4.3 gigawatts of capacity have been shuttered. One additional unit is slated to close by the end of the decade. Together with Pilgrim and Fitzpatrick, current and planned nuclear capacity retirements this decade total 6.4 gigawatts. Nuclear retirements aren’t unprecedented—they happen from time to time. The last wave occurred in the late 1990s as a handful of the very first commercial nuclear reactors reached the end of their useful lives. What’s different this time around is what’s driving these retirements: instead of reaching the end of their lifespan, recent and planned retirements represent plants with operating licenses lasting well into the 2020s.
Almost the same combination of market and regulatory factors driving coal retirements in the US are putting the squeeze on the nuclear fleet. These factors include:
Low natural gas prices: Persistently low natural gas prices increase competition from NGCCs units for providing baseload power—the same baseload power that has been traditionally supplied by nuclear and coal generators. NGCCs are often on the margin in wholesale markets, playing a key role in setting power prices. As gas prices have come down so have wholesale prices, putting a squeeze on coal and nuclear plant margins.
Persistently low natural gas prices increase competition from NGCCs units for providing baseload power—the same baseload power that has been traditionally supplied by nuclear and coal generators. NGCCs are often on the margin in wholesale markets, playing a key role in setting power prices. As gas prices have come down so have wholesale prices, putting a squeeze on coal and nuclear plant margins. Competition from subsidized generation: State Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPSs) and the Federal Production Tax Credit (PTC) have spurred the growth of renewable power. Renewable generators only get these subsidies if they sell power to the grid. This sets up an odd incentive in competitive markets where renewables sometimes bid below their operating costs to insure that they get called on to generate power and receive RPS and PTC credits. This pulls down wholesale prices further, sometimes to the point where prices go negative. In turn, nuclear and coal plant profits get squeezed.
State Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPSs) and the Federal Production Tax Credit (PTC) have spurred the growth of renewable power. Renewable generators only get these subsidies if they sell power to the grid. This sets up an odd incentive in competitive markets where renewables sometimes bid below their operating costs to insure that they get called on to generate power and receive RPS and PTC credits. This pulls down wholesale prices further, sometimes to the point where prices go negative. In turn, nuclear and coal plant profits get squeezed. Low electric demand growth: The great recession and energy efficiency policies have pushed demand growth to historically low levels. Lower demand for electricity reduces the need for generation.
The great recession and energy efficiency policies have pushed demand growth to historically low levels. Lower demand for electricity reduces the need for generation. Low wholesale electricity and capacity prices: The sum of the factors above equals relatively low wholesale electricity prices. Sometimes prices are so low that nuclear plant revenues from electricity sales don’t cover costs. In regions where capacity markets exist, market rules sometimes undervalue highly reliable units (such as nuclear units) which also lowers nuclear plant revenues.
The sum of the factors above equals relatively low wholesale electricity prices. Sometimes prices are so low that nuclear plant revenues from electricity sales don’t cover costs. In regions where capacity markets exist, market rules sometimes undervalue highly reliable units (such as nuclear units) which also lowers nuclear plant revenues. Increasing costs: As plants get older, increases in operation and maintenance cost are inevitable. Meanwhile, post-Fukushima safety rules—and in some cases environmental regulations (such as cooling tower requirements)—are forcing plant owners to decide whether it is sensible to make new large capital investments or simply shut down.
As plants get older, increases in operation and maintenance cost are inevitable. Meanwhile, post-Fukushima safety rules—and in some cases environmental regulations (such as cooling tower requirements)—are forcing plant owners to decide whether it is sensible to make new large capital investments or simply shut down. Unexpected wear and tear: In a few cases (such as San Onofre and Crystal River), unexpected and/or accelerated degradation of key plant components have forced owners to retire plants due to insurmountable repair costs.
Current and planned nuclear retirements, while sizable, come at a time when the US is building the first new reactors in decades. Tennessee, Georgia, and South Carolina are all slated to add new nuclear capacity by 2022. Figure 2 shows the total US nuclear fleet before and after retirements and new builds. Assuming no additional units are shutdown, the US fleet will be roughly the same size in 2022 as it was in 2010.
A wave of nuclear retirements could cancel out half of CPP CO2 reductions
The same factors that have knocked out Fitzpatrick and Pilgrim (and Vermont Yankee and Kewaunee in Wisconsin before them) are still in play. There’s no end in sight to low wholesale power prices absent a highly unlikely surge in demand and/or natural gas prices. Meanwhile, states and grid operators have been exploring regulatory changes that could help shore up nuclear plants in competitive markets. For example, regional grid operator PJM has revamped its capacity market to better value reliable baseload generation. These changes appear to have been enough for Exelon to delay decisions on the closure of a few nuclear plants it owns in Illinois. Still, if another wave of nuclear plant retirements occurs, what will it mean for states as they work to meet CO2 emission reduction targets under the CPP?
First, about half the nuclear fleet is owned by vertically integrated utilities located in rate-regulated states. The owners of these units usually cover plant costs through rate cases with their state Public Utilities Commissions (PUCs), shielding them from low gas prices and subsidized renewables. Barring unforeseen large capital requirements from unexpected wear and tear, the rate-regulated half of the nuclear fleet will almost certainly continue to run within the limits of their operating licenses. The other half of the nuclear fleet is owned by independent power providers operating in deregulated states where market forces rule. Indeed, Fitzpatrick and Pilgrim are both located in deregulated states.
When a nuclear plant retires, additional baseload generation is needed to replace it. In nearly every corner of the US that means ramping up or building new NGCCs. For every nuclear plant that retires, CO2 emissions will almost certainly increase. Meanwhile, the CPP places requirements on existing fossil generators only. This allows new NGCCs not subject to CPP constraints to fill the nuclear retirement void, undermining the environmental integrity of President Obama’s flagship climate policy. If states opt to comply with the CPP through mass-based caps on both new and existing fossil generators then nuclear retirements may not results in increased emissions. Instead, meeting those caps will become much more challenging.
Figure 3 compares Massachusetts’ and New York’s 2030 projected CO2 reductions from the CPP to our estimates of emissions from replacement NGCC generation associated with the retirement of the Pilgrim and Fitzpatrick plants. While Massachusetts has a relatively modest CPP goal, the retirement of the Pilgrim plant makes the goal twice as hard to meet. Meanwhile, emissions from replacement generation for Fitzpatrick are roughly 2/3 the projected 2030 abatement for New York. Both states are parties to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) and presumably will use the regional cap-and-trade platform covering both existing and new sources as their CPP compliance vehicle. The regional trading within RGGI means that the added pressure from nuclear retirements will be spread among participating states, making CPP compliance more challenging for all states in the program.
What might happen in other states? Figure 4 compares projected 2030 CPP abatement and our estimates of emissions from replacement NGCC generation, assuming market dynamics in deregulated states force the retirement of all nuclear units in those states by 2030. While this is almost certainly a worst case scenario, it highlights the important relationship between maintaining zero emitting generation and meeting CO2 reduction goals. For example, if Illinois achieves its projected CPP abatement of 9.1 million tons in 2030, those gains could be wiped out by a factor of four if new NGCCs are built to replace the generation provided by the state’s nuclear fleet. The same holds true for New York and New Jersey. In Pennsylvania, projected 2030 abatement could be canceled out by a factor of three. Nationwide, 40%—or 155 of the 375 million tons of EPA’s projected 2030 CPP abatement—could evaporate due to nuclear retirements in deregulated states.
Could renewables fill in the gaps left by retired nuclear plants to avoid any adverse emissions outcomes? Perhaps, but it will take significant amounts of new renewable capacity to do so. Figure 5 shows how many gigawatts of wind or utility scale solar PV would be required to replace nuclear retirements in each state, assuming national average capacity factors. This is probably an underestimate for states that aren’t very windy or sunny such as Connecticut and Maryland. A state like Iowa with its world class wind resources and small nuclear fleet should be able to easily cover the gap. However, a state like Pennsylvania would have to expand its current wind capacity by a factor of 20 or expand its utility solar capacity by nearly a factor of 800 to fill in for its nuclear units. A renewables buildout of this scale would also require substantial transmission and grid upgrades. And there may still be increases in emissions if natural gas units are used to help balance all of this new variable renewable generation with load and meet reserve margins.
State CPP decisions could prop up or knock down troubled Nukes
While CO2 regulations can’t counter all of the factors driving nuclear retirements discussed above, they can certainly help or hurt the situation depending on implementation. Under the Clean Air Act, states decide how to design standards to meet EPA’s CPP requirements. Under the CPP there are three primary SIP compliance options that EPA says would undergo a streamlined approval process. A rate-based SIP, a mass-based SIP covering existing sources, and a mass-based SIP covering existing and new sources (including new NGCCs). Each option would influence the existing nuclear fleet in different ways.
Under a rate-based SIP, existing fossil generators would need to meet an average emission rate goal across the state’s power plant fleet. New renewables and new nuclear plants can generate and sell credits to help fossil plants meet the goal. Existing nuclear units can’t generate credits and in turn don’t get any new revenue under a rate-based SIP. But existing nuclear isn’t held harmless. New nuclear and renewables (and to a lesser extent existing NGCCs) do get new revenue from the sale of compliance credits and in turn can lower their bids into the power market—the same dynamic currently driven by the PTC and state RPSs. This could put further downward pressure on wholesale electric prices and increase retirement pressures on deregulated nuclear plants. Meanwhile, new NGCCs aren’t covered by the program, and are not restricted from generating power and emitting CO2.
A mass-based SIP on existing units establishes a cap-and-trade system and a price on carbon for existing fossil generators. Any generation outside the cap—such as existing and new renewables and nuclear as well as new NGCCs—get a benefit, since they don’t have to pay the carbon price. Generally, a price on carbon increases the bid price for all covered units and in turn increases wholesale power prices. This could provide a boost for troubled nuclear plants depending on how high carbon prices go. Still, with new NGCCs not subject to the cap any nuclear retirements would likely be met with an increase in CO2 emissions.
Finally, a mass-based SIP covering existing and new fossil generators establishes a cap-and-trade program and carbon price on all CO2 emitting power plants, including new NGCCs. The upside for wholesale prices and nuclear plant revenues should be larger than under an existing-sources-only cap, all else equal, because new NGCCs would also increase their bid prices to incorporate the carbon price. Furthermore, with new NGCCs under the cap there would be a limit on how much they could emit as they fill in behind any nuclear plants that still might retire. In the end, this all adds up to higher wholesale power prices and an upside for nuclear plant margins. Still, it’s the magnitude of the carbon price and its influence on wholesale power prices that matters most and it’s not a panacea for nuclear’s woes. The fact that both Pilgrim and Fitzpatrick are going to retire even as they operate under the RGGI CO2 cap-and-trade program with a $6/short ton (as of the September auction) price on carbon is a case in point. As states move forward in designing and implementing their CPP SIPs, how their decisions impact the nuclear fleet will be a critical issue.Real Madrid President backs the Frenchman
Real Madrid forward Karim Benzema has come in for some criticism from former Barcelona striker Gary Lineker, but Florentino Perez has backed the Frenchman and believes that there is no other striker who would suit Los Blancos more than him.
The spat began following Real's Champions League tie against Tottenham Hotspur where Lineker believed that Benzema should have scored a couple of the chances he had, before pointing to his goalscoring record; unaware of the almost telepathic relationship the striker enjoys with Cristiano Ronaldo.
"Benzema's been here for eight years and this is his ninth season," Perez said to El Partidazo de Cope.
"He is demanding and loyal, there is no need to worry."
Perez is keen to stick up for the 29-year-old and is full of praise for his style of play.
"I don't mind what Lineker said, I don't care," he continued.
"What happens is that people judge Benzema just on the amount of goals he scores.
"Against Eibar, he came on and provided us with a footballing masterpiece in the goal for Marcelo.
"I always say that Benzema is a cross between Zidane and Ronaldo Nazario.
"He scores goals like Ronaldo and has the touch of Zidane; he is a luxury."
The Real president also discussed Marcelo's goal in further detail.
"After the game against Eibar, there are people who called me and said: But how can you criticise Benzema?" he said.
"That Marcelo goal is spectacular, but especially for the part of the Frenchman.
"To those who believe that Benzema is a different type of player, I tell them to go and watch the Champions League semi-final against Atletico Madrid and see the dribble that took three players away from the game, before providing the assist for Isco."Earlier this week we reported on the death of Jeremy Mardis, the six-year-old boy who was tragically killed after being shot by marshals in Marksville, Louisiana. As more details emerge, we've learned that two officers have been arrested for the crime and are currently facing murder charges.
Louisiana State Police Col. Micheal Edmonson reviewed the incident during a press conference and confirmed Derrick Stafford, 32, and Norris Greenhouse, 23, were arrested Friday (Nov. 6) on counts of second degree murder and attempted second degree murder. Edmonson told the press he reviewed the body camera footage and called it "the most disturbing thing" he's ever viewed. Six-year-old Mardis succumbed to gunshot wounds to the face and chest after the two officers - one employed at the Marksville Police Department and the other from the Alexandria City Marshal - fired up to 18 shots at the car him and his father, Chris Few, were in. "That little boy was buckled into the front seat of that vehicle and that is how he died," explained Edmonson. Few is said to be in critical condtion.
Both officers claim they were serving Few a warrant, though Edmonson told The Advocate "no warrant has materialized." As far as the other two officers involved - Lt. Jason Brouillette and Sgt. Kenneth Parnell - facing charges, Edmonson added "we'll see where it takes us."
Source: BuzzFeedMissouri Attorney General Josh Hawley has issued subpoenas to three companies that distribute opioids throughout the United States.
The subpoenas were issued to AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, and McKesson Corporation. As opioid overdoses rise across the country, Hawley is accusing those companies of putting profits ahead of patient health.
“This is how,” said Hawley on Tuesday. “Federal and state laws require these distributors to report any suspicious activity. But among other facts, the sheer volume of opioids that they have delivered to multiple locations is inherently suspicious.”
He continued: “The evidence suggests that these companies chose to look the other way, oversupply pharmacies and other outlets, and make millions of dollars in profits … well, not anymore.”
Hawley said refusal to cooperate could result in lawsuits being filed against the three opioid distributors.
He filed a separate suit in St. Louis in June against three companies that manufacture opioids. And in August issued subpoenas against seven other pharmaceutical corporations.
In response, AmerisourceBergen issued a statement saying it “welcomes the opportunity to engage with Attorney General Hawley and the people of Missouri.”
John Parker of the Healthcare Distribution Alliance, a trade organization that represents AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, and McKesson, said in a statement: “The idea that distributors are solely responsible for the number of opioid prescriptions written defies common sense and lacks understanding of how the pharmaceutical supply chain actually works and how it is regulated.”
“Distributors are logistics companies that arrange for the safe and secure storage, transport, and delivery of medicines from manufacturers to pharmacies, hospitals, long-term care facilities, and others based on prescriptions from licensed physicians,” the statement continued. “We don’t make medicines, market medicines, prescribe medicines, or dispense them to consumers.”
Follow Marshall Griffin on Twitter: @MarshallGReportBALTIMORE — Yankees manager Joe Girardi intends to visit his well-stocked roster of starters on the mend Thursday morning at the team’s complex in Tampa, Fla. But for now, he’s still just getting updates sent from team officials. He relayed those Wednesday afternoon.
First baseman Mark Teixeira (strained wrist) received six more at-bats in a simulated game. Teixeira wrote on his Twitter account he went 2-for-4 with two walks.
Infielder Kevin Youkilis (lower lumbar strain) also took six at-bats in a simulated game. But Girardi indicated an exact return date could not be established.
"I think you’d have to give him a few days in a row before you evaluate to make sure his back is healed, and it doesn’t come back," Girardi said before Thursday night’s game against Baltimore. "The last two days have been pretty good. So he’s getting closer."
• The Yankees have charted a course that would have starter Andy Pettitte (strained trapezius muscle) ready to pitch very close to June 2, when he is eligible to come off the 15-day disabled list. Girardi expects Pettitte to play catch either Thursday or Friday. After long tossing and throwing a bullpen, Pettitte would likely work in a simulated game.
• CC Sabathia will start on Sunday, with Vidal Nuno still slated to pitch on Saturday. Nuno gave up a walk-off homer in relief on Tuesday night.
• Alex Rodriguez (hip surgery) had a day off from his rehab, Girardi said.
• Starter Ivan Nova (triceps inflammation) threw another bullpen session Wednesday, but Girardi indicated the team was still deciding the next step for him.
"I’m not sure exactly what we’re going to do," he said. "We’ll make sure he feels okay, and then we’ll go from there."
The team initially penciled Nova in for a big-league return on May 13 in Cleveland. It is unclear if the Yankees intended to use him as just a spot starter, optioning him to Triple A after the doubleheader, or if he was to regain a roster spot.
But Nova experienced tightness in his left side while preparing for that outing. He was scratched, and the team is being cautious with his return.
"We’re able to be patient, because we want to make sure he’s healthy when he comes back," Girardi said.
Plus, new fifth starter David Phelps (3.83 ERA) has out-performed Nova (6.48 ERA) thus far.
• Starter Michael Pineda (shoulder surgery) could be ready to start a rehab assignment after two more appearances in extended-spring games. Pineda threw about 50 pitches in his last outing. The team wants him built up to 75 pitches before he begins rehab games, and he raises his pitch count by about 15 each time out.
The rehab assignment lasts 30 days. If the team does not need Pineda in the majors then, he could continue to work in the minors.
• Reliever Joba Chamberlain (strained oblique) threw an inning in an extended-spring game.
***
Catcher Chris Stewart (sore groin) had yet to test himself by running. He still hoped to return to action this weekend against the Rays.
***
Here are the lineups as Hiroki Kuroda (6-2, 1.99 ERA) faces Jason Hammel (5-2, 5.72 ERA):
YANKEES (28-17)
1. Curtis Granderson, CF
2. Robinson Cano, 2B
3. Vernon Wells, LF
4. Travis Hafner, DH
5. Lyle Overbay, 1B
6. David Adams, 3B
7. Ichiro Suzuki, RF
8. Reid Brignac, SS
9. Austin Romine, C
BALTIMORE (24-21)
1. Nate McLouth, LF
2. Manny Machado, 3B
3. Nick Markakis, RF
4. Adam Jones, DH
5. Chris Davis, 1B
6. Matt Wieters, C
7. JJ Hardy, SS
8. Chris Dickerson, CF
9. Alexi Casilla, 2BAbstract
BACKGROUND: Individuals with social phobia (SP) show sensitivity and attentiveness to other peoples states of mind. Although cognitive processes in SP have been extensively studied, these individuals social cognition characteristics have never been examined before. We hypothesized that high socially anxious individuals (HSA) may exhibit elevated mentalizing and empathic abilities.
METHODS: Empathy was assessed using self-rating scales in HSA individuals (n=21) and low socially anxious (LSA) individuals (n=22), based on their score on the Liebowitz social anxiety scale. A computerized task was used to assess the ability to judge first and second order affective vs. cognitive mental state attributions.
RESULTS: HSA individuals exhibited elevated affective empathy tendencies. However, controlling for the general anxiety variable revealed that social anxiety was related to cognitive empathy measures, rather than affective empathy. In addition, compared with LSA participants, HSA participants exhibited higher accuracy levels on the affective mental state attribution conditions, but were less accurate than LSA individuals on the parallel cognitive mental state attribution conditions.
LIMITATIONS: Additional research with larger samples and clinically diagnosed individuals is required.
CONCLUSIONS: Results support the hypothesis that high socially anxious individuals may demonstrate a unique social-cognitive abilities profile with elevated cognitive empathy tendencies and high accuracy in affective mental state attributions.WASHINGTON ( TheStreet ) -- Thehas asked Standard & Poor's to disclose who at the ratings agency knew of its decision to downgrade U.S. debt before it was announced last Friday,reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
The SEC's action is part of a preliminary look into potential insider trading, the newspaper said.
The inquiry was made by the SEC's examination staff, which has oversight of credit rating firms, one person familiar with the matter told the
The person said the SEC was looking at who had the information as a starting point. The agency isn't aware of a leak from an S&P insider, nor was it aware of an aberrational trade, the newspaper said.
The Senate Banking Committee has begun investigating Standard & Poor's downgrade of the credit rating of the United States to AA+ from AAA.
-- Written by Joseph Woelfel
>To contact the writer of this article, click here: Joseph Woelfel
>To submit a news tip, send an email to: tips@thestreet.comDear Steinbrenner Family,
I have never told you what to do. I have thought about what you should do many times, including in 2004 when I was 11 and could have told you not to sign Jaret Freaking Wright to a three-year deal. Today, I am telling you what to do and please, I beg of you, listen.
Swallow your pride for a moment and give this a thought. Derek Jeter, you know -- Captain Clutch, Mr. November, Numbah two (Bob Sheppard voice) -- has reportedly agreed to buy the Miami Marlins with Jeb Bush (brother of the guy who threw out the first pitch in Game 3 of the 2001 World Series). Nothing is official. But like with a restricted free agent, New York can still match.
The deal is apparently for $1.3 billion, although how the percentages will be divided among Jeter, Bush and the rest of the group is unclear. It doesn't matter. The Steinbrenners need to offer Jeter a chance to buy a share of the Yankees for whatever amount he is paying in Miami.
This should be easy. According to Forbes, the Yankees are a $3.7 billion franchise. The Marlins, who were listed at $940 million, are now effectively worth $1.3 billion. Let's say Jeter and Bush are splitting 50 percent of the Marlins (this is a purposeful overestimation). That would mean Jeter is paying $650 million for his Miami share, which would be equal to 17.6 percent of the Yankees.
Again, Jeter is likely getting considerably less when all is said and done with this transaction. But the numbers don't matter. Whether Jeter is getting 50 percent or 1 percent in Miami, the Yankees should owe it to their fans to let him invest the same number of dollars in New York.
Maybe Jeter wouldn't be interested anyway because he can have more power to make the big decisions with the Marlins. But at least the Steinbrenners need to give the greatest living Yankee a chance to politely decline.
Michael Jordan is the majority owner of the Charlotte Hornets. The Hornets have become popular (again) because they have become synonymous with MJ. The Chicago Bulls are still one of the NBA's most lucrative and popular franchises, but they never offered Jordan a piece of it (at least publicly), even though he was interested in becoming part of the ownership group. Although the Bulls erected a statue of Jordan and retired his number, he left the team on icy terms.
He ended up buying part of the Wizards before selling to make another comeback as a player. After his final retirement, he bought a minority share of Charlotte, which put him in prime position to become the owner when Robert Johnson was looking to sell his majority stake.
Jeter didn't leave the Yankees on a sour note the way Jordan left the Bulls. That makes it more realistic that the Steinbrenners could make the offer to Jeter than the Bulls never did with Jordan. Maybe it worked out better for Jordan in the long run anyway because he gets to call the shots in Charlotte. But isn't there something idyllic, at least from the perspective of Chicago fans, about the idea of Jordan running the Bulls? It's the same thing with Jeter and the Yankees.
Derek Jeter is the most valuable individual to the New York Yankees' franchise. He's 42, an idol to MLB players and the most popular baseball figure, perhaps alive, among fans across nearly every demographic. Everyone wants to engage with in the community, at the ballpark or on TV. He is the de facto face of the New York Yankees' franchise. And he should be until the day he dies.
Imagine a world with no Derek Jeter visits at Yankee Stadium, limited Jeter appearances in NYC and no Yankee logos in Jeter's wardobe. That is what we are on the verge of.
Hank and Hal, I know you have pride and you want the Yankees to be your own. You want it to be your team, not George's team. You can still run the Yankees with Jeter holding equity.
No, losing Jeter to Miami will not end the Yankees' reign as the nation's most valuable sports franchise. But as strong as the Yankees' brand is, it can be even stronger with Derek Jeter's name attached. Even if you give up a portion of your percentage, your value can skyrocket with Jeter's name included on the board.
Remember how well young Jeter handled his money in the NYC nightlight scene?
Do what's necessary, Steinbrenners. Keep Jeter in New York. The fans will repay you.
Derek Jeter belongs in Monument Park, not Marlins Park (I know, he can be in both, but this seemed right for dramatic effect).
Sincerely,
Jeff Eisenband
-- Follow Jeff Eisenband on Twitter @JeffEisenband. Like Jeff Eisenband on Facebook.Fully reproducible builds are important because they bridge the gap between auditable open source and convenient binary artifacts. Technologies like TUF and Binary Transparency provide accountability for what binaries are shipped to users, but that's of limited utility if there is no way (short of reverse engineering) of proving that the binary is in fact the result of compiling the intended source.
That's why the Debian project is putting tremendous effort into making packages reproducible. The good news is that Go builds are reproducible by default.
Prerequisites
There are a few common sense requirements.
Of course, the builds must be reproducible in the weaker sense: that means the source code must match perfectly. This includes dependencies, so the project has to vendor them strictly. This is important beyond binary reproducibility: you don't want for "version 1.3" of a software to mean different things based on when it was built.
The compiler version must be the same.
GOPATH and GOROOT must match (#16860), annoyingly, as they are all over the binary in debug file paths. EDIT: As Shawn Walker suggests on Twitter, you can strip the paths with -asmflags -trimpath. (Of course only works if you control the original build.) Note: the default GOROOT, the one that the compiler will use if the environment variable is not set, must also match, since it will be copied into binaries (#17943). You can only change that by recompiling the toolchain in the right directory.
In cgo be dragons (#15405, #19964, #9206), meaning that it's possible to get reproducible builds since 1.7 but it depends on the C linker.
Interestingly, the build host architecture does not matter. In other words, builds are reproducible across cross-compiling.
Reproducing rclone
I picked rclone for this exercise because it's a self-contained Go binary that vendors dependencies and offers binary installs.
Here's the binaries we will try to reproduce.
bfe0d7e041b4020001b6c48ff170e727243855cbb447f96d983e05b04c090ea8 rclone-v1.36-windows-386/rclone.exe 71827d554c5d860d302ec76d79dcd8433fe63065eac5df4d81b4d2bbefc760b3 rclone-v1.36-linux-amd64/rclone 61ab593c6a007e54c63e64ff2b6ee66dba77c40e12d8ca6b81cf50e8272f43b3 rclone-v1.36-openbsd-amd64/rclone
Detecting parameters
To start, we need to figure out the GOPATH and GOROOT values they were built with. This is easy to figure out using debug/gosym and debug information to query the file path of known functions. (PE support is... left as an exercise to the reader.)
$ go run gosym.go rclone-v1.36-linux-amd64/rclone /home/ncw/go/src/github.com/ncw/rclone/rclone.go /opt/go/go1.8/src/runtime/extern.go
So the GOPATH is /home/ncw/go and the GOROOT is /opt/go/go1.8.
For the compiler version I don't have a good solution (that will work even if DWARF is stripped), so I'll give you a bad one, that relies on the global variable backing runtime.Version().
$ egrep -a -o 'go[0-9\.]+' rclone-v1.36-linux-amd64/rclone go. go1.8 go1.8
Yes, it's literally strings.
You're also on your own for the compiler's default GOROOT, but strings will bring it up.
Finally, you might have to look at the project docs to find out what flags they use. rclone uses -s, -X and CGO_ENABLED=0.
Reproducing it
Since the host architecture does not matter but the environment does, we'll use Docker to do our build.
FROM debian:jessie RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y unzip wget tar ca-certificates git build-essential RUN wget https://storage.googleapis.com/golang/go1.8.linux-amd64.tar.gz RUN tar xvf go1.8.linux-amd64.tar.gz RUN mkdir -p /opt/go && cp -r go /opt/go/go1.8 RUN cd /opt/go/go1.8/src && GOROOT_BOOTSTRAP=/go./make.bash ENV PATH "/opt/go/go1.8/bin:$PATH" RUN mkdir -p /home/ncw/go/src/github.com/ncw/ RUN cd /home/ncw/go/src/github.com/ncw && git clone https://github.com/ncw/rclone RUN cd /home/ncw/go/src/github.com/ncw/rclone && git checkout v1.36 ENV GOPATH /home/ncw/go ENTRYPOINT ["go"]
$ docker run -it --rm -v $(pwd):$(pwd) -w $(pwd) -e CGO_ENABLED=0 4f6d1bc86d5e \ build --ldflags "-s -X github.com/ncw/rclone/fs.Version=v1.36" \ -o rclone-v1.36-linux-amd64/rclone.ours github.com/ncw/rclone
To cross-compile, I just added the GOOS and GOARCH environment variables with docker run -e.
Debugging
Reproducing someone else's build is not always easy. And indeed, |
reports published Wednesday by Goldman Sachs and investment firm Cowen and Co.
Together they lay out several key arguments:
Related: Brexit is becoming a big fat mess
1. Polling in the U.K. before Brexit was much closer, and inconsistent, than it has been for the U.S. election. Hillary Clinton has a healthy lead in CNN's Poll of Polls, which averages results from recent polls.
2. Brits were voting for an idea. Americans are voting for a person. That's key. Consider this: Only 29% of Americans believe the country is heading in the right direction (idea), yet President Obama (person) has a 52% approval rating.
3. Demographics between the United States and Britain are very different. Clinton has a big lead among Latinos, the largest-growing segment of the U.S. population. Cowen argues there's no comparable demographic in the U.K.
4. Brexit was a popular vote. The U.S. election has the electoral college. If a candidate wins the majority of votes in a state, he or she wins all the electoral votes in the state.
5. Millions of Americans vote before Election Day in early voting. That wasn't an option for Brexit. So far, early voting suggest stronger participation among Democrats.
Related: A Trump win would sink stocks. But what about Clinton
"The early vote continues to break for Clinton as we struggle to construe a realistic path for Trump to hit 270 [electoral votes]," the number needed to win, Chris Krueger, senior policy analyst at Cowen, wrote in a report titled "6 reasons why Trump is not an American Brexit."
The experts know what you're thinking: you guys got the Republican primary wrong.
And political economist Alec Phillips of Goldman Sachs (GS)admits that -- he and his team assumed voters would rally around another Republican candidate. They didn't put much weight on the primary polls at the time, which did favor Trump.
So they learned their lesson and are now putting more weight on the polls, most of which show Clinton with a solid lead. In the latest CNN/ORC poll, Clinton leads Trump 49% to 44%, respectively.
Of course, Trump could still win and become America's Mr. Brexit. And that's where similarities may outweigh differences: economists say Trump's trade policies and pro-Brexit proposals would significantly hurt either country.At least four persons including two minors died while four others are missing when a country boat capsized in Kamla river near Koylajaan village here today.
The incident occurred when the boat ferrying more than a dozen people to Koylajaan village from Rasalpur capsized due to heavy wind, Biraul Sub-Divisional Officer (SDO) Mohammad Shafique said.
Those killed have been identified as Gamgam Kumari (20), Kumari (18), Dukhi Kumari (12) and Kamini Kumari (8), the SDO said.
The local divers have been pressed into service for the search of other victims while four others, who have been taken out of the waters are in unconscious state. They have been admitted to a nearby primary health centre.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Click Here for More Articles on The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
The Tony Award-winning production of the National Theatre's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time will close on Sunday, September 4, 2016. It will have played 23 previews and 800 regular performances (including 1 Actors Fund performance). The production opened on October 5, 2014 (previews began September 10, 2014) at the Barrymore Theatre.
THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME is the longest running play on Broadway in more than 10 years. The production has gone on to win five Tony Awards including Best Play, six Drama Desk Awards including Outstanding Play, five Outer Critics Circle Awards including Outstanding Production of a Broadway Play, and the Drama League Award for Outstanding Production of a Broadway or off-Broadway Play.
Written by Tony Award winner Simon Stephens, adapted from Mark Haddon's best-selling novel, and directed by Tony Award winner Marianne Elliott, the production is designed by Tony Award winner Bunny Christie and Tony Award-winning video designer Finn Ross, with lighting by Tony Award-winnerPaule Constable, choreography by Scott Graham and Olivier Award-winner Steven Hoggett for Frantic Assembly, music by Adrian Sutton, sound byIan Dickinson for Autograph, and hair and wig design by David Brian Brown. Casting is by Daniel Swee and Cindy Tolan.
THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME stars Tyler Lea in his Broadway debut as Christopher, Rosie Benton (Stick Fly) as Siobhan, Andrew Long(The Iceman Cometh at BAM) as Ed, Enid Graham (The Constant Wife) as Judy, andNancy Robinette ("Louie") as Mrs. Alexander. The ensemble includes Keren Dukes("Nurse Jackie"), Stephanie Roth Haberle (Artist Descending a Staircase), Mercedes Herrero (The Laramie Project and its sequel), Richard Hollis (Hit-Lit at Queens Theatre), Ben Horner (War Horse), David Manis (War Horse), Tom Patrick Stephens(The New York Idea), Tiffany Rachelle Stewart (Pericles at the Public), and Timothy Wright (The Bridges of Madison County). Benjamin Wheelwright also makes his Broadway debut as Christopher at certain performances.
THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME transferred to London's West End, following a sold-out run at the National Theatre's Cottesloe Theatre in 2012. The production received seven 2013 Olivier Awards, including Best New Play, and continues to play to packed houses at the Gielgud Theatre in London and begins a second tour of the UK in January, 2017.
Fifteen-year old Christopher has an extraordinary brain; he is exceptionally intelligent but ill-equipped to interpret everyday life. When he falls under suspicion for killing his neighbor's dog, he sets out to identify the true culprit, which leads to an earth-shattering discovery and a journey that will change his life forever.
The play is produced on Broadway by Stuart Thompson, Tim Levy for NT America, Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures Inc., Nick Starr and Chris Harper for NT Productions, Bob Boyett, Roger Berlind, Scott M. Delman, Roy Furman, Glass Half Full Productions, Ruth Hendel, Jon B. Platt, Prime Number Group, Scott Rudin, Triple Play Broadway and The Shubert Organization.
Mark Haddon's novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time was published in 2003. It was the winner of more than 17 literary awards, including prizes in the US, Japan, Holland and Italy as well as the Whitbread Book of the Year Award in the UK in 2004, and has been translated into 44 languages.
Photo Credit: Joan Marcus
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More Hot Stories For YouEveryone likes to people-watch in the subway (just don't make eye contact!), but some get paid to do it: Researchers from the NYC Transit Authority observed straphangers over three weeks last year to glean insights into the seating and standing behavior of subway riders. Now, they're publishing the findings in a study in which they offer some suggestions on how to improve our trains.
If you typically find yourself standing near the doorway on your morning commute, you're like most New Yorkers who "strongly prefer to crowd the space between doors." Subway riders are also "overwhelmingly attracted to vertical stanchions (poles)" as opposed to the horizontal poles that hang above seating benches (Thanks for not exposing your underarms for all to see, straphangers!)
The study also confirmed our desire to avoid physical contact with others on the subway: When seating is at 70% capacity, "standing room is already being consumed in a significant way." For a car to use 90% of its seats, the train has to be overstuffed to 120% capacity. Basically, people will take an open seat if it's available, but once the car is even moderately full, we'll spare ourselves the human contact and stand.
In the graphic below, the research team lays out their suggestions for future subway cars. Notably, their final suggestion features a large area in the center of the car with no seats at all. This would allow "longer-distance passengers to gravitate towards airline seats at car ends, and short-distance riders to stand in the middle zone with no seats." If it means we'll have a place to get away from guys like this, we'll take it!PROVIDENCE, R.I. � Governor Chafee, Gov.-elect Gina Raimondo, the state�s Congressional delegation and others expect to announce details Thursday morning about five international companies that are interested in establishing a presence in Rhode Islan
PROVIDENCE, R.I. � Governor Chafee, Gov.-elect Gina Raimondo, the state�s Congressional delegation and others expect to announce details Thursday morning about five international companies that are interested in establishing a presence in Rhode Island, according to the Rhode Island Commerce Corporation.
The announcement is the result of relationships built �between Governor Chafee and international partners in Europe� that began with the trade mission that Chafee took in April to Italy and Ireland, according to the Commerce Corporation, which is the agency charged with creating jobs and improving the state�s economy
�This is another step in the right direction from this trade mission,� spokeswoman Melissa Czerwein told The Providence Journal after the agency issued a statement announcing an 11 a.m. news conference at the State House Thursday.
Also expected at the news conference is GTECH Corp. Chairman Donald Sweitzer, whom Czerwein said joined Chafee on the trade mission, and representatives from international companies.
Czerwein said she could not share more details Wednesday.Under the agreement, within 180 days, all patrol officers, supervisors and jail workers will be required to wear body cameras and microphones, and the equipment will be installed inside squad cars. The cameras are to be activated for all traffic stops, arrests, searches and encounters with people believed to be experiencing a mental health crisis.
The city also agrees to revise its municipal code, including by repealing sections that authorized jail for people who fail to pay fines for violations.
Ferguson spokesman Jeff Small said the city has not calculated its total financial obligations but called them “significant.” Ferguson voters will consider two ballot measures in April that would increase property and sales taxes — without which the city expects to resort to layoffs to help plug a $2.8 million budget shortfall.
“It's going to depend on the public,” Small said about the proposal's expected chances of approval by elected leaders. “We're not just going to negotiate and say, ‘Boom. This is what you have to live with as a community.’”
A federal investigation into the Ferguson police force after Brown's death found sweeping patterns of racial bias across the city's criminal justice system. A Justice Department report in March found that officers routinely used excessive force, issued petty citations and made baseless traffic stops. It also found that the police force and the court system lean heavily on fines for petty municipal violations as a source of revenue for the city government.
The federal inquiry came amid heightened national scrutiny over deadly police shootings in Ferguson, Baltimore, New York and elsewhere. A St. Louis County grand jury declined to indict former Ferguson officer Darren Wilson, who is white, in the death of Brown, who was black.
The Justice Department also cleared Wilson, concluding that evidence backed his claim that he shot Brown in self-defense after Brown tried to grab his gun during a struggle through the window of Wilson's police vehicle, then came toward him threateningly after briefly running away.
The document released Wednesday paves the way for an overhaul of the police force, requiring changes in how officers conduct searches, make arrests and interact with citizens. Some requirements appear aimed at correcting problems identified in the scathing federal report last year.Mayor to sign measure that replaces jail times with civil fines for small amounts of pot but keep public smoking a misdemeanor.
Under the D.C. measure, possession of up to an ounce of marijuana would result in a $25 fine, while smoking in public remains a misdemeanor punishable by jail and a $500 fine. (Photo11: AP)
The District of Columbia City Council voted Tuesday to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana in the nation's capital.
Mayor Vincent Gray said he intends to sign the measure, which replaces jail time with civil fines but does not legalize the use, possession, sale or growing of pot. Congress still has veto power, though that is considered unlikely given the divided control of each chamber, The Washington Post notes.
Being caught with up to an ounce of weed would result in a $25 fine, while publicly smoking it would remain a misdemeanor punishable by six months in jail or a $500 fine, the same as having an open container of alcohol."It will have a profound impact on the people of the District of Columbia to decriminalize this marijuana," said Councilmember David Grosso, who is looking ahead to the "next step" of taxing and regulating marijuana sales.
Supporters said the legislation, which passed, 10-1, is aimed at ending prosecution that fell heavily on the district's black residents, while critics claimed it will not end racial profiling for those caught smoking on the streets.
"For far too long, people of color have been disproportionately and unfairly arrested and marginalized for marijuana possession in the District of Columbia," said Grant Smith, of the Drug Policy Alliance. "D.C. councilmembers took the first critical step today toward ending the selective enforcement of marijuana prohibition policies that have perpetuated racial disparities in the criminal justice system for decades."
The Post points out "gray areas" of policing:
D.C. officers would not be able to arrest on the smell of marijuana, for instance; they would have to see the smoke. And being marijuana-impaired in public would not be a crime equal to public intoxication — unless it occurs behind the wheel....
The D.C. law would also preclude police from charging people with possession or dealing if they simultaneously possess large amounts of cash and several bags of marijuana. Some advocates say that poorer residents are often paid for their work in cash and buy the drug in small amounts multiple times on their payday.
The D.C. measure conflicts with federal law, which provides for prison time and stiff penalties for some scenarios decriminalized by the district. It's not yet clear how police agencies and the Justice Department might respond.
If it become law, the district would join 17 states that have decriminalized recreational use of marijuana. In 2012, voters in Colorado and Washington state legalized the sale and use of pot.
The D.C. Council action came as the International Narcotics Control Board released its 2013 report on drug laws worldwide, saying marijuana legalization in the United States and Uruguay "is not in conformity with the international drug control treaties."
"We deeply regret the developments at the state level in Colorado and Washington, in the United States, regarding the legalization of the recreational use of cannabis," said Raymond Yans, president of the United Nations agency. "INCB reiterates that these developments contravene the provisions of the drug control conventions, which limit the use of cannabis to medical and scientific use only. INCB urges the Government of the United States to ensure that the treaties are fully implemented on the entirety of its territory."
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1i5q987Um, wow guys. Seriously. See that not-so-good picture up there? That’s because I was like, “yeah whatever who needs a pic OM NOM NOM”
I devoured a plate, and then another... and then I had to get more! It’s pretty amazing stuff! This is the ‘you-won’t-believe-it’s-vegan’ dish to fool your omni friends. Or, if *you’re* the omni, this is an awesome way to get your rich creamy alfredo deliciousness, without the killer dose of cholesterol and saturated fats. Everyone wins – especially your taste buds!
Ingredients
1 lb pasta of your choice
small head of garlic, maybe 4-6 cloves
small-medium white onion
1 tablespoon cooking oil
1 tablespoon cooking wine (I used dry vermouth)
1/2 cup Earthbalance™
2 cups alternative milk
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon cooking wine (I used dry vermouth)
1 heaping tablespoon nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper, plus more to your taste level
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 12-ounce pack firm Silken tofu
5-6 tablespoons corn starch
1 cup frozen peas
Instructions
Preheat oven to 450. Wrap the garlic cloves in tin foil and place them on the center oven rack to roast. They’ll need about half an hour or so – set a timer or remember to keep an eye on them! You should smell ‘em when they’re ready, mmmm.
While the garlic is roasting, dice your onion. Place a pan over medium heat and add the oil. Sauté the onion until glassy, then reduce the heat to low and add 1 tbsp of the wine. Continue to cook until the wine reduces and the onion has browned (NOT burnt! be careful!)
While garlic is roasting and onions are going, put all the other ingredients (minus the corn starch and peas) into a food processor or blender. When the garlic is done, remove it from the oven and unwrap. You’ll need to let it cool a bit or you’ll burn your finger tips. Carefully squeeze the mushy roasted clove goo into the mix. Add the onions. BLEND!
Put on a pot to prepare the pasta. I’m sure you don’t need instructions for this part.
Put on a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Transfer the sauce from the mixer to the pan and allow it to warm. Spoon the cornstarch into a small bowl and then add enough of the sauce mix to create a thick paste. Slowly stir this into the sauce to thicken it up. Allow it to continue heating, stirring frequently to avoid bottom burn.
When the pasta is done and drained return it to the cooking pot. Pour in the peas and the sauce, mix well, and serve! Eat until you’re blue in the face!I like lists, and I’m sure you do as well. Here’s my list of 10 settings that can help improve your gameplay:
Smartcasting:
Smartcasting is an option that enables a player to cast their abilities by simply pressing a button with their mouse over a target or a target area. By removing a click, it effectively allows for faster spell rotations on champions with high burst such as Leblanc or Ryze and artificially enhances your reflex times. It might take a bit of getting used to initially, but the benefits simply outweigh the potential temporary negatives.
The transition from normally casting your abilities to smartcasting them is one that is well worth it in the long run. To overcome the issues of this transition, try smartcasting some of your abilities (perhaps try targeted ones and summoner spells at first) and gradually smartcast more and more of them.
Chat time stamps:
While chat time stamps aren’t as important as they used to be before jungle timers existed, it still allows the player to take note of other timed events. Wards, summoner spells, ultimate abilities and inhibitor respawn times can be timed which allow your team to make decisions around this knowledge. The table below illustrates some common timers that you may wish to keep track of (note that with certain masteries and distortion boots summoner cooldowns may be lowered):
Stealth ward/Ghost ward 180 seconds (3 minutes) Greater warding totem 120 seconds (2 minutes) Warding totem 60 seconds (1 minute) Flash 300 seconds (5 minutes) Teleport 300 seconds (5 minutes) Heal 240 seconds (4 minutes) Barrier 210 seconds (3.5 minutes) Cleanse 210 seconds (3.5 minutes) Ghost 210 seconds (3.5 minutes) Exhaust 210 seconds (3.5 minutes) Ignite 210 seconds (3.5 minutes) Inhibitor 240 seconds (4 minutes)
Shift clicking:
Shift clicking, or ‘attack moving’, allows a player to auto attack the closest target which is very useful in acquiring CS or to avoid the simple ‘bush juke’. Some champions, like Orianna (with her ball), can place objects over minions and therefore make you lose CS. By shift clicking, you are able to overcome this issue. Another application for shift clicking is to avoid being ‘bush juked’. This involves running into a bush when being chased and moving back out of the bush as soon as your enemy enters. Shift clicking allows the player to auto attack the enemy as soon as possible. In the video below, Gragas and Nunu could have been auto attacking Cho’Gath continuously and potentially killed him before his allies arrived. It is a good practice to shift click into bushes if you’re certain that you’ll be safe in doing so.
Windowed borderless:
Assuming that your computer can handle it, consider playing in Windowed borderless mode if you ‘alt-tab’ (or ‘command tab’ for OSX users!) frequently. It makes ‘alt tabbing’ much snappier which means that less time is spent inbetween windows. Note that you will probably receive a small performance hit due to the nature of running the game in a window, although for most users this shouldn’t be an issue.
Graphical settings:
As far as graphical settings are concerned, attaining 60 frames per second should be your primary concern (unless you have a 120Hz monitor). Simply put, the more frames per second you’re running at, the smoother the game will appear. This influences your ability to process and react to what is on the screen (and obviously more FPS is better). There are plenty of ways you can improves your FPS, however the easiest two ways are by changing the in game settings and closing other programs if they’re not being used.
If you’re running at 20 FPS, perhaps you should change your settings to something less graphically intense. For the majority of people, this is all that is required in order to play at 60 FPS as League of Legends isn’t very intensive. Settings such as anti aliasing can be very intensive to run and as such good FPS increases can be gained by disabling this feature if need be. A common misconception is that the human eye cannot see beyond 30 FPS (or 24, 60 etc.) which is simply not true. I can personally tell the difference between 40 FPS and 60 FPS and many hardcore gamers can tell the difference between 60 FPS and 120 FPS. The reason why I draw the line at 60 FPS is because most monitors run at 60 Hz and as such cannot display any more than 60 FPS.
Buttons for actives:
If you’re like me, you probably struggle with any more than a few active items (*cough* support items *cough*) and might end up using your Zhonya’s hourglass by mistake instead of warding. By finding comfortable buttons for active items, they will be much easier to use. If you happen to be lucky enough to have a mouse with additional buttons on it, try binding item slots to them in the settings menu (and consider smartcasting some of them as well!). This includes moving your items around as you buy them so that you consistently have your active items on the same keys game to game. Especially for champions who can ward jump (such as Lee sin, Katarina and Jax), binding a key to a place a ward is very useful.
Range indicators:
Range indicators are very useful for skillshot reliant champions such as Ezreal if you wish to smartcast. Instead of casting immediately, the ability will cast when the key is released. Whilst the key is held down, it will indicate the range as if you’re normally casting. This not only shows the range indicator but also the ability’s width (if applicable) making it very useful for champions such as Blitzcrank.
Item sets:
In game skill and decision making are all important factors in playing the game but simultaneously so is organisation. In the case of item sets, it allows the player to purchase items quicker than normal. This means that you spend less time in the shop and allows you to arrive to lane quicker (and you might get an additional creep or two). If you plan on invading, those few extra seconds could mean the difference between zoning the enemy from their buff or having to retreat. In many games, that slight advantage may end up winning you the game.
Unlocked camera:
Playing with locked camera is rather common despite its obvious disadvantages. When playing on the purple side, the HUD (or heads up display) blocks a great portion of the screen in locked camera mode. Furthermore, long range champions such as Ezreal, Corki and Lux and incredibly difficult to play. Whilst it may be difficult to transition to an unlocked camera, unlocking the camera is simply better. I personally use unlocked camera in conjunction with the space bar key which snaps the camera to your champion. This is a good way to make the transition between the two settings.
Level up abilities using a hotkey and self casting:
Levelling up using a hotkey (control and Q, W, E, R by default) can save you a second or so. If you happen to be in the middle of a fight and level up, it can mean the difference between winning and losing the fight. Another similar setting is self casting, in which the ability is automatically casted upon yourself regardless of where your cursor is. Many support champions benefit from this such as Soraka, Nami, Janna, Lulu, Braum and Zilean. It takes some time to move your cursor from where you wish to move back to yourself if you wish to cast an ability on yourself (which is eliminated if you make use of this feature). By default, this can be achieved by pressing alt and Q, W, E or R.
Hopefully you’ve learnt something from this article and these tips will help you in becoming a better player! If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments section.Yesterday, the first codenames for AMD Volcanic Islands series of Radeon graphic cards appeared inside a leaked catalyst driver. Semiaccurate has done a detailed analysis regarding the leaked codenames and has come up with some really interesting details.
The codenames that leaked yesterday are provided below:
AMD Volcanic Islands “Hawaii” FirePro:
AMD67A2.1 = “HAWAII GL Gemini (67A2)”
AMD67A1.1 = “HAWAII GL40 (67A1)”
AMD67A0.1 = “HAWAII XTGL (67A0)”
AMD Volcanic Islands “Hawaii” Radeon:
AMD67BE.1 = “HAWAII LE (67BE)”
AMD67B1.1 = “HAWAII PRO (67B1)”
AMD67B0.1 = “HAWAII XT (67B0)”
AMD Volcanic Islands Radeon GPU Codenames Detailed
Now according to Semiaccurate, the Hawaii GPU would consist of three variants under the Radeon “Discrete desktop” brand and three variants under the FirePro “Workstation” brand. It is detailed that the Gemini name is used internally by AMD for dual-chip graphic cards so its possible that the Hawaii GL Gemini is a dual-chip server card like the current FirePro S10000 but its not based on the Hawaii XTGL variant but rather the cut down GL40 variant which would have some compute units disable, it is mentioned that the “40” number in the codename could represent 40 CUs which means 2560 cores in the Hawaii GL40 GPU. Could this mean that the full variant of the Hawaii core would have even more CUs on the XTGL GPU?
Coming to the Radeon lineup which consists of three parts, the flagship Hawaii XT followed by the Hawaii Pro model and Hawaii LE. The driver has also listed some never been heard of codenames which include Vesuvius, a Volcanic Island and a Sea Islands called Tonga located just past New Zealand. The New Zealand codename has also appeared in the driver which might seem confusing since AMD renamed their New Zealand reference HD 7990 card to “Malta” so it could be possible that New Zealand may eventually become a Dual chip card within the AMD Volcanic Island series.
AMD should launch or atleast clarify these reports regarding their upcoming generation of Radeon cards since alot of people want to update from their HD 7000 series cards that released more than a year ago. For now, we can just hope that AMD launched the new card around the same time as Kaveri APU for desktop.
Following image is courtesy of Semiaccurate!Courtesy Fukuoka Pref.
Some 150 homes in the housing communities in Maebaru City, of southern Japan's Fukuoka Prefecture, are running on hydrogen fuel cells, as part of a pilot project testing the feasibility of such systems for households. The “Fukuoka Hydrogen Town" model project is the beginning of what organizers say will be the largest hydrogen-powered city in the world.
Starting in October 2008, Nippon Oil Corporation and Seibu Gas Energy Co. began installing 150 ENE FARM power generation units in houses across Maebaru, reports Japan for Sustainability. These are 1 kW-class, residential fuel cell co-generation systems developed by Nippon Oil Corporation, utilizing hydrogen in liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). The systems can cover about 60 percent of a home's power consumption and about 80 percent of its hot water supply.
In total, energy consumption will be reduced by about 30 percent over conventional systems, and carbon dioxide emissions will be cut by up to 30 percent. The New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) is subsidizing the effort, which is also known as the Hy-Life Project. By 2015, Nippon Oil hopes to lower the price of its household fuel cell systems to around 500,000 yen [US$5,500] and raise sales to 40,000 units a year.
Mike recently highlighted residential fuel-cell technology as a costly but promising departure from the fuel cell applications we're used to -- cars, bikes, airplanes.
While there are still many downsides, including high costs for now, residential fuel cells - even if the hydrogen is reformed from natural gas - can be very efficient. Some models by Tokyo Gas have a combined efficiency of 87%. Compared to burning natural gas for heat, you get the benefit of also producing electricity, and compared to burning natural gas for electricity in a power plant, you avoid transmission losses by producing the power where you need it. This can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions:
via Japan for Sustainability
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$31 Billion In Alternative Energy Tax Credits Approved by Senate Finance CommitteeWASHINGTON — Braden Holtby led, the Washington Capitals followed.
It wasn’t about the volume of shots Holtby faced; it was in the way he faced them.
When the Capitals got caught up taking three penalties to give the Philadelphia Flyers a decisive edge in first-period play, there was Holtby operating with the Zen that saw him collect 48 wins this season.
A lot has been made of his preparation. A recent story in Sports Illustrated highlighted his game-day ritual of jamming out on the guitar, holding meditation sessions and running through visualization drills from the bench before taking to warmup.
The routine came in handy for Game 1 on Thursday.
The pace was furious in front of him when Philadelphia’s Brayden Schenn wound up for a slap shot from 35 feet away, but Holtby was collected as he kicked out a rebound to his right. Jakub Voracek one-timed it with velocity and Holtby smothered the chance as if it were just another save.
“I don’t know, I believe I should make those stops every time,” said Holtby. “Hopefully at that point of the game it shows that I’m prepared to the rest of the bench, and that’s all you can really ask for is an opportunity to start to contribute to the way the game’s going to play out.”
What Holtby contributed was a 19-save shutout that helped the Capitals offer a glimpse of where they might go from this point forward.
STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS:
First Round Series Previews | Broadcast Schedule
Stanley Cup Playoffs Fantasy Hockey
“I thought we managed the puck and I thought we were able execute out of the zone, I thought we were able to get a forecheck, I thought we just had good structure in every part of the ice,” said Capitals coach Barry Trotz.
“I think our game will start building, slowly,” Trotz added. “Some things we can correct. I see us getting stronger here with more of these games.”
The lack of discipline the Capitals exhibited in the first period wasn’t part of the plan. Neither was the charge Tom Wilson took at a Flyers defenceman in the dying minutes of the third period, while his team was clinging to a 1-0 lead.
Discipline was an issue on both sides of the ice.
Simmonds’ retort to Wilson’s boarding infraction cost the Flyers a chance at a power play with 6:51 remaining. By engaging Wilson in a fight, he took himself out of the game.
If Philadelphia had remained close until that point, it was on the strength of their team defence. They bottled the neutral zone with precision, took away the passing lanes and frustrated Washington’s top players at every turn.
Sean Couturier, who typically leads the Flyers in that regard, left the game and did not return.
Alex Ovechkin, who led the NHL this season in shots (398) and goals (50), was held without a shot through the first 23 minutes of the game. He finished with three; all of them on the power play, none of them resulting in goals. But Philadelphia’s lack of discipline overshadowed that accomplishment and took them off course.
“We want to take away their time and space and be physical and try to wear them down,” said Philadelphia centre Ryan White, who threw two of the 27 hits his team registered in the game.
“We didn’t get as much pucks behind them as we wanted to,” White continued. “That’s our biggest goal; we want to make them play defence because that’s going to be our best defence. We got away from it a bit when we got into some penalty trouble in the second.”
It was White who kicked off the parade to the penalty box with a charge on Washington’s Dmitry Orlov.
Philadelphia defenceman Brandon Manning made a brilliant play to break up a rush after the Flyers killed off the White penalty. The problem was Manning’s interception pushed the puck out of play for a delay-of-game penalty.
All it took was a few seconds on the ensuing power play for Capitals defenceman John Carlson to score through a maze of players and give his team the advantage.
With that, Washington held Philadelphia to just eight shots over the final two periods—none of them quality scoring chances that would beat a goaltender of Holtby’s ilk.
“Obviously you’re going to have to find ways to beat him,” said Schenn. “I think that involves traffic and getting tips and screens because we feel like he’s going to make that initial save.”
The Capitals feel it too.
Holtby had every reason to be excited about meeting expectations. A shutout performance was a heck of a way to start this playoff run.
“We have a bigger goal in mind. We can’t get too wrapped up in one game.”Shocking footage has emerged of pigs being crammed into tiny cages and left shivering on the floor at a farm which supplies to Morrisons.
An undercover investigation at Poplar Farm in Withernsea, Humberside, which proudly boasts the Red Tractor logo on its pork, found animals being kept in battery farm cage conditions.
Animal rights campaigners Viva! were tipped off about the treatment of the pigs and made two visits to the farm last month.
Shocking footage has emerged of pigs being crammed into tiny wire pens in battery farm cage conditions - each cage, with a bare wire floor, has about eight piglets in each
An undercover investigation at Poplar Farm in Withernsea, Humberside, uncovered these distressing scenes
In some cases the pigs had fallen from the cages and were trapped underneath on the cold, hard concrete floor
They discovered dozens of tiny piglets in wire cages stacked three high and some who had fallen and were abandoned underneath. In some pens there were even dead animals lying on the floor.
Pregnant sows were held in small farrowing crates only inches wider than them, where they were unable to turn and can only stand up, lie down or suckle their piglets once they are born.
The crates – which are legal - are designed to maximise productivity, and ultimately drive down the cost of meat.
In one clip an exhausted piglet struggles for breath unable to move itself around while another is seen being pushed with the trotters of its kin as they step over it to feed from their mothers teats.
Investigators discovered in another two rooms a stacking system of cages filled with dozens of pigs reminiscent of battery chicken farm conditions.
Pigs crammed in the cages with bare wire floors and only have a hanging piece of chain to play with.
In some pens there were even dead piglets lying on the floor, which may have been possibly crushed to death in the tiny space
A sow lying down in a highly restrictive but legal farrowing crate where she will be kept for up to five weeks
A sow lies on her side in one of the crates as her piglets suckle on her teats. She barely has any room to even turn over
Dozens of piglets crammed together in cages at the farm, which has been given British 'Red Tractor' approval
Several piglets can be seen lying abandoned on the floor on their sides exhausted after appearing to have fallen out of a gap in the cages.
Another can be seen laying its head on a metal bar under the cages seemingly unable to move.
The farm, run by Peter Kirkwood with his two daughters, has denied doing anything illegal.
Daughter Angela Kirkwood said: 'Our farm has been visited by a government vet, local authority officials and an assurance assessor.
'Everything was found to comply with legislation and they found no cause to question the welfare of the pigs.
'We are partway through the process of installing new accommodation for our weaned piglets.'
The company boasts on its website: 'Our pigs are bred and reared to the highest welfare standards as supervised by the ABM (Assured British Meat Scheme) otherwise known as "The Little Red Tractor".'
Ms Kirkwood said in a recent interview: 'Our pigs are housed in a welfare friendly environment, which meets the highest production standards as outlined by Red Tr |
.
This is not the attitude we want to be inspiring in our designers, programmers, and implementers. However, by conceiving of AWS in the problematic way that I am here challenging, this radical detachment from both responsibility and outcome is just such an attitude that the present AWS debate is fostering. Either an AWS is an agent in a morally relevant sense, or it is not. Accordingly, persons within the AWS debate must accept one of these two disjuncts and then accept the conceptual and moral entailments that follow. To conceive of an AWS as anything else is not only conceptually incoherent, but also morally dangerous, since it shifts focus off of the only two possible loci where responsibility could conceivably obtain and instead places the debate in a peculiar in-between space that is ultimately unproductive.
I have made the argument elsewhere that we should morally appraise AWS as we would any other social institution regardless of medium. Whether or not the set of collective decision procedures is instantiated in the form of computer software or in the form of an office building full of workers is of no importance from a moral point of view. That being said, I’m more than happy to concede that I could be wrong about the AWS’s metaphysical status, and that something about the emergent features of the machine’s learning algorithms could make it such that its decisions were truly its own. But once again, if that were the case, then the AWS would then count as a genuine agent and not as some weird moral chimera where all of our usual thinking about agency and responsibility suddenly breaks down.
If the AWS is an agent in the morally relevant sense (i.e. able to guide itself in response to moral and epistemic reasons, being capable of being a bearer of moral responsibility, and being capable of being a bearer of rights and/or interests), then its creation would mean that the promise of strong A.I. had finally arrived and that knowledge of our metaphysical and moral universe had greatly expanded. This would entail, however, a world of much greater moral demandingness than at present. If however, the alternative account of AWS that I have suggested is correct, then it would mean that we would have to come to terms with a sobering truth that is at once harsh but also empowering; namely, that there are, in fact, no machines who might one day conspire against us, no automata who might suddenly decide to revolt, in other words, no killer robots, just us.
Large portions of this post have been taken from the full argument I present in “No Such Thing as Killer Robots” Journal of Applied Philosophy, June 2017. For similar views, see Susanne Burri, ‘In Defense of Killer Robots.’ in Ryan Jenkins, Michael Robillard, and Bradley Jay Strawser (eds.) Who Should Die: Liability and Killing in War (Oxford: Oxford University Press, forthcoming) and Steve Kershnar, ‘Autonomous Weapons Pose No Moral Problem’, in Bradley Jay Strawser (ed.) Killing by Remote Control: The Ethics of an Unmanned Military (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013) pp. 229-45Woman, 63, was running in rural Los Angeles when dogs attacked and mauled her to death, witness and police say
A pack of up to four pit bull terriers has been blamed for the death of a jogger in rural Los Angeles, with officials warning on Thursday that the dogs remained on the loose.
Sheriff's Lieutenant John Corina said a woman in a car saw the dogs attacking the female jogger, 63, on Thursday morning. The witness called police and blew her car horn to try to get the dogs to stop.
"When the first deputy on scene saw one dog still attacking the woman, he tried to chase the dog away," Corina said. "The dog ran off into the desert, then turned around and attacked the deputy, the deputy fired a round at the dog and tried to kill the dog, and the dog took off into the desert."
The woman died while she was in an ambulance on the way to a hospital, said Evelina Villa, county animal control spokeswoman.
The coroner's office was investigating to determine the cause of death.
Sheriff's officials were alerting people in the area to watch for four tan-coloured dogs and were using a helicopter to search for them. It was unclear whether the dogs had collars or owners.
"In these areas you might have a situation where people dump animals out in rural areas," said John Mlynar, a spokesman for the nearby city of Palmdale. He had never heard of an attack like Thursday's, Mlynar said.
Residents near the site of the attack said stray dogs were constantly roaming the area and had attacked people before. "It's really scary," Diane Huffman, of Littlerock, told KABC-TV. "I don't know what to think. I really think I'm going to be getting a gun to protect myself."Sen. Marco Rubio said he apologized to Donald Trump for crude remarks Rubio made during a March campaign rally.
"You know what they say about men with small hands," Rubio said of Trump's hands during a campaign stop in March, before a lengthy pause. "You can't trust them."
In an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper that aired Sunday, Rubio said he apologized to Trump during one of the Republican presidential debates for the comment.
"I apologized to him for it," Rubio said. "I said, 'I'm sorry that I said that. That's not who I am, and I shouldn't have done it.'"
During Sunday's interview, the senator acknowledged his attack on Trump "embarrassed" his family, but came from a desperate place after he realized that his existing criticisms of Trump weren't working.
"I mean, this guy is out there every day mocking people, saying horrible things about people, but if you respond to him and somehow, you're hitting him below the belt?" Rubio said. "That was my sense at the time."
"What I didn't realize at the time was it's not who I am. And if you're not being who you are, it doesn't come across well," he added.
Rubio's comments about Trump's hands yielded one of the most noteworthy moments of the campaign.
During a Republican debate in March, Trump asserted that Rubio was mistaken about the size of his hands — and the implication that resulted from it.
"Look at those hands, are they small hands?" Trump said during the debate. "And, he referred to my hands — 'if they're small, something else must be small.' I guarantee you there's no problem. I guarantee."
Watch a clip of Rubio's Sunday interview below:In this episode, I explore some iconic theme music from science fiction series set (as a whole or in part) within the outer reaches of space. I’ll leave other supernatural shows such as THE TWILIGHT ZONE, THE X-FILES and even LOST to a future episode of TUBE TUNES. In this episode I’ll be looking at six well-known TV space dramas, one representative series from each decade from the 1950s to the 2000s; I’ll explore their stories, their stars, their impact on the science fiction canon, and of course their theme tunes. Here are the series included in this episode:
The 1950s:
CAPTAIN VIDEO AND HIS VIDEO RANGERS (1949-1955) [opening theme]
The 1960s:
STAR TREK (1966-1969) [opening & closing themes]
Also included in this segment:
STAR TREK (The Animated Series) (1973-1975) [opening & closing themes]
STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE (1993-1999) [opening & closing themes]
STAR TREK: VOYAGER (1995-2001) [opening & closing themes]
STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE (2001-2005) [opening & closing themes]
-Commercial Break-
The 1970s:
BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (1978-80) [1978-1979 opening & closing themes]
Also included in this segment:
GALACTIC 1980 (1980) [opening & closing themes]
BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (2004 revival series) (2004-2009) [opening & closing themes]
-The Mystery Tune-
The 1980s:
STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION (1987-1994) [opening & closing themes]
The 1990s:
BABYLON 5 (1994-1998) [1994 opening theme] [1995 opening theme] [1996 opening theme] [1997 opening theme] [1998 opening theme]
-Commercial Break-
The 2000s:
FIREFLY (2002-2003) [opening & closing themes]
I’ve included vintage commercials for Dr. Pepper and Oscar Meyer Bologna. And you’ll also have fun listening to some ads that my podcasting friends provided to me to promote their own great podcasts; be sure to check them out.
Note also that I’ve included a The Mystery Tune segment for my intrepid listeners to test their TV theme tune memory. It’s a complete theme for a series which ran on network television (hint: it was a CBS sitcom during the late 1960s). Let me know what your guess is, and if you’re correct I’ll mention you on the air during the next episode of TUBE TUNES.
Many, many thanks to Zerbinator for his continued support. His encouragement and expertise are very much appreciated by me. You can find all of his fun-to-listen-to podcasts here. And I’d also like especially to thank him for providing the opening and closing theme music for Tube Tunes; all of his fantastic music can be found here. And, again, thanks are in order for him for providing TUBE TUNES with the “We’ll Be Right Back” drops heard during the podcast. Thanks, Burford.
I would also like to again thank Rob “Flack” O’Hara and Sean Johnson for adding TUBE TUNES to The Throwback Network. It’s a great place to find just about any retro-themed podcast you can think of. Please check out the network here.
Finally, my thanks to Ferg of The Atari 2600 Game by Game Podcast. His inspiration and dedication to covering every game cartridge ever made for the Atari 2600 (I think over 1000 of them!) is what gave me the courage to begin this podcast. And his continued support and promotion of TUBE TUNES on his excellent podcast is greatly appreciated by yours truly. Please, check out his podcast, even if you’re not an Atari 2600 collector; or at least visit his website here.
Next Episode: “S02E01: Go West, Old Man – Adult Westerns of the 1950s (Part 2)” (available November 2016)Sixty-six American troops killed. Two hundred ninety-five Wounded in Action.
Are those numbers from an American combat operation? Not according to our government, which said they, and the other 50,000 troops in Iraq (which included me), were part of the "official end to Operation Iraqi Freedom and combat operations," under Operation New Dawn, after August 2010.
I thought back to that, today, as I read about one very interesting line in the Senate resolution authorizing military action in Syria, which passed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Most in the media, and on the Hill, talk about how the resolution disallows American troops on the ground. That isn't true. What the bill says is, "The authority granted in section 2 does not authorize the use of the United States Armed Forces on the ground in Syria for the purpose of combat operations."
That is key. Officially, those 66 Americans killed, and 295 wounded in Iraq were not part of combat operations, either. Yet, for those of us on the ground, we knew they very much were.
Whenever we send troops to the kind of asymmetrical battlefield that we had in Iraq, and would definitely see in Syria, they are automatically combat troops. They can face attack at any time, and would have to respond appropriately, at any time. To say they will be in any kind of safe-zone, away from combat, is naïve.
More importantly, even among the rebels, in their strongholds, we will have a very difficult time telling friend from foe.
The rebels are made up of a number of different groups, including those connected to al-Qaeda. At plain sight, it will be hard to tell who is who. I think about the rash of "Green on Blue" deaths in Afghanistan, where our military advisors, thinking they were among allies, were really among those sympathetic to anti-American forces, and killed by them.
In Syria, often the enemy of our enemy is also our enemy. And so, even when a "non combat" troop may supposedly be among friends, he is still potentially surrounded by fatal danger.
This will become exponentially worse, if Assad falls, as rebels will then increasingly turn their fire upon each other -- and any American advising them -- as each group among them fights for power, and to shut others out from gaining any greater influence or power.
In short, there is no such thing as non-combat troops when it comes to Syria. We can try to fool ourselves that any boots on the ground may be there for "non combat operations" or a simple "advisory role," but the truth of the matter is, just being over there constitutes being in a potential combat operation. It constitutes being put into harm's way. Operation New Dawn proved that.Niti Aayog, government’s premier think-tank, will soon set up an expert committee to arrive at a new poverty line, according to an official. “We have said that we needed an expert committee to look at poverty line as most states are not much in sync with each other… We have not formed an expert committee yet but soon we will set up an expert committee to look at poverty line,” said a senior government official.
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Pursuant to the decision taken at the first meeting of the Governing Council of NITI Aayog held under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 8, 2015, a Task Force on Elimination of Poverty in India was constituted by NITI Aayog on March 16, 2015 under the chairmanship of Arvind Panagariya, vice chairman, NITI Aayog. The report of the Task Force was submitted to the Prime Minister on July 11, 2016. It recommended setting up of an expert committee to arrive at an informed decision on the level at which the
poverty line should be set because ‘a consensus in favour of either the Tendulkar or a higher poverty line’ did not emerge.
The current poverty estimates are based on the methodology recommended by the Expert Group under the chairmanship of Suresh D Tendulkar in 2009. According the Tendulkar committee methodology, those whose daily consumption of goods and services exceeds Rs 33.33 in cities and Rs 27.20 in villages are not poor.
As per these numbers, only 22 per cent of the people can be classified as poor in the country.In March 2007, New York Times reporter Jodi Kantor published a brief story about how Rev. Jeremiah Wright had been uninvited from delivering the invocation before Barack Obama's official presidential announcement.
Wright responded by writing the following letter:
March 11, 2007
Jodi Kantor
The New York Times
9 West 43rd Street
New York,
New York 10036-3959
Dear Jodi:
Thank you for engaging in one of the biggest misrepresentations of the truth I have ever seen in sixty-five years. You sat and shared with me for two hours. You told me you were doing a "Spiritual Biography" of Senator Barack Obama. For two hours, I shared with you how I thought he was the most principled individual in public service that I have ever met.
For two hours, I talked with you about how idealistic he was. For two hours I shared with you what a genuine human being he was. I told you how incredible he was as a man who was an African American in public service, and as a man who refused to announce his candidacy for President until Carol Moseley Braun indicated one way or the other whether or not she was going to run.
I told you what a dreamer he was. I told you how idealistic he was. We talked about how refreshing it would be for someone who knew about Islam to be in the Oval Office. Your own question to me was, Didn't I think it would be incredible to have somebody in the Oval Office who not only knew about Muslims, but had living and breathing Muslims in his own family? I told you how important it would be to have a man who not only knew the difference between Shiites and Sunnis prior to 9/11/01 in the Oval Office, but also how important it would be to have a man who knew what Sufism was; a man who understood that there were different branches of Judaism; a man who knew the difference between Hasidic Jews, Orthodox Jews, Conservative Jews and Reformed Jews; and a man who was a devout Christian, but who did not prejudge others because they believed something other than what he believed.
I talked about how rare it was to meet a man whose Christianity was not just "in word only." I talked about Barack being a person who lived his faith and did not argue his faith. I talked about Barack as a person who did not draw doctrinal lines in the sand nor consign other people to hell if they did not believe what he believed.
Out of a two-hour conversation with you about Barack's spiritual journey and my protesting to you that I had not shaped him nor formed him, that I had not mentored him or made him the man he was, even though I would love to take that credit, you did not print any of that. When I told you, using one of your own Jewish stories from the Hebrew Bible as to how God asked Moses, "What is that in your hand?," that Barack was like that when I met him. Barack had it "in his hand." Barack had in his grasp a uniqueness in terms of his spiritual development that one is hard put to find in the 21st century, and you did not print that.
As I was just starting to say a moment ago, Jodi, out of two hours of conversation I spent approximately five to seven minutes on Barack's taking advice from one of his trusted campaign people and deeming it unwise to make me the media spotlight on the day of his announcing his candidacy for the Presidency and what do you print? You and your editor proceeded to present to the general public a snippet, a printed "sound byte" and a titillating and tantalizing article about his disinviting me to the Invocation on the day of his announcing his candidacy.
I have never been exposed to that kind of duplicitous behavior before, and I want to write you publicly to let you know that I do not approve of it and will not be party to any further smearing of the name, the reputation, the integrity or the character of perhaps this nation's first (and maybe even only) honest candidate offering himself for public service as the person to occupy the Oval Office.
Your editor is a sensationalist. For you to even mention that makes me doubt your credibility, and I am looking forward to see how you are going to butcher what else I had to say concerning Senator Obama's "Spiritual Biography." Our Conference Minister, the Reverend Jane Fisler Hoffman, a white woman who belongs to a Black church that Hannity of "Hannity and Colmes" is trying to trash, set the record straight for you in terms of who I am and in terms of who we are as the church to which Barack has belonged for over twenty years.
The president of our denomination, the Reverend John Thomas, has offered to try to help you clarify in your confused head what Trinity Church is even though you spent the entire weekend with us setting me up to interview me for what turned out to be a smear of the Senator; and yet The New York Times continues to roll on making the truth what it wants to be the truth. I do not remember reading in your article that Barack had apologized for listening to that bad information and bad advice. Did I miss it? Or did your editor cut it out? Either way, you do not have to worry about hearing anything else from me for you to edit or "spin" because you are more interested in journalism than in truth.
Forgive me for having a momentary lapse. I forgot that The New York Times was leading the bandwagon in trumpeting why it is we should have gone into an illegal war. The New York Times became George Bush and the Republican Party's national "blog." The New York Times played a role in the outing of Valerie Plame. I do not know why I thought The New York Times had actually repented and was going to exhibit a different kind of behavior.
Maybe it was my faith in the Jewish Holy Day of Roshashana. Maybe it was my being caught up in the euphoria of the Season of Lent; but whatever it is or was, I was sadly mistaken. There is no repentance on the part of The New York Times. There is no integrity when it comes to The Times. You should do well with that paper, Jodi. You looked me straight in my face and told me a lie!
Sincerely and respectfully yours,Originally Posted by Gatsby Originally Posted by
The majority of that 20 million were not combat casualties, but civilian losses.
And the reason that China is not mentioned is because it is almost unrelated to the decisive defeat of Japan. Japan wasn't crushed in the Pacific due to a lack of troops, but because of the complete destruction of the IJN - which China had no part in. And it was ultimately the USA's Pacific advance - completely reliant on said destruction of the IJN - that put the Allies in a position to knock out Japan either by the Atom bombs or if needed be invasion, which China also wouldn't have had a part in.
China suffered tremendously in the war and inflicted huge losses on Japan but frankly they are not worth mentioning if looking for the decisive events that directly led to Japan's defeat.Cameron’s pledge to his Jewish friends: “An enemy of Israel is an enemy of mine. A threat to Israel is a threat to us all”
By Stuart Littlewood
Whenever a Western leader expresses adoration and undying support for the Zionist state the Jewish Chronicle (JC) can be relied on to make the most of it. This week it reports on UK Prime Minister David Cameron’s Chanucah/Hanukkah reception in Downing Street when he lit a menorah (that elegant nine-branch candlestick) with the chief rabbi.
According to the JC, Cameron took the opportunity to say he didn’t have much faith in the interim nuclear agreement struck with Iran. He told assembled Jewish leaders: “I know there will be great scepticism, I know there will be great worry. I share that scepticism, I share that worry. I don’t have any starry-eyed view of what this Iranian regime offers.”
He went on to announce: “I am with you and with the Israeli people, genuinely. As far as I’m concerned, an enemy of Israel is an enemy of mine. A threat to Israel is a threat to us all.
Cameron is a self-declared Zionist and, from his various remarks, thinks nothing of putting Israel’s interests, no matter how unlawful and menacing, ahead of the UK’s…
“I can promise you this: Britain will stand with Israel, Britain will support Israel, Britain will keep the pressure up on Iran. We do not want you to have a nuclear-armed near-neighbour, a nuclear threat facing your country… We share that feeling and show you our solidarity.”
Who on earth is he speaking for? Has he consulted the British people on this pledge of servitude to the criminal Zionist project? Was it in his election manifesto? This isn’t the first time Cameron has ‘mis-spoken’. He does it regularly.
And why has he got it in for Iran, which has no nuclear weapons and is no threat to us? Shouldn’t he instead be saying to Iran: “We share your anxiety about having a nuclear armed neighbour like Israel, with its 400 warheads, menacing your country. You have our solidarity.”
Cameron is a self-declared Zionist and, from his various remarks, thinks nothing of putting Israel’s interests, no matter how unlawful and menacing, ahead of the UK’s and allowing us to be drawn into conflict with Israel’s enemies such as Iran and Syria.
No respectable nation can operate a foreign policy on such a twisted basis. How many more of our young men have to shed blood, limbs and life to serve the foolish ambitions, ill-advised friendships and private commitments of our politicians?
Hysterical Iran-bashing
The ludicrous idea that Iran is the enemy was spouted several years ago by Liam Fox while shadow secretary of state for defence: “We must remember that in the battle for the values that we stand for – for democracy against theocracy, for democratic liberal values against repression – Israel’s enemies are our enemies and this is a battle in which we all stand together or we will all fall divided.” After Cameron appointed him defence secretary, Fox came to grief over the scandal of his close relationship with Adam Werritty, his so-called adviser. It was revealed that Werrity, among other misdeeds, had been involved in secret meetings with Mossad agents for the purpose of enlisting British support for an Israeli attack on Iran.
By no stretch of the imagination is Iran an enemy of the British people, but could soon be if Cameron and his foreign secretary, William Hague, persist with economic sanctions that needlessly hurt the Iranian people and inflict the kind of suffering heaped upon Iraq’s women and children for 12 years before we bombed them to hell and back. Is that what they are trying to engineer?
Israel, as people are beginning to realize, has a vast nuclear arsenal, won’t sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (but Iran has done so) and won’t submit to UN inspection and safeguards. Moreover Cameron is comfortable about rewarding Israel for its crimes against humanity. He even provides a safe haven for its criminals, contrary to the UK’s solemn obligation under the Geneva Conventions.
Israel flag waving
Pro-Israel politicians here still repeat the big lie that Iran threatened to wipe Israel off the map. Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad actually said, rather poetically, that the regime in Jerusalem (i.e. the Zionist regime) must vanish from the page of time. As Western powers regularly use regime change as an excuse to make wa, either directly or by proxy, against any country they don’t like… why is Ahmadinejad’s remark so objectionable?
Cameron’s senior partner in the UK government’s hysterical Iran-bashing campaign, William Hague, has been an avid admirer of Israel since his schooldays. In 2011, in a keynote address on the theme “Sixty Years of British-Israeli Diplomatic Relations”, Hague said the UK’s relationship with Israel went far beyond the realm of diplomatic relations. “It is based on bonds between families and communities as well as shared values and common interests… This government is firmly opposed to those who seek to deligitimize Israel, and… we are firmly opposed to boycotts…“
Is aiding and defending a belligerent foreign power, land thief and serial abuser of human rights a listed policy in the Conservative Party manifesto?
His speech included the usual attempt to demonize Iran. “Iran’s treatment of its own people, as well as its attitude to Israel and posturing in the region show that it would be a disaster to let Iran acquire nuclear weapons.” He omitted to mention the hundreds of nuclear warheads at the fingertips of Israel’s delinquent leaders. “Iran should therefore not doubt the resolve of the international community to address the concerns about its nuclear programme…
“I never forget,” said Hague, “that Israel is a country that has been repeatedly attacked through its brief history, that has been at war with all its neighbours for some of its history and with some of its neighbours for all of its history.”
And whose fault is that?
Is aiding and defending a belligerent foreign power, land thief and serial abuser of human rights a listed policy in the Conservative Party manifesto? No. It is a private agenda for which Hague and Cameron have no popular mandate. And is terrorizing Iranian civilians with economic ruination, just for the hell of it (or because Israel wants it), Conservative policy? Well, I suppose it must be, otherwise Hague and Cameron would have been slapped down.
A friend dubbed the pair “Agent” Cameron and “Agent” Hague and the names have stuck. We can see why.With nuclear talks set to resume Wednesday, Sunday Times reports Israel, Saudi Arabia heightening cooperation, in bid to formulate contingency attack plan on Iran should talks succeed in reaching agreement, but fail in halting Iranian nuclear program
Ynet
November 17, 2013
The Mossad is currently working with Saudi Arabian officials on contingency plans for a possible attack on Iranian nuclear facilities, the Sunday Times reported.
According to the paper, both Israel and the Saudi kingdom are skeptical of the nuclear talks between Iran and world powers and are working together on a possible attack plan should such an agreement actualize but fail to stop the Islamic republic from continuing its nuclear project.
“Once the Geneva agreement is signed, the military option will be back on the table. The Saudis are furious and are willing to give Israel all the help it needs,” a diplomatic source is quoted by the paper as saying.
According to the Sunday Times, as part of what it called the growing cooperation between Jerusalem and Riyadh, it is possible the kingdom has already given Israel a green light to make use of its airspace in the case of an attack.
Full story here.
This article was posted: Sunday, November 17, 2013 at 7:00 am
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Comment on this articleHouse GOP Threatens to Wipe Out Local Control Over Bike/Ped Funding
The House GOP couldn’t pass a transportation bill of their own, so now they want to undo one of the major bi-partisan achievements in the Senate transportation bill.
As part of its counter-offer to the Senate in conference committee negotiations over the transportation bill, the House appears to be proposing the elimination of the Cardin-Cochran amendment, which would allow local jurisdictions to control funds for bike/ped projects. The House proposal, sent to the Senate yesterday, would effectively block access to bike/ped funding for many towns, cities, and regions located in states where the department of transportation places a low priority on street safety.
Politico Pro reported that House conferees confirmed that the first part of its counter to the Senate offer would “retain the Transportation Enhancements program’s overall structure but would let states opt out.” Transportation Enhancements is one of the principal funding mechanisms for bike/ped projects. Neither Politico nor Streetsblog has seen a copy of the couter-offer, so it’s unclear exactly how the proposal is framed.
Initially, under the Senate’s MAP-21 bill, TE was subsumed under a section of the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Program called “Additional Activities,” which states could opt out of entirely. But thanks to a bi-partisan amendment crafted by Mississippi Republican Thad Cochran and Maryland Democrat Ben Cardin, decision-making authority for those funds was devolved from states to local governments, which tend to place a higher priority on active transportation programs.
The House proposal appears to erase that progress.
“By allowing states to opt out of Additional Activities funding, the House counter-offer would prevent local governments from accessing funds for small-scale, local transportation projects,” said Mary Lauran Hall, communications coordinator for America Bikes. “It pits state control against local control. We’ve heard from mayors and local elected officials across the country that they want funding for these projects. It doesn’t make sense to take away the tiny portion of transportation dollars that trickle to local governments.”
The House is expected to complete its counter-offer over the next few days.As Denver dignitaries gathered Tuesday for Mayor John Hickenlooper’s State of the City address, City Council president Michael Hancock introduced singer Rene Marie to perform the national anthem.
But that’s not what she did.
Instead, Marie performed the song “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” which also is known as the “black national anthem.”
She sang the words to the tune of “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
The proceedings then continued, without the customary singing of the national anthem, leaving some in the audience bewildered.
Marie said she made the change without informing the mayor’s office, which had expected her to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
“I pulled a switcheroonie on them,” Marie said later.
She explained that she decided months ago to switch the lyrics because she will no longer sing the national anthem.
She said that she made the decision after a Russian broadcaster interviewed her and asked her what it was like to be an American.
At that moment, she said, she realized that as an African-American she at times feels like a foreigner in her home country.
“And I was going to correct her,” Marie said. “And I realized I didn’t feel like an American, and that bothered me a great deal.”
Marie, a popular jazz singer and actress who performs with the Shadow Theatre Company, said she never informed the mayor’s office she planned to switch the lyrics because she didn’t think they would let her go through with it.
Hickenlooper said he had talked to Marie about the situation after her performance.
“She was very apologetic,” the mayor said. “She meant no disrespect, and she was singing an artistic expression she thought represented love and hope for her country.”
Others were less charitable.
“I was surprised,” said Hancock, who said he thought Marie should have cleared her plans with the mayor’s office. “But you go on with the show.”
By Tuesday afternoon, Hancock had received several telephone calls from citizens and the media.
The anthem, written by James Weldon Johnson and first performed in 1900, was intended to commemorate nearly 40 years of freedom for blacks in America on the anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birthday.
The song, which appears in many church hymnals including the United Methodist hymnal, is an expression of hope and faith, and an appreciation and lamentation for the suffering of prior generations.
Still, Councilman Chris Nevitt said the replacing of the national anthem’s lyrics with those written by Johnson “was the weirdest damn thing.”
And Councilman Charlie Brown took to the airwaves, appearing on several radio stations to discuss the issue.
“There is no substitute for the national anthem,” Brown said. “I was shocked. It just puts everyone in an awkward position.”Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump accused fellow candidate Texas Senator Ted Cruz of winning Iowa caucuses by getting fellow candidate Dr. Ben Carson’s supporters during his closing statement in Saturday’s GOP presidential debate on ABC.
After Cruz referenced his victory in the Iowa caucuses during his closing statement, Trump began his statement, which immediately followed Cruz’s by saying, “That’s because he got Ben Carson’s votes, by the way, but we won’t say that.”
Trump continued, “Our country, that we love so much, doesn’t win anymore. We don’t win with the military. We don’t win on the border. You look at New Hampshire, with the tremendous problem we have we heroin. Number one thing I hear from the people of New Hampshire, who I love, and developed such relationships, we don’t win with healthcare. We don’t win with trade. You look at what other countries are doing to us, China, everyone. They’re killing us on trade. If I’m elected president, we will win, and we will win, and we will win.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchettRecording #5: Sorry. Your web browser doesn’t support the html5 audio tag.
Earthquake Data
Location and/or name: 1964 Alaska earthquake (also referred to as the “Good Friday earthquake” and “Prince William Sound earthquake” Date and time: 27 March 1964, 5:36:13.0 p.m. AST Epicenter: 61.0°N, 147.8°W Magnitude: 8.4 MMI at site: VIII (?) Literature: Voluminous literature, but papers having particular relevant to the recording are: “Introduction to the Earthquake Engineering of the 1964 Prince William Sound, Alaska, Earthquake”, Karl V. Steinbrugge, in The Prince William Sound Earthquake of 1964 and Aftershocks, Volume II Part A, Environmental Sciences Services Administration (1967). See pp. 4–5 and 13–14. “Seismological Background for Engineering Studies of the Earthquake”, Donald F. Hudson and William K. Cloud, in The Great Alaska Earthquake of 1964: Engineering, National Academy of Sciences (1973). See particularly pp. 32–32.
Recording Information
Location of recording: Blueberry Road near the northeast corner of Northern Lights Boulevard, Anchorage, Alaska Previous publication: Earthquake, Alaska, 7″, 33.3 rpm record, produced by Bob Pate, Alaskan Artifacts Enterprise. The Prince William Sound, Alaska, Earthquake of 1964 and Aftershocks, 7″, 33.3 rpm record on flexible vinyl, included as an appendix in a pocket in the rear of Volume II Part A of the publication of the same name (see “Literature”, above).
Commentary: The recording was made by Mr. Robert A. Pate in his small one-story wood-frame dwelling in a region where no landsliding or other geological effects were present. Within 5 seconds, at most, after Mr. Pate felt the earthquake, he began dictating his thoughts and reactions into the recorder. About 1 minute after the start of the earthquake, Mr. Pate stated that the earthquake had not shown signs of stopping yet. Shortly thereafter he stated that he was going to put the television set on the floor; he had to crawl because he could not walk. About 1 minute and 10 seconds after the start of the recording, Mr. Pate stated that the house was still shaking so much that he wondered if he shouldn’t go outside. One and one-half minutes after the recording began, the noise level substantially decreased; at that time Mr. Pate seemed to sense that the worst was over. Three minutes after the start, he positively stated that the ground was still shaking, but it seems from his attitude that the shaking had greatly diminished. The dwelling was undamaged, and only three or four dishes fell from kitchen cabinets, although the doors had swung open.
Acknowledgments: Mr. Robert Pate of radio station KHAR supplied a copy of the recording plus background information.I've been obsessed with turning cauliflower into things it's totally not.
Like polenta. Cauliflower makes great polenta. It's every bit as creamy and comforting as the real thing, but so much healthier for you.
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alleys were able to manoeuvre at their pleasure and to the disadvantage of the enemy who, not being able to move for want of wind, remained exposed to the fire of our artillery.
It seems unlikely, given that they could get close to the English ships, that they would have missed their targets, so they may well have damaged the bow of the Mary Rose. (At this point in time, much of the bow structure of the Mary Rose is yet to be excavated from the seabed and so there is no archaeological evidence of such damage.) Of itself, a damaged bow wouldn’t be too much of a problem, although she may have been shipping considerable water into her hold. Intriguingly, the Mary Rose’s pump was not found in its proper position when excavated and it had been partly dismantled, not functional at the moment the ship sank – perhaps it broke through overuse?
On the attack
By mid-afternoon it is normal for a sea breeze to blow up in the Solent. This would have afforded the Mary Rose the opportunity to set sail and bring her broadside armament to bear against the attacking French galleys. At about 4pm or 5pm the Mary Rose embarked on a northerly passage, the direction in which she was travelling when she sank, across the Solent to engage the French.
Archaeological evidence tells us that some of the starboard guns were fired, so she must have encountered the enemy. She continued passage northwards but would have been rolling and sailing sluggishly if she had been hit earlier in the day and shipped water. Having fired their guns, the crew of the Mary Rose would have known that they were in trouble, feeling the uneasy movement of the ship beneath their feet. I suspect that it was their aim to run her aground on Spitbank, just 600 metres ahead of where she sank.
Six minutes more sailing and she would have been safe. But had she rolled just a little bit too far and for a little too long, allowing the open gun ports to dip below the sea, the sudden inrush of a mass of water onto the main gun deck would have completely destabilised the ship and she would have sunk within seconds.
The sinking of the Mary Rose claimed the lives of around 500 men on board. Only 35 were reported saved. I believe that the crew of the Mary Rose have been unfairly maligned by previous suggestions for the cause of the sinking. No evidence suggests that they were incompetent or ill disciplined, and on such a calm day a freak gust of wind seems unlikely. But until – or if – the bow is recovered, my theory remains just one of a number of possibilities.
Written by Dominic Fontana
Senior Lecturer in Geography, University of Portsmouth
The ConversationImage copyright Reuters Image caption The area in Chile's lake district is sparsely populated
A landslide caused by torrential rain has killed at least five people in southern Chile and has destroyed dozens of houses.
Fifteen people are missing in the remote village of Villa Santa Lucía in the country's lake region, popular with tourists.
President Michelle Bachelet has declared a state of emergency in the area.
Thousands remain without electricity and cut off from the rest of Chile.
"I have ordered rescue workers to put all the resources necessary towards protecting the people of Villa Santa Lucia," said Ms Bachelet.
Image copyright AFP Image caption Most of the village was destroyed by the landslide
Part of the valley where the village lies, some 1,100km (690 miles) south of the capital, Santiago, was engulfed by a huge amount of mud from surrounding mountains.
Local media reported that the region had experienced unusually heavy rain for the previous 24 hours.
Dozens of people have been airlifted and taken to the neighbouring town of Chaitén.
Rescue teams are searching for survivors.
The village is near Corcovado National Park, popular with tourists for its volcanoes, fjords and forests.
Image copyright Reuters Image caption The mud has blocked roads linking the area to the rest of Chile
The mudslide happened on Saturday morning, on the eve of the run-off election to choose Chile's next president.
The authorities say the vote is going ahead as planned.
Some 14 million Chileans are eligible to choose between the centre-right candidate, Sebastián Piñera, and Alejandro Guillier, who is endorsed by Ms Bachelet.As the fifth anniversary of Operation Iraqi Freedom nears, the fabulists are again trying to weave their own version of the war. The latest myth is that the "surge" is working.
In President Bush's pithy formulation, the United States is now "kicking ass" in Iraq. The gallant Gen. David Petraeus, having been given the right tools, has performed miracles, redeeming a situation that once appeared hopeless. Sen. John McCain has gone so far as to declare that "we are winning in Iraq." While few others express themselves quite so categorically, McCain's remark captures the essence of the emerging story line: Events have (yet again) reached a turning point. There, at the far end of the tunnel, light flickers. Despite the hand-wringing of the defeatists and naysayers, victory beckons.
From the hallowed halls of the American Enterprise Institute waft facile assurances that all will come out well. AEI's Reuel Marc Gerecht assures us that the moment to acknowledge "democracy's success in Iraq" has arrived. To his colleague Michael Ledeen, the explanation for the turnaround couldn't be clearer: "We were the stronger horse, and the Iraqis recognized it." In an essay entitled "Mission Accomplished" that is being touted by the AEI crowd, Bartle Bull, the foreign editor of the British magazine Prospect, instructs us that "Iraq's biggest questions have been resolved." Violence there "has ceased being political." As a result, whatever mayhem still lingers is "no longer nearly as important as it was." Meanwhile, Frederick W. Kagan, an AEI resident scholar and the arch-advocate of the surge, announces that the "credibility of the prophets of doom" has reached "a low ebb."
Presumably Kagan and his comrades would have us believe that recent events vindicate the prophets who in 2002-03 were promoting preventive war as a key instrument of U.S. policy. By shifting the conversation to tactics, they seek to divert attention from flagrant failures of basic strategy. Yet what exactly has the surge wrought? In substantive terms, the answer is: not much.
As the violence in Baghdad and Anbar province abates, the political and economic dysfunction enveloping Iraq has become all the more apparent. The recent agreement to rehabilitate some former Baathists notwithstand ing, signs of lasting Sunni-Shiite reconciliation are scant. The United States has acquired a ramshackle, ungovernable and unresponsive dependency that is incapable of securing its own borders or managing its own affairs. More than three years after then-national security adviser Condoleezza Rice handed President Bush a note announcing that "Iraq is sovereign," that sovereignty remains a fiction.
A nation-building project launched in the confident expectation that the United States would repeat in Iraq the successes it had achieved in Germany and Japan after 1945 instead compares unfavorably with the U.S. response to Hurricane Katrina. Even today, Iraqi electrical generation meets barely half the daily national requirements. Baghdad households now receive power an average of 12 hours each day -- six hours fewer than when Saddam Hussein ruled. Oil production still has not returned to pre-invasion levels. Reports of widespread fraud, waste and sheer ineptitude in the administration of U.S. aid have become so commonplace that they barely last a news cycle. (Recall, for example, the 110,000 AK-47s, 80,000 pistols, 135,000 items of body armor and 115,000 helmets intended for Iraqi security forces that, according to the Government Accountability Office, the Pentagon cannot account for.) U.S. officials repeatedly complain, to little avail, about the paralyzing squabbling inside the Iraqi parliament and the rampant corruption within Iraqi ministries. If a primary function of government is to provide services, then the government of Iraq can hardly be said to exist.
Moreover, recent evidence suggests that the United States is tacitly abandoning its efforts to create a truly functional government in Baghdad. By offering arms and bribes to Sunni insurgents -- an initiative that has been far more important to the temporary reduction in the level of violence than the influx of additional American troops -- U.S. forces have affirmed the fundamental irrelevance of the political apparatus bunkered inside the Green Zone.
Rather than fostering political reconciliation, accommodating Sunni tribal leaders ratifies the ethnic cleansing that resulted from the civil war touched off by the February 2006 bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samarra, a Shiite shrine. That conflict has shredded the fragile connective tissue linking the various elements of Iraqi society; the deals being cut with insurgent factions serve only to ratify that dismal outcome. First Sgt. Richard Meiers of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division got it exactly right: "We're paying them not to blow us up. It looks good right now, but what happens when the money stops?"
In short, the surge has done nothing to overturn former secretary of state Colin Powell's now-famous "Pottery Barn" rule: Iraq is irretrievably broken, and we own it. To say that any amount of "kicking ass" will make Iraq whole once again is pure fantasy. The U.S. dilemma remains unchanged: continue to pour lives and money into Iraq with no end in sight, or cut our losses and deal with the consequences of failure.
In only one respect has the surge achieved undeniable success: It has ensured that U.S. troops won't be coming home anytime soon. This was one of the main points of the exercise in the first place. As AEI military analyst Thomas Donnelly has acknowledged with admirable candor, "part of the purpose of the surge was to redefine the Washington narrative," thereby deflecting calls for a complete withdrawal of U.S. combat forces. Hawks who had pooh-poohed the risks of invasion now portrayed the risks of withdrawal as too awful to contemplate. But a prerequisite to perpetuating the war -- and leaving it to the next president -- was to get Iraq off the front pages and out of the nightly news. At least in this context, the surge qualifies as a masterstroke. From his new perch as a New York Times columnist, William Kristol has worried that feckless politicians just might "snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory." Not to worry: The "victory" gained in recent months all but guarantees that the United States will remain caught in the jaws of Iraq for the foreseeable future.
Such success comes at a cost. U.S. casualties in Iraq have recently declined. Yet since Petraeus famously testified before Congress last September, Iraqi insurgents have still managed to kill more than 100 Americans. Meanwhile, to fund the war, the Pentagon is burning through somewhere between $2 billion and $3 billion per week. Given that further changes in U.S. policy are unlikely between now and the time that the next administration can take office and get its bearings, the lavish expenditure of American lives and treasure is almost certain to continue indefinitely.
But how exactly do these sacrifices serve the national interest? What has the loss of nearly 4,000 U.S. troops and the commitment of about $1 trillion -- with more to come -- actually gained the United States?
Bush had once counted on the U.S. invasion of Iraq to pay massive dividends. Iraq was central to his administration's game plan for eliminating jihadist terrorism. It would demonstrate how U.S. power and beneficence could transform the Muslim world. Just months after the fall of Baghdad, the president declared, "The establishment of a free Iraq at the heart of the Middle East will be a watershed event in the global democratic revolution." Democracy's triumph in Baghdad, he announced, "will send forth the news, from Damascus to Tehran -- that freedom can be the future of every nation." In short, the administration saw Baghdad not as a final destination but as a way station en route to even greater successes.
In reality, the war's effects are precisely the inverse of those that Bush and his lieutenants expected. Baghdad has become a strategic cul-de-sac. Only the truly blinkered will imagine at this late date that Iraq has shown the United States to be the "stronger horse." In fact, the war has revealed the very real limits of U.S. power. And for good measure, it has boosted anti-Americanism to record levels, recruited untold numbers of new jihadists, enhanced the standing of adversaries such as Iran and diverted resources and attention from Afghanistan, a theater of war far more directly relevant to the threat posed by al-Qaeda. Instead of draining the jihadist swamp, the Iraq war is continuously replenishing it.
Look beyond the spin, the wishful thinking, the intellectual bullying and the myth-making. The real legacy of the surge is that it will enable Bush to bequeath the Iraq war to his successor -- no doubt cause for celebration at AEI, although perhaps less so for the families of U.S. troops. Yet the stubborn insistence that the war must continue also ensures that Bush's successor will, upon taking office, discover that the post-9/11 United States is strategically adrift. Washington no longer has a coherent approach to dealing with Islamic radicalism. Certainly, the next president will not find in Iraq a useful template to be applied in Iran or Syria or Pakistan.
According to the war's most fervent proponents, Bush's critics have become so "invested in defeat" that they cannot see the progress being made on the ground. Yet something similar might be said of those who remain so passionately invested in a futile war's perpetuation. They are unable to see that, surge or no surge, the Iraq war remains an egregious strategic blunder that persistence will only compound.
Andrew J. Bacevich is a professor of history and international relations at Boston University. His new book, "The Limits of Power," will be published later this year.Hang on for a minute...we're trying to find some more stories you might like. Close
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Northwestern emailed students Wednesday to confirm its decision to disaffiliate with Tannenbaum Chabad House and Rabbi Dov Hillel Klein almost a month after Klein alerted students of the decision on Yom Kippur, a Jewish High Holiday.
Patricia Telles-Irvin, vice president for student affairs, wrote in the email that the Sept. 11 decision to disaffiliate resulted from “concerns about reported alcohol use and abuse” and a University investigation that found “excessive consumption of alcohol by students” at the Chabad House.
Though Klein told The Daily last month that alcohol was consumed at Chabad House, he maintained that he did not violate University policy.
“We’re not about alcohol,” Klein said to The Daily in September. “We’re about God. We’re about fellowship. We’re about faith, spirituality, joy and teaching.”
He explained he did not break any Illinois laws, which make an exception for serving alcohol to people under the age of 21 for religious purposes. However, the University alcohol policy in the student handbook does not make the same exception.
Following the University’s decision to disaffiliate, Lubavitch-Chabad of Illinois, acting on behalf of Klein and Chabad House, filed a discrimination complaint in federal district court against NU, Telles-Irvin and University Chaplain Timothy Stevens. The complaint was filed after Klein said the University failed to provide evidence that Chabad violated University policy. It argues that the University is discriminating against the Jewish faith by dismissing him without due process.
Telles-Irvin wrote in her email that the University did not alert the student body of the disaffiliation until Wednesday due to the ongoing litigation and Jewish holidays.
Many members of the NU community have spoken out against the University’s decision, citing Klein’s decades of service in the University community. The Facebook page “We Support Rabbi Klein and Chabad at Northwestern” had more than 400 likes as of Wednesday.
“As many of you know, the Tannenbaum Chabad House and Rabbi Klein have been a part of the University community for many years, and therefore, the decision to disaffiliate was not an easy one,” Telles-Irvin wrote.
— Cat Zakrzewski
CommentsWe have all been confused at some point by the countless options of a new DAW (digital audio workstation). My job today is to help you configure and comprehend the tools given to you so you can improve your audio. This is my step by step guide for all beginners to Audacity, I hope you are satisfied with the results.
Recording Techniques
Before actually hitting the record button, take a step back and allow yourself to be a foot away from the mic. This will stop you from popping and distorting the audio track. If you are going for a more close up effect for ASMR try lowering the overall recording volume in your audio mixer or gain knob. Most binaural microphones used for ASMR do not have pop filters and you must test out the sound levels with a few practice runs in audacity.
Once you are ready to hit the record button, make sure to wait 4-5 seconds to allow a gap in the recording before speaking and also after speaking. This allows you to have enough background noise registered and makes it easier to eliminate with the noise reduction tool. Now that you have recorded your audio, let’s talk editing.
Editing Your Vocals
Before we add any effects we want to get rid of all the background noise possible from your track. To do this highlight the first few seconds you recorded and click Effects -> Noise Reduction. Here you will want to click “Get Noise Profile”. Once you have registered that information the tab will close and you may highlight the entire track, head back to Noise Reduction and click the “OK” button at the bottom. You have now reduced a large amount of background noise or possible distortion.
The next step will be to add a compressor which will increase the vocal volume and help add a little clarity. Go to the Effects menu -> Compressor and bring down the Threshold to about -16dB through -18dB. As you can see from the example the audio wave looks rather loud, this is what you want to achieve without actually making it distorted.
Optional: Bass Boost
Adding a bass boost will create a depth to your vocals this is great for anyone looking for a deep booming voice. Go to the Effects menu -> Equalization and select Bass Boost from the drop-down Curve menu as seen in the pic. This is not a needed step but a great effect for certain types of voices.
You can also raise the Treble Boost within the same menu to increase vocals with a higher range. The treble boost is the counterpart to the bass and is used most of the time when you are looking for sharpness.
Final Step: Hard Limiter
We now have an audio wave which might look demanding to the ear. Our very last step is to normalize this beast. Go to Effects -> Limiter change the type to Hard Limit and Limit (dB) to -3.00 as seen below. The usual limit range is between -2 and -5.
Once you have completed these steps you can take a listen. You must remember that all results vary due to microphone quality. I have also posted an article discussing great budget microphones so you can get started with ASMR today.
Please like and share if you enjoyed the tutorial, Thank you.
AdvertisementsOnce more unto the WTC PATH Hub By Benjamin Kabak By· Published in 2014
It’s no secret that I’m not a fan of the World Trade Center PATH Hub. Due to a variety of factors, the Port Authority is spending an absurd amount of money to design what has repeatedly been called an iconic train station — which happens to be across the street from another supposedly iconic train station — and serves only a subway stop for PATH. The WTC Hub isn’t akin to Grand Central; there is no connection north, south or east, and it serves 35,000 passengers per day, fewer than Jay St.-Metrotech or the 8th Ave. 14th St. station. And, at a time when the need to expand trans-Hudson capacity has never been more evident, the price tag for a station that does nothing to address the region’s needs has ballooned toward $4 billion. It is, in a word, a boondoggle.
Eventually, when the station finally opens and passengers traverse the underground mall, the rebuilt World Trade Center area, and the marble-covered halls of Santiago Calatrava’s station, the focus on this project’s flaws may recede. It may even become that iconic image of Lower Manhattan its promoters had hoped it would become oh so many years ago. But we will still feel its impact every time we try to get to Laguardia Airport or sigh in frustration at another New Jersey Transit or Amtrak delay caused by congestion in the one rail tunnel connecting Manhattan to the rest of the world. Priorities will shift, and the specter of the stegosaurus will loom large.
Elliot Brown of The Wall Street Journal has penned what is, to date, the definitive work on the issues plaguing the transit hub. It includes honest assessments on the costs and construction problems and portends a future of cautious design (and perhaps capacity-focused projects rather than buildings more akin to vanity affairs). “Did you need to build the $3.7 billion transportation hub to achieve the meaningfulness of the World Trade Center redevelopment?” Scott Rechler, the Port Authority’s vice chair, wondered. “In hindsight, I don’t know if I would have come to that conclusion.”
I’d urge you to read Brown’s full story. He delves into every aspect of the project — including the Port Authority’s wish, overruled by then-Gov. George Pataki, to save around $500 million by shutting down the 1 line south of Chambers St. for indeterminate length of time to effect repairs and rebuild the Cortlandt St. station. I’ll excerpt some key parts as Brown traces the history of a hub that was once to cost $1.5-$2 billion and open nearly seven years ago:
An analysis of federal oversight reports viewed by The Wall Street Journal and interviews with current and former officials show a project sunk in a morass of politics and government. Those redesigning the World Trade Center—destroyed by terrorists in 2001—were besieged by demands from various agencies and officials, and “the answer was never, ‘No,’ ” said Christopher Ward, executive director from 2008 to 2011 of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the project’s builder. Why that happened is more difficult to untangle. The Port Authority, run jointly by the two states, has long been known for political infighting. City, state and federal agencies, as well as real-estate developer Larry Silverstein, also joined in. In public and private clashes, they each pushed to include their own ideas, making the site’s design ever more complex, former project officials said. These disputes added significant delays and costs to the transit station, which serves as a backbone to the bigger 16-acre redevelopment site, connecting the World Trade Center’s four planned office towers, underground retail space and the 9/11 museum, the officials said and oversight reports show… The high cost has been attributed by many public officials to its ornate and complex design by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava. His plans proved far more difficult to build than anticipated, the Port Authority has said, requiring, for example, the manufacture of enormous steel spans overseas. Even daily maintenance will be costly. A recently opened hallway has white marble floors where workers remove scuff marks with sponges on sticks. Mr. Calatrava, through a spokesman, declined to comment. But current and former officials who worked on the project, a terminal for the PATH commuter rail system, said in interviews they believed demands, disagreements and poor coordination among the many parties working on the World Trade Center site spurred hundreds of millions of dollars in overruns.
The special requests and demands break down as follows:
Michael Bloomberg wanted the memorial plaza open by the 10th Anniversary of the attacks. Doing so added at least $100 million to the budget as “a large swath of the underground terminal below the plaza had to be built without use of cranes or other large equipment. Workers had to move materials by hand.”
The decision to maintain 1 train service through the site and build a supported box added another $300-$500 million.
Complex underground connections added another $140 million to the price tag.
We don’t know how much Calatrava himself is getting for his design and engineering work. The Port Authority has, so far, yet to respond to Freedom of Information requests I’ve filed regarding these amounts. But it’s not an insubstantial amount, and, as Brown notes, upkeep costs for this fanciful subway stop will be plentiful.
So ultimately, we have a monument to Lower Manhattan for $4 billion and 35,000 passengers. We don’t have modernized airports or convenient ways to get there. We have transit capacity needs that go unfulfilled, and we have recognition that the WTC PATH Hub became more unmanageable than it should have. Let’s not repeat these mistakes in the future.So I had this call today in telephone reference. It was a woman, probably older but not elderly. And she said, "Could you do me a favor? Could you call me back at this number so that I can make sure it still works? I don't have anyone else to call."You know, it's certainly possible that she didn't have anyone else to call because it was 10:30 in the morning and people she knew were at work. Maybe she's home with the flu, or something. Maybe it was a brand new phone number and she didn't know whether it was receiving calls yet. There are all sorts of reasons she might have made that request.But...When you work telephone reference enough, you get to know the demographic of people who tend to call the library for information. They are older. Most of the time, they are working class or working poor. I have to be honest: Sometimes they are straight up crazy. She didn't have that air of crazy though. My guess is that she was on disability or something, because she didn't sound old enough to be retired. It was just so sad, to think about not having enough contact with people to be sure your phone number is actually working.Then again, I was also kind of glad to get the call. I could have said, "That is not a service the library offers." But it was a local number, so I thought, why not? I am so happy the library is there for people like this woman. It feels good to be able to help them, in ways large and small. Like, sure, yeah, we'll call you back. And yeah, anytime we're open, go ahead and drop us a line.We will listen as you describe your terrible debilitating medical condition or your financial woes or your legal troubles or how your son never calls you or that you can't remember where the post office is or how you are confused because the world is changing so fast. We will listen and we will find what you need or refer you to a place that can help. Or sometimes, we will just listen because we know that's all you really wanted.SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – Hundreds of uncounted ballots were discovered from November’s election last week.
CBS13 learned that more than 400 vote-by-mail ballots were found three months after the election because they were misplaced and forgotten until last week.
“Some of the ballots from one of the precincts came back in a supply bag,” said Sacramento County Registrar of Voters Jill Lavine.
Uncounted votes are supposed to be in a pink carrier; however, the 407 ballots wound up in a red supply bag which was tossed onto a storage rack.
“As we were going through and cleaning up from the election, we found this bag full of ballots,” said LaVine.
The vote-by-mail ballots dropped off in Natomas came from 92 precincts. With two tight city council races, along with the Dan Lungren-Ami Berra contest too close to call for weeks, an election nightmare nearly came true.
“It won’t have any impact on the election,” said LaVine. “Staff was able to go through and sort these ballots by precinct.”
“It’s really disappointing and I’m sure if those voters found out their ballots weren’t counted, they’d be very upset,” said Kim Alexander, California Voter Foundation.
Voter advocate Alexander says the options to mail your ballot or drop it off increases the chances to make mistakes.
“We give voters these conveniences, but with those conveniences come more risks and more problems,” said Alexander.
It’s a big mistake that silenced the voices of more than 400 voters who have no idea their votes were never counted.
Currently the registrar is trying to figure out measures to make sure this never happens again.
“That’s exactly what we are going through right now, is going through all of our procedures to see what went wrong and to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” said LaVine.
Fortunately, it was only a small amount of votes that avoided any damage. However, had the uncounted votes been in the thousands, this could have caused some major problems.After more than two years in development, the final draft of the Halifax Regional Municipality's Centre Plan was made public on Friday, shedding light on what the urban core of the city could look like in decades to come.
The 170-page document has outlined a number of ways to improve development in the city's urban core, defined as the Halifax peninsula and the area within Dartmouth's Circumferential Highway.
The plan must still go through a couple of committees before it is presented to Halifax Regional Council, including a presentation before the community advisory committee on Wednesday.
Here are a few of suggestions being proposed:
Expanding transit services
Public transit is a big focus of the Halifax-Dartmouth Centre Plan. (CBC)
Essential to the future of any growing city is a reliable and efficient transit system.
The Centre Plan proposes an expansion of transit services during the midday, evening and weekends. It also considers "Transit Priority Measures" that could include bus lanes and separate transit corridors for buses.
The plan also encourages car and bike sharing as well as creating more "harbour crossings" to better connect downtown Halifax and Dartmouth
Room for the birds and the bees? Yes
The Centre Plan recommends allowing backyard chickens and beekeeping in all zones. (iStock)
The Centre Plan also suggests allowing domestic birds — chickens, for example — as well as bees to be raised in all zones.
Edible landscaping
The plan suggests using edible landscaping — fruit, nut and berry bushes/trees — throughout the regional centre. Community groups/organizations would then be able to harvest the fruits, the plan proposes.
Reducing bird collisions
The plan would also require new developments to incorporate more "bird friendly" designs to reduce deaths.
Such measures include visual marks and patterns on glass or using non-reflective glass.
Casting long shadows, or not
Buildings surround the public space at the Halifax Common. But if new buildings are too tall that could be a problem under the Centre Plan. (Zaa Nkweta/CBC)
The plan recommends new buildings not cast shadows beyond 20 metres long into neighbouring parks and open spaces, "parallel to an exterior property" between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. between March 21 and Sept. 21.
This proposed rule, for instance, could have implications for structures such as the contentious tower condo development proposed for the corner of Quinpool Road and Robie Street.
Space between new buildings
In what the city is calling "future growth nodes," new buildings would have a required distance of 25 metres between them to provide views of the sky and privacy between towers.
Future growth nodes are large sites such as Shannon Park that have the potential to become large development swaths.
Cut down on the racket
Anyone who's lived in heavily populated areas knows how big of a problem noise can be. The Centre Plan encourages new residential developments to use "protective measures" to cut down on noise, such as construction of noise barriers and building more soundproof apartment and condo buildings.
No more elevated walkways
According the the Centre Plan, elevated pedestrian walkways (or pedways) such as those connecting various buildings in downtown Halifax "remove people and activity from streets" meaning less foot traffic for street-level stores.
The plan suggests prohibiting future pedways.
Pedestrians as a priority
Pedestrians are a large focus of the new Centre Plan. (iStock)
Making Halifax and Dartmouth as pedestrian-friendly as possible is one of the core concepts of the Centre Plan.
The plan recommends, among other things, only permitting new drive-through facilities in industrial or commercial areas called "Intensive Employment areas."
There are also recommendations for enhanced lighting for pedestrian walkways, as well as enhancing and expanding pedestrian corridors throughout HRM and making some sidewalks wider.
Bury utility lines
The city should make burying utility lines a priority, starting with downtown areas first, then expanding to areas further outside the core.Crystal Palace are pleased to announce that Chinese football app Dongqiudi have become the club’s first ever shirt sleeve partner in a multi-year deal.
Dongqiudi’s (pronounced Dong-cho-di) logo will feature on the left sleeve of the Eagles’ shirt this season, with the upcoming campaign being the first where Premier League clubs can advertise on this area of the players’ shirts. In addition, Dongqiudi will feature on the front of the shirt for the Premier League Asia Trophy which begins on Wednesday with the Eagles taking on Liverpool FC at the Hong Kong Stadium.
The partnership was announced at a fan event in Hong Kong ahead of Crystal Palace’s Premier League Asia Trophy match against Liverpool tomorrow evening, with Wilfried Zaha, James Tomkins and Julian Speroni joining club Chairman Steve Parish and KaiXuan Guo of Dongqiudi.
Established in 2013, Dongqiudi was created as a way for Chinese football fans to form communities and follow their favourite teams from around the world. The app has been downloaded 30 million times and receives over three million daily unique users, making it the number one football app in China.
Commenting on the deal, Parish said: “We are delighted to have Dongqiudi as the club’s first shirt sleeve partner. Dongqiudi’s platform gives us a fantastic opportunity to promote Crystal Palace in China whilst giving their brand exposure to the Club’s growing international following and the wider global Premier League audience.”
A Dongqiudi spokesman commented: “We are delighted to become Crystal Palace Football Club’s first shirt sleeve partner. The exposure this new partnership gives us will allow more football fans to connect and interact using our app, engaging in conversation about their favourite teams and players.
“Everyone at Dongqiudi is excited to work with the club and we cannot wait for the 2017/18 Premier League season to begin.”
Fans outside of Asia can download Donqiudi’s English speaking sister app – “All Football”The upcoming Studio Ghibli retrospective exhibit, "The Great Ghibli Exhibition~From Nausicaa to Red Turtle~,” which opens July 7 in Roppongi Hills, Tokyo, announced its exclusive themed menu on Tuesday. The themed food will be served at the “Museum Café THE SUN," which is adjacent to the exhibit area.
One entrée is the “Black Burger,” which is served on a focaccia bun that has been darkened with bamboo charcoal. It's meant to represent the pitch-black soot sprites that appear in My Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away and is priced at 1,380 yen (about US$13.60).
Another entrée option is the “Sunny-Side-Up Egg on Toast & Meatball Soup,” which comes from Castle in the Sky and is 1,080 yen (about US$10.60).
From the dessert menu is the “Matcha Shaved Ice,” which includes a tiny umbrella and is shaped like Totoro from My Neighbor Totoro. It is priced at 750 yen (US$7.40).
Another dessert is the “Commemorative Exhibit Parfait.” It is Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind-themed, and is topped with a white chocolate version of the Möwe glider that Nausicaa rides. It costs 1,280 yen (about US$12.60).
The rest of the menu — which also includes seafood red curry, "plane riding Napolitan with red wine, forest wind salad, blue ocean shaved ice, strawberry milk and candy shaved ice, sky cream soda, and "blue sky and planes" beer — is pictured below.
The exhibit runs from July 7 to September 11 from 10 AM to 10 PM JST on the 52nd floor of Tokyo City View in Roppongi Hills. It will include a variety of Ghibli memorabilia, such as production artwork, memos, and film posters, along with statues of Ghibli characters and a reproduction of a Ghibli desk. There will also be a souvenir shop selling all kinds of Studio Ghibli goods.
Advance tickets have already sold out online, but tickets can be purchased at the event. General admission is 1,800 yen, or just under US$18. Discounted tickets are available for students, children, and seniors.
The Studio Ghibli museum, located in Mitaka, Tokyo has been closed for renovations but will reopen on July 16 with several new exhibits, including a life-size Catbus.
Source: Anime AnimeThe United Nations has declared food waste to be a global challenge, and some B.C. produce distributors have their own solution — serving up ugly fruits and veggies.
According to the UN's Food and Agricultural Organization, one-third of the food produced for human consumption ends up being wasted throughout the supply chain — and the waste leads to significant greenhouse gas emissions.
So when organic food distributor Brody Irvine found out that a lot of the produce being harvested in the Lower Mainland doesn't even make it to the grocery store due to "imperfections" — superficial bumps, bruises and scrapes — he decided to do something about it.
He began collecting ugly fruits and veggies from farmers that would otherwise go in the compost bin, and packaging them together under the label "Rebel Food."
Justice for blemished fruits and vegetables
"'Rebel Food' was chosen because we didn't want it to have a negative connotation," he said. "We wanted it to be something that's very powerful — empowering for farmers and empowering for people looking for increased access to organic food."
Irvine says these carrots might look a little 'gnarly', but they pack the same flavour and crunch as their perfectly straight counterparts. (Jennifer Chen/CBC)
Rebel Food is distributed by produce provider Discovery Organics to nearly 20 independent grocery stores in the region.
Irvine purchases the unsightly produce from farmers who have trouble getting it on grocery shelves due to appearance, often leaving the food to rot.
But Irvine says the quirks have no effect on quality.
"We've got some pretty gnarly looking carrots — twisted and forked that still tastes great and still has nice crunch and flavour to it |
rik Hogrebe: Hi Max, really happy to have you here today — and congratulations on your new typeface releases and the launch of your new website. You run Signal Foundry and today we’ll talk a bit about what it entails to run your own foundry. But besides being a type designer, I believe you wear quite a few hats — do you want to start by telling us a bit about yourself and what you do?
Max Phillips: Sure. I was originally trained as a painter, to the extent that I was ever trained to be anything at all. I learned just enough to know I was never likely to be much good, but it started me drawing, and that’s come in handy. Some of my design office and agency clients come to me specifically because I can draw.
Max Phillips
I started designing posters for my actor friends’ plays when I was a teenager, and my general design practice has pretty much developed out of that, though it moved from the cultural to the corporate world when I was still in my twenties and has (largely) stayed there. Today I still make most of my living doing branding, print collateral, the occasional website, and even a few UIs, but my principal passion has been letters — I started trying to design alphabets when I was 14 or so — and I’ve been concentrating on that more and more in recent years. I started Signal to have a structure for pursuing that specialty. Right now I divide my time between doing design work for my own clients, providing lettering, logo development, and bespoke typeface design for other studios and agencies, and retail typeface design.
UH: Cool. Am I correct in thinking that you are originally a New Yorker, and now reside in Dublin?
Some of Max’s other work; Logotype development for Christie’s auction house
MP: I’m still a New Yorker. You don’t stop being a New Yorker just because you leave New York. But Dublin’s my home now, and I’d like to think I’m part of the Irish design community.
UH: Ha, yes — got it. I want to return to Dublin for a second at the end of this interview, as I’ve heard good thing. However, before we do that do you want to talk a bit about Signal and your new releases?
The idea behind Pressio was to draw a very black, extra-compressed typeface and then make the regular widths by squashing it down vertically. Then after I was done with that, I decided I’d try to make lighter weights by hollowing out the insides. So the whole thing was done backwards…
MP: Always. I’ve just brought out two new families that have been in the pipeline for years; Pressio and Center Slab. And I’ve redesigned and expanded two older families, Center and Vibro, adding two new weights to the former and a new lower case to the latter — Vibro was an all-caps titling face when I first designed it.
Pressio’s my biggest family so far: 20 styles, in four widths and five weights. It originally came out of lettering for a rejected corporate logo, and I thought the sketches would make a nice little exercise, and they just kept growing, and really haven’t stopped yet. The idea behind Pressio was to draw a very black, extra-compressed typeface and then make the regular widths by squashing it down vertically. Then after I was done with that, I decided I’d try to make lighter weights by hollowing out the insides. So the whole thing was done backwards, in terms of usual type design practice. This generated shapes and effects I couldn’t have planned in advance. If Pressio is interesting, and I hope it is, that’s why.
And as I said, it’s still growing. There’s a stencil companion in the works, and I’ve decided it needs some italics, too. So I’ll probably wind up with 60 styles in the next little while. Well, maybe not a little while.
UH: Ha, yes — don’t I know it. Experimenting with the process and letting it drive the aesthetic is a really interesting take on designing typefaces though.
Speaking of process, I want to dwell a bit on the typefaces that you’ve redrawn — tell me about the decision making that goes in to redrawing a typeface?
MP: “Decision” may not be the word. I didn’t exactly decide to add a full lower case and a set of dingbats to Vibro, which hadn’t made me much money to begin with. It was more a matter of the idea getting a grip on me and not letting go.
Pressio: form principle
With Center, I thought the 1.0 version looked pretty good, and started adding serifs to make a slab companion. And I couldn’t figure out why the slab version didn’t feel the way I wanted it to. And eventually I realized it had to do with basic decisions I’d made about width and contrast, and that if I wanted Center Slab to work right, I had to adjust the basic skeleton, the relative widths of the letters, the structure of the arches — the works.
Once I’d done that, of course I had to go back and apply all those refinements to the sans. Meanwhile, I could see by the way the sans was being used out in the world that it would be improved by adding a couple of weights and adjusting some of the weights that were already out there. So that added up to a bunch of work. And of course, this work’s all being squeezed in between your client work, because clients need what they need when they need it. And your kids need to eat.
…I would really like to make as many different kinds of letters as I can in whatever time I’ve got left on Earth
UH: Yeah, it’s tricky. But you’ve got to find the time though.
So maybe, we should take a step back. What makes a Signal typeface? Do you have a particular approach or set of inspirations?
MP: I’m inspired by damn near everything in the world of letters, and by a lot of things that aren’t in the world of letters, like architecture and sculpture. And I would really like to make as many different kinds of letters as I can in whatever time I’ve got left on Earth. I’m not one of these people like van Krimpen who have a single ideal letterform in their heads that they keep approaching from different angles. I’m not a genius like van Krimpen, either. As for my approach, I just try to get to a feeling of rightness. Clarity, harmony, and balance, but with a little edge of tension to keep it from being too bland and soapy. There’s no philosophy behind it, or none that I’m aware of.
Stylistic alternatives for Center typeface
UH: I’m always interested in how people approach it. Some come from a very conceptual place like Dries that I spoke to recently — and some let the craft guide them. It’s such an interesting discipline from that aspect, having this singular medium but such a variety of expression and approaches.
Tell me a bit about Signal? How long have you run it?
MP: I started Signal around 2011 or so. Like I said, I’ve always drawn letters, but I began getting serious around then and finally managed to publish my first typeface, Spinoza, with FontFont. It was well received, and it gave me the idea that type design was something I could actually do.
UH: So, you tested the waters first and then set out on your own? What advice do you have for other “aspiring foundry owners”? What should they be prepared for?
I think the demand for typefaces is greater than it’s ever been, and the demand for custom typefaces is growing even faster than that.
MP: When it comes to running a foundry, I’m at the beginning of the journey. I’m in no position to give advice.
A selection of Vibro ligatures
I will say that the type world is incredibly competitive right now, and you’d better be fully committed if you want in. I think the demand for typefaces is greater than it’s ever been, and the demand for custom typefaces is growing even faster than that. But there’s also a lot of people entering the field. Programs like KABK, Reading and Type@Cooper are producing all these highly skilled young people, and a bunch of them are starting their own foundries. I think there’s something like 1200 independent foundries out there, and the number is growing by the week. And it’s genuinely great to see so much talent and focus out there, and so many good new faces.
However, most of these foundries are making very little money. It’s hard to establish yourself when there’s such a crowd of other people, some doing very fine work. There are other pressures, too: the threat of Spotify-style subscription services from huge corporations, and the trend on big resellers for 90% discounts. All of this is pushing prices, and the perceived value of a typeface, lower for many people.
Making typefaces is only half the job. The work of marketing is the other half, and without giving that your full intensity, your work just sits on a server somewhere.
UH: How do you deal with all of this?
MP: You just do the best work you can, and then do your best to let people know about it. Making typefaces is only half the job. The work of marketing is the other half, and without giving that your full intensity, your work just sits on a server somewhere. You have to sell and just keep selling. But you’ve got to do everything with conviction. If you half-ass it, there’s no point. And I suspect, in the long run, it’s the work done with conviction that people respond to.
But I do feel incredibly lucky to being able to spend my time doing something I actually can do with full conviction. And one of the things about setting up your own foundry, creating a brand for it, writing about the work, designing the website, is that it’s a chance to focus on why the hell you’re doing this in the first place. It’s very clarifying, and very satisfying when at the end of the process — and the website was a pretty long process — you can look at it, out in the world, and think: Ah. Yes, that’s what I meant. That’s why I’m doing this. And that keeps you pointed in the right direction.
UH: Fantastic Max. Personally I believe that for a designer type design carries it’s own reward solely through the process—and it’s inspiring to talk to people who are truly passionate about it.
I think we have almost come to the end of out time, but since we are on the subject of passion anyway, I just want to return to the Dublin design scene which I gather is really booming at the moment?
MP: Very much so. There’s so much strong work coming out at the moment, and I keep meeting young people fresh out of school who are already well along their own paths. You can get a good bird’s-eye view of current Irish graphic design at 100archive.com, which showcases some of the best work being done here, and provides a forum for writing about the profession.
I suspect that design education’s very good here, and that a lot of this energy comes from people like Clare Bell at DIT, David Smith at IADT, and Conor Clarke at NCAD. Whatever the reason, there’s a lot of first-rate studios in Dublin now, a lot of new initiatives, and a lot of opportunities for collaboration. And that makes it a good place for Signal.
Ulrik Hogrebe: The role of formal education in design communities is always really interesting to me, and one I often fear is undervalued. I’d be interested in knowing what sets Dublin apart and how education is helping drive the community. That sounds like an interview for another day though.
Max, it’s been a pleasure. I just want to thank you and wish you the best of luck in the future. I personally think the new website is beautiful and the releases are exciting and look great.Your Bitcoin transactions The Ultimate Bitcoin mixer made truly anonymous. with an advanced technology. Mix coins
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Hero MemberActivity: 686Merit: 500always the student, never the master. Re: The MemoryCoin 2.0 BlockChain is Hiring December 14, 2013, 10:50:18 AM #7
Good luck with it FreeTrade. let me know if you get it up and running again. My negative trust rating is reflective of a personal vendetta by someone on default trust.
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Please vote: MVTEcmo2iUnZn5cHJ7SKrhLMwi7EGPfgnq
I'd like to apply for CMO - Chief Marketing Officer
Great project! I'd like to help. I'm a web developer with 10+ years of experience. My wife is a web designer, which helps:) I think I can build a great website for MemoryCoin 2.0 and handle marketing and communication.I'm maintaining MemoryCoin 2.0 site. The goal is to have all the latest information about the coin in one place.I helped out with some CNO responsibilities before fully dedicated person was elected.Now I do marketing, mostly related to resolving #1 issue the coin is facing at the moment.And I help users. Common issues and solutions are usually posted on the site.Please vote:I'd like to apply for CMO - Chief Marketing Officer How I've earned 0.088 BTC for making few forum posts on LetsTalkBitcoin
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belltown
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still can't change my profile pic
Sr. MemberActivity: 301Merit: 250still can't change my profile pic Re: The MemoryCoin 2.0 BlockChain is Hiring December 14, 2013, 06:01:46 PM
Last edit: December 14, 2013, 10:58:20 PM by belltown #9 I've registered memorycoin.info and will have initial Memory Coin 2.0 website up and running in 24hrs.
FreeTrade, if you like the new website will you be able to point memorycoin.org to it? Thanks! How I've earned 0.088 BTC for making few forum posts on LetsTalkBitcoin
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belltown
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Activity: 301
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still can't change my profile pic
Sr. MemberActivity: 301Merit: 250still can't change my profile pic Re: The MemoryCoin 2.0 BlockChain is Hiring December 14, 2013, 10:56:53 PM #12 Initial version of MemoryCoin 2.0 site is live. For now everything is super simple, more development will be done in the next few days.
Please support development by voting your coins for MVTEcmo2iUnZn5cHJ7SKrhLMwi7EGPfgnq How I've earned 0.088 BTC for making few forum posts on LetsTalkBitcoin
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belltown
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Activity: 301
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still can't change my profile pic
Sr. MemberActivity: 301Merit: 250still can't change my profile pic Re: The MemoryCoin 2.0 BlockChain is Hiring December 15, 2013, 02:01:29 AM
Last edit: December 24, 2013, 06:43:28 PM by belltown #13 I might also try to help out with CNO and see how it goes for me. But my main focus will be on website and marketing.
You can vote MVTEcnoNKMCJKUsBVVy1xyUiDAhtcJWgWP
I've setup 3 high performance VPS nodes in each geo region so people can connect to the network easier
US: 138.91.140.219
EU: 168.63.28.249
Asia: 137.116.168.89
I'd like to withdraw my candidacy from CNO position. FaSan is already doing a good job as CNO and I'd like to focus my time on CMO responsibilities: web site and marketing.
How I've earned 0.088 BTC for making few forum posts on LetsTalkBitcoin
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r3wt
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always the student, never the master.
Hero MemberActivity: 686Merit: 500always the student, never the master. Re: The MemoryCoin 2.0 BlockChain is Hiring December 15, 2013, 02:04:36 AM #14 i respectfully decline, citing lack of technical qualifications and free time to be an adequate member. I wish memorycoin the best and will support it 100 percent should the ethics remain the same of the project. My negative trust rating is reflective of a personal vendetta by someone on default trust.
sang
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Sr. MemberActivity: 278Merit: 250 Re: The MemoryCoin 2.0 BlockChain is Hiring December 15, 2013, 12:02:51 PM
Last edit: December 16, 2013, 01:19:23 AM by sang #15 I would like to apply for the CTO position.
You may vote for me at this address (please send 1 Satoshi [0.00000001]): MVTEctoABGSd5gammsJN7sgTdiVRMC5WkW
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My Background:
I'm currently in my Senior year at University of Nevada in the Computer Science Program. I have been a "technophile" since I built my first PC at age 11 and have a great deal of experience in information systems of all kinds as well as managing small teams of intelligent individuals. In the past several years I have worked very closely with a team that uses SCRUM to develop enterprise inventory management software. I have been involved heavily in Bitcoin and altcoins since May 2011 when I first started mining. I believe the DAC model that Invictus and others are working toward may very well be the future of our world's economy and I would love to be involved in building the foundations of that system.
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Rough thoughts on a Plan of Attack:
1) Open communication channels with entire team. This involves decided on and implementation a workspace and ways to adhoc communicate (Skype/Lync/Sharepoint/Basecamp/whatever)
2) Assess development talent. This involves learning the strengths and weaknesses of each developer on the team. Ongoing as devs are added.
3) Work with team to decide on best source management. Most likely git but we will need some form of scrum-style ticket/backlog system. I am partial to TFS server (esp since the new version works exactly like Git but with some benefits) but I am open to whatever the team is most comfortable with.
4) Decide on feature roadmap and work to build out the backlog and buglog.
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-Ross (You may also reach me on Freenode as Sangheili)
barwizi
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LegendaryActivity: 882Merit: 1000 Re: The MemoryCoin 2.0 BlockChain is Hiring December 15, 2013, 01:24:45 PM #16 As CSO I'll be the Index to the coin guiding users through the technical details. in some cases i will be testing new ideas, miners and operating systems to in order to provide the best advice for users. By ensuring round the clock availability, some queries can be answered almost instantly. For a more personal touch users will be required to join a skype group dedicated to assisting and advising.A north Queensland dairy family have embraced raw cow's milk and are selling it as a beauty product as a way to overcome low milk prices.
Eungella dairy farmers Dale and Paul Fortescue say they've been struggling with low milk prices offered by their milk processor and had no option other than diversify.
In Queensland, all milk sold for human consumption, except goats milk, must be pasteurised - a heating process which kills harmful bacteria.
But the Fortescue's have found a loophole in the law, which doesn't prevent the sale of raw milk for a cosmetic reason.
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"Back in Egyptian times Cleopatra used to bathe in milk," Mrs Fortescue said.
The couple still supply their milk to be processed for drinking to Parmalat, but have set up a different business arm for their raw milk venture.
Mrs Fortescue says they are finally getting a sustainable price for their product, with the bath milk retailing around $4.60 for two litres.
"We have been forced to go down this avenue, it's a case of diversify or go bust basically," she said.
"It costs about 65 cents to produce a litre of milk. At the moment, the way the industry has gone, we were getting minus nine cents a litre, so if anyone can do their sums, eventually you run out of reserves.
"It's through the grace of God that we've been able to stay this long, up until this point," she said.
The bath milk is being sold locally around Eungella, throughout the Pioneer Valley and to stores in the nearest major city, Mackay.
The change in direction has given Mr Fortescue new found enthusiasm in his work.
"Before you'd get up and you'd wonder 'why are you doing all this, we're just going bust'
"With this side venture it gives you hope at the end of the tunnel," he said.
For Mrs Fortescue the profit means the business can make bill repayments on time.
"It's an uncomfortable situation to be in when you know you can't pay your bills off straight away. It would be nice to have your bills cleared up every month on the dot."
As to the reality of bathing in milk, Mr Fortescue says it is part of his beauty regime.
"I bathe in it all the time, look at my complexion!"Clamcase's range of iPad cases add laptop functionality to your tablet with a built-in keyboard and stand, and with the upcoming Clambook the company is hoping to do the same thing for your smartphone. Only instead of a case, the Clambook is essentially a laptop that's powered by your phone. It features an aluminum shell, widescreen display, 3D Cinema Sound, and full keyboard (complete with dedicated Android keys), but it doesn't come to life until it's connected to your phone via an MHL cable, acting as a second screen to display all of your apps, games, and media.
It works with both Android devices and the iPhone, and for Ice Cream Sandwich phones the built-in trackpad supports scrolling, pinching, zooming, and swiping with two fingers. It's also compatible with Motorola's Webtop on supported phones. Unfortunately, while this all sounds pretty great, for now the product only exists as some renders on Clamcase's site — though the company says that the real thing will be available this holiday season for an unknown price.In just a few short years, growing and eating sustainable food has moved from a fringe idea into the mainstream. With a major boost from First Lady Michelle Obama’s garden, nutritionists, community non-profits, environmentalists, and food producers and suppliers have rallied around this idea. During the Obama administration, the U.S. government embraced sustainable food, including setting a target to halve food waste by 2030. Although we don’t yet know what the next administration will do, food choices largely rest with individuals, families, businesses and city leaders.
Embracing a sustainable food system can bring a host of benefits, including getting more food to those who need it, while lowering household bills and lowering emissions that drive climate change.
By 2050, the world will need to feed more than two billion additional people. Food production and consumption is already responsible for 9 percent of emissions in the United States and the agriculture sector accounts for 24 percent globally. Agriculture accounts for 70 percent of freshwater withdrawn from rivers, lakes and aquifers, and agriculture remains the leading driver of tropical deforestation today.
Embracing a sustainable food system can bring a host of benefits, including getting more food to those who need it.
Shockingly, a third of the food we produce is wasted, costing $940 billion per year. In a world where so many lack enough food to eat, that is morally unacceptable, not to mention economically wasteful and environmentally destructive.
Fortunately, awareness of the importance of sustainable food is on the rise. Cities like New York and Portland are setting their own targets, and restaurants and dining halls are eliminating food waste from their operations. A group of 40 executives across government, business, international organizations, research institutions and civil society have come together to form the Champions 12.3 coalition, mobilizing progress toward the global goal of cutting food loss and waste in half by 2030.
Moving toward a sustainable food future will require both a top-down and bottom-up approach, and you can join in this increasingly popular kitchen-table topic.
You won’t be alone. This week, a new episode of the National Geographic series Years of Living Dangerously focuses on the history of clear cutting trees in the Amazon to create grazing land for cattle. I was fortunate to appear in the episode alongside one of Brazil’s most popular icons, Gisele Bündchen. When I met her, Gisele had just returned from Brazil and spoke eloquently about her own journey to reduce her family’s beef consumption. At WRI, we found that producing meat and dairy makes up almost 85 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions from the American diet, with nearly half of those diet-related emissions from beef alone. Shifting to a more plant-based diet can have a big impact.
Attention to how people’s diets impact the environment and climate is gaining prominence. Business leaders are examining what food they supply, as more than three-quarters of Americans cite sustainability as a factor in food purchasing. Financiers are also concerned about investing heavily in animal-based food production, with 40 large institutional investors worth more than $1.25 trillion now encouraging companies to diversify into plant-based food markets.
Tech-savvy food entrepreneurs are introducing new solutions, such as plant-based burgers that look, smell and taste like beef. Meanwhile, agricultural researchers are responding by developing cattle feed mixes and grass strains that lower methane emissions from livestock digestive processes. National governments are also making changes. In China, for example, the government recently issued dietary guidance, urging the public to eat less meat for health reasons. And several other countries — including Brazil, Germany, Qatar and Sweden — include not only health but also sustainability considerations in their national dietary guidelines. Given that global demand for meat and dairy is projected to increase by 80 percent between 2008 and 2050, efforts to reduce that demand is crucial to protect forests and slow climate change.Wynn Resorts Wednesday morning tried to make a $1 million payment owed to the city of Boston as compensation for the company’s Everett casino, but ended up delivering the check to the state gambling commission instead to hold in escrow after the city refused to accept it, the company said in a statement.
Wynn sent the payment two days after Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh’s administration sued the gambling commission in an effort to block Wynn’s casino project, planned for former industrial land on the Mystic River in Everett, which borders Boston’s Charlestown neighborhood.
The payment is part of a compensation package imposed on Wynn in September by the commission, after the company and the city were unable to negotiate an agreement and Walsh refused to participate in the commission’s arbitration procedures.
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The full compensation package is worth $56 million, and could be higher if traffic to the resort exceeds projections.
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The $1 million upfront payment, according to the casino’s licensing agreement, is to be used for Charlestown’s non-profit agencies, parks, after-school activities, senior programs, job training and cultural programs; staffing and public safety initiatives related to increased traffic; and improvements to facilitate water transportation in Boston Harbor, Wynn said.
“We believe the $56 million package for Boston, which is primarily dedicated to Charlestown traffic solutions, will be critical in solving the decades-long problems of Sullivan Square,” said Robert DeSalvio, president of Wynn Everett, in the statement. “The package is comprehensive in that it also includes vendor and employee commitments consistent with our other [compensation agreements]. This initial payment, so closely following the acquisition of our land parcel, is still another step that keeps us on track to make our 5-star resort a reality.”
Wynn also announced Monday it had closed on the 33-acre parcel in Everett where the resort will be built.Today Stack Exchange is pleased to announce that we have raised $40 million, mostly from Andreessen Horowitz.
Everybody wants to know what we’re going to do with all that money. First of all, of course we’re going to gold-plate the Aeron chairs in the office. Then we’re going to upgrade the game room, and we’re already sending lox platters to our highest-rep users.
But I’ll get into that in a minute. First, let me catch everyone up on what’s happening at Stack Exchange.
In 2008, Jeff Atwood and I set out to fix a problem for programmers. At the time, getting answers to programming questions online was super annoying. The answers that we needed were hidden behind paywalls, or buried in thousands of pages of stale forums.
So we built Stack Overflow with a single-minded, compulsive, fanatical obsession with serving programmers with a better Q&A site.
Everything about how Stack Overflow works today was designed to make programmers’ jobs easier. We let members vote up answers, so we can show you the best answer first. We don’t allow opinionated questions, because they descend into flame wars that don’t help people who need an answer right now. We have scrupulously avoided any commercialization of our editorial content, because we want to have a site that programmers can trust.
Heck, we don’t even allow animated ads, even though they are totally standard on every other site on the Internet, because it would be disrespectful to programmers to strain their delicate eyes with a dancing monkey, and we can’t serve them 100% if we are distracting them with a monkey. That would only be serving them 98%. And we’re OBSESSED, so 98% is like, we might as well close this all down and go drive taxis in Las Vegas.
Anyway, it worked! Entirely thanks to you. An insane number of developers stepped up to pass on their knowledge and help others. Stack Overflow quickly grew into the largest, most trusted repository of programming knowledge in the world.
Quickly, Jeff and I discovered that serving programmers required more than just code-related questions, so we built Server Fault and Super User. And when that still didn’t satisfy your needs, we set up Stack Exchange so the community could create sites on new topics. Now when a programmer has to set up a server, or a PC, or a database, or Ubuntu, or an iPhone, they have a place to go to ask those questions that are full of the people who can actually help them do it.
But you know how programmers are. They “have babies.” Or “take pictures of babies.” So our users started building Stack Exchange sites on unrelated topics, like parenting and photography, because the programmers we were serving expected—nay, demanded!—a place as awesome as Stack Overflow to ask about baby feeding schedules and f-stops and whatnot.
And we did such a good job of serving programmers that a few smart non-programmers looked at us and said, “Behold! I want that!” and we thought, hey! What works for developers should work for a lot of other people, too, as long as they’re willing to think like developers, which is the best way to think. So, we decided that anybody who wants to get with the program is welcome to join in our plan. And these sites serve their own communities of, you know, bicycle mechanics, or what have you, and make the world safer for the Programmer Way Of Thinking and thus serve programmers by serving bicycle mechanics.
In the five years since then, our users have built 133 communities. Stack Overflow is still the biggest. It reminds me of those medieval maps of the ancient world. The kind that shows a big bustling city (Jerusalem) smack dab in the middle, with a few smaller settlements around the periphery. (Please imagine Gregorian chamber music).
Stack Overflow is the big city in the middle. Because the programmer-city worked so well, people wanted to ask questions about other subjects, so we let them build other Q&A villages in the catchment area of the programmer-city. Some of these Q&A villages became cities of their own. The math cities barely even have any programmers and they speak their own weird language. They are math-Jerusalem. They makes us very proud. Even though they don’t directly serve programmers, we love them and they bring a little tear to our eyes, like the other little villages, and they’re certainly making the Internet—and the world—better, so we’re devoted to them.
One of these days some of those villages will be big cities, so we’re committed to keeping them clean, and pulling the weeds, and helping them grow.
But let’s go back to programmer Jerusalem, which—as you might expect—is full of devs milling about, building the ENTIRE FUTURE of the HUMAN RACE, because, after all, software is eating the world and writing software is just writing a script for how the future will play out.
So given the importance of software and programmers, you might think they all had wonderful, satisfying jobs that they love.
But sadly, we saw that was not universal. Programmers often have crappy jobs, and their bosses often poke them with sharp sticks. They are underpaid, and they aren’t learning things, and they are sometimes overqualified, and sometimes underqualified. So we decided we could actually make all the programmers happier if we could move them into better jobs.
That’s why we built Stack Overflow Careers. This was the first site that was built for developers, not recruiters. We banned the scourge of contingency recruiters (even if they have big bank accounts and are just LINING UP at the Zion Gate trying to get into our city to feed on programmer meat, but, to hell with them). We are SERVING PROGRAMMERS, not spammers. Bye Felicia.
Which brings us to 2015.
The sites are still growing like crazy. By our measurements, the Stack Exchange network is already in the top 50 of all US websites, ranked by number of unique visitors, with traffic still growing at 25% annually. The company itself has passed 200 employees worldwide, with big plush offices in Denver, New York, and London, and dozens of amazing people who work from the comfort of their own homes. (By the way, if 200 people seems like a lot, keep in mind that more than half of them are working on Stack Overflow Careers).
We could just slow down our insane hiring pace and get profitable right now, but it would mean foregoing some of the investments that let us help more developers. To be honest, we literally can’t keep up with the features we want to build for our users. The code is not done yet—we’re dedicating a lot of resources to the core Q&A engine. This year we’ll work on improving the experience for both new users and highly experienced users.
And let’s not forget Stack Overflow Careers. I believe it is, bar-none, the single best job board for developer candidates, which should automatically make it the best place for employers to find developer talent. There’s a LOT more to be done to serve developers here and we’re just getting warmed up.
So that’s why we took this new investment of $40m.
We’re ecstatic to have Andreessen Horowitz on board. The partners there believe in our idea of programmers taking over (it was Marc Andreessen who coined the phrase “Software is eating the world”). Chris Dixon has been a personal investor in the company since the beginning and has always known we’d be the obvious winner in the Q&A category, and will be joining our board of directors as an observer.
This is not the first time we’ve raised money; we’re proud to have previously taken investments from Union Square Ventures, Index Ventures, Spark Capital, and Bezos Expeditions. We only |
she learns there are perhaps some more sinister prejudices at play against his people. She leaves her room and talks to some of the facility's workers, who all have something shady about them, save for the head of the facility, a kind, older gentleman who seems unaware of any malicious activities happening within his facility's walls. One worker even straps Kate down and interrogates her using a lie-detector.
Though the game was still very much a work-in-progress with placeholder voice acting, the visuals were impressive. The character models and environments were detailed, and the contrast in the world gave it a distinct beauty. As you open drawers, you can even interact with items individually and move them within the drawer independently – a step above what many adventure games do in simply allowing you to highlight an object and examine it.
As the demo progressed, I saw conversation trees that can affect details in the story, and environmental puzzles like an electrical box that required you to find a knife to pop open the cover before you hot-wired it to make the device work. One puzzle that looked particularly fun came when we attempted to fit a Kraken-shaped key into a corresponding keyhole. In order to get it to work, we needed to rotate each of the tentacles individually to match the silhouette portrayed by the keyhole.
As Kate finally left through the facility's doors, she was thwarted by a locked gate. Someone was clearly trying to keep Kate within those walls. The demo ended with another puzzle involving opening a door which led to a sewer system that allowed Kate to stealthily escape. Though my demo took place entirely inside the walls of the facility, Syberia 3 will feature many locales, cities, and outdoor areas.
For more on Syberia 3, you can listen to the developers speak about the project and see new footage of the game in the below video from the team. Syberia 3 is currently scheduled to release on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, and Mac on December 1.A recent panel discussion about alleged governmental corruption in Ukraine, organized by lobbyist and former Rep. Connie Mack, has raised questions about the appropriate uses of meeting rooms under the House speaker’s jurisdiction.
It also offers a glimpse into the often murky world of lobbying on behalf of foreign clients seeking to use the nation’s capital as a way to advance policies abroad.
Mack, a Florida Republican who did not respond to requests for comment, hosted the forum in Room HC-8 of the Capitol on Sept. 25 after Kansas GOP Rep. Ron Estes sponsored the room’s booking. Neither Estes nor his aides attended the event, spokesman Robert Kuhlman said. Longstanding guidelines for using the rooms require the member or a staff person to be there.
Ethics experts said Mack’s use of the Capitol meeting room raises concerns about whether it stayed within rules set by the speaker’s office.
“A congressperson can’t just turn over a room to a lobbyist for their purposes — the member is supposed to be reserving the room for some kind of project related to the members’ official duties,” said Craig Holman, a lobbyist with the liberal watchdog group Public Citizen. “It sounds like it did cross the line.”
AshLee Strong, a spokeswoman for Speaker Paul D. Ryan, declined to comment about the rules governing the rooms in the speaker’s jurisdiction, though the House ethics manual references the guidelines.
Estes’ office said in an emailed statement that it booked the room “as a courtesy” for Mack “to host an event on alleged corruption in Ukraine. House staff from both sides of the aisle receive these requests routinely on many diverse issues and typically approve these requests to provide opportunities for groups to meet and present viewpoints.”
“Our office policy for reserving rooms has been updated to ensure that Congressman Estes can attend events when rooms have been booked by his staff,” the statement read.
Holman said it was unlikely Estes would face any ethics trouble. As a registered lobbyist, Holman said he has also booked congressional meeting rooms to highlight recent research reports on governmental ethics and other matters.
“I always get a sponsor who is concerned about this, and usually the sponsor will show up,” he said.
Chris DeLacy, an ethics lawyer at Holland & Knight, said he advises clients on using Capitol meeting rooms where charitable and fundraising events are not allowed.
“As far as the actual content of what goes on in the room, unless you’re promoting a corporation or commercial venture, I’m not sure they would restrict what is said,” he said.
Attention from Ukraine
The panel discussion attracted media coverage in Ukraine, where officials said the event was portrayed there as a congressional hearing or congressional probe.
“It just happened to be convened in a room on Capitol Hill by an American who was once, years ago, a congressman,” said Dmytro Shymkiv, deputy head of the presidential administration of Ukraine, in a statement provided by his government’s registered foreign agents at the BGR Group. “The event was filled with falsehoods and dangerous exaggerations.”
The event featured Serhii Taruta, a member of the Ukraine Parliament, and was critical of Valeria Gontareva, the National Bank of Ukraine’s former chief. Former CIA Director James Woolsey attended, according to a Weekly Standard report.
Mack, a member of the House Foreign Affairs panel while in Congress, did not respond to questions sent to an aide, William Cardon. Another lobbyist involved in the panel, Matt Keelen of The Keelen Group, referred questions to Mack, whom he said organized the discussion.
Mack did not reference any specific client in an email invitation to the panel. But he and Keelen are registered to represent Interconnection Commerce S.A., to highlight “corruption within the National Bank of Ukraine,” according to lobbying disclosure reports filed with Congress this year. Mack’s filing for the Interconnection Commerce client lists its address in Road Town, the capital of the British Virgin Islands.
Mack disclosed that Interconnection Commerce paid his firm, Liberty International Group of Fort Myers, Florida, $60,000 in fees so far this year.
In his closing remarks at the panel discussion, Mack encouraged the U.S. government to further examine potential corruption in Ukraine, according to an audio recording of the panel.
“One thing is clear: that we the Congress of the United States, when there are taxpayer dollars at risk and there are allegations, suggestions and evidence, should investigate, and I think what you’ve heard from our two panelists today is that certainly there’s more than enough there for Treasury Department, for the United States to look into these corruption issues. If we really want to help Ukraine, then we need to be more proactive when it comes to helping [stamp] out corruption,” Mack can be heard saying on the recording.The Septemberprogramm ( German: [zɛpˈtɛmbɐpʁoˌɡʁam]) was the plan for the territorial expansion of Imperial Germany, prepared for Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg, at the beginning of World War I (1914–18). The Chancellor's private secretary, Kurt Riezler, drafted the Septemberprogramm on 9 September 1914, in the early days of the German attack in the west, when Germany expected to defeat France quickly and decisively. The extensive territorial conquests proposed in the Septemberprogramm required making vassal states of Belgium and France and seizing much of the Russian Empire. The Septemberprogramm was not effected because France withstood the initial German attack, and the war devolved into a trench-warfare stalemate, and ultimately ended in German defeat.[1]
As geopolitics, the Septemberprogramm itself is a documentary insight to Imperial Germany's war aims, and shows the true scope of German plans for territorial expansion in two directions, east and west. Historian Fritz Fischer wrote that the Septemberprogramm was based on the Lebensraum philosophy, which made territorial expansion Imperial Germany's primary motive for war.[2]Jonathan Steinberg has suggested that if the Schlieffen Plan had worked, and produced a decisive German victory, like the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, the Septemberprogramm would have been implemented, thus establishing German hegemony in Europe.[3]Is it all over but the (anti-American) shouting — and the killing? Are the exits finally coming into view?
Sometimes, in a moment, the fog lifts, the clouds shift, and you can finally see the landscape ahead with startling clarity. In Afghanistan, Washington may be reaching that moment in a state of panic, horror, and confusion. Even as an anxious U.S. commander withdrew American and NATO advisors from Afghan ministries around Kabul last weekend — approximately 300, military spokesman James Williams tells TomDispatch — the ability of American soldiers to remain on giant fortified bases eating pizza and fried chicken into the distant future is not in doubt.
No set of Taliban guerrillas, suicide bombers, or armed Afghan “allies” turning their guns on their American “brothers” can alter that — not as long as Washington is ready to bring the necessary supplies into semi-blockaded Afghanistan at staggering cost. But sometimes that’s the least of the matter, not the essence of it. So if you’re in a mood to mark your calendars, late February 2012 may be the moment when the end game for America’s second Afghan War, launched in October 2001, was initially glimpsed.
Amid the reportage about the recent explosion of Afghan anger over the torching of Korans in a burn pit at Bagram Air Base, there was a tiny news item that caught the spirit of the moment. As anti-American protests (and the deaths of protestors) mounted across Afghanistan, the German military made a sudden decision to immediately abandon a 50-man outpost in the north of the country.
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True, they had planned to leave it a few weeks later, but consider the move a tiny sign of the increasing itchiness of Washington’s NATO allies. The French have shown a similar inclination to leave town since, earlier this year, four of their troops were blown away (and 16 wounded) by an Afghan army soldier, as three others had been shot down several weeks before by another Afghan in uniform. Both the French and the Germans have also withdrawn their civilian advisors from Afghan government institutions in the wake of the latest unrest.
Now, it’s clear enough: the Europeans are ready to go. And that shouldn’t be surprising. After all, we’re talking about NATO — the North Atlantic Treaty Organization — whose soldiers found themselves in distant Afghanistan in the first place only because, since World War II, with the singular exception of French President Charles de Gaulle in the 1960s, European leaders have had a terrible time saying “no” to Washington. They still can’t quite do so, but in these last months it’s clear which way their feet are pointed.
Which makes sense. You would have to be blind not to notice that the American effort in Afghanistan is heading into the tank.
The surprising thing is only that the Obama administration, which recently began to show a certain itchiness of its own — speeding up withdrawal dates and lowering the number of forces left behind — remains remarkably mired in its growing Afghan disaster. Besieged by demonstrators there, and at home by Republican presidential hopefuls making hay out of a situation from hell, its room to maneuver in an unraveling, increasingly chaotic situation seems to grow more limited by the day.
Sensitivity Training
The Afghan War shouldn’t be the world’s most complicated subject to deal with. After all, the message is clear enough. Eleven years in, if your forces are still burning Korans in a deeply religious Muslim country, it’s way too late and you should go.
Instead, the U.S. command in Kabul and the administration back home have proceeded to tie themselves in a series of bizarre knots, issuing apologies, orders, and threats to no particular purpose as events escalated. Soon after the news of the Koran burning broke, for instance, General John R. Allen, the U.S. war commander in Afghanistan, issued orders that couldn’t have been grimmer (or more feeble) under the circumstances. Only a decade late, he directed that all U.S. military personnel in the country undergo 10 days of sensitivity “training in the proper handling of religious materials.”
Sensitivity, in case you hadn’t noticed at this late date, has not been an American strong suit there. In the headlines in the last year, for instance, were revelations about the 12-soldier “kill team” that “hunted” Afghan civilians “for sport,” murdered them, and posed for demeaning photos with their corpses. There were the four wisecracking U.S. Marines who videotaped themselves urinating on the bodies of dead Afghans — whether civilians or Taliban guerrillas is unknown — with commentary (“Have a good day, buddy… Golden — like a shower”). There was also that sniper unit proudly sporting a Nazi SS banner in another photographed incident and the U.S. combat outpost named “Aryan.” And not to leave out the allies, there were the British soldiers who were filmed “abusing” children.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to how Afghans have often experienced the American and NATO occupation of these last years. To take but one example that recently caused outrage, there were the eight shepherd boys, aged six to 18, slaughtered in a NATO air strike in Kapisa Province in northern Afghanistan (with the usual apology and forthcoming “investigation,” as well as claims, denied by Afghans who also investigated, that the boys were armed).
More generally, there are the hated night raids launched by special operations forces that break into Afghan homes, cross cultural boundaries of every sort, and sometimes leave death in their wake. Like errant American and NATO air operations, which have been commonplace in these war years, they are reportedly deeply despised by most Afghans.
All of these, in turn, have been protested again and again by Afghan President Hamid Karzai. He has regularly demanded that the U.S. military cease them (or bring them under Afghan control). Being the president of Afghanistan, however, he has limited leverage and so American officials have paid little attention to his complaints or his sense of what Afghans were willing to take.
The results are now available for all to see in an explosion of anger spreading across the country. How far this can escalate and how long it can last no one knows. But recent experience indicates that, once a population heads for the streets, anything can happen. All of this could, of course, peter out, but with more than 30 protesters already dead, it could also take on a look reminiscent of the escalating civil war in Syria — including, as has already happened on a small scale in the past, whole units of Afghan security forces defecting to the Taliban.
Unfolding events have visibly overwhelmed and even intimidated the Americans in charge. However, as religious as the country may be and holy as the Koran may be considered, what’s happened cannot be fully explained by the book burning. It is, in truth, an explosion a decade in coming.
Precursors and Omens
After the grim years of Taliban rule, when the Americans arrived in Kabul in November 2001, liberation was in the air. More than 10 years later, the mood is clearly utterly transformed and, for the first time, there are reports of “Taliban songs” being sung at demonstrations in the streets of the capital. Afghanistan is, as the New York Times reported last weekend (using language seldom seen in American newspapers) “a religious country fed up with foreigners”; or as Laura King of the Los Angeles Times put it, there is now “a visceral distaste for Western behavior and values” among significant numbers of Afghans.
Years of pent up frustration, despair, loathing, and desperation are erupting in the present protests. That this was long on its way can’t be doubted.
Among the more shocking events in the wake of the Koran burnings was the discovery in a room in the heavily guarded Afghan Interior Ministry in Kabul of the bodies of an American lieutenant colonel and major, each evidently executed with a shot in the back of the head while at work. The killer, who worked in the ministry, was evidently angered by the Koran burnings and possibly by the way the two Americans mocked Afghan protesters and the Koran itself. He escaped. The Taliban (as in all such incidents) quickly took responsibility, though it may not have been involved at all.
What clearly rattled the American command, however, and led them to withdraw hundreds of advisors from Afghan ministries around Kabul was that the two dead officers were “inside a secure room” that bars most Afghans. It was in the ministry’s command and control complex. (By the way, if you want to grasp some of the problems of the last decade just consider that the Afghan Interior Ministry includes an area open to foreigners, but not to most Afghans who work there.)
As the New York Times put it, the withdrawal of the advisors was “a clear sign of concern that the fury had reached deeply into even the Afghan security forces and ministries working most closely with the coalition.” Those two dead Americans were among four killed in these last days of chaos by Afghan “allies.” Meanwhile, the Taliban urged Afghan police and army troops, some of whom evidently need no urging, to attack U.S. military bases and American or NATO forces.
Two other U.S. troops died outside a small American base in Nangarhar Province near the Pakistani border in the midst of an Afghan demonstration in which two protestors were also killed. An Afghan soldier gunned the Americans down and then evidently escaped into the crowd of demonstrators. Such deaths, in a recent Washington Post piece, were termed “fratricide,” though that perhaps misconstrues the feelings of many Afghans, who over these last years have come to see the Americans as occupiers and possibly despoilers, but not as brothers.
Historically unprecedented in the modern era is the way, in the years leading up to this moment, Afghans in police and army uniforms have repeatedly turned their weapons on American or NATO troops training, working with, or patrolling with them. Barely more than a week ago, for instance, an Afghan policeman killed the first Albanian soldier to die in the war. Earlier in the year, there were those seven dead French troops. At least 36 U.S. and NATO troops have died in this fashion in the past year. Since 2007, there have been at least 47 such attacks. These have been regularly dismissed as “isolated incidents” of minimal significance by U.S. and NATO officials and, unbelievably enough, are still being publicly treated that way.
Yet not in Iraq, nor during the Vietnam War, nor the Korean conflict, nor even during the Philippine Insurrection at the turn of the twentieth century were there similar examples of what once would have been called “native troops” turning on those training, paying for, and employing them. You would perhaps have to go back to the Sepoy Rebellion, a revolt by Indian troops against their British officers in 1857, for anything comparable.
In April 2011, in the most devastating of these incidents, an Afghan air force colonel murdered nine U.S. trainers in a heavily guarded area of Kabul International Airport. He was reportedly angry at Americans generally and evidently not connected to the Taliban. And consider this an omen of things to come: his funeral in Kabul was openly attended by 1,500 mourners.
Put in the most practical terms, the Bush and now Obama administrations have been paying for and training an Afghan security force numbering in the hundreds of thousands — to the tune of billions dollars annually ($11 billion last year alone). They are the ones to whom the American war is to be “handed over” as U.S. forces are drawn down. Now, thanks either to Taliban infiltration, rising anger, or some combination of the two, it’s clear that any American soldier who approaches a member of the Afghan security forces to “hand over” anything takes his life in his hands. No war can be fought under such circumstances for very long.
Apologies, Pleas, and Threats
So don’t say there was no warning, or that Obama’s top officials shouldn’t have been prepared for the present unraveling. But when it came, the administration and the military were caught desperately off guard and painfully flatfooted.
In fact, through repeated missteps and an inability to effectively deal with the fallout from the Koran-burning incident, Washington now finds itself trapped in a labyrinth of investigations, apologies, pleas, and threats. Events have all but overwhelmed the administration’s ability to conduct an effective foreign policy. Think of it instead as a form of diplomatic pinball in which U.S. officials and commanders bounce from crisis to crisis with a limited arsenal of options and a toxic brew of foreign and domestic political pressures at play.
How did the pace get quite so dizzying? Let’s start with those dead Afghan shepherd boys. On February 15th, the U.S.-led International Security Force (ISAF) “extended its deep regret to the families and loved ones of several Afghan youths who died during an air engagement in Kapisa province Feb 8.” According to an official press release, ISAF insisted, as in so many previous incidents, that it was “taking appropriate action to ascertain the facts, and prevent similar occurrences in the future.”
The results of the investigation were still pending five days later when Americans in uniform were spotted by Afghan workers tossing those Korans into that burn pit at Bagram Air Base. The Afghans rescued several and smuggled them — burnt pages and all — off base, sparking national outrage. Almost immediately, the next act of contrition came forth. “On behalf of the entire International Security Assistance Force, I extend my sincerest apologies to the people of Afghanistan,” General Allen announced the following day. At the same time, in a classic case of too-little, too-late, he issued that directive for training in “the proper handling of religious materials.”
That day, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney was on the same page, telling reporters that the burning of the Muslim holy books was “deeply unfortunate,” but not indicative of the Americans’ feelings toward the religious beliefs of the Afghan people. “Our military leaders have apologized… for these unintentional actions, and ISAF is undertaking an investigation to understand what happened and to ensure that steps are taken so that incidents like this do not happen again.”
On February 22nd, an investigation of the Koran burnings by a joint ISAF-Afghan government team commenced. “The purpose of the investigation is to discover the truth surrounding the events which resulted in this incident,” Allen said. “We are determined to ascertain the facts, and take all actions necessary to ensure this never happens again.”
The next day, as Afghan streets exploded in anger, Allen called on “everyone throughout the country — ISAF members and Afghans — to exercise patience and restraint as we continue to gather the facts surrounding Monday night’s incident.”
That very same day, Allen’s commander-in-chief sent a letter to Afghan President Hamid Karzai that included an apology, expressing “deep regret for the reported incident.” “The error was inadvertent,’’ President Obama wrote. “I assure you that we will take the appropriate steps to avoid any recurrence, to include holding accountable those responsible.’’
Obama’s letter drew instant fire from Republican presidential candidates, most forcefully former House speaker Newt Gingrich, who called it an “outrage” and demanded instead that President Karzai issue an apology for the two Americans shot down by an Afghan soldier. (Otherwise, he added, “we should say goodbye and good luck.”)
Translated into Washingtonese, the situation now looked like this: a Democratic president on the campaign trail in an election year who apologizes to a foreign country has a distinct problem. Two foreign countries? Forget it.
As a result, efforts to mend crucial, if rocky, relations with Pakistan were thrown into chaos. Because of cross-border U.S. air strikes in November which killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, ties between the two countries were already deeply frayed and Pakistan was still blocking critical resupply routes for the war in Afghanistan. With American war efforts suffering for it and resupply costs sky-high, the U.S. government had put together a well-choreographed plan to smooth the waters.
General Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was to issue a formal apology to Pakistan’s army chief. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would then follow up with a similar apology to her Pakistani counterpart.
Fearing further Republican backlash, however, the Obama administration quickly altered its timetable, putting off the apology for at least several more weeks, effectively telling the Pakistanis that any regrets over the killing of their troops would have to wait for a time more convenient to the U.S. election cycle.
Trading apologies to Afghans for those to Pakistanis, however, turned out to mean little on the streets of Afghanistan, where even in non-Taliban areas of the country, chants of “Death to America!” were becoming commonplace. “Just by saying ‘I am sorry,’ nothing can be solved,” protester Wali Mohammed told the New York Times. “We want an open trial for those infidels who have burned our Holy Koran.”
And his response was subdued compared to that of Mohammed Anwar, an officer with the U.S.-allied Afghan police. “I will take revenge from the infidels for what they did to our Holy Koran, and I will kill them whenever I get the chance,” he said. “I don’t care about the job I have.”
A day later, when Anwar’s words were put into action by someone who undoubtedly had similar feelings, General Allen announced yet another investigation, this time with tough talk, not apologies, following. “I condemn today’s attack at the Afghan Ministry of Interior that killed two of our coalition officers, and my thoughts and prayers are with the families and loved ones of the brave individuals lost today,” he said in a statement provided to TomDispatch by ISAF. “We are investigating the crime and will pursue all leads to find the person responsible for this attack. The perpetrator of this attack is a coward whose actions will not go unanswered.”
Allen also took the unprecedented step of severing key points of contact with America’s Afghan allies. “For obvious force protection reasons, I have also taken immediate measures to recall all other ISAF personnel working in ministries in and around Kabul.”
Unable to reboot relations with allies in Islamabad due to the unrest in Afghanistan (which was, in fact, already migrating across the border), the U.S. now found itself partially severing ties with its “partners” in Kabul as well. Meanwhile, back home, Gingrich and others raised the possibility of severing ties with President Karzai himself. In other words, the heat was rising in both the White House and the Afghan presidential palace, while any hope of controlling events elsewhere in either country was threatening to disappear.
As yet, the U.S. military has not taken the next logical step: barring whole categories of Afghans from American bases. “There are currently no discussions ongoing about limiting access to ISAF bases to our Afghan partners,” an ISAF spokesperson assured TomDispatch, but if the situation worsens, expect such discussions to commence.
The Beginning of the End?
As the Koran burning scandal unfolded, TomDispatch spoke to Raymond F. Chandler III, the Sergeant Major of the U.S. Army, the most senior enlisted member of that service. “Are there times that things happen that don’t go exactly the way we want or that people act in an unprofessional manner? Absolutely. It’s unfortunate,” he said. “We have a process in place to ensure that when those things don’t happen we conduct an investigation and hold people accountable.”
In Afghan eyes over the last decade, however, it’s accountability that has been sorely lacking, which is why many now in the streets are demanding not just apologies, but a local trial and the death penalty for the Koran burners. Although ISAF’s investigation is ongoing, its statements already indicate that it has concluded the book burnings were accidental and unintentional. This ensures one thing: those at fault, whom no American administration could ever afford to turn over to Afghans for trial anyway, will receive, at best, a slap on the wrist — and many Afghans will be further outraged.
In other words, twist and turn as they might, issue what statements they will, the Americans are now remarkably powerless in the Afghan context to stop the unraveling. Quite the opposite: their actions are guaranteed to ensure further anger among their Afghan “allies.”
Chandler, who was in Afghanistan last year and is slated to return in the coming months, said that he believed the United States was winning there, albeit with caveats. “Again, there are areas in Afghanistan where we have been less successful than others, but each one of those provinces, each one of those districts has their own set of conditions tied with the Afghan people, the Afghan government’s criteria for transition to the Afghan army and the Afghan national police, the Afghan defense forces, and we’re committed to that.” He added that the Americans serving there were “doing absolutely the best possible under the conditions and the environment.”
It turns out, however, that in Afghanistan today the “best” has not been sufficient. With even some members of the Afghan parliament now calling for jihad against Washington and its coalition allies, radical change is in the air. The American position is visibly crumbling. “Winning” is a distant, long-faded fantasy, defeat a rising reality.
Despite its massive firepower and staggering base structure in Afghanistan, actual power is visibly slipping away from the United States. American officials are already talking about not panicking (which indicates that panic is indeed in the air). And in an election year, with the Obama administration’s options desperately limited and what goals it had fast disappearing, it can only brace itself and hope to limp through until November 2012.
The end game in Afghanistan has, it seems, come into view, and after all these fruitless, bloody years, it couldn’t be sadder. Saddest of all, so much of the blood spilled has been for purposes, if they ever made any sense, that have long since disappeared into the fog of history.
Tom Engelhardt, co-founder of the American Empire Project and the author of The American Way of War: How Bush’s Wars Became Obama’s as well as The End of Victory Culture, runs the Nation Institute’s TomDispatch.com. His latest book, The United States of Fear (Haymarket Books), has just been published.
Nick Turse is associate editor of TomDispatch.com. An award-winning journalist, his work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the Nation, and regularly at TomDispatch. His new TomDispatch series on the changing face of American empire is being underwritten by Lannan Foundation.
Copyright 2012 Tom Engelhardt and Nick TurseHis name is Nissim – which means miracles in Hebrew. An apt description of his life.
Seward Park is a neighborhood in southeast Seattle. Visit if you’re looking for Seattle’s orthodox Jews. Most of them live there. The neighborhood is chockfull of synagogues – including the oldest synagogue in Washington State – and other staples of Jewish life. At least it’s that way until you get to Rainier Avenue. Cross Rainier and you’re in the hood: drugs, poverty, crime, all the things you expect to find in America’s inner cities.
Nissim Black (formerly Damian Black and known in the rap world as D.Black) grew up in Seward Park a few blocks from Rainier Avenue. He lived close enough to the Jewish community to play basketball in a lot adjacent to one of the synagogues. But that was about it. Nissim wasn’t Jewish – not yet – and his world and his friends were on the other side of Rainier Avenue.
And Nissim – as his Hebrew name implies – believes in miracles.
As D.Black, Nissim was a rap artist on the move. His second release, Ali ‘Yah, sat for five weeks at number four on the CMJ hip hop charts. He toured the U.S. and was featured at many of the top festivals (SXSW, Capitol Hill Block Party, etc, etc). His video “Yesterday” was in regular rotation on MTV.
Not bad.
Music was in his blood. His father is Captain Crunch from the legendary Emerald Street Boys – think super old-school hip-hop a la “Rapper’s Delight” – and his mother was in the rap world as well. His mentor, Vitamin D – DJ, producer, MC, and often hailed as the foundation of Seattle hip hop – took him under his wing at an early age, showed him the ropes, and began recording him at age 13. He also benefited from an early association with hip-hop super-producer Jake One.
Miraculous? Probably not. Fortunate, yes. But sometimes good fortune comes at a price.
Try becoming king-of-the-hip-hop-hill when you’re surrounded by drug users.
Nissim’s home was a mess. His parents used drugs and sold drugs. Not an easy place to grow up – try becoming king-of-the-hip-hop-hill when you’re surrounded by drug users. Their home was like Grand Central Station for dealers and users. And drugs take their toll on families.
Nissim’s father was the first to go. His mother left him when Nissim was two. His stepfather wasn’t much better. It was a bad scene; when the dealers weren’t interested the cops were. The FBI raided their home in 1995 – Nissim was seven at the time – their house was battle-rammed; live firearms, AK-47s, his mother forcibly arrested. Imagine going through that at seven. (Nissim’s mother died of an overdose when he was 19. She was 37.)
God Like
Drugs are an ugly glow from the wrong side of Rainier Avenue. They fit the stereotype. Drugs and a challenging childhood make it difficult to see miracles.
But jealous homeboy-wannabe-nobodies make it impossible.
Nissim’s relationship with Jake One enabled him to get a song included on White Van Music, a killer compilation of hip-hop heavies featuring artists that Jake One produced. Nissim was one of three Seattle-area rappers featured on the album. When White Van Music hit, Nissim, or rather D.Black, was a nobody. But “God Like” – Nissim’s D.Black feature on the album – changed that. “God Like” was big. It didn’t make D.Black a household name, but it put him on the map. And it made him a somebody in Seattle. Being a somebody in a world of nobodies is cool, except that some of the nobodies want to be somebody, too. And those nobodies will put you down and start trouble.
Another local rapper wanted attention. He needed someone to dis – as in disrespect – and D.Black fit the bill. D.Black was on the way up: insult him, provoke a response, and ride the wave up with him. The other rapper talked trash. Word got out.
So what?
An insult – especially from a nobody – means nothing in the real world, but not on the street. On the street you have to say something and put an end to the garbage, otherwise you are dissed. And dissed is bad. D.Black and friends found the rapper, threw a few punches, told him to quit it, and end of story.
Except it wasn’t the end of the story. Now the other rapper was dissed and that didn’t sit well with his people. So they started talking. And D.Black’s people started talking. And it escalated. And soon a friend of D.Black opened fire in a nightclub and the cops were called and the friend went to jail and D.Black was a wanted man.
So much for a promising music career.
But fear – fear of the cops, fear of jail – is a powerful motivator. And fear can sometimes penetrate the pettiness of the street. The other rapper called Nissim and they worked it out. Peace. The cops had their man and so they left Nissim and the rapper and everyone else alone. End of story. It was a close call and it got Nissim thinking. Maybe things didn’t have to be this way.
And maybe you can believe in miracles.
Islam, Christianity or Judaism?
Nissim thought a lot about miracles and faith and religion and God. It was all around him. It wasn’t constant in his life, but it was there.
If anyone asked, Islam was his religion.
When he was seven his grandfather came to live with him. His grandfather was a Muslim and taught him the Koran, how to make blessings in Arabic, and the salat (Islamic ritual prayer performed five times a day). But his grandfather wasn’t destined to be a symbol of stability in his life. He was out on parole and in 1996 violated the terms of parole and was sent back to jail. Nissim didn’t know enough – and he was too young – to be an observant Muslim. But if anyone asked, Islam was his religion.
Enough people asked about his religion to give him a reputation as the local Muslim. It was enough of a reputation that a Seattle-based evangelical group recruited him – now 13 – for their summer camp. He loved that camp. He loved being out of the city and away from the drugs and the crime. It was a breath of fresh air. He was inspired and on a high and by the end of the summer a convert to Christianity.
Now fast-forward to 20-year-old D.Black, rapper-on-the-rise. He thought about his life – his mother’s recent death from drugs, his good fortune in the music world, his close call with violence and the law, miracles good and bad – and he naturally thought about it from a Christian perspective. He thought about the factors that shaped his life, his experiences, and his troubles. He thought about God and faith and what it all meant. And he had questions – not necessarily big life-changing questions – but good questions:
If Jesus was Jewish, why aren't Christians Jewish? And shouldn't we still observe the commandments of the “Old Testament” to show God how much we love Him? I mean, He commanded them, didn’t He? And which religion came first: Islam, Christianity, or Judaism?
Good questions. He looked online. Google led him places. To a lot of places. He looked everywhere and was open to everything. He read and researched and thought. What’s up with the Old Testament? Is it true? It seems like it is.
But what about Jesus?
Okay. So Nissim became a messianic Jew: a practicing Jew and a believer in Jesus. And that was comfortable because he didn’t want to give up on Jesus. He thought that if you give up on Jesus you burn in hell.
And who wants to burn in hell?
But the more you learn, the more questions you have. And Nissim had a lot of questions. He was studying all the time.
Nissim today
He went to his biological father. Since the time Nissim’s mother had left him, his father had cleaned up his act and was on his way to becoming a Christian theologian (today he is a professor of Christian thought at a number of colleges in the Seattle area).
“What’s up with Christmas and Easter? Weren’t they originally pagan holidays?”
“Yes that’s true,” his father told him. “But they have been sanctified.”
Not |
inexpensive bottle wax and came to the conclusion that polymer “wax” was the way to go. I picked up a few pounds of polymer wax on clearance and also grabbed a bag of wax from the local homebrew store.
in the spirit of summer, I went with green wax for the saison. I heated up the wax over the stove in a recycled can and held the bottles in the wax for five seconds apiece for a lighter dip that wouldn’t have to be cut off before using an opener. you can double dip for results similar to bottles from deschutes, etc.
a few tips: use a disposable stick to stir the wax as it heats, and place the waxed bottles on newspaper to avoid drips sticking to the counter top. I also noticed that the wax retained heat for a while after cutting the range off (such that I could dip quite a few bottles before applying more heat).
I used less than a quarter of the one-pound bag and dipped 24 bottles, with plenty of wax left over (the green wax cost me $11-12/lb). for me, dipping bottles is a great way to produce a more upscale product without having to resort to more costly methods such as corking in belgian bottles.
Tags: black IPA, bottle wax, polymer wax, saison, san pedro brew co.Fan Question: “Grounded Vindaloop” is definitely one of my favorite new episodes you guys have done. How long did it take to shoot that live-action scene with the boys?
Answer: Great question! That live-action scene of the boys was actually done — start to finish — all within our crazy 6-day production schedule.
In fact, the writers didn’t come up with the live action idea until Saturday afternoon. Which meant we only had 60 hours to build the set, find costumes, audition actors, hire a film crew, and shoot/edit this scene.
Once hired, the crew constructed the sets in one of our conference rooms at South Park Studios. We filmed on Tuesday, the day before the show premiered, and finished shooting the scene around 6pm… Just 28 hours before air.
The graphics suck, but here’s a few behind-the-scenes pics from the set of “Cartman’s Room”…
Here’s Trey on set:
Trey did not want the live action to look cartoony, so all the bright colors of Cartman’s bedroom were muted and toned down.
>> See the finished version of this scene here.
>> Get lost in virtual reality & watch the full episode “Grounded Vindaloop“.For other people named Connie Mack, see Connie Mack (disambiguation)
Cornelius McGillicuddy (December 22, 1862 – February 8, 1956), better known as Connie Mack, was an American professional baseball catcher, manager, and team owner. The longest-serving manager in Major League Baseball history, he holds records for wins (3,731), losses (3,948), and games managed (7,755), with his victory total being almost 1,000 more than any other manager.
Mack managed the Philadelphia Athletics for the club's first 50 seasons of play, starting in 1901, before retiring at age 87 following the 1950 season, and was at least part-owner from 1901 to 1954. He was the first manager to win the World Series three times, and is the only manager to win consecutive Series on separate occasions (1910–11, 1929–30); his five Series titles remain the third most by any manager, and his nine American League pennants rank second in league history. However, constant financial struggles forced repeated rebuilding of the roster, and Mack's teams also finished in last place 17 times. Mack was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown, New York in 1937.
Early life [ edit ]
Mack was born Cornelius McGillicuddy in Brookfield, Massachusetts, in what is now East Brookfield on December 22, 1862.[1] He did not have a middle name, but many accounts erroneously give him the middle name "Alexander"; this error probably arose because his son Cornelius McGillicuddy Jr. took Alexander as his confirmation name. As with many Irish immigrants whose names began with "Mc", the McGillicuddys were often referred to as "Mack", except for official and legal documents.[2] His parents, Michael McGillicuddy and Mary McKillop, were both immigrants from Ireland.[3] Michael McGillicuddy's father was named Cornelius McGillicuddy, and by tradition, the family named at least one son in each generation Cornelius.[4] "Connie" is a common nickname for Cornelius, so Cornelius McGillicuddy was called "Connie Mack" from an early age.[5] Connie Mack never legally changed his name; on the occasion of his second marriage at age 48, he signed the wedding register as "Cornelius McGillicuddy".[6] His nickname on the baseball field was "Slats", for his height of 6 feet 2 inches and thin build.[7]
Mack's father became a wheelwright. During the American Civil War, he served with the 51st Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment.[4] Michael McGillicuddy suffered from several ailments as the result of his military service; he was able to work only infrequently and drew a disability pension.[8]
Mack was educated in East Brookfield, and began working summers in local cotton mills at age 9 to help support his family.[9] He quit school after completing the eighth grade at age 14, intending to work full-time to contribute to the family's support, as several of his siblings had done.[10] He clerked at a store, worked on local farms, and worked on the production lines of the shoe factories in nearby towns.[11]
Mack was also a good athlete and frequently played baseball and some of its predecessor games with local players in East Brookfield.[12] In 1879 his skills landed him a place on East Brookfield's town team, which played other town teams in the area. Though younger than his teammates by several years, Mack was the team's catcher and de facto captain.[13]
Baseball career [ edit ]
Playing [ edit ]
Connie Mack 1887 baseball card
Beginning in 1886, Mack played 10 seasons in the National League and one in the Players' League, for a total of 11 seasons in the major leagues, almost entirely as a catcher.
Beginning in 1884, he played on minor league teams in the Connecticut cities of Meriden and Hartford before being sold to the Washington Nationals (sometimes called the Statesmen or the Senators) of the National League in 1886.[14] In the winter of 1889, he jumped to the Buffalo Bisons of the new Players' League, investing his entire life savings of $500 in shares in the club.[15] But the Players' League went out of business after only a year, and Mack lost his job and his whole investment. In December 1890 Mack signed a contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates of the National League and remained with them for the rest of his career as a full-time player.[16]
As a player, Mack was "a light-hitting catcher with a reputation as a smart player, but didn't do anything particularly well as a player."[17]
Mack was one of the first catchers to position himself directly behind home plate instead of in front of the backstop. According to Wilbert Robinson, "Mack never was mean... [but] if you had any soft spot, Connie would find it. He could do and say things that got more under your skin than the cuss words used by other catchers."
In addition to verbally needling batters to distract them, he developed skills such as blocking the plate to prevent base runners from scoring and faking the sound of a foul tip. (He was probably responsible for the 1891 rule change requiring that a batter must have two strikes against him in order to be called out if the catcher caught a foul tip.)[18] Besides tipping bats to fake the sound of a foul tip, Mack became adept at tipping bats to throw off the hitter's swing. ("Tipping" a bat is to brush it with the catcher's mitt as the batter swings, either delaying the swing or putting it off course, so that the batter misses the ball or doesn't hit it solidly. If the umpire is aware that a bat has been tipped, whether intentionally or unintentionally, he calls catcher's interference.) Mack never denied such tricks:
Farmer Weaver was a catcher-outfielder for Louisville. I tipped his bat several times when he had two strikes on him one year, and each time the umpire called him out. He got even, though. One time there were two strikes on him and he swung as the pitch was coming in. But he didn't swing at the ball. He swung right at my wrists. Sometimes I think I can still feel the pain. I'll tell you I didn't tip his bat again. No, sir, not until the last game of the season and Weaver was at bat for the last time. When he had two strikes, I tipped his bat again and got away with it.[19]
Managing [ edit ]
Managerial career [ edit ]
Connie Mack in 1911
Mack's last three seasons in the National League were as a player-manager with the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1894 to 1896, with a 149–134 (.527) record. Fired on September 21, 1896,[20] he retired as a full-time player and accepted a deal from Henry Killilea to act as manager and occasional backup catcher for the minor league Milwaukee Brewers. He agreed to a salary of $3,000 and 25% of the club.[21] He managed the Brewers for four seasons from 1897 to 1900, their best year coming in 1900, when they finished second. It was in Milwaukee that he first signed pitcher Rube Waddell, who would follow him to the big leagues.
In 1901 Mack became manager, treasurer and part owner of the new American League's Philadelphia Athletics.[22] He managed the Athletics through the 1950 season, compiling a record of 3,582–3,814 (.484) when he retired at 87. Mack won nine pennants and appeared in eight World Series, winning five.
Mack's 50-year tenure as Athletics manager is the most ever for a coach or manager with the same team in North American professional sports, and has never been seriously threatened. A few college coaches had longer tenures: John Gagliardi was a head football coach from 1949 to 2012, ending with 60 seasons at Saint John's of Minnesota; Eddie Robinson was head football coach at Grambling State for 57 seasons, from 1941 (when it was known as the Louisiana Negro Normal and Industrial Institute) to 1997; and the upcoming 2018–19 season will be the 52nd for Herb Magee as head men's basketball coach of the institution now known as Jefferson (1967–present). Joe Paterno, with 62 seasons as a college football coach for the Penn State Nittany Lions also surpassed Mack, although Paterno was head coach in only 46 of those years. College football pioneer Amos Alonzo Stagg also surpassed Mack in overall tenure, though not in tenure for a single employer; he was a head coach for 55 seasons in all (1892–1946), with the first 41 at Chicago (1892–1932).
Mack was widely praised in the newspapers for his intelligent and innovative managing, which earned him the nickname "the Tall Tactician". He valued intelligence and "baseball smarts," always looking for educated players. (He traded away Shoeless Joe Jackson despite his talent because of his bad attitude and unintelligent play.[23]) "Better than any other manager, Mack understood and promoted intelligence as an element of excellence."[24] He wanted men who were self-directed, self-disciplined and self-motivated; his ideal player was Eddie Collins.[25] According to baseball historian Bill James, Mack was well ahead of his time in having numerous college players on his teams. Several of his players went on to become well-respected college coaches. Jack Coombs, the ace of Mack's 1910-11 champions, became the longtime coach at Duke. Andy Coakley, who won 20 games for Mack's 1905 pennant winners, coached for over 30 years at Columbia, where he was the college coach for Lou Gehrig. Dick Siebert, longtime coach at Minnesota, played for Mack from 1938 to 1945. James believed that Mack's influence on the game, as great as it was, would have been even greater had the college game been more popular during the 1920s and 1930s, when Mack was at his peak.[26]
According to James, Mack looked for seven things in his players--"physical ability, intelligence, courage, disposition, will power, general alertness and personal habits."[24]
As a result of Mack's striving to have his players become better people as well as baseball players, he created a Code of Conduct following the 1916 season:[27]
I will always play the game to the best of my ability.
I will always play to win, but if I lose, I will not look for an excuse to detract from my opponent's victory.
I will never take an unfair advantage in order to win.
I will always abide by the rules of the game—on the diamond as well as in my daily life.
I will always conduct myself as a true sportsman—on and off the playing field.
I will always strive for the good of the entire team rather than for my own glory.
I will never gloat in victory or pity myself in defeat.
I will do my utmost to keep myself clean—physically, mentally, and morally.
I will always judge a teammate or an opponent as an individual and never on the basis of race or religion.
He also looked for players with quiet and disciplined personal lives, having seen many players in his playing days destroy themselves and their teams through heavy drinking. Mack himself never drank; before the 1910 World Series he asked all his players to "take the pledge" not to drink during the Series. When Topsy Hartsel told Mack he needed a drink the night before the final game, Mack told him to do what he thought best, but in these circumstances "if it was me, I'd die before I took a drink."[28]
In any event, his managerial style was not tyrannical but easygoing.[29] He never imposed curfews or bed checks, and made the best of what he had. Rube Waddell was the best pitcher and biggest gate attraction of Mack's first decade as the A's manager, so he put up with his drinking and general unreliability for years, until it began to bring the team down and the other players asked Mack to get rid of Waddell.[30]
Mack's strength as a manager was finding the best players, teaching them well and letting them play. "He did not believe that baseball revolved around managerial strategy."[24] He was "one of the first managers to work on repositioning his fielders" during the game, often directing the outfielders to move left or right, play shallow or deep, by waving his rolled-up scorecard from the bench.[24] After he became well known for doing this, he often passed his instructions to the fielders by way of other players, and simply waved his scorecard as a feint.[31]
An unusual setting: the Tall Tactician in the grandstand, not the dugout, 1916
James summed up Mack's managerial approach as follows: he favored a set lineup, did not generally platoon hitters; preferred young players to veterans and power hitters to those with high batting averages; did not often pinch-hit, use his bench players or sacrifice much (even so, the A's led the league in sacrifice bunts in 1909, 1911 and 1914); believed in "big-inning" offense rather than small ball; and very rarely issued an intentional walk.[32]
Over the course of his career, he had nine pennant-winning teams spanning three peak periods or "dynasties." His original team, with players such as Rube Waddell, Ossee Schrecongost, and Eddie Plank, won the pennant in 1902 (when there was no World Series) and 1905. They lost the 1905 World Series to the New York Giants (four games to one, all shutouts, with Christy Mathewson hurling three shutouts for a record 27 scoreless innings in one World Series). During that season, Giants manager John McGraw said that Mack had "a big white elephant on his hands" with the Athletics. Mack defiantly adopted the white elephant as the team's logo, which the Athletics still use today.
As that first team aged, Mack acquired a core of young players to form his second great team, which featured Mack's famous "$100,000 infield" of Eddie Collins, Home Run Baker, Jack Barry and Stuffy McInnis. These Athletics, captained by catcher Ira Thomas, won the pennant in 1910, 1911, 1913 and 1914, beating the Cubs in the World Series in 1910 and the Giants in 1911 and 1913, but losing in 1914 in four straight games to the "Miracle" Boston Braves, who had come from last place in late July to win the National League pennant by 6 1/2 games over the Giants.
That team was dispersed due to financial problems, from which Mack did not recover until the twenties, when he built his third great team. The 1927 Athletics featured several future Hall of Fame players including veterans Ty Cobb, Zack Wheat and Eddie Collins as well as young stars like Mickey Cochrane, Lefty Grove, Al Simmons and rookie Jimmie Foxx. That team won the pennant in 1929, 1930 and 1931, beating the Chicago Cubs in the 1929 World Series (when they came from 8–0 behind in Game 4, plating a Series record ten runs in the seventh inning and winning the game, 10–8, and then from two runs down in the bottom of the ninth in Game 5 for a walk-off Series win) and easily defeating the St. Louis Cardinals in 1930. The following year, St. Louis beat the A's in seven games led by Pepper Martin.
That team was dispersed after 1932 when Mack ran into financial difficulty again. By 1934, the A's had fallen into the second division. Although Mack intended to rebuild for a third time, he would never win another pennant. The Athletics' record from 1935 to 1946 was dismal, finishing in the basement of the AL every year except a 5th-place finish in 1944. World War II brought further hardship due to personnel shortages.
In 1938, Mack in his middle seventies successfully battled a blood infection caused when a batted ball injured one of his shinbones. He stopped for treatment at the Medical and Surgical Hospital in San Antonio, Texas, where he was in passage on a train.[33]
In addition, as Mack entered his 80s, his once-keen mind began fading rapidly. Mack would make strange decisions (which his coaches and players usually overruled), make inexplicable outbursts, and call for players from decades earlier to pinch-hit. He spent most games asleep in the dugout, leaving his coaches to run the team most of the time.[34]
According to outfielder Sam Chapman, "He could remember the old-timers, but he had a hard time remembering the names of the current players." Shortstop Eddie Joost said "He wasn't senile, but there were lapses." Despite growing speculation he would step down, Mack brushed it all off and stated simply that he would keep managing as long as he was physically able to do so.[35]
According to Bill James, by the time Mack recovered again financially, he was "old and out of touch with the game, so his career ends with eighteen years of miserable baseball."[36] It was generally agreed that he stayed in the game too long, hurting his legacy.[37] He was unable to handle the post-World War II changes in baseball, including the growing commercialization of the game. His business style was no longer viable in post-World War II America due to various factors, including the increased expense of running a team. For instance, he never installed a telephone line between the bullpen and dugout.
Despite the circumstances, the octogenarian Mack led the team to three winning seasons in 1947–49 (including a fourth-place finish in 1948). With the A's unexpected resurgence in 1947-49, there was hope that 1950—Mack's 50th anniversary as A's manager—would bring a pennant at last. However, the A's never recovered from a dreadful May in which they only won five games. By May 26, the A's were 11-21, 12 games out of first, and it was obvious the season was a lost cause. On that date, his sons Earle, Roy and Connie, Jr. persuaded their father to promote Jimmy Dykes, who had been a coach since 1949, to assistant manager for the remainder of the season. Dykes became the team's main operator in the dugout, and would take over the managerial reins in his own right in 1951. At the same time, Cochrane was named general manager—thus stripping Connie, Sr. of his remaining authority.[34] Six weeks after his mid-season retirement, Mack was honored by baseball when he threw out the ceremonial first pitch of the 1950 All-Star Game.
Toward the end he was old and sick and saddened, a figure of forlorn dignity bewildered by the bickering around him as the baseball monument that he had built crumbled away."[38]
At the time of his retirement, Mack stated:
I'm not quitting because I'm getting old, I'm quitting because I think people want me to."[39]
Managerial record [ edit ]
Team From To Regular season record Post–season record W L Win % W L Win % Pittsburgh Pirates 1894 1896 149 134.527 — Philadelphia Athletics 1901 1937 2814 2678.512 24 19.558 Philadelphia Athletics 1938 1939 78 136.364 — Philadelphia Athletics 1940 1950 690 1000.408 Total 3731 3948.486 24 19.558 Reference:[40]
Owner [ edit ]
The American League's white knight, Charles Somers, provided the seed money to start the Athletics and several other American League teams. However, plans called for local interests to buy out Somers as soon as possible. To that end, Mack persuaded sporting goods manufacturer Ben Shibe, a minority owner of the rival Philadelphia Phillies, to buy a 50 percent stake in the team—an offer sweetened by Mack's promise that Shibe would have the exclusive right to make baseballs for the American League. In return, Mack was allowed to buy a 25 percent stake, and was named treasurer of the team. Two local sports writers, Frank Hough and Sam Jones, bought the remaining 25 percent, but their involvement was not mentioned in the incorporating papers; in fact, no agreement was put on paper until 1902. Mack and Shibe did business on a handshake.[22][41]
A 1904 Connie Mack card
In 1913, Hough and Jones sold their 25 percent to Mack, making him a full partner in the club with Shibe; Mack actually borrowed the money for the purchase from Shibe.[42] Under their agreement, Mack had full control over baseball matters while Shibe handled the business side. When Shibe died in 1922, his sons Tom and John took over management of the business side, with Tom as team president and John as vice president. Tom died in 1936, and John resigned shortly thereafter, leaving Mack to take over the presidency. John Shibe died in 1937, and Mack bought 141 shares from his estate, enough to make him majority owner of the A's. However, he had been operating head of the franchise since Ben Shibe's death. Such an arrangement is no longer possible in current times, as major-league rules do not allow a coach or manager to own any financial interest in a club.
Mack's great strength as an owner was his huge network of baseball friends, all of whom acted as scouts and "bird-dogs" for him, finding talented players and alerting Mack. "Mack was better at that game than anybody else in the world. People liked Mack, respected him, and trusted him.... Mack answered every letter and listened patiently to every sales job, and... he got players for that reason."[43]
Mack saw baseball as a business, and recognized that economic necessity drove the game. He explained to his cousin, Art Dempsey, that "The best thing for a team financially is to be in the running and finish second. If you win, the players all expect raises." This was one reason he was constantly collecting players, signing almost anyone to a ten-day contract to assess his talent; he was looking ahead to future seasons when his veterans would either retire or hold out for bigger salaries than Mack could give them.
Unlike most baseball owners, Mack had almost no income apart from the A's. Even when he collected rent from the Phillies, he was often in financial difficulties. Money problems—the escalation of his best players' salaries (due both to their success and to competition from a new, well-financed third major league of the Federal League in 1914-1915), combined with a steep drop in attendance due to World War I—led to the gradual dispersal of his second championship team, the 1910–1914 team, who he sold, traded, or released over the years 1915–1917. The war hurt the team badly, leaving Mack without the resources to sign valuable players. His 1916 team, with a 36–117 record, is often considered the worst team in American League history, and its.235 winning percentage is still the lowest ever for a modern-era (since 1900) major league team. The team's 117 losses set a modern era record and at the time was the second most losses behind the Cleveland Spiders' 130 in 1899. As of 2012 that record has been topped only twice, with the 1962 New York Mets breaking that record with 120 losses in their inaugural season and the 2003 Detroit Tigers surpassing it with 119 although those teams played 162 game schedules, not 154 like the Athletics. All told, the A's finished dead last in the AL seven years in a row from 1915 to 1921, and would not reach.500 again until 1926. The rebuilt team won back-to-back championships in 1929–1930 over the Cubs and Cardinals, and then lost a rematch with the latter in 1931. As it turned out, these were the last postseason appearances for the A's not only in Philadelphia, but for another four decades. Unlike with the breakup of his second great team, the A's didn't tumble out of contention right away. They remained fairly competitive for most of the first half of the 1930s. However, after 1933, they would only tally four more winning seasons during their stay in Philadelphia—which would be the franchise's only winning seasons for 35 years.
Senators' manager Bucky Harris and Mack, Opening Day, April 13, 1926, Griffith Stadium, D.C.; Senators won in the 9th, 1–0
With the 1929 onset of the Great Depression, Mack struggled financially again, and was forced to sell the best players from his second great championship team, such as Lefty Grove and Jimmie Foxx, to stay in business.
Although Mack wanted to rebuild again and win more championships, he was never able to do so owing to a lack of funds. Even before then, he either did not (or could not) invest in a farm system. Mack celebrated his 70th birthday in 1932, and many began wondering if his best days were behind him. Even as bad as the A's got during the next two decades, he stubbornly retained full control over baseball matters long after most teams had hired a general manager. This continued even after he became majority owner, despite calls both inside and outside Philadelphia to step down.[34] Indeed, one of the few times that Mack considered giving up even some of his duties was in the 1934-35 offseason—when the A's were still not far removed from what would be their last great era. He briefly entertained replacing himself as manager with Babe Ruth, but ruled that idea out, saying that the Babe's wife, Claire, would be running the team inside of a month.[44]
In the early 1940s, Mack gave a minority stake in the team to his three sons, Roy, Earle, and Connie, Jr. Although Roy and Earle had never gotten along with Connie, Jr., who was more than 20 years younger than them, Connie, Sr. intended to have all three of them inherit the team after his death or retirement. This strategy backfired when Roy and Earle refused to consider Connie, Jr.'s demands to end the team's bargain-basement way of doing business. One of the few things on which they agreed was that it was time for their father to step down. Connie, Jr. was only able to force through other minor improvements to the team and the rapidly crumbling Shibe Park through an alliance with the Shibe heirs. When it became apparent that his older brothers weren't willing to go further, Connie, Jr. and the Shibes decided to sell the team. However, Roy and Earle countered by buying out their younger brother, persuading their father to support them. In order to pull off the deal, however, they mortgaged the team to the Connecticut General Life Insurance Company (now part of CIGNA). Yearly payments of $200,000 drained the team of badly needed capital, and ended any realistic chance of the A's winning again under the Macks' stewardship.[34]
When Mack resigned as manager, he largely withdrew from active control of the team. Over the next five years, the team crumbled to the bottom of the American League. Although reduced to a figurehead, Mack continued to be treated with awe and reverence by players who considered him living history. His sons handled his correspondence by 1953 as he had become too frail by that point to do it himself.
Statue of Mack in South Philadelphia
As that year ended, the A's were dangerously close to bankruptcy. The other American League owners had been concerned for some time about the situation in Philadelphia, since the crowds at Shibe Park had dwindled to the point that visiting teams couldn't meet their expenses for traveling there. The 1954 A's attracted only 304,000 people, nowhere near enough to break even. The other owners, as well as league president Will Harridge, wanted the Athletics sold off to a new owner. The Yankees in particular lobbied for it to be Chicago businessman Arnold Johnson (1906-1960), who had recently bought both Yankee Stadium as well as Blues Stadium in Kansas City, home to the Yankees' top Triple AAA farm team in the second American Association. Roy and Earle Mack did not want to move the team, but pressure from the Yankees and blowback from several bad business decisions finally moved their hand and they agreed to the sale. A final attempt to sell the A's to Philadelphia car dealer John Crisconi briefly gained Mack's support, but collapsed at the eleventh hour—reportedly due to behind-the-scenes intrigue by the Yankees. When that deal collapsed, a bitter Mack wrote a letter blasting his fellow owners for sinking the Crisconi deal. However, he admitted that he didn't have nearly enough money to run the A's in 1955, and conceded that the Johnson deal was the only one with a chance of approval.[34]
In early November, Mack agreed to sell the A's to Johnson for $1.5 million. When the AL owners met in New York to discuss the sale to Johnson, they voted 5-3 to approve the sale. Johnson immediately requested permission to move to Kansas City, which was granted after Detroit's Spike Briggs switched his vote.[34] Although Mack had long since conceded that his 55 years in the American League were over, his doctor reported that the nonagenarian owner suffered a sudden sharp drop in blood pressure and almost expired upon learning that his team was gone.[45]
The A's sold Shibe Park, now renamed Connie Mack Stadium, to the Phillies. Mack was still chauffeured around to games by his caretaker. He attended the 1954 World Series and the occasional regular season game, but in October 1955, he fell and suffered a hip fracture. Mack underwent surgery on October 5, missing the World Series that week for the first time ever. He remained wheelchair-bound after that point, celebrating his 93rd birthday in November. The end came at his daughter's house on the afternoon of February 8, 1956. According to his doctor, he'd been fine until the 7th when he "just started to fade away". Officially, it was announced that he died of "old age and complications from his hip surgery"[46] Mack's funeral was held in his parish church, St. Bridget's, and he was buried in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Cheltenham Township just outside Philadelphia, with baseball Commissioner Ford Frick, the AL and NL presidents, and all 16 MLB owners serving as pallbearers.
Personality [ edit ]
Mack was quiet, even-tempered, and gentlemanly, never using profanity. He was generally addressed as "Mr. Mack". He always called his players by their given names. Chief Bender, for instance, was "Albert" to Mack. Perhaps due to his great longevity in the game, there grew up around him a kind of saintly image; his long-time friends objected to the image of him as "the bloodless saint so often painted, a sanctimonious old Puritan patting babies".[47] His friend Red Smith called him "tough and warm and wonderful, kind and stubborn and courtly and unreasonable and generous and calculating and naive and gentle and proud and humorous and demanding and unpredictable".[47]
Time magazine, 1927 Connie Mack,magazine, 1927
Beginning as far back as his first managing job in the nineteenth century, Mack drew criticism from the newspapers for not spending enough money. Some writers called him an outright miser, accusing him of getting rid of star players so he could "line his own pockets" with the money. However, his biographer Norman Macht strongly defends Mack on this question, contending that Mack's spending decisions were forced on him by his financial circumstances, and that nearly all the money he made went back to the team.
Mack himself was upset by these allegations: when some writers accused him of deliberately losing the second game of the 1913 World Series in order to extend the series and make more money in ticket sales, he uncharacteristically wrote an angry letter to the Saturday Evening Post to deny it, saying "I consider playing for the gate receipts... nothing short of dishonest." With the Athletics leading the Series three games to one, several New York writers predicted that the Athletics would deliberately lose Game Five in New York so that Mack would not have to refund the $50,000 in ticket sales for Game Six in Philadelphia. After reading this, Mack told his players that if they won Game Five he would give them the team's entire share of the Game Five gate receipts — about $34,000. The Athletics won the Game and the series, and Mack gave out the money as promised.[48]
Mack supported a large extended family and was generous to players in need, often finding jobs for former players. For instance, he kept Bender on the team payroll as a scout, minor league manager or coach from 1926 until Mack himself retired as owner-manager in 1950. Simmons was a coach for many years after his retirement as a player.
Mack lived through the entire era of racially segregated baseball (the early days of the game in his youth sometimes featured black players, but this ended by the 1890s and the major leagues remained white-only until Jackie Robinson broke down the color barrier in 1947), and even afterwards never displayed any serious interest in signing blacks. According to those who knew him, Mack was not a racist by the standards of his day and had no particular objection to a player's skin color.[citation needed] However, he did not want to cross the dictatorial commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis who represented the majority of MLB owners that opposed integrated baseball.[citation needed]
Legacy [ edit ]
The Philadelphia stadium, originally called Shibe Park, was renamed Connie Mack Stadium in 1953. Starting in 1909, it was home to the Athletics, and starting 1938, it was also home to the Phillies, then from 1955 to 1970 was home to the Phillies alone, after the Athletics moved to Kansas City.
He is mentioned in the poem Line-Up for Yesterday by Ogden Nash:
Line-Up for Yesterday Q is for Don Quixote
Cornelius Mack;
Neither Yankees nor years
Can halt his attack. —Ogden Nash, Sport magazine (January 1949)[50]
Family [ edit ]
Opening Day, April 18, 1938, Griffith Stadium, Washington, D.C.
Home of Connie Mack on Cliveden Avenue in Northwest Philadelphia
On November 2, 1887, Mack married Margaret Hogan, whom the Spencer Leader described as having "a sunny and vivacious disposition." They had three children, Earle, Roy, and Marguerite. Margaret died in December 1892 after complications from her third childbirth.
Mack married a second time on October 27, 1910. His second wife was Catherine (or Katharine) Holahan (or Hoolahan) (1879–1966); the census records have various spellings (the wedding register reads "Catarina Hallahan"). The couple had four daughters and a son, Cornelius Jr. A faithful Catholic his entire life, Mack was also a longtime member of the Knights of Columbus (Santa Maria Council 263 in Germantown, which moved to Flourtown, Pennsylvania in the 1980's).[51]
Mack's son Earle Mack played several games for the A's between 1910 and 1914, and also managed the team for parts of the 1937 and 1939 seasons when his father was too ill to do so. In more recent years, his descendants have taken to politics: Mack's grandson Connie Mack III was |
the experiment.
The Battery Park group
A group of about 300 people were so far back in the ferry line that they decided to abandon hope of making it to Governors Island and participate in Battery Park instead. A couple of smart folks starting walking up and down the line telling everyone to head over there. Battery Park is actually a location I’ve thought about staging the Mp3 Experiment in the past couple of years, but the space is not quite big enough for our ever-increasing crowds. It turned out to be perfect for this rogue group of 300!
The Brooklyn group
There was another rogue group. About 30 folks missed the last Brooklyn ferry and held their own event in Brooklyn Bridge park. So there were three simultaneous Mp3 Experiments happening in New York (four if you count the one happening on the ferry for the first 10 minutes!)
Steve instructed the “Olympic athletes” to give high fives to any “fans” (people not wearing headphones.) The folks on the island not participating probably got about 100 high fives each. The weather forecast called for a good chance of storms and the humidity was pretty oppressive. Unfortunately, these conditions caused the island to be less crowded with non-participants than it would have on a nice day. There were still many more folks on the island than our 2008 experiment which took place during a very dreary, rainy day. We were lucky enough to almost entirely miss the rain this year. Almost.
In the photo below you’ll notice that the very same mom and son who gave high fives in the photo above decided to join the group. Here they are participating in the stretching activity despite not wearing headphones. I guess if you’re surrounded by hundreds of people doing the same thing, you might as well join ’em.
The subtitle for this year’s Mp3 Experiment was “Insurrection.” During the stretching routine, participants were told by a mysterious voice that they were among a group of 1 in 300 people who downloaded a special mp3 file and that they were secret agents recruited to lead an insurrection against their country. In fact there was no special mp3; everyone was made to think they were special. This added some extra excitement to the experience for everyone as they looked around and wondered who else might have received the “special” instructions.
Athletes competing in the Synchronized Dance qualifying game
Participants were asked to bring a white sheet with them in their bag. The first sheet activity was the “Ghost Walk” where everyone had to walk in a straight line with a sheet over their head, trying not to bump into anyone else.
Steve announced that all the athletes had qualified for the main event, and he asked everyone to don their sheets like capes and make their way to the Parade Ground, the huge field in the middle of the island. When everyone came together in the middle, the massive size of the crowd first became clear.
These people found themselves in the middle of the mob
A Park Ranger tries to explain what is going on
Once everyone arrived to the field, it was time for the “Opening Ceremonies.” The first ceremony was the “soft object toss.” Participants worked in teams of four to toss the soft objects they brought as high as possible using a sheet as a trampoline.
The next ceremony involved everyone putting the sheets above their heads and attempting to block out the sky, creating a big canopy. Around the time that this was happening a rain shower appeared out of nowhere. Steve made a joke about the sheets right around this time saying that although it certainly is not raining now, “This would make a great umbrella if it was.” Soon after the sheets were taken down, the rain stopped. We got incredibly lucky that the only reference to rain in the script happened at the exact moment it rained. Strange coincidence! Praise Steve!
Here’s a bonus video of these two sheet activities that didn’t make it into the main video:MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – A pair of NFC North legends decided to dress up as each other for Halloween this year.
Randy Moss, who needs not be introduced to Minnesota Vikings fans, and Charles Woodson, who spent much of his career in the Green Bay Packers’ secondary, swapped jerseys for a little Halloween fun.
Woodson started his career in Oakland, but played for the Packers from 2006 to 2012. Much to the dismay of Packers fans, Moss is sporting Woodson’s silver and black jersey.
Though Woodson and Moss weren’t in the NFC North at the same time – Moss was traded to the Oakland Raiders in 2005, a year before Woodson joined the Packers – the two have history dating back to even before their NFL days.
In 1997, when Moss was at Marshall University and Woodson was playing for Michigan, both were up for college football’s most prestigious award, the Heisman Trophy.
Woodson won the Heisman that year – still the only defensive player to win the award. Moss finished fourth in voting behind Woodson and quarterbacks Ryan Leaf and Peyton Manning.
Nowadays, Woodson and Moss are coworkers at ESPN.House Republicans are pushing to change an Obama-era rule to make it more difficult to find a company liable for a labor law violation committed by a subcontractor or franchise.
The Republicans say the current standard imposed by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is too onerous for businesses.
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Under the existing standard, a company is considered a “joint-employer” with a contractor if it has “indirect” control over the terms and conditions of employment or has the “reserved authority to do so.” This means it can be found jointly liable for a violation.
Before 2015, companies were considered a joint-employer when the two entities exerted “direct” and “significant” control over the same employee, a lower standard.
Reps. Bradley Byrne (R-Ala.), Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) and other members of the House Education and the Workforce Committee are working on legislation to repeal the NLRB’s 2015 ruling that set the new standard.
“The impacts are real,” Shannon Meade, director of labor and workforce policy at the National Restaurant Association, wrote in a piece for RealClearPolicy last week.
Meade said restaurants are struggling to manage the risks involved in hiring contractors to do things like clean, handle the groundskeeping or wash table linens. She said some restaurants are trying to decide whether they can do the work themselves instead.
Republicans have tried unsuccessfully over the last two years to block the labor board ruling from being enforced. Support for changing the standard from the Trump administration, however, has ushered in a new wave of hope.
“We also have a president who’s willing to sign it, who’s not pushing the Department of Labor to go against the flow of what has been traditionally our free enterprise system,” said Walberg, who added that he’s talked with the administration about the joint-employer issue and “they get it.”
Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta rescinded the Obama-era agency guidance on the joint-employer standard last month.
The guidance said the joint-employer standard extended to violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act. It also directed companies in a joint-employer relationship to aggregate their employees’ hours, including for the purposes of calculating overtime pay.
For the bill changing the standard to become law, Byrne acknowledged Republicans would need some votes from Democrats in the Senate, given the potential for a filibuster.
“We have to have some Democratic buy-in under the 60-vote rule in there. If you don’t get eight Democratic senators to help you, you’re not going to get a bill passed,” he said.
Rep. Bobby Scott Robert (Bobby) Cortez ScottTop Dems blast administration's proposed ObamaCare changes Virginia congressional delegation says it's 'devastated by’ Richmond Turmoil The Hill's 12:30 Report: AOC unveils Green New Deal measure | Trump hits Virginia Dems | Dems begin hearings to get Trump tax returns MORE (Va.), the ranking Democrat on the House Education and the Workforce Committee, said he thinks the current standard is working.
“Oftentimes, when a violation of the law occurs … many times the violation was caused both by one company and then by the temporary agency or franchisor,” he said. “You have joint liability. If you have joint cause, you ought to have joint liability.”
But Scott said Republicans aren’t just seeking clarity on the definition, as they have claimed.
“I think it’s designed not as a clarification but a bill to immunize franchisors from liability when they helped cause the problem,” he said, “and the issue of joint-employment only comes up when there’s a violation of the law.”
Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) said he wouldn’t support a proposal to rescind the definition created by the Obama-era board.
He said Republicans are trying to weaken enforcement on the part of labor for wages, benefits, and health and safety conditions. Redefining joint-employer, he said, “becomes a convenient little ruse to avoid that.”
Republicans, however, claim they are trying to find a legislative fix that provides companies some relief while addressing Democrats’ concerns.
“Finding the sweet spot around here sometimes is very difficult, but I do think there is a sweet spot to be had here,” Byrne said.
Byrne is hoping to get a bill filed before the House breaks for the August recess.
In the meantime, Republicans are using the appropriations process to try to stop the NLRB’s ruling from being enforced. Language has been added to a draft version of the 2018 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations bill to prohibit the respected agencies it covers from spending money to enforce the new definition. The House Appropriations Committee is expected to mark up the bill on Wednesday.
And industry challenge to the rule is currently making its way through the courts. A decision from the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals is expected to come sometime this summer.Mali's health minister announced on state television today the detection of the country's first Ebola infection, signaling the spread of the virus to a third African nation outside the three main outbreak countries.
Health Minister Ousmane Kone said the patient is a 2-year-old girl who had recently arrived from neighboring Guinea, according to a Reuters report. The illness was detected in the Kayes region in western Mali.
The Kayes region borders Mauritania to the north, Senegal to the west, and Guinea to the south.
A machine-translated report from the Mali media on the H5N1 blog yesterday said Mali had a suspected Ebola case, in a 3-year-old girl whose aunt brought her from Guinea after the girl's father died in Conakry, Guinea's capital. The two passed through Bamako, Mali's capital, on their way to the Kayes region, where the girl and her contacts were admitted to a hospital for quarantine and testing. The report didn't say how the two traveled from Guinea to Mali.
Possible Ebola case in health worker in NYC
In another breaking development, New York City health officials today announced that a special emergency medicine service (EMS) unit has transferred a healthcare worker who recently returned from West Africa's outbreak region to Bellevue Hospital for a possible Ebola infection.
A law enforcement official told CNN that the worker is Craig Spencer, a 33-year-old physician who returned from West Africa 10 days ago. He works at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, and his girlfriend has been isolated, CNN said.
New York City's health department (NYC Health) said today in a statement that the patient had returned to the United States within the past 21 days and presented with fever and gastrointestinal symptoms. The patient will be tested for Ebola, with results expected within the next 12 hours. It added that the patient will be evaluated for other conditions that have similar symptoms.
In a related development, Doctors without Borders (MSF) announced today that a New York City resident who recently worked with the group in one of the outbreak countries reporting having a fever this morning, based on the group's guidelines for workers who have returned from their Ebola assignments.
The group said that although Ebola has not been confirmed, it immediately notified New York City health officials, who are managing the patient's care.
Bellevue Hospital is one of the facilities designated by city and state health officials for the isolation, identification, and treatment of suspected Ebola cases. The ambulance crew was specially trained and wearing personal protective equipment (PPE).
As a precaution, epidemiologists from NYC Health started tracing the patient's contacts to identify those who might be at increased risk.
WHO committee weighs in on travel, mass gatherings
The World Health Organization (WHO) emergency committee on Ebola met for the third time yesterday and said the events still amount to a public health emergency of international concern and weighed in on recent travel screening announcements from different countries.
Since the group's last meeting on Sep 22, Ebola cases in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone have continued to rise rapidly, with cases exported to Spain and the United States resulting in limited transmission. As of yesterday, the epidemic total was at 9,936 cases and 4,877 deaths, the WHO said. The true burden of the disease in the three countries is thought to be dramatically higher than official totals.
In reviewing the outbreak's current status, the WHO said the continued rise in cases is still deeply concerning and that the crisis is yielding important lessons about controlling the epidemic, such as the importance of leadership, community engagement, bringing in more partners, paying staff on time, and accountability.
The panel recommended that the WHO keep all of the temporary recommendations in place, but it emphasized the importance of exist screening in the three hardest-hit countries and said the WHO and its partners should provide more support to strengthen the procedures.
They asked the countries to collect data from exit screening, monitor the results, and share them regularly with the WHO to increase public confidence and to provide key information to other countries.
Repeating its advice against travel restrictions, the committee said a general travel ban is likely to trigger economic hardships, which could increase uncontrolled migration from the outbreak countries, increasing the risk of international spread.
Countries that have introduced entry-screening measures should share their experiences and lessons learned, the committee said. However, it said the extra measures have a limited ability to reduce international spread of the virus when added to exit screening, and countries should carefully weigh the benefits and costs. Though the process can increase awareness about Ebola, the resources needed for screening can be significant, even when targeted.
Several countries have canceled or are considering canceling international meetings and mass gatherings, and though the committee doesn't recommend calling off events, it acknowledged that the decisions are complex and must be made on a case-by-case basis. Likewise, the WHO committee said it doesn't support bans on sports competitors or delegations from outbreak countries, saying participation decisions must be made case by case.
The committee will meet again in 3 months, or earlier as events warrant, the WHO said.
More US Ebola updates
The family of the second Dallas nurse infected with Ebola said yesterday that Amber Joy Vinson no longer has the virus in her blood, NBC News reported today. They said she will be transferred to a different part of Emory University Hospital's serious communicable disease unit.
Before being released from the hospital, tests over several consecutive days must show that the patient's blood shows no sign of the virus. Vinson's illness was diagnosed on Oct 15, a day after she reported a low-grade fever. She had returned from a trip to Ohio just a few hours before her fever developed, which triggered air-passenger tracing.
Health officials said Vinson—one of two nurses who got sick after caring for a Liberian man who died from Ebola—may have had atypical symptoms earlier, which spurred the quarantine of three of her close contacts in the Akron area. According to an update today from the Ohio Department of Health (ODH), health officials are monitoring a total of 163 contacts.
All Ohio hospitals have completed Ebola preparedness drills, which included how to manage suspected patients and proper use of PPE. It said so far there are no Ebola cases in Ohio and none of the contacts have shown any Ebola symptoms.
In Dallas, city officials said tests for Ebola on a dog owned by Nina Pham, the first nurse infected with the virus, are negative. The Cavalier King Charles spaniel named Bentley has been quarantined, and specimens will be collected again at the end of 21days.
Of 176 Ebola contacts identified in the Dallas area, 67 have completed their 21-day surveillance period, and monitoring is still under way for 109, according to an update today from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Only one of the people under monitoring is considered a close contact; the rest are possible contacts.
Vaccine announcements
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said yesterday that it is ready to start reviewing Ebola vaccines and treatments as soon as data are available. In a statement, the group said it has assembled a system to give the best possible scientific advice to companies developing countermeasures against the virus.
The group also said it has developed a rolling review process that allows experts to continuously review new data as it comes in.
Tomas Salmonson, who chairs the EMA's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP), said in the statement that companies are expected to show that the vaccines and drugs work and have acceptable safety and quality, to ensure that the benefits outweigh the risks. "However, in the current emergency situation we accept that the benefit-risk balance is determined largely by the public health need," he added.
In other developments, a European collaboration is expected this week to announce $250 million to develop vaccines and drugs to battle Ebola, according to a report yesterday from Reuters that cited two people with direct knowledge.
The funding would come from the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI), a public-private program funded by pharmaceutical companies and the European Commission, Reuters reported. The sources said the group will put the bulk of the funding toward large clinical trials of three experimental Ebola vaccines.
Meanwhile, Vaxart, a pharmaceutical company based in South San Francisco, Calif., said today that it is accelerating the development of its Ebola tablet vaccine, with human trials expected to start in the first quarter of 2015.
The vaccine showed promise in preclinical challenge studies in nonhuman primates conducted at the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID). Vaxart's vaccine contains a disabled adenovirus that delivers an Ebola virus gene and a gene for a molecule that serves as an adjuvant.
The company said the tablet vaccine can be held at room temperature for more than a year, reducing or eliminating the need for cold storage, an advantage for settings like West Africa that have limited infrastructure.
Other developments
Guinea's government said yesterday that it will compensate families of health workers who died from Ebola with $10,000 each, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported yesterday. A ministry official said 42 families so far are eligible for the payments. The total includes the families of eight members of an Ebola education team who were killed in an attack by residents in the town of Womey in the southern part of the country.
Some US hospitals are considering whether certain medical interventions should be withheld from Ebola patients, because they may pose a high risk to health providers with little benefit to patients, Reuters reported today. Officials from three health systems told Reuters that they were weighing the treatment issues. Federal health officials have said interventions available in hospitals in developed nations, such as intubation and kidney dialysis, may pose additional risks of Ebola virus transmission to healthcare workers, and concerns recently prompted tighter PPE recommendations, which now allow for no exposed skin and the addition of coveralls and single-use disposable hoods. Medical ethicists said they are fielding questions from doctors and hospitals about the benefits and risks of more advanced treatments for Ebola patients. Also, Reuters said groups including the CDC are working on guidelines for delivering dialysis to Ebola patients.
France's Atomic Energy Commission has developed a test that could allow doctors to diagnose a patient with Ebola in 15 minutes, compared with almost 3 hours presently, Radio France Internationale (RFI) reported yesterday. The test is expected to be available for clinical trials in Ebola outbreak countries by the end of October. It uses monoclonal antibodies to detect the virus in a small sample of blood, plasma, or urine. Results show up in the window of a handheld device, similar to an over-the-counter pregnancy test. RFI said two other companies are also working on rapid diagnostic tests for Ebola: Primerdesign, based in Britain, and Corgenix Medical Corp. in the United States.
See also:
Oct 23 Reuters story
Oct 22 H5N1 blog post
Oct 23 CNN story
Oct 23 NYC Health statement
Oct 23 MSF statement
Oct 23 WHO statement
Oct 22 EMA statement
Oct 22 Reuters story on European funding pledge
Oct 23 Vaxart press release
Oct 23 NBC News story
Oct 23 ODH contact report
Oct 23 ODH statement on hospital drills
Oct 22 City of Dallas press release
Oct 23 CDC Dallas contact monitoring update
Oct 22 AFP story
Oct 23 Reuters story
Oct 22 RFI reportItaly's highest court ruled on Wednesday that same-sex couples had no right to marry under current law, but said Parliament had a duty to pass legislation that would fulfill their right to "protected status," reported the Italian newspaper La Stampa.
The ruling came in the case of a couple from Rome who were turned away by a registrar in 2012 when they sought to marry. The couple argued that this was discrimination that violated the Italian constitution and the European Charter of Human Rights. But the court ruled that while the couple had a right to legal protection, these documents did not create a right to marriage.
The relatively weak position of the courts and the political influence of the Vatican has made Italy the most difficult battle ground for marriage-equality advocates in Western Europe. Italy is the only country in Western Europe that does not have even some form of civil union status available to same-sex couples; most have full marriage equality, with the major exception of Germany.
Italian courts have ruled at least twice since 2010 that same-sex couples have partnership rights, but they have also consistently held that it was beyond the power of the judiciary to create that status for them. La Stampa quoted the court as ruling Wednesday that there was the "need for a timely intervention from the legislature" to give "recognition" to same-sex couples based on language in the constitution entitling citizens to a "common core of rights and duties of assistance and solidarity to the emotional relationships of couples."
Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said last year that he wanted civil union legislation to be voted on by September of 2014, but it has so far stalled in Parliament. Several Italian mayors have been trying to force the legislature's hands, transcribing the marriages of Italians married to their same-sex partners abroad or creating special city registries for same-sex couples who cannot marry under federal rules.Cast As Brooding Leads, Rufus Sewell Says His Real Talent Is Comedy
Enlarge this image toggle caption Liane Hentscher Liane Hentscher
People are seeing a lot of Rufus Sewell these days.
He's starring in the play Art at the Old Vic theater in London. On PBS, he's playing Lord Melbourne, Queen Victoria's first Prime Minister — and perhaps prime minister indeed, if you catch my drift.
And he's also receiving raves for his role as John Smith, the Nazi leader of America, in the alternate universe of Amazon's The Man in the High Castle, which has been renewed for a third season.
The series is increasingly loosely based on Phillip K. Dick's 1962 novel in which the Nazis win World War II, America is occupied, and many Americans seem happy with that. Sewell tells NPR's Scott Simon that recently, a fan of the show tried to give him a Nazi salute through a coffee-shop window. "And he was not, you know, the usual suspect, kind of alt-right looking fellow. He was a kind of beardy Hollywood hipster," Sewell says, "and it didn't occur to him that I might be a slightly inappropriate thing to do... people do it to me sometimes, but luckily they don't appear to be believers."
Interview Highlights
On bringing life to John Smith
The Nazi ideology is loathsome, but people essentially are not... Admittedly in Season 1 he seemed like a relatively one-dimensional character, and I wasn't interested until I saw episode 2, which was already written, where it became a bit more confusing — you saw him with his family — and I would describe him as a person with an alternate history inside him, you know, a person who has turned out one way, who had history gone a different way would seemingly be a different person entirely.
The way you do it, or the way I've tried to do it, is try to get as familiar as I can with what happens to people, and how they create a narrative for themselves in which they're the good guys... and I think that's what Philip K. Dick was writing about — he was writing about what people do in order to get on.
On why he got into theater
[Comedy is] my bag completely, I just don't get to do it very often. Possibly because of my bone structure.
I failed all my auditions for films for a very long time. I say that half-jokingly, but I do have a resistance to people assuming, as they like to with British actors, that theater is my first love. I've had that statement made on my behalf by strangers many many times... Actually, no, it was watching Antony Hopkins on TV when I was young that made me want to be an actor, and then I discovered a love for theater through doing it at college and stuff, but it was always films I wanted to do — but I've kind of changed my mind... I prefer theater now to film, certainly, because I get much better roles.
On whether he'd ever do a mindless comedy
If I had one thing I was good at, it would be comedy. I mean, beware of what actors say they like doing, obviously — it's not always a pleasure to watch people in their dream roles — but for me, it's the one thing that I like doing the most, and I'm probably the best at... So yes, actually, it's my bag completely, I just don't get to do it very often. Possibly because of my bone structure and hair coloring and previous casting.
On his brooding looks
That's more to do with self-consciousness... about your smile in the early years that kind of sets into habit, and the influence of '80s album covers. I would call it my kind of mid-'80s Depeche Mode face, which just happens on instinct. In reality I am possibly one of the least brooding people you will meet. You can see people's disappointment sometimes, when I don't come out of the stage door brooding and silent. I'm a bit of a chatterer, as this interview will attest.Former major league pitcher Roy Halladay has died in a plane crash in the Gulf of Mexico today; the Pasco sheriff’s department confirmed the death. He was the only person on board. Halladay was 40.
According to his Twitter account, Halladay purchased the ICON A5, a small amphibious light-sport aircraft, about a month ago. He posted several videos to Twitter on Oct. 13. He began flight training in the A5 in May of 2016.
Halladay spent 16 seasons in the majors with the Toronto Blue Jays and Philadelphia Phillies. A promising prospect with a decent rookie season, he was so bad in his second major league season with the Blue Jays that he was sent back to the minors. But he reinvented himself and eventually became a six-time All-Star in Toronto, winning the AL Cy Young in 2003.
A trade sent him to Philadelphia before the 2010 season, where Halladay had the finest season of his career: He won the NL Cy Young with a 2.44 ERA over a league-leading 250 2/3 innings. His season included a perfect game in May and a no-hitter in his postseason debut in October. He’d have one more All-Star season in Philadelphia before his career began to come to an end. He ended his career with a 203-105 record and a 3.38 ERA.
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Since retirement, Halladay has been a pitching coach for his sons’ teams and a volunteer instructor with the Phillies. If his tweets are any indication, he’s spent a lot of time flying and fishing over the past few years.
Halladay’s plane, the ICON A5, was first released in 2008. The lead aeronautical engineer on the A5, Jon Karkow, was killed in a crash in May along with a passenger, Cagri Sever. An NTSB report said pilot error was to blame.The criminalising of squatters in Britain is part of a Europe-wide backlash. But with at least 10% of the world population squatting, can they really be a menace to society?
On 26 September, Alex Haigh became the first person to be jailed under section 144 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act. His crime was one of which countless thousands of people could now be guilty: squatting. A 21-year-old from Plymouth, Haigh was arrested for living in a house in Pimlico that had been empty for over a year. He had come to London seeking work as a bricklayer; now he has a criminal record.
When section 144, which makes it an offence to squat in a residential building in England and Wales, came into effect at the beginning of September, many people agreed with it, including 52% of Guardian readers in an online poll. But is squatting really a menace or a burden to society? Might it even be beneficial? And when we talk about squatting, what do we really mean anyway? Those questions are raised again this week, albeit belatedly, by a surprising new adjudicator: Richard Madeley. In Madeley Meets The Squatters, the former breakfast TV maestro turns investigative reporter, visiting squatters and anti-squatters alike, and bringing more nuance to the subject than the current administration did when it drafted section 144.
Grant Shapps, co-chair of the Conservative party, has a very clear idea of what squatters are: they are people who come and steal your home while you are on holiday. Justifying the law change in this paper, Shapps cited some well-publicised recent incidents of homes stolen by squatters, including that of Oliver Cockerell, a Harley Street doctor, which was occupied during renovation work while his wife was pregnant. Dr Cockerell blamed "gangs of anarchists and eastern Europeans". Shapps went on to describe squats as "death traps of despair" and spoke of squatters' lives as "characterised by gloom and anguish". "The gentle and romantic image of communal harmony and a counter-cultural lifestyle is an illusion," he declared.
These negative stories have dismayed many long-term squatters. Take Joe Blake and Reuben Taylor, two squatters in their 20s who live in an abandoned plant nursery near Heathrow airport. Their set-up, Grow Heathrow, is far closer to Shapps' illusory harmonious community than a death trap of despair. In fact, you could call it a squat-topia. Blake and Taylor's group – now numbering 17 or so – cleared their site of 30 tonnes of waste and repaired derelict greenhouses to live in. They grow organic vegetables, which they sell via the local grocer. They hold bicycle workshops, arts and crafts sessions and gardening workshops for the local community. They even do the gardening for the local constituency office. They have displaced no one and the neighbourhood wants them there, since they campaign against the proposed third runway.
It's a frugal existence, mind you. The only electricity is via a wind turbine and solar panels – just enough for music and the internet. It gets bitterly cold in winter. The "shower" is a Heath Robinson-like contraption consisting of a water butt on top of some scaffolding, with pipes leading to an old radiator with a fire underneath it. "We're building a roof for it so we don't get rained on while we're showering," says Blake. It would be very difficult to paint these squatters as a burden to society. They don't even have a carbon footprint.
Grow Heathrow was set up in an abandoned plant nursery near the airport. Photograph: Martin Godwin for the Guardian.
Blake and Taylor are also members of Squatters' Action for Secure Homes, or Squash, a voluntary group that has been leading the campaign against section 144. Most of the governments' arguments for criminalising squatting they can instantly rebut. They say the well-publicised examples of squatters stealing people's homes represent an insignificant proportion of the estimated 20,000 to 50,000 people squatting in the UK, most of whom live in long-term abandoned properties (the government has done no research of its own since 1986). Last month, 160 experts on housing law wrote an open letter complaining that "media and politicians are misleading about law on squatters" and that the existing law was adequate to protect homeowners like Cockerell. In the government's own consultation last year, 96% of respondents agreed that the law did not need changing, including most homeless charities, the Metropolitan Police, the Criminal Bar Association and the Law Society.
"They completely overplayed it," says Blake over a cup of tea in Grow Heathrow's greenhouse kitchen. Shapps and co whipped up a moral panic, aided by sections of the media, then section 144 was "sneaked" through parliament during the bill's last three days, he says. "Squatters aren't very well represented in the media, so you just hear these horror stories in the papers. But most squatters want to stay somewhere for a long time. They don't want to take someone else's home."
"What you don't get is the story about the pregnant squatter who's kicked out on the street," adds Taylor. "Many squatters are homeless and vulnerable."
"From our point of view," Blake continues, "the only people this law protects are property speculators and unscrupulous landlords who are keeping properties empty."
'They're not mafias. They are law-abiding citizens, workers'... squatters in the Dharavi slum in Mumbai. Photograph: Bethany Clarke/Getty Images
Moral panic over squatting is not difficult to engineer, says Dr Hans Pruijt of the Erasmus University, Rotterdam, who has studied squatting across Europe. In the Netherlands, a country with a formerly enlightened squatting tradition, it was outlawed in October 2010, by a very similar process to the UK. In Spain, in the mid-1990s, squatting was tenuously linked to terrorism before being outlawed. It is invariably rightwing governments that push through the laws, Dr Pruijt observes, often on the basis of spurious arguments. "I think it's part of a revanchist mood in politics," he says. "Everything that people hate is blamed on soft, leftwing politics from the 1960s and 70s – migration, squatting, Muslims. So it's revenge against what happened in the past."
Pruijt has identified five basic reasons why people squat: out of deprivation and an immediate need for shelter; as a strategy for pursuing an alternative lifestyle (often by the middle classes); for entrepreneurial reasons, such as setting up a community centre or small business; for conservation reasons; and what he calls "political squatting" – as an arena for confrontation with the state. The categories often overlap, as with Grow Heathrow, but none of them are intrinsically harmful to society, Pruijt says.
Some forms of squatting are demonstrably beneficial. In Dutch there is a word krakers – literally "crackers" – to describe the type of constructive squatter who fixes up damaged buildings. "Squatters quietly restore house" is a story that rarely makes the papers, although in the 70s in Amsterdam, hundreds of squatters moved into and repaired dilapidated buildings in the historic Nieuwmarkt area, and fought to save the neighbourhood from large-scale demolition and redevelopment. It was the beginning of a successful conservation movement in the city. Furthermore, squatters are often involved in activities that bring little financial reward but are often beneficial, Pruijt points out, such as music or art or community projects. In the UK that category now includes teaching, nursing and studying at university.
Some would say all squatting was political, though. Property equals power, and squatting has been historically linked with the struggle of the dispossessed, anti-establishment movements, and the control of space. The practice is as old as the notion of property itself. The origins of "squatters' rights" lie in the ancient, unwritten law that if you could erect a dwelling overnight on a piece of land, it had the right to stay there – similar laws can be found around the world. As such, squatting was one of the processes by which European and even American cities grew, as makeshift settlements became permanent communities, which were often then appropriated by landowners and replaced with something more profitable. Particularly talismanic in the political context was Gerrard Winstanley and his Diggers, who provoked a wave of shortlived Christian communes in the 1640s. Winstanley questioned the very foundations of property ownership, and the class structure that resulted from it.
Those sentiments run through the major postwar squatting movements: communist, anarchist, hippie, environmental. As a student, I squatted for three years in the early 1990s in the Leytonstone area of east London. Even in the halcyon days of student grants, London was expensive and squatting was a cheap option – with countercultural credentials to compensate for the lack of glamour, or hygiene. But there was also a political slant: this was along the route of the proposed M11 link road, which became a flashpoint in the movement against the conservative government's road-building agenda – as personified by celebrity crusty Swampy. We were getting a free place to live, but we were also fighting against the destruction of the community. Events came to a head on my former street, Claremont Road, which became the last, stubborn stronghold against eviction. In December 1994 (when I no longer lived there), it took several hundred police officers several days to remove the non-violent squatter-protesters. The appropriation of space is still a protest tactic, as shown by the Occupy movement today, but their gestures are largely symbolic forms of squatting rather than a long-term strategy.
Squatting as politics... protesters against The M11 In Claremont Road, east London in the early 90s. Photograph: Glenn Copus/Associated Newspapers/Rex Features
But if squatting is on the retreat in Europe, it has exploded in the rest of the world. According to a recent UN estimate, some 800 to 900 million people around the world are technically squatters – over 10% of the world's population. The socio-economic conditions are different: these are overwhelmingly rural migrants settling on the outskirts of cities. But these are still people occupying land |
in any significant sense.
The part of Heller she lovingly quotes explicitly states that the right to keep and bear arms does not, in fact, depend on actual service in the militia at all. It’s good to see Sen. Feinstein willing to walk that back in public.
On the less-funny side, Judge Gorsuch mis-stated the rule from Heller. At no point did the majority hold that firearms are subject to “reasonable regulation.” As scholar David Kopel pointed out in an article for the Volokh Conspiracy in 2010:
Heller never adopted a “reasonable regulation” standard. Heller allows for machine gun bans under [the] theory that they are not part of the Second Amendment (that is, they are not Second Amendment “arms”). Restrictions on gun carrying in “sensitive places” are not explained doctrinally, but they are easily comparable to First Amendment “time, place, and manner” rules. Heller says that concealed carry may be banned; in the states, the dominant theory for this restriction was that concealed carry was not part of the right. Finally, Heller’s allowance for conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of guns was expressed without being described as part of some kind of “reasonableness” test.
In the case Mr. Kopel referenced, McDonald v. Chicago, the Supreme Court majority went out of its way to denigrate the notion made by the city of Chicago’s attorney in oral arguments that states and municipalities could “enact any gun control law that they deem to be reasonable, including a complete ban on the possession of handguns in the home for self-defense.”
Of course, testimony before Congress has about the same precedental value as the Heller dicta about M-16s that Sen. Feinstein quoted: i.e. none whatsoever. And a clever jurist like Judge Gorsuch, who repeatedly stressed that the role of judges was to enforce the law, not legislate from the bench, knows that all too well.
Perhaps Judge Gorsuch was just planting a nice sound-bite for the evening news that also allowed him to control the conversation with the senior Senator from California.
As far as that goes, the Judge sure did look polished, confident, and pleasant, in contrast to his inquisitors, who seemed angry, petty, and tendentious. Certainly, he stayed on the message he laid out in his opening statement, that the role of the judiciary is to apply and enforce the law, and not legislate it from the bench:
When I put on the robe, I’m also reminded that under our Constitution it’s for this body — the people’s representatives — to make new laws, for the executive to make sure those laws are faithfully executed, and for neutral and independent judges to apply the law in the people’s disputes. If judges were just secret legislators, declaring not what the law is but they would like it to be, the very idea of government by the people and for the people would be at risk. And those who came before the court would live in fear, never sure exactly what the law requires of it except for the judge’s will.
We’ll keep listening for more Second Amendment questions as the hearings continue tomorrow.After Detroit Red Wings goaltender Jimmy Howard gave up four goals to the Phoenix Coyotes in a 4-2 Game 3 loss, many are wondering if it's time for coach Mike Babcock to replace him with veteran Chris Osgood.
Though he's been strong in the net all season, critics say, Howard's inexperience places the Detroit at a disadvantage in the postseason.
So who does Fox Sports Detroit's Red Wings announcer Ken Daniels think should start in goal for Game 4?
"Jimmy Howard, and there's no doubt about it," he says on
. Never in question, really. He's got you to this point. Does he have to be better? Yes. The main thing I liked about Jimmy, he owned the bad goals – 'untimely goals,' he said.
"He owns them. He said he should've had them, and he knows it.
"
This
is the turning point in the series.
This
is what we've talked about all year: 'Jimmy Howard up for the Calder Trophy. Jimmy Howard's had a great season. Boy, he's got them through there in big games. These guys played playoff hockey down the stretch.'
"Uh-uh. There's no playoff hockey until (the) playoffs start. And
this
is where you see how Jimmy Howard bounces back from a bad game."
Hear Daniels talk about where the Red Wings need to improve, defensively, to help support Howard:At 3:15 on the morning of March 13, 1964, a 28-year-old bar manager named Kitty Genovese drove her red Fiat into the parking lot of the LIRR station by her Kew Gardens home.
As she walked home — she was only about “a hundred paces away” from the apartment she shared with her girlfriend, Mary Ann Zielonko — she heard a man’s footsteps close behind her. She ran, but the man, Winston Moseley, was too quick. He caught her, slammed her to the ground and stabbed her twice in the back. She screamed twice, once yelling, “Oh, God! I’ve been stabbed!”
Across the street, a man named Robert Mozer heard Genovese from his apartment. Looking out his seventh-floor window, he saw a man and a woman, sensed an altercation — he couldn’t see exactly what was happening — and yelled out his window, “Leave that girl alone!”
Moseley later testified that Mozer’s action “frightened” him, sending him back to his car. At this point, Genovese was still alive, her wounds nonfatal.
Fourteen-year-old Michael Hoffman, who lived in the same building as Mozer, also heard the commotion. He looked out his window and told his father, Samuel, what he saw. Samuel called the police, and after three or four minutes on hold, he reached a police dispatcher. He related that a woman “got beat up and was staggering around,” and gave them the location.
Other neighbors heard something as well, but it wasn’t always clear what. Some looked out the window to see Moseley scurrying away, or Genovese, having stood up, now walking slowly down the block, leaning against a building. From their vantage point, it wasn’t obvious that she was wounded. Others who looked didn’t see her at all, as Genovese walked around a corner, trying to make her way home at 82-70 Austin St.
But the police did not respond to Samuel Hoffman’s call, and Moseley, seeing no help was imminent, returned. He hunted down Genovese — who had made it to a vestibule in her building before collapsing — stabbed her several more times, then raped her.
Word of the attack spread though the building. A woman named Sophie Farrar, all of 4-foot-11, rushed to the vestibule, risking her life in the process. For all she knew, the attacker might have still been there. As luck would have it, he was not, and Farrar hugged and cradled the bloodied Genovese, who was struggling for breath.
Despite the attempts of various neighbors to help, Moseley’s final stab wounds proved fatal, and Farrar did her best to comfort Genovese in the nightmarish final minutes of her life.
The murder of Kitty Genovese shifted from crime to legend a few weeks later, when The New York Times erroneously reported that 38 of her neighbors had seen the attack and watched it unfold without calling for help.
The Times piece was followed by a story in Life magazine, and the narrative spread throughout the world, running in newspapers from Russia and Japan to the Middle East.
New York became internationally infamous as a city filled with thoughtless people who didn’t care about one another; where people could watch their neighbors get stabbed on the street without lifting a finger to help, leaving them to die instead in a pool of their own blood.
The people of Kew Gardens — before that, a relatively crime-free neighborhood where few bothered locking their doors — were referred to in the press as monsters.
But as journalist Kevin Cook details in his new book, “Kitty Genovese: The Murder, the Bystanders, the Crime that Changed America” (W.W. Norton), some of the real thoughtlessness came from a police commissioner who lazily passed a falsehood to a journalist, and a media that fell so deeply in love with a story that it couldn’t be bothered to determine whether it was true.
The account of the murder at the top of this story is accurate, based on Cook’s reporting. Instead of a narrative of apathy, the media could have told instead of the people who tried to help, and of the complex circumstances — many boiling down to a lack not of compassion, but of information — that prevented some others from calling for aid.
One could argue that Genovese became a legend not on the day she was killed, but 10 days later, when New York City Police Commissioner Michael “Bull” Murphy had lunch with The New York Times’ new city editor — later to become the paper’s executive editor — Abe Rosenthal.
After Rosenthal brought up a case Murphy wished to avoid discussing, the commissioner pivoted to the Genovese case.
“Brother, that Queens story is one for the books. Thirty-eight witnesses,” Murphy said. “I’ve been in this business a long time, but this beats everything.”
“Rosenthal felt a spark running up and down the back of his neck,” writes Cook, “the spine-tingling sense that he was onto a story readers would never forget.”
By this point, coverage of the murder had been minor, mostly stories buried deep inside the paper.
Rosenthal assigned a reporter named Martin Gansberg to dig deeper, and Gansberg interviewed Genovese’s neighbors for three days before the Times ran his front-page story on March 27.
The article began as follows:
“For more than half an hour 38 respectable, law-abiding citizens in Queens watched a killer stalk and stab a woman in three separate attacks in Kew Gardens.”
Cook and others speculate that the story’s first paragraph was written by Rosenthal.
The story made the Genovese murder front-page news around the world. People began wondering aloud how society had fallen so far, and letters to the editors at various newspapers blamed everything from television to the “women’s-lib movement.”
But while journalists welcomed to opportunity to moralize, pontificate, and cement New York City’s reputation as the new hell on earth, not one could be bothered to check the facts.
Cook’s research for this book included reading the detectives’ report on the Genovese investigation. The report had 38 entries.
“The document lists 49 witnesses who saw or heard something on the night Kitty died. Sixteen were eyewitnesses,” he writes.
Cook notes that neither of these numbers are complete, as key witnesses are missing. “It was a roundup of interviews with many of Kitty’s neighbors,” he writes, “not a definitive account of anything.” And each individual entry in the report was structured differently, with some containing a detective’s interviews with multiple witnesses.
“In all likelihood,” Cook writes, “someone in the Police Department counted the entries and passed the total on to Commissioner Murphy, who passed it on to Rosenthal. An innocent mistake, possibly made in a hurry. A clerical error.”
While this “clerical error” turned the world on its head, leading to a neighborhood being ostracized and a major city redefined, the number, 38, was “so arbitrary that Murphy may as well have picked it out of a hat.” (The Times also erred in citing three separate attacks, as there were only two.)
As for the other mistaken belief that was treated as fact — that none of Genovese’s neighbors tried to help in any way, including calling the police — this information was fed to a Life magazine reporter by a New York City police lieutenant. There’s no telling why the lieutenant believed this was true.
The tale of uncaring neighbors was not completely false. There are two men who certainly watched the crime happen and did nothing.
Joseph Fink was an assistant superintendent at the building across the street from Genovese’s. Stationed in the building’s lobby, he had a clear view of the first stabbing, and later told prosecutors that he “thought about going downstairs to get my baseball bat,” but took a nap instead. When asked by the prosecutor why he didn’t help, he shrugged. Another prosecutor later said, “It made me sick to my stomach dealing with this man.”
The other thoughtless witness was Karl Ross, a dog groomer who lived two doors down from Genovese and Zielonko. Ross was a friend who would often care for Genovese’s dog, which he had sold her, and also frequently came by to drink and chat.
Ross was, according to Zielonko, a “very nervous, frightened person.” He was also usually accompanied by a bottle of vodka. When Genovese and Zielonko spoke of him, they thought of him as “scared of his shadow, trying to drink his fears away.”
Genovese would learn the hard way just how true this was.
As was his habit, Ross had been drinking the night of the murder. At 3:30 a.m., he heard a noise outside his window that sounded like a woman screaming.
“Skittish by nature, the groggy Ross wasn’t eager to find out what was happening,” Cook writes. “He stayed where he was. He waited, hoping the noises would stop. Soon they died down. He relaxed.”
But a few minutes later, a similar noise arose, this one closer, possibly “a scuffling” or “a muffled cry.”
“Ross stood by his door but didn’t open it,” Cook writes. “He paced behind it, wondering what he should do. At last his curiosity got the best of him. He opened the door a crack.”
What he saw was Genovese, his friend, “lying flat on her back... trying to speak” as Moseley continued stabbing her. Suddenly, Moseley stopped — and looked directly at Ross, who retreated into his apartment as quickly as possible.
Instead of calling the police, Ross wasted time calling other neighbors for advice, and they, for reasons unclear, then called others. It was a fatal game of telephone that wasted precious minutes, until Farrar finally yelled at Ross to call the police while she rushed to comfort the victim. Ross called at 3:55, too late to save Genovese’s life.
When the police questioned him about why he didn’t help, Ross inadvertently invented a phrase that would come to symbolize civic apathy, telling them, “I didn’t want to get involved.”
Disgracefully, after his questioning, Ross brought a bottle to a heartbroken Zielonko and drank with her, mentioning nothing of how he could have saved her girlfriend’s life.
But there were not 38 witnesses who did nothing. Not even close. For the reprehensible actions of Fink and Ross, an entire city was tarred.
The effects of the Genovese murder were vast, including the adoption of good Samaritan laws nationwide, and the discovery of the bystander effect, which showed that people are unlikely to help someone if they think others are available to do so.
Winston Moseley was found guilty of Genovese’s murder. He was initially sentenced to death, but that was commuted several years later and changed to life in prison, where he remains today. At 78, no living inmate has spent more time in the New York prison system.
Today, the Genovese case is remembered, correctly or otherwise, as a touchstone for the decline of polite society, and for igniting several of the darkest decades in New York City history.
As one Kew Gardens resident said on the crime’s 25th anniversary, “No death that has come since can compare to it. That’s where things changed — the beginning of the end of decency.”The Ensamble de Trombones y Tubas de Aguascalientes will be presenting two concerts in conjunction with International Trombone Week Wednesday April 13 at the Universidad Autónoma de Aguascalientes and Thursday at the Caja Negra in the Universidad de las Artes. The program will feature Beethoven Three Equale, Mozart Ave Verum Corpus, Haydn “Achieved is the Glorious Work”, Howard Buss arrangement of Dry Bones, among other standard works for trombone choir.
The Ensamble de Trombones y Tubas de Aguascalientes was founded in 2007 and has played an important part in the cultural life of Aguascalientes for the last few years. Several former members of this group have gone on to important performing and teaching positions in other parts of Mexico and others have gone on to contunue their studies abroad. The ETTA has performed at several important venues, including 2013 National Trombone Week and the 2013 and 2014 Aguascalientes Chamber Music Festivals. The group’s recent You Tube video, “A Song For Middletown” has been broadcast frequently on local radio in Lake County, California in the wake of the Valley Fire recovery.
Time: 6:00 pm Wednesday, 7:00 pm Thursday
Location:
Universidad Autonoma de Aguascalientes, Caja Negra, Universidad de las Artes
Cost:free
Telephone: +52-449-971-4376
Website: https://www.facebook.com/EnsambledeTrombonesdeAguascalientes/The Fasting 5K: No Food, No Water, No Problem For Muslim Runners
Enlarge this image toggle caption Rund Abdelfatah/NPR Rund Abdelfatah/NPR
With the sun lingering on the horizon and the Capitol in the distance, runner after runner completed a 3-mile loop around the National Mall and was met with cheers and high-fives. Standing in two parallel lines with hands outstretched, the crowd of mostly 20-somethings formed a celebratory human bridge for their fellow runners to pass under as they crossed the finish line.
In five cities across America on Saturday — D.C., Boston, New York, Houston and Huntington Beach in Southern California — runners wearing bright red t-shirts with the words "Fasting 5K" raced to the finish line at sunset. Tired and thirsty, they were still full of energy.
"The best part about it is just running with everyone," says Nasif Ahmed, 23, a recent graduate of the University of Maryland. "You know you've got some partners along with you, and towards the end it's just really gratifying."
But unlike most races, there was no carbo-loading or chugging water before this 5K: All of the runners were fasting for Ramadan. During this holy month, observant Muslims refrain from eating or drinking from sunrise to sunset.
It might sound crazy to run while fasting, but one of the race co-founders, Viqar Hussain, says that's kind of the point.
"We were hoping that everyone's first response is, 'You're crazy,' and that statement of 'you're crazy' would motivate them to pull out their wallet and donate," Hussain says. "To be able to fast those long days is an accomplishment in itself. To be able to do that and run a 5K, it just shows a huge commitment."
The idea for the race came to a group of young Muslims in Boston last year while on a midnight bike ride through the city. Hussain, along with five friends, played flag football every Sunday. Ramadan made it hard for them to get together in the middle of the day — in the heat — to play.
So instead they would ride their bikes around at night after they had broken their fast. One of those nights, they came up with the 5K idea.
"This was a way for us to have an impact, and to let everyone know that there are a ton of Boston Muslims that are passionate about running and passionate about raising awareness about Islam, and what fasting and Muslims and Ramadan is all about," Hussain says.
Thanks to social media, word traveled fast, and within two weeks they had organized the first Fasting 5K in Boston, with 34 runners raising $15,000 for a local charity. Now, just one year later, the Fasting 5K has spread to other cities, with more than 130 runners participating and $25,000 in donations.
All of the proceeds go towards youth development and education programs, both local and global. The project is run by youth and raises funds for youth, which could bridge an important cultural gap for young Muslim Americans.
"It's a mix and a clash between all the different cultures that the first and second generation youth have," says Hussain. "Youth are the ones that best understand that. For anyone who has gone through it, especially in high school and college, being able to turn around and garner support for the current youth that are going through it, that's huge. It's a simple race that we're doing, but I think it's symbolic of what the cultures bring together."
This sense of community was apparent after the race, as the sun began to set. Runners were given goodie bags with dates, water and nutrition bars.
They all prayed together and sat down to share iftar, or breaking of the fast. Chatter and laughter resonated against the backdrop of the National Mall, and runners shared a sense of gratitude for the meal in front of them and the hunger they no longer felt.
Hussain says he and other organizers would like to expand the Fasting 5K even further and make it an annual tradition.Three countries have caught five institutions with their hands in the till. Banking is rotten to the core, but flattering pre-crisis ideas about its role have proved remarkably hard to shift
Seven years on from the credit crunch, it is plain that the bankers entranced the world with ideology – in the Marxian sense, of ideas that exist to further interests. They may have been fabulously wealthy, but only because they were doing fabulously clever things. Clueless politicians would meddle at their peril.
The intellectual intimidation was such that when Northern Rock cracked, as a result of spectacularly stupid decisions, a Labour government wasted months trying to avoid nationalisation and leave private-sector practioners of the failing witchcraft in charge. A year later, a Republican White House was bailing out banks in Washington while London was buying up Britain’s biggest financial institutions. Yet these disaster responses came coupled with a commitment to leave experienced money men at the helm. It was, we heard, imperative that the taxpayer-owned RBS would be run as a quasi-commercial outfit, arms-length from the dead hand of government.
The mystique of financiers could survive catastrophe because few had any idea what they were up to. Politicians could look up derivatives and credit default swaps in finance books, but found definitions that mixed baffling explanation with justification about how these things were supposed to facilitate investment and spread risk. The whole economy had been caught uninsured, and investment was on the floor, but no matter. The bankers were obviously doing something significant to amass such fortunes, and politicians felt that they had to hold back from interfering, until they understood what that something was.
Slowly but surely, ugly truths are emerging about how the money was made. Banking profits owe less to mastery of fiendish theories about optimal risk allocation or anything else, and more to an old-fashioned case of what Adam Smith called “a conspiracy against the public”. There has been skullduggery on an industrial scale, from the laundering of Mexican drug funds to aggressive peddling of useless payment protection. A lodestar of the financial universe, the so-called Libor rate, turned out not, after all, to be set by vast, impersonal market forces, but instead shifted around by a few rogues. Wednesday brought another multibillion pound fine – this one served by UK, US and Swiss regulators on five giant banks – for rigging foreign exchange trades.
As ever, there is a certain intrigue over how it was possible to diddle a market with a $5tn daily turnover by sending sly messages just before the “4pm fix”, but three other things are more significant. First, the hundreds of pages of chatroom exchanges which reveal how deeply such cheating is embedded within the culture. Second, the brute fact that this particular form of cheating is squarely at the expense of the customer. Finally, the breathtaking reality that foreign exchange has remained unregulated. The Bank of England official who was dismissed on Tuesday was cleared of “bad faith”, but may not have understood the tip-offs he was given and failed to pass these on. The fines – for misdemeanours that continued until October 2013 – were not for breaking specific rules, because no such rules exist, but only for a more general failure to maintain standards.
The industry is rotten to the core. But six years after Lehman toppled, and two years after Bob Diamond was forced out of Barclays amid the Libor scandal, the protective overgrowth of ideology is still not cleared.Mitt Romney’s speech at VMI on foreign policy has been widely condemned as vague and lacking in substance, sort of like the man who gave it. But the speech is also full of suggestions and criticisms of the Obama administration that are simply not realistic. The speech is Romney’s “Mission Impossible,” only without the cool theme music and also without a prayer of being actually achievable short of launching a series of 5 wars. I’ve decided that my initial assumption that a businessman of Romney’s experience must know something about the world was dead wrong. Apparently it is possible to sit in cushy big offices in companies like Bain, and to remain completely ignorant of foreign affairs. Romney’s speeches are all just a replaying for us of the prejudices of CEOs when they play golf together and complain vaguely about the Chinese, Russians, Arabs, and so forth. Or, maybe Romney has gotten so many campaign contributions from arms manufacturers that he can’t help see foreign affairs through the lens of new wars he wants to fight.
1. The First War: Return to Iraq
Romney wants to send US troops back into Iraq and complained again about Obama’s “abrupt” withdrawal from that country. I don’t know how many ways there are of saying this, but it was from the beginning absolutely impossible for US troops to remain in Iraq legally. Romney apparently let Dan Senor, Bremer’s Neocon spokesman who came out to lie to us every day in Baghdad, write the following paragraph:
: “In Iraq, the costly gains made by our troops are being eroded by rising violence, a resurgent Al-Qaeda, the weakening of democracy in Baghdad, and the rising influence of Iran. And yet, America’s ability to influence events for the better in Iraq has been undermined by the abrupt withdrawal of our entire troop presence. The President tried—and failed—to secure a responsible and gradual drawdown that would have better secured our gains.”
Romney’s premise, that the US military in Iraq had some sort of ‘achievement’ that is in danger of being lost now that it is out of the country is ridiculous. The United States launched an illegal war of aggression on Iraq that virtually destroyed the country and kicked off a power vacuum that eventuated in a civil war that still continues at a low level. In 2006 when there were over 150,000 US troops in Iraq, in some months the death toll from political violence was 2500. That doesn’t even count all the armed Iraqis the US military was killing. The United States military never controlled Iraq and could never prevent bombings and attacks. When the US troops stopped patrolling major cities, the death toll promptly fell, because guerrillas were no longer setting improvised explosive devices to hit US convoys– operations that often wounded Iraqi by-standers as well.
In August, 2012, the death toll from political violence in Iraq was 164, half what it had been in July, after a crackdown by Iraqi army and police. So Romney is just wrong that there is some sort of secular trend in Iraq toward the kind of violence that had racked the country half a decade ago, and it is wrong to think that the US military was anyway primarily responsible for the end of the mass killings. What appears to have happened is that in 2006-2007, Iraqis living in mixed neighborhoods having both Sunnis and Shiites ethnically cleansed one another. Once the neighborhoods were mostly only one sect, the killing subsided (you’d have to get in your car and drive a while to find someone of a different persuasion to kill). That wasn’t a US achievement, it was a US failure!
By the way, it seems likely that more people are still being killed monthly in Mexico’s drug war than die in Iraq of sectarian strife. Does Mr. Romney want to put Woodrow Wilson’s troops back into Mexico along with W.’s troops in Iraq?
It was the then leader of the Republican Party, George W. Bush, who negotiated the December 31, 2011, deadline for withdrawing US troops from Iraq with the Iraqi parliament. Obama simply implemented the agreement Bush signed. The reason the accord had to be worked out with the Iraqi parliament was that Bush wanted to be sure that US officers and troops could not be prosecuted for military actions they undertook in Iraq. The only way to forestall such prosecutions was a bilateral agreement authorizing US troops to fight in Iraq, and signed by the Iraqi government. Simply negotiating it with the prime minister would not have made it legally solid enough to protect the troops. Their presence had to be authorized by the Iraqi legislature. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was barely able to get the agreement passed, and only succeeded because it seemed to a lot of members of parliament their best bet for ushering US troops out of the country.
For that agreement to be renegotiated so that US combat units remained in Iraq would have required another vote of parliament. The Iraqi parliament is dominated by Shiites, along with Sunnis and a minority of Kurds. The Kurds were the only group that might have voted to keep US troops in the country, and they just don’t have that many seats. The Islamic Mission (Da’wa) Party of al-Maliki, the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, and the Sadrists or followers of Muqtada al-Sadr, dominate parliament, along with Sunni nationalists. None of them wanted US troops in their country in the first place. They would never, ever have voted for a continued US troop presence in Iraq, and there would have been no way for Romney to make them do so if he had been president. His snide implication that Obama had a shot at this endeavor, and took it and missed, is just inside the beltway wishful thinking.
Guys! The Iraqis don’t like you. They didn’t want you in their country. They didn’t give you candy or put garlands around your neck. They killed over 4,000 of your troops, hundreds more of your contractors, and only failed to kill more because they were poorly armed compared to you.
After 8 years of ‘shaping’ Iraq, you got a Shiite government allied with Iran and Syria, the leader of which is now in Moscow seeking a $5 billion arms deal from Mr. Putin, so as to become more independent of the US. That was your best shot at empire, with hundreds of thousands of troops cycling through and a trillion dollars to play with, and it didn’t work. Because in today’s world it doesn’t work. Political-military empire is over. People are mobilized.
The only way for the US to dominate Iraq any more would be to re-invade the country, which would be Romney’s first war.
2. War number 2: Syria
Romney apparently wants to get deeply involved in the civil war in Syria. It is not clear why, except that he wants to differentiate himself from Obama. On Libya, he had grudgingly accepted the no-fly zone but called anything beyond that ‘mission creep’ and ‘mission muddle,’ and he thought too many resources were going into overthrowing Gaddafi. But apparently he isn’t afraid of mission creep were he to put his hand into the Syrian beehive. He said,
“The President has failed to lead in Syria, where more than 30,000 men, women, and children have been massacred by the Assad regime over the past 20 months. Violent extremists are flowing into the fight. Our ally Turkey has been attacked. And the conflict threatens stability in the region.”
He goes on to say later in the speech,
“we are missing an historic opportunity to win new friends who share our values in the Middle East—friends who are fighting for their own futures against the very same violent extremists, and evil tyrants, and angry mobs who seek to harm us. Unfortunately, so many of these people who could be our friends feel that our President is indifferent to their quest for freedom and dignity. As one Syrian woman put it, “We will not forget that you forgot about us.” It is time to change course in the Middle East... “
“In Syria, I will work with our partners to identify and organize those members of the opposition who share our values and ensure they obtain the arms they need to defeat Assad’s tanks, helicopters, and fighter jets.”
So, it seems clear that Romney wants to “lead” in Syria, i.e., get involved in the war there.
But the reason that not only Obama but the entirety of Europe has declined to get involved in Syria is that there is no UN Security Council resolution authorizing the use of force. In its absence, any army that used force except in self defense would be open to being hauled before judges in the Hague or judges in some country where the judiciary claims universal jurisdiction.
If the US went into Syria unilaterally, the same thing would happen to Romney as happened to Bush– the US would bear all the costs and would gradually become isolated and alone in the enterprise. As for fearing that people won’t forget that the US did not come to their aid, you could equally fear all the people who will be upset that the US intervened militarily, or you could fear ingratitude even if we did intervene (there are lots of examples of both).
3. The Third War is with Iran
Romney couldn’t stop Iran’s nuclear enrichment program if he were president, any more than Obama can. That step would require an invasion and occupation of the country. Simply bombing the facilities would only briefly set them back.
Romney said,
“I will put the leaders of Iran on notice that the United States and our friends and allies will prevent them from acquiring nuclear weapons capability. I will not hesitate to impose new sanctions on Iran, and will tighten the sanctions we currently have. I will restore the permanent presence of aircraft carrier task forces in both the Eastern Mediterranean and the Gulf region—and work with Israel to increase our military assistance and coordination. For the sake of peace, we must make clear to Iran through actions—not just words—that their nuclear pursuit will not be tolerated. I will reaffirm our historic ties to Israel and our abiding commitment to its security—the world must never see any daylight between our two nations. I will deepen our critical cooperation with our partners in the Gulf. “
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But close cooperation with Israel against Iran would ensure that none of our Arab allies would be willing to associate themselves with such a campaign. There is a reason that George H. W. Bush kept PM Yitzhak Shamir out of the Gulf War.
And, Romney can’t tighten sanctions on Iran any further without going all the way to an actual naval blockade of Iranian commerce. The US already has a financial blockade against Iran. Blockades, like ultimatums, cause wars. Countries threatened with strangulation frequently strike out. Even more stringent sanctions and blockades risk pushing Iran into reacting violently for self-preservation.
4. The fourth war is in Afghanistan. Although Romney said he would wind down the war there by 2014, just as Obama has pledged, he intended to ‘remain strong’ and to ‘consult our military,’ i.e. he implicitly is reopening the question of the US withdrawal from that country. He said,
“President Obama would have you believe that anyone who disagrees with his decisions in Afghanistan is arguing for endless war. But the route to more war – and to potential attacks here at home – is a politically timed retreat that abandons the Afghan people to the same extremists who ravaged their country and used it to launch the attacks of 9/11. I will evaluate conditions on the ground and weigh the best advice of our military commanders. And I will affirm that my duty is not to my political prospects, but to the security of the nation. ”
There is no reason for Romney to bring up his political prospects being damaged unless he is considering reneging on Obama’s pledge to get out of Afghanistan. Likewise, that is implied by his reference to ‘evaluating conditions on the ground’ and taking ‘the best advice of our military commanders.’
On Afghanistan, Romney is pulling an anti-Nixon. He appears to have a secret plan not to end the war in Afghanistan.
5. The small wars: Intervention in Yemen, Somalia, perhaps even Libya in a ‘war on terror.’
The US has hit Yemen and Somalia with drone strikes and is occasionally kind of at war in those countries, though it is a desultory, occasional, and limited sort of conflict.
Romney says that drones are not enough. What would you use in such conflicts besides drones? Infantry? The implication of being ‘more forceful’ and dismissing drone strikes is that you would support the insertion of troops into those conflicts.
Romney’s various wars would, if pursued, bankrupt the country and cause more backlash and terrorism against the United States. Romney thinks that US prestige flows from strength, defined as military might.
But in fact what people in the Middle East admire about the US is its values, such as democracy and the rule of law. They hate our military hubris and still have not forgiven us for what we did to Iraq.
The only positive thing about Romney’s speech was his commitment to getting a two-state solution, with a Palestinian state alongside Israel. Unfortunately, we know from his leaked fundraiser recording of last May that he intends to ‘kick the can down the road’ on the Israel-Palestine issues, and that he does not trust the Palestinians with a state. So that positive language is just lies.
Four or five wars and lots of other conflicts are not a foreign policy vision, they are a nightmare.The power of the president of the United States isn’t limitless when it comes to foreign policy, but it’s close. Congress controls budgets and courts can block executive overreach, but those are reactions, not constraints. In a sense, the president has first-strike capability and that fact has substantively changed the job over the course of the last decade. Neither Donald Trump nor Hillary Clinton would be able to start a land war in Asia without public support, but — make no mistake — they could absolutely go to battle.
Two trends – each of which have come to define the modern U.S. military – have increased the already awesome powers of the executive branch. The first is the military’s heavy reliance on private contractors to perform jobs and services that once would have been carried out by U.S. troops. The second is the institutionalization of drones to carry about targeted and semi |
activity (activity metabolism)
energy to keep you alive at rest (basal metabolic rate)
energy added to the body like amino acids to muscle, and fat to fat tissues
And less obvious things like:
energy lost in waste (feces and urine)
energy used to digest the food you eat
Energy in seems simple: How many calories were in the spinach salad, bagel or ice cream sandwich you ate?
Turns out, energy in is just as complex as energy out, because of the energy cost of digesting food.
Digesting food costs energy
Ever wonder how celery has negative calories? It takes more energy to break down and absorb the celery than the celery contains.
Eating costs calories: calories to chew, swallow, churn the stomach, make the acid in the stomach, make the enzymes, to make the rhythmic muscular contractions known as peristalsis that drive the food through, and so forth.
Scientists have three names for this phenomenon:
dietary-induced thermogenesis (DIT); thermal effect of food (TEF); or specific dynamic action (SDA).
On average, a person uses about 10% of their daily energy expenditure digesting and absorbing food, but this percentage changes depending on the type of food you eat.
Protein takes the most energy to digest (20-30% of total calories in protein eaten go to digesting it). Next is carbohydrates (5-10%) and then fats (0-3%).
Thus, if you eat 100 calories from protein, your body uses 20-30 of those calories to digest and absorb the protein. You’d be left with a net 70-80 calories. Pure carbohydrate would leave you with a net 90-95 calories, and fat would give you a net 97-100 calories.
Hmm. Maybe “a calorie is a calorie” doesn’t hold up after all.
Research question
In the study I’m reviewing this week it seems that not only does macronutrient content change TEF, but processing changes TEF.
Barr SB and Wright JC.Postprandial energy expenditure in whole-food and processed-food meals: implications for daily energy expenditure. Food Nutr Res. 2010 Jul 2;54. doi: 10.3402/fnr.v54i0.5144.
Methods
The study compared what happened when 17 volunteers ate a whole food meal versus a processed food meal. Volunteers were all of normal weight, and about 25 years old. Half were women.
The meals
The researchers use the term meals rather loosely, since these meals were cheese sandwiches. In this study, the metabolic impact of whole food sandwiches made of multi-grain bread and real cheddar cheese were compared to processed food sandwiches that were made with white bread and processed cheese product.
Though the researches call the sandwiches whole food and processed food, both are processed, but just to a different degree.
Table 1: Energy composition of the two test meals, 800 kcal portions
Whole food meal Processed food meal Serving 2 sandwiches 2 sandwiches kcal 800 (3,360 kJ) 800 (3,360 kJ) Total fat 35 g (39%) 29 g (33%) Total carbohydrate 80 g (40%) 99 g (50%) Dietary fiber 12 g <6 g Sugars 16 g 16.5 g Protein 40 g (20%) 30 g (15%) Total dry weight 154 g 158 g
Table 2: Energy composition of the two test meals, 600 kcal portions
Whole food meal Processed food meal Serving 1½ sandwiches 1½ sandwiches kcal 600 (2,520 kJ) 600 (2,520 kJ) Total fat 26 g (39%) 22 g (33%) Total carbohydrate 60 g (40%) 74 g (49%) Dietary fiber 9 g <4.5 g Sugars 12 g 12.4 g Protein 30 g (20%) 23 g (15%) Total dry weight 116 g 119 g
Table 3 lists the ingredients for cheese and bread in the whole and processed sandwiches.
I don’t really think I’d call either of these “whole” foods. While the whole food sandwich has fewer unnecessary ingredients like the annatto (vegetable color) in the cheese, and guar gum in the bread, it also contains brown sugar, vegetable oils, and soy lecithin.
The “whole” food example could certainly be better, but on the other hand, it’s kind of hard to fool people about what they’re eating to keep them unbiased when the choice is an apple (whole) versus apple juice (processed). So perhaps this was the best-possible option.
Table 3: Cheese and bread ingredients
BreadStone-ground whole wheat flour, water, brown sugar, wheat gluten, yeast, contains 2% or less of each of the following: vegetable oil (soybean and or/cottonseed oils), whole wheat, sunflower seeds, rye, cultured wheat flour, salt, raisin juice concentrate, oats, barley, corn, millet, triticale, distilled vinegar, guar gum, enzymes, enzyme-modified soy lecithin, wheat bran, soy flour.Unbleached enriched flour [wheat flour, malted barley flour, reduced iron, niacin, thiamin mononitrate (vitamin B1), riboflavin (vitamin B2), folic acid], water, high fructose corn syrup, yeast, soybean oil, salt, wheat gluten, calcium propionate (preservative), monoglycerides, datem, ascorbic acid (dough conditioner), soy lecithin. Whole Processed Cheese Pasteurized milk, cheese culture, salt, enzymes, annatto (vegetable color), Natamycin (A natural mold inhibitor). Milk, whey, milkfat, milk protein concentrate, salt, calcium phosphate, sodium citrate, whey protein concentrate, sodium phosphate, sorbic acid as a preservative, apocarotenal (color), annatto (color), enzymes, vitamin D3, cheese culture.
Eating and energy
After not eating for 12 hours (overnight), researchers measured the volunteers’ basal metabolic rate using oxygen consumption.
Then the volunteers were randomly given either a processed food sandwich or whole food sandwich (portion size was up to the volunteer). Then volunteers’ metabolic rate was measured every hour for six hours after the sandwich (1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 hours post-sandwich).
2-6 days later, volunteers came back into the lab and did exactly the same thing, but with the other sandwich.
Results
People tend to think healthier food tastes worse than less health food, but in this study the volunteers rated the whole food sandwiches as more palatable (6.5/10) compared to the processed food sandwiches (4.9/10), with no differences in how energetic they felt after eating the two sandwiches. And they felt no differences in fullness aka satiety (see Figure 1).
However, eating whole food took 46.8% more energy to digest on average than processed food!
The total energy (TEF) needed to digest and absorb a whole food sandwich was 576 kJ. The TEF for the processed food sandwich was 310 kJ.
Figure 2 gives you a hour-by-hour average increase in metabolic rate from basal metabolic rate over 6 hours after eating the sandwiches.
Figure 1: How satisfying are processed foods (open triangles) vs. whole foods (white squares)? Figure 2: Changes in BMR over time in processed foods (open triangles) vs. whole foods (white squares)
What explains the differences?
Protein and fiber play a part.
In Table 1 above, we can see that the whole food sandwich had more had more protein (40 g) and fiber(12 g) than the processed food sandwich (30g protein and <6 g fiber). This explains the differences in TEF between sandwiches, but not entirely.
Conclusions
As Dr. Mark Haub showed, you can lose weight eating processed junk food. But he could have eaten a lot more whole food (that had important nutrients) and lost the same amount of weight.
If you didn’t have enough reasons to avoid processed food when losing weight, add reduced thermal effect of food to the list.
Processed food takes less energy to digest and absorb compared to whole foods, so 100 calories of processed food ends up being more net calories than 100 calories of whole food.
If you’re trying to lose weight, eat whole foods. If you’re trying to gain weight (such as you Scrawny to Brawny guys), you may find that you need to include a little more processed food for a while.
Bottom line
What is truly “whole” food?
When judging what’s “whole” and “processed” foods, ask yourself:
What’s on the ingredient list?
Do I recognize all these things?
How many steps did this food take to get to me?
Does this food come in a bag, box, or can?
For a real eye-opener, next time you’re at the grocery store, take a look at the ingredients of a few different brands of yogurt and compare the ingredients. Good quality plain yogurt will have two ingredients: milk and bacteria. Other so-called yogurts will have things like sodium citrate, corn starch, gelatin, pectin, calcium phosphate, potassium phosphate and sodium phosphate.
By the way, you might also be surprised to see what is in cream. Yep, plain old cream is often actually milk with cheap emulsifiers and sweeteners such as dextrose.
Read labels and buyer beware!
And if your food normally comes in a tube… well, you might consider learning a few new cooking skills.
Eat, move, and live…better.
The health and fitness world can sometimes be a confusing place. But it doesn’t have to be.
Let us help you make sense of it all with this free special report.
In it you’ll learn the best eating, exercise, and lifestyle strategies – unique and personal – for you.
Click here to download the special report, for free.Did you know that everything you do online is monitored, controlled and being tracked? It’s like you’re always being watched with security cameras, all the time, whenever you do and whenever you are, even at your own home.
Sounds ridiculous right? Well, unfortunately it’s true and your personal information, all the data about you is in a big danger, watched by people you don’t even know or have any control over.
The first question comes to your mind, who are those people and why they do it? Let me answer it simply and easily, your internet service provider(ISP) tracks you all the time and their employees look at every site or page you visit with your internet connected device, whenever it’s PC, mobile, TV or even PlayStation.
They do this to control their bandwidth usage, have overall analytics on how people use their network and based on this make some changes and improvements to their services and packages they offer you. Still, having your identification data lets them track you and save all online data about you and unfortunately there isn’t a way to prevent them doing it with legal cases – they have all the rights.
Fortunately, there is a good way to prevent this from happening by using your very own Virtual Private Network where you take all the control and doesn’t allow anyone to know what you do and why. This may sound like something too hard and expensive but thanks to modern technologies actually it’s quite cheap and easy to set up service.
The service is called VPN for short and all you need is install a single app in your device and turn it on.
VPN prices depend on countries and regions a lot, but generally, VPN service is cheap but offers a lot of worthy protection.
Some countries have few options available for VPN, depending on internet accessibility and several factors, but if you live in a well-developed country like the United States or Canada, it’s easy to find best vpn service Canada & America has to offer at a very reasonable price.
Before you choose the best service provider for you, it’s very useful to understand the basics of how Virtual Private Network works and what advantages and disadvantages it has. All this information will help you to decide which provider is the best for you.
VPN works simply by getting your browser requests to their secure server, encrypt it and send to the original server (the server of the website you were accessing to).
This way VPN server acts as a shield between your internet browser and your internet service provider, hiding actual info and data from your ISP and sending encrypted data about their server.
So, in a simple word your ISP gets encrypted data they can’t decrypt and if they could, all they can see is that you used VPN server and that’s it, no information about how often you use it, what websites or apps you used, what you did and exactly what time.
All this information is secured encrypted and can be only decrypted by you.…It's already been established that they can survive deep in the ocean and in outer space. And according to new research from Japan, tardigrades — also known as water bears — can even survive being frozen solid for decades on end.
CBC Radio science columnist Torah Kachur explains what this means for the so-called "toughest creature on the planet."
What makes 'water bears' so remarkable?
Water bears, tardigrades, moss piglets — whatever you call them, these tiny microanimals (usually small enough to fit on the head of a pin) can live pretty much everywhere. Their favourite spot is on moss, which they feed on. I found one swimming in a sample of pond water that I was exploring in a microscope and I have to say, they're almost cute, with thick bodies, eight tiny legs, and a sucker-style mouth.
Microscopic tardigrades, or water bears, can survive in extreme conditions, including heat, cold, and the vacuum of space. (Wikimedia Commons) You've also probably eaten them. They like to live on lettuce or spinach, and without rigorous scrubbing, you've likely had a water bear for lunch.
But what makes them truly amazing is their survivability. They've been experimented on in space, and found in a huge range of environments on Earth, from tropical rainforests to Antarctica to the deep sea. They can survive extreme heat, extreme cold, and extreme pressure.
What does this latest research tell us about their ability to survive?
It's been previously established that tardigrades can survive being frozen — but now we know they can survive being frozen for an incredibly long time.
Japanese researchers successfully thawed some water bears from moss frozen in Antarctica in 1983 — which means they survived being frozen for more than 30 years.
How do you reanimate something frozen in ice for 30 years?
Slowly.
The researchers thawed a moss sample that had been gathered in Antarctica in 1983, and stored at a temperature of -20 C. The sample was thawed at 3 C for 24 hours, and then placed in a Petri dish with fresh water.
Two adult water bears survived the thawing — although it took about nine days until they were fully functional. So did several eggs which were successfully hatched.
Remarkably, one of the adults and one of the water bears hatched from a frozen egg were able to reproduce successfully, which means there was no significant damage to its DNA in that long freezing period, which would have made it infertile.
What are the broader applications for scientists?
Hopefully a lot. The resistance of tardigrades to all sorts of environmental extremes means they have some biological secrets, and their DNA must be particularly resistant to damage.
One of the main things that happens when we age — or when we get cancer, for example — is that our DNA gets damaged. That, in turn, affects our cells and organs. We have a capacity to repair damage done to our DNA, but possibly not as effectively as some organisms like the water bear.
So they may be able to give us clues as to how we can harness the power of our own genomes to do the same.Pakistan's former military ruler General Pervez Musharraf Pakistan's former military ruler General Pervez Musharraf
In a world exclusive interview to TVTN Managing Editor Rahul Kanwal, Pakistan's former military ruler General Pervez Musharraf branded Prime Minister Narendra Modi as anti-Pakistan. He also said that Pakistan is always prepared to defend its territory against any threat from India.
"Modi will have to change his stance. He is anti-Muslim and anti-Pakistan," Musharraf said, accusing New Delhi of trying to destabilise Pakistan internally by fighting a proxy war.
Rejecting New Delhi's allegations of Islamabad's involvement in terror activities within the Indian territory, Musharraf said, "India has no proof of any Pakistani involvement."
Instead, the former Pakistani dictator accused India of creating troubles in Pakistan. "There is absolute evidence of your consulates in Jalalabad and your RAW (Research and Analysis Wing) indulging in all kinds of activities in Pakistan's Balochistan province and other places," he said.
"Our guard on the eastern borders are never down," Musharraf said, adding, "Pakistan will never shy of using the nuclear weapons aganst India if the need arises." "The world should help us fight terrorism instead of blaming us for it," he said.
On the recent ceasefire violations by Pakistani troops along the international border, Musharraf said that India has instability behind its lines. "People in Pakistan are ready to sacrifice themselves but it is the Pakistani army that is holding them back," he said, referring to the pro-Kashmir sentiments in Pakistan.
Last week, in his first comments on ceasefire violations by Pakistani troops, PM Modi said that Pakistan "is the enemy that is screaming". "The enemy has realised that times have changed and their old habits will not be tolerated," he said.
The Indian army has been asked by the Centre to step up border patrols and retaliate with more force if they come under attack. New Delhi has insisted there can be no talks with Pakistan unless it ends shootings and pushing militants into Kashmir.favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite
#############__Smokin'_1974_GRATEFUL DEAD Show.I recommend this show to all collectors of 1974 GRATEFUL DEAD shows. A "Must Have" for any respectable DEAD HEAD.Well rehearsed, relaxed. In tune, in time incredible.5 Stars for the mix5 Stars for the recording5 Stars for the performance5 Stars for the Charles Wier transferGarcia's playing is fluid, effortless, accurate, astounding. Nice slide on Row Jimmy.Ship of Fools starts out audience quality and then goes to Soundboard.Nice show to play for folks hearing the GRATEFUL DEAD for the first time. The whole band is smokin'.Here's a 46 minute and 26 second long "Playin' In The Band" that will blow your mind.The Internet Archive recommends RealPlayer for streaming and downloading for users of Windows XP.It comes with a free 3 band EQ you can use for playback. Once you've downloaded the song open it up in Windows Media Player and use its 10 Band EQ to really dial the sound in to your liking.Most GRATEFUL DEAD shows on the IA sound better after you've EQ'd them...I wonder why this show is not released as an album? Get it while you can, get it while it's free, get it NOW or you'll be sorry...Here's one way to dowload this show:The IA recommends users of Windows XP view this web-page with RealPlayer. RealPlayer is a free media player you can download at www.realplayer.com For easy streaming or downloading you should use RealPlayer.Using RealPlayer to view this webpage, click the VBR M3U link to open the songs in the Playlist. If your Playlist is not open, open it by clicking the Playlist icon at the lower right hand corner of RealPlayer. Once the songs are in the Playlist, double click the song to play it, then click the record button at the lower left hand corner of Realplayer to record it. When the red line reaches the other end click the stop button to download the song. Your song is in the RealPlayer Downloads folder. Repeat these steps for each song.Eat, Drink, Be Merry, and Listen to the GRATEFUL DEAD.Thanks for the LOVE from 1974.Larvaceans move their tail inside their house to make a current that filters food particles and moves the house through the water. If the filters become clogged or something bumps the house, the larvacean leaves the house through a trap door. The beginnings of a new house lie on the trunk of the animal's body, and the larvacean inflates the new house and flips inside.
Some larvaceans have glowing grains in their house wall. Some scientists believe that predators eat an empty house that is flashing light while the larvacean swims away to make another house. Surface waters of some bays and harbors sometimes glow brilliantly because of the presence of large groups of larvaceans.
Larvaceans make both eggs and sperm, which are released directly into the water. The sperm are released first, and then the eggs burst out of the body wall, a process that results in the death of the animal. Fertilization (FUR-teh-lih-ZAY-shun), or the joining of egg and sperm to start development, and development take place in the open water. These animals reproduce rapidly. If there is a great deal of plant plankton in an area, huge swarms of larvaceans can form, sometimes in a matter of a few days.By Amol Sharma and Preetika Rana
Courtesy of Vinay Rai Pictured, Mr. Rai.
Vinay Rai has ignited a major controversy over free speech on the Internet in India with a lawsuit alleging criminal negligence by Google, Facebook and other companies for not removing objectionable material from their sites. But who is this crusader for Web censorship and what prompted him to take up this fight?
Mr. Rai is a journalist of 12 years who edits the weekly Urdu publication Akbari, covering national politics. Previously, he was a special correspondent with Zee News, covering regional parties and Parliament.
India Real Time chatted with Mr. Rai to get a better understanding of what motivated him to bring the lawsuit and what kind of Web content he finds objectionable.
WSJ: Why did you file this case against Google and Facebook?
Vinay Rai: It is the right of every Indian citizen to voice his/her opinion against what he deems objectionable. Millions use social networking sites across the globe. Of those, how many users are genuine? Thousands create accounts with fake identities each day. Men pose as women, women pose as men. People post objectionable, abusive content every day – who regulates them? Who holds them accountable? No one. Social networking giants need to recognize their social responsibility. It is keeping this in mind that the complaint was filed against them.
(EDITOR’S NOTE: In fact, in India and elsewhere, Internet companies are required to remove content in some cases, but also get some protections, as we explain in a companion post.)
WSJ: What are some examples of the content you deem objectionable that you’ve submitted to the Delhi trial court?
VR: The content I have submitted to the court deeply offends several religions including Hinduism, Islam and Christianity. It involves pages and groups where users have mocked Hindu gods and goddesses, Prophet Muhammad and Jesus Christ. Such content can create communal riots across the country. These are just a few examples…My intention is to ensure that the sentiments of any religion or community are not hurt.
WSJ: Why didn’t you notify the social networking Web sites of the content and ask them to remove it – many sites offer such functionality?
VR: I did not deem it appropriate to approach foreign companies myself. I put my point across to the government who, in my view, is the best body to pursue this with multinationals.
WSJ: Did you speak to anyone in the government before filing this lawsuit? Did anyone in the government assist you?
VR: I have been pursuing this with the information technology ministry for over a year now. The ministry took no action despite constant reminders and follow ups from my end. It was only two to three months ago that the ministry held an internal meeting on the issue and ordered enquiry.
WSJ: How often do you visit these sites? Do you have a Facebook account?
VR: I’m not too active on social media. I registered on Facebook over 2 years ago but deactivated my account a few months later. This was because my inbox was flooded with external applications, requests and games sent by unknown users via the website. Since I wasn’t too familiar with the content, I deactivated my account.
How did you collect information from Facebook pages and groups if you weren’t a registered user?
VR: Several readers of our newspaper, Akbari, alerted us to defamatory and abusive content on these social networking sites. Being a journalist, I pursued the matter. Furthermore, you don’t necessarily need to register to browse content on groups and pages on Facebook.
You can follow India Real Time on Twitter @indiarealtime.IN APRIL 1956 the world’s first container ship—the Ideal X—set sail from New Jersey. A year later in Seattle the world’s first commercially successful airliner, Boeing’s 707, made its maiden flight. Both developments slashed the cost of moving cargo and people. Boeing still makes half the world’s airliners. But America’s shipping fleet, 17% of the global total in 1960, accounts for just 0.4% today.
Blame a 1920 law known as the Jones Act, which decrees that trade between domestic ports be carried by American-flagged and -built ships, at least 75% owned and crewed by American citizens. After Hurricane Irma, a shortage of Jones-Act ships led President Donald Trump on September 28th to waive the rules for ten days to resupply Puerto Rico. This fuelled calls to repeal the law completely.
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Like most forms of protectionism, the Jones Act hits consumers hard. A lack of foreign competition drives up the cost of coastal transport. Building a cargo ship in America can cost five times as much as in China or Korea, says Basil Karatzas, a shipping consultant. And the cost of operating an American-flagged and -crewed vessel is double that of foreign ones, reckons America’s Department of Transportation.
Inflated sea-freight rates push most cargo onto lorries, trains and aircraft, even though these are pricier and produce up to 145 times as many carbon emissions. So whereas 40% of Europe’s domestic freight goes by sea, just 2% does in America. Lacking overland routes, Alaska, Guam, Hawaii and Puerto Rico are hardest hit. Hawaiian cattle ranchers, for instance, regularly fly their animals to mainland America. A recent report by the Government Development Bank for Puerto Rico found that the Jones Act inflated transport costs for imports to twice the level of nearby islands.
Jones-Act shipowners retort that the rules are to help producers, not consumers. Rail firms lobbied for the 1920 law, out of fear that an excess of foreign ships from the first world war was flooding the market. National security was also cited. German submarine warfare, it was argued, showed the need for a merchant fleet built and crewed by Americans. But the law has virtually wiped out American shipping. Between 2000 and 2016 the fleet of private-sector Jones-Act ships fell from 193 to 91. Britain binned its Jones-Act equivalent in 1849. Its fleet today has over three times the tonnage of America’s. Marc Levinson, an economic historian (and former journalist at The Economist ) notes that the laws also made American container lines less able to compete on international routes. Drawn by profits at home they underinvested in their foreign operations, and fell behind their foreign rivals because they lacked the same scale.
Recognising the harm to their domestic fleets, countries from Australia to China are loosening the rules protecting their fleets. Not America. In January, the Obama administration tried to get rid of all exemptions to the Jones Act. Mr Trump overruled that decision in May, but has said any further waivers will be hard because of the influence in Congress of lobbyists from the sailors’ unions and shipowners. Yet deregulation is part of his platform. The Jones Act would be a good place to start.Streamr ICO in Retrospect
Henri Pihkala Blocked Unblock Follow Following Oct 18, 2017
Dear community,
We’ve never worked so hard, so focused, and so inspired than during the past one and a half years or so. During that time we have fallen in love with the decentralised and blockchain technology, and found a way to apply our expertise, backgrounds, and existing technology in that space to produce completely new infrastructure, tools, and opportunities for application developers and data owners.
Our team is incredibly grateful and humbled by the encouragement and attention we have received during the past months. The support, not only for our platform, but for our mission to build a decentralised real-time data economy, is truly inspirational and an unforgettable benchmark in the evolution of data infrastructure. While our ambitious goal leaves us with a long journey ahead, this early success is a huge leap in making that dream a reality.
Thank You.
We made our first public blockchain-related appearance, demo, and pitch at EDCON in Paris in February this year. Since then we have developed our idea and roadmap further, published the white paper, presented at various meetups, launched R&D collaboration with Golem, done quite a bit of interviews, built Ethereum integrations into our Engine product, gathered funding from early supporters — and finally — completed the crowd contribution phases of the Streamr DATAcoin token launch. And this is just the beginning!
Token Launch in Retrospect
Overall thousands of people have visited our websites, signed up for the product, emailed or instant messaged us, and joined our community chat for technical and visionary conversations. 1369 people made it into the contribution periods in total, including 33 private precontribution participants, 120 public precontribution participants, and 1216 crowd contribution participants.
The hard cap of 30 million CHF (Swiss franc) equivalent in contributions, including all the contribution periods, was successfully reached. The proceeds have been earmarked towards research and development of the Streamr protocol and the technology stack.
All the phases saw way more demand than there was supply. The public precontribution period was registered full in 25 minutes after opening on September 14th. The crowd contribution period began on October 12th with a 24 hour exclusive period for small contributors, all enjoying guaranteed participation. After the exclusive period ended, and larger contributors kicked in, the period was full within 90 minutes.
Some experimentation and novel choices took place in the implementation of our token launch. Our pre-contribution period was the very first project to launch on the new Bitcoin Suisse ICO Platform. Our crowd contribution period utilized a hybrid model of passing KYC/AML on the platform, while executing the token creation and distribution traditionally via whitelisting approved participants on a smart contract. We also experimented with two separate contributor tracks: one for small cap contributions up to 5,000 CHF, and a large cap track for contributions up to 50,000 CHF. This split structure allowed for optimisation of manual work processes involved in each track. It enabled us to set a minimum contribution as low as 500 CHF equivalent, while still keeping the high KYC/AML standards we chose to enforce. From the contributors’ point of view, this helped to implement a smooth process for both tracks.
Streamr may have been the first ICO in the world to enforce full manual KYC/AML checks on all participants. Doing so is a tradeoff which affects contributor experience, privacy, and the legal safety of the project and its contributors. It increases the threshold of participation, and decreases the associated legal compliance risks. For overall long-term benefit of the project, we decided that this would be the most future-proof way to carry out the token launch.
What’s Next?
Within the next few weeks, the following will happen: Bitcoin Suisse will distribute the precontribution tokens, and once everything is done and checked, the tokens will be released for transfer. Devcon3 is just around the corner, and we will be speaking there. Henri will present in a P2P breakout track, and Risto will share the stage with an upcoming project that builds on Streamr. We are an Ecosystem Sponsor for the event, as a minor but immediate way of giving back to the Ethereum community.
We will continue work on our roadmap, and to step up development, we are hiring! Please let us know if you’d like to work on Streamr and/or blockchain/decentralised tech in general, and are skilled in frontend development (React, Redux), backend development (Java, node.js), smart contract development (Solidity), devops (Docker, CI tools, test frameworks), P2P networks, or cryptography/security research. We’d also like to find a community manager. We are based in Zug, Switzerland, and also work with an external team located in Helsinki, Finland.
We have received some inquiries about if and when the token will be listed on exchanges. Listing a token is completely up to the exchanges. Watch this space for announcements in the near future! Meanwhile, you might choose to be proactive and let your favorite exchange know that you’d like to trade the token!
We will continue building partnerships and collaborations in the space. We recently joined the Trusted IoT Alliance, an open source software consortium which aims to create a secure, scalable, interoperable, and trusted IoT ecosystem. Founded by industry leaders such as Bosch, BNY Mellon, Cisco, Gemalto, and U.S. Bank, the consortium seeks to standardize an open source blockchain protocol to support IoT technology in major industries worldwide.
We also have a nice little surprise up our sleeve. Please stay tuned.
Stay Safe
Before, during, and after any popular ICO, scammers emerge. Please do understand that there are no second chances to participate in the Streamr contribution periods. Any communication which indicates that Streamr DATAcoin tokens are still available is a scam.
Streamr official channels are: our website, this blog, our Twitter, and #announcements channel on our community chat. No other trustable channels exist. Beware of a known scam on Telegram!
See you at Devcon,
Best regards,
HenriDinghy: Painless Rust tests and benches on iOS and Android
Mathieu Poumeyrol Blocked Unblock Follow Following Nov 28, 2016
Snips uses Rust to develop libraries that run on mobile devices. We developed dinghy, a tool to streamline testing and benching of libraries on the phones themselves. We are now sharing this with the Rust community at large, hoping many library developers will want to try and make their work portable.
TL;DR
Run cargo test and cargo bench on your phone.
and on your phone. A dinghy is a small boat that a big ship, like a cargo (!) ship, carries or
tows around.
tows around. https://github.com/snipsco/dinghy
Rust for Snips
At Snips, we believe in Artificial Intelligence and Privacy. And we believe
even stronger that a user should not have to choose one over the other.
We are convinced that your own mobile phone is the best place to store and
process your data, so we bring AI to your phone, instead of bringing your
personal stuff to huge data-centers out of your control.
In order to make the best use of the relatively limited resources available
on a mobile phone, we are developing part of our toolbox using Rust. In the same way a user should not have to chose between a better experience and their privacy, we refuse to choose between portability, performance and safety. We want them all, so we picked Rust.
Rust tools for mobile development
While Rust as an ecosystem is still young, most of the heavy lifting to code
libraries for mobile devices is here: by using the LLVM compiler framework,
Rust takes advantage of mature code generation and optimisation for the ARM processors that make most smartphones tick.
Besides the compiler, Cargo provides the dependency management and build system. Rustup takes care of managing Rust toolchains and precompiled standard libraries, making cross compilation relatively painless. Finally, Rust support conditional compilation through a simple set of attributes, making it possible for libraries to adapt to the platform their are compiling to.
Unit testing is still a different matter, though. Cargo built-in testing capabilities work well, as long as you want to run tests on the computer you are developing with. Most of the bugs we encounter daily are trivial enough to manifest themselves in the same way on a laptop than on a phone. But sometimes we need to get closer to the metal to squeeze every bit of available performance. When dealing with specific processor features and conditional compilation, surprises are always possible. And of course, benching on actual hardware is also a must.
Cargo and rustc compile tests (and benches) to simple command line executables. They embed basic test-filtering logic, a simple result formatter, and can naturally be called from the command line.
When you have a command line.
Running tests on phones
On Android, things are relatively straightforward. Cargo can be cajoled into compiling executables for the Android platform. Then adb can be used to push the binary to the phone and run it.
Manually running tests on Android
iOS is a different story: the only way to run code on a device is to make it an app. And an app has to be signed. Then it has to be properly installed, and can finally be run using LLDB’s remote capabilities. In order to sign an app, a developer needs an account and certificate from Apple. It no longer requires a paying developer account, a developer can now obtain a free certificate valid for their own phone.
But we were bored going through these error-prone steps “by hand”. And we
wanted to lower the cost to make it easier for other developers as well.
Dinghy
Dinghy is a cargo extension. For iOS, the setup takes only a few minutes of
clicking through XCode to obtain a certificate. Less than that if you already
are a iOS developer, or if you are an Android user. Anyway, it’s a one time cost. Once it’s done, it will be used for all your cargo projects.
Running a test suite on a connected phone becomes as easy as:
cargo dinghy test
Running TSS tests on an iPhone and an Android phone
And of course the same apply for benches:
cargo dinghy bench
We have done our best to cover the same command line format as cargo, so… just add “dinghy” between “cargo” and “test”, and you’re done. Feature flags work, as well as test arguments (for filtering).
Examples from the Rust ecosystem
We have tried to run the tests of a few popular Rust projects, and a few
of them that put hurdles in our way in the past weeks. Some projects work out of the box. Others have external dependencies that they try (and sometimes fail) to cross-compile. |
, as well as the five-shilling purse for most catches. It’s no surprise he’s now vice-captain.
The scorebook – or at least the relevant page – survives, but for the crucial delivery the bowler’s name does not, unless it’s Hall, with three wickets under his belt, or Chillery, who has cleaned up the other two. Whoever it is, he loses his length, and the batsman’s eyes light up. “The ball came straight to me,” Toomer later remembers, “and was rather well pitched. I hit it rather harder than any ball I had hit during the match.”
Charlie Toomer lives outside the main village. His employer is Percy Bullivant, a Yorkshireman who bought the stately Tunworth Old Rectory from the church in 1917. Bullivant prefers horses to cars, and Toomer works as a groom. His modest home is a cottage next to the allotments and opposite the tiny school. Neighbours play for Upton Grey too: Jack Lucas, who runs the Tunworth post office, has just been bowled for five.
Ben Stroud, quite tall for a wicketkeeper, comes from a long-established Weston Patrick family, and as if to prove it he lives with his parents, Edward and Emily, in a house called Strouds Cottage. He works as a labourer for WJ Hunt, and is fit because Hunt’s yard is in Herriard, at the top of a long and unrelenting hill. Sport occupies much of his free time, and when he’s not playing cricket, chances are he’ll be on the village tennis court. Or arranging whist drives to help fund the two clubs. Or helping out with the scouts. At 28, Ben Stroud is a couple of years younger than Toomer; he is a busy, happy, cheerful, optimistic young man, full of energy and buoyed by the love of his family, neighbours and teammates. And of his fiancée, Peggy McCallum.
“It went straight back without touching the ground, and would have hit Stroud full in the face,” recalls Toomer at the inquest. “But he turned to avoid it, and the ball struck him on the back of the neck. He fell to the ground.” The effect of the impact is catastrophic and instant. The story is later told that Stroud grunts a terse “Bugger!” and collapses. Fielders and teammates rush to him, now unconscious, and bundle him into a car. It speeds along the narrow road that twists through the downs to Odiham. In the car is Walter Kinge, the Upton Grey captain. He believes Stroud dies on the journey, and at 4.15 Dr Widdowson, after dashing to the small hospital, confirms Kinge’s fears.
* * * * *
The inquest at Odiham’s Parish Room on the afternoon of Tuesday, 22 August comprised Dr Widdowson, from the hospital, and HM Foster, coroner for the Aldershot district; there was no need for a jury. Emily Stroud identified her son’s body. Widdowson said a post-mortem showed the deceased had been in good health and that he sustained an external injury on the left side of the neck, though not a fracture of the skull. A ruptured vertebral artery at the base of the brain had caused an extensive haemorrhage. Charlie Toomer, Walter Kinge (employed as a chauffeur in Weston Patrick) and Ernest Tipper, the secretary, all gave accounts of what had happened. Answering questions from the coroner, Toomer said there had been no rough play and that the game was being carried on according to the rules. The verdict, as the papers reported, was accidental death.
The next day, the little church of St Lawrence in Weston Patrick could not contain the mourners. Despite it being a working day, all Ben Stroud’s teammates had come, plus several from the Crookham side. He was buried beside his older sister Rose, who had died, aged 29, six years earlier; his matching gravestone would later read “IN LOVED MEMORY OF BENJAMIN GEORGE STROUD – ACCIDENTALLY KILLED AT CRICKET”. The Hants and Berks Gazette gives details of the flowers and their tributes. They number 69.
* * * * *
Life in the village somehow went on. It had to. Before the club AGM the following February, held in the Scout Hut where Stroud helped out, the chairman, the Reverend Henry Sewell, said a brief prayer, and the meeting stood in silence for a few moments. The minutes start with the incongruous words “1933 was another successful season”, before recounting one or two highlights of Stroud’s career – he shared a partnership of around 70 with Kinge against Burkham in 1929. The meeting also decided “that there should be no match on the third Saturday in August… it was resolved to keep that day as a memorial to their late comrade, Mr B Stroud”.
In terms of results, 1933 had been a reasonable summer: of the 24 completed matches, 13 were won and 11 lost. Toomer dominated the bowling, and his figures, even on helpful pitches, proved his skill: 115 wickets at 4.33 apiece. The Hants and Berks had reported him as being “very deeply affected” by the tragedy, but he was not a man to show it, at least not publicly, and he accepted the captaincy for 1934. He promptly trimmed his bowling average, claiming 88 at 3.71, and led the batting. The results matched his achievements: 18 wins, four defeats and a draw.
In 1939, the club shut down for the duration of the war, and the ground fell quiet. When cricket returned, Toomer did not. He was in his early 40s, and had left Tunworth. He came back for a few matches in the 1950s, but his children were growing up, and his connection with the village had weakened.
* * * * *
During my research, I discovered that Toomer’s son, Phil, lives in Basingstoke. He knew of the awful events of 1933, though it was his mother, and never his father, who spoke of them. Phil played cricket too, and he remembers his dad giving him clear advice: “Always watch the ball; always watch the ball.”
Ben Stroud had no children, but his sister Rose had two daughters, Emily and Eileen, who grew up with their grandparents. Eileen married Frank Young, a stalwart of Upton Grey CC, and their son Mick (Ben’s great-nephew) now works at Manor Farm, which includes the old cricket pitch. The field is called Home Bidden, betraying no hint of its past. Back in the 1990s Mick and I played a couple of games for a Hoddington Arms side. But I never thought to ask him about the half-forgotten tale of a player being killed during a game of cricket…
Phil and Mick have known each other for years, often going beating together. But neither had any inkling about their connection until this June. And it dawned on me that I also have a faint link to the tragedy. Jack Lucas, who had batted at No.4 on that day in August 1933, was Tunworth’s postmaster – and the cottage where I lived in Tunworth was The Old Post Office.
The sudden death of any young person is horrifying. It is impossible to imagine the grief of Edward and Emily, burying a second child in St Lawrence’s churchyard. Spare a thought too for Charlie Toomer, who never talked about what happened that day, when he middled a ball from a Crookham bowler. As far as I am aware, and I have consulted cricket historians with a deep knowledge of the game, this is the sole instance of a batsman being killed by a teammate, the only time the non-striker has died after being hit by the ball.
That isn’t precisely how Phillip Hughes died – he was struck by a bouncer from Sean Abbott, a New South Wales opponent – but the injury that caused the deaths was identical. There is one other poignant parallel between the two tragedies. Sitting in the stands at the SCG were Hughes’s mother, Virginia, and his sister Megan, who saw the events unfold. The scorer for Upton Grey that August afternoon, and who also watched the events unfold, was Stroud’s fiancée, Peggy McCallum.
* * *Thomas Jane as Detective Josephus Miller in the futuristic Syfy drama "The Expanse." (Syfy/Rafy/Syfy)
(All times Eastern.)
On “Supergirl” (CBS at 8 p.m.) Cat’s email account gets hacked, exposing some damaging missives, and Kara’s aunt Astra challenges what Kara thinks she knows about her mother.
Adapted from Arthur C. Clarke’s classic science-fiction novel, the three-night miniseries “Childhood’s End” (Syfy at 8) tells the story of an alien presence that arrives on Earth to create what becomes a troubling Utopia.
Season 6 of “Love & Hip Hop: New York” (VH1 at 8) launches with a new crew of female rappers, including Remy Ma.
FINALE WATCH: The remaining finalists perform on “The Voice” (NBC at 8) in Part 1 of the reality singing competition’s Season 9 finale.
The documentary “Very Semi-Serious: A Partially Thorough Portrait of New Yorker Cartoonists” (HBO at 9) offers a behind-the-scenes look at the publication process behind the New Yorker’s iconic cartoons.
It’s baby’s first Christmas on “Jane the Virgin” (CW at 9), and Jane and Rafael disagree on how Mateo should celebrate. Michael’s probe of Sin Rostro leads him to pursue Luisa’s mother, and Rogelio gets an intern.
“The Expanse” (SyFy at 10) begins its two-night premiere. The futuristic series stars Thomas Jane as a detective who chases leads across the solar system on a missing-person case that turns into something more sinister.
In the holiday special “The Last Alaskans: Holiday Memories” (Animal Planet at 9), the few remaining residents of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge celebrate off the grid. Heimo and Edna Korth, familiar to those who have seen “The Last Alaskans,” search for the perfect Christmas tree, while another resident cooks a traditional Alaskan meal, 300 miles from the nearest grocery store.
[‘The Last Alaskans’: A reality show with a heart as big as its subject]
“Adele Live in New York City” (NBC at 10) features the singer’s recent one-night performance at Radio City Music Hall.
It’s pastry week on “The Great Holiday Baking Show” (ABC at 10) and the contestants are tasked with making breakfast pastries and a festive recipe that’s one of judge Mary Berry’s favorites.
“The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” (CBS at 11:35) hosts actress Jennifer Lawrence and historian Doris Kearns Goodwin. Sleater-Kinney plays.
Actor Oscar Isaac and American Ballet Theatre’s Misty Copeland visit “Jimmy Kimmel Live” (ABC at 11:35). Jeff Lynne’s ELO performs.
Tina Fey and actor Dane DeHaan will be on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” (NBC at 11:35). Kenny Rogers is the musical guest.Scientists in the US have also been studying a Titan balloon concept A mission could be launched before the end of the next decade to put a balloon on Titan, the hazy Saturnian moon. The balloon is one of several ideas being considered by the European Space Agency as it sketches out where its science should be focussed in future. Other proposals include an X-ray telescope that flies in two parts; and a sample-return mission to an asteroid. All the ideas will be subjected to further study; and are likely to evolve as international partners get involved. Eventually, two missions will be selected, one to fly no earlier than 2017 and the other no earlier than 2018. Esa's future-scoping project is known as Cosmic Vision. It assesses the big questions currently in space science and then tries to find mission architectures that can best deliver the answers. Xeus would fly two elements in formation There are two categories: large (L-Class), which will cost Esa something in the region of 650m euros; and medium (M-Class), which is projected to cost the agency about 300m euros. For the big missions, international partnerships are necessary because the costs involved are so great. A recent US space agency (Nasa) report found that no meaningful mission to the Saturnian system could be undertaken for less than $1bn (700m euros) and would in all events cost considerably more. The Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 candidates will undergo an internal review in Esa before contracts are awarded to industry to carry out feasibility studies. The L-Class candidates include: Laplace : This mission would go to Jupiter and its moons. A key target of interest would be the icy moon Europa which is thought to harbour an ocean under its icy crust. The mission would deploy three orbiting platforms to perform coordinated observations of Europa, the other Jovian satellites, Jupiter's magnetosphere and its atmosphere and interior.
: This mission would go to Jupiter and its moons. A key target of interest would be the icy moon Europa which is thought to harbour an ocean under its icy crust. The mission would deploy three orbiting platforms to perform coordinated observations of Europa, the other Jovian satellites, Jupiter's magnetosphere and its atmosphere and interior. Tandem : The mission would explore both Titan and Enceladus, the other Saturnian moon currently fascinating scientists. The mission would carry two spacecraft - an orbiter and a carrier to deliver an instrument-carrying balloon and three probes on to Titan.
: The mission would explore both Titan and Enceladus, the other Saturnian moon currently fascinating scientists. The mission would carry two spacecraft - an orbiter and a carrier to deliver an instrument-carrying balloon and three probes on to Titan. Xeus: This next-generation telescope would study the X-ray Universe. It comes in two parts: a mirror satellite and a detector satellite which have to be flown in formation with extreme precision. The M-Class candidates include: Cross-scale: A swarm of 12 spacecraft to make simultaneous measurements of plasma (charged gas) surrounding Earth.
A swarm of 12 spacecraft to make simultaneous measurements of plasma (charged gas) surrounding Earth. Marco Polo: A sample-return mission to a near-Earth object. It would consist of a mother satellite which would carry a lander, sampling devices, re-entry capsule as well as instruments.
A sample-return mission to a near-Earth object. It would consist of a mother satellite which would carry a lander, sampling devices, re-entry capsule as well as instruments. Dune and Space: These are two mission ideas before Esa that would tell us more about the mysterious "dark matter" and even stranger "dark energy" that seem to dominate our Universe but which have proven frustratingly difficult to explain with current observation technologies.
These are two mission ideas before Esa that would tell us more about the mysterious "dark matter" and even stranger "dark energy" that seem to dominate our Universe but which have proven frustratingly difficult to explain with current observation technologies. Plato: A mission to find and study planets beyond our Solar System. It would be capable of observing rocky (similar to Earth) exoplanets around brighter and better characterised stars than its predecessors, such as the recently launched Corot mission.
A mission to find and study planets beyond our Solar System. It would be capable of observing rocky (similar to Earth) exoplanets around brighter and better characterised stars than its predecessors, such as the recently launched Corot mission. Spica: The Japanese are proposing a mission which would launch a telescope to study the cosmos at far infrared wavelengths. If Europe became involved, it would bring expertise and technology developed for its own Herschel telescope due to launch next year. At the end of the assessment process, it is likely Esa will select just one L-Class and one M-Class to take forward to full development and launch. GRAVITATIONAL WAVES Gravitational waves are an inevitable consequence of the Theory of General Relativity They describe the gravity force as distortions made by matter in the fabric of space-time Any moving mass will produce waves; they are expected to propagate at the speed of light Detectable sources to include exploding stars, merging black holes and neutron stars If Lisa is made to work, it would see remnant radiation from the Big Bang itself
Path to a new astronomy One complicating factor is the desire to loft an observatory into space that can test a key prediction of Albert Einstein's Theory of General Relativity - by making a detection of gravitational waves. Europe and the US are together developing a mission known as Lisa which would detect these "ripples" in the fabric of space-time - but it is proving an immense challenge from a technological standpoint. Whether or not one of the L-Class missions listed above gets to be developed may depend on how well, or not, progress is made on Lisa (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna).
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StumbleUpon What are these? E-mail this to a friend Printable versionThe AU police department has released two videos depicting a person of interest in the “racially motivated hate crime” that occurred Monday morning, according to a memo released by AU police on Tuesday. The crime targeted black women and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, a historically African-American sorority.
The department is offering a $1,000 reward for anyone who can provide “information leading to positive suspect identification,” the memo said. University officials did not respond to requests for comment prior to publication.
The videos show an individual traveling from outside the Mary Graydon Center to the Letts-Anderson Hall shuttle stop between 3:45 a.m. and 4:10 a.m. The individual hung bananas with nooses at various locations on campus, including the East Quad Building, the Letts-Anderson shuttle stop and the Mary Graydon Center, according to the memo.
The person of interest was seen wearing a black long sleeve shirt and black pants and was possibly wearing a hat or mask, the memo said. After traveling from the quad to the shuttle stop on the south end of campus, the subject may have also entered into a white or silver sedan by Rockwood Parkway, according to the release.
Additional photographs and video may be released as the investigation continues, the memo said. AU police are encouraging anyone with information regarding the identity of the subject to contact the department at 202-885-2527 or to submit an anonymous tip online. If community members see the person of interest on campus, they are encouraged to call AU police’s emergency line at 202-885-3636.
hsamsel@theeagleonline.comBy Catherine J. Frompovich
Back in the days of radio and intelligent talking heads, i.e., well-informed commentators, it was very common to hear what some may call Op-Eds or media journalists giving opinions. None was more famous than Paul Harvey [1]. Mr. Harvey (Paul Harvey Aurandt) was a radio broadcaster for the ABC network from the 1950s through the 1990s, and very well admired before the current meme of ‘political correctness’, I think I should offer. He had as many as 24 million listeners a week; his program was carried by 1,200 radio stations, 400 Armed Forces Network stations and his work was published in 300 newspapers. [1]
In 2005, Paul Harvey was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the USA’s most prestigious civilian award.
In my opinion, they just don’t make journalists like Paul Harvey anymore! Personally, I really don’t know if he spouted the party line of vested interests, but there’s one Paul Harvey program that stands out, at least for me, which demonstrates his willingness to think outside the box and also to go out on a limb to warn folks about issues. That program was aired April 3, 1965 and titled “If I Were the Devil,” a precognitive essay, if there ever was one, about the status of life in the current meme-driven regime of the United States in the 21st century.
Harvey’s oral essay with video is less than 3 minutes, but it packs a jolting, spine-tingling precognitive realism of what’s actually happened to what used to be the United States of America and its unfortunate fall from grace, as some could label it.
https://youtu.be/ZaGVCO6CByQ?
Paul Harvey, in my opinion, couldn’t fit in with today’s corporate-controlled-and-spun news networks.
He’d be considered extremely politically incorrect, in my opinion. Somehow I’d like to see his style of journalism come back, but don’t hold your breath. What do you think?
References:
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Harvey
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Catherine J Frompovich (website) is a retired natural nutritionist who earned advanced degrees in Nutrition and Holistic Health Sciences, Certification in Orthomolecular Theory and Practice plus Paralegal Studies. Her work has been published in national and airline magazines since the early 1980s. Catherine authored numerous books on health issues along with co-authoring papers and monographs with physicians, nurses, and holistic healthcare professionals. She has been a consumer healthcare researcher 35 years and counting.
Catherine’s latest book, published October 4, 2013, is Vaccination Voodoo, What YOU Don’t Know About Vaccines, available on Amazon.com.
Her 2012 book A Cancer Answer, Holistic BREAST Cancer Management, A Guide to Effective & Non-Toxic Treatments, is available on Amazon.com and as a Kindle eBook.
Two of Catherine’s more recent books on Amazon.com are Our Chemical Lives And The Hijacking Of Our DNA, A Probe Into What’s Probably Making Us Sick (2009) and Lord, How Can I Make It Through Grieving My Loss, An Inspirational Guide Through the Grieving Process (2008)
Catherine’s NEW book: Eat To Beat Disease, Foods Medicinal Qualities ©2016 Catherine J Frompovich is now availableOn Wednesday, the 11th- and 10th-ranked quarterbacks (Matt Ryan, No. 77, and Cam Newton, No. 73) in "The Top 100 Players of 2015" were revealed on NFL Network. While we wait to see how the upper crust at the game's most important position shakes out, NFL Media analysts are taking their turns providing their top 10 quarterbacks heading into the 2015 season. NOTE: Click on tabs below to see each analyst's list.
When Dave Dameshek asked me to list my top quarterbacks on a recent installment of "The Dave Dameshek Football Podcast" -- a topic we revisited in the following episode -- I thought it was important to avoid citing the same old names based on career achievements. In the scouting world, evaluators not only monitor and assess players on how they perform; they also project whether a player should be considered to be ascending or descending, based on his expected production in the upcoming season.
Given some time to the review the All-22 Coaches Film from last season and examine the circumstances that could affect each guy's play this fall -- which led me to make a tweak or two -- here are my top 10 quarterbacks heading into 2015:
Rodgers' spot is certainly secure following one of the most impressive seasons of his career. The 10-year veteran tallied a 38:5 touchdown-to-interception ratio en route to capturing his second MVP award. Rodgers -- who had the second-best passer rating in the NFL at 112.2 -- has finished with a passer rating above 100.0 for six straight seasons, a remarkable feat considering he's only been the full-time starter for seven. With the Packers currently boasting the NFL's top receiver corps, Rodgers could enjoy a long run as the league's QB1.
Some will question Big Ben's lofty ranking on this list, but the two-time Super Bowl winner is playing the best football of his career under the tutelage of Steelers offensive coordinator Todd Haley. The grizzled veteran posted career bests in completion percentage (67.1) and passing yards (4,952, tied for most in the league) and matched his single-season high in touchdowns (32) in 2014. Considering the impressive efficiency (103.3 passer rating) and effectiveness he displayed while directing Pittsburgh's offense with a cast of greenhorns (Le'Veon Bell at running back and Markus Wheaton at receiver, as well as rookie pass catcher Martavis Bryant) acclimating to prominent roles, it's time to recognize Roethlisberger as one of the NFL's premier quarterbacks.
It's uncommon for a young quarterback hyped as a franchise player to live up to that promise, but Luck has been better than advertised as the Colts' offensive leader. The three-year veteran continues to refine his game while displaying improved efficiency and effectiveness as a playmaker. Luck significantly increased his pass production (4,761 yards, up from 3,822 in 2013) and boosted his touchdown-to-interception ratio (40:16, up from 23:9 in 2013) while showing his ability to carry an offense with pedestrian players (aging receiver Reggie Wayne and ineffective back Trent Richardson) plugged into key roles. Thanks to Indy's offseason offensive makeover, Luck heads into 2015 with a proven runner (Frank Gore), a veteran big-bodied WR1 (Andre Johnson), a quartet of explosive pass catchers (T.Y. Hilton, Donte Moncrief, Phillip Dorsett and Duron Carter) and a pair of dynamic tight ends (Coby Fleener and Dwayne Allen) at his disposal. This supporting cast could help him set the football world ablaze.
Some will argue against Wilson's top-five ranking, based solely on his pass production, but keen observers recognize his value as one of the most efficient dual-threat playmakers at the position. The three-year vet nearly posted a 3,500/1,000 season (3,475 passing yards and 849 rushing yards) as the director of the Seahawks' diverse offensive attack in 2014. People mistakenly see him as a "game manager" for a team that is overly reliant on a dominant defense and a strong running game. But it's hard to dispute his record (36-12) and history of success since entering the NFL. Considering Wilson's clutch production (15 game-winning drives, including 10 fourth-quarter comebacks over his career) and the addition of a dominant "MOF" (middle of the field) target in new tight end Jimmy Graham, the two-time Pro Bowler might cement himself as a no-doubt member of the quarterbacking upper echelon in 2015.
Despite being a proven winner (four titles, six total Super Bowl appearances) and one of the NFL's ultimate clutch performers (46 game-winning drives in his 15-year career), Brady's standing on this list is a reflection of the stench emanating from the Deflategate scandal (hence the asterisk). The controversy adds to the notion that the Patriots' long-term success has been fueled by various misdeeds. While there isn't a proven correlation between deflated footballs and Brady's on-field performance, the fact that another scandal is hovering over the Patriots certainly clouds the evaluation.
Statistically speaking, Brady remains one of the top players at the position, posting a passer rating of 97.4 and a 33:9 touchdown-to-interception ratio last season. He continues to pick apart defenses with exceptional precision, albeit in "dink and dunk" fashion (see: Brady's 7.1 yards-per-attempt mark in 2014). Granted, the Patriots' title run was truly sparked by a defense that played at a championship level for most of the season, but it was Brady's solid play in key moments that ultimately helped secure the crown. Brady remains one of the elites at the position, even as he's settling in as the NFL's ultimate game manager in the twilight of his career.
It's possible that Romo is underrated on this list, based on his sensational production over the years. He's quietly ranked as one of the most efficient quarterbacks in NFL history -- his career passer rating of 97.6 is the second-best all time -- and he is a better clutch performer than the commonly held narrative suggests. Romo has engineered 28 game-winning drives in his nine seasons as the starter, including 24 fourth-quarter comebacks. Although his spectacular failures in a few late-game situations have created the perception that he underperforms when the game is on the line, Romo is at his best more often than not when everything is hanging in the balance.
Consider that in the last two minutes of the half in last season's games, Romo compiled a passer rating of 123.1 and a touchdown-to-interception ratio of 7:0. In fourth-quarter situations when the game was within seven points, Romo completed 75 percent of his passes and posted a passer rating of 120.7. In other words, he delivered when it mattered. With the Cowboys shifting to a physical, run-first offense behind the best offensive line in football, Romo should continue to play at a high level as an efficient distributor from the pocket.
It's hard to suggest Brees is a descending player when he's topped the 5,000-yard mark in three of the last four seasons (and was just 48 yards shy of making it four straight in 2014). The numbers suggest the 36-year-old's still one of the best in the business, but the Saints' lack of perimeter weapons could prevent Brees from playing at the level we're accustomed to in 2015. The loss of Jimmy Graham robbed Brees of his most reliable red-zone threat, while Kenny Stills' departure took away a legitimate big-play receiver on the outside. The presence of Sean Payton ensures Brees will play in an imaginative offense suited to his skills as a pinpoint rhythm passer, but the suspect supporting cast could make it hard for the veteran to perform at a high level at his relatively advanced age.
The 11-year veteran was squarely in the conversation as the prospective league MVP during the first half of 2014, but then the Bolts' playoff push collapsed, sunk in part by Rivers' turnovers in the final eight games of the season (13 interceptions and two fumbles lost). Despite his shaky finish, Rivers deserves a spot among the elites based on his solid play over the past two years under Mike McCoy. The Chargers' head coach helped the former Pro Bowler rediscover his game following a lackluster 2012 by installing a quarterback-friendly offense that features more short- and intermediate throws on the perimeter.
Additionally, the Chargers have surrounded Rivers with a big-bodied WR1 (Keenan Allen) and a dynamic runner (Melvin Gordon), factors that alleviate some of the pressure on him to carry the offense solely on the strength of his right arm. Considering his strong production (he's coming off back-to-back seasons with at least 4,200 passing yards, and he posted a 63:29 touchdown-to-interception ratio in that span) and efficiency, Rivers certainly remains among the top quarterbacks in the game.
Seeing Manning's name here will raise eyebrows, but skeptics should focus on the efficiency with which he played down the stretch in 2014 under new offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo. The two-time Super Bowl winner posted a passer rating of 100.0 or better in four of the Giants' last six games, and he developed a strong rapport with youngsters Odell Beckham, Jr. and Rueben Randle on the perimeter. With Victor Cruz expected to return from a knee injury, the Giants should have a dynamic receiving corps with the firepower to overwhelm opponents with its collective speed, athleticism and explosiveness.
Given another offseason to master the intricacies of Big Blue's quick-rhythm system, Manning should build upon his solid performance in 2014 (passer rating of 92.1 and a touchdown-to-interception ratio of 30:14). He could play at a top-five level with one of the best supporting casts in football enhancing his performance.
It seems almost blasphemous to rank Peyton Manning -- who has enjoyed an illustrious career -- at the bottom of this list, but there is no disputing the regression in his game. The Broncos' playoff loss to the Indianapolis Colts showcased his flaws for the NFL world to see: He seems to lacks the arm strength to push the ball down the field. Yes, it's certainly possible a lingering quad injury robbed the veteran of his tools as an elite player, but it's just as likely that Father Time has stepped in and cast a spell on Manning toward the end of his playing days.
I fully expect Manning to continue to post big numbers, based on his exceptional supporting cast and extraordinary work ethic and new coach Gary Kubiak's clever play-calling. But the five-time MVP is no longer the premier player at the position.
Follow Bucky Brooks on Twitter @BuckyBrooks.On Friday, officers were still investigating the scene.
Lt. Patrick McCormack of the Yonkers Police Department said that there were no suspects and that the motive remained unknown. Killing a cat in a “depraved and sadistic manner” is a felony in New York, punishable with a fine of as much as $5,000 and up to five years in prison.
Image Plastic bags containing the remains of about 25 cats were found hanging from a tree in Yonkers on Thursday. Credit S.P.C.A. of Westchester's Humane Law Enforcement Division, via Associated Press
Because the crime scene was so strange, Lieutenant McCormack said, concerned residents had asked if there was any ritualistic element to the murders. Other than the care taken to hang the remains, he said, the killings did not appear to be ritualistic.
It remained unclear if the cats were domesticated or feral, the authorities said, but there were no recent reports called in about missing pet cats, officials said.
The authorities are doing forensic tests on the remains and other items found at the scene, and are canvassing the surrounding neighborhoods.
There is a large feral cat population in Westchester County, the S.P.C.A. said, and a colony of cats is known to populate the area around where the remains were found, a spot that is a half-mile east of the Yonkers train station.
Ora Ortiz, 43, said that she and an older neighbor feed some 30 stray cats in the area every day.
Ms. Ortiz said she had recently noticed something strange.
“There was a smell on this block for a while,” she said. “We were thinking it was trash.”
She could not have imagined someone was killing the cats she cared for so deeply.
When she learned of the killings, Ms. Ortiz whisked her own pet calico, Nyla, across town to her daughter’s house.Many players are selected through the NHL entry draft at a very young age. Most players go to a junior league and quickly become club property as early as age 17. A select percent go the college route, playing NCAA hockey, sometimes up to a full four years. With the college hockey season underway, I give you an update on the Washington Capitals’ college prospects and how they are faring so far this season. Today I will feature Capitals’ prospect, Travis Boyd. The next Capitals prospect I will feature is Greg Burke, forward at the University of New Hampshire.
Travis Boyd-Center, University of Minnesota
Boyd, 19, was selected by Washington in the 2011 NHL entry draft with the 177th overall pick and currently plays for the Minnesota Gophers of the WCHA (Western Collegiate Hockey Association). The 19 year old collegiate center is set to begin his second season with the Gophers, looking to increase his offensive production following a nine point season last year in Minnesota.
He may be a small player, but his greatest asset might be his ability to win face-offs. During his freshman with the Gophers, Boyd and won 11 of 12 face-offs against St. Cloud State and 9 of 15 face-offs against Wisconsin. He seemed to be a clutch player in his first year with Minnesota, scoring his first career goal in the NCAA West Regional championship game against North Dakota.
Boyd previously played for the United States National Under 17 Team during the 2009-2010 season, posting 10 goals and 18 assists through 34 games. He then played for the United States Development Team of the USHL prior to his freshman year at Minnesota. The 5’11”, 185 pound Gopher forward potted five goals along with 13 assists in 24 games.
When drafted by Washington in the 2011 NHL entry draft, the Capitals never signed Boyd to a contract like many teams do to players intending to play college hockey. It’s still unclear how long the sophomore center will play for the Gophers, but he will likely play a full four years like fellow Washington Capitals prospect, Patrick Wey.
http://youtu.be/ykShnYLJ0mU
This season, Boyd has played in 15 games thus-far, posting nine points on the season, tying him for seventh on the team. He’s done a great job staying out of the penalty box to this point, accumulating only four penalty minutes on the year.
Following four years at Minnesota, the Capitals will likely sign Boyd to an entry level contract and he could begin his first season in professional hockey with Washington’s AHL affiliate, the Hershey Bears.
Boyd projects to be a bottom six forward, possibly a fourth line center that can win face-offs and help on the penalty kill. He’ll likely spend a few seasons in the minors, but with years of development Boyd can be a reliable defensive forward.
Boyd plans to major in business at the University of Minnesota along with his efforts to become an NHL player on day.
You can view previous Capitals Prospect Updates by clicking on the links below.
Riley Barber Prospect Update
You can follow Matthew on twitter @m_speck and email him at mspeck21@yahoo.com with any questions or comments.You’ll find communities thirsty for your findings – and a space to demonstrate measurable ‘impact’ to your heart’s content
It was sometime in August 2014 when I got my first taste of Reddit. It was one of those hot, slow Fridays when the torrent of emails slows to a trickle and the office is populated by empty chairs. I can’t now remember how I found myself on Reddit, but what started as an idle hour quickly became a full-blown addiction.
This was at the height of the Ebola epidemic and apocalyptic media reporting was turning a humanitarian crisis in West Africa into an existential threat for the Joneses. As I was working with the then honorary general secretary of the Society for Applied Microbiology, an expert on infectious diseases and antibiotic resistance, I pitched to him the idea of doing an online Q&A ( |
Frame frame = grabber.grab(); if (frame!= null) { final BufferedImage bufferedImage = converter.convert(frame); if (bufferedImage!= null) { Platform.runLater(() -> view.setImage(SwingFXUtils.toFXImage(bufferedImage, null))); } } } } catch (final IOException e) { e.printStackTrace(); } } }
This can then be placed into a JavaFX view like below:
public class TestApplication extends Application { static final int WIDTH = 1296; static final int HEIGHT = 720; @Override public void start(final Stage primaryStage) throws Exception { final ImageView imageView = new ImageView(); final BorderPane borderPane = new BorderPane(); imageView.fitHeightProperty().bind(borderPane.widthProperty().divide(WIDTH).multiply(HEIGHT)); imageView.fitWidthProperty().bind(borderPane.widthProperty()); borderPane.setPrefSize(WIDTH, HEIGHT); borderPane.setCenter(imageView); final Scene scene = new Scene(borderPane); primaryStage.setScene(scene); primaryStage.show(); new Thread(() -> FFmpegFXImageDecoder.streamToImageView( imageView, 12345, 100, "h264", 96, 25000000, "ultrafast", 0) ).start(); } }
Why did I choose these values?:
frameRate=96 Wanted the framerate of the Client to be twice the speed of the stream such that I'm not waiting on frames
Wanted the framerate of the Client to be twice the speed of the stream such that I'm not waiting on frames bitrate=25000000 to match the stream
to match the stream VideoOption preset="ultrafast" To try and reduce the startup time for the stream.
Final Questions:
What are some ways I improve the latency of this system?
How can I reduce the start-up time of this stream? It currently takes about 15 seconds to launch and catch up.
Are the parameters chosen for JavaCV and PiCamera logical? Is my understanding of them correct?Newcastle have secured the loan signing of Chelsea starlet Kenedy
The Magpies will pay a loan fee for Kenedy who they had tried to sign in summer
Kenedy joined Chelsea from Fluminense two years ago in a £6million deal
Newcastle boss Rafa Benitez has secured a loan deal for Chelsea winger Kenedy and he is set to arrive when the transfer window reopens next month.
Sportsmail understands the Magpies will pay a loan fee for the Brazilian, who they had tried to sign in the summer only for Antonio Conte to decide he was needed at Stamford Bridge.
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But Kenedy has featured just three times in the EFL Cup and the Blues are now prepared to let him leave until the end of the campaign.
Newcastle have secured a loan deal for Chelsea star Kenedy and he is set to arrive in January
The addition will be a welcome boost for Benitez, a long-time admirer of the 21-year-old. Kenedy can operate in any position on the left flank, an area where Newcastle are in desperate need of strengthening.
The Brazil Under-20 international joined Chelsea from Fluminense two years ago in a deal worth around £6million.
He appeared 20 times in his first season under first Jose Mourinho and then Guus Hiddink, scoring the fastest goal of the campaign after just 39 seconds in a 2-1 win at Norwich.
But the emergence of Marcos Alonso has restricted his involvement and, as long as Chelsea do not pick up any injuries between now and the new year, it is likely the move to Newcastle will be completed in early January.
The Magpies will pay a loan fee for the Brazilian, who they tried to sign in the summer
Benitez is looking to add reinforcements to his ranks as Newcastle battle for safety
Benitez knows that the majority of any transfer budget he is afforded by owner Mike Ashley - who remains in talks with Amanda Staveley over the sale of the club - will have to go on loan fees and wages and he wants at least three new signings.
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His side have lost eight of the last nine matches and are now in the bottom three with a trip to West Ham next up on Saturday.A photo posted by Alison Almario (@alisonalmario) on Oct 12, 2015 at 2:43pm PDT
Bone up on your turning signals, Santa Monica: the first public bike share in Los Angeles County is set for its grand opening early next month. The full network will have 500 bright green bikes at 79 hubs around SaMo and part of Venice, says Santa Monica Next; an August test-run of 31 bikes at five hubs was so popular that operator Cyclehop extended the test period until the end of this month.
This month, Santa Monica signed a five-year agreement with Hulu that will put their logo all the bikes in exchange for $675,000 a year. The money will go toward helping pay for operational costs, as well as possibly funding "helmet dispensing kiosks," where riders could rent headgear for their trip.
The Los Angeles Metro's bike share is on the way, meanwhile, set to launch sometime in the middle of 2016 with a 65-bike pilot in Downtown LA, though the system will be incompatible with Santa Monica's (so riders won't be able to return a Santa Monica bike to a Metro hub, or vice versa).
Full bike share map via Santa Monica Next
· Santa Monica Announced Date for Full Breeze Bike Share Launch [SMN]
· Santa Monica's Bike Share Program to Be Sponsored By Hulu [Curbed LA]
· First Bike Share Program in LA Has Launched in Santa Monica [Curbed LA]A massive opening three rounds, a 10-hour Anzac Day extravaganza across two nations and live broadcasts of Sunday afternoon football are the key talking points from the NRL's 2015 draw released today.
See the full 2015 NRL Telstra Premiership draw
The season kicks off with a Thursday night blockbuster on March 5 between the Broncos and Rabbitohs at Suncorp Stadium in an opening round packed with clashes between traditional rivals including Manly at Parramatta on Friday, the Roosters and Cowboys on Saturday night – reliving their epic finals clash – and a reprise of the epic Panthers v Bulldogs Preliminary Final on the Sunday afternoon.
The dates and times for every game across the first 20 rounds have been fixed with the NRL to visit Perth, Darwin and Bathurst again as well as returning to storied grounds including the Sydney Cricket Ground and Belmore Sports Ground in 2015.
There will also be a reduced workload for clubs and players around a State of Origin Series that will be played across three states, with extra byes in rounds where representative stars are unavailable.
Fans will be treated to five games on Anzac Day back-to-back from midday to 10pm in honour of the 100th anniversary of the Gallipoli landing in 1915, with games scheduled right across Australia and New Zealand.
The Saturday smorgasbord kicks off in New Zealand at midday Australian time (2pm local time) with the Warriors hosting the Titans followed by the Cowboys in Newcastle at 2pm, the Roosters and Dragons meet for their traditional clash at Allianz Stadium at 4pm, the Sea Eagles visit Melbourne at 6pm and finally the Eels travel to Brisbane for an 8pm kick-off.
Easter Monday will feature three games, with the Eels and Wests Tigers again doing battle after putting on an amazing show for more than 50,000 fans on Easter Monday in 2014. The Storm and Warriors face off at AAMI Park at 5pm before the Panthers host the Cowboys at 7pm.
There is an abundance of afternoon games throughout the first 20 rounds with nine games kicking off at 3pm on Saturday in Australia and three 5pm kick-offs in New Zealand that will broadcast live back to Australia at 3pm. All told there are 17 games kicking off by 5pm on a Saturday throughout the first part of the fixed draw, 12 Sunday 2pm starts and 19 live games on free-to-air from 4pm on Sundays.
Rounds 11, 14 and 17 will each feature just four games rather than five – one each on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday – with a view to easing the burden on clubs in pre-Origin rounds.
"We went in and worked with our broadcast partners and clubs really closely to try and understand within the agreements that we've signed, what we could deliver," NRL head of commercial Paul Kind told NRL.com.
"I think the biggest outcome is Sunday on Channel Nine will go live at four o'clock... to the credit of Nine and Fox we've been able to work together to make that happen."
With the strong opening rounds, the NRL expects to attract bigger crowds than it did in 2014 which was one of the key issues addressed from the season just past.
"The other [important lesson] was the value of your key public holidays and event days and clubs working with the game and the broadcasters to build events," Kind said.
"We've seen the success of events across the game in 2014 and we took advice from that and grew it to another level in 2015."
The reduction of games from five to four in major Origin bye rounds was done deliberately with a view to player welfare and reducing the impact on clubs as well as not scheduling major blockbusters in those rounds with the game's biggest drawcards unavailable for their respective clubs.
"We deliberately targeted trying to minimise the number of what you call 'blockbuster' games in that Origin period," Kind said.
"It's inevitable there are going to be some and you're looking at Friday night football on Channel Nine throughout that period, so it's inevitable there are some games still there but we've tried to minimise those.
"There has been a focus on that. Having said that, State of Origin remains in its traditional Wednesday night slot where we think it belongs and where it's so dominant and where it's such a big part of our season."
NRL Head of Football Todd Greenberg told NRL.com that there are "massive positives" for all clubs.
"There's the free-to-air coverage for some of the clubs that didn't get as much last year, there's a great mix of Sunday afternoon footy which will be live, which is fantastic and I think the front end of the season will be very strong," he said.
"Fans should be looking at their own club calendars right now [and] planning their season. They've got great certainty to know where their clubs are playing between now and Round 20, they know where they're playing, they know the kick-off times. It's a big part of our draw being fixed. Fans should be jumping on their club websites and NRL.com today and starting to plan their year for next year."
Putting the draw together was one of the most complex challenges faced by the NRL, with a range of competing interests between fans, players, clubs and broadcasters. Hundreds of man-hours have gone into putting it together from late in the 2014 season, with a range of people looking at it each through different coloured glasses.
"We've got to make sure the players' workload and the collective bargaining agreement are in principle within the draw, which they are," Greenberg said.
"We try to maximise our attendances with our clubs and we try to make sure the big games are played in the right spots.
"It's not an exact science and it won't please everybody, but we think we've got a wonderful draw for 2015 that's certainly an improvement."
Click here to see the complete 2015 NRL draw
Latest NRL Draw news
Key points for your team's draw
How tough is your club's draw?
Top 10 biggest clashes of the season
Where to watch your team in 2015
Top 10 reasons to become an NRL club memberIbrahim Mothana, a 24-year-old Yemeni activist, died Thursday.
Cause of death was not released.
Co-founder of the Watan Party and Arab Thought Foundation's 2011 ambassador, Mothana was known for his activism in Yemen and writings against U.S. drone policy.
The U.S. has been deeply criticized for its use of drone strikes in Yemen -- meant to target Al Qaeda militants -- due to a high number of civilian casualties.
Guardian columnist Glenn Greenwald added:
Last year, Mothana penned an op-ed in The New York Times, "How Drones Help Al Qaeda," arguing that "Drone strikes are causing more and more Yemenis to hate America and join radical militants; they are not driven by ideology but rather by a sense of revenge and despair."
This past May, Greenwald published Mothana's testimony for a Senate sub-committee when the activist was unable to attend the meeting.
Mothana wrote in the testimony: "We Yemenis got our first experience with targeted killings under the Obama administration on December 17, 2009, with a cruise missile strike in al-Majala, a hamlet in a remote area of southern Yemen. This attack killed 44 people including 21 women and 14 children, according to Yemeni and international rights groups including Amnesty International."
Mothana concluded, "I call on the United States to critically reflect on using targeted strikes and the existing counterterrorism policy in Yemen and to see that, it is insecurity and not security that these are creating in my country, the region, the US, and the entire world."-- There was a time when Alex Burrows was about as far from the NHL as any hockey player could be. After he went undrafted following his final year with the Shawinigan Cataractes of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, he toiled for three ECHL seasons in such hockey hotbeds as South Carolina and Louisiana.Burrows wasn't exactly living the dream, playing hockey in locales that are more interested in college football than low-level hockey."Obviously coming out of junior, my dream was to play in the NHL," Burrows said. "But just playing a professional sport as a 21-year-old, I thought it was pretty cool even though I was making 400 bucks a week."Burrows said frustration was starting to build, so he set a deadline for getting a call-up to the AHL. If he couldn't get out of the ECHL, he was prepared to quit the game, go to college, and start a career in something else."It's tough to come out. There're not a lot of scouts down there," Burrows said. "So I told myself then, if at Christmas I'd still be there, I'd have to try to go back to school and try to do something that was a career. Good thing one week later I got called up (to the AHL Manitoba Moose) and never looked back."Five years later, he's the leading goal-scorer on the top line of the Vancouver Canucks Every sport has its tales of players carving out careers after failing to hear the names called on draft day, but Burrows has transformed himself from a fourth-line role player into a 35-goal scorer playing alongside Henrik and Daniel Sedin. After 22 goals in his first 206 NHL games, Burrows has 63 in his last two seasons playing primarily with the Sedin twins, easily two of the most talented offensive players in the League.Playing with the Sedins can be akin to being a third wheel on a date. The Sedins have played together since they were pre-teens, developing so much chemistry that it can make it tough for a newcomer to adjust to what they like to do. But to hear Henrik tell it, it was as if Burrows was their long-lost twin Canadian brother."It was quick, really quick," he said of the instant chemistry he and Daniel had with Burrows. "Some guys it's really quick. You know right away this is going to work, and he's one of them for sure."When asked how the 29-year-old compares to some other players that have played with the Sedins, Henrik heaped some high praise on Burrows, a player who could've been a dentist or office manager today if he didn't catch his break six years ago.Would you believe Henrik Sedin prefers Alex Burrows over Markus Naslund "We've never had one like Alex," Henrik said of the others who played on his line with Daniel. "Markus was a good fit … but Burrows has been the best so far."What makes Burrows the perfect fit is he knows his role. He drives to the net, makes himself available and does whatever he can to get the puck onto the sticks of his playmaking linemates. He also has a knack for using his quickness and relative lack of size (he's 6-foot-1, 188 pounds) for getting open."I think he brings a pretty good forecheck," Daniel said. "He gets the pucks back for us. He reads guys so well so he gets open. He's a small player. That's the No. 1 thing.""I don't think he does anything special -- he's a good hockey player," Henrik said. "He's got good hockey sense. He makes the easy play all the time. He's easy to read. He knows where we want to have the puck and we know where he's going to be. That's why it works so good I think.""Those guys are spectacular players," Burrows said. "You saw again this year. With Hank winning the Art Ross, and Danny, if we would not have gotten injured, probably would be right behind them."It's not as if Burrows hasn't played with a scoring champion before. While with the Columbia Inferno in 2003-04, he was on a line with Tim Smith, who led the ECHL with 95 points in 69 games."Now I'm playing with two of the top players in the world and it makes my job a lot easier, but back then I used to play with Tim Smith," Burrows said. "He used to lead the league in scoring. He was one of my good friends. He leads the league in Asia now, so that's kind of funny how it goes. Obviously the guys didn't get all the breaks I did, but I worked hard and I got here and I'm pretty happy."But maybe Burrows is the one who deserves most of the credit for the Art Ross Trophy. After all, it's not as if Henrik Sedin and Tim Smith won any scoring titles before they started playing with Burrows."People have said so," Burrows said with a laugh, "but I like to give the credit to them."Campaigners point out that substances used to manufacture the nerve agent were exported to Damascus in the 80s
Evidence that the sarin nerve agent was used in the chemical attack that killed more than 80 and injured hundreds of others in Syria’s northern province of Idlib last week has triggered awkward questions for the government over the part played by the UK in the Assad regime’s development of a chemical weapons programme.
'The dead were wherever you looked': inside Syrian town after chemical attack Read more
Human rights groups and arms control campaigners have highlighted the government’s own admission that in the 80s the UK exported the chemicals necessary to make sarin to the Syrian regime. The UK also sold specialist equipment after the millennium which it now appears was diverted to the chemical weapons programme.
Allegations that the UK supplied potentially deadly chemicals to Syria were investigated by the Committees on Arms Export Controls (CAEC) which in 2013 wrote to then business secretary, Vince Cable, asking him to disclose the names of companies given licence approval between 2004 and 2012 to export to Syria chemicals that could be used to manufacture chemical weapons. Cable was criticised by the committees for refusing to disclose the names of the companies.
Sir John Stanley, chairman of the CAEC, said: “The effect of the business secretary’s refusal to date to disclose the names of the companies is to prevent the committees from taking evidence from them. This is a serious matter both for the four select committees who constitute the CAEC and for the House of Commons as a whole. I have therefore written to the business secretary asking him to reconsider his decision.”
Export data collected by Campaign Against the Arms Trade, which dates back to 2008, provides no evidence that any chemicals were supplied to Syria in the last nine years.
The lifespan of a weapon is often longer than the lifespan of a government that they are sold to Andrew Smith, Campaign Against Arms Trade
However, in July 2014 the then foreign secretary, William Hague, confirmed to parliament that the UK had indeed exported chemicals that “were likely to have been diverted for use in the Syrian programme”.
Hague revealed that the exports included several hundred tonnes of the chemical dimethyl phosphite (DMP) in 1983 and a further export of several hundred tonnes in 1985; several hundred tonnes of trimethyl phosphite (TMP) in 1986; and a quantity of hydrogen fluoride (HF) in 1986 through a third country.
Hague told parliament: “All these chemicals have legitimate uses, for example in the manufacture of plastics and pharmaceuticals. However, they can also be used in the production of sarin. DMP and TMP can also be used for the production of the nerve agent VX. That is why the export of such goods is strictly prohibited under the UK export regime introduced since the 1980s and progressively strengthened.”
He added: “From the information we hold, we judge it likely that these chemical exports by UK companies were subsequently used by Syria in their programmes to produce nerve agents, including sarin.” A review also confirmed the export of ventilation fans by a UK company to Syria in 2003. The Syrian regime appears to have diverted the fans for use in a chemical weapons facility, Hague admitted.
“The lifespan of a weapon is often longer than the lifespan of a government or the political situation that they are sold in to,” said Andrew Smith of Campaign Against Arms Trade. “When arms or chemical components are sold there is no way of knowing when they will be used or who they could be used against. By the UK government’s own admission it has sold components to Syria that can be used in the production of chemical weapons. It must now conduct a full investigation to determine if they were used in these terrible attacks and publish a list of other regimes and governments they have been sold to.”
A chemical weapons expert who advises Amnesty International and asked not to be identified, suggested it would be hard to preserve any sarin manufactured decades ago: “It is difficult to safely make pure, high-quality sarin that will not decompose and degrade rapidly after production. It requires a good deal of specialised equipment and expertise, as well as some special state-of-the-art information that is not generally found on the web or in libraries.”
Allan Hogarth, head of policy and government affairs for Amnesty International UK, said the Assad regime’s alleged use of chemical weapons was a timely reminder to the UK that it needed to be vigiliant about what it exported and to whom: “Even if it proves impossible to establish the origins of the chemicals used in the appalling Khan Sheikhun attack, it’s vital that we maintain absolutely watertight controls over what chemicals we export and to who.
“In the past the UK has been far too lax over these matters, something that improved with the implementation of EU-wide and other international measures. The UK should be ensuring that these standards aren’t compromised when pursuing Brexit trade deals and that all the relevant controls are maintained or tightened still further.”An old flower shop located in Mt. Healthy, a neighborhood in Cincinnati, has blossomed into a brewer’s dream. Bob and Betty Bollas have joined the crave spreading across America with home brewers chasing their dreams by opening up Fibonacci Brewing Company. The nano-brewery’s inspiration comes from the Fibonacci Sequence, which can be used to model or describe an amazing variety of phenomena, in mathematics and science, art and nature. Isn’t that exactly what brewing beer is about?
Fibonacci has parking in the front and behind their building. There is plenty of seating with picnic tables under a covered patio, large tables with chairs inside, and seats at the bar. They have 10 taps serving a mixture of beer and wine. They don’t serve food, but they will sometimes have food trucks out front.
The building is an open space with high ceilings and lots of windows to bring in natural light. I love the way the light displays the white walls and natural characteristics of all the woods/greens that decorate the brewery.
Betty shared with us that Fibonacci has recently purchased the house next door with plans of creating a beer garden. Exciting news for an up and coming brewery that looks to build something special in their community.
Brewery Review
Beer: 0.75
There was only four beers currently on tap for us try. Lemon Zingibeer a nice summer beer with flavors of lemon and ginger. Piper was a peppery saison. The Tollhouse was like a black coffee beer with a bitter, roasted coffee taste. Earth Daisy an imperial IPA with strong flavors of piney hops.
Atmosphere: 0.75
Cozy and casual, as if you were visiting a friend’s house that just happens to be a taproom.
Uniqueness: 1
A mix of modern and nature decor. Hop cone light fixtures. Terrariums hanging in the windows. Flower shelves turned into tables. School science tables converted into the bar top.
Service: 1
Bob and Betty were awesome! Very friendly people that are hoping to help grow their Mt. Healthy community.
Wildcard: 0.5
Sample glasses are little beakers. Perfect compliment to the math and science theme.
Overall: 4 out of 5
Fibonacci Brewing Company
Address: 1445 Compton Rd, Cincinnati, OH 45231
Phone: (513) 832-1422
Website Hours: Tuesday Closed Wednesday Closed Thursday 4–10PM Friday 4–10PM Saturday 12–10PM Sunday Closed Monday ClosedEarlier today, the Euphrates Shield forces seized two villages from the Kurdish-led ‘Syrian Democratic Forces’ (SDF) amid an offensive announced by Erdogan to take control of Manbij city.
Advancing to the southern outskirts of Al-Arimah town, Ahrar al-Sham, Failaq al-Sham, various predominately Turkmen ‘Free Syrian Army’ (FSA) factions and units of the Turkish Armed Forces managed to seize control of Tall Turin and the neighboring village of Al-Qarah.
Kurdish forces also exchanged artillery fire with the Turkish-backed forces across the entire frontier in northeastern Aleppo.
Meanwhile, the US-backed SDF captured the villages of Maqbarah, Abu Mandil, Maqta Hajar as Saghir and Abu al Khaf from ISIS in a region bordering territory held by the non-hostile Syrian Arab Army (SAA).
ISIS and the Euphrates Shield troops no longer share a frontline in Aleppo province; effectively, the Turkish-led forces are only able to attack either the SAA or SDF.
Moments ago, some opposition sources even claimed that the Turkish Army has captured Al-Arimah; this could not be independently verified by Al-Masdar News.
The Euphrates Shield offensive looks to curtail Kurdish influence in northern Syria. The SDF is led primarily by the Kurdish YPG, an affiliate of the outlawed PKK.
AdvertisementsIn what is probably Exhibit A for a one-star passenger rating, a Dallas assistant district attorney was fired after she drunkenly insulted and threatened an Uber driver, then said police officers the driver summoned would believe her side of the story and “f— you up.”
In a flash, Jody Warner’s intoxicated tirade — recorded by the driver and shared widely — made the Dallas prosecutor the latest example of someone with a very public job who was suddenly humbled after demeaning a blue-collar worker.
Warner had worked for the Dallas County district attorney’s office for the past six years as a prosecutor in the crimes against children unit.
On Friday night, she was also an intoxicated fare who summoned an Uber for a ride home from a Dallas pub.
Shaun Platt, the 26-year-old driver who showed up, told ABC News that the ride soured after Warner told him to quit using GPS to get her home and to follow her directions instead — then abruptly stopped giving them.
They argued back and forth, he said, and he had enough when she started calling him names, including “retard.” He stopped the car, ended the ride on the app and told her she needed to get out.
She refused — repeatedly and belligerently.
“She kept saying she’s an assistant DA and said, ‘Who are they gonna believe, you or me?’ And I said, ‘You know what, you’re kind of right,’ ” Platt told ABC News. “So I took out my phone and I recorded it.”
What followed was an exchange that would elicit a knowing nod from any Uber driver who has sworn off working Friday nights:
Platt: “I’m asking you politely, Ma’am, please step out of the vehicle.”
Warner: “No, because I’m pissed the f— off. Either drop me off at my house or we’ll wait for the cops because I’m not wrong.”
Platt: “I’m waiting for the cops.”
Warner: “Then we’ll wait for the cops. Jesus Christ, you’re a f—— idiot in a stupid f—— hat. What a joke. Jesus Christ. I’ll make sure Uber knows what a f—— joke you are.
Warner: And I want to go home so badly but you’re so stupid. I want the cops to come so that they can f— you up. That’s what I want. Like you’re such an idiot, I want the cops to come.
Platt: “Ma’am please.”
Warner: (Mocking) “No ma’am please. Dude, everything’s being recorded. I’m an assistant district attorney so shut the f— up.
Warner: “So under the law, it’s recklessly keeping me from where I was going and you have done that. You’re kidnapping me. You’re committing a third- to first-degree felony.”
[A scandal sent a Long Island police chief to prison. Now it’s brought down the D.A., too.]
Platt, who also claims that Warner struck him at some point, ultimately gave the recording to the Dallas Morning News, which published it online.
Neither Platt nor Warner could be reached for comment on Tuesday.
On Monday, Dallas County District Attorney Faith Johnson, announced on Facebook that she had “decided to terminate” Warner.
“Although criminal charges have not been filed, her behavior is contrary to this office’s core principle of integrity, and it will not be tolerated,” the statement said. “As public servants, we represent the people of Dallas County and are examples of justice, professionalism, and ethical behavior both inside and outside of the courtroom.”
Warner held a tearful news conference in which she apologized on Tuesday. She told reporters she felt uncomfortable when Platt drove a different route than she was used to and that she went into “fight or flight mode.”
Fired Dallas County ADA Jody Warner speaks after being fired from her position following an incident with an Uber driver. https://t.co/2JjwjtYe2O pic.twitter.com/fDfKsTiZtk — NBC DFW (@NBCDFW) November 14, 2017
“I’m very sorry for the language I used. I’m not proud of it,” she said, occasionally wiping away tears. “I appreciate being given the opportunity to give my side. I’m not trying to make any accusations against that driver. I don’t know what’s in his heart. I can tell you that not everything he said was true. I never touched him.”
She added: “I’m not ever going to justify anything that I said. There’s just a little bit more to it and I was wrong.”
The 32-year-old joins the list of prominent people who got a public comeuppance after berating people with less-esteemed jobs. The great equalizer appears to be nearly ubiquitous cellphones and other technology that can quickly capture and spread the ugliest moments of people with highly polished public images.
This summer, for example, 28-year-old Philadelphia newscaster Colleen Campbell was arrested after profanely attacking what appears to be the world’s most patient police officer after the journalist was kicked out of a comedy club, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
The incident was captured on a cellphone camera. In the video, Campbell spews a relentless, two-minute stream of profanity and insults. Afterward, the officer handcuffs and arrests her after she appears to spit on a manager and attempts to shove her shoe in his face.
[Laid off by ESPN, Britt McHenry is having ‘an awakening’ as a vocal conservative]Danny Rand has had his own book before. The Ed Brubaker/Matt Fraction/David Aja issues of The Immortal Iron Fist made up one of Marvel’s best runs of the last decade, at least in this writer’s humble opinion, even if it flew slightly under the radar of comics fans as a whole.
After five years, Marvel feels like the time is right for another Iron Fist ongoing, but it sounds like it might be a rough ride for Rand under the singular vision of Kaare Andrews. Writing and drawing Iron Fist: The Living Weapon #1, Andrews has plans to put the martial arts master through the wringer.
“Danny is going to be put through the wringer like never before,” Andrews said in an interview with Marvel.com. “I love to punish my characters. To make them bleed. Watch them struggle against impossible odds, and see if they can find the strength inside themselves to survive—the truth that will be the biggest hurdle of them all. He’s been hiding from it for too long. He doesn’t have to uncover it, so much as survive it. The truth will be coming for him like a freight train. And there will be a reckoning.”
That reckoning will begin with a message summoning Iron Fist back to his homeland of K’un Lun. While he’s there, Rand will have to “revisit the blood soaked origin of betrayal and vengeance that has plagued him for so long.” Yep, sounds like plenty of kung fu is going to be unleashed in fairly short order.
Propelling the new series will be Andrews’ dynamic art, which editor Jake Thomas says is going to the next level.
“He’s experimenting with color, taking risks with his writing, investing the layout of every page with meaning,” Thomas said. “This is an artist firing on all cylinders, then building strange, radical cylinders on top of those cylinders. Kaare is the genuine article, if you cut him he’d bleed comics, and Iron Fist is him bleeding all over the page.”
Hopefully that’s meant figuratively and not literally. We’ll find out on April 9, as Iron Fist: The Living Weapon #1 explodes into stores and onto digital. Check out the first few pages below to get a sneak peek at what awaits.Matteo Tonello is Director of Corporate Governance for The Conference Board, Inc. This post is based on a Conference Board Director Note by Russell Miller and Yonat Assayag of ClearBridge Compensation Group.
The arrival of say-on-pay (SOP) votes has renewed the focus of directors and senior management on striking the right balance between designing an effective executive compensation program that supports the company’s strategic business objectives and one that is sensitive to shareholder perspectives. As a result, many companies made changes to their compensation programs this year, aimed at enhancing the relationship between pay and performance in preparation for their first SOP votes. This report examines the changes made by some Fortune 500 companies and includes recommendations for companies to consider in their 2012 compensation decision-making.
An analysis of the first 100 proxy filings by Fortune 500 companies (First 100) subject to shareholder advisory votes under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act demonstrates some of the real effects SOP has had on executive compensation. [1] A key learning from those filings is that companies that perform and successfully demonstrate that their pay programs support and drive performance are more likely to win shareholder SOP votes.
Mandatory SOP had been on the horizon for U.S. publicly traded companies and a topic of boardroom discussion for several years. Certainly, well before SOP became a requirement, shareholders were able to express their opinions on executive compensation through other shareholder votes, such as director elections and equity plan proposals. This proxy season marked the first in which U.S. publicly traded companies (excluding smaller reporting companies) were required to hold non-binding shareholder votes on their executive pay programs (say on pay), the frequency of future SOP votes (say on frequency) and golden parachute payments in the event of a transaction (say on golden parachutes). Based on the results of SOP votes among the First 100 companies and at the 37 companies that received negative shareholder SOP votes, as of September 1, 2011, we can observe some of the effects SOP has had on executive compensation.
Compensation Program Changes among the First 100
Compensation program changes made by the First 100 to enhance the relationship between pay and performance were primarily centered on three areas:
1. Minimizing non-performance-based pay
2. Reinforcing shareholder alignment and/or enhancing the pay/performance orientation
3. Improving disclosure to tell the pay-for-performance story
Minimizing non-performance-based pay Non-performance based pay elements such as tax gross-ups, executive perquisites and large severance arrangements are viewed as lightning rods by many institutional investors and shareholder advisory groups. Perhaps in an effort to avoid the inevitable scrutiny and criticism, many of the First 100 reduced, and in some cases, eliminated non-performance-based pay elements.
Excise tax gross-ups Nearly 40 companies, including AT&T and OfficeMax, eliminated excise tax gross-ups (either from existing or future arrangements).
Nearly 40 companies, including AT&T and OfficeMax, eliminated excise tax gross-ups (either from existing or future arrangements). Perquisites Ten of the First 100 disclosed that they reduced or eliminated perquisites, such as country club memberships and financial planning, to the CEO and other named executive officers.
Ten of the First 100 disclosed that they reduced or eliminated perquisites, such as country club memberships and financial planning, to the CEO and other named executive officers. Severance multiples Three companies reduced severance multiples for the CEO from 3x cash compensation to 2x cash compensation. Six companies have a policy requiring shareholder approval of any payouts greater than 2.99x cash compensation, including one company (The Bank of New York Mellon Corp.) that adopted the policy in 2010. [2]
Reinforcing shareholder alignment and the pay/performance orientation Another key theme that emerged in the proxy disclosures of the First 100 was reinforcing alignment with shareholders and strengthening the pay/performance relationship through tools such as stock ownership guidelines and clawback policies.
Stock ownership While a CEO stock ownership guideline level of 5x salary is most common among the First 100 (50 companies), a growing number of companies have guidelines beyond 5x. In 2010, six companies increased their guidelines above 5x, resulting in 25 total companies with guidelines ranging from 6x to 10x.
While a CEO stock ownership guideline level of 5x salary is most common among the First 100 (50 companies), a growing number of companies have guidelines beyond 5x. In 2010, six companies increased |
3 And he labored diligently that he might lead away the hearts of the people, insomuch that he did lead away many hearts; and he knowing that I, Jacob, had faith in Christ who should come, he sought much opportunity that he might come unto me.
Hey, that’s great — he’s engaging with someone who disagrees with him. That’s a good thing to do.
Jacob 7:4 And he was learned, that he had a perfect knowledge of the language of the people; wherefore, he could use much flattery, and much power of speech, according to the power of the devil.
Ask: In what way does the LDS Church flatter people, or appeal to their sense of importance?
Have you ever heard any of the following?
You have been held in reserve as a chosen generation
The creator of the universe knows your name
You are a child of God
You can become a god and have your own planet(s)
The work and the glory of God is to bring to pass your own personal immortality and eternal life
Your moral system was given to you by the creator of the universe
The entire “plan of salvation” is one gigantic ego stroke.
So much so, that they have to bring you down by telling you you’re less than the dust of the earth. But more on that later.
Jacob 7:5 And he had hope to shake me from the faith, notwithstanding the many revelations and the many things which I had seen concerning these things; for I truly had seen angels, and they had ministered unto me. And also, I had heard the voice of the Lord speaking unto me in very word, from time to time; wherefore, I could not be shaken.
Oh, good for him.
Isn’t it funny how angels only appear to people who already believe in them? You know, if angels were appearing to people — even disbelievers — routinely, it would shake up this whole atheist thing, and make it a lot less plausible. I’m just saying.
Jacob 7:6 And it came to pass that he came unto me, and on this wise did he speak unto me, saying: Brother Jacob, I have sought much opportunity that I might speak unto you; for I have heard and also know that thou goest about much, preaching that which ye call the gospel, or the doctrine of Christ.
7:7 And ye have led away much of this people that they pervert the right way of God, and keep not the law of Moses which is the right way; and convert the law of Moses into the worship of a being which ye say shall come many hundred years hence. And now behold, I, Sherem, declare unto you that this is blasphemy; for no man knoweth of such things; for he cannot tell of things to come. And after this manner did Sherem contend against me.
It’s hard to know what’s going to happen. As Niels Bohr said,
But I do know a good way to predict the future: use the scientific method. By observing what’s happened in the past, we can make testable hypotheses that do predict what’s going to happen in the future.
Jacob 7:8 But behold, the Lord God poured in his Spirit into my soul, insomuch that I did confound him in all his words.
Care to elaborate?
Jacob: “I totally put him in his place with all my great arguments. Yep. Shut him down, I can tell you.”
It’s like that scene in a movie where someone gives a great speech, but the script writers don’t actually write the speech; they just do a montage of the audience nodding thoughtfully.
If Jacob really burned Sherem with so many zingers, why didn’t he write them down? I would have! In fact, I already do that in Facebook posts, and then I read them all to my wife!
Come on, Jacob, you owe us something.
Jacob 7:9 And I said unto him: Deniest thou the Christ who shall come? And he said: If there should be a Christ, I would not deny him; but I know that there is no Christ, neither has been, nor ever will be.
This is an oversimplification; I think most atheists today wouldn’t say they could know that.
Jacob 7:10 And I said unto him: Believest thou the scriptures? And he said, Yea.
7:11 And I said unto him: Then ye do not understand them; for they truly testify of Christ. Behold, I say unto you that none of the prophets have written, nor prophesied, save they have spoken concerning this Christ.
This is revisionism. Certainly Christians have been good at plowing through the Old Testament looking for anything that might possibly apply to Jesus, but this could be done retroactively for Elvis (Presley or Costello, take your pick).
If you disagree, consider that a guy in Canada thinks that Morrissey foretold the death of Princess Diana, through song lyrics. He’s written pages and pages of analysis. I’m not kidding.
When you have a text in front of you, it’s easy to draw imaginary connections that match nothing but what’s in your head.
Jacob 7:12 And this is not all — it has been made manifest unto me, for I have heard and seen; and it also has been made manifest unto me by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, I know if there should be no atonement made all mankind must be lost.
And here, Jacob falls back on testimony. Sherem should believe it’s true because the Holy Ghost told Jacob. Sorry, Jacob, but your special feels are not publicly verifiable evidence. Bearing testimony is a tactic for shutting down the conversation. Can’t argue with that, as they say.
Jacob 7:13 And it came to pass that he said unto me: Show me a sign by this power of the Holy Ghost, in the which ye know so much.
Okay, so now Sherem has touched the third rail. He’s asked Jacob for evidence for his claims.
Apparently you are never supposed to do this, even though this is how we establish facts in literally every other area of epistemology.
So then God puts the Big Hurt on Sherem. Seem like a bit of overkill, doesn’t it? Really, all that was needed was some kind of evidence, or a convincing explanation. Not to kill him, which after all is not really evidence of anything. People die all the time. Anyway.
Jacob 7:14 And I said unto him: What am I that I should tempt God to show unto thee a sign in the thing which thou knowest to be true? Yet thou wilt deny it, because thou art of the devil. Nevertheless, not my will be done; but if God shall smite thee, let that be a sign unto thee that he has power, both in heaven and in earth; and also, that Christ shall come. And thy will, O Lord, be done, and not mine.
7:15 And it came to pass that when I, Jacob, had spoken these words, the power of the Lord came upon him, insomuch that he fell to the earth. And it came to pass that he was nourished for the space of many days.
7:16 And it came to pass that he said unto the people: Gather together on the morrow, for I shall die; wherefore, I desire to speak unto the people before I shall die.
7:17 And it came to pass that on the morrow the multitude were gathered together; and he spake plainly unto them and denied the things which he had taught them, and confessed the Christ, and the power of the Holy Ghost, and the ministering of angels.
7:18 And he spake plainly unto them, that he had been deceived by the power of the devil. And he spake of hell, and of eternity, and of eternal punishment.
7:19 And he said: I fear lest I have committed the unpardonable sin, for I have lied unto God; for I denied the Christ, and said that I believed the scriptures; and they truly testify of him. And because I have thus lied unto God I greatly fear lest my case shall be awful; but I confess unto God.
7:20 And it came to pass that when he had said these words he could say no more, and he gave up the ghost.
Ever notice how all the really interesting things happened in the distant past? I deny the Christ all the time, and I’m still walking around like God’s imaginary or something.
Ask: What do we learn from the story of Sherem?
1. Believers should just bear their testimonies to critics, and pray for God to strike them down.
and
2. Doubters secretly do know it’s all true, but they’re being deceived by Satan.
Whoops, there’s a flag down on the play.
Well, I’m going to be sad to see Sherem go, even though he was a bit of a Judaism apologist. It’s just that the Book of Mormon villains are the most fun. We’ll see the same pattern in our other two villains (Nehor and Korihor): the Book of Mormon writer can’t deal with the arguments of unbelievers honestly; he has to present outrageous caricatures of their views, and subject them to dismal ends.
Additional lesson ideas
Adieu
Jacob signs off with these words:
Jacob 7:27 And I, Jacob, saw that I must soon go down to my grave; wherefore, I said unto my son Enos: Take these plates. And I told him the things which my brother Nephi had commanded me, and he promised obedience unto the commands. And I make an end of my writing upon these plates, which writing has been small; and to the reader I bid farewell, hoping that many of my brethren may read my words. Brethren, adieu.
People have made much of the word adieu here, but is it really a big deal? Yes, the word is French, which didn’t exist in this time period — and all the other words are in English, which also didn’t exist in this time period.
Even though the French word adieu seems odd in this context, I’m putting this one down as “not a big deal”. Although it does mean God’s a bit of a crap translator, along with everything else he’s not great at.Animation director and artist Charles Martin “Chuck” Jones (1912—2002) brought to life some of the most iconic cartoon characters in animation history. He perfected the wisecracking Bugs Bunny and the exasperated Daffy Duck and created a host of other characters, including Pepé Le Pew, Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner. He brought an unparalleled talent for comic invention and a flair for creating distinctive, memorable characters to the art of film animation.
“What’s Up, Doc? The Animation Art of Chuck Jones” is a new Smithsonian traveling exhibition that explores Jones’ creative genius, influences and legacy. The exhibition is a partnership between the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity, and the Museum of the Moving Image.
“What’s Up, Doc? The Animation Art of Chuck Jones” will open at the Museum of the Moving Image in New York City July 19. After closing Jan.19, 2015, it will continue on a 13-city tour through 2019. Notable stops along the tour include the EMP Museum in Seattle, The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles and the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History in Fort Worth, Texas.
“Chuck Jones is one of the enduring geniuses of American comedy, as accomplished in the art of animation as his hero Mark Twain was in literature,” said David Schwartz, chief curator of the Museum of the Moving Image, who curated the exhibition with Barbara Miller, the museum’s curator of the collection and exhibitions. “His work is marked by its ability to convey the distinctive personality of his characters, his endless comic invention and his mastery of timing and visual and verbal humor.”
The exhibition features 23 of Chuck Jones’ animated films and more than 125 original sketches and drawings, storyboards, production backgrounds, animation cels and photographs, demonstrating how Jones and his collaborators worked together to create cinematic magic. The films, shown as large wall projections and on monitors throughout the exhibition, include such classic Warner Bros. cartoons as What’s Opera, Doc? and One Froggy Evening, and the Academy Award®-winning short film The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics, which expanded the boundaries of the medium with its experimental techniques.
Trained as a fine artist, Jones graduated from the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles in 1931. By 1933, he was making cartoons distributed by Warner Bros. Studio. In a career that spanned seven decades, he created more than 300 animated films and received an Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement. After leaving Warner Bros. in 1962, Jones continued to create award-winning films, including collaborations with author Theodore Geisel on the classic television specials Horton Hears a Who! and Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
About the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service
SITES has been sharing the wealth of Smithsonian collections and research programs with millions of people outside Washington, D.C., for more than 60 years. SITES connects Americans to their shared cultural heritage through a wide range of exhibitions about art, science and history, which are shown wherever people live, work and play. Exhibition descriptions and tour schedules are available at www.sites.si.edu.
About the Museum of the Moving Image
The Museum of the Moving Image advances the public understanding, enjoyment and appreciation of film, television and digital media. In its expanded and renovated facility in New York City—acclaimed for accessibility and bold design—the museum presents innovative interactive exhibitions; screenings of significant works; discussion programs featuring actors, directors, craftspeople and business leaders; and dynamic education programs. More information is available at movingimage.us/.
About The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is the world’s preeminent movie-related organization, with a membership of more than 6,000 of the most accomplished men and women working in cinema. In addition to the annual Academy Awards—in which the members vote to select the nominees and winners—the Academy presents a diverse year-round slate of public programs, exhibitions and events; acts as a neutral advocate in the advancement of motion picture technology; and, through its Margaret Herrick Library and Academy Film Archive, collects, preserves, restores and provides access to movies and items related to their history. Through these and other activities the Academy serves students, historians, the entertainment industry and people everywhere who love movies.
Designed by architects Renzo Piano and Zoltan Pali, The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures will be located next to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in the historic Wilshire May Co. building. Slated to open in 2017, the Academy Museum will contain nearly 300,000 square feet of state-of-the-art galleries, exhibition spaces, theaters, screening rooms, education centers and special event spaces.
About The Chuck Jones Center for Creativity
The Chuck Jones Center for Creativity is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 public charity located in Costa Mesa, Calif. Founded in 1999 by four-time Academy Award recipient and legendary animation creator and director, Chuck Jones, the Center’s vision is to inspire the innate creative genius within each person that leads to a more joyous, passionate and harmonious life and world. For more information about The Chuck Jones Center for Creativity, visit http://chuckjonescenter.org.
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SI-128-2014Olivier Giroud will lead the line for France tonight as they kick-off Euro 2016 against Romania. For the Arsenal striker it will be a special moment, all the more so given the slow and winding route he’s taken to the top of international football.
On the eve of the tournament, the Gunner sat down for a chat with Le Figaro…we’ve done our best to translate it.
What’s your first memory of Les Bleus?
France vs Bulgaria in 1993 at the Parcs des Princes when Kostadinov stopped us from going to the World Cup in the USA. I was just seven and it was my first sad experience of Les Bleus. A bad memory [laughs].
Who is you childhood idol?
Jean-Pierre Papin! He was an attacker, like me, so that was inevitably appealing. But not just that. He used to do beautiful ‘Papinades’ [a spectacular, airborne volley usually from an unusual angle] that I always tried to reproduce as a kid with my friends. Even now in training there’s a few who’ll testify to my bicycle kick…but I break my back every time when I fall [laughs]. I don’t forget Zidane either who made me, like everybody else, dream in 1998.
Was it a family ritual to watch France games?
Completely. In 1998 my support was unconditional. It really is the first competition that I followed with real fervor. As a family we used to wear the red, white and blue face paint. On 12 July 1998 [night of the final vs Brazil] we took to the street celebrating the success.
Where were you when France won Euro 2000?
In the United States with my club. I was 14 and despite the time difference it was crazy. We partied like crazy. These two events marked my childhood and more than anything confirmed to me that I wanted to be a footballer.
At this point were you already dreaming of the French team?
Not at all! I couldn’t even imagine a quarter of that. Inevitably, you have dreams in your head, visions of what you want to do, like all youngsters in football, but to think I’d actually get called up, I never thought that.
Talk about your career in football…
I didn’t sign for a club at 17 even after years on the training ground. I was not destined for a career that was mapped out, I had to go and get her. I’m proud of my carer. My progress, it’s a little silly to say but it’s the case, has always been step by step. I’ve known important stages moving the National league to Ligue 2 then Ligue 1 with Montpellier. It’s the same with Franck Ribery, Mathieu Valbuena and Lolo [Laurent Koscielny], they’ve experienced an unusual path to Les Bleus and it’s happening more and more.
When you were in Ligue 2 with Tours did a national team call up seem impossible?
Completely. My goal at the time [2008-10] was to become top scorer. You can imagine that I didn’t think at all about the France team [smiles]. At this moment my ambition was to play in Ligue 1 and in England. With Les Bleus…when I started to score regularly in Ligue 1 I heard murmurs about a call-up. But it took a while.
How did you find out?
My coaches at Montpellier, René Girard and Pascal Baills, let slip when I was coming out of the gym that I’d be getting a call. I was crazy. I got chills.
Is it a strength to have ‘struggled’ compared to your peers and opponents?
Yes, certainly. It allows me to keep things in perspective. I’m aware of how privileged I am to have seized my chance. One could say I’ve a lucky star above my head.
In November 2011, you played at the Stade de France for the first team in the France shirt. Tell us about that…
The shirt was heavy to wear [laughs]! You’re thinking about your family, your relatives, you shiver when you hear your name read aloud in the stadium. It wasn’t easy to sleep the day before the match. I’ll keep my first jersey for the rest of my life. Nobody will take it.
And your first Marseillaise?
Again, it was a great moment. It had a special meaning because I’d learnt the anthem by heart with my grandmother when I was a child. Her name is Antonia, she’s of Italian origin. I was only 10 years old but she was adamant that I mastered the words perfectly and understood the meaning of each sentence. I was instilled with these values and they have meaning today. It’s a beautiful memory.
Despite the criticism, you continue to be selected for the national team. You march on with pride…
Possibly. I attach great importance to one of my mottos, told to me by my brother. “Building the road to success never stops.” Even in football, where after every weekend, you can fall down or be congratulated. We have to prove we want to score goals, to win titles. And to make history. This is what I want. I want to make my family proud.
What’s your goal at this Euros, to make history with France?
Sure. We’re representing all France and it’s our duty to give the maximum and make the public proud. When you play the Euros at home it makes sense to leave a mark in history with the France team. There is a big expectation, but we’re ready. The challenge excites me. When the competition starts, it’ll be enormous. I don’t currently need sleeping pills to sleep, I’m hoping I won’t [smiles].
Are you facing the biggest challenge of your career?
Yes. The pressure is on but it shouldn’t inhibit us. I’m eager to get back to the Stade de France to play Romania and open the campaign.
What’s your dream?
It was Platini’s destiny to score nine goals in the Euros [in 1984], that’s huge. The fate of David Trezeguet was to score the golden goal against Italy in 2000. It’s not bad! It would suit me well to be honest. I’d sign up for that to happen immediately. Whether it’s more or another player. Winning the Euros is our common goal.SAN DIEGO -- Despite advances in civil rights in the gay and lesbian community, transgender patients still face discrimination and disparities in the health system, an expert on gay healthcare said here.
Transgender people routinely avoid using healthcare resources because of the way physicians may have treated them in the past, or because of fear of being treated differently, said Joe Freund, MD, a family physician in Des Moines, Iowa, who cares for a large base of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) patients.
"I've got trans[gender] patients who refuse to go to the emergency room unless they're basically unconscious because of doctors screaming out of the room when they discovered something they didn't think they were going to find," Freund said at the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) scientific assembly. "People are poorly treated at times."
Transgender patients often have difficulty finding physicians who are accepting of their condition, willing to treat them, and knowledgeable about the nuances that come with their care.
"Some practices really don't know very many GLBT folk," Freund said. "What that may create is discomfort that is felt immediately by the patient."
Transgender people are more likely to lack insurance coverage or have inadequate insurance. They also are routinely denied coverage because their gender identity and resulting treatments are deemed pre-existing conditions.
"Hopefully, this will be addressed -- both access issue and exclusion -- when the [Affordable Care Act] comes on board," Freund said.
Jennifer Burnett, MD, a family practitioner in Selma, Calif., said that between one in 500 and one in 1,000 individuals in the U.S. are transgender, but it's hard to find a more exact number because so many refuse to seek routine healthcare care or simply can't find it. Burnett presented a poster at the AAFP on a treatment protocol for male-to-female transsexual.
Healthcare disparities in the transgender population is particularly prevalent in the mental health field with up to a third of suicide attempts by teens reported as related to sexual orientation or gender identity.
Roughly a third of GLBT people have reported attempting suicide at some point in their lives, Freund said, although that number drops for transgender people after sex reassignment surgery (BMC Psychiatry 2008).
"We've got a [sex reassignment] treatment that works," he said. "We just don't use it."
Medicare is currently examining whether or not it should cover sex-change surgery, and Freund called the pending decision "vital."
"It is a part of healthcare. It shouldn't be looked at as something that's optional," he told MedPage Today.
Furthermore, there are few GLBT-based clinical recommendations, Freund said.
Family physicians sometimes forget that transgender women still have a prostate that needs to be examined, and that transgender men are still susceptible to breast cancer, he said. GLBT patients face much higher risk for smoking, substance abuse, and sexually transmitted diseases.
Today's healthcare system is not properly set up to acknowledge GLBT issues, Freund said. Demographic information isn't collected so health data can be identified, although that is starting to change.
"We're getting more [training] in schools and residencies as time goes on," Freund said.
There is a growing base of resources on transgender health for providers, such as the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association and Fenway Health in Boston. The University of California at San Francisco recently started a Center of Excellence for Transgender Health.
Providers can ask transgender patients what pronoun their patient wants them to use or avoid the use of pronouns entirely, Freund said. Their office forms can be altered to account for GLBT-sensitive questions and information. Physicians should take a more complete history to catch the disparities that may exist.
"The more and more you ask about it, the more comfortable you are with it," Freund said.
2013-09-29T17:00:00-0400Get the latest from TODAY Sign up for our newsletter
Nov. 5, 2014, 5:25 PM GMT By Alesandra Dubin
When it comes to Thanksgiving decorating, are you all about crafty fun or store-bought convenience? Check out our ideas for projects to make yourself and their retail equivalents — plus our verdict for when to buy and when to DIY.
Gilded pinecone garland
On the left is a DIY pinecone garland, while on the right is a pinecone garland you can buy. Is it worth it to DIY or buy it? Today
DIY: To make this version from The Sweetest Occasion, brush gold leaf onto pinecones and screw eye hooks to the top of each. Use the hooks to attach the pinecones to a length of twine.
Buy: Pick up this gold glittered pinecone garland for $22.95 at the Holiday Barn
The verdict: Buy, unless you know what you’re doing. Beginners may find gold leaf tough to work with.
Birch wood candles
You could DIY this birch wood candle, as seen on the left, or pick up the candles on the right from Pottery Barn. Today
DIY: To make the DIY version, Oleander + Palm cut pieces of branches and drilled out the tops with a one-and-a-half-inch drill bit. Then simply drop a tea light inside each one.
Buy: Purchase these flameless flicker birch pillar candles at Pottery Barn, priced from $49.50.
The verdict: Buy. The store-bought versions may seem pricey, but the LED wick that mimics a real dancing flame is worth the investment.
Wheat wreath
This wheat wreath can be made with a DIY, as pictured on the left, or you can purchase it, as pictured on the right. Today
DIY: To make this project from Bloooming Homestead, use a foam wreath form as a base. Then layer and pin dried wheat stocks from the craft store to cover it.
Buy: For $89.95, you can pick up a wheat wreath at Crate & Barrel
The verdict: DIY. Although this project is time consuming, it’s super easy — and the cost adds up to just a fraction of the store-bought version.
Wood napkin ties/rings
Add a personal touch to your Thanksgiving table by DIY'ing a napkin ring, or you can purchase a similar napkin ring at Bed, Bath and Beyond. Today
DIY: Dukes & Duchesses’ DIY version is as simple as can be. Find a branch and cut it into equal slices. Then drill out the middle, creating a hole about an inch in diameter, and you’re done!
Buy: Add store-bought natural wood bark napkin ring, each priced at $2.99, from Bed, Bath & Beyond.
The verdict: DIY. If you already own a drill, and you live somewhere that makes it possible to forage for a fallen branch, this project will cost you literally nothing. And what’s better than free?
Pumpkin place card holders
You can spend an afternoon creating your own pumpkin place card holders, or you could purchase similar holders at Pier 1. Today
A set of pretty pumpkin place cards can help each guest to the table feel individually welcomed — and mitigate the stress of any awkward family politics.
DIY: You can create your own pumpkin place card holidays as Jenny Steffens Hobick did on her blog, Every Day Occasions. She suggests placing tape over the stems of mini pumpkins before spraying them soft gold. Then remove the tape and cut a slit in each step in which to slip a name card.
Buy: Purchase pumpkin place card holders, priced at $9.98, from Pier1.
The verdict: Buy. While we love the DIY version and it’s easy enough to execute, the store-bought version is actually cheaper over the course of even just a season or two. Plus, the artificial pumpkins last forever in storage.
Alesandra Dubin is a Los Angeles-based writer and the founder of home and travel blog Homebody in Motion. Follow her on Facebook, Google+ and Twitter.Many moons ago, when I was a but a wee university newspaper hack, “hurricane Rosie” hit the very respectable groves of Mount Allison University. The Rosie in question was erstwhile Liberal MP Roseanne Skoke, who represented the good people of Central Nova for a spell in the ’90s. Rosie didn’t much like the gays—“Homosexuality is not natural and it is undermining the inherent rights and values of our Canadian family,” she espoused in the House of Commons in 1994—and she took her shtick on the road after being turfed from this institution in 1997.
Skoke’s speaking tour, which brought her to many university campuses, was pure calculated spectacle—Anne Coulter before Anne Coulter. Central to her message was how society in general and university campuses in particular, rife as they are with feminists and their ilk, were fast becoming intolerant to pro-family types like her.
As if on cue, Mount Allison’s cadre of student groups became outraged. The university president was pilloried for allowing such a wretched creature on campus. Letters demanding her banishment clogged the pages of my newspaper. Exactly as she’d planned, Skoke’s enemies did the work for her. She arrived onstage to a packed room. The protesters outside, frothy with outrage, gave her a ready-made narrative. She was, for a few minutes at least, a self-made martyr to her own cause.
The current debate over the place and objectives of “men’s issues” groups, currently raging at several choice campuses across the country, is a reminder of how there are rarely any new themes over which to become outraged at university. Rather, time-honoured bogeymen are reanimated and promptly pitchforked.
And as far as these things go, “men’s issues” might have been faxed from 1998 and given a faux-hawk, a Hollister T-shirt and the keys to the beer pong room. To wit: the student governments at no fewer than four Canadian universities have attempted to ban men’s issues groups and/or events in the last two years alone.
The most recent and flagrant of these attempts came courtesy of the Ryerson Students’ Union. The RSU recently denied fourth-year student Kevin Arriola’s request to start the Men’s Issues Awareness Society at Toronto’s Ryerson University. The reasons behind the RSU decision, as the National Post’s Robyn Urback noted, included “systemic privilege” and the lack of “proper safety measures to prevent the group from spinning out of control.”
As Skoke demonstrated at my alma mater nearly 20 years ago, there is a persistent and frustrating tendency on campuses to banish all that is deemed distasteful—or at least deny it funding and space, which amounts to the same thing. The case of Ryerson’s Men’s Issues Awareness Society is all the more frustrating because, unlike Skoke’s gay-baiting spiel of yore, Arriola’s objective is so bloody politically correct, Dave Matthews might have put it to music.
“We are a brand new group at Ryerson that… is committed to issues that disproportionately affect men and boys in our society,” Arriola wrote on Reddit last month, adding, “We are open to people of all genders, races, and political affiliations… We hope to one day work with moderate women’s groups on common causes.”
As the RSU decision demonstrates, the main objection to men’s issues groups is that they are actually thinly disguised misogynist redoubts for potentially violent men. Journalist Scaachi Koul professed how she would be “nervous” if she were made to study next door to a such a thing. “I don’t think they should exist,” she said on a recent CBC panel. “I think a lot of the men’s rights movement is a response to the anxiety about women doing better.”
Let’s say for a moment that Koul is right. Let’s say most of these men’s groups are women-hating cabals that hoodwink student unions into thinking they only want to talk about depression, suicide and homelessness—if only to secure university funding. Banish them, and you only fuel their resentment, and further their own blinkered narrative. Lock them in the cellar, and they’ll only get bigger and more angry.
Or you can give them room to breathe. Those groups who actually talk about suicide and homelessness—which, along with shorter lifespans, disproportionately affect males—will do so with the knowledge that their concerns are no more and no less important than any other group’s. As for the mouth breathers, axe-grinders and perpetually aggrieved dudes who actually think women are the devil incarnate? Sunlight has a habit of exposing idiots, particularly on university campuses.
It’s exactly what happened to Skoke. During the question-and-answer session following her talk, she was promptly unmasked as a fraud and a hypocrite. The supposedly pro-family politician was actually divorced. The finger-waving moralist who decried sex before marriage had a grandchild born out of wedlock.
In the following months and years, Skoke became less of a hot ticket. Her anti-gay views, meanwhile, have further drifted out of favour like the Fundy tide. Yet today, as back then, many on university campuses never seem to learn that you don’t need to ban bad ideas. People usually stop listening on their own.
Clarification: An earlier version of this column said that depression disproportionately affect males. In fact, it disproportionately affects women.On September 24, 1980, Led Zeppelin drummer John Henry Bonham—aka “Bonzo,” aka “The Beast”—downed forty (40!) shots of vodka at the home of guitarist Jimmy Page, practiced for a few hours with his bandmates, and then, understandably, passed out.
Come the morning of September 25, 1980, Bonham was dead, having choked on his own vomit at age 32.
Bonzo, heavy metal’s most monstrously mighty Destroyer God of Percussion, was a legend in life and he’s loomed only larger over music and humanity alike throughout the 35 years since we lost him.
Charlie Watts of the Stones, Roger Taylor of Queen, Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Dave Grohl of Nirvana and Foo Fighters (along with countless millions of fans worldwide) have each specifically singled out John Bonham as “the greatest rock drummer of all time.”
The following ten songs explosively make the case as to just how right that assessment is. The Beast rules—from the height of the Misty Mountains to the darkest depths of Mordor—now, then, and forever.
“Trampled Under Foot” Embedded from www.youtube.com Album: Physical Graffiti (1975) John Bonham may have been nicknamed “The Beast,” but his drumming on “Trampled Under Foot” sounds like an actual beast. It charges, it gallops, it snarls, it roars, and, just like the name promises, it runs roughshod over your consciousness so brilliantly you’ll cherish every boot-print. “Achilles Last Stand” Embedded from www.youtube.com Album: Presence (1976) “Achilles Last Stand” places you in the heat of battle and what’s thumping in your head is actually John Bonham directing the action with each blast, but it’s also your racing heart, frantically speeding up just to keep pace. Your survey the field of skirmish as slings and arrows and incendiary devices cascade down from every direction in the form of Bonzo’s superhuman drum fills. War may be hell, but in terms of painting pictures by means of pure percussion, “Achilles Last Stand” is drum visionary heaven. “The Ocean” Embedded from www.youtube.com Album: Houses of the Holy (1973) The drums conjure a scope as wide and foreboding as the song’s title implies. Jimmy Page’s snazzy riff and sharp licks cut through the waves, and Bonham’s beats slice the surf just one beat back, cracking out commentary on the action. When “The Ocean” swells, its does so in response to Bonzo’s depth-charge commands. When it breaks and crashes and bathes the listener in its vast glories, John’s there again, driving the tide as only he can. “The Immigrant Song” (1970) Embedded from www.youtube.com Album: Led Zeppelin III (1970) Robert Plant invokes the “hammer of the gods” here. Guess who delivers. “Immigrant Song” is pure Viking rage, powered by John Bonham who swings his sticks like an entire muscle-bound brute galley rowing an emperor-sized dragon boat… to victory and Valhalla (not necessarily in that order), of course. “Fool in the Rain” Embedded from www.youtube.com Album: In Through the Out Door (1979) “Fool in the Rain” hinges on John Bonham’s jazzy groove, and it’s punctuated by big booms that propel the bittersweet melody forward. Out of nowhere, then, somebody blows a whistle and a Latin-style percussion party kicks off. Bonzo swings and sways his very own Brazilian carnival for an unforgettable spell before stopping on a dime and returning us to our regularly scheduled saga of |
but our progress is on the ballot,” Obama told a gathering of black leaders in September, in a formulation he would deliver repeatedly throughout the fall as he stumped for Clinton. He ticked off his accomplishments: expanded health coverage, economic recovery and troops largely removed from harms’ way in Iraq and Afghanistan.
And with his approval rating hovering in the mid-fifties — his highest in four or 7 years, depending on the poll — Obama seemed like a powerful surrogate. But it didn’t seem to be enough to drive even his supporters to the polls, with Clinton losing at least four states that Obama won twice.
In fact, Democrats faced similarly disastrous results the last time Obama said his agenda, if not his name, was on the ballot.
"Make no mistake: These policies are on the ballot. Every single one of them," Obama said in October 2014, just before the midterms. Democratic strategists cringed, and with good reason: Obama’s approval rating was in one of its deepest trenches. A month later, his party lost its majority in the Senate.
Obama’s policies never achieved his level of popularity. His signature health law never cracked 50 percent approval in any Kaiser tracking poll — in October, Americans were evenly split, with 45 percent approving and disapproving of Obamacare.
Even as the unemployment rate dipped below 5 percent, affirming the recovery from the economic crisis Obama inherited, people didn’t feel it enough. The sense that the system was rigged for the rich and well-connected fueled populist campaigns on the left and right. Both Trump and Sen. Bernie Sanders tapped into those same anxieties when they ran against the Trans-Pacific Partnership, another legacy item the president never fully sold to the public.
Obama’s former national security spokesman Tommy Vietor ruefully acknowledged the toll of that persistent resentment early Wednesday morning.
“We could explain for hours why there was not the legal authority to put these people in jail, or why we needed to bail out the banks to rescue our economy for the greater good,” Vietor said on a “Keepin’ It 1600” video stream. “But that stuff hurt and it pissed people off and they never let it go.”
But even as Obama’s policies failed to gain wide acceptance, his affable personal qualities — and a contrast with the checkered family lives of the people running to replace him — boosted his approval ratings.
“They see the President as somebody who actually can be a role model to our kids,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest said in October. It wasn’t long after tapes emerged of Trump boasting that he could grope women because he was famous, followed by Republican counter-charges about Bill Clinton’s sexual misconduct.
“The public’s appraisal of the president’s character is one that even in the most difficult times has been pretty durable,” Earnest added.
Durable, but evidently not transferable.
Obama’s circle grew increasingly despondent as the results became clear.
“My country is a different place than I thought it was when I woke up this morning,” tweeted Bill Burton, a veteran spokesman of Obama’s 2012 campaign and White House.
My country is a different place than I thought it was when I woke up this morning. — Bill Burton (@billburton) November 9, 2016
Of Obama himself, said Axelrod, “I'm sure he's deeply disappointed tonight.”
He continued, during a Wednesday morning CNN appearance, “I haven't spoken to him. But he campaigned very, very vigorously. He felt very strongly about it.”
Axelrod predicted that Obama would meet with Trump on Thursday to facilitate a smooth handoff of power. Indeed, Obama has promised to do all he can to oversee an organized transition no matter who wins.
Brent Griffiths contributed to this report.Something for the incoming administration to shoot for. Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images
Incoming chief White House strategist Steve Bannon has a plan.
“Like [Andrew] Jackson’s populism, we’re going to build an entirely new political movement,” he told the Hollywood Reporter in an interview published Friday. “It’s everything related to jobs. The conservatives are going to go crazy.”
He continued:
I’m the guy pushing a trillion-dollar infrastructure plan. With negative interest rates throughout the world, it’s the greatest opportunity to rebuild everything. Ship yards, iron works, get them all jacked up. We’re just going to throw it up against the wall and see if it sticks. It will be as exciting as the 1930s, greater than the Reagan revolution—conservatives, plus populists, in an economic nationalist movement.
We’re not sure quite what he means by “as exciting as the 1930s”—the time of the Great Depression and when Hitler rose to power in Germany—but it’s still a plan. That plan is apparently to take the infrastructure and economic agenda that Republicans have stymied Barack Obama from implementing for the past six years because, they claimed, it would wreck the deficit, and get Republicans to implement it now. It’s not unlike how past Republican politicians have treated deficit spending—they howl like banshees about its dangers when Democrats are in office and spend like drunken sailors when they take power.
So, that’s the plan. Where does the evidence that he’s an anti-Semite who ran a white nationalist and misogynist propaganda network fit into this plan? And how does he think it will pan out?
I’m not a white nationalist, I’m a nationalist. I’m an economic nationalist. The globalists gutted the American working class and created a middle class in Asia. The issue now is about Americans looking to not get f—ed over. If we deliver, we’ll get 60 percent of the white vote, and 40 percent of the black and Hispanic vote and we’ll govern for 50 years. That’s what the Democrats missed. They were talking to these people with companies with a $9 billion market cap employing nine people. It’s not reality. They lost sight of what the world is about.
Interesting! Fifty years of power. In the hands of Bannon-ism. That doesn’t sound too grandiose.
Is there any chance that the man who spent many years building up a network of alt-right trolls under his umbrella at Breitbart might be trolling people now?
Darkness is good … Dick Cheney. Darth Vader. Satan. That’s power. It only helps us when they get it wrong. When they’re blind to who we are and what we’re doing.
Hmm. They, according to author Michael Wolff, is the media. He’s going to use the dark powers of Vader, Satan, and Cheney. Or the media is going to portray him like those mythical figures. And he’ll gain power from it! Again, it’s a plan.
How else does he feel about the media, though?
The media bubble is the ultimate symbol of what’s wrong with this country. It’s just a circle of people talking to themselves who have no f—ing idea what’s going on. If The New York Times didn’t exist, CNN and MSNBC would be a test pattern. The Huffington Post and everything else is predicated on The New York Times. It’s a closed circle of information from which Hillary Clinton got all her information—and her confidence. That was our opening.
What about the conservative, but not ethno-nationalist, media entity Fox News?
They got it more wrong than anybody. Rupert [Murdoch] is a globalist and never understood Trump. To him, Trump is a radical. Now they’ll go centrist and build the network around Megyn Kelly.
The Megyn Kelly who says Fox News had to explain to a Trump henchman why it would be bad for the then-candidate’s campaign if she was killed? Excellent.
So, to conclude, what does Bannon think of his boss, the president-elect, who is no way under the thrall of an anti-Semitic, homophobic, xenophobic, racist, sycophantic yes man?
You have probably the greatest orator since William Jennings Bryan, coupled with an economic populist message and two political parties that are so owned by the donors that they don’t speak to their audience.
It’s going to be a fun four years, everyone!Recently, we explained How To Hide My IP Address? And the answer to the question is VPN. That is because a good VPN service like Express VPN is operated by a single organization that could not potentially monitor or no log your traffic. If you want to try to hide online activities from government or hackers you need to send your traffic through layers of different entities, so no one can track you what you're doing, and VPN is the best way to send your traffic through layers of various entities or Proxies and Smart DNS are some other ways to change your IP address.
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Gillette has always been famously tight-lipped when it came to blade life. Ask them anything else about shaving, and you got a thorough response. Did you know the average male takes 150 strokes per shave? Or that men’s faces include 10,000-15,000 hair follicles? Or that 10% of male shavers replace their blades according to the calendar, while the rest of us go by feel?
But broach the subject of blade life and you got a long list of reasons why it wasn’t possible to estimate. Until now. “This is most specific we’ve been,” says Gillette spokesman Damon Jones.
Gillette never advertised blade lifebecause it never had to. The brand, owned by Procter & Gamble (PG), grew into the leading men’s shaving line not because its blades lasted forever but because they were better, period. They were better because Gillette spent more than anyone else to make them that way — it didn’t hesitate to cough up $1 billion developing the Mach 3. And Gillette never mentioned blade life because it was better if the consumer didn’t know. By not knowing exactly how long (or short) a blades’ lifespan, the customer might replace it more often than necessary.
More: Procter and Gamble – No. 27 on the Fortune 500
And that’s often what they did. After disposables lost their luster, Gillette introduced the two-bladed Sensor in 1990, then the three-bladed Mach3 in 1998, then the six-bladed Fusion line in 2006. By then its market share figures exceeded 80% in the lucrative U.S. market, and yearly sales of replacement blades and razors were approaching $1 billion.
As blade counts rose, so did replacement cartridge prices. Which was fine when the economy was humming. But now as it limps along, Gillette’s market share has taken a hit — its hold of the U.S. replacement cartridges market slipped by 3 percentage points from 2010 through the first quarter of 2012. Jones says Gillette reacted with the new ad. “One of the things we wanted to do was to help reframe the value perception of our brand,” he says. Translated from PR-speak: Gillette needed to give men another reason to pay more for its blades.
Gillette contends its pricing is competitive with rivals like Schick. But the average price paid for a pack of Gillette’s replacement blades today is $18.04, far higher than the $15.32 industry average and nearly $8 more than what Energizer Holdings’ (which owns Schick) customers pay for a pack, according to SymphonyIRI Group.
Gillette’s market share losses also come as it battles a retro razor craze. Men’s publications have urged readers to pull out their grandfather’s old razors, which use a single, inexpensive razor blade. “First off, shaving with straight razors makes you seem like a badass,” says Brett McKay, who founded men’s blog The Art of Manliness and shaves with his grandfather’s 1960s Schick safety razor. “But second, it’s a better value. You buy a razor once, you keep it sharp, and you never have to buy cartridges again.”
Reliable market share numbers don’t exist for retro shavers, but not only have GQ, Esquire, and Details featured the products, more than 45,000 members of the online forum Badger & Blade post daily about shaving with century-old razors.
New competitors have also tried to chip away at Gillette. The upstart subscription service Dollar Shave Club charges as little as $1 a month for mail-order replacement blades. After winning $1 million in venture capital from Silicon Valley hotshots like Kleiner Perkins and Andreessen Horowitz, Dollar Shave grabbed national headlines with its amusing YouTube ad in March that takes a swipe at Gillette spokesman Roger Federer. Co-founder Mike Dubin, 33, doesn’t want to encourage a David vs. Goliath story. But the former NBC page who started Dollar Shave Club last year in a Los Angeles digital incubator does say, “Are the big guys ripe for taking a couple potshots at? Yeah.”
Does Gillette risk mixing messages by emphasizing value (one cartridge last five weeks!) with premium razors? Of course. But between the billions it spent on R&D and the millions it spends each year studying consumer behavior, the brand should come out ahead. “They benefited from a culture where we were pretty quick to dispose blades, now they’re saying we don’t have to,” Bryant University professor Michael Roberto says. “My gut says these folks know what they’re doing.”
A shorter version of this article appeared in the June 11, 2012 issue of Fortune.Nova Scotia will introduce legislation to prohibit high-volume hydraulic fracturing for onshore shale gas this fall, Energy Minister Andrew Younger said Wednesday.
The decision follows an independent panel review that recommended the government proceed slowly. Younger said the ban is not permanent, but would not say how long it will last.
“There’s nothing that’s going to happen in five years or 10 years that we can point to,” he told CBC News. “We’re prepared to open this up if a community approaches us and is prepared to look at this.”
Younger said the public have "overwhelmingly expressed concern" about allowing hydraulic fracturing, known as fracking. “And we need to respect that. We need to respect the trust the people have put in us,” he said.
Younger said if a community approaches the government with an interest in fracking, it would lead to a debate in the Legislature about allowing it in that community.
“People need to not have this threat hanging over their head that there might be hydraulic fracturing and they wouldn’t be involved. This way, people will know before it’s allowed — if it’s ever allowed — there will be a full debate in the Legislature.”
He said it would not send out the message that Nova Scotia is closed for business. “We are very actively promoting our offshore development — that has very strong public support — and there’s a coal-bed methane project in Stellarton that has received excellent support.”
Barbara Pike of the Maritimes Energy Association said her members disagreed with the decision.
“I think the Nova Scotia public should understand that we need energy. We need natural gas. If we’re not going to get it locally, we’re going to get it somewhere.”
David Wheeler, president of Cape Breton University, headed up a panel that spent six months examining the contentious issue.
The independent panel recommended that hydraulic fracturing not be allowed in Nova Scotia until there is more research and a way is found to give local communities a say in the process.
The panel's three key recommendations are as follows:
Hydraulic fracturing should not proceed at the present time in Nova Scotia.
Independent research is needed to measure health, environment and economic impacts.
Nova Scotia should design and recognize a test for "community permission" with regards to hydraulic fracturing.
The report estimates that in a "lower- to medium-case" scenario — where 4,000 wells are drilled over a 40-year period — hydraulic fracturing could result in $1 billion in annual investment, generating between 750 and 1,500 direct jobs.Lake Michigan–Huron (also Huron–Michigan) is the combined waters of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, which are joined through the 5-mile (8.0 km) wide, 20-fathom (120 ft; 37 m) deep, open-water Straits of Mackinac. Huron and Michigan are hydrologically a single lake because the flow of water through the straits keeps their water levels in near-equilibrium. (Although the flow is generally eastward, the water moves in either direction depending on local conditions.) Combined, Lake Michigan–Huron is the largest fresh water lake by area in the world.[1][3][4][5] However, if Lake Huron and Lake Michigan are considered two separate lakes Lake Superior is larger than either.
Geologic history [ edit ]
Glacial Lake Algonquin and its Correlatives, approximately 11,000 years ago approximately 11,000 years ago
During the last ice age, the sizes and connectivity of the two basins varied dramatically over time. Sequential advances and retreats of the Laurentian ice sheet repeatedly opened and dammed various possible outlets from the area, as well as providing dramatically varying amounts of meltwater to the system. Numerous proglacial lakes formed in various places and configurations as the ice sheet advanced and retreated.[6] At various times, what is now Michigan–Huron was clearly separated into two or more lakes, and at other times was part of a single, deeper lake.
Around 9,000 years BC, as the ice sheet retreated, the modern Lakes Huron, Michigan, and much of Superior, were a single lake known to geologists as Lake Algonquin. Ice sheets dammed Lake Algonquin to the northeast.[7] Before that, Lake Chicago occupied the southern tip of the Lake Michigan basin, at the southern end of the ice sheet. Lake Algonquin and Lake Chicago both drained south into the Mississippi River watershed.[8] Around 9,500 years ago, new pathways draining the system to the east were opened by the retreat of the ice, and proglacial Lake Stanley (precursor of Lake Huron) was separated from proglacial Lake Chippewa (precursor of Lake Michigan), with Lake Chippewa at a slightly higher level. They were connected by the now-submerged Mackinac Channel, which discharged into Lake Stanley over Mackinac Falls.[9][10] Ongoing warping of the land by post-glacial rebound due to the retreat of the glacial ice continued to modify the drainage structure of the region, allowing the reunification of all three basins (Superior, Michigan, and Huron) as the Nipissing Great Lakes. This arrangement was probably stable for more than 1,000 years, ending only when lake outlets other than the St. Clair River were cut off around 4,000 years ago. The current configuration of the lakes reflects the latest step in a long history of their post-glacial evolution.[6]
Overhead view of the Straits of Mackinac linking Lakes Michigan (left) and Huron (right)
Bathymetry and hydrology [ edit ]
The connection between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron through the Straits of Mackinac is 5 miles (8 km) wide[11] and 120 feet (37 m) deep.[12] This depth compares with the maximum depths of 750 feet (229 m) in Lake Huron and 923 feet (281 m) in Lake Michigan. Although the Straits create a pronounced bottleneck in the contours of the shoreline and a major constriction in the local bathymetry, defining two distinct basins, they are still deep and wide enough to allow the free exchange of water between the two sides. Because of the link through the Straits, Lakes Michigan and Huron have the same mean water level (in June 2015 it was 580 feet (177 m)).[13]
The largest inflow to the system is the St. Mary's River from Lake Superior, and the main outflow is the St. Clair River to Lake Erie; both lie in the Lake Huron basin.[14][3] The combined effects of seiches (resonant standing waves)[15] and of differing weather conditions (atmospheric pressure, wind)[14] over each basin act to drive water either way through the Straits on a variety of characteristic timescales, at amounts sometimes exceeding 75,000 m3/s (2,600,000 cu ft/s) for several hours in either direction.[15] However, the long-term average flow through the Straits is eastwards at 1,500–2,000 m3/s (53,000–71,000 cu ft/s).[15] Flows into the system from Lake Superior are controlled by the bi-national Lake Superior Board of Control through the operation of locks and canals.[16]
[4] NOAA schematic of the hydrology of the Great Lakes, taking Lake Michigan–Huron to be a single lake with three basins: Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, and Georgian Bay
Entity dispute [ edit ]
Because of the relatively small depth and width of the Straits of Mackinac compared to the water bodies it connects, the distinct basins that these occupy, and historical naming convention, Lake Michigan and Lake Huron are often considered distinct. For instance, these two lakes are typically recorded as separate entries in lists of the largest lakes in the world by area and volume.[17][18][19][20][21] In the context of hydrology, however, the two are considered one body of water.[3][4] Because of the hydrologic connectivity through the Straits, some sources have considered the total area and volume of Lake Michigan–Huron when placing this system in a global or regional context.[22]
When Lake Michigan–Huron is treated as a single entity, it is the largest freshwater lake by surface area in the world.[1][22][23]
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
Notes
Further readingTonight, Syfy is rolling out two new premieres. And while we are excited to return to Eureka, we may cancel our next trip to Haven. While this little town's mysterious supernatural backstory shows promise, the intrigue is lost at sea.
Spoilers below!
Haven, is loosely based on Stephen King's The Colorado Kid, and loose is a bit of an understatement. This series should have been merely described as "inspired" by King's work, and left it at that. So what's different? Well instead of having the bulk of the series based around the engaging and endearing newspaper staff made up of funny old editors and a young intern in a small town, Syfy has swapped the intern for a hard-nosed FBI agent and demoted the lovely staff to a status similar to that of the Lone Gunmen from The X-Files.
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The new main character, Audrey Parker, is a witty and observant FBI agent complete with lots of power suits and a lady detective hairstyle. She comes to the town of Haven on assignment looking for a man, and finds him dead. TWIST!
What follows is a sloppily threaded whodunnit — and by sloppy I mean it takes the characters no effort or brain-power whatsoever to find clues and connections to the murder. The suspect fell off a cliff, so let's go look at the top of the cliff - Oh look, a hat and a gun! Seriously, they find HAT and a GUN next to the murder scene, giving the actual mystery about as much weight as a comical murder mystery dinner party.
After quickly and easily solving the case FBI lady decides she should stay in the town and figure out why there's a picture of someone who looks Just Like Her in the town paper. Reading picture captions clearly not being an option. And there you have it, the premise. Farce-like mystery each week followed by casual digging into the FBI lady's past. Ah I forgot to mention, she's an orphan and lived in an orphanage, so that's why she knows. And she can't actually send said photograph back to the FBI, because then where would we be? Out of Haven, I guess.
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But the murders and mayhem isn't where Haven gets the meat for its stories. Haven is special. And I will admit, the town and the townspeople in their cable knit sweaters and fishing boats are damn adorable. But beneath their charming antique stores, LL Bean vests and clam digging activities lies something more. It's already been revealed that Haven is a "haven" for strange persons with superpowers.
And FBI Agent lady is so smart, she gets this right away. Her first mystery leads to a character who can change the weather with her emotions. FBI lady is not fazed by this in the slightest. I'm pretty sure if I met someone who could change the weather, I would immediately point and scream "WITCH WITCH WITCH!" for at least an hour. Still, this lady FBI agent with the sharp jackets and bun hairstyle is totally cool with not telling the government that she's stumbled upon a person who could wipe out the Eastern Seaboard if she got PMS. No bigs.
And that is the problem with the pilot. Everything comes to the characters so easily. Even superpowered townspeople are treated as if we've all seen this before. In order to Haven for retain viewers they are really going to have to try and flesh out the city and the people that live in it. It's a city filled with people who are superpowered, that's cool. Ditch the super charm and go darker. Warehouse 13 and Eureka have the charm quota covered at Syfy, so feel free to explore the foggy J. Crew world that is Haven. Stop trying to riff off your own shows, the originals are better.
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For now, though, Haven feels like Eureka and Stephen King had a baby, and then peed on it.*
What does work are the actual actors. The cliches that were heaped upon Lady FBI Agent wasn't really her fault. She's a good actress. Plus she has great chemistry with the local detective, who strangely can't feel any pain. Also, we like smarmy Eric Balfour as the good looking nogoodnik Duke Crocker. Sadly all we know of him right now is that he is smarmy and undresses women when they are passed out, which is creepy. Stop doing that, Balfour.
Clearly the pilot is rough. But if I've learned one thing about the Syfy audience is that it'll hang around long enough to let a show find its footing. Haven could be good — just don't be afraid to make the mysteries actually mysterious and the superpowers actually spooky. I'll tune in again, only because the whole pilot felt like a misstep, and I'm holding out for better superpowers and darker paths.
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*Sidenote this isn't the first time I've heard this expression, but I really felt it fit n this review. But if anyone can tell me where it's from I'll be forever in their gratitude.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.
Launching from the edge of the Amazon jungle in South America, a Russian-built Soyuz booster fired into orbit Friday night with a Spanish-owned communications satellite built in Germany to test new commercial telecom technologies and provide video, voice and data relay services.
The three-stage Soyuz-2.1b rocket, topped with a hydrazine-fueled Fregat space tug, lifted off at 0103:34 GMT Saturday (8:03:34 p.m. EST; 10:03:34 p.m. French Guiana time Friday night) with Hispasat 36W-1, a satellite developed in a public-private partnership between the European Space Agency and European industry.
Darting through mostly cloudy skies, the Soyuz headed east from the launch pad at the French-run Guiana Space Center, dropping its four kerosene-fueled boosters in the Atlantic Ocean, shedding the two halves of its nose shroud and its core stage, then releasing a Fregat upper stage to guide the Hispasat 36W-1 satellite into geostationary transfer orbit.
The Fregat main engine fired for nearly 18 minutes before shutting down and deploying the 7,100-pound (3,220-kilogram) payload 32 minutes after liftoff.
Managed by the French launch provider Arianespace, the mission sent Hispasat 36W-1 into an arcing geostationary transfer orbit with a high point 22,227 miles (35,771 kilometers) above Earth, roughly the altitude of the geostationary satellite belt over the equator, the spacecraft’s final destination.
“Arianespace is delighted to announce that Hispasat 36W-1 has been separated as planned in the targeted standard geostationary transfer orbit,” said Stephane Israel, Arianespace’s chairman and CEO. “For our first launch of the year, and the 16th Soyuz since its introduction at the European spaceport, our medium-weight vehicle performed flawlessly. Congratulations to all.”
Built by OHB System AG of Bremen, Germany and owned by Madrid-based Hispasat, the spacecraft will use its own main engine to raise the low point of its orbit, currently at an altitude of 155 miles (250 kilometers), up to geostationary altitude in the coming week.
Five “orbit-raising” maneuvers are planned, then the satellite’s power-generating solar arrays and antennas will be unfurled. Once engineers complete testing the new-generation satellite platform, and its communications instrumentation, Hispasat plans to declare the spacecraft ready for operational service by early April.
Friday night’s mission was the 1,868th launch of the venerable Soyuz rocket family, based on the Cold War-era R-7 ballistic missile, and just the 16th time the launcher has flown from a pad outside former Soviet territory.
It was also the first Soyuz launch since a Soyuz rocket flying in a different configuration crashed minutes after liftoff Dec. 1, destroying a Progress cargo craft bound for the International Space Station. That launch failure, which Russian officials have blamed on foreign object debris or poor workmanship, was traced to an older-generation third stage engine not used on the Soyuz-2.1b version launched Friday.
Russian ground teams are based in French Guiana to prepare Soyuz rockets and Fregat upper stages for flight, accentuating the international nature of Friday night’s mission, which was lauded by European Space Agency director-general Jan Woerner, who called it an example of “global cooperation beyond Earthly crises.”
“We know it was a Russian launcher,” Woerner said in remarks after the launch. “Just as I was sitting there, I got a message from Igor Komarov, the head of Roscosmos, the Russian space agency. He said, ‘Congratulations on the successful launch of Hispasat. Thank our teams.’ This is what he wrote to me, and I think this shows that we can cooperate even in very difficult political situations. Space can do it, and we should always look to that. We need this bridge for the whole globe, not only for two or three countries.”
The Hispasat 36W-1 satellite, the product of a $250 million public-private partnership, will operate from a location in geostationary orbit at 36 degrees west longitude over the Atlantic Ocean, reaching Hispasat’s clients in Spain, Portugal, the Canary Islands and South America during a 15-year mission.
The spacecraft was jointly developed and funded by ESA and OHB in the “SmallGEO” program, aimed at producing a new European medium-class satellite design for commercial and institutional missions. Europe’s two largest spacecraft contractors, Airbus Defense and Space and Thales Alenia Space, primarily build heavier communications satellites.
“We are thrilled and relieved that Hispasat 36W-1 is now on its way,” said Dieter Birreck, the SmallGEO project manager at OHB, in a statement. “The first satellite is always a major stepm particularly in the case of a new specially developed platform in such an important segment as the telecommunications market. We have developed, managed and implemented an integrated design, which we have tested intensively during an eleven-month test campaign. We are very confident of achieving good performance from the end of March.”
The new medium-sized platform, developed with funds from a consortium of European states led by Germany, is the largest spacecraft ever built by OHB, which has staked out a place as the No. 3 satellite-builder on the continent after winning the SmallGEO contract and agreements to produce at least 22 Galileo navigation satellites for the European Commission.
It also gives Germany access to the market to build commercial communications satellites, an area dominated — at least within Europe — by Airbus and Thales plants in France. Hispasat 36W-1 is the first geostationary communications satellite to be developed, assembled and tested in Germany in more than 20 years, according to OHB.
“Hispasat, for us, is a starting point to be active as a visible player in the telecommunication market,” said Andreas Lindenthal, a member of OHB’s management board, in a media briefing before Friday’s launch. “We are proud that we are entering this market together with our partners.”
Hispasat 36W-1 uses a conventional chemical rocket engine for major orbital maneuvers. It will stay in place at 36 degrees west longitude with an electric propulsion system.
An advanced version of the SmallGEO platform, called Electra, will carry an all-electric propulsion system without any liquid hydrazine fuel, making for a more efficient, lighter spacecraft. ESA, OHB and satellite operator SES have partnered on the Electra project, with its first launch in 2021.
OHB has eight more SmallGEO satellites in its current backlog: ESA’s EDRS-C data relay satellite set for launch later this year, the Electra spacecraft, and six Meteosat Third Generation European weather satellites due to start launching in 2019.
The SmallGEO project’s development was not without difficulty.
ESA awarded OHB a contract worth 115 million euros for the first Small GEO platform in 2008. At the time, officials projected the launch of the Hispasat-owned satellite in 2012.
“I do have to admit that we had to learn lessons in the course of the satellite development … and we had a technical issue during the integration of the satellite, so we had to, together our partners Hispasat and ESA, professionally manage those difficulties, which took longer than we had expected,” Lindenthal said in the prelaunch press briefing.
Lindenthal added that the Small GEO platform is now more mature, and he said OHB will be able to offer schedules that are “attractive and accpetable for commercial customers.”
“We are very much pushing for reusing most of the concepts, subsystems and equipment in order to get into the recurring phase, to speed up (construction),” he said.
Hispasat 36W-1’s communications payload features several new technologies supplied by Spanish industry, including a |
Facebook by Israeli journalist and blogger Tal Schneider, the rate for hiring an African cleaning woman was 49 shekels an hour ($12.6), while a cleaner from eastern Europe was slightly costlier at 52 shekels ($13.4).
Most expensive was an eastern European cleaner with Israeli citizenship, costing 69 shekels an hour ($17.7).
The leaflet, which was handed out in affluent north Tel Aviv, promised that all the service's employees had the proper permits, so customers would not risk incurring any fines for hiring them. "Don't want to hire an Arab for security reasons? Tired of being legal employers and getting sued by any passing worker? There's a solution," the leaflet reads.
In her Facebook post, Schneider wrote: "Outspoken racism is seeping into Israeli society. Pricing employees according to race. Admit that you haven't thought of that yet. Israel 2016."
The post raked over 3,000 Likes and was shared nearly 600 times by Saturday afternoon. Most of the over 500 comments on the original post expressed shock and dismay. "I'm not sure if the leaflet is more racist, misogynistic or just repulsive," one commenter wrote, while another sufficed with a succinct "Yuck."
An employee of the cleaning service told the Israeli website Mako that the different rates were not illegal. "I don't handle the rates, but I know that women from eastern Europe are better workers," she told Mako.
skip - The original post by Tal Schneider.
הגזענות הבוטה מחלחלת לתוך החברה הישראלית. תמחור עובדות לפי גזע. תודו שלא חשבתם על זה עדיין. ישראל 2016(מכר אסף פלייאר שחולק בצפון תל-אביב היום בבוקר) Posted by Tal Schneider on Friday, 5 February 2016
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The leaflet indicated no company name but only gave the phone number for someone called Irena.Calling all Android users — you can now participate in important scientific research just by charging your phone.
Researchers at University of California Berkeley on Monday released a new Android app called BOINC that lets you donate your phone's idle computing power to "crunch numbers for projects that could lead to breakthroughs ranging from novel medical therapies to the discovery of new stars," the school announced.
You can choose which project to support from several different options, including Einstein@Home, which searches for spinning stars called pulsars and FightAIDS@Home, which seeks out more effective AIDS therapies.
The app is a product of the Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing (or BOINC) project, which is known for software that supports volunteer computing efforts around the world. The BOINC software allows projects to tap unused processing power donated by computer users around the world to analyze data without the need for costly supercomputers.
The new BOINC Android app was funded by the Max Planck Institute, which runs Einstein@Home; Google; and the National Science Foundation. It only computes when your device is plugged in and more than 95 percent charged, so it won't run down your battery. In addition, it only transfers data over Wi-Fi so it won't eat up your data plan. It works on Android devices running version 2.3 Gingerbread or later.
"There are about a billion Android devices right now, and their total computing power exceeds that of the largest conventional supercomputers," David Anderson, the app's creator and a research scientist at UC Berkeley's Space Sciences Lab, said in a statement. "Mobile devices are the wave of the future in many ways, including the raw computing power they can provide to solve computationally difficult problems."
At this point, the app also supports Asteroids@home, which is run by Charles University in Prague to study the shape and spin of asteroids, along with the privately run math and physics projects OProject@Home; and Yoyo@home. Going forward, it's expected to support UC Berkeley's SETI@home project, which analyzes radio telescope data in search of intelligent signals from space.
If you like concept of the BOINC app, but don't have an Android just sit tight. "A BOINC app for Apple products like iPhone and iPad may be Anderson's next project," researchers said.
For more, see UC Berkeley's FAQ page. Then head over to Google Play to download the app.This is the latest partnering agreement between Holtec and a major nuclear reactor vendor.
In August 2015, Mitsubishi signed a long-term partnership agreement with Holtec to develop the instrumentation and control systems for the SMR-160.
Holtec has previously secured engineering, design and qualification support for its work on the SMR-160 from the Shaw Group and URS Corporation, and has a strategic alliance with utility PSEG Power, operator of three nuclear units at Salem and Hope Creek in southern New Jersey.
Under new the agreement, SNC-Lavalin will provide Holtec with a range of nuclear engineering services, including supporting the licensing of the SMR-160 reactor. While the SMR-160 is based on light water reactor technology, it should be noted that SNC-Lavalin is the parent company of Candu Energy.
According to the Holtec press statement, the partnership aims to accelerate the reactor system’s ongoing development and international licensing efforts by linking SNC-Lavalin’s nuclear team with Holtec’s SMR team. Under the terms of the agreement, SNC-Lavalin will provide Holtec with a range of nuclear engineering services, including supporting licensing of the SMR-160 reactor.
Unlike its U.S. competitor Nu Scale, which has announced a customer for its 50 MW SMR, to be built and operated in Idaho, Holtec has not said publicly whether it also has a customer order or one in the works. The relationship with SNC Lavalin might develop beyond technical assistance since the firm supplies maintenance services to CANDU type reactors globally.
There are 29 operating CANDU reactors in seven countries; 19 in Canada, 4 in South Korea, and 2 each in China, India, and Romania. among others. As these reactors reach the end of their service lives, or as demand for electricity grows in these countries, SNC-Lavalin’s existing relationships could be become door openers for the Holtec SMR. However, neither firm has said anything about a joint marketing agreement.
Preston Swafford, SNC-Lavalin chief nuclear officer and executive vice president of nuclear, said: “We know that the global nuclear market for safe, economic nuclear power continues to grow. Partnering with Holtec in the SMR-160 brings us a ‘walk away safe’ reactor design that will deliver a clean, affordable and reliable electricity supply satisfying regional and nation state power needs.”
Holtec CEO and president Kris Singh added: “With SNC-Lavalin’s contribution of a high calibre cadre of experts, Holtec is poised to deliver on our SMR promise, to re-invigorate nuclear power for a world in dire need of a weather-independent and carbon-free source of energy.”
Technical Overview of Holtec SMR
Holtec’s 160 MWe small modular reactor uses low-enriched uranium fuel. The factory-built reactor’s core and all nuclear steam supply system components would be located underground, and the design incorporates a passive cooling system that would be able to operate indefinitely after shutdown. No active components, such as pumps, are needed to run the reactor, which does not need any on-site or off-site power to shut down and to dissipate decay heat. For complete details see the Holtec Technical Bulletin (PDF file)
Although Holtec has partnered with a firm that has a core competency on CANDU reactors, the SMR-160 uses low enriched nuclear fuel. According to the company, “SMR-160 uses commonly available nuclear fuel pellets in zircaloy tubes (fuel rods) manufactured by many qualified suppliers around the world.”
Holtec Factory in Camden, NJ, to Manufacture Components for the SMR-160
Holtec International is completing construction of the world’s first dedicated SMR manufacturing facility. The factory, sited on the Delaware River in Camden NJ, has the lifting, cutting, welding, cladding, drilling, machining, inspection, and shipping capacities necessary for all of the SMR-160’s capital nuclear equipment fabrication needs.
This facility, scheduled for commercial operation by the beginning of 2018, is expected to be the first of multiple such facilities, both in the United States and elsewhere globally.
Holtec said it expects to submit its the initial licensing application to the NRC by the end of 2018.
U.S. Firm to Launch SMR Manufacturing Center in Pittsburgh, PA
Concurrent Technologies Corp plans to launch a Center for Advanced Nuclear Manufacturing (CANM) to fill the “critical gap” that exists in providing proven applied advanced manufacturing technologies in the emerging field of small modular reactors and advanced reactors.
The firm said on July 13th that the CANBM will “solve first-of-a-kind issues, conduct design for manufacturing analysis, and prototype new component designs.”
Overall, the CANM will support the US nuclear industry’s need to reduce acquisition and total ownership costs by developing innovative manufacturing solutions.
According to Concurrent, the future of nuclear energy will see the emergence of next-generation power plants, commonly referred to as Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) and Advanced Reactors (ARs). It’s projected that hundreds of these SMR/AR systems will be needed by the late 2030s.
It say it sees critical gap exists in providing proven applied advanced manufacturing technologies in this emerging field. Concurrent Technologies Corporation will operate the new Center for Advanced Nuclear Manufacturing (CANM) to solve first-of-a-kind issues, conduct design for manufacturing analysis, and prototype new component designs.
The firm said, “a fundamentally different approach” will be needed for SMR/AR systems compared to the current light water reactor systems.
The newer reactors are relatively compact. They can be “factory produced” and transported in a few sections to a designated location for assembly. In addition, these reactors employ passive safety technologies that make them safer to operate.”
This firm’s approach to a “novel” manufacturing approach will challenge both nuclear suppliers and regulators and numerous technical issues must be considered to facilitate efficient SMR/AR production. These range from addressing supply chain capabilities to developing mechanized/automated manufacturing processes to support higher demand volumes.
Cooperation with Nuclear Infrastructure Council
Concurrent Technologies is part of the U.S. Nuclear Infrastructure Council’s (NIC) Manufacturing and Supply Chain Working Group which is working to address these issues. Vince Gilbert, Senior Fellow, NIC, said that Concurrent Technologies Corporation emerged as the consensus choice to house the new Center for Advanced Nuclear Manufacturing (CANM).
Gilbert added that the firm was chosen “based on our 30-year history and its track record in advanced manufacturing.”
The firm lists its capabilities as including large infrastructure/highbay space, equipment, testing facilities, and subject matter experts with experience in key technologies including additive manufacturing, casting, and cybersecurity for manufacturing.
Edward J. Sheehan, Jr., Concurrent Technologies Corporation President and Chief Executive Officer. “We look forward to working with manufacturing companies and suppliers interested in supporting nuclear facilities and upcoming nuclear construction projects.”
Two Events to Signal Commencement of CANM Activities
Suppliers Workshop August 23
CANM Open House August 24
To officially launch CANM’s operations, two events will be held for manufacturing companies and suppliers interested in supporting nuclear facilities and upcoming nuclear construction projects, as well as business and community leaders.
A USNIC Ready4Nuclear Nuclear Suppliers Workshop will be held on Wednesday, August 23, 2017, at Sheraton Station Square in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Sessions will be conducted by key speakers representing various components of the nuclear industry geared toward strengthening the nation’s advanced nuclear manufacturing network.
The CANM Open House will be held on Thursday, August 24, 2017, at Concurrent Technologies Corporation in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
This event will feature a ribbon cutting, tours, and an opportunity for suppliers to meet one-on-one with CTC/CANM personnel to learn how to become part of the advanced manufacturing network.
Registration for both events can be completed online: http://conta.cc/2teWA3p.
The United States Nuclear Infrastructure Council is the leading U.S. business consortium advocate for nuclear energy and promotion of the American supply chain globally. Composed of nearly 100 companies, USNIC represents the “Who’s Who” of the nuclear supply chain community, including key utility movers, technology developers, construction engineers, manufacturers, and service providers.
Conconcurrent Technologies Corporation (CTC) is an independent, nonprofit, applied scientific research and development professional services organization. Together with our affiliates, Enterprise Ventures Corporation and CTC Foundation, CTC leverages research, development, test and evaluation work to provide transformative, and full lifecycle solutions.
CTC Media Contact
Robert Akans, Senior Director
Phone: 571-261-9441
Email: canm@ctc.com
# # #Is help on the way for a Portland Timbers defense in need?
One day after allowing three or more goals for the third time this season, the Timbers have been linked to a lucrative deal to land long-time English Premier League veteran Joleon Lescott, a free agent center back who spent the past five seasons with Manchester City.
ESPN analyst Taylor Twellman reported Monday that the Timbers have offered Lescott a multi-million dollar deal to bring him to Portland, where head coach Caleb Porter could certainly use his help. The Timbers lost to Vancouver 4-3 on Sunday, pushing them to 24 goals allowed in 16 games, tied for second-most in the Western Conference.
The Timbers declined to comment on the report when contacted by MLSsoccer.com on Monday. The club dealt long-time defender Futty Danso to the Montreal Impact for a 2015 draft pick on Monday.
Lescott, 31, was let go by Manchester City last month and has since reportedly turned down an offer to join Turkish giant Galatasary. EPL sides Aston Villa and West Ham have also reportedly courted his services, as have Queens Park Rangers.
Still undecided about my future but questions over my hunger 4 next season disappoint me I will never represent a team & give less than 100% — Joleon Lescott (@JoleonLescott) May 31, 2014
Lescott began his career with Wolverhampton Wanderers in 2000 before a move to Everton in 2006. He appeared in 113 games over three seasons for the Toffees before he moved on to Manchester City in 2009, logging 105 appearances with the club until the sides parted ways. He also appeared in four matches for the club during their 2013-14 UEFA Champions League campaign.
Lescott has logged 26 caps for the England national team, his most recent contributions coming in 2013.Some legal experts and scientists are warning that a proposed blanket ban on so-called ‘legal highs’ won’t tackle the problem and may well hold back research into areas such as neuroscience. However, the proposal seems unlikely to have any unintended effect on chemistry researchers who work with or produce compounds that are psychoactive – provided they do not enter human trials.
The House of Lords is due to discuss the government’s proposals for a new UK law to control new psychoactive substances (NPS) on 9 June. The bill has the stated aim of clamping down on NPS that are unregulated and potentially unsafe, but perfectly legal to sell.
The Psychoactive Substances Bill will prohibit the production, distribution, sale and supply of NPS. NPS are defined as substances capable of producing a psychoactive effect that are intended for human consumption. Alcohol, tobacco, caffeine, food, medical products and already restricted drugs will be exempt. Selling nitrous oxide, colloquially known as laughing gas, for human use will be banned, for instance, but not for other uses such as food processing. The bill is part of an attempt to rein in the recent explosion of NPS, such as synthetic cannabinoids. In the past, the government has attempted to ban such substances on a case-by-case basis, but new compounds are being released so rapidly that legislation cannot keep up.
But legal experts have criticised the bill’s vague definitions and unclear exemptions. Rudi Fortson QC, independent practising barrister and visiting professor of law at Queen Mary, University of London, doubts the bill will get through parliament in its present state, and adds that ‘there are a number of aspects that need attention’. For example, he points out that, in the absence of human or animal testing, a major hurdle in securing convictions may be proving that a substance is psychoactive. And the burden of proof will no doubt lie with the prosecutors, he adds.
Going underground
Fortson suspects that many NPS are imported and probably not detected, so will slip through the net anyway. ‘The bill may result in the closure of most, if not all, retail shops, but, although the government’s grief may be alleviated by what it no longer sees, the lurking truth might be considerably more unpleasant.’
Amanda Feilding, director of the Beckley Foundation which carries out research into psychoactive drugs and campaigns for evidence-based drug policy reform, agrees that the new ban will not curb the use of NPS. ‘Whilst it will prevent the high street sales, it will push the market underground leading to less certainty in the quality of the drugs people will consume,’ she says. ‘Online sales are a rapidly expanding market, and so is the development of the sale of illicit drugs in “cryptomarkets” which are only accessible by encrypted software.’
Some question whether there a need for this bill at all. ‘Currently, legal highs kill virtually no-one in Europe, particularly in countries like Holland where they have a good education and drug testing,’ says David Nutt, professor of neuropsychopharmacology at Imperial College, UK. ‘So the dangerous drugs are banned and the legal highs are safe, so why drive everything underground?’
Some are more supportive of the bill, however. Ric Treble, scientific adviser of the forensic division at analytical firm LGC, says a fresh approach is needed. ‘The UK has one of the most stringent approaches to NPS in the world and, despite all our best efforts, products are still coming onto the market,’ he says. ‘To date, we have tried to draft broad controls based on chemistry. But we always tend to be a little bit behind the curve. [Manufacturers] continue to design drugs often involving multiple chemicals that get around our controls.’
Fears for research
Another issue of concern is that a blanket ban would significantly hamper UK pharmaceutical research into brain disorder treatments. Researchers will be unable to study the effects of psychoactive substances through clinical trials without government licences, says Feilding. Similarly, developing new substances for treating psychiatric conditions will be subject to some form of restrictions. If more restrictions and barriers are put up, she says research into psychedelics will look less and less attractive to researchers and institutions, and obstruct ‘finding new potential treatments for many medical and psychological problems’.
Additionally, Nutt fears that if supplying a psychoactive substance becomes a crime then chemical suppliers may stop selling these agents in the UK, and this could impair mainstream chemical research, too.
However, Treble has considered the bill from the perspective of chemistry researchers who might want to use a psychoactive agent in their work, for example as a solvent or adhesive. Chemists should be able to invoke the clause ‘intended for human use or consumption’ and this should let them off the hook, he says.
Duncan Sleigh of chemical supplier Sigma-Aldrich agrees the bill will have little impact on access to chemicals, with the exception of researchers wanting to study the effects of psychoactive compounds on people. ‘We traditionally sell substances for lab use. The ban is on substances sold for human use or consumption, and this does not apply to us.’
In fact, Sleigh believes that, in the long-term, the bill could benefit industry and researchers. He notes that more and more compounds have been added to the government’s list of banned substances and that the pace of prohibition has accelerated in recent year. ‘These will often be a very general family of chemical structures,’ he says. Scientists wanting one of these substances for research face very high, often prohibitive, licence costs. He hopes the new bill will slow down the rate at which new substances are controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 as a chemical banned under the new bill should not be banned for research.Israel will stop at nothing to contain Iran, even if it has to act alone, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. The PM accused Tehran of plotting to destroy Israel from Syria, where it has been helping fight terrorists at the government's invitation.
“Iran is scheming to entrench itself militarily in Syria,” Netanyahu claimed as he addressed the Jewish Federation of North America’s General Assembly in Los Angeles via a video conference on Tuesday.
The Israeli leader further alleged that Iran, which serves as one of the guarantors of a ceasefire deal in Syria along with Russia and Turkey, wants to station its troops on the Syrian territory on a permanent basis “with the declared intent of using Syria as a base from which to destroy Israel.”
Netanyahu, who once branded the milestone nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers a “historic mistake” and a threat to Israeli survival, again lashed out at the universally hailed document, arguing that it will allow Iran to “produce hundreds of nuclear weapons” after “about a decade.”
Read more
The PM urged a joint effort of the international community to curb Iran, noting that if allies do not support the Israeli lead, it will not hesitate to act on its own.
“If we stand together we will achieve it,” he said. “But if we have to – we'll stand alone. Iran will not get nuclear weapons. It will not turn Syria into a military base against Israel,” Netanyahu warned.
Netanyahu’s claim that the deal “rescinds all the limitations on Iran’s enrichment capacity,” has been disputed by reports regularly presented by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), that has repeatedly confirmed Iran’s full compliance, the latest such confirmation coming this week. On Monday, a confidential IAEA report, cited by Reuters, reportedly found that Iran did not exceed the limit for enriched uranium stockpiles capped at 300 kilograms, and provided free access for inspection at all nuclear sites. It became the ninth time in a row the UN nuclear watchdog confirmed the Islamic Republic’s conformity with the provisions of the deal.
READ MORE: UN watchdog confirms Iran’s compliance with nuclear deal amid calls to renegotiate P5+1
In his refusal to acknowledge the effectiveness of the deal, Netanyahu is one of a very few world leaders, the others being US President Donald Trump and, recently, French President Emmanuel Macron. Donald Trump notoriously labeled it “the worst deal ever” and refused to recertify Iran’s compliance with the agreement in October. The US Congress now has until mid-December to consider whether to re-impose sanctions on Iran. Last week, French President Emmanuel Macron spoke of the possibility of amending the nuclear deal with Iran to cover ballistic missile development by the Islamic Republic, drawing ire from Tehran, which insists that its ballistic missile program and nuclear development are two separate issues.
Read more
Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday that both the Iranian and Russian military presence in Syria was “legitimate… at the invitation of the lawful government.”
Speaking about a Russia-US-Jordan agreement to withdraw “non-Syrian” military units from the de-escalation zone in south-eastern Syria, Lavrov said that “there was no talk of Iran, furthermore, of pro-Iranian forces.” Syrian President Bashar Assad has recently thanked Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, for standing behind his government in the battle against terrorism.
READ MORE: Lost in reverie: Mattis claims UN let US intervene in Syria, although it never did
"The Syrian Arab Republic and the Islamic Republic of Iran are continuing the fight against oppression and aggression and eliminating the threats of terrorism," Assad wrote in a letter in September, as cited by Press TV.
Contrary to Iran and Russia, which have been engaged in the conflict at the invitation of the legitimate Syrian government, the US-led coalition is operating in Syria without any international mandate or permission from the authorities. Israel has been launching airstrikes on Syrian territory, either targeting what it claims are Hezbollah positions or in retaliation to stray projectiles that occasionally land into the Israeli-occupied side of the Golan Heights.Intro
What we are going to use:
Angular 5+
AngularFire Lite ( ⚡️ Lightweight Angular Firebase API wrapper)
Why AngularFire Lite not AngularFire2?
AngularFire Lite is the very first and currently the only library that supports server side rendering out of the box for both Firestore and the Realtime Database plus other features over the Angularfire2 library like Storage, Observable based Transactions & Batched Writes and Cloud Messaging.
Quick story about the name: it was called “AngularFire Lite” simply because it is around 50% lighter than Angularfire2 and unlike the confusing 2 number in the name of the official library it chose simply to match the Angular versions so it’s currently in version 5.
take a look at the library repo to get started: Here
Guide
Step 1: Install decencies and generate a new Angular CLI project:
reminder: install nodejs from here and the Angular CLI using this command:
npm i @angluar/cli
then generate a new project:
ng new AngularFireLiteSSR
finally install the following decencies which we are going to use for server side rendering:
npm i @angular/platform-server @nguniversal/module-map-ngfactory-loader ts-loader
Step 2: Install AngularFire Lite and Firebase:
change directory to the project directory and install both packages : Angularfire Lite and Firebase
cd AngularFireLiteSSR
npm i angularfire-lite firebase
Step 3: Create a new Firebase project and get its credentials
open your browser and navigate to : https://console.firebase.google.com
click `Add Project` write your project name and then `Create Project`:
then to get your project credentials click `Add Firebase to your web app`
copy only the config object
Step 4: Save Firebase credentials in your Angular project
open the file called environment.prod.ts in your favorite editor of choice located under src/environments/environment.ts and paste that config object we got from the Firebase console inside your environment object and do the same for the file called enviroment.ts :
Step 5: Setup AngularFire Lite and Universal compatibility
Open your root module which is called app.module.ts and import AngularFireLite and pass it the config object we store in the environment file.
To make the AppModule Universal compatible we should call the BrowserModule.withServerTransition and pass it an appId of your choice so your module looks just like this:
Step 6: Creating the server module and exporting it
Create a new module inside src/app and call it app.server.module.ts and it should import your core module followed by the ServerModule from the @angular/platform-server package (order is important).
We added the Map Loader Module here to support lazy loading module on the server side.
⚠️ it’s important to import ServerTransferStateModule as it’s required by AngularFire Lite to do its magic which offers us a flicker free transition when the Angular app bootstraps. Freaking Awesome!! 😮 👌
to export the server module create a new file called main.server.ts inside your /src folder and just add the following export statement:
Step 7: creating a tsconfig for the Universal bundle
Simply copy the tsconfig file that the Angular CLI generates called tsconfig.app.json located in your /src folder and name the new file tsconfig.server.json
We only need to do a couple of things here
change the module target: from es2015 to commonjs which node will use.
to which node will use. add the angularcompilerOptions to tell the compiler about its entry module which is the AppServerModule and here we use the hash symbol in the path to reach the actual class.
Step 8: Configure the Angular CLI to build our server side App
Open the file called.angular-cli.json located in the root of your project which is the file that configures the Angular CLI and how it builds our app.
However, if you take a look at the apps array you will only see when entry inside it which tells the Angular CLI how to build our client side app when you simply run ng build.
We need add a new object to the apps array to tell the Angular CLI how to compile our server side app. So your apps array should look something like this:
in the first entry, we need just to modify the outDir to dist/browser so it will store our client side app bundle there.
in the second app entry we give it a name ssr then we tell the CLI that the platform we are targeting is the server and our Universal bundle should appear under dist/server. We also point it to the tsconfig we created for the server and the main server file.
Step 9: Spinning up an Express Server and Using Webpack
I won’t go here into details but basically here we are creating an express server to serve our server side app locally.
So create a server.ts file in the root of your project file and a webpack.server.config.js to package the ts file using the ts-loader we installed earlier
server.ts file:
webpack.server.config.js file:
Step 10: NPM script to bundle and serve the app
now all we have to do is just add an npm script to save us the time of writing a long command to build our app using the CLI, pack our server.ts file using Webpack and finally run it with node
inside your package.json file add the following command to your scripts object:
"universal": "ng build --prod && ng build --prod --app ssr --output-hashing=false && webpack --config webpack.server.config.js --progress --colors && node dist/server.js"
finally using AngularFire Lite
we are just going to do something simple in here just print some data from Firestore in header tag but stay tuned as I am going to release new step by step guide to build production ready beautiful apps with AngularFire Lite and if you don’t want to miss those valuable tutorials you can subscribe in here.
if you add document under and name it `hello` with a field called `firestore` and a value `Hello Firestore from AngularFire Lite`
you can retrieve it simply in you app.component.ts by doing the following:
you import AngularFireLiteFirestore and you inject it in the constructor
you reference it in you ngOnInt lifecycle hook and call the read method
lifecycle hook and call the read method finally, subscribe in the component or the template using the async pipe to retrieve the data
here an example of using multiple features of the AngularFire Lite library which includes the Realtime Database, Firestore (reads and batched writes) and authentication (just remember to set your read and write permissions in your Firebase dashboard to true just for testing only).
and here is the template:
Enjoy Server Side Goodness! 😮
Now all you have to do is just to run
npm run universal
then open http://localhost:5000/ and your data should appear as you store it in your Realtime Database or Firestore and the cool thing is when you hit view source you can see the actual HTML displayed just like this:
you can now enjoy :
🔎 SEO benefits and social media thumbnails on shared content
😎📃 Faster loading time* (first render / first meaningful paint)
Feeling lazy? clone the AngularFire Lite demo repo
If you are feeling a little lazy you can clone the AngularFire Lite demo from Github by visiting the repo: Here
What about rendering with Firebase Cloud Functions and firebase hosting?
This article is one of a series of articles and I will definitely cover that but I just wanted to start with core principles of server side rendering and demonstrating that AngularFire Lite actually let Angular Universal renders our HTML using the data stored on the Firebase realtime database or firestore unlike Angularfire2 which throws an error. More to come in the rest of the articles so you better don’t miss those by subscribing here to get notified.
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if you don’t want to miss any upcoming guides like this you can subscribe in here and you will get notified once a new guide will be released. See you soon!Many of us know about the recent earthquakes in Nepal. A group of Second Life residents have decided to help in the efforts to give aid.
(taken from http://www.scala-sl.com/join-hands-for-nepal/)
JOIN HANDS FOR NEPAL, organized in Second Life© by Valsnia and Ruby Ornamental, has partnered with World Food Program (the Asian branch of this UN Organization) – May 2015.
Founded in 1961, The World Food Programme (WFP) is the food assistance branch of the United Nations and the world’s largest humanitarian organization addressing hunger and promoting food security.
With the magnitude of the Earthquake in Nepal the WFP immediate put together its Nepal Earthquake response cell and has been quickly moving to support the survivors.
WFP has three main goals under its Nepal earthquake response:
1) deliver food to survivors and those who need it most.
2) provide emergency operation assistance on a massive scale.
3) help the humanitarian aid community with relief hub services.
WFP needs US $116.5 million to provide food for 1.4 million people for three months, which translates to US $27 for a person for the entire month until they are able to stabilize and organize their own means of sustenance.
Dress & shoes – ghee Nepali Opheila Gown & Heels
Place: The Endless Season
JOIN HANDS FOR NEPAL – organized by a group of Second Life© residents – is supporting WFP in their mission and provide one of the most basic needs of human survival to those impacted by this massive calamity in Nepal – FOOD.Please, read more about WFP.
The event runs from May 13-16th, so if you want to help, you should go visit very soon.
If you would like to donate to the cause outside of the inworld event, kindly use the following link and we urge you to support us by spreading this information to a larger circle of your family and friends.
AdvertisementsIn this blog post, we’ll have a look at the preview API for full text search in Couchbase 4.5. Please note that this API, released in the latest Java SDK ( 2.2.4 ), is still @Experimental.
We’ll cover:
This experimental API can be used with Couchbase Server 4.5 Developer Preview, provided you use the 2.2.4 Java SDK client, which you can get through Maven. Add the following dependency to your pom.xml :
com.couchbase.client java-client 2.2.4 1 2 3 4 5 com. couchbase. client java - client 2.2.4
Full Text Search in Couchbase?
Yes! The upcoming 4.5 server release, (codename Watson) will include a full text indexer (FTS, also known as CBFT) based on the open-source Bleve project. Bleve is all about full-text search and indexing in Go (shoutout to our very own Marty Schoch for initiating this project).
The idea is to leverage Bleve to provide an off-the-shelf full text search in Couchbase Server, without having to use connectors to external software (that runs on their own cluster). If that off-the-shelf solution doesn’t meet your needs all the way of course you still can use these connectors, but for simpler needs you are good to go with a single solution.
FTS offers a host of capabilities that are provided by Bleve: Text Analyzers, Tokenizers and post-processing Token Filters that are beyond the scope of this post, as well as the numerous types of queries that you can run on the resulting indexes. Let’s see what those types are and how you can expect to use them in the context of the Java SDK.
In the rest of this blog post, we’ll use 3 indexes that you will be able to build through the web administrative console in the upcoming 4.5 Developer Preview:
Here is the list of indexes in the UI:
We have:
a beerIndex that indexes the whole content of each document in the beer-sample bucket.
that indexes the whole content of each document in the bucket. a travelIndex that indexes the whole content of each document in the travel-sample bucket.
that indexes the whole content of each document in the bucket. an alias index, commonIndex, that is an union of the two indexes above.
The Java API
The entry point of the full text search feature in the Java SDK is on the Bucket, using the query(SearchQuery ftq) method. This is consistent with the existing querying methods already present in the API to run a ViewQuery or a N1qlQuery.
The API for full text search follows the builder pattern. Identify the type of query you want and use the corresponding builder to construct it, get the SearchQuery out of it using build() and execute it using bucket.query(searchQuery).
Let’s take a (very simple) example and see how it can be consumed:
//we'll use that Cluster and Bucket for the remainder of the examples Cluster cluster = CouchbaseCluster.create("127.0.0.1"); Bucket bucket = cluster.openBucket("beer-sample"); //we use a simple form of query: SearchQuery ftq = MatchQuery.on("beerIndex").match("national").limit(3).build(); //we fire the query and look at results SearchQueryResult result = bucket.query(ftq); System.out.println("totalHits: " + result.totalHits()); for (SearchQueryRow row : result) { System.out.println(row); } 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 //we'll use that Cluster and Bucket for the remainder of the examples Cluster cluster = CouchbaseCluster. create ( "127.0.0.1" ) ; Bucket bucket = cluster. openBucket ( "beer-sample" ) ; //we use a simple form of query: SearchQuery ftq = MatchQuery. on ( "beerIndex" ). match ( "national" ). limit ( 3 ). build ( ) ; //we fire the query and look at results SearchQueryResult result = bucket. query ( ftq |
interruptions" — from the start of the First World War to farm work to illness to her marriage — eventually got in the way and she never returned to the tale.
"The tale really is the best of Beatrix Potter. It has double identities, colourful villains and a number of favourite characters from other tales (including Mr. Tod, Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle, Ribby and Tabitha Twitchit)," Hanks said in a statement.
I liked the story immediately — it's full of incident and mischief and character... I have a strange feeling that it might have been waiting for me. - Quentin Blake
"Most excitingly, our treasured, mischievous Peter Rabbit makes an appearance — albeit older, slower and portlier!"
Generations of children have grown up with Potter's tales of animal characters including Peter Rabbit, Jemima Puddle-Duck and hedgehog Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle.
Quentin Blake, best known for his work with beloved children's author Roald Dahl, will provide illustrations.
British children's author Beatrix Potter had written to her publisher about the story of 'a well-behaved prim black Kitty cat, who leads rather a double life.' (Express Newspapers/Getty Images)
"It seemed almost incredible when, early in 2015, I was sent the manuscript of a story by Beatrix Potter; one which had lain unpublished for a hundred years and which, with the exception of a single drawing, she had never illustrated," Blake said.
"I liked the story immediately — it's full of incident and mischief and character — and I was fascinated to think that I was being asked to draw pictures for it. I have a strange feeling that it might have been waiting for me."
Penguin Random House will publish the tale in September. This year marks the 150th anniversary of Potter's birth.Such a wonderful thing it is, to be chased. To be adored and flattered and most certainly wanted. It is, after all, why we don’t mind when our phones beep and vibrate, letting us know that someone we not so certainly want wants us. But we keep them around because we don’t want it to stop—because that flattery is like a good scotch we want to nurse for a while. Or, at least, until we get sick of it and want to switch to gin.
I’ve been there before—holding on to something I didn’t really want just in case I decided I wanted it. Completely unwilling to cut things off for fear I’d want them again, selfishly holding on because, well, the attention is always satisfying. I’ve played and toyed with someone else’s feelings knowingly aware of the pain I’d be causing but choosing to ignore the reality. And then when it’s my turn to be toyed with, I realize how much I sucked. There are no excuses. Just because we’ve all done it to someone, at some point, doesn’t make it suck any less. Any less for them now or any less for us later—because at some point, someone is going to drag us along—our hearts on flimsy strings barely hanging on because our hearts don’t matter here.
Being on the other end, endlessly wondering and desperately clinging to any ounce of distraction from the what ifs and how comes and why nots is miserable. Every thought is peppered with a slice of wonder. Every ounce of girl talk is saturated with questions. Every blinking Gchat box filled with over analytical doubts. We decode texts and we discuss the potential outcomes like it’s a choose-your-own-adventure novel, as if there is more than one possible conclusion. And the sad truth, which we are well aware of, we pretend doesn’t exist because it’s so simple: Will he? Won’t he? Does she? Doesn’t she? Someday or Never?
But alas, we wonder and wonder if we should text, call, email or follow (both literally and on social media). We carefully craft our communication, the timing of it, the punctuation, the potential for positive or negative interpretation. And we change our minds about whether or not we should do it, typically surrendering to doing so because we know we have nothing to lose. After all, we probably don’t actually have anything in the first place. We down white wine like we’re Carrie Matthieson and listen to the Garden State soundtrack and watch 500 Days of Summer to find some form of solace in our frustration. But then again, the drama of it all, the excitement is a little bit, well, exciting. Because there’s always a chance, albeit small, that perhaps He will, She does or that Someday is a reality.
And the buzz wears off pretty easily as it does with any other drug. And coming down from it is unsurprisingly painful. But we just want to say that it’s okay. It’s okay not to like us. Not to want us. Not to pine after us the way we do you. You won’t melt like the Wicked Witch of the West if you’re honest. Nothing bad will happen. We won’t hate you for turning us down—for saying “I’m sorry. I don’t see this going anywhere,” for texting “I don’t want to lead you on. I don’t feel the same way.” We won’t scream and cry and go crazy if you tell the truth. We’ll probably want you more because we’ll respect you for your candor, for the blunt favor you did us. And we’ll back off, not wanting to of course, because when things don’t go your way, it’s tough to give in. But we will. And it might suck for you because you won’t have our attention anymore. But know that you’ll still be on our minds, a good old bittersweet memory. We’ll be wondering how we’d feel if things had turned out differently, but we won’t hate you like we would have if you’d let us downward spiral into forcing you to tell us the truth. The truth we knew all along.
It’s okay to tell us the facts, to say you don’t want us. Your actions, after all, say far more than any text ever will. But if you come clean early, we’ll love you more for it. And we’ll let you know that it’s okay.Second Thoughts
Was Eichel's Rookie Season Better Than Kariya's?
by Ryan Lambert/Columnist
[Author’s note: Last time I tried to look at some era-adjusted scoring, all the data was fine except for when I compared Paul Kariya's freshman year to Johnny Gaudreau's junior year. There was an error in the Excel code I wrote, and it overweighted Gaudreau's assist number significantly. That has been fixed below.]
Everyone knows the numbers: 25-75-100. Twenty-five goals, seventy-five assists, one hundred points, and all in just 39 games. Paul Kariya’s is a freshman scoring record that will almost certainly never be broken.
But as we know the reason for that is that it was a lot, lot, lot easier to score back then; the average save percentage was about 15 or 20 points lower in the early- and mid-90s than it is today. In fact, it’s also about 10 points higher than it was just a decade ago.
And so, no, Jack Eichel didn’t come close to breaking 100 points, nor could he ever have, not with an all-star team behind him. Given the constraints of the modern game, this was, is, and almost certainly always will be an untouchable number.
But again, the context.
Teams this season scored an average of just 101.8 goals over the course of an average 37.6 games this season. That’s just 2.71 goals per game. Back in 1992-93, when Kariya was terrorizing opposing goalies, teams scored an average of 147.6 goals in 36.1 games, an average of 4.1 per game.
But as was demonstrated before, we can account for these real changes to the game using an adjusted-scoring formula from Hockey Reference. That will obviously penalize Kariya, in a way, for playing when the games were finishing 5-4 every night instead of 3-2, while also giving Eichel a boost for the same reason.
These numbers attempt to normalize for a neutral scoring era, in which teams play 37 games, score about 3.25 goals per game, and there are 1.6 assists on every goal (those are taken from the averages seen in 1992-93, 1997-98, 1999-2000, 2002-03, and this season, when the five highest-scoring seasons by draft-eligible freshmen were posted).
Last time out, we learned that Jack Eichel was almost certainly going to finish well ahead of Brian Gionta (62 points), Dany Heatley (56), and Zach Parise (61), the three closest competitors to Kariya’s crown to date. Now with the passage of time we see that this was the case, and in an era in which it’s far tougher to score. Thus, his era-adjusted numbers are so high above theirs as to not be worth examining; Parise’s was closest, and he was still off by about 2.5 goals and almost 13 assists.
So now we’re down, predictably, to Eichel vs. Kariya. This was the matchup of destiny, to be sure. And here are the final results, assuming a 37-game season for both:
Now, this information comes with a few caveats. Quality of linemates, quality of opponent, etc., etc.
But here’s the huge caveat that no one ever talks about: Kariya’s famous 25-75-100 includes his scoring in two exhibition games against Canadian teams.
The guy who writes the BU blog Burnt Boats did the legwork on this and shared his findings with me, because he noticed that the 1992-93 Black Bears’ equally famous 42-1-2 record included two games against New Brunswick in which Maine outscored its opponents a 20-3 on aggregate, and Kariya racked up nine of his 100 points (on two goals and seven assists). Which means that in games against NCAA teams, Kariya actually went 23-68-91 in 37 games, rather than 25-75-100. It seems that back in the 1990s, most — but not all — teams counted wins and scoring in exhibitions in their records.
This of course does nothing to diminish Kariya’s incredible accomplishment as a freshman, but it does give you pause. And it certainly makes his era-adjusted scoring numbers come down a lot closer to Eichel’s. Probably below them.
So, when adjusting for scoring you’d say, “Well just take those out of there, then,” and sure, if you knew all the data for every team back then, you could. But this wasn’t a standardized thing, and some games played against NCAA teams likewise could have been considered exhibitions back then. And era adjustments are predicated on knowing exactly how many goals and assists came across the entire season, so some teams not-counting exhibitions in everyone's totals while others did so significantly muddies the waters when it comes to figuring out just how much games played, goal scored, and assists per goal totals should come down.
In short: We have to include the exhibition games from back then because it’s the best data we have without undertaking a massive project. You could also, theoretically, factor in Eichel’s 0-5-5 in his exhibition against St. Thomas this season, but again, things get messy when you try to do that.
But with all that having been said, I feel confident in believing that Eichel's was the most impressive statistical season ever recorded by a draft-eligible freshman in NCAA history.
The acknowledgement of Kariya’s era-induced stat-padding also sheds new light on Johnny Gaudreau’s season as being extremely impressive; the most in anything we can consider the modern game, with all due respect to Tony Hrkac’s 116 in 1986-87 (which was more of a clown show in terms of goals scored and games played than 1992-93). Hrkac played 48 games that year, and 15 guys broke 70 points, so it’s not even worth discussing: any season played since Kariya’s — in which "only" six cleared 70 — was much harder to score in than in the 1980s.
So let’s have a look at Kariya, Gaudreau, and Eichel side by side.
Kariya Eichel Gaudreau Goals 20.46 30.71 38.62 Assists 63.55 49.9 44.49 Pts 84.01 80.61 83.11 G/gm 0.55 0.83 1.04 A/gm 1.72 1.35 1.2 Pts/gm 2.27 2.18 2.25
As you can see, Gaudreau is marginally ahead of Eichel, and much closer to Kariya’s artificially inflated number, so in terms of production, it should be no surprise that scoring 80 in 40 in this era is the greatest scoring season of all time. But 71 in 41 just a year later was closer to it than I expected.
So Eichel came very, very close to Gaudreau’s mark. And he was two years younger. And he probably surpassed Kariya’s if you exclude the two exhibitions, which you should.
I guess you take that.One question that bedevils most families with children who can afford to save something is whether they should prioritize retirement savings or college savings. The passage here seemed to echo that line of inquiry and answer it squarely: Providing for the financial security of a surviving spouse in old age is on an equal plane with shoveling money away for tuition payments.
God’s plan here would then conflict with the traditional financial planning rule that says that it’s best to save for retirement first, since it can be harder and more costly to borrow (say, through a reverse mortgage) for retirement than it is to borrow for college. Thus, better to make sure that the last to die in a two-person couple will do so with dignity, right?
“I would challenge the assumption that it’s the spouse who comes first,” Father Jenkins said, speaking of what actually goes on in the real world outside of the Catechism. “I would think that it is children first. Many parents I know would give their lives over their child’s lives.”
Given this instinct for actual sacrifice, wrecking your retirement projections to pay five figures more each year for a private college that your teenager falls in love with doesn’t seem like such an unlikely outcome.
Father Jenkins said it was humbling for him to see the financial sacrifices people make to afford a Notre Dame education. But as I pressed him in his book-filled office under the iconic Golden Dome, he could not quite bring himself to advocate trading retirement security for tuition savings.
“What do I want to say?” he said, putting his head in his hands, pausing and closing his eyes for a moment. “I guess if it’s a comfortable second home in Florida,” he continued, a smile creeping over his face, “versus education, I’d encourage them to think about the value of education in that person’s life. But if it’s my wife who is going to be left alone and penniless should I die if I don’t do more, that should be taken into account.”The forum was organised by the Westender community newspaper, which is co-owned by Greens candidate Geoff Ebbs. Some in the largely left-leaning crowd heckled Dr Glasson as he stood firm on the federal government's policy of abolishing the carbon tax. “Our argument is that the introduction of a carbon tax is not going to decrease our carbon footprint in Australia or the world,” he said. Continuing a pitch he has used throughout the campaign, Dr Glasson presented himself as the candidate most likely to be effective in a Federal Parliament in which the Coalition has formed government. “In terms of my own party, I believe that if an issue is wrong I will stand up on behalf of my electorate and say very strongly that it's just not on,” he said.
“I've done that to both sides of politics, Labor and Liberal, and I have no hesitation in saying to the people of Griffith that I will stand up for you – after consultation with you, by the way – around the issues that are being addressed by the current government. “If I believe they're wrong, then it's my responsibility to speak up strongly on behalf of you.” Labor candidate Terri Butler said her experience as a labour lawyer, which has come under attack from the LNP, gave her the experience of standing up for the disadvantaged. “I want to be a strong voice for this electorate and I can be,” she said. “And I'm sorry, Bill, but if you want to see how effective someone is when they've got the respect of the Liberal front bench and they've been a long-term local member, then look at [Liberal Murray MP] Sharman Stone.
“If she couldn't influence the government, then why could you?” Ms Stone has publicly slammed her own party's decision not to give $25 million to fruit processor SPC Ardmona, which is in her Goulburn Valley electorate. Dr Glasson was heckled as he left early, which Mr Ebbs acknowledged as he lamented a “two-tier society” that was leaving poor people behind, using an analogy of sealed doors on the lower levels of the Titanic. “I'm sorry that Bill's not here to hear this, because what I want to say to him is that I know that you're a decent man and I'm really sorry you gave him such a hard time leaving the room,” he said. “He is a decent man and he believes that he is doing the right thing, but if he goes to Canberra, he's going to stand there with a party that is smashing the knuckles of the poor as they try to get out of those holds and on to the lifeboat.”
Katter's Australian Party candidate Ray Sawyer said his candidacy was a “point of difference” from the major parties. “Bob Katter's one goal is to bring back fairness and balance,” he said. “…I believe if the current government was fair dinkum about protecting Australian jobs, they would be doing a lot bloody more.” Mr Sawyer said KAP was committed to economic growth, the protection of agricultural land and the retention of public assets. Independent Karel Boele proudly presented himself as the candidate without a preordained position on anything, saying all his votes would be determined via internet polling.
“Where I clearly stand out and differ from the others you're hearing from tonight is I'm the only one who's contracted to vote with the people in Parliament,” he said. “…If 100,000 Australians or 10 per cent of Griffith vote with a clear majority in a particular way on a policy, I have to vote with the people.” The Pirate Party's Melanie Thomas gave the forum a brief history of her party, which was formed in Sweden in 2006 following a clampdown there on internet piracy. “It's a very natural thing for people to share files on the internet,” she said. Ms Thomas said the Pirate Party was committed to civil liberties and would support the establishment of an Australian bill of rights.
The question and answer session threw up several issues that have so far not been a part of the campaign, such as voluntary euthanasia. By show of hands, eight of the remaining nine candidates indicated they supported a person's right to control how they die if they saw fit. The one exception was Family First candidate Christopher Williams, who said all life should be valued. “We don't want a situation where the elderly feel compelled that they have to give up to free up resources for other people,” he said. “We want people to feel secure and valued in themselves.”
Mr Williams kept low key for most of the night and, when he did speak about his pro-life and traditional marriage stance, it met with resistance from the largely progressively minded crowd. His polar opposite, Secular Party candidate Anne Reid, has been placed last on the largely church-backed Family First's how-to-vote cards. Ms Reid said hers was the only party willing to stand up for the principle of separation of church and state. “We stand for policies that are evidence-based and in the long-term public interest,” she said. “…We have governments that continue to subsidise religions through tax exemptions, despite the churches having moved into big business.”
Candidates, particularly those from the major parties, have been keen to present the Griffith byelection as a close thing with none keen to accept favouritism. Except, it seems, for one. “Our polling's showing there's a very real possibility that I will be the next representative in Griffith,” independent candidate Travis Windsor said to a smattering of laughter from the floor. Mr Windsor then threw a grenade into what had been, until that point, cordial proceedings among the candidates, saying both Dr Glasson and Ms Butler represented “the worst” of their parties. But, as far as political gimmicks go, it was hard to look past Stable Population Party candidate Timothy Lawrence, who offered free condoms to all in attendance.
The comedic approach highlighted the serious platform on which the party is based – controlling Australia's population so it does not exceed 26 million by reducing immigration and phasing out government birth payments to families at two children. “Under tripartisan policies, Australia's population is currently growing by over 1000 people a day,” he said. “That's a new Gold Coast every 18 months.” The only candidate missing was Kevin Rudd impersonator Anthony Ackroyd, running for the Bullet Train for Australia Party, who lives in Bowral, New South Wales. Via Twitter, Mr Ackroyd said he had other things to occupy his time.In his early years, Helmut Schmidt, German Chancellor during Britain’s 1974-5 renegotiation under Harold Wilson, was an unabashed admirer of Britain. In his portrait of the recently deceased German statesman, Mathias Häussler argues that Schmidt’s later disillusionment with Britain may hold some lessons for Cameron‘s renegotiation strategy today. He writes that Schmidt was embittered as a result of the British leadership’s attempt to ‘hijack’ the European Community by fighting domestic political battles on the backs of other member states, and suggests Cameron should avoid making this mistake.
Born in the North German port city of Hamburg in 1918, Helmut Schmidt was an enthusiastic Anglophile in his early life, to the point that he abstained from voting on the Treaties of Rome in the German Bundestag in 1957. Much as he was convinced about the necessity of European integration, he simply did not believe that the proposed European Community (EC) would succeed without Britain.
In the early 1970s, he even tried to convince a highly sceptical Labour Party conference of the virtues of EC membership, comparing himself to “a man who, in front of ladies and gentlemen belonging to the Salvation Army, tries to convince them of the advantages of drinking”. During his eight years as German chancellor from 1974 to 1982, however, his views would change profoundly, largely as a result of British European policy.
Harold Wilson‘s renegotiation of EC membership in 1974-5 and Margaret Thatcher’s crusade over Britain’s budget contributions left Schmidt bitter about British attitudes towards Europe. In his eyes, Wilson and Thatcher had deliberately tried to hijack the European Community, fighting domestic political battles on the backs of other member states. In 2012, Schmidt even claimed that de Gaulle had been right to veto British membership during the 1960s.
Almost nobody in Britain, he would muse frequently in his later years, seemed to think “that the Atlantic Ocean between England and America is broader than the channel between England and continental Europe”. While such judgements of Britain’s post-war European role are somewhat harsh, they nonetheless reveal a lot about why Britain and Germany continue to be at loggerheads over the basic principle of European integration to this day.
Schmidt, though scornful of the Brussels bureaucracy and many of its policies, regarded the EC as the natural framework for Germany’s post-war international rehabilitation and power. In light of the country‘s unique historical burden and its central geostrategic position, so he believed, Germany always had to embed its foreign policy firmly in a European framework in order to mitigate fears of a potential revival of German power.
It was because of this overarching strategic principle that he acted immediately and decisively whenever he sensed a threat to the EC’s stability. As he put it in a remarkable speech at the SPD’s annual party conference in 2011, if Germans were tempted by their economic strength “into claiming a leading political role in Europe … an increasing majority of our neighbours would mount effective resistance”. The consequences, he predicted, ‘would cripple the EU and Germany would lapse into isolation’.
Britain, by contrast, never developed a similarly powerful political imperative for EC/EU membership. In the 1950s, the very different wartime experience as well as the still global scope of its power did little to endear policy-makers towards an ever closer union with the Continentals.
When the country then reluctantly applied for membership in the 1960s, it did so mainly to preserve its political and economic influence in light of the EC’s unexpected successes. But Britain never quite warmed to the political goals behind the integration process; to this day, its European policy remains essentially a reactive one. It is partly for this reason that the membership question continues to be such a toxic issue in domestic politics.
Forty years after Wilson‘s renegotiation, the dynamics tearing Britain and Germany apart over Europe remain basically the same. In the 1974-5 renegotiations, Schmidt immediately ruled out any far-reaching reforms or treaty change because he feared that it might split the EC at a time of global crisis.
Much as he was hoping for Britain to stay in, any significant change to the EC’s basic shape and political character simply seemed too high a price to pay. Such German considerations were a key factor behind the meagre outcomes of the shambolic 1974-5 renegotiations.
Today, it is similarly unlikely that Germany will risk any larger intra-EU fallout over British demands. As Merkel‘s recent crisis management reveals, the basic instinct of German foreign policy remains to always look for European, rather than national, solutions. Anything that is seen as having the potential to further destabilize the already deeply crisis-ridden EU is will therefore meet with strong suspicion among German policy-makers.
In 1974-5, Schmidt eventually called Wilson’s bluff, realizing that the British PM could be appeased with some cosmetic changes only. Whatever Merkel’s alleged sympathies towards Cameron’s cause, it should be expected that she will now try to pull off a similar feat.
Indeed, though promising a constructive response to the demands the British PM outlined on Monday, she has already hinted that Germany could offer help only insofar ‘as European rules permit’. The EU’s continuing centrality to German foreign policy means that Merkel simply cannot and will not risk any bigger shakeup for the sake of the British.
If Britain really wants to achieve anything meaningful with its European reform agenda, it therefore needs to pursue it independently of the membership question. Blackmailing other member-states by tying reform to referendum is not going to result in any substantial change.
This may be an uncomfortable thought for some, but, as Schmidt’s journey suggests, it is certainly a lesson from history which the ‘silent majority’ of Euro-pragmatists may want to bear in mind today.
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Note: This article gives the views of the author, and not the position of EUROPP – European Politics and Policy, nor of the London School of Economics.
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About the author
Mathias Häussler – University of Cambridge
Mathias Häussler is currently Lumley Research Fellow at Magdalene College, University of Cambridge, having recently submitted his Ph.D. on „Helmut Schmidt and Anglo-German relations, 1974-82“. He has published widely on British and German attitudes towards post-war European integration, including articles in Twentieth Century British History, Cold War History, and The International History Review.The LGBT rights group GetEqual on Tuesday alleged a member of Senator Marco Rubio’s (R-FL) staff attempted to get their co-director deported.
The incident allegedly occurred during a sit-in at the the Republican senator’s Tampa office to protest his stance on comprehensive immigration reform and employment discrimination. In a news release, GetEqual said a Rubio staffer told police their co-director Felipe Sousa-Rodriguez was “here illegally” as the officers were escorting the protesters out of the building.
The officers proceeded to ask Sousa-Rodriguez for his immigration papers and drivers license, according to the group.
“It’s no wonder Senator Rubio embraced the ‘Border Surge’ amendment in the Senate yesterday, which will destroy border towns and immigrant families — his staff are doing exactly the same thing in their own office,” Sousa-Rodriguez said in the news release. “The idea that Senator Rubio is taking immigration reform seriously is a joke — even his staff is engaged in profiling immigrants and deporting as many people as possible. Rubio is not just anti-LGBT, but he’s also anti-immigrant.”
Rubio said Tuesday he plans to fully support the immigration reform bill thanks to a provision to militarize the U.S.-Mexico border.
Rubio, one of the so-called Gang of Eight Republican and Democratic senators steering the bill, had threatened to kill the legislation if a provision to include rights for same-sex couples was added.
His threat lead Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) to withdraw his amendment to provide binational same-sex couples with the same protections as binational opposite-sex couples. But Leahy reintroduced the amendment earlier this month.
That issue in particular directly impacts Sousa-Rodriguez. Though he is married to a permanent resident, he cannot be sponsored for citizenship because he is married to another man. Sousa-Rodriguez is undocumented, but has received a work permit under the Obama administration’s “Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals” program.With a solid foundation laid by the works-supported Dyson Racing effort, Bentley is aiming to have a customer team presence in Pirelli World Challenge, and beginning in 2016, the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship.
Bentley Motorsport director Brian Gush revealed the British manufacturer has now established a customer support program following a successful debut season for the Continental GT3, which claimed victories in both Europe, North America and Asia last year.
“We’re set up now to sell customer cars,” Gush told Sportscar365. “We feel that we’ve shown the potential of the car and we’re hoping we can get some customers coming along.”
Dyson Racing Team Bentley, which made a mid-season debut in PWC last year, would be the point of contact for U.S.-based customer teams, although Gush admitted they will remain selective in the number of cars sold, opting for quality over quantity.
He said 30 cars would be a “perfect number” of Continental GT3s competing worldwide.
Bentley is already well represented around the globe, with the factory M-Sport effort in the Blancpain Endurance Series, HTP Team Bentley taking on the Blancpain Sprint and Endurance Series as well as ADAC GT Masters, Absolute Racing in GT Asia, plus the two-car Dyson program in PWC.
A number of customer efforts have also been established, including Lechner Racing in the Middle East and Flying B Motorsport, which competed in last weekend’s Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour. There’s also interest from teams in Super GT.
While the Continental GT3 won’t be seen in the TUDOR Championship this year, Gush is hopeful of seeing customers campaign the V8-powered beast in 2016, once the GT Daytona class is opened up to full FIA GT3 regulations.
“I had a meeting with them two weeks ago at Daytona and they have assured us that GT3 will be eligible as homologated,” he said. “So if any customers wanted to enter TUDOR under those circumstances, then yeah, great.
“What we don’t want to do is go through the development process to enter the car [with modifications]. We’d welcome customers getting involved in it.”
Despite the works team taking part in key endurance races such as the Nürburgring 24 and Bathurst 12 Hour, Gush has ruled out seeing a M-Sport-run factory effort for the Rolex 24 at Daytona or Twelve Hours of Sebring in 2016.TMZ just posted a huge set of 45 leaked images taken at one of the film setlocs of the forthcoming Star Wars Episode 7 directed by J.J. Abrams. The images were taken in Abu Dhabi and they are great news for the fans of the series who complained about Lucas' overuse of green screen: They are physically building everything.
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According to TMZ's report, the Abu Dhabi set corresponds to Tatooine, which is a change from the old location for the planet: Tunisia. According to previous reports, the new flick would use less computer graphics than the sequels. J.J. Abrams likes to build stuff, physical places and creatures. These images confirm it.
Make sure to take a look at all the images. They are full of juicy stuff.
SPLOID is a new blog about awesome stuff. Join us on FacebookJAIPU: Eight Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operatives, including three from Pakistan, were awarded life imprisonment by an additional district court in Jaipur on Wednesday for plotting terror strikes and recruiting Indians to the Pak-based militant organization.Along with their life sentences, the three have been slapped with a penalty of Rs 3 lakh each under Section 20 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.The Pakistani LeT members - Asgar Ali, Shakkar Ulla and Mohammad Iqbal - were lodged in separate jails in India. Despite being in prison, they were able to make contacts with people outside to recruit members for their organization. They were acting at the behest of Lashkar commander in Pakistan Walid alias Vicky.The court also made strong remarks against the jail officials who had given a "free hand" to the Pakistanis. "There were serious lapses and dereliction of duty by the jail superintendents and other prison officials as they gave the Pakistanis, jailed for serious crimes, a free hand to use mobiles phones in jail to make contact with the Indians [recruits]," the court said.While Asgar Ali was lodged in Bikaner and Jodhpur Jail, Shakkar Ulla was imprisoned in Nabha jail in Punjab and Mohammad Iqbal was confined in Amritsar jail in Punjab.The court asked the respective home departments to take action against the jail officials in Bikaner and Jodhpur in Rajasthan and Nabha and Patiala in Punjab. The five Indians sentenced in the case are Babu alias Nishachand Ali, Hafiz Abdul, Pawan Puri, Arun Jain, and Kabil. All of them were in touch with a LeT commander based in Pakistan and the jailed Pakistani LeT men.Like special-forces troops laser-tagging targets for a bomber pilot, tiny particles that can be imaged three different ways at once have enabled Stanford University School of Medicine scientists to remove brain tumors from mice with unprecedented accuracy.
In a study published online April 15 in Nature Medicine, a team led by Sam Gambhir, MD, PhD, professor and chair of radiology, showed that the minuscule nanoparticles engineered in his lab homed in on and highlighted brain tumors, precisely delineating their boundaries and greatly easing their complete removal. The new technique could someday help improve the prognosis of patients with deadly brain cancers.
About 14,000 people are diagnosed annually with brain cancer in the United States. Of those cases, about 3,000 are glioblastomas, the most aggressive form of brain tumor. The prognosis for glioblastoma is bleak: the median survival time without treatment is three months. Surgical removal of such tumors -- a virtual imperative whenever possible -- prolongs the typical patient's survival by less than a year. One big reason for this is that it is almost impossible for even the most skilled neurosurgeon to remove the entire tumor while sparing normal brain.
"With brain tumors, surgeons don't have the luxury of removing large amounts of surrounding normal brain tissue to be sure no cancer cells are left," said Gambhir, who is the Virginia and D.K. Ludwig Professor for Clinical Investigation in Cancer Research and director of the Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford. "You clearly have to leave as much of the healthy brain intact as you possibly can."
This is a real problem for glioblastomas, which are particularly rough-edged tumors. In these tumors, tiny fingerlike projections commonly infiltrate healthy tissues, following the paths of blood vessels and nerve tracts. An additional challenge is posed by micrometastases: minuscule tumor patches caused by the migration and replication of cells from the primary tumor. Micrometastases dotting otherwise healthy nearby tissue but invisible to the surgeon's naked eye can burgeon into new tumors.
Although brain surgery today tends to be guided by the surgeon's naked eye, new molecular imaging methods could change that, and this study demonstrates the potential of using high-technology nanoparticles to highlight tumor tissue before and during brain surgery.
The nanoparticles used in the study are essentially tiny gold balls coated with imaging reagents. Each nanoparticle measures less than five one-millionths of an inch in diameter -- about one-sixtieth that of a human red blood cell.
"We hypothesized that these particles, injected intravenously, would preferentially home in on tumors but not healthy brain tissue," said Gambhir, who is also a member of the Stanford Cancer Institute. "The tiny blood vessels that feed a brain tumor are leaky, so we hoped that the spheres would bleed out of these vessels and lodge in nearby tumor material." The particles' gold cores, enhanced as they are by specialized coatings, would then render the particles simultaneously visible to three distinct methods of imaging, each contributing uniquely to an improved surgical outcome.
One of those methods, magnetic resonance imaging, is already frequently used to give surgeons an idea of where in the brain the tumor resides before they operate. MRI is well-equipped to determine a tumor's boundaries, but when used preoperatively it can't perfectly describe an aggressively growing tumor's position within a subtly dynamic brain at the time the operation itself takes place.
The Gambhir team's nanoparticles are coated with gadolinium, an MRI contrast agent, in a way that keeps them stably attached to the relatively inert spheres in a blood-like environment. (In a 2011 study published in Science Translational Medicine, Gambhir and his colleagues showed in small animal models that nanoparticles similar to those used in this new study, but not containing gadolinium, were nontoxic.)
A second, newer method is photoacoustic imaging, in which pulses of light are absorbed |
the animals.
Martin is now seeking reimbursement for veterinary care the family was forced to provide and are demanding to know whether policy was followed in this case.
Perhaps the most imperative question, however, concerns the astonishing invasion of the family’s property, the fact police seriously injured two family pets safely situated in a backyard, and the utterly callous lack of follow-through by police in both procuring medical care and informing the Martins about the injuries to their pets.
Mesa Police and SWAT almost inarguably proved a complete violation of rights, if not criminal negligence, considering Roxy received serious injuries and was left for dead.
ABC15 reported they’ve requested all relevant documentation of the incident.
Meanwhile, the family has been left without an explanation from police, much less an apology for the nearly tragic shooting.
It’s an open question, as well, whether Mesa Police will take full responsibility for their actions — or if they must be forced to be accountable.
Roxy and Piggy are recovering and will be ok, but the dogs are lucky the family came home in time to rush Roxy to the vet.Frankie is our resident mobile expert, having written many commercial mobile applications in his career, particularly in Android.
For XT16, we asked him to present his current thinking about mobile app development.
Last week I wrote about how instant feedback loops can transform the developer's experience of writing code, not only speeding development but that the freestyle experimentation it enables can improve the user's overall experience.
In this talk, Frankie shows how to create such a live programming environment based on Apache's Cordova for developing mobile appications using boot and boot-reload. Of course, Frankie uses the Clojure language to develop the app itself.
Frankie also demonstrates the advantages of sticking to the web programming model to reduce the cognitive load of having to learn multiple mobile eco-systems, which causes developers to drift into specialist skills silos.
At around 14:00 Frankie extends the demonstratration to target the browser, iOS and Android simultaneously.
It's a quick talk, packed full of good advice, we hope you enjoy it.
Frankie has uploaded his demo to his GitHub where you can find all the technical details to help get you set up.
So if you worried about developing mobile apps for all mobile platforms, Frankie says relax!If you’ve been having trouble reaching your West Coast cohorts this week, it could be because they’re burning.
No, we’re not referring to the California wildfires (and our good thoughts go to the firefighters and residents). “Burning” means attending Burning Man, a sort of post-modern, Road Warrior-esque Woodstock, except without the mud. Now in its 28th year, it’s held in Nevada’s Black Rock desert (“playa,” in BurnSpeak), and increasingly, techies are attending it as a way to get away from it all.
Techies don’t always reveal where they’re going, lest Burning Man’s sex-and-drugs hedonistic rep haunt them later. People aren’t supposed to talk about their day jobs during the event. And there’s a what-happens-on-the-playa-stays-on-the-playa vibe to it. The spectacular nature of the event makes it difficult to describe.
Nevertheless, with 61,000 tickets sold this year, people are increasingly “out” about being burners, and are using the event for networking, getting jobs, and making venture capital deals, using their shared experience of 40-degree nights, 100-degree days, and blinding dust storms as a bonding exercise.
“[A]lmost imperceptibly over the last few years, it has become a place where CEOs, venture capitalists and startuppers can network (while wearing, at most, swimsuits),” writes Nellie Bowles in the San Francisco Chronicle. “While neither money, branding nor barter are allowed, suddenly companies are getting funded, co-founders are meeting, and people are getting jobs right on the playa. Among the 68,000 costumed and dust-covered attendees are some unexpected names. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg goes. So do Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page [who reportedly hired Eric Schmidt as Google CEO because he was a burner]. And Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk.”
Unfortunately, according to some burners, while the techies are trying to get away from it all, they’re also trying to bring it all with them as well — including cellphones, broadband Internet, and Segways. “Anarchists parking Priuses next to ramshackle tents and tarps are now sharing the sand with wealthy techies arriving, via private jets, at luxury desert camps fully staffed with cooks, masseuses and assistants,” Bowles writes.
In fact, some companies are even treating Burning Man as a sort of corporate retreat, writes Gregory Ferenstein of Fast Company. One group of CEO attendees, who pay $10,000 each for the privilege of hanging out at Burning Man with all the creature comforts, “develop a newfound appreciation for the creatives on their teams,” through efforts such as the “weirdo internship,” or spending time with the most outrageous person they can find, to break their own stereotypes, he writes.
However, some say that the influx of techies is distorting the original intention of Burning Man, which started in 1986 on a beach in San Francisco as an arts festival and is still considered to have an arts component, where everyone is a participant and there are no spectators. “The tenets of Burning Man are community, participation, self-expression, and self-reliance. It is anti-capitalism: At ‘La Playa’ you can only barter; no cash allowed,” writes Justine Sharrock of BuzzFeed. “Dedicated Burners spend all year building their elaborate costumes, art cars, and structures, ranging from simple yurts to gigantic pirate ships.”
But in the same way that Silicon Valley outsources programming talent, techies are reportedly outsourcing their art, using temporary worker sites such as Craigslist and TaskRabbit to develop Burning Man art for them, like Renaissance patrons. And the same people who are importing their camps are funding the arts installations as well, leading current Burning Man management to embrace the new arrivals.
Be that as it may — and there will doubtless be months’ worth of post-event processing, as there have been for the past several years, trying to tweak the event and tickets (currently $380) to accommodate all the people who want to attend — the sidewalks and streets of San Francisco’s South Beach are empty tonight, not to be filled up again until after Labor Day weekend.
Getting the playa dust out of their vehicles may take longer.If you haven’t tried the Firefox Developer Tools in the last 6 months, you owe it to yourself to take another look. Grab the latest Aurora browser, and start up the tools from the Web Developer menu (a submenu of Tools on some platforms).
The tools have improved a lot lately: black-boxing lets you treat sources as system libraries that won’t distract your debugging flow. Source maps let you debug source generated by transpilers or minimizers. The inspector has paint flashing, a new font panel, and a greatly improved style inspector with tab completion and pseudo-elements. The network monitor helps you debug your network activity. The list goes on, and you can read more about recent developments in our series of Aurora Posts.
After getting to know the tools, start the App Manager. Install the Firefox OS Simulator to see how your app will behave on a device. If you have a Firefox OS device running the latest 1.2 nightlies, you can connect the tools directly to the phone.
Why The Built-in Tools?
The Web owes a lot to Firebug. For a long time, Firebug was the best game in town. It introduced the world to visual highlighting of the DOM, inplace editing of styles, and the console API.
Before the release of Firefox 4 we decided that Firefox needed a set of high-quality built-in tools. Baking them into the browser let us take advantage of the existing Mozilla community and infrastructure, and building in mozilla-central makes a huge difference when working with Gecko and Spidermonkey developers. We had ambitious platform changes planned: The JSD API that Firebug uses to debug Javascript had aged badly, and we wanted to co-evolve the tools alongside a new Spidermonkey Debugger API.
We thought long and hard about including Firebug wholesale and considered several approaches to integrating it. An early prototype of the Inspector even included a significant portion of Firebug. Ultimately, integration proved to be too challenging and would have required rewrites that would have been equivalent to starting over.
How is Firebug Doing?
Firebug isn’t standing still. The Firebug Working Group continues to improve it, as you can see in their latest 1.12 release. Firebug is working hard to move from JSD to the new Debugger API, to reap the performance and stability benefits we added for the Firefox Developer Tools.
After that? Jan Odvarko, the Firebug project leader, had this to say:
Firebug has always been maintained rather as an independent project outside of existing processes and Firefox environment while DevTools is a Mozilla in-house project using standard procedures. Note that the Firebug goal has historically been to complement Firefox features and not compete with them (Firebug is an extension after all) and we want to keep this direction by making Firebug a unique tool.
Everyone wants to figure out the best way for Firebug’s community of users, developers, and extension authors to shape and complement the Firefox Developer Tools. The Firebug team is actively discussing their strategy here, but hasn’t decided how they want to accomplish that.
Follow the Firebug blog and @firebugnews account to get involved.
What’s Next for Firefox Developer Tools?
We have more exciting stuff coming down the pipe. Some of this will be new feature work, including great performance analysis and WebGL tools. Much of it will be responding to feedback, especially from developers giving the tools a first try.
We also want to find out what you can add to the tools. Recently the Ember.js Chrome Extension was ported to Firefox Developer Tools as a Sunday hack, but we know there are more ideas out there. Like most Firefox code you can usually find a way to do what you want, but we’re also working to define and publish a Developer Tools API. We want to help developers build high quality, performant developer tools extensions. We’d love to hear from developers writing extensions for Firebug or Chrome Devtools about how to best go about that.
Otherwise, keep following the Hacks blog to learn more about how the Firefox Developer Tools are evolving. Join in at the dev-developer-tools mailing list, the @FirefoxDevTools Twitter account, or #devtools on irc.mozilla.org.A few hours after a fire broke out at Changi Airport Terminal 2 on Tuesday evening, one thing became apparent.
Information was not being disseminated in a timely manner, which led to some frustration on the ground.
There was also little attempt made to explain why, for example, about a thousand people were held on the tarmac for up to four hours.
The result was confusion.
Those with later flights were not sure if they should turn up at the airport and, if they did, where they should go. Others who had planned to pick up family and friends at the airport were also unsure about where they should head to.
On the ground, airport staff did not seem to have answers to the many questions being asked.
The fire, which started at about 5.40pm in a room with air-conditioning equipment, was a small one, but smoke quickly filled the terminal, which prompted a total evacuation of the building and a grounding of all flights in and out.
Smoke filling Changi Airport Terminal 2 on Tuesday. PHOTOS: ST READER, ONG WEE JIN
There were, at the time, about 15,000 people, including airport staff, in T2. In line with emergency evacuation procedures, the majority, who were in the public area, were asked to leave the terminal. About 1,000 people who had been in the transit hall and those who had just disembarked from planes were held on the tarmac.
Passengers at T3, who had been moved from T2, waiting for updates on their flights. PHOTOS: ST READER, ONG WEE JIN
About an hour after the fire, Changi Airport Group (CAG) said in a social media update that the cause had been identified and the situation was under control.
While officers from the Singapore Civil Defence Force checked the T2 departure hall. PHOTOS: ST READER, ONG WEE JIN
The next key update came about 50 minutes later when people heading to T2 were told to gather at T3 instead. Where exactly at T3 and what to do there, the airport did not say, according to affected travellers and others who took to social media to rant.
Many flights were delayed or rerouted to T3 because of the fire. PHOTOS: ST READER, ONG WEE JIN
Related Story T2 fire: Changi Airport acknowledges delay in getting info to travellers
Related Story T2 evacuation order leads to delays for thousands
Related Story Fire causes Changi T2 to shut down for hours
It was not until 9pm - about three hours after the fire - that people were told which gates and check-in counters their flights had been diverted to. In the meantime, people were still waiting at the tarmac - not quite sure why they were being held there and for how long more. Outside the terminal, people were getting anxious.
To be fair, it was the first time Changi Airport had handled such a crisis. Never before had an entire terminal been shut down for more than five hours. Normal operations resumed only about nine hours after the evacuation.
These days, even a small fire is treated as a major incident and rightly so, when airports have become targets in terror attacks. Safety and security are the priorities and some breakdown in normal communications is to be expected when you attempt to evacuate 15,000 people from a sprawling complex like T2.
With T1 already busy on a typical weekday evening, the airport needed to be sure that T3 could handle the extra load, that there were enough check-in counters, aircraft parking bays, gate hold-rooms and baggage collection belts. Time was needed for this and it resulted in delay in communicating flight details to passengers, CAG said yesterday.
Could the decision to move travellers to T3 have been made earlier? Yes, there were operational challenges but there is also little doubt that effective communications were the biggest casualty in the T2 crisis.
And CAG needs only to hop on a train to SMRT to figure out that providing timely information to customers is the key to dealing with service disruptions, so that inconvenience and frustration - while expected - are minimised.
The train operator, for one, has learnt this the hard way and, to its credit, has made significant improvements to its crisis- handling procedures, using everything from handwritten signs and staff on loudhailers to Facebook and Twitter. Buses are also deployed to move passengers away from choke points quickly and safely.
That Tuesday's incident ended with only three people suffering minor injuries and some passengers with frayed nerves is a success in my book, but with Changi a major air hub and the standard bearer in global aviation when it comes to customer service, CAG will be expected to review its systems to make sure it can handle a crisis effectively and expeditiously.MPEG LA, the one-stop shop for motion video patent licenses, yesterday announced a call for patents essential to the VP8 video compression algorithm—the algorithm that is fundamental to Google's WebM video format. MPEG LA is asking organizations that hold patents believed to cover integral, unavoidable parts of the VP8 algorithm to come forward and submit those patents to the licensing company. The patents will in turn be analyzed by MPEG LA, and those deemed to be relevant will be pooled together. The pooled patents will then be available to license as a single convenient bundle.
In its promotion of WebM and VP8, Google has insisted that all the relevant patents were developed by codec company On2, which Google purchased last year. The patents can be licensed from Google without payment of any royalties or any restrictions on usage. Google has been heavily promoting WebM for use with the HTML5 <video> tag, which allows plugin-free video to be embedded in webpages, and the royalty freedom is a key part of WebM's value proposition.
Competitive codecs such as the open and industry standard H.264 require royalties to be paid by software and hardware developers. Companies like Opera and Mozilla, as well as the W3C group that is developing the HTML5 specification, deem these royalties be an unacceptable impediment to their usage. They have no such qualms about the royalty-free WebM.
If MPEG LA is successful in assembling a patent pool, that royalty freedom could come to an end. The company is soliciting patent submissions until March 18th. Once the submissions have been made, it will determine which patents are essential to VP8; only those patents that are unavoidable can form part of the patent pool. The owners of those selected patents will then decide on the license conditions they wish to impose, and these conditions could include royalty payments.
Whether this will happen, of course, is the big question. MPEG LA might fail to form a patent pool altogether: it may receive no relevant patent submissions, in which case the patent pool process will likely end. Such an outcome still won't mean that WebM is in the clear—a company may feel that it's more lucrative to avoid a patent pool and allow WebM usage to become more widespread before asserting claims—but it would probably imply that there aren't dozens of potential claimants just waiting to come forward.
This sort of outcome might well see Microsoft's current neutral stance towards WebM (it will work in Internet Explorer 9, just as long as a suitable third-party codec is installed) become more overtly positive. Redmond might start shipping a WebM codec of its own, for example.
If MPEG LA does form a patent pool, the license terms will be critical. MPEG LA exists to monetize patents, however, so it's unlikely that any patent pool would permit the kind of indiscriminate royalty-free license that Google currently offers. More likely, they would choose terms similar in kind to those of H.264; Web video may be free, but decoders still incur a royalty. This would put WebM implementors in a difficult position—either drop WebM support, pay up, or risk going to court to fight a patent infringement suit.
An infringement suit is an unappealing prospect: even if you win, the drain on your financial resources can mean that ultimately, you lose. This is especially problematic for organizations like Mozilla, since Google offers no indemnification for users of WebM—if Mozilla gets sued, Google won't step in to help. As such, the safest, most conservative option for Opera and Mozilla would be to drop support. Google has deeper pockets and can better sustain a legal attack, but even there, the company has to weigh its options carefully. A lost court case could cost tens of millions of dollars. Paying up just to avoid the problem may very well be the better option.
But paying up is problematic too. VP8 is, for most purposes, inferior in quality to H.264. H.264 is much more widespread in software tools, hardware accelerators, and so on: it's enormously widespread already. If VP8 loses its key feature—royalty freedom—implementers may very well decide that, since they have to pay anyway, they'd be better off paying for the superior, more widely used H.264 license, and abandoning WebM entirely.
Whatever happens—and it will probably be many months before we find out—this is bad news for WebM. The formation of a patent pool directly undermines Google's claims about the codec—and yet, even if MPEG LA fails to create a pool, question marks surrounding the codec will remain.걸그룹 베리굿 서율이 서울 중구 청파로 한경텐아시아 루이비스 스튜디오에서 진행된 인터뷰에 앞서 포즈를 취하고 있다. / 사진=이승현 기자 lsh87@
걸그룹 베리굿 서율이 서울 중구 청파로 한경텐아시아 루이비스 스튜디오에서 진행된 인터뷰에 앞서 포즈를 취하고 있다. / 사진=이승현 기자 lsh87@
[텐아시아=윤준필 기자]걸그룹 AOA 유나의 동생인 베리굿 서율이 언니를 향한 애정을 드러냈다.서율은 최근 텐아시아와의 인터뷰에서 지난 설 연휴 베리굿을 대표해 홀로 MBC ‘아이돌 육상대회’에 참가한 것을 밝혔다. 서율은 “정말 이 악물고 뛰어서 60미터 달리기 결승까지 진출했었다. 결승전 옆 레인에 금메달을 땄던 H.U.B 루이가 있었다”며 “그렇게 잘 뛰는 사람이 있는지 처음 알았다”며 웃었다.이어 서율은 “멤버들과 같이 ‘아육대’에 나갔으면 좋았겠지만 언니와 AOA 선배들이 많이 챙겨줘서 외롭지 않았다”고 말했다. 또 유나와 함께 화보를 찍었던 것을 언급하며 “딱히 말을 하지 않아도 항상 날 걱정하고 응원한다는 것을 느낀다. 언제나 큰 힘이 돼 준다. 정말 사랑하는 가족이다”고 고백했다.베리굿 멤버들 역시 유나에게 고마움을 전했다. 베리굿 리더 태하는 “우리 음원이 나올 때마다 유나 선배가 SNS에 홍보를 해준다. 저번에는 직접 AOA 선배들과 응원 영상을 찍어준 적도 있다. 정말 감사하다”고 전했다.서율이 속한 걸그룹 베리굿은 지난달 16일 신곡 ‘비비디 바비디 부’를 발표하고 왕성한 활동을 이어가고 있다.윤준필 기자 yoon@tenasia.co.krWith just one episode of “ The Masked Singer ” left to go, now is a good time to look back at how well (or not) the four judges — Ken Jeong Nicole Scherzinger and Robin Thicke — have done to date at guessing the real identities of the celebrity contestants. Have you done better than them at figuring out which famous faces were hidden behind those elaborate masks?The best guesser among the judges is Robin, who has correctly guessed four of the nine celebrities. He is followed closely by Nicole, who has gone three for nine. The worst guessers are Jenny and Ken, who have each managed to make just one correct guess so far. Not surprisingly, those two have embarrassed themselves with their inability to figure out who is behind the mask.For Ken, it was when he didn’t recognize that the Poodle was his one-time co-star Margaret ChoListen
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More Hear the original spoken revelation: playpause Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser to a recent version or update your To play the media you will need to either update your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin Download (right-click to download) As revealed to God’s Messenger
Marshall Vian Summers
on April 12, 2011
in Boulder, Colorado About this Recording What you are hearing in this audio recording is the voice of the Angelic Assembly speaking through the Messenger Marshall Vian Summers. Here, the original communication of God, which exists beyond words, is translated into human language and understanding by the Angelic Assembly who watch over the world. The Assembly then delivers God’s Message through the Messenger. In this remarkable process, the Voice of Revelation is speaking anew. The Word and the Sound are in the world. For the first time in history, the recording of the original spoken revelation is available to you and to the world to experience. May you be the recipient of this gift of Revelation and may you be open to receive its unique Message for you and for your life. Other Revelations
The New Message is here to direct humanity and to preserve human civilization. It is the answer to innumerable prayers for the restoration of the individual and to bring greater cooperation, strength and creativity to the human family at its time of greatest need and travail.
It is so great that people cannot fathom it, though they may think they understand. And yet it is so simple that people can use it today, in every situation, with every person they meet, in every set of circumstances.
The New Message is to prepare humanity for living in a new world and to prepare humanity to engage with life beyond this world, an engagement that is part of your destiny and evolution.
At this moment, humanity is unprepared for both of these great turning points—these great thresholds that will require greater strength, greater discernment and greater compassion from people everywhere.
It is a tremendous calling for the individual to become wise and responsible, capable and perceptive. It is a gift for all peoples and nations. It is a gift for this time and the times to come. It answers questions you have not even yet learned to ask. It addresses problems that people are not yet aware of.
It brings with it the wisdom of the Creator. It is sent through the Angelic Presence, who translates the Will of the Creator into words, ideas and application.
The New Message provides its own commentary and practices. For it cannot be left up to people and individuals, even scholars and experts, to determine what it means and how it should be practiced. The New Message itself speaks of these things and clarifies these things so that very little is left up to human speculation and human interpretation. This is to minimize the potential for error that will always arise when people are dealing with something of this magnitude.
Great care is being made to provide this teaching, application and commentary—said in many different ways, applied to different situations, expressed again and again so that its clarity may be apparent and so there will be minimal ambiguity associated with it.
For the first time, a New Revelation is being given to a literate world, to a world of planetary communications, planetary commerce and for some people even planetary awareness.
It is being given now in great depth and comprehensiveness so that it can bridge cultures, temperaments, nationalities and racial distinctions and so that it can be accessible and comprehensible to the individual, without having to rely upon great scholars or institutions to determine what it means, what it says and how the person should respond.
The New Message calls upon the greater power of Knowledge within the individual to arise—a power beyond the realm and the reach of the intellect, a power that is incomprehensible and yet immediately part of your experience.
For some, this will be very difficult to deal with. They look at everything in the world like it is a resource for their mind. But Knowledge is too great to be a resource for your mind. People who claim to be following Knowledge will be following their ideas. People who claim to be guided by Knowledge will be guided by their social conditioning or by their ambitions. So for certain people this will be very difficult to comprehend. It is because of how they look at themselves and the world that this is the case.
Not everyone will be able to apprehend the great truth at this time. But if enough people can, it gives great promise to the future, the safety and the freedom of humanity.
The new world will be more perilous than the world you are accustomed to. And the Greater Community of life is far more complex and sophisticated.
You will have to learn of it. You will have to learn wisdom and Knowledge from the Greater Community. That is something that only God can really teach you now.
Even other races cannot do this, for they do not know the human mind and the human heart sufficiently, and they do not value freedom, except for a few races.
You were born into this time. You were born for this time. It is your destiny to be here, to learn of these things. It is your destiny to receive these words. It is your destiny to discover the New Revelation.
Many people in the world have not been able to give themselves to the religious traditions of humanity because there is something in them that has told them to wait. Perhaps they justify this based upon the limitations or the difficulties existing within certain traditions. But that is not really the issue, you see, for they are really meant for something else, and they have had to wait for the Revelation. It is not merely that their tradition is inadequate in some way. The truth is they are meant for something else because of their nature and their design, because of their purpose, because of destiny.
This is a power greater than human understanding, and it brings with it its own challenges and its great blessing and opportunities.
The return to God is not an intellectual enterprise. You do not come to God on your terms. Reality and Creation are not based on your understanding or evaluation. Heaven does not value your ideas, only your participation.
Destiny is not something that you can prescribe for yourself nor something you can define and say, “This is my destiny because I like the idea.”
Destiny has to do with where you have come from and where you are going and why you are in the world and where the world is going—things that are far beyond most people’s consideration or awareness.
Destiny will lead you, for it is part of Knowledge within you—the greater intelligence that God has given you to prepare you and protect you, to clarify your way and to engage you with your destiny.
The people of the New Revelation are part of a new threshold of understanding for humanity as humanity enters a new world—a world of environmental change; a world of political and economic instability; a world of diminishing resources; a world where the risk of competition, conflict and war will be very great; a world that requires a greater cooperation and a sense of shared destiny with others.
Divided, humanity will fail in the Greater Community and fall under the persuasion of foreign powers, as has happened countless times in the history of the universe. That is your great risk.
Yet who is aware of this? Who thinks of this? Who is concerned with this? What people think, believe and expect are so very different from what God knows, and that is the gulf that must be bridged. That is why God has put Knowledge within you—to enable you to gain this greater comprehension and to discern a greater reality.
God has provided the Steps to Knowledge to re-engage your surface mind—your social mind, your worldly mind—with the deeper mind of Knowledge. This is where you become really integrated. This is where you establish and experience your integrity.
This is what gives you the strength and power of Heaven as you take your journey here on Earth. This gives purpose, meaning and direction to your existence here and calls to you certain individuals who will play a significant role in the discovery and expression of the greater purpose that has brought you here at this time, under these circumstances.
This is your destiny.
Do not complain about the world. Do not be resentful or jaded in your outlook, for this is the world you have come to serve. It is perfect for you. It is why you have come.
Do not deny it, or you will deny your own purpose for being here. Do not condemn it, or you will condemn yourself along with it. Do not disassociate from it, or you will lose contact with your deeper nature.
Destiny is upon you now. The great calling is going out. The Messenger is being prepared to speak to the world. The New Revelation is here.
What a great blessing this is to be in the world at this time—the time of Revelation! What a great blessing it is for you to learn of these things. What a great blessing it is to have a destiny, to learn of it and to have the humility and the wisdom to accept it.
People have difficulty with these things because of the degree to which they associate with their beliefs, their complaints and their idea of themselves, which rarely have anything to do with who they are or why they are in the world.
Change is hard for people, particularly change on the inside. But it is natural and necessary, or you cannot assume a greater life or a greater purpose, and you will not be available for greater relationships and a greater union with others.
It is the price of admission. It is what it means to have your prayers answered. For to have your prayers answered means a door has opened for you, and you must go through. It is a journey not of your making and does not happen according to your terms, ideas and expectations.
For God to help you, you must let God help you and guide you. God guides you and helps you through the power and presence of Knowledge.
You must become connected to Knowledge, take the Steps to Knowledge, experience its reality, its potency and develop the skills of patience and perseverance that will be necessary for you to journey into regions of life and experience that are not part of your concepts or current understanding.
God knows what is coming over the horizon. The question is, can people respond and prepare, and can they receive the preparation that the Creator of all life is sending into the world?
Humanity cannot prepare itself. It does not know what it is preparing for. It is completely ignorant of life in the universe. It knows not how to prepare for this. It does not expect or anticipate having to adapt to a new world. So it is quite unprepared and foolish, thinking that the future will be like the past, living in the past, associating with the past, unable to see the changing circumstances of the world—the changing landscape and the great change that is coming over the horizon.
You have very little time to prepare for all these things, for they are in motion, and you cannot stop them. You cannot stop having to enter into a new world. You cannot stop your emergence into a Greater Community of life in the universe. The Intervention is already underway in the world by clever races who are here to take advantage of human ignorance and human expectations.
You cannot escape your destiny, you see, and this destiny will either uplift you or it will defeat you, depending on how you prepare and your ability to respond—your responsibility.
This is really the time. You do not have time to languish. You do not have time to hide out in ambivalence. You do not have time to lose yourself in your hobbies, your romances or your distractions.
The world is changing. It is moving beneath your feet. It is shaking your cities. It is depriving your peoples. It is changing how you are going to live in the world. It is changing the weather, the climate, the landscape, the ability to grow food and the resources you will need to maintain civilization.
It is momentous. It is tremendous. But people are asleep, dreaming, lost, unresponsive, obsessed, preoccupied, distracted, believing what they are told by leaders who know little more than they do about what is coming over the horizon.
But people cannot be completely foolish because Knowledge lives within them, and Knowledge is sending the warning signs. That is why people are feeling apprehensive.
That is why people are feeling uncertain about the stability and the future of humanity. That is why people are concerned.
It is this concern that gives you a clue that at some deeper level you are responding to the Great Waves of change that are coming to the world and to humanity’s changing position in the universe. It is an indicator of great change. You do not understand it. You cannot define it. But you are here to learn to deal with it because that is your destiny.
From a greater standpoint, from a standpoint of Creation, destiny is everything. But it is not a destiny you created. It is the destiny that God has given you. It is why you are here.
It is why your personality has been shaped the way it is. It is perfect for your true vocation in life, a vocation you have likely not found yet.
This is destiny. This exists beyond the realm of the intellect, beyond the realm of philosophy and theology and ideology, beyond preference, beyond fear, beyond confusion, beyond human certainty—the pretense of human certainty—beyond religious beliefs, beyond political positions, beyond economic theory is destiny.
Your mind will not understand, but at a deeper level you will begin to respond because at a deeper level, you are connected to destiny.
You are destined to meet certain people if you can make your rendezvous, if you do not fall away on the way to your greater engagement with each other.
It is destiny that you will have to face the new world and the realities of the Greater Community that God will reveal to you through the New Revelation.
It is destiny that you are hearing these words. It is destiny that has brought the New Message to you and has brought you to the New Message.
Eventually, you will understand many of these things. But for the moment, it is a matter of giving greater faith that the power of Knowledge lives within you, that it is pure and that it is the creation of God.
It is the humility and the discernment you bring that will enable you to tell the difference between Knowledge and your own beliefs, fears and ambitions and the beliefs, fears and ambitions of others.
This is where you become skillful. This is where you become discerning. This is where you are not like a child that has to be led and guided, unknowingly, for that will not be appropriate in the new world.
Humanity must grow up. Its citizens must become aware and alerted, prepared and strengthened. Allow children to be children, but as an adult, you must gain this greater perspective and assume greater responsibilities.
These are not ancient times. You are not asked to be like sheep. You are asked to rise to the occasion, to take the Steps to Knowledge and to allow Knowledge to reshape your life and reveal to you your greater destiny.
This is the Will of Heaven, and this now must become the intention of humanity.Across three studies, we examined the role of self-evaluation in predicting conspiracy beliefs. Previous research linked the endorsement of conspiracy theories to low self-esteem. We propose that conspiracy theories should rather be appealing to individuals with exaggerated feelings of self-love, such as narcissists, due to their paranoid tendencies. In Study 1, general conspiracist beliefs were predicted by high individual narcissism but low self-esteem. Study 2 demonstrated that these effects were differentially mediated by paranoid thoughts, and independent of the effects of collective narcissism. Individual narcissism predicted generalized conspiracist beliefs, regardless of the conspiracy theories implicating in-group or out-group members, while collective narcissism predicted belief in out-group but not in-group conspiracies. Study 3 replicated the effects of individual narcissism and self-esteem on the endorsement of various specific conspiracy theories and demonstrated that the negative effect of self-esteem was largely accounted for by the general negativity toward humans associated with low self-esteem.
Abalakina-Paap, M., Stephan, W. G., Craig, T., Gregory, W. L. ( 1999 ). Beliefs in conspiracies. Political Psychology, 20, 637 – 647. doi:10.1111/0162-895X.00160
Google Scholar Crossref | ISI
Ang, R. P., Yusof, N. ( 2006 ). Development and initial validation of the Narcissistic personality questionnaire for children: |
against Louisville and came to the following conclusions:
Based on emails, text messages and phone records, Tommy Elrod, a radio announcer for Wake Forest football games, provided or attempted to provide confidential and proprietary game preparations on multiple occasions, starting in 2014.
No members of the Wake Forest athletic department, football staff or players were involved in any way in these actions.
“I have known Tommy Elrod since his days as a player on our football team,” a statement from Wake Forest Director of Athletics Ron Wellman said via email. “I’m deeply disappointed that he would act against Wake Forest, our football team and our fans in such a harmful manner by compromising confidential game preparation information.”
“I am extremely disappointed that our confidential and proprietary game preparation was compromised,” Wake Forest head coach Dave Clawson said in a statement. “It’s incomprehensible that a former Wake Forest student-athlete, graduate-assistant, full-time football coach, and current radio analyst for the school, would betray his alma mater. We allowed him to have full access to our players, team functions, film room, and practices. He violated our trust which negatively impacted our entire program. I am glad we have taken steps to ensure it will not happen in the future.”
Elrod played for Wake Forest from 1993 through 1997. He later joined the coaching staff as a graduate assistant under former head coach Jim Grobe. He remained on the staff in various positions for the next 11 seasons but was not kept on the staff by Clawson when he was hired by the university. Elrod moved on to do radio for IMG Radio Network in 2014 to cover Wake Forest football. He has now been terminated from that position, and Wake Forest has now banned him from the entire athletics program and its facilities.
Follow @KevinOnCFBOn his radio show yesterday, Mike Francesa got into it with Assemblyman Dean Murray, who is, for whatever reason, adamant about protecting daily fantasy sports’ non-gambling status. Poor Dean got himself demolished by the Sports Pope.
I don’t expect you to listen to all 20 minutes of this, but you really don’t need to. Just skip around to any moment, and you’re likely to hear a very fired-up Francesa dropping some kind of hilarious burns. A sampling:
“IF I GO TO THE RACETRACK, I DECIDE WHICH HAWSE I’M GONNA BET. IS THAT A GAME OF CHANCE OR A GAME OF SKILL?”
“MAN, YOU ARE EMBARRASSING YOURSELF!”
“YOU TALK LIKE A REGULAR POLITICIAN! THAT’S WHAT’S EMBARRASSING! YOU DON’T KNOW HOW A BOOKMAKER OPERATES!”
“DO YOU UNDAHSTAND WHAT PARIMUTUEL WAGERING IS?”
Trust me, this is the good shit.
Via @RNs_FunhousePublic told to think harder before making 999 calls, with three out of 10 ambulance trusts in England at ‘critical’ over Christmas
Ambulance services in England are stretched close to breaking point with three of the country’s 10 ambulance trusts declaring themselves under intense pressure over the Christmas period.
High levels of demand forced the three ambulance services to rate themselves as reaching a “critical” state, just one short of the “potential service failure” ranking on a six-point scale measuring the pressures they face.
London and Yorkshire have been at critical status for more than two weeks. South Western moved to critical for a brief period from Saturday afternoon to Sunday night, calling in an extra 45 volunteer staff to help cope with demand.
Other trusts are at “severe pressure” status – the next level down – but even on this level, East of England said that weekend calls to the service were up by 25% on last year.
The staffing pressures are emerging as the ambulance service braces itself for the fallout of New Year’s Eve celebrations, which traditionally give the NHS’s emergency services their busiest night of the year.
The head of the British Medical Association said patients were suffering as the NHS’s emergency and urgent care system struggled to cope.
Mark Porter, council chair of the doctors’ body, said: “It’s clear to see the whole system is now under immense pressure. GP services are struggling to keep up with the number of patients coming through the door, ambulance services are stretched close to breaking point and hospitals are so full that patients don’t always receive appropriate treatment in an appropriate place within them.”
Porter added:“These figures show that the system is operating in a constant state of crisis, running just to stand still – there is no spare capacity to deal with a seasonal spike in demand and patients are suffering.” The grim picture suggests next week’s update on emergency admissions to hospitals and on A&E visits, taking in the Christmas and New Year period, will offer little respite for ministers over the NHS’s financial troubles as May’s general election looms. Before Christmas, the government indicated it had put on hold proposals from ambulance chiefs to change some response times to emergency calls relating to serious, but not the most life-threatening, conditions.
Yorkshire ambulance service said there had been an almost 30% rise in incidents involving the most seriously ill or injured over the weekend compared with last year. In south-west England incidents involving the ambulance service on Saturday were 38% up on the same weekend last year and 22% up on Sunday.
London ambulance service said the number of patients attended in a serious or life-threatening condition had so far this month increased by 12% on 2013.
The service said it was planning big increases to its 3,056 staff to cope with the rise in demand. “Every year demand increases and, in addition to this, we’re facing a shortage of paramedics in the UK which makes recruitment challenging,” a spokesperson said.
“We will continue to prioritise our response to our seriously ill and injured patients but other people, with less serious injuries and illnesses, should use NHS 111 or make their own way to hospital.”
David Macklin, executive director of operations at Yorkshire ambulance service, said staff and volunteers had worked beyond their normal hours, often without breaks, in order to cope.
“We have had to strictly prioritise our calls to ensure that the people who most needed our help received it,” he said. “This has meant that some people have not got the response they expected or wanted but I am sure they will understand that patients with life-threatening illnesses and serious injuries should be cared for first,
“While we do not want to deter people from calling 999 in serious cases such as heart attack, breathing difficulties or stroke, we do need people to think very carefully about their options and consider whether they really need an ambulance or whether there is another option available to them.”
Clifford Mann, president of the College of Emergency Medicine, said the NHS 111 telephone advice service was sending an ambulance to take a patient to hospital too often because local out-of-hospital medical services, such as visits from a GP or district nurse, were too often inadequate.
Mann, a senior emergency care consultant at Musgrove Park hospital in Taunton, Somerset, said the South Western ambulance service had introduced over the weekend “a policy which means that they now won’t wait with the patient [in the back of an ambulance outside an A&E unit] after 30 minutes – that is, the ambulance crew will leave the patient with the hospital staff and go to attend another call. That was the first time that policy has been used at my hospital and it was triggered by the pressure of demand.”
NHS England insisted that it was “pulling out all the stops” to ensure that patients received care when and where they needed it.This Friday I’m going on vacation for two weeks, leaving all the hard work on Etienne and Tristan’s shoulders. I hope they don’t mind. I’ll spend the first week in the Netherlands capital Amsterdam and the second in Belgium where I’ll visit both Bruges and Brussels.
“Isn’t that supposed to be a web-related blog?”
Well, I have special feelings for the Netherlands and Belgium and it’s not just about the architecture, culture and culinary pleasures. These countries are also the home of talented web, design and software professionals who account for a significant portion of who I follow on Twitter.
I thought today would be a good occasion to express my appreciation to these fine folks.
The Netherlands
Fingertips’s Thijs van der Vossen is my front-end hero. You can feel his incredible attention to design and implementation details by his recent work on the Greta Sans Type System Specimen App.
While I’m at it, the great Typotheque type foundry can’t be ignored. They have an impressive catalog of quality products, including some tour de force you wouldn’t have thought possible.
When it comes to cutting-edge CSS, I can’t help but think of Simurai first. Browse his lab and you’ll understand how far client-side technologies can go. His project The Letter-Heads is more that a year old, but I have yet to find some CSS thing that kicks more ass.
There’s also Peter Beverloo and his weekly updates on WebKit and Chromium development. These clear and concise posts are the only thing you need to stay aware of what’s new in your favorite rendering engine.
Last but not least, Peter-Paul Koch. You might not know him by his name, but I bet you’ve stumbled upon his legendary compatibility tables hundreds of times. If not, I wonder where you’ve been for the last decade…
Belgium
The whole team behind the best collaboration app ever, Kickoff, is from Belgium. If you’re lucky enough to be a two or three people team, you can even enjoy it for free. Trust me, you won’t go back to Campfire and Basecamp.
I must admit I have a soft spot for their designer Benjamin De Cock. Pixel porn fans will enjoy his Dribbble shots a lot. He also pushes the boundaries of what interactions can be done without JavaScript in his playground.
MacRabbit develops two exquisite apps: Espresso the web editor, and their newborn Layer Cake for PSD exporting. The three of us at Heliom have once been hardcore Espresso users and Layer Cake has become a part of our workflow since its very launch.
Finally, if you thought you knew some bits about the Web, wait until you read Mathias Bynens’s writings. I’m deeply thankful for the many hours he spends vulgarizing specifications, encodings and the like.
Thanks for being so awesome, gentlemen.Tracy Clark-Flory at Salon starts off her blog post about female-on-male rape with a reference to this story about a man named Kris Bucher, who is contesting the state of Michigan’s demands that he pay child support to his high school girlfriend, Jessica Fuller, because, he claims, she conceived their son Joshua by raping Bucher when he was 17 and she was 18 years old. Clark-Flory doesn’t delve too much into the story, using it instead as a hook to discuss the question of whether women can actually rape men, and the history of how society has dealt with that question. I hope it’s not too much of a surprise to find out that the answer is that while it’s much less common than men raping men and far less common than men raping women, it does happen.
What I think is interesting about Bucher’s sad case and about men’s experiences with being rape victims in general is how similar they are to women’s experiences – and how men face the same rape myths that torment female victims. But for the gender roles, Bucher’s experiences sound quite similar to the typical experience of a teen suffering from dating violence. Teen dating violence is far more common than you’d think; the CDC reports that 10 percent of teenagers report suffering from intimate partner violence in the past year. The St. Petersburg Times reporter’s description of the relationship raises a couple red flags for violence. Fuller walked up to Bucher and said, “You don’t know it yet, but you are my future boyfriend.” It may sound romantic, but that sort of statement also wipes out the agency of the person it’s said to, and is a red flag for controlling behavior. The story also describes Bucher’s world shrinking after he hooked up with Fuller, until she basically was his world. Abusers often isolate their victims, creating an emotional dependency that makes it that much harder to leave.
The alleged rape also sounds like a typical date rape situation, where the rapist exploits an ambiguous situation, leaving the victim to question if there was more they could have done to stop the rape from happening. If Bucher’s telling the truth, and frankly his story sounds plausible, especially with the corroborating evidence, then it sounds like he’s butting up against another dangerous rape myth, which is that the presence of physical arousal or even orgasm during a sexual encounter means that the victim is consenting. This assumption has been held against many rape victims, both male and female, but it underestimates how much the combination of fear, biological stimulus, and confusion can work together to create physical response in people who are otherwise non-consenting.
Generally speaking, I’m skeptical of the various arguments that are brought before family courts by parents trying to get out of child support, especially the tedious claim that women routinely trick men into fatherhood by lying about contraception. In this case, however, I think Bucher has a point. If the judge determines that the conception was due to rape instead of consensual sex, then Bucher shouldn’t be on the hook for child support.The latest approval of rate increases goes as an example of how the entire political favoritism system operates
What exactly is a public utility? If you listen to the government officials in New York State, a foreign company is just dandy and will qualify from the Public Service Commission as a provider of electricity. While this may be old news, the continued adverse fallout from foreign ownership can no longer be flittered away. The latest approval of rate increases goes as an example of how the entire political favoritism system operates. The Buffalo N.Y. News reports, You’re likely to see higher electric bills soon.
“That proposed rate increase, averaging slightly more than 2 percent annually over three years, would add $5.19 to the average bill of a residential customer using 600 kilowatt hours of electricity, boosting it to $85.75 from $80.56 today, said Clay Ellis, a NYSEG spokesman.”
Remember the citizen reaction when, Iberdrola bought Energy East for $4.5 billion? If you forgot, the public rate payers put up a vigorous opposition that gained traction with the administrative judge at the public hearings. However, you can always count on the big nose of greedy politicians to place their thumb on the scales.
“Chuckie Schumer escorted Iberdrola in the back door here in New York State when he lobbied for the Sale of Energy East (NYSEG & RG&E here in WNY) TO Iberdrola back in 2007”
So explain why a sitting U.S. Senator has standing to compel state officials into approving a foreign corporation from an acquisition that the public was so vehemently against?
Once the Spanish company got in the door, more acquisitions occurred. Iberdrola Buys U.S. Power and Gas Distributor UIL.
“Iberdrola said the deal would help implement its growth plans in the U.S. through 2016, seeking to increase the company’s local footprint and a stronger focus on regulated businesses with stable cash flows.
Iberdrola U.S.A. also has the second-largest wind power generation portfolio in the U.S.”
Here is the real rub and the hidden motivation for giving favorable treatment to a foreign company. The miserable failure of industrial wind electric generation is so well established that most politicians are now reluctant to even mention the pie in the sky benefits from this extremely expensive and unreliable method of generation.
Examine the argument by Mary Kay Barton in Wind Power Destruction in New York State: ‘Clean’ Power Plan Problem, for a well thought out outline why wind power has been a total bust for the all the money spent on pushing it down the throats of beleaguered residents. Only the pockets of crooked officials are lined as Iberdrola runs away with cash while bleeding necessary maintenance dry.
Add to this litany of real world objections, the ruthless record documented in the article, Iberdrola competition fine manipulate the price of electricity.
“The National Commission on Competition and Markets (CNMC) has imposed a fine of 25 million euros to Iberdrola Generación by manipulating the price of electricity, which is considered a very serious behavior.
Specifically, Iberdrola sanction relates to the actions carried out by increasing the price on the c Hydraulic entrales de Duero, Tagus and Sil, between 30 November 2013 and 23 December 2013.
Article 60th) 54/119 15 of the Act determines the electricity sector as a very serious offense any tampering aimed to alter the price of electricity or measuring the quantities delivered.”
I’m shocked, SHOCKED – Iberdrola penalized for fixing the price of electricity? Tell me this could not happen.
Over a year ago the report in the Democrat and Chronicle by Steven Orr, Electricity costs soar indicates:
“Residential customers served by Rochester Gas and Electric Corp. and New York State Electric and Gas Corp., both owned by Iberdrola SA, are not as bad off as others. Their average residential electric rates so far this month are 8 percent and 10 percent higher than January’s, respectively. They’ve risen 15 percent and 16 percent since December, according to information on the companies’ websites.
But customers of National Grid were warned several weeks ago that their electric costs could go up as much as 27 percent in the latest bills. The company reached a deal with New York state regulators that will allow it to spread those extra costs out over a number of months.
National Grid, the two Iberdrola companies and other investor-owned utilities in New York buy electricity and gas in the marketplace and pass it on to customers with no markup. The utilities make their money on delivery charges.”
Now National Grid is a UK company and Iberdrola a Spanish outfit, it is a convenience for these foreign companies to just provide delivery services and let the cost of electricity be a separate charge. The grid is limited in its capacity. Companies from Spain and the UK have long experience with industrial wind generation. Both know well, without massive government subsidies, the industry would never exist. Wind turbines only run on electricity, when the breezes stop blowing.
The True costs of wind electricity, concludes:
“We can only approximate the ‘true’ cost of wind, and how much the reality differs from ‘official’ EIA (and industry) claims. Wind resources have often been presented in a far more favorable light than they deserve. Looking at the costs presented here they are far higher than can be justified. It has been hoped that subsidies would make wind self-sustaining in short order, but wind appears no closer to economic viability today than years ago.”
When a foreign company with vast wind experience buys companies within the United States, they know wind turbines are a loser. Hey, so what, they say. They make their money on distribution services, which is determined by adding charges on base price of the electric. This lack of concern for the actual cost of the wind generated power inevitably raises the cost of electricity to the end users. The system is structured to pass on these excessive costs to the consumer.
Welcome to the “PUBLIC UTILITY” culture brought to you by your corrupt elected officials and their obedient public service administration. At least if the electric user is to suffer under the hands of a greedy utility, can’t New York State regulate a domestic company?
Via BATRCSI announced on Sunday that Iran’s constant-price Gross Domestic Product (GDP) stood at about 6.7 billion dollars including oil and 5.4 billion dollars excluding oil.
The figures indicate a 4.4 increase in the country’s real GDP as compared with the same period in the previous year.
The results imply that in the spring of the current year, agriculture, industry, services grew by 4, 8.8, and 2.9 per cent, respectively while the growth of industry section has been mainly due to the uplift in exports of crude oil and natural gas.
Seasonal calculations in the Statistical Center of Iran (CSI) are carried out in the 15 main sections and 43 subcategories.
In his recent provincial visit to the southern province of Kohgiluyeh and Boyerahmad, President Hassan Rouahni said when he assumed the position the economy was suffering from a negative growth of 6.8 per cent while it has now climbed to 4.4 per cent.
HA/IRN82188078My Last First Ascent of Mt. Washington on a Bike
Sunday, June 6th, 2010
5:10am – White Mountain Highway
Coasting along the highway, I gaze up the mountainside, where the top of Mt. Washington vanishes into grasping, shifting clouds. “It’s no big deal. It’s just like hiking up it, only on a bike. I’ve hiked much, much bigger things. Except … when you’re hiking, you can stop moving to rest.” I shrug it off. I pedal softly, feeling the moment, the mist in the early air, the quiet of the nearby river and woods, moving slowly up the empty highway to where Dan and Kevin are warming up their tandem muscles around the next bend. I look upwards again, watching the clouds move, shake my head… “This is real. I’m really going to ride up that. How on earth did this happen?”
My thoughts go back to almost a year ago, when I bought my first good road bike. It was a Father’s day present from my wife and kids (as in, “ok, you go get a bike, and we’ll say it’s from us”) and an investment in physical health and mental well-being. It was a gamble… would I ride it enough to justify the cost? Somehow after working my way up to 20-mile rides by myself, I fell in with a local bike gang, one thing led to another, I set a few goals, and here I am… preparing to climb what is known as the toughest mountain climb in the US and quite possibly the world.
5:35 – The Mount Washington Auto Road, 1600 feet above see level
Don launches, followed by Peter on his trademark mountain bike, skanky rack and all. I wait for a moment.
I’d read and heard many times that the right way to approach the climb up the Rockpile is to pace yourself. To take it easy, to steadily work your way up. My goal today is to make it to the top, on my bike, without once putting my foot down. That’s it. No time goal. No power goal. Just make it to the very top without stopping.
Don and Peter can (and regularly do) trivially drop me on normal hills. If I ride with them, some part of me will try to keep up with them or keep them in my sights, if just for a bit. I don’t need that even as a microtemptation. I wait until they’re far enough away that they’re gone gone gone – a few hundred feet. I push ‘start’ on my timer and kick off. Dan and Kevin finish preparations and follow seconds later on the Banshee.
5:37 – 1700 feet
I pass a relatively elderly woman who started a few moments before us. In her fluorescent yellow jacket, she’s dressed for the rain that we know is coming. She’s got a high cadence going – looks like 80-90 rpm, but she’s moving no more than 3mph. That must be some fantastically low gearing. I’d fall over I moved that speed, but she’s just puttering right up. Something tells me she’s done this before… a lot. Respect.
I look at my cadence numbers… 45rpm. Low…. I probably want to be in the 60-70 range. At this rate, it’s all muscle pounding, less respiratory-driven flow. But this is what my legs seem to want be climbing at right now. I’m going to follow the hints from my body at first and see how this works out. I’m only in my 3rd-lowest gear right now, so I have two more to fall back on if I need a backup.
5:40 – 1800 feet
How interesting. My body is conditioned to expect some kind of break after climbing. My legs can taste a flat spot coming – maybe it will be just around that next bend! – even when my mind knows there isn’t. There are no flats. That’s the deal with this mountain. It’s 7.1 miles of non-stop climbing, with the slope varying from a 5% grade to 22%. And yet my legs are absolutely convinced that they just need to give one strong push and then they can cut back and coast on the flat spot that always comes after a climb in a ride. “Stop it. Just go. Just get used to it. Relax. This is it, this is now.” The feeling of a needed break subsides, and I push onwards into the damp morning.
5:45 – 2000 feet
The forest around is quiet, paused as if holding in the early morning. Thick, leafy trees are mixed in with conifers, the woods dense. I listen to the streams running through the woods, pretending that I’m so entranced by it that I can’t hear my legs. Push, push. It’s not bad. I settle into my second-lowest gear and bump up to 50rpm… feels better. Can’t spin much faster right now without worrying that I’m using energy that I’ll need at the end.
Maybe I’m being too cautious? Perhaps. I’ve read a bit too much. More than one book and website I’ve read ranks this climb as the most challenging out there, because it’s steep and it doesn’t stop. Foot for foot, it comes in as tougher than the climbs in the Tour de France and the Giro d’Italia. Harder than Alpe d’Huez, harder even than Mont Ventoux. Of course, we haven’t raced 200km in the morning against a bunch of pro riders before racing up this hill – but as something that I can actually experience as a mere cycling enthusiast, this is it, this is the pinnacle.
5:47 – 1 mile marker
Dan, Kevin and I have been riding together for a bit, chatting. Kevin is always so amazingly cheerful and supportive. “Great form man! You’re doing awesome!” Thanks Kevin… trying not to think about it right now, actually. But the words are welcome, the company more so. I drift over to the side of the road, watching my friends on their tandem. These guys amaze me. They do a little teamwork thing, planning when they’ll stand up together to relieve and stress different muscle groups. Maybe at the mile markers. That’s a great idea… I borrow that, and stand up for a few minutes, shifting gears. Oh yeah, that was probably a good thing.
“Remy, why are you riding with us? Tandems are slow uphill, man!” “Yeah… well, I don’t know about that, but in any case I’m going this speed because I want to get to the top… I might need something in reserve toward the end. Plus I know how this works… if I ever do this again, I’ll want to beat my time up. So this is my one time to really enjoy the ride – and I want to set a time that’s not too hard to beat.”
I grin. They laugh. We ride on.
I think about Peter’s strategy… 170 heart beats per minute for the first 2/3, then push it up to 180bpm for the last 1/3rd. I like that strategy a lot. I can do those heart rates – I just don’t know if I can them on this kind of climb, for this sort of sustained effort. I’m at 160 now and I intend to keep it around that… maybe I’ll push it toward the end, though.
5:55 – 2500 feet
Twenty minutes climbing, non-stop. This is now the longest I’ve ever pushed my bike uphill without pausing, coasting, or otherwise taken a break. So far, so good. Kevin and Dan have drifted a little ways behind me – or perhaps I’ve drifted up ahead of them. It’s just me, a rising road, and a lot of trees.
The road actually does have some flat spots on the side – there are little parking lots here and there for the vehicles that need to stop on the road. People get out for hikes, sightseeing, or to cool their brakes on the descent. Today those parking lots are empty, except for the few cars that are out early with us. Cars that are giving cyclists a ride down are allowed on the road at the same time as us in the practice ride. It’s not too busy – only four or five cars so far, and all of them are very careful of the cyclists.
So if I had a mechanical issue, I could pull into one of those, deal with the problem on the flats, then get moving again before hitting the steep road. Hope I don’t have a mechanical… must get up without putting feet down.
6:00 – 2 mile marker
Somewhere in here, I pass one of our awesome drivers, Stan. He’s driving my van up the hill so that we cyclists can ride down in a car. You can ride up Mt. Washington 4 times a year on a bike – for the two road races, and for the two practice sessions. That’s about 12 hours a year… but that’s only up. You can’t ride down because it’s deemed, probably rightly so, as unsafe. You must have a way to ride down in a vehicle. Stan and Doug have volunteered to drive us down in our van and truck on this practice ride day – it’s a huge help and greatly appreciated. As Stan is driving up this morning, he’s apparently decided to stop every once in a while to wave, cheer, and take pictures. It’s great. It punctuates the long quiet moments in the trees.
As I pass him, the road settles down to a moderate 5% grade near the parking area, which seems flat as a pancake. It’s too easy to ride all of a sudden. Seconds later, the road shifts back into a 12% climb. I flinch, expecting groans from my legs as the slope increases, but it actually feels good to have the pressure again. I shift forward in my seat a bit and push the cadence a tiny bit higher.
6:02 – 3000 feet
The road hits me with an 18% grade for a small stretch. I shift up to a harder gear, stand, and push through it, enjoying the feeling of a surge. I know I can’t keep this up for long, but I can see the slope decreasing a bit farther up, and this is a good way to stretch things.
My mind drifts back to the hardest moment of my cycling adventures. I had learned in the fall that the Monsters regularly rode from Concord out to Mt. Wachusett and back on Thursday mornings. That’s a ride 70 miles long, with 5000 feet of climbing, going to the summit of one of the most prominent peaks in eastern Massachusetts. It’s where my family skis a lot in the winter. It’s big. That trip seemed inconceivably by bike… 35 miles of riding through some substantial hill climbing followed by multiple grades of 15% or more climbing to top of the mountain? Insane. So I really wanted to try it… but not with the Monsters, because they’re fast. I didn’t want to slow them down or look totally lame in front of a group of riders who do this sort of thing every week before breakfast. So I took off one Sunday… loaded the route in my wrist GPS, packed a peanut butter sandwich (according to the instructions in the Monster’s marketing brochure for the ride – what a weird bunch of guys), and off I went. The ride out to the base of the mountain was really tough… both from a distance and a climb perspective. I just about died when I got chased by a killer hellhound and had to get away by riding up a hill. Eventually I got to the mountain, somewhat exhausted, but still up for the summit attempt… I rode up the mountain road, struggling, but moving. I got to one particularly steep spot, not all that far from the top, and I hit a wall. Every fiber in me wanted to stop. It was too steep, too hard. I could not keep those pedals moving. I couldn’t keep going straight and wandered back and forth across the road, straining to move forward. I was pushing with my legs, with my arms, with my whole body, and just couldn’t do it. But some part of me said, “no way am I getting off and walking… I’ve ridden 35 miles and climbed all those other hills to get 99.9% of the way to the end and I’m not going to stop at this point – I’m going to do this thing”… Somehow I made it through that, and got to the top, without walking. It was, up until that point, the hardest physical/athletic thing I had ever done. I was happy that I’d made it, but I also knew that if it had been just a tinier bit steeper or a bit farther to go, or if I’d been just the slightest bit weaker, I wouldn’t have made it.
Are there slopes like that for me on Mt. Washington, I wonder? What would happen after I’d been riding for more than an hour uphill without stopping? Would my legs or my will give out?
6:03 – 3100 feet
The road settles back into an easy 12% grade. I catch myself thinking this and just laugh. Everything is relative.
6:10 – 3300 feet
I’m lost in the moment of the climb, of the physical presence in this beautiful forest, of the repetitive rhythm of my pedal strokes.
Then my mind races away home, to where my kids are still snuggled up in their beds. I’m doing this climb for me, but I’ve been talking about it for a while. I set it, for some unknown reason, as one of my big goals this year – just to get up this pile of rocks. And so I’ve been telling my kids about it, about the training, the planning, the dreaming… trying to show them that you can do the things you set your mind to. I sort of wish they were here, but for lots of good reasons, they’re at home this weekend, being watched over by my wife. I’m taking pictures, and video, and a few mental notes, to share with them at the right time. And maybe someday one of them will do this with me… who knows?
But in the meantime: up.
6:15 – 3 miles, 3400 feet
Ahead of me I see a cyclist creeping up the hill. I catch up with him over a long stretch of several minutes. He’s struggling. I nod a salute and wish him luck. We ride on, each on our own timestreams.
A few days after that tough climb up Mt. Wachusett, I was talking with some of the Monsters in the Basement at Starbucks after a ride. Dan pointed to my bike and said, “you rode up Wachusett on that?” “Yeah”, I said, sort of defensively. “Dude, that’s a 39/25. That’s for flat courses. You need gears for climbing… most of us ride compacts or triples for all the hills around here.” “Ohhhhh”. I then had a crash course in bike gearing. And maybe felt a bit less worried about how hard it had been to climb Wachusett.
6:20 – 3700 feet
I watch the woods as I climb, revolution by revolution. The trees have become predominantly tall pines, the sense of the forest become more of an alpine woods than lower down. Ahead I can see breaks in the trees, perhaps? I stretch and prepare myself mentally for the next steep section ahead, keeping an eye out for the smoothest stretch of pavement.
6:25 – 4000 feet
The woods are definitely thinner now. I’m catching glimpses of the valley down to my right.
Whoa – it’s now a “valley”. I was down there not very long ago.
I think to what I know is ahead… the woods will open up, we’ll cross a ridge, and we’ll be exposed to the weather. The wind will pick up, the temperature will shift. It may get more challenging at that time.
I take a quick inventory… legs and feet a bit stiff.. I stand and shift around. Body feeling pretty good, with slight back tension that’s alleviated by the shuffling. I popped a Gu gel around 2000 feet and am feeling pretty good. I sip from my Camelback, making sure to stay hydrated. I look down at the useless bottle of electrolyte-boosted water on my bike frame… no way am I going to try to pull that off, drink enough, and then put it back. Ah well – that’s what the test ride is for – seeing what works, and what doesn’t. Now I know I like the Camelback better. My hands are a bit chilly and cramped…. I realize I’ve been riding with a deathgrip on the brake hoods… why? You don’t even need brakes if you’re just going uphill, and I’ve only shifted a few times. I force a relax, then move my hands into the drops to get a different posture for a while. Yeah, that’s good. RPM at 50 – still too low, but it feels right and I’m not going to mess with it here. Power output at 240, heart rate at 162. Both of those are comfortably below lactate threshold, right where I want them at this stage of a long push where the goal is to complete.
I’ve learned all these things.. the energy input, the stretching while pedaling, the conditioning to ride in the drops for a long time, the inventory, hydration, power levels, mentally tracking the status of my gears, monitoring my cadence,.. from hanging out with a lot of different cyclists, going on rides with the Monsters, winter spin classes with Professor Chris, and reading way too much about road biking in the last year. Now a lot of it’s becoming second nature. Will it all serve me effectively in the second half of this crazy climb?
Spin, spin, push push.
6:28 – 4100 feet
I round a hairpin and realize I’m now in the open zone. The trees have faded to scrub. The wind has picked up.
This is when I find out how my clothing choices work out. The other guys in my group have all gone with long sleeves, and in some cases, long leggings. They warned me about the top half of the road, where the protection of the trees is |
presence in Niger, officially 645 troops but said to be closer to 800, is predicated on two missions, neither of them formally “combat”—a distinction that holds little difference when an ambush occurs.
Those missions are to train and mentor Niger’s military and to aid with aerial reconnaissance, chiefly through drones, flown from an airbase the U.S. uses following a 2013 accord with Niger. Cheadleconfirmed that the soldiers had a reconnaissance aircraft overhead at the time of the ambush — a circumstance likely to raise questions about what the Special Forces team knew about what it was driving toward. Cheadle said the aircraft was unarmed.
As well, it is unknown if the vehicles the team travelled in were armored. Sources contacted for this story did not know, but pointed to the condition of the Nigerien military, considered poor, as a reason to doubt it. Cheadle would not address the question during a Friday briefing with reporters.
“We are there to protect U.S. interests,” Cheadle said, but indicated that the disaster on Wednesday was prompting an internal review of the U.S. advisory efforts in Niger.
“We’re re-evaluating where we want to look at some of our assist, our advise missions. This was not expected. This was clearly something that had we anticipated this sort of attack, we would have absolutely devoted more resources to it to reduce the risk. That’s something we’re looking at right now,” Cheadle said.
—with additional reporting by Kevin MaurerCTVNews.ca Staff
A village in Alberta that offered fully-serviced residential lots for “$10 or best offer” has sold them all in less than two days.
Delia, Alta. – pop. 186 – offered the deep discount on 15 lots last week in the hopes that new people will move to the town, build houses, pay property taxes and populate its little school.
After the town’s mayor Dawn Bancroft pitched the proposal on Friday, she received hundreds of phone calls and commitments from at least 15 buyers who agreed to put down $1,000 deposits for the lots.
The town plans to return $990 to each buyer once they break ground.
In addition to affordable property, Delia has credit unions, restaurants, an ice rink and a “slower pace.”
“You can just sit back and relax,” according to Bancroft.
The village was so overwhelmed by the response that it is considering offering 20 more lots for sale.
Delia is in located in central Alberta, about a half-hour drive from Drumheller (pop. 8,000) and two hours by car from Calgary.
With a report from CTV CalgaryImage copyright Reuters Image caption Officer Caesar Goodson drove the van in which Mr Gray rode before he died
Baltimore police officer Caesar Goodson has been found not guilty in his trial for the murder of black detainee Freddie Gray.
He was cleared on a second-degree "depraved heart" murder charge, the most serious charge sought against the six officers charged in the case.
Mr Goodson drove the van in which Mr Gray rode before he died.
The verdict is a blow to prosecutors, who have yet to win a conviction connected to Mr Gray's death.
Freddie Gray, 25, was arrested in April 2015 for running away from police officers. He died a week after sustaining a spinal injury while in the back of a police van.
His death sparked civil unrest in Baltimore, part of a wider national debate on police brutality and the death of unarmed black men at the hands of police.
Image copyright Murphy, Falcon & Murphy Image caption Freddie Gray died a week after he was arrested
At the end of the five-day trial, Baltimore Circuit Judge Barry Williams also acquitted Mr Goodson on charges of manslaughter, assault, misconduct in office and reckless endangerment.
The judge said the state had failed to show that Mr Goodson was aware he had injured Mr Gray or that he needed medical care.
Prosecutors had argued that Mr Goodson was criminally negligent when he failed to use a seat belt to secure Mr Gray and intentionally gave him a "rough ride" while transporting him to the police station.
The van made six stops during the ride to the police station. Mr Goodson was the only officer present at each of the stops.
"The state had a duty to show the defendant corruptly failed in his duty, not just that he made a mistake," the judge said in his ruling.
The same judge cleared another officer on misdemeanour charges in May and declared a mistrial in December after a jury failed to agree on charges relating to Mr Gray's death.
Image copyright Andrew Burton/Getty Images Image caption Freddie Gray's death last April sparked mass protests throughout Baltimore
Two further police officers are due to stand trial next month - one of them is charged with manslaughter.
A blow to campaigners - Rajini Vaidyanathan, BBC News, Baltimore
The verdict will be a blow to protesters and campaigners who have been calling for accountability. Two police officers have already faced trial in connection with Freddie Gray's death, but so far there have been no convictions.
The aftermath of his death, and the protests that followed, came to represent the fractured relationship between police and young black men. Last year's violent protests in Baltimore were the climax of anger and frustration which had been under the surface in the city for decades.
The judge says there was no intent to harm anyone in this case - but campaigners will want to make sure Freddie Gray's death was not in vain.
Mr Goodson hugged and shook hands with supporters and family members, including the officer acquitted in May, the Baltimore Sun reported.
State Sen Catherine Pugh, the Democratic nominee to become Baltimore's next mayor, issued a statement urging calm.
Protesters outside the courthouse began marching toward police headquarters after the verdict.
Image copyright Twitter
Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake responded via Twitter, saying Mr Goodson would face an administrative review and asked citizens to be patient.
Civil rights leader Reverend Al Sharpton said he was "disappointed" in the judge's decision.
The NAACP, one of the leading US civil rights groups, also called the verdict a "wake-up call for Baltimore".
Image copyright TwitterCALGARY- RCMP in Banff are trying to track down two men responsible for stealing a snowmobile, taking it for a joyride, then lighting it on fire.
Around 4 p.m. on Jan. 23, RCMP were called by staff from the Sunshine Village Ski Resort. They said that the previous evening two men left the Trapper’s Saloon on the hill, then stole a snowmobile belonging to the resort.
The vehicle was found by staff a short time later, but had been badly damaged by fire.
Surveillance footage captured images of the suspects, who RCMP are trying to locate.
The first man is described as white, about 25-years-old with short dark hair. He was wearing a grey hoodie and dark ski pants. He was also carrying dark-coloured winter boots, a red and white plaid ski jacket and a green helmet.
The second suspect is also white and about 25-years-old with short dark hair. He had a grey ski jacket, black ski pants and a black helmet.
Anyone with information about their whereabouts is asked to call RCMP or Crime Stoppers.As many as 2,000 “hostile” protesters surrounded police, some throwing bottles filled with urine and punching and spitting at cops as they tried to escort participants from Saturday’s “Free Speech Rally” out of Boston Common, according to police reports filed in court yesterday.
The crowd answered an order to disperse with “a barrage of insults directed toward the officers,” the police narrative states. As cops in riot gear began pushing back the crowd with their batons and shields, “they were met with violent resistance,” the reports state. One riot cop’s face shield was cracked, while protesters tried to rip off the officers’ protective gear and grabbed one officer’s radio.
The reports filed for the arraignment yesterday of 18 of the 33 people who were arrested Saturday indicate a large-scale outbreak of violence in what was otherwise widely hailed as a peaceful protest by 40,000 counterdemonstrators.
Raymond M. Delouchrey, 28, of Taunton, was charged with disorderly conduct after he allegedly took a swing at a motorcycle cop in a bid to block the motorcade and “incite the volatile crowd.”
Shaun P. Pettey, 33, of Boston, allegedly tried to force his way through a line of officers while they were trying to arrest several protesters. When police used pepper spray to disperse the crowd, Pettey began throwing punches at the police and reached for a knife, the report says. He was charged with disorderly conduct, assault and battery on a police officer, resisting arrest and assault with a dangerous weapon
Shawn Vieira, 26, of East Boston, allegedly bloodied his knuckles after punching several people in the crowd on Boston Common, police said. He is also alleged to have had a large folding knife in his pocket. He was charged with disturbing the peace.
After being arrested, the police stated, another man defecated in a holding cell, smeared feces on the walls and kicked and banged the door of the cell. He was taken to Boston Medical Center for a mental evaluation.
Outside of court, Delouchrey told the Herald, “I got relatives and nieces who are colored. I didn’t like the fascists. I tried to cross the street. The motorcycle came and they said I tried to cut the police off.”
Vieira told the Herald he bloodied his knuckles when he “punched one of the Nazis after he grabbed a woman. This guy was going after a black trans woman saying ‘you’re not a he’ and ‘you’re not a she, you’re an it’ … He reached out to grab this woman.”
Fifteen other people were charged with disturbing a public assembly, being disorderly and resisting arrest yesterday. Several remaining suspects will be arraigned today.Revealed: How Christmas Day bomber's exploding underwear failed to detonate... because he had worn them for THREE WEEKS
Agents who investigated Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab said he was forthcoming about his plans
Abdulmutallab sentenced to three life terms after pleading guilty earlier this year
Infamous al-Qaeda bombmaker Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri is believed to have made the device
The notorious underwear bomber who tried to bring down a jumbo jet on Christmas Day had a dirty little secret - he'd been wearing the explosive skivvies for weeks.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab wore them for three weeks to be exact, and it may have been the reason why he was unsuccessful in his 2009 terrorist plans aboard a Detroit-bound airliner.
The new details were revealed by two FBI agents who played a role in securing a confession from Abdulmutallab, shortly after the bungled plot.
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Bomber shorts: Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab wore this underwear outfitted with explosives for three weeks before the failed bomb attempt on Christmas Day 2009
Notorious: Abdulmutallab was focused on his mission to crash the plane over Detroit, because it was 'God's call'
Agent Ted Peissig told WXYZ-TV : 'So basically for three weeks he wore this garment, these underwear with this device in it.
‘We think ultimately that is probably what caused the disruption in the sequence of events in the explosion.'
Terror strike: Abdulmutallab, pictured in his 2009 mugshot, was sentenced to three life terms after pleading guilty
Peissig, along with fellow agent Mike Connelly, told the network that Abdulmutallab wore the explosives-rigged underwear for three weeks in an effort to get accustomed to it, only taking it off when he showered.
Connelly added that Abdulmutallab was focused on his mission to crash the plane, because it was 'God's call.'
The agents admitted that Abdulmutallab did not look like a terrorist, but he spoke freely about how he was working for al-Qaeda and that had acted alone.
The explosives failed to fully detonate aboard the flight, which was carrying nearly 300 people, but caused a brief fire that badly burned his groin.
Passengers pounced on Abdulmutallab and forced him to the front of Northwest Airlines Flight 253 where he was held until the plane landed minutes later.
Abdulmutallab talked freely to the FBI about his desire to commit martyrdom for his Islamic faith.
In 2009, months before the attack, he said he travelled to Yemen to see Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born cleric and one of the best-known al-Qaeda figures.
He told investigators that his mission was approved after a three-day visit with his mentor.
Al-Awlaki and the bomb maker were killed in a U.S. drone strike in Yemen last year, just days before Abdulmutallab's trial.
Agents: Ted Peissig, left, and Mike Connelly are the two FBI agents who were able to secure a confession from Abdulmutallab after the failed bomb plot
At the time, President Obama publicly blamed al-Awlaki for the terrorism plot.
For their role in the Abdulmutallab investigation, Peissig and Connelly were recently given the Attorney General's award, the highest honour an FBI agent can get, according to WXYZ-TV.United States Attorney Loretta E. Lynch speaks during an announcement of the arrest of Abraxas J. ("A.J.") Discala, CEO of OmniView Capital, and six co-conspirators for fraudulent market manipulation at the U.S. Attorney's office in Brooklyn, New York July 17, 2014. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson
By Aruna Viswanatha and Julia Edwards
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Loretta Lynch, the head federal prosecutor in Brooklyn, is emerging as a leading candidate to replace U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, according to people familiar with the matter, after another top contender withdrew her name from the running last week.
Lynch, Solicitor General Donald Verrilli, and Labor Secretary Thomas Perez are among those being considered, said the people, who declined to be named about the private deliberations.
Lynch, 55, has stirred little controversy during two tenures as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York and supporters say she could be easily confirmed. She would also be the first black woman to lead the U.S. Department of Justice, which could help counter complaints that the Obama administration is dominated by men.
The White House declined to comment on the search to replace Holder, who announced on Sept. 25 that he planned to step down.
"We don't have any personnel updates, and are certainly not going to speculate on any decisions before the president makes them,” White House spokesman Eric Schultz said.
Holder, the first black U.S. Attorney General who came into office in 2009, has said he will stay in the post until the Senate confirms a successor.
A spokeswoman for Lynch, Zugiel Soto, also declined comment.
The administration of President Barack Obama has considered multiple candidates and the White House is not expected to announce a nominee until after the midterm elections next week, so a dark horse candidate could still emerge.
Former White House counsel Kathryn Ruemmler pulled out of consideration for the job amid concerns that her involvement in controversial White House decisions could make it difficult to get her confirmed by the Senate.
Solicitor General Verrilli and Labor Secretary Perez both have an advantage of having had a working relationship with Obama. Lynch does not but she is one of several candidates Holder has encouraged the White House to look at, two sources said. Vetting inquiries into Lynch have been underway, sources said.
Lynch has developed a close relationship with Holder from the New York City borough of Brooklyn while keeping a much lower profile than her counterpart across the East River, Preet Bharara, the U.S. Attorney for Manhattan who built his name on a string of big insider-trading cases and prosecutions of politicians for corruption.
Lynch's office did indict Republican Congressman Michael Grimm in April for fraud, and has worked with Justice Department headquarters on several big cases. Her office helped investigate Citigroup Inc over shoddy mortgage securities the bank sold, which led the bank to enter into a $7 billion settlement in July. Her office was also involved in the December 2012 $1.2 billion accord with HSBC over the bank's lapses in its anti-money laundering controls.
Lynch, who grew up in North Carolina and attended Harvard University for college and law school, has chaired the attorney general's advisory committee since the beginning of 2013.
She served previously at the Justice Department, starting as a drug and violent crime prosecutor at the U.S. Attorney's office in 1990. She also previously headed the office in Brooklyn between 1999 and 2001, when she left for private practice at the law firm Hogan & Hartson (now Hogan Lovells) and then served as a board member of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Holder had a rocky tenure as the nation's chief law enforcement officer. He has been one of Obama's closest allies and frequently battled with Republicans over gun control, same-sex marriage, and a desire to try terrorism suspects in civilian instead of military courts.
The next attorney general will likely serve a two-year term and would take over counter-terror initiatives aimed at Islamic State militants and challenges balancing privacy rights against government surveillance efforts. Holder's successor will also have to decide how far to continue pushing his priorities, including civil rights and fewer prosecutions of nonviolent drug offenders.
(Additional reporting by Jeff Mason; Editing by Karey Van Hall and Grant McCool)As digging deeper and deeper into the huge Hacking Team data dump, security researchers are finding more and more source code, including an advanced Android Hacking Tool.
Yes, this time researchers have found a source code to a new piece of weaponized android malware that had the capability to infect millions of Android devices even when users are running latest versions of the android mobile operating system.
RCSAndroid (Remote Control System Android), which they says, is one of the "most professionally developed and sophisticated" pieces of Android malware a.k.a Android hacking tool they have ever seen. Trend Micro researchers found that the Italian spyware company was selling, which they says, is one of thepieces of Android malware a.k.a Android hacking tool they have ever seen.
RCSAndroid is a sophisticated, real-world surveillance and hacking tool that provides even unskilled hackers to deploy one of the world's more advanced surveillance suites for Google's mobile operating system Android.
List of Creepy Features of Android Hacking Tool
Once installed on targets' devices, RCSAndroid would have helped government and law enforcement agencies around the world to completely compromise and monitor Android devices remotely.
Here are some of the features of RCSAndroid include the ability to:
Capture screenshots using the'screencap' command and framebuffer direct reading
Collect passwords for Wi-Fi networks and online accounts, including WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, Google, Skype, and LinkedIn
Collect SMS, MMS, and Gmail messages
Capture real-time voice calls in any network or application by hooking into the'mediaserver' system service
Capture photos using the front and back cameras
Monitor clipboard content
Record using the microphone
Record location
Gather device information
Collect contacts and decode messages from IM accounts, including WhatsApp, Telegram, Facebook Messenger, Skype, WeChat, Viber, Line, Hangouts, and BlackBerry Messenger.
RCSAndroid Android hacking tool had been in the wild since 2012 and has been known to Citizen Lab researchers since last year when the security firm detailed a Hacking Team backdoor used against Android users in Saudi Arabia.
How RCSAndroid hacking tool infects a Target?
RCSAndroid uses two different methods to infect targeted Android devices.
1. used text and email messages containing specially crafted URLs that triggered exploits for several vulnerabilities (CVE-2012-2825 and CVE-2012-2871) present in the default browsers of Android 4.0 Ice Cream to 4.3 Jelly Bean, allowing the attacker to gain root privileges, and install the RCSAndroid APK. Hacking Team used text and email messages containing specially crafted URLs that triggered exploits for several vulnerabilities (CVE-2012-2825 and CVE-2012-2871) present in the default browsers of Android 4.0 Ice Cream to 4.3 Jelly Bean, allowing the attacker to gain root privileges, and install the RCSAndroid APK.
2. The company used backdoor apps such as "BeNews" available on the official Google Play Store to take advantage of a local privilege escalation bug to root the device and install the RCSAndroid agent.
RCSAndroid has 4 'critical components':
Penetration solutions – Methods to get into the device, either via SMS or email or a legitimate app
– Methods to get into the device, either via SMS or email or a legitimate app Low-level native code – Advanced exploits and spy tools beyond Android's security framework
– Advanced exploits and spy tools beyond Android's security framework High-level Java agent – The application's malicious APK
– The application's malicious APK Command-and-control (C&C) servers – Servers used to remotely send or receive malicious commands
Given that the source code of RCSAndroid is now available to everybody, it will likely put Android users in danger. So, if you own a smartphone running any Android version from 4.0 Ice Cream to 4.3 Jelly Bean, you need to 'Get Rid of it Today.'
"The leaked RCSAndroid code is a commercial weapon now in the wild," security researchers wrote in a blog post. "Mobile users are called on to be on top of this news and be on guard for signs of monitoring. Some indicators may come in the form of peculiar behavior such as unexpected rebooting, finding unfamiliar apps installed, or instant messaging apps suddenly freezing."Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Footage has emerged of security forces ending an anti-government protest in Damascus, as the BBC's Jim Muir reports
Reports from Syria say columns of tanks have moved towards the central city of Hama, which has been the scene of anti-government protests in recent weeks.
There have also been arrests in the nearby city of Homs, and in the coastal town of Baniyas, where a crackdown by troops is continuing, activists say.
Earlier, the UN said it was concerned it had been unable to get humanitarian aid to the embattled city of Deraa.
Deraa has been cut off for two weeks. Dozens are said to have been killed.
Meanwhile, the European Union has announced an embargo on exports to Syria of arms and equipment that could be used for internal repression.
The bloc also imposed a visa ban and asset freeze on 13 officials and associates of the Syrian regime identified as being "responsible for the violent repression against the civilian population".
"The aim of these measures is to achieve a change of policy by the Syrian leadership without further delay," said EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton in a statement.
President Bashar al-Assad is not on the sanctions list, but it does include his brother Maher, who heads the Republican Guard and is believed to be overseeing the crackdown, and their influential cousin Rami Makhlouf, who is one of Syria's richest men and has been accused of bankrolling the regime.
An adviser to President Assad has said she believes the government has gained the upper hand over the protesters.
"I hope we are witnessing the end of the story," Bouthaina Shaaban told the New York Times. "I think now we've passed the most dangerous moment. I hope so, I think so."
'Stop the gunfire'
The government says it is combating an armed insurrection by "armed terrorists" and has deployed troops and tanks to protect civilians.
On Monday, the army moved into the western Damascus suburb of Muadhamiya. A human rights activist told the BBC that at least three people were killed and many others wounded in clashes. About 200 were arrested, he added.
Security forces are continuing their efforts to crush dissent in Homs, Syria's third city. Hundreds were arrested as troops divided up the city to prevent any mass protests, activists said. Electricity and telephone lines were also cut.
Gun and tank-fire were heard but the number of casualties was unknown.
On Tuesday, a resident of central Homs told the BBC that there were no longer any armed security personnel on the streets, but that people were still being arrested.
Activists also said that more than 250 people had been arrested in Baniyas, including a 10-year-old boy. Water, electricity and telephone lines were cut, and tanks were deployed on roads leading to the town, they added.
Foreign journalists have not been allowed to enter Syria, so reports from the country are difficult to verify independently.
In central Damascus, a small group of about 100 youths sang protest songs on Monday evening in Arnous Square as shoppers bustled around them.
Image caption Video footage purportedly of tanks on the move near Homs has been published on the internet
They called on the army to "stop the gunfire", end the sieges of flashpoint cities such as Deraa, and said national dialogue was the solution.
But plainclothes security men moved in and broke up the gathering, bundling the protesters roughly into vans and driven off, amateur video footage showed.
Later, unverified footage was published on the internet showing columns of tanks moving towards Hama, to the north.
The BBC's Jim Muir in Beirut says Hama was virtually wiped out in 1982, with tens of thousands killed after an uprising by the Muslim Brotherhood.
There have been protests in the city in recent weeks and now there are fears that it may be subjected to the kind of crackdown already being felt in Homs, Baniyas and Deraa, our correspondent says.
UN mission 'postponed'
Meanwhile, the UN said it was increasingly concerned about the situation in the southern city of Deraa, which has been cut off since troops and tanks were deployed there two weeks ago.
Image caption Syria's government says it is combating an armed insurrection by "armed terrorists"
A humanitarian mission was to go there on Sunday following a request by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, but access was refused.
"We were expecting to go in with a mission to Deraa yesterday. That was postponed by the government," the UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, Valerie Amos, said.
She said no reason had been given, but added that she had been assured relief teams would be allowed to "go in later this week".
The UN Relief and Works Agency (Unwra), which looks after the 30,000 Palestinian refugees in the Deraa area, has also not been able to get emergency medical supplies through to them.
The agency said it was particularly concerned for 120 patients there who depend on it for supplies of insulin.
"It's a matter of life and death, and that is why we call for immediate humanitarian access and are working with the relevant Syrian authorities to send a team to the area," spokesman Chris Gunness told the BBC.
Officials said last week that troops were being pulled out of Deraa, where dozens of people have been reported killed and many hundreds arrested.
On Tuesday, an activist told the Associated Press that tanks had entered several nearby villages shortly after midnight. He heard heavy shooting, but it was not clear if there were any casualties.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says 621 civilians and 120 security personnel have been killed since demonstrations pro-democracy protests began in March. Another Syrian rights group, Sawasiah, says more than 800 civilians have been killed.
Officials dispute the civilian toll and say about 100 soldiers have died.
The unrest poses the most serious challenge to President Assad since he succeeded his father, Hafez, in 2000.BHUBANESWAR: Aam Admi Party candidate Narendra Mohanty from Kandhamal Lok Sabha seat has the highest number of 28 criminal cases pending against him among the 98 candidates in the fray for 10 Lok Sabha seats going to polls on April 10 in Odisha.Mohanty in his affidavit declared 28 cases against him, but he has not been convicted in any of them so far. Of the 28 cases, three are murder, one is attempt to murder and one is dacoity with murder, Ranjan Kumar Mohanty, state coordinator of Odisha Election Watch said today.Lambodar Kanhar, an Independent candidate from Kandhamal constituency, is ranked second with seven serious cases against him followed by BJP nominee Sangeeta Kumari Singh Deo, wife of state BJP president Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo, from Bolangir with three cases against her, incldung an attempt to murder.Stating that 19 of the 98 candidates had criminal cases pending against them, he said 13 had serious criminal cases like murder, attempt to murder, dacoity and criminal intimidation pending against them.The candidates with cases related to crime against women were Lambodar Kanhar, Sukanta Kumar Panigrahi of BJP from Kandhamal, who had a case pending against him for assault and use of criminal force against a woman with the intent to outrage her modesty, and Ashok Bisi of CPI from Bargarh who had a case of cruelty towards wife.A party-wise analysis revealed that 4 out of 10 candidates fielded by BJP, one of 10 candidates from INC, two of 10 of BJD, three of 8 AAP candidates, one of 10 BSP candidates, one candidate of CPI (M) and two of 17 of Independents had criminal cases against them.Taking red alert constituencies into account, two of them -- Kalahandi and Kandhamal -- had at least three candidates each with criminal cases against them.Kristen and Cody tied the knot at The Crossings at Carlsbad on a sunny Saturday afternoon.
The bride looked stunning in her off-white gown with organza layers and a black sash embellished with rhinestone and finished with a large bow in the back. Her shoes with rhinestone-covered heels were to die for!
The color palette was sun yellow, black and white and the bouquets were made with seasonal varieties, accented with monkey tails and wildflowers. The ceremony area was also decorated in bright yellow and white.
The escort cards were photo strip holders with a card that indicated guest name and table name. Once at the reception, guests were invited to the photo booth by ePod Photo Booth and they replaced the card with a fun photo strip.
The dinner tables were named after places that the couple visited together during their relationship. Kristen made the signs with black and white paper, and the font was in black-yellow ink. So cute!
Cody’s best man wished them a wonderful life together and a big family, and his gift was a basket filled with “baby things”!
The cake (by VG Bakery) was a work of art with black ornamental scrolls; each tier was decorated with yellow roses.
Entertainment and uplighting was provided by Matt Phipps with Choice Entertainment.
Congratulations to Kristen and Cody, I was so honored to be part of their special day!
Thank you to Gary & Courtney Photography for the fantastic images! You can See Kristen & Cody’s engagement session on their blog.
AdvertisementsWas it safety concerns? Health concerns? Or something else that shutdown a well-known Cedar Rapids restaurant?
A sign for Jerseys Downtown in Cedar Rapids on Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2017. (Dave Franzman/KCRG-TV9)
Court documents are shedding some new light on what was going on at Jerseys Downtown before it abruptly closed in February.
Back then, an owner told TV9 he was worried about the safety of his employees, citing tension between those at neighboring Harold’s Chicken— a Jerseys’ subletter.
Harold’s owner fired back saying Jerseys closed because of repeated health code violations. He said Jerseys was bringing prepared food from the shared kitchen through a basement to serve customers.
A health inspector told TV9 if the issue was fixed-- Jerseys wouldn’t have had a significant health violation requiring them to close.
So, which was it?
Jerseys’ downtown location faces eviction at 9:00 a.m., March 30th. Court documents for the order suggest finances could have played a role in the shuttering.
In them, the landlord, Sherman Associates, claims Jerseys hasn't been paying its bills. The restaurant apparently owes nearly $70,000 in unpaid rent, late fees and interest. On top of that-- attorneys for the landlord cite three other reasons they've terminated the Jerseys Downtown lease.
-Following the business's closure, it failed to stay open during agreed hours.
-The restaurant didn't get written permission from the landlord to sublet to Harold's Chicken.
-Jerseys didn't maintain a crime-free environment.
The documents say "law enforcement has repeatedly been called due to criminal activity on the property" to the point the city has deemed it to be a nuisance.
City officials told TV9 last month they cited both Jerseys and Harold's as public nuisance properties. Police said employees at both called in so many complaints against each other it cost the city about 150 man hours to investigate.
Landlords allege breaking the lease-- which lasted until 2022-- means they can recover the value of the lost rent. Jerseys could owe more than $450,000, if a court agrees.
Legal experts tell TV9 it's unlikely Jerseys will actually pay that amount of money. A judge or negotiation will probably cut things down.
Requests to both parties for comment weren’t immediately returned.With the battle lines of the 2012 Presidential race beginning to form–from Bain Capital to the War on Women–President Obama took time last week to give the commencement address at Barnard College, the private women’s liberal arts college whose brother-school, Columbia, is Obama’s alma mater.
The speech was delivered well: the President worked the crowd, hit his punchlines, and delivered his sobering anecdotes. While battered from a turmoil-ridden first term in office, Obama nevertheless displayed a familiar, yet highly concerning, charisma for the onset of his re-election efforts.
He began by reminding the recent graduates that he too faced a hard economy leaving college. As a member of the class of 1983, the President told students he shared “a lot in common with all of you.”
However, the attempt here to present a relatable, shared struggle stumbled upon the reality of two very different recessions. Barack Obama entered an economy shaped by the Reagan recovery. In 1983 the nation was adding roughly 400,000 jobs per month, GDP was growing around seven-percent, and the unemployment rate was steadily declining.
As a careful omission, the President chose not to tell the young women of Barnard they were not as fortunate: The labor market is relatively stagnant. Fewer jobs are being added despite tremendous population growth. And the economy is much more difficult for Americans under twenty-five.
Mr. Obama suggested that perhaps our problem is simply one of perception. He blamed the news media. As he reminded students, “good news doesn’t get the same kind of ratings as bad news anymore.” We shouldn’t worry because there’s a tremendous amount of good news happening–it just cannot be seen and is not being reported, according to the president.
This sort of finger pointing is not uncharacteristic for Obama, who always seems ready to construct a culprit other than himself, be it a Republican Congress, the Supreme Court, Wall Street, Super-PACs, and even now, with an equal amount of irony and desperation, the mainstream media.
Beyond the finger pointing in the President’s address, two larger themes stood out that could be defining elements of his re-election narrative: perseverance and progress.
As his last piece of advice, Obama implored the graduates to “persevere.” Despite the numerous hardships down the road, determination is almost a sufficient quality in itself for success. Speaking to a generation now unemployed and burdened with a multi-trillion dollar generational debt–largely due to the man they put in office–the message of hope is hard to sell.
Instead, the President focused on perseverance–a shared struggle that our generation will endure side by side a President who is “right there with you.” And to his credit, there is a degree of brilliance to this strategy. Cloaked in empathetic anecdotes and an admirable personal story, the President has redefined his failings as virtuous opportunities. His economy is our defining struggle–yet, miraculously, he is the shepherd, not the villain.
With the economy in tatters, Obama’s message has gone from Hope and Change to Grin and Bear It in the course of four short years.
Additionally, in his speech the President disclosed a very revealing premise: “The question is not whether things get better… they always do,” he said. Progress–loosely defined as the addition of laws, rights, entitlements and the like–is inevitable. Call it moving forward or evolving or some other formulation, but change, almost by itself, is some sort of social good.
And here, the President touched on the core–the intellectual, social and political culmination–of the 2012 race: What is our metric for progress? In Obama’s address, he painted an America striving for greater equality, social justice, populated by individuals that could materially flourish once the government provided “fair” opportunity.
But contrast this with Mitt Romney’s commencement address at Liberty University, given only a few days earlier. Romney played down worldly ambitions. He urged students not to rush forward, but to look back–to search for guidance in the ancestral, fundamental, unchanging, grounded truths of the West’s religious tradition. In Governor Romney’s address, he painted an America that places its trust and hope in “God, not man.”
The coming election need not be about religion in the public square, or which candidate can more aptly quote bible verses. But, in addition to the economy or whatever hot-button issues drive the news cycle, it will be about our nation’s sense of purpose. How should we measure our society? Will America be a nation defined by liberty and opportunity, or by heavy-handed, debt-saddled, government-engineered “progress”?
These questions will have very real repercussions come November. And within that setting, the President’s Barnard address revealed at a profound difference between his vision for America and that of his Republican rival.
Fix Contributor Harry Graver is a student at Yale University.
Click here to Like The College Fix on Facebook.Children Learn What They Live
By Dorothy Law Nolte, Ph.D.
If children live with criticism, they learn to condemn.
If children live with hostility, they learn to fight.
If children live with fear, they learn to be apprehensive.
If children live with pity, they learn to feel sorry for themselves.
If children live with ridicule, they learn to feel shy.
If children live with jealousy, they learn to feel envy.
If children live with shame, they learn to feel guilty.
If children live with encouragement, they learn confidence.
If children live with tolerance, they learn patience.
If children live with praise, they learn appreciation.
If children live with acceptance, they learn to love.
If children live with approval, they learn to like themselves.
If children live with recognition, they learn it is good to have a goal.
If children live with sharing, they learn generosity.
If children live with honesty, they learn truthfulness.
If children live with fairness, they learn justice.
If children live with kindness and consideration, they learn respect.
If children live with security, they learn to have faith in |
giant’s disastrous 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
BP (BP) is still facing compensation claims filed by tens of thousands of area businesses claiming that they suffered losses as a result of the oil spill.
BP’s recent massive settlement resolved all federal and state claims that came out of the Deepwater Horizon accident and included agreements with five Gulf Coast states — Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas — as well as more than 400 local governments. BP’s settlement also includes a $5.5 billion civil penalty to be paid over the next 15 years under the Clean Water Act. The company said in early July that the settlement brings the total amount BP has paid as a result of the 2010 oil spill to $53.8 billion.
But, the company is likely still on the hook for more money, with businesses lining up for compensation. According to the Financial Times, businesses filed more than 115,000 claims with the Deepwater Horizon Claims Center ahead of an early-June deadline for compensation claims. Thousands of those claims were either settled or thrown out, but FT reports that more than 60,000 claims have yet to be fully processed.
BP put aside more than $10.3 billion to cover the various compensation claims but, according to FT, the company may end up paying at least $2 billion more than that amount.
UPDATE: A BP spokesperson declined to comment on the remaining compensation claims.If you want to save money at Florida's universities, you may soon have to choose biology over ballet or engineering over English.
A state task force created by Gov. Rick Scott has released its preliminary recommendations on how to revamp higher education. The proposals end the one-size-fits-all way of funding universities.
Highly distinguished universities, such as the University of Florida and Florida State University, could charge more than others. Tuition would be lower for students pursuing degrees most needed for Florida's job market, including ones in science, technology, engineering and math, collectively known as the STEM fields.
The committee is recommending no tuition increases for them in the next three years.
But to pay for that, students in fields such as psychology, political science, anthropology, and performing arts could pay more because they have fewer job prospects in the state.
"The purpose would not be to exterminate programs or keep students from pursuing them. There will always be a need for them," said Dale Brill, who chairs the task force. "But you better really want to do it, because you may have to pay more."
Joanna Mandel, a theater student at Florida Atlantic University, said it would straddle students with debt they might not be able to repay.
"Theater majors or English majors are not guaranteed to make a lot of money," said the 22-year-old from Pembroke Pines. "Doctors and scientists, they make a lot of money. If anything, they should be paying more."
Some universities do charge more for STEM degrees, because they are typically more expensive to run. But Brill said that goes against the general market principles of supply and demand.
Traditionally, the state paid for 75 percent of the cost of educating students in Florida's public colleges and universities. But that has dropped to less than 50 percent in recent years, as the poor economy resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in budget cuts.
In 2009, when Florida had among the cheapest tuition in the nation, the Legislature authorized universities to request 15 percent tuition increases every year until Florida reached the national average.
Now 10 states have lower tuition and fees than Florida, which charges an average of $6,232, according to a College Board report released Wednesday.
But the task force report recommends the state no longer strive to reach the national average nor set a specific cap for annual increases. Each university would make tuition requests based on their individual needs, accomplishments and market demands.
The Board of Governors, which oversees the State University System, would have to approve.
The draft report makes no mention of how the proposals would affect the popular Bright Futures scholarship, or Florida Prepaid, which bases its prices on predictable tuition formulas. But they will likely be mentioned when the final report comes out in the next couple of weeks, Brill said.
stravis@tribune.com or 561-243-6637 of 954-425-1421 or Twitter smtravis ___
(c)2012 the Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.)
Visit the Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) at www.sun-sentinel.com
Distributed by MCT Information ServicesTesla already has a partnership with Airbnb to install ‘Destination chargers’ at the homes of Airbnb hosts, but if the merger with SolarCity goes through on November 17, the partnership will soon extend to also installing solar arrays through a new partnership between the home-sharing company and SolarCity.
SolarCity and Airbnb executives made the announcement in a conference call with journalists today.
Not unlike the partnership with Tesla that gives free Tesla Wall Connectors to Airbnb hosts, SolarCity will offer a cash-back rebate of up to $1,000 to any Airbnb host or guest going solar in regions where SolarCity provides its services.
Additionally, current SolarCity customers who decide to become Airbnb hosts will receive a $100 Airbnb travel credit.
Chris Lehane, Airbnb’s Head of Global Public Policy & Communications, described the deal as a natural evolution of their hospitality offering since they already estimate that it significantly more environmentally friendly than average hotel travel options.
They released some data about the impact they think their customers had by using their service over hotels:
Water consumption by 4.2 billion liters, the equivalent of 1,700 Olympic size swimming pools
Greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to keeping 560,000 cars off the road for a year
Waste generated by 37,000 metric tons
Energy consumption equivalent to the amount used by 280,000 homes in one year
They hope that by promoting solar installations at their host’s homes, they will be able to accelerate this impact. Lehane noted that they have data showing that the Airbnb community has an important interest in solar energy.
On SolarCity’s side, Toby Corey, President of Global Sales and Customer Experience at SolarCity, expects that the partnership will help them reach young millennial home owners who represent a significant demographic for Airbnb.
The $1,000 discount is applicable on a SolarLease, SolarPPA, or Purchase Agreement through 3/31/2017, and the discount goes down to $750 through 12/31/2017. Airbnb hosts can apply here to get the discount.
Corey added that they plan to renew the incentive if the program is successful.STEUBENVILLE, Ohio -- For two years, Ma'Lik Richmond's name has been been discussed and debated in association with a rape that drew worldwide attention to this blue collar, Ohio River town. Thursday evening in front of about 4,000 football fans, Richmond heard his name announced over a loud speaker, and then something he had not heard in a long time: cheers.
Those waiting to see what kind of impact Richmond might have on the Steubenville High School football team -- and what the reaction might be -- didn't have long to wait in Harding Stadium. Richmond caught a 44-yard pass on the game's first play from scrimmage, out-leaping two defenders and making a fine reception in front of the home stands, which approved with a loud roar.
As if to drive home the point that Richmond is a valued member of the Big Red, his name was called again on the next play. He took a short pass from quarterback Mandela Lawrence-Burke and the 6-4, 235-pound Richmond bulled his way 18 yards to the 13, setting up the game's first touchdown.
Richmond, a senior who started at linebacker and wide receiver, had a significant impact in the season opener against Cleveland John F. Kennedy. Richmond caught a 35-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter that gave the Big Red a 37-12 lead.
Steubenville won, 49-12. Richmond finished with four catches for 95 yards.
His return to the team he played for until being arrested for rape before the 2012 season was widely debated in Steubenville and on the Internet. Fans inside the stadium Thursday appeared in a forgiving mode in interviews before and during the game. Outside the stadium before kickoff, there were no protests or signs of dissatisfaction with head coach Reno Saccoccia's decision to bring Richmond back to the team.
"It's not like I just pulled a decision out of my hat,'' Saccoccia said after the game. "A lot of sleepless nights went into the decision. I'm going to live with it until I die because I think it's the right thing to do.''
Richmond and former football teammate Trent Mays were found delinquent in juvenile court of rape in March 2013. They were charged with sexually assaulting a West Virginia girl who had passed out after a night of drinking.
Richmond, now 18, was sentenced to a minimum of a year in a youth facility. He was released in January and returned to school. Mays was sentenced to at least two years and remains in detention. Both also were classified as Tier II sex offenders and must register with a local county sheriff every six months until 2033.
In a stadium where the field is named after Saccoccia, defenders of his decision to reinstate Richmond were not in short supply. Many said they felt the coach and the town were unfairly besmirched by the case.
"I'm not saying it was an easy call one way or the other,'' said Jeff Bruzzese, a Steubenville grad. "What you'll find, especially after we have all been attacked, is everybody here will probably support the decision now. We are a tighter community than we ever were.''
Several people at the game who did not have direct ties to Steubenville expressed similar sentiments.
"Because I have children and grandchildren, I would want him (Richmond) to have a second chance because God gives all his children second chances,'' said Carla Davis of Wellsburg, W.Va.
Keith Bloom, a veteran football official at the game as a fan, said he did not have a problem with Richmond playing.
"The kid made a mistake. You can't throw him away,'' said Bloom, of Weirton, W.Va. "He's come back to school and did everything he was supposed to do, and he did everything the judge wanted him to do. That should be the end of the story. If we don't give this kid a chance to turn his life around, where are we headed as a society?''
Tom Thompson of nearby Toronto, Ohio, said Richmond deserved one more chance.
"But if he screws up again, he's gone,'' Thompson said.
JFK coach Christopher Hubbard, who has family in the Steubenville area, declined comment on Richmond.
Cleveland schools athletic director Leonard Jackson attended the game and said he met with Richmond before kickoff.
"I told him, 'Keep your head up. We all fall down, and the key is to get back up and learn from your mistakes and keep on moving,' " Jackson said.
Jackson said he recognized the difficulty of the decision to allow Richmond to play. He said Cleveland schools received some pressure not to play the game in protest.
"We are honoring our contract (to play the game),'' Jackson said. "Reno made that decision and the board of education supported it, and they have to live with that, not us. I would think a different way if it was me as head coach, because I would think about the victim. You have to think about the victim. You have to think about what goes on in her life.''
Steubenville plays nine home games this season, and one road game in Massillon in September. Steubenville is expected to be a strong playoff contender with the bulk of last year's state semifinal team returning. Saccoccia said he does not expect the spotlight on the rape case to dim.
"I don't look for it to go away. This will be here for the year, and we expect that, and we just have to live with it and be mentally tough,'' he said.
The victim's attorney, Bob Fitzsimmons, recently told the Wheeling Intelligencer that she graduated high school with honors and is preparing for college.
"Hopefully, this won't affect her going forward any more than it already has," he told the newspaper. "She's a wonderful kid and her family is just one of the closest families that I've ever been associated with."
With regard to Richmond and Mays, Fitzsimmons added, "Juvenile laws are designed to try to rehabilitate people. In fact, all of our criminal sentencing laws are designed with an earmark, in addition to punishment, for rehabilitation. But, with juveniles, the emphasis is a little bit more on the rehabilitation.''Welcome to The Arreat Summit, a strategy guide for Diablo II: Lord of Destruction. Looking for Rune Words?
Read our Introduction to Runewords and check out 1.10 Rune Words
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Jan 29th, 2019 Site Updates - Nebu
Hello again in 2019! I'm still here. Files (updated links)
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To help ease your navigation through this site, there are several ways you can move between sections. On the left is the main menu with links to each of the main sections found in this guide. Once you enter a main section, you will find a submenu on top for the main subpages for that section (many of these links will also be found on the index page of the section). If you wish to read through the guide in the order that it was intended, use the arrows at the bottom right of the guide to go from page to page. At the bottom left is the Exit button so that you can exit out of the guide at any time. To help ease your navigation through this site, there are several ways you can move between sections. On the left is the main menu with links to each of the main sections found in this guide. Once you enter a main section, you will find a submenu on top for the main subpages for that section (many of these links will also be found on the index page of the section). If you wish to read through the guide in the order that it was intended, use the arrows at the bottom right of the guide to go from page to page. At the bottom left is the Exit button so that you can exit out of the guide at any time. [ Credits ]
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©2019 Blizzard Entertainment. All rights reserved.ORANGEBURG, South Carolina — As night fell, and as the Sanders campaign headed to Columbia, campaign surrogates remained quietly optimistic about their candidate’s chances heading into a tough primary here Saturday. But a question accompanies wistful contemplations about what could have been: What if Bernie got here sooner?
It's a question bandied about by a few loyalists and high-profile surrogates supporting him here, and a natural one. Sanders, a virtual unknown in South Carolina just months ago, climbed to respectability. Clinton people aren't exactly worried, but he's made it a contest that, at the very least, can likely be spun into a narrative about growth and gaining ground. Campaign officials, already test driving such statements privately, will try to create more momentum with them into Super Tuesday.
Bernie Sanders and his team left a rally at Claflin University here and crashed Solicitor David Pascoe's Annual Oyster Roast and Fish Fry at the Orangeburg County Fairgrounds. As his campaign was arriving, Hillary Clinton’s left.
Sanders’s appearance was mostly unexpected; campaign officials only told reporters he was confirmed while still at Claflin, a sparsely attended rally attended by about 300 supporters, including Aria Dillard, Miss Claflin University (officially: undecided) who was in full regalia. At the roast, after a rousing address by surrogate Killer Mike, the candidate grabbed the mic: “I'm Bernie Sanders.” He flashed his wide, toothy grin, as if to know, fully, where he was: In a state where few know him and where he will be happy to walk away with a loss in the single digits.
And yet it was a jarring self-introduction for a candidate who has consistently drawn crowds in the thousands at his rallies, whose slogans on the campaign trail are recited back to him and who has become a singular pop culture phenomenon after living in relative obscurity as an independent senator from the one of the least populated states in the country.
Two surrogates with Sanders said they think Sanders would have benefitted by coming to South Carolina earlier and more often.
“The important thing to keep in mind is that Bernie doesn't have to win South Carolina to become president and Hillary Clinton does,” said state Rep. Justin Bamberg, who once supported Clinton. “He started at 6% and he's grown substantially here. I wish he had more time because the gap would have been closed even more.”
“Unfortunately, there are 50 states and every one of them is important.”
BuzzFeed News was first to report that State Sen. Joe Neal had endorsed Sanders at the beginning of February. Even then, Neal was lamenting that time was not on his guy’s side. “I hope he will close the gap and I'll be trying to help him do that as much as I can. It's late in the game and I recognize that,” Neal said. “I wish he'd been here earlier.”
Dr. Mitchell Mackinem of Columbia who is a professor of sociology at Claflin who attended the rally, said he agreed that while Sanders has a majority of support among students on campus, coming to campus earlier would have started a more intense conversation amongst the student body. (Sanders did make it to other HBCUs in South Carolina.) “They haven't seen him until now,” Mackinem said. “It's good the conversation is happening now, but it could have started 6 to 8 weeks ago.”
“That's a challenge because he's only one man,” he said.
On the rope line at Claflin, all kinds of supporters took selfies with Bernie’s wife Jane. “Wish him well! Wish him God’s speed!” one voter, jacket full of Bernie buttons told her. When Jane saw a young voter, she lit up and talked with her before posing for a picture.
“You can only go as fast as you can go,” she told BuzzFeed News, echoing a similar sentiment on the question of whether they should have invested more time in South Carolina that was also delivered by her husband when asked the question himself by BuzzFeed News on a campaign call with Ben Jealous.
Jane Sanders said that while Clinton is the best-known candidate, she'll be watching to see how far he's come here, where he started in the single digits. “We’ll see if that's correct,” she said. “I wish there were 48 hours in the day. That would be fantastic.”
Danny Glover, the campaign’s HBCU coordinator who presided over the festivities at Claflin, said 500 people went to a Sanders rally at South Carolina State, even though the candidate wasn't there. But some voters at the oyster roast said, in fact, seeing him in person had solidified their vote. For others, it made them give Sanders a second look.
One undecided voter, Gracie Franklin, 63, of Orangeburg, said she would as Sanders wrapped up his speech. “It's hard to say,” she said, trying to pinpoint what Sanders had aroused in her. “He's an older person to me. You wonder if he can do the job for four years, as opposed to his opponent.”
Still, she has seen him on TV, and the impromptu appearance at the oyster roast raised questions. “I don't think there's going to be no $15 minimum wage. I don't think that gonna happen. It's been a long time since we had a raise.” His surrogates on stage with him, mostly black, had no effect on her (“Everyone has a choice,” she said.) But something about the occasion — about the spectacle of it — made her say she's going to take time at home Friday night to think harder about her vote. “I guess you could say anything could happen,” when she steps in the booth tomorrow, Franklin said.
A little 10-year-old black kid named Chris was waving two American flags outside of the venue. He had felt the Bern.
“I like what he was saying about black people and about equal rights,” he said. He'd seen Clinton, too, but was less impressed: He put a flag in his mouth and wiggled his hand as if to say “so-so.”
Mario Backmon, a veteran from Orangeburg who said he will be voting for Sanders on Saturday, said he had heard Killer Mike was campaigning with Sanders, but was struck by seeing the pair in person for the first time. He was also impressed by how much time Sanders spent with the crowd shaking hands and taking pictures.
“She said some keywords that got my attention, but Bernie didn't sound scripted,” he said, alluding to Clinton. “But Bernie just felt genuine, you know? To be able to feel it? That was amazing! To be able to feel the Bern in person?”Quantum Break is an upcoming Xbox One exclusive from Remedy Entertainment. It is a unique third person shooter with time altering mechanics and a live action show is also tied to the game’s story. Quantum Break developer Remedy Entertainment recently gave a presentation on the multi-scale global illumination that they have developed for Quantum Break at SIGGRAPH 2015.
Remedy Entertainment began the presentation by giving an insight on the game and its engine. We learn that Quantum Break is being developed on a custom in-house engine which utilizes a physically based deferred renderer. Since the game’s concept revolves around time travel in present day, they wanted to have many clean, high-tech environments. This prompted them to look into adding specular reflections and volume lighting that is affected by global illumination.
As explained by Remedy Entertainment, the primary goal with this system was that they wanted consistency across the lighting.
We wanted to have the environments, dynamic objects, particles and volumetric lights all blend in together seamlessly.
Their second constraint with the system was that they wanted to support “large scale destruction events” and “dynamic time of day,” although the latter was only limited to some levels. Since the development team was small and wanted minimal artistic work, they required a fully automatic system for this process.
The solution to this all was multi-scale Global Illumination that they developed for Quantum Break. If you want to get a detailed look at the process, you can check out their technical presentation from here.
Some of their excellent work can be seen in the screenshots below.
Quantum Break is currently set for a release in April 2016 on the Xbox One.
Let us know what you think about this article in the comments below.When Darrell Hamilton Jr., decided to propose to his girlfriend, Rheanna Lopez, he wanted it to be memorable.
Well, it was, but not in the way he intended, expected or, frankly, wanted.
Last month, Hamilton took Lopez on a plane ride of the Blossom Trail, an area near Fresno, California, where fruit trees start blossoming in late February.
Hamilton, a video editor for KFSN TV, has been dating Lopez for two years and knew he wanted to marry her since last year.
“I planned it for so long,” he told Inside Edition.
But he never planned on getting motion sickness during the flight.
“The only thing was really on my mind was wanting to get it over with,” he said.
The video shows Hamilton showing Lopez the ring and “Will you marry me?”
Seconds later, he vomits on the floor.
“I just went into help mode,” Lopez said. “I didn’t know how to react. I was in shock.”
Hamilton admits his girlfriend had trouble getting her own bearings ― emotionally, that is.
“She was really surprised,” he told the New York Post. “She was caught off guard and had mixed emotions because I started throwing up. She didn’t know what to do. She was concerned about me.”
Lopez finally decided to pat him tenderly on the back while handing him a sweater to wipe his face.
Oh, and she did say yes.
Under the circumstances, their first kiss as an engaged couple wasn’t a lip-smacking smooch fest. Instead, they each kissed their fingers and touched them together.
Since the proposal was such as a challenge, it’s understandable they haven’t made wedding plans yet.
Still, Hamilton is already planning his life with Lopez.
“I have a son from a previous relationship and me and Rheanna don’t have any kids together,” Hamilton told ABC News. “So maybe starting a family with a child of our own and being a role model for the both of them, and for her.”The shape of Texas has been used to sell everything from tortilla chips to waffle makers. There's even a Texas-shaped lazy river at the Marriott Hotel in downtown Houston. But who would have thought that the shape of Texas would be used to promote treason?
Earlier this month, Facebook announced it was eliminating hundreds of "inauthentic" accounts, presumably run out of Russia. These accounts purchased some $150,000 worth of ads that, according to Facebook, purposely targeted politically divisive topics, ranging from immigration to LGBT rights.
It also appears they targeted another movement near and dear to the Lone Star State: secession.
The largest Texas secession page, the "Heart of Texas," was closed during Facebook's roll-back. For more than two years, the page called on Texans to return to independence while plugging all kinds of nativism and xenophobia. At one point last year, it had more followers than the official Texas Democratic Party and Republican Party Facebook pages combined.
While the "Heart of Texas" appealed to state pride, it was littered with all kinds of typos and Russian grammatical structures. In one of the more memorable posts, the page shared a handful of things shaped like the Lone Star State: a sink, a crowd, a pool, a house. Playing on a strong tradition of using Texas' outline to gain an audience, the caption read, "In love with Texas shape."
In another post, a picture of Bill and Hillary Clinton was featured with the caption: "No hypoclintos in the God blessed Texas."
There were calls to annex swaths of New Mexico, attacks on vegetarians and Oklahoma football fans, and claims that it's time to "form the #1 world nation!" The "Heart of Texas" page played to all kinds of Lone Star stereotypes, and all too many lapped it up.
But Russian efforts to cultivate Texas seccessionists aren't limited to social media. Since 2015, members of the Texas Nationalist Movement have made multiple trips to Russia, meeting with a Kremlin-funded group that Russian President Vladimir Putin has personally thanked for supporting Western secessionists. The "Heart of Texas" page even tried to organize secession rallies across the state last November.
And it isn't just Texas. Moscow has tried to build ties with secessionists groups from California to Puerto Rico. California secessionists even opened a so-called "embassy" in Moscow earlier this year.
This is all part of a broader geopolitical strategy of nurturing a resurgent far-right in the United States. Secessionsts, white nationalists and fundamentalists Christians have all been attracted to Moscow's reactionary promise.
Facebook is now confronting how nefarious interests use its planform, but the real moment for soul searching should be up in Austin.
Texas politicians routinely flirt with secessionist rhetoric to rally voters, but those calls have traditionally come in something of a geopolitical vacuum, or were meant as a metaphor for pushing back against federal overreach.
However, it's become clear that America's enemies would like nothing more than for the rhetoric to become reality. Texas politicos playing footsie with secessionists need to realize that they are playing directly into a foreign adversary's hands. That they are, in effect, doing Moscow's bidding.
State leaders also need to open their eyes to the fact that there's a very real, and very concerning, contingent that would be eager to implement the Kremlin's wishes in Texas.
There's always been a tension between Texas and the rest of the U.S., and between the states and the federal government. But at a certain point, the line starts to blur between political puffery and geopolitical threats.
If there are those in Texas who'd actually, honestly want to tear up the United States, or prefer Vladimir Putin over Washington, D.C., fine. Say it. Let us see you, so the rest of us can push back as much as we can - or at the very least make you move to Oklahoma.
And for Texas politicians who nod at the secession crowd, know who you're helping. Know that you're the Kremlin's finest friends, and that Russia loves nothing more than exploiting your rhetoric to weaken the United States abroad. That, unfortunately, is the real shape of things in Texas.
Michel is a graduate of Columbia University's Harriman Institute and a former Houston-based reporter.By Erwin Chemerinsky and Howard Gillman, chancellor and professor of law and political science at UC Irvine
With so much attention focused on whether controversial speakers such as Milo Yiannapoulos or Richard Spencer should be allowed to appear on campus, an even more basic issue has been obscured: universities punishing faculty who, outside of professional settings, express views that are considered controversial or even offensive.
There are many recent examples of this. A year ago, a University of Oregon law professor was suspended for wearing blackface at a Halloween party held at her house. Twenty-three law school faculty members wrote a letter urging the professor to resign. A campus investigation found that by wearing this costume at a party in her home she had engaged in “discriminatory harassment.”
A few years ago, the University of Illinois rescinded an offer to professor Steven Salaita for his anti-Israel tweets. (Ultimately, a court upheld Salaita’s First Amendment claims and the university settled his lawsuit.)
And when George Ciccariello-Maher, associate professor of politics and global studies at Drexel University, tweeted last December, “All I want for Christmas is white genocide,” there was pressure to fire him. The university resisted. After some tweets about white male entitlement following the Las Vegas mass shooting, the Daily Caller called his remarks “absolutely unforgiveable” (sic) and the conservative rage machine unleashed a barrage of hate mail and death threats. The university placed him on administrative leave, expressing concern for his safety and the safety of the Drexel community.
In responding to those who would silence or censor speakers, many people, especially on the right, argue that, at universities, all ideas should be expressible, and if someone doesn’t like particular ideas, the response should be to engage and rebut the speakers rather than harass them or shout them down. These same sentiments should apply when faculty members express controversial opinions.
Vital for the rise of modern American colleges and universities has been the development of “academic freedom” protections for faculty. When college administrators were empowered to fire faculty who held controversial opinions, American higher education was an entirely close-minded arena for indoctrination into accepted opinion, rather than a place where all ideas could be put to the test and where it was acceptable, even desirable, to challenge prevailing wisdom.
It took a long time for the idea of academic freedom to gain a foothold. For decades after the publication of Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species,” many college and university leaders prohibited the teaching of evolution. In 1900, when Stanford professor Edward Ross was judged to be unacceptably radical because of his support for unions and the “free silver” movement, university co-founder Jane Stanford forced his firing.
There were scores of examples in the early 1900s of controversial faculty being summarily fired because they expressed controversial viewpoints in public settings. In the 1950s it was still considered common wisdom that universities could fire people simply because it was discovered that they were communists. The presidents of Harvard and Yale announced that they would not hire communists on their faculties, with Yale President Charles Seymour clarifying, “There will be no witch-hunts at Yale, because there will be no witches.”
The earlier purges of faculty lead to the creation of the Association of American University Professors (AAUP) in 1915, and their “Declaration of Principles on Academic Freedom and Academic Tenure” insisted on the right of faculty to express themselves “to students and to the general public, without fear or favor” as long as they maintained “standards of professional character” when they were doing their jobs. The modern restatement notes that “a faculty member’s expression of opinion as a citizen cannot constitute grounds for dismissal unless it clearly demonstrates the faculty member’s unfitness for his or her position.”
Of course, campuses must evaluate the quality of a professor’s teaching or scholarship, which inherently involves assessing their speech. But universities must not use a professor’s statements in other settings as a basis for “excommunicating” an otherwise qualified professor.
Campus leaders who are declaring their commitment to protect controversial speakers should also make it clear that they will not take unilateral actions against faculty — or students — for the views they express as long as they act appropriately within the campus’s professional settings.
There are people on the right who decry the violent harassment of conservative speakers but encourage the harassment of left-wing faculty. There are also people on the left who believe we should censor or harass certain right-wing speakers but object when left-wing faculty become targets of vitriol or worse.
We think a consistent rule is better: On campuses, no one should be censored or punished merely because of the ideas they express, and we should all stand against threats, harassment and violence.
Cross-posted from The Washington PostReading the text of a bill that was recently signed into law by US President Barack Obama would instill fear in the hearts of ordinary Americans. Apparently, barbarians coming from distant lands are at work. They are gathering at the US-Mexico border, cutting fences and ready to wreak havoc on an otherwise serene American landscape.
Never mind that crazed, armed to the teeth, homegrown American terrorists are killing children and terrorizing whole cities. It is the Iranian menace that we are meant to fear according to the new law. When compounded with the other imagined threats of Hezbollah and Hamas, all with sinister agendas, then the time is right for Americans to return to their homes, bolt their doors and squat in shelters awaiting further instructions, for evidently, “The Iranians are coming.”
It is as comical as it is untrue. But “The Countering Iran in the Western Hemisphere Act”, which as of Dec. 28 is an official US law, is not meant to be amusing. It is riddled with half-truths, but mostly complete and utter lies.
Yes, Iran’s influence in Latin America is on the rise. However, by US standards, the expanding diplomatic ties, extending trade routes and such are considered a threat to be ‘countered’ or per Forbes magazine’s endless wisdom, ‘confronted.’
Language in politics can be very dangerous as it can misconstrue reality, turning fictitious scenarios into ‘facts’. Despite its faltering economy, the US continues to experience a sharp growth in its think tank industry – men and women whose sole purpose are to invent and push political agendas, which oftentimes belong to some foreign entity; in this case it is Israel. Ian Barman, Vice President of the American Foreign Policy Council reflected that sentiment exactly in a recent article in Forbes.
Only in the past year, “policymakers in Washington have woken up to a new (Iranian) threat to U.S. security”, he wrote, citing an alleged Iranian assassination plot in Washington. According to Barman, that was the wake-up call leading to a “deeply worrisome” reality. In a moment of supposed level-headedness, he writes: “exactly how significant this threat is represents the subject of a new study released in late November by the U.S. House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee. That report, entitled ‘A Line In The Sand’, documents the sinister synergies that have been created in recent years between Iran and Hezbollah on the one hand, and radical regional regimes and actors—from Venezuela to Mexican drug cartels—on the other.”
But according to Agency France Press, reporting on the new law on Dec. 29, “Washington has repeatedly stated it is closely monitoring Tehran’s activities in Latin America, though senior State Department and intelligence officials have indicated there is no apparent indication of illicit activities by Iran.”
Indeed, on the issue of Iran’s influence in Latin America there are two contradicting narratives. One that merely acknowledges Iranians growing diplomatic outreach in Latin America since 2005 and another that speaks of massive conspiracies involving Iran, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, drug cartels, and yes, even underground music piracy groups. The alleged conspiracy is not only far-fetched, it is purposely fabricated to further punish Iran, on behalf of Israel, for its nuclear program. The panic over Iran’s ‘infiltration’ of the US ‘neighborhood’ in Latin America, didn’t start a year ago (as alleged by Barman) but rather coincided with old Israeli-Western propaganda which pained Iran as a country ruled by religious fiends whose main hobby is to assemble bombs and threaten western civilization. When pro-Israeli think tank ‘experts’ began floating a scenario of ‘what if Iran and Hezbollah join forces with Mexico’s Los Zetas drug cartel’ a few years ago, the idea seemed too absurd to compel a rational response. Now it is actually written into the new bill turned law as if a matter of fact. (Sec. 2, Findings 12)
The bill doesn’t only lack reason, proper references and is dotted with a strange amalgam of politically-inspired accusations, it also relies on wholesale allegations of little, if any plausible foundation whatsoever: “Hezbollah and other Iranian proxies with a presence in Latin America have raised revenues through illicit activities, including drug and arms trafficking, counterfeiting, money laundering, forging travel documents, pirating software and music and providing haven and assistance to other terrorists transiting the region.” (Sec 2, Findings 8)
Of course, since the whole exercise is fueled by Israeli anxiety, Hamas also had to somehow be pulled in, if not indicted through the same inexplicable reasoning: “The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration concluded in 2008 that almost one-half of the foreign terrorist organizations in the world are linked to narcotics trade and trafficking, including Hezbollah and Hamas.” (Sec. 2, Findings 10)
US author and journalist, Belen Fernandez has been looking into this matter for years. In all of her writings on the topic she seemed to trace the very thread that unites the invented upheaval over Iran’s supposed takeover of the ‘Western Hemisphere.’ In an article entitled: “Distorting Iranian-Latin American Relations”, nearly two years ago, she wrote: “Iranian ‘penetration’ in Latin America has in recent years become a pet issue of Israeli Foreign Ministry officials and American neoconservative pundits, many of whom take offense at the perceived failure of the U.S. government to adequately appreciate the security threat posed by, for example, the inauguration of a weekly flight from Caracas to Tehran with a stop in Damascus.”
The issue for Israel and its US conduits is entirely political. Iran is indeed expanding its political and diplomatic |
time with your physics teacher, but everybody can count to three.
There were two airliners and three buildings.
Please think for yourself."
Thank you Dr Harrit and the ever increasing numbers of courageous caring people like him who everyday stand firm for Truth.
Knowing people like him are out there in the world, gives hope and strength to keep on living.
Praise to the Father and the Lord of Truth Jesus Christ for providing guiding lights.Quotes have a way of teaching us what lectures and speeches never could. I've spent some time collecting some of my favorite spectrum quotes to share with you.
In addition, the quotes give us specific advice and solutions about and living with autism.
Lynn Soraya is one of my favorite writers. You can find her blog, Asperger's Diary, right here on Psychology Today.
When living with a neurological condition (or with a loved one who has one), it can be very easy to focus on the challenges and limitations. But in my life, I have found that focusing on abilities, finding new ways to adapt, have been crucial to my successes in life. Seeking those solutions can even be seen as a form of.
Although, like anyone, I have my moments of discouragement, I've learned to use my challenges to push me forward. I believe what Dr. Sacks says is very important. There is much more to a life on the spectrum than just deficiencies and deficits, and those "deficiencies and deficits" can very well be strengths in certain circumstances.
On The Importance of NT Empathy for Aspies
Rudy Simone is another one of my favorite on the autism spectrum. Her blog, Aspergirls, can also be found here on Psychology Today.
Imagine a world where Aspergers was the norm, and non-autistics or neurotypicals were the minority. Let's try it: Those who feel the need to constantly be with a variety of friends are considered fickle. Those with no propensity for computers and science are called geeks. Those with no special interest are thought to be ungrounded and lost. Those without obsessive focus have to take classes to cultivate it.
Appreciating the Autism Spectrum
Mommy Dearest from The Quirk Factor: Resistance is Futile, shares this quote (as found on Odd One Out blog)
Autism (with a capital “A”) to me, says that I accept my child wholly. I celebrate his differences and his quirky-ness. I advocate diversity. I try to empower him. I am proud of his successes, no matter how small they seem. I hope he holds onto the compassion he has in his heart into adulthood. I do not think he needs “fixing”. I am proud that he is my son, and sometimes I am humbled by that very same thought.
Positive Aspects of the Autism Spectrum
A member at WrongPlanet shared these three great quotes:
"I see people with as a bright thread in the rich tapestry of life" - Tony Attwood. "It seems that for success in science or art, a dash of autism is essential" Hans Asperger. "Nobel prize-calibre geniuses often have certain core autistic features at their heart" Allan Snyder, director of Sydney University's Centre for the Mind.
I found this great quote at Circle of Moms blog, and they credited CafePress for this fantastic acrostic:
Always
Unique
Totally
Intelligent
Sometimes
Mysterious
On the Benefits of Diagnosis
Being diagnosed for any difference, it's not about the labelno one need know, it's about true. - Alyson Bradley (from ASPlanet.info)
On the "Differences" Between 'High' and 'Low' Functioning Autism
"The difference between high-functioning and low-functioning is that high-functioning means your deficits are ignored, and low- functioning means your assets are ignored." Laura Tisoncik (from Circle of Moms blog)
A Word of Advice to Parents and Loved Ones
This great quote comes from Ellen Notbohm, author of Ten Things Every Child with Autism Wishes You Knew:
Patience. Patience. Patience. Work to view my autism as a different ability rather than a disability. Look past what you may see as limitations and see the gifts autism has given me. It may be true that I’m not good at eye contact or conversation, but have you noticed that I don’t lie, cheat at games, tattle on my classmates or pass judgment on other people? Also true that I probably won’t be the next Michael Jordan. But with my to fine detail and capacity for extraordinary focus, I might be the next Einstein. Or Mozart. Or Van Gogh.
There they are: my top 10 autism spectrum quotes. I know I've left some out. What are some of your favorite ones?• Midfielder tempted by chance to work with Arsène Wenger • 'If a French coach wants you, it changes everything'
Yann M'Vila has revealed the chance to work with Arsène Wenger could give Arsenal the edge over other potential suitors in the chase for the France international's signature.
M'Vila was reportedly watched by Arsenal scouts during Rennes' Ligue 1 draw with Lyon on Sunday, and Wenger will be encouraged by the 21-year-old midfielder's admission that it would be difficult to turn down a club managed by a Frenchman.
"Inter, Arsenal, Real... I will take the fun everywhere!" M'Vila told Canal+. "These are great clubs. If the coach calls you and tells you he wants you to make you play, especially a French coach, it changes everything. The important thing for me is getting playing time for the France team."
M'Vila has three years remaining on his current deal, but Rennes are resigned to losing their star player at the end of the season, having rebuffed interest from Wenger last summer. "Yann M'Vila won't be a Rennes player next season," the manager, Frédéric Antonetti, said last month.
Rennes would seek a fee of around £20m, which would force Arsenal to break their transfer record.Former UFC fighters Brandon Vera and Pablo Garza are the latest names seeking to take on the promotion in court.
According to a report from MMA Weekly, Vera and Garza are named in a complaint similar to the ones filed earlier this month by five other former and current UFC fighters alleging the UFC has engaged in business practices that are anti-competitive and monopolistic, suppressing fighter compensation and rival promotions for its own gain.
The first anti-trust suit was filed by high-profile class action firms acting for former UFC welterweight title challenger Jon Fitch, Nate Quarry and current fighter Cung Le. On Dec. 22, UFC veterans Dennis Hallman and Javier Vasquez, filed a similar suit.
The fighters seek monetary damages assessed by the court for the alleged anti-trust violations, damages sustained by them, and court fees.
Vera (12-7) ended his long UFC run on a 1-4 skid (with one no-contest), which included a loss to heavyweight Ben Rothwell in his final bout, which came in August 2013 at UFC 164. Rothwell tested positive for elevated testosterone levels after the fight and was suspended by the UFC, but his win stayed on the books with the Wisconsin commission just issuing him a warning.
The bout at heavyweight followed a nine-fight run at light heavyweight, where Vera fought (but lost to) notables such as Randy Couture, Jon Jones and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua. Despite the late-career setbacks, Vera entered the UFC in 2005 and quickly emerged as one of the organization’s most promising prospects. During a 4-0 start to his UFC career, Vera boldly claimed he would hold titles in both the heavyweight and light heavyweight divisions. However, a yearlong contract dispute ultimately spoiled plans for a title shot, and after subsequent losses to Tim Sylvia and Fabricio Werdum, he never got his shot at the belt and ultimately dropped to light heavyweight.
The writing may have been on the wall for Vera about a month ago when he told MMAjunkie he took issue with the level of respect fighters got from the UFC compared to how he had been treated in his early work with ONE FC.
Garza (12-4) fought once in the WEC in September 2010, losing by first-round submission to Tiequan Zhang. He then came to the UFC shortly before the official merger of the two promotions – and in fact, was part of the first featherweight fight in UFC history. In that bout, he won “Knockout of the Night” honors with a flying-knee KO of Fredson Paixao in 51 seconds at the TUF 12 Finale. He took a “Submission of the Night” bonus his next time out for a first-round chokeout of Yves Jabouin. But then he went into a tailspin with losses in three of his next four fights, leading to his release. He hasn’t fought in nearly two years, since a submission loss to Diego Brandao in April 2013.
Among the allegations in the suits, the complainants assert the UFC engaged in an “anticompetitive scheme” to “maintain and enhance” a monopoly on promoting MMA events and held “monopsony power” in the marketplace for fighters … enforced its monopoly by signing fighters to long-term exclusive contracts “and other exclusionary and anticompetitive acts” … exerted control over fighters by leveraging potential title bouts … required fighter sponsors to work exclusively with the UFC and refused to contract with a sponsor that worked with a rival MMA promoter … created and held a dominant position in the business by purchasing competitors or driving them out of business by raising costs on acquiring talent and resources … and refused to co-promote with other potential promoters in an effort to increase control on fighters.
The UFC issued a statement following the announcement of the first suit in which it promised to vigorously defend itself against the allegations against it. According to The American Lawyer, the industry leader is interviewing potential candidates for its legal defense, which include several high-profile attorneys successful in repelling anti-trust claims.
A full copy of the first suit is available for viewing here.
Stay tuned to MMAjunkie for more updates on this story as they become available.Alexis Sanchez has completed his move to Arsenal (Picture: Getty)
Alexis Sanchez has made a big mistake by rejecting Liverpool to complete a move to Arsenal, according to Reds legend Phil Thompson.
Sanchez completed his £30million switch to the Gunners yesterday after previously turning down a move to Liverpool, who were keen to sign him.
But Thompson says the Chilean is making an error in choosing to move to the Emirates Stadium over Anfield.
‘Sanchez doesn’t know what he’s missing by not joining Liverpool,’ he told Sky Sports News.
Phil Thompson has some career advice for Sanchez (Picture: Getty)
‘The passion, power and worldwide recognition of Liverpool is strong.’
Thompson had hit the headlines two weeks ago by telling the media that Sanchez to Liverpool was already a done deal.FC Dallas ended a rough three games in eight nights with a 1-1 draw against the Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday night in Canada.
The lone Dallas goal came in the early stages of the second half from Maxi Urruti, his team-high eighth of the season.
FC Dallas brought some early pressure in this one and nearly scored the first goal in the 12th minute. Hernan Grana played a nice give-and-go with Michael Barrios on the right wing. The Colombian winger beat out Jordan Harvey to race into the penalty box where he tried to pick out Urruti but his attempt was blocked by Vancouver defender Tim Parker.
Dallas nearly scored towards the end of the first half on an attempt by Roland Lamah. Grana once again helped set up the play on the right side where he picked out Lamah racing into the box but Lamah’s attempt would sail over the cross bar.
Urruti put Dallas in front shortly after the half time break in the 53rd minute. Maynor Figueroa pushed the ball forward into the attack where he found Tesho Akindele. The Canadian striker wasn’t able to beat out former FC Dallas midfielder Andrew Jacobson to the ball but his clearance found Urruti. The Argentine then beat a pair of defenders before putting in a low shot that beat the Vancouver keeper.
The hosts pulled even in the 75th minute on a free kick from Cristian Techera. Barrios was whistled for the foul about 25 yards away from Jesse Gonzalez’ goal. Techera was able to beat the Dallas wall and find the back of the net at the right post.
Dallas pushed for the go-ahead goal late in the match with Mauro Diaz on the field as a sub. He found Akindele in the box in the 79th minute. Akindele tried to then pick out Barrios but his attempt on goal was blocked out.
FC Dallas returns to action next week as they travel to their main rivals building as they take on the Houston Dynamo.The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) is the 2013 update to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the taxonomic and diagnostic tool published by the American Psychiatric Association (APA). In the United States, the DSM serves as the principal authority for psychiatric diagnoses. Treatment recommendations, as well as payment by health care providers, are often determined by DSM classifications, so the appearance of a new version has significant practical importance.
The DSM-5 was published on May 18, 2013, superseding the DSM-IV-TR, which was published in 2000. The development of the new edition began with a conference in 1999 and proceeded with the formation of a Task Force in 2007, which developed and field-tested a variety of new classifications. In most respects, the DSM-5 is not greatly modified from the DSM-IV-TR; however, some significant differences exist between them. Notable changes in the DSM-5 include the reconceptualization of Asperger syndrome from a distinct disorder to an autism spectrum disorder; the elimination of subtypes of schizophrenia; the deletion of the "bereavement exclusion" for depressive disorders; the renaming of gender identity disorder to gender dysphoria, along with a revised treatment plan; the inclusion of binge eating disorder as a discrete eating disorder; the renaming and reconceptualization of paraphilias to paraphilic disorders; the removal of the axis system; and the splitting of disorders not otherwise specified into other specified disorders and unspecified disorders. In addition, the DSM-5 is the first DSM to use an Arabic numeral instead of a Roman numeral in its title, as well as the first "living document" version of a DSM.[1]
Various authorities criticized the fifth edition both before and after it was formally published. Critics assert, for example, that many DSM-5 revisions or additions lack empirical support; inter-rater reliability is low for many disorders; several sections contain poorly written, confusing, or contradictory information; and the psychiatric drug industry unduly influenced the manual's content. Many of the members of work groups for the DSM-5 had conflicting interests, including ties to pharmaceutical companies.[2] Various scientists have argued that the DSM-5 forces clinicians to make distinctions that are not supported by solid evidence, distinctions that have major treatment implications, including drug prescriptions and the availability of health insurance coverage. General criticism of the DSM-5 ultimately resulted in a petition, signed by many mental health organizations, which called for outside review of the DSM-5.[3]
Changes [ edit ]
This part of the article summarizes changes from the DSM-IV to the DSM-5. The DSM-5 is divided into three Sections, using Roman numerals to designate each Section. The same organizational structure is used in this overview, e.g., Section I (immediately below) summarizes relevant changes discussed in the DSM-5, Section I.
Note that if a specific disorder (or set of disorders) cannot be seen, e.g., enuresis and other elimination disorders, mentioned in Section II: diagnostic criteria and codes (below), it means that the diagnostic criteria for those disorders did not change significantly from DSM-IV to DSM-5.
Section I [ edit ]
Section I describes DSM-5 chapter organization, its change from the multiaxial system, and Section III's dimensional assessments.[4] The DSM-5 deleted the chapter that includes "disorders usually first diagnosed in infancy, childhood, or adolescence" opting to list them in other chapters.[4] A note under Anxiety Disorders says that the "sequential order" of at least some DSM-5 chapters has significance that reflects the relationships between diagnoses.[4]
This introductory section describes the process of DSM revision, including field trials, public and professional review, and expert review. It states its goal is to harmonize with the ICD systems and share organizational structures as much as is feasible. Concern about the categorical system of diagnosis is expressed, but the conclusion is the reality that alternative definitions for most disorders are scientifically premature.
The new version replaces the NOS (Not Otherwise Specified) categories with two options: other specified disorder and unspecified disorder to increase the utility to the clinician. The first allows the clinician to specify the reason that the criteria for a specific disorder are not met; the second allows the clinician the option to forgo specification.
DSM-5 has discarded the multiaxial system of diagnosis (formerly Axis I, Axis II, Axis III), listing all disorders in Section II. It has replaced Axis IV with significant psychosocial and contextual features and dropped Axis V (Global Assessment of Functioning, known as GAF). The World Health Organization's (WHO) Disability Assessment Schedule is added to Section III (Emerging measures and models) under Assessment Measures, as a suggested, but not required, method to assess functioning.[5]
Section II: diagnostic criteria and codes [ edit ]
Neurodevelopmental disorders [ edit ]
Schizophrenia spectrum and other psychotic disorders [ edit ]
All subtypes of schizophrenia were removed from the DSM-5 (paranoid, disorganized, catatonic, undifferentiated, and residual). [4]
A major mood episode is required for schizoaffective disorder (for a majority of the disorder's duration after criterion A [related to delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech or behavior, and negative symptoms such as avolition] is met). [4]
Criteria for delusional disorder changed, and it is no longer separate from shared delusional disorder. [4]
Catatonia in all contexts requires 3 of a total of 12 symptoms. Catatonia may be a specifier for depressive, bipolar, and psychotic disorders; part of another medical condition; or of another specified diagnosis.[4]
Bipolar and related disorders [ edit ]
Depressive disorders [ edit ]
Anxiety disorders [ edit ]
Obsessive-compulsive and related disorders [ edit ]
Trauma- and stressor-related disorders [ edit ]
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is now included in a new section titled "Trauma- and Stressor-Related Disorders." [12]
The PTSD diagnostic clusters were reorganized and expanded from a total of three clusters to four based on the results of confirmatory factor analytic research conducted since the publication of DSM-IV. [13]
Separate criteria were added for children six years old or younger. [4]
For the diagnosis of acute stress disorder and PTSD, the stressor criteria (Criterion A1 in DSM-IV) was modified to some extent. The requirement for specific subjective emotional reactions (Criterion A2 in DSM-IV) was eliminated because it lacked empirical support for its utility and predictive validity. [13] Previously certain groups, such as military personnel involved in combat, law enforcement officers and other first responders, did not meet criterion A2 in DSM-IV because their training prepared them to not react emotionally to traumatic events. [14] [15] [16]
Previously certain groups, such as military personnel involved in combat, law enforcement officers and other first responders, did not meet criterion A2 in DSM-IV because their training prepared them to not react emotionally to traumatic events. Two new disorders that were formerly subtypes were named: reactive attachment disorder and disinhibited social engagement disorder. [4]
Adjustment disorders were moved to this new section and reconceptualized as stress-response syndromes. DSM-IV subtypes for depressed mood, anxious symptoms, and disturbed conduct are unchanged.[4]
Dissociative disorders [ edit ]
Somatic symptom and related disorders [ edit ]
Feeding and eating disorders [ edit ]
Criteria for pica and rumination disorder were changed and can now refer to people of any age. [4]
Binge eating disorder graduated from DSM-IV's "Appendix B -- Criteria Sets and Axes Provided for Further Study" into a proper diagnosis. [22]
Requirements for bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder were changed from "at least twice weekly for 6 months to at least once weekly over the last 3 months".
The criteria for anorexia nervosa were changed; there is no longer a requirement of amenorrhea.
"Feeding disorder of infancy or early childhood", a rarely used diagnosis in DSM-IV, was renamed to avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder, and criteria were expanded.[4]
Elimination disorders [ edit ]
NO significant changes. [4]
Disorders in this chapter were previously classified under disorders usually first diagnosed in infancy, childhood, or adolescence in DSM-IV. Now it is an independent classification in DSM 5.[4]
Sleep–wake disorders [ edit ]
Sexual dysfunctions [ edit ]
Gender dysphoria [ edit ]
DSM-IV gender identity disorder is similar to, but not the same as, gender dysphoria in DSM-5. Separate criteria for children, adolescents and adults that are appropriate for varying developmental states are added.
Subtypes of gender identity disorder based on sexual orientation were deleted. [4]
Among other wording changes, criterion A and criterion B (cross-gender identification, and aversion toward one's gender) were combined.[4] Along with these changes comes the creation of a separate gender dysphoria in children as well as one for adults and adolescents. The grouping has been moved out of the sexual disorders category and into its own. The name change was made in part due to stigmatization of the term "disorder" and the relatively common use of "gender dysphoria" in the GID literature and among specialists in the area.[23] The creation of a specific diagnosis for children reflects the lesser ability of children to have insight into what they are experiencing and ability to express it in the event that they have insight.[24]
Disruptive, impulse-control, and conduct disorders [ edit ]
Some of these disorders were formerly part of the chapter on early diagnosis, oppositional defiant disorder; conduct disorder; and disruptive behavior disorder not otherwise specified became other specified and unspecified disruptive disorder, impulse-control disorder, and conduct disorders.[4] Intermittent explosive disorder, pyromania, and kleptomania moved to this chapter from the DSM-IV chapter "Impulse-Control Disorders Not Otherwise Specified".[4]
Antisocial personality disorder is listed here and in the chapter on personality disorders (but ADHD is listed under neurodevelopmental disorders). [4]
in the chapter on personality disorders (but ADHD is listed under neurodevelopmental disorders). Symptoms for oppositional defiant disorder are of three types: angry/irritable mood, argumentative/defiant behavior, and vindictiveness. The conduct disorder exclusion is deleted. The criteria were also changed with a note on frequency requirements and a measure of severity. [4]
Criteria for conduct disorder are unchanged for the most part from DSM-IV. [4] A specifier was added for people with limited "prosocial emotion", showing callous and unemotional traits. [4]
A specifier was added for people with limited "prosocial emotion", showing callous and unemotional traits. People over the disorder's minimum age of 6 may be diagnosed with intermittent explosive disorder without outbursts of physical aggression.[4] Criteria were added for frequency and to specify "impulsive and/or anger based in nature, and must cause marked distress, cause impairment in occupational or interpersonal functioning, or be associated with negative financial or legal consequences".[4]
Substance-related and addictive disorders [ edit ]
Gambling disorder and tobacco use disorder are new. [4]
Substance abuse and substance dependence from DSM-IV-TR have been combined into single substance use disorders specific to each substance of abuse within a new "addictions and related disorders" category.[25] "Recurrent legal problems" was deleted and "craving or a strong desire or urge to use a substance" was added to the criteria.[4] The threshold of the number of criteria that must be met was changed[4] and severity from mild to severe is based on the number of criteria endorsed.[4] Criteria for cannabis and caffeine withdrawal were added.[4] New specifiers were added for early and sustained remission along with new specifiers for "in a controlled environment" and "on maintenance therapy".[4]
DSM-5 substance dependencies include:
303.90 Alcohol dependence
304.00 Opioid dependence
304.10 Sedative, hypnotic, or anxiolytic dependence (including benzodiazepine dependence and barbiturate dependence)
304.20 Cocaine dependence
304.30 Cannabis dependence
304.40 Amphetamine dependence (or amphetamine-like)
304.50 Hallucinogen dependence
304.60 Inhalant dependence
304.80 Polysubstance dependence
304.90 Phencyclidine (or phencyclidine-like) dependence
304.90 Other (or unknown) substance dependence
305.10 Nicotine dependence
There are no more polysubstance diagnoses in DSM-5; the substance(s) must be specified.[26]
Neurocognitive disorders [ edit ]
Personality disorders [ edit ]
Personality disorder (PD) previously belonged to a different axis than almost all other disorders, but is now in one axis with all mental and other medical diagnoses. [28] However, the same ten types of personality disorder are retained. [28]
However, the same ten types of personality disorder are retained. There is a call for the DSM-5 to provide relevant clinical information that is empirically based to conceptualize personality as well as psychopathology in personalities. The issue(s) of heterogeneity of a PD is problematic as well. For example, when determining the criteria for a PD it is possible for two individuals with the same diagnosis to have completely different symptoms that would not necessarily overlap.[29] There is also concern as to which model is better for the DSM - the diagnostic model favored by psychiatrists or the dimensional model that is favored by psychologists. The diagnostic approach/model is one that follows the diagnostic approach of traditional medicine, is more convenient to use in clinical settings, however, it does not capture the intricacies of normal or abnormal personality. The dimensional approach/model is better at showing varied degrees of personality; it places emphasis on the continuum between normal and abnormal, and abnormal as something beyond a threshold whether in unipolar or bipolar cases.[30]
Paraphilic disorders [ edit ]
New specifiers "in a controlled environment" and "in remission" were added to criteria for all paraphilic disorders. [4]
A distinction is made between paraphilic behaviors, or paraphilias, and paraphilic disorders.[31] All criteria sets were changed to add the word disorder to all of the paraphilias, for example, pedophilic disorder is listed instead of pedophilia.[4] There is no change in the basic diagnostic structure since DSM-III-R; however, people now must meet both qualitative (criterion A) and negative consequences (criterion B) criteria to be diagnosed with a paraphilic disorder. Otherwise they have a paraphilia (and no diagnosis).[4]
Section III: emerging measures and models [ edit ]
Alternative DSM-5 model for personality disorders [ edit ]
An alternative hybrid dimensional-categorical model for personality disorders is included to stimulate further research on this modified classification system.[32]
Conditions for further study [ edit ]
These conditions and criteria are set forth to encourage future research and are not meant for clinical use.
Development [ edit ]
In 1999, a DSM–5 Research Planning Conference; sponsored jointly by APA and the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), was held to set the research priorities. Research Planning Work Groups produced "white papers" on the research needed to inform and shape the DSM-5[34] and the resulting work and recommendations were reported in an APA monograph[35] and peer-reviewed literature.[36] There were six workgroups, each focusing on a broad topic: Nomenclature, Neuroscience and Genetics, Developmental Issues and Diagnosis, Personality and Relational Disorders, Mental Disorders and Disability, and Cross-Cultural Issues. Three additional white papers were also due by 2004 concerning gender issues, diagnostic issues in the geriatric population, and mental disorders in infants and young children.[37] The white papers have been followed by a series of conferences to produce recommendations relating to specific disorders and issues, with attendance limited to 25 invited researchers.[37]
On July 23, 2007, the APA announced the task force that would oversee the development of DSM-5. The DSM-5 Task Force consisted of 27 members, including a chair and vice chair, who collectively represent research scientists from psychiatry and other disciplines, clinical care providers, and consumer and family advocates. Scientists working on the revision of the DSM had a broad range of experience and interests. The APA Board of Trustees required that all task force nominees disclose any competing interests or potentially conflicting relationships with entities that have an interest in psychiatric diagnoses and treatments as a precondition to appointment to the task force. The APA made all task force members' disclosures available during the announcement of the task force. Several individuals were ruled ineligible for task force appointments due to their competing interests.[38]
The DSM-5 field trials included test-retest reliability which involved different clinicians doing independent evaluations of the same patient—a common approach to the study of diagnostic reliability.[39]
About 68% of DSM-5 task-force members and 56% of panel members reported having ties to the pharmaceutical industry, such as holding stock in pharmaceutical companies, serving as consultants to industry, or serving on company boards.[40]
Beginning with the fifth edition, it is intended that diagnostic guidelines revisions will be added incrementally.[41] The DSM-5 is identified with Arabic rather than Roman numerals, marking a change in how future updates will be created. Incremental updates will be identified with decimals (DSM-5.1, DSM-5.2, etc.), until a new edition is written.[42] The change reflects the intent of the APA to respond more quickly when a preponderance of research supports a specific change in the manual. The research base of mental disorders is evolving at different rates for different disorders.[41]
Criticism [ edit ]
General [ edit ]
Robert Spitzer, the head of the DSM-III task force, publicly criticized the APA for mandating that DSM-5 task force members sign a nondisclosure agreement, effectively conducting the whole process in secret: "When I first heard about this agreement, I just went bonkers. Transparency is necessary if the document is to have credibility, and, in time, you're going to have people complaining all over the place that they didn't have the opportunity to challenge anything."[43] Allen Frances, chair of the DSM-IV task force, expressed a similar concern.[44]
Although the APA has since instituted a disclosure policy for DSM-5 task force members, many still believe the association has not gone far enough in its efforts to be transparent and to protect against industry influence.[45] In a 2009 Point/Counterpoint article, Lisa Cosgrove, PhD and Harold J. Bursztajn, MD noted that "the fact that 70% of the task force members have reported direct industry ties—an increase of almost 14% over the percentage of DSM-IV task force members who had industry ties—shows that disclosure policies alone, especially those that rely on an honor system, are not enough and that more specific safeguards are needed".[46]
David Kupfer, chair of the DSM-5 task force, and Darrel A. Regier, MD, MPH, vice chair of the task force, whose industry ties are disclosed with those of the task force,[47] countered that "collaborative relationships among government, academia, and industry are vital to the current and future development of pharmacological treatments for mental disorders". They asserted that the development of DSM-5 is the "most inclusive and transparent developmental process in the 60-year history of DSM". The developments to this new version can be viewed on the APA website.[48] Public input was requested for the first time in the history of the manual.[citation needed] During periods of public comment, members of the public could sign up at the DSM-5 website[49] and provide feedback on the various proposed changes.[50]
In June 2009, Allen Frances issued strongly worded criticisms of the processes leading to DSM-5 and the risk of "serious, subtle, (...) ubiquitous" and "dangerous" unintended consequences such as new "false 'epidemics'". He writes that "the work on DSM-V has displayed the most unhappy combination of soaring ambition and weak methodology" and is concerned about the task force's "inexplicably closed and secretive process".[51] His and Spitzer's concerns about the contract that the APA drew up for consultants to sign, agreeing not to discuss drafts of the fifth edition beyond the task force and committees, have also been aired and debated.[52]
The appointment, in May 2008, of two of the taskforce members, Kenneth Zucker and Ray Blanchard, led to an internet petition to remove them.[53] According to MSNBC, "The petition accuses Zucker of having engaged in 'junk science' and promoting 'hurtful theories' during his career, especially advocating the idea that children who are unambiguously male or female anatomically, but seem confused about their gender identity, can be treated by encouraging gender expression in line with their anatomy."[54] According to The Gay City News, "Dr. Ray Blanchard, a psychiatry professor at the University of Toronto, is deemed offensive for his theories that some types of transsexuality are paraphilias, or sexual urges. In this model, transsexuality is not an essential aspect of the individual, but a misdirected sexual impulse."[55] Blanchard responded, "Naturally, it's very disappointing to me there seems to be so much misinformation about me on the Internet. [They didn't distort] my views, they completely reversed my views."[55] Zucker "rejects the junk-science charge, saying there 'has to be an empirical basis to modify anything' in the DSM. As for hurting people, 'in my own career, my primary motivation in working with children, adolescents and families is to help them with the distress and suffering they are experiencing, whatever the reasons they are having these struggles. I want to help people feel better about themselves, not hurt them.'"[54]
In 2011, psychologist Brent Robbins co-authored a national letter for the Society for Humanistic Psychology that brought thousands into the public debate about the DSM. Approximately 13,000 individuals and mental health professionals signed a petition in support of the letter. Thirteen other American Psychological Association divisions endorsed the petition.[56] In a November 2011 article about the debate in the San Francisco Chronicle, Robbins notes that under the new guidelines, certain responses to grief could be labeled as pathological disorders, instead of being recognized as being normal human experiences.[57] In 2012, a footnote was added to the draft text which explains the distinction between grief and depression.[58]
The DSM-5 has been criticized for purportedly saying nothing about the biological underpinnings of mental disorders.[59] A book-long appraisal of the DSM-5, with contributions from philosophers, historians and anthropologists, was published in 2015.[60]
The financial association of DSM-5 panel members with industry continues to be a concern for financial conflict of interest.[61] Of the DSM-5 task force members, 69% report having ties to the pharmaceutical industry, an increase from the 57% of DSM-IV task force members.[61]
A 2015 essay from an Australian university criticized the DSM-5 for having poor cultural diversity, stating that recent work done in cognitive sciences and cognitive anthropology is still only accepting western psychology as the norm.[62]
Borderline personality disorder controversy [ edit ]
In 2003, the Treatment and Research Advancements National Association for Personality Disorders (TARA-APD) campaigned to change the name and designation of borderline personality disorder in DSM-5.[63] The paper How Advocacy is Bringing BPD into the Light[64] reported that "the name BPD is confusing, imparts no relevant or descriptive information, and reinforces existing stigma." Instead, it proposed the name "emotional regulation disorder" or "emotional dysregulation disorder." There was also discussion about changing borderline personality disorder, an Axis II diagnosis (personality disorders and mental retardation), to an Axis I diagnosis (clinical disorders).[65]
The TARA-APD recommendations do not appear to have affected the American Psychiatric Association, the publisher of the DSM. As noted above, the DSM-5 does not employ a multi-axial diagnostic scheme, therefore the distinction between Axis I and II disorders no longer exists in the DSM nosology. The name, the diagnostic criteria for, and description of, borderline personality disorder remain largely unchanged from DSM-IV-TR.[66]
British Psychological Society response [ edit ]
The British Psychological Society stated in its June 2011 response to DSM-5 draft versions, that it had "more concerns than plaudits".[67] It criticized proposed diagnoses as "clearly based largely on social norms, with'symptoms' that all rely on subjective judgements... not value-free, but rather reflect[ing] current normative social expectations", noting doubts over the reliability, validity, and value of existing criteria, that personality disorders were not normed on the general population, and that "not otherwise specified" categories covered a "huge" 30% of all personality disorders.
It also expressed a major concern that "clients and the general public are negatively affected by the continued and continuous medicalisation of their natural and normal responses to their experiences... which demand helping responses, but which do not reflect illnesses so much as normal individual variation".
The Society suggested as its primary specific recommendation, a change from using "diagnostic frameworks" to a description based on an individual's specific experienced problems, and that mental disorders are better explored as part of a spectrum shared with normality:
“ [We recommend] a revision of the way mental distress is thought about, starting with recognition of the overwhelming evidence that it is on a spectrum with 'normal' experience, and that psychosocial factors such as poverty, unemployment and trauma are the most strongly-evidenced causal factors. Rather than applying preordained diagnostic categories to clinical populations, we believe that any classification system should begin from the bottom up – starting with specific experiences, problems or'symptoms' or 'complaints'... We would like to see the base unit of measurement as specific problems (e.g. hearing voices, feelings of anxiety etc.)? These would be more helpful too in |
for (country in countries) { // For each country/territory/region extract the region identifier, // region name, country identifier, country name, and country code. def regionIdentifier = Utils.slugify(country.@Region.text()) if (regionIdentifier) { def regionName = country.@Region.text() def countryIdentifier = Utils.slugify(country.@name.text()) def countryName = country.@name.text() def countryCode = country.@fips.text().toLowerCase() // Get topic's text. println "Getting topic's text..." def topicContentPath = "$PROCESSED_PATH/${countryCode}.txt" def topicContentFile = new File(topicContentPath) def topicContent = '' if (topicContentFile.exists()) { topicContent = topicContentFile.text } // Extract the country's background excerpt. println "Extracting the country's background excerpt..." if (topicContent) { def excerpt = getBackgroundExcerpt(topicContent) def background = getBackground(topicContent) // Add the appropriate timeline related meta data. println 'Adding the timeline metadata...' if (excerpt && background) { def timelineYear = getTimelineYear(background) def timelineMedia = "<blockquote>${excerpt.find(~/(?s)^\S*^(.*?)[.?!]\s/).trim()}<blockquote>".toString() if (timelineYear && timelineMedia && excerpt) { topicStore.createMetadatum(SHARD_INFO, TOPIC_MAP_IDENTIFIER, 'timeline-event-startdate', timelineYear, countryIdentifier, Language.EN, '', DataType.STRING, UNIVERSAL_SCOPE) topicStore.createMetadatum(SHARD_INFO, TOPIC_MAP_IDENTIFIER, 'timeline-media', timelineMedia, countryIdentifier, Language.EN, '', DataType.STRING, UNIVERSAL_SCOPE) topicStore.createMetadatum(SHARD_INFO, TOPIC_MAP_IDENTIFIER, 'timeline-text', excerpt, countryIdentifier, Language.EN, '', DataType.STRING, UNIVERSAL_SCOPE) } } } // Create and store the country or territory topic. println 'Creating and storing the country topic...' Topic countryTopic = new Topic( countryIdentifier, 'country', countryName, Language.EN) topicStore.putTopic(SHARD_INFO, TOPIC_MAP_IDENTIFIER, countryTopic, Language.EN) // Create and store the topic's text occurrence. println "Creating and storing the topic's text..." Occurrence occurrence = new Occurrence(countryIdentifier) occurrence.with { instanceOf = 'text' scope = UNIVERSAL_SCOPE language = Language.EN resourceData = topicContent.getBytes() } topicStore.putOccurrence(SHARD_INFO, TOPIC_MAP_IDENTIFIER, occurrence) topicStore.createMetadatum(SHARD_INFO, TOPIC_MAP_IDENTIFIER, 'label', countryName, occurrence.identifier, Language.EN, '', DataType.STRING, UNIVERSAL_SCOPE) // Create and store the region topic. println 'Creating and storing the region topic...' if (!topicStore.topicExists(SHARD_INFO, TOPIC_MAP_IDENTIFIER, regionIdentifier)) { Topic regionTopic = new Topic( regionIdentifier,'region', regionName, Language.EN) topicStore.putTopic(SHARD_INFO, TOPIC_MAP_IDENTIFIER, regionTopic, Language.EN) } // Create associations between countries and regions. println 'Creating associations between countries and regions...' topicStore.createAssociation(SHARD_INFO, TOPIC_MAP_IDENTIFIER, 'country', countryIdentifier,'region', regionIdentifier) // Create coordinates metadatum for each country's capital. println "Creating coordinates for country's capital..." def coordinates = topicContent.findAll(~/(?m)(^[-+]?\d{1,2}\s*\d{1,2}\s*[A-Z]),\s*([-+]?\d{1,2}\s*\d{1,3}\s*[A-Z])/) if (coordinates[1]) { ddCoordinates = convertToDdCoordinates(coordinates[1]) topicStore.createMetadatum(SHARD_INFO, TOPIC_MAP_IDENTIFIER,'map-coordinates', ddCoordinates, countryIdentifier, Language.EN, '', DataType.STRING, UNIVERSAL_SCOPE) } // Add link occurrence to each topic pointing to the original CIA World Factbook country page. println 'Adding CIA World Factbook country page link...' Occurrence linkOccurrence = new Occurrence(countryIdentifier) linkOccurrence.with { instanceOf = 'url' scope = UNIVERSAL_SCOPE language = Language.EN resourceRef = "https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/${countryCode}.html" } topicStore.putOccurrence(SHARD_INFO, TOPIC_MAP_IDENTIFIER, linkOccurrence) topicStore.createMetadatum(SHARD_INFO, TOPIC_MAP_IDENTIFIER, 'label', "$countryName CIA World Factbook Page", linkOccurrence.identifier, Language.EN, '', DataType.STRING, UNIVERSAL_SCOPE) // Add flag (occurrence) to each topic and copy image to appropriate (web application resources) directory. println 'Adding flag...' def imageDirectoryName = "/home/brettk/www/static/$TOPIC_MAP_IDENTIFIER/images/$countryIdentifier" def imageDirectory = new File(imageDirectoryName) imageDirectory.mkdirs() // Non-destructive. def serverImageDirectoryName = "/static/$TOPIC_MAP_IDENTIFIER/images/$countryIdentifier" Occurrence flagOccurrence = new Occurrence(countryIdentifier) flagOccurrence.with { instanceOf = 'image' scope = UNIVERSAL_SCOPE language = Language.EN resourceRef = "$serverImageDirectoryName/${flagOccurrence.identifier}.gif" } topicStore.putOccurrence(SHARD_INFO, TOPIC_MAP_IDENTIFIER, flagOccurrence) topicStore.createMetadatum(SHARD_INFO, TOPIC_MAP_IDENTIFIER, 'label', "$countryName (Flag)", flagOccurrence.identifier, Language.EN, '', DataType.STRING, UNIVERSAL_SCOPE) copyFile("$FLAGS_PATH/${countryCode}-lgflag.gif", "$imageDirectoryName/${flagOccurrence.identifier}.gif") // Add map (occurrence) to each topic. println 'Adding map...' Occurrence mapOccurrence = new Occurrence(countryIdentifier) mapOccurrence.with { instanceOf = 'image' scope = UNIVERSAL_SCOPE language = Language.EN resourceRef = "$serverImageDirectoryName/${mapOccurrence.identifier}.gif" } topicStore.putOccurrence(SHARD_INFO, TOPIC_MAP_IDENTIFIER, mapOccurrence) topicStore.createMetadatum(SHARD_INFO, TOPIC_MAP_IDENTIFIER, 'label', "$countryName (Map)", mapOccurrence.identifier, Language.EN, '', DataType.STRING, UNIVERSAL_SCOPE) copyFile("$MAPS_PATH/${countryCode}-map.gif", "$imageDirectoryName/${mapOccurrence.identifier}.gif") } } // Create associations between regions. println 'Creating associations between regions...' def regionIdentifiers = [ 'africa', 'central-america', 'central-asia', 'east-asia', 'europe','middle-east', 'north-america', 'oceania','south-america','south-asia' ] for (outerRegionIdentifier in regionIdentifiers) { for (innerRegionIdentifier in regionIdentifiers.findAll { it!= outerRegionIdentifier } ) { topicStore.createAssociation(SHARD_INFO, TOPIC_MAP_IDENTIFIER,'region', outerRegionIdentifier,'region', innerRegionIdentifier) } // Create associations between the world topic and the regions. topicStore.createAssociation(SHARD_INFO, TOPIC_MAP_IDENTIFIER, 'part-of', 'world','region', outerRegionIdentifier) } // Add the appropriate text occurrence ('xx.txt') to the 'world' topic. println "Adding text occurrence to the 'World' topic..." def worldTopicContentFileName = "${PROCESSED_PATH}/xx.txt" def worldTopicContentFile = new File(worldTopicContentFileName) def worldTopicContent = worldTopicContentFile.text Occurrence worldOccurrence = new Occurrence('world') worldOccurrence.with { instanceOf = 'text' scope = UNIVERSAL_SCOPE language = Language.EN resourceData = worldTopicContent.getBytes() } topicStore.putOccurrence(SHARD_INFO, TOPIC_MAP_IDENTIFIER, worldOccurrence) topicStore.createMetadatum(SHARD_INFO, TOPIC_MAP_IDENTIFIER, 'label', 'world', worldOccurrence.identifier, Language.EN, '', DataType.STRING, UNIVERSAL_SCOPE) println 'Done!' // ***** Helper methods ***** def convertToDdCoordinates(String dmsCoordinates) { // Format: 17 49 S, 31 02 E // http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geographic_coordinate_conversion def parts = dmsCoordinates.replace(',', '').split(' ') def ddLatitude = parts[0].toInteger() + (parts[1].toInteger() / 60) if (parts[2] == 'S') { ddLatitude = 0 - ddLatitude } def ddLongitude = parts[3].toInteger() + (parts[4].toInteger() / 60) if (parts[5] == 'W') { ddLongitude = 0 - ddLongitude } return "($ddLatitude, $ddLongitude)" } def getBackgroundExcerpt(String content) { def result = content.find(~/(?s)<\/h3>.*<h2>Geography/)?.replaceAll(~/<\/h3>/, '')?.replaceAll(~/<h2>Geography/, '') if (result) { if (result.size() > 320) { result = result[0..320] } if (result[-1]!= '.') { result = result << '...' } } else { result = '' } return result.toString() } def getBackground(String content) { def result = content.find(~/(?s)<\/h3>.*<h2>Geography/)?.replaceAll(~/<\/h3>/, '')?.replaceAll(~/<h2>Geography/, '') if (result == null) { result = '' } return result } def getTimelineYear(String content) { def bcYears = content.findAll(~/\d{4}\sB.C./).collect { it.replace('.B.C.', '') } def adYears = content.findAll(~/\d{4}/) def years = adYears - bcYears return years[0] } def copyFile(String sourcePath, String targetPath) { Path source = Paths.get(sourcePath) Path destination = Paths.get(targetPath) try { Files.copy(source, destination); } catch (IOException e) { e.printStackTrace(); } } // ***** Models ***** class Entity { String identifier String name String instanceOf }
And that’s it, folks! In a follow-up article I will document how to improve the import process outlined in this article to make much better use of the resources provided by the World Factbook. However, on this first iteration, the current import process provides me with sufficient data to thoroughly test PerfectLearn with a non-trivial topic map.
Stay tuned for updates. Subscribe to the PerfectLearn newsletter.Ben & Jerry's and 29 other top U.S. corporations are asking the Supreme Court to allow same-sex couples to marry.
The religious right has thirty more companies to choose from to boycott for their support of same-sex marriage.
In an amicus brief set to the U.S. Supreme Court last week, 30 top corporations, many listed on the S&P 100, petitioned the nation's top justices to "consider a uniform principle that all couples share in the right to marry."
The companies, many of which operate in most or all U.S.states, point to the "complicated and uncertain landscape of laws" regulating marriage. These law, that ban same-sex marriage in some states, and allow it in others, are a "business detriment," they complain, "that increase our ad-ministrative costs and level of risk."
They complain they "are forced to implement inconsistent policies in the various jurisdictions in which we operate," and explain that "the mandated discrimination underlying these policies violates our stated corporate principles."
Our ability to grow and maintain our businesses by attracting and retaining the best talent is hindered. This patchwork of state laws applicable to same-sex marriage impairs thus our business interests and employer-employee relations. Respectfully, we ask the Court to grant the petition for certiorari and consider a uniform principle that all couples share in the right to marry.
On their website yesterday, Ben & Jerry's explains that "from an HR point of view, it's plain to see that companies in states that ban same sex marriages may have trouble recruiting folks from other states. From a practical and employee rights perspective, this issue is a big concern to employers in all industries."
"If you look at the list, you've got some very large, mainstream, well-recognized corps and brands, and I think that brings some credibility to the issue— the broader the base of support you have, the more likely it is you're going to make a change."
Here's the list. Will anti-gay groups begin their boycotts?
Alcoa Inc.
Amazon.com, Inc.
Aspen Skiing Company
Ben & Jerry's
Bloomberg L.P.
CBS Corporation
Cisco Systems, Inc.
Cummins Inc.
Deutsche Bank AG
Eastern Bank Corporation
eBay, Inc.
General Electric Company
Intel Corporation
Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group, LLC
Levi Strauss & Company
Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company
NIKE, Inc.
Oracle America, Inc.
Outerwall Inc.
Pfizer Inc.
Qualcomm Incorporated
Staples, Inc.
State Street Corporation
SunLife Financial (U.S.) Services Company
Support.com
Symantec
Target
United Therapeutics Corporation
Viacom
Here's the full brief, via Equality Case Files:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/238732316/Employers-Amicus-Brief
Image, top: Ben & Jerry's. Insert: Facebook
Hat tip: HRC
See a mistake? Email corrections to: [email protected]Critics and haters of Fall Out Boy can say what they want about the band's ventures into more pop-oriented territory, but the one thing you can never criticize them for is being stuck in their old habits. Stagnation isn't a word in Fall Out Boy's vocabulary, and their evolution from pop-punk darlings to arena-filling rock stars proves that.
The most amazing part about Fall Out Boy's career trajectory is how smooth and obvious it looks in hindsight. Because even while certain genre loyalists questioned each move away from "the scene" that birthed them - moving to a major label, collaborating with Jay-Z, experimenting with funk and '80s-inspired arena rock, and diving headlong into pop music - it all feels like such a natural progression now.
And it doesn't hurt that they've always retained their tongue-in-cheek phrasings and knack for crafting lethal singles.
Patrick Stump has repeatedly mentioned his disdain for trying to meet other people's expectations and follow trends, and it's clear the rest of the band feels the same way, even if they don't always agree on which direction to steer the ship.
Some people will always prefer the more underground, Warped Tour playing version of Fall Out Boy, but the die-hard fans can sit back and appreciate their transformation into one of the most exciting mainstream bands of the new millennium.After a cold run there’s nothing better than sitting down to a hot meal, ideally one that’s easy to prepare. Indeed, without much time or effort you can produce flavorful results using just one pot, says chef Biju Thomas, coauthor of The Feed Zone Cookbook. Add lean proteins, whole grains, and vegetables, and “one-pot meals supply all the nutrients runners need for training and recovery.” And, says Thomas, because you consume all the liquids in one-pot recipes, “you don’t lose any nutrients that leach out during cooking.” These five recipes (each of which serves four) take 40 minutes or less to prepare and, once you get them going, require little more than stirring. Make one before you run, and heat upon return for a tasty reward.
To Shed Pounds: Smoky Black Bean Stew
A single cup of black beans packs 15 grams of fiber, plus an equal amount of muscle-building protein. “Natural high-fiber foods help promote fullness,” says Marni Sumbal, M.S., R.D., owner of Trimarni Coaching and Nutrition in Jacksonville, Florida. “That can help reduce caloric intake at meals and curb cravings throughout the day.” Recent research from Purdue University shows that the compound that gives hot peppers their fiery kick may also boost calorie-burning and temper appetite, helping lower your calorie intake.
Simmer This: Heat 2 teaspoons canola oil in a pot. Cook 1 diced onion and 1 sliced carrot for 5 minutes. Add two 15-ounce cans drained black beans, one 28-ounce can diced tomatoes, 1 1/2 cups vegetable broth, 1 cup sliced roasted red pepper, 1 tablespoon minced canned chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, 1 teaspoon cumin, and salt and pepper. Simmer 20 minutes. Stir in zest of 1 orange and 1 tablespoon fresh thyme. Serve with diced avocado.
To Recover Faster: Chicken Quinoa Soup
Chicken and quinoa are a dynamic duo: “Amino acids in chicken rebuild broken-down muscle tissue, while carbs in quinoa refuel your depleted gas tank,” says Sumbal, “making this optimal for recovery.” Quinoa provides magnesium, which may improve muscle strength in athletes, according to a study published last year.
Simmer This: Heat 2 teaspoons canola oil in a pot; cook 1 diced onion and 2 sliced carrots for 6 minutes. Add 1 pound thinly sliced boneless raw chicken thighs, 1 cup sliced mushrooms, 2 sliced celery stalks, and 2 minced garlic cloves; cook 5 minutes. Add 4 cups chicken broth, 1 cup water, 3/4 cup quinoa, 4 sprigs thyme, and salt and pepper. Boil, reduce heat, and simmer about 15 minutes, till quinoa is tender. Top with parsley and hot sauce.
To Boost Health: Creamy Cocoa Oatmeal
Stick-to-your-ribs steel-cut oats are packed with beta-glucan. According to a 2011 Nutrition Journal study, this soluble fiber can help slash LDL (or so-called “bad” cholesterol) levels. Research shows cocoa antioxidants help relax blood vessels, ease blood pressure, and improve circulation. Ground flaxseed is rich in omega-3s, which reduce inflammation in arteries.
Simmer This: In a pot, boil 1 1/2 cups steel-cut oats and 2 cups each water and milk. Simmer 15 minutes. Stir in 1 mashed banana, 3 tablespoons ground flaxseed, 1 1/2 tablespoons cocoa, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1*4 teaspoon nutmeg, and 1 cup water. Cook 10 minutes. Add 1/3 cup each walnuts and dried tart cherries. Serve with maple syrup and blueberries.
To Reduce Stress: Salmon Coconut Curry
An upcoming race has you on edge? Eat salmon. It contains DHA and EPA, omega-3s that can reduce stress levels, according to Ohio State University scientists. When participants took fish oil daily for 12 weeks, their anxiety levels dropped 20 percent. Similarly, a study by researchers at the University of Rochester found that fish omegas can reduce depression symptoms. Splurge for wild Alaskan salmon, which is more sustainable than farmed.
Simmer This: Heat 2 teaspoons canola oil in a pot. Add 2 chopped shallots and 2 minced garlic cloves; heat 2 minutes. Add 2 cups chicken broth, one 14-ounce can light coconut milk, 2 cubed sweet potatoes, 2 tablespoons tomato paste, 1 tablespoon each minced ginger and curry, 1 teaspoon cumin, and 1/4 teaspoon each cayenne, salt, and pepper. Boil, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes. Add 1 pound skinless cubed raw salmon, 1 1/2 cups frozen peas, and juice of 1 lime; simmer 5 minutes. Garnish with cilantro.
To Tame Inflammation: Pork and Brown Rice
In a study published this year in the European Journal of Nutrition, people who ate diets high in whole grains, such as brown rice, showed lower signs of internal inflammation, which can hamper heart health and exercise recovery. Often overlooked, lean pork tenderloin has a 6-to-1 protein-to-fat calorie ratio, along with a high amount of selenium, an antioxidant that may ease exercise-induced oxidative stress in the body.
Simmer This: Heat 1 tablespoon canola oil in a pot. Cook 1 diced onion, 1 pound sliced raw pork tenderloin, and 2 minced garlic cloves for 5 minutes. Add 1 cup red wine; simmer 5 minutes. Add a 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes, 1 cup water, 1 cup brown rice, 1 diced bell pepper, 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard, 1 teaspoon dried oregano, and 1/4 teaspoon each cayenne, salt, and pepper; simmer 30 minutes.
EAT BETTER: Tomatoes are rich in lycopene, a cancer-fighting antioxidant, but cooking them makes it easier for the body to absorb more of this compound.
Pot Luck
Chef Biju Thomas’s tips for making the best soups and stews
Get the Gear: Use durable, enameled cast-iron or stainless steel pots—not aluminum, which may scorch.
Ease up on Oil: Use too much and it will make your meal greasy. Add just enough to coat the bottom of the pan.
Sear Foods First: To build flavor, brown meats and sauté vegetables like potatoes and carrots before adding liquids.
Leave Room: Fill the pot only three-quarters full so steam can circulate and concentrate flavors.
Put a Lid on it: While simmering, place the lid on the pot to help lock in the flavors and speed cooking.The FBI is investigating its own Twitter account after it started sharing documents relevant to the election.
The Bureau launched the probe after one of its verified accounts @FBIRecordsVault, which had been unactive for almost a year, suddenly began spouting files, Think Progress reported.
One described Donald Trump's father Fred as a 'philanthropist' while another mentioned President Bill Clinton’s controversial pardon of Marc Rich, the trader who made illegal deals with Iran while his wife donated to the Democrats.
The FBI’s assistant director in the office of professional responsibility, Candice Will, said they are looking into what happened, reports the outlet.
Scroll down for video
The FBI is investigating its own Twitter account after it started sharing documents relevant to the election. One described Donald Trump's father Fred as a 'philanthropist' while another mentioned President Bill Clinton’s controversial pardon of Marc Rich
On October 30, the account, which had been dormant since October 8 of last year, suddenly sprang to life.
There was a tweet posted about Donald Trump's father, Fred, and led to an eight-page document on him.
The document lists a history of his businesses and investments and the FBI's request for a 'name check.'
'Fred C. Trump: Fred C. Trump (1905-1999) was a real estate developer and philanthropist,' the tweet said.
Hillary Clinton with Denise Rich, the ex-wife of Marc Rich, whose pardon on Bill Clinton's last day in office was controversial
That day, the account also tweeted about documents relating to Hillary Clinton: 'Hillary Rodham Clinton served as U.S. Secretary of State from January 21, 2009 to February 1, 2013. The FBI conducted an investigation into allegations that classified information was improperly stored or transmitted on a personal e-mail server she used during her tenure.'
The tweet included a 47-page document on the email investigations.
The account also released many other tweets that had nothing to do with the presidential candidates
It included aerial surveillance footage on the Baltimore protests in 2015 and documents related to Serbian-American inventor Nikola Tesla.
At first the FBI said these were standard, automatic tweets as a result of FOIA requests, but now reportedly says it is investigating its own account
On November 1, the account tweeted about the Clinton Foundation and the 2001 FBI investigation of Clinton's pardon of Marc Rich, the ex-husband of Denise Rich, the songwriter who had given $1million to the Democratic party and $100,000 to Hillary Clinton's Senate campaign.
Rich was in Switzerland when he was indicted on charged of tax evasion and making illegal oil deals with Iran.
At question would be whether the documents, released eight days before the general election, might influence them, which is against federal law.
Earlier, the FBI had said that the tweets were in response to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.Kevin Reilly returned to the Television Critics Association's press tour stage Thursday with an ambitious vision.
With an egg timer running, the former Fox chief walked a ballroom full of reporters through his plan for a "total reinvention" of Turner networks TNT and TBS, which he assumed control of a year earlier. In doing so, he laid out the four pillars of that three-year plan, with the aid of a PowerPoint presentation and a series of extended trailers. "Premium original content," he began ticking them off. The others: improving consumer experience; new business paradigm; and investment in growth.
"It’s a different environment now with SVOD in the universe, the amount of competition and the quality across the board, so it’s not going to be easy," he stressed. "But I came to Turner because I was aligned with a group of people who I felt had a fighting spirit, some answers and the resources to back it up. It’s a going to be a hairy couple of years — the next three years in the business in general, there is going to be a lot of change [and] there are headwinds on a lot of fronts."
At one point later in the panel — after his egg timer had already rang twice — Reilly suggested he could have gone a different direction entirely with the two networks but felt too much had been invested and too much equity had been built in the network’s comedy and drama brands. “A big chunk of the audience may or may not say, ‘Hey, that's a destination for originals,’ but they do know they’ve seen comedy or drama on there,” he explained. “To really do an overnight redo would be extra pain that we didn’t need to do.”
Reilly believes the opportunity at comedy-focused TBS is vast, since so many of his competitors have either abandoned or diminished their comedy presence in recent years. To that end, he is determined to make the highly rated cable network better known for Family Guy and The Big Bang Theory reruns a destination for buzz-worthy originals. Reilly has already ordered seven new series — six scripted, one reality — which he described as “unapologetic” and "daring." And in early February, he’ll add what is perhaps the network’s biggest bet, a late-night entry from The Daily Show’s Samantha Bee, titled Full Frontal.
Over at TNT, an established, profitable drama brand, Reilly is pushing away from what’s long been described as the network’s “populist,” “popcorn” strategy. During his time on stage, the exec noted that he’d been seeking “bolder," "less by the book" and "more cinematic fare.” Without overtly knocking the procedural hits on which the network built both its ratings and reputation, Reilly suggested his focus will be on lining TNT with the kinds of higher-brow, critically acclaimed serialized programming that dominate both the conversation and the awards race.
Since that transformation will take years, however, he said other holdovers like Major Crimes would continue, adding that he was pleased to have the show's robust audience. “And no network is all the same thing,” he added. Of course, Reilly did use the TCA platform to confirm that the forthcoming season of Rizzoli and Isles — a significant ratings driver with next to no cache — will be the show’s last.
To his other pillars, he revealed plans to reduce TNT’s ad load by as much as 50 percent, enabling eight to 10 more minutes of programming time. "We have overstuffed the bird," said Reilly. The announcement, which will begin with the net's three new 2016 dramas, came on the heels of similar news at sibling TruTV and is all a bid for the company to find more effective ways to cut through and connect in a cluttered environment. He also ran through a list of Turner investments — Bleacher Report, eLeague and digital incubator Super Deluxe — and stressed his desire to rewrite the rules of the business.
The final question asked of Reilly was one about his past. Has Fox’s new brass made the right decision to make the current season of American Idol the series’ last? Not skipping a beat, Reilly responded, "Now is most definitely the right time,” acknowledging the challenges he faced during the show's later years when the declining ratings wreaked havoc on the rest of the network's schedule. "I loved my Fox experience,” he added, “[but] the last two years was not a lot of fun."Preliminary results have Question 2C leading 82.8 percent to 17.2 percent
Roger Ison, left, chairman of the Loveland Broadband Committee, talks with Jason Lewitinn, a member of the committee, during a gathering Tuesday evening,at Loveland Aleworks. Early returns showed ballot Question 2C winning handily, with 83.3 percent "yes" votes. (Craig Young)
Loveland voters on Tuesday heartily approved a ballot question that will allow the city government to provide high-speed Internet to its residents.
The second batch of results released at 10:07 p.m. showed ballot Question 2C leading 82.8 percent to 17.2 percent. Actual vote totals were 16,501 yes and 3,423, according to the Larimer County Clerk's elections website.
Roger Ison, chairman of the Loveland Broadband Committee that worked for passage of 2C, celebrated the apparent margin of victory.
"I wanted to not just get it passed but get a clear mandate," he said. "Our goal was to pass it in a really strong way."
Since the passage of a state law in 2005, local municipalities have been forbidden from creating their own broadband networks.
Across Colorado on Tuesday, voters in 26 cities and towns and at least 17 counties were asked to pass similar overrides of SB 152, which when approved by the Legislature in 2005 was intended to keep cities from competing with private businesses. Before this election, about 10 Colorado cities and towns already had passed such overrides.
"Loveland has a patchwork of services that are not getting upgraded," Ison said.
The way the Internet has developed, high-speed service is becoming critically important not just for Internet uses but also for phone service and television, he said. The ballot measure will allow the city to provide all those services, either directly or indirectly.
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Without citywide broadband that's reliable and affordable, Loveland residents will be left out, Ison said. Access to high-speed Internet would give the city a competitive edge economically, he said.
Approval of the issue is just the start and doesn't guarantee that Loveland will get into the broadband business, Ison said.
"The City Council's going to have to decide what they want to do," he said, adding that the committee will disband and allow the council and citizens take the next steps.
Loveland's municipal government has a number of options, Ison said. It could go the route that Longmont has taken and create its own broadband utility, which is taking super-fast fiber optic service to every home and business in town.
Loveland also could build the high-speed infrastructure — using fiber optic lines that the Platte River Power Authority installed in Loveland years ago — and then lease the bandwidth to commercial carriers who would sell the service to residential and business customers.
Craig Young: 970-635-3634, cyoung@reporter-herald.com, www.twitter.com/CraigYoungRH.Get the biggest daily stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
It was a brutal and baffling crime which sparked the biggest murder probe 1960s Tyneside had seen.
But despite detectives being brought in from London, police leave being cancelled and 16,000 people being interviewed, who killed retired schoolteacher Katherine Lilian Armstrong in a Halloween horror at her home remains a mystery.
We look back on the night, more than 50 years ago, when real life Halloween terror came to a home in Newcastle, as 70-year-old Miss Armstrong was violently slain.
Miss Armstrong, a devout Methodist, was found battered to death at her home on Goldspink Lane in Sandyford at 10.50am on November 1, 1963.
Police were alerted after her cousin, Ada Ridley, called at the corner property, Doncaster House, and saw the curtains remained drawn. There was no answer to her repeated knocks at the door.
(Image: NCJ Archive)
A police sergeant entered the house and found Miss Armstrong’s lifeless body dressed in a dress and slippers.
The spinster had been stabbed round the face and head 28 times. She had a nylon stocking tied around her neck, and wounds on her hands suggested she put up a fight.
So serious and baffling was the crime that all leave for Newcastle’s 60-strong crime squad was cancelled, and those on leave were recalled.
Within hours of making the grim discovery, officers requested help from detectives at London’s Scotland Yard.
The Chief Constable made arrangements for Det Supt Eric ‘Jock’ Reid of the Yard’s murder squad to travel to Tyneside that evening.
Miss Armstrong, who had retired from her job as headmistress at the city’s Denton Road Junior School six years earlier, had been a regular church-goer and had sung with the choir at the Central Methodist Church, on Newcastle’s Northumberland Road, for 40 years.
Detectives initially focused on trying to piece together the missing last 16 hours of Miss Armstrong’s life.
She was last seen alive by two children who saw her looking out of her window at around 6.30pm on Thursday, October 31. She had been due to attend a choir meeting an hour later, but failed to turn up.
With the murder weapon still missing, officers searched drains, pipes and litter bins.
Det Supt Reid revealed there was no sign of forced entry to the house, making it possible Miss Armstrong knew her killer.
Meanwhile, Mrs Ridley told our reporters how she believed her cousin had been killed by teenagers who had entered her home as a prank before being disturbed. And she said she had begged Katherine to leave her large home and move closer to her family.
“My cousin’s home was big, dark and gloomy. It got no sun,” she said. “Time and time again I told her she should leave and take a flat near me. But she was very independent and said she was not at all afraid of living alone.”
(Image: NCJ Archive)
Police said they were looking into the possibility that teens could be linked to the killing. Detectives also revealed they were reading files of men released from prison after serving time for violence against older women.
These included a man from South Shields who had been the prime suspect in the unsolved murder of 71-year-old Amy Barratt, who was found battered to death in Churchill Street off Newcastle’s Scotswood Road, a year earlier. Connections to this murder were later ruled-out.
By November 4, three days after Miss Armstrong’s body was found, extra officers were drafted in to work on the murder hunt and attempt to find the weapon, and detectives vowed to search the entire city to find it.
By this time officers had taken around 200 statements from members of the public, yet they still had no suspects or a motive for the killing.
And as plans were made for police to set up a base at St Barnabas Church Hall, in Sandyford, Det Supt Reid told the Chronicle: “It’s going to be a long hard slog and it will be better to be on the spot.”
Police revealed they planned to question more than 5,000 people in the biggest house-to-house inquiry ever seen in Newcastle. Detectives went out with specially-prepared questionnaires, knocking on doors within a half-mile radius of the murder scene.
A month on from the killing a team of 50 detectives were still spending 18 hours a day working on the case and by January 1964, 16,000 local people had been interviewed.
But police admitted at an inquest into Miss Armstrong’s death they had drawn a blank.
The the murder remains unsolved to this day, and it is still possible that Miss Armstrong’s killer is walking amongst us now.
So could modern-day detectives have succeeded where their predecessors failed?
The Chronicle asked a retired Northumbria Police detective to take a look at the case.
Former DCI, Nigel Wilkinson, who has 30 years’ experience as a police officer, told us that if evidence had been preserved this case could still be cracked.
“If this had happened now we would have had a lot of new and different lines of inquiry than they had back then,” he said.
“I would definitely say though that the greatest chance of solving this case lies in forensics. But in those days all they had to go on was blood groups, there was no DNA.
“This was a frenzied attack so there must have been blood all over the house, but it’s possible not all of that blood is the victim’s, Miss Armstrong had defence wounds, which is very significant. She clearly put up a fight and it’s a possibility she caused her attacker to bleed.
“Blood swabs could have been taken. If they had been preserved you might be able to get the killer’s DNA from them now.
“The problem is if there is blood scattered all over the place you can’t take samples of every single spot, and back then they would have had no idea what was coming in terms of forensic science.
“These days there would also be a forensic examination of the stockings where the murderer would have held them.”BERLIN — Germany's military is overstretched and underfunded as its troops are engaged in anti-jihadist missions from Syria and Afghanistan to Mali while also aiding refugees at home, the defense commissioner said Tuesday, according to Agence France-Presse.
Plagued by a series of defense equipment failures, the military is "at a crossroads" and has reached "the limit of its capacity for interventions," said Hans-Peter Bartels.
Founded in 1955, the Bundeswehr had a peak force of 600,000 at the end of the Cold War when West Germany conscripted young men, and has since shrunk to a 177,000-strong volunteer force.
"The force is tired. Too much is lacking," said Bartels, a center-left Social Democrat lawmaker, demanding a significant budget increase in his annual report.
Systemic budget shortages now endanger training, military exercises and missions, while many barracks are crumbling, said Bartels, known in Berlin as "the soldiers' attorney."
Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen has pledged a greater role for Germany in international crisis fighting, marking a shift for post-World War II Germany which has long been reluctant to send troops abroad for combat missions.
According to press reports on Tuesday, relying on government sources, the German Mo |
he’s open to seeking Democratic co-sponsors and expanding the bill to cover all major statewide offices.
Chad Oban, executive director of the North Dakota Democratic Party, said even floating the proposal is a sign that Republicans are worried about a Heitkamp bid.
Oban said he’s not sure whether Heitkamp will run, but “there’s lots of Democrats that would be ecstatic about the idea.”
“[Republicans are] clearly very scared of the prospect of her running for governor, of her running a successful campaign,” he said.
Even if Democrats did prefer for their incumbents to remain in the Senate — Sens. Joe Donnelly of Indiana and Jon Tester of Montana are the other two red-state Democrats left — it’s not clear that persuasion would work.
“These are sitting senators who know what the job is and know exactly what they’d be giving up if they decided to pursue a different office,” said Matt Canter, who just stepped down as the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee’s deputy executive director. “They’re going to go through their own individual process, which I think is pretty inoculated from any pressure from party committees.”
There’s a deep divide among Democrats about whether the party could — or should — fight for their incumbents to remain in Washington.
The more Democrats in governor’s mansions after 2020, some in the party note, the more influence Democrats will have when political boundaries are redrawn — which could help put the House of Representatives and a number of state legislative chambers back into play. That’s partly how Republicans cemented their current political advantages in recent years.
“If Joe Manchin’s going to run for the governorship, the good news is we’re likely to win the governorship,” said Joe Trippi, a D.C.-based Democratic consultant. “I think the governor has more influence on how voters in that state start thinking about the two parties.”In the fall of 1999, the documentary “Beyond The Mat” was released. While it has been both praised and criticized, it served as my first real look at the downward spiral that Jake “The Snake” Roberts’ life had taken. Sure, his alcohol problems were brought up during his second run with WWE in 1996, but they were spoken of in the past tense. To see him in that light, as a fan it made me sad. I remember watching as a kid, there weren’t many guys (if any) who could match Roberts in cutting a promo.
Even as a babyface, there was always a certain darkness to his promos. Very cold and intellectual. Methodical, yet intense. Some could say he was the original “Cerebral Assassin” and that attention to detail, that psychology, translated to the ring. Roberts could always tell a great story, no matter who he was in the ring with and no matter what challenge he faced. He even managed to make an interesting match out of a blindfold match. And while it had its comedic moments, he came out of it without looking silly. He was one of those guys that I really liked as a kid, but didn’t truly appreciate the worker that he was until a little bit later. A time when I feared it was too little too late.
Much like Scott Hall, Sean Waltman and others, Roberts’ name became as synonymous with drug and alcohol abuse as it did with wrestling. The film “Beyond The Mat” seemed to be a portrait of Jake concluding his descent to rock bottom, and that disappointed me. Whether you take stock in the picture that documentary painted or not, it was clear that Jake Roberts had fallen very far, with his future and his ability to rise from that fall looking bleak.
Enter Diamond Dallas Page. A man who had been trained by Roberts when he first broke into the business. A man who had seen many friends and co-workers struggle with addiction. A man who would become a guardian angel of sorts for Jake Roberts. It was due to Jake’s helping train him when he entered the business that caused Page to want to help. And the change in Roberts is nothing short of amazing. You can look up videos on DDP’s site or see before and after pictures to see the amazing change that Jake has gone through. To see how Page and his DDP Yoga has not only gotten Jake back in good shape, but has been a source of inspiration and comfort for him, makes me really quite happy. I never wanted to see the side of Jake Roberts from “Beyond The Mat” be his legacy. So to see him getting back in shape, with a new zeal for life, it has made Jake an inspiration. That he could fall so far, and still make it back, is a tremendous feel-good story of professional wrestling.
But, the story doesn’t end there. In April of 2013 Jake made his intentions known that he wanted to be a participant in the 2014 Royal Rumble match. Although still rehabbing from shoulder surgery at the time, he was in pretty good shape. Making that announcement in April gave him a solid nine months to prepare, provided WWE would let him take part. But to me that seems to be a non-issue as Jake has made several one-off appearances with WWE over the years. But it was the “Old School” Raw from January 6, 2014 where the WWE Universe got to see the re-emergence of Jake “The Snake” Roberts. However, the question remains as to whether or not this was a one-time thing, or if Jake’s goal of entering the 2014 Royal Rumble match will come true. Personally, I’d love to see even more than a mere Rumble appearance.
Jake’s appearance on the “Old School” Raw seemed to be more than the obligatory cameos that we have grown accustomed to from the likes of Ted Dibiase, Kamala, I.R.S., and many others. He came out to help CM Punk, one of the top guys in the company, and to close the show. Maybe this was WWE’s way to gauge interest from the fans, but judging from the reactions and chants of D-D-T, that shouldn’t be a problem. But as a fan myself, I don’t want to simply see a Royal Rumble appearance. I’m not saying I think he should have a title run or anything, but with all of the hard work he has put in to get to this point, and with how much the fans do still love him, I would love to see one more short run. I think he has it in him. Just something similar to what Ricky Steamboat did in 2009. Have Jake enter the Rumble match and eliminate a young talent. Maybe Dean Ambrose, since some potential seeds could have been planted for a feud with Jake’s Raw appearance. But, it could just as easily be a different wrestler as well. Then the feud could go on, culminating in a match at Wrestlemania XXX. Jake wouldn’t have to wrestle a lot, or even make constant appearances. Have it be sporadic at first with a heavier schedule as Wrestlemania drew closer. But, maybe that’s just me being an armchair booker.
But even still, if WWE was really feeling up to it, they could also induct Roberts into the Hall of Fame in 2014. What better ending could he have after falling so far, and fighting to make it back? Like a snake shedding its skin, Jake Roberts has seemingly shed the demons from his past, and I for one, couldn’t be happier.
Feel free to comment below, and follow me on twitter @DeHaanoffate and the site @lastwordonsport.
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Main photo credit: GabboT via photopin ccLotus birthing is an option for mums who want a "more tranquil" start to their baby's life outside the womb.
Lotus birthing is not all that common - in fact, many of us haven't even heard of it. Yet for a number of women, it feels like the natural thing to do, and is viewed as an extension of the bond they establish with their baby.
Believed to have physical and emotional benefits for newborns, the practice of lotus birthing – also known as umbilical nonseverance – means the umbilical cord is not cut after birth. Instead, it remains attached to the baby and placenta until it falls off naturally. This can take anywhere from three to 10 days.
Kim Vale, mum to one, decided on a lotus birth with the support her husband.
"We wanted to allow for maximum transfer of valuable nutrients and other goodness from the placenta to our baby while supporting a slower transition to the outside world," she explains.
"We also felt that we should allow this dependent and delicate new baby to let go of her/our organ she'd been attached to for her entire life in her own time. Research supported this technique and we felt it was a very natural and healthy process."
Vale says that her experience of lotus birthing was one of calm and tranquility, and offered her baby a happy way to start life in this busy world.
"As a person who usually rushes from one place to the next, I really feel like our method of birthing was very grounding and allowed both my husband and I to slow down and appreciate this time."
But the benefits for Vale didn't just finish there.
"Having an organ attached to your baby prevents the usual 'pass around' because visitors can be a bit hesitant about holding baby and placenta. Being a protective new mum this suited me very well," she says.
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As far as Vale is concerned there were no disadvantages to lotus birth, and it's something she would highly recommend to others.
Pippa Buxton, midwife and parenting blogger, agrees.
"My first birth experience felt sidetracked from what would have been ideal for me," she says. "So I felt that by choosing a lotus birth for my second child, I would have an opportunity to reclaim possession over the placenta and to respect the importance of the role it had played in nourishing my baby within."
Buxton cherished the time that her daughter was attached to the placenta, and felt it was a good reminder of the newness of things.
However, when the placenta separated on the third day, she was ready for it.
"I was speaking to her about wanting it to be separated so I could have less concern over moving around," she explains.
Buxton has since gone on to have another son, who she also lotus birthed.
"The gift of stillness, even if forced by the practical challenges of carrying around a placenta with the baby, was a precious thing for me. I'm definitely grateful to have embraced lotus birthing and to have had that ownership over the process."
Avalon Darnesh, a birth educator, is a strong advocate of lotus birthing. She believes this process allows the baby to have a gentle transition from womb to world.
"Physically, the job of the placenta is finished within a few hours of birth, but on an energy level the benefits of remaining connected to the placenta continue until the baby is ready to let it go," she says. "It's a way to honour this connection for a few more days, rather than severing it immediately after birth."
Having experienced two "peaceful and tranquil" lotus births herself, Darnesh now promotes the benefits of it to other women.
So what exactly does it involve?
"On a practical level, once the baby and placenta are born, it's helpful to have a bucket of warm water and a strainer handy to clean the placenta, preferably within an hour or so of birth," explains Darnesh. "Doing this thoroughly will prevent the placenta from smelling, and allow it time to drain."
Darnesh recommends rinsing the placenta again a few hours later in a fresh bucket of warm water to remove any remaining residue, then leaving it to dry carefully. She then advises covering it with dried rosemary.
"It's worth being a bit pedantic about covering every nook and cranny of the placenta with rosemary to avoid smells," she says. "It's also worth dusting the cord and sprinkling rosemary liberally around the navel end of the base of the cord to assist in it drying out."
Following this, the placenta can be placed in a suitable container – Darnesh used a bamboo steamer – with a towel in the base to absorb any moisture.
Additional rosemary sprinkling can be done over the next 24 hours to aid in the dehydration.
After the initial drying period, the placenta takes much less maintenance.
"Our baby held onto her cord and placenta for six days, which is a relatively long time," says Darnesh. "The day before she let her cord go I could tell she was moving into a new level of awareness. Her eyes were becoming more focused, her breastfeeding was more eager. She was beginning to settle into this world."
Darnesh says she has no regrets about it all, adding, "It really broke everything down into baby steps, and gave her and us the space to fully immerse in each new experience, rather than being bombarded with everything all at once."Courtesy photo by N.H. Department of Transportation The stretch of I-93 where a sinkhole opened up Aug. 19 was built atop an older road, portions of which can be seen here. Below that is a century-old water line made of brick which failed, leading to the sinkhole.
Yes, there was a hole, and yes, you could sink into it. But from a geological perspective, the traffic-snarling chasm that opened up on Interstate 93 in Concord last week wasn’t really a sinkhole.
Texas may have sinkholes and Florida may have sinkholes – sometimes the Sunshine State seems to be nothing but a giant sinkhole in waiting, punctuated by the occasional invasive anaconda – but not us. We’re the Granite State and true sinkholes don’t happen in granite.
Natural sinkholes occur in what geologists call karst terrain, in which the underlying rock can be dissolved by groundwater. Limestone is the usual culprit, but the U.S. Geological Survey identifies a number of problematic soils and rock types, including gypsum and salt domes.
None of those is found in New Hampshire.
As you’ve no doubt heard, the pseudo-sinkhole that surprised drivers near the Exit 14 interchange Wednesday was man-made, albeit indirectly. A century-old pipe, built of brick and mortar by Concord for its sewer or water system prior to World War I, leaked water that ate away sand and gravel under an old roadbed that had supported this stretch of I-93 since it was built about 1956.
When enough of the supporting sand and gravel was gone, a 15-by-15-foot section of road became a 25-foot-deep hole with little warning.
Despite the suddenness of the collapse, perhaps prodded by heavy rains the day before, this process had been going on for many years.
“I call it a gestation period,” said Ernst Kastning of Concord, a retired professor of geology at Radford University. “The time from when sand starts being washed way to the final collapse can be as much as decades.”
Kastning knows whereof he speaks. He has been studying sinkholes for almost 50 years, and his other home in Virginia is actually built inside one – although he noted that it’s in a solution subsidence sinkhole that has existed for thousands of years, rather than a collapse sinkhole.
In some ways, he said, the I-93 hole appeared on schedule.
“From my observation, these start to happen after about 30 to 50 years,” he said. I-93 is among the oldest stretches of our interstate system, nearing the ripe old age of 60, and even the youngest bit of the system in Franconia Notch is entering its third decade.
These roads, like the state turnpike system, cross over plenty of pipes – thousands of them, from 12-inch culverts to 10-foot-wide crossings that might as well be bridges – said Dave Rodrigue, director of operations for the state Department of Transportation.
Dave Smith, assistant administrator of the Bureau of Turnpikes, said the turnpike system has an inspection program to identify problem sites and is working with the technology transfer program at UNH to create an interactive database that can be updated by workers in the field from handheld devices.
And while underlying pipes that are old enough to be built of brick and mortar are unusual, they’re not unusual enough.
“This type of a construction of culverts is likely in older urban areas. Manchester I would expect would have them, and Concord; you may find them in Dover, Portsmouth,” Smith said. Old mill buildings, which tended to create lots of outflow pipes to the nearest waterway, are particularly suspect.
What this means, I fear, is that we can’t be as snooty toward our limestone-underpinned brethren as our state nickname would lead us to believe. The granite beneath our feet, it seems, keeps us from worrying about house-swallowing sinkholes but not necessarily car-swallowing ones.
(David Brooks can be reached at 369-3313, dbrooks@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @GraniteGeek.)Shopify’s second-quarter financial results handily beat consensus forecasts, triggering a string of superlatives during a Tuesday morning conference call.
Here are a few of the choice descriptions offered by independent analysts: “stunning”, “striking” “one of the cleanest, most impressive growth stories I’ve seen.”
This is what they liked: Shopify reported second quarter revenues climbed 75 per cent year over year to $151.7 million compared to analysts’ estimates of $143.6 million (all figures U.S.). The company also reported a $15.9-million operating loss that came in below the company’s guidance of $18 million to $20 million.
Investors responded by bidding up the value of Shopify shares, which surged 13.7 per cent Tuesday to close at $130.61 on the TSX.
The tone of the conference call was also interesting for what it revealed about the confidence of Shopify’s executives in their company’s momentum.
“The best way to think about Shopify,” said CEO Tobias Lütke, “is that we’ve put the train on the right track and now we’re going to pick up speed.”
By this, he meant that his team has spent more than a decade building a software platform that allows merchants to sell their goods and services online. Equally important, Shopify has embedded a multitude of applications in the platform to make e-commerce easier to do, and aligned itself with thousands of business partners. More than half a million customers rely on Shopify’s technology.
The e-commerce company earns two main streams of revenue — one from subscription fees generated by the use of its platform, the second through customers’ use of the applications, which range from checkout software to inventory management and shipping services.
The company’s second-quarter results confirmed strong growth on both fronts. Subscription revenues were up 64 per cent year over year while revenue generated through applications was up 86 per cent.
Analysts also liked the fact that Shopify, which traditionally targets small- to medium-sized businesses, is breaking into larger accounts such as Nestlé, GE, Red Bull and Canadian Tire.
Not surprisingly, Shopify upped its expectations for the year as a whole. It is now forecasting revenues for the year will be $642 million to $648 million compared to analysts’ consensus estimates of $628.4 million.
Shopify chief financial officer Russell Jones attributed the better-than-expected results to the firm’s ability to anticipate the online retail industry’s shifts into multiple channels using mobile technology, along with the addition of larger customers.
“We feel we are exceptionally well-positioned for the next several years,” Jones said.
Shopify said Tuesday that Jones had informed the board of directors of his intention to retire in 2018. Jones, a former manager at Newbridge Networks and chief financial officer at Watchfire, joined Shopify in 2011. On his watch, the company has beat analysts’ estimates all nine times it has reported since it first issued shares to the public in 2015.
Thanks in large part to a pair of share offerings during the past year, Shopify now has nearly $1 billion in cash on its books, giving the company a significantly stronger balance sheet.
When queried about whether Shopify was planning a large acquisition, Jones responded: “There is nothing currently contemplated but the option is now available to us.”
Some question marks remain about the company’s performance, including when it plans finally to turn a profit. Jones predicted it would break even during the coming fourth quarter using a metric he called adjusted operating earnings, which doesn’t include the $16 million cost of compensation related to stock options and other similar incentives.
Shopify is also clearly keeping its foot on the pedal when it comes to investing in R&D (up 96 per cent year over year in the second quarter) and marketing (up 87 per cent). Administrative expenses were up a comparatively modest 51 per cent. For the moment, the priority is to enrich the Shopify technology and make sure the world knows about it.
The company employs about 2,000 globally including about 800 in the Ottawa area. Other offices are in Montreal, Toronto, Waterloo and San Francisco.
Read more about Shopify’s remarkable run.By Mahmoud El-Yousseph
November 6, 2008
After reading about Israel’s most recent Man of the Year Award recipient, I did not know whether to laugh or cry. It looks like the judging panel at the Israeli television station Channel 2 is in need of a public relations consultant. The recipient of this year’s award was Meir Dagan, the Chief of Mossad – the Israeli foreign intelligence agency. Meir Dagan is an unindicted war criminal with Arab blood on his hands.
Major Israeli daily newspapers Haaretz and Yediot Ahronot immediately denounced the choice and described it as an embarrassment to Israelis. Haaretz ran an editorial on Mr. Dagan that was titled, “Killer of the Year”. While Yediot Ahronot described Dagan as an opportunist who does not know the meaning of humanity or sympathy.
It is amazing that a media outlet would select such a man for this prestigious title that does not make Israelis feel proud at home and respected abroad. There are several noted and noble Israeli men that come to mind who would be worthy of this distinction. Here is my short list:
* Gideon Levy, an honest and sincere Israeli journalist for the Haaretz, whom the French newspaper Le Monde described as a “thorn in Israel’s flank”. He once suggested that Israel does not need to give Palestinians anything to achieve peace, just return back what is rightfully theirs.
* Rami Elhanan, a graphic designer whose 14 year-old daughter, Smadar, was killed in 1997 in Jerusalem in a suicide attack. Instead of seeking revenge, he and his family turned their energy toward advocating peace. He and his wife have traveled the world lecturing about the need to end the suffering on both sides.
* Jeff Halper, a professor of anthropology who was the only Israeli to join 43 other international peace activists last August by sailing from Cyprus into Gaza to help break the inhumane siege of 1.5 million Palestinians. Risking his life, he was able to help deliver 200 hearing aids for Palestinian children.
Man of the Year should be reserved for those whose work and contributions help positively impact the quality of life for others and enhance the image of their country. Not Meir Dagan!
Dagan was born in 1945 in the former Soviet Union. The Dagans migrated to Israel in 1950, and at age 18, Meir Dagan enlisted in the IDF.
According to Channel 2 News political analyst, Emmanuel Rosen, Dagan has a long list that is unparalleled. He is right, and here is a brief summary:
* Meir Dagan was behind the targeted assassinations of two Lebanese businessmen and several car bombings in Beirut and Damascus.
* In the 1970s, while a unit commander in Gaza under the command of Ariel Sharon, he was given orders to hunt down Palestinian resistance fighters, capture them, and then kill them. He did. But worse than that, he personally executed prisoners of war, a war crime under the Geneva Convention. Not only that, he beheaded captives using a Japanese knife or box cutter, the same kind of weapon used by 9/11 highjackers. The head of the Southern Command at that time, Ariel Sharon took supervised the atrocities.
* In the1980s, during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, Sharon, then in the position of Defense Minister, appointed Dagan Commander of Israeli forces in South Lebanon. His mission was once again to liquidate Lebanese resistance against the Israeli occupation army. Once again the same savage and barbaric method was used by Dagan against captured Lebanese resistance fighters.
How on earth is this man not on the U.S. State Department’s “no-fly list” or “terrorist watchlist”? Why did no one know of these crimes before? What did Dagan do with severed heads of his victims? Are there witness still alive who would verify these crimes? The answer is yes.
According to stories in the Israeli press, the Israeli military censored the publication of an expose by two Israeli journalists on Dagan’s shocking atrocities.
Major Gen. [Res.] Yossi Ben Hanan is on record as having witnessed Dagan killing his captives in a heinous way. Also, after their release from duty, several Israeli soldiers who committed serious crimes stated they were influenced by the horror of what they saw and what they were ordered to do by Dagan.
Thanks, Channel 2 News, for blowing Meir Dagan’s cover. Now Arab and Western human rights organizations have already added the name of Meir Dagan to the list of Israeli military officers charged with war crimes in a European court. The court has jurisdiction to prosecute war criminals for crimes committed anywhere and at any time.
It is ironic that Israel has been engaged in hunting down Nazi war criminals all over the world for the last 60 years, but it now protects one of its own citizens who committed similar war crimes against Arabs and hails him as a hero.
Meir Dagan has eluded justice for nearly 4 decades after committing a crime against humanity. It is time for him to face the appropriate justice. His crimes will remain a stain of disgrace on the forehead of Israel.
Mahmoud El-Yousseph
Retired USAF Veteran
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It sounds simple enough. But people fuck it up all the time, because people fuck everything up all the time. It's our prerogative. "One out of four people we need a new vial for, because something went wrong. We'll often get food in there, or they drink something, then spit and not realize it."
And yes, sometimes they "fuck up" literally. "Once a man sent us a vial full of semen, and I don't know HOW he could have gotten that part wrong. Our lab assistants were originally going to rule it out immediately because of how cloudy they thought the'saliva' was, but one of them decided to see anyway. She opened it up to begin testing, but as soon as she saw the viscosity, she dropped it and said, 'That's semen!' One of us had to call him directly and tell him what he did wrong, and to his credit, he did give a mortified apology."
Another thing that complicates DNA test results: interracial lovemaking. "Sometimes the saliva looks good and we test it, but then the results show something really messed up. We had a few tests where the genetic markers where everywhere, on five continents. It's really rare for that to happen. The percentage points were 10 percent in India, 10 percent in China, 5 percent Native American, 10 percent Sub-Saharan Africa, 20 percent Scandinavia-Norway. You can imagine. I called [some of these customers], I explained what the situation was and went down the results, and what always happened was that they would say yes to half, and no to the other half of the ancestry they knew. When we asked if they knew anyone who fit the other ancestry results, they would say, 'Oh, my husband/wife/fiancee/boyfriend/girlfriend is!'"
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It's not uncommon for tests to take way more than one vial to work. There have been cases of users repeatedly sending in vials, as many as eight times. "It's not unheard of. And I've had more than eight. We had someone who tried 14 times before it finally worked. They had bad teeth, and little tooth bits kept going in the saliva and messing up the results. They weren't big pieces, maybe like grains of sand. But it was enough. By the sixth time it happened, she was known as 'Tooth Girl,' and I would get a message saying, 'Tooth Girl struck again.' She never called once, either. Usually, by the third time, they'll ask what went wrong and how to do it better. Maybe they didn't clean good, or maybe something bled. It happens. But she never asked, and kept sending in vials with tiny bits of teeth."
Eventually, Tooth Girl's tests worked out and they were able to send her useful information. Morgan and his co-workers would never fuck with someone for having bad teeth. Not when there are so many better reasons...Bitcoin Rallies Ahead of Bitcoin ETF Decision
This week the price of Bitcoin rallied from $980, past $1000 to a monthly high at $1127, inches away from the $1139 high of January 5. This strong run was partly fueled by speculation on a the Winklevii Twins’ proposed Bitcoin Trust ETF. On March 11, 2 members of the SEC will rule on whether to approve or reject the application. With as much as $ 300 million expected to flow in if approved, lofty $2000 targets are on the table. This week’s rally was either pricing in approved ETF news (on insider’s knowledge), or it was, and is, a massive pre-ETF pump that dumps if the ETF is declined.
On last week’s analysis, I expected a sideways consolidation within the $980 – $1020 range. But the market proved me wrong. Over the past 7 days, price has broken past $1000, rallied up to a local $1066 high, corrected to a shallow $1039 bottom and is now seems intent blowing past an 18 month high.
Looking at the 1 hour and 2 hour chart, this rise up to $1134 on BitFinex is part of an unfolding 5 wave structure from the $974 bottom of February 13. The chart above labels this bottom as 2, a retracement of an impulsive wave 1. Wave 3, ongoing as at writing this, follows wave 2 as an impulsive wave, and should continue up to a peak price; perhaps $1134 further up past $1139..
Thereafter, a corrective wave 4 retracement follows after wave 3 peak, finds a bottom, before a last impulse wave 5. As as writing this, on the 6 and 12 hour charts, bitcoin is trading at $1127, still within a wave 3, so further upside could materialize. Even after wave 4, a 5th wave should inch higher or even break past $1139 high. Bullish hopes of breaking the all time high are certainly warranted, for now.
Expert trader Raoul Paul tweeted
“Well, it looks like it wants to make a stab at all time highs. Usually, when it takes out the previous major high it accelerates…”
On this 3 day chart, another 5 wave structure is in force. This is a higher degree fractal – a self similar pattern appearing at every degree of a trend. The $1139 high was the peak of wave 3, that retraced down to $735 for a 4 bottom and has resumed a trend up in a 5th wave – the final leg in the direction of the dominant trend.
Wave 5 is typically terminal, and precedes a 3 wave a-b-c corrective wave in the opposite direction of the dominant trend. The current wave fractals will be no different, and is only a matter of time. The question is how far up will price overshoot?
From talking to traders, potential targets for a wave 5 top on the weekly and 3D are $1200, $1400, $1600 and $2000.
This means immediately after this peak, a 3 wave structure will correct to at least $750, the wave 4 bottom. This is why I am cautious at these price levels. While it looks bullish, the events after a top could quickly turn bearish. Watch out for either a bull trap or a bear trap
If indeed the ETF fails approval, then any ensuing correction down will be catalyzed by this news. If approved, then the anticipated $300 million expected to flood into COIN ETF will fuel a massive price rise.
Bitcoin Fundamental News
Bitcoin ETF for Dummies
Spencer Borgart, of Needham & Co., expects the COIN ETF will not be approved, and will either be rejected or a proposed rule change, necessary for the ETF will pass by virtue of expiry of the March 11 deadline. Needham’s mini statement to investors in January stated it had a ‘very low’ probability and was drastically ‘overstated’ with odds below 25%
“the confluence of fear, uncertainty and doubt coupled with basic incentives at the SEC will make it very difficult to get approval.”
He is not the only one. Insider Vinny Ligham tweeted
“So far so good when I posted this at $810. Doubt the ETF decline (likely outcome) would even push it down this far [$700].”
ETF.com ‘s Bitcoin ETF for Dummies is a great interview with Spencer and explores the Bitcoin Trust ETF.
“I definitely don’t expect a crash. There would be some downside to disapproval. We’ll see price slump a bit, but I would guess it won’t slump more than 10%.”
I expect the ETF will not get approved.
Bitcoin Weekly Price Forecast
This week, I expect price to push further upside and break the all time high. I expect a wave 4 correction on the 1 day and 12 hour chart.
Beyond that, my gut feel says this run up is a fool’s trap: smart money exiting while dumb money takes the bait. With the looming ETF decision at large, a break of the high would suck in more late buyers and possibly drag this final 5th wave further up
My main concern is a top, and what form it might take, in anticipation of a break downwards. I still maintain a retest to $700 is inevitable. I too have been surprised by the energy of this recovery from $754, but, the more i ponder and stare at charts, the more i am convinced whatever top we get, will precede a 3 wave A – B – C correction to at least $700.
Contact this author via [email protected]Fans of the Finnish battle metallers, Turisas, dominated the crowds on Wednesday night of the 70000tons of Metal cruise. Metal as Fuck sat down with their charismatic violinist, Olli Vanska, to find out what listeners can expect from the fourth studio album due in May 2013.
There is a sticky blood red substance on the cover of my notebook. I attribute this to the hoards of metalheads covered in a mixture of black greasepaint and sticky red stage blood, strolling the ship last night after Turisas' second set. I check, and yes it's corn syrup stage blood smudged on the cover and over the notes on the band's energetic blood encrusted set. Hailing from Hämeenlinna in Finland, these warriors of the metal world grace the stage in Mad-Max-esque costumes and full 'warpaint'. They are followed by a loyal legion of fans painted'red as blood and black as night' and after an early set last night, it was hard to miss who had boarded this ship to hear the Finnish battle metallers ahead of their North and South American Guards of Glory tour.
Olli Vänskä sits opposite me in a stateroom of the Majesty of the Seas fresh from educating a packed room full of fans with his violin clinic, clean of warpaint but still bearing his characteristic cheeky grin. The band have boarded the ship straight from a winter of recording their fourth studio album, and I am keen to find out more. However, I am not going to get away with any of the basic interview questions today, "You know the all the specifics," he points out.
As it happens, I do. Including that the recording of the album has continued in one of the band's staterooms onboard the cruise ship. "Robert [Engstrand] was doing some synths and stuff," Olli explains. "Mathias [Nygard] was dead drunk last night and he was supposed to do some remixes for the listening session, but I don't know how successful he was. But he's been working otherwise hard on them in the cabin. There are vocal harmonies still to do, I think it will go into mix on the 6th of February. So it's about a week. A lot of fun going to be on the tour bus and here hopefully. What can I say, interesting stuff coming out."
Turisas have set themselves an ambitious schedule for the writing and recording of their fourth full-length studio album, entering the studio in November last year. Olli believes this pressure will benefit the follow-up album to the successful 2011 release Stand Up and Fight. "It's good for us, we could easily spend three to four years if it was up to Mathias, who is producing this album. He's such a guy that he needs to paint himself into a corner, so to say, have some deadlines that he has to meet. There was no better way than to do it before the tour, because it created some hassles. Then again there are other bands with deadlines that they have to meet. I think it kind of makes you really think straight and leave the clutter out. To not focus on every small detail that nobody hears. I mean we are not doing mediocre work or anything like that, but it's mainly a philosophy of how much you really invest in fine-polishing something. He's a perfectionist, so he's been glad about the whole thing and I think everybody else as well."
Ten years ago, Turisas was a fur covered, blood smeared motley band of barbarians. Now their image is more refined, along with their sound. The differences between the first album, Battle Metal, and the most recent Stand Up and Fight display an overall maturing of tone which has had the band come under fire from some who have labelled their last release 'Broadway'. Olli responds to this, "I guess it's just a matter of perception. If you just want to see Turisas as a pure Folk Metal band, which we don't want to be, they always put us in the same box. You guys play folk metal, pagan metal, whatever. I |
two days since the attack, Erdogan has rounded up around 3,000 military members, including top-ranking officials, as well as judges.
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/2a0IDxGIn October, when David O’Connor last visited Brazil as part of a decade-long research program studying drug-resistant strains of HIV, one of his Brazilian collaborators had a request.
“He asked about using some of the technologies we have developed to look for new viruses to study some unusual cases of a birth defect, microcephaly, in the north of Brazil,” says O’Connor, a University of Wisconsin–Madison pathology professor.
The babies born with underdeveloped brains and small heads were the relatively quiet beginning of worry over the spread of Zika virus, concern that has grown louder outside Brazil with an international outbreak and emergency attention from public health officials around the world.
“At the time we didn’t know it would explode into the public consciousness like it did,” O’Connor says. “But we did start planning.”
That planning will soon culminate in some of the first experiments studying Zika virus in monkeys, conducted by a broad UW–Madison team that includes the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center and expertise in infectious disease, pregnancy and neurology.
Pathobiological sciences Professor Jorge Osorio and research scientist Matthew Aliota, who were first to identify the Zika virus circulating in Colombia in October, provided essential Zika virology expertise. Ted Golos, professor of obstetrics and comparative biosciences, studies how other infections during pregnancy impact newborn health. The research group has extensive experience with viruses in humans and nonhuman primates — such as HIV and influenza — and their work will be conducted in secure facilities designed for the safe study of potentially harmful viruses.
Their work will start with basic questions about Zika virus infection. Very little is known about the virus even though more than 50 years have passed since it was discovered in the Zika Forest in Uganda.
Until recently, Zika was expected to cause little more than flu-like symptoms — the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists fever, joint pain and a headache — in about 20 percent of the people it infected.
“That’s why it’s an understudied virus,” O’Connor says. “The viruses that get the most attention are the ones that makes us the most sick.”
The rapid spread of the virus and potential connection to an otherwise rare birth defect have drawn plenty of attention from the public and from government officials.
“People want clear answers, and we want to be able to make clear public health recommendations,” says Thomas Friedrich, a UW–Madison professor of pathobiological sciences. “There are a lot of countries in the tropics right now saying, ‘Don’t get pregnant until 2018.’ That’s not a sustainable public health recommendation.”
In January, the National Institutes of Health made Zika virus research a high priority, and the groundwork underway at UW–Madison led to NIH support for a series of studies of the virus in macaques, monkeys whose physiology and immune systems are similar to humans.
The researchers will track the effects of initial infections, but also try to establish whether one Zika virus infection provides some protection against future infection — like chicken pox does.
Zika does not mutate particularly fast, the feature of HIV and influenza that makes those viruses hard to pin down with vaccines (like HIV) and leaves people open to reinfection seasonally (like flu). This may make Zika easier to head off with a vaccine, but the best sort of immune response to provoke with a vaccine is not yet known.
“That’s why we need to have data that shows what natural immunity looks like and the sort of immune responses that arise to protect an individual when they encounter that virus again,” O’Connor says.
Perhaps more hotly anticipated will be results from planned studies of Zika and pregnancy.
“We strongly suspect Zika infection during pregnancy is associated with birth defects such as microcephaly,” Friedrich says. “But we don’t know how strong the link is, or what percentage of women who get infected might give birth to children with birth defects.”
“The key messages are that we don’t know a lot. We will know a lot 12 months from now. But it’s really important we let data guide the decision making, not our guts.” David O’Connor
Or whether the timing of the infection during pregnancy matters. Or whether it is direct infection of a developing fetus by the virus or the immune response the infection sparks in pregnant women that causes problems like microcephaly.
“There are questions that cannot be safely and ethically addressed in humans that are absolutely vital,” O’Connor says. “What we will learn about Zika from the monkeys will hopefully have an immediate application when figuring out how to deal with this from a public health perspective.”
Working with the Zika virus from the original 1947 discovery in Africa and from the ongoing South American outbreak — provided by UW–Madison Osorio and Aliota, who were first to identify Zika virus circulating in Colombia in October — the researchers also hope to identify any important differences in infection by the different strains.
O’Connor also hopes results from the studies will help settle minds around the world, and help change the tenor of Zika news stories.
“The more hyperbolic the media coverage is, the more it gets repeated, reposted, retweeted,” he says. “The key messages are that we don’t know a lot. We will know a lot 12 months from now. But it’s really important we let data guide the decision making, not our guts.”Last night/ this morning I only slept two hours. I slept through two alarms and woke up at 4:45am. My flight through American Airlines from the Sunport in Albuquerque, New Mexico to Dallas, Texas was to leave at 6:00am. Good thing my place is only 10 minutes from the airport, that might be one of the few benefits of living in the South Valley. That’s if you don’t count having exotic pets and as many cars as you would like in your front yard… but it was off to San Antonio, Texas to cover the days leading up to April 20th’s Austin Trout vs. Saul Canelo Alvarez world championship fight.
After a 30 minuted delay our flight was headed to Dallas. In the connecting flight from Dallas to San Antonio I sat next to a guy who couldn’t have been more than 20 years old. Skinny as a twig. He was carrying a large envelope. I didn’t think anything of it. After asking what San Antonio is like he replied “I’m actually from Pennsylvania and I’m headed there for bootcamp.” I thanked him for enlisting and I told him that I admired his decision to do so.
The poor kid had been traveling for two days in and out of airports due to American Airlines computer system experiencing a huge glitch the day before. The glitch grounded over 1,500 passengers and canceled 250 flights.
I arrived not knowing how I would travel through San Antonio on a daily basis. Something you would think I would have researched since I have been here and the damn city is the countries seventh largest. Nonetheless I went with the flow rented a car and immediately drove down to the Alamo plaza in downtown San Antonio. When I arrived there was a boxing ring set up 100 yards in front of the Alamo. Austin Trout had just gotten done wrapping up his workout and was headed back to his hotel. I was able to catch him and greet him as he jumped in the team’s black SUV.
Soon after a media scrum was held with Golden Boy Promotions Oscar De La Hoya. The media that was present was overwhelming Mexican. I ended the Spanish questions to the chagrin of some reporters and presented a few in English. Once De La Hoya finished answering questions Saul Canelo Alvarez would join him in the barricaded area to address the crowd, speak to journalists and sign autographs.
Here’s a recap of the how the day went…
Related Posts via CategoriesThe Angular Jungle
AngularJS is a big JavaScript framework and it gives you just enough rope to hang yourself with. I’ve written a lot about it in this blog and really hope that I have made a noteworthy impact on improving the general availability of resources. I’ve been working on a project using AngularJS at my dayjob lately and noticed some antipatterns and pitfalls that people fall into when they are new to Angular (myself included, so they’re based on my own sweat and blood learning the framework) and I’ve consolidated some of them here for you to peruse. Hopefully I’ll save you some pain.
They are:
Not having a dot in your ng-model (or other places you need it!) Extreme overuse of event broadcasting and listening ( $emit, $broadcast, $on ) Too much stuff in controllers Misunderstanding or misusing isolate scope Using the outside world instead of doing things the Angular way
1. Not having a dot in your ng-model (or other places you need it!)
Angular’s directives provide fantastic flexibility and an amazing way to write HTML that describes its interactive behavior in a clean and clear fashion. They provide a way to create isolate scope to promote reusability and creating a directive that uses this looks something like:
angular.module('myApp').directive('myDir', function () { return { restrict: 'E', scope: { aProperty: '=', bProperty: '&' }, // and so on... }; });
In the above definition aProperty gets passed in through an attribute (normalized to a-property ) and creates a two-way data binding between the parent scope and the child scope. That means if you change one, the other will be updated to match it and vice versa. However, because of the way that JavaScript’s prototypal inheritance works, sometimes this may not work “magically” as you would expect. I will dicuss a particular situation with ng-model here but know that understanding how this all ties together will save you lots of tears due to ng-switch, ng-repeat, etc. creating their own scopes (and “shadow” properties in the prototype chain) that throw off the way you might be expecting things to work.
In particular, when you have an ng-model bound to a property on $scope which was originally passed in using = in your child directive:
“Whenever you have ng-model there’s gotta be a dot in there somewhere. If you don’t have a dot, you’re doing it wrong.”
Words from the mouth of Miško himself.
This is because primitives (String, Number, etc.) passed in to a child scope create their own “shadow” property in the child scope, which hides the original property on the parent scope due to the way that JavaScript prototypes work (the prototype chain will not need to be consulted to determine the value of foo if foo is not an Object or Array ). If they are bound using = and they are objects, however, foo.bar will be bound correctly to the original property in the parent scope.
Understanding this will save you soooo much pain. Seriously, if you’re serious about Angular at all, take the time to read the offical article I link at the end of this section. Then read it again.
I suspect that a misunderstanding of this (communicating effectively from scope to scope up and down the prototype chain) is at least partially what contributes to people digging themselves further and further into a hole by misusing event broadcasting/emitting/listening and isoalte scope, as detailed later on in this article. When things spiral out of control in this manner, it can really be pure torture. You’re fighting against the framework, and nobody wins in that battle, least of all the people who have to maintain your code.
The point is, most people new to Angular (and even people who have been doing it for a while) expect this to work :
<p> You have {{dollars}} dollars </p> <crazy-awesome-widget ng-repeat="account in accounts" info="dollars"> </crazy-awesome-widget> <script> angular.module('dotDemo').controller('OuterCtrl', function($scope) { $scope.dollars = 5; $scope.accounts = ["Tom", "Bobby", "Sally"]; }); angular.module('dotDemo').directive('crazyAwesomeWidget', function() { return { restrict: 'E', template: '<input type="text" ng-model="info" />', scope: { info: '=' } }; }); </script>
Can you spot the bug? If you’ve been paying attention, you should be able to pick it out easily.
Come on, intone it with me. I need a dot. I need a dot. I need a dot.
In the above code the input boxes won’t update the property in the parent scope. The prototype chain creates a new property info which is unique to the child scope instead of bound to the parent scope. It won’t work this way. You need an object. The code should look like this instead:
<p> You have {{customerData.dollars}} dollars </p> <crazy-awesome-widget ng-repeat="account in accounts" info="customerData"> </crazy-awesome-widget> <script> angular.module('dotDemo').controller('OuterCtrl', function($scope) { $scope.customerData = { dollars: 5 }; $scope.accounts = ["Tom", "Bobby", "Sally"]; }); angular.module('dotDemo').directive('crazyAwesomeWidget', function() { return { restrict: 'E', template: '<input type="text" ng-model="info.dollars" />', scope: { info: '=' } }; }); </script>
Boom, synchronization from parent scope => isolated child scopes and back again.
Big shout out to Reddit user Commentares who caught a flaw in the original implementation of my first example in the first draft of this article.
See for reference:
2. Extreme overuse of event broadcasting and listening ( $emit, $broadcast, $on )
Everybody loves to hate on GOTOs. Poor little GOTOs. All they ever wanted to do was help control program execution flow and branching, and they get the Rodney Dangerfield treatment. They’re reviled with that sort of knee-jerk reaction that only programmers can revile something with. You know the type. They’re the ones who got burned by git rebase one time (it was their own fault) and spend way too much effort and energy spreading FUD about rebases. But I digress. My point is, there’s this Angular antipattern I’ve seen and fallen into, where $scope.$emit and $scope.$broadcast have become the new GOTO. Except that it’s shiny and new and Angular-ey, so everybody gives it a pass. $scope.$watch can kind of be abused in the same way, but the others are slightly easier to pick on.
I really feel that you should keep manual event broadcasting and catching out of your code if possible. It doesn’t usually do a whole lot of good and confuses the hell out of the people who have to maintain your code (including you!). The problem is thus: Let’s say you have something going wacky in a $scope.$on. You set a breakpoint in the defined callback function that runs when that $scope.$on catches its defined event. OK, now what? Perhaps you look to see where the event was thrown from. With constrained eventing, debugging shouldn’t be a problem, but if you or your team lets their discipline slip into event spaghetti you’re in for a world of pain. Usually this can be avoided by careful use of services and proper scope inheritance.
3. Too much stuff in controllers
It’s unfortunate that I have to point this one out, but as I’ve personally fallen into this pitfall especially when first getting started with Angular, I suppose I can give people a free pass on making this mistake once or twice. After that, however, they should definitely learn.
Your controllers should be lean. Say it with me.
My controllers should be lean.
My controllers should be lean.
My controllers are lean.
This means that absolutely everything which can be stripped out of them, should be. They exist to coordinate the delicate dance between your other resources (services and directives).
For instance, I came across a line introduced in one of our controllers that looked like this:
$('body').attr('data-state','someNewState');
This was my reaction upon finding this code in this controller:
Note: My actual reaction was way more passive aggressive (wrote about it in my blog! Showed that guy).
In Angular, DOM manipulation is done inside directives. NOT controllers. DOM manipulation is done inside directives. Every aspiring Angular programmer should have this branded into his or her brain.
Other common things that slip into controllers:
Ajax (sometimes disguised in a half-baked abstraction) - this should be done in services
Tangled mess of event handling as discussed in last section
Things that are basically service or factory logic, but eh I’m too lazy to move this code
Don’t do it. If you keep your controllers lean and small they will reward you with readability and ease of debugging. If you let them spiral out of control you will be punished unceremoniously.
4. Misunderstanding or misusing isolate scope
Isolate scope is really nice. It prevents directives from just accessing / modifying the parent scope willy-nilly, opening the door to all kinds of bugs associated with global-ish scope, and promotes reusability. But it’s important to realize that this is the point of isolate scope. Consequently, if you’re passing a bunch of properties into your directive’s $scope, and then cascading them downwards through a variety of child scopes, you are probably doing something wrong.
I’ve seen this a bit. If you are passing a bunch of information down to your directive’s scope, either it should be inheriting by default (in which case you don’t want isolate scope), or you should bundle the properties that you can together in an object or two to keep the scope definition nice and clean and promote readability of the HTML.
5. Using the outside world instead of doing things the Angular way
It’s really tempting, especially when first learning Angular, and directives in particular, to just write jQuery code like we always have that happens to be wrapped in an Angular directive. While this is still probably better than rolling with no framework at all and creating a tangled mess, it indicates a basic ungrok of the Angular way.
Things should be done in Angular, when they can. Angular provides so much niceness in the form of built-in directives, services ( $window, $timeout, $http et al. wrap these things for you so you don’t have to worry about accidentally interfering with Angular’s internals!) that we should only reach for custom solutions when we have to (and believe me, you will - just think carefully before doing so). Just wrapping jQuery code in a directive doesn’t do us any good, and creates complications when we need to start doing stuff like chucking $scope.$apply into things. So think things through, and do them the Angular way.
Likewise, dependencies that you had before (modules you are relying on etc.) should be refactored into e.g. factories for increased ease of use and testability. If you have the time to use Angular in your project, you have the time to do this too. Angular will reward you with layers of increased richness.
Fin
I really hope that this article helps people avoid these bad behaviors, or at least see them when they come across them and refactor them into something better.
Until next time, stay sassy Internet. And consider subscribing to my mailing list.Image credit: Luc De Leeuw
Back in the 90's when the web was fresh and new and full of promise, we imagined information shared freely around the globe in a technical utopia. Our lives would be immeasurably better and everyone would share cat photos and live in harmony. What happened? Spam happened. (At least if you ask me.)
I've done back-of-the-envelope calculations and figured that I've lost thousands of dollars to spam over the years. Not to some fake Nigerian prince, but in lost productivity. Today, I've got email spam to a manageable level, but I've seen the rise in comment spam on this blog. I like to keep comments open and not require registration or Disqus, but lately I've been needing to clear out the spam every few days. What to do?
Comment Spam Countermeasures
As soon as I decided on having open comments, I installed Mollom. It worked well, but recently either the volume or the evasiveness of spam has started to overwhelm Mollom. I knew I needed something more, but I was holding off on installing Disqus to manage the comments—I'd rather not force people to log in when it shouldn't be necessary.
It's important to identify the enemy... who are they? Actually, it's not who, but rather what. The enemy is a 'bot. Spammers develop spambot software that scans webpages for text fields to fill out and link back to their sites. What if we give the 'bots a text field to fill out to satisfy their robotic work ethic, but guide them away from fields that will actually be displayed on the site. That's exactly what the Honeypot module for Drupal does.
Honeypot uses a couple of techniques to confound spambots, but the main one is to create fake text fields on the page that are not visible to visitors. The fields are visible to the 'bots, however. They fill them out with their links to "enlargement products", or whatever it is and smugly move on to the next spam target. Little do they know, the links never make it onto the page.
There's a little bit more to how Honeypot does it's job. You can read a more in-depth article here: http://www.midwesternmac.com/blogs/jeff-geerling/introducing-honeypot-fo...
Does it work?
It works. Since I installed Honeypot, I've had zero comment spam actually make it through. I still have Mollom installed and it gives me statistics on the spam repelled. It's increased in quantity, but still nothing makes it through. I'd like to think that we're one step closer to that cat-photo-sharing technological utopia, but I'm not letting my guard down yet. The war against spam is an ongoing one with every measure answered by a countermeasure. It's not over yet.BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission said on Thursday it may seek to implement tax reform to raise more revenue from online giants without the backing of the United States and other rich nations, in a move that could spark a new transatlantic dispute.
The Google logo is shown reflected on an adjacent office building in Irvine, California, U.S. August 7, 2017. REUTERS/Mike Blake
The EU is frustrated at how long it is taking the world’s rich nations to reach a deal on how to tax online firms like Google (GOOGL.O) fairly. These companies on average pay bills in Europe that are less than half of those of other firms.
To prevent some smaller EU economies such as Ireland or Luxembourg, which host many foreign online businesses, from blocking the move, the commission is also raising the prospect of using little-known EU rules that would prevent states from vetoing decisions on tax matters. Usually the EU decides on tax issues only with the unanimous support of its 28 members.
The commission on Thursday outlined three options for taxes aimed at internet companies that could be agreed upon relatively quickly at the EU level or by a smaller group of EU nations.
One was for a tax on the turnover rather than the profits of digital firms, another would put a levy on online ads, and a third would impose a withholding tax on payments to internet firms.
In the longer term the EU wants to change existing taxation rights to make sure digital firms with large operations but no physical presence in a given country pay taxes there instead of being allowed to reroute their profits to low-tax jurisdictions.
The EU’s preferred option would be for an agreement on this at the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which includes the United States and Japan.
But “the EU must prepare to act in the absence of adequate global progress,” Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis told a news conference in Brussels, saying that a legislative proposal may come next spring.
Such a move is likely to upset Washington and other rich nations that are home to many global tech giants.
In a document setting out the distortions created by the low taxes paid by digital businesses, the commission cited several U.S. firms such as internet retailer Amazon (AMZN.O), social media host Facebook (FB.O), online entertainment firm Netflix (NFLX.O) and short-term rental website Airbnb.
In the report, the commission emphasized that unilateral initiatives taken in the EU would need to be carefully assessed to ensure they are compatible with World Trade Organization (WTO) rules.
“We would urge caution against EU-only measures that could run the risk of creating double taxation,” Chas Roy-Chowdhury, head of taxation at the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), a group representing accountants worldwide, said.
REMOVING VETOES
The EU will first have to reach a compromise agreement among its 28 members by December. Some states have already voiced their opposition to new taxes on digital firms, especially if decided on without a global deal in place.
To overcome this, the commission said there was a debate on whether to strip EU countries of their veto rights on tax issues, based on an article in the EU treaties that allows such exceptional action in the event of market distortions.
Slideshow (2 Images)
“There is a broader discussion whether we should move to decision-making based on majority also in the area of taxation,” Dombrovskis told reporters.
But he added: “Currently we are basing our proposal on current rules which foresee unanimity.”
Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker last week evoked another special procedure to move to majority-based rather than unanimous decisions in matters of taxation.SUMMARY: We propose to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain The Boeing Company Model 777 airplanes. This proposed AD was prompted by a report of cracking in the fuselage skin underneath the satellite communication (SATCOM) antenna adapter. This proposed AD would require repetitive inspections of the visible fuselage skin and doubler if installed, for cracking, corrosion, and any indication of contact of a certain fastener to a bonding jumper, and repair if necessary. We are proposing this AD to detect and correct cracking and corrosion in the fuselage skin, which could lead to rapid decompression and loss of structural integrity of the airplane.
Update 3/12, 16:43:
[Here was an earlier anonymous tip I received saying that the AD did not apply to MH370].
Update 3/13 0:00:
I got an email from a reporter suggesting that the AD did, in fact apply to MH370.
Update 3/13 2:36: Latest statement, straight from a Boeing spokesperson: The antenna covered by the pending AD was not installed on MH370, so that airplane is not subject to the AD or the related Service Bulletin. So, it has been determined that the AD was not relevant to this plane. However, it served as the key inspiration for an alternative explanation.
New Summary:
There’s a chance that MH370 flew for hours on autopilot after we lost radar contact with it. The idea is that some kind of decompression event incapacitated the passengers and crew, while also somehow disabling Satellite and Radar communication systems.
If such a decompression were caused by a rupture in the skin of the fuselage, there’s a chance satellite and/or radar antennas would have suffered direct physical damage from the blowout.
Original Summary:
When I first wrote this, it seemed likely that a fuselage section near the SATCOM antenna adapter failed, disabling satellite based - GPS, ACARS, and ADS-B/C - communications, and leading to a slow decompression that left all occupants unconscious. If such decompression left the aircraft intact, then the autopilot would have flown the planned route or otherwise maintained its heading/altitude until fuel exhaustion.
A slow decompression (e.g. from a golfball-sized hole) would have gradually impaired and confused the pilots before cabin altitude (pressure) warnings sounded. There’s also the possibility of an extremely-rapid decompression, and it’s described toward the end of this post.The soldiers in Colorado Springs accused of robbing a medical marijuana dispensary say they planned to destroy the marijuana not use it. If authorities believe this, well it might as well be one of the greatest hoaxes because then why would they have been wearing ski masks or being frantic about locking themselves inside the dispensary?
Two of the three Fort Carson soldiers told officers they were trying to steal the marijuana so they could dispose of it, not smoke it. Police say the three men were arrested on second-degree burglary charges after they accidentally locked themselves inside the medical marijuana dispensary during the robbery attempt.
Officers say they were on an unrelated call nearby when they heard the robbery going on next door. It is unknown if any of the soldiers have an attorney right now, but what they are claiming as their defense is ludicrous. I feel sorry for the medical marijuana dispensary owners.
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Tags: Colorado Springs, Marijuana, Medical Marijuana, soldiersAbout time, right? Just took them about 42 attempts!
Format: The above image pretty much says it all, but moreover, the challenge producer who thought this up deserves a raise. Whatever the expense was in flying all the queens back and housing them, it was worth it because this episode had me on the edge of my seat the entire time (especially considering how unfortunately unpredictable this season’s eliminations have been).
Quite frankly, I wish this would be the new format for the makeover episode because I really wouldn’t change a thing with this episode. Wait, that’s a lie; I totally would change that weird scene where the eliminated queens had to campaign for their return by competing with who has had the most unfortunate life. It was like, “I had no-homo therapy!” “Well, I had a stepdad!” “Well, I had an abusive stepfather!” “Well, I was born without a personality!”
Like it could’ve been cool if any of the conversations felt even a smidge organic, but they didn’t and it was just uncomfortable.
Anyway, let’s talk about some queens:
Ginger Minj and Sasha Belle– I mean there’s was no way that the road to victory was paved with pink cheetah print. Unless victory for you means New Jersey; in which case yes, that’s exactly how those roads are paved.
I can’t imagine how rich Ginger made tobacco companies solely based off how many she must’ve had this episode; I feel like as soon as the reveal happened she just went off to chain smoke a full carton. Which is justified considering Ginger and Sasha did not turn out to be a winning pair though, fear not, that hasn’t to put them off continuing to give each other disastrous makeovers:
Also, anyone else notice how uncomfortable Sasha Belle was during every conversation she had with Ginger this episode? It was like:
Like she was Tina Belcher-ing it in the severest and it was hilarious. Like bitch knew how she was probably going to be shown this episode and she was not going to add a single piece of kindling to the fire by opening her mouth.
Speaking of things Sasha has a hard time with:
Gurl cannot keep a breast on to save her life.
Gotta bolt those things down next time, clearly trying to tether them to flesh, even other people’s flesh, isn’t enough.
Jaidynn Diore Fierce and Tempest DuJour– To some degree I understand Tempest’s level of bitterness in coming back only to have her opportunity to rejoin the competition shut down from the get-go, and I even wholeheartedly agree that she should have lasted longer, but damn, can’t be looking to point the finger for your losing when your attempt at a comedic theme was disco. Which is a punchline I don’t think has landed a single time in the history of ever.
Concerning Jaidynn, now that she’s gone I’d like to take a moment to say I am so fucking done with the phrase, “C’mon ___” and ten times more done with hearing queens tongue pop. Like unless your Alyssa Edwards or Raven or someone who did it before tongue popping before it became it’s own language, let’s dial it back to a two. Am I the only one on board with semi-retiring it? I even made something to commemorate the good times:
Is it weird that framed like this it looks like Laganja is literally using her last breath to tongue pop and then passing on? I feel like that’s the most accurate prediction of her deathbed scene that could ever be made. That or a death drop into her own casket.
Katya and Mrs. Kasha Davis- Well, crisis averted, kids, Katya didn’t end up needing to set the returned queen’s house on fire; so Katya gets to stay in the race another week and Trixie gets to keep her home.
Although it would’ve been a great finale to Katya’s Rugrets series to have her revealing that she’s been in jail this whole time for setting the returned queen’s house on fire.
Moreover, the decision to conjoin at the vaginas was fantastic and had Kasha done better on the show, she likely would’ve won the challenge, but I almost wished Katya, with her gymnastic abilities, would’ve done something even more bizarre like a CatDog conjoining. But whatever, considering they make the queens stand on stage for hours it’s not like the queens are willing to treat themselves to more punishment along the way.
Anyway, it would have been nice for Katya to have won, but whatever, another time I’m sure; Kasha however seemed to take it a little harder considering she’s auditioned for this show a few times. How many was it again? Three times? Four? Sixty-Eight? I feel like she doesn’t say it often enough; Kasha, how many was it?
Oh, you forgot too? Whatever, I’m sure it’ll come to me.
Kennedy Davenport and Jasmine Masters– Like how is this joining with only one piece of fabric covering both of them besides the shawl? Are they supposed to be joined at the kneecap? And why the hell would they even make a slit where they’re supposed to be joined? Kennedy what is going on in that brain of yours?
Well to answer my own question, apparently half-baked ideas like this attempt at catchphrasing:
No, Kennedy, just no. Your confessional privileges are revoked. You can have a confessional scene again once you agree to stop trying shit like this.
Miss Fame and Kandy Ho– Finally she got the joke, y’know, the one that she’s been literally hearing for episodes. It was starting to get creepy how often she was missing the punchline; I was worried one time she was just going to reply, “Which one?” and open a door to reveal a freezer full of severed heads all flawlessly beat.
Pearl and Trixie Mattel– I could not feel more elated that Trixie is back, if anything, researching her during her absence has confirmed that she’s my favorite this season, but at the same time it could not feel like the elimination outrage could not feel more plotted considering the results of this episode.
Here’s a quote from Trixie that pretty succinctly describes my feelings on her elimination storyline:
“I think Episode 4, it was the first time audiences felt like they weren’t watching a competition, they were watching something scripted,” shared Mattel during a video interview filmed amidst national broadcasts of Episode 8, which featured her dramatic return to the series. “That’s the problem [fans] had with that elimination.” “They were like, ‘This isn’t supported. You’re just doing this. We invest time in watching this show, it needs to be a believable competition,'” Mattel stated, “I think people were like, ‘This is fake. Why am I watching?'” [Full interview here]
That being said, I’m so excited for Trixie’s return to the competition, but I’m not putting my #JusticeforTrixie sign completely down until she makes it through next episode considering we all know the curse of the returned queen is to last only one episode.
Violet Chachki and Max– The fanfic romance novel we’ve all be waiting for. It’s 240 pages of nail-biting levels of sexual tension and buildup all resulting in a weird metaphor scene like Max churning butter while Violet holds the bucket in place because remember Max is from the Victorian ages so no explicit sex scenes for anyone.
Also, I find it peculiar that this is the first time I’ve really noticed Max’s Jersey Shore-level state of perpetual shirtlessness.
Concerning Michelle’s critique of Max, is anyone even one nerve cell surprised that Michelle gushed over Max’s look this episode saying that’s what she wanted despite the fact that she had white hair, which is close to her usual gray, and instead the real change was the eye makeup?
It’s Bendelacreme all over again. Like remember how Michelle critiqued her saying she was hiding behind a costume and when Dela shows up next episode dressed down she explains, “It’s got nothing to do with your clothes” which indicated she meant Dela’s character not her costume. In this case Michelle kept saying gray hair when she likely meant variety with her makeup (considering hair color monotony’s never been a problem before and Max did bring it in different styles).
And that’s all for this week, join me next week for the results of the John Waters musical challenge with special guest judge: John Waters! (Which I’m so very excited for; I could listen to John Waters talk from now until my final moments on this planet.)
AdvertisementsAs the SKWAWKBOX noted on Sunday, Theresa May made a mockery of her ‘ad nauseam’ line about which leader the British public would prefer at the Brexit negotiating table – by begging Jeremy Corbyn for his help:
Clearly she knows which side of the Dispatch Box the real ‘strong and stable’ sits.
But surely Corbyn won’t reach out a hand to save her from drowning in a cesspit of her own making – and one which from which she has shown little real intention of learning any humility?
Too right.
A spokesperson from the opposition leader’s office told the SKWAWKBOX:
If she needs help, we’ll be happy to send her Labour’s General Election manifesto. It contains some great stuff on how a real government, with the genuine best interests of the country and its people at heart, will negotiate Brexit. As many of her colleagues already seem to want to use it as a reference-guide for proper government anyway, we’ll be happy to present her with her own copy. We’re sure she’ll appreciate it.
Some – including some misguided Labour ‘moderates’ – seem to think that Labour should bail out a sinking, incompetent PM ‘for the good of the country’. It seems clear that the Labour leader’s office recognises that the real good of the country is best served by letting her face the consequences of her own mess and accelerating the collapse of the hopeless shower currently masquerading as a government.
The SKWAWKBOX is provided free of charge but depends on the generosity of its readers to be viable. If you can afford to, please click |
the crust, most of which can be made in a food processor.
The key to the crust, Hall says, is to listen for the thumping, rattling sound that means it's coming together in the food processor.
"You know why I love radio?" she says. "Because this is the thing I want to tell people, use all of your senses to cook with, and listen for it. Don't just use your eyes!"
She rolls out the crust to a perfect thinness, and presses it carefully into a tart pan. These crusts have to be blind-baked (baked without the filling), so they are weighted down with old beans or pie weights and popped into the oven for a few minutes.
Then you add the frangipane and the apples and return the crusts to the oven. They're done when everything looks golden brown and the frangipane has puffed up luxuriously around the apples. Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream right in the middle, and you've got a perfect fall dessert.The US gun-control debate may have both sides shooting their mouths off, gunning for each other, going off half-cocked, and [insert tiresome idiom here], but a group of biostatisticians and epidemiologists decided to cut through the cant and apply rigorous research to one critical question: does carrying a gun increase your safety?
"On average," the researchers concluded, "guns did not protect those who possessed them from being shot in an assault." The finding was published in an American Journal of Public Health paper entitled, straighforwardly enough, "Investigating the Link Between Gun Possession and Gun Assault".
"Although successful defensive gun uses can and do occur," the report contends, "the findings of this study do not support the perception that such successes are likely."
The researchers, all from the University of Pennsylvania, conducted their study with a stated goal of determining "the possible relationship between being shot in an assault and possession of a gun at the time." To do so, they investigated 3,485 shootings "of all types" in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from October 15, 2003, to April 16, 2006.
The researchers then excluded self-inflicted, unintentional, and police-related shootings, plus gun injuries of undetermined intent. They further narrowed their study sample by age – no one under 21 and therefore not able to legally own a gun, for example – and other factors, which reduced the sample to 2,073 shootings. They then randomly selected 677 of those for further study, and paired each of those participants with "population-based control participants." A detailed description of the study's painstaking methodology can be found here.
The resulting data, after suitable massaging, revealed a clear result. "[I]ndividuals in possession of a gun were 4.46 (P <.05) times more likely to be shot in an assault than those not in possession. Among gun assaults where the victim had at least some chance to resist, this adjusted odds ratio increased to 5.45 (P <.05)."
That's the hard numerical analysis. The paper also offers what it characterizes as "a few plausible mechanisms" by which possession of a gun might increase a person's risk of being involved in a gun assault.
A gun may falsely empower its possessor to overreact, instigating and losing otherwise tractable conflicts with similarly armed persons. Along the same lines, individuals who are in possession of a gun may increase their risk of gun assault by entering dangerous environments that they would have normally avoided. Alternatively, an individual may bring a gun to an otherwise gun-free conflict only to have that gun wrested away and turned on them.
Those explanations, however, will be left to the University of Pennsylvania's Department of Psychology and others to ponder. That institution's biostatisticians and epidemiologists, however, have produced a purely statistical result: if you're packing heat, and someone assaults you with a gun, you're more likely to be shot than if you were unarmed. ®An RCMP investigation into a Calgary man's claim that he was injured by barbed wire while mountain biking on a trail near Bragg Creek has resulted in charges against the complainant.
Stelianos (Stelios) Psaroudakis, 37, told CTV Calgary that he was riding with a friend on an unnamed trail on the evening of July 5 when he was thrown from his bike.
“I was going down a hill and, as soon as I looked up, there was something in my peripheral and it was barbed wire,” recounted Psaroudakis in the July 14 interview. “I had no time to react and I got it into the neck. I flew back, I fell on my back and I hit my back on a rock.”
Psaroudakis said he left his bike at the scene, walked back to his vehicle and visited the emergency room at the Foothills Medical Centre for treatment of the cuts to his neck, bruising on his back and a laceration on his liver.
The 37-year-old Calgarian, who works as a mechanic, reported the incident to RCMP and launched a GoFundMe page in the hopes of raising $8,000 to help cover his day-to-day expenses and purchase motion sensor cameras for the trail.
The RCMP investigation into Psaroudakis’ claims involved interviews with the alleged victim, other mountain bikers who had been on the trail on July 5 and Bragg Creek residents. Investigators say they received numerous tips from the public that led them to conclude the barbed wire encounter never happened.
“As a result of information provided to investigators by other cyclists and users of the trail system and numerous tips, we have determined that the injuries sustained by Mr. Psaroudakis were not caused in the manner he reported,” said Inspector Lauren Weare, Cochrane RCMP detachment commander. “Our investigation has concluded that Mr. Psaroudakis was riding an all-terrain vehicle (ATV) and was involved in an incident at another location at another time and was not riding a bicycle."
According to Weare, Psaroudakis was injured after colliding with a barbed wire fence, constructed to contain livestock, on private property within the jurisdiction of the Cochrane RCMP on July 5.
"The injuries are legitimate, absolutely, but not in the manner he reported," said Weare. “There was no intentional putting up of barbed wire across the bike trail to hurt or injure cyclists or any public that was using that trail.”
"There never was a bike or a scene involving a bicycle."
An arrest warrant was issued for Psaroudakis in connection with charges of:
Fraud under $5,000
Public Mischief
The ‘Almost died on trail by barbed wire’ GoFundMe campaign was closed by Psaroudakis but GoFundMe withheld the funds after receiving complaints regarding the legitimacy of his claims.
The campaign was not Psaroudakis’ first foray into crowdsourcing. The Calgarian attempted to raise funds to pay to have his dog released from the SPCA earlier this year and, in 2016, he tried to collect donations to help rebuild Fort McMurray following the wildfires.
On Friday, GoFundMe officials confirmed Psaroudakis has been banned from using the website.
"We can confirm that the campaign organizer Stelios Psaroudakis, closed the campaign and all donors have now been refunded,” said Rachel Hollis, communications manager for GoFundMe in Canada. “Stelios Psaroudakis has also been banned from using the GoFundMe platform for any future campaigns.”
“Campaigns with misuse are very rare, making up less than one tenth of one percent of all campaigns. Along with a host of proactive measures to prevent misuse, we also have the ability to receive reports from users about potential fraudulent activity, as in this case.”
“Fraud, whether it takes place online or offline, is against the law. If it takes place online, GoFundMe donors are protected by the GoFundMe guarantee and their donations are refunded. Our team also works with law enforcement to report issues and assists them in investigations."
Psaroudakis surrendered to members of the Cochrane RCMP detachment on Friday afternoon.
After being released from custody, the accused attempted to explain the reason for not disclosing the ATV crash.
“I was trying to keep a friend out of trouble,” said Stelianos outside the RCMP detachment. “He had an unregistered, unlicensed vehicle with no brakes.”
When questioned on his decisions to report hitting barbed wire while mountain biking and to create a GoFundMe campaign, Stelianos apologized.
"I'm stupid," declared Stelianos. "I want to help and I never do it the right way."
"I wanted to donate (the money) for cameras and stuff to help a cause."
The Calgarian said he would not fight the charges. "I'm pleading guilty. I made a mistake and I'm going to face them."
Psaroudakis is scheduled to appear in Cochrane Provincial Court on Tuesday, August 22, 2017.It is estimated that 40% of the food produced in America is wasted; it amounts to 1400 calories per person every day. According to the EPA, 31 million tons is thrown into landfills. Much of that produces methane as it rots; the gas is 25 times more potent a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. The UK website Next Generation Food estimates that each tonne of food waste is equivalent to 4.2 tonnes of CO2. They conclude that if we simply stopped wasting food, it would be the equivalent of taking a quarter of all the cars in America off the road.
The numbers are extraordinary:
In the US, a report in Plos One at the end of last year found that per capita food waste has progressively increased by 50 percent since 1974 reaching more than 1400 calories per person per day or 150 trillion calories per year. Food waste now accounts for more than one quarter of the total freshwater consumption and 300 million barrels of oil per year.
The consumption of water and fossil fuel making food that is thrown out, the 150 trillion calories per year, landfilled, that could have fed people around the world, the statistics just pile up.
It seems that so many of our problems, from energy independence to climate change to world hunger to water, could be significantly mitigated if we could just get control of our food system and stop wasting so much.
See the entire infographic here. Thanks to the tweet from @takeoutwout.A new resolution from the UN Security Council (UNSC) could cut millions of dollars of revenue from North Korea’s coal exports, Reuters reported over the weekend.
The resolution – which is still in a draft stage – will limit the North’s yearly coal exports to $400.9 million, a huge reduction in the DPRK’s current export totals.
The DPRK sent over 17 million tons of coal to neighboring China last year, earning North Korea nearly $1 billion. So far in 2016, export volumes have been even higher.
“On paper, new coal restrictions have the potential to notably curb a key source of North Korean export revenue. In practice, the significance of this measure will rest overwhelmingly on China’s reporting and transparency,” Andrea Berger, deputy director of proliferation and nuclear policy and senior research fellow at RUSI, told NK News.
The new resolution will also look to curb the North’s coal exports in the remaining months of 2016, limiting shipments to $53 million or 1 million tons, depending on which is lower.
North Korea has, on average, been exporting around 1.8 million tons per month this year, worth over $85 million, indicating the new resolution could have an almost immediate effect on trade revenues.
The exports also appear to have come with caveats, saying any coal shipments must not be associated with the North’s weapons programs, or come from any previously designated entities or individuals.
The draft resolution also adds further individuals to the UN’s blacklist, including former DPRK ambassadors to Egypt and Myanmar.
Further provisions will limit other North Korean exports, including prohibiting member states from buying North Korean made statues. The DPRK has developed a cottage industry building statues in numerous African states, mostly via the Pyongyang-based Mansundae Art Studio.
Mansudae’s work can be seen in Cambodia, Angola, Benin, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, and Togo, according to a BBC news report earlier this year.
Over the weekend, China’s Foreign Ministry published remarks on why Chinese traders had continued to import large volumes of coal from North Korea, despite UN restrictions passed in March.
Beijing has come under fire for the imports – which hit record levels in August – but said it complied with the latest UN resolution.
“Resolution 2270 bans DPRK’s export of coal, iron and iron ore, but also stipulates that export for the sake of people’s livelihood rather than the fund for nuclear and missile programs shall not be affected,” Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Geng Shuang said on Friday. “China’s import of coal from the DPRK complies with the resolution.”Catalonia's bid for independence has been damaged neither by Scotland's failed attempt to break free from the UK, nor from their own battles with Madrid, a leading Catalan politician has said.
Andreu Mas-Colell, minister for the economy, will on Wednesday meet with Scottish MEPs and speak at a House of Parliament conference, entitled: "Economic and Political Events in Catalonia". He told The Telegraph that, with a "landmark" November 9 vote on independence around the corner, the regional government of Catalonia was determined to put its case for a separate state.
"Hundreds of thousands of people will take part – it is a hugely important day for us," he said.
But Mr Mas-Colell's hopes for eventual independence must surely have been dented by events last week – in which the consultation on independence was seemingly cancelled, only for Artur Mas, the Catalonian president, to say an hour later that it would still go ahead, but in a different format.
"November 9 will be another landmark in the continuing series of events in which citizens express themselves freely," he said. "It's a celebration of democracy – although not an expression of democracy, as we would have liked."
Barcelona asked Madrid for permission to hold a referendum on independence, in the same manner as Scotland did. When they were denied permission for a referendum, they instead planned a November 9 "consultation" on independence, which would not be legally-binding.
When the Constitutional Court ruled that would be illegal, Mr Mas said, on October 14, that they would instead hold a vote on the same question but in a different form – without the normally-used polling stations; manned by volunteers, rather than civil servants; and with ID cards used to vote rather than the electoral register.
Alicia Sánchez-Camacho, president for Catalonia of Spain's ruling Partido Popular, described the plan outlined in Mr Mas' speech as "a farce".
"Up until today he has sold many Catalans an illusion and now, when he finds no way out, he suggests new ways of participating – a massive survey or a simulated vote to make them believe that his project is still alive," she said.
A demonstrator has the ''Estelada'' flag painted in his face (ZUMA/Rex)
"This process is over. He can't continue cheating the Catalan people."
But Mr Mas-Colell shrugged off her comments.
"This is the kind of hypocrisy we are used to," he said, insisting that it was Madrid who was cheating Catalans – by not allowing them a free vote.
"We are not going to get tired out. We think one day the central government will notice that the will of the people cannot be ignored."
He said that, following the November 9 vote, the government of Mr Mas will decide whether to call snap elections as a plebiscite on the independence issue – or whether to see out the full term, until autumn 2016.
But doesn't the Scottish vote – which, despite Herculean campaigning, ultimately ended in failure for the separatists – dishearten him?
"Not at all," he said. "The two do have a lot in common, but are not synchronised.
"And we think the Scottish vote was a magnificent display of democracy. We want to have this too.
"In the end, the Spanish government will have to be wise. They have to realise a vote is necessary."Get the biggest daily stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
Jeremy Corbyn is targeting 18 seats held by the SNP in his bid to win the keys to Downing Street.
The Labour leader will tour key marginal seats in Scotland next month as he continues to prepare for the possibility of another election.
The party stunned observers in last month’s general election by winning six seats from the SNP and slashing the nationalists’ majority in constituencies across the country.
Strategists believe they could pick up several more Scottish seats in a future election.
(Image: SWNS)
Corbyn will visit seats across the central belt and further afield, including the Western Isles, where sitting SNP MPs have small majorities.
Of the 64 seats Labour needs to win to secure a majority at Westminster, 18 are in Scotland.
This includes Glasgow South West, Glasgow East, Airdrie and Shotts, Lanark and Hamilton East, Motherwell and Wishaw, Inverclyde and Dunfermline and West Fife where swings of less than 1 per cent are required.
Corbyn said: “Under Labour, Scotland will have a government that works for the many not the few.
“Labour remains on an election footing as a government-in-waiting, ready to end failed austerity and ensure Scotland has the resources it needs to provide the public services its people deserve.
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“Labour has the policies to build a fairer Scotland, with a £10-an-hour minimum wage, a ban on zero hour contracts, a Brexit deal that puts jobs first, and taxing big corporations and the richest individuals a bit more to fund our schools, hospitals, emergency services and social care.
“I want to live in a country that nurtures the next generation and gives our elderly the security and dignity they deserve after a lifetime of contribution to our society.
“Unlike the SNP and the Tories, Labour will transform our economy through investment, insisting the true wealth creators – that means all of us – benefit from it.
(Image: © SWNS.com)
“The only way to remove the Conservatives from Downing Street, and have a government that works for the many, not the few, is to back Labour in Scotland.”
Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale added: “After more than a decade in power in Scotland, the SNP is presiding over a struggling economy, while schools have thousands of fewer teachers, and NHS workers are under-valued and over-stretched.
“And the SNP can’t remove the Tories from office – only Labour can do that. I look forward to joining Jeremy in August as we take our message to the people of Scotland.”Retired Lt. Col. Timothy Gauthier christens an Iraqi tank that now serves as a monument to the 2nd Squadron, 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment's (now the 2nd Cavalry Regiment) victory at the Battle of 73 Easting a quarter-century ago. The unit's leadership held a dedication ceremony at Vilseck, Germany, Thursday, March 10, 2016.
VILSECK, Germany — Of the battles that defined the Gulf War, few encapsulate the sense of outright superiority the U.S. displayed like the Battle of 73 Easting.
This hourslong engagement pit just part of the U.S. Army’s 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment against Saddam Hussein’s elite Iraqi Republican Guard. When the smoke settled, one American soldier was dead, as were thousands of Iraqi combatants. An entire Iraqi division, the supposed elite Tawakalna, was practically wiped out.
On Thursday, the 2nd Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, honored that battle by dedicating a captured Iraqi T-72 tank as a memorial to that victory 25 years ago.
To help commemorate the event, the unit’s leaders brought in the former regimental commander of what was then the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment, retired Lt. Gen. Don Holder, and a platoon leader of the battle, retired Lt. Col. Tim Gauthier.
“It’s humbling in a way, but it’s also, I think, a part of my responsibility,” Holder said during an interview at the dedication. “I lead the regiment back in 1991 when this battle took place and it’s my part still to speak for the soldiers who were there at the time.”
That victory allowed the troops of the 1st Infantry Division to pass through their lines relatively unscathed. They would continue onward to engage in what would become known as the Battle of Norfolk, which effectively ended the war. The efforts of 2nd Squadron, 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment, paved the way.
“It seemed like the right thing to do for the battle, to commemorate it,” said 2nd Squadron’s current commander, Lt. Col. Steven Gventer. “It also seemed the right thing to do to make sure the squadron and the regiment understood where we come from and why we do this.”
The Gulf War was, in many ways, a model of American military efficiency. While the timeline of most wars is marked off in years, even decades, Desert Storm was — from opening salvo to final shot — over in six weeks.
It was at 73 Easting — a coordinate line on a map — in 1991, that the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment served as the spearhead for the U.S. Army VII Corps’ push into Iraq. The primary mission was to scout ahead and clear a path for the larger 1st Infantry Division.
Of that force, 2nd Squadron, Eagle Troop, under the command of then-Capt. H.R. McMaster, was sent forward as the advance element. Alongside Capt. Joe Sartiano’s Ghost Troop, it formed the tip of the spear.
In an written account of the battle, McMaster — now a lieutenant general assigned to the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command — wrote he received word on Feb. 26 that Eagle Troop would be pushing toward the 70 Easting line.
“I told the Troop, ‘We attack in five minutes to the 70 Easting. This is the moment we have all awaited,’ ” he wrote in the “Battle of 73 Easting.”
As they moved across the desert, the troop’s 3rd Platoon came under fire from a cluster of buildings to the south. McMaster ordered his nine M1 Abrams tanks to form a firing line.
Within seconds, they obliterated all resistance.
At 4:19 p.m., McMaster’s men crested what he described as an “almost imperceptible rise.” On the other side, eight Republican Guard Tawakalna Division tanks were set in an ambush formation, dug into deep fighting holes.
“One of the critical factors in the success of the attack,” Gauthier said during a town hall meeting in Vilseck, “was the enemy commander … had made assumptions of where you can maneuver in the desert. They were at about a 25-30 degree offset and they were dug in that way. So in order to reorient on the contact, they actually had to back their tanks out of their fighting positions.”
As a result, McMaster destroyed three of the T-72 tanks in just 10 seconds. The rest of the tanks were quickly destroyed by Eagle Troop.
“In most cases, we killed the tanks before they even had a chance to move,” Gauthier said.
Eagle Troop pushed onward through constant fire and across a minefield. The soldiers tore through a cluster of buildings along the 70 Easting that the Iraqis converted to a makeshift stronghold.
McMaster wrote in his account of the battle that they were “cutting a five-kilometer wide swath of destruction through the enemy’s defense.”
At 4:40 p.m., Eagle Troop stopped short of the 74 Easting line, where it encountered and destroyed another tank unit consisting of 18 T-72s. A scout patrol encountered 13 more T-72s, which it promptly destroyed with tube-launched, optically tracked, wire-guided missiles.
“Our major portion of the fight ended in 23 minutes,” Gauthier said. Nobody from Eagle was killed in action.
Ghost Troop fought a longer battle, fending off three company-size attacks in three hours. Sgt. Nels A. Moller was the lone American killed during that battle.
That night, more than 40 Iraqis surrendered to Eagle Troop. They were all that remained of a 900-man battalion that had been outfitted with 39 tanks. Total Iraqi casualties numbered in the thousands, and more than a thousand prisoners of war were captured.
The troop passed most of the night in relative peace, according to Holder, receiving only sporadic gunfire. As dawn the scale of destruction became apparent.
More than 100 Iraqi armored vehicles lay in ruin. American artillery strikes had decimated a fleet of Iraqi trucks and leveled buildings stocked with ammunition, fuel and other supplies.
The dead lay where they had fallen.
The 2nd Squadron alone had destroyed the equivalent of an entire Republican Guard brigade. The Tawakalna was decimated and would later disband entirely because of losses suffered at 73 Easting and other battles.
“The day afterward when we drove back through the path of destruction,” Gauthier told Stars and Stripes, “that’s when that realization hit of the amount of death and destruction we had inflicted on them.”
darnell.michael@stripes.com445
Great recipe! My go to..why people have to be so rude is beyond me..IT IS Chili..Chili is made differently all over the country, and liked many different ways..if you don't like "Wendy" style C...
First, I love wendy's chili, I made this for an upcoming xmas party. There was waaay too much grease/oil in my chili when finished - it's just kind of a separated mess. I am not sure of the re...
DIANALS 338 19
Great recipe! My go to..why people have to be so rude is beyond me..IT IS Chili..Chili is made differently all over the country, and liked many different ways..if you don't like "Wendy" style C... Read more
Pamela J Hagen-French 749 89
Excellent recipe! Going to make it again and again. Chili is very diverse and everyone has there taste preference when it comes to chili. If you do not like the flavor of Wendys chili do not... Read more
JENNYFUFU 231 33
My entire family LOVED this chili and they never agree on anything. I didn't have the packets of chili seasoning so I used 1 rounded Tbs Cumin, 1 1/4 tsp salt, 1 1/4 Tbs Chili Powder, 1 tsp... Read more
pbartell 20 1
Made it last night and it turned out SUPERB and just like Wendy's!!! Will mark it as a favorite Recipe! Read more
Spruce92 80 9
My 9yo, 7yo, and 5yo made supper for their grandparents last night. They decided to cook chili but it couldn't be too spicy for their grandparents. We selected this recipe and they cooked it w... Read more
Mesa Mom 276 26
I can't tell you how many chili recipes I've tried in the past. This is hands-down my favorite and will definitely be part of the "regular" meal planning rotation. Perfect for my busy-wife-and... Read more
Phil 155 3
Great, as written but easily tweaked to your preferences. To the person who said it isn't chili, look beyond that and rate it for great flavor. Over 90 percent of the reviews are excellent, mayb... Read more
Michael Courville 3 1
Made this recipe tonight. Customized it a bit by seasoning the ground meat before cooking, used Mexican Style stewed tomatoes, HOT McCormick Chili Seasoning, and RO*TEL with habanero for extra s... Read moreProgramming with Nothing
Ruby is a powerful language, but how much power does it have if you remove all of its datatypes except for Proc and all of its features except for Proc.new and Proc#call? I’ll investigate by building proc-only representations of numbers, booleans, lists and strings, and using them to write an executable program. This article is adapted from a talk I gave at the Ru3y Manor conference, for which the video and slides are available. A revised and expanded version appears in my O’Reilly book.
Contents
Ruining Ruby
I love Ruby! I’ve used it every day for years and I’m not sick of it yet. It’s an easy language to love: it’s expressive, flexible and syntactically beautiful; it has a unique combination of useful features like mixins, metaclasses and blocks; it comes with a useful core library and comprehensive standard library; and it has an excellent ecosystem, with plenty of great third-party libraries available.
In fact, you know what? I love Ruby so much that I want to ruin it. Let’s see how much it can do if we remove all of its features. Naturally that means no gems, no standard library, no modules, methods, classes or objects. But this is love, so let’s go all the way: no control flow, no assignment, no arrays, strings, numbers or booleans.
(To clarify: this is just a game. It is not software engineering advice.)
Unfortunately we can’t remove absolutely everything and still have a language, so here are the Ruby features we’re going to keep:
As a grudging concession to clarity, we should also allow ourselves to use constants to abbreviate our code: if we create a complex proc, we may assign it to a constant to give it a short name that we can reuse later. But referring to the name is no different from retyping the original proc again — the name just makes the code more readable — so it’s not really using a language feature. We could always undo the abbreviations by replacing each constant with the proc it refers to.
Thinking procs
Since we’re going to be building entire programs out of procs, let’s spend a minute looking at their properties.
Procs are plumbing for moving values around your program. Consider what happens when you call a proc: lambda { |x| x + 1 }.call(41) The value that’s provided as an argument to the call, in this case 41, flows into the parameter of the block, in this case x, and then flows out of the parameter to all the places where that parameter is used, so Ruby ends up evaluating 41 + 1. It’s the rest of the language that does the actual work; procs just connect parts of the program together and make values flow to where they’re needed.
Procs don’t need to take multiple arguments. If you’ve got a proc that takes multiple arguments… lambda { |x, y| x + y }.call(3, 4) …you can always rewrite it as nested single-argument procs: lambda { |x| lambda { |y| x + y } }.call(3).call(4) Here the outer proc takes one argument, x, and returns the inner proc, which also takes one argument, y. We can call the outer proc with a value for x and then call the inner proc with a value for y, and we get the same result as in the multi-argument case. (This is called “currying”, incidentally, and in Ruby 1.9 you can use Proc#curry to do this transformation.) Since we’re trying to remove as many features of Ruby as possible, let’s restrict ourselves to creating and calling single-argument procs; it won’t make things much worse.
The only way to find out about the code inside a proc is to call it. This means that two procs can be considered equal if they behave identically when called, even if their internal code is different. (This idea is called extensionality.) For example, if you have a proc which takes an argument and then simply calls another proc p with that argument… lambda { |x| p.call(x) } …then the whole construction is indistinguishable from just p, because it does exactly the same thing. This is a refactoring opportunity: if you see this pattern in your program you may choose to eliminate it, and under certain circumstances (which we’ll see later) you might intentionally introduce it.
There are four ways to explicitly create a proc: Proc.new { |x| x + 1 } proc { |x| x + 1 } lambda { |x| x + 1 } -> x { x + 1 } You can use Proc.new, Kernel.proc or Kernel.lambda, and in Ruby 1.9 you can use the “stabby lambda” syntax. (These are all roughly equivalent. Procs created with Proc.new and Kernel.proc do differ slightly from those created with Kernel.lambda and -> in how they handle multiple arguments and explicit return s, but we’re not using either of those language features.) Similarly, there are four ways to call a proc: p.call(41) p[41] p === 41 p.(41) You can use Proc#call or Proc#[], and in Ruby 1.9 you can use Proc#=== (in case you want to put your proc in a case statement) and Proc#(). For this article I’m just going to choose a syntax and stick with it. Instead of saying… lambda { |x| x + 1 }.call(41) …I’m going to say… -> x { x + 1 }[41] …which makes it easier to see the body and argument of the proc. This isn’t necessarily the best syntax for procs, it’s just the most convenient for what we’re going to do.
Aiming high
Our goal will be to write the well-known FizzBuzz program:
Write a program that prints the numbers from 1 to 100. But for multiples of three print “Fizz” instead of the number and for the multiples of five print “Buzz”. For numbers which are multiples of both three and five print “FizzBuzz”.
This is an ostensibly simple problem, designed to test whether an interview candidate is lying about being a programmer. Any competent programmer should be able to solve it within a minute.
Here’s an implementation of FizzBuzz in full-featured Ruby:
(1..100).each do |n| if (n % 15).zero? puts 'FizzBuzz' elsif (n % 3).zero? puts 'Fizz' elsif (n % 5).zero? puts 'Buzz' else puts n.to_s end end
(I am available for freelance programming work.)
This isn’t the cleverest implementation of FizzBuzz — there are plenty of clever ones out there — but it’s the one I would write without thinking about it.
However, this program contains some puts statements, and we have no way to print text to the console using only procs, so I’m going to replace it with a roughly equivalent program which returns an array of strings rather than printing them:
(1..100). map do |n| if (n % 15).zero? 'FizzBuzz' elsif (n % 3).zero? 'Fizz' elsif (n % 5).zero? 'Buzz' else n.to_s end end
Hopefully you’ll agree that this is still a meaningful solution to the FizzBuzz problem, but now it’s one that we have a chance of implementing using only procs.
Despite its simplicity, this is quite an ambitious program if you don’t have any of the features of a programming language: it creates a range, maps over it, evaluates a big conditional, does some arithmetic with the modulo operator, uses the Fixnum#zero? predicate, uses some string literals, and turns numbers into strings with Fixnum#to_s. That’s a fair amount of built-in Ruby functionality, and we’re going to have to strip it all out and reimplement it with procs.
Numbers
I’m going to start by focusing on the numbers that appear in FizzBuzz. How can we possibly represent numbers without using Fixnum s or any of the other datatypes that Ruby provides?
If we’re going to try to implement numbers from scratch, we’d better have a solid understanding of what we’re implementing. But what is a number, anyway? It’s hard to come up with a concrete definition that doesn’t accidentally assume some aspect of what we’re trying to define; for example, “something that tells you how many…” is not very useful, because “how many” is really just another way of saying “number”.
To be more specific, what we want to implement here is the natural numbers — whole, non-negative numbers — also known as the counting numbers: zero, one, two, three, and so on.
Here’s one way of characterising them: imagine you have a bag of apples and a bag of oranges; you take an apple out of one bag, an orange out of the other, and put them aside; then you keep taking out an apple and an orange together until at least one of the bags is empty.
If both bags become empty at the same time, you’ve learned something interesting: in spite of containing different things, those bags had some shared property that meant they became empty at the same time; at every point during the procedure of repeatedly removing an item from each bag, either both bags were non-empty or both bags were empty. This abstract property shared by the bags is what we can call a number (although we don’t know which number!), and you can compare these bags with any other bag in the world to see if it has the same “number” as these ones.
So one way to characterise numbers is by repetition (a.k.a. iteration) of some action, in this case taking an item from a bag. Each number corresponds to a unique way of repeating an action: the number one corresponds to just performing the action; the number two corresponds to performing it and then performing it again; and so on. The number zero, unsurprisingly, corresponds to not performing the action at all.
Since making and calling procs are the only “actions” our program can perform, we can try implementing a number n with code that repeats the action of calling a proc n times.
For example, if we were allowed to define methods — which we’re not, but play along — then we could define #one as a method that takes a proc and some arbitrary second argument, and then calls the proc with that argument once:
def one(proc, x) proc[x] end
We could also define #two, which calls the proc once and then calls it again with whatever the result of calling it the first time was (this is “iter |
the developing world. Moreover, children often miss school because their schools do not have adequate drinking water and/or sanitation facilities.
Nanotechnology could increase the availability of clean water in the developing world, but different approaches to technology transfer will be needed for different countries. Image: © PHILLIP MINNIS/123RF
Many organizations are considering the potential of nanoscience to solve technical challenges associated with the removal of water contaminants and provide 'potable' water to people in developed and developing countries. A range of water-treatment devices — including some that incorporate nanotechnology — are already on the market and others are in advanced stages of development.
Conventional water-treatment technologies include filtration, ultraviolet radiation, chemical treatment and desalination, whereas the nano-enabled technologies include a variety of different types of membranes and filters based on carbon nanotubes, nanoporous ceramics, magnetic nanoparticles and other nanomaterials. Ref. 2 contains a comparison between conventional and nano-enabled technologies for water treatment.
Separation membranes with structure at the nanoscale can also be used in low-cost methods to produce potable water. In a recent study in South Africa, several polymeric nanofiltration and reverse osmosis membranes were tested for the treatment of brackish groundwater (water that is salty, but less so than sea water). The tests showed that nanofiltration membranes can produce potable water from the brackish groundwater. As expected, the reverse osmosis membranes removed about 99% of all the solutes, but the concentrations of essential nutrients, such as calcium and magnesium ions, were reduced to levels that were below the specifications of the World Health Organization standard for drinking water. The product water therefore had to be spiked with these nutrients to provide drinking water of the required quality.
These studies also underline the importance of making communities aware of the actual quality of their drinking water because it is not possible to detect contaminants, for example, by simply observing the physical properties of the water (that is, smell, taste and colour).
However, it is not enough to develop technical solutions to these problems — the technology must also be transferred to the country that needs it. In general, direct technology transfer will encounter obstacles and end in failure. To be effective, technology transfer must be accompanied by technology adaptation and technology adoption to take account of the technical capability, infrastructure and market potential of the developing country that needs the technology. Different approaches may well be needed for different developing countries with different sets of socioeconomic realities. Moreover, if technology transfer is not complemented by an effort to develop local capacity, the entire process could prove to be futile. Finally, all stake holders should be involved from the planning stages of a community water-treatment project right through to implementation to enhance transparency and dispel distrust between the parties.
Although much attention has been focused on the potential benefits of water-treatment devices that incorporate nanotechnology, there is also a need for more research to assess the potential human health and environmental risks of nanotechnologies. Although only a few studies have been carried out, some of them indicate that the unique properties of nanomaterials (for example, size, shape, reactivity, conductivity) may cause them to be toxic. There have also been calls for a coordinated risk research agenda to ensure that the right questions are being asked and resources are used efficiently3. It is imperative that information about potential risks and risk-management approaches is shared widely, although the risks involved also need to be weighed up against the potential benefits.
Nano-enabled technologies for water treatment are already on the market — with nanofiltration currently seeming to be the most mature — and many more are on their way. Although the current generation of nanofilters may be relatively simple, many researchers believe that future generations of water-treatment devices will capitalize on the new properties of nanoscale materials and may prove to be of interest in both developing and developed countries.
Developing countries are at different levels of scientific advancement and have different priorities, so they cannot be subjected to a general prescription for solving water-related and other developmental problems. However, access to potable water is a global problem that requires a concerted effort from all those involved. It needs resources, technology (nano or otherwise) and effective adaptation and adoption strategies that are strongly based on knowledge sharing and local capacity development.
This article is part of the Global Theme on Poverty and Human Development, organized by the Council of Science Editors. All articles from the Nature Publishing Group are available free at www.nature.com/povhumdev. The content from all participating journals can be found at http://www.councilscienceeditors.org/globalthemeissue.cfm
References 1. Water for Life, Making it Happen (WHO, UNICEF, 2005). 2. Summary of the International Workshop on Nanotechnology, Water and Development (Chennai, India, 10–12 October 2006); available at www.merid.org/nano/waterworkshop 3. Maynard, A. et al. Nature 444, 267–269 (2007). Download references
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Behind the making of... "One for the Road" "Attack of La Niña" "Prime Cut" "After Dark" "Retallack"
It's that time of year again. The temperatures are starting to drop, new ski gear will hit the shelves at your local shop and you'll get antsy for winter. To help you pass the time and get you even hungrier for the first snowfall, various ski movie production crews will roll through your town, showcasing their latest drool-worthy shred flick on the big screen.
To make it easier for you, we've collected the biggest ski films coming soon to a theater near you and compiled them here in a tidy list. Here's what to watch and why you should watch, with links to the films' trailers. Check back to this page, as we'll be updating it as soon as new trailers drop. And don't miss the snowboard films either.
Teton Gravity Research: "One For the Road"
The film features athletes like Sage Cattabriga-Alosa, Ian McIntosh, Dana Flahr, Chris Benchetler, Byron Wells, Seth Morrison, Andreas Hatveit, Tom Wallisch and more and it was shot everywhere from Iceland to Japan.
Trailer | Almost Live | Premiere »
Matchstick Productions: "Attack of La Niña"
The film stars Bobby Brown, Cody Townsend, Mark Abma, Sean Pettit and more and was shot all around the world. "We decided on 'Attack of La Niña' because the phenomenon hit hard this year," said MSP's Steve Winter.
Trailer | Scott Gaffney » |Premiere »
Level 1: "After Dark"
Starring Parker White, Ahmet Dadali, Wiley Miller, Mike Hornbeck, Tanner Rainville and more, "After Dark" was shot everywhere from Moscow, Russia, to Telluride, Colo.
Trailer | Gallery |Premiere »
Poor Boyz Productions: "The Grand Bizarre"
In addition to Bobby Brown's triple cork 1440 and Simon Dumont's cube pipe footage, other athletes featured in the film include Sammy Carlson, Dane Tudor, LJ Strenio, Nick Martini, Bene Mayr, Tim Durtschi and more.
Trailer | The making of | Premiere » | Johnny DeCesare »
Meathead Films: "Prime Cut"
The 10th annual movie from Meathead Films, "Prime Cut" was shot entirely in the eastern U.S. and Canada and during one trip to Japan. Featured athletes include LJ Strenio, Andy Parry, Will Wesson, Charles Gagnier and more. Teaser | Gallery |Premiere »
4BI9 Media: "Begging for Change"
4BI9's latest film, produced by AJ Dakoulas and Andrew Napier, stars Tom Wallisch, Dale Talkington, Tim McChesney and others and was shot around the midwest and Eastern U.S. (including Minnesota, New Hampshire and Vermont) as well as in France, BC and Utah. Trailer
Seth Morrison: "The Ordinary Skier"
In association with Oakley and directed and produced by Constantine Papanicolaou, this film stars Seth Morrison on the road from Crested Butte to Chamonix. Trailer | Gallery |Premiere »
Winter of Wells: The Documentary
This new documentary, produced by Tim Pierce, offers a behind-the-scenes look at New Zealand's freeskiing family: brothers Jossi, Byron, Beau and Jackson and parents Bruce and Stacey. Trailer
Stept Productions: "Weight"
This urban-centric film by Nick Martini and Cam Riley features athletes Shea Flynn, Clayton Villa, Alex Martini and others and was filmed on location in Boston, Chicago, Omaha, Breckenridge, Jackson Hole and Mammoth. Trailer | Premiere »
Sammy Carlson: "On Top of the Hood"
This feature-length web video, which will drop online this fall, features Sammy Carlson, John Spriggs, Dane Tudor, Tommy Ellingson and Andy Mahre and was shot entirely at Mt. Hood this summer. Interview
Voleurz: "That's Fine"
Featured athletes include KC Deane, Max Hill, Braden Dean, Simon D'Artois, Mack Jones, Rob Heule, Tyler Holm, Riley Leboe and more. The film will be released for free online on Nov. 21 and in September and October it will go on a global tour. Trailer | Premiere »
Field Productions: "Being There"
The film features athletes Tom Wallisch, PK Hunder, Henrik Windstedt, Russ Henshaw, Kevin Rolland, Jon Olsson and others, and it was shot in Norway, Sweden and Japan. Trailer
Sweetgrass Productions: "Solitaire"
An art-centric film from the crew that brought you "Signatures," this one features scenes filmed from two years of winter travel in Argentina, Chile, Peru and Bolivia. Trailer | On the Road with Solitaire | Premiere »
The Sherpas: "All.I.Can"
An environmentally-focused ski film shot over the past two years in places like British Columbia, Chile, Argentina, Morocco and Alaska. Trailer | Premiere
Inspired Media: "Retallack: The Movie"
Now available for digital download, this film, starring Tanner Hall, was shot at the backcountry cat-skiing lodge Retallack, in British Columbia.Trailer |Gallery
Toy Soldier Productions: "Set Your Sights"
The second film from Montana-based upstart Toy Soldier Productions was filmed all around Montana and in other western U.S. states, including California and Utah. Trailer
Vital Films: "If You Want to Fly"
Shot entirely in Aspen, Colo., this film -- by a company known more for its music videos -- features local skiers like Matt Walker, Torin Yater-Wallace and Nick Devore. Trailer
Powderwhore Productions: "Breaking Trail"
Previously a telemark-only ski film company, this year Powderwhore has opened the door to alpine skiers and snowboarders. Trailer
Warren Miller Entertainment: "Like There's no Tomorrow"
Warren Miller Entertainment's 62nd film, "Like There's No Tomorrow" was shot on location in Alaska, Chile, India, New Zealand, and elsewhere. The film features Chris Davenport, Daron Rahlves, Colby West, Andy Mahre, Seth Wescott, Julia Mancuso and more. TrailerImage caption Occupy Wall Street organisers say Scott Olsen was hit in the head with a police tear gas canister
Activists taking part in the the Occupy Oakland protests have called for a general strike in the city.
The call to strike on 2 November emerged as protesters gathered late on Wednesday, one day after clashes with police left an Iraq veteran badly hurt.
On Tuesday evening police used tear gas and baton rounds to force protesters to leave their camp. Many have now called for the mayor of Oakland to resign.
Occupy Wall Street protests are now in their sixth week.
On Wednesday night up to 1,000 people filled the plaza outside Oakland's City Hall to continue the protest, groups of people marched down the streets, reports said.
There were no clashes with police on Wednesday night, and the numbers on the streets were smaller than the previous night.
Solidarity
The man injured on Tuesday was named as Scott Olsen, a 24-year-old former US marine who, according to his friends, has served two tours in Iraq.
He remains in hospital with a fractured skull, but reports say his condition has improved from critical to fair and the veteran has been moved into an intensive care unit.
The irony is not lost on anyone here that this is someone who survived two tours in Iraq and is now seriously injured by the Oakland police force Adele Carpenter, Friend of Scott Olsen
He was struck in the head with a heavy object, but it is not known what kind of object or who might have thrown it.
A group called Iraq Veterans Against the War claims it was thrown by police.
Oakland Police Chief Howard Jordan said an investigation into Mr Olsen's injury has been raised to a "level one" incident - the highest priority for an internal policy report.
"The irony is not lost on anyone here that this is someone who survived two tours in Iraq and is now seriously injured by the Oakland police force," Mr Olsen's friend, Adele Carpenter, told Reuters news agency by phone from the hospital waiting room.
Unreasonable force
In New York, where the Occupy movement started, hundreds of protesters marched in solidarity with Occupy Oakland on Wednesday evening.
There were fears the show of force seen in Oakland could happen in other cities.
"Yes, we're afraid. Is this the night they're going to sneak in?" William Buster, a protester in New York, told the Associated Press news agency on Wednesday night.
"Is this the night they might use unreasonable force?"
On the same evening a crowd of around 1,000 also gathered in Portland, Oregon, in a solidarity protest organised by the AFL-CIO labour union.
On Tuesday, Atlanta also saw around 50 arrests as police tried to move protesters out of Woodruff Park.
The crackdowns came as a congressional analysis said income for the wealthiest Americans had sharply increased in the last 30 years - up by as much as 275% for the top 1%.
Meanwhile, the bottom 20% saw income rise by just 18%.
Complaints about income inequality are among the most prominent grievances of those who have joined the Occupy protests, which also focus on perceptions of corporate greed and political inaction.The big news that has surfaced in the NFL is the return of star wide receiver Josh Gordon. Gordon, who hasn’t played since 2014, was one of the NFL’s best receivers and has all the talent that still makes him a threat in the league today. The question that fantasy owners have is whether or not Josh Gordon is worth starting in fantasy football Week 13.
The case for starting gordon
The Browns have been waiting for a star offensive weapon in their lineup to spark this team to contend for a win this year. The last time Gordon played a full season was in 2013 and had a great year. Four seasons ago, Gordon caught 87 balls for 1,646 yards and nine touchdowns. There is hope that he can replicate those statistics this year.
The Browns go up against a Chargers defense that has been great against the pass this year. They are ranked 12th in the NFL in terms of opposing fantasy points per game, averaging only 17.4 fantasy points to wide receivers they’ve gone up against.
Because Gordon’s first taste of gameplay comes against a defense as good as Los Angeles’, it causes some concern. However, the raw talent that he possesses and the ability to play with any quarterback gives fantasy owners a reason to rejoice.
Gordon put up great numbers in 2014 with the likes of Brian Hoyer, Johnny Manziel and Connor Shaw. Those quarterbacks combined for a 7-9 record while throwing for less than 4,000 yards, 12 touchdowns and 16 interceptions. Now Gordon has the rookie DeShone Kizer throwing to him, who has looked good in some parts of the season, especially last week against Cincinnati. Kizer didn’t commit a turnover and threw for 268 yards and rushed for 39 more yards and a touchdown.
Kizer now gets his top target back and is going to look to continue this trend of playing well against the Chargers in Week 13. Gordon has also looked very sharp in practice, has stayed in shape over his time off, is expected to play a key role on Sunday and won’t have a reduced snap count.
The case against starting gordon
Now let’s not move too fast. Gordon hasn’t played a snap in the NFL since 2014. Three years without going up against an opponent at game speed. That is going to be very difficult to come back from in one game, especially going up against the Chargers’ secondary. Gordon still has the ability to play in the NFL and succeed, but this week will not be the amazing week that some people may be expecting.
Casey Hayward and the Chargers’ secondary will prepare to shut down Josh gordon in Week 13 as he is the Browns’ top playmaker on offense, even after sitting out the time he has. The Chargers’ secondary is coming off of a great week, holding the Dallas Cowboy receivers to only 115 yards on ten receptions. Now going up against a much worse offensive line, run game and quarterback, it seems this trend may continue.
The lack of gameplay is the most concerning thing about Gordon’s return. It is very rare for a player to come off of a long break and succeed immediately. Marshawn Lynch took only one year off and hasn’t looked nearly the same since he retired in 2016.
It will take time for Josh Gordon to reintroduce himself to the competition of elite cornerbacks and safeties. Keep Gordon out of your lineup in Week 13, but look to play him late in the season when the Browns face the Packers and Bears.
Featured image from AP Photo/David Richard
You can like The Game Haus on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for more sports and esports articles from other great TGH writers along with Cameron.
“From Our Haus to Yours”
Like this: Like Loading...In the race for Montana’s at-large House seat, Republican Greg Gianforte led Democratic Rob Quist by six points in a poll conducted by a Democratic super PAC late last month.
Gianforte led Quist 49 to 43 percent. That includes undecided voters pushed for a lean toward one candidate or the other.
Senate Majority PAC surveyed 601 midterm election voters statewide from April 25 through 27. According to the May 5 polling memo from Garin-Hart-Yang Research Group, 95 percent of respondents planned to vote in the May 25 special election. The memo did not include a margin of error.
Respondents reported voting for President Donald Trump 55 to 33 percent. (Trump carried the state by 21 points last fall.) Democrats are optimistic that even some of those Trump voters will be looking for a check on the president when casting their votes later this month.
Democrats are hopeful that an energized base will boost their turnout numbers for the special election, with the polling memo pointing to an “enthusiasm gap.” Among the most two-thirds of the poll’s sample who reported being most motivated to vote, Gianforte's lead narrowed to 48-47 percent.FBLYZE: a full service Facebook scraping engine in an easy to use Docker container.
PaddleSoft Blocked Unblock Follow Following Apr 30, 2017
Social media analysis is becoming increasingly important for a vast variety of companies. As social media sources continue to grow, the need for tools which can easily scrap and analyze the social sphere becomes more and more apparent.
Every social media site is different and some are easier scrap data from than others. Twitter for instance, provides an easily accessible streaming API which connects quite nicely with many applications. Facebook, however, is a bit more difficult. Yet for our purposes extracting meaningful data from Facebook is crucial. There are hundreds of open groups and whitewater dedicated pages across Facebook with frequent discussion of paddling related events. These groups contain data that is necessary for our services, whether it is quickly summarizing what paddlers are discussing, generating flow information for streams without gages, or building river recommendation engines. We played around with a few different ideas including the scraper from minimaxir, however, this did not fulfill our need entirely.
Enter FBLYZE. FBLYZE is an ongoing open-source project aimed at creating a continuous Facebook scraping and analysis engine. We want to make it really simple to scrape a variety of Facebook groups and pages on a regular basis (e.g. every ten minutes, hour, day…etc) and then save/process the scraped content. We are trying to make FBLYZE as robust as possible in order to accommodate a variety of scraping needs. So far we have a created a Docker container which you can pull with the command docker pull paddlesoft/fb_scraper This Docker file can then also be used in conjunction with Apache Airflow in order to continuously scrape data and save it to your desired location.
So far we have added several modes of file saving including saving posts directly to ElasticSearch, uploading CSV and JSON data to S3, and shipping posts directly to Kafka. We plan on adding more ‘connectors’ shortly including HDFS, MySQL, and Neo4j as well as improving our current file save formats.
How to get started
Pull our Docker image docker pull paddlesoft/fb_scraper Create a variables.list file and include the necessary environment variables. See here for configuration instructions. Now you can test by running docker run --env-file variables.list paddlesoft/fb_scraper
Using Apache Airflow to schedule jobs
4. Download our template DAG or create your own from scratch.
5. Modify the DAG based on your requirements.
6. Then start up and trigger the DAG.
Analyze your results
We mainly leave this step up to you! However, in the future we will be publishing some articles on how we employ FBLYZE in our production pipeline. We do have a Spark tutorial on analyzing the CSV data that you can check out as well!The Ubuntu developer community conducted a series of public tutorials and discussions on IRC last week during Ubuntu Open Week. The event attracted many enthusiastic Ubuntu users and contributors as well as other members of the open source software community. Many of the Open Week sessions offer valuable technical insight into the development process and provide instructions for new contributors who want to learn how to package software and help fix bugs.
In addition to technical tutorials, Open Week also included a two hour question-and-answer session with Mark Shuttleworth, founder of the Ubuntu project and CEO of Canonical. Shuttleworth discussed a wide variety of subjects, ranging from Ubuntu's governance model to plans for the upcoming version of Ubuntu, codenamed Jaunty Jackalope.
Canonical's relationship with Dell is one of the topics that Shuttleworth addressed during the session. The hardware vendor began offering Ubuntu preinstalled on a select assortment of computers last year in response to demand from the Linux enthusiast community. We were impressed when we tested one of Dell's Ubuntu laptops shortly after the launch. Shuttleworth believes that distributing Ubuntu on Dell hardware has been a big success and he says that "the machines are selling well".
"[Dell] clearly sees Linux users as thought leaders," he told Open Week attendees on IRC. "They know it takes a lot of work to do something like Linux well and they work very hard at it, so we appreciate the partnership."
Indeed, Dell's commitment to Linux appears to be growing. Dell is working with component makers to improve the maturity of Linux drivers in order to boost the open source operating system's hardware compatibility. Dell has also introduced DVD playback and media codec support.
A focus on mobile
Shuttleworth also discussed Canonical's partnership with Intel that is focusing on mobile platform development. He sees enormous opportunity for Linux in the mobile device market but believes that the lack of a cohesive ecosystem is going to impede progress on that front.
"Linux is a perfect platform for consumer electronics, and the rate of adoption there is fantastic, but it's highly fragmented. There are many different projects/environments/frameworks for Linux on smartphones," he said. "We have partnered with Moblin from Intel because we think they are committed to a (a) great user experience and (b) open processes and governance. Intel has really set the pace with hardware enablement in free software. They invest a lot in it, and they invest it well—they work like an open source project to a much greater extent than any other manufacturer."
He is "looking forward" to the next major version of the Moblin platform and intends to have the components packaged for Ubuntu. He acknowledges that single-vendor solutions are suboptimal and suggests that success for Linux in the mobile space could depend on multiple hardware manufacturers, mobile operators, and software vendors coming together within a single ecosystem. Moblin could be a good starting point for achieving that goal, he said, and he hopes that the project will grow beyond its Intel roots to attract a community of active contributors and third-party developers.
Responding to critics
Ubuntu Open Week participants also asked Shuttleworth to comment on some of the allegations that have been made by critics of Ubuntu, such as kernel developer Greg Kroah-Hartman. Kroah-Hartman has condemned Canonical and believes that the company's relatively low involvement in kernel development reflects a serious failure to contribute back to upstream projects. Shuttleworth doesn't accept this assertion and argued that Canonical is making valuable contributions in other areas that move the Linux platform forward.
"The ecosystem is broader, deeper and richer than Greg was making out and those relationships are more complex than Greg was making out. I believe Ubuntu and Canonical are making a very big difference in free software, and that has little to do with how many patches in the kernel have an @canonical.com email address associated with them," he said. "I'm not going to hire lots of people to keep Greg happy. I do continue to hire people to make free software into an amazing experience for me, my friends, my colleagues and peers, and everyone else I meet in a plane, train or on the street."
This approach is exemplified by several of the development projects that Shuttleworth talked about during the question and answer session. Roughly half of Canonical's staff is working full time on Launchpad, the web-based collaborative development platform that is used to facilitate Ubuntu development. Shuttleworth has committed to completely open sourcing Launchpad by the end of 2009.
"When we open source launchpad, we will have more than 100 people doing nothing but hack on free software. I think that's a great contribution for a company of 200 people," he said. "It will be done by November 2009. The team is working through a list of issues already—license checks, separating out pieces that are not related to the web service, determining the right approach for various issues. It may happen sooner, but you have a concrete commitment that it will be done by then."
Another area where Canonical is hoping to make major contributions is in design and usability. Shuttleworth announced in September that the company was planning to hire more professional designers and interaction experts to work with upstream projects on improving the quality of the Linux user experience. In response to an Open Week question about theming for Jaunty Jackalope, Shuttleworth revealed that these plans are moving forward.
"We have been hiring, for months, designers and user experience guys. It has taken much longer than I hoped. That team will be in place in Jan/Feb, I imagine," he said. "Whether their initial work will make a dramatic visual impact on Jaunty, I don't know. I know that other work, on the user experience front, will land, but i'll keep some surprises in store till later. ;-)"
Now that Ubuntu Open Week has passed, the development cycle for Jaunty Jackalope is in full swing. The developers will meet next month in Mountain View for the Ubuntu Developer Summit, where the roadmap for the next release will be formulated. To learn more about Open Week and see complete logs of all of the sessions, check out the Open Week page at the Ubuntu wiki.CODY RHODES SIGNING WITH....
Cody Rhodes will be signing officially with Ring of Honor. The following press release was issued to PWInsider.com:
THE AMERICAN NIGHTMARE FINDS A HOME
Cody to sign a contract with Ring of Honor Wrestling
September 23, 2017 – LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – After an incredible run like no other this past year that saw Cody compete all around the world in promotions such as New Japan Pro Wrestling, Impact Wrestling, The Crash, APW, PWA Canada, and Northeast Wrestling just to name a few, The American Nightmare has decided to ink a domestically exclusive contract with Ring of Honor Wrestling, where Cody is currently the World Heavyweight Champion. The official signing of this contract will take place tonight at the ROH Television Tapings at Sam’s Town in Las Vegas and it will air in October.
Just one month ago on Dinner with The King (Jerry Lawler’s Podcast), Cody stated “Ring of Honor hates the fact that I genuinely remained a free agent; I did not sign a contract with them. I signed on for various dates, and I have many dates left with them. I really like Ring of Honor. But I’m not going to be exclusive anywhere. I did exclusive.” After much deliberation, the hottest free agent in professional wrestling has had a change of heart.
When asked about this, Cody said "I grew up in this business, I've seen its peaks and valleys...I know we are entering an unprecedented time in pro wrestling/sports entertainment and it’s time to put my flag in the sand. Joe Koff and his team put together such a generous offer...with some non-wrestling projects on the horizon that I hope to announce soon, and the potential of starting a family down the road...it was a perfect fit. Myself, Marty Scurll, Hangman Page, Matt and Nick Jackson...it's the dream team...like the 1992 dream team. I have several goals in mind for myself and for ROH and I can't wait to get started."
The exact terms and length of the deal cannot be disclosed, but it is the most generous offer in Ring of Honor history and Cody will be in an ROH ring for the next several years. Cody will still be able to compete internationally around the world while calling ROH his home base. He will also continue to work with New Japan Pro Wrestling who has a partnership with ROH.
Ring of Honor General Manager Greg Gilleland said, "When Cody first started competing in ROH, we knew we wanted him to be exclusive, but respected his wishes to try out the rest of the industry. Finalizing this deal is another big step in his career and a great step in the continued development of the Ring of Honor brand, delivering the best, real professional wrestling to a rapidly growing and the most passionate fanbase around the world."
In addition to his in-ring activities, Cody’s brand continues to grow with recent appearances on the CW hit series ARROW opposite Stephen Amell playing the character Derek Sampson and several non-wrestling projects on the horizon. Cody is also a collaborator at the Nocking Point Winery and has his American Nightmare t-shirts in Hot Topics throughout the US and Canada.
For any business related inquires, you can contact Cody’s wrestling manager Brian at BookRhodes@gmail.com.
If you enjoy PWInsider.com you can check out the AD-FREE PWInsider Elite section, which features exclusive audio updates, news, our critically acclaimed podcasts, interviews and more, right now for THREE DAYS free by clicking here!On Tuesday — just hours after The New Yorker's Weinstein exposé was published — Crews recounted an incident when he and his wife attended an industry function last year and "a high-level Hollywood executive came over to me and groped my privates."
"This whole thing with Harvey Weinstein is giving me PTSD. Why? Because this kind of thing happened to ME," tweeted the Brooklyn Nine-Nine actor, who has also appeared in such films as White Chicks, Draft Day and Sandy Wexler, as well as the Expendables franchise.
"Jumping back, I said, 'What are you doing?!'" Crews tweeted. "My wife saw everything and we looked at him like he was crazy. He just grinned like a jerk.
"I was going to kick his ass right then — but I thought twice about how the whole thing would appear," he continued. "'240 lbs. Black Man stomps out Hollywood Honcho' would be the headline the next day. Only I probably wouldn't have been able to read it because I WOULD HAVE BEEN IN JAIL. So we left. That night and the next day I talked to everyone I knew that worked with him about what happened. He called me the next day with an apology but never really explained why he did what he did.
"I decided not to take it further because I didn't want to be ostracized — par for the course when the predator has power and influence," he reflected. "I let it go. And I understand why many women who this happens to let it go. Who's going to believe you? (Few) What are the repercussions? (Many) Do you want to work again? (Yes) Are you prepared to be ostracized? (No) I love what I do. But it's a shame and the height of disappointment when someone tries to takes advantage of that. He knows who he is. But sometimes you have to wait and compare notes with others who've been victimized in order to gain a position of strength.
"I understand and empathize with those who have remained silent. But Harvey Weinstein is not the only perpetrator," Crews concluded. "Hollywood is not the only business [where] this happens, and to the casualties of this behavior — you are not alone. Hopefully, me coming forward with my story will deter a predator and encourage someone who feels hopeless."Wedding Saving Tips
As many of you already may know this summer I’ll be getting married, to be exact August 2nd is the big day WHOOHOO! So I thought I share a little bit of our experience and give some tips for those planning on getting married soon.
Budget
Sit down with your significant other and set up a realistic budget. Estimate how much you would like to spend and give yourself about 0.5-1% wiggle room, but stick to it there is not point in having a budget if you are going to blow it up. We set a budget for $20,000 and so far have kept that in check, if we went over budget on one item we would make sure to cut back on others to bring things back inline. Make sure you put it down on paper otherwise chances are you will blow the budget, we used a spreadsheet to keep us on track.
Start Planning Early!
This is probably the most valuable tip I can give you, start early. We start wedding planning in August 2008, so about a year in advance. The good thing was that I have had several years of experience in event planning so we knew exactly where to look and who to talk to. Starting early won’t just save you a lot of last month headache, but can save you thousands of dollars because you have more time to look around and more leverage.
Simplify
If you start attending wedding shows and wedding planners you’ll notice that there are at least 6 different categories for flowers and many more for other items, keep it simple!! Make a list of things that are most important to you and start scratching everything else out, if you have money left you can always go back.
Avoid Saturday’s
Saturday’s will be the most expensive day to have a wedding, by avoiding Saturday we saved at least 25-30%. Go for Friday or Sunday and save yourself thousands of dollars, we picked a Sunday but it’s a long weekend Sunday so if you can do that even better.
Have a Wedding Calendar
My fiance, who is sometimes a little bit of an organizing freak, made a “Wedding Calendar” she set out things we need have done in every month which was great and kept us on track. Right now we have about 3 months to go till the big day and we have pretty much everything done, when we tell others everyone seems very surprised. Yes of course there will be the last minute things that we overlooked, but we will have more time to deal with those surprises. So get a calendar and mark down things you want to do in any given month and than get them done!
Shop Around and Negotiate
Although I have a fairly decent network when it comes to event planning, we still took some time and shopped around and the best deal we got was one outside of my network. Put together a list of potential’s and play them against each other, we went back 3 or 4 times between two venues and were able bring down their prices by about 30% from their original quote.
Avoid Loans
This is a trap too many newlyweds fall into, they want things they can’t afford so get a loan. Starting out your lives together in debt is probably not the best way, avoid a wedding loan at all costs. When you budget keep it realistic, if you do not have the funds right now start saving towards it. I do not want to get into the concept of compounding now, just remember compounding can work for you but also against you! We hate debt and did not want to get a loan for our wedding so when we budgeted we worked backwards, we looked at how much we can realistically save over the next several months and based our budget on that. We set a budget of $20,000 and were able to save that much in about nine months now we can enjoy a debt free wedding.
Get a DJ and $ave
Music is probably one of the top five expenses you will have, by getting a DJ instead of a band yo u can save couple of thousands. Although we have a band booked for our wedding we did this because we had good relations with this band and were able to get them at a similar price a DJ would have cost.
Make Your Own Wedding Invitations
When I was looking for wedding invitations I could not believe the ridiculous amounts charged for having wedding cards, so we decided to make our own. We got some already made cards and printed them at home total cost for wedding cards was about $30.
The Wedding Gown
Wedding gown can be very expensive, I suggest buying used gowns or renting. You can find used wedding dresses on the net, I don’t see a reason to spend thousands of dollars on a dress that will be worn only ones. Not to take away from the importance of a wedding dress, but if you can get just as good of a dress of less than half the price why not take it?
If you do buy your dress I suggest you sell it afterward, you can sell it on ebay or using Preowned Wedding Dresses, they charge you $25 annually and list your dress (including 5 photos) on their site no commissions or other fees are charged.
I know when you see us spending $20,000 on the wedding you think this guy is crazy this is not a frugal wedding, but couple this to know is that we |
engrafting represents the first permanent and stable method of bypassing the BBB thereby providing a pathway for HMW therapeutics directly into the CNS.
Citation: Bleier BS, Kohman RE, Feldman RE, Ramanlal S, Han X (2013) Permeabilization of the Blood-Brain Barrier via Mucosal Engrafting: Implications for Drug Delivery to the Brain. PLoS ONE 8(4): e61694. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0061694 Editor: Richard Jay Smeyne, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, United States of America Received: December 24, 2012; Accepted: March 13, 2013; Published: April 24, 2013 Copyright: © 2013 Bleier et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Funding: This study was funded by the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research 2011 Rapid Response Innovations Awards Program. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Competing interests: Benjamin Saul Skorr Bleier is an inventor of the described technique which is protected under a non-provisional US patent(METHODS OF TREATING PAIN AND NEUROLOGICAL DISORDERS, AND DELIVERING PHARMACEUTICAL AGENTS US20130030056 A1). There are no further patents, products in development or marketed products to declare. This does not alter the authors' adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.
Introduction Neurologic disorders affect more than 20 million patients in the US alone and account for over $400 billion in annual expenditure for both their treatment and chronic care [1], [2]. The paucity of effective neurodegenerative therapies is directly attributable to the presence of the blood-brain barrier(BBB) and blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier(BCSFB). These barriers are composed of densely packed cells with copious intercellular tight junctions(TJ), active efflux pumps, and a trilamellar basement membrane which prevent the absorption of polar or high molecular weight(HMW) molecules larger than 500Da [3]. This results in restriction of up to 98% of all potential neuropharmaceutical agents from reaching the central nervous system(CNS) [3]. Consequently, known charged or macromolecular therapies which may be capable of preventing or even reversing certain neurologic diseases are rendered clinically ineffective due to their inability to cross the BBB. The limitations of the BBB have catalyzed a considerable research effort into ways to circumvent this barrier. Currently described experimental methods such as transcranial catheter placement [4] and the use of protein conjugates [1] may be invasive or require extensive drug manipulation to optimize trans-BBB transport rendering them impractical, morbid, and expensive to scale up for widespread clinical use. Furthermore even if the BBB could be successfully overcome, the majority of these strategies rely on a peripheral delivery route leading to potential systemic toxicity and pulsatile CNS delivery [2]. The evident value of a direct pathway capable of continuous delivery of polar and macromolecular therapies has led to a large body of work seeking to exploit the olfactory mucosa for this purpose. Trans-olfactory CNS uptake of nerve growth factor(NGF, 27.5 kDa) has been described in rats [5] and Fisher et al [6] suggested that absorption of even larger molecules may be possible. The findings in rodent models have ultimately failed to translate into clinical success largely due to the relatively diminutive presence and distribution of the human olfactory mucosa [7]. However, confirmation of the permeability of nasal mucosa to very large and polar molecules suggests the potential for a novel alternative method. Using recently developed endoscopic techniques, surgeons are now routinely able to remove brain tumors through the nose without any facial incisions. These approaches require the removal of the intervening dura mater and arachnoid membrane thereby creating a large communication between the interior of the nose and the brain surface. In order to prevent post-operative infection or leakage of cerebrospinal fluid, these holes in the skull base are then sealed using nasal mucosal grafts harvested from the nasal septum [8](Fig. 1A). While these repairs are permanent, water tight, and immunocompetent [9], they also function to replace large regions of the restrictive BCSFB within the arachnoid with relatively permeable sinonasal mucosa. The engrafted nasal mucosa may be subsequently dosed with a variety of therapeutic agents applied topically. Given the lack of underlying arachnoid membrane, these mucosal grafts have the potential to bypass the BBB and transmit HMW or polar agents directly to the brain and subarachnoid space using purely autologous tissues. PPT PowerPoint slide
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larger image TIFF original image Download: Figure 1. Murine graft model. A) Sagittal MRI of a patient following endoscopic reconstruction of a skull base defect using a nasal mucosa graft(dotted white line, arrow denotes the proposed transmucosal pathway for HMW agents from the nose into the CNS through the graft). B) Illlustration of the murine graft model with the position of the graft(red circle) relative to the skull. The arrow denotes the equivalent transmucosal pathway to that seen on the MRI(Fig. 1A) utilized in our study. C and D) Cross sectional illustration of the skull base layers prior to and following craniotomy with dural removal and mucosal graft inset, respectively. Note that the dural layer(dura and arachnoid) contains the blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier which restricts the transport of HMW molecules. E) Hematoxylin and eosin(H&E) section of the intact murine parietal bone with typical appearance of the inner and outer cortical tables with their associated diploic space(D) prior to engrafting(bar = 200 µm). F) H&E section of the mucosal graft implant in direct continuity with underlying brain parenchyma. Note the intact epithelial layer(E) consisting of pseudostratified columnar epithelium. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0061694.g001 The purpose of this study is to determine the capacity of these septal mucosal grafts for permitting diffusion of high molecular weight markers into the CNS. In order to analyze the impact of size and exposure duration on marker delivery, we developed a novel murine extracranial graft model that precisely recapitulates the anatomy and graft morphology encountered at the anterior skull base. Here we provide a proof of concept demonstration that mucosal engrafting of the BBB enables the delivery of HMW molecules to the CNS while obviating the need to implant foreign bodies or penetrate the brain parenchyma.
Results Outcomes of Mucosal Engrafting and Impact on Rhodamine-dextran Marker Uptake To directly examine the efficiency of nasal mucosa in transporting HMW agents, we first developed and validated a murine model to mimic the human skull base. In this model, a mucosal graft harvested from a donor mouse septum was applied over a right parietal craniotomy 3 mm in diameter following dural reflection(Fig. 1B–D). A reservoir was surgically implanted over the mucosal graft to form a tight seal allowing topical dosing of the graft with different fluorescent rhodamine-dextran markers ranging from 20–500 kDa. The mucosal implant procedure was well tolerated and no evidence of subcutaneous infection, mucocele, or distress related to the surgical site was observed during the postoperative period. Hematoxylin and eosin staining demonstrated intact grafts with complete coverage of the bony craniotomy(Fig. 1E,F). Evans blue(EB) staining was used to confirm the integrity of the epithelial tight junctions within the graft following exposure to the rhodamine-dextran solution. The EB dye was restricted to the apical surface in all grafts indicating viable and intact epithelium(Fig. 2A). The validity of the technique was verified by calculating the total area of rhodamine diffusion in the control conditions directly adjacent to the graft(bregma −1.06 mm). The positive control consisted of direct exposure of the brain to the rhodamine-dextran solution with no intervening dura or mucosa. This resulted in a large area of ipsilateral 500 kDa rhodamine-dextran diffusion(1206.03+/−509.44 mm2, mean+/−S.D., n = 3). The negative control condition in which the dura was kept intact demonstrated negligible diffusion(1.36+/−1.3 mm2, n = 3)(Fig. 2A). Direct intranasal dosing has also been reported to allow for high molecular weight drug delivery to the brain in rodents [5] however this method is inefficient and likely not translatable to humans. In order to directly compare delivery via the mucosal graft with intranasal dosing we applied an equivalent volume of the 20 kDa rhodamine-dextran solution directly into the nostril. The intranasal delivery condition demonstrated minimal delivery which was similar to that of the negative control(1.76+/−2.17 mm2, n = 3)(Fig. 2A). PPT PowerPoint slide
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larger image TIFF original image Download: Figure 2. Transmucosal marker diffusion by molecular weight. A) Fluorescent microscopic images demonstrating transmucosal rhodamine-dextran delivery(bar = 1 mm, bregma −1.06 mm, * denotes the position of the reservoir containing the rhodamine-dextran solution in all of the topical delivery conditions). Negative(neg) and positive(pos) control images represent delivery through intact dura or direct parenchymal delivery with no intervening dura or mucosa, respectively. Note the lack of apparent fluorescence in the nasal group in which the 20 kDa rhodamine-dextran solution is delivered directly into the nares. A molecular weight dependent successive reduction in area stained is seen between 20, 40, and 500 kDa rhodamine-dextran. The bottom row represents matched brightfield images demonstrating the mucosal graft stained with Evans blue used to confirm mucosal graft integrity following dosing. B) Graph depicting total area of fluorescent pixels at bregma −1.06 mm following 72 hours of rhodamine-dextran delivery. The total area of delivery under all molecular weight conditions is significantly greater than that seen following direct intranasal instillation of a 20 kDa rhodamine-dextran solution(p<0.05). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0061694.g002 Transmucosal Rhodamine-dextran Diffusion by Molecular Weight and Time We next examined the impact of molecular weight and duration of exposure on transmucosal rhodamine-dextran diffusion. Polymers of molecular weights 20, 40 and 500 kDa were tested. At designated time points, mice were euthanized and coronal brain slices were imaged in order to calculate the area and intensity of rhodamine within a cross section incorporating the leading edge of the mucosal graft. As shown in Fig. 2A the degree of marker diffusion at 24 hours was directly related to polymer molecular weight. The calculated area of polymer diffusion after 72 hours of administration shows a trend of an increase in area with decreasing molecular weight (Fig. 2B). We next focused on the distribution of the more therapeutically relevant lower molecular weight markers. The 20 kDa marker demonstrated a trend towards greater percent distribution and weighted luminosity than the 40 kDa dextran at all time points. This trend reached statistical significance for the percent distribution at 72 h(p<0.05)(Fig. 3). PPT PowerPoint slide
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larger image TIFF original image Download: Figure 3. Area and intensity of marker diffusion over time. A)Fluorescent microscopic images demonstrating an increase in area and intensity of transmucosal rhodamine-dextran delivery over time(bar = 1 mm, bregma −1.06 mm, 40 kDa rhodamine-dextran). B) 3-D map of Fig. 3A quantifying increase in relative pixel luminosity intensity across each cross section over time(bregma −1.06 mm, 40 kDa rhodamine-dextran). C) Percent of the total cross sectional area containing detectable rhodamine fluorescence at bregma −1.06 mm. The overall trend describes an increasing percent area of staining as time increases and molecular weight decreases. Among the 40 kDa conditions, the percent area of rhodamine staining at 72 h is significantly greater than at 12 or 48 h. Among the 20 kDa conditions the percent area of rhodamine staining at 72 h is significantly greater than at 12 h. At 72 h, the percent area subtended by the 20 kDa condition is significantly greater than that of the 40 kDa condition. D) Weighted luminosity of rhodamine staining at bregma −1.06 mm. The overall trend describes an increasing weighted luminosity as time increases and molecular weight decreases. Among the 40 kDa conditions, the weighted luminosity at 72 h is significantly greater than at 12 or 48 h. Among the 20 kDa conditions, the weighted luminosity at 72 h is significantly greater than at 12 h. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0061694.g003 The percent of total cross sectional area stained by rhodamine successively increased with longer exposure(Fig. 3A,B). The 72 h time point demonstrated the greatest percent distribution for both the 20 and 40 kDa dextran markers(14.89+/−3.86%, 9.08+/−5.16%, mean+/−S.D.; n = 3, respectively)(Fig. 3C). In order to further compare the relative concentrations of rhodamine delivery over time, a weighted luminosity average was calculated over the entire cross section. For both the 20 and 40 kDa dextran molecules, the weighted luminosity successively increased over time with the 72 h time point demonstrating the greatest intensity(106.46+/−58.39, 48.65+/−28.46; n = 3, respectively)(Fig. 3D). Striatal Delivery of Transmucosal Rhodamine-dextran In order to ascertain whether the mucosal graft method could be utilized to deliver macromolecular therapies to the striatum for treating Parkinson’s disease(PD), striatal delivery was examined. The difference between the average luminosity of the right(ipsilateral to the mucosal graft) and left striatum(bregma 1.18 mm) was calculated over 12 to 72 hours of continuous exposure to the 20, 40, and 500 kDa rhodamine-dextran marker solutions. Ipsilateral striatal staining was seen among both the 20 and 40 kDa conditions however staining was negligible for the highest molecular weight 500 kDa polymer. The differential striatal luminosity at 72 hours for the 20 kDa marker was significantly greater than that at 12 hours(5.62+/−3.58 vs. 1.94+/−3.99, mean+/−S.D., n = 3, p<0.05)(Fig. 4). As expected, contralateral staining was not detected for any of the molecular weights or exposure durations. These results demonstrate the feasibility of delivering HMW therapies such as growth factors to the striatum as these proteins are of comparable molecular weights to the polymers tested in this study. Among all conditions no significant delivery to the substantia nigra was evident. PPT PowerPoint slide
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larger image TIFF original image Download: Figure 4. Transmucosal marker delivery to striatum over time. A) Fluorescent microscopic images demonstrating transmucosal rhodamine-dextran delivery to the striatum(bregma 1.18 mm, bar = 0.5 mm, 72 h). Diffusion into the right striatum(ipsilateral to mucosal graft) occurs in a molecular weight dependent fashion while contralateral diffusion to the left striatum is negligible. B) The differential luminosity of the right(ipsilateral) striatum relative to the contralateral striatum following rhodamine-dextran exposure. While detectable striatal diffusion of the 20 and 40 kDa rhodamine-dextran conditions is seen, the 500 kDa rhodamine-dextran solution is associated with negligible striatal delivery. The differential luminosity of the striatum at 72 h following 20 kDa rhodamine-dextran delivery is significantly greater than at 12 h. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0061694.g004
Discussion The BBB represents one of the major obstacles to the development and implementation of therapies for the treatment of neurodegenerative disease. Neurotrophic factors with known disease modifying capabilities in Parkinson’s Disease have failed to be adopted into routine clinical use due to, in part, their inability to cross the BBB. Glial derived neurotrophic factor(GDNF) represents one such molecule which can promote mesencephalic dopaminergic neuronal survival and modulate neuronal function [10]. Given the size of the dimeric GDNF peptide(25–30 kDa), therapeutic efficacy studies have required the implantation of intracerebroventricular or intraputamenal catheters in order to provide access to the CNS. One clinical trial examining direct intraputamenal delivery reported that all patients developed vasogenic edema at the catheter tip and 40% required additional catheter manipulation or explantation [11]. These findings suggest that while direct, continuous delivery of neurotrophic or other experimental HMW molecules to the CSF have tremendous potential, there remains a need for a safer and more permanent alternative to the transcranial implantation of indwelling foreign bodies. Intranasal drug delivery has been investigated as an alternative potential method to deliver therapeutic agents to the CNS thereby avoiding trauma to the brain parenchyma or implantation of foreign bodies. While the intranasal route for systemic administration is currently utilized for PD therapies such as apomorphine [12], its utility in direct CNS delivery is controversial. The anatomic basis for this theory arises from the fact that the subarachnoid space extends into the nasal cavity along the olfactory neurons allowing for the rapid uptake of large molecules into the CSF compartment [13]. While this delivery route has been successfully demonstrated in animal models [14], its clinical utility is less clear. The relative paucity of human olfactory mucosa coupled with its location in a region with little access for topical agents [15] suggests that these rodent studies may vastly overstate the clinical potential of transnasal CNS delivery through an intact skull base. In a critical analysis of 100 papers examining this pathway only 2 approached satisfactory evidence for utility of the transnasal route [16]. Our findings demonstrating a relative lack of rhodamine uptake following intranasal instillation supports this contention. The described mucosal grafting method represents an adaptation of a surgical technique which is currently in widespread use in the field of endoscopic skull base surgery and is, in fact, considered the gold standard in reconstruction of skull base defects [9], [17]. In order to test the feasibility of direct transmucosal CNS drug delivery, an appropriate animal model had to be developed and validated. While the described murine extracranial model does not replicate the intranasal milieu, it precisely recapitulates the skull base morphology following surgical mucosal graft reconstruction. The discreet lack of rhodamine-dextran uptake in the negative control condition confirmed that the BCSFB was present and intact in the murine arachnoid. Additionally it was critical to validate the integrity of each mucosal graft following rhodamine-dextran exposure to ensure that the observed absorption could not be attributed to a disruption of the epithelium secondary to poor healing or surgical trauma. The described Evans blue testing confirmed that all of the observed rhodamine-dextran absorption resulted from transport through an intact mucosal graft. Our data demonstrate that while the mucosal grafts were permeable to all of the dextran molecules tested, there was a clear and significant decrement in transport as molecular weight increased. This supports that fact that the mucosal epithelium, while significantly more permeable than the BBB, also exerts some measure of size selectivity on the molecules it is exposed to. This was overcome, in part, by extending the exposure duration. This could be achieved clinically using a variety of drug eluting polymers. Given the potential for use of this technique for neurotrophic factor delivery in PD, this study also sought to examine the relative uptake in the striatum, a potential end organ target for GDNF. Our data show that while the 500 kDa could be detected, significant ipsilateral delivery was seen only up to 40 kDa. The lack of contralateral diffusion is consistent with the unilateral bias of the mucosal graft coupled with the known limitations of drug diffusion through the extracellular spaces within the brain [18]. In clinical use however, the mucosal graft is positioned in the midline proximal to the mesencephalon and adjacent to the prepontine and interpeduncular cisterns thereby providing bilateral access for drug delivery. One limitation of this study is that it does not address whether the findings in our animal model would be applicable in a clinical setting due to regional differences in convection throughout the brain. When directly comparing the murine model to the human skull base however, the reported findings may actually underestimate the potential for drug delivery for two important reasons. The first is that in the human, the relative mucosal graft area to brain volume ratio would be much higher given that grafts up to 20cm2 are achievable. Additionally in the clinical scenario, diffusion to more distal aspects of the brain would be possible via CSF circulation, a finding not seen in the murine model due to occlusion of the smaller subarachnoid space following the craniotomy. The intranasal mucosal engrafting technique has the potential to bypass the BBB providing a permanent route for direct CNS drug delivery using only autologous tissues. The mucosal graft represents a non-specific semipermeable membrane that could be compatible with both established and experimental HMW therapeutics including neurotrophic factors, fusion proteins [10], nanoparticles [19], and viruses [20]. This proof of concept study also suggests that the mucosal graft enables the delivery of molecules up to 40 kDa(the size of GDNF) to the striatum while obviating the need to implant foreign bodies or penetrate the brain parenchyma. Given the fact that this surgical technique is currently in clinical use, additional efforts will be directed at therapeutic efficacy studies which will form the basis for future clinical trials.
Materials and Methods Ethics All procedures involving animals are approved by the Boston University Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. Experimental Design Following engrafting of the heterotopic mucosal graft(described under surgical methods) in 20–25 g C57BL/6 mice, the mucosa is exposed to a 60 µL rhodamine-dextran solution. The administered solutions are standardized by fluorophore content. Rhodamine conjugated dextran solutions (Sigma, molecular weights of 20, 40, or 500 kDa) were dissolved in saline and titrated until an absorbance of 0.67 at 520 nm is obtained. Absorbance spectra are obtained using 2 µL of solution in a NanoDrop 2000 spectrophotometer(Thermo Scientific). Positive control groups are mice in which the rhodamine-dextran solution is applied directly to the parenchymal surface following craniotomy and reflection of the underlying dura and arachnoid membrane. Negative control groups are mice in which a craniotomy is performed leaving the underlying dura and arachnoid intact. The intranasal group consists of direct instillation of 60 µL of the 20 kDa rhodamine-dextran solution in 10 µL increments while the mouse was anesthetized using isoflurane. Surgical Methods In order to perform the heterotopic mucosal engrafting procedure, a donor mouse is used to harvest the nasal septum en bloc according to previously described methods [21]. The septal mucoperichondrial flaps are preserved in normal saline for no more than 2 hours prior to engrafting. The experimental mouse is anesthetized using isoflurane and placed in a stereotaxic frame below an operating microscope. Following standard prepping and clipping of the scalp, a linear sagittal incision is made from the level of the mid orbit to the occiput. Flaps are elevated bilaterally in a subgaleal plane exposing the pericranium. The pericranium is then cleared from the intended craniotomy site centered at −1.5 mm anterior-posterior, and∼2 mm medial-lateral to bregma. Using a drill, a craniotomy 3 mm in diameter is outlined. The bone is then carefully reflected leaving the underlying dura intact. In the experimental mice, the dura and arachnoid are then reflected leaving the underlying pia mater undisrupted. This is accomplished by applying Vetbond(3 M) to the dural surface. Once dried, the membrane can be manually removed without damaging the brain surface. The previously harvested mucosal graft is then inset taking care to place the mucoperichondrial layer against the exposed pia mater. The skin flaps are then closed and the flap is left to engraft for 7 days. On post-surgical day 7 the skin flaps are reflected taking care to leave the underlying mucosal graft undisturbed. The graft is then inspected using a dissecting microscope to ensure there is no evidence of defects, infection, necrosis, or exposed bony edges. A 100 µL polypropylene reservoir is then inset over the graft and secured to the cranium using polycyanoacrylate followed by dental cement(Stoelting). The reservoir is checked for leaks and the desired rhodamine-dextran solution is then applied to the reservoir ensuring the solution comes into direct contact with the mucosal surface. Histologic Preparation and Imaging Following rhodamine-dextran dosing according to the assigned group, the solution is removed and replaced with Evans blue(EB, 961Da, Sigma) for 1 hour. Defects or disruptions in the graft epithelium will allow for EB diffusion into the underlying brain parenchyma over this short exposure time. Apical restriction of the dye is therefore used to confirm graft integrity during the preceding rhodamine-dextran dosing interval. The mice are euthanized using pentobarbital until unresponsive to a foot withdrawal reflex. The brain is then harvested en bloc and snap frozen in a 2-methylbutane dry ice bath. The brain is then mounted in OCT(Sigma) and sectioned at a thickness of 50 µm using a crytostat(Leica). In order to prevent rhodamine diffusion into the mounting media, sections are immediately imaged using an Olympus IX81 microscope equipped with Metamorph software. Rhodamine containing samples are imaged at 4× using a red filter with a 1000 ms exposure time. Evan’s Blue containing samples are imaged at 4× in phase-contrast mode with a 15 ms exposure time. Images are merged and exported for luminosity analysis in tagged image file format(TIFF). Image Analysis Rhodamine luminosity is quantified according to methods adapted from Kirkeby et al [22]. All TIFF files are imported into a graphics editing program(Adobe Photoshop) for analysis which was confirmed using Image J. The brightness across all images is normalized using a non-tissue bearing region of the slide. The software is used to automatically select pixels exceeding the background luminosity tolerance threshold in each image. The total number of pixels and mean luminosity of all selected pixels are recorded for each image. A weighted luminosity was calculated by multiplying the average luminosity over all pixels by the total number of fluorescent pixels. In order to measure striatal luminosity, a brightfield image is superimposed over the fluorescent image and the striatum was selected by hand. The brightfield image is then removed and the luminosity of the selected region is recorded. The differential luminosity is calculated by subtracting the luminosity of the ipsilateral from the contralateral striatum(relative to the graft). Statistics The significance of differences across the experimental and control conditions is determined using a 2 tailed Student’s t-test(SigmaStat v3.1, Systat Software Inc, San Jose, CA). Differences are considered statistically significant at p<0.05.
Author Contributions Revsions and Final Approval of Manuscript: BSB RK RF SR XH. Conceived and designed the experiments: BSB RK RF SR XH. Performed the experiments: BSB RK RF SR. Analyzed the data: BSB RK RF SR XH. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: BSB RK RF SR XH. Wrote the paper: BSB RK RF SR XH.The inconsistencies and lies of the three complainants in the sexual assault trial of Jian Ghomeshi must lead to an acquittal of the former CBC Radio host, his defence team argued in court today. But the Crown suggested that the "unshaken" allegations of the women show guilt.
"You've heard the evidence in this case," Ghomeshi's lawyer Marie Henein said in her closing argument. "And for reasons that we have submitted to you, it is our submission that the evidence in the courtroom falls so far short of proving anything beyond a reasonable doubt, it is so riddled with inconsistencies and improbabilities and proven lies under oath that it cannot be said to prove anything.
"It's our respectful submission that Mr. Ghomeshi is not guilty and that he's entitled to an acquittal on all counts."
Judge William Horkins said he would reserve judgement and the court would reconvene on March 24
Ghomeshi, 48, who lives in Toronto, has pleaded not guilty to four counts of sexual assault and one count of overcoming resistance by choking, all related to alleged assaults from 2002 to 2003. The identities of two of the complainants in the case are protected under a publication ban, but actress Lucy DeCoutere, also an air force captain, went to court to lift the ban on her name.
Crown says evidence on key facts'steadfast'
The first woman to testify told court that Ghomeshi had pulled her hair and punched her in the head at his home after a dinner date. DeCoutere said the former Q host had choked and slapped her at his home. The third woman said Ghomeshi had squeezed her neck and covered her mouth while they were kissing on a park bench.
The Crown and defence presented closing arguments today in the sexual assault trial of Jian Ghomeshi. (Frank Gunn/Canadian Press)
But it was later revealed in court that each woman had had contact with Ghomeshi following the alleged assaults and that details of this contact had not been provided to police or the Crown in their initial statements.
In his final argument, Crown attorney Michael Callaghan said Horkins had heard evidence that may have caused him to have concerns about the reliability and credibility of some of the witnesses.
But Callaghan said that's not the end of the analysis. He argued that the witnesses had provided explanations for some of of the inconsistencies, delayed disclosures or omissions in their evidence.
"Not withstanding vigorous cross-examination, all three of the Crown's witnesses were unshaken in their allegations that they were sexually assaulted by Mr. Ghomeshi.
"The evidence on these key points, the very offences being alleged, was steadfast."
But Henein dismissed the significance of their "unshaken" testimony, saying it is of no assistance to the judge.
Artist's sketch of closing arguments at Jian Ghomeshi's sexual assault trial in Toronto on February 11, 2016. Alexandra Newbould/Canadian Press (Alexandra Newbould/Canadian Press)
"Unless the witness gets up and recants on the stand and says, 'You know, when I said it, that's simply not true.' Well maybe that happens on TV but in 24 years practising in these courts, that is a rare event."
'Deeply troubling'
Instead, in determining the credibility and reliability of the witnesses, Henein argued that all three women had withheld information from the police, Crown and the court about their ongoing communications with Ghomeshi. She said it was "deeply troubling" that these details were disclosed at "the 11th hour" before trial and only when there was concern the women would be contradicted by objective evidence.
The first witness had told police and the court she had no subsequent contact with Ghomeshi after two alleged attacks but later acknowledged she sent him two emails and a picture of her in a bikini more than a year later. The woman said she sent the emails to bait him into calling her to explain his actions.
DeCoutere had told the court that she had no romantic interest in Ghomeshi after her alleged assault, and would only see him at industry functions.
But it was later revealed in court that hours after the alleged sexual assault, she had sent him an email saying she wanted to have sex with him, and sent him a handwritten letter days later saying she was sad they didn't spend the night together.
'Not worthy of belief'
The third woman, who told police she would only feel safe being out with Ghomeshi in public after her alleged assault, failed to disclose that days later she had a consensual sexual encounter with him.
Ghomeshi and his lawyer Marie Henein leave court in Toronto following closing arguments in his sexual assault trial. (Frank Gunn/Canadian Press)
As for their explanations about their contact with Ghomeshi following the alleged assaults, Henein said "they are not worthy of belief."
Henein insisted that the issue wasn't that they continued to have contact with Ghomeshi, but that they lied about it.
Co-counsel Danielle Robitaille went through the testimony of each of the three complainants, pointing out inconsistencies in details about the alleged assault themselves, and the contact they had with Ghomeshi after.
The first woman, she said, changed details about whether or not she had hair extensions, or her head was slammed against the car widow, or whether she was pushed or had her hair pulled to the ground before the alleged assault in his home.
Those inconsistencies, she said, go the question of whether the Crown had proved beyond reasonable doubt that the incident happened, or whether there was an absence of consent.
For DeCoutere, Robitaille raised the email sent by DeCoutere hours after the alleged assault saying she wanted to 'f--k' his brains out, an email 13 days later in which she said he was "magic" and her handwritten letter six days later saying she wished she could have spent the night. Robitaille argued all go to the issue of whether the Crown has proven there was no consent beyond a reasonable doubt.
As for the third witness, Robitaille said the chronology of her disclosure to police about her sexual encounter with Ghomeshi after the alleged assault should "weigh very heavily in your Honour's assessment of this witness's credibility and reliability."OK first of all this is my rematched gift. For my rematch fairy your should win an award. I mean first of all you wrote me and practically shipped the same day I reported receiving no gift! You have inspired me.
You letter was super sweet. And of course if something is coming from Kansas city and it didn't have BBQ sauce someone would have punished you for sending it out. Isn't there some sort of law at the post office that any box containing food being shipped out must contain some barbeque sauce?
Opening the box was probably better then every single Christmas memory I have from childhood.
I haven't had the chance to try all of them yet, and It'll probably take me a few days to try them all... AND work up the courage to try the spicy stuff. I do enjoy spicy things, in small quantities. But there are those who eat with me that will probably fall in love with you for sending them along! I just got a grill for the 4th of July coming up and you can bet every single one of these will be used!
You're amazing! When you wake up in every morning, know that you are a superstar.
P.S. Since I work where I live, I was in my office and I just couldn't stand it so I got a plastic knife and have been tasting each sauce as I upload the pictures. I will add in the picture notes as I taste them!
P.P.S. I have more then once gone back and smacked on the sweet and spicy mustard, I have no shame about this. It's amazing.
Also, I think I might move down there just for the food if this is just a small tasting I know I'd love it there.
THANK YOU!Iraq crisis: John Howard's decision to back 2003 invasion helped fuel Islamic State militant group, says Andrew Wilkie
Updated
Independent MP Andrew Wilkie says John Howard should be "deeply ashamed" for sending Australian troops to Iraq in 2003, adding that the military action allowed for the rise of groups like Islamic State.
Mr Howard told the Seven Network he was "embarrassed" when he learned there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, which was the basis for his decision to back the invasion.
Mr Wilkie, a former intelligence analyst, today said the former prime minister should face prosecution in the International Criminal Court over the decision.
"Frankly, I'm disappointed that the prosecutor at the International Criminal Court hasn't thought to hold John Howard responsible for conspiracy to commit mass murder," he said.
"[It is] one thing to take Australia to war based on a lie. It makes it all the worse when that war has been so damaging to so many people and remains in the opinion of a great many historians as the darkest blot on this nation's history, at least in modern times, as far as foreign policy and security goes."
[John Howard] should be deeply ashamed that |
, objective, problem, empirically ] [ rotation, figure, vertical, horizontal, small, second, translation, stitching, direct ] [ image, transformation, invariant, invariance, local, corresponding, good, geometric, distance ]
Effective Learning-Based Illuminant Estimation Using Simple Features
Cheng, Dongliang, Price, Brian, Cohen, Scott, Brown, Michael S.
[ set, work, evaluation, natural, subset ] [ training, performance, table, feature, input, ensemble, better, output, trained, van, reported ] [ based, truth, average, including, three, group, framework ] [ regression, tree, estimation, rgb, error, scene, ground, approach, surface, evaluated, model ] [ data, method, proposed, number, time, spectral, space ] [ color, chromaticity, illuminant, illumination, constancy, camera, gamut, figure, simple, median, josa, estimated, mode, angular, result, laboratory, palette, sfu, corrected, paper, learningbased ] [ image, best, local, statistical, comparison, bayesian, compare, fast, good ]
PAIGE: PAirwise Image Geometry Encoding for Improved Efficiency in Structure-From-Motion
Schonberger, Johannes L., Berg, Alexander C., Frahm, Jan-Michael
[ visual, evaluation, predict, incremental, positive, strategy, describe ] [ feature, stage, reduce, training, performance ] [ overlap, based, eye, propose, multiple ] [ location, orientation, approach, scene, sfm, volume, structure, reconstruction, model ] [ number, pairwise, method, approximate, time, computational, proposed, encoding, random, quadratic, data, matrix, scalable, low, ransac ] [ geometry, camera, figure, square, produce, small, rotation, translation, motion, relative, robust ] [ image, matching, paige, change, geometric, retrieval, rome, vocabulary, large, pair, match, exhaustive, trafalgar, london, tate, san, histogram, overhead, modern, marco, true, preemptive, false, scale, sift, overlapping, compute, similarity, descriptor, putative, fast, corresponding ]
Dense, Accurate Optical Flow Estimation With Piecewise Parametric Model
Yang, Jiaolong, Li, Hongdong
[ vision, set, work, labeling, label, european, test, example, clean ] [ recognition, table, training, compared ] [ complex, segmentation, based, multiple, segment, frame ] [ model, estimation, term, kitti, joint, represent, discrete, approach, error, occluded, volume, initialization, initial ] [ method, energy, proposed, algorithm, data, function, time, note, optimization, minimization, journal, number, analysis, machine, intelligence, pairwise, solve, problem ] [ motion, optical, computer, parametric, homography, piecewise, conference, pattern, ieee, international, small, mdl, figure, estimated, continuity, homographies, accurate, pixel, estimate, middlebury, homogeneous, flow, brightness, constancy ] [ image, large, benchmark, dense, well, sintel, displacement, variational, comparison, fast ]
Single-Image Estimation of the Camera Response Function in Near-Lighting
Rodrigues, Pedro, Barreto, Joao P.
[ vision, perform, system, work, set, written ] [ crf, response, generic, previous ] [ multiple, strong, segmentation, three, applicable ] [ estimation, approach, scene, model, single, described, shape, performed, surface, step, require, procedure ] [ method, function, proposed, linear, machine, algorithm, vector, crfs, note, analysis, range ] [ calibration, light, camera, vignetting, white, albedo, radiometric, color, computer, ieee, isolines, irradiance, figure, pattern, balance, isoline, ratio, conference, caltag, brightness, estimate, endoscopic, zoom, constant, lens, sensor, equation, pixel, high, surgeon, isovalue, endoscopy, correction, arthroscope, planar, calibrated, carried ] [ image, grid, medical, acquired, geometric, well, scale, patch, invariance ]
Multispectral Pedestrian Detection: Benchmark Dataset and Baseline
Hwang, Soonmin, Park, Jaesik, Kim, Namil, Choi, Yukyung, So Kweon, In
[ dataset, vision, datasets, human, positive, annotated, introduce, evaluation, baseline, system, existing ] [ acf, pedestrian, channel, feature, negative, capturing, recognition, additional, compared, trained, better, larger, standard, performance, caltech ] [ detection, based, object, three, bounding, temporal, average, frame, heavy, video ] [ occlusion, aligned, height, occluded, visible, shape, kitti ] [ number, analysis, proposed, machine, extension, algorithm ] [ thermal, color, multispectral, camera, figure, pattern, computer, ieee, conference, captured, infrared, hardware, day, beam, night, pixel, reasonable, nighttime, international, calibration, braking, splitter, handle, daytime, medium ] [ image, rate, false, distance, scale, partial, gradient, voting, person ]
A Low-Dimensional Step Pattern Analysis Algorithm With Application to Multimodal Retinal Image Registration
Addison Lee, Jimmy, Cheng, Jun, Hai Lee, Beng, Ping Ong, Ee, Xu, Guozhen, Wing Kee Wong, Damon, Liu, Jiang, Laude, Augustinus, Han Lim, Tock
[ multimodal, dataset, test, datasets, describe ] [ featureCANITPRO Camps are always a great way for IT professionals to learn about the new Microsoft ecosystem offerings such as Windows Server 2012 R2, System Center 2012 R2 and others. These camps provide IT professionals both information regarding said ecosystem as well as hands on labs to complete. These labs enable IT administrators and managers alike to think of ways these labs could better support their needs within their own organization. At the CANITPRO camps which took place in Calgary last week, attendees asked how they could run said labs provided at the camp and via the Step-By-Step posts made available online on the CANITPRO.NET blog. While there are many ways this can be accomplished, the one that resonated loudest was the ability to natively run Hyper-V sessions within Windows 8.1 itself.
Virtual Machines are great for running different operating systems or software configurations on a single machine and many other additional tasks. The launch of the Windows 8 offering was the first Windows client operating system to include hardware virtualization support without the need for separate installs or downloads. The Hyper-V client found in Windows 8 is the same technology used in Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V allowing IT professionals to move VMs from server to client without the requirement to re-learn the use of Hyper-V features and tools.
In Windows 8.1 further enhancements to the Client Hyper-V were introduced. The most notable update called Enhanced Session Mode enables high fidelity graphics for connections to VM's using the RDP protocol. In addition USB redirection is also enabled from the host to VM's.
Step 1: Prerequisites
The following prerequisites are required to successfully run Client Hyper-V on Windows 8.1:
Step 2: Setting Up Hyper-V
Ensure that hardware virtualization support is turned on in the BIOS settings. Save the BIOS settings and boot up the machine normally,
At the Start Screen, swipe the right hand side of the screen and select the Search Charm.
Type turn windows features on or off and select that item
Hyper-V
Select and enable If Hyper-V was not previously enabled, reboot the machine to apply the change.
NOTE: As a best practice, it’s a good idea to configure networking for the Hyper-V environment to support external network connections. Ensure that a virtual switch has been created and is functional.
Open the Virtual Switch Manager, found on the Actions panel in the Hyper-V Manager, by typing Hyper-V at the Start Screen. Select “Virtual Switch Manager” in the Actions pane.
Ensure that “External” is highlighted, and then click on the “Create Virtual Switch” button.
If more than one NIC in is present, ensure that the proper NIC is selected for use on the VM external network connections. NOTE: There are a great deal of other options and features that can be configure. This Step-By-Step provides a good starting point and is all that is needed to start creating and using VMs on Window 8 Pro.
To learn about further functionality around Windows 8.1 for Enterprise, please visit Microsoft Virtual Academy and partake in the free Windows 8 for IT Pros Jump Start.Washington (CNN) As President Donald Trump's White House attempts to embark on a period of order and discipline, many in Washington are greeting the news with a collective eye roll.
At the start of Trump's third week in office, top advisers are trying to move beyond the infighting and feuds inside the West Wing, which have alarmed Republicans and official Washington far more than the President himself.
White House chief of staff Reince Priebus is asserting more authority to run things, administration officials say, in hopes of trying to "keep things running smoothly" after a rocky -- and active -- first two weeks.
The administration has privately pledged to do a better job of keeping relevant government agencies and congressional allies in the loop when rolling out executive actions and legislative priorities -- a far cry from the sloppy implementation of Trump's travel ban. That experience left aides cringing at the public beating they were taking, and personally irritated Trump.
"The first 10 days there's a bit of learning the ropes for any incoming administration," said Jason Miller, a former spokesman for Trump's presidential campaign. "They're going to be finding their sea legs and getting everything nailed down."
Privately, lobbyists, congressional staffers and other GOP political operatives said they're dubious that an orderly White House is on the horizon.
"I just don't see how the leopard changes his spots," said one GOP operative, who declined to be named because this person didn't want to appear to be rooting against the President. "He got to the job by drinking rocket fuel, and now people are wondering if he can sit down and delegate and be a responsible executive."
Frenzied pace
Within the White House, Trump's team has been more intent on quashing stories about turf wars and internal conflict than actually resolving them, said a top Republican close to the administration.
This Republican, who spoke on condition of anonymity to frankly discuss internal workings of the administration, said any suggestion that all conflicts between Priebus and chief strategist Steve Bannon have been eliminated are mistaken.
And that doesn't much matter to Trump. He operates easily in tumultuous environments. When disagreements arise, staffers tend to duke it out before they head to the Oval Office, keeping most of the discord from Trump's view.
The turmoil surrounding Trump has often been ascribed to whichever aide has his ear at the time. Priebus's style is more cautious; he cares about the details. Bannon favors disruptive action and isn't fazed by a little public outcry if it's in pursuit of sweeping change.
But the reality is the frenzied pace -- and now the cycle of chaos to calm -- is mostly driven by Trump, according to people close to him.
The President's priority was to move quickly to deliver on bold promises he made on the campaign trail. When he saw the backlash over the travel ban, he aimed to correct the process by tapping Priebus to run point going forward.
It's a cyclical pattern that Republicans close to the White House predict will dominate at least the first year of his administration.
"We've been punked enough times," said one Republican operative in Washington, who spoke anonymously because this person works with the White House. "The only thing that can change him is the weight of the office. And hopefully it begins to weigh on him."
Trump may be largely immune to this kind of volatility, but everyone surrounding him is not. A number of former campaign staffers are seeking job opportunities within government agencies -- even as positions within the White House remain unfilled -- to distance themselves from the "West Wing circus," according to a person familiar with the situation.
White House moving quickly on executive actions
Still, a disorganized White House doesn't necessarily mean an unproductive one. Trump has largely delivered action on issues he campaigned upon. He chose a conservative Supreme Court justice from a list he had previously released. He pulled out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, took steps to build a wall along the southern border and attempted to press pause on refugee programs.
"I know there was a flap over the immigrants but, you see, that didn't play here. There were no demonstrators at the Johnstown airport," said Rob Gleason, the former chairman of the Pennsylvania Republican Party. "People see it as protecting them."
For the most part, Gleason hears positive reviews of the president in Pennsylvania. "I think he's done pretty well for a new group of people who don't know the pitfalls," he said.
Much of the country takes a less charitable view of Trump's presidential debut. Some 53% said they disapprove of the way Trump is handling the job, according to a new CNN/ORC poll -- the highest disapproval rating for a new president since the tracking began.
Still, Trump, at 70 years old, has little incentive to change the approach he embraced in business and on the campaign trail.
While he believes the communications could have been stronger and less tumultuous in rolling out some early policies and executive orders, administration officials say he is largely satisfied with his team.
Yet, the legal fight over the immigration action, which presented Trump with his first confrontation with the limits of executive authority, has infuriated him. As he attacked the federal judge over the weekend at Mar-a-lago, administration officials shook their heads back in Washington.
"No one was happy the president attacked the judge," one official said.
Those fights are likely just beginning as his critics see the courtroom as the best venue to challenge the new president's authority.Beloved Ria's Bluebird chef Ria Pell has passed away. Pell owned the popular Grant Park breakfast spot and, until its late 2012 sale and shutter following her Chopped win, Sauced, and she touched many in the Atlanta community through her work and friendships. It's with great sadness that news comes of her reported heart attack.
Below, Ria Pell is remembered by friends in the industry. Please feel free to share memories or words in honor of the chef in the comments below or by email to atlanta@eater.com. Thoughts and sincere condolences to all who were close to Pell.
Jim Stacy, Pallookaville:
I was honored to have conducted Ria and Kiki's wedding. I was even more honored to have walked her down the aisle.
She was my friend and sister.
There will now, always, be a Ria sized hole squarely in my life.
We are all richer for having known her, and poorer at her loss.
Lauren Janis, Big Daddy Biscuits:
I've known Ria for 20 years, since Atkins Park. I've seen her grow since she started, and to watch her grow— it's amazing. The love is really there. I feel horrible for her wife and family and for the community. It's going to take time to recover from this. My heart goes out to her wife Kiki, her mom, brother and all her friends who were family to her.
Ria's heart was as big as she was. And her hugs— her laugh was infectious. She's legendary for the drive that she had, for her friendships, for her cooking. That's a person you always want on your side. I always told her that. She's a friend through and through; once you make that connection, she's yours. Now, she needs to rest well and she needs to know what she accomplished here. She had an idea, but she had no idea. She's an amazing person.
Kevin and Megan Ouzts, The Spotted Trotter:
There is a time in each one of our lives, in which we think about how much we have put into the life we've lived. There may be a place and a time in which we try to understand, what "it" is all for? I asked myself that tonight and I was grateful to say, at some time in my life, "it" was to meet Ria Pell. Together as a community or standing alone as a solitary individual, there is a feeling tonight of loss, a loss of incredible spirit, a loss of creative passion, a loss of compassion for the small piece in all of us that moves against the grain. She will be missed by more people than I will ever know. She was a dear friend. I will always love her, I will miss her, and I will live to celebrate her in a way that I know; only she will always appreciate.
Instead of talking about the woman I didn't know, I will reflect on the person I did. She was the pride of imperfections. I admired her, as she was the most comfortable in her insecurity as I would hope to ever be. I identified with her on the rigid details of our work and the comedy of the mundane and tribulations of the kitchen. I was always able to recognize with her in a way that was so close to pieces in my own life. She was a rock, a suitable soul to withstand any person's troubles. She always made me feel like the passion she and I had for our routine, was never matched by anyone. She was a woman who was here for a reason. I now realize, she accomplished what she was here for and now she has pushed on. I believe she has pushed on to an amazing place, that is only worthy of a woman like Ria Pell! I will be here, to remember her, to love her and to always pass on the woman she was, in only a way that Ria would love. Thank you for everything Ria.
Calavino Donati, Urban Cannibals::
It is a sad and shocking thing to hear that a friend, co worker and peer has suddenly and unexpectedly passed away.
Ria was one of my first employees at The Roman Lily Cafe in '97 and although I have many fond memories of her one of my favorite is that she was the only employee to never complain that the uniform was a pair of overalls, a white t-shirt and a red mechanics rag.
She walked through this world hand in hand with the spirit of community and this city will suffer from her loss.
Lara Creasy, Rocket Farm Restaurants:
I was devastated to learn this evening that Ria Pell died suddenly today. Ria was such an icon in Atlanta, so important, so well known and loved by so many different people: chefs, queers, small-business owners, foodies, musicians, hipsters, her customers at Ria's Bluebird. She was larger than life, unstoppable, a force to be reckoned with in so many ways, but yet so kind and so warm. It's hard to believe that she could just be gone like this so quickly. She was always around; she crossed my path and intersected with my circles for the last 20+ years. I am shocked by her passing, like so many others in Atlanta and beyond.
The way you touched your city, Ria, will not soon be forgotten. We don't want to let you go, but we all hope you rest in peace.
Lynne Tanzer, Hodgepodge Coffee:
Ria was a culinary genius as well as an all around amazing person and neighbor. She was an inspiration to so many with a giant heart and love for her community. She gave us a lot of encouragement and support when we started our business. I hope she knew how much she is loved. She sure will be missed.
This post has been updated since it ran. Please leave your own words in the comments or send them to atlanta@eater.com
· All Ria's Coverage [-EATL-]= an initiative undertaken by community networks members of several continents that collaborate towards a common goal: to develop a set of tools that facilitate the deployment of Free Networks
URL = http://dev.libre-mesh.org/
Description
“Libre-Mesh is an initiative undertaken by community networks members of several continents that collaborate towards a common goal: to develop a set of tools that facilitate the deployment of Free Networks on any community in the world.
Main tool is Libre-Mesh firmware: based on OpenWrt, eases the creation of WiFi communities, and enables existing communities to add roaming clouds to their networks.
The firmware (the main piece) will allow simple deployment of auto-configurable, yet versatile, multi-radio mesh networks.
Other tools are:
LibreNet6: mesh tunnel broker to supply global IPv6 to free community networks
Chef: custom-fitted firmware creator for communities
LibreMap (in collaboration with Freifunk): node plot in geographical location with automatic update of link quality in real-time.
While each tool stands on its own, and can be used separately, we strive to integrate them as much as possible, so that they work together the best.
This project was born as an effort to merge some pre-existent firmware projects:
AlterMesh (from AlterMundi, Argentina)
qMp (from guifi.net, Catalunya)
eigenNet (from eigenLab, Ninux, Italia)
And with the support of some existent organizations:In a story that is basically Encino Man but with Canadian plants, scientists have revived some once-frozen 400-year-old plants from the Canadian arctic. Bringing these plants back to life shows that certain varieties of plants may be more able to withstand extreme conditions than once thought. Keeping with the Encino Man theme, the next step will be to figure out how the scientists can use the revived plants to help pick up girls at the mall.
The Teardrop Glacier has been melting at an increasing rate, and its recession has allowed scientists to dig in new areas of Sverdrup Pass. As the glacier melts, it exposes the remains of plants that have been presumed dead since, you know, they’ve been frozen for hundreds of years. After collecting samples of the plants, researchers at the University of Alberta in Edmonton were surprised to find that they were sprouting new growth.
The team then collected more samples of different types of bryophytes, which are plants like moss without a vascular system. The samples they collected were anywhere from 400 to 600 years old, dating them to the little ice age between the years 1550 and 1850. Although it’s surprising to see plants that old coming back to life, it’s not unprecedented.
Scientists in Russia revived the 30,000-year-old Silene stenophylla, but went to great lengths to do so. Seed tissue was extracted, cloned, and then grown using special nutrients. The Canadian samples just started growing on their own because they weren’t frozen anymore. Sure, they’re about 25,000 years younger than Silene stenophylla, but it’s still pretty impressive.
Thawing out some plants is far different than reviving a primitive Brendan Fraser and making him your best friend, but at the very least it gives hope that life can survive long-term exposure to extreme conditions.
(via Seattle Times, image via Photo Giddy)
Meanwhile in Related LinksThe father of the shooter who killed 50 people at a gay nightclub in Florida said his son became enraged recently when he saw two men kissing — and that may have been what sparked the worst mass shooting in US history.
Mir Seddique, shooter Omar Seddique Mateen’s father, insisted to NBC News that the slaughter at Pulse in Orlando “has nothing to do with religion.”
“We were in Downtown Miami, Bayside, people were playing music. And he saw two men kissing each other in front of his wife and kid and he got very angry,” Seddique told the network.
“They were kissing each other and touching each other and he said, ‘Look at that. In front of my son they are doing that.’ And then we were in the men’s bathroom and men were kissing each other,” he continued.
Mateen, 29, was a U.S. citizen with no apparent criminal history, was born to Afghan parents in 1986 and was living in Port St. Lucie, according to multiple media reports.
Authorities are probing the rampage as an act of terrorism.
“At this point, this is an incident, as I can see it, we can certainly classify as a domestic terror incident,” Jerry Demings of the Orange County Sheriff’s Office said.PSA: You can now wear tiny, live succulents as jewelry — and not just as a flower crown replacement.
Etsy store owner Passionflower Made creates beautiful accessories out of the teensiest little desert plants, and you can even replant them once you're done wearing them — so your home can be as beautiful as your jewelry box.
Most people who buy Passionflower's designs wear them to their weddings as a statement piece, but they'd be a fun, textured pop to any outfit, not just a bridal gown.
Check out how small the plants are on these earrings. So cute!
Passionflower Made
Look at the flower crown possibilities!
Passionflower Made
Passionflower Made
Can't you see wearing these necklaces on your next GNO?
Passionflower Made
Passionflower Made
What about these cuffs?
Passionflower Made
Passionflower Made
Obviously matching cocktail rings are necessary AF.
Passionflower Made
Passionflower Made
If you're curious how women have worn these designs IRL, check out this bride, Redditor MrsMmmerch, who pinned her headband into her updo for her big day. Her wedding photographer, Baleros Photography, captured the look in her hair and also separately, because the world needed to see the possibilities!
Baleros Photography
Baleros Photography
Baleros Photography
😍🌱😍🌱😍🌱😍
Get non-boring fashion and beauty news directly in your feed. Follow Facebook.com/CosmoBeauty.
Follow Rachel on Twitter and Instagram.Anonymous asked: Hi Scott! MAZEL TOV on getting married!! I'm so happy for you both. Also mazel tov on getting more cats :-) great life choices all round. Um, I was just wondering what stage Thorn is at? Not 'when will it be published' as I know that's not up to you, and not 'omg how much longer??!11' because that's a jerk thing to ask. Just - are you writing the first draft? Revising it post-editorial-feedback? Checking copyedits? Just curious :-)
THORN needs an ending written (the ending is outlined in depth, just not yet written) and some targeted rewrites in three or four specific areas, based on vexing but extremely astute criticism from my agent, my genius wife, and a trusted friend. This is my primary job for December.MADRID (Reuters) - Police in Spain’s north African enclave of Ceuta arrested four men on Saturday suspected of belonging to a militant Islamist network that may have been planning an attack in Spain, the interior ministry said.
Spain has stepped up security as well as efforts to prevent the radicalization of young Muslim citizens following attacks in Paris this month in which Islamist gunmen killed 17 people.
“The four men, of Spanish nationality and Moroccan origin, have a very similar profile to those who carried out the attacks in Paris,” the interior ministry said in a statement.
Video released by the police showed around a dozen heavily-armed officers shining searchlights into windows before storming two houses in the narrow streets of Ceuta before dawn on Saturday.
Police found a gun, combat uniforms, Spanish car licence plates and machetes when they made the arrests.
“They are two pairs of brothers, highly radicalized and highly trained,” Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz told reporters.
The brothers, as part of a network, carried out aggressive campaigns on Internet forums using Islamic State slogans to recruit people to fight in Syria and Iraq and carry out attacks in Western countries, the ministry said. Their activities are still under investigation.
Spain is among a number of European countries struggling to deter young Muslim citizens from becoming jihadists in Syria or Iraq, fearing they might return to plot attacks on home soil.
The Spanish cabinet has said it will put forward a plan to counter radicalization among Muslim citizens at its weekly meeting next Friday.
Spanish and Moroccan police arrested seven people in December in a joint operation to prevent the recruitment of women to go to Syria and Iraq to support Islamic State insurgents there.
Last September, Spanish police arrested nine people suspected of belonging to a militant cell linked to Islamic State in Melilla, another Spanish enclave on the northern coast of Africa.Honestly the reason veterans aren't happy with the proposed update to the runes system isn't because the replacement isn't exciting or good. It is very exciting and a much needed step up from the current archaic system. The reason we are unhappy is because we feel as though we effectively HAD to buy runes to even play the game up until now, so the notion that "we are replacing the current rune system with a new one, but we aren't refunding the ip that you basically had to spend as a matter of course" is offensive to us. We are especially offended by explanations that don't seem to account for our personal perspective on this matter because it feels like an insult to our intelligence. There wouldn't be an issue if IP were just something we got "for free" for just playing the game-- but from our perspective it wasn't. Runes were priced in such a way that many of us felt that we couldn't afford to buy champions early on with IP, because runes could ONLY be bought with IP and were very costly. So with IP being a limited resource and not enough of it to buy both champions and runes, we chose to purchase both by spending money on champions. The choice given to us was basically "spend ip on runes or you can't really play" and "if you don't have ip, spend money on champions or the lack of opportunity in champion select will occasionally cause you to lose." This was especially exacerbated by RIOT's early history of balancing league in a whack a mole fashion in season 2 and earlier that generally made it so that newly released champions were almost always overpowered because they weren't "wacked" by Nerf Master Suck Town yet. Eventually we expanded our roster to a minimally viable size and grinded a few basic generalist rune pages-- then we were able to effectively play the game and grind up enough IP to buy most or all of the runes and champions. But that initial grind still sticks in our minds, and we totally agree that this pointless grind isn't something that makes league a better game. If we had the choice, we would have spent IP on champions rather than runes-- we didn't have a choice though, not really. We understand your position and we even agree with the direction in which you are taking the game, we just feel like you don't see it from our perspective. We feel that you gave us a false choice and then told us our choice was wrong. Its kind of like having a bad Dungeon Master tell you there is a room with two chests and one of them is booby trapped, but it turns out that while one of them technically was booby trapped, in fact both of them were. We couldn't NOT spend IP on runes to play, and yet it appears that spending IP on runes was a mistake. Some of us only bought a small subset of the runes, only the ones we really needed. Most of the long time veterans bought every single rune because we couldn't imagine that it would be a mistake to do so, and we had nothing else to spend our IP on after collecting every champion. Now all of a sudden our vast reserves of IP can be spent on things besides the occasional new champion-- its now called BE and it can be used to forge skins and other content, so we are happy. And yet, the runes we actually bought-- specifically the IP that backs them, have burnt up and are now worthless, so we feel unhappy. The most aged veterans don't really care because they are sitting on hundreds of thousands of IP and the 150 thousand they spent on runes is marginal. There are other veterans who have collected every champion and every rune, but haven't yet amassed a horde of IP, and they legitimately do feel cheated because you all of a sudden made an enormous chunk of their possessions worthless. Replacing the rune system with a better one is good for everyone, but replacing the work that people put into amassing their current collection of runes with value equal to 12% of that work is not good for those people. From your perspective you are just giving everyone all the runes and are additionally giving away some free BE to people so you feel magnanimous and can't imagine why people would be frustrated. From our perspective you are telling us that the time and effort we spent to gain a competitive edge by increasing our opportunity in champ select by amassing a collection of runes and rune pages was worthless because you've come to your senses and decided that the playing field should be even-- but you made this decision only after we made the choice to spend that IP From the veteran's perspective you punished us until we bought the runes by giving everyone who did buy them an opportunity advantage and then you punished us for buying them by deleting the IP we were forced to spend on them instead of champions-- almost certainly because you don't want that IP to be spent on champions or skins when real money could be spent instead. We know you are trying to stay in business and we weren't asking for a mountain of free stuff, but you didn't even offer us the ability to recoup our opportunity value by giving each player a discount on things like skins and champions in proportion to the opportunity value lost by that player in the old rune system based on the number of runes purchased. Supposedly the BE we receive is supposed to function sort of like the aforementioned discount, but it isn't the same thing because the value of even expensive exotic runes in this regard have become the same as the mundane ones, and they are all less valuable. What we would have preferred is something like a 50% discount on future purchases until we exhaust the value of what we spent on the runes, because at least that way we could eventually realize all the value we had accumulated in those runes. You aren't really seeing it from our point of view, and that aggravates the hell out of us. You basically don't want us to have 100% of that value back, you want us to have 12% of that value back. On top of that you are making enormous IP sinks like the limited edition WW skin, and everyone can see you are just trying to burn up as much BE as possible to destroy as much currency as possible so that you can make everything you are selling artificially more valuable. Its scummy.
Title
Body Cancel
SaveMurder mystery shows have long been a staple of the TV schedules, so much so that people who scoff at the idea of sitting down to watch Miss Marple or Poirot are still familiar with the term 'whodunit'.
Crafting an exciting and intriguing entry into a genre that has been done to death (sorry) is no mean feat, but Jonathan Creek pulled it off by realising the potential for audience head-slapping that came with the idea of a 'howdunit'.
Jonathan Creek: Originally broadcast on BBC One from May 10, 1997 - April 4, 2010
The BBC series was created by David Renwick after he spotted a gap in the market for a detective show that featured some actual detecting. Jonathan Creek is not really a programme about action. I mean, yes, there's the occasional sprint to safety or standoff with a gun, but the tension comes from watching the titular character painstakingly put together the puzzle, not from an alleyway chase to a dramatic soundtrack.
Part of Creek's charm is that he was often a reluctant hero who would rather use his brilliant mind to work out the technicalities of new magic illusions. Alan Davies, with his straggly curls and very real penchant for duffle coats, was a great fit for the reclusive and antisocial character. He expertly conveyed Jonathan's weariness at constantly being dragged into drama without making the character come across as petulant or unlikeable.
Teaming this awkward, unenthusiastic protagonist with a extroverted and motivated female sidekick was something of a masterstroke. For the first three series, this role was filled by Maddie (Caroline Quentin), an investigate journalist with a deceptive streak and a dry wit. Julia Sawalha's wide-eyed television presenter Carla took over between 2001 and 2004 and Sheridan Smith came on board for the 2009 and 2010 specials as Joey, a young paranormal investigator.
The joy is that the companions are often the ones pushing Creek into solving the cases and yet, like the audience, are completely in the dark about how the crime was committed. Naturally, this often makes their relationship a strained one, with Creek taking out on them his resentment at having to solve everyone's problems again while the women grow frustrated at being stumped by things that he is not.
Despite this, all three of the companions do have respect and admiration for Creek and a genuine friendship with him. It's all light-hearted taunts and tutting at their vast differences in profession, character and outlook. Whoever he's working with, Jonathan's connection with his assistant is the heart of the show.
But the main meat is of course the mysteries... and boy are they head scratchers. Every episode of Jonathan Creek centres around a seemingly impossible crime or occurrence, often rooted in something supernatural.
We're talking murders in locked rooms, people caught in explosions being seen perfectly healthy hours later, priceless artefacts disappearing in front of numerous witnesses - genius set-ups which genuinely do seem unsolvable.
This writer doesn't mind admitting that I have never been able to just work out a Jonathan Creek mystery off the bat - and I know I'm not alone. But that's the fun of the show, because there is a solution and it will be outlined in full by Jonathan at the end of the episode, guaranteed. And it won't be a phoned-in answer either. The clues were always presented to us, fair and square, it's just they were so insignificant and banal that only Jonathan, through sheer rationality and a knowledge of how to make the ordinary extraordinary, was able to see it.
Because of this, the reveals in Jonathan Creek are so much more satisfying than in most of your other detective series. When watching some fictional character fish out a murderer, there can be a sense of "so what?". You can close your eyes, point at the screen and end up picking the culprit from its finite list of suspects. With Jonathan Creek, there are no boundaries to the mystery. They're deliberately intimidating, so when the answer is revealed, you feel truly enlightened.
Also unique to the show is a sort of curious injection of fun. There's a significant comedy presence here - David Renwick created One Foot In The Grave before Jonathan Creek, Alan Davies is a comedian and Quentin, Sawalha and Smith were all alums of popular sitcoms (Men |
that I would be very interested.
iPhone 7 case TOZO.UPDATE 11.55am: PlayStation VR pre-orders are back on at Amazon UK - but the retailer can no longer guarantee delivery on launch day.
As reported below, Amazon UK shifted its entire launch allocation in around seven minutes. There's now guarantee you'll get a PlayStation VR anytime soon after the device is released launch, although you can still put your order in now and get in the queue.
"Based on our initial allocation we cannot guarantee release day delivery if you ordered after 11:45 GMT, Wednesday 16 March, 2016," a statement on Amazon UK's PlayStation VR project page reads. "You will be notified via email of the expected delivery date closer to the time. We will be fulfilling customer orders in the order in which they were placed."
UPDATE 11.10am: Amazon UK has sold out of its PlayStation VR launch allocation in less than 10 minutes.
The retailer had limited purchases to just one per customer.
Still, there's always GAME.
Aaaand it's gone. Amazon UK has sold out of PlayStation VR in under 10 minutes. pic.twitter.com/uwdw6B7cmx — Tom Phillips (@tomphillipsEG) March 16, 2016
ORIGINAL STORY 11.10am: You can now pre-order a PlayStation VR in-store at GAME - but only if you hand over a £100 deposit.
Eurogamer spoke to GAME shop staff who explained the deposit was necessary due to limited amount of stock.
There's no upfront charge for ordering the £349 headset via GAME's website - just for ordering one in the chain's bricks and mortar shops.
GAME's site is also offering a bundle option which includes a PlayStation Camera - which you'll need if you don't have one already. This option is £40 more expensive, at £389.
Hopefully GAME's website will behave itself this time - and doesn't delay orders or take payment for them multiple times.
Elsewhere online, pre-orders are also up at ShopTo, which also has a Camera bundle option.
Amazon is now taking pre-orders, limited to one per customer. Here's Amazon's note:
Due to limited stock we are only able to offer one unit per customer per address. The first orders will be eligible for release date delivery and this will be confirmed by email once the manufacturer confirms release date. If your order does not qualify for release date deliver, you will be notified of an expected delivery date closer to the time. This product comes with a UK plug and therefore may not be suitable for use outside of the UK.Leaders of the American business community, who have long indulged the Republican far right as an instrument toward their own ends, seem to be growing weary of its political excesses. Recognizing the public verdict of last month’s election, corporate officialdom is moving toward moderation on taxes and other issues, showing support for the Obama White House and edging away from congressional Republicans.
The latest top executive to endorse the president’s position on rescinding the Bush tax cuts for the top two percent is Fred Smith, CEO of Federal Express and a former economic advisor to Senator John McCain — who denounced as “mythology” the notion that raising the top rate would damage the U.S. economy.
Smith joined a lengthening queue of business leaders from all sectors who have stepped up over the past week to voice their acceptance of increased taxes as part of a budget agreement to break the stalemate on Capitol Hill — not only to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff on December 31, but because fairness requires the wealthy to pay their fair share. Randall Stephenson, chief executive of AT&T, the nation’s largest telecom company, told Business Week that higher taxes and more revenue must be part of any budget agreement. So did Lloyd Blankfein, the CEO of Goldman Sachs. And so did a group of defense industry executives from companies such as United Technologies, RTI International, TASC and Northrop Grumman.
Income tax rates “need to go up some,” said David Langstaff, the CEO of TASC, at a Washington press event organized by the Aerospace Industries Association, a defense lobby. “This is a fairness issue — there needs to be recognition that we’re not collecting enough revenue. In the last decade we’ve fought two wars without raising taxes. So I think it does need to go up.”
Indeed, the president was warmly received this week when he visited the Business Roundtable, a powerful Washington lobbying group that officially prefers Republican policy on maintaining the Bush tax cuts unchanged. “This room likes a winner,” said Roundtable chairman James McNerney, the CEO of Boeing, as his members applauded the president, who worked the room as if among old friends. They didn’t seem terribly upset when the president told them that tax rates — their tax rates — would have to go up, and in fact, they are reportedly supporting him on the need to avoid another destructive struggle with Congress over the debt ceiling. Evidently they won’t go along with the kind of blackmail game that congressional Republicans played with the debt ceiling in the summer of 2011, leading to a credit downgrade and slower growth for months afterward.
The suddenly sensible sounds emanating from the business community are astonishing when contrasted with the anger displayed toward the president by many of these corporate suits only weeks ago, when they berated Obama as “anti-business” and loudly yearned for a corporate-style Romney presidency. Resoundingly rebuked by the electorate, which overwhelmingly favors Obama’s positions on taxes and entitlements — and stands ready to blame the Republicans if no budget agreement is achieved — the business leaders are backing ever so subtly away from their traditional alliance with the GOP.
These brand-conscious executives suddenly have realized that the Republican brand, especially at the congressional level, is politically toxic. And they would rather not be too closely identified with it at this dangerous moment.
Remarkably, the Tea Party Republicans have now alienated their party’s most important constituency — the upper echelon of the business community. It is a profound irony that the issue raising friction between these politicians and their erstwhile backers is a fanatical partisan determination to defend the tax benefits enjoyed by those same wealthy executives.
The president’s opponents are backing themselves into a corner where even their own old friends cannot defend them. Meanwhile Obama may finally have learned that if he stands firm and refuses to negotiate with himself, he can win over public opinion and break the partisan obstructionism.Drexel researchers, along with colleagues at Aix-Marseille University in France, have discovered a high performance cathode material with great promise for use in next generation lithium-sulfur batteries that could one day be used to power mobile devices and electric cars.
Lithium-sulfur batteries have recently become one of the hottest topics in the field of energy storage devices due to their high energy density -- which is about four times higher than that of lithium-ion batteries currently used in mobile devices. One of the major challenges for the practical application of lithium-sulfur batteries is to find cathode materials that demonstrate long-term stability.
An international research collaboration led by Drexel's Yury Gogotsi, PhD, Distinguished University and Trustee Chair professor in the College of Engineering and director of its Nanomaterials Research Group, has created a two-dimensional carbon/sulfur nanolaminate that could be a viable candidate for use as a lithium-sulfur cathode.
In a paper they recently published in the chemistry journal Angewandte Chemie, Gogotsi, along with his colleagues at Aix-Marseille University explain their process for extracting the nanolaminate from a three-dimensional material called a Ti2SC MAX phase. Their paper was selected as a VIP article and will be featured on the journal cover.
The MAX phase, which is one of a family of layered ceramics discovered two decades ago by Michel Barsoum, PhD, Distinguished professor in Drexel's Department of Materials Science & Engineering, has been used as the basis for much of Drexel's materials research intended to find better materials for batteries.
The researchers found that carbon/sulfur nanolaminates have covalent bonding between carbon and sulfur and an extremely uniform distribution of sulfur between the atomically thin carbon layers. This structure is key to their potential for being used as electrode materials for lithium-sulfur batteries.
Currently, sulfur infiltrated carbon nanomaterials have demonstrated to be the most promising cathode materials for Li-S batteries. In these materials, the uniform distribution of sulfur in carbon matrix and the strong interaction between carbon and sulfur are two important factors that affect the performance.
The carbon/sulfur nanolaminates synthesized by Gogotsi's group demonstrate the same uniformity as the infiltrated carbon nanomaterials, but the sulfur in the nanolaminates is uniformly deposited in the carbon matrix as atomically thin layers and a strong covalent bonding between carbon and sulfur is observed. This may have a significant impact on increasing the life-span of next generation batteries.
"We have enough evidence to show that that the electrochemical etching can be a powerful method to selectively extract the 'M' elements from the MAX phases, to produce a variety of 'AX' layered structures, that cannot be made otherwise," said Meng-Qiang Zhao, Gogotsi's post-doctoral associate and the lead author on the paper.
This is a significant discovery, because there are more than 70 MAX phases in known existence. Gogotsi estimates that odds are with the MAX phase's new "AX" progeny becoming the materials that find use in next-generation electrical storage devices.
"It is not difficult to foresee that the 'AX' structures represent a new family of nanostructured materials, much of which will probably be 2D," Gogotsi said. "The various 'A' and 'X' combinations already known make the 'AX' structures highly attractive for a number of potential applications, such as electrical energy storage and catalysis."
This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Science.“To learn more, go here.”
Say this while pointing at the screen, which is displaying a short link to a page on your blog. That page has your list of resources – not just things you’ve written, but things you find interesting about the topic.
Why? Because you just got done presenting about a topic you love, and you’ve gotten the audience excited about it too. They already picked your session because they needed help with something, and you’ve shown a few ways to get started. Now they see you as an expert, and they want to keep the learning going.
After you drop the mic, some folks will come up front to ask you questions, but most of them are just going to file out. It’s not that they’re not interested in your topic – they just don’t have the time to stick around. If they see a URL up on the screen, they’ll write it down, visit it later, and bookmark it (yeah, people still do that.)
“And for help, contact me.”
Those five powerful words are the key to the rest of your career.
You may not be a consultant right now, but what if you developed a widespread reputation as the person who’s really good at something? You know, like the thing you just presented about? And what if dozens or hundreds of highly technical people sat in your presentations, and started calling you up to help them with that thing?
That’s exactly how I got started with consulting.
I’d presented about SQL Server, storage, and virtualization for a couple of years, pointing people to my resources pages, and I started getting more and more emails for help. Most of them were just quick freebie questions, but some of them actually wanted to pay me to guide ’em through stuff. I did a few weekend and after-hour gigs for spending money, valuable experience, and blog fodder.
Eventually a company wanted to pay me real money to be onsite with them during the week. I explained to my manager that the company wasn’t one of our competitors, and asked if I could take a few vacation days to earn some money on the side. One of my cunning arguments was that the experience I gained troubleshooting their problems would help make me an even better troubleshooter during my day job. My managers agreed, and let me do it.
Today, I’m a full time consultant doing that stuff.
It’s a long road between these points, but the first step is an easy one. Just close every talk with ten words:OK, first of all this palette is stunning. I was able to get my hands on it cause I happened to get online early in the AM on the 10th and ordered with one click, immediately. I received it today, super quick shipping. Mine did not arrive broken thankfully, but it came from Nevada to Cali, it didn't travel far so that's probably why, because it was packaged in a LIGHTLY PADDED ENVELOPE!!! Who in their right mind would ship a eye-shadow palette in a manila envelope????!! Ugh anyway this review is about the product.
As I said, it's stunning. I'm a collector so I already have the Vice 3 and both two faced holiday palettes along with several others that have recently been releasec. What's great about this one is obviously the selection of neutral mattes and shimmers and the pops of color eye-shadow to add drama to any eye look. Its pretty much an all inclusive, one stop palette. Some of the colors will be useless to me however, because they will blend with my skin color, other shades are similar to one another, so the same of effect can be achieved using either. Honestly, all shades are dupable, really they are. If you have a decent size eye-shadow collection, guaranteed you will have similar shades. I can all ready tell you the Anastasia Amrezy pallets has 3 similar colors in it. Of course that was limited edition and is no longer available, but not a one day in stock limited edition, that was rediculous LORAC!! but anyway my point is you can certainly find similar shades elsewhere. Keep ya head up,:)
So to those ladies who dont get their hands on this at $60, DO NOT PAY MORE!! They are being sold on eBay at outrages prices, its shameful. Truly girls, the vice 3 is gorgeous as are both the two faced palettes. You have other options, don't fret. And the pro 1 and 2 are permenant and absolutely lovely!!Oooh, it's Hillary Clinton's book release day and I am HERE. FOR. IT. I have had a kettle on since mid-April preparing for this tea. Two sugars please, and close the door on your way out. Literally everything on my phone is on do not disturb; I am reading.
Reviews suggest that What Happened, Clinton's election post-mortem, speaks with a defiant but pithy voice and that the former Secretary of State spends equal time opening up about the devastating loss and grinding axes. Into it. Come for the baring of the soul; stay for the baring of the teeth.
Oddly, not everyone is excited about this, a book that is for sale in public and was written by a woman. A Politico article quoted a number of people who were brave enough to talk trash anonymously, calling the book "the final torture" for Democrats. One major donor said, "I think she should just zip it, but she’s not going to."
No the hell she is not!
What Hillary Clinton is not going to do is zip it. Would zipping it stop people from castigating her for sins committed, implied or just wished upon her? No, it would not. Would Hillary Clinton stitching a red L to her cardigan and roaming the country, atoning, make people happy? No. They'd probably criticize her clothing choice and write think pieces about how she's obsessed with drawing attention to herself.
Hillary Clinton can't win with some people, even when she actually wins. So screw it.
Hillary Clinton is not going away and I'm here for it, if for no other reason than every single person has the right to take up space and speak their minds and continue to exist, without reservation and without permission.
It's almost quaint how many men think Hillary Clinton needs their permission to do whatever the fuck she wants. — Sarah Lerner (@SarahLerner) September 9, 2017
There are some that have legitimate reasons for disinterest in the book—political disagreement, exhaustion, old wounds unhealed—but they're not the ones volunteering their negative opinions. They're not the ones telling a well-qualified woman to "zip it." The men (it's always men) who are wishing Hillary Clinton would just go away are, largely, people without a real grievance against her except for the fact that she is a free woman with fingers that can type things. Any woman who has ever been on the internet has encountered such men; you don't need to run for president to be told to zip it.
For her part, Clinton appears blithely uninterested in any calls for her to fade into the cornfield like Shoeless Joe Jackson in Field of Dreams. Today she told NPR, "I'm not going anywhere. I have the experience, I have the insight, I have the scars that I think give me not only the right, but the responsibility to speak out."
And to those who blanche at the idea of her writing a book in her own damn time about her own damn feelings, she has this to say:
.@HillaryClinton says she is not going anywhere, and if people don't like it, "they don't have to buy my book." https://t.co/dbXAcdt1p1 pic.twitter.com/PwlJgaCGVt — Morning Edition (@MorningEdition) September 12, 2017
You don't think Hillary Clinton should have written a book? Good for you. Go buy Pillars of the Earth and read that. Get a Kindle download of The Pelican Brief. This isn't summer reading for sophomore year; there will not be a test on this material.
If Anthony Scaramucci can get fired after 10 days on the job and end up being interviewed on Stephen Colbert within a month, I think the country as a whole can handle 300-or-so pages of a book you, honestly, are not legally required to purchase or read or even acknowledge.
For my part, I'm acknowledging it. I'm here for it. I want Hillary Clinton to write a book every day. Next up: And Then This Happened.
Oh, And Another Thing Happened.
Today Not Much Happened but I Had a Great Scone So Here's Some Thoughts on Globalism and Democracy.
It's crucial that Hillary Clinton not go away. I want her to be as ever-present as Flo from the Progressive commercials or ads for Billy on the Street. I want Hillary Clinton running up to me with a microphone in my face in Times Square.
I want to see her everywhere.
"Welcome to Starbucks. What can I get started for you?"
"I'll have a PSL, obvi."
"Want a pumpkin loaf with that? They're stronger together."
"HILLARY?!"
I want Hillary Clinton to sit next to me on the subway. I want Hillary Clinton to help me fix my Blue Apron meal. I want Hillary Clinton to provide color commentary for my NFL games. I want Hillary Clinton to open for Lady Gaga's "Joanne" tour. I want Hillary Clinton to be as much a part of our society and our national conversation as she wants to be. She's earned it, not through her manifold qualifications and contributions, but because she is a human and deserving of respect. She doesn't have to "go away." Her voice matters. She belongs here. As do we all.
Follow R. Eric Thomas on Twitter.Is pre-linking worth it?
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The recent problem with prelink in Fedora Rawhide has led some to wonder about what advantages pre-linking actually brings—and whether those advantages outweigh the pain it can cause. Pre-linking can reduce application start up time—and save some memory as well—but there are some downsides; not least the possibility of an unbootable system as some Rawhide users encountered. The advantages are small enough, or hard enough to completely quantify, that it leads to questions about whether it is justified as the default for Fedora.
Linux programs typically consist of a binary executable file that refers to multiple shared libraries. These libraries are loaded into memory once and shared by multiple executables. In order to make that happen, the dynamic linker (i.e. ld.so ) needs to change the binary in memory such that any addresses of library objects point to the right place in memory. For applications with many shared libraries—GUI programs for example—that process can take some time.
The idea behind pre-linking is fairly simple: reduce the amount of time the dynamic linker needs to spend doing these address relocations by doing it in advance and storing the results. The prelink program processes ELF binaries and shared libraries in much the same way that ld.so would, and then adds special ELF sections to the files describing the relocations. When ld.so loads a pre-linked binary or library, it checks these sections and, if the libraries are loaded at the expected location and the library hasn't changed, it can do its job much more quickly.
But there are a few problems with that approach. For one thing, it makes the location of shared libraries very predictable. One of the ideas behind address space layout randomization (ASLR) is to randomize these locations each time a program is run—or library loaded—so that malicious programs cannot easily and reproducibly predict addresses. On Fedora and Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) systems, prelink is run every two weeks with a parameter to request random addresses to alleviate this problem, but they do stay fixed over that time period.
In addition, whenever applications or libraries are upgraded, prelink must be run again. The linker is smart enough to recognize the situation and revert to its normal linking process when something has changed, but the advantage that prelink brings is lost until the pre-linking is redone. Also, the kernel randomly locates the VDSO (virtual dynamically-linked shared object) "library", which, on 32-bit systems, can overlap one of the libraries, requiring some address relocation anyway. Overall, pre-linking is a bit of a hack, and it is far from clear that its benefits are substantial enough to overcome that.
Fedora and Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) enable pre-linking by default, while most other distributions make prelink available, but seem unconvinced that the benefits are substantial enough to make it the default. Because it is a very system-dependent feature, hard performance numbers are difficult to find. It certainly helps in some cases, but is it really something that everyone needs?
Matthew Miller brought that question up on the fedora-devel mailing list:
I see [prelink] as adding unnecessary complexity and fragility, and it makes forensic verification difficult. Binaries can't be verified without being modified, which is far from ideal. And the error about dependencies having changed since prelinking is disturbingly frequent. On the other hand, smart people have worked on it. It's very likely that those smart people know things I don't. I can't find any good numbers anywhere demonstrating the concrete benefits provided by prelink. Is there data out there? [...] Even assuming a benefit, the price may not be worth it. SELinux gives a definite performance hit, but it's widely accepted as being part of the price to pay for added security. Enabling prelink seems to fall on the other side of the line. What's the justification?
Glibc maintainer Ulrich Drepper noted that pre-linking avoids most or all of the cost of relocations, while also pointing out that the relatively new symbol table hashing feature in GCC reduces the gain for pre-linking. He also described an additional benefit: memory pages that do not require changes for relocations will not be copied (due to copy-on-write) and can thus be shared between multiple processes running the same executable. But his primary motivation may have more to do with his work flow: "Note, also small but frequently used apps benefit. I run gcc etc a lot and like every single saved cycle."
The effect of pre-linking can be measured by using the LD_DEBUG environment variable as Drepper described. Jakub Jelinek, who is the author of prelink, posted some results for OpenOffice.org Writer showing an order of magnitude difference in the amount of time spent doing relocations between pre-linked and regular binaries. Those results are impressive, but, at least for long-running programs, start up time doesn't really dominate—desktop applications, or often-used utilities, are the likely benefactors. As Miller puts it:
If I can get a 50% speed up to a program's startup times, that sounds great, but if I then leave that program running for days on end, I haven't actually won very much at all -- but I still pay the price continuously. (That price being: fragility, verifiability, and of course the prelinking activity itself.)
For 32-bit processors, though, which are those most likely to benefit from the memory savings, there is still the VDSO overlap problem. John Reiser did an experiment using cat and found that glibc needed to be dynamically relocated fairly frequently:
This means that glibc must be dynamically relocated about 10% of the time anyway, even though glibc has been pre-linked, and even though /bin/cat is near minimal in its use of shared libraries. When a GNOME app uses 50 or more pre-linked shared libs, as claimed in another thread on this subject, then runtime conflict and expense are even more likely.
There doesn't seem to be a large interest in removing the prelink default for Fedora, but one has to wonder, if the savings are as large and widespread as people seem to think, why other distributions have been reluctant to adopt it. Part of the reason may be the possibility of a prelink bug rendering systems unbootable or reluctance to rely upon something that requires modifying binaries and libraries, regularly, to keep everything in sync. The security issues may also play into their thinking, though Jelinek argues that security-sensitive programs should be position-independent executables (PIE) that are not pre-linked, and thus have ASLR done for every execution.Why Weren’t the Russian ‘Spies’ Charged with Espionage?
Yesterday, federal prosecutors unsealed criminal complaints against 11 people who were allegedly part of a Russian spy ring. According to the prosecution, the suspects lived in the United States under false names while trying to penetrate "policy-making circles" on behalf of Russia’s SVR, the successor to the KGB specializing in foreign intelligence. The defendants were charged with "conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government without notifying the U.S. attorney general," an offense that carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. Why weren’t they charged with espionage, which can often bring a life sentence or even the death penalty?
Probably because they never found out very much. U.S. law defines espionage as transmitting or attempting to transmit "any document, writing, code book, signal book, sketch, photograph, photographic negative, blueprint, plan, map, model, note, instrument, appliance, or information relating to the national defense" to a foreign government with the intent to harm the United States or give advantage to the foreign nation. Because federal prosecutors have not charged the "illegals," as they were known because they had no official credentials, with espionage, they either never got their hands on anything — or it can’t yet be proven that they did.
With details about messages in invisible ink and buried money caches, the criminal complaint might read like a Cold War-era spy thriller, but it’s still unclear what exactly, any of the defendants are supposed to have found out. The closest thing to espionage in the charges is a meeting at a seminar between defendant Donald Howard Heathfield and a U.S. government official who "works on issues of strategic planning related to nuclear weapon development," but it doesn’t appear that Heathfield learned any classified information.
Although prosecutors might still file additional charges, the activities of these so-called spies don’t appear to be on the same level as clear-cut espionage cases like those of Robert Hanssen, the FBI agent who sold classified information to the Soviet Union and Russia over more than two decades, and Aldrich Ames, the CIA case officer whose leaks to Moscow led to the deaths of at least 10 U.S. agents in the Soviet Union. Both men are currently serving life sentences in federal prison.
Violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), which requires that agents representing the interests of a foreign power register with the Justice Department, is a far lesser offense and one that rarely merits much media attention. Prominent FARA cases include Iraqi-American businessman Samir Vincent, who admitted to acting as an unregistered agent of Saddam Hussein’s government during the U.N. "oil-for-food" scandal, and former President Jimmy Carter’s brother Billy, who was forced to register as a foreign agent to avoid charges that he was paid $220,000 by Muammar al-Qaddafi’s government to curry favor for Libya in Washington. The scandal, and a resulting congressional investigation, came to be known as "Billygate."
Thanks to Plato Cacheris, partner at the law firm of Trout Cacheris and former attorney for Robert Hanssen and Aldrich Ames.Yesterday, Ed wrote a lengthy essay on the subject of the rights of man as established by natural law. This was a companion piece to an article published by Matt Lewis speaking on the same subject. When the topic arose, I briefly mentioned my disagreement with Ed and promised to compose my own thoughts on this. He referenced that at the end of his piece, and this essay is the completion of that hastily arranged contract.
The first thing to address is what seems to be some varying opinions about what the word “rights” actually means. To me, a “right” is something which is essentially immutable and can not be dislodged without great effort. The establishment and maintenance of such rights can be largely (though obviously not always) achieved, but it takes a significant, concerted effort. Also, a “right” should, to my way of thinking, be essentially universal to all men, particularly if it is to be considered a natural right, as in something directly ordained by God or the natural order of the universe.
So what are these universal, “natural rights” which are so widely discussed? The right to life? That sounds like the easiest one we might all point to. And yet, while you may claim to have a “right to life,” my garrote, applied to you unawares from behind, disagrees. If you are unable to stop me, your right to life was overridden by something constructed from a piece of piano wire. How about liberty and the pursuit of happiness? Just look around the world. Many go without liberty and have no avenue to pursue any better life, say nothing of happiness. If there is any punishment coming to those denying them these rights, it often comes only when their oppressors shuffle off this mortal coil and go to meet their Maker. When Ed wrote his essay yesterday, he correctly quoted an immortal document which includes the phrase, “among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” If the phrase starts with “among these” then what are the others? Where are they delineated? Or am I left to pick and choose as I wish?
Then there are the rights listed in the Bill of Rights which Ed also mentions. All are near and dear to my heart. How about some of these other rights we cherish as Americans, such as the right to keep and bear arms, freedom of religion or of the press? Right here at home in many states your “right” to bear arms is suppressed if not nearly eliminated in larger, liberal cities. Our friends in the United Kingdom – one of our closest allies with whom we share a coveted, special relationship – have no such right to arms and can be locked up for unapproved speech in some cases. What of their rights? Has God forsaken them? And the people in Russia can only dream of the rights the British have.
Oh, you can insist that my definition of “rights” is ill conceived and that these are just universal truths. But without some concrete anchor to prove their infallibility, all you are really describing is a wish list. The Founders were wise to be sure, but they were the ones who claimed that these rights emanated from God and defined them for us. Where is that list of rights specifically documented? The last time I checked the Bible, the rights of man were not a large topic of discussion. The duties of man to God are very clearly spelled out, along with rules for how a God fearing, decent person should behave. But a list of the rights of man requires a rather significant leap of interpretation. In the end, while most all of us in the United States can surely agree on what these rights should be and that God would most certainly approve, they were defined and assigned by freedom loving men, not the Creator. And they are hardly universal.
Certainly these “natural rights” are things that most rational, decent people could agree upon as things that would be wonderful indeed. But if we are to accept that, then how do you deny someone else claiming a “right” which you don’t support? What of the liberal who claims they have a God given right to health care? Or even the right not to be offended by the speech of others? I can find you a library of examples of both with only a few moments on Google. Some of these same folks regularly point to the General Welfare clause and insist that this means they have a God given right to social security and any other number of safety net items. Are they right? Or are they misinterpreting the words of the founders? Oh, my… now we have another debate on our hands.
So which rights shall you claim are natural and God given while saying that the rights your neighbor claims are false? And who among you will provide us with the full list, “among which” are found life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? At this point I would revisit a portion of Ed’s essay which was well received by those supporting the concept of natural rights.
The combinations of an enforceable Constitution and the deliberative nature of the structure of our republic keeps our society from imposing its will by mob rule. Many nations have constitutions, both written or traditional, that carry little weight, and most of those only use them for window dressing for tyranny. Our tradition remained vibrant because we believed that our rights didn’t come from condescension by politicians, but from God and “unalienable” by human action, regardless of the power and corruption that may be presented. Our Constitution protects against both, however imperfectly, and will — until we stop believing in the philosophy that fuels its power.
Sound good? Excellent. Now let’s trim that down a bit and just look at the first two lines.
The combinations of an enforceable Constitution and the deliberative nature of the structure of our republic keeps our society from imposing its will by mob rule. Many nations have constitutions, both written or traditional, that carry little weight, and most of those only use them for window dressing for tyranny.
Who is enforcing that Constitution and holding off mob rule? It is the tenuous grasp of mortal men. Certainly you can fire back at me and say that this is only true and possible because of the will of God, but I could fill up an encyclopedia with examples of places where two people sitting in the same church pew on Sunday morning or a pastor and a priest standing at pulpits only a mile apart will disagree on the precise specifics of what the Lord wills.
The Constitution was not written by God, but by very good and largely God fearing men hoping to be guided in their work by His teachings. They were patriots, not prophets or saints. The founders were wise, but referring back yet again to what Ed wrote in his essay, they created a document which contained an unspoken acknowledgement that it was not flawless scripture. Our rights were set forth at that time but apparently we missed a lot of details as to what the Good Lord intended, since we continued adding to or modifying those rights as we progressed. (We were still editing the right to vote as recently as 1971.) The founders were not carrying tablets down from a mountain top, but debating – sometimes fiercely – precisely what our rights would be. And they built into that framework the mechanism for it to be altered, expanded and improved by the generations to come. The same can not be said of the Bible.
I do not quibble with the use of the word “rights” when it comes to the Constitution, the Bill of Rights or the actions of the government which I feel infringe on these same principles. Calling the first ten amendments the Bill of Rights is just fine by me. I only come into conflict with my friends on this topic when we begin talking about “natural rights” and “natural law” in relation to these concepts. On that score, I have my own views. And with that we come to the core of my own long held musings on an important philosophical point. I say this with the full knowledge that it sounds cold, harsh, and to a certain degree hopeless, but it seems undeniably true.
If we wish to define the “rights” of man in this world, they are – in only the most general sense – the rights which groups of us agree to and work constantly to enforce as a society. And even that is weak tea in terms of definitions because it is so easy for those “rights” to be thwarted by malefactors. To get to the true definition of rights, I drill down even further. Your rights are precisely what you can seize and hold for yourself by strength of arm or force of wit. Anything beyond that is a desirable goal, but most certainly not a right and it is obviously not permanent. And that’s why you must be eternally vigilant and careful in protecting those “rights” we have established for ourselves as part of our imperfect attempts to interpret the will of the Creator.I’m an Android developer (at Aviary) and a New Yorker since late 2010. I’ve been also an actionscript and python developer for more than 10 years.
I hear this every day. Your New York based company is desperately looking for an Android developer, and it’s damn hard to find one.
And you know what? This is your fault. I mean you, tech startup. Yes, you.
Almost all the startups I know here in NYC have launched their core product for iOS first (most of the PMs I’ve spoken with have said that was because of lack of people or time). And then, maybe, if there’s time… they start to realize they need to have an Android version of their app. But by this point the job is not to “create” something, it’s just a “porting” job. Which, for obvious reasons, is a much less attractive job for developers, just as it would be for a PM or a designer.
Anyway, ignoring Android at first is somewhat understandable, if you think in short terms and you’re not thinking globally. Here in the US, and even more in NYC, the iOS market |
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